On November 6, 1860, the United States affirmed that a democratic system of government can work when the country elected what many consider the greatest U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln. The election occurred during a time the country was greatly divided, and three other candidates also appeared on the ballot splitting the vote: John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen Douglas. Lincoln won with 40% of the popular vote. But the nation had to endure President James Buchanan for several months because Lincoln would not be inaugurated until March 4, 1861.
Lincoln had little time in office before the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. As the nation went into the bloody war, citizens had no idea what the future held — or that one day Conan O’Brien would visit with a group of Civil War reenactors.
What is your favorite Civil War story? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Happy Halloween! You probably have a favorite horror movie, but this week my favorite horror movie that was never made is The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders. Saturday Night Live ran the trailer that imagined how a horror film might look if it were made by writer-director Wes Anderson. The clip incorporates references to Anderson’s films, including The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Rushmore (1998), and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). Edward Norton, who guest-hosted one of the better recent SNL episodes, also does an excellent turn as Owen Wilson. Check it out.
FYI, Merriam-Webster defines “coterie” as “a small group of people who are interested in the same thing and who usually do not allow other people to join the group.”
What is your favorite part of The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Anyone who has ever watched the TV series Bonanza could not help being fond of Eric “Hoss” Cartwright, played by Dan Blocker. Born Bobby Dan Davis Blocker in Bowie County, Texas, the actor was known as a caring man like his Bonanza character.
The real man, however, was much more intelligent than the character. Blocker earned a Master’s degree and worked as a teacher before starting acting. Wikipedia reports that Blocker, who earned a Purple Heart in the Korean War, also was active in political causes, such as taking a stand against the Vietnam War.
Blocker was best known for his role as the middle son on Bonanza, a role that Blocker tried to infuse with kindness. But Blocker appeared in other roles, and he almost appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.
One of his very early roles, though, had him appearing in a Three Stooges short called Outer Space Jitters in 1957 during the era when Joe Besser joined Moe and Larry. Blocker’s role as “The Goon” zombie lacks the endearing qualities we would see in Hoss, but it is still fun to see Blocker on screen with the Stooges.
In this short, Blocker first appears around the 7:45 mark looking very un-Hoss-like. Check it out.
Blocker died at the age of 43 in 1972 of a pulmonary embolism after gall bladder surgery. At the time, Bonanza was about to start filming its final season. Although actor Lorne Greene did not think the show could continue without Blocker, the show completed that season.
The series, of course, had to address the absence of Blocker’s character. So, an episode revealed that Hoss died in an accident. Mental Floss reports the episode as the first time in TV history that a show dealt with the death of an actor and mentioned the death of a character.
What is your favorite Dan Blocker scene? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Even if like me you have only periodically watched episodes of Glee, you will be moved by Lea Michele’s emotional performance of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” from last night’s episode. The song is a moving tribute to Cory Monteith, Michele’s real-life and on-screen love who passed away of an accidental drug overdose at age 31 in July. The episode did not delve into the way that Monteith’s character Finn Hudson died, but the show and the song were appropriate tributes to the actor and man who died at such a young age.
The song “Make You Feel My Love” was an excellent choice too. Chimesfreedom previously wrote about how the often-covered “Make You Feel My Love” is one of Bob Dylan’s late-career classics.
What did you think of the Cory Monteith tribute? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Director Guillermo del Toro created the upcoming The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” opening sequence. The nearly three-minute opening features enough movie and horror references to make it worth re-watching to try to catch all of them. del Toro does a cool job of incorporating all of the references with the traditional Simpsons’ opening, including Bart’s blackboard, the trip to the grocery, and the ending on the couch. Watch for some Alfred Hitchock, an appearance by Edgar Allen Poe, and many movie references, including Mr. Burns in a sequence using del Toro’s own Pan’s Labyrinth(2006).
The segment is pretty cool, and at the least, del Toro’s involvement has garnered a lot of press for the twenty-fourth installment of the Halloween tradition. What is your favorite part of the intro? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On November 6, 1860, the United States affirmed that a democratic system of government can work when the country elected what many consider the greatest U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln. The election occurred during a time the country was greatly divided, and three other candidates also appeared on the ballot splitting the vote: John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen Douglas. Lincoln won with 40% of the popular vote. But the nation had to endure President James Buchanan for several months because Lincoln would not be inaugurated until March 4, 1861.
