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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Shock MTV - The Videos of Peter Gabriel


I’ll be the first one to admit that when it comes to finding inspiration for this blog, I rely on YouTube an awful lot.  Aside from using some of the VEVO videos that are included within YouTube to supplement a lot of my blog topics, I use it for research purposes as well.  There are times in which I’ll be inspired to choose a topic based on a video that I have recently watched.  There are also the occasional instances in which I choose a topic that I vaguely remember, but need a serious refresher course in because it has been years since I watched it/played with it/listened to it.  In that case, YouTube becomes a very essential research tool for me.

And, mostly, I use YouTube to get my fix for music videos.  These days, it seems to be one of the few sources left to view music videos as television stations that once catered to the music video loving crowd no longer play them.  Let’s face it, MTV has been a reality show wasteland since the turn of the new century, and VH1 isn’t much better.  Even the Canadian MuchMusic has seemingly dropped the music from the station, simply going by Much.  I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t really feel like watching a network that has reruns of Degrassi, marathons of Silent Library, and a special look back on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

But, I suppose times change.

During the heyday of the music video channel (also known as the 1980s), music videos were the quintessential way to promote your singles in hopes that they would make it to the top of the charts.  And some artists achieved this goal better than others.

You remember all of those Top 10 singles that the late Michael Jackson had during his career?  Many of them got that way from the creative and innovative music videos that he shot during the peak of his career.  Some of the more creative videos that I can recall are “Billie Jean”, “Thriller”, “Bad”, “Leave Me Alone”, “ Black or White”, and “Scream”.

Madonna is also an artist who has been using the music video to her advantage.  Ever since 1984’s “Like A Virgin”, she has consistently been releasing video masterpieces.  From “Like A Prayer” to “Express Yourself” to “Vogue” to “Bedtime Story” to “Ray of Light”, she’s definitely earned her way to the queen of the video.

I’d say that British New Wave band Duran Duran has also made some killer music videos.  If you don’t believe me, give “Rio”, “The Wild Boys”, “The Reflex”, and “Come Undone” a second glance.

Even some current artists have had some gems in the music video industry.  Katy Perry has made some fantastic, eye-popping music videos as have Lady Gaga and La Roux.

There are several artists that are worthy of my pick for the most creative and innovative music videos ever made.  The examples that I posted above were on my shortlist.  Still, there can only be one winner.

The winner of the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life Award for Most Creative and Innovative Music Videos, and the subject of this blog is...


PETER GABRIEL!!!

...though, given that I gave the answer away in the title of this blog, it is fairly anti-climactic.

Though I still stand by my decision.

It seems hard to believe, but this upcoming February 13, Peter Gabriel will be turning 63 years old!  I know!  Shocking, isn’t it?  Peter Gabriel is only four years younger than my own father!  I didn’t even think he was that old.  I would’ve guessed his age as fifty-seven, tops. 


But when you consider that his music career began when he helped create the rock band “Genesis” over four and a half decades ago, I suppose his age does make sense.  Gabriel, along with Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, and Chris Stewart founded Genesis in 1967, and the band released their debut album two years later in 1969.  By 1970, original members Phillips and Stewart had left, and after a revolving door of band members were permanently replaced by Steve Hackett and Phil Collins.

The band Genesis worked well together between 1970 and 1975, but failed to really crack the charts anywhere in the world.  Prior to the mid-1970s, Genesis’ only hit was the 1974 single “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”, and that song only peaked at #21 on the UK charts.  But despite their lack of chart success, the band did attract its own group of fans.  At the time, Peter Gabriel sang lead vocals for the band, and his singing during the band’s earliest gigs were a source of frustration for the audience.  Due to some faulty PA equipment at the concerts, the audience couldn’t really understand what Gabriel was singing.  Hence came the need for Gabriel to stand out in other ways...


...such as wearing costumes and outfits that made him stand out. 

So, as you can see, before the age of the music video, Peter Gabriel felt a need to stand out among a crowd and carve out his own unique identity.  I think that’s probably one reason why I admire him so much as an artist.  He has the guts and the personality to charm people with his lavish stage performances and has probably one of the most creative minds that have existed in the world of music.  What can I say, creative minds have to stick together, right?

Unfortunately, Gabriel’s larger than life personality as well as his stage presence was one of the factors behind Peter’s decision to walk away from Genesis in the mid-1970s.  Though all the members of Genesis mutually agree that Gabriel walked away from the band on good terms, there was tension that was present around the time he left Genesis.  Perhaps the one thing that helped Gabriel make the final decision to walk away from the band was the fact that at the time his wife was having a difficult pregnancy with their first child, and rather than tour with the band, he opted to stay with his wife and daughter, causing resentment between Gabriel and the remaining members of Genesis.


So, Gabriel officially left Genesis in 1975, Phil Collins stepped into the spotlight as the new lead singer of the group in 1976, and in 1977, Gabriel’s solo career began with the release of the single “Solsbury Hill”, a song that reflected his feelings upon leaving Genesis.


In the end, everything worked out for Genesis.  With Collins fronting the band, Genesis ended up charting hit after hit, having several Top 10 singles between 1984 and 1992, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.


And Peter Gabriel’s solo career was a huge success as well, largely due to the innovative and beautifully crafted music videos that accompanied his songs.  Part of the appeal of Peter Gabriel’s music videos are the fact that he utilized dozens of filming styles and a variety of animation techniques that made them stand out.  But, there’s also a lot of symbolism and hidden messages included in each video that are like little Easter eggs, waiting to be found.

(And, thanks to shows like Pop-Up Video, we now know some of the secrets.)

But, if I only had five videos to choose from...which ones would I classify as Peter Gabriel’s best?

It was a tough task.  After all, Peter Gabriel has released twenty-seven music videos during his entire career thus far.  And those videos have helped Peter Gabriel win six Grammy Awards and a whopping 13 MTV Video Music Awards (nine of which were awarded in the same year)!  So, to choose just five was nearly impossible.

At any rate, here’s my list.  Do you agree?  Let me know!


05.  SHOCK THE MONKEY
ALBUM:  Security
DATE RELEASED:  September 25, 1982

This particular song was the first song to reach Top 40 status in the United States, peaking at #29 (in the UK, it did worse at #58).  And it was also one of the first music videos that really featured the creative mind of Peter Gabriel at work.  The video seems to cross a divide between normal life and a warped life.  Regular Peter is decked out in a black business suit slaving away in an office, while Warped Peter is in a white world complete with scary white face paint.  Many people have the belief that the song promotes animal rights (which given the frequent images of poor monkeys undergoing animal testing isn’t a bad guess).  But Peter himself later admitted that the song is about the subject of jealousy, and that the monkey acts as a metaphor.  Now that I look at the video again, considering that the end of the video features a hallway that looks like a science lab or a psychiatric ward, I suppose it fits.  After all, I have heard that jealousy can make people act irrationally.



04 – STEAM
ALBUM:  Us
DATE RELEASED:  January 16, 1993

Now, I will say this.  Although there are three other music videos that I like better than this one, I will state that “Steam” is this blogger’s all-time favourite Peter Gabriel song.  Heard it for the first time when I was twelve years old, and I loved the beat and the accompanying video.  Of course, it wasn’t until I watched Pop-Up Video that I realized that there is some rather...adult imagery hidden in the video itself in the form of phallic symbols and sexual puns.  Just look at the scenes that involve Peter and his girl walking through the jungle, Peter’s face appearing in the steam locomotive, the skeleton holding a pair of guns, and the symbols that appear behind Peter’s stretchy dance after the “aging Peter scene”.  You’ll get what I mean.

TRIVIA:  On that note, the man who appears after Peter in the aging Peter scene is Peter's father Ralph.  He recently passed away in November 2012 at the age of 100!

At any rate, “Steam” was a video that really utilized computer generated imagery, and it is probably one of the most vibrant and colourful videos that Peter Gabriel has ever filmed.  Symbolism aside, the song is described as being about a posh, sophisticated woman who is in a relationship with a man who knows nothing about anything except that he doesn’t know about the woman, and she doesn’t even know much about herself.

I should note that above paragraph was the way that Peter Gabriel himself described the song.  Great, even when he tries to make things clearer, he’s cryptic.  Damn him!  J


03.  BIG TIME
ALBUM:  So
DATE RELEASED:  July 1986 (US), March 28, 1987 (Worldwide)

This video is kind of all over the place with animation, bright colours, and garish imagery.  And, in a way, it’s highly symbolic of the theme of the decade.  Ironically enough, this video was released the same year that a stock market crash happened, but the mood of the 1980s was all about trying to make it big, and live in excess.  Why else was the 1980s the heyday of “Dynasty”, “Falcon Crest”, and “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous”?  The song “Big Time” was the perfect soundtrack to the big egos and the Wall Street gurus that were celebrated during the 1980s.  After all, as Gordon Gekko stated in the 1987 film “Wall Street”, greed was good in that time period.

This song happens to have a guest appearance by a member of a prominent band.  With The Police broken up and Sting pursuing a solo career by 1987, Stewart Copeland was available to play the drums on this classic hit, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard Charts in the spring of 1987.

As far as how I would best describe this video...well...think what would happen if you took the set of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and looked at it through beer goggles.  Yeah, that sounds great.  Again, the video is big and bold, which set the tone for the big and bold 1980s.  A job well done, as far as I’m concerned.


02 – DIGGING IN THE DIRT
ALBUM:  Us
DATE RELEASED:  September 19, 1992

The end of a marriage is never easy to deal with.  Shortly after the success of Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album “So”, his marriage to his first wife broke apart in 1987.  It would take a few years before Peter Gabriel would release a new studio album (barring the release of his greatest hits compliation “Shaking The Tree” in 1990).  When “Us” was released in 1992, it ended up being one of his most personal albums to date.  The songs dealt with the strained relationship between himself and his eldest daughter, the relationship that he shared with his then-girlfriend Rosanna Arquette (whose relationship ended just before the album was recorded), and the break-up of his first marriage.  The marriage break-up inspired the song “Digging in the Dirt”, released September 1992.

And, what a masterpiece of a video it is at that.  It’s also got some rather disturbing imagery within it, so I wouldn’t recommend that small kids watch it, as it can probably induce nightmares.  The scenes with the bees still creeps me out to this day.

I mean, let’s face it...being buried alive, consumed by foliage, and seeing snails and larvae crawling over top of Peter’s body was grotesque and stomach-churning.  But the ending provides a little bit of hope as Peter comes back to be reborn.  And, really, the symbolism seems to fit with what was happening with Peter’s life at the time.  Sure, he was hurting over the loss of two relationships in five years.  And, yes, he may have been a little bit angry and felt like he was being swallowed in despair.  I think when Peter was filming this video, he was getting out a lot of his frustrations, and he needed to do that to move ahead.  Since this video was aired, he remarried, and had two more sons, and he seems to be happier than ever.


01 – SLEDGEHAMMER
ALBUM:  So
DATE RELEASED:  April 25, 1986



You knew it was coming.  This video not only helped catapult “Sledgehammer” to the top of the charts (giving Gabriel his only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100), but it was the video that helped Peter Gabriel win a record NINE MTV Video Music Awards in 1987.  And, why wouldn’t it?  Of all the Peter Gabriel videos, this one is the most memorable one in terms of imagery, as the video uses two different forms of animation...stop-motion and Claymation.

I mean, where else can you find a video of bumper cars crashing into Peter’s cheeks, a giant hammer breaking apart an ice mould of Peter’s cranium, and dancing headless chickens?


(Seriously, the chickens made the video.  They were the true stars.)

This video seems to have been a bit of an inspiration for Peter’s “Steam” video, released seven years later.  Both videos start off almost the same way, and whereas the imagery of Steam is filled with sexual references, the lyrics of Sledgehammer are sexual in nature.

IRONIC TRIVIA:  When “Sledgehammer” topped the charts in July 1986, guess what song it dethroned?  Genesis’ “Invisible Touch”!

MORE TRIVIA:  You’ll notice that in the scene where the choir starts singing behind Peter, you’ll quickly see two young girls appear in the scene.  Those two girls are Peter’s eldest children, Anna-Marie and Melanie.

And, those are just five of the many music videos that Peter Gabriel made that helped cement his status as a true superstar of MTV.  What are some of your favourites?  Let me know below!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Eek! The Cat


It’s no secret that some of my favourite cartoons that have ever been made are those that like to make fun of themselves.

Some examples that I can think of at the moment include some of the more recent prime-time animated hits that are currently airing.  “South Park”, “Family Guy”, “American Dad”, “The Cleveland Show”, and “The Simpsons” often spoof pop culture and bust through the fourth wall.  And, I think that’s why I enjoy them so much.  For one, it offers a creative new twist to old favourites, but another reason is that I find it refreshing when people can take the time to laugh at themselves once in a while.  I remember that there were some times in which I have been a little stiff and have been instructed to loosen up a little bit.  Thankfully, I think I’ve done a fairly good job stopping and smelling the roses.

In most cases, these types of cartoons have aired during the prime-time hours.  Whether you watch “The Simpsons” or “South Park”, or used to watch “The Critic”, “Futurama”, or “King of the Hill”, you’d be hard pressed to find a channel on television that aired episodes of the program before one in the afternoon.  This makes perfect sense, when you consider that the majority of these episodes are marketed towards an adult audience.  There were hardly any Saturday morning cartoons that made an effort to spoof everything under the sun because I believe that some television executives weren’t convinced that young kids would grasp the humour.  The closest example that I could think of when I was a little boy was “Muppet Babies”, and even that was considered tame compared to the adult prime-time counterparts.

Yet, FOX managed to create one show that did all that.  It was a show that began airing when I was eleven, and yet I was able to understand most of the pop culture references that the show was spoofing, and it made me chuckle.  There was just something about this show that made me want to watch it week after week.  It was brilliant enough that people got the references and the humour right away, but it was fun enough for kids to enjoy the slapstick comedy that often befell the main character.

I’d say that the show format was sort of like Family Guy, minus the adult vibe, combined with Sylvester the Cat and a little dash of Rocko’s Modern Life.  Put them all together, and you get this big purple cat!



Eek! 

(No, I didn’t scream.  That’s the name of the character of the show that we’re focusing on.)


The show was Eek! The Cat, and it debuted on the FOX channel on September 11, 1992.  The show was created by the team of Bill Kopp and Savage Steve Holland. (Kopp himself voiced Eek).  The duo had previously worked together nearly ten years earlier on a particular game show.



Yes, Kopp and Holland were the team behind the dastardly Whammies that appeared to take away the hard earned dollars won by the contestants of “Press Your Luck”, which aired between 1983 and 1986.

The idea for Eek! The Cat was inspired by the living situation of Savage Steve Holland.  In his younger years, Savage Steve Holland shared his home with several cats, one of which was named Eek.  Initial character designs of Eek were slightly different than what appeared in the cartoon.  Eek was originally coloured pink instead of purple, and the show was originally titled “The Six and a Half Lives of Eek the Cat”.

And, given all the things that happened to poor Eek, he needed every single one of those lives.

You see, all Eek ever wanted to do was help people.  In fact, one of his favourite sayings was “it never hurts to help”.

Too bad that in Eek’s case, it almost always did.


In almost every single episode of the series, Eek had the very best of intentions when it came to assisting others in need.  And, for the most part, he succeeded in his quest...even if he ended up falling down a flight of stairs, getting squashed by household objects, or running away from his nemesis, Sharky the Sharkdog.

At least you can say that Eek always meant well.

And, just who are some of the friends that Eek tried to help?  Well, let’s take a look.


There’s Elmo the Elk (Savage Steve Holland), an elk who is extremely loyal to Eek...but also ends up being incredibly dumb as well.  He often finds work in performing stunts, which seems to have affected his brain.  After all, he does insist that June has thirty-one days.  Or, maybe he just doesn’t like Canada Day?  Who knows?  He tries to act courageous, but then again, he never was praised for his acting ability.  He would probably make Wade the Duck from U.S. Acres look like the Terminator by comparison.


And, then there’s Eek’s beloved girlfriend, Annabelle (voiced by both Tawny Kitaen and Karen Haber).  Annabelle is a big, bold, beautiful cat with a heart as big as her entire body.  As you have seen in the picture included with this blog, Annabelle is certainly no skinny pencil, and that suits Eek just fine.  Eek doesn’t see Annabelle as being fat, and often seems shocked when other people comment on her size.  All he sees is her, and he’s proud to say that he’s lucky to have more of her to love.

NOTE:  You see, everyone?  Not EVERYONE is so hung up on looks.  When a person is in love, all they see is them.  Not their flaws.  Eek, you are totally my hero!

Ahem...moving right along...


Eek is a typical housecat where he lives with a single mother (Elinor Donahue), and her two children Wendy Elizabeth (E.G. Daily) and J.B. (Charlie Adler).  In many ways, Eek is considered to be the sane member of the family, as the mother is too busy trying to listen to foreign language tapes, and the kids are mesmerized by “The Squishy Bearz Rainbow of Enchanted Fun Minute”.


TRIVIA:  The Squishy Bearz were a spoof of the popular “Care Bears” show.  Three of the bears, Kozy (E.G. Daily), Puffy, and Wuz Wuz (Cam Clarke) are happy and want to spread happiness and friendliness to all.  The fourth bear, a French accented green bear named Pierre (Bill Kopp), is contrastingly bitter and angry at the world.


Eek has also made some enemies during his lifetime.  The most obvious one is Sharky, who happens to be Annabelle’s guard...dog?  Guard Shark?  Whatever the case, Sharky hates Eek with a passion, and he goes well out of his way to make Eek’s life a misery.  Consider their relationship to be similar to Garfield and Odie’s relationship on steroids.


Eek also has an enemy that is truly out of this world in the form of the evil alien Zoltar (Brad Garrett).  Zoltar’s main concern is destroying the world with a giant laser beam.  But in order to make that happen, he has to abduct Annabelle to use her large frame as a battery to power his laser.  Of course, Eek being head over tail in love with Annabelle won’t let that happen.

There’s also a couple of characters who make sporadic appearances in the form of running gags.  Piggy the Penguin resembles a certain character from “Lord of the Flies”, and in the example below, you can see that the psychotic character of Alice kind of resembles the character of Amanda Woodward from “Melrose Place”.


TRIVIA:  Yes, that really is Heather Locklear voicing Alice.  She was just one of several guest stars who appeared on the program.  Others included William Shatner, David Duchovny, Weird Al Yankovic, Fabio, Kurtwood Smith, Tim Curry, John Landis, Jaid Barrymore, and the late Phil Hartman.


The first season of Eek! The Cat were full length episodes.  By the second season premiere in 1993, the Eek segments were edited down to ten or eleven minutes in length.  The rest of the time was allotted to a cartoon series called “The Terrible Thunderlizards”.  As a result, the title sequence was changed slightly.

A third title change, “Eek-Stravaganza” was implemented in 1994, right around the time that a new segment called “Klutter” was added, which rotated with the Thunderlizards.  This was the final change to the program, which lasted until the show aired its last episode in August 1997.

Eek! The Cat even had its own video game release for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994, which itself was a re-porting of a 1993 Amiga game.  Have a look at a portion of the game play below.  It was quite a fun game to play, though at times could be quite frustrating.


It’s therefore quite frustrating to know that Eek! The Cat doesn’t have a release on DVD or Blu-Ray yet.  Maybe one day it will.  Heck, I may end up buying it myself.  I always loved the show.

And, after writing this blog, I hope those of you who remember the show loved it too.  Hey, maybe I’ve even converted some new fans to the program.  You never know.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Man vs. Food Part II - He Ate The Whole Thing?!?


This is a continuation of yesterday's Thursday Diary entry. If you happened to miss it, you can click HERE to link back to it. You might be wondering how I plan to tie in my addiction story to a television program. Well, the answer lies within.



Okay, so welcome to Friday, and the day after I pretty much admitted to being a complete weakling when it comes to anything made out of chocolate. It's certainly not as bad as being addicted to alcohol, lethal drugs, or sniffing permanent markers, but if I don't get the addiction under control, it'll eventually kill me. Now that it's out in the open, I feel better for having confessed it, and now that it's out in the open, it'll serve as a permanent reminder of the promise I made to myself.

Still, I know that the road to absolute freedom from any confection with the names Hershey, Reese, Cadbury, or Mars is going to be a lifelong struggle. I don't think it's something that I can just go cold turkey on. Occasionally there are going to be instances in which I have to have peanut butter M&M's, and there might be instances where I will be at a party where there's cake...and it would be sort of rude to turn down cake at a party. For the most part though, I plan to keep my cravings under control, though it's going to be a challenge. I won't lie to you.

And, I'm already taking steps to try and kick my chocolate habit once and for all. Now that I have an iPod (yes, I have finally joined the 21st century a dozen years into it), I find that going on a brisk walk is a lot more fun. It's like I'm exercising with my favourite artists! I'm purposely only buying vanilla flavoured frozen yogurt whenever I do have a craving for a sweet treat. Not only is frozen yogurt healthier, but by buying vanilla, I won't trigger my chocolate cravings!

(Baby steps here, remember?)

You know, looking back on my love-hate relationship with food (sweets in particular), I have come to one conclusion. When I was binge eating on everything that had any sort of chocolate drizzle on it, I was doing it to feel some sort of happiness. And, why wouldn't I choose chocolate? Chocolate has magical healing powers that makes one feel better...for a little while. I used to laugh off the suggestion that more women would rather have chocolate than sex. But now that I'm a bit older and a lot wiser, I can understand why this is the case.

It really wasn't until I grew older that I started to feel disgusted over my insatiable appetite. In almost all the times I instinctively grabbed food, I wasn't even hungry. I ate out of boredom, I ate to relieve stress, and I ate to ease the emotional pain that I was going through. I still have memories of being a teenager and finishing off the leftovers from dinner that the rest of my family couldn't eat because I am the type of person who didn't like to see food go to waste. It was like I had become a human garbage disposal out of necessity, and I didn't like that feeling at all. It wasn't until I was 28 years old that I made the decision to try and change my habits so that I didn't rely on food so much to get me through the roughest of days...just four years ago. This year, I'm turning 32, and I still don't have everything perfectly balanced yet. But, all in time though.

You know what's funny though? With the amount of food that I ate as a teenager, it's a wonder that I didn't attempt any of those eating contests, or get in on the action to break a Guinness World Record for eating a set amount of food in the shortest time possible.

You know the contests I mean, right? A pie eating contest at the county fair, or a pizza eating contest at a local pizzeria, or the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Challenge held each year.

Well, there were at least three different reasons why I didn't enter those contests. Firstly, there weren't any contests like that readily available in my hometown at that time to my knowledge (and if there were, they were usually for foods that I despised). Secondly, when I was a teenager, I was the kid who wanted to blend into the background. The last thing I wanted was to have my name and photo plastered all over the newspaper indicating that I had eaten the most food. That would have just given people more ammo, as far as I was concerned!

The main reason why I never entered an eating contest was simple. I get grossed out by them.



Anyone who has ever seen one of those eating contests on television or in person knows what I mean. It's not like the contestants are casually sitting down at a table with a knife and fork, and are dabbing their faces with a napkin as they sip a glass of white wine. No, the carnage is absolutely insane. Those pies and hot dogs get gobbled up in less than a minute. Some of those contestants swallow them down so quickly, you wonder if they swallow them whole or if they at least chew it once or twice.

Forget the fact that I wouldn't even stand a chance against some of the more competitive participants in these eating contests. I wouldn't be able to last five minutes without feeling intense nausea over seeing the person next to me shovel an entire pizza into their mouths before I was even finished one slice.

I mean, hey, if you do competitive eating for a living, more power to you. I just can't do it.

Now, can you imagine a television show that put a spin on competitive eating contests? Imagine a guy going to every pizza place, steakhouse, ice cream stand, and greasy spoon diner in America, sampling the biggest and most insane food creations ever made. And, imagine at the end of every episode, you see this man attempting a variety of food eating challenges which include everything from sampling the hottest chicken wings possible to eating a TEN POUND hamburger in a ninety minute time period. Would you watch?



Well, for nearly four years, people who had The Travel Channel could have the opportunity to watch Adam Richman do exactly that. And, the title of this show was the direct inspiration of the last two blog entries.



Today we're going to be talking about the show Man vs. Food, which aired on The Travel Channel from December 3, 2008 until April 11, 2012.

We're going to talking about what the show is, how it came about, how the host prepared for every episode and eating challenge, as well as addressing the criticisms and rumours surrounding its host.

Oh, and at the end of this entry, I'll be sharing my own thoughts on Man vs. Food, as well as a little bit of a social commentary.



I had mentioned that the host of the show was a man named Adam Richman (b. May 16, 1974 in Brooklyn, New York). Richman is no stranger to food. He has often described himself as a food fanatic. Since 1995, Richman has kept a travel journal where he often goes into great detail over all of the restaurants he visited, what he ordered there, and any life lessons he learned along the way.

(Well...kind of like I'm doing with this blog. Only I haven't been doing this nearly as long as Adam Richman, and this blog is mostly on pop culture. But hey, we have the life lesson thing down pat!)

The format of Man vs. Food for the first three seasons was the same. Adam would travel to several large American cities in search of the most palatable, piquant, or decadent foods ever created. In many cases, the cities often have their own signature dishes, and Adam often did a themed special around this food item. For example, if he were in Philadelphia, he would do a feature on the Philly Cheesesteak. If he were in New York City, he may have done a show on New York Style Cheesecake. If he's hanging around Chicago, you know that a deep dish pizza will be in the spotlight at some point. And down in the southern states like Texas or Oklahoma, it's grill city for sure.

For the first segments of the show, Adam would visit several restaurants, interviewing people about the local cuisine and how it is made, and then he'd sit down and sample some of it. Now, I must admit that watching a few episodes of the show, the opening was really tough to get through. A lot of the foods that Adam sampled looked really delicious, and my mouth was watering as he tried them. At some point, I was actually relieved when they added onions or strawberries or some other food I dislike, because only then did my cravings end right there on the spot.



(Hmmm...dipping chocolate in onion powder. That would definitely make it less tempting. Must remember that for future reference.)

It was only really the last part of the show that kind of made me wince in pain and shock.

That was the part of the show in which Adam would take on a food eating challenge where he would do battle against foods that were either too spicy or incredibly gigantic to digest. And to add to the pressure, some of the challenges had a time limit to boot! Whatever was a guy to do?

Eat, of course. You see, that's where the title comes into play. Will man be able to triumph over food, or will food cause the man to collapse in pain and cry uncle?

Believe it or not, each one of these eating challenges came with a lot of preparation. Richman has explained in several interviews that when he is on the road, he finds time to exercise twice a day in order to keep in shape in between challenges. He'll also fast the day before an eating challenge, making sure to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of club soda or water. He also says that he works out on a treadmill for an hour immediately after taping an episode. Now, you might think that this would be incredibly uncomfortable after eating an obscene amount of food, but I'll admit that after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, I have to move around for a bit after eating because it's incredibly uncomfortable if I don't.

And, just what kind of challenges will Adam take on?

Well, how about eating a 12-inch cheeseburger with twelve beef patties and twelve slices of cheese? Basically, a heart attack on a plate. If you can stomach it, you can watch the clip below. But, I wouldn't recommend watching it on a full stomach. I know I found it hard!



Other challenges that Adam had to take on were...

  • eating a Southwestern Omelette made with an entire dozen of eggs
  • eating several chicken wings with each wing hotter than the last one
  • eating an ice cream sundae made with two gallons of ice cream
  • eating a four pound grilled cheese sandwich
  • attempting to break a record with 39 other people in eating a hamburger weighing 190 pounds!

Wow...after reading all that, I don't think that I want to eat ever again! My stomach feels full and I'm not even the one eating the food!

The show was praised by some critics, who loved Adam's passion for food, and the fun aspect of looking into the world of food eating contests. On the flipside, there are people who have panned the show, saying that Adam is setting a terrible example by promoting the sin of gluttony, and that it sent out the wrong message to people.

Believe it or not, there were actually rumours circulating around the Internet that Adam Richman's competitive eating lead to fatal heart attacks, prompting Adam to lash out at the people spreading the rumour, announcing that he was, in fact alive. And, as of January 18, 2013, Adam Richman is still alive.

Although one thing he doesn't do any more is competitive eating (which likely lead to the cancellation of Man vs. Food last year). He officially walked away from the contests effective January 27, 2012, stating that he wished to move ahead with future projects and bid farewell to his many followers.



As far as my own thoughts on Man vs. Food...they are admittedly mixed. On one hand, I can see where people are coming from about how the show is presented. Although Adam has stated that he worked hard to maintain his weight in between food challenges, I can't see how stuffing your face full of food in a half hour is considered to be healthy for the digestive system. If I tried to stuff a 12 patty burger in my mouth in twenty minutes, I would likely be dead...or at the very least in a hospital bed getting my stomach pumped. I honestly don't remember if they had a warning prefacing each episode explaining that not everyone should try these massive eating challenges, but it would have been an asset. And, I can probably also see people pointing out that it seems a bit wasteful to gorge on giant sized food items when there are people in the world who wish they could even have a small morsel of it.

Though, taking on the role of devil's advocate here, I see where Adam is coming from. He has a passion for food, and he loves talking about it, showcasing it, and eating it. And, as someone who has a passion for writing, I can't fault the guy for showing off his passion. It might not be the most brilliant way of doing it, but again, I can't fault him for it. It's not like he had to do the challenges because he was feeling poorly about himself and felt like he HAD to eat to feel happy. He was happy doing the challenges because it was his passion, and even when he failed at the various challenges, he still had a smile on his face knowing that he gave it all he had.



And, hey, on a positive, whenever I did watch an episode of Man vs. Food, it killed my appetite...so maybe what I need to do whenever I get a craving for chocolate is watch a marathon of those eating challenges before I go out with my iPod around town.

It can't hurt, right?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Man vs. Food Part I - Chocoholics Anonymous


This is a Thursday Timeline entry that I absolutely have to write...because I think that once I have it out in the open, it will give me no excuse to do anything else other than make my life better. And for the first time in the history of the blog, this will be a two parter! Part II will be posted Friday, January 18.

January 17, 2013

I have a bit of a confession to make. And, here's the thing. Most of you who know me probably know this to be common knowledge anyway. It won't come across as a really huge secret to those who know me best. But, it's something that I really need to get out there in the open so that I can see the truth and do something about it.



My name is Matthew...and I am a chocoholic.

I know, it's such a shameful secret to possess. I admit it. But, it's true.

Sure, some people might be chuckling in the stands, and I do get your point. It isn't like I just confessed to having an addiction to liquor, painkillers, cigarettes, or other drugs. And, I'm certainly not addicted to love, because let's face it, I am no Robert Palmer.

How can anyone be addicted to chocolate and other sweets?

It's easy. I am. And, it's an addiction that I have struggled with for the majority of my life. An addiction that I wish I could kick once and for all.

But I'll be the first one to admit that kicking my addiction to sweets has not always been easy.

For one, the temptation seems to be everywhere you look. I can't turn on the television without seeing an ad for the Dairy Queen Blizzard of the Month, or an innovation on an already tasty candy bar that made it even more delectable. I can't go through a checkout line at any supermarket or drug store without standing next to the candy counter filled with chocolate bars and sweet delicious candies and feeling a need to buy something. Even in a place as calm (well, depending on the people inside of it) as the employee break room at work isn't always safe, as there are always vending machines and baked treats inside screaming “TRY ME!”

In fact, there's a lot of times in which I'll randomly grab something that is dipped in chocolate and caramel and eat it without thinking...and then when I see the empty wrapper sitting beside me, I just feel disgusted with myself for letting the addiction take hold once again. It's that easy to do, and I'll admit that in my moments of weakness, I succumb to the sweet charms of candy.



Even when I was on the straight and narrow and lost a ton of weight, I didn't give up eating chocolate. I merely cut down on my consumption. But recently, I have had more moments of weakness than I can even count. At first I thought that it was related to the surgery that I had almost two years ago. I had read that one of the possible side effects of having your gall bladder out was slight weight gain, and since my surgery, I have gained about 30 pounds back. It's not like I went completely backwards and am not back to my old weight...but my clothes are feeling a little big snug, and I want to nip this chocolate addiction in the bud before that happens.

I guess I just need a little bit of help.

Before I explain what I need to have happen, I should explain how I came to develop my addiction to chocolate and other types of candy.

Believe it or not, I never really had that much of a problem with weight when I was a young boy. I mean, yes, I was quite tall as a kid (and at 6'2”, I'm still considered tall), but looking at old pictures of myself that were taken back in the early 1980s when I was toddler aged, I was rail thin. Yeah, I was built larger than other kids my age, but I wasn't considered unhealthy at all. Sure, I ate the occasional M&M, and I distinctly remember having a McDonald's Happy Meal like once a month or so, but that wasn't overly bad. The rest of the meals I ate as a kid were healthy and wholesome.



In fact...if I had to look back on my childhood, if there were any foods that I had to have back when I was a kid, it was V8 Vegetable Juice. I can't imagine how many cans of V8 I drank as a kid...it's a wonder that my skin didn't glow a bright shade of red! I also remember vague memories of opening up the fridge, grabbing a head of lettuce and ripping off lettuce leaves and eating them! It sounds really bizarre, but that's what I was drawn to as a kid when it came to snacks.

Then school happened.

Before I continue, I should probably explain something. Nowadays, many schools promote healthy living and healthy snack options, and you see a lot more fruit and milk being consumed.

This was NOT the case in the late 1980s.

Schools back then often had junk food at everyone's disposal. Heck, the French classroom in elementary school which doubled as our canteen during lunch hours sold snacks such as chocolate bars, Doritos, and ketchup-flavoured potato chips.



(Yeah, ketchup chips is a Canadian delicacy.)

Anyway, the temptation to eat unhealthy snacks in school was always present, and rather than not feel left out, I ditched the V8 and downed sugary soft drinks.



And, you know what? I shoulda stuck with the V8.

It didn't take long for the kids in the class to notice that I was filling out a little. Again, at the time, I didn't have that much of a weight problem, and my parents just chalked it up to me having a few growth spurts, is all. But kids weren't necessarily as understanding as adults could be. In fact, there was one group of boys that were in my second and third grade classes that completely made my life a living hell by poking fun at my size and my weight. They called me all sorts of derogatory names, they were telling everyone that I weighed 100 pounds (which granted, for a 7-year-old, was quite huge, but absolutely untrue). One kid even tried to act smart by lecturing me on how I should lay off the potato chips. Never mind the fact that he was built sort of similar to how I was...apparently HE was an expert on MY body. Sheesh.

Of course, that's how I feel now. When I was seven, comments like that really stung. So, when I went home, I was in the frame of mind where I was like, “I'll show that 'J' (I use initials to disguise their identity because I don't believe in slander)...I'll eat an entire bag of potato chips and show him that I didn't need his advice. And, had I just stopped with the one bag that one day, I likely would have made my point quite nicely.

Instead, I got used to filling up on potato chips every day after school. It actually got to the point where I couldn't function unless I had potato chips to eat every day after school. It was almost like a form of kiddie crack or something. The more nasty comments that were tossed my way, the more potato chips I had to have.

What was really frustrating was that after fourth grade, all the nasty boys who used to pick on me transferred to a French immersion school. So, feasibly speaking, I could have kicked the junk food habit in the fifth grade, right?

Unfortunately, that was the time that another group of bratty boys started to bully me as well. And, these guys were much, much worse than the last crew that I got rid of. Not only did they make every effort to make my junior high school years a complete misery, but they teamed up with a group of mean girls who also used to make me feel terrible about myself. Making comments about how I would kill them if I ever sat on them, or telling me that I ate a VW Beetle, or making up a rhyme like “Matty Matty 2x4, can't fit through the patio door”.



(Which actually showed their stupidity, as a 2x4 is a rail thin plank of wood, come to think of it.)

Regardless, my junk food cravings increased tenfold. Instead of having a single snack size bag of potato chips, I was eating a family size portion in one sitting...along with dip made from Philadelphia cream cheese, and at least three cans of soda. Not the diet soda either...I'm talking Pepsi and Coca-Cola here. And, when it came to dinner, I made some foolish choices as well, opting for take-out cuisine over home-cooked meals. What could I say, it made me feel better eating the foods that I liked.

Remember that point for later.

When I entered high school, I was hit with a real double whammy when my “new” group of bullies met up with the group of bullies who used to terrorize me about my size in the second and third grade. And would you know it, they all befriended each other and suddenly my pool of haters doubled.

Is it any wonder why I despised high school so much?

And, when I was in high school, that's when my food addiction switched solely to chocolate and sweets. I don't really remember eating a whole lot of sweets as a kid, but when I was a teenager, I couldn't get out of bed without having some form of chocolate.

I'm telling you, my chocolate addiction was out of control during my teen years. I would buy bags of Hershey Kisses and eat the whole bag in one sitting. I would pour half a can of chocolate syrup onto a dish of vanilla ice cream in order to make it extremely chocolatey. In fact, I'm kind of ashamed to admit this, but I secretly stole chocolate chips out of my mom's baking pantry to satisfy my chocolate cravings.



Not my finest moment for sure, but at least I'm copping to it now.

But, why would I let something as simple as chocolate make me go absolutely crazy?

Well, it comes back to a statement I made earlier. I ate chocolate and other junk food during my saddest times to feel happier. To feel like I wasn't empty. To feel something other than being alone and friendless.



In many ways, the chocolate worked like an anti-depressant of sorts. Because I felt so horrible about myself, I didn't feel like it was worth trying to impress people who didn't care. To me, no matter what I did, people still wouldn't want to be around me. They were happy in their own little groups, and I was always the outsider looking in.

I ended up developing an inferiority complex. Because people didn't want to know me, or worse, abused me emotionally, I couldn't count on them. But chocolate and other tasty treats were always there whenever I needed them. They wouldn't hurt me. They would fill me up with their caramel centers and nougat filling, and make me feel not as empty anymore. Or at least until the next craving came along, in which I would eat more chocolate to feel better about myself. Calories and nutritional value didn't matter to me. What mattered was having the feeling of happiness inside of me, even if it came in chocolate covered sponge toffee.

Which could explain why by the time I graduated high school, I weighed 300 pounds.

I was shocked at that number, and I told myself that I had no idea how I had let myself go. I also had a tendency to lie to myself a lot back in those days. I knew very well how I ballooned up to that weight. It was my dependence on chocolate and sweets that made the weight gain possible. Sure, the sugar buzz might have made me feel good for a little while...but knowing that all that chocolate was transformed into fat made me feel disgusted about myself...which in turn prompted me to grab some more junk food in order to take away the disgust and replace it with happiness once more.

You see the vicious cycle here?

It really wasn't until a few years ago that I decided that I would make a positive change about myself and my battles with the bulge. That was the year I decided to join a weight loss contest at work.

You want to know something? I ended up losing the second highest amount of weight in the whole contest. And, you want to know what helped me?

Compassion and support.

Seriously, my co-workers were incredibly supportive of me. They cheered right along with me as the pounds melted away. They also were quite annoying as they checked on me to make sure I wasn't sneaking chocolate behind their backs.

In fact, here's a confession. The whole contest lasted through Easter...and I still ended up losing weight that week despite the chocolate temptations. Mind you, it was only half a pound, but a loss is a loss, right?

So, what made the weight come off quickly during a three month period when I had close to thirteen, fourteen years and I couldn't lose an ounce?

Simple. Positive reinforcement.

Those mean boys who used to pick on me...they may have thought in their own warped train of thought that they were helping me, but they weren't. Of course, I can only take the blame for eating all the junk in the first place, but they weren't entirely blameless either. Of course, now that I have it all out here in the open, I suppose I can forgive them for the maelstrom of terror they unleashed on me. After all, it's not like I'll ever see any of them ever again, right?

I lost the weight because I had a support system who truly cared about me and my well-being. And, I have to admit that it was something that I really had to adjust to, because nobody had ever had my back like that before. It was something that I just wanted to grab onto and never let go of. You see, in some ways, I was doing so well with the weight loss program because I didn't want them to feel disappointed in me. I wanted them all to be proud of me. I'm sure that looking back on it, they would have been happy even if I had lost a few pounds. And, that was cool. As I said, it was rare for me to have real, genuine friendship and love shown to me, and it touched me.

And, you know...that love and support tastes so much better than the sweetest chocolate.

That said, I want to go back to that person I was four years ago. I want to feel good about myself again, and not sink back to those levels of despair. I want to get back out in the world and feel like I belong.

These past couple of years have been rough for me. I had a serious surgery, and within a year, I lost one of my best online friends, as well as the co-worker who was in many ways my biggest cheerleader (though if he were still alive, he would KILL me for calling him that). Those losses really hit me hard, and it made me feel like I had lost a huge part of the success that I had achieved. And, Christmas was one of those holidays where I overindulged on my one weakness, and paid the price for it later on.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I want to get healthy again. I may never be a 32-inch waist, but I want to look at the mirror again and like what I see, I'm okay with what I see now, but I want to feel better on the inside again.

I just need to surround myself with positivity. And, sometimes to find the positivity, you have to make peace with the bad.  But, they say that admitting that you have a problem is the right start...and as much as I don't want to admit it...I still have a problem resisting chocolate and junk food.



I'm on the right track though.  With me admitting it, I have no excuses tying me down any longer.  I'm sure all of you reading this won't let me forget my admission either now that I have it out there.  But hey, with my dislike of Valentine's Day, staying away from heart shaped chocolates has never been easier.

That's all for now.