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Friday, December 21, 2012

Commercials Of Christmas Past


*tap tap tap*

Hello?  Anybody out there?  You can come out now!  The world hasn’t ended today!  We’re all still safe and sound, floating through space out of harm’s way...or at least until the next crackpot comes out of hiding and tries to predict the apocalypse yet again.

Today is December 21, 2012, and the only thing that is spectacular about today is that it happens to fall on the twenty-first day of The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar!  Aren’t you lucky!

For today’s blog entry, I have decided to make today an entirely commercial venture.  Oh, but don’t worry.  I’m not going to try to sell you anything (believe me, I make a horrible salesperson as it is).  Instead, I thought that we’d use this blog entry as a space where we can discuss our favourite (and maybe not-so-favourite) holiday ads over the last few years.

You can usually tell when the holidays are fast approaching when you turn on the television and during ad breaks, you see lots of snow, Christmas lights, and Santa Claus imagery amongst the cheeseburgers, shampoo, and automobile insurance salesmen.

What I find not so much fun is the fact that the holiday ads seem to begin earlier and earlier every year.  This past year, I remember seeing my very first Christmas commercial on HALLOWEEN NIGHT!  To me, that’s just plain overkill.  I suppose that by the year 2020, we’re going to be seeing Christmas ads in August, with advertisers trying to scare you into shopping early for the holidays.  After all, Christmas is only 120 days away!!!

Though, I digress.  Some of those holiday ads are quite memorable. 

So, I’ve searched through the darkest depths of YouTube high and low to try and compile a list of some of the most fascinating holiday commercials ever made.  And, I think I’ve come up with a great list.  Why don’t we start off with a classic?


Ah yes, the Hershey Kisses commercial with the silver kiss conducting a choir of red and green kisses to make a concerto of absolute sweetness?  It seems hard to believe, but this commercial has been delighting audiences for twenty-five years...at least.  I’m not sure exactly when the date was that it first premiered, but quite a few sources pinpoint the origin as being 1987.  It could be a year or two off, but considering that I remember it playing throughout my whole childhood, I would estimate that to be correct. 


Now, I believe that the commercial was either redone in high definition or completely redone, because the version that I am seeing for 2012 is much crisper and cleaner than the 1987 version...but it’s still the same commercial to me.  And, as far as I am concerned, it wouldn’t be the holidays without it.  It’s simplistic, but traditional...and it really makes me feel like the holidays have truly arrived.

While we’re on the subject of chocolate, let’s take a look at this commercial from the mid-1990s?


I make no secret that I have a love affair with M&M chocolate candies.  I have a beach towel, wristwatch, candy dish, and I even received an M&M candy dispenser as a Secret Santa gift through my workplace this year (which works fantastic, by the way).  This commercial is a rather cute one, as both Santa and Red come face to face with each other and realizing that the other one is real before collapsing on the floor.  It takes the whole idea of “is there really a Santa Claus” one step further, and it paid off.  It also sees a heavy rotation over the holidays, and has now for almost twenty years.

Okay, we’ve talked about chocolate long enough.  So, why don’t we transition from chocolate to mocha to coffee for our next classic ad?


Okay, so this commercial first aired sometime during the mid-1980s, and in it, we see a young man named Peter coming home for the holidays from what I would assume was college or something else.  He tries to get inside without waking anyone up, but nothing ever gets by his baby sister!  So, he decides that instead of using a transistor radio, an alarm clock, or a megaphone, he will wake up the rest of the family by brewing a pot of Folgers coffee.


(In my family though, it would have to be Tim Horton’s coffee...they hate Folgers.)

Nonetheless, the commercial was heartfelt and tugged at the heartstrings...and it aired until the late 2000s!  Yep, that same commercial aired for over twenty years.  I guess the executives at Folgers woke up and smelled the coffee when they realized that the little girl in the ad would likely be in her thirties with kids of her own by 2009!  So, in 2009, a new Folgers ad was created...though I don’t think it’s as good.  Take a look for yourselves.


What?  The caffeine buzz from the Folgers coffee wasn’t enough?  Okay, fine, let’s tune in to a couple of holiday ads from the world of Coca-Cola.


That first one always makes me smile regardless of where I am when I watch it.  I believe that I first started seeing this ad sometime around 1993, so we’re going back almost twenty years here.  I just think that even though the ad is sponsored by a soft drink company, this ad just works at showcasing the wonderful holiday magic that the season has to offer.  Who wouldn’t want a giant fleet of transport trucks driving through your town, making every single tree, house, and building glimmer and glow in gleaming multicoloured lights?  The whole commercial was just incredibly done, and I think it was one of the best examples of really showing what the holidays mean to a child. 


I also loved this Coca-Cola commercial below.


First things first, any commercial that features either a polar bear or a penguin gets my seal of approval.  The fact that this commercial contained both makes it doubly special.  I also love the background message behind it as well.  It wasn’t the baby polar bear’s fault that he accidentally crashed the penguin party below.  He just slipped and fell.  But the cutest little baby penguin that pops up and offers the bear a nice cold Coke as a refreshment showed all of us that the holidays are a time to be together and to share love, joy, compassion, and kindness towards your fellow man.  I think that some people could stand to listen to the little baby penguin. 

Yes, you have found out my secret.  I’m a sucker for cute holiday commercials.  Here’s another one for you.


Okay, so that little kid in the commercial is probably a full-grown man by now.  The commercial’s still sweet.  I can remember many moons ago being that kid who played in the snow during the holidays, building snow forts, making snow angels, throwing snowballs at the annoying neighbours, and just chilling out in a winter wonderland.  And whenever I grew tired of playing out in the cold, Mom would always have a treat for me to warm up with.  It wasn’t uncommon for me to have a little cup of soup and a hot chocolate after vigorous play in the fluffy white stuff.  It wasn’t necessarily Campbell’s soup, but it sure hit the spot.  So, I can sort of identify with the little boy in the commercial...

...well, aside from the turning into a snowman part.

Oh, look...here’s another one of my favourites!


For some reason, even though this commercial originally aired when I was a really young boy, I remember it like it was yesterday.  I know that some people are terrified of clowns, and they weren’t huge fans of Ronald McDonald, but after watching him pick up the ice skating challenged kid and twirling him around the frozen pond, that’s the moment I decided I liked the Ronald.  Although I am not a huge fan of McDonald’s now, I used to eat the Happy Meals when I was a kid...and I think a part of that had to do with the Christmas ad that I posted above.  The commercial was like my idea of what a perfect Christmas was like.  It was pure magic.

Of course, not all holiday ads bring joy to my heart.  Some of them are just tacky.  I know that I praised Hershey’s chocolate for coming up with their brilliant Hershey’s Kisses ad, but this one made me kind of throw up in my mouth a bit.


Okay, so the carolers are a nice touch, and I like the idea of the whole world being made out of Hershey’s chocolate.  Oh, heck, who are we kidding here?  With an insatiable sweet tooth, a world made out of chocolate would be my idea of heaven.


But, since when is Modern English’s “I Melt With You” considered a Christmas song?  Especially when you consider that the song is about a couple who are making love as a series of NUCLEAR BOMBS DESTROY THE WORLD!!!  Oh yeah, that’s a lovely song to promote a peaceful time of year like Christmas, isn’t it?

Ah, well...I guess they can’t all be gems.

Now, I open the floor to you.

What are some of your favourite holiday commercials? 


Coming up on Day #22 of the advent calendar, what happens when we experience the year WITHOUT a Santa Claus?

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Ending the End Of The World Theories


The Pop Culture Addict's Advent Calendarcontinues with yet another Thursday diary entry. Unfortunately for me, some people have it in their heads that this blog entry could very well be my last one if the Mayans have their way. What do I think? Well...just read on.

December 20, 2012

Welcome to what could very well be the last full day in the world as we know it!



Did you know that tomorrow (December 21, 2012) is slated to be the end of the world? According to the Mayans, this is very much the truth. Sometime tomorrow, the world as we know it will completely collapse upon itself and civilizations will crumble.



But hey, at least we won't have to worry about what the weather is going to be like this week.

(Well, on one hand, I always wanted to see something falling from the sky just before Christmas...wasn't counting on it being magma, fire, and boulders, but hey, you take what you can get.)

In case you can't tell already, I am being overly sarcastic here. I don't believe for a second that the world is going to end tomorrow. The only world that I know that ever ended was the soap opera “As The World Turns”, and it ended two years ago. And, guess what? We all survived it!

Just as we're going to survive tomorrow!

You know, this isn't the first time that people have panicked about the end of the world. In my lifetime, the world has been slated to end at least four different times. During the peak of the Cold War and the disaster that occurred in Chernobyl in 1986, many people believed that the world was destined to become a radioactive meatball. Twenty-six years later, that still hasn't happened.



There were also the many predictions made by Harold Camping. He initially predicted that the end of the world was going to take place on May 21, 2011 at 6:00. The problem is that the world sees 6:00 forty-eight times each day (taking into account the twenty-four time zones and the am/pm thing), so it seemed a little bit too generalized. I always stated that if I turned on the news and there are reports of Australia and New Zealand sinking underwater, then would be the time to panic.

It didn't really matter. May 21 came and went, and the world is still here. But, Harold Camping, in an obvious attempt to save face, recanted his earlier prediction, stating that he miscalculated the end of the world the first time, and that the real end of the world would be October 21, 2011.

(Geez...May 21, October 21, December 21...why is the 21st supposedly such an unlucky day? At least if these “oracles” suggested that the world would end on Friday the 13th, it might be slightly more believable!)

Once again, Camping predicted the end of the world, and once again, the world refused to die. Funnily enough, Camping decided to retire from predicting the end of the world shortly after his second attempt. Can't imagine why he'd do such a thing...can you?

And, then there was the prediction that the beginning of the new millennium would bring forth a catastrophic disaster that would destroy the world as we know it. And, once again, I lived through it.



We're going to go back in time almost thirteen years to December 31, 1999 for this story.

There was a lot of talk about the year 2000 being a big year. I know that for me personally, 2000 was a year of change, as it was the year that I graduated high school, headed off to my ill-fated university life, and turned legal drinking age.

(Well, legal at least in Canada...most provinces have 19 as the age of legality.)

I still remember turning on the television that day, and seeing television stations like ABC broadcasting the entire day to show how other countries all over the world rung in 2000. It was really cool to see all the different cultures celebrating the arrival of 2000 in their own distinct methods.

But some others were convinced that the year 2000 would be the very year in which everything would end.



You see, a couple of years prior to the celebrations of 2000 were reports that every computer system in the world was in danger of failing due to something called the “Y2K problem”. Due to some computer systems being unable to read the year 2000 in code, when the calendar changed from 1999 to 2000, the display read 1900 instead. There were plans involved to reprogram some of the older computers in the world to make them Y2K ready, though as far as I was concerned at the time, even if the computer listed the date as 1900, the problems would have been minor, at most.

Of course, some people seemed to believe that this would cause major, major problems. Planes would fall out of the sky. Credit cards and debit cards would cease working. Massive blackouts would plague the world.



(Wow...come to think of it, that kind of sounds like the pilot episode for the television series “Revolution”.)

On December 31, 1999, we all stayed up late to watch the ball drop on Times Square, wondering if there really was something to worry about in regards to Y2K. But when the ball ended its descent and the number 2000 glowed in brightly coloured lights, I remember being a little annoyed that nothing actually happened! No lights went out, we didn't enter another Great Depression, and no planes ended up falling in our backyard.

That's not to say that there weren't any problems. Those problems were all minor though, and certainly didn't end up destroying the world. Among some of the more entertaining ones...

  • Bus ticket validation machines failed to operate in Australia
  • Slot machines at a Delaware casino quit working
  • The United States Naval Observatory gave the date on its official website as January 1, 19100!
  • An alarm sounded at a Japanese nuclear power plant two minutes after midnight, although there was no risk to the public
  • Some Japanese cell phones didn't quite work correctly after January 1, 2000

You see? Minor things. Nothing to worry about. Certainly not enough to actually build an underground bunker out of old school buses, or stockpile enough food to fill an entire supermarket. And yet, so many people did.

And so many people are designing their own survival plans to ring in December 21, 2012. They're almost convinced that they will survive the disaster if they plan ahead.

But that's the million dollar question, isn't it? What disaster?



All that we know is that the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to an end tomorrow. It doesn't exactly specify how the world will end. Will a gigantic earthquake split the world in two? Will a comet smash into the Earth's crust, wiping us all out like the dinosaurs were 65 million years ago? Will aliens from another planet swoop down over our major cities and blow us up a la “Independence Day”?

NO! I don't believe it will.

Frankly, the real problem of December 21, 2012 is not the impending end of the world. It's the general pessimistic attitude that many people seem to have towards life.

I wouldn't put it past some people who secretly are hoping that the world DOES end tomorrow just because they're frustrated with life in general. And, just the fact that so many people expect the worst to happen regardless of the scientific proof that states otherwise drives me absolutely insane in the membrane.

Seriously, get a grip.

If the world does happen to end tomorrow...so be it. But, why worry about it in the meantime? If it's meant to happen, there's nothing that we can do to stop it.

So, why not just sit back and enjoy whatever time we have left instead of worrying about what could happen? Christmas is coming up soon, and I for one expect to celebrate it this year. I also have lots of things to experience in my life, and I'm not going to let a silly little thing like the end of the world stop me from dreaming big. I always say that if things are meant to happen, they will.

So, you know what? I'm going to look at every day I have as a gift. And, you know what? I don't believe that the world is going to end tomorrow, and I will just see it as being just another day.

Of course, if it does, this blog post will be the sweetest of irony...and what a way to go out!

So, I guess my point is...STOP WORRYING!!



Coming up tomorrow on Day #21 (and yes, there will be a Day #21), you know those holiday commercials? We take a look at some of our favourites!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Fisher-Price Memories


Before I get into today’s entry, I just wanted to take the time to remember someone who meant a lot to me.

If you want to, you can read the entry that I wrote about her that is dated December 21, 2011, but it was one year ago today that I ended up losing a dear friend of mine.  There are just some friends out there who make a lasting impression on your life, and for whatever reason, you will always remember them even long after they pass away.

On December 19, 2011, my friend Teresa (who I affectionately called Pierette) passed away just days before her 54th birthday, and I miss her every day.  Even though we had never met each other face to face (we met on an online forum in the summer of 2001), she and I developed a really tight-knit bond.  I still have every Christmas card that she ever sent me, and I’ll always remember the friendship and the joy that she brought not only to me, but to the hundreds of people whose lives she touched in some way.

So, I want to take this opportunity to dedicate this post to my friend "Pierette".  Even though it’s been a year since you were taken away from us, the memories will always remain.  I just hope that wherever you are, you are at peace.

And with that, let’s get to the topic of the blog for today.

Today marks Day #19 of The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar, and for today’s blog entry, we’re going to be looking at a set of toys that brought me much happiness throughout my entire childhood.  In fact, if I remember correctly, I actually received one of these toys for my very first Christmas!

I obviously do not remember Christmas 1981 all that well - mainly because of the fact that I was only seven months and seven days old at the time.

(Wow...that’s a lot of sevens.  And, I was born at 7:35am to boot...draw your own conclusions from there.)


Anyway, in addition to the lovely train ornament that I received for my first Christmas (and which you can see above in a rather out of focus picture due to my trying to figure out how my digital camera worked), I ended up getting some really cool presents.

(Or, so I’ve been told by my parents.  Back in December 1981, I likely did nothing but nap, eat, and cry for diaper changes to really care about many toys.)

Now, here’s the kicker.  I know that I have always talked about how I grew up in a family where the phrase “disposable income” did not exist, and certainly this was the case when I was a baby.  So, for Christmas 1981, quite a few of my baby toys back then were hand-me-downs from my older sisters.

(Well, the unisex toys, that is.)

And, well, this was one of them.


Recognize this one?  Apparently it was known as the Fisher-Price Farm Animal Mobile, and when I was a baby, it was hanging above my crib.  It was the first thing I saw when I woke up, and the last thing I saw when I went to sleep.  What’s insane about it is that I kind of have hazy memories of trying to grab the floating animals that were spinning around my head...keeping in mind that this was easily thirty years ago!  And I also remember the song that was programmed into the mobile as well...it was a soothing piece known as “Brahms Lullaby”.  I don’t know what it was about that particular song, but every time I heard it, I zonked out and immediately fell asleep...of course I suppose that’s the whole purpose of what a lullaby is supposed to do, right?


To this day, every time I hear that song now, I can’t help but remember having hazy memories of being in that crib, listening to that song.  It kind of makes me smile in a way because I will always carry that memory with me as long as I live. 

That mobile brought me a lot of happiness as a baby.  And, it also introduced me to the wonderful world of Fisher-Price, as it was my first Fisher-Price toy!

But it certainly wasn’t the last.


(In case you haven’t guessed yet, this post is all about Fisher-Price Toys!)

The history of Fisher-Price toys goes back over eight decades!  In 1930, the company was founded by four people...Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Price’s wife Margaret, and Helen Schelle.  The name of the company obviously stemmed from combining the names of Fisher and Price.

(Poor Schelle...)

Fisher ended up bringing a lot to the creation of the company.  Prior to the company’s founding in 1930, Fisher actually worked in the toy industry, manufacturing, selling, and advertising games for a company based out of Churchville, New York.  Irving Price had recently retired from a major variety chain store, and Helen Schelle had operated a Binghamton, New York toy shop.  So, to say that the team behind Fisher-Price had the experience in toys and games is like saying that the sun is hot.

The code of ethics for Fisher-Price toys was very strict.  The Fisher-Price company insisted that all their toys were built with quality materials, great value, and creativity and ingenuity.  In fact, when Fisher-Price toys first hit stores in 1931, the toys were constructed with such materials as ponderosa pine and heavy steel.


The first Fisher-Price toy manufactured was the Dr. Doodle toy, first sold in 1931 (and which would be worth a LOT of money if one were to find one in pristine condition).  By the 1950s, the wooden Fisher-Price toys began to be replaced with plastic versions, and the first toy to be manufactured entirely out of plastic was the “Buzzy Bee” toy.  By the end of the 1960s, at least thirty-nine toys were brought out that were partially or fully made out of plastic.

When Herman Fisher retired from the company in 1969, Quaker Oats bought the company.  In 1991, the company regained its independence from Quaker and became a publicly traded entity before being incorporated as a subsidiary of Mattel Toys two years later.  As of 1997, all preschool-aged toys manufactured by Mattel bear the Fisher-Price label.

So, what were some of my favourite Fisher-Price toys?  I’m going to offer up a Top 5 list from my own personal memories.


05.  FISHER-PRICE AIRPORT

If memory serves me, this playset was the very first one that I had that was brand-new.  I think I ended up getting it for my third birthday, or something like that.  The playset included a helicopter, a jumbo jet...even a chain of cars that was supposed to resemble the vehicle that drives around the airport with everyone’s luggage on it.  I think that I must have played with that set all the time.  Oddly enough, the playset did not inspire me to be an airline pilot or even a steward (truth be told, I’ve never flown in my life!)


04.  FISHER-PRICE RECORD PLAYER

Would you believe that I recently saw an ad for the record player in a recent catalogue?  It’s true that the record player was initially released in the late 1970s, but for whatever reason, I loved it.  The record player came with four plastic records in pastel colours, each one with its own set of grooves.  You see, the record player worked by putting the plastic record in the slots, and then as the needle ran over the grooves, it would make a musical note.  Mind you, most of the songs that came with the record player were either classic kids songs, or nursery rhymes, but I didn’t care.  I remember being in awe of that record player.  It truly was an introduction to music.  Though, I do admit that I wondered when Michael Jackson was going to make a Fisher-Price version of his wildly successful “Thriller” album.  J


03.  FISHER-PRICE SCHOOLHOUSE

Okay, so this one was a hand-me-down from my sisters...and unfortunately for them, I completely trashed it when I was younger.  I scribbled on it with Crayola crayons and markers, because I just felt like doing it.  But the Fisher-Price schoolhouse was interesting because there were tons of activities that one could do with it.  In addition to the playground sets and the desk sets that you could host a class with, there were other unique features associated with it.  There was a bell at the top of the schoolhouse that you could ring.  There was a clock on the wall that helped you learn how to tell time.  There was a chalkboard included in the set that you could write on.  And there was a little magnetic board attached to the roof of the schoolhouse that you could stick your little Fisher-Price alphabet magnets to.  Here’s the good news though.  My sister ended up regaining possession of the schoolhouse playset, and completely restored it to its former glory.  I guess we can all be grateful that Crayola made washable products, huh?


02FISHER-PRICE MAIN STREET SET

This playset was easily my favourite.  It was two-tiered with seven different stores...five of which were designed in a way that you could place your Fisher-Price characters inside.  If memory serves me, the stores that were included were a bank, a grocery store, a fire station, an ice cream parlour, a post office, a pet store, and a barber shop.  There were other accessories that made the street a lot more fun as well.  You had a traffic light that taught you the difference between stop and go, you had a taxi cab that could travel up and down the slides that attached the second tier to the first, and you had a mailbox, stop sign, and phone booth to make the street seem more realistic.  Even the little mail truck had little plastic letters – one for each business on the street!  The attention to detail was incredible, and you know something...I wish I still owned that playset today.  I would love to let any future children that I hope to have one day play with it so they could have as much fun as I did.

01 – FISHER-PRICE LITTLE PEOPLE

They are quite literally the glue that held all the Fisher-Price playsets together.  First introduced in the 1950s, the Little People proved to have a big impact.  Take a look at some of the original Little People that were first brought out.


Until the early 1990s, the majority of the Little People looked like this.  The men were always straight and tall, the women were always curvy, and the kids and animals were short and stubby.  The design of the Little People was indented at the bottom, and made flat so that it could be easy to place them in chairs, seats, and in the various vehicles that were included in playsets.  Some variations of the Little People were made for specific playsets (for example, in the airport playset, some were designed as pilots, and in the farm playset, some of the Little People wore cowboy hats), and when the Sesame Street line of Little People products were first introduced in the 1970s, there were Little People likenesses of Bert, Ernie, Gordon, Susan, and Mr. Hooper.


In 1991, the Little People design was changed after parental concerns about their children choking on the toys were raised.  The figures were increased in size and diameter to make it harder for kids to swallow.  And by 1998, the figures looked like this.


Personally, I can’t relate to the “new” Little People, but my nieces and nephews loved them.  But I still liked the old design better.  Maybe because it’s what I grew up with.

At any rate, that’s our discussion on Fisher-Price Little People for today!  I hope I brought back some really great memories for all of you!


Coming up on Day #20 of the advent calendar...there certainly is a lot of talk about the end of the world.  In the Thursday diary, I share my holiday plans in brief detail, as well as talking about my experience with the Y2K bug that never happened.  Hey, if we’re going to talk about the end of the world, we may as well have some survival stories from the threat of 12 years ago, right? 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

December 18, 1980


Welcome to Day #18 of “The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar”, and this is the time of the week where we are going to be featuring our weekly look back through time in what we like to call the Tuesday Timeline!

I’ll admit that trying to incorporate a holiday theme into this piece was a difficult challenge, but I managed to sneak a little holiday treat at the end of this entry for you to enjoy.  Hey, it’s what I do...try to spread the holiday joy!

So, let’s not waste any more time babbling on.  We have a whole bunch of things to discuss.  Why don’t we begin by wishing the following famous faces a very happy birthday?

Birthday wishes go out to...Roger Smith, Lonnie Brooks, Jacques Pepin, Roger E. Mosley, Michael Moorcock, Harold E. Varmus, Harvey Atkin, Keith Richards, Alan Rudolph, Steven Spielberg, Gillian Armstrong, Leonard Maltin, Elliot Easton (The Cars), John Booth, Ray Liotta, Ron White, Geordie Walker, , Julia Wolfe, Brian Orser, Norman  Brown, Greg D’Angelo, Allan Kayser, Brad Pitt, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Don Beebe, Robson Green, Shawn Christian, Mick Collins, Fawna MacLaren, Rachel Griffiths, Casper Van Dien, Nina Wadia, DMX, Victoria Pratt, Cowboy Troy, Rah Digga, Raymond Herrera, Leila Arcieri, Trish Stratus, Daniel Cleary, Katie Holmes, Tara Conner, Ashley Benson, Ashley Slanina-Davies, and Bridgit Mendler.

And here are some of the events that have taken place on December 18ths of yore...

1642 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to land on New Zealand

1777 – The United States celebrates its first ever Thanksgiving, which stemmed from a celebration over winning the Battle of Saratoga that October

1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the United States Constitution

1878 – The last of the “Molly Maguires” (John Kehoe) is executed in Pennsylvania

1888 – The ancient Indian ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde are discovered by Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law

1892 – Premiere performance of “The Nutcracker” in Saint Petersburg, Russia

1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized speed record in a Jeantaud electric car (39.245 mph)

1912 – The Piltdown Man is announced by Charles Dawson; later proven to be a hoax

1916 – The Battle of Verdun ends; Germany is defeated by the French; 337,000 people lost

1917 – The resolution containing the language of the 18th Amendment to enact prohibition is passed by the United States Congress

1932 – Because of a blizzard, a football game between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans had to be moved to the Chicago Stadium from Wrigley Field, in what would be known as the first NFL Championship Game

1939 – Battle of the Heligoland Bight

1944 – Hankow, China is bombed during the Second World War

1956 – Japan joins the United Nations

1958 – The world’s first communications satellite, Project SCORE, is launched into orbit

1966 – The Saturn moon “Epimetheus” is discovered by Richard L. Walker

1972 – President Nixon announces plans for Operation Linebacker II during Vietnam War

1978 – Dominica joins the United Nations

1989 – The European Economic Community signs a trade and commercial/economic cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union

1992 – Legendary game show producer Mark Goodson passes away from pancreatic cancer in New York City at the age of 77

1996 – Ebonics is declared an official language/dialect by the Oakland, California school board

1997 – HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium

2000 – Irish singer Kirsty MacColl is killed in a controversial boating accident in Mexico

2006 – The United Arab Emirates holds their first ever elections on the same day that floods devastate the country of Malaysia, killing 118 and leaving 400,000 homeless

2008 – Mark “Deep Throat” Felt passes away in Santa Rosa, California at the age of 95

Quite a lot of history to digest, isn’t it?  Well, the date we’re visiting this week is...drum roll please...


December 18, 1980!

Thirty-two years ago, a songbird was born, and over those thirty-two years, her wings have spread in a multitude of ways.  I suppose in one way, you could claim that she has actually gone full circle because she began her career on a talent show, and she is currently a judge on a talent show!  Of course, that’s just the first 32 years of her life.  I assume that she has years ahead of her still. 

Of course, in those thirty-two years, this person has had their share of highs and lows.  When she was high, we all loved her and girls wanted to be like her.  But when she was low, she became fodder for the tabloids and trash talking websites, as so many other celebrities have had to go through.

But she seems to be going full steam ahead these days, and with a brand new album and brand new tour on the horizon, she’s well on her way to smooth sailing.

So, who am I talking about?  Maybe this video will give you a bit of a clue.


ARTIST:  Christina Aguilera
SONG:  Your Body
ALBUM:  Lotus
DATE RELEASED:  September 17, 2012
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #34

Okay, so it might not be her biggest smash single, but it’s one of her newest, and it did receive reviews that glowed as brightly as the pink hair extensions that she is sporting in the video.


But when you consider that this single comes from her seventh studio album, it’s easy to make the judgment that Christina Aguilera has made her own mark in the music industry.

And, since today’s her birthday, why not make this blog entry all about her?

Born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York, Christina Maria Aguilera was the eldest of two children born to Fausto Xavier Aguilera and Shelly Loraine Fidler-Aguilera.  Because Aguilera’s father was a soldier in the United States Armed Forces, the family was forced to move around to several places by the time Christina was six years old.  Around that time, her parents ended up divorcing, and Christina (along with her mother and sister) moved to Rochester, Pennsylvania.  To this day, Christina remains close with her mother, but rarely has any contact with her father.

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia in regards to how Christina Aguilera began her career...her rise to stardom almost exactly paralleled that of Britney Spears.  Christina got her start singing on the talent show “Star Search”.  So did Britney.

(Both lost.)


Both Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears were cast in the television series “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the early 1990s, both of whom were initially rejected on their first audition because they were too young.  Spears was cast before Aguilera, and Aguilera reportedly had the nickname of “The Diva” because of her rich vocal abilities.  The show ended in 1994, when both were still cast members.

TRIVIA:  Apparently, the parallels continued after both Spears and Aguilera hit it big...both of them kissed Madonna in that infamous MTV Video Music Awards moment, and both of them are currently judges on television reality shows (Spears for The X Factor and Aguilera for The Voice).  Go figure.

But, there is one thing that Aguilera can claim.  She had a single hit the charts before Britney Spears did.


While Britney’s debut single, “Baby, One More Time” was released in September 1998, Christina Aguilera’s debut was three months earlier, in June 1998.  The song was recorded for the soundtrack for the Disney feature film, “Mulan”, and the name of the song was “Reflection”.  When the call from Disney came out about finding a vocalist for the song, Christina sent in a demo tape of herself singing the Whitney Houston single “Run To You” from the soundtrack of “The Bodyguard”.  Christina’s dream of being a famous singer was very real to her, and she felt that if she got the job of recording “Reflection”, it would help her get her name out there.

The demo immediately attracted the attention of Ron Fair, who would later become her mentor, and who was a key figure in helping Aguilera land her first recording contract with RCA Records that same year.  Long story short, “Reflection” ended up becoming a Top 20 Adult Contemporary hit in late 1998, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.


In August 1999, Christina Aguilera released her debut album (with the original title of “Christina Aguilera”), and the album became a huge success.  All four of the singles released from the album (“Genie In A Bottle”, “What A Girl Wants”, “Come On Over Baby”, and “I Turn To You”) reached the Top 5, and in the case of the first three singles, hit #1.

TRIVIA:  Christina’s song “What A Girl Wants” was the very first #1 song of the new millennium.

Her next two albums were a Spanish version of her massive selling debut, as well as a Christmas album, both released in 2000.  And in 2001, she recorded a duet with Ricky Martin, “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely”, and teamed up with Lil Kim, Mya, and Pink for the cover version of “Lady Marmalade” for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.  But by 2001, Aguilera was becoming disenchanted with her management.  She was beginning to tire of the bubblegum pop image that seemed to saturate the radio in the early 2000s, and wanted a change of pace.  But when the record company refused to play ball with her, she decided to switch up her management team (replacing Steve Kurtz with Irving Azoff), and in 2002, she changed her image to one that was a complete 180 from her previous one.


When “Stripped” was released, the first single was “Dirrty”, which given the raunchy visuals and controversial image makeover she debuted made tongues wag.  The single did not perform well, and Aguilera was lambasted by critics and fans for her new image.  But one thing that I will credit Christina for is that she always stood by her work, and claimed that “Dirrty” was a song about power and control.

But, to be fair, I liked this single much better...


ARTIST:  Christina Aguilera
SONG:  Beautiful
ALBUM:  Stripped
DATE RELEASED:  November 16, 2002
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #2

(As someone who has had – and still has to some extent – self-esteem issues, you’ll understand why I enjoy this song.)

In more recent years, Christina Aguilera has changed her image quite a bit.  Her retro throwback sound that was infused throughout her 2006 album “Back to Basics” won critical praise and kept her in the spotlight.  Her personal life was also at a high at the time, marrying Jordan Bratman in 2005 and giving birth to their son, Max, in January 2008 (the marriage would end in 2010, the same year that Aguilera received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame).


Christina appeared in the 2010 film “Burlesque”, and while the movie itself was torn apart by critics, the star’s performance was widely considered to be the only shining quality of the whole movie.  The following year, she was hired to serve as one of the judges on “The Voice” alongside Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton, which currently is among one of the most viewed programs on NBC.  It was announced in 2012 that Aguilera would be leaving The Voice at the end of its third season to promote “Lotus”, and that Colombian born singer Shakira would be taking over her spot for season four.

And there you have it...a brief history of Christina Aguilera.

One thing that I have not talked about in this blog entry as of yet is my own personal thoughts about her.  I know that she has not had an easy road to stardom over the years, and I know that she made a few mistakes (including an arrest for public intoxication in 2011 and that whole kiss with Madonna/Britney Spears scandal) in her lifetime...but who hasn’t?

As far as I’m concerned, she is only human, and as far as I know, none of the mistakes she has made have been harmful to herself or to other people (unlike the person whose song helped Christina get a recording contract with RCA Records back in the late 1990s).  I can look beyond that to see the talent within.  And regardless of what one might say about her personal choices, that talent overshadows it all at this moment in time.  I’m not afraid to admit that I do enjoy Christina Aguilera’s voice, and I think that she still has that star power.  I’m not interested in the slams towards her about her actions, or even her waist size (which is frankly nobody’s business).  She still looks beautiful, and I think that she’s at a point in her life where she’s ready to take on the world and not let anything stop her.


And, to end this look back on December 18, 1980, why don’t we post a holiday favourite from Christina Aguilera to end off this note (and to have some holiday link to this entry?)


Coming up on Day #19, we’re going to examine a world filled with Main Streets, Schoolhouses, Airports...and Little People?