Ephemeris of Miscellany

Patricia Highsmith, New Year's Eve, 1947- “My New Year’s Eve Toast: to all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace." ... Ugh, this year we lost David Lynch, Gene Hackman, Val Kilmer, Brian Wilson Michael Madsen, Connie Francis Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Bridget Bardot, Rob Reiner... and we'll get another similar to list next year.  December 31, 2025 ... Not only did Zuzu really like West Side Story, she pointed out that one of Spielberg's shots was an homage to the French New Wave, haha. December 31, 2021 ... Great news, eight babies riding bats have come to wish us a bright new year. That's not a bad omen or anything, is it? ... And a Happy New Year from Monkey Brand Soap too. ... Those still clinging to the absurd notion that Trump won the election are victims of the Tinkerbell Cognitive Bias. They ...

Sandy Koufax was born on this day in 1935. Bob Uecker- "Career highlights? I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets." Willie Stargell- "Trying to hit him was like trying to drink coffee with a fork."  Al Campanis- "There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up: The first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the first time I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball" 7× All-Star (1961–1962, 1963–1966), 4× World Series Champion (1955, 1959, 1963, 1965), NL MVP (1963), 3× Cy Young Award (1963, 1965, 1966), 2× World Series MVP (1963, 1965), 3× Triple Crown (1963, 1965, 1966), 3× MLB wins leader (1963, 1965, 1966), 5× NL ERA leader (1962–1966), 4× MLB strikeout leader (1961, 1963, 1965, 1966), Pitched a perfect game on September 9, 1965, Pitched four no-hitters. Los Angeles Dodgers No. 32 retired, Major League Baseball All-Century Team, Major League Baseball All-Time Team.  Wow! ......

Pelé left us today. Andy Warhol- “Pelé is one of the few who contradicted my theory. Instead of 15 minutes of fame, he will have 15 centuries.” He was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, after Thomas Edison. Shortly before he was born, electricity had just come to his town. Nobody is sure how he got the name Pele.  He grew up in poverty, using makeshift soccer balls out of wadded up paper stuffed in socks, or grapefruits. He was declared a national treasure by the president of Brazil when he was 20. A goalkeeper who played against him in the 1962 International cup said, “I arrived hoping to stop a great man, but I went away convinced I had been undone by someone who was not born on the same planet as the rest of us.” From The Washington Post obituary- "The genius of Pelé’s play prompted a 48-hour cease-fire in at least one civil war as Nigerians put their arms down to behold his mastery during a 1969 exhibition in Lagos." He said in a 2001 interview- “Wherever you go, there are...

We all have our individual fries at the pier. Reminds me of the Black Elk thing, the provinciality of all religions. ... I'm sad to see that Brigitte Bardot is no longer with us. The New York Times called her "the pouty, tousle-haired French actress who redefined 20th century sex symbolism in films beginning with “And God Created Woman,” then gave up acting at 39 to devote her life to the welfare of animals." What a life.  More excerpts from her New York Times obituary: "Ms. Bardot was 23 when “And God Created Woman,” a box-office flop in France in 1956, opened in the United States the next year and made her an international star. Bosley Crowther, writing in The New York Times, called her “undeniably a creation of superlative craftsmanship” and “a phenomenon you have to see to believe.” Like many critics, he was unimpressed by the film itself." "The author [and feminist philosopher] Simone de Beauvoir, in a 1959 essay, “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndro...

Biden declared that the national bird is the bald eagle. Another landmark achievement in the long struggle of bald rights.  December 27, 2024 ... I've thought about Trump too much in my life, I knew it was going to happen the second he won. If he wins again, he won't but if he does, I'm going to think about him the way that the Acoma people of New Mexico think about tribal members who get too uppity. They all share the water, and once in awhile there's a guy who decides that he needs a nice lawn out in front of his. They're no real laws, but people just kind of scoff at it. If Trump runs again, he's driven by money, and his idea of status, so let him have some money, who cares. December 27, 2022 Postscript- He won. And this is good advice. ... The Onion- Crowd Roars In Approval As Makeup-Smeared Trump Begs Rally To Tell Him He’s Beautiful The Onion really nailed it this year. Can't be shared enough. https://trib.al/Su44jZU December 27, 2019 ... I only watche...