8749 Beatles - The Beatles Planet !

It's said that you know you've arrived when a planet is named after you.
Today I discovered a small planet is named after The Beatles! Here are some details about it:

"(8749) Beatles is in a 3.38-year elliptical orbit around the sun ranging in distance from 273.5 million km (at perihelion, closest point to the sun) to 400.9 million km (at aphelion, furthest point from the sun)." Source

The planet itself was discovered in 1998 and declared it's name in 2001.
Hop over to find a map and some more information (like the interesting How Minor Planets Are Named)

The Simpsons Love The Beatles

I recently found a long list of no less than 42 detailed Beatles references and appearances on The Simpsons.

The list is organized by season and specific episode, with a link to the episode’s entire script! Check out some examples:

* [7F04] The opening sequence includes a Paul McCartney gravestone (parodying the 60s ’Paul is Dead’ rumours)

* [9F15] Lisa’s dentist dream sequence turns into a missing scene from the Yellow Submarine film ("Look, it’s Lisa in the sky", "No diamonds though").

*[2F20] The DNA database includes the names of Paul, George and Ringo. {kb}

If you’re a Beatles and a Simpsons fan, you’ll LOVE this:

Visit The Simpsons Archive - The Beatles References and Apparences

The Unlikley One

Ahhh, George. He's my favorite one, you know.
Lately I've been thinking about getting myself a Dark Horse tattoo. Dark Horse was, as any educated Beatles fan knows, George's own record label since 1974.
When I began considering getting the poor seven-headed horse on my skin, I wanted to know what it means, other than being the label's name.

As it turns out, it seems like the name has a lot more meaning than I thought; a Dark Horse, in politics for example, is a candidate who is nominated unexpectedly, or in general someone who's unlikely to win or achieve something and being the most successful one.

Rings a bell?

George was arguably a dark horse in seeking a solo career after having been overshadowed among by Lennon and McCartney for years, despite his creating several of the band's more popular later songs, and being the first ex-Beatle with a number-one ranked solo album (All Things Must Pass in 1970).

As far as the logo goes, this animal is Uchaishravas, a cool, seven-headed flying horse often mentioned in Hindu mythology. It's said that George saw the a drawing on a tin-can in India.

See? Learn new things with the Beatles every day. Hope you're enjoying my posts! If anyone's reading this - feel free to comment, just say hello!