Happy Birthday, California!

Today is the anniversary of California being admitted to our United States of America. California is the most populous sate in the Union. It's no surprise that there are 15 major sports teams in the state. Nor is a surprise that literally HUNDREDS of celebrities were born in California. For years, all fictitious TV characters were from California, too, so I won't even mention THEM! ;-)

Date of Admittance:

September 9, 1850
Parentage: The word "California" comes from a Spanish fictional island paradise. The territory was Spanish, Mexican, and American after stealing acquiring it from the Native Americans.

Place in the Family

Number 31
The Gold Rush helped rush this Western 
state between the normal mid-western 
expansion states of Wisconsin (May 1848) 
and Minnesota (May 1858)

Motto

"Eureka"
attributed to Archimedes, 
in Greek it means "I've found it!" 
Said to refer to finding gold in them thar hills

Nick-Name

The Golden State
Again, because of the Gold Rush

On the License Plate

Just the state name, in cursive
nice touch, that

State Flag

A brown bear on a field of white with the words
"California Republic" 
As flags go, this is pretty bad.
A bear, really? 

First City You Probably Think of

When You Think "California"

Los Angeles

Actual State Capital:  
Sacramento

State Size (Area) is 3rd of 50.

Population is closer to 1st of 50.

(per 2000 Census figures)

California Sports:

NFL

OAKLAND RAIDERS 

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS

SAN FRANCISCO 49ers

MLB

LOS ANGELES ANGELS (ANAHEIM) 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

OAKLAND ATHLETICS "A's"

SAN DIEGO PADRES

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

NBA

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
 


LOS ANGELES LAKERS

 

SACRAMENTO KINGS 

(SAN FRANCISCO)
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

NHL

ANAHEIM DUCKS

LOS ANGELES KINGS

SAN JOSE SHARKS

Anybody From California
Ever Grow Up To Be President?

Yes (unfortunately?)
which segues into....

Good vs Evil

Richard Nixon
Worst Ever

Steve Jobs
Visionary

TV Celebrities From California

Bill Bixby
actor, "My Favorite Martian"etc

George Takei
actor, "Star Trek"
 

Candice Bergen

actress, "Murphy Brown"

David Carradine
actor, "Kung Fu"
Robert Carradine
actor, "Lizzie McGuire"

Jennifer Aniston
comedienne, "Friends"

Lisa Kudrow
comedienne, "Friends"

Tyra Banks
model, host "America's Top Model"

Andy Samberg
comedian, "SNL"

Zac Efron

actor, "High School Musicals"

Musical Californians:

The Beach Boys

"California Girls" etc

Merle Haggard

"Mama Tried" etc

Mickey Dolenz 

"I'm A Believer" etc

 

Sammy Hagar  

"I Can't Drive 55" etc

 

Randy Newman 

"I Love LA" etc

 

Paula Abdul  

"Opposites Attract" etc

Blink 182 

"All The Small Things" etc

 

Green Day  

"American Idiot" etc

Katy Perry 

"Fireworks" etc

Sporty Californians

Joe DiMaggio

baseball Hall of Fame player

Ted Williams

baseball Hall of Fame player
 


Tom Seaver

baseball Hall of Fame player

Daryl Strawberry

baseball Hall of Fame player

Barry Bonds

infamous baseball player

Mark McGwire

infamous baseball player

 


Cathy Rigby

Olympic gymnast

Billie Jean King

professional tennis player

Tracy Austin

professional tennis player 

OJ Simpson

infamous football player
 

Greg Louganis

Olympic diver
 


 Kristi Yamaguchi

Olympic ice-skater
 

Jeff Gordon

NASCAR racer

Tiger Woods

professional golfer
 

Tom Brady

professional football player




Film Stars From California 

Marilyn Monroe

Hollywood Icon 

Mel Blanc

actor, voice actor, "Looney Tunes"

Bruce Lee

actor, "Enter the Dragon"

George Lucas

director, "American Graffiti"

Mark Hamill & Carrie Fisher

actors, "Star Wars" films

Lloyd Bridges

Jeff Bridges & Beau Bridges 

actors

Michelle Pfeiffer

actress, "Hairspray"

 

Ice Cube 
actor, singer, producer, director

 

Leonardo DiCaprio
actor, "Blood Diamonds" 
 


Jack Black
actor, "School of Rock"
 

California Literary Figures

Jack London

The Call of The Wild etc

Robert Frost
"Stopping By The Woods...." etc

 

Rube Goldberg

Inventions

John Steinbeck

East of Eden etc

Shirley Jackson

"The Lottery" etc

Amy Tan

"The Joy Luck Club" etc

Academy Award Winning Californians

Gregory Peck
 actor, "To Kill A Mockingbird"



Liza Minnelli
actress, "Cabaret"



Gene Hackman
2-time Award Winning Actor
 


Tatum O'Neal
supporting actress, "Paper Moon" 
 


Keith Carradine
song, "Nashville"




Dustin Hoffman 
2-time Award Winning Actor
 


Timothy Hutton
supporting actor, "Ordinary People"

Robert Redford
director, "Ordinary People"

 


Jodie Foster
2-time Award Winning Actress



Cher
actress, "Moonstruck"



 Kevin Costner
director, "Dances With Wolves"
 


Tom Hanks
2-time Award Winning Actor



Nicholas Cage 
actor, "Leaving Las Vegas"




Clint Eastwood
 2-time Award Winning Director




Angelina Jolie

supporting actress, "Girl, Interrupted"



Gwyneth Paltrow
actress, "Shakespeare In Love"




Helen Hunt
 actress, "As Good As It Gets"



Sean Penn 
 2-time Award Winning Actor

Other Famous Californians

 George S. Patton 

world-famous General

Julia Child

world-famous chef

Anthony Kennedy

Associate Justice, 

US Supreme Court (1988~)
 

Stephen Breyer 

Associate Justice, 

US Supreme Court (1994~) 
 

Sally Ride

astronaut
 

  
Tony Robbins 

self-help guru

A Song For You....

"Hotel California"

Written by Don Felder, Don Henley, & Glenn Frey
Sung by The Eagles 
Lots of songs about California 
or cities in California, 
but this seemed appropriate somehow...
with Spanish sub-titles!!! :-)

The Debut of THE SUPER FRIENDS

My life changed on Saturday morning, September 8, 1973. That was the day I woke up early and rushed to the TV to watch the debut of the uber fantastic cartoon caviar that is was and will be THE SUPER FRIENDS. This show made its debut on the ABC-TV network 39 years ago today. (*Here's hoping there is a huge celebration of its 40th Anniversary NEXT year!!) 

Say it with me, in your best Ted Knight impersonation: Superman. Wonder Woman. Batman (and Robin, the poor kid never got equal billing!). Aquaman. 

And those Junior Super Friends Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog. (Oh well, you can't have it all.)

These original shows didn't really stand up in my memory. To me Wendy & Marvin brought the first season down. The Wonder Twins, the special guests, and still later, The Legion of Doom, all were better remembered in my consciousness than the original series. It was good, sure, but it wasn't great.

Then a funny thing happened. I actually watched these episodes again. Not only is the theme song AWESOME in the extreme (I had forgotten!!) but the one hour format allowed each of the Super Friends to have their moment to shine, and nobody hogged all of the action. The shows were good! The villains were not great, no, but the stories were actually entertaining! Don't believe me? Go to the library and borrow one of the first season DVD collections. Or buy one of them (they are broken up into two sets). You'll soon see that these were not terrible cartoons. Sure, they aren't The Legion of Doom, but, hey, nothing else is, all right?

Besides, just look at them! They were basically the Justice League in animated form! If they hadn't been successful, we never would have gotten the Legion of Doom! So what's not to love?! 

Thank you, Hanna-Barbera and ABC-TV, for making this cartoon series. Without it, I may not have found out about comics. I owe you a debt I can never repay. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUPER FRIENDS!!!

The Debut of STAR TREK!

Today is the anniversary of the first airing of the first episode of some little science fiction drama, STAR TREK, which made its debut on September 8, 1966.

The rest, as they say, is history. 

Famously, the debut episode was not the first episode made, but the fifth. "MAN TRAP" about the Enterprise coming across a salt vampire, starred William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. At this point, DeForest Kelley was only a co-star. The other featured players were James Doohan, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols. Ensign Chekov and Nurse Chapel did not appear.

Here's a fan-made re-do of the opening and closing credits....it's awesome!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STAR TREK!

 

"Hymn To Friendship" = "Battle Hymn"?!?

Note: "Russell's Ken-Bun-Ki" is a series of articles I wrote for my Japanese City Hall newsletter back in 1996. They were articles about life in America or life in Japan as experienced by an American. This one is from August 29, 1996.

Last week my 5 year old daughter sang her first American folk song. However, it was not in English; it was in Japanese. In Japan there are many (US and other foreign) songs with lyrics that were changed into Japanese. She sang a song called "Hymn To Friendship" but in America this folk song is called "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," aka "Glory." It is an anti-slavery song from the US Civil War era.

The US Civil War started in 1860. The slavery of black Americans was a main reason for the war. Eleven Southern States with large populations of black people seceded from the United States to form The Confederate States. The northern states fought to protect the union.

During this war a woman lyricist wrote, "Glory." The main lyric in English translates as "We are fighting on God's side. We are not going to lose to Evil. If we do lose we will be taken up in God's glory (ie escorted to Heaven). So let's fight with all our might!" It became a huge hit at the time. It was revised in the Fifties during the Civil Rights movement, becoming famous all over again. In my country, it is a song with a very deep meaning.

It is okay to change the lyrics to songs, but isn't it more interesting to know the original meanings, too? Let's always look at things by asking "Why?" or "How?"

Post-Script
First of all, my wife (editor) threw that last bit on there to soften up the overall tone. I had forgotten it was there until I re-read it. Obviously, Japanese people don't care that their treasured kids' songs are actually anti-slavery folk songs. So I had to placate them somewhat with that.

I will never forget hearing my daughter Anna sing this song to me. I was shocked. Incredulous. Bowled over.  Here are the Japanese words (loosely translated). If you don't think this is the dumbest song you've ever read, let me know. It just galls that it's actually sung to the tune of "Glory Glory Halleluiah." 

Hymn to Friendship 

Japanese lyrics by Takao Sakata 

One by one with elbows locked

All together all of us are friends

Hey there everybody hello! 

Let's all shake hands

In the sky is Mr. Sun

Underfoot is the Earth

Everybody get together

Everybody sing

Robin Hood and Tom Sawyer

They are all our friends

The old guy with the long whiskers

Used to be a child, too

In the sky is Mr. Sun

Underfoot is the Earth

Everybody get together 

Everybody sing

If all the friends on Earth got together

There wouldn't be any troubles or strife

Let's go to Africa and Polynesia

The green forests

In the sky is Mr. Sun

Underfoot is the Earth

Everybody get together

Everybody sing  

(then counting in Japanese, English, German, and Spanish before a big finish)

Everybody SING! 

We Deserve Better

Last week at the Republican National Convention Governor Mitt Romney announced, "We deserve better."

I actually agree with him.

We deserve a better campaign.

We deserve better ideas.

We deserve better communication.

Of course, it takes two to tango. I am not blaming Gov Romney exclusively for the tone of this already ugly campaign. If he and his people, however, announced that they were going to take the high-road and never "go negative" again, wouldn't more people on the fence turn to him? I mean, this isn't just about which man is going to convince the majority of people to vote for him. It's also about getting the entire country behind him *after* the election. President George W. Bush was good at that after 2000, but then he squandered if at 2004 and after. (2004 should have been a cake-walk for him~!) 2008 President Obama and Senator McCain ran against President Bush and as newcomers. Now, the President has to run against his record and another new-comer. Do we stay with the devil we know, or go with the devil we don't know?

We deserve better, indeed. Here's hoping Governor Romney runs a great campaign.