Listen To Your Heart

Hello, everyone!

We are continuing on with our special "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET" month where we purposely mix up the theme days that you have gotten used to, and instead we'll be talking about whatever subject comes into my mind at the moment.

I am hoping that you are all in a musical mood today because I have decided that for this week, we will be turning this Friday into a music day!  Typically reserved for Sundays, the music feature takes a look at a song and we have a discussion about it.

(Just for the record, even though the music days will be switched around a little bit, I will still hold true to my promise that every song featured this month will be a #1 hit.)

You know, I find it quite interesting that I am doing the music entry on a Friday this week, because for some reason, I am reminded of a television show that used to air on cable back in the 1980s and early 1990s.  And, it was a show that I only managed to watch a handful of times because on our cable dial, TBS (Turner Broadcasting System) was almost always scrambled.  Apparently you needed to pay an additional twenty-five bucks on your cable bill to make it go unscrambled, which was highway robbery back in 1990, if you ask me.  Alas, that was the case with our local cable company.  You could hear TBS, but when you tried to tune in, it would look like this.

Kind of looks like someone folded a freshly painted portrait in half while the paint was still wet, doesn't it?

The only time it was ever unscrambled was during special preview weeks that our cable company launched at least twice a year.  If memory serves me, it was always in April and December - I know December is one for sure because they would always do a preview week the week before Christmas.  And it was on those rare moments where TBS was unscrambled that I got my first look at "Night Tracks".

Now, I know what you are thinking.  Night Tracks was a show that aired late at night/early in the morning.  What kind of parents would let their child stay up late at night?

Well, the kind of parents that didn't mind if I stayed up late on a weekend.  "Night Tracks" almost always aired on either Friday or Saturday between June 1983 and May 1992.  I was eleven when the show went off the air for good, so I was barely old enough to be able to stay up late on weekend nights.  I mean, I was eleven.  Where was I going to go, right?

Now, "Night Tracks" was an interesting program.  It was a show that like MTV aired non-stop music videos.  Unlike MTV, the show only lasted for three hours at the most (usually airing between 12:05 and 3:05 EST).  And, what made "Night Tracks" a little bit different was the fact that the show would change its format every year or every other year to keep things fresh.  For instance, during the 1980s, there was an emphasis on Top 40 music, while in later years, they focused on more alternative and rap videos.

So, I thought that in slight celebration of "Night Tracks", I would post a video that aired during the show's run.  I wouldn't be surprised if the following video actually aired on the show itself.

This song was the #1 song twenty-five years ago this week.  It is a song that I would easily call one of my favourite songs from the 1980s, and it is a song whose title is one that I really need to incorporate into my own life.

ARTIST:  Roxette

SONG:  Listen To Your Heart

ALBUM:  Look Sharp

DATE RELEASED:  September 17, 1988

PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

Now, I know what you're thinking.  How the heck does it take a whole year for a song to reach the #1 spot on the charts.  Well, September 1988 was the release date in Roxette's home country of Sweden.  It would not be released until the summer of 1989 in North America.  Either way, it still became one of Roxette's biggest hits.

Roxette's invasion into American territory came almost by accident.  Made up of pop/rock singers Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, Roxette broke into the music scene in 1986 with their debut album "Pearls of Passion".  It did extremely well in parts of Europe, but was virtually unheard of in North America.  And when the band released their 1988 album "Look Sharp", it seemed poised to do the same.

That is until college student Dean Cushman - on an exchange program where he studied in Sweden - heard Roxette's song "The Look" on the radio.  He bought a copy of the album on cassette, went home for Christmas that year, and submitted the album to a radio station in Minneapolis (the city where Cushman lived).  The radio station played "The Look", other radio stations soon followed, and by April 1989, "The Look" became a surprise #1 smash for Roxette!  I suppose you could say that Cushman listened to his heart, believed that the song could become a hit in American markets, and before you knew it, Roxette had arrived in America, becoming one of the most celebrated rock/pop duos for the next half decade.

Now, in Sweden, "The Look" was the group's third single released from "Look Sharp".  The first track was "Dressed for Success" (which would become a minor hit in North America in the summer of 1989).  The second was "Listen To Your Heart".

And what a powerful song it is at that.

I think that part of the reason why this song was such a success was because of the music video.  It is absolutely spectacular in its simplicity.  The setting takes place in the band's home country of Sweden - specifically in the ruins of Borgholm Castle, a castle that burned down over two hundred years ago.  Since the mid-twentieth century, the inner courtyard of the ruins have served as a venue for concerts, theatre performances, and various other events.

Certainly Roxette took full advantage of this set up.  They not only shot this video at this location, but if memory serves me, "Dangerous" was filmed at this very location as well.  The screaming fans waving signs in the crowd certainly added to the brilliance of this video clip.

But you want to know what I love more than the video itself?  The lyrics of the song.

The song is one of those "should I break up with him, or should I not" kind of songs.  I presume that the song is told from the point of view of someone who is in a dark place in a relationship and how they are feeling really confused about it.  It doesn't really reveal what has happened to make our narrator feel this way, but whatever it is, it is enough for her to really think about things and wonder if staying with her lover is really worth it.

That is where the line "listen to your heart, before you tell him goodbye" comes into play.  If you were in the same position that the narrator of the song is in, what would you do?  I know that depending on the situation and depending on the severity of the fight or argument that has apparently taken place before the song, some of you may feel that one chance is all that one gets and that you would want to flee as quickly as possible. 

But what if your gut tells you one thing, and your heart tells you something else?  Sure, it might seem like an easy way out to leave the relationship and call it a day.  But if you have a deep bond with them, and you are head over heels in love with them, and your heart tells you that you should stay...would you?

I can honestly say that in past decision making, I have done a really poor job.  I tend to go with what is easier rather than go with what I may think is right.  And sometimes that has worked out...while in other cases, it has not.  And while nobody should ever have to dwell on past decisions (something that I really should tell myself to stop doing), it is our past that shapes us, whether we like it or not.

As much as I want to listen to my heart when it tells me that certain situations and environments are not good for me, sometimes I turn a deaf ear to it.

I have to stop doing that.   

Why I Think Mob Mentality Isn't Always A Good Thing

We're continuing our special month long feature "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET" with a special edition WHO AM I THURSDAY entry.

It's kind of a throwback to the days in which I used to do Thursday Diary entries.

Anyway...for today's entry, I admittedly will be making this more of an opinion piece than anything really to do about myself.  And, admittedly, this is about a news story that has made headlines in Canadian press over the last two weeks.

Now, for those of you who have been following along with Canadian media the last couple of weeks, you probably know about the scandal that has surrounded CBC, as well as former CBC poster boy Jian Ghomeshi. 

Ghomeshi was the host and co-creator of the radio program "Q", a radio show largely dealing with arts and entertainment in Canada, but also touches upon political and national news as well.  Prior to hosting "Q", he was a member of the band Moxy Fruvous.  Ghomeshi was definitely one of the most respected media figures of his era and he was definitely good at his job.

But on October 28, 2014, the news came out that Ghomeshi had been terminated from his job with the CBC, and in the next few days, the reason why he had been fired was one that a lot of people didn't want to believe at first.  It started with one person coming forward, then another.  Before you knew it, you had nine women accusing Ghomeshi of abusing them and beating them up when they dated him.

I've kept quiet about my own thoughts on the subject.  Really, I never claimed to be a Moxy Fruvous fan, nor do I remember ever listening to a single episode of "Q".  And really, this whole point of view isn't about Ghomeshi himself because to me, it could really be any sort of public figure in the same position. 

Rather, I want to focus on some of the responses that I have seen on social media, comments posted below news articles, and other general points of interest that I have noticed as the scandal continues to play out.

November 6, 2014

You know, one thing that I have always hated about modern-day society is something that is known as "mob mentality".  Mob mentality is the phrase used to describe people who adopt trends, purchase items, or take on personality traits from a large group of like-minded people.

Mob mentality is kind of similar to peer pressure in a way, only I find it to be a lot more damaging to society - particularly if the mob is both passionate and/or angry.

Certainly when it comes to the Jian Ghomeshi scandal that has erupted, everybody in the country seems to have an opinion on the subject.  I mean, it isn't very often that a scandal of this magnitude occurs within Canadian borders.  When something like this happens in Canada, naturally it gets everyone talking.  After all, with our population being a tenth of the size of the United States, we tend to be a quieter bunch by nature.

As far as Jian Ghomeshi goes, the only person who can confirm what happened and what didn't happen is Ghomeshi himself.  And as of right now, he isn't talking.  So, instead, the focus has shifted from Ghomeshi himself towards the nine women who have now come forward, making their claims that Ghomeshi abused them both physically and sexually while they were out on dates with him. 

These women came from a variety of backgrounds.  One was a television actress.  Another was an attorney.  One was even a former CBC employee.  And over the past two weeks, nine of them came forward and made these allegations.

This is where my point of "mob mentality" comes into play.

Now, I am most definitely NOT using this phrase towards these women.  Let me get that clear.  I will explain why in a few moments.

No, I'm actually using this phrase towards the various news story commenters, Twitter posters, YouTube filmmakers, and everyday Canadians who have flip-flopped their opinions based on what public opinion seemed to dictate.  And, honestly I find this practice extremely frustrating.

In the early days of the scandal, only a couple of women had come forward with the news that they had been abused by Jian Ghomeshi.  And, certainly many people believed them to be simply allegations.  And you know, when scandals initially break out involving public figures, it is natural for people to be completely confused and unable to decide who to believe. 

So, certainly you could imagine that when women began to come forward with their claims, people on social media platforms certainly had their own opinions.  Interestingly enough, when the scandal first broke, a large percentage of people took to social media to defend Ghomeshi, and made out like the women were vilifying him for attention, money, or fame.  Some of the comments that I read on some of these articles were brutal, with many people denouncing the women in public view.

To me, that is absolutely horrible. 

When the scandal broke, I purposely did not choose a side.  I waited to hear both sides of the argument before I made my mind up.  And, my thoughts on the subject now remain the same.  Until both sides are ready to talk, I can't really give much of an opinion.  Though given Ghomeshi's silence, and the fact that more women are coming forward with their own experiences...well, it certainly doesn't paint Ghomeshi in the most flattering colour.  That is all that I will say about that.

But now, here is where the mob mentality comes into play.  As the scandal continued and more people came forward with their claims that Ghomeshi had abused them, the tide turned.  Many people who were ardent Ghomeshi supporters started to unfollow him on social media, and began to take the sides of the accusers, claiming that the real story was coming out.  Many people even made public apologies to the women for not believing them from the very beginning. 

Now here is my question.  Did they change their stance because their heart told them it was the right thing to do?  Or did they simply start going for Ghomeshi's jugular because everybody else was now doing it and they didn't want to be attacked for taking on a now unpopular stance?

I guess what I am trying to say is that it is okay to change your mind about a person, place, thing, or any other category that "Wheel of Fortune" has puzzles based on if you feel that it is the right thing for you to do.  Blindly following a mob of people and believing everything they said because you are afraid of going against the crowd is not okay.  It can be one of the most destructive things that anyone can do.  Just look at what happened in Jonestown some thirty-five years ago when a group of people drank the Kool-Aid because some kook told them to?

I mean, the only exception that I can make in the case of mob mentality is doing something because you feel enough courage to do it because you see someone else doing it.  I know that sentence probably made you cringe while reading it, but go with it.  In the Ghomeshi case, not all nine women came forward at once.  It started with a couple.  Then another one.  Before you knew it, nine of them came forward with one common link.  And you know what?  That is strength as far as I am concerned.  It takes courage to make a stand like these nine women did, and in this case, there is safety in numbers.  All nine women went through the same thing, so they have an understanding that nobody else in the world had.

And yet, many of these women were subjected to being called liars, opportunistic, and career destroyers.  And yes, those were some of the adjectives used to describe them by anonymous Internet posters when the story first broke.  It almost seemed as though people jumped in with insults just because they saw other people doing it, and they felt that what they were doing was the right thing to do.

And when more women came forward and public opinion changed, those same people flipped the record really quickly because they saw other people doing it.  And yet these same people wonder why these women might have been afraid to come out and publicly tell their stories.

I guess my point is...if you have an opinion, stick with it, and don't let anyone else change it because you are afraid of confrontation.  I have a hard time taking people who waffle seriously, but that is just my own two cents.

Anyway, it is just something I noticed.

DuckTales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp

All right.  So, yesterday's Tuesday Timeline entry was a bit heavy in terms of subject matter.  So for today's blog topic, I plan on lightening the mood a bit.

Today just happens to be movie night, as "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET" continues on with a movie post. 

Now, I bet you probably have guessed that since I plan on lightening up the mood in this blog that this movie will be a children's movie.  And your guess would be right.

In fact, I think that I'll be featuring a Disney film today.  One that I loved a lot when I was a kid.

Now, what makes this film interesting is that it is only one of two films that was based off of a cartoon that aired during the cartoon block called "The Disney Afternoon".

Now, one was "A Goofy Movie" that was based off of the cartoon series "Goof Troop"...but that also happens to be a movie that I don't recall ever seeing!  That surprises me because I did enjoy "Goof Troop" a lot!  But since I have never seen the movie, I can't very well do a blog entry on it.  Maybe another time, I suppose.

So, that leaves the other cartoon that inspired a feature film to be made.  It happens to be one of the first Disney cartoons that I fell in love with bearing the Disney brand name.

Ah, yes.  DuckTales.  For the longest time, this was considered to be my favourite cartoon in the Disney Afternoon cartoon block (well, at least until "Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers" came along).  I watched every single episode of the series, I read the Scrooge McDuck comic books on occasion.  I even played and completed the first DuckTales video game for the Nintendo!

I don't know what it was, but Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, Mrs. Beakely, Webby Vanderquack, and of course, Huey, Dewey, and Louie kept me entertained for a large chunk of my childhood.

The television show, of course, was set in the city of Duckburg, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie are sent to live with their great-uncle Scrooge McDuck while their Uncle Donald goes away to serve in the Navy.  Not that Donald's nephews complained in any way.  After all, Scrooge McDuck was the richest duck in the world, living in a huge mansion filled with one gigantic vault that was filled with golden coins, shiny gems, and rare treasures.

Still, even though Scrooge McDuck has more money than he could spend in a hundred lifetimes, he still has the desire to acquire even more.  During the entire first season of DuckTales (as well as the two Nintendo video games that were made), Scrooge, Launchpad, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby traveled all around the world to grab more treasures to add to his collection before anybody else could.

Yeah, Scrooge McDuck is one complex character.  Deep down inside, he really does have a caring personality, but his quest to own all the treasures in the world kind of highlights his greed.  It is kind of a conflicting personality.

And I can't think of a better case to showcase Scrooge McDuck's complex personality than the movie that was based on the television show.

Released in theatres in August 1990, "DuckTales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp" was one of the few films to be released under the DisneyToon Studios umbrella.  In fact, it was the very first film to be released by that studio division.  It made a total of eighteen million dollars at the box office and is certainly considered to be a favourite among Disney fans.  Now, you may think that eighteen million is not a good showing for a film, and sadly, you would think correctly.  Unfortunately, the DuckTales movie was in direct competition with a number of summer blockbusters which included "Arachnophobia", "Problem Child", and "Young Guns II".  And because of the lack of money it made, plans to make other DuckTales films were scrapped.

However, the film was still quite good.  And, it had all of the voice actors from the cartoon series returning for the movie.  This included Alan Young as Scrooge, Terrence McGovern as Launchpad, and Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby.

As well, they brought on Christopher Lloyd and Rip Torn to play roles in the movie as well.  We'll talk about who they played as we go into a brief plot synopsis.

Anyway, Scrooge, Launchpad, Webby, and Scrooge's great-nephews are exploring the Middle East with Scrooge's eyes set on acquiring the hidden treasure of Collie Baba and his Forty Thieves.  They are accompanied by their guide, Dijon (Richard Libertini).  Now, at first, Dijon approaches the group with friendly intentions.  In reality, he is the lackey of a terrible magician named Merlock (Christopher Lloyd), a shape shifting sorcerer whose major goal in life is to acquire a rare treasure - the same treasure that Scrooge is looking for himself.

The group happens to stumble upon a buried pyramid (which in true Disney cartoon logic takes only thirty seconds to unearth despite the fact that it appears to be buried at least a thousand feet below the surface), and they deduce that Collie Baba's treasure is hidden within.  They find a way to avoid all of the pyramid's traps and come face to face with a large cache of gold, jewels...and a mysterious oil lamp.  A lamp that Webby decides would make a great teapot! 

Well, before you know it, Merlock appears, exposes Dijon's duplicitous personality, steals the treasure from Scrooge, and activates a trap that sends the entire - ahem - duck dynasty to a shallow pit crawling with giant scorpions.  They manage to escape danger, but Scrooge is upset that he lost the treasure of Collie Baba to Merlock.  Of course, Webby still has the lamp and offers to give it to Scrooge as a consolation prize, but Scrooge tells her to keep it, believing that the lamp is absolutely worthless.

Or, so he thought.

You see, the lamp was quite tarnished and dirty when it was found, and Webby decides to polish it so that it will be extra special.  But when she rubs the lamp, it causes a small little genie to pop out, surprising Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby!

Turns out that the genie (Rip Torn) has been sealed away in the lamp for centuries, and because they set him free, he allows the whole group to make three wishes a piece.  And of course, Webby makes a ridiculous wish to have a baby elephant for a pet, which immediately arouses the suspicions of Mrs. Beakely and Scrooge.  Fortunately, one of the nephews wishes to undo Webby's wish in order to keep the adults oblivious to the genie. 

For a while, the kids all have fun with the Genie, wishing for a gigantic ice cream sundae, and using a wish to trick Scrooge into allowing theie friend "Gene" to sleep over.  But when an owl flies over the mansion, the Genie freaks out and tells Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby a frightening story about his previous master.  Turns out that his previous master was Merlock, and he made some of the most selfish wishes ever (like immortality for one).  He also possessed a special jewel which would allow him to be granted unlimited wishes should he attach the jewel to the lamp itself.  Of course, the nephews and Webby promise Genie that they won't let that happen - unaware that Merlock and Dijon have been watching them the whole time.

And it also complicates things when after another wish by Webby goes terribly wrong (she wishes that all of her stuffed animals would come to life so that she could have a real tea party), Scrooge discovers that there is a Genie in his mansion.  The dollar signs soon come back into his vision and since he too is granted some wishes, he wants the treasure of Collie Baba back into his possession, which once again causes Merlock to do everything in his power to get the lamp back in his hands.

Of course, this also is witnessed by Dijon, who starts to come up with a plan to use the lamp to his own advantage while twisting the knife into the back of Merlock. 

And what about Genie?  He seems to be only used as a bartering chip in the war between Scrooge and Merlock - something that is widely noticed by Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby.  With all four of them vowing to protect Genie at all costs, will they end up succeeding?

Well, I won't reveal how this movie ends...but I will say that there is a final battle, a lot of magic flying around...and Scrooge probably does one of the most unselfish things he has ever done. 

Interestingly enough, this film seems to share a lot of similarities with 1992's "Aladdin" - which I will admit is my all-time favourite Disney movie.  I guess that's why I can appreciate and enjoy the DuckTales movie.

November 4, 1970

Okay, this is the fourth day in the month I like to call "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET".  However, today is Tuesday, which means that it will be business as usual for one day of the week.

Yes, this is the Tuesday Timeline portion of the week - also known as the day that will not change this month.  Part of the reason is because I like writing the Tuesday Timeline entry.  Part of the reason is because I do not want to do the same date twice at this point in time.  And, well...part of the reason is because Tuesday Timeline entries take up the most time to write, and my theory is that keeping the Tuesday Timeline date will allow me to budget enough time to write it.

Okay, so with that, let us take a look at some of the happenings of November the fourth, shall we?

1783 - Mozart's "Symphony No. 36" is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria

1847 - British physician Sir James Young Simpson discovers the anaesthetic properties of cholorform

1864 - Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base destroying millions of dollars worth of materials and supplies during the American Civil War

1916 - Journalist Walter Kronkite (d. 2009) is born in Saint Joseph, Missouri

1918 - Actor Art Carney (d. 2003) is born in Mount Vernon, New York

1921 - The Prime Minister of Japan - Hara Takashi - is assassinated in Tokyo

1922 - British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men discover the entrance to Pharoah Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's "Valley of the Kings".

1924 - Wyoming's Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States

1939 - United States Customs is ordered by President Roosevelt to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939

1952 - The National Security Agency (NSA) is established by the United States government

1960 - Dr. Jane Goodall observes chimpanzees creating tools at the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Africa

1966 - The Arno River floods, destroying millions of paintings, art pieces, and rare books in Florence, Italy

1973 - Car Free Sunday takes place in The Netherlands due to the energy crisis of 1973, leaving cyclists and roller skaters to use the highways

1979 - The Iran Hostage Crisis sees a mob of Iranians storming the American embassy in Tehran, taking a total of ninety hostages within

1982 - Actress Dominique Dunne passes away in hospital less than a week after being attacked by her ex-boyfriend at the age of just 22

1995 - Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated

2008 - Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States - the first person of African-American descent to hold the title

2011 - "60 Minutes" correspondent Andy Rooney dies at the age of 92

And, let us have a look at all the lovely people celebrating a birthday today.  If it is your birthday today, have a great one!  You share yours with Doris Roberts, Loretta Swit, Scherrie Payne, Laura Bush, Markie Post, Jacques Villeneuve, Ken Kirzinger, Kathy Griffin, Ralph Macchio, Jeff Probst, Nigel Worthington, Malandra Burrows, Kiersten Warren, Matthew Tobin Anderson, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Matthew McConaughey, Bethenny Frankel, Orlando Pace, Curtis Stone, Heather Tom, Jesse Camp, Trishelle Canatella, Emme Marcy Rylan, Travis Van Winkle, and Alexz Johnson.

Okay, now we are going to be looking at today's date.  And today's date is one that shocked and angered the world.  It was a tragic case of the effects of long-term abuse at the hands of a parent - abuse that no child should have ever gone through.  Really, it was probably one of the most high-profile cases of child abuse and neglect of its time, and decades after the child was finally rescued, the psychological effects still remain.

Today's Tuesday Timeline date is November 4, 1970 - the date that the secret life of "Genie" was finally exposed.

NOTE:  Genie's real name has never been published, nor have the names of any of Genie's immediate family members, as a measure of protecting her identity.

Now, those of you who were around in 1970 might remember the story of "Genie".  In November 1970, Genie was thirteen years old and a resident of California.  And looking at the photo above, you might believe that Genie looked like a typical thirteen year old girl.  But looking deeper into her eyes, you might see that there is a world of sadness and hurt in full display. 

That's because for almost her entire life, "Genie" was trapped inside of her bedroom without any way of getting out.  She was the victim of extreme abuse and neglect orchestrated by her father, and from the age of 20 months until she was nearly fourteen, she was kept locked inside of her room strapped to either a child's toilet or kept inside of a crib with her arms and legs completely immobilized. 

It is an unimaginable situation for any child to go through.  In fact, what happened to Genie should have never happened to any child.

So, why did it happen?

Well, in order to explain how Genie got to that point, we must explain what kind of a household she was born into.  An extremely dysfunctional household at that.

You see, Genie was the fourth of four children, and one of only two to survive past infancy.  In addition to her parents, she also had an older brother.  And to say that Genie's parents had issues would be the biggest understatement of the millennium.

Genie's father worked as a flight mechanic during World War II, and when he married Genie's mother, he was a good two decades older than her.  Genie's father also had a slew of anger issues, brought upon by the fact that his mother gave him what he called a "girly name", and the fact that he grew up in a series of orphanages.  Genie's mother, meanwhile, had sustained a childhood injury that caused her to gradually lose the vision in her eyes.

So you have a father who had a violent temper, and a mother who had vision problems and had to rely on her husband for everything.  That would be stressful enough for anyone to have to endure.  Imagine bringing in a couple of children to complicate things.  Especially in a marriage in which the father never wanted children to begin with because he found them too noisy.

Genie's father was a real class act to his wife, beating her while she was pregnant, and it is rumoured that it was his actions that caused the death of his first two children.  His last two children, Genie and Genie's older brother, survived.  But because Genie's father hated noise, he basically prevented his whole family from having basic conversations.  He reportedly didn't even have a working radio or television inside the house because he didn't like noise that much.

It is hard to explain what triggered Genie's father to keep Genie locked up, but some speculate that the death of Genie's grandmother in a road accident that made Genie's father snap. 

Poor Genie was trapped in her room, with no way out, and as time passed, the abuse got worse, especially as Genie's mother's eyesight continued to fade.  Genie was not allowed to make any noise.  If she did, her father would beat her.  She lived on a diet of soft foods and liquids, causing her to be extremely malnourished.  Even Genie's brother was abused, with the only freedom he received was when he was sent to school.  Genie's brother would eventually run away from home when he was a teenager, but poor Genie didn't have a way out.

At least, not until November 4, 1970.

By that point, Genie's mother had had enough of the abuse that she and Genie were undergoing, and she and Genie fled their home to live with Genie's mother's parents in Monterey Park, California.  On the fourth of November, Genie's mother brought Genie with her to the nearby community of Temple Park, California to apply for disability benefits where she could hopefully get approved so she could support herself and Genie. 

But because Genie's mother was nearly blind, she ended up walking right into the wrong building.  She found herself inside a social services building where the social worker inside immediately deduced that something was wrong.  Police were called, both Genie's father and mother were arrested, and Genie became a ward of the court of California.  Genie's case was later handed off to David Rigler - a therapist and professor of psychology - Howard Hansen - the head of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles' psychiatry division, where they had deduced that Genie was one of the worse cases of child abuse that they had ever seen.

By mid-November 1970, Genie's face was all over the evening news, and the subsequent news reports proved to be too much for Genie's father to face.  He committed suicide on November 20, 1970 - nearly three weeks since Genie was rescued.  The charges against Genie's mother were eventually dropped, as it had been confirmed that Genie's mother had been abused as well.

Still, with Genie in the care of the hospital, it became time to assess her.  Certainly when Genie was first discovered, she was severely malnourished, and she had poor motor skills.  And as far as any verbal activity goes, she had none whatsoever - brought upon by the fact that she had never been around anybody who spoke to her.  Remember, anyone who tried to speak to Genie was abused by her father.

Interestingly enough though, Genie did show signs of exploring environmental stimuli, and she did seem to show some cognitive thinking despite being imprisoned in a dark room for a dozen years.  This caused the people looking over Genie's case at the hospital to wonder if she could be rehabilitated and whether it was possible to learn how to speak at thirteen years of age.

The first thing the researchers wanted to do was determine if Genie was autistic, or if she had some sort of mental disability preventing her from learning how to talk.  Observations ruled out both options.

And while many of the doctors and experts who worked with Genie over the years could not agree on the root cause of Genie's condition, one thing they could agree on was that the trauma that Genie endured played a huge part.

I mean, consider this.  If you were locked away in a dark room for twelve years of your life without any human contact, how do you think you would function?  Not very well, I'd bet.

Now, fortunately in Genie's case, this story has somewhat of a satisfactory ending.  While Genie's mother eventually developed more of a bond with her daughter, she was still considered unable to take care of Genie, so she was moved from facility to facility.  Some places she was abused, but some places she felt comfortable with.  At some point, she did eventually learn how to speak a few words, and was taught how to communicate through sign language.

As of 2014, it is unknown where Genie is now, but a report from 2008 states that Genie is living in a private facility for mentally undeveloped adults and appeared to be doing well. 

And any of the research that was done with Genie certainly sparked a lot of research on verbal communication, and people are still fascinated with Genie's story because it answered some questions about brain development, but caused more questions to be asked - some of which still don't have a definitive answer.

Genie's life was one tragic event after another, and she spent the first few years of her life in a hellish existence that she did not ask for, nor did she deserve.  But on November 4, 1970, she discovered that there was a whole new world out there.  A world that was cruelly kept from her during her formative years.

Let us hope that wherever Genie is now, she is happy and at peace.  Heaven knows she deserves it now.

Price is Right Games I Never Want To Play

Hello everybody, and welcome to Tube Talk...Monday!

Yeah, the "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET" month continues as I rearrange the order of all the theme days all month long.  And the best part is that every day will be a surprise as you will not know what the theme of the day will be.

(Well, except on Tuesdays, which will remain the same for the month.)

So, yes.  Today in the blog, we're going to be talking about television shows.  And, in this edition, we're going to be focusing on a particular game show that has aired for over 40 years.

I have made it no secret that one of my ambitions in my life is to appear as a contestant on a game show.  I hope to make that happen one day.  I wouldn't even care if I won or lost.  Just the experience of being on a game show would be enough to cross that moment off of my bucket list once and for all. 

Of course, if I were to lose, I would not want to be a situation where everyone completely mopped the floor with me, and the host was forced to give me cash just so I wouldn't feel so bad being the victim of a crushing and embarrassing defeat.

Anyway, one game show that I think that I would do very well in would be "The Price is Right".  Certainly it is a show that I have loved since I was a little boy watching it with my grandmother many years ago.  And, yes, I admit that I have talked about this show a couple of times in this blog before.  But the one good thing about "The Price is Right" is that the show is so versatile that I could absolutely do a different article on the show for all seven days in the week.

Don't worry though.  I wouldn't do that to you.

No, I only plan on talking about this show once this week.  And, this is a topic that I have given a lot of thought to.

I thought about what could happen if I were ever chosen to be a contestant on "The Price is Right".  I probably would have a fair chance of getting chosen as a contestant (well, provided that I was actually in the California area).  And my years in retail would likely give me enough of an advantage to probably bid correctly to get out of contestants row.

My main concern becomes the pricing game that I would be playing. 

Did you know that as of November 2014, there are 75 current games that are played on the program?  Given that each episode of the game show features six of the seventy-five games, it is likely that each game will be played at least once a month.  Others would be played once a week.  I suppose the choices of the games depends on the popularity of the game, the percentage of contestants who win the game, the amount of time it takes to play the game, and the cash value of each of the prizes available to be won in each game.  For instance, a game like "Golden Road" would only be played once (the grand prize usually is around the hundred thousand mark), while a game like "One Wrong Price" could be played as many as six times a month (the game takes thirty seconds to play and offers el cheapo prizes).

Now, there are some games that I would absolutely love to play.  I know the odds of playing "Plinko" and winning are slim, but I would love the chance to drop the chips down that board.  I would totally kick butt on "The Clock Game".  And statistically speaking, "Shell Game" is one of the easiest games to win - therefore it would be one of the games that I would want to play.

My biggest nightmare would be playing a game that I would NOT want to play at all...and I guarantee you that if I were faced with the following six games to play, I would more than likely suffer a humiliating loss and be forced to settle for my consolation prizes of V8 Juice, Starburst Fruit Chews, and underwear from Fruit of the Loom.

(Not that I would mind stuff like that.  I like and use all three of those things.  But why go on a game show to win stuff I could buy at Walmart when I could win something unbelievable?)

Okay, so this is my own personal list of six pricing games that I would NOT want to play if I were to become a contestant on "The Price is Right".

1.  RACE GAME

This is one of those games that is more fun to watch than I assume it is to play.

The object of the game is that you have four different prizes that are up for grabs.  And you have four different price tags that correspond to each item.  You have 45 seconds to match the price tags to the items.  When you have them in position, you pull a lever to see how many you have right.  At the end of 45 seconds, the contestant wins whatever prizes are correct - or if they match all four correctly before time runs out.  Whichever comes first.

Now, as a kid watching this game, I loved it.  It was fun to see people speeding around the stage and the background music was always fun to listen to (though I miss the old days when the show used the William Tell Overture instead of that 1880s era saloon music they now play).  But as someone who admittedly gets winded running at any speed, this game is one big epic fail.

Also see "Bonkers" as another runner-up game similar to "Race Game".

2.  TEMPTATION

This game is designed to do one thing.  Play mind games with you. 

You are presented a wonderful prize of a car.  Then you are presented with four gifts.  The digits of the gifts can be used to guess the price of the car.  After all the digits are chosen, you have to make a huge choice.  Would the small gifts tempt you enough to take those instead of the car?  Or do you turn your back on a sure thing and go for the car (which depends on how well you have chosen the digits in the price of the car)?

Honestly, I hate watching this game as a television viewer.  I find it extremely stressful to watch contestants go for the car only to lose it by one wrong number.  Could you imagine the stress I would feel if I actually played this game on stage?  My only hope would be if two of the gifts were a bed and a toilet because after I throw up, I would pass out from stress.  Temptation is one game I would rather not play.

3.  MASTER KEY

You know that game where you have five Disneyland sized keys, with one unlocking all three prize locks, three of them unlocking one individual lock, and one unlocking nothing because the key cutter fell asleep at the key cutting station?  Yeah.  I despise this game.

For one, the way you earn keys is simple...or so you think.  You are given a prize like a microwave, and you have two digits, like say, a one and a seven.  You have to decide whether the price is $17 or $71.  And obviously, the choice would be $71, because whoever heard of a seventeen dollar microwave?

The problem with Master Key is the fact that the method to earning keys is not as obvious as the example I have provided.  The price tags are so close to each other in number that it really could be either value.  I have seen people play the game and not earn a single key.  It is also one of the games that has a higher percentage of losing contestants than winning contestants...at least that is how it seems watching it on television.  I think I would lock myself in a room if I had to be faced with playing Master Key.

4.  FIVE PRICE TAGS

Okay, maybe some of you who are of an older generation might know this...but didn't this game used to be called "FOUR CHOICES" at one time?  I somehow seem to remember it being called that when Bob Barker still hosted the show. 

Either way, this game should be an easy one to win.  You guess the prices of four items to win a choice of one of the five price tags attached to a car.  Only one price is right, but with a potential 4 out of 5 shots to guess the right price, you have an 80% chance to win the car. 

But here is where the sadistic twist comes into play.  Sure it's easy to guess whether a price is higher or lower than $80.  But trying to guess whether $80 is a true price or a false price?  How evil.

5.  1/2 OFF

You know, it is never easy to win a pricing game when money is the top prize.  Why do you think that Plinko, Punch-A-Bunch, and Check Game are some of the harder games to get a perfect score in?  But at the very least they are fun to watch...and honestly, I would be fine playing any of the games listed up above.

But 1/2 Off?  It is one confusing game.  The idea is that you have sixteen different coloured boxes numbered 1-16.  One box contains ten thousand dollars.  To increase your odds of winning, you have three chances to eliminate half the boxes by guessing which one out of a pair of items is exactly half the price that it is originally.  If you win all three chances, you can decrease the number of boxes from sixteen all the way to two.

The sad thing is that in this game, you can do everything right and STILL LOSE by picking the wrong box.  I don't like games of chance, and 1/2 Off is the ultimate middle finger of sorts for people who happen to choose incorrectly. 

6.  HOLE IN ONE (OR TWO)

Yeah.  I don't golf.  In order to make this game fair for me, it would have to be renamed Hole in Eighty-Four.

Enough said.

Fall Leaves

Welcome to the second day of the month long event that I like to call "YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET"!

You're probably expecting a blog entry about music being that today is Sunday, and it would normally be all about the Sunday Jukebox, right?

Well...not today.

Yes, you'll likely see a music post a little later this week, but in the meantime, I have decided to switch things up this month.  All month long (excluding Tuesdays), all the theme days are being switched and shuffled around.  And unlike previous times in which I have done this, I am not telling you what theme days you can expect.

A real expect the unexpected month, if you will.

For more information about this month long feature, please consult yesterday's entry for more information - or you can just click HERE if you like.

So, first question.  Have you turned back time yet?

(Note that although I have posted a video by Cher up above, this is not the subject of the blog.)

If you live in North America (excluding Arizona, of course), then you had better have turned back time.  Time shifted back one hour today at two o'clock this morning.  If you haven't done so already, do it now.  Oh, and now would be a great time to check your smoke detectors.  The batteries should be replaced every six months or so, and daylight savings time is a good time to do it.

I know some people absolutely hate daylight savings time, and I admit that it can be quite hard on a lot of people to get readjusted to the time change.  But it is one of the things that we have to deal with when it comes to the seasons of spring and fall.

But come on now, there are a lot of things that are awesome about fall.  In fact, I've decided to talk about one of these perks of fall right here in this very blog.

Yeah, this would be considered a throwback to those Saturday Smorgasbord entries that I did a few months ago where we talked about toys and games.  And in this blog, you can't find a toy that is more natural.  More biodegradable.  More fun!

I'm talking about LEAVES!  Those wonderful fall leaves that fall ever so delicately upon the earth, blowing down the street with a gentle breeze...

...or, if you happen to live in a place that has a lot of storms, leaves blowing violently off of trees and zooming past you with the force of a Boeing 747.

Either way, I am sure that all of you have some fond memories of playing with leaves - well before you grew up and realized that they were a pain to rake from your yard. 

I know I certainly have lots of fun memories of leaves.

I think it all started when I was a little kid.  I was a lot more outgoing as a small child than I was when I was a teenager, so I was always going to the park, or playing outside in my backyard.  And depending on the season, I would have good experiences and bad experiences.

For instance, while most people loved spring and summer, I could take it or leave it.  Spring had annoying allergies and summer was filled with hornets, wasps, and other creepy crawlies that stung.

Winter was okay, but I hated getting dressed up like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to go outside.

No, fall was definitely my season.

And let's face it.  There is just something about a gigantic pile of leaves in glorious shades of red, gold, orange, and yellow that makes them absolutely impossible to resist diving right into it.

You can just hear it now...the soft crunching of the leaves as they crackle under your feet.  That was the sound of happiness during the month of November.  And hey, can you imagine a game of hide and go seek without having a pile of leaves to hide in?

And hey...this dog loves leaves too!  I mean, he REALLY loves leaves!

Of course, that wasn't all that we did with leaves.  Some of my favourite arts and crafts projects also involved using leaves as well.  I remember that we had to go into our schoolyard, find three different leaves that had fallen, and try to draw pictures using leaves as the bulk of the picture (like making oak leaf bugs, or drawing a Canadian flag with a real maple leaf).

Oh, and we also used to grab leaves from outside, and colour over them with a crayon to see all of the lines show up through the crayon.  That was also fun.

So, what sorts of things did you love about leaves?

You Never "November" What You're Gonna Get

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to the first day of November 2014!

I can't believe that it is already November.  2014 has really gone by quickly.  And as the weather continues to grow colder, it comes to mind that before you know it, the holiday season will be fast upon us.  After all, it is only fifty-three days until Christmas.

Wow...that really gave me the chills.  I still have a lot of things to do to prepare for this year's Christmas season.  Yikes.

Fortunately, we still have almost two months to worry about Christmas.  We have the whole month of November to get through yet.

And for this November, I've got a lot of fun events planned.

Now, I realize that in order to talk about the fun stuff that I have plotted for November, I'm going to have to skip the Saturday movie discussion for this week.  Though, given that I talked about Stephen King's "It" earlier this week (which is kind of a movie/miniseries), I thought that I could skip it for this week.  After all, this November has five Saturdays, so skipping one week isn't that bad.  And besides...with what I have planned for this month, it won't really matter how many Saturdays there are in the month.

(We'll get to that a little later.)

No, I wanted to talk to you about my plans for November in "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE".  But I wanted to give it a really nifty name.  Something like "Nifty November", but not quite as lame.

How about...Knockout November?  Nah.  I like the sound of it, but it's not really considered a knockout selection of topics.

Wait.  I have it.  Granted, this name may sound more lamer than Nifty November, but go with it.

Let's call this month - YOU NEVER NOVEMBER WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET.

Yeah, that's perfect.  And, I'll explain what that means in a bit.

Now, over the last few years that I've done this blog, you've come to expect a fixed schedule of entries.  You know that Sundays are music themed.  Thursdays lately have been all about television entries.  And Saturdays are typically for movie entries.

Well, for November...I'm completely abandoning the schedule, and I'm going to mix things up a LOT.  And the best part is that I am not going to tell you what you will expect on six of the seven days because this month, I am going to be switching everything up.

Now you might have noticed that I have said that I will be doing this with six of the seven days.  I will keep the Tuesday Timeline entries on Tuesdays.  The reason being that Tuesday entries are the ones that take the most time to write, and the way my schedule is this month, it makes no sense to switch that theme day to one in which I have significantly less time to write it.

As far as the others go...it's anything goes.  And it will leave you guessing all month long!

Now, just to remind you, here was the current schedule as of October 2014.

SUNDAY - Sunday Jukebox

MONDAY - Funny Monday

TUESDAY - Tuesday Timeline

WEDNESDAY - Who Am I Wednesday

THURSDAY - Tube Talk Thursday

FRIDAY - Foodie Friday

SATURDAY - Saturday Night At The Movies

Yeah.  Don't get used to that.  These days (except Tuesdays) will be switching places.

In fact...just to make you feel even more confused, I'm temporarily going to re-introduce past theme days that I have used in this blog that have since been retired.  They will be replacing at least one (possibly two or three) of the current theme days each week...and the best part is...you will never "November" when this will take place.

Hence the name - You Never November What You're Gonna Get!

Now, what are the defunct theme days?  Well, they were...

SUNDAY FUNNIES - discussions on comic book characters
ACROSS THE POND AND BEYOND - discussions on pop culture from overseas

SATURDAY MORNING - discussions on cartoons

THURSDAY ARCADE - discussions on video games

SATURDAY SMORGASBORD - discussions on books, toys, and games

Now the question remains...why do this?  Why switch everything around?

Well, I wanted to test the waters.  I wanted to see if any of these topics could possibly be resurrected for 2015 entries.  And, I also wanted to see if there were any theme days that I wanted to retire. 

But also...when you tend to get stuck in a rut, you want to try something new.  And, well...I guess I'm kind of in a rut with this blog.  Don't get me wrong, I still love writing it...I'm just kind of bored with the current format, and wanted to try different things.

Anyway, that's what I have planned for November.  Stay tuned for the rest of the year.  The third annual "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR" begins December 1, and will last until Christmas Day.

And then come January 2015, I'll usher in the new year with the results from this little November experiment.

It's a month guaranteed to keep you guessing!