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Saturday, February 04, 2012

Nick Arcade - Life-Size Video Gaming

Before I kick off another week of blogs, I just want to take the time, and thank everyone who took part in the Spread <3, Not Hate event yesterday.  It was fantastic to read everyone else’s blog entries on the subject, and I admit that some of the stories really moved me.  Not necessarily because they gripped at my emotions (although the vast majority of them did just that), but because I showed me that I wasn’t necessarily alone.  Like myself, a lot of people who took part in the event shared their stories, and told of their experiences of being bullied.  I had no idea that so many people had been affected by bullying.  It shocked me, and yet saddened me at the same time.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say that bullying in our schools and workplaces needs to stop, and we need to stand up against the bullies in our world.  There were even a couple of people who blogged about how they wished they could do more, or how they witnessed someone being bullied, and didn’t know how to stop it, and they felt terrible for not being able to do more.  We even had a couple of bloggers turn over control of their blog to their own children, who spoke out against bullying, which was great.  At any rate, I think the message really got through to a lot of people, and once again, I wish to thank K.C. Neal and K.M. Parr for allowing me to be a part of the blogging event that they spearheaded right from the beginning!


Now, let’s continue on with the blog.  And, have I got a topic for you today!  But first, a question.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to star in your very own video game?
I don’t mean having your name on a video game box, or having your image immortalized as a character made up of multicoloured pixels (although I do admit that would sound cool).  I mean actually living the life of a video game character.  You’d jump from platform to platform, collecting coins and treasures, and defeating any enemy (or bully) that may cross your path. 

To be completely honest, I think that life as a video game character would have its pros and cons.  For pros, you’d be able to do things that you normally wouldn’t be able to do.  How many times do you jump from building to building with ease in your day to day life?  Not many, I bet.  How many times would you be able to drive a car, accidentally smash into something, and NOT get arrested for it?  I’m guessing that unless you are a career criminal, that would never happen.  Yet, in video games, both of these happen and more.  In video games, once you defeat an enemy, they stay gone for the rest of your game.  If only it were so easy in the real world.  In video games, especially in role playing games, you can make a lot of money in such a short time.  The catch is that in order to make the money, you have to steal from people, rob their houses, and other criminal activities...things that in the real world could get you sent to prison for a very long time.
(Not that I advocate this, of course.)

There’s certainly many pros to being a video game character.  But there are some downsides as well.  In a video game, you only get three chances to get what you want to get done right, because one false move, and you get a trip to the pixellated heaven in the sky.  And when the video game finally ends, you’re eventually doomed to repeat those same actions over and over and over again.  Come to think of it, living life as a video game would sound a lot like the film ‘Groundhog Day’, where Bill Murray relives the same day over and over.
So being a video game character would have different, but similar struggles to your life in real time.  There are some perks, but there are also some hardships.  But, until 1992, there was literally no way that anybody could find out whether or not they could live life as a video game character.

You see, in 1992, a children’s game show premiered on Nickelodeon that allowed children to walk through a portal and actually become players inside a life-sized video game.  The players would have to move around three levels to collect items that were crucial to finishing the game.  If all three levels were completed, they’d win the game.
(Okay, okay...so the video game simulation was really just the contestants playing in front of a blue screen...it still looked incredible.)



Today’s blog topic is the Nickelodeon game show “Nick Arcade”, which originally aired for two seasons from January 4, 1992 – March 12, 1993.  Hosted by Phil Moore, the show was the first one in America to regularly use blue screen technology, and the theme of the show had to do with video and arcade games.


I watched the show myself on YTV, and I admit that I would have loved to have gone on the show as a contestant.  I think I would have done well, as I was a decent video gamer as a pre-teen.  However, I was also a husky, tall, pre-teen who probably would have failed miserably in the final round.  Still, it would have been cool to try it, at least.  If you like, you can watch an episode below.


There were two male/female teams of two.  One was the yellow team, the other was the red team.  Each game was made up of two rounds, and each round kicked off with an original video game face-off session, where one member of each team would play a thirty second challenge game.  The games ranged in style and difficulty, and many of them were inspired by classic arcade games, such as “Paperboy”, “Pong”, and various shooter-type games.  Whoever won the face-off would earn 25 points for their team, and would play first in the main round.

The main rounds were various grids of puzzle squares, eighteen on each grid.  And your goal in each round was to move the little guy directly below this paragraph to the finish square.



This is Mikey, the Video Adventurer (who strangely resembles the main character of the 1990 video game StarTropics).  And, Mikey lives in a rather strange neighbourhood.  Sure, there are houses, playgrounds, and a shopping mall.  But in some cases, you can take Mikey on a trip through a medieval setting, underwater, through a haunted house, and even through a portal that can make him time travel!  Each episode of the show took place inside one of eleven different locations, but the game was played exactly the same.


And each one of the eighteen squares contained one of several games, activities, and surprises.  There were squares that offered up instant prizes, as well as instant points that could put teams in the lead.  There were also some bad squares that contained enemies that would automatically make the team lose a turn.  So teams really had to exercise caution when it came to deciding which way to move Mikey across the board.
The majority of the spaces were puzzle spaces, each of which contained either a quiz question, or a challenge.  Most of the quizzes were visual in nature, where teams had to watch a video clip, and answer a question based on what they had just seen. 

Some examples of such challenges included the following;

Video Repairman – a music video was shown scrambled up like specialty cable channels that weren’t paid for, and teams had to guess the artist.

Credit Crawl – a bunch of clues describing a person, place, or thing would scroll up the screen, and teams had to guess what they were describing.

Hidden Camera – a camera was placed in a secret location, and teams had to guess where the camera was based on the background area.

Mixed Signals – a video would be playing, but have completely different audio, and teams had to guess what activity was taking place in the audio clip.


Then there were the Video Challenge squares, where teams would have to play one of five arcade games to try and accomplish a challenge associated with each game.  It could be something such as collecting 25 rings in “Sonic The Hedgehog” in thirty seconds, or beating a stage in “Bonk’s Adventure”, or something similar.  One team member would take on the challenge, while the other one was given a Magna-Doodle.  The team player with the Magna-Doodle would have to risk an amount of points up to the total amount they had accumulated.  If the team member successfully completed the challenge, the amount wagered would be added to their total.  If they failed, that amount would be taken away.


TRIVIA: Each arcade cabinet was represented by one of five main game consoles that were available during 1992.  The five consoles were Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and Neo-Geo.
It was a neat idea.  Admittedly, the companies did use the game show to promote their latest products, but for kids, it was a fun way to preview some of the hottest video games.  I’ll readily admit to renting a couple of games that I had seen on ‘Nick Arcade’.  And, considering that all the video game consoles were represented meant that each one had equal airtime, which I thought was great.

At the end of two rounds, whichever team had the most points won the chance to play the bonus round, which was where the blue screen technology came in.  Have a look at this montage of ‘Nick Arcade’ bonus round levels to get an idea as to how they worked.


It looked amazing...or, at least it did twenty years ago.


The way the bonus rounds worked were that they were split up into three rounds.  The first two had one team member running around a screen that took place in a variety of locations.  From jungles to Mayan ruins, mountain tops to winding rivers, city streets to cafeteria food fights, players needed to collect three items within each round to progress to the next screen.  There were bonus items which could slow down the action, kill every enemy on the screen, or refill the player’s energy bar, but if players lost all five units of energy, they would have to start again from the very beginning of the screen.


If players were lucky enough to make it to the third screen, both team members would work together to defeat one of three bosses at the end.  The three bosses were Scorchia, Merlock, and Mongo, and they could be defeated if both players grabbed three floating orbs.  But with flames, lightning bolts, ghosts, and other traps in the rooms, the challenge was difficult.  Even the random hourglasses which could freeze time didn’t necessarily guarantee victory.
Oh, did I mention that teams only had ONE MINUTE to beat all three screens?  I recall a few teams conquering the challenge, but I remember seeing a good many teams fail as well.  But if teams ended up winning the whole game, they could get a nice vacation out of it.  Cash prizes were awarded for each item collected, and teams would get a prize for completing a screen.  Nothing fancy though.  It would be something like a pair of roller blades, or a portable CD player.

Still, it was at the time, the only way that video game players could get the authentic video game playing experience.  And, you know what?  At the age of 30, I would do ‘Nick Arcade’ in a heartbeat...though with me being six foot two, I would undoubtedly fail the final challenge no matter how slim I get.  J

Friday, February 03, 2012

Spread Love, Not Hate

Today is an entry that could very well be considered a special edition of sorts.  And, fair warning...it's quite the read...I got a wee bit carried away.  But, hey...the subject matter is VERY personal to me, so I think allowances can be made.  :)

Before I launch right into it, I'd like to explain how I came up with the idea to do this.

http://kcneal.blogspot.com/2012/01/speak-out-against-bullying-on-feb-3.html

Do you see the link directly above this post? If you click on that link, you will be directed to another blog by a woman named K.C. Neal. She is an author, and she also hosts a blog, like me.

This is the entry she posted that inspired today's blog.



How it all began was that one of K.C.'s friends, another author named Katie (who goes by the pen name of K.M. Parr) had accomplished what many long-time writers (myself included) have wanted to do for quite some time. She had gotten her first novel published. This was undoubtedly a big deal for her, and it should have been one of the most exciting times of her career.

Unfortunately for Katie, this experience was tarnished by a bully.

A person that Katie had previously known had discovered the news that she had become published. But they didn't seek her out to congratulate her. Instead, they took the opportunity to slander her by mocking her accomplishment. The situation eventually turned into a case of online bullying.

So K.C. and Katie were talking about the bullying that Katie had experienced, and how upsetting it was. It just wasn't right that what should have been a happy experience for Katie had been soured by the callousness of an online bully. So, they decided to do something about it. To send a message to all bullies that they were going to rise above it.

Hence the creation of the multi-blogging extravaganza “Spread <3 Not Hate”. Which coincidentally happens to be the title of this blog entry!

The way that K.C. and Katie put this together was by getting a group of bloggers together on February 3, 2012, having each one write an experience about bullying and how they themselves dealt with it. The blog entries would then link back to K.C.'s original blog (through the button link above), where they could all be read together on the same page. The more bloggers that united, the bigger the message was. So when someone shared the link with me, I jumped at the chance to participate.

If you click on the link at the beginning of this post (which I'll repost HERE as well), you'll see a list of all the bloggers who are taking part in this day.  And, if you scroll down to #58 on that list, you'll be directed to my blog! As far as I can see, there's quite a few people participating in this event.  I think it's a great turnout, and I'm honoured to be taking part in it.

(CONFESSION:  I was actually given a code to post that should have posted the blog hop button in the blog, but I'm very much the techno-newbie, and can't figure out how to use it...LOL)

K.C. and Katie will be sharing their stories today, as will many other people. If you get a minute, use the link I've posted to read some of them.

And, today, I want to talk about bullying in my blog.

Mind you, for those of you who have read this blog on a daily basis, I've talked about my experiences with bullying a lot. But, that's a part of my own personal healing process. If you'd like, you can read some of these accounts by clicking on the dates that I have highlighted in this paragraph, and those dates are August 7, 2011, September 7, 2011, and January 23, 2012. That will allow you to read some of my own personal experiences with bullying in greater detail, but that's only if you're interested. I won't force you.

But here lies the challenge for today. Today is Friday, and on Fridays, I normally talk about television events. So, how could I tie my bullying experiences to a television event, so that I can keep up with the pop culture theme at the same time?

It then dawned on me. Television award shows.



The first three months of the year are almost always dedicated to awards ceremonies, and 2012 is no exception. We've already had the People's Choice Awards last month. The Grammy Awards are set to air February 12, while the Academy Awards will be airing two weeks later, on February 26.

Certainly there's a lot to witness during these ceremonies. Red carpet interviews, on-stage performances, hosts telling jokes that may or may not be funny. You know, things like that.

One part of awards ceremonies that I find somewhat entertaining are the acceptance speeches that people give out after they have won an award. Some speeches are poignant, and speak from the heart. Some speeches are short and to the point. And, unfortunately, some speeches are interrupted by Kanye West.



I felt incredibly terrible for Taylor Swift during that moment.  Although, I've been told that since that incident, Kanye and Taylor have patched things up.

I have always felt that when one is up on stage accepting an award, that in most cases, we're seeing them at their most raw and unscripted. After all, I'm sure that most of them were genuinely shocked at winning, and likely didn't really have a lot of time to prepare for it. To those people trembling on stage in their tuxedos or Donna Karan evening gowns, it's really a big deal. Their finest moment, if you will. The moment in which they realize that they have made it.



So, my contribution for the "Spread <3, Not Hate" event is to write my acceptance speech.   The picture above is the person I used to be.  The one who was picked on and bullied.  I've accepted that it has happened to me. I can't change it. Nor, do I want to change it. Those experiences, both good and bad, have made me the person who I am today (who you'll meet at the end of this entry).

And for this acceptance speech, I will be thanking people, both good and bad.

Because I believe in getting all of the bad stuff out of the way first, my first list of people who I wish to thank are those who I can best describe as the lemons in my life. Lemons who tried their hardest to make me an incredibly sour and bitter person.  No matter what though, I managed to find the lemonade within those lemons.



The first person I would like to thank is my first grade teacher. Some of you might not believe that a teacher is capable of bullying a child, but I had one of the worst. So, first grade teacher, I have quite a bit to thank you for. I wish to thank you for telling me that I had the worst handwriting in the class and that I would never learn how to write properly, because I spent the next few years trying to prove you wrong. Now, I have some of the best handwriting in my entire family, and am now taking up calligraphy. Maybe one day, I'll write you a letter so that you can see how true your prediction was. I also want to thank my first grade teacher for broadcasting my walking difficulty to the whole class (I walked on my toes for the first few years of my life), leading to the kids making fun of me for walking funny.  She taught me that I should never embarrass anybody publicly, especially if the remarks were mean-spirited and cruel.

The next people that I would like to thank are the bullies in elementary school who used to tackle me in the school playground to shove snow, sand, or dirt in my face. The bullies who called me names every day in school. The bullies who caused me to have emotional panic attacks in class during the last part of my elementary school career. I want to thank you guys for showing me how much inner strength that I had in myself. Yep, you tried to break me, but I just wouldn't break. I may have had some emotional distress, but I still found a way to go to school almost every single day. That takes a lot of courage and strength...strength that I was too blind to see as an 11-year-old boy, but am now owning with pride as an almost 31-year-old man.



On a related note, I wish to thank a select few teachers at my elementary school for turning their backs on me when I needed their help the most. Not going to name names, of course, but I wanted to thank you anyway, because you actually taught me something about myself. Your inability to care about what happened to me, and your nonchalant attitude towards trying to stop the bullying helped me realize that it was the wrong message to be sending to people, and maybe it helped me become a better listener and a more compassionate person as a tradeoff. After all, I had so many examples of what NOT to do, that finding out what it was TO do became easier. In some way, you also taught me to go against the crowd and do what I felt was best for myself. So thank you for not caring, because you taught me how to care more.

I guess that same message can apply towards certain faculty members at my high school as well. Remember when I went to you about how classmates were sending me nasty messages and torching my belongings, and how you promised me that you'd find out who was behind it all? Well, you didn't. A few teachers did come to my aid (and believe me, I'll be thanking them a little later in this entry), but most of you looked the other way. Having to move my locker to four different locations in a single year was tedious, tiresome, and unfair, and deep down inside, I think you all knew this. But, you did nothing about it! So, thank you for not doing a thing to stop my bullying, because as I said before, your inaction to do anything fueled my action to try and prevent it from happening to other people.



By the way, thank you to the person who decided to torch and vandalize my locker in grade eleven...four times, no less. The reason I'm thanking you is because you helped me realize that I don't need material possessions to make me happy. Yes, I did lose some posters, and yes, I had to buy some new notebooks that were charred beyond recognition, but those were just material things.  Meaningless casualties as far as I was concerned.  I do regret the fact that my safety and security at school (and perhaps even in life after school) was forever compromised, but I got by as best I could under the circumstances.

Finally, I decided to save the worst for last, so to speak, and I really want to save my biggest thanks for the person who decided to send me a message through my student e-mail account...let's see...what did it say again? Oh, yeah...the message about telling me that school would be a better place if I killed myself. That's the one. I know that to most people, the thought of me even expressing gratitude towards such a cruel and disgusting message must sound like I have lost my mind. But, yet that's exactly what I am doing.

Thank you for sending me that message. Sure, it hurt me. Yes, it made me not want to be at that school again.  And, yeah, in my weakest moment, I considered actually obeying the note. But then I thought...if I did do that, what good would come out of it? Nothing. I'd be gone, and this blog entry would have never been written. As for the person who sent it, they'd end up getting the very thing that they wanted...I'd be out of the way, and to them, the school would be a better place.

And, there was no way that I was going to let that happen.

So, I found the courage to break free from the depths of darkness, stayed at that school, and got my diploma. So, thank you to whoever wrote that message because you helped me find that inner strength to keep living day to day...telling myself that one day, it would eventually get better.

And for the most part, it has gotten better.

I won't lie to you though.  I still deal with self-esteem issues and have emotional scarring as a result of the pain and cruelty that I endured during my school years. I've made tremendous progress in trying to overcome it all, but I imagine that some of those scars will always remain. But, at the same time, I wouldn't change those moments for the world, because I know that all of those incidents happened to me for a reason.  Of course, there were times in which I wished I could improve on my self-esteem.  I thought, if only it were sold in stores.  Then I'd never have a problem finding a large quantity of it whenever I wanted it.


If only self-esteem were this easy to get.  Instead, I had to build it up the tough way, trying to overcome each barrier to get closer to what my true self was.

And, what is my true self? It's a person who listens. A person who shows compassion. A person who didn't let bullies turn him into a bully himself.  A person who stands up to bullies, no matter what!

No longer did I want to be surrounded by people who brought me down. I wanted to be around people who brought me back up.  Made me feel better about myself.  And, now I want to do the same to help others who might be going through a similar experience.

So, I guess I'd like to thank everyone who ever bullied me, or made me feel badly about myself. For the more pain you inflicted on me, the stronger I became. Now, I take action to try and get people to talk about their experiences, because the more that people speak out, the more united we become, and the better chance we heal.



There's actually a group on Facebook that I started up as a way to heal from my pain, which is called the 'Gallery Of Healing', and if you're interested, click on the link in this paragraph. It'll explain what it is, and what you can do to help out. It's a small group, and it's not the most active, but it will always remain open so that anyone who wants to talk about their experiences can do so without the fear of being bullied. It's there if anybody needs to use it. No pressure though.

To end off this entry, I would like to now thank those people who did make a positive difference in my life. People who stood behind me and did their best to help me cope through the bullying, stood up for me, or did something as simple as be nice to me when everyone else walked away.

First, I want to thank the teachers and educators who did make a difference. All of them helped me deal with the trauma I faced, and I feel as though they deserve special recognition. So, I want to thank Mrs. Woodfine, my sixth grade teacher, Mr. Pearson (high school chemistry teacher), Mr. McDonald (high school computer teacher), Mr. Corney (high school gym teacher), Mrs. Quick (high school music teacher), Mr. Cristello (high school math teacher), Mr. Wright (high school math teacher), Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (elementary school computer and French teacher), and Ms. Renusz (high school history teacher). It would take me a full page to go into detail how much your standing by me when nobody else would meant to me. From encouraging me to write about my bad experiences (which I guess sort of inspired my career choice of becoming a writer), to launching an investigation into tracking the nasty e-mail messages, to ripping down slanderous posters in the school cafeteria, to just being available to talk to...all of these teachers proved to me at least how good educators they were. I just hope that someday, I'm able to run into each of them again so that I can thank them in person...that is if they even remember who I am.

There's also a couple of educators that I want to include on this list. Sadly, both have passed on now, but I want to extend my thanks to Mr. Tripp (elementary school music teacher) and Mr. McMillan (elementary school custodian). Both of them were two of the biggest confidence boosters that I've ever had the fortune of having. One provided encouragement and praise when I had to perform a solo at the school concert (in which I had almost not gone to due to being bullied the day before), while the other one always had a kind word to say, and actually told off a bully, getting him to leave me alone one day. Simple gestures, but they meant a lot to me, and I'll never forget them.

Finally, I'd like to thank some special classmates who I'm honoured to have kept (and/or reconnected with) in my life...classmates from elementary school and high school who never went along with the crowd, and who showed me genuine compassion no matter how badly I was feeling. And since this is the positive portion of the blog, I wish to name names...well, at least first names and last initials, anyway.

Laura A.,  John A.,  Melissa A.,  Jason B.,  Diane B.,  Ian C.,  Bailey C.,  Becky D., Jennifer E.,  Erin E., Leah F.,  Tim H.,  Amanda H.,  Ashley K.,  Sarah L.,  Erik M.,  David M.,  Dana M.,  Nicole M., Orijit P., Erica P., Alecia R.,  Laura S.,  Eileen T.,  Wendy T.,  Clement T.,  Laurel T.,  Sarah W.,  Cary-Lynn W., and Matthew Y.

Some of you, I've known all my life. Some of you, I've only recently reconnected with through social media. And, some of you probably don't remember me as I haven't seen you since school ended. But, I certainly remember all of you...and if you see your name up here, know that I think very highly of you, and I really do appreciate every single one of you for reaching out to me when I needed someone to talk to, and being there for me when I was at my lowest in school because of what I went through. And, in case I don't get a chance to thank each one of you in person one day, at least there's a permanent reminder inside of my blog. I certainly hope that I listed everybody, but I'm sure that there's a few names that I'm simply not remembering. But, just know that if you made a difference in my life, you'll know it.

Thanks to the support of my fantastic co-workers, fellow writer friends, special online friendships that I have maintained (some as long as a decade!!!), and most importantly, the support of my entire family, I'm getting my life back on track again. And, it is a wonderful feeling.

Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all...



...and while being bullied may have prevented me from learning that lesson in the past...it's certainly not stopping me now.  The person below is the person I am now...and I like the person I see!



(Once more...if you'd like to blog hop to other bloggers who are taking part in this venture, please click on THIS LINK to view the list in its entirety...and thanks to K.C. and Katie for allowing me to be a part of it!)


Thursday, February 02, 2012

$#*! other people say, but usually not me!

Have you ever heard of a television sitcom called ‘$#*! My Dad Says’?



It’s okay if you haven’t.  It was one of those blink and you’ll miss it type shows that was here one minute, and gone the next.  Although, given that it was a more recent creation, I suppose that it would be fresher in the minds of most people than say ‘Cop Rock’, ‘Women Of The House’, ‘My Mother The Car’, and ‘Free Spirit’.
The sitcom aired on CBS from September 23, 2010 to February 17, 2011.  It starred William Shatner as Dr. Edison Milford Goodson III, a septuagenarian father of two adult boys who is prone to opinionated rants and politically incorrect opinions.  The sitcom was loosely based off the Twitter feeds of Justin Halpern, under the name of $#*! My Dad Says (where the first word is NOT censored – I’m just censoring it because it’s related to today’s Thursday confession).  On the Twitter feed, Justin would often post quotes by his father, Sam, whom William Shatner’s character was loosely based on, and it quickly became an account that had a lot of followers.

The feed became so popular that plans to turn it into a sitcom began in November 2009.  The pilot episode was written by Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, and Shatner was cast in the main role just three months later, in February 2010.  The series would be picked up by CBS in May 2010, and the first episode aired that September.
Of course, due to FCC regulations, the original title couldn’t exactly be used.  So, the decision was made to use symbols to disguise the first word of the series, and the series would then be referred to as ‘BLEEP My Dad Says’.  Halpern’s own Twitter feeds were modified in the show scripts, as they too were considered to be too vulgar to air on screen.

Somehow, the transition from Twitter to television did not work out as well as everyone had expected.  Despite a promising start with a 12 million viewing audience for the show’s first episode, by episode three, the audience decreased as much as 25%.  The show managed to last for eighteen episodes before being put on hiatus, and in May 2011, that hiatus became permanent.
I can’t really say much about the show itself, because I never watched it.  I can’t say that I’m really the biggest William Shatner fan, to be completely honest.

(And, no, that’s not the Thursday Confession.)
But, the show’s title sort of alludes to the real idea of what I want to confess for this edition of the Thursday Confession.

And, here’s my confession.


THURSDAY CONFESSION #5:  I very rarely swear, and will try everything possible to avoid using swear words, even if it means that I sound like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons as a result.
Hence the idea of me censoring my swear words in this entry.

That’s not to say that I NEVER swear myself.  There are some instances in which I can’t help but swear.  If I am extremely angry and passionate about something, the last thing that I think about is censoring my thoughts and language.  I think I actually might have dropped a swear word or two in last week’s confession, come to think of it.  But, that’s a rarity, and something that I don’t typically do.

Let's put it this way.  If I had a swear jar, it'd probably be filled with more cobwebs than quarters.
But, if I smash my thumb with a hammer, or stub a toe, and you’re near me, you best plug your ears if you get offended by four-letter words, because I don’t mince words when I am in any sort of physical pain. 

For the most part though, I don’t really enjoy dropping swear words all that much.  I understand that a lot of people do, and that’s fine, but I prefer not to.  And, yes, I’ll get to that in a little bit.


I will say that as far as the actual words themselves go, they don’t particularly offend me all that much.  I mean, once you heard one naughty word, you’ve heard them all.
But while I don’t get offended very easily, there are a lot of people out there who do take offence.  During the early stages of planning for ‘$#*! My Dad Says’, the show’s title was announced in a press conference on May 19, 2010, as well as the 8:30 time slot it would be occupying.  Sounds good, right?

Not so for some parents groups.
Despite assurances from CBS that the profanity in the title would be bleeped out, and that the expletive would not be used in promos, some groups didn’t feel that it was enough.  The Parents Television Council, in particular, protested the name of the show, simply because it alluded to an obscenity.  They actually threatened CBS with broadcast license challenges towards any affiliate airing the show or its promos before 10pm.  This is despite the fact that CBS assured that the show’s title would be bleeped out, and that the show would still adhere to CBS standards.  William Shatner himself didn’t see what the big deal was, and the general consensus was that it was all blown out of proportion.

And in the long run, it didn’t really matter, as the show was cancelled within a year for its poor quality, and not the name with the first word that shall not be said.
I certainly don’t agree with the decision made by the Parents Television Council.  Maybe my opinion about them might not mean a lot, since I am not a parent, but I would think that if I did have children, I would have enough common sense to know what sorts of programming would and would not be appropriate for them to watch.  I grew up in a household where salty language was just a part of daily life.  Was it inappropriate?  It really depended on the context and the situation.  But, for the most part, I think my family can control it.

Well, okay, maybe my father has difficulty at times.  Sometimes, I think the spirit of George Carlin inhabits my father’s soul.  But, that’s just the way he is, and I learned to overlook that part of him years ago.
So, hearing people swear doesn’t really bother me at all, at least not in the context in which they are said.  So, why have I decided not to swear myself?

It’s simple.  I just don’t want to.
Truth be told, I actually find that I get more satisfaction by substituting euphemisms for swear words.  And, I’m not just talking about standard ones such as substituting fudge for...well, you know.

Here’s another minor confession for all of you in relation to my bigger confession.  I substitute British slang, random objects and nonsensical gibberish in place of swear words.  Here’s a few examples of statements that I have said in the past to illustrate what I mean.

‘Son of a batch of cookies!’

‘I can’t believe I slammed my finger in the fluffernutter door!’

‘Holy Shadenfreude!’

‘Why don’t you shut the bloody door, you useless tit!’

(Well, all right...that last phrase is pushing it.)

But, do you not see what I mean?  It sounds so much funnier and more hilarious.  More importantly, it’s so unexpected.  You almost expect someone to let out a swear word in the situation, and then when you don’t, it takes you by surprise, doesn’t it?  Or, maybe I’m the only one who feels this way, and I'm just being a useless tit about the whole thing?  Who can say?  J
For the longest time, I think that I’ve done this.  And, contrary to what people have said about me being sensitive and delicate towards swear words, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

I think having grown up in a household where hearing everyone else in the family dropping swear words left and right sort of made me not want to be the same.  To be honest, I think that my NOT dropping random swear words all over the place was kind of like my way of rebelling against those in my immediate family.  I know it sounds like I’m a bit off my rocker, but looking back on my childhood, I can’t come up with a more reasonable explanation.
And, then when I got to high school, where almost every other word in the school hallways were laced with profanity, I think that also influenced my decision not to randomly drop F-bombs.  Because, the more swear words that I heard coming out of people’s mouths, the less impact they really had.

Think about it.  In a standard R-rated picture, the movie lasts about two hours, and in those two hours, you’ll likely hear anywhere from twenty-five to two hundred swear words...maybe even more than that depending on what kind of movie it is.  Some of them might be relevant to the scene.  Some might not be.  But, within a two hour time period, it really doesn’t make much of a difference. 
Now, you take being in a school for seven hours, and hearing high school students say the same amount of swears per hour, and eventually, it starts to get incredibly annoying! 

I get that when kids are in high school, uttering swear words is almost a rite of passage, and that a lot of them say those words in the school hallways because they may not be allowed to say them in their own homes.  But when every second word that comes out of a person’s mouth is a foul word, I’ll be completely honest, I get more bored than offended by it.  It’s one thing if one or two people are doing it.  But when EVERYONE does it, it gets to be real old, real fast.
I attended such a school where EVERYONE did it.  And it got real old, real fast.

I guess the attitude that I have towards swearing is that when it comes to having conversations with others, I admit that I have a hard time keeping a conversation going with someone when the other person is dropping an F-bomb every second word in their speech.  Not that I know a lot of people who are that coarse, but I do admit if I did, I really don’t know what my level of comfort would be.  Would I get offended?  Absolutely not.  But is it hard to follow?  I find it so, yes.  It would be one thing entirely if one or two words were uttered, but if I was in a conversation where half of it would be bleeped out, I suspect that I would feel some discomfort, especially if it were our first meeting.
(Though I also imagine that once I get to know them, I’d find myself getting annoyed less and less.  Well, unless some of that profanity was directed AT me, that is.)

I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but I appreciate and admire someone who can choose their words and who can carry on a conversation without using cuss words as a last resort.  And, in general on a personal level, I find that I’m more relaxed having conversations with people where F-bombs are limited. 


Of course, if they smash their thumb or get into a passionate argument over something, well...that’s a different story.  J

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

The Story Behind Yahtzee

When I made the decision to swap out the ‘Across The Pond And Beyond Wednesdays’ for a feature on toys, games, and books, I was excited about it because there were endless possibilities for discussion topics.  And throughout the month of January, I ended up talking about three of my favourite books, as well as one of my favourite authors.  I had a lot of fun discussing some of the books that helped inspire me to want a career in writing myself, and I hope that I brought up some great memories for everyone.

Now that we’re in the month of February, I thought that I would use this space (at least for this week) to talk about some of the toys and games that I enjoyed playing with, and maybe share some funny memories with you along the way.  Believe me, every board game and toy that I ever played with, I have some sort of memory associated with.  While many of these memories were pleasant enough, some weren’t quite so.
In the case of today’s blog topic, my first memory of it started off with me getting in trouble for causing a bit of mischief. 

Allow me to explain.  I know that Christmas was a little over a month ago, but this story takes place at Christmas.  I can’t remember the exact year, but I was likely only five or six at the time.

I’d say that this was probably about five days before Christmas when this story takes place, and naturally, I was extremely excited about it.  I couldn’t wait for school vacation to begin, and I was especially excited about Christmas Day itself.  At the time, there were quite a few presents underneath the tree, and it was expected that there would be more brought from Santa Claus.  But having to wait five whole days for Santa to come, and having to wait five whole days to open Christmas presents (because let’s face it, the Christmas Eve gift was ALWAYS pajamas and slippers), was torture.  I was a very impatient child, and I didn’t quite grasp the concept of having to wait.  Granted, at times in adulthood, I still have trouble with the virtue known as patience, but when I was a kid, I was especially obnoxious about it.

I had to know what I was getting for Christmas, and I had to know as soon as possible.  And, I thought I had come up with the perfect plan for it too, without anyone being the wiser.

There were times in which my parents and two elder siblings were in different parts of the house than I was.  And, at the time, my sisters were either at work, or on dates with their then-boyfriends, so when they went out, and my parents were busy with other chores, I made my move.

I snuck towards the tree which had gifts underneath them.  Because I learned how to read at an early age, I could easily separate my gifts from everyone else’s.  I also was fortunate enough to still have most of my teeth (my baby teeth started falling out two months before I turned seven), which made the plan a bit easier.

My plan was to bite the corners off of the wrapped presents, just so I could get a hint as to what I could possibly be getting.  If I could recognize a specific coloured box, or a design that I saw on items in Woolco’s toy department, then I could find out what it was that I was getting without having to unwrap the whole present.  While I didn’t know how to wrap presents, all I needed to do to hide the evidence was take the bows off the presents and restick them to the area where the corners were chewed off.  It was a foolproof plan (or at least I thought it to be when I was five or six).

And it would’ve worked too...had my father not come into the room while I was midway through chewing the corner through the one and only box that I had found.
Oh, I remember my dad being furious!  Mom was disappointed, but you could tell that she wasn’t happy with me either.  Until Christmas Eve, I was banned from being in that room with the gifts, and I was left wondering if Santa would even come to my house after that.  And, beginning the year after that Christmas, every single one of my gifts were had been wrapped in such a way that I wouldn’t be able to tell what they were.  Even now at the age of 30, my parents STILL do this.  You’d think that by now, they’d be able to trust me. J

That whole plan I had amounted to nothing.  I didn’t even know what the gift was that I tried to open, because all I could see was a bright red colour.  The only clue I had was that it was in a red box.  And, what was worse, my parents took away that gift, re-wrapped it, and didn’t put it back under the tree until after I had gone to bed on Christmas Eve night.

Man, you think they had trust issues or something?  J

When Christmas Day finally came around, I made it a mission to open that present first (my parents had to help me find it again, as they had wrapped it in different paper), and when I tore open the paper, this was waiting for me.



Today’s blog topic is on a game that I loved, despite causing so much aggravation and trouble for me that Christmas season. 


Yahtzee was a game that more or less was a childhood tradition for me since I received it that Christmas.  I can’t remember a time in which I didn’t play the game.  In fact, I’m going to post a link to an online version of the game RIGHT HERE, so that if you like, you can play a game of Yahtzee as you read this.
Yahtzee is probably one of the easiest games that one can play.  The way I can best describe Yahtzee is like poker with dice.

You’re given a score card, with various combinations and point values for each combo.  Each value is different.  The goal of the game is to try and get the highest score possible after every person has taken all the possible turns.  To get a combo, all a person has to do is take five dice, roll them at the same time, and decide which ones to keep, and which ones to roll again.  But be careful, as you only get three rolls per turn.



I’ve included a picture of the score card up above (which you can buy in refill packs at most toy stores if you run low), but in case you can’t see it, I’ll go over some of the combos with you.  The top part of the card deals with the number of 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, or 6’s you throw after a series of three rolls.  The higher the number, the more points scored.  For instance, if you roll three 6’s, that’s 18 points, whereas four will get you 24 points.  If you can manage to score 63 points or more on the top part, you can earn a 35 point bonus.
(TIP:  To ensure a score of at least 63 points, the best course of action is to try and get THREE of each number, but there are other combos that work.  If you can get four 5’s and four 6’s, all you would need is 19 more points!)

Other sections include the Chance section, which is a section where all the dots are tallied.  A Full House means that you have three of one number, and two of another (25 points).  3 and 4 Of A Kind means that if you have three or four of a kind in a roll, you can add that to the other remaining dice (Four 6’s plus a two would equal a roll of 26 points).  A Small Straight (30 points) means you have four numbers in sequence (1, 2, 3, 4, for example).  A Large Straight (40 points) means you have all five numbers in sequence (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
And then there’s the elusive Yahtzee.

A Yahtzee is scored when you roll FIVE of the same number.  The odds of getting a Yahtzee are not great (the probability is slightly below 25% of getting one), but when you do get one, it’s a massive fifty points!  Even more exciting is if you manage to score another Yahtzee on top of that, for each additional Yahtzee is worth a bonus 100 points!
If luck is on your side, you can rack up a huge score.  I think my highest score playing Yahtzee was something like four hundred points.  But, I’ve played with people who have gotten scores that were much higher.  Let’s just say that the Gods of Yahtzee must have been smiling down on them that day.

But, do any of you know how Yahtzee was created, or why it got the name, Yahtzee?
While the game of Yahtzee is now distributed by Hasbro Toys and Games, the game was initially made by the E.S. Lowe Company.  In 1956, a game entrepreneur named Edwin S. Lowe first started marketing Yahtzee, but the game’s origins date back years earlier.  Yahtzee was inspired by a Puerto Rican game known as Generala, as well as English games ‘Cheerio’ and ‘Poker Dice’.

The Puerto Rican game of Generala was adapted into an English language game known as ‘Yacht’, and Yacht was almost similar in gameplay to the game that would eventually be called Yahtzee.  There were some minor differences between the two games though.  Yacht didn’t have a spot to score Three of a Kind, whereas Yahtzee does.  The Straights in Yacht used all five dice (a small straight was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 while a large was 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).  And in the upper section of Yacht, the 35 point bonus section did not exist.
It is widely believed that the name ‘Yacht’ was the basis towards naming the game ‘Yahtzee’.

The modern day Yahtzee was reportedly invented in 1954, according to Hasbro.  Hasbro claimed that the game was invented by a Canadian couple who used to play the game.  At the time, they called the game ‘The Yacht Game’ because they reportedly played the game on their yacht to entertain their friends.  In 1956, the couple got in contact with Lowe to make up a few sets of the game that they could give to their friends as gifts.  Lowe was intrigued by the marketing possibilities of the game, and sought out acquiring the rights to the game.  He eventually managed to get the rights to distribute the game, on the condition that the couple would get 1,000 gift sets in exchange.  If you want a more detailed version of this story, Lowe discusses it in the 1973 book “A Toy Is Born” by author Marvin Kaye.


TRIVIA:  The earliest versions of Yahtzee had a caricature of Edwin S. Lowe next to the logo.
So, in April 1956, ‘Yahtzee’ was trademarked, the game was manufactured, and was sold in stores later that year.  However, the game didn’t initially sell a lot of copies, as it wasn’t heavily advertised, nor were the rules of the game translated well through the ads that were made.  So, Lowe came up with the idea of hosting Yahtzee parties, where people could gather together and see how the game was played.  The parties were successful, and the word of mouth from the partygoers helped boost sales of the game, making it an instant hit.

The game was manufactured by the E.S. Lowe from 1956-1973.  In 1973, E.S. Lowe was purchased by Milton Bradley (which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984), and assumed the rights to keep producing and selling Yahtzee.  As of 2012, Hasbro has reported that fifty million Yahtzee games are sold each year worldwide.
In 1988, there was a short-lived game show based on the game itself!  There’s even a Price Is Right pricing game called ‘Let ‘Em Roll’ that is somewhat based on Yahtzee.  You can watch a clip of this game in action below.



Since Yahtzee was created in 1956, several versions of the game have been manufactured over the years. 

Yahtzee was turned into a word game, known as ‘Word Yahtzee’, where players have to take seven dice, try to form the longest word possible, and score as many points as they could.


There’s also versions that are marketed specifically for children, including Yahtzee Jr, and Mickey Mouse Yahtzee.  A travel version of Yahtzee was introduced shortly after Milton Bradley purchased the rights to the game, and it has come in various forms over the years. 
Some of the travel versions of the game have a specific theme to them, and are based on pop culture references.  There’s a Super Mario Yahtzee game, a Hello Kitty Yahtzee game, and even Yahtzee games that have sports logos on them, such as the one for the Boston Red Sox below.



Other versions of the game that have been produced include ‘Triple Yahtzee’, ‘Challenge Yahtzee’, ‘Casino Yahtzee’, ‘Yahtzee Texas Hold ‘Em’, and ‘Yahtzee Turbo’, amongst others.
And that isn’t counting the number of computer games and online versions of the game that have popped up over the years.  I posted one link at the beginning of this post, but there are hundreds of versions out there to play. 

Most recently, a game show has found a new way to play the game of Yahtzee.  On the American cable channel, ‘The Hub’, a game show airs called ‘Family Game Night’, which has families playing life-sized versions of popular Hasbro board games.  One such game was Yahtzee Bowling, where teams would roll a giant bowling ball towards a stack of hexagon shaped pins (each side resembling the side of a die), and when the pins were knocked down, they would show a combo.  The team with the best combo would win the round.


I wish I had a clip to show you of this game in action, because you really have to see it to believe it, but I came up empty.  But, it’s really one of the most ingenious ways that I’ve seen of playing a classic game.  So ingenious that I kind of wish that they would make a board game version of Yahtzee Bowling so I could play it.
And, if they ever did make one, I would want it for Christmas.  And, I promise that I won’t bite the corners off of the gifts this time.  J

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

January 31, 1987

It’s time to go back in time once more this month in the Tuesday Timeline, and for the last day of January, I admit that I was at a loss as to what to pick for a topic today.  
 
Not that January 31 was a boring day in history.  January 31 had a lot of significant events.  But to choose one that stood out, and had an interesting story behind it.  That was the tricky part.
Let’s take a look at some of the topics that could have been up for consideration, shall we?

The first interesting fact about January 31 that I found out was that it was on this date in 1930 that a company known as 3M started selling its latest product.  This product was something called Scotch tape.  Certainly, the invention of Scotch tape was revolutionary, and over eighty years later, people still use the product today.  However, there’s only so much that I can say about Scotch tape without having the blog entry sound boring.  Because, let’s face it.  Watching paint dry would be more interesting than a piece on Scotch tape.

I briefly considered doing a piece on someone who was born on January 31.  It was on this date in 1981 that a young man named Justin Timberlake was born.  Starting off as a Disney Mouseketeer, he made his way through boy band *NSync, embarked on a solo career, and now has found his way into the acting world.  It would have been interesting to do, but I already did a similar piece last week, and I like to try and switch it up a bit every now and again.

Just so you know, other celebrities born on January 31 include Kerry Washington, Minnie Driver, Anthony LaPaglia, Jessica Walter, Harry Wayne Casey (better known as KC from KC and the Sunshine Band), Portia de Rossi, and Carol Channing.

I also briefly looked at the other end of the spectrum, choosing someone who passed away on January 31.  A.A. Milne was one possibility, having passed away on this date in 1956, but I already did an entry on Winnie-the-Pooh last week.  So, that idea was out.

Other historical events that took place on this date include the following;

1950 – Harry S. Truman announces plans to start up a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
1958 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit (Explorer 1)

1961 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna space program.

1971 – Apollo 14 space mission took place.
1990 – The first McDonald’s opens up in the Soviet Union, in the city of Moscow.

2001 – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is convicted for his role in the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.
So, while there was a lot of history that took place on January 31 (including a lot involving the space program, oddly enough), I didn’t feel as though I had enough to formulate a decent blog entry for any of these facts.

So, I decided to try and go a different route.  I decided to look at the date through significant dates in the entertainment industry, hoping that something would stand out as interesting.
And at the last minute, I found what I was looking for.



Today we’re going to go back in time twenty-five years to the date January 31, 1987.
It may not have been the most significant date in the world of television, but January 31, 1987 was the date that “The Facts Of Life” episode ‘A Star Is Torn’ aired for the first time on NBC.



At the time, “The Facts Of Life” was in the middle of its eighth season, and in the midst of weathering some changes.  Earlier in the season, Charlotte Rae had left the series, to be replaced by Cloris Leachman.  With Mrs. Garrett’s departure and the introduction of Beverly Ann to the series, ratings took a bit of a free fall.  But that wasn’t the only reason.  The four main characters of Blair, Jo, Tootie, and Natalie were all getting older, and it became more of a struggle to come up with ideas to keep the four principal leads under the same roof.  I think Season 8 was the one where the girls transformed ‘Edna’s Edibles’ into the funky gift shop ‘Over Our Heads’, and each girl owned a percentage of the business.  I think that’s how the writers kept everyone together that year, if I’m remembering correctly.
Oh, and George Clooney had a role on the show as George, the store’s handyman.  But, January 31, 1987 was also George Clooney’s final appearance on “The Facts Of Life”, for he ended up leaving the series to tour with one of Tootie’s friends.

Earlier in the season, Tootie befriended a young woman who went by the name of ‘Cinnamon’ at an audition for a Broadway musical.  Cinnamon ended up getting the part over Tootie, but just a couple of months later, Cinnamon returned to come for a visit after telling the girls that the Broadway show didn’t work out.  But after it’s discovered that Cinnamon recorded an album and ditched the tour that she was set to embark on, Tootie wonders why she would reject such an opportunity.  It’s later explained that Cinnamon ended up getting a case of cold feet, and wanted to quit performing, much to Tootie’s annoyance.  Cinnamon had made a success of herself but couldn’t handle it, and it annoyed Tootie because she still struggled to make a name of herself.
It seemed as though the friendship between Tootie and Cinnamon would end forever.  But Cinnamon got to thinking about what Tootie had said, and she figured that if Tootie believed in her, then there was a good chance that others would too.  She decided to come on Jo’s radio show in which Tootie had previously invited her to, Tootie apologized to Cinnamon, and Cinnamon ended up singing on the radio show.  Below is a clip of the episode, “A Star Is Torn”, airing on January 31, 1987.



Cinnamon was played by singer Stacey Swain...who you might know better by her stage name, Stacey Q.
And, Stacey Q happens to be the subject for today’s Tuesday Timeline.



It seems hard to believe that Stacey Q is in her fifties now, but she celebrated her 53rd birthday on November 30, 2011.  And this California girl had an upbringing that some would classify as being performance oriented from the start.  Taking dance lessons at an early age, Stacey started training to become a ballerina at the young age of five.  By 1969, Stacey had become the youngest member of the Dance Theater of Orange County.  She was just ten years old.  She spent a total of eleven years studying ballet and flamenco dancing.
By the time the 1970s began, the teenaged Stacey started performing at Disneyland, participating in the annual ‘Fantasy on Parade’ event held each Christmas season.  She performed the role of the Dutch Puppet (which was later used as an alias that she would use for early recording sessions) for three years before graduating from high school in 1976.  Shortly after graduating, Stacey auditioned for a job with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where she performed as a showgirl, and as an elephant rider.

How’s that for an interesting career beginning?  From Disneyland to the circus.  Not too many people can have those jobs on a resume.  Yet, Stacey Q did.  And she wasn’t stopping there.
Stacey had gotten into the recording business sometime in the early 1980s.  Having been introduced to the business by her then-boyfriend at the time, Stacey started recording music in 1981, when she met record producer Jon St. James.  Together, they formed a synthpop band simply known as ‘Q’.  The band had little problem recording the background music for the tracks, but when St. James realized that they needed a vocalist for the song ‘Sushi’, they were initially at a loss.  St. James knew that Stacey had recorded some demos at his recording studio, and asked her to sing the lyrics.  Stacey went ahead and sang the song, even though she always saw herself as more of a dancer than a singer.  However, when the track was recorded, St. James was so impressed at the final product that Stacey ended up being given the role of lead singer.

The band ‘Q’ achieved moderate success and a small following through college radio, but the band had a bit of reshuffling within it.  Two members left, and were replaced.  The band also had to change its name from ‘Q’ to ‘SSQ’, because Quincy Jones reportedly had purchased the ‘Q’ trademark.  The newly formed SSQ released the album ‘Playback’ in 1983, and their first single, ‘Synthicide’, provided some exposure for the band, complete with an accompanying music video. 


But it wasn’t until the mid-1980s when Stacey decided to go it alone on a solo career that her career really kicked off.  Recording her debut album in 1985, Stacey decided to go by the stage name of ‘Stacey Q’, as a reference to the first band she played with.  The album spawned a single, “Shy Girl”, which sold 100,000 copies alone.  Not a great number, when you consider that other female artists at the time like Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and Sheena Easton had sold much more than that.  However, the sales did get the attention of major record labels, including Atlantic Records.  Atlantic Records signed Stacey Q to a contract in early 1986, and shortly after that, Stacey Q released her biggest hit.


ARTIST:  Stacey Q
SONG: Two Of Hearts
ALBUM: Better Than Heaven
DATE RELEASED: February 4, 1986
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #3


“Two Of Hearts” was a song that had actually appeared on Stacey Q’s 1985 self-titled album, and was remixed for “Better Than Heaven”.  Stacey’s SSQ bandmates played back-up on the album.  The first single off the album, “Two Of Hearts” made it to #3 on the Billboard Charts.  Had it not been for the fact that Stacey Q was signed to two different record labels at the time, (which promoted the single at the same time, therefore competing against each other), many believed that it could have been a number one hit.  Looking back on the song now, it sounds a bit dated, but back then, it was considered a modern pop hit, and very cutting edge.  The album also contained the Top 40 hit, “We Connect”, which you heard ‘Cinnamon’ singing in “The Facts Of Life” clip I posted above.

The song “Two Of Hearts” was the song that was the bigger success, and was heard on radio stations all throughout 1986.  The single also provided Stacey Q with multiple talk show appearances, as well as a guest spot on ‘Hollywood Squares’ as a panellist.  And, her two stints on “The Facts Of Life” wasn’t the only television sitcom that she appeared in.  She also guest starred on an episode of “Full House” in May of 1988.  You can watch a clip of her on that show HERE.

(TRIVIA:  The song playing in the background of the record store in that clip is Stacey Q’s “Don’t Make A Fool Of Yourself”, which was a minor hit for her in the spring of 1988.)



After the success of “Better Than Heaven”, Stacey Q embarked on a European Tour, dyed her blonde hair bright red, and released two more albums with Atlantic Records.  1988’s “Hard Machine” and 1989’s “Nights Like This”.  Although Stacey Q had more creative control with her later albums (the song “Another Chance” was practically written by Stacey herself), and were critically praised, they didn’t do so well in sales.  Both “Hard Machine” and “Nights Like This” were virtually ignored on radio, and when Stacey Q’s Greatest Hits album was released in 1995, there were no tracks from either album on that compilation.  She left Atlantic Records in 1990.
Still, Stacey Q is very much active in the recording business.  Although her mainstream success has dried up, she has developed a loyal fanbase and cult following ever since.  In 1997, she converted to Buddhism, and released an album called “Boomerang” that same year.  She also has done voice work for English translations of Japanese anime cartoons, with ‘Stratos 4’ being one of the projects that she worked on.

And in 2010, she released her latest album through Hydra Productions, which had a rather familiar album title.


The album title was “Color Me Cinnamon”, which was the same name as the album that the character of Cinnamon was set to release on “The Facts Of Life” episode that she guest starred in...
...on the 31st day of January, 1987.