Search This Blog

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Seasons Change...People Change...


It seems hard to believe that yesterday marked the official first day of Spring...particularly here in Ontario, Canada, where the temperature was below freezing and we ended up with snow flurries. Certainly no sign of blooming roses and birds flying back home after a six month sabbatical in Louisiana, Texas, and Florida.

But, you know, a year ago around this time, it felt as though we had skipped through March, April, and May and zoomed right ahead into summer!

(Not that any of us were complaining in these parts, might I add.)

And, what's funny about the changing of the seasons is the fact that it reminded me of a song that was popular two and a half decades ago. There's a particular stanza within this song's chorus that forms the base for this week's Thursday Diary entry.

March 21, 2013



I'm almost positive that the winter of 2012/2013 will officially be named the longest winter in the history of the 21st century. At least it seems that way to me. The first day of spring was yesterday, and we got snow. That's not exactly the ideal vision one wants to have when anticipating the time in which the ice melts, the mercury in the thermometer rises, and the sun beams down on us a little bit longer with each passing day.



But you know, as long as the Earth spins around the sun, the seasons will always change (well, for those of us who do not live right on the Equator, that is).

In fact, the whole idea of seasons changing kind of reminds me of a song that was quite popular twenty-five years ago. Have you ever heard of a band known as Expose? It's okay if you haven't...they haven't had many hits since the 1990s rolled around. And, why have I brought them up in this entry? Simple. Have a listen to one of their biggest hits, paying particular attention to the chorus of the song.



Seasons Change” was a number one hit for the band in February 1988. In case you were wondering, at the time, the members of the band were Jeannette Jurado, Gioia Bruno, and Ann Curless. As a song, it didn't exactly stand out all that much, but the lyrics stand out for me. In particular, one part of the chorus.

Seasons change, people change.”

And as we approach a brand new season, I have come to the conclusion that I have changed too. I'm not the same person I was a year ago. I'm not the same person five, ten, fifteen, even thirty years ago. And, I am sure that most of you reading this can say the same about yourselves as well.

But here's my dilemma. I'm nowhere near ready to emerge as that butterfly that has beauti...

...no, scratch that image. It's too cutesy-poo.

Okay, how can I put this without making me sound like a complete dork?



How about this? You have a jigsaw puzzle in front of you. It's one thousand pieces. Certainly a challenge for most people, but you work hard at it trying to piece the whole thing together. You face challenges, trying to fit every piece together, or trying combinations that seem like they might work, but end up not quite fitting. And, then when you think that you have the whole thing figured out, you look at it and realize that you only have 999 pieces in your possession, and that one is missing.



I bet you know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I am comparing myself to the unfinished jigsaw puzzle that I just outlined here for you. Not a bad theory, but it's slightly incorrect.



In all honesty, I see myself as that missing piece of the puzzle. The piece that will eventually bring everything together. A piece that needs to find out where they will eventually fit in.

In my near 32 years on this planet, I've gotten closer to finding out which puzzle I'm meant to complete. But no matter what has happened, I've never been able to securely fit into a situation where I feel one hundred per cent comfortable. I've never had that feeling where I feel completely secure in my surroundings.

And, you know...the more I think of it, the more I think that maybe that can be a good thing.

After all...seasons change...people change.

In every situation that I have been faced with, either the situation has changed, the surroundings have changed...and even I myself have changed.

And, I suppose that's a good thing in the long run. Let's face it...people sometimes need to switch things up a bit in life to avoid getting stuck in a rut. And, I'll be the first to admit that over the last ten years, I've been stuck in a rut so deep that a snow plow could get trapped inside the grooves that have been eroding the surface of the pavement!

And, just going back to that jigsaw puzzle analogy that I talked about earlier in this blog entry, how many times have you completed a jigsaw puzzle and then exclaimed to yourselves, “now what?”

I know anytime that I have ever finished a jigsaw puzzle, it immediately goes back into the box, never to see the light of day ever again. Occasionally, I might take that puzzle, glue it onto some thick cardboard, and display it in a picture frame if the image is particularly interesting, but then its ultimate fate is that it sits around collecting dust.

Kind of like a person who is stuck in a rut, don't you think?

So, what point am I trying to make with jigsaw puzzles and changing seasons, and forgotten #1 hits by an all-girl group from the 1980s?



I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes the puzzle that I feel I have completed in my life and times may not exactly be the way that I want it to be. Ten years ago, it may have been the perfect fit for me, but as time grows, the foundations begin to crumble, and pieces break away, and the feelings of security become replaced by feelings of boredom or malaise.

And, why is that? Because I'm not the same person I was a decade ago. 2003 Matthew is not the same person as 2013 Matthew.

So, the question becomes this. Why would I want to continue living the same life, doing the same things, and accepting that this is as good as things are going to get, when there's a whole new world out there for me to explore with brand new possibilities and brand new opportunities in a brand new location?

I'm being completely serious here. It may have taken a pop song from the 1980s and a jigsaw puzzle analogy to make me realize that I'm selling myself way too short here, and that I need to just grab on that bar and hold on tight as the roller-coaster of life takes me through the twists, turns, and loops that are designed to challenge me. I figure that if I can get through all that and not require one of those barf bags at the end of it, I can consider myself a true survivor of sorts.

(Or, at the very least coming to the realization that I don't have to worry myself sick over things that I can't control, and focus on the aspects in my life that I can control.)

It's funny though. I wrote this blurb at (no kidding) one-thirty in the morning, and at first glance, I was worried that I would have to rewrite this whole thing because I didn't think it made any sense. But, re-reading it upon getting some sleep, it surprisingly makes a lot of sense to me. Whether or not it does to you...well, you're the only one that can make that judgment.

But, the thing that I get out of this is that as seasons change, people change. I've changed a lot over time, but my surroundings and what I do every day have not.

And, that's gotta change. To preserve my life and my sanity, it's gotta change.

Admitting that? It's a good first step.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Hot Wheels = Good, Real Wheels = Scary!!!



I’ll be completely honest with you.  I only have a driver’s license that could be classified as a learner’s permit.  This wouldn’t be so bad if I were still sixteen years old and fumbling my way through eleventh grade algebra.  Unfortunately, I am twice that age and am currently fumbling my way through making weekly orders for dairy products.

And, here’s a shocking confession for you.  In my whole life (not counting the bumper car amusement park attraction), I’ve probably spent a grand total of only twenty-four hours behind the wheel of a car...in the sixteen years and counting that I’ve been able to drive a car legally.

When I was in high school, it almost became a rite of passage for teenagers to go to the local DMV to get their license to drive a car the minute they turned sixteen.  Some of my classmates absolutely salivated over the idea of being able to drive a car.  Myself, I didn’t really have that strong desire.  I really didn’t have any interest in cars or driving whatsoever, so I never bothered to learn how to drive a car.

Sigh...but now that I’m in my thirties, I’m finding it harder and harder to get around.  Fortunately, I live in a small town, so getting around town by foot is not a problem.  It only takes me three-quarters of an hour to walk from one end of town to the other, which isn’t bad at all.  But I do have a desire of wanting bigger and better things for myself, and I freely admit that not knowing how to drive has been a major obstacle for me.

So, in May 2011...just days before my thirtieth birthday, I buckled down, and I got my G1 (which is kind of like the pre-license that one gets in Ontario before getting a full license).  And, as of 2013, I still have that G1.


It’s come to my attention that whenever I get behind the wheel of a car, I have complete anxiety behind the wheel, which is certainly not the best thing to have when attempting to drive a car.  Let’s be honest...driving with feelings of anxiety is equivalent to driving after consuming a twenty-sixer of vodka.  Neither scenario is ideal.

Here’s the thing.  I want to learn how to overcome my anxiety so that I can learn to drive a car so I can improve both my social and professional life.  But, I’m also discovering that I don’t have a very big support system in my life to help me achieve that goal, as the vast majority of my family and friends will not get in a car with me!  And, those who do are the type who will grab the wheel while I am trying to steer the car.  Yeah, here’s a tip for those of you inclined to do this with me.  DON’T DO IT.

Sigh...you know, I wasn’t always this nervous around cars.  When I was a little boy, some of my most favourite memories involved cars, trucks, minivans, and buses. 


No, I didn’t spend my childhood playing in parking lots, nor did I attend every car show that came to town.  Truth be told, whenever the family decided to go to the car shows on the boardwalk, I was always bored to tears.  But, some of my favourite toys were cars and trucks...albeit cars and trucks that were a mere fraction of what the actual size should be.


So, this leads to my next question.  How many of you out there played with the toy cars known as “Hot Wheels”?  Because my little spiel about being afraid to drive has lead into the discussion for today!


Introduced by Mattel in 1968, Hot Wheels were unique in that the vast majority of the cars were made to scale.  The earliest models were built in a 1:64 scale (later changed to 1:43 as the years passed by), and the very first Hot Wheels toy that was manufactured was a dark blue Custom Camaro.

At the time of its introduction, “Hot Wheels” cars only had one major competitor...Matchbox cars (which were eventually bought out by the company that made Hot Wheels in the mid-90s!).  But both brands of cars had their distinct differences.  While Matchbox cars were your everyday, standard cars that you would see on any city street or rural route, Hot Wheels were considered to be the cars that represented the “After” models in that television show called “Pimp My Ride”.


Anyway, when Hot Wheels first came out, there were sixteen different models to choose from – eleven of which were designed by American car designer Harry Bentley Bradley!  Here is the list of the original 1968 models that were released.  Check your collections at home, guys and gals.  They may be a collector’s item!

-         Custom Barracuda

-         Custom Camaro

-         Custom Corvette

-         Custom Eldorado

-         Custom Firebird

-         Custom Fleetside

-         Custom Mustang

-         Custom T-Bird

-         Custom Cougar

-         Custom Volkswagen

-         Deora

-         Ford J-Car

-         Hot Heap

-         Python

-         Silhouette

-         Beatnik Bandit

PERSONAL CONFESSION:  I certainly wish I had a Beatnik Bandit growing up!  Just the name of it alone sounded awesome!  Alas, most of my Hot Wheels collection dated back to the 1970s, when I inherited a huge collection from my tomboy of a sister. 

The initial sixteen were sold in various toy and hobby shops and became such a huge success that the following year, Hot Wheels added several more cars to the line-up.  By 1974, there were at least one hundred and fifty different styles and makes of Hot Wheels vehicles.

Perhaps what made Hot Wheels even more popular were the various Hot Wheels playsets that were sold alongside the cars themselves.  Perhaps one of the most successful Hot Wheels playsets ever manufactured was the 1970 Mongoose & Snake Drag Race Set, pictured below.


TRIVIA:  Would you believe that as late as 1990, the original playset was selling in some places for as high a price as five hundred bucks?  And, this was before websites like eBay became popular!  Thankfully, Hot Wheels modified the original design to make it more affordable!  Not quite the same, but a nice compromise.

Over the next few decades, Hot Wheels underwent several modifications.  One modification that I particularly loved growing up was the Hot Wheels that could change colour depending on the temperature of the water.  I owned three of these cars, and I even remember what colours they changed to!  One car changed from red to yellow, the second car changed from white to blue, and the last car changed from dark green to lime green.

(The green car was my favourite!)

And, today, Hot Wheels are still very much a popular toy for both boys and girls, with new models being introduced each year.  And, it’s not just kids that are getting into the magic of Hot Wheels.  More recently, adults have now jumped on the collecting bandwagon.

In fact, while it is estimated that the average child will own approximately 41 different Hot Wheels cars in their lifetime (I had at least a hundred and fifty), the average collector will have a collection in the thousands!

And, I suppose I should tell you the main reason why I loved playing with Hot Wheels so much as a kid.  It was because I knew that I could flip them, turn them over, crash them into a wall, and drop them down a flight of stairs without having to worry about getting hurt.

(Well, unless I forgot to pick them up off of the staircase and someone in my family stepped on one and took a nasty spill.  To my eldest sister, if you’re reading this, I am terribly sorry about that Hot Wheels slip and fall that you sustained back in ’85 or ’86.)

And, while I can’t really apply my fun with Hot Wheels to the fun of driving a real car, I suppose if I think about it, it sort of has the same principle.  I could after all control the speed, direction, and force that I used when playing with the toys...there’s no reason why I couldn’t do that with a real car.  And, I use pump trucks and carts at my workplace all the time and haven’t had any major accidents with those things in years...well, aside from the Christmas 2004 incident where I took out an entire display of Febreze with an out of control pump truck.  At least the floor smelled like pine needles and cinnamon for several days afterwards.  J

I guess in my case, it is mind over matter.  If I put my mind to it, I can get my full license.  I just need a car that I feel comfortable driving, as well as a person who will not go into hysterics when teaching me how to drive.

And, if all that fails, I guess I can always go on the below television series...



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

March 19, 1987


I hope all of you have enjoyed the slight tweaks that I did to the Tuesday Timeline last week.  I listened to some of my readers who said that I tended to info-drop too much information at the very beginning of these Tuesday Timeline entries, and I’ve made the lead-in to the topic a little shorter.  Judging by the slight increase in page views, it seems to have made a little bit of a difference.

This week, we’re doing a spotlight on March 19, and this time around, we’re going back to the eighties for this one.  But before we go on to that, let’s take a look at some of the other events that took place on this date.

1279 – The Song Dynasty in China ends following Mongolia’s victory in the Battle of Yamen

1918 – Time zones and Daylight Savings Time are established by United States Congress

1931 – The state of Nevada legalizes gambling

1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened

1945 – Adolf Hitler issues his “Nero Decree”

1950 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, dies of a heart attack at the age of 70

1954 – The first televised boxing match in colour television (between Willie Tory and Joey Giardello) is broadcast

1958 – Twenty-four people are killed and another fifteen are injured in the Monarch Underwear Company fire in Manhattan, New York

1962 – Bob Dylan releases his debut album, “Bob Dylan” through Columbia Records

1966 – Texas Western becomes the first college basketball team to win the Final Four with an all-black starting line-up

1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting day-to-day business on the cable network C-SPAN

2003 – George W. Bush orders the commencement of war against Iraq as Operation: Iraqi Freedom begins

2005 – John DeLorean, the inventor of the DeLorean automobile passes away in Summit, New Jersey at the age of 80

Yeah, I think that’s enough events to discuss for today. 

We also have a few celebrity birthdays to talk about in this edition of the Tuesday Timeline, and I want to wish the following famous faces a happy birthday...Renee Taylor, Ursula Andress, Ruth Pointer (Pointer Sisters), Glenn Close, Harvey Weinstein, Bruce Willis, Mary Scheer, Jake Weber, Fred Stoller, Tyrone Hill, Gary Jules, Rachel Blanchard, and Matt Littler.

Now, as I mentioned beforehand, this week, we are travelling back in time to the decade known as the 1980s. 


Today’s date?  March 19, 1987.

Now, everyone knows that the 1980s were a decade of incredible excess, greed, and luxury.  It was a decade in which yuppies and stockbrokers were considered idols, and it was a decade in which everybody dreamed big.

And, it was also a decade in which people felt a need to hold on to their faiths and their beliefs.

As far back as I can remember, there were plenty of television shows that aired during the 1980s that urged people to turn to God and religion during what were considered to be times of unrest and uncertainty.  The age of the televangelist was definitely at its peak around the mid-1980s, and it seemed as though no matter where you turned, there were always people who tried to bring a little bit of God into everyone’s lives.  Certainly in my home country of Canada, we have our fair share of religious television programming.  After all, “100 Huntley Street” has been on the air in Canada since 1977. 

In the United States, there are several examples of televangelists, which have included Billy Graham, Jack Van Impe, and Jimmy Swaggart.  Unfortunately, I really can’t tell you much about any of these programs, because I was never really big on watching televangelism at work.  In fact, I may be alienating some people by admitting this, but whenever Billy Graham pre-empted an episode of Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune, I would break down into hysterics and curse that man something fierce for interrupting my program!  In my defense though, in March 1987 I was still in kindergarten, and didn’t know any better.

(Even though at the age of nearly 32, I still wouldn’t go out of my way to watch religious programming.  I have my own belief system, and don’t really need to watch people praising the Lord to back that up.)

Of course, while the age of televangelism was huge in the 1980s, so were the scandals that toppled some of these figures from grace.  Case in point, just do a little research on Jimmy Swaggart’s confession from 1988 to see what I mean.


But this blog is not about Jimmy Swaggart.  Instead, it’s about a pair of televangelists who hosted their very own Christian-themed television program.  For thirteen years, they built their audience, and had continued success by having reputable minsters and contemporary Christian artists as guests.  But, on March 19, 1987, that success came to an embarrassing end, as one half of the duo admitted to sinning, so to speak.


Twenty-six years ago today televangelist Jim Bakker’s bad behaviour caused him to resign from the very empire he had spent nearly fifteen years creating.  In the end, it cost him his television show, his television network, his marriage, and for several years, his freedom!

But, before we take a look at the events of March 19, 1987 in great detail, we need to look at how it all began.

Jim Bakker was born on January 2, 1940 in the state of Michigan.  When he was in his late teens, he attended school at North Central University – a Bible college associated with the Assemblies of God – in Minneapolis.  It was during his time there as a student that he met his future wife, Tammy Faye LaValley, an eighteen year old student who worked part-time at a boutique.  Jim and Tammy fell in love, and tied the knot on April 1, 1961.  Together, they left the Bible college to become evangelists, and became the parents of two children, Tammy Sue and Jamie.


Their career as televangelists began five years after their wedding, when they began working at Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network.  At the time, they struggled to get an audience, which measured in the thousands.  Due to their perseverance and creativity, they slowly began to attract a following.  They even created their own television program, “The Jim and Tammy Show”, which they filmed from their Portsmouth, Virginia studio.  This program ran until at least the early 1970s, when Jim and Tammy moved to California.

In 1974, with the backing of the couple’s former youth pastors, Jim and Tammy created the “Praise the Lord” show for the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which began airing in California.  At some point within the first year of broadcast, Jim and Tammy relocated the show to Charlotte, North Carolina, and renamed it the “PTL Club”.  What initially began as a show that filmed in a converted furniture store in Charlotte grew into a huge conglomerate by the time the 1980s rolled around.  During this time, the Bakkers established the PTL Television Network, and by 1984, the program was carried by over one hundred television stations, reaching an audience of twelve million people.  They had even built a theme park in South Carolina known as Heritage USA, which at its peak was the third most successful theme park in the United States!


But this was where the web began to unravel for the Bakkers.  By the mid-1980s, questions of doubt seemed to surface regarding the legitimacy of the funds raised to support their massive empire.  Part of the success that the couple had was due to their stance on accepting everyone of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and whether they had a criminal record or not.  They’d accept donations from anyone.  And, because of this stance, they were raising one million dollars PER WEEK towards their cause.

It was how they spent the money that got tongues wagging.

It was estimated that between 1984 and 1987, Jim Bakker and his PTL associates reportedly sold lifetime memberships to members for the steep price tag of one thousand dollars.  Part of the membership deal included a three-night stay every year for the rest of each member’s life at one of Heritage USA’s luxury hotels.  There was just one problem.  While it was estimated that over ten thousand lifetime memberships were sold, only one 500-room hotel had been completed.  Can you see the discrepancy here?  You only need to know basic math to figure out that something was definitely fishy.  And, there was more to add to the scandal, and once more, it surrounded Heritage USA.

You see, underneath the lifetime membership plan, feasibly speaking, Heritage USA should have made more than enough money to build more than one hotel on the premises.  Instead, the money went towards operating expenses for the park itself...along with a whopping $3.4 million bonus for Jim Bakker himself. 


And, then there was the Jessica Hahn scandal.

In case some of you are too young to know who Jessica Hahn is, she was employed as a church secretary in December 1980 when an event happened that changed the lives of both Hahn and Bakker forever.  According to Hahn, she claimed that Jim Bakker (along with another preacher) had drugged and raped her, but Bakker later claimed in his 1997 book, “I Was Wrong” that the sexual encounter that he and Hahn shared was consensual.  Whether it was or not, considering that Bakker was a married man at the time, it caused a scandal when the news finally broke in early 1987.  To make matters worse, Bakker reportedly paid Hahn nearly $300,000 in hush money to keep her quiet...using funds from PTL to foot the bill!

It was due to the allegations of raping Jessica Hahn, as well as his shady financial dealings that forced Bakker to resign from PTL on March 19, 1987.  Days later, he was succeeded by Jerry Falwell, and by the end of the year, The PTL Club was pulled off the air, and donations slowed to a crawl. 

In 1988, following a sixteen-month investigation, Bakker was indicted on eight counts of mail fraud, fifteen counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy.  He was found guilty of all twenty-four counts in 1989, and was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, as well as being issued a half million dollar fine!  I guess in this case, God couldn’t save him from facing stiff punishment.  Of course, we all know by now that Bakker didn’t serve his time, or else he would still be in jail until 2034.  His 45-year sentence was voided by the United States Court of Appeals in 1991, and was subsequently reduced to just eight years.  After serving five, he was released on parole in the summer of 1994.  But the cost to Bakker was devastating.  He lost his entire empire, and Tammy Faye filed for divorce in 1992, marrying Roe Messner...who ironically enough helped Bakker build Heritage USA!

So, what’s happened to the key players since the scandal broke in 1987?


Well, Jim Bakker found love once again with Lori Graham, whom he married in 1998, and has gotten back into television hosting once more with ”The Jim Bakker Show” which is filmed in Branson, Missouri.  But, his financial problems are still very much an issue, as Bakker still owes the IRS close to six million dollars!


Tammy Faye Messner spent the 1990s guest starring on television shows, writing books, and even launching her own talk show with Jim J. Bullock which lasted one season.  Then in a strange twist of fate, appeared as a cast member of “The Surreal Life” along with Vanilla Ice, Erik Estrada, and Ron Jeremy!  Now, THAT’S surreal!  But she also faced a cancer battle which lasted eleven years, and she succumbed to the disease in July 2007 at the age of 65.  Now, I get that many people feel that she is guilty by association and should have been punished alongside her former husband, but as far as I’m concerned, having to fight cancer for the better part of a decade was more than enough punishment for her.  I certainly won’t make any disparaging comments about the dead in this blog.


As for Jessica Hahn, she used the publicity generated by the scandal to her advantage by becoming a model/actress.  She was also involved in a long-term relationship with “Married...With Children” co-creator Ron Leavitt, which lasted for seventeen years until Leavitt’s death in 2008.

So, there you have it...a scandal that spread like wildfire through the Christian Evangelical programming on television, and ruined several lives and toppled an entire cable network!  All because Jim Bakker completely disregarded at least two of the ten commandments.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

And, as the world watched the whole thing unfold on March 19, 1987, not even God could prevent it from happening.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Monday Bat-inee - Batman Forever


Are you ready for another exciting edition of the “Monday Bat-inee”?  I hope you are.  In this edition, we’re changing things up a bit.  In this third installment of the Batman franchise, we’re dealing with a new director, a couple of new villains, a new love interest for Bruce Wayne, and even a new actor sliding into Batman’s cape and tights!

The year was 1995, and I remember being completely obsessed with a song that I kept hearing on the radio the summer before I began high school.  Ironically enough, the song was performed by the group that I featured in yesterday’s blog entry, U2.  Would you like to listen it to it below?  Here it is.



ARTIST:  U2
SONG:  Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
ALBUM:  Batman Forever:  Original Music from the Motion Picture
DATE RELEASED:  June 5, 1995
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #16

I don’t know whether it was the song itself, or the fact that I’m a sucker for music videos that contain animation, but I listened to this song over and over again.  At one point, I owned the soundtrack album for this movie, and I wore out the tape because I played it way too much.  Between this song and Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose”, the cassette didn’t stand a chance!

Now, this song was also responsible for something else.  Because I listened to it a lot, it made me want to check out the movie that the song was featured in.


That movie would be “Batman Forever”, released on June 16, 1995. 


“Batman Forever” marked a significant change in the successful Batman franchise.  The only constant between this film and the previous two was the fact that Michael Gough reprised his role as Alfred, the butler.

Initially, Michael Keaton was set to play the role of Batman for a third time, and was offered $15 million for his commitment...but that was back when Tim Burton was still signed on as director.  Warner Brothers, on the other hand, wanted to change things up a bit.  Although “Batman Returns” performed very well at the box office, the company felt that it could have made even more money than it did.  Warner Brothers made the decision to push Burton back to the role of producer, and bring in Joel Schumacher to direct the film.


Ultimately, Keaton did not mesh well with Schumacher’s vision of “Batman Forever”, and he backed out of the project.  Val Kilmer was then given the part of Batman.  And, when Kilmer was brought on, it affected the casting of another key part.


Initially, Rene Russo was cast as Dr. Chase Meridian, but when Keaton left the project and Kilmer came aboard, producers let Russo go, believing that she was too old to be a realistic love interest for Kilmer’s Batman (even though there was only five years difference between Russo and Kilmer).  The role then went to Nicole Kidman, who previously had auditioned for Catwoman in “Batman Returns”.


The cast was rounded out by Tommy Lee Jones, who played the role of Harvey Dent (previously portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in 1989’s “Batman”).  When Harvey Dent gets acid thrown in his face following the conviction of a crime boss, his insanity gets the better of him, and he becomes the villain known as “Two-Face”.


Working with Two-Face is a real “E.Nygma” of a character.  No, seriously, his name is Edward Nygma, portrayed by Jim Carrey.  And, Carrey’s wacky facial expressions certainly worked in his favour when Edward Nygma became “The Riddler”, after Bruce Wayne rejected his invention that would beam television directly into a person’s brain.  Under his persona of The Riddler, he would taunt police and Batman with riddles and puzzles at every crime scene.


Oh yeah...this film marks the first time that we see the character of Dick Grayson, who many of you know best as Batman’s sidekick, Robin.  Dick is portrayed by Chris O’Donnell, and we learn early on that Two-Face was responsible for the deaths of his entire family in a circus accident.  Since that day, Dick has the urge to kill Two-Face in a classic “eye for an eye” situation.  But when Dick crosses paths with Bruce Wayne, will he have a change of heart?  When The Riddler and Two-Face team up to wreak havoc on Gotham City while trying to discover Batman’s true identity, will Batman come up on top.  And, what role does the mysterious Dr. Chase Meridian play in all of this?

Well, of course, I’m not going to tell you.  I’d be spoiling the movie if I did.  But you know what?  I really liked it.  I know that it wasn’t easy for Val Kilmer to step into a role that many people had associated with Michael Keaton for two films, but I think he made it work.  I thought he was fairly convincing.  Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey made fantastic villains, Nicole Kidman certainly looked and acted the part of a Batman vixen, and Chris O’Donnell made a decent Robin.  I suppose producers agreed if they decided to cast him as Robin once more in a future Batman film!  But, that’s another discussion.

Now that the basic plot and my review of the film have been written, why not talk about some of the interesting bits of trivia that you may not have known during the filming of “Batman Forever”?  Some of these I knew beforehand, but others were surprising.  Have a look.

01 – The film earned $336 million at the box office, making it the second highest grossing film of 1995 in the United States, behind “Toy Story”.

02 – When Michael Keaton dropped out of the project, and before Val Kilmer was given the role, other actors who were considered for the iconic role were Daniel Day-Lewis, Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Tom Hanks, and Johnny Depp.  Wow, come to think of it, Johnny Depp as Batman would have made the film quite interesting!

03 – Some of the sets used on “Batman Forever” were reused from “Batman Returns”.  A notable example is with Two-Face’s hideout, which was originally used in the first disappearance of Max Shreck in “Batman Returns”.

04 – The stunt double for Chris O’Donnell was Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord.


05 – The members of R & B group “En Vogue” had cameo appearances in the movie, playing the roles of streetwalkers in Gotham City.

06 – The teenage girl that Dick Grayson saves in the alleyway was played by “All My Children” star Rebecca Budig.

07 – Jim Carrey was very involved in how “The Riddler” was portrayed, even having a say in how his costumes were designed!

08 – Believe it or not, Val Kilmer was inside of a bat cave when he received word that he won the part of Batman!  He was doing research for the film “The Ghost and the Darkness”.

09 – The various puzzles and riddles that “The Riddler” dropped at every crime scene in the film were designed by Will Shortz, whose claim to fame was editing the crossword puzzles that appeared in the New York Times.

10 – Jim Carrey spent quite a bit of time trying to learn how to twirl a cane.  Unfortunately, he ended up breaking at least twelve while practicing!

11 – Robin Williams was considered for the role of The Riddler, but he refused, still bitter over being used as bait to lure Jack Nicholson into starring in 1989’s “Batman”.

12 – Surprisingly enough, Michael Jackson was also considered for the role of The Riddler.

13 – Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, was not impressed by the costume department’s decision to add nipples to Batman’s costume, nor was he happy with the decision to give Robin an earring.


14 – Chris O’Donnell really did drive the Batmobile in the movie...and he dented it by crashing it into a curb while filming!  Oops!

15 – One of the people who auditioned for the role of Robin was Christian Bale.  He didn’t get that part, but ten years later, he would become the latest actor to assume the role of Batman in “Batman Begins”!

16 – You might not think that Robin’s costume would weigh that much...but it weighed a little over forty pounds!

17 – Mel Gibson was initially considered to play the role of Two-Face in the film, and while he wanted to take on the role, he was unable to because of scheduling conflicts with another film he was working on at the time, “Braveheart”.

18 – Jim Carrey really wanted to shave a question mark into his scalp when he was filming “Batman Forever”, but considering that while he was filming the movie, he was in court dealing with divorce proceedings, that idea was nixed.

19 – Initially, Nicole Kidman was not intended to play Dr. Chase Meridian.  Joel Schumacher was intending to cast her in the role of Poison Ivy.  He decided against the idea, as he thought three Batman villains in one movie would be too much.

20 – During the opening fight scene in the movie, Val Kilmer ended up losing five pounds!  The weight of the Batsuit probably being the cause, as the Batsuit weighed at least ten pounds more than Robin’s costume.

21 – Tommy Lee Jones spent an average of four hours in the make-up chair to apply Two-Face’s costume.

22 – Joel Schumacher resolved never to work with either Jones and Carrey again after a personality conflict between the two actors caused tension on set.  But Schumacher had a change of heart as he would work with Carrey on “The Number 23”. 

23 – Michelle Pfeiffer was asked to reprise her role of Catwoman for “Batman Forever”, but she refused.


24 – Two-Face’s female thugs, Sugar and Spice, were played by Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar.  In the script, their original names were Leather and Lace.

25 – This film is the only Batman film which features Batman swimming while wearing the Batsuit.


Coming up next week, in the final installment of the Monday Bat-inee, we’re going to follow Chris O’Donnell from one Batman film into another one...unfortunately, the film is also the weakest of the bunch.