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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Garfield and Odie BFF's - Best Frenemies Forever

As nerdy and bookish as this sounds now, one of my favourite activities to partake in as a child was looking through a dictionary and learning new words. What the definition of words were and what their meanings were fascinated me.

I guess in retrospect, it shouldn't really surprise me or anybody else for that matter. As someone who wants to break into the world of publication, and has wanted to break into that world for years now, it helps to know exactly what words you want to use that will make stories flow better and keep the reader interested.

From the early days of my childhood when I leafed through the Charlie Brown Dictionary (a book I still wish I owned, but luckily can buy online), to my adulthood when I studied Webster's Dictionary with keen eyes, I have always been fascinated with words and sentences and meanings. I guess it sort of helped me along with making the decision to have the dream of making it big in the writing world. Someday my chance will come, and if all holds true, I'll be at the top of that bestsellers list one day.

Until then, you get the opportunity to read the pop culture ramblings of a thirtysomething who works in the world of retail. Won't that be fun?

I actually have a copy of Webster's Dictionary right beside me as I type this out right now. Maybe I should look up a couple of meanings while we're here.

FRIEND: n. one attached to another by affection or esteem

ENEMY: n. one that is antagonistic to another; especially : one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent.

So, by that logic, if we combine the two words above into a nice little portmanteau known as a frenemy, the definition would probably go as such.

FRENEMY: n. one that is attached to another by affection who frequently antagonizes the other person to one-up them or belittle them.

What a mess of a word. What an unusual word frenemy is.

And yet, the term frenemy seems to be popping up more and more, even though the word itself has reportedly appeared as early as the 1950s. People who say that they are your friends, but behind your back, they plot to destroy you.

There are many examples of frenemies in the world of pop culture. Betty and Veronica. To a lesser extent, Blair and Jo from the Facts of Life. Heck, the whole cast of Desperate Housewives could be considered the ultimate frenemy relationship.



And then there's Garfield and Odie.



Anyone who has read a Garfield comic strip or watched an episode of Garfield and Friends on television knows the relationship between Garfield and Odie can be incredibly complex one.



When the Garfield comic strip debuted in newspapers on June 19, 1978, the comic initially centered around the adventures of Jon Arbuckle and his overweight cat, Garfield. Two months later, in August 1978, Jon took on a roommate named Lyman, who came with his dog, Odie.

Upon Odie's introduction, Garfield was not too keen on having the little yellow beagle invading his personal space, and actually treated the dog rather badly. Although Odie was constantly trying to befriend Garfield and wanted him to like him, all Odie would usually get in repayment was a nice kick off of a table or countertop.

Eventually, as the comic serial progressed, Lyman became more and more invisible. By 1982, Lyman had vanished from the canvas without any sort of explanation whatsoever. To this day, Garfield creator Jim Davis has not given any indication as to what the ultimate fate of Lyman was, joking that people shouldn't go looking for him in Jon Arbuckle's basement.

Whatever the case, although Lyman was gone, Odie still remained, with Jon having decided to adopt him into the family.

Which kicked off the beginning of a frenemy style relationship between Garfield and Odie that has lasted for thirty-three years and counting.



Garfield and Odie could not be more different. Odie was kind hearted and generous, while Garfield was self-centered and snarly. Odie was energetic and couldn't get enough exercise. Garfield was a sloth-like beast who hid in bed to avoid Mondays. Odie was very affectionate and would show you that he liked you by slobbering all over you with his huge tongue. Garfield shunned almost all physical contact, and actually grew disgusted by Odie's constant slobber.

Basically these two were your odd couple in animal form.

Garfield and Odie basically had a love-hate relationship with each other in the fact that Odie loved being around Garfield and Garfield would often hate having Odie invading his personal space. Though, to Odie's credit, he wasn't the only one that Garfield felt that way about. Garfield also had these feelings for Jon, Lyman, Liz the veterinarian, spiders, Nermal the world's cutest kitty cat who he frequently tried to mail away to Abu Dhabi.

Yep, you get the picture.

Garfield often treated Odie horribly. As I said before, Odie would be constantly kicked off of the table by Garfield for no reason other than because Garfield found it to be funny. There were some occasions in which Odie had tried to do the same to Garfield, but in this comic from 2005, sadly it didn't work out to his advantage.



Garfield wasn't very appreciative towards Odie as the comic strip continued. In fact, Garfield had the belief that Odie was the dumbest creature alive. Garfield seems to believe that Odie's simple thought processes and his lack of being able to say anything beyond unintelligible barks. Garfield would often play pranks on Odie because he thought Odie was too stupid to put the pieces together to pinpoint the mischief on him.

Personally, I think Odie was a lot smarter than Garfield gave him credit for. Take a look at this comic strip from 1989 if you don't believe me.



I always like to say that Odie downplayed his intelligence just enough to make Garfield think that he really was a bumbling idiot of a dog when in reality he was anything but. Odie had his moments of clarity and intelligence over the years, and more often than not, he exhibited it by getting back at Garfield for all those times where he booted him off of every table in Jon's house.

So there are numerous examples of Garfield and Odie treating each other as adversaries, rivals, and annoyances.

However there are also beautiful moments of friendship, loyalty, and love between Garfield and Odie as well.



Surprisingly enough, although Garfield has the tendency to belittle and make fun of Odie every chance he gets, he would never let anyone else abuse Odie. He actually gets fiercely protective of Odie when Odie is picked on by anyone else but him, as the 1981 comic I posted above shows. Because deep down inside, as much as Garfield loved to play pranks on him, the last thing he really wanted to do was see Odie get seriously hurt.

Garfield really does love Odie and sees Odie as a really good friend, even though he doesn't always show it. It wasn't until the 1982 Garfield special 'Here Comes Garfield' was released that we got to see just how much Garfield really did care for Odie. When Odie was caught by the dog catcher, Garfield couldn't help but remember how sad he would be if he didn't have Odie in his life. Here's a clip of that moment from 'Here Comes Garfield', and I never really knew just how sad it was when I was a kid. Watching it through adult eyes, I almost need a Kleenex to get through it now.



You should be aware that all went well in that special, otherwise Odie would cease to exist in the comic strip after 1982. But it just goes to show that despite his appearance of disliking Odie, the cat does care about the dog.

And Odie certainly does care about Garfield, even if Garfield is reluctant to reciprocate it. Case in point, the Garfield Christmas special from 1987. During that special, Garfield, Odie, and Jon headed off to the farm where Jon grew up to spend the holiday with Jon's family. During the course of the show, Garfield seems to notice that Odie is scurrying around in secret, grabbing random items and running off with them. He wonders why Odie is being so secretive, and on the night of Christmas Eve goes out to investigate what Odie is up to.




As the sun rises above the sky the next day, and Christmas morning begins, everyone exchanges presents (including some fifty year old love letters that Garfield gave to Jon's grandmother as a gift that he found while spying on Odie). Odie drags Garfield to a brown paper bag wrapped contraption that Odie had made as a present for Garfield for Christmas morning. Garfield isn't sure of what exactly the gift is at first, but when Odie demonstrates how it works (another case of Odie not being as dumb as originally thought), Garfield immediately wants to try it out. It touches Garfield that Odie would selflessly donate so much of his own time and hard work to ensure that he got a beautiful homemade Christmas gift. The two friends embrace each other warmly. It is Christmas, after all.

But that's the way that a frenemy type relationship works. One day, the two people in the relationship hate each other, and the next, they're inseparable.

The big surprise between Garfield and Odie is that despite their frenemy status, it appears at least to me that the friendship is a lot stronger than their dislike of each other.

And that's a very unique bond.

Since there's still a little bit of space left for today, why not post a classic cartoon starring Garfield and Odie?


Monday, September 26, 2011

Monday Matinee: The Breakfast Club

The Athlete.
The Brain.
The Criminal.
The Princess.
The Basket Case.

These were the people in your high school. In your high school. In your high school...

(Oh, sorry...little Sesame Street throwback there)

I'm sure that most of us can recall our high school days quite well, regardless of whether they graduated last year, or fifty years ago. I'm sure that many of us were grouped into some sort of high school clique, or at the very least, wanted to be a part of one.

The five cliques that most high school students have probably faced are the ones that I have listed in the opening paragraph of today's entry.

You had the athletes who bonded over basketball and football games. You had the brainy people who could do algebraic equations with their eyes closed. The so-called 'criminals' were the kids who used to bully smaller kids while carving their initials into their desks. The princesses were the cheerleaders, fashionistas and quite often, stuck-up faction of a class. As for the basket cases, they were the ones who often had the most problems at home or at school, but was unable to tell anyone about them for reasons only they could understand.

Quite often, you would walk down a school hallway, and see each of these cliques off in one area. I can tell you that in my school, these meeting places for the cliques were one of four places. You could find the athletes around the gymnasium area, which made sense. The bookish kids were usually found on the first floor, as that was where our library and audio-visual editing suites were. The princesses were usually scattered around the second floor. The basket cases and criminals, I'm not exactly sure where they hung out, as I tried to stay as far away from them as possible. Perhaps they hung out at the park directly across the street from the school where they dabbled in the effects of drugs and alcohol. Merely speculation on my part though.

Sometimes, these cliques would find a way to intersect each other. There was a display of flags on the second floor of my school, and I can tell you that a LOT of people from my graduating class used to hang around those flags. A lot of them were the athletes trying their best to fawn all over the various princesses of the school. At the time, my locker happened to be just down the hall from the flag hallway, so I ended up seeing a lot, even though I wasn't a part of either clique.

So athletes fawned over princesses, and some brains became basket cases, and the criminals would play pranks and bully almost everyone who belonged to the other four cliques.

But it was very rare that you'd ever see one representative of each clique together in the same room.

I mean, yes, the odds of having at least one member of the five cliques in your English class were quite good. But I bet that whenever group assignments were brought forth in class, the cliques mostly stuck to their own kind.

So picture this scenario. Imagine that you are forced into serving a detention (on a weekend, no less) where you are the representative of one of the five cliques. Then imagine that the four other people serving the detention with you are people from the other cliques that you aren't a part of. That might be awkward indeed.



But that's exactly the situation that five teenagers had to face in the John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club. And on an added note, this may be one of the very few Monday Matinee entries where I may spill some secrets about the ending.



Released on February 15, 1985, The Breakfast Club took a look at five students who could not be more different from each other serving a Saturday detention, which was largely unsupervised by the bumbling vice-principal of Shermer High School, Richard Vernon (played by the late Paul Gleason). From 7:06 in the morning to four in the afternoon during the date of Saturday, March 24, 1984, the five teenagers were not supposed to move out of their seats or even talk to one another. They are also each assigned a one thousand word essay for them to write. The subject? Who they think they are. Of course, Vernon leaves the group largely unsupervised, which only serves to have the five students break the rules at every opportunity.

And just who are the five students? I'm getting to that.

In fact, I'm going to introduce you to each of the kids, what their stereotype is, how they interact with the others in the film, what their backstory is, and a trivia fact about each of the actors who played the characters in the film. As I talk, I'll likely be spoiling some details of the movie for those of you who haven't seen this film yet. Though I trust that most of you have. When the movie was released, it made almost $46 million at the box office (which in 1985 dollars was a huge blockbuster), and the movie is ranked consistently at the top of several lists of 'the best movies of all time'. Just on a personal standpoint, The Breakfast Club is one of my all-time favourite movies as well, and I have probably seen this movie over a dozen times...in one year.

So, let's go ahead and meet the kids of the Breakfast Club.



ANDREW “ANDY” CLARK
portrayed by Emilio Estevez

CLIQUE: The Athlete
DETENTION REASON: Taping the buttocks of a teammate together

Andy Clark is your standard teenage jock type character. He plays on sports teams for Shermer High and is highly respected for his athletic ability. Therefore, it might surprise some to hear that one of the main motivations behind Andy taking part in sporting events was the fact that his father was a former star football player who had infused into Andy's brain that being anything less than number one was simply unacceptable. Part of the reason why he agreed to playing the prank on his teammate which netted him the Saturday detention in the first place was to earn his father's respect. In the end, all he ended up feeling was guilt and remorse. During the course of the film, he starts to become curiously drawn to Allison Reynolds, especially after Allison receives a makeover, courtesy of Claire Standish.

TRIVIA: Emilio Estevez originally auditioned for the role of John Bender, but when John Hughes had difficulty casting someone for the role of Andy, Emilio was recast as Andy.



ALLISON REYNOLDS
portrayed by Ally Sheedy

CLIQUE: The Basket Case
DETENTION REASON: N/A

Allison Reynolds was the only one of the group who didn't get an official Saturday detention. She claims that the only reason she goes to detention willingly is the fact that she has nothing better to do. To say that Allison was kind of the 'weird girl' in the school was a bit of an understatement. Here's a clip of her in action as she prepares to eat her lunch.



As odd a character as Allison was, she really did have a lot of depth to her. Feeling neglected by her parents, Allison often talked about how she would constantly be thinking about running away from home because she was so miserable there. When she tries opening up to the others about her problems at home, at first they don't seem to care about it (or rather they don't believe it because she admits to being a compulsive liar). Gradually, she eventually gets the others to listen to her. Claire Standish gives her a makeover, and Andy Clark starts to show her more attention as a result.

TRIVIA: Before Ally Sheedy became an actress, she wrote a book at the age of 12 entitled 'She Was Nice To Mice'.



BRIAN JOHNSON
portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall

CLIQUE: The Brain
DETENTION REASON: Possession of flare gun which went off in his locker

Brian Johnson is the stereotypical geek of the group. He was one of the more academically sound students at Shermer High, and always managed to get good grades. However, this came at a price. For Brian had extremely pushy parents who basically pressured him to keep consistently doing well in school. It is revealed that the reason he brought the flare gun to school in the first place was because he was going to use it to kill himself, citing that fact that he could no longer take the pressure his parents were putting on him. During the course of the movie, Brian is seen as the most diplomatic of the group, attempting to smooth out the conflicts that arise between other members of the group. It is he who comes up with the name of the group...The Breakfast Club.

TRIVIA: Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald dated each other briefly after the filming for the movie wrapped up.



CLAIRE STANDISH
portrayed by Molly Ringwald

CLIQUE: The Princess
DETENTION REASON: Skipped school to go shopping at the mall

Claire Standish upon first glance comes across as the girl who seems to have it all. She's pretty, she's popular, she wears the finest fashions and owns the most expensive accessories. Therefore, according to the others, she seems perfect. She especially becomes the target of John Bender. In this clip below, you can definitely see that Bender seems to take great pleasure in making Claire's life a misery as long as they are in the same room together. (Warning for mature language in this clip)



The relationship between Claire and Bender does warm up as the movie progresses, but I won't exactly reveal how. Hey, a guy has to keep some secrets, right? However, one thing I can reveal is that Claire also seems to have a strained relationship with her parents, who see her as more of a tool that they can use to one-up each other in their arguments.

TRIVIA:  Molly Ringwald wanted to play Allison Reynolds, but Ally Sheedy had already been cast.  She took on the role of Claire instead.

Hmmm...I seem to be noticing a pattern here. Might as well confirm it with the last character profile.



JOHN BENDER
portrayed by Judd Nelson

CLIQUE: The Criminal
DETENTION REASON: Setting off a false fire alarm.

John Bender is probably the angriest of the five, and probably has the most character development of the whole movie. John Bender is the criminal of the group, and when he is first introduced, he gets his kicks out of harassing and bullying the others. He especially likes to save his venom towards Claire, as you have seen up above. Bender openly defies vice-principal Vernon at every given opportunity, and in this scene, he actually tries to escape the detention hall...with not so great results.  (Another warning for mature language here)



You can't blame him for trying though.

Anyway, the reason why Bender seems to have so much anger towards the world is based on the traumatic childhood that he sustained. Thanks to being raised by a violent, abusive, alcoholic father, Bender's anger issues are easily explained. In fact, Bender goes so far as to showing everyone in the room a burn mark that he suffered when his father burned him with a lit cigar after he accidentally spilled paint all over the garage. He is the last one to really open up in the film, but when he does, it's almost amazing to see just how relieved he seemed to be at letting it all out.

TRIVIA:  Judd Nelson was almost fired from the movie by John Hughes because he was bullying Molly Ringwald off screen.  But when his co-star Paul Gleason stood up for Nelson, claiming that he was staying in character in between scenes, Hughes kept him on the project.

By now, I'm sure that you all have figured out that all five kids in The Breakfast Club are connected by one key thing.

They hate their parents.

Well, okay, hate seems to be too strong a word (well, unless you're Bender, who actually did have a valid reason to hate his father), but they all were afraid that they would end up like their parents. They wanted desperately to learn from the mistakes that their parents had made, and vowed to never repeat them. As a result of this shared connection, as well as other minor connections that made the kids realize that maybe they had more in common than they thought.

And common threads linked together to form a rather unusual, but heartwarming friendship between five people who never would have met each other under different circumstances.

I guess the one thing that we can learn from this movie is obviously to not judge a book by its cover. If you take the time to get to know someone, regardless of how radically different they might be from yourself, you might be surprised to know that maybe their lives aren't as happy as they make out. You might even be surprised to get a new friendship out of it.

When the movie first began, we see Brian writing the essay assignment that Vernon had given them while they served their Saturday detention. Here was the excerpt that he had written at the very beginning of the day.

Saturday, March 24, 1984.
Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062.

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong...and what we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us...in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed.

Compare that to the letter that Brian writes at the end of the movie. Each character reads the part of the letter that corresponded to their parts in the movie as Mr. Vernon reads their finished essay...

BRIAN: Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong...but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us...in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...
ANDY: ...and an athlete...
ALLISON: ...and a basket case...
CLAIRE: ...and a princess...
BENDER: ...and a criminal.
BRIAN: Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club

And on that note, let's end this blog off with the main theme for the movie. A little hit by Simple Minds that hit the top of the charts on May 18, 1985.


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday Jukebox - Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald

What goes through your mind when you hear the word 'freedom'?

No, seriously. Think about it for a second. What goes through your mind when you hear that word?

Perhaps you think of freedom in the sense that you have the freedom to go wherever you like, or buy whatever you like, or do whatever you do. Or, maybe you see freedom as being left to your own devices as to what you feel is best for you and your lifestyle. Some people are given too much freedom in their lives. Some, not nearly enough.

To me, I define freedom as a goal in life that all of us ultimately want. Nobody in life actually asks to be held down by something or someone. The fact that there are quite a few people in this world who are tied down because of a number of factors is very sad.

There are a number of factors that may compromise a person's ability to achieve true freedom in this world. They could be tied up in an abusive marriage where their lives would be at risk if they ever fled. It could be being stuck at a dead-end job with no way of things improving. It could be living in a place where one does not feel safe walking the streets because of criminal activity.

Even throughout history, we have had instances where people have had to fight for their freedom. All we really have to do is do a little bit of research on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad to see just how many slaves managed to find their way to freedom back in the 19th century. The Underground Railroad is just one of the many symbols that could be used to describe the word 'freedom'.

There are other examples of objects and places that could also symbolize freedom. Taking the scenario above where I talked about someone being tied in an abusive marriage, there is a way out. There are hotlines and resources available for women and men to use (in fact, if you click on this previous blog entry that I did, you can visit some of these resources).



Perhaps one of the most recognizable symbols of freedom that many people might know is the Statue Of Liberty, which sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. The green tinted statue of a woman wearing a crown and holding a torch high in the air has been one of New York City's most visited monuments.

This October, Lady Liberty celebrates her 125th birthday. The statue was a gift to the United States from France, and was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and was officially dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue is of a robed female figure designed to resemble Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. She carries the symbolic torch high up in the air, and underneath her arm is a tablet with the date that the American Declaration of Independence was crafted (July 4, 1776).

The Statue Of Liberty became a symbol of freedom for the people who immigrated to the United States via New York City, for the statue was one of the first things that they saw upon entering America. Over the years, new immigrants to the country exhibited their pure excitement and jubilation over arriving in the United States to a better life. One immigrant from Greece said this upon viewing the Statue of Liberty for the first time;

I saw the Statue Of Liberty. And I said to myself, 'Lady, you're such a beautiful! You opened your arms and you get all the foreigners here. Give me a chance to prove that I am worth it, to do something, to be someone in America.' And always that statue was on my mind.”

Doesn't that sound inspiring?

I guess it could be of some comfort that the shining light from Lady Liberty's torch guided the way for many people who were new to America, and sort of gave them that comfort that the freedom that they wanted for whatever reason was within reach.

The reason why I brought this up is because the lyrics of the song that I want to talk about today are kind of related to this. No, the song isn't really about the Statue Of Liberty, but the song's chorus could be one that kind of relates to the dreams of freedom that many have that many others take for granted.



ARTIST: Michael McDonald
SONG: Sweet Freedom
ALBUM: Running Scared Official Soundtrack
DATE RELEASED: June 14, 1986
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #7



Michael McDonald has had a rather lengthy musical career, although many people may not even be aware of it. At the age of 22, McDonald got his first big break by singing backing vocals for Steely Dan. He sang backing vocals on the band's albums between 1975 and 1980. During this time, McDonald was recruited to fill in for Tom Johnston, who was the lead singer for The Doobie Brothers, who had become ill while they were on tour.

McDonald's stint as the singer of The Doobie Brothers was so successful that he ended up joining the band on a full-time basis in 1976. For five years, Michael McDonald sang lead on a number of hits for the band including 'Real Love', 'Takin' It To The Streets' and 'What A Fool Believes'.

After The Doobie Brothers disbanded in the early 1980s, Michael McDonald decided to embark on a solo career. He had a few minor hits, but he managed to build up his resume by working with a lot of top-notch acts. He had a number one hit with Patti LaBelle with 'On My Own' in 1986, and he co-wrote songs for Carly Simon and Van Halen. In 1985, he won a Grammy Award along with James Ingram for the duet 'Yah Mo B There'. Even now, he writes and records songs, and with his cover versions of classic Motown hits, he has still managed to keep a profile in the music industry.



The song 'Sweet Freedom' (ironically enough released on Flag Day, an American observance that celebrates another symbol of freedom in the United States) was actually released on the soundtrack of a movie. The movie was 'Running Scared', and starred Billy Crystal and the late Gregory Hines. Both actors make a cameo in the music video for the song, as you've seen up above.

The movie itself actually depicted the two main characters seeking freedom of their own in some sense. Two police officers in Chicago have made the decision to relocate to Florida with the dream of opening up a bar in a tropical paradise.

Think Cocktail, only two years earlier and without Tom Cruise.

The reason they made the decision that they did was because of the fact that both of them were almost killed on the job, and because they feel as though their superiors didn't respect them as much as they should have. However, due to a twist of fate, they find that they have to take down the person who almost killed them. Before they retire, they must find a way to bring him down (while faced with the humiliating task of training their replacements) so they can go after their freedom.

Of course, that's all I'm going to tell you about the movie, because this isn't a Monday Matinee post. All I'll say is that in the end, the two detectives get their freedom, but not exactly in the way one might expect.



Anyways, back to the song, I think if one were to really examine the lyrics of the song, they would see the reason why I brought up the opening paragraph about freedom. As McDonald describes it, he talked about how he wasn't going to do any more running down the wrong road. He also kind of wanted to tell us that if we looked deep inside our hearts, we would find that the key to having the freedom we wanted was always inside of us, as long as we believed it.

I have to think that Mr. McDonald knows what he is talking about here.

I'm sure that change is a difficult thing for all of us to go through. Lord knows I have struggled with making the effort to make positive changes for myself. Why that is the case could be a combination of a fear of failure and a lack of self-esteem with just a little dash of disbelief. But I don't need a gourmet chef to tell me that recipe is one that can be toxic under certain conditions. Like any master of their trade, one must experiment with their surroundings. Perhaps by moving away to a different city, or taking up a skill, or going back to school. Sure, it can be rough going, but as the song says, freedom can be achieved provided that you believe in yourself that you will make it.

Just like all of those people who looked towards the light that Lady Liberty held in her hand for years and years did. They looked to the Statue of Liberty to lead the way for success, but in all actuality, they were looking deep inside themselves and telling themselves that this would be a sign that a better life was possible.

I guess I need to start believing that more often.

Shine sweet freedom, shine your light on me
You are the magic, you're right where I want to be
Oh sweet freedom, carry me along
We'll keep the spirit alive, on and on.








Saturday, September 24, 2011

Saturday Morning - Ri¢hie Ri¢h

Have you ever heard the phrase 'poor little rich boy' before?



Today's edition of the Saturday Morning blog post (which returns back to normal after the September switcheroo) features one young boy who could easily be described as being exactly that.



Do any of you remember the comic book character of Richie Rich? Richie Rich became one of the most well known mascots of the now defunct comic book company Harvey Comics.

By all accounts, Richie Rich looked like your typical, run-of-the-mill seven year old boy. He had two parents who loved him, as well as a pet dog, and lived a fairly happy childhood.

Did I mention that he happens to be the richest kid in the whole world?

I'm serious. His wealth could probably put all the Trump children, the Kardashian sisters, and Paris Hilton to shame.

His parents, Richard and Regina Rich are incredibly wealthy industrialists who ended up using all of their money to build a gigantic mansion. The mansion includes both human servants (with Cadbury being the butler that we see the most often) and robot servants (as in the case with Irona). Richie's dog is a rare breed of a dog called a 'Dollar-matian', appropriately named 'Dollar'.

Richie Rich has almost everything in the world that money could buy, and he could have almost any luxury he wanted. If he wanted an ice cream sundae, all of the ingredients would be freshly made. There was no need for him to go to an amusement park because he could have one built in his backyard. He had everything that most boys his age could only dream of having.

So, why would he then be called the 'poor little rich boy'?



The 1994 live action movie based on the comic and cartoon series does a better job at explaining Richie's plight than the comic books and show did, but to briefly summarize it, Richie's vast wealth has made him kind of a lonely kid.

I don't really like using the term lonely. With hundreds of servants and staff members at Rich mansion on any given day, Richie was certainly not a child that could be considered isolated. He was what you could consider a sort of latchkey child though.

In case some of you haven't heard of the term latchkey kid before, basically it's a child who more often than not is left to his/her own devices because they have parents who work so much that they are hardly ever home. In Richie's case, his parents worked almost around the clock in order to keep up their massive estate, and to make sure that Richie was provided for financially.

Unfortunately, what Richie really needed was to have his family there for him for emotional support, and to be there for him when he needed them. Sometimes, his parents got caught up in their work, whether it be for charitable purposes, or expanding their already rich empire. Sometimes, they had to fly out on a moment's notice to other cities and countries, leaving Richie behind with Cadbury and Irona.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the 1994 movie also showed that Richie had great difficulty making friends. Sure, in the comic book and cartoon series, Richie was great friends with Gloria, Pee-Wee, and Freckles, but on the movie, he really had to prove himself to them. Mainly because the kids weren't used to hanging out with someone who had as much money as Richie. Once they got to know him though, they saw him as being a great friend.

A lot of people stereotype rich kids as being spoiled rotten, or lazy, who feel a great sense of entitlement just because they have a lot of money, gold, silver, and gems.

That simply just was not Richie Rich.

Richie Rich was kind, trustworthy, and extremely generous. In fact, he would often attempt to buy Gloria luxurious presents (which she almost always refuses as she doesn't feel the need to be lavished upon). Compare that to his bratty cousin Reggie, who often played pranks on Richie and his friends. He also would treat his servants terribly, and acted as if he were better than everyone else. Something that Richie would never think of doing.



Richie Rich first appeared in Harvey Comics in September 1953, in a Little Dot comic book. It would take about seven years for Richie to get his own title. Yet, once Richie did, it soon became a huge hit. The original title ran for 254 issues between 1960 and 1991 (with a four year hiatus beginning in 1982 with restructuring in the Harvey Comics company being the main cause). But there were several other spin-offs from the original title starring Richie. Some of the more successful spin-offs were named after various units of money and assets, including Richie Rich Relics, Richie Rich's Dollars and Cents, Richie Rich Millions, and Richie Rich Success Stories, and most of these titles ran for at least two decades. Although Richie Rich comics have been published largely sporadically since the main title ended in 1991, a new version of the title is slated to be released in late 2011 or early 2012.

I'll admit that I read the odd Richie Rich title growing up, but for some reason, the comic book serial was one that I never really actively collected (unlike Archie Comics, which if you have read other blog postings over the past few months, I have a bit of an obsession with). Still, it was a decent comic book with some cute stories.



Even if Richie Rich DID sort of resemble Casper The Friendly Ghost. One of the rumours that went around my elementary school was that Casper was the ghost of Richie Rich (a rumour that was proven false when you consider that Casper was created back in the 1930s and the fact that his name in the Casper movie was Casper McFadden).

But I'll save that for the Casper entry (if I do a Casper The Friendly Ghost entry).

I did love watching the cartoon series of Richie Rich though. And to end this entry, I'm going to share the opening of the 1980 cartoon series with all of you.


Friday, September 23, 2011

Friday Night Videos: "Friday" by Rebecca Black

I hope all of you have enjoyed this special week where I switched things around a bit. I may end up doing it again in a few months time. But, don't worry, I'll provide all of you with advanced warning beforehand.

Tomorrow, we'll go back to the old schedule, so on Saturdays, it'll be back to discussing cartoons, and so on.

I must offer a bit of a confession for you all. I had planned the September Switcheroo for a while now, and part of the reason is because there was one subject that I really wanted to talk about for a while now.

By the process of elimination, you've probably figured out that every theme has been accounted for except for one. That would be the day that I would normally have the Sunday Jukebox.

For some reason though, I didn't think that it was appropriate to post on a Sunday. Not because it happens to be a song about sacrificial Satanic rituals and posting it on a day that is highly religious in nature. Nothing like that at all. Those who know me best would know that while I consider myself to be a spiritual person in nature, I am not religious.

No, the reason why I wanted to wait until a Friday to post this entry is because the song title happens to have the word 'Friday' in its title.

Certainly there are a lot of songs that could qualify for this honour. Dozens of them from artists such as The Cure, Katy Perry, Steely Dan, and Nancy Sinatra.

Instead, I chose the song that just six months ago, everyone talked about this song...and not necessarily in a good way either.



Prior to 2011, Rebecca Black was your typical thirteen year old girl who attended junior high school. Rebecca had a keen interest in music, and taking a tip from a classmate of hers at the time, decided to make a music video using the help of a record label, Ark Music Factory. For $4,000 (which Rebecca's mother paid), Rebecca got the choice of one of two songs that she could sing and make an accompanying music video.

To Rebecca's credit, one of the songs that was offered to her was a song about adult love, which she immediately rejected. After all, she was only a teenager, and hadn't experienced those feelings yet. She instead chose the other song that was immediately offered to her.

And, here's the song she ended up recording.

 
ARTIST: Rebecca Black
SONG: Friday
DATE RELEASED: February 10, 2011
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #66

When 'Friday' was first released onto the video-sharing site YouTube in February 2011, Rebecca Black was eager to share it with her friends and family. She had hopes that the video would help her launch a singing career, although Ark Music had told Rebecca's parents that she shouldn't expect to become famous because of the one video she shot.

During the first month of the video being posted on YouTube, it amassed about 4,000 views. Not a huge number, but certainly enough to satisfy Black. I know that sometimes I get a little giddy when I check the page views for this own blog because at least I know that people are reading my thoughts and feelings and hopefully getting something out of it.

Of course, I don't think Rebecca Black expected her little $4,000 video to become an Internet sensation. Especially one that was for all the wrong reasons.



The date was March 11, 2011. Four weeks after 'Friday' was first released on the Internet. Thanks to comedian Michael J. Nelson posting a link to the video on his Twitter account as well as a Tosh 2.0 blog post entitled 'Songwriting Isn't For Everyone', the views for Rebecca Black's music video skyrocketed.

By March 21, 2011, the video for 'Friday' had swelled up to 30 million views on YouTube and quickly became one of the most viewed videos on the video-sharing site since it was founded in February 2005.

You would think that this would be fantastic news for Rebecca Black. Thirty million views for a video. Most singers are lucky to even get one-eighth of that reception. Rebecca Black should have been on cloud nine.

However, quite the opposite reaction happened.

You see, on YouTube, there is a feature on every video that allows registered users to vote on whether they like or dislike a video. It's a pretty standard feature, really. It was only natural that people who viewed 'Friday' would take advantage of this feature.

Unfortunately for Rebecca Black, more people clicked on the dislike button than the like button.

In fact, of all the votes cast during the video's original posting, a reported 87% of them were dislikes. As if that wasn't bad enough, the comments that users left behind underneath the video ranged from vague sarcasm to outright cruelty. Most of them were the standard 'this sucks' caliber, but some of them were absolutely horrible. Some of them begged her to stop singing. A few of them attacked Rebecca personally, saying that she should develop an eating disorder to improve her looks and that they wanted her to cut herself.

To make matters even worse, the bullying and teasing wasn't just limited to the Internet. Rebecca Black suffered bullying and abuse at school by her classmates. In 2011, Rebecca decided to leave public school and go into a home-schooling program. She claimed that it was so she could have more time to develop her singing career, though one has to wonder if the bullying that she went through influenced her decision.

In May 2011, the comments for the 'Friday' video were disabled, and on June 16, 2011, the video was removed from YouTube with permission from Rebecca Black, as Black's family was involved in a legal dispute with Ark Music Factory at the time. The video was uploaded once again on September 16, 2011 under Rebecca Black's own YouTube channel, as you probably have seen up above.



Still, the criticism continues to surround Rebecca Black. Several people have stated that 'Friday' is the worst song ever recorded. Kind of a hard title to overcome, right? Not something one would want to be remembered for, right?

But here's the thing. Rebecca Black's 'Friday' ISN'T the worst song ever recorded. At least not in my opinion.

I mean, I won't sugarcoat this blog entry completely. I'm not in love with 'Friday'. I can't lie and say that I like it, because I have to admit it isn't that memorable. However, it's far from being the 'worst' I ever heard. I think a lot of the biggest critics of this song and video don't seem to realize that their perspective might be a lot different from that of somebody else. I mean, certainly it wasn't Grammy Award worthy, but it didn't warrant the nasty reactions that other people gave it (and her).

I have a low tolerance for bullies and people who purposely say hurtful things for the sole purpose of making someone else feel bad. It doesn't matter what a person does or if they do something that you don't particularly like. Sometimes there are some instances where the best thing to do is keep your thoughts to yourself.

I have no problem with criticism as long as it is constructive. Some people disliked the idea of Rebecca Black's song overusing the device known as Auto-Tune. I can't say that I blame them one bit in that regard, as the Auto-Tune was way overused. But I only say this because when you take away the Auto-Tuning, Rebecca Black actually doesn't sound too bad. She has another song out called 'My Moment', and there's no Auto-Tune, and I think I may like it better than 'Friday' because it is Rebecca just being herself without any aid.

And, while we're on the subject, Rebecca Black is only fourteen years old. People aren't born great singers, writers, bricklayers overnight. The best have to work at it each and every day. I'm sure that with constant practice and cultivation of her abilities and skills, Rebecca could end up surprising everyone. Maybe it won't amount to anything beyond 'Friday', but I'm willing to give her the shot to prove her critics wrong. It's possible that they may be right, but it's also entirely possible that they could be wrong about her.

I guess one of the biggest problems that I personally find with the mechanics of 'Friday' is the lyrics of the song. It wouldn't have mattered if Celine Dion had sang them. They weren't exactly Grammy award worthy.

(Of course, mind you, most of the music that came out this year hasn't exactly been stellar, but of course, this is merely my stance, and you can feel free to agree or disagree as you see fit.)

However, were the lyrics appropriate enough for a teenage girl to sing? Absolutely. I mean, certainly she had the option to sing a more adult song, but she refused because she simply didn't feel that it fit for her at that point in time, and really, I think that should be commended. With so many female teenage singers being encouraged by the current music industry to 'sex it up' and sing songs that are years ahead of them, I actually want to applaud her for taking that stance, and doing what she thought was the right choice for her.

And besides, Rebecca Black didn't write the lyrics for 'Friday'. It's hard to know exactly how much creative control Rebecca really did have on that song, though just based on the research that I have done on this song at least, I'm unable to find anything that suggests that Rebecca had any impact on the lyrics of the song whatsoever. My guess is that she was given the lyrics and was just told to sing her little heart out.

As I said before, criticism is fine as long as it is constructive. My opinion that Rebecca Black should lay off the Auto-Tune button and actually sing without the use of such devices still stands, but that's only because I think she sounds better without all those devices. I know that in some songs, Auto-Tune could be used sparingly and still end up being a hit (I'm thinking of Cher's song 'Believe' as a fantastic example of this), but when the whole song is utilizing it, that is a different story altogether. But that's fine, I'm sure that my comments would probably mean nothing to anyone involved with the making of 'Friday'. I'm just putting it out there to illustrate my point about constructive criticism.

Constructive criticism does NOT involve calling someone names, completely tearing apart their self-esteem and wishing them bodily harm or hoping they develop anorexia. That is just needless cruelty, and I for one am disgusted that people can act like this towards someone else. Not surprised, sadly...but disgusted. It doesn't matter how terrible you think that someone might be. It is unwarranted. It isn't as though Rebecca Black stabbed someone, robbed a charitable organization, or strangled a squirrel in front of a kindergarten class. She just released a simple music video for her friends and family to view, hoping that somehow it would help her appreciate music a lot more, and maybe start up a recording career as she grew older. It may not have been what the public wanted, but at the same time, I don't think it was worth making death threats against her.

And, I guess that's why I wanted to write this article. As someone who has been on the receiving end of bullying and deconstructive criticism, I can sympathize with what Rebecca Black had to go through. I couldn't even fathom having my struggles being broadcast all over television, the Internet, and other media sources. The fact that Rebecca Black is handling it as well as she has been has been nothing short of inspiring. I know it seems like an odd word choice to use in this situation, but really, Rebecca had to endure criticism from all over the world. Where many people would have crumbled or surrendered from the backlash, she seems to be taking it in stride. I can't say that it has been easy for her. I imagine that some days, she probably wanted to hide from the world.

The fact that she isn't, and the fact that she's standing up to her bullies by not letting the criticism get to her (at least in public view) is a great thing to see.



Whether Rebecca Black ends up carving out a career that lasts years, or whether she'll be a one-hit-wonder is not known at this time. She could be a success, or she may not. But with Rebecca Black making appearances in Katy Perry videos and her song being sung on the high-rated television program Glee, one might say that her infamy from having such a controversial song could end up netting Rebecca Black the last laugh.

Only time will tell, I suppose.

And that ends the September Switcheroo. I hope you all enjoyed this week of twists and turns, and know that things will return to normal beginning tomorrow. Have a great day, everyone, and thank you!