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Monday, October 01, 2012

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope


This entry is a milestone entry of sorts.  This is a milestone that I wish to celebrate and share with each and every one of you reading this blog right now.

First of all, this is the first blog entry of October 2012.  And, I don’t know exactly what this new month will bring, but it has got to be a lot better than September.  The leaves on the trees are changing colour, the air is fresh and crisp, and in Canada, Thanksgiving is a week away, so it’s definitely looking like a great month so far.


But an even bigger milestone lies within this blog post as well.  This happens to be my FIVE HUNDREDTH blog entry!

Yes, it’s true.  October 1, 2012 marks the 500th post on the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide to Life.  500 laughs.  500 tears.  500 references to pop culture.

I still can’t believe that it’s only been a year and a half since I began this blogging project, and now I am at post number 500!  I’m either very dedicated to my craft, or I am very much in need of a social life.

Or both.

At any rate, because this is my 500th blog post, I really wanted to choose a topic that really stood out.  Blog topic #500 is quite epic, so I wanted to feature a subject that was just as epic.  And, I think that I’ve picked a topic that most everyone will approve of.

I also have a story to tell you about this particular topic.

Since today is Monday, you probably have figured out that the theme of the day is the Monday Matinee.  Naturally, I’ll be featuring a movie in this space.

And would you believe that although this movie was released thirty-five years ago, it took me several years for me to see the movie for the first time?

It was September 2001.  The first season of “The Amazing Race” had just begun, people were still trying to make sense out of 9/11, and Mariah Carey’s “Glitter” was flopping at the box office.

As for me, I was twenty years old, still enrolled in university, and was taking a film studies class.

I have to admit that I absolutely adored film studies.  Where else could you sit in a classroom that was designed to look like a movie theater and watch movies for college credit?

Now, even though I didn’t have a great experience in college during that year (I ended up dropping out that same year), I did like film studies.  We ended up watching quite a few movies from various eras.  Some movies were from the days of silent film, and other movies were huge blockbusters.  Each week was a theme week that was related to a particular genre of film (one week was dedicated to film noir, another was dedicated to horror, another was dedicated to Bollywood, etc), and our homework assignments were based around the films we watched in class.

On the lesson plan for late September 2001 was a week devoted to science-fiction, and at first I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea.  Of all the genres of film that are out there, science-fiction is easily my least favourite.  But since our professor was making up the lesson plan, I couldn’t very well change it.

The movie on the lesson plan was one that almost everyone in the room had seen before.  After all, the film was released five times in movie theaters between 1977 and 1982, was re-released in 1997, and has seen several VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray releases ever since.

But I hadn’t seen it.  I was twenty years old, and I was still a “Star Wars” virgin.


Yes, today’s subject is the 1977 film, “Star Wars”...or, if you want to get technical, “Star Wars Episode IV:  A New Hope”, directed by George Lucas.  Not a bad subject to talk about for the 500th blog post, huh?


The film, as most of you know, starred Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, and Alec Guinness, just to name a few, and was first released on May 25, 1977.  The movie has since been re-released using enhanced computer generated imagery, and was the first movie to ever make over three hundred million dollars at the box office.  In fact, “Star Wars” was one of the few movies to be declared the box-office champ twice.  It dethroned “Jaws” in 1977, was beaten by the 1982 film “E.T.”, and reclaimed the top spot once more in 1997 when the film was re-released.  It held the top spot for an additional year before “Titanic” ended up taking over the top spot in 1998.

Now, do I really need to go over the plot of the movie, seeing as how most of you have likely seen this film already?  Well, okay, I’ll summarize it for you.  Or rather, I’ll let the credit crawl summarize it for me with background music courtesy of John Williams.


Basically, there are plans to build a space station known as the “Death Star” that is capable of destroying entire planets, and Princess Leia (Fisher), the leader of the Rebel Alliance has the plans in her possession.  Unfortunately, thanks to the evil Darth Vader (played in a dual role by David Prowse and James Earl Jones) and his Imperial forces, Leia is captured.  However, before she is taken away, she manages to hide the plans inside a robot named R2-D2.  R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) then flee the scene and end up on the desert terrain of the planet Tatooine, where they come into contact with Jawa traders, who capture the pair and sell them.


Fortunately for the two Droids, they are purchased by farmers Owen and Beru Lars.  The couple also have a nephew named Luke Skywalker (Hamill).  And it is Luke that happens to hear Princess Leia’s secret holographic message while he was busy attempting to clean R2-D2.


Luke is unclear as to what Leia was trying to say, but when he heard her ask for Obi-Wan Kenobi’s help, Luke believed that Ben Kenobi (Guinness), a hermit who lived nearby could shed some light on the subject.  Sure enough, Ben and Obi-Wan are one in the same, a Jedi Knight who fought alongside Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker before he was betrayed and killed by Darth Vader.  It is here that Obi-Wan gives Luke one of his father’s prized possessions...his lightsaber.


Initially, after viewing Leia’s original message, Luke is unsure that he wants to accompany Obi-Wan Kenobi to the planet of Alderaan in hopes of helping Luke learn the ways of the Force...but after Imperial stormtroopers invade Tatooine and destroy it, killing Luke’s aunt and uncle in search of C-3PO and R2-D2, he does a complete 180 and agrees to help out, recruiting the assistance of smuggler Han Solo (Ford) and Wookiee Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) to go on the journey.

And that’s all that I really am going to say about Episode IV.  There’s actually six Star Wars movies in total (keeping in mind that while “Episode IV” was the first film made, the real debut of the storyline takes place in “Episode I”, which came out twenty-two years after “Episode IV”.

Confused yet? 

Anyway, just to offer up some brief spoilers for those of you who haven’t watched the other five films, we see what happened to Anakin Skywalker in Episodes I-III, we meet up with the cute and cuddly Ewoks in Episode VI, greeted by the Yoda we are in Episode V, and in Episodes V and VI, we learn that Luke Skywalker has more relatives than the average member of the Osmond family.

I tell you, the Star Wars films are like a science-fiction soap opera.

I’ll tell you something though, the first time I watched “Star Wars”, I was completely glued to the screen.  I found the whole movie interesting, I admittedly loved the unintentional comic pairing of R2-D2 and C-3PO, and I’ll be the first one to admit that I almost leaped out of my chair the minute I heard that first swoosh of a swinging lightsaber.  The whole movie was brilliant from start to finish, and I’m sorry that I ended up waiting so long to see it.

As of right now, I have seen exactly half of the Star Wars films...Star Wars, 1980’s “The Empire Strikes Back”, and 1983’s “Return of the Jedi”.  I haven’t seen the newer films as of yet (mainly because I’m sort of afraid of that annoying Jar Jar Binks character that appeared in Episode I), but I’m sure at some point, I will.

So, that’s all that I really have to say about my own personal experience with “Star Wars”, a movie that was as epic as this 500th post.  And while we’re here, why don’t I share with you a little bit of behind the scenes trivia about this iconic movie?  After all, there might be a few things that you may not have known.

1 – Did you know that before Mark Hamill was cast as Luke Skywalker, William Katt auditioned for the movie?  In the end, Katt ended up in the 1976 film “Carrie”, which held their auditions the same day as “Star Wars”.

2 – Initially, the movie was slated to be released on Christmas Day, 1976, but was pushed ahead to the 1977 Memorial Day weekend.

3 -  Some of the people who auditioned for the role of Princess Leia were Cindy Williams, Sissy Spacek, Sigourney Weaver, Anjelica Huston, Farrah Fawcett, Geena Davis, Debra Winger, Catherine Hicks, Meryl Streep, and Berlin lead singer Terri Nunn.  And when Carrie ended up auditioning for the role of Princess Leia, she won the role, provided that she lose ten pounds.

4 – Quite a few people were considered for the role of Han Solo.  Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Perry King, and Bill Murray were all considered.  At some point, George Lucas even contemplated making Han Solo African-American, with Billy Dee Williams and Glynn Turman considered for the role as well.

5 – George Lucas almost considered the idea of making Luke Skywalker a dwarf in early stages of the screenplay!


6 – Due to the way the weapons were constructed, most of the Imperial stormtroopers appeared to be left-handed.


7 – If you are a fan of the Final Fantasy video game series, there are plenty of references to Star Wars characters beginning with Final Fantasy VI in 1994.  There are two characters named Biggs and Wedge, and the enemies that the team battles also have Imperial soldiers!


8 – Some of the footage that ended up on the cutting room floor was used in the rather lacklustre Star Wars Christmas special.

9 – C-3PO and R2-D2 were spun off into their own cartoon series, “Droids”, in the early 1980s.

10 – Star Wars was the first film to be entirely screened in Dolby Stereo.

11 – Would you like to know what Princess Leia wore underneath her outfit?  Gaffer tape!  Seriously!  Carrie Fisher’s breasts were taped down!

12 – By June 1977, the price of 20th Century Fox stock doubled in value as a result of the success of Star Wars.


13 – Oddly enough, despite not having a grasp of the English language, Chewbacca ended up having the last line in the movie.

14 – In the earliest stages of the screenplay, Han Solo was supposed to be an alien, and Luke Skywalker could have been Laura Skywalker, as he was originally planned to be a she!

15 – Before Anthony Daniels was hired as the voice of C-3PO, Mel Blanc had auditioned for the part!

16 – Although James Earl Jones did the speaking voice for Darth Vader, he requested that his name be left off the credits for fear of being type-cast.  In the 1997 re-release of the film, Jones’ name was added to the credits.

17 – Initially, George Lucas briefly considered Orson Welles to be the voice of Darth Vader.

18 – Remember the trash compactor scene in the film?  The crew never did get the stench out of the Chewbacca costume.  I really feel bad for the actor who had to wear that thing after that scene.  Speaking of which...


19 - ...the actor that played Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, was working as a hospital orderly at the time he was cast as Chewbacca.  The minute he stood up and revealed his 7’2” frame, Lucas hired him on the spot.

20 – Mark Hamill ended up popping a blood vessel in his face while shooting the trash compactor scene (he held his breath too long), and all subsequent scenes were shot on one side of Mark’s face.

21 – Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) was supposed to wear boots as part of his costume, but they did not fit.  So, in the majority of his scenes, he wore soft, fuzzy slippers.

22 – The Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tunisia, and were filled with some delay, as sandstorms ended up destroying several of the Tatooine sets.

23 – Luke Skywalkers’ original name was slated to be Luke Starkiller.


24 – Despite playing the same character in the film, David Prowse and James Earl Jones have not yet met each other.

25 – Alec Guinness did not exactly enjoy the Star Wars experience.  He reportedly did not even read any Star Wars fan mail!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Reba McEntire: Finding Life After Tragedy


With today comes the end of September 2012 and I for one cannot bid it adieu fast enough.  September 2012 was not a time in my life that was all that grand and a lot happened during that month that I wish hadn’t.  But you can’t change the past, nor do I want to.  What I can do is look ahead to the wonderful month of October, and hope that as we venture further into autumn, the days will once again be filled with joy, and life will once again make sense.

One thing that is also ending that I’m a little sad about is “Sweethearts of Country Music” month.  I’m amazed that so many of you responded to it in a positive manner.  This is a subject that I admittedly jumped into having very little knowledge about, but you all seem to have enjoyed it a lot based on the page views.  That’s really awesome to see, and believe me I want to hear more from you about what you want to see on the blog.  I may even credit you for the idea.  You might even become...well...semi-famous.  Yeah, let’s go with that.

Anyway, for the conclusion of September and “Sweethearts of Country Music” month, I’ve chosen a singer who has been all over the country charts for the last three decades.  Not only that, but she’s also made a name for herself as an actress, having a successful television show that lasted six seasons, and she is starring in another sitcom venture set to premiere in November 2012.

Just listen to some of the accolades that this red-haired chanteuse has to her name.  Since releasing her first self-titled album in 1977, she has recorded a grand total of 26 studio albums, thirty-five #1 hit singles on the Country Music charts, and has sold more than 60 million albums in total, with most of them reaching at least gold status.  She is currently the seventh best female artist, and the second best-selling female country music artist of all time (only Shania Twain has surpassed her in record sales in the second category).

She’s brash, she’s sassy, she’s “Fancy”, and she’s a survivor.


She’s Reba McEntire, our final spotlight in “Sweethearts of Country Music” month.


Reba Nell McEntire’s early childhood was always filled with music from the very beginning.  Born on March 28, 1955 in Oklahoma, she was the daughter of Champion Steel Roper Clark McEntire, and schoolteacher Jacqueline McEntire.  Interestingly enough, Jacqueline had initially wanted to pursue a career in country music herself, but opted to be a teacher instead.  However, she taught all four of her children (Reba, her older brother Pake, older sister Alice, and younger sister Susie) how to sing.  At some point, three of the four McEntire siblings (excluding Alice) started performing as a group known as “The Singing McEntires”, taking gigs at country fairs, rodeos, and recorded a ballad entitled “The Ballad of John McEntire”.  But, during this time, Reba was also very focused on her studies.  Following her high school graduation in 1973, she enrolled in Southeastern Oklahoma State University, initially planning to pursue the same career as her mother.  She eventually graduated from the school in 1976, but that same year, something would happen that would alter the course of her own life forever.

It was during that year that Reba perfomed “The Star Spangled Banner” at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City.  When she did, she didn’t realize that established country music artist Red Steagall was also there, and was quite taken aback at how natural a performer Reba was.  He made it his personal mission to help the then 21-year-old Reba McEntire get noticed in Nashville.  Long story short, Reba recorded a demo tape, sent it in to Mercury Records, and was signed to a recording contract with the company shortly after.


Reba’s tenure at Mercury Records lasted until 1983.  It was filled with quite a few ups and downs.  Some of her singles reached the Top 5, but her albums were often critically panned by reviewers and Reba didn’t exactly like the style of country-pop that Mercury Records seemed to gravitate towards.  Reba stuck it out for a while, but when she got a case of the “seven-year-itch”, she ended her relationship with Mercury and signed up to MCA Nashville the following year.

The decision proved to be a good one. 

Initially, MCA Nashville assigned producer Harold Shedd to produce her first album with MCA (her seventh overall), but when Shedd wanted to make the album a country-pop album, Reba chose to reject his suggestions, and another producer, Norro Wilson was brought in.  But when the album was recorded (“Just A Little Love”), Reba was still unhappy with the album’s sound.  She talked to the president of MCA Nashville, Jimmy Bowen, and his advice to her was to find material that she liked.  What Reba ended up liking were classic albums in her own country music collection, recorded by several artists, and it was this collection of songs that spawned her next effort, “My Kind Of Country”, which was released in late 1984.  Not only did the album spawn two number one hits, but it was the album that first recognized Reba McEntire as a serious country music artist.

Over the next seven years, Reba McEntire would have great success with MCA Nashville.  Although her personal life was filled with ups and downs during that time (going through a divorce in the mid-1980s, remarrying in 1989, and giving birth to son Shelby in 1990), she used those experiences to create some emotional, heartfelt songs, such as 1986’s “Little Rock”, 1987’s “The Last One To Know”, 1989’s “Walk On”, and 1990’s “You Lie”.  She also proved that she could add her own style to classic country hits of the past when she re-recorded Bobbie Gentry’s “Fancy” in 1990 and it reached the Top 10 in 1991. 

Music critics also fell more and more in love with Reba McEntire with each album she released, and she ended up being honoured with several awards including a Grammy Award, and her being named the country music “Entertainmer of the Year” in 1986.

As the 1990s began, it appeared as though everything was going well for Reba.  She had kicked off a tour for her 1990 album, had a new husband and brand new son, and was the happiest she had ever been.

And then came the events of March 16, 1991...and on that day, Reba’s highest highs became her most depressing lows.


The night before, on March 15, Reba and her road band had performed at a private performance for IBM executives in San Diego, California.  While Reba and her husband stayed behind at a hotel, the members of her band took off in two separate charter planes shortly before 2:00 a.m. from Brown Field Municipal Airport en route to their next destination.  The second plane ended up making it to its scheduled destination safely, but the first plane ended up having trouble almost immediately after take-off.  When the plane reached an altitude of 3,572 feet above sea level, it ended up losing control and crashed right into the side of Otay Mountain.


The crew that investigated the crash of the first charter jet blamed the crash on poor visibility near the mountain.  All ten people aboard the plane were killed instantly.  The dead included the pilot Donald Holmes, co-pilot Chris Hollinger, Reba’s road manager Jim Hammon, and seven members of Reba’s band.  The band members who were killed were Chris Austin, Kirk Cappello, Joey Cigainero, Paula Kaye Evans, Terry Jackson, Anthony Saputo, and Michael Thomas.  All the band members were under the age of thirty.


The news of the crash completely devastated Reba.  Many of the band members had been with Reba for several years, and she considered her band members to be members of her own extended family.  Her heart was completely broken, and many people wondered if she would ever sing again following the devastating loss.

Not only did she sing again, but she ended up dedicating her entire sixteenth album to the members of the band who died on that March morning.  I can’t imagine that recording the album “For My Broken Heart” was easy for her, and I can only imagine her trying to keep it together as she sang each and every song.


“For My Broken Heart” was released in October 1991, and inside the album’s liner notes is a dedication for the ten people killed in the crash along with a message stating that the album is a “form of healing for all our broken hearts”.  And, I get where Reba was coming from.  Having lost someone incredibly close to me a few days ago, I know what it means to try and express your grief through creative measures.  After all, I ended up doing just that this past Thursday myself.

The album was also a change in tone for Reba’s music.  Whereas most of Reba’s songs were happy-go-lucky and optimistic before the crash happened, this album featured more sombre hits.  After all, it was a dedication of love for all of the friends that she had lost that day...but the songs were also written through the perspective of someone trying to overcome a broken heart.  In this case, it was Reba. 

There were four singles released from “For My Broken Heart”.  The title track reached #1, and “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” reached #3.  A third single, a cover of the 1972 Vicki Lawrence single “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” just missed the Top 10, but was still positively received.

And then there’s the song that I have decided to feature for this blog entry, the second single released from the album.


ARTIST:  Reba McEntire
SONG:  Is There Life Out There?
ALBUM:  For My Broken Heart
DATE RELEASED:  January 1992
PEAK POSITION ON THE COUNTRY MUSIC CHARTS: #1 for 2 weeks

Now, here’s a funny story about the music video for the song “Is There Life Out There?”.  Would you believe that CMT almost banned the video from regular airplay? 

Certainly 1992 was a year in which other artists ended up having their videos banned.  Later on that year, Madonna’s “Erotica” would be pulled from MTV due to its sexual content.  But Reba’s video was wholesome and good.  But CMT argued that the video put message ahead of music, and weren’t impressed with the amount of dialogue that was inserted into the video.  Just ignore the fact that Pat Benetar, Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson had successfully mixed dialogue and music into their videos (for “Love is a Battlefield”, “Thriller”, and “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” respectively).

Luckily, fans of Reba didn’t agree.  Nor did the voting panel of the video, who awarded the Video of the Year award to the video in 1992. 


And what a video it was.  Reba plays the role of Maggie O’Connor who is trying to balance a job at a diner with earning a college degree, all while taking care of her two small children and her husband Andy (played by Huey Lewis).  I’m sure that anyone who has ever been in Maggie’s situation can relate.  Maggie got married very early in her life and gave birth to her children very young, so she ended up putting her college dreams on hold.  But she’s finding that trying to do everything all at once is causing her stress.  Her family life is hectic, her professor is constantly on her case, and her job at the diner is one stressful day after another.  The climax of the video stems from an incident in which her young children end up spilling coffee all over her just finished term paper, and it causes her to have a bit of a miniature nervous breakdown over it all. 

But thanks to the support of her loved ones, as well as her perseverance, she manages to get an A on her paper, and graduates from college.


TRIVIA:  The music video ended up inspiring a television movie of the same name in 1994, also starring Reba McEntire.

In the song, Reba asks if there is life beyond her family and her home.  And you know something, there was.  In the process, Reba found out that there was life after tragedy.  She continued to record singles, win awards, and tour the country.  As well, her performance in the video seemed to also prove that she could handle being an actress, as was the case with her sitcom “Reba”, which ran between 2001 and 2007.

I think that’s why I chose to end this “Sweethearts of Country Music” month with Reba...she ended up finding life after the worst thing that could have happened and thrived.  She is a true inspiration for women and men to follow their dreams.


I know I wonder all the time if there is life beyond work and the town I live in...and my take is, if Reba can find her way, then there’s no reason why I can’t.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Kidd Video


I'll admit it...growing up in the 1980s was a fantastic experience, mainly because all of the cartoons that aired during Saturday mornings were creative and innovative.

Seriously, when I was a kid, I really had a difficult choice trying to choose which network I would watch. ABC, CBS, and NBC had their own Saturday morning line-ups, each one having their hits and misses. The frustrating part about Saturday mornings for me was trying to decide which show to watch, if two of my favourites happened to air in the same time slot. Eventually, I made the decision to watch one show the first six months of the year, and the second show the last six months, just so I could maximize my Saturday morning cartoon viewing experience.

For the most part, it worked out quite well, but despite my best efforts, there were a few shows that I missed out on completely. In a lot of cases, they were shows that I had absolutely no interest in (despite my assertion that cartoons from the 1980s were awesome, there were a couple of clunkers in that mix). But in the case of today's blog topic, it happens to be a show that I didn't even know existed until a few years ago.



Have any of you ever heard of a television show known as “Kidd Video”? Well, it debuted on NBC in September 1984, and ran until early 1987 when it was brought to CBS. I suppose that's one reason why I ended up missing this cartoon, being that I was all of six years old when the show went off the air.

Anyway, the cartoon was one of those ones that had several elements to it. The most important one being that of music. Seriously, one of the main reasons that I believe the show isn't readily available on DVD sets is the fact that during each episode, there would be snippits of songs that actually made the Billboard charts. In some of the episodes that aired, you might hear songs by The Police, The Pointer Sisters, and Lionel Richie, amongst others. It was almost as if you were watching a cartoon version of MTV.

The entire plot of “Kidd Video” seemed to revolve around music as well, as the four main characters were teenagers who had formed a garage band (appropriately enough named Kidd Video). These four kids were...



KIDD VIDEO (Bryan Scott), the lead singer of the band and lead guitarist.



CARLA (Gabrielle Bennett), the drummer and percussionist of the band.



ASH (Steve Alterman), the keyboardist, saxophonist, and bass player of the band. He is known for his klutziness.



WHIZ (Robbie Rist), the geeky looking guitar/keyboard player.

(And, yes, Robbie Rist also played Cousin Oliver on The Brady Bunch back in the 1970s.)

But, wait a minute. The band is live-action. How can you have a live-action band in a cartoon series?

Just watch the introduction to the cartoon below. All will be revealed.



You see, somehow, all four of the band members end up triggering some sort of warp porthole in which an evil cartoon force known simply as “Master Blaster”. Master Blaster was the evil, tyrannical ruler of a magical land known as the “Flipside”, and he decided that he wanted to kidnap all four band members. So into “Flipside” they went...and in the process, they all transformed into cartoon characters.

Now, you would think that the band would be completely doomed, but luckily the group had help from a small fairy named Glitter (Cathy Cavadini). Once they were rescued, the quest to get back home again was the band's main goal.

But, of course in order for the band to achieve that goal, they had to help the citizens of “Flipside” escape the misery that Master Blaster and his army of evil cat minions known as the “Copycats” thrust onto the land from Master Blaster's jukebox shaped castle high up in the air.

And, that was basically what each episode of Kidd Video was about. Helping the good guys, outwitting the bad guys, all to the theme of the ultimate 1980s soundtrack. What could be better than that?

Well, how about blending in the fads of the 1980s? You know how break dancing was quite huge back in the 1980s? Well, on the cartoon, it wasn't all that uncommon to see the main characters performing their best moves. You remember how skateboarding was the ultimate, most radical way to get around? Well, admittedly in 2012, this still holds true, but the gang of Kidd Video rode on skateboards a lot. And, did you know that there was one episode of the show that revolved around arcade games, which were hugely popular in the 1980s?

You see? It wasn't just about the music.

But one thing that I found that was interesting is that there were actual music videos that were filmed that featured the stars of Kidd Video performing in live-action. According to any sources I looked up, the band did do their own singing, so I thought that was kind of cool, even though the music videos are horribly dated. Have a look and see for yourselves.



One more thing that I have to say about the videos. Apparently they made such a huge impact in Israel that the Kidd Video stars ended up becoming teen idols of sorts! There were even chocolate bars, colouring books, and other pieces of merchandise made with the band's faces on them!

Kind of makes me want to check and see if any of their songs charted in Israel!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Robin Scherbatsky from How I Met Your Mother


Well, today is Friday, and it's time to dig out the TV Guide to select a television show that we will be focusing on this week.

Well...actually, I have a confession to make.  This entry is a week late.  This was the entry that I had intended to do for September 21, but as you all know from reading yesterday's blog entry, my mind was all over the place, and I just didn't feel like writing all that much in my blog that day.  I had way too much on my mind at the time, and felt it best to not talk about pop culture that day.

But fear not, cats and dogs...I'm back in full force now, and am ready to honour my commitment...albeit a week late.

And for today's edition, I thought that we'd do something that I very rarely do.

We're going to be taking a look at a television show that is currently on the air.

I've done this before a couple of times...most notably with “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”. But it's something that I don't usually do because I don't really care for a lot of what passes as “quality television” in 2012. I'd rather be watching classic reruns of television programs, to be honest.

In this case, I'll make an exception. And, I believe that I have chosen a fantastic subject for today.

Remember how two weeks ago, I did that blog entry on Doogie Howser M.D.? Well, in that entry, I had mentioned that for Neil Patrick Harris ended up finding success on another show that is currently on the air.



That show, of course is “How I Met Your Mother”, which has been on the air since September 19, 2005 on CBS.  It is currently in its eighth season, and is one of the most watched programs on CBS at this time.



And, for today's blog entry (which is really late, I know)...I thought that I would do a character sketch on one of the characters on the show.

But it won't be the character that Neil Patrick Harris plays. Granted, Barney is a decent character and I certainly could talk about him and never run out of things to say...and I imagine that Neil Patrick Harris has his fans.  But, to be honest, there's one character that I really wanted to do a feature on, mainly because the character (and the actress that portrays her on the show) is Canadian.  And since I myself am Canadian, we already have so much in common!



Today we're going to do a character spotlight on Robin Scherbatsky, who has been played by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders since the show's debut.

Now, before we get into the whole idea of who Robin is, and what her contributions to the show are, we should talk about what the show is about.  Yes, I am well aware that the show is still on the air, and that most of you already know what the show is about.  But on the slight chance that someone has not seen the show, here's the gist of it.

We're introduced to two teenagers (played by Lyndsy Fonseca and David Henrie) in the year 2030.  They're sitting on the couch in their living room, listening to the story of how their father met their mother.

TRIVIA:  "Full House" star Bob Saget is the voice of the narrator.

We quickly discover that the narrator is actually the 50-year-old version of Theodore Evelyn Mosby (known on the show as just Ted).  You see, part of the storyline goes that as Ted tells his children the tale of how he met their mother, we go back in time to what we consider present day and watch the younger Ted (Josh Radnor) in his many misadventures.  At first, the story seems to be centered around Ted, dating couple Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), and his womanizing best friend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). 

But then a beautiful brunette enters his life named Robin Scherbatsky.  And, initially, the meeting between the two of them is not exactly the most romantic...



...but keep in mind that whole scene was staged as a way to help Robin's friend feel better about a break-up.  But that one incident ended up cementing Robin's place in the Ted/Marshall/Lily/Barney group.

And in her first seven seasons, Robin Scherbatsky ended up making quite an impression on the show, and in the lives of the four other main characters.  But just how much of an impact did she make?  And, what did she do before she moved to New York?

Well, let's play a little game called "Did you know...?".



Did you know that Robin was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada?  It's true.  And the reason why Vancouver was chosen as Robin's place of birth was because of Cobie.  Since Cobie herself was born in Vancouver, it made perfect sense for Robin to hail from there as well.



Did you know that Robin's full name is Robin Charles Scherbatsky Jr.?  She was named after her father, Robin Charles Scherbatsky Sr. (played in a couple of guest appearances by "Twin Peaks" star Ray Wise and Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden).  On the show, Robin Sr. and Robin Jr. have a strained relationship, and Robin Jr. actually resents her upbringing.

Did you know that Robin was once a child starlet in Canada when she was in her teens, and that she recorded a couple of hit singles in Canada, such as the one below.



(Oh yeah...despite the fact that Robin was born in the summer of 1980 and that the video was clearly shot as if it seemed like it was the late 1980s, Robin's explanation was that in Canada, the 1980s came about fifteen years too late.  Sadly as a Canadian, as far as music goes, it seemed to be somewhat truthful.)



Did you know that when we're first introduced to Robin, she was a journalist at Metro News 1?  She eventually ended up hosting her own morning show...which aired at four in the morning.

Did you know that Robin ended up having romantic relationships with both Ted and Barney?  It's true.  At some point, both relationships ended, and this lead to some friction, but as of 2012, everything is fine between Robin and all of her friends. 

Did you know that Robin is a terrible liar according to her friends?  Ted believed that Robin could not tell a lie without giggling incessantly, but Lily notes that Robin tends to speak in a higher than normal voice (something that Lily refers to as her "truth voice") whenever she does speak the truth.  So, which is the truth, and what's a lie?  Who knows?

Did you know that Robin is a smoker?  And that she's very knowledgable in the subject of cigars?



Did you know that Robin has a rather strange fetish of sorts?  She seems to be attracted to men who have scars, missing teeth, or bruises.  In fact, she once found Barney more attractive when she believes he has gotten into a fight.

(Hmmm...I wonder what she would have thought of my own scar...well, if she were real and not a fictional character, that is...)

Did you know that Robin had never wanted to settle down and have children?  Sadly, it was discovered that Robin was unable to have children, and she broke down in Ted's arms over the discovery.  Of course, Robin tried to pass off the fact that she was really upset about not making the Olympic team for pole-vaulting, but Ted saw through it.

So, I suppose you've figured out by now that Robin is obviously not the mother.



In fact, after seven seasons, we still don't know who the mother of Ted's two children are...meaning that the 50-year-old Ted is a complete windbag!  But, I imagine that at the end of the series, we'll all find out who it is...and you can bet that Robin is going to be a part of it in some manner.  You can bank on that one.


Thursday, September 27, 2012

The 7 Stages of Grief


Profile pictures can be quite interesting topics of discussion. Depending on the context of the profile picture that one uses on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, the reactions can range from “wow, that profile pic makes you look so fine” to “AAAAAHHHH!!! Turn it off! Turn it off!”

Recently, I have changed my own profile pic on my personal Facebook page (and no, I won't post a link to it on the blog). But I will post the whole image of the photograph directly below for all of you to see.



I know what you're saying. What the heck were you thinking choosing a photograph like that? I'm standing in the kitchen area of the employee lounge, I'm wearing my work uniform (well, the vest at least), and my expression looks as if I am about to mimic my best impersonation of the Incredible Hulk.

But there's a story behind this particular picture that I want to tell all of you before I really get into the real topic of today's blog entry.

This picture was taken a little over three months ago. In fact, I even remember the date. Friday, June 22, 2012. On that date, all of us employees gathered together in our tiny little employee lounge to bid someone a fond farewell. And for me, it was someone that I knew very well.

The person that we were sending our best wishes to in his retirement was my old supervisor. His name was Alex, and he and I worked together for approximately seven years together. Throughout those seven years we ended up forming a very close friendship. Although he was considerably older than I was (and I won't reveal how much of an age difference there really was, as he used to always smack me whenever I brought it up), in many ways, he was young at heart. He always had a joke to tell (sometimes very raunchy ones at that), and he was always willing to go to bat for you whenever you needed him to do exactly that. There have been times in which we have disagreed with each other (including one particular dark day in December 2009 in which I completely deserved the stern lecture I received from him for my particularly poor attitude back then), but for the most part, we got along great.

So when Alex came to us in May to tell us that he was retiring from his job effective June 2012, my co-workers and I were quite saddened to hear the news. Although we knew that he hadn't been feeling well at that time, we thought that it was probably the best thing for him to retire so that he could focus on getting better.

I was actually asked by our personnel manager if I wanted to plan a bit of a sendoff for Alex on his last day, and of course I jumped at the chance to do it. After all, of all the people who knew Alex, I was one of the ones he was closest to in the store. How could I not be a part of his send-off? We chose the cake, we selected the card for each of the employees of my store to sign, and I was asked to compose a retirement speech for Alex. I'll be the first to admit that I was incredibly nervous about reading a speech in front of the hundred or so people who were in the employee lounge at the time, as public speaking is NOT MY FORTE. But I stared fear directly in the face and got through the speech as best I could. In fact, that photo was taken while I was reading the speech out loud. Somehow, I got through it, and all ended up fine. I could tell that Alex was really moved by it, and in the end, that was what I had hoped would happen. A few people told me that I did a great job, but it was in honour of Alex. I had worked extra hard on the speech because it was for him. It was his moment, and he needed to know how much he meant to not only myself, but to the number of co-workers that he worked with over the seven-and-a-half years he was with the company.

I remember that when the time came for Alex to leave the store for the final time, I told him to not be a stranger and that he should come and visit the store lots and lots because we all wanted to hear about how he was going to spend his retirement. I had no idea that conversation would end up being the last one that I would ever have with him.

On Wednesday, September 19, 2012, my former co-worker, my former boss, and my friend Alex passed away. And, when I heard the news, I felt immediately sick and unable to process the news.

Just three months earlier, we were celebrating his success within the store, and we were all sending him our best wishes. It was like a kick in the stomach when I received the news that he had passed on. It was so shocking that it has taken me eight days (well, six or seven actually, as I found out some time later) to really sit down and express how I was really feeling.

You know how there is something called the Seven Stages of Grief? I think that I ended up feeling all seven stages all at once when I left work the day I found out the devastating news. I'm still having a difficult time trying to make sense of it. I probably will have this feeling for some time to come because he was such an important person in my life. When it came down to sign a condolence card set up in the store for his loved ones, I really struggled with what to write inside of it. I didn't want to come across as not being genuine, but at the same time, I didn't want to take over the entire card to offer my support to his family.

So, I thought I'd share my feelings right here using the Seven Stages of Grief.



STAGE ONE: SHOCK AND DENIAL

When I first heard the news about Alex, I think that my heart may have stopped beating for about a microsecond. Remember how I said that hearing the news felt like a kick in the gut? Well, that's exactly how it felt to me. And even after hearing the news, I still couldn't believe that it was real. I mean, three months earlier, he seemed fine. I mean, sure, he walked with a cane, but a lot of people do. Certainly that didn't mean that he was on his way out, I thought. I actually believed that he would come back better than ever once he spent some time away from the store. There was no way that he could have gone downhill that quickly, I told myself. There was just no way.



STAGE TWO: PAIN AND GUILT

It probably wasn't until I got home from work that day that the pain of what had happened really hit me. I think that I was subconsciously trying to keep a brave face during the rest of my shift on the sales floor even though it took everything in me not to break down in front of a customer who was asking where the chocolate milk was being sold. Once I got home, I completely shut down, and was very upset. At the time, I was also having some personal conflicts with a couple of other people, so it was a really bad time. Remember that time last week in which I was half-heartedly into this blog and informed everyone that I didn't feel like writing at that time? That was everything happening all at once. As far as the guilt goes, I'll admit that I did feel some guilt. I remember that Alex had given me his phone number, and I ended up losing it about a week later. I always felt guilty for losing it, and I really wished that I could have had one more conversation with him before he passed away...and when I kept thinking about that, I broke down even more.



STAGE THREE: ANGER AND BARGAINING

Soon my pain shifted towards anger over the whole situation. What had happened was incredibly unfair to my friend. He had just retired three months earlier. He should have had at least ten, twenty years to enjoy doing what he wanted to do. All that time was taken away from him, and that made me so angry at the world. It was just too cruel a fate. He should have had more time to enjoy his retirement. I never really did much bargaining though...I was too upset to even think about that at the time.



STAGE FOUR: DEPRESSION, REFLECTION, AND LONELINESS

That whole night, I stayed in my bedroom in the peace and quiet, thinking about things. I didn't want to be near anyone else at that moment. I just wanted to be alone. It was too much to bear. I couldn't even imagine what Alex's loved ones must have been experiencing at the time. I would think that their pain would likely be ten times worse than mine. I did a lot of thinking about the time that Alex and I spent together as co-workers, and most of the time was filled with wonderful memories. I remember first meeting him seven years ago, and he would always use to poke fun at me. At that time, I worked in frozen foods, and he would often call me by a nickname that I really can't repeat on this blog as it's kind of offensive. (But if you really want to know what it is, I suppose you could private message me on Facebook or leave a comment on this blog with an e-mail address, and I will tell you.) At first, it was annoying...but I sort of grew to like it. And that was Alex's way. If he liked you, he gave you a naughty nickname. It was like a rite of passage. It's all I can do to keep holding it together...to remember the good times we shared with each other, you know?



STAGE FIVE: THE UPWARD TURN

It's taken me a few days to reach this point. Although I tried to distract myself this past weekend by going out of town on an excursion, I was still feeling down. I was so down that I actually felt car sick and had to get out of the car to breathe in some fresh air. Whether that was actual nausea, or whether it was brought on by grief, I haven't any idea. But by the following Monday, I was feeling slightly better, and I was able to cope a bit better. Of course, there were moments in which I couldn't help but think about Alex. I'll admit that trying to get back into a regular routine at work was challenging - I actually shed a tear when I came across Alex's old cooler jacket while I was doing the temperature checks for my department – but it was something that I needed to do. Alex wouldn't have wanted me to feel sad for very long, and the more I kept telling myself that, the better things ended up getting...



STAGE SIX: RECONSTRUCTION AND WORKING THROUGH

...and the better that things got, the better I felt about the job. I remember several of my co-workers coming up to me and asking me how I was doing, but I was more concerned with how they were feeling. After all, Alex ended up touching a lot of lives while he was working at the store. He was well liked by the majority of the people at the store, and it dawned on me that I wasn't the only one who was grieving his loss. Knowing that other people were feeling sad helped me talk about it more...and everyone knows that the more you express your feelings, the better you feel.



STAGE SEVEN: ACCEPTANCE AND HOPE

So, here we are. September 27, 2012. At this point in time, I have accepted the loss of my dear friend. I still feel sad, and I am probably going to miss him for such a long time, if not forever...but I've also made peace with the fact that he is no longer suffering in pain. I have the feeling that he probably knew that his time was limited on this earth, but never told any of us just how serious things were, for he didn't want any of us to worry, and I get that. There's also no funeral service or memorial planned for him, which was also quintessential Alex. Alex and I even had a bit of a conversation about that a few years ago, and he said that when he died, he wouldn't want everyone grieving him at a memorial service...he would rather have people remember him for who he was. So, as far as closure goes, I always have this blog entry to look at whenever I start to miss his presence. As long as I remember him for who he was as a person while he worked at the store, then I can have that closure.

I can also begin to move forward from this, and knowing Alex, he would likely tell me to do exactly that. As I said before, Alex was never the type of person who wanted us to fuss over him, or worry about him (which is why I don't have a picture of him included in this entry...mainly because I think he was just as camera-shy as I was in many ways). He took life by the horns and he rode it for all it was worth. And, in some ways, I think he ended up passing his way of life onto me, and I hope that one day, I can find a way to embrace life the same way he did while he was still living. In some ways, it might end up being the ultimate way to show my gratitude towards him for his friendship over the years.

I think that I'll always miss him while I am still living...but he would want me to go on and pursue my dreams because he never once gave up on me. He always supported me whenever I was at my lowest, and I could talk to him about anything. I think that our talks will likely be the one thing that I will remember the most about him. He may have doled out advice amidst a slew of F-bombs and dirty jokes, but that advice was golden.

In fact, one of the last things that he ever said to me before he retired from the store was that I should never, ever sell myself short. And, I will hold his words in my brain for the rest of my life. He knew that I always had low self-esteem, and during our seven year friendship, he not only improved my self-worth with his advice, but he did it so effortlessly that I knew I could always count on him to be there for me no matter what. He certainly proved his friendship to me over the years when he visited me in the hospital several times when I was recovering from my gall bladder removal surgery from hell.

So, I dedicate this blog entry to my friend Alex, and I hope that he is in a better place. Who knows? If there is such a thing as Heaven, maybe they have wireless internet up there and he's able to read this right now...and I hope that he would find this piece just as touching as the speech I wrote for him three months ago.

That's all that I have to say today.