July is a big month in the history of Beatle album releases with one record in July 1963 (Introducing the Beatles) and two in July, 1964 (A Hard Day’s Night - UK, and Something New - USA). But nothing eclipsed the success of July 1964; with the simultaneous release of both a Beatles movie, and album soundtrack. The Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night," was a low-cost black and white production because United Artists thought The Beatles may be a "flash in the pan." They wanted the film completed and released in a few months- by July 1964, and with a production budget of only 175,000 pounds ($265,000 U.S.) The Beatles were given less than two weeks to write and record all the songs for this film. Lennon and McCartney had not seen the script, so they wrote what they wanted. Because the plot was to re-create the delirium of Beatlemania, it didn't really matter. It was originally thought that all the Beatles' lines were ad-libbed. This was not true. But, as The Beatles were young and had never acted, the script was written so that no sentence had more than six words. When filming began, suggested titles were "On The Move," "Let's Go," and "Beatlemania," but The Beatles rejected these. During this time, The Beatles were extremely busy performing. Once after a concert, following a long day that started early in the morning, Ringo went outside and still thinking it was day, said, "It's been a hard day, (then looked around and saw it was dark out and said) "day's night," and the title was born. A Hard Day's Night premiered in London on July 6, 1964 and this performance was attended by Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. As the theatre was located in Piccadilly Circus, this area had to be closed to traffic to accommodate the thousands of fans. A Hard Day's Night took in $8,000,000 its first week, making it one of the most profitable films of all time, and a record for a movie by recording artists.
Some people thrive on data, and like to measure, quantify, classify and graph. For obvious reasons, these people tend to gravitate toward fields like programming and engineering--fields that require a lot of sitting in front of a computer and not getting much exercise. In other words, there's a lot of fat nerds out there. Fortunately, there's also the Fitbit. Last fall, San Francisco-based startup Fitbit launched its namesake product, the Fitbit Tracker. It's a small plastic gizmo containing a 3-D motion sensor, something like what's inside a Nintendo Wii controller. Clip it onto your clothing, and it logs your movements throughout the day. It may sound like just a fancy (and at $99, expensive) pedometer. But the high-tech Fitbit is much more. Because it follows your movements in three dimensions, it doesn't just count steps--it knows how much you've been exerting yourself, if you've been sitting, walking or running. It also knows when you did what, so it can tell the difference between someone who is constantly on his feet, vs. an otherwise sedentary person who takes one long walk at the end of the day. Fitbit even wants to track you when you're not moving at all. Strap the gadget into the included wrist band and wear it while you sleep; the tracker can tell when you wake up, or toss and turn, providing insight into the quality of your rest. Better yet, the Fitbit comes with a base station that plugs into your computer, and communicates wirelessly with the tracker. So all the information about your day's activities is automatically and seamlessly uploaded to Fitbit's secure servers, allowing you to log on to their Web site and view all kinds of graphs, data and details about your active habits. Fitbit also allows users to log their meals into the Fitbit Dashboard Web portal, so the result is a robust, one-stop control center to keep track of your diet, fitness and health. Fitness experts say you should take at least 10,000 steps in a given day. Most of us don't come even close to that. But the best thing about the Fitbit is being able to know exactly how close you came to a goal--and to turn achieving it into something of a game. I have definitely found myself walking more, skipping subway stops or taking an extra loop around the block, just because I knew it would add to my daily total, and perhaps put me over the 10,000 step mark. The ability to track your diet alongside your exercise is also particularly useful. If you're trying to lose weight, it's helpful to know how many calories you've taken in and how many you've expended; the Fitbit Dashboard does an excellent job showing if you're under or over your goals. I've been using the Fitbit for several months now, and I'm impressed. It's made me much more aware of how active I am over the course of a day, and helped me get up out of my chair more often and for longer periods. Dare I say it? It's made me healthier.
Summer is fantastic for cocktails. While a crisp, cold beer is a warm-weather classic, there's something sublime about stealing into a shadowy booze hall illuminated only by soft pools of mid-afternoon sunlight, and ordering a mixed drink on a hot day. Some cocktails lend themselves more to this practice than others. I turn to two drinks most often in the warmer months. The Old Fashioned, whose ingredients vary, as Chris Milligan explains in this post, is most often made with whiskey, simple syrup and Angostura, and garnished with an orange twist. It has a sweetness that is subdued and citrusy enough not to overwhelm. Some bartenders will pour it over a massive chunk of ice nearly as large as the glass in which it's served. The oversized glacier melts more slowly than smaller cubes and keeps the drink chilled until it's gone. My other candidate for summer cocktail champion is the Gimlet, made from little more than gin and Rose's lime juice, poured over ice and garnished with a lime wedge. It is now common to substitute vodka for gin, which scandalizes some purists. Nonetheless, both varieties are strong, easily sipped and tart enough to make you forget the heat for at least a few moments. What's your preferred sipping drink for summer? Nominate your favorites in the comments. In an upcoming post, we'll ask you to vote on the top nominees, and once we've tallied the votes, we'll crown the definitive summer cocktail.