Born on this day – George Frideric Handel:

George Frideric Handel

Composer

February 23, 1685 – April 14, 1759

Recommended reading - Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer:

Annihilation

By Jeff VanderMeer.

Published by MCD x FSG Originals.

First published 2014.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0374537151

ISBN-13: 978-0374537159

Description:

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers – they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding – but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Toni Morrison, on books and writing:

If there's a book you really want to read,

but it hasn't been written yet,

then you must write it.

- Toni Morrison.

On this day in music history - Groove Milk, by Carolyn Wonderland and the Imperial Monkeys (1993):

Groove Milk

Album by Carolyn Wonderland and the Imperial Monkeys,

released February 22, 1993.

Track list:

Dinosaur Song; 100 Hands; Comfort Table; Wrong Side Of Dead; Darling Girl (Boy); Oh Father; Every Word She Says; Much Too Much; Dives And Divas; Countin' On You.

On this day in movie history - Hustling (1975):

Hustling

directed by Joseph Sargent,

written by Fay Kanin,

based on the 1971 series Redpants and Sugarman, published in New York Magazine, and the book by Gail Sheehy,

was released in the United States on February 22, 1975.
Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

Lee Remick, Monte Markham, Jill Clayburgh, Alex Rocco, Melanie Mayron, Beverly Hope Atkinson, Dick O'Neill, Burt Young, Paul Benedict, John Sylvester White, Allan Miller, Burke Byrnes, James Andronica, Howard Hesseman, Clifford A. Pellow, Stephen Nathan, Alex Colon, Richard Keith, Lisa Daniels, Bernie McInerney, Edward Colmans, Kathryn Janssen, Bruce Kirby, Lauren Simon, Tim Thomerson, Garry Walberg, Buck Young.

On this day in movie history - After Office Hours (1935):

After Office Hours

directed by Robert Z. Leonard,

written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Ethel B. Borden,

based on a story by Laurence Stallings and Dale Van Every,

was released in the United States on February 22, 1935.

Music by Edward Ward.

Cast:

Constance Bennett, Clark Gable, Stuart Erwin, Billie Burke, Harvey Stephens, Katharine Alexander, Hale Hamilton, Henry Travers, Henry Armetta, Charles Richman, Herbert Bunston, Margaret Dumont, William Demarest, Rita La Roy.

Born on this day – John Ashton:

John Ashton

Actor

February 22, 1948 – September 26, 2024

Credits:

A Death in California (1985); All Happy Families (2023); American Christmas (2019); An Eye for an Eye (1973); Avalanche (1999); Back to Wonderful: A Conversation with Howard Deutch (2022); Barnaby Jones (1976); Beverly Hills Cop (1984); Beverly Hills Cop II (1987); Beverly Hills Cop II: The Phenomenon Continues (2002); Beverly Hills Cop: A Glimpse Into the Casting Process (2002); Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024); Beverly Hills Cop: The Phenomenon Begins (2002); Bill's Gun Shop (2001); Body & Soul (2002); Borderline (1980); Brats (2024); Breaking Away (1979–1981); Brookside (1987–1997); Brothers (1986); Capturing Authenticity: Casting 'Gone Baby Gone' (2008); Carter Country (1978); Cat Murkil and the Silks (1976); Code R (1977); Columbo (1974); Curly Sue (1991); Dallas (1978–1979); Death in Texas (2020); Dirty Work (1992); EastEnders (1995); Elvis and the Beauty Queen (1981); Emergency! (1974); Fairly Legal (2011); Family (2003); Fantasy Island (1999); Fast Money (1996); For Which He Stands (1996); Glenn Frey: The Heat Is On (1984); Going to California (2001); Gone Baby Gone (2007); Hardball (1989–1990); Hardcastle and McCormick (1986); Hey Marvin!: An Interview with Actor John Ashton (2016); Hidden Assassin (1995); Honky Tonk Freeway (1981); Hot Bath an' a Stiff Drink 2 (2024); Hot Bath, Stiff Drink, an' a Close Shave (2024); I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989); I Want to Go Home (1989); In the Living Years (1994); Instinct (1999); JAG (1996 / 1998); Jane Doe: Til Death Do Us Part (2005); Judging Amy (2001); King Kong Lives (1986); King of the Hill (1998); Kojak (1974); Last Resort (1986); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009); Lawman Without a Gun (1978); Little Big League (1994); Little Girls in Pretty Boxes (1997); Lonesome Soldier (2023); Love, Lies and Murder (1991); M*A*S*H (1977); Making a Deal with the Devil (2019); Meet the Cast of Some Kind of Wonderful (2006); Meet the Deedles (1998); Middle Men (2009); Midnight Run (1988); Minty Comedic Arts (2023); Money Hunt: The Mystery of the Missing Link (1984); My Father's House (1975); My Little Baby (2019); My Uncle Sidney (1998); Oh, God! (1977); Once Upon a River (2019); Phyllis (1976); Poddywood (2021–2022); Police Squad! (1982); Police Squad: Gag Reel (2006); Police Story (1976); Police Woman (1977); Reign of the Gargoyles (2007); Saturday's (1991); She's Having a Baby (1988); So Evil, My Sister (1974); Some Kind of Wonderful (1987); Starsky and Hutch (1977–1978); Sweet Deadly Dreams (2006); The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984); The A-Team (1985); The Daniel Baldwin Show (2023); The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998); The Deliberate Stranger (1986); The Finder (2012); The Joke Thief (2018); The Last Big Save (2019); The Making of 'Beverly Hills Cop II' (1987); The Making of 'Midnight Run' (1987); The Making of Some Kind of Wonderful (2006); The Music of Beverly Hills Cop (2002); The Neighborhood (2017); The Rhinemann Exchange (1977); The Tommyknockers (1993); The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2002); The Tracey Ullman Show (1990); The Twilight Zone / Segment: Chameleon (1985); The Wilds of Ten Thousand Islands (1978); Today (2024); Trapped in Paradise (1994); Uncle John (2015); Wonder Woman (1977).