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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

What Wheel Of Fortune Taught Me About Myself

It seems unlikely that a game show could teach me anything about myself other than wishing that I could go on the show to win cash and prizes.

And, don't get me wrong.  One thing on my bucket list is to appear as a contestant on a game show.

There's one game show that I've always wanted to be on.  Not necessarily because of the cash and prizes (of course, if I ever won something on the show, I'd be happy), but because it seems to be made for an aspiring writer, such as myself. 


Wheel Of Fortune, which was a Merv Griffin creation.  A game show institution for over thirty-five years.  A game show that has had thousands of contestants and given away millions.  People spinning a wheel of many colours and guessing a letter in hopes of solving a puzzle to win money and the chance to earn even more money in the bonus round.

Would you like to see what I mean?  Okay, I'll post a video for you right now.  Here's a clip from an episode of Wheel Of Fortune that originally aired on September 11, 1990.



I could go on and on about how much Wheel Of Fortune has helped me learn so many life lessons, but I'm trying to make this blog a little more fun, and a little less boring.  So, I'm hoping that by doing a bulleted list of points and inserting video clips and pictures from the show that I can hopefully illustrate what this show has taught me about myself. 

Are you ready?  Would you like to buy a vowel or use your free spin?

No?  All right.  We'll begin.


1.  By now, I'm sure that you all know that the current host and hostess are Pat Sajak and Vanna White.  But, did you know that they weren't the original hosts who christened the program?  When Wheel Of Fortune debuted on television on January 6, 1975, the original host was Chuck Woolery, and the letter-turner was Susan Stafford.  It's hard to find clips of both of them in action, but I managed to locate this clip online from 1979.






2.  Chuck Woolery's last day of hosting Wheel Of Fortune was Christmas Day, 1981.  Pat Sajak began his hosting job three days later on December 28.

3.  Vanna White became the show's official puzzle board turner on December 13, 1982.  Below is a clip of her very first episode.


4.  Prior to appearing on Wheel Of Fortune, Vanna White had gotten noticed on a little game show known as 'The Price Is Right'.  In 1980, she appeared as a contestant in Contestant's Row.  Unfortunately, her ability to bid was not good enough for her to play a game of 'Plinko' or 'Safe Crackers', but I imagine she had fun anyways.

5.  It is here that I will talk about the first thing that Wheel Of Fortune has taught me about myself.  The first lesson I learned from watching Wheel Of Fortune is to not get too greedy.

Wheel Of Fortune has always been a game of chance, filled with lots of calculated risks.  There are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, and it's not a guarantee that every one of them will appear in each puzzle.  Some may not appear at all, while others can appear as much as nine times.  Again, it's a matter of risk.  You'd ideally want to land on a large amount when choosing a letter that appears a lot, but sometimes that doesn't happen.  But, you don't want to call out the wrong letter either because you will end up losing your turn.

And then there's the wheel itself.  Certainly there are lots of dollar amounts on the wheel, and the odd trip giveaway.  The Free Spin space is always a nice thing to pick up as well.  Of course, there are usually a couple of pesky black wedges that can spell death to anyone's game should you happen to land on it.



The dreaded bankrupt wedge.  The funny sound it makes is a nice little novelty, so as long as you don't happen to hear it during your turn.  In most cases, the Bankrupt wedge can be a really horrible game-crushing blow.


Well, okay, in that instance, the guy only lost $350.  But, I've seen instances where contestants have lost way more.  They lost prizes.  I remember one person ended up losing almost $34,000 in cash by landing on Bankrupt.  That had to hurt.

So, one thing that one must consider when playing Wheel Of Fortune is the fact that sometimes a time might come where you aren't sure of what the puzzle is, or what letter to call.  Or, sometimes, you might know what the puzzle is, but want to spin the wheel more for some additional cash.  The point is that whatever the case is, if the risk is incredibly great, and you stand to lose a lot, SOLVE the puzzle or BUY a VOWEL.  Don't just fake it like you know it.  Otherwise, this can happen.


I think now is as good a time as any to continue this list.

6.  The first letter Vanna White ever turned on the puzzle board was 'T'.

7.  The wheel on Wheel Of Fortune weighs approximately 2,400 pounds!

8.  As you've seen up above, the Wheel Of Fortune puzzle board used to be one in which Vanna would turn the letters around.  On February 24, 1997, Vanna's job became a lot easier when touch-screen technology entered the fold.


Beginning with that episode, whenever a letter appeared on the screen, the screen would turn blue, and all Vanna had to do was touch the screen for the letter to appear.  It also made Vanna not have to do nearly as much walking, as instead of her having to reveal each letter one by one, the solution would appear all at once.

9.  The most commonly picked letters chosen by early bonus round contestants were R, S, T, L, N, and E.

10.  And, that brings me to my next lesson that I have learned from this game.  Choose letters that make sense.

Sometime in the late 1980's, the contestant was given three additional consonants, and one additional vowel to solve the bonus round puzzle at the end of the show.  This was to accommodate the fact that the bonus round puzzles were longer, and more difficult to solve without additional letters.  Of course, R, S, T, L, N, and E were the six pre-selected letters, since those six letters were used the most often.  But contestants really had to choose their letters wisely, because if they made the wrong choices, they could lose the bonus round. 

Of course, if a contestant has a hunch, or is lucky enough to be able to solve the puzzle after the initial six letters are called, it can become quite easy.



It's not like that all the time though. 

Suppose I was on the show, and I got on the bonus round.  Which three consonants and one vowel would I have chosen, given the idea that the puzzle could be almost anything?

For me, the vowel choice would be easy.  I would pick A.  Behind E, A is a common vowel used in a variety of words in the English language.  In all likelihood, the letter A should appear in the puzzle, unless the puzzle solution was 'Bubble Bobble', or 'Linguini'.  It's a chance you take, but the odds would be in my favour.

Now, for consonants, one I would immediately pick would be H.  Why H?  Well, there's quite a few words that start with SH and TH, and there's lots of words that have an N and an H together, like ENOUGH, ANYHOW, NINTH, and NORTH. 

With the letter H in play, it leads me to choose my next consonant.  C.  Because with the letter C and the letter H, you have the CH combo, which appears in so many words in the English language.

As for my final consonant, it's more or less a crapshoot, but one letter I always liked was the letter M, and the letter M begins a lot of words like MUSHROOM, MACADAMIA, MINESTRONE, and, well...MATTHEW. 

So, my final bonus round letters would be R S T L N E, as well as H C M A.  It wouldn't have helped me out in the above bonus puzzle, but the odds would be in my favour.  And, of course, if I knew the puzzle beforehand, I'd make appropriate changes.

Okay, from one lesson to another.

11.  Wheel Of Fortune taught me how to spell

Or, at least I would like to think so, anyway.

When I was a little kid, my family would always gather around the television at 7:30 every evening to watch Wheel Of Fortune.  It almost became kind of a tradition.  And, I can't begin to tell you how many words in the puzzle boards happened to appear on elementary school spelling tests.  Who needed 'Hooked On Phonics' or 'Reading Rabbit' when you had Wheel Of Fortune as a study guide?  You all laugh now, but it really did teach me spelling tricks and mnemonic devices that helped me become a better speller, and ultimately a better writer and communicator.

12.  Vanna White holds a Guinness Book World Record for most frequent clapper.


13.  The set may have changed considerably over the years, but the podiums have always been red, yellow, and blue.



14.  The bonus wheel has changed a considerable amount as well.  In fact, during the early stages of the days in which contestants could pick their bonus prizes, there were only five options inside the word 'WHEEL'.  Now, you have dozens of cash prizes to possibly win.  The highest amount currently is $100,000, but if one was lucky to win the million dollar wedge and solve the puzzle, and if they got the $100,000 envelope, it became one million dollars.  Only one person has ever won the million dollar prize since its implementation.

15.  The longest serving announcer for the show was Charlie O'Donnell, who served as announcer from 1975-1980, and again from 1989 until his death on November 1, 2010.

16.  The theme of Wheel Of Fortune has changed over the years, but the most common musical theme for the show was a Merv Griffin composition called Changing Keys.  In fact, here are some of the theme songs for the show...the original version of Changing Keys being the first one on the list.



My personal favourite was the 1989-1992 theme, which is why I posted it at the beginning of the blog post.  :)

17.  Ready for another lesson I've learned from Wheel Of Fortune?  Here goes.  Wheel Of Fortune taught me the difference between a person, a place, and a thing.  Sure, it may seem like an insignificant thing, but as a kid, I was a bit confused, so it was nice to know that the show cleared things up.

18.  Before, contestants who left the show with nothing would just get consolation gifts.  Nowadays, every contestant who appears on the show is guaranteed at least one thousand dollars for their trouble.  Not a bad day's work.

19.  In the early days of the show, each round ended with something called a shopping round, where they would be taken to a themed display of various prizes, each one with a price tag.  Whenever a contestant won a round, the cash they earned would have to be spent on these prizes, with any leftover going onto a gift certificate.  So, if you had earned $2000 in the round, you'd have to buy $2000 worth of prizes.  Perhaps a state-of-the art typewriter and a fur coat?  Or maybe a $4000 vacation to Spain?  The practice was stopped in the mid 1980's in favour of the contestants keeping all of their cash.

And, finally...

20.  Sometimes, people just don't think about what they're saying when solving a puzzle, and it can make for some rather...awkward moments.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Matinee: Marley & Me

Anyone who may know me especially well would probably say that I have a tendency to wear my emotions on my sleeve.  I tell things like it is, I try to feel empathy towards others if the situation calls for it, and depending on the tone of something, I can range from hysterical laughter to crying in loud sobs.

In most cases, I am not afraid to show off my emotions.

When it comes to the idea of watching movies or television shows, I tend not to be that way.  I don't know whether it is because the movie or television show is a fictional situation with fictional characters played by the beautiful people of Hollywood, or not.  I tend to not get overly emotional over watching a movie.

There are some exceptions.  It's hard to have a dry eye while watching Old Yeller, and the animated film 'All Dogs Go To Heaven' was a tough one to get through, especially when you consider the tragic fate of young Judith Barsi, who starred in the film.

And then there was the movie that I happened to stumble across on television late Saturday night.  It was the television premiere of this movie, and I found myself blubbering at the ending, which could best be described as one of the most emotional ends to any film that I remember watching.  Ever.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I've always said that movies that are based off of a work of literature can be quite difficult to pull off, and make into a movie that is just as good as the book.  Certainly, Stephen King novels have been translated into several movies, where some have been really good, and some not so much.  'Fried Green Tomatoes' and 'Mrs. Doubtfire' were box office success stories, while 'Confessions Of A Shopaholic' didn't really get much success in a critical venue (although, Isla Fisher is gorgeous)

(Ahem...just thought I'd put that out there for no other reason than that I can.  Hopefully Borat doesn't come and get me.)

Anyway, the subject of today's 'Monday Matinee' happens to be one of those movies that originated from a book.


Marley & Me was a 2005 New York Times bestseller, written by journalist/columnist John Grogan.  The book was all about his adventures with raising a yellow Labrador Retriever named Marley, who was described as the world's worst dog, due to his inability to be trained.  He's strong, he eats a lot, and chews up anything and everything that happens to get in his way.  Despite the challenges, the author ends up growing to love the dog, and how he happened to be there when he was having a family of his own.

The book was such a success that a movie version was made three years later.



On December 25, 2008, the motion picture Marley & Me was first released in theatres.  The movie starred Owen Wilson as John Grogan, Jennifer Aniston as Grogan's wife, Jenny, and twenty-two yellow Labrador Retrievers of all different ages and sizes as Marley.

The film was a huge box office success.  In fact, it set a record for the biggest Christmas Day opening ever with over fourteen million dollars in ticket sales alone. 

Though, I'm sure that none of you care about the logistics of ticket sales, or how the project came to be, so let's get right on with the plot of the movie.



The movie begins when John and Jenny get married in a blizzard, and decide that they want to start their married life in a warmer climate, so they move to Florida where both of them get jobs at competing newspapers.  Jenny seems to be fitting into her job quite nicely with prime assignments and byline pride, while John seems to struggle. 

Jenny seems to drop a couple of hints about motherhood, and John is a little unsure of whether they're ready for it.  At the suggestion of his co-worker Sebastian (played by Eric Dane), John decides that the couple should get a pet, to see if they can handle the responsibility needed to take care of a child down the road.

So John surprises Jenny with a trip to a farm where they meet a whole litter of yellow Labrador puppies.  Jenny immediately chooses one from the litter, and they decide to name it Marley after reggae singer Bob Marley whose song happened to be playing on the car radio the day they brought Marley home.

Unfortunately for John and Jenny, Marley isn't exactly the model dog.  He eats enough food to fill a Walmart pet food section, he tears apart pillows and stuffed animals, and even managed to get himself kicked out of obedience school!

In fact, here's the trailer for Marley & Me, just so you can have an idea as to what kind of mischief Marley manages to get into.



Yikes...they weren't kidding when they called Marley 'incorrigible'.

Regardless of which, despite Marley's rambunctious and mischievious nature, John and Jenny loved him with everything they had.  When Jenny had a miscarriage, Marley was there for her to hold on to.  When Jenny gave birth to their first child, Marley was just as excited to meet him as he was when he first came home with the Grogan family.

Marley also seemed to have a positive effect on the career of one John Grogan.  Seeing as how his reporting career wasn't exactly taking off, the editor of the newspaper he worked at offered him a column, which would be published twice a week.  Marley ended up providing a lot of the material for the column, and not only was his column a success, but the newspaper circulation increased significantly since John's column began.


Soon after, Jenny gives birth to the couple's second child, and develops a case of post partum depression as a result of it.  She finds herself getting snappy with John and Marley more often, and in a fit of anger tells John that she wants them to get rid of Marley.  John decides to let Marley stay with Sebastian for a few days until Jenny calms down, and once she does, she realizes that Marley's home is with them. 

Eventually, John's column goes from becoming twice-weekly to daily, which pays enough money for Jenny to become a stay-at-home mother.  John later relocates to Pennsylvania to take on a reporting job, which later becomes a chance for him to continue his column.

As the film winds down though, Marley's old age starts to catch up with him, and the Grogan family is left to make an incredibly difficult choice. 

Let's just say that there's a reason why I ended up blubbering during the last fifteen minutes of this movie.

But, you know, that's fine with me.  Having a pet is probably one of the greatest joys that one can ever have, in my opinion.  Marley may have brought a lot of frustration and inconvenience to the Grogan family, but Marley really did have a heart of gold, and he loved them just as much as the Grogan family loved him.

Still...when you're put in the position where you have to say goodbye to a pet, it can be quite hard on the owner to say goodbye, even if the owner knows that it is what is best for the pet.

It's something that I had to face myself last July.


This was my cat.  His real name was supposed to be Tom, but my niece who was two at the time we got him had knocked out her front teeth in a playground accident, and it came out as Ol' Thum, so the name stuck.

Ol' Thum came into my life during my Grade 12 year of high school, in the autumn of 1998.  In fact, he was the one who found us!  My father was doing some work out in the backyard of our house at the time, and was moving some things when he heard a faint meowing coming from the fence.  When my father investigated, this beautiful cat with a perfect white diamond shape above his nose came out of hiding. 

And promptly bit my dad's finger when he went to pet it.  Surprisingly enough, my dad didn't get angry.

Over the next four weeks, we used to set out some food on the back porch for the cat, who seemed to hang around.  It wasn't anything special...just leftover lunch meat from my lunches, and some chicken.  After about a month, the cat felt comfortable enough to enter the house through the kitchen door, and from there, he stayed.  He wasn't a kitten...the veterinarian estimated him to be four years old at the time, but he seemed to have had a rough go of it lately.  Because he had been fixed when he came into our lives, we figured that he had been abandoned by his original owner, and I think he was looking for a new family to take him on.

Having Ol' Thum come to live with us wasn't exactly all fun and games at first.  Ol' Thum was at first, quite uncontrollable.  He thought the whole house was his litterbox, and he scratched and bit us constantly throughout all of 1999.  I think that it was him trying to feel us out, and get to know where his boundaries ended.  By the new millennium, he had calmed down enough for us to keep him around for the long haul.  He even allowed us to let us rub his tummy and hold him, which a couple of years ago would have been impossible due to his defensive stance.

Over the dozen years we had him, he proved himself to be an awesome friend and pet.  If there was ever a mouse in the house, Ol' Thum would often dispatch of them for us.  If we were feeling down or sad, he'd pop up on the couch and snuggle up to us and give us a reassuring head bunt.  Oh, and one time, Ol' Thum happened to come across a nest of baby rabbits and he guarded them from the dogs that were in the neighbourhood.  Although it proved to be a futile effort, as none of them survived, he at least tried to be there for them, which I thought was a cool thing to witness.

There comes a time in which you know that nothing lasts forever.  Ol' Thum started getting sick shortly after Christmas 2009, and his weight rapidly dropped to the point where he was half his weight.  He also moved really slowly, and you could tell that he was in constant pain.

As hard as the decision was that we had to make, we knew that there was only one possible option to help end Ol' Thum's pain.

On July 15, 2010, Ol' Thum crossed the rainbow bridge.

It's been only a year since he passed away, but I still think about him.  He was such a huge part of my life for twelve years, and in those years, he made such a positive impact.  He was a wonderful cat, and as far as I'm concerned, there will always be a place in my heart for him.

Just like there would always be a place in John Grogan's heart for Marley.

There really is nothing greater than the love one has for a pet.  Although there may be more animals in my future, I'll never forget Ol' Thum.

A friend of mine made this picture for me, just two days after he passed away, and I think it's an appropriate picture to end this blog entry.


1994-2010

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - Material Girl by Madonna

I never actually planned for this to happen, but as it turns out, this weekend seemed to have a common theme to it.

My Friday entry was on Blair and Jo from The Facts Of Life, and yesterday's entry was about the short-lived cartoon series Camp Candy.

Unbeknownst to me, it almost played out like one of those 'Six Degrees Of Separation' games.  You know, the fad where everyone in the world could be connected to Kevin Bacon in as little as six moves?

Hmmm...I wonder if I can attempt to connect myself to Kevin Bacon in six moves...let's figure this out here.

1.  I once saw the Barenaked Ladies in concert about 15 years ago.
2.  BNL released the song 'The Old Apartment' around that time, and it was directed by Jason Priestley.
3.  Jason Priestley starred in Beverly Hills 90210 with Jennie Garth.
4.  Jennie Garth helped launch the show Melrose Place, which at some point had Kristin Davis in it.
5.  Kristin Davis worked on Sex And The City with Sarah Jessica Parker...and...
6.  Sarah Jessica Parker was in Footloose with KEVIN BACON!!!

You see?  I managed to connect myself to Kevin Bacon...albeit very loosely.

That's just how this weekend ended up.  Because all the entries featured in this weekend have dealt with spoiled princesses.

You had Blair Warner, who as you know was the quintessential rich snob at Eastland.
At Camp Candy, you had Vanessa, who was essentially so up herself, it's a wonder she even went to an outdoor camp in the first place.

Today's entry is no exception, even if the artist meant for the song and video to be done in irony.

Want to watch the video?  I'm sure you do!  (Sorry it's backwards...LOL)



ARTIST: Madonna
SONG:  Material Girl
ALBUM:  Like A Virgin
RELEASED: January 30, 1985
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #2

Madonna.  The biggest chameleon in all of pop music.  She changes her image more often than people change their underpants. 

She's arguably considered to be one of the most influential artists in the world of music.  She's influenced current musical artists with her sense of style and her art of performance during concerts.  Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Lady Gaga...there's a little bit of Madonna in each of 'em, whether you argue for or against it.


By early 1985, Madonna was well on her way to achieving global success and making a household name for herself.  Her self-titled debut album released in 1982 had garnered moderate success, and with hits like 'Holiday' and 'Borderline' making a decent effort on the charts, she was well on her way to success.

Then in 1984, Madonna released the song 'Like A Virgin', which became her very first number one hit, and that song seemed to cement her status on music charts all over the world.  When Madonna's second album of the same name was released on November 12, 1984, it immediately became a huge success, and was considered to be one of the best selling albums of her career. 

Part of that was the success of the title track.  However, that was just the first of the releases from that album.  What song could possibly follow the success of Like A Virgin?

Madonna thought that the song Material Girl would be the perfect song.  In a sense, it was.  Recorded in late 1984, Material Girl came out during a time where yuppies and power brokers were hitting the scene, and where material possessions were sought out for happiness and pleasure.  Even Madonna herself talked about the message behind the song in interviews.  Although she didn't write the song herself, she felt that at the time of its creation, the lyrics seemed to click with her.  In 1986, she said this about Material Girl.  "I'm very career-oriented. You are attracted to people who are ambitious that way, too, like in the song 'Material Girl'. You are attracted to men who have material things because that's what pays the rents and buys you furs. That's the security. That lasts longer than emotions."

At the same time, she thought that the song was quite ironic in comparison to her.  Madonna never saw herself as much of a materialistic person at the time, which certainly contrasted with the song's message, which basically stated that 'poor men need not apply'.

Even the music video for Material Girl was heavily influenced by another blonde bombshell in the past.  If anyone is old enough to remember this movie, or who may have seen it on late-night television, there was a film called 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', which first came out in 1953.  The starlet of the movie was a 27-year-old Marilyn Monroe.  One of the classic moments of this movie was when Marilyn did a stage performance of the song 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend'.  Watch it below, and see if you can spot any similarities to Madonna's video.


The similarities are endless, wouldn't you think?  There's even a resemblance between Marilyn and Madonna, even though the clips were shot thirty-two years apart.

The video is another interesting study in itself.  At the beginning you'll see two movie executives (played by Robert Wuhl and Keith Carradine), and the one played by Carradine has an obvious crush on Madonna, and wants to impress her.  Thinking that because she's a famous performer who is used to the very best in life, he attempts to buy her expensive presents that cost a fortune.

But, wait!  As he approaches her dressing room, he overhears Madonna on the phone with Sandra Bernhard or Rosie O'Donnell, or whoever her friend was back in January 1985, talking about a necklace she just got, and how much she HATES it!  Apparently, unlike Marilyn Monroe, diamonds weren't Madonna's best friend.  She so wanted to have normal things, and was not impressed with suitors who were literally throwing their money away to sweep her off her feet.

It is at that point that Carradine takes his expensive present and THROWS IT IN THE GARBAGE!  Seriously, are you kidding me?  You couldn't have just pawned it off and paid your mortgage?  Sheesh.  Talk about throwing your money away for a girl who isn't interested.



We then cut to the musical performance, which basically goes against what Madonna was telling gal pal du jour.  Decked out in Marilyn Monroe garb, and dancing with guys offering her presents, she warbles on about how 'boys who save their pennies make her rainy day', and how all the 'boys with the cold hard cash are always Mr. Right'.

Because in Madonna's performing world, she was living in a material world, and she was the material girl.

Of course, she wasn't really...she was only pretending.  She did have a contract with Arli$$, after all.

So, after the video was all wrapped up, Madonna was changing back into her street clothes (which look like they were borrowed from the 'Lucky Star' video shoot), and Carradine surprises her with a bouquet of...daisies that looked like they were bought at a dollar store. 

Be still Madonna's heart, for the dollar store flowers have made you go all googly-eyed.

So, the two head into the parking lot of the studio and they pile into what looks like a pickup truck where they make out like two sixteen year olds on Lover's Lane.

But, WAIT!  Did you happen to catch the scene where Carradine hands over a fistful of money to the owner of the pickup truck?  You have to wonder...did he fish the expensive present out of the trash and sell it so he could rent out the love nest for himself and Madonna?

I guess no matter what his intentions are, Carradine proved that we really must live in a material world...well, in some fashion.  And that economical measures can cost a great deal to pull off.

Has much changed in the 26 years since Material Girl was released?  Well, aside from the fact that the economy tanked a few years ago, not a whole lot, really.  I still see people who are obsessed with getting the latest gadgets, or having nice cars and houses, and even so much as paying thousands for a prime parking space.  Certainly more people are pinching pennies in this tough economy, but there are some who seem to be the perfect visualization of material girls (or guys).  See Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, etc...

The song still has some staying power.  Although it's a song that Madonna herself has admitted to cringing at performing, she has performed the song at four of her world tours.


And Madonna teamed up with her fourteen year old daughter, Lourdes to create a clothing line named after the song that this blog happens to be about.

Still though, personally speaking, I guess I'm one of those guys who doesn't see how having money makes someone irresistible.  I'm far from being a material guy, and I just can't see myself getting involved with someone who wants to be a material girl.  Possessions come and go, or can be replaced, or can be dwarfed by the newest, sleekest version.  But, if I'm Keith Carradine's character, I would love to have someone like Madonna in that video...someone who isn't impressed by flashy diamonds or expensive gold, but who is impressed by the emotional feelings that one can give.

To me, that's worth more than anything bought at Tiffany's, Cartier, or even Kay Jewellers.

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Saturday Morning: Camp Candy

Have any of you ever been to summer camp before?  Maybe it was a day-camp where you got to do arts and crafts each day?  Or perhaps a sleepaway camp where you roasted marshmallows over a campfire as you talked about canoeing on the lake?

I never had the good fortune to take part in the actual summer camping experience.  I never did the tent pitching under the stars, or sleeping in a log cabin with other campers.  Never roasted weenies or canoed on a lake, or shot arrows at plastic decoys. 

I wasn't completely deprived of the summer camp experience though.

From the age of six to eleven, I took part in a summer playground program that was run by the Parks and Recreation committee in my small town.  Six playgrounds (usually at elementary schools all over the city) were chosen to host each of these camps, and at each camp were three or four counselors (usually juniors and seniors from the three high schools in town).  Each camp had about forty kids.

What sorts of activities did we take part in?

We did all sorts of things.  Although we only went on Mondays to Fridays from 9-4pm from early July to late August, those days were jam-packed with lots of fun.

We'd play lots of games, like Hot Potato, Hide and Seek, Red Light Green Light, and my personal favourite, Drip Drip Drop (think of it like Duck Duck Goose only with a jug of water that we poured over someone's head when we wanted them to be the goose).

Sometimes, we had people come in to talk 'Nature Lore' with us.  They'd bring in plant samples, and occasionally the odd animal for us to look at, and learn about summer ecosystems.  And yes, it was more fun than I let on...believe me!

We didn't just stay at the school playground all summer long though.  We got to go to places in town, and out of town as well.  Every Wednesday, for example, we would take a trip down to the Youth Arena, and that afternoon was spent doing arts and crafts.  All six playgrounds would gather in the upstairs rooms, and it was one of the few times where we could meet kids from other areas.  I was at the Commonwealth playground five of the six years (except that one summer we were at John Knox, as they were doing renovations the summer of '91), but it was neat to see the Bramshot, St. John Bosco, and Westminister kids.

Thursday afternoons were swimming trips, and like most kids did back in the late eighties and early nineties, we'd head down to St. Lawrence Park and take a dip in the river.  I remember having lots of fun times at that park.

We would even have a couple of field trips along the way.  In July, we'd go down to Crazy Horse park and play mini golf and go down the water slide, while in August, we'd go down to Kingston and play at a sports arena called Studio 801 (which later became Celebrity Sportsworld, which I believe closed down, sadly).

Really, there couldn't have been a better way to spend the summer.  I actually grew sad when I got too old to take part in the program.  What's even more tragic is that the summer playground program was shut down around 1995 because the cost to keep it running grew too high.  It's a real shame, because I think the kids in this community need something like that more than ever.

I just thought that my experiences in the playground program were so filled with happiness, and the days were carefree and exciting that I wish I could go back in time to experience that again.

I can think of another camp that I wish I could go back in time to revisit.  The only difference was that this camp would be one that I could only visit on Saturday mornings on the station known as NBC.  Even so, it was a fantastic camp.


Camp Candy.  One of the coolest summer camps I can remember watching, and one camp that I would have loved to have been a part of.

Well...that is...if I were a two-dimensional cartoon character that is.


Camp Candy was first broadcast in September 1989, and the basic premise is that the camp was run by a cartoon version of comedian and actor John Candy.  Mind you, the camp wasn't exactly your normal camp.

For starters, the campers at the camp certainly had their own distinct personalities, and those personalities could either clash or fit together, depending on the situation the campers found themselves in.



Although the camp seemed to have dozens of campers in each of the bunks and around the campfire, the show seemed to only focus on six kids.  You'll see five of them up above (for some reason, Robin is cut out of this picture, but you can see her in the group shot).  They are...

Alex (red haired girl with pigtails), who was a tomboy at heart and loved competing in sports.
Binky (boy in blue cap), who was an adventurer and loved going on explorations.
Iggy (boy in glasses), Binky's brother, who was a hypochondriac and was afraid of almost everything.
Rick (boy in green and pink shorts), who was a practical joker, and often displayed an arrogant attitude.
Robin (girl with pink bows and black curls) who was a nature-lover and who could mimic animal sounds.
Vanessa (girl with jewelry), a spoiled girl who put fashion ahead of everything else.

You can see these kids in action in this Camp Candy episode, entitled Christmas In July, which coincidentally first aired on December 16, 1989.


Okay, so maybe some things were filled with inaccuracies.  I'm pretty sure that you can't freeze the surface of a swimming pool with an air conditioner, but hey...as Vanessa said, it's the thought that counts, right?

The truth is that I really enjoyed this show a lot, and while it's one that not a lot of people may remember, it brought me a lot of happiness watching it on television. 



I mean, if it was popular enough for Marvel comics to publish a comic book about the show (even if it only lasted a little while), surely it must have had SOME impact, right?

That's why it's still sad to know that there won't be a chance to see new episodes of the series ever again, because of John Candy's sudden death in 1994 at the age of 43.

It is nice to know that he made this cartoon.  He certainly made a lot of kids very happy, in addition to many adults across North America and the world.  I'm glad that this cartoon made it on my list of favourite Saturday morning cartoons, and would gladly watch the show again if ever it came back on in reruns.

Friday, July 08, 2011

TGIF: Blair Warner and Jo Polniaczek from The Facts Of Life

Have you ever wondered how two people who might be so incredibly different from each other in personality, social backgrounds, and belief systems could end up becoming best friends?  How they stand by one another and defend each other no matter what, even though they have absolutely nothing in common?

I'll talk to you about one fictional pair of friends who were just like that, but before I go on, I figure I should introduce the show in which these girls came from.


When The Facts Of Life first premiered on NBC on August 24, 1979, it was initially a spinoff of another successful show called Diff'rent Strokes.  The pilot episode of The Facts Of Life was actually the season one finale of Diff'rent Strokes, and in that episode, Kimberly Drummond (the daughter in Diff'rent Strokes played by the late Dana Plato) was attending Eastland (then called East Lake), where she needed Mrs. Garrett's help to sew costumes for a school play.  At the time, Mrs. Garrett worked as the Drummond's housekeeper.  Mrs. Garrett helped out by making the costumes, and the play was a success.  Mrs. Garrett was asked to stay on at Eastland, but she initially decided to stay with the Drummond family instead.

Apparently, she must have changed her mind over those three months, because by August of 1979, Mrs. Garrett was working as a housemother to seven young girls in Eastland.

The show was a huge ratings success over the years, and the show ran for nine seasons until it finally went off the air on May 7, 1988.  The road to success was kind of a rocky one.  During the first season, the show focused on seven girls (including one played by an eleven year old Molly Ringwald), but by the end of the first season, the decision was made to retool the show.  Four of the girls (including Ringwald's character) were dropped to recurring during the next season, and only Blair, Tootie, and Natalie remained.  To make up for the loss, a new character was brought in named Jo, in the fall of 1980.

And it was in the fall of 1980 that our story starts off between two girls who became friends, even though they had nothing in common.




Blair Warner (played by Lisa Whelchel) and Jo Polniaczek (played by Nancy McKeon) could not be further apart from each other.  In fact, when they first met, they ended up hating each other almost at first sight.


Blair Warner was your typical spoiled princess diva character.  Coming from a privileged family where there was more money than she could even count, Blair had almost everything that money could buy.  Her preppy style of dress and classic blonde-haired beauty look attracted men of all kinds, and she took pride in the fact that she was attractive.  She grew up in the country club scene and was used to having the very best in life.  Blair was also not one to mingle with just anyone.  Although she got along with her housemates Natalie and Tootie, Blair didn't just socialize with anyone.  Quite often, if she felt someone was beneath her, she very rarely talked to them at all.  Her confidence and her appreciation for the rich world have sort of made her a bit flighty, and her spoiled background made it quite difficult for her to appreciate the value of a dollar, or how hard people really worked to make money.  Nevertheless, she was widely considered to be one of the more popular students at Eastland.



Jo Polniaczek's background couldn't be more different.  Growing up in a Polish-American family in the heart of the Bronx, her family was all about working hard to get what they wanted.  Jo's father ended up spending some time in jail for attempted theft...a fact that embarrassed Jo greatly.  Jo gave off the impression that she was a tough street-smart kid who never let anyone walk all over her, but the truth was that she had a softer side that she almost seemed afraid to show off for fear of showing her vulnerability.  While most Eastland students had parents who could afford the tuition, Jo had earned a scholarship to the school.  She rode into Eastland on her motorcycle, which lead to her first meeting with Blair, which didn't exactly go so well.  You'll have to start the video around the three and a half minute mark.



Not exactly the best way to make a first impression, is it? 

Jo disliked Blair because in her judgment, she was a stuck-up rich kid who was so obsessed with material things that she was incredibly shallow.  Blair disliked Jo because she was someone who didn't measure up to her standards, and she found her incredibly classless and tasteless.

Not exactly the seeds that sprout a healthy friendship.

What changed?

As time went on, Blair started to realize that Jo might not be as classless as she initially believed, and started to think that she was misunderstood.  And Jo began to realize that Blair wasn't as stuck-up as she had thought, and that maybe underneath, she was a good person.

In fact, when the girls ended up having to do kitchen duty at Eastland because of a situation that Jo had gotten them into, it was Blair who offered the olive branch first.  It begins into the three minute or four minute mark.




This is an interesting episode, because had it not been for Blair standing up for Jo, and convincing her to talk to Mrs. Garrett about staying, Jo would have left Eastland for good.

Blair also proved to be a good friend to Jo when Jo was invited to a cotillion by one of Blair's rich friends.  It initially didn't start off that way, though, as Blair seemed to be jealous of Jo going out with him in the first place.  But when Jo's date turned out to be a real jerk, Blair helped set things straight.




And, Jo proved to be a great friend to Blair as well.  When Blair got involved with a boy at school who treated her terribly, Jo tried to convince Blair that he was no good for her.





Now, certainly, the friendship between Blair and Jo has been tested quite a few times.  When Jo's scholarship to Eastland was in danger of running out, and Blair tried to get her father to give Jo one, Jo was offended by the gesture, saying that she didn't need anyone's charity.  In the end, she accepted Blair's offer, after a talk with Mrs. Garrett.  And, when Blair's sister came to visit and told everyone that she was going to become a nun, Blair did not take it very well at all.  When Jo tried to defend Blair's sister against Blair, and countered that she wanted to become a nun, Blair immediately got in Jo's face about it and got a punch in the face for her trouble.  It was later revealled that she prayed to God to keep her family together, and the next day, they filed for divorce.  She stopped believing in God after that.  In the end, the event triggered a much needed conversation between Blair and her sister, and she and Jo made up.

Sometimes, the strain between Blair and Jo made for some hilarious moments, such as this 1985 episode entitled 3,2,1.




(Did anyone notice George Clooney was in this episode too?  How surreal.)

So, I guess the point I'm making is this.  Two people can have so many differences between them that it seems almost inconceivable that they would ever become friends.  Yet Blair and Jo did exactly that.  And the reason they did exactly that is simply because they had one thing in common that made all the other differences seem insignificant.

They both wanted to become better people.  And, because of their friendship, they did.

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Thursday Night At The Arcade: Spyro The Dragon

How can a little purple dragon that everyone assumed to be the runt of the litter end up being the hero of several video games, and be regarded as one of the best video game characters of the PlayStation era?

If you are that dragon, and your name happens to be Spyro, it's just a matter of proving your strength and your cleverness to the entire dragon realm, and earning your hero status through hard work and determination.


Spyro The Dragon was released on the PlayStation game console on September 10, 1998, and immediately upon its release, the game garnered positive response from the gaming community, as well as video game magazines and reviewers all over.

In fact, I have a little tale to tell in regards to how I was introduced to the Spyro series of games.  Prior to the PlayStation years, I had been a Nintendo kid for most of my gaming life.  Although my first system was the classic Intellivision, I had always grown up with Nintendo.  I owned both the 8-bit NES, as well as the Super Nintendo.  I never owned the Nintendo 64 or the Nintendo GameCube consoles, as both of them were very expensive, so for years, I remained in Super Nintendo bliss, even after games became harder and harder to find for it.

It wasn't until my cousin ended up buying a PlayStation 2 that I ended up inheriting her old PlayStation console.  Keep in mind, this would be going back to the year 2002.  Nevertheless, I admit that the PlayStation was a huge improvement over the Super Nintendo of yesteryear. 

The first game I ever played on the PlayStation was Spyro the Dragon.  And, what a game it was!



You basically controlled this purple dragon named Spyro (and Spyro was supposed to have been green in the original concept of the game but was changed because the programmers worried he'd disappear against the lush greenery of some of the levels.) through a half-dozen dragon worlds.  Each world had its own distinct theme, and were beautifully designed with intricate detail.  You had the Artisan, Peace Keepers, Magic Crafters, Beast Makers, Dream Weavers Worlds, as well as the final boss realm to make it through.

In each world were three mini-worlds, a flying level, and a guardian in each world to defeat.

The object of the game was to get rid of Gnasty Gnorc, a vile creature that imprisoned each of the adult dragons in bluish-green crystal prisons.  As Spyro, you had to go through each world to rescue the dragons, as well as collecting gems along the way.  The gems varied in colour and value, with red gems the cheapest and most plentiful, and purple gems being the rarest and most expensive.  Obviously, your main goal was to defeat Gnasty Gnorc.  However, if Spyro could find all fifteen thousand gems, rescue all eighty dragons, and rescue twelve dragon eggs from some of Gnasty Gnorc's thieves (who strangely look like Marge Simpson in a blue bathrobe), then you got to see a bonus ending.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of playing this very addictive game, have a look at one of the levels, as played by some random YouTuber.


Although Dark Passage doesn't appear in the game until you reach the Dream Weavers world, there is a reason why I chose to use this level to show off the game.

For one, out of all the levels in the whole game, this one happens to be my favourite one to play.  It's challenging, it has brilliant colour schemes, and the level has the most dragons to rescue and five hundred gems to locate...one of the longest levels in the whole game to complete.

If you can hear the background music of this level, the composer of it has some previous fame.  You may have heard of the band known as 'The Police'.  It was fronted by Sting, and had a few hit singles in the late 1970's and early 1980's before Sting went solo.  Did you know that Stewart Copeland, who was a member of the band, scored all the music for the first four Spyro video games?  The whole soundtrack of Spyro The Dragon was one of the best video game scores for any video game I've ever played, and it was all because of him.

Even the game play was fun.  You found gems lying around on the ground, but sometimes you had to trigger events to get them to show.  Sometimes, you had to ram through a treasure chest.  Sometimes, you had to shoot a rocket at it.  And sometimes, you had to blow up dynamite to get the gems to appear.  The levels all had secrets to them, and if you found every secret, it got you one step closer to Gnasty Gnorc, and helped you get closer to the secret ending.


Oh, and you could also get gems by killing off Gnasty's minions.

The fight against Gnasty is a treacherous one, and Spyro fortunately has help.  He has a dragonfly friend named Sparx that can help Spyro collect gems, and can even protect Spyro from getting attacked by a monster.  Be careful though...Spyro can only take so many hits before Sparx decides to take off, leaving him incredibly vulnerable.

Spyro's levels are mostly on the ground, but there are some cases where Spyro has to fly through levels in order to collect more gems.  Have a look.





This is Icy Flight, and again, this level can be found in the Dream Weavers World (which happens to be my favourite world, might I add).  It's simple.  You have to smash or torch eight of each item in the level (in this case, lamp posts, treasure chests, barrels, and helicopters), and if you do it before time runs out, you beat the level and add some more gems to your total.

So, all in all, it's a really decent game, and I'm happy that of all the games for the PlayStation that this one was my first one.

There's a reason why I chose to talk about this video game for today's blog entry.

Spyro ended up being a huge hero in the game, but prior to Gnasty Gnorc coming in and wreaking havoc, Spyro was considered to be a bit of a runt.  He didn't have nearly the worldly experience and intellect as the guardians of the Dragon Worlds, and he certainly didn't have the skills.  He could breathe fire and fly somewhat, but he couldn't swim, or climb a ladder, or headbash into objects.  (He wouldn't learn how to do those until Spyro 2)

What he lacked in skills, he made up for in heart.

When all the dragons became frozen, Spyro managed to avoid meeting a similar fate by using his small size to his advantage...a fact that initially was considered to be a hinderance.

But, that's the way Spyro was.  He turned his weaknesses into strengths, and because of that, he rescued his friends, defeated Gnasty Gnorc, and saved the treasures from his hench...gnorcs.

I'm gonna say this.  I've had my own little Spyro moment.  Mind you, I never saved dragons from a monster dressed like a container of Jiffy Pop...but I have a story where I turned a weakness into a strength.

It involves my writing ability...or rather, my penmanship ability.

I used to have the most horrible penmanship when I was a kid.  I mean, it was so bad, I used practically a whole page in a notebook just to write one sentence, because that was the only way people could read it.  My motor skills were somewhat on the underdeveloped side, and I had trouble holding pens and pencils the correct way.  I didn't care though.  As long as I could read it, it was fine enough for me.  Besides, most kids my age at the time were competitive, and as far as the class was concerned, the one who finished class assignments the fastest was the smartest kid in the class, so naturally, as a six-year-old, I wanted to rise to the challenge.

(I never said I was INTELLIGENT at six.)

Anyway, I did finish my class assignments in half the time as most of the others.  Problem was, my handwriting was hard to make out.

My first grade teacher at the time (and believe me, I plan on talking about her quite a bit as she held an...ahem...impressionable imprint on my early childhood), once told my parents that my handwriting was so atrocious that I would NEVER learn how to write neatly, and she made sure I was the last one to get the writing notebook (which was a notebook a student got once they learned cursive writing).  Nevermind the fact that there were kids who wrote just as badly as I did, I was the last one.

I got a D in handwriting that whole year.  And those words from her that I would never learn how to write properly again?  I wanted to prove her wrong.

It may have taken me years to improve my motor skills enough to master the art of handwriting, but I believe that I've done a fantastic job now with it.  I'm even starting to learn calligraphy as a result.

All because I was determined not to be defined by my horrible writing.  I would rather be remembered for being a good person, not for things that I could or couldn't do.

I think that's what Spyro wanted too.


Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Across The Pond and Beyond: INXS

For any of you who have followed this blog with any sort of regularity whatsoever, you may recall that my July 3 entry on Amy Grant had one basic theme going for it.  In that blog entry, I said that Amy Grant made the decision to break out of her comfort zone, and it brought forth some rewards in the form of several Billboard hits, a new fan base, and even a new love interest in the form of Vince Gill.  All because she took a chance and took flight in a new direction that paid off.

The blog subject for today's entry happens to deal with a band from the country of Australia that had a similar experience, triggered by the tragic loss of a key member.  The way they went about finding a replacement for the band was definitely out of their comfort zone.  They took a huge chance in the method in which they auditioned candidates, and by all accounts, the whole experiment could have been disasterous.

Instead, the band has regrouped from their loss, and their replacement has fit in (after a rocky start).  In fact, this particular band played at a summer festival here in town three nights ago.  A band I would have loved to have seen.

(Had it not been for my schizophrenic scheduling at work, I would have...but that's a different issue at the moment.)

So, what band am I talking about?


First, let's get a little bit of history about the band, as well as introducing the original line-up.



Okay...if my facial recognitions are correct, here was the original line-up when INXS began in the late 1970's.

From left:
1.  Tim Farriss - lead guitar
2.  Kirk Pengilly - guitar/saxophone
3.  Garry Gary Beers - bass guitar
4.  Michael Hutchence - lead vocalist
5.  Andrew Farriss - keyboards/guitar
6.  Jon Farriss - drums/percussion

The band released their first album in 1980, and had a bit of success in their native Australia, releasing their second album shortly after their first, and having a few modest hits between 1980 and 1981. 

It wasn't until INXS released their third album 'Shabooh Shoobah' that they started to have international success.  One single from that album, 'The One Thing', peaked at #30 on the Billboard Charts in May 1983.  A decent effort, but more was to come as the 1980's progressed.

During the course of the 1980's, INXS released three more albums.  1984's 'The Swing', 1985's 'Listen Like Thieves', and 1987's 'Kick'.  'The Swing' spawned the single 'Original Sin', which ended up being INXS' first number one single overseas.  And 'Listen Like Thieves' gave the band some success as well.  In particular with this song, which happens to be one of this particular blogger's favourite INXS tracks of all time.



(Didn't that video just regurgitate every 1980's stereotype out there?  I still love it, even though I was barely in junior kindergarten when it was released.)

Their last album of the 1980's ended up being INXS' most successful effort, and it was that album that really propelled them to super-stardom.


First things first, how cool is this album cover?  Seriously?  With random band members posing on the album cover, and with Michael Hutchence staring out the corner of his eye at...well, who knows what?  Perhaps he's noticing that he's going to get clonked over the head by that Tony Hawk wannabe on the skateboard?  Only Michael knew the truth, and as you'll discover later on as you read this, he won't be talking about it.

Kick certainly lived up to its name.  Four top ten singles were released from this album.  'Never Tear Us Apart', 'Devil Inside', 'New Sensation', and this hit, which ended up becoming the band's only number one hit on the Billboard Charts.



Need You Tonight is widely considered to be the band's signature hit, and why wouldn't it be?  Not only was it a number one hit, but at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, the video ended up winning five awards.  That's an incredible feat. 

The band followed the success of Kick with their 1990 album 'X', which spawned hit singles with 'Suicide Blonde' and 'Disappear'.  At the time, Michael Hutchence was involved in a relationship with pop singer Kylie Minogue, which brought some of Kylie's fans to the INXS fanbase, and in 1991, embarked on their Summer XS tour, which was a great success.

By 1993, however, interest in the band began to fade.  Certainly their next two albums had charted consistently in Australia and the United Kingdom, but received a lukewarm reception in North America.  In 1997, INXS released the album 'Elegantly Wasted', which was intended to be a comeback album of sorts, and while reviews were mixed, it still managed to sell quite well in Canada, Australia, and the UK.  It seemed as though the band was on the right track again, and the future for the band seemed endless.


On November 22, 1997, Michael Hutchence was found dead inside a Sydney hotel room.  He was only 37 years old.  The reports of his death was ruled to have been a suicide, fueled by alcohol and drug use.  However, that ruling has since been disputed by several sources, including fans of INXS, and really, as of 2011, perhaps the real cause of Hutchence's death will never truly be known.

With Hutchence's death, the band was now left without its voice, as Michael was the lead vocalist on almost all of the songs that brought INXS fame.  The band took a year off to cope with the sudden death of Michael Hutchence before playing again.  They attempted to perform concerts again with replacement vocalists such as Jon Stevens and Terence Trent D'Arby, but it just wasn't the same.

Remember that part at the beginning of this blog entry about how the band took a big risk in trying to find a new lead singer for their band?  This is where it comes into play right here.



By 2005, reality television was gaining in popularity, and talent shows such as American Idol were gaining in popularity.  If you had told anyone ten years earlier that INXS would be using reality television to search for a new lead singer, they probably would have laughed off the idea.

Yet that summer, the band did exactly that.

Rock Star: INXS premiered on CBS on July 11, 2005, where fifteen people competed for the chance to become the new lead singer of the band.  Amongst the competitors were Suzie McNeil, who later achieved success on Canadian music charts, and Tara Slone, a Canadian who had minor success on the charts as well.

The eventual winner of the competition was, yet another Canadian.  One who was living in his car when he applied for the show.


J.D. Fortune had taken a huge chance by applying for the show without so much as having a permanent address at the time.  When he was on the show, he took an even greater risk that ended up influencing the band's decision to choose him as the eventual lead singer of the band.

When the show reached the point where only eight contestants remained, there was a challenge where the competitors were split up into two teams of four.  The challenge was to write lyrics to a melody, provided by Andrew Farriss.  J.D. happened to be in a team where he had trouble seeing eye to eye with the other members in whatever ideas he had for the lyrics.  What eventually happened was that J.D. broke away from his team and wrote lyrics of his own.  This was a risky move, because it could have been seen as J.D. being unable to work in a team environment (which would not be a good quality to have if one were to join an already existing band), but it was a risk that J.D. wanted to take, and he hoped it would pay off.

What was the song in question?  Have a listen.


'Pretty Vegas' was the hit of the show.  The fans loved it.  More importantly, INXS loved it.  The fact that it was a J.D. Fortune creation just made it that much better. 

It was that song that cemented the band's decision to hire J.D. as their new lead singer.  In fact, the song proved to be so popular that when INXS released their 'Switch' album later that year, 'Pretty Vegas' appeared on the album and was released as a single that November.

You see what I'm talking about with the whole idea of stepping outside the comfort zones and bending the rules, and how it can lead to great things if timed correctly?  This was a perfect case.  Had INXS not agreed to do the reality show, they wouldn't have met J.D. Fortune.  Had J.D. Fortune not sent in that application to the show, he wouldn't have been a contestant.  Had J.D. not have broken away from the group challenge to write his own solo lyrics, 'Pretty Vegas' would have never been written, and so on, and so on.

Granted, the road for both INXS and J.D. Fortune hasn't been a rocky one.  It was reported in 2009 that J.D. was fired from the band in Hong Kong (in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Fortune had admitted to cocaine use during this time period), and that lead to a rather tumultuous time period for the band.  By 2010 however, the band had released another album together, and it appears as though INXS has given J.D. another chance.

The band is now currently on tour, with Brockville, Ontario having hosted them for a July 3 concert for the town's Riverfest celebration.

A concert that I would have loved to have gone to.

However, if the success of the concert and the band's future plans are any indication of the what is to come, I have a feeling that I might get another chance to see them in concert again.

I certainly hope that is the case.