The Conical Glass: Happy birthday to you, and you, and you

Monday, November 17, 2008

Happy birthday to you, and you, and you

One of my clients is really into astrology and makes sure that I only make changes to her web site on certain auspicious days. As a skeptic, I don't really put any stock in that stuff, but I try to be tolerant of others' beliefs.

Do the time and date of your birth determine your destiny? I certainly hope not, because I am convinced that my birthday has the worst lineup of celebrity birthdays of any day of the year. A couple days ago, I emailed a greeting to a friend of mine who is just famous enough to be listed in those celebrity birthday columns that appear in newspapers. His fellow birthmates include Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad of ABBA, Oscar-nominated actress Tilda Swinton, Sam Waterston of "Law & Order," and Ed "Lou Grant" Asner -- pretty cool company!

Here, on the other hand, are the most famous folks who share my birthday: Jaleel "Urkel" White, parent-killer Eric Menendez, country singer Eddie Rabbitt, ex-Mrs. Mike Tyson Robin Givens, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg was born on my birthday, and I do admire her. Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee were, too, but since they're dead, they don't show up in the newspaper birthday columns. It doesn't count if your fellow celebrants aren't alive to blow out the candles!

If only my appearance into the world had come one day later, I could have shared a birthday with my idol Jon Stewart, not to mention David Letterman's bandleader Paul Shaffer, novelist Rita Mae Brown, Sen. Gary Hart, and Oscar-winning musician Randy Newman. But I was already overdue and I'm sure my mom was ready for me to be born.

Blatant Comment Whoring (tm yellojkt): Does anyone have a less illustrious line-up of celebrity birthday-mates than I do? You can check here to find out.

posted by 125records @ 3:03 PM

9 Comments:

At 4:50 PM, B said…

June 2nd is pretty lousy. Charlie Watts is okay and I like Freddie Adu quite a bit, but otherwise...
I guess I can take some historical pride in Henry VIII and the Marquis De Sade. bleagh.
At 5:13 PM, Janet ID said…

I nominate June 11. If it weren't for Nelson Mandela being on that list... hey, wait a minute! Nelson Mandela's birthday is July 18. I must call into question the accuracy of brainyhistory.com. And I definitely nominate June 11.
At 5:31 PM, 125records said…

Janet: June 11 has Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago, fab British actor/comedian Hugh Laurie, the splendid Gene Wilder, actress/cult pop singer cousin Adrienne Barbeau and football star Joe Montana! I don't think that's too shabby a lineup.

June 2 is a little dodgier but at least B still has "24"'s black president Dennis Haysbert (c'mon, we have to give him a little bit of credit for Barack's success!), Bangles bassist Michael Steele, Jerry "the Beav" Mathers and the Bay Area's own Dana Carvey. Plus Justin "I'm a Mac" Long. (Oddly enough John "I'm a PC" Hodgman's birthday is June 3.)
At 11:48 PM, Janet A said…

June 3, I think every football player in Amercia was born then. And I don't care.

I grew up thrilled that Confederate Memorial Day was my birthday ( in honor of Jeff Davis). Now that is not PC to mention. Chuck Barris, CIA killer or what??, Allen Ginsberg, and Tony Curtis( who was the heart throb of my generation). So June 3 is iffy, some good, some not.
At 4:16 AM, Janet ID said…

Sue: okay about my lineup, but I had to go back and independently verify every one of those birthdays (except Gene Wilder; I'd known about that and am indeed, if unjustifiably, proud). I cannot ABIDE unreliable reference sources. Damned WWW.
At 8:43 PM, B said…

Your June 2nd list does nothing to make me feel any better. Dana Carvey? Jerry Mathers? Double bleagh!
I'm sticking with Freddie Adu...
At 10:05 PM, yellojkt said…

I share mine with Cindy Crawford which is pretty much the opposite of less illustrious.
At 10:07 PM, yellojkt said…

And I knew that without having to check the website. She is exactly two years younger than me. So if she had gone to my high school and I was a senior, she'd have been a sophomore and I still would have had no shot.
At 8:49 AM, Taj said…

Always knew George Harrison and Woody Wood from the Bay City Rollers - love the jux of these 2 music folks...but now get to add the jux of Ricky Gervais and CarrotTop...clearly explaining my mixed up music and comedic taste.