I feel terrible. A remembrance holiday I created and I almost forgot the dang thing.

When I first announced this holiday, I mentioned it was going to be Mr. Meredith’s 100th birthday.

I had gotten his birthdate from his IMDB entry, but after looking at a few more sites, I think he was born in 1908, not 1907, so this is actually his 99th birthday (I’m shocked, SHOCKED at a factual error on the IMDB).

What is there to say about the man? I first saw him as the Penguin on reruns of the old Adam West Batman TV show. How many of you reading this can instantly hear his wonderful Penguin laugh?

Jon Stewart has incorporated it into his frequent impressions of Dick Cheney.

Then I saw him as Mickey in the Rocky films:

A couple years later I saw a performance that really moved me — Henry Bemis in The Twilight Zone episode ,”Time Enough At Last”. In a documentary I watched about Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone, a talking head mentioned that Serling protagonists are often people with fatal character flaws, that in the end get their comeuppance. But for Henry Bemis, when he breaks his glasses and says, “It’s not fair — It’s not fair”, it really *isn’t* fair – he really didn’t deserve the fate given to him.

It’s one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes.

Please join me in remembering Burgess Meredith.

Happy Burgess Meredith Remembrance Day!

I need to make an adjustment to my recently-created November holidays.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I won’t be able to participate in Mismatched Shoe Day on November 9th.

As a result, I now decree November 9th to be the following holiday:

Pretend To Read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged In Public Day
Whether it’s on a train, bus, or out and about at lunch, have a copy of Atlas Shrugged with you and pretend to read it.

You people be nice to those around you, okey-dokey?

Yes, it’s that time again!

Of course, since I did not have a blog in November of 2006, you couldn’t possibly be aware that we have finally arrived at the month where I get to make up holidays for every Friday.

Now you know! And now, I present to you my holidays for the month of November.

November 2nd – Okey-Dokey Day
Since my first holiday is occurring tomorrow, I decided to come up with a day that would not require any special equipment or preparation.

This holiday can be celebrated by wrapping up every conversation you have with the words “Okey-dokey”. “Okily-dokily” is an acceptable alternative, but “Y’okay” is not.

November 9th – Mismatched Shoe Day
Just what it says. Your shoes should not match. If you want to be stealthy, and you have a couple pairs of black shoes available to you, you can mismatch those (I’ll probably be opting for a brown shoe/black shoe combo).

Please provide a picture of your mismatched shoes (preferably while you are wearing them) and post on your own blog to honor this solemn holiday.

Novermber 16th – Burgess Meredith Remembrance Day
Say something nice about the man. It’s his 100th birthday.

November 23rd – Purchase Preprocessed Turkey Products Day
Ah, the day after Thanksgiving, or as many people are fond of calling it, Black Friday. The origin and meaning of the term are debatable, but for many “Black Friday” hooks into negative feelings towards crowds, shopping and the commercialization of Christmas. Instead of refraining from shopping as a protest, I recommend that celebrants of this holiday visit their local supermarket and purchase turkey products — turkey pot pie, turkey dinners, prepackaged turkey lunchmeats (for our vegetarian friends, Tofurkey). Why? I don’t know, it just seems like a funny thing to do.

November 30th – Whatever Splotchy Says Day
Await my instructions on the 30th.

Happy Labour Day!

Raise a glass for the Haymarket martyrs.