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Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Too Shy Shy Hush Hush Eye To Eye Too Shy Shy Hush Hush

April 8, 2015

I'm a big fan of 1980's music.  If a song comes on the radio and was released between 1979 and 1990, chances are I'm probably going to love it.

I mean, I may be one of the only ones who may feel this way, but some of the music of the eighties was fun, original (in most cases) and creative.  And, with MTV actually showing music videos during this time period, we ended up seeing a lot of fun music videos. 

Like this 1980 hit from the Pointer Sisters:



Or, this 1983 song from Bananarama:



Also from 1983, we have this Kajagoogoo ditty:



You may also notice that all three of these music clips have some sort of connection with each other.  And, no, it's not one of those 6 Degrees Of Separation thingies where Ruth Pointer and Siobhan Fahey shared a hairdresser and Keren Woodward once had an affair with Limahl.  It's much simpler than that.

Heck, I even quoted Kajagoogoo lyrics in the blog title.

The theme is...shy guys.



No...Not quite.



It is true that I'm a shy guy.  But, not in the way you might think.

Granted, considering that I have kept up a blog for nearly four years now, some of you may be surprised by that face.  But online, I'm a bit more open than I am in the real world.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not THAT open.  I don't hand out my social insurance number, my debit card PIN number, my cell phone number, my address, or what my underwear preference is, because frankly, it's none of your business.  But, I have talked a lot about things that have been on my chest that needed to get out.  The abuse I suffered in school.  The constant struggles with self-worth.  Things like that.

But, that's in the world according to A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE.  In the real world...you know, the one filled with actual people and places and things and anything else that can possibly appear on a Wheel of Fortune puzzle board?  I'm someone completely different.

Here I can pretty much engage in conversation with just about anybody and not have the fear of getting rejected or laughed at or ridiculed by others (and if I do, I can just block 'em).  I'm not that confident elsewhere.  I'm getting better at it though, but it's always been a struggle.

But, not in the way you might think.

I've always had a problem with face to face meetings.  Trying to find the right words to say to carry on conversations in face-to-face settings has always been a challenge.  Writing a blog has always been easier for me because I have a bit of time to accurately choose my words, and think about what I'm saying.  As a result, I am able to function as a literate adult provided the world I am in is one that favours writing as opposed to speaking.

Putting that into practice talking with people...is hard.  Especially if it's someone that I don't know.

If I'm, say, chatting with a family member, close friend, or co-worker, I find it quite easy, because they know how I roll most days.  But, you get me in a situation where I'm meeting someone I've never met before, I clam up.

Well, okay, maybe I don't clam up, but I tend to stutter.  I repeat words.  For all I know, what comes out of my mouth is pure gibberish because I'm thinking so hard about trying not to say the wrong thing that I end up exactly saying the wrong thing.  I can pretty much guarantee you that I lost out on a couple of job opportunities because I completely flubbed the job interview to the point of no return.  It certainly made me wish that all job interviews were conducted through e-mail, discussion forums or passenger pigeon notes, but realistically, that's not meant to be.

Ideally, I know what the problem is.  It's my overall reluctance to involve myself in social situations because of a fear of well...rejection, or getting laughed at, or being totally ignored.  I've been in many situations where I've been invited to parties or dances, and I've been the guy who basically leaves two hours before everyone else, because it's really awkward being there.  I'm sure all of you can relate to being the wallflower of a party...well...years ago, I was exactly that.  And, because of my tendency to be shy, I pretty much shunned social events to the point that I was likely about two or three stages away from becoming a total hermit crab (a.k.a. an isolated grouchy person).

At least I recognize the problem and I do want to take steps to try and not be so shy around people.  I'm at the point now where I am just as deserving of a rich, fulfilling social life as anybody else in this world, and I'm at the point where I want people in the real world to experience the person that I know I am. 

Then maybe I won't be so much the shy boy.

Anything's possible if you believe in yourself enough, right?  Maybe it's time I try believing in myself more.


Tuesday, April 07, 2015

April 7, 1951

As you probably have already guessed, I decided to change the layout of this blog ever so slightly.  Since Spring is in the air, I decided to make the decor fit with a nice clear blue sky and white fluffy clouds.  I think I will be keeping this look until at least next month - after all, the 4th anniversary of this blog is coming up soon!

Remember, there's still time to vote on what you want to see all month long for the May celebration month.  You can choose between a month of music, a month of food, a month of personal stories, and a month of birthday biographies.  I have added a poll on this blog so that you can have your say.  Just look at the right hand sidebar.  The poll closes on April 30, 2015 at 11:59pm, so please make your voice heard.

Until then, we still have the month of April to get through, so let's have a look at the very first Tuesday Timeline of the month.

Of course, before that...we have some unfinished business to take care of - mainly the celebrity birthdays and other events that took place on April 7.

1141 - Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England

1521 - Explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu

1770 - English poet William Wordsworth (d. 1850) is born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England

1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both Spain and the United States

1827 - English chemist John Walker sells the first friction match - created by him just one year earlier

1862 - The Battle of Shiloh ends during the American Civil War

1868 - Canadian politician and Father of Confederation Thomas D'Arcy McGee is assassinated by Irish Republicans

1906 - Naples, Italy is seriously damaged following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

1915 - American jazz singer Billie Holliday (d. 1959) is born in Philadelphia

1927 - The first long-distance public television broadcast takes place - between New York City and Washington D.C.

1928 - Actor James Garner (d. 2014) is born in Norman, Oklahoma

1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African-American to have his image placed on a postage stamp

1948 - The World Health Organization is established

1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of England

1964 - IBM announces the System/360

1967 - Roger Ebert publishes his very first film review in the Chicago Sun-Times

1969 - The unofficial, symbolic birthdate of the Internet

1978 - Development of the neutron bomb is halted by President Jimmy Carter

2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched

2012 - American journalist Mike Wallace passes away at the age of 93

2014 - British presenter Peaches Geldof dies of a drug overdose at just 25

And for celebrity birthdays, we have the following famous faces turning another year older - Andrew Sachs, Wayne Rogers, Bobby Bare, Iris Johansen, Francis Ford Coppola, Cornelia Frances, Patricia Bennett, John Oates, Gilles Valiquette, Jackie Chan, Brian Haner, Russell Crowe, Bill Bellamy, Jennifer Lynch, Ronde Barber, Tiki Barber, John Cooper, Jeremy Taggart, Kevin Alejandro, Anika Knudsen, David Otunga, Alex Lanipekun, Kyle Lebine, and Alexis Jordan.

As luck would have it, today's Tuesday Timeline subject is also celebrating a birthday.  Birthday number sixty-four, to be exact.



That would make her birthdate April 7, 1951.

But you know what?  I often wonder what kind of a person she was like back in the days of the late 1960s.  Particularly the year 1968 - when she was seventeen.

I wonder if she really did learn the truth at seventeen.  That love was meant for beauty queens? 

Say...that reminds me of a song.  Mind you, the song is written from the perspective of a seventeen year old GIRL...but I have to admit, seventeen was a rough year for me as well, and I can relate to almost everything in this song.  Let's have a listen.



ARTIST:  Janis Ian
SONG:  At Seventeen
ALBUM:  Between The Lines
RELEASED:  August 1975
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #3

Maybe it wasn't a number one hit.  But it did serve as the soundtrack for many teenage girls who were questioning their self-esteem and self-worth, and serving as social commentary against fleeting popularity and teenage angst.



And the writer and performer of this song - Janis Ian - just happens to be today's Tuesday Timeline spotlight!  Happy birthday, Janis!

She was born Janis Eddy Fink on April 7, 1951 in New York City, the daughter of a music teacher and summer camp operator.  She had an early interest in music, writing her very first song at the age of twelve, and in 1966, she released her very first single, "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking) under the stage name of Janis Ian (Ian being the middle name of her brother).



Now, "Society's Child" was a social commentary about interracial romance, and the subject was considered extremely taboo for the time that it was released.  Ian received her share of hate mail, some radio stations refused to play the song, and it was reported that one station that did was deliberately set ablaze.  But Janis Ian always considered herself to be a woman ahead of the times, and her social commentary songs certainly resonated with a lot of people.

Especially her signature hit "At Seventeen".

By the time Janis wrote "At Seventeen" in 1973, she had been there and done that.  She was 22 at the time.  The inspiration for the song came to Ian via a newspaper article about the debutante culture - you know, the events in which high society girls make their "debut" at the age of eighteen to the most elite of a community?  Well, I, of course, am only speculating this to be the case as I've never been an eighteen year old girl, nor have I ever been a member of the town elite.  Not as if I WANTED to be either.

Anyway, the newspaper article had an interview with an eighteen year old girl who had made her debut at one of these ceremonies, and how she soon discovered that being popular did not solve all of her problems.  If anything, her problems became much worse.

Oh, and that article?  It had a quote by the girl being interviewed that stated "I learned the truth at eighteen".

Janis decided that she would change that quote and make her opening line "I learned the truth at seventeen".  It just flowed better. 

Interestingly enough, Janis Ian almost considered not releasing the song at all, claiming that the lyrics she was writing were a little too personal.  But once she added the final verse of the song, she felt better about it, and it was released for airplay in the summer of 1975.

Then came her next problem.  Promoting the single.  It clocked in at four minutes and forty-four seconds - longer than most pop songs out there.  The decision was made to target women for the song's dominant audience, but with most radio stations being controlled by men, sexism in the seventies was still very much a real thing.  It wasn't until she appeared on "The Tonight Show" - not to mention singing this song on the very first episode of "Saturday Night Live" - that the song really began to take off, peaking at #3.

And to cap off the success, she won the Grammy Award for "Best Pop Vocal Performance" that year. 

(It also wouldn't be the first time she was nominated for a Grammy award though - she was also nominated in 1979 for the Giorgio Moroder produced disco hit "Fly Too High").

It was after that when Ian's singing career slowed down.  She still continued to write songs and record them, but she never really had another hit single after the 1970s.  She also writes science-fiction stories, is a contributor to the LGBTQ magazine "The Advocate", and married Patricia Snyder in 2003 (ten years after she came out as a lesbian and twenty years after her first marriage ended).

I guess if one were to write a song about Ian today, it might go like this.

She learned the truth at sixty-four
That life would give her so much more
And that there's so much more in store
At sixty-four...

Monday, April 06, 2015

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby...



Got your attention yet?

Don't think that this is a belated April Fools Day joke or that I am joking around. This note is all about the subject of sex.

Controversial enough for you yet?



You know, there's some people who get totally creeped out at the mere mention of the word. Not me. I'm open to discussing it. Mind you, I won't go into great detail about my own sex life, because, well, frankly it's none of your business what I do behind closed doors. I'm talking more of a general sense.

But, just going back to what I said...it's definitely a subject that people seem to have polarizing opinions of. There's some people who are so prudish that the mere mention of the word just makes them turn as red as a beet and want to crawl under a rock, claiming that they didn't just hear what they THOUGHT they heard. There's also some people who would babble on about it at all hours of the day, and have absolutely no shame in it. I'm kind of in the middle ground on that. I don't get offended by sex talk, but wouldn't talk about it all that much. I mean, you know the saying...the more you talk about it, the more deprived you supposedly are of it.

Of course, here I am writing a whole note ON sex, so I suppose I'm subject to having a lot of opinions from others flying my way...but, hey. That's fine. If I didn't want commentary about it, I'd just disable the comment feature.

Sex is something that all of us are going to be faced with sooner or later. Some people have healthy opinions about it, and have a very mature way of dealing with it. On the flipside, some people are horndogs. Believe me, I went to high school with a few of them. Whatever your stance is, it's something that we all have to deal with.



Take the George Michael song "I Want Your Sex", where the lyrics state that "sex is natural, sex is good, not everybody does it, but everybody should. Sex is natural, sex is fun, sex is best when it's one on one". Yep...good ol' monogamy. The most common and acceptable form of it.



Of course, counteracting that point are shows like "Sister Wives" or "Big Love". Granted, one is a reality show and the other one a scripted (but entertaining) drama series, but they both deal with polygamous relationships and marriages. Where one man has two or more wives, or where one woman has two or more husbands.

As far as polygamy goes, I'm not going to make judgment calls. Clearly, the polygamist lifestyle works for them in some manner, and I certainly am not going to judge whatever people do behind closed doors, because what happens behind those doors should stay there. I will say that as far as I'm concerned, there's only one team I would want to be on. I prefer the idea of monogamy. One man and one woman (or if you're LGBTQ, one man and one man, or one woman and one woman, etc). I mean, for one, would it not get confusing if you had more than one spouse? I mean, how awkward could it potentially be if you're a guy in bed with wife number one, and you accidentally call out the name of wife number three? How mortifying! And, I mean...how can someone tell someone that they love them with everything in them, and yet be married to two or more other people at the same time. Baffling, I know!

Like I said, nothing against people who practice polygamy, but it ain't my scene.



There's also the topic of promiscuity and general assumptions based on it. A guy has sex with a girl in high school, the guy is declared a hero, and macho. A girl has sex with a guy in high school, and she's labeled a slut, or a whore. It's a double standard, and frankly, it sickens me that in 2015, that double standard still exists. I think it totally needs to change, because it's not fair. It's insulting, is what it is.

There's another topic that's related to the main subject that this note is about, and in some ways, it could be considered a taboo type subject to discuss. It's something that all of us are born with. Most of us will likely lose it at some point in our lives, and those who still have it are sometimes ridiculed because of it.

The something that I'm talking about is virginity.

I just want to note that before I go on, I must make a couple of things clear. I'm not religious by any means. I know some people have used their faith to lead them through how they interact in relationships, and that's cool. I'm just not one of them. These are my own ideas and thoughts that I've had for a long time, without any influence from a church, people, or anything else. It may prove to be controversial to some of you, but I always wanted to talk about this subject with rational, calm, cool people. I'd think that the people in my life certainly qualify...so fair warning if I come across as a little bit preachy, because really, I don't care what people do between closed doors...just offering up my own food for thought based on what I've seen.



The subject of virginity is one that is often joked about, but rarely taken seriously. Especially in these current times, where movies like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" have become box office successes. A lot of people really enjoyed the film, and I'll admit to laughing at it (particularly the waxing scene). But, that was a fictional movie with fictional characters. In the real world, is that an excuse to belittle and make fun of someone for being a virgin?

I don't think so. At least not so it becomes hurtful.

Not that I want to delve into my own experiences (because as I said before, it's really none of your business), but personally, I'm a little ticked off at the constant pressure the people are given to basically lose their virginities. It's actually kind of disgusting. I'm sure you've seen it first hand. Some people I know of who I attended school with lost theirs before they reached the age to drive, and really, that's their choice. But, for some of them to turn around and tell others in their peer group that they're pathetic if they don't lose theirs by a specific age, or that they're doing something wrong if they can't give it up...to me, that's absolutely appalling.

First of all, who dictates what the proper age is to lose their virginity? Is it 14? For some, yes. Is it 25? For some yes. Is it 67? Yes, I'm sure someone out there in this world has waited sixty-seven years. And, you know what? More power to 'em!

You want to know who the pathetic ones are? The ones who make the ludicrous claims that if they don't lose it by the time they reach a certain age, they're pretty much never going to lose it. Like, seriously, how ballsy can some people be?

You want my honest opinion? I applaud people who can hold on to it. I don't find them weak, or pathetic, or incapable of human emotions (and yeah, sadly enough, I have heard virgins described as that by somebody who clearly had one too many at the bar). Quite the opposite, actually.

There's a lot of pressure for teens out there. Peer pressure. Media. Music. All of these make the temptation all that much stronger, and as a result so many people end up doing it a lot sooner than they may be emotionally mature enough to handle. Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone just rushes right out to the nearest jewelry store and get fitted for purity rings. I'm just saying that people should really (and I mean REALLY) be able to look inside themselves, and decide for themselves what they really want before they do something (or someone) they may regret later.

Whether you're fifteen, twenty-five, thirty, fifty, ninety-nine, who cares? Why should you let ANYONE dictate what's best for you, and what is socially acceptable? It's your life, you decide what you want to do.

I certainly won't make fun of someone just because they haven't done it yet. S/he may have their reasons, and really, they should be respected. Anyone who doesn't respect them? They aren't worth your time.

I don't think anyone should engage in anything that they aren't ready for. This includes love, relationships, sex. And, certainly people should never be subjected to abuse or jeers because they have their own beliefs in the subject.

I just know that we all develop at different paces and we all have different lives to live. Who is anyone else to judge how we live ours?

Sunday, April 05, 2015

The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise

Well, everybody...allow me to be the first to wish all of you out there a very...

Happy Easter!!!

And for today's special Easter blog and the conclusion of Easter week, I thought that I would do a blog on a particular piece of pop culture that I had absolutely no idea even existed!

It's a television special that features one of the most famous bear families in the whole world.  I have absolutely no idea how many books that have been released starring this bear family.  I think I lost count at a hundred or so.  And no, I certainly didn't own every single book ever published.  I had a lot of them, but not all of them.  I suppose I can thank the Scholastic Book Club order forms for the ones that I did have.



No wonder the Berenstain Bears are so beloved worldwide!  Even though the creators of the bears - Stan and Jan Berenstain have long since passed away, but their son, Mike Berenstain, has taken over authorship, and continues to work on the series today.

And of course, I not only remember reading the Berenstain Bear books, but I remember watching them on television too!



Of course, the version that I remember the most was the one that aired on CBS on Saturday mornings in the mid-1980s.  That series was based on some of the earliest Berenstain Bear books, and I was heartbroken when they cancelled it. 

There's also the revamped version of the show that first debuted on PBS in 2003, and that version is still shown on some cable channels like Treehouse TV.  I haven't seen as many of the newer episodes as I have the older ones, but the ones that I have seen seem to stay true to the books.

So, here's where you might be confused.  If I've read most of the books, and watched the Berenstain Bears on television - then how can there be something that I have NOT seen before until now?

Well, apparently, prior to the CBS series debuting, NBC held the rights to televise "The Berenstain Bears" on television.  And between 1979 and 1983, NBC aired five Berenstain Bears specials on television. 

Now, given the timeline, I understand why I never saw any of these specials.  The first one debuted two years before I was born, and I was only two years old when the last one aired.  And I would wager a guess that these specials aired only once, as I can't remember seeing any of them air on television in my childhood.

It's really too bad, because the third special happened to be Easter themed, and today would have been the perfect day to air it.

Oh, what the heck?  Let's watch it right now!  Just click on the link below.  Don't worry.  We'll have a discussion about it a little bit later.  For now, enjoy...




This special originally aired on April 14, 1981 on NBC - which I completely missed on account of being trapped in the womb.  Not that I remember that part of my life much...but admit it, it's a good reason for missing it!

And believe me, this is one of those years in which this special was surprisingly appropriate.  Believe me, I know exactly how Bear Country felt that particular Easter.  I swear, the year 2015 is going to be known as the year with the never ending Easter.  It may say April 5 on the calendar, but here in Ontario, we STILL have some spots where there is still a little bit of snow hanging around. 

But unlike us, in which we rely on the prediction of a troublesome rodent with a cutesy-poo name, the residents of Bear County rely on the actions of a special bunny.

Interestingly enough, in this special, the bunny in question is not referred to as the Easter Bunny, but by Boss Bunny.  Doesn't sound like the most friendliest of names, but when we first meet him, we completely understand why his moniker isn't exactly sunshine and daffodils.

Ah, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

This story takes place in the past, long before Sister Bear comes into the picture.  The Bear Family is just made up of Papa, Mama, and Brother Bear.

(Side note:  Couldn't the Bear family come up with more original names than Brother Bear and Sister Bear?  How about Brian and Stephanie?  Benjamin and Sarah?  Brendan and Saskia?)



Anyway, Brother Bear is feeling rather conflicted.  When he hears that his family have a very special Easter surprise for him, he is really excited and anxious for Easter to arrive.  At the same time, he is feeling rather lonely as he has nobody to play with.  Most of his friends hibernate for the winter, and his one true friend, Billy Bunny even decided to go somewhere else for the winter, leaving Brother Bear all alone.

(Side note:  Why didn't they call him Small Bear in this one?  That's what he was called in the books that pre-dated Sister Bear?  Sigh...semantics.)

Whatever the case, the surprise that Brother Bear is expecting seems to be put on a permanent hold, as Bear County has been experiencing a permanent frost.  You see, the residents of Bear County know when Easter (and Spring for that matter) is coming because Boss Bunny will twitch his ears, flick a couple of switches, and ta-dah - instant Spring.

So when the word gets out that Boss Bunny has resigned from official Spring beared of Bear County, everyone is confused, saddened, and questioning why Boss Bunny would leave them in a lurch.  Things got so bad that even Papa Bear tried dressing up as a bunny to try and salvage the Easter celebration.

When that didn't work, Brother Bear decided to launch an investigation of his own.  That investigation reunited him with his old pal Billy Bunny, who just happened to be the son of Boss Bunny!  And Billy Bunny, being ever so polite, decided to invite Brother Bear over so that Brother Bear could convince Boss Bunny to bring back Spring.

Of course, that proved to be a challenge, as the normally jovial and peppy Boss Bunny has devolved into a cranky, bitter, worthless excuse of a rabbit.  I'm telling you, he's more depressed and pathetic than the Trix bunny.



Seriously, we're supposed to believe that this "poser" is Boss Bunny - the happy bunny that can melt snow and cause flowers to bloom? 

Of course, Brother Bear refuses to give up on bringing Spring back.  Partly because he wants his Easter surprise, but partly because he doesn't want to live in a "marshmallow world" any longer.  But the bunny refuses to budge.

That is until he gets zapped with a rainbow that magically appears out of thin air.

(Side note:  Where DID that rainbow come from?  Did the Care Bears notice Boss Bunny's tantrum?  Did they see that the caring meter was decreasing so they decided to send a Care Bear Stare from Care-a-Lot to Bear County?  Actually, that would make a really brilliant crossover!)

Anyway, rainbow zaps bunny.  Bunny becomes less depressed and more productive.  Spring arrives.  Easter is saved.

And now comes the surprise.  Brother Bear got a chocolate bunny and a basket, which was nice.  But the real surprise came from Papa and Mama.  Sister Bear was born on Easter Sunday, and she promptly greeted Brother by bopping him on the nose!  Isn't that precious?  But in the end, Brother got his greatest wish of all.  Now with a sister, he was never alone.

And then the special ends with Brother Bear asking where babies came from, which cues the end of the show.

But man...I'm really sorry that I missed this special the first time around.  I mean, granted, I had a really good reason for missing it - but still...I think it's a television special that should be played more often.  At least with this blog entry, you will all have a chance to watch it again!

Saturday, April 04, 2015

Things You May Not Have Known About "The Ten Commandments"

Okay, so I did say that for the most part, Easter Week would deal with the more modern celebrations of the holiday.  But today, I thought I would do a spotlight on a particular movie which talks about the religious part of the holiday.

It's a movie that is next slated to air on April 5, 2015 (tomorrow night) at 7:00pm EST on ABC. 

This is a movie that depicts the biblical story of the adopted Egyptian prince, Moses and how he leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai where he is given the Ten Commandments by God.  Directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount Pictures in October 1956, the film boasted a who's who of what was then the Hollywood elite.  Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Yvonne DeCarlo, Edward G. Robinson, John Derek, and even Vincent Price all appeared in this film, which was the highest grossing film of 1956.



And "The Ten Commandments" has been an Easter tradition ever since.

Now, here's the deal.  I've never actually been able to sit through the whole film.  With a running length of almost four hours, I always manage to tune out before the end.  Don't get me wrong, I know about the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments, so I can pretty much figure out how this movie ends anyway.  But I always told myself that I would never do a film review on a movie that I have never completely watched.

And I'm not going to.

You see, with a movie that was the greatest film of 1956 and with four hours of footage, you can bet that this film has a lot of behind the scenes trivia, scandal, and secrets associated with it.

Would you like to find some of these secrets out?  I bet you would!

Here are some little known facts about the filming of "The Ten Commandments"



1 - Charlton Heston won the role of Moses after impressing Cecil B. DeMille with his knowledge of ancient Egypt.

2 - Heston's newborn son, Fraser, played the role of infant Moses.

3 - Though the film was nominated for several Academy Awards, it only won the one - for Best Special Effects.

4 - ABC has aired the film every year on Easter Sunday since 1973 - with one notable exception.  When the film was not shown in 1999, the network received thousands of calls from irate viewers who were upset that the film was not screened.

5 - One of the most remembered scenes in the movie was the orgy scene.  Apparently the filming for the scene was so brutal that Heston recalled one female extra asking "Who do I have to f@#$ to get out of this movie?!"

(Of course Marie Barone would exclaim that this is not Easter language, but she was yesterday's featured blog topic, so who cares, right?)

Anyway...

6 - Though the film is set entirely in Egypt - less than 5% was actually filmed there.



7 - Cecil B. DeMille had a heart attack while on the set of the movie and returned to filming two days later despite his doctor's advice that he take more time to recuperate.

8 - "The Ten Commandments" ended up being DeMille's last film project.  He died three years after production wrapped up.

9 - 14,000 extras were hired to appear in the film.

10 - More than 15,000 animals were used in the film.

11 - Egyptian authorities were more than happy to grant DeMille the right to film some scenes in Egypt.  After all, they were huge fans of "The Crusades" - another DeMille work.

12 - One of the greatest mysteries of the film was who provided the voice of God, as no actor was credited.  It was confirmed in 2004 that Heston did do the voice of God, but several other people were suspected as well, including Delos Jewkes and even DeMille himself.

13 - The red smoke in the Mount Sinai scene was a matted special effects superimposed over the real Mount Sinai filmed on location.



14 - The scene of the Red Sea parting was achieved by filming two large dump tanks that were flooded and then shown in reverse.  Gelatin was also used to give the illusion of sea water.

15 - Nina Foch played Moses' mother in the movie.  She was one year YOUNGER than Charlton Heston.

16 - Yul Brynner immediately began a vigorous weightlifting program upon being cast as Pharaoh Rameses II because he did not want to be physically overshadowed by Heston.  Plus, he spent a lot of the movie shirtless, so I suppose that was another reason behind it.

17 - DeMille celebrated his 75th birthday on the set of the movie, making him - at that time - the oldest working Hollywood director.

18 - The movie was NOT filmed in stereophonic sound.  In fact, it was one of the only Biblical films from the mid-1950s not to be.

19 - William Boyd was initially approached to star as Moses, but he turned the role down, fearing that playing "Hopalong Cassidy" for two years prior would hurt the film.

20 - The script was 308 pages long, and boasted a whopping seventy speaking parts!

21 - William Sapp was responsible for the special effects that turned the Nile bright red.  All that was needed was non-toxic red dye and a hose!

22 - Because Yul Brynner was starring in the Broadway production "The King and I" when he was given the part in "The Ten Commandments", he had to film all of his Egyptian scenes in one day!

23 - The role of Nefretiri was originally considered for Audrey Hepburn.

24 - It is rumoured that Fidel Castro was an extra in the film, but as of 2015, this cannot be confirmed, nor denied. 

Friday, April 03, 2015

"The Canister"



Can you believe that it has been ten years since the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" aired its final episode?  It doesn't even seem like it was that long ago! 

Of course, it could be because the show is still in syndication and probably will be until the year 2030.

Now, even though it's been a decade since the show aired, a lot of people from that show have gone on to do great things.  Ray Romano has appeared on "Men of a Certain Age" and "Parenthood".  Patricia Heaton is one of the stars of "The Middle".  And Brad Garrett seems to be in almost every single Disney movie ever made these days.  "Finding Nemo", "A Bug's Life", "Planes"...am I missing any?



And you know, for what it was worth, the show did have some great episodes.  Who could forget the time in which the family went to Italy?  Who could forget the love quadrilateral with Robert, Amy, Stefania, and Robert's ex-wife?  Remember when Robert's girlfriend ate a fly?  Or the time Marie made a sculpture that looked like a diagram you might see in sixth grade sex education class?  The show had some funny storylines, and I can see why it lasted ten years and over 200 episodes.

So, why am I bringing up the show "Everybody Loves Raymond" during Easter Week in this blog?

Well, it's quite simple.  Would you believe that in all of the sitcoms that have ever been made that very few Easter themed episodes have been made?  You can find episodes for Christmas, Halloween, and even Valentine's Day fairly easily, but try finding an episode about Easter and it could take you quite a long time.

Fortunately, "Everybody Loves Raymond" made not just one Easter episode, but two.  And in today's edition of the blog, we will be having a look at one of the two episodes.



The episode that we'll be discussing today will be the one entitled "The Canister", and it was the nineteenth episode of the show's fifth season.  Original airdate:  April 9, 2001.

The episode starts off quite calmly as the Barone family makes plans to have Easter dinner together.  On the guest list is Ray, Debra, their three children, Robert, Marie, and Frank.  And Marie is determined to make this Easter the greatest one ever.

But of course like every sitcom, there has to be some conflict in order to make the episode flow, or else it would be quite boring.

In this case, the point of conflict happens to be a little yellow canister - one that one may use to store sugar, salt, or other spices.  It turns out that Marie needs it for Easter preparations and she can't seem to locate it anywhere in her house.  Her first instinct is to go and ask Debra if she borrowed it - after all, Debra and Ray live right across the street!

But Debra claims that she never had the canister.  This causes a little bit of an argument between the two and Debra is angrily insisting that she never took Marie's canister, despite Marie's insistence that she did.

Eventually, Marie concludes that Debra must be telling the truth, and she offers Debra a heartfelt apology, which floors both Ray and Robert!  After all, Marie is the type of mother-in-law that most people dread having.  Argumentative, condescending, and never being wrong about ANYTHING!

But with the apology made, things go back to normal, and Debra is feeling pretty proud of herself for standing her ground with Marie...

...that is until Debra and Ray's daughter Ally comes into the living room holding the canister causing Debra to have a full blown panic attack!  You see, Debra did borrow the canister after all, and Ally believed that the canister would be a great container to store her crayons for her colouring book.

Of course, with Ally being in possession of the canister, Debra is now freaking out.  She knows that the right thing to do is return the canister, but if she does, Marie will become even more sanctimonious and even more judgmental, and that would be absolutely unbearable for her.

I can honestly say though that I completely understand Debra's point of view.  I imagine that all of us have been in a situation before where we all have been accused of something that we claim we didn't do...and then having to eat a big slice of bitter humble pie when we come to the conclusion that yes, yes we did do what we were accused of doing, and now we feel bad because of it.

Been there, done that.

Of course, in any of my situations, none of the people who have confronted me have been as manipulative or excruciating as Marie Barone.

(Can you tell I'm NOT a Marie fan?  A Doris Roberts fan, absolutely.  A Marie Barone fan?  Never.)

But what's interesting about "The Canister" isn't the way that the episode plays out, but how the episode ends.  You see, the relationship between Ray and his father could be considered prickly at best, and Frank Barone has never really been considered Mr. Congeniality.

But while I won't spoil the ending for you all...there is a moment between Frank and Debra that will really make the episode worth watching.  And Frank does something that shows Debra just how lucky she is to have him in her corner.  It's both really touching...and really hilarious!