HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA DAY For my friends Down Under, where I’ll be speaking in a week. Did you know that the history of European Australia is tied to the American Revolutionary War? Back when America was part of the British Commonwealth it was convenient for England to transport its convicts to the Colonies. Indeed, it [...]
Movie
HISTORY OF GUY FAWKES DAY For our friends across the Pond November 5th is known as “Bonfire Night” or “Guy Fawkes Night,” and all over Britain people fire off fireworks, light bonfires, and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. Guido Fawkes was an Englishman who, in popular legend, tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament [...]
HISTORY OF STAR TREK I can remember it like it was yesterday, though it was 45 years ago now. In the summer of 1966 there was a preview of a coming new Fall TV series with …a starship the size of a city. Then, on September 8, 1966 the first episode of Star Trek premiered [...]
MOVIE REVIEW: THE KING’S SPEECH Check out my review of the popular film: The King’s Speech over at my other blog, Culture Vulture. It is a movie that’s already getting lots of Oscar buzz, and you know why? It deserves it. This is the best movie I’ve seen this year, or in a couple of [...]
HISTORY OF TOWEL DAY May 25 celebrates Towel Day as a day to honor Douglas Adams, the author of the five (or six) book trilogy Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Originally created in May of 2001 to mark the passing of English science fiction humor author Douglas Adams, the day is set aside for fans of [...]
MOVIE REVIEW: AVATAR Gobsmacked! It is like full immersion in a high-quality, beautifully rendered, high-definition video game. I’m not really a computer game player, my tastes lean more toward the Wii, but this might make a convert of me: there’s one for the iPhone. Indeed, Avatar has been called “the iPhone of movies.” The movie [...]
I’ve written two new movie reviews this week: Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The blockbuster movies of the Summer have begun with a bang. Both are expected to draw large crowds and huge ticket revenues. Can Wolverine beat Spock two falls out of three? Is the USS Enterprise faster than Wolverine’s motorcycle? How does [...]
