IF YOU DON’T READ THIS BLOG…

APR 2021
01
IF YOU DON’T READ THIS BLOG…

...your friend might, and pull one of these April 1st gags on you!


It’s almost here.


article-image-1

Image courtesy Des Récits on Unsplash.


That glorious day.


article-image-2

Image courtesy Ben White on Unsplash.


The first of April.

When it’s a time-honored tradition to pull gags on your friends, in the name of “April Fool’s Day”.

Happy New Year!

article-image-3

Gif courtesy giphy.


If you can manage to pull this off - convincing someone that it’s actually New Year’s Day - you’d…

...not only be proclaimed a Master Jokester/Prankster, but…


...you’d also be paying homage to one of the supposed origins of this tradition.

April Fool’s Day originated from a New Year prank?

According to some people, yes.


article-image-4

Gif courtesy giphy.


The story goes that back in the Middle Ages, it was a custom among many French people to celebrate New Year’s Day on March 25th.

And they used to have a weeklong celebration.

If you count, such a celebration ends on March 31st.


And next day, the first of April, the people who’d celebrated New Year in January used to make fun of the ones who had taken to this alternative new year.


There are many other stories that compete for the “Origin of April Fool’s Day” award (including one involving Noah and the Ark) but this one is the weirdest.

When an April Fool’s gag wasn’t an April Fool’s gag

article-image-5

Image courtesy Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash.


There have been instances where what people thought was a gag really wasn’t.

The GMail announcement

article-image-6

Gif courtesy giphy.


During the early to mid 2000’s, when you asked about email services, you’d hear of options like AOL, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.

They all had their unique features, but they had something in common - a depressingly small 2-4 megabyte storage capacity.


In other words, you’d need to keep deleting emails every few days or your inbox would run out of space.


So, when Google announced on April 1st 2004 that they’d launched an email service - GMail - with one gigabyte of storage, many people dismissed it as another of Google’s gags.


(A gigabyte is over a thousand megabytes, if you aren’t aware of these terms).


Anyhoo, it wasn’t a gag.

April 1 2004 really was the day GMail launched.

The axing of Guiding Light

In 2009, Guiding Light was one of our longest running soap operas.

It had been running - first as a radio show and then on television - from 1937.

So, when CBS announced on April 1st 2009 that Guiding Light was going to be cancelled, many people took it as an April Fool’s thing.


Only, it wasn’t.

The announcement WAS real, and Guiding Light lit up American televisions for the final time on September 18th that year.

When something may as well have been an April Fool’s gag

A real event  that should be described as a bad joke…

Exorcist II: The Heretic

You MUST have heard of The Exorcist.

The 1973 film that retains its title to this day as one of the scariest movies of all time.

That made Linda Blair a star.


Its success led to a sequel being greenlit, shot and released within 4 years.

And opening day saw eager moviegoers flock to theaters bubbling with excitement.


Within minutes, people started laughing at the production.

There were reports of Warner Bros. (the producers) executives being chased by angry moviegoers, and most critics savaged it in their reviews.


It may have been highly fitting had the filmmakers added an “April Fool!” at the end of the movie.

April Fool’s Day in Chicago

article-image-7

Image courtesy Pedro Lastra on Unsplash.


Our great city hasn’t been all that lacking in the April Fool’s Spirit throughout the years.

The Illinois Capitol is moving to Chicago!

Our state capitol is located in Springfield.

It’s been there ever since 1888.

That didn’t stop Chicago Architecture from running this April 1st story about the Illinois Capitol being moved to Chicago in 2016.


Would have been able to tell it’s a prank?

Triple digits jerseys for Da Bears

The Bears pulled one 2 years ago.


Follow the recipe and treat your friend to a completely unexpected meal!


If you need to patch things up with a friend or family member, having pranked them for April’s Fools, may we suggest an escape game at Chicago’s finest escape room?


Banner image courtesy Alexandra ❤️A life without animals is not worth living❤️ from Pixabay.



  BLOGS
IF YOU DON’T READ THIS BLOG…

...your friend might, and pull one of these April 1st gags on you!


It’s almost here.


article-image-1

Image courtesy Des Récits on Unsplash.


That glorious day.


article-image-2

Image courtesy Ben White on Unsplash.


The first of April.

When it’s a time-honored tradition to pull gags on your friends, in the name of “April Fool’s Day”.

Happy New Year!

article-image-3

Gif courtesy giphy.


If you can manage to pull this off - convincing someone that it’s actually New Year’s Day - you’d…

...not only be proclaimed a Master Jokester/Prankster, but…


...you’d also be paying homage to one of the supposed origins of this tradition.

April Fool’s Day originated from a New Year prank?

According to some people, yes.


article-image-4

Gif courtesy giphy.


The story goes that back in the Middle Ages, it was a custom among many French people to celebrate New Year’s Day on March 25th.

And they used to have a weeklong celebration.

If you count, such a celebration ends on March 31st.


And next day, the first of April, the people who’d celebrated New Year in January used to make fun of the ones who had taken to this alternative new year.


There are many other stories that compete for the “Origin of April Fool’s Day” award (including one involving Noah and the Ark) but this one is the weirdest.

When an April Fool’s gag wasn’t an April Fool’s gag

article-image-5

Image courtesy Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash.


There have been instances where what people thought was a gag really wasn’t.

The GMail announcement

article-image-6

Gif courtesy giphy.


During the early to mid 2000’s, when you asked about email services, you’d hear of options like AOL, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.

They all had their unique features, but they had something in common - a depressingly small 2-4 megabyte storage capacity.


In other words, you’d need to keep deleting emails every few days or your inbox would run out of space.


So, when Google announced on April 1st 2004 that they’d launched an email service - GMail - with one gigabyte of storage, many people dismissed it as another of Google’s gags.


(A gigabyte is over a thousand megabytes, if you aren’t aware of these terms).


Anyhoo, it wasn’t a gag.

April 1 2004 really was the day GMail launched.

The axing of Guiding Light

In 2009, Guiding Light was one of our longest running soap operas.

It had been running - first as a radio show and then on television - from 1937.

So, when CBS announced on April 1st 2009 that Guiding Light was going to be cancelled, many people took it as an April Fool’s thing.


Only, it wasn’t.

The announcement WAS real, and Guiding Light lit up American televisions for the final time on September 18th that year.

When something may as well have been an April Fool’s gag

A real event  that should be described as a bad joke…

Exorcist II: The Heretic

You MUST have heard of The Exorcist.

The 1973 film that retains its title to this day as one of the scariest movies of all time.

That made Linda Blair a star.


Its success led to a sequel being greenlit, shot and released within 4 years.

And opening day saw eager moviegoers flock to theaters bubbling with excitement.


Within minutes, people started laughing at the production.

There were reports of Warner Bros. (the producers) executives being chased by angry moviegoers, and most critics savaged it in their reviews.


It may have been highly fitting had the filmmakers added an “April Fool!” at the end of the movie.

April Fool’s Day in Chicago

article-image-7

Image courtesy Pedro Lastra on Unsplash.


Our great city hasn’t been all that lacking in the April Fool’s Spirit throughout the years.

The Illinois Capitol is moving to Chicago!

Our state capitol is located in Springfield.

It’s been there ever since 1888.

That didn’t stop Chicago Architecture from running this April 1st story about the Illinois Capitol being moved to Chicago in 2016.


Would have been able to tell it’s a prank?

Triple digits jerseys for Da Bears

The Bears pulled one 2 years ago.


Follow the recipe and treat your friend to a completely unexpected meal!


If you need to patch things up with a friend or family member, having pranked them for April’s Fools, may we suggest an escape game at Chicago’s finest escape room?


Banner image courtesy Alexandra ❤️A life without animals is not worth living❤️ from Pixabay.



  BLOGS