Have you ever told a lie in your lifetime thus far?
For about 99.9% of us in this world, the answer is yes. The other 0.1% are either newborn babies, or in complete and total denial.
The truth is that most of us lie at some point. It could be an instance where you're trying to spare someone's feelings. Maybe you're lying to get a day off of work or school? Maybe you lied about not doing a homework assignment, or getting a task done.
It happens. I'll even admit to bending the truth a few times myself.
In retrospect, I can't really remember what it was that I lied about most often. In all honestly, the likely cause was something to do with trying to get out of trouble. Say I accidentally broke a mirror with a baseball that I shouldn't have been throwing in the house in the first place. When my parents tried to give me trouble for it, I'd tell them that my sister broke it instead, or that I tripped and fell, and the mirror broke my fall, or that aliens invaded Canada and smashed every mirror in the neighbourhood, or whatever farfetched story my childlike mind came up with.
The problem with telling a lie is that at some point in time, they always come back to haunt you with a vengeance. On the instance in which a lie was found out (which in the case of my childhood was always), I would end up in more trouble, and end up confined to my room or something like that.
Certainly lying to someone in general is something that is usually not condoned, and we should always strive to tell the truth whenever the need arises. Especially if the lie that you are telling hurts the person you're lying to.
I think this would be a good time to bring up today's Monday Matinee.
Liar, Liar is a movie that was released in March of 1997. It starred Jim Carrey as Fletcher Reede, a defense lawyer who has one flaw.
He lies. He lies a LOT.
On one hand, this has proven to be a blessing for Fletcher. Because of his bending of the truth, he wins case after case, which allows him to climb further up the corporate ladder of the firm he works for. However, Fletcher's compulsive lying has a downside.
As a direct result of his lying, he is jeopardizing the relationship that he has with his young son, Max (Justin Cooper). Because of Fletcher's desire to move up in the firm, he often puts work before his parental responsibilities. He breaks promises to Max, and then when his ex-wife Audrey (Maura Tierney) confronts him about it, he lies and makes up a whole plethora of excuses to cover his own behind. It's also implied in the movie that the reason why Audrey and Fletcher's marriage broke up was also due to his lies and deceit.
In other words, Fletcher is introduced as a cad who will basically spoonfeed lie after lie to his loved ones in order to satisfy his own selfishness.
I wouldn't classify Fletcher Reede as being a very sympathetic character at the beginning of the film.
One day at work, Fletcher's luck seems to be improving. He is representing a woman named Samantha Cole (Jennifer Tilly) in an expensive divorce case, and if Fletcher can pull out a win, it may be enough to become a full-fledged partner in the firm. However, in an incredibly sleazy back-up plan, Fletcher decides to sleep with his boss, Miranda (Amanda Donohoe) in a last ditch effore to become a partner.
As if this idea didn't make your skin crawl already, picture this. The very night Fletcher was doing the horizontal Macarena with boss lady was the same night as his son's birthday party. A party that Fletcher promised that he would attend. So, when Fletcher ended up being a no-show at the party, it really broke Max's heart. In an effort to cheer Max up, Audrey lights the candles on his cake, and tells Max that he can wish for anything he wants, and maybe it will come true. Max blows out the candles, and...well...
Fletcher Reede, this is your life after one gigantic dose of instant karmic retribution, courtesy of your five year old son.
Truth hurts, doesn't it?
I mean, obviously, nobody would ever go up to a random woman and tell her that the real reason people are nice to her is because of her ample bosoms. Well...okay, maybe some actually would, and they'd get a fist full of knuckles as a parting gift.
But this was what would plague Fletcher Reede the entire day. From 8:15 that very night until 8:15 the next night, Fletcher Reede would be incapable of telling a fib, a white lie, a humongous whopper.
Which proved to be incredibly problematic for Fletcher, for the timing could not be all wrong.
For one thing, Fletcher discovered that his ex-wife was planning to marry her new boyfriend (Cary Elwes), and that she and Max were leaving Los Angeles to move to Boston. Having conversations with his ex-wife, and Fletcher telling Audrey that he skipped Max's party to boink the boss certainly didn't diffuse the situation any. In fact, it made Audrey's decision to leave that much easier.
Then there was the problems at work. Beforehand, he could lie his way out of awkward situations smoothly, and kept his social status high by telling his co-workers half-truths to keep them on his good side. But when the ability to lie was taken away from him, and he was forced to shower them with brutal honesty, and possibly ending any social connection that he may have had.
Basically, if Facebook was around in 1997, he would have been unfriended. A lot.
Try as he might though, Fletcher could not tell a lie. He couldn't even write lies, or type lies, or do anything lie-related.
Now comes the kicker. This all happens on the very day that the Samantha Cole trial is to begin. There is a witness that is willing to testify on behalf of Samantha Cole, and is even willing to commit perjury to do it.
But that wouldn't even be an option because Fletcher was unable to even ask a question where the answer would result in a lie. During the course of the trial, he even objected to his own questions, which confused the opposing attorney, and angered the judge.
Add the fact that Miranda (who was still scorned over Fletcher's candid confession after their night together) had overheard Fletcher confess to being unable to tell a lie, and planned to use this to sabotage his chances of ever becoming a partner.
Basically, Fletcher was in a really precarious position, and he needed to find a way out.
Knowing that all of this started when Max made that birthday wish, Fletcher raced over to his son's school and pulled him out of class so that he could cancel out his previous wish and have things go back to normal. Max isn't keen on the idea however, and refuses to honour Fletcher's wish. Fletcher tries to explain that everyone lies in the world, including his mom and her new boyfriend. Max isn't buying it, and in one of the most truthful statements in the whole film, Max tells Fletcher that his lies make him feel bad.
It was at that very moment that Fletcher got his light bulb moment, although his light bulb wasn't shining very brightly at the time.
And, that's as far as I'm going to go with this, because I do not like spoiling movie plotlines (even if the movie is almost fifteen years old). All I will say is that the light bulb moment flashes brilliantly at the Samantha Cole trial, where ironically enough, his inability to lie helps him win the case. It is in the aftermath of the case that Fletcher really takes Max's words to heart, and makes an impulsive decision to stop Audrey and Max from leaving.
Again, you'll just have to watch the movie yourself to find out how it ends.
I really enjoyed this movie a lot. Jim Carrey was brilliant in the film, and all of the actors really made an unbelievable plot a little more believable.
This movie also taught me a very important lesson about the subject of lies. Lies can hurt people, even when you lie to spare their feelings.
If anything, this movie helped me learn how to be more truthful to others about how I am really feeling.
I really don't like showcasing too much of the negative aspects of my life in this blog too much, because I'm at the point in my life where I don't feel a need to showcase that piece of my life anymore. I got it all out of my system now, and now that it's out, I feel so much better about myself. It is true what they say about the truth being able to set you free. I know that by being so open and honest about the pain and the struggles that I went through in my past, it has freed me to become the man I am now. Which isn't a bad guy, if I do say so myself.
I wasn't always so honest though. I didn't always tell the truth about what was happening with me in school. When people saw that I was upset and they asked me what was wrong, I would always fib, and tell them that I was fine, and that they shouldn't worry. The truth was that I wasn't fine. I really needed to talk to someone about the bullying that I went through, and the emotional abuse that I was subjected to at school, but I lied about the real impact that it had on me because I was worried that people wouldn't take it seriously. I honestly thought that most of them would say that I was overreacting, or that I was making it out to be bigger than it was.
So, I kept my real feelings bottled up inside for a long time. By the time they came out, they had been festering in bitterness and anger that I wasn't exactly sure of how to manage them. It's taken time, but I think I'm a lot better at handling it. Still, I kept lying to others about how I felt, while simultaneously lying to myself. It was almost a vicious cycle. The more I told others that things were okay when they really weren't, the more I ended up lying to myself.
I managed to break that cycle, but I know how Fletcher felt in the movie. Yes, it's a fictionalized situation that is very unlikely to happen. The point is that the more lies Fletcher told in the movie, the more he hurt those closest to him. And by hurting those closest to him, he ultimately ended up hurting himself the most.
Ultimately, Fletcher Reede saw the error of his ways, and he tried to set things right so that he could find his inner peace again. I'd like to think that I'm doing the same, although my journey is nowhere near over at this stage.
At least I can look back on this blog entry and say that it was written with one hundred per cent honesty.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sunday Jukebox - A Commentary On The Death Of Amy Winehouse
I'm sure by now, everyone reading this blog has heard about the death of troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse, who was found dead at her home in London on July 23, 2011 at age 27.
As news quickly spread through media outlets and throughout social media, it became very clear that everybody had an opinion on Amy's passing. Lately, it seemed that she was beginning to stray from the road to fame to dilly-dally in the land of infamy. With her drug and alcohol dependency being well-documented, and the British paparazzi scrutinizing every move she made, it was almost as if Amy Winehouse had become a joke in a sense. No longer known for the sultry, soulful voice that won her so many accolades just five years earlier, it was almost as if we were watching the media tear her apart with stories and articles that may or may not have been the whole truth. Add in her relationship drama and bouts of irrational and erratic behaviour, and we were witness to a recipe for disaster in the making.
I certainly am not going to make any excuses for the way she lived life, but I do feel that there were some aspects that were quite unfair in retrospect.
I hate the way that the media descends on the personal problems of celebrities like vultures who haven't eaten in ten days, and then proceed to publish a slew of half-truths just to sell their magazines and keep their sponsors happy. In fact, it infuriates me.
Yes, Amy Winehouse had her problems. Yes, Amy Winehouse could have sought help at any time, but refused. Yes, Amy Winehouse had some inkling that she would have to be in the public eye if she was to pursue a recording career. Yes, Amy Winehouse's death could have been avoided.
At the same time, no, I don't feel Amy Winehouse deserved the poison and vitriol and mean-spiritedness that some of these gossip rags had the gall to print. She needed the same things that all addicts need. Tough love. Support. The knowledge that there is life in sobriety. Instead, all that the media gave her was scrutiny and despair, which may have sped up her demise.
I'm not saying that the press did not have the right to write any publicity for Amy Winehouse. But there are limitations as to how far someone can go to get a story. In fact, Winehouse herself obtained an injunction against a group of paparazzi for taking unwanted photos of her for publication under a United Kingdom law known as the 'Protection from Harassment 1997' act. Soon after, photographers and paparazzi could not go within 100 metres of her home, and they were barred from taking photographs of her inside her home, as well as the homes of her immediate family and close friends. The reason she did this was to protect herself and her family from them due to safety concerns.
I guess the opinion that I have regarding this is that I believe the statement 'all publicity is good publicity' is a load of horse dung. Clearly, Amy Winehouse was uncomfortable with paparazzi invading her personal space, and I can't say I blame her one bit. It is true that as a celebrity, Winehouse should have expected to give interviews and allow herself to be photographed, or filmed, or what have you. Under the right circumstances, she would have been more than happy to have allowed it. But some of those photographers crossed a line they had no business crossing in the first place, and in my honest opinion, it was one factor that may have lead to the self-inflicted destruction that would inevitably cost Amy Winehouse her life.
But, don't get me wrong. I know that in the end, Amy had every possible opportunity in the world to try and overcome her addictions, and to become a better person. The whole point for this blog is not to make judgment calls on anyone, and to not judge anyone harshly without reason. Nobody knows what went on inside Amy's head except Amy, and while her death is heartbreaking for her family as well as her fans, there is something that we can learn from it.
Her problems with substance abuse have been well documented in the press. While some media outlets skewered and distorted facts to make the articles more sensationalistic in nature, the fact remains that even Winehouse herself had admitted to the overuse of drugs and alcohol. Winehouse's family speculated that the death of her grandmother may have kick-started Amy's dependency of substances, and in the summer of 2007, was hospitalized due to an overdose.
Ironically enough, it was during this time period that Amy's singing career really began to skyrocket. Having had great success in the UK with her 2003 debut album Frank, Amy's second album Back to Black received even more critical praise. She had attained American success with the album, and at the 2007 Grammy Awards, she was nominated for six awards, and won five of them. The categories she won an award in included 'Best New Artist', 'Record Of The Year', and 'Song Of The Year'.
Amy's personal life seemed to be hitting speed bump after speed bump, but her career was on smooth sailing.
I have heard that the irony pill is a really bitter one to swallow, and in the case of Amy Winehouse, not even sucking the juice out of fifty lemons could be as bitter as the irony that surrounded Amy's success. For it was this song that really put her on the map. A song that is the very definition of tragic irony, given her ultimate fate.
ARTIST: Amy Winehouse
SONG: Rehab
ALBUM: Back To Black
DATE RELEASED: October 23, 2006
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #9
Although the song was initially released in the United Kingdom in late October 2006, it wouldn't be until early 2007 until the American audience was introduced to Amy through this song, which peaked at #9 on the American charts (and #7 on the UK charts).
What makes this song stand out is that the lyrics of the song are autobiographical. The story behind the creation of the song was that Amy's management team wanted her to check into an alcohol treatment center, and she flat out refused to go. She talked to her father about it and asked him his thoughts about it, and what she should do. Her father told her that she should try it out but felt as though she didn't need it at the time.
Hence the chorus,
"They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no
Yes, I've been black but when I come back you'll know, know, know
I ain't got the time and if my daddy thinks I'm fine
He's tried to make me go to rehab, I won't go, go, go.
Quite the song, eh? Now that Amy Winehouse has passed on, these lyrics become even more haunting.
It's important to know that Amy Winehouse did attempt rehab on a couple of noted occasions, and I do believe that she wanted to better herself, especially after what would become one of her final public appearances before her death.
June 18, 2011 was supposed to have been a good day for Winehouse. It was the kick-off to her 2011 European tour in Belgrade, and it had all the makings of being a great show. It turned out to anything but. It was bad enough that she had forgotten song lyrics as well as the names of her band members, but on top of that, she could not remember what city she was in. She was reportedly booed off of the stage due to her being too intoxicated to perform, and three days later, she cancelled the remainder of the tour.
Did she have every intention of wanting to change after that incident? Nobody can say for sure. Certainly, she had sought help from a variety of sources in the past, but you could tell that she was, at best, flippant over the matter. I would like to believe that she meant it when she said that she wanted to sort herself out, and honestly, I think in Amy's mind, she wanted to believe that too.
Nobody could have known what kind of an impact Amy Winehouse would have had in the music business five, even ten years into the future. Sadly, we will never know. What we do know is that in the short time Amy Winehouse was alive, she breathed new life into the British music industry, and revived the genre of soul. Her success in the United States helped up-and-coming British singers Duffy and Adele gain a following within America, and even current popular artists like Lady Gaga admits to being influenced by Amy Winehouse. Amy's distinct look and unconventional appearance gave other women the strength to go after their dreams. After all, if Amy could have success on the charts, there's no reason why they couldn't.
Amy Winehouse also had one of the best musical voices that I myself have ever heard. Rich, soulful, smoky...it was very pleasing to the ear. What was even more astounding about it was that Winehouse possessed real natural talent. Unlike some of the current crop of singers and recording artists out currently, Amy never needed a voice modifier or crafty editing. Her talent was real. And that's the cruelest twist of fate in this very sad event.
As of this writing, we really don't know what killed Amy Winehouse. However, no matter what the cause of death, it is sadly another example of great talent being lost forever, and a lesson for all of us in the horrible effects of drug and alcohol abuse. I guess in some ways, I'm glad that I never so much as went down that road, even though I could have easily succumbed to it in my youth. I'm happy that I didn't. Watching people like Amy Winehouse lose everything because of it makes me not want to touch another drop of alcohol ever again. And I've seen too many people do that to themselves to start anytime soon.
I just hope that when the dust settles and all the pieces to the puzzle are put together, that Amy Winehouse will finally be able to rest in peace. More importantly, I wish that one day, people will look past the tabloid reports and the demons that haunted her in life, and in death, remember her for the musical talent she brought forth in a life that was cut too short.
Amy Winehouse
1983-2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Saturday Morning: Chip 'N' Dale's Rescue Rangers
On yesterday's entry, I talked about how the typical sitcom seems to be losing its lustre against cheaply made reality programs.
Today, I'll be talking about the death of Saturday Morning cartoons, and how I wish that somewhere down the line, network executives will realize that we don't want extended weekend news programs, or infomercials. We want Saturday mornings back to the way they used to be, with hours of cartoons.
I'd even watch a half hour of nothing but retro cereal commercials, just so I can watch the Cookie Crisp robbers or Fred Flintstone get cheated out of yet another box of Fruity Pebbles by Barney Rubble.
In fact, I'm just going to come out and say it. I hate that the children of today are getting gypped out of the opportunity to experience a good old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoon experience. I hope that with this blog, I inspire a lot of memories and fond remembrances of cartoons gone by for people my age and older. I also have a secondary goal of introducing these wonderful cartoons to the kids of today with great hope that they can take even a little bit of the Saturday morning magic that we adults wish we still had.
Back when I was a child, you had cartoons that aired all morning long, and then around noon, they would break for the weekend news break. On some stations, the cartoons would continue running until six o'clock in the evening. That's almost ten solid hours of cartoon watching!
Mind you, I didn't spend ALL ten hours in front of the television. That would have just been silly.
Truth be told, when a lot of the Canadian channels used to air cartoons until six o'clock, they would just rerun the more popular cartoons that aired earlier in the day. This worked for me though, because back when I was younger, I usually only watched the one network (more often than not, it was NBC), and watching them in the afternoon, I could get caught up on the shows that aired on ABC and CBS. Good times to be had. For many years, I would watch cartoons on and off, and had so many fond memories of watching them all. Of course, you knew that Saturday cartoons could only air for so long, and around five o'clock, when Global aired The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, that the end of another Saturday was here.
I guess I feel bad for the children of today. They can choose between news programs, informercials, and four-year-old episodes of Hannah Montana and That's So Raven. To me, that's not even a choice at all. It's pathetic that Saturday mornings are so...well...dull now. Especially looking back and knowing that they weren't always.
Case in point...this block of cartoons that I used to watch on a station called ITV (which later became Global Edmonton).
The Disney Afternoon. Two hours of classic Disney cartoons that would air from 3:00-5:00 pm Ontario time. They showed all the classics such as Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, and so many more.
I'm forming a tear in my eye just thinking about it.
The way the Disney Afternoon worked was that they would air cartoons and sometimes depending on where you watched it, you'd have a host broadcasting viewer birthdays, or going on live remotes that were Disney themed (on the station I watched it on, the host was Mike Sobel, who is now Global Edmonton's weather personality).
There were lots of shows that I could have featured as a part of the Disney Afternoon. Heck, I could have done a blog entry on the Disney Afternoon itself. But that would take away from the joy and the excitement that each show would bring. So I thought that I would open up the Disney Afternoon vaults and look at a random show, and try to find out why I liked it so much. (And at some point, the whole schedule will be posted as future entries.)
So to kick it off, I'll start by featuring a show that was one of my favourites in the Disney Afternoon block.
Ah, Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers, how I do love you!
I'm being absolutely serious as well. If I could make a list of all of my favourite classic Disney characters ever, Chip and Dale would make the top of the list each time. These chipmunks always kept me entertained in their classic cartoons, but were more of less forgotten about over time in favour of more established characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
That was until the late 1980's when the chipmunks were given a new lease on life.
Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, when the Rescue Rangers show was first thought up, Chip and Dale weren't even to be a part of the show initially. Some of the characters that would appear in the show were created and managed to stay on, but the lead character was supposed to be a mouse named Kit Colby, dressed in a fedora and fluffy collared jacket, much like the character of Indiana Jones. The idea was pitched to Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg who loved the idea, but weren't too keen on the creation of Kit Colby.
Eisner suggested dropping the character of Kit Colby, and replacing them with Chip and Dale, since they were already established Disney characters.
After the show was retooled to include Chip (given Kit Colby's outfit), and Dale (given a Hawaiian shirt that made him resemble Magnum P.I.), the show was given the title of Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers. The premise was for Chip and Dale to open up a detective agency and solve crimes that were too small or insignificant for the police to be called in.
A preview episode of the series debuted on August 27, 1988, and seven months later in March 1989, the official series kicked off. Below is the episode 'Catteries Not Included', the preview episode that aired back in 1988.
The reason why I chose this particular episode was because it was the first one that debuted on television (despite the fact that it is labelled episode two, but also because it does a great job of introducing and establishing the characters. It also explains why Chip and Dale opened up the detective agency.
If you've seen the episode, the little girl in the episode was looking for her lost cat, and the police flat-out refused to help her in finding him, saying that lost cats were out of their jurisdiction. So Chip and Dale took on the case, trying to reunite the cat with its owner, while at the same time stumbling onto a bigger mystery in the process.
That's really how every episode worked. They started off on small cases, but inadvertedly ended up contributing to solving a bigger mystery, or stopping larger crimes.
Naturally, the main driving forces behind the success of the Rescue Rangers were Chip and Dale. Chip is the more serious of the duo, and is so responsible and eager to get the job done that he's often accused of being a sort of killjoy. Sometimes, he is so set in his ways and the orderly manner in which he likes to work that he often has arguments with Dale, who is way more laid-back. Dale has a mischievious side to him and sometimes gets into trouble with his irresponsible personality. He likes to have fun in his spare time, and has an addiction to sweets.
Basically, Dale is quite a bit like I am...only I have Chip's responsible nature. Most of the time.
Chip and Dale do make a great team regardless, and often their teamwork (while usually on different pages in the same book) blends well and gets tasks accomplished. With arch-enemies like Fat Cat and Norton Nimnul creating one mad scheme after another, the detectives always had to keep an eye out for danger. But they didn't just do it alone. They had three friends who were willing to help them through.
First, you had Australian mouse Monterey Jack (or Monty for short), a mouse descended from a long line of travelling mice. He spent years touring the world before running into Chip and Dale and joining the detective agency. He even had a personal score to settle with Fat Cat after he was responsible for destroying his home. Monty proves to be a great ally for Chip and Dale. With his huge size, he definitely has more strength than the others on the team, however he has a quick temper. He also has a weakness, related to his strong addiction to cheese products. Whenever he sees cheese or smells cheese in any form, he is immediately drawn to it. Even his eyes show off a hypnotic glow whenever cheese is in the picture.
Next, we have Zipper, a green housefly who happens to be the sidekick of Monty. Don't let his small size and unintelligible gibberish (which only Monty and other insects can understand) fool you into thinking he's weak. His intense loyalty towards his friends can give him superhuman strength when the situation calls for it, and his ability to fly and sneak into small spaces are a huge asset to the team.
Lastly, you have Gadget Hackwrench, a female mouse, and the mechanic and inventor of the team. She was the one who designed the Ranger Plane, and can take ordinary household items and turn them into something fantastic and useful. Sometimes her inventions can stop working, or even fail entirely at the worst possible moment, but she does try new things. Chip and Dale both have a crush on her...crushes that remained unreciprocated for the duration of the series. Monterey Jack treats Gadget like a daughter (he was friends with her deceased father), and it was Monty who introduced Gadget to the team.
I think this show was a fond favourite of mine because it showed us that size is insignificant to determination. Nobody would expect a couple of chipmunks, two mice, and a housefly to break open some of the biggest cases in the whole city, but they managed to do exactly that. It may not have been exactly what they wanted to do, or they may have done it by accident trying to solve another case, but the fact remains that at least they made the effort to make things right, when their human counterparts never gave it a second glance.
The Rescue Rangers were my heroes, and until they left the Disney Afternoon timeslot in the fall of 1993, I watched them every Saturday.
I just wish other kids could enjoy them just as much as I did.
Today, I'll be talking about the death of Saturday Morning cartoons, and how I wish that somewhere down the line, network executives will realize that we don't want extended weekend news programs, or infomercials. We want Saturday mornings back to the way they used to be, with hours of cartoons.
I'd even watch a half hour of nothing but retro cereal commercials, just so I can watch the Cookie Crisp robbers or Fred Flintstone get cheated out of yet another box of Fruity Pebbles by Barney Rubble.
In fact, I'm just going to come out and say it. I hate that the children of today are getting gypped out of the opportunity to experience a good old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoon experience. I hope that with this blog, I inspire a lot of memories and fond remembrances of cartoons gone by for people my age and older. I also have a secondary goal of introducing these wonderful cartoons to the kids of today with great hope that they can take even a little bit of the Saturday morning magic that we adults wish we still had.
Back when I was a child, you had cartoons that aired all morning long, and then around noon, they would break for the weekend news break. On some stations, the cartoons would continue running until six o'clock in the evening. That's almost ten solid hours of cartoon watching!
Mind you, I didn't spend ALL ten hours in front of the television. That would have just been silly.
Truth be told, when a lot of the Canadian channels used to air cartoons until six o'clock, they would just rerun the more popular cartoons that aired earlier in the day. This worked for me though, because back when I was younger, I usually only watched the one network (more often than not, it was NBC), and watching them in the afternoon, I could get caught up on the shows that aired on ABC and CBS. Good times to be had. For many years, I would watch cartoons on and off, and had so many fond memories of watching them all. Of course, you knew that Saturday cartoons could only air for so long, and around five o'clock, when Global aired The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, that the end of another Saturday was here.
I guess I feel bad for the children of today. They can choose between news programs, informercials, and four-year-old episodes of Hannah Montana and That's So Raven. To me, that's not even a choice at all. It's pathetic that Saturday mornings are so...well...dull now. Especially looking back and knowing that they weren't always.
Case in point...this block of cartoons that I used to watch on a station called ITV (which later became Global Edmonton).
The Disney Afternoon. Two hours of classic Disney cartoons that would air from 3:00-5:00 pm Ontario time. They showed all the classics such as Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, and so many more.
I'm forming a tear in my eye just thinking about it.
The way the Disney Afternoon worked was that they would air cartoons and sometimes depending on where you watched it, you'd have a host broadcasting viewer birthdays, or going on live remotes that were Disney themed (on the station I watched it on, the host was Mike Sobel, who is now Global Edmonton's weather personality).
There were lots of shows that I could have featured as a part of the Disney Afternoon. Heck, I could have done a blog entry on the Disney Afternoon itself. But that would take away from the joy and the excitement that each show would bring. So I thought that I would open up the Disney Afternoon vaults and look at a random show, and try to find out why I liked it so much. (And at some point, the whole schedule will be posted as future entries.)
So to kick it off, I'll start by featuring a show that was one of my favourites in the Disney Afternoon block.
Ah, Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers, how I do love you!
I'm being absolutely serious as well. If I could make a list of all of my favourite classic Disney characters ever, Chip and Dale would make the top of the list each time. These chipmunks always kept me entertained in their classic cartoons, but were more of less forgotten about over time in favour of more established characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
That was until the late 1980's when the chipmunks were given a new lease on life.
Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, when the Rescue Rangers show was first thought up, Chip and Dale weren't even to be a part of the show initially. Some of the characters that would appear in the show were created and managed to stay on, but the lead character was supposed to be a mouse named Kit Colby, dressed in a fedora and fluffy collared jacket, much like the character of Indiana Jones. The idea was pitched to Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg who loved the idea, but weren't too keen on the creation of Kit Colby.
Eisner suggested dropping the character of Kit Colby, and replacing them with Chip and Dale, since they were already established Disney characters.
After the show was retooled to include Chip (given Kit Colby's outfit), and Dale (given a Hawaiian shirt that made him resemble Magnum P.I.), the show was given the title of Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers. The premise was for Chip and Dale to open up a detective agency and solve crimes that were too small or insignificant for the police to be called in.
A preview episode of the series debuted on August 27, 1988, and seven months later in March 1989, the official series kicked off. Below is the episode 'Catteries Not Included', the preview episode that aired back in 1988.
The reason why I chose this particular episode was because it was the first one that debuted on television (despite the fact that it is labelled episode two, but also because it does a great job of introducing and establishing the characters. It also explains why Chip and Dale opened up the detective agency.
If you've seen the episode, the little girl in the episode was looking for her lost cat, and the police flat-out refused to help her in finding him, saying that lost cats were out of their jurisdiction. So Chip and Dale took on the case, trying to reunite the cat with its owner, while at the same time stumbling onto a bigger mystery in the process.
That's really how every episode worked. They started off on small cases, but inadvertedly ended up contributing to solving a bigger mystery, or stopping larger crimes.
Naturally, the main driving forces behind the success of the Rescue Rangers were Chip and Dale. Chip is the more serious of the duo, and is so responsible and eager to get the job done that he's often accused of being a sort of killjoy. Sometimes, he is so set in his ways and the orderly manner in which he likes to work that he often has arguments with Dale, who is way more laid-back. Dale has a mischievious side to him and sometimes gets into trouble with his irresponsible personality. He likes to have fun in his spare time, and has an addiction to sweets.
Basically, Dale is quite a bit like I am...only I have Chip's responsible nature. Most of the time.
Chip and Dale do make a great team regardless, and often their teamwork (while usually on different pages in the same book) blends well and gets tasks accomplished. With arch-enemies like Fat Cat and Norton Nimnul creating one mad scheme after another, the detectives always had to keep an eye out for danger. But they didn't just do it alone. They had three friends who were willing to help them through.
First, you had Australian mouse Monterey Jack (or Monty for short), a mouse descended from a long line of travelling mice. He spent years touring the world before running into Chip and Dale and joining the detective agency. He even had a personal score to settle with Fat Cat after he was responsible for destroying his home. Monty proves to be a great ally for Chip and Dale. With his huge size, he definitely has more strength than the others on the team, however he has a quick temper. He also has a weakness, related to his strong addiction to cheese products. Whenever he sees cheese or smells cheese in any form, he is immediately drawn to it. Even his eyes show off a hypnotic glow whenever cheese is in the picture.
Next, we have Zipper, a green housefly who happens to be the sidekick of Monty. Don't let his small size and unintelligible gibberish (which only Monty and other insects can understand) fool you into thinking he's weak. His intense loyalty towards his friends can give him superhuman strength when the situation calls for it, and his ability to fly and sneak into small spaces are a huge asset to the team.
Lastly, you have Gadget Hackwrench, a female mouse, and the mechanic and inventor of the team. She was the one who designed the Ranger Plane, and can take ordinary household items and turn them into something fantastic and useful. Sometimes her inventions can stop working, or even fail entirely at the worst possible moment, but she does try new things. Chip and Dale both have a crush on her...crushes that remained unreciprocated for the duration of the series. Monterey Jack treats Gadget like a daughter (he was friends with her deceased father), and it was Monty who introduced Gadget to the team.
I think this show was a fond favourite of mine because it showed us that size is insignificant to determination. Nobody would expect a couple of chipmunks, two mice, and a housefly to break open some of the biggest cases in the whole city, but they managed to do exactly that. It may not have been exactly what they wanted to do, or they may have done it by accident trying to solve another case, but the fact remains that at least they made the effort to make things right, when their human counterparts never gave it a second glance.
The Rescue Rangers were my heroes, and until they left the Disney Afternoon timeslot in the fall of 1993, I watched them every Saturday.
I just wish other kids could enjoy them just as much as I did.
Friday, July 22, 2011
TGIF: I Love Lucy
I'd like everyone to pause for a moment to remember a television institution that seems to be on life-support in the year 2011.
The television sitcom.
Certainly, there are some sitcoms that are doing well on the television landscape currently. How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and Two And A Half Men seem to be trucking along just fine (although that last one will be interesting with Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen).
However, for every current sitcom that is on the air, there is about a hundred reality shows being crammed down our throats. I'm not the type of person to completely dismiss all reality television, as I'm the first one to admit that I watch Big Brother on a regular basis, and I'll readily admit to rolling my eyes in amusement at Rachel hiding in a bush after Jeff and Jordan yelled at her...
...alas, I'm going on one of my world famous tangents that I'm known for.
The point is that I'm not completely against the latest television trend of reality television, as there are some shows that I find interesting, entertaining, and in some rare cases, educational. (I know, hard to believe, huh?)
I should also note that I do not include shows such as Jersey Shore, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Paris Hilton's My New BFF, and any show that features Flavor Flav, real housewives of wherever, or New York (the person, not the state).
That said, the recent obsession for reality television shouldn't put sitcoms and other scripted shows on the backburner. The actors on those shows are fantastic to watch, and plus, many writers would be out of work if television became all reality, all the time. As a self-confessed Big Brother addict, not even I would want to see that happen.
That's why for this blog entry, I would celebrate the life of the traditional sitcom by featuring one that is widely declared as one of the best television sitcoms ever made. A sitcom that blended warmth with slapstick comedy, and whose star was just as remembered for her comedic timing as she was her red hair.
A sitcom that celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
I Love Lucy starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who were husband and wife in the show, as well as off-screen. The show debuted on CBS on October 15, 1951 and ran until May 6, 1957, followed by several one hour episodes that ran under different titles until 1960. During its run, it ranked at the top of the Neilsen ratings for four of those six seasons. In fact, when the show ended in 1957, it was still at the top of the pack. The only other shows to end their run with the same success were The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld. It won five Emmy awards, and was constantly ranked one of the all-time best television programs by several media and entertainment magazines.
Part of that success lies in the show's namesake. With her quick wit and her penchant for physical comedy, Lucille Ball really was the belle of the ball in every episode that she appeared in. Desi Arnaz was equally charming as Ricky Ricardo, who had established himself as a successful entertainer. To round out the cast, you had William Frawley and Vivian Vance as Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also had a background in show business, and who often jokingly made fun of each other. Lucy and Ethel would become best friends, and the two of them would often get into a lot of mishaps together. Lucy always wanted a career in stardom, and wanted desperately to have the same success in entertainment as Ricky, Fred, and Ethel had. Any attempt she did make turned out to be a complete disaster, which set the tone for quite a few episodes of the serial.
The show was one that I loved as a kid. Obviously, I was not born when the show originally aired on television. However, years ago a television network based out of Kingston, Ontario called CKWS used to air the reruns of the show. If I remember correctly, it always aired when I went home for lunch, and I would usually watch the show then. Sixty years later, the show is still syndicated in dozens of countries, and is still beloved by fans both new and old.
The show was an entertaining one to watch on television, but there were plenty of other things that happened behind the scenes that were just as amusing, thought-provoking, and even shocking.
You know where this is going right? If you guessed that I was going to turn this blog entry into a list of bulleted points that has trivia about the show, you would be right. I did it on July 2, I did it on July 12, and now I'm doing it for July 22.
Hey, I have to have some pattern here, right?
So, are you ready for some trivia and facts about the show and its stars that you may or may not know? I bet you are!
1. We'll start off this list of trivia on a sad note. None of the four original stars of 'I Love Lucy' are still alive. Willam Frawley died in 1966. Vivian Vance passed away in 1979. Desi Arnaz lost his battle with cancer in 1986, and Lucille Ball, the last of the four died in April 1989.
2. Originally, Vivian Vance was not the first choice to play the role of Ethel Mertz. Other actresses considered for the role were Bea Benaderet and Barbara Pepper.
3. Ironically enough, when Vivian Vance's name came up as a possible Ethel Mertz, Lucille Ball herself was a little wary of Vance in the role. The initial description of Ethel Mertz was that of an older, homely woman, and Vance had a more glamourous appearance than what the writers planned. Vance insisted that with make-up and practice, she could achieve the vision that everyone wanted of Ethel Mertz, and after a few rehearsals, Lucille Ball got used to the idea. The two women would form a strong working relationship, and became very good friends. It also helped that they had such strong chemistry on screen for moments such as this one.
4. While Vivian Vance got along well with Lucy and Desi, it wasn't quite the same cordial relationship between her and her on-screen husband, William Frawley. They worked well enough on camera for viewers to take to the couple, and never showed signs of a fractured relationship on screen. Off screen though, they greatly disliked each other. Reportedly, the feud stemmed from Vance being unhappy about having a man who was much older than her as her on-screen husband (at the time the series debuted, Vance was 42 and Frawley was 64). Frawley overheard Vance complaining about him repeatedly, and was greatly offended. The relationship was frosty ever since.
5. The relationship was so strained between Vance and Frawley that it effectively nixed a proposed spin-off to 'I Love Lucy'. In 1960, Lucille and Desi proposed a 'Fred and Ethel' series to the two actors. Despite his feelings for Vance, Frawley was more than willing to go ahead with the spinoff idea, but Vance flat out refused for the reason that she never wanted to work with Frawley again. After that, neither one of them had anything to do with each other.
6. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz both were excited at the prospect of William Frawley taking on the role of Fred Mertz, as he had already established himself as a Hollywood actor. Others weren't quite so enthusiastic. Executives from CBS had heard of Frawley's notorious instability and his excessive alcohol drinking (one of the main reasons why Barbara Pepper did not get the role as Ethel Mertz). Desi assured the executives that Frawley would not be a problem, and he informed him that if he ever showed up to work drunk, or missed work because of alcohol, his character would be written out of the show. To Frawley's credit, he always showed professionalism at work, and his drinking was never a problem on set. As a result of this, Desi Arnaz became one of Frawley's few close friends.
7. William Frawley's contract had an unusual clause within it. Because he was a huge fan of the New York Yankees, he had it stated in his contract that if the Yankees made it to the World Series, he would have the time off from work until the World Series was over. As it happened, during the run of 'I Love Lucy', the only year that the Yankees didn't make it in was 1954. As a result of this contract, Frawley missed two episodes.
8. Everyone knows of the classic 'I Love Lucy' opening, which I posted near the beginning of this blog entry. But, did you know that it wasn't the original opening? The opening which most of us are familiar with were created specifically for the syndicated showings and reruns. The original openings showed an animated Lucy and Ricky Ricardo advertising the sponsors who helped fund the program. The original sponsor was Philip Morris, which was a company that made cigarettes (could you imagine a cigarette company sponsoring a television program these days?)
Just to show you how different (and disturbing) these openings were, I happened to find one from 1953.
Again...you'd never see openings like this on current television shows. Well, unless the ads encouraged one to QUIT smoking, at least.
9. The Ricardos lived in New York City, and their address was 623 East 68th Street.
10. Desilu Productions was founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball in 1950. The initial reason behind the creation of the company was to produce a vaudeville act starring the couple. There was however another motive behind the creation of Desilu. Upon hearing that CBS executives wanted to create a television version of the popular radio show 'My Favorite Husband', Desi wanted to show them through their act that the public could accept a marriage between a Cuban and a Scotch-Irish American. That television project evolved into 'I Love Lucy', and following a cut in salary, Desi and Lucy retained full ownership and creative control.
11. When the original pilot for 'I Love Lucy' was filmed, Lucille Ball was already pregnant with hers and Desi's first child, Lucie. Although she was showing, the show never made any references to her pregnancy at the time. CBS felt that talking about pregnancy on the show was in bad taste, and ad agencies even told Desi that showing a pregnant woman on screen was not a good idea. Ah, the fifties. Lucie Arnaz was born on July 17, 1951.
12. During the filming of season two, Lucille Ball became pregnant again, and the decision was made to write the pregnancy into the show. CBS did not want any of the actors saying the word 'pregnant' on the show, so instead, Lucy was 'expecting'. Even the episode title was written in such a way that the word pregnant wasn't technically used. The episode title was 'Lucy Is Enceinte', which is the French word for pregnant. The moment where Lucy tells Desi the exciting news can be found below.
13. The birth of Little Ricky was featured in the episode 'Lucy Goes To The Hospital'. It was the very first instance of a birth being broadcast on television.
14. The episode in which Lucy gives birth first aired on January 19, 1953, which happened to be the exact date that Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. Which coincidentally makes Lucy's pregnancy either one of the shortest ever, or Lucy never showed signs of being pregnant until very late into the pregnancy, as she told Ricky she was pregnant on December 8, 1952!
15. A reported 44 million people watched the episode where Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky...more than the inauguration of President Eisenhower, and more than the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
16. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Jr. appeared on the very first issue of TV Guide magazine in 1953.
17. During the 1950's, several Hollywood stars found themselves blacklisted for having affiliations with the Communist party, and Lucille Ball was one of the actresses that was accused of having ties to communism. During a warm-up of an episode of 'I Love Lucy', Desi Arnaz filled the audience of the show in about tales regarding Lucy and her grandfather (who some would say inspired Lucille Ball to go into acting), and defended his wife against the rumours surrounding her communist ties. He told the audience at the time that "the only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that's not legitimate." When Lucy came out to join Desi on stage, she was given a standing ovation.
18. Although the show 'I Love Lucy' ended in 1957, the show was re-tooled slightly and shown as thirteen one-hour episodes for the next three years under the titles of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The series officially ended in 1960, which was the same year that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced.
19. There were 194 episodes produced in the whole run. This one just happens to be my favourite one.
20. Did you know that the iconic theme song for 'I Love Lucy' had lyrics to it? You never did hear them until the episode entitled 'Lucy's Last Birthday'.
So there you have it. Twenty facts about 'I Love Lucy' ranging from light fluff to absolute shock and awe. I hope it was an interesting read for all of you out there.
You know, it's been well over two decades since we lost Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, but I'd like to think that they live on in some form. The show is well-loved by many, and more often than not, you can see lots of other shows and movies spoofing moments from the series.
'I Love Lucy' is widely considered to be one of the best television sitcoms ever made. Because it WAS. Can a sitcom attract the same love and warmth and charisma 'I Love Lucy' achieved? Some have. Some haven't. Whatever the case, 'I Love Lucy' should serve as a template for how successful sitcom writing and producing should be. It shouldn't be about how much a person makes per episode, or how much to spend on production costs, or throwing gasoline on the flames of celebrity feuds. If anything, the reason why 'I Love Lucy' worked so well is because the actors never had any egos (or if they did, they kept them in check while performing), and because Lucy and Desi cared so much about every detail of the show, and guided it through many years of stories and laughs.
If more people cared about their own shows the same way the 'I Love Lucy' cast and crew cared about theirs, maybe shows like Jersey Shore wouldn't be on the air right now.
Of course, that's only the opinion of this blogger. What do you think? I'm interested in your thoughts.
The television sitcom.
Certainly, there are some sitcoms that are doing well on the television landscape currently. How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and Two And A Half Men seem to be trucking along just fine (although that last one will be interesting with Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen).
However, for every current sitcom that is on the air, there is about a hundred reality shows being crammed down our throats. I'm not the type of person to completely dismiss all reality television, as I'm the first one to admit that I watch Big Brother on a regular basis, and I'll readily admit to rolling my eyes in amusement at Rachel hiding in a bush after Jeff and Jordan yelled at her...
...alas, I'm going on one of my world famous tangents that I'm known for.
The point is that I'm not completely against the latest television trend of reality television, as there are some shows that I find interesting, entertaining, and in some rare cases, educational. (I know, hard to believe, huh?)
I should also note that I do not include shows such as Jersey Shore, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Paris Hilton's My New BFF, and any show that features Flavor Flav, real housewives of wherever, or New York (the person, not the state).
That said, the recent obsession for reality television shouldn't put sitcoms and other scripted shows on the backburner. The actors on those shows are fantastic to watch, and plus, many writers would be out of work if television became all reality, all the time. As a self-confessed Big Brother addict, not even I would want to see that happen.
That's why for this blog entry, I would celebrate the life of the traditional sitcom by featuring one that is widely declared as one of the best television sitcoms ever made. A sitcom that blended warmth with slapstick comedy, and whose star was just as remembered for her comedic timing as she was her red hair.
A sitcom that celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
I Love Lucy starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who were husband and wife in the show, as well as off-screen. The show debuted on CBS on October 15, 1951 and ran until May 6, 1957, followed by several one hour episodes that ran under different titles until 1960. During its run, it ranked at the top of the Neilsen ratings for four of those six seasons. In fact, when the show ended in 1957, it was still at the top of the pack. The only other shows to end their run with the same success were The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld. It won five Emmy awards, and was constantly ranked one of the all-time best television programs by several media and entertainment magazines.
Part of that success lies in the show's namesake. With her quick wit and her penchant for physical comedy, Lucille Ball really was the belle of the ball in every episode that she appeared in. Desi Arnaz was equally charming as Ricky Ricardo, who had established himself as a successful entertainer. To round out the cast, you had William Frawley and Vivian Vance as Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also had a background in show business, and who often jokingly made fun of each other. Lucy and Ethel would become best friends, and the two of them would often get into a lot of mishaps together. Lucy always wanted a career in stardom, and wanted desperately to have the same success in entertainment as Ricky, Fred, and Ethel had. Any attempt she did make turned out to be a complete disaster, which set the tone for quite a few episodes of the serial.
The show was one that I loved as a kid. Obviously, I was not born when the show originally aired on television. However, years ago a television network based out of Kingston, Ontario called CKWS used to air the reruns of the show. If I remember correctly, it always aired when I went home for lunch, and I would usually watch the show then. Sixty years later, the show is still syndicated in dozens of countries, and is still beloved by fans both new and old.
The show was an entertaining one to watch on television, but there were plenty of other things that happened behind the scenes that were just as amusing, thought-provoking, and even shocking.
You know where this is going right? If you guessed that I was going to turn this blog entry into a list of bulleted points that has trivia about the show, you would be right. I did it on July 2, I did it on July 12, and now I'm doing it for July 22.
Hey, I have to have some pattern here, right?
So, are you ready for some trivia and facts about the show and its stars that you may or may not know? I bet you are!
1. We'll start off this list of trivia on a sad note. None of the four original stars of 'I Love Lucy' are still alive. Willam Frawley died in 1966. Vivian Vance passed away in 1979. Desi Arnaz lost his battle with cancer in 1986, and Lucille Ball, the last of the four died in April 1989.
2. Originally, Vivian Vance was not the first choice to play the role of Ethel Mertz. Other actresses considered for the role were Bea Benaderet and Barbara Pepper.
3. Ironically enough, when Vivian Vance's name came up as a possible Ethel Mertz, Lucille Ball herself was a little wary of Vance in the role. The initial description of Ethel Mertz was that of an older, homely woman, and Vance had a more glamourous appearance than what the writers planned. Vance insisted that with make-up and practice, she could achieve the vision that everyone wanted of Ethel Mertz, and after a few rehearsals, Lucille Ball got used to the idea. The two women would form a strong working relationship, and became very good friends. It also helped that they had such strong chemistry on screen for moments such as this one.
4. While Vivian Vance got along well with Lucy and Desi, it wasn't quite the same cordial relationship between her and her on-screen husband, William Frawley. They worked well enough on camera for viewers to take to the couple, and never showed signs of a fractured relationship on screen. Off screen though, they greatly disliked each other. Reportedly, the feud stemmed from Vance being unhappy about having a man who was much older than her as her on-screen husband (at the time the series debuted, Vance was 42 and Frawley was 64). Frawley overheard Vance complaining about him repeatedly, and was greatly offended. The relationship was frosty ever since.
5. The relationship was so strained between Vance and Frawley that it effectively nixed a proposed spin-off to 'I Love Lucy'. In 1960, Lucille and Desi proposed a 'Fred and Ethel' series to the two actors. Despite his feelings for Vance, Frawley was more than willing to go ahead with the spinoff idea, but Vance flat out refused for the reason that she never wanted to work with Frawley again. After that, neither one of them had anything to do with each other.
6. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz both were excited at the prospect of William Frawley taking on the role of Fred Mertz, as he had already established himself as a Hollywood actor. Others weren't quite so enthusiastic. Executives from CBS had heard of Frawley's notorious instability and his excessive alcohol drinking (one of the main reasons why Barbara Pepper did not get the role as Ethel Mertz). Desi assured the executives that Frawley would not be a problem, and he informed him that if he ever showed up to work drunk, or missed work because of alcohol, his character would be written out of the show. To Frawley's credit, he always showed professionalism at work, and his drinking was never a problem on set. As a result of this, Desi Arnaz became one of Frawley's few close friends.
7. William Frawley's contract had an unusual clause within it. Because he was a huge fan of the New York Yankees, he had it stated in his contract that if the Yankees made it to the World Series, he would have the time off from work until the World Series was over. As it happened, during the run of 'I Love Lucy', the only year that the Yankees didn't make it in was 1954. As a result of this contract, Frawley missed two episodes.
8. Everyone knows of the classic 'I Love Lucy' opening, which I posted near the beginning of this blog entry. But, did you know that it wasn't the original opening? The opening which most of us are familiar with were created specifically for the syndicated showings and reruns. The original openings showed an animated Lucy and Ricky Ricardo advertising the sponsors who helped fund the program. The original sponsor was Philip Morris, which was a company that made cigarettes (could you imagine a cigarette company sponsoring a television program these days?)
Just to show you how different (and disturbing) these openings were, I happened to find one from 1953.
Again...you'd never see openings like this on current television shows. Well, unless the ads encouraged one to QUIT smoking, at least.
9. The Ricardos lived in New York City, and their address was 623 East 68th Street.
10. Desilu Productions was founded by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball in 1950. The initial reason behind the creation of the company was to produce a vaudeville act starring the couple. There was however another motive behind the creation of Desilu. Upon hearing that CBS executives wanted to create a television version of the popular radio show 'My Favorite Husband', Desi wanted to show them through their act that the public could accept a marriage between a Cuban and a Scotch-Irish American. That television project evolved into 'I Love Lucy', and following a cut in salary, Desi and Lucy retained full ownership and creative control.
11. When the original pilot for 'I Love Lucy' was filmed, Lucille Ball was already pregnant with hers and Desi's first child, Lucie. Although she was showing, the show never made any references to her pregnancy at the time. CBS felt that talking about pregnancy on the show was in bad taste, and ad agencies even told Desi that showing a pregnant woman on screen was not a good idea. Ah, the fifties. Lucie Arnaz was born on July 17, 1951.
12. During the filming of season two, Lucille Ball became pregnant again, and the decision was made to write the pregnancy into the show. CBS did not want any of the actors saying the word 'pregnant' on the show, so instead, Lucy was 'expecting'. Even the episode title was written in such a way that the word pregnant wasn't technically used. The episode title was 'Lucy Is Enceinte', which is the French word for pregnant. The moment where Lucy tells Desi the exciting news can be found below.
13. The birth of Little Ricky was featured in the episode 'Lucy Goes To The Hospital'. It was the very first instance of a birth being broadcast on television.
14. The episode in which Lucy gives birth first aired on January 19, 1953, which happened to be the exact date that Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. Which coincidentally makes Lucy's pregnancy either one of the shortest ever, or Lucy never showed signs of being pregnant until very late into the pregnancy, as she told Ricky she was pregnant on December 8, 1952!
15. A reported 44 million people watched the episode where Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky...more than the inauguration of President Eisenhower, and more than the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
16. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Jr. appeared on the very first issue of TV Guide magazine in 1953.
17. During the 1950's, several Hollywood stars found themselves blacklisted for having affiliations with the Communist party, and Lucille Ball was one of the actresses that was accused of having ties to communism. During a warm-up of an episode of 'I Love Lucy', Desi Arnaz filled the audience of the show in about tales regarding Lucy and her grandfather (who some would say inspired Lucille Ball to go into acting), and defended his wife against the rumours surrounding her communist ties. He told the audience at the time that "the only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that's not legitimate." When Lucy came out to join Desi on stage, she was given a standing ovation.
18. Although the show 'I Love Lucy' ended in 1957, the show was re-tooled slightly and shown as thirteen one-hour episodes for the next three years under the titles of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The series officially ended in 1960, which was the same year that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced.
19. There were 194 episodes produced in the whole run. This one just happens to be my favourite one.
So there you have it. Twenty facts about 'I Love Lucy' ranging from light fluff to absolute shock and awe. I hope it was an interesting read for all of you out there.
You know, it's been well over two decades since we lost Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, but I'd like to think that they live on in some form. The show is well-loved by many, and more often than not, you can see lots of other shows and movies spoofing moments from the series.
'I Love Lucy' is widely considered to be one of the best television sitcoms ever made. Because it WAS. Can a sitcom attract the same love and warmth and charisma 'I Love Lucy' achieved? Some have. Some haven't. Whatever the case, 'I Love Lucy' should serve as a template for how successful sitcom writing and producing should be. It shouldn't be about how much a person makes per episode, or how much to spend on production costs, or throwing gasoline on the flames of celebrity feuds. If anything, the reason why 'I Love Lucy' worked so well is because the actors never had any egos (or if they did, they kept them in check while performing), and because Lucy and Desi cared so much about every detail of the show, and guided it through many years of stories and laughs.
If more people cared about their own shows the same way the 'I Love Lucy' cast and crew cared about theirs, maybe shows like Jersey Shore wouldn't be on the air right now.
Of course, that's only the opinion of this blogger. What do you think? I'm interested in your thoughts.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Thursday Night At The Arcade: Tetris
I wanted to give all of you a little bit of a reward for following these posts over the past couple of months. This blog has been a great release for me and has allowed me to process my thoughts in a public venue, so thank you for supporting this. I hope to have a lot of fun with this blog, and I think today's entry will be one of those fun ones, with the inclusion of the application below!
http://www.freetetris.org/
I really wanted to post the actual game inside the blog post itself, but after attempting for nearly an hour to do so and having no luck with it, I had to post the link to it instead.
Either way, this post is all about Tetris!
By now, I'm sure that almost everyone has played at least one game of Tetris, or at the very least has heard of the game. But, did you know that the concept of Tetris was discovered in Russia (which was a part of the fomer Soviet Union at the time) in 1984?
A man by the name of Alexey Pajitnov came up with the original Tetris game while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russia. (Try saying that five times fact). On June 6, 1984, the Tetris video game was officially released in Russia, and two years later, in 1986, the game was brought over to North American shores. Little did we know that over the years, the game would become so popular that people could end up playing it on their mobile phones, online, and various other sources.
Though the game had success on desktop computer consoles, it wasn't until the late 1980's that the Tetris game really started to take off in America. In 1988, computer game publisher Henk Rogers happened to discover the game while he was in Las Vegas, attending the Consumers Electronics Show. Having had the inside information that Nintendo was planning on releasing the Nintendo Game Boy, he wanted to get the attention of Minoru Arakawa, who at the time was the head for Nintendo of America. He suggested that instead of going with the original plan to package the Game Boy with Super Mario Land, that they instead include Tetris. His argument was that while a Super Mario title would attract the handheld console to male players, a puzzle game like Tetris could appeal to everyone.
Rogers secured the rights to the game from both Spectrum HoloByte and Tengen (which had secured the license to release the game in Japan). He also got the attention of Robert Stein who had secured permission for both companies to distribute Tetris through company Mirrorsoft to seek rights for it to be distributed with the Game Boy.
It took some time for the deal to finally be reached, including a battle between Rogers and Kevin Maxwell for the rights to the Game Boy patent of Tetris, and a legal battle in the courts between Nintendo and Tengen, but in March of 1989, the deal was secured by Nintendo for all rights to the console and handheld versions of Tetris.
The Game Boy version of Tetris was released in August 1989, and over the next twenty years, has sold some 35 million copies. Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game #5 on their list of 100 Best Nintendo Games, and in August 2008, Nintendo Power Magazine said that Tetris meant more to handheld gaming than any other game. Even the creator of Tetris has said that the 1989 Game Boy release was his favourite version, as it matched his original vision almost perfectly.
So, what made Tetris a success?
Part of it was the puzzle aspect.
You have seven Tetris pieces that one must rotate and twist to form lines at the bottom of the screen. Above, you will see them all. They are the I-Block, J-Block, L-Block, O-Block, S-Block, T-Block, and Z-Block. If you line them up in such a way that the line fills up the entire bottom, the line will disappear, and you will score points. The more lines you clear at once, the more points you get. It's simple enough to get a single line, and quite easy to get a double line. Triples are a bit harder to master, for you can't create one without an I, J, or L-Block. To get the Tetris (clearing four lines at once), only an I-block can assist you in that goal. So, there's a lot of strategy involved in the game, especially since the blocks fall faster as the game progresses. If the blocks reach the top, the game ends.
It's quite simple, really.
I know that I've played many, many games of Tetris in my lifetime thus far, and I can tell you that I'm a pretty decent player. There's a website online called Tetris Friends, and on that site, you can compete with up to six players at once to beat them in a series of challenges. On some, you race to get the highest score, or you have endurance competitions to see who can last the longest, or you race to clear 40 lines the quickest. I haven't been on that site in forever, but whenever I did play, it was all business, and no pleasure. I don't like to brag, but I slayed quite a few competitors on that site.
In fact, here's a screenshot of the Tetris Friends site, in case you haven't been.
Oh, and to add to the competition, you are encouraged to clear triples and Tetrises, because every one you do clear, you end up sabotaging your opponents by adding more lines to their own game. Be warned though, they can attack you right back.
In closing, it's important to realize just how much of an impact Tetris really has had in the world. It's a simplistic puzzle game, but it has entertained gamers for almost thirty years now. Perhaps what is most fascinating about the game is that it seems to have influenced pop culture so much. Granted, this example below is in Spanish, but it was all that I could find.
And, to finish off this blog entry, one of the coolest Human Tetris videos I have ever seen!
http://www.freetetris.org/
I really wanted to post the actual game inside the blog post itself, but after attempting for nearly an hour to do so and having no luck with it, I had to post the link to it instead.
Either way, this post is all about Tetris!
By now, I'm sure that almost everyone has played at least one game of Tetris, or at the very least has heard of the game. But, did you know that the concept of Tetris was discovered in Russia (which was a part of the fomer Soviet Union at the time) in 1984?
A man by the name of Alexey Pajitnov came up with the original Tetris game while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russia. (Try saying that five times fact). On June 6, 1984, the Tetris video game was officially released in Russia, and two years later, in 1986, the game was brought over to North American shores. Little did we know that over the years, the game would become so popular that people could end up playing it on their mobile phones, online, and various other sources.
Though the game had success on desktop computer consoles, it wasn't until the late 1980's that the Tetris game really started to take off in America. In 1988, computer game publisher Henk Rogers happened to discover the game while he was in Las Vegas, attending the Consumers Electronics Show. Having had the inside information that Nintendo was planning on releasing the Nintendo Game Boy, he wanted to get the attention of Minoru Arakawa, who at the time was the head for Nintendo of America. He suggested that instead of going with the original plan to package the Game Boy with Super Mario Land, that they instead include Tetris. His argument was that while a Super Mario title would attract the handheld console to male players, a puzzle game like Tetris could appeal to everyone.
Rogers secured the rights to the game from both Spectrum HoloByte and Tengen (which had secured the license to release the game in Japan). He also got the attention of Robert Stein who had secured permission for both companies to distribute Tetris through company Mirrorsoft to seek rights for it to be distributed with the Game Boy.
It took some time for the deal to finally be reached, including a battle between Rogers and Kevin Maxwell for the rights to the Game Boy patent of Tetris, and a legal battle in the courts between Nintendo and Tengen, but in March of 1989, the deal was secured by Nintendo for all rights to the console and handheld versions of Tetris.
The Game Boy version of Tetris was released in August 1989, and over the next twenty years, has sold some 35 million copies. Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game #5 on their list of 100 Best Nintendo Games, and in August 2008, Nintendo Power Magazine said that Tetris meant more to handheld gaming than any other game. Even the creator of Tetris has said that the 1989 Game Boy release was his favourite version, as it matched his original vision almost perfectly.
So, what made Tetris a success?
Part of it was the puzzle aspect.
You have seven Tetris pieces that one must rotate and twist to form lines at the bottom of the screen. Above, you will see them all. They are the I-Block, J-Block, L-Block, O-Block, S-Block, T-Block, and Z-Block. If you line them up in such a way that the line fills up the entire bottom, the line will disappear, and you will score points. The more lines you clear at once, the more points you get. It's simple enough to get a single line, and quite easy to get a double line. Triples are a bit harder to master, for you can't create one without an I, J, or L-Block. To get the Tetris (clearing four lines at once), only an I-block can assist you in that goal. So, there's a lot of strategy involved in the game, especially since the blocks fall faster as the game progresses. If the blocks reach the top, the game ends.
It's quite simple, really.
I know that I've played many, many games of Tetris in my lifetime thus far, and I can tell you that I'm a pretty decent player. There's a website online called Tetris Friends, and on that site, you can compete with up to six players at once to beat them in a series of challenges. On some, you race to get the highest score, or you have endurance competitions to see who can last the longest, or you race to clear 40 lines the quickest. I haven't been on that site in forever, but whenever I did play, it was all business, and no pleasure. I don't like to brag, but I slayed quite a few competitors on that site.
In fact, here's a screenshot of the Tetris Friends site, in case you haven't been.
Oh, and to add to the competition, you are encouraged to clear triples and Tetrises, because every one you do clear, you end up sabotaging your opponents by adding more lines to their own game. Be warned though, they can attack you right back.
In closing, it's important to realize just how much of an impact Tetris really has had in the world. It's a simplistic puzzle game, but it has entertained gamers for almost thirty years now. Perhaps what is most fascinating about the game is that it seems to have influenced pop culture so much. Granted, this example below is in Spanish, but it was all that I could find.
And, to finish off this blog entry, one of the coolest Human Tetris videos I have ever seen!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Across The Pond And Beyond: Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone
Every writer dreams of getting his or her big break in the world of literature. Whether their ambition is to have the top-selling book on the New York Times best-seller list, or simply just to have anybody read their work, those who are serious about the craft will try anything to get their name out there.
In some ways, it's one of my main motivations towards starting up this blog in the first place. I have quite a lot to talk about, and I'm ready to just let it hang out there for people. Sometimes, I hope that something that I say here really resonates with someone, or lets them know that there may be someone who has gone through exactly what they have. In a few cases, the subjects I choose for blog entries might inspire some thought-provoking discussions. In fact, there's been a couple of entries on this blog that have inspired a lot of comments on my personal Facebook page, which have undoubtedly given me some new angles to look at. In fact, I've been thinking of creating a fan page for this blog, just to give more people the chance to read it and comment. What do you all think?
Of course, nobody said that the whole pursuit of writing as a sole career would be easy. Would it be my all time dream to make a good living as a writer? I'll admit it...it would be my ultimate dream come true. I'm well aware that the odds of some publisher locating this blog and signing me up for a million dollar book deal is less than one per cent. However, I'm a firm believer in the quote 'you'll never know unless you try', so this blog is my response to that quote. It may help my work get discovered, and it may not. At least I'll enjoy the process for however long it lasts, right? That's ultimately what's important in life. Passion for your work. I certainly wouldn't be spending so much time writing if I didn't enjoy doing it. I have always loved writing stories and using my creative juices to make up stories and entries, and I imagine that I will continue to do it until I take my final breath on this earth.
The author who I am featuring in this particular blog entry was one of those writers who never gave up on her dream and ended up having huge success with it. What's interesting about it is that she managed to come up with the idea that made her a millionaire during one of the hardest periods in her entire life.
The journey for her began in 1990, on a train ride between Manchester and London, England, where a 25-year-old woman named Joanne Rowling was struck with a sudden idea for a novel. During the four hour ride, she was bombarded with images and visuals of wizards and magic. In her visuals, she pictured a young boy attending a school of wizardry for the first time, and from there, she had formed a full length story in her mind. Upon arriving back home, she immediately wrote down those ideas as soon as she could, thinking that she could write a captivating story.
Over the next few years, she was dealt a lot of horrible blows. She had lost her mother just months after she came up with the book idea. She had a marriage that ended, and she was left to bring up a daughter as a single parent without a job. She was forced to rely on government benefits packages to get through, and was diagnosed with depression. It was not a good time for her on the personal front.
In her creative mind, however, she couldn't have been more inspired. Drawing from her personal tragedy and hardships, she used some of that emotion to bring rich, deep, characterization of all the key players in the story. She continued to work on her manuscript tediously, even resorting to writing chapters in coffee shops and delicatessens while trying to get into a course to become a teacher and supporting her toddler aged daughter.
By 1995, she had managed to finish her very first manuscript on an old typewriter, and with help from Bryony Evans managed to secure a literary agent to represent her. She was rejected by at least a dozen publishers before being accepted by a small publishing company by the name of Bloomsbury, along with a £1500 advance for the manuscript. Part of the reason why the publishing company took a chance on her was because the chairman's eight-year-old daughter had read the first chapter and wanted to read more, but he wasn't sure if she could make it as a children's author. Luck was on her side in 1997 though. The Scottish Arts Council had given her a grant to continue writing, and in June of 1997, her first book officially hit the shelves in her native UK. In 1998, the book had garnered so much interest in the UK that an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the book overseas. Scholastic Inc. had won the auction after paying $105,000 for the rights to the book, the first fortune that would come her way.
That book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. (Or, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States).
Joanne Rowling decided to use the pen name of J.K. Rowling, for fear that had she used her full name, she might not have been taken seriously because she was a woman. In the end, would it really have mattered though? The Harry Potter series became a global success, selling over 400 MILLION copies, and as of March of this year, Rowling's net worth is around the tune of one BILLION dollars. Not a bad achievement for someone who just eighteen years ago was just scraping by.
She just didn't get rich through her books alone. In 2001, the books began to be made into movies, all of which were blockbusters at the box office. The final movie of the series was released on July 15, 2011, and already it has been receiving much critical praise.
Part of the reason why the movies inevitably became as successful as the books was due to the fantastic casting of all the actors in the films. Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe as Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter respectively made the books come to life with their accurate portrayals of the characters. With a time period of a decade in between the first movie and the last movie, we literally watched all three actors grow from preteen children to young men and women. The fact that all three actors speak so highly of their roles, and have had nothing but fun bringing the world of Hogwarts to life just adds to the magic and beauty behind each Harry Potter installment.
So, since we're truly at the end of an era with the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in theatres and cinemas all over the world, I figure that I'd use this blog entry to look back on how the whole Potter-palooza began.
Now, I've mentioned before that the first book in the series was released in 1997 under the name Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. That name holds true for the United Kingdom, Canada, and presumably most of the world. In the United States, the title of the book and the movie was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Why the reason for the name change? It's hard to say. On a personal note, if I was eight when the book came out, I'd probably pick it up more if it had the sorcerer title. At eight, I wasn't quite sure what a philosopher was, but I sure knew what a sorcerer was. I had read enough Sabrina The Teenage Witch comics to know that by heart! However, with absolute honesty, I think that the name should have stayed the way it was originally meant to be, which is why I titled this entry the way that I have.
That, plus I'm Canadian, and that's the title we associate with Harry Potter's first year, so there. :)
Since we're talking about the first book/movie, I figure I'd drop a little bit of a confession here for all of you. Around November of 2001, I was invited to go to the premiere of the first Harry Potter movie by a friend of mine named Kitty. Kitty had an extra ticket available, and she wanted to know if I would like to go. I never turn down a free movie, so I agreed. It was the premiere screening in Ottawa (where I had lived at the time), how could I resist?
The only thing was that I was kind of a 'muggle' about the whole world of Harry Potter. I hadn't even so much as read a paragraph of a Harry Potter book, let alone the whole book itself. By the time the first film debuted in North America on November 16, 2001, J.K. Rowling was already halfway through the Harry Potter series in book form, and yet, here I was going in to see the film adaptation of a book that I had never read. I was worried that I wouldn't like the movie, or that I would sleep right through it.
Of course, neither one of those things happened.
I suppose that you don't need me to repeat the plot too much, as anyone who has seen at least one of the movies or read one of the books knows exactly what exactly happens to our young wizard. Harry Potter's parents were James and Lily Potter, a pair of wizards, making Harry a pureblood wizard. Tragedy struck when Lord Voldemort slayed Harry's parents. He had tried to kill Harry as well, but something prevented him from doing so. Harry Potter was left with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt as a souvenir of the battle, and Voldemort was rendered powerless. Over the next ten years of his life, Harry was forced to live with his aunt and uncle. Problem was that Harry didn't exactly like his aunt and uncle, nor did he like his bratty cousin, Dudley. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon showered all their love and devotion to Dudley while treating Harry horribly. In fact, when Harry kept getting letters in the mail, Vernon did everything in his power to keep Harry from getting them.
However, in this scene from the movie, Rubeus Hagrid comes to visit Harry Potter to not only reveal that he has been accepted as a student at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, but to give him a little birthday gift.
Don't worry...the badly spelled cake is just one of the gifts. Hagrid reveals to Harry that he is in fact a wizard...a fact that his aunt and uncle kept a secret from him for his whole life. It is here that Hagrid delivers the news that he has been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Wizardry.
Since the school is a school that offers residency, Harry makes no hesitation in choosing to go.
After a quick trip to Diagon Alley, and an even quicker withdrawal from Gringott's (where Harry discovers that in wizard currency he's almost as rich as Bill Gates), he buys all the school supplies he needs, such as a magic wand, a book of spells, and an owl named Hedwig. From there, he boards the train to Hogwarts at King's Cross Station from the hidden platform of 9 3/4.
It is on the train ride that he meets up with two very special people. The first person he meets is Ron Weasley, a little red-headed boy from a very large pure-blood wizarding family (all the Weasley children have, are or will be attending Hogwarts as the series continues). He has a sense of humour, and is often the one who makes the wittiest remarks. He also introduces Harry to the delicious world of wizard candy, such as Bertie Bott's flavour beans, and chocolate frogs. Harry also meets Hermione Granger, who was born to a pair of muggles.
(Muggles are people who can't use magic or wizard spells, in case any of you were wondering.)
Despite Hermione's parentage, she is one of the more intelligent of the group, always looking for extra credit assignments, and thirsting to find knowledge. She can come across as a bit of a know-it-all, but deep down inside, she means well.
At first, Ron and Hermione have sort of a love-hate relationship, especially in the first couple of movies, but both of them have mutual respect for Harry. Other characters in the book that the three meet at Hogwarts include Neville Longbottom, an oafish character who is a mediocre student, but is loyal to his friends. Draco Malfoy appears as Harry's nemesis throughout the books, and his minions, Crabbe and Goyle, are his loyal followers. As well, you have the faculty of Hogwarts including Minerva McGonagle, the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, Severus Snape, a teacher who takes personal interest in Harry Potter himself, and Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, who often provides Harry and his friends with words of wisdom.
During the course of the novel, Harry experiences what it is like to be at a school for wizards, and has a lot of fun during his stay. He gets placed in Gryffindor house with Ron and Hermione, and seems to grasp the schoolwork quite well. He really comes into his own when he joins the Quidditch team, which was only natural, since his father also played on the team years earlier. I wish I could find a video with accompanying dialogue, but I think this video explains it all.
Of course, there are some scary moments that Harry must face as well. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that a three-headed dog happens to be guarding a stone called the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone in the USA), and that the stone grants immortality to the person who has it in their possession, Harry makes the wrong conclusion that Snape is the one after it to return Voldemort back to human form so that he can finish the job he started in trying to dispatch Harry.
Of course, trying to keep someone away from the stone wasn't an easy task for a trio of eleven year olds. Not when you had to face challenges like this.
And that's not even the epic main battle for the end of the first book! But am I going to show you what it is, or tell you how it ends? Nope. You'll just have to read the book for yourself.
I will tell you one thing though. After seeing the first movie, it prompted me to search the library for a copy of the first book so I could read it all the way through to see what parts were cut out from the movie. That's how good the movie was. After reading all of the books straight through, I'm proud to say that the whole Harry Potter journey was one worth taking. Whether you read the books or watch all the movies, I guarantee you that it will be a story that you'll never forget.
J.K. Rowling certainly won't ever forget the boy wizard she created on that train ride long ago. One could say that the wizard changed her life.
I suppose in this case, Harry Potter spread his magic onto the real world, one child at a time.
Even us adults can get in on the fun. I remember five years ago, my sister threw a Harry Potter themed party together for the neighbourhood kids in her area, and all of the family got to play a role.
(I was the Sorting Hat!)
In fact, to close off this blog entry, I'm going to show all of you some pictures from that party five years ago, and maybe it'll inspire you all to come up with your own ideas for Potter parties, now that the series has wrapped up. As far as new adventures for Harry Potter go, J.K. Rowling is reportedly working on some new material, so never say never. But, it is a joy to know that so many people have been touched by a series of books in a world where Angry Birds and XBOX 360's seem to dominate the world.
At any rate, here's the pictures of the party from October 2006.
In some ways, it's one of my main motivations towards starting up this blog in the first place. I have quite a lot to talk about, and I'm ready to just let it hang out there for people. Sometimes, I hope that something that I say here really resonates with someone, or lets them know that there may be someone who has gone through exactly what they have. In a few cases, the subjects I choose for blog entries might inspire some thought-provoking discussions. In fact, there's been a couple of entries on this blog that have inspired a lot of comments on my personal Facebook page, which have undoubtedly given me some new angles to look at. In fact, I've been thinking of creating a fan page for this blog, just to give more people the chance to read it and comment. What do you all think?
Of course, nobody said that the whole pursuit of writing as a sole career would be easy. Would it be my all time dream to make a good living as a writer? I'll admit it...it would be my ultimate dream come true. I'm well aware that the odds of some publisher locating this blog and signing me up for a million dollar book deal is less than one per cent. However, I'm a firm believer in the quote 'you'll never know unless you try', so this blog is my response to that quote. It may help my work get discovered, and it may not. At least I'll enjoy the process for however long it lasts, right? That's ultimately what's important in life. Passion for your work. I certainly wouldn't be spending so much time writing if I didn't enjoy doing it. I have always loved writing stories and using my creative juices to make up stories and entries, and I imagine that I will continue to do it until I take my final breath on this earth.
The author who I am featuring in this particular blog entry was one of those writers who never gave up on her dream and ended up having huge success with it. What's interesting about it is that she managed to come up with the idea that made her a millionaire during one of the hardest periods in her entire life.
The journey for her began in 1990, on a train ride between Manchester and London, England, where a 25-year-old woman named Joanne Rowling was struck with a sudden idea for a novel. During the four hour ride, she was bombarded with images and visuals of wizards and magic. In her visuals, she pictured a young boy attending a school of wizardry for the first time, and from there, she had formed a full length story in her mind. Upon arriving back home, she immediately wrote down those ideas as soon as she could, thinking that she could write a captivating story.
Over the next few years, she was dealt a lot of horrible blows. She had lost her mother just months after she came up with the book idea. She had a marriage that ended, and she was left to bring up a daughter as a single parent without a job. She was forced to rely on government benefits packages to get through, and was diagnosed with depression. It was not a good time for her on the personal front.
In her creative mind, however, she couldn't have been more inspired. Drawing from her personal tragedy and hardships, she used some of that emotion to bring rich, deep, characterization of all the key players in the story. She continued to work on her manuscript tediously, even resorting to writing chapters in coffee shops and delicatessens while trying to get into a course to become a teacher and supporting her toddler aged daughter.
By 1995, she had managed to finish her very first manuscript on an old typewriter, and with help from Bryony Evans managed to secure a literary agent to represent her. She was rejected by at least a dozen publishers before being accepted by a small publishing company by the name of Bloomsbury, along with a £1500 advance for the manuscript. Part of the reason why the publishing company took a chance on her was because the chairman's eight-year-old daughter had read the first chapter and wanted to read more, but he wasn't sure if she could make it as a children's author. Luck was on her side in 1997 though. The Scottish Arts Council had given her a grant to continue writing, and in June of 1997, her first book officially hit the shelves in her native UK. In 1998, the book had garnered so much interest in the UK that an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the book overseas. Scholastic Inc. had won the auction after paying $105,000 for the rights to the book, the first fortune that would come her way.
That book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. (Or, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States).
Joanne Rowling decided to use the pen name of J.K. Rowling, for fear that had she used her full name, she might not have been taken seriously because she was a woman. In the end, would it really have mattered though? The Harry Potter series became a global success, selling over 400 MILLION copies, and as of March of this year, Rowling's net worth is around the tune of one BILLION dollars. Not a bad achievement for someone who just eighteen years ago was just scraping by.
She just didn't get rich through her books alone. In 2001, the books began to be made into movies, all of which were blockbusters at the box office. The final movie of the series was released on July 15, 2011, and already it has been receiving much critical praise.
Part of the reason why the movies inevitably became as successful as the books was due to the fantastic casting of all the actors in the films. Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe as Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter respectively made the books come to life with their accurate portrayals of the characters. With a time period of a decade in between the first movie and the last movie, we literally watched all three actors grow from preteen children to young men and women. The fact that all three actors speak so highly of their roles, and have had nothing but fun bringing the world of Hogwarts to life just adds to the magic and beauty behind each Harry Potter installment.
So, since we're truly at the end of an era with the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in theatres and cinemas all over the world, I figure that I'd use this blog entry to look back on how the whole Potter-palooza began.
Now, I've mentioned before that the first book in the series was released in 1997 under the name Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. That name holds true for the United Kingdom, Canada, and presumably most of the world. In the United States, the title of the book and the movie was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Why the reason for the name change? It's hard to say. On a personal note, if I was eight when the book came out, I'd probably pick it up more if it had the sorcerer title. At eight, I wasn't quite sure what a philosopher was, but I sure knew what a sorcerer was. I had read enough Sabrina The Teenage Witch comics to know that by heart! However, with absolute honesty, I think that the name should have stayed the way it was originally meant to be, which is why I titled this entry the way that I have.
That, plus I'm Canadian, and that's the title we associate with Harry Potter's first year, so there. :)
Since we're talking about the first book/movie, I figure I'd drop a little bit of a confession here for all of you. Around November of 2001, I was invited to go to the premiere of the first Harry Potter movie by a friend of mine named Kitty. Kitty had an extra ticket available, and she wanted to know if I would like to go. I never turn down a free movie, so I agreed. It was the premiere screening in Ottawa (where I had lived at the time), how could I resist?
The only thing was that I was kind of a 'muggle' about the whole world of Harry Potter. I hadn't even so much as read a paragraph of a Harry Potter book, let alone the whole book itself. By the time the first film debuted in North America on November 16, 2001, J.K. Rowling was already halfway through the Harry Potter series in book form, and yet, here I was going in to see the film adaptation of a book that I had never read. I was worried that I wouldn't like the movie, or that I would sleep right through it.
Of course, neither one of those things happened.
I suppose that you don't need me to repeat the plot too much, as anyone who has seen at least one of the movies or read one of the books knows exactly what exactly happens to our young wizard. Harry Potter's parents were James and Lily Potter, a pair of wizards, making Harry a pureblood wizard. Tragedy struck when Lord Voldemort slayed Harry's parents. He had tried to kill Harry as well, but something prevented him from doing so. Harry Potter was left with a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt as a souvenir of the battle, and Voldemort was rendered powerless. Over the next ten years of his life, Harry was forced to live with his aunt and uncle. Problem was that Harry didn't exactly like his aunt and uncle, nor did he like his bratty cousin, Dudley. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon showered all their love and devotion to Dudley while treating Harry horribly. In fact, when Harry kept getting letters in the mail, Vernon did everything in his power to keep Harry from getting them.
However, in this scene from the movie, Rubeus Hagrid comes to visit Harry Potter to not only reveal that he has been accepted as a student at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, but to give him a little birthday gift.
Don't worry...the badly spelled cake is just one of the gifts. Hagrid reveals to Harry that he is in fact a wizard...a fact that his aunt and uncle kept a secret from him for his whole life. It is here that Hagrid delivers the news that he has been accepted into the Hogwarts School of Wizardry.
Since the school is a school that offers residency, Harry makes no hesitation in choosing to go.
After a quick trip to Diagon Alley, and an even quicker withdrawal from Gringott's (where Harry discovers that in wizard currency he's almost as rich as Bill Gates), he buys all the school supplies he needs, such as a magic wand, a book of spells, and an owl named Hedwig. From there, he boards the train to Hogwarts at King's Cross Station from the hidden platform of 9 3/4.
It is on the train ride that he meets up with two very special people. The first person he meets is Ron Weasley, a little red-headed boy from a very large pure-blood wizarding family (all the Weasley children have, are or will be attending Hogwarts as the series continues). He has a sense of humour, and is often the one who makes the wittiest remarks. He also introduces Harry to the delicious world of wizard candy, such as Bertie Bott's flavour beans, and chocolate frogs. Harry also meets Hermione Granger, who was born to a pair of muggles.
(Muggles are people who can't use magic or wizard spells, in case any of you were wondering.)
Despite Hermione's parentage, she is one of the more intelligent of the group, always looking for extra credit assignments, and thirsting to find knowledge. She can come across as a bit of a know-it-all, but deep down inside, she means well.
At first, Ron and Hermione have sort of a love-hate relationship, especially in the first couple of movies, but both of them have mutual respect for Harry. Other characters in the book that the three meet at Hogwarts include Neville Longbottom, an oafish character who is a mediocre student, but is loyal to his friends. Draco Malfoy appears as Harry's nemesis throughout the books, and his minions, Crabbe and Goyle, are his loyal followers. As well, you have the faculty of Hogwarts including Minerva McGonagle, the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, Severus Snape, a teacher who takes personal interest in Harry Potter himself, and Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, who often provides Harry and his friends with words of wisdom.
During the course of the novel, Harry experiences what it is like to be at a school for wizards, and has a lot of fun during his stay. He gets placed in Gryffindor house with Ron and Hermione, and seems to grasp the schoolwork quite well. He really comes into his own when he joins the Quidditch team, which was only natural, since his father also played on the team years earlier. I wish I could find a video with accompanying dialogue, but I think this video explains it all.
Of course, there are some scary moments that Harry must face as well. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that a three-headed dog happens to be guarding a stone called the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone in the USA), and that the stone grants immortality to the person who has it in their possession, Harry makes the wrong conclusion that Snape is the one after it to return Voldemort back to human form so that he can finish the job he started in trying to dispatch Harry.
Of course, trying to keep someone away from the stone wasn't an easy task for a trio of eleven year olds. Not when you had to face challenges like this.
And that's not even the epic main battle for the end of the first book! But am I going to show you what it is, or tell you how it ends? Nope. You'll just have to read the book for yourself.
I will tell you one thing though. After seeing the first movie, it prompted me to search the library for a copy of the first book so I could read it all the way through to see what parts were cut out from the movie. That's how good the movie was. After reading all of the books straight through, I'm proud to say that the whole Harry Potter journey was one worth taking. Whether you read the books or watch all the movies, I guarantee you that it will be a story that you'll never forget.
J.K. Rowling certainly won't ever forget the boy wizard she created on that train ride long ago. One could say that the wizard changed her life.
I suppose in this case, Harry Potter spread his magic onto the real world, one child at a time.
Even us adults can get in on the fun. I remember five years ago, my sister threw a Harry Potter themed party together for the neighbourhood kids in her area, and all of the family got to play a role.
(I was the Sorting Hat!)
In fact, to close off this blog entry, I'm going to show all of you some pictures from that party five years ago, and maybe it'll inspire you all to come up with your own ideas for Potter parties, now that the series has wrapped up. As far as new adventures for Harry Potter go, J.K. Rowling is reportedly working on some new material, so never say never. But, it is a joy to know that so many people have been touched by a series of books in a world where Angry Birds and XBOX 360's seem to dominate the world.
At any rate, here's the pictures of the party from October 2006.
This was the sorting hat prop. When the kids would come up to the podium, my sister (who was dressed as Professor McGonagle) would put the hat on their heads. Behind the curtain, I was standing there with a karaoke machine microphone on echo, where I would say "BETTER BE GRYFFINDOR", or whatever house I called. This divided up the kids into the four houses.
The party took place at my sister's house, and she had every room in the house done up like one of the classrooms, and each person played a faculty member (my sisters played McGonagle and Professor Trelawney, a neighbour played Snape, etc.), and they asked the kids questions about the books and movies to get house points. Above, you'll see the "Potions" classroom.
At the end of the classroom tours, the points were added up, and the team that had the most points won the House Cup, seen up above. The year we hosted this party, the Hufflepuff house won the competition, but all four teams did a fantastic job. They wowed even me!
On any normal day, this would just be a garage. However, on the night of the party, it was magically transformed into the banquet hall of Hogwarts. Because the party was before Halloween, we strung up pumpkin lights to pretend they floated above the kids heads just like the movie. You can even see that the podium looks authentic on a miniature scale.
Sadly, the party didn't go completely perfect. Because of a thunderstorm that happened while the party went on, we had to cancel the outdoor part. You can see that my sister has a really big backyard, which we would have used to our advantage. If it hadn't rained, we would have hung Quidditch brooms from the trees and put golden snitches randomly around the yard. You can sort of make out a wooden structure, which would have been Hagrid's hut, and there was a small greenhouse out back which would have been the herbology classroom.
Dementor! Dementor! This was just one of the many outdoor decorations that we had outside.
Finally, at the end of the night, each kid went home with a special lootbag, filled with all sorts of goodies, such as pencils and Harry Potter stickers. My sister happened to find some Bertie Bott's Flavour Beans in the States (the ones that taste like boogers and dirt), and decided to mix them up with regular Jelly Belly beans, just to see what the kids would say. Needless to say, the Bertie Bott's beans weren't a hit, but the party was a huge success!
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