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Sunday, January 26, 2014

Bruno Mars - Blowing Up The Charts With A Grenade!

This is the Sunday Jukebox for Sunday, January 26, 2014.  But I wouldn't exactly call this any ordinary Sunday Jukebox entry.

Today just also happens to be the day in which the best musical recordings of the last twelve months are celebrated in the awards show known as The Grammy Awards.

And, as long as I've been alive, I remember always being excited about the Grammy Awards.  Even though I more or less have quit listening to the Top 40 charts, I still get excited about the Grammy Awards.  As someone who has always loved everything to do with music, I find myself tuning in year after year regardless of whether I enjoy the musical artists or not.

In fact, with the exception of one particular year, I've seen ever single Grammy Award ceremony since at least the mid-1980s.  I'll get to the one awards ceremony that I missed out on in a little while from now.  It's all part of the song choice that I've made for this week.

(As you know, I'm doing the Sunday Jukebox a little bit differently this year, as I'll be selecting only the songs that reached the top of the Billboard charts.)

Anyway, I've been watching the Grammy Awards for many years now, and some ceremonies have been better than others.  I seem to recall 2012 being the last year in which I was really engaged with the entire ceremony and was thrilled for all of the winners.  Though, I do admit that last year was all right as well.  I almost lost interest in the awards in the mid-2000s because that was right around the time that I found myself completely disgusted with the artists that I didn't care if any of them won, but I stuck with them, and I think that they might just be making a bit of a turnaround.

Certainly, 2014 is looking like one of those memorable years.  Just recently, I was stocking the compact disc section (yes, we still do sell CD's), and the 2014 Grammy Award compilation was one of those albums released.  Apparently, Katy Perry, Robin Thicke, P!nk, Lorde, Macklemore & Lewis, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Kacey Musgraves, and Ed Sheeran are just a few of the nominees that are hoping to take home the Grammy Award in their respected categories.  Some of the artists I love, some not so much, and a couple I haven't even heard of, but at the very least the list of nominees is quite eclectic and it looks as if the race could be quite close in a couple of instances.

Oh, and there's also one more nominee that we have to add.  And, you know what, this nominee is looking as if 2014 is going to be one banner year.  Not only has he been nominated for several awards at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony, but just one week from today, he'll be entertaining audiences as this year's halftime performer at the Super Bowl!  Believe me, that is one honour that only a select few ever get to experience.



But somehow, I think Bruno Mars is up to the challenge.  And, somehow, I think that he'll rock that show.  And besides, reportedly, The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be making an appearance as well.  Hmmm...if I didn't work on Super Bowl Sunday, I'd probably tune in to watch it, even though I despise football.

I just hope that somehow, Bruno Mars takes home at least one trophy tonight.  I have to admit that I do like his music, and many of his songs are of the "get up off of your feet and move around" type.  I'd rather listen to songs that make me happy and energetic, rather than depressing ballads that make you want to collapse in the middle of a cold shower in tears (though I imagine that Bruno Mars himself has released at least one or two of those kinds of songs too).  And, I have to admit that "Locked Out of Heaven" is one of those songs that I could listen to more than once or twice.

But you know what's funny?  Out of all of the many Grammy Award nominations that Bruno Mars has received over the course of the last four years (including a songwriting nomination for Cee-Lo Green's "F@#$ You"), he's only managed to win one.  Now, granted, one award is better than nothing, but I think that he should win at least one for his "Unorthodox Jukebox" album, because it's an album of hodge-podge that blends together into a modern day classic (well, in my humble opinion, anyway).

In fact, I chose today's song of discussion because it was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 2012, and lost all three to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" (which too was a fantastic song).  But it was also the #1 song during the one year in which I was forced to miss the Grammy Awards for unforeseen reasons.

You see, the song actually spent four weeks at the top of the charts, but it wasn't consecutive weeks.  It first topped the charts on January 8, 2011 before being knocked off one week later by Katy Perry's "Firework".  Then on January 22, it spent another week on the charts before once again being dethroned by Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me".  Then on February 5, the song once again made it to the top of the charts, and stayed there until February 19, when Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" hit the #1 spot.

I'm sure you get where this is going.  February 2011 was the month in which I had that pesky infected gall bladder removed and I had to spend two weeks in the hospital.  And on that year, the Grammy Awards were held February 13, 2011...the day after my surgery.  And since I was looped up on painkillers and couldn't walk two steps without feeling weak and nauseous, I was in no condition to watch any sort of awards show.

And, considering that this song was at the top of the charts during February 2011, and given that Bruno Mars won his one and only Grammy Award on the day after my surgery...and given that the song in which he was nominated for a slew of Grammy Awards for 2012 and lost every single one for the song that was #1 during what was easily one of the hardest things I've ever gone through...how could I not pick this song for today's subject.

Here's the song for today, which topped the charts on this date three years ago.



ARTIST:  Bruno Mars
SONG:  Grenade
ALBUM:  Doo-Wops and Hooligans
DATE RELEASED:  September 28, 2010
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 4 weeks

And, just on a side note, the pains that you get before you undergo gall bladder surgery...they feel exactly like someone is detonating a grenade right inside your body.  Take my word on that one.



Anyway, let's talk about "Grenade".  It was Bruno Mars' second ever single release behind the 2010 single "Just The Way You Are" (which also topped the charts later that year), and it is a song that is all about the subject of heartbreak.  And if you watched the video above, it is both beautiful and disturbing all at the same time.  And yet, it's something that I myself can relate to.

Well, aside from standing in the middle of a train track with a piano chained to me, hoping that the 10:48 express train from Toronto to Montreal smashes right into me.  While I have hit rock bottom before on an emotional level, I'm happy to report that I would never go to such extremes in my own personal life at this particular time.



Still, you gotta feel for the guy in the video played by Bruno Mars.  I'm sure that most of us out there have fallen hard for someone and have done everything in our power to get them to fall in love with you without coming across as an obsessed stalker type.  I seem to recall many of the feelings that I had for other girls who might have been in my class, or who I got to know over the years went either unnoticed or ignored...mainly because I lacked (and still lack) the courage to admit to someone how I really feel towards them.  I guess it could be considered a fear of rejection, or feelings of inadequacy on my part...or I could just be rambling in an effort to add more words to this blog piece, so how about I shut my yap and get to the point!

Anyway, as I was saying, we've all been there.  We've all fallen in love with someone who is unattainable, or we've fallen in love with someone who has fallen out of love with us and fallen into love with someone else.  It's a really horrible feeling to have, and I hope that for those of you who have found your true loves out there in this world that you didn't have to feel that pain of heartbreak too much in your path to happiness.  Well, that's the general idea behind the meaning of the song, "Grenade".  Bruno Mars himself has stated that "Grenade" represents the side of love that most people hope to never experience...the side of love in which the affection is clearly one-sided.

I suppose in one manner, the fact that Bruno is chained to a piano and dragging it down the streets through dangerous neighbourhoods is largely symbolic.  It demonstrates the challenges that someone might have to face when trying to keep a relationship going.  It also shows all of us just how much work Bruno was putting in the relationship and also what he would endure to make sure that he could prove his love for her.  He'd take a grenade for her, lay down his life for her, even stand in front of a train for her!  Not a lot of people I know would actually even make those promises, let alone DO them.

And certainly he goes through his struggles along the way, much like we all do when we're trying to impress those we love.  He encounters a pitbull, a homeless man, and a gang of thugs who all try to stop him from reaching his destination, but do you think any of that will stop him from pulling his piano to his woman's back door so he can serenade her with love, affection, and tenderness?  Why, the fact that he drops his photo of the woman he loves on the ground, and almost gets into the fight with the leader of the gang just proves that he literally will risk his life to be with the one he loves.

And then he arrives at the girl's place of residence, getting ready to sing his little heart out...only to find her getting frisky with someone else that is NOT Bruno.  And, from there, we see a dejected and rejected Bruno Mars decide that if he can't have the girl, then he will have nobody, and we are left with the rather open-ended conclusion of the video which has all of us wondering...did he survive?  Did he die?  Did he sacrifice the piano instead of himself?  Because of the deliberately ambiguous ending, we may never really know.

But the one thing that we do know is that it became what could be considered Bruno Mars' real breakthrough single.  Though, I suppose I do have one final thought.  I honestly don't know if the same actress who played Bruno's girlfriend in "Grenade" was the same one who played his girlfriend in "Just The Way You Are" (I don't believe it is, but I could be wrong), but if the two girls are one in the same...because "Just The Way You Are" was released before "Grenade", then I would think that Bruno would be better off leaving her and going after someone else who WOULD care about him and who would be proud that he would take a grenade for them.



And just one final note before we end this piece off.  Bruno Mars performed this song at the 2011 Grammy Awards (the only Grammy show I missed), and while it's not quite known if he will sing this song at the Super Bowl this year, I imagine that if he does, he might want to wear a hard hat.  Apparently, whenever Bruno sings this song, people in the audience have taken to throwing dummy grenades on stage as he sings it...which I would imagine would be painful if one ever hit him!

Let's hope that nobody throws things at Bruno on stage both at the Grammy Awards and the Super Bowl.

In conclusion, I thought I'd play another Bruno Mars song to get everyone in a dancing mood!  Here's "Treasure", a top 10 hit from 2013!



Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Baby-Sitters Club

When I first began writing this blog almost three years ago, there were a couple of personal goals that I had in mind when coming up with suitable topics for discussion.

First, to come up with topics that could appeal to both genders. In fact, most of the topics have been suitable for both genders, though I have done topics that were suited for mostly males, and topics that were geared towards females. After all, I always wanted this blog to be for everyone and for people of all ages.

And, secondly, I wanted to come up with topics that were extremely challenging. In a lot of cases (particularly during the brief time in which I accepted reader requests), I was challenged to write about a topic that I knew nothing about, and I had to really dig deep to be able to find enough information about it so that I could come up with an informative, but fun piece. And, certainly I've challenged myself and have become a better writer and researcher as a result.

(I suppose it's only a shame that I'm using these skills for pop culture references and not for medical sciences, but hey, I suppose we all have our strengths, right?)

Well, as it so happens, today's blog entry happens to have both of these things. It's a topic in which the target audience is pre-teen girls – something that I myself am not. And, it is also a topic that I have no experience in as I have never so much as read one book in this book series that would eventually last well over one hundred novels that were published between 1986 and 2000.

But, hey...I always said that I love a challenge, so I'm going with it.

So, here's a question for all of you out there. How many of you actually ran a babysitting service for a little extra cash? I imagine that most of us have tried this at some point in our lives. I mean, many sitcom plot lines revolve around babysitting. D.J. Tanner and Kimmy Gibbler had to deal with a kid who got his head stuck in the staircase banister on “Full House”, and Lisa Simpson was inspired to start up her own babysitting service...with disasterous results.

I'll be the first one to admit that I've done the babysitting thing when I was a teenager. But to me, it didn't seem like it was really babysitting, as the kids I babysat were family members. Mostly it was with my niece and three nephews, but I do also remember looking after some of my younger cousins. Hey, it gave me extra cash for video game rentals from the video store. Why wouldn't I have taken the opportunity to make a few extra bucks on the side?

Well, today's edition of the blog has to do with babysitting. In fact, it has to do with several teenage girls in junior high school who start up a club in the fictional community of Stoneybrook, Connecticut as a way to make extra money, but also to make sure that the group corners the market on the babysitting services in the community.

Wow...I just kind of made it look like the Baby-Sitters Club were a group of thirteen-year-old capitalists, didn't I?



Whatever the case, today we're going to have a look at the popular novel series, which in turn was inspired by an idea by Scholastic editor Jean Feiwel. Feiwel had noticed the popularity of another book that was written about babysitting called “Ginny's Babysitting Job”, and she thought that it would be a good idea to create a series of books that had to do with babysitting. After all, I know from my own experiences just how unpredictable babysitting jobs can be. The story possibilities were endless.

But Jean Feiwel was not a writer by any means. However, she had connections with writers being an editor for Scholastic books. And, as it happened, one of those writer friends, Ann M. Martin, took the idea and ran with it, creating “The Baby-Sitters Club” book series in 1986.

Initially, the book series only contained four books. “Kristy's Great Idea”, “Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls”, “The Truth About Stacey”, and “Mary Anne Saves The Day”. But when all four books began to sell well through Scholastic book clubs and in bookstores, another fourteen books were commissioned. By the end of the 1980s, the first book in the series had surpassed 100,000 copies sold, and by the time the series wrapped up in 2000, there were a total of 213 novels published – with an estimated eighty of those penned by Ann M. Martin herself.

(The other 120 books or so were written by a team of ghostwriters.)

So, who are the girls in the Baby-Sitters Club? Well, when the series began in 1986, there were only four girls in the club. But by 1995, that number had grown to seven main characters. The club members are...



KRISTY THOMAS – Club President

It is Kristy who comes up with the idea to start the babysitting club and it is Kristy who acts as club president throughout the entire series. Kristy certainly had a lot of experience with babysitting. She is after all one of six children!

Well, okay, technically those six kids include two step-siblings and an adopted sibling. Still, she probably has the most experience babysitting, starting her “career” at the age of twelve when she offered to look after her brother David Michael when her mother was having difficulty finding a babysitter. She realized that by starting up the club, she could help out not just her mother, but all the parents in Stoneybrook. It could easily be considered the best of Kristy's great ideas.

As the President of the club, tomboy Kristy is a natural leader, and the other girls respect her a lot...but sometimes her leadership skills can turn into bossiness, and she admittedly has gotten into trouble with speaking when she probably should have kept quiet. But ultimately, she is definitely someone you want on your side when times are tough.



NOTE: Kristy's step-sister Karen was spun-off into her own series entitled “Baby-Sitters Little Sister”.



CLAUDIA KISHI – Club Vice-President

Japanese-American Claudia Kishi is the Vice-President of the club, and the main reason why Kristy appoints her club vice-president is because of all the girls, she is the only one who has her own phone line, and therefore can take all the calls for the club and even takes after-hours calls. So, I suppose you could say that Claudia is the one who books most of the jobs for the other girls. But Claudia is also very creative and trendy, and her fashion sense is probably one of the most unusual, but admired of all the girls at her school. She is also addicted to candy and Nancy Drew mysteries – neither of which her family approves of. In fact, Claudia has a difficult time relating to her family because they seem so incredibly different compared to her, and is devastated when her grandmother passes away. It is through the support of her friends that Claudia finds a sense of belonging through the work she does with the club.



MARY ANNE SPIER – Club Secretary

With her perfect handwriting and wonderful organizational skills, it was a no-brainer to make Mary Anne Spier the secretary of the club. In actuality, I think that Mary Anne was Ann M. Martin's favourite character to create – with good reason. After all, it was reported that Mary Anne was based on Ann M. Martin herself! Mary Anne is not one who likes to stand out and be the center of attention, but ironically she was the one who had storylines that made her get noticed! She was after all the first member of the club to become involved in a relationship with a boy. She ended up getting a makeover which set her apart from her near lookalike best friend, Kristy. And, she actually discovered a secret about herself in her grandparents' attic which completely changed everything she thought about herself. (Don't worry though...the secret wasn't that big.) She also happens to be the step-sister of Baby-Sitters Club member, Dawn.



STACEY MCGILL – Club Treasurer

Stacey is one of the four original members of the club, and also the only member to leave the club, come back, leave, and come back once more. Born in New York City, Stacey is the new girl in school when the Baby-Sitters Club first begins, and thanks to her New York upbringing, she is easily one of the most sophisticated dressers in her whole school – allowing her to share a deep friendship with Claudia. Stacey is extremely skilled in mathematics, making her the top pick for club treasurer. But Stacey is also battling diabetes and has several instances in which her diabetes has forced her to spend some time in hospital. Because she was picked on by her peers in New York about her diabetes, she is reluctant to tell the club about her disease, but when she finally does, Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne want her in the club anyway.



DAWN SCHAFER – Jill-of-all-trades

There's a reason why I put Dawn in as Jill-of-all-trades. She is basically the person that fills in for other roles when people leave the club. When Stacey moved away temporarily, she became the treasurer. And, she became an honourary member of the club when she herself temporarily moved back to California (where she was born). But she came back and found herself doing a whole lot of different tasks for the club.

I mean, when you consider that Mary Anne is her step-sister (Dawn's mother married Mary Anne's father), I suppose that there would always be a place for Dawn in the club regardless.

Not much else is mentioned about Dawn except that she is a vegetarian, addicted to health food (which I'm guessing must have caused a minor conflict with junk food obsessed Claudia), and is really committed to saving the environment.



MALLORY PIKE – Junior Officer/Honourary Member

I suppose if there were someone who could rival Kristy's experience with babysitting, it would be Mallory, who happens to be the oldest of EIGHT kids! But despite the birth order of the children, Mallory feels as though her parents still treat her as a child. She is also the only member of the Baby-Sitters club who is forced to wear glasses and braces, which makes her a little more self-conscious about her appearance than the other girls in the club. Her ultimate goal in life is to write and illustrate books for children, as she loves writing and art.



JESSICA 'JESSI' RAMSEY – Junior Officer

Initially when Jessi and her family moved to Stoneybrook, she wasn't exactly welcomed with the warmest wishes. In fact, in her first book appearance when she moved to town, some people were making racist comments towards her and her family because she was African-American, which sadly proves that sometimes racism can exist anywhere in the world. However, her friends in the Baby-Sitters Club welcomed her with open arms, and soon after, the rest of the community did too. Jessi's interests include horse stories (which bond her forever with Mallory), and ballet dancing. And Jessi is also fluent in American sign language, which helped her become the Braddock family's premier babysitter (as Matt Braddock was born deaf and can only communicate through sign language).



ABBY STEVENSON – Alternate Officer

The last of the girls to join the BSC, Abby moved to Stoneybrook just after Dawn moved back to California. She moved from Long Island with her mother and sister after her father's death in a car crash. An asthmatic, Abby is forced to carry inhalers and medication with her at all times to control her asthma, and while she and Kristy form a solid friendship, they also have a competitive spirit, with both of them wanting to be the best at everything! She and her sister Anna are both invited to join the club, but Abby is the only one who takes the BSC up on their offer.


And, there you have it. The eight girls that made up Stoneybrook's most successful babysitting club.

And, did you know that in 1995, the books were made into a film starring Schuyler Fisk, Larisa Oleynik, Rachael Leigh Cook, Bre Blair, Tricia Joe, Stacy Linn Ramsower, and Zelda Harris as Kristy, Dawn, Mary Anne, Stacey, Claudia, Mallory, and Jessi respectively? Here's the trailer below!


Friday, January 24, 2014

Kirk Cameron's "Growing Pain"

I find that the behind-the-scenes tales of sitcoms, film sets, and album recording sessions can sometimes be much more exciting than what you actually see on the show itself. I think that's why I like to add trivia facts to all of my Monday Matinee entries, or why I chose to do a feature on behind-the-scenes feuds on the set of soap operas. I guess a part of me finds these sorts of things intriguing because it shows all of us that no workplace is really all that immune to drama, gossip, and feuds. I mean, at every workplace that I have ever worked (and for that matter, every school that I attended as a student) had these kinds of things happening all the time. The only difference is that whereas most cases of bad behaviour in our own personal lives was kept quiet and swept under the rug, it's most definitely not the case in the world of entertainment.

These days, it's not uncommon for websites like TMZ, tabloids like The National Enquirer, and bloggers like Perez Hilton to report on the news that comes out of Hollywood before most press publications get the information. And, it seems as though these days, any scandal that comes out of Hollywood becomes public in about the same time it takes to post a picture on Instagram.

But if you go back in time about a quarter of a century, most people were genuinely shocked to discover news about their favourite sitcom stars that painted them in a negative light. Many people were blown away by the fact that the television sitcom that projected the illusion of the perfect middle-class American family was built on a foundation of lies and half-truths, which covered up a darker, more disturbing story.

And because there was no such thing as social media back in the 1980s, it often took a lot longer for stories to come out. Sometimes it took a few days...other times it would take years for the story to be told – much to the chagrin of the cast and crew that worked on the set, of course. But when the news broke, it was explosive.

I seem to remember one sitcom in particular that I really enjoyed watching as a little boy. It was a show that aired for seven years from 1985 until 1992 (or in terms of my own age, from the time I was four until the time I was eleven). I grew up watching this show, I loved this show. Heck, I think there may have been some instances in which I wanted to be a part of this sitcom family. It was classic 1980s television that was standard fare for the time period. You had a typical nuclear family in which both parents had successful jobs and had two or three perfect kids and the adventures that they would have in suburban America. That seemed to be the way of the television sitcom – well, until “Roseanne” and “Married...With Children” came along.



But the truth of the matter is that there were a lot of backstage antics behind the scenes of the ABC television sitcom “Growing Pains”. And, reading about all of the stuff that went on certainly painted the show in a bit of a negative light.

I mean, you've all heard most of the stories about Tracey Gold and her struggle with anorexia during the years that she was on the show. And, I'm sure that you have also heard that the show's production staff and writers certainly were no help to her at all, as the producers pressured Tracey into losing weight to stay on the show, and how the producers ordered the writers to insert fat jokes at Carol Seaver's (the character Tracey played on the show) expense. It was really a disgusting display, and the end result was that Tracey whittled down from a healthy weight of 133 pounds to a dangerously thin 80 pounds. Ironically enough, Tracey Gold was forced to leave the show by the showrunners for being too thin.

But did you know that there was another “Growing Pains” controversy that took place during the show's run? And, that this controversy starred a Seaver child, an actress who according to said Seaver child was too sinful to even share screen time with him, and by the end of the brouhaha, the actress was forced off the show, and three longtime producers of the show quite because they couldn't stand to work with the Seaver child.

Now, by all accounts, when “Growing Pains” first debuted in 1985, it was initially meant for the stars of the show to be Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, who played the mother and father of the Seaver family, Jason and Maggie. But sitcoms back in the 1980s were very unique in that quite often than not, it was the younger stars who would become the ultimate scene stealers, and have their faces all over the teen magazines and heartthrob posters. “The Hogan Family” had Jason Bateman. “Blossom” had Joey Lawrence. Heck, I'd even state that Gary Coleman was the real star of “Diff'rent Strokes”.



And “Growing Pains” had Kirk Cameron.

Now, I was a little young for the teenage scene when “Growing Pains” was on the air. I wasn't even a teenager when the show went off the air in 1992. But a lot of the girls in my fourth grade class used to read those Teen Beat magazines, or what have you, and I do seem to recall Kirk Cameron's image being plastered all over the front covers. Which I suppose makes some sense, as when “Growing Pains” first debuted, Kirk Cameron was fifteen years old. And certainly, Kirk Cameron appeared at first to be a squeaky-clean teen who all the girls loved to chase after. And to be absolutely fair, he was a good actor on the show, and I can see why after a couple of seasons the show soon focused every storyline around Mike Seaver.

By the way, acting seemed to run in the Cameron family. Kirk's younger sister, Candace, played D.J. Tanner on “Full House”, and Kirk made an appearance on the show in 1988 as D.J.'s cousin, Steve.

But, just a couple of years into the filming of “Growing Pains”, Kirk Cameron began to change...and according to his co-stars, production staff, and other people associated with the show, the changes were not necessarily good ones.



I suppose if one were to put a timeline as to when this change began to take place, one might think it was right around the time that Kirk Cameron made that guest appearance on “Full House”. According to Kirk Cameron himself, when he was younger he claimed to be an atheist – a person who did not believe in God, the hereafter, heaven and hell, etc. And, honestly that's fine. I have a few friends who are atheists who happen to be the most awesome people I know. But when he was seventeen, he began to believe in God again, and became a born-again Christian as a result of this. Again, that's cool. I have several friends who are of Christian faith, and they are again some of the most awesome people I know.

And do you know what makes them awesome? The fact that they keep their beliefs to themselves and don't try to push their beliefs onto other people in an effort to change the way that they think about things.

Somehow, Kirk Cameron didn't quite agree with that sentiment. In fact, many people believe that his return to Christianity caused so much tension on the set of “Growing Pains” that at least one recurring star was fired, and three producers walked off the show!

Let's start with the production aspects. Now, granted, it could have been because Kirk Cameron was still a teenager himself, and that he didn't have a whole lot of maturity back then – something that Kirk himself agreed to in adulthood. But he was often challenging the producers and writers of the show over how his character was written. If there were just a smidgen of sexual innuendo present in the script, Cameron would pitch a fit and demand that it be changed, because it conflicted with his own beliefs!

(I guess it's a good thing that Kirk Cameron never appeared on “Three's Company”!)

It became increasingly difficult for the production staff to write scripts that were acceptable for Cameron. And it wasn't as if the writers and producers were making Kirk Cameron crawl into bed naked with a girl on the show. It was, after all, a prime time sitcom, after all. Even his co-stars were beginning to get annoyed by his behaviour, with Alan Thicke even telling him that Christian entertainment might be a better fit for him. But Kirk Cameron remained true in his ways.

However, I suppose all of that could have been overlooked. After all, Kirk Cameron isn't the first star to demand control over how his character was to be played, and he certainly won't be the last either. And, I suppose that had he just had issues with the scripts, then all that people would be saying was that he was a brat. Not flattering, but not exactly anything that could be overcome either.

But when Kirk Cameron called the President of ABC to complain that three of the show's producers, Dan Guntzelman, Steve Marshall, and Mike Sullivan were actually peddling pornography with the script ideas they came up with (which if you Google those names, you can see several links pop up seemingly confirming this to be true), it was too much for those three producers and they decided to leave the show just before the seventh season was being filmed.

(Though, ironically enough, Steve Marshall was actually charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.)

That was bad! But this story is probably worse.



Now, I'm sure you know that in real life, Kirk Cameron ended up marrying actress Chelsea Noble, who had appeared on “Growing Pains” during the last two seasons of the show as Mike's love interest. But before Chelsea was cast, Mike Seaver had another girlfriend on the show. The character's name was Julie Costello, and the actress playing her was Julie McCullough. Now, when Julie won the role of Julie Costello in 1989, it was her first major role on a television series, and during the eight episodes of the show that she appeared on, fans really seemed to like her. They liked the love story between Mike and Julie, and I imagine that many people wanted them to end up together by the time the series ended.

Little did we know that behind the scenes, Kirk Cameron was doing everything in his power to get Julie off the show for good!

You see, there was one teensy weensy thing about Julie that made Kirk shun her. Back in the early 1980s, Julie was trying her hand at being a fashion model, and after graduating from high school, she was convinced by a photographer to pose nude for Playboy Magazine, and between 1985 and 1989, she made four appearances as a Playboy Playmate.

Now these days, being a Playboy Playmate is not a big deal at all. In fact, many stars have appeared on Playboy in hopes that it will get them MORE career opportunities. I mean, just look at Drew Barrymore for instance. She appeared in the magazine when her career was in a lull, and now she's one of the most respected actresses of this generation!

But in the 1980s, things were still very conservative, and people were still quite disturbed over someone appearing in what they called a “nudie mag” or “porno mag”. And certainly when Kirk Cameron found out that the woman playing his on-screen girlfriend had appeared as a Playboy centerfold, I can only imagine that it darn near caused Kirk Cameron to have a mini panic attack!

Needless to say, Julie McCullough was fired from “Growing Pains” in early 1990. But now, here's where the story gets muddled. According to Kirk's autobiography, “Still Growing”, Kirk Cameron always maintained that Julie was never meant to be a long-term character and that she would have been let go after eight episodes anyway. But according to Julie McCullough herself, she explained that Kirk was very much disgusted by her Playboy past, demanded that she be fired, and this incident was what spawned the “all my executive producers are promoting pornography” incident, which saw Guntzelman, Marshall, and Sullivan to quit.

And although Kirk Cameron has since apologized to his entire on-screen family for his antics back then, McCullough never received one from Cameron. In fact, Julie stated that Kirk Cameron actually snubbed her when they happened to cross paths after “Growing Pains” had wrapped up.

And Julie issued this statement about Kirk Cameron on her own MySpace page several years ago that basically says how much respect she has for him.

“He thinks if I read science books that I'll be going to Hell. [I would] rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints...the sinners are much more fun. And a lot more interesting than some book-burner who is still having growing pains. I am at peace with God. Kirk thinks people like me are going to Hell, if I do then at least I'll go well informed and well read.”

Ouch!



Of course, these days, we all know that Kirk Cameron has fully embraced his evangelical Christian beliefs by starring in the “Left Behind” series of films, and starting up “The Firefly Foundation” with his wife, Chelsea Noble. But he's also caused recent controversy with his remarks on homosexuality and how he believes it is wrong. And that certainly caused a lot of discussion about it.

In fact, several former child actors including Brice Beckham, Christine Lakin, Jeremy Licht, and Maureen Flannigan filmed a video in response to Kirk Cameron. And, well...I can't resist posting it. Enjoy! (May be NSFW due to language.)


Thursday, January 23, 2014

I'm Sick of Being Charlie Brown




I'm going to be completely honest with all of you.  This video blog started off as being one thing, but evolved into being a completely different thing altogether.  This blog entry may be titled "I'm Sick Of Being Charlie Brown", and at the tail end of this piece, you'll see what I mean (so if you just want the Charlie Brown message, skip ahead to the halfway mark of the video if you like.  I won't be offended).



But the first part talked about how I didn't want to be an adult on the day that I filmed the video and how I just wanted to go back to being a kid for one day.  But then, the more I talked about some of the pop culture trends that influenced me when I was a kid, the more it steered towards the realization that I've been considered a Charlie Brown kind of character in my own life, and how being that way hasn't really been the most exciting or wonderful way to go through life.

So, I suppose that if you look at it, this is kind of a double video blog entry which has two entirely different topics merged into one superblog.

(Did I just say the word 'superblog'?)

Anyway, if you're interested in pop culture ramblings, watch the first half.  If you want the Charlie Brown story, watch the second.  And, if you're really looking for something to do, watch the whole thing!




By the way, now that I've gotten this post out in the open, it's sort of inspired my next video piece which you will see next Thursday.  And, I think that it could be an ambitious, if not creative project.

Of course...I say that about EVERY piece I write.  At any rate, take care, all!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Caribbean Queen - No More Love On The Run

I've decided to go with an all new look for the year 2014 in the blog, and I thought that I would also give the Whatever Wednesday logo a little bit of a revamp as well.



How do you like it? I think it turned out great. It's amazing just how cool things can look with just a little bit of basic Paint Shop skills. Just imagine what I could do if I had more advanced skills in digital art?

Hey, I have to talk myself up every now and again, right?

Okay, so I'm sure that those of you who are regular followers of the blog know what the Whatever Wednesday entry is about. But for those of you who might just be tuning into the blog for the first time, I'll go over it once more.

You remember the board game Clue? And, you know how the game of Clue has six different suspect cards? Well, I've assigned one of the regular theme days for all six character cards, and every Wednesday, I randomly select one character card. Whatever card I draw for that week corresponds with the subject of the blog.

Just to recap, the cards are...

Miss Scarlet – Sunday Jukebox
Colonel Mustard – Monday Matinee
Professor Plum – Thursday Diary
Mrs. Peacock – Friday Night On The Tube
Mr. Green – Saturday Smorgasbord Wks. 1-2
Mrs. White – Saturday Smorgasbord Wks. 3-5

Now you know why red, yellow, white, green, blue, and purple are the most dominant colours of the logo.

So, let's see what we'll be talking about this week...



Aha...this week's card is the Miss Scarlet card. So, what this means is that we're going to be adding a little bit of music to the mix.

Which is actually a good thing, because I have a story to tell you.

You know how yesterday, I decided to do a blog entry on the DeLorean, as it first rolled off of the production line on January 21, 1981. Well, as interesting a story as it was, and as glad as I am that I chose that topic, I do have a confession to make. It wasn't originally going to be my first choice. Indeed, I had another topic (one that happened to be music related) as the subject for the Tuesday Timeline. But after I started reading articles about the DeLorean, I decided at the last minute to switch things up.

So, I thought that for today's edition of the blog, I would talk about the topic that I left on the cutting room floor, because I think that it's also another interesting story to tell. And, besides...I have to admit that this singer – who turned 64 years old yesterday – is someone who I consider to be a sort of guilty pleasure artist. Would I readily admit to listening to his music and loving it? Well, until now, not really. However, I will also be the first to admit that he made a ton of danceable songs that I am always going back and listening to. Though he has been in the music industry since 1976, his peak was the five year period between 1984 and 1989.

Now, this singer was born on January 21, 1950 in Trinidad and Tobago under the name Leslie Sebastian Charles.  But you'd probably know him better by his stage name, which he adopted from a building known as the Ocean Estate in the East End of London, where he once lived.




Yes, we're going to be featuring the singer known as Billy Ocean, who had a string of successful hit singles from the mid to late 1980s, and who happens to have the song that we'll be featuring today!

But before we get to the song, let's talk a little bit about the man.  I already revealed that he was born in Trinidad and Tobago in the community of Fyzabad, but by the time that he was eight years old, his family had relocated to the United Kingdom, in Romford, Essex.


Being that he was the son of a musician, I suppose it came naturally for Billy Ocean to pursue a career in the musical arts.  By the time he was a teenager, he was working two jobs.  By day, he was a tailor in Savile Row, but by night, he was touring the club scene in London, singing at every possible venue he could book!  He certainly was an ambitious youth.

Still, his first love was singing, and when he was twenty-two, he released his first single - as Les Charles.  And he even secured a manager to represent him in John Morphew when he was first starting out.  However, by the time that Ocean had released his first double A-side single, the style of music that he was accustomed to (slow ballads) were out of style and being replaced with disco and punk rock, and the partnership between Morphew and Ocean ended almost as quickly as it had began.


Of course, Ocean refused to give up on his dream.  He changed his stage name, released the "Billy Ocean" album in 1976, and immediately scored a #2 UK hit with "Love Really Hurts Without You".  That single also became a top 30 hit in the United States as well, with the single peaking at #22 on the Billboard Charts.  And over the next eight years, Billy Ocean would have a string of successful singles in the United Kingdom.

But it wouldn't be until 1984 that Billy Ocean would have global success.  And to think that this would be the song that would catapult Ocean into super stardom.






ARTIST:  Billy Ocean
SONG:  Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)
ALBUM:  Suddenly
DATE RELEASED:  September 7, 1984
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

Now, there's actually a reason why I decided to choose this song over all the others.  I suppose the main reason why I picked this single is because it was truly the first single that kicked off a five year run of hit singles for Billy Ocean.  But it's not the only reason.

Truth be told, there's a lot of interesting pieces of trivia about this particular song, and plus, it's a song that I absolutely love.

I mean, sure, I could have chosen any Billy Ocean song, really.  But they just didn't have as many pieces of intersting information linked to them.  I could have chosen "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car", which on its own is a fantastic song - but the only thing I know about this song is that it was used in a series of Mazda commercials.  Hardly entertaining.

"Loverboy" was another brilliant single by Billy Ocean, but unfortunately, I could not find any info on that single either.  And, while I admit that I love the message behind "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going", I could not stand the movie "The Jewel of the Nile", in which this song appears, so it kind of soured my stance on that song.

(I'm just now realizing that Billy Ocean may just very well have some of the longest song titles ever released.  Only "Primitive Radio Gods" have a single that has a longer title - at least to my knowledge".)

So, "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" was really the only option I had.  Which is fine by me.  Considering that as I type this, the temperature outside is a balmy -24 degrees Celsius, I'm thinking that most people in my area would love to go to the Caribbean right about now!

So, what's cool about this single?  Well, everything really.  The music video is spectacularly done, even by 1984 standards, and seeing how calm, cool, and debonair Billy Ocean is, it's easy to see why the song became so popular.  You see, 1984 was a rather interesting year in music.  It was the year in which Cyndi Lauper and Madonna dominated the charts and encouraged other female singers to make their mark on the music scene.  Heavy metal was also big during that year with Van Halen and Bon Jovi making the scene.  And of course, the British New Wave Invasion continued as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and Wham! continued to have huge chart success in 1984.

But 1984 was also the year that a lot of adult contemporary music began to make appearances on the chart.  I definitely wouldn't consider "Caribbean Queen" to be a song that was hard rock of any kind.  In fact, that song can now mostly be heard on easy listening stations.  In fact, I think the whole period between 1984 and 1988 saw a lot of easy listening songs reach the top of the charts.  Not that I was complaining.  Those songs were a huge part of my childhood.  And I think one of the main factors behind 1980s music was being comfortable in your own skin.  After all, the music video generation began in the early 1980s, and people began to associate good music with good music videos.  And, I think that by watching the video for "Caribbean Queen", it really showed off Billy Ocean's confidence.  The dude had swagger, what can I say?

And this single was certainly a rewarding one for Billy Ocean.  Not only did the song become a #1 hit for Ocean in November 1984, but it also became an award-winning hit.  Billy Ocean won the Grammy Award for "Best Male R&B Vocal Performance" in 1985 - the first British artist to take home the honour.  How is that for impressive?  I'd say that "Caribbean Queen" was a huge success.

But wait...do I detect a mistake in the music video?  Here, look very closely at the music video.  Particularly in the scene in which Billy starts singing the "Caribbean Queen" chorus for the first time as he descends down the backstage staircase.



Is it just me, or does that poster actually say "EUROPEAN QUEEN"?

And just to confuse us even more, just a couple of seconds later, the scene cuts away and returns with the poster reading "CARIBBEAN QUEEN!"  



OMG, IT'S MAGIC!

(And, yes, I am using Windows XP for my screenshots.  Do not judge.  I'm merely waiting for this computer to kick the bucket so I have an excuse to buy a new one.)

Well, not really.  Turns out that "Caribbean Queen" was just one of THREE different versions that Billy Ocean recorded.  Now, the version that all of us living in North America were used to was the "Caribbean Queen" version...which makes sense, given that the Caribbean lies just outside of North America.  But if you lived anywhere in Europe circa 1984, you would have likely heard the song "European Queen", which was more or less the same exact song as "Caribbean Queen", only you swap out the word Caribbean with the word European.  And, that's not all.  Apparently in South Africa, the song "African Queen" peaked at #7 there.  It's a wonder that Ocean didn't release "South American Queen", "Australian Queen", or "Antarctic Queen".  Get all the continents represented!

But, you know, regardless of what version you grew up listening to, it was still a great song.



These days, Billy Ocean still does singing, though not as much as he used to.  He is currently a patron for Tech Music Schools in London, and frequently hosts clinics and seminars for its music students.  And his latest album, "Here You Are", was released in April 2013.

But that's not to say that Billy has been entirely quiet.  He did earn an honourary doctorate of music from the University of Westminster in 2002, worked with R. Kelly on some musical endeavours, and was presented with the MOBO (Music of Black Origin Award) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to music in 2010.

And, that wraps up our look back at Billy Ocean and his Caribbean Queen.  Or, is it European?  Or, African?

Oh, yeah...one last thing.  I couldn't find any information about whether Billy Ocean actually had someone in mind when he performed Caribbean Queen.  But wouldn't it be fun to speculate just exactly who it could be about?  I'm interested in hearing your theories!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

January 21, 1981

I can't believe that it's already twenty-one days into the brand new year! Already I see great hope for 2014 being a year of great joy. Well, at least I can hope to be optimistic about it. No sense of looking at a year with a pessimistic outlook on things, right? I mean, nobody ever looked at a year and thought it would be bad right from the get-go. Nobody ever said, “Gee, I hope 1976 is just as bad of a year as 1975!” or “Let's make 1992 the worst year ever!”, or “If I can make 2001 the worst year I've ever had, then 2002 can only go up from here!”

I know. Crazy talk, right?

I don't know...I just feel so optimistic about this year. Time will tell whether that optimism is warranted, but here's hoping anyway.

Of course, as good as it is to look towards the future, sometimes it can be fun to flip through the pages of history to the past to see what events transpired that brought us to where we are now. That's why I love the Tuesday Timeline a lot. And judging by the page views I get each Tuesday, all of you seem to love it as well.

So, let's check and see what has been going on throughout the pages of history on this, the twenty-first day of January.

1535 – French Protestants are burned at the stake in front of Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral following the Affair of the Placards

1720 – The Treaty of Stockholm is signed by both Sweden and Prussia

1749 – Fire completely destroys the Verona Philharmonic Theatre

1789 - “The Power of Sympathy or The Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth” becomes the first American novel to be printed

1793 – Louis XVI is executed by guillotine after being found guilty of treason

1824 – American General Stonewall Jackson (d. 1863) is born in Clarksburg, Virginia

1861 – Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate

1905 – Fashion designer Christian Dior (d. 1957) is born in Granville, France

1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place

1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, Michigan

1922 – Actor Telly Savalas (d. 1994) is born in Garden City, New York

1938 – Famous radio disc jockey Wolfman Jack (d. 1995) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1942 - “War” composer Edwin Starr (d. 2003) is born in Nashville, Tennessee

1948 – The first annual Quebec Flag Day is held as the Quebec flag is flown for the first time

1960 – Tragedy strikes Montego Bay, Jamaica as Avianca Flight 671 crashes, killing 37 people on board

1965 – Run D.M.C.'s Jam Master Jay (b. 1965 with the name Jason Mizell) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1968 – The Battle of Khe Sanh takes place during the Vietnam War

1976 – The commercial service of Concorde begins with routes opening up between London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio

1998 – Jack Lord of Hawaii Five-O dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 77

1999 – The United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with almost 10,000 pounds of cocaine aboard in what would be one of the largest drug busts in American history

2002 - “Fever” singer Peggy Lee dies at the age of 81

2005 – Riots take place in the country of Belize due to unrest over governmental taxes

And here are the stars who are turning one year older today! Happy birthday to Ann Wedgeworth, John Savident, Jack Nicklaus, Placido Domingo, Jill Eikenberry, Billy Ocean, Paul Allen, Robby Benson, Geena Davis, Charlotte Ross, Ken Leung, Charlene “Tweet” Keys, Cat Power, Rove McManus, Emma Bunton, Jerry Trainor, Bryan Gilmour, Phil Stacey, Spider Loc, Dany Heatley, and Laura Robson.

And, what date will we be visiting this week?



Well, we will be going back in time thirty-three years to January 21, 1981!

And, to give you a clue, watch this movie clip.



Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. “Back To The Future” was actually released in 1985, not 1981. But what if I told you that one of the things in the clip was actually first released thirty-three years ago today?

Well, it's not Michael J. Fox. He was born in 1961. And, it's not Christopher Lloyd either. He was born in 1938. So, what could it be?

Ah...yes. What about the time traveling machine that both Marty McFly and Doc Brown used to transport to Hill Valley, California during the years 1885, 1955, and 2015? I believe that the car that was used was the DeLorean DMC-12.

A car that first started being produced on January 21, 1981!

In this edition of the Tuesday Timeline, we'll take a look at the car that was like something out of the future. A car that became famous two years after production stopped on the car. We'll also take a look at the creator of the car, as well as the criminal record he accumulated along the way!

So, who was the brainchild behind the DeLorean DMC-12?



Well, it was this man up above. John DeLorean.

And, I should note that before John DeLorean came up with the design for the DeLorean DMC-12, he had his hand in designing other cars for various automobile companies.  If your first car was a Pontiac GTO, Pontiac Firebird, Pontiac Grand Prix, or Chevrolet Vega, then the person to thank was John DeLorean.  He helped design every single one of those cars!

And, John DeLorean certainly made a fortune working for Pontiac and Chevrolet.  By the time he moved to his position as head of General Motors' Chevrolet line in 1969, he was taking home an impressive $200,000 a year, with the chance to take home annual bonuses of up to twice that salary.  Certainly, DeLorean made his education from the Lawrence Institute of Technology work to his advantage, and by the time the 1970s were winding down, John DeLorean was easily considered to be one of the most successful American businessmen of the decade.

In 1973, John DeLorean decided to leave General Motors and try his hand at running his own motor company.  It took him a couple of years to make that dream happen, but on October 24, 1975, the DeLorean Motor Company (or DMC) opened for business.  And John DeLorean knew that in order to make his company globally known, he would have to come up with a car design that was unlike any other in the world.  A car that blended classic automobile design with a sleeker, futuristic look.

Enter the blueprint for the DeLorean DMC-12 - simply referred to as the DeLorean.



And what a car it was too!  It was the only car in the market to feature gull-winged doors, which opened upward instead of outward.  The underbody was completely made of fiberglass, and had non-structural brushed stainless steel panels affixed to it.  And the first models started rolling off the production line in January 1981.

But the idea for the design of the car was born five years earlier, in 1976.

In October of that year, the first prototype for the DeLorean was completed by DMC chief engineer William T. Collins.  And, by the time the final product was designed, the only major change in the design was the engine.  Originally meant to operate on a Citroen Wankel rotary engine, it was later re-designed to operate on V6 technology.  Also, the engine shifted position from the middle of the car to the rear.

It was also planned for the car to implement a new technology known as Elastic Reservoir Moulding which would lighten the car and lower production costs.  DeLorean himself had purchased the patent rights to this new process.  Ultimately, it was not used as tests proved that it was unsuitable for the car.

And, it was also rumoured that the car was not initially going to be called the DMC-12.  According to James Espey, some of the car's first blueprints had the name "Z Tavio" written on them - which would have made sense, as Z stood for "Zachary" (DeLorean's middle name and the name of his first born son), and Tavio was his father's name.  But ultimately, the name DeLorean DMC-12 stuck.

Now, DeLorean needed cash to make the DeLorean project get off the ground, and he enlisted some celebrities to assist him with the fundraising efforts, including talk show host Johnny Carson and singer/actor Sammy Davis Jr.  With his celebrity friends investing in the company, DeLorean soon had enough to build the factory that would make the cars, which was located in the city of Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, located just outside of Belfast.

And then as you know, by 1981, the DeLorean began being produced, and had an original price $12,000 when it first hit the market.  Actually, that's part of the reason why the name DMC-12 was chosen...the twelve stood for the number of thousands of dollars it  was supposed to be sold at.  However, by the time the car hit American dealers, new DeLoreans were retailing for twenty five thousand dollars!

Now, to some of you, $25,000 for a new car seems reasonable.  But this was in 1981 dollars.  If you took that price and converted it into 2014 dollars, it would cost just over $64,000!  That's the kind of car you'd find at the end of the Golden Road game on "The Price Is Right"!


But here's the thing about the DeLorean.  Only about 9,600 DeLorean DMC-12's were ever made.  Production for the car stopped for good in 1983 - two years before the movie "Back to the Future" was released in theatres.

Which begs the question...if the DeLorean was made even more cool after "Back to the Future" was made in 1985, why didn't the DeLorean Motor Company make more?

Well, I suppose it would be difficult to do if your car company was shut down because its CEO was being charged with a serious crime, now wouldn't it?




Alas, that's what happened to John DeLorean.  In the summer of 1982, DeLorean met with a man by the name of James Hoffman to discuss an investment opportunity.  At that time, despite the fact that DeLorean had much public interest in the DeLorean DMC-12, his company was still struggling to stay afloat, and DeLorean was hoping that this meeting would take his company through the rest of the 1980s.

The problem was that this investment opportunity involved cocaine smuggling.


All DeLorean really had to do was put up front a cash sum, and he would be guaranteed that money would start flowing in once more.  But then the whole disaster became like a soap opera with DeLorean having second thoughts, and him trying to back out of his commitment to the deal, and with his family being threatened with death, and it just spiralled out of control.  By October 1982, DeLorean had had enough, and he was charged with drug trafficking by the United States government after he had written a letter to his attorney explaining everything.

Now, amazingly enough, DeLorean avoided having to serve any jail time for the whole escapade.  With DeLorean using a procedural defense, he argued that the FBI had enticed a convicted narcotics smuggler (Hoffman) to get him to supply the money to buy the cocaine needed to complete the cycle.  But since DeLorean never admitted to giving Hoffman a penny of his money, there was absolutely no proof that a crime had been committed at all.  In August of 1984, DeLorean was found not guilty, but the damage had already been done.  His company had all but collapsed, the DeLorean DMC-12's value was dropping faster than the stock market in October 1929, and by 1999, he had declared personal bankruptcy.

He died of a stroke on March 19, 2005 at the age of 80.

Interestingly enough though, if one were to look at the White Chapel Church in Troy, Michigan where DeLorean's remains are buried, they might be surprised to see a DeLorean tombstone with the gull-wings open.  I suppose that it makes sense.  After all, it was because of that car that his name was associated with (and to some extent still is).




A car that first began mass production on January 21, 1981.