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Monday, June 15, 2015

"Summer" Lovin' - Had Me A Blast...

June 15, 2015



Summer's ALMOST here! 

I don't know what it is about summer, but it just makes everything seem so much more fun. Buying Slush Puppies at the local gas station. Feeling the warm sunshine on your face. For kids who are young enough, getting two and a half months of freedom from school, homework, and evil teachers. 

Summer's a great time for everyone. 

So, I thought I'd talk about summers gone by, and how much I loved them. Because, that's basically what I mean by the note's title. The summer lovin' talks about how much I loved summer as a kid. Not about some Australian exchange student I fell in love with over one summer...or any summer romance that I may have had growing up because I never had one...but, you know, it's the first day of summer. There's still hope for a summer fling... 

...okay, now I'm going off on a tangent. I do that a lot. 

Summertime for me was a great time as a kid. For one, being a kid who didn't have the greatest in-school memories, summer provided me two months of freedom to do whatever I so desired. I would have water balloon wars with people, I'd swim in my teeny-weeny Sesame Street kiddy pool (and don't laugh, that pool was cool until my dad accidentally plowed into it with the lawn mower and tore a hole in it.), and I'd walk over to Darling's Convenience Store and buy an ice cream and play Bubble Bobble. 

I mean, let's face it. Summertime in the '80's was the absolute best (and by eighties, I mean the decade, not the temperature...though I guess both could apply). 

The 1980's were also the summers that I probably remember the most. 

In my hometown, I remember summers in the 1980's always being jam-packed with lots of activities and fun for people of all ages. 

One of my favourite memories of Hometown summers that I can recall is the park program groups that I attended for six summers between 1987 and 1992 (or, if you want more detail, between the ages of six and eleven). They used to be run by the local Parks & Recreation group and they were spread out in several different playgrounds. Commonwealth Public School was the site of my park program group. 


Okay, so technically, it was Commonwealth for 5 of the 6 summers I was there. In 1991, we were at the now torn down John Knox playground because Commonwealth was undergoing renovations in 1991, and lemme tell you, John Knox playground was so horrible in comparison to Commonwealth... 

...and, off I go on another tangent. If I do this again, please slap me. Hard. 

As I was saying, I attended the Commonwealth group. To register for the park program, we were asked to join the playgrounds that were closest to where we lived. Since I was already a student at Commonwealth Public School at the time, it made perfect sense, right? 

It proved to be quite bizarre as well. Whereas inside Commonwealth's hallways, I was always kind of treated like I was the uncool kid, or had leprosy or something, many of the kids who were in the playground group with me were very cool kids. The groups were for children aged 4-12, and there was a huge cross-section of kids of all ages. Certainly, the older kids hung out with the older kids, while the younger kids hung out with the younger kids, but when we all got together for group activities, we were all one group, and more importantly, we were all one group that got on well. That's not to say that we were all perfect angels...in fact, I can recall being a bit bratty in my younger days. But, that's par for the course. I mean, we were all kids once, right? Certainly going from one of the younger kids to five years later being one of the older ones...it definitely was quite a ride. 

And, the park program was FUN! 

I guess the things I remember the most about the park program was that every single day was filled with surprises. We had theme weeks (Rock N Roll week, Transportation week, Colour week, etc) where we'd have costume contests and craft projects related to the week's theme. We also had special events based on what day of the week it was. For instance, on Tuesdays, we'd have a guest speaker come in to talk about nature and we'd make nature related crafts and play nature related games. Wednesdays we'd spend the afternoon at the Youth Arena where all six playgrounds would gather together for a group arts and crafts session. We'd draw pictures, and do all sorts of crafts like painting soda pop cans green and making them into frog statues (and yes, I still have mine). Thursdays we'd all head up to St. Lawrence Park for swimming. Good times. 

We'd even take outings out of town. Annual trips to Crazy Horse (which had a neat waterslide and mini golf course) and Celebrity Sportsworld (which sadly doesn't exist anymore, I believe) were things we all looked forward to. 

Those park program memories are memories that I'll always treasure. 

Another high point to look forward to was Riverfest and the Great Balloon Rodeo. Sure, the Balloon Rodeo is something that my community doesn't do anymore, and Riverfest was last held in 2011. I believe, but back in the 1980's, the waterfront was the place to be! I suppose in many ways RibFest has taken over as the de facto summer festival for my town, but it's not the same as Riverfest.

Only those people who would have grown up in the Leeds/Grenville area would have known what Riverfest used to be like, but let me tell you, it was so much fun. 

For starters, it only cost $5 to get in for the entire TEN-DAY festival. Nowadays, it costs four times that much for a quarter of that length of time. But, back in the day, the cost was well worth it. 

You got in with the annual Riverfest buttons. Here are a few examples of the buttons below:





As far back as I can remember, each year, the buttons were a different colour to prevent people from reusing them from year to year, though I could be mistaken. You will also notice that there is a 5-digit number on the bottom of the button. Every day, they'd draw a number at random at the radio station booth for a prize. The final day of the festival had the best prize...usually a weekend getaway. I never won the button prizes, but I DID win a prize pack from a local restaurant years ago in a ballot box drawing. 

Sadly, the last year I can remember them using buttons was in 1995 (I've saved some of the old buttons, and 1995 is the most recent one I have). The next year, they used wristbands, which in my opinion was a substandard replacement...but anything to cut costs, I suppose. 

Anyway, once you had your button, you were free to partake in any of the activities Riverfest had to offer. There were buskers down at Block House. Fireworks for Canada Day. The annual Riverfest parade on King Street. Sidewalk sales. Carnival midways. The whole nine yards. 

The entertainment was also really good too, and I have to say, back in the day, they did get some big names, and continue to. I remember them having a lot of country acts like Crystal Gayle, Eddie Rabbitt, and Tommy Hunter...which seemed to please my parents moreso than me. But, then, we also had April Wine, Jann Arden, and the Barenaked Ladies, who I saw for Riverfest '96...or maybe it was '97...I can't remember. It was before their U.S. breakout in 1998...that much I know. 


But now as we approach summer 2015, it saddens me that summers in town don't seem to be a good as they once were. 

Maybe it's just because I just turned 34 but I honestly feel sorry for children who live here now. 

The park program that I used to attend as a kid no longer runs. I think 1995 was the last full year of it, and by then I was too old to attend. A shame too, because that would have been an awesome summer job for me, and then it would have been one of those full circle type things, where the kid grew up to be a counselor. 

In fact, it seems to me that there aren't a lot of opportunities for kids to actually be kids in my town anymore. The park program is no more. St. Lawrence Park's waterfront seems to be closed more days than it is open. Riverfest is non-existant. No wonder the kids in this town seem to be so restless. Aside from an outing at Walmart, there's not a whole lot for them to do. It's very sad. 

I wish there was at least a way to recapture some of the magic that I experienced during my summers here as a kid and bring it to some of the kids today. I think they deserve to have the summer that I grew up having.


Just some food for thought.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Return Of The Sunday Jukebox!

I have to say that music became so much better when technology made it possible to take your music with you.  It seems hard to believe that it has been thirty-six years since the Walkman first hit store shelves.  And while we now have the iPod, iPhone, and mp3 and mp4 players to take our music on the go, I have a bit of a soft spot for the Walkman.  I still have memories of borrowing my sister's bright yellow one to listen to the radio (and children's books on tape).

Of course, one thing that I like about the iPod as opposed to the Walkman is that you can put the iPod in your pocket, or clip it on a belt.  Have you tried doing that with a Walkman?  You'd either weigh yourself down, have your pants fall down, or destroy the pocket.  None of those seem like a great option.

I absolutely love bringing my iPod to work with me every lunch hour.  It provides a nice escape from listening to the same 48 songs played at my workplace over and over again, and besides - an iPod in your ears makes a great gossip deflector.

And it got me thinking about the blog and what I used to do in it, and I thought - it's been a really long time since I wrote a Sunday Jukebox entry.  Sunday Jukebox entries have always been some of my favourite pieces to write about, and I sort of put them on the backburner when I devoted the first six months of this blog to more personal entries.

Well, I officially declare that the Sunday Jukebox entries are BACK!

Oh, how I missed doing these!  And for what it's worth, I think I've chosen a great song to talk about in this entry.  I decided that since I have over a thousand songs downloaded onto my iPod, I'd set it to shuffle and just pick the first one that popped up.  If it was a song that I had already done, then I'd choose song #2, and so on.

So, today's Sunday Jukebox entry just happens to be on...



...FOREIGNER!  And here's the song that's up for discussion.  Feel free to share your memories of this song if you like in the comments section.



ARTIST:  Foreigner
SONG:  Urgent
ALBUM:  4
DATE RELEASED:  June 22, 1981
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #4



1981 was a big year for the group "Foreigner".  The group (which at the time was made up of members Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Rick Wills, and Mick Jones) had released their fourth studio album, which would spawn quite a few hits.  The album contained the Top 30 hit "Juke Box Hero" as well as "Waiting For A Girl Like You", which was only kept off the top of the charts by Olivia Newton-John's "Physical".

But there was just something about "Urgent" that made the album really pop.  I suppose part of it could have been that it was a song that was really unlike anything that the band had recorded previously.  I consider 1981 to be the true start of the "New Wave" movement, where synthesizer heavy artists such as Duran Duran and Thomas Dolby were beginning to appear on the charts.

(An interesting fact about Thomas Dolby before I continue.  That's him playing the synthesizers on "Urgent", two years before he had a worldwide hit of his own with "She Blinded Me With Science".)

Part of the reason for the bold sound behind "Urgent" was largely due to its producer, Robert "Mutt" Lange.  This is the same man who also penned huge hits for Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, Huey Lewis & The News, and AC/DC, so a hard rock edge was nothing surprising.  Add a little saxophone flavouring by Motown legend Junior Walker, and you had the ingredients for a great song.



The song hit #4 in America, but topped the Billboard Rock Tracks charts in the autumn of 1981.  It became a #1 hit in Canada in September 1981 and was a top 30 hit in Sweden and Australia.  Interestingly enough, the single didn't do so well in the UK (where half of the band's original members hailed from).  It initially peaked at #54, but was re-released in early 1982 following the huge success of "Waiting For A Girl Like You", where it rose nine spots to #45.

Now, as far as personal memories of this song go, I really don't have any.  When the song first debuted on the charts in the summer of 1981, I was only a month old.  I think the only song I listened to back then was the one that played on my Fisher-Price mobile. 

But I do seem to remember listening to a lot of 1980s radio when I was a teenager.  Right around 1997, 1998, I began to lose interest in current Top 40 radio, and often listened to stations that had 80s music programming like "Backtrax USA with Kid Kelly" or a local music program which aired 1980s tracks every Saturday night.  "Urgent" was played a lot, and I suppose it was a great song to listen to while finishing up a chemistry assignment or typing out a history essay.

Basically, every time I hear "Urgent", I think of urgently finishing my homework.  Not quite the song message that "Foreigner" intended, I'm sure.  But that's why I have the song downloaded.  It's got a killer hook, a great beat...and if I'm procrastinating on something, it helps me get in the mood to get things done.

Why, I could be listening to this song right now as I type this...

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Kiddie Conspiracy Theories

I'll be the first one to admit it.  My imagination went into overdrive as a child.

I guess you could say that I was always coming up with new and creative ways of looking at the world.  Rather than play with toys and games, I was content with a stack of paper and Crayola crayons, just drawing pictures of random objects.

Believe me when I say random.  I once drew sixty pictures of clocks when I was four years old.  Sixty pictures.

But that was what I was like as a child.  Very curious.  Very whimsical.  Very creative.

In fact, there were lots of things that I had my own theories about as a child that I believed were the absolute truth.  I would argue people until I was blue in the face, convinced that my childlike logic was enough to take down even the strongest arguments.

But that's the problem with kiddie conspiracy theories.  They never hold much water.  Come to think of it, the vast majority of adult conspiracies don't hold much water either, but talking about adult theories isn't much fun.

But kiddie conspiracy theories?  Boy did I have a lot of those!  In fact, I thought that I would use today's post to talk about some of the funny things that I believed would happen.

Now, keep in mind...these gems are coming from a four-year-old brain.  It's learned a lot more things since then.



KIDDIE CONSIPIRACY THEORY #1
If everybody in the world flushed their toilets at exactly the same time, the oceans would drain completely.

Obviously, this would never happen for one obvious reason.  Not everybody in the world has to go to the bathroom at exactly the same time.  And we also know that flushing a toilet does nothing to drain the oceans.  Mind you, human beings are inventing new ways to destroy the oceans each day, but that's another topic altogether.



KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #2
People who are killed off of television shows are killed off in real life.

I blame this theory on the fact that my mother watched a lot of soap operas when I was a kid.  From 12:30-4:00, my mother was addicted to the CBS soap opera lineup, which at the time was comprised of "The Young and the Restless", "Guiding Light", "Capitol", and my mom's personal favourite, "As The World Turns".  People were killed off on those shows all the time, and whenever a person died in a car crash, or was poisoned to death, or mauled by a gigantic gorilla, or whatever unbelievable method of death was used, I thought they had died for real.  Which then lead to...

KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #3
People who were killed off on television shows, but appeared in other programs faked their deaths to avoid being discovered.

The funny thing about soap opera actors is that they often jump from show to show.  At one point, several soaps filmed in New York City, and when one actor found their characters killed off, they'd jump to another show in the same studio to take on another role.  Just ask actor Roscoe Born about this.  Over the last 30 years, he's appeared on ten different soaps, including "Ryan's Hope", "Santa Barbara", "The City", "One Life To Live", and "Days Of Our Lives".  All playing different characters.  So, clearly, had I been a child during all this, I would have thought that this Roscoe Born person was a really bad man if he had to fake his death ten times!

(Okay, granted, he wasn't killed off of ALL these shows.  But that's how my kiddie conspiracies worked.  They didn't have to make sense.)



KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #4
If a contestant had a negative total at the end of "Jeopardy!", they had to pay off the balance themselves.

Not that I have ever partaken in "dining and dashing", nor would I ever encourage it...but those people who are caught often have to work out how they plan to repay the money.  They could wash dishes in the kitchen, perform community service, or serve out a jail sentence in extreme cases.

And that's what I thought happened on Jeopardy every time a contestant had a negative score.  Not only were they banished from Final Jeopardy, but I had this image of the contestants having to work off their debt from scrubbing floors to dry cleaning Alex Trebek's underwear.  Obviously this is not the case, but again, my mind worked overtime as a kid.



KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #5
Your hair would get cleaner the more shampoo you used.

Hence the time I poured an entire bottle of apple blossom shampoo over my head when I was about six years old.  The entire bathroom smelled like apples for a week, and it took forever to clean up all of the suds that exploded from my head when I tried to rinse off the shampoo (I believe it took almost a half hour to fully rinse it all off).

But in a way, it did prove my theory somewhat.  My hair was never cleaner!

KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #6
If a person wore a hat and you tried to remove it, they'd freeze like a statue.



Thank you "Today's Special" for being the source of this conspiracy theory.  And no Hocus Pocus Alamagocus would ever prove that my theory was right.



KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #7
Every fruitcake in the world was baked in 1970, and regifted to people all over the world since.

I haven't quite proven this theory to be true.  I don't even like the stuff and I've only tried it once.  But with fruitcake being such a holiday staple, I wouldn't be shocked if this theory did end up being true.

And finally,

KIDDIE CONSPIRACY THEORY #8
Adults telling you that growing up was so much fun were actually lying to you.

Sadly, in some cases, this is truth.  I'd rather be a Toys R Us kid for the rest of my life than deal with adult responsibilities any day of the week.

Friday, June 12, 2015

When Good Neighbours Become Good...Friends?

I've always had a soft spot for television shows from overseas.  Be it "EastEnders", "All Saints", or "Are You Being Served?", I have always loved a good Britcom or Aussie drama.

Sometimes when I go on sites like YouTube, I watch episodes of foreign television shows, and one time, I came across old episodes of a television show I used to watch on a cable channel called YTV.



It was a show called “Home and Away”, and basically the premise was that a young couple who couldn't have children of their own decided to have foster children to fill the void. The patriarch of the Fletcher family had lost his job in the big city, and the family made the decision to move to a small town called Summer Bay, where they would take over running a caravan park, where vacationers could stay for low cost.

It was 20 years since I last saw an episode of this show, so imagine my surprise when I not only found the show online, but later discovered that it was still airing new episodes in its native Australia. I have no idea what it's currently like now, but one thing that amazed me about the show was the general sense of community that the townspeople of Summer Bay had for each other. When the Fletchers first moved to town, they took in a rebellious stray girl named Bobby, who eventually became their sixth foster child. A storyline where animals were poisoned brought outrage in the community...so much so that the townspeople tried to work together to find out who was responsible. When Tom Fletcher quit his job because of some unsavory remarks about his foster daughter by his boss, the rest of his team backed Tom up. It's that community spirit that I think made me gravitate towards the show. Unlike American soap operas where everyone tries to one-up each other, or have affairs with each other, or plots to murder each other, Home and Away showed warmth, generosity, and heart. Oh, sure, the show also had mystery, murder, and controversial storylines, but the way the stories were told brought these issues to light in realistic ways. If any of you get a chance, check out some of the episodes, because they really are fantastic to watch...well, provided you can ignore the really bad 1980's music, that is.

Apparently, there's another show that currently airs in Australia that is somewhat like Home and Away, but instead takes place in a residental neighbourhood known as Ramsay Street. Appropriately enough, the show happens to be called “Neighbours”, and the show's theme song is where the title of this note comes from.



Admittedly, I do not know as much about Neighbours as I do Home and Away, because Neighbours never aired in Canada (at least not to my knowledge anyways). I do know that it started the careers of singers Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, and Delta Goodrem, and was a key launchpad for the acting careers of Jesse Spencer and Guy Pearce. I also know that as previously mentioned that the show took place on Ramsay Street, and that the six or so houses on the street were where most of the main characters of the show had their actions. It was where neighbours had cups of coffee with other neighbours. It was where neighbours gossiped to their neighbours about other neighbours. Heck, I can probably imagine that it was a place where neighbours did the horizontal mambo with other neighbours.

And, this total rambling about television programs that no longer air in Canada does have a point. This note is all about the people in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood...



Neighbours. We all have them. Some of them are friendly and outgoing. Some of them are reclusive. Some of them are nosy, and some of them are just bitchy.

You have your eccentric Kimmy Gibbler type neighbours. You have your sugary sweet Pamela Poole type neighbours. And, you have your Marcy D'Arcy type neighbours who don't like you, and who you don't like, but you put up with anyways because you can't afford to move.

I know that the neighbours in my apartment building are quite the crazy cast of characters. In the eleven years I've been there, I've seen it all. Single moms and their children. Elderly couples living out their golden years. The crazy lady across the hall who has yard sales for cigarette money and who sells home-cooked meals to other people so she could buy lottery tickets.

(In regards to that last neighbour I described, yes, she does exist, and yes, she still lives across the hall).

I guess if I were to describe my own level of neighbourly kindness towards people who live near me, I tend to be a little bit on the reclusive side. I mean, sure, if they talk to me, I'll acknowledge them (unless I really, really dislike them - see lady across the hall from me), but I don't really go out of my way.

I'm not sure exactly why that's the case now, but a lot of the people who live in my building are people who I don't really gel with, so there's not really any sort of need to associate with them. And, really, I'm fine with that. I mean, who wants to have people gossiping about your daily business, right? And, in the seven years I've lived in this building, I've gotten to know who those very people are, and have made it a mission to try and avoid them. I'm much happier and stress free as a result of it.

That's not to say that all of the neighbours I've had have been that...um...peppery and jaded.

In one of the first houses I remember living in, my neighbours were a young family who had two kids. The girl, Brandi, was my age, and the boy, Brandon, was about two years older, maybe three. We got along great and I can remember having many water balloon wars with them as a child in my backyard. Those were good times. Unfortunately, we were separated for a few years because some developer bought all the houses on the street and knocked them down to put up a parking lot. That moment of my childhood could best be described by that Joni Mitchell song “Big Yellow Taxi”. The part about them paving paradise to put up a parking lot. I loved 35 St. Paul Street, and had it not been for that developer, in all likelihood I would still be living there.

Fortunately, I was reunited with Brandi twice...once in fourth grade, and then again in seventh grade. I haven't seen her since we were thirteen though.

Then we moved to the neighbourhood that was a block away from the local hospital. A neighbourhood I lived in from the age of five to the age of nineteen. A neighbourhood that was filled with elderly people due to its proximity of the hospital. I was the only child on the whole street.

However, the people on the street were nice enough for the most part. There were a couple of people who were kind of psycho (and I'm specifically referring to you, you across the street hoodlums and your demon dog named Sparky that you purposely sent across the street to make dinner out of my leg!), but some people were really, really nice.

At that time, I lived in house number eleven on the street.  The man over at number 15 was pretty cool. The man across the street at number 12 was all right too, even though I wasn't fond of his wife. The elderly lady over at number 30 was a real sweetheart. Her name was Sarah, and I remember that on Halloween, she usually kept her doors closed, and her lights shut off. There weren't really a lot of kids on my street, so as a result, trick-or-treaters weren't all that plentiful. Sure, we had lots of kids from nearby streets, and of course we'd have the “way too old to trick-or-treat” teenagers from the high school who would trick or treat in their football uniforms from the nearby high school. But, her house was never lit up on Halloween night, so her house was always skipped on my trick-or-treating route.

And, yet, the very next day after, when I was on my way to school, she would try and spot me, and she'd hand me a specially made loot bag that she had done up for me for Halloween. I later found out that she had only done that for me, since I was the only kid on the street, and since my parents were always nice with her. She really was a nice lady, and I thought the world of her. Another nice guy on the street that I remember was the man who lived over at number 42. He always had some cool stories to tell, and I think he kind of liked the idea of there being a kid on the street, since as I said before, there weren't a whole lot of us. He passed away when I was about eleven or twelve, and when I heard the news, I actually cried.

So, as you can see, even though there was hardly anyone near my age on my own street, somehow, I made it work to my advantage. Considering how badly I was picked on in school, perhaps it was a good thing that I didn't really know anyone from my school who lived on that street.

Thankfully, I've never really had any psycho neighbours, so I can't really entertain you with those kinds of stories. But, I can tell you that living in residence at university between 2000 and 2001 was an adventure in itself.

For starters, my roommate and I were one of the few pairs of roommates who stuck it out THE WHOLE YEAR with each other. Almost everyone else swapped rooms or roommates at least once. So, in that regard, I guess that was a blessing in itself. Course, my roommate and I were very rarely in the room together to begin with, so maybe that had something to do with it. At any rate, we got along quite well. My neighbours were mostly okay too. I did have a problem with one girl who lived right next door to me...nothing too spectacular, really. I thought she was kind of up herself, and she thought I was a jerk when I basically told her that to her face. :D Not a big deal. We just avoided each other.

But, it was quite interesting to be in residence. Though there was campus security there that was SUPPOSED to enforce quiet hours after eleven p.m., I heard loud music playing in rooms as late as four in the morning. It took a while to get used to, but I slept right through it. There were a couple of people who called rez security every hour though. On the hour.

We also had some strong personalities who lived on our floor too. I won't go into it in great detail because I'd need to write another note (I mean, there must have been like eighty people on the floor alone). Needless to say, it took some time and some patience to feel everyone out, but I quickly found out who I could trust, and who I really didn't want to talk to ever again.

And, really, I think that's what we all have to do with neighbours in general. We don't have to like them, and we certainly don't have to be obligated to donate a cup of sugar every time they drop by...but unless you choose to build a house in the middle of a desolate forest where the closest town is miles away, you're not going to escape having neighbours...all you can do is live your life the best you can.

Hopefully at some point, you'll end up having a neighbourly relationship like the people in Summer Bay...hopefully.

What have been some of your neighbour stories? Have you had a neighbour you really, really loved? Have a neighbour you've called the cops on? Share your stories here if you like!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Could You Survive The Hunger Games? Here's A Simulation!

You know how sometimes you come across a website on the Internet that looks interesting by the description that you read on Google?  And once you click on it, you instantly become so addicted to it that you find yourself spending a couple of hours on it?

Well, I'm not afraid to admit it, but I found that website.

And surprisingly enough, it's not Netflix.  Though I have to admit, I do love my Netflix.

No, it's a website that can be found HERE.  Go on, click it!

Here on www.brantsteele.net, you can find a lot of things to do.  In particular, you can play a simulated version of "Survivor", "Big Brother" or "The Hunger Games"! 

Seriously, this guy is a total genius.  He has done so much research in all of these seasons of Survivor and Big Brother, and has likely read or watched all of the Hunger Games books and films, and created simulations with ALL of the characters of each season.

You can even insert past contestants from past reality shows, or you can play along yourself if you like.  And it got me thinking...



...could I survive the Hunger Games? 

Now, having just watched the first film (yeah, I've been living under a rock the last two or three years), and reading the books, I know that I would likely be the first one to die.  But because this is a simulation, I think I would be interested in finding out just how far I would go.



So, I took my profile pic from my Twitter account, and inserted it into the place of one of the unnamed contestants from the first Hunger Games film.  So, for the sake of argument, I'm a part of District 3.  You can tell which one I am, as the photo looks nothing like the others!

Ready?  Let's see if I survive the bloodbath.



Whew.  Well, so far so good.  I seem to have a bit of teamwork going on with Districts 8 and 9, not to mention Cato.  Teamwork is very good.  Means that you'll less likely die.

Or, it means that you'll get stabbed in the back with a sickle. 

So now that I've survived the initial melee, let's see what my future holds.



Well, I seem to now be making pals with District 10, but I'm doing not so nice things like raiding people's camps for supplies.  I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me later on.

Now, at the end of each day, those who are familiar with the Hunger Games know that a cannonball is shot every time a tribute loses his/her life.  In this simulator, every time a tribute dies, their image is greyed out.



Notice how Katniss Everdeen ended up being killed off during my simulator?  While we know Katniss goes on to become the ultimate heroine of the Hunger Games, the simulator can be such that it becomes impossible to predict who will live and who will die.

As for me, I've survived my first day.  Let's see what night brings.



Sweet!  I was given a fresh water supply by a sponsor!  Apparently during the Hunger Games, people can send tributes gifts ranging from weapons and armor to fresh food and water.  After all, the goal of the Hunger Games is to survive as long as possible.  Thanks to my fresh water supply, I may just stand a chance.  Let's see if I can last another day.



And, I do...though I'm a little concerned about that Cato fellow.  I wonder what will happen to me?

Well, the good news is that nobody died on Day #2.  Let's move on to the night.



Um, yeah, we'll just chalk this up to delirium.  Yeah, that's it.  And while we're at it, Glimmer's fate?  Yikes.  This is precisely why the simulation is designed so that only people over the age of 13 can play.



And, hey!  It looks like I found a cave!  That could make a neat hiding spot in the future!



And look!  I just received some medical supplies from a sponsor!  I'm on a freakin' roll!  Nothing can stop me now!



Uh-oh!  As we proceed into Night #5, one of my allies apparently tries to kill me!  Thankfully that bond I made with the District #9 male saved my bacon.  This time.



Yikes!  Sometimes you have an arena event happen periodically such as the border rapidly contracting, or a volcano erupting in the arena, or a tsunami approaching.  In this case, we have a swarm of tracker jackers - a souped up version of a killer bee.  This does not bode well.



Whew.  Made it.



But sadly, it looks like my journey has come to an end.  Apparently I was too weak-willed to continue on, and I formed a suicide pact with three other tributes.  Too bad too...I was well on my way to winning.

Oh, well.  Congratulations, District 7 Female.



But, I didn't do too badly.  6th place out of 24 tributes?  I'll take it...even though I died. 

So, that was my fate in The Hunger Games.  I almost made it to the end, but in the end, they broke me.  Now, let's see how you do!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Songs That Remind You Of Television Shows

All right!  It's time to bring back the pop culture to this blog!

It was nice to take a few months off to get a little more personal in this blog.  It helped me sort out a few lingering feelings about life, it made me realize that my life hasn't been all that bad, and it's certainly made me feel a lot better about things.

It also gave me a bit of an opportunity to come up with brand new ideas for the rest of the year.  In fact, if you look at the right hand side of the blog, you'll see that I have a new poll up.  You can choose which of the four classic cartoons you want me to review.  Yes, your votes will cause me to sit through a maximum of 65 episodes, and I will have to watch and comment on EVERY SINGLE ONE.  Your choices are "The Care Bears Family", "Inspector Gadget", "Jem and the Holograms", and "The New Archies".  Please make your vote heard before July 1.  I'll have the first entry posted sometime during the week of July 2-8, 2015.

Oh, in case of a tie, I'll be doing two shows at once.  So, if you want to torture me, vote for the show you think I will hate the most.  Or, if you have a favourite show, make your voice heard too.  Remember, I'll be reviewing each episode of each show with sarcasm and acerbic wit.  You'll love it.  At least, I hope you will.

In the meantime, I want to discuss a pop culture topic that surprisingly came out of nowhere.  I guess you could say that I was inspired to write this post from a song that played on my iPod while it was on shuffle.



I often take my iPod to work with me to listen to on my lunch hour.  It kills the time in between eating, and it drowns out all the workplace gossip.  Win-win in my book.

Anyway, one of the songs that I have on my iPod happens to be this particular one.



Now, the song is by a girl by the name of Loreta, and the song is 1999's "Trouble With Boys".  I don't think it charted in Canada, but in the United States, it was a minor dance hit.

But I couldn't stop but think...where have I heard that song before?  I know there was a reason I downloaded it onto my iPod, but I couldn't figure out why.

But then I remembered.  I heard it being played in an episode of "Friends" a long time ago, fell in love with the song, and immediately downloaded it. 

You remember that episode, right?  The one where Ross and Monica attend a taping of the dance party scenes for Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve show and they perform the routine?  Here's a little clip to refresh your memory.



So, it got me thinking.  What other songs out there remind me of a particular television series?  Well, I composed a small list as well as finding episodes that use the song as a part of the episode's plot.  See how many you can remember.



Like, take this dance single released by Stacey Q back in the spring of 1988.  The track is "Don't Make A Fool Of Yourself", and it appears on her album "Hard Machine".  Although not as successful as Stacey's previous album, "Better Than Heaven", the song did make an impact on the dance charts.

Yet for some reason, I keep having a "Full House" flashback whenever I hear this song.  I wonder...



Oh, yes.  It was the episode in which D.J. Tanner and Kimmy Gibbler ditched school to head down to the record store to get Stacey Q's autograph...only to be caught by Joey and dragged home by a leash.  Considering that Stacey Q hasn't had a hit on the charts since 1989, I wonder if the effort was really worth it.

You know, "Full House" wasn't the only sitcom that Stacey Q appeared on during the 1980s.  She also appeared on another one where she sang a couple of other songs.  But she wasn't the only one to appear on "The Facts of Life". 



How many of you remember this song by DeBarge?

Well, okay, maybe you're more familar with the single "Rhythm of the Night", which was released in 1985.  But for some reason, I seem to remember the song above being used in an episode of "The Facts of Life".



Oh, yes...I remember it well.  Blair, Natalie, Jo, and Tootie dancing along with the music.  Probably why I don't really watch that episode much anymore.  Too traumatic.

Say, this is kind of fun.  What else do I have in my arsenal?



Oooh...The Pointer Sisters!  They were all the rage in the mid-1980s.  And, I seem to remember the song "I'm So Excited" playing on the radio all the time.  But sometime around 1990, the song took on a whole new meaning.  I think most of you know where I'm going with this one.



SHE'S SO EXCITED!  SHE'S SO EXCITED!  SHE'S SO...SCARED!!!

I'm sure Ruth, June, and Anita Pointer never expected that their song would be linked to one of the most ridiculous scenes ever shown on the series "Saved By The Bell".  To this day, I admit that I can't listen to the song without picturing Elizabeth Berkley half-screaming, half-singing in my face.

Okay, so we have a few examples from the 1980s here.  Let's try some more modern pieces.



I said MODERN!  Come on!  Baba O'Riley was released in the early 1970s!  That was over forty years ago!  Though it is one of my favourite songs by The Who. 

And it happens to have been used in one of my favourite shows that aired during the 2000s.



Yes, CSI: NY used this theme for the duration of its time on CBS.  Come to think of it, all CSI shows used The Who songs for their theme songs from "Who Are You?" to "Won't Get Fooled Again" for CSI and CSI: Miami respectively.

Okay, let's do one more.



So here's a song by Cathy Dennis.  The song is "Touch Me (All Night Long)" and it was a #2 hit in May 1991.  It was also a song that was played on an episode of "Beverly Hills 90210".




Remember when Donna Martin got drunk at the senior prom and she was almost expelled from graduation - which spawned the "DONNA MARTIN GRADUATE" chant?  That song played in the background.

So whenever I hear Cathy Dennis singing, I think of a drunken Tori Spelling...sigh.

So, what other examples of songs spawning memories of television shows can you remember?