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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Behold The Power Of The Mighty Lego!

I’m going to start today’s blog entry off by asking everybody a few questions.
Question #1 – Did you play with Lego building blocks when you were a child?

Question #2 – If any of you are parents yourselves, have you ever bought your kids Lego blocks to play with?
Question #3 – Have you ever spat off a stream of obscenities and swears after stepping on a stray Lego building block with bare feet?

My answers to the following questions are, yes I did, no, but I would if I had kids, and yes, yes, a million times yes!



I don’t know what it is about Lego bricks, but they have the potential to be used as deadly weapons if placed on the floor at a specific angle and position.





Nevertheless, Lego building blocks were one of the best toys that I ever played with.  The possibilities were endless when it came to the creativity that one possessed when faced with a Lego set.
Is it any wonder why I chose to spotlight Lego in today’s blog entry?

I honestly can’t remember a time during my childhood that I didn’t play with Lego building blocks.  When I was first introduced to Legos, I must have been no older than three or four.  I think my parents waited until I stopped trying to chew on toys before letting me play with them, because let’s face it, Legos could be a choking hazard in the wrong hands.  Once I was old enough, my parents dug out the case of Legos that belonged to my older siblings and allowed me to play with them to my heart’s content.
Mind you, none of the pieces were completed sets.  I imagine that they were back in 1977, or whatever year that they were bought, but over the years, pieces would be lost forever.  Nobody knew where they disappeared though.  Maybe they were sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.  Maybe they were accidentally thrown away.  Maybe they were buried in the backyard alongside my sister’s Malibu Barbie.  It’s hard to say.



It didn’t matter though.  Having three incomplete sets of Legos made the possibilities endless for building whatever I wanted.  I could build a Lego sword, capable of beheading any blockheads who dared cross my path.  I could build a Lego city of the future, with brightly coloured buildings in various shapes and sizes.  I could even attempt to build a robot with Lego bricks, capable of taking over the Lego cities that I would build.  Eventually, I would end up getting my very own Lego playset.  If I remember correctly, it was the police station set.  Oh, I must have had so much fun playing with it.  When I first got it, I did build the models that one was supposed to build.  But, over time, I would deviate from the plans and build my own creations, which I took great pride in.
I think that’s what I liked best about Legos.  They allowed one to have as much creative control as they wanted.  Every Lego set may have contained a set of instructions, but that didn’t mean that you had to stick to it.  I almost think that Legos were one of those toys that didn’t need rules.  All you needed to have was a love of building things and a highly creative mind, and there were endless possibilities.

By the way, do you know anything about the history behind Legos?  If not, I’ll share a brief history here.
The tale begins in the country of Denmark in the 1930s.  There, a man by the name of Ole Kirk Christiansen began to make wooden toys inside his workshop in the town of Billund.  Though, it would take a couple of years before Christiansen would come up with a name for his business.  He eventually settled on the word ‘LEGO’, which stemmed from the Danish phrase leg godt, which loosely translated into English meant “play well”.


During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the toys produced by the Lego company were made out of wood.  By 1947, the company began experimenting with plastic toys, and two years later in 1949, the Lego brick would be born.

Initially, when Lego bricks were designed in 1949, they were originally known as ‘Automatic Binding Bricks’, and were largely based on a design created by the United Kingdom creation known as ‘Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks’, released in 1947.  The original Kiddicraft design was modified by Lego, and a material known as cellulose acetate was used to create the interlocking blocks.  The blocks would lock, but they were also designed in such a way that they would easily come apart from each other.
It was around this time that Lego adopted the motto det bedste er ikke for godt.  Translated into English, the motto reads as ‘only the best is good enough’.  It was a motto coined by Christiansen, who encouraged his employees never to skimp on quality.  Six decades later, the motto is still in use today.

However, in Lego’s earliest years, the plastic building blocks did not sell well at all.  Many Lego sets were actually returned to the company due to the poor sales, as many consumers and retailers at the time felt that plastic blocks were just a poor substitution for wooden blocks.
It wasn’t until 1954 that Lego bricks began to gain in popularity, thanks to an idea by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the son of Ole Kirk.  That year, he was in talks with an overseas buyer about distributing the Lego bricks when an idea came to him.  He saw the potential for Lego bricks to be used for creative play, and felt that he could market them as a toy that was both fun and educational.  At the time he had the idea though, the Lego brick still had some flaws.  The bricks didn’t lock very well, and weren’t exactly the most versatile.  A newer, more modern Lego brick was designed, and patented on January 28, 1958.

TRIVIA:  If you were lucky enough to have a Lego set that was manufactured in 1958, you might be surprised to know that bricks that are made in 2012 sets are compatible with the 1958 bricks!
Five years later, in 1963, the material used for the creation of Lego bricks was changed.  Instead of being made from cellulose acetane, the company used acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer, a substance that was stronger and more resilient.  This is the material that is currently used to manufacture Lego bricks.  To make a brick, the ABS is heated up to 232 degrees Celsius (450 degrees Fahrenheit) and once the substance takes on a dough-like appearance, it is poured into the brick moulds, and cooled for fifteen seconds.  Afterwards, the bricks are inspected to see if the bricks meet the standards of the company.

According to the company, out of one million bricks that are produced, a little less than twenty bricks fail to meet the standards.  That’s quite a good success rate.  Even better is that for the bricks that do not make the cut, 99% of them are recycled to be made into newer bricks.  So, Lego isn’t just a company with high standards for their product, but they also seem to have huge awareness of recycling and the environment.  No wonder I love this toy so much!


Lego bricks are manufactured and sold in most colours.  Among the most common colours that people can find are black, white, blue, red, yellow, and green.  But other colours can be found, depending on the Lego kit one plays with.
Today, Lego bricks are manufactured all over the world, and it is estimated that since 1958, the company has produced well over four hundred BILLION Lego bricks.  To put that in perspective, if you divided up each of those bricks evenly amongst every person in the world, each person would have a 60-piece Lego kit!

BONUS TRIVIA:  According to a 2006 article in BusinessWeek, Lego could be widely considered to be the #1 tire manufacturer, producing 306 million miniature tires per year! 




It’s true that Lego bricks are amongst some of the most sought after toys for girls and boys.  With various playsets ranging from Harry Potter to Barbie to Indiana Jones, there’s fun for everyone.

Lego even made sure that people of all ages could experience the joys of Lego building.  In 1969, Lego began manufacturing Duplo blocks.  They were the same as regular Legos, only twice the size.  The perfect block for really small children to play with.  In addition to that, the Lego Baby line was launched in 1995, which gave babies the chance to have fun with Legos.


Legos have also managed to make their way to video game consoles as well.  These days, it’s not uncommon to see Lego adaptations of Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars being made into video games for the XBOX 360, PlayStation 2 and 3, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS consoles.
As if that weren’t enough, various Lego stores and theme parks have been built all around the world.  A total of 46 retail stores in various areas of the world have been opened, and as expected, the stores mostly peddle Lego related merchandise.  In some newer stores, certain areas of the store have been transformed into classrooms, where instructors teach children between the ages of four and twelve various subjects using Lego blocks as visual aids.
Now, that would have been a school that I would have LOVED to have attended.



And, there are five Legoland theme parks that have opened up.  Naturally, one is located in the birthplace of Lego, Billund, Denmark.  There are locations in England, Germany, and two in the United States.  There are also four Legoland Discovery Centers open for business in the United States, England, and Germany, with more scheduled to be opened up in the near future.


(I wonder if Canada will ever get one?)


And, just recently, Lego managed to leap into the board game market.  To make the game even more fun, in order for players to begin playing the game, they first had to build the game board out of Legos.  Once that was done, the players would control little Lego men and move them around the board.  Even the dice used in the game was made of Legos.
It’s amazing just how far Lego has come as a company.  And, with continued success through creative and innovative ideas, it’s no wonder the toy is still widely purchased and loved.  And, in 1998, Lego bricks were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame!

That’s my report on Legos.  I hope you all enjoyed it.  As for me, I’m now starting to wonder if I even still have my old Legos.  I kind of want to play with them again after writing this blog!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

February 14, 2011



It’s another look back in time with the Tuesday timeline, and what do you know?  This week’s edition happens to fall on Valentine’s Day.  Whether you’re planning to spend the day snuggled up to your sweetheart, planning an anti-Valentine’s day celebration to protest the commercialism of the day, or attempting to stay in bed until the fifteenth of February rolls around, I hope that whatever you do, it makes you happy.
Now, as you know, the point of the Tuesday timeline is to go back to a specific event that happened on this date in history, and in past events, we’ve gone back in time a considerable number of years.  The earliest year we’ve visited was 1935, and up until now, the latest was 1987.



So, I imagine that some of you are wondering why I’ve chosen the rather recent date of February 14, 2011 as today’s special date.  It only happened a year ago.  Yes, this is very much true.

However, one year ago today, I had something happen to me that inspired the subject of this post.  Consider it to be some sort of a public service announcement if you will. 

And unlike other Tuesday timeline entries of the past, this entry has nothing to do with any sort of pop culture event.  Instead, it’s more of a personal tale that I wanted to share with all of you reading this post.  If anything, it will send out a very positive message.  But, to give you a hint as to what I’m referring to, I’ll use a pop culture reference for you to ponder.  This was an activity that Dylan and Brenda did partook in during the second season of Beverly Hills 90210, appropriately enough, on Valentine’s Day (though the episode itself aired on February 13, 1992).
And, since I’ve done it for most of the other Tuesday timeline entries before this one, I may as well give out a list of significant events that happened on this date in other years.

We’ll start with people who have February 14th birthdays.  Happy birthday to Hugh Downs, Florence Henderson, Teller (from Penn & Teller), James Eckhouse, Meg Tilly, Zach Galligan, Simon Pegg, Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20), and Freddie Highmore, just to name a few.
February 14 was also a big day for the United States, as two states entered the union on this date.  Oregon in 1859, and Arizona in 1912.

Looking back on the historical events of February 14, it`s a bit ironic that for a day which supposedly is a celebration of love and passion, it sure has a lot of deadly events associated with it.  Just have a look at this list.

1349 – An estimated 2,000 Jewish people were burned to death or forcibly removed from the city of Strasbourg.

1779 – British explorer and cartographer James Cook was killed by Native Hawaiians on the Island of Hawaii.

1831 – Battle of Debre Abbay.  You can read more about it here.

1929 – St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.  Seven people, including six rivals of Al Capone`s gang are murdered in Chicago.

1945 – A series of bombings took place from the skies during World War II.  Dresden, Germany and Prague, Czechoslovakia were two of the cities that were bombed on February 14.

1981 – A fire at Dublin nightclub Stardust kills 48 people.

2005 – Seven people die, and 151 are wounded in a series of bombings in the Philippines.

2008 – A gunman opened fire at Northern Illinois University, killing six (including gunman) and wounding 18.

Like I said, it’s very ironic, wouldn’t you think?

Although, there have also been some good things that have happened on this date.  Jacqueline Kennedy took television viewers on a tour of the White House on this date in 1962.  In 1899, voting machines were approved for use in American elections.  And, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent for a new invention called the telephone on this date.
So, you see?  It’s not ALL doom and gloom.

So, now we come back to the date that this blog entry is about.  February 14, 2011.  What exactly happened to me on this date that inspired this blog post?
Well, it was on this date one year ago today that I ended up getting my third of three blood transfusions after a surgery that had I not gotten it done, would have killed me.

I really wish that Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday this year, because in all actuality, our story truly begins on February 12, 2011...but I’m making do with what I have, so I’ll get on with it.
I have talked about what happened to me last year a little bit on my blog in past entries, but in case you happened to miss those entries, here’s the version.  On February 12, 2011, my gall bladder was removed.  It had not been working right for several months prior, as I had gotten quite a few attacks from it.  I’m talking doubled over in pain attacks here.  Of course, I didn’t know that it was my gall bladder at the time.  I had just chalked it up to having indigestion, or having a case of the stomach flu.  But by February 2011, I knew that it couldn’t have been either.  The pain was constant, and it was excruciating.  Think of someone stabbing you from the inside out, and multiply that intensity by fifty.  That’s the best way I could describe the pain.  I wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy, that’s how severe it was.

It didn’t help matters much that the administration staff at the hospital that I went to kind of gave me the runaround (which is a story that I’ll save for another day), but by the time I was finally admitted as a patient, my gall bladder was severely infected.
(Here’s a life lesson for you.  Don’t be stupid and stubborn like I was.  If you know there’s something wrong with you, don’t put it off like I did.)

And just how infected was my gall bladder?  It was so infected that it was trying to attach itself to my liver, trying to spread the lovely infection throughout my whole body.


It was a real soap opera inside my body.  It was as if my liver was attached to my gall bladder, but my gall bladder did nothing but abuse her and fill her with poison in return.  It was as if my body was trying to tell my liver ‘Drop that zero and get yourself a hero, because he ain’t no good for you, girl!’
But, the relationship continued to grow, despite my body’s protests.  Little by little, the gall bladder sunk his poisonous venom inside the poor, defenseless liver, and day by day, the liver started to show signs of rottenness.  And, the more my body tried to fight this doomed relationship, the more my liver ignored the warnings.  It was a match made in hell for sure, and had the marriage between my liver and gall bladder lasted any longer, it most certainly would have spelled sudden death for this poor blogger.

Action needed to be taken.  This marriage simply had to be annulled.  And just as all hope was lost, a miracle happened.  Just as quickly as the union began, it was ripped apart, as the cutting of a scalpel made sure that the gall bladder’s influence on the liver ended for good.  Certainly, the death of my gall bladder was hard on my liver.  I ended up losing about a quarter of it during the surgery, and in a way, I suppose keeping with the theme of the soap opera inside my body, I could picture my liver acting as a shield, trying to save her ‘love’ from harm.  But, once the gall bladder was removed, my liver found a way to bounce back.  Its scars would heal in time, as mine would too.


Although, you have to admit that in this photo taken just one month after my surgery, that the scar that I ended up with looks pretty cool.
Two days after that surgery, I was in the intensive care unit getting a blood transfusion.  It was my third of three transfusions (the first two were during my surgery, where it was reported that I had lost a lot of blood), and let’s just say that I wasn’t exactly in the best of condition.  I felt so weak that I could barely get out of bed.  The room itself was very, very boring and stagnant.  Thank goodness that my family brought me lots of books and magazines, or else, I would have completely lost my mind.  But, those blood transfusions kept me alive, and were a key part of my full recovery.  And, while that particular Valentine’s Day was spent in the hospital, it was simultaneously one of the better Valentine’s Day memories that I’ve ever experienced.

You see, prior to 2011, I was very anti-Valentine’s Day.  I hated the holiday and everything to do with it.  Even now, I still feel that Valentine’s Day is overhyped and way too commercial for my liking, but before my surgery, I had open disgust for the holiday.  To me, it wasn’t even a holiday.  It was a day where jewelry stores launched guilt trips to get you to purchase overpriced bangles for your love.  It was a day where the more roses you bought, the more love you showed for your significant other.  It was a day that served as an excuse to buy your girlfriend chocolates so that six months later, she could dump you for making her morbidly obese.
Yeah, Valentine’s Day used to be associated with bitterness.



But in 2011, I felt differently.  I mean, not only did my family give me all sorts of gifts and attention (such as the 2011 Valentine’s Day bear that my then 14-year old niece picked out for me), but my workplace went above and beyond too.  They sent me a nice flower arrangement, as well as a get well card signed by over one hundred of my friends and colleagues.  It was really touching.


And, then it hit me.  Valentine’s Day didn’t necessarily have to be feelings of love between a husband and wife, or a boyfriend and girlfriend, or a pair of life partners.  It could be expressions of love from friends, family, co-workers.  It didn’t have to be romantic love.  And, in my case, I realized that I was loved on that particular Valentine’s Day.  Knowing that was the case, it kind of helped soften my feelings towards the day.  While it will never truly be my favourite day, I don’t have as much bitterness towards it as I did before my surgery.
So, here’s where the public service announcement comes in.  Granted, I admit that since my surgery, I myself have not done this, but I plan to do this if I am able to one day.  And, while as a teenager, I was a bit afraid to take part in the various drives that took place in school, I no longer have that trepidation today.

I’m talking about the idea of donating blood.


If people didn’t take the time to donate their blood to blood banks and hospitals all over the world, it’s entirely possible that my surgery story could have had a very different ending.  I didn’t realize how important blood donation was until I was in a situation where I needed blood myself.  Now that I see how important it is, I want to raise awareness.  Please, take the time to donate blood, if you can.  You just might save a life.
As I said before, I have not been to a blood donation clinic since my surgery, but it is on my to-do list.  However, just know that depending on your region, there are certain conditions that need to be met before one is considered a suitable donor.  Some of these restrictions are understandable, while I admit some others are anything but.  Regardless, make sure that you research these restrictions to find out for sure if you are a suitable donor.

That about wraps it up for today’s look back on February 14, 2011.  Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone here, and for those of you who don’t like Valentine’s Day, I hope you have a happy Tuesday!

Monday, February 13, 2012

The Bodyguard - Whitney Houston's Finest

February 11, 2012 was a very sad day in the music industry, as we said goodbye to Whitney Houston, who died at the age of 48.



Although we don’t know the exact cause of death, we do know that at around half past three on the afternoon of February 11, she was found submerged in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills, California hotel room.  Paramedics tried to revive her, but were unsuccessful, and just before four in the afternoon, Whitney Houston was pronounced dead at the scene.
There has been a lot of speculation surrounding her death.  It was no secret that she had a lot of personal demons inside her life.  A tumultuous and stormy marriage with New Edition singer Bobby Brown, as well as repeated drug and alcohol abuse certainly tarnished Whitney’s later life and career.  A lot of people are convinced that these addictions ultimately caused her death.  I admit that as far as I know, it's a definite possibility.  However,  I don’t really want to use this blog to speculate on something that I don't know the facts on.  There are other gossip blogs and news outlets that will do that for us.  I really want to use this space to talk about Whitney in a positive sense.  I’d rather remember her back when she was at her prime, with a voice that most could only dream of having, and not for the bad choices she made in her later years.




I have always enjoyed Whitney Houston’s music.  Right from her self-titled debut album that came out in 1985, I always seemed to remember growing up with her music.  “The Greatest Love Of All” has always been my favourite Whitney Houston song, but there are so many others to choose from.  “So Emotional” was also a decent track back in the day, as was “Saving All My Love For You”.  And, I readily admit that “I’m Your Baby Tonight” remains my favourite Whitney Houston guilty pleasure.



It’s unfortunate that in later years, her music took a backseat to the scandal and pain that she faced.  I know that everyone has to die sometime in this world, but for her to die in this way...while some believed it was inevitable, I don't think anyone wanted her life to end this way.
Today is Monday, and Monday is the day of the week when I feature a movie in a theme day I call the Monday Matinee.  And I can’t think of a better way to honour the life of Whitney Houston by selecting a movie that she starred in.  The film I’ve chosen to spotlight is a film which marked Whitney Houston’s debut in a motion picture as an actress.  Although the film received mixed reviews, and earned some Razzie nominations, the film’s soundtrack remains the highest selling movie soundtrack of all time. We’ll get to that a bit later, but for now, have a listen to one of the songs from that soundtrack, to get us in the mood.



The movie for today is the 1992 film “The Bodyguard”.  The film starred Whitney Houston as Rachel Marron, an Oscar-nominated actress/singer who happens to have a stalker, threatening to kill her.  She is assigned a bodyguard named Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner), who attempts to protect Rachel at all costs. 



The screenplay for “The Bodyguard” was drafted by screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan.  It was originally written back in the mid-1970s, and plans to turn the screenplay into a motion picture began as early as 1976.  The film was supposed to star Steve McQueen and Diana Ross in the roles of Frank and Rachel respectively, but the film project fell apart after McQueen refused to take second billing to Diana Ross.  A second attempt at starting up the film project took place three years later in 1979.  Diana Ross was still considered for the role of Rachel, but this time Ryan O’Neal was cast as Frank.  But again, the project fell through because O’Neal and Ross reportedly did not get along with each other.
The project was again resurrected in late 1991/early 1992, and according to the Internet Movie Database, Madonna was initially considered for the role of Rachel.  However, since Madonna’s sole film credit in 1992 was “A League Of Their Own”, one can assume she chose that film instead. 

But that was fine.  Whitney Houston was chosen to play alongside Kevin Costner, and she managed to make quite an impact in the role of Rachel right from the beginning.  And, from the first impression that we got of Rachel, we could see that she really was a ‘Queen of the Night’.


But, as successful and talented as Rachel Marron was, she was not invincible or immune from danger.  She had a stalker, and the stalker was getting scarier and more threatening with each passing week.  Hence the reason why Rachel needed a bodyguard.


Enter Frank Farmer, a former Secret Service agent during Ronald Reagan’s presidency who now makes a living as a bodyguard.  He is assigned to protect Rachel, who is initially not receptive.  After all, she was a big star in the middle of a huge tour, and she thought that a bodyguard would get in the way of all that.  But after a couple of instances in which Frank successfully protects Rachel from harm, Rachel changes her tune.

In fact, Rachel starts developing feelings for Frank.  And, although Rachel didn’t know it at first, Frank began to feel the same way about her.  But, unfortunately, this made Frank’s job a lot more complicated.  He tried to stay as professional as possible, but temptation gave way to professionalism, and Frank and Rachel made love.  Frank makes the decision to end the affair, believing that his feelings may have the potential to compromise Rachel’s safety.  Suffice to say, Rachel does not take this rejection very well.  She deliberately defies Frank’s orders, breaks routines, and even attempts to hit on Greg, a former co-worker of Frank’s.  But after receiving a threatening phone call from her stalker, Rachel decides that she has no choice to put her trust in Frank.  She cancels the rest of her tour dates, and the possibility of her attending the Academy Awards (where she is nominated for the Best Actress award) is in limbo.



TRIVIA:  The song up above was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as was “Run To You”.  Both ended up losing to the song “A Whole New World” from Aladdin.  Talk about life imitating art somewhat!
Fearing for her own life, as well as the life of her son, Fletcher, Frank decides that he needs to take Rachel and hide her away until they can find out the identity of the stalker.  Rachel’s sister, Nikki, comes along to keep an eye on Rachel.

Well, at first, Nikki tries to keep an eye on Frank, openly seducing him.  Alas, Frank’s heart belongs only to Rachel, and this infuriates Nikki.  But before anyone can react, the stalker strikes again, this time placing a bomb inside of a boat that Fletcher was riding in.  Luckily, Fletcher was not injured in the blast, but Rachel is deeply shaken, especially after Nikki discovers footprints around the cabin that the group was staying at, indicating that her stalker was in the area.
The decision is made to stay at the cabin overnight, and then head off somewhere else in the morning.  However, this decision would end up spelling doom for one of the key players, as Nikki ended up getting a little too drunk and confessed her role in the stalking of Rachel.  She was the one who sent the threatening letters, and she was the one who made the scary phone calls.  But, Nikki wasn’t the one who was guilty of blowing up the boat.  It turns out that Nikki was always jealous of Rachel’s success, and in a drug-induced rage, she called up a hitman, and hired him to kill Rachel.  Everyone is shocked at Nikki’s admission, and Rachel feels incredibly betrayed.  But Nikki explained that she only hired the hitman to scare Rachel.  She never intended for anyone else to get hurt...especially Rachel’s son, Fletcher, whom Nikki adored.  But Nikki could not do anything to stop the hitman, because she didn’t know his name or what he looked like.  It was only a matter of time before the hitman came by the cabin to dispatch Rachel.  But this time, Nikki attempted to stop the man from hurting Rachel, losing her own life in the process.  



So, Rachel and Frank knew that Nikki had set the chain in motion.  Nikki was dead, but the man she hired to kill Rachel was still out there.  And with the Academy Awards fast approaching, and Rachel determined to go to the ceremony despite the danger, it becomes a race against time for Frank to discover the identity of the man Nikki hired to kill Rachel before he strikes again. 
With that, I will be ending this plot synopsis, because I never reveal movie conclusions.  But there’s a surprise twist when it comes to the reveal of our killer, and it’s an Academy Award ceremony that nobody would ever forget.  That’s all I’m going to say.

You know, I’ve seen “The Bodyguard” a couple of times, and yes, I can see why some film critics panned the movie.  There were a couple of wrinkles in the plot that could have been smoothed out, and sometimes the plot did sort of drag on.  At the same time, I thought that Whitney Houston did a fantastic job in the role.  She took what she was given and certainly delivered.  It really was a treat to watch Whitney in action on “The Bodyguard”.  It was like watching her at her very best.


And now, she's gone.  With her death comes people sharing their memories of Whitney, much like I'm doing with this blog entry.  
When the 54th Grammy Awards ceremony aired on February 12, 2012, host LL Cool J opened up the show with a tribute to Whitney Houston, as well as a prayer for her.  It was very poignant, and it really showed just how much of an impact that Whitney really had in the world of music.  Between LL Cool J's opening monologue, and the special tribute performed by Jennifer Hudson, it was simple, but memorable.



Through the number of albums and singles she has released over the years, she continues to inspire and influence future artists, and I am sure that years after her death, she will still be cited as one of the most influential female artists of all time. 



After all, as I eluded to earlier at the beginning of this blog entry, the soundtrack album for “The Bodyguard” remains the best selling soundtrack for a major motion picture.  Ever.  Since the soundtrack's release in late 1992, it has sold more than 44 million copies worldwide.
Whitney Houston recorded six songs for the album (some of which you have heard throughout this blog entry).  Five were released as singles, three were Top 5 singles (of which one hit the top position), and two received Oscar nominations.  The soundtrack album also netted Houston several awards, including three Grammy awards, and a slew of American Music Awards.  And that is only scratching the surface of how successful the soundtrack was.

Other artists featured on the soundtrack included Lisa Stansfield, Curtis Stigers, The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M., Kenny G, Joe Cocker, and Sass Jordan.  And, I’m sure that each of those artists must also have felt some joy in being a part of the biggest selling soundtrack of all time.

But, really, Whitney Houston was the driving force behind the success of “The Bodyguard”, both the film and the soundtrack.  And, I guess if I had to pick one song that represents the success of the movie and film, it would be the one song that I am closing this blog entry with.


It was a song that wasn’t a Whitney Houston original.  The original artist to sing this song was country singer Dolly Parton, way back in 1974.  It was a huge hit on the country charts that year, and in 1982, a new version was recorded for Dolly’s movie “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas”, which also did well on the charts.

And, here was Whitney’s version, recorded in November 1992.



ARTIST:  Whitney Houston
SONG:  I Will Always Love You
ALBUM:  The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album
DATE RELEASED:  November 3, 1992
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 14 WEEKS!

By the end of November, it had reached #1 on the Billboard charts.  The song stayed on the top of the charts for fourteen weeks total, from November 1992 to March 1993, and it became Whitney Houston’s most successful single. 
But did you know that it wasn’t initially considered to be a part of “The Bodyguard” soundtrack at first?  Initially, the plan was for Whitney to re-record the song “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted”, originally recorded by Jimmy Ruffin.  Problem was that the song had just been recorded by Paul Young for the 1991 film “Fried Green Tomatoes”.  So, “I Will Always Love You” was substituted in place, and well...you know the rest of the story. 

And, you know...I think it’s the perfect song to demonstrate what many of us must be feeling about the legacy, songs and talent that Whitney Houston brought us in her 48 years on this earth.  Regardless of all the questionable choices and self-destructive tendencies that plagued her, people still love her for the gift of music that she provided to fans all over the world for nearly three decades.
Even Dolly Parton had this to say about Whitney Houston just hours after her death had been announced.  “I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song, and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart...Whitney, I will always love you.  You will be missed.”

I think that just goes to show just how much of an impact that she really had in the recording industry, for so many to speak so fondly of her.


Whitney Elizabeth Houston
1963-2012

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Love At First Sight?

Today’s blog topic deals with a question that will be asked a little further down the page.  I’ll attempt to answer it with my own thoughts, and then turn over discussion to all of you out there reading this.  I think it’s an interesting question, and very appropriate given the time of year we are currently in.
But first, we have a song to listen to, as this is the Sunday Jukebox portion of the week.
Did you know that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of examples where two different artists record two different songs with the same name?  And, I’m not just talking about cover versions of songs either.  I mean two completely different songs by two completely different artists having the exact same (or very similar) title.  It happens a lot more than you think.

For example, take a song title.  Let’s use the title, ‘Thank You’, for example.  Alanis Morissette recorded a song back in 1998 called ‘Thank You’ (where the You was written as a U).  The following year, in 1999, Dido released a single also entitled ‘Thank You’.  And, in 2000, Canadian duo McMaster & James also released a song called...you guessed it.  ‘Thank You’.
Another song title that has been reused has been the song title ‘I Kissed A Girl’.  Oddly enough, both songs were written with the perspective of a woman kissing another woman.  Jill Sobule kissed a girl first in 1995, followed by Katy Perry thirteen years later, in 2008.  In this case, the songs were about the same subject, but were two completely different songs.

Then there are song titles named after numbers.  The number one proved to be hits for both Metallica and U2 when they used the number as a song title.
But, those are all examples of two different artists recording two different songs that just happen to have the same title.

What about a SINGLE artist who records two completely different songs, and gives both of them the same title years apart? 
(And, no, that’s not the question.)

Can you think of any that may fit this description?  Anyone?
Well, I can.  I actually did a blog entry on her and her younger sister back in June of 2011, but seeing as how Valentine’s Day is just a little over 36 hours away, I couldn’t resist spotlighting this particular song.



The artist in question is Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue, and she happens to have two completely different songs that have the same title.


The first version of the song was recorded on Kylie’s debut album, which was released the summer of 1988.  It was an album simply known as ‘Kylie’.  The final track of the album is one of the versions of the song.  You can listen to an audio clip of the song here, if you like.


Flash forward fourteen years later to the summer of 2002.  At this point in time, Kylie was enjoying a bit of a resurgence of sorts in the United States.  Although her 2001 album ‘Fever’ was her eighth full-length studio album, it was considered to be a comeback album for Kylie in North America.  Overseas, Kylie was just as popular as Madonna and Mariah Carey, but in the United States, her career stalled after the 1989 single “It’s No Secret”.  It took Kylie twelve years to make her way back on the charts, releasing ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ in September 2001.  The song was her biggest chart topper in North America since her cover of Little Eva’s ‘Loco-Motion’. 
With ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ becoming a huge smash, it was time to see what Kylie had planned for an encore.  For Kylie’s second American single (and third in the United Kingdom) from ‘Fever’, she had chosen a song that eerily had the same title as the track that appeared last on ‘Kylie’.  It may have had the same name, but as a song, it was a completely different arrangement with different lyrics.

And while the version that appeared on ‘Kylie’ was never released as a single, this version managed to hit #2 in the United Kingdom, and did respectably well in the United States as well.


ARTIST: Kylie Minogue
SONG: Love At First Sight
ALBUM: Fever
DATE RELEASED: June 10, 2002
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #23

So, now you have the answer to the first question.  Kylie Minogue had two different songs with the title “Love At First Sight”.  One failed to become a hit, while the other one managed to soar up the charts...well, depending on what country you came from.  In my own home country of Canada, for instance, the 2002 version reached the Top 10. 
And, this song leads to my intended question.  The one question that I want audience participation for.



Do YOU believe in love at first sight?
It’s a loaded question, I know.  I’ll give you some time to think about it.

As you may have heard from the two songs that Kylie Minogue recorded on the subject, Kylie seems to believe that this is the case.  Back in 1988, she point blankly admitted that yes, she believed in love at first sight.  Nearly fifteen years later, those beliefs seemingly still hold true.  And, certainly if you look through Kylie’s romantic life, she has had a lot of past loves including Jason Donovan (a singer who acted with her on ‘Neighbours’), Michael Hutchence, and Olivier Martinez.  Sadly, she never found lasting love with any of these suitors, but she’s currently dating someone else, so all is good.
But as far as what I believe about love at first sight...it’s a little more complicated than that.

I’m more of a believer in lust at first sight, to tell you the truth.  Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way, but I find that quite a few people that I know seem to confuse lust for love (or love for lust in some cases).  Certainly people develop crushes on other people.  I know I had my fair share in my preteen years myself.  But, I wouldn’t exactly call those crushes love.  Just because I may have admired them from afar didn’t necessarily mean that I was head over heels in love with them.  I just wanted to get to know them better so that I could decide whether my feelings for them were love, or simply just a crush.
As you may have predicted based on my original statement about the subject, my success rate for these crushes was in fact a goose egg preceding a per cent sign.  Zilch.  Zero.  Nada. 

It wasn’t a complete loss though.  A lot of the crushes that I had did end up fading away in time.  In a couple of cases, I even developed a friendship with them.  Of course, quite a few of them seemed almost appalled at the idea that I could ever find them attractive.  They certainly didn’t feel the same way about me!  The way I see it though, it truly was their loss, although at the time I felt like they had ripped my heart out and sliced it to bits with a Ginsu knife.
But anyway, back to the whole idea of people mistaking lust for love.  I realize that I am probably looking at this through the literal meaning mostly, but sometimes the literal way is the best way to examine and/or explain something that is already complex. 

I think that for quite a few people out there, whenever they see someone walking by, they might think to themselves that the person is very attractive and that they might want to get to know them better.  But, is that really considered to be love at first sight?  I don’t believe so. 


I imagine that some of you reading this will disagree with me though, and that’s okay.  A difference of opinion is always welcome.  I imagine that for some of you, you might have seen the man or woman of your dreams and exclaimed to yourself ‘that’s who I’m gonna marry someday’.  But, how often does it work out that your prediction or assertion comes true?  I haven’t conducted a poll or anything that scientific in nature to know for sure, but I’m guessing that a good portion of you were misguided.  And, I imagine that some of you knew exactly what you were looking for and ended up getting it.
The point that I’m trying to make is that I feel that a person really has to get to know a person before falling in love with them.  Sure, it would be nice if the person you gazed at fell in love with you from the moment your brown eyes met their baby blues.  But, I don’t believe that it happens quite like that.  It might take a few months of dating, or maybe even a first date, or even that first real conversation for someone to think ‘I really could be into this person’.  It’s very rare that one simple gaze could turn a person’s heart to mush, especially when one doesn’t exactly know anything about the other person.  But, I suppose lust does make one’s brain and heart do some crazy things.

(Notice I said lust and not love.)
Then there’s the whole idea of online dating.  Unless the person has a profile picture up on their profile (that’s assuming that the picture that they have posted is actually of them and not a scan from Seventeen magazine), I don’t know if the phrase ‘love at first sight’ would apply, as you’re really only able to go by their likes, dislikes, interests, and how they communicate through writing.  It would be difficult (but not impossible) for people to try and form a connection of love with such limited information.  Just like offline dating, you really have to get to know a person before falling in love with them.  Just having a conversation with them through eHarmony simply isn’t enough.  Sure, you might be attracted to someone to ask them on a date, but I hesitate to call that love at first sight, really.

I guess the argument that I’m trying to argue is that I feel that love at first sight is an extremely difficult feeling to possess.  Not impossible...just difficult.  At least, it is for me, given that I’ve never been in a situation where I myself have fallen in love at first sight.  Maybe fallen in like would best describe it.  I don’t know.
I’m interested in hearing your opinions of the subject at hand.  Do you believe in love at first sight?  Do you believe in lust at first sight?  For those of you in relationships or marriages, how long did it take you to realize that s/he was the one for you?  Was it love at first sight, or love at first month, or love at first year, even?



Some food for thought this twelfth of February, 2012.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Tale Spin of TaleSpin

Have you ever heard of the Disney film, 'The Jungle Book'? It was a movie that was released by Disney in the late 1960s that was inspired by the tales of author Rudyard Kipling. It was a story of a young feral child named Mowgli who is raised by wolves. Along the way, he meets up with such crazy characters as Baloo, the laid-back sloth bear who lives a carefree life, and King Louie, an orangutan who desperately wants to be a human. But, Mowgli also happens to be in danger from getting caught by Bengal tiger Shere Khan, who wants nothing more than to kill Mowgli. It's a great movie, if you get a chance to watch it, if for no other reason than to get caught up in the movie's soundtrack which includes the following song.



And, one day, I might end up doing a blog entry on “The Jungle Book”. But, not today.

Being that today is Saturday, it's the day of the week where we take a look back at a Saturday Morning cartoon, and open up a discussion about it. And as it so happens, today's cartoon was heavily inspired by Disney's “The Jungle Book”. Three characters from that movie were put into this cartoon, and a whole bunch of new characters were created to supplement the existing characters, as the action was moved from the jungle to the clouds.

Have you figured it out yet? Perhaps this intro will help jog your memory.



Yes, the topic of today's Saturday Morning discussion is the Disney Afternoon program, TaleSpin, which first aired on May 5, 1990 as a Disney Channel sneak peek. Although original episodes last aired just fifteen months later in August 1991, the show itself managed to have a 65-episode run. And those 65 episodes were aired on various cable channels as recently as a few years ago.



The show takes place in the fictional city of Cape Suzette, a town that is situated on a harbour, protected by giant cliffs, where only a small opening exists. This opening just happens to be guarded by anti-aircraft artillery, which prevent air pirates and other enemy planes from invading the city. Due to the fact that radio seems to be the main source of media for the citizens of Cape Suzette and how modern-day inventions like the television and helicopter were experimental at the time, it can be said that the show took place sometime during the 1930s.

As I said before, three characters make their way from 'The Jungle Book' to 'TaleSpin'. The most obvious one being Baloo the bear.



In TaleSpin, Baloo takes on the role of a bush pilot. Just as he was on 'The Jungle Book', Baloo is still very much as lazy, slobbish, and unreliable on 'TaleSpin'. However, when push came to shove, Baloo could fly a plane with the best of them. He could maneuver his plane through any space, and usually had the courage to fly his plane through dangerous situations, especially if someone he cared about was in danger. 



At the beginning of the series, Baloo owned an air cargo freight business called “Baloo's Air Service”, but he was forced to sell it to businesswoman Rebecca Cunningham after Baloo failed to pay back the loan he took out to start up the business. The business was renamed “Higher for Hire”, but Baloo stayed on as a pilot.



Of course, Baloo and Rebecca were hardly considered to be a match made in heaven. Rebecca grew increasingly irritated with Baloo for having such a carefree attitude, and she strongly disliked the fact that Baloo was so lazy. In turn, Baloo seemed to get annoyed with Rebecca's no-nonsense attitude. Over time, their bond would strengthen, and eventually they ended up becoming good friends. Rebecca even learned how to fly a plane herself. Rebecca was also known as a great maternal figure, as she had been a single mother to her daughter, Molly, for years. And, she even was looked up to as a maternal figure by this character, who we'll meet next.



Of course, I'm talking about Kit Cloudkicker. Kit is very much your typical 12-year-old bear cub on the surface. He has a love for sky surfing, wears his prized baseball cap backwards on his head, and sometimes gets into trouble if left unsupervised. Although to Kit's credit, he never really did anything that severe.



But if one were to peel back the layers behind Kit Cloudkicker, one might be surprised to see that Kit's past wasn't exactly one of pride. You see, Kit was orphaned at an early age, and he was taken in by Don Karnage and his band of Air Pirates. About a year prior to the start of the series, Kit was being groomed by Don Karnage to be his successor. If he had, it would have been entirely possible that Kit could have ended up an enemy, instead of a friend.

However, what Don Karnage didn't count on was that Kit had a mind of his own. And when Kit was eleven, he decided that he didn't want to be an Air Pirate any longer. He left them because he grew sick of them. Of course, the Air Pirates weren't ready to let him go that easily, and when Kit tried to escape from them, they gave chase. Kit somehow ended up hiding in Baloo's plane (affectionately nicknamed the Sea Duck), and Baloo decided to take him in. Of course, Kit was initially distrustful of Baloo. Truth be told, Kit didn't trust any adult figure. It took time for him to really accept Baloo, but once he did, he happily embraced Baloo as his 'Papa Bear'. In turn, Baloo would often call Kit 'Lil Britches' (which amusingly enough was the same nickname that Baloo gave Mowgli on 'The Jungle Book'.)

And, you know something, as lazy as Baloo was, he really stepped up when it came to Kit. Baloo and Kit formed one amazing partnership, and Baloo really worried about Kit the same way any father would worry about his son. He wanted to make sure Kit was safe at all times, and did what he could for him. But Baloo also let Kit have a little bit of trust and space, especially when it came down to Kit's love of cloud surfing.



But with Kit deciding to stay with Baloo, and embracing his adoptive family at “Higher for Hire”, it just served to make Don Karnage even angrier. He becomes one of the main antagonists in the whole series, banding the other Air Pirates together to storm Cape Suzette with his Iron Vulture to cause all sorts of trouble. He and his cronies (Mad Dog, Dumptruck, Gibber, Hacksaw, Ratchet, Hal, Sadie, Jock, and Will) all try to get the better of Baloo and his gang, but for whatever reason (the reason being Don Karnage's overblown ego), the Pirates always seem to fail.



Outside of Cape Suzette, we get to meet the second of three “The Jungle Book” characters who appear on the cartoon 'TaleSpin'. Remember how on the Jungle Book, we see Louie the orangutan trying to manipulate Mowgli into doing his bidding so that he can stay in the jungle? Well, on TaleSpin, Louie is somewhat more likeable (not that he wasn't already). He owns a club/motel called 'Louie's Place', which serves as a sort of rest stop for pilots. It's a place where pilots can stop to refuel their planes, grab a bite to eat, and just enjoy themselves. Unlike the movie 'The Jungle Book', Louie and Baloo seem to have patched up their differences, and are now considered to be the best of friends. Although sometimes, the competitive streak between the two can come back with a vengeance when it comes to matters of love, treasure-hunting, and occasionally business sense.

But when you consider that Louie managed to run a business by himself while Baloo lost his by being completely irresponsible, you figure out which one of the two always seems to come out on top.

Finally, we come to the final “The Jungle Book” character who makes an appearance in TaleSpin. And this character was the primary antagonist in 'The Jungle Book'. But when his character was brought to the world of 'TaleSpin', he still kept his evil persona, but somehow had gotten somewhat soft. What was even more peculiar was that he somehow developed a taste for designer suits and retractable claws.



Yes, Shere Khan was the Donald Trump of Cape Suzette. A powerful businessman who more or less controls the economy of the whole town, Shere Khan wastes no time in putting small companies out of business so he can take over. Naturally, one of the businesses in his sights was “Higher for Hire”, but he never did succeed in shutting the place down, thanks to Baloo and Kit foiling his plans. And in the show, we can see some evidence of his evil side popping out through minor examples. Feeding insects to his carnivorous plants inside his office, for instance. He also believes that he is above the law, and will often bend rules in order to get what he wants without actually breaking laws.

However, here's where Shere Khan's evil streak seems to soften. Even though he is a thorn in the side of Baloo and Rebecca, he does happen to share a common enemy with them. And, despite the fact that he once hired them for one of his schemes involving oil prices, Shere Khan saw the Air Pirates as his biggest enemies. Shere Khan ended up building a huge air force and naval defense system to protect his empire from being invaded by the Air Pirates, but he also showed a quality that he never really did show on 'The Jungle Book'.

The quality of nobility.

Sure, he and Baloo were never going to be friends. But he respected Baloo's flying abilities enough to trust him when the need arose. And, while Shere Khan may have had a ruthless streak, he wasn't entirely heartless, as he made sure that the townspeople of Cape Suzette were protected from the attacks from the Air Pirates.

(Though, I suppose he was only doing it to make sure that everyone stayed alive to shop at many of the businesses that he built and ran...but let's give our tiger the benefit of the doubt.)

So, while there were shades of 'The Jungle Book' inside 'TaleSpin', 'TaleSpin' was a rather enjoyable show in its own right. There was adventure, comedy, excitement, and more importantly, a lot of heart. It was a great program to watch, and I'd gladly watch it again if it were airing on television.