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Monday, April 22, 2013

Erin Brockovich


Hello, everybody, and a very happy Earth Day to all of you out there!



For me, Earth Day couldn't be a more appropriate theme for me this year, as this is the day that I begin working in a brand new area where I will be helping sell bags and bags of it!

In all seriousness though, Earth Day has been one of those days that I really feel strongly about. After all, the Earth is (as of 2013 anyway) the only planet we have to live on. We all should be doing our part to preserve it so that our children, and our children's children, and our children's children's children can enjoy it for centuries to come.

Or, at least until the sun explodes, but I don't think we have to worry about that happening within our lifespan.

For as long as I can remember, I've always been environmentally conscious (though admittedly I could be doing more to preserve it). I've participated in Earth Day activities, and I am a firm believer in reducing, reusing, and recycling.

And, because I am a fan of Earth Day, I thought that I would use this space to talk about an environment related topic. And, since today is Monday, I thought of only one possible movie.



We're going to be taking a look at the 2000 film, Erin Brockovich, which starred Julia Roberts as the title character.

And, with this choice of topic...I will tell you that I may end up revealing...a MOVIE ENDING!

I know! I have taken such pride in not revealing film conclusions! But, since this movie is based on a true story, and since I plan on talking about the real Erin Brockovich, I may end up giving away the ending. But, I would still recommend this film anyway because it is fairly good.



So, to begin this look back on Erin Brockovich, I thought that I'd begin by doing a brief character sketch on the real Erin Brockovich...just so you all know how she ended up getting a movie made about her life.

At first glance, Erin Brockovich was not a person who really stood out. Born in Lawrence, Kansas on June 22, 1960 as Erin Pattee, Erin's career began in an industry that was completely different than the career path that she eventually took. In 1981, after graduating from Wades Business College in Dallas, she went to work as a management trainee for department store chain, Kmart. But after less than a year, she found that being a department store manager was not her calling, and she quit to enter beauty pageants, winning the title of Miss Pacific Coast in 1981.

Moving to California in 1982, by the early 1990s, Erin was in dire straits...and this is where the movie begins.

Erin Brockovich” was released in theatres on March 17, 2000, and was made on a budget of slightly over fifty million dollars. Don't worry though, it made five times its budget at the box office, and was one of 2000's most well-received films.

Julia Roberts' performance in the film was especially well received, with her winning a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress!



Anyway, as the story begins, we're taken back in time to the year 1993. At that time, the real Erin Brockovich was very close to hitting rock bottom. She was a single mother of three children who was unable to find work, and on top of that, she was involved in a court case trying to sue a doctor for injuries sustained in a car accident. It was supposed to be a slam dunk case, and Erin's lawyer, Ed Masry (Albert Finney) was confident that they would win.

It's just too bad that Erin had a flippant, lousy attitude towards the whole thing. Maybe if she had behaved herself appropriately, the case would have gone in her favour. Instead, the judge ruled against her, and left without any other option, she practically forces Ed to hire her on his staff to “compensate” for the loss. Begrudgingly, Ed agrees, and Erin becomes his newest file clerk.

However, Ed's actions lead to something bigger...and when Erin spots some paperwork regarding Pacific Gas and Electric purchasing the home of a Hinkley, California resident, she seems concerned that there are medical records included in the file. Puzzled, she pays the resident, Donna Jensen (Marg Helgenberger), a visit. Donna simply explained the situation away, but she did mention that she is grateful to PG&E for supplying a doctor paid for from their own pocket, because she and her husband had been suffering from poor health as of late. She had been diagnosed with several tumours, and her husband developed Hodgkin's disease.



This immediately raises some red flags for Brockovich, especially when Jensen mentions the word chronium. So, Erin digs a little bit deeper and discovers a shocking truth...that the water supply in the whole community of Hinkley has been contaminated with hexavalent chronium...which is considered to be very dangerous to humans, and can lead to long-term health detriments, including cancer. She persuades Ed to continue pursuing the case and wins the trust of several people in Hinkley, but can she find a way to get the proof she needs that PG&E knowingly contaminated the water supply despite their claims that the chemicals that they use are safe.

What eventually happens at the end of the film is that a whistleblower finally comes forward, and leads to one of the most incredible courtroom showdowns presented in film. I don't want to reveal exactly what happened, but since it's well known that the real Erin Brockovich continues to fight for environmental rights, I would say that the end result was a victory, wouldn't you?

Of course, I've left out some key details. You still don't know how much of a settlement was given, and there's actually a nice surprise twist at the end involving Erin and her fee.

But, it's important to know that while the film version is mostly accurate in portrayal as to what really happened in the Brockovich case, there are some discrepancies. Erin Brockovich herself pointed out that while in the film, “Erin” used her ample assets (a.k.a. Her cleavage) to get people to trust her, Brockovich claimed that she never deliberately did such a thing...although she also admitted that it was entirely possible that some people were...swayed on their own.

Here's some more trivia.

01 – Director Steven Soderbergh was up for an Academy Award for Directing, but ended up losing...to himself! “Traffic” won the award, which was also directed by Soderbergh!

02 – The car crash at the beginning was achieved by digitally combining scenes of Julia Roberts driving the car and a radio controlled car being hit by a stunt driver.

03 – The real Erin Brockovich reportedly sold the rights to her story to Universal Studios for a modest $100,000.

04 – Julia Roberts forgot to thank one important person in her Academy Award acceptance speech...Erin Brockovich!

05 – Less than a year after she wrapped up filming, Marg Helgenberger won the role of Catherine Willows on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She would stay on the series until 2012.

06 – Erin Brockovich makes a cameo appearance in the film...ironically enough playing a character named Julia.

07 – Ed Masry also made a cameo in the film, appearing in a restaurant scene. He would pass away in late 2005.

08 – Aaron Eckhart's character George, was based loosely on a Mexican-American biker that Erin used to date.

09 – There's a bit of a goof-up in terms of chronology. The stamps that are used were worth 33 cents (then the postage rate for 1999). The film is set in 1993, when stamps were lower priced.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

They've Got "The Look" - The Roxette Story


Sometimes when it comes to picking topics for the blog, I get a mild case of writer's block.

No, actually, I don't think that's quite the word I want to use. I think I'm going to coin a new phrase.

Topic block.

I suppose in some cases, it makes a lot of sense. I have been keeping up this blog for almost two years now. Sometimes it gets harder and harder to come up with fresh ideas when there comes a time in which you believe you have used them all up.

So, for today's edition of the Sunday Jukebox, I thought I would use a rather unconventional method in choosing a song to spotlight. I would put my iPod on shuffle, skip ahead to song #421 (the number chosen because this entry will be posted on April 21), and go from there.

As it turned out, that method was a rather ingenious one, as the 421st song on my iPod had an interesting story behind how it became a huge hit in North America.

And that story begins roughly around the holiday season of 1988.

At the time, a musical duo was on tour promoting their second album all around Scandinavian Europe, particularly in their native country of Sweden. Although the duo had had several hit singles in their home country, and even released their 1986 debut album in Canada, they struggled to find an audience outside of their native country.

That is, until an American exchange student by the name of Dean Cushman inadvertedly helped the duo achieve their biggest worldwide hit ever.

At the time that Cushman was visiting Sweden, the duo had just released the third single from their album, “Look Sharp!”. Their previous two singles, “Dressed for Success” and “Listen To Your Heart” had already been released to some success in Sweden. Upon hearing the single on the radio, Cushman bought a copy of the album, and upon flying back home to America, sent the album to a radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and asked them to play the single on the air. KDWB began to play the single, and within a few days, it made a huge impact on the radio station, as listeners kept calling the station requesting the song be played again, demanding to know who performed it.

By the beginning of 1989, the copy of the single had spread to other radio stations throughout the nation, and it eventually hit the top of the charts, despite the fact that the album had not even been released in the United States! By the time “Look Sharp!” was released in the United States later on in the year, it debuted at #50 on the Billboard 200 – a fantastic claim to fame for a new artist!



So, would you like to know what the song was that helped make “Roxette” a household name? It happens to be the one below.



ARTIST: Roxette
SONG: The Look
ALBUM: Look Sharp!
DATE RELEASED: January 12, 1989
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1 week

I remember “The Look” being played almost constantly during my elementary school years. I think that during the period between 1989 and 1994, I must have heard that song playing approximately five hundred times. Not that I minded though. It was a great song back in the day, and it's still a good song today!



In fact, I'll actually admit to owning the “Look Sharp!” album back in the day. What can I say? There's just something about Sweden. Of course, they also brought us ABBA and ABBA lookalike band Ace of Base.

Anyway, less about them. More about Roxette.



Roxette is made up of the duo of Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson. Both musicians can be heard singing vocals, though Marie tends to sing a lot more than Per did.

(Part of the reason I'm glad that “The Look” was chosen for my as the topic was because it's the perfect song that showcases both singers.)

The duo first met in the year 1979 in Halmstad, Sweden. At the time, both were committed to other projects. Marie was in the band Strul and MaMas Barn, while Per was enjoying success as a member of the band Gyllene Tider (at the time, one of Sweden's most successful bands).

TRIVIA: Per also worked on former ABBA singer Frida's album “Something's Going On”.

When Marie Fredriksson left her band in the early 1980s, she began singing background vocals for Gyllene Tider in 1981, and by 1984, she joined the band on background vocals again for their only English album, “The Heartland Cafe”.

That album was released in Sweden in February 1984, and sold a modest 45,000 copies in Sweden. Doesn't sound like a lot, does it? Though the English-language album did attract attention from Capitol/EMI, and they made plans to release six of the eleven songs on an EP record under the name “Heartland”. The only catch was that the band needed a new name, as Gyllene Tider didn't quite roll off the tongue.

(In fact, I'll be honest. I have no idea how to pronounce Gyllene Tider, and if I tried, I'd likely sound like the Swedish Chef.)



Bork! Bork! Bork!

Ahem...anyway, the band settled on their new American name after the title of a 1975 single from Dr. Feelgood.

Roxette.

Now, Roxette did attempt to break out into the United States market four years before their big break came. In 1985, the group released a single, “Teasing Japanese”, and the music video actually found its way to the MTV headquarters in New York City. But while the singles did well in their native Sweden, they fizzled everywhere else, and by the end of the year, the band had broken up, and Per and Marie split off to record solo albums recorded entirely in Swedish.

But Rolf Nygren, then the Managing Director of EMI, refused to give up on Per Gessle and Marie Fredrikssen. He came up with the idea that Per and Marie should begin singing together as a duo using the Roxette name that they used for the American release that never came to be. The two agreed to try it out, and their first single was a song that Per had initially written in Swedish, but had translated in English to become “Neverending Love”. It sold 50,000 copies in Sweden, and peaked within the Top 10 in 1986.



Riding on the wave of success, the duo went to the studios to record their first full-length album, “Pearls of Passion” in October 1986. And, once again, their songs did very well in Sweden, but not so much anywhere else in the world.

It wasn't until Dean Cushman brought over a copy of the band's second album back home with him that their big break in America came.

The Look” was only the first of many hits for Roxette stateside. Just have a look at the songs that they also released in North America as well as their peak position on the charts. In fact, if you click the links, you can hear these songs in full.


So, as you can see, their popularity in the United States lasted about five years. Their last Top 50 hit was nineteen years ago, and they have not had one since. However, they are still, wildly popular in their native Sweden, as well as all throughout Europe and Latin America. They have had hits in Europe as recently as 2010, when their single “She's Got Nothing On (But The Radio)” hit the top 10 in Austria and Germany.

But their career and their partnership together was threatened in September 2002 when Marie became ill. She suffered a concussion after falling in her home and striking her head. It was discovered shortly after that the reason behind the fainting spell was due to a brain tumour. Surgery was performed immediately, and Marie spent the next few years recovering. At that time, Per Gessle embarked on a solo career. By 2005, Marie's condition had improved enough for her to begin recording music again, and four years later, Gessle and Fredrikssen reunited as Roxette for the first time in nearly eight years.



And, that's our “look” back on Roxette.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm


You know, I've been keeping this blog going on for almost two full years now (something that completely shocks even myself as I never expected for this project to last more than a few months), and over the past couple of years, I have talked about hundreds of topics.

Here's a bit of a confession for you all. For months now, I have kept up a word file on the topics that I will be planning on talking about for the next few months. The reason why I have done this is so I don't end up talking about the same topic twice. While I may end up doing more than one look at a various television show, or musical artist, I will offer up different perspectives or different points of view.



Therefore, it may seem a bit bizarre to admit that I have never done a blog entry on the long-running television cartoon series “The Flintstones”.

And, you know what? It's about time.




Problem is, there are so many possible options that I can take with this blog entry. So many possible ideas for topics that I could choose. After all, it was the world's very first animated prime-time series to air. The Simpsons may be currently on the air after nearly a quarter of a century, but they wouldn't be there had The Flintstones not paved the way.

What can I tell you about the show itself? Well, it debuted on ABC on September 30, 1960 and ran for five and a half years until April 1, 1966. It's first few seasons were filmed in black and white, but towards the middle of the series run, began to broadcast entirely in colour.




You also know that the main voice actors really became stars in their own right. Barney Rubble was voiced by Mel Blanc, Betty Rubble was voiced by Bea Benaderet, Wilma Flintstone was voiced by Jean Vander Pyl, and Fred Flintstone was voiced by Alan Reed.

TRIVIA: Alan Reed emulated his voice so that it would sound like Jackie Gleason's character of Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners, and reportedly Gleason was considering suing the show and tried to get the show pulled from the air, to which his lawyer allegedly asked him how he would feel being the man who pulled Fred Flintstone off the air forever? Gleason dropped the suit after that!

But, for today's topic, I thought about doing a spotlight on two Flintstones characters that for some reason end up getting overlooked. And, no, I'm not talking about the Great Gazoo and Hoppy, the Rubble family pet.

I'm talking about these two gorgeous children below.




Meet Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble, the offspring of the Flintstone and Rubble families.

Now, how both children came into the world were completely different. Pebbles Flintstone is the biological child of Fred and Wilma Flintstone. She was born on the February 22, 1963 episode (her actual birthdate was on the same day, only in prehistoric times. As for Bamm-Bamm, his arrival didn't come until October 3, 1963. Unlike Pebbles, who was born the natural way, Bamm-Bamm's arrival came after Betty and Barney wished upon a falling star for a baby. The baby came in the form of Bamm-Bamm, who was found outside the Rubble's front door in a basket.

Come to think of it, had the show been made in 2000s-era, I could easily see Bamm-Bamm on the “Rocky Povich” show trying to find his birth parents. Thank goodness that the 1960s seemed more innocent back then.

When Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were infants, both of them were completely different in personality and charm. Sure, both babies were absolutely adorable, and their parents loved them with all their hearts. But Pebbles was definitely the quieter of the two. She was content crawling around the floor, babbling her cute baby gibberish, playing with Dino, and being the jewel of her daddy's eye.

Bamm-Bamm, on the other hand, was born with super human strength. He had a club which he frequently used to bash people over the head with, and he had enough strength to pick up Fred or Barney and throw them up in the air. Heck, for some reason, I imagine if he wanted to, he could pick Dino up by the tail, and lift him off of Fred whenever Dino jumped on top of him in one of his super-affectionate moods.

But let's face it...who in their right mind would want to interfere with a classic, recurring gag like that?

Bamm-Bamm would never use his club on Pebbles though. Despite their differences, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm would become best friends from the minute they saw each other. They played together, they danced together, and believe it or not, they even recorded a record together!




The song was the 1954 classic “Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In), written by Stuart Hamblin. On the premiere of the show's final season which originally aired on September 17, 1965, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm sang the song at various points throughout that episode. It was sometimes even played during the closing credits of the show's final season. Though on the episode, the singing was all a dream that Fred had, in real life, a 45 was released on the song, featuring Ricky and Rebecca Page on vocals.

Now, the original Flintstones series ended in 1966, but if you thought that the adventures of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm ended with the conclusion of the series, think again.

During the 1970s and 1980s, through a series of television specials and revival series, the world watched as Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm grew up into young adults. When they were pre-teens, both starred in the one-off specials “A Flintstones Christmas” and “The Flintstones: Little Big League”. In the latter, we learn that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are both quite good in the sport of baseball.




When Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm entered high school, an entire series was made following their adventures in high school, which came to be known as “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show”, which ran for the duration of the 1971/72 season. On the series, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's friendship had blossomed into first love, and both of them had to deal with the average things that most teenagers at Bedrock High had to endure. For Pebbles' it was having to stay one step ahead of mean girl Cindy and her beau, Fabian, and for Bamm-Bamm, it was trying to balance time between Pebbles, and his friends Penny, Wiggy, and Moonrock.

Interestingly enough, in this series, Pebbles proves time and time again that she is Daddy's Little Girl, as like Fred, Pebbles often gets herself and the rest of her friends involved in plans that tend to become epic failures, just like her dad. She even adopted her father's “Yabba Dabba Doo” catchphrase...even though Pebbles changes it just a smidgen when she chants “Yabba Dabba Doozie” instead.

TRIVIA: In “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show”, both Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were voiced by two well-known stars at the time. Bamm-Bamm was voiced by Jay North, who played Dennis the Menace in the live-action series, while Pebbles was voiced by “All in the Family” actress Sally Struthers.

And, finally, in adulthood, three specials were aired on ABC (all in 1993) that depicted what happened to Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. And, I remember being twelve years old and watching all three airing!

(I am a huge fan of The Flintstones, in case you can't tell.)




Anyway, in “I Yabba Dabba Doo”, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm get married, despite the fact that Fred and Barney end up losing all of the wedding money. And, in “Hollyrock-A-Bye-Baby”, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm have moved to Hollyrock so that Bamm-Bamm can pursue his dream of being a screenwriter, and at the end of the show, Pebbles gives birth to twins, Roxy and Chip.

And, that's our look back on Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm...a love affair born out of the Stone Ages. If only all of our relationships could be as pure and loving as theirs...

Friday, April 19, 2013

MacGyver


Okay, here's a game that I want to play with all of you to kick off another Friday entry. You can play along if you wish. It's all hypothetical anyway.

All right. I'm going to give you a list of items, as well as a dangerous situation that you might experience (although in all likelihood, the odds are rather slim). Your job is to try and survive the experience just by using the items that you are equipped with. Let's begin.

SITUATION #1: You're sleeping in your bedroom when all of a sudden, you smell smoke. There's a fire right outside your door and it is preventing you from getting out. You have a window that you can climb out of, but it is two and a half stories high, and you know that if you jump out, you risk serious injury. All you can get a hold of are your bedsheets, a package of rubber bands, some scotch tape, and a skipping rope. What will you use? As far as what I would do, I'd tie two sheets together with the skipping rope, and use the sheets to climb out of the window. I suppose that I could also use the rubber bands and tape, but they wouldn't hold my body weight. I still may end up injured, but it would only be minor.

SITUATION #2: You have been kidnapped by someone and are trapped inside a room that is locked from the outside. You are tied to a chair with a rope around your ankles, and the only possessions you have are a belt buckle, a watch, a couple of credit cards, some pocket change, a couple of business cards, and a ceramic coffee mug nearby. What do you do? Well, first, I'd find a way to get out of my tied up state, so I'd try to break apart the ceramic mug (my legs may be tied, but my arms are not). I'd rub the mug pieces against the rope to cut it. Once I was freed, I'd need something to break the lock, and three items can help me do it. If I use the nub on the belt buckle, a credit card, or a business card and slide it in the door jamb, I could manage to unlock the door if I twist it the right way.

SITUATION #3: You're walking down the street with a bag of groceries, and you happen to find yourself caught from behind by a mugger who wants everything you have. He is also armed with a gun. You have to think fast, but the only things you have in your grocery bags are frozen salmon, Diet Coke, a package of Mentos, a carton of grapefruit juice, and mango poppyseed salad dressing. How are you going to get out of this one alive? Well, I suppose you could use the Diet Coke and Mentos to spray a steady stream of fizz in the man's face, but that could take some time. I would just grab the grapefruit juice and splash it in the mugger's eyes. He would be so busy screaming in agony over the acidic juice stinging his eyes, that you could get away quite easily.

Of course, these are just fictional scenarios. They are however linked to today's show, as the star happens to be one of those men who finds ordinary weapons like guns and knives to be boring. He'd rather use his mind and his skills in chemistry, physics, and mathematics to create spur of the moment inventions to help him fight crime, protect the innocent, and save himself from complete annihilation in the process.

Two weeks ago, I featured an action-drama beginning with M that aired on CBS. Last week, I featured an action-drama beginning with M that aired on NBC. This week, it's ABC's turn.



We're taking a look at the long-running series MacGyver!



MacGyver ran for seven seasons on ABC and was one of the network's most successful prime-time series. It ran from September 29, 1985 until May 21, 1992. The show was a joint production between Henry Winkler and John Rich, and was created by Lee David Zlotoff. The show also made Richard Dean Anderson a star and sex symbol, as he portrayed the main character of Angus MacGyver.



TRIVIA: One of the running gags in “The Simpsons” involves MacGyver. Marge's sisters Patty and Selma have been fans of MacGyver forever, and the first three seasons had a lot of MacGyver jokes inserted into each episode. Richard Dean Anderson even made a guest appearance on the series, in which Patty and Selma actually kidnap him!



MacGyver is a secret agent whose weaponry doesn't include guns or assault weapons. His tool of choice is a Swiss Army knife, which has helped him escape more sticky situations than you could even count. Although he will use a revolver or an AK-47 if there is absolutely no other option, but the reason why he has abhorred guns is because of a childhood accident in which one of his friends accidentally died from a gunshot wound.

Therefore, it's not uncommon for MacGyver to use his Swiss Army knife, along with a combination of other household items to find a way out of the most precarious positions. It was this ingenuity and creativity that kept audiences hooked for seven seasons, and at one time was responsible for an increase in enrollment at engineering programs at college and university campuses all over the world.

In short, MacGyver did for engineering what CSI did for forensic sciences.



Also appearing on the series was Pete Thornton (played by Dana Elcar). Thornton is MacGyver's boss and closest confidant. At first, he is an operative of the Department of External Services, but by later seasons, becomes director of operations at the Phoenix Foundation (which MacGyver also becomes a part of).



MacGyver is also joined by his best friend, the comical Jack Dalton (played by Bruce McGill). He is well-meaning, but often acts on impulse and stupidity when he forces MacGyver to clean up the mess he makes when another one of his get-rich schemes blows up in his face.

Here's some more trivia about the show.

01 – Richard Dean Anderson performed most of his own stunts during the first few seasons of MacGyver, but had to quit doing stuntwork in the 1990s following injuries to his back and feet.



02 – The show was the lead-in to ABC's Monday Night Football for six years, likely aiding in its popularity.

03 – Dana Elcar was diagnosed with glaucoma near the end of the series. It was written into the show.

04 – When Henry Winkler and John Rich were looking for actors to cast in the role of MacGyver, Anderson was given the part because of the human touch he gave the character (unlike the other actors who according to Winkler “hulked their way through the audition”).

05 – The series finale aired on April 25, 1992...but an unaired episode aired nearly a month later on May 21, 1992.

06 – The reason why MacGyver was pulled from the ABC schedule despite it still scoring decent numbers was due to Anderson being too physically exhausted to continue with the series.

07 – There were two MacGyver made for television movies that aired after the original series wrapped up. Both aired in 1994.



08 – The show is still spoofed today, with the most recent one being on Saturday Night Live, where Will Forte played the role of “MacGruber”.

09 – Some of the ideas for MacGyver's inventions and innovations came from fans themselves. The show even encouraged people to send in their ideas by offering them cash prizes for the best ideas. Henry Winkler particularly singled out the idea that one viewer sent in...that if you cracked an egg over a vehicle's cracked radiator, the egg would seal up the crack!

10 – Richard Dean Anderson reprised his role of MacGyver in 2012 for a series of advertisements for Mercedes-Benz.

11 – A comic book series starring MacGyver began being published in October 2012.

12 – The role of MacGyver's arch-enemy, Murdoc, was played by Michael Des Barres. In the episode entitled “Cleo Rocks”, he actually composed the song of the same name that was performed in the show!

13 – There was an incident in which a pair of teenage boys attempted to make a bomb themselves which accidentally detonated, killing one of the two. The other one claimed they got the idea from an episode of MacGyver, but no such episode existed, clearing the show of any wrongdoing.

14 – In a related note, whenever a “MacGyver-ism” was shown, not all the steps were shown in the episode, for the very reason that the producers didn't want kids risking their safety to recreate it.

15 – Look closely at the directing credits for the first few episodes of the series, including the pilot episode. They were all directed by Allen Smithee. The Smithee name is used by directors who refuse to allow their real names to be linked to a project out of embarrassment or out of fear that the work they put out wasn't their best.

16 – The first few episodes of the show were filmed in Los Angeles, California, but when the cost of producing the show became too high, resulting in ABC threatening to cancel the series, production was moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

I could go on, but I just realized that my computer battery is beginning to die out, and all I have are thumbtacks, a magnet, duct tape, a lemon, and some Trident chewing gum to try and get the battery powered back up.

Gotta go.  

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Thursday Diary - Unscripted


This is another one of those Thursday Diary entries that is half typed and half written. I was inspired to jot a few pages of notes down and I've decided to share my thoughts in another edition of a real, honest interpretation of my Thursday Diary series.

It's unscripted, it's unedited (aside from the one goof-up I did on the last page), and it's about as rough a copy as one can get. Let's just say that recent events got me thinking.

April 18, 2013

This is going to be a piece that may appear to be very light on text, and very heavy on pictures. It's another attempt at a handwritten blog, and this time, I actually used a pen that WILL show up.

I was also listening to my iPod at the time, and will insert videos of the songs I was hearing while writing each page, as well as providing visuals of some photos to supplement each section.

I began writing this piece while I watched Big Brother Canada on television. When the commercials came on, I wrote page one as fast as I could. Here was the song that was playing at the time.



And, here's page one (to make it larger, just click on the image).




It took a while to compose page two, but this was the song that was playing on my iPod while I was writing the second part of my hand-written blog.



Part 2 begins now.



For the conclusion, I'm going to enter what I have learned from the events over the last few days.  I initially had the song included with this post as it was what I was listening to at the time, but listening to the lyrics, there's one part that might get some people bent out of shape.

If you want to know what the song was, it was Frente's "Ordinary Angels".  The introduction should clue you in as to why I decided not to use it...





I figured that I would try the handwritten notes once more because it got some positive feedback the first time I tried it out. Would you like to see more? Please let me know in the space below!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Hangin' Out in the School Playground


Hey, everyone! This Wednesday, we're going to be continuing our look back on outdoor activities. After all, that's what the theme for every Wednesday is in the blog for the month of April.

And, for today's topic, a subject in which most of us can probably relate to. But first, I want to tell you all a little bit of a story.



For most kids, I would assume that recess was the absolute best part of the school day. For fifteen minutes every morning and for fifteen minutes every afternoon, the schools would kick the kids outside onto the school playground for a session of play. And, truth be told, a lot of kids that I knew looked forward to recess, as it was a time in which they had full control over what they wanted to do.

Myself? I had more of a love/hate relationship with recess. There were some days in which I absolutely hated recess. For one, I didn't really have many close friends that I could spend the entire recess period with, so I spent most of them walking around the back field by myself until the bell rang. Truth be told, I would have rather stayed inside the school for recess, and was thrilled to death when rain, heavy snow, and other horrible weather meant that we could stay inside for recess. This was particularly true back when I was in grades 1-3, as a lot of the older kids used to spend their recess periods trying to beat me up!

However, there was one thing about going outside for recess that I liked.

The playground equipment.

Mind you, when I was in school, I almost never got the opportunity to go on the playground equipment. With almost 500 kids at my elementary school, the play structures were always overcrowded with kids. It wasn't until I started attending the summer playground program (which were held at the various elementary school playgrounds all over town) that I really allowed myself to enjoy the play structures the way that they should be enjoyed.



I was actually walking by my old elementary school just the other day, and it boggled my mind over how different the playground looked. Mind you, I graduated from elementary school eighteen years ago, so I imagine that some of the playground equipment had to be replaced due to old age. But, I didn't expect the whole thing to look completely different. It was like a completely different place. The play structures were replaced, the bleachers looked as if they had been redone, and there was even a scoreboard erected on the side of the playground.

(Our elementary school playground also contained the football field for the high school located nearby...hence the need for a scoreboard.)

But you know, even though the school playground looks completely different than it did back when I was a kid, I still have those fond memories in spite of my flip-flopping attitude towards recess.

For instance, one of the things that I remember the most about my elementary school playground were the dozens of hopscotch courts that were painted onto the pavement. Hopscotch was a game that I loved to play when I was seven or eight. It was also a nice little game that I could play solo if I had to. All I needed was a small stone (which the playground was filled with), and I could keep myself amused for the entire fifteen minute recess.



Another thing that I remember about the school playground was the courtyard which had basketball hoops. I could be remembering this wrong, but when the weather warmed up in the spring, the yard duty teacher would often give out basketballs and soccer balls that we could play with during the entire recess (well, provided that we returned them). Of course, not all of them would get returned, as some balls found their way up onto the roof of the school. Though, I'll admit that it was fun on the last day of school when the school janitor would go up on the roof to throw down all of the balls, frisbees, and kites that accumulated up there during the course of the school year. I think I even caught a ball one year. I don't even think it was one that I owned, but since the kid that threw it up there was probably long gone by then, finders keepers!

As far as the playground equipment itself went, I have so many personal tales, stories, and in a couple of cases, a couple of battle scars to tell you about. What can I say? No child ever escapes the confines of a school playground without sustaining a few scars, scrapes, and bruises, right?



One of the main things that I remember about my elementary school playground was the gigantic wooden bridge (similar to the one above) that spanned between the curvy yellow slide and those rings that kids could swing on. I loved that bridge with a passion, and one of my favourite activities on that bridge was playing a little game called “Earthquake Bridge”. I would walk onto the bridge with one or two other kids on it, and we'd swing the bridge back and forth to simulate an earthquake. Sometimes the motion would be nice and gentle, and other times the movement would be so jerky and violent that we wondered if we would fly over the side of the bridge. Luckily, we did no such thing.



Although I did end up getting a minor injury sliding down the curvy yellow slide. I think I spoke of this before on the blog, but I now have a permanent scar on my right knee from when I did a crash landing after sliding on the yellow slide the wrong way.

Ah well...as I said before, almost every kid has a playground injury at some point in their lives.

At least my injury wasn't as bad as the one that a kid in the grade below me sustained after taking a tumble off of the monkey bars one afternoon. At first I didn't realize just how serious the injury was...until I saw that the kid's entire forehead was covered in blood. I'm not sure exactly how he managed to get such a serious injury, but he had to hit his head on something hard.

I think it was shortly after that incident that they began the plan to renovate that particular section of the play area so that it was safer.

Aside from the monkey bars though, that wing of the playground had a lot going for it. It was the section where all of the bike racks were, so it was easy to find. There were the teeter-totters that many kids played on, but unfortunately I didn't get much of an opportunity to. Apparently some of the kids felt that I was too heavy for them to play with, which was ridiculous in my eyes! I was heavy set as a kid, true, but I didn't outweigh the kids by THAT much. It was all in their minds.

(Well, at least I see it that way NOW. I didn't always.)



And, can we talk about the swing sets? I tell you, I was a huge fan of swing sets as a kid. Both sets of grandparents had swing sets located in their backyards, and I spent the majority of my time swinging on those things. Swings were cool. I didn't get to play with the swing sets much when I was in school, but during the summer playground program, I would spend a lot of time sitting on the swings by myself. I did a lot of daydreaming when I was a kid (which I'm told is supposed to be a common personality trait for creative types), and swinging on the swing set was a great place to be alone with my thoughts.



The school playground was also a fantastic place to play on during the epic Canadian winters that I grew up with. Obviously whenever we had a huge snowfall, the snow plows would be called into the playground area to clear off the pavement to make it safer for us to play in. One of the perks of this? Eight foot tall snow walls which turned into impromptu snow forts. All of us had great fun climbing on these huge walls of snow and ice, and we would pretend that we were climbing Mount Everest. I'm sure that had the school not put the kibosh on snowball throwing, we would have tried to repel “enemy soldiers” with an arsenal of snowballs on top of that. Alas, the school declared it to be too dangerous.

Let's recap. We couldn't throw snowballs, but they let us climb up snow walls that were more than twice our height. Seems counter-productive, doesn't it?

There was also a little hill in the playground that was located next to the play structure that contained the curvy yellow slide and wooden bridge. That hill was nothing too spectacular during the warm months. But if we had a dusting of freezing rain fall, the surface of the hill would become one hundred per cent solid ice...which made it a fantastic sliding hill! Most of us stayed warm though, mostly because our teachers forced us to wear those big, bulky snow pants. If it were up to me, I'd be doing a pantomime of the Robert Munsch classic “Thomas' Snowsuit” every single recess. I despised snow pants with a passion!

But the freezing rain could also be quite dangerous. I recall a couple of incidents in which freezing rain caused me much discomfort. When I was in the fourth grade, I slipped on a patch of ice and slid right into a gigantic puddle! Luckily I didn't live too far away from school, so I changed quickly and only ended up being ten minutes late for school. Better to be late than freeze to death in the classroom, right?

The second incident happened when I was in the first grade. The bell rang and I was all the way in the back of the playground. I ran as fast as I could to the door, so I wouldn't be late for school, and wasn't aware that the pavement was covered in black ice. I slid, and did a faceplant right in front of the door where everyone could see. I wasn't that embarrassed though. If anything, I was more in pain. The impact bloodied my nose and I honestly believed that I had broken it. Turned out that I didn't, but I think I went through half a box of Kleenex trying to stop it from bleeding. It was a messy and PAINFUL experience.

Anyway, those are just a few of my own personal school playground memories. What are some of yours?