Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis.
The plot focuses on commodities broker Louis Winthorpe III, played by
Dan Aykroyd, and street hustler Billy Ray Valentine, played by Eddie
Murphy (pictured), who are the subject of a bet to test how each man
will perform when their lives are swapped. Trading Places was the
fourth-highest-grossing film of 1983 in the United States and Canada and
received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the cast and
the film's revival of the screwball comedy genre. It received an Academy
Award nomination for Best Score and won two BAFTA awards. The film has
been praised as one of the greatest comedy films and Christmas films
ever made, but retrospective assessments have criticized its use of
racial jokes and language. In 2010, the film was referenced in
congressional testimony concerning the reform of the commodities trading
market designed to prevent the insider trading demonstrated in Trading
Places.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trading_Places>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1950:
Thomas Blamey became the only Australian to attain the rank of
field marshal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blamey>
1967:
The Israeli Air Force attacked the U.S. Navy intelligence ship
USS Liberty in international waters, killing 34 and wounding 171.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident>
2007:
A major storm caused the bulk carrier Pasha Bulker to run
aground in New South Wales, Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Xanthea>
2009:
Two American journalists, having been arrested for illegal
entry into North Korea, were sentenced to twelve years hard labor before
being pardoned two months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_imprisonment_of_American_journalists_by_North_Korea>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
white whale:
1. Synonym of beluga (“the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), a
cetacean found in the Arctic Ocean”)
2. Any whale of the family Monodontidae, which comprises the beluga
whales and narwhals (Monodon monoceros), and some extinct species.
3. (figuratively)
4. An obsession, a monomania.
5. (trading cards) A printing plate used to manufacture a particular
sports card, that is then issued as a collectible itself.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/white_whale>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is not difficult to nourish admirable thoughts when the stars
are present.
--Marguerite Yourcenar
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marguerite_Yourcenar>
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