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Monday, June 17, 2013

Three Men and a Baby

Just for the heck of it, even though Father's Day was yesterday I thought that I would do one more entry. Today's the Monday Matinee, after all, and I thought that I would choose an entry that was father friendly.

Of course, the plot for this particular film is kind of outlandish and out-there. But, hey, for some reason it worked.

Now, before I go ahead with this week's Monday Matinee, I have something that is on my mind. When I was a kid, I used to listen to the radio all the time. I had a little portable radio on my nightstand in my bedroom, and the dial would always be tuned into PAC-93 on the FM dial. PAC-93 was, at the time, one of Upstate New York's most popular Top 40 stations. They played all the latest hits from the pop charts, a few classics, there was a 1980's program that aired on Saturday nights, and on Sundays, you could listen to Casey Kasem's Top 40 (one of my all-time favourite radio programs). Sadly, the station switched formats years ago, and I haven't listened to it in quite some time. But when I was younger, it was my all-time favourite, as they didn't play as many radio commercials as other radio stations tended to do.

Because, as you all well know, radio station ads can be more annoying than the average ad you might view on television. And most of these radio ads are pretty forgettable.

Well, all except one, that is.

The radio ad that I am going to talk about is one that I can still remember almost 20 years later. I don't really remember who paid for the ad, but it was talking about children and their fathers, and the one part of the ad that I can hear playing through my head is the quote that read “it takes a man to be a dad”.

And, this is a slogan that seemed to ring through loud and clear in today's movie spotlight.

You see, this movie is all about a trio of bachelors who are enjoying living their lives in New York City as the free spirited single men they are. But when a baby girl is quite literally dropped into their laps, will the men know exactly what to do?




Well, that's just the question that Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg, and Tom Selleck all asked themselves in the wildly successful comedy “Three Men and a Baby”. The movie was the biggest grossing film of 1987, and it won a People's Choice Award the following year for Favourite Comedy Motion Picture. And, believe it or not, a former Trekkie directed this movie! In fact, this was the third directing effort by Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy!




Released on November 25, 1987, “Three Men and a Baby” starred Danson as actor Jack Holden, Guttenberg as cartoonist Michael Kellam, and Selleck as architect Peter Mitchell. And, all three of them were definitely enjoying living their bachelor lifestyle in New York City.

Now, because New York City was a really expensive place to live in back in 1987 (and even MORE expensive than ever to live there now), the three men all shared an apartment to save money whenever possible. And, when Jack was overseas filming a movie, the last thing that Michael and Peter believed that they would see at the door would be a baby girl.

And, yet, that's exactly what happened.

It turns out that Jack has been a very busy boy in between acting gigs. He got involved with one of his co-stars, and a note attached with the baby reveals that the child is Jack's! Needless to say, Michael and Peter are left holding the bag and minding the baby.




Peter and Michael are rather confused as to why they would be stuck watching baby Mary, but then both are reminded of a conversation that they had with Jack prior to his departure to Turkey, about how he had spoken to a director friend, who had arranged through Jack to have a “package” delivered to the loft as part of a favour. The only stipulation was that Jack had to keep the package a “secret”.

So, naturally, despite the fact that Baby Mary arrives at the guys' loft along with a note that was written by her mother Sylvia (Nancy Travis), dumb Peter and dumber Michael come to the “logical” conclusion that baby Mary must be the package. Because sending infants through a courier service is perfectly legal in the United States.

And, yes...that was sarcasm.

In actuality, the “package” that was intended for Jack's director friend (which was the package that Jack had really arranged to have dropped off at the apartment) is intercepted by the landlady. And, that package was filled with bags of heroin. Because sending illegal drugs through a courier service is perfectly legal in the United States.

Ah, sarcasm again. I'm getting good at that!

Of course, Peter and Michael are blissfully unaware of this fact, as they are too busy taking care of Mary. They've been changing her diapers, making sure she is fed, playing games with her. The two men really developed a bond with Mary over time, and eventually, both men seem to have the feeding/bathing/changing schedule down pat.

Now, here's where the fun begins. The two drug dealers who have come to the apartment to collect the heroin that Jack and his director friend arranged to have delivered. And, Peter and Michael, believing that the men are there to collect Mary, stupidly decide to give the baby to the drug dealers.

Okay, okay, so the film makes out that these three men are some of the dumbest people ever born. At least it did well in the box office!

Luckily, Peter finds out that they made a mistake, and attempt to switch the heroin package with baby Mary...but a twist of fate accidentally breaks open the package, and he ends up tricking the drug dealers into giving Mary back to them while getting arrested themselves! And, when Jack comes back and he is informed of what happened while he was filming, Jack is horrified to learn that he has gotten himself tied to a drug selling operation unwillingly...but not shocked to learn that he is the father of Mary. And, Peter and Michael, who had spent several weeks looking after Mary happily turn over their responsibilities to Jack. Luckily, Jack falls in love with Mary at first sight, and he too decides to dote over the child. So, what eventually happens is that Mary ends up gaining three fathers out of the deal...her biological father, and two surrogate fathers.

But after Jack's director friend is seriously injured in a mugging attempt brought upon by the drug dealers who had gotten him into trouble, Jack, Peter, and Michael must find a way to bring down the drug operation while simultaneously taking care of and protecting Mary. Will all of them succeed? And, what happens when Mary's mother makes an appearance with some shocking news? Will the three men be able to cope?

Well, you know that I will not tell you the answer...but you also know that there was a sequel made in 1990 entitled “Three Men and a Little Lady”, so naturally, there must be a happy conclusion. I just won't tell you how they got to that ending.  Let's just say that in the case of this movie, that "it takes a man to be a dad" ad that I talked about earlier in this piece...well...it fits!

But, the movie does feature a very popular urban legend.




Apparently, there's a scene that takes place an hour into the final cut of the film that features Ted Danson and Celeste Holm walking through the loft carrying baby Mary, and in that scene, there is what appears to be a human figure standing in the window. Forty seconds earlier, that image was not present, leading people to believe that the figure was actually a ghost! The story went that the “ghost” of the boy was a nine-year-old boy who died in the home where the film was shot prior to the movie being made, and that the story floating around was that the boy had committed suicide with a shotgun.

Turns out that the actual figure is simply a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson. It's amazing where urban legends are developed, isn't it?
Here's a little bit more trivia.


  • Ted Danson and Nancy Travis would later work together on the CBS sitcom “Becker”.
  • Baby Mary was played by twins Lisa and Michelle Blair.
  • Director Leonard Nimoy was forced to hide the microphones out of sight on the set after the babies playing Mary kept getting distracted by them.
  • The movie is actually a remake of a 1985 French film.
  • Pampers paid a total of $50,000 to the producers of the film, simply because they wanted their products to appear in the film. Sigh...I suppose product placement was around way back in the 1980s.
  • Michael J. Fox and Tony Danza were considered for roles in the movie, but both were too busy filming “Family Ties” and “Who's The Boss?” respectively.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

My Father's Eyes

Okay, so once again, I'm going to make this blog entry short and sweet, as I am still absolutely exhausted from participating in the Relay for Life. I should be back to normal come tomorrow, but I think for this entry, I will keep it to the bare minimum.



So, first things first, I want to take the opportunity to wish all fathers out there a very Happy Father's Day! I certainly hope that you take the opportunity to do what you want to do and spend the entire day loving your children. I am not a father yet, but I know that if the time ever comes that I become one, I'm sure that I'll appreciate Father's Day a little bit more.

Not that I don't appreciate it now, as I really do admire my own father. But, I'm going to be totally honest. Although we have a fairly good relationship now, it didn't always used to be that way. When I was a teenager, I rebelled against him something fierce, and it wasn't uncommon for us to butt heads and get into screaming matches over what seemed like the dumbest things. We didn't always see eye to eye sometimes, and it hurt me that he could never see things through my perspective. But I also have to look at it as it probably hurt him that I couldn't see things through his own eyes. Our relationship today couldn't be better, but looking back on it, I kind of wish that I had done things a little more differently than I had. But, unless you're Doctor Who, you cannot build yourself a TARDIS and change the past. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and move on. The point is that the relationship between my dad and I is fairly good now, and I'm glad that it is.

But, some people just aren't as lucky. In the age of the Maury Povich paternity testing scandals that seemingly pop up every few days, some people grow up not even knowing their fathers. Some don't even reconnect with their fathers until after the die, or they are on their deathbed. On the flipside, some fathers only become fathers for such a short time before tragedy rears its head and takes their children away in a cruel twist of fate, and some dads are left wondering why.

In the case of today's blog entry, the singer that we will be featuring was hit with a double whammy in the case of fatherhood. Not only did he grow up not knowing who his own father was, but he lost his son in a very tragic manner.

Of course, you might recall that this man wrote a song about the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, which became the 1992 hit single “Tears in Heaven”. But it would take an additional six years before this man's true feelings about his own father would be released in another song...which appropriately enough also touched upon the feelings that this man had in regards to the tragedy he faced head on six years earlier.

I'm sure that some of you know what this song is. But if you don't, here it is.



ARTIST: Eric Clapton
SONG: My Father's Eyes
ALBUM: Pilgrim
DATE RELEASED: February 17, 1998
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #16

NOTE: This song spent five weeks at the #2 position on the Adult Contemporary Charts in 1998.



Now in order to fully express the emotions and the feelings that are presented within “My Father's Eyes”, you have to understand the background information behind what inspired this song.

Namely, the story behind the personal tragedies that Eric Clapton had to face within his life.



Now, I'm sure that most of you are absolutely aware of the story of Conor Clapton, Eric's son with Lory Del Santo, who was killed in March 1991 after accidentally falling from a fifty-third story balcony from a Manhattan highrise. He was just four years old at the time of his death, and his death hit Eric hard. Reportedly, Eric hid away from the world in isolation several months after Conor's death. It was just the latest in a long line of personal tragedies that Eric had to experience. Just a few months earlier in the summer of 1990, Eric's manager and a pair of roadies were killed in a helicopter crash (the same crash that killed musician/singer Stevie Ray Vaughan), and he was already grieving those losses at the time of Conor's death. However, Conor's death was also the catalyst in seeing a deeper side to Eric's music. The songs that followed in the tragedy of Conor's death with heartfelt and filled with pure emotion.

But, I bet that some of you didn't know that Eric grew up not knowing his own father.

When Eric Patrick Clapton was born in Surrey, England on March 30, 1945, he was born to a 16-year-old mother, Patricia Mary Clapton, and a 25-year-old Canadian soldier, Edward Walter Fryer. The reason why Eric's father was not in his life was because of circumstances that developed at the tail end of World War II. You see, Edward Fryer was serving in England when he and Eric's mother were together, but was deployed once more prior to Eric's birth, and once the war ended, Eric's father returned to Canada. As a result, Eric grew up not knowing him. Eric's father died in May 1985, leaving Eric with nothing but questions about the man who helped create him.

Hence the creation of the song, “My Father's Eyes”.



Now, if you listen to the lyrics of the song, you may keenly point out that the song is divided into three separate parts.

The first verse deals with Eric's thoughts on never knowing his own father. With lyrics like “waiting for my prince to come” and “just a toe rag on the run, how did I get here? What have I done?”, the questions that Eric probably asked himself in regards to why his father wasn't around were firmly placed in musical verse. I think by listening to the first verse of the song, we get the sense of just what growing up without a father is really like. And, sadly, millions of us out there in this world can empathize.

After the first chorus, we go ahead with verse number two. Verse number two talks about Eric becoming a father himself. And, while Eric has had four children in his life, I have a feeling that the second verse is all about the time of his life when his son Conor was born. The joy he felt about “watching his seedling grow” and feeling his “heart start to overflow”.

However, while Eric expressed his joy in watching his son grow up, he firmly acknowledges that while he is happy to have a son in his life, he has no idea how to raise him, for he didn't exactly have a father who stuck around and taught him all the things that a father can teach his son. That's why he wishes that he could have his father's eyes nearby...to show him how to handle the responsibility of raising a child. To prepare him for that challenge.

Of course, nothing could have ever prepared Eric for the challenge of having to saw goodbye to Conor, whose life was cut tragically short. And, in the final verse, we know that Eric is singing about his death, as the images of clouds of tears, how his bridge has been washed away, and how his foundation has turned to clay could not be more true. I can only imagine that any parent who has lost a child would feel the same way.

But, here's the twist of the song. As Eric questions why he would lose someone so dear and precious to him, he comes to the realization that maybe...just maybe his father was by his side all this time to help him deal with the loss. After all, Eric is a product of his own parents. Sure, we're all shaped in some ways by how much time we spend with our families and parents, but we all have a biological link to someone too. And, who knows? If there really is a heaven up there in this world, maybe Eric's father and Eric's son are getting to know each other up there, waiting for Eric himself to join the party.

But, again, I'm only speculating.

And, that's really all I have to say about this song. Sorry it's not as long as my other entries, but sometimes it's nice to not have to sit down and write a whole lot. And, this song is such that I can easily do that.

So, once again, I would like to wish all fathers out there a Happy Father's Day...especially my own dad!


(Granted, he'll likely never see this entry...but the thought was behind it.)

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Relay for Life 2013 - A Preview

As I sit here staring at this screen, I have slept a grand total of five and a half hours in a period of approximately thirty. I'm munching away at the leftover chocolate chip cookies that were baked for my team for this year's Relay for Life, rubbing Icy-Hot on my right leg (which hurts), throwing away the socks I wore that night (which have bloodstains on them from the blisters that popped on my feet – gross image, I know), and I'm still wearing the lavendar coloured T-shirt that we were given to wear at the event.

Would I do it all again? Yes. Only, just not now!

Okay, so this is the abbreviated version of my account of the Relay for Life that was held in Brockville on June 14-15, 2013. I will have a more detailed version posted this upcoming Thursday in the Thursday Diary (which I'm telling you right now will likely be very image-heavy as I snapped a ton of photos), but I am just too tired to even think about coming up with witty comments right now, so I'm just going to give you the Cliff's Notes version for now.

I did borrow a couple of images from the Facebook pages of friends of mine who participated in the event to supplement this entry though. After all, you have to have a little taste of what we experienced before I get into the heart and soul of the event this Thursday.

Now, I have likely already mentioned what my motivation was behind doing the Relay for Life this year in a previous entry, but just in case you missed that part, I'll state it again. The last five years have been rough as far as losing people I care about because they succumbed to cancer-related illnesses. My friend and former co-worker Alex passed away in September 2012. In December 2011, I had to say goodbye to my dear online friend, Pierette. And, in addition to Alex, our store lost at least three other employees to cancer between 2008 and 2013 – Darleen from Personnel, Mary Lou from Grocery, and Pia from Deli. All of these people will be sadly missed, and never forgotten.

Happily, on the flipside, our team was made up of, I believe, twenty people. And, of those twenty, almost one-sixth of us were cancer survivors. In fact, since I brought up the team, why don't I post a picture of us below?

(NOTE: I'm the great big tall guy on the left-side built like a football quarterback that has the silliest grin ever. And contrary to what the picture looks like, I am NOT shoving the person in front of me. I was clapping at the time!)




So, anyway, here's our team. Unfortunately, not all of us are present, as I believe that my large frame is blocking a couple of our participants from view.

And, I just want to thank all of our team for coming out and supporting the fight against cancer. So, thank you to our team captain, Elaine, and to our team members, in no particular order; Linda, Carol, Heather, Sarah, Brittani, Phil, Lorrie, Paul, Jay, Dorothy, Marg, Roxanne, Albert, Christina, Roy, Theresa, and Lloyd. We all did very well, we should all pat ourselves on the back, and we should take pride in knowing that we made a wonderful crew! Kudos to all!

(And, I'm hoping that I spelled everyone's names correctly. If not, just let me know, and I shall fix it!)

Now, as you can see, our team colour was lavendar (which is the colour I made this blog as well), which is a colour we all agreed upon. A lavendar ribbon represents all kinds of cancers, and traditionally speaking, wearing a lavendar ribbon shows that you are fighting against cancer of all kinds. So, that was the motivation behind our shirts. You may notice that some of us on the team were wearing yellow though. Well, the yellow shirts are for people who have fought cancer in the past and won, or for people who are fighting and winning their current bout with the disease. And, as I mentioned before, three of us on the team (Elaine, Dorothy, Roy) are cancer survivors. We even had people from our store enter the survivor walk who weren't a part of our team, but really wanted the experience of

One of the most moving things that we witnessed at the Relay for Life was at the very beginning, just before the whole Relay kicked off. Just before seven in the evening, all of the people who wore yellow shirts (The Survivors) did a small lap in front of the whole crowd, and this year, there were over one hundred people taking part. This is just one shot of the survivors as they made their way around the track.



And, here's the group shot below!



This part of the walk was quite touching, and even I got a little choked up during the whole thing. First of all, the walk was set to the tune of this song, which is always a guaranteed tear-jerker.



And, secondly, I was surprised to see the wide variety of people who took part in the Survivor Walk. Most were adults, but there were several children marching along as well, and it hits you as you watch them encircle the track that cancer can strike at any age, and that we keep hosting events like the Relay for Life so that one day, cancer can be completely eradicated from the world. It's a lovely dream, isn't it?

Now, that's a little teaser as to what you can expect in the upcoming Thursday blog, where I go into more detail about what really went on at the event. Among some of the highlights to look out for.

  • The team presenting one of our members with a very special plaque.
  • The amount of money that our team raised, as well as the total amount raised by all 40+ teams entered in the event.
  • Why the numbers 34 and 8 ½ are very significant for me in relation to my participation in this year's Relay, and why the number 75 was incredibly important in the theme for this year's event.
  • The path of luminaries lighting the way along the track in a moving and heartfelt way.
  • The sign of HOPE that was a pain in the caboose to take a picture of
  • Our attempt at trying to upstage Jeff Dunham – Gangnam Style!
  • Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!
  • The one fashion mistake that I made during the Relay (which I alluded to earlier in this blog)



All this and more, coming this Thursday to a blog near you!

Friday, June 14, 2013

The Fathers of "Full House"

I am going to warn you ahead of time before I commence with today's blog entry about tomorrow's entry, and why it might appear a little bit scatterbrained.

I am sure that most of you probably know this by now, but later on today, I will be participating in the Relay for Life event in my hometown. It's an annual event in which local businesses and teams of people all join together for one cause...to eradicate cancer once and for all by raising money in support of financing valuable research that will hopefully lead to a permanent cure. I decided to sign up this year in memory of my friend Alex, as well as in memory of my grandfather who passed away thirteen years ago from lung cancer.

Now, on one hand, I think the event is going to be a lot of fun. The way the event works is that there is a huge circular track that people are supposed to walk around, and the rules state that a team must have at least ONE person on the track at any given time. You may switch members off every hour or so, but you have to have at least one person representing each team. But don't think that the people sitting on the sidelines will have absolutely nothing to do. There's going to be live entertainment, as well as special theme hours every so often.

I know that there's a survivor walk (where cancer survivors do a lap around the track), there's the lighting of the luminaries that encircle the track, there's a scheduled hour where we wear the colour shirt of the cancer that we are fighting against (for example, if you're leading the fight against prostate cancer, you'll be wearing light blue), there's a Halloween themed event where people are encouraged to dress up in silly costumes to collect candy, and I believe that there is a Hawaiian hour as well as an event called “Relay's Got Talent”.

(And, that last one...”Relay's Got Talent”? I may have something planned for that...if I can get over my stage fright, that is.)

I think that the night is going to be a fun one...and considering that one of my goals for this year is to interact more with my community, this is the perfect event to do exactly that.

But there's one catch. I have to stay awake for twelve hours straight. And, in all likelihood, I'll be walking around the track for at least half of those twelve hours. Therefore, I warn you that if I am able to be coherent when I get back home on Saturday morning, my blog entry may not be as...shall we say...coherent as other ones in the past. In fact, I may end up waiting until later that night to write about my experiences with the Relay for Life. So, if my Saturday, June 15 entry is really, really late...you will know why.

I'm hoping to experience everything there, and I just bought some new batteries for my digital camera, so I'm hoping that I can get some snapshots of the night.

So, with that out of the way, we can now focus on today's Friday blog (which I am actually writing on late Thursday night as I will largely be unavailable on Friday). And, in addition to this weekend being the Relay for Life, it also happens to be Father's Day this upcoming Sunday, June 16. So, I thought that for this edition of the blog, I'd focus on a show that featured great fathers at work.

But I'm not going to be talking about a show with just one father. Certainly we have had stellar television dads over the years such as Ward Cleaver, Cliff Huxtable, Jim Anderson, and even Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor! But, why have just one father featured in a sitcom when you could have three?

Well, okay. Technically, one of the men in this sitcom had no children of his own. But he loved the three children of his childhood best friend so much that they may just as well have been his own. And, okay, the other man wasn't a father when he moved into the home of his brother-in-law. But he loved his three nieces very much, and he did everything for them. In fact, it was his experience with helping his brother-in-law raise the three girls that gave him the experience necessary to raise his own children.

But they all happened to live in the same house (which is surprising, given how tiny the home looked whenever the exterior shots of the home were featured), and for eight seasons, the non-traditional set up transitioned into a fairly strong family unit.

A family unit that included two dads, and a psuedo dad who carried around a woodchuck puppet.




This is the blog entry on Danny Tanner, Jesse Katsopolis, and Joey Gladstone, and their “Full House” of kids.

What better show to devote a “Father's Day” theme towards?

Okay, so you don't need me to spill any technical stuff on the television show “Full House”. I've already done a couple of entries on the show itself, so you know that it ran for eight years between 1987 and 1995, that it was a show that was loved by children and families, but slammed by critics, and that it helped make Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen household names.




What I'm going to talk about is the show itself...specifically the three male stars of the show – Bob Saget, who played Danny Tanner, John Stamos, who played Jesse Katsopolis, and Dave Coulier, who played Joey Gladstone.




So, how did Danny, Joey, and Jesse end up living together in the same house? Well, we're going to have to go back to a time period before the show actually began.

You see, when Danny was a teenager, he fell in love with a woman named Pamela Katsopolis (and no, that name is not a fluke...Pam was Jesse's sister). They got married very young (like immediately after high school), and over the next decade, they had three daughters together. Donna Jo “DJ” (Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and Michelle (the Olsen Twins). And, for a while, the Tanner family was happy.

But tragedy struck when Pam was killed by a drunk driver. And, poor Danny was left with the responsibility of raising his three girls without Pam.




For about six months, Danny certainly tried his best with raising DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle as a single parent, but it was a lot harder than he anticipated. And, by the time that the pilot episode of “Full House” aired in September 1987, Danny had invited a couple of people to help him with the girls.




Since Danny was married to Pam, it was only natural for Jesse to immediately agree to moving into the Tanner household. Though I'm sure he wasn't counting on moving into a bedroom with bright pink rabbits all over the walls, he loved his nieces more than anything, and he'd “happily” accept a few bunnies if it meant that he could help Danny raise his sister's children.




And, hey, at least Jesse got a room. When Danny's best friend Joey Gladstone was also asked by Danny to move in with him, all Joey ended up with was the alcove in the family living room! But Joey did eventually get his own room midway through season one, and although he was not biologically related to anyone in the Tanner household, he was so close to the girls that he was basically made an honourary member of the Tanner household anyway.

And, you know, as cheesy and sugary sweet as the show is, I will give “Full House” a lot of credit. Not only did the show feature the girls growing up into responsible young adults (well, okay, maybe in the case of DJ and possibly Stephanie, this was the case), but the men of the household grew into their responsibilities and became better men as a result. Danny went from a sportscaster to a successful talk show host alongside co-host Rebecca Donaldson (Lori Loughlin), who would eventually fall in love and marry Jesse. Jesse went from being the lead singer of a rock band to working at an ad agency, to becoming a successful radio announcer. And, in the case of those last two jobs, Jesse ended up working alongside the man who would later become his best friend, Joey. But, don't think that Joey was completely dependent on Jesse to have success. Joey was a successful stand-up comic in his own right, and even hosted a kids show for a season or two!

Of course, the best job that all three men would grow into and absolutely love would be the role of father (or, in the case of Joey, a surrogate father). Danny did everything he could for his three girls, and later on in the series, Jesse became a father himself when he and Rebecca had twin boys, Nicky and Alex.

But one thing that I kind of noticed about the series was that each of the three men kind of had a special relationship with one of the three girls. That's not to say that the men played favourites by any means...all of them loved the three girls equally. But on the show, there seemed to be some ties that were stronger than others.




I mean, let's take Jesse for instance. In the early seasons of the show, he shared many, many scenes with DJ and Stephanie. But little Michelle always seemed to be the one to capture his heart from the very beginning. It was Michelle that convinced Jesse to stay at the Tanner household both times he almost moved out for good. It was Michelle that helped Jesse grieve the loss of his beloved grandfather (affectionately named Papouli). And, would you believe that Jesse wrote Michelle her very own song?




As I said before, Jesse loved all three girls very much...but there was just something about Michelle that made Jesse's heart turn to mush. In fact, I think Michelle shared more scenes with Jesse than she shared with any other cast member in the whole series. It just goes to show just how strong a bond they had.

Now, Stephanie is another one who had a strong bond with Jesse. Jesse after all helped her save a friend from being abused by his father, and it was because of him that Stephanie became friends with a girl named Gia. But as strong as Stephanie's relationship was with Jesse, I do think that Stephanie is a Daddy's Girl.




Truth is that while Danny would never favour one child over another, he certainly has had a lot of scenes with Stephanie. He certainly was very understanding with her when Stephanie accidentally smashed a car through the kitchen window...probably even more understanding than my own dad would have been if I had done the same thing. But, the truth is that Danny has been there for Stephanie a lot. He had a long talk with Stephanie about the dangers of smoking, and he helped get Stephanie out of a couple of jams that she had gotten herself into as a teenager. Certainly, Stephanie was not always the most well-behaved member of the Tanner household, but she knew that she could always count on her father to be there for her and love her unconditionally regardless of how badly she screwed up. Though when the show wrote in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake into the plot of an episode, there was an instance in which Stephanie was terrified of leaving Danny out of her sight. It took a long talk with an expert to get Stephanie and Danny to work through the fear that Stephanie was feeling. But eventually, it all worked out for the best.

Now, DJ was a hard one to assign to one particular person. DJ often relied on her father for romance advice, but also had to deal with his overprotective attitude...especially when it came to her dating for the first time. And, DJ did have a rather interesting relationship with Jesse over the years, as Jesse often helped DJ show off her wild side every now and again (within reason, of course).




But the more I think about it, the more I think that DJ's strongest relationship in the Tanner household was with Joey. Think about it for a second. Joey was always the goofy, wisecracking guy who very rarely took things seriously...which made him the “fun parent” of sorts. And certainly whenever Stephanie or Michelle were involved in the light-hearted B-plots, they were almost always with Joey.

Joey and DJ? Well, to be honest, I think Joey was at his most serious and most real whenever he spent time with DJ. I suppose part of that could have been because DJ was the oldest child, and she kind of tempered Joey's immaturity quite a bit. But, I also seem to recall Joey actually disciplining DJ more than her own father did! Remember when DJ faked sick to go and get Stacey Q's autograph, only for Joey to bust her and drag her back home on a leash? Remember when DJ sassed Joey back with the “you aren't my father” remark after Joey grounded her from attending a karate tournament for breaking the household rules? I think those were the only times in which I ever really saw serious Joey come out. I think that DJ really helped Joey come to terms with the fact that he was an adult, and DJ helped Joey become a lot more responsible as a result of it. Mind you, DJ loved seeing Joey's goofy side too...it's just that her relationship with Joey was one in which she helped temper him, I feel. And, also note that when DJ turned sixteen, it was Joey who bought her a car, not Danny.

Mind you, the car turned out to be STOLEN...but it was the thought that counted.

No matter what combination of kid and dad that we saw on the program though...there's one thing that I can say. While it's true that the Tanner family household was quite different from other families out there, it should become clear that any group of people can become a family if there's enough love to go around.

And, while “Full House” was a fictional program, in real life, there are all different kinds of families out there. There's your stereotypical nuclear family, but we also have single parent homes, homes with two moms or two dads, homes made up of adopted children, and even homes which have people who have absolutely no blood relation to each other whatsoever, but still call themselves family. And, as far as I am concerned, as long as there is love keeping them together and that the kids are growing up in a happy and healthy environment, that's the best kind of family right there!



Happy Father's Day weekend, everyone! And, do wish me luck on the Relay for Life!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

How to Keep Your "Coolatta" With Difficult People



It is very rare for me to talk about events in this blog that are fairly current in the news. And, it's especially rare for me to offer up some social commentary in regards to a breaking news story that is currently making headlines in North America. And, yet, in this Thursday Diary entry, I'm going to be tackling both. And, fair warning to those of you who may be under the age of 16...this blog is going to contain some rather strong and offensive language that DO NOT reflect the opinions of this author. Hence the reason why this blog is rated T for Teen. I'll warn you ahead of time when we get to that section. Are we cool with that?

And, now...on with the Thursday Diary entry for June 13, 2013.

June 13, 2013

As someone who currently works in the field of retail, I'm not lying when I tell you that as far as horror stories go in regards to customer service, I thought that I had seen it all.

Apparently, I thought wrong.

I just want to make this declaration first and foremost before I continue on with this Thursday Diary entry. I'd say that whenever I have dealt with customers either on the sales floor, on the telephone, or behind the cash register, I'd say that about 89% of them have been sweet, kind, courteous, and happy-go-lucky people. Sure, some of them might not have been happy that we were out of a particular item in the department, but sometimes you can't help it. The point is that I've been lucky in that the vast majority of the customers that I serve are wonderful people who I would happily go out of my way to help.

Unfortunately, most of us tend to remember the other eleven per cent. The ones who stand out in your mind for all the wrong reasons.

I suppose it can be considered human nature to remember the ones who made a bad impression. I still have vague nightmares of that one man who threatened me bodily harm because I tried to enforce the store limit on bricks of cheese. I also remember having to dodge flying produce one night we ran out of orange juice.

And, of course, if you read last week's Thursday Diary, you already know about Pennygate '13.

I'll be the first one to admit that knowing how to handle difficult customers is an art. And, sometimes there have been circumstances in which I handled situations incredibly sloppy. But like many things, the art of pleasing the people who simply won't be pleased is a difficult skill to master. I've gotten better at dealing with difficult customers, and I think that I am able to handle them better now than I did...oh...five years ago. That's progress.

Still though, I am far from being an expert, and whenever I am confronted with an irate person on the other side of the register, or next to a display of kiddie rakes in various shades of lime green, teal, and fuchsia, I can't say with confidence that I would handle every situation like a pro.

Truth be told, I admire those people who can deal with the cranky, the abusive, and the frustrating with the greatest of ease. I know that the motto that a lot of people cite is that the “customer is always right”, and for the most part, I do believe in that motto. But I also feel that when a customer verbally berates an employee, threatens them with violence, or uses racial slurs, or sexual harassment against them, they forfeit their right to be...well...right.

It takes a real class act for someone to stand in the face of such vulgarity and continue to do their job impeccably. And, today in this blog, I want to introduce you to one such man.



By now, I'm sure you all have heard of an incident that happened at a Florida Dunkin' Donuts location. I'll admit that as a Canadian, I have never stepped foot inside of a Dunkin' Donuts location, as I really don't know if that chain even has any stores in Canada. And, why would I go to Dunkin' Donuts when Tim Horton's has the clear monopoly in this country?



Although, I admit that I do think that Dunkin' Donuts product known as the Coolatta looks pretty good. And, speaking of Coolattas, 18-year-old Abid Adar certainly kept his coolatta as he worked behind the counter on the morning of June 8, 2013 at one of the chain's Fort Lauderdale locations.

It started off as any normal shift would on that Saturday, with people marching into the store to purchase coffee, donuts, and other sweet treats. But then all hell broke loose when a young woman entered the establishment with a mission and an iPhone in hand.

According to “The Smoking Gun”, the woman was since identified as 27-year-old Taylor Chapman, whose previous job experience included filming local television and online commercials. Here's an example of her in action below.



Now, just judging her on the video up above, you probably wouldn't think that this fresh faced lady would be at the center of one of the biggest scandals to come out of the retail industry, and that by the end of it all, she would become public enemy number one. But, as we all learned, looks could be deceiving.



So, just to set up the story before I post the...well...smoking gun, so to speak, I should tell you about one of the policies that Dunkin' Donuts has in place within their corporation. As you well know, many big names in the food and retail industry have their own rulebooks filled with their own policies that are designed to help the customer enjoy a better shopping experience. Certainly my workplace has them firmly in place.

Well, I did a little research on this case prior to writing this blog entry, and I came across something quite interesting in regards to the store's policy on receipts. According to store policy, all customers are entitled to have their receipt handed to them whenever they order anything on the menu. If the customer is not handed a receipt upon their purchase, then they are entitled to a full refund of their purchase. Personally speaking, I think that policy is very generous, and I could probably see some people taking advantage of that very policy, but alas, it's not for me to make a judgment call on another store's policy. That is how they run things over there, so who am I to say anything?



Well, as it turns out, Taylor Chapman did NOT get a receipt the last time she dined at Dunkin' Donuts. And, she was not going to let that battle die without a fight. Here is the video of the confrontation below. And, it is here that I inform you that this is where the salty language and vulgarity come into play. This video is very, VERY NSFW. You have been warned.



Okay, so where do I begin with this one?

Clearly, this “customer”, for lack of a better word (and for all the effort it is taking within me to not go off on a profanity-laced rant against her) is a livin' la vida loca. And, I'm not talking about the song lyric. Not even Ricky Martin can make this scenario a happy, carefree one.

Between the racial slurs this woman utters to the poor guy behind the counter, the bizarre references to the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the barrage of threats that she is going to post this video on YouTube to get a million hits and that she is going to get a lawyer involved to ensure that she gets a lifetime supply of strawberry Coolattas, it's clear to me that she is either not in her right mind, or she gets great delight in going inside random coffee shops to terrorize the baristas behind the register.

Either way, that is NOT cool.

What IS cool is the way that Abid Adar handled himself in this situation. Although he was not the server who served Ms. Chapman the day that she never received her receipt, he certainly faced her rage head on. And, yet, he completely handled himself with dignity, grace, poise...certainly a lot better than I probably would have handled myself in that situation. And, this is from a man who is almost HALF MY AGE!!! I offer him major props!

As of last report, I hear that Dunkin' Donuts is planning on doing something special to honour Abid Adar, as well as the unfortunate co-worker who also happened to be working that morning, and I think that's fantastic. Personally speaking, if I were the owner of that Dunkin' Donuts franchise, I would definitely offer him not just a raise, but I would write him a glowing letter of recommendation to the school of his choice, just so he could make his dreams come true. After putting up with what he had to put up with that particular Saturday morning, I think it's the least that could be done to reward him for staying so cool under pressure.

As for Ms. Chapman. Well, words can't really describe the level of immaturity and obnoxiousness she displayed with that eight minute clip that she shot on her iPhone in hopes of getting a million people to click on the video so that she could gain a following as she consulted a lawyer for something as trivial as not getting a receipt back with her purchase. In fact, I'm not even going to subject myself to lowering myself to her standards by letting her know exactly what I think of her. Truth be told, thousands of people are already doing that.

What I will say is this.

I'll be the first one to admit that in my time working retail, I have not been one hundred per cent perfect. Sometimes I may forget to give someone back a nickle. I may have told customers that we were sold out of items when in actuality we weren't. And, sometimes, I may not know where every single item is located in the store. Guess what? We all do it. We all make mistakes. And, I'm almost certain that customers walk out of Dunkin' Donuts all the time without being given a receipt for their purchase. It happens every single day. But, I'm also making the assumption that for most customers, not being given a receipt for their coffee purchase is hardly going to make an impact in how the rest of their day goes. So, the very fact that Ms. Chapman would react the way she did over the lack of a receipt at that particular store makes me shake my head in disbelief. There was no reason why she should have even kicked off this confrontation to begin with – especially since the staffer who wronged her was nowhere to be found on the day in question. Her behaviour is inexcusable, and she is one of the reasons why I feel that the slogan “The customer is always right” should be modified to read “The customer is always right...unless they forfeit that right when they become a complete jerk”.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the people who work behind the counter of Dunkin' Donuts, or any retail establishment for that matter are people. They're human. They work hard to service the people in the community while supporting themselves and their families. And, in a lot of cases, many of the people who work in retail often have to take on a second job in order to make ends meet. The last thing that they really want to have to deal with is having people screaming obscenities at them, or calling them names, or threatening them with lawsuits because they happened to forget a store receipt.

What it all boils down to...it's all about respect. Respect for the individual. In the case of Chapman v. Adar, the case is clear as to which one truly showed respect...and which one just ended up getting served a nice slice of humble pie along with their Coolatta.

At least the prophecy that Chapman proclaimed about her video getting millions of hits came true.

Congratulations?

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Ewoks - By Request

I just wanted to begin this blog entry off by saying thank you to everyone who offered up suggestions for All-Request Wednesday this week. The range of topics that I have gotten from readers like you have been remarkable, and I thank you for giving me so many choices.

In fact, the choices that you gave me for this week were so unique, creative, and fun that I had a heck of a time trying to choose the one that I was going to talk about this week. All of them were so good, I just couldn't pick one on my gut.

So, what I did was take all of the entries, put them in the baseball cap that I wear outside in the Garden Centre area, and choose one at random. And, today's winner is...

...Bailey C. of Ontario, Canada!

Remember, if you want to suggest an idea for the Pop Culture Addict's Guide to Life All-Request Wednesday, there are a couple of ways to do it. If you use Facebook on a regular basis, then you can join the official fan page for the blog, and send me your suggestions there. Or, if you have a Google+ account, you can also send me your suggestions there as well.

I have been considering opening up an account on Twitter as well, in case you would like a third option to work with...please let me know if this is what you would like to see, and I will do my best to incorporate your suggestions.

After all, Wednesdays are all about you!

So, let's see what Bailey has suggested that I talk about for this week's edition.

By now, I'm sure that most of you have watched at least one of the six “Star Wars” films. The films made George Lucas a very rich man, and made household names out of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. I've seen most of the “Star Wars” films...even though it wasn't until I was twenty before I saw the original one from 1977! I'll admit that while I'm not as obsessed over the Star Wars films as other people out there (loosely translated, I was NOT one of the ones who camped outside of a movie theater over a two night period in 1999 just to watch a screening of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace”), I do like them because at the time they were something that was unlike anything else ever seen in the motion picture industry.

But, did you know that the huge success of the “Star Wars” series of movies spawned a series of secondary projects? And, that one of these secondary projects just happens to be the subject of today's entry?

So, I imagine you're asking yourself...what could the subject be about?

Well, I suppose some of you might be thinking that I'm going to be talking about the infamous Star Wars Christmas Special. As someone who has seen the special, I admit that the program made a huge impression – for all the wrong reasons. But talking about a Christmas special in the middle of June? I don't think so.

Or, maybe some of you might be thinking that I will be talking about the series of children's books that were based on the Star Wars series. I'll admit that I had one of those books on tape in which Han Solo and Chewbacca taught the reader all about shapes and colours that I totally could have done a blog entry on. We're starting to get on the right track, but no, this entry is not on books.

Well, how about toys and playsets? Lego came out with Star Wars kits, there were playsets that were based on key settings and vehicles shown in the Star Wars series, and I imagine that if you grew up in the early 1980s, you likely may have played with a Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader action figure in your youth?

But, this entry is not about toys.

Rather, this entry will be about a Saturday morning cartoon. And, naturally, this was a show that I used to watch every Saturday for the longest time.

What was interesting about today's cartoon spotlight was that it was one half of a one hour program (well, okay, in actuality, the one-hour showcase was really two 30-minute programs back-to-back).



One cartoon featured those wonderful Droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, who embarked on a series of adventures together in an animated series. And, to be completely honest, I preferred to watch the Droids over the other cartoon that was paired with it. For one, the theme song (performed by Stewart Copeland of The Police) was a lot more catchier, and unlike the other show, the Droids actually had the real voice of C-3PO (Anthony Daniels). And, I thought that the plotlines of the Droids series were much more interesting than the other show.

Of course, that's not to say that I hated the other show. I enjoyed watching that program as well...just maybe not as much as the Droids.

Though I will admit...those cuddly “Ewoks” were kind of cute.



So, Bailey...you suggested that I do a blog on the “Ewoks”, and “Ewoks” is the blog topic that I will do.

(Wow...that last sentence was kind of Yoda-esque. I like it!)



Okay, so as I mentioned before, Ewoks and Droids aired back to back on ABC between September 1985 and December 1986 in an hour long series entitled “The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour”. And, did you know that the cartoon series was a joint production between America's “Lucasfilm” and Canada's “Nelvana Studios”? No wonder the program aired on Global Television for what seemed like almost five years in a row every Saturday afternoon at three!

(I still can't believe I remember the timeslot the show aired in all these years later. That's freaky!)

Thirty-five episodes were produced, and the stars of Ewoks were obviously the cute looking Ewok characters that were introduced in the movie “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi”. In fact, if you want to get specific, the cartoon series acts as a bit of a prequel to the events that took place in “Return of the Jedi”. The series takes place on Endor, a moon that unlike the moon in our sky, is filled with lush, green forests.



The main character of “Ewoks” is a young Ewok named Wicket W. Warrick (Jim Henshaw/Denny Delk), who wants nothing more than to be a great warrior. His desire to be a hero outweighs everything else in his life, and his headstrong attitude towards life makes him a natural born leader.

Unfortunately, his quest to become a leader often leads him straight into the arms of trouble, as he often finds himself fighting against the Duloks, and Morag, the Tulgah Witch (Jackie Burroughs). He is the son of Deej and Shodu, and he is the brother of Weechee, Willy, and Winda.

(And, yes...all the members of the Warrick family are prominently featured in the cartoon series.)

Let's see...who else do we have? Oh, yes, we have Princess Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka (Cree Summer/Jeanne Reynolds), the daughter of Chirpa, the Chief of the Ewok tribe.

(TRIVIA: For years, I always wondered why Princess Kneesaa's voice sounded so familiar. Then again, Cree Summer also voiced Penny from Inspector Gadget and Elmyra Fudd from Tiny Toon Adventures, so I suppose that would explain a lot there.)

Anyway, Princess Kneesaa may appear to be one of the kindest, most gentlest Ewoks in the entire Ewok community, and she may appear to be the one Ewok who seems to have everything together. But Kneesaa's early childhood (which in the Ewok world was known as experiencing the joys of being a 'wokling') was filled with tragedy.

It was very rare for a cartoon to showcase death, especially during the period known as the 1980s, but Princess Kneesaa's mother met a rather grisly end. She was trying to protect Kneesaa and Kneesaa's older sister, Asha from a deadly Hanadak, but she ended up losing her life in the attack. Worse, Kneesaa thought that Asha had met a similar fate when she went missing during the Hanadak attack.

So, imagine everyone's surprise when Asha turned up alive! Here, I'll post that episode below. This episode originally aired on November 30, 1985.



TRIVIA: I guess this is as good a time to explain why Princess Kneesaa always wore that pink hood with the blue gem attached to it. That gemstone was the last present that Kneesaa received from Asha shortly before her disappearance.

Other characters of the show included Teebo (Jim Cranna), Wicket's best friend, who wanted nothing more than to listen to tales involving sorcery and magic, even becoming the apprentice of Master Logray. Teebo's younger sister, Malani (Alyson Court) also appears in the series. We also have the flute playing Latara, who is Kneesaa's best friend, and who just wants to play music all day and all of the night. Rounding out the cast is Kneesaa's cousin, Paploo, who may appear to be older than the other Ewoks...but not necessarily the wisest.

Now, you might be wondering why in some cases, there are two different voice actors credited for the same role. Well, although the series did last two seasons, there was a major change in the style of the series in between seasons. The writing in the first season was a lot more sophisticated, as compared to the second season, which to me appeared to be slightly dumbed down. As a result of the changes, some of the voice cast was also replaced. I didn't particularly like the second season of the Ewoks...I much prefered the first. But, that was just me, I guess.

At any rate, the show did spawn some merchandising opportunities. A line of action figures based on the cartoon series was launched in 1985, which also included play sets and vehicle/spaceship models. There was even a comic book adaptation that ran for fourteen issues produced by Marvel Comics between 1985 and 1987.




And, as I close this chapter on the Ewoks for All-Request Wednesday...why not post another episode for you to watch? After all, I feel that while I could talk for ages about the Ewoks...a video link from YouTube is worth a million words.