Search This Blog

Friday, September 26, 2014

Fear of New Food

Okay, everyone!  We're well on our way to finishing off yet another week, and to finish off the week right, we're going to be having a discussion worthy of FOODIE FRIDAY.

(Well, okay.  To be fair, every Friday since the blog was "repainted" has been known as Foodie Friday.)

Anyway, I thought about what sort of topic to write about.  After all, there are so many foods out there that are really delicious, and food is something that we all have in common.  After all, we all need to eat in order to stay alive, right?

Well, believe it or not, I was a really picky eater as a child.  I didn't really feel adventurous enough to try a whole bunch of new foods.  At that time, I knew what I liked and what I didn't like, and no matter what people tried to do, my stubbornness made me reject any foods that I deemed weird, or strange.  Consider it the Taurus in me.

As I grew older, I began to get more adventurous in trying new foods.  Some of the foods that I really had no desire in eating as a kid, I love now.  Coincidentally, some of the foods that I really had no desire in eating as a kid I STILL don't enjoy eating today. 

I'll give you a few examples of this in play.



When I was a child, I was totally afraid to try yogurt.  Everybody else in my family loved eating the stuff, but I was afraid to try it after a couple of classmates of mine in elementary school told me that eating yogurt was like drinking an entire carton of sour milk.  And believe me, I've tasted sour milk before.  That's one taste sensation that will NEVER gain in popularity.

I mean, looking at other people eating yogurt, I couldn't imagine why people would eat it.  It looked really good...kind of like pudding, only in pastel colours like pink, purple, and yellow.  But still, I couldn't bring myself to even try it because of the whole sour milk visual.  I mean, these people were eating sour milk and actually liked it!  How was this possible?

Would you believe that I was 27 years old before I mustered up the courage to try yogurt? 

Occasionally at the store I work at, they have this pair of ladies come in to do food demos on weekends.  And wouldn't you know it, one of the products that they were demonstrating was yogurt.  I think there were two flavours that they were demonstrating - strawberry and vanilla.  Since yogurt is mostly made with real fruit, strawberry is a no go (I'm allergic), but I hesitantly tried the vanilla one expecting a really nasty taste sensation. 

But to my surprise, I liked it.  It really tasted like vanilla.  I couldn't taste any sour milk at all.  It was really good!  I ended up buying an entire tub of vanilla yogurt that day!

When I look back on the time when my classmates told me that eating yogurt was like drinking sour milk...I wonder if maybe their only experience eating yogurt was from a package that had gone bad in the fridge.  Who can say?

Now I can say that I eat at least one yogurt every day.  And, now that they've come up with the wonderful invention known as Greek yogurt, I'm more willing to eat yogurt more than ever before! 

I should also say that vanilla is not the only flavour I like.  I also enjoy cherry, blueberry, key lime, and raspberry-pomegranate.



I also have to admit that another food that I was nervous to try for the longest time was the mushroom.  I never trusted anything that grew on the base of a tree.  And someone had told me (I think it was another classmate) that mushrooms were poisonous and that if I ate one, I would die.

Now, granted, that was true in some cases.  But something always bothered me about that.  If mushrooms were really that bad, why would it be listed as a topping choice for pizza?  Why would it be a common thing seen on vegetable and dip trays?



And why did Mario always seem to grow big and strong every time he ate a mushroom?  It just didn't make sense to me that mushrooms were all that bad.

So I bit the bullet.  At a holiday gathering that took place when I was, oh, fifteen or so, I pilfered a mushroom from a veggie tray and ate it.  And admittedly, I proceeded to eat a dozen more!  To this day, mushrooms are one of the favourite things to add into a stir-fry, and you can't have a Canadian pizza without the mushrooms.

Now, TOADSTOOLS, on the other hand.  Those things I wouldn't touch with a twenty foot pole.

Now, on the flipside, there are some foods that I was not willing to try because I was worried that I wouldn't like them...and I was right to do exactly that.  When I ate them, I hated them.



One classic example is cauliflower.  To me, cauliflower looked more like an overgrown flower blossom.  And, having accidentally tried a dandelion at the age of four only to find that dandelion petals tasted horrible, I knew I wanted nothing to do with cauliflower. 

I should also note that when I was a kid, I would often sneak into the fridge when nobody was looking and peel lettuce leaves off of the head of lettuce that was often found in the bottom compartment of the fridge.  I couldn't help it.  Lettuce leaves were crispy and cool and so irresistible.  I know, I was a weird kid.

Well, I'm sure you figured out how I ended up tasting cauliflower.  When you're a kid, and cauliflower is facing a certain way, it almost kind of resembles a head of lettuce.  So, I grabbed a leaf, pulling some bits of cauliflower off in the process, and immediately spit it out.  Yeah, cauliflower remains a food that I can't stand today.



Coincidentally, my love of lettuce also made me realize that I can't stand cabbage either.  Cabbage to me will always be known as imitation lettuce with a gross taste to it.  And unlike cauliflower, telling the difference between cabbage and lettuce was near impossible - well, through the eyes of a five year old it was at least.


Okay.  I've shared my stories.  Now, let's hear yours.  What foods did you end up loving after you tried them for the first time?  Which ones did you hate?

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Big Brother 16 - The Summary

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to another TUBE TALK THURSDAY, and I'll be the first to warn you ahead of time...today's subject is all about reality television.  So if you aren't a fan, feel free to skip this week and wait until next week's edition.  However, if you are a big fan of reality television, you are in luck because today I'll be talking about a show that wrapped up its sixteenth season last night.



Yes, Big Brother 16 just wrapped up another season last night, and I just want to give my congratulations to Derrick Levasseur for winning the game and taking home a cool half a million dollars for their efforts! 

I can't explain why I am such a fan of the show, particularly when so many people I know (mainly my family members) see Big Brother as being more boring than watching paint dry, but year after year I tune in to watch no less than ten and no more than sixteen people live in a house for three months in the ultimate struggle for power!

It's kind of like Survivor, only with more luxury and less bugs - well, provided the houseguests actually clean the house and don't get an ant infestation, that is.

I started watching the show from the very first season that aired on CBS in July 2000, and have seen almost every single episode since.  I even watch Big Brother Canada, and am probably going to submit an application for the third season of Big Brother Canada just for laughs.  In all likelihood, someone like me probably wouldn't get chosen because I don't consider myself adventurous.  However, I do think that I could be a force to be reckoned with on endurance and memory challenges.  Physical is another story though.



Anyway, I'm going off track here.  I want to talk about Big Brother 16, which was touted as being the "most twisted summer ever".  But was it really that twisted?  I honestly don't think so.

I mean, sure, they brought out the new "Battle of the Block" twist in which there were two Heads of Household, each of whom nominated two houseguests for eviction, and the nominees competed to try and overthrow one of the HoH's to save themselves.  It was a great twist at the beginning of the season when they had over twelve of the sixteen houseguests playing, but the mistake that they made was that they let it go on too long.

And there was also that instance in which they brought in that secret golden button which allowed houseguests to reset the Big Brother clock one whole week, thus nullifying any houseguests that were up for eviction the week before.  That added a little bit of paranoia to the mix, and if I remember correctly, it caused a couple of houseguests to freak out and break down.  It was a cruel twist for some, but it was necessary to keep the people left in the house on their toes and to "expect the unexpected".

But other than that, I found that the strategy and the twists that normally are associated with Big Brother were lacking this year.  In fact, I've found that to be true for many of the recent seasons.  The Saboteur twist in Season 12 was a complete failure as the person who was the Saboteur was voted out the first week!  Mind you, Ragan did take on the role a few weeks later and did a better job than Annie did, but still, the whole thing was a washout. 

I also found the MVP twist of Season 15 to be a complete disaster as well.  I appreciate the fact that the show wanted to throw back to the early seasons in which America had more of a say, but when they kept voting in Elissa week after week, it got boring real fast.  Even though Elissa was one of the few likeable contestants on Big Brother 15, I still would have liked to have seen them switch it up a bit.  I would have liked Howard, or Candice, or Jessie to have won the MVP award at least once.

So, for Big Brother 16, I think the twists were kind of lackluster too.  Although, part of the reason why this was the case was because it seemed like the majority of the houseguests seemed to forget that they were playing a game and seemed to be like the little lamb in that nursery rhyme where they followed Mary around.  I'll get into that a little bit later, but you'll see why I brought up that little reference specifically for this post.

This year, there were sixteen houseguests (tied with seasons 9 and 15 for having the most houseguests in a season), and one thing I will say is that they really made better choices in casting than they did last year.  Last year, I only seemed to like maybe a quarter of all the houseguests because the vast majority of them seemed to be self-absorbed, racist, and sexist scourges of society who basically only lived to make other people miserable.  I still stand by that statement, and I almost gave up on Big Brother after last year's cacophony of cruelty.

That was not true with this season.  This season, I found the majority of the houseguests to be extremely likeable people (with three notable exceptions), and even though some of them played more of a sneakier game than others, I still found myself thinking that they were okay people. 

(Of course, compared to the group they had last year, they could have cast a serial killer in the house and they still probably might have been more charming.)

Anyway, I thought that I'd use this next section to talk about the houseguests, what I thought of their gameplay, what I admired about them, and what I didn't like about them.  And, I'll go in order of when they were booted from the game. 



Okay, Joey...I know you were the first one booted, but I really did like you a lot.  And I completely understand why America voted you in as the first member of "Team America" (an alliance in which America told each member in the alliance what to do in order for them to earn extra money).  I think your only mistake was trying to form an alliance with too large a group (don't worry, you weren't the only one), and I think your desire to stick with the ladies was your downfall.  It's not that you didn't try though.  The girls weren't really strategic this season, and that was your undoing.  I loved you as "Alex" though!  That was awesome.  Best of luck to you!



Paola.  Or, Pow Pow as the rest of the house called you.  At first I wasn't sure what to make of you.  As a physical player, well...you had no shot.  You lost every single competition you were a part of.  What were you thinking with that champagne pouring challenge?  How do you not know how to swing on a swing set?  I learned how to do that when I was three!  That said though, the longer you were on, the more I began to like you, and I was sad to see you go out so early.  I don't know if you would have made it to the end, but you didn't deserve to go out second.



Now we get to Devin.  And I had no idea that Devin had a daughter until he told us.  835 times he told us!  And all 835 times, I think all of us kind of died a little bit on the inside because he was basically telling us something that we already knew!  Now, Devin's main mistake was similar to Joey's.  But instead of starting up one large alliance, he started up several small alliances which sort of blew up into one LARGE alliance known as the "Bomb Squad".  Initially, the Bomb Squad consisted of himself, Frankie, Derrick, Cody, and Zach.  And then somehow Caleb ended up in the alliance.  And Devin then brought in Amber and Christine, and from there it became one gigantic clusterf...well, you get the idea.  Honestly, I don't think Devin is a bad guy...but he's not a great Big Brother player.



Oh, Brittany.  I really do admire the hell out of you.  I honestly am trying to find out a real reason why they voted you out so quickly, but all I can come up with is that you were born the wrong gender and you weren't a member of the Bomb Squad.  Of course, right around this time, the Bomb Squad was morphing into the Detonators, but that's beside the point.  I loved you because you showed everyone that you were strong and motivated.  When you kicked 2400 goals in 24 hours, I thought you should have gotten $5,000 just for that alone.  Or, at the very least have been cast in a commercial starring David Beckham.  You're ace in my books!



Amber, I think your game was basically defined by two things.  The fact that you tried to evict Julie Chen from Big Brother, and the fact that you seemed to be attached at the hip to Caleb - whether you wanted it or not.  Honestly, I can't say for sure that Caleb completely destroyed your game.  In truth, I think that your regret in not forming that alliance with Joey was the real reason why you were voted out fifth.  But of all the early boots, I think you showed great game play and proved to be a great competitor in challenges.  I would welcome you back for another try.



I'm going to come right out and say it.  Jocasta, you just weren't cut out for Big Brother.  I know you consider yourself a fantastic Big Brother player, and I know that you seemed to be respected by everyone else in the house due to your Mama J type personality, which I can appreciate.  But let's face it.  You are completely delusional about your own abilities in the game.  You're at best a weak player.  You aren't ranked a hundred in the game.  You aren't even a ninety.  I'd say a twenty-six is generous.  And, yeah...bitterness on the jury is ugly.  Some of your comments towards the final two were simply uncalled for, and I was left quite disappointed.



Hayden, you were completely screwed in this game.  That double eviction in the middle of the season turned the game around in favour of the Detonators, and unfortunately, you were the unlucky target.  I really thought that you were one awesome guy and I really found your relationship with Nicole to be really genuine and sweet.  Best of luck to both of you, and Hayden, I think you need another shot to play the game.  You really did get a raw deal, and I'm sorry for that.



You may have outlasted several people, but Zach will forever be known as America's favourite "Froot Loop Dingus".  You clearly had one of the best exits ever with your Froot Loop confetti, but honestly, as much as you wanted to come across as the villain of the show, you really did show everyone just what a cool person you truly are.  I think that your alliance with Frankie was a blessing and a curse.  It got you far in the game, but in the end, you left with a knife in the back and a shredded pink hat.  Sorry, man.



Okay, Donny.  Donny, you may very well be the nicest, sweetest, most genuine player to ever play the game.  Your kind heart and integrity will forever be remembered in the season, and I want you to know that I didn't fear the beard.  I quite liked it.  Unfortunately, I think your downfall was that you were TOO nice, and TOO genuine, and it caused the other houseguests to fear you enough to get you out.  Honestly, the only reason the others wanted you gone was because they would NOT win if they sat next to you in the Final 2.  And I fear that because you played so hard with your heart that it got a little damaged and it showed in your jury performance.  Oh, well...you've got a part on "The Bold and the Beautiful", and you did win America's Player.  Take that $25,000 and enjoy it. 



Nicole, I also think that like Donny, you're forever going to be known as the most persistent female Big Brother player this year.  You wanted it so bad that you attempted to kick butt twice.  Alas, the Detonators held all the cards, and ironically a bomb themed Veto competition sealed your fate.  But remember...you were universally loved by many people, and Hayden will likely get your number after the show.  You got this, Nicole. 



Christine, Christine, Christine.  Oh, how I wanted to like you, but you so disappointed me.  Do I think that you should have gotten booed when you were voted off?  Actually, no.  I don't believe you did.  But you're not my favourite player.  In fact, you're one of the three that I disliked the most this season.  But it's not because of your closeness to Cody that many thought was taboo that changed my mind about you.  It's because you came across as the mean girl from junior high who tried to be everyone's friend one moment and stabbed them in the back the next.  The way you treated Donny and Nicole while in the house was deplorable.  I only hope that you take something from this experience and that you've learned from your mistakes, because honestly you're in for a rough go of it now that the game is over.



Frankie.  You're another houseguest in Big Brother 16 that I could not stomach.  And that frustrates me because I went into the season actually LIKING you!  I didn't care that you were the older brother of pop singer/actress Ariana Grande.  I appreciated the fact that you wanted to keep it a secret to better your game, and I thought that up until the point you revealed all, you were a good contender to win the whole game.  And had you kept that secret hidden, I think I probably still would have been cheering for you.  But you proved to also be a little too sneaky and manipulative, and I do think that when the secret was revealed, your cockiness and over-inflated ego oozed out of you the same way that pus oozes out of a zit when it is popped.  You know I don't really hate you, but I don't love you, ooo-ooo-ooo.  Frankly, Frankie...the house had one less problem without you.



On the flipside, I went into the season absolutely not liking Caleb at all.  He was obnoxious, he stalked Amber, and honestly, I don't even know if he could string a sentence together without saying the words "Beast Mode Cowboy", "Judy Chop", or "at the end of the day".  Well, Caleb, at the end of the day, you came up a little short.  That said, once Amber was voted out, you then began to play and play hard, and won a few challenges along the way.  I even think you became a little more likeable as the end approached.  Still not enough to get you the win, but you did play hard and I think you earned the nickname you gave yourself.



Victoria.  I have nothing much to say about you because you really didn't do much of anything except lose most competitions and sit on the block a record breaking ten times.  But, I suppose I can say that you looked good every step of the way. 



Cody, you played a rather interesting game.  You stayed in the background the first part of the game and then became a huge force to be reckoned with in the game.  In the end, I do believe that your decision to take Derrick to the final two over Victoria was your undoing, and I do think that you may have made a $450,000 mistake...but you know what?  You're honest, and I can dig that.  I'm not sure what that whole Christine thing was all about, but...that's something for both of you to figure out now that the game is over.



Finally, Derrick.  This was your game to WIN, and win you did in one of the most spectacular games ever played.  You definitely deserve to hold yourself in high regard as Dr. Will, Ian, Dan, and heck, I could probably even add Rachel to that mix as well.  You did what no other houseguest has done and AVOIDED being nominated the whole time.  You had most people doing what you wanted, and you never lost control.  Even in that final HoH challenge, you knew Cody and Victoria had your back regardless.  You definitely earned your way to the final prize.  Enjoy it, man.

And so wraps another season.  For those of you who watched the finale, what are your thoughts?

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Burning Bridges - All Caught on Live TV!

I really enjoy writing these WHO AM I WEDNESDAY entries because it allows me to share some personal stories, moments of triumph, struggles with living, and a cornucopia of knowledge that I've taken from my years on this planet.

But what can I talk about today?  Hmmm. 

Oh, I know.  I think I have just the topic for discussion.

September 24, 2014

How many of you are absolutely fascinated with live television? 



Let's face it.  Live television can be the most exciting and yet the most frightening experience in the world.  Mind you, I haven't really had much experience in live television (or any television for that matter), but I can see both the pros and cons.

On one hand, it must be such a thrill to be able to watch an event unfolding on live television and being there to broadcast and report it as it happens.



One of my earliest memories dates back to the year 1989 in which the big news of the era was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.  Although I was only eight years old at that time, and wasn't old enough to understand exactly what was going on, I just had this feeling that what I was watching was a really important historical event.

Of course there were other live events that I remember watching as well.  Like when Nik Wallenda walked across Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon on a tightrope and lived to tell the tale.

Or the unfortunate white Bronco chase some twenty years ago when O.J. Simpson was apprehended and arrested for the murders of his wife and her friend.

Or even watching the ball drop in the middle of Times Square every New Years Eve.

All of those events certainly make live television worth watching.

Of course, that's where you also have a double edged sword when it comes to live television.  If all goes according to plan, live television can be the most spectacular thing to experience.  But if even the slightest thing goes wrong, it can spell disaster.  I mean, the ball over Times Square could get stuck between 0:37 and 0:38. 

Or even if you were doing the weather and the map refuses to come up, or you get tongue-tied and screw up your monologue, or if you're performing in a talent show and you accidentally fall off the stage.  Certainly those are all instances in which you might curse the day that live television even existed.

Because the beauty of live television can also be the most frightening thing about live television.  You never know what you can expect to see. 

I'm sure you know where I'm going with this here.  I'm sure you've heard all about that incident in Alaska where a person basically quit their job on live television.  And let me tell you.  When you watch the below clip, you'll definitely see that she went out with a bang.

(WARNING:  Language in video is NSFW - well, at least one word is anyway.)



All right, so the woman in this video is...well...former reporter Charlo Greene.  And the backstory behind this video is very simple.  I'm not sure exactly how long Greene was employed at this station prior to September 21, 2014 (the date that this aired on live television), but the reason behind her quitting her job was related to other activities that she was supporting - activities that included her very public support of the legalization of marijuana.



Now, I suppose she was thinking that her choice of sides in the marijuana debate would make her lose her job regardless (and if that was the case, I certainly don't agree with that), but whether that was the case or not, we really don't know.

What we do know is that she dropped an F-bomb on live television, announced that she quit, and left the poor anchorwoman who looked almost like a deer in the headlights to stammer on and make one of the most awkward segways ever.

Interestingly enough, the day after Greene's outburst, the network issued a statement saying that they apologize for the content of the news broadcast and that Greene had since been terminated from her job.  But here's the thing...if you quit your job, you can't really be fired, can you?  Either way, she probably won't find herself employed at that news station any time soon.

For that matter, I doubt that she'll be employed at ANY news station any time soon.

I get it, really I do.  I understand that she made a choice in her life - one that she truly believed in.  On one hand, I respect her for going all out and doing what she felt was right.

At the same time, I can't help but wonder what the hell she was even thinking.  I mean, yes, her beliefs could have conflicted with what the station executives believed in, but so what?  I'm sure that I have beliefs that my bosses don't agree with.  As long as they didn't harass me or threaten to fire me for having them, I don't see a problem with that.  None of us really know what was going on at that news station.  We don't know what Charlo Greene was going through, nor do we know why she opted to make as public of a resignation as she possibly could.  In the end, what's done is done.

At the same time though, I wonder if it was really worth it to go as far as she did.  I mean, yes, she made a choice that might not have been the popular one.  But I don't know if I agree with her burning her bridges with the television station the way she did.  It's like she doused the bridge with alcohol and gasoline and threw a lit blowtorch on the whole shebang.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to leave a workplace on a sour note the way that Greene did, unless the reason why you left is a damned good one.  If you weren't being paid, fine.  If you were subjected to harassment at your workplace, also fine.  But I didn't see any sort of indication as to whether Greene was happy or unhappy at her job.  Obviously she didn't like her job enough to stay there, but she could have easily gotten another job in television had she not went out the way she did.

Maybe there's a good reason why she did what she did.  Maybe there's more to the story.  But ironically enough, for someone who certainly had the world talking, she's not really saying much about why she would make the choice she did aside from her belief in continuing the fight towards the legalization of marijuana.

I mean, I suppose if it were me in the situation, I'd have thought about it a lot more, and really weighed the pros and cons over just how much I was risking. 

But hey, the world wouldn't be as fun if we all thought the same, right? 

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?