Search This Blog

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Gym-Dandy? Not Very! (Part I of II)



In case you're just joining us after a long absence away from “A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life”, you're just in time to witness the second installment of “Whatever Wednesday”. Previously known as “All-Request Wednesday”. Previously known as “The Wednesday Gift Shop”. Previously known as “Across The Pond and Beyond Wednesdays”.

Yep, as you can see, Wednesdays have always been a point of frustration for this blogger.

So for Wednesdays, I thought that I would leave it up to fate to choose my topic of discussion.

I managed to find an old “Clue” board game and grabbed all of the different coloured character cards from the game. I then assigned each card one of the theme days that you might see later on in the week. To recap, here's the character cards and the theme days that they represent.

MISS SCARLET: Sunday Jukebox
COLONEL MUSTARD: Monday Matinee
MRS. WHITE: Saturday Smorgasbord (weeks 3-5)
MR. GREEN: Saturday Smorgasbord (weeks 1-2)
MRS. PEACOCK: Friday Night in the TV Guide
PROFESSOR PLUM: Thursday Diary

So, I have all of the cards inside of a plastic bag, and I will now draw one at random.



Looks like today is a Professor Plum kind of day. So, this week, I'll be doing a Wednesday Diary entry in addition to a Thursday Diary entry. But that's cool. I have plenty to talk about.

So, what will I be talking about in the first of two diary entries? Well, I've decided to make this a 2-parter.  Part 2 will begin tomorrow, but here's Part 1 for you. It will set up the story for tomorrow.

September 18, 2013



I have to come clean to all of you reading this right now. I've had kind of a love-hate relationship with physical activity.

I'm not exactly sure where this volatile relationship started, but when I was a child, I was not exactly the most active person out there...which probably might explain why I ballooned up to over 300 pounds by the time I was in high school. But when it came to physical activity, I really found it a bother to even try getting healthy. I kind of laughed it off in a sense.

Now, before you hang that necklace with the scarlet “L” on it (the “L” standing for laziness) around my neck, I just want to make a few things clear.



Firstly, I was a kid who suffered from childhood asthma to the point where I was hospitalized for a severe attack when I was seven, and which forced me to miss approximately eighteen days of school throughout the fifth grade. Trying to keep up to the other kids in the class was extremely hard for me back then because I was always winded and out of breath. I just could not do it.



Secondly, I have already expressed my dislike of physical education classes in both elementary and high school. I hated the fact that my teachers would only grade me on athletic ability instead of the effort I gave in class. It wasn't fair that kids who hardly even tried in class received a better grade than I did.

And lastly, I was someone who try as he might was never skilled in any sport. I couldn't dunk a basketball into a basket, I couldn't kick a soccer ball into a net, and when I tried to hit a baseball with a bat, I ended up nearly breaking my nose in the ninth grade.

You want to know what all of those things are? They're excuses.

Of course as a child who was tired of getting picked on by classmates and teachers about his lack of athletic ability, I never saw it that way. But now that I am an adult now and look back at that time, I can see why I was such a poor student in gym class.

I mean, sure, my asthma did cause me a whole lot of childhood health problems which affected my stamina in gym class. That was something that I couldn't change back then. I just sort of learned to adapt to having it. Now I'm at the point where it is a non-issue and I have a better grasp at controlling my breathing to the point where I am no longer winded. I suppose if I really wanted to, I could have done some exercises that would have improved my breathing abilities so I didn't tire out in gym class all the time.

And when it came down to my grades in physical education classes, I have to say that yes, it was frustrating to be graded down by my teachers. But given how much grief I got over my athletic ability (or lack thereof), I guess it got to the point where I simply stopped caring. I even went out of my way to get out of doing activities by pretending that I didn't know how to do them.

As for my athletic ability? Well, I still suck at sports. I make no apologies for that. I don't even think I know how to toss a football correctly. I still don't know how to use a skipping rope. And, don't even get me started on hula hoops!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, yes, gym class was rough. Gym class was terrible. Gym class probably did more harm to my self-worth than any other class in school – and that is unfortunate, given that gym class was supposed to teach a person how to live a healthy, active lifestyle.

As a result of my bad experiences in gym class, I decided that staying active and getting exercise was not worth it. In gym class, I asked for people to help me improve my skills, and I asked the teachers to consider the fact that while I was not the best student in class, I was trying. But instead, they completely ignored me and left me behind to play with those stupid scooters while they focused their attentions on the star athletes in the class. I seem to even remember one instance in eighth grade where I was actually thrown out of gym class for defending myself against the kids in my class who were teasing me.

With the attitudes that I was shown in those classes, it's not hard to see why I turned my back on a healthy lifestyle. If a supposed “healthy lifestyle” meant being harassed and made fun of by the students and teachers in the class, my attitude was like “no thank you, please pass the triple chocolate fudge ice cream and I'll just eat the whole carton”.



Is it any wonder why I spent the majority of my teenage years binge eating?

And you know something? When I look back on it, I think to myself that when it came to all of the abuse that I took in gym class, I didn't deserve it. I didn't deserve any of it. The more I look back on it, if one person even so much as cared to help me learn and grow, and taught me that getting active didn't mean being the best at everything, it would have made all the difference in the world. My elementary and high schools had this whole idea that “winning was everything”. With the exception of my ninth grade gym teacher who was absolutely fair and just in his grading and who actually took the time to get to know me, the rest just walked away and focused on the kids who actually could win the sports tournaments.

It hurt. I won't lie.

It really wasn't until the last couple of years that I decided to do a complete turn around. I joined a competition at work in which the goal was to lose weight, and I did extremely well. For the first time since I was...well...a teenager, I actually felt great and looked great.

And then I had my gall bladder removed and I gained half of the weight back as a side effect of the surgery, and went right back to being self-conscious again. Not as bad as I used to be, mind you...but still, there's a little inkling of doubt that I have about myself.

I mean, I look at where I am now, and I've overcome a lot of obstacles to get to this point.

But yet, there's more that I could be doing to make sure that I have the healthiest life possible...and yet, it's also the one thing that causes me the most fear.


TO BE CONTINUED 9/19/2013...

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

September 17, 1948

Is it just me, or is September really flashing by this year? I mean, I can't believe that the month is over half over!

Maybe I'm just getting older, and with each year that passes, the hourglass of life slowly depletes itself of sand. Kind of a scary thought if you think of it long enough.

So let's stop talking about that for now. Instead, let's do the Tuesday Timeline again!

It's September 17. Let's see what happened on this date throughout history, shall we?

1630 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded

1716 – At the age of seventeen, Jean Thurel enlists in the Touraine Regiment – the first day of what would become a military career lasting NINE DECADES!

1775 – The Invasion of Canada begins with the Siege of Fort St. Jean during the American Revolutionary War

1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain

1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1814 – Francis Scott Key finishes his poem entitled “Defence of Fort McHenry” - an early draft of the song which would come to be known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”

1849 – Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery

1862 – The “bloodiest day in American History” – The Battle of Antietam coincides with the Allegheny Arsenal explosion during the American Civil War

1908 – The first airplane fatality takes place on this date as passenger Thomas Selfridge is killed while in the Wright Flyer piloted by Orville Wright, which crashed

1916 – Manfred von Richthofen (better known by his nickname of “The Red Baron”) wins his first aerial combat in France

1923 – Country music legend Hank Williams (d. 1953) is born in Butler County, Alabama

1931 – American actress Anne Bancroft (d. 2005) is born in The Bronx, New York

1939 – German U-boat U 29 sinks British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous

1947 – Jeff MacNelly (d. 2000), creator of the comic strip “Shoe” is born in New York City

1949 – Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbour, killing 118

1961 – The world's first retractable dome stadium – The Civic Arena – opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1976 – Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle, is unveiled by NASA

1983 – Vanessa Williams is crowned Miss America – the first African-American woman to earn the title

1987 – Pope John Paul II embraces an AIDS-infected boy while on a tour of San Francisco, showing the world that one cannot catch the virus simply by touching someone infected with it

1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet

2000 - “The Big Breakfast” host Paula Yates is found dead of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 41

2001 – The New York Stock Exchange re-opens six days after the September 11 terrorist attacks – the longest the stock exchange has ever closed since The Great Depression

2006 – Eruption of Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska

2011 – The “Occupy Wall Street” movement kicks off at Zuccotti Park in New York City

Wow, oh, wow, was September 17 a huge day in history! You can see that I was not at a shortage of topics for sure!

September 17 also has its share of celebrity birthdays. Blowing out candles on their cakes today are the following people; Mary Stewart, Pat Crowley, Phil Jackson, Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson, Tamasin Day-Lewis, Charles Martinet, Rita Rudner, Charles Lawson, Kevin Clash, Baz Luhrmann, Dustin Nguyen, BeBe Winans, William Shockley, Kyle Chandler, Bryan Singer, Doug E. Fresh, Malik Yoba, Anastacia, Marie-Chantal – Crown Princess of Greece, Matthew Settle, Nate Berkus, Bobby Lee, Jimmie Johnson, Austin St. John, Billy Miller, Wade Robson, and Jennifer Pena.

Whew...apparently September 17 was a huge day for birthdays too!

Actually, as it so happens, today's date happens to be a birthday as well. Unfortunately, he is no longer around to celebrate it as he passed away ten years ago.



But had he lived, he'd be turning sixty-five years old, making his date of birth September 17, 1948.

Now, here's the interesting part. I was worried at first that I would be repeating a blog topic because exactly two years ago today on September 17, 2011 (yes, on Occupy Wall Street Day), I wrote a blog entry that featured him heavily. But when I re-read that blog entry, I only really focused on one of the many roles he played in his lengthy career.



I mean, yeah, Jack Tripper from Three's Company was one fantastic character...but I only scratched the surface of the man who played him for eight seasons...and so, on what would have been his sixty-fifth birthday, I thought I'd pay tribute to the actor behind the character.



Today's Tuesday Timeline will focus on the life of Jonathan Southworth Ritter – better known to most everyone else as John Ritter.

From an early age, John Ritter was always surrounded by the world of Hollywood. He and his older brother Thomas were born to two parents who were stars in their own right in the entertainment industry. Their mother, Dorothy Fay was an actress, and their father Tex Ritter had an already established career as a country music singer later turned actor whose career spanned nearly four decades. It almost seemed written in the stars that at least one of the two Ritter siblings would find their way into the entertainment industry.

And as luck would have it, John Ritter was the one to make it big.

Of course, for John to earn his way into the Hollywood scene, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he had to do it his own way.

Certainly as a student at Hollywood High School, Ritter excelled. He was voted student body president and graduated from high school as part of the Class of 1966. Amusingly enough, his first appearance in front of the camera occurred that same year...as a contestant on “The Dating Game”! Check out this appearance of John Ritter as an eighteen year old bachelor below! It's absolutely surreal!



After high school, John attended the University of Southern California where he majored in psychology and became a member of the campus fraternity Phi Gamma Delta. But it was while he was in college that John Ritter became bitten by the acting bug. He would often spend his free time touring around Europe, performing in stage plays before graduating from the school in 1970. That same year, he received his very first role in the television series “Dan August”, which in addition to star Burt Reynolds also starred a man named Norman Fell...who would happen to cross paths with Ritter a little further into the 1970s.



One year later, Ritter would make his film debut in the 1971 film “The Barefoot Executive”, and over the next few years, Ritter would hone his craft by making guest appearances on “Hawaii Five-O” and “M*A*S*H”, and beginning in 1972, Ritter would have a recurring role on “The Waltons” as Reverend Matthew Fordwick that would last a total of four years! Of course, during this time, Ritter would audition for other roles. After all, a recurring gig only paid so much. And in the spring of 1977, Ritter would be given the role of a lifetime.



Now, I could go on about John Ritter's portrayal of Jack Tripper on the long-running sitcom “Three's Company”, but rather than do that, I thought that I would just post the link to the September 17, 2011 entry on Jack Tripper HERE. Mind you, some of the links and videos no longer work, but the words still remain. You'll get more insight into the wonderful character he played.

And to John's credit, everyone whom he worked with on “Three's Company” loved him. Joyce DeWitt and John Ritter had a very close relationship. John and Suzanne Somers got along well (well, at least until Suzanne's contract negotiations for the 1980/1981 season of “Three's Company” lead to her getting canned from the show and her being in both Ritter's and DeWitt's bad books for years). Even Jenilee Harrison and Priscilla Barnes who subsequently took over for Somers felt respected by Ritter.



John Ritter appeared in every single episode of “Three's Company”, right up until the season's end on September 18, 1984. He even appeared in the spin-off program “Three's A Crowd”, which lasted one season before wrapping up for good in April 1985.

John Ritter played Jack Tripper a total of eight and a half years, and he was rewarded with a Golden Globe, an Emmy Award, and millions of fans all over the world. I suppose that being in a role that demanded a lot of slapstick comedy and being a walking punchline meant that there was a possibility of being typecast...but in Ritter's case, he seemed all right with that. He did appear in both “Problem Child” and “Problem Child 2”, as well as “Stay Tuned”, all three of which were comedies that did somewhat well at the box office. But Ritter also proved that he could act in a drama series when he was cast in the role of Harry Hooperman in the series “Hooperman”. You can watch a clip of the show below.



Although “Hooperman” only managed to last two seasons, ending its run in 1989, the series was critically acclaimed, and it earned John a People's Choice Award as well as nominations for a Golden Globe and Emmy. Ritter also enjoyed another successful run in sitcom television with the 1992-1995 series “Hearts Afire”, which co-starred former “Night Court” actress Markie Post.



After “Hearts Afire” wrapped up, Ritter turned his focus towards making more films. Although he had been acting in films on and off since the 1980s, Ritter's film work in the 1990s were among some of his best work. His performance as a gay store manager in 1996's “Sling Blade” (alongside former “Hearts Afire” star Billy Bob Thornton) earned rave reviews, and he was one of the actors who helped make the Stephen King film “It” really, really creepy. In 2000, he took a turn on the Broadway stage performing in such musicals as “The Dinner Party” (earning him a Theatre World Award in 2001), and he even voiced the role of Clifford the Big Red Dog in the animated series of the same name that aired on PBS beginning in September 2000. He earned a total of four Emmy nominations for that role alone.



As September 2003 arrived, Ritter was on top of the world. He was enjoying his latest role in the sitcom “8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter”, which he starred in alongside Katey Sagal and future “The Big Bang Theory” star Kaley Cuoco. He had just finished filming a role in the film “Bad Santa”. And his personal life was at an all-time high. After divorcing his first wife, Nancy Morgan, Ritter had found love once more with actress Amy Yasbeck. They had a child together, Stella, on September 11, 1998 (joining John's three other children, Jason, Carly, and Tyler from his first marriage), and in September 1999, Ritter and Yasbeck got married. By all accounts, 2003 was set to end on a high note for Ritter.

And then came the events of September 11, 2003.

While the day began well for Ritter, sometime that afternoon he started feeling poorly while on the set of “8 Simple Rules”. He started to have severe chest pains, and had broken out in a sweating fit. At first, Ritter believed to have contracted some sort of flu bug, but as the pains got worse, the decision was made to send him to a nearby hospital in order to find out what was wrong.

Five hours later, Ritter would stop breathing.



On September 11, 2003, at 10:45pm, John Ritter passed away. The cause of death was a heart attack brought upon by a condition known as aortic dissection. He died just seven days before his fourth wedding anniversary, six days before his 55th birthday, a day before wife Amy Yasbeck's 41st birthday, and on the very day his daughter turned five.

It was an incredibly sad loss to the world of Hollywood. I still remember hearing the news that Ritter had passed away, and I was completely in shock. I was also very sad too. Watching John on television, he always seemed so full of life. The amount of effort he put into the physical comedy he performed and the joy that he had for his job, and the amount of love and respect he gave to his fans...it just seemed so unfair that the world lost someone who was so giving to the world. Even ten years after his death, it still doesn't seem right.

At any rate, moments after his passing, the world mourned. Both Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt expressed their sadness over losing their co-worker (Somers and Ritter had reconciled during the mid-1990s at some point), as did Katey Sagal, Markie Post, Kaley Cuoco, and Zach Braff (who worked with Ritter on the television series “Scrubs”). “8 Simple Rules” went on after Ritter's passing, killing off the character he played in a moving tribute and bringing on David Spade and James Garner to fill in the void left behind.

Amy Yasbeck has since lead the fight against aortic dissection and teamed up with the Thoracic Aortic Disease Coalition (through her husband's own John Ritter Foundation) to create “Ritter's Rules”, and worked with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston to establish the John Ritter Research Program in Aortic and Vascular Diseases. Yasbeck attempted to launch a lawsuit against Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center to the tune of sixty-seven million dollars which alleged that the doctors misdiagnosed his condition, and had they not, Ritter might possibly have survived. Although a court of law cleared the doctors of any wrongdoing in 2008, several of the defendant settled out of court to the tune of $14 million.



As for John's legacy, it lives on through his widow and his four children. And proving that acting continues to run in the lineage of the Ritter family tree, John's eldest son Jason has been making the rounds, starring in “Joan of Arcadia”, “The Event”, and “Parenthood”.

Although John's been gone for a decade, he'll never truly be gone. Anytime your children watch Clifford, or anytime you come across a rerun of “Three's Company”, he's there.

And perhaps one of the most touching tributes to Ritter ever created was a mural painted by Eloy Torrez in 2008 that was dedicated at the very high school that John Ritter attended in his teenage years...Hollywood High School.

And as we end this blog entry off, I will show you that mural.



Happy sixty-fifth, John...wherever you are.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Pretty In Pink

I'll readily be the first one to admit that coming up with blog topics for this venture is not always easy. And sometimes I resort to checking a variety of references in order to come up with a topic that will make people want to read it.

And just what are some of these sources of inspiration?

Well, I do have a small library of pop culture books that I flip through often. Sometimes I'll get an idea from inside the pages of a reference book and run with it. Not today though.

Sometimes I'll be inspired for topics by perusing social networking communities like Facebook. Occasionally, I'll see someone on my news feed commenting on a particular pop culture tidbit and it will inspire me to do a blog topic on the subject. In fact, a lot of the current event blogs that I have done were inspired as a result of scanning my Facebook news feed.

But while I am definitely one to get inspiration from Facebook...this is not one of these entries.

No, admittedly this blog was inspired by my tastes in music. Oh, and the pink text? We're getting to that.

Ever since I received my iPod as a gift, I have been downloading songs onto it like crazy. I have all of my favourite songs on it, and I listen to my iPod at least once a day. It's certainly a lot less bulkier than a Walkman or a Discman, and I can literally take it anywhere I want to.

So, when I knew that I had a Monday Matinee feature coming up in the future, I decided to consult the power of the iPod to help me make up my mind. I happen to have a rather large selection of songs that come from movie soundtracks in my collection, and my theory was that whatever the first soundtrack song that popped up when I set my iPod to shuffle would be the movie in which that song appears in. It was a great plan.

Unfortunately, the first three songs that popped up came from movies that I have already featured in the Monday Matinee (and in one case, a Tuesday Timeline entry). And, I never cover the same movie twice.

Then by around soundtrack song number four, the following song appeared. And it was there that I had my Monday Matinee for today!



ARTIST: The Psychadelic Furs
SONG: Pretty In Pink
ALBUM: Talk, Talk, Talk
DATE RELEASED: May 21, 1981
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #41*

Now, you might notice that there's a star beside the chart position. I'll get to that.

The song was originally released in 1981 with a slightly different arrangement by The Psychadelic Furs – a group based out of the UK that at the time of the song's release featured members Richard Butler, Tim Butler, Duncan Kilburn, Roger Morris, Vince Ely, and John Ashton.

Now in 1981, the song didn't exactly chart in the United States. In the United Kingdom, it just missed the Top 40.

So, how did the song end up eventually peaking at just under the Top 40 on the Billboard Charts?

Well, let's fast forward five years to 1986. In 1986, The Psychadelic Furs re-recorded the song “Pretty In Pink” for the soundtrack of a John Hughes written, Howard Deutch directed film. The 1986 version sounded almost identical to the 1981 version...the only difference was that it was slightly modernized. In 1986, the reworked version of “Pretty In Pink” was released on the Billboard Charts, and that's how it made it to #41. In the United Kingdom, the re-released “Pretty In Pink” charted even higher than its original version, peaking within the Top 20!

Pretty In Pink” was certainly very popular. My own sister even bought the cassette tape soundtrack for the film (which amusingly enough was pink), and the soundtrack boasted other singles from Echo and the Bunnymen, Suzanne Vega, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and INXS. No wonder the film soundtrack sold so well in record stores!

Ah, but what about the movie? Well, as it turned out, the movie also did very well at the box office. Many people would even consider it to be one of John Hughes' most memorable films!

And as it so happens, the name of the film happens to be the same as that Psychadelic Furs single.



This is the blog entry on the 1986 film “Pretty In Pink”.

The movie was released on February 28, 1986 and earned a total of $40 million at the box office. Molly Ringwald – who according to some people was the Queen of the Brat Pack – was the star of the film, and other actors who appeared in the film were Harry Dean Stanton, Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer, James Spader, Kate Vernon, and Annie Potts.

Now, “Pretty In Pink” is a film that could be classified as one of those romantic comedies, so naturally there has to be some sort of conflict in terms of finding one's true love.



In the case of high school senior Andie Walsh (Ringwald), it was class division that posed a huge problem when it came to love and romance. Trust me, I could definitely relate to that one.

It wasn't as though Andie's father Jack (Stanton) hasn't tried to give his little girl everything that she needed. But with jobs being scarce in town and Andie's mother not in the picture, Andie's family struggled financially, and Andie accepts her working-class background, albeit reluctantly.

Unfortunately, Andie has a crush on the preppy and insanely rich Blane McDonough (McCarthy). A boy who by all accounts would NEVER hang around with the offspring of blue-collar America. And certainly Blane's two friends Steff and Benny (Spader and Vernon) don't make it easy on Andie. Their arrogance turns her off in a huge way and they get their kicks by harassing and bullying Andie and her best friend Phil Dale (Cryer), who is better known by his nickname of “Duckie”.



RANDOM THOUGHT: Why in the world does Jon Cryer always get stuck playing geeks, nerds, and dweebs? From “Pretty In Pink” to “Two and a Half Men”, he is always shown as the geek! Poor guy can't get a break. But, I suppose if that makes him a millionaire, who is he to complain, right?

Anyway, one of the things that you need to know about Duckie is that he has had a crush on Andie dating back to even before they entered high school together, but he is too afraid to admit it to her. Instead, he turns his affection for Andie into a running gag of sorts.

The senior prom is fast approaching, and Andie is considering not even going as she is having trouble finding a date. But her friend/mentor Iona (Potts) who owns and runs TRAX, a record store specializing in New Wave music, encourages her to go to the prom anyway, with or without a date.

Of course, who ever wants to attend a senior prom by themselves? Or, at least, that's what the made-up high school guide to social life tells us anyway?



Well, as it turns out, unaware to all of Blane's inner social circle, Blane secretly has admiration for Andie as well, and he decides to make his move on her and asks her on a date.

But when Blane arrives late after promising to meet Andie at TRAX, Andie and Duckie get into an argument at the record store. Duckie is very concerned that Blane is only using Andie and that she will ultimately end up hurt. Still, Andie refuses to believe that Blane would do something so terrible and agrees to be Blane's date to a party that Steff is throwing.



So Andie and Blane arrive at the party and poor Andie has a miserable time. Because she is not a part of their inner circle, the party guests treat her horribly. The ringleaders of this are, of course, Benny and Steff. Andie suggests to Blane that they go to the local club instead, and when both of them arrive there, Duckie and Iona are already there. A war of words erupts between Duckie and Blane, and in the kerfuffle, Duckie plants a kiss on Iona to make Andie jealous. All it does is cause much more friction between Duckie, Andie, and Blane.

And such, a 1980s love triangle was born.

So, which guy does Andie pick? As if I'm going to tell you. Truth be told, two different endings were shot for the movie. There's one in which she chooses one man, and there's one where she chooses the other. And one ending was initially intended for the film, but after it was screened to a test audience, they didn't like it. Hence a new ending was tacked onto the film, which was then shown in theatres.

Either way, Andie does end up at the prom, looking pretty in pink, courtesy of a beautiful dress her father picked up for her at a thrift store. And, for someone who has normally shunned romantic comedies, I have to say that “Pretty In Pink” is a really decent film. I enjoyed it.

And, just for the record, I've seen both endings, and I thought either one would have worked. But that's just my opinion.

Anyway, sit back and grab yourself a pink lemonade or a strawberry daiquiri, or any other pink coloured drink. This blog isn't quite finished yet. There's a lot of behind the scenes trivia and goodies left to talk about within this piece.

For instance...did you know that...



1 – When the movie's endings were changed, it also meant a change in the soundtrack? Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were already committed to the film and were going to submit their song “Goddess of Love” for the film. But with the last minute ending change, they were forced to come up with a new song. They composed the song “If You Leave” in just twenty-four hours for the re-shot ending. That song would later peak at #4 on the Billboard Charts in the spring of 1986.

2 – Anjelica Huston was once briefly considered for the role of Iona, but was forced to turn it down. Annie Potts was later given the role after John Hughes saw her in “Ghostbusters”. Just months later, she would be cast in the sitcom “Designing Women”.

3 – Anthony Michael Hall was initially considered for the role of Duckie, but he turned it down as he didn't want to be typecast as a nerd (he previously played nerds in “Sixteen Candles”, “The Breakfast Club”, and “Weird Science”).

4 – Charlie Sheen auditioned for the role of Blane. Given that Sheen would later work with Jon Cryer on “Two and a Half Men”, that could have been quite interesting.

5 – The high school where “Pretty In Pink” filmed was hardly the first time that the school was used in a film. It also served as the setting of Rydell High in the film “Grease”.

6 – The band “The Rave-Ups” (the band playing in the film) had a personal connection to star Molly Ringwald. Molly's sister gave birth to a child that was fathered by one of its members!

7 – Two cast/crew members died after the film wrapped up. Bruce Weintraub, the set designer for “Pretty In Pink” died of AIDS in December 1985 at the age of 33, while actress Alexa Kenin was found dead in New York City on September 10, 1985 at the age of just 23.

8 – Molly Ringwald lists this film as her most favourite film project that she has ever been in.

9 – Believe it or not, Robert Downey Jr. was almost cast as Duckie! Can you seriously picture Iron Man as Duckie? A strange image, I know.


10 – When the actors had to be called back onto the set to reshoot the ending, Andrew McCarthy had to wear a wig, as he had already shaved his head for a New York City play that he was involved in. He also looked considerably thinner, given that he had to lose weight to get the part in the play.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

When One-Hit-Wonders Collide

This is a continuation of “one-hit-wonder” month in the Sunday Jukebox section for the month of September. And, in this case, I thought I would do something quite unique.

What if I decided to do a special feature on not one, but two songs that could easily be considered “one-hit-wonders”? It'd be a little bit of a special feature presentation that I like to call “When One-Hit-Wonders Collide”!

Confused yet? Don't be. I'm simply going to do a little bit of a “Six Degrees of Separation” thing in that I'll present two songs, and at the end, we'll explain how they are linked together! I think it could be a fun look back at some one-hit-wonders of the past (and it will make up for the fact that my September 1 entry was NOT a one-hit-wonder at all).

So, on with the double shot of one-hit-wonders.

And to begin with this entry, I want to ask you a question. Can you name every single member of a famous family? And when I say famous family, I mean a family in which almost every single member is in the world of show business.

Can you name every single sibling (including the non-famous ones) within a Hollywood family if I gave you a last name? It's not as easy as you might think it is.

For instance, when I say the name Baldwin, instantly you think of Alec Baldwin – best known for his work in Knots Landing, Beetlejuice, Married To The Mob, and most recently 30 Rock. But Alec's three brothers, Daniel, William, and Stephen Baldwin have also had jobs in the acting community as well. Maybe they aren't as well known as Alec is, but still...there's acting blood in every Baldwin brother.

(Even if one of them is now making the reality television circuit.)

Or, let's see here. I realize the definition of fame is kind of lopsided when it comes to anybody with the last name Kardashian, but let's run with it here. You have Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe (have I forgotten any other K names here). All three are most famous for...well...nothing exactly. But all three have taken their nothingness and turned it into gold and silver due to the conglomerate they have built up which includes reality television shows, cosmetics deals, and other various business ventures.

But how many of you know that the Kardashian sisters have a brother named Robert? Nobody else knew either until he appeared as a contestant on Dancing With The Stars. But, for the most part, he remains the silent partner in the Kardashian empire. I mean, his first name doesn't even have a K within it! That's strike one right there!



Or, how about the Penn family?

Let's see...well, right off the bat, I'm sure that most of you can name one or two of the three brothers in the Penn family.

Well, there's Sean Penn. A brilliant actor and director best known for his work in Carlito's Way, Dead Man Walking, I Am Sam, Mystic River, 21 Grams, and Milk. In the tabloids, he was known as being Madonna's volatile ex-husband. But most importantly of all, he has also been instrumental in founding a charity that would help the citizens of Haiti rebuild after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

I've also heard of Sean's younger brother, Christopher Penn. One of the first things that I remember seeing Christopher appearing in was the 1984 film “Footloose”. But some of his other projects included films such as Reservoir Dogs, At Close Range, Beethoven's 2nd, and Short Cuts, as well as some television appearances as well. Sadly, Christopher's life was cut too short when he died of a heart attack in January 2006 at just forty years old.

So, we've heard of Sean Penn. And, we've talked about the late Christopher Penn. That's it, right?

Wrong.

Turns out that Sean and Christopher have an older brother. And the first-born son of Leo Penn and Eileen Ryan decided to take a different career path other than acting.

He opted to become a musician instead.



And the song below was musician Michael Penn's biggest success.



ARTIST: Michael Penn
SONG: No Myth
ALBUM: March
DATE RELEASED: September 1, 1989
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #13



Yes, Michael Penn, born the first of August in the year 1958, released this toe-tapping rock hit in the last half of 1989, and by the beginning of 1990 had hit its peak position of #13 on the Billboard Charts. And it was a really awesome song too. I remember being in the third grade and hearing that song playing a lot on the radio. In fact, I remember many people at the time trying to request the song under the wrong title. Apparently some people believed that the song was actually called “Romeo in Black Jeans”.

Unfortunately for Michael Penn, “No Myth” ended up being a one-hit-wonder. Despite the fact that his songwriting skills were critically acclaimed and that he has released eight albums, his success on the charts was limited to just one hit.

And it's kind of a shame, given that he really did have the talent. I mean, at the peak of his popularity, he was actually competing against his former sister-in-law on the charts! When he released “No Myth”, it was rewarded with an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1990! Everything was well positioned for Michael Penn to become a huge star in the music industry.

So, what happened?



Well, it all began with Penn's 1992 follow-up to March, “Free-For-All”. Although Rolling Stone Magazine gave the album a glowing review, and critics everywhere praised every single song on the album...I feel as though there wasn't a whole lot of promotion involved with selling the record. I know that I didn't even know that Michael Penn had even released a second album, let alone a seventh or eighth because aside from “No Myth”, Penn's work was virtually ignored by MTV and radio stations. It didn't matter whether the songs were absolute creative masterpieces. If you don't have the promotion to get your album out there, the album won't sell.

I'm certainly not accusing Michael Penn of not doing more to promote his music. If anything, I think he did the best he could. But just based on what I saw, I think that more promotion could have helped his cause and his music career.

But you know, even though Michael's success on the charts didn't amount to anything beyond a one-hit-wonder, it's not to say that he didn't quit music. He just decided to focus more of his attentions on composing film scores and producing albums for other artists.

Seriously, you may have been hearing his compositions and not have known it. If you've ever seen the movies Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, The Last Kiss, and Solitary Man, you'll hear his scores playing throughout the film!

And as I mentioned before, he's also used his skills to produce records for other artists, including Liz Phair, The Wallflowers...and a certain frontwoman for a band that many people also consider a one-hit-wonder.



ARTIST: 'Til Tuesday
SONG: Voices Carry
ALBUM: Voices Carry
DATE RELEASED: March 30, 1985
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #8



I gotta tell you, I still get chills at the end of that video when Aimee Mann stands up in that crowded theatre and sings to her heart's content, embarrassing her stuffy, stuck-up, potential abuser of a boyfriend who I feel she should have left eons ago. I mean that too. Her look was unconventional, but Aimee Mann was definitely one of the most attractive women of the 1980s (and at the age of 52, she still looks absolutely gorgeous today).

TRIVIA: Initially, the song was always supposed to be sung by Aimee Mann, but the difference was that the song was intended to be sung to a woman by a woman. Unfortunately, 1985 was a different time, and homosexuality was still very much taboo in the mid-1980s, so the perspective of the song had to be changed with a little tweaking.

Now, I should state that “Voices Carry” is technically not recognized as a one-hit-wonder if you're looking at the Billboard Charts. The band did have another lesser-known hit in 1986. But, given that “Voices Carry” is really the only song by 'Til Tuesday still played on radio stations, I suppose the definition fits.

Truth be told, after 'Til Tuesday broke up in 1988, Aimee Mann decided to embark on a solo career herself. And certainly some of her compositions have appeared in a lot of places. She had a song appearing on the soundtrack of “Melrose Place” (That's Just What You Are”), and she been in movies like “The Big Lebowski” and television shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.



And in 1994 when she was working on the album “I'm With Stupid”, she first crossed paths with Michael Penn, who contributed musically to the album. The two developed a really close friendship, which soon blossomed into romance. The couple tied the knot in 1997, and sixteen years later they are still happily married.

Talk about making beautiful music together!


And, that's the story of how two one-hit-wonders collided. I hope you enjoyed it!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Video Game Ramblings

I will readily admit that when it comes to video gaming, my gaming knowledge is very much skewered.



I'll admit that during my entire history of playing video games (and by video games, I don't mean the arcade and pinball machines that could be found in coin arcades, shopping malls, and 7-Elevens all over the country), I've been mostly loyal to one video game company, although I have dabbled in other systems over the years. In case any of you are interested in any way, here is a history of my video gaming life beginning with my very first gaming console in 1989.

1989-1990: Intellivision (yes, Intellivision. You can read the whole story of how I got my Intellivision console HERE ten years after it was at its peak in popularity.)

1990-1992: Nintendo Entertainment System. It got fried in a lightning storm during the summer of '92.

1992-2003: Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Believe it or not, it still works in 2013, but I need new controllers.

2003-2006: Sony PlayStation. Was actually a hand-me-down from a relative, but it got me hooked on games like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and the Sony exclusive Final Fantasy games.

2006-2011: Sony PlayStation 2. The most recent console I own. In all honesty, I haven't played it in two years due to lack of new games because of the PS3 coming out and my having absolutely zero interest in the PS3 games out on the market.

2008-2011: Nintendo DS. Prior to 2008, I never owned a handheld game console. But the Nintendo DS was my re-introduction to Nintendo after a five year absence, and I never really looked back. I would love to get a Nintendo Wii one day...well...when I have enough space, that is.

2011-present: Nintendo 3DS. The current gaming system I play.

So, yes. You can see that Nintendo is more or less my video game company of choice. I dabbled in Sony consoles though (and by extension, Sega, as I owned the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 console). Surprisingly enough, I never did get into the XBOX or XBOX 360 at all. Maybe it was because I found the games to be somewhat on the dull side, or maybe it was because I couldn't justify paying such a huge price for a gaming console...or maybe I had heard too many horror stories about the red ring of death which signifies that your console has gone to video game heaven.

(My SNES has lasted me 21 years and counting. Just saying.)

Now, why am I telling you this? Well, it might explain why any video game feature that I blog about here will more than likely cover a Nintendo game. And, it might explain why you will never really see an entry on any video game that has the words “Grand Theft Auto”, “Resident Evil” or “Call of Duty” within their titles. I've never played any of these games, and really don't have much desire to either.

But, you know what? I feel as though in order to expand my knowledge on video games (and given that I sell an average of seven video games per shift at work, I should really know everything there is to know about video games), I should do my blog entry on a video game series that is A) not Nintendo, and B) not rated E for Everyone.

I've already pointed out that for the most part, M rated video games bore me to tears because they seem to be the same game over and over. I mean, granted, some use the same argument for why they don't like games starring Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, but the thing about those games is that they are always constantly changing. Ever since Mario's introduction in the 1981 video game Donkey Kong, he's evolved from barrel thrower to three-dimensional superstar! But for some reason, all of the Call of Duty games that I have seen my nephews playing look EXACTLY THE SAME to me.

(My apologies to all of those die-hard Call of Duty fans that I have offended with that previous statement. Those games just aren't my cup of tea.)

It's not to say that I am completely against first person shooters at all. I think that I would enjoy playing one if it put less emphasis on gore and more emphasis on plot. I also think that when it comes to first person shoot-em-up games, I would enjoy a game that is somewhat on the linear side. Not that I'm against open ended games, but one of the main reasons why I refuse to play the newest Final Fantasy games is because the story suffered at the hands of open-ended game play.

As a result, Final Fantasy XII remains my biggest disappointment in all the years I have played video games.



So, given my little monologue up above, what game could I possibly want to discuss? A game that is non-Nintendo, non E-rated, and has a rather decent plot to accompany a first-person shooting mechanic?

Well, it happens to be a game that I inherited along with the second-hand PlayStation system ten years ago. Mind you, the games that I mostly played were Spyro the Dragon and some car driving game. But there was another game that I ended up getting so addicted to. A game that I never believed I would have any interest in whatsoever, but was completely hooked on due to the elaborate plot, the challenging aspects of making it through an area alive, and the puzzle solving aspects throughout the whole game.

Have any of you heard of the “Medal of Honor” series of games? They are a series of games that are sort of similar to the more recent Call of Duty games, only the vast majority of them are set during World War II. From what I am hearing, there are thirteen games in the Medal of Honor series, and some of the more recent versions of the game are almost exactly like carbon copies of Call of Duty.

But the earliest games of the series? Now those were genius.



You see, the game that I was addicted to playing was the original Medal of Honor, which was released on Halloween 1999. In that game, espionage and secrecy is the main plot component. You're a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and your missions – should you choose to accept them – is to infiltrate enemy fortresses, dispatch anyone who might get in your way, and sabotage any plans that they might have to destroy entire communities.

There are a total of seven missions throughout the whole game. They are...

  1. RESCUE THE G3 OFFICER
  2. DESTROY THE MIGHTY RAIL-GUN GRETA
  3. SCUTTLE DAS BOOT U-4901
  4. ATTACK IMPENETRABLE FORT SCHMERZEN
  5. SABOTAGE THE RJUKAN HYDRO PLANT
  6. CAPTURE THE SECRET GERMAN TREASURE
  7. ESCAPE THE V2 ROCKET PLANT

And, I will state that these missions are not easy. Oh, sure, you might be able to get through the first two or three without getting shot at too much. But anyone who has ever played mission number seven knows just how insanely difficult it can be.

In fact, here's a true confession for you. I've only ever beaten Medal of Honor once. That's how hard it is.



You play as the fictional Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson, a former C-47 Skytrain pilot in the Air Transport Command who was later recruited to the OSS. As Patterson, you have to make your way through these seven different mission to prevent the German forces and their allies from causing all sorts of nastiness in the world.

What makes the missions even more challenging is the fact that each mission is split up into several different levels. And, in each level, you have to meet an objective or criteria in order to proceed any further in the mission. You'll have to sneak into forbidden areas. You'll have to locate secret parcels and deliver them to the right people. You'll have to obtain keys to unlock doors, and secret passwords in order to move further in the game. Sometimes you'll have to disarm people, or sabotage equipment in order to get through the level.

And needless to say, the swarms of enemy soldiers willing to shoot first, ask questions later are endless. You really have to use your environment and keep a quick wit in order to make it through the game alive.

But don't worry. You have an entire arsenal of weapons at your disposal, just itching to be used against the enemy.

(And, one of the main reasons why I loved the original Medal of Honor is because in the earliest games, the game didn't actually show blood and gore. Sure, you still knew that they were dead because their bodies would fade away eventually...but as one who can't even stand the sight of his own blood in real life, this was definitely an added plus.  It also explains why the original Medal of Honor was given a rating of T instead of M.)

Seriously, you could use grenades, rifles, shotguns, and even a bazooka or two to make your way through enemy terrain and fight the good fight.

All in all, it's a great game series to play if you want a game that has a great storyline, but you're turned off by blood and unnecessary gore. And if I'm recommending a video game that has all that when I normally don't play them, it's gotta be worth a shot, right?


And, one final note...the game's story was inspired by filmmaker Steven Spielberg!