Today, my daughter asked me what is Ash Wednesday since she saw a number of people at her school with ashes on their forehead. Since we are not Catholic, I told her I would look it up and get back to her.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter. Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and the ashes are taken from palms used on Palm Sunday and then burned. In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, and contemplating one’s transgressions. Other religions celebrate Ash Wednesday as well, including Methodists, Wesleyan, Nazarene and Church of God.

However, other religions believe that the practice is not consistent with Scripture and is of pagan origin. Matthew 6:16-18 is usually cited to bolster this claim:

16Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

18That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

These religions say that Jesus warned about doing such things publicly and that followers should fast in private and not for others to see. There are many Christian denominations that do not endorse the practice.

How did Ash Wednesday first get started? According to the AmericanCatholic.org:

Thomas Talley, an expert on the history of the liturgical year, says that the first clearly datable liturgy for Ash Wednesday that provides for sprinkling ashes is in the Romano-Germanic pontifical of 960. Before that time, ashes had been used as a sign of admission to the Order of Penitents. As early as the sixth century, the Spanish Mozarabic rite calls for signing the forehead with ashes when admitting a gravely ill person to the Order of Penitents. At the beginning of the 11th century, Abbot Aelfric notes that it was customary for all the faithful to take part in a ceremony on the Wednesday before Lent that included the imposition of ashes. Near the end of that century, Pope Urban II called for the general use of ashes on that day. Only later did this day come to be called Ash Wednesday.

I am now up to Season Four on Lost. I never started watching it from the beginning, but now I am hooked. The characters are interesting and so in the plot line, but there still seem to be a lot of holes which I hope will be cleared up in future episodes. The most interesting fact, for me, is that John Locke worked for a shipping boxes company in Tustin, California. Hey, that is where I grew up. I don’t know if there is really a box company there ore not. I wonder what the phony address is?

Here is the next item on my wish list:

If you happened to catch 20/20 last night, you heard the tale of Lilo Brancato, a star of the movie A Bronx Tale. Brancato went from just a regular boy from Yonkers to the star of a hit movie overnight. Born August 30, 1976, Brancato went on to accept roles in Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Blue Moon and The Sopranos. He also started drinking and taking drugs.

On June 10, 2005, Brancato and a friend were out to score more drugs, when they broke a window and wakened an off-duty police officer. The police officer ended up dead. Although Brancato did not pull the trigger, he was also charged with murder. He was convicted of 1st-degree attempted burglary and sentenced on January 9, 2009 to 10 years in prison. He was found not guilty on the murder charge.

In the 20/20 interview, Brancato now realizes how he screwed up his life, but it is a little too late. Brancato’s last words in the movie A Bronx Tale were “‘he saddest thing in life is wasted talent and the choices you make will shape your life forever.” How true.

I found this old commercial – it has to be from the 80s. This was when aerobics was big and so was spandex. Before women (and men) realized that an elliptical machine would be better exercise and less embarrassing. Check out the clothes, and does the guy put on a headband? Leg warmers and big hair included!

I could write at least a dozen posts about the contestants that will appear on The Celebrity Apprentice that is due to air on March 1, 2009, but I won’t. Most of the contestants I wouldn’t waste my breath on, but here is a summary of the contenders:

Andrew Dice Clay – one time foul mouth comedian, not heard from much since the 1980s.
Tom Green – Drew Barrymore’s ex, always looking for more publicity.
Clint Black – Country singer who seems like a nice guy.
Annie Duke – Professional Poker Player
Claudia Jordan – Model who was a Barker’s Beauty and is currently a Deal or No Deal case carrier.
Brian McKnight – R&B Musician
Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins – R&B Singer and member of TLC
Herschel Walker – retired NFL player
Natalie Gulbis – LPGA Golfer
Scott Hamilton – Ice skating champ
Khloe Kardashian – Reality TV star and socialite (not many brains here)
Joan Rivers – Comedian and plastic surgery addict
Melissa Rivers – daughter of Joan and an up and coming plastic surgery addict
Brande Roderick – Playboy and Baywatch are her claim to fame
Dennis Rodman – hotheaded ex-basketball player with lots of tattoos and piercings.

I don’t expect Dennis Rodman or Andrew Dice Clay to last very long. My prediction is Scott Hamilton and Annie Duke in the final two.

Now that movies are announced years in advance, there is always a build up to what will be the next biggest hit. So after I finish getting my free insurance quotes so that I can drive my car with adequate insurance that won’t break my budget, I am going to put the following movies on my must see list for 2009:

1. Up by Disney Studios. Looks like it might actually have an interesting story line that will keep both adults and kids entertained.
   
2. Night at the Museum 2. I really enjoyed the first one, lets hope the second one is almost as good.
   
3. Knowing, starring Nicholas Cage. A teacher digs up a time capsule and realizes that some of the events have already occurred and some are about to.
   
4. The Birds. This is a remake of the original Alfred Hitchcock movie. But without Alfred, will it still be good?
5. Dorian Gray. I LOVED the original movie and hope the remake is just as good at telling the moral.
   
6. Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. I hope it doesn’t come off as a farce.
7. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. My son will love this one and the others have been fairly entertaining.
   
8. Nottingham, starring Russell Crowe. A new take on the Robin Hood legend.
9. 2012. A disaster movie based on the Mayan calendar. Could be interesting.
10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The first one was very entertaining. Will the second be as good?
11. The Informant. Based on a book by Kurt Eichenwald (which I have read) is about price fixing in agribusiness. I found the book extremely interesting, but I am geeky that way.
12. Monsters vs. Aliens. The previews look funny, but are the showing us all the funny parts?
    
13. Angels & Demons. Read the book, want to see the movie. I should rent the Da Vinci Code first.
    
14. Star Trek. I don’t think it will live up to Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, but I am willing to give it a try.
    
15. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I didn’t think the last Harry Potter movie did the book justice, but what the heck, I have seen them all so I should see this one too.
    

I heard recently on the radio that there has been an increase in people who quit smoking because of their dogs. They found out that their second hand smoke was also affecting their dogs and giving them all sorts of health problems. Dogs have been great as spokespeople for many different products. Remember the talking chihuahua in the Taco Bell commercials? I even found this commercial for a sleep number bed where the pet owner gives the dog their own sleep number.

If you remember the Isuzu commercials from the 1980s, there was a fictional character named Joe Isuzu who was the spokesperson. The commercials aired from 1986 to 1990 and featured actor David Leisure as Joe Isuzu. Some famous quotes by Joe include:

* “You have my word on it.”
* “If I’m lying, may lightning hit my mother.” (“Good luck, Mom!” appears on screen!)
* “It has more seats than the Astrodome!”
* “Hi, I’m Joe Isuzu and I used my new Isuzu pickup truck to carry a 2,000 pound cheeseburger.”
* “The Isuzu Impulse: faster than a speeding—[catches a bullet in his teeth]—well, you know.”

David Leisure is currently appearing as Roger Wilkes on the CBS daytime soap, The Young and the Restless.

Here is a clip (and not very political correct) from one of the commercials:

The nominees for the Oscar’s are out and I am always intrigued by the short film categories. There are two categories – short film (live) and short film (animated). I often wonder if the directors operated a home business or actually have a office, staff and studio space. The shortest film this year runs three minutes and the longest runs thirty minutes. The limit is forty minutes.

The nominees this year for live short film are:

Manon on the Asphalt, from France. Directed by Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont, in which a young woman, laying in the street after a car has hit her while riding her bike, wonders how her mother and her friends would react to her death.
New Boy, from Ireland. Directed by Steph Green, in which a nine-year-old African immigrant struggles with a bully in his first day at his new school.

On the Line, from Switzerland and Germany. Directed by Reto Caffi, which finds a security guard at a store unexpectedly coming closer to the object of his desire, a bookstore clerk at his work, whom he watches over the surveillance cameras every day.

The Pig, from Denmark. Directed by Dorte Høgh, featuring a collision of cultures between a Danish man who has become unexpected attached to a painting of a pig in his hospital room and the Muslim family of the man who shares the hospital room.

Toyland, from Germany. Directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank, in which a mother in Nazi Germany desperately searches for her young son, whom has run away from home to join their Jewish neighbors on their trip to Toyland.

The nominees this year for animated short film are:

The House of Small Cubes, from Japan and France. Directed by Kunio Kato, which tells the story of a man who must continually build new stories to his home in order to live out the rising tides that surround him.
Lavatory Lovestory, from Russia. Directed by Konstantin Bronzit, in which a female attendant in a men’s room unexpectedly finds love.

Oktapodi, from France. Directed by Julien Bocabeille, Francois-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier and Emud Mokhberi, which finds two octopi in love trying to outwit a restaurant delivery boy.

Presto, from the United States. Directed by Doug Sweetland, in which a magician is continually foiled by his hungry bunny sidekick.

This Way Up, from the United Kingdom. Directed by Adam Foulkes and Alan Smith, which finds two morticians struggling to get a coffin to its final resting place.

I just finished reading the book, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, so I decided to do a little research about Nathaniel Bowditch. Bowditch was born March 26, 1773 in Salem Massachusetts. He attended school until he was 10 years of age and was considered an excellent student interested in mathematics. Due to financial difficulties in the family, Nathaniel went to work for his father at the cooperage and then entered an indentured servant contract to Ropes and Hodges, ship chandlers. He would study every night from books borrowed from Mr. Hodges and others.

By the time he was 18 years old he had taught himself Latin and French and study astronomy, mathematics and surveying. In 1794, he assisted William Bentley and John Gibaut in a survey of Salem. Gibaut was so impressed, he invited Bowditch to sign up as a clerk on his next trip to the West Indies. He sailed five times to the West Indies each time improving on his navigational skills. During these times he found numerous errors in Moore’s navigational guide used at the time. He vowed to write a new guide that would assist sailors and captains. In 1802, Bowditch’s American Practical Navigator was published and a copy is still found on most ships today.

Bowditch was married twice, first to Elizabeth Boardman who died a few months after their marriage, then latter to his cousin Mary “Polly” Ingersoll. They had eight children.

After his last voyage, Bowditch became president of the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company in Salem. He set up what would become a “Massachusetts Trust” – separate accounts so that gains and losses would not affect each other. He later moved to Boston, at the age of 50, to become an actuary with the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company.

Bowditch was awarded ah honorary LL.D. from Harvard College in 1802. In 1806, he declined a Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy but two years later become an Harvard overseer. As overseer he found over $120,000 in errors and recommended changes which ultimately led to the resignation of Harvard President John Kirkland.

Bowditch died on March 16, 1838 due to stomach cancer. His wife died four years before.

Nathaniel Bowditch is a fine example of self-taught excellence and learning.