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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

September 22, 1994

Hey there smiling faces!  Well, okay, I'm only assuming you're smiling.  Some of you may be frowning, and that's okay for now.  But I hope that after you read today's Tuesday Timeline post that it will cheer you up.

Trust me.  I'll be there for you today.

So, I'm just going to go ahead with today's look back throughout history.  Wondering what happened on September 22 throughout history?  Let's investigate!

1598 - Ben Jonson, an English playwright, challenges an actor to a duel which results in the actor's death and Jonson charged with manslaughter

1692 - The last public hanging of people charged with witchcraft in New England takes place

1776 - Nathan Hale is hanged for spying during the American Revolution

1789 - The office for the United States Postmaster is created

1862 - A preliminary version of The Emancipation Proclamation is released

1888 - National Geographic is first published

1896 - Queen Victoria officially becomes the longest reigning monarch in British history

1919 - The Steel Strike begins in Pennsylvania

1941 - In Vinnytsya, Ukraine, six thousand Jews are murdered by the German SS during World War II

1955 - British channel ITV goes on the air for the first time

1975 - Sara Jane Moore attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford, but is stopped before she could strike

1980 - Iraq invades Iran, kicking off the Iran-Iraq War

1989 - Composer Irving Berlin dies in New York City, aged 101

1991 - The Dead Sea Scrolls are made public for the first time, courtesy of the Huntington Library

1996 - Actress Dorothy Lamour passes away at the age of 81

1999 - Actor George C. Scott dies at the age of 71

2003 - Actor Gordon Jump passes away at the age of 71

And for celebrity birthdays, we have to wish the following people a very happy birthday; Rosamunde Pilcher, Tommy Lasorda, James Lawson, Marlena Shaw, Toni Basil, David Coverdale, Bobby Radcliff, Richard Fairbrass, David Wohl, Shari Belafonte, Debby Boone, Nick Cave, Andrea Bocelli, Lynn Herring, Joan Jett, Mark Patton, Scott Baio, Bonnie Hunt, Catherine Oxenberg, Ruth Jones, Matt Besser, Kim Watkins, Rupert Penry-Jones, Chesney Hawkes, Ashley Eckstein, Billie Piper, Katie Lowes, Laura Vandervoort, Tatiana Maslany, Tom Felton, Bethany Dillon, and Chase Ellison.

Okay, so let's take a look at today's Tuesday Timeline date.



September 22, 1994.  I remember that date.  I was weeks into the eighth grade.  I was thirteen years old.  And, I now am feeling really old now because I am realizing that this date took place 21 years ago!

Now, this week in the world of pop culture is traditionally known as a big week.  Usually the third week in September is known as "Premiere Week" for the new fall season.  Many television shows debut around this time of year, and for returning shows, the third week in September is when these shows have their season premieres.

September 22 has been a date in which a lot of popular television series have debuted.  "Charlie's Angels", "Family Ties", "ALF", "Full House", "Baywatch", "Family Matters", "The West Wing", "Two and a Half Men", and "The Good Wife" all debuted on September 22.  How's that for one powerful television date, huh?

But one show I left off from that list happens to be the discussion topic for today.  It was a show that debuted twenty-one years ago today and ran for ten seasons, and it kept audiences laughing throughout 236 episodes on NBC.

One of the reasons the show lasted so long was because at no point during the show did it ever seem stale.  The show stayed strong throughout its entire run, going out when it was still relatively near the top of the ratings - heck, its final episode was watched by over 52 MILLION people alone!

And another reason why the show stayed on the air so long was due in part to the fantastic sextet of actors and actresses who kept the chemistry going for ten whole years.  It's very rare for a show to run for ten years without losing at least one cast member, so it definitely is a testament that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer had such great chemistry as co-workers...and friends.



That's right, everybody.  Prepare to be amazed.  Twenty-one years ago today, "Friends" debuted on television. 

It was the series that launched the acting careers of six people (though to be fair, many of them had already acted in bit parts before this series came to be), it was the series that inspired a haircut (how many of you will admit to having the "Rachel"?), and it was the series that asked the question "Will Ross and Rachel EVER get together?"

So, rather than talk about the plotlines and the characters of the show (I don't want to use up all my potential future topics), I thought I'd use this opportunity to discuss how the show was created in the first place.

And our story actually begins in the winter of 1993/1994.

The show was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and it was one of three pilot ideas that were pitched by the duo for the 1994/1995 television season.  They were trying to get at least one of them greenlit for production, as their previous project, "Family Album" was cancelled in 1993 after just six episodes.

One of those pilot ideas would eventually become the television show "Friends", but it didn't quite start out that way.  Would you believe that the original title of the show was supposed to be "Insomnia Cafe"?  You have to admit, "Friends" rolls off the tongue a lot better.

The original description of the show was pitched as this.  "It's about sex, love, relationships, careers, a time in your life when anything's possible.  And it's about friendship because when you're single and in the city, your friends are your family."

Certainly a description that a lot of twentysomethings just starting out in the world could relate to.  I know when I was in my twenties, this was the case - well, at least for a couple of years, anyway.

Crane and Kauffman pitched their idea to production partner Kevin Bright - who himself had served as the executive producer of the successful cable show "Dream On" - a show that Crane and Kauffman had created, and Bright liked the idea.  But it was up to the executives at NBC to make the final call.

Well, as luck would have it, then president of NBC Entertainment, Warren Littlefield, was looking at adding a new comedy to his programming block - a show about young people living together and sharing expenses and learning about life, but any of the scripts that were presented to him he deemed not suitable.

At least, that was until he received the concept for "Insomnia Cafe" and immediately liked the premise.  And, with Littlefield's blessing, NBC bought the concept as a put pilot - which meant that if a pilot did NOT get filmed, NBC would face a financial penalty.  Still, it was a risk that Littlefield wanted to take, and so Crane and Kauffman went to work on a pilot script, which was originally titled "Friends Like Us".

Littlefield liked the script, but argued that he had wanted to tool the show so that it reflected the ideals of Generation X, but Crane and Kauffman argued back that it wouldn't be a good idea to focus on one generation of people when the show could be relatable to anybody.  NBC greenlit the pilot episode, but retitled the show as "Six of One", as the title "Friends Like Us" was similar to another show that was airing on ABC entitled "These Friends Of Mine".  At some point before the show debuted, the show was changed to the familar title of "Friends", and "These Friends Of Mine" later changed the name of their show to "Ellen"!

As far as the casting went, David Schwimmer was the first one hired as Ross.  Crane and Kauffman had worked with him in the past and felt that he was the best actor to play Ross.  Courteney Cox had auditioned for the role of Monica and won it, but initially producers had her set in mind to play Rachel instead.  Rachel, of course, went to Jennifer Aniston who was cast based on her audition, as were Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow as Chandler and Phoebe respectively.  As for Matt LeBlanc, his casting was unusual in that the producers were actually told by NBC to cast him as Joey.  And LeBlanc's audition actually caused the producers to rewrite the character to fit more of LeBlanc's personality into the character.

And granted, during the first season of the show, there was a lot of experimentation with the actors and just how much of themselves they were willing to put into their characters.  By the show's second season, all six characters had gotten into the groove, and ratings steadily increased.



Who knew that when the pilot episode aired on September 22, 1994 that it would become one of the most popular modern day sitcoms to ever air on network television?  And, really, who ever knew that "Friends" would essentially be the last show that would keep NBC as Must See TV?  Seriously, ever since "Friends" stopped airing, the network has not done well with sitcoms.  At all.

But when we saw Rachel flee from her wedding and move in with her best friend, Monica, who introduced her to her brother Ross and their mutual friends Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey...well, we knew that television magic was being made.  And all of the coffeehouse coffee and Rachel haircuts couldn't compare to the fact that we were seeing true friendships develop both on and off the screen.



Friendships that continue twenty-one years later.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Why I Don't Like The View

I have a confession to make.



I have NEVER liked "The View".

In fact, I have to say that whenever "The View" came on the air, I always said "Oh, great, Barbara Walters and her merry maidens of menopause are on the air again".

Hey, I was sixteen when the show began airing.  I was a teenager.  Teenagers say silly things.

It seems hard to believe that "The View", which has been airing on ABC since August 1997, has been on the air for eighteen years and counting.  And over those eighteen years, the show has seen its share of controversy. 



In fact, right at this moment, the show is experiencing a huge backlash after comments that were made by two of its panelists, with at least five different advertisers pulling their commercials from "The View"'s commercial blocks.

And, honestly, I say it looks good on "The View".

By now, most of this is old news to you reading this, but just to recap, this whole controversy started on the episode immediately following the airing of the Miss America Pageant.  The hosts were discussing the pageant, and they were talking about the talent portion of the show (which I have to admit I didn't even know they still did, as it's been well over 20 years since I last saw a pageant on television).  One of the contestants, Kelley Johnson (Miss Colorado) decided that she would come out on stage in scrubs (her day job is as a nurse), and she would recite a monologue about how wonderful it is to be a nurse.  In fact, here's a clip of her monologue.



A non-traditional talent choice, but a very moving one.  As someone who has both family members and friends who have been or are currently nurses, my hat is off to them, and I know just how hard they work.  I know when I was hospitalized four years ago, the nurses who took care of me were professional and kind.  Even if they were having a rough day on the job, I never knew it.  Millions of people watched Johnson's monologue and got the message that she was more than "just a nurse".

Well, all except Michelle Collins and Joy Behar, that is.

You see, rather than point out the fact that Miss Colorado spoke passionately and lovingly about her profession, Collins just pointed out that she didn't understand why she wore her nurse's "costume", while Joy questioned why she was wearing a "doctor's" stethoscope". 



You can bet that didn't go over well.  And it didn't.

On social media, under the hashtag #NursesUnite, millions of nurses and doctors posted images and videos stating that nurses were to be celebrated, not mocked.  Furthermore, they also launched a boycott of "The View", stating that until Collins and Behar issued an apology for their comments, they would never watch the show again.

And as of today, the #NursesUnite movement definitely seems to be making an impact.  Ratings for the show are dipping, and companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Party City, Snuggle, Eggland's Best, and McCormick are pulling their advertising dollars out of "The View". 

Of course, "The View", trying to play damage control, tried to make up for the comments by inviting a group of nurses as their guests and where Collins and Behar did issue apologies for their thoughtless comments.  But some would say that it would be too little, too late.

Heck, Nicole Arbour - who appeared as a guest on the same show - allegedly stated that the ladies of "The View" faked their apology and that Collins was still mocking the profession.  Now, granted that Arbour herself was publicly shamed (and rightfully so) for her "Dear Fat People" video that she posted on YouTube, you might want to take her allegations with a pinch of Mrs. Dash.

But in the end, do I think they were sincere?  I don't know.  I think in their own minds, they thought they were being sincere, but to everybody else, they'll have to make their own judgment calls on that one.

But I can tell you one thing.  Their apologies do nothing to change my opinion on "The View".  I still don't like the show because I think that the current producers of the show purposely hired the most controversial and loudmouthed personalities to create drama and scandal.  And to me, that isn't entertainment at all.

I truly do believe that Barbara Walters had the greatest intentions when she created "The View" back in 1997.  She wanted to assemble different women at different ages and in different stages of their careers to talk about different points of view and hot topics.  And the show's inaugural cast did just that.  You had Meredith Vieira, the show's first moderator who balanced life in the news business and being a mother to three children.  Star Jones had made a living for herself as an attorney.  Debbie Matenopoulos  was the youngest panelist, just starting out in her career.  And Barbara herself had decades of experience being an anchorwoman and correspondent with ABC News.  And, well...Joy Behar had a couple of hit points every now and again.

But when the original cast was leaving, the show changed in a big way.  It no longer became sharing points of view and agreeing to disagree (a formula that "The Talk" on CBS is using quite well), and instead it had turned into the "you don't agree so I'll scream at you until you do" show.  

Just Google Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O'Donnell for more info on that one.

Honestly, I don't want to watch a show where everyone is screaming at each other.  I don't want to watch a show where professional women behave like shrieking harpies.  It dumbs down their professions, and worse, it gives people a negative stereotype of how women behave.  Nice job, ladies.

It's why I can't take "The View" seriously as a show any longer.  And now that Barbara Walters has retired and has distanced herself from the show, "The View" needs to be permanently closed to the public.  

Stick a fork in it.  It's done.

Friday, September 18, 2015

New Archies Reviewed - Episode 5A: Future Shock

So, a few words to open up this edition of the New Archies Reviewed.  The screenshots that I have used for this edition of the blog are not the best.  That's because the only copy of this and next week's blog came from a video source that isn't exactly the best quality.  It's not completely pixelated, but they aren't as clear as the ones for the previous entries.

But they're all I have so they'll have to do.



So, let's go ahead with Episode 5A:  Future Shock.



The first thing that I'm going to make note of is that these episodes are clearly aired out of order.  This one seems to take place as a summer picnic which happens to have the entire student body of Riverdale Junior High in attendance.  Either this is filmed during the summer months, or the class is on yet another field trip.  I wish I went to that school when I was in junior high.  Our field trip highlight in seventh grade was going to the town museum.  What fun.



The first students we come across are Betty and Reggie, and they happen to be involved in a canoe race.  Naturally, Reggie is puffed up with ego and taunts Betty about how he's going to win the race, but Betty assures him that she won't let it happen.



The canoes pass by Archie who is lounging quietly in the middle of the lake.  A child's cries soon fill the air, and Archie quickly notices that a little boy is drowning.  Of course, in this show, nobody ever dies, so Archie manages to save the boy's life.  What a hero!



Back on dry land, there's a dance going on in one of the beach pavilions, and Amani must have succeeded in teaching Eugene to dance because they are busting a move on the floor. 



Weatherbee and Grundy are also dancing together, and during the dance, Miss Grundy decides to jump ten feet in the air.  Extremely random, but funny as a sight gag.  Maybe Grundy took gymnastics as a side hobby?



Archie reunites the little boy with his obviously negligent mother, and the mother decides to give Archie money to hide the fact that she is a terrible mother for saving her little boy's life.  Archie, on the other hand decides to refuse the reward, saying that doing a good deed is all that mattered.



Then we hear someone shout "My Hero", and at first, I'm thinking that the mother said this to Archie.  Instead, it happens to be Big Ethel who is absolutely mesmerized by Jughead's binge eating.  She must REALLY be in love with Jughead, as I'm sure most would be grossed out.  It's a wonder he doesn't get indigestion.

Oh, and there's a random shot of Veronica staring in a mirror telling everyone how beautiful she thinks she is.  I'm sure there's a reason for it, but right now, it just serves to remind us all what a horrible person she is.



With so much going on in this episode, we almost forgot that there is a race going on between Reggie and Betty.  And at the last moment, Betty turns her arms into propellers and zooms past Reggie to the finish line, making her the winner of the trophy.  Of course, Reggie, rather than admit to losing to a girl because we already established that he is a sexist pig, tells everyone that he pulled a muscle in his arm and that's why he lost.  Of course, Reggie's one big phony and nobody believes him.

So, you might initially think that all of these scenes are just random.  But they all happen to be linked to the main plot.



And just what is the main plot?  Well, Grundy and Weatherbee explain that there is a King and Queen of the Summer Picnic competition going on, and that the whole student body can vote on who they want to have the honour.  A total of three couples have been selected for the running.



Couple #1 is Archie Andrews and Veronica Lodge.



Couple #2 is Reggie Mantle and Betty Cooper.

And, couple #3 are these guys.



No, wait.  Couple #3 at this point is unknown, as Mr. Weatherbee slobbered mustard all over the bottom of the list.  I'm sure we'll find out who the mystery couple is, but for now, we have two couples.



Oh, one last thing.  Aside from one exception, all of the couples who have won the honour have gone on to be married, which sends Archie, Reggie, Betty, and Veronica into complete shock.



And, surprise, surprise, Weatherbee and Grundy are the couple that never married.  The show's been toying with these two all series long.  Are they a couple?  Are they not a couple?  Do we care?

On a side note, they said that EVERY couple got married?  So, does this mean that we have a couple of eighth graders who are now shacking up together?  Scandalous!



So, with the couples announced, and everyone dispersing into the crowd to do more summer activities, Archie sits down by a tree and thinks about what life would be like if he was married to the richest girl in town.  Get ready, this is the first of four dream sequences.



So, right off the bat, we learn that in Archie's dream, he has turned into Archie Bunker.  Well, okay, not really, he just owns a business called Archie's Place, which I think was the business Archie Bunker ran in the later seasons of "All In The Family" which turned into "Archie Bunker's Place".  Anyway, what kind of business does Archie run?



Well, he gives haircuts...



...shines shoes...



...cooks food...



...and washes cars?

And he's the ONLY employee in the whole store?  Gee, that sounds strangely familiar...I'm suddenly starting to feel very sorry for Archie.



Fortunately, Archie's incredibly tough day at the office is interrupted by a phone call, and on the other end is Joan Collins his wife Veronica, who is dressed as if she's going to the Academy Awards.  But instead of Veronica asking Archie if he would like a nice meal, or a foot massage, she is just interested in how much money he can bring home. 

And home just happens to be a fabulously expensive mansion - which poor Archie never gets a chance to sleep in as he's too busy being Veronica's slave filling up more bags of money than the average bank has.  And it's still not enough for Veronica.  She wants more money, more money, MORE MONEY!



Yeah, I think Archie's suffered enough.  Time to wake him from his nightmare and pop in on Veronica, who is thinking about what life would be like if she were married to Archie.  And as we pop into the second dream sequence, we soon find that Archie's refusal to take rewards for good deeds plays a big part in Veronica's dream.



Veronica's dream is short and not so sweet.  She and Archie are dressed in rags living in a dilapidated basement apartment eating turnip soup.  Veronica is obviously angry at Archie for not getting a job, but Archie insists that he has a job doing good deeds.  To which Veronica tells Archie that because he won't accept any money for the good deeds, they are living in poverty, and she cannot handle that.  But Archie refuses to change his ways, and Veronica bursts into tears in her dream.  While I have to say it is satisfying to see a character like Veronica so miserable, she does make a few good points.  If Archie doesn't believe in getting paid for doing good deeds, then maybe he's not mature enough for marriage.

Wait a minute, what am I saying?  They're TWELVE!

Anyway, Veronica thinks marrying Archie is a real poor idea, which I'm sure she gets over when she is seventeen and fighting over him with Betty.



Let's move on to Reggie's dream, which is the longest of the four.  In Reggie's dream, he imagines life with Betty to be on a giant farm with cows, tractors, and apparently more kids than Octomom.  Even more bizarre, Reggie and Betty seem to be the parents of ten daughters who all look like Betty.  Man, did Betty swallow some girl power pills or what?



For the first part of Reggie's dream, it all becomes a contest of "anything you can do, I can do better".  But Betty always seems to one up him on EVERYTHING.  Milking cows, for example.



Chopping down trees.



Even driving a lawn tractor!

Reggie is completely beat down by Betty's ability to win at everything, and I must say that I am loving it! 

But when two of Betty and Reggie's children come up and tell Reggie that Betty is sick with the flu, Reggie sees this as his chance to prove what a man he is and take over the duties of the farm.



Well, Beatrice, Belinda, Beulah, Becky, Bedelia, Bernice, Bessie, Bettina, Beyonce, and Bebe might have something to say about that, as all of the daughters decide to pitch in and do the chores themselves.  By the way, I just guessed at the names of the kids.

Reggie is gobsmacked that once again, Betty's spawn seems to be better at chores than he is.  In fact, Reggie gets into a fight with his own imaginary daughter over egg collecting, and in the end he ends up with egg all over his face.



Literally.

And as the dream sequence closes down after Reggie admits that it is not easy being married to Betty.  And then he falls out of his canoe. 



We come across the last dream sequence in this group of four.  And Betty's dream about what life would be like married to Reggie is so bizarre that I have to actually show you a video of it!  Really, it's the only video clip I have of the show, so enjoy it.



And after realizing that being married to Reggie and having fake guests, fake furs, and fake kids would be inevitable, Betty decides that she wants a divorce before she even says "I Do".

Okay, seriously, who chose these couples?  Betty and Reggie have zero chemistry together in The New Archies.  And Archie and Veronica - despite getting married in Archie #601 - look absolutely miserable together.  If these couples were matched based on computer technology, then Riverdale Junior High needs to get better software.

But we can't worry about the budget problems at Riverdale Junior High.  It's time to find out who won the King and Queen titles. 



But judging by this screenshot here, I'm guessing that Archie, Veronica, Reggie, and Betty do NOT want to hear their names.

Oh, but wait.  There's an upset!  After getting Weatherbee's mustard off of the list, they can now see who couple #3 is.  And couple #3 got the most votes, which tells me that while Archie and the gang were imagining the marriages from hell, the rest of the student body voted for...



...Jughead Jones and Ethel Muggs!  (Seriously, it really is Ethel Muggs.  Look it up.)



And while in the high school series of books, Jughead does everything to try and get away from Big Ethel, in this episode, Jughead and Big Ethel happily take their thrones with the other couples relieved that they don't ever have to see each other again until Episode 5B.



Oh, and Jughead and Big Ethel's version of happily ever after?  Big Ethel feeding Jughead a supermarket aisle's worth of food.  I don't know whether to be disgusted or happy for them.

You know, I have to say, this episode is not a favourite of mine.  Too much going on, and it was edited very badly.  Granted, Reggie and Veronica's dreams were satisfying to watch, but I felt terrible for Archie.  I could feel his exhaustion.  Trust me on that one.  I think that if this episode was made a full half hour one, it would have been more satisfying.

And the whole King/Queen of whatever festival storyline has been done to death.  Not very original.  I give this episode a solid D.

Coming up next week, the cast performs Cinderella - as a rock opera.  And when Betty gets the leading role, it makes a certain young lady see red.


Hint.  It's not Miss Beazley.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Kim Davis is NO Rosa Parks!

Image courtesy of Steve Sack, StarTribune.com


September 16, 2015

You know, one of the downsides to having been offline for two weeks was the fact that I missed out on commenting on current events that were taking place while I was on hiatus. 

That said, I'm going to be talking about something that is considered to be old news.  And the reason why I want to do this is because I have strong opinions about the subject matter that I want heard.  After all, everybody has a voice in this world, and everyone has the right to use it.

But when someone uses that voice to take rights away from other people, I don't agree with that at all.

By now, I'm sure that most of you have heard of the Kim Davis story, but to refresh the memories of those who don't know, I'll give a recap.  Kim Davis is the county clerk of Rowan County in the state of Kentucky.  The responsibilities of the county clerk include locating documents for court cases, overseeing local elections, and granting marriage licenses for couple who wish to get married.

But what happens when a clerk refuses to do the job that they are expected to do?

Well, such is the case with Kim Davis. 

Remember back in June, when the United States of America granted same-sex couples in all fifty states the right to marry?  Well, despite that ruling, Kim Davis basically took it upon herself to deny any same-sex couple the marriage license that they needed to get married. 

The reason Davis gave for not issuing the licenses was because it went against her beliefs.  She feels that marriage should just be between one man and one woman, and therefore does not believe in gay marriage.  So she took it upon herself to basically not do the job that she was hired to do.

In fact, she went one step further.  She refused to issue any licenses to ANY couple, gay or straight in her county whatsoever.  Lawsuits were filed, and because of her stance, she even spent five days in jail.  But despite this, she remains firm on her stance.

So, I guess the main question I have is...why in the world does she still even have a job in the first place?

Look, I get that Kim Davis is a bigot.  And unfortunately, free speech gives her the right to be a bigot (just as free speech gives me the right to call her one).  At the same time, if you're not doing your job - like issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples because it is the law to do so - then that person should not have that job any longer.

I mean, think about it.  I hate the colour pink.  Does that mean that at my job, I have the right to refuse service to anybody who happens to be wearing pink?  Absolutely not.  But of course, that's a really lame example to compare what Kim Davis did, so let's one-up my scenario, shall we?

I work in the hardware and sporting goods department in my day job.  And one of my duties that I have to perform at my job is to sell ammunition and pellet guns to customers, which I have to admit is not the most fun task in the world.

You see...I'm not a huge fan of hunting.  I especially don't like the idea of sport hunting.  Nothing disgusts me more than knowing that people would shoot beautiful animals for show.  My feelings are that unless you are hunting to provide food for your family, I don't think we should be doing it at all.  I'm definitely not saying that everyone that I have sold ammo to is like this, but part of me wonders if there were any that are.

That said, do my beliefs about hunting give me the right to not sell ammunition to sport hunters because I don't agree with their recreational activities?  Obviously not.  I'd find myself at the end of an unemployment line pretty quick if I ever did that! 

Look, I may not agree with hunting or selling ammo, but it is in my job description to do so.  I even signed a document saying that I would sell ammo and that I was old enough to sell ammo.  That's part of the job.  I may not like some duties of the job, but if I want to stay employed, I have to (pardon the pun) bite the bullet.

Kim Davis took a similar oath when she took on her job title.  She knows what her duties are, and is getting paid to do the job others expect her to do.  If she's not going to perform those duties, either demote her to another position or get rid of her entirely.  It's just that simple.

And please don't give me any song and dance number about how she is only standing up for what she believes in.  I've seen the meme that compares Davis to civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person.  There is absolutely no comparison between the two! 

Rosa Parks took a stand to give people more rights.  Kim Davis took a stand to take rights away.

Team Rosa Parks all the way.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

September 15, 1890

Hello, everybody!  I have to say, it's been interesting to try and only write half the blogs that I used to write, but it's nice at the same time.  It frees up more of my time for other things, which is always good.

Today's edition of the Tuesday Timeline will be going back in time over one hundred years...but it's amazing how even though this person has been gone for many years now how their work still resonates with people, and has inspired many others (including myself) to keep writing.

That'll be your only clue before we reveal the "mystery" behind today's subject.  In the meantime, why don't we have a look at some of the other events that took place on September 15th throughout history?

1812 - Napoleon leads the French Army to the Kremlin in Moscow

1821 - El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua declare their independence from Spain

1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1862 - Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia, during the American Civil War

1916 - Tanks are used for the first time at the Battle of the Somme during World War I

1922 - Actor Jackie Cooper (d. 2011) is born in Los Angeles

1935 - German Jews are denied the right to citizenship under the Nuremburg Laws on the same day that Nazi Germany adopts the swastika as their official symbol

1944 - Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference

1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube

1958 - Actress Wendie Jo Sperber (d. 2005) is born in Hollywood, California

1959 - Nikita Khrushchev visits the United States, the first Soviet leader to do so

1963 - Four children are killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama

1966 - Lyndon B. Johnson pens a letter to Congress urging them to enact gun control legislation following a sniper attack at the University of Texas

1968 - The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched - the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter Earth's atmosphere

1971 - The first Greenpeace ship sets sail

1978 - Muhammad Ali becomes the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three times, outpointing challenger Leon Sparks

1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to be the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

2000 - The Summer Olympics begin in Sydney, Australia

2004 - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announces the lockout of the players' union, which leads to the cancellation of the 2005 Stanley Cup Championship

2007 - Actress/singer/Match Game celebrity Brett Somers dies at 83

2008 - Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in American history

And celebrating a birthday today are the following people; Forrest Compton, Norm Crosby, Dick Latessa, Henry Darrow, Gaylord Perry, Tommy Lee Jones, Oliver Stone, Larry Sparks, Paula Duncan, Jaki Graham, Dan Marino, Dina Lohan, Scott McNeil, Amanda Wakeley, Vicky Entwistle, Danny Nucci, Josh Charles, Jimmy Carr, Sophie Dahl, Tom Hardy, Marisa Ramirez, Zach Filkins, Dave Annable, Amy Davidson, Tammie Brown, Heidi Montag, Chelsea Kane, Matt Shively, and Jake Cherry.

So, as I mentioned, today's edition of the blog will go back in time over one hundred years. 



The actual date being September 15, 1890.

Now, I can tell you that if this person were still alive...well, she'd probably be in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest living person.  Today would have been her 125th birthday.  Of course, that's not to say that her life was short.  No, she lived a rather lengthy life.  And she used that life to write some of the most compelling mysteries ever known to man or woman.

In fact, at some point in her life, she herself became the subject of one of the 20th century's biggest mysteries!

But we'll get to that a little later.

One thing that I can honestly say about this woman is that she was definitely one of my influences growing up.  I've always been a fan of mystery, and I've always been a fan of writing.  And lucky for me, she managed to find a way to combine both!



This is the story of author, poet, playwright, and Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie was born Agatha Mary Clarisse Miller on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England.  The only girl in a brood of five children, Agatha had a relatively happy childhood, surrounded by strong and independent women.  She was home schooled where she learned how to read, write, do arithmetic, and play a couple of musical instruments.

Agatha was never really one who liked to mingle with other children socially.  She more or less kept to herself.  But she had a fondness for animals, and had several pets.  And one thing that was one constant in her life was her love of reading.  Very seldom did you ever see Agatha without a book in hand.

(I suppose that's why I sort of relate with her and understand her so much.  She and I have very similar personalities.)

Anyway, while Agatha loved reading books, it did take her some time for her to begin writing them.  Her first piece was written while she was recovering from an illness in bed - a six thousand word short story entitled "The House of Beauty" (which would later be an early version of a novel entitled "The House of Dreams").  She would write a couple of other short stories as well, often with the subject matter of dreams and madness, and attempted to send them out to various publishers and magazines.  But Agatha was met with rejection at first - as most of us writers know all too well.

But Agatha never gave up in her quest to have something published, and she began working on a book entitled "Snow Upon The Desert", based on a holiday that she took in Cairo, Egypt.  But once again, publishers rejected her work, leaving her crestfallen.  But again, she refused to give up.

At least around this time, her romantic life was much better.  She fell head over heels in love with Archibald Christie and married him on December 24, 1914 - shortly after the outbreak of World War I and while Archibald was home on leave.

But while Agatha Christie was - for now - in love, she still wanted to achieve her dream of being a writer, and she opted to go the mystery route for her next efforts.  She had always been fascinated by the genre and cited Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" as one of her inspirations.  She wrote a novel entitled "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" which had Detective Hercule Poirot as the main character. 

Initially, Christie was met with much of the same rejection that she had encountered with her past efforts.  However, one publisher, The Bodley Head, were greatly considering releasing the book - on the condition that Christie changed the original ending.  Christie agreed, and the book was published in October 1920 - Christie's first of many novels to be published.

And just how many novels did Christie publish during her career?  Well, let's see.  There were those six romance novels that she wrote under the pen name of Mary Westmacott.  And she was the one who wrote "The Mousetrap", which has been performed regularly in England since 1952!  But of course, her bread and butter were the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections that she wrote under her own name.

After all, she was the one who made Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple household names.



And some of her best known works have been adapted, re-adapted, and spoofed in film, television, and video games.  My own personal recommendations if I could choose just five Agatha Christie novels for you to read are "The Big Four", "Murder on the Orient Express", "The ABC Murders", "Death On The Nile", and "Ten Little N######" (later known as "And Then There Were None" due to concerns about the last word, which for the sake of this PG rated blog, I blotted out.)

But all of the mysteries that Christie wrote in her career cannot top the real life mystery that took place when she mysteriously disappeared herself!

In 1926, the marriage of Agatha and Archibald Christie had hit the skids, and Archibald had asked his wife for a divorce, as he had fallen in love with somebody else.  On December 3, 1926, the Christies had a fight which saw Archibald leaving the Christie estate to be with his mistress.  Later that night, Agatha left the home leaving behind a note to her secretary saying that she was going off to Yorkshire for a few days.

She did not come back.



Her car was found at Newlands Corner, with an expired license and clothing found within.  The public were shocked and saddened over Agatha Christie's sudden disappearance, and a newspaper offered a hundred pound reward for anyone who could find her (a lot of money back in 1926).  At least one thousand police officers and 15,000 volunteers worked around the clock to try and figure out what really happened to Agatha Christie, and her disappearance made the front page of The New York Times.

Fortunately, Christie was not harmed.  She was found on December 14, 1926 at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel where she had registered under the name of her husband's mistress! 

It is unknown as to why she felt the need to disappear for a little while, and Christie took the real truth to her grave when she died in January 1976, having told nobody about it.  It is suspected that she needed to get away for a while because she was going through a lot of stress.  She was overworked and had several books on the go, and her mother had recently passed away.  Her husband's infidelity was likely the icing on the cake.  Heck, if I had so much going on in my life, I probably would have done the same thing - though with the Internet and social media, I probably would be found a lot sooner than Christie was! 

Then again, Christie was the "Queen of Mystery".  Only she could pull off a disappearing act and get away with it as long as she did.  And while she did suffer some backlash for what she did initially, I have to say that it didn't exactly ruin her.  She did divorce her husband in 1928, and she went on to write many, many stories.

I absolutely give props to Christie...a true inspiration of mine.