I Told Him, “Julie, Don’t Go!”

Beware The Ides Of March

Ah, yes, the Ides of March or the 15th day of the third month. Yeah, I know it's only March 14th. But it would be too late to beware if I told you tomorrow. The phrase is best known as the fatal warning given Julius Caesar, prior to his assassination.

Julius Caesar has heavily influenced our culture and society in ways you may not have known.

For example, Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the conspiracy against the Roman dictator of the same name, his assassination and its aftermath. It is one of several Roman plays that he wrote, based on true events from Roman history.

Caesar seems to have been the originator of the phrase “We have not to fear anything, except fear itself,” spoken to his wife on the eve of his death. FDR nicked the expression for an inauguration speech in the depths of the depression in 1933 when he said “…we have nothing to fear but fear itself…”

Julius Caesar is responsible for a very famous idiom. He literally “crossed the Rubicon”, which is an expression used down through the ages to exemplify when one passes the point of no return.

Julius Caesar said “I came, I saw, I conquered” He might have been referring to the fact he was married 3 times.

He may have heavily influenced Richard Nixon because he said: “If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it."

We know he preferred listening to Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead over Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention because he said: “It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking.”

And we certainly know he enjoyed eggs. When asked on the morning of his death if he’d eaten eggs for breakfast he replied, “Ate two Brute!”

Caesar and his pals (including a young Marlon Brando) got the Hollywood treatment in 1953...

And he served as an inspiration to comedians. First up Monty Python in this short wordless wonder…

And to conclude, this longer yet classic routine from the Canadian comedy duo of Wayne and Shuster. My favourite line? The immortal words in Canuck comedy: “I told him,’Julie, don’t go!’”

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! ...

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

I Am Charlie, I'm A Bore

Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Colin Farrel...you know the list, it goes on and on. The list of Hollywood hick-ups who not content to meltdown behind closed doors have to drag each and every detail out into the light of day and share it with all of us. Well, add Charlie Sheen to that luckless and lascivious list of losers. In the past few days he's been on every major media soapbox complaining abut how he's been treated and how he's misunderstood. Last night he spent an hour on ABC's 20/20 "in his own words". Charlie, you should have stuck to the script. "I have a highly evolved brain". You know I never did like that song by Helen Reddy in the 70s "I Am Woman". But I have to say the melody really leant itself well to a parody of Hollywood's latest flame-out, Charlie Sheen. Although I never thought I'd hear myself say this, my sincerest apologies to Helen Reddy. And now if you're ready (a little play on wor...

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