I
was recently given a suggestion in regards to my blog for the future
by at least a couple of regular readers. They wanted me to insert
more of myself into each entry. They wanted me to share some more
personal stories about myself while blending them in successfully
with my pop culture topic selections.
So,
I decided to take them up on that suggestion.
When
I was growing up, I was always surrounded by trains of all shapes and
sizes. Part of the reason why this was the case was because of the
fact that my father worked for a major Canadian railway between 1971
and 2002. I've had train safety drilled into my brain since birth.
I knew about train whistles, train signals, conductors, passenger
cars, and when the appropriate time was to cross the train tracks.
However,
having a father who worked on the railroad did have its advantages.
During the time in which he was in service, one of the perks was free
train travel anywhere in Canada through VIA Rail. I can't remember
all of the train trips that I took when I was a child. Most of the
time, I only went on the train when my dad had to go to Toronto for
job-related duties, but the ride was just so fun. Back in those
days, the servers provided us with snacks and light meals, which to
me was neat because who ever thought you could eat on a train, right?
Oh, and a train trip wasn't complete without getting one of those
cardboard VIA passenger train toys that you had to build yourself. I
think I ended up with ten over the course of my childhood alone!
Even
running around Toronto's Union Station as a young boy are fond
memories that I will never forget. Union Station circa 1989 was
quite the happening place. You could go right into the heart of
Toronto if you left the station, but most of the time, I was content
running around. I loved the souvenir shops, the restaurants, the
comic book stand where I loaded up my arms with all the comics I
could carry for the long train trip back home. I loved those days,
and miss them fondly.
Of
course, back in 1989, I had a bit of an ulterior motive in running
around Union Station. Often I would take off and my parents would
literally have to run around after me to keep up. The reason why I
was so hard to keep an eye on at Union Station was simple. I was
looking for someone.
I
was looking for a conductor. More specifically, a conductor that
spoke in a British accent and was no bigger than a Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtle action figure.
You
see, right around that time, a television show premiered on our local
PBS affiliate, and I loved it because it had to do with trains and
train travel. And, as it so happened, one of the main characters of
the show was a tiny train conductor with the unique name of “Mr.
Conductor”. Of course, the main reason I loved him so much was
because he used to play “Thomas the Tank Engine” episodes.
Yes,
you heard right. Today's topic is a show within a show!
But
“Thomas the Tank Engine” was just one of the many components that
made “Shining Time Station” one of my favourite shows growing up.
And, as it so happens, “Shining Time Station” is the subject for
today!
“Shining
Time Station” debuted on January 29, 1989, and ran until 1993, with
television specials filmed in 1990 and 1995. Created by Britt
Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow, the show depicted life at a sleepy train
station located along the Indian Valley Railroad, as well as the
lives of its staff.
The
one thing that kids had to get used to were frequent cast changes
between seasons. Only two cast members managed to stick around for
the show's entire run. Didi Conn (who most of you remember as
Frenchie from Grease) played the station manager, Stacy Jones, a
kind-hearted woman who loved her job, but sometimes lacked
assertiveness.
And
Brian O'Connor played Horace Schemer, the manager of the station's
old-fashioned arcade, a man who cares more about nickels than the
people who insert them into the jukebox. He usually comes up with
plans to try and get as much money as possible, but his plans usually
are foiled, often comedically.
The
rest of the cast were switched over between the 1989 and 1991
seasons, and the breakdown went down like this.
In
the 1989 season, “Shining Time Station” was run by railroad
engineer/mechanic Harry Cupper (Leonard Jackson), but by the 1991
season, Harry was transferred to another station, and was replaced by
Billy Twofeathers (Tom Jackson).
In
addition to the adult characters, five children would visit the
station quite often. There were Harry's two granddaughters Tanya
(Nicole Leach) and Kara (Erica Luttrell), Stacy's two nephews, Matt
(Jason Woliner) and Dan (Ari Magder), and Becky (Danielle Marcot).
Tanya and Matt were mostly seen during season one, with Dan, Kara,
and Becky joining the cast in season two...but all five would
occasionally share a few scenes with each other.
Then
there's the tale of the two Mr. Conductors. The first Mr. Conductor
was played by former Beatle Ringo Starr. This made perfect sense, as
Ringo Starr was the original narrator for the “Thomas the Tank
Engine” series when it debuted in the UK in September 1984. But
when Ringo Starr left the series after the 1990 Christmas special, a
replacement had to be found.
And
would you believe that the man that replaced Starr in the role was
comedian George Carlin? Fortunately, he never uttered one of his
“seven words” during his entire appearance on the series.
One
of the recurring gags of “Shining Time Station” was that for the
most part, only the child characters could see Mr. Conductor. I
don't quite remember if Stacy Jones saw him or not, but I would like
to say that she could. Schemer, on the other hand, knew nothing
about Mr. Conductor, and his magic tricks would often leave Schemer
believing that the station was haunted.
Now,
if you're thinking that Mr. Conductor was the station's best kept
secret, think again. If one were to really look closer at the
jukebox inside of Schemer's arcade, you may find that inside of it
resides the “Jukebox Band”!
Don't
worry...there weren't really any little people trapped inside a
jukebox. The band members were created by Craig and Olga Marin of
Flexitoons Puppets and Marionettes. The band was comprised of Tito
Swing, Didi, Grace the Bass, and identical twin cowboys Rex and Tex.
Oh, look, here's a couple of their songs down below.
You
know something though? I remember the excitement and fun that all of
the children who visited Shining Time Station had...and whenever I
think of watching those old episodes, I remember those days when I
was a kid, trying to find my own Mr. Conductor in the middle of Union
Station in hopes that I could have him tell me interesting stories.
Have
you ever dreamed of going on a trip around the world? I know that I
have.
I'll
be completely honest with you. I haven't done much world travel in
my life. I've never left North America. Heck, the furthest I've
ever ventured outside of my current area of residence is Montreal,
Quebec.
This
is something that I would like to change. I want to go out and
experience the wonderful places that the world has. I'd love to be
able to visit all of the various places that I have only ever read
about. In fact, my friend who came up to visit me this past week has
extended an open invitation at any time to hang out with her in New
York City, and I'm definitely planning on making that a reality
within the next year or two.
I'm
not exactly sure what inspired my desire to go all around the world,
but I think it was triggered right around the time that a particular
reality television series debuted on CBS. It's a show that literally
has hundreds of filming locations each season, and that is still
going strong after eleven years on the air.
The
show also inspired one of my all time favourite quotes that I have
ever heard on a television show. One of the teams that competed on
the show best described the series as “a love letter to the
planet”, and you know something? I agree with that statement.
The
show that I'm discussing today is “The Amazing Race”, the reality
program that has seen hundreds of teams racing around the world for
the chance at one million dollars since September 5, 2001.
But
don't think that the one million dollar prize is the only incentive
for the teams to compete in the show. I mean, yes, a million dollars
is always a nice chunk of change for a couple of people to
share...but I bet that if you ask anyone who ever competed on the
race itself, they'll tell you that the opportunity to go all around
the world was worth even more to them than the money itself.
“The
Amazing Race” was created by Elise Doganieri and Bertram van
Munster, who ended up creating the show as a result of a bet!
Bertram van Munster issued a challenge to Doganieri to create a
television show outline in five minutes or less while both attended a
trade convention. Doganieri suggested a show where people raced
around the world, and the two of them immediately pitched the idea to
CBS, who were interested in putting the show on the air. The show
went into development in 2001, and New Zealand born television
personality Phil Keoghan was asked to host the show. Since 2001,
several other continents have launched their own versions of “The
Amazing Race”, including Asia and Australia.
TRIVIA:
Phil Keoghan originally applied to be the host of another CBS
reality television series, “Survivor”, and actually made the
short list. Ultimately, Jeff Probst was given that job, but CBS
executives were so impressed by Keoghan that they offered him the
hosting gig of “The Amazing Race”.
“The
Amazing Race” casts between ten and twelve teams of two (or in the
case of the eighth American season, ten teams of four) to compete in
the race. The starting line for each race always takes place in a
metropolitan American city (New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are
common), and Phil always says the following to the teams before the
beginning of each race.
“The
world is waiting for you...travel safe...GO!”
And
from there, the teams were let loose on the world, with each one
trying to stay one step above the other teams.
The
way the show works is that each episode has the teams going to a
different country in the world, allowing each team to experience the
cultures and traditions of the nation by completing various tasks
hidden in clue boxes around local landmarks.
Most
often than not, these tasks are named after various traffic signs
that can be seen on city streets all over the world. The most common
ones are roadblocks and detours. In roadblocks, one member of each
team must complete a particular task before being given the next
clue, and on a race with twelve legs, each member of the team can
only complete a maximum of six roadblocks a piece. Detours, on the
other hand, allow teams a choice between two tasks, each of which
have their pros and cons. Teams must decide which task is best
suited for them, as both members have to take part in the task. Both
teams have to finish the tasks as quickly as possible, for at the end
of each leg is a pit stop. In most cases, the last team to cross the
pit stop at the end of each leg is eliminated from the race, and sent
to a mystery location where they are sequestered from the rest of the
race. Some legs are non-elimination legs, and teams won't be
eliminated for coming in last, but will usually have some form of
penalty (usually an additional task to complete).
In
addition to detours and roadblocks are other challenges which only
appear in a few legs on the race. These include “Fast Forwards”,
which allow teams to skip all tasks on the leg that they are
currently competing in, “U-Turns”, which allow teams to force a
trailing team to complete BOTH detour options., and “Intersections”,
where two teams have to work together to complete one task.
And,
what exactly do some of these tasks involve?
Well,
this...
...and
this...
...and,
we can't forget this.
What
I find most fascinating about “The Amazing Race” is the fact that
the tasks are very much nation oriented. Sure, there are gross food
tasks, and tasks that may seem incredibly impossible, but if you look
at some of the tasks that have been featured on previous seasons of
“The Amazing Race”, the tasks have included building huts, water
pumps, and other essential things needed to improve life quality in
underdeveloped nations (which the show visits at least two of these
nations per season). Imagine the high someone gets when they donate
their time to helping their local community become a better place and
multiply that by one hundred. That's “The Amazing Race” in a
nutshell.
Of
course, I don't think I can end this blog entry off without paying
homage to some of the most memorable teams that have ever competed in
“The Amazing Race”, because they are truly the ones who make the
show. Some of the teams were very good, and some of them were very
bad. But, really, you can't have a show without teams, so let's have
a look at some of the more memorable ones.
TEAMS
MADE UP OF FORMER REALITY STARS
I'm
of mixed opinion when it comes to teams who have competed in other
reality shows. Some of them are captivating to watch (Rob and Amber
Mariano from “Survivor”, Jeff Schroeder and Jordan Lloyd from
“Big Brother”), some didn't last too long (Ethan Zohn and Jenna
Morasca from “Survivor”), and some had no business competing in
the show at all (Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly from “Big
Brother”). While I don't mind having people like this on “The
Amazing Race”, I definitely prefer watching the teams of regular
people over reality stars still trying to squeeze out the last drops
of their 15 minutes of fame.
THE
“UNDERDOG” TEAMS YOU CAN'T HELP BUT ROOT FOR
Say
what you want about the fifth season team “Charla and Mirna”.
I'll admit that Mirna wasn't exactly my favourite person on the race,
mostly because of her condescending attitude towards other teams.
Her cousin Charla was a delight though. Charla was the show's first
little person who competed in the race, and she was a force to be
reckoned with.
There
was also another team that competed in the fifteenth season of “The
Amazing Race” named Zev and Justin who really impressed me. You
see, Zev was diagnosed as having a condition known as Asperger's
syndrome, which causes people to have it to have difficulty
communicating with people on a social level. Some people might see
the idea of running a race with a partner having Asperger's as a
major handicap, but Justin never did. The two worked very well
together, and in some cases, Zev's Asperger's syndrome worked to his
advantage on certain tasks. It's a shame that Zev losing his
passport on one leg of the race caused the team to be eliminated, but
they redeemed themselves by competing in a future All-Stars season,
making the final four.
By
the way, Charla and Mirna were also included in an All-Stars season.
TRIVIA:
The eleventh and eighteenth seasons of “The Amazing Race” were
All-Star seasons.
Other
teams that were memorable included Peter and Sarah from season 10
(Sarah had a leg amputated), and Luke and Margie from season 14 (Luke
was deaf).
TEAMS
THAT DROVE YOU INSANE
Well, I'll readily
admit that Rachel and Brendon from last season were one of those
teams. With moments like this one, it's easy to see why.
But there were so
many other teams that could easily fit this description as well. You
know those teams that just annoy you for whatever reason? Let's take
a look at some of them below in a little Top 5 list.
5 – TARA AND WIL
(SEASON 2)
Tara and Wil were
a separated couple who went on the race to see if they could get back
together. In my opinion, they should have stayed separated. They
did nothing but argue with each other constantly. I think I lost how
many times Tara screamed “YOU IDIOT!” at Wil during the whole
season. So how fitting was it to see them in first place just a
couple of miles away from the finish line only for Chris and Alex to
pass them by because they were too busy arguing with each other. It
was priceless. And, that's not the only team that ended up having a
terrible moment because of arguing...
4 – KYNT AND
VYXSIN (SEASON 12 & 18)
I really hated to
put them on this list, because when they were on season twelve, I
loved them. Their distinct black and pink look definitely stood out
against the other racers, and I thought that they such unique
personalities. Flash forward six seasons, and I couldn't recognize
the team that I once loved. With Vyxsin breaking down in tears every
five minutes, and Kynt screaming at her every five minutes because of
her breaking down, I couldn't wait to see them eliminated. It was
that painful to watch.
3 – MIKA AND
CANAAN (SEASON 15)
Have you ever been
at a water park and seen all of the various water slides that are
scattered all over the entire park? They're supposed to be fun,
right? Not for Mika. When the teams had to complete a task in Dubai
where all they had to do was slide down a waterslide, Mika was too
afraid to do it. I suppose the fact that the slide went through a
pool that was filled with sharks may have had something to do with
it, but the sharks were in a place where they couldn't eat the
racers. Regardless, I don't know what was more disturbing, Mika
crying because of her intense fear, or Canaan trying to throw her
down the slide. As a result of this, Flight Time and Big Easy from
the Harlem Globetrotters managed to slide past them, ending up with
the elimination of Mika and Canaan. Too bad.
2 – FLO AND ZACH
(SEASON 3)
The only winners
of the race that I did an actual facepalm over. I didn't find Zach
to be all that annoying, but let's just say that he had difficulty
going with the Flo. Flo essentially cried and complained her way to
the finish line the entire time. I had to use my mute button to get
through the finale. Aside from the fact that they managed to get
ahead of brothers Ken & Gerard (one of my all-time favourite
teams), Flo nearly QUIT the race because Zach decided that it would
be easier for him to complete a roadblock by converting his pants to
shorts, which Flo did not take well AT ALL. I still can't believe
they won.
1 – JONATHAN AND
VICTORIA (SEASON 6)
Well, let's get
the obvious out of the way here. Jonathan was an abusive monster and
Victoria was his doormat. That was the impression that I got of the
two right from the beginning of the sixth season. Jonathan would
yell at Victoria if they made a wrong turn, screwed up a detour, if
it rained, if a cat crossed their path, if a grain of salt was
present on the table, etc. And Victoria would just sit there and
take it. But their greatest shameful moment? Watch it below.
I will say this
though...I felt horrible for Victoria, and I was kind of hoping that
Phil Keoghan would have told Jonathan off right then and there. I do
believe that I read somewhere that the couple has since split up.
For the sake of the world, I hope this is true.
Now to conclude
this look at “The Amazing Race”, I wanted to share with you some
of my favourite moments over the 20 seasons of the race. It could
include my favourite teams, funny scenes, or just feel-good moments.
WINNERS
ALL AROUND
Twenty teams have
managed to win “The Amazing Race”, and some of them displayed
good sportmanship and likeability from the very beginning. I wish to
single out Season 1's Rob and Brennan, Season 2's Chris and Alex,
Season 7's Uchenna and Joyce, Season 9's BJ and Tyler, Season 13's
Nick and Starr, Season 14's Victor and Tammy, Season 17's, Nat and
Kat, and Season 20's Rachel and Dave for being great winners.
There were some fights, and some tears, but they ran a great race.
FIRSTS
There
were many teams of firsts. We talked about Season 10's Sarah being
the first amputee, Season 5's Charla being the first little person,
and Luke being the first deaf contestant. But did you know that
Season 4's Reichen and Chip were the show's first gay married couple
(though since then, the two have split up).
The
oldest person ever to compete in “The Amazing Race” was Mel
White, who was 70 on the 18th
Season. The youngest person ever to compete was then nine-year old
Carissa Gaghan, who raced with her family on the 8th
season “Family Edition” of “The Amazing Race”.
UNEXPECTED
MOMENTS
Sometimes
you see moments that you have to do a double take on. And these
moments usually lead to great moments as the season progresses. On
season seven, Uchenna and Joyce were faced with having to shave their
heads in order to progress to the next clue. For Uchenna, it was not
hard for him to decide as he was bald anyway. Joyce had a full head
of hair, and really debated on what to do. She made the difficult
choice to shave it all off for the sake of the race.
That
decision was a good one, as it helped them win the race.
Another
unexpected moment was the watermelon catapulting challenge from
Season 17, and home shopping hosts Brook and Claire were one of the
last teams to complete the challenge. Well, Claire's aim with the
catapult was a little bit off, and this lead to one of the most
talked about moments on the whole race.
Can
you say, OUCH!
Fortunately,
Claire was surprisingly uninjured, and the team managed to place
second overall. Plus, their bubbly personalities and never give up
attitude cemented them as one of my all-time favourite teams. And,
speaking of which, I'll end this note off with my list of my Top 15
Amazing Race teams of all time.
This
is probably going to be a Thursday Confession unlike any other
because this is one that is coming completely from my heart.
It's
also going to be extremely short and sweet (there's a first, right?)
THURSDAY
CONFESSION #32: Although you
might not know this, the last four blog entries that were posted on
the blog were post-dated.
That's
right, everyone. I wrote the entries dated August 5 through August 8
last week. The reason being that I am currently on vacation this
week from my day job, and for the first few days of that vacation, my
friend Sharyn from Long Island, New York came up to visit me for a
few days.
And
let me tell you, that time that we spent together taught me so much
about myself, and opened up so many doors that I previously closed
that I feel compelled to share my experiences with each one of you
reading this blog right now.
I
suppose this is what you would call the “What I Did On My Summer
Vacation” post. Did any of you ever have to do a composition for
the first week of classes at school on what you did for the summer
vacation? I know I've had to do that assignment twice in my whole
school career, and twice, I've made stuff up to hide the fact that I
really spent the summer doing anything substantial.
The
summer of 2012 changed all that for me.
I'm
afraid that at this time, I do not have any photo proof available to
show you exactly what I did on my week off from work, but once they
are available, I will show some of them off in future blog postings.
DAY
1: Saturday, August 4 – My friend arrives in Canada from Long
Island, checks into her hotel (which is really a group of tiny cabins
lined up along the St. Lawrence River), and we meet up for the first
time. But, here's the cool part about everything. We have actually
“known” each other since the summer of 2001. We “met” on a
discussion group forum that was part of a pop culture themed website,
and instantly became friends. Over the last eleven years, we always
talked about meeting up in person, and this year, those talks became
reality. Of course, we didn't really do much sightseeing that first
day. We just wanted to talk, talk, talk! Well, that, plus eating a
whole selection of goodies from an American supermarket chain known
as Trader Joe's. Kind of made me wish that Trader Joe's was
available in Canada. They make some awesome dark chocolate peanut
butter cups!
DAY
2: Sunday, August 5 – The time that I spent with my Long Island
friend was cut short, due to the fact that I was attending a 14th
birthday party for my nephew. However, it's amazing just how much
activity that one can cram in a single day! The day was mostly spent
in Kingston, Ontario. One of our first stops? Costco, if you can
believe it! Anyone that has ever been inside a Costco knows that it
can be a very cool, but very surreal experience, as the products that
are for sale every day are sold in bulk quantities for impressive
prices. I'll admit that I was very much drawn into the energy and
the vibe of the place, and I was instantly in a good mood the whole
time I was there.
To
top it all off, my friend and I were shocked when we happened to get
to the checkout line, and saw that the cashier that rang our order
through had the same exact name as a mutual friend of ours that
passed away just this past December! It absolutely blew us away!
After
Costco, my friend was really interested in going to a store that was
located in Kingston's Downtown core. Have you ever heard of a place
known as “Ten Thousand Villages”? If you haven't, do scope it
out, because you have to see the merchandise that is offered. The
reason why the store is called “Ten Thousand Villages” is because
all the stuff there is all hand-crafted and imported from nations all
over the world. Some of the stuff inside the store is exquisitely
carved. I admit that I was ALMOST tempted to buy a wooden
Tic-Tac-Toe game that was sold there, but she ended up finding a few
deals. On top of that, we stopped off at a bookstore where an author
was holding signings for a new book that had just come out, and my
friend not only bought her book, but initiated a conversation with
her for ten minutes, with me only joining in later on! It was
absolutely amazing to meet an author who HAD made it, and it gave me
hope that I could make it big with my writing one day.
DAY
3: Monday, August 6 – In Ontario, the first Monday of the month of
August is a civic holiday, and we decided that the best way to spend
the holiday was to go on a boat cruise from Rockport. We researched
all the options available, and the cruises that were available were
one hour, two hour, and three hour cruises. We opted for the two
hour, as one would have been too short, and three reminded us too
much of “Gilligan's Island”.
The
boat cruise was fun, and the weather was absolutely perfect, though I
had to point out photo opportunities whenever they arose. My friend
and I were so engaged in chatting that she ended up missing a couple
of wonderful photo opportunities.
In
all seriousness though, if you are ever in the Rockport, Ontario area
and you want a real experience of the Thousand Islands, you should
definitely take a boat cruise. You won't regret it.
After
the boat cruise, we made a visit to Rockport's General Store/gift
shop, and there's a lot of Canadian themed souvenirs that one could
take home with them/ Everything from maple syrup jars to clothing
items. Seriously, I recommend it. So does my friend from Long
Island!
DAY
4 – Tuesday, August 7 – This was a fantastic day. It was the day
that my friend and I fled the country!
It's
true! We headed up to the North Country to visit the small town of
Canton, New York (beautiful place, by the way) to visit a couple of
Sharyn's friends. Jon and Kathy were probably two of the most
gracious people that I have ever met, and the four of us had a
fantastic time. We sampled food from their organic vegetable garden,
we had a tour of their house (which is truly unlike any other house
that I have ever seen in my whole life with rock face walls on the
INSIDE of the home), and Kathy even taught us the craft known as
felting using hand-dyed sheep wool. I wish I had a picture to show
all of you, but take my word for it, it looked fantastic.
Here's
one more piece of trivia. Did you know that Jif peanut butter is
only available in the United States? I ended up buying a jar for my
sister, who insists that Jif is the best peanut butter ever made.
After
we got back home, I coerced my friend to try her first taste of
Canadian pizza and the Canadian delicacy known as the poutine.
The
poutine, of course, being french fries, gravy, and cheese curd.
To
my surprise, she enjoyed the poutine very much. I had fully expected
to have to finish it myself!
DAY
5 – Wednesday, August 8 – This was our last full day together,
and we really wanted to make it memorable. We toured the downtown
area of my hometown, and took pictures of the older buildings of the
area while I was doing my best to try and describe the history behind
them. We ended up taking a lot of great shots, and I think that I
ended up seeing my hometown in a completely different light. And, to
top off the whole experience, my mother made us some homemade ribs.
Since my friend was departing the very day that our annual rib
festival was kicking off, she now didn't have to feel guilty for
missing it!
So,
as I post this entry, my friend from Long Island is on her way back
home, and here I sit, reflecting on what the last five days meant to
me. I certainly hope that she is doing the same as well as she reflects back on her last few moments in my hometown when she ended up finding a lemur figurine in the display case of a collectables store and squealed in delight over finding it.
I
realized from spending time with her that I am deserving of having
wonderful friendships.
I
realized that there can be newfound beauty in something a simple as a
city street, a serene pond, or a beautiful garden.
Most
importantly, I learned that I need to open myself up a LOT more than
I have been. Let me explain this for a second.
This
has really been the first time that I have ever really done something
adventurous on a vacation. In a way, I really stepped out of my
comfort zone to take this vacation. I went places that I never
thought that I would go. I even left the country!
And
all the while, my friend, who is a lot more bubbly and open than I am
was chatting to salespeople, customers, budding authors, the captain
of the boat cruise, and just about every random stranger that passed
by. It was really incredible to see her open up to so many people.
And
it hit me like a ton of bricks. She had the personality that I
always dreamed of having. In my whole life thus far, I lived life
extremely guarded, and didn't let people in for fear that I would be
hurt.
But
now I see first hand that the way I was living life was completely
wrong. And I think that she knew that, and wanted to help me
understand myself better. I believe that the term that she used
during our correspondence before my vacation began was “open-heart
surgery”.
Well,
I've been under the “knife”, so to speak, and I have seen the
light. I think having her come up to visit was one of the best
things that I have ever experienced. And, I now see life through
clearer eyes. I still have some ways to go, but I am going in the
right direction. I know I am.
And,
that's what I ended up doing on my summer vacation. Hope all of you
enjoyed the read! To close off this blog entry, I thought that I would insert a quote that she often said to me during the whole vacation. She believes that things always happen for a reason, and that when things go incredibly smooth, we should do this...and this happens to be the quotation that I plan on living by for decades to come.
When
I was growing up, I think I ended up playing with a wide variety of
different toys. And what was interesting about it was the fact that
most of the toys that I played with were popular at least a decade
before I was born!
And
it got me thinking about toys that were insanely popular in certain
time periods. I suppose one could say that they were “fads” of
the time.
And,
that's what I have decided to make this blog about. Fad toys.
Certainly,
I was around for several of these fad toys, and I even played with
some of them at the time they were at their peak of popularity.
Right
off the bat, I can think of three fad toys that all the kids played
with during the wonderful decade known as the 1990s. In 1990, I
remember every kid having something called a “Skip-It”. It was
first sold in stores in the late 1980s, and by my third grade year,
everyone had one...including yours truly. It was just a plastic
thing that you hooked around your ankle, and swung around in a circle
as you skipped over it. There was even a counter attached onto the
Skip-It that allowed you to count just how many times you could
skip...but I was so terrible at it that I barely made it past ten
skips. I think I ended up selling the blasted Skip-It at a garage
sale just a couple of years later.
Another
fad that I remember from the 1990s was a little game that a few of us
used to play in the school playground circa 1993, 1994-ish.
Have
you ever heard of a game known as Pogs? Pogs were little cardboard
discs that had a variety of different designs all over them. Some
were based on cartoon characters and television shows, some just had
generic designs that were holographic, or were in 3-D, and some were
even offered as toys in Happy Meals at fast food places.
MINI
CONFESSION:
Not only did I play with Pogs when I was twelve, but I still have
all the ones that I managed to collect during the time when they were
most popular!
The
way that the game was played was very simple. Each player would
stack up their Pogs into a giant tower. After that was completed,
each player would take out something called a “Slammer”, which
was a piece that was similar in shape to a Pog, but a much heavier
weight. Usually, slammers were made out of thick plastic, metal, or
rubber.
Each
player would take their “Slammer” piece and hurl it towards the
stack of Pogs. Doing this would cause the stack to flip over and
collapse. If any of the Pogs landed face down, the player could claim
those Pogs as their own. The others were restacked for the next
player. The game ended when all the Pogs were claimed.
Now,
if one were playing a friendly game, it was a nice distraction, and
people just kept the Pogs that they brought to the game. But some
games played for keeps, and I remember many kids in my school losing
their entire collection of Pogs to some of the others who were the
Pog champions of the playground. I suppose that was the main reason
why my school (and many others in North America) banned Pogs. I
suppose in some ways, it did seem like we were running a gambling
operation right next to the monkey bars.
(For
the record, I never played for keeps, and I only ever traded Pogs
with other kids.)
Fortunately,
I was a bit too old when the next fad of the 1990s came out. Do any
of you ever remember having such a thing as a virtual pet? I believe
that around my high school, they were known as Tamagotchis. First
created in Japan in 1996, the electronic toys were all the rage in
North America just two years later. Tamagotchis allowed people to
raise an electronic pet right from the moment that the pet was “born”
(when the device was switched on). But owners of a Tamagotchi soon
found that taking care of a virtual pet was almost as tough as taking
care of a real pet. Over the course of the life of your Tamagotchi,
certain icons would pop up that detailed what your pet needed. You'd
have to feed your pet, give your pet medicine, clean up after your
pet, play with your pet, and even have to scold your pet for mischief
it happens to cause.
Of
course, not all Tamagotchi pets lasted forever. Neglect and poor
care could cause the death clock to tick prematurely for your virtual
pet, but in almost all cases, the pet simply died of old age. Fear
not though, your game won't quit working. You could simply restart
the game again with a brand new virtual pet.
That
said, I never owned a Tamagotchi. I found it too time-consuming to
deal with.
But
fad toys aren't just limited to the 1990s. In the 1990s, people
played with virtual pets, but back in 1975, a different virtual pet
of sorts hit the marketplace.
I
imagine quite a few people owned something called a “Pet Rock”.
Pet rocks were the brainchild of California businessman Gary Dahl,
who had joked that a pet rock was the perfect pet because they didn't
need to be walked, fed, or cleaned up after. It was a rock. What
could rocks do other than sit there and be admired?
What
was amazing about the pet rock was how much of an impact it really
had in the world of pop culture. In 1975 alone, Dahl ended up
selling 1,500,000 pet rocks, alone, and for six months, everyone
wanted a pet rock. By 1976, the fad had died a quick death, but Dahl
still ended up becoming a millionaire with the sales accumulated from
the pet rock. Imagine taking a rock and turning it into enough money
to buy several rocks...of the shinier, glass-cutting kind. Now,
that's business smarts right there!
In
the 1950s, the toy that every girl, boy, and chipmunk apparently had
to have was the hula hoop (Yes, in that Chipmunks Christmas song,
Alvin had to have a hula hoop). Although the toy was not technically
invented in the 1950s (apparently its origins come from 5th
century Greece), it became extremely popular during that decade. The
Wham-O toy company released a plastic version of the hula hoop in the
late 1950s, and by the summer of 1958, it became a fad in the United
States through promotions, radio giveaways, and hula hooping
contests. By the time the 1960s arrived, over 100 million hula hoops
had been sold, and at the peak of their popularity, toy companies
were producing fifty thousand hula hoops a DAY!
Hula
hoops are still being made today, though their sales and popularity
aren't quite as high as they were back in the late 1950s. But the
hula hoop was officially inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame
in 1999, forever immortalizing it as one of the most loved fad toys
ever.
That's
a look at some of the fad toys of the last few decades. Now, I have
a question for all of you.
BONUS
QUESTION: What were some of
your favourite fad toys?
I'll
leave you now with this video of another fad toy...the Rubik's Cube
of the 1980s...and watch in awe as this person solves the puzzle in
under six seconds!
Did
you miss that? Here it is again in slow motion...I am officially in
awe!
Welcome to Tuesday, August 7, 2012!It’s time for another look back through time
with the always popular Tuesday Timeline feature.
I’m not going to waste any time here.Let’s just get right to it.Would you like to know some of the major
events in world history that took place on August 7?Well, have a look!
1420
– Construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Flore begins in Florence, Italy
1714
– The Battle of Gangut; becomes the first important victory of the Russian Navy
1782
– George Washington orders the creation of a military award known as the “Badge
of Military Merit” to honour soldiers who have been wounded in battle...today,
the award is known at the “Purple Heart”
1789
– The United States War Department is established
1794
– George Washington invokes Militia Law of 1792 to suppress Western
Pennsylvania’s “Whiskey Rebellion”
1890
– Anna Mansdotter becomes the final woman to be executed in Sweden for the 1889
Yngsjo murder
1909
– Alice Huyler Ramsey and three of her friends became the first women to
complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York
City to San Francisco
1927
– The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York
1930
– The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States
take place in Marion, Indiana
1933
– Iraqi government slaughters over 3,000 Asyrians in the village of Sumail
1938
– The building of Mauthausen concentration camp begins
1944
– IBM dedicates the invention of the Harvard Mark I, the first program-controlled
calculator
1955
– Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (which later became Sony) begins selling
the first transistor radios in Japan
1959
– The Lincoln Memorial design starts appearing on the American penny
1964
– Prometheus, the world’s oldest tree, is cut down
1965
– Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters meets up with the Hell’s Angels at Kesey’s
estate, linking the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang with the hippie movement
1970
– California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his own courtroom and killed
in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody
1974
– Philippe Petit performs a high wire act in New York City between the twin
towers of the World Trade Center
1978
– Jimmy Carter issues a state of emergency at Love Canal following the negligent
disposal of toxic waste there
1981
– The Washington Star ceases operation after 128 years
1985
– Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri, and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to become the first
Japanese astronauts
2007
– Barry Bonds hits his 756th home run, breaking the record held by
Hank Aaron
We also have a few celebrity birthdays to list
here.Celebrating an August 7th
birthday are Stan Freberg, Don Larsen, Tobin Bell, B.J. Thomas, Lana Cantrell,
David Rasche, Alan Page, Wayne Knight, Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), David Duchovny,
Jacquie O’Sullivan (Bananarama), Bruno Pelletier, Harold Perrineau Jr, Marcus
Roberts, Michael Weishan, Jason Grimsley, Sydney Penny, Rachel York, Charlize
Theron,Samantha Ronson, Eric Johnson,
Tina O’Brien, Sidney Crosby, and Helen Flanagan.
For today’s look back through time, we’re going to
take a look at what ended up being the final day of life for one man.
August
7, 2005.
That was the day that ABC News lost one of their
own, and the day in which millions mourned the loss of a true professional in
the world of journalism.
Today we’re going to look at the life of
Canadian-born journalist Peter Jennings, who spent decades reporting the news
at various television and radio stations (including a stint in my own
hometown!).
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was born in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 29, 1938.He and his sister Sarah were born to Elizabeth and Charles
Jennings.Peter was always surrounded by
radio at an early age.After all, his
father did work for CBC Radio as a broadcaster when Peter was born.
Would you believe that Peter Jennings’ first radio
gig was in 1947 at the age of nine?How’s that for starting early in life?The name of the show he hosted was “Peter’s People”, and it ran on CBC
Radio every Saturday morning.The
30-minute program debuted while his father was out of the country on business,
and when Charles came back to Canada and found out what happened, he was
furious.Charles Jennings did not like
the concept of nepotism, and was outraged that the network allowed Peter to
host his own show.
Two years later, when Jennings was eleven, he
began attending school in Port Hope, Ontario, where he excelled in school
sports.When his father was transferred
to the Ottawa headquarters in the 1950s, he began attending high school in
Ottawa.But Peter didn’t exactly like
high school very much.By his own
admission, he was a lazy student who only cared about comic books and
girls.He ended up dropping out of high
school in the tenth grade.At some
point, Peter attended Carleton University, but dropped out.
Despite dropping out of school, Peter dreamed of
following in his father’s footsteps, and had the goal of becoming a famous
broadcaster.It took a bit of time for
him to get there though.At first, he
started off as a bank teller at the Royal Bank of Canada.He hoped to get transferred to the bank’s
Havana branch, but instead he ended up working at the branch in Prescott,
Ontario (current population 4,284).Shortly after, he began working at the nearby Brockville, Ontario branch
(current population 21,870), where in between shifts at the bank, acted in
various musicals put on by the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society such as “Damn
Yankees” and “South Pacific”.
While Jennings was in Brockville, he started
working at the town’s local radio station, CFJR.He was only 21 years old.CFJR hired him to be a part of their news
team, and over the next year, Jennings covered several stories, including one
of a local train wreck which were picked up by the CBC.In 1961, Jennings left CFJR to work at
CJOH-TV in Ottawa, where he worked as an interviewer and co-producer for the
show “Vue”, and shortly after that began hosting a show called “Club Thirteen”,
a show similar to American Bandstand.
In 1964, CTV hired Jennings as the co-anchor of
its national late-night newscast.During
his time with CTV, Peter Jennings was thrown into several high-profile news
stories.He was the first Canadian
journalist to arrive in Dallas after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.He also attended the 1964 Democratic National
Convention in Atlantic City, where he would meet a man by the name of Elmer
Lower, who at the time was president of ABC News.Elmer offered Jennings a job with ABC to
become a correspondent, but initially, Jennings turned down the offer.After three months had passed, he changed his
mind, and moved to New York City to take on the job.
At the time that Jennings took on the job, ABC was
in third place behind NBC and CBS as far as news coverage went, and ABC decided
to try and add a more youthful presence to the network in hopes of attracting
younger viewers (more than likely the coveted 18-49 demographic).On February 1, 1965, Peter Jennings took over
the anchor desk at ABC News, and began hosting “Peter Jennings with the
News”.At the time, the program only ran
for 15-minutes, but Jennings ended up making history.Being only 26 years old at the time, he
became the youngest person ever to anchor a news program in the United States,
a record that has yet to be broken as of August 2012.
That’s not to say that everything transitioned
smoothly at first.Peter Jennings may
have been the youngest of the anchors, but at the time, he was also very much
inexperienced when compared to the likes of Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley,
and Chet Huntley.The viewing audience
found it hard to relate to Jennings, and some even made fun of his Canadian
accent!However, Jennings admitted that
he was out of his league at that time, and three years after anchoring the
news, he left the position to become a foreign correspondent for ABC.
This decision was beneficial in helping Peter
Jennings build up his name and his reputation.In 1968, he established ABC’s Middle East bureau in Lebanon, the first
American news bureau in the Arab world.Four years later, he covered his first major news story, the “Black
September” massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in
Munich, Germany.He hid with his camera
crew near the building where the Israeli athletes were being held hostage, and
ended up providing ABC with clear video of the hostage-takers.The piece was well-received, although
Jennings was criticized over referring to the hostage-takers as “guerillas” and
“commandos”.
The following year, Jennings covered the Yom
Kippur War, and in 1974, he served as chief correspondent and co-producer of a
biographical piece of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.The piece established Jennings as Sadat’s
favourite journalist, and Jennings won the first of two Peabody Awards for his
coverage.
Over the next few years, Jennings would become a
Washington correspondent, anchor a short-lived morning show, served as a
foreign anchor for “World News Tonight”, and became a father to two children,
Elizabeth and Christopher, born to him and his third wife, Kati Marton.
In 1983, Washington World News Anchor Frank
Reynolds fell ill with multiple myeloma, and was forced to leave the anchor
desk that April.Peter Jennings was
asked to take over the Washington anchor desk expecting Reynolds to return...but
sadly, Reynolds passed away in July 1983.Three months later, Peter Jennings became the permanent sole anchor of
World News Tonight, after the show relocated to New York.Over the next few years, Jennings proved to
the world that he had learned a lot since his first stint as an anchorman back
in 1965, and the ratings for ABC News certainly reflected this.With his extended coverage of the 1986
Challenger explosion, his prompt response to the October 1989 Lorna Prieta
earthquake, and being the first of the big three news networks to report the
fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, by the beginning of the 1990s, World
News Tonight was ranked #1, beating CBS for the first time.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Jennings
continued to become a huge presence at ABC News.He garnered a lot of attention for his
marathon reporting stints, often staying on the air for 12 hours or more.Some of these stories included the Gulf War
in 1991, the millennium celebrations of 2000, and the September 11 terrorist
attacks in 2001.And Jennings received
praise from viewers in 1995 when he made the decision to backburner the
coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial to report on the unrest in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.But on the flipside,
Jennings also received criticism for what some called a “liberal bias”, as well
as his contribution to a news documentary regarding the 50th
anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.Some people were so angered at what they
called a “revisionist look” at the history of the decision to drop the bomb
that they mailed bus fare to Jennings, telling him to go back to Canada.
But, Jennings persevered and rose above the
controversy, becoming an American citizen in 2003, and continued anchoring
World News Tonight.
By December 2004, however, something would happen
that marked the beginning of the end.He
was sidelined with a respiratory infection that month, and as a result, he was
unable to fly out to cover the December 26, 2004 tsunami that struck several
Asian countries.Three months later,
viewers noticed that Jennings’ voice was beginning to sound different.It wouldn’t be until April 5, 2005 that the
viewers understood why.
Peter Jennings was diagnosed with lung
cancer.He had told viewers that he
would do his best to come back to the anchor chair, but this would end up being
his final appearance.Charles Gibson and
Elizabeth Vargas would serve as temporary anchors of World News Tonight as
Jennings underwent treatment.
Sadly, on August 7, 2005, just after 11:30pm,
Peter Jennings succumbed to cancer at his home, at the age of 67.Just minutes after his death, Charles Gibson
interrupted programming to announce the sad news.Over the next few days, many in the news
industry remembered their friend and colleague.His ABC colleagues Diane Sawyer, Charles Gibson, Ted Koppel, and Barbara
Walters all shared their memories of Jennings as did Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw,
who competed with Jennings as the anchors of CBS and NBC’s news broadcasts
respectively.Canadian anchors Kevin
Newman, Lloyd Robertson, and Peter Mansbridge offered up their condolences, as
did George W. Bush and Paul Martin.
Although Peter Jennings may be gone, his legacy
continues to live on, and his career was celebrated.He ended up winning sixteen Emmy Awards, and
two Peabody awards for his work with ABC News.He was named Best Anchor by the Washington Journalism Review in 1988,
1989, 1990, and 1992.He was awarded the
Paul White Award in 1995 in honour of his work in journalism, and in 2004 was awarded
the Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting.
On July 30, 2005, just eight days before he passed
away, Jennings received word that he would be inducted into the Order of
Canada, an honour that his daughter Elizabeth accepted in his honour.New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
announced that a block of West 66th Street would be renamed Peter
Jennings Way.And in January 2011,
Jennings was posthumously inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences Television Hall of Fame.
Not bad for a high school dropout, huh?But Peter Jennings proved to be much more
than that.He was a journalist and a
professional to the end, and he will forever be known as one of ABC’s finest
anchors.