Search This Blog

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

February 24, 2006

Welcome to this week's edition of the Tuesday Timeline.  This is a weekly feature where we take a look back at a particular event in pop culture history and talk about it.

Of course, if you've been following the blog since the early days, most of you probably already know this.

Anyway, it's the final Tuesday of February 2015, and in this edition, we'll be paying tribute to someone who I would easily consider a comedic genius.

You guys all know the drill by now.  Before we go ahead with the main topic of conversation, we are going to be entertained by other February 24 entries that didn't quite make the cut.

1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces the arrival of the Gregorian calendar

1607 - Claudio Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo" has its premiere performance - one of the first works to be recognized as an opera

1809 - The Drury Lane Theatre in London burns down

1863 - Arizona is organized as a territory of the United States

1868 - Andrew Johnson becomes the first American President to be impeached; the Senate would later acquit him of all charges

1918 - A declaration of independence is made by the nation of Estonia

1938 - Actor James Farentino (d. 2012) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1942 - The Battle of Los Angeles - one of the largest documented UFO sightings in history - begins

1955 - Co-founder of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs (d. 2011) is born in San Francisco, California

1968 - Comedian Mitch Hedberg (d. 2005) is born in St. Paul, Minnesota

1980 - The U.S. Olympic Team defeats Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal in hockey, completing the "Miracle on Ice".

1981 - Athens, Greece is struck by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake, killing 16 and destroying several buildings

1983 - A special commission of the United States Congress releases a report condemning the practice of Japanese internment during World War II

1984 - A school shooting takes place at 49th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, killing two children and injuring twelve others

1989 - Nine passengers are sucked out of an airplane when a hole rips open on United Airlines Flight 811

1994 - Singer/actress Dinah Shore passes away at the age of 77

2008 - After almost fifty years in power, Fidel Castro steps down as President of Cuba

2011 - The final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery takes place

2014 - Actor/director Harold Ramis dies at the age of 69

Let us also wish the following famous faces a happy birthday.  Happy birthday to Abe Vigoda, Dominic Chianese, Barry Bostwick, Rupert Holmes, Edward James Olmos, Dennis Waterman, George Thorogood, Debra Jo Rupp, Helen Shaver, Sid Meier, Paula Zahn, Sammy Kershaw, Mark Moses, Beth Broderick, Todd Field, Kristin Davis, Billy Zane, Bonnie Somerville, Ashley MacIsaac, Crista Flanagan, Jay Kenneth Johnson, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Claire Cooper, Lleyton Hewitt, and Trace Cyrus.

Now comes today's date.  And it's actually one that's not that far away in the past.  We aren't even going back ten years.



The date is February 24, 2006.  And this was the day that we said goodbye to a true film and television legend.

Sure, he may not have portrayed some of the most intelligent people to ever grace the silver screen and boob tube.  But watching him on film and television, you probably wouldn't have guessed that he earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University.  He also served during World War II, performing comedy routines and vaudeville style acts for the troops. 

And, what you probably didn't know was that behind all the laughter and the joy he brought to each and every one of his performances, he had a childhood that could best be described as a nightmare.



This is the story of Jesse Donald Knotts - better known to you and I as Don Knotts, who passed away nine years ago today at the age of 81.

Now, Don Knotts and I actually share one thing in common.  We were both children that were born later than all the others.  In my case, I was the youngest child born nearly a full decade after the last one was born.  Don Knotts was the last child born to William and Elsie Knotts on July 21, 1924, when Elsie was forty.  

And due to the stress of the birth, Don's father sustained a nervous breakdown because of it.  To make matters worse, Don would spend the first thirteen years of his life afraid of his father.  Due to his alcoholism and suffering symptoms of schizophrenia, Don's father would often terrorize him, even chasing after him with a knife.  Don's father died in 1937.  His older brother William would die four years later, in 1941.  Don's mother would pass away in 1969 at the age of 84.

After returning from the war and graduating from West Virginia University in 1948, Knotts had decided that he wanted to become an entertainer as a full-time career, and one of his first roles ever was on the television soap opera "Search for Tomorrow".  He stayed on the show for two years (1953-1955) before becoming a regular guest on Steve Allen's variety show beginning in 1956.  During this time, he also acted in a couple of Broadway performances and films including one stint in 1958 where he starred in the film version of "No Time for Sergeants" with a man by the name of Andy Griffith.

You know where I'm going with this, right?



Of course, you know that it would be because of Andy Griffith that Don Knotts would become a huge star, as Knotts was cast on "The Andy Griffith Show" playing the part of bumbling, yet kind-hearted deputy Barney Fife.  Knotts played Barney Fife for the first five seasons of the show alongside Griffith and child actor Ron Howard - hmm...whatever became of Ron Howard anyway?  That'll have to be looked at another day.

Anyway, back to Knotts.  During the five years he played Barney Fife, Knotts enjoyed the experience.  Initially, Griffith was supposed to be the comedic foil for Barney Fife, but audiences responded better when the situation was the other way around, so Barney Fife gradually became more comedic and funny as the show progressed.

But at the conclusion of the show's fifth season in 1965, Knotts had believed that the fifth season would be the show's last, and he had started to look for other work.  To Knotts' surprise, the show was renewed for another year (the show stayed on the air until 1968).  But at that time, Knotts had already booked several film projects and he was tied up.  Besides, when Knotts weighed the pros and the cons of it all, he figured that he would not get another opportunity to land a movie contract.  So, the decision was made for Knotts to leave in 1965 to embark on his film career.

And, what films did he appear in?



Well, there's "The Incredible Mr. Limpet", "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", "The Reluctant Astronaut", "How To Frame a Figg", "The Apple Dumpling Gang", "Gus", and "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo".  I'd say that was a good move on Knotts' part, wouldn't you?



(By the way, Disney has a collection of Don Knotts movies available in a special four film collection!  Definitely check it out!)

And beginning in 1979, Don Knotts proved that sitcom success could strike twice when he was cast as Ralph Furley in the sitcom "Three's Company".



Now, joining the cast of an already established show could signify the moment in which a show "jumps the shark", so to speak.  But I have to be honest, I thought Don Knotts joining the show brought new life to the program.  Sure, I liked the Ropers enough, but they always had the same gags and by season three, it was time for a change.  Well, not only did Don Knotts make audiences laugh with his portrayal of the swinging landlord Mr. Furley, but when Suzanne Somers left the show in 1981, Knotts was given material that was meant for Somers' character, Chrissy Snow, and well, he stayed on the show until its cancellation in September 1984.

And he reunited with his old friend Andy Griffith in the 1986 film "Return to Mayberry" and had a recurring role on Griffith's series "Matlock" until 1992.  After appearing on "Matlock", Knotts took on fewer acting projects, though he did make a small appearance on the 1998 film "Pleasantville", lent his voice talents to a couple of Scooby-Doo projects, voiced Turkey Lurkey in "Chicken Little", and appeared in a cameo on "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" alongside his former "Three's Company" cast mate John Ritter, who would die just months after taping the episode with Knotts.

In later years, Knotts began to lose vision in his eyes, due to macular degeneration, and he was considered totally blind by the time he died on February 24, 2006.  The cause of death was pneumonia related to lung cancer.  One of the last people to visit Knotts before his death was Andy Griffith.

It seems hard to believe that he's been gone for nine years, but in a way, Don Knotts still lives on.  In 1998, his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia named a street after him.  And in 2000, Knotts received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.



And, of course, there's his final resting place...with a plaque that shows just how rich and rewarding a career he had.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Being Your Own Worst Enemy - Highly Unrecommended

This is a rather embarrassing thing to be admitting in a public forum such as this blog, but I think I have to come clean here.



I am stuck on Candy Crush Soda.

For whatever reason, level 80 is kicking my ass, and I honestly am more disappointed in the fact that I have let a video game frustrate me.  I mean, it's been four weeks since I started playing level 80.  It's one of those stupid levels where you try to find all of the green gummi bears.  There are 20 small ones, and one gigantic one.  I can get the regular gummi bears, but I can't save the super huge one.

And, I've been trying to complete this level for four weeks.  So frustrating.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it is just a silly video game.  Sure, it's a bit of a bummer watching everyone else soar past you in the game, but it's not as if you're going to get fired, or grounded, or even murdered if you can't beat level 80 on Candy Crush Soda.  You just play, use up your five lives, and try again later without any sort of worry whatsoever.

If only real life failures worked like that.

You see, I am one of those people who have a really difficult time dealing with failure.  I always have been.  I wish I didn't feel this way at all and could easily bounce back from my mistakes, but for whatever reason I can't.

I mean, if I sold a television that was accidentally put on hold for another customer, I would tell myself how bloody foolish I was and I would have so much guilt that I would think about giving them my own television to make them happy.

(Like that would ever happen, but the guilt!  THE GUILT!)

Or, if I tried to colour match an exact colour on the paint machine and it comes out completely different from what they asked for (which has actually happened), I would get frustrated and convince myself that I need to re-enroll back in kindergarten to learn more about mixing colours together.

(Like that would ever happen, but the guilt!  THE GUILT!)

Or, if I promise to do something for someone only to completely bail on it because of a bad memory, lack of skills, or being unable to keep the promise, I would be so upset that I would convince myself that these people won't want to have anything else to do with me, and I would go back home to hide and become a hermit.

(Sadly, that has happened before because of the guilt!  THE GUILT!)



In a nutshell...I'm my own worst enemy.

Worse?  I've had people tell me this.  And I believe them.

I suppose that when you get used to having low self-esteem, it makes it extremely difficult to handle it when things start going well and when you actually begin to show signs of high self-esteem.

And certainly over the last few weeks, I've had a lot of great things happen to me.  I've started a new job which I absolutely love, and I've actually gotten an interview published in a magazine.  I've been on a high and things have been going awesome.

And all it took was screwing up someone's paint order to make my ecstasy crash into levels of depression.

Logically speaking, it could have happened to anyone.  Anyone could have screwed up the colour formula.  Logically, I've only been making paint for three weeks now.  Mistakes are bound to happen, especially for someone who has never really taken on this challenge before.

But seeing how everyone else who has mixed paint seems to do it flawlessly, it sort of makes me feel like I can't compare with them, and briefly, it made me wonder if I was once again in the wrong line of work.

But that can't be true because I've been enjoying it a lot.  Paint mixing is only one part of the job.  I may not have mastered it yet, but I can do lots of other things very well.  I should focus more on those so that I can build up the confidence needed to mix paint more perfectly, and from there I can hopefully stop beating myself up and feeling guilty for things that may or may not be my fault.

It's a lifelong struggle, but I think I can end it.  I will not let man, woman, or paint mixer defeat me.




Now, if you excuse me...level 80 calls...

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Sunday Morning Randomness

I will be the first one to admit that when it comes to getting gifts, the quirkier, the better.

As far as dollar amounts go, I don't really care how much is spent.  Well, actually, that's not quite true.  I don't want anyone to break the bank when it comes to gift giving.  I like things that are unique.  Some of those things you can buy at a dollar store, and some are things that money can't possibly buy.

In short, I am not a materialistic person.  Remember this for later.

Seriously, some of the greatest gifts that I have received have been of the knick-knack variety.  Gifts that I am certain that very few people have.  Gifts that show off my wacky and offbeat personality.

After all, I do have three different Rubik's cubes, seashells in a bottle of purple sand, a space shuttle ornament, and a calendar made out of Legos.  What can I say?  I like kitschy things.  Why, if that "Over Our Heads" store on "The Facts of Life" were still open, I reckon that half of the things in that shop would be displayed in my home today.

Like, have a look at this gift that I received this past Christmas.



Okay, so I imagine that some of you are fixated on the major spacing error in the text of the slot machine bank (believe me, I noticed it too).  But this slot machine bank really works.  You deposit your money in the top of the bank (it takes quarters, one dollar coins and two dollar coins), and you pull the lever.  If you get the right combination, you will hear a noise go off and coins will fly out the bottom of the bank.

It has a permanent spot on my dresser at home, and I wanted one the minute I saw it in a mail-order catalogue called "Bits and Pieces".  I think that was the catalogue where I got the infamous Lego calendar as well. 

But here's a bit of a twist.  Although I have a slot machine bank in my home, I've never played an actual slot machine in my life.



Come to think of it, I've never set foot inside of a casino ever.  Even though I've been over 21 for...oh...a baker's dozen years now, I have never really been stricken by the gambling bug.

In fact, I think that I would probably be the world's worst gambler in the world.



I know what most of the games in a casino are and how they're played.  Blackjack is easy.  You just have to get as close to the number twenty-one as possible without going over in an attempt to get a higher number than the dealer.  The odds aren't exactly great, but at least they're a lot better than those of Roulette.  Seriously, I don't know how anyone can play Roulette at all.  The odds of winning big are next to impossible.



Don't even get me started on Keno.  It's just a fancy way of playing Bingo...only without letters.  And, without forming a line.  Yeah, Keno is pointless.

Now, statistically speaking, the dice game known as Craps has the best odds for winning.  But it's not entirely foolproof either.  All you have to do is roll the wrong number and you can lose hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.

I understand that the rush of gambling is one that can't be described.  I suppose the idea of risking a small fortune playing a game in hopes of doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling your bet does get the adrenaline pumping.  I'll admit that I've played a few casino simulation video games over the years and have strangely gotten that same rush when pretending to bet money I didn't have on said video game.

However, there's a big difference between betting in a video game casino and betting in a real casino.  If you lose your shirt in the video game, all you have to do is reset the video game and try again.  In a real casino, you can get into debt really quickly.  And anyone who has ever been in deep debt knows how hard it can be to get out of it.

I suppose it's a good thing that I don't consider myself to have an addictive personality when it comes to gambling.  I would probably be bored inside of a casino, and to be perfect honest, I only play the lottery an average of four times a year.  And that number varies depending on the jackpot.  Usually, I only play when the jackpot is huge.


But for some people, gambling is a serious problem.  If you or someone you love has a gambling problem, please visit this website.

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/

Saturday, February 21, 2015

I Have A Secret - And It Involves This Magazine...

Okay...so I've been keeping a bit of a secret from all of you.

Don't worry, it's nothing too serious.  I haven't killed anyone, gotten eloped, or have had reconstructive surgery.  My life isn't THAT colourful.

But I do want to tell you a bit of a story.



How many of you have heard of a magazine publication known as "The Digest Enthusiast"?  I'm guessing not a lot of you have.  It's okay.  Prior to three months ago, I really didn't know what it was either.  Turns out that it's a brand new series that was created by a group of fellow comic book fans, such as myself, celebrating the various digests that have come out over the last century.

And, certainly a lot of people have contributed to this magazine.  Have a look at the back cover where everyone is credited.



Isn't that cool?

Hey...wait a sec.  Zoom in on that list of contributors.



Wait a minute.  THAT'S ME!

Sigh.  I guess the cat's out of the bag.  Okay, here's the story.

Now, you all know that I have a major obsession with Archie Digests.  After all, I just wrote about Archie comics just a few days ago!  But I was also a member of various Archie themed groups over the years.  And one of them was one that I joined back in 2007.  I posted there quite frequently for six years before certain events took place and I became a bit disenchanted by it. 

So imagine my surprise when a man by the name of D. Blake Werts contacts me through the comments section of this blog asking me for a request.  I always love reading comments, and since he left his e-mail, I decided to drop him a line.  He asked me if I was interested in giving an interview for his magazine.  At first, I didn't know how he had even heard of me, and he explained that he came across the fan board that I used to visit, and had decided that since I seemed to be an expert on the Archie series, that I would be a great person to interview for the inaugural issue of "The Digest Enthusiast"

So, I agreed, and over the course of...oh...two and a half weeks, maybe...Blake and I sent each other e-mails where he would ask questions, and I would answer them.  It was a great experience, and I was thinking that it would be a fun thing to do.

So...as a special treat...here's that interview.  In full.  Just click on the images to make them bigger.  Enjoy!




And, I'm currently working on another project for the magazine as I type this now.  So stay tuned for more!  And do check out this magazine if you can find it.  The whole thing is fantastic!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Television Whodunnits

I know some of you probably might not be aware of this, but yesterday marked the thirtieth anniversary of the BBC dramatic series EastEnders.



On February 19, 1985, the serial debuted in the United Kingdom, and over the last thirty years, the show has certainly had its share of drama.  We've had several murders, a few fires and explosions, some sexual abuse storylines, a couple of incestuous storylines, a couple of stories involving the mob, rape, and a lady screaming her head off because there was bubbly in the fridge.



Sigh.  That never gets old.

Although I've only been a fan of the show since I started watching it during the 1999 dated episodes, I have quickly become a fan, and I have to admit that I get caught up in the lives of Phil Mitchell, Sharon Watts, Ian Beale, Dot Cotton, Pat Butcher, Kat Slater, and the other four hundred or so cast members who have called the fictional borough of Albert Square, E20 home.



Certainly the 30th anniversary episode was something special.  In a series of episodes in which part of the episodes were pre-recorded and other parts of the episodes were filmed live, we finally found out who murdered Lucy Beale after ten months of waiting.



Turns out that the culprit of the deed was Lucy's eleven-year-old half-brother, Bobby Beale, who bludgeoned her to death with a jewelry box that played music.  And Lucy's former stepmother Jane was an accessory of sorts, for she helped Bobby cover up the crime.

Reaction to the conclusion of the mystery have been mixed (and more people seemed interested in the sudden reappearance of once-thought dead Kathy Beale, who made a shock return on the February 19 episode), but ultimately, I think this opens up the possibility for dozens of storylines for years to come.  After all, Ian Beale - the father of both Lucy and Bobby - recently married Jane literally one half hour before the truth was revealed.

I have to say, I have always been a fan of the classic "Whodunnit" plots shown in television.  Having been a fan of murder mysteries for years and wanting to go to murder mystery dinner theatres and playing online detective games, I have to say that I think I missed my calling being a detective.

Though, given how I can't stand the sight of blood, I fear that my foray into forensics and police investigation would have been quite brief.

But over the years, there have been several whodunnits that have been presented on television.  Some have been on soap operas.  Some have been on primetime dramas.  Some have even been on reality shows.  But all of them were ones that I either remember watching, or watched later on in life after they aired.

And, for today's edition of the blog, I thought I would share some of these whodunnit stories with all of you.



WHO SHOT J.R.? - DALLAS

Okay, so this storyline aired in the spring of 1980 - a year before I was even born.  So, clearly I didn't get to see this story until the A&E network rebroadcast the series while I was in high school.  But certainly what made this "Dallas" storyline so good is the fact that so many people hated J.R. Ewing so much that it really could have been anyone who pulled the trigger!  Suspects included his long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, his black sheep of a brother Bobby, his business rival Cliff Barnes, Cliff's daughter Pamela, and I'm pretty sure Miss Ellie was considered a suspect as well!

The real shooter wasn't revealed until the following season.  Turns out that it was Sue Ellen's sister, Kristen, who was dead by the spring of 1981 - found floating on the surface of a swimming pool.  Setting the stage for another whodunnit!



MURDER IN SMALL TOWN X

Now, here's a question that FOX asked back in the summer of 2001.  Could they find a way to combine a murder mystery with a reality format game show in which the winner solved a serial killer case and won a cash prize?

Yes.  Yes, there was.

I have to say, I was hooked on this show from day one.  When three members of the Flint family are murdered in the small seaside town of Sunrise, Maine, ten Americans come to the town to put together the clues of the murder, eliminate suspects, and try to prevent anyone else from getting killed off.  The trick is that periodically, the killer would kill off the investigators one by one using his "killer game" to knock people out of the competition.

The whole mystery unfolded beautifully, and the story made a lot of sense.  You could tell that they really worked hard on the plot.  Sadly, the winner of the game, Angel Juarbe, died on September 11, 2001 rescuing people from the World Trade Center.



WHO IS GORMOGON? - "BONES"

I make no secret in the fact that I am a fan of the FOX series "Bones".  And over the show's ten years on the air, we've seen several serial killers.  Howard Epps, Heather "The Gravedigger" Taffet, Christopher Pelant, and Stephanie McNamara all made an impact on the show based on how cold and calculating they were on the show.  I tell you, Christopher Pelant still gives me the creeps.  That's a credit to Andrew Leeds, who played him brilliantly.

But the one serial killer storyline that "Bones" shocked me the most with was the Gormogon storyline - mainly because the accomplice of the Gormogan was linked to one of Dr. Brennan's team of interns!

When Zack Addy was revealed to be the second banana of Gormogon, it was very shocking.  And even though it was revealed in season three, its impact is still felt in current "Bones" storylines today.

Have any other whodunnits you'd like to add in this list?

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Giving A Makeover To a 74-Year-Old Teenager

The year 2015 has been what I like to call "the year of changes".  And, so far, I've been holding on for the ride the last month and a half as I prepare to make some huge moves in my life.  And I'll be perfectly honest with you, the direction has not always been easy, but I'm more or less willing to handle whatever comes my way.

That being said, I'm having a hard time with this one.

Okay, so you guys know that I'm a fan of Archie comics.  I have been since I was five years old.  I probably will continue to be one until I am 105 - if I am lucky enough to see the year 2086, that is.

And, over the course of Archie's seventy-four years in the publishing business, the company has gone through at least 74 different interpretations of what Archie and his pals and gals are like.  But regardless of how they have changed over the last three-quarters of a century, one thing that has always remained constant is the light, fluffy cartoonish look that Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and Reggie have had.

Well, until now, that is.

The flagship Archie title that has been in publication since 1942 is about to run its FINAL issue.  Issue #666 is slated to be the final one.

(Um...anyone else find it weird that they would choose to end the title at number 666?  Isn't that the death number, or devil number?)

But then again, I suppose that it is only fitting.

Now, does this mean that after issue #666 is released in May that there will be no more Archie comics ever?  Nope.

You see, the Archie title will restart back at issue #1 with a brand new look.  Have a sneak preview.



So, not only are the characters getting a brand new look that is supposed to look more realistic, but apparently the whole series is getting rebooted and the origins of each of the characters will be changing completely.

And, I'm not sure that I'm ready for that to happen.

After being a fan of the series for 28 years, I've seen a lot happen to the comic books and the characters, and while some changes were received better than others, there was always the constant that we could go back and see classic Archie stories whenever we wanted because we knew that they were still being drawn.

I just don't like the idea of fixing things that weren't broken, and I hope that this idea isn't too jarring.  I suppose that I'll have to wait until I see the change for myself.  My subscription to Archie was supposed to end at #670, so maybe I'll get the first four issues of the new Archie title after #666 is published.



Again, some changes have been well received.  The current "Afterlife With Archie" series which is basically Archie comics meets "The Walking Dead" has been critically acclaimed, and after reading the first seven issues of the series, I am officially hooked. 



I also was hooked on the "Life With Archie" series of 2010 which showed an adult Archie getting married to either Betty or Veronica.  Even when they killed off Archie at the end of the series, I still wasn't bummed out about it, because Archie continued to live on in the digests and double digests.



(I should note that the digests are NOT changing.  They will, as far as I know, continue the classic Archie style.)



Now, this doesn't mean that I've been gung-ho about all of Archie's changes over the years.  The "New Look" that appeared in digests between 2007 and 2010 had mixed reviews, but I didn't mind it too much.



Jughead may be my favourite character, but his spin-off series "Jughead's Diner" was one of the worst titles ever seen in the Archie universe.

(Though I did like Jughead's Time Police.)



The idea to bring on an openly gay character in the Archie universe was a controversial topic for months, but I think it's safe to say that Kevin Keller has found his place in Riverdale and is here to stay.



The New Archies showed Archie and his friends in junior high.  The cartoon series was laughably bad, but the comics themselves were great.



As for the New Little Archie in 1991?  No.  Just no.

I don't know about this new Archie.  I'll just have to keep my eyes open and reserve judgment until I see it for myself.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

No Such Thing As "Luck"

February 18, 2015



At this moment, I think I've been the most content that I have felt in a long time. 

Granted, there is still a lot more work to do before I am completely satisfied with life - and even so, is there really anyone who is 100% satisfied with their lives at this moment?  Probably not.  Maybe 91.5% at the most, but never a hundred per cent.

But I must say that things are going really great.  I'm loving my new job, I have people in my life who really believe in me, and who are supportive of me, and I think I've smiled more within the last month than I have the whole of 2014!

I definitely don't want to jinx myself here, but I think I'm on the fast track to becoming me again.  And that's a really great feeling.

I suppose it's kind of ironic given that the year in which I finally feel happiness is the year in which we have the most possible Friday the 13th's in it!



Not that I am a superstitious man by any means, but if you're phobic about Friday the 13th, this year is not a good one for you.  There are three of them in 2015 alone...we had one in February, and we can expect there to be two more in March and November.

(Interestingly enough, the year that I was born in also had three Friday the 13th's.)

Again, I'm not a superstitious man by any means, but there's something that we have in my family that might make the world believe that we are crazy and/or paranoid.

You see, we have something that is widely believed to be known as "Turcotte Luck".  And Turcotte luck is ALL BAD.

Let's put it this way.  If any of us get to go on a vacation, we never seem to have any fun.  The planes get delayed, or the car breaks down.  The weather is bad every day of the trip except for the day we leave.  And more often than not, we all end up getting sick while on vacation.  This has happened to both of my siblings at some point in their lives.

But hey.  That's Turcotte luck for you.

Also, whenever we plan something out in great detail, something happens that causes the whole thing to become a disaster.  If we're invited to go to a wedding, leave it to someone to get lost on the way, or forget the wedding present, or throw up in the car on the way to the reception, or smear chocolate mousse all over the very expensive rented tuxedo you were wearing.

(One of those things actually happened to me.  Want to take a stab as to which one it is?)

Even our holidays could be considered less than perfect.  Thanksgiving this year was more or less cancelled because of my mom being in and out of hospital during the whole month of October (thankfully, she is doing a lot better now), and Christmas was almost a disaster because of bad weather that almost knocked out our power.  Thankfully, we had lots of candles and flashlights available so that if we had to, we could have light.  Of course, Christmas dinner would have been a complete loss.

You see what I mean?  The "Turcotte Luck" seems more like a curse.  And every single member of the family seems to have been affected by it.

Well, that is...if you believe in luck in the first place.  I tend not to.

I believe that everything happens for a reason, and while we may not understand why that may be the case, it's important to know that even a so-called "Family curse" can teach us a lot of lessons.

In the case of missing Thanksgiving because my mother was sick, it made all of us appreciate her a lot more, and I think that the whole thing brought our family closer together.  That's a good thing.

I thought that getting moved from department to department was bad luck at first...but maybe I needed it so that I could find my groove and start to see things more positively. 

And, hey...maybe there's a method to getting sick on Vacation.  Maybe it's meant for us to appreciate what we have at home...even though getting sick on vacation is always a bad thing.

The truth is...I don't believe there is Turcotte Luck at all.  I believe in taking challenges that come our way and making the best of them.


I didn't always feel this way...but then again, I haven't felt this content in a long time either.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

February 17, 2013

I have to be honest, today was a day in which I found it difficult to choose a topic for today's Tuesday Timeline.  A lot of things did happen on February 17, but nothing really stood out.  In fact, the one topic that I did know a lot about was one that had a melancholic ending.

So, apologies in advance if the topic for today's Tuesday Timeline is a little bit depressing.  It was really all I could come up with at the spur of the moment.

Okay, so let's see what other things happened on February 17 before we get to the main event.

1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive for heresy

1819 - The United States House of Representatives passes the Missouri Compromise for the first time

1864 - The H.L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to sink a warship - The USS Housatonic

1865 - Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces as Columbia, South Carolina burns to the ground in the final stages of the American Revolutionary War

1904 - In Milan, Italy, "Madama Butterfly" debuts at La Scala

1913 - The Armory Show opens in New York City

1933 - Prohibition ends in the United States with the passing of the Blaine Act

1937 - Actress and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley (d. 2014) is born in Brandon, Mississippi

1940 - Singer-songwriter Gene Pitney (d. 2006) is born in Hartford, Connecticut

1959 - Project Vanguard:  Vanguard 2 - the first weather satellite - is launched

1968 - The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame opens in Springfield, Massachusetts

1972 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle begin to exceed sales of the Ford Model-T

1974 - A stolen helicopter piloted by Robert K. Preston buzzes the White House

1980 - The first ever ascent of Mount Everest during the winter months is made by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy

2006 - Singer-songwriter Billy Cowsill dies at the age of 58 in Calgary, Alberta

2008 - Kosovo declares independence as the Republic of Kosovo

And for celebrity birthdays, we have the following people that are turning one year older today.  Happy birthday to Hal Holbrook, Patricia Routledge, Bobby Lewis, Barry (Dame Edna) Humphries, Christina Pickles, Martha Henry, Yvonne Romain, Julia McKenzie, Brenda Fricker, Dodie Stevens, Rene Russo, Richard Karn, Loreena McKennitt, Douglas Urbanski, Lou Diamond Phillips, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Jordan, Rene Syler, Michael Bay, Samuel Bayer, Luc Robitaille, Chante Moore, Tuesday Knight, Dominic Purcell, Cynthia Cleese, Denise Richards, Billie Joe Armstrong, Ralphie May, Jerry O'Connell, Erin Cardillo, Jason Ritter, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Paris Hilton, Anne Curtis, Chord Overstreet, Ed Sheeran, and Bonnie Wright.

Now, certainly any of those celebrities could be a perfect subject for a blog.  After all, we have a basketball player, a couple of comedians, a few musical artists, and a woman who happens to be named after a particular weeknight.

The reason why I decided to choose this date (despite its depressing nature) is simple.  I want to showcase the subject of addiction, and how it can destroy lives.



Just as it did with one person on February 17, 2013 - the date of today's Tuesday Timeline.

The sad thing is that her career started off so brilliantly.  In the mid 1990s, she exploded onto the country music scene seemingly out of nowhere and had a top selling album along with a few singles.  And even though I'm not a country music fan by any means, I don't deny that she had talent and a certain Southern charm.



So, where did it all go wrong for country singer Mindy McCready?

It seemed as though she had her whole life ahead of her when she moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of eighteen with dreams of becoming the next Reba McEntire or Patty Loveless.  Instead, it was cut short on February 17, 2013 at the age of 37.

The cause of death?  Suicide.

How did everything go so wrong for the "Ten Thousand Angels" singer?  Well, we probably should start at the very beginning to when Mindy first began singing.

That'd be right around the time she arrived in Nashville in 1994.  After a few months, she was signed to a recording contract for under the BNA Records label.  Her debut album, "Ten Thousand Angels" was released at the end of April, 1996.  And one of the biggest hits from that album was this single which topped the country charts in September 1996.



ARTIST:  Mindy McCready
SONG:  Guys Do It All The Time
ALBUM:  Ten Thousand Angels
DATE RELEASED:  July 15, 1996
PEAK POSITION ON THE COUNTRY CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

She also scored hits with the album's title track, and "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do", and the album itself went double platinum.  That's quite good, especially for a debut!  Mindy's second album, 1997's "If I Don't Stay The Night" also did well in the country scene, reaching gold status.



It seemed as though 1997 would be a good year for McCready.  Not only was she doing well with her singing career, but she had also become engaged to Dean Cain.



However, by the time she released her third album in 1999, things began to spin out of control for McCready.  Her engagement had ended, and her songs were not charting as high as her previously released singles.  In fact, her 1999 album "I'm Not So Tough" only sold 144,000 copies.  The weak sales of the album prompted BNA Records to drop McCready from their roster, and she was left to find another label.  She signed on with Capitol Records in the early 2000s and released her fourth album with Capitol in 2002.  But once again, poor record sales caused Capitol to terminate their contract with her just one year later.

With her professional life becoming unraveled, it didn't seem to take long for her personal life to also spin out of control.  Her relationship with Billy McKnight ended in 2005 after he was arrested and charged with attempted murder after reportedly choking McCready during an altercation.  She would later attempt suicide later that year and was hospitalized due to a drug overdose.  The couple briefly got back together and McCready gave birth to her first child in 2006.  But McCready would have two more suicide attempts between 2005 and 2008, and she was arrested several times between 2005 and 2008 on charges ranging from driving under the influence to battery.  And, certainly her problems with the law lead to her seeking treatment for her demons, which included a stint on the television show "Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab".

Ultimately, I think that show did her more harm than good.  On a personal note, I've never really cared for Dr. Drew's methods of televising the struggles of patients undergoing rehab, and the fact that so many people who appeared on that show ended up dying of drug overdoses and other drug related illnesses just proves my point that exploiting the real struggles that drug addicts go through is never a good thing.



I will say this.  By the time the 2010s rolled around, it appeared as though Mindy McCready had turned her life around - or so we thought.  She had released her first new album in eight years - the rather hauntingly named "I'm Still Here".  She had found love again with record producer David Wilson, and she had given birth to a second child in April 2012.

Sadly, on January 13, 2013, Wilson took his own life, shooting himself at McCready's home.  It is believed that the death of Wilson was likely the event that caused McCready to follow suit by taking her own life on February 17, 2013 in the same exact place where Wilson had killed himself.  The family dog was also found dead.

McCready was just 37 years old.

Thankfully, the children were nowhere near the scene of the suicide.  They had been in foster care for some time and were not home when McCready took her own life. 

I know that people say that suicide is a selfish way to die, and in many ways, they aren't wrong.  McCready's two children will now have to grow up without their mother (and father in the case of the youngest child), and their lives are forever changed.  But at the same time, as someone who has had thoughts of suicide before, I sort of understand where her head was at when she made that decision.  In the matter of a short time, her whole world fell apart, and she already had issues coping with stressful situations based on her prior arrests and substance abuse problems.  It's terrible that she felt that she couldn't fix what was broken and she felt that suicide was the only option.  But it's also terrible that she didn't really have a huge support system helping her deal.  And it's disgusting that her personal problems were broadcast to the world via a cheap and exploitive reality show, as if she were some sort of circus freak.

Either way, for Mindy McCready to go from Nashville sweetheart to living in despair...it's a tough pill for anyone to swallow.