Search This Blog

Saturday, September 28, 2013

OWL Magazine and Dr. Zed Memories

This is the last Saturday in September, and I'm thinking to myself...where the heck did this month go? I mean, I know September only has thirty days to begin with, but it seems to me that this month went by quickly.

Then again, as I get older, every month seems to go very quickly. The joys of aging. Gotta love it.

Anyway, if you've been following along with this blog over the last couple of months, you know that the fourth Saturday in the month is devoted towards print publications and books.

And for today's subject, I thought that I would take a look at a magazine that I used to read in my youth.

I have a story to tell you though before I continue on with this topic.



I'll be honest with you. Science has never ever been my strong point. In high school alone, I never bothered taking biology, I had some difficulty with chemistry class, and physics gave me such a major headache that I ended up dropping the class after nineteen days. I mean, the good thing about it was that I never once received an “F” grade in high school, but the bad thing was that I graduated high school without ever having a keen understanding of science related subjects.

It wasn't the fact that I absolutely hated science. I thought that science was very interesting. And as someone who absolutely loved learning, I really did want to grasp the concepts, and I really did want to get more out of it. Instead I left science class feeling more confused than ever before, and I was thinking that I was a complete idiot because there was no way that I would ever understand scientific concepts. It's the reason why I never followed through to be an electrical engineer, a physicist, a surgeon, or even the guy who installs disco lights inside of music clubs.

Now, I know that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses in this world, and I know that there is always one thing that try as we might, we will never be good at. For me, it happens to be the maths and sciences. But was it really because I was stupid, or was it because I wasn't taught it the right way?

In all the years that I had science class, I only remember one or two teachers who actually made science class fun. My theory was that the more interesting the class was, the more I took out of it. My grade eleven chemistry teacher was one of those teachers who made learning fun. Even though I could not understand the mathematics behind balancing chemical equations (which lead to my lower than average mark in the subject), I was a master at doing lab reports. And I will say that the lab experiments that we performed in chemistry class were quite a lot of fun. I think I got more out of doing the experiments rather than reading about them in a textbook.

Similarly, when I was in elementary school, we had the team known as ScienceQuest come in and demonstrate lots of fun experiments. We even got to take part in some of the experiments ourselves, which included everything from building the perfect building to making our own slime, to watching homemade pyrotechnics right inside the classroom.

Really, the only thing I didn't like about the ScienceQuest days were the experiments involving popping balloons because of the loudness of the pop. Needless to say, hydrogen makes a bigger bang than oxygen. And, yes, the kids in my school cruelly taunted me about that little fear for years to come.

Here's a note to some of those lovely sixth graders who harassed me by trying to pop balloons in my face at recess. I still want an apology. I'm not likely to get it, but I'm just putting it out there.

Oh, and then there was that time in which I was chosen to attend a workshop for environmental protection and education for a couple of days while I was in the fourth grade. I believe that it was known as the “Catch-A-Star” program. I was only one of six students who were chosen to attend the program, so it was truly an honour to represent the school in that manner.

Basically the program took students between the ages of nine and twelve and enrolled them in a series of activities that helped us learn more about how we could protect and preserve our environment (for reference, I want to state that my fourth grade year was from September 1990 to June 1991, which is right around the time when Earth Day was experiencing a renaissance of sorts). In fact, I actually remember when I went to the program because I was just about to turn ten, putting the Catch-A-Star event taking place in May 1991.

We actually got to choose four activities from a list of what seemed like two dozen. And each program was run by an expert in the field. Even though it's been twenty-two years since fourth grade, I still remember the activities I took part in. I designed my own T-shirt using earth-friendly fabric paints. I played a bunch of outdoor games where we learned more about the environment and animal habitats. And, for some reason, I decided to sign up for the course where we made our own compost. It was fun, but I have to admit that I wished I had selected a cleaner option.



And then there was program number four. A meet and greet with a man by the name of Gordon Penrose. But most of us kids knew him best as Dr. Zed, the creator of Magic Mud and other science experiments. He was basically an older, Canadian version of Bill Nye, the Science Guy. He wrote dozens of science experiment books (some of which I remember performing as a kid), and at the age of nearly ten, he was the closest version of a celebrity that I recall meeting in my young life. He knew what he was talking about, he made learning about science fun, and I have to admit that I completely idolized him. I even remember that he did ask me if I wanted to go up and touch the Magic Mud he made while he was there, but I refused. Many of the kids looked at me as if I was crazy for giving up an opportunity like that, but the truth was that if I played with the Magic Mud, I would have to leave the room for a few minutes to wash up, and I did not want to miss a single minute of seeing Dr. Zed performing his science experiments.

And everyone who ever read the magazine in which Dr. Zed would have a monthly column knew exactly who he was. I certainly loved the magazine enough to have a subscription to the magazine for almost six years.

(Part of me kind of wishes that I had stayed subscribed to that magazine through high school though. It may have made me understand the science concepts more!)



That magazine is a magazine that is known as “OWL Magazine”, a magazine which has been in print for nearly thirty-eight years, and the subject of this blog.

Now, OWL Magazine back in the days when I first started reading it (I actually won a free subscription to the magazine in December 1989 as part of a Christmas giveaway and kept renewing my subscription every year until 1995), was printed ten times a year. But the very first issue of OWL Magazine was printed all the way back in January 1976! Here's the cover of the debut issue below.



The mascot of OWL Magazine is of course, an owl. But the magazine itself is not about just owls. In fact, I didn't know this until just recently, but the letters in the word “OWL” actually stand for “Outdoors” and Wild Life”. Get it? OWL!

That's because when the magazine first started, it focused solely on wildlife, animals, and outdoor science. The bulk of the magazine featured articles on exotic and endangered animals, areas of the world that had beautiful scenery, and lots of puzzles and games about the various subjects that were featured in that month's magazine. As time progressed, the magazine became more science based, incorporating biology, zoology, chemistry, physics, computer science, and geography into the pages of the magazine. There were also various jokes inserted into the magazine, as well as monthly features.



Among the monthly features were of course, Dr. Zed's wonderful science experiments. The formula for magic mud was inside one of the magazines, of course. But there were other experiments that I can remember. You could use a solution of soap to build your own bubble cities, or you could use an eyedropper filled with water to break down all of the different colours of ink that make up a black marker. In fact, there was an experiment in OWL Magazine where you could make your own organic ketchup! I never did get around to trying that recipe out, but it looked very intriguing!

Oh, for the record, if you want to try and make magic mud for yourselves, guess who found the recipe for magic mud! It's so simple to make. All you need is cornstarch, water, a couple of mixing bowls, spoons, and small measuring containers. All you have to do is mix the right ratio of cornstarch and water (two parts cornstarch to one part water), and maybe add in a little bit of food colouring for colour, and voila!

Of course, Dr. Zed's experiments weren't the only selling points for OWL Magazine.



The Mighty Mites were also a huge part of the magazine. The original series featured three kids named Mark, Nick, and Sophie who had the ability to shrink down in size to investigate things a lot closer. They got to ride around on bugs, they got to wade through jungles of green grass, and in one memorable story, the three kids actually shrunk down in size and swam through a plant stem to answer the question of how flowers stayed alive inside a vase of water. It was really cool to see the kids experience science in a way that most nobody else could.

But then I saw “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids”, and thought to myself that maybe shrinking down to experience the world wasn't such a great idea.

Another thing that I remember was the “End of Year” issues. Those issues would always have a cover date of January, and they would essentially be a recap of the past year, or it would be a special themed issue. Sometimes these issues would be devoted towards questions that were asked by OWL Magazine club members (known affectionately as the HOOT Club), and a team of scientists and experts would answer some of these questions within the pages of the magazine. Some of these issues would do an entire feature on a particular animal, and there would be a lot of activities based around this animal.

And, for some reason, I recall the January 1990 issue vividly. It was a retrospective of the decade known as the 1980s, as well as featuring predictions as to what life would be like in the 1990s. I actually still wish I had that issue, because it really was interesting to note what predictions people made back in 1990, and whether or not any of those predictions actually came true.

Some of them absolutely did. Many readers in 1990 believed that the world would become more technologically accessible. Certainly with the amounts of tablets, smart phones, laptops, and Skype, we're more connected (and in some cases, disconnected) to each other than ever before. I know that in 1990, I never expected that I would have a blog by 2013, but here we are!

Some predictions have not come true as of yet, but work is being done to make them come true as I type this out. In 1990, for instance, many people believed that AIDS would be a thing of the past by the time we reached the 21st century. While there's technically no cure for the virus right now, there have been cases of people who have lived full and productive lives since getting diagnosed as being HIV positive. Medical research and technology has improved the quality of life for people who have the virus, and I wouldn't be surprised if a full cure can be found within the next twenty-five or fifty years.

OWL Magazine celebrated their 35th anniversary in January 2011, and as of 2013 shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, two other spin-off magazines, “Chickadee” and “Chirp” were founded in 1979 and 1997 respectively following the success of OWL Magazine. Chickadee and Chirp are sort of like OWL Magazine except the target audience was directed towards a younger crowd (between the ages of three and nine).

And, the magazine was so successful that in 1985, a television series named “OWL-TV” was aired on both CBC and CTV, as well as a French-language version known as “Tele-HIBOU”. You can watch the intro below.




You know, it's been years since I read OWL Magazine, but if I am ever lucky enough to have children of my own, I would completely introduce them to this magazine. After nearly thirty-eight years in publication, it's outlasted other competing magazines for a reason. It's educational and fun! What better combo is there?

Friday, September 27, 2013

Mr. Feeny Meets World

Before I launch into today's blog entry, I am going to state that I am really astonished that I have never done an entry on this television show before. It surprises me because I remember watching this show as a pre-teen and teenager. It certainly was a show that could be considered part sitcom/part coming of age drama. The show certainly had its funny moments where you would be rolling around on the floor in hysterics...but it also had some real tragedy and drama mixed into it. It was a sitcom that dealt with topics that no other sitcom really ever tackled and for the main characters of the program, they ended up going through some really serious issues that helped them grow into better adults.

Certainly, that was the case with the star of the show. In the show we saw him mature from a bratty and sarcastic twelve year old boy into a mature and responsible married twentysomething year old man. We watched him survive sixth grade, high school, and the first few years of college along with his older brother, younger siblings, best friend, and girlfriend (who later became wife). The road to success was not always easy for this person, but he had a really good support system that really kept him on the straight and narrow.

But would you believe that his biggest influence was not from a peer or a parent, but from a person who was there for him every step of the way as an educator?

How many of you have actually had the same teacher twice? Think about it for a second. Most of us have had the same teacher for a semester or a year (depending on whether you're in grade school or secondary school), but as soon as that year was up, you probably said your goodbyes and never looked back. I know that in my years of school, having the same teacher was a rarity. In my elementary school, I never had the same teacher twice. In high school, having the same teacher was always a possibility (one that happened at least twice or thrice), but it wasn't always guaranteed.

Now, imagine having the same person for your sixth grade teacher, your high school principal, your college professor - and as revealed in one episode of this series, your kindergarten teacher! And to top it off, this person also happens to live right next door from your house! How would you feel about that?



Well, for Cory Matthews, Eric Matthews, Topanga Lawrence, and Shawn Hunter, the odds were definitely stacked in their favour, as all four of these people had this situation happen to them. And luckily enough, their experience with this man was one hundred per cent positive. By the end of the series, the bond that these four young people shared with this man was absolutely unbreakable. As far as I'm concerned, this man could very well be nominated as “Best Sitcom Teacher Ever”...and win!



The television show was the long-running ABC sitcom “Boy Meets World”, which ran for seven seasons between September 24, 1993 and May 5, 2000. And, the teacher in question is...well...let's let Eric Matthews introduce him to us.




Today's blog subject will focus on the fictional educator known as Mr. George Feeny, played memorably by the voice of “Knight Rider”'s KITT, William Daniels.



And let's put it out there. He was there every step of the way for Cory (Ben Savage), Topanga (Danielle Fishel), Shawn (Rider Strong), and Eric (Will Friedle)...even more so than their parents, if you can believe it!



Of course, at first glance, you might not have believed that Mr. Feeny would have become anyone's favourite teacher. If anything, when I first started watching this show as a twelve year old boy, I was one who initially didn't care for Mr. Feeny's teaching style. He piled on the homework, he was very strict when it came to how his students should behave in class, and he always called his students by their last name instead of their first. And if there was ANYTHING I hated more in school, it was when my teacher would call me by my last name.

Well, except for that one year where there were six Matthews in my class...then and only then did it become acceptable.

Of course, that's not to say that Mr. Feeny didn't try to make his students appreciate a love of learning. He tried his best to get through to Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Stuart Minkus (Lee Norris). Of course, Cory and Shawn were never really interested in completing homework assignments and science projects. They were more interested in playing sports, video games, and generally goofing off. I can imagine that it must have been very frustrating for any teacher to have to deal with students who are self-admitted slackers.

The thing is that Mr. Feeny never really did lose his temper with his students. He never called them out in class, or kicked them out of the classroom, or threatened to throw a blackboard eraser or textbook at them.

(You laugh at that last part, but I actually had a teacher who made that threat to another student in my classroom.)

In fact, the only time that I ever really saw Mr. Feeny lose his temper on the show was when he was PROTECTING his students. To Mr. Feeny, education was his life, and he spent several decades teaching his many students reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Oh, but those were just the lessons needed to pass from grade to grade. As far as life lessons, he taught his students more...way more than what was expected of any teacher.



I mean, if you want a perfect example of what I mean, just take a look at the pilot episode of the series, which aired on September 24, 1993. As the episode begins, Mr. Feeny gives Cory a session of detention after he smuggled a portable radio into class to listen to a baseball game. But according to Cory, his defense was that Mr. Feeny was teaching the class about love and how important it is in their lives, and to Cory, he didn't see how love was all that wonderful. How could it be wonderful when his older brother decided to take his girlfriend to a baseball game instead of him? Of course, while serving detention, Mr. Feeny has a talk with Cory and convinces him not to treat Eric so harshly, and later on in the episode when Eric has a fight with his girlfriend, it is Cory who takes Feeny's words to heart and convinces Eric to give her another chance.

Of course, Mr. Feeny also happened to teach Cory lessons in responsibility. Mr. Feeny switched places with Cory during a teacher/student swap exercise where Cory learned that Mr. Feeny's job was not as easy as he initially thought. When Cory is depressed about making the school basketball team's B-squad, he initially feels as though his whole family is disappointed and skips out on the game. But after a talk with Mr. Feeny, not only is Cory's self-confidence restored, but he gets to play in the game after all! And later on in the series when Cory pushes a faculty member of the college who tried to hit on Topanga, and the faculty member threatens to kick him out of college, Mr. Feeny acts as Cory's lawyer in student court.

And I think that Mr. Feeny's approach with his students also helped them earn their respect as well. When Cory learned of a plan by some of the students in his high school that they were going to vandalize Mr. Feeny's house as retaliation for his tough exam schedule, Cory, Topanga, and Shawn all stood up to the crowd. They got there too late to prevent the crowd from making a mess out of the school's parking lot, but the three of them stayed behind to help Mr. Feeny clean it up.

I believe that Mr. Feeny was also quite touched at the level of compassion that Cory showed following the death of their beloved high school lunch lady. Cory came up with an idea for the whole school to pay their respects. After all, according to Cory, the lunch lady had nine hundred children who wanted nothing more than to pay their respects to her. And that's exactly what they did. I gotta admit, the last scene which showed all the students marching through the funeral parlor carrying lunch trays filled with roses that they were going to leave on top of the casket...it gets me every time.

Here's a list of some of the other things that Mr. Feeny did for Cory and his pals. When you tally everything up, you'll see why everyone thought that Mr. Feeny was a wonderful teacher and friend.



Let's see. Well, there was the time that Eric was rejected from getting into college and how his whole life spun out of control. He consistently tried everything possible to seek the easy way out, but Mr. Feeny knew that Eric had more in him than he even believed possible. With Mr. Feeny's guidance – in addition to Cory and Topanga's consistent badgering of him – Eric was convinced to take the PSAT's over again and give college another chance.



Shawn ended up getting involved in a cult while he was in high school as a result of him believing that he had a hard time fitting in anywhere. Despite Cory and Topanga trying to convince him not to join, Shawn finds the idea too tempting. But when one of his favourite teachers, Mr. Turner, gets critically injured in a motorcycle accident, and Shawn is left questioning everything he ever believed in, Mr. Feeny is among one of the first people who stands up for Shawn, and with his assistance, Shawn realizes that he has more people he can count on than ever before.

And, Mr. Feeny managed to find a way to reconcile the friendships and relationships of Cory and his pals by locking them in a classroom and tries to get them to write their feelings about each other on a sheet of paper. But when the friends spend more time bickering with each other leading to one of them storming out, Feeny is worried that he was too late. But amazingly, Mr. Feeny's plot to unite all of the friends works out, and Eric reads aloud his paper, which gets everyone else talking to each other again.

That sheet of paper read “Lose one friend, lose all friends, lose yourself”. Very wise words.



And, I think that of all the people who supported Cory's relationship with Topanga the most, it was Mr. Feeny. Mr. Feeny gave both of them some wonderful advice over the years. Whether it was advice to Cory about treating Topanga with respect, or whether it was advice to Topanga over not letting things end on a sour note, I do believe that Mr. Feeny was a key factor in making sure that Cory and Topanga's relationship stayed strong, which inevitably lead up to their wedding towards the end of the series.

Even Mr. Feeny ended up finding love and romance himself, falling in love with the Dean of the college that he began teaching at! And, naturally, none were more supportive of his marriage than Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Eric.

So, naturally, when it came down to how the show was going to end, it was only fitting that the show would conclude in the same place where it all began...in Cory's sixth grade classroom. You see, Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric were all heading off in their own separate directions, and they wanted to say goodbye to their teacher, mentor, and friend in their own way. So, reuniting at their old elementary school, the four ask Mr. Feeny for one final lesson to send them off. Below is that lesson.



Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good.” I think I need to tattoo those words onto my person at some point in my life.

Of course, Mr. Feeny would never admit to his students that he had his favourites. And he would NEVER go against his own belief that the relationship between a student and teacher is a line that should never be crossed. So, his students could only express how they felt about him.

Topanga told Mr. Feeny that she would never forget him and that he was more of a father to her than her own father. Shawn told Mr. Feeny that he was the greatest man he ever knew and that he appreciated the fact that he never gave up on him. Although he would tell Mr. Feeny that he blamed him for it, Eric appreciated the fact that Mr. Feeny taught him how to be a good, caring person and that he would be that person forever.

And as for Cornelius “Cory” Matthews...well, the friendship between those two was the strongest of all. Cory told Mr. Feeny that regardless of where they were, or how old they got, that he would always be with them every step of the way.

And as the curtain closed on “Boy Meets World”, Mr. Feeny looks at the empty classroom, and silently admits the one thing that he refused to admit to his students.


I love you all. Class dismissed."

And so wraps up "Boy Meets World".  But what's really cool is that a sequel show entitled "Girl Meets World" is set to debut sometime in 2014, which sees Cory and Topanga's daughter entering the world of junior high school.  It's not confirmed whether Mr. Feeny will be a part of that television show...but wouldn't it be awesome if he was?

Here's hoping!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The "Fall" Guy

I had a hard time coming up with a topic for today's Thursday Diary, so I'm just going to wing it for today.  Hope you don't mind if my train of thoughts seem to take a detour around Albuquerque every now and again!

September 26, 2013

As I sit here typing this out, it is just past midnight on the morning of September 26, 2013.  The temperature is very fall like...I'd estimate it at being roughly four or five Celsius, which for late September is sadly around seasonal here in Canada.

(Apparently in Canada, half the year is winter, don't you know!)



To be completely honest with you, I have to admit that autumn is probably my all-time favourite season.  The air is crisp, the leaves change colours, and with Thanksgiving and Halloween just around the corner (remember, in Canada we celebrate both of those holidays in October).  Mind you, the fall also brings forth a lot of bittersweet memories as my wonderful grandmother passed away almost twenty-two years ago just before Halloween.  But on the other hand, my mom's birthday is in November, and my niece is turning seventeen tomorrow, so there are a lot of good fall memories in my family.

Seriously.  I am what you call a "fall guy".  The period between late September and early December is probably my favourite time of year.  Ever.  

Summer's okay, but it's actually my least favourite of the four seasons if for no other reason than the fact that I am NOT a fan of intense heat.  Seriously, I probably perspire enough on a summer day to fill up an empty bottle of water at least a quarter of the way up.  It's not a pretty sight.  In fact, it's probably one of the main reasons why I don't like summer as much as most other people probably do.  Sure, the sun is out, and there's lots of fun stuff to get done, but at the same time the humidity does not work well with me.  When I worked seasonal this past summer, it wasn't uncommon for my entire shirt to be soaked with sweat every single shift.  I do wish I was born with the genetics that prevented me from sweating so much, but alas, it was not meant to be.

I'm okay with Spring in some ways.  Spring temperatures are a lot like fall temperatures.  And, my birthday just happens to be during the Spring, so that's another plus.

The big minuses of Spring?  The rain.  Lots and lots of rain!  And pollen.  Lots and lots of pollen.  

Did I mention that I have a severe allergy to tree pollen?  This means that you can usually find me blowing my schnozz into an entire box of Kleenex between the months of March and June.  Yeah, I'm okay with Spring, but I am not in love with it.

Surprisingly enough, I don't mind Winter all that much.  I guess if I have but one complaint about Winter, it's that sometimes we get massive snowfalls which can cause massive headaches for both motorists and pedestrians.  I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've almost gotten run over in supermarket parking lots because a driver almost hit me while trying to drive in the snow.  But as far as temperatures go, they don't bother me at all.

After all, I DID work in a department for several years where the temperature hovered around the freezing mark every single day.

But I have to be the first one to admit that I have a soft spot for fall.  There's just so much about fall that I absolutely love.



For instance, some of my favourite holidays happen to be within the autumn season.  Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays because you reflect back on all that you have, and try to find some gratitude in everything in your life.  Granted, this can be somewhat of a challenge for some people, but if anything, it's a good opportunity to be thankful for eating roast turkey, baked ham, pumpkin pie (though I'm more of a cake person), and other seasonal favourites that you can only have once or twice a year.



I've also been a fan of Halloween as well, and I was definitely the kid who would start trick-or-treating at five in the afternoon and stay out until almost ten.  How often was it that the people in your neighbourhood would dole out free candy to any child who came around?  Not very.  I also have a love for scary (not to be confused with gory) movies.  I could literally watch any Stephen King movie adaptation, Alfred Hitchcock classic, or even It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown over and over again!

(In fact, stay tuned to this blog for the month of October, as I have an entire month filled with spooky scary topics!  You won't want to miss it!)




Fall is also a great time to kick back and watch television.  During the last two weeks of September and the first week of October, we would be able to watch all new episodes of all of our favourite shows.  September is typically when television series would debut their brand new seasons (well, with the exceptions of "Dexter" and "Breaking Bad", which saw (or will see) September series finales.  I remember being a kid looking through the TV Guide around this time of year, wondering how all of my favourite television shows would kick off their brand new seasons.



And the second Saturday in September was always reserved for television viewing.  There was no way that I was missing the brand new Saturday morning cartoon line-up for the world!  



What else is grand about fall?  Fall is the time of year in which farmer's markets and festivals are always seemingly at their height in popularity.  Fall brings forth lots of craft shows, pie-baking festivals, hay rides, and ghost walks.  I also hear that fall is a perfect time to host a murder mystery dinner theatre...and as you might know, one of the things on my bucket list is to attend one of these events.  



And what little kid didn't love running through piles of fallen leaves in the backyard?  Of course, the parents probably didn't appreciate their children throwing leaves all around after they spent the last two hours raking them all up...but again, to that I state that it is a rite of passage to throw leaves up in the air and make leaf angels.  I still remember countless art projects where we would grab the biggest leaf we could find, glue it onto a piece of construction paper, and turn the leaf into something else.  

I have to say that I made the best looking leaf ladybug that anyone had ever seen.  I was just lucky that my elementary school playground had a lot of trees nearby.

I guess if there was only one thing I didn't like about fall, it was the fact that I had to go back to school and face all of the people who used to make fun of me in the playground.  But that was many years ago, and I never have to see those people again if I choose not to!  Everything's gravy, baby!

So, that's my little essay on my favourite time of year.  I am a "fall guy", and make no apologies for it.

Now I turn the page over to let you have a turn.

What is your favourite season?  

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Get Lucky With The Game of Life!

It's time to tempt the hands of fate once more as we begin the third installment of “Whatever Wednesday”.



The gist of Whatever Wednesday is this. I've grabbed all of the character cards from an old board game known as Clue (Cluedo in the UK), and assigned each one a different subject based on the other six theme days in the week. If you're wondering what the Clue cards represent, I'll show you.

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, now that you know what the days are, let's reach into the bag where all the cards are kept and choose one at random!



And, it looks like we're going green this week. Today's card is Mr. Green!

(Kind of ironic, given that yesterday's blog entry was about the man who brought life to a few green characters including Kermit the Frog and Oscar the Grouch!)

Now this means that we're going to be making this Wednesday seem more like a Saturday. The first two Saturdays of the month deal with toys, puzzles, and video games, so I thought that I would pick a game in which the color green makes a bit of an appearance. One of the playing pieces happens to be green, and the main object of the game is to make as much green as possible while living your life the best way you know how. Sometimes exciting things happen in your life, while other times you end up losing quite a lot. But everyone will agree on one thing. The game of life is one that is filled with many twists and turns. Some days will frustrate you while others will make you smile. Some days will bring you complete joy, while others would break your heart. But at the end of it all, you stop and reflect on how you got to where you are and think that it was worth every single minute.

And that's what today's featured board game is all about. Living life to the fullest, figuring out what you are going to do, raising a family, and keeping a healthy balance.

It also happens to be one of my all-time favourite games.



So, do you want to play The Game of LIFE? There's only like twenty-five different ways to play it in addition to the classic LIFE game.

Seriously. There's been many different interpretations of the Game of LIFE. You can play a Monsters Inc. version. You can play a Simpsons version. You can play a Wizard of Oz version. If you shop at Target, you can purchase an Indiana Jones version of the Game of LIFE. And in Japan, apparently there's a version that features the cast of Sailor Moon!

I'm kind of interested in knowing what one has to do in the Sailor Moon version of the game. Take an extra spin every time Sailor Moon gets called “Meatball Head”?



But for the sake of argument, let's focus on the original Game of LIFE.

Now, I have a question for all of you. When do you think that the Game of LIFE was first sold in stores?

I know that I was first acquainted with the Game of LIFE in 1991, and that version is the one that I remember the most. But some of you might own the version that was released in the 1970s. Many more of you remember playing with the game in the 1960s. But believe it or not, the game even predates the 1960s...and even the 1900s!

You see, the board game was released all the way back in 1860!!!  And it didn't look anything like the versions that you or I grew up playing.  Just take a look at the original game board as it appeared one hundred and fifty some years ago!




It kind of resembles a retro style checkers board, doesn't it?  That was the idea.  The original name of the game - as designed by Milton Bradley - was "The Checkered Game of Life".  It was the very first game ever designed by Bradley, but most definitely not the last.  Bradley would eventually revolutionize the toy and game industry, creating a company specializing in the development of board games.  "The Checkered Game of Life" sold upwards of 45,000 copies by the end of its first year of production!

So, what was the goal of "The Checkered Game of Life", you ask?  Well, it was simple.


Your goal was to live the best life possible.  Just taking a look at the game board, certainly there are all sorts of good things that can happen.  You can get married, you can go to college, you can even achieve fame or get into politics (though some may argue that last part is more of a curse than a blessing).  Simultaneously, there are some bad choices that you can make.  You can get arrested, you can be ruined, you can be disgraced...and check out that "suicide" space!  You most certainly would never find that space in The Game of 
LIFE these days!  Wouldn't you automatically score a "game over" if you landed there?

Anyway, as you'll notice, there's no dice for this game.  Apparently back in the mid-1800s, dice were only used for gambling, which at the time was a major sin.  Which I suppose explains why the "gambling" square is seen as more of a punishment than a good thing.  So, instead of a die, a device known as a teetotum was created.  Players would spin the device around, and it would land on a numbered side.  Whatever the side the teetotum landed on, that was the number of spaces that a player could move.





The teetotum would preface the more common way of determining how players moved around the game board...the rainbow coloured spinner.

The way the game worked was that each time a person landed on a success space, they would receive 100 points.  If they landed on a bad space, I'm only guessing that points were taken away.  I wasn't around in 1860, and I was unable to find a more detailed set of rules.  The goal of the game was to reach the retirement square, in which a player would be awarded an additional 50 points.  At the end of the game, the player with the most points would have the best life possible, and they would be declared the victor of the game.


Flash forward a hundred years, and The Game of 
LIFE became more complex.




For one, the players who were in control could actually drive around a realistic looking game board (the board representing a gigantic highway).  The cars were in six different colours...red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white (in newer versions, the white car was repainted pink or purple).  And there were little plastic pegs in light blue and light pink that you could put inside of the cars.  These little pegs represented you and the family that you would end up building as the game progressed.

Now, I'm only going by the game that I had, which was the 1991 version, but in my version of The Game of 
LIFE you would begin the game at a fork in the road.  One way sent you directly into the workforce and the other half made you go through college.  Both ways had their pros and cons.




If you just went off to work, you would have no loans to pay back, and you would automatically collect money as you passed the green "Pay Day" squares that would pop up randomly on your journey.  But the con is that you would be limited in whatever career choices you could embark on.  You see, some of the job cards that you would draw required you to get a degree.  No degree.  No job.

If you went to college though, you would have to wait to get the joys of a Pay Day square as well as pay back a loan, but you'd have more opportunities to grab "
LIFE" tiles (which I'll explain a little bit later), and you can choose whatever career you want.  




Now, you might think that the career you choose is pointless because the salary card was the only real thing that mattered.  But there were some occupations that offered more rewards than others.  The superstar had more fun squares than any other occupation, but a police officer could collect money from any player who spun a ten on the wheel (equivalent to a speeding ticket).  It was certainly something to think about.

Over the course of the game, you would also have to buy a house (some were more expensive than others), and you might also consider buying home and auto insurance as well (you never know when a tree will crash through the roof of your home).  And if you landed on a space where you got married and had a child, you would add more pegs to your car.





If you land on a space that has a LIFE logo on it, you could win a LIFE tile.  And it was important to get as many as you could, for each LIFE tile had an amount attached to it for doing an extraordinary event such as winning a national prize, or becoming the President of the United States.  The better the accomplishment, the more money was added.

Including the cash assets, the value of your home, and 
LIFE tiles, the person who had the highest total at the end of the game was declared the winner.  So, it was crucial that you go through the game of LIFE cautiously, but have a little bit of fun along the way.

But sometimes - as in the case of real life - you could have the best run of the game and one costly error can knock you down to the bottom.  Here's some examples from some of my own experiences playing The Game of LIFE.





In most cases, going to school usually means that you have a better quality of life than someone who did not (one of the main reasons why I am seriously looking at wanting to return to school at the age of 32).  But in The Game of 
LIFE this is not always the case.  I remember being so excited to be able to be the doctor of the game, and thought that I'd be living a life on easy street...

...until I drew the $30,000 salary card.  What the hell kind of doctor makes $30,000?  Maybe one who works at a free clinic or something.  Meanwhile, my sister was making $100,000 as an artist.  I tell you, The Game of 
LIFE can work in funny ways.

One time, I was very excited to get the deed to the most expensive mansion in the entire game, and I think my excitement was so great that I forgot to buy homeowner's insurance.  So when my home actually gets destroyed on my journey, I ended up nearly losing all of my money to make the repairs.  I never made that mistake again.





Another time, on another playthrough, I remember that no matter what I spun, I kept landing on the "It's a boy", "It's a girl", "Twins", "Adopt a child" spaces.  I ended the game with more children than Jon and Kate Gosselin!  I had to actually use a second car token to keep all nine of my babies with me.  To add insult to injury, only I would land on the college for your kids space with nine children.  Lost ALL of my money, but surprisingly I won the game because for each child you have, you received a LIFE tile.  And four of the nine tiles I had were worth a quarter of a million dollars!

And wouldn't you know it?  The one time I drew the police officer card was the one game in which I was the only player who spun a "10".  It was the most disappointment that I have ever felt playing a board game.

But you know...much like life itself, playing The Game of LIFE was worth every playthrough.  And in most of the games I played over the course of my own lifetime, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Well...okay.  Maybe I would have invested in some birth control while I was in "college".  ;)

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

September 24, 1936

It's time for the final Tuesday Timeline entry for the month of September 2013. And, I think you'll agree (well, hopefully at least) that the topic that I have chosen for today is a great one.

In the meantime, I think that we should flip through the pages of the history books to discover what else happened on this date in history. There's a lot to talk about on this, the 24th day of September.

1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England

1780 – Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John Andre exposes Arnold's plan to surrender West Point.

1789 – The Judiciary Act is passed by United States Congress, which ultimately leads to the creation of the office of the U.S. Attorney General, as well as the United States Supreme Court

1852 – The first airship powered by steam engine travels seventeen miles from Paris, France to Trappes

1869 – Gold prices plummet following the decision by Ulysses S. Grant to order the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market in a day that will come to be known as “Black Friday”

1896 – “The Great Gatsby” author F. Scott Fitzgerald (d. 1940) is born in St. Paul, Minnesota

1914 – The Siege of Przemysl begins as World War I continues

1917 – Actress Audra Lindley (d. 1997), best known to fans as Three's Company's Mrs. Roper, is born in Los Angeles, California

1935 – The first ever outdoor rodeo is held under electric lights in Columbia, Mississippi

1941 – Singer/photographer Linda McCartney (d. 1998) is born in New York City

1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded on the same day that comedian Phil Hartman (d. 1998) is born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada

1950 – A series of forest fires emit enough black smoke to block out the sun in some parts of Canada and New England

1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas in an effort to enforce desegregation

1962 – James Meredith becomes the first African-American person to enroll at Mississippi State University following a decision made by the United States court of appeals

1968 – CBS debuts its news program “60 Minutes”

1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer Internet service which also features the first time that e-mail is provided as a service

1991 – Theodor Seuss Geisel (better known by his pen name of Dr. Seuss) dies of throat cancer at the age of 87

2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States causing devastation to the already hurricane ravaged states of Louisiana and Texas

September 24 happens to also be the date in which a lot of famous faces were born. So, join me in wishing the following people a very happy birthday. Happy birthday to Herb Jeffries, Jack Costanzo, Chick Willis, Gordon Clapp, Alan Colmes, John Kessel, Kristina Wayborn, Kevin Sorbo, Steve Whitmire, Amy Sky, Luc Picard, Rosamund Kwan, Nia Vardalos, Robert Irvine, Stacy Galina, Megan Ward, Peter Salisbury (The Verve), Stephanie McMahon, Justin Bruening, Jessica Lucas, Spencer Treat Clark, and Kyle Sullivan.

Okay. So, which date in history are we going to go back in time to?



Today's date is September 24, 1936. And if you're a huge fan of puppets of any kind, you're definitely going to love this entry.

Today's blog subject is a master of his craft. Although most of his work was associated with children's programming, he made sure that his top priority was creating entertainment for everybody. He helped create some of the most recognizable symbols in the history of pop culture, and as of 2013, these creations are still going strong.

And had he lived, this man would be celebrating birthday number 77.



Seventy-seven years ago, James Maury Henson was born in Greenville, Mississippi...though most people called him Jim. And during his whole life, all he wanted was to make people laugh and entertain a wide variety of people. And you know what? I think he succeeded.

This is Jim Henson's story.

Henson was the youngest of two children born to Betty and Paul Henson, and Henson's childhood was marked by one huge event – the day the Henson family received their very first television set. Young Jim Henson was heavily influenced by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the puppets that Burr Tillstrom presented on “Kukla, Fran, and Ollie”.

While he was a student at Northwestern High School, Jim ended up getting a job at WTOP-TV designing puppets for a Saturday morning children's show, “The Junior Morning Show”. After graduating from high school, Jim enrolled as a student at the University of Maryland, College Park initially majoring in studio arts. But when Henson discovered a puppetry class was being offered in the applied arts department, Henson began enrolling in classes specializing in crafts and textiles, eventually graduating with a degree in home economics in 1960.

As it so happens, his time in college was very much life-changing for Henson. Not only did he meet his future wife Jane Nebel (through a collaboration they did together while Henson worked at Washington D.C. based station WRC-TV), but while he worked on a puppet show that aired on the same network (a little show entitled “Sam and Friends”), Henson would debut the character that would make him absolutely famous.

That character? Kermit the Frog.

Well, okay, okay. The character wasn't exactly the way that we all know him as now. It was merely a prototype. But that prototype exploded into a cultural phenomenon that featured dozens of characters known as “The Muppets”.



The Muppets were among some of Jim Henson's finest works. The creation (named after a portmanteau of the words marionette and puppet) were created almost by experiment. You see, while Jim Henson worked at WRC-TV, he began experimenting with various techniques in creating and animating puppets. Rather than using felt, wood, an old sock, or any traditional puppet making materials, Henson used flexible, fabric-covered foam rubber as a way for the puppets to appear more human and to show more emotion. Instead of strings, Henson inserted rods inside of the arms of the Muppets to allow more movements.

Basically, Jim Henson's Muppets revolutionized the way that puppet shows were presented. No more lifeless Punch and Judy scenes for us!

(Well...unless you liked Punch and Judy.)

Of course, Jim Henson would voice the Muppet that made him the most famous – Kermit the Frog as well as Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, The Swedish Chef, and Waldorf. But for the Muppets to really pop, Henson knew that he had to gather a group of talented voice actors and puppeteers to bring the Muppets back to life. And by the 1970s, his team was firmly in place.

Frank Oz would voice the characters of Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam the Eagle and Miss Piggy
Dave Goelz would voice the characters of Gonzo, Zoot, and Bunsen
Richard Hunt voiced the characters of Scooter, Beaker, Statler, Janice, and Sweetums
Jerry Nelson voiced the characters of Robin, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Floyd Pepper, Lew Zealand, and Camilla the Chicken.

And, in the late 1970s, all of the Muppets would end up getting their shot at stardom when this program debuted on September 5, 1976.



I absolutely LOVED “The Muppet Show” growing up. In fact, at some point before the year is up, I want to do a whole feature on this particular program. For now, I'll just talk a little bit about it. The show was hugely successful on television. It ran for five years, concluding its run in 1981, and the best way I can describe the show is sort of like Saturday Night Live with Muppets. It was like watching a sketch comedy program with each Muppet presenting a series of sketches. Gonzo would do a sketch with chickens and a cannon. Fozzie would tell lame jokes. Miss Piggy would sometimes board a spaceship to become one of the “Pigs in Space”. Oh, and the Swedish Chef...my absolute favourite. Watch a clip of Swedish Chef in action below, voiced by Jim Henson himself!



Of course, everyone knows that “The Muppet Show” was hardly the only time that we saw Jim Henson's creations at work. After all, how could you forget the fact that the Muppets were featured in seven feature films between 1979 and 2011? And, an eighth movie is set to be released in March of 2014! Yes, the Muppets have gone to Manhattan, they've celebrated Christmas, they've re-enacted Treasure Island, and they've even been launched into outer space! Not bad, huh?



There was even an animated version of the Muppets known as “Muppet Babies” which aired near continuously for seven years!

And that's not counting the other television shows and movies that Jim Henson and his production company were involved in.



Of course, one of those television series is the long-running “Sesame Street”, which has been on the air since 1969. Admit it. You couldn't have Sesame Street without the monster characters, could you? Of course, Kermit the Frog was a huge part of Sesame Street as he would pose as a news reporter for those “News Flash” segments. Have a look at one below.



Yes, without Jim Henson's presence on Sesame Street, there would be no Big Bird or Snuffleupagus. There would be no Cookie Monster or Oscar the Grouch.



There would be no Bert, Ernie (whom Henson also voiced), Prairie Dawn, Elmo, Grover, Telly, or the Yip Yip aliens.



Another side project that Henson created after “The Muppet Show” wrapped up was a little show known as “Fraggle Rock”, in which Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Red, Boober, Sprockett, and Traveling Matt became household names. I know that I absolutely loved watching the show, and that theme song was just so catchy. You know what, let's just go ahead and watch the intro...so I can get it inside of your heads too!

And, there's so much more that Jim Henson did in the world of entertainment!



If it weren't for Jim Henson and Frank Oz, we would never have been so charmed by Yoda in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”.



If it weren't for Jim Henson, the movie “Labyrinth” would have never been made...one of Jim Henson's finest film projects ever made (even though at the time of its release, it bombed terribly). Jim Henson would also produce the 1982 film “The Dark Crystal”.

And Jim Henson came up with the idea for this bizarre, yet wonderful sitcom, which aired on ABC during the 1990s.



Dinosaurs” was a wonderful show. I admit that I still chuckle at Baby Sinclair whacking his father with the frying pan screaming “NOT THE MAMA!”. But note the date that it debuted. April 1991.

Dinosaurs” was an idea hatched from the ever creative mind of Jim Henson. And sadly he would not live long enough to see it come to fruition.

In May of 1990, Jim Henson began to experience flu-like symptoms, which at first he ignored, as he felt that it wasn't anything serious. He made an appearance on “The Arsenio Hall Show” on May 4 – which you can actually watch if you click HERE. It would become the last appearance that he would ever make on television again.

Just a week later after visiting his father and stepmother in North Carolina with one of his children, he began to feel ill and he went to a doctor to see what was wrong. The doctor examined him, but couldn't find any sort of evidence that he was suffering from pneumonia (what Henson initially suspected that he had), and prescribed him nothing except the odd dose of aspirin. He flew back home to New York after canceling a scheduled recording session on May 14.

The very next morning, Jim was beginning to have difficulty breathing, and he was starting to cough up blood. Henson was concerned that something was terribly wrong and he confessed to his wife (whom he was separated from at that time) that he might be dying, but for whatever reason did not want to go to a hospital to get checked out.

Two hours later, Henson changed his mind, and was admitted into New York Hospital shortly before five in the morning on May 15. By this time, Henson was unable to breathe on his own, and had to be strapped to a ventilator to help him breathe. Over the next twenty-four hours, doctors did everything they could to reverse the condition, but when Henson went into septic shock, the writing was on the wall.



On the morning of May 16, 1990, Jim Henson passed away at the age of 53. The cause of death was organ failure linked to a streptococcal infection. He was survived by his wife and his five children, Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John, and Heather.

And, let me tell you. The news of Henson's death hit me hard. I was just two days shy of my ninth birthday when Henson died. He was the very first celebrity death that I remember, and I remember not taking it well at all. I think I cried the day I heard the news. He was so influential in my childhood. I grew up watching all of his shows, I watched all the Muppet Movies, I dressed up as Kermit the Frog on Halloween 1989, and ironically enough, my 9th birthday party was spent at the movie theatre watching a screening of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” - a film that “Jim Henson's Creature Shop” collaborated on. It was just so surreal that someone who was a huge part of my childhood was no longer here.

A public memorial service was scheduled for May 21, 1990 in New York City, and a second one was held in London on July 2. And I would say that Henson's memorial service honoured him beautifully. As per Henson's final wishes, nobody in the congregation was allowed to wear black. As well, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band played “When the Saints Go Marching In”. Carroll Spinney (who voiced Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street”) also performed at the service, singing Kermit's signature song “Bein' Green”.

(Which NOW explains why I have turned this entry green.)

But perhaps one of the most moving moments of the whole service was at the very conclusion of the service, when six of the Muppet voice actors gathered together to pay tribute to their friend by singing a medley of songs in their characters' voices. The actors were Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Kevin Clash, Frank Oz, and the man who would succeed Henson in voicing Kermit and Ernie, Steve Whitmire (who also happens to be celebrating a birthday today).



The last song of the medley was entitled “Just One Person”. The song was originally sung by one person (at the funeral, it was Richard Hunt as Scooter), and as the song progressed, more people would join in until the whole cast was together.

That whole moment also became the final scene in the 1990 television special “The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson”, which saw a reunion between “The Muppet Show” characters, “Sesame Street” characters, and “Fraggle Rock” characters singing that very song as Kermit watches over them from a distance. It remains one of the most epic television scenes that I remember watching. Even at thirty-two, my eyes still well up when I watch this scene.

So, as we close the book on another Tuesday Timeline, I can't think of a better way to pay my respects to Jim Henson and celebrate his seventy-seventh birthday more than posting that final song. Be warned. Have Kleenex handy.




Happy birthday, Jim Henson...and thank you so much for all you gave us. I'll never forget you.