5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
First Posted:
Hope you squeezed every last drop out of 2010 you could, because it’s 2011 now and there’s no turning back. And while it’s tempting to take a look at what the year will bring, it’s better to start small. Rather than the 260 Things You Need To Know This Year, we’ll just keep it manageable and focus on this week.
>> t wasn’t that long ago that college football’s best bowl games were played on New Year’s Day. It was like a giant hangover cure for the sports fan. You could rest up and watch bowl game after bowl game while the police tracked down your car and got it out of the lake you parked it in the night before. Now, the best bowl games are spaced out over the first 10 days of the new year. Football fans can get juiced for the Orange Bowl on Monday night, when the Virginia Tech Hokies face off against the brainy athletic types from Stanford. And on Tuesday, THE Ohio State University takes on THE University of Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Kickoff for both games is set for 8:30 p.m. each night on ESPN.
>> es. Yooouuu willlllll. On Tuesday. Yooouuu wiiilll beee geeetting sleeeppy. VEEERRYY sleeeppy. Why? Because it’s World Hypnotism Day, of course. The observance, according to the day’s official website, is designed to “remove the myths and misconceptions” about hypnotism – myths and misconceptions that we are going to perpetuate for the sake of a cheap joke. So, get out that gold watch, wave it back and forth, and pretty soon your neighbor will be in the backyard clucking like a chicken, and you, being wise, will have grabbed your camera and have some nice snapshots to show at parties.
>> THE THREE KINGS: In Christianity, Jan. 6 is known as the Feast of the Epiphany, which commemorates the day the Christ child was visited by the three magi. … Or the three kings. … Or the three wise men. …. Whatever you call them, it must have been a tough act to follow if you were the “king” who brought the myrrh. The first guy brought gold. Awesome. The second, frankincense. Still cool. And what’s your gift? A substance used for embalming? Ehhhh? Not really an appropriate baby gift, is it? A Diaper Genie might have been better.
>> hhhh. Remember the Dark Ages? Swords? Sorcery? Pestilence? Bad personal hygiene? It was like one big “Hee Haw” song. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yester-yesteryear with the new Nicholas Cage movie “Season of the Witch.” It’s kind of a “road” flick set against the backdrop of the black plague. Sounds like swordfights, magic spells, bad acting and general hi-jinks by all involved. It opens on Friday.
>> S Ro{zcaron}destvom Khristovym: If you are a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, then you get your chance to celebrate Christmas this week. Many of the Eastern Orthodox churches follow the old Julian Calendar, in which Christmas is celebrated on Jan. 7 instead of Dec. 25. How old is this Julian Calendar? You might have heard of the guy it’s named after: Julius Caesar. You probably haven’t heard of the guy who did all the “leg work” about 45 B.C. and made the calendar. He was an astronomer named Sosigenes. Poor guy. Probably didn’t even get a plaque or anything for his trouble.
