Okay, let's get back on track with a robust daily blogging schedule here at TFE. Happy Wednesday y'all. Here are your 5 assignments for the day.
5 Ways to Honor This Day (June 14th) in History
2013 The Bling Ring opens in movie theaters. By and large people fail to recognize its brilliance immediately. This is the same thing that happens to almost every Sofia Coppola movie.
In its honor: Take all early reactions to The Beguiled, good bad or indifferent, with a huge grain of salt. It opens very soon but first impressions are not likely to last. Her movies are sticky.
1985 John Huston's penultimate movie Prizzi's Honor starring Jack Nicholson, Katheen Turner, and eventual Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, opens in theaters. It's not even the earliest release for a Best Picture nominee that year! Get this statistic...
60% of the Best Picture list in 1985 opened in theaters before August (!) and only one of the acting winners came from a December release. Can you imagine? Wouldn't it be sweet to see Oscar look at a whole calendar year again?
In its honor today: Get frisky. Roll right off the bed like Kathleen & Jack or, to honor Anjelica's "Maerose Prizzi," do it on the floor "...right there on the Oriental. With all the lights on." Hee!
1951 Russian director Alexander Sokurov of Russian Ark and Francophonia fame was born on this day.
In his honor today: Go to an art museum and pretend he's watching you in one long unbroken shot. P.S. If you have time Francofonia which is about the Louvre during Nazi occupation is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
1942 Walt Disney's Bambi is released in the United States. On this same day over in The Netherlands, Anne Frank begins her diary which she had received on her birthday two days prior. Imagine a better world when that famous 13 year old girl could have enjoyed something as frivolous and beautiful and magical as a Disney movie instead of worrying for the lives of all her loved ones.
In their honor: Fight for that better world. Vote only for politicians who fight for the dignity of all people, not just ones that look and believe and act as you do. And if you're only worried about your own kind, check yourself. Divisions and "othering" labels make us vulnerable to evil men who are all too happy to exploit those divisions and prejudices for their own gain.
1847 Robert Bunsen invents "The Bunsen Burner". Did you know that Bunsen Honeydew is named after him? And you agree that Bunsen Honeydew is the best Human muppet, don't you? That last question is rhetorical. Of course you do.
In his honor: Invent something. Or torture your own "Beakie" if you're feeling feisty.
Other Anniversaries
Actors Born on this Day: Happy 103rd birthday to Gisele Casadesus (Afternoons with Marguerite, Sarah's Key) in France. Yes she's still alive!. Also: Burl Ives (1909), Sullivan Stapleton (1977), Louis Garrell (1983); Other Luminaries Worth Celebrating Born on This Day: legend Boy George (1961), Oscar winning editor Bob Murawski (1964), tennis star Steffi Graf (1969), writer Diablo Cody (1978), Movies Released on This Day: The Parallax View (1974), Secret Admirer (1985), Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991), The Cable Guy (1996), The Bourne Identity (2002), Man of Steel (2013); So Feisty: Zsa Zsa Gabor is arrested for slapping a Beverly Hills Patrolman (1989)