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Saturday, September 07, 2013

Jenga

I always love it when I do a blog entry on a toy from my childhood. Whenever I reminisce about a toy from my past, I am instantly taken back to a time period in which the only worry I ever had was deciding on whether I wanted Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, or Frosted Flakes for breakfast.

Sigh. If only we could go back in time to the days in which life was so much simpler.

Now, I've told you all before, but a lot of my toys growing up were secondhand toys. Part of the reason for this was because of the fact that my family didn't have a whole lot of disposable income to spend on luxuries, and they became the masters of stretching a dollar. Believe me, I appreciated it in the long run, because it has made me appreciate what I do have in this world, and it certainly didn't make me a very materialistic person. I know how to shop on a budget and don't need to have luxury things to make me happy.

(Of course, if the opportunity did come around where I did have the chance to enjoy the life of luxury, I would take it. I'd probably be very uncomfortable with it all, but I would take the opportunity. After all, we all deserve to treat ourselves once in a while, right?)

Okay, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Secondhand toys.

I grew up playing with toys that were older than I was, which was okay. A lot of those classic Fisher-Price playsets kept me entertained for hours, and I think that I played with my sister's Weeble treehouse millions of times as I was growing up. Why wouldn't I? They were still fantastic toys.

Of course, as a child I couldn't help but get mesmerized by the television ads that used to air during Saturday Morning Cartoons. You know the ones I mean, don't you? The ones that advertised the latest toys and games that kids had to have! I gotta say, those toys were tempting, and I know that I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed – and a slight bit jealous – to see some of my classmates bringing in some of these toys in for show and tell, when I didn't have the toys myself.

You know something though? I always found ways around all that. If I couldn't afford the toys myself, I would find ways to enjoy them on a budget. For video games, I would rent them from the local video store. The elementary school classrooms always had toys on hand in case we were stuck inside on a rainy day for recess. And, you know those kids who wander through the toy department in stores pushing the buttons on every toy to listen to them talk or play music? Yep. I used to be one of those kids.

It almost seems like some sort of karmic retribution that I now work inches away from a toy department and get incredibly annoyed by kids who wander through the department to play with all of the toys there. But, you know what? I would be a hypocrite if I said anything to them because I used to do the same thing.

And of course there was always Christmas, in which Santa would always bring all of us kids one big gift. I often wondered how Santa Claus managed to be able to always surprise all of us with presents. I didn't exactly consider myself to be the most behaved child in the world, and was always surprised at how generous he was. And as I grew older, I still have to admit how Christmas was always executed so well, considering how things really were like. But you know, all of those memories were generated by love and warmth. Nothing could be better than that.

So, I present to you one of these special memories, courtesy of Christmas 1987.

That was the year that I seem to recall getting dozens of presents from a variety of relatives, and even a couple of family friends. Mostly I received new clothes, but there were a few books, toys, and games to unwrap underneath the tree that year.

And today's blog subject happens to be all about the gift that I loved the most that year.

When I was younger, I was always big on toys which allowed me to be able to build things. I certainly was a little mini-architect back in those days. It's a wonder that I didn't pursue architecture as a career choice with the number of Lego buildings and wood block sculptures that I created as a child.

Or, perhaps maybe I should have taken on a career in demolitions, as I often would be the best at knocking down the buildings that I just spent hours creating.



So, needless to say, when I grabbed a present under the tree and beneath the red and green paper was the game “Jenga”, I was so excited!

Yes, we are going to be talking about the board game Jenga in the blog today. It was the one present that I wanted more than anything in the world that Christmas, and it was the one gift that I practically begged my parents to buy for me that Christmas. I think I must have written Santa Claus two dozen letters asking him for various toys – Jenga being top priority.

Of course I would play Jenga the way that Jenga was meant to be played. You build up a tower, and then you try to take pieces out from the bottom and stick them on top, building the tower higher and higher without making the tower collapse. The person who made the tower collapse lost the game. It was a game that required far more skill than people realized. You really had to have a steady hand and a calm demeanor to make sure that your piece did not knock down the leaning tower of Jenga. It was a game that sounded easy, but was actually quite challenging. And anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy a challenge when it comes to playing games.

Of course, there were other uses for Jenga that I came up with when building a simple skyscraper got to be boring. Jenga blocks could be built into a pyramid if you were creative enough. I was really into the Ewoks and Droids cartoons when I was a kid, and I used Jenga blocks to build Ewok huts! I even had a Fisher-Price school house play set in which I had lost the furniture that went with it, and I used Jenga blocks to build tables and chairs! Believe me, Jenga blocks were that versatile – if you had a vivid imagination as I did as a child.

Now here's a question for you. Do you know how Jenga was created, or even where the name Jenga came from?



Well, apparently in Swahili, Jenga is loosely translated as meaning “to build”. Makes sense, given that the whole idea of Jenga was all about building. Jenga was created by a woman named Leslie Scott, who co-founded Oxford Games. Scott was born and raised in East Africa, where she learned to speak both English and Swahili. And, the inspiration behind Jenga was based on a game that she grew up playing with her family in the early 1970s using children's wooden building blocks that were purchased from a sawmill located in Ghana.

It was a game that provided Scott's family so much joy that Leslie Scott believed that she had a game idea that other children would enjoy as much as she did. It took her a few years to get everything together, but Jenga was first exhibited at the 1983 London Toy Fair, selling the game through her own production company – Leslie Scott Associates.

TRIVIA: Did you know that the first sets of Jenga were manufactured by the Campbell Village Trust in Botton, Yorkshire? And that the V&A Museum of Childhood exhibited one of the original Jenga sets from thirty years ago?

So, the toy garnered some interest at the 1983 London Toy Fair, but it wouldn't be until the following year when Jenga really exploded in popularity. In 1984, a California entrepreneur talked to Scott about importing and distributing the game throughout Canada and the United States, and by 1985, Jenga began appearing on toy shelves all over North America.

It is estimated that since Jenga's introduction to the world in 1983, Jenga has sold upwards of fifty million sets! That's an equivalent to more than 2.7 billion Jenga blocks!

TRIVIA: Now did you know what the unofficial record was for tallest Jenga tower ever built before the whole thing collapsed? According to the packaging copy of one edition of Jenga, the tallest tower was built by Robert Grebler, reaching a height of forty and one-half levels. The tallest I think I ever built one was twenty-six. So, that's pretty impressive.



And, did you also know that there have been several different versions of Jenga made? There's “Throw N' Go Jenga”, in which players would throw a coloured die and have to remove blocks based on what colour the die showed. There's “Truth or Dare Jenga”, in which you'd have to share a juicy secret or perform a silly stunt based on the colour of brick you remove. And, there's even a Jenga XXL version, which had life-size pieces for players to build a life-size tower!

Come to think of it, I kind of want one of those life-size Jenga sets!

And to conclude this story off...a lot of my board games that I owned as a child are now long gone...but I still have my original Jenga set from 1987. Anytime you want a Jenga challenge...come find me.

Friday, September 06, 2013

Good Morning, Miss Bliss

I've decided to keep the school theme going on for this week. I guess part of the reason why I'm happy to talk about school is because there's a part of me that actually misses the idea of going back to school. In fact, I miss being out of school so much that I want to make plans to go back to college to improve myself. It's too late to apply for school this year, but there's always the February semester. It's something I should have done a long time ago, and now that I have some funds saved up, I could potentially make the jump back into campus life sometime in 2014.

Why am I telling all of you this? Well, now that I have it written in print, there is no excuse now for me to make the decision. The last thing I want is for all of the readers of this blog to log on next year to call me a liar!

I guess it's true what someone said to me. I have been procrastinating for far too long now, and if I don't do something about it, I face a future in which I work retail the rest of my life. And that is something that I really don't want to do.

Obviously, I will have more to say about this in the near future. My ultimate goal after going through school is A) to pass all my courses, and B) have the best possible chance to get a job within my field. So, needless to say, I will not be wasting my money on classes that will not help me achieve my goals. I need to make some positive changes in my professional life, which will hopefully allow me to make some positive changes in my personal life as well. And, I'm thinking that I have to do this for myself. I always lived my life for other people. I need to start living it for myself.

Okay, so anyway. Today's blog topic is all about school! And today, we're going to be taking a look at a program in which the main setting was a school.

And here's the funny part about this particular show. The pilot of the show debuted a little over a year before the rest of the series aired. And this particular series only lated one season, but was the inspiration behind another series which lasted twelve years!



The television serial was meant to be a starring vehicle for former Disney sweetheart Hayley Mills. I'm sure that most of you who were old enough to remember watching her as a budding young child actress will recall that she could have been considered one of Disney's real-life princesses. No, she didn't appear at Disneyland greeting people at the entrance dressed as Cinderella, Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty. But she did appear in a series of films, which included 1960s “Pollyanna”, 1961's “The Parent Trap”, and 1965's “That Darn Cat”. Hayley Mills stayed with Disney for a six-year-contract, and also dabbled in a little bit of a music career when she recorded the single below, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard charts.
Hayley Mills' popularity at the peak of her career was so great that she was once voted Britain's Most Popular Film Actress in 1962 – when Mills was just sixteen years old.

TRIVIA: Did you know that Hayley Mills was actually considered to play the title role in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film “Lolita”. Needless to say, Disney put their foot down and made their opinion clear. They did not want Mills to take the role as they felt that it would not be up to their wholesome image.

(Because we've all seen how well Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus have done since leaving Disney, haven't we?)

But you know something, to the credit of Hayley Mills, she never descended down that same path. Sure, she took a bit of a break from acting in the mid-1970s, but experienced a bit of a renaissance period in the early 1980s when she took on a starring role in the 1981 UK mini-series “The Flame Trees of Thika”, and that spawned a renewed interest in Mills, who by this time was in her mid-thirties. She relocated to America and subsequently landed some guest spots on the television series “The Love Boat”, as well as renewing her contract with Disney and filming three more sequels to “The Parent Trap”.

And, then there was the one time in which she was offered a starring role in her very own sitcom, which would see Hayley Mills take on the role of a school teacher as well as the struggles that come with trying to balance her home life from her professional life. Often at times, she found herself trying to maintain her sanity because her co-workers could be flaky and her students would challenge her in more ways than one. Still, she was great at her job, and when I was watching the series, I always wanted to have a teacher just like her.

I wanted to be one of those kids in the classroom saying “Good Morning, Miss Bliss”.



Wow. What a coincidence. That happens to be the name of today's show that we're putting in today's spotlight.

Here's the thing about “Good Morning, Miss Bliss”. The show didn't last too long on the airwaves. In fact, many people will claim that only thirteen episodes of the show exist.

But did you know that there was actually a secret fourteenth episode? And that this fourteenth episode served as the official pilot of the show which aired over a full year before the rest of the series started to air?

I guess I should explain this a little further. Hayley Mills was offered the series by NBC as then head of programming Brandon Tartikoff had the idea to create a television series about a teacher who inspired her students to not only learn about math and history, but a little bit about themselves as well. The pilot aired on July 11, 1987 in the time slot normally occupied by “The Facts of Life”. And if you watch the video below, you can watch a portion of it as it aired the summer of 1987.



Now, there's some interesting things to note about this pilot. For one, you could tell that a lot of effort was put into the show. The sets were quite elaborately done, and it appeared as though a lot of effort was put into filming the pilot show. If you look at Miss Bliss' class, you might recognize some familiar faces. Jaleel White from “Family Matters”, Brian Austin Green from “Beverly Hills 90210”, and Jonathan Brandis from “seaQuest DSV” all had roles in the pilot. And did you happen to catch the name of the school principal? Gerald Belding? Hmmm...Belding. I KNOW I've heard that name before.

Anyway, despite a heartwarming story about the newlywed Miss Bliss helping a student cope with the fact that his older brother was dying (as well as proving to us all that there once was a time in which teachers could hug their students and not face charges), the pilot was not picked up for the 1987/1988 season on NBC, and the project sat idle for almost an entire year.



That is until The Disney Channel feigned interest in the show. After contacting series producer and creator Sam Bobrick and convincing Hayley Mills to stick with the project, “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” was brought back from the television pilot graveyard, with thirteen new episodes being filmed – the first of which aired on November 30, 1988.

As far as similarities went, there weren't many. The show still took place at an Indiana school, and Miss Bliss was still a very good teacher. However, there were several differences.

The show changed the setting from an elementary school to a junior high school. Miss Bliss taught eighth grade instead of sixth grade. Miss Bliss had one of the shortest marriages in history as the new show had her new husband killed off, making her a widow! The role of Miss Paladrino, which was originally played by Maria O'Brien was now played by Joan Ryan. T.K. Carter, who was best known for his role as Punky Brewster's teacher was added to the cast as Mylo. And while Mr. Belding did make the transition to the new version, he was recast by Dennis Haskins and renamed Principal Richard Belding.

(I know you see where this is going here, but just bear with me.)

And, of course, with the show sitting idle for so long, it was nearly impossible to recreate the original class that was featured in the pilot as many of those child actors moved on to other projects. As a result, five child actors were added to the cast as part of Miss Bliss' class. The five students were, in alphabetical order...



Nikki Coleman (Heather Hopper) – A tomboyish character who never backed down on any stance...even if it meant freeing all of the frogs in the biology lab to take a stand against animal dissection.

Mikey Gonzalez (Max Battimo) – An all-around good student who usually performs well under pressure. However, he has a tendency to get into trouble when he gets caught up in the schemes of his friends.

Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) – The class clown of Miss Bliss' class, he is notorious for putting forth the least amount of effort in his class assignments, and putting forth the most effort on money-making schemes which usually end up failing miserably.

Samuel “Screech” Powers (Dustin Diamond) – The biggest nerd in Miss Bliss' class, and perhaps the entire school. He is also perhaps the most honest student, and is considered to be the best student academically in Miss Bliss' class.

Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) – Obsessed with fashion and cosmetics, Lisa is the dream girl of any boy in the school. Just a shame that the one who has the most affection towards her happens to be Screech.

Hmmm...Zack, Screech, and Lisa. Interesting.

As the show's thirteen episode run progressed, the message of the show became very clear. Miss Bliss is the only sane adult in the entire school. She is the closest confidante to her peers – even letting Miss Paladrino move into her home after her boyfriend kicks her out. And as far as her students go, she probably taught them more lessons outside of the classroom than within.

Would you like some examples? I'm sure you do.

When Zack alienated the rest of his friends by joining a ninth grade club, Miss Bliss ended up showing him the value of true friendship. And although Zack had to swallow a huge slice of humble pie when the club duped him, he took Miss Bliss' words to heart and got his friends back.

Miss Bliss is also there to support Nikki when she objects to the idea of dissecting frogs in biology class. But when Nikki goes too far and sets the frogs free, Miss Bliss is forced to show her a little tough love.

And when Miss Bliss learns that the man that she is dating happens to be the father of one of her students, she is especially conflicted – especially when that students acts out more than usual in silent protest. She is forced to make a decision and worries that the wrong one could cause some irreparable damage.

However, one thing you couldn't deny was the fact that Miss Bliss was a wonderful teacher. Her students loved and respected her. In fact, in one episode, they respected her so much that when they discovered that Miss Bliss was nominated for the “Teacher of the Year” award, they arranged for the judging panel to come in to witness Miss Bliss teach in action in hopes that it will improve her chances. And, you know, I thought that was great. For an entire class of students to pull together to help their teacher get the recognition she deserved...that was wonderful to see. I think too often, the really great teachers in the world get overlooked because the teachers who are not quite as good have louder voices and make outlandish demands, so it was a really good episode to watch.

You know what? I like this episode so much, I'm posting a link to the show right HERE. Seriously, of all the episodes of “Good Morning, Miss Bliss”, this was my favourite.

Unfortunately, the last episode of “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” aired in March 1989, and it appeared as though the project had failed.



But then Brandon Tartikoff had a change of heart about the project after seeing the episodes airing on The Disney Channel, and he arranged to buy the rights to the show through NBC. Collaborating with executive producer Peter Engel, the show was revamped and retooled to create the new series “Saved by the Bell”, which debuted on August 20, 1989, and ultimately ran until January 8, 2000 (taking into account the College Years and New Class spinoffs).

Unfortunately, not all of the characters from “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” made it to “Saved by the Bell”. Yes, Zack, Screech, Lisa, and Mr. Belding were a part of the new show. But Hayley Mills was let go, and Miss Bliss disappeared from the canvas, as Peter Engel wanted the action to focus more on the students, rather than the faculty.

Now, to me, this was a mistake. I mean, yeah...Mr. Belding became an institution at Bayside High, but there was no reason why Miss Bliss couldn't have been. Miss Bliss could have had as much a place at Bayside High as Miss Simpson, Ms. Wentworth, Mr. Dewey, or Mr. Tuttle. It was a missed opportunity that the show never took. But then again, it's not as if Hayley Mills struggled for work after “Good Morning, Miss Bliss”. She recently wrapped up a five-year-role as Caroline in the British television series “Wild at Heart”, which she played from 2007-2012.


Still, it would have been nice for Miss Bliss to give Slater advice on how to balance his skills in baking with his wrestling moves. It would have been cool to have Miss Bliss inform Jessie that getting a “B” was not the end of the world. And, wouldn't you have just died of laughter if Miss Bliss asked Tori where her two identical-looking sisters were?

Well, okay...I suppose you'd have to watch Parent Trap III to get the hidden humour behind that last statement.

Thursday, September 05, 2013

Lessons Learned - and Lessons I'd Like To Forget

I don't know what it is about September now that I am an adult, but there's a part of me that kind of feels strange not getting ready to head off to school. I know it's been several years since I've set foot inside of an educational institution, but there's a part of me that misses it.

Well...the learning aspect of it, that is. Not the social aspect. That part I could do without.

And, well...since I'm talking about learning, I thought that I would use this Thursday Diary to talk about learning. Talking about the lessons that I wished that schools taught us, as well as lessons that upon retrospect were absolutely useless to me.

And, well...for today's entry, I'll be using multiple font colours. Just think of me using one of those four-colour pens that you frequently see. You know, the ones with red, blue, green, and black ink? You'll see what I mean as you read on.

September 5, 2013

This is the very first diary entry that I am doing for the month of September, and I am very pleased with the subject that I am writing about.

I'm still trying to decide on what the future of this blog is going to be over the next few months. I'm still wondering if I should keep the pop culture element in place permanently or whether I'm going to switch it up and make this blog a more personal project. But I'm sure that one day, I'll have my answer and that I will make the transition seamlessly.

Anyway, since we're in the month of September, I wanted to do a blog entry on my learning experiences with school and school work. Specifically on the lessons that I learned that ended up being meaningless in my own life, as well as the lessons that I do wish that they taught in school.

Don't get me wrong. For the most part when it came to school work, I absolutely enjoyed most aspects of it all. I was always someone who loved learning (hence the reason why I spend so much time doing research on this blog). For the most part, my teachers did a great job educating us on the basics from reading, writing, and arithmetic to the more expert lessons, which included history, the arts, and sciences.

Well, okay...I'm embellishing my learning capabilities in science class. I would imagine that the only way I was ever going to learn anything in science class was if Bill Nye was my teacher. And, unfortunately for me, he's signed up to be on “Dancing With The Stars” this upcoming season for me to get private tutoring from him.

Opportunity missed, I suppose.

Ah well. The truth is that I'll never become an emergency room doctor, find a cure for a potentially fatal disease or discover a brand new chemical alloy which will make home building projects more affordable. For someone like me, all of those science lessons I sat through weren't very helpful. Not that I am badmouthing science by any means. I'm actually jealous of people who understand science because there's a part of me that wishes I could.

At the same time though, that learning experience helped me realize that I make a much better writer anyway. I'm still trying to find out a way that I can profit from this craft, but I'm still on the optimistic side that it will eventually happen for me.

But you know something? Sometimes we're taught things in school that for whatever reason are absolutely useless. And, sometimes there are things that we are never taught in school that I wish we were.

So, I'm going to highlight lessons that I was taught but never use in red lettering, while the green lettering will be assigned to lessons that I never learned in high school, but wish they taught us.

Ready? Okay. Class in session.



LESSON FAIL: The Pythagorean Theorem

Okay, so the only jobs that I can see this theory on triangles being even remotely useful is either A) jobs in construction which require building a lot of triangles, or B) a deli counter where you're slicing egg salad sandwiches into perfect triangles. And I'll be really honest with you, even “B” seems a little ridiculous at that. To be perfectly honest, I've been out of high school for thirteen years, and I've completely forgotten how to even explain the Pythagorean Theorem. I guess it just goes to show you just exactly how much I use it in every day life, doesn't it? But I'm sure I'm not alone. Let's take a look at a mathematics lesson that I actually could have used a lesson in.



LESSON PLAN: How to understand basic banking

And, by basic banking, I'm not talking about those worksheets you used to do in second grade math class where you had to figure out how many pennies you needed to buy a popsicle from the ice cream man. For starters, those worksheets were printed off from a textbook written in 1969 and I'm pretty sure that popsicles no longer cost twenty-seven cents.

No, I mean lessons on which savings plans to invest your money in. How to decipher interest rates. How to find the best mortgage on a home. How long it will take to pay back a student loan depending on the amount of interest that is tacked on. I know that life would have been made so much easier had we been taught these things in high school. I mean, it was fairly sad that I was in the supposed advanced class in high school for mathematics for my first two years of school, and yet we learned none of those things. Yet, we had the Pythagorean Theorem shoved down our throats. Go figure.



LESSON FAIL: Any gym class I ever took

You know what? I earned every single C-minus grade in gym class. I know it sounds like a really bizarre thing to admit to, but I was always the kid who always put out the most effort in gym class, but was never rewarded for it. It didn't matter that I worked out so hard in every gym class to the point where the shirt I was wearing actually changed colour because of the fact that I was sweating so much. The majority of my gym class teachers only chose to mark us on how well we could throw a ball, or how athletic we were. I'll be the first one to admit that I am not athletically gifted, but I would have appreciated the fact that they at least noticed how hard I was trying to hone my athleticism – or lack thereof. If anything, those gym classes made me hate physical activity even more because it seemed as though unless you had the skills to become the next Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, or Wayne Gretzky, you were not worth their time.



LESSON PLAN: Incorporating health lessons into gym class plans

Would you like to know the one year in which I did NOT get a C-minus in gym class? Well, it happened to be in grade nine, where we took classes in health related topics for three periods in three week blocks. We learned all about nutrition, we learned about the circulatory system...and if memory serves me, we also did sex education (something that the schools started teaching in the fourth grade). And, you know what? I took those lessons seriously...a lot more seriously than my classmates. And it was because of that, I ended up getting a grade that was higher than some of the super-jocks who bragged about their athletic contributions in high school. That was very cool. Mind you, it was the ONLY time I scored a B+ in gym class, as the following year I had a teacher who only graded on athletic ability, which lead to me giving up gym class altogether.

But you know something? I think I got more out of the health lessons than I did from actually playing sports. I just wish that back when I was in school, they cared more about that stuff than trying to find the star player of the basketball team so that they could finally defeat the championship team after a seven-year-drought.



LESSON FAIL: Sitting in class while the teacher read us a book

I mean, don't get me wrong. In elementary school, whenever we had spare time before we would leave to go to the French classroom, or to the music room, I really loved story time. Sitting on the carpeted area of the classroom listening to the teacher read us the latest Robert Munsch story was a real bonding experience. Although it only lasted a few minutes, at that point in time, we all got along.

That all changed when we were in the upper grades. You see, right around this time, we all had ample time to be able to pick up a novel and read them ourselves. Some kids struggled, while others excelled. But one thing that I didn't really agree with was the fact that the teachers would often assign us a book to study (be it Winnie-The-Pooh, or Superfudge), and then proceed to read us the book instead of letting us read it ourselves. I mean, granted, I realize that budget cuts made it impossible for every child to have a book, but I always felt it was a missed opportunity for us to improve our reading skills. If you've ever questioned why standardized literacy tests are on the lower end, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason why.

Though, one thing I will say about my elementary school was the fact that we had a program called “Reading Buddies”, in which older kids would go downstairs to the primary school classes and read them stories. It worked out really well. I read them a story of my choosing, and then they would read me a book of their choice. It was an ingenious way for us older kids to give back to the school by helping the younger kids improve their reading skills. I often wonder if the program still exists. I hope it does. Otherwise, it may just as well be added to the list of missed opportunities.



LESSON PLAN: Grammar

Okay, so everyone has endured a spelling test before. I know I went through several myself. Not to brag, but when I was in the sixth grade, I received a perfect score on nearly every single test. In fact, I actually challenged the teacher once in sixth grade for giving me a score of 99/100 because while she claimed I spelled a word wrong, I really didn't. I just chose the wrong homonym, and wrote something like further instead of farther. I argued that I still spelled it correctly, but she wasn't budging.

Whatever. I still had 99%.

Now, here's the million dollar question. How many of you ever had a “grammar dictation”. Not many of you, I bet. I'm the kind of guy who believes that the ability to read and write is so important and I am definitely an advocate in making sure that everybody has the ability to read and write. And, as far as I am concerned that includes grammar.

I get that spelling is important (unless you have the distinction of being born in the Twitter generation where brevity is the soul of meaningful conversation – apparently). But grammar is just as important as far as I am concerned. I actually have to admit that I chuckle at those people who post those your/you're posts.  Not that I'm a Grammar Nazi or anything like that.

What isn't a laughing matter is the fact that schools simply never taught the importance of grammar. I know this because my school didn't begin teaching us grammar until...get this...EIGHTH GRADE. All the kids in my class thought it was the most boring subject to learn about. I, on the other hand, was grateful for the experience. Mind you, a lot of the concepts of grammar I learned on my own, but there were some instances in which I would often find myself questioning whether or not what I wanted to say was written correctly. Those lessons on grammar were absolutely beneficial to me. I feel that they helped me become a better writer and a better communicator. It saddens me that so little emphasis is spent on teaching grammar.

As for punctuation...well, I won't boast. Punctuation still trips me up.


So, that's just a partial list. What are some lessons that you wish you were taught in school? And which lessons would you like to forget?

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

My Question To All Of You

This has been a really wacky week. In one week alone, I have had trust issues, questioned everything that I ever really believed in, and nearly got run over by a gigantic truck crossing the street.

Believe me, that last part is true. I'm still kind of shaken up over coming this close to getting run over. Give how everybody in town has been shocked at the number of fatalities that we have had this week on the road, I think my feelings are totally understandable.

Anyway, we're not here to talk about near death experiences (at least not this time around). We're here to talk about requests.

And, well...for this week, I'm changing it up.

Normally on Wednesdays, I turn over control to all of you and I let you tell me what you want to see featured on this blog. For the last few months, it has kind of been a bit of a gift from me to you. And, don't get me wrong, I have been extremely appreciative of every single request that I have gotten. Seriously, some of my better blog entries have come about because of suggestions that I have gotten from each and every one of you, and I cannot show my gratitude enough.

But you know...there's been something on my mind lately, and I've been very afraid to state what that is because I know that by confessing this, I may have to rethink how I present this blog from this point on. At the same time, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of the reason why I am the way I am is because I fear making positive changes for myself because I worry that it will eventually be taken away.

(I know...irrational fears are the worst. I need to work on eliminating them from my diet.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that in this blog entry, I'm the one who will be making the request. And, my request will come in the form of a question.

I suppose that you could consider this the “Jeopardy” Daily Double blog.

You know, over the last couple of years, I've been keeping this blog mostly pop culture themed. And there is a reason why I have done exactly this.

It's because a lot of my life has been surrounded by pop culture, not necessarily as a choice, but as a bit of a survival mechanism of sorts. My home life was all right, but there were some moments that could be considered tumultuous. My ability to deal with kids my age was hindered by the fact that I didn't grow up around people my own age. And by the time I was surrounded by people my own age (a.k.a. School), I didn't know how to approach them or be friends with them. I guess in a lot of cases, I was spoiled as a child in that some of my best friends when I was three were all adults over the age of twenty-five. Every single one of those people always treated me with respect so I didn't really have to worry about them hurting my feelings.

Let's just say that a kindergarten classroom filled with five and six year old children who lack the maturity to play nice all the time was a real eye-opener.

In spite of all this however, there was always one constant in my life. One constant that helped me get through the pain that I was feeling at that time.

Pop culture.

When I was a kid I was always glued to the television, or I was playing make believe games with the toys that I played with as a kid, or I would grab a stack of paper and a handful of crayons and draw my own comic books, or I would always walk down to the convenience store around the corner to rent a video game for the evening and take out my frustrations on Goombas and Koopa Troopas in Super Mario Brothers 3.

And, I think it's safe to say that my obsession with pop culture has followed me well into adulthood. I have so many books and reference materials on pop culture. The Internet Movie Database is one of my favourite websites to visit at any given time. And given that I work in an electronics department, I'm almost always able to find a video game, compact disc, or DVD for a person (or at the very least, I have heard of the movie title or music artist to help steer the customer on the right track as to where they CAN find the items).

On the flipside, I do run into the odd person who seems to be taken aback by the fact that I do immerse myself so much into the world of pop culture. In fact, I have actually had some people jokingly make comments about needing to get out more, or that I need to get a better hobby, or that I watch too much television. Well, you know what? Maybe I do. What business is it of theirs whether I do or whether I don't?

In fact, I feel like doing a little bit of a mission statement here to those who have the audacity to make such claims.

In your opinion, I watch too much television. But did it ever occur to you that the television (as well as the video games I played, the books I read, and the toys I played with) kept me from losing my mind completely when it came to the stuff that I had to go through – stuff that I wouldn't wish on anybody else. So, don't criticize the fact that I have an addiction to pop culture by making jokes at my expense. It is insulting, and the next time I hear a comment about that in a negative sense, I will be letting you know.

Sigh. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah. My request.

Over the last two years, I've written over eight hundred blog posts. And, of those eight hundred blog posts, about seven hundred and ninety-nine of them have been pop culture related.

When I was first doing this blog, I was having a lot of fun choosing topics. I had a lot of creativity and I was coming up with topics that were diverse, yet easy to talk about. Some of them were received very well, while others were ignored. But you know, that's just a part of life. Some generations might prefer “The Brady Bunch” over “The Simpsons”, clearly because of the generation gap between those two shows. And, that's cool. I try to make this blog appealing to all ages.

(Which is why I rarely ever swear in this blog, or give a disclaimer whenever I do have a video clip that contains swearing.)

But lately, I've been finding that writing pop culture themed blogs have been incredibly hard work. Mind you, I've been doing this blog for two years straight, so maybe a part of that comes from the fact that I have been doing the same kind of blog post day after day. But this last month or so, I've been taking a long time to even get one blog post done, whereas beforehand it would only take me a couple of hours.

At first I was thinking that it had to do with the fact that this past summer has not gone exactly how I thought it would, and that I have had some personal issues to deal with. But now that all of those things have been resolved, I'm still feeling the same way.

Lately, I find that it's much easier to write about my thoughts and feelings about certain things, rather than have a spotlight on a toy, or a feature on a television show. As much as it might make me sound as if I am searching for some form of self-gratification, or tooting my own horn, so to speak, I find that by talking about things that are bothering me, and talking about things that are on my mind at any given time, it makes me feel better. It gives me clarity. It makes me realize that I can still hold onto the possibility of great things eventually happening for me.

And, that's why...that's why I'm considering making a huge change to the blog.

I'm considering cutting down on the pop culture aspect of this blog and bringing more of myself into it, no matter how manic or how poorly, or how confused I am feeling at any given day.

It's not as though I will be able to completely change the focus of this blog completely. I could never truly sever my ties to pop culture, and I will tell you that I'll still be featuring a Tuesday Timeline, and that this blog will still have lots of music videos scattered through it.

But I think it's about time that I make this blogging project more of a discovery of self, rather than just an information dump on pop culture.

And the possibility of that scares me.

I was reluctant to talk about myself when I first began this project. Seriously, have a look at some of the entries I wrote back in 2011. They're kind of cold, sterile, and lack focus. Of course, we all tend to be our own worst critics, and look back on some of our older works and criticize them because we've honed and developed our craft since then. But for me it wasn't so much of a style thing as much of a personal thing.

Truth is, I didn't think my life was interesting enough to talk about every day. I've never been outside of North America. I've never gone bungee jumping. I've never gone scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I've never been married, never had children, never taken a real vacation. All I ever really have had in my life when I started this blog was home and work – and let's be honest. Neither environment has provided me with much satisfaction.

But I'm simultaneously thinking that if I do reveal more of myself on this blog, it might make things much clearer. I could have one of those a-ha moments right here on this blog that might motivate me to make more positive changes for myself...or at the very least, help me come to the understanding that I owe it to myself to make these changes for my own self-preservation.

But you know. This is just what I'm thinking. In order for me to make a decision, I need your input.

Should I cut back on the pop culture content? Give it up entirely? Or are you happy with the way things are?


I'm serious. I need to know what you want to see. It will weigh heavily on the future of this blog.

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

September 3, 1970

There's not much to say today. It's Tuesday, September 3, and that means another Tuesday Timeline. So let's just get on with it.

Here are some of the events that have taken place on this date in history, beginning with...

1666 – The Royal Exchange is burned to the ground during the Great London Fire

1777 – The United States flag is flown for the first time in battle during the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Cooch's Bridge

1783 – The American Revolutionary War ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and Great Britain

1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”

1838 – Future abolitionist Fredrick Douglass escapes slavery

1875 – Introduced by British ranchers, the first game of polo is played in the country of Argentina

1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just half a year after his rule is met with much opposition

1925 – USS Shenandoah is destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio, killing fourteen of the forty-two crew members on board

1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell becomes the first person to drive a car at a speed of over three hundred miles per hour

1939 – The United Kingdom, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany, which intensifies World War II

1944 – Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to Auschwitz concentration camp

1951 – The daytime drama “Search for Tomorrow” debuts on CBS, and runs for thirty-five years

1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state

1985 – Songwriter Johnny Marks – known for composing some Christmas classics – dies at the age of 75

1987 – Burundi President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya in a coup d'etat

1991 – Director Frank Capra passes away in La Quinta, California, at the age of 94

2001 – Actress Thuy Trang – best known as the original Yellow Power Ranger – is killed in a motor vehicle accident at the age of 27

2004 – The Beslan school hostage crisis ends – 300 are killed, with more than half the victims children

2012 – Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies of a heart attack at the age of 54

September 3 is also known for its bevy of celebrity birthdays. Celebrating a birthday today are Al Jardine, Valerie Perrine, George Biondo (Steppenwolf), Steve Schirripa, Costas Mandylor, Spike Feresten, Thomas Mikal Ford, Holt McCallany, Nigel Rhodes, Charlie Sheen, Noah Baumbach, John Fugelsang, Trevor St. John, Christine Boudrias, Jennifer Paige, Damon Stoudamire, Redfoo, Ashley Jones, Tiffany Chapman, B.G., Jennie Finch, Fearne Cotton, and Chris Fountain.

So, what date in history will we be visiting today?



How does September 3, 1970 sound? Good?

Okay, so what happened on this date forty-three years ago? Well, I imagine that all three of the big networks were putting the finishing touches on their 1970/1971 television schedules, and that the World Series was in full swing, and school was back in session.

However, for one musical group, September 3, 1970 was the beginning of the end.

The band certainly had a good run on the charts. For twelve years, the band dominated the charts in both their native UK and across the pond in the United States. They became known as one of the bands that were a part of the 1960s “British Invasion”, joining the ranks of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, and The Who, and during their tenure together released fifteen albums, and seventy-five singles.

Of those seventy-five singles, thirty-six were released in the United States, and of those thirty-six, seventeen peaked within the Top 40. One single even reached #1 on the Billboard charts.

But as it so happens, the reason why the band called it quits in the early 1970s was because it seemed as though the band's well of creativity dried up. The band stopped having substantial hits after the late 1960s, and while other bands adapted their music to join the psychadelic movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, this band stuck to their guns, and were kind of ignored in the music scene as a result of it.

This eventually lead to the band's announcement that they were breaking up on September 3, 1970. Mind you, some of the members tried to form a brand new band with a combination of old and new members, but this line-up only lasted until 1973.

The funny thing is that both of these bands were named after the same person. The 1970 project that emerged after the dissolution of the original band was named “Dave Clark & Friends”.



Of course, most of you probably remember the band's original name...The Dave Clark Five. And, that's who we're going to be focusing our Tuesday Timeline on today.

You know, in the world of pop music – specifically British pop music – there has never been a shortage of similar groups competing against each other in the quest to be the #1 band on the top of the charts. In the 1980s, you had Duran Duran taking on Wham! In the 1990s, you had Take That, 5ive, and Boyzone duking it out on the UK Charts. And currently there seems to be a battle royale between One Direction and The Wanted over how many lockers of teenage girls their posters will appear in.

Well, in the 1960s, The Dave Clark Five were kind of an upset in the British music scene. Prior to their arrival, The Beatles had dominated the pop music scene for two whole years, having a lot of hit singles between 1962 and 1964. But when The Dave Clark Five arrived on the scene with the song below, they actually kicked The Beatles off the top of the UK Charts!



ARTIST: The Dave Clark Five
SONG: Glad All Over
ALBUM: N/A (was a single release)
DATE RELEASED: November 1963
PEAK POSITION ON THE UK CHARTS: #1

TRIVIA: In the United States, the single peaked at #6.

And to think that the band actually started off as a quartet!



Now, I'm sure that most of you know the classic line-up of The Dave Clark Five. But, for those of you who don't, here it is.

Dave Clark – drums
Mike Smith – lead vocals, keyboards
Lenny Davidson – lead guitar
Rick Huxley – bass guitar
Denis Payton – saxophones, harmonica, guitar

Yes, you are reading this correctly. The band was in fact named after the drummer. But I suppose there was one good reason behind it. Dave Clark was the founding and original member of the band. The other four members didn't join the band until after the other members left while the band was still under the more demure name of “The Dave Clark Quintet”!

The band was founded in 1957, and by 1962, the band's most well-known line-up was in place.

Originating from North London, the band quickly became one of the top bands in the UK during the 1960s, and they actually surpassed their closest rivals, The Beatles, in a couple of aspects.

Firstly, the band was the first out of all of the bands of The British Invasion to tour the United States. And the reception that the band received in the United States was incredible. Every single one of their shows played to sell-out crowds!

And, back in the 1960s, the place to go to promote your music was The Ed Sullivan Show. And certainly all of the bands of the British Invasion got the chance to play their music on the show at least once.

Well, let's just say that the relationship between Ed Sullivan and The Dave Clark Five must have been very special. The Dave Clark Five appeared on the show a grand total of eighteen times – more than any other band that was a part of the British Invasion!

And, as mentioned before, the band scored seventeen Top 40 hits in the United States. And the song below reached #1 in 1965!



(Wow...I completely forgot how much I actually enjoy The Dave Clark Five!)

Oh, yeah...like most bands of the British Invasion, their career wouldn't be complete without releasing a motion picture of some sort. In which case, the movie for The Dave Clark Five was “Catch Us If You Can”.



(Or, in the United States, it was entitled “Having a Wild Weekend”.)

But, all good things do come to an end, and the band announced their split on September 3, 1970. However, for Dave Clark, he managed to turn an ending into a new beginning.

Granted, his second attempt at a band didn't do as well as the first. But Clark successfully set up his own media company, as well as buying the rights to the 1960s pop series “Ready Steady Go!”, as well as being credited with being a co-writer of “TIME – The Musical”.

On the flipside, Dave Clark held all the rights to the band's music, which was a point of contention for Dave Clark Five fans, as Dave Clark practically banned the music from being purchased in any commercial format for close to two decades. The ban was finally lifted in 1993, and you can now purchase most of their songs on iTunes.

Sadly, of the five members of The Dave Clark Five, only two survive – Clark and Lenny Davidson. Denis Payton succumbed to cancer in December 2006, Mike Smith died in February 2008 following a spinal cord injury, and after a battle with emphysema, Rick Huxley died in February 2013.




But the memories of the music they shared will always remain, forty-three years after their break-up. Their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 is proof of that.

Monday, September 02, 2013

School of Rock

First things first, I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy Labour Day. Whether you're spending the day actually doing labour or just relaxing by the pool on what marks the unofficial end of summer, I hope you spend at least part of the day enjoying yourself and doing what you want to do.

Because, let's face it. For some of us, school begins tomorrow. And that can be a point of crisis for some of you reading this.

I know that as far as I was concerned, I dreaded the very first day of school. I don't really need to go into too much detail as to why, but I will say this. The factor behind whether or not a school year would be good or a disaster depended squarely on the teacher who we had that year.

And believe me, I've had some teachers that have been real “winners”, so to speak.

When it comes to what I consider a great teacher, I think back on the great teachers that I have had over the years. A good teacher finds a way to make learning fun. A good teacher finds a way to teach his or her students both inside and outside of the classroom. As far as I am concerned, a good teacher is someone who helps a child develop their strengths and to help them understand and improve their weaknesses so that they can gain more self-confidence about themselves and become well-rounded adults.

On the flipside, a teacher should NOT belittle a student, embarrass a student, isolate a student for something they can't change, or treat a student as if they are their own personal pet project, pledging to change everything about them when nothing is wrong with them.

I've had exactly three teachers in my lifetime who have done all of those things, and they certainly tried to break me. Guess what. You didn't.

You know, I'm almost kind of relieved that I am no longer a student in high school. Being in high school in the year 2013 must be a very different experience than being a high school student in 1998. Back when I was in high school, one in about one hundred students owned a cell phone. This day and age, it seems like nine out of every ten students are glued to their Blackberry devices or iPhones. I honestly don't know if I would survive being in high school in the current time period. I had a hard enough time surviving high school when I was actually a high school student, and I graduated thirteen years ago!

And, you know...judging by some of the videos that people have posted on YouTube and other social media sites, it's hard not to develop a negative attitude about high school if all you're seeing are videos of students getting into fist fights in school hallways, teachers engaging in inappropriate behaviour with students behind closed doors, and students and teachers simply not caring or having the desire to learn anything. In my experience, I have seen some of my classmates coasting through school by copying off other people's homework, and doing as little work as possible, and still get passed through to the next grade because the teacher didn't want to put forth the effort to teach them.

To me, that's ridiculous. Of course, on the flipside, I also find it equally wrong to hold back a person because of personal issues that had nothing to do with their schoolwork. I knew a couple of people who were forced to repeat a grade when in all honesty, I didn't feel that they needed to.

In fact, I have a confession for you. I've talked about my evil first grade teacher on this site before, but did you know that if she had her way, I would have repeated the first grade? She insisted that I wasn't grasping basic first grade concepts even though I could read and write at a higher grade level than first grade. She was just going to do that because I wasn't exactly a child who always sat still and obeyed the teacher (which to be fair, almost everyone in my class was guilty of it – I was just the only one who got caught). Her crusade to hold me back in the first grade was strictly personal. Of course, the school did not side with her and ordered her to pass me into the second grade. But still, knowing that she tried to do that...is it any wonder why I have very little respect for her?

Now, you compare that with my sixth grade teacher who was warm, compassionate, kind, and who really made learning a lot of fun. Mind you, it wasn't entirely perfect. I did get into trouble in that class on more than one occasion. But rather than chastise me openly in front of the class, or threaten to keep me from entering the seventh grade, she worked with me, and actually helped me find a better way to control my feelings and come to terms with trying to overcome the bad things and focus on the good. It didn't necessarily always work out that way, but at the same time, I appreciate the fact that she did reach out to me and tried to help me deal with conflict resolution in a positive manner.

So for me, Grade 6 teacher = good. Grade 1 teacher = Satan. That's not too harsh, is it?

This week's Monday Matinee deals with a man who becomes the most unlikely educator in the entire world. When he is first hired to teach at a school, he's lazy, unmotivated, and completely out of his depth when it comes to educating his students. But as time passes, he begins to mature a little bit, and he starts to use the lessons that he learns from his students and applies them to his own messed-up life. By the end of it all, he will have learned so much about himself that he will have the tools necessary to make the positive changes in his own life, while teaching his students some lessons that he never believed he could before.


I have a hard time believing that this film is ten years old, but believe it or not, “School of Rock” was released on October 3, 2003. The screenplay was written by Mike White, the star of the movie was Jack Black, and the director was Richard Linklater (though it would have been cool if his last name was 'Brown' to keep the colour theme going).

The film also marks one of the first appearances on screen for actress Miranda Cosgrove, who would later go on to star in the series iCarly, and the Despicable Me movie series.

This film certainly did very well at the box office. It made over one hundred and thirty million dollars worldwide, it scored Jack Black a Golden Globe nomination in 2004, and on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 92% Fresh rating (which is extremely good). And, I will also state that this movie probably has one of the best motion picture soundtracks of any film released since 2000. With songs from The Clash, The Doors, The Who, AC/DC, Stevie Nicks, The Velvet Underground, T. Rex, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin having their music featured in the film, it was definitely a soundtrack that appealed to all ages.

Oh yeah. Jack Black also quotes Whitney Houston's “Greatest Love of All” in the film as well. Not exactly what I would call a rock song, but it's a nice touch.

Okay, so I suppose that you want to know a little bit about the plot of the film. I will reveal a little bit of it to you, but since I never reveal endings to films featured in this space, I can't go into too much detail. But here's what I can tell you.




When we first meet the character of Dewey Finn (Black), he is the guitarist/singer of the rock band “No Vacancy”. It is a job that Dewey absolutely loves to do, and he thinks that there is nothing else in the world that he can do.

Unfortnately, Dewey's skills as a guitarist are marred by the fact that he's a bit of a show-off on stage. His arrogance, over-confidence, and desire to be the star has really turned off the other members of “No Vacancy”, and after a disaster-filled performance at a nightclub, the majority of the members of “No Vacancy” vote to kick Dewey out of the band, replacing him with a new member, Spider (Lucas Babin). Dejected, Dewey is forced to consider other options, even though the last thing he wants to do is walk away from music. To compound the problem, Dewey is sharing an apartment with his submissive pal Ned Schneebly (Mike White), and his overbearing, obnoxious girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman), who gives Dewey an ultimatum. Get a real job or get out of the apartment.

So Dewey has lost his job in the band, and could possibly lose his home too. Things were getting desperate, and Dewey needed a miracle.

So when Dewey takes a phone call intended for Ned in which the principal of an prepatory elementary school (Joan Cusack) is desperate for Ned to fill in for a fifth grade class as a substitute teacher, Dewey decides to impersonate Ned and take on the job as a way to save himself from getting evicted from the Big Brother House apartment.



So, Dewey arrives at Horace Green Prep, taking on the role of Ned Schneebly, in an effort to teach a fifth grade class. Only he has no experience with teaching, which certainly is made woefully apparent when he can't even remember how to spell his own friend's last name. So, to the students he is teaching, he is simply known as Mr. S.

And what lessons does Mr. S. teach the students at first? Well, nothing, really. He lets the class have recess whenever they want, he teaches the class lectures which are boring and de-motivational, and basically lets them do whatever they want. Clearly, Dewey is in way over his head.

Or, is he?

As it so happens, there is one thing that the class that he is teaching has in common with him. They both appreciate a good jam session.

Turns out that the class is completely made up of musical prodigies and geniuses, and Dewey plans on using this to his advantage. He tells the class that he has a special assignment for them to complete during his tenure as their teacher. He plans on teaching them all about the joys of music by having them play a variety of classic rock songs, and his hope is that he can make the children develop their own talents and become better students. In secret though, Dewey plans on using the students to enter a “Battle of the Bands” contest. His former band is competing in the contest, and he is determined to best them at the contest to not only win the twenty thousand dollar prize, but to rub his victory in their faces, showing them that they made a mistake in cutting him loose.

Yeah...doesn't exactly sound like the best role model for a teacher, does it?

But here's the thing. As Dewey's little white lie grows into a gigantic whopper (and by whopper, I don't mean the burger where if you hold the pickles and the lettuce, that special order won't upset them), Dewey begins to have a change of heart over how he feels about the students. Okay, so his original intentions weren't the best...but as he immerses himself into his job, he finds himself caring for each and every student in his class, and somehow, winning the money becomes not as important as helping his students appreciate a love for music. Even the school principal seems impressed by Dewey's teaching and forms a bit of a friendship with him. And all the kids start respecting Dewey as well, with each one becoming engaged by his lessons, his stories, and his unique approach to education. The truth is that Dewey has found that he enjoys teaching the kids, and he is beginning to see that maybe there could be a potential career option for him after all.

But like every single lie that is told, they can blow up in a person's face like a big giant balloon that is punctured with a thumbtack. And when the thumbtack came in the form of Dewey's nemesis, Patty and the whole charade is unraveled right in front of Dewey's eyes, Dewey is left feeling ashamed and incredibly destroyed.

But let's just say that when it comes to the impact that Dewey has had on the students of the school that he taught at for several weeks...well, fate has a funny way of working out. And Dewey learns that sometimes the students can be the teachers, and that he will learn the value of the golden rule.

And, I think this is the time of the blog entry where we talk about some behind the scenes trivia.



01 – Fans of “The Amazing Race” may recognize Mike White. He and his father competed on a couple of seasons of the show!

02 – In the scene where Jack Black was to dive off the stage to be caught by the crowd, stuntmen were on standby to assist – just in case he needed it.

03 – Jack Black was a huge fan of classic rock. Mike White couldn't stand it.

04 – If you look closely at all of the cars that the parents of the children drive, you may notice that they are all Volvos!

05 – The film's plot was inspired by Mike White having Jack Black as a neighbour in the same apartment building. According to White, he often saw Black running through the halls naked, and heard loud music blasting from his apartment. How Jack and Mike became friends seems to be a mystery, doesn't it?

06 – Led Zeppelin was notorious for refusing to let movie makers use their music for their soundtracks...but when the producers sent them a creative video asking for their permission, they relented.

07 – Jack Black plays a Gibson SG Standard Guitar in the movie.

08 – Although the kids in the class were all supposed to be the same age, there was a five year gap between Kevin Alexander Clark (b. 1988) and Miranda Cosgrove (b. 1993).

09 – Miranda Cosgrove actually has a decent singing voice (she released an album in 2011). But would you believe that she actually took a class to learn how to sing BADLY for the film? It's all true!

10 – This film was originally slated to be a musical.

11 – The nicknames that Dewey calls his students were created by Jack Black himself.

12 – The movie poster for the film is deliberately styled in the same format as the cover of a standard “Rolling Stone” magazine.

And, that's our feature on “School of Rock”. But before I end this blog off, I want to say one final thing.

I cannot play a musical instrument to save my life, and it's something that I kind of regret not pursuing. I have absolute mad respect for people who can play music. When I was doing some fundrasing for the Relay for Life, I had the pleasure of listening to some live music from a band who was asked to perform at the yard sale we had at our store to raise money for the cause. The band was made up of teenagers who were playing at our yard sale for free in exchange for volunteer hours. They were very talented, and I was happy to see them doing something they loved to do. The joy on their faces was priceless, and I'll always remember them.

Tragically, one of the members of that very band was killed yesterday by a drunk driver. And even though I didn't really get the opportunity to talk with him the day that he performed, I knew that he was giving people a real gift. And anyone who was at that yard sale that day could consider themselves lucky that they had the opportunity to experience that gift.

So, I want to dedicate this blog entry in this boy's honour.


Rest in peace, Aaron.