Friday, May 21, 2004
Song of the Day:
When you want her lips, you get her cheek
Makes you wonder where you are
If you want some more then she's fast asleep
you're just twinkling with the stars.
Poor young grandson, there's nothing I can say
You'll have to learn, just like me
And that's the hardest way, ooh la la
Ooh la la, la la, yeah
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger.
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger.
This Day in History:
In 1542, Hernando de Soto died while looking for gold in the Mississippi river. This was shortly after he had told some of the natives that he had supernatural powers,a nd was immortal. Not on the best of terms with the locals, his body was immediately buried. THe grave raised the suspicions of the indians in the area, and fearing that the natives would discrace his body and dig him up, they promply dug him up themselves and dropped him into the Mississippi river in a Navy Burial.
In 1881, Clara Barton started the American Red Cross. So...now you know.
IS this whom you're thinking of?
Because if so, that'd be Clara Bow, and you'd be wrong. WRONG, I SAY!
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris France, after completing the 1st non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
To quote the Writer's Almanac:
In order to keep the plane as light as possible, he redesigned it himself. He didn't take a radio, a parachute or any navigational equipment. He tore unnecessary pages from his flight journal, trimmed the margins from his maps, and only brought five sandwiches for food. Bystanders on the airfield tried to offer him rabbits' feet, wishbones, horseshoes, and even a kitten, but Lindbergh only accepted one gift, which was a St. Christopher's medal. He started down the runway at 7:51 a.m. on May 20, 1927. The gasoline tank was so heavy that he had trouble getting the plane into the air, and only cleared the telephone lines by twenty feet.
From the take-off in New York, he flew north over Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, navigating by checking maps against the landmarks he could see on the ground. After three hours of flying he began his first stage of the journey over the ocean, with no landmarks to help him find his way. He had decided that if he didn't see Nova Scotia when he expected to, he would turn back.
He had not gotten much sleep the night before, because of nerves and the reporters who had wanted to interview him, and he was terrified to find himself getting sleepy within the first few hours of the flight. He began to keep himself awake by routinely making notations in his log and taking a sip of water every few minutes. He reached Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and then flew in toward the city of St. John's because he wanted people to know he'd gotten at least that far. People who saw his plane said they could almost read the serial number on the underside of the wing. It was the last land Lindbergh would see until he reached Ireland.
He turned east toward Europe just as night was falling. For the next fifteen hours, no one would know if he were alive or dead. People across America would later say that they stayed up thinking about Lindbergh that night, praying for his safety. The humorist Will Rogers wrote in his column, "No attempt at jokes today. A . . . slim, tall, bashful, smiling American boy is somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where no lone human being has ever ventured before. . . . If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted loss we ever had."
After reaching the halfway point of his journey, Lindbergh's exhaustion began to disorient him. He later wrote, "It [seemed] impossible to go on longer. All I [wanted] in life [was] to throw myself down flat, stretch out—and sleep." In order to keep himself awake, he flew close enough to the water to feel the spray on his face. He began to hallucinate, and even saw a coastline before his calculations said that he should. When he flew toward it, the coastline vanished.
After more than twenty-four hours, Lindbergh spotted fishing boats on the water. He flew in toward them and shouted, "Which way is Ireland!" They didn't answer, or he couldn't hear their answer, so he flew on. He reached Ireland a few hours later, and turned south toward Paris.
As he approached the airfield where he was supposed to land, around 10:00 p.m., he was confused by the strange array of lights. He had to circle around awhile before he realized that the strange lights were cars stuck in traffic, people trying to get to the airfield to see the landing.
Lindbergh touched down at 10:24 p.m. on this day in 1927, thirty-three and a half hours after he'd taken off. About 150,000 people mobbed the landing strip in Paris, shouting, "Vive Lindbergh!" When he got out of his plane, the crowd picked him up and passed him over their heads, before he even had a chance to step on the ground. The American ambassador to France got him medical attention and took him to a hotel, where he finally got to lie down in bed. That night the ambassador sent a telegram to Lindbergh's mother that said, "Warmest congratulations. Your incomparable son has honored me by being my guest. He is in fine condition and sleeping sweetly."
He became one of the most famous men in the world overnight. Radio and newsreels were both new mediums at the time, and this was one of the first big stories for both. His image was captured on an estimated 7.4 million feet of newsreel film in the next three weeks. People in movie theaters who saw the first newsreels announcing his success burst into applause.
His achievement helped spur the aviation industry, as people began to pour money into airline stocks. Several songs were written about him and a dance called "The Lindy" was named after him. New York City gave him the largest ticker tape parade of all time, and he received the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "In the late spring of 1927, something bright and alien flashed across the sky. A young Minnesotan who seemed to have nothing to do with his generation did a heroic thing, and for a moment people set down their glasses in country clubs and speakeasies and thought of their old best dreams."
Lindbergh went on to write two books about the flight, including We (1927) and The Spirit of St. Louis (1953), which won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
In 1956, The United states dropped the first airborne hydrogen bomb over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, and had literally explosive results.
Since I mentioned the word "bikini", you KNEW this was gonna happen. So we may as well get it out of the way....
Becare not to stare too long, as you might go blind.
From the sun, that is.
Right, the sun......
Today's birthdays include Fairuza Balk, who has been acting since an early age, as she had been in "Return to Oz" as Dorothy. However, she wasn't really known until she played a teenage witch in a teen movie called "The Craft". Bad movie, but plenty of sights to keep your mind off of it.
Fairuza later went on to play Vicki Vallencourt in "The Waterboy" with Adam Sandler.
It also happens to be Mr T's birthday. THe "I pity da fool..." line is old, clichee'd and dead, and I prefer to remember him as Clubber Lang, because he made such a great bad guy in Rocky III, even if the movie itself wasn't so great.
Ah, what the heck. Happy Birthday, Mister T.
Religion:
Kabbalah seems to be the new Scientology, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned. The most famous devotee would be Madonna, who seems to have recruited quite a few other celebs to the religion, including Britney Sprears and a few others.
If you find God through it, fine, but I hate the idea that they are treating religion as a fad. The best news I had heard in a long time was that Bitney Spears got a tatoo on the back of her neck that was supposed to read "New Era" in Hebrew. But she screwed up and now it doesn't mean anything. Fool!
Maybe it's because I've grown tired of Madonna, and her desire to be out in front of everyone, and be the latest in fashion and glamour and htis and that and the other. I admire what hse has been able to do with her life, but she isn't the girl she was in the early 90's. Now....the term "sea hag" comes to mind. And then I think of the old Popeye cartoons and laugh and the world doesn't seem to be as bad anymore.
But then there was this note on IMDB.com yesterday:
Superstar Madonna is poised to shock fans on her upcoming Re-Invention tour - by being "electrocuted" live on stage. The American Life singer is planning to make a series of bold statements in the controversial concerts, and has come up with a show that will make pal Britney Spears's raunchy Onyx Hotel tour look tame. As well as being "frazzled" in an electric chair, Madonna will also screen video footage of the corpses belonging to victims of the war in Iraq, perform sexy lesbian dance routines and have scantily-clad pregnant women dancing along to track "Papa Don't Preach." A source tells British newspaper the Sun, "This show will make people's hair stand on end. Madonna has pulled out all the stops to make it her most controversial yet. The electric chair scene is breathtaking. The concerts are really going to cause a stir on the same level as her Sex book and the Erotica album. But tempers have been frayed and she has been swearing every five minutes at the team putting the show together. The atmosphere is really fraught." Madonna's tour will begin in California next Monday.
Madonna is well past the point where she could surprise me. She's done the lesbian bit since the "Justify my love" video, and in the "Music" video to boot. There was the Britney Kiss episode, and all of the other drama that goes along with Madonna. She was starting to show her age as an act in the late 90's and hasn't shown me much since then to prove me wrong.
The lesbian thing just isn't shocking anymore. Well, wait. Let me correct that. Madonna as a lesbian isn't surprising anymore. While it's not a globally accepted way of life (see: current headline), it's gained alot of ground since the hush-hush days of my youth.
The electric chair bit is interesting cinema, and her making some controversial statements during the show might provide some entertainment, seeing how she plans on going from a serious commentary about fallen soldiers to "OK! Look at me! I'm sucking on another woman's breast!"
Final verdict on Madonna: Whatever and 2 Yawns.
Making a difference:
I was sitting down the other night with Bailey. Mom had taken the older 2 off to a play rehearsal (more on that in a moment), leaving me in charge of Bailey. Amazinglly, the wife still trusts me after the other day.
Well, she was playing on the living room floor, and I was sitting on the couch taking in the Twins and Blue Jays. In a moment of pure innocence, she tottled over to me, and asked in her little way to sit on my lap. I picked her up and sat her next to me where she cuddled in. It was a very small moment between us, but it was everything I needed right then. And then she made it better by excitedly pointing to the TV to shout "BASEBALL!"
So we watched the game togeather, sitting next to each other, until she drifted off to sleep. It was a small moment that held no signifigance, except for the fact that it meant everything to me at the time. I was proud that she was taking an interest in the things that I was interested in...that the values I was instilling were taking root.
But then it got even better.
The local community college puts togeather plays for kids to act in. They go from casting to curtain call all in one week. Monday was casting. They asked kids to act out little scenarios in order to see ho had the acting chops, and who would get what lines. According to the reports I received, Restory overwhelmed them with her performance, and tehy would have given her the narrator role had she been older. But because of the short amount of time and the # of lines for the narrator, they didn't feel that she'd be able to get them all. So instead she got a role with 9 lines.
Restory was quite proud of herself, and deservedly so. Kids from all over the community tried out and she got a prime speaking part in the play.
Well, her neighborhood friend Katie tried out as well, and only got 1 line. Katie also happens to be older than Restory, and the jealousy reared it's ugly head. Katie got quite upset, and was throwing a fit on the way home. Not exactly befitting a 5th grade girl, but what can you do?
Well, this is where Restory really shined. Even though this speaking part was everything that Restory wanted, and despite how much it meant to her to get it, she offered to give Katie her lines in order to make Katie happy. She was willing to give over what she had worked so hard for and had earned through her efforts, without a moments hesitation. It was one of the more magnanimous moments I had seen from her at any time, and made me feel more proud of her than I can put to words.
Here! Here was a lesson we as parents had always hoped that she would learn! Or any of the other girls for that matter. And she gave of herself, without any thought of her own need. She had performed this mitzvah (good deed) without any prodding or suggestion by anyone else.
There are moments that I doubt myself as a parent. Just about every parent does at one time or another. These are the moments that provide the balance...that re-assure me that I'm doing something right, and not bungling up their lives as it might seem. That sounds like I am saying I am proud of me, but I guess what I am trying to say is that I am proud of them.
That's it for today. I had meant to get to the Hometown Hotties, But I think I'll save that for tomorrow. The Saturday edition won't be too in-depth, but it'll be something at least.
Until tomorrow.
When you want her lips, you get her cheek
Makes you wonder where you are
If you want some more then she's fast asleep
you're just twinkling with the stars.
Poor young grandson, there's nothing I can say
You'll have to learn, just like me
And that's the hardest way, ooh la la
Ooh la la, la la, yeah
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger.
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger.
This Day in History:
In 1542, Hernando de Soto died while looking for gold in the Mississippi river. This was shortly after he had told some of the natives that he had supernatural powers,a nd was immortal. Not on the best of terms with the locals, his body was immediately buried. THe grave raised the suspicions of the indians in the area, and fearing that the natives would discrace his body and dig him up, they promply dug him up themselves and dropped him into the Mississippi river in a Navy Burial.
In 1881, Clara Barton started the American Red Cross. So...now you know.
IS this whom you're thinking of?
Because if so, that'd be Clara Bow, and you'd be wrong. WRONG, I SAY!
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris France, after completing the 1st non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
To quote the Writer's Almanac:
In order to keep the plane as light as possible, he redesigned it himself. He didn't take a radio, a parachute or any navigational equipment. He tore unnecessary pages from his flight journal, trimmed the margins from his maps, and only brought five sandwiches for food. Bystanders on the airfield tried to offer him rabbits' feet, wishbones, horseshoes, and even a kitten, but Lindbergh only accepted one gift, which was a St. Christopher's medal. He started down the runway at 7:51 a.m. on May 20, 1927. The gasoline tank was so heavy that he had trouble getting the plane into the air, and only cleared the telephone lines by twenty feet.
From the take-off in New York, he flew north over Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, navigating by checking maps against the landmarks he could see on the ground. After three hours of flying he began his first stage of the journey over the ocean, with no landmarks to help him find his way. He had decided that if he didn't see Nova Scotia when he expected to, he would turn back.
He had not gotten much sleep the night before, because of nerves and the reporters who had wanted to interview him, and he was terrified to find himself getting sleepy within the first few hours of the flight. He began to keep himself awake by routinely making notations in his log and taking a sip of water every few minutes. He reached Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and then flew in toward the city of St. John's because he wanted people to know he'd gotten at least that far. People who saw his plane said they could almost read the serial number on the underside of the wing. It was the last land Lindbergh would see until he reached Ireland.
He turned east toward Europe just as night was falling. For the next fifteen hours, no one would know if he were alive or dead. People across America would later say that they stayed up thinking about Lindbergh that night, praying for his safety. The humorist Will Rogers wrote in his column, "No attempt at jokes today. A . . . slim, tall, bashful, smiling American boy is somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where no lone human being has ever ventured before. . . . If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted loss we ever had."
After reaching the halfway point of his journey, Lindbergh's exhaustion began to disorient him. He later wrote, "It [seemed] impossible to go on longer. All I [wanted] in life [was] to throw myself down flat, stretch out—and sleep." In order to keep himself awake, he flew close enough to the water to feel the spray on his face. He began to hallucinate, and even saw a coastline before his calculations said that he should. When he flew toward it, the coastline vanished.
After more than twenty-four hours, Lindbergh spotted fishing boats on the water. He flew in toward them and shouted, "Which way is Ireland!" They didn't answer, or he couldn't hear their answer, so he flew on. He reached Ireland a few hours later, and turned south toward Paris.
As he approached the airfield where he was supposed to land, around 10:00 p.m., he was confused by the strange array of lights. He had to circle around awhile before he realized that the strange lights were cars stuck in traffic, people trying to get to the airfield to see the landing.
Lindbergh touched down at 10:24 p.m. on this day in 1927, thirty-three and a half hours after he'd taken off. About 150,000 people mobbed the landing strip in Paris, shouting, "Vive Lindbergh!" When he got out of his plane, the crowd picked him up and passed him over their heads, before he even had a chance to step on the ground. The American ambassador to France got him medical attention and took him to a hotel, where he finally got to lie down in bed. That night the ambassador sent a telegram to Lindbergh's mother that said, "Warmest congratulations. Your incomparable son has honored me by being my guest. He is in fine condition and sleeping sweetly."
He became one of the most famous men in the world overnight. Radio and newsreels were both new mediums at the time, and this was one of the first big stories for both. His image was captured on an estimated 7.4 million feet of newsreel film in the next three weeks. People in movie theaters who saw the first newsreels announcing his success burst into applause.
His achievement helped spur the aviation industry, as people began to pour money into airline stocks. Several songs were written about him and a dance called "The Lindy" was named after him. New York City gave him the largest ticker tape parade of all time, and he received the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "In the late spring of 1927, something bright and alien flashed across the sky. A young Minnesotan who seemed to have nothing to do with his generation did a heroic thing, and for a moment people set down their glasses in country clubs and speakeasies and thought of their old best dreams."
Lindbergh went on to write two books about the flight, including We (1927) and The Spirit of St. Louis (1953), which won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
In 1956, The United states dropped the first airborne hydrogen bomb over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, and had literally explosive results.
Since I mentioned the word "bikini", you KNEW this was gonna happen. So we may as well get it out of the way....
Becare not to stare too long, as you might go blind.
From the sun, that is.
Right, the sun......
Today's birthdays include Fairuza Balk, who has been acting since an early age, as she had been in "Return to Oz" as Dorothy. However, she wasn't really known until she played a teenage witch in a teen movie called "The Craft". Bad movie, but plenty of sights to keep your mind off of it.
Fairuza later went on to play Vicki Vallencourt in "The Waterboy" with Adam Sandler.
It also happens to be Mr T's birthday. THe "I pity da fool..." line is old, clichee'd and dead, and I prefer to remember him as Clubber Lang, because he made such a great bad guy in Rocky III, even if the movie itself wasn't so great.
Ah, what the heck. Happy Birthday, Mister T.
Religion:
Kabbalah seems to be the new Scientology, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned. The most famous devotee would be Madonna, who seems to have recruited quite a few other celebs to the religion, including Britney Sprears and a few others.
If you find God through it, fine, but I hate the idea that they are treating religion as a fad. The best news I had heard in a long time was that Bitney Spears got a tatoo on the back of her neck that was supposed to read "New Era" in Hebrew. But she screwed up and now it doesn't mean anything. Fool!
Maybe it's because I've grown tired of Madonna, and her desire to be out in front of everyone, and be the latest in fashion and glamour and htis and that and the other. I admire what hse has been able to do with her life, but she isn't the girl she was in the early 90's. Now....the term "sea hag" comes to mind. And then I think of the old Popeye cartoons and laugh and the world doesn't seem to be as bad anymore.
But then there was this note on IMDB.com yesterday:
Superstar Madonna is poised to shock fans on her upcoming Re-Invention tour - by being "electrocuted" live on stage. The American Life singer is planning to make a series of bold statements in the controversial concerts, and has come up with a show that will make pal Britney Spears's raunchy Onyx Hotel tour look tame. As well as being "frazzled" in an electric chair, Madonna will also screen video footage of the corpses belonging to victims of the war in Iraq, perform sexy lesbian dance routines and have scantily-clad pregnant women dancing along to track "Papa Don't Preach." A source tells British newspaper the Sun, "This show will make people's hair stand on end. Madonna has pulled out all the stops to make it her most controversial yet. The electric chair scene is breathtaking. The concerts are really going to cause a stir on the same level as her Sex book and the Erotica album. But tempers have been frayed and she has been swearing every five minutes at the team putting the show together. The atmosphere is really fraught." Madonna's tour will begin in California next Monday.
Madonna is well past the point where she could surprise me. She's done the lesbian bit since the "Justify my love" video, and in the "Music" video to boot. There was the Britney Kiss episode, and all of the other drama that goes along with Madonna. She was starting to show her age as an act in the late 90's and hasn't shown me much since then to prove me wrong.
The lesbian thing just isn't shocking anymore. Well, wait. Let me correct that. Madonna as a lesbian isn't surprising anymore. While it's not a globally accepted way of life (see: current headline), it's gained alot of ground since the hush-hush days of my youth.
The electric chair bit is interesting cinema, and her making some controversial statements during the show might provide some entertainment, seeing how she plans on going from a serious commentary about fallen soldiers to "OK! Look at me! I'm sucking on another woman's breast!"
Final verdict on Madonna: Whatever and 2 Yawns.
Making a difference:
I was sitting down the other night with Bailey. Mom had taken the older 2 off to a play rehearsal (more on that in a moment), leaving me in charge of Bailey. Amazinglly, the wife still trusts me after the other day.
Well, she was playing on the living room floor, and I was sitting on the couch taking in the Twins and Blue Jays. In a moment of pure innocence, she tottled over to me, and asked in her little way to sit on my lap. I picked her up and sat her next to me where she cuddled in. It was a very small moment between us, but it was everything I needed right then. And then she made it better by excitedly pointing to the TV to shout "BASEBALL!"
So we watched the game togeather, sitting next to each other, until she drifted off to sleep. It was a small moment that held no signifigance, except for the fact that it meant everything to me at the time. I was proud that she was taking an interest in the things that I was interested in...that the values I was instilling were taking root.
But then it got even better.
The local community college puts togeather plays for kids to act in. They go from casting to curtain call all in one week. Monday was casting. They asked kids to act out little scenarios in order to see ho had the acting chops, and who would get what lines. According to the reports I received, Restory overwhelmed them with her performance, and tehy would have given her the narrator role had she been older. But because of the short amount of time and the # of lines for the narrator, they didn't feel that she'd be able to get them all. So instead she got a role with 9 lines.
Restory was quite proud of herself, and deservedly so. Kids from all over the community tried out and she got a prime speaking part in the play.
Well, her neighborhood friend Katie tried out as well, and only got 1 line. Katie also happens to be older than Restory, and the jealousy reared it's ugly head. Katie got quite upset, and was throwing a fit on the way home. Not exactly befitting a 5th grade girl, but what can you do?
Well, this is where Restory really shined. Even though this speaking part was everything that Restory wanted, and despite how much it meant to her to get it, she offered to give Katie her lines in order to make Katie happy. She was willing to give over what she had worked so hard for and had earned through her efforts, without a moments hesitation. It was one of the more magnanimous moments I had seen from her at any time, and made me feel more proud of her than I can put to words.
Here! Here was a lesson we as parents had always hoped that she would learn! Or any of the other girls for that matter. And she gave of herself, without any thought of her own need. She had performed this mitzvah (good deed) without any prodding or suggestion by anyone else.
There are moments that I doubt myself as a parent. Just about every parent does at one time or another. These are the moments that provide the balance...that re-assure me that I'm doing something right, and not bungling up their lives as it might seem. That sounds like I am saying I am proud of me, but I guess what I am trying to say is that I am proud of them.
That's it for today. I had meant to get to the Hometown Hotties, But I think I'll save that for tomorrow. The Saturday edition won't be too in-depth, but it'll be something at least.
Until tomorrow.
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