The New Ohio Theatre announced that starting today the Manhattan Premiere of The Mad Ones’ critically acclaimed Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War is extending for two additional weeks.

In an alternate global history, the cold war was decided not by détente, not by nuclear holocaust, but by massive robot invasion. Among the survivors, a team of Russian radio hosts, warmed to a lost culture of 1950s Americana, broadcast a story of brothers’ love drawn straight from the American heartland. Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War combines 1950s radio drama, vintage country music, and Soviet science in a sci-fi surrealist War of the Worlds meets A Prairie Home Companion examination of American nostalgia.

Nicolas Cage reprises his role as Johnny Blaze in GHOST RIDER™ SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE. In this gritty new take on MARVEL's dark antihero, Johnny is still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – but he may risk everything as he teams up with the leader of a group of rebel monks (Idris Elba) to save a young boy from the devil… and possibly rid himself of his curse forever.

GHOST RIDER™ SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE is directed by the team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor best know for their Crank films, as well as Gamer. The screenplay is by Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, and David S. Goyer, from a story by Goyer. In addition to Cage and Elba (who recently won a Golden Glob for his work as the lead on the BBC series "Luther), GHOST RIDER™ SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE stars Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, and Christopher Lambert.

Director Mark Neveldine was born in Watertown, NY and attended Hobart College where he majored in Drama/Psychology. He began his career in the arts an actor and Off-Broadway director. He moved on to work behind the camera as Director of Photography on documentaries, music videos and a television pilot. His narrative DP work includes “This Beautiful Life,” starring Ned Beatty.

From the corpses that bring you the annual
Gorgeous & Gory Zombie Pinup Calendar

Comes the most gore-geous zombies around!

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On This Date:

1. Japanese Internment (1942) - As a result of President Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, some 110,000 Japanese Americans living in coastal Pacific areas were placed in concentration camps in remote areas of Arizona, Arkansas, inland California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. The interned Japanese Americans (two-thirds of whom were US citizens) lost an estimated $400 million in property. They were allowed to return to their homes Jan 2, 1945.

Celebrating Birthdays Today:

1. Copernicus, Nicolaus - Polish astronomer and priest who revolutionized scientific thought with what came to be called the Copernican theory that placed the sun instead of Earth at the center of our planetary system. Born at Torun, Poland, he died at East Prussia, May 24, 1543.

2. Smokey Robinson - Singer, songwriter, born William Robinson, Jr, at Detroit, MI, Feb 19, 1940.

3. Jeff Daniels - Actor (The Purple Rose of Cairo, Something Wild, Dumb and Dumber), born Chelsea, MI, Feb 19, 1955.

On This Date:

1. Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane (1930) - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane. During the flight, which was attended by reporters, she was milked, and the milk was sealed in paper containers and parachuted over St. Louis, MO.

2. Pluto Discovery (1930) - Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, AZ. It was given the name of the Roman god of the underworld. It was considered the ninth planet of the solar system until 2006, when astronomers reclassified it as a dwarf planet.
 

Celebrating Birthdays Today:

1. Peabody, George - American merchant and philanthropist, born at South Danvers, MA. He endowed the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD, museums at Harvard and Yale and the George Peabody College for Teachers at Nashville, TN. Died at London, England, Nov 4, 1869.

2. Tiffany, Louis Comfort - American artist, son of famed jeweler Charles L. Tiffany. Best remembered for his remarkable work with decorative iridescent "favrile" glass. Born at New York, NY; died there Jan 17, 1933.

On This Date:

1. "A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION" Premiere (1979) - This popular live variety show debuted locally on Minnesota Public Radio in 1974 and was first broadcast nationally on Feb 17, 1979, as part of National Public Radio's Folk Festival USA. It became a regular Saturday-night program in early 1980. Host Garrison Keillor's monologues about the mythical Lake Wobegon and his humorous ads for local businesses such as Bertha's Kitty Boutique, Powdermilk Biscuits and the Chatterbox Cafe were accompanied by various musical groups. Broadcast from the World Theater in St. Paul, MN, the show went off the air in 1986. A series of programs were done for cable TV, and Keillor continues to write works of fiction (Lake Wobegon Days). In 1994 ""A
Prairie Home Companion"" went back on the air on Public Radio International.

2. Chicago Flag Exhibit Controversy (1989) - An exhibit at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, titled What Is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?, consisted of a ledger for viewers to write their impressions but required the viewers to stand on a US flag mounted on the floor to reach the ledger. The exhibit by art student Scott Tyler prompted protests from veterans' groups, a failed lawsuit and an introduction of legislation by Senator Bob Dole to make displaying a US flag on the floor or ground a crime. Although that legislation didn't pass, Congress periodically continues to introduce legislation against flag desecration.

3. United States Television Switches from Analog to Digital (2009) - Federal law required that all full-power television broadcast stations stop broadcasting in analog format and broadcast only in digital format. Congress mandated the conversion because all-digital broadcasting will free up frequencies for public safety communications (such as police, fire, and emergency rescue) and because digital is a more efficient transmission technology that allows broadcast stations to offer improved picture and sound quality.