Casper, the Friendly Ghost (1995) starred Christina Ricci as a tween girl, the daugher of a widower (portrayed by Bill Pullman), who befriends a tween ghost boy. Despite getting reviews that can most charitably be described as “mixed,” the film was a box office success. Pullman and Ricci were already bankable actors at the time, but the lads who portrayed Casper (voice and in physical form) didn’t achieve big stardom. Of the three men who portrayed the voices of the other, meaner ghosts in the movie, the only one whose name I recognize is Brad Garrett, who is known primarily for portraying loveable lummox Robert in Everybody Loves Raymond.
Early in his career as a comedian, and shortly after he dropped out from UCLA, Brad Garrett took an acting/modeling job, posing as an Arabian guard during a photo shoot for a record album: Discovery, by the Electric Light Orchestra. He appears on the album’s back cover:
“Xanadu” (1980), featuring Olivia Newton-John, is the only Electric Light Orchestra song to reach #1 on the UK singles chart. The movie soundtrack was a worldwide success and earned double platinum certifications in the US and Canada. The singles “Magic” and “Xanadu” reached number one in the US and United Kingdom, respectively.
In December 2024, Electric Light Orchestra founder Jeff Lynne received an award from Spotify celebrating one billion streams of the band’s biggest hit, “Mr. Blue Sky.”
Per Google AI, the song has been featured in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Megamind (2010), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), Role Models (2008), The Game Plan (2007) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
“Blue sky” (AKA “good will”) is a term often used during the purchase of an existing business. It refers to intangible assets like reputation and customer loyalty.
Bluesky is, like Threads and a handful of other apps, meant to be an alternative to Twitter/X now that it’s become a toxic shithole since Elon Musk bought it and turned it into … whatever dafuq it is now.
The Dragonriders of Pern is a long-running science fantasy novel series, originally created by Anne McCaffrey. In the books, humans (originally colonists from Earth, who settled on the planet Pern) work with fire-breathing dragons to fight against “Thread,” a mindless mycorrhiza spore which periodically falls from the sky (when Pern comes too close to one of its sister planets), and which consumes all other organic material which it touches.
Christian McCaffrey, versatile running back who currently plays for the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, is one of 3 players in league history to record over 1,000 rushing and over 1,000 receiving yards in the same season. McCaffrey did so in 2019. The other two players to achieve this feat were Roger Craig, also of the 49ers, in 1985, and Marshall Faulk of the St. Louis Rams in 1999.
The law school of Cleveland State University changed its name in 2022 from the Marshall School of Law due to its namesake, John Marshall, having been a slaveowner. Many alumni argued that his role as the Chief Justice who did more than anyone else to establish the U.S. Supreme Court as a coequal branch of government was far more important than his status as a slaveowner. As an alternative, other alumni suggested that the school simply be renamed after Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, who served on the court from 1967-1991, in order to keep the name “Marshall,” but they, too, were outvoted. Today, the law school is simply known as the CSU College of Law.
Before he became a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, Thurgood Marshall was the special counsel for the NAACP, and led that organization’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, from 1939 until 1961. In that role, Marshall argued 32 civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them, including the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.
In 2002 “Lose Yourself”, by US rapper Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers), won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was the first hip-hop song to win this award. It has also won the Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Song, the MTV VMA’s Best Video from a Film (8 Mile), and Best Rap Song / Best Male Rap Solo Performance at the Grammys. “Lose Yourself” has been used as a backdrop in commercials, and in campaign appearances for Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris. In 2024 Mathers sent a cease and desist order to Vivek Ramaswamy for unauthorized use of the song in his speeches.
Recent history is filled with examples of bands/artists sending cease-and-desist letters to politicians using their music at rallies without authorization. It seems almost universal that it’s left-leaning performers telling right-leaning politicians to knock it off, one glaring example being the Dropkick Murphys rather directly telling Scott Walker, “@ScottWalker @GovWalker please stop using our music in any way…we literally hate you !!! Love, Dropkick Murphys.” On rare occasions, Democrat politicians have also been told to stop, although it seems these cases are less about politics and more about their music not being used by political candidates at all. DJ Snake and Prince have both famously told politicians on the left to stop using their music.
“Democrat” is a noun, and “Democratic” is an adjective, as shown by the names of, say, the Democratic National Committee and the Vermont Democratic Party.
Arguing that the Democrats first coalesced behind Andrew Jackson’s presidential terms, as opposed to the earlier party of Democrat-Republicans of Thomas Jefferson’s terms, the party claims to have established itself in 1928, making it the world’s oldest active political party.
Errr…1828. 
In play:
The Jeffersons was a popular U.S. situation comedy, airing from 1975 through 1985. It was a spinoff of All in the Family, depicting the Bunkers’ former neighbors, George and Louise Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford), who become wealthy due to the success of George’s dry-cleaning business, and are able to move out of Queens, and into a luxury apartment in Manhattan.
OUT OF PLAY: I think you mean a DEE-lux apartment in the sky.
Let’s see if I can right this wrong:
Queens was established in 1683 as one of the original 12 counties of the Province of New York. The settlement was named after the English Queen and Portuguese royal princess Catherine of Braganza (1638–1705).
(Per wikipedia)
There have been eight ruling queens (Queen Regnant) in the history of England, although the first two reigns (Matilda in 1141 and Lady Jane Grey in 1553) have been disputed. The first formally crowned Queen Regnant was Mary I. Other Queens Regnant include Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria, and Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning British monarch; she was Queen for 70 years and 214 days.
Contrary to popular belief, the name of the rock band Queen has absolutely no connection to the woman who was the Sovereign at the time of the band’s formation, Queen Elizabeth II. Further, Freddy Mercury never actually met Her Majesty. Mercury said that he chose the name for a variety of reasons, mostly because it sounded “regal,” but also because it presented branding opportunities (such as the royal crest that became a symbol of the band, and which Mercury himself designed), and because it was somewhat provacative – “queen” being a term used in the LGBTQ community.
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, then a British Protectorate in East Africa (now part of Tanzania). His family fled the civil unrest to England in 1964. Bulsara was born with four extra incisors, which his friends remarked gave him a crocodile smile, and he later attributed to his four-octave vocal range. After forming the band Queen, Bulsara legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury.