Robert Burns, beloved poet of Scotland, turns 251 today. As a Burns birthday salute, here’s the poem “A Bottle and Friend,” published when Burns was 28. The theme is one of his favorites: the simple pleasures of life. A Bottle and FriendThere’s nane that’s blest of human kind,But the cheerful and the gay, man,Fal, la, la, &c.Here’s a bottle and an honest friend!What wad ye wish for mair, man?Wha kens, before his life may end,
Call them Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, or call them (shudder) Brangelina: the actors have been an item (though they’ve never married) since they met on the set of the 2005 film Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Here are photos of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt over the years.
Our recent review of Une Histoire Américain by Georges Ayache included this shot of the book’s cover:
Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt was born 100 years ago today — on 23 January 1910.Reinhardt grew up in a Gypsy caravan, which is where he learned to play the guitar with with that Romany swing. His background made him a rather odd duck on the Paris jazz scene for sure.
Book review: Une Histoire AméricaineBy Georges Ayache256 pages for 20 euros [[wysiwyg_imageupload:1737:]]
The trailers for Harrison Ford’s new movie Extraordinary Measures have been baffling. Are they cops, doctors, journalists, er whut? And why is everyone shouting?Thanks to Roger Ebert’s review, I now see that it’s a desperately-seeking-a-cure movie — as Ebert puts it, “Lorenzo’s Oil with a different disease.”
Tiger’s sex addiction is ruining his golf life.Grant’s golf addiction is ruining his sex life.
Today is the birth date of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, born in Virginia in 1824 (in Clarksburg, which is now part of West Virginia).A distinguished military tactician and veteran of the war between the United States and Mexico in the 1840s, he died in 1863, after losing his left arm as a result of friendly fire. His arm was amputated and went on to have a history all its own. Jackson died shortly after that.
Conan O’Brien will soon have more free time on his hands.
It was 25 years ago today that Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president — in a private ceremony — for his second term.Because January 20th, traditionally Inauguration Day, fell on a Sunday, public ceremonies were held off for a day.At this point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan had aggressively upped the ante in the Cold War, told America to “just say no” to drugs (the illegal kind), seen the worst of a “slight recession” and wrassled with the Democrat majority in congress over deficit spending and budget cuts.