On this day in television history - Justified (2011):

Justified

Season 2. Episode 1.

Episode entitled: The Moonshine War.

Released February 9, 2011.

Directed by Adam Arkin.

Written by Graham Yost, Elmore Leonard, Benjamin Cavell and VJ Boyd.

Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.

Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Natalie Zea, Walton Goggins, Margo Martindale, Jeremy Davies, Alexandra Barreto, Jordi Caballero, Matt Craven, Kaitlyn Dever, Brad William Henke, Chris Mulkey, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Billy Miller, Peter Murnik, Mark Irvingsen, John Kelly, Michelle Dunker, Reggie Jordan, Omar Avila, M.C. Gainey.

On this day in television history – James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons: Dames and Delinquents (2011):

James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons

Documentary.
Season 1. Episode 4.
Episode entitled: Dames and Delinquents.
Released: February 9, 2011.
Series directors: Brian Coughlin, Gabe Torres, Brian Coughlin and Robert Kirk.

Cast:

James Ellroy, Anna Bazarkina, Deanna Morris.

On this day in movie history - Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010):

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic

Directors: Victor Cook, Mike Disa, Sangjin Kim, Lee Seung-Gyu, Shukou Murase, Jong-Sik Nam, Yasoumi Umetsu.

Written by Brandon Auman.

Based on the video game by Jonathan Knight.

Inspired by the poem Dante's Inferno by Dante Alighieri.

Music by Christopher Tin.

Released in the United States on February 9, 2010.

Cast:

Graham McTavish, Vanessa Branch, Steve Blum, Peter Jessop, Mark Hamill, Victoria Tennant, Bart McCarthy, Kevin Michael Richardson, JP Karliak, Tom Tate, J. Grant Albrecht, Nika Futterman, Charlotte Cornwell, Vanessa Marshall, Grey DeLisle, H. Richard Greene, Greg Ellis, Shelley O'Neill, Nicholas Guest, Steve Apostolina, Wendy E. Cutler, Lia Sargent, Mark Sussman, Dave Zyler.

On this day in movie history - The Warriors (1979):

The Warriors

directed by Walter Hill,

written by David Shaber and Walter Hill,

based on the novel by Sol Yurick,

was released in the United States on February 9, 1979.
Music by Barry De Vorzon.

Cast:

Michael Beck, James Remar, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Marcelino Sánchez, David Harris, Tom McKitterick, Brian Tyler, Dorsey Wright, Terry Michos, David Patrick Kelly, Roger Hill, Edward Sewer, Lynne Thigpen, Thomas G. Waites, Paul Greco, Jery Hewitt, Kate Klugman, Konrad Sheehan, Craig R. Baxley, A.J. Bakunas, Steve James, Bill Anagnos, Dennis Gregory, Mercedes Ruehl, Irwin Keyes, Sonny Landham, Ginny Ortiz, John Snyder.

On this day in movie history - Wizards (1977):

Wizards

directed and written by Ralph Bakshi,

was released in the United States on February 9, 1977.
Narrated by Susan Tyrrell.
Music by Andrew Belling.

Cast:

Bob Holt, Jesse Welles, Richard Romanus, David Proval, Steve Gravers, James Connell, Mark Hamill, Susan Tyrrell, Ralph Bakshi, Angelo Grisanti.

On this day in television history - M Squad (1960):

M Squad

Season 3. Episode 21.
Episode entitled: The Man with Frank’s Face.
Released February 9, 1960.
Directed by Don Taylor.
Written by Stuart Jerome.
Music by Benny Carter.

Cast:

Lee Marvin, Paul Newlan, Robert Bailey, Herbert Ellis, John Harmon, Wolfe Barzell, Tom Reese, Greta Thyssen, Jim Hayward.

Born on this day – Zoë Lund:

Zoë Lund

Composer

Musician

Actress

Writer

Producer

February 9, 1962 – April 16, 1999

Credits:

Dreamland (1997); Hand Gun (1994); Hot Ticket (1993); Bad Lieutenant (1992); The Houseguest (1989); Exquisite Corpses (1989); Hothouse (1988); Miami Vice (1985); Special Effects (1984); Ms .45 (1981); Times Square (1980).

Born on this day – Kathryn Grayson:

Kathryn Grayson

Actress

Singer

February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010

Credits:

Murder, She Wrote (1987–1989); Baretta (1978); Lux Playhouse (1958); Playhouse 90 (1957); General Electric Theater (1955–1956); The Vagabond King (1956); Kiss Me Kate (1953); So This Is Love (1953); The Desert Song (1953); Lovely to Look At (1952); Show Boat (1951); Grounds for Marriage (1951); The Toast of New Orleans (1950); That Midnight Kiss (1949); The Kissing Bandit (1948); It Happened in Brooklyn (1947); Till the Clouds Roll By (1946); Two Sisters from Boston (1946); Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945); Ziegfeld Follies (1945); Anchors Aweigh (1945); Thousands Cheer (1943); Seven Sweethearts (1942); Rio Rita (1942); The Vanishing Virginian (1942); Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941).

Born on this day – Amy Lowell:

Amy Lowell

Writer

February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.

Credits:

A Critical Fable (1922); A Dome of Many-Colored Glass (1912); Amy Lowell (1925); Amy Lowell: A Chronicle, With Extracts from her Correspondence (1935); Ballads for Sale (1927); Can Grande's Castle (1919); Complete Poetical Works and Selected Writings in 6 vols; East Wind (1926); Fireworks: The Atlantic Monthly (1915); Fir-Flower Tablets (1921); Legends (1921); Men, Women and Ghosts (1916); Pictures of the Floating World (1919); Selected Poems of Amy Lowell (2002); Some imagist poets (1917); Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914); The Complete Poetical Works of Amy Lowell (1955); The Complete Poetical Works of Amy Lowell (1955); The Touch of You Amy Lowell's Poems of Love and Beauty (1972); What's O'Clock (1925).

Recommended reading - Dante’s Inferno, poem by Dante Alighieri (1321):

The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso

By Dante Alighieri.

Translated by John Ciardi.

Published by Berkley.

Originally published 1321.

This edition published 2003.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0451208633

ISBN-13: 978-0451208637

Description:

The authoritative translations of The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso – together in one volume.

Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri’s poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise – the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.

Now, for the first time, John Ciardi’s brilliant and authoritative translations of Dante’s three soaring canticles – The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso – have been gathered together in a single volume. Crystallizing the power and beauty inherent in the great poet’s immortal conception of the aspiring soul, The Divine Comedy is a dazzling work of sublime truth and mystical intensity.

Dante's Inferno: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

By Dante Alighieri.

Illustrated by Paul Brizzi and Gaëtan Brizzi.

Published by Harry N. Abrams.

Published 2024.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1419776754

ISBN-13: 978-1419776755

Description:

Acclaimed animators Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi adapt Dante’s literary classic Inferno in the sweeping, dramatic style that brought The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Fantasia 2000 to life.

Literary aficionados will appreciate this decadent graphic novel adaptation, which does not seek to sand down the source material. Likewise, adults whose imaginations were fueled by films like Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame as children, which the Brizzi brothers animated sequences for, will be swept up in this lushly illustrated adult fable, unfettered by the demands of corporate animation studios.

Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi make this famously dense literary classic accessible without distorting it and betraying the spirit of the Italian genius. They deftly translate it into comics while taking care to preserve the heart of the story: a taste for excess, dramatic tension, and the inevitable darkness of the subject matter.

Guided by the poet Virgil, Dante crosses the nine circles of Hell to find his beloved, Beatrice, in Paradise. Along the way, he must recognize and reject each of the incarnations of sin. In each circle of Hell, Dante confronts both sinners and demons, from Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles, and Paris, whose loves were famously their downfall, to the Greek Furies and Medusa, to heretics like Epicurus, whose teachings claimed that the soul died with the body, now forced to writhe in a flaming tomb for eternity.

Each layer of Hell reveals monsters, gods, historical and mythological kings, philosophers, queens, and hordes of the miserable, faceless damned, all culminating in a confrontation with Lucifer himself.

Recommended reading - The Warriors by Sol Yurick (1965):

The Warriors

By Sol Yurick.

Published by Grove Press.

First published 1965.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0802139922

ISBN-13: 978-0802139924

Description:

Every gang in the city meets on a sweltering July 4 night in a Bronx park for a peace rally. The crowd of miscreants turns violent after a prominent gang leader is killed, and chaos prevails over attempts at order.

The Warriors follows the Dominators as they make their nocturnal journey to their home territory without being killed. The police are prowling the city in search of anyone involved in the mayhem. An exhilarating novel that examines New York City teenagers left behind by society, who form identity and personal strength through their affiliation with their "family," The Warriors weaves together social commentary with ancient legends for a classic coming-of-age tale.

This edition includes a new introduction by the author.

Arthur Schopenhauer, on reading:

I've never known any trouble than an hour's reading didn't assuage.

- Arthur Schopenhauer.