Question: In news shows you hear politicians using the phrase:” I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Where did that come from?

Answer to yesterday’s question below: Pres. Barack is having a basketball court built in the Whitehouse so he can shoot hoops while thinking. Nixon liked to bowl while thinking, Gerald Ford swam laps. What did Mozart do to think?
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History for 2/4/2009
Birthdays: Francois Rabelais, Big Bill Haywood, Fernand Leger', Charles Lindbergh, the Agha Khan, Betty Friedan, Rosa Parks, Erich Liensdorf, Alice Cooper, Dan Quayle, Ida Lupino, Conrad Bain, McKinlay Kantor, George Romero, Lisa Eichhorn, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, Clyde Tumbaugh amateur astronomer who discovered the Pluto in 1930.

211 AD Roman Emperor Septimius Severus died, despite praying every night to a line up of statues that included Zeus, Apollo, Mithras, Moses and Jesus. This guy wasn’t taking any chances! His two sons Caracalla and Geta became co-emperors. That didn’t last too long because by December Caracalla killed his brother and ruled alone.

1703- THE 47 RONIN- A Japanese story that has inspired hundreds of play novels and films.The Lord of Ako, Asano Nagori quarreled with Kiru, the chief of protocol for the Shogun, and struck at him with his sword. To attack a representative of the Shogun was an insult no matter how justified, so Nagori was ordered to commit suicide (seppuku) and his samurai declared Ronin, or discharged freelancers. The Ronin banded together to plan their revenge. They ambushed Kiru, and placed his severed head on the grave of their master. Then they sat in his house to quietly await judgement. After consulting several Shinto bishops, the Shogun could see no dishonor in what they did. So instead of executing them as criminals, on this day they were allowed to commit suicide, which they did unquestioningly. Today their gravesite is a popular shrine in Japan as a model of total dedication to duty.

1775- MR. PITT’S PLAN- Legendary British statesman William Pitt the Elder, was Prime Minister during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years War) and called "the Architect of the British Empire" . Today he came out of retirement to try to solve the American Crisis before violence could break out. With the support of Whigs like Lord Shelburne, Edmund Burke, Rockingham and Charles Fox and with his friend Benjamin Franklin attending, Mr. Pitt proposed in the House of Lords that Britain legitimize the American Congress and give it seats in Parliament. He stated “The Britons in America are only doing what we Britons in Britain should be doing, namely, demanding our rights.” But Mr. Pitts’ plan was voted down by Lord North and the government party, who passed a bill instead allocating more money to hire German mercenary troops to crush the malcontents. Ministers now placed bets on how soon they would burn Boston.
It’s intriguing to think how history would have changed had Pitt's solution been adopted, for at this time most Americans like George Washington were not yet interested in a complete break from Mother England. The hard core radicals like John and Sam Adams worried that if America did win Parliamentary seats, that the momentum for independence would be lost.

1783- Britain declared a formal cease fire with it's former colonies the U.S.
ending the American Revolution.

1826- James Fenimore Cooper’s novel “The Last of the Mohicans” was published. The character of wild frontiersman Natty Bumpo called Hawkeye has been referred to as the first American superhero.

1861- Delegates of the several Southern states meet in Montgomery Alabama to declare themselves the Confederate States of America. They decide to move the rebel capitol to Richmond, Virginia to insure that the Old Dominion State will join their cause.

1861- At the same moment in Washington D.C. a group of Virginia politicians led by old former President John Tyler arranged a covert peace conference between the slave states and free states in one final attempt at compromise. Despite long talks in a backroom of Willards Hotel they emerged more divided than before.

1861- The Apache Wars began. The U.S. Army arrested Apache chief Cochise for raiding his neighbors. Cochise escaped and declared war on the white man. The conflict would rage off and on until 1886 and involved all the various Apache tribes as well as their cousins the Navajo.

1871- Ms. Victoria Woodhull testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the subject of women's voting rights. She was the first woman to testify before Congress, the first woman to run for President and the first woman to own a stock brokerage on Wall Street. Yet she is not as well known a figure as Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cadie Stanton. The mainstream suffragette movement was shocked of her open advocacy of Free Love, Spiritualism and Socialism.

1940- Soviet dictator Josef Stalin had Nicholai Yezhov, the Commissar of Internal Affairs and leader of the NKVD, the secret police, arrested and shot. In 1956 Khruschev said Yezhov was an alcoholic and drug addict who got what he deserved.”

1945-YALTA- Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet to map the postwar world. In an unguarded moment Roosevelt told Stalin that America only intended to stay in Europe two more years. Later in the month a courier plane flying over Germany to Russia is shot down. Maps showing the agreed occupation zones of postwar Germany fall into the hands of the Nazis. Knowing how much mercy they could expect from Stalin most of the top officials of the Third Reich arrange to be captured in the American Zone.

1961- United Artists released the Misfits, the last film of stars Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. John Huston directed and Arthur Miller wrote the screenplay. The film flopped in its initial run but has since gained classic status.

1968- Old beatnik Neal Cassady was found dead in Mexico. Cassady was not an intellectual but his wild non-conformist lifestyle was the inspiration for his companion author Jack Kerouac to write his greatest novel " On the Road'. While Kerouac disliked hippie kids Cassady in 1967 drove the first Hippie Bus filled with LSD advocates like Ken Kesey. Jacques Kerouac also died in the same year 1968 of advanced alcoholism.

1983- Pop singer Karen Carpenter died of anorexia-nervosa. She was 32 and only weighed 77 pounds. Her death brought to national prominence how the social pressure to stay thin could lead to this deadly condition.

2003-Legendary rock and roll producer Phil Spector allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend B-Movie actress Lana Clarkson at his LA mansion. Spector created the Wall of Sound concert technique and produced for the Beatles among many others. Clarkson was the Barbarian Queen and appeared in Scarface and Fast Times At Ridgemont High. The few days before, Phil Spector said to the British Daily Telegraph, "I don't know, genetically, whether or not that had something to do with what I am or who I became. I would say I'm probably relatively insane, to an extent. I take medication for schizophrenia, but I wouldn't say I'm schizophrenic. I have a bipolar personality, which is strange.”

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Question: Pres. Barack is having a basketball court built in the Whitehouse so he can shoot hoops while thinking. Nixon liked to bowl while thinking, Gerald Ford swam laps. What did Mozart do to think?

Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus liked to shoot billiards while thinking.

Once each year, at the Hollywood Studio Museum ( aka the Barn) in Hollywood, the Animation Guild, ASIFA Hollywood and Women In Animation present An Afternoon of Remembrance “a non-denominational celebration of departed friends from our animation community”. We used to do it in a church, but most animators are pagans who get fidgety in such sacred surroundings and want to tell naughty jokes about their friends. So we use the DeMille/Lasky Barn, the first true Hollywood Studio, to meet and share our stories.

This year it takes place this Saturday, Feb 7th, at 1pm. Tributes will be paid to:

1. John Ahern (October 29)layout artist
2. Bob Allen- designer of the Howdy Doody Puppet.
3. Gus Arriola (February 3)creator of the comic strip Gordo
4. Phyllis Barnhart (February 6)ink & paint
5. Gordon Bellamy (January 29)NY animator who taught at Pratt.
6. Harriet Burns (July 25)Designer of the Mickey Mouse TV Clubhouse
7. Greg Burson (July 22)voice actor
8. John W. Burton, Jr.-Warners and Hanna & Barbera's key cameraman.
9. Vivian Byrne (March 11) ink & paint
10. Joyce Carlson (January 2)WED Designer
11. Bob Carr (September 27) animator
12. Rose Di Bucci (May 28) cel services
13. Charlie Downs (July 21)animator
14. Ray Ellis (October 27)composer of the Spider Man theme song.
15. Joni Jones Fitts (November 16) special effects artist
16. Etsuko Fujioka (April 10)ink & paint
17. Steve Gerber (February 10) creator of Howard the Duck
18. Fernando Gonzalez (December 8, 2007)animator
19. Yoo Sik Ham (January 14)xerox processor
20. Larry Harmon- Bozo
21. Margie "Hix" Hermanson (March 12)ink & paint
22. Ollie Johnston (April 14)Legendary Animator and last of the Nine Old Men.
23. Ted Key (May 3)Cartoonist creator of Hazel the Maid, and Peabody & Sherman
24. Eartha Kitt- chantuese, voice on The Emperor's New Groove.
25. Andy Knight (April 10)Canadian Studio director Red Rover.
26. Harvey Korman (May 29)voice actor
27. Lyn Kroeger (March 29) assistant animator

28. Brice Mack (January 2)Disney BG artist
29. Bill Melendez (September 2)animator, director of A Charlie Brown Christmas
30. David Mitton (May 23)director of Thomas the Tank Engine
31. Gary Mooney (August 5) animator
32. Jim Mueller (November 13)layout artist
33. June Nam (February 24) assistant animator
34. Ethan Ormsby (June 12)compositing, lighting TD
35. Bill Perez (August 29)animator
36. Richard Pimm (September 24) Nelvana Cameraman and WD TV producer
37. Oliver Postgate Creator of beloved British childrens shows Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and the Clangers
38. Denis Rich (November 26, 2007) designer of the opening titles of the 1978 Christopher Reeve Superman movie.
39. Dodie Roberts (February 11)supervisor of the Disney paint lab.
40. Irma Rosien (April 11)layout, assistant anim supervisor
41. Gerard Salvio (June 23)NY Animation union rep Local 841.
42. Dalton Sandifer (April 16)animation writer Loopy De Loop, Atom Ant
43. Don Sheppard (February 21)storyboarder
44. Gina Sheppherd (April 5)ink & paint
45. Robert Smith (October 10)layout artist
46. Jim Snider (January)assistant animator
47. Al Stetter (January 27)animator
48. Dave Stevens (March 10) Creator of the Rocketeer,and re-discovered Betty Page
49. Morris Sullivan (August 24)Co-owner of Sullivan Bluth Studio Ireland
50. Emru Townsend (November 12)Canadian animation historian
51. Pat Raine Webb- president of ASIFA/UK
52. Choyoko Wergles (February 21)ink & paint
53. Bob Winquist (September 10) former Director of Cal Arts
54. Justin Wright (March 18)PIXAR animator

Animators, producers, legends, novices. One was 99, one was 27. Now all are one, as the Greeks would say.

The Afternoon of Remembrance is free of charge and is open to all. No RSVPs necessary. You don't have to be related to anyone to attend. It is about the animation industry remembering our friends and colleagues. Believe it or not, it's not that sad or morbid an occasion. Food and refreshments, and good stories. In previous years Chuck Jones spoke of is friend Friz Freleng, Bob Kurtz recalled Marc Davis. We learned a lot about many artists alternate pursuits like one who invented the game Chutes and Ladders, one was a drummer of the rock band the Turtles, one spent a summer with Picasso and wrote a book- My Summer with Picasso. Laughter, tears, memories, but never dull.

1 pm * Memorial speeches, 2 pm
Hollywood Heritage Museum (Lasky-DeMille Barn)
2100 N. Highland (across from Hollywood Bowl), Hollywood, California. Lots of free parking. Enter the parking lot on Odin St.



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Quiz: Pres. Barack is having a basketball court built in the Whitehouse so he can shoot hoops while thinking. Nixon liked to bowl while thinking, Gerald Ford swam laps. What did Mozart do to think?

Answer to Yesterdays Question below: What are French Fries called in France, English Muffins in England, Buffalo Wings in Buffalo, and American Cheese in America?
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History for 2/3/2009
Birthdays- French King Charles VI the Mad –1380, Happy 200th Felix Mendelson-Bartoldy, Horace Greely, Gideon Mantell 1790-pioneer British fossil hunter that named the Iguanadon, Pretty Boy Floyd, Gertrude Stein, Norman Rockwell, James A. Michener, Joey Bishop, Shelley Berman, Bob Griese, Fran Tarkenton, Victor Buono, Blythe Danner, Morgan Fairchild is 59, Nathan Lane is 53

Today is the Feast of St. Blaise, patron saint of sore throats and sick cattle.

1780- EARLY AMERICAN SERIAL KILLERS- For those who think this kind of crime is a symptom of our sick Secular-Humanist modern society:

In rural Connecticut Revolutionary War veteran Barnett Davenport was rooming at the farm of Mr. Caleb Mallory. This day for no apparent reason Davenport murdered Mr Mallory, his wife, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren using his rifle and farm tools. The incident was widely reported in the young nations press and was quite sensationalized.

At about the same time the Harpe Brothers went about the hills of Kentucky nabbing hapless travelers & farmers. Their favorite prank was to torture their victim with pig sticks, then disembowel the unfortunate, fill the hole with stones & chuck the corpse into the nearest watercourse. Finally the community raised a posse and chased the brothers to some remote place. One of them escaped while a musket ball split the spine of the other, unhorsing him. As he fell to the ground, one of the pursuers leapt onto him and began to saw at the Harpe's neck with his hunting knife; “ you're a damned rough butcher, but cut on and be damned” cried Mr. Harpe. The hunter “wrung off his head as one would a hog”. They put the head in a bag & set off for home, but it was now winter & as hunger set in, they cooked & ate it, nailing the bleached skull to a tree, from where it grinned down on frightened travelers for years after. Our Forefathers.

1862- President Lincoln received a message from the King of Siam offering him Siamese war elephants to help him win the Civil War. He politely passed on the offer.

1863- MARK TWAIN- This day in the Virginia City Territorial Register newspaper was an article authored by someone calling himself - 'Mark Twain', pseudonym of Samuel Clemens. Mark Twain was the Mississippi River pilot's term for when a steamboat is in two fathoms of water or more, in other words, safely enough away from shallows to proceed at full speed.

1889-THE BANDIT QUEEN- Today outlaw Belle Starr was shotgunned out of the saddle by an old boyfriend. She usually shot them first. Originally named Myra Belle Shirley, she pursued a career as an outlaw and had two children, one by Cole Younger, another by a member of the James Gang. Rustler, gunfighter, prostitute, sideshow performer-she said: "Let's just say I'm a woman who's seen a lot of the world."

1912- The rules governing U.S. football are revised. The playing field was shortened to 100 yards; a touchdown counted as six points instead of five; four downs are allowed instead of three and the kickoff point was moved from midfield to the 40 yd. line.

1913- Federal Income Tax Amendment ratified. Booo!

1920- The play Beyond the Horizon premiered. The first hit of a young man who tried to drink himself to death, but instead became a playwright- Eugene O’Neill.

1930- Roy Disney signed a deal with M. George Borgfeldt Co. of New York to sell figurines of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Disney merchandising is born! The first plush doll of Mickey was sewn by the mother of Warner Bros director Bob Clampett.

1945- Walt Disney’s the Three Caballeros premiered.

1948- The first Cadillacs with big rear tail fins were produced.

1953- Jacques Cousteau, inventor of the Aqua Lung published the Silent World, and later made a film version of the book with Louis Malle.

1959-FIFTY YEARS AGO- "The Day the Music Died" The first Rock & Roll tragedy. Top pop stars Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson died in plane crash. They were on tour and Holly chartered the small plane so they could get to Fargo, North Dakota in time to get his shirts cleaned. Waylon Jennings was supposed to join them but he gave up his seat to Richardson because Richardson was running a fever and didn’t want a long cold bus ride. As they left Richardson teased Jennings:” Hope your bus doesn’t freeze.” And Jennings joked:” Hope your plane doesn’t crash.” The plane was called the American Pie, which inspired a Don McClean’s hit song “Bye, Bye Miss American Pie.”



1962- John F. Kennedy signed the trade embargo act against Cuba, banning all trade with Fidel Castro’s regime. White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger recalled how the night before JFK had him go around Washington DC and buy up all the Havana cigars (Monte Cristos) he could for the White House humidor. It’s still in effect today.

1973- Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law.

1989- Swiss firm L'Oreal/Nestle bought animation studio Filmation from Westinghouse and shut it down laying off 229 artists the day before a new federal regulation requiring a company give it's employees 60 day notice before closing went into effect.

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Yesterdays Question: What are French Fries called in France, English Muffins in England, Buffalo Wings in Buffalo, and American Cheese in America?

Answer: Pommes Frites, American Muffins, Hot Wings, and American Cheese. Interesting, American Cheese is not called American Cheese outside America, but Mild Cheddar.

I heard that our old comrade Raul Garcia has won the Goya Award, Spain's Oscar, for his feature film the Missing Lynx, co-produced by Antonio Banderas.

Raul Garcia is an animator who has worked on films around the world such as Lucky Luke, Bluth's Land Before Time, Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and more. He directed an Award winning short of the TellTale Heart, and this is his first major feature film direction. We hope it is first of many.
You'd be hard put to find anyone important in animation who does not know Raul and even more rare to find someone who does not like him.

Here is the movie trailor in English.
http://www.themissinglynxmovie.com/

Congratulations and Felicitaciones from all your old friends across the globe, especially in El Pueblo Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles de Porcincula (aka LA)
I'm sure Melon is very proud. Glory to you!

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Quiz: What are French Fries called in France, English Muffins in England, Buffalo Wings in Buffalo, and American Cheese in America?

Yesterdays question answered below: If you recently saw the Sergio Leone classic spaghetti western- The Good the Bad and the Ugly, did you know the action takes place around one real historical event? What was it?
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History for 2/2/2009
Birthdays: Tallyrand, Charlie Halas a co-founder of the NFL, James Joyce, Ayn Rand, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifitz, Abba Eban, Garth Brooks, Christie Brinkley, Tommy Smothers, Stan Getz, James Dickey, Liz Smith, Elaine Stritch, Brent Spinner is 60, Shakira, Farrah Fawcett is 62

Happy Groundhog Day. This morning if Paxatawney Phil sees his shadow, it means 6 more weeks of winter.

In ancient Rome it was the day for the lesser Eleusinian Mysteries. Part of the ceremony was you were given a bowl of wine with certain herbs in it. After drinking it you saw the gods. In 1946 experimenting to find the nature of these ancient herbs led Dr. Albert Hoffman to discover LSD.

12-1300's-In the middle Ages this was the day of the Winter Reysa- when Crusader Knights of the Teutonic Order would venture into the Lithuanian forest, find a village of pagans, and chop them up for the Christian Faith. There were two expeditions a year, this one and in the summer. The Prussian Knights ran a sort of Club-Med for northern knights who wanted to crusade but not risk the dangerous journey to Palestine.

1536- The City of Buenos Aires founded.

1565- CZAR IVAN THE TERRIBLE exhibited the first signs of mental unbalance. Without warning, he abandoned his capitol Moscow in December. It took several weeks for the Russian court to find him at a little village named Alexandrov, 350 miles away. A procession waving incense and icons came out to beg him to return. He said he would return only if he were allowed to deal with his enemies ruthlessly. This day he returned to the Kremlin with a private army called the Oprichina, 6000 criminals and peasants dressed as monks to help Ivan torture people.


When once asked if a group of Jews from Lithuania could settle in Muscovite lands, Ivan explained his opposition: “ Jews would bring strange herbs into our realm and lead astray Russians from Christianity.”

1709- William Dampier was a reformed buccaneer who wrote books about his travels. This day while cruising the South Seas he rescued a man named Sir William Selkirk, who had been marooned on an otherwise uninhabited island for two years. It seems Selkirk had gotten into an argument with the captain of a Chilean schooner who left him there. Upon returning to London Capt. Dampier mentioned the incident to his friend writer Daniel DeFoe, who used it to create his most memorable novel- Robinson Crusoe.

1848- TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO signed, which ended the U.S.-Mexican War. Ambassador Nicholas Trist was given the dangerous assignment of finding the Mexican Government fleeing the American assault on Mexico City, then convincing them to sign away California and the Southwest, approximately 40% of their national territory. Just when negotiations in the little village of Guadalupe Hidalgo were about to conclude successfully, he got a message from Washington to break off talks and return. President Polk had changed his mind and now wanted the complete annexation of Mexico down to the Yucatan! Trist knew if he did this, the war party in Mexico would keep up a guerrilla war for decades afterwards. So he ignored the message, signed for the U.S. and fixed our southern border.

When Trist got home, instead of thanks, he was arrested for treason. But President Polk couldn't convince his war-weary people to continue the war. So the treaty was upheld. The French tried conquering Mexico twenty years later and got the Mexican national uprising Trist avoided. Nicolas Trist was released from prison, but he never got his back pay until President Lincoln awarded it to him on his deathbed 16 years later.

1852- London’s first public toilet was dedicated- near 95 Fleet St.

1870- Samuel Clemens also known as Mark Twain, married Olivia Langdon or Livy.

1870-The first international news agency. Reuters, Havas and Wolf News Agencies agree to pool their resources to cover the world. United Press International.

1910- D.W. Griffith's' In Old California', sometimes called the first Hollywood film.

1912- New York’s Grand Central Station opened.

1920- Admiral Kolchak, leader of the anti-communist (White) Russian armies in the civil war that followed the Bolshevik Revolution, was shot by firing squad and chucked into a dry canal. For a year Kolchak was defacto dictator of all Russia from the Ural mountains to the Pacific.

1922- the novel "Ulysses" is published. James Joyce had finished the book months earlier but delayed publishing until his birthday, when it would be 2/2/22, which he considered lucky.

1922-Twenty one year old Walt Disney founds Newman's Laff-O-Grams in Kansas City.

1925- IDITEROD- THE SERUM RUN COMPLETED- Nome Alaska at this time was a town totally depended upon supplies from the outside world traveling in by sled dog teams. When a serious epidemic of diptheria threatened the population the call went to the ‘Outside” as Alaskans called the rest of the world, for help. It normally took a musher 18-20 days to cover the 650 miles from the coast to Nome, now a relay of 20 teams in short sprints would attempt to do it in 5 days in the depth of winter. One musher reported blizzard conditions so bad he couldn’t see the end of his team. While the press kept the world waiting breathlessly on this day Charlie Evans and his malamute team led by his lead dog Balto got into Nome with the serum in a metal cylinder wrapped in fur. At one point two of his dogs froze to death in harness and Evans took up their place himself and ran alongside the dogs the balance of the trip. It took 5 days and 7 hours. The epidemic was limited to five deaths. The 20 men and their teams were hailed as heroes. Although the dog Balto got most of the credit and has a statue and a movie about him, experts say a 48 pound Siberian husky named Togo did the greatest exertion, going 200 miles in the first leg. The Iditerod sled race is today run in commemoration of this event. The last surviving musher of the original race, Edgar Nollner, died in 1999 at 94 years old

1940- Soviet dictator Stalin had famed futurist theater director Vselevod Meyerhold shot.
At the time of his arrest Meyerhold’s wife Zinaida was stabbed to death. Neighbors who heard her screams assumed they were rehearsing a new play.

1957- Elizabeth Taylor married producer Mike Todd. Todd was killed in a plane crash a year later. Despite her famous association with Richard Burton, Taylor later said Mike Todd was the only one she ever truly loved.

1961- In a little Greenwich Village nightclub called the Blue Angel, a young television writer turned stand up comic made his first debut. His name was Woody Allen.

1963- In England, singer Helen Schapiro was on tour. On the lower end of her program card was a new band called the Beatles.

1966- Woody Allen married Louise Lasser.

1971- After a coup toppled legal President Milton Obote former British colonial sergeant Idi Amin was inaugurated as president in Uganda. Before being driven out in 1979 by the Tanzanian army Dr.Idi Amin Dada was one of the more outrageous dictators of post colonial Africa. He declared himself Conquerer of the British Empire, led his pitiful little army in mock invasions of Israel even though it was thousands of miles away and he was surrounded by hostile nations. He played drums in his own rock band, wrestled crocodiles, and once reputedly killed and ate one of his sons.

1979- Lead singer for the punk band Sid Vicious found dead of a drug overdose. The 21 year old was awaiting trial for the stabbing death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

1985- O.J. Simpson married Nicole Brown Simpson.

2006-The Cartoon Riots. A Danish newspaper printed a political cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with his turban shaped like a bomb. This so offended the Moslem world that rioting broke out in Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jakharta and European capitols. Grenades were thrown at Danish embassies and Danish nationals made to flee.
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Yesterdays question: If you recently saw the 1967 Sergio Leone classic spaghetti western- The Good the Bad and the Ugly, did you know the action takes place around one real historical event? What was it?

Answer: Sibley’s Raid was the one attempt to extend the Civil War into the Southwest. In the film you heard the characters refer to Rebel General Sibley. Henry Sibley led a regiment of Confederate cavalry out of Texas to try and conquer the California goldfields. They were stopped outside of Santa Fe New Mexico territory by militia from Colorado, California and Utah at the battle of La Glorieta, also called the battle of Apache Pass. Confederates scouts reached as far west as Phoenix, Arizona.

Quiz: If you recently saw the Sergio Leone classic spaghetti western- The Good the Bad and the Ugly, did you know the action takes place around one real historical event? What was it?

Yesterday’s Question answered below: Thinking of modern problems, what U.S. President said to the CEO of U.S. Steel:” My father warned me that all businessmen are sons of bitches, but I never believed it until I met you!”
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History for 2/1/2009
Birthdays: Victor Herbert, Langston Hughes, Renata Tebaldi, Clark Gable, John Ford, George Pal, Terry Jones, Jim Thorpe, Sherman Helmsley, Lisa Marie Presley, Garrett Morris, Boris Yeltsin, Pauly Shore, Sherilyn Fenn

Welcome to February from Februarius, named for Februus, a Sabine god of the underworld called the Purifier. Another theory is this month is named for Febis, the Latin for fever, this being a time in the Roman climate when fevers were most common.

570 AD- Today is the Feast Day of Saint Brigid, an Irish saint who gave beer to the poor.

1733- Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland died. Described as Half-Bull- Half Cock, he could break horseshoes with his bare hands and drink anyone under the table. He wasted his kingdom’s treasury indulging his vices and filling his palace at Dresden with bejeweled treasures and porcelains, which make it such a cool tourist destination today. One of the horniest monarchs of Europe, his reputation for fornication would be unbelievable, had he not left behind regiments of bastard children. His last words were “My entire life has been one long act of Sin.”

1887- California land Developer Harvey Wilcox takes out a county deed for a new ranch he calls 'Hollywoodland' after the name of an estate his wife admired back in Connecticut. It gave its name to the new Los Angeles town- Hollywood.

1893- In New Jersey Thomas Edison and his engineer W. K. Dickson built the FIRST MOTION PICTURE STUDIO in New Jersey. It was covered with black tar paper and nicknamed"The Black Mariah" because that was the nickname of police paddy wagons that it resembled. It's debatable how much of the inventing effort was more Dickson than Edison. Edison was only marginally interested in the movies. He was more concerned with how to extract New Jersey iron ore from rocks using magnets. Dickson worked himself into the hospital to make the studio work, and resenting Edison’s apathy started experimenting on his own. When Edison found out he fired him.

1896- Puccini's opera "La Boheme" debuts in Turin. It was based on Prosper Merimee’s popular book Bohemian Sketches. Puccini's old roommate Piero Mascagni (Cavaleria Rusticana) with whom Puccini and he once lived like Bohemian artists, tried to sue because he was writing a Boheme' also. The suit failed and Mascagni released his rival version but it didn't hold up in comparison with Puccini's.

1901- Outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with prostitute Hedda Place, sometimes referred to as Mrs.Sundance, escape the law back in Wyoming and arrive in New York City to relax. After a month of sightseeing they take a ship to Bolivia.

1943- At his headquarters at the Wolf’s Lair in East Prussia, Adolf Hitler received the news of the Nazi disaster at Stalingrad. Hitler was furious. Not that he lost 250,000 of his best men but that their commander Field Marshal Von Paulus surrendered instead of committing suicide.”This hurts me so much that the heroism of so many soldiers was nullified by one single characterless weakling.” Then Hitler said in a foreshadowing of his own fate:”When the nerves break down, there is nothing left but to admit one can’t handle the situation and to shoot oneself.”

1964- Indiana Governor Matthew Walsh declares that the Rock & Roll song “Louie-Louie” by the Kingsmen was pornographic and should be banned. The FCC investigated and their conclusion was that the “lyrics are unintelligible at any speed”. The song remained a major hit. In the 1980’s several schools in Northern Cal held Louie-Louie Marathons-96 straight hours of Louie-Louie, played by Punk bands, polka bands, string quartets, folk trios and marching bands. Whoah whoah, Me gotta go-yo,yo yo yo.

1968- During the Vietnamese Tet Lunar Offensive-as cameras rolled South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan put a snub nosed pistol to the head of a Vietcong prisoner and pulled the trigger. The photo of the young mans death grimace became one of the more disturbing images of the 1960’s.

1979- The Ayatollah Khomeni returned to Teheran Iran after a 15 year exile.

1990- Siegfried & Roy open their exclusive show at the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas. They and their white tigers have performed for Hollywood stars, presidents and Pope John Paul II. One Vegas columnist notes: “When Elvis performed in Vegas there were some empty seats. But there are nothing but full houses when Siegfreid & Roy perform.” The act was finally ended by Roy’s throat being slashed by a tiger in 2003.

2003-“ Columbia this is Houston on UHF, Houston, Columbia on UHF…” NASA’s first spaceshuttle- the Columbia, broke up and disintegrated upon reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts were killed. The Columbia had flown 26 missions since 1981. On board was the first woman astronaut born in India and the first Israeli in Space, Col. Llan Ramon.

2004- At a Superbowl live halftime show pop star Justin Timberlake pulled the bra cup off of singer Janet Jackson exposing her right breast with a starburst stud on it. Named “the Wardrobe Malfunction”, the incident sent America into another one of its periodic paroxysms of Puritan censorship.
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Yesterday’s Quiz: What U.S. President said to the CEO of U.S. Steel:” My father warned me that all businessmen are sons of bitches, but I never believed it until I met you!”

Answer: John F. Kennedy. US Steel promised to not raise prices if they got JFK to force concessions from the Steelworkers unions. After he did, they raised prices anyway, eliciting this outburst from the President. Kennedy’s father, Joe Sr. was himself a Wall St buccaneer, so he oughta know.

The 2008 Annie Award Winners are:

John Lasseter won the Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production

FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS -- The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Ent.

Best Animated Short Subject

WALLACE & GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH -- Aardman Animations Ltd.

Best Animated Television Commercial

United Airlines HEART -- Duck Studios

Best Animated Television Production

ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II -- ShadowMachine

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER -- Nickelodeon

Best Animated Video Game

KUNG FU PANDA -- Activision

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

Li-Ming Lawrence Lee -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Feature Production

James Baxter -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form

Pierre Perifel -- SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE -- DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Nico Marlet -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Nico Marlet -- SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE -- DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

John Stevenson & Mark Osborne -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Joaquim Dos Santos -- AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER "Sozin's Comet Pt. 3" -- Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production

Hans Zimmer & John Powell -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell -- SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE -- DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Tang Heng -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Tang Heng -- SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE -- DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Jen Yuh Nelson -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Chris Williams -- GLAGO'S GUEST -- Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Dustin Hoffman -- Voice of Shifu -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Ahmed Best -- Voice of Jar Jar Binks -- ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II -- ShadowMachine

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger -- KUNG FU PANDA -- DreamWorks Animation

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells, Breckin Meyer -- ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II -- ShadowMachine

Special juried awards honoring career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation were also awarded: Winsor McCay recipients -- Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation; June Foray award -- Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation; and Certificate of Merit award -- Amir Avini, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev.

Congratulations EVERYONE...winners, crews, & nominees!
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In case you're curious, Who the heck are ASIFA? An offshoot of Hezbollah?

ASIFA-Hollywood: An Organization With A Purpose
ASIFA-Hollywood is the Los Angeles chapter of the international organization, ASIFA: The International Animated Film Society. Founded by a group of animators like John Hubley, Paul Grimault and Dusan Vukotic' in 1957, and chartered by UNESCO in 1960.

ASIFA encourages the art of animation and furthers international understanding and goodwill through the medium. Today, there are about thirty chapters of ASIFA all over the globe. ASIFA is a French acronym for "Association Internationale du Film D'Animation."

ASIFA-Hollywood was established over thirty-five years ago as a 501(c)(3) California non-profit organization. It is the largest chapter of ASIFA in the world. We are self-sustaining through our membership dues and the proceeds from our various projects and events.