A couple of weeks ago we were reprimanded by a friend of LitKicks for neglecting to mention Kurt Vonnegut’s birthday. I tried to weasel out of this by claiming that we boycott birthdays at LitKicks, but the truth is we just forgot.
If you also sometimes miss an important literary birthday or anniversary, we have the answer for you. If you’ll please scan your eyes a few pixels to the right, you’ll notice a new daily feature, Today In Literature. We hope this will inspire people to visit LitKicks each and every day, not only because a good litblog really is an important part of a balanced breakfast, but also because you can now find out what significant literary events — fictional, biographical or otherwise — happened each day.
One reason I’m very pleased with this new feature is that it is the first LitKicks service created entirely by Caryn, who handled everything from concept to technical architecture. As always, she delivers an elegant system. She beta’d this service to me as a surprise on my birthday, and it was definitely the first time in my life a loved one gave me a web service for a present. Please don’t forget to come by each day to learn an interesting literary factoid or two.
14 Responses
Kickass…I knew today rocked
Kickass…
I knew today rocked for some reason… Caryn, can you make it so this arrives in the e-mail in the morningtime…that would rule. Beats the hell out of horrorscopes…like…uhm…for instance…today was sucky, then I found out it was Blake’s birthday & so I had that….so I built it up from there. Tomorrow could be Rimbaud. Thursday could be Baudelaire. Excellent, must check addition…
nice featureand happy
nice feature
and happy birthday, young fellow.
CoincidenceInteresting that
Coincidence
Interesting that L’Engle and Lewis were born on the same day and month. They are two that are kind of lumped together in the subconscious. As an example, the other day in talking about the new Narnia movie my sister asked her 18 year old if he’d read them. He said no, but he’d read that other book about the father getting lost. Wrinkle in Time, I asked, because I knew what he meant. Yes.
And, as far as the coinkydinks, JFK, Lewis and Aldous Huxley all died on the same day.
But I guess a lot of people are born on the same day and pass away on the same day.
AwesomeThis is great! Thanks
Awesome
This is great! Thanks Caryn for all your hard work. It doesn’t go unnoticed.
But it arrives on the
But it arrives on the LitKicks fresh and hot every day as it is. Mmmmm… fresh hot Today In Literature.
Ah Caryn……how she
Ah Caryn…
…how she rules.
Now I finally have a reason to visit LitKicks every day!
Hahahahahem.
I never thought about those
I never thought about those two being lumped together, but I guess that makes sense.
Also … as far as coincidences go … while putting this together and loading the entries (approx. 640 individual events and counting), I did notice a lot of birth/death dates coinciding or a few days apart. You’ll see a few examples of those in the next several days.
Hi Steve — thanks, and
Hi Steve — thanks, and you’re welcome. It was a fun project to put together.
Well, a gal’s gotta do what a
Well, a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do…
The Gift That Keeps on
The Gift That Keeps on Giving…
I think it will be a fun addition to LitKicks and who knows, maybe we’ll learn something new.
As far as Vonnegut goes … I don’t think we forgot, I actually knew it was his birthday (along with a few others — obviously) — but since he doesn’t send me a card on my birthday, I didn’t feel the need to regale him with a full post on his day. Maybe now he’ll learn his lesson. Although, I must say, I had to bite my tongue when the subject came up.
Anyway … huzzah and cheers to our new feature, and Levi — anytime.
FC, is it true that you were
FC, is it true that you were born on July 4, or is that some antihistanine-induced reverie I experienced in the gnome garden?
And Jamelah, I’m guessing she was born in June. Maybe April.
Hey Bill — it’s quite true
Hey Bill — it’s quite true — you can even ask my mom. As for Jamelah, she’s a September baby. Which is why she really loves that song “September Morn” by Neil Diamond.
Well, now…I’ve been known
Well, now…
I’ve been known to bark out a Neil Diamond tune from time to time…
sept-EMBer mORN
We DANCED until the NIGHT became a BRAND new DAY…
Don’t be too quick to praise
Don’t be too quick to praise her, Jamelah. FC can’t decide if Mark Twain was born in Florida or Missouri.