Mobsters, dim sum and Raisinets.

I thought it might be worthwhile to write a quick post before I go to sleep. I’m not exactly tired at the moment and it always helps me unwind if I horse around with the Howdygram for a little while. First, here’s a really cute video clip from YouTube for your possible interest. (Sam and I both got a kick out of this.)



And now, three unforgettable events from this date in history!

• December 26, 1946. Mobster Bugsy Siegel opens the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Comedian Jimmy Durante was the headliner with music by Cuban band leader Xavier Cugat. A crowd of Siegel’s Hollywood pals showed up, too, including actors George Raft, George Sanders, Sonny Tufts and George Jessel. Unfortunately, the grand opening flopped due to seriously crappy weather, the casino lost $300,000 its first week and Bugsy wound up in deep doo-doo. (I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.)
• December 26, 1973. Legendary horror film The Exorcist opens. Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, the movie starred Linda Blair as a 12-year-old girl named Regan who’s possessed by a demon. When her freaked-out mother (played by Ellen Burstyn) finally decides to contact a priest, he recommends performing an exorcism, during which Regan’s head spins 360°, her body levitates and she projectile vomits green bile. The Exorcist earned a reputation as one of the most terrifying movies in history. (Popcorn sales sucked and nobody bought Raisinets, either.)

• December 26, 2004. A magnitude 9.3 earthquake — the second-largest in recorded history — off the coast of Indonesia triggers a deadly tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people from Southeast Asia to the coast of Africa. The quake lasted almost ten full minutes, triggering other earthquakes as far away as Alaska and causing the entire planet to shift on its axis. Holy crap.

In case you’re interested, Sam and I had a pleasant, typically Jewish Christmas yesterday. We drove to Hong Kong Royal for dim sum, fondly recalling that classic scene from A Christmas Story when the family winds up at a Chinese restaurant (pictured below) on Christmas and the waiters are singing “Deck the Hors with Boughs of Horry” as they whack off the head of a Peking duck.

Pass the soy sauce and thank you for reading this.