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Thursday, December 03, 2015

Santa Claus Parades



Let's see...today's December third...this must mean that it's Day #3 of A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR!  Boy, I'm smart! 

And, for Day #3, I thought I would take this opportunity to share a personal story from my Christmas memory banks.  I did promise that I would bring more of myself into this blog this year, and I think some of the greatest Christmas stories come from our own personal experiences.

In this edition of the blog, I thought that I would talk about an annual event that takes place in most cities that observe Christmas.  It doesn't matter whether the town is made up of a few hundred people, or a gigantic metropolis like New York, Los Angeles, or Toronto.  I think that every city in the world is capable of hosting the Santa Claus Parade, and I think that whether you're two or ninety-two, parades can be a real community gathering.

Now, I'm afraid I can't remember what my very first parade was.  In all likelihood, it was for my first Christmas back in '81, but I was only a few months old then.  My memory might be good, but it's not THAT good!  But I do remember going to the parade every year until I was maybe thirteen or fourteen to check out the floats and the bands, and which local celebrities would be making an appearance. 

Oh, and I suppose the promise of free candy certainly motivated me to go to the parade every year until I grew too big to get candy!  Hey, I have to be completely honest.

But free candy aside, the Santa Claus Parade truly was a community event.  Local businesses from all over town would enter floats that were elaborately decorated in the finest holiday decorations.  Let's face it, the Santa Claus Parade was one of the greatest ways to promote your small business.  I know that my family often did a lot of shopping downtown because of the Santa Claus parade.

(Truth be told, I like the feel of Christmas shopping downtown as opposed to shopping at big box stores...remind me to explain why that is in a future blog entry.)

Anyway, back to the parade - even though our small town parade wasn't as elaborate as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with gigantic balloons shaped like Spongebob Squarepants, Olaf from Frozen, Baymax, Snoopy, or Kim Kardashian's rear end, our community really made sure that the floats were unique.

For instance, one float I always remembered as a child was the one that spoofed "The Wizard of Oz".  The float was decorated like the Emerald City with a yellow brick road leading up to it, and all of the people on the float were dressed up like Dorothy and her friends.  I don't think the float is used much now, but it was an annual tradition for years.

In fact, check out some of the photos of the parades that have passed through my little town over the last couple of years.  They are filled with small town charm and huge personality.

You never know what you will see!

(All photos courtesy of the news site Inside Brockville.)



You might see a band playing all sorts of Christmas carols walking down the street!  And, you know I have to give the bands that do perform in the parade a lot of credit.  Not only do they have to play in sub-zero temperatures, but they also have to play a medley of holiday favourites while walking down a street!  I don't know about you, but I had a hard enough time playing a song sitting down!



Sometimes, you'd have dance groups putting together a choreographed number down the street - which again is something that I absolutely admire, as if I tried doing the same thing, I'd trip over my own feet and end up falling flat on my face somewhere in front of Domino's Pizza.



I mentioned floats before.  Here's an example above.



Oh, and of course no parade is complete without the man in red himself.  This is Santa's sleigh and he decided to bring his wife along for the ride.  True story.  This year, my sister and I were hitting the church sales (another future entry to look forward to this year), and we passed Santa's sleigh on the way to one of the churches.  Of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus were nowhere to be found.  I'm thinking that Rudolph must have rented them a limo.  After all, they are the stars of the show.

Again, our small town parades are nothing like the extravaganzas that are held in Toronto or New York City, but to be honest with you, I think that's what I like the most about our local parades.

Have you ever been to a parade that takes place during the evening hours?  It's just like the daytime parades.  You still get to see lots of floats and you get the chance to get free candy.  But the difference is that all of the floats are illuminated with Christmas lights and glowsticks.  It really is magical to watch one of these "light up the night" parades.

My city doesn't do the night parades...but the neighbouring communities of Prescott and Athens hold an annual night parade for Christmas.  These are a couple of photos from the Prescott parade that was held just a couple of weeks ago.  I'm sure you'll agree that the work that was put into making these gorgeous floats was well worth it.



It's almost like being in Walt Disney World, huh?

So, here's a question for all of you.  Were you ever a part of a Christmas parade?  What did you do?  Did you dance on the street?  Play in a band?  Wave to people on a float?  Collect donations?  Hand out candy?  Played the role of Santa Claus?  I'm interested in hearing your stories!

And, finally...I just want to offer my sympathies and condolences to those people who lost loved ones in that terrible shooting in San Bernardino, California yesterday.  What happened was tragic, and if anything, it should reopen discussions about gun control as well as trying to find ways to prevent instances like this from happening. 

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Archie's Christmas Stocking - And Other Holiday Favourites!



It's time for Day #2 in A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR.  So far, I think we've gotten off to a fine start, and as I try to find the momentum to do at least twenty-three more of these holiday themed blog posts, I find myself not feeling stressed in any way.

Well, at least when it comes to writing, anyway.  I have holiday stress in general, but I'm doing fine handling it.

And you know...when life gets too stressful, I find a temporary escape route...a route that I've been taking for...oh, let's say almost thirty years.

Yes, when life gets to be too much, I pull out an Archie comic book and transport myself into the fictional community of Riverdale.  It's the idyllic place, you know.  Everyone not only gets along with each other, but every single person in the community has a place, and is welcomed by anyone who happens to be near.

Believe me, sometimes I wish I lived in a place like that in the real world.



Some of my favourite Archie comic stories happen to be the Christmas themed ones.  In fact, I just picked up a copy of Archie's Funhouse Jumbo Comics Digest #17 which is chock filled with holiday stories featuring Archie and the gang.  Certainly well worth the $7.99 that I paid for the book.

(Sigh...remember when double digests were only $2.25?  That was how much they were when I first started reading Archie comics.  I wish we could go back to those days.)

Anyway, the Jumbo Comics seem to be the only way that we can enjoy Christmas stories now.  Whether the economy is to blame, or whether digital comics are becoming more in vogue, the print comic industry - at least in the case of classic Archie - seems to be slowing down. 

You certainly don't get a chance to see any Christmas tales in the standard 32-page comic books because most of the classic titles are no longer published.  Instead, the rebooted version of Archie seems to be the way of the world.  And granted, I don't mind the new Archie look...at the same time though, I do think that there is room for both the old Archie and the new Archie.

But anyway, getting back to the old Archie holiday stories, there was only one place where you could find them easily.  It was an annual tradition that lasted nearly four decades.  From 1954 to 1992, the Archie Giant Series released an annual holiday special that featured anywhere from one to four Christmas tales.  And I have to admit, I've made it a mission to try and get every single Christmas issue of the Archie Giant Series ever made.



Of course, the whole thing kicked off with "Archie's Christmas Stocking".  Initially, the reason why the title was called the Giant Series was because each book was almost the size of a digest!  Imagine grabbing a 32-page comic only to find that it's actually an 80 page giant!  That's quite a lot of stories!

Now as time passed, the Giant Series shrank to the size of a standard comic book, but that didn't mean that the stories decreased in quality.  Quite the opposite happened.  And as time passed, "Archie's Christmas Stocking" wasn't the only holiday title to make an appearance in the Giant Series.



Naturally, Betty and Veronica had to have their own title as well, and the "Betty & Veronica Christmas Spectacular" lasted almost as long as "Archie's Christmas Stocking".  It was essentially the same concept, only with mostly Betty and Veronica stories.




There was "Archie's Christmas Love-In", which began in the 1960s and lasted until around 1981.  These were a collection of stories that were more serious than the humourous ones that featured Archie and his friends.  They often had a Christmas moral, focused on the religious aspects of the holiday, and were generally feel good stories.  I liked Archie's Christmas Love-In, but can see why it didn't last that long.



"Sabrina's Christmas Magic" was Archie Comics way of bringing a little bit of magic to the holiday.  All stories in this title featured Sabrina trying to spread holiday cheer to everyone in her life, even though her Aunt Hilda and Della the head witch did everything to remind Sabrina that she's supposed to use her powers for good instead of evil.  But even the Christmas magic can have its effects on the coldest of hearts.  I really liked this title a lot, and I think it should have lasted longer than 1982.



Even the Joe Edwards' creation of Li'l Jinx had her own holiday title.  I can't say that I have too many issues of "Li'l Jinx's Christmas Bag" (mainly because I wasn't a huge fan of Li'l Jinx to begin with), but I will say that it's really hard to screw up a Christmas story.

(I'm kind of disappointed that they never had a Jughead Christmas title.)

Now, when the Giant Series was put to bed in the summer of 1992, the Christmas stories were incorporated into regular Archie titles.  The Christmas Stocking title lasted seven more years with annual specials right up until 2000.  After that, selected issues of "Archie", "Betty & Veronica", and "Jughead" were designated as special holiday issues.



Also beginning in 1996, Archie comics released a digest of selected holiday classics known as "Archie's Holiday Fun Digest".  I do wish that series were still going on though.  It ended in 2007 after twelve issues. 

So, what are some of my favourite Archie holiday stories?  Well, I created a list of them selected from my own personal collection!  I must note though that some of these stories come from my digest collection, so I will be posting the digest title that they appear in.



1.  THE LAST CHRISTMAS (Archie Digest #34)

This is a tear jerker of a story, so be warned in advance.  Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica are coming back home after doing Christmas shopping and they make a pit stop at an abandoned home which has not been lived in for at least a hundred years.  Little did they know that the spirits of a woman and her son live there too.  The little boy died just before Christmas without seeing his toys and tree, and when the gang decide to decorate the inside of the house, it puts an end to a hundred years of misery.  Again, this one's a tearjerker.

2.  THE SACRIFICE (Archie Digest #47)

What happens when you find an abandoned baby on the doorstep in the middle of winter?  Well, Betty and Veronica decide to adopt it, of course.  But when a young woman down on her luck keeps spying on them, it leads both girls to come to the conclusion that the woman is the baby's mother, who had to abandon him so he could have a better life.  Can Betty and Veronica do anything to reunite mother and son for good?  Again, this one's a tearjerker!



3.  POP GOES THE WEASEL (Betty & Veronica Double Digest #17)

When the balloons that Santa Claus gives out to the children keep getting popped, Sabrina decides to investigate.  When she discovers that "Santa" is actually a male warlock set on destroying Christmas for everybody, Sabrina decides to fight fire with fire.  Does the balloon bandit get what's coming to him?  You better believe it!

4. SHOPPING DAZE TIL CHRISTMAS (Betty & Veronica Double Digest #17)

Even the most rational of us tend to get a little bit gift happy over the holidays, and Veronica is no exception.  She ends up buying more things for herself than those on her list.  But when they meet a young woman who is crying in the mall because she doesn't have any money to buy a gift or a father who will help her out, does it melt even the snobbiest of hearts?  This is another good story!



5. A JOB FOR JINGLES (Archie's Christmas Stocking #10)

He's been a mainstay in Archie holiday comics since 1961, and this was Jingles the Elf's first appearance.  Now, Jingles is an elf that only Archie and his friends can see, and whenever he comes on the scene, you know it's because he needs the gang's help to take down a cheap toy developer, or to help Santa deliver gifts, or to plan a Christmas party for orphans.  He's really a great guy to have on your side. 



6. VISIONS OF A SUGAR PLUM (Betty & Veronica #108)

While Jingles usually keeps to visiting Archie or Jughead, Betty and Veronica have a friend of their own...the Sugar Plum Fairy - who sort of looks like Mariah Carey.  Hey, that rhymed!  And usually, Sugar Plum is as filled with Christmas spirit as Jingles...but when she has her heart set on falling in love with another elf, but can't get him to notice her, she disguises herself as a human with help from Betty and Veronica.  Suffice to say, it ends up becoming a mistake as everything goes haywire!



7. THE NAUGHTY CLAUSE (Archie #639)

Finally, we'll take a look at a recent comic.  It's one that features both Jingles and Sugar Plum, as well as the big bearded man in red himself!  When the rest of the gang discover that Reggie is on the naughty list, they all head up to the North Pole to try and talk some sense into Santa Claus.  While up there, a disaster occurs that almost threatens to cancel Christmas...but it's Reggie who comes up with an idea to save Christmas for everyone.  In the process, Reggie discovers the true meaning of Christmas.  It may be a couple of years old, but it just goes to show that Archie has still got it when coming up with holiday favourites.




Oh...one last thing.  If you're looking for a gift to give this Christmas, I recommend this special edition book entitled "Archie's Favorite Christmas Comics".  It's over 400 pages of classic holiday stories...a couple of which are some of the stories I've featured in this blog!  Definitely worth it!

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

December 1, 2000

Welcome to the very first day of December 2015!  And while we're at it, welcome to the very first entry of THE POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR!



I'm very excited to be bringing you Day #1 in the calendar...an annual tradition since 2012.  And this year, I've decided to bake some cookies in celebration of the event.

(Well, okay...I didn't bake these.  You don't want to see me bake anything.)

It also happens to be the Tuesday Timeline portion of the week.  In this entry, as well as all future entries this month, I'm going to try and make each day holiday themed.  I'll admit that finding a topic for December 1 was a real challenge.  I had to get a little bit creative with my research skills, let's put it that way.

In the end, I think I came up with an appropriate topic that fits the Tuesday Timeline criteria.

But before we do that, let's look at the events that I did NOT choose.

1420 - Henry V enters Paris

1834 - Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony

1865 - Raleigh, North Carolina becomes the setting of the first historically black university to be established - Shaw University

1885 - The soft drink "Dr. Pepper" is first served at a drug store in Waco, Texas

1913 - Actress Mary Martin is born in Weatherford, Texas

1918 - Transylvania unites with the Kingdom of Romania

1923 - Comedian Dick Shawn (d. 1987) is born in Buffalo, New York

1933 - Singer/actor Lou Rawls (d. 2006) is born in Chicago, Illinois

1940 - Actor Richard Pryor (d. 2005) is born in Peoria, Illinois

1941 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives his final approval to initiate war against the United States - The bombing of Pearl Harbor takes place just six days later

1952 - The New York Daily News issues an article about Christine Jorgensen - the first person known to have gender reassignment surgery

1955 - Rosa Parks is arrested after she refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus

1958 - Ninety-two children and three nuns perish when a fire breaks out in Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago

1960 - Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested and later deported from Germany after being accused of attempted arson

1969 - The first draft lottery is held in the United States for the first time since World War II

1971 - John Lennon releases "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"

1974 - Ninety-two people are killed when TWA Flight 514 crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport

1989 - Famed choreographer Alvin Ailey passes away at the age of 58

2001 - The final flight for TWA lands in St. Louis, Missouri - the company was bought out by American Airlines earlier in the year

And a very happy birthday goes out to the following famous faces; Woody Allen, Chuck Low, Lee Trevino, Eric Bloom, John Densmore, Bette Midler, Jonathan Katz, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Elizabeth Baur, Richard Keith, Obba Babatunde, Treat Williams, Bob Goen, Candace Bushnell, Lisa Fischer, Charlene Tilton, Carol Alt, Jeremy Northam, Sylvie Daigle, Nathalie Lambert, Andrew Adamson, Katherine LaNasa, Nestor Carbonell, Reggie Sanders, Justin Chadwick, Golden Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Emily Mortimer, Laura Ling, Akiva Schaffer, Nate Torrance, Janelle Monae, Vance Joy, Zoe Kravitz, Chanel Iman, and Jackson Nicoll.

So, what date are we going back in time to this week to kick off this special month of holiday goodness?



Well, how about 15 years back in time to, oh...December 1, 2000?

I have to say that when it comes to the Christmas season, there is one thing that I absolutely look forward to.  And believe it or not, it's something that seems to garner a lot of mixed emotions.  Some absolutely love it.  Others absolutely hate it.  And depending on where you are in the world, you can either get none at all, or way more than you really need.



I am, of course, talking about Christmas snow!

As far as I am concerned, there is no better way to put me in the holiday spirit than by having a liberal dusting of the white stuff on the ground on Christmas Day.  If I have a green Christmas, it'll still be a lot of fun, but not nearly as much fun as a white Christmas would be.

Last year, we had a Christmas thunderstorm.  Yeah, that's real Christmasy.  I was worried that poor Vixen and Cupid would be electrocuted with the nasty weather we had here in Canada.

But thinking back to December 2000, it certainly was a white Christmas.  At the time, I lived in Ottawa and we seemed to have one blizzard right after the other that year.  And you know what?  It was fantastic!  I love Christmas snow!

Of course, growing up in Canada, the chances of having a white Christmas are greater here than in places as say...Florida or Hawaii.  Even a city like Los Angeles rarely sees any snow during the holiday season.  The last time Los Angeles saw a hint of snowfall was in January 2007.

So, imagine if a Canadian style blizzard happened to fall over Los Angeles.  On the minus side, the city would completely shut down.  On the plus side, it could be the first step in curing the California drought.

Well, back on December 1, 2000, the Disney Channel attempted to answer this question when they released a movie about two precocious girls who somehow find a weather machine and use it to make snow fall over Los Angeles...and having to deal with the consequences of their actions.



The movie is "The Ultimate Christmas Present", and it starred Hallee Hirsh and Brenda Song as Allie Thompson and Sam Kwan. 

Now, granted, the movie is a Disney Channel creation, so you might expect it to have a "High School Musical", "Twitches", or "Camp Rock" feel to it.  But surprisingly, it still seems to hold up some fifteen years later - even if the premise of the story seems farfetched.

Basically the gist is that Allie and Sam come across a cabin in the woods, and they discover that inside the cabin there is a device that seemingly controls the weather.  The girls could make it rainy, snowy, windy, sunny...whatever floated their boats.



They test the machine out by making it snow in Los Angeles.  After all, they have never seen a white Christmas before, and they figure that this was the only way to make it happen.  And to their shock, the machine actually works.  Soon, Los Angeles is blanketed under a layer of white snow.

So who does the weather machine belong to?  Apparently it belongs to Santa Claus, who happened to accidentally leave the machine behind.  He sets out on a mission to get it back, and sends a couple of elves, Crumpet (John Salley) and Sparky (Bill Fagerbakke) to retrieve it.

At the same time, a meteorologist named Edwin Hadley (Peter Scolari) is noticing the strange weather patterns that seem to be occurring in California, and he makes it his mission to try and discover what the cause it.  Unfortunately, he is motivated by purely selfish means, as the reason he wants to do the story is to keep from getting fired.

So, as the movie progresses, the blizzard spreads, and soon most of California is under a winter storm watch.  This includes the city of San Francisco, where Allie's dad is currently staying.  Because of the bad weather, Allie's dad is unable to make it back home for Christmas which makes Allie sad.  Allie and Sam try to turn off the machine, but it just turns itself back on again.  It seems as though the only person who can shut the machine off is Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.

And frankly, he may not be very jolly when he finds Allie and Sam.  After all, Allie's fiddling with the machine has now put her on the naughty list!

So what happens?  Can Allie and Sam stop the weather machine?  Will Edwin do some dastardly things to get his hands on the device?  Can Santa and his elves put things back to normal?

Well...I don't want to spoil anything in case you haven't seen the movie yet...but given that it's a Disney Christmas movie, I'm guessing it has a happy ending.  I would hope so anyway.

So, yes...that was the first of many holiday themed entries.  Stay tuned!  This advent calendar has just begun!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

These Were The Last Days Of Freddie Mercury's Life...

All right, so last week I was planning on doing a Tuesday Timeline entry for November 24, but had to cut it short on account of illness.

The gastrointestinal flu bug absolutely sucks, by the way.  Don't ever get it.

So, as a result, I thought that I would talk about the subject that I had intended to talk about on that Tuesday Timeline today, just to tie up any loose ends.



Okay, so the date that I had initially wanted to talk about was November 24, 1991.  And it was a date in which a rock music legend passed away. 



I'm sure by now most of you have heard of the late Freddie Mercury.  If you haven't, you were either just born, or listened mostly to country or gangster rap.  But Freddie Mercury was essentially one of the most influential artists to ever grace a rock and roll stage.

Having been the lead singer for the British rock band Queen for twenty-one years, Freddie's powerful vocals certainly added a much needed flavour to the rock charts.  Whether he was singing light hearted pop fare like "You're My Best Friend" or "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" to epic rock ballads like "Innuendo" to iconic songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" to playful songs like "I Want To Break Free", Freddie Mercury certainly could emote any possible emotion necessary to sell the song.



(And he often had a ball poking fun at other pop culture references in the meantime.  In the "I Want To Break Free" video, I had absolutely no idea that he and the rest of the band were spoofing characters from "Coronation Street"!)

Yes, Freddie Mercury was a huge star, respected by all in both the United Kingdom and America (and presumably every nation in between).  And it seemed as though nothing could stop him.

But the beginning of the end for Mercury came sometime around the mid-1980s when he received a very terrible diagnosis from his doctor.  One that he would inevitably keep a secret for at least four years.

Although it's really unknown as to when exactly Freddie Mercury was first diagnosed, the British press began issuing articles as early as October 1986 that claimed that Mercury had been infected with the AIDS virus.

And keep in mind that back in the 1980s, AIDS was a very touchy subject.

I was born in 1981 - the same year that AIDS was first discovered in the world.  So, it's a scary and sobering fact that I have never known a world without AIDS in it.  Of course, in 2015, AIDS is no longer the death sentence that it used to be.  Research and improvements in treating the disease means that people who contract HIV now may very well live the rest of their lives without having it develop into full blown AIDS.  And to those who have contracted AIDS, medical research has extended their lives almost two decades or more since first being diagnosed.  We've also come a long way in figuring out how the disease is spread, and we all know that it can only be spread by tainted blood transfusions (all blood donations since 1990 have been tested before being approved for donation), having unprotected sex with someone infected with the virus, or by sharing needles with someone who has the virus.

That being said, prior to Freddie Mercury publicly revealing that he had the disease, only two other high profile stars had revealed their HIV positive status - Magic Johnson revealed his HIV status in November 1991, and actor Rock Hudson came forward with his own admission six years earlier, in 1985.

It actually makes me angry seeing how people were treated back in those days.  Mind you, I was too young to understand what AIDS really was as a child, but even back then I knew that AIDS was not an airborne virus.  If it were, more people would have gotten sick with it.  Plus, when I was around eleven or twelve, I watched a documentary on Ryan White, a young man who was bullied out of his school because he had contracted AIDS via blood transfusion - one of many that he received as a result of his hemophilia.  That documentary informed me a lot about how AIDS really was contracted, and I learned that you couldn't get it from hugging someone, or sharing lunch with someone, or drinking out of the same glass as someone who had AIDS. 

On one hand, it makes me angry that so many people were harassed and bullied because they had an incurable disease...but on the other hand, AIDS was still fairly new back in the 1980s and not a lot of people understood how it worked.  By that view, I can understand why some were afraid.

I suppose that paranoia and fear of AIDS could explain why Freddie was so reluctant to admit that he had the virus.  It is estimated that Mercury had known that he had AIDS since 1987.  It certainly makes sense.  After all, his 41st birthday party that year was one of the most extravagant and expensive parties that a rock star had ever thrown at the time - held at the Pikes Hotel in the popular island vacation spot of Ibiza.  I guess looking back on it, Mercury had thrown the party as one last hurrah, not knowing exactly how much time he had left. 

But in 1987 - the year that Mercury had reportedly discovered that he had AIDS - Mercury still flat out denied that he had the virus, even telling the press that he had in fact tested negative for the virus.  It's not known why, but Freddie was certainly the antithesis of his larger than life persona in his private life, so maybe he kept quiet to keep the press away.



However, by 1990, it was becoming harder and harder for Mercury to deny the rumours, particularly after he made his final public appearance on stage at the 1990 BRIT Awards looking gaunt and frail.  Despite this, Mercury continued to work with Queen (the members of the band had found out about his illness sometime between his official diagnosis around 1987 and the 1990 BRIT Awards), and Mercury's final album with the band - "Innuendo" was released in February 1991.

And in September 1991, the music video for the album's fourth single, "These Are the Days of Our Lives" was released.  Have a look at the music video.  It was the last video featuring Freddie Mercury - filmed in May 1991 when Mercury was in the final stages of his battle with AIDS.



The original video was supposed to have been filmed in colour, but was later changed to black and white because the band felt that using black and white film would not make Mercury's appearance look as sickly.  When colour footage of the video shoot was later released, it became clear why the band made the decision that they did.

In the UK, the single reached #1.  It failed to chart in the USA, but the release date was September 5, 1991 - Mercury's 45th birthday.

Little did anybody know that it would be the last birthday that Freddie Mercury would ever see.

Just two months later, on November 23, 1991, Mercury made the announcement that many had long suspected was the truth.

Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue.

Less than twenty-four hours later, on the evening of November 24, 1991, Freddie Mercury lost his battle with AIDS, at the age of just 45 years old. 

And with that, a rock legend was silenced forever.  But if anything, he did provide a face to the disease known as AIDS.  He showed all of us just how deadly it could be.  In a way, he also showed us that there could still be humanity and compassion in people, and that there could still be joy found, even if the person is in pain.  Because even though Freddie knew that his time was coming to an end...he was also content.



And really, isn't that the way we all should leave this planet?

Saturday, November 28, 2015

The Return of THE POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR!

Well, now that American Thanksgiving and Black Friday is out of the way, I think it's time to officially welcome in the holidays!



Now, while my cover photo may say "Merry Christmas", I do want to take the time to wish everyone Happy Holidays.  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Diwali, Las Posadas, Three Kings Day, or Festivus, do so happily and merrily.  Not to mention safely.



And, I thought that for today's blog entry, I would explain how A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE will be celebrating the holiday festival.



Well, I thought that I would bring back the POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR for one!

It's been an annual tradition since 2012 in this blog, and what the advent calendar does is feature one entry for each of the twenty-four days leading up to Christmas Day that have something to do with the holiday season.  I could do a feature on a book, a toy, a video game, a movie, a music song...anything that is holiday flavoured.



But this year, I'll be doing it with a twist.  There'll be a couple of changes to the mix this year.



First, I'm kind of right in the middle of the New Archies Reviewed series, and I still intend on doing one entry every Friday until it is done.  So, at least three of the twenty-five days will feature these entries.

(In fact, I can tell you that they will occur on December 4, 11, and 18.)

But to try and keep it holiday themed, I'll try to insert Christmas trivia related to the episode.  Key word try.  I don't know how it'll work out just yet, but bear with me.  I'll figure it out.



For the other twenty-two days, it'll be business as usual.  I'll use the Tuesday Timeline entries to talk about something holiday related, and I plan on featuring at least two entries each on holiday music, movies, and television specials.

But I also wanted to make this blog more personal this year, so I will also be telling you some personal holiday stories that are heartwarming, thoughtful, and weird.  Emphasis on the weird part.  But hey, isn't that what the holidays are all about?  Being who you are without judgment?  And if people do judge you, you can choke a piece of fifty year old fruitcake up their...



...oh, sorry.  That's not Holly Jolly Christmas behaviour.  My bad.




So, stay tuned, everyone!  The advent calendar begins on Tuesday, December 1!  I promise you...it will be sweet!

Friday, November 27, 2015

New Archies Reviewed: Episode 10A - Loose Lips Stops Slips

I'm FINALLY starting to feel a lot better.  This gastrointestinal flu sucks!  Don't ever get it!

Thankfully, I'm back just in time for the dreaded "Black Friday" event that seems to be taking over more and more of the world.  And yes, I am working today.  Please keep me in your thoughts and hope I don't get assaulted by deal hungry shoppers.

Thnakfully, today's edition of The New Archies Reviewed is about anything BUT taking.  Instead, it's about giving.  Appropriate, given that yesterday was Thanksgiving in the United States.

One thing I'm thankful for?  This episode is MUCH better than Episode 9.



This is Episode 10A:  Loose Lips Stops Slips.  When I get to the end, you'll see why I have a minor issue with the title of this episode.



So, I'm thinking that it must be a special day in the town of Riverdale, as there are plans to erect a huge golden statue of the town founder Horace T. Riverdale (which contradicts the comic books, but go with it).  And in celebration of the event, MS. Grundy announces a surprise of her own.  There's going to be an award given to the student who performs the most good deeds around town, and the person who succeeds will be given a smaller version of the statue as an award.  So, basically, the more community service you do, the better chance of getting recognized.  I'm not sure if promising to give an incentive to do good in the world is the best idea, but anything that improves community life has to be a good thing.



It's just a shame that Archie isn't paying attention.  He's fixated on tying knots into a rope.  I hope you don't mind getting too attached to that rope, because it'll be hanging around the whole episode.

(Note to self.  Stop making rope puns.)



Anyway, after MS. Grundy assigns a lot of long division homework, Jughead looks at his Pac-Man watch (seriously, it's cool), and decides that instead of doing his homework, he'll go and eat snacks instead!



Now, where is MS. Grundy, letting her students turn her classroom into a cafeteria?  If that were my teacher, she'd send me out in the hall!



Oh, wait...Archie's already taken care of that for her.  Seems Archie accidentally tied his rope around Jughead's desk.  Oh well.



Betty and Amani have decided that they will volunteer at a retirement home, and ask Veronica if she wants to tag along.  Veronica says that she can do community service her own way...by crossing the street and pushing away everyone who is in her way.  That's our Veronica.  So kind and pure.



Another person who seems to be misinterpreting the definition of community service is Reggie, who has taken it upon himself to give MS. Grundy her morning newspaper.  MS. Grundy reminds Reggie that sucking up won't get him anywhere, to which MS. Grundy totally redeems herself in my book!



But Archie is looking depressed.  And, you know what?  I think I'm watching an abbreviated version of this show.  I could have sworn that there was a scene included where Archie tries to help Coach Kleats out only for him to get attacked by a bouncing tire and falling into a swimming pool.  That would explain Archie's sudden depression.



But it only takes a few frames to learn why Archie's so upset.  He sees Betty, Veronica, and Amani at the retirement home singing like Yoko Ono, Edith Bunker, and that guy from Ween and is upset that his singing voice isn't terrible enough to sing to them too. 



He sees Ethel sweeping outside a bakery and is upset that he doesn't have a broom. 



He sees Moose lift up a car (with a driver still inside) to allow two small kids to cross the street) and is upset that he can't lift a Buick.  What's more, Moose tries to explain to Archie that he is having a hard time finding good deeds to perform even though he just performed one.  Oh, that Moose!

So this is the main plot of the show.  Archie wants to help, but feels he is too unqualified to do so.  But how does the rope fit in?  Let's continue watching.



So, it's early morning in Riverdale the next day, and Archie decides to start his good deed making skills early by bringing in the trash cans.  Only he's so busy staring at his rope that he knocks one of the cans over.

(Ah...remember the good old days when instead of cell phones distracting us, it was a piece of rope?  Ah, memories.)



Anyway, the neighbours (and Archie's parents) are awoken, yell four letter words at him, and some even throw their shoes at him!  What kind of neighbourhood does Archie live in?



Worse still, Archie ends up knocking the other can over and it starts rolling down the street!  You always have to top yourself, don't you, Archie?



Archie grabs his rope and tries to lasso that little silver shiny doggie...only for him to tear down his mailbox instead.  And Archie then remarks that he wants to move to Bora Bora.  Well, that was random.



Archie's next stop is the school where he spies MS. Grundy tending to the garden.  Archie immediately wants to help by weeding the garden for her, but he accidentally rips out the flowers instead causing MS. Grundy to physically pull him away from the garden.  MS. Grundy wants to water the plants and Archie notices that the hose is tied up.  He offers to untie the hose while setting his rope down.  We know Archie is very good at tying knots, but what about untying them?



Well, the good news is, Archie managed to succeed...but the fact that the hose has expanded to about 100 times its size doesn't look too promising!



Sure enough, the pressure that was building up from the knot shoots out into MS. Grundy's face, and she screams as the hose tries to drown her!  Seriously, the animation makes it look like the hose is possessed by the same Poltergeist that frightened Craig T. Nelson back in '82!  Oh, and MS. Grundy's scream as Archie turns off the water?  Hilarious!



Archie is upset that the garden got damaged, but did find out one thing.  When the rope that Archie was playing with got drenched, the knots became tighter.  Where did Archie get that rope, the dollar store?  Oh, well.  This must be a totally unrelated fact that will have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE REST OF THE EPISODE, RIGHT?

After Archie and MS. Grundy dry off, it's time for class, and everyone in the class is bragging about how they are just like Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, and the woman from All In The Family that did those Feed The Children television infomercials in the 1980s and how they deserve the award for good citizenship.  Of course, it makes Archie want to crawl into a hole and die...or move to Pago Pago.  But MS. Grundy puts a reassuring hand on Archie's shoulder and tells him not to give up.



Isn't that sweet...even after almost drowning in her own garden, MS. Grundy still believes in Archie.  I think our teacher's growing soft.



The next stop is Pop's, where most of the gang is gathered around a table.  Archie is determined to show just how good of a person he is by making an ice cream sundae big enough to feed Jughead!

Or...the people seated at the table.  At least, that's Archie's intended goal, anyway.



Too bad that stupid rope happens to make another annoying cameo.  As Archie walks towards the table with the sundae, the rope gets caught in his sneaker and trips him, sending Archie sailing toward the table and the sundae splatting up on the ceiling which then cascades down onto the diners below.



You know what would have made that scene more believable?  A ceiling fan.  That would have made things so much more fun.



And look.  Archie's sitting on his front porch playing with the rope again more depressed than ever before.  Seriously, Archie...enough is enough.  Put the rope down, dude.

Even Betty, Veronica, Amani, Ethel, and Moose (who still can't do a good deed even though he just rescued a cat from a tree) tell Archie to stop feeling sorry for himself and just help them out.  But Archie's not in a mood to listen.



Reggie arrives with his paper route, throws the paper in the rose fixture next to the front door, and taunts him before speeding away.  Archie tries to use his lasso technique to grab the paper, but ends up hooking the roses instead, which cause the whole display to topple on top of him.  Now Archie's depressed, has a face full of rose thorns, and publicly declares that he wants to move to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Which I'm pretty sure is closer to Riverdale than Bora Bora or Pago Pago, but since Archie's depressed enough already, I won't spoil it for him.



It's the day of the statue raising ceremony, and Betty and Jughead are knocking on Archie's door wanting him to go with them.  Archie refuses, saying that he doesn't belong there since he doesn't have any good deeds to report, and it is at this point that Betty gets angry and drags him out of there telling him that he should get his butt over there because he has spent the last nine and a half episodes doing stupid things that have made them laugh and feel better about themselves which in turn was a good deed.

(Okay, she doesn't really say that.  But it's what we're all thinking!)



The whole town has gathered outside of Riverdale Junior High School (interesting place for a statue), and a group of men are using a pulley system with a rope to hoist the statue onto the pedastal while Mr. Weatherbee makes the speech.  Oh, you know there's going to be trouble when Weatherbee is on the stage.

And trouble starts almost immediately when the men have trouble lifting the statue.  It's too heavy for their pulley, and when the men slip and the statue begins to fall, the crowd gasps. 



But take a look at the statue's rope.  It should be obvious what the problem is.  The rope is too loose!  Gee, I wonder if there's a way we could make the rope tighter...I wonder...



Wait?  Where's Archie going?  Why is he grabbing a hose?  Why is Weatherbee screaming at him to stop?

Oh, I get it!  Archie has decided to spray Mr. Weatherbee with the hose because he knows that every time Mr. Weatherbee has a speech, something goes wrong.  No speech, nothing goes wrong.

Or maybe Archie's remembering what happened at the garden a few days ago...about how if he sprays a rope with water, it automatically tightens.  I don't know what material this rope is made of, but it's clear that if it worked on Archie's little rope, surely it'd work on one a hundred feet longer.



Archie aims the hose at the statue - specifically the part where the rope's knot it.  And instantly the rope shrinks enough for the men to pull the statue onto the pedastal.  Nice job, Archie, even though in real life it would be impossible to get results that instant.

Now that everyone has dried off, and the statue is safe, it's time for MS. Grundy to announce the winner of the citizenship award, and given what just happened, and how he saved the statue from being smashed (not to mention saved dozens of people from getting killed from the impact), it would be cruel not to give Archie the award, wouldn't it?



And, after Archie sprays himself in the face (watch that foot with the hose, Archie), he runs up on stage to accept the award...



...only to trip over the microphone.



And as this episode ends, we get the classic "That's Our Archie" shot!

Okay, so scientific discrepancies aside, this was a great episode - far better than the last one.  It had warmth, it really promoted doing good in your community, and it showed that hard work, determination, and never giving up on yourself always wins in the end.

But seriously...Loose Lips Stops Slips?  Shouldn't it be Tight Lips Stops Slips?  Or Loose Lips Sink Statues?  Or The Rope Episode?  Anything would have been better!  But, hey...if the only thing I can complain about is the title, then I have to call it a success.


Next week, an episode that has everyone changing their minds.  Literally.