THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― OCTOBER 31

October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 61 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).

NATIONAL KNOCK KNOCK JOKE DAY 

1517 – The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (original Latin: Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum) were written by Martin Luther in 1517 and are widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The disputation protests against clerical abuses, especially nepotism, simony, usury, pluralism, and the sale of indulgences.

1793 – Execution of Girondins at Paris during Reign of Terror. The Girondists, collectively the Gironde, were a political faction in France in 1792–93 within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution. They campaigned for the end of the monarchy but then resisted the spiraling momentum of the Revolution. They came into conflict with The Mountain (Montagnards), a radical faction within the Jacobin Club. This conflict eventually led to the fall of the Girondists and their mass execution, the beginning of the Reign of Terror. 

1861 – Citing failing health, General Winfield Scott, commander of the Union forces retires. The hero of the Mexican War recognized early in the Civil War that his health and advancing years were a liability in the daunting task of directing the Federal war effort. 

1905 – The great revolutionary demonstration for amnesty takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Revolution of 1905 was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies. It led to the establishment of limited constitutional monarchy, the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the multi-party system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906.


1913 – The first paved coast-to-coast highway, the Lincoln Highway (US Route 30) is dedicated. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated today, the Lincoln Highway ran coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally through 13 states. In 1915, the "Colorado Loop" was removed, and in 1928, a realignment relocated the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia. Thus, there are a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and over 700 towns and cities, towns and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history.

1918 – The pandemic know as the Spanish flu kills 21,000 in the United States in one week. It was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—three to five percent of the world's population—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. The flu actually originated in a rural county in Kansas.

1924 – World Savings Day was announced in Milan, Italy, by the Members of the Association at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress (World Society of Savings Banks). Today, it should be World Spending Day.

1940 – The Battle of Britain, fought between the RAF and Luftwaffe over the English Channel and southern England, ends.

The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England, literally "Air battle for England") is the name given to the Second World War air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date.

The Battle of Britain has an unusual distinction in that it gained its name prior to being fought. The name is derived from a famous speech delivered by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the House of Commons more than three weeks prior to the generally accepted date for the start of the battle:

"...What General Weygand has called Battle of France is over... the Battle of Britain is about to begin." — Winston Churchill

1961 – Five years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalinism and the "personality cult" of Soviet rulers at the 20th Party Congress, Joseph Stalin's embalmed body is removed from Lenin's tomb in Moscow's Red Square.

1968 – In a televised address to the nation five days before the presidential election, President Lyndon Johnson announces that on the basis of developments in the Paris peace negotiations, he has ordered the complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam." Accordingly, effective November 1, the U.S. Air Force called a halt to the air raids on North Vietnam known as Operation Rolling Thunder.

1973 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin using a hijacked helicopter which briefly landed in the prison's exercise yard. The escape made headlines around the world and was an embarrassment to the Irish coalition government of the time, led by Fine Gael'sLiam Cosgrave, which was criticised by opposition party Fianna Fáil. A manhunt involving twenty thousand members of the Irish Defence Forces and Garda Síochána was launched for the escapees, one of whom, Seamus Twomey, was not recaptured until December 1977. TheWolfe Tones wrote a song celebrating the escape called "The Helicopter Song", which topped the Irish popular music charts despite being banned by the government.

1983 – Ron Grant completes a 217 day, 8,316 mile run around Australia. Starting in Brisbane, he then proceeded to Townsville, Mt. Isa, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, then back to Brisbane. He maintained an overall daily average of 38.3 miles, and was the first person to do it solo.

1992 – Pope John Paul II reinstates Galileo Galilei after 359 years. The Galileo affair (Italian: Processo a Galileo Galilei) was a sequence of events, beginning around 1610, and culminating with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633.

1999 – Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church leaders sign the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ending a centuries-old doctrinal dispute over the nature of faith and salvation. The formal signing took place in Augsburg, Germany, 428 years to the day after Martin Luther nailed his list of 95 theses against the sale of indulgences to a church door in Wittenburg.


2011 – The world population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1795 – John Keats, English poet (d. 1821)

1860 – Juliette Gordon Low, American scout leader, founded the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (d. 1927)

1887 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (d. 1975)

1935 – Ronald Graham, American mathematician and theorist

From Wikiped1a and Google, except as noted.

TODAY'S GIFS

THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― OCTOBER 30

October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 62 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56). 

NATIONAL CANDY CORN DAY  

1270 – The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade. The Ninth Crusade is sometimes also counted as part of the Eighth.

1534 – The first Act of Supremacy was a piece of law that granted King Henry VIII of England Royal Supremacy, which means that he was declared the supreme head of the Church of England. It is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Royal Supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the Church in England.

1772 – Captain James Cook arrives with ship Resolution in Capetown on his Second Voyage.

1893 – The U.S. Senate approves repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. Under the Act, the federal government purchased millions of ounces of silver, with issues of paper currency. It became the second-largest buyer in the world, after the British Crown in India, where the Indian Rupee was backed by silver rather than gold. 

1918 – On October 30, 1918, aboard the British battleship Agamemnon, anchored in the port of Mudros on the Aegean island of Lemnos, representatives of Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire sign an armistice treaty marking the end of Ottoman participation in the First World War.

1938 – Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his broadcast of "War of the Worlds"—a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth.

1941 – On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt, determined to keep the United States out of the war while helping those allies already mired in it, approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease loans to the Soviet Union. The terms: no interest and repayment did not have to start until five years after the war was over.


1953 – Dr. Albert Schweitzer and General George Marshall win Nobel Peace Prize.

1965 – Just miles from Da Nang, U.S. Marines repel an intense attack by successive waves of Viet Cong troops and kill 56 guerrillas. A search of the dead uncovered a sketch of Marine positions written on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who had been selling drinks to the Marines the previous day.

1974 –  On October 30, 1974, 32-year-old Muhammad Ali becomes the heavyweight champion of the world for the second time when he knocks out 25-year-old champ George Foreman in the eighth round of the "Rumble in the Jungle," a match in Kinshasa, Zaire. 

1988 – The NY Jets finally defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers for first time. 

1991 – On this day in 1991, the so-called "perfect storm" hits the North Atlantic producing remarkably large waves along the New England and Canadian coasts. Over the next several days, the storm spread its fury over the ocean off the coast of Canada. The fishing boat Andrea Gail and its six-member crew were lost in the storm. The disaster spawned the best-selling book The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and a blockbuster Hollywood movie of the same name.

1995 – By a bare majority of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, citizens of the province of Quebec vote to remain within the federation of Canada. The referendum asked Quebec's citizens, the majority of whom are French-speakers, to vote whether their province should begin the process that could make it independent of Canada.

2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is completed after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1735 – John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the United States (d. 1826)

1882 – William F. Halsey, Jr., American admiral, WWI and WWII (d. 1959)

1885 – Ezra Pound, American poet and critic (d. 1972)

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.

TOP TEN GUITARISTS' TOP TEN SONGS ― NUMBER 4

Kieth Richards  

Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and author, best known as a founder member of the rock band the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine credited Richards for "rock's greatest single body of riffs" on guitar and ranked him 4th on its list of 100 best guitarists. Fourteen songs that Richards wrote with the Rolling Stones' lead vocalist Mick Jagger are listed among Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The Stones are generally known for their guitar interplay of rhythm and lead ("weaving") between Richards and Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood over the years. In spite of this, Richards plays the only guitar tracks on some of their most famous songs including "Paint It Black", "Ruby Tuesday", "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Gimme Shelter". 

1. Paint It Black

2. Sympathy for the Devil 



3. Gimme Shelter 

4. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 



5. You Can't Always Get What You Want 

6. Jumpin' Jack Flash 

7. Brown Sugar  

8. Angie 



9. Start Me Up 

10. Wild Horses  (Acoustic)



From thetoptens, Wikipedia, Google, and YouTube, ex as noted.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― OCTOBER 29

October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 63 days remaining until the end of the year. 

NATIONAL HERMIT DAY   


529 BC – The international day of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, who declared the first charter of human rights in the world also known as Cyrus Cylinder. The reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia.


1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh, English adventurer, writer, and favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, is beheaded in London, under a sentence brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I. During Elizabeth's reign, Raleigh organized three major expeditions to America, including the first English settlement in America, in 1587—the ill-fated Roanoke settlement located in present-day North Carolina.  After Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was implicated as a foe of King James I and imprisoned with a death sentence. The death sentence was later commuted, and in 1616 Raleigh was freed to lead an expedition to the New World, this time to establish a gold mine in the Orinoco River region of South America. However, the expedition was a failure, and when Raleigh returned to England the death sentence of 1603 was invoked against him. 


1675 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz makes the first use of the long s, ∫, for integral. Leibniz was a German mathematician and philosopher. He occupies a prominent place in the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy. Leibniz developed calculus independently of Isaac Newton, and Leibniz's mathematical notation has been widely used ever since it was published. He also refined the binary number system, which is the foundation of virtually all digital computers.

1692 – The Court of Oyer and Terminer (French, "to hear and to determine") convened for Salem witch trials dissolved. Oyer and Terminer was the first formal court that was brought to Salem. The court Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, the Chief Magistrate, the Crown’s Attorney Thomas Newton, and Clerk Stephen Sewall headed the court.

1777 – John Hancock resigns his position as president of the Continental Congress, due to a prolonged illness. Hancock was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and is perhaps best known for his bold signature on the ground-breaking document.

1792 – Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River. Mount Hood, called Wy'east by the Multnomah tribe, is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

1901 – President William McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, is executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York. Czolgosz had shot McKinley on September 6, 1901; the president succumbed to his wounds eight days later.

1918 – The German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny on the night of the 29th-30th, an action which would trigger the German Revolution of 1918–19.

1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary. The country would remain under Soviet rule until October 23, 1989. The Hungarian revolution of 1956 was squelched by Soviet troops.

1956 – Israeli armed forces push into Egypt toward the Suez Canal, initiating the Suez Crisis. They would soon be joined by French and British forces, creating a serious Cold War problem in the Middle East.

1972 – The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615.

1975 – The "Yorkshire Ripper", Peter Sutcliffe, kills his first victim, Wilma McCann. He carried out a murder spree over a five year period, during which the public were especially shocked by the murders of some women who were not prostitutes. When arrested in January 1981 for driving with false number-plates, police questioned him about the killings and he confessed that he was the perpetrator. The English High Court dismissed an appeal by Sutcliffe in 2010, confirming that he would serve a whole life tariff and would never be released from prison.

1998 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities. TRC was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.

2004 – The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

2012 – Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey resulting in 110 deaths and $50 billion in damage and forces the New York stock exchange to close.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1466 – Erasmus, Dutch philosopher (d. 1536)

1740 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson (d. 1795)

1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, founded Remington Arms (d. 1861)

1846 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef and author (d. 1935)

1892 – Dink Johnson, American pianist, drummer, and clarinet player (d. 1954)

1897 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (d. 1945)

1914 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician, developed the polio vaccine (d. 1995)

1943 – Karalyn Patterson, English psychologist and academic

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.

MOVIE DIALOG OF THE DAY ― ENTRAPMENT (1999)

Connection with the previous post (1941): Robert emekis co-wrote 1941 and directed CAST AWAY.

RATINGS: IMDB ―6.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 38%, ME ― 50%

Gin: I stole the Rembrandt.

[pause]

Gin: Mac! I stole the Rembrandt.

Mac: ...and I painted the Sistine Chapel.

Gin: Oh come on! Ask me how I did it.

Mac: So how'd you do it?

Gin: I came in from the roof. I dropped twenty floors down on a McNeel descender.

Mac: Well, you must be one hell of a climber.

Gin: I am a hell of a climber.

[begins to scale the side of the room]

Gin: I am, one, hell of a climber.

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gin and Sean Connery as Mac

Trivia (From IMDB):

The film came in two million dollars below its budget. Co-producer Rhonda Tollefsoncredits this to Producer Sean Connery's thrifty Scottish ways. Connery drove his own car, instead of hiring a driver, and flew on commercial planes, instead of using private ones, so that all of the money, would show up onscreen.

The building used for exterior shots of Mac's safe house (Castle Duart on the Isle of Mull) is the ancestral home of the chief of the Clan MacLean, which is the maiden name of Connery's mother.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was completely naked under the blankets when Sean Connerysneaks into her room at night and interrogates her.

Catherine Zeta-Jones performed most (some sources say all) of the climbing and gymnastics in the rafters herself, during the "I stole the Rembrandt" sequence at Mac's castle.

This was Sean Connery's last role as a romantic lead in a movie. He did several more films after this, but they were all character roles.

Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones's love scene was voted the second worst of all time by readers of American movie magazine "Film" in 2003. They were narrowly beaten by Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci in Casino (1995).

Sean Connery is 39 years older than Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The DVD contains a more ambiguous and much shorter alternate ending in which Gin simply reappears on the platform and smiles at Mac.

The street that Sean Connery is parked in waiting for Catherine Zeta-Jones to leave the antiques shop is the same one that Hagrid and Harry walk down in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) when they are heading for the Leaky Cauldron.

Ronald Bass' original screenplay contained numerous additional spectacular action sequences involving Mac, including a robbery taking place onboard a moving luxury train, but 20th Century Fox balked, when the initial budget for this script was estimated at over 130 million dollars. The final film excised many of Bass' envisioned super-action scenes (keeping a handful for the theatrical release) and came in at a final budget of seventy million dollars.

In the original script, the climactic events were set to take place the minute that Hong Kong reverted back to Chinese rule. However, director Jon Amiel preferred to use something more timely, so the Millennium Eve became the catalyst event.

While Antoine Fuqua was briefly attached to direct, he wanted to increase the action sequences. Fuqua envisioned a rather large, epic scale car chase for the scene where Gin and Mac escape from the shady antiques dealer, and the climactic heist was to feature more high-tech gadgets and a much more intricate escape. Sean Connery was not happy about Fuqua's plans for the film, in fact, in a 1999 issue of Premiere magazine, he said that Fuqua tried to turn the film into "The Rock", which Connery believed wouldn't have worked for the picture.

Malaysia objected to the depiction of their country as a backwards one when a shantytown in Malacca was superimposed over a tilt shot of the Petronas Towers. In reality, Malacca is nowhere near the Towers.

Nicole Kidman was the original choice for the female lead.

Jon Amiel reports that in the scene in the market in Kuala Lumpur, when Gin is confronted by Hector Cruz, a large rat ran right by her head, and she freaked out, abruptly ending the first take.

Angela Bassett auditioned for the role of Gin, but lost out to Catherine Zeta-Jones.

During the swiping of the mask, Sean Connery tells Catherine Zeta-Jones that she has only 75 seconds left. In The Great Train Robbery (1978), Connery told Donald Sutherland that he had only 75 seconds to steal a key impression.

In the opening sequence, the passcode on the security unit that the thief uses is 1007 for Sean Connery as he was the first cinema 007. In truth, Barry Nelson was the original James Bond. He played the part on U.S. television, playing CIA Agent James Bond in Climax! (1954) (Casino Royale (#1.3)).

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Maury Chaykin previously starred in The Mask of Zorro (1998), and in that film, the main protagonist Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) is a thief, who becomes the masked hero, Zorro. Also, Catherine Zeta-Jones played Elena, and Maury Chaykin had a small role as a prison warden.

An early scene, in which Gin sneaks into Mac's hotel room, and leaves the Time magazine on his bed, was deleted, but can be found (without audio) on the DVD. Jon Amiel said test audiences thought the scene unnecessarily delayed the first encounter between Gin and Mac.

Some of the information in Mac's file includes D.O.B. (August 21, 1937); P.O.B. (Edinburgh, Scotland); Citizen (UK); Height (6' 3"); Weight (210 lbs); Race (Caucasian); Hair (Brown - graying); Eyes (Brown). This is almost identical to Connery with the only differences being D.O.B (August 25, 1930) and Height (6'2). Mac's file also states; family (Age 5 - father died, age 12 - mother died, no known siblings); Marital Status (Widowed 1955, Camilla Charles); Languages Spoken (English, Mandarin, Japanese, French, Malay); and Military Service (Royal Marines 1956-1962, Commando Unit, Malaysian police). This is very similar to the character of James Bond. Family (Age 11 - both parents died, no siblings); Marital Status (Widowed in the book 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'); Degree in Oriental Languages, fluent in French; Military Service (Commander in the Royal Navy).

Antoine Fuqua was the original director attached to the project.

The film had a different original ending with Gin, not being the thief that the FBI were looking for. The undercover assignment was a set up by Hector, with help from Mac, Aaron Thibadeaux, and Conrad Greene; these three staged the whole thing, to frame Gin for the theft of the mask, and the eight billion dollars. Hector is revealed as the thief, and that he made a deal with Mac, to help him frame Gin, in exchange for his freedom after the FBI arrested him.

During Catherine Zeta-Jones' breakdown of the intensive security measures she and Sean Connery will encounter in the millenium heist, Rolf Saxon is continuously shown throughout the sequence as the director of the millenium compliance testing. He was introduced in a similar fashion, as C.I.A. Analyst William Donloe when Tom Cruiseconducts the breakdown of the C.I.A. break-in at Langley, Virginia in Mission: Impossible (1996).

Writer Ronald Bass's pitch to Fountainbridge Films consisted of only seven lines.

In Ving Rhames following film, Mission: Impossible II (2000), the main protagonist, American spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), recruits professional thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton) to recover a stolen item, later revealed to be an engineered virus. Sean Connery, who plays Mac, is famous for playing British secret agent James Bond, and Rolf Saxon (Director) had played CIA Analyst William Donloe. Ving Rhames played IMF operative and computer specialist Luther Stickell in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

The lights in the train station appear out of nowhere. The lights were installed in between shots for no apparent reason.

Spoilers ― 

Pudu Station, where the protagonists meet at the end, is in fact Bukit Jalil Station, with all the signs changed. Bukit Jalil is a much more attractive station than Pudu, but too far from central Kuala Lumpur, to be feasible for the plot.

The Waverly Insurance database states that Mac was born in 1937 and is 62 years old in the film. Sean Connery (Born 1930) was 68 during production of the film.