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And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again … – F Scott Fitzgerald Today is the first day of Summer, also known as the Summer Solstice. It’s the longest dayContinue reading “The living is easy”

June 19, 1623 –Blaise Pascal was born in France on this date (which worked out extremely well for him as he wanted to grow up to be French.) At the age of 17 he wrote a paper entitled Essay on Conic Sections, which quickly became the best-selling paper on conic sections in European history andContinue reading “If I had more time I would write a shorter letter.”

Can you hear those glasses chilling? We might never know how utterly charming, brilliant and entertaining we are were it not for martinis. I’m not talking a cup of cheap gin splashed over an ice cube. I’m talking satin, fire and ice; Fred Astaire in a glass; surgical cleanliness, insight.. comfort; redemption and absolution. I’mContinue reading “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”

June 18, 1980 – The Blues Brothers Movie, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi premiered on this date. Ounce for ounce (other than Walt Disney’s animated classic The Jungle Book,) the most amount of dope was smoked in film history during the production of a major Hollywood film. After the concert, the State Troopers chaseContinue reading “… We’re on a mission from God.”

European history would have been dramatically different if only for a higher fiber diet. One of the most decisive battles in the history of Europe was fought in Belgium on June 18, 1815, as a resurgent Napoleon Bonaparte launched his last military offensive against the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian Marshal Blücher. Nearly 50,000Continue reading “The playing fields of Eton”

It’s Eat Your Vegetables Day Another voice heard from So eat them up, or not. (My kids are too old for me to worry about this anymore.)

June 17, 1950 –The Disassociated Press sent a reporter to get Bug Bunny’s life story in What’s Up Doc?, which was released on this date. Bugs‘ classic catchphrase is shown in this film to have been originally an accident. It came from Bugs after he pied Elmer in the face and bonked him on theContinue reading “Eh, start talking. It’s your nickel”

June 16, 1960 –Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho opened in New York on this date. When the cast and crew began work on the first day, they had to raise their right hands and promise not to divulge one word of the story. Alfred Hitchcock also withheld the ending part of the script from his cast untilContinue reading “Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly…”

June 16, 1997 –The Verve released Bitter Sweet Symphony in the UK on this date. The song lives up to it’s title: the song is a huge hit, but Mick Jagger and Keith Richards end up getting credits and royalties. The famous orchestral riff incorporates a sample from an obscure instrumental version of the 1965Continue reading “You’re a slave to money then you die”

Happy Bloomsday! June 16, 1904 –If you notice English majors greeting one another joyously saying, “Yes – yes – yes!” They’ll titter. It will all be terrific fun for them. And here’s the reason why – Today is the date on which all the events depicted in James Joyce’s famous novel Ulysses takes place, evenContinue reading “History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake”