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Monday, June 23, 2014

We Interrupt This Motivation Monday...

I know that today is the day designated as MOTIVATION MONDAY, and that this is the time of the week in which my friends JOSHUA, JONATHON, and CARINE post a brand new episode of MOTIVE4CHANGE...but this week, I have an announcement to make.  



And, it's an announcement that I feel is best made in person through a video that I made.  Please take the time to watch it.  It explains what is going on with the show.  But it also talks about how I plan to keep the motivation going every Monday.

And, to tell you the truth, I could use some ideas here.



Okay, so now that you've watched the video, you know that MOTIVE4CHANGE is off the air (at least for now).  That being said, I'm going to use Mondays as an opportunity to film more video blogs and coming up with motivational topics to fill the void.  In all likelihood, that will mean that I bare my soul (but not my skin) more often than not, and hopefully inspiring other people to do the same.  I guess it sort of reminds me of the Thursday Confessions that I used to make, only instead of Thursdays, it'll be Mondays...and it'll be on video.

But here's where you come in.  Do you want me to keep the topics the same as we did on
MOTIVE4CHANGE, or do you want pop culture topics, or do you just want me to do my own experimentation until I get something that sticks?  I'm really interested in your input.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?

This edition of the Sunday Jukebox is one that will bring back memories of a time gone by - well, at least for me anyway.  And, for the rest of you, it will be just like any other Sunday Jukebox entry that you've seen in the year so far. 

This week, we're going back nineteen years ago in the past to June 1995.  Let's see...what was I doing exactly nineteen years ago this weekend?  Let me think.

Oh, yeah.  That's right.  Nineteen years ago this weekend, I was getting ready to graduate from elementary school into high school!  And thinking about high school now kind of made me wish that I could have taken ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades at my old elementary school!  Of course, that would be an impossibility now, as all the elementary schools in the area have now been changed to K-6 schools, and the seventh and eighth graders now have a junior high school inside of a high school campus.

How very Degrassi of the school system.

Anyway, back in the good old days in which seventh and eighth grade was still a part of the elementary school curriculum, I graduated with 68 other people (some of which I'm still friends with today, while others I hope to never see again as long as I live) on June 21, 1995.  And, because I'm not above embarrassing myself, I'll post a couple of pictures from the event below.



(Sigh...if only I had that much hair on my head today...only not styled in a bowl cut.  The Archie Comics necktie that I wore was a nice touch though.)

Yeah, for some reason, I always look back on my elementary school graduation with a sense of pride and fond memories.  It was the event in which I received my diploma.  It was where I earned a faculty award for having the highest average in the subject of English.  It was where I earned my badge for being in the senior concert band. 

And, perhaps most importantly of all, it was the event where I had my very first date!  All I will tell you about her is that her name was Heather, and we had a great time together.  Unfortunately, she moved away, and I never saw her again after that.  It's a shame too, because I really liked her.  Oh well...I suppose that sometimes things like that happen.

And, because it's been nineteen years since that day, I wanted to take a trip back to the month of June 1995, just to see what the #1 song was on the day that I graduated elementary school.  As it turns out, it was a song that could very well have been the perfect soundtrack to a slow dance with a date...or at the very least one of those Snowball slow dances where it starts off with a couple, then they separate and grab someone in the circle surrounding them making two sets of two, and so on and so forth.

Here's that song from 1995...and as a special treat, the coloured font will be written in my school colours from elementary school.



ARTIST:  Bryan Adams
SONG:  Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?
ALBUM:  18 til I Die
DATE RELEASED:  April 14, 1995
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 5 weeks

(Yes...it's true.  Our school colours were royal blue and Sunkist orange...two of the most non-complementary colours in the whole spectrum.  I suppose it could be worse...they could have been something like pink and red.)



But enough about school colours.  We're here to talk about Bryan Adams in this Sunday Jukebox spotlight.

Now, I'm sure that most of you have heard at least one Bryan Adams song in your lifetime.  After all, his first album ever was released in 1980!  That's thirty-four years ago!

Granted, Bryan Adams was more well known in his native Canada and had more impact on the Canadian charts than the Billboard charts, but when he broke through into the American market with 1984's "Reckless" album, he showed everyone that he had the star power and talent to become one of the biggest Canadian exports of rock music.  With singles like "Heaven", "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", and the collaboration he did with Rod Stewart and Sting entitled "All for Love", Bryan Adams was one of those artists who managed to strike while the iron was hot three times...as all three of those singles hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts.

"Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" was Adams' fourth #1 hit on Billboard...and unfortunately, his last #1 in America (though he did have several more chart toppers in Canada).  These days, music has taken a bit of a backseat to his humanitarian efforts, photography career, and fatherhood (Adams became a first time father at the age of fifty-one), but he's still known to record an album or perform a concert every now and again. 




Anyway, back to the story of "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman".  It was one of the tracks on Bryan Adams' 1996 album "18 til I Die", but prior to that album's release, it could also be found on the soundtrack for the 1995 film "Don Juan DeMarco", a film which starred Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, and Faye Dunaway.  The film was classified as a sleeper hit of 1995, raking in a total of $68 million on a budget of $25 million, and currently holds a rating of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes.  And, I could go on about what "Don Juan DeMarco" was about, but then I remembered that this was the Sunday Jukebox entry and not the Saturday Night at the Movies entry, and I thought that if I really were to do a feature on "Don Juan DeMarco", I would be better off doing it then.

(Which loosely means that I've never seen the movie, so I have no idea what the movie is all about.  I do know that it was one of the last film projects that Tejano singer Selena did before her March 1995 murder, so it might be worth checking out.)

The song was written by Adams, and his long time collaborators Robert "Mutt" Lange and Michael Kamen, and it was performed throughout the movie "Don Juan DeMarco" a total of three times during the movie.  The first two times were performed by other artists after the song had been translated into Spanish, and the third time was during the closing credits, which was performed by Adams himself. 

The music video is also a production in itself.  It was shot on location in Spain by director Anton Corbjin, and features actresses Amira Casar and Cecelie Thomsen.  It also features Bryan Adams during his shaggy long hair phase circa 1994 as well as him wearing what appears to be a Zorro mask.  The mask features quite prominently in the movie "Don Juan DeMarco", but again, since this isn't a movie post, I won't go into much more detail than that.

The one thing that I can say was that this song was a success, lasting a total of five weeks on the top of the charts.  Not nearly as long as the Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men collaboration that spent four months at the top of the charts, but it was still a great success.  I can still picture some of my classmates dancing the night away to that song...even though we were fourteen, and in all likelihood none of us guys really knew what it was like to really really ever love a woman...or for that matter, a fourteen year old girl.  In some cases, we're probably still trying to figure that out.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm likely on that boat right now. 

I can also picture this song being a very popular choice to be played at weddings.  I imagine that anyone who got married in 1995, 1996, 1997, or even 1998 likely heard this song playing at least once at any wedding ceremony.  It's certainly the right song to play if you want to...ahem...get into the mood.  And, hey, with lyrics like "when you can see your unborn children in her eyes, you know you really love a woman"...yeah, that's deep.

And did you know that this song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1996?  Unfortunately, it lost to "Colors of the Wind" from "Pocahontas".  Still, that is quite an achievement.

This song also holds a place in my heart.  It was the song that closed off the chapter of elementary school, and paved the way towards high school.  Such as it was. 

And, if that class reunion gets rescheduled, I hope that this song is one of the ones that is played.  That would be perfect.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Old Dogs

After a week's hiatus, I'm happy to bring back the "Saturday Night at the Movies" feature in this blog! 

As you may recall, last week at around this time, I was busy walking around a mud soaked track raising awareness and money for the 2014 Relay for Life event that was held in my town.  In case you didn't get a chance to see some of the highlights of the event, you can click on the entry dated June 14, 2014 to read all about it from the bead laps, to the survivor walk, to the rain that kept us huddled inside our tents for a good portion of an hour.  Despite the unpredictable weather, everything turned out very well, and we all had a blast.

And here's something else that I neglected to post in that entry that I didn't realize until recently.  This was the ninth year that my community has hosted an event like this.  Next year will be the tenth anniversary of the Relay event, and I'm planning on being there next year.  Of course, I'm not sure exactly what my life will be like one year from now, but no matter what the circumstances are, I'm game for another year of the Relay.  Hey, maybe I'll break my personal best of 36 laps around the track next year.

(Well, provided that my orthopedic insoles hold up.  And yes, at 33, I'm not ashamed to admit that I wear orthopedic insoles.  Whatever gets you through a twelve hour walkabout, right?)

Anyway, enough about orthopedic insoles.  We have a movie that we have to discuss.

I'm going to get right to the point about a couple of things before I go into today's movie discussion.  The first thing is that I had initially timed this entry to be posted on Father's Day weekend, which was last weekend, as this movie deals with the subject of fatherhood and raising children.  Of course, this plan fell through when the Relay for Life coincided with Father's Day weekend, and I decided that I would use that Saturday to talk about the Relay. 

(Well, after I recovered from the event, that is.)

And, the second thing that you should probably know about this movie is that it is considered by many to be one of the worst movies made in the 2000s.  It holds an approval rating of just five per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and some of the comments made by critics about the film include "badly written and broadly acted", "the film should be put out of our misery", and that the movie was not recommended for adults OR children.

Which wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that the film was marketed as a family comedy by Disney.  Ouch.

Despite the negativity surrounding the film, it did do well at the box office.  It did make three times the amount of money that was spent on the film, so it wasn't a complete bomb.  But given how much of a negative reception that this film got, I was quite curious to know just why it was so bad.  So, I decided to buy a copy of the movie (don't cry foul people, I only paid $3.94 for it, which is way less than a subscription to Netflix), and check it out for myself.

I will say this.  It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  But it will NEVER be considered a Disney classic.  In fact, I can see why a lot of people didn't like it.  It had some rather unbelievable plot points, had some hammy overacting...and it also had Robin Williams in a Speedo.  And, take it from me...NOBODY wanted to see that.




Of course, Robin Williams isn't the only actor to star in the 2009 Disney film "Old Dogs".  The film also starred John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Ella Bleu Travolta (a real family affair this film was), Lori Loughlin, Seth Green, and Bernie Mac (in what would be his final film appearance as he died in August 2008 just after filming his parts for the movie).

As far as the subject of the film goes, the main gist of it is fatherhood at fifty.  It's a concept that is beginning to be more widely accepted as more and more men are becoming first time fathers after they hit the age of 40 (and sometimes even 50).  As someone who is childless at the age of 33, it suddenly doesn't make me feel so bad.

Speaking of which, John Travolta certainly has experience with being a father in his fifties.  After all, he and his wife Kelly had their third child in November 2010 - when John was 56 years old. 

And had the film just told the story of how a man who is in his fifties suddenly discovers that he has children, it probably would have been a wonderful and rewarding film that a lot of people could relate to.

Unfortunately, the Disney of the 2000s seemed to completely botch that plot up, and instead the whole movie becomes a huge mishmash of several different plots in one movie.  There were literally times in which I thought I was watching episodes of that Disney show "Sonny With A Chance", which featured actors in a sketch comedy show called "So Random".  Only Demi Lovato was nowhere to be found...and the main actors of the film were once highly respected A-list celebrities.

Anyway, back to the plot...or something that resembled a plot.



Williams and Travolta play best friends and sports company co-owners Dan Rayburn and Charlie Reed.  They are well on their way to making it big in the world of business, with the company well on their way to ironing out a deal with a Japanese corporation that will net both Dan and Charlie immediate recognition and fortune - if the deal goes through.

But Dan and Charlie are confident in their sales pitches and are guaranteed to make the deal happen no matter what.  What could possibly go wrong?

Well, let's just say that the past has a way of coming back and slapping you across the face.  In Dan's case, a rendezvous seven years ago while he was on vacation with Charlie lead to a really embarrassing tattoo across his chest, and two children that he didn't even know he had!




You can just imagine the shock that Dan must have felt when his wife of all but a few days, Vicki (Preston) shows up with Dan's children, twins Zack and Emily (Conner Rayburn and Ella Bleu Travolta). 

Here's where the plot gets even more farfetched.  Vicki is an environmental activist whose pursuit towards a greener planet has gotten her into a lot of trouble with the law.  She's about to spend the next few months in prison, and she wants Dan to take care of the children while she serves her time. 

Okay, wait...WHAT?  You had a drunken night of debauchery with a man and impulsively get married to a man while under the influence.  That marriage lasts approximately the same amount of time that Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra stayed married for, and then you have his twins, then wait for seven years before telling him, only doing so because you end up getting arrested for committing crimes in the name of the environment.

And, yet, SHE'S the moral compass of the whole film?  No wonder this film got panned!

Anyway, I'm sure you know how the rest of the film progresses.  Since Dan has no idea how to handle being an instant father, he asks Charlie for help.  There's also some cameos by Charlie's crush Amanda (Loughlin), Craig (Green), a junior executive with Dan and Charlie's company, and Jimmy Lunchbox (Bernie Mac), a children's entertainer.  And, throughout the course of the movie, you learn why it's not a good idea to get a spray tan, why it's not a good idea to mix up prescriptions, and why you should never go swimming in a zoo exhibit for creatures of the Arctic.



Please tell me I didn't just waste eighty-eight minutes of my life...

Okay, let's just go ahead with the trivia portion of the blog.  Maybe there's something there that I can find.

1 - In addition to this film being dedicated to the memory of Bernie Mac, there's also a dedication to Jett Travolta.  John and Kelly's eldest son died at the age of 16 in January 2009 following a seizure.

2 - Watch for uncredited cameos by Dax Shepard and Justin Long in this movie.

3 - Also watch for Matt Dillon to make an appearance in the film as a camp counselor.

4 - Because of the deaths of both Bernie Mac and Jett Travolta, and because of the fact that Robin Williams had to undergo emergency surgery, this film's release date was pushed back three times.  It was originally supposed to be released the autumn of 2008, but didn't come out until November 25, 2009 - a full year after filming was completed!

5 - Although the film depicts some of the cast in the city of Tokyo, Japan, there were actually no scenes filmed in Tokyo.  The majority of the movie was shot in Connecticut and New York City.

6 - John Travolta accidentally calls Jimmy Lunchbox, Jimmy Mac.  The blooper remained in the film...and now I have this song stuck in my head!



7 - Although the zoo is seemingly located in the city of Burlington, Vermont, this is an impossibility, as that city doesn't even have a zoo!

8 - Although Conner Rayburn and Ella Bleu Travolta are supposed to play twins in the movie, there's actually a full year difference between the two actors.  Rayburn was born in April 1999, and Travolta was born in April 2000.

And, well...that's it for "Old Dogs".  Certainly not the worst film I've seen (that honour will always go towards "Freddy Got Fingered"), it is far from being the best.

All I can say is that I'm glad I only lost four bucks out of the deal.

Friday, June 20, 2014

The Social Media Cookbook

It's time for another fun filled edition of FOODIE FRIDAY, and I think I've got a couple of recipes selected that you probably have seen before, only you might not realize it.

But before I go ahead with that, I really want all of you to know that I am still taking recipe submissions from anybody.  If you have a recipe that you want to see posted in this blog, you can send it to me at matthewwturcotte518@gmail.com and it will be posted right here in this space on Fridays.

In case you haven't guessed, the recipe well has run dry, and I could use some ideas to post in this space.  Otherwise, I'll just have to scrap the recipe portion altogether and just make Fridays a general discussion about food - which I'd really like to avoid because I really want you to have a chance to have some of your thoughts and ideas posted.  This is just as much your blog as it is mine. 

Anyway, for today's recipe look back, I thought I'd post a couple of recipes that I found on social media of all places!  I guess I could add that as a positive on my "Social Media Balancing Act" post of a couple of days ago.  Lately, Facebook has turned into a gigantic cookbook filled with delicious recipes, as people find them on food blogs, and share them with their friends, who post them on their profiles, and so on and so forth.  It kind of makes me wonder if the cookbook is going the way of the dodo bird.

Anyway, for today's edition of FOODIE FRIDAY, I'll share a couple of recipes that I've seen floating around Facebook.

For instance, there's a recipe sharing group on Facebook called
Dessert Recipes 24/7, in which all the members of the group share their favourite recipes and people can get a new recipe every day.

The trick is that all those recipes come from different food blogs.  So, in this blog, I'll be posting links to these other blogs, so I can give the authors of the recipes original credit, and so you can check out their other works.  So, consider this to be a special blog entry where you can read three blogs in one!

Anyway, our first recipe comes from "SWEET PEA'S KITCHEN", and rather than type out the recipe out in full, I'll just post the screenshot, as well as provide the link to the blog (just click the title).  Don't worry if you can't read the screenshot.  Just click on it to make it bigger.



And, our second recipe comes from the blog entitled "FAT GIRL TRAPPED IN A SKINNY BODY", and there you can find this delicious recipe for the Ultimate S'more Bar - perfect for summer campouts!



I'm getting hungry now...talk to you later!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Battle of the Network Stars

I'll be the first one to admit that a conversation with a couple of online friends sparked today's subject.  And, at the same time, I'll remark that it also happens to be on a television show that I am too young to remember.  After all, the last time the series aired was in 1988, when I was just seven.

But, you know what they say...I love a challenge.

Anyway, this discussion began when someone posted a video of this very show online.  It was a show that I had, of course, heard of but don't remember watching it.  Again, you kind of had to have been around in the 1970s to really appreciate it.  It was a show that combined celebrities with athletic events that one might see during the Summer Olympics.  A disaster in the making?  Not so.

I mean, we've all tuned in to some of these "celebreality" competitions over the last decade or so.  The twenty-first century seems to be the era of reality television (whether we embrace it or not), and certainly there are lots of examples in which we've seen celebrities competing against each other.  In the United Kingdom, "Celebrity Big Brother" and "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!" are huge.  In the United States, "The Celebrity Apprentice" and "Dancing With The Stars" are still very popular.  And, well...shows like "Celebracadabra" and "Stars Earn Stripes" only lasted one season.  Still, with lots of Y-list and Z-list celebrities turning to reality television in one final shot at stardom, I don't think that we're going to see an end to it any time soon.

Well, what if I told you that today's show topic predates all of those reality shows by at least three decades?  And that the celebrities that participated in this show were current stars from what were considered to be the cream of the television crop?  You'd have a hard time believing me, huh?

Prepare to be blown away.



How many of you have heard of the television show "Battle of the Network Stars"?  It's okay if you haven't.  As I said before, the last time this show aired on network television was over twenty-five years ago. 

I'll go over the show history with you right now.

Once upon a time - exact date, November 13, 1976 - there once was a show that aired on ABC called "Battle of the Network Stars".  You see, back in the days before cable television (and yes, Virginia, there was a world without cable television), people only had a total of twelve channels to choose from (if you were lucky).  And since my family didn't get cable television until 1988, my childhood was strictly limited to these twelve channels.  Scary this is, I remember the original twelve channels in my area.  Just to prove it, here they are...

02 - TVONTARIO (Toronto, Ontario)
03 - GLOBAL TELEVISION (Toronto, Ontario)
04 - CBC (Ottawa, Ontario)
05 - CBS (Detroit, Michigan)
06 - NBC (Detroit, Michigan)
07 - CBS (Watertown, New York)
08 - PBS (Watertown, New York)
09 - CBOFT (French version of CBC)
10 - CABLE ACCESS CHANNEL
11 - CKWS (Kingston, Ontario)
12 - ABC (Detroit, Michigan)
13 - CTV/CJOH (Ottawa, Ontario)

I'm still not sure how we ended up with two CBS affiliates.  And, I don't know why we received stations from Detroit when I believe New York City (or even Syracuse for that matter) is closer to my hometown.  Things that make one go hmmmm...



Anyway, the ones highlighted in blue are the three networks that took part in "Battle of the Network Stars".  And, yes, Virginia, there was once a time in which we only had three networks to choose from.  FOX didn't come along until 1986, and the CW was a merger between the WB and UPN - both of which were launched in 1995.



(Coincidentally, this is one reason why I believe that "Battle of the Network Stars" hasn't been resurrected since 1988.  Way too many networks.  I mean, you'd almost have to make it a month-long event if you throw in HBO, Bravo, AMC, TV Land, and the Game Show Channel in the mix.)

But getting back to the "Battle of the Network Stars", how it worked was like this.  The three networks would have their own team of athletes.  Usually the teams consisted of anywhere from eight to nine celebrities from some of network television's biggest television shows, and each team would have its own captain.

TRIVIA:  In the nineteen different editions of the program, there have only been two female captains of a team.  One was "That's Incredible" hostess Cathy Lee Crosby for the ABC team in May 1980, and the other was Barbara Mandrell in May 1981 from the NBC variety show "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters".  All the other captains were men.

The catch was that all the ABC stars formed one team, all the CBS stars formed one team, and so on.



Let's take a look at the debut episode in November 1976, shall we?

On the ABC team, you had Gabe Kaplan from "Welcome Back, Kotter" as captain - an ABC show.  And some of the team members included Ron Howard from "Happy Days", and Farrah Fawcett from "Charlie's Angels" - ABC shows.

The CBS team had Telly Savalas from "Kojak" as captain - a CBS show.  And members on that team included Jimmie Walker from "Good Times" and Mackenzie Phillips from "One Day At A Time" - both CBS shows.

I'm sure you get the gist by now, but let's do the NBC one as well, just for the heck of it.  The NBC captain in 1976 was Robert Conrad from "Black Sheep Squadron" - an NBC show.  And members of that team included Kevin Tighe from "Emergency!" and Karen Grassle from "Little House on the Prairie" - both...get this...NBC shows.  Shocker, huh?



TRIVIA:  Gabe Kaplan holds the record for most times as team captain.  And he's the only one to serve as team captain of two different networks.  He was captain of the ABC team for the first five editions of the show, and was a one-time captain of the NBC team in December 1981.

Now at first glance, you might think that this show was almost designed to be a parody of the Olympic games, and that it wasn't taken very seriously.  And, I suppose in some ways it was, as some of the events were considered to be a little bit goofy and cheesy.  How many Olympic competitions can you recall where someone won a gold medal for a rousing game of "Simon Says"?



I have to admit though...seeing celebrities playing along and being good sports about it does make me smile a little.

To be fair though, the show really did have other legitimate sports that the stars all took part in.  Sports like kayaking.



And a running relay.



And swimming relays.



(And, yes Virginia, there was a time in which the Speedo was the most popular choice for male swimwear.  Thank goodness those days are seemingly over.)

At the end of the show, the points were added up amongst the three teams and the two teams that had the highest totals would compete in the "Tug-of-War" competition.  Here's one of these tug-of-war competitions from November 1979. 



By the way, I should mention that the announcer of the majority of the "Battle of the Network Stars" specials was Howard Cosell, who those of you who are old enough will remember as the official voice of ABC Sports during the 1970s and 1980s.  Mind you, Cosell wasn't as serious in the "Battle of the Network Stars" specials as he was covering "Monday Night Football", but I think he did very well covering the events.

I only wish I could have found information on which network ended up being the one that won the most competitions.  Alas, I came up empty.  But, I watched some of the tug-of-war competitions that were available online, and I think I came up with a partial list.

NOVEMBER 1976 - ABC
NOVEMBER 1978 - NBC
MAY 1979 - CBS
NOVEMBER 1979 - NBC
MAY 1980 - ABC
DECEMBER 1980 - CBS
MAY 1981 - CBS
DECEMBER 1981 - NBC
MAY 1982 - CBS
DECEMBER 1982 - ABC
MAY 1983 - CBS
DECEMBER 1983 - ABC
MAY 1984 - ABC
DECEMBER 1984 - NBC
MAY 1985 - NBC
DECEMBER 1988 - ABC

I couldn't find the ones for 1977, I'm afraid.  But looking at the list, it's pretty even.  ABC has six competitions won, but the other networks had five a piece.  Not bad.  Again, I suppose a lot of strategy would work in this case, as you'd ideally want to have strong people at the front and rear and everyone else forming the middle.

And, that's our look back at "Battle of the Network Stars".  Personally speaking, I'd like to see it come back, but again with too many networks these days, it'd be hard to do...

...unless you only had five networks taking part and the show aired for a whole week instead of just a day or two.

I mean, think of it.  You'd have representatives from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and the CW.

Could you picture a relay race with Patrick Dempsey, Jim Parsons, Allison Sweeney, David Boreanaz, and Tyra Banks

Or, how about a kayaking race with Tom Bergeron, Jeff Probst, Mae Whitman, Lea Michele, and Rachel Bilson?

Or, can you just picture a game of Simon Says with
Nathan Fillion, Scott Caan, James Spader, Gordon Ramsey, and Nina Dobrev?

I mean, the possibilities could be endless...and entertaining!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Social Media Balancing Act

Okay, guys.  I'll be getting to the WHO AM I WEDNESDAY feature in just a few seconds, but before I do that, I want to get serious for just a second.

As many of you are well aware by now, a pair of twin tornadoes touched down in the middle of the small community of Pilger, Nebraska. The tornadoes were extremely powerful and caused a lot of damage.  It is estimated that over three-quarters of the entire community was wiped out.  Two people are confirmed dead and many others are injured.

Now, you might be wondering why I am talking about this here when I don't live anywhere near Nebraska.  Well, I believe in the concept of paying it forward.  And as it turns out, I know someone who while not directly in the path of the tornado, knew lots of people who were.  Believe me when I tell you that the area that was hardest hit is completely devastated and in need of serious emergency assistance so that they can begin to rebuild.

So, I've decided that I will be using this blog to try and help out because I believe in the power of communities helping communities.



If you click on THIS LINK, it will take you to a donation page where you can donate a minimum of ten dollars to the Pilger, Nebraska fund.  The money will help provide displaced residents with assistance in getting back up on their feet as well as rebuilding the community.  I know that any American readers will be able to use the site without any problems.  I don't know for sure about outside of America, but I attempted to give a donation myself, so I will keep you posted.  I figure that if I post this link on a public blog such as this one, it may make a small difference.  



Also, for those of you who happen to live in the same area that I do, I'll also post a link to this FACEBOOK GROUP.  This group is a donation page in which people can donate cash, furniture, and clothing items to several people who lost everything in a Father's Day fire.  If you live in Leeds-Grenville county in Ontario, do bookmark this page, as I'm sure that they could use all the help they can get to rebuild their lives as well.

(And as I type this, it appears as though Ontario, Canada is experiencing tornado warnings and possible storm damage.  I'll keep you posted on this development as well.)

But you know, just going back to the opening of this blog entry, I have to say that seeing people sharing links to fundraising efforts, or just using the power of social media to check and see if their friends and relatives are safe...to me, this gives me hope that social media can be used for good.  After all, if social media can be a tool that brings people together for brainstorming sessions, and coming up with ways to build each other up, I'm all for it.



But lately I've been asking myself...is keeping a social media profile really worth it in the long run? 

I mean, yes, I've given off a major plus for social media.  It allows us to get connected with the news of the world in microseconds, and it allows us to help others who really need assistance.  And, granted, I'll admit that as someone who loves to give back to other people, these are a couple of reasons why I've kept a profile on social media.

I also think that social media is also useful when it comes to promoting self-projects.  After all, my blog wouldn't be read if I didn't post the links on both Facebook and Google+ (so help me, I don't like Twitter and can't figure out how the heck Instagram or Snapchat works).

So, why am I having some doubts when it comes to the concept of social media?

Well...to be honest with you, it has to do with the idea of real life colliding with online life - as bizarre as it may sound.

I see confusion all over your faces, so I'll clarify.  In life, we all have our own personal struggles when it comes to stress management, and in life, we also have to do what that Monty Python song states...let's see...what was that song telling us to do again?



Oh, yes.  Always look on the bright side of life.  That's right.

You know, that's an attitude that I really try to live by.  It was an attitude that I never really practiced during my teenage years, and now that I'm a little bit older, I guess I just decided that I wasn't going to let negativity turn me into a Negative Nellie any longer. 

I don't know about any of you reading this right now, but have you noticed that it seems to be easier to change your mood from good to bad than it is the other way around?  I know that in my case, I found that to be incredibly true.  Growing up, I can remember very vividly having days in which I felt really great and I was having a wonderful time...and then in a split second, those good times were destroyed by someone else's negative thoughts, or mean behaviour, and from there it took a really long time to get back to the high that I was previously feeling.  It's funny how that works, you know?  It takes a long time to become happy again after feeling sad or angry, but it only takes seconds to be angry or sad after being happy.  At least, that's what my experience was like anyway.

Well, the same holds true on social media gathering sites as well.  Sometimes you can log on feeling like nothing will bring you down...and by the end of your Internet browsing session, you feel so angry that you want to kick someone in their Cocoa Puffs. 

Okay, maybe that's a little extreme, but you get the picture.



I guess it's a bit frustrating to try and post happy things on social media when you have a group of people who will respond to them with flippancy, nonchalance and just plain meanness.  I'm a fan of sarcasm as much as anybody else, but there's a time and a place for it.  And sometimes when you've done something that you're really proud of, whether it be doing a twenty mile jog, or proposing to 'the one', or baking the perfect chocolate cake with coconut sprinkles, it can be a real drag to have some of the people you've trusted to let onto your page respond with sarcasm or mean comments. 

I also find it really annoying when you post a status update or a video, or a picture, and suddenly be treated as if you're being interrogated in a prison holding cell, or that you're being interviewed by Barbara Walters - the television personality known for making her guests cry at the drop of a hat.  If I wanted to play Twenty Questions, I'd buy one of those portable Twenty Questions electronic games that they sell at toy stores.  And, even so, I wouldn't do it because I hate that bloody game!

I mean, unless I knew the person well enough to joke around with them, I wouldn't engage in such activity on social media.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  It's the Golden Rule, they say.  I find it interesting that some people seem to have that Golden Rule stenciled onto iron pyrite.

Fool's Gold, if you will.

And, I suppose another thing that I dislike about Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites is the fact that people in general just seem to be in a grouchy mood, and therefore want the world to know about it.  And, we're all guilty of doing this...myself included.  But I see so many people who have jumped on the "I WANT A DISLIKE BUTTON ON FACEBOOK" bandwagon that I sometimes wonder if it's in a person's nature to be so negative that they aren't happy unless everyone around them is feeling the same way. 



As far as I'm concerned, I'm okay with just having a like button - well, that is when you use it correctly.  Somehow, people liking the fact that someone was cheated on by their boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse just gives me the creeps.  Can anybody say Schadenfreude? 



But implementing a dislike button?  Let's avoid opening up that can of worms.  For starters, nobody likes having their thoughts or pictures branded with a dislike button.  I know I sure don't.  If there's something on Facebook that I don't like, all you have to do is hide it from your News Feed.  That way, nobody gets their feelings hurt, and everyone can go on their merry little way. 

But a dislike button - in the wrong hands - can be used as a weapon of mass social media destruction.  If bullies got their hands on dislike buttons, they could use them to really harass their victims.  And if everyone got into the act, the dislike button could hurt just as much as being called names in the playground.  After all, when it comes to bullies, some of them aren't happy unless they overdo it.  Take it from someone who knows what it is like to be on the receiving end one too many times.

So, as far as I'm concerned...

DISLIKE BUTTON ON FACEBOOK =/= GOOD THING
DISLIKE BUTTON ON FACEBOOK === BAD THING

But, you know...when I look back on the things I don't like about social media...it's not so many.  When I first started off this piece, I was expecting to have several pages detailing the horrors and evils of social media...and yet, my list only amounts to a few things.  And, the things that I've listed are quite easy to deal with.  Hiding things from your news feed that you don't like, using things like the "like button" the right way.  I guess in some extreme cases, if you're second guessing a friendship that you've made on Facebook, you can always hide them from your news feed, or if you really can't tolerate them, unfriend or block them from seeing your stuff.  Out of sight, out of mind, I always say. 

For every bad thing that social media has said about it, there's a lot of good things too.  You can connect with people from all over the world in just seconds.  You can share your thoughts with people in an open forum on a variety of specialized groups.  And, you have this awesome ability to make a difference in the world by setting up groups that do fundraising efforts, or offer friendly support to people who are going through something difficult. 

So, you see, there's good to be found as well.

But I also believe that everyone needs a little bit of a break from social media every now and again.  I know people who leave Facebook for three months or so and come back completely refreshed and with a new outlook on life. 

Actually, that doesn't sound so bad.  A social media vacation.  

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

June 17, 1971

Hello, everyone!  Today is Tuesday, and I have got a Tuesday Timeline entry that is sure to bring sweet music to your ears.  That's your only hint at this moment.

Because let's face it...if I told you what the topic was right off the bat, it would be the most anticlimactic thing I could ever do in this blog.  It certainly wouldn't make you read all of the other events and celebrity birthdays for June 17th, would it? 

At any rate, before we get to the main course, let's take a look at some appetizers.

1631 - The wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, Mumtaz Mahal, dies in childbirth - this event sets forth the emperor's 17-year quest to build her mausoleum - a little building known as the Taj Mahal

1775 - Many British troops are killed during the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War

1861 - The Battle of Vienna, Virginia takes place during the American Civil War

1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives at New York Harbor

1898 - The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established

1930 - President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law

1933 - The Union Station Massacre in Kansas City, Missouri takes place when four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are shot to death by gangsters

1939 - The last public guillotining in France takes place

1940 - The RMS Lancastria is sunk by the Luftwaffe near France, killing three thousand people

1944 - Iceland declares its independence from Denmark

1967 - The People's Republic of China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon

1972 - Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Convention in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition

1987 - The Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct

1991 - The South American Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth

1994 - O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman following a low-speed chase on the highway

2012 - Rodney King - the police brutality victim whose trial set off the 1992 Los Angeles Riots is found dead in a swimming pool at the age of 47

And, a very happy birthday to the following famous (or infamous) faces if you will.  Turning one year older are Newt Gingrich, Barry Manilow, Gregg Rolle, Lee Tamahori, Joe Piscopo, Mark Linn-Baker, Jon Gries, Bobby Farrelly, Daniel McVicar, Thomas Haden Church, Greg Kinnear, Erin Murphy, Jason Patric, Eric Stefani, Will Forte, Michael Showalter, Paulina Rubio, Jennifer Irwin, Venus Williams, Jamal Mixon, Helen Glover, and Kendrick Lamar.

All right.  Now that you have had your hors d'oeuvres, let's move onto the main course.  



And today's special takes place 43 years ago today on June 17, 1971.

I've given you one small hint about today's Tuesday Timeline.  About how the date I've selected will bring sweet music to your ears.  And certainly this subject has had a lot of history with music.  After all, her first performance in public was at the age of eight singing the song "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked A Cake"!  And although she would become famous for her own singing skills, she began her career as a songwriter.  A very successful songwriter in her own right.  After all, she was responsible for penning the following three singles.



But here's the thing.  She accomplished all those successes during the 1960s.  So clearly, June 17, 1971 isn't the date she got started, or even the date she was born.

But it IS the date that her most famous album hit the top of the Billboard 200 list.  This album was released in February 1971 and was produced by Lou Adler.  Although other albums have since shattered the original sales records that this album made back in the early 1970s, at the time it was released, it was one of the biggest selling albums of its day.  Twenty five million copies were sold since its release in 1971, and on June 17, 1971, it hit the #1 spot and stayed there for SEVENTEEN weeks! 

Of course, it's easy to see why this album did so well.  The songs that were released from the album became instant pop classics that are still regarded as some of the best pop music ever written and recorded.  And Rolling Stone Magazine listed the album at #36 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.



The name of the artist who recorded the album is Carole King.  The name of the album is "Tapestry".  And to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the day that "Tapestry" topped the album charts, we're going to have a listen to some of the biggest hits from the album.  We'll talk about how the songs were written, some behind the scenes moments, chart positions, and which artists have recorded their own versions.

So let's kick off Tapestry Tuesday, shall we?  We'll start by posting one of Carole's biggest hits.



IT'S TOO LATE (April 1971)
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1

Ah, yes.  I remember hearing this song playing a lot on the easy listening station that most of my family listened to while I was growing up.  Released a full decade before I was born, this truly was the first chance that Carole King had to shine.  Although she had released some solo singles throughout the 1960s, none of them really had any success.  This single proved that Carole King had the chops to make it as a singer AND songwriter.  The song won Carole King a Grammy Award in 1972 for Record of the Year.  The song itself is about a woman deciding to end a relationship with her partner even though they really did try to make it work.  The song is quite melancholic in tone, but King's warm vocals brought life to the single.  I can only imagine many people during the 1970s listening to this song after a major break-up over and over to the point where the needle wore out on their record players.

FAMOUS COVER VERSIONS:  Andy Williams, Gloria Estefan



I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE (April 1971)
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1*

Ah, now here's a curious case for you.  When "I Feel The Earth Move" was released, it was on the same single that "It's Too Late" appeared on.  And both singles made it to the #1 position at roughly the same exact time.  I guess '71 really was the year in which a songwriting Queen was a King.

(Yeah, that sounded a lot better in my head too.)

Now, whereas "It's Too Late" was a song filled with sadness and broken hearted memories, "I Feel The Earth Move" was the polar opposite.  It was a song that had a lively piano melody, and it was listed as the A-side of the single that featured "It's Too Late" on it.  The interesting thing is that some disc jockeys liked the slower "It's Too Late" better.  And, while "It's Too Late" hit the top of the charts in June 1971, "I Feel The Earth Move" technically did NOT hit the charts.  It was only when Billboard declared "I Feel The Earth Move"/"It's Too Late" a Double A-Side single that "I Feel The Earth Move" also hit #1.  Hence the reason why I added the asterisk after the #1 in the title.

And, here's a true story for you.  When the San Fernando Earthquake of 1971 struck in the Los Angeles area, this song was playing on a Los Angeles radio station!  Oh, the irony!

FAMOUS COVER VERSIONS:  Martika, Mandy Moore, Delta Goodrem



SO FAR AWAY (March 1971)
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #14


Okay, so maybe this song wasn't as successful as "I Feel The Earth Move" or "It's Too Late".  That doesn't mean that the song wasn't any good.  It's certainly one of Carole King's finest.  And, if you listen closely to the acoustic guitar portion of the single, it was provided by singer James Taylor, who would later go on to have success with another King composition, "You've Got A Friend".

(Which coincidentally was a track that Carole King sang on her "Tapestry" album!  Have a listen to Carole's version below!)



Anyway, the song itself takes from the same tone as "It's Too Late".  Only instead of the song being about a break-up, it's about a long-distance relationship, in which two people who are in love with each other are separated both physically and emotionally.  It certainly was an appropriate song in that it was released during the Vietnam War, and certainly I picture a lot of couples being separated because of it.  But I suppose you could also play the song in memory of somebody who has departed from this world.  It was, after all, played at the funeral services of late singer Amy Winehouse.

FAMOUS COVER VERSIONS:  Rod Stewart, Tina Arena



SMACKWATER JACK (March 1971)
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #14


Yep.  Another Double A-Side to talk about!  And this song was the collaborative effort of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who wrote several songs during the 1960s.  (Goffin was also King's husband between 1959 and 1968, though they continued to work together professionally for years afterwards).

There's really not much to say about Smackwater Jack.  Unlike the other singles from "Tapestry" which were somewhat biographical, and extremely emotional, this song told the story of an Old West confrontation between Smackwater Jack and Big Jim the Chief.

FAMOUS COVER VERSIONS:  Quincy Jones



YOU MAKE ME FEEL (LIKE A NATURAL WOMAN)

Interestingly enough, I don't seem to have any information on when or even IF this single charted on the Billboard charts.  What I can tell you is that this single was actually a cover version...and it wasn't a cover version.  Confused?  Allow me to elaborate.

In 1967, Aretha Franklin had a huge hit with this single, with the song making the Top 10 that year (peaking at #8).  The single itself was inspired by Jerry Wexler, then the co-owner of Atlantic Records.  At the time the song was written, Wexler was mulling over the concept of the "natural man", and while he was driving down the streets of New York City, he came across a woman that he instantly recognized and shouted out to her that he wanted a song about a "natural woman" for Franklin's new album.

That woman was Carole King.  And King and Goffin created "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)" just for Franklin.  And because Wexler was the one who came up with the suggestion, he received a writing credit as well.

So, yes...although Aretha sang the song first, King wrote the song that made it a hit.  And so she decided to add her own version to the "Tapestry" album.

But for some reason, whenever I hear that song now, I can't help but think of that commercial for Herbal Essences shampoo where Debra Messing is singing into a hairbrush.

FAMOUS COVER VERSIONS:  Bonnie Tyler, Mary J. Blige, Celine Dion

So, now you understand why "Tapestry" was such a gigantic hit.  All the songs were written by one of the best female songwriters of the 20th century, and each single was sung by King in such a way that it really brought out a lot of emotion.  No wonder the album stayed at the top of the charts for well over a quarter of a year!

And to think...that chart run began 43 years ago today.