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Thursday, September 06, 2012

2012 - The Year Of The Celebrity Death?


Just to let all of you know, I am still taking submissions and ideas for a brand new theme day for Thursdays.  I hope to have a more permanent idea in place for October 2012 to replace the Thursday Confessional, but I can’t think of any ideas on my own.  So, I’m asking all of you out there to float me some suggestions.  I’ll take any idea...well, provided that it has at least a PG-13 rating, that is.

For today’s blog entry though, I thought I would offer up a bit of a personal commentary about the past year.

Have you ever heard of the saying “Death comes in threes?” 

I imagine that quite a few of you have.  I did attempt to try and find out the origin of this phrase/superstition, but unfortunately I was unable to pinpoint an exact source.  The phrase is often used in pop culture references in regards to celebrity deaths.  Some seem to believe that when one famous person passes away, two more will soon follow.  Many people have dismissed this theory as superstitious nonsense...an old wives tale, if you will.

But for whatever reason this year, celebrity deaths seem to come in more than threes.  In fact, I’m almost thinking that the year 2012 is one of the deadliest years to be famous, celebrities dropping like flies.


The latest celebrity to join the 2012 Celebrity Death Club (a rather direct name, but the only one I could come up with spur of the moment) was Michael Clarke Duncan, who passed away just three days ago at the age of 54.  Many of you remember Michael Clarke Duncan from his role as John Coffey in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Green Mile”, but he also starred in a variety of other film projects as well.  He appeared in “Armageddon”, “The Whole Nine Yards”, “The Scorpion King”, and “Kung Fu Panda”. 

His death from a heart attack absolutely still shocked me, even though he was recovering from another one that he sustained two months prior to his death (well, that, plus the fact that his girlfriend was Omarosa from The Apprentice).  He was a brilliant actor, and he deserved every accolade that people could have bestowed upon him.  He will be greatly missed.

But Michael Clarke Duncan was not the first famous face to enter into rest during 2012.  As I said before, we lost a lot of high-profile people during the first eight months of the year, and unlike other years, it seemed as though the celebrity deaths happened one right after the other!

So, I thought that I would devote this space to the stars we loved and lost in 2012 so far, why we loved them (or not), if they could have been saved, and the legacy that they have left in the world of pop culture.  Most of these ones have already had a feature written about them in some manner, but since it’s been a few months since their deaths in some cases, my opinions may have shifted a bit.


I suppose the first high-profile celebrity death that we had was “At Last” singer Etta James, who passed away on January 20, just a few days shy of turning 74.  During her lifetime, she ended up winning six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards!  Despite battling a drug addiction, James went on to achieving great success as a singer, and she single-handedly helped bridge the wide gap between two popular styles of music...R&B and rock and roll, earning her a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.


I am sure that Etta James helped inspire a lot of people all over the world to become singers.  I am not sure if Whitney Houston ever cited Etta James as an influence, but certainly Whitney had her own success with music, as well as a slew of personal demons that for whatever reason ended up sticking with her during her whole life.  Her death on February 11 at the age of 48 probably didn’t shock a lot of people, but I admit that it was still sad to hear.  If only she had taken the help that she was offered, perhaps she would still be here.  However, Whitney Houston still managed to make an impact six months after she died when her last film, “Sparkle” was released nationwide in the summer of 2012.  I suppose one could call it her last hurrah.


And then on the last day of February 2012, we said goodbye to former Monkee Davy Jones, whose death at the age of 66 broke the hearts of many women of all generations.  I admit that of all the celebrity deaths that occurred in 2012, his was probably the one that left me open-mouthed in astonishment the most.  By all accounts, Davy Jones was the pinnacle of good health, and it just seemed unbelievable that he was here one moment and gone the next.

March was a rather slow month for the Grim Reaper, although we did say goodbye to comic book artist Jean Giraud on the tenth, and Earl Scruggs on the twenty-eighth.

But then in April, we ended up losing two television legends in less than two weeks.


The April 7 death of longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace was a huge loss to the world of journalism, but when you consider that he lived to be 93 years old, he had a long, fulfilling life and career. 


And just eleven days later, on April 18, the world of entertainment lost a legend in Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, dozens of Rockin’ New Years Eve parties, and the various incarnations of “Pyramid” during the 1980s.  He was 82 years old.

In May, we said goodbye to three legends.  On May 8, “Where the Wild Things Are” author Maurice Sendak passed away at the age of 83.  One day later, on May 9, famed British stylist Vidal Sassoon lost his battle with leukemia at the age of 84.  




And on May 17, Donna Summer danced her last dance, succumbing to lung cancer at age 63.


May 20, 2012 was the final day for Bee Gee Robin Gibb, who bravely fought to continue “stayin’ alive” to the end, passing away at age 62.  And former Beastie Boy Adam Yauch lost his battle with cancer on May 4 at the age of 47.


As June 2012 arrived, we lost “Desperate Housewives” and “The West Wing” actress Kathryn Joosten on the second of the month.  She was 72.  On June 5, American author Ray Bradbury died at the age of 91.  Rodney King (the figure at the center of a police brutality case which sparked the Los Angeles riots of 1992) died on June 17 at the age of 47, and on June 26, the world said farewell to 71-year-old director/screenwriter Nora Ephron, who was responsible for such films as “Sleepless in Seattle”, “You’ve Got Mail”, and “Julie & Julia”.


In July, Hollywood lost three major players in the world of classic film.  First, Andy Griffith, star of “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock” died on July 3 at the age of 86.  Ernest Borgnine passed away on July 8 at age 95 of renal failure.  And Celeste Holm passed away on July 15, also at 95.


We also said a fond farewell to Sylvester Stallone’s son, Sage, who was found dead at the age of 36 on July 13, astronaut Sally Ride, who succumbed to cancer at the age of 61, as well as Irish author Maeve Binchy, who passed away at the age of 72 on July 30, and writer/playwright Gore Vidal who died on July 31 at age 86.


And just last month, we had three celebrity deaths in a row.  Scott McKenzie, who had a hit with “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in your Hair)” lost his life on August 18, aged 73.  On August 19, the world was shocked over the suicide of director Tony Scott, who was 68 at the time of his death.  And then on August 20, 95-year-old Phyllis Diller laughed her last laugh.

Finally, on August 25, the first man to walk on the moon became a star in the sky, as Neil Armstrong breathed his last breath.  He was 82.

Is that not a lot of celebrity deaths for 2012 or what?  By my count so far, there have been 27 celebrity deaths for this year alone...and we’ve still got four months left to go.  I honestly don’t even know if I covered everybody here!

It most likely isn’t the year with the most high-profile deaths, but there certainly have been quite a lot of them.  And certainly the music industry, film industry, and New Years Eve will never quite be the same now that we have lost these figures. 

But on the other hand, death is just a part of life, and it is something that we all have to face sooner or later (though I am hoping that my lifespan is more like Phyllis Diller’s than Sage Stallone’s).  It’s certainly sad to think that these people are no longer with us, but at the same time, the contributions that they made to the world of entertainment are nothing short of remarkable.  And, that goes to everyone here who has lost a loved one in 2012.  As long as you keep the good memories of these people close to your hearts, and never forget who they were and how much they meant to you, then they don’t really fade away, do they?

This post is dedicated to everybody who has lost a loved one in 2012, as well as anyone who has ever lost a loved one. 

May the families of Michael Clarke Duncan and all the others who passed away so far this year be able to find comfort and peace.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Calvin and Hobbes


It’s been a while since I have done a featured blog entry on a comic strip (and, no, the Josie and the Pussycats blog entry that I wrote last week won’t count either). 

If any of you were around at the very beginning when I first created this blog, you might recall that Sundays were originally dedicated to comic strips.  But a couple of weeks in, I realized that I forgot to include a music category.  Luckily, I just combined the comic strips into the Saturday morning entry and made Sunday the music day.

It’s a decision that I don’t regret because I needed a music themed day (after all, there’s lots of interesting stories and facts that one can get from listening to a CD single or an entire album of songs).  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe I should talk about comic strips more often than I do.  After all, everyone has their favourite comic characters, and everyone who is close to me always reads the funnies first in the newspaper.  And, I figure that since Wednesdays are dedicated to toys, games, books, and magazines, this would be a great day to talk about comic strips.

When I was a kid, our newspaper would have a rather decent selection of comic strips.  I’m trying to think back to what comic strips were in the Brockville Recorder and Times twenty years ago, in September 1992.  If my memory serves me, the list went like this.
GARFIELD
BLONDIE
CATHY
SHOE
PEANUTS
HERMAN
DOONESBURY
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
EEK AND MEEK
B.C.
ANDY CAPP

(There were a couple of others but I can’t remember what they were now.  I do know one of them was illustrated by Ben and Vince Wicks, but the name escapes me.)

Twenty years later, only two of these strips are still being printed (Garfield and For Better or for Worse).  As well, Dilbert, Zits, and Adam are a part of the current comic line-up. 

You may notice that a few popular comics were missing from that list.  I don’t believe my newspaper ever carried “The Far Side” or “Beetle Bailey”, which is a shame, as I liked both.  But then again, my newspaper spared us “The Family Circus”, which could be viewed by some as a good decision (for the record, I didn’t mind it THAT much.)

Today, we’re going to be putting the spotlight on a comic strip that also never appeared in my newspaper.  And I found that to be quite shameful because many people regard this comic strip as one of the best.  It wasn’t until I read a collection of these comic strips (that I checked out of my school library) that I realized how great it was. 

That’s why I also found it surprising that the comic only lasted ten years, considering its popularity, as well as the fondness that some of the strip’s biggest fans still have for the comic, seventeen years after the final edition was printed.


We’re going to take a look at the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes”, illustrated by Bill Watterson.

How did “Calvin and Hobbes” come to be created?  We’re going to take a trip back to the 1980s to get the answer to that question.  At that time, Watterson was making a living working at an advertising agency.  And he hated it! 

Watterson would have rather had a career in his one true passion...cartooning.  He came up with dozens of ideas to sell to comic strip syndicates, but each idea was rejected. 


But then in 1985, Watterson got the break of a lifetime when he showed off a comic strip creation he created.  The main characters were a six-year-old boy with blonde hair and a striped shirt, and a stuffed tiger who could magically come to life with the power of a child’s imagination.  United Feature rejected the idea, but United Press Syndicate decided to take a chance on the comic.

November 18, 1985 marked the debut of the “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip.  Here’s the iconic first strip below.


Within the first year of the serial, the comic strip became syndicated in over 250 newspapers, and by 1987, the strip soon found distribution outside of the United States.

Now, although this has not truly been confirmed as fact, it is speculated that Watterson came up with the names for the characters as a shout out to the political science department at Kenyon College (in which he earned a degree in the subject in 1980).  It’s rumoured that Calvin came from sixteenth century theologian John Calvin, and that Hobbes came from seventeenth century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes.  Again, I’m not sure if it is exactly one hundred per cent gospel, but it does sound logical.

Anyway, back to “Calvin and Hobbes”.


The cartoon was a masterpiece of sorts, and what worked in regards to the strip was the fact that the audience for the strip was quite broad.  Little kids loved the comic because I’m sure they could relate to playing with a cherished stuffed animal that ended up becoming their best friend.  I should know, as I had an entire menagerie of stuffed animals that I would pretend were guests at my own diner.

(Yes, I did have a vibrant imagination as a child.)

But adults loved Calvin and Hobbes as well because it often dealt with subjects that most parents could relate to as well.  There were lots of gags that involved various subjects such as environmentalism, political activism, and lots of philosophical questions.  Parents could also relate to Calvin’s own relationship with his family as well, because a lot of the situations that Calvin’s family went through were situations that they themselves went through.

“Calvin and Hobbes” was definitely a labour of love for Watterson, and he put every bit of effort into making the strip shine.  As a result, he ended up winning several awards for his work on the strip including the following;

Two-time winner of the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year (1986, 1988)

National Cartoonists Society; Newspaper Comic Strips Humor Award (1988)

Sproing Award (1988)

Harvey Award, Special Award for Humor (1989)

Seven-time winner of the Harvey Best Syndicated Comic Strip Award (1989-1996)

That’s just a few of his achievements.  To win the same award seven years in a row in the same category...that’s almost unheard of today!

That’s not to say that Bill Watterson didn’t have his fair share of problems and concerns while he was drawing the strip.  One of his biggest pet peeves in regards to drawing the comic was the fact that the syndicate put pressure on him to merchandise the characters of Calvin and Hobbes, and that was something that Watterson was not willing to do, aside from putting out collection books of his strips from time to time.  To Watterson, he felt that the integrity of the comic strip would be compromised and the impact of the strip would be lost in the sea of commercialism.  So while Jim Davis and Charles M. Schulz inked merchandising deals for Garfield and Peanuts respectively, there were never any Calvin and Hobbes baseball caps, keychains, breakfast cereals or cartoon shows on Saturday mornings, although Watterson did briefly entertain the idea of animating Calvin and Hobbes into a 30-minute television program.

Watterson also took issue with the amount of space that he had to work with on his cartoon.  Around the early 1990s, newspapers shrunk the space available for cartoonists to work with, and that frustrated him incredibly.  Watterson’s argument was that the limited space would force cartoonists to omit detailed artwork from the panels, making the cartoons look dull and unoriginal.  In fact, Watterson lobbied to have his Sunday comics take up an entire page, and he craved more artistic freedom than the syndicate would allow him.

As a result of these frustrations, Watterson ended up taking two sabbaticals from the strip.  The first one lasted from May 1991 to February 1992, and the second one lasted for eight months in 1994.  During this time, many newspapers re-ran old Calvin and Hobbes strips.

By 1995, however, it became clear that the run of Calvin and Hobbes was soon to come to an end.  And, in November 1995, Watterson made that clear in a letter to the editors of the newspapers that carried the strip via his syndicate.

I will be stopping “Calvin and Hobbes” at the end of the year.  This was not a recent or easy decision, and I leave with some sadness.  My interests have shifted however, and I believe I’ve done what I can do with the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels.  I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises.  I have not yet decided on future projects, but my relationship with Universal Press Syndicate will continue.  That so many newspapers would carry “Calvin and Hobbes” is an honor I’ll long be proud of, and I’ve greatly appreciated your support and indulgence over the last decade.  Drawing this strip has been a privilege and a pleasure, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity.

And with that came the end of an era.  Below is the final “Calvin and Hobbes” strip, dated December 31, 1995.


Since ending “Calvin and Hobbes” seventeen years ago, Bill Watterson has shifted his focus from drawing cartoons to painting landscapes.  He has also become a bit of a recluse, and very rarely gives interviews to the media.  In fact, over the years, many newspapers and news outlets have sent reporters out to try and locate Watterson for an interview, but all of them came back empty-handed.  Some may be disappointed that Watterson has disappeared from the public eye, but as far as I’m concerned if Watterson wishes to live the rest of his life privately, he certainly has earned that right.

In fact, Watterson also refuses to give out autographs and refuses to let people license his characters, which I can understand as well after reading a story.  Initially, when Watterson became famous, he would often sign a few copies of Calvin and Hobbes anthologies and place them in a bookstore in Ohio for people to be surprised.  Instead, the surprise was on him, as he found that some of the very books that he signed were being sold on eBay for huge money...a principal that he was very much against.  It’s a shame that because of a few people, he had to stop that practice, because to tell you the truth, I thought that it was a neat idea. 


As far as Calvin and Hobbes goes, I think it’s a safe bet to say that they won’t be coming back any time in the near future (if at all), and I think that people are missing out because of it.  It truly was a gem in the crown of comic strips.  It still is.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

September 4, 2006


This is the first Tuesday Timeline for the month of September, and I for one am excited.  I have some great topics lined up for this month, and I hope all of you will enjoy them.

September is a time for reflection, and also a time for new beginnings.  And, our subject today is one that does both.  We’ll reflect on the contributions this person did, as well as the new beginnings that took place after this person departed this world.

So, by now, I suppose you have figured out that today’s Tuesday Timeline will focus on an individual who has passed away.  But before we speak of the dead, we should take a look at the living, and start this discussion by listing some famous faces celebrating a birthday today.

Celebrating a birthday this fourth day of September are Bert Olmstead, Mitzi Gaynor, Dawn Fraser, Merald “Bubba” Knight, Jennifer Salt, Ron Ward, Gary Duncan (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Martin Chambers (The Pretenders), Judith Ivey, Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.), Khandi Alexander, Dr. Drew Pinsky, George Hurley (Minutemen), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Damon Wayans, Kevin Kennedy, Sam Yaffa (New York Dolls), Jeff Tremaine, John DiMaggio, Mike Piazza, Phill Lewis, Kristen Wilson, Ione Skye, Jason David Frank, Carmit Bachar (The Pussycat Dolls), Kai Owen, Wes Bentley, Beyonce Knowles, and Whitney Cummings.

And here are some of the historical events for today.

1666 – The most destructive day of the Great Fire of 1666 in London, England

1774 – During the second voyage of Captain James Cook, Europeans discover New Caledonia

1781 – 44 Spanish settlers found the city that would come to be known as Los Angeles, California

1812 – The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set ablaze during the War of 1812

1870 – Napoleon III is deposed, and the Third Republic is declared in France

1884 – The United Kingdom ends its policy of penal transportation to Australia

1888 – George Eastman receives a patent for a camera that uses roll film, and trademarks the brand name “Kodak”

1923 – The first flight of the first American airship, the USS Shenandoah takes place

1944 – Finland exits from combat in World War II along with the Soviet Union

1948 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates throne due to illness

1949 – The Peekskill riots occur following a concert by Paul Robeson

1950 – The first NASCAR race takes place at Darlington Raceway

1956 – The first commercial computer to utilize magnetic disk storage, the IBM RAMAC 305 is introduced to the public

1957 – Ford Motors introduces the Edsel

1963 – Swissair Flight 306 crashes in Switzerland, killing all 80 people aboard

1967 – Operation Swift begins during Vietnam War

1972 – Mark Spitz becomes the first person to win seven Olympic medals at a single Olympic Games

1977 – Golden Dragon Massacre takes place in San Francisco, California

1998 – Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University, create the popular search engine Google

2010 – A powerful 7.1 earthquake strikes New Zealand, causing widespread damage and power outages

That’s a lot of history to digest isn’t it?  Well, there’s one more section that I want to talk about as well.  There were quite a few public figures that passed away on September 4.  Dottie West passed away on September 4, 1991.  Herve Villachaize died on September 4, 1993.


And today’s blog subject ended up passing away on September 4, 2006.

Six years ago, we lost someone who was a real champion for wildlife conservation.  For years, he dedicated his whole life to studying animals, as well as leading the fight to protect animals and their natural habitats.  In his later years, he developed several television programs and specials, while serving as an ambassador for tourism in his native Australia.  His death on September 4, 2006 at the age of 44 was one of the most shocking deaths that year, and when the news was released, some websites in Australia actually crashed because they could not handle the amount of traffic that flowed in the days after he died.


Today’s blog topic is all about Steve Irwin, the “Crocodile Hunter”.

It seems hard to believe that had he not been fatally attacked by a stingray that fateful September day, he would be fifty years old today.  I can remember being completely blown away by him.  When I was in my late teens, I watched his show on the Discovery Channel all the time.  I don’t know whether it was his larger than life personality, his dedication towards wildlife, or the fearlessness he displayed each time he picked up a snake with his bare hands, I loved his shows.

Apparently, so did everyone else at my former university campus, as we even created a Crocodile Hunter drinking game.  Of course, with everyone taking a swig of alcohol each time Steve Irwin said “Crikey!”, none of us stayed sober for very long!  J


Stephen Robert Irwin was born on February 22, 1962 to Lyn and Bob Irwin just outside of Melbourne, Australia.  Interestingly enough, he was born on his mother’s birthday!  Right from an early age, Steve was destined to pursue a career involving zoology.  After all, when you consider that he described his father as a wildlife expert, and his mother was a wildlife rehabilitator, it was already in his blood.  For Steve’s sixth birthday, he received a gift of a 12-foot long python! 

By the time his family relocated to Queensland when Steve was ten, Steve was already dedicating his life towards animals.  His family opened up the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park which allowed Steve to have many adventures that most boys only dreamed of.  He wrestled his first crocodile at the age of nine (under his father’s supervision), and volunteered in Queensland’s East Coast Crocodile Management Program where he captured at least one hundred crocodiles, of which many were relocated.


Steve’s family ran the reptile and fauna park until 1991, when the then 29-year-old Irwin took over the management.  In 1992, he changed the name of the park to “Australia Zoo”, and twenty years later, the park still holds that name.


It was right around the time that Steve Irwin took over management of the park that he ended up meeting the woman that would eventually become his wife.  In 1991, Steve met Terri Raines, an American who was visiting Australia at the time.  For Terri and Steve, it was love at first sight, and just four months later, the couple got engaged, marrying in Terri’s hometown of Eugene, Oregon in June 1992.

Now, you would think that most people when they go on a honeymoon, they would end up seeing sights, visiting national landmarks, and various...well...indoor recreational activities.  Would you like to know what Steve and Terri Irwin did on their honeymoon?  They trapped crocodiles together!  In fact, the footage that the couple filmed while they were trapping crocodiles together ended up being spliced together to create the pilot episode of the television series that made Steve and Terri Irwin stars!


“The Crocodile Hunter” debuted in Australia in 1996, and followed suit in North America the following year, and the show featured Steve Irwin observing creatures in their natural habitats and picking up various creatures.  Filming the show could be risky, particularly since Steve often had the penchant of handling the most dangerous and deadly animals in the world.  However, the formula worked, and his show exploded in popularity.  By 2000, “The Crocodile Hunter” was airing in 130 countries, and an estimated 500 million people had seen at least one episode of the series.  The show aired for seven years, concluding its run in December 2004.


Steve and Terri Irwin also continued to run the Australia Zoo during the filming of the series, and in July 1998, the pair became first-time parents when their daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin was born.


TRIVIA:  The name Bindi Sue came from a couple of animals that were living at the Australian Zoo at the time she was born.  The “Bindi” came from the name of a saltwater crocodile, and the “Sue” came from a Staffordshire bull terrier.


A second child, Robert “Bob” Clarence Irwin was born in December 2003.  You might remember Bob from an incident in January 2004 where Steve Irwin held him in his arms while feeding a crocodile, which caused quite the outrage from child welfare and animal rights groups.  Despite the controversy, Steve and Terri maintained that they would never put their children in harm’s way intentionally, and no charges were laid.

“The Crocodile Hunter” was the program that put Steve Irwin on the map, but it was far from being his only contribution to the world of entertainment.  He made frequent guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he presented a documentary entitled “The Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World”, appeared on a Wiggles video, and in 2001 acted in a cameo role in the film, “Dr. Doolittle 2”.

And, in 2002, Steve Irwin appeared in his very own feature film loosely based on “The Crocodile Hunter” series entitled, “The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course”.  The film didn’t exactly get the best reviews, but it did make double its budget at the box office, and won a Young Artist Award for Best Family Feature Film.  Take a look at the trailer for the film below, if you like.


Steve Irwin was also involved in several media campaigns.  In most cases, he appeared in advertisements promoting Australian tourism, but he also lent his name to some more high-profile causes.  He was a key figure for the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to raise awareness of Australia’s strict quarantine and customs regulations.  He was also a huge public figure in the conservation of the environment and protection of wildlife sanctuaries. 

And, did you know that Steve Irwin actually has a couple of animal species named after him?  In 1997, a species of turtle was discovered by Irwin while he was on a fishing trip with his father.  He was given the honour of naming the species, and he decided to name it Irwin’s Turtle (Elseya irwini), after his family’s name.  In 2009, three years after Irwin’s death, a species of air-breathing land snail was posthumously named after Irwin (Crikey steveirwini).

It’s been six years since Steve Irwin passed away, but his legacy continues to live on.  His widow, Terri, continues to manage the Australia Zoo, and in 2006 was made an honourary Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the wildlife and tourism industries.  Terri officially became a citizen of Australia in 2009 as a tribute to her late husband, and has essentially taken over where Steve left off.


Even Steve’s children have followed in their father’s footsteps.  At the time that Steve Irwin was killed, he was filming footage to be used in a show that his daughter Bindi would be presenting for Discovery Kids (did I mention that at the time of Steve’s death, Bindi was just eight years old?).  That show would come to be known as “Bindi the Jungle Girl”, and ran from June 2007 until May 2008.  Her work on the program helped earn the young star a Daytime Emmy Award.  At the time, Bindi was nine years old, and was the youngest person to ever win a Daytime Emmy Award.  Recently, Bindi hosted the 2012 Australian game show “Bindi’s Bootcamp”, and is currently filming the sequel to the film “Nim’s Island”, due out in 2013.

But perhaps the one television appearance that most people might remember Bindi for is the one that aired on September 20, 2006, when she delivered the eulogy in honour of her father just sixteen days after his death.  A crowd of 5,000 gathered at the Australia Zoo to hear the little girl speak, and an estimated worldwide audience of 300 million viewed the eulogy on their television sets or through online news sites.  I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the life of Steve Irwin than by hearing his then eight-year-old daughter talk about him.


And, that’s what happened on September 4, 2006.

Monday, September 03, 2012

Ferris Bueller's Day Off


Good morning, everybody, and for those of you who are observing it, I wish you all a very happy Labour Day (or Labor Day if you happen to be American).

I have to say that this Labour Day is especially going to be a great one because it is the first one since 2004 where I have not had to go in for work!  That makes this particular Labour Day even more special for me.

In fact, I think I’m going to celebrate Labour Day by doing as little labour as humanly possible.  After all, in order to get today off, I had to work seven in a row.

(I really don’t recommend working seven days in a row, by the way.)

So, considering that today is Labour Day, I thought that I would choose a movie in which someone else celebrates a day off.  Can you imagine just how enjoyable a day off can be?  Imagine having a day where you have zero responsibilities...zero commitments.  Twenty-four hours of doing whatever you want to do.  I think everyone deserves to have a day like that every now and again.

Now imagine a day where you admittedly blow off your responsibilities and your duties, and you go ahead and do what you want to do anyway.  Does that sound like fun?

And, yes, I am talking about playing hooky.


I’ll admit this right now.  I have never faked being sick in order to get out of a shift at work.  However, I’ll readily admit to skipping school a few times.  My parents would actually kill me if they ever read this, but since it’s been years since I have been in high school, I would often use my allergy symptoms to my advantage.  Yes, it’s true...I used to fake being sick on a few occasions...and since I already had sniffles from my allergies, I could be quite convincing.  Though I also admit that when I was playing hooky from school, it wasn’t necessarily due to wanting to get out of tests or major assignments.  It was more along the lines of “I don’t really want to be picked on today, so I deserve a day in which I can avoid it”. 

But that was when I was sixteen and emo.  I’ve matured since then.  But at any rate, I don’t regret skipping the odd day of school because those days really allowed me to get to know myself a little bit better.

DISCLAIMER:  This is NOT an invitation for any of you to skip school.  Though, I readily admit that my disclaimer pretty much means zip at this point...I just wanted to put it there so that I can say that I at least WARNED people not to skip school.

Anyway, today’s movie is all about a guy who just wanted to play hooky from school.  He just wanted a day off, like everyone else, and he planned to spend the day in downtown Chicago with his best friend and girlfriend.  But with so many people standing in his way to stop his fun, is there any way that he can relax and enjoy his spontaneous day off from school without being caught?

That’s the question that a teenage boy named Ferris Bueller asked himself one spring day in 1986.


The movie that we’re going to be studying is “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.  Released on June 11, 1986, the film starred Matthew Broderick in the title role.  In fact, if my memory serves me, this movie was the one that cemented Matthew Broderick’s status on the Hollywood A-List.  But Matthew Broderick wasn’t the only person to make a name for himself by appearing in the film.  Other people who had roles in the film were Mia Sara, Alan Ruck, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey, Ben Stein, Kristy Swanson, and Charlie Sheen.

Unlike most Monday Matinee features that I have done in the past, where I leap heavily into plot discussion, I won’t really go into much detail here.  Basically, the whole movie is about Ferris Bueller skipping school, and having one last adventure before he and his friends go off to college.  There’s a lot of fourth-wall breaking, a lot of Mr. Rooney (Jones) getting himself in one precarious position after another, and a rather surprise ending that one can view upon watching the closing credits.

Oh, and of course, there’s this famous scene.


I’ll have more scenes from the movie as we go along...but seeing as how this is my day off, I didn’t really want to bore you with details of the plot when you could just watch and enjoy the movie.

But what I think I will do this time around is give you some behind the scenes information about this movie.  I’ve done this before with some of the television shows that we have talked about in this blog before, and I thought that “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was deserving of the behind the scenes spotlight.  After all, I found out some interesting things about the casting, the filming, the soundtrack, and other miscellaneous goodies about this film classic.

It’s been twenty-six years since Ferris Bueller took his day off.  Now let’s learn about what went into the production with this list of trivia.

1 – The film opened in 1,330 theatres and made over $70 million at the box office, making it the tenth most successful film of 1986.

2 – Director John Hughes kept a spiral notebook on him to record the progress of the film as it was being shot!

3 – The reason behind John Hughes’ decision to make Chicago the primary setting for the movie was because he wanted to make the movie a “love letter to the city”, and Hughes especially wanted to capture the spirit of the city on film. 

4 – John Hughes specifically wrote the screenplay with Broderick in mind for the lead role.


5 – Initially, Hughes wanted someone older to play the role of 17-year-old Sloane Peterson, but when eighteen-year-old Mia Sara auditioned, John gave her the part on the spot.

6 – Molly Ringwald was also interested in the role, but John Hughes decided not to cast her, believing that the part was not big enough for her.  It made sense, given that Molly had just starred in “Pretty in Pink” just four months earlier.


7 – In the movie, the role of Cameron Frye was supposed to be in his late teens.  Alan Ruck, who played Cameron was 29 when he was cast.

8 – Here’s an interesting connection between Alan Ruck and Emilio Estevez.  Initially, Ruck had auditioned for the role of Bender in “The Breakfast Club”, which starred Estevez.  Although the role eventually went to Judd Nelson, Hughes remembered Ruck’s audition and cast him for the role of Cameron Frye.  To make this connection even more stunning, Emilio Estevez was originally offered the role of Cameron, but he turned it down!  Talk about great luck for Alan Ruck!

(And, no, I didn’t intentionally mean for that to rhyme.)

9 – Filming for the film began in September 1985 and lasted until November.  The iconic parade scene (featured below) was filmed on September 28, 1985.


10 – The parade scene caused a lot of apprehension for Matthew Broderick because he was nervous about performing on top of a float in front of thousands of people.  In the end, it worked out well.

11 – Funny story about that parade scene.  Would you like to know how the movie ended up getting so many people to show up?  It was all thanks to a couple of radio stations advertising the film shoot, asking people if they wanted to appear in a John Hughes movie.  Close to 10,000 people showed up!  No wonder Matthew Broderick was initially afraid!

12 – Although choreographer Kenny Ortega had taught Broderick some dance steps to perform in the film, due to a knee injury that Broderick sustained during filming, most of the routines had to be scrapped.  In fact, Broderick’s performance during the Twist and Shout segment was completely improvised.

13 – There was at least one person who wasn’t a fan of the “Twist and Shout” segment.  Paul McCartney was quoted as saying that while he liked the film, he hated that the version of the Beatles “Twist and Shout” was overdubbed with a brass band. 

14 – “Twist and Shout wasn’t the only song that appeared in the film’s soundtrack.  Other artists who contributed to the film’s soundtrack included Wayne Newton, The Dream Academy, The (English) Beat, and this song featured below.


ARTIST:  Yello
SONG:  Oh Yeah
ALBUM:  Stella
DATE RELEASED:  July 11, 1985
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #51

15 – Matthew Broderick was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in the film.


16 – Contrary to what one may believe, no real 1961 Ferrari GT California convertibles were destroyed during the filming of the movie.  The ones that were damaged were replicas.

17 – Wrigley Field celebrated the 25th anniversary of the film’s release in October 2011 showed the film on three huge screens on the infield.

18 – At the 1990 commencement speech for the graduating class of Wellesley College, then First Lady Barbara Bush paraphrased a quote uttered by Ferris Bueller in the movie.  The quote was “Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

19 – A short-lived television series based on the movie once aired in 1990 on NBC.  The sitcom starred Charlie Schlatter as Ferris Bueller, and the series also starred Jennifer Aniston and Ami Dolenz.  The show only lasted half a season before getting cancelled.

20 – Matthew Broderick filmed a spoof of Ferris Bueller for a 2012 Super Bowl commercial.  To conclude this entry, let’s watch the commercial.  J


Coming up next week on the Monday Matinee, we'll be looking at a film that was released over thirty years ago that made us look at archaeologists and gigantic boulders through a different angle.