Can you believe it?

"Can you believe it?"  #1 Son was in a talkative mood.

"They've come out with the lists of Oscar nominees, and neither Joaquin Phoenix nor Tom Hanks are nominated this year!"

"Oscars, isn't that the other name for the Academy Awards?" #2 Son came in and asked.

Yes, same thing, i said.

"Yeah, but think about it!  Especially Tom Hanks.  He turned in his best performance ever in his career as Captain Phillips.  I couldn't believe how well he acted that, especially at the end, where they've just been rescued, and not even a nomination!  Then again, Harrison Ford has never won one, either, in over 40 years of great performances.  So I guess that tells you something."

"Well, I've given up on the Oscars totally.  They've nominated The Croods, for heaven's sake!  Can you believe that!  The Croods!  Yes, it's in the animated category, but still.  I give up on them!" Bigger Girl said.

"I can make a better movie than that!" #2 Son said with a grin.  "It would be called Chasing Young Jacob, and it would be me chasing him, and it would be great!"

"Well, Frozen should win everything for animated.  That's the best Disney film they've had out in a long time.  I'm still singing the songs from that one in my head!" #1 Son said.  Then he added, "I still can't believe some of the people they overlook, like Ford and DiCaprio, and then this year.  They're nuts!"

"Oh, by the way," #2 Son said.  "Can you believe this t-shirt Young Jacob gave me?  It's awesome!"

Coming from Young Jacob, yes, i can believe that.

(For those of you who may not have kids who grew up on Pokemon, the above is the most famous of the Pocket Monsters, called Pikachu, pronounced peek-achoo.)


Today is:

Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri -- Chiba, Japan (around this date; one of Japan's "naked" festivals, as participants wear only a loincloth as they wrestle in the cold, wet mud, bringing luck to the community as they run through the crowds smearing the lucky mud on the onlookers)

Dance of the Secret Places -- Fairy Calendar

Dag van de Revolutie -- Suriname (Day of Liberation and Innovation)

Februaristaking -- Netherlands (commemoration of a strike against the Nazis)

Festival of Ptah -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Kitano Baika-sai (Plum Blossom Festival) -- Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Let's All Eat Right Day -- in honor of the birth of Adelle Davis in 1904, an early pioneer in good nutrition

National Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day -- some sites say any nuts will do, some specify peanuts; take your pick

National Clam Chowder Day -- not to be confused with New England Clam Chowder Day, back in January

National Day -- Kuwait

People's Revolution Day/People Power Day -- Philippines

Pistol Patent Day -- Samuel Colt received US Patent #138 for the first pistol on this day in 1836

Quiet Day -- can't find the history behind this one, but mommy wants one!

Spay Day USA -- sponsored by the HSUS; Sit! Stay! Spay!  Good Owner!

St. Walburga's Day (Patron of boatmen/mariners/sailors/watermen, harvests; Antwerp, Belgium; Eichstätt, Germany; Gronigen, Netherlands; Oudenarde, Belgium; Plymouth, England; Zutphen, Netherlands; against coughs, dog bites, famine, hydrophobia/rabies, mad dogs, plague, storms)

Soviet Occupation Day -- Georgia

World Spay Day -- don't let your pets litter!


Birthdays Today:

Josh Wolff, 1977
Chelsea Handler,1975
Sean Astin, 1971
Tea Leoni, 1966
Carrot Top, 1965
Lee Evans, 1964
Neil Jordan, 1950
Ric Flair, 1949
Karen Grassle, 1944
George Harrison, 1943
Diane Baker, 1938
Tom Courtenay, 1937
Bob Schieffer, 1937
Sally Jessy Raphael, 1935
"Texas Rose" Bascom, 1922
Bobby Riggs, 1918
Anthony Burgess, 1917
Jim Backus, 1913
Millicent Hammond Fenwick, 1910
Adelle Davis, 1904
Zeppo Marx, 1901
Meher Baba, 1894
Enrico Caruso, 1873
Charles Lang Freer, 1856
Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1841
Xuande, Emperor of China, 1398


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"A Little Night Music"(Musical), 1973
"Toys in the Attic"(Play), 1960
"Wonderful Town"(Musical), 1953
"Your Show of Shows"(TV), 1950
"Natoma"(Herbert Opera), 1911
"Riders to the Sea"(Play), 1904
"Hernani"(Victor Hugo Play), 1830


Today in History:

The First Bank of the United States is chartered, 1791
The German Midiatisation is enacted, taking over 1,000 German sovereign states into about 40 larger entities, 1803
Samuel Colt patents the first revolving barrel multi-shot firearm, 1836
The first US electric printing press is patented by Thomas Davenport, 1837
Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress, 1870
The US Steel Corp. is organized under J P Morgan, 1901
The Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Toronto Marlboroughs in 2 games, 1904
Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, 1912
Oregon places a 1 cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax, 1919
Diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union are established, 1925
Glacier Bay National Monument (now Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve) is established in Alaska, 1925
Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain, 1926
Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission, 1928
The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier, 1933
In occupied Amsterdam, a general strike is declared in response to increasing anti-Jewish measures instituted by the Nazis, 1941
The first Pan American Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1951
Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston, 1964
The first unit of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the first commercial nuclear power station in Canada, goes online, 1971
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, 1986
In the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron, Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers and injuring 125 more, 1994
In the Irish general election, the Fianna Fáil-led government suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government since the formation of the Irish state, 2011