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Thursday, July 03, 2014

Captain Planet and the Planeteers


I was just thinking the other day...it has been a really long time since I had a discussion on an animated program.  Since I changed the movie day to Saturdays, I've not had much of an opportunity to talk Saturday morning cartoons lately.

I think today is the day that I will change that.  After all, today is
Tube Talk Thursday where anything that airs on television goes.  And this includes cartoons.

But what cartoon do I want to talk about today?  I've done a lot of blogs on almost every cartoon that I could possibly think of.  Perhaps if I listen to some music that might inspire me to think of a possible topic.  Let's just set the iPod to shuffle mode.



Wow...um, okay, that was awkward.  I don't know what's more embarrassing, the fact that "Step By Step" from New Kids on the Block was the first song to appear on my iPod, or the fact that I'm actually admitting that I have a New Kids on the Block song on my iPod in the first place.

(Just for the record, it IS the one and only song by that group that I have on the iPod.  What can I say?  1990 had some really danceable tunes.)

But, as it so happens, this classic chart-topper by these five Boston guys serves as the inspiration for today's cartoon.  Because I could have sworn that this song was not the only place where I heard this melody. 

Don't believe me?  Well, I'm going to post the closing credits of this cartoon series as it originally aired.  Don't bother listening to the lyrics (seriously, looking back on the show's closing song, the lyrics are about as cheesy as five-year-old aged cheddar).  Just listen to the background music.



Is it just me, or is it THE SAME FREAKING SONG?!? 

I mean, sure, there's slight instrumental changes, and the speed is slightly different, but it's so similar you may as well call the two songs near perfect copies! 

I'm actually kind of amazed that the New Kids on the Block didn't launch a copyright infringement lawsuit against the theme composers.  According to several music databases, the single "Step by Step" was released in May 1990.  This series didn't debut until September 15, 1990.  Unless, of course, the show was developed for the 1990-1991 season, and the theme was composed at the same time as the New Kids on the Block song. 



Whatever the case, I'm sure you've guessed what the theme of the blog is today.  "Captain Planet and the Planeteers", which could very well have been one of the weirdest cartoons that I have ever seen in my whole life.



At the same time, this series debuted at just the right time.  The year was 1990, and 1990 for me seemed to be the year in which everybody in the world went crazy over protecting the environment.  After all, it was the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, and 1990 was the year in which our town's recycling program kicked off.  It was only natural that a cartoon designed to inform people about protecting our planet and teaching us ways in which we can preserve the Earth as well as our natural resources.

And, yes.  I admit that when I watched the show as a youngster, I didn't mind it.



So, what exactly is Captain Planet all about?  Well, obviously, Captain Planet is designed to be some sort of superhero (voiced by David Coburn).  He has green hair, a silver and red superhero costume, and he probably says his catchphrase "THE POWER IS YOURS" at least once per episode.

But exactly how is Captain Planet summoned?  And, why is Captain Planet summoned in the first place?

Well, it's because of these guys.



Recognize them?  They are what you would call the Eco-Villains...a group of people who are determined to destroy the planet by any means possible in a quest to line their greedy pockets with gold.  They cut down entire forests, pollute fresh water sources with oil spills, destroy natural habitats of animals, and other nasty things.  With names like Hoggish Greedily, Verminous Skumm, Dr. Blight, and Duke Nukem, certainly they didn't sound like people you'd love to have over to your house for tea and biscuits.

(Although, the cast of voice actors who did the voices for these dastardly villains seemed to come from a group of A-list actors!  Would you believe that at some point during the show's six year run, Ed Asner, Meg Ryan, Sting, Tim Curry, Martin Sheen, Gavin MacLeod, John Ratzenberger, and Jeff Goldblum worked on this program?  Who knew that a children's cartoon on the environment would attract such star quality?)

But there was some celebrity power on the side of good as well.  After all, the role of Gaia was played by two different actresses.  In the first three years of the show, Gaia was played by Whoopi Goldberg.  Margot Kidder played her for the last three seasons.



And, just who is Gaia?  Well, I suppose you could call her the secondary main character of the whole series.  At some point one hundred years before the series began, Gaia put herself in a state of endless slumber.  But as it turns out, her endless slumber was interrupted by Hoggish Greedily, who decided to drill for oil just above her little cocoon.

And upon her awakening, she quickly realizes that humans have become much more wasteful, much less aware of the damage that they are doing to the earth, and she decides that the power of Captain Planet must be summoned in order to save humanity from itself.

But Gaia can't summon Captain Planet herself.  She needs help to do so.  She has five special rings - each one containing a magical power that are element based.  And she gives them to five different teenagers all over the world to help fight the battle.

The five teenagers are known as the Planeteers, and they are starting from the top left corner...



GI from ASIA (Element:  WATER)
KWAME from AFRICA (Element:  EARTH)
LINKA from EASTERN EUROPE (Element:  WIND)
MA-TI from SOUTH AMERICA (Element:  HEART)
WHEELER from NORTH AMERICA (Element:  FIRE)

Okay, so maybe "HEART" isn't a real element...but if you don't have one, you can't care about anything, right?

(Oh, one thing.  When the show began in 1990, Linka was originally from the Soviet Union, which was still in existence.  When the Soviet Union ceased to exist after 1991, the story was retconned, and Linka became a resident of Eastern Europe.)

Anyway, it's only when the five rings are linked together that Captain Planet can show his green-mullet of power and take care of the Eco-Villains once and for all. 

Now, of course, each ring has magical powers, and the Planeteers can use these rings to control their respective element.  If there's a fire blocking the way, Gi could use her ring to quench the fire.  If the Planeteers needed to sail across an ocean to reach an Eco-Villain hideout, Linka could use a gust of wind to blow their raft over the waves quicker.

And, I suppose if you wanted to entertain the possibility, Ma-Ti could use his ring in the same way that the Care Bears could use their tummy symbols to make people sing Kumbaya around an open fire.  But, I don't remember seeing an episode like that.  Most episodes dealt with protecting the environment by having lessons on oil pollution, land pollution, composting, keeping things green, overpopulation, and the dangers of poaching.  But there were a couple of episodes that were deemed controversial.  Would you believe that the show did an episode which had people dabbling in drug use, and actually showed Linka's cousin dying because of it?  What a dark episode!  And another episode dealt with the Planeteers trying to help a young man overcome the hatred from a community after it was discovered that he had HIV. 

What serious topics for a children's show!

Though looking back on it, I'm glad they tackled those subjects.  As hard as it is for parents to talk about subjects like the ones above with their children, it's important that they do.  I do applaud shows like this one for bringing awareness to it, and more importantly teaching children the dangers of drugs, and not shunning someone who happens to have HIV. 

Though, a part of me still finds me disbelieving the fact that the show actually ran until 1996!  How in the world did that show last that long?

BONUS QUESTION:  Which power would you like to have?  Myself?  I'd go with water.  It'd keep me cool in the summer, and I could secretly drench anyone who gives me a hard time.  :)

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Blood, Sweat, and Tears (with much emphasis on the Sweat)



It is a scorcher of a day here in Ontario, Canada!  All this heat and humidity outside just makes you want to crank up the air conditioning and knock back some ice cold beer or cocktails.



(Or, in the case of myself who is more or less a teetotaler, chilled iced tea.)

I'm sure that most people in the world would list summer as one of their all time favourite seasons because of a variety of reasons.  When we were younger, summer meant two and a half months away from school.  It meant going to the beach.  It meant eating as much ice cream and popsicles as you desired.  And, it meant temperatures that were so warm that you could go outside in just a T-shirt and shorts if you so desired.

But I have to admit that summer is not a season that works for me.  In fact, whenever I take holidays from work, I very rarely take them during the summer months.  I'm more of a spring or fall kind of guy.  And, a lot of the reason why is because I'm not a fan of heat or humidity of any kind.

But it's not because of the fact that I can't take heat.  If anybody takes the proper precautions (wearing a hat, drinking lots of water, wearing light clothing, applying sunscreen), anyone can avoid sunburn, heat stroke, and other nasty ailments that can come from too much sun exposure.

I'll talk more about it in this diary entry.

July 2, 2014

Ah, summer.  When I was a kid, it was one of the greatest times in the whole year.  Not having to go to school for two and a half months?  As someone who hated the social politics of school, I welcomed that with open arms.  In fact, if I remember correctly, most of my summer afternoons were spent sitting on the back porch, drinking cold beverages, and reading comic books until the sun went down.  And if the weather was nice enough, I'd unhook the garden hose, turn it on full blast, and get completely soaked! 



And keep in mind that I grew up during a time period in which drinking water from a garden hose was considered to be a rite of passage and not a dangerous activity that could kill you.  I drank from the garden hose for nearly fourteen straight summers, and I'm still alive!

But of course, this was back when I was a kid.  Now that I'm an adult, there's really only one thing that prevents me from enjoying summer the way that most people do.

I'm extremely warm-blooded.

Now, in some cases, this can be a great thing.  In the winter, I never have to crank up the thermostat indoors because I'm always toasty warm.  But in the summer, this is a recipe for disaster because of one thing that I end up doing more than anyone else.



You've heard of the saying "blood, sweat, and tears"?  In my case, the word sweat should be bolded, italicized, underlined, and splashed with the brightest colour one could even imagine.

It'd look kind of like this, actually.

SWEAT!!!

That's also the main reason why I don't like summer.  I sweat.  I sweat a lot!

I sweat so much that on any given summer day, I have to change my shirt as much as twice - sometimes three times a day.  It's certainly making me spend more money at the laundromat between June and September, I'll tell you that much. 

And honestly I'm embarrassed by the fact that I do have a problem with perspiration.  I'm not talking about a few beads of sweat forming along my brow here...I'm talking about Niagara Falls type perspiration here!



As far back as I can remember, sweat has always been a nemesis of mine.  I was the kid who was forced to wear shirts underneath shirts because of sweat.  When I was in gym class, I was the kid who was so sweaty that I left behind puddles of it on the floor.  It was really embarrassing, and a really big part of why I did everything in my power to avoid gym class. 

I thought the reason why I perspired more than the average guy (seriously, all the other kids in my class barely broke a sweat - and yes, I was jealous of that fact) was due to my size.  I was always the heaviest kid in the class, and I had heard that the heavier you were, the more you broke out in a sweat.  But I still sweat even though I've lost weight since then.  


And, I mean, I suppose it's normal to sweat a lot in a gym class or anywhere where you do a lot of exercise.  But I break out in a sweat just going for a ten minute walk down the street.  By the time I get to my final destination, I look like I got caught in a rainstorm.

In case you haven't guessed, it's one of the things that I wish I could change about myself.  I wish I didn't sweat so much.  I wish I could have the freedom to go out and not have to worry about pit stains or having the back of my shirt stick to my back.  But I'm really not sure of how to fix it.

So, that's my confession for today.  I am a chronic sweater and I wish I could change it. 

Any suggestions for me?  (And, yes...I am being serious!)

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

July 1, 1867

Okay, everyone!  Welcome to a brand new month!  And to kick off July right, I have a very special edition of the Tuesday Timeline to share!  And, trust me when I tell you that this could very well be one of the oldest dates that I have featured in this space.

(Well, aside from the April Fools Day joke that I pulled three months ago.)

Before we get to our very special date, I've got some other events that took place throughout history on this date.  After all, the first of July was a very busy day!

1770 - Lexell's Comet passed closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history

1782 - The Raid of Lunenburg takes place

1863 - The Battle of Gettysburg begins

1874 - The first commercially successful typewriter - The Sholes and Gidden Typewriter - goes on sale in stores

1881 - The very first international phone call is made between New Brunswick, Canada, and the state of Maine in the United States

1903 - The very first Tour de France kicks off on this date

1908 - S.O.S. is adopted as the international signal of distress

1916 - 19,000 British soldiers are killed and another 40,000 wounded during the first day of the Battle of the Somme during World War I

1931 - United Airlines begins operations (as Boeing Air Transport)

1934 - Actor and director Sydney Pollack (d. 2008) is born in Lafayette, Indiana

1961 - Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997) is born in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk, England

1963 - The ZIP code is introduced in the United States

1972 - The first Gay Pride march in England is held

1979 - Sony introduces the Walkman

1984 - The newly created rating of PG-13 starts is first introduced

1987 - The first all-sports radio station debuts in New York City

1995 - Famous New York City born disc jockey Wolfman Jack passes away at the age of 57

1996 - Model Margaux Hemingway is found dead of a drug overdose

1997 - Actor Robert Mitchum dies at the age of 79

2000 - Actor Walter Matthau dies of a heart attack at 79

2004 - Actor Marlon Brando dies at the age of 80

2005 - Singer Luther Vandross dies at the age of 54 of a heart attack

2007 - Smoking in public places is banned throughout England

2009 - "Are You Being Served" actress Mollie Sugden dies at the age of 86 - just four months after her co-star Wendy Richard

(Is it just me or is July 1 synonymous with celebrity death?)

Fortunately, we have quite a few celebrities who are celebrating the anniversary of their births!  Happy birthday to
Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Caron, Jamie Farr, Twyla Tharp, Andrae Crouch, Debbie Harry, John Farnham, Terrence Mann, Fred Schneider, Dan Aykroyd, Lisa Scottoline, Alan Ruck, Dale Midkiff, Michelle Wright, Andre Braugher, Pamela Anderson, Melissa Peterman, Missy Elliott, Julianne Nicholson, Claire Forlani, Kellie Bright, Liv Tyler, Hilarie Burton, and Raini Rodriguez.

Actually, I'm going to single out three of those birthdays.  In the cases of Dan Aykroyd, Michelle Wright, and Pamela Anderson, their birthdays coincide with another huge birthday that is happening today.  Only in this case, the birthday isn't of a person, but a nation.  A nation that all three of those celebrities were born in.

It also happens to be the country that I call home.  And the date that it became a country?



July 1, 1867!

Interesting background no?  Well, why not?  After all, it was 147 years ago today that my country of Canada became an independent nation!  Yes, it was on this date in 1867 that the British North America Act of 1867 took effect as the Constitution of Canada.  This act created the Canadian Confederation and the federal dominion of Canada!

Now, here's some trivia for you!  Do you know who the first Prime Minister of Canada was?  I'll give you a hint...he shares the same last name as a famous fast food chain...only with an extra "A" added in.  Would you like some think music?  Here's special music for you!  And, don't scroll down any further until you know or give up.



Well, do you know the answer?  



Well, that would be Sir John A. Macdonald, whose tenure as Prime Minister lasted a combined total of nearly two decades!  He served between 1867 and 1873, and again from 1878 until his death in June 1891.  If you happen to be in the Kingston, Ontario area, you can see the house where Macdonald once lived!  Definitely check it out if you can.

(And, just because I can, I'm adding that one of the teachers at my elementary school back when I was a student there looked exactly like him, and now performs as him in historic recreations!)

Question #2.  When Canada first became an independent nation, it didn't have all of the provinces and territories included in that deal.  Much like the United States and its initial thirteen colonies, Canada only had four provinces when it became an independent nation.  Can you name those four provinces?  I'll give you some time to think it over.



Still stumped?  Okay, the provinces were Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  All four were recognized as provinces on July 1, 1867.  Just for completion, here's a list of the other six provinces and three territories as well as their dates of confederation.  Take close note of Prince Edward Island.



MANITOBA - July 15, 1870
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES - July 15, 1870
BRITISH COLUMBIA - July 20, 1871
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND - July 1, 1873
YUKON - June 13, 1898
SASKATCHEWAN - September 1, 1905
ALBERTA - September 1, 1905
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR - March 31, 1949
NUNAVUT - April 1, 1999

So, I should wish Prince Edward Island a happy birthday too!  You're looking great for 141 years old!

Next question!  I'll admit that this one stumped me!

When did the song "O Canada" officially become Canada's national anthem?  Again, I'll post the appropriate thinking music.  And, here's a small hint.  It happened on July 1.  (I know, shocker, huh?)



Believe it or not, I always thought that "O Canada" became an anthem in the 1880s.  After all, the song was first performed in 1880 for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.  But believe it or not, it took a century for it to be recognized as the official anthem.  Exact date?  July 1, 1980!  So, basically being born in 1981, I had never known Canada before "O Canada", which I expected.  But I never would have guessed that it became official the year before I was born.  The things you learn while doing research!



Okay.   Next question.  In what year did the one dollar bill become extinct in Canada?  Note, I'm not asking when the one dollar coin (which we Canadians affectionately call the "Loonie" after the bird that appears on the front of the coin) first came out.  I'm asking when the dollar bill ceased to exist.

Again with the think music.



Give up?  Well, although the loonie was introduced on the day before Canada Day in 1987, it took a couple of years for the paper currency to completely disappear.  The final Canadian dollar bill was printed on June 30, 1989.  Wow, it really doesn't seem like twenty-five years has passed since we said farewell to the dollar bill.  I still have one in my photo album!

(Oh, and just for added trivia, the two dollar bill was discontinued in February 1996 to make way for the two dollar coin known as the Toonie.  And as of February 4, 2013, pennies are now considered to be a part of Canadian history - though they still are considered legal tender.)

I'm having so much fun with this Canadian themed blog!  Would you like another trivia question that is Canadian themed?



If any of you have visited Canada, or are brand new to the country (welcome, by the way), you may have noticed that the coffee and donut chain known as "Tim Hortons" is very popular here.  In my town alone, we have five locations - which doesn't seem like a lot until you realize that my town only has a population of 22,500 (or so the signs leading into town claim).  Here's the question.  When did the first Tim Hortons location open, and what city?  Here's some more think music from an appropriate source.



Do you have the answer?

According to my sources (mostly the Tim Hortons website), the very first Tim Hortons opened up fifty years ago on
May 17, 1964.  And, the home of the very first location?  Hamilton, Ontario!

TRIVIA:  The chain is named after its founder, former hockey star Tim Horton, who played for four hockey teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Tragically, Horton was killed in a car accident on the QEW in St. Catharines, Ontario in February 1974.  His name, however, lives on.

Okay, next question!  Again, this one could be a toughie.



With the success of MTV's debut in 1981, it was decided that Canada would get into the act, and start up its own music channel.  And, this is a three-part question.

1.  What was the name of this channel?
2.  Which famous news personality was one of the first VJ's?
3.  What date did it debut?

I'll give you some more think music.



Have you gotten the answers yet?  Here they are!



1.  The station was called MUCHMUSIC.  It's now called MUCH on account that it seemed to ditch the music portion circa 2005.



2.  The news personality is CBS/CNN/FOX anchor John Roberts, who in those days went by J.D. Roberts.  Other famous MuchMusic VJ's included Erica Ehm, the late Dan Gallagher, and current ET Canada host, Rick Campanelli.  There was even a gal from my hometown, Rachel Perry, who served as a MuchMusic VJ in the late 1990s!

3.  The station debuted three years and one month after MTV, on
September 1, 1984.

And, that's all the trivia I have for you all today!  All think music was provided by Canadian born artists of various genres.

And, I just want to say that I'm going to come across as being extremely biased here, but I truly believe that I was born in and currently live in one of the best, if not THE BEST countries in the entire world!  I am definitely proud of my Canadian background, and I can't imagine living anywhere else!

Thanks Canada, for 147 fantastic years!  Here's to the next 147!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Closing the Book on Yesterday(Land)

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that MOTIVATION MONDAYS are completely different now that the chat show that I was a part of is now on hiatus.  But, I've always been the kind of person to roll with the punches, and I've faced down dozens of challenges before and come out the other side.

Well, I've decided that for this edition of MOTIVATION MONDAY, I'm going to motivate all of you to do something.  And this is based on an event that I had to deal with recently, and unfortunately is something that I still have to put up with years later.

My advice to everybody reading this blog entry for today is simple. 
Don't let hatred and grudges destroy your life.  You can choose not to like someone.  You can choose to cut toxic people out of your life, even.  But eventually most people move on from that and go on with their lives to achieve greatness.  I'll be the first one to admit that I had difficulty moving on from some of the nastiness that I had to endure when I was younger, but I'm well on my way to becoming a better person.

And do you want to know why?  Because I don't hold grudges.  I don't let hate take over my life.  And, I think I'm better for it.

That being said, I'm absolutely amazed by the number of people who continue to hold grudges and abuse people some one, five, even ten years after something happened.  And up until the last few days, I didn't have an answer as to why grown adults would choose to hold onto feuds and grudges for so long.

I now have my answer.  And, I'll share that revelation a little bit later on in this piece.  But, in the meantime, I'm sure you want to know exactly what happened that inspired this entry.  In order to set up the story, we ironically enough have to go back in time thirteen years ago to the summer of 2001.

I even remember the exact date it all began, my memory is that good.  Saturday, July 28, 2001.  



That was the day that I joined an Internet community called "Yesterdayland" under the screenname of jugheadjones12 (The screenname is my favourite comic character as well as the age I was when I dressed as him for Halloween).  It was a website that was dedicated to childhood memories and focused on toys, television, fashion trends, movies, music, and arcade games of the past.  In fact, I have to tell you that this website was a huge influence in my decision to make this particular blog pop culture themed. 

But that really wasn't the only influence that the site had on me.

I joined Yesterdayland during a very vulnerable time in my life.  The spring and summer of 2001 was a rough time.  My grandfather died of a stroke, I missed getting back into my program in university by a tenth of a percentage point, and all of the friends that I had made during that year of university had all gone their separate ways, and I had lost contact with all of them.  So, when I say that I was feeling a little bit alone and unsure of what I was going to do, I meant it.  I just needed somewhere where I could talk to people.  I needed a place where I could be myself.  I needed a distraction.




Yesterdayland was that distraction.

I joined that summer, and immediately made a lot of connections (many of which I still have some thirteen years later).  I know some people look at Internet forums as being nothing special, and many see them as being incredibly outdated with dozens of social networking options available.  But for me (and I'm sure many people from Yesterdayland can vouch for this), it was a real bonding experience.  Many of us became friends both on and offline.  There were Christmas card exchanges.  We had Secret Cupid games going on.  Some members even fell in love with each other, got married, and started families.  For many of us, we held Yesterdayland in such high regard that when the site imploded almost two years after I joined, it was a really sad experience.  The place where all of us had bonded was no more, and we were all left wondering what was next.

And, unfortunately, right around the time that Yesterdayland folded was the time in which some of us saw the true colours of some of the members on the site...and they weren't pretty.

You've likely seen the words "troll" or "flamer" posted on Internet message boards.  It's a term used for people who knowingly go onto online communities to manipulate people into turning on other users, or who post controversial links or images that are designed to cause a riot, or who plainly insult other posters in plain sight while hiding behind a keyboard.  Most of the trolls are pretty harmless and can easily be ignored...but weeks before Yesterdayland went offline, the trolls had taken over the boards, and many people decided to create "refugee" boards, so to speak, to get away from the disaster.  I and several other people found ourselves as members of a group called "Memory Lane", and for a few weeks, it was nice.  It wasn't as fancy as Yesterdayland was, but it was enough. 



At least that was the case until some people decided to confess on "Memory Lane" that they purposely decided to become trolls in an effort to show the owners of Yesterdayland exactly what they thought of them.  And that angered a lot of people, including myself.  Granted, the owners of Yesterdayland basically abandoned the site in the last few months of its life, but why would they have thought that posing as trolls to stick it to them was an appropriate solution?  I had been personally attacked by some of those troll names, so it really felt like a betrayal of sorts.  And, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who felt that way.

Long story short, those people either were kicked off of "Memory Lane", or left on their own accord, and started up a third site (complicated to follow along with, huh).  And their site was much more private, blocking everybody out who wasn't a part of their group - which was fine by me, as after their little moment of confession, I really didn't want anything to do with them anyway.  By that time, the Yesterdayland crew had gotten things together and started up a brand new site dedicated to pop culture.



Enter Retroland - a site that was founded in 2005.  I became a member in December of that year, and it was amazing just how much it was like Yesterdayland.  I thought that for one brief, shining moment that we could recreate the Yesterdayland site with Retroland and have everything go back to the way it was.

Of course, a lot of feelings had been hurt in between those two years, and some of those feelings were still raw.  And before we knew it, the people from "Memory Lane" were clashing with the people who had started up the secret third site, causing all sorts of tension and stress on the boards.  By then, I was tired of seeing people insulting each other and using passive-aggressive behaviour to try and make others feel inferior or outcast.  And, anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand passive-aggressive behaviour. 

Perhaps that's what made me decide to take on a job as moderator of Retroland, which was simultaneously the dumbest, but smartest move I ever made.  I loved the site, and I wanted to be a part of it in some manner, and when given the opportunity, I took it thinking that it would be a great experience.

And, there were definite pros to the gig.  It helped me deal with conflict resolution a lot better, and it helped me become a better judge of character (and to see exactly when people were telling me the truth, or lying to my face.  Trust me, it's a handy skill to have in life). 

However, the minute I became a moderator, the majority of people from the group that deserted "Memory Lane" seemed to make it their personal mission to make my job incredibly difficult.  They hurled insults at me, used passive-aggressive behaviour to poke fun at myself, my friends, and my family, and they did everything in their power to test my patience.  It never worked though.  As much as it killed me to not hit ignore on all of them (as a moderator, you have to watch every single comment, no matter how much they hurt), I did the job to the best of my ability.  And, I kept my cool during the whole process.  I only ever remember losing my temper with one member, and even so, it was kept off the boards, and I didn't even get that upset.  I believed in moderating behind the scenes, because the last thing I wanted was to add fuel to the flamers...so to speak.



But after a year of moderating Retroland, I resigned from the position.  But it wasn't because of the group who kept attacking me on the site.  I wouldn't give them the satisfaction - and besides, they weren't much of a threat anyway.  I resigned because once again the owners of the site abandoned ship, and didn't give me the tools necessary to do my job as a moderator.  And if you don't have the ability to delete obnoxious posts or shut down accounts of people who knowingly cause trouble, then there really was no point in sticking around.  And shortly after I left Retroland, the site was revamped, and the message board community was permanently disabled.  It was a sad thing to see, but at the same time, I understood why it was necessary.



So, here we are.  Six years after I resigned as Retroland moderator.  Since that time, I've started up a blog, done a few charity events, am working a full-time job, and I've moved on from the whole experience.  The friends that I made from Yesterdayland, "Memory Lane", and Retroland are still friends today, and believe me when I say that they know who they are, and I love them for being who they are.  You guys will always have my friendship, and I will always have your back, no matter what.  And no matter where life takes us, we will always be a true Yesterdayland family, just as my co-workers are my workplace family, and so on and so forth.

Now here's where the epilogue comes into play.  Unfortunately with the cases of some of my friends from Yesterdayland/Retroland, I can't choose who they are friends with.  Some of my friends are pals with some of the people who caused so much tension and hostility on "Yesterdayland", "Memory Lane", and "Retroland", and that's cool.  I'm sure that I'm friends with some people that some of my friends don't like.  All you do is avoid that person.  Case closed.

Well, imagine my surprise when I responded to a post that a friend posted on her own wall on Facebook, and underneath my response, someone had posted a reply that passive-aggressively attacked me and my blog.  Although she didn't mention me by name, I recognized the name as being one of the people who purposely caused trouble on the site, and was one of the group that isolated themselves from "Memory Lane" all those years ago.  There she was, attacking me...years after my moderating gig on Retroland.  And, would you like to know something?  I honestly don't even remember doing anything to her at all.  If I did, I completely forgot about it because the experience that I had on those sites were in the past and I had moved on from it.  Therefore, I found it a little bit sad that she obviously still held a grudge and didn't even have the courage to explain why.

In short, she is a coward.  In fact, that's all that her group was.  A cowardly group of grown adults who attack and put down people to make themselves feel better.

And, I decided to record a video message to these people to close the book once and for all.  Even though I've blocked most of them on social media and they won't be able to see it here...I'm convinced that they're going to find a way to see it anyway.  Because unlike them, I have no problem telling it like it is.


So, here they are.  My final thoughts.


Sunday, June 29, 2014

Foolish Beat? Hardly...

One thing that I have been amazed by is seeing young people do extraordinary things and do things that most adults wish they could do.

In the world today, it is probably tougher than ever to be a kid.  Not only do they have the struggle to find yourself in the world while dealing with peers, parents, teachers, and figures of authority, but they also have to deal with things that I never had to face when I was a child.  When I was a kid, there were no cell phones or Internet, kids stayed outside all day to play unsupervised, and we did things that would be considered extremely unsafe by today's standards.

Believe it or not, there was a time in which drinking out of a garden hose was not even considered to be a bad thing.  I did it each and every summer, and I'd like to think that I turned out just fine.

But there comes a point in which you have to make a decision.  I think it's great that people want to keep kids safe, and they certainly do deserve to have places to play and learn that are as safe as possible.  But at the same time, I don't think that we need to have helicopter parents who oversee every single thing that a child does, or that we feel the need to control the schedule of a child, or cover their entire play area in gigantic sheets of bubblewrap either. 



And you want to know why that is?  Because I feel that the more we try to wrap kids inside of a cocoon like atmosphere, the more we stifle their creativity and the less well-rounded they become.  I think that's why I get so angry whenever parents don't do enough to save arts programs from getting cut.  But I think I get even more angry with parents who outright discourage their children from pursuing careers in art, music, filmmaking, or drama because of their belief that they know what is best for their children, and that belief doesn't include expressing their creative side.  And you might think that I don't know what I'm talking about, but I've heard so many stories of kids being discouraged to express themselves through art and writing that it makes me very sad.  I don't even want to begin to imagine a world without artists, writers, actors, painters, choreographers, and calligraphers.  I'm not saying that we need to get rid of doctors, lawyers, bank tellers, accountants, judges, and dentists.  We definitely need those as well.  I'm just saying that parents should let their children express themselves the best way they know how, and let them find out what interests them.

Just take a look at some of the kids from "MasterChef Juniors".  These are kids that were between the ages of 8-14 cooking dishes that the average person never even heard of, let alone tasted.  And yet, all of these children had one thing in common.  They had parents or guardians in their lives who really supported them in their creative goals, and the end result was a group of talented young chefs who could cook circles around some of their adult counterparts.

(I know they could certainly cook circles around me.  I can't even make microwave popcorn without burning it.)

Of course, I suppose you're wondering where I'm going with this train of thought.  The point I'm trying to make is that if one has the right support system that will support and encourage them, they can achieve greatness at any age.

Such as the case of today's
Sunday Jukebox spotlight.

We're going to meet a girl who started off being a performer at an early age.  She was five years old when she began performing with her sisters and cousin at a community theatre group in Merrick, New York - a suburban community located on Long Island.  It was also right around this time that she wrote her very first song!  That's right!  She wrote her very first song at the age of five.

Well, okay...so maybe the song "Make Sure You Know Your Classroom" wouldn't crack the Billboard Hot 100.  However, she'd eventually achieve her dream of having a #1 hit single.  And when she did make that dream come true, she would become a Guinness World Record holder...a record that has remained unbroken since 1988.



This was the song that helped give Debbie Gibson her first #1 hit...a song which topped the charts twenty-six years ago this week.



ARTIST:  Debbie Gibson
SONG:  Foolish Beat
ALBUM:  Out of the Blue
DATE RELEASED:  February 11, 1988
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

These days, she goes by the name Deborah, but back in the late 1980s, she went by Debbie, the girl who made teen pop cool long before Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, or Ariana Grande even sang their first notes.  And I'm old enough to remember when Debbie Gibson was just one of several teen girls who tried their hand at singing.  I even seem to remember the constant comparisons between Debbie Gibson and "I Think We're Alone Now" singer Tiffany.

Now, not to take away from Tiffany's success, but I always seemed to prefer Debbie Gibson.  She had a pleasant voice, her songs were mostly happy songs, and at the very least she wrote and recorded almost every song she sang - unlike Tiffany whose two biggest hits were cover versions of singles from the 1960s.



Debbie's debut album was entitled "Out of the Blue", which was released on August 18, 1987 - approximately two weeks shy of Debbie's 17th birthday (Debbie's date of birth is August 31, 1970 - just in case you were wondering.)  And, it was certainly an album that did better than expected.  Of the ten tracks that were on the album, five were released as singles.  "Foolish Beat" was the only single from the album that hit #1 on the Billboard Charts, but the other four singles did quite well.  "Only In My Dreams" reached #4, as did "Shake Your Love".  The title track became a #3 hit for Gibson, while "Staying Together" stalled at #22.  But still, having four of your singles reach the Top 5 had to have been a fantastic career start.

Of course, "Foolish Beat" - the fourth single released from the album - was the biggest hit of the album.  And while it only stayed at the top of the charts for one week, the song about a relationship coming to an end and the heartbreak following afterward helped Debbie become the youngest female to write, produce, and perform a #1 single on the Billboard Charts.  When "Foolish Beat" hit #1 on June 25, 1988, Debbie was just two months shy of her 18th birthday.  It's a record that remains unbroken.



Yeah, just picture it.  A sixteen going on seventeen year old girl writing every single song that appeared on a ten-song album, and having four of those five singles hit the Top 5, of which one became a #1 hit before she was even allowed to legally vote in an election.  That's absolutely brilliant.  I couldn't even put together a science project at age sixteen, let alone a whole album.  That takes talent, passion, and dedication.



Of course, Debbie would go on to record more albums after her breakout hit.  Her 1989 album "Electric Youth" performed even better than her debut, and spawned another #1 hit with "Lost in Your Eyes", but her follow-up albums didn't quite match the success of her previous work.  Though, I admit that I do like some of Gibson's later work.  I'll post one of her songs from her 1993 album "Body, Mind, Soul" that I love, just to show you just how she matured as an artist since the early days when she was a squeaky clean pop starlet.



If anything, it'll provide mood music for the next part of this blog entry.  After all, I think that she had a lot of natural talent to put together a whole album, and I thought that her singing voice was (and still is) quite nice.  But I can't help but think that the reason why she was so creative was because she had a brilliant support system at home cheering her on throughout her entire journey.

Remember how I said that people could achieve greatness at any age if they had the right support system in their lives?  Well, luckily Debbie had the support of her entire family.  Her own mother tagged along with her while she performed at dance clubs all over the New York City area while at the same time making sure that Debbie continued her studies at high school (where she graduated with honours).  She also took on the role of Debbie's manager, making sure that Debbie got to all of her scheduled performances, and ensuring that she stayed grounded during the ride of her whole career, no matter what happened.  I think those family ties certainly helped keep Debbie on the straight and narrow, and as she transitioned from teen pop queen Debbie to the more mature and sultry Deborah Gibson, she did so seamlessly.

Oh, sure there was that time she did pose for Playboy Magazine...but it was in 2005 when Deborah was 35 years old.  By that time, I would hope that she knew what she was doing.  In fact, she did the shoot right around the time that she was promoting a single called "Naked", so I'd call that a great marketing opportunity.

The truth is that while Deborah Gibson isn't quite as well known on the charts as she used to be, she's done very well for herself.  She starred on Broadway, she appeared on a season of Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice", and she still records music today.



I guess it's true what they say.  Dreams can come true at any age.  The trick is that once the dream comes true you have to have both the maturity as well as the support system necessary to keep that dream alive without backtracking or derailing.  Fortunately, I think Deborah Gibson succeeded.  And as of right now, she still has a Guinness World Record.  A record that she achieved twenty-six years ago this week.

I really admire people who pursue their dreams and goals.  And if they can do it at an early age, awesome.  But even if they have to wait until they turn sixty-five or older, it's still considered a success story in my book.