¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Ali Larter!

AKA Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter.

Born February 28, 1976.

She is an American actress who once played my favorite character on the TV series Heroes. Plus she reminds me of at least one former would-be novia. She also starred in the first two of the Final Destination movies though for some reason, I don't remember her that well from those films. Perhaps that is a blessing.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, José Vasconcelos!

AKA José María Albino Vasconcelos Calderón.

Born February 28, 1882. Died June 30, 1959.

He was the author of the 1925 essay The Cosmic Race aka La Raza Cósmica, an essay which helped popularized the use of La Raza as shorthand for the mixed race folk of Latin America. Ironically, it is often considered today to be as politically incorrect as the Eurocentric philosophies it had once sought to replace.

Movie Quote of the Week

Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.
--Albert Collins, Adventures in Babysitting (1987)

TV Quote of the Week

Didn't I throw you out a window?
--Ali Larter, Heroes, "Landslide"

Quote of the Week

Then, I realized something. I was all of four-foot-nothing. He was a six-foot-two cop. He had a police car. He had a baton. He had handcuffs. He had a radio that he could use to call for more policemen with more police cars and more batons. He had a gun. He had bullets. And... he was afraid of me.
--Brian Copeland, Not a Genuine Black Man: Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs

R.I.P. Harold Ramis

American actor, writer and director Harold Allen Ramis, most famous for his contributions to such movies as Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Stripes and Groundhog Day, finished his final script yesterday at age 69.

He will be missed.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Edward James Olmos!

Born February 24, 1947.

He is a Mexican-American actor best known for his roles as William Adama in the new Battlestar: Galactica TV series and Lt. Martin Castillo in the TV version of Miami Vice. He is the one actor who comes closest to portraying the archetypical Mexican-American as far as my generation is concerned. And he was also nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver.

Greek Animals

1. ailouros -- cat.
2. alopex -- fox.
3. arachne -- spider.
4. batrachos -- frog.
5. chelona -- tortoise.
6. lykaina -- she-wolf.
7. lykos -- wolf.
8. nessa -- duck.
9. netta -- duck.
10. oktopous -- octopus.
11. ophis -- snake.
12. pantera -- panther.
13. pithekos -- ape; monkey.
14. phryne - toad.
15. psyche -- butterfly.
16. sauros -- lizard.
17. sphex -- wasp.
18. strix -- owl.
19. tauros -- bull.
20. tigris -- tiger.
21. tragos -- he-goat.

Greek Mythological Terms in Greek

1. Amazon -- Amazon.
2. Amazones -- Amazons.
3. androktones -- literally, "killers of men"; Herodotus' term for the Amazons.
4. antianeirai -- literally, "those who fight like men"; Homer's term for the Amazons.
5. Arimaspoi -- Arimaspi; Scythian tribe of one-eyed archers.
6. Artemision -- Temple of Artemis.
7. Cheimerioi -- men of Winterland.
8. Demeroi--Demeter's children; the dead.
9. Erotes -- winged gods associated with love and sex.
10. Lampades -- nymphs of the Underworld.
11. mainas -- maenad; madwoman.
12. Megale Meter -- Great Mother.
13. Meter Megale -- Great Mother.
14. Meter Theon -- Mother of the Gods.
15. mousa -- muse.
16. mousai -- muses.
17. nymphai -- nymphs; girls of marriageable age.
18. nymphe -- nymph; girl of marriageable age.
19. Ploutonion -- sanctuary of the Greek god Plouton (i.e. Pluto).
20. Potnia Theron -- literally, "Mistress of the Animals".
21. satyroi -- satyrs.
22. satyros -- satyr.
23. seiren -- siren.
24. seirenes -- sirens.
25. theoi -- gods.

Song Quote of the Week

But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver.
--Don McLean, “American Pie”

Pop Song of the Week: "The One That Got Away"

Yet another reminder that you never quite know what you've got till it's gone. And from Katy Perry of all people.

There might be hope for her yet.

Movie Song of the Week: "Animal Crackers in My Soup"

From the 1935 musical Curly Top, it's one of the most memorable numbers ever performed by the late Shirley Temple.

Random Thoughts

I have seen more people carrying umbrellas on sunny days during the last three years than I have ever seen carry umbrellas on sunny days during the ten years prior to that. In fact, it seems like I see more people carry umbrellas on sunny days nowadays than on rainy days.

The problem with speaking truth to power is that you actually have to speak the truth.

You can tell a computer is old when it shuts off every time you expect it to stay on automatically and stays on every time you expect it to shut off automatically.

I can't help but wonder how many of the people questioning Obama's citizenship would welcome a Schwarzenegger presidency.

Should I find it ironic that the most honest stuff I write is usually written under a pen name?

History's chief purpose is not to let us know what good people we have been.

It is not a kindness to encourage the poor to spend money they don't have on stuff they don't really need just because someone other than them thinks it to be fashionable.

The past ain't what it used to be and neither is the future.

I, tú, am America.

I never realized how American I was until I went to Mexico. I never realized how Mexican I was until I came back.

How realistic is it to expect an intelligent response to global warming when local politicians are still being constantly surprised by the fact that it often snows during the winter and gets hot during the summer?

People rarely pay back money with the same urgency that they borrow it. Even when the people from which they borrow it are themselves poor.

Whenever a riot occurs, people rarely go after the most deserving targets. Instead they go after the most vulnerable.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Antonio López de Santa Anna!

AKA Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón.

Born February 21, 1794. Died June 21, 1876.

He was the one Mexican who had more of an influence on Texas history than almost any other person of Mexican descent that I can think of. I just wish it was a good influence.

Quote of the Week

I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America?
--W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Cindy Crawford!

AKA Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford.

Born February 20, 1966.

She is one of my all-time favorite fashion models. However, I'm pretty sure that she doesn't normally dress like this.

Movie Quote of the Week

So easy for you to die dramatically! It's a hell of a lot tougher for those of us who have to keep on trying!
--Delores Taylor, Billy Jack (1971)

TV Quote of the Week

It's always a sad thing when sperm comes between people.
--Olivia Wilde, House M.D., "Both Sides Now"

R.I.P. Sid Caesar

American actor and comedian Sid Caesar, most famous for headlining the old TV variety show Your Show of Shows, took his last pratfall on February 12 at age 91.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Shirley Temple

American actress Shirley Temple Black, most famous for performing as an actress, singer and dancer in umpteen movie musicals as a child, performed her last tap dance on February 10 at age 85.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman

American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, best known for his roles in such movies as Capote and Mission: Impossible III, made an involuntary resignation from his last assignment on February 2 at age 46.

He will be missed.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, César Romero!

AKA César Julio Romero Jr.

Born February 15, 1907. Died January 1, 1994.

He was the son of a Cuban mother and an Italian father who played many a Latin lover and even -- for six movies -- the Cisco Kid. (?!) He is best known to contemporary pop culture fans as the man who played the original Joker in the 1960s TV series Batman, but he also played Count Dracula on an old Night Gallery episode and Hernán Cortés in the 1947 Tyrone Power movie Captain from Castile.

Movie Quote of the Week

Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.
--Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride (1987)

TV Quote of the Week

People, there is death in this world and there is romance. Today -- death is the loser and romance wins.
--Tamara Taylor, Bones, "The Bikini in the Soup"

¡Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad!

Ms. DeCarlo wants me to remind you all to have an excellent Valentine's Day, provided you all don't overdo it on the lilies. Fortunately, mi novia likes lilies -- as well as irises, roses and all other sorts of flowers.

A Charles Addams Tribute to Valentine's Day

Comic Book Image of the Week

And you thought your love life was complicated!

Song Quote of the Week

Well, if it looks like love should be a crime,
you'd better lock up me for life.
--Walter Afanasieff, Desmond Child and Draco Rosa, “She Bangs”

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Michele Serros!

AKA Michele Marie Serros.

Born February 10, 1966.

She is one of my all-time favorite writers of Mexican-American descent.

Of course, it doesn't hurt her popularity that she once posed for a picture like this.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Elfego Baca!

Born February 10, 1865. Died August 27, 1945.

He was a lawman of Mexican descent who fought in -- and survived -- one of the biggest shootouts in New Mexico's history while he was still a deputy sheriff. He also became a lawyer and after his death, he inspired the Walt Disney television miniseries The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca.

Elfego Baca was one of the most famous heroes of the Wild West that most people had never heard of. However, I suspect that if he had been of the same ethnic background as Billy the Kid, we would have heard more than our fair share about him and then some.

Spanish Valentine Words

1. abrazo -- hug; embrace.
2. amante -- lover; mistress.
3. amiga -- casual female friend
4. amigo -- casual male friend.
5. amistad -- friendship.
6. amor -- love.
7. amor de su vida -- love of your life.
8. amor verdadero -- true love.
9. beso -- kiss.
10. buen corazón -- good heart.
11. carta de amor -- love letter.
12. corazón -- heart.
13. corazón de oro -- heart of gold; good heart.
14. corazón de piedra -- heart of stone; cold heart.
15. corazón roto -- broken heart.
16. corazón solitario -- lonely heart.
17. cupido -- cupid.
18. El Día de San Valentín -- Spanish name for St. Valentine's Day.
19. El Día del Amor y Amistad -- Spanish name for St. Valentine's Day.
20. enamorada -- girlfriend.
21. enamorado -- boyfriend.
22. esposa -- wife.
23. esposo -- husband.
24. historia de amor -- love story.
25. novia -- girlfriend; bride.
26. novio -- boyfriend; groom.
27. primer amor -- first love.
28. romance -- romance.

R.I.P. Maximilian Schell

Austrian-Swiss actor Maximilian Schell, best known for his Oscar-winning role as Hans Rolfe in the 1961 movie Judgment at Nuremberg, gave his final summation on February 1 at age 83.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Arthur Rankin Jr.

American director, writer and producer Arthur Gardner Rankin, Jr., who was most famous for forming Rankin/Bass Productions with his partner Jules Bass and for creating such stop-animation features as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, finished his last feature on January 30 at age 89.

He will be missed.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Thomas More!

Born February 7, 1478. Died July 6, 1535.

He was the man whose defiance of an English king inspired the 1966 movie A Man for All Seasons. He also wrote Utopia, one of the first works of political science fiction, and insisted on giving his daughters the same type of education that his son received in an era when giving women any type of education was considered quite daring.

He was not a perfect man -- the more I find out about him, the more I realize that -- but he had the courage to stand up for his principles at a time when it would have been far easier for him to back down, and he also had the bravery to stand up against authority in an age when such a thing was not only just not done but tended to be life-threatening as well. These are not bad traits to admire, even in a man whom many might otherwise find less than admirable.

Quote of the Week

Prayer is more enjoyable than drinking, and more pleasing to God.
--St. Thomas More

Movie Quote of the Week

People think because I never married I know nothing about emotions. They are wrong. I loved my aunt.
--Glenda Jackson, Stevie (1978)

TV Quote of the Week

Ha. You wanna know a secret? Most normal people, like me... they just wish they were special, like you.
--Jacqueline McKenzie, The 4400, "White Light"

Literary Quote I Like

“It used to be the fashion,” I said, “to ridicule the Roman Church for its confessionals, but the world seems to be coming back to the practice. It’s a need of the race, I fear, and people will seek it -- whether in psychoanalysis or in the Oxford Group. The Catholics may be wiser than a good materialistic agnostic like myself cares to admit.”
--Rufus Bottomley in Anthony Boucher's The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, George Romero!

AKA George Andrew Romero.

Born February 4, 1940.

He is the son of a Cuban-American father and a Lithuanian mother but he is most famous for being one of the most popular horror film directors of his generation. Romero is best known for his zombie trilogy: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. But he has also experimented with other genres too, especially vampire movies like Martin and SCA dramas like Knightriders. Not all his films are successful but even his lesser efforts like Creepshow are worth a glance.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Farrah Fawcett!

AKA Ferrah Leni "Farrah" Fawcett.

Born February 2, 1947. Died June 25, 2009.

She was one of the prettiest actresses to come out of Texas. Her first name was chosen by her oil field contractor father because "Farah" was the Arabic word for "joy". She later asked to change the spelling to its current version.

She is most noted for her role as Jill Munroe in the ABC TV series Charlie's Angels. She has also appeared in such movies as Logan's Run, Somebody Killed Her Husband, and Saturn 3. Her last movie appearance was in the 2004 comedy The Cookout.

She is also famous for her appearance in the above poster, which was one of the most popular pin-up posters of my youth. If nothing else, it proves that Ms. Fawcett was way prettier than a groundhog.

R.I.P. Mi Tía

I just found out last night that my father's youngest sister passed away Thursday.

She will be missed.