Articles by shira-gregory
Thu Nov 22, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 12th birthday, Toy Story!
On this day in 1995, Disney and Pixar released Toy Story
I plan on celebrating by playing with my t-- action figures.
Sat Nov 17, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy Life Day, Star Wars fans!
A Life Day that will live in infamy
Today in 1978 was the one and only time the Star Wars Holiday Special aired on CBS. Why just that one time, you might ask? Doesn't a trip with Han Solo and Chewbacca to Chewie's home planet sound like it would be on syndication forever? In it, Solo hangs out with Chewie's family, while they are being pursued by the Galactic Empire. Somehow the whole visiting of family made sense in the realm of the Holiday season, but maybe it hit a little too close to home for people who have to drink a lot in order to be around their hairy in-laws who yell a lot, don't make too much sense, thump their chests and if pushed, rip people's arms out of their sockets. I don't know about Wookies but that sure sounds a lot like how my in-laws behave.
Actually, that's just the least of the sins of this show. We're going to expose you to a truncated version of the show, and we'll see how much of your sanity remains intact afterwards:
Wed Nov 14, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 34th birthday, Dana Snyder!
Shake that thang, you!
Today is Dana Snyder's 34th birthday. Most of us only recognize him when he is playing a narcissistic talking milkshake with a penchant for irrational shenanigans, but the voice over artist is a favorite all across the Adult Swim board, not just as Master Shake in the absurdist hit, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. His voice has been featured on Minoriteam, Squidbillies and even Robot Chicken.
What most of us didn't know is that his most famous character, Shake, is pistachio flavored. Fancy that. You hear of pistachio ice cream, but you never see a pistachio milkshake. Why is that? Too chunky? But Shake isn't made from pistachio ice cream: he's made from pistachio flavored ice cream and that's different.
Mmmm, pistachio ice cream.
Excuse me.
Mon Nov 12, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
A Whale of an Anniversary
No WMDs discovered...
Today marks the anniversary of the first governmentally exploded whale. Yes, you read right: whale explosion.
37 years ago today, in an effort to dispose of a rotting carcass, the Oregon Highway Division set out to blow up a dead sperm whale with a half ton of dynamite. The resulting explosion sent blubber flying and totaled a car a quarter of a mile away. The incident was made famous in 1990 when columnist Dave Barry wrote about it with graphic hilarity, and the news footage of the disposal has since gone on to become the fifth most watched video on the Internet, according to the BBC.
And if you're wondering why "governmentally" exploded was the necessary modifier, it's because whales have been known to spontaneously blow up by themselves. Recently in Taiwan a dead sperm whale beat its transporters to the punch during a postmortem move when the gas inside its decomposing body built up enough for it to, well, you know what. If you thought your job sucked, just think of the janitor who was responsible for that clean up. Oddly enough, whales are not the only self-explosive animals; maybe just the funniest.
To no one's surprise, there's a web site devoted to this at theexplodingwhale.com. What is surprising is that there's currently a one man show running in Chicago about it. Countdown: The Story of the Exploding Whale runs Wednesday nights at 8pm from October 10th through November 28th at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N Lincoln Avenue. Bring the kiddies.
Sat Nov 10, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 47th birthday, Neil Gaiman!
Today we celebrate the birthday of one of comics most creative contributors, the great Neil Gaiman. To think, we all knew him when he was just writing some of the most brilliant comics out there, before he was responsible for half the films coming out from Paramount this year. But the man is nothing if not versatile-- he writes short stories, TV shows, movies, novels, and once even wrote a poem about erotic cannibalism in strict iambic pentameter.
While we tip him a bit of the birthday hat, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out this story from Munden's Bar...
Fri Nov 9, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
The death of the original Mary Jane
Don't blame Alan Moore
Boy, when this Mary Jane was threatened by a villian, he wasn't kidding around.
Today in England, 1888, marked the death of Jack the Ripper's last known victim, Mary Jane Kelly. Like most psychopaths, Jack started off killing his victims a certain way and once he got the taste for it just became more and more creatively sick (someone's been watching too many crime shows). So while the other girls got a punch in the face and had their throats cut, poor Mary was even more brutally murdered. She was found gutted with her intestines pulled out and decorated around the room, and her heart on the bedside dresser. Her face was unrecognizable.
It is so compelling a story that it inspired the graphic novel From Hell
Mon Nov 5, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Remember, remember the Fifth of November
V For Vendetta - Based Upon A True Story
Today in 1605, Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the English Parliament building, involved in a plot to blow up Parliament itself. The day was later known as "Guy Fawkes Day" and served as an inspiration for Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel, V for Vendetta.
Yes, today the folks across the pond remember, remember the fifth of November in honor of a sense of independence and a shaking of fists at British authority. While we reserve fireworks for summery July 4th, today is their excuse to blow things up and set things on fire. Really, every country should follow some such tradition of blowing things up in good spirits, but in light of recent world politics, let's not go there.
Or if we do, let's wear an awesome mask while we're at it.
Neil Gaiman, an ex-pat Brit, held an annual Guy Fawkes party at his home for many years. John M. Ford
Thu Nov 1, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 61st birthday, Dennis Muren!
Without whom we'd only be playing with clay and models
Born today in 1946, we celebrate the geekdom of Dennis Muren of Industrial Light & Magic, the first special effects artist so esteemed that he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Noting that he was responsible for the effects in the original Star Wars and that seven (count 'em: seven!) Oscar wins later he's still at the top of his game are facts not to be overlooked. Among Mr. Muren's impressive credits are Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, the flying bicycles in E.T. and more recently, Hulk and War of the Worlds.
Today we celebrate the man whose imagination and career literally paved the great white way of CGI visual effects in Hollywood, helping transform serious suspension of disbelief to viewers' pure engrossment.
So... what have you done for us lately?
Mon Oct 29, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 38th birthday, Internet!
Without which you'd be staring at the desk now
On this day in 1969, the first ever computer-to-computer link was estapblished on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. It was developed by a U.S. Governmental team called DARPA, which sounds just a little too close for comfort to the plotline on Lost. But it actually stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Nope, that's still pretty creepy.
But creepy or not, those brainiancs are indirectly responsible for this website, this tidbit and your reading of it, coming into being. Switchboards, zeros and ones, hell who cares how they did it as long as I can illegally download what happens next on Battlestar Galactica. Cheers to you, creepy governmental operations, and please keep 'em coming.
Incidentally, the first message was sent at 10:30 PM by UCLA student programmer Charley Kline and supervised by UCLA Professor Leonard Kleinrock. The message was sent from the UCLA SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the SRI SDS 940 Host computer. The message itself was simply the word "login". The "l" and the "o" transmitted without problem but then the system crashed. Therefore, the first message on the Internet was "Lo". They were able to do the full login about an hour later.
Fri Oct 26, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 34th Birthday, Seth MacFarlane!
Freaking sweet!
Today we celebrate the birthday of a man who has given us so much cause for hilarity, Seth MacFarlane, the man-child responsible for the shocking and hilarious television series, Family Guy
Thank you, teenagers and stoners nationwide, for your commitment to topical and nerd-material-citation humor. No one can deliver a Star Trek reference like MacFarlane can. Or for that matter, a Commencement Day speech at Harvard:
Thu Oct 25, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy birthday, Pablo Picasso!
Oh, and you're busted...
Today we celebrate the birthday of one of art's most important pioneers, Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Clito Ruiz y Picasso, born on this day in 1881. And you thought you had trouble being understood.
And speaking of Picasso and misunderstandings, we would be remiss if we didn't remind you about Gordon Lee, the Georgia retailer who was arrested for distributing an excerpt of Nick Bertozzi's now published graphic novel The Salon
Mon Oct 22, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 69th birthday, Derek Jacobi!
Six decades of Masterful acting
Today in 1938, the classically trained turned fantasy actor Derek Jacobi
While Jacobi trained at the University of Cambridge alongside the great Sir Ian McKellen, he never knew until much later in life that Sir Ian had a crush on him that McKellen now admits was "a passion that was undeclared and unrequited." Alas, poor Ian... although it looks like things pretty much worked out for the both of them.
Sun Oct 21, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 51st birthday, Carrie Fisher!
Today could not go by without our wishing a happy birthday to one of the greatest figures in sci-fi film history, Ms. Carrie Fisher. Fisher, who famously portrayed Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movies, was born in 1956. She adorned a golden bikini while kicking Jabba's butt, winning the hearts of boys all over and her ear-muff hair-do became her character's trademark. Certainly wardrobe had a thing to do with it, but it is also the lady who carried the look that really sealed her iconic status. Happy Birthday, Princess!
On the off chance you've never seen it, here's Carrie's audition. Note the day player she's acting against:
Sat Oct 20, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy anniversary, Return of the King!
Spoiler: the ring goes into Mount Doom
This day in 1955 brought us the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King
Fri Oct 19, 2007 — by Shira Gregory
Happy 61st birthday, Philip Pullman!
Today is Philip Pullman's birthday, who, sad to say, does not yet share the deserved household name status of his colleague, J.K. Rowling. Mr. Pullman was born in 1946 and penned the brilliant and award-winning series, His Dark Materials
Here's hoping the film does better than the last Kidman/Craig outing, The Invasion...
