Rest in Peace French-born American actor Robert Clary (March 1, 1926 – November 16, 2022), well known for his roles as Corporal Louis LeBeau on Hogan’s Heroes (1965–1971), Robert LeClair on Days of Our Lives (1972–1987), Pierre Roulland on The Young and the Restless (1973–1974), and Pierre Jourdan on The Bold and the Beautiful (1990–1992).
Posted in Because I Can, News, The Little Screen (Television)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story of Roy Neary, an everyday blue-collar worker in Indiana, whose life changes after an encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO).
Close Encounters was a long-cherished project for Spielberg. In late 1973, he developed a deal with Columbia Pictures for a science fiction film. Though Spielberg received sole credit for the script, he was assisted by Paul Schrader, John Hill, David Giler, Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Jerry Belson, all of whom contributed to the screenplay in varying degrees. The title is derived from Ufologist J. Allen Hynek‘s classification of close encounters with aliens, in which the third kind denotes human observations of aliens or “animate beings.” Douglas Trumbull served as the visual effects supervisor, while Carlo Rambaldi designed the aliens.
Made on a production budget of $20 million, Close Encounters was released in a limited number of cities on November 16, 1977[3] and November 23, 1977[4]before expanding into wide release the following month. It was a critical and financial success, eventually grossing over $300 million worldwide. The film received numerous awards and nominations at the 50th Academy Awards, 32nd British Academy Film Awards, the 35th Golden Globe Awards, the 5th Saturn Awards, and has been widely acclaimed by the American Film Institute.
In December 2007, it was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[5] A Special Edition of the film, featuring additional scenes, was released theatrically in 1980. A third cut of the film was issued on VHS and LaserDisc in 1998 (and later DVD and Blu-ray). The film was remastered in 4K and re-released in theatres on September 1, 2017 for its 40th anniversary
Posted in The Big Screen
Cheetos lovers are some of the most passionate snackers in the game, and they know that you can’t enjoy the cheesy snack without getting your fingertips a little —okay, a lot—messy. That’s why, today, the Cheetos brand is proud to unveil the Cheetle Hand Statue in Cheadle, Alberta—a monumental celebration of the iconic orange dust, Cheetle, in a hamlet that sounds just like it.
That’s right, Canada, there’s an official term—and now a statue—for the powdery residue that’s left behind after eating your favourite Cheetos snacks—whether it’s Puffs, Crunchy or new Cheetos Popcorn. In fact, according to the dictionary, “Cheetle is the brand name for the powdery residue that gets on your fingertips while eating the savoury cheese snack, Cheetos.” The more you know…😉
“Cheetos fans have always known that the delicious, cheesy dust on their fingertips is an unmistakably delicious part of the Cheetos experience, but now it officially has a name: Cheetle,” said Lisa Allie, Senior Marketing Director, PepsiCo Foods Canada. “We’re excited to be celebrating Cheetle and Canadians’ cheesy, Cheetle-dusted fingertips on such a grand scale and in such a uniquely mischievous way.”
Posted in Because I Can, Events, Food
Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., known mononymously as Gallagher, was an American comedian who became one of the most recognizable comedic performers of the 1980s for his prop and observational routine that included the signature act of smashing a watermelon on stage with a sledgehammer. For more than 30 years, he played between 100-200 shows a year, destroying tens of thousands of melons with the sledgehammer he called the “Sledge-O-Matic”. Gallagher’s 13 TV comedy specials is second most all-time, behind only George Carlin.
Sledge-O-Matic
Though it varied from performance to performance, Gallagher would usually end each of his shows with his signature “Sledge-O-Matic” routine.
It traditionally began with the following preamble:
“Ladies and gentlemen! I did not come here tonight just to make you laugh. I came here to sell you something and I want you to pay particular attention!
The amazing Master Tool Corporation, a subsidiary of Fly-By-Night Industries, has entrusted who? Me! To show you! The handiest and the dandiest kitchen tool you’ve ever seen. And don’t you wanna know how it works!?
Well, first you get out an ordinary apple. You place the apple between the patented pans. Then you reach for the tool that is not a slicer, is not a dicer, is not chopper in a hopper! What in the hell could it possibly be?! The Sledge-O-Matic!”
Gallagher would then produce a large, usually wooden, mallet, roughly the size of a sledgehammer, and smash it down onto the apples, hurling chunks of produce into the audience. People in the first several rows were usually prepared with tarps and raincoats, and many comedy clubs took great measures to cover up and protect their interiors with tarps and plastic sheeting.
Edit: I found my favorite one! With One and Two, and a “graphical” Bomb-Tomb-Comb..
Posted in Because I Can, Literary, News, The Little Screen (Television)
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to his country for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’
Posted in Because I Can, Patriotic
On November 10, 1969, “Sesame Street,” a pioneering TV show that would teach generations of young children the alphabet and how to count, makes its broadcast debut. “Sesame Street,” with its memorable theme song (“Can you tell me how to get/How to get to Sesame Street”), went on to become the most widely viewed children’s program in the world. It has aired in more than 120 countries.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Little Screen (Television)
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, May 1975.
SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a cargo ship that sank suddenly during a gale storm on November 10, 1975, while on Lake Superior. The ship went down without a distress signal in 530 feet (162 m) of water at 46°59.9′N 85°6.6′W, in Canadian waters about 17 miles (15 nm; 27 km) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay. All 29 members of the crew perished. Gordon Lightfoot‘s hit song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, helped make the incident the most famous marine disaster in the history of Great Lakes shipping.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day
Posted in Because I Can, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Clocks turn back an hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, marking the beginning of standard time for the next few months.
This means that this weekend will be an hour longer than normal, but it will get dark an hour earlier in the evenings.
Standard time will be used through March 12, when clocks will “spring” forward an hour to begin Daylight Saving Time.
Ironically, standard time is no longer the norm. About two-thirds of the days during the year now operate on Daylight Saving Time.
Daylight Saving Time now begins on the second Sunday of March each year and ends on the first Sunday of November.
DST has roots tracing to 1918 in the United States, though not all places always observed it. Currently, it is not used in Hawaii and most of Arizona.
Posted in Because I Can
Posted in Because I Can, Humor, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Most of us know and love M&Ms for their colorful coatings and delicious chocolate center. They’re known for being perfect snacks at the movie theater and a must-have come Halloween candy season. Yes, they’re a staple, but do you know why exactly they’re named M&M’s?
As it turns out, the answer is pretty simple. M&Ms is named for its founders Forrest Mars, Sr. and Bruce Murrie. The Ms in M&Ms simply stand for Mars and Murrie.
How did the name and candy itself come about, though? Mars moved to England in the 1930s where he started making Mars Bars for troops. He later encountered British soldiers eating candy-coated chocolate beads that were more resistant to melting, and given that chocolate sales fell in summer due to temperatures and a lack of air conditioning, the idea for M&Ms was born.
When Mars came home to the United States, he teamed up with Murrie, the son of Hershey executive William Murrie. The partnership ensured a steady supply of chocolate during an anticipated shortage of both it and sugar during World War II. Murrie received a stake in the company, his name was added to the candy, and the rest is chocolate history.
Of course, over time M&Ms has grown into much more than a wartime ration. Now, they’re a pop culture staple thanks to the brand’s iconic M&M animated figures, and the candy itself has taken on new iterations like peanut-filled options and even pretzel versions.
While the candy is likely to continue evolving with new flavors and new adventures for those animated M&Ms, now, you’ll always know where that moniker actually comes from.
Posted in Because I Can, Food
