Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday! History, Cinema, Sports, Music, More!

On This Date In 1775 Hoping to keep the New England colonies dependent on the British, King George III formally endorsed the New England Restraining Act, which required New England colonies to trade exclusively with Great Britain as of July 1. An additional rule would come into effect on July 20, banning colonists from fishing in the North Atlantic.
On This Date In 1814 The Battle of Paris was fought March 30 - 31 during the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. European forces allied against Napoleonic France marched triumphantly into Paris, formally ending a decade of French domination on the Continent. The French defeat led directly to the abdication of Napoleon I.
On This Date In 1820 Anna Sewell was born in Norfolk, England. The daughter of a successful children's book writer, she helped edit her mother's manuscripts from an early age but was not published herself until she was 57. Black Beauty, the first significant children's story in the English language to focus on animal characters, established the precedent for countless other works.
On This Date In 1855 In territorial Kansas' first election, some 5,000 so-called “Border Ruffians” invaded the territory from western Missouri and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. Although the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in the territory, Kansas Governor Andrew Reeder reluctantly approved the election to prevent further bloodshed.
On This Date In 1867 U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars, or about 2 cents per acre for the 586,412 square miles gained by the United States. Critics attacked Seward for the secrecy surrounding the deal, which came to be known as “Seward's folly.” The press mocked his willingness to spend so much on “Seward's icebox” and Andrew Johnson's “polar bear garden.” http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/mar30.html
On This Date In 1916 The 1916 Stanley Cup Final was played between the National Hockey Association (NHA) champion Montreal Canadiens and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Portland Rosebuds. This was the first time that a best-of-five Cup championship went the distance. Also, the Rosebuds were the first team based in the United States to play for the Cup. The Canadiens defeated the Rosebuds three games to two in the best-of-five game series.
On This Date In 1918 During World War I, The Battle of Moreuil Wood took place on the banks of the Arve River in France, where Allied forces attacked and forced the German 23rd Saxon Division to withdraw from Moreuil Wood, a commanding position on the river bank. This defeat contributed to the halt of the German Spring Offensive of 1918.
On This Date In 1918 The 1918 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the National Hockey League (NHL) champion Toronto and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) champion Vancouver Millionaires. In a series held entirely in Toronto, the Toronto team won the series by three games to two in the best-of-five game series to win the Stanley Cup. It was the first series contested by the new NHL and subsequently the first Stanley Cup win by the Toronto NHL franchise team.
On This Date In 1925 The 1925 Stanley Cup Final saw the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) champion Victoria Cougars defeat the National Hockey League (NHL) champion Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1 in a best-of-five game series. The Cougars were the last non-NHL team to win the Cup as the WCHL (renamed the Western Hockey League for the 1925–26 season) folded after the 1926 Cup Finals, leaving the trophy entirely to the NHL.
On This Date In 1940 During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) Japan established its own government in conquered Nanking, the former capital of Nationalist China. Nanking was declared by the Japanese to be the center of a new Chinese government, a regime controlled by Wang Ching-wei, a defector from the Nationalist cause and now a Japanese puppet.
On This Date In 1940 The 1940 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the participating champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 20, 1940, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 8 games were played, including a single third place game in the West region. Indiana, coached by Branch McCracken, won the tournament title with a 60-42 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Phog Allen. Marvin Huffman of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. At the time of this tournament, the National Invitation Tournament was the premier college basketball tournament, thus not being officially recognized as one of Indiana's three national titles.
On This Date In 1943 The 1943 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 8 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 24, 1943, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in New York City. A total of 9 games were played, including a third place game in each region. Wyoming, coached by Everett Shelton, won the national title with a 46-34 victory in the final game over Georgetown, coached by Elmer Ripley. Ken Sailors of Wyoming was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
On This Date In 1948 Henry Wallace, former vice-president and then Progressive Party presidential candidate, lashed out at the Cold War policies of President Harry S. Truman. Wallace and his supporters were among the few Americans who actively voiced criticisms of America's Cold War mindset during the late-1940s and 1950s.
On This Date In 1955 The 27th Academy Awards, held at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, honored the best films produced in 1954. The Best Picture winner, On the Waterfront, was produced by Sam Spiegel and directed by Elia Kazan. It had twelve nominations and eight wins, matching two other films, Gone with the Wind (1939) and From Here to Eternity (1953), even though those two each had thirteen nominations.
On This Date In 1965 During the Vietnam War, a bomb exploded in a car parked in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, virtually destroying the building and killing 19 Vietnamese, 2 Americans, and 1 Filipino; 183 others were injured. Congress quickly appropriated $1 million to reconstruct the embassy. Although some U.S. military leaders advocated special retaliatory raids on North Vietnam, President Lyndon B. Johnson refused.
On This Date In 1965 Princeton forward Bill Bradley set an NCAA men's basketball record with 58 points in a game against Wichita State. Bradley, who went on to serve three terms in the U.S. Senate (1979-1997), was the dominant player in college basketball that year and won the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.
On This Date In 1972 During the Vietnam War, the Easter Offensive, officially, the Nguyen Hue Offensive, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of (North) Vietnam against the Army of the Republic of (South) Vietnam and the United States between March 30 - October 22, 1972. This conventional invasion (the largest offensive operation since 300,000 Chinese volunteers had crossed the Yalu River into North Korea during the Korean War) was a radical departure from previous North Vietnamese offensives. Although not designed to win the war outright, North Vietnam hoped to gain as much territory and destroy as many units of South Vietnam as possible.
On This Date In 1974 Of his many enormous hits in the 1970s, none captured the essence of John Denver better than his first #1 song, “Sunshine On My Shoulders,” which reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart on this day in 1974. It was originally released as an album track on 1971's Poems, Prayers & Promises and later, as a single in 1973.
On This Date In 1981 The 1981 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 48 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1981, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A total of 48 games were played, including a national third place game (the last in the NCAA tournament). Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, won the national title with a 63-50 victory in the final game over North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith. Isiah Thomas of Indiana was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
On This Date In 1981 The Reagan assassination attempt occurred just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr. Reagan suffered a punctured lung, but prompt medical attention allowed him to recover quickly. No formal invocation of presidential succession took place, although Secretary of State Alexander Haig controversially stated that he was “in control here” while Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remains confined to a psychiatric facility. Hinckley fired a Röhm RG-14 .22 cal. blue steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds, missing the president with all six shots. The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second hit District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back of his neck as he turned to protect Reagan. Hinckley now had a clear shot at the president, but the third overshot him and hit the window of a building across the street. As Special Agent In Charge Jerry Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, the fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen as he spread his body over Reagan to make himself a target. The fifth hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open side door of the limousine. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in his left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, stopping nearly an inch from his heart. Had Parr hesitated for a moment, the president would likely have been hit in the head.
On This Date In 1987 The 59th Academy Awards were presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Paul Hogan. This ceremony was notable for being the last in 23 years to have multiple hosts, until the 82nd Academy Awards were hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Also in this year Hannah and Her Sisters won both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, remaining as the last film to win both supporting acting categories until 2011 when The Fighter achieved this. The film also won Best Writing - Original Screenplay. An interesting thing to note is that Best Actress winner Marlee Matlin became the first (and only as of 2011) deaf Oscar winner. As of 2012 Platoon is the last film to have 2 supporting actor nominations.
On This Date In 1987 The 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1987, and ended with the championship game on March 30 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A total of 63 games were played. Indiana, coached by Bob Knight, won the national title with a 74-73 victory in the final game over Syracuse, coached by Jim Boeheim. Keith Smart of Indiana, who hit the game-winner in the final seconds, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. This was also the last tournament in which teams were allowed to have home court advantage: Syracuse (2E) and Arizona (10W) both opened the tournament playing on their home courts.
On This Date In 1988 “Beetlejuice,” an American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros, was released. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Sylvia Sidney, and Michael Keaton as the titular Betelgeuse (the film's title being a phonetic spelling of the character's name). Beetlejuice was a financial and critical success, grossing $73.7 million from a budget of $13 million. The film spawned an animated television series that Burton produced. A sequel, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, was scripted but never produced.
On This Date In 1992 The 64th Academy Awards were presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The show was the third consecutive to be hosted by Billy Crystal. When Jack Palance won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Curly in City Slickers (which also starred Crystal), Palance's acceptance speech began with the joke “I crap bigger than him (Crystal)” - a reference to a similar line in the film. Palance also used some of his speech time to prove his virility by performing one-handed push-ups. The Silence of the Lambs won the five major awards out of seven nominations, becoming only the third film to accomplish the feat of winning the “Top Five”, after It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). As of 2009, it is also the only horror movie to ever win Best Picture. This year's ceremony made Academy Award History as Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture, the first time an Animated Feature Film was bestowed with such honor. The Picture garnered a total of six nominations in four different categories, eventually collecting two awards for its Music (Best Original Score and Original Song, for “Beauty and the Beast”).
On This Date In 1994 “The Division Bell,” the final studio album by Pink Floyd, was released on March 30 on EMI in the United Kingdom and April 5 on Columbia in the United States. It was their second album without Roger Waters. It went to #1 in the UK and debuted at the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts in April 1994, spending four weeks as the top album in the country. By contrast, Pink Floyd's previous album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, had peaked at #3. The Division Bell was certified Gold, Platinum, and Double Platinum in the U.S. in June 1994 and Triple Platinum in January 1999. Its release was accompanied by an extremely successful tour documented in the P•U•L•S•E album released the following year.
On This Date In 1998 The 1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1998, and ended with the championship game on March 30 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. A total of 63 games were played. Kentucky, coached by Tubby Smith, won the national title with a 78–69 victory in the final game over Utah, coached by Rick Majerus. Jeff Sheppard of Kentucky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. This was Kentucky's third straight championship game appearance.
On This Date In 2004 “Honkin' on Bobo,” the fourteenth studio album by American hard rock band Aerosmith, was released. The album includes eleven covers and one original track titled “The Grind”. The sound reflects Aerosmith's blues-based influences and showcases a rawer sound (reminiscent of their 1970s heyday) compared to their recent commercial efforts, and was also produced by Jack Douglas, who was Aerosmith's producer on a vast majority of their 1970s' output. In keeping with much of the sexual slang and innuendo Steven Tyler incorporates into his lyrics, the term 'honking on bobo' is a euphemism for oral sex. Reaching #5 on The Billboard 200, Honkin' on Bobo was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on May 11, 2004, and has sold 590,000 units in the U.S. as of October 2006.
On This Date In 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama issued an ultimatum to struggling American automakers General Motors (GM) and Chrysler: In order to receive additional bailout loans from the government, he said, the companies needed to make dramatic changes in the way they run their businesses. Obama also announced a set of initiatives intended to assist the struggling U.S. auto industry and boost consumer confidence, including government backing of GM and Chrysler warranties, even if both automakers went out of business. In December 2008, GM (the world's largest automaker from the early 1930s to 2008) and Chrysler (then America's third-biggest car company) accepted $17.4 billion in federal aid in order to stay afloat. At that time, the two companies had been hit hard by the global economic crisis and slumping auto sales; however, critics charged that their problems had begun several decades earlier and included failures to innovate in the face of foreign competition and issues with labor unions, among other factors.

Hat tip to any included contributing sources, along with:


Happy Birthday Ingvar Kamprad (1926), John Astin (1930), Warren Beatty (1937), Jerry Lucas (1940), Eric Clapton (1945), Dana Gillespie (1949), Robbie Coltrane (1950), Charlie Weis (1956), Paul Reiser (1957), MC Hammer (1962), Tracy Chapman (1964), Piers Morgan (1965), Celine Dion (1968), Norah Jones (1970), Jason Dohring (1982), Anna Nalick (1984), and Samantha Stosur (1984).

RIP Goya (1746 – 1828), Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896), Vincent van Gogh (1863 – 1890), Brooke Astor (1902 – 2007), Countee Cullen (1903 – 1946), Frankie Laine (1913 – 2007), Randy Warmer (1955 – 2004), Secretariat (1970 – 1989), and Adam Goldstein (1973 – 2009).


Quotes

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Don't worry so much about your self- esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward. Laura Schlessinger

Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and an be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face. St. Francis of Assisi

A brother is a friend God gave you; a friend is a brother your heart chose for you. Proverb

To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. Clara Ortega

Our dead brothers still live for us and bid us think of life, not death / of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and glory of Spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil, our trumpets, sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will. Oliver Wendell Holmes


Courtesy YouTube et al

These Dreams is available on iTunes and Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007IKXIPO/ref=dm_dp_trk10

Love NewsBusted and want to receive alerts about new episodes in your email? Visit ‪http://newsbusters.org/newsbusted to sign up for free!
Starring: Jodi Miller
Production: Dialog New Media …

Star Wars "Feline Domesticus"!


Philippians 3:13-14 (New Living Translation)
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.


No comments:

Post a Comment