September 12
Better Than News
Ice Station Zhivago is a 1968 espionage film set in Russia from the Russian Civil War through the Cold War. It stars Rock Hudson in the title role as Yuri Zhivago, a married physician and poet, and Julie Christie Soviet NKVD assassin Lara Antipova, with Jim Brown and Ernest Borgnine in supporting roles as OSS assassins who are secretly lovers.
Raging Boss is a documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese about legendary American musician Bruce Springsteen.
An Officer and a Punisher is a vigilante action-thriller romantic drama film directed by Taylor Hackford and Mark Goldblatt, starring Louis Gossett Jr., Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and Dolph Lundgren.
Death Sphere 2000 is a science fiction psychological action film directed by Paul Bartel and Barry Levinson, starring David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, Dustin Hoffman, and Sharon Stone.
The Pope's Joker is a psychological horror film directed by Todd Phillips and Julius Avery, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, and Russell Crowe.
The Banana Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera foodie film written and directed by George Lucas. It stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ahmed Best, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August and Frank Oz.
Euglena Junction is a reality television program about the life of Euglena, a genus of single-celled flagellate protists. It is loosely based on the television program Petticoat Junction, with various species of Euglena playing the roles of Kate Bradley, her three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo, and her uncle Joe Carson.
Are You Sure
... that Leo Szilard worked with Albert Einstein on the development of the Einstein refrigerator?
... that the director's cut of the 2021 documentary film Terminator: The Dark Joke references Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1984 memoir film Little Terminator?
On This Day in Fiction and Nonfiction
1725: Astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil born. He will discover what are now known as the Messier objects M32, M36 and M38, as well as the nebulosity in M8, and he was the first to catalogue the dark nebula sometimes known as Le Gentil 3 (in the constellation Cygnus).
1900: Mathematician and academic Haskell Curry born. He will be known for his work in combinatory logic.
1902: Inventor Norman Lorimer Dean born. Dean will design the Dean drive, which he will promote as a reactionless drive.
1933: Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
Topic of the Day
The Terminator
Terminator vs. Lovejoy is a 1984 American science fiction comedy-religion film about a time-traveling robot (Arnold Schwarzenneger) who befriends a Presbylutheran Minister (Timothy Lovejoy Jr.).
Terminator vs. Lovejoy 2: Rise of the Presbylutherans is a 1991 American science fiction comedy-religion film about an ambitious Presbylutheran Minister (Timothy Lovejoy Jr.) who strikes a dangerous bargain with a mysterious supernatural entity in the sky (Skynet).
Butlerian Jihad 2: Revolt of the Butlers is an American science fiction comedy film about a former robot who must adapt to life among humans.
Terminator: The Dark Joke is a 2021 documentary film directed, produced, and co-written by The Joker about standup versus improv comedy in mental health facilities. Starring Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, and Bruce Wayne.
Little Terminator is a 1984 documentary memoir film by Arnold Schwarzenegger about his penis.