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Saturday, July 21, 2012

WHY?!?


On any given Saturday, I would be talking about some of my favourite cartoons, educational programs, and other things that made Saturday mornings magical.  This Saturday is NOT one of those Saturdays.

The truth is...I’m not really in the right frame of mind to talk about cartoons today.  I’m angry.  I am very angry at the state of things these days.

I am sure that everybody has heard about the terrible tragedy that took place shortly after midnight last night in Aurora, Colorado.  At approximately 12:38 am during the sold-out premiere of the film “The Dark Knight Rises”, a gunman went on a shooting rampage at the Century 16 movie theatre.  At least seventy people were hit by gunfire that night.  Of those victims, twelve ended up losing their lives.  It is unknown at this time if the number of casualties will continue to climb, but it has already set a record that nobody wanted to see broken.  The July 20, 2012 shooting is now considered to be the worst mass shooting in American history.

I’m not even going to identify the name of the person who has been arrested in connection with the shootings.  There is no way that I want to give that person any more notoriety by publishing his name for all to see.  The only thing that I will say about this case is that I am happy that the police have apprehended the suspect, and if there is any justice in this world, he will never see the light of freedom ever again.

Of course, this shooting makes me wonder if there really is any hope for the world.

This shooting is just the latest in a long line of senseless tragedies that have taken place in both the United States and Canada in recent weeks.  Earlier this week in Scarborough, Ontario, a shooting rampage at a neighbourhood party killed a 23-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl.  Just weeks prior, Toronto, Ontario was rocked by a shooting spree at the Eaton Centre, in which five people were shot (two later died of their injuries).

(In a sad twist of fate, one of the survivors of the Eaton Centre shooting, Jessica Ghawi, was one of the casualties of the Aurora, Colorado shootings.

Last year, there was a shooting at an Arizona grocery store, in which several people were killed and congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously wounded.

Then there was the case in Montreal, Quebec, in which a Chinese international student, Jun Lin, was brutally murdered, and his limbs were mailed to various locations all across Canada by his murderer.  I know...it sounds like an episode of “Criminal Minds”, doesn’t it?  Sadly (and disturbingly), it really happened.

I am so furious that these senseless tragedies keep happening.  It almost seems as though these heinous and cowardly acts are happening at an exponential rate. 

Have we learned nothing from our past?

I’m sure that most of us remember where we were when we first heard the words “Columbine Shootings”.  The date was April 20, 1999, and I was in twelfth grade at the time.  When the news came out that two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado (which eerily enough isn’t far from Aurora) had masterminded a deadly school shooting which killed a teacher and twelve students lost their lives.  It was completely shocking to me, and it made me very sad.  A lot of the victims of the shootings were people my age that had their whole lives ahead of them.  They had gone to school that day to work on science labs and history projects...not to end up dead.

The people who were inside that Aurora, Colorado movie theatre certainly didn’t believe that a midnight movie screening would end up being the place where they would lose their lives.  All that they wanted to do was to see a movie that they had been looking forward to seeing.  That’s all that they wanted.

I think that’s why I am so angry about these latest shootings.  Each one took place at a location that almost everyone believed was safe.  People don’t go out to watch a movie, or attend a neighbourhood block party, or go shopping at the mall expecting to get shot.  So when something so senseless and cruel like this happens, it makes all of us feel like no place in this world is truly safe.

And, so help me, I’m mad about that!

I think we ALL should be angry about this.  We all have to speak out about these acts of violence because we all have a right to feel safe in our communities, our schools, our businesses, and our streets. 

I’m certainly not suggesting that we all go out and purchase guns, knives, and canisters of pepper spray to protect ourselves.  In fact, I highly oppose such actions.  Yes, I know that the right to bear arms is a Constitutional right in the United States, but fighting against violence by arming ourselves with weapons is just counter-productive, and just adds to the problem even further.

No, in order to make a stand, we have to do it through non-violent means.  Incidents such as the one in Aurora, Colorado last night are just more proof that communities have to band together in order to keep our streets safe.  We need to let the world know that we are not going to allow anybody else to die from violent crimes against society.  We need to take back our rights.

So, how do we do this?

We do this by continuing to live our day-to-day lives, and we do this by not showing fear.  The shooting caused several cities to postpone or cancel their premieres for the new Batman movie, and has made some people afraid to leave their homes.  But I think that we shouldn’t be afraid to go to a movie theatre or any other public place for that matter.  By staying away and letting our fear overtake us, we let the shooter win.

Just going back to the Columbine shootings, the damage caused to the school was extensive, and many of the students who survived that awful day were naturally traumatised.  But a few months later, when the new school year began, the student body of Columbine stuck together, wore the same T-shirt, and sent a message to the world that their lives, as well as Columbine High School, would go on.   It was a beautiful scene to watch because it showed an entire school banding together in the face of tragedy, and it sent the message that they were survivors, and that they owed it to themselves to continue living their lives the way they had done before that shooting.

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that, yes, the world can be a confusing and scary place to navigate, and yes, there has been a lot of bad news coming out of the media these days.  And it does make me very angry that a lot of innocent people were killed in these tragedies.  But I also believe that we all have a right to feel safe wherever we go, and I believe that we all have the power to speak out against senseless violence without using violence ourselves.

Such as what I am doing with my blog for today.

At this point, I really don’t know what else can be done to stop people from pulling weapons on each other...but I know one thing...I know that I’m not going to let those people have any control over me.

I’m standing up in the fight to help build a safer world.  How about you?

In closing, I want to post this statement that I believe says it all.  It's from one of the victims of the Aurora shootings, Jessica Ghawi, written shortly after the Eaton Centre shootings.  Although her life has now ended, her poignant words should serve as a reminder to us all.

"I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday (the day of the Eaton Centre shootings).  I saw the terror on bystanders' faces.  I saw the victims of a senseless crime.  I saw lives change.  I was reminded that we don't know when or where our time on Earth will end.  When or where will we will breathe our last breath.

I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing.  So often I have found myself taking it for granted.  Every hug from a family member.  Every laugh we share with friends  Even the time of solitude are all blessings.  Every second of every day is a gift.  After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given."
                                                           - Jessica Ghawi, June 5, 2012

Friday, July 20, 2012

Jumpin' The Shark


Anybody who has ever watched television will have a list of television programs that they would put in their favourites section. I know that I have a list of television shows that I enjoy. Some of them are current. Some of them are 40 years old. And my favourite television shows include comedies, dramas, game shows, and even a couple of reality shows.

Of course, not every television show can last forever (well, unless your favourite show happens to be “Meet The Press” or “60 Minutes”), and at some point, we're forced to say goodbye to our all-time favourite television shows.

There are a select few television shows that end their runs at or near the top of the Neilsen ratings. “Friends”, “The Cosby Show”, “Cheers”, and “All in the Family” all ended their runs while they were in the Top 20. But some television shows may enjoy great success early on in their run, and then something happens within the show that causes the ratings to plummet beyond repair. And in some cases when the show is put out of its misery, people usually only remember the very moment in which the show received the suckerpunch that would choke the life out of it slowly and painfully.



I'm sure that many of you have heard the phrase “jumping the shark”. Well, that's what the subject of today's blog topic is.

In this blog entry, we're going to talk about how the phrase “jumping the shark” was coined. We'll talk about who came up with the phrase, what show they were watching when they came up with the phrase, and of course, we'll give some examples of shows that many people feel jumped the shark. I think as a bonus, we'll also talk about some of the sure-fire signs and warnings that pop up which might indicate that your favourite show has indeed jumped the shark.



The phrase “jump the shark” was coined by a man named Jon Hein. Hein, a radio personality who works on The Howard Stern Show, and current host of the show “Fast Food Mania”, was in a discussion with a group of friends at the University of Michigan about when popular television shows began to decline. At the time, Hein was a student on the campus, and his roommate, Sean J. Connelly, was part of the discussion.

In fact, it was Connelly who ended up giving Hein the idea behind the phrase “jumping the shark” with one of his suggestions.

During the discussion, Connelly brought up the television program “Happy Days”, which ran from 1974-1984 on ABC. He cited the first episode of season five, “Hollywood”, which aired over a two week period on September 13 and September 20, 1977. Aside from it being the episode which introduced the character of Chachi (played by Scott Baio), it was the episode that many people cite as the one that caused the quality of “Happy Days” to decline.

(And no, Chachi was not the cause.)



No, it was the scene in which Fonzie decides to accept a challenge to water-ski over a shark in a confined tank. He succeeded in the dare, and looked rather ridiculous wearing his leather jacket and swim trunks while he was jumping that shark in the process!

The end result of this episode elevated Fonzie from a supporting character to a lead character, which was perfectly fine for Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie at the time. And the show lasted for a few more seasons. However, it was widely believed that the episode marked the beginning of the decline of the show. People believed that the creative streak of the writers of the program had dried up, and that the show had lost its original focus as a result of Fonzie jumping over that shark.

Who knew that just twenty years later, Jon Hein would take that episode, coin the phrase “jumping the shark”, and write an entire list of 200 television shows that he believed had jumped the shark, and explained the reasons why he felt this way. He published the list on the Internet, and within months, the site exploded with popularity. Hein maintained the site jumptheshark.com for several years before selling it to Gemstar (the owners of TV Guide) for a nice hefty profit.

It's been fifteen years since “jumping the shark” entered the vocabularies of millions of people, and with hundreds of television shows that have aired before and after 1997 being examined under the microscope, I think that we can have a great discussion over why shows jump the shark, as well as providing some examples of this in action.

Are we ready? Good.

In most cases, the birth of a baby can be a very happy experience, and brings much joy and ecstasy to the proud parents and extended family. But let's get real, in the world of television, there have been many examples of how the addition of a child spells nothing but doom for a television series.

One of the best examples that I can think of to illustrate this is the sitcom “Step By Step”. If you've ever watched the show, you know that the show features a blended family where the children of one half of the family struggle to get along with the children of the other half of the family. The formula was a bit contrived, but it had a successful run for three seasons.

But at some point during the 1994/1995 season, the decision was made by writers to have Suzanne Somers' character get pregnant. And when Lily Foster-Lambert was born at the conclusion of the fourth season, Lily was the person who permanently bonded the family together as one.



It's just a shame that the episodes following Lily's birth weren't all that memorable. It was bad enough that the show managed to age Lily five years in the time frame of one season (of which a similar fate happened with Chrissy Seaver from “Growing Pains” who we'll discuss later in this entry), but they ended up sacrificing Brendan from the show just so the baby could get more storylines. The quality of the show diminished, and by 1997, the show was too far gone to fully recover.

Of course, “Step by Step” was hardly the first show to jump the shark because of a new baby in the house. Was it really necessary to add another set of twins to the already “Full House” after Becky gave birth to Nicky and Alex? Wouldn't one have been enough? And how about on “Roseanne” when Roseanne gave birth to fourth child (named after Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead)? It seemed like nothing more than a plot device intended to extend the life of a sitcom that was beginning to stagnate. And, don't even get me started on the birth of baby Mabel on “Mad About You”. The name was bad enough.



You know, speaking of the addition of a new baby, another sign that a show has (or is about to jump the shark) is the addition of a character to the show that proves majorly unpopular with the viewers. One of the most famous examples of this in the past was on the Brady Bunch, in which Robbie Rist joined the cast as Cousin Oliver. I have been on many pop culture themed websites in my lifetime, and I can't begin to tell you just how many people have gone on the record to state just how much they hated Cousin Oliver.

For other examples of this in action, just check out;

Billy from “Who's The Boss?”
Beverly Ann and Pippa from “The Facts of Life”
Sam from “Diffrent Strokes”

Oh, and let's talk about the recasting of certain roles in a television series. I know that bringing up the television show “Ghostwriter”, which aired on PBS is a weak example of this, but sometimes, a character recast can break a show...and when the character of Gaby Fernandez was taken over by Melissa Gonzales from Mayteana Morales, the show just didn't feel the same.

Granted, there are some examples where recasting can work (“Bewitched” managed to survive when the role of Darrin was recast midway through the series). But other examples were just strange. The strangest occuring on the series “Roseanne”, and the revolving door of Becky Connor's.



You know the character of Becky Connor, right? When Roseanne debuted in 1988, the role was played by Alicia “Lecy” Gorensen. A few years passed and Lecy left the series. She was then replaced by Sarah Chalke. She didn't quite look like Lecy, but I didn't mind the new Becky because she was a good actress. But then Lecy decided that she wanted to come back to the show, and Sarah Chalke left. And then Lecy left again, and Sarah Chalke returned. It got to the point that we weren't sure which Becky we would see during Roseanne in the later years, and it was incredibly jarring for the viewers to keep track of it.

Since we're name dropping here, do you know what actor's name seems to be synonymous with jumping the shark?



That's Ted McGinley. And, McGinley's name has been linked to several shark jumping instances throughout the years. In a lot of cases, McGinley played roles of characters that were added to the show when their ratings were declining. In a bit of irony, one of McGinley's first roles was on the very show where the phrase “jumping the shark”, when he appeared on “Happy Days” as Cunningham nephew Roger Phillips (1980-1984). Ted McGinley's luck and timing weren't much better, as he landed roles on “The Love Boat” and “Dynasty” as their shows were free-falling in the ratings as well. Of course, there were some instances in which Ted McGinley ended up doing well. His role as Jefferson d'Arcy on “Married With Children” was received well, and he did have a starring role in the Faith Ford/Kelly Ripa show “Hope & Faith”. Nevertheless, his name seems to forever be associated with jumping the shark. But Ted seems to take it in stride, and he likes to poke fun at himself. He's a good sport about it all.



Besides, Ted McGinley isn't the only one to have the “shark jumping” label attached to him. I can think of someone else who does as well. Remember how I brought up Chrissy Seaver from “Growing Pains” earlier in the blog entry? Well, she was played by Ashley Johnson, and well...I found that she's like the female version of Ted McGinley? Ashley Johnson managed to land roles in the sitcoms “Phenom” and “All American Girl” after “Growing Pains” wrapped up, but neither show ended up being a success. Johnson did find some success playing the role of Gretchen in the Disney series “Recess” though, so I suppose that she had the last laugh after all.

And there you have it. You know what jumping the shark is, as well as some of the signs to look out for.

Can you think of any others?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

What's My Age Again?


Hello, everyone. This is going to be a confession that is going to be a little bit on the brief side. Mainly because my schedule is sort of jam-packed today, and I won't have a lot of free time today. But if it's any sort of consolation, this confession is one that is one that I've wanted to say for quite some time.



THURSDAY CONFESSION #29: I have always had great difficulty befriending people who are my own age.

Not everyone, mind you. I have a few really close friends who are right around my age, and we all get along wonderfully. But in general, most of my friendships are with people who are at least ten years older than I am.



You know that song by Blink 182 (remember them?) that was all over the radio in early 2000? The one with the title “What's My Age Again?”. I find myself asking that question a lot these days.

Physically, I'm thirty-one years of age. Mentally, I sometimes feel like I am sixty-five. If I'm at an outdoor gathering for families, you'd likely see me maintaining a conversation with people who are at least a decade older than I am. At work, I tend to have firmer friendships with people who are older than I am (though there are some younger co-workers who I get along with as well). In general, I tend to have no trouble with making lasting friendships with people who are older than I am.

But when it comes down to having people my own age, I've always managed to struggle. And, it's not simply because of the fact that I really disliked school when I was a kid because I though many of the kids were mean. I honestly don't know why this is.



I suppose part of it could have been the fact that when I was born, I was really the only child born in my entire family during the early 1980s. My sisters were both at least a decade older than I was, and my cousins were more or less a decade younger than I was. It wasn't exactly the best feeling in the world, knowing that you were essentially the only person that was your age in your whole family. I actually became a little bit jealous of people who had siblings who were closer in age to them, or who ended up having cousins that were in the same class. It didn't matter to me that they ended up fighting a lot when they were together...they always had someone close to them in age, and I didn't.



To complicate things even further, I lived in a neighbourhood that wasn't exactly kid-friendly. Sure, my elementary school was just a couple of blocks away, but I lived on the same street at the city hospital. As a result, a good 95% of the people who lived on my street were over the age of 65. There was nary a child to be found on the street. Again, it made for some rather lonely days as a child.

So, really, when you stop and think about it, I was sort of at a disadvantage. And it became clear to me that the reason why I found it so challenging to befriend people who were my own age was because I simply wasn't exposed to them that much when I was a child. Yes, I did attend school, and yes, I attended a summer camp program in later years...but the rest of the time, I was pretty much left to my own devices.

The strange thing about it was that I had absolutely no problem interacting with people who were older than I was. Whenever my sisters brought friends home, I had no problem talking with them. And whenever I went on an outing, I very rarely hung around the children...I stayed close to the adults. Seeing other kids playing sort of made me a bit nervous upon retrospect because I didn't know how to interact with them at all. On one hand, I was so frustrated because I couldn't figure out how to fit in with them. On the other hand, I knew it was fine, because I knew that I had adults who I could talk to.

Even on my Facebook friends list seems to illustrate the fact that I tend to get along with people who are older than I am. I do have a cross-section of people as far as age goes, and there are some who are close to my current age, but the vast majority are over the age of 35. At first, I thought that it was just a coincidence, but now I'm thinking that there's a reason behind it, just based on what I previously have admitted about myself.

I suppose that I would likely think about this differently if I did have siblings that were close to my age, and if I grew up around kids my own age. But, the truth of the matter is that I really didn't have that opportunity until I went into school. Once I did get into school, I was sort of a loner because I didn't know how to interact with anyone who was not an adult. That's just the way it was.

And, in some aspect, it's just the way it currently is.

And you know something? I'm all right with that.

I am trying to make an effort to get closer to people who are my own age at least, so I guess that's something. But I think I'll always find more in common with people who are older than I am. I've been around them more than I have people my own age, and I feel more comfortable sharing things with them than I do people who are my age or younger.

In fact, I'd probably be more open to the idea of dating someone who was older than I was based on my confession alone. Not that it would actually happen to me, and not that I would actively seek out a woman affectionately known as a “cougar”...just that I would be open to it.

But, as I age, and the people who are older than I am pass away, I may find myself in a completely different frame of mind (and not by choice). But for now, I'll just take the challenges life throws at me, I suppose.

That's all I have for a confession today. It's not very big, and it may not even make any sense to anyone else other than me. But, it's out there now!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Toss Across!


One of the most classic games that one learns how to play is the standard game of Tic-Tac-Toe.

I doubt that I really need to explain how to play this game to all of you here, because I would think that those of you who are at least kindergarten age know how the game is played.  However, since I am looking to post as much information in this blog as I can, I’ll explain the mechanics behind how the game is played.

You have a grid of nine empty squares, such as the one that is displayed below.


In a classic game of Tic-Tac-Toe, you have two players.  One represents the letter X, while the other one represents the O.  The players would decide who among them would begin the game first (in my household, the X’s always went first, but that was just how we ended up playing it), and the ultimate endgame was getting three of your symbols in a row in one of three ways...horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.  Depending on how competitive the other person was, a game of Tic-Tac-Toe could range in competitiveness from “easy peasy” to “are you kidding me?”.  Either way, I think for most of us, Tic-Tac-Toe introduced millions of children to their first game, as well as their first taste of healthy competition.

(Well, unless your opponent tried to drown you in their cereal bowl filled with Corn Flakes and 2% milk because you beat them, that is.)


But here’s the thing about Tic-Tac-Toe.  It’s entertaining for all of two minutes, but after a while, it gets to be stale and boring.  I mean, yes, the game show “Hollywood Squares” made Tic-Tac-Toe fun by having cash prizes, and featuring stars like Paul Lynde, Jim J. Bullock, and Whoopi Goldberg in the center square, but for those of us who weren’t contestants on the show, we were stuck playing the game of Tic-Tac-Toe the old-fashioned (and boring) way. 


At least that was the case until 1969.

1969 was the year that the ordinary game of Tic-Tac-Toe received a three dimensional makeover, courtesy of a little toy company known as Ideal (which unfortunately is now defunct).  Imagine a Tic-Tac-Toe board that is larger than life itself (at least it is to a child anyway).  Sounds impressive right?  Now imagine being armed with a handful of beanbags, tossing it at the gigantic Tic-Tac-Toe board in hopes of flipping over squares from blank spaces to X’s and O’s?  It would certainly make playing the game of Tic-Tac-Toe not only more fun to play, but more strategic as well. 

Well, thanks to the good people of Ideal Toys, and the design team of Hank Kramer, Larry Reiner, and Walter Moe, the game “Toss Across” was born.


And “Toss Across” is the blog topic for today!  But, I think you have already guessed that by now, right?  J

I have such fond, fond memories of “Toss Across”.  The first time I played “Toss Across” was when I was seven.  I don’t know how elementary school classrooms work nowadays, but during the 1988/89 school year, there were a selection of board games, toys, and books readily available for the children to play with.  There was a reason why the toys were there in the first place.  Whenever it rained, the school playground was a rather terrible place to be.  Without any covered playground equipment or any sort of shelter outside, we pretty much had to stay indoors during recess or our lunch hour, especially if there were weather advisories or torrential downpours.  Those toys prevented us from being completely bored out of our minds.

Anyway, our second grade classroom teacher, Miss Johnson, had dozens of games that we could play with.  There was “Battleship”, “Clue”, jigsaw puzzles, and various crayons and colouring books.  But there was one game that was always the most popular. 

That game was “Toss Across”.


For the most part, my classmates and I followed the rules of the game, as well as the rules of the teacher in playing the game (although the only real rule the teacher enforced was the one where we couldn’t throw the beanbags at each other).  The game of “Toss Across” worked exactly the same as Tic-Tac-Toe.  You had to use your beanbags to get either three X’s or three O’s in a row.  The first person to achieve this goal won the game.

However, “Toss Across” had a bit of a twist to it, which made the game much more challenging to win.  Mind you, that challenge depended on how competitive your opponents were.

The squares of “Toss Across” were designed in such a way that they would flip over depending on the angle in which the beanbag was thrown, and where the beanbag landed on the square.  In the earliest versions of the game, each square was labelled with a small X on one side of the square, and a small circle on the other side.  In order to get the square to flip over into an X or an O, you have to aim your beanbag carefully.

Suppose that I am the X player.  If I want the square to flip over into an X, I’d have to hit the small X on the board.  If I succeed, then the square should flip over to show and X.  The opposite, of course, holds true should your beanbag hit the circle instead.  There are six beanbags total in the game, so each person gets three.  When all six beanbags are tossed, players can retrieve them should nobody win the game after six throws.

So “Toss Across” not only helps you tell the difference between X’s and O’s...it also helps you develop your hand-eye co-ordination.  It’s a perfect game for learning.

So, you think that it would be easy to win the game, right?  All I would have to do is make sure that I can hit the small X’s in a straight line, and I could win quickly, right?

Not necessarily.

You see, the game’s rules state that just because the player manages to score an X on the board...it doesn’t mean that it has to STAY that way. 

That’s right!  Your opponent can sabotage your efforts by throwing a beanbag at your X, and removing it from play!  Depending on how hard they throw the beanbag, the square can flip back to neutral, or even to the opposite symbol!


That’s what I mean by competitive.  Your opponent can undo your progress with just a couple of throws!  And that’s the beauty of this game.  The game can get fierce with throws, and have the potential to last a very long time.  I remember getting into a “Toss Across” match with someone that lasted a grand total of sixteen minutes!  It didn’t even matter that recess was only fifteen minutes long and that the teacher threatened to put both our names on the “Broken Rules” list.  We were going to continue playing until somebody won the game.

Unfortunately, the person I was playing against beat me in a move that flipped over two squares simultaneously!  So, not only did I lose, but my name ended up on the “Broken Rules” list anyway!  But what a way to get into trouble!  J

These days, the “Toss Across” game is distributed by Mattel, and the design of the game is a bit different.  But the rules are still exactly the same, and I’m sure that I would still have a ball playing “Toss Across” at the age of 31 as I did back when I was seven.

And who knows?  Now that there’s no threat of getting in trouble, maybe I can have a game last thirty-four minutes! 

Anyone want to play a game with me?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

July 17, 1955


Today is Tuesday, July 17, 2012. I suppose this means that we're going to take another trip back through time to a significant event in the world of pop culture. Unlike other Tuesday Timeline entries where I had several possibilities to choose from, this day had one event that basically screamed “pick me”!

So, I did.

Of course, no Tuesday Timeline would be complete without taking a look back at the other significant events that also took place on July 17th.

So, on this date in...

180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed because they were Christians

1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault, forcing Byzantine Emperor Alexius III Angelus flees in exile

1717 – Aside from the coolness of the date being written as 7/17/1717, on this date, King George I sails down River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Friedric Handel's “Water Music” is premiered

1791 – Members of the French National Guard under General Lafayette's command open fire on a group of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars in Paris, France, killing as many as 50 people

1794 – The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compeigne are executed ten days prior to the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror

1856 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856 kills over 60 people in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania

1867 – The first school of dentistry, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, is opened in the United States

1899 – NEC Corporation is organized at the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital

1912 – House Party host Art Linkletter is born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

1917 – King George V issues proclamation stating that the male descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor

1918 – The RMS Carpathia sinks off the coast of Ireland by the German SM U-55, killing five people...the boat was made famous six years earlier after assisting in the Titanic rescue efforts

1932 – Altona Bloody Sunday occurs

1933 – Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe after successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean

1938 – Douglas Corrigan earns the nickname “Wrong Way Corrigan” after taking off from Brooklyn, New York to fly the wrong way to Ireland

1944 – Two ammunition loaded ships crash into each other in the San Francisco Bay outside of Port Chicago, California, killing 320 people

1945 – The three Allied Nations leaders (Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Harry S. Truman) meet to discuss a defeated Germany's future

1959 – Singer Billie Holliday dies in New York City at the age of 44

1976 – East Timor is annexed, and becomes the 27th Indonesian province, while the opening ceremonies of the Montreal Olympic Games are marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team

1981 – At the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, 114 are killed and at least 200 injured after a walkway collapses in the hotel's main lobby

1989 – The first flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber

1996 – TWA Flight 800 from New York City to Paris, France explodes shortly after takeoff, killing all 230 people on board

2007 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crashes in San Paolo, Brazil, killing 199 people, and making it Brazil's deadliest aviation accident

2009 – The double bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta kill nine people on the same day that Walter Cronkite passes away at the age of 92

WOW...July 17 was an unusually deadly day in history. Plane crashes, partial building collapses, and train disasters. What an unlucky day. I suppose it's a good thing that I chose a relatively happy event in comparison.

Before we get to that, I want to wish the following people a happy birthday. A happy July 17th birthday to Phyllis Diller, Jimmy Scott, Diahann Carroll, Donald Sutherland, Connie Hawkins, Don Kessinger, Catherine Schell, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Charlie Steiner, P.J. Soles, Lucie Arnaz, David Hasselhoff, Angela Merkel, J. Michael Straczynski, Bryan Trottier, Dawn Upshaw, Regina Belle, John Ventimiglia, Craig Morgan, Beth Littleford, Bitty Schram, Andre Royo, Jason Rullo, Tony Dovolani, Eric Moulds, Luke Bryan, Eric Winter, Marc Savard, Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox, Mike Vogel, Natasha Hamilton (Atomic Kitten), Sarah Jones, and Brooke Kinsella.

So, what year are we visiting this time around?



Why, July 17, 1955, of course. You see, July 17, 1955 saw the dedication of a theme park right in the heart of California...Anaheim to be exact. The park was dedicated at 4:43 in the afternoon of that date by the very man whom the park was named after. And, amusingly enough, that day didn't exactly go as planned. In fact, the dedication ceremony itself was filled with one disaster after another, leaving executives of the park to refer to the event as “Black Sunday”. The day was so filled with disaster that for the first decade that the park was opened, the executives and staff of the park would insist on celebrating the anniversary of the park on July 18 instead! These days, it appears as though the park has accepted its original date of dedication, as every July 17, cast members and employees of the park are required to wear a pin celebrating the park's birthday.

Would you like to read the original speech that was read to the public announcing the opening of the new theme park on July 17, 1955? Here you go!

To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and the promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America, with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.
  • Walt Disney, July 17, 1955


That's right. Today's entry is all about the the magical place known as Disneyland, Walt Disney's first theme park, and the only park that Walt Disney directly supervised before his death in 1966. Disneyland of course wouldn't be the only theme park (Walt Disney World opened in Florida in October 1971, and there are now Disney theme parks in Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong), but its founding, as well as the mishaps that occurred at the opening are worth mentioning, just to illustrate how far the park has come.



So, what inspired Walt Disney to create Disneyland? Well, it began while he was taking his daughters, Sharon and Diane, to Los Angeles' Griffith Park. He watched them riding the merry-go-round there, and the gears in his brain began to turn. Why couldn't he create a place where both kids and adults could have a lot of fun and share some wonderful memories?

When Disney received quite a few letters in the mail from fans who wanted to visit the studios, Walt Disney didn't think that the studios had the sufficient space needed to accommodate thousands of visitors each week. But he thought about opening up a small park near the studios which could handle the traffic. His first concept of Disneyland started off as a venture that he named “Mickey Mouse Park”. And, initially, his plan only used eight acres of land. But after visiting other theme parks all over the world for inspiration, he quickly discovered that eight acres just wasn't enough.

He hired a consultant, Harrison Price from the Stanford Research Institute to research areas where he could build his park, and based on Price's report, Disney purchased 160 acres filled with orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim, California. To fund the project, Disney used the power of television, creating a new television show with the name of “Disneyland”. It was broadcast on the struggling ABC network, and in exchange, ABC promised to help finance the building of the new park. By 1952, Disney had a name for his park picked out. It was to originally be called Disneylandia, but two years later, taking the advice of the ABC network, shortened the name to Disneyland. The construction of the park began on July 16, 1954, and reportedly cost $17 million to build.



TRIVIA: At the same time that Disneyland was being built, so was U.S. Route 101 (later renamed Interstate 5). Because of the traffic that everyone expected that the completed Disneyland would bring, the decision was made to add two more lanes to the finished design, and was completed just before the park was set to open.

One year plus a day later, Disneyland was ready to be opened to the public. Although the park and its 20 attractions were scheduled to be opened on Monday, July 18, 1955, Walt Disney had arranged for a press conference to take place at the park itself that Sunday, and only invited guests and the media were allowed on the premises for the “International Press Preview”. There were 28,000 people who attended the event, but the kicker was that only 14,000 were there legitimately, and held real tickets. The rest had purchased counterfeit tickets. So, that was problem number one.

The dedication ceremony was broadcast nationally on ABC live, and it was anchored by Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter, and Bob Cummings. But the decision to air the dedication event on live television was plagued with its own set of problems. Because of the large crowd that gathered at the park, the cables that were attached to the television cameras were constantly stepped on, and as a result, the cameras kept cutting in and out during the shoot. Reportedly, the cameras also caught one of the hosts, Bob Cummings, kissing one of the dancers outside of Frontierland, which probably wouldn't have been so scandalous had he not been married to his third wife at the time!



Later in the day, Walt Disney began to read the inscription on the plaque dedicating Tomorrowland when out of nowhere, Disney stopped reading after a technician said something to him off camera, which threw him off. It got so confusing that Disney had to start over again. Things didn't improve any when the action shifted from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, where Linkletter attempted to shift coverage over to Cummings who was on the pirate ship. But when Cummings wasn't ready, he tried to switch back to Linkletter, who had by that point lost his microphone, and Cummings was forced to do a play-by-play as Linkletter searched for the microphone around Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

If you thought that was bad enough, get a load of some of the other mishaps that happened that day.

  • The traffic was backed up on Harbor Boulevard for hours on the day of the dedication
  • It was originally planned for the planned celebrity guests to arrive on a staggered schedule every two hours, but instead the guests showed up all at once!
  • The temperature on that particular day exceeded 100 F. As if that wasn't bad enough, due to a plumber's strike that was happening at the time, Disney was faced with having working drinking fountains and working bathrooms! What a choice to make!
  • As expected, Disney felt it was better to have working toilets than drinking fountains, so on one of the hottest days of the year, the fountains were dry. As if things couldn't get any worse, the event ended up getting negative reaction from the invited guests...given the fact that Pepsi was one of the park's main sponsors, some believed that the out of order fountains were purposely made that way so that Pepsi could sell more of their product!
  • The newly-poured asphalt wasn't fully hardened at the time of the event...it was reported that the heels of some women's shoes had gotten stuck as they walked through the park!
  • Some of the vendors at the park ran out of food before the end of the day, and a gas leak ended up shutting down three attractions for the rest of the day.
It was an absolute disaster that day. With so many mishaps, it's a wonder that Disneyland even made it to the official grand opening at all! The dedication event received a lot of bad publicity, and it prompted Walt Disney to invite the attendees back to Disneyland for a private “second day” to get the proper Disneyland experience.

Despite the various blunders of the dedication day, the opening of the park to the public the next day seemed to attract a lot of attention. It was reported that people started lining up at two in the morning, and approximately 50,000 people attended Disneyland on its official grand opening.



And over the course of Disneyland's 57-year-history, the park has continued to grow. The park had three major expansions. New Orleans Square was opened up in 1966, Bear Country (now known as Critter Country) opened up in 1972, and in 1993, Mickey's Toon Town was added. And of course, there are notable other features in Disneyland, which include Main Street U.S.A., Space Mountain, and the Walt Disney Enchanted Tiki Room. And Disneyland still attracts an average of sixteen million visitors a year, so clearly it managed to rise above its dismal opening to have a strong finish.

There's a lot more trivia associated with Disneyland as well. Here are just a few of the tidbits that I discovered in my research.



Did you know that Doritos were invented in Disneyland in 1964? At the Case de Fritos stand, they were created as a way to use up discarded tortillas, and were given the name Doritos, which were Spanish for “little golden things”. Two years later, Frito-Lay brought out Doritos nationwide, and they have been popular ever since!



Did you know that Nikita Khrushchev was famously denied entry into Disneyland in 1959 due to Cold War tension? It happens to be true. In the 1960s, the Shah of Iran was invited to Disneyland by Walt Disney himself.

For the park's 50th anniversary in 2005, the eighteen month event known as the “Happiest Homecoming on Earth” commemorated 50 years of Disney theme parks. The park was decorated with 50 golden Mickey ears, and many attractions were restored to their former glory to mark the occasion.

Visitors to the park are referred to as “guests”, while the employees are referred to as “cast members”.

Originally, Disneyland contained a helipad which transported passengers via helicopter from Los Angeles International Airport to the park, but after two fatal accidents in 1968, the service was suspended.

Disneyland spends an average of $41,000 each night the park holds a fireworks display! That's a lot of bang for their buck, wouldn't you say?

In May of 1981, the cost to get into Disneyland for a day was a mere $10.75. In May of 2012, the cost was $87.00!

In all the years of operation, Disneyland has ever only had three unscheduled closures. The first one was in November 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The second was in January 1994 to inspect the park for damages after the January 17 Northridge quake. The third and final time so far happened on September 11, 2001, following the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C.

Really, I could go on and on with the trivia. I actually encourage all of you to look at some of the facts that are associated with Disneyland, because it is quite neat to read about.

That's our look back on July 17, 1955. And, now I have a question to ask of all of you.



BONUS QUESTION: Have you ever been to Disneyland before (I have NOT, but want to be a guest one day)? And if you have, what are some of your memories of the place? I'm interested in hearing your stories!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Cocktail


By now, unless you have been living on another planet the past few days, you have probably heard the news that Tom Cruise has gotten a divorce.

Again.


Yes, after five years of marriage, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have called it quits.  And, I imagine that when the news broke a few weeks ago, there were quite a few reactions from the general public.  Some were shocked that it happened.  Many others saw it coming a mile away.  And many more shrugged their shoulders and exclaimed “WHO CARES?!?” upon hearing what happened.  I’ll tell you right off the bat that I definitely had one of these three reactions...but I think I’ll keep my opinion to myself.  After all, today’s not Thursday.  J

However, today is Monday, and considering that I have opened up this blog entry with a blurb about Tom Cruise, it’s almost a given that we’re going to look back at one of his films.

Which one are we going to be looking at though?  Any ideas?

Here are a few points to ponder.  Tom Cruise has been somewhat unlucky in love.  His relationships with Katie Holmes, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, and Mimi Rogers all crashed and burned.  In this movie, the character that Tom Cruise portrays also has several relationships, and a lot of them crash and burned as well for a variety of reasons.

And given that it’s the middle of summer, why not feature a movie that gives off a summer like vibe?  After all, a good portion of the movie was set in Jamaica, which has some of the most beautiful beaches on the planet.

Speaking of beaches, here’s another related piece of trivia.  Did you know that during the same year today’s blog topic was released, a certain band had a comeback single on the radio?  Although the band had never stopped releasing albums since they formed in the early 1960s, this song was the band’s first Top 10 hit since 1976’s “Rock and Roll Music”, and the band’s first #1 hit since 1966’s “Good Vibrations”. 



ARTIST:  The Beach Boys
SONG:  Kokomo
ALBUM:  Still Cruisin’
DATE RELEASED:  July 18, 1988
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

Okay, so what do Tom Cruise, a string of failed relationships, Jamaican beaches, and the Beach Boys have in common?


They all appear in the 1988 film “Cocktail”, which is our topic of discussion for today.

The film was directed by Roger Donaldson, produced by Touchstone Pictures, and is loosely based on the novel of the same name written by Heywood Gould, who served a role in the film production as the screenwriter.

This film is one that admittedly has its blessings and its curses.  The film itself boasted a cast filled with big named stars.  In addition to Tom Cruise, the film also starred Elisabeth Shue, Bryan Brown, Gina Gershon, Kelly Lynch, Lisa Banes, and Laurence Luckinbill.  The film also managed to make over $171 million in the box office, and had a very successful soundtrack album, which in addition to the Beach Boys also featured songs by Little Richard, The Georgia Satellites, John Cougar Mellencamp, and Robbie Nevil.

On the flip side, the film was torn apart by critics, and currently holds a 13% approval rating on “Rotten Tomatoes”.  The film also earned Tom Cruise a Razzie nomination for Worst Actor, and Roger Donaldson one for Worst Director.  If you thought that was bad enough, the movie actually ended up “winning” two Razzies under the categories of Worst Screenplay and Worst Picture.  Talk about an “ouch” moment if ever there was one.

But here’s a little bit of a confession for you.  I don’t actually mind this film.  Sure, there’s a lot wrong with the movie, and I admit that the writing could have been a lot better than it was.  But sometimes you need a film to watch that has very little substance, and I suppose “Cocktail” is one of those films.  I think that there was nothing wrong with the cast, and I admit that even the storyline seemed promising...it’s just hard for me to explain why it tanked so badly.  Although I’m certain that many of you reading this will offer your opinions about the film...and of course, I welcome all of your comments.


The film takes a look at the world of bartending and cocktail mixing, as most of the action takes place at various bars and cocktail lounges in both New York City and Jamaica (the two main settings of the film).  Brian Flanagan (Cruise), fresh out of the army, moves to New York in hopes of opening up his own business.  He takes several college classes in order to earn a degree in business, but to pay for his tuition he ends up taking a part-time job as a bartender.  Unfortunately, when Brian first starts his job, he doesn’t exactly have the confidence and flair right off the bat, smashing more bottles of alcohol than serving them to patrons.


Once Brian meets a man named Doug Coughlin (Brown), Brian’s techniques get a little better, and soon he can serve screwdrivers and Long Island Iced Teas with the best of them.  Doug and Brian quickly become very close, and despite Brian’s naivete, Doug wastes no time in offering him the tips and tricks of the trade.  Doug refers to his advice as “Coughlin’s Law”, and some of his pearls of wisdom include such quotes as “Drink or Be Gone!” and “Anything else is always something better!”


Brian is absolutely determined to make a name for himself in any way, and has big dreams for his future.  Doug has his dreams as well.  He intends on opening up a cocktail bar with the name “Cocktails & Dreams”.  He is a bit reluctant to go into a business partnership with Brian though.  Although Doug and Brian make a great team, and mesmerize customers by combining choreography with drink mixing, Doug wasn’t sure he wanted to run a business with the young, inexperienced Brian.

After a few months, Brian and Doug end up landing a coveted bartending job at an exclusive club filled with the wealthiest and most famous people in Manhattan.  One day, Brian ends up attracting the attention of a beautiful brunette named Coral (Gershon), and they end up getting involved in a sexual relationship.  But after Brian and Doug get involved in a friendly competition involving free throws, Doug bets Brian that Coral will dump him by the end of the week.  Brian takes the bet, believing that what he and Coral have together is special, and that nothing will split them up.

Unfortunately, something did split them up.  You see, Doug hated to lose at any cost, and he manipulated the situation to win the bet.  He told Coral a bunch of lies about Brian, and ends up sleeping with Coral.

FAILED RELATIONSHIP TALLY:  1


Brian is filled with anger over Doug’s betrayal, fights with him at work, and breaks off their partnership and friendship.  As for he and Coral, they simply weren’t meant to be, but she does end up giving him some parting advice.  She tells Brian not to give up on his dream and that he should go seek his own fortune.  So Brian decides to leave New York City and Doug Coughlin behind for a new life on the shores of Jamaica.  He quickly takes a bartending job in Jamaica, and ends up meeting a woman named Jordan Mooney (Shue).  Coincidentally, Jordan also happens to be from New York City, where she worked as a waitress, and has dreams of becoming an artist.  Brian and Jordan end up befriending each other, and soon their friendship turns into a passionate love affair complete with skinny dipping and making love next to a bonfire.


And then a familiar face comes back into Brian’s life.

Yes, Doug Coughlin pops up like the proverbial bad penny in Jamaica.  And this time, he has himself a wife, Kerry (Lynch).  And once again, Doug makes Brian another bet.  Doug bets Brian that he couldn’t be the first one to sleep with a woman named Bonnie (Banes), a wealthy, older woman.  Now, you would think that Brian would have learned his lesson the first time around, but the ever charismatic Doug manages to convince Brian to take the bet.  He does, unaware that Jordan happened to come across Brian and Bonnie making out.  Feeling devastated and humiliated, Jordan flies back to New York the following morning.

FAILED RELATIONSHIP TALLY: 2

So, Brian ended up losing another girl all because of Doug’s bets.  And you wonder why I complained about the writing in the film.  At any rate, determined to get his revenge on Doug (because clearly that is more important than losing the love of your life in this movie), he decides to return to New York City arm-in-arm with Bonnie.  Brian has the idea in his mind that if he ends up developing a relationship with Bonnie, he’ll end up being given a great job within her company.  But Brian soon realizes that the plan was a very bad idea.  It all comes to a head when Brian and Bonnie get into an argument at an art showing following a scuffle with the artist at the show.  In a moment of clarity, Brian realizes that he does not want to be with Bonnie, and cuts all ties with her.

FAILED RELATIONSHIP TALLY: 3

Man, this movie is rough on relationships, isn’t it?


So, here’s the dilemma that Brian is faced with once he ditches Bonnie.  He realizes that he wants to be with Jordan, and that he made a terrible mistake in hurting her.  He wants another chance to make things right, so he tracks her down.  Imagine Brian’s surprise when he discovers that she happens to be pregnant with his child!  Of course, Jordan is not about to let Brian back into her life so quickly, and gives him the cold shoulder.  But Brian refuses to take no for an answer.  He follows Jordan to Park Avenue where she is staying in a penthouse owned by her parents.  Of course, Jordan’s father, Richard (Luckinbill) is very unhappy with the situation, and he comes up with a solution.  He’ll give Brian the money to start up his own business, if he stays away from Jordan and her unborn child.  The offer is an agonizing one for Brian, and he is left with a tough choice.  What does he end up deciding?

And what happens when he discovers a secret about Doug that could end up destroying Doug’s marriage forever?  The resolution to this plot twist is quite out of the blue and shocking, given what we know about Doug’s personality, and in the end, it steers Brian into the last twenty minutes of the film, which sees a final resolution in the mess that is Brian and Jordan’s tattered relationship.


Oh, but I’m not telling you how this film ends.  You’ll have to watch it yourself.  Maybe over a nice cocktail?