August 27

Better Than News

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  Cyndi Lauper of the Third Kind is an 1977 American science fiction biography film about singer, songwriter and xenobiologist Cyndi Lauper.

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  "The Enemy Within You Without You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles about the American television series Star Trek.

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  Gnomes: El Mariachis is a documentary film which explores the lives and music of gnomes in Mariachi bands, in Mexico and around the world. Shown here: the guns scene.

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  "Twitter in a Dangerous Time" is a song by Bruce Cockburn.

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  Edward Jazzhands is a 1990 American fantasy dance film about an artificial humanoid named Edward (Johnny Depp), an unfinished creation who aspires to perform a jazz hands dance number with Bob Fosse.

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  "Back On the Supply Chain Gang" is a song by Chrissie Hynde and the Department of Corrections.

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  Greysmoke: The Legend of Tarsand, Lord of the Oils is a 2004 revisionist petroleum engineering film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Tarzan of the Apes (1912).

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  Bucky Fuller, Orb King is a 2021 fantasy engineering film about a brilliant wizard (Buckminster Fuller) who uses tensegrity principles to construct a glowing blue orb.

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  Project Darkwhistle (also Project Darkwhistle, DARK WHISTLE, etc.) is an orbital wind tunnel.

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  Minty Fresh Potato Chips is a variety of potato chips distributed by Gnomon Chronicles Industries.

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  Gangs of New Ireland is a 2002 American historical drama film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Paddy Moloney.

Are You Sure

... that George Brecht was a conceptual artist, and avant-garde composer, and a professional chemist who consulted for Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mobil Oil?

... that Enuc is a historical drama film by activist and documentary filmmaker Enoch Root about Baron Vladimir "Enuc" Harkonnen, emphasizing Harkonnen's acquisition and loss of the planet Caladan?

On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction

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  1784: Apothecary and editor James Tytler made the first balloon ascent in Britain in a hot-air balloon at Edinburgh, Scotland. Before a small number of onlookers, the balloon rose to 350 feet in the air, travelled half a mile, and landed in Restalrig village.

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  1858: Mathematician Giuseppe Peano born. He will do pioneering work in mathematical logic and set theory.

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  1915: Physicist Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. born. He will be awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of the separated oscillatory field method, which will have important applications in the construction of atomic clocks.

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  1926: Chemist and composer George Brecht born. He will be a conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who will work as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Mobil Oil.

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  2003: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.

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  2017: Dennis Paulson of Mars wins Pulitzer Prize for Best Reality Television Show.

Topic of the Day

Burgess Meredith

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  Of Mice and Penguins is a 1939 American superhero film about two men, George (Burgess Meredith) and his mentally-challenged partner Lennie (Lon Chaney Jr.), trying to survive during the dustbowl of the 1930s and pursuing a dream of running their own crime gang instead of always working for the Joker.

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  Time Enough in Layers: A geologist (Meredith Burgess-Shale) unleashes a global nuclear holocaust in order to find a rare trilobite. (The Twilight Zone: Forbidden Episodes)

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  Of Mice and Squid is a 1939 South Korean survival drama television series about two men, George (Burgess Meredith) and his mentally-challenged partner Lennie (Lon Chaney Jr.), trying to survive a contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children's games for the chance to win an enormous cash prize.