Monday, November 01, 2004

Let's see how I can relate this to comics...

It's my birthday! Today I am (gasp!) 35 years old.

Looking around the Internet to see what was noteworthy about November 1, I found that Larry Flynt, Marcia "Mrs. Krabappel" Wallace, ILM's Dennis Muren, Lyle Lovett, and Toni Collette (among others) share my birthday. Also, while my sainted mother was recovering from delivering me, "Suspicious Minds" hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Wikipedia also tells us that November 1 saw the public debuts of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, Othello, The Tempest, and the Aricebo Radio Observatory; and that ten years ago, George Lucas put pencil to yellow pad to begin developing the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Today would also have been the 124th birthday of the legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice. He was famous for the kind of florid, yet elegant, prose that would be right at home in the old NFL Films highlight reels, not to mention the pulps and early adventure comics of the '20s, '30s, and '40s. I wonder if "faster than a speeding bullet" and "criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot" owe anything to Rice's columns?

The phrase "it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" was adapted from one of his poems. That's a good bit of advice, especially on your birthday!

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