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Friday, November 02, 2012

Joan of Arcadia


I don't usually do this for a Friday entry, but I would like to begin this particular blog entry with a song. Ladies and gentlemen, Joan Osborne.



ARTIST: Joan Osborne
SONG: One of Us
ALBUM: Relish
DATE RELEASED: February 21, 1995
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #4

Here's a little bit of background information about this song. It was written by Eric Bazilian of The Hooters in what he called the easiest song he had ever written. He admitted in an interview that he wrote the song in an effort to impress a woman (that woman would later become his wife). When he was brought onto the Joan Osborne album project as a songwriter, he played a demo of the song to Joan and record producer Rick Chertoff and Rick asked Joan if she could sing it. She replied that she could, the song appeared on Joan's “Relish” album, and by the end of 1995 was a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Charts.

Mind you, it was Joan's ONLY hit to break the American charts, but what a song it was.

I was in eighth grade going into ninth grade when the song was released, and I remember the song getting some mild controversy over the lyrics of the chorus.

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home.

Apparently some overly religious people didn't take too kindly to hearing God being compared to a slob, but I didn't see it that way. It's an interesting song about how we would end up dealing with the idea of God being exactly like us. We've all seen the stereotypical version of God before. A man with a beard as long as Crystal Gayle's hair, usually stands about 100 feet tall, lives up in the clouds, and has a closet filled entirely with white clothes. But in the music video, God could be anyone in any size. God could be a little girl, an obese man, a man covered with tattoos, a woman with several pets, a person who resembles someone on the television show “Hoarders”.

In fact, today's television spotlight deals with this particular concept. What if we were walking down the street, we meet a stranger who looks like an average Joe or Jill, and they immediately tell us that they are “God”, and they have been sent to guide us in making decisions that will help other people, which in turn will help us understand ourselves better?

And as it so happens, Joan's song was the theme song for this particular television show.



The subject for today's blog is the short-lived television series “Joan of Arcadia”, which aired for two seasons between September 26, 2003 and April 22, 2005.

And, I will be the first to admit that I am still bitter over this show's cancellation.

First, let me explain something. I am not exactly what I would call a religious person. I don't believe in organized religion, and I choose not to go to church on Sundays (mainly because I work a job in which I have to work most Sundays). At the same time, I admit that I can't really call myself an atheist because I honestly am not sure if a God exists or not.



But I really like the plot of “Joan of Arcadia”, and I thought it was one of the best-written shows of the 2000s. It should have been given more of a chance, especially since reaction was so positive during its first season. It was even nominated for an Emmy Award during its very first year on the air. I still can't figure out why the show only lasted for two years. I mean, yes, the show did lose approximately two million viewers when season two began, but it still scored a respectable eight million viewers. Reportedly there was even a letter-writing campaign to bring the show back on the air after it was taken off the CBS schedule in May 2005, but it was to no avail. By that September, “Ghost Whisperer” had taken over “Joan of Arcadia's” old time slot.

And, so marked the end of a very good show.



Anyway, the show featured the acting talents of Amber Tamblyn, Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Ritter, and Michael Welch. In season two, Becky Wahlstrom and Christopher Marquette were bumped up to regular roles from recurring.

The show takes place in the fictional community of Arcadia, Maryland, and the main focus surrounds the Girardi family. Will Girardi (Mantegna) is the chief of Arcadia's police force, and works to try and end the internal corruption within the town of Arcadia. His wife, Helen (Steenburgen) works at Arcadia High School as the secretary (she becomes the art teacher in season two). Will and Helen have three children. The youngest is Luke (Welch), a computer and science geek who is a straight A student. The eldest, Kevin (Ritter), is confined to a wheelchair following a car accident who gets a job at a local newspaper.

And then there's the Girardi's middle child, Joan, played by Amber Tamblyn. The subject of our show.



In many ways, Joan is the typical 15-year-old girl. In the show's first episode, she happens to be on a bus when she spots a teenage boy staring at her. Joan seems to like the attention that the boy is giving her, thinking that he has a crush on her. As it turns out, the boy is definitely interested in Joan, and is wanting to talk to her. But the boy doesn't want to ask her for her phone number or to take her to the movies.

He's there because he is God. And God is there to accept the promise that Joan made him a couple of years ago. Joan seems to not take it seriously until he mentions Kevin's car accident. You see, the car accident that Kevin was involved in was a lot more serious. There was a possibility that he could have died from his injuries. But then Joan looked up towards the heavens, prayed to God to save his life, and told God that she would do whatever God desired in order to make sure that Kevin survived. And when God fills Joan in, she begins to believe that she really is talking to him.

So what exactly does God want Joan to do? Simple. He wants Joan to take on various tasks. And the best part is that they are just simple tasks. Adopting a stray cat. Starting up a community rock garden. Getting a job at a book store. Really simple stuff.



Joan does question some of the events though. To Joan, she isn't exactly sure how doing menial tasks like joining the school yearbook committee, becoming a cheerleader, or enrolling in advanced chemistry will help her make the world a better place. But what Joan doesn't realize is that these seemingly innocent tasks will help open up a larger picture, and expands Joan's perspective on life. By listening to God, she ends up finding her first love in Adam Rove (Marquette), bonds with the rebellious Grace Polk (Wahlstrom), and becomes a better person overall.

There are some instances in which Joan's tasks have helped prevent an even bigger tragedy. When God instructs Joan to take a school bully to a dance, she scoffs at the idea at first, reasoning that nobody at school likes him, and that she would just be wasting her time. To make matters worse, when word gets out that Joan has asked him to the dance, she is met with opposition from assistant principal Gavin Price (Patrick Fabian) and her mother. But Joan follows through with God's idea, and she and the bully initially have a good time. But Joan soon discovers that he is carrying alcohol on his person. She manages to convince him not to drink any of it, but assistant principal Price finds the bottle and expels the bully. The boy later threatens to shoot Joan's father with a handgun and is immediately taken to jail. Joan is unsure of what the point of it all was when the boy still ended up ruining his life, but God tells Joan that her presence helped prevent an even greater tragedy from unfolding. If Joan had not stepped in and taken him to the dance, there would have been a school shooting at Arcadia High in which twelve people would end up dead before he turned the gun on himself. It was a sobering reality for Joan to take, but she realized that his fate was the lesser of two evils.

Now, there were also a couple of instances in which Joan seems to lose faith in God and herself. The season one finale showed Joan having a nervous breakdown and hospital tests revealed that she was suffering from Lyme Disease, and Joan believed that was the reason why she could see God. By the time she returns back home after spending the summer at a psychiatric camp, she begins ignoring God for a bit, thinking that she is just hearing things. But by the second episode of the second season, she goes right back to following God's wishes, and doing what God asks of her.



In another instance, Joan's friend Judith (Sprague Grayden) ends up passing away, and Joan blames God for letting her friend die...and although she is very angry at what happened, she does come to terms with it, as you will see by clicking HERE.

Here's the beautiful part though. In “Joan of Arcadia”, God breaks the stereotype associated with his appearance. In this show, God appears to Joan in a variety of forms. In fact, here's a partial list of some of the actors who have played God in “Joan of Arcadia”.

Kathryn Joosten – Old Lady God
Juliette Goglia – Little Girl God
Russ Tamblyn – Dog-Walker God (the real-life father of Amber Tamblyn)
Kris Lemche – Cute Guy God
Jeffrey Licon – Goth Kid God
Adam Richman – Butcher God (host of Man v. Food)
Zachary Quinto – Video Assignment God
Fred Stoller – Pizza Delivery God
Curtis Armstrong – Security Guard God
Phill Lewis – Naval Officer God
will.i.am – Three Card Monte Guy God
Susan Sullivan – Rich Woman God
Allyce Beasley – Woman With Cats God
Christy Carlson Romano – Officious Hall Monitor God

Now here is where my frustration with the show takes place. The finale of the show's second season was one that was sort of a cliffhanger of sorts. In the episode, Joan is informed by God that the last two years were a test. It was to train her for an even larger battle with the devil himself (in this case, it is presumed that the devil was in the persona of a dot com millionaire played by Wentworth Miller). It was meant to lead into the third season storylines...

...only THERE WAS NO THIRD SEASON!!!

I HATE it when shows end on a cliffhanger with loose ends left untied. Why did CBS have to cancel a show without wrapping things up? They should have at least filmed a television movie to air on Saturday night to wrap things up.

I guess in some ways, even though it has been seven years since the show ended, I still get a little bit bitter over how the show ended. And, I think that I'm probably not the only one who is.

But the cast of the show has since moved on, and most have found new jobs. Joe Mantegna replaced Mandy Patinkin when he left the cast of “Criminal Minds”, and has played the role of David Rossi ever since. Mary Steenburgen has acted in several films including “Step Brothers”, “Four Christmases” and “The Proposal”. Amber Tamblyn starred in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and wrapped up a guest stint on “House M.D.” last year. Jason Ritter is currently in a recurring role on “Parenthood”, and Michael Welch has played the role of Mike Newton in every one of the Twilight films.

I guess maybe in some ways...God was watching over the cast...making sure they found work after cancellation. Or, so it'd be nice to think.  

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Rock The Vote!


Wow...it seemed like almost yesterday that we were ringing in 2012, and now it’s the first day of November!  Say it isn’t so!  This whole year seems to be zooming by at an alarming rate!  I almost can’t believe that we are just two months away from 2013!

2012 has been a year unlike no other, and to top it all off, it is an election year in the United States.


In just less than a week, Americans in all fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia will be casting their votes to determine whether Barack Obama will win his second term in the Oval Office, or if Mitt Romney will dethrone him.  One thing is for certain.  This election has seemingly been one of the most unpredictable in the last century.  At certain points during the campaign and depending on what state you happen to live it, the favourable opinions can flip around almost daily.  In this particular election, every vote will definitely count.

And that’s exactly what the point of this blog is all about.  Voting, voting, voting!



Now, I see some of you looking at me and scratching your heads in confusion.  Matthew, I hear you say.  You are Canadian!  Why would you have an opinion on an election in which you cannot take part in?  Why have a say on something that doesn’t concern you?

I hear what you’re thinking.  It’s true that I can’t vote in the American elections as I only have Canadian citizenship.  But I see your claims and I raise you this.  My words not only apply to American elections, but Canadian, British, Australian, and any other country that uses democracy and public voting in order to select the future leaders of their countries.



This is the blog entry that is all about rocking the vote!

That’s right, everybody.  This post is all about everyone going out to the polls to make their voices heard. 

I’ll tell you something.  When I was growing up in Canada, I always remembered being fascinated by the election process.  I wanted to have the chance to vote in an election as long as I could remember.  My eighteenth birthday could not come fast enough.


I mean, think about it.  You have the ability to attempt to make a difference by going out to the polling stations and marking that “X” right beside the candidate of your choice.  Maybe some of you reading this believe that your one vote won’t make a difference, but believe me, it does.  Have you ever seen one of those class elections in high school where two candidates run against each other and the difference between the winner and runner-up is less than ten votes?  Believe me, every vote does count.

That’s why I feel a little sad whenever I see voter turnout declining from election to election.

In the last Canadian election that I can recall (and yes, I did vote in it), I don’t know what the voter turnout was country wide, but I can tell you that in my hometown, voter turnout was actually less than fifty per cent.  I think it was even below forty per cent!  That’s really pathetic.

I suppose there are some circumstances in which people simply can’t get out to vote.  People who are recovering from surgery or who are bedridden in a hospital are likely not going to make it out to the polls.  If we had an election in February 2011 while I was recovering from surgery...well, that might very well be the only reason why I would not cast my vote.  Some people might be out of the country at the time of an election, and I can see that being a reasonable excuse why they couldn’t get to the polls.  And some people who are on the voting list may have actually passed away months before the election takes place...and well, dead men can’t vote.

But what about the rest of you?

You want to know what some of the most common excuses I hear from my neck of the woods are as to why people don’t choose to exercise their right to vote?  Here’s a sample list.

-          My vote will not, nor will it ever change things

-          My vote is just going to be thrown away anyway

-          There is too much corruption so I’m taking a stand and not voting for anyone

-          I have no way of getting to my polling station

-          I’m too lazy to register for my voter’s card

-          I’m too lazy to change my address in order to get my voter’s card

-          I’m way too busy and I don’t have the time to vote

-          I don’t have the proper identification to vote

Now here’s where I go in and tell you why these excuses are totally bogus.

I’ve already explained why I feel that the first excuse is worthless.  Of course your vote makes a difference!  Even if you end up voting for the person that loses, your vote (especially in Canada) could mean the difference between a minority and majority government.  And believe me, that makes a huge difference.

Bogus excuse number two...my vote will just be thrown away.  Well, yeah, maybe it will if you decide to vote for the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or the late Michael Jackson.  But as long as you vote for one of the people on the ballot, believe me.  It will count.  I say this as someone who actually did a couple of stints as a poll clerk.  I had to count every single ballot, and I had to tally them up.  In some cases, we recounted the ballots three times in order to make sure the totals added up.  I can’t speak for anyone else who has ever worked as a poll clerk, but I did my job with the integrity it deserved.


Oh, and don’t even talk to me about apathy at the polling stations.  As far as I’m concerned, people who choose to abstain from the polls out of disgust for the candidates, frustration over how the government is, or just simply out of anarchy are people are basically throwing away a basic right that they have.  I hear people talk all the time about how they feel their rights are threatened, but then decide not to exercise their right to vote because of it.  Doesn’t that sound a little bit contradictory?

Okay, let’s talk about being unable to get to the polls now.  Well, okay, since Sandy’s visit through New York and New Jersey, citizens there have a legitimate excuse, as they’re probably busy trying to rebuild their lives...and even then, I reckon that many of those people would still find a way to vote for who they want to see in office.  After all, disaster relief has been a huge issue in American politics since the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  But aside from a natural disaster, I can’t feel much sympathy for this excuse.  For one, most of the polling stations in my town are usually located within a five-block radius.  It only took me fifteen minutes by foot to get to my polling station in the last election.  And even so, I imagine that a lot of communities would have shuttle buses available to take people who don’t have transportation to ensure that everyone in the community gets the chance to vote.  And if they don’t...why not implement that?  I think that would be a fantastic idea!

Don’t even get me started on registering for your right to vote.  When I registered for my voter’s card, the entire procedure only took ten minutes at the most!  Even when I lost my voter’s card, the wait to vote was not that long.  Do not give me the excuse that you are too lazy to vote because I will not take you seriously.

Ditto on the belief that you don’t have the time to vote.  Most polling stations in Canadian elections close anywhere between 8:00pm and 9:00pm, depending on the type of election.  I remember having to work until 8:30pm one election day, and my polling station ended up being a twenty minute drive from my workplace (it really would have only been ten, except I had the misfortune of hitting EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT along the way), and I STILL made it into the polling station in time to cast my vote.  You can squeeze it in during a lunch break, or on your way to work (most polling stations I would assume are open around 8:30am or 9:00am).  You have plenty of time to cast a vote, even if you have to wait in a small line to do it.


VOTING TIP:  I find that the best time to go and vote (from my own personal experience that is) is around two o’clock in the afternoon.  Most people are still at work, and from my experience as a poll clerk, the 2:00 hour was the slowest.  If you can, try aiming for that time.  If not, going just as the polls open up, or about an hour before they close up is your next best bet.  But that's just my own experience.

As for the last excuse, there is often a list of requirements for identification on your voter’s card...but if not, I’m sure they can be found online.  You could likely even call the official election offices to find out the requirements. 

So you see?  These are all superficial excuses that people make in regards to not voting, and I’ve debunked them all.


Would you believe that there was a time in which people of colour, and women were not even allowed the right to vote?  And do you know how many people fought tooth and nail to get the right to vote implemented for everybody over the age of eighteen?  Susan B. Anthony was even arrested for attempting to vote for presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant! 

The fact that so many people fought so hard to make sure that everyone had the right to vote...well, I think we owe it to them to make all of our votes count. 

America...whether you’re pro-Romney, or pro-Obama...you owe it to yourselves to make your vote count.  So get out to the polls on November 6th and vote, vote, vote!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Ouija Halloween!!!


First things first...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Halloween night, and that you have lots of tricks and treats headed your way. I imagine that quite a few of you will be headed out for candy collecting this evening, and I hope that your pillowcases, reusable grocery bags, and plastic pumpkin buckets get filled to capacity this year.



But before I go on with today's special Halloween topic, I just want to remind you all to play it safe this Halloween. Halloween can be a day that is filled with lots of fun and haunting good times. But it can also be a day that can be dangerous if you don't take the proper precautions. Here is a mandatory list of things that you can do to make this Halloween a safe one.


  • If you're going trick-or-treating, wear bright colours so that drivers can see you. If your costume does not have any bright colours, wear reflective tape or carry a glo-stick so that you can be seen.
  • Always make sure that you are with at least one other person when you go trick-or-treating. There is safety in numbers!



  • When you get home, have your parents or guardians check over your stash of candy for unwrapped or peculiar looking candies. Although most homes are safe to accept treats from, you can never be too careful.
  • A good rule of thumb is to toss out any homemade treats that are given out, unless they happen to come from someone that you know and trust, like a neighbour or family member.
  • If you are 21 or over (19 in Canada), make sure you have a designated driver if you drink a little bit too much. Barring all that, make plans to stay overnight. A Halloween DUI is no fun.

But, most of all, HAVE FUN! Halloween is supposed to be a fun holiday, and it only comes around once a year, so make the best of it!

Now for today's special Halloween themed blog entry, I thought that I would choose something that has been the focal point of many Halloween parties. Most times, they are used in harmless fun...but there have been a few instances in which they have awakened the dead, and caused spiritual unrest. Sometimes they can even be cursed, or deadly, depending on the movie in which you see them in.

Hard to believe that a piece of wood could have so much power.



Yes, today's topic is all about the Ouija Board...a fitting end to the month of spookiness known as October.

By all accounts, the Ouija (pronouced Wee-Jee)...



...ahem...thank you, Luigi.

As I was saying, the Ouija Board upon first glance doesn't look all that frightening. It's a piece of wood with all the letters in the alphabet, the numerals 0-9, and a few words that include “Yes”, “No”, “Hello” (sometimes), and “Goodbye”. If anything, it might look like something that could be sold at Mr. Hooper's Store on Sesame Street.

The trick with the Ouija Board comes from the second piece of the game. Each Ouija Board comes with a small, triangular piece known as a planchette, and how it works is that the person who is calling the séance uses the planchette to communicate messages from the dead to the living, and everyone else involved in the séance is supposed to hold the planchette as well. For instance, if a spirit wants to indicate that they are present, the planchette will mysteriously move to the word “Hello”. Or, sometimes the spirit might wish to spell out a person's name, so the planchette will move to each letter in the person's name. It'd take a short time if your name was Lee, but forever if your name happened to be Elizabeth-Maria or something similar.



Would you believe that the Ouija Board has been sold in stores for well over one hundred years? The idea behind the Ouija Board was first pitched by businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard. They had the idea of patenting a planchette sold with a board with the alphabet written on it, because at the time, planchettes were considered to be a novelty toy.

Bond and Kennard filed the patent on May 28, 1890, and from there invented the very first Ouija Board. The issue date on the patent was February 10, 1891, receiving the U.S. Patent number of 446,054. William Fuld, an employee of Kennard, took over the talking board production, and by 1901, he started production of his own boards, using the name “Ouija”, a word that he claimed was an ancient Egyptian word meaning “good luck”. But the word “Ouija” is also a combination of both the French and German translations of the word “yes”.

At some point, despite the fact that the board was patented by Bond and Kennard, Fuld would end up getting notoreity for the board by rewriting history, claiming that he himself had invented it! Several companies tried to come up with their own versions of the board using the “Ouija” name, and Fuld launched lawsuits against all of them right up to his death in the late 1920s! Fuld's estate sold the rights to the Ouija board to Parker Brothers in 1966, which was then transferred to Hasbro when the company bought out Parker Brothers in 1991.

As far as whether I believe that Ouija Boards can be used to communicate with the spirit world, I cannot confirm or deny that they do or don't. I have never owned a Ouija Board, nor have I ever used one. I imagine that those of you who have might have used a Ouija Board must have some interesting stories to tell (and if you have a few minutes, please post them here if you like. I'm sure that some of us would love to read them!

But you know something? The Ouija Board wasn't originally meant to be a communication aid with departed spirits. It wasn't until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized the board as a use as a divining tool during the first World War that the meaning changed.

And, not everyone is pleased over the fact that Ouija Boards exist. There has been criticism from people of various religions, particularly from evangelical Christians. In 2001, a demonstration was held in Alamogordo, New Mexico which saw Ouija Boards and Harry Potter books burned in a gigantic bonfire by several fundamentalist groups, claiming that they were “symbols of witchcraft”. Some people have even claimed that the Ouija Board is actually a tool of Satan!

Other people claim that the Ouija Board cannot contact spirits, and is simply just another way for people to part with their money.

But, I happen to like the mystery behind the Ouija Board. I really think that the Ouija Board is what you make of it, and if you want to believe that it works, then work it shall. Or something like that.

To conclude this Halloween piece, why not take a look at some of the movies that have used Ouija Boards as part of the plot?

The Uninvited (1944)
13 Ghosts (1960)
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
Alison's Birthday (1979)
Amityville 3-D (1983)
Spookies (1985)
Awakenings (1990)
Radio Flyer (1991)
Grim (1995)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Spirit Trap (2005)
Downtown Abbey (2011)
The Pact (2012)



Happy Halloween, everybody!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

October 30, 1938


Twas the day before Halloween, and all through the streets
Millions of kids are dreaming of treats.
Chocolates, candies, and Strawberry Nibs
Candy corn and Tootsie Rolls, I got first dibs.
Before we go out dressed as trolls and the Mad Hatter
We need the weekly dose of Tuesday Timeline chatter
It's October the thirtieth, ain't that sublime?
Because my friends, we're going back in time...

Okay, okay...so my poetry skills aren't exactly the most stellar. But I really wanted to make sure that I opened this latest blog entry on a spooky note, being that tomorrow is Halloween.

And for today's special entry, we're going to take a look back on an event that frightened so many people, they expected the absolute worst.

For now, let's see what else happened on October 30. I imagine that at the end of this list come next year, there will be an entry for this year depicting the “Frankenstorm” of 2012. Again, I imagine that quite a few of you in the Northeastern USA are likely without power right now, but if you are able to see this, know that my thoughts are definitely with you during this time, and I hope that every single one of you stays safe.

Okay, so here is what else has happened on the second last day of October.

758 – Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates

1485 – King Henry VII of England is crowned

1831 – Escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested in Virginia after leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in American history

1864 – The community of Helena, Montana is founded following the discovery of gold in “Last Chance Gulch” by four prospectors

1894 – Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially

1905 – Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly

1918 – The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the first World War in the Middle East

1920 – The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney, Australia

1922 – Benito Mussolini is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy

1925 – John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter

1929 – The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany

1941 – One thousand-five hundred Jews are sent to Belzec extermination camp by the Nazis

1944 – Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

1945 – Jackie Robinson signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball colour barrier

1947 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is founded

1960 – The first successful kidney transplant is performed by Michael Woodruff in Edinburgh, Scotland

1961 – It is decreed that the body of Joseph Stalin be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb and buried near the Kremlin

1970 – A monsoon strikes Vietnam, killing 293, leaving almost a quarter of a million people homeless and ceases combat during the Vietnam War for a brief time

1972 – Two trains collide in Chicago, killing 45 people

1974 – The “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali takes place in Zaire

1975 – 15-year-old Martha Moxley is murdered, Michael Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy is later charged with her murder

1983 – The first democratic elections are held in Argentina after seven years of military rule

1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A

1987 – The video game console PC Engine is released in Japan (in North America it was released under the name TurboGrafx-16)

2000 – Comedian Steve Allen passes away at the age of 78 in Los Angeles, California

And here are the list of celebrities that were born on today's date. Celebrating birthdays today are Anna Wing, Vince Callahan, Jim Perry, Grace Slick, Henry Winkler, Robert L. Gibson, Timothy B. Schmit (Eagles), Rusty Goffe, Garry McDonald, Harry Hamlin, Charles Martin Smith, Juliet Stevenson, Kevin Pollak, Stefan Dennis, Michael Beach, Kristina Wagner, Gavin Rossdale, Nia Long, Ben Bailey, Jessica Hynes, Jason Adelman, Amanda Swafford, Matthew Morrison, Ivanka Trump, and Eva Marcille.

So, what spooky date will we look back on this week?



October 30, 1938. And yes, I made the logo spooky on purpose.

Because today's tale features a very scary story read aloud by a man who would soon become a Hollywood heavyweight. Although this story was a fictional account, many who only heard parts of the broadcast reportedly panicked, thinking that the world as they knew it would change forever.



Have any of you heard of an author by the name of H.G. Wells? He was born in Bromley, Kent, England in 1866 and died on August 13, 1946 at the age of 79. During his life, he wrote several books which were very well-received and are widely considered to be classics today. Some of these books included “The Time Machine”, “The Invisible Man”, “The Island of Doctor Moreau”, and “The Shape of Things to Come”.



And he also wrote the novel entitled “The War of the Worlds”, which was first printed in the year 1898.

The War of the Worlds” was a depiction of what happened when Martians invaded Earth, and is widely considered to be one of the earliest literary works that depicted a conflict between mankind and extraterrestrial beings. Although the initial genre of the book is classified as being “scientific romance”, people have studied the novel closely and have interpreted it in a variety of ways since. Some people saw it as a social commentary piece on evolutionary theory, while others saw it as a statement regarding British imperialism. Some simply see the piece as a collection of Victorian-era superstitions, fears, and prejudices.



At any rate, the novel has been adapted into several different formats. Comic books, a television series, and a 2005 movie starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning.

And it was also the subject of a particular radio broadcast that aired on Sunday, October 30, 1938.

In 1938, radio programming was still the number one form of entertainment for people living in North America. Whether they were listening to murder mysteries, the world news, or episodes of the brand new serial “The Guiding Light”, people would sit and listen to the radio for hours as they went about their household chores.

One of the most popular radio shows that aired in 1938 was “The Chase and Sanborn Hour”. It aired every Sunday night at eight o'clock and starred famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (father of Candice) and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy.

Unfortunately for the producers of rival radio program “Mercury Theatre on the Air”, which aired opposite “The Chase and Sanborn Hour”, their program was walloped in the ratings. And this frustrated the 22-year-old dramatist who headed each edition of the “Mercury Theatre on the Air”.

Perhaps you might know this fellow. His name was Orson Welles.



That's right. Orson Welles. Future star of “Citizen Kane”, “Treasure Island”, and the voice of Unicron in the 1986 Transformers movie.

In 1938, Orson Welles was more than determined to dethrone Edgar Bergen as the star of Sunday night radio, and brainstormed various ways to make his show stand out from the rest.

With Halloween night the day after the scheduled airing of his show, Welles debated on how he could make his show extra special for that day. He then had the idea to take H.G. Wells' “War of the Worlds” and adapt it into a theatrical play for radio audiences. It was a big gamble for Welles to take. It was a delicate practice to perform a play on the radio as in a lot of cases, they did not translate very well to the audience. After all, radio plays could only be heard and not seen, and in a lot of cases, the plays were subject to time constraints (at most, radio shows ran for an hour in length, including commercial breaks.

So, Orson Welles had a lot of work to do in order to make his October 30 deadline. He worked with one of the writers of the program, Howard Koch, rewrote the entire story of “The War of the Worlds”, with Welles doing quite a few revisions to the script in order to meet the show length. The setting was also changed from Victorian England to present day New England.

So, on October 30, 1938 at 8:00 pm, the “Mercury Theatre on the Air” kicked off its Halloween broadcast with the following announcement. “The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. From there, Orson Welles went on the air and introduced the play with an introductory paragraph explaining that the world had been watched by intelligences greater than man's.

After the intro, the show segwayed into a weather report and music before being interrupted by a special news bulletin which announced that a Chicago-based professor had begun seeing explosions taking place on Mars. The music returned briefly before another news report came on featuring another interview with another professor. During the interview, the professor was handed a note explaining that a huge shock of almost earthquake intensity occurred near Princeton, New Jersey. It is believed by the professor that the vibration was caused by a meteorite hitting the earth's surface.

And at 8:50 that night, yet another news bulletin is broadcast...this time alerting that another meteorite had struck the planet near Grovers Mill, New Jersey. “Carl Phillips” soon begins reporting live from the scene where he discovers that the meteorite is really a thirty-yard wide metal cylinder, and upon further examination makes the following report.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. . . . Wait a minute! Someone's crawling. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . . are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be . . . good heavens, something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one, and another one, and another one. They look like tentacles to me. There, I can see the thing's body. It's large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face, it . . . ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it's so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate. A humped shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror. What's that? There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror, and it leaps right at the advancing men. It strikes them head on! Good Lord, they're turning into flame!
Now the whole field's caught fire. The woods . . . the barns . . . the gas tanks of automobiles . . it's spreading everywhere. It's coming this way. About twenty yards to my right...

The broadcast then goes silent for a few minutes before resuming with this frightening revelation, courtesy of an announcer.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been handed a message that came in from Grovers Mill by telephone. Just one moment please. At least forty people, including six state troopers, lie dead in a field east of the village of Grovers Mill, their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition.

A pretty morbid end to the whole night, wouldn't you think? And it gets worse. By the end of the broadcast, thousands of people are given the news that the Martians have invaded the earth, and that New York City was already being evacuated.

Now, as you all know by now, aliens did not invade the planet seventy-four years ago. But because many people relied on the radio to report on the outside world, people took the broadcast seriously (especially if they were tuning into the show already in progress), and were actually worried that the aliens were going to take over the world.

Reportedly, millions of people all over the United States reacted to the news in a variety of ways. Thousands of listeners called radio stations all over the country to get more information, and many people allegedly packed up suitcases prepared to flee their homes if necessary. Now, the claims of this actually happening have been questioned, and some don't actually believe that it really happened. But take a look at this headline from the New York Times dated Monday, October 31, 1938, and make your own call.

Whatever the case, the incident was reported as a hoax just hours later, and many people were very angry at Orson Welles. Many even speculated that Welles had plotted the whole radio broadcast as a publicity stunt. Whatever the case, that one radio broadcast was the beginning of a lucrative career for Orson Welles, which lasted until his death in October 1985.

And to think that it all began the day before Halloween in 1938.

Happy October 30th, everyone, and for those of you who are surviving Sandy, we're all pulling for you.

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Exorcist


Before I continue with this week’s Monday Matinee, I just wanted to extend my concerns to those of you living in the Northeastern part of the United States.  As I type this out, Hurricane Sandy is likely making landfall.  I hope that those of you who are in Sandy’s direct path stay safe, and I hope that everything will be okay for all of you.  Stay indoors if you haven’t evacuated yet.

For now though, I wish to tell you a personal story in relation to this edition of the Monday Matinee...a story that dates back a dozen years.

The year 2000 was a memorable one for me.  The last of my nieces and nephews were born during that year, I was living in Ottawa, Ontario at the time, and I was nineteen years old.  It was also the year that I managed to discover something about myself.  It was the year that I left high school and ventured out into the world, and realized that people in the real world weren’t nearly as sheltered, spoiled, and condescending as some of my high school classmates.  They were kind, nice, real down-to-earth people.  I loved every minute of it.

And imagine my surprise when my social life improved so much that I ended up going out regularly with groups of friends.

One outing I’ll always remember took place right around Halloween that year.  I was asked by someone who lived on my residence floor if I wanted to go to a movie with three of his friends at the Rideau Centre movie theatre.  Since I had no other plans that day, I was more than thrilled to attend.  So after we arrived at the Rideau Centre, popped into Shoppers Drug Mart to stock up on Sour Patch Kids, Doritos, and Hershey’s Miniatures (which we then proceeded to smuggle into the handbags and purses of our female companions to avoid the overpriced concession stands at the theatre), we tried to make up our minds over what movie we should see.

The decision we eventually came to was to watch a movie that was a re-release of a classic film.  At the time, the film was 27 years old, but we didn’t care.  If memory serves me, one of the group had seen the film already, but I and the three others had not.  The reason for the film’s re-release was to incorporate bonus footage that had been left on the cutting room floor two and a half decades earlier, but as someone who had never seen the film in its entirety prior to 2000 it was all new to me.

The film was a classic horror film.  Some would even say it was one of the best horror films ever made.  It seems hard to believe that next year the film will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary! 

I bet that must make Linda Blair feel very old, huh?


You see, when this film was released, Linda Blair was just fourteen.  Now she’s a woman of fifty-three!  It is really scary how time flies.

Of course, Linda Blair didn’t exactly have the most glamourous role in the film.  Just have a look at one of her many scenes in this film.


Lovely, ain’t she?  Oh, don’t worry.  That “vomit” is really harmless pea soup.  And that’s just one of the many secrets that I will reveal as we take an in depth look at William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist”, a film adaptation based on Blatty’s book directed by William Friedkin.


For those of you who have not yet seen the movie or read the book, I won’t spoil the plot for you too much.  But just to give you an indication of what the basic storyline is, it’s all about a twelve-year-old girl named Regan MacNeil (Blair) who begins to exhibit dangerous and dramatic mood swings.  Her mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn), an actress who is shooting a film near Washington DC, is quite concerned, and she sends her daughter for a slew of medical tests which only serve to prove that nothing is physically wrong with her.  She is then sent to a psychiatrist, whom Regan assaults.  By the first half of the film, Chris is at her wits end, witnessing Regan’s bed violently shaking, hearing strange noises, and undergoing physical abuse by her daughter. 


It gets so extreme that Chris is soon lead to believe that Regan may be possessed by the devil, and an exorcism must be performed in order to save Regan’s soul.  As a result, psychiatrist/priest Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) is asked by Chris to help perform the exorcism, and Karras brings an experienced exorcist, Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) to perform the ritual while Karras assists.  But the devil’s spirit within Regan is not prepared to give up without a fight...and before the night is out, tragedy will occur.

But of course, that is all that I will tell you.  Believe me when I say that this is one movie that you will not want to watch with the lights turned off.  I admit having to shield my eyes at some of the scary parts.  In fact, I even wrote a movie review of “The Exorcist” for my school newspaper twelve years ago.  I must warn you though, my writing style at nineteen was a lot more...shall we say...green as pea soup than it is at thirty-one, so be gentle.  J


Now here’s where the fun part comes in.  I mentioned a few of the cast members of this movie as well as the characters that they played in the film.  But did you know that almost every character was designed for other actors to play, and that each actor had their own reason for turning down the film?


Let’s start with the title role of Regan, shall we?

One of the actresses who was up for consideration was Pamelyn Ferdin, who once voiced the character of Lucy Van Pelt and who starred in a series of supernatural thrillers, but producers nixed the idea feeling that she was too well-known.  Denise Nickerson (who played Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory) was also up for the role of Regan, but her parents made the decision that the subject matter was too controversial for her, and pulled her out.  Anissa Jones of Family Affair was also considered.


The role of Father Merrin which eventually went to Max von Sydow was meant for Marlon Brando to take on if the studio heads had their way.  However, William Friedkin vetoed the idea because he didn’t want the movie to become a “Brando film”.  Meanwhile, regarding the role of Karras, Jack Nicholson was briefly considered before Stacy Keach initially landed the role.  But when Friedkin spotted Jason Miller acting in a play, Keach’s contract was bought out and Miller was given the role instead.


The role of Chris McNeil was also difficult to cast.  Both Shirley MacLaine and Jane Fonda flat out refused to do the film.  Anne Bancroft showed some interest in the role, but as she was pregnant at the time she was asked, she couldn’t commit to the role.  And the only way Audrey Hepburn would do the role was if the movie could be filmed in Rome.  So, after those four women turned down the role, Ellen Burstyn was next in line to be cast.

Here’s some other trivia for you.

-          Mercedes McCambridge provided the voice of the possessed Regan.

-          Although it is a horror movie closely associated with Halloween, the film was actually released the day after Christmas, 1973!

-          The movie won two of the ten Academy Awards it was nominated for.

-          Ellen Burstyn permanently damaged her spine while filming this movie.  In the scene where she is thrown away from Regan, she ended up falling on her coccyx, which caused her to screech in pain.

-          Four air conditioners were used in the refrigerated bedroom scene.

-          William Peter Blatty actually used the winnings he won on the quiz show, “You Bet Your Life” to work on the novel that inspired the film!

-          A moviegoer actually tried suing Warner Brothers in 1974 after he sustained a broken jaw after fainting during the film screening!

-          If the film was adjusted for inflation, “The Exorcist” would be the highest grossing horror film of all time.

-          The film schedule was supposed to last three months.  In actuality, it took 224 days!

-          Although the late Dana Plato claimed to have auditioned for the role of Regan, Blatty did not recall seeing her at any of the auduitions.

-          The production process of “The Exorcist” was done at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City.  Make of that what you will.

-          Linda Blair delivered her foul-mouthed dialogue in such a way that it caused Max von Sydow to temporarily forget his lines in shock!

-          The plot for “The Exorcist” was based on the alleged real exorcism of a 13-year-old boy named Robbie.

-          Although you wouldn’t know it from the make-up he wore in the film to look older, Max von Sydow was only 44 when he appeared in the film.

-          Director William Friedkin went to great lengths to get the emotional reactions he wanted in his film, even going so far as shooting loaded guns near the actors and unexpectedly slapping them across the face just before shooting pivotal scenes!

-          A woman named Linda Tuero was hired as an extra in the film.  She later became Mrs. William Peter Blatty!

-          Linda Blair had bodyguards protecting her six months after the film was released, due to death threats she received from religious zealots.



-          The entire exorcism scene lasted a grand total of nine minutes.