Quote of the day :
Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
~ Betty Smith (US writer who was also born today.)
Picture of the day :
Youtube video of the day :
In two minds about my choice of a clip for today. As it’s Don Johnson’s birthday I thought I’d go look for the Crockett’s Theme to Miami Vice and noticed this : Heartbeat by Don Johnson. I do actually remember liking it when it came out in ’86 – I just don’t remember it sounding quite so… dire. I did look for a better recording as, sad as it sounds, the one below is one of the best.
What I also noticed it how few hits they are all. One had been up for a year and only been watched 200 times, another, posted about 5 years ago, still only showed about 70,000 viewing. If you want to read the commentary it got on wikipedia first, I don’t blame you. It might have made number five in the charts at the time, but it was also ranked ranked 90 on the list of the 100 ‘Worst Songs Ever’ by one DJ.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vJyG6FybcTQ]
You might be on safer ground with Crockett´s Theme for Miami Vice, by Jan Hammer. Great instrumental. I still have it on 12″ single somewhere! The cleanest version I found had over 6 million view, but it also has a lot of strobing, so I’ve linked a lesser but still good version. If you are ok with the flickering lights, it’s this :
youtube.com/watch?v=_UmOY6ek_Y4
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvhGcTWPjdo]
On this day…
Born today :
- Roman emperor, Nero (ad 37)
Roman emperor, Lucius Verus (ad 130) - Engineer and architect, Gustave Eiffel (1832)
- Doctor and linguist, L. L. Zamenhof (creator of Esperanto)
- Physicist, Antoine Henri Becquerel (Nobel laureate)
Discovered radioactivity along with Marie and Pierre Curie - Businessman and art collector, Jean Paul Getty (1892)
- Actor, Jeff Chandler
- Actor, Bob Todd
- Country singer, Jerry Wallace
- Actor and singer, Don Johnson
- Japanese voice actor, ChÅ
- Actress and singer, Michelle Dockery
For start, she played DEATH’s adopted granddaughter, Susan Sto Helit, in Hogfather - Musician and singer, Dave Clark (5)
Also on this day in history
In the States, in 1791, the Bill of Rights became law.
In 1877 Thomas Edison applied for a patent for the phonograph.
Today was the birthday of Alan Freed in 1922, the American DJ credited with giving ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ its name.
The London Underground’s Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opened in 1906. It was the longest underground at the time.
Staying with train history a moment longer, the last steam locomotive made at Crewe rolled out in 1958. Engine number 92250 was the 7,331st locomotive built there.
Gone with the Wind premiered at Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. (1939)
The next one is apt at the moment, given China’s remote rover Yutu (Jade Rabbit) landing on the moon yesterday – 1970 watched the Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully land on Venus. It was the first successful soft landing on another planet.
1978 saw another spacecraft land, this one inbound and carrying young Kal-El in the release of the epic Superman movie, starring Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent.
Other notable movies released on this day included Mel Brooks ‘Young Frankenstein’, Starring Gene Wilder (1974), Jumanji, starring Robin Williams (1995) and Eragon (2006).
Trending at this moment:
Nothing of great note beyond the death of Peter O’toole after a long illness.
