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Sunday, August 10, 2014

It's Gonna Be Me - Whatever Happened To...*N Sync?

Okay, so before I kick off this edition of the Sunday Jukebox this week, I will warn you ahead of time.  If you weren't into the boy band phenomenon of the late 1990s, you probably will not like the content of this blog.  But for those of you who did embrace the boy band scene, well, today is your lucky day.  This is one that you'll probably enjoy.

I know this period all too well.  Having graduated from high school in June of 2000 (a month before today's featured single hit the charts), I remember it all too well.  By the time I graduated high school, it seemed as though rock and roll was becoming phased out to the point where it may as well have been killed off like disco had been twenty years earlier.  Sure, bands like silverchair, Stone Temple Pilots, No Doubt, and Matchbox 20 were trying to keep rock alive, and of course I heard a lot of those songs playing on the radio while I was trying to figure out eleventh grade algebra.

I would have to say that 1998 was the year in which I started noticing the shift.  It all began with the Backstreet Boys becoming incredibly popular.  They first broke out in my home country of Canada way back in 1995 (the year I graduated elementary school), and were already established stars in Canada.  Ironic, given that the band was born in Orlando, Florida.  It wasn't really until 1998 that the Backstreet Boys began to take over the American charts.  If I recall, their first smash was "Quit Playing Games With My Heart". 

Well, with the Backstreet Boys being regarded as "The New Kids of the Block for a new generation", naturally it paved the way for other boy bands to try their hand at success, all over the globe.

Let's see.  In the United States, we had 98 Degrees, O-Town, LFO, The Moffatts, and Hanson all charting between 1997 and 2002.

In the United Kingdom, there was Westlife, Boyzone, A1, BBMak, and 5ive.  I don't know if any of them actually had hits in the United States, but some of them managed to have some singles chart in Canada - I seem to remember the last two bands I named as having at least one hit.

Hell, even in Canada, we had soulDecision and 3Deep.  And, no, I won't post videos of either band.  Lord knows I heard enough of them in high school. 

So, which boy band will we be featuring in this blog?  Well, we'll be featuring a band that featured five members, and had a few hits on the charts between 1998 and 2002.  I can tell you that one member became a huge superstar, another one had a brief solo career, one became involved in the game show/infomercial industry, one ended up on a reality series, and the final member came out of the closet and almost went up into space!

And no, I'm not kidding!

Okay, I've held you in suspense long enough.  Here's today's featured single, a number one hit fourteen years ago this week.



ARTIST: *N Sync
SONG:  It's Gonna Be Me
ALBUM:  No Strings Attached
DATE RELEASED:  June 13, 2000
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 2 weeks

Yes, we'll be taking a look at the only #1 single that the boys of *N Sync managed to get during their seven years together. 



And, here are the members of *N Sync above.  From left to right, we have Joshua "JC" Chasez, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Justin Timberlake.

The band formed in 1995, and interestingly enough, the one who came up with the idea was Kirkpatrick, who had applied to become one of the Backstreet Boys, but just missed the final five.  He approached the then manager of the Backstreet Boys, Lou Pearlman, to finance a second boy band.  Pearlman agreed...on the condition that Kirkpatrick found four more singers to join him.

The first member came easily enough.  Kirkpatrick had met Joey Fatone while he was working for Universal Studios in Orlando, and Fatone jumped at the chance to sing with Kirkpatrick.

Member #3 was Timberlake, whom Pearlman had recommended, as he had already achieved success as a member of The Mickey Mouse Club.  And once Timberlake had jumped on board, a fourth member came in the form of JC Chasez, whom Timberlake worked with on the show, and who he had formed a close friendship with.

Now, the fifth member of the band was a bit of a wild card.  Initially, the spot was filled by Jason Galasso, who would serve as the group's bass singer.  And, with Jason's arrival came the inspiration behind the group's name.

Just picture the names in this order.  Justin - Chris - Joey - Jason - JC.  Look at the last letters of the names.  Yep, you see where I'm getting at?

One problem.  Just before the band was about to sign with Pearlman's label, Galasso had second thoughts and quit the band, leading to the signing of Lance Bass.  And to keep the name the same, the band initially had Lance going by the name of "Lansten".

Kind of lame, but whatever.

Shortly after signing with Pearlman, the band moved in together and started working on their harmonies and performing dance moves.  They traveled to Sweden where they recorded songs with producers Denniz Pop, Max Martin, and Andreas Carlsson (who would also work with The Backstreet Boys, Robyn, and Britney Spears).



And, just like the Backstreet Boys before them, *N Sync had to wait a while before they had success in America.  Believe it or not, their very first single "I Want You Back" (which was their first American single to chart) was released two years before its American chart date in October 1996.  In Germany.

And between 1996 and 1997, the group had massive success throughout Europe, with their debut album being released in 1997, and them doing several concerts throughout Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. 



Interestingly enough, the year that *N Sync had released their album in the United States - 1998 - was the year that the group discovered that their mentor, Ron Pearlman, was robbing them blind.  They soon found that Pearlman was taking as much as sixty per cent of the band's earnings when he was only supposed to take one-sixth.  A settlement was made out of court, and *N Sync moved on to Jive Records, but they wouldn't be the last band to go after Pearlman.

But, that's another story.

You know the rest.  *N Sync went on to release three studio albums, a Christmas album, opened for artists like Janet Jackson before embarking on their own tours, and became a real presence on the pop charts. 

And certainly with today's single, they showed that they also could inject humour into their videos.  I'll grant them this.  The music video for "It's Gonna Be Me" is quite creative.  The guys, trapped in their Barbie doll like boxes bust out, trying to get the attention of a girl (which parallels the theme of the song, which is about trying to get a girl's attention and not stopping until he is the one she wants).  Of course, they are mere toys.  I suppose if you really wanted to offer up this theory, maybe they were showcasing what their former manager Lou Pearlman saw them as...puppets on a string.  But, that would be too much symbolism for a four minute music video, so I'll just steer that train of thought back to the station.

I actually wonder how much make-up it took to get the boys of *N Sync made up to look like marionettes?  For that matter, I wonder how long it took to make up the extras in the video to look like toy soldiers and Barbie dolls.  It's really quite impressive for a boy band video.

After this song was released, the band never did get another #1 hit.  In fact, their 2001 follow-up, "Pop", wasn't quite as well-received as their previous discs, although the single "Girlfriend" did make the Top 5 (which in my opinion was the best of the three singles anyway).  They launched a tour to promote "Pop" in 2002, with plans to record a fourth album in 2003, but by that time, each of the members of the band were beginning to go their separate ways.  It's hard to pinpoint when exactly the band knew they were finished, but Justin Timberlake's sudden popularity as a solo artist probably was the driving force behind the split.  The dissolution of *N Sync was made official in 2005, and all the guys went off in different directions.

So, what happened to *N Sync?



Well, I don't think I need to explain too much about Justin Timberlake.  Not only has he achieved great success as a solo artist with such singles as "Cry Me a River", "Rock Your Body", "SexyBack", and "Suit & Tie", but he's also begun to make a name for himself in the film industry as well, starring in films such as "Shrek The Third", "The Love Guru", "The Social Network", and "Runner Runner".  I think it's safe to say that Justin Timberlake is probably the most successful of the members of *N Sync.  But the others certainly haven't been slacking.



JC Chasez also developed a solo career right around the time *N Sync split up.  While JC didn't quite burn up the charts like Justin has, he still had a couple of hits, like a collaboration with Blaque on their 2000 hit single "Bring It All To Me", and a couple of solo hits including "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" and "Some Girls (Dance With Women)".  He also has a couple of acting credits, but mostly he has stuck with writing and producing for other artists, including Matthew Morrison, David Archuleta, and even his former rivals, the Backstreet Boys!



Joey Fatone has seemingly taken a different career path altogether.  Beginning in 2007, Joey started a career in game shows and reality television.  He was one of the featured celebrities in the fourth season of "Dancing With The Stars", coming in second place.  Months later, he hosted the NBC game show "The Singing Bee".  He became the ringmaster for NBC's short lived series "Celebrity Circus", and now currently serves as the announcer for the game show "Family Feud".  And as of April 2014, he serves as the host for the Food Network show "Unwrapped", which sees chefs recreating snack foods, and preparing dishes with their creations.  Again, a different career path from music, but whatever works.



I wish I could find out some more info on Chris Kirkpatrick, but since *N Sync broke up, he's arguably been the quietest member of the group.  All I could find that he's done since the split was that he appeared as a contestant on CMT's "Gone Country 2", where he placed second.  But given that the judges of the show were really impressed by his ability to write and sing country music songs, I wonder if maybe one day, we'll see him switch genres of music.  The jury's still out on that one.

As for Lance Bass...perhaps some of the more interesting stories have revolved around him.  Like Timberlake, Lance Bass also tried his hand at acting...but his projects weren't as commercially successful as some of the ones that Timberlake appeared in.  Bass' credits include "On The Line", "Zoolander", and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry". 

Oh, and one of the weirdest casting choices?  In the video game "Kingdom Hearts" (an RPG that blended Final Fantasy with Disney), he voiced Final Fantasy VII's Sephiroth!  Lance Bass as Sephiroth?  Sorry, I can't buy that.



Lance Bass also followed in Fatone's footsteps by appearing on the seventh season of "Dancing With The Stars".  He finished third.

And in 2006, putting rumours to rest, Lance Bass officially came out as being gay in People Magazine, and has been in a couple of relationships since then (the most publicized of which was his relationship with "The Amazing Race" winner Reichen Lehmkuhl).

These days though, Lance is content with voice work, lending his vocals to a few Disney projects, as well as doing musical theatre (including a six-month engagement in 2008 with the musical "Hairspray").



We won't talk about his attempt to go up into outer space in 2002, though.  That story is beyond words.



And, there you have it.  The story of *N Sync, along with their only #1 hit.  It seems hard to believe that it has been twelve years since the group last hit the Billboard charts.  But you know, when they performed together at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2013, they still proved that they could make music happen.  I suppose that it could be possible that they could reform once again.


Time will tell.

Saturday, August 09, 2014

Ghost Dad

This is week number three of a special ten-part series of "SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES". 

From now until September 27, we'll be doing a spotlight on one of the ten movies featured in this 10-pack of family favourites that I picked up at my workplace two weeks ago.  And, well...needless to say, some of the movies are such that I really loved them and still love them today (as was the case with the first movie that I looked at in "The Wizard).  Some of the movies were critical bombs, but I still could find something nice to say about the film (as was the case with last week's "A Simple Wish".)

But now we're into week three.  And this was a film that I absolutely enjoyed as a nine-year-old boy, but now looking back on it, I can't stand today.  The entire film was a complete farce, it had over the top acting, a ridiculous plot, and was easily considered to be the worst movie of 1990.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is that at the age of nine, I had horrible taste in movies.

But, again...I was a kid back then.  Tastes change and grow more mature as we get older.  As a kid, I may have liked Cheez-Whiz right out of the jar, but now I've gravitated towards finely aged cheddar.  I may have been content with eating lettuce leaves right off the head as a kid, but now I like to have it as part of a salad.  And, as a kid, I may have satisfied my dessert cravings with Ah Caramel snack cakes...and now...

...oh, what the hell.  I STILL like Ah Caramel cakes.

But as I was saying, the third movie that I reviewed for today's blog is such that I really liked it as a kid, but am not too fond of it today.  But, I suppose that's the risk that you take when you buy ten movies at once.  There has to be at least one or two that you don't really care for.

I think the only reason why I was a fan of this movie in the first place as a kid was because of the fact that Bill Cosby was the star of the show.  And, when I was younger, Bill Cosby was a big part of my childhood.

I used to watch "The Cosby Show" all the time when I was kid.  I also watched reruns of "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" whenever they came on.  I even remember his little segments on "Captain Kangaroo" where he hosted the "Picture Pages" segment with the marker that always made the funny noises.  I also remember wanting a marker like that, not realizing that it was just a plain ordinary black marker with a paper face and a sound guy in the background provided the funny sounds.  What can I say?  I had a wacky imagination back then.

So, yes, Bill Cosby being the star of this film was a huge factor behind my wanting to go and see it.  



Now, I wonder what it was that I ever saw in "Ghost Dad".

The film, surprisingly directed by Sidney Poitier (Yes, the same Sidney Poitier that starred in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"), was released on June 29, 1990, and was savaged by the critics.  Roger Ebert famously gave the film only a half a star out of four.  I'm guessing his thumb was permanently locked on the down position when he was giving his review.

Oh, and Rotten Tomatoes?  A 7% approval rating.  Ouch.

Now, just judging by the title, you can pretty much guess what the premise of the movie is.  It's about a dad who somehow becomes a ghost.  But the way this film depicts the afterlife is quite...strange.  Not as strange as "Beetlejuice", but strange.

And I don't mean that as an insult to "Beetlejuice" either.  As far as I'm concerned, "Beetlejuice" imagined the afterlife just perfectly.



As the movie "Ghost Dad" begins, we're introduced to Elliot Hopper (Cosby).  And to be fair, the film starts off quite innocently enough.  Elliot is one of those men who feels that working, working, working will lead to rewards, rewards, rewards.  Seriously, we've all seen people who claim to be so-called workaholics.  I'll admit that I myself get bored really easily unless I have something that I can do, so I can certainly sympathize with the whole workaholic angle. 

Elliot, on the other hand, takes it to the extreme.  He is always at the office, and very rarely spends time at home with his children Diane (Kimberly Russell), Danny (Salim Grant), and Amanda (Brooke Fontaine).  But things are finally going Elliot's way.  He has the chance to make the biggest business deal ever at his company.  If he succeeds in closing the deal, it will mean a huge promotion, and a company car.  The deal is expected to go through on Thursday of that week, if all goes well.

It's just too bad that Elliot decided to take the wrong transportation just days before the deal.

Because Elliot promised his eldest daughter that she could have his car when he received his new one, he is forced to take a taxi to work.  And the driver of the taxi, Curtis Burch (Raynor Scheine) is a Satanist who obviously should have never been given a driver's license in the first place.  Desperate to stop the taxi, Elliot makes up some story about him being Satan, and this startles Burch so much that he drives off a bridge and crashes into the river below.

Now, at first, it appears as though Elliot has survived the accident, as he escapes from the car unhurt.  But Elliot quickly realizes that something isn't quite right when he accidentally gets in the path of a bus and the bus drives right through him.

So, this basically confirms the whole "Ghost Dad" title here.  Somehow, Elliot's spirit exited his body, and he is free to roam the Earth as a spirit.  But what happened to his body?  And, what happened to the insane taxi driver on top of that?

But those are questions that Elliot is not concerned with.  He just wants to get home to his children.  Problem is that because he is a ghost, he can't really communicate with them.  Sure, his kids can see him in a dark room, but they can't hear him.  It's like trying to watch a movie on television with the mute button jammed on the remote control.

To add to the confusion, when Elliot tries to tell them what has happened, he is whisked away to London by Sir Edith (Ian Bannen) who confirms that he is, in fact, a ghost. 

But wait.  Plot twist.  The reason why Elliot hasn't crossed over yet is because in the words of Sir Edith - they screwed up.  So, now Elliot's crossing over session has been rescheduled to Thursday.

Hmmm...interesting how the date just happens to be the exact same day as Elliot's big deal being closed.  I wonder if this movie will have our phantom parent discovering what the real meaning of life is.  I wonder if he'll have a chance to explain things to his kids and his love interest Joan (Denise Nichols).  And, I wonder if he'll actually learn anything from this if in fact there is a way to bring him back to the living.

Oh, wait.  I've said too much.

Sigh...let's just go on with the trivia.

1 - This was Sidney Poitier's final film as a director.  Can't imagine why this would be the case.

2 - Sidney Poitier's daughter makes a cameo in this film as a nurse.

3 - John Badham was supposed to be the original director for the movie, with Steve Martin playing the role of Elliot.  I bet both men are probably breathing a sigh of relief not taking this project on.

4 - Kim Basinger turned down a role in the film, claiming that the script was horrible.  Smart woman.

5 - Although Raven-Symone was too young to be cast as youngest daughter Amanda, Cosby was so impressed by her audition that he had a part created for her on "The Cosby Show" - Olivia Kendall.

6 - Scenes were shot during the spring and summer of 1989.

7 - Believe it or not, a novel was made of this film about a month after it's June 1990 debut.

And, well...that's it.

Let's see...I should probably pick a better movie for the fourth week.  Ah, yes...here's one that has a 93% approval rating...and it'll make you never look at a matinee quite the same way again...

Friday, August 08, 2014

Kool-Aid (a.k.a. My Quest for Purplesaurus Rex)

This is going to be a fun FOODIE FRIDAY post, because it is all about one of my favourite childhood drinks.

And, no...it's not milk, water, chocolate milk, or Kahlua that I was convinced was European chocolate milk by my older sister.  Thanks, by the way.

No, this story deals with a particular drink that you had to mix up in order to truly enjoy it.  And, as always, I have a personal story to share with you about this drink.

And in order to tell this story, as much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to channel Sophia Petrillo from "The Golden Girls" to get the ball rolling.

Picture it.  Ontario, Canada.  1990.  I can't remember which supermarket I happened to be in at the time, but something tells me that it was a supermarket that used to be known as O.K. Economy.  It has since been torn down, and in its place is a restaurant, pay day loan place, and video store, but back in the day, it was the premiere place to do all of your grocery shopping. 

I like to describe O.K. Economy as kind of like one of those budget, no frills type stores.  There was no florist, no clothing items, and no fresh salad counter.  It was basically a small meat counter, a small bakery, and all your food basics.  Even though it's been over twenty years since it closed up, I can still remember that store's layout.  The cereals and dry pasta were in the middle.  Frozen food was towards the back.  Dairy was along the side wall.  And, all the cash registers were lined up along the front of the store.

(Actually, as a kid, the cash registers were my favourite place in that whole store.  It was the place where the candy bars, Archie Digests, and Panini Sticker Books and Stickers were sold.  And if I was lucky, I could choose from one of the three choices to take home with me.  Usually, it was the comic book.)

But another thing I remember about O.K. Economy was that the drink section was exactly one aisle away from the cash register area.  And when I say drinks, I mean every possible beverage that you could think of. 

Sure, 1990 sort of pre-dated the period in which an entire aisle was devoted to bottled water.  But there were still plenty of choices to choose from.  There was the standard Coke and Pepsi, juice boxes, Crystal Light mixes, Gatorade (back in the early '90s, we only had orange and lime to pick from), and of course, those fruit juices in those plastic containers that kids would take with them for school lunches.  You know the ones I mean?  The ones that tasted like fruit but had like enough sugar in them to put someone in a diabetic coma?  Ah, those were the days.

But it was in this drink section that I discovered a brand new tasty treat that looked really good.  And the good news is that since a package of this drink mix was only like twenty cents a packet, it was pretty easy to convince my parents to pick up a couple of them.



The drink mix?  A then-new flavour of Kool-Aid called "Purplesaurus Rex". 

And, I have to tell you...it remains one of my all-time favourite flavours of Kool-Aid.  It was similar to grape flavoured Kool-Aid, only it was mixed with lemonade to make a grape flavoured lemonade beverage.  And I won't lie to you...Purplesaurus Rex was my drink of choice during the summer of 1990.

I'm still annoyed that the flavour was discontinued some two, three years later.  I hear that in some stores in the United States, Purplesaurus Rex is making a comeback.  Please let me know if this is true.  And, while we're on the subject...if I give anyone the money, can you buy me some?  I really want my Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid fix.

And, yes, I am 33, and no I am not kidding.  Any time I can have a small slice of my childhood back, I'm all for it.

Okay, so as of right now, Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid is off the table.  But, there have been other flavours of Kool-Aid that I also enjoy, and that are still available even today.  Whether you enjoy it through Kool-Aid jammers, add it to bottled water using the small bottles of concentrated liquid, or still make it the old-fashioned way using a little sugar and those powdered packets, Kool-Aid is here to stay.

So, I'll make a list of my top 5 flavours, as well as three flavours that I cannot stand.

So, my list.



1 - CHERRY

This one will always be my definite go-to brand.  It also happens to be the flavour of Kool-Aid that you can mostly find inside of Kool-Aid Man's pitcher.  You know, those commercials where he smashes through your wall, shouts "Oh, yeah", and gives you Kool-Aid while your parents are forced to use their savings to repair the damage done to their living room?  It's certainly one of the most popular flavours of Kool-Aid, and if you ever had one of those Snoopy Sno-Cone Machines (I'm still looking for one of those, by the way), it always came with cherry flavoured Kool-Aid.  So, I think that the reason why cherry ranks so high on my list is because of Snoopy. 



2 - LEMON LIME

This is becoming increasingly harder and harder to find, which is a shame, because lemon lime Kool-Aid is absolutely awesome.  I first started drinking green Kool-Aid when I was a little kid, and if I remember correctly, I wanted to drink it during the same time I discovered the television show "You Can't Do That On Television".  The reason?  It kind of made me feel as though I was drinking the green slime that they dumped on the kids on that show.  Sure, the shades of green were different...but you can't match that flavour. 



3 - GRAPE

Well, given that grape is a key flavour used in Purplesaurus Rex, it's only natural that I would list this flavour as one of my favourites.  And one thing I used to love about grape Kool-Aid was its extremely dark colour.  It was one of the few flavours of Kool-Aid that could turn your tongue as purple as Grimace's on those McDonald's commercials!




4 - TROPICAL PUNCH

This is one of those flavours that kind of divides people.  Some absolutely love it, while others despise it.  One kid I remember used to hate this flavour because they claimed it tasted exactly like that yucky fluoride rinse that we had to take once a month in elementary school.  I on the other hand don't share this opinion.  As someone who loves all sorts of fruit punch style drinks, I admit that I enjoy Tropical Punch Kool-Aid.  And, if you don't believe me...try freezing it in an ice cube tray and making mini popsicles.  Tropical Punch Kool-Aid always tastes better when it's frozen.



5 - ORANGE

It's not a flavour I don't like.  I can drink orange Kool-Aid just fine.  But it's certainly not my all-time favourite.

And now, the three flavours I can't stand.



1 - STRAWBERRY

Considering that I'm allergic to real strawberries and can't stand artificial or simulated strawberry flavour, I always avoided this flavour like the plague.  Absolutely disgusting.



2 - PINK SWIMMINGO

Okay, whoever came up with the bright idea to mix cherry and watermelon flavours together in a Kool-Aid packet needed to get their heads examined.  I know that some people really loved this flavour combo, but not me.  This one made me sick to my stomach the first time I tried it.



3 - INCREDIBERRY

This one was short lived, like Purplesaurus Rex and Pink Swimmingo.  And well...one thing that this flavour had going for it was its ability to change colour.  The powder was yellow, but once you added water to it, it magically became red!  Too bad this flavour contained strawberry as well.  If it was cherry and raspberry instead of strawberry and raspberry, this flavour might have easily replaced orange in my like list.

So, what flavours of Kool-Aid were your top choices?  And which ones did you not like?  And where oh where can I find Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid again?

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Wembley - The Misunderstood Fraggle

I am SO excited about this edition of TUBE TALK THURSDAY because it's linked to an item that I recently bought for peanuts!  Would you like to guess what I bought?  Come on, guess!

Give up?  Okay.  I'll give you a hint.  Watch the video below.



Yes!  We're going to be discussing "Fraggle Rock" in this blog entry...or at least, we'll be doing a character sketch on one of the characters in this blog entry. 

This blog was inspired by this find that I discovered at a store recently.  (But, shhhhhh...don't tell anybody this, but I bought it at the competition!)



I found this at a store for just under ten dollars.  Granted, it is the last season of "Fraggle Rock" (I actually had no idea that the show ran for four seasons between 1983 and 1987), so I only have the last 24 episodes of the series.  But hey, twenty-four episodes out of ninety-six isn't that bad.  They're all pretty enjoyable.  But seeing an entire season of shows on DVD for under ten bucks - especially a show that I watched religiously during my early childhood - on sale...well, I couldn't help but snag it.

After all, it was one of the first shows that I remember where there was a character that had the same exact name as myself.  And certainly, I always found it fun whenever Uncle Traveling Matt made an appearance on the program.

But, just for the sake of this blog, let's just stick with the core five Fraggles that appeared in the program. 

Now, every single television show seems to have a core group of people who star in every single episode.  In the Archie cartoon series that is based on the comics, you always had Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and Jughead.  Saved By The Bell had Zack, Lisa, Screech, Kelly, Slater, and Jessie.  And, Boy Meets World had Cory, Shawn, and Topanga.

Well, Fraggle Rock is no exception.  In Fraggle Rock, the core five are made up of Gobo, Boober, Mokey, Red, and Wembley.  And, I'm sure that most of you who watched the show had a favourite Fraggle.  The Fraggle that was most like your personality, and the Fraggle that you could identify with the most.

I know I certainly had my favourite Fraggle.  And, it might not be the one that you might think.

At some value, I liked all the Fraggles from Fraggle Rock.  I liked them all enough to collect the little vegetable car toys that McDonald's released as part of a Happy Meal.  But there's one that I can relate to more than any other.


Surprisingly, it's this one.

Yeah, when I was a kid, when Fraggle Rock was still popular, I remember during one recess, kids were talking about their favourite Fraggles.  The consensus was that Gobo and Red were the most popular.  But I always seemed to have a soft spot for Wembley.  Not a whole lot of people liked Wembley.  I think I was only one of four who did.  Only Boober seemed to be less liked.

I don't know what it was initially that made me like Wembley so much.  Maybe it was the fact that I thought Wembley was a wicked cool name (rumour has it that Wembley's name was inspired by England's Wembley Stadium).  I still think Wembley would be a cool name for a son...well, if having children is in the cards for me, that is.  The jury's still out on that one. 

But for another, the reason why I loved Wembley so much is because he and I were just so much alike that it was uncanny.

Granted, my hair has never been blonde.  And, I'll admit that my eyes don't nearly roll around as much as Wembley's did.  And, I don't think I've ever worn a Hawaiian shirt with banana trees printed all over it.  Truth be told, I don't pull off the Hawaiian look all that well.

But, I think if we were to take a look at what the name "Wembley" means in Fraggle language, maybe it'll reveal something about my own personality as well.  Let me get out my English to Fragglish translator...

Ah, yes...Wembley...from the verb "to wemble".

WEMBLE:  to go to and from between two things without making up your mind.

Basically, to wemble is to be indecisive.  And, boy oh boy is Wembley indecisive.



He is so indecisive that he will actually agree with both sides of an argument to avoid having to choose a side.  Wembley is certainly a Fraggle who wishes to be a peacemaker, but finds it incredibly difficult to maintain that peace when he is forced into making a choice.

Funny...I seem to have the exact same issue. 

You see.  I'm not a very confrontational person.  At least, not when dealing with people face to face.  I can call out bad behaviour with words without any hesitation, but when I try to take those words and speak them out loud to someone, I don't like doing it.  I absolutely hate it when people raise their voices at me, and whenever I'm in a situation where people are angry, I tend to either go into a mini panic attack, or I try to run away from the situation.  I don't know whether it was because I was surrounded by angry people in my childhood, or whether it was the unpleasantness of the louder voices (loud noises in general bother me), but when people are angry and I feel obligated to choose sides, I can't do it.  So in that sense, Wembley and I do have a similarity.

But, I still maintain that I'm not nearly as indecisive as Wembley is.  It doesn't take me long to choose what I will wear in the day.  Most of the time, it's either black or white due to my job.  Wembley has a hard time deciding what shirt to wear...and he only has two...and they're the same exact shirt at that!



But wait.  Wembley's got more personality characteristics than being indecisive.  He's also quite the cheerful Fraggle.  He's the first one to say hello to people, he tries to be in a good mood whenever he can.  I'd also say that he can be energetic whenever the mood strikes him.  I don't even think he needs to have a dose of caffeine or an extra serving of radish flavoured building blocks to get him motivated in the slightest. 

I guess I can consider myself the same.  I try to keep a positive attitude most of the time (even though sometimes it can be quite difficult to do).  And, I've been told on a couple of occasions that I could tone down my personality because I can be slightly goofy and crazy.  Anyone who I work with can probably attest to that fact alone.

But Wembley also has a personality trait that I also seem to share with him.  And I suppose it can be a bad trait to have.

We both suffer from "people pleasing disease".  In that, we try to find a way to please everyone and make everyone happy - even though in a lot of cases, it is an impossible dream.

Though in Wembley's case, I think he did a little bit better than I did in that regard.  By the end of each half hour episode of Fraggle Rock, any problems that Wembley may have had were resolved and everyone got along again.

But in my case, I find it a bit difficult.  I hate to describe myself as being insecure with myself, but I won't lie to you.  There are some days in which I feel incredibly insecure with myself.  I probably shouldn't feel this way.  After all, the one place where I felt the most uncomfortable, I've been away from for fourteen years now.  But sometimes I still doubt myself.  Am I the family member that people can be proud of?  Are people really my friends, or are they just using me?  Am I really doing a good job at work, or are those just lines people tell me in order to keep me there?  Is this blog really as much of a success as I hope it is?

All of these questions I've asked myself at some time.  Sometimes, more than once.  Sometimes every day over a month long period.  I wish I didn't feel this way, but admittedly, it's not that easy to find the on/off switch.

But one thing I can count on is that over time, I do find that switch, and I go on with life as planned.  That's all we really can do.



Just like my buddy Wembley did for four years on Fraggle Rock.

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Confidence Confidentiality

It's WHO AM I WEDNESDAY, and this one will feature a diary entry written by myself.

(Seriously, who else could it be written by?)

And, well...this is going to be a personal one.  It's based on the subject of confidence, and how...well...frankly, I've had trouble with it.

August 6, 2014

I want you to picture a line being drawn across a piece of paper.  If you like, you can draw the line yourself as you read, but you don't have to if you don't want to.  I want you to look at the middle of the line.  The middle of that line happens to be the part of the line that has equal and balanced confidence.  It's probably the part of the line that most of us want to be on.

With me so far?

Then you have the two book ends of the line.  Two extremes.  On the right hand side, you have the edge of meekness.  This is the place in which you have zero confidence in anything you ever do, and where you don't feel comfortable showing any sort of leadership whatsoever.  You'd rather fade into the background than show any sort of confidence or passion whatsoever.

This is not a good place to be.

On the left hand side of the line is the edge of arrogance.  People who fall on this side of the confidence spectrum have too much confidence to the point where they become cocky, argumentative, and boorish.  They feel that their way is the only way and anyone else who thinks differently is not welcome to share any of their ideas because they will be ignored.



So, I guess it sort of goes like this...you kind of want to stay towards the middle of the confidence spectrum.  You don't really want to go on either extreme because you'll either be too afraid to speak up and lose opportunities, or you'll be so opinionated that you scare everyone else away.

So, I suppose you're wondering where I am going with this train of thought, right?

Well, I'll be honest.  When it comes to confidence, I've been firmly on the right side of the spectrum.  As in, I've had a hard time finding it.

Sad thing is...I never used to be that way.  For some reason, I remember when I was a youngster, I had plenty of confidence in things.  I used to try new things all the time.  I learned how to use a computer at the age of four (though keep in mind that computers weren't as fancy and complex as they are now), and I also learned how to read at an early age.  I was quite the confident and smart toddler...or so I was told.

But then I entered the harsh world of public school, and it's amazing just how much my self-confidence plummeted.  It was bad enough having people my age try to knock me down, but when you had teachers who should have known better doing the same, that really grinded my gears.  What was it that made them do that?  I honestly don't know.  I don't know if I'll ever know the answer.

But I will say this.  I found it incredibly disheartening and rude that so many of my peers and teachers used to look at my size as if it were some sort of liability.  I got it.  I was the token fat kid in the whole class.  But to be actually lectured by some children in the class over what I was eating?  Totally below the belt.  Did it ever occur to them that the more they told me that I shouldn't be eating All Dressed Ruffles Potato Chips, the more chips I actually ate?  As if their negativity and judgmental comments would actually cause me to realize that I had to lose weight. 

News flash.  I could have gotten as skinny as I wanted to back in the day.  Those miserable kids still wouldn't have hung around with me.  Truth be told, looking at it through my perspective today, I wouldn't have wanted them in my life anyway.  Why in the world would I want to be around someone who constantly critiques me and offers me up some unsolicited advice about how I should look?

I mean, seriously?  With comments like "You'd look so much better if I was thinner and had a six-pack?"  Are you really that superficial that you'd make those more acceptable qualities than trust, honesty, loyalty, and kindness?  Why in the world would I want to be around that?

But still...those comments stung.  The unsolicited advice about how I should change my looks really made me hit an all-time low in confidence.  Those words left me damaged, and I'll be completely honest with you.  I still find it difficult to take compliments at face value because I can't determine whether they are genuine or whether they are dripping with the bitter taste of sarcasm.

I want to believe that people are one hundred per cent honest when they offer kudos or compliments to people.  But, my brain is admittedly a little bit jumbled when it comes to processing compliments. 

The depressing part is that it never used to be wired that way.  I remember thinking when I was a child that everyone's word was golden, and I used to feel comfortable telling people anything about everything.  I'm more cautious now.

In fact, I think that really answers the question as to why I have a hard time keeping friendships, or even starting up relationships.  My heart is still quite damaged, and I still have locks and chains wrapped around it as a way of protecting myself.

I lack the confidence in myself to summon up the courage to find the keys that will unhook the chains and open up my heart to others. 

I wish it weren't the case, but that's the way life works out sometimes.

One day, my confidence will move closer towards the middle.  It just might take a lot more time than I thought.

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

August 5, 1962

So, how many of you out there are ready to take in another edition of the Tuesday Timeline?  I'm sure that most of you are waiting in anticipation.

(Or, at least, I'd like to hope that you are anyway.)

And the only hint that I will provide is that today's date had a profound impact on Hollywood as one legend's light blew out like a candle in the wind.

You've probably got the gears grinding in your head right now and probably have the answer.  I'll leave you to think about it some more while I go ahead with today's events and celebrity birthdays for August 5.

1100 - Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey

1583 - The first English colony in North America (the area near St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) is established by Sir Humphrey Gilbert

1620 - The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America

1735 - New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York

1861 - The United States Army abolishes flogging

1882 - Standard Oil of New Jersey is established

1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor

1914 - The very first electric traffic light is installed in Cleveland, Ohio

1926 - Harry Houdini performs an illusion on stage which sees him escaping from a sealed tank filled with water - total time spend submerged was ninety-one minutes!

1930 - Neil Armstrong (d. 2012) - the first astronaut to walk on the moon - is born in Wapakoneta, Ohio

1957 - American Bandstand debuts on ABC

1962 - Nelson Mandela enters prison and spends the next twenty-eight years of his life behind bars

1963 - A nuclear test ban treaty is signed by the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union

1964 - Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch (d. 2012) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1981 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan fires over 11,000 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work

1992 - Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro dies suddenly at just 38 years old

2000 - Sir Alec Guinness dies of liver cancer, aged 86 years

2002 - Soap star Josh Ryan Evans dies at the age of 20

2003 - Twelve are killed and another 150 injured after a car bomb detonates outside of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia

2010 - Thirty-three Chilean miners are trapped 2,300 feet below the ground after the Copiapo mining accident occurs

And, I'd also like to wish the following famous faces a happy birthday;  John Saxon, Loni Anderson, Erika Slezak, Rick Derringer, John Jarratt, Samantha Sang, Louis Walsh, Maureen McCormick, Faith Prince, Clayton Rohner, Pete Burns, Pat Smear, Tawny Kitaen, Jonathan Silverman, Terri Clark, Funkmaster Flex, James Gunn, Antony Cotton, Ami Foster, Jesse Williams, Xenia Tchoumitcheva, and Olivia Holt.

And this leads us to the discussion about today's date.



Today's date just happens to fall on the same day that Nelson Mandela was placed in prison.  August 5, 1962.

Now, I could have just talked about the events that saw Mandela imprisoned for twenty-eight years...but I already did a blog on that entry some time ago.

Instead, I'll be talking about another event.  This event took place in the United States of America - Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, to be exact.  And it was on this date that one of Hollywood's most sultry and provocative actresses breathed her last breath.

It seems hard to believe that had she lived, this actress would be eighty-eight years old today.  But alas, she stayed forever young at just thirty-six years of age.



This is the story about the death of Marilyn Monroe, who passed away fifty-two years ago today.

Marilyn Monroe, of course, was a movie starlet who starred in films that are widely regarded as classics today, including "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "How To Marry a Millionaire", and "Some Like It Hot".  And she was a huge inspiration for early Madonna as she was the direct inspiration behind her 1985 video for "Material Girl".



But Marilyn's death in 1962 remains a sort of unsolved mystery of sorts. 

It was twenty-five minutes after four in the early morning hours of August 5, 1962 that LAPD sergeant Jack Clemmon received the call from Dr. Ralph Greenson that would send shock waves throughout Hollywood.  The call that confirmed the death of Marilyn Monroe.  And the cause of death was linked to a combination of barbiturates that were still in her system at the time of autopsy.  As Marilyn Monroe had complained about having insomnia, and was having some negative health effects a couple of years prior to her death, the medication that was present in the room where she died did make sense. 


But here's the interesting thing about Marilyn's death.  Although she did die of a drug overdose, the actual autopsy report stated that she died of a "probable suicide".  Not definite.  Just probable.  And with that word came dozens of theories about Marilyn Monroe's demise.  Did she really commit suicide?  Or was something more sinister the cause of her death?

If you looked at the last few months of Marilyn's life, one might think that she would have had no reason to kill herself.  In recent weeks, she had been in talks to commit to several film projects.  She was continuing to negotiate a contract for the film, "Something's Gotta Give".  She was set to star in the film version of the Broadway musical "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".  A conflict that she had with 20th Century Fox had been resolved and she was set to have a two-film deal with the movie company which would have seen her making a cool one million dollars.  And on top of all that, an Italian deal which would see Marilyn making four movies as well as handing over co-star, director, and script approval for ten million dollars.

With all those opportunities surrounding her, do you think that it would make sense for Marilyn Monroe to throw it all away by overdosing on drugs?  The only way that this would be the case is if it were an accidental overdose.  Which would mean that it probably wasn't suicide at all...at least, not an intentional one, anyway.

And that's not counting the conspiracy theories surrounding Marilyn's death, with some people believing that Marilyn Monroe was murdered.  Some people have the belief that the CIA or the Mafia went to great lengths to kill Monroe, feeling that she had something on them and that they would go to great lengths to see that her secrets never got out.  Others seem to think that Monroe was killed because of her connection to the Kennedy clan.  After all, Marilyn Monroe had gotten pretty close with President John F. Kennedy, reportedly even calling the White House several times a day to speak with the president.  It's even alleged that Monroe and Kennedy had a love affair while Kennedy was in office, though I can't say for sure if this was the case, as I was not alive during that time.  But still, Monroe's link to the Kennedy family was called out by some people as the reason that she died.



I bet when Marilyn Monroe was born as Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles, California on June 1, 1926, she never would have imagined that her life and death would have been so much in the public eye, even decades after her passing.  By all accounts, little Norma Jeane's life had started off being incredibly tough right from birth.  She spent the majority of her formative years in foster homes due to her mother's mental instability, and although several families were interested in adopting Norma Jeane, her mother refused to sign the adoption papers giving up her full rights to her.  She lived with her mother's best friend Grace for a little bit, but that arrangement ended quickly after Grace's husband tried to molest Norma Jeane. 

It really was a story that some would have felt would only exist in the movies.  A little girl who only wanted to find love and acceptance only to face pain and heartbreak everywhere she went.  Only it wasn't a movie.  It was Norma Jeane's real life.  It took a marriage to her first love, James Dougherty, for Norma Jeane to finally find some stability in her life.  But the marriage didn't last.  They were divorced by 1946.  In fact, none of her three marriages lasted.  Her second marriage to Joe DiMaggio didn't even last a whole year, and her third marriage to Arthur Miller was the longest of the three, with the couple staying together for five years before divorcing in 1961.  But when you consider just how much instability she had in her early life, I suppose you can understand the instability that she sustained in her romantic life.

But I suppose one could say that her career (at least the early part of her career before the drug use started and she began to earn the reputation of being incredibly difficult to work with came into play) was the one thing that gave her stability.  And certainly, Marilyn Monroe's body of work speaks for itself.

But I suppose you're wondering how she ended up transforming herself from Norma Jeane Mortenson into Marilyn Monroe.  Well, as we close the book on another Tuesday Timeline, I'll share that story with you.

In June 1945, Norma Jeane was working in the Radioplane Munitions Factory when David Conover of the U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Motion Picture Unit was sent to the factory to shoot photos of young women helping out with the war effort.  He happened to come across Norma Jeane, and snapped this photo below.



Though the photo never actually appeared in the magazine that he was sending the photos he snapped to, he did think that Norma Jeane seemed to have model-like qualities, and encouraged her to sign up for a modeling agency, which she did.  It is here that the first change took place - bleaching her naturally dark hair to her signature platinum blonde.

Shortly after taking some photos with the agency, she got the attention of 20th Century Fox executive Ben Lyon who arranged for Norma Jeane to perform a screen test.

She passed the screen test with flying colours, and she was immediately signed to a contract.  However, Lyon didn't like the name Norma Jeane Dougherty, claiming that the name didn't have enough star power.  Lyon suggested the name of Carole Lind (a combination of Carole Lombard and Jenny Lind), but that name didn't seem to be appropriate for her.  Norma Jeane's idol was Jean Harlow, and she knew that Jean Harlow used her mother's maiden name for her own stage name, so Norma Jeane decided to do the same, using her mother's maiden name of "Monroe".

So then came the battle to choose an appropriate first name.  Initially, they were going to try the name Norma Jeane Monroe.  Then just Norma Monroe.  Then just Jeane Monroe.  Finally, the suggestion of Marilyn was offered up, and initially Norma Jeane didn't like the name.  To her, it was a contraction of the name Mary Lynn - a name she didn't like.  But Lyon insisted on Marilyn.  Norma Jeane reminded him of Marilyn Miller - a Broadway star of the 1920s.  And he felt that the alliteration of the name Marilyn Monroe would be sexy, sultry, and lucky.  It took a little time, but Norma Jeane decided that she liked the name.

And that was how Norma Jeane became Marilyn Monroe.

And, to end this blog off, let's have a listen to the 1973 hit single that Elton John wrote about her.