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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

September 23, 1989

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to another edition of the Tuesday Timeline.  It's September 23, and I'll be honest with you...this Tuesday Timeline entry is going to be a little bit different because rather than focus on one pop culture event, today will be a day that celebrates many different subjects!

In fact, I suppose you could consider it to be a whole week's worth of "
A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" in one whole day!

That's your only clue behind today's special look back. 

But in the meantime, are you ready to see what happened on September 23 throughout history?  Have a look!

1642 - The first commencement exercises are held at Harvard College

1806 - Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis following their exploration of the Pacific Northwest United States

1845 - The Knickerbockers Baseball Club is founded in New York City

1869 - "Typhoid Mary" (d. 1938) is born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland

1889 - Fusajiro Yamauchi founds the Nintendo Koppai playing card company which would later switch to video game manufacturing

1905 - The Karlstad Treaty is signed between Sweden and Norway, dissolving the Union between the two countries

1909 - "The Phantom of the Opera" is first published as a serialization in the French publication "Le Gaulois"

1913 - France's Roland Garros becomes the first person to fly an airplane across the Mediterranean

1920 - Actor Mickey Rooney (d. 2014) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1930 - Singer Ray Charles (d. 2004) is born in Albany, Georgia

1962 - The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City

1969 - The Chicago Eight trial commences in Chicago

1974 - Actor/comedian Cliff Arquette dies at the age of 68

1983 - All 117 passengers are killed following the bombing of Gulf Air Flight 771

1986 - Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros strikes out the first eight batters of the game against the opposing team, setting a record - the record was equaled by Jacob DeGrom of the New York Mets in September 2014

1988 - Jose Canseco becomes the first member of the 40-40 club

1992 - Forensic laboratories in Belfast, Ireland are destroyed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army

1998 - "Newhart" actress Mary Frann passes away at the age of 55

1999 - The United States begins observing "Celebrate Bisexuality Day"

2002 - The first version of Mozilla Firefox is released

2004 - Hurricane Jeanne strikes Haiti causing widespread flooding that kills over one thousand people

And celebrating a birthday on September 23 are the following people; Julio Iglesias, Ron Bushy, Paul Petersen, Christian Bordeleau, Mary Kay Place, Bruce Springsteen, Rosalind Chao, Jason Alexander, Chi McBride, Elizabeth Pena, Anne-Marie Cadieux, LisaRaye McCoy-Misick, Yvette Fielding, Ani DiFranco, Jermaine Dupri, Karl Pilkington, Matt Hardy, Jaime Bergman Boreanaz, Layzie Bone, Rob James-Collier, Wlademir Sidorenko, Keri Lynn Pratt, Anthony Mackie, Misti Traya, Anneliese van der Pol, Skylar Astin, and Trinidad James.

And now for today's date.



September 23, 1989.

Now, there's nothing really that spectacular about this date as far as Hollywood news goes.  However, this date was a big one in my family.  That was the day that my eldest sister got married to her husband.  As of today, they've been married twenty-five years.  How's that for a wonderful accomplishment?

To me, it doesn't even seem like it has been that long since they got married.  I mean, physically speaking, I know it has been.  After all, when they tied the knot, I was only eight years old and the shortest member of the family.  Now I'm 33 years old and the tallest member of the family - at least for now anyway.  But I do remember some bits and pieces about that day.  After all, their wedding was the very first one that I remember seeing!

I remember the colour scheme that was chosen for the wedding was white and burgundy.  Hence the reason why I chose burgundy for the emphasis colour this week.

I remember that it was one of the last events in which the entire family was there.  My grandmother would pass away just two years later in October 1991.

I remember actually dancing a lot at that wedding - a fact that shocks me as I need at least a 6-pack of Heineken to get me on a dance floor today.  Ah, maybe at the age of eight I cared less about people judging me.  I wish I could go back to that.

I also remember that I had to wear a rented tux for the event - which I despised.  And I also remember having to wear a bowtie to go with the tuxedo.  Which I also despised.  Though the expressions on my parents faces upon learning that I accidentally smeared chocolate mousse all over the sleeve of the tuxedo at the wedding reception was quite priceless.  I honestly thought that they would have a coronary right there!

Anyway, I thought that for today, as mentioned, that I would cram a whole week of the blog in one whole day.  And that's what we're going to do.

We'll be taking a look at what was topping the charts 25 years ago.  We'll look at what kind of movies were being shown at the box office 25 years ago.  We'll see what television shows were debuting 25 years ago.  We'll see what video games were coming out during that period.

It's basically a 25-year-retrospective to celebrate a silver anniversary.  Does that sound like fun?

Okay, so let's start off with the world of video games.  Now, because September 23 was on a Saturday, there weren't any releases that day (mainly because most video games are released on either Tuesdays or Fridays).  However, there was a game and a game system released in September 1989.



I don't know how many of you out there owned an Atari Lynx, but it made history as being the very first hand held electronic game console that displayed 16-bit images in colour.  Keep in mind that at that time, it was competing against the wildly successful Nintendo Game Boy, so the company certainly tried its best to stand out.  For what it was worth, the handheld console did last on store shelves until the mid-1990s, and for what it was worth, many of the games were worth playing.  Or, so I hear, I never owned one.



The other big news that came out of video gaming was the release of the Nintendo video game DuckTales, based on the popular Disney cartoon.  Released by Capcom in September 1989, it was an incredibly fun, but challenging game.  Do you have any idea how long it took me to get through the UFO level?  Insane.  And then I had to go and play the Transylvania level TWICE to get the true ending of the game?  Well, you have to leave it to Capcom...they still make challenging games even today.

Okay, now let's have a look at television series that debuted.  And the day before my sister got married, a TV show was just starting its insane eleven season run.



So back in September 1989, "Baywatch" wasn't exactly known for being the show with sexy women running across the beach in slow motion.  In fact, when the show debuted on NBC, the show was nearly cancelled after its first year!  The move from NBC to syndication ended up saving the show, and it ran straight through until the year 2001.



Also debuting on television on September 23, 1989 was a television show called "Short Ribbs".  Hosted by Billy Barty, it aired in the Los Angeles area as a spoof of "Saturday Night Live".  The only major difference?  The cast were all considered "dwarfs", as no cast member exceeded four feet in height.  The show was quickly cancelled two months later, and Barty was later sued by two producers for money owed.  Barty lost both cases.

Now, for movies - again, September 23 fell on a Saturday, so there weren't any new releases on that date.  But that weekend, two movies debuted.  Have a look at the trailers below.



And would you like to know what the #1 movie was on that weekend?  Well, it was the Al Pacino/Ellen Barkin thriller "Sea of Love".  Again, I have the trailer below.



Other movies that were doing very well at the box office that weekend included "Uncle Buck", "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", "Turner & Hooch", and "When Harry Met Sally".  And, it makes me feel really old knowing that I remember seeing Uncle Buck on television all the time as a child.

Finally, let's take a look at the #1 song back on September 23, 1989.  And, well...for a wedding song, it does NOT work at all, as the song is all about nursing a broken heart.  But hey, it did make it two weeks on the top of the charts.



ARTIST:  Milli Vanilli
SONG:  Girl I'm Gonna Miss You
ALBUM:  Girl You Know It's True
DATE RELEASED:  July 1989
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 2 weeks

Yes, this was BEFORE the lip synching scandal that effectively silenced Milli Vanilli for good.  But you know, I don't actually hate this song.  I really didn't mind a lot of Milli Vanilli's stuff.  The guys who actually sang for Rob and Fab back in the day did quite well.  Again, the song itself probably wouldn't have been played at my sister's wedding as it's a song about dealing with a break-up (well, that, plus I doubt anyone in my family even liked Milli Vanilli), but I thought it was an interesting, yet, ironic choice of song to put in this entry.

Regardless, twenty-five years of marriage is a great accomplishment.  And while my sister and brother-in-law are far from being the sentimental type, I decided to do this blog post for them to see what life was like 25 years ago.  After all, it was a time in which Madonna's "Like a Prayer" album dominated the album charts.  A time in which Disney began its renaissance period with "The Little Mermaid".  A time in which "Roseanne" debuted its second season, "Full House" began airing its third, and when "Dallas" kicked off season eleven!  Their marriage even predates "The Simpsons" by three months!  Knowing that their marriage has survived the entire run of that series is remarkable in itself, don't you think?

Happy anniversary, guys!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Lost In Video Game Translation

This edition of the weekly segment known as FUNNY MONDAY comes to us courtesy of the world of electronics.

Specifically video games.

Now, I wouldn't classify myself as being a hardcore gamer now, but back when I was a kid, video games were my life.  From the first time I inserted a quarter into an arcade video game to the moment that I bought my own Nintendo after months of saving, I can't imagine a moment in which I haven't played video games in my early childhood.

Of course, my love of video games didn't come without controversy.  My parents thought that I played them too much.  My teachers insisted that video games were not educational.  And some people actually insisted that video games were destroying society because they encouraged us to be more violent.

(Keep in mind that when I was playing video games, the most violent game on the market was probably "Street Fighter" or "Mortal Kombat".)

However, I take those thoughts of negativity and chuck them out the window.  To me, video games were fun.  They could be educational (believe it or not), and they certainly didn't have me holding up a 7-Eleven store for cash and candy bars.

Of course...it could be because I had no interest in playing the really violent games.  Okay, I was a fan of "Final Fantasy", but I consider the puzzles and problem solving that you do in the game to be more interesting than poking monsters with pointy things. 

Like, for instance, I'm a huge fan of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series, and I think it's just such a smart series.  You go into a courtroom to try and defend your client who has committed a terrible crime, and just the dry wit alone makes it so much fun to play. 

But of course, in order to fully appreciate this game, you have to do a lot of reading.  Some people I know don't like text-heavy games because they feel that reading takes away from the fun of video games, but I beg to differ.  Text based games can be just as enjoyable as games that have a lot of action.

But even in the best text based games, you can find spelling and grammatical errors.  Have a look at this screenshot from "Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies" which was released last year.



Ah, Bobby Fulbright...even under pressure witnesses can stammer and make absolutely no sense.  But I consider that to be a minor example.

After perusing various sites such as
www.tiptonium.com, www.kotaku.com, 11 Points, ArcadeSushi, Nintendo 3DS Daily, and GameFAQs, I've found sixteen examples of video game text that whether it be by mistranslation or just plain error that didn't quite come across the way that the programmers had intended.

So, are you ready to play "
Lost In Video Game Translation"?  Let us begin.



1.  ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US - Apparently, this classic lost in translation moment comes courtesy of the video game "Zero Wing", and for a while, it was considered to be such a blatant error that people reportedly wore T-shirts that had this phrase stitched across the front.  Of course, more were to come, but this example kicked it all off.



2.  Yes, don't forget to take good rest.  And, I give you my sincere.  Thanks for reading this post.



3.  "This girl are can't speak proper English.  Though, to be fair, this part of the game does take place in the Midgar slums of "Final Fantasy VII".  Maybe learning English isn't a priority there.



4.  "Lock me baby, lock me slowly.  Take it easy, don't you know..."



5.  Well...I suppose if you were taking a detour around the sun, you physically could "fry" over a jungle.



6.  You know, I have a soft spot for "Bubble Bobble".  I love the moment in which I schooled a bunch of seventeen year olds in how to really play the game right.  But what the hell is this opening trying to say?



7.  How does one "feel" asleep?  You can feel sleepy, but once you're asleep, you can't really feel anything.  And he can't even really say that he's fallen asleep because once you have fallen asleep, you can't really tell anyone that you have fallen asleep...unless of course you hear the secrets that they keep when they're talking in their sleep.  And only The Romantics can do that.



(Now I've got that song stuck in your head, don't I?)



8.  Ryu!  Thank God you're safe!  NOW, GO TO GRAMMAR CLASS!



9.  I don't know what's more disturbing.  The fact that they misspelled "Dimension X", or the fact that the Ninja Turtles used their milkshake to vaporize the Foot in the yard.



(Now I've got that song stuck in your head, don't I?)



10.  Steel wall of niceness?  Well, isn't that a clever oxymoron!



11.  I think this is English...I think.



12.  The sad thing about this ending screenshot that is filled with spelling errors is that it came from the NES version of "Ghostbusters", which was a TERRIBLE game.  It's almost like rubbing salt in the wound.  "CONGLATURATION!  YOU WASTED YOUR TIME!"



13.  I don't care how many times I play "Final Fantasy IV", whenever I hear Tellah scream "YOU SPOONY BARD!", I giggle like a six year old.



14.  I'm only assuming that when they mean "MESSIAH", they must mean "HERO".  Because let's face it...messiah is one of those ugly words that can have different meanings.



15.  How depressing must it be to go through life thinking that you're so much of a failure that your parents named you "ERROR"?



16.  A WINNER IS YOU!  Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Unpretty

Once again, it's time for a SUNDAY JUKEBOX entry, and this time around, I'm going to be doing another one of those "can Matthew write a blog entry in just two hours" kind of entries.

You see...I'm writing this just a couple of hours before I get ready for a secret party that will be held in honour of a milestone that is being celebrated for a family member, and since I will be working the very next day, I only have a limited time to get all my points across.

(Mind you, by the time you read this, I will already be at work, and the party will already have come and gone.  But don't worry.  If you're interested, I'll fill you in on all the details in a future blog post.)

Anyway, today in the Sunday Jukebox entry (and every entry that I've done for 2014), we'll be taking a look at a #1 song that topped the charts.  And this week, we'll be going back in time fifteen years to September 1999.

Now that was one month that symbolized a lot for me.  It was the beginning of my final year of high school, and I was so excited to get the year over and done with.  What that meant for me was getting out of that building, and getting far away from various people who I did not care for.  It also meant that I was really entering adulthood, and I sort of had this naive way of looking at the world back then.  I knew that kids could be cruel, but I had this mentality that as we grew older, we became less cruel and instead became more tolerant towards others.

How misguided was I?

I mean, don't get me wrong.  There's been lots of instances in which I've seen people grow better with age.  Simultaneously, there's also been instances in which people become complete jerks.  Now, whether that has to do with nature vs. nurture, I have no clue.

But perhaps one of the things that drives me crazy about people is the fact that some people are so judgmental of others that they feel that they have to act a certain way or look a certain way to be considered "beautiful" or "handsome".  I mean, you see it all the time in magazines and commercials, especially with the female gender.  Women being airbrushed to the point where they become unrecognizable.  Women who fall victim to "photoshop liposuction".  Women who have their teeth whitened so much that their smiles appear to look like they glow in the dark.  And we won't even get started on the things that ad execs do to women and their breasts.  I often wonder if any of the women featured in those ads have anything natural about them with the way that they're edited for the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, or even Maxim.

And here's the whole thing about these ads.  They're purposely manipulated to present the image of what society considers to be the "perfect" woman.  The only catch is that there is no such thing.  Unfortunately some people look at these manipulated images and they feel that in order to be taken seriously, or to get noticed, or to get respect, they have to do whatever is possible to be able to look like that person.

Or worse, you end up changing your outside to impress someone who claims to love you only for them to not be satisfied with the changes and they demand that you try something else for you to be more physically attractive to them. 

I mean, yes, you can buy hair if yours won't grow.  You can even fix your nose if someone says so.  You can even buy all the make-up that has ever been made.  But if you can't look inside yourself and find the real beauty that can be found inside of yourself, then you won't feel beautiful - and in some cases, if you don't feel beautiful yourself, it's difficult to make anyone else feel the same way.

Hmmm...that kind of reminds me of something.  Oh yeah.  This song.



ARTIST:  TLC
SONG:  Unpretty
ALBUM:  FanMail
DATE RELEASED:  August 10, 1999
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 3 weeks



As far as I can remember, this was one of the last TLC songs that I can remember being such a big hit.  In fact, it was the last #1 hit that TLC ever had.  It wasn't long after this song was released that the "L" in TLC (Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes) was killed in a car accident in April 2002 at just 30 years of age.  The other two members of the group (Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins) and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas) have continued singing and touring under the TLC name.

And certainly before Lisa Lopes' tragic death, TLC was certainly one of the biggest selling female R&B groups of their era.  Releasing their debut album in 1992, the group has gone on to sell millions of records, and have released dozens of singles.  In fact, their 1994 album "CrazySexyCool" had no less than four singles that hit the Top 5, and had sold in excess of up to 23 million copies!



But if you were to ask me what my favourite TLC song is of all time...well, I'd put "Unpretty" in my top five list.  It is such a great song with a fabulous message - albeit presented in a video which contains some rather disturbing scenes.

But in the context of the video, the scenes are necessary to present the message that the song is trying to present.

In the video (which reportedly cost over one million dollars to film), there are several different scenarios that feature a woman in a situation where she feels "unpretty".  But there are two that seem to stand out in this video.

In one, you have Chilli and her boyfriend who appear to be visiting a cosmetic surgery website.  Chilli's boyfriend thinks that bigger is better and he really wants Chilli to have a breast enlargement so that he can see her as being even more beautiful.  Now, Chilli isn't exactly all that keen on doing the surgery, but she is basically convinced that doing the surgery is the only way that her boyfriend will stick around, so she goes ahead to book the appointment - reluctantly.

In the other situation, you have a girl, no more than sixteen or seventeen who happens to have curves and a booty - which is absolutely fantastic.  The problem is that this girl doesn't seem to think that's enough.  She sees all of the waif and thin models on the cover of magazines, and she wants to get thin like them at all costs - even if it means developing an eating disorder to do so.

But here's the thing.  It's not their bodies that are unpretty...it's the attitudes that society and loved ones have towards them that make them feel that way in the first place that I really find unpretty.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with either Chilli or the girl in the video.  They were and are beautiful.  But because the media and their lovers told them that they were beautiful, but they'd be so much more beautiful if they did this and that...well, that's just crazy talk.  It's also a sad commentary on self-esteem, isn't it?

At least you can say that things have gotten a lot better in terms of self-acceptance.  The last ten years or so have been a great decade for female acceptance, as artists such as Katy Perry, Meghan Trainor, and Lady Gaga have released songs about loving yourself and all your two thousand parts.  I believe even Dove has launched a worldwide self-esteem program for women to develop more confidence about their bodies and themselves which is also awesome to see.

And in the case of this TLC video, the video has a happy ending.  The teenage girl shreds all the photos of the skinny girls she has worshipped and puts on her bathing suit with pride.  And after Chilli witnesses another patient get their breast implants out in a painful manner, she runs out of the hospital, takes a deep breath, and proceeds to judo chop her presumed to be ex-lover for even suggesting such a thing.

I call that a real "pretty" ending. 

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Sgt. Bilko

Lately I seem to be typing out a lot of abbreviated blog entries.  For some reason, my September has been incredibly busy.  So, when it comes to today's SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES POST, I'm going to be a bit on the brief side.  This movie post is mostly going to be presented in the form of trivia about this movie.  I suppose it best fits with the whole idea of my not revealing any movie endings in this and any movie post that I do. 

I will be the first one to admit that while today's feature presentation did have a lot of star power, it tanked at the box office.  The movie didn't even make enough money to break even.



And as it so happens, this movie discussion will be the ninth of a ten part series.  As you well know, I bought a collection of family favourites at my workplace some time ago, and have been watching one of these movies a week and writing a blog about them.  Some of the movies were hits (at least in my opinion).  Some of the movies were misses (at least in my opinion), but I would hope that at least it inspired some memories (both good and bad) and discussion about these movies.



Anyway, for today's edition of the blog, we're going to be taking a look back at a movie that was inspired by a television show from the 1950s.  It was a show known as "The Phil Silvers Show", which featured comedy actor Phil Silvers in the role of a Master Sergeant at a fictional U.S. Army post in the middle of Kansas where he was in charge of several soldiers.  However, the plot of the show was centered around this man's questionable work ethic.  Often he would use his time coming up with get rich schemes, or passing the buck to other people.

Basically, he spent more time trying to get out of work than actually doing work.

Now, as a television show, this formula worked well.  It lasted four seasons on CBS between 1955 and 1959.  But when this concept was remade as a feature film in 1996, it didn't do so well.

I mean, it wasn't as though Steve Martin didn't try his best to make the movie a success.  I think he did what he could.  But unfortunately, his take as Sgt. Bilko simply didn't resonate with the audience.



And that's the whole summary of the film Sgt. Bilko, released in March 1996.  It was a movie that had a great cast, but a really terrible script, and while Martin, Dan Aykroyd, and the late Phil Hartman did their best to save the film from getting panned, the end result was mixed to negative reviews with only a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Ah, well...it still did better than Ed.

Anyway, as I'm on a time crunch, so this post will mostly be all about the behind the scenes trivia for this movie and not so much about the plot - however, I suppose that if you were old enough to watch back in the 1950s, it would read like an extended length episode.

So, instead of focusing on the plot of this film, let's have a look at some of the people who worked on the film, some of the on-set secrets, and other tidbits of fun from this movie.

And yes...I really did say tidbits of fun!

01 - Brian Grazer was a producer on this film...and I suppose that every great producer has to have one film flop in order for them to learn from their mistakes and go on to produce greatness in the future.  After all, he did win an Academy Award for his work on "A Beautiful Mind" six years after working on this film.

02 - Another key player in this movie is music producer Alan Silvestri.  He also worked on "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump".

03 - This was one of comedian Chris Rock's first roles in the world of film - though he had already established himself as a stand-up comic long before Sgt. Bilko was released.

04 - Country singer Travis Tritt starred as himself in this movie.

05 - Michael Keaton and Albert Brooks turned down the role of Sgt. Bilko.

06 - On the flipside, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal actually lobbied for the part before it was ultimately given to Steve Martin.

07 - Phil Silvers' daughter Cathy has a role as Lt. Monday in this film.

08 - Look closely at Bilko's stripes on his uniform in the movie.  Each gold stripe is a service stripe, and each stripe represents three years of service.  Since he has nine stripes on each arm, he has been in the service for 27 years.

09 - The film's budget was $39 million.  It only made $37 million at the box office.


10 - Just two years after making this movie, actress Debra Jo Rupp was cast as Kitty Foreman on "That 70s Show".

And, yeah.  That's really all I have to say.  I promise that next week's entry will be a little more in depth as I will have less of a time crunch to worry about.  In the meantime, I can promise you that next week marks the conclusion of the 10-part series...and I saved one of my favourites for last.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Chocoholics Anonymous

Hey, everyone!  Welcome to another edition of FOODIE FRIDAY - which could end up sounding more like a diary entry than a food entry, but considering that I would say that 65% of this entry has to do with food, I'd classify that to be enough to make it a Foodie Friday post.

Even though I openly admit to this blog being about a particular vice of mine.  A vice that try as I might, I can't seem to break free from. 

I guess I should explain.

I have always been a fan of sweets.  A lot of people I know don't really have any sort of sweet tooth, but I certainly do.  I wouldn't be surprised if the first tooth that ever grew in my mouth was a sweet tooth. 



I just always seem to remember as a kid always having a fondness for sweets.  One of my earliest memories involves the chocolate candies called M&M's.  At the time I tried my first milk chocolate M&M candy (back in those days, they were known as plain M&M's), I remember wanting more.  I ended up eating half a bag of the colourful candies.  And this was during a time in which the colour selection for M&M's was rather bland.  Back in '85 or whatever year this event took place, the only colours you could find were orange, green, yellow, brown, and the defunct tan.

(Yes, Virginia...there was once a world without blue and red M&M's.)

Of course, that was the only the first memory that I HAVE of eating chocolate.  Reportedly my parents have said that my first taste of chocolate was when I was a year old.



I don't know how many of you remember the chocolate bar called Jersey Milk, but that was apparently my first candy bar that I ever ate.  It's kind of similar to a Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bar, but made by Neilson.  On occasion, I still like eating Jersey Milk candy bars - you know - strictly for the nostalgia purposes.

I also had other favourites when it came down to all things chocolate.  I remember loving the combination of peppermint and chocolate early on in my childhood, and I think I ate my fair share of Junior Mints, York Peppermint Patties, and Aero Peppermint bars.  As I grew older, I also discovered the joy of combining peanut butter and chocolate together when I tried my first Reese Peanut Butter cup.  And I also remember being a fan of nougat, and during my entire elementary school career, I was rarely seen without a Mars bar in my pocket.



I also remember coming up with all sorts of wild and crazy theories over how the Cadbury people got the caramel inside of those Caramilk bars that have been a part of my childhood since forever.  My theory as a child involved freezing the caramel in bar format and then pouring the hot, melted chocolate over the caramel which melted the caramel inside each square.  Somehow, I don't think that was correct, but it was nice to speculate.

CONFESSION:  At 33, I STILL don't know how they do it.

Anyway, my love for chocolate didn't just stop at chocolate bars.  For many years, my favourite ice cream flavour was chocolate.  I used to drink chocolate milk all the time as a little kid (until I had to sell it as part of my job years later and developed a dislike for it), and when it came to cereals, I always went for the ones that had a lot of chocolate in it.

You know, Count Chocula, Cocoa Pebbles, Nesquik...cereals like that.  It might not have been the greatest or most nutritious breakfast, but it kept me nice and hyper to sit through six hours of cartoons on Saturday mornings.

(The flipside was that chocolate cereal made me hyper and extremely talkative in class which often got me into trouble at school.)

But, the reason why I wanted to talk about this is to offer up a major confession.  My vice, if you will.

My name is Matthew, and I am a chocoholic.

It's true.  I can't go without chocolate.  Lord knows I've tried to give it up.  I tried going cold turkey, and I ended up lasting less than twelve hours before I was popping Riesen candy chews into my mouth.  I literally can't go one whole day without even sampling at least one tiny bit of chocolate, be it a chocolate chip cookie, or a chocolate covered granola bar, or even a whole container of mini Rolos.


I suppose that there are worse things that I could be addicted to.  I could be addicted to cigarettes (yucky), alcohol (I more or less am a practicing teetotaler), or drugs (never touched them, never will touch them).

But if any of you out there have a way for me to cut back on sweets, I'm all ears.  :)

Thursday, September 18, 2014

I Want My Sesame TV!

Hey, guys!  I'm going to make this entry on a little bit of the short side today because there's a lot of stuff going on right now, and I'm trying my best to simplify things as much as possible.

That said, even though this is going to be an abbreviated blog entry, I guarantee you that this is one that you are all going to enjoy. 

First things first, I have a question to ask of you.  How many of you remember the days in which MTV used to play music videos?

Well, chances are that if you were born before 1990, you probably remember that period quite well.  And certainly when MTV was in its infancy, the station played all music videos, all the time.  It basically reinvented the way that we listened to music by featuring innovative and creative four to seven minute video clips to promote singles and albums. 

But as MTV began to age, the very thing that turned it into a cable television staple began to be phased out, only to be replaced with really cheaply made reality programs, shows about teen wolves, and reruns of Degrassi.  It's funny.  Most people seem to find themselves and mature by the time they turn thirty, but MTV actually seems to be regressing as it ages.  It's kind of a sad thing to see - a once awesome channel turning into complete garbage.  I mean, I suppose it kind of redeemed itself a bit by re-airing episodes of "California Dreams" and "Saved by the Bell", but now that they've stopped doing that, it's sort of boring.

Now, here's another question for you. 

Do you remember when Sesame Street used to air music videos?

I know, it seems like a silly question here, but go on.  Just think about it for a second.  Remember years and years ago back when Sesame Street was in its infancy?  It used to have really creative video clips in between shots of Sesame Street that taught us the letters of the alphabet, shapes, colours, and how to count to twelve (or twenty if you grew up watching Sesame Street in the eighties like I did).  And sometimes, you'd see some of your favourite Sesame Street characters and their friends put on MTV worthy music videos during the one hour long show.  I think you'd see at least one per episode.

Of course, seeing these Sesame Street music videos makes me incredibly sad now.  Although I am way too old to watch Sesame Street right now, I've caught glimpses of it as I was channel surfing, and I have to wonder what year it was that it basically turned into the Elmo show.  Don't get me wrong...Elmo's definitely got a huge presence on Sesame Street, and I certainly do understand why little kids love him.  But I also don't think that Elmo should take over half of the show to introduce us to Elmo's World either.  Thankfully, I don't think that Sesame Street has deteriorated in quality the same way that MTV has done, so at least it has that going for it.



But still, just like most people wanted their MTV, I find myself wanting to go back to the days in which I wanted my Sesame TV.

So, I thought that I'd do something similar to Total Request Live - only with Sesame Street music videos.  And, because I'm on a time crunch, I thought that I would only do a Top 5. 

I think this'll be a fun topic for
TUBE TALK THURSDAY.  So, what are my five favourite Sesame Street music videos?  Have a look!



5.  BUS STOP SONG

I always used to love it when celebrities would drop by Sesame Street.  Of course, back when I first watched this video as a kid, I had absolutely no idea who the "Four Tops" even were.

For those of you who aren't sure who they are, they're responsible for such hits as "Reach Out I'll Be There", "Can't Help Myself", and "It's The Same Old Song".  They were really big during the Motown era of the 1960s. 

Anyway, they appeared on an episode of Sesame Street to talk about how much fun it was to wait for the bus, and they showed us how to read a bus stop sign.  It actually made me want to go on a bus when I was little.

Of course, riding a bus as an adult isn't nearly as much fun as Sesame Street made out to be.  Still, I liked it.



4.  HONK AROUND THE CLOCK

Okay, maybe it was the disco ball.  Maybe it was the clock with the light up numbers.  Maybe it was the dozens of Muppets that honked their horns by squeezing their noses.  I'm not sure what it was about this video that made me enjoy it so much, but I have to say that its simplicity was key.

Oh, and it also had the added bonus of teaching kids how to count to twelve - a handy skill to have when going into kindergarten.



3.  1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Counting to five was never any cooler in this country infused Sesame Street video.  It literally looked like you were watching a Muppet infused version of Hee Haw or something similar. 

Even the singer was based on a popular country singer.  Of course, to avoid copyright infringement, the singer went by the name of "Polly Darton".  Though, I suspect that Dolly Parton probably loved the fact that Sesame Street turned her into a character. 

And certainly Polly Darton helped millions of kids learn how to count to five. 

Oh...I suppose that it goes without saying that Polly's song was based off of Dolly's #1 single "9 to 5".  She's hardly the first famous person that Sesame Street spoofed.  They combined Madonna and Cyndi Lauper into a new character who sang about how much of a cereal girl she is.  And of course, there was also a character who called herself Meryl Sheep.



2.  HEALTHY FOOD

Okay, I'm not exactly sure why Cookie Monster is trying to be like Flavor Flav in this video, but you have to give Cookie credit for bringing rap music to Sesame Street.  This is also the turning point in which Cookie Monster decided to bring other foods into his cookie-only diet to educate children about not eating too much junk food.

So, with singing apples, pineapples, and broccoli stalks singing "healthy food" over and over again in the background, Cookie Monster talks about how healthy food is delicious and nutritious.  Though, we never actually see him DIGEST any of the healthy food.

Probably because if Cookie had eaten his background singers, he might get arrested for murder.  Ah well, it's still interesting enough to put in the #2 spot.



1.  WET PAINT

I hear that this particular video scared a lot of young children when it first came out, but I really liked this one.  I'm not sure who the lead singer of this Muppet band is supposed to be though.  To me, he looks like a combination of Adam Ant, Elton John, and the lead singer from Men Without Hats.  Regardless, I love the New Wave feel of this video.  It's like J. Geils Band's "Freeze Frame" meets Devo's "Whip It".  And of course, the prerequisite Sesame Street cows are a cameo that is always welcome.

So, what do you think?  Do you have a Sesame Street music video that should've made my list.  Please post it in the comments below!