I
know that today is the day designated as MOTIVATIONMONDAY, 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.
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.
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.
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'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!
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.
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.