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Monday, May 05, 2014

Motivation Monday - The Inaugural Posting

Good morning, everybody!  I suppose that you're probably logging in expecting to see a blog about movies today on account that it happens to be Monday.

Well, it is true that today happens to be Monday.  But if you're looking for a movie blog, you're going to have to wait until Saturday, because the changes that I promised were coming have already arrived!

Just to catch you up to speed, I made the decision some time ago to make the third anniversary of this blog a very special one.  And, one of the ways that I plan to make the anniversary very special is switching up the theme days.  And just to refresh your memory over the brand new schedule that goes into effect today, I'll repost it.  Remember, black means the days remain unchanged, blue means that the theme days are switching days, and red means brand new theme topics. 

The brand new schedule is as follows;

SUNDAY - SUNDAY JUKEBOX
MONDAY - MOTIVATION MONDAY
TUESDAY - TUESDAY TIMELINE
WEDNESDAY - WHO AM I WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY - TUBE TALK THURSDAY
FRIDAY - FOODIE FRIDAY
SATURDAY - SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

Now, this probably leads to the next question.  What exactly is "Motivation Monday" all about?



Well, remember how a couple of months ago, I decided to take part in an Internet chat show with a couple of my friends?  It was a talk show entitled "MOTIVE2CHANGE", and it featured myself and my friends CARINE and JOSH talking about a lot of different topics that the youth of our world might be experiencing, and offering them lots of tips and solutions for getting through it by sharing our experiences.

But wait.  Notice how I wrote that in past tense.  Why would I do that?  Has the show been canceled due to lack of interest?  Did we run out of topics to talk about?  Did we have a huge fight and we're now constructing tell-all books about how horrible the partnership really was?

Well, the short answers to those three questions are no, no, and absolutely not.



You see, the theme for "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" is all about change.  It's the third anniversary of the blog, and in order to keep things fresh, I wanted to try some new things. 

And, on our Internet chat show, we're trying some new things too beginning with a new addition to our hosting panel as well as a name change reflecting that addition.

Beginning with the episode of the series that I will be posting after this little blurb is finished, you will notice a fourth person taking part in the show, and I would like to welcome our newest host
JONATHON for joining us on this, and hopefully more episodes of the series.  We all agreed that by having a fourth person on our panel that it would offer up some more depth to our discussions, and also open up more dialogue for us to talk about.  It's also good for keeping the show running because if one of us were unable to make it for a show taping, there would always be three others who could take over in a pinch.

Now, as a result of adding Jonathon to our discussion panel, we realized that the name "MOTIVE2CHANGE" was a little bit redundant.



Hence the decision to make the show title "MOTIVE4CHANGE" instead.  It fits, it incorporates the number of people hosting the show, and the name change still reflects the message we want to provide! 

(SLIGHT SECRET REVEAL:  Keep an eye on the brand new colour scheme for the new Motive4Change logo.  You might see it sooner than you think on the blog...)

So, before I post this week's episode, I want to post links to the other four episodes that were previously taped, as well as the subjects that each program discussed.  Remember, there was no episode posted on Easter Sunday, and episode #4 was delayed a couple of days due to illness.


And now join us for the fifth episode for the newly renamed "MOTIVE4CHANGE".  The topic?  Future Goals!



Remember, you will now see a brand new episode of the chat show every Monday from now on!  I hope you enjoy them!

And, you know, just going off on a slight tangent that is loosely linked to the topic of the show...when I first began this blogging venture close to three years ago, I never expected in my wildest dreams that it would even make as much of an impact on the Internet.  I thought that at most, I would get a small group of regular followers who would check in at least once a week, and that would have been fine for me.



Well, I can honestly tell you that three years after I started this blog, I have clocked in my 300,000th view from a variety of people in several different countries!  And, before some of you accuse me of being responsible for more than half of those views, I will state that the United States accounts for more than half of the people reading this blog...a statistic that this Canadian is blown away by.

Again, I just want to state that having all of you continue to read this blog and my ramblings about pop culture, and the occasional bout of self-reflection trying to work out why there are some days in which I have been questioning the paths I have taken throughout my life's journey so far...it makes me realize that writing is the best possible way that I can communicate with people, and that your interest in this blog makes me realize that there's a lot more that I can do with my writing skills.

I'm not the same person I was three years ago.  I was looking back at my entries that I wrote when I first started this blog, and I was amazed at how much my writing style has changed since then.  I think that I've changed and adapted my writing style enough so that I sound more mature, and I'm certainly finding myself getting more and more creative.

I guess that's part of the reason why I'm more open to making these changes to the blog.  I think I've done the blog long enough that I feel confident that these changes will help the blog grow even more.  And, it's not unusual for me to come up with more plans to make this blog special...and who knows?  I may end up having the courage to take some of these life lessons learned from pop culture and writing a best-seller one day. 

Hmmm...that may not be such a bad idea.




Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being a part of "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE.  These past three years have been great.  Let's make this year the best one yet!

(SLIGHT SECRET REVEAL #2:  Don't get too used to that logo...)

Sunday, May 04, 2014

Addicted to Love

Before I go ahead with this week's Sunday Jukebox, I want to reiterate that the Sunday Jukebox will be one of the few theme days that is staying put where it is as we head towards the third anniversary makeover for the blog. 

Can you tell that I'm just a wee bit EXCITED about changing things up for this month?  Why, I'm almost giddy about it to tell you the truth!

Now, in addition to the Sunday Jukebox sticking around on Sundays for the foreseeable future, something else that is still in play - at least for the year 2014 anyway - is the fact that every Sunday Jukebox song that I feature this year will have been a #1 hit on the Billboard charts for at least one week.  And that is a theme that will continue until the calendar rolls around to the year 2015.  Then I will switch to #2 songs.  Or one-hit-wonders.  Or songs that have music videos featuring clouds.  Or whatever the heck I decide to do!

This week, we're heading back in time twenty-eight years to the year 1986.  It's also one of the first years that I have vivid memories of.  Prior to '86, everything was a blur...though it could be because I was only five that year.

So, what was happening in May 1986?  Well, "Benson", "Knight Rider", and "Diff'rent Strokes" were on their way out.  The brand new movies of the month were "Short Circuit", "Top Gun", and "Cobra". Tommy Lee was getting married to Heather Locklear (of which that marriage would end in divorce).

And some of the albums that were being released in May of '86 were Peter Gabriel's "So", Poison's "Look What The Cat Dragged In", and Nu Shooz's "Poolside".

But what was the #1 hit during the first week of May 1986?  Well, have a look for yourselves!

NOTE:  The "release date" is the date the song entered the Billboard 100...I couldn't find the actual release date for this song, so I improvised.



ARTIST:  Robert Palmer
SONG:  Addicted to Love
ALBUM:  Riptide
DATE RELEASED:  February 8, 1986
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week



Now, this is a song that you probably have recognized from a number of different places.  Perhaps you remember that episode from "Beverly Hills 90210" in which Brenda, Kelly, and Donna dressed up as the girls from the video to do some talent show at school.  Perhaps you may recall Shania Twain borrowing the concept of this video for her own single, "Man...I Feel Like a Woman".  Or, maybe you recall the television series "Hot in Cleveland" doing a parody version of this video during a 2012 episode. 



Regardless of where you might remember the video from, I have actually been looking for an excuse to feature a Robert Palmer video in this blog for quite a while.  Robert Palmer was definitely one of my favourite singers from the 1980s, and he has had a lot of hits besides "Addicted To Love".  Since he burst onto the music scene in 1974, Palmer had dozens of hits - both original compositions and cover hits.  Let's see...there was "Looking For Clues", "Every Kinda People", "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On", "Simply Irresistible", "Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You".  I honestly don't know if there's a bad song that Palmer ever did.

His death in September 2003 at the age of just 54 years old was very shocking.  And, admittedly, there's a part of me that still feels as though he left the world way too soon.  But at least he left behind nearly three decades of music for us to enjoy.

And, certainly "Addicted to Love" was one of Palmer's most well-known songs.  Although it only spent a total of seven days on the top of the charts, it certainly made a huge impact in the world of pop culture.  And, I think one of the most amusing things about the song is the music video itself...as well as some of the juicy little secrets about how the song and the video were made.

(Thank you VH1's "Pop-Up Video" for helping me with the research!)

I'm sure that you want to know what these secrets are.  Heck, the video is almost thirty years old, and you may know this stuff already...but just for argument's sake, let's just assume that you don't.

All right, let's begin with secret #1.

1 - A MEMBER OF DURAN DURAN ASSISTED WITH THE MUSIC

All right, so this shouldn't come as too much of a shocker if you were up to date on the New Wave music scene circa 1985.  As many of you know, Duran Duran briefly split up to form two side projects.  One project was Arcadia which featured Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and Roger Taylor.  The other project was "The Power Station", which featured Andy and John Taylor, Chic's Tony Thompson, and Palmer.  So, the connection between Robert Palmer and two-fifths of the original Duran Duran was established about a year prior to "Addicted to Love" being released. 



That connection was expanded to Robert Palmer's solo projects.  Andy Taylor played lead guitar.  So, if you ever wanted to know who provided that wicked guitar sound, Taylor's your man.

2 - ADDICTED TO LOVE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A DUET

This was probably the fact that stunned me the most about this song.  I mean, Robert Palmer owned this single.  I can't even think of anyone else doing this song justice, and I honestly couldn't picture this song as a duet.

But believe it or not, this single was planned as a duet between Palmer and Chaka Khan.  And, had Chaka Khan's record company been more flexible, Khan would have joined Palmer as a duet partner.  Alas, the duet was not meant to be.  However, if you look closely at the album liner notes for Palmer's "Riptide" album, Chaka Khan is still credited.  Interesting.  I have that album, I should definitely see if I can spot her name on it.



Edited to add:  Yep, sure enough, Chaka Khan's name IS credited.  Well, I'll be damned.

Okay, moving on.

3 - ANOTHER ROCK PERFORMER WISHED HE RECORDED THE SINGLE

Now, many of you in North America might not know the name Noddy Holder, but those of you in the UK know him as the lead singer of UK based rock band, Slade (best known for their '73 holiday classic "Merry Xmas Everybody").  And, admittedly in an interview that he did after the single was released, Holder admitted that he wished that he would have wrote the song instead, claiming it to be a perfect pop song.



4 - ONE OF THE MODELS ACCIDENTALLY INJURED ROBERT PALMER ON SET!

Don't worry.  It wasn't a serious injury.  It was more along the lines of a freak accident.  The five models that were used in the video were Julie Pankhurst, Patty Kelly, Mak Gilchrist, Julia Bolino, and Kathy Davies.  Whenever they feature the shots where the four models are all lined up together with the guitars and keyboards, look at the guitar model in the middle.  That would be Mak Gilchrist...the woman who did the deed.

As Gilchrist explained in an interview, she and the other models were cast by director Terence Donovan - then a noted British fashion photographer - and she explained that Terence had brought a bottle of wine for all of them to drink to loosen them up.  Unfortunately, it worked a little too well.  Mak became quite tipsy on the wine, and while she and the other models were getting their make-up retouched, she stumbled in her high heels, lost her balance, and her guitar slammed into the back of Robert Palmer's head with such force that his face hit the microphone!  Ouch!

But I suppose that Robert Palmer wasn't too mad about it.  He did use Gilchrist and the other models in future video projects!

5 - A GUITAR EXPERT WAS BROUGHT ON SET TO TEACH THE MODELS FINGERING TECHNIQUES

He was brought in to teach the models the techniques to make the video look more authentic.  But he gave up after an hour and quit the project when it became clear that the models weren't grasping the concept...not to mention the guitars!

6 - THE SONG HAS SINCE BEEN COVERED BY SEVERAL ARTISTS


Perhaps the most famous cover version of the song is by Tina Turner, who has made the song a regular feature on her tours and concerts since the late-1980s.  Have a listen to Tina's version above.

But did you know that the song was also covered by Ciccone Youth, Westlife, Florence + The Machine, and even Garth Brooks?

At any rate, "Addicted to Love" is a fantastic song by an artist who left us far too soon.  

Saturday, May 03, 2014

Film Strips in Class - WHY?!?

As I've previously announced, there's going to be a lot of changes happening in the blog beginning on Monday.  And, because of that, this is going to be the final edition of the "Saturday Smorgasbord".

Oh, but don't worry.  I won't be completely abandoning the cartoon and toy discussions.  They'll just be moving to other days of the week.  Possibly they'll be discussed in the Tube Talk Thursday section.  Or they could be a part of the Tuesday Timeline.  Or, quite possibly they'll be discussed in the "as of right now secret" Who Am I Wednesday portion of the blog.  So, they'll still be around...just in a lesser, supporting role.

For now, I thought that since we're going to be transitioning into the all new "Saturday Night At The Movies" section, that we'd do a topic that has to do with movies in some format.

Certainly there's one place where I can remember watching a ton of movies.  Movies that taught you life lessons.  Movies that inspired you to do something.  Movies that showed you how things were made.

And, sorry to say it was also a place in which we watched movies solely for the purpose of killing time because our teachers were too lazy to come up with an actual lesson plan.

Yes, I'm talking about school.  And, the subject for today's blog entry has to do with those film strips and educational movies that we were forced to watch as elementary school children.



I think that almost every single of us who ever went to elementary school knows those "educational film strips" very well.  Certainly those "educational film strips" have been lampooned in pop culture quite often.  How many times have you heard a sitcom character lament the fact that they spent the whole day watching film strips about cheese?  Or, how many times have you seen characters in a television show fall asleep in a classroom set because they get bored with watching the film that they are being shown in class.

And do I even need to talk about the number of film strips that the kids of Springfield Elementary School on "The Simpsons" have watched?  Chances are, if Troy McClure was the host of the video, you'll essentially have learned nothing about how anything was really made!

Well, that's basically how I felt watching some of the film strips and videos that we watched in class.  I have a confession to make.  I HATED movie day in school.



(Well, okay, I didn't HATE it.  I liked it during the last week of school when we moved our desks out into the hallway and we sat on the floor of the classroom watching movies such as "The Little Mermaid", "All Dogs Go To Heaven" and "The Sandlot".  That was always fun...well, provided you liked the movie, anyway.)

But whenever we had the opportunity to watch an "educational" film or video, I always saw it as my cue to take a nap during class.  Was it just me, or were they not the most pointless activity in class?

For one, whenever they showed us educational videos in class, you could tell that they weren't actual tapes that the school board used their own money to buy.  Nope, instead they were on those really retro Memorex VHS cassette tapes and recorded on VCR's by teachers in their own home. 



For another, I can't even begin to tell you how many of those videos came from the educational television network known as TVOntario circa 1980s.  The reason why?  I was obsessed with TVOntario as a little boy.  I watched it all day long whenever I was sick from school, and my mother always had it on in the house before I even started school.  I watched a lot of "Readalong", "Read All About It", "The Science Alliance", and even tried to sit through that French show "Telefrancais" with that asinine talking pineapple named "Ananas"!  I watched so much TVO as a little kid that I was downright sick of it by the time I got to elementary school.

So, imagine my disdain when our teachers always showed educational videos from TVO during class to supplement their lessons.  I was completely bored stiff.  After all, I had seen every single one of those shows...at least half a dozen times!  It's a wonder that I didn't recite the scripts from memory.



And, don't even get me started on those film strips.  For those of you who might not know what film strips are, they're those little pieces of orangey-brown film that sort of look like a roll of undeveloped negatives from a retro camera that you slide into a machine that projects them onto a screen.  In most cases, the teacher had a sliding projection screen that was installed in front of the blackboard (or, in the case of my elementary school, greenboard) and we watched the film strips on that. 



Now, because these were film strips, they didn't move like the typical film.  In fact, to make the experience of watching a film strip even more unbearable and worthless, the film strip often included a cassette tape (yep, you can tell I went to elementary school in the late 1980s/early 1990s), and that cassette tape contained the transcript for the film.  

This wouldn't have been so bad had the transcript been read by someone who had a lot of pep, or who sounded as if they were being paid five hundred thousand dollars to describe the film strip.  Heck, even "Full House" character Joey Gladstone reading the film strip in his Popeye voice would have been an improvement over the people that did read the transcripts.



To put it simply, the transcript readers of the film strips were so dull and monotonous they make Ben Stein sound like Richard Simmons.  And, although the example up above is a little better than most...it's still quite bad.

What was even worse about the whole thing were that the film strips were all created at least two decades before we were all born!  Did our teachers even come to think that maybe history has the potential to radically shift in just a couple of decades?  Did they even realize that the ability to make cheese has gotten a lot more complex since 1961? 

Nah...I don't think they cared at all.  They were still drawing a salary from their work.  If they could get away with not teaching us anything at all by letting twenty year old film strips educate us instead, you know they'd jump on the chance.

(Not ALL teachers were like this, mind you...but I did have quite a few who did exactly that.  Not that I'll ever name names or anything.)

Truth be told, I hated film strip day.  Most kids I knew didn't mind it because watching a movie in class meant that they could get a day off from doing reading, writing, and arithmetic.  But, to be honest with you, I hated movie day.  I was one of those kids (who became one of those adults) who found it much easier to learn by actually doing the activities in class...not watching some middle-aged actors who were clearly bitter over not having done more with their acting careers do the activities for me!  In fact, although it might have contributed to my poor vision today which requires me to wear glasses, I was lucky enough to have had seats that were shrouded in enough natural light for me to try and read a book while the film strips were being played.  It wasn't as if we were being tested on the material in the movie after all.  It was just there as a babysitter while the teachers graded papers, or worked on lesson plans, or took a sip out of their flask that they kept in their desks arranged the numerous pens, pencils, and Cadomark permanent markers on their desks.

I mean, if the film strips actually taught me anything, I might feel differently about them.  But the only thing those film strips taught me was just exactly how much I hated film strips.

Still...there were a couple of them that I remember from my youth that I sort of liked.  I couldn't find the first one online anywhere, but the film strip was about giving people "Warm Fuzzies", and there was actually an activity at the end of it.  We were all given ten different Warm Fuzzies papers, and we had to give ten of our classmates one by writing something nice about them.  Unfortunately, I didn't get many back...but you know, the giving was more important than the receiving anyway. 

(Though admittedly the second grade version of me was a bit miffed that he doled out compliments to kids who really could care less.)

And, to end off this blog on film strips, I'll post another one that I DO remember watching and somewhat liking.  If anything, that song got stuck in my head for six months straight, and now it's my turn to repay the favour.



Happy viewing!

Friday, May 02, 2014

The Price Is Right: Pricing Games From The Past

Hello!  And, allow me to welcome you to the final Friday discussion of all things television!

Surprised?  Don't be.  Truth is that the television portion of the blog will be switching over to Thursdays beginning on Thursday, May 8.  It's all a part of the huge changes that I have coming to the blog in May as we celebrate the third anniversary of the blog all month long!  Next Friday at this time, we'll be talking about retro foods, food commercials, food memories, and I'll even post some recipes for you to try, courtesy of the millions of cookbooks we have scattered all over the family kitchen cupboards. 

TO SEE THE FULL LIST OF THE NEW THEME DAYS, TAKE A LOOK AT THE THURSDAY, MAY 1 ENTRY ENTITLED "APRIL FLOWERS BRING MAY...CHANGES?" 

For now, we have one final Friday discussion on television, and I think that I've come up with a great topic idea to usher out the old and bring in the new. 

Admittedly, it's an idea that I got while watching this television show yesterday morning.



Okay, so everybody must have seen at least one episode of "The Price Is Right".  It's only been a daytime institution since 1972, after all!  For over forty years, thousands of contestants have come on down to meet Bob Barker or Drew Carey (depending on when the episode was taped), and have played dozens of pricing games in hopes of winning some classy furniture, an exotic vacation, sleek appliances, or a BRAND NEW CAR!!!

(Ahem...sorry about that folks.  I was channeling my inner Rod Roddy.)

Of course, over the years, I remember there being some games that were played way more than others, and certainly there are some games that have been played for thirty years or more!  I think that the "Check Game" was introduced the same year I was born, and is still sporadically played today.  "Secret X" continues to make people richer by playing a simple game of Tic-Tac-Toe.  When I was younger, I used to love it when the little yodeler dude flung himself over the cliff due to the stupidity of the contestants who played "Cliff Hangers".  And, "Any Number" is one of the few games to have lasted the entire run of "The Price Is Right" so far, debuting in September 1972 and still going strong!

Of course, the pricing games that I have listed up above are ones that are featured at least once a week on "The Price Is Right".  But did you know that in the 42-year history of the game show that there have been a total of 107 different pricing games that have been created for the show?  One hundred and seven!  Unbelievable!

Of course, not all 107 games are still available to play.  Case in point, one of my favourite pricing games to watch was the pricing game called "BUMP", which debuted in September 1985.  The game was designed like a London city street with double-decker buses on it.  Each bus had a price tag on the side, and the contestant had to decide whether to bump the buses to the left or the right to win the prizes offered.  And the way that the show chose to bump the buses made it a very popular game...especially with the men in the audience.  Have a look!



Now, here's the thing.  I loved the game "BUMP", but I remember that it had been years since I last saw it.  I did a little research and found that it was retired on November 20, 1991.  No wonder I missed it!  It hasn't been shown in almost 25 years!  As for the reason why it was pulled?  Well...partly it was due to the fact that the producers felt that the provocative grinding of the hips by Barker's Beauties was not very family-friendly, and they decided to pull it after six years.  But it's also rumoured that it was axed right around the same time that Barker's affair with Dian Parkinson was beginning to cool.

Who knows what the reason was?

Truth is, there are a lot of pricing games from the game show that have been retired - thirty-three in all.  And, in this blog, I thought I'd showcase seven more of these thirty-three games to explain how they were played, how long they lasted, show you videos of how the games were played (if possible), and the reason why they were pulled.  How many will you remember?

Okay, let's start with game #1.



SUPER BALL!
Date Premiered:  February 3, 1981
Date Retired: January 12, 1998

How many of you remember playing the game of Skee-Ball at your local carnival or video arcade?  I loved Skee-Ball!  I was never very good at Skee-Ball, but regardless, I still liked to play it.  And, I think that's one of the reasons why I enjoyed watching this game whenever it came on "The Price Is Right".  The way the game worked was that the contestant would be shown three prizes that they could win, and they would get the opportunity to win the three balls that corresponded with said prizes.  If they throw the ball and it lands in the center slot, they win the prize.  There was also the chance to win the "Super Ball", which allowed contestants the chance to win all three prizes at once with just one throw.  If the contestants missed the center hole, the other slots all had a cash value, so contestants always left with something.  Here's a visual of the game in action.



REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  It took WAY too long to play.  On average, the game took at least five minutes to get through, which took away from the time spent on other games.  If you ever have heard Bob Barker say "We may have to cancel 'The Young and the Restless' today", it's likely because the episode featured "Super Ball".  In fact, there was one play of the game in late 1991 that ended up lasting almost TEN minutes because the contestant had no idea how to play Skee-Ball!

WALK OF FAME
Date Premiered:  November 4, 1983
Date Retired:  November 27, 1985

I was a bit too young to remember this game when it originally aired, but reading up on how it worked, I'm sorry I missed it.  This was certainly one of the more interesting games played on the show.  Have a look at a playing of this game for yourselves.



Now, the game mechanics, as you see, were simple enough.  You had four prizes, and you had to guess the right price of each prize within a specific range.  For instance, the first prize you had a $25 window to work with.  If your answer was within $25 either above or below, you won.  Of course, if a player missed one of the prizes, their game was technically over...unless the autograph book that they held had "SECOND CHANCE" written inside.  If it did, they could continue.

Each autograph book contained the signatures of Bob Barker, then-announcer Johnny Olson, and presumably the signatures of then-models Janice Pennington, Dian Parkinson, and Holly Hallstrom.  And whether the contestants won or lost, they got to KEEP the autograph book as a souvenir!  Heck, that would have been enough of a prize for me alone!  I wonder how much those books would go for today?

REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  Inflation made the game harder and harder to design, thus making it harder to win, and it was canned after just two years.



PENNY ANTE
Date Premiered:  January 25, 1979
Date Retired:  June 14, 2002

The story of "Penny Ante" is one of the most tragic of all the pricing games.  You'll understand why this is the case when you read the reason why it was retired.

The one thing that I remember the most about "Penny Ante" is the sound that the buttons made when they were pushed.  Have a look at the playthrough of the game.  We'll continue after the video.



So, the game worked as such.  The contestant was given three gigantic pennies at the beginning of the game.  The game had two different coloured sections, and each section featured a grocery item along with four possible choices of prices.  If the contestant guessed incorrectly, they lost a penny.  If a contestant lost all three pennies before guessing the two grocery prices, the game was over.

REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  The death knoll for "Penny Ante" began in the late 1990s.  Mechanical failure started to occur more and more, with the wrong price tags opening up, and the lights not working.  By 2002, the game was more or less ready to give up on itself.  The final nail in the coffin came when the game was pulled and replaced with another game last minute...and the game itself was left outside in the pouring rain and was completely damaged beyond repair!  Designers attempted to redesign the game, but nothing was ever built, and the game went into permanent hibernation.



HURDLES
Date Premiered:  February 19, 1976
Date Retired:  March 31, 1983

Ah, "Hurdles".  Another game I don't remember.  Let's see if I can find a video for it.



That was one wacky game, wasn't it?  Though, I can see how it was played.  Contestants were shown a grocery item and price at the beginning.  That item signified the "hurdler's price", the price that the hurdler could clear.  Underneath the hurdle course were three pairs of prices for three other grocery items.  One was priced above the "hurdler's price", one was below.  Naturally, the object of the game became clear.  Choose the lower price so that the hurdler could clear the course!  Clear the course without knocking over a hurdle, you win!

REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  Like "Penny Ante", the game was subjected to a lot of mechanical issues.  Sometimes the hurdlers wouldn't clear the course even though they were supposed to.  It was a popular game for its time, but it was pulled in early 1983.



PHONE HOME GAME
Date Premiered:  September 12, 1983
Date Retired:  November 3, 1989

This was one weird game.  I presume that this game was the one that eventually replaced "Hurdles" as it debuted six months after "Hurdles" ended.  But this was also a game which allowed audience participation from home - the one, and so far ONLY game to do so.

During the 1980s, home viewers were encouraged to send postcards to "The Price Is Right" which included their names, addresses, and home phone numbers so that they could have the chance to play along with the contestants on the show.

At the beginning of the game, Bob Barker would draw a postcard out of a bin at random, and dial the at home contestant to play along with the studio contestant.  That contestant would then work with the at-home contestant to share a cash prize of $15,000!  I'd love to explain how that worked, but a video is worth a thousand words.



REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  Staff felt that the game was too long, and they weren't very enthused by it.  Also, I think a lack of audience participation sealed the fate of this very interesting pricing game.



POKER GAME
Date Premiered:  September 9, 1975
Date Retired:  May 10, 2007

Of all the pricing games that were retired, this one definitely had the longest life-span - lasting for 31 years, 6 months, and one day.  The game - which was retired shortly before Bob Barker's own retirement in 2007 - was considered to be one of the easiest games to play and win.  All you had to do was know the rules of poker.  Know that a four of a kind beats a three of a kind, and that a full house beats one pair.  The ultimate goal was to try and get five nines...that way you were guaranteed a win.  Have a look at how the game is played.



REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  Inflation.  It was a fine game to play when it first debuted...but it was finally put to pasture in 2007 due to the lack of value for the prizes offered - due to the rules, no prize could be worth more than $999.



PROFESSOR PRICE
Date Premiered:  November 14, 1977
Date Retired:  November 21, 1977

On the flipside, while "Poker Game" was the longest running game to be retired, "Professor Price" was one of the shortest, lasting just one whole week!  Rather than explain how the game was played, I'll post a video and let you guys figure it out for yourselves.



REASON FOR RETIREMENT:  Well, aside from the fact that it was really awkward to play...the game itself really had nothing to do with actually pricing items.  It was more or less a random trivia game.  Might have been a good concept in theory, but the execution was lousy.

So, there you have it.  A sampling of some of "The Price Is Right" games that no longer are in play, as well as the sad stories behind why they were pulled.  DO you have any more games that you want to add to this list?

Thursday, May 01, 2014

April Showers Bring May...Changes?

Hey, guys!  And welcome to May!

As you'll see in the introduction to this week's video blog, I love the month of May.  May happens to be a month in which spring is in full swing!  I was also born in May, so that's an exciting time...even though I'm a little apprehensive in admitting that this birthday is a double digit birthday.

And both of those digits happen to be "3".

But May is also an important date in the blog.  May just happens to be the month in which this blog will be celebrating a very special anniversary.



May 24, 2014 marks the third anniversary of the day that I created "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE", and first of all, can you believe that I have been doing this for three whole years now?  If you asked me back in 2011 if I would still be doing this blog for three years, I would probably say no.

What a difference three years makes, huh?

And, speaking of differences...I'm going to warn you ahead of time.  There's changes that will be coming to the blog beginning next week.  And over the course of the month of May, I will continue to make some tweaks and twists to the blog so that by the time June comes around, it will be fully set.

So, I suppose you could consider May to be a month where this blog will be under construction.  A transition month.  A month where there will literally be a surprise every corner.

In this video, I introduce the first of these changes.  The theme days will be shaken up quite a bit.  Some will change days, some will stay the same, and there will be some brand new concepts!  For more info, just click below.  Don't worry, I'll post them after the video is over to give you the full list.



Okay, so I know I talk too fast in some spots, but in case you missed any of that, here's the list of the brand new theme days.  Just so you know, black ones are ones that are staying the same.  Blue ones are days that are moving to other days of the week, and red ones are brand new days!



MONDAY:  MOTIVATION MONDAY
TUESDAY:  TUESDAY TIMELINE
WEDNESDAY: 
WHO AM I WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY: 
TUBE TALK THURSDAY
FRIDAY: 
FOODIE FRIDAY
SATURDAY: 
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
SUNDAY: 
SUNDAY JUKEBOX


A COUPLE OF NOTES:  Firstly, I purposely transposed the title of the Thursday theme because I discovered that it sounded better the other way AFTER I filmed the video.

Secondly, for those of you who will be missing the Saturday Morning cartoon discussions, I'll be using the Tube Talk Thursday section occasionally for that.  And, I won't be sharing what "Who Am I Wednesday" is until that day actually arrives!



Those changes start up on May 5.  But I've got a few extra tricks up my sleeve...including a brand new look!  So, stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Self-Acceptance - The Motive2Change That I'm Trying To Find



Okay, so I'm going to be using this space for today to once again promote the online YouTube show that I am filming along with my buds JOSH and CARINE.  The show is called MOTIVE2CHANGE and in case you're just tuning in, it's a show made for youth by youth...well, at least TWO of us are still considered youthful.  Want to take a wild guess which two?

HINT:  They're the ones with the coloured names in Kabel style font.  Or, whatever font shows up on your screen.  Ah, let's just go with the coloured font.  That works.

At any rate, this is our fourth episode of the series, and the first one we've filmed in over two weeks.  We had a little bit of a setback in trying to get everybody together to get an episode filmed.  First, it was Easter celebrations that kept us all apart, and then a couple of us ended up getting sick, and plus our hectic work schedules...it was just one thing after another!  I'm sure most of you who are reading this blog entry can relate to that, if only for just a moment.

However, we finally managed to come together and record Episode #4, which is all about the subject of self-esteem and self-worth.
Have a listen just by clicking it!  Hey, it's only a little more than thirty minutes in length.  In the average human lifespan, that's peanuts!



Okay, so now that the video is posted, I certainly hope that you enjoyed it...because I'm not quite done yet with discussing this subject.  When you only have a thirty minute window to talk about a particular subject, it's only natural that there are some things that are either left on the cutting room floor, or that you don't even get a chance to say everything that is going through your mind at that moment.

So, I suppose that this blog entry is a complete addendum to the
MOTIVE2CHANGE episode about self-worth.

And the reason why I want to go into more detail over this subject is because I want to share with all of you the very reasons why I believe that I have struggled with this concept my whole life.

Basically, I want to explain to all of you why I find it hard to see myself through the rose-coloured goggles of positivity and happiness.  Why some people in my life I compare to the Dementors in Harry Potter.  And, in trying to discover the truth, I end up discovering some home truths about myself that aren't quite so pleasant.

I suppose that I'll start with the home truths section of the blog.  The truth of the matter is that I haven't exactly had the greatest love for myself during the entire span of my life.  And because of the fact that I've had extreme self-esteem issues, it explains why I am still single, why I have had difficulty keeping friendships going, and why I have been stuck in a rut for some time when it comes to personal growth and development.  And I'll definitely own up to that.  I know that there are instances in which I am my own worst enemy at times, and it's been a real challenge to try and keep my eye on the prize when there are times in which you doubt yourself even deserving the prize in the first place.

And yes, there are moments in which I have felt THAT bad! 

The good news is that those moments are few and far between, but the bottom line is that I have had some bad experiences that have really made me doubt myself, and I have had instances in which people I thought that I could trust ended up betraying me, and I have had authority figures who were supposed to set a good example be anything but.  And, it's unfortunate that I have had such poor examples of people pass through my life, trying to suck all of the fun and happiness that I had as a child.

(Now you see where the Dementor reference comes from.)

Growing up, I think I kind of always knew that I wasn't like the other kids.  I had my own distinct personality, I liked doing activities that other kids didn't, and I studied things that other kids had literally no interest in. 

Case in point - I once checked out every single book about clocks in the library when I was four.  I still find clocks to be fascinating things today.  And, there's nothing wrong with that.

But you know something?  My likes, dislikes, hobbies, and interests were NEVER a problem before I entered school.  They may have seemed a little eccentric to people who came to visit, but they only visited.  They never got to see me for who I really was. 

That seemed to be a recurring theme for me.

By the time I entered school, I had all sorts of people who came into my life and who thought that they would interject by showing me the "right way" to be.  And, they came at me under the guise of being a caring person who really did have my best interests at heart.

But let's be realistic.  They only cared about moving themselves up the education ladder, or making an example out of me, or singling me out from the other kids because they deemed me "different".

As far as I was concerned, there was nothing wrong with the way I held my pencil, or the way I walked down the hall.  Unfortunately, I had a teacher who was somehow bothered by the fact that I was imperfect in both.  I honestly don't know whether she did it just to be nasty, or whether she was told to act that way by the school board, or whether she simply wanted to have the reputation that all of her students were "practically perfect in every way", but regardless of which, she inflicted a lot of emotional abuse on me.

Worse, she taught the other kids in my class - the ones she DIDN'T single out - that it was perfectly fine to pick on kids who were different from them because she singled me out for being different all the time.  She made sure I was the last one to get a writing notebook even though my handwriting was clearer than some of the other kids in the class (I think she was punishing me for not holding the pencil the "proper" way).  She denied me the right to sell fundraising materials even though she had extra copies of the booklets to hand out.  She even made fun of my walking style and made it a song and dance production to make the other kids know that I had a walking impediment. 

My only regret was that I didn't go to the school board myself and report her so that she couldn't abuse any other children the way she abused me.  Of course, I was only seven, and what school board trustee EVER listens to a seven year old?

But you know, once I had her as a teacher, I couldn't help but feel that ALL teachers were just like her.  Many of them weren't, of course.  And none of them EVER matched the level of cruelty that she exhibited day after day.  But because she betrayed my trust and hurt me in ways that many people don't understand, I saw all teachers as being untrustworthy.  And I think that's why the bullying that I endured in school grew to become out-of-control.  Because I didn't know who I could trust.

Mind you, it wasn't just the teachers who I didn't trust.  So often I formed friendships with kids and they ended up turning on me for what appeared to be no reason.  I still remember one friendship that I had with a boy.  For three years, we were really close friends, and I remember that I even made it a point to invite him to my ninth birthday party at the movie theatre where we saw a screening of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".  That's why I found it so bizarre when just a couple of years later, he became friends with three other boys who didn't like me very much, and he became my worst enemy.  And when I say worst enemy, I mean it.  He would call me all sorts of names, chase after me with balloons stuffed in his backpack (remember, I can't stand the sound of balloons popping), and he just caused me a whole lot of emotional stress.  Worse, he was the type of kid who would instigate things in class so that I would react on purpose (admittedly I didn't handle being bullied very well when I was younger), and soon afterwards, the rest of the class joined him in taunting me.

I suppose in some ways, I could expect something like that to happen.  After all, nobody wants to be the odd person out.  But, I'll tell you...one of the reasons why I was doubting going to my eighth grade reunion is because of the fact that I might end up coming face to face with this jerk and he might stir up all sorts of trouble for me once again.  I know the odds of that happening are slim to nil, but still...there's always that chance.  And honestly, I don't know if I'm prepared to handle it.

But then again, I sort of just got used to the fact that whenever I made friends, they would somehow find a way to turn against me.  And, yes, this person who went from best friend to worst enemy in just a couple of years was a huge factor behind it.  Because that friendship ended on an ugly note, I went through life believing that all friendships would end up that way.  And, certainly this has been the case with some people who have come across my path - after all, the kid who torched my locker and the kid who sent me poison e-mails were also considered "friends" at one time.  But because I had such horrible examples of friendship shown to me, whenever any friendships that I had dissolved, I always took responsibility for it being my fault for not being good enough for them - not even entertaining the possibility that maybe they weren't good enough for me, because I always told myself that possibility was not possible.

You see how sometimes I can see myself as my own worst enemy?

Even at my workplace sometimes, I still have self-doubts, and I feel as though I am either not doing enough, or doing too much.  I volunteer for several things around the store, but yet some people still won't have anything to do with me (though, I'm starting to see that it's more THEIR loss, and not mine).  Whenever I get an irate customer, more often than not, they have the attitude to begin with.  But sometimes I find myself wondering if anything I did caused them to get angry even more. 

And, I shouldn't be like that.  But then again, I haven't always had the healthiest self-worth. 

Truth be told, there are times in which my self-worth has plummeted down to such dismal levels that I worry it'll flatline on the operating table. 

I know that I'm the only one who can change it.  I just sometimes feel that I lack the resources necessary to make those changes. 

Or, maybe it's because as good of a judge of character I am with people, I still make mistakes and put my trust in the wrong ones.

Or, maybe it's because I spent the better part of a decade locked away from the world because I couldn't bear being hurt again.

Most times, I can find a way to get out of bed, face the day, and put on a happy face showing that all is good.  I just wish that I didn't have to work so hard on putting on a happy face.  I just wish that I could just do it.

I'm tired of making excuses for who I am, and I am sick of having people come into my life to try and change me, or betray me, or treat me as if I'm invisible.  I may be eccentric, but I am still capable of showing real, raw, human emotion. 


I just think that I need to stop listening to negative people...and get myself away from negative situations.

Are there any islands out there that are worth ten bucks?