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Friday, June 07, 2013

Let's Make A Deal

Let me tell you a funny story about this particular blog entry...only the story is not really funny to me.  In fact, it was downright frustrating.

I had a perfectly wonderful opening spiel typed up in the word processing document that I usually use to type out these blogs.  The problem was that I was watching a YouTube video at the same time, and for whatever reason, the anti-virus software that I currently use sometimes causes the computer to go screwy whenever I watch YouTube, and the computer system shut down while I was trying to save it.

When I tried to recover my document, all I got was a whole bunch of hashtags.

How annoying would it be to read an entire blog entry that was nothing but this?

##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #####

Pretty damn annoying, I would say.

So, as a result, I have had to retype the whole bloody thing while uttering a few choice profanities the entire time.  So, apologies to all of you for this entry being posted later than normal.  Believe me, the last thing that I wanted was to have to retype the same blog entry twice. 

I guess you could say that I ended up getting “zonked”.  Luckily, the blog topic that I have chosen for today seems to fit my predicament as the contestants who get zonked often feel as cheated, frustrated, and disappointed as I felt when I viewed my corrupted word file.

(Note to self:  Switch virus protection program, and begin saving an extra copy of my blog files in the actual blog itself.  Hold on a second while I copy this blog entry from the word file into my blog.)

Anyway, I'm going to do my best to try and remember everything that I had typed out before "Hashtag-gate".  

I guess I'll begin by asking you all a question.  Do you think that you could make hasty decisions on the fly if you were put into that situation?

I only ask this because it's relative to today's topic, but it also is a question that I am forced to ask myself every time I hop behind a register (because as all of you know from yesterday's post, cash training is a fairly new experience for me).

I will be the first one to admit that prior to going on cash, my decision making skills were not exactly the best.  I was far from being the most decisive person out there.  I waffled so much, it's a wonder that I wasn't cast in a commercial for Eggos!

But being put into a department where I have to do the occasional cash transaction has greatly helped me come to terms with making quick decisions in a really short time.  After all, I want to make sure that I know what I am doing, and secondly, customers do NOT like to wait in line for a very long time.  And, it's not as though I can just up and leave a cash register unattended while I go look for help.  Common sense should imply that you don't leave a register filled with money out in the open.

I will say that my decision making skills have somewhat improved since I began working on cash, but I still find myself second guessing myself at times.  My indecisiveness is probably one of my biggest flaws of my personality, but at least I can admit that.

Still though, there are some instances in which being indecisive can get you into serious trouble.  Like, suppose that you're on a game show, and you end up being the big winner of the whole shebang.  You then have to make one final decision.  If you choose wisely, then you will be able to win an entire truckload of heaping piles of cash and fabulous prizes.  But make the wrong choice, and you could end up walking away with nothing.

Worse than nothing.  You could end up with something absolutely useless, like a trip to a junkyard, or a banana peel, or a trip to a junkyard covered in banana peels!

All because you have to make a choice.



So, which one will it be?  Door #1?  Door #2?  Or, Door #3?

That's the question that many people have been asked for the last fifty years.  Today, we're going to be taking a look at the classic game show where the audience members dress up in Halloween costumes, and where getting zonked means more than getting plastered.



Ready to make a deal with "Let's Make a Deal"?  I bet you are.



These days, the show has been revived by CBS and is currently hosted by Wayne Brady (with assistance from Jonathan Mangum and Tiffany Coyne).  The show's revival is currently in its third season, and is slated to return for a fourth.



Of course, most people know that the show originated on December 30, 1963 on NBC (it later aired on ABC, making the game show one of the very few to be broadcast on three major networks).  The host that is most associated with Let's Make A Deal is the now 91-year-old Monty Hall (who has made guest appearances on the revival of the Wayne Brady hosted program), and Hall hosted the program off and on for roughly three decades.  Other hosts have included Bob Hilton in 1990 and Billy Bush in 2003.



Carol Merrill was also a huge part of the show, as she was the one who opened up the doors and modeled the prizes during Hall's tenure on the program.  And she too made a guest appearance on the revival of the show in 2013.

What was interesting about "Let's Make a Deal" was that when the show first debuted, the show was similar in format to the current version, but a lot less low key.  For one, did you know that when the show first debuted, the audience members did not wear costumes?  They just wore their standard dresses and business suits.  And, initially when the show first broadcast, it was not well received.  Critics of the show were harsh, calling the show "demeaning to the contestants and audience", and that it was nothing but "mindless" entertainment.

But by the time the show reached its first decade on the air (and the very fact that a game show could last a total of ten years on the air was quite good for that time period, keeping in mind that "Let's Make a Deal" pre-dated "Wheel of Fortune", which has been on the air for almost four decades), it was one of the toughest game shows to get audience tickets for!  The show once held the Guinness World Record for longest waiting list for tickets in the history of show business - reportedly audience members who wanted to request a ticket to see the show had to wait a minimum of TWO YEARS!!!

That's insane to me!

Oh, and the gimmick of wearing the costumes to show tapings?  It was born just a couple of weeks into the show's inaugural season.  One particular audience member had brought in a homemade sign that read the following.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I came here,
To deal with you!!!

Apparently, the gimmick worked, as Monty Hall was immediately drawn to the sign and chose the contestant to make a deal.  And, this prompted other audience members to bring in signs of their own, hoping that their creativity would cause Monty Hall to pick them for the chance to win a prize.

This continued until one person decided to amp up the craziness by wearing a silly hat to the taping.  Again, the gimmick worked, and Monty Hall chose the contestant with the funny hat to play a game, which prompted others to do the same until it exploded into full-fledged costumes.  The more elaborate and zany the audience members dressed, the better the chance they had to get chosen to play the game.

And, just how was the game played?

Well, each episode would have several "deals" between the host and the lucky audience members chosen were referred to as "traders".  

Although all of these mini-games were all different in presentation or structure, many of them all work exactly the same way.  The most common game is that the contestant is offered a small cash prize (usually $500 in cash), or they are given a small present (a microwave oven, a small piece of jewelry, etc), and the host will offer to give them something else behind one of the three iconic doors, or a gift box that is wrapped up in a way that the contestant doesn't know what it is.

This is where the ability to make a split second decision comes into play.  Do you keep what you have knowing that it's a sure thing, or do you risk it all for the chance to get something better, keeping in mind that you might get one of these?



Now, of course, in some cases, the contestants might actually get to keep their "ZONK" prize...but obviously, there would be no way to give someone a living, breathing camel, elephant, or monkey to bring home.  So, in those cases, a consolation prize would be substituted in its place.

There were other games that people could play as well.  Some of them involved an element of luck or chance, as this clip from a recent show displayed.




All this would lead up to the "BIG DEAL".  The deal in which selecting the wrong door could net you great wealth, or set you back.

How the big deal works is that the contestant who won the most amount of cash and prizes during their mini-game would be asked if they wanted to trade it all for the chance to win the big deal.  If they said, no, the contestant with the next highest amount of accumulated prizes would get the chance, and so on.  But, if they said yes...here's what was at stake.

You had three doors (or curtains in the 2009 revamp) to choose from.  Behind two of the doors would be a wonderful prize of varying value, but contestants had to watch out because they could accidentally select a door where the prize was actually worth LESS than what they gave up to play the big deal.  

But if a player selected the right door, they could win BIG!  Have a look at a couple of big deal wins from both the Monty Hall version AND the Wayne Brady version.



Now you see why decision making is so important...especially on "Let's Make a Deal"!

Before I close the chapter on another blog entry (which I have had to type out TWICE today), I want to bring your attention to something called the "Quickie Deal".  These deals would always be played in the audience while the closing credits scrolled across the screen.  And, in almost all cases, the deal would have to do with something that the audience member would have to bring in or do in order to secure the deal.  These could include...

- Having two people dressed as grapes (where balloons were used as grapes) try to be the first one to pop all the balloons to win a cash prize.
- If you brought in a tube of pink lipstick, you could win cash.
- If you had a penny from 1991 in your change, you could win cash.

And, the best part about the current version is that if you have a Twitter account, you can get a preview of what the Quickie Deals are going to be on a future taping as they always post clues twenty-four hours prior to the tape date.  So, if you follow them on Twitter, you will never miss out on a deal again!

And, that's the blog on "Let's Make a Deal"!  I hope it was worth the wait!

Thursday, June 06, 2013

My Two Cents on Cash Register Training

Before I go ahead with this edition of the Thursday Diary for this week, I thought I would take the time to offer up a little bit of an explanation about Canadian currency, as well as some recent changes to the way that people spend money here.



I don't know how many of you outside of Canada are aware of what is happening, but as of 2012, the penny is slowly, but surely being taken out of circulation. The Government of Canada decided to get rid of the penny because the cost to manufacture a penny is actually worth more than the value of the penny itself.

I know...it costs more than one cent to actually make one cent. Go figure.

Now, as of June 2013, there are still pennies floating around the country. And, most retailers are still instructed to accept pennies if they are given to them by a customer who is paying in cash. Retailers, however, are not to give pennies back to people in their change, as the government is dead set on pulling them entirely out of circulation...



...thereby making the nickel the new “unwanted coin”.

So, what does this mean for the people who are paying for goods and services? Well, very little really changed. If people are paying via debit card or credit card, things will work exactly the same. But, if you're paying by cash, well...let's just say that in Canada, you already are aware of the changes (or you SHOULD be anyway).  After all, the chart is posted at almost every single retailer in town (including the one I work at).

For those of you outside of the country, here's the conversion chart.



And, here's an explanation both ways.

Okay, so say that you're buying a carton of chocolate milk that is on sale for, oh, let's say a dollar. And, let's say that you're living in the province of Ontario, where the harmonized sales tax is a whopping 13%. With the tax, that will bring the total to $1.13. Because the price ends in a three, the price ACTUALLY becomes $1.15. If you pay the amount of $1.15, expecting to get two pennies back in change...well, that will no longer happen.

On the flipside, if one were to purchase something, and the total came to $12.62, then it would actually be worth $12.60 (rounding down), and if one were to give the cashier $12.65, you would actually make a three cent profit!

All in all, everything will balance out quite nicely, and for the most part, I am happy with the decision to axe the penny (although I do admit that I want to find a penny from 1981 to save as a memento).

The reason why I wanted to start this blog off with this explanation is because it will make my diary entry make much more sense. And, to keep with the spirit of the blog entry, I will be typing today's blog entry in the same colour as a penny...copper.

June 6, 2013

I can't believe that it's been six weeks since I moved over to the Garden Centre area at work. And, you know, if there's anything that I have learned over the last seventy-two days, it's that there's really no job out there that I can't do if I really put my mind to it.

Oh, sure, the tasks that I have to do on a day-to-day basis are a lot of work. Shoving fifty bags of topsoil into a truck is hard work...especially after the driver announces that they also want to squeeze in an additional dozen bags of black cedar mulch on top of that.

Watering every plant in the entire department, and knowing exactly just how much water and sun each plant is supposed to get...that is also another hard part of my job. Prior to working the Garden Centre, I was notorious for murdering everything that had green leaves on it. But, to tell you the absolute truth, I'm learning quite a lot about gardening each day I spend out in that area. If ever I end up ever having a backyard of my own, I suppose that I have learned enough to possibly plant and garden and keep it going for months.

Or at the very least, a lot longer than, say, twenty-four hours.

I've even become a bit of an expert in cramming an entire patio set into almost every make of vehicle. Sure, in some cases, we might have to take some of the chairs out of the box, but I did find a way!

And, I'm already noticing that my arm muscles are getting stronger every day!

But there was one aspect about the Garden Centre that I was absolutely dreading. It was one duty that was expected of almost every single staff member that was placed there, and it was one part of the job that I was absolutely DREADING.

I was dreading it so much that for eight years, I made every possible effort to avoid it at all costs. I purposely steered myself towards departments that were as far away from it as I could get.

For eight years, I had successfully managed to avoid getting trained on a cash register. And, here I was, entering a department in which it would have been an asset to learn it.



The very thought of having to go behind a register placed so many butterflies in my stomach that I was impressed that I wasn't belching out caterpillars and cocoons!



And yet, as of now, that's exactly what I am doing. And, to be honest, it still makes me feel incredibly nervous.

I knew that heading into this new challenge in my life, I wasn't going to be completely perfect. In fact, I was heading into the world of cash training with a...shall we say...less than optimistic attitude about it.

I thought that I would be the one to accidentally scan the same item three times before I noticed that I made a mistake. I thought that I would be the one to break a cash register to the point where it would cost thousands of dollars to be replaced. I even had the really bizarre thought that I would accidentally get a packet of Kool-Aid wedged in between the conveyor belt of a register and while I was prying the Kool-Aid out of the register, I would accidentally hit a button and end up severing two of my fingers, spraying blood all over the customer and the poor CSM who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

(And, don't make fun. Those are some of the bizarre thoughts that occasionally make their way through my brain circuits!)

So, imagine my surprise when none of those things happened!

Oh, sure, I was incredibly nervous about getting behind a register. It was a brand new experience. My first transaction, I was shaking like a leaf! But, it went by smoothly. As did the next, and the next one after that.

I will also be the first one to admit that most customers seemed to be very understanding over the fact that I was not used to working a register. I especially want to thank the family who waited very patiently for about ten minutes while I was trying to get the debit card machine working again! It certainly made me feel a lot less nervous when you feel like you aren't being judged so harshly!

Truth be told, I've only handled a few transactions, but the ones I have handled, most of them went through without any hassle. I even managed to sell a couple of balloon decals for the Children's Miracle Network fundraiser, which I found to be a big deal...



...probably even more of a big deal than it really WAS, mind you.

Though, I will say that as a new trainee on cash, I'm still trying to get the hang of certain things. The hardest part of my job on cash is trying to give back the proper change. I know that the total change you are to give back is displayed on the screen, but you really also have to pay attention so that you accidentally don't give back one too many dimes or quarters. I'm not as fast at counting change as some of my co-workers are, but that's only because I am trying to make sure that I don't goof up the counting. After all, if our tills are unbalanced at the end of the day, we could get in serious trouble for it.



So, that's why when a customer pays for an item worth $1.13 with $1.15 in cash, and due to new government rules that correspond with the banishment of the Canadian penny, are not given back any change as a result of the rounding (which might I add is already programmed into the system which I cannot override even if I wanted to), I cannot simply give them two pennies just to make them happy. And, I don't care if the customer complains to every single person under the sun for getting shortchanged. There are rules to follow when it comes to cash, and I have no choice but to obey them. It's going to be the case at essentially every retailer in Canada, so we all have to learn to deal with it. And, in the grand scheme of things, are two cents REALLY going to make a difference in this economy? I don't even know anything that even costs two cents in this world anymore.

(Sigh...I guess we are all entitled to ONE rant every now and then.)



Though, I will say that when another customer received a nickel back in change instead of four pennies, it was quite amusing to see her cheer and holler the same way a person might react to seeing the Publisher's Clearing House staff at their front door surprising them with the news that they have just won a million dollars!

I guess what I am trying to say is this. Working the registers is not as bad as I thought it would be, but like every job, it has its pros and cons. And, one thing that I have noticed is just how alert one has to be at all times.

It's not just your scanning accuracy that I am talking about (though it is very important). I'm talking about having to deal with various customer complaints and not being able to run away from it. I'm talking about having to multitask in certain cases, and keeping everything balanced. I'm talking about trying to come up with a quick fix to a problem yourself, or knowing the right person to call to bail you out of a sticky situation. I'm talking about having to cope with people who are “extreme couponers”, or people who force you to call several different departments for price checks while you're trying to ring through items.

I mean, going into the Garden Centre, I knew a bit about what I believed the main problems with being on cash were, but that was only scratching the surface. Anyone who has ever worked a register in a retail store automatically gets my absolute seal of approval. I had no idea just how much work cashiers really have on any given day. I certainly won't look at them the same way again having been exposed to the other side, so to speak. They will forever have my complete and total respect.

And, you know something? While I may have been apprehensive about working the cash register before, now I'm starting to realize that every now and then, it's not so bad. Just don't ask me to process a credit card application, because I KNOW I'm gonna bungle that up!  But, that's okay!  After all...weren't we all the new guy on the job once?


And, that's my TWO CENTS on that matter.

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

"Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!" - A Request

I am really excited about the new Wednesday feature! This is the first time in a really long time in which I hand over the controls to all of you out there, and you can tell me what you want me to write about!



It's something that I like to call All-Request Wednesdays!

Now, if you're just joining us for the first time, I think I owe you a little bit of an explanation as to how this new theme day is going to work. And, for those of you who regularly read this little nook on the web, this will just be a mini refresher course. Don't worry. You will not be tested or graded on this blog.

Well, for today, anyway.

When I was coming up with some fresh ideas for the second anniversary celebrations of “A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life”, I made the decision to combine the previous Wednesday and Saturday theme days into one. That day became known as the Saturday Smorgasbord, and on that day, you will read all about books, toys, cartoons, and electronic video games.

But, I didn't know what I would do for the newly opened up Wednesday. I already made the commitment to make this blog a lot more personal, and as you have noticed, I've been sharing a lot of stories from my childhood (and adulthood) that I am hoping that you've gotten some enjoyment from. At the very least, know that you're probably just as much of a goofball as this self-admitted one is. Believe me, we can all take comfort in knowing that we all have goofy qualities that can bond us.

At the same time, I really wanted to take the opportunity to thank every single one of you for tuning into this blog over the past 700+ days and supporting me in my writing pursuits. As much as I really want to make this a lucrative career in which my writing can actually make me a profit, for now I'm just happy to have so many people interested in what I have to say.

So, I wanted to do something very special for all of you as a token of my gratitude for supporting me. I only wish that I could offer up some prizes for all of you, but alas, I am on a strict budget, and cannot afford to make that a reality just yet.

As a result, I decided on Plan B. What if I devoted one day of my blog each week as a day in which I write about what you want to see?

What if I gave my readers the opportunity to request a topic for me to talk about?

Well, that's the premise behind the All-Request Wednesdays. You will get the chance to give me your suggestions on what you want to see, and each week, I will choose one at random to talk about.

If I select your topic, then I will put your name in print, as well as the area where you're from if you like (but I'll just keep it to the state, province, or country you happen to be from). And, I will do this once a week.

In fact, I'm going to do you one better. If you have a topic that you want to talk about AND you want to write a piece about it yourself, by all means, send it in, and I will print it word for word right here in this space every Wednesday. I know I love to express myself in a creative fashion, but I also want to encourage others to have their say as well, and for people to share their stories and art with everyone here.

In short, All-Request Wednesdays are all about what YOU want! I figure it's the least that I can do.

I was kind of behind the eight ball when I launched the inaugural edition of the All-Request Wednesday, so as a result, I ended up only getting ONE request (which I will post here). But, if you want to get a request into the blog, as of right now, I have two ways that you can do so.

  1. Join the official PCA fan page on Facebook and drop me a line. You can join the fun HERE.
  1. Join the official Google+ fan page and drop me a line. You can join the fun HERE.

If I get enough interest in the day, I'll maybe consider adding a Twitter account for this blog, as well as creating a special e-mail address for you to use.

(Truth be told, I DID have one made up, but I cannot remember what password I used.)

So, I thought that I would kick off this first All-Request Wednesday by thanking Cullen P. of Virginia for the great suggestion! When I posted the upcoming changes to the blog, he immediately piped in with a possible topic! So, again, thank you Cullen!

Today's topic is going to sound kind of like a Monday Matinee post, as it is largely based on a movie. But, in doing the research for this particular blog, I was surprised to learn that there was also a television cartoon series based on this movie, as well as several sequels. The cartoon series really shocked me, especially since when it first came out, I had mistakenly believed that I had seen every possible cartoon up to that point.

Alas, back in the early 1990s, our cable provider did not have a FOX affiliate.

Anyway, back to the movie.

I remember that in my youth, it took a really long time for me to get used to the modern day horror movie. When I was a kid, I didn't even like to hear the yelling and shouting of “Knots Landing”, or the fisticuffs and shootings that could be seen on a standard “Dallas” cliffhanger. I was a kid who never liked to see other people get hurt, and, well...it's very rare for anybody to get out of a horror film alive.

Over time, I started to appreciate horror movies better, and now I consider some of them to be my all-time favourite films. Though, to be completely fair, I have never been one who could stomach heavy gore and lots of blood. With that admission, do not ask me to go and watch any of the Saw, Final Destination, or the remakes of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not unless you want me to pass out cold.

If you want me to watch classic horror films by Alfred Hitchcock? Now we're talking.

Another type of horror film that I really enjoy watching are horror film parodies. The ones that completely make fun of the genre of horror are aces in my books. You know the ones I mean, right? I guess some examples that I can think of right off the bat are “Scary Movie”, and “Shaun Of The Dead”. And, well, I suppose that you could also consider “Evil Dead II” to be a kind of parody film, even though when it was made, I don't think that was the intention. Still a fantastic movie though.

Today's movie could be considered a spoof movie in that the film was meant to be an amalgamation of several B movies of the horror genre into one plot...only the plots of said B movies were grossly exaggerated and filmed in such a way that people laughed more than screamed.

Now everyone knows that in order to have a good horror movie (even in spoof form), you'd have to have a fairly memorable antagonist. “King Kong” had a giant-sized gorilla. “Outbreak” had a cute little monkey who happened to be the carrier of an Ebola-like virus. “Night of the Living Dead” and the “Resident Evil” series had flesh-eating zombies.



And, this movie had...tomatoes? I mean, seriously. Tomatoes? Unless you're allergic to pizza sauce and ketchup, how could tomatoes be considered scary?

Well, they could be scary if they were killer tomatoes! And, when you have a whole bunch of them gathering together, the situation could be quite scary.



Brace yourselves. It's the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!



Released in October 1978, and predating the website “Rotten Tomatoes” by at least a couple of decades, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” was directed, co-produced, and co-written by John DeBello.

(DeBello was also responsible for 1988's “Return of the Killer Tomatoes”, 1990's “Killer Tomatoes Strike Back”, and 1991's “Killer Tomatoes Eat France”.)

Made of a paltry budget of just $90,000, the film did surprisingly well at the box office, making a little more than half a million. This was quite fantastic considering that the film was subjected to negative reviews. However, the film also became a cult hit, and several people still talk about it fondly.

And, the film itself spoofs several other films, including “The Birds” and “Jaws”.

As far as the plot goes...well...it's pretty hard to describe without spoiling several details. That, plus I'm not entirely sure how to talk about it as it is completely convoluted and out there. Maybe I should just do some bullet points about what you can expect.

  • The main character of the movie is played by David Miller, and the character he plays is named Mason Dixon (a pun on the Mason-Dixon line).
  • The film also features an appearance by Jack Riley. You might remember him from the television show “The Bob Newhart Show”, the voice of Stu Pickles from “Rugrats”, and the voice of one of the hands during the series of Country Crock margarine commercials that aired during the 1980s and 1990s.
  • The main plot is the United States government trying to eradicate the threat of mutant tomatoes that are going around the country killing innocent people.
  • Some of the ways that the tomatoes go around killing people are the tomatoes eating people, crushing people, and in one case, poisoning people with deadly tomato juice.
  • The hit song “Puberty Love” becomes the key to winning the war against the deadly vegetables. How that happens, I cannot say.



TRIVIA: The song “Puberty Love” was recorded by then-sixteen year old Matt Cameron, who would later join the bands “Soundgarden” and “Pearl Jam”.

Now, here's the one thing that's quite stunning about “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”. I already told you about the three sequels that were released between 1988 and 1991. But did you know that the film also spawned a cartoon series in 1990?

The show was called “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” (though the cartoon was actually based on the 1988 sequel). It aired for two seasons, and spawned twenty-one episodes. Ironically enough, the voice cast for this cartoon was more well-known than the cast of the movie! John Astin (a.k.a. The original Gomez Addams), Cam Clarke, Rob Paulsen, Kath Soucie, and Maurice LaMarche all contributed to the voice cast of this short lived cartoon. I had no idea that the cartoon even existed! So, just to get acquainted with it, let's watch a snippit of an episode, shall we?



The film also spawned several computer and video games that were released between 1986 and 1991, a comic book adaptation in 2008, and believe it or not, in 1999, a Greek homage to the series was made under the Greek title “I epithesi tou gigantiaiou mousaka” (or, in English, “The Attack of the Giant Moussaka”.)



And, that's our look back on the “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”. You certainly won't look at a tomato quite the same way again, will you?


Thanks again for the suggestion, Cullen!

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

June 4, 1961

I'm going to just come right out and admit it. Today's Tuesday Timeline subject may seem obscure compared to some of the other ones I have done. This is because in trying to find interesting topics for June 4, I came to the conclusion that there weren't a lot of them. I almost considered pulling the plug on this week's edition of the Tuesday Timeline as a result of it.

But, then I thought that maybe if I looked really hard enough...and did some intricate research, I would manage to scrape together a pop culture themed topic for today's discussion. And, at literally the last minute, it popped out of nowhere.

(Surprisingly enough, a song that I heard at my workplace helped inspire this post, and when I looked up the song, I found that the date of June 4 is linked to the song! Or, rather...the songwriter.)

I'm getting ahead of myself though. Happy 4th of June, everyone! And, for today's look back through time, we're going to take a look at other events that have taken place on June 4, starting with...

1411 – In the “strange but true” files, King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon

1783 – The Montgolfiere brothers of France name their newest invention after themselves...a flying machine known in English as the hot-air balloon

1792 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain

1876 – The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California almost 84 hours after its departure from New York City

1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gas powered automobile

1912 – Massachusetts becomes the first state to establish a minimum wage

1917 – Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, Florence Hall, Jean Jules Jusserand, and Herbert B. Swope are among the first recipients of the newly created Pulitzer Prize

1919 – The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote in any American election

1939 – A ship carrying almost 1,000 Jewish refugees, the MS St. Louis, is turned away from Cuba and denied entry into Florida, forcing the ship to return to Europe

1944 – Rome falls to the Allies, the first major city to do so during World War II

1957 – Dr. Martin Luther King delivers his “Power of Nonviolence” speech at the University of California, Berkeley

1974 – Cleveland Indians fans spark a riot during Ten Cent Beer Night, forcing the team to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers

1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing ends in a violent manner by the People's Liberation Army

1998 – Terry Nichols is sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City

2004 – Marvin Heemeyer, outraged over the outcome of a zoning dispute, went on a rampage in the town of Granby, Colorado, destroying several of the town's buildings with an armored bulldozer before taking his own life

2012 – The Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert takes place outside of Buckingham Palace

(Well, okay, I was a bit tempted to write about the 2004 incident, as it just sounded so bizarre.)

There's also a few celebrity figures who are blowing out candles on their birthday cakes today, and these celebrities include Geoffrey Palmer, Morgana King, Bruce Dern, Art Mahaffey, Sandra Post, Parker Stevenson, Simon Cheshire, Mary Testa, John Hockenberry, Joyce Sidman, Scott Wolf, Horatio Sanz, Noah Wyle, Rob Huebel, Russell Brand, Angelina Jolie, Lukas Podolski, Shane Kippel, and Brooke Vincent.

(I know, I know...Angelina Jolie's pretty popular these days, and I could have written an article about her. But, I think that Angelina Jolie is so versatile, that she could very well fit in almost any other topic. I could probably even put her in a Sunday Jukebox feature if I stretched it.)

No...for this week's Tuesday Timeline, I wanted to purposely go obscure. And, that's why I have chosen this as today's date.



June 4, 1961.

Nineteen-sixty-one is a year that if I remember correctly, I've never done a Tuesday Timeline feature on. And, 1961 is a year that can be considered a real topsy-turvy year.

(Seriously, if you take 1961 and read it upside down, it reads the same as it does right side up. Go on. Try it.)

And, I suppose you could say that it is only fitting that our blog subject was born during a topsy-turvy year, as he's had quite a topsy-turvy life!

So, as I explained earlier, I was inspired to do this blog entry after hearing a song playing on – of all places – the music player at my workplace. And, I suppose that you want to know what song it was, right? Okay, here it is.



ARTIST: DeBarge
SONG: Rhythm of the Night
ALBUM: Rhythm of the Night
DATE RELEASED: March 23, 1985
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #3

Now, I know what you're thinking. Clearly, this song was not released in 1961, nor was the band founded in 1961.

But the band's lead singer was born fifty-two years ago today!



The Tuesday Timeline spotlight this week is Eldra Patrick DeBarge. But, of course, those of you who have heard of him probably know him better by the name El DeBarge.

El DeBarge came from a huge family – he was the sixth of ten children! He was born in Detroit, Michigan, home of the Detroit Tigers, the automobile industry, and Motown Records...the latter of which would become a prominent part of young El's life.

But, I'm jumping ahead of myself here.

For the first few years of his life, El DeBarge spent his early childhood singing at his church choir, and performing music all over Detroit. Even when his family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, he still found a way to incorporate music in his every day life. I suppose that one might say that music was the thing that was the one constant in DeBarge's life, as he had to deal with his parents divorce when he was just thirteen years old.

To complicate matters, El DeBarge ended up becoming a first-time father when he was just a teenager, eventually having twelve altogether...two more children than his own parents had. And, it would be revealed later on that El DeBarge was the victim of child abuse from his own father, and witness several stormy and tumultuous fights between his father and mother during the time that they were still married. As a result of this, the relationship between El DeBarge and his father remained frosty. Who can blame him for feeling this way though? I certainly wouldn't.

But despite all of these hardships, El DeBarge was determined to make it big as a singer...even dropping out of high school in 1977 to pursue his dream.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Stay in school, kids. Not all of us manage to get lucky with success after dropping out of high school. Get that diploma!

Anyway, El DeBarge began to perform in various clubs around the Detroit area along with a few of his brothers. It took a couple of years, but Bernd Lichters secured a deal with Source/MCA to have El and his brothers Randy and Mark, cousin Andre Abney, Elliot Townsend, and Stanley Hood to have all of them relocate to Los Angeles to release a song as the SMASH band. Eldest sister Bunny would join the group by the time the 1980s rolled around.



I should note that while all of this was going on, two more of the DeBarge clan had formed a successful band as well. Bobby and Tommy DeBarge had created the popular group, Switch, and they were making an impact on the charts when El and his band arrived in Los Angeles. The success of Switch somehow landed El DeBarge an audition in front of Berry Gordy, the president of Motown Records, and because Berry liked what he heard, he immediately signed El and the rest of the group (by then calling themselves The DeBarges) to Motown Records in 1980. Bobby and Tommy would later leave Switch that same year to join “The DeBarges” for the purpose of mentoring their younger siblings. By 1981, the group had released their first album, “The DeBarges”, with most of the songs being penned by Bobby DeBarge. Younger brother James DeBarge would join the group the following year, right around the time that the band's sophomore album, “All This Love” was released. And, by 1984, the band began to gain even more notoriety when they were selected as the opening act for Luther Vandross' “Busy Body” tour.

But while “The DeBarges” were beginning to get noticed, there was also some tension that existed between the DeBarge siblings. Some of the DeBarge family felt a little bit ticked off that Motown seemingly was pushing for El DeBarge to be the star of the whole show. Certainly on the surface, the band was shown to be a strong family unit, much like “The Jets” that followed them, and “The Jackson Five” that preceded them. But El DeBarge had really come into his own by producing and arranging each album that the band released under the Motown label, and when DeBarge was recording their 1985 album, “Rhythm of the Night”, El DeBarge was essentially the only one of the group to work on the production, leaving the rest of the band out in the cold.

And, from there, the writing was on the wall, and El DeBarge went solo in 1986.



Initially his solo career took off like a speeding bullet to the top of the charts. His first solo single, “Who's Johnny” (which also appeared on the official soundtrack of the quirky 1986 film “Short Circuit”) hit number 3 on the Billboard Charts, and #1 on the R&B charts. His follow-up single, “Love Always”, also did well on the charts. And, El DeBarge also began a brief acting career by appearing as himself on an episode of “The Facts of Life”. You can watch a clip of him performing “You Wear It Well” alongside cast members Lisa Whelchel, Mindy Cohn, Kim Fields, Nancy McKeon, Mackenzie Astin, and George Clooney by clicking HERE. It's quite...eighties. Yeah, that's it. Eighties.



Unfortunately, that success did not translate well into the 1990s. His second album was a complete flop on the charts, and his third and fourth albums, 1992's “In The Storm” and 1994's “Heart, Mind, and Soul” yielded modest success...partly because of DeBarge working alongside other famous producers such as Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and Maurice White.

El DeBarge also had to deal with another problem that began right around the time he was making it big as a music artist. He had to overcome a drug addiction.

Claiming that he had gotten hooked on drugs following being prescribed painkilling medication while he was recovering from a pulled tooth, DeBarge's drug use escalated into heavy duty usage, and he was arrested in 2001 for possession of cocaine. DeBarge later admitted that the death of his brother Bobby from complications from AIDS in the summer of 1995 sped up his addiction as he found it difficult to cope without him.



He received probation for the 2001 crime, but within months, he was back on the drugs. He was arrested a total of four times before being sent to serve a two-year-term in a state prison in 2008.



The road back to sobriety has not been an easy one for El DeBarge. Although he released his first album in sixteen years with 2010's “Second Chance” (which earned DeBarge three Grammy Award nominations), he had a relapse and checked back into rehab in February 2011. As of right now though, DeBarge is seemingly on the straight and narrow once again, appeared at the 2012 Grammy Awards ceremony, and most recently appeared at a gig in May 2013 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It's hard to predict where El DeBarge will be in the future. I don't know if he'll ever be able to bask in the same glow of stardom that he did back in the 1980s...but as long as he manages to keep a clear head, and keeps doing what he's doing, then there could always be a possibility.



Happy birthday, El DeBarge. I hope year number 52 is a good one for you!


Monday, June 03, 2013

The Karate Kid

Okay, so one of the things that I really wanted to do with the Monday Matinee feature was to incorporate more of myself into each entry, and make it seem like less of an information dump.

I mean, granted, I'll still bring up some trivia facts, information about the director, producers, and actors, and if I can find them, movie clips. But, I will open up each Monday Matinee with a personal story that happens to be based (in some cases, loosely) on the plot of the film in hopes that you will learn a little bit about me in the process.

PERSONAL REQUEST: Please let me know if you like this new format, just so I know what will work, and what won't. I do this blog for my readers, and your opinions do count more than you'll ever know!

Okay, so to kick off today's Monday Matinee, I have a secret that I have to reveal to you. And, honestly I don't really remember if I shared this secret before on this blog. I suppose it's entirely possible that this secret I have to share isn't quite so secret. But, regardless, I'm just gonna come out and say it.



Did you know that when I was eleven, I studied the art of karate for a couple of years? It's true!

Now, I didn't stick with the art long enough to gain the ultimate prize (that prize being the coveted black belt). I'm almost kind of sorry that I didn't stick with it longer, but the one thing that I will say about my karate school was that they didn't really seem to understand that once you turned thirteen, you were NOT an adult. The minute I hit 13, I was placed in the adult classes, and I couldn't keep up with them at all. I think that had the school had separate classes in which the class was comprised of 13-19 year olds, I probably would have stuck with it a little longer. But, I suppose that I could always go back.

Part of the reason why I wanted to learn karate was so I could defend myself against the kids at school who used to push me around on the schoolyard. Granted, the one and only time I did use the skills I learned in karate, I ended up getting an indoor suspension, but at least I put them to some use.

Truth be told, I learned quite a bit in karate. And, I reckon that although it's been almost two decades since I set foot inside of a karate school, I think I still remember a little bit of the moves from way back when. At the very least, I learned how to count to ten in Japanese!

What was funny was that karate was at the center of one of my most embarrassing moments at school. It was quite a bizarre thing, and looking back on it now, I can't help but laugh over how not a big deal it really was. On the same day that I was to attend a graduation ceremony for some program where we learned all about how to be a “very effective person” (something which kind of makes me chuckle as I roll my eyes today), I was to receive my yellow belt in karate. Naturally, I wanted to go to the belt awarding ceremony first. That was my top priority. But, the ceremony wrapped up considerably early enough for me to attend the ceremony at school. The problem was that I didn't have time to change. I thought that if I wore a jacket over top of my karate gi, it wouldn't seem nearly so embarrassing.

So, when the teacher called my name for me to accept my certificate, I tried to sneak up quietly to the stage without people noticing me, but before I got up on stage, some kid named Robert started to laugh out loud, and soon enough, that side of the room began to laugh and make fun.

And, I immediately burst into tears. It was probably the most humiliating and embarrassing moment that I can possibly remember going through. Imagine being up on stage in a room filled with my classmates and their proud families, pointing at you because you happened to go to a pseudo graduation ceremony wearing a karate gi instead of your finest dress clothing.

But, then I look back on it all, and I go back to the blog that I wrote yesterday. About learning how to control my emotions so I can maintain the yin/yang balance that all of us are capable of having. I'll be the first to admit that when I was eleven, I did NOT have that down. Hell, at 21, I still didn't have that balance in check. And, that's a really tough admission to make.

The point is that no matter how many “Robert”s there are in this world, the only way that they can get to me is if I let them. What I should have done at that pseudo grad was laughed it off. Cracked a joke. Said something like “I got my yellow belt AND this meaningless certificate? What a lucky day this is!” Heck, I should have tested my karate chop on Robert to show the audience what I had learned!

No, wait...that would have gotten me suspended. Scratch that.

Of course if I had done that, people would have known that I was a real karate kid. And, since I brought that up, I may as well talk about the movie of the same name.



That movie, of course, is “The Karate Kid”. And, no, I'm not talking about the 2010 remake starring Will Smith's kid and Jackie Chan.

I mean the original release from June 22, 1984, which was directed by John G. Avildsen, and which starred Ralph Macchio, Elisabeth Shue, and the late Pat Morita.

Right off the bat, this film had all the makings of being a success. After all, Avildsen also directed the widely successful 1976 classic “Rocky”. Only instead of boxing, the film focused on martial arts.



The story of “The Karate Kid” begins as high school senior Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) relocates to Reseda, California from New Jersey. Daniel finds it difficult to make friends, but seems to like the handyman of the building that he and his mother live in...the eccentric Keisuke Miyagi (Morita).

At school, like most teenage boys, Daniel develops strong feelings for a high school cheerleader, Ali Mills (Shue). And, it seems as though Ali's feelings towards Daniel are the same. But there's a really big obstacle in the path of true love between Daniel and Ali.



And that obstacle is Ali's ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lawrence (William Zakba). He and his gang of friends study at the Cobra Kai dojo - a martial arts school that teaches its students a form of karate which could be considered more violent and less ethical than your average karate classes. As a result, Johnny and his gang easily overpower Daniel when he makes the mistake of challenging Johnny in a fight. Of course, Daniel couldn't help himself. He did have some basic knowledge of self-defense and karate skills...they just weren't enough.

So, naturally, things escalate to the point in which an entire gang from the school begin to beat up Daniel, it's time for Mr. Miyagi to step in and show the goons a thing or two. And, Daniel watches in amazement as Miyagi takes down five of the attackers by himself! Daniel is so impressed by Miyagi's moves that he goes up to him and begs him to teach him everything that he knows. Miyagi turns down Daniel's request, but offers to go down to the karate school where Johnny trains at to teach the sensei a thing or two about teaching his students how to use karate respectfully.



Unfortunately, the sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo is not up to listening. John Kreese (Martin Kove) is completely dismissive of Miyagi's suggestion, basically laughing in the face of the mere mention of mercy and restraint.

Class act, that Sensei Kreese.

Anyway, since Kreese and Miyagi have reached a stalemate, they both decide to put their reputations on the line. There's a karate tournament that is taking place in two months time, and both men decide to agree to a match between Daniel and Johnny at this very tournament. Miyagi agrees to the conditions and commits himself to getting Daniel ready for the tournament, on the condition that Johnny and his gang leave Daniel alone during the two month training period. Sensei Kreese agrees to the terms. But Kreese also tells Daniel that if he is a no show at the tournament, he will make sure that the bullying and harassment continues.

Like I said, real class act, that Sensei Kreese.

So, Daniel ended up getting what he wanted anyway. Daniel wanted to learn karate techniques from Mr. Miyagi. And, Mr. Miyagi had some interesting ways of instructing Daniel-san.



In fact, if one were to really look closely at what Miyagi was teaching Daniel, it's almost as if Miyagi was just using Daniel for cheap labour! And, even Daniel seemingly sees through Miyagi's act. Or does he?

As Daniel and Miyagi start to bond with one another, Daniel starts to learn more about Miyagi's past, and he inspires Daniel to put forth every effort in winning the competition. And, it seems to work, as Daniel advances to the semi-finals with ease. But, Sensei Kreese is not willing to admit defeat, and plays a rather underhanded game with his pupils in order to gain the advantage. Can Daniel rise above it all to become the newest tournament champ? And, how does Ali fit into all of this?

Well, you're just going to have to watch the movie for yourself. Let's just forget the fact that the movie spawned three sequels – the last one featuring an up and coming actress named Hilary Swank who would later become an Academy Award winning star. I still want you to watch this movie anyway, as it has a really powerful message.

Anyway, since I have some time left, I thought that I would offer up some trivia in regards to this film's behind the scenes action.

01 – The role of Daniel was originally meant to go to Charlie Sheen, but he turned it down.

02 – Elisabeth Shue's younger brother, Andrew (who would later star in “Melrose Place”) makes a cameo as one of the Cobra Kai students.

03 – Pat Morita earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film.

04 – The first scene shot for the movie was the scene that took place on the beach.

05 – Ralph Macchio sustained a real injury in the scene where Daniel is hit with a spin kick, knocking him down. The kick actually made contact!

06 – The panoramic scene which had Daniel walking all the way from the locker room to the gymnasium took at least thirty-five takes! Poor Ralph Macchio must have been exhausted doing all that walking!

07 – Although many never knew it given his youthful appearance and high-pitched voice, Ralph Macchio was 22 when the film was shot!

08 – William Zabka reportedly still owns the red leather jacket his character wore in the film.

09 – Five hundred extras were hired for the karate tournament scenes.


10 – Originally, Daniel's last name was supposed to be Webber.