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Monday, August 06, 2012

Disaster Feature #1 - Earthquake!


Some of the most popular films that have ever been released are disaster films, and we here at the Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life wanted to take the opportunity to salute some of these films for the the Monday Matinee entries during the whole month of August.

And by we...I mean, me.



Let's face it, disaster movies are always a lot of fun to watch. Many of them employ realistic special effects that can turn New York City into New York Rubble, and I can attest that a lot of the people in the audience of a disaster film are gripped to their seats during the whole film, wondering if their favourite characters will survive the catastrophe, or die under the most bizarre circumstances.

There are some disaster films that are quite good, filled with a gripping plotline intertwined between falling buildings, exploding cars, and deadly diseases wiping out entire groups of people. On the flipside, there are also disaster films that tend to skip over plot and character development to focus on explosions and nothing more.

Today's film discussion is widely considered to be the granddaddy of all modern day disaster films, as it ended up having a lot of firsts associated with it.



The first film up for discussion in what I like to call “Monday Matinee Destruction Month” is 1974's “Earthquake”.

Earthquake” was released on November 15, 1974, and was directed by Mark Robson. Back in the 1970s, disaster movies were big at the box office, and previous disaster films like 1970's Airport and 1972's The Poseidon Adventure had done well when they were screened at movie theaters, and after the success of Airport, Universal Studios began working with Jennings Lang to come up with an innovative new idea that fit within the disaster-suspense genre that was dominating the box office at the time. And the idea for “Earthquake” came to both of them, ironically enough after a real-life earthquake struck the Los Angeles area in February 1971.



Development for the film began in 1972, and that summer, Lang signed on screenwriter Mario Puzo to write the first draft (Puzo, of course being linked to another widely successful film, “The Godfather”) of “Earthquake”. When Puzo delivered his screenplay, it was quite detailed. In fact, some would say that it was too detailed, as Puzo's version of the script would have required a much larger budget for the film (which was set at seven million dollars). Universal was forced to make a difficult decision...either increase the budget, or cut the script down to fit the budget.

As it turned out, it didn't really matter too much, as Puzo was forced to leave the project after his first draft was completed, due to his commitment to the Godfather sequel. The script for “Earthquake” was put on hiatus until Christmas 1972, right around the time “The Poseidon Adventure” was released. After the success of that movie, “Earthquake” was put into pre-production by Universal Studios, and writer George Fox was hired to retool Puzo's first draft. After eleven re-writes, the film was finally ready to being filming by February 1974.

There was another potential problem. Due to the delays caused with the writing of the script, the film found itself competing against a higher-budget disaster film that was being made by Irwin Allen, “The Towering Inferno”.

When it came to casting for the film, dozens of huge named stars were considered for the various roles in the film. Of course, we all know some of the big names that ended up getting cast for the movie. There was Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, and Victoria Principal.

TRIVIA: Walter Matthau also made an appearance in the movie, albeit under a different name.

But what's even more spectacular is the list of names that were also initially considered.

Did you know that both Paul Newman and Steve McQueen were considered for roles in “Earthquake”? They were considered for Heston's role, but both of them ended up signing on to “The Towering Inferno” instead. Other actors and actresses that were considered for other roles within the film included Jon Voight, James Caan, Burt Reynolds, James Brolin, Jessica Walter, Elizabeth Montgomery, Meredith Baxter, Beau Bridges, Alan Alda, Stacy Keach, Kate Jackson, Susan St. James, Ernest Borgnine, James Stewart, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Kay Lenz, Robert Black, Michael J. Pollard, Sharon Gless, Candice Bergen, and believe it or not, Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers!


Of course, a film about an earthquake laying siege to a large city like Los Angeles, California needed to have a lot of special effects, and a lot of destruction. In fact, in order to make the film realistic, the entire Universal Studios backlot was completely demolished to simulate the earthquake. Other methods were used to make the earthquake scenes appear realistic, including miniature models of actual buildings, matte paintings, and full-scale sets. The film also employed several stunt people to perform the many stunts that involved falling and dodging debris. The film used a total of 141 stunt people (a record at that time), and many of the stunt people were paid $500 to fall onto large air bags from a height of 60 feet!

The film also used a new technology known as “Sensurround” for the film's release. By using a series of large speakers and a 1,500 watt amplifier, the process pumped in sub-audible “infra bass” sound waves at 120 decibels, which in turn gave the people in the audience of the movie theater the sensation of an earthquake.

The Sensurround gimmick attracted the crowds to the theaters, and it certainly proved to be a hit...but it didn't all go off without a few hitches. In some theaters, some moviegoers ended up with bleeding noses as a result of Sensurround. In Chicago, Illinois, the Sensurround was turned down for fear that the vibrations would actually cause structural damage. And, in Billings, Montana, a store that happened to be located next to a movie theater actually ended up having several pieces of merchandise broken due to the vibrations caused by the Sensurround technology.


But, I'm sure that you will all agree that everything came together in the end, as “Earthquake” shook up the box office in a big way, figuratively and financially. The film ended up making almost eighty million dollars total.

I suppose that's really all that I have to say about “Earthquake” at this time. I think that it's almost better to end the blog entry off with the “Big One” shown in the film, just so you can see how the special effects, Sensurround technology, and stunt people all came together to make a rather believable film, even for the 1970s!

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Summer Girls



The summer of 1999 was a memorable one for me in some ways. 

I had turned eighteen years old a couple of months prior, and it was the first summer where I was officially considered an adult.  I had just graduated from the twelfth grade, and to be perfectly honest, I had accumulated enough credits to graduate from high school that summer.

I’m not exactly sure why I opted to take my OAC year given my feelings towards high school in general now that I have typed that out and I am now reading it over again.  I think it was probably because I wanted to be the Class of 2000. 

But, anyway, back to the summer of 1999, it was quite good.  I didn’t have any summer flings, or go anywhere exotic that year, but I did have fun swimming at the river, and working various odd jobs that summer. 

Really, the only terrible thing that happened to me during the summer of 1999 was that I had contracted a nasty case of pneumonia.

Only I could catch pneumonia the final week of August...sigh.  I spent the last week of summer vacation in bed, only feeling better on the first day of school.  How fun.


Perhaps the most memorable part about the summer of 1999 was the music playing on the radio at that time.  I know that a lot of people slag off of the music from the late 1990s, but I actually thought that 1999 was a fantastic year for music.  Yes, you had your typical boy band fluff, but there was also some decent stuff out at the time.  Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera had just come out on the music scene with “If You Had My Love” and “Genie In A Bottle” respectively, both of which were (and are) great songs.  I remember listening to “Sour Girl” by the Stone Temple Pilots on my CD player over and over again.  The same deal went for The Cranberries’ “Promises”.  I’ll admit to listening to quite a bit of Beastie Boys and Sugar Ray back in the summer of 1999.  And, yes, even Britney Spears had a song release that I can honestly say that I enjoyed with “Sometimes”.

I think that the summer of 1999 was one of those summers in which there really was something for everyone.  There were rock, pop, dance, R&B, and I think even a country song or two on the mainstream Top 40 charts back then.  It was very eclectic...much like my personality was back in 1999.

So, I thought to myself, which song was the best representation of the wonderful summer of 1999?  And, I think that I came up with the answer.  Yes, the song might be from a boy band, but there’s a lot to talk about in regards to this song, as well as the fate of the band who sang it.


ARTIST:  Lyte Funky Ones
SONG:  Summer Girls
ALBUM:  LFO
DATE RELEASED:  June 29, 1999
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #3

Would you like to know something I found neat?  Had I graduated from high school in 1999, the same date this song was released would have been the date that I would have graduated!


But, we’re not here to talk about my high school graduation.  We’re here to talk about the band Lyte Funky Ones, or LFO for short. 

The band was made up of three members.  Originally, the band featured Rich Cronin, Brad Fischetti, and Brian Gillis.  The band formed in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts in 1995.  Cronin met with Gillis, and together with Fischetti formed the three man pop/rap group, Lyte Funky Ones.  Try as they might though, they had difficulty getting their name out there.

Part of it, I suppose, could have been the timing of it all.  The band was trying to get their big break between 1995-1997, the same time period in which boy bands like the Backstreet Boys and Take That were dominating the charts.  And, it also didn’t help that their first few singles didn’t exactly do so hot on the charts.


TRIVIA:  Believe it or not, the band’s first single release sampled Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You”!  It managed to chart at #54 on the UK Charts, but failed to see an American release.

The struggle for success was incredibly frustrating for the band, and apparently by late 1998, the frustration proved too great for Brian Gillis.  He left the group in early 1999, and was promptly replaced by Devin Lima.  It was Lima’s idea to simplify the band name as LFO, and from 1999 on, that was the name that the band went under.

Well, in most places of the world, LFO was the name they went under.  In the UK, they were forced to use the Lyte Funky Ones name, as the name LFO had been used by a British dance act since 1988.


The band signed a recording contract with Arista Records, and went to work on a new album.  Assisting in the production of the album were Dow Brain and Brad Young of Underground Productions, as well as Danny Wood, who had achieved fame as a member of the “New Kids On The Block” during the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The band cut several demos, one of which was the song “Summer Girls”.  It soon became the lead off single from the band’s album, “LFO”, and by August 1999, it had peaked at #3 on the Billboard Charts.

Of course, part of the song’s success was due to the fact that a New York City based radio station, Z100, played the song constantly and frequently before the song had even hit the Billboard Charts, creating a lot of buzz.


The song itself is a myriad of pop culture references, and could have easily been used in commercials for the retailer “Abercrombie & Fitch”, with the number of times the company was mentioned during the whole song.  Just to give you an idea of how many pop culture references were added in the song (in case you didn’t catch them all when you listened to the song earlier), here’s a list of all the references that were mentioned.

Cherry Coke, Home Alone, Mr. Limpet, New Edition, Alex P. Keaton, Kevin Bacon, Footloose, Fun Dip, The Color Purple, Larry Bird, William Shakespeare, New Kids on the Block, and Chinese food, just to mention a few.


The song helped propel the band to stardom, and the album that the song initially appeared on sold over two million copies.  A second single from the album, “Girl on TV” also did moderately well on the charts, and by 2000, LFO became a hot ticket.  They opened for Britney Spears, they won a Kids Choice Award, and even had dolls in their appearances made of them in 2001!

But sadly, the band’s success was short-lived, and LFO split up in 2003.  They tried to reunite again in the summer of 2009, a decade after their biggest hit was released, but that reunion was also brief, the band breaking up again four months later.

So, what happened to LFO?  Well, Devon Lima ended up forming a new band, The Cadbury Diesel, and released an album in 2008.  Brian Gillis also embarked on a solo career, which ultimately ended up getting him a job in Florida doing radio promotions for BMG.

Rich Cronin ended up doing a reality show entitled “Mission: Man Band” where he teamed up with Chris Kirkpatrick (NSync), Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) and Bryan Abrams (Color Me Badd) to form a new band, and following that show, Cronin released a solo album entitled “Billion Dollar Sound”.


Tragically, Rich Cronin also battled leukemia during the latter part of the 2000’s.  After being diagnosed with the disease in 2005, Cronin had gone into remission in 2006, and subsequently founded the Rich Cronin Hope Foundation for Leukemia.  Unfortunately, the cancer came back with a vengeance, and on September 8, 2010, Rich Cronin died of a stroke due to complications from leukemia, just a few days after his 36th birthday.

It’s unfathomable to me that someone who had his whole life ahead of him, and someone who looked so full of life in a music video that was only shot eleven years ago is now gone.  But, at least he had a good run while he was alive.  After all, he was all over the radio during the summer of 1999.

Rest in peace, Rich Cronin.

Saturday, August 04, 2012

Saturday Morning Cereal Commercials


I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Saturday mornings are just not the same as an adult as they were when I was a child.

In fact, some of my cherished memories of Saturday mornings involved sitting on the floor of my living room in front of the television watching Saturday morning cartoons. As much as I wish that I could go back in time to those carefree days, I know that I can't.

I mean, yes, there are quite a few cable channels that play hundreds of cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. There's Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Teletoon Retro. But there was just something special about getting up early in the morning and watching the latest adventures of The Smurfs, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Garfield and his friends.

Of course, no Saturday morning would be complete without a complete, nutritious breakfast...well, nutritious through the eyes of a child, that is.



And what could be better fuel for a marathon cartoon session than a big bowl of cereal sweetened with enough sugar to fill a hundred Hershey bars?

Yes, this blog entry isn't so much about a particular Saturday morning cartoon. Instead, this blog entry is about some of the sugary cereals that I used to enjoy as a child...as well as the commercials that aired during Saturday mornings that would inspire many trips to the grocery store with me begging my mom to buy said cereal because I saw it on television.

You see, back in the 1970s and 1980s, cereal commercials were works of art. I remember some kids enjoyed watching the cereal commercials almost as much as some of the cartoons that aired in that time period. So, allow me to use this blog entry for today to talk about some of my favourite cereal commercials.

Shall we begin?



One of my favourite cereals growing up was Cocoa Pebbles. They also made Fruity Pebbles as well, but I didn't like those as much. Looking back on it, Cocoa Pebbles weren't really that spectacular of a cereal, it was just chocolate flavoured bits of grain. The main reason why I had to have it most Saturday mornings was because of Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. When I was younger, a particular television station used to air old episodes of The Flintstones during my lunch hour, and I loved them. So, to see Barney constantly stealing Fred's cereal through a variety of tricks and disguises on Saturday were an added bonus. Just take a look at some examples of some of these commercials below to see what I mean.



You see? To some people, they were simply commercials. For me, they were thirty-second cartoons that featured some of my favourite cartoon characters ever.

But cereal commercials have told dozens of stories for several decades. How about the classic Life cereal commercial featuring Mikey that first aired 40 years ago in 1972?



Would you believe that the little kid that played Mikey was at the center of an urban legend where he supposedly died after a deadly combination of pop rocks and Coca-Cola? It was all a hoax, and John Gilchrist (who played Mikey) is still very much alive. But the commercial was very effective, even winning a Clio Award in 1974!

Cereal commercials also made cereal mascots huge stars, and as time passed, these mascots ended up becoming just as popular as the characters who actually had their own 30-minute programs. And, who are some of the most popular cereal mascots?

Well, how about Lucky the leprechaun who has been the official “Lucky Charms” mascot since 1963? His commercials were always magically delicious.



Or, if you wanted something else that was more grrrrrrrreat, how about Tony the Tiger? Thurl Ravenscroft was the voice behind Frosted Flakes' mascot for several decades, and since 1951, this beloved tiger has starred in well over one hundred commercials. Take a look at this one below.



Frosted Flakes are currently made by Kellogg's, which have cereal mascots for every one of their cereals. Take Froot Loops for example. Froot Loops boasted a rather colourful mascot to match the colourful cereal, and that mascot is Toucan Sam. Have a look at a Froot Loops commercial below, though I'll readily admit that it wasn't one of my favourites.



Sticking with the Kellogg's theme, I'd have to say that one of the first cereals that I remember eating was the classic “Rice Krispies”. I used to love the way that the cereal used to make those crackling noises whenever milk was poured over top of it...which likely inspired the names of the trio that appear in its commercials. Can you say, snap, crackle, pop?



Another cereal mascot that was a common fixture during the Saturday morning cartoon block was Cap'n Crunch, which have been on store shelves since 1963. During the 1980s, seeing Cap'n Crunch commercials were always an entertaining experience, because during that time, Cap'n Crunch would launch an all-out assault against the “Soggies”, slimy white blobs (resembling milk) that threatened to make all the cereal in the world soggy. Each commercial was like watching a thrilling cartoon adventure, and I loved the cereal just as much as the commercials. Let's watch a couple right now, shall we?



Finally, I can't end this look back on cereal mascots without listing the one cereal mascot who could never seem to catch a break. A cereal mascot who was always denied the one thing that he wanted to have the most...all because of six simple words.

Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!”



Yes, the Trix rabbit just wanted to have his share of lemony yellow and grapity purple Trix cereal, but was cruelly denied even so much as one measly orangy orange morsel. I would have gladly given him some of my Trix cereal. Truth be told, the one and only time I had Trix, I hated it. I felt bad for the bunny, as evidenced in these commercials.

But wait...would you believe that there were some instances in which the Trix bunny ended up getting his feed of Trix cereal? Apparently there were a couple of contests where kids were encouraged to mail in the ballots included on “box tops”, voting on whether they thought the rabbit should eat Trix. And, well, here's one of the results.



Hey, had to end the blog off with a feel good moment, right?

BONUS QUESTION: Who are some of your favourite cereal mascots, and what cereal commercials do you remember the most?

Friday, August 03, 2012

ALF!


Okay, so yesterday’s blog entry was a bit serious in nature, and it was probably one of the few instances in which I will bring up a political themed issue in this blog.

Today, we’re going to bring back the fun by talking about one of my favourite television shows growing up!

Have you ever had the instance in which there was a television show that you made sure you watched every single episode of, only to find that the show has not aged well? 

Recently, a particular cable channel began re-airing the show and at first I was absolutely thrilled to death.  From the ages of five until nine, I made sure that the television dial was firmly on NBC Monday nights.  I had to watch my show, and nothing...not even the promise of a big bowl of chocolate ice cream with Hershey’s brand chocolate sauce...would tear me away.

A funny thing happened though.  When I re-watched the show that I once loved, I found that it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it.  In fact, it was downright painful to watch in certain scenes.  It was quite disappointing, because at one point, I really loved it.

But, I suppose people’s tastes do change over the years.  It had been twenty years since I had last seen an episode. 

At any rate, I did enjoy the program at one time (one might say obsessed), so I feel compelled to discuss it in the blog.


We’re going to take a look back at the television show, “ALF”.


ALF ran on NBC from September 22, 1986 until March 24, 1990, and I believe that I watched every single episode of the series.  In fact, when it came to the television show ALF, I...


...played with the ALF stuffed animal, which eventually became one of 1986’s most requested toys along with Teddy Ruxpin and Jem dolls.


...watched the cartoon series “Alf Tales” which was loosely based on the television series.

...owned an ALF backpack in the second grade.


...owned at least two ALF picture books, and one of those books that included a cassette tape featuring an ALF story.

...read the comic book series that lasted for a spell in the 1980s, and collected the ALF baseball bouilliabaseball cards.



(Yes, there actually was a comic book...here’s proof above.)


Anyway, ALF was created by American puppeteer Paul Fusco (b. 1953) in late 1984.  The puppet was inspired by an alien puppet that Fusco used to scare his family and friends. He had dreamed of creating a television program that was based on the character, and he came up with the idea with partners Tom Patchett and Bernie Brillstein.  They pitched “ALF” to Brandon Tartikoff (who served as president of NBC from 1981-1991), who immediately green-lighted the sitcom, and the rest is history.


The show ran for 102 episodes, and in addition to Fusco, the rest of the cast included Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner), and Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner).

The main plot of the series was ALF trying to adjust to life on Earth the best way he knows how.  Originally from the planet of Melmac, ALF (born Gordon Shumway) was forced to flee after a nuclear war causes Melmac to be completely destroyed.  His spaceship ends up crashing right through the roof of the Tanner household, and the Tanner family reluctantly take ALF into their home.

TRIVIA:  Willie ends up giving ALF the name “ALF”, an acronym for “Alien Life Form”.

ALF gets along with Lynn and Brian very well, and even Kate seems to show a soft spot for the fuzzy alien every now and again.  ALF’s relationship with Willie is probably the one that had the most conflict, but also provided the most humour for the viewers at home.

Behind the scenes though, the mood of the set was a different story.  Many accounts state that the set was a tension-filled area where everyone walked on eggshells just to get through the days of filming.  Anne Schedeen described the show as being extremely slow and tedious, stating that it took almost twenty-five hours to film one 30-minute episode of the show.  Part of that was due to the technical aspects of the show.  The set was built on a raised platform with trapdoors built into the floor to accommodate the team of puppeteers that were needed to control ALF.  Although Fusco was the main puppeteer of ALF, it took a team of three people to control ALF while the show taped.  As a result, there were often a lot of retakes and bloopers, which caused the production time to expand.

Many of the actors also grew tired of the show as it went on.  Max Wright grew to despise the fact that he was playing second fiddle to a puppet that received all the good lines, while Andrea Elson stated that everyone would have lost it had the show been renewed for a fifth season. 

So, needless to say, the soundstage of ALF wasn’t exactly known as the happiest soundstage on Earth.

But despite the fact that he may have disliked working on the show, Max Wright also concedes that he was at least happy to be a part of something that made so many other people happy.  And I’ll readily admit that when I was in second grade, ALF was at its most popular, and everyone in my class loved the show.

Besides, the show had some rather interesting, memorable episodes that aired in its four years on NBC.  Some of them were wonderful, some of them were bizarre, and at least one of them ranks up there in what I consider to be one of the worst finales for a television show ever.

So, allow me to share my list of my most memorable ALF episodes.


Episode #6 – “For Your Eyes Only” – November 3, 1986

In this episode, ALF ends up scoring his first date with a human woman named Jody.  You might think that this would be a huge problem for ALF, being that he is a space alien and all...but it worked out to his advantage, as Jody happens to also be blind.  With assistance from Lynn, ALF makes his date with Jody.  It appears to start off as a disaster, but eventually ALF and Jody become very good friends, and Jody ends up being one of the few people who actually form a friendship with ALF outside of the Tanner family, and Jake Ochmonek, so it was really cool to see.



Episode #7 – “Help Me, Rhonda” – November 10, 1986

This is an episode that not only sets the stage for the television cartoon “ALF Tales”, but it also lets us learn more about ALF’s past life on Melmac.  In this episode, we find out that ALF’s girlfriend, Rhonda, also survived the destruction of Melmac, and the Tanner family try to help ALF get back in touch with them.  I also loved this episode because it was a great display of transition.  In this case, ALF said goodbye to his past, and hello to his present, and in some sense, it offered ALF some much needed closure.


Episode #29 – “Take A Look At Me Now” – October 5, 1987

One of the many obstacles that ALF has to face is avoiding being seen by people who may not have his best interests at heart.  And certainly the loud-mouthed Ochmoneks fit the description.  When Raquel Ochmonek has a sighting of ALF, and actually tries to tell people about it, nobody believes her, and she sinks into depression.  Things come to a head at a talk show appearance where she is humiliated...until a certain hairy member of the Tanner family makes a surprise call to the studios...


Episodes #56 and #57 – “Tonight, Tonight” – October 24, 1988

Back in the 1980s, Johnny Carson hosted “The Tonight Show”.  In 1988, ALF took over hosting duties, where he didn’t exactly do as...flawless of a job as Carson.


Episode #87 – “Live and Let Die” – November 13, 1989

On Melmac, cats are considered to be gourmet cuisine, which meant bad news for the Tanner family cat, “Lucky”, who always ran away in fear whenever ALF came around.  But when “Lucky” ends up crossing the rainbow bridge to the other side, what realization does ALF come up with?  He couldn’t have loved Lucky as more than just a snack option...could he?


Episode #102 – “Consider Me Gone” – March 24, 1990

I HATED this episode.  I really did!  It wasn’t because of the fact that it was the last episode, but because it was a HORRIBLE last episode.  It wasn’t even supposed to be a final episode because it had a “To Be Continued...” after it.  Basically, ALF heard from his friends Skippy and Rhonda that a new settlement was going to be built known as New Melmac, and invited ALF to live with them.  ALF has a tearful goodbye with the Tanner family, but before he can leave Earth, he is kidnapped by the Alien Task Force.  The cliffhanger went unresolved for SIX YEARS, and when it was finally resolved with the 1996 TV movie, “Project: ALF”, there was no Tanner family whatsoever!  I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth with the finale, and I thought it deserved better.

Maybe that’s why I don’t have as much love for “ALF” as I did back when it was popular.  Bad memories.

Thursday, August 02, 2012

Chick-fil-Yay or Chick-fil-Nay?


THURSDAY CONFESSION #31: This blog entry is one that I ended up re-writing seven times because I wanted to try and keep an open mind and look at both sides before forming an opinion in hopes of not offending too many people.

Of course, one thing that I have learned in thirty-one years of living is that no matter how careful one is, there are always going to be some people who turn against you simply because they disagree with something you say. And today's blog post might end up doing just that. But, I'm prepared for it.



By now, I'm sure most of you have heard of a little American fast food chain known as “Chick-fil-A”. For those of you who haven't heard of the restaurant, it's a fast food outlet that makes chicken sandwiches, chicken wraps, and everything else to do with chickens.

(Well, okay, I don't believe their desserts contain chicken...at least, I HOPE not.)

Anyway, Chick-fil-A has been at the center of a political firestorm in the United States over the past couple of months, and it seems that by looking on social media sites and on various online news publications, everybody seems to have an opinion on Chick-fil-A. And, well, I figured that I would join the opinion bandwagon as well.

Before I do that, I have an admission that I would like to make. I have never eaten at a Chick-fil-A restaurant myself. The reason being that Chick-fil-A (at least to my knowledge) has never opened up a franchise in Canada. In fact, Chick-fil-A locations seem to be few and far between in the Northern part of the United States...which I suppose makes sense, since the first restaurant opened up in Georgia in 1967. So, I'm going into this blog entry without having any knowledge of the food quality...which is fine, because anyone who has kept up with the controversy knows that it has nothing to do with the chicken or the cows that ask people to “Eat Mor Chiken”.

Instead, it has to do with this man below.



Dan T. Cathy is the current president of the family-owned business Chick-fil-A (his father S. Truett Cathy founded the company), and over the last couple of months has been under scrutiny for comments that he made during the summer of 2012.

On June 16, 2012, Cathy appeared on “The Ken Coleman Show”, where he made the following statement: “I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage'. I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is all about”.

Needless to say, these sorts of remarks didn't sit too well with a lot of people, especially to the sector of the population who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.

Then on July 2, the “Chick” really hit the fan.

On the same day that the LGBT group “Equality Matters” published a list of anti-gay organizations that Chick-fil-A donated millions of dollars to, Cathy's interview with “Biblical Recorder” was published, in which he was questioned about the opposition against Chick-fil-A's support of the “traditional family”. His response? “Guilty as charged”.

He continued on to say this: “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. We want to do everything we can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that. We intend to stay the course. We know that it may not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

And, therein lies the firestorm.



To those people who live near a Chick-fil-A, or have eaten at a Chick-fil-A, the company's religious views are no surprise. The founder of the company was raised Southern Baptist, and has implemented many of his belief systems into how each of the 1,600+ restaurants in the chain are run, which includes a 6-day operation schedule (all Chick-fil-A locations are closed on Sundays).

But, clearly not everyone agrees with the stance that Chick-fil-A has taken on this matter. Again, it boils down to Cathy's beliefs on marriage. He clearly believes that the only family that matters is the traditional family that is outlined in the Bible...that marriage should only be between one man and one woman. And, well, he certainly is entitled to his beliefs, just as I am entitled to state that I DO NOT share them. I'll explain more about that statement towards the end of my blog for today.

At any rate, Chick-fil-A has been all over the news the last couple of months, and not all of the publicity has been good for the company. Thousands of people took to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to express their opinions about the controversy. And everyone knows that when you have two groups of people voicing two different opinions about a controversial subject as Chick-fil-A and its belief system, the feathers are bound to fly.

I even remember scrolling down my news feed on Facebook and actually seeing full-blown arguments complete with insults, F-bombs, and just nasty, uncouth behaviour on a couple of people's personal walls between friends of theirs, and I just shook my head in disbelief.

Certainly everyone is entitled to their opinions about the chain's stance (believe me, I have mine), but at the same time, I don't think that those opinions should allow us to treat other people with disrespect and vitriol because they happen to share a different view as someone else. It was really disturbing to see.

In the political and entertainment world, there has certainly been a lot of opinions about the stance that Chick-fil-A has on the subject of marriage, and some of them have not been well-received.



For instance, just days after Dan Cathy's interview was released, the mayors of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco announced that they did not want to see Chick-fil-A restaurants open up in their cities, which some criticized. Some said that it violated the First Amendment, while others believed that the mayors of said cities had no right to deny a chain the right to open up a business in their community because they disagreed with the company's beliefs. I'm admittedly torn on this issue, because both sides make compelling arguments. On one hand, you can say that the mayors of the cities (much like Chick-fil-A's Dan Cathy) are standing up for their own beliefs as well as defending the citizens who are a part of the LGBT community...but on the other hand, I don't know that blocking a business from opening up on the basis of their belief system is a good thing, particularly with the economy is the way it is.  Of course, it's up to the citizens of these cities to make their minds up as to whether or not to eat there should one open up.

But, what happens when people go too far with their words?




The above is a tweet that was uttered by Roseanne Barr. Unedited in all its “glory”. I get that a lot of people are up in arms over the Chick-fil-A scandal, and that there is a lot of people speaking out about it, but wishing cancer on people who do eat at Chick-fil-A is perhaps one of the most disgusting things that I can think of wishing upon anyone. To Roseanne's credit, she somewhat apologized, stating that she shouldn't have used the word “deserved”...but the damage had already been done by then. Much like Chick-fil-A's stance caused outrage in millions of people, Roseanne's counterattack caused outrage in millions more, and just served to divide opinion even further. It ended up causing more harm than good because in this situation, two wrongs do not make a right.

And, I think that's the lesson that all parties can take from the whole Chick-fil-A scandal. Two wrongs don't make a right.



This leads to my own opinion about this scandal. I don't particularly agree with the stance that Dan Cathy, and Chick-fil-A have on gay marriage. As far as I'm concerned, if two people love each other and they just happen to be the same sex, I think they should have the right to enter into a marriage if that is what they both want. The fact that Chick-fil-A feels differently is disappointing, considering that other businesses such as JCPenney, Archie Comics, and Oreo cookies have welcomed people of all backgrounds, statuses, and sexual orientation to enjoy their products without prejudice. But I don't hate Chick-fil-A, or wish their customers cancer, or anything like that. Things like that don't help. They just make the problem worse. 


Granted, I likely won't be eating at a Chick-fil-A any time soon.  I'll readily admit that I don't agree with the opinions of Mr. Cathy, but it's also because of the fact that there aren't any locations in this area. In all honesty though, I don't care for fast food chicken sandwiches, whether they be from Chick-fil-A, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or McDonald's. I've always preferred pizza anyway.

But at the same time, I don't think that I have the right to tell other people not to eat at Chick-fil-A just because I don't agree with their policies. I'd like to think that most of us are capable of making up our own minds as to which businesses to support and which ones not to. If people want to go to Chick-fil-A because they like the food, they have the choice to do so. Similarly, if people choose not to support Chick-fil-A because of their beliefs and actions, that is their choice as well.  

However, to close this argument off, I do have a few questions for Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A. I realize that the odds of him seeing this blog are slim to nil, but I'll just put it out there anyway, realizing that my own stance will be in full view for all to see.

Question #1: There are a few states that have legalized gay marriage. Among them are Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C. Looking at the Chick-fil-A map of locations, five of the seven have at least one Chick-fil-A restaurant there. With this knowledge, I ask the question. If you had a person applying for a job there who happened to be married to someone of the same sex, would you give them the job?



Question #2: Was the safety recall on the Muppet toys that were offered with children's meals at Chick-fil-A merely coincidental as spokespeople for the company had said, or was there more to it than that? 


Question #3:  Do you really believe that it is a wise business decision to single out an entire demographic of people who could be paying customers to prove a point?  Is this really any different than the segregation of people based on their skin colour six decades ago?


I'm not trying to start something here.  My questions to the company have been worded as politely as possible.  I'm just interested in what these answers might be, is all.  

I suppose that's all I have to say on the issue. Now I open up the floor to you. What are your opinions on the matter?  Are you Chick-fil-yay, or Chick-fil-nay?  I welcome all points of view here...but just be warned...I don't tolerate fighting and I don't tolerate people making derogatory comments towards other people. So, please play nice. That's all I ask.






Because when it all comes down to it, are you going to let a bunch of illiterate cow spokesanimals turn you into the biggest jerk possible?  Ask yourself that question before you comment...and this message is directed at both "yay" and "nay" camps, I should add.