Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Born on this day – Ross Macdonald:


Writer

December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983


Credits:

The Lew Archer novel series: The Moving Target (aka Harper) (1949); The Drowning Pool (1950); The Way Some People Die   (1951); The Ivory Grin / Marked for Murder (1952); Find a Victim (1954); The Barbarous Coast (1956); The Doomsters (1958); The Galton Case (1959); The Wycherly Woman (1961); The Zebra-Striped Hearse (1962); The Chill (1963); The Far Side of the Dollar (1965); Black Money (1966); The Instant Enemy (1968); The Goodbye Look (1969); The Underground Man (1971); Sleeping Beauty (1973); The Blue Hammer (1976); The Name is Archer (1955); Lew Archer, Private Investigator (1977); The Archer Files (2007). The Chet Gordon novel series: The Dark Tunnel / I Die Slowly (1944); Trouble Follows Me (1946). Stand-alone novels, short stories and novellas: Blue City (1947); The Three Roads (1948); Meet Me at the Morgue / Experience with Evil (1954); The Ferguson Affair (1967); The Guilty Ones (1952); The Imaginary Blonde (1953); Midnight Blue (2010); Strangers in Town (2001); Dear Dead Days: 1972 Mystery Writers of America Anthology (1972); Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels (1986); The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories (1988); City Sleuths and Tough Guys (1989); Pulp Frictions: Hardboiled Stories (1996); The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (1996); Writing Los Angeles (2002); Los Angeles Noir 2 (2010); Books to Die For (2012).


Born on this day – Florine McKinney:


Actress

December 13, 1909 – July 28, 1975


Credits:

Little Joe, the Wrangler (1942); Pardon My Sarong (1942); Take a Letter, Darling (1942); Brooklyn Orchid (1942); Unholy Partners (1941); Blossoms in the Dust (1941); You're the One (1941); A Night at Earl Carroll's (1940); The Philadelphia Story (1940); Escape (1940); Oklahoma Renegades (1940); Waterloo Bridge (1940); And One Was Beautiful (1940); Blazing Barriers (1937); A Star Fell from Heaven (1936); Muss 'em Up (1936); Cappy Ricks Returns (1935); Dizzy Dames (1935); Strangers All (1935); Night Life of the Gods (1935); David Copperfield (1935); The Merry Widow (1934); Student Tour (1934); Hollywood Party (1934); Riptide (1934); Dancing Lady (1933); Beauty for Sale (1933); It's Great to Be Alive (1933); Blue of the Night (1933); Cynara (1932); The Cabin in the Cotton (1932); Horse Feathers (1932); The Miracle Man (1932); One Hour with You (1932).


Michelle Obama, on the arts:


The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it.

Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

- Michelle Obama.


Tuesday, December 12, 2023

On this day in music history - The album Light of Aluna, by Anima (2012)

Light of Aluna

by Anima,

was released on December 12, 2012.


 

On this day in music history - The album Winds of Change, by Denise Young (2019)


Winds of Change

by Denise Young

was released on December 12, 2019.





On this day in movie history - Gran Torino (2008)


Gran Torino

directed by Hal Ashby,

written by Nick Schenk,

was released in the United States on December 12, 2008.

Music by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens.


Cast:
Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Brian Haley, Geraldine Hughes, Dreama Walker, Brian Howe, John Carroll Lynch, William Hill, Brooke Chia Thao, Chee Thao, Choua Kue, Scott Eastwood, Xia Soua Chang, Sonny Vue, Doua Moua, Greg Trzaskoma, John Johns, Davis Gloff, Thomas D. Mahard, Cory Hardrict, Nana Gbewonyo, Arthur Cartwright, Austin Douglas Smith, Conor Liam Callaghan, Michael E. Kurowski, Julia Ho , Maykao K. Lytongpao, Carlos Guadarrama, Andrew Tamez-Hull, Ramon Camacho, Antonio Mireles, Ia Vue Yang, Zoua Kue, Elvis Thao, Jerry Lee, Lee Mong Vang, Tru Hang, Alice Lor, Tong Pao Kue, Douacha Ly, Parng D. Yarng, Nelly Yang Sao Yia, Marty Bufalini, My-Ishia Cason-Brown, Clint Ward, Stephen Kue, Rochelle Winter, Claudia Rodgers, Sean Baligian, Darline Bucchare, Shelagh Conley, Jeffrey Feingold, William C. Fox, Vong Lee, Arnold Montey, Rio Scafone, Jeffrey Scott Basham, Tony Stef'Ano, Carey Torrice, Kevin Walsh.



On this day in movie history - Mars Attacks! (1996)


Mars Attacks!

directed by Tim Burton,

written by Jonathan Gems,

based on the 1962 Topps Mars Attacks trading card series,

was released in the United States on December 12, 1996.

Music by Danny Elfman.


Cast:
Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Lisa Marie, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Winfield, Pam Grier, Jack Black, Janice Rivera, Ray J, Brandon Hammond, Joe Don Baker, O-Lan Jones, Christina Applegate, Brian Haley, Jerzy Skolimowski, Timi Prulhiere, Barbet Schroeder, Chi Hoang Cai, Tommy Bush, Joseph Maher, Gloria M. Malgarini, Betty Bunch, Gloria Hoffmann, Willie Garson, John Roselius, Michael Reilly Burke, Valerie Wildman, Richard Irving, Jonathan Emerson, Tamara 'Gingir' Curry, Rebecca Broussard, Steve Valentine, Coco Leigh, Jeffrey King, Enrique Castillo, Don Lamoth, C. Wayne Owens, Joseph Patrick Moynihan, Roger Peterson, John Finnegan, Ed Lambert, John Gray, Gregg Daniel, J. Kenneth Campbell, Rance Howard, Jeanne Mori, Richard Assad, Velletta Carlson, Kevin Mangan, Rebeca Silva, Josh Philip Weinstein, Julian Barnes, Ken Thomas, Darelle Porter Holden, Christi Black, Sharon Hendrix, Frank Welker, Jim Beatty, John Bradley, Colleen Ann Brah, Greg Bronson, JoAnn Bush, Mac Canepi, George Cheung, Maria Celeste Genitempo, Geri Gilmore, Matt Gulbranson, Roger Jackson, Anthony Kopczynski, Walter Ludwig, Johnny Mansbach, Stephanie Masoner, Scott McKinley, Bob Pepper, Kelly Lynn Richards, David Sherrill, William Victor Skrabanek, Alexandra Smothers, Jay So, Edward Tubbs, Carl Washington, Don Winsor.