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Friday, April 27, 2012

The Minnesota Twins of 90210


I'm sure that most everyone knows the stress that can stem from moving to a new house. During the first five years of my life, my family moved a grand total of four times. But at the very least, we stayed within the same city.

Imagine a family moving across the country from one city to another.

I've never been in a situation like this, so I can't relate to it. But, I can only imagine that it must be a rather scary situation to be faced with at first. You're leaving behind a town that you had an identity in, and about to move to a new community where you have absolutely no ties to family or friends.

Well, all right, I suppose for some people, the thought of abandoning a dysfunctional family and fair-weather friends would be their idea of heaven.

Not so much for the television family that we're about to meet. At least not at first.

This particular family moved from the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and relocated to Beverly Hills, California. Right off the bat, the culture shock would be incredible. Imagine moving from a community known for having down-to-earth people and all four seasons to a town known for excess spending, expensive cars, and where the temperature is over seventy degrees the majority of the year.

Now imagine being a high school student faced with this move. It would be quite an adjustment, wouldn't it?



And yet that's the fate that the Minnesota Twins of Beverly Hills 90210 had to face.



That's right. This entry is all about Brandon and Brenda Walsh, played by Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty.

When the show debuted on October 4, 1990, almost immediately, we saw the struggles that Brandon and Brenda had to endure. For Brandon, he was the all-American guy, incredibly down-to-earth, diplomatic, and non-judgmental. Those qualities worked very well for Brandon in Minnesota, but upon moving to Beverly Hills, he really struggled with keeping those morals in check.

And Brenda had a tougher time. Being a new student at a high school was bad enough, but being a new student at West Beverly Hills High was a living nightmare for her. She found it hard to keep up with the trends and the fads, and her insecurities about herself were magnified by a million. Brenda just wanted to fit in, and she didn't feel that she would ever measure up to the rich, privileged students at West Beverly High.

But as time passed, Brandon and Brenda would end up finding their place in West Beverly, and six very special people would attach themselves to the Walsh twins in ways that not even they would have imagined.

For this blog entry, I really did a lot of research, as it has been years since I watched Beverly Hills 90210. I did have some knowledge of who the characters were, but when I looked at them in great detail, the different relationships that Brandon and Brenda had with these six people are just too detailed not to talk about.

So, going in order of the credits, let's look at how each of these six people carved out a permanent spot in the hearts of Brandon and Brenda Walsh.



Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) was probably the one person who both Brandon and Brenda had the closest relationship to, both in different ways.

Kelly and Brandon always had a friendly relationship with each other, and Kelly seemed to trust Brandon's word more than anyone else in the series. Eventually, these feelings of friendship would grow into feelings of romance, as Brandon and Kelly became a couple while they were in college. Their relationship ultimately ended, but they always maintained their friendship. In fact, I would reckon that Brandon's friendship with Kelly was instrumental in transforming Kelly from a materialistic princess to a more grounded young woman.

As for Kelly's relationship with Brenda, theirs was more tumultuous. Initially Brenda wanted to be Kelly's friend so that she could fit in with the West Beverly crowd, and at first, Kelly and Brenda's friendship was a bit superficial. Their friendship only began to grow after Brenda hosted a slumber party, and Kelly shared some very personal secrets about herself.



In that moment, Brenda and Kelly became really close, and both of them shared everything with each other. But then a man came between them both and nearly ruined their friendship forever. We'll get to that a little bit later.



Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) was the son of a sitcom star, and was used to the life of privilege. Unfortunately, he was spoiled so rotten that he ended up developing a poor attitude. He believed that he was untouchable, and he used people to get what he wanted. But his friendship with the Walsh twins would open his eyes in a huge way.

Steve befriended Brandon almost immediately after the Walsh twins arrived at West Beverly, and at first Steve's advice got Brandon into trouble. But, Brandon saw some decency inside Steve, and he continued to stand by Steve no matter how often he screwed up (which was in almost every single episode).



But Steve was very appreciative of Brandon's friendship, and he shared things with Brandon that he would never have shared with anyone else before, such as the fact that he was adopted. And, whenever Steve had any sort of problem, Brandon was always there for him no matter what.

Steve's relationship with Brenda wasn't as close, but they too became good friends. There was one instance in their college years when Brenda was being sabotaged in a play by Steve's girlfriend which caused tension between them, but they worked it out.



Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) was a curious case. Let's look beyond the fact that she was a sixteen-year-old girl played by someone who was 29. Andrea was someone who didn't quite fit the mould of stereotypical West Beverly socialite. Andrea was a bookish type who never followed the fashions and glitz of West Beverly. Unlike most people who traveled to school in their own cars, Andrea took the bus. And, this is where the problem lay. You see, Andrea lived outside the West Beverly High school district, and was ineligible to even attend school there. But she wanted to stay at West Beverly because it was the best school in the county, and she wanted an edge to go to the best school.

But this is where her own friendship with the Walsh twins would come into play.

Andrea's first impression of Brandon Walsh wasn't a good one. She thought he was a pompous jerk. Brandon in turn thought that Andrea was incredibly judgmental and needed to lighten up. But then Brandon discovered her secret about where she lived, and Andrea was forced to tell him the truth. To Andrea's surprise, Brandon was incredibly understanding, and he managed to keep Andrea's secret (until it was eventually revealled in a future episode), establishing his firm friendship with Andrea. After all, both of them were a lot alike. Brandon and Andrea's friendship went through some hurdles, but both of them were incredibly close and stood by each other. When Andrea was run over by a hit-and-run driver, Brandon helped her with her recovery. When Brandon had a problem that he couldn't find an answer for, Andrea was a great listener. Both of them worked together as co-editors of the West Beverly Blaze. And when Andrea ended up becoming pregnant, Brandon was there for her every step of the way.

Now you'd think that Brandon and Andrea would have developed a romantic relationship with each other given their fondness for each other. Don't think that thought didn't cross their mind...



...but in the end, Andrea and Brandon worked better as friends.

Brenda was also a positive influence on Andrea, and both of them shared a lot of lovely moments with each other.

Well, except for the time Brenda slapped Andrea when both of them were falling for their summer school drama instructor...

But when things were good between the two, they were very good. Brenda was the one who convinced Andrea to join her and her mother at the West Beverly Hills fashion show. Brenda was instrumental in getting Andrea to develop her self-confidence. Andrea also was a great friend to Brenda. She helped Brenda deal with her position at a teen hotline, and she helped Brenda find some self-confidence of her own with her understanding and kindness.



Now we're getting to Dylan McKay (Luke Perry), and his influence on the Walsh twins was, to say the least, explosive.

It wasn't so much that way with Brandon, although he and Brandon's friendship seemed to be strongest under the most extreme circumstances. When Brandon almost fell off a cliff during a summer trip, Dylan saved his life.



Dylan also ended up saving his life again when Brandon ended up getting involved in racking up gambling debts, and he was in over his head. With assistance from Nat, the owner of the Peach Pit, they bailed Brandon out. Brandon in turn was Dylan's shoulder to cry on when his father was presumed dead in an explosion, and when Dylan's newlywed wife was killed.

Oh, and Dylan got Brandon the job at the Peach Pit as well.

However, while Dylan's friendship with Brandon was unbreakable, his relationship with Brenda was filled with drama. At first, it was nice for both of them. When Dylan wasn't smashing potted plants on the sidewalk, he and Brenda were really good together. He helped Brenda deal with surviving a robbery attempt at the Peach Pit, and he and Brenda ended up taking their relationship to the next level after a school dance. It seemed as though Brenda and Dylan would be together forever and ever.

And then Brenda went off to Paris for the summer.

It was actually an idea that was encouraged by Brenda's father, who had a lot of issues with the Brenda/Dylan relationship. Initially, Kelly was supposed to go, but Brenda went in her place, leaving Kelly back in Beverly Hills with Dylan. One thing lead to another, and Dylan and Kelly ended up having an affair while Brenda was in Paris. And when she found out, it was quite brutal.



This would end up leading to the Brenda/Dylan/Kelly love triangle, in which Dylan couldn't decide who he loved more. And of course, Kelly and Brenda's friendship was forever tarnished. In the end, they all managed to come to an understanding with each other, but things were never quite the same after that.



I can't recall much of a connection that Brenda and Brandon had with David Silver (Brian Austin Green), mainly because in the early seasons, David was a grade behind the rest of the crew. But I can remember Brandon and Brenda being sympathetic and reaching out to him after one of David's friends accidentally shot himself at a party.



The final character to look at is Donna Martin (Tori Spelling), and Donna was probably the one person who was the closest to the Walsh twins. Had it not been for Brandon, Donna would have not been able to graduate. Donna ended up having a little bit too much champagne before the prom, and not knowing her limit, it didn't take too long for her to get plastered. Unfortunately, a new rule stated that any student caught with alcohol at the prom would be banned from graduation.



Brandon worked hard to launch a protest against the school board to let Donna Martin graduate. He arranged it so that everyone would leave the school during final exams. If Donna couldn't graduate, nobody graduated. Brandon's plan was crazy, but it ended up working, and Donna was incredibly grateful.

But as close as Brandon and Donna were, Brenda and Donna were almost inseparable. Donna and Brenda probably had one of the closest friendships ever featured on the whole show. Sure, Brenda was friends with Kelly and Andrea, but they all had at least one falling out on the show. Brenda and Donna never did. In fact, Brenda was probably the one person that Donna confided in the most. When it was discovered that Donna had scored poorly on her SAT's, Brenda lent a sympathetic ear, and she supported Donna as Donna learned she had a learning disability. But Brenda proved her loyalty to Donna even more when Donna had discovered that David had cheated on her. 



After that devastating moment, you know who Donna went to see?  Brenda.  And, Brenda had Donna feeling much better about herself.  In fact, Brenda's kindness towards Donna inevitably lead to Donna finding the strength to stand up for herself.

So there you have it. You have the Minnesota Twins of 90210. You can see that they had a lot of impact on their new West Beverly High friends, but at the same time, they ended up learning a lot about themselves seeing how the other half lived.

For Brandon, he didn't have to sacrifice his morals and ethics to get people to like and respect him. He somehow managed to fit into the rich social circles of West Beverly High and came out of it still very much respected. Then he went to college and had an affair with a much older woman, but hey, nobody's perfect.

For Brenda, I think she learned that she could go anywhere in the world, and still be perfectly okay. And, she also learned that her Beverly Hills friends were much more loyal and caring towards her than the Minneapolis friends she left behind when she opted to go back to Minnesota for college. She had intended for it to be a warm reunion with all of her old friends, but in the end, they ended up treating her like dirt. Brenda didn't even last a month. She left Minnesota and moved back to Beverly Hills to be with the friends who really mattered to her most.

The Walsh twins were such a driving force on the show, but neither one lasted until the end of the series in 2000. Brenda moved to London at the beginning of season five and never came back (stemmed from Shannen Doherty's sudden departure from the show), and Brandon would leave for Washington D.C., only three years later. But even after they were gone, their influence lived on in the cast members who remained. Kelly became more grounded. Steve became less of a jerk. Donna became more self-confident. Andrea lost her perfectionist nature. David became more of a man and less of a boy. And even Dylan was positively affected by the Walsh twins at some point.

Brandon and Brenda Walsh may have been fictional characters, but if they were real, they would probably be the best friends that anyone could have.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Facebook Memes I Never Want To See Again...


These days, it seems as though almost everybody is using social networking sites. I know I use them to promote this blog, as well as maintaining contact with some of my various friends.



One of the more popular social networking sites out there is Facebook. The site began in February 2004, and over the next eight years would grow to have a total of over 900 MILLION active users.

But in reality, it's more along the lines of only 500 million, as many people have two or more screennames for Facebook games and internet trolling (not that I condone either of these).

I've had a Facebook account since October 2007, and like so many others, trying to find your place in an online social community can be a bit challenging at first. I've likely made some mistakes along the way in what I post, and certainly have gotten caught up in a few drama-filled confrontations along the way, but just like the workplace or on the real life social scene, that is to be expected no matter where you go.

Nowadays, I mostly use my Facebook page as a promotional tool for my writing projects. Occasionally I might post a link to a funny picture that cracks me up (usually George Takei of Star Trek is guilty of providing me with at least one laugh per day), but I keep that to a minimum.

Yet, one thing I've noticed in recent months are many people clogging up my news feeds with hundreds of posts in the time frame of under five minutes. I suppose that would be fine if one was actively seeking a paid position of Facebook spammer. But, I find it a bit too much.

Most of the time, I let it slide though. I'm a fairly polite person, and it isn't as though they are constantly posting pictures to be malicious or annoying on purpose.

However, I will also be the first one to make this confession...

THURSDAY CONFESSION #17: I would die a happy man if I NEVER, EVER saw the following Facebook memes ever again!

ANNOYING FACEBOOK MEME #1 – ANNOYING FACEBOOK GIRL



I'm sure some of you have seen this lovely lady floating around Facebook at some point. I've gotten to know her quite well. No, I don't know what her name is, or what the original reason behind her...lovely pose is. But I feel as though I know her because I see her pop up on my news feed at least once a day.

Let's just say that whoever named her the “annoying Facebook girl” was dead on.

I get that the Annoying Facebook Girl meme is meant to be ironic. Most of the things she says pokes fun at some of the annoying behaviour that we are graced with on Facebook each and every day. But, I don't really see much charm in it, because it just seems so juvenile.



To be honest, I think the Willy Wonka ones are done much better. Of course, some of you may find those equally annoying as well.



ANNOYING FACEBOOK MEME #2 – What colour is your bra, and other fun questions that women answer and men are supposedly too clueless to discover the truth for themselves.

I'll admit to being confused as heck when one day in 2008, all of my female Facebook friends were posting random colours as their status updates. It didn't make any sense. But then a quick Google search brought the truth. They were posting the colours of their bras. Why you ask? They claimed that the reason was to raise awareness for breast cancer. It actually got a lot of coverage on the 6 o'clock news a few weeks later.




And, of course, shortly after that, the bra colour status updates disappeared because now we all knew their secret, which wasn't really a secret.

There have been many other variations of this “bra game”. The following year, women were posting various locations all over the household, which corresponded to places where they were leaving their purses. Then there was the whole idea of posting pieces of fruit as a status update, which corresponded to relationship statuses. And, don't even get me started on the whole “I'm going to Azerbaijan for 75 months” deal...if you really wanted to let people know what your birthday is, you'd have it posted on your profile.

I'll let you think about that for a second.

I guess the point I'm trying to make with this is that this Facebook status game idea might have started off with a noble cause, but future versions of it are not really my cup of tea. Anyone who is skilled in Google can find out what the secret it behind the game (I actually laughed out loud when I Google searched the fruit game, and the first result had “Don't let anyone know the secret once you discover it” in the description of the link). In fact, I'd probably go one step further and say that these games are perfect for getting people to admit to things (birthday, relationship status) that they maybe want to keep private, so just be careful about that.

I mean, what next? A status update asking men what colour underwear they're wearing to raise awareness against silly Facebook status games?

Black.

ANNOYING FACEBOOK MEME #3 – This picture.



I just want to state a little disclaimer before I go and tear this meme apart. I am very, very sympathetic towards people who have lost a loved one to cancer. I lost my grandfather to lung cancer in 2000, so I know how it feels. I wouldn't wish cancer on anybody.

And if you can just focus on the picture, it is both heartbreaking, yet beautiful at the same time. The picture tells me that just because someone has cancer, it doesn't mean that they stop living.

I also don't have a problem with some of the text in the bottom. It says to “repost this in honour of those fighting cancer”. If that was the only text that existed, I would likely have this on my wall right now.

The thing that makes this picture turn from sweet to sour is the text that appears before the last sentence. You know, the one that reads “Most of u won't repost this because apparently your 'TOO COOL', but really your selfish.”

My, my, my, where do I begin with this?

I suppose it would be too easy to point out the fact that the person who wrote this fell asleep during the your/you're lesson in English class. But, whoops, looks like I already did that, so we'll move on.

I think the biggest issue I have is the tone in which it is written. It's written very defensively, almost as if they have something to prove. And, then they're calling us selfish because we don't repost it.

Of course I won't repost it. I don't appreciate getting guilt-tripped in regards to what I should and shouldn't post on my Facebook wall at any given time. And, if that makes me selfish, let me ask this...what do you suppose the odds are that the person who created this “lovely” sentiment have donated their time to cancer organizations, or donated money to cancer research? I'd be mighty interested in hearing the answer to that one.



But I will repost THIS edited version. I think it works better.

ANNOYING FACEBOOK MEME #4 – I hate the new Timeline on Facebook, so I'm going to post millions of images about just how much I hate the new Timeline on Facebook ON FACEBOOK!!!

Trust me. We get it. You hate the new Timeline that has been renovating Facebook walls since the beginning of 2012. And yes, the Mayans are responsible for it because they want our potential last year on Earth to be the most miserable ever.

My personal feelings about the Facebook Timeline is that like every new change that we go through, it has its pros and cons. I like the fact that the Timeline allows you to go back through the years to reflect on (or erase) your past. I like the fact that you can now like that you have been born! And I found that if you click on the stars on the upper right hand corner of each post on your Timeline, you can expand the boxes to full size so it looks more like a wall. Granted, it's more work for myself, but I learned to adapt to it.

I completely understand that some have legitimate reasons to hate the Timeline. The original layout is not the best (which is why I recommend the star icon trick), and for those people who are heavily in the Farmville, Cityville, Frontierville circuit, the new layout is horrible for game playing. And, I also agree that Facebook users should only have the OPTION to switch to Timeline or not...Timeline isn't for everyone, and nobody should be forced to use it.

I don't mind it if people don't like the new look. I DO mind it when I have to hear about it every five minutes on my news feed. And, when I see pictures like this all over my news feed...



...well, to be truthful, I find that more annoying than the Timeline layout. I guess maybe there's just some things that take precedence in my life than worrying about a Facebook layout...but maybe that's just me.  I'm cool with people who don't like it, but don't spam my news feed or wall over how much you despise it. 






Because when you look at it...doesn't complaining about how much you hate the Timeline by posting about it every day on YOUR Timeline defeat the purpose just a smidgen? 

I guess the final point that I would like to make in regards to Facebook memes is this. I know that I can't control what people post, nor am I saying I want that control. And, the odd meme every now and then is okay. But if that's all we rely on to get our opinions across, then can we really say that our thoughts and opinions are really ours?

Why is it so hard for us to have our own thoughts and our own feelings on various subjects? Why do we need a picture with someone else's thoughts and opinions to showcase to the world how we feel when we are all perfectly capable of having our own ideas?

Just some food for thought today.

BONUS QUESTION: Which Facebook trends make you peeved?

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The "Sticky" Business Of Panini Group



I really don’t know any child who grew up not liking stickers.

I don’t know about anybody else, but stickers played a huge role in my childhood.  Even when I was four years old, I have vague memories of playing with those Garbage Pail Kids stickers and sticking them everywhere.  I stuck them on my toys, in my colouring books...

...on the living room walls, on the kitchen refrigerator, in my hair...

Yeah, you can say it.  I was a pretty mischievous child when it came to stickers.  But I couldn’t help myself.  All those stickers with their bright colours and different shapes were calling out my name.

And there wasn’t a sticker that I didn’t like.

I loved the stickers that had the adhesive ready-stick backing, but I also loved the stickers that you had to moisten the back to get them to stick.  I loved stickers that felt fuzzy, I loved stickers that glowed in the dark, I loved stickers that glittered and sparkled.  Stickers were just cool.

Whenever I was in elementary school, there was no bigger rush than getting a test back from the teacher and getting a huge sticker on the paper rewarding you for a job well done.  Seeing that gold star, smiley face, or “Good Job” sticker right there on the paper meant that I was on an instant high the rest of the day.  And every single teacher that I had in elementary school gave out stickers. 


Well, everyone except for my third grade teacher, who used stampers and ink pads.  Although I liked the stamp pads well enough, they weren’t as good as stickers.

For today’s blog entry, I thought that I would take my love of stickers and use it to talk about a popular activity that I partook in along with many other people my age.  And as it so happens, this activity is linked to my love of stickers.

Before I get into that, I’d like to talk a little bit about the company that was behind this activity that I loved so much, just for you to get an idea as to what they were about, how they were founded, and what drove the company to create this idea.


In the community of Modena, Italy, two brothers named Benito and Giuseppe Panini were operating a newspaper distribution office in the early 1960s.  And, they likely would have continued doing that had it not been for a discovery that they had found.  The two brothers found a small collection of stickers that were made to be attached with glue.  They were unsold merchandise that a Milan based company were unable to sell.  Seeing potential in these stickers, the Panini brothers purchased the leftover inventory, and began selling the items themselves, setting a price of ten lire for a two-pack.

By the end of the 1960/1961 fiscal year, the brothers had managed to sell over three million packets of stickers, and they soon discovered that they had a potential gold mine on their hands.


In 1961, Giuseppe founded the business known as the Panini Group, in which he would manufacture and sell his own stickers.  His brother Benito would join the company later that year.  Two more brothers, Franco and Umberto, would also join the company by 1963.

By 1963, the Panini Group continued to be a huge force on the marketplace.  In their first year of business, the company sold fifteen million packages of stickers.  The following year, that number grew to twenty-nine million sold!

During the mid-1960s, the company started printing themed sticker sets.  One of the more popular sets that were created back in that time period was the ones that featured soccer players.  The general public in and around Italy snatched up the stickers as quickly as they could be made, and are widely considered to be collector’s items today.  Children’s board games were also made where the stickers doubled as playing cards. 

And beginning in the 1970s, some changes to the way that the stickers were produced lead to the creation of a very successful venture.

In the early part of the decade, the stickers began to be manufactured with an adhesive backing, which allowed people to peel the stickers off and stick them onto a surface without needing glue.  Right around that same time, the Panini Group began publishing “L’Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio Italiano” (The Illustrated Guide to Italian Football), after purchasing the rights from Carcano publishing house.


Soon after, the company published their very first sticker album, “The 1970 Football World Cup Sticker Album”, which proved to be incredibly successful.

Thus, the Panini Sticker Album was born.

I have such fond memories of Panini Sticker Albums.  When I was just a little boy, I would jump at the chance to go grocery shopping with my mom.  At that time, I admittedly was bored out of my skull when it came to standing in the aisles of the grocery store.  My mother was (and still is) a very fussy shopper, and she would often spend an average of ten minutes in each aisle, trying to decide what she wanted to buy.

But then we got to the front checkouts, and I was in heaven.

At that time, my mom’s favourite grocery store was a little supermarket called O.K. Economy (it’s since been replaced by a dining establishment after closing up shop in the early 1990s).  And at the end of each cash register was the magazine rack.  There were Archie Digests, Reader’s Digests, tabloids, and horoscope books.

And on the bottom racks were where the Panini sticker albums (as well as Diamond brand albums, which were more common here in Canada) and packages of stickers were kept, and if I were behaving well in the store, she would buy me three packages of stickers for the sticker album that I was using at the time.


The packages of stickers were something along the lines of 49 cents for each package, of which each package contained anywhere from five to seven stickers. 

When you opened up the sticker album, you would see a whole bunch of numbered squares on each page, kind of like this.


In each package of stickers, the stickers were labelled with a different number.  All you would have to do is locate the number of the sticker that corresponded with the numbered space within the album.  All you would then have to do is stick the sticker on the space.

Each album contained at least one hundred stickers within the pages.  Most of the stickers were standard sized, but there were also some instances in which you would need a set of two or four stickers to stick together to create a bigger picture (for instance, to fill in the sticker picture, you’d need stickers 18-21).

The more stickers you bought, the better chance you had of completing a sticker album...but because the stickers came in random packages, sometimes you would inevitably get doubles, triples, or even quadruple copies of stickers.

Of course, this lead to a whole bunch of kids in the elementary school playground trading stickers desperately needed to complete their sticker albums.  And yes, I definitely was a part of that crowd who partook in the Panini Sticker Exchange.


MINI-CONFESSION:  In all my years of collecting sticker albums, I never managed to fully complete one in its entirety.  I did come close with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sticker album, but the supermarket stopped selling the TMNT sticker packs just before I found the last four stickers.

That was a part of Panini’s appeal though.  They literally had sticker albums on all subjects.  Certainly there were dozens of sticker albums that featured sports teams.  It made sense, given that their first album was sports-themed.  But there were so many other sticker albums out there for kids of both genders.  Some of the ones I remember owning over the years aside from the TMNT album I almost completed were largely based on cartoon shows I watched.  Among some of the albums were He-Man, Snoopy, The New Archies, The California Raisins, Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters, and Garfield.  But lest you think that Panini sticker albums were made solely for boys, think again.  There were just as many Panini sticker albums for Barbie, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and even on Troll dolls!

If it was a pop culture phenomenon, it was turned into a Panini Sticker Album.

These days, the Panini Group still manufactures stickers and albums all over the world.  In 1986, Panini opened up a sticker museum, and in 2006, the company teamed up with Coca-Cola and Tokenzone to produce the very first virtual sticker album for the FIFA World Cup.  The album was viewable in ten different languages.

Beginning in March 2009, Panini soon moved into the trading card business, purchasing famed trading card company Donruss.  Shortly after, the company began printing off their own baseball cards.  The following year, the company added hockey cards to their line-up.  And in 2010, the company acquired a license to create a sticker collection for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Not a bad legacy for a company that began with an accidental discovery by a couple of Italian brothers, huh?

It’s good to see that the Panini Group is still going strong over fifty years later.  Their sticker albums were creative, and kept millions of kids entertained.


It’s been years since I last used a Panini sticker album, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have a clue as to where one can purchase them anymore.  But I’ll never forget the rush that I felt looking through my Panini Sticker Albums, and always being regretful that I never managed to complete a sticker album in full.

I wonder if eBay still has any in stock...

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

April 24, 1965


When I started off the Tuesday Timeline feature three months ago, I always assumed that I would have an easy time choosing a subject to feature in this space because so much happens on any given day.

Yet, for some reason, April 24 was one of those dates in history where I really had a tough time selecting a suitable topic for discussion.  Sure, there were lots of famous people born on April 24, such as Shirley MacLaine, Barbra Streisand, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Eric Bogosian, Michael O’Keefe, Cedric the Entertainer, Djimon Hounsou, David Usher, Stacy Haiduk, Melinda Clarke, Eric Snow, Lee Westwood, Thad Luckinbill, Danny Gokey, Kelly Clarkson, and Doc Shaw.  But, I’ve already done a feature on a celebrity birth this month, and didn’t want to go into overkill on that.

Since I featured a celebrity death last week, I didn’t want to do the same this week, although celebrities who did pass away on this date include author Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1942, Dutchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson in 1986, and cosmetics entrepreneur Estee Lauder in 2004.

Looking at significant historical events that took place on April 24th, there were quite a few happenings, but none I could really expand into a blog.  But, if you’re interested, here are some of the events that took place on April 24th.

1704 – The first newspaper in the United States is published in Boston, Massachusetts, with the name “The News-Letter”

1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established

1877 – Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire during Russo-Turkish War

1885 – Annie Oakley hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West

1898 – The United States declares war on Spain in the Spanish-American War

1907 – The opening of Hersheypark by Milton S. Hershey

1913 – The Woolworth Building skyscraper is opened in New York City

1926 – Treaty of Berlin is signed

1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when his parachute malfunctions, making him the first person to die during a space mission

1980 – Operation Eagle Claw; Eight U.S. servicemen are killed as they try to end the Iran Hostage Crisis

1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from Space Shuttle Discovery

1993 – IRA bomb detonates in London, devastating Bishopgates area

1996 – Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is introduced in the United States

2005 – Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog, is born in South Korea

So, as you can see, there was a lot that happened on April 24th from the good, the bad, and the just plain bizarre.  But, I didn’t really have much information on some of those topics, while others would have sounded like a high school history essay if I attempted a blog on them.  For the first time since I began the Tuesday Timeline, I was stuck.

That is, until I found a site on Music History.  There, I found the date that we’re going to take a look back on.


April 24, 1965.

Coincidentally, that date happens to be the birthday of my brother-in-law.  This entry isn’t about him, but a happy birthday to him anyway.

No, this date is a significant date for a British man and his band.  It was the date that the band scored their highest ranking single in both their native United Kingdom, and the United States.  In the United Kingdom, they managed to peak at number two on the charts.  But in America, the band managed to do one better.  This song hit the top of the charts on April 24, 1965, and managed to stay there for one whole week before being dethroned by the Herman’s Hermits song “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” on May 1, 1965. 

Although the members of the band went their separate ways shortly after this song hit the charts, one member launched into a solo career while two of the others started up another successful band in the early 1970s.

So, what’s the song that hit the top of the charts exactly 47 years ago today?  Let’s listen.


ARTIST:  Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders
SONG:  The Game of Love
ALBUM:  The Game of Love
DATE RELEASED:  February 1, 1965
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week
REACHED #1 POSITION:  April 24, 1965

That would be “The Game of Love” by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders.  The song was a huge hit for the band, and it was also featured in both the 1983 film “The Big Chill”, and the 1987 film “Good Morning, Vietnam”, starring Robin Williams.


But, I suppose that you’re probably wondering who Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders are, aren’t you?

Wayne Fontana (or Glyn Geoffrey Ellis, which was the name he was born with) was born on October 28, 1945, making him 66 years of age today.  When he was eighteen years of age, he expressed a desire to become a singer.  In 1963, he adopted the stage name Wayne Fontana (named after Elvis Presley’s drummer, D.J. Fontana), and went in search of a backing group to make his dream a reality.

Enter the Mindbenders.

The Mindbenders were made up of Bob Lang, Eric Stewart, and Ric Rothwell.  They took their name from the 1963 film “The Mind Benders”, which starred Sir Dirk Bogarde.

It took some time for the band to make it in the world of music though.  Their first four singles didn’t get much of a critical reception at all, although their debut song “Hello Josephine” did reach the British Top 50.  It wasn’t until 1964 that the band would get the taste of success with the 1964 song “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um”.


I’m not kidding.  That really WAS the title.

The song rocketed up to the #5 position on the British charts, which was a terrific improvement for the band.

And then the band released “Game of Love”, which ended up being the band’s biggest hit.

The funny thing about “Game of Love” was that it was a rather simple song lyrically.  The same chorus repeated itself at least three times during the just over two minute single.

The purpose of a man is to love a woman,
And the purpose of a woman is to love a man,
So come on baby let’s start today, come on baby let’s play
The game of love, love, love, love, la la la la la love

Not exactly Shakespeare, but it was a nice feel-good song for the time period it debuted in.


Regardless, the song should have put Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders on a huge high, scoring their first American #1 hit.  But as time went on, love definitely wasn’t the game that the band members were playing with each other at all.

The band’s follow-up singles to “Game of Love” flopped, which caused tensions to rise within the band.  Despite this, the band decided to tour America in 1965, hoping that they could win fans over across the pond.

Instead, that tour lead to the break-up of the band after Wayne Fontana quit the band DURING a concert performance!

I don’t know whether to call that ballsy, idiotic, or selfish.  Maybe it was all three.  To quit the band while you’re performing...it was certainly memorable.

If I were a member of the Mindbenders, I would likely be quite annoyed at Fontana.  Who knows?  Maybe they were at the time. 

But here’s the thing.  The Mindbenders regrouped and went on to continue recording WITHOUT Wayne Fontana.  When Fontana left the band, Eric Stewart stepped up to assume the lead singer position, and the Mindbenders released their first single post-Fontana.


“Groovy Kind Of Love” was released just months after “Game of Love”.  It peaked at #2 on the Billboard Charts in 1965, and ended up at the same position on the UK charts in early 1966.  For those of you who grew up in the 1980s as I did, you may also recall that singer Phil Collins did a cover version of “Groovy Kind Of Love” in 1988, which also did very well on the charts.


“Groovy Kind Of Love” managed to sell over one million copies, making it a success.  Yet none of their subsequent single releases performed as well as "Groovy Kind Of Love".  Despite this, they made an appearance in the 1967 film “To Sir, With Love” starring Sidney Poitier, and contributed a couple of songs to the soundtrack.


However, with the departures of both Rothwell and Lang (who were replaced by Paul Hancox and Graham Gouldman, the band continued to struggle musically, and in November 1968, they announced that the Mindbenders were calling it quits.  But just four years later, both Gouldman and Stewart would reunite to start up another band by the name of 10cc, who recorded hit songs such as “The Things We Do For Love”.

But whatever happened to Wayne Fontana after he left the Mindbenders?

Well, he attempted to start up a solo career, but he didn’t have many hit singles.  His highest charting single was this 1967 release, peaking at #11 on the UK charts.


In recent years, however, Fontana’s life reads almost like a storyline on Coronation Street or EastEnders.  In 2005, he almost went bankrupt, but managed to avoid that fate.  But just months later, Fontana was arrested after pouring petrol over the hood of a car, and setting it ablaze...with a bailiff inside whom he had argued with beforehand!!!

Whoops.

The good news is that the bailiff wasn’t hurt.  The bad news was that if convicted, Fontana faced up to fourteen years in prison for the crime.  To add to the insanity, shortly after his 2007 arrest, Fontana came into court dressed as the lady of justice, claiming that justice was blind, and then proceeded to fire his entire defense team in the trial!


Seriously, what the heck?

As far as Fontana’s ultimate fate went, he actually got off easy.  He was sentenced to almost a year in prison, but because of the Mental Health Act of 1983, he was let go under time served.

Talk about lucky.

These days, Fontana is still making music and still performs, and aside from a March 2011 arrest regarding an unpaid speeding ticket (charges were eventually dropped), he’s managed to stay out of the negative spotlight for now.

Isn’t it crazy what happens to band members after they break up?  Some become successful in other projects, while others seemingly lose the plot.  But despite the break-up of the band, none of the members gave up on their ultimate goal, which was to make music.  That’s commendable.

Though it’s also nice to know that at some point, the members of Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders once got along well enough to record a catchy and upbeat number one hit single.

A single that topped the charts on April 24, 1965.