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Sunday, March 09, 2014

One Sweet Day

Okay, so I've got a lot to cover in today's Sunday Jukebox, so I won't waste any more time here.

Firstly, for those of you who were affected by the time change earlier today in which you set your clocks ahead one whole hour, I just want to say that there are some good points and some bad points for today.

To get the bad out of the way, I realize that some of you might be cranky about the lost hour.  Some of us (myself included) love to get our sleep, and having one hour of the day being taken away is not a good thing.  And, for those of you unlucky enough to have a March 9 birthday, your day will only last for twenty-three hours.  What a gyp!  I think that's worth an extra gift or a larger slice of cake, don't you?



But look at it this way.  The loss of an hour means the beginning of longer days, and longer days mean that we no longer wake up in complete darkness.  And, this means that spring is just around the corner...which is welcome relief for people in my neck of the woods, where we were all subjected to the evil "polar vortex" that made us wonder if winter was ever going to end.

As of right now, we're still wondering...



Secondly, I want to divert your attention to this Facebook page, if only for a moment.  It's a Facebook page for an eleven-year-old boy named Colin, whose mother started up a birthday page for him so that people from all over the world could wish him a very happy birthday.  The story can be found on the page if you click on it.  It will only take a couple of seconds, but if you could go on this page, and just wish Colin a very happy birthday, I think it would be a really great idea.  I already sent my greeting in, and I am hoping that he sees it.  At last count, the page had over two million likes!

Regardless, it's still a cool thing to do.

Okay, so now we're going to go ahead with today's Sunday Jukebox entry, and for this week's entry, we're going to be featuring a song that was recorded by not one, not two, but five different people!  It was a song that spent some time on the charts in two different calendar years, and it currently holds the record of being the longest running #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 charts!

But just how long did this song stay on the top of the charts?  Let's find out, shall we?



ARTIST:  Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
SONG:  One Sweet Day
ALBUM:  Daydream
DATE RELEASED:  November 14, 1995
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 16 weeks!

No, that isn't a typo.  The song really did spent a whopping sixteen weeks at the #1 position between December 2, 1995 and March 16, 1996.  That's a little more than one-third of my whole ninth grade year, people! 

Though, I can see why the song was so popular.  It was recorded by two of the biggest artists of the mid-1990s, and the song subject is one that most everybody can relate to.



Just picture it.  One one side, you had Mariah Carey, who exploded onto the music scene in 1990 with her self-titled debut.  Between 1990 and 1995, she managed to get a total of nine #1 singles with songs like "Vision of Love", "Emotions", "I'll Be There", and "Dreamlover".  By 1995, she was easily considered to be one of the top female vocalists of the decade.



On the other side, you had the equally successful R&B group Boyz II Men, which included band members Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, and Shawn Stockman.  Although the group - which formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and released their debut album in 1991 - didn't have as many #1 hits as Mariah Carey, the ones they did have certainly made an impact on the charts.  Their single "End of the Road" broke records when it lasted a whopping thirteen weeks on the top of the Billboard charts in late 1992.  Two years later, the group would break that record when "I'll Make Love To You" stayed on the pole position for fourteen weeks.

Who knew that when Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men collaborated together in late 1995 that the song would become Mariah's tenth #1 single, and Boyz II Men would break their chart record once more? 

Anyway, the song was written as a collaborative effort between Boyz II Men and Carey, and was inspired by the loss of one of Carey's dearest friends, record producer David Cole.  Cole had passed away in January 1995 due to spinal meningitis brought upon by complications from the AIDS virus, and it got Carey thinking about a way to honour Cole's memory, as well as the lives of all of those who passed away before their time from AIDS and other illnesses.  Carey had the melody and chorus already composed by the time she met up with Boyz II Men to polish the final song, and upon realizing that Boyz II Men had a similar idea for a single, they combined both their ideas to come up with the finished composition for "One Sweet Day".

Mariah Carey spoke about the songwriting experience in an interview with Chris Nickson, who wrote the book "Mariah Carey Revisited:  Her Story" in 1998;

"I wrote the initial idea for 'One Sweet Day' with Walter (Afanasieff), and I had the chorus...and I stopped and said, 'I really wanna do this with Boyz II Men,' because...obviously I'm a big fan of theirs and I just thought that the work was crying out for them, the vocals that they do, so I put it away and said, 'Who knows if this could ever happen, but I just don't wanna finish this song because I want it to be our song if we ever do it together. [The] whole idea of when you lose people that are close to you, it changes your life and changes your perspective. When they came into the studio, I played them the idea for the song and when [it] was finished, they looked at each other, a bit stunned, and told me that Nat (Nathan Morris) had written a song for his road manager who had passed away. It had basically the same lyrics and fitted over the same chord changes. It was really, really weird, we finished the song right then and there. We were all kinda flipped about it ourselves. Fate had a lot to do with that. I know some people won't believe it, but we wouldn't make up such a crazy story."

Here's something interesting to note about the music video.  Although the video you see for this song looks professionally done, it's technically not an official video.  Because Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey had both released albums in 1994 and 1995 respectively, and both artists were doing promotional tours for their respective albums at the time, so therefore, the window of opportunity in which both Carey and Boyz II Men would be free was very narrow.  So, as a result, director Larry Jordan was brought onto the soundstage where "One Sweet Day" was being recorded, and a film crew was there to film the whole session.  It was a simple video, but very effective.  Sometimes simplistic really is best.

Now, I've already mentioned that this song currently holds the record for longest time spent at the top of the Billboard charts, with sixteen consecutive weeks.  But did you know that the song also topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand?  And, that it hit the top ten in thirteen different countries overall?  And that the song sold over two million copies overall since it was released in November 1995? 

Now, here's where a little bit of controversy erupts.  It's not major, but it had a lot of people scratching their heads in bewilderment, especially Mariah Carey.  At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards which were held in 1996, the song "One Sweet Day" was performed live, and the song itself was nominated for six awards.  But in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Grammy Awards, the song did not pick up one single award! 

But even so, the song was still a masterpiece in the world of Top 40 music.  It is easily the biggest hit of both Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men.  It was performed at the funeral services of Princess Diana in September 1997, and was performed at Mariah's BET Christmas Special in 2001.  And, all seven finalists on American Idol's seventh season performed this song during the season's "Mariah Carey" week. 

But most importantly, the song serves as a perfect single to remember those we lost way too soon.  I know I certainly have a few people in my life who have passed away before they were supposed to, and I am sure that everyone else here has someone that they lost and miss every day of their lives.

Therefore, this post is dedicated to those who left this world...and to all of us in hopes that one day, we'll be able to see them again.

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Perfection - Oh, How I Hated You, But Loved You...

Today's blog entry is going to be short and sweet.  It's going to feature a type of game that I used to play when I was a little kid, and it was one of those games that inspired a love-hate relationship.

I guess you could consider this game to be a marriage of convenience between two kinds of people.  On one side of the cake topper, you have the man (or woman) who is always pleasant to be around, who always makes people smile, and who everybody wants to get to know.  On the other side, you have the woman (or man) who is loud, obnoxious, angry, and who you would probably want to go out of your way to avoid.  You'd think that this couple has nothing in common and that it would be a marriage that is doomed to fail, and yet somehow, this couple still makes it work.

Well, in the case of this game, the marriage of convenience combines one thing I absolutely love, and one thing I absolutely hate, and turns it into a board game that simultaneously challenged and frightened children all over the world.



Okay, so let's start by talking about the thing about this game (which I promise I'll reveal in time) that I love.  As far back as I can remember, I have always loved putting together puzzles.  Even though there was that one traumatic incident in kindergarten where I was being a brat and purposely dumped every single jigsaw puzzle inside of one of the toy boxes inside the classroom and was forced to stay inside during recess to put them all back together, I still didn't mind it.  There was just something about putting puzzles together that made me feel calmer.  I think that's why I loved playing with Rubik's Cubes as a kid (even though I still can't figure out how in the world to solve the puzzle).  I think that's why I loved playing video games like Tetris and Final Fantasy.  I think that's why I like doing the occasional crossword puzzle, Sudoku puzzle, or even those juvenile Jumble comic strips in the newspaper.  Puzzles make me very happy, and I can't imagine a world where puzzles are taken away.

Now, let's talk about one thing that I hate more than anything in the world.  Being put under pressure to succeed.  I am one of those people who gets incredibly anxious when it comes to making deadlines.  If I don't get something turned in by the time it was due in class, it made for some interesting thoughts prior to turning in homework assignments.  It was as if I didn't turn in my eight-page essay on the War of 1812, something terrible would happen to me, and I would not be able to escape.

Which, granted, in reality, I would have likely gotten an F for the assignment, flunked the class, and had to repeat tenth grade history...which I suppose would sort of be like being unable to escape...oh, you know what, forget I said anything.



The point is that I get too incredibly anxious when it comes to performing any sort of task under pressure.  Even when I'm watching television and I have to see a character try to disarm a bomb, or when I am playing a video game and I only have a specific time limit to complete the task.  Those are moments in which I really struggle, and I would just rather not have the added pressure of having a limited amount of time to do something.

(Of course, if I'm serious about pursuing a writing career, I suppose having deadlines is something that I will have to get used to.)

So, here's what we have.  I have a love of puzzles, but a hatred of time limits.  So, I bet that a board game that makes you try to put a puzzle together in a limited amount of time would be one of the most frustrating things that I could ever play.

And, you would be correct.



I introduce you to the board game "Perfection".  A game that has made many people lose their minds, curse their timing, and saw kids go completely crazy since 1975.

And, wouldn't you know it?  I used to own this game.  I owned this game, but couldn't bring myself to play it the way it was supposed to be played because the sound the board would make when the time ran out scared me so much!  I would literally run screaming out of the room because it was so shocking!

Okay, so here's how the game of Perfection worked.  And, I realize that for most of you, this is a redundant exercise as you all know how to play it.  But in case you don't, here's the description.

You have a game board that features a platform which falls and rises.  Inside this platform are twenty-five different holes cut out in various shapes.  And, naturally, you have twenty-five puzzle pieces that fit into the various holes.  The object of the game is to take each of the puzzle pieces and put them into the platform so that all the holes are filled.  Sounds ridiculously simple, doesn't it?

But you see that little device on the top of the board game?  The one on the top left corner that resembles a microwave timer from the 1980s?  Well, you're supposed to push the platform down and set the timer for one minute.  You're supposed to then start the game when the timer starts, and you only have sixty seconds to get every single puzzle piece into their respective holes.  If you succeed before the time runs out, the clock stops, and your time is record.  It's only when you fail that the really bad stuff happens.






For the minute the time runs out, the platform pops up suddenly and sends puzzle pieces flying with a loud bang! 

That loud bang was what freaked me out every single time I played Perfection!  It got to the point where I would purposely cheat by stopping the clock at fifty-nine seconds just so I didn't have to hear that sound!  Terrifying!

But in all seriousness, this game was what people played before timed runs on video games and racing tracks.  When you had a group of people playing the game, it was cool to try and compete against each other to see who could get the fastest time.  And, admittedly when I was in my college years, there very well may have been a couple of instances in which people tried to play the game while intoxicated.  I never took part, but it certainly made for some interesting people-watching, let me tell you.





Oh, and for people who liked more of a challenge, there was a game called "Superfection", which played almost the same way as the regular game...only much harder.  Instead of twenty-five pieces of the same colour, you had thirty-two pieces of red, blue, green, and yellow that you had to piece together into sixteen multi-coloured cubes.  And, the timer was double to a two-minute limit.  But still...putting together thirty-two puzzle pieces into sixteen cubes in two minutes?  Could anyone do it?

(I did it in a minute fifty-eight.  Talk about cutting it close!)


EDITED TO ADD:  Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour at 2:00 in the morning on Sunday, March 9.  Unless you live in Arizona, where daylight savings time does not exist.  

Friday, March 07, 2014

The Joys of Daytime Television When You're Sick

Heddo, eberybody!  I'm sobby for typing like dis, but my dose is all stuffed up because of dis stupid head code.  I tell you, I hade being sick.  Nodding good ever comes from being sick.  I feel like I have a duck stubbed up my dose, and my head is so heaby, and I'm habing a hard dime breathing oud of my dose, and I cadnt keeb my eyes oben.



(Wait a minute.  It's my voice that only sounds like that.  Why the hell am I typing the way I talk?  Damn cough meds.)

Ahem.

Okay, so as you might have guessed just by the attempt at an opening paragraph that I am still trying to get over a cold.  Believe it or not, I'm not the kind of person who whines about being sick. 

Much.

Okay, okay, so we all have had our moments when it comes to getting over illnesses.  And, in my case, I can be a little bit of a "Moaning Myrtle" so to speak (pardon the Harry Potter reference there).  I think part of the reason why I don't have the best personality when I am feeling sick is because I'm the kind of person who very rarely gets sick.  I managed to avoid getting colds and flu bugs for the most part, and for what it was worth, I didn't really take that many sick days when I was in school.

(Mainly because I actually skipped several classes in my school years because of bullying issues.  I don't recommend that for anyone though...my case was unique.)





But whenever I was feeling poorly, I was definitely not a person who took it well.  I've gotten better at handling colds and flu bugs as the years pass by, but it's still not a great experience to go through.  When I was younger, I was whiny, I was sore, I was cranky, and I was bored.  Seriously, there's only so much television that you can watch when you're lying on the living room couch with a box of Kleenex and a bowl of chicken noodle soup within reach.

Oh, and I still remember that when I first watched the miniseries based on Stephen King's "The Stand", I actually was getting over the flu.  And considering that the book is about a superflu bug that kills 99.4% of the world's population, it wasn't exactly one of the best things to watch. 

But, you want to know what was fun?  At least, what was fun to watch when I was a kid?  Daytime television.

You know something?  Daytime television in the early 1990s was a lot of fun to watch, because back in those days, it seemed as though there were a lot more choices available to watch even though at that time, we only had a grand total of about 42 channels on television.

(And, prior to the 1990s, we only had twelve channels - my parents didn't get cable television until 1988.)

And, well...since I'm feeling under the weather today, I thought that I'd go back in time to when I was in grade school and I used to be able to watch daytime television when I was supposed to be in school.  After all, back in those days, daytime television was a real treat. 




Like, for instance, why was it that some cable stations decided to air game shows meant for a younger audience DURING SCHOOL HOURS?  I mean, hello?  Would it not have made more sense to air these types of shows after school?  I still have lots of fond memories watching game shows like "Fun House", "Double Dare", and "Just Like Mom" on television during the hours in which I was supposed to be in school.  Watching kids performing gross stunts for the chance to enter the fun house?  Awesome.  Watching kids crawl through messy obstacle courses to win toys, games, and cash?  Awesome.  Watching kids try to poison their parents by making them dine on ketchup and sauerkraut cookies that they baked themselves?  Well, actually, I admit that I probably liked that a little TOO much!




Of course, that's not to say that I didn't like watching the game shows for adults as well.  For some reason whenever I was sick, there was one channel that used to air an hour of game shows during their afternoon block.  It featured a game show adaptation of "Scrabble", hosted by Chuck Woolery, and the game "Classic Concentration", hosted by Alex Trebek.  For some reason, I always remember liking it when the contestants always tried to go for the car as the grand prize.  

By the way, in case you haven't heard of Classic Concentration before, click HERE.  It was an episode that aired in July 1987.  Just promise me that you'll never use a "TAKE" card against me - in either green or red.

I also remember watching "Wheel of Fortune" - which at that time aired a daytime version in addition to the primetime version we all know and love.  The only difference was that Bob Goen was the host, as Pat Sajak was trying to host a talk show at that time (which only lasted one season).  And, of course, there was classic "Price Is Right", which had Bob Barker as host, and Janice, Dian, and Holly as Barker's Beauties.  




Mind you, this was BEFORE all the sexual harassment lawsuits and models getting fired because they allegedly gained weight.



Daytime television was also the perfect time to watch shows that were considered quite scandalous for kids who were elementary school aged.  But I still managed to sneak a peek at all of those trashy daytime talk shows that everybody seemed to be watching at the time.  I was really too young to remember watching "Geraldo" and "The Morton Downey Jr. Show", but when I was in sixth/seventh/eighth grades, I used to watch random talk shows such as "Montel Williams", "Jenny Jones", "Maury Povich" (before his show transformed into the 'who's your daddy' show), "Ricki Lake", and yes, I remember even being addicted to "The Jerry Springer Show" back when I was a teenager.




Now, of course, I don't watch any of those shows (except for maybe "Ellen"), but back in those days, it was kind of cool to watch the programs that were targeted towards an adult audience.  I don't think I could ever recall an instance in which people actually picked up chairs and threw them at people on stage.  It was disturbing to see, but somehow it was strangely comforting as I knew that my family members and friends would NEVER behave in such a manner.  And, granted, as bad as those talk shows were back then, compared to how talk shows are now, they almost seem like an episode of "Polka Dot Door" in comparison.

Oh, yeah...when I was really young, I used to watch "TVOntario" a lot too, where they aired shows like "Polka Dot Door", "Readalong", "Harriett's Magic Hats", "Report Canada", "Cucumber", "The Science Alliance", and yes, even that stupid television show which featured a pineapple that only spoke in French.  What the heck was that show called again?





Oh, yes...Telefrancais.  How could I forget that?




Of course, there were times in which I had to give up the television when I was sick.  You see, my mother was a huge fan of the television soap opera "As The World Turns", and my sister watched "Guiding Light" for years.  So, between the hours of 2pm and 4pm, I had no choice but to watch all of the adventures that Lily and Holden, and Reva and Josh, and all the other people who happened to cause all sorts of backstabbing, adultery, and other storylines that put characters in grave danger, and which taught all of us that just because you die doesn't mean that you stay dead.

But, hey...I suppose it was part and parcel of being sick.  Mom always used to take time out of her busy day to look after me and my siblings whenever we were feeling very sick - even when she wasn't feeling well herself.  Her being able to catch up on her stories was a definite reward for her.

Thursday, March 06, 2014

Challenge Accepted?

As a result of my being sick with a really bad head cold now (I tell you, March is really kicking my behind here), I'm going to focus less on the writing aspect and more on the video portion of the Thursday Video Blog.  To compensate for the loss of written content, I've expanded the size of the font to eighteen point.

And, you know what they say about men with big fonts, right?



(Yep...those are the cold meds talking here.)

Anyway, I was talking yesterday about the challenge that I was issued a few days ago, and in this blog entry, I come close to making a decision.  Enjoy this abbreviated blog posting for today, and hopefully I'll be back at 100% tomorrow.  But hey, at least it's a perfect excuse to practice what I preach in the video!




And, in case you were wondering, I plan to start this challenge after I recover.  Damn end of winter colds!

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Challenge From A Co-Worker

Okay, so I know that this is the time that I am supposed to do the "Whatever Wednesday" thing where I grab my bag of Clue character cards and just select a topic at random.  But for two reasons alone, I'm flipping the script, and I won't be picking a Clue character card at all today.

Firstly, it's because there's something important that I want to talk about in regards to some recent events that have taken place in life that has made me rethink how I do things, and have got me thinking about doing something that I have always wanted to do, but have always put on the backburner for various reasons.

And, secondly, I can't seem to remember where I put my Clue game, so I can't actually do the drawing this week even if I wanted to.  So, maybe you could consider this the "Mr. Boddy" week, where I make stuff up on the fly!

Okay, so as you might have guessed by the title of the blog entry this week, this blog is all about challenges.  In fact, I'm going to talk about a challenge that someone issued me recently, and it's a challenge that I really want to do.  I've sort of already begun this challenge as a matter of fact, but I don't know if I can actually meet the timeline that I was given.

And, I'm guessing that by now you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about!

Okay, so part of the reason why I began this blog nearly three years ago was so I could always have something in my life that was truly mine, and that I could manage by myself.  I don't have a whole lot of opportunities to do that in my every day life, so at least by writing this blog, I'd have something positive in my life to reflect on.




But another reason why I began "A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life" was because I wanted to find a way to improve my writing skills enough so that if the opportunity came along that I could make writing a full-time job, I could transition easily from one career to another.

(At least, that's what I told myself three years ago, anyway.)

I have a confession for all of you reading this.  I never intended for writing to be my ultimate career goal.  Like most other kids growing up, the job that I wanted the most as a child completely changed from year to year.  At some point, I wanted to be a doctor, a fireman, a scientist, Prime Minister of Canada, and an ice cream salesman.  And, well...the closest that I ever got to achieving any of those jobs was the six months I worked in the frozen foods department.



Hey, I sold ice cream...I just didn't have the annoying chimes or kiddie noisemakers to attract the customers!

And, I want to tell all of you that entertaining the possibility of writing as a career goal was put on the backburner for quite a lot of years!  I mean, growing up, I had always managed to have a keen grasp of the English language.  I was the kid who would rather have played with lined notebook paper and a box of crayons instead of the hottest toys of the 1980s.  I had classmates surrounding my desk in class asking them to help spell words in their journals (and I still regret not charging them each a dime per letter).  I aced spelling tests and English assignments.  And, as long as math class used word problems, I did okay.  But, I suppose that once you got to high school, there were only so many word problems that you could use to find out the angles in an isosceles triangle.

But did I actually consider making it a career back then?  No.  The thought never even crossed my mind.  After all, I was still a kid back then.  I had all the time in the world to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

But you know, as the years passed, and I left school, I realized that out of all of the things that I tried to do, writing was the only constant.  It was the one thing that I knew how to do and do well.  It started off as a hobby to kill time in between classes, and expanded into something that I felt as though I had to do on a daily basis.  I guess in some manner, writing my thoughts out helped me get through some of the worst times of my life.  It helped me get through understanding why I always put myself down, it helped me realize that writing about my dreams was the first step towards making them come true...

...and as time passed by, it made me realize that writing is really one of the only things that I feel comfortable with doing for the rest of my life.

But, I always had excuses over why I couldn't pursue it as a career.  There were no opportunities in my town to write (which sadly is one hundred per cent true), I didn't have the time (which was bollocks, but I'll explain that later), I didn't think I would be good enough to land a book deal (the jury's still out on that one), etc, etc, etc.

But then a co-worker friend of mine issued me a little bit of a challenge while we were working a weekend shift together, and the more I think of it...the more I wonder...can I do this?

Somehow, the conversation that we were having in between serving customers transitioned to the subject of writing, and I think I brought up the fact that there was an actual novel writing competition entitled "NaNoWriMo".  He wondered what it was, and I explained that it was a competition that was held every November, in which competitors had just thirty days to write a manuscript for a whole novel.  You see, NaNoWriMo stands for "National Novel Writing Month".  It's been a tradition since 1999, and the ultimate goal is to come up with a manuscript that has a bare minimum of 50,000 words.  No prizes are given, but the project was designed so that anybody could say that they wrote a novel.  Of course, it would be up to the author to decide whether it is good enough to publish.



Well, I was telling my co-worker that I had thought about taking part in NaNoWriMo at some point, but that I didn't think I could write a novel in one month.

So, my co-worker challenged me to write a manuscript in two months instead.

Now, I've attempted to start manuscripts before.  I think I have like six unfinished projects that I began but never finished because I always managed to get writer's block.  But I've never started and finished a project that would be suitable for publication before because I always gave up on it.  I didn't think it was good enough.  And, I certainly didn't think that I had the time to write a 50,000 word book.

Of course, this was before I began writing "A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life", and I realized that I have probably typed a total of five MILLION words over the last three years.  I mean, writing one blog entry a day for the last 1,000+ days...that takes a lot of dedication.  And, given that the average blog entry has about 1,500 words in it, if I devoted that time that I write the blog to writing an actual book with a beginning, middle, and end...well, I suppose there really is no excuse.

In fact, my co-worker figured out that all I would have to do was write 834 words each day and I would easily have a 50,000 word manuscript in the time frame of two months.

So, that is my challenge.  The question is...do I accept it?

Well...I'm going to think about it for a bit (I have started it by coming up with character sketches).  Can I actually make this a possibility.  And, what will this mean for the future of this blog, given that I already work a full-time job.  Is it really worth the risk?

I'll have my answer in tomorrow's video blog.

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

March 4, 1974

Welcome to this week's edition of the Tuesday Timeline.  It's the first one for March 2014, and I think that we're going to have a really good time today.  I've got a topic that I hope that all of you will love, and it certainly will be a topic that has a lot of pictures associated with it.  But first, I think that we have some other business to attend to.

We've got celebrity birthdays coming up in just a moment, but first...a look back at all of the historic happenings that took place on March 4.  And, I hope that you're reading this as you're sitting down in front of a nice stack of hot pancakes, as today happens to be Shrove Tuesday! 

Mmmm...pancakes...drools over self.

Ahem...where was I?  Oh, yes.  March 4 events.  Okay, let's start with...

51 - Future Roman Emperor Nero is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth)

1628 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter

1665 - King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands, kicking off the Second Anglo-Dutch War

1776 - The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon leading British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston during the American Revolutionary War

1789 - The United States Bill of Rights is written and proposed to Congress, and the United States Constitution is put into effect

1791 - Vermont becomes the fourteenth American state

1837 - The city of Chicago, Illinois is incorporated

1882 - In East London, Britain's first electric trains begin running

1895 - Three Stooges star Shemp Howard (d. 1955) is born in New York City

1917 - Jeannette Rankin becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives

1918 - The first cases of Spanish flu are diagnosed, which quickly spreads to pandemic level worldwide

1933 - Frances Perkins becomes the first female member of the United States Cabinet following her appointment as United States Secretary of Labor

1943 - The Battle of The Bismarck Sea comes to an end during World War II

1945 - Finland declares war on Nazi Germany

1960 - One hundred people lose their lives following the explosion of the French freighter La Coubre

1983 - Bertha Wilson is appointed as the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada

1985 - The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection

1996 - Country music legend Minnie Pearl passes away at the age of 83

2001 - A car bomb detonates outside of the BBC Television Centre in London, killing one person

Wow...who knew that March 4 was such a great day for Women's History?  That's really interesting to discover.

Also equally interesting are the number of celebrities who are celebrating a birthday today!  Birthday wishes go out to
Dick Savitt, Don Perkins, Paula Prentiss, John Aprea, Gloria Gaither, Bobby Womack, Lindy Chamberlain, Brian Cummings, Chris Rea, Ronn Moss, Emilio Estefan, Kay Lenz, Catherine O'Hara, Mykelti Williamson, Patricia Heaton, Ray Mancini, Jason Newsted, Daniel Roebuck, Stacy Edwards, Chaz Bono, Matt Tilley, Andrea Bendewald, Shavar Ross, Nick Stabile, Brittney Powell, Jeremiah Green, Dan Wells, Jessica Heap, Scott Michael Foster, Whitney Port, Tamzin Merchant, and Cody Longo.

Okay, that's a lot of people.  And, I suppose it's appropriate that we're going to be talking about people in this blog because people are a very big part of today's Tuesday Timeline...



...which takes us back forty years to March 4, 1974

You see...40 years ago today, a particular magazine debuted its first issue.  And 40 years later, the magazine can still be found on newsstands, supermarket checkout counters - and these days, can be access through computers, tablets, and smartphones.  But even though the world has changed over the last four decades, this magazine certainly has not.  It's devoted itself to covering all things pop culture including exclusive interviews with famous and infamous people, picks and pans of movies, television shows, music, and books, and other celebrity gossip. 

And, this was the magazine's very first cover subject.



Now, the cover story is all about Mia Farrow and her involvement in the film project "Gatsby".  And, as you can tell, other stories include articles on William Peter Blatty, Gloria Vanderbilt, Jim Croce, and Richard Petty...all the famous people of the 1970s and more!

Yes, it was on this date 40 years ago that People Magazine first came off the printing presses.  And, here's a more recent cover from earlier this year.



In this case, the cover story is on recent Oscar hostess Ellen DeGeneres, and features articles on Bruce Jenner's changing look, a reality show couple's baby, and a feature on rescuing Sochi's abandoned doggies.  But whether you got hooked on People Magazine the day it was released, or are new to the party, it's no argument that People Magazine remains one of the best selling entertainment magazines of all-time, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Now, I always say that a picture is worth a thousand words...so I thought that rather than type a whole history of the magazine, I would post iconic covers from the magazine's 40 year history.  After all, if something huge happened in the world, People Magazine would cover it.

I already showed you the very first cover...let's stick with the 1970s as we continue this look through People's past...through magazine covers.



Remember when Elvis Presley turned 40?  I don't.  That momentous occasion was six years before I was born.  But certainly in People's early years, Elvis Presley was certainly a star that the magazine loved to learn more about.  Hard to believe that just two and a half years after this magazine was released, Elvis would breathe his last breath.



It was never easy when a favourite celebrity passed away.  In the case of John Lennon, who was tragically gunned down on December 8, 1980, People Magazine devoted its entire cover to John and Yoko Ono along with the caption "John Lennon 1940-1980".  A solemn, but memorable cover.



Sometimes People Magazine would cover controversial topics by interviewing celebrities about their experiences, as well as getting different points of view from pro and anti camps.  Long before talk shows like "The View" and "The Talk", People Magazine tackled such issues, such as in this 1985 issue where Ali McGraw and others talk about abortion - a hot topic in the mid-1980s, and even today.



Remember that day in 1986 when Mark Harmon was the Sexiest Man Alive?  Well, admittedly, I don't.  But People's Sexiest Man Alive issue has been a tradition for the magazine since 1985, and past winners include Mel Gibson, John F. Kennedy Jr., Patrick Swayze, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, and Channing Tatum.



Another popular magazine feature is the "Best and Worst Dressed" issue that is published annually.  This happens to be the issue from 1992.  And, thank goodness fashion trends are constantly changing, as I am having a really hard time telling apart the best from the worst based on this cover!



And, did you know that People Magazine began a second version of the magazine that was solely marketed for teenagers entitled "Teen People"?  Here's an issue of the magazine from early 2000, back when Britney Spears was still a rising star.  I don't even know if "Teen People" is even still in print anymore, but it certainly was good while it lasted...well, provided you were a teen.



Of course, not every issue of People Magazine was always light-hearted.  Whenever a tragic news story occurred that seemed to make the world stop and pause, People Magazine was there, as this 1994 issue which focused on the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.



Or, this special commemorative cover in 1997 which was released just a few days after the death of Princess Diana in a Parisian tunnel following a high speed car crash.



Or, this cover, which really needs no explanation.

But over the last few years, People Magazine has featured loads of good news stories as well as the bad.




People Magazine covered bad news stories that had happy endings, such as the kidnapping and rescue of Elizabeth Smart.




People Magazine featured light hearted reunions of former sitcom cast members and reunited people who acted together in one iconic movie.  Check out this cover from 2009 which had five of the seven principal cast members of "Saved By The Bell" coming together for a photo shoot.  My guess is that Screech and Mr. Belding were attempting to open up a fish taco stand at the mall set of "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" when this photo was shot.  




And, at the end of the year, People Magazine would always have a retrospective issue, which detailed the biggest news stories of the year, the celebrities we lost during the year, and the fads, new lingo, and fashions trends that the year brought us.  This is the one that wrapped up 2011.

So, as you can see, People Magazine has managed to not only survive, but thrive.  And in a world where magazines are folding up at an alarming rate, this is definitely something to celebrate.

Happy 40th birthday, People Magazine!

Monday, March 03, 2014

Three Amigos

For some reason, bad things seem to always come in threes for me.

Or, in this case, bad things this year seem to be coming on the third of the month!

Let's see here...January 3rd, I end up stubbing my toe so hard that I end up tearing off a whole toenail (which really hurt, by the way).  February 3rd, I was stuck in bed with a really nasty stomach flu.  And, now as we approach March 3rd, I am stuck with fifty per cent hearing, as my right ear is completely blocked with something.  I'll be going to the doctor at some point today to see if I can find out why I am deaf in one ear.  Knowing my track record with ears, it could range from a wax build-up to an ear infection.  After all, I've had a grand total of at least eight different ear infections since I was born, and have had to go to the doctor to get wax blasted out of my ear at least once every ten years.

But, you're not here to read all about earwax, right?  At least...I certainly hope not, anyway.  Instead, you're probably here to read all about today's Monday Matinee selection.  Am I right, or am I right?

And, well...since we're already in agreement that the number three seems to be a number that has been somewhat unlucky for me this year, why don't we stick with that number as the theme of the day?  This means that I'm either going to be showcasing a movie that has the number three in its title, or that I'll be showing the third sequel of a popular movie franchise.

Or possibly both.

So, I first have to decide what I'm going to do...will I do a movie that has the number three in the title, or will I do a movie that's the third in a series?

You know, I think just based on that, I'm going to choose the former choice.  It would be kind of silly to do a blog on "Lethal Weapon 3", "The Hangover III", or "Madagascar 3" when I haven't even done blogs on any of the other movies in the series.  Choosing a film with the word three in the title is much easier...or is it?

Let's see.  I've already done "Three Men and a Baby".  "3 Ninjas" would have been okay, but I already did a kids movie last week.  And, don't even get me started on that horrible "Three Stooges" movie that was released a couple of years ago.  I just couldn't even be objective with that film. 

But I have to come up with something that has the number three within its title.  It doesn't even have to be an Academy Award winning film.  It could even be a multiple Golden Raspberry Award winning film!  Sigh...maybe I'll have some success if I search the Internet Movie Database and look up movies that have the word "three" in the title.



Wait a minute!  That's it!  That's the movie that stands out!  Maybe it's because it's a comedy film from the 1980s.  Maybe it's because it has Steve Martin as one of its stars.  Or maybe...just maybe...it's because it's the only film that has a title starting with an upside down exclamation point!



Yeah...I think "Three Amigos" would be a cool movie to review for the third day of the third month.  And maybe talking about the film might get my mind off the fact that I cannot hear anything out of my right ear.

(Okay, I'll stop complaining.  For now.)

And, unlike my previous bad experiences with the number three...I did like this movie a lot!

Anyway, I won't spoil the plot too much - it's become kind of a tradition for the Monday Matinee that I never reveal movie endings.  To be perfectly honest, the plot is kind of outlandish and so comedic that there were times in which I didn't even really know what the plot even was!  But, believe me, I was laughing so much at the movie that I didn't really care if there was a plot.   After all, the film combines the comedic genius of Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short in the roles of Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander respectively.

The film is set in 1916 Mexico, and it is at a time in which a notorious thug by the name of El Guapo (Alfonso Arau) is intimidating the citizens of Santo Poco by organizing a gang of thugs to collect protection money from the people.  And, believe me when I tell you that the villagers have had enough.

So much so that a young woman by the name of Carmen (Patrice Martinez) decides that she needs to help her village.  She has reason to be concerned.  After all, she is the daughter of the village leader. 



As luck would have it, Carmen finds herself at a church where a screening of a silent film is playing.  The film features the group known as the Three Amigos, and after seeing the trio in action, Carmen believes that the three men are real heroes who are capable of forcing the evil out of Santo Poco for good.  Of course, she has no idea that the men are actually Hollywood actors and have never had any training in confronting bandits, but nevertheless, Carmen feels that she needs to send them a telegram to help the village stop El Guapo.  Problem is that Carmen lacks enough money to send the full message, so the telegram sender edits the telegram just enough that the message kind of gets lost in translation.

So lost, that by the time that Lucky, Dusty, and Ned get the message, they misinterpret it as an invitation to appear on stage alongside El Guapo!  But by this point in time, the Hollywood studio that employed them terminated their contract, so with nothing else in Hollywood, the trio accept the gig...not realizing that they were actually brought in to save the town from El Guapo and his gang of thugs.

And, well...it leads to scenes like this.



And, this...



And, well...you know what, why not click HERE?  It's a link to the whole movie.  But, take caution.  Full length movies don't last long on video sharing sites, so watch it while you can. 

One thing I did notice when watching this film was that you could tell that this was almost like an extended Saturday Night Live sketch.  After all, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels co-wrote the screenplay with Steve Martin and Randy Newman.  And, of course, we all know that Chevy Chase was one of the Saturday Night Live originals.  In fact, the film also featured two more Saturday Night Live alumni - Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman - in brief roles.

And, well...here's some other trivia for you all.

1 - You know the opening song that the Three Amigos sing at the beginning of the film?  They had to hold that high note for exactly fourteen consecutive seconds!  I couldn't even DO a high note, let alone hold one for nearly a quarter of a minute!

2 - Steve Martin was always committed to be one of the Three Amigos.  But the other two were supposed to be played by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, and the film was supposed to be released in the early 1980s under the title "The Three Caballeros".  Unfortunately, Belushi's death in 1982 forced the cast line-up to change.

3 - All three actors who played the Three Amigos had to wear lead-based make-up for the silent film scenes.

4 - The film was directed by John Landis, but Steven Spielberg almost signed on to direct the project.

5 - The lasso tricks came easy to Steve Martin.  He learned how to do the rope tricks while working at a magic shop prior to making it big as an actor.

6 - Loosely translated to English, El Guapo stands for "The Handsome One".

7 - The bats that Ned hunts throughout the film were actually made of bacon!  Look closely!

8 - Everyone knows that Martin Short made it big as a member of SCTV...but believe it or not, this was his very first major appearance in a motion picture!

9 - The cantina featured in the film is named "Cantina el Borracho".  In English, it can be translated to "Bar of the Drunk".

10 - "The Nanny" star Fran Drescher filmed some scenes for this movie...and all her scenes were left on the cutting room floor.

11 - Another actor who had his scenes cut?  Sam Kinison.  He would have played the part of a Mexican bandit.

12 - If Martin Short had turned down the role of Ned, John Landis would have cast Rick Moranis instead.

13 - The village name of Santa Poco is grammatically incorrect in Spanish.

14 - This was actually the second film that Alfonso Arau appeared in with the name "Three Amigos".  He also starred in a 1970 film entitled "Tres amigos". 

15 - Ironically enough, Lucky Day is the only Amigo to get shot in the film!

16 - This was one of two films that Steve Martin filmed in 1986.  The other one was "Little Shop of Horrors".  Amusingly enough, both films featured singing plants!



17 - Randy Newman performed the singing vocals of the Singing Bush.  Makes sense, as he had hits with "Short People" and "I Love L.A.".

18 - The singing turtle was John Landis' idea!