John Lennon film. Anniversary of when George Harrison quit the Beatles. Pete Townshend talks "Quadrophenia". Daydreaming at work could be beneficial. People order more food when they order online. Soda linked to depression risk. Why do wet fingers become wrinkled? Five reasons marriage engagements should be a year or longer. 13 oddball apps.

JOHN LENNON

A new film based around a letter John Lennon sent to a fan, called Imagine, will start production this spring, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. The movie, set to star Al Pacino and Julianne Moore, is based on real life musician Steve Tilston, who Lennon wrote to after reading an interview with him talking about his fears of "succumbing to the trappings of fame." Lennon wrote a letter to Tilston in 1971-- but Tilston never knew of its existence until the letter was purchased by a collector who tracked Tilston down to show him Lennon's encouraging response.

Screenwriters have adapted the story and turned Tilston into precisely the decadent rock star he had hoped he wouldn't become. The character based on Tilston, now named "Danny Collins" will be portrayed by Pacino with Julianne Moore starring as the hotel manager where "Collins moves into as part of his quest for redemption." No start date has been announced for the film.

GEORGE HARRISON

It was 44 years ago today (January 10th, 1969) that George Harrison temporarily quit the Beatles. The group, who was filming their Let It Be movie in the cavernous Twickenham Film Studios in London, had been rife with tension as they prepared to work up a set of new material for their proposed return to the concert stage. Harrison wasn't the first Beatle to quit the band, with Ringo Starr walking out the previous August during the group's sessions for The Beatles, commonly referred to as The White Album.

Although it's been thought that Harrison's was annoyed with Paul McCartney's domination during the rehearsals -- dubbed by fans as the "Get Back" sessions -- Harrison was equally peeved at John Lennon, who at this point was barely communicating to the band and letting his soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono speak for him in group matters. Harrison later went on record stating he was frustrated because he had a growing backlog of new material, but constantly had to work on Lennon and McCartney's songs before the group could begin rehearsing his.

After running through a few songs that day, including a brief rendition of the group's "All Together Now" and "Get Back," Harrison nonchalantly announced that he was leaving the band immediately and sarcastically told them as he walked out, "See you around the clubs."

PETE TOWNSHEND

Pete Townshend says that the enormity of stadium rock was the specific thing that drove him to write the Who's 1973 double album, Quadrophenia. Townshend, who'll hit the road with Roger Daltrey and the band later on this month for the second North American leg of the Quadrophenia & More Tour, told Guitar World that the band's success drove him to address the Who's original fans: "I actually felt as if I'd lost my original brief as a writer through being introduced to stadium rock and being one of the main protagonists of stadium rock. I'd lost the feeling of writing for the Who, writing for Roger's voice within the Who, giving him words to sing to express the feelings of inarticulateness, dislocation, and frustration of the audience that we grew up with. I'd felt I'd lost that. I'd look out into an audience of 86,000 people and think, what do they want me to do, I don't know. There's just too many of them."

Townshend said that he hoped that Quadrophenia would once again connect them with their early fans who followed the Who back in 1964 when they played such regular haunts as the Goldhawk Club and Railway Hotel: "I kind of hit on this notion that what had happened to the Who, was that we lost contact -- not with our audience, perse -- but with our original audience, with our very first audience. And it would be interesting to look at what somebody, like a kid y'know, from, y'know, the early days of the band; what they would feel looking at the Who -- not so much in the present day, but, y'know, in three or four years on -- and whether they would find themselves in that band or not. And if they did find themselves in that band, what would they find?"

DAYDREAMING AT WORK COULD BE BENEFICIAL

Scientists say the results of two new studies show that daydreaming while at work could boost your brain's creativity. Researchers at the University of Central Lancashire gave study participants deliberately boring tasks to complete. Participants were then given another task to measure their creativity, and performed better than those who did not perform the boring task beforehand. Senior psychology lecturer, Dr. Sandi Mann says, "Our work shows that daydreaming could be potentially beneficial in the workplace, as it allows lateral thinking that could assist with problem solving." (Daily Mail)

PEOPLE ORDER MORE FOOD WHEN THEY ORDER ONLINE

A new study says that while ordering take-out online might be convenient, it might also be hurting your waistline. Assistant Professor from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester, Ryan McDevitt, is a study author and says that after analyzing food orders placed via the internet at the pizza chain they found that customers would over-order. McDevitt says people over-order online because they have fewer inhibitions in more private settings. The study found that online customers increased their double and triple bacon orders more than ten-times as much as their double and triple orders for vegetable toppings, and that pizza ordered online contained six-percent more calories compared to orders places over the phone or in person. McDevitt says one way to curb over-ordering online would be to do it in the presence of a person's whose opinion you care about, or even just look at a picture of that person. (Yahoo)

SODA LINKED TO DEPRESSION RISK

What you drink could affect your emotions--that's according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. The results of the study suggest that drinking sweetened beverages increases risk of depression, and drinking coffee decreases risk of depression. Specifically, researchers found that drinking four cups or cans of soda daily was linked with a 30-percent increase in risk for depression, while drinking four cups or cans of diet soda or fruit punch increased depression risk by 38-percent. Drinking four cups of coffee daily was linked with a ten-percent decrease in risk for depression. Study researcher Dr. Honglei Chen says, "Our research suggests that cutting out or down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee may naturally help lower your depression risk." (Huffington Post)

WHY DO WET FINGERS BECOME WRINKLED?

Scientists have a new explanation for why our fingers become wrinkly after exposure to water. Scientists from Newcastle University performed an experiment asking people to transfer marbles and fishing weights from one container to another using their hands. The objects were sometimes submerged in water, and were sometimes picked up with normal hands, and sometimes picked up with hands that had been held in warm water for half an hour to make them wrinkly. Researchers found that wrinkled fingers were quicker at picking up wet objects, but offered no advantage for moving dry ones. Researcher Tom Smulders says, "Toes wrinkling in the bath could have evolved from a need to walk or run on slippery ground." Wrinkles form when the blood vessels constrict, shrinking the fingertips and pulling in the skin. (Daily Mail)

FIVE REASONS MARRIAGE ENGAGEMENTS SHOULD BE A YEAR OR LONGER(The Stir):

1) You have your whole life to be married: When you are first getting married, you want forever to start RIGHT NOW. But trust me, 10-years into this whole marriage thing, you are married a long, long, long time if you are lucky. There is no reason to rush into it.

2) Weddings are stressful: It takes time to plan a wedding. If you are eloping or having a small wedding, by all means, have a short engagement. But some venues book up two YEARS in advance. So if you have your heart set on it, it's best to wait.

3) Engagements end: Sorry to burst your happiness bubble, but as someone who was engaged two times before the third one stuck, I can tell you that an engagement is much easier to call off than a marriage. Give it time. Let it settle. Plan together.

4) It's a fun time: You are only engaged for one VERY brief period of your whole life. People are happy for you and loving and excited. It's a special time in anyone's life, so why rush into the marriage portion of the show that will, if you are lucky, last longer than even the unmarried part!

5) You need to know each other: For some people, six months into a relationship, they get engaged. Six months later they get married and then six months later they are pregnant. Eighteen months together is NOT enough time to know you're compatible as partners and parents. It just isn't. I have heard that it takes three full rounds of each season (three years) to get to really know one another. That's a good rule of thumb.

13 ODDBALL APPS(The Frisky):

1) BellyButton. It does nothing but show pictures of belly buttons. That's it. The iTunes store review of it says, "Pointless, bizarre, and strangely amusing." That's really all I'm looking for in an app. In life, really.

2) The Poop Analyzer. It gives you diagnostics and medical advice based on your poop! After you go, you answer some questions about the characteristics of your poop and it tells you what's up with your feces. Fun!

3) Zit Picker. Using two fingers you can pick and pop the zits on your friends' faces. So satisfying. And no threat of infection.

4) Hiccup Begone. It's a circus-themed app that tours you through a sideshow of ten scientifically proven ways to get rid of those annoying hiccups.

5) Run Pee. It helps you plan when to go pee during a movie so you don't miss anything. A timer will go off at the best times to pee. Genius.

6) Annoy-A-Teen. It emits irritatingly high frequency sounds that most adults have lost their ability to hear, thereby targeting teenagers.

7) Dog Effects. We all need Dog Effects. Why? Because drawing and painting with dogs is what life is all about. Or at least, what it should be all about.

8) Cover-Up. If you're phobic about using public restrooms because of the noises, this app will help you get over that. Cover-up masks unpleasant bathroom sounds by simulating sound effects like running water, hand-dryers and blow dryers. And it looks like a makeup compact. Clever.

9) Sim Stapler. I'm just going to quote the app store: "The first true office equipment simulator, SimStapler brings all of the thrill and excitement of a 'real' stapler right to the palm of your hand."

10) iHobo. There's nothing fun about iHobo, but if you're looking to improve your compassion response (who isn't?), it's fantastic. For three days you'll have a young, homeless person living in your smartphone. Alerts will tell you when he needs stuff. It's your job to take care of him before he gets into trouble. Proceeds go to a homeless charity. Heavy.

11) iVooDoo. Just stick the pins in your virtual voo doo doll and manifest away. Use it for good (landing that new job) or evil (getting revenge on your stupid ex).

12) iFart. you can choose from 30 different fart sounds, record your own farts and even share them with your social network.

13) Zips. Totally useless, but totally fun, Zips is an app that lets you play with zippers. That is all. It was named the #1 Dumbest App by CNN Money. Perfect. Need it.

Thanks for listening to The Eagle while you work. Keep it fabulous, Houston!

xoxo,

Jennifer Tyler

Fabulous Mid-Day Diva