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Tuesday, October 18, 2016

October 18, 1984

Although this week's Tuesday Timeline has a tragic twist to it, it definitely changed the way that actors looked at various props - and how no matter how much effort producers take to make movie and television sets safe, there's always a certain amount of risk that we all take when we go to our respective workplaces.

Before we get to this week's subject, let's have a look at some of the other events that took place on October 18.

1356 - Basel, Switzerland is completely destroyed by an earthquake

1648 - The first American labor organization is established by Boston shoemakers

1775 - African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery

1779 - The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted during the American Revolutionary War

1851 - Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" is first published

1867 - After purchasing Alaska from Russia for over seven million dollars, the United States formally takes over the territory

1898 - The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain

1919 - Former Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau (d. 2000) is born in Montreal, Quebec

1922 - The BBC is established

1927 - Actor George C. Scott (d. 1999) is born in Wise, Virginia

1935 - Actor Peter Boyle (d. 2006) is born in Norristown, Pennsylvania

1938 - Singer Ronnie Bright (d. 2015) is born in New York City

1945 - The wedding of Juan Peron and Eva "Evita" Duarte is held in Argentina

1947 - Singer-songwriter Laura Nyro (d. 1997) is born in The Bronx, New York

1954 - Texas Instruments announces the invention of the first transistor radio

1966 - Cosmetics businesswoman Elizabeth Arden dies at the age of 87

1969 - The Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You" reaches #1 on the Billboard Charts

2000 - Actress/singer Julie London dies at the age of 74

2008 - Rihanna and T.I. score a #1 hit on the Billboard charts with "Live Your Life"

2012 - Professional wrestler Marvin "Brain Damage" Lambert dies, aged 34

And for celebrity birthdays, I'd like to wish Chuck Berry, Dawn Wells, Mike Ditka, Cynthia Weil, Joe Morton, Joe Egan, Sheila White, Pam Dawber, Chuck Lorre, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Briscoe Hay, Martina Navratilova, Jon Lindstrom, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Erin Moran, Wynton Marsalis, Vincent Spano, Curtis Stigers, Dave Price, Angela Visser, Eric Stuart, Lisa Chappell, Rachel Nichols, Chris L. McKenna, Ne-Yo, Josh Gracin, Freida Pinto, Esperanza Spalding, Lindsey Vonn, Zac Efron, Bristol Palin and Carly Schroeder a very happy day indeed!

Now, as I mentioned before, today's Tuesday Timeline date is one that surrounds a tragic event caused by an accident that was easily preventable.



For it was on October 18, 1984 that this actor would draw his last breath.



Now, chances are, if I say the name Jon-Erik Hexum, you're probably not going to have any idea who I am talking about.  It's okay if you don't.  When I first read about him, I didn't know who he was either.  His career was one that burned out almost as quickly as it started.  He was just 26 years old when he died - a really young age for anybody to go.  And at the time of his death, he was just starting to make a name for himself as an actor.  He starred in the short lived television series "Voyagers" from 1982-1983, and in 1983 he was cast alongside Joan Collins in the made for television film "Making of a Male Model".  By the time 1984 had rolled around, he had his first role in a motion picture - a small part in "The Bear" - and he was the lead in the television series "Cover Up", which debuted on CBS a month before he died.



I have a feeling that most of you probably won't remember the show "Cover Up", so here's a brief description.  Hexum played the role of Mac Harper, a CIA operative who also worked as a male model so that his cover wouldn't be blown.  He has been recruited by fashion photographer Dani Reynolds (played by Jennifer O'Neill) in hopes that he will be able to find the perpetrators responsible for the murder of her husband.  The reason for Mac posing as a male model is to draw less attention towards them, but also gives Dani the opportunity to tag along as the photographer.

In October 1984, the show had already taped the first six episodes of the show, and on October 12, the cast and crew were busy filming the seventh.  In one of the scenes for that episode, it required Hexum to load a .44 Magnum handgun with bullets.  Now, obviously it would be irresponsible for any film crew to leave a loaded pistol lying around the set, so instead the gun was loaded with blanks.  Though, the gun that they used for the scene was a real pistol - which might have been the first mistake.

When the scene was filmed, the director wasn't happy with how the scene looked, so he decided that he would shoot the scene over again, which meant a delay in production.  By this time, Jon-Erik Hexum was starting to grow impatient and he was looking for ways to pass the time.  This leads to mistake number two - the pistol that was used in the scene.  There are varying reports as to whether or not Hexum knew that the gun was real, but regardless, Hexum decided that he would have a little fun with the gun.



Fun in the way of a little Russian Roulette.

He had unloaded five of the six blanks from the gun, leaving one round inside.  And thinking that the blanks were absolutely harmless, he spun it around, aimed the gun at his right temple, and pulled the trigger.

This was mistake #3...and it would prove to be fatal.

The science of blanks being used in guns is to simulate a real gunshot.  It sort of has the same science behind it as one of those cap guns that you might have played with as a kid.  When the trigger is pulled with blanks inside, there is a little bit of gunpowder that is wrapped up in either a plastic casing or a paper casing, and most times, shooting a blank is perfectly harmless.  Loud, but harmless.

But there is a warning that states that blanks should NEVER be fired close to a person's body.  Because even though there are no bullets in the gun, the force that is used to shoot the blank can cause serious injury to the person - especially if placed next to a vulnerable area such as the ear, eye, throat - or temple.

In Hexum's case, when he pulled the trigger, the force of the blank caused Hexum some blunt force trauma.  Part of Hexum's skull was impacted, and pierced the inside of his brain, which lead to severe hemorrhaging.  Hexum was knocked out almost immediately after firing the blank and was rushed to the hospital.  Despite the efforts by medical staff to save his life - he reportedly was operated on for five hours the night of the accident - he died six days later on October 18, 1984 from severe blood loss from the brain, rendering him brain dead.



Hexum was just weeks from his 27th birthday when he died.

Suffice to say, the show "Cover Up" never quite recovered from the loss of its male star.  The show went on - with Antony Hamilton taking the place of Hexum in a new role for the remainder of the 1984-1985 season.  But despite the show's attempt to keep "Cover Up" on the air, it was cancelled at the end of the show's first season.

As for Jon-Erik Hexum, his death was just one reminder that one can't be too careful when it comes to safety on a film set - and that sometimes you really have to second guess your decisions and trust that things are how they are supposed to be.  But if there is any positive message that can come from this, it's that Jon-Erik Hexum was an organ donor.  And because of that, he managed to help a lot of people recover burned skin tissue, regained their ability to see, and allowed them to add several more years to their lives. 

If he had lived, Jon-Erik Hexum would be almost fifty-nine years old.  It's almost impossible to predict what his career would have been like.  Would he have continued to get roles where his body seemed to be the main focus - such as on "Baywatch"?  Or would he have gone on to do great things in the acting world and earn himself an Oscar nomination?  Or, perhaps he might have abandoned acting altogether and focused on another career path. 

No matter how you look at it though, those were dreams that never really came true for Jon-Erik Hexum.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

General Hospital - The Heart of the Jones Family

It's the continuation of Soap Suds Sunday where all this month we take a took at some of the most talked about soap storylines that have happened over the years.  Some raised awareness for social issues, some were storylines that no other show tackled.  And some storylines defied reality.

Trust me, we'll get to those stories the closer we get to Halloween.

For now, let's get on with today's featured soap...and storyline.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the subject of racism with a classic storyline from "As The World Turns".  Last week, we looked at the soap opera "The City", which featured one of the first transsexual characters to appear on an American soap.

This week, we're going to be raising awareness about organ donation.  And how one soap opera came up with a storyline that caused tears and heartbreak for millions of viewers.



First, let me ask the question...how many of you out there are organ donors?  Let's see a show of hands.  I'm currently raising mine.

Yes, I made the decision to become an organ donor when I was sixteen years old.  I'm all about the idea of organ donation because it saves lives.  And sadly, organ donor lists get longer and longer because there aren't enough organs to meet the demand.  Many people die waiting for the very organs that can save their lives.  I think that was part of the motivation behind my decision to become an organ donor.

And one soap screened a series of episodes in May 1994 that I am sure caused thousands of people to sign up to be on the donor list.



As of 2016, "General Hospital" is the longest running soap opera that is currently on the air.  Since April 1963, millions of people have tuned in to watch the escapades of the citizens of fictional Port Charles, New York.

And while the main setting of the soap opera is the hospital in town, that's not to say that the show is purely a medical drama.  There have been dozens of storylines that have gripped the series.  Some storylines have been captivating, such as Robin and Stone's relationship in which AIDS took center stage.  And some storylines have been completely unbelievable, like the one where the main villain tried to put the entire city of Port Charles underneath a permanent frost. 

And then there was Luke and Laura's wedding - the television event that took place thirty-five years ago and remains the most watched episode of a daytime drama in history.

And in May 1994, the organ donation storyline that everyone was talking about first screened. 



First, a little background.  In October 1986, a little girl was born to Tania Roskov and Tony Jones.  The little girl was named Barbara Jean Jones, but everybody close to her called her "B.J.".  And little B.J. was the pride and joy of the Jones family.  The little girl was named after Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Spencer, who helped deliver the baby during a blackout.  As fate would have it, B.J.'s mother was killed in a car accident not long after B.J.'s birth, and Bobbie would later fall in love and marry Tony, making her B.J.'s stepmother.  Bobbie later legally adopted the little girl as her own.



Some time after B.J.'s birth, Tony's brother Frisco and his wife Felicia had their own child - a little girl of their own whom they named Mariah Maximilliana Jones.  But since that was a mouthful to pronounce, they simply referred to her as Maxie.  Maxie and B.J. became extremely close, and their bond as cousins was firmly cemented.  In fact, Maxie became extremely close to Tony and Bobbie as a result, since Maxie's dad was often out of the picture due to his job.

Unfortunately, Maxie had health problems very early on in her life.  And in 1994, the Jones family was given the news that Maxie's heart was failing her and that she would eventually require a heart transplant in order to keep her alive.  It was a devastating blow to the family, and with the donor list being very long for heart donations, the best thing the family could do was to keep her alive for as long as Maxie continued to fight until a new heart could be found for her.



Tragically, that heart would come at the cost of a person who was very close to Maxie.



On one May day in 1994, B.J. was on her way to school, but she never made it.  The school bus that she was riding in had an accident on the way, and she was seriously injured.  Tony and Bobbie had hoped that B.J. would be all right, as they were already worried about Maxie.  But sadly, the little girl had severe brain damage to the point that she was considered brain-dead.  And Tony and Bobbie made the heartbreaking decision to take their daughter off of life-support on May 18, 1994.  B.J. was just seven years old.

Now, here's where a tragedy for one branch of the Jones family turned into relief for another.  As it turned out, B.J.'s heart was considered a perfect match for the ailing Maxie, and Bobbie and Tony made the gut-wrenching decision to donate B.J.'s heart to Maxie so that Maxie's life would be spared.



It certainly was a week filled with raw emotion as Tony and Bobbie came to grips with saying goodbye to their beloved Barbara Jean, and Frisco and Felicia were overjoyed that their own child was being given a second chance because of B.J.

One of the most emotional scenes of that whole story arc was after Maxie went into surgery for the heart transplant, and Tony leaned his head onto Maxie's chest, so that he could listen to his daughter's heart beating inside.  It's definitely tear inducing.  Trust me, it got to me when I watched the clip for this blog entry.  Have a look at that moment below.



So, suffice to say, Maxie made a full recovery, and as of 2016 is a main character on "General Hospital" today.  And while she has had her fair share of trauma and turmoil in her life, Maxie has also had some good moments as well.  And Maxie literally keeps B.J. close to her heart at all times throughout it all.  In fact, when Maxie suffered a setback in 2005 when she suffered a heart attack, she absolutely refused another heart transplant because she was determined to keep B.J.'s heart inside of her for as long as she lived.  To me, that shows that even though B.J. has been gone for over two decades, the love that Maxie had for B.J. never died.

And that storyline still remains one of the show's most memorable ones.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Jem Reviewed: Episode 30 - One Jem Too Many


On last week's episode of Jem Reviewed, Kimber caused a scandal...which really wasn't a scandal, but they said it was so it must be so!



Let's have a look at today's episode - Episode 30: One Jem Too Many.  Oh, why do I get the feeling that this is going to be another doppelganger episode?  We already had one last season that was horrible!



I'm only assuming that the subject of this episode is Jem, but we have to watch Jerrica instead losing her mind over the fact that Terri and Marianne have smashed one of her windows and they appear to be trying to smash each other up in their fury.  Jerrica will have none of this and tells both girls that if they don't shut up, there will be no more Lindsey Pearce shows, no more free vacations, and no more Honor Jar.  I think they get the message.



When Jerrica is later talking to the other Holograms, we get to understand why Jerrica is such a crab apple this episode.  Starlight Music's quarterly tax returns are due soon and she has decided that she would rather balance the books than go shopping at Forever 21 or whatever stores twentysomethings shopped at in the late 1980s.  So the others leave her behind.



At some point, Jerrica decides that she needs a break from doing her taxes and comes up with the random suggestion of singing and recording a song.  I certainly hope she's not going to sing a Schoolhouse Rock song.  Not even Britta Phillips could pull off "Conjunction Junction".



For what it's worth, the song that Jerrica does sing - "Imagine Me" -  is quite good.  I think in a way, it's the perfect song that illustrates the stress that she goes through - trying to run Starlight Music, taking care of twelve foster children, having Kimber as a sister - and then there's the whole Jem thing.



In fact, Jerrica is so into the song that when she finishes it, she almost doesn't notice Rio coming into the studio.  And Rio exclaimed that he thought he heard Jem singing.  Oh, but don't worry...Jerrica happily tells Rio that he was merely listening to a playback of a song that Jem had recorded earlier because she hasn't told Rio the truth yet...why should she start now?  Oh, Jerrica, you're so pathetic.  The only other thing of note is that Rio asks Jerrica to go to lunch with him, but Jerrica flat out refuses because she's much happier pulling her hair out with tax forms than dining on chicken tetrazzini with her man.  So, Rio leaves, presumably to go to the nearest McDonald's to grab some Chicken McNuggets in honour of Jerrica.



But before he can get a chance to ask if he would want fries with those McNuggets, Jem shows up out of the blue.  That's...odd.  But Rio is delighted to have Jem come with him as he won't have to eat alone.



The place where Rio wants to take Jem is a place inside the Fashion Mall - or "Fashon Mall".  I guess they never bothered to put up an "I" after the last earthquake.  Jem is excited that Rio is taking her to the Red Rock Cafe - the mall's best fine dining area.  But once they get inside the restaurant, Jem turns on her bitch switch and immediately begins insulting the wait staff and being incredibly demanding - which totally turns Rio off. 



In fact, Rio wants to leave the restaurant right away, but Jem's all "LIKE FUDGE WE WILL".  Seriously, that's what she says.  And in order to get the best table, she grabs the soup bowl of a customer sitting at the table and pours it all over his head!  Now that's a lawsuit waiting to happen.



A paparazzi happens to be in the restaurant and snaps a photo of Jem's meltdown which causes Jem to take the guy's camera and throw it through the window!



At this point, the staff of the Red Rock Cafe physically throw Jem out and Jem goes into such a tirade that she calls Rio a flunky!  I'm like...YES!  FINALLY!  She gets what a leech he is!  And after Rio storms off towards McDonald's, another man approaches her and asks her if she'll stop by his record store to sign some autographs.  Jem gets a sick smile on her face as she ever so sweetly agrees.



In another part of the mall, Kimber, Aja, Shana, and Raya have shopped until they are ready to drop.  But just as they are about to leave, a stray record comes flying at them!  After they recover from the shock and irony of nearly being decapitated by one of their own records, they rush to a record store where they get the shock of a lifetime.



Looks like Jem's not content with destroying one store.  She's now inside the record store smashing every single one in response to the fact that the record store admitted that they made a deal with Starlight Music to lower the prices on any Holograms albums so that more fans could buy them.  And when Kimber tries to intervene, Jem tells her to BUG OFF.  Tsk. tsk.  Such language.



It's time to find out what's going on.  And as Jerrica is finishing up the last of the tax returns, Rio arrives and tells her all about Jem's meltdown at the Red Rock Cafe - a fact that stuns Jerrica.  She claims that Rio's mistaken and that Jem going nuts at the record store is an impossibility.  But when Rio leaves to mail Jerrica's tax returns, the rest of the Holograms get angry at Jerrica over Jem's explosion at the record store, which causes Jerrica to ask if all of them are on drugs.  Well, okay, she doesn't ask that, but she wonders what is going on.



Aja suggests that Jerrica has been working too hard and that she go with them tomorrow to the music trade show.  Jerrica agrees to attend the show and is legitimately having a good time.  But Aja, Kimber, Raya, and Shana are concerned that Jerrica could turn into evil Jem at any moment, so they try to keep an eye on her.



Needless to say, it doesn't work.  Jerrica goes out of sight and evil Jem is seen destroying music displays.  The other Holograms give chase to the evil Jem, but only run into Jerrica who tells them that she went past her.  At this point, all of them are confused, and Raya makes the remark that she keeps changing back and forth. 



Even Jerrica seems to lose it when she runs into a cleaning lady who tells them that she never saw Jem despite the fact that Jerrica saw her pass by.  This is getting incredibly weird.  What is going on?



Well, it seems as though Jem's reputation is sinking due to the reports of Crazy Jem on the loose.  Cool Trash Magazine even has it on their front page.  See, now THAT'S a scandal.  But Jerrica is wondering what the heck is happening.



Would you believe that as Jerrica and the others are watching television that they see Jem arriving at a live movie premiere where she is attacking the stars of the movie with buckets of popcorn?  This causes the other Holograms to tell Jerrica that they were sorry.  Ouch...that must really sting for Jerrica knowing that her own bandmates didn't believe her! 



The other Holograms think that Jem should issue a statement about the recent events, but Jerrica doesn't think it would fly.  Not only would people not believe her, but they risk having the Jem imposter disappear.  Jerrica thinks the best way to handle this is to lure the Jem imposter out in the open and expose her in public.  The only problem is that they have no idea who is responsible for Crazy Jem.  Okay, seriously...there's only one possibility.



Told you the Misfits were responsible. 



And who better than to play the role of fake Jem than the master of disguise herself, Clash?  Seriously, it's a shame that Clash is a villain because she really does have immense talent for costumes.  She'd make a great costume designer...or at the very least, a costume consultant at Value Village.

To celebrate the fact that the Misfits and Clash have damaged Jem's reputation, they have a song to sing about it.



It's just a shame that it's a repeat of a previous hit.  Nothing against the song "Congratulations" - which first appeared in Episode 7 - I was sort of hoping for a new hit by them this time around.  We're already four episodes into season 2 and the Misfits have only had two new songs in comparison with Jem's five.

Anyway, for some reason, Pizzazz and Clash seem to have an idea as to where Jem and the Holograms next concert is going to be, and it gives both of them an idea to really cause trouble. 

And for the first time in this blog, instead of posting a dozen photos, I thought that I'd post a video clip of the dastardly plan that the Misfits have cooked up for Jem.



So, to summarize, Fake Jem arrives on the set of the concert that Real Jem and the Holograms will be taking part in.  Dumb as a post Rio notices both Jems and alerts everyone that there is a Jem imposter.  Real Jem confronts Fake Jem, but Fake Jem gets away by activating a castle prop that nearly kills Jem, Raya, and Danse.  Fake Jem steals Jem's car, but Rio and the others give chase in a van.  With Eric and Techrat sabotaging the tugboat that is just behind the one that Fake Jem drives onto, Jem and the Holograms realize that Eric is the one behind the fake Jem and now they're trapped on an out of control tugboat.  Got all that?



Ah, but wait!  Jem has found an axe!  And I don't mean a bass guitar either.  I mean an axe!  She orders everyone on board (the Holograms, Danse, and Rio) to chop up whatever wood they can so that they can build a raft.  This episode is almost as contrived as the other doppelganger episode but somehow I like this one mainly because psycho Jem is entertaining to watch.



And speaking of psycho Jem, she's causing a whole lot of trouble.  She is so rude to the stage people that they almost want to cause a mutiny, she throws plates of food across the room because they happen to be an hour old, and she even turns on her friends, the Misfits, and orders them around.  Seems like being Jem has made Clash a little bit of a diva.



Meanwhile, Rio is shoveling up spoonfuls of humble pie as he tells Jem how sorry he is that he couldn't tell the difference between the real Jem and the fake Jem.  And Jem's like, "it's okay, Rio.  You can't tell the difference between the real Jem and the real Jerrica either, so I expected nothing more from you."  Well, okay, she didn't exactly SAY it...but you know she was thinking it.



Luckily for us, their moment of tenderness is interrupted by the fact that their raft is coming apart at the seams.  One by one, all of the people on the raft fall into the ocean and drown.  The end.



Just kidding.  All seven people swim to shore.  I guess they all learned their lesson when they were stranded on that deserted island ten episodes ago - well, all except Raya and Danse who weren't in that episode.  The good news is that they have all made it to shore.  The bad news is that they have no idea where they are.  And with their concert set to start in an hour from now, Jem is worried that they won't make it back to the concert in time before fake Jem has the most epic of meltdowns.

They spot a truck driving down the highway and Jem decides to try and stop the truck knowing full well that because nough people hate her as a result of Fake Jem, she could end up being pink haired roadkill.



Inside the truck is a little girl and her father who appears to be a vegetable farmer.  And the little girl is like, "Look, daddy!  Hitchhikers!  Let's give them a ride, pretty please?"  The dad shakes his head and says "Forget it...this one's so crazy she's liable to shave her head and attack us with a beach umbrella twenty years from now."

To Jem's relief, the little girl denounces her father's claims and believes with all her heart that Jem is innocent.  Jem promises her that she will give them free tickets, backstage passes, all their albums, and a pony if they'll give them a ride to their own concert.  Okay, she just promises them free tickets.  Still, that's good enough for the dad to give them all a ride.



At the concert, it's a full house!  I guess despite the negative publicity that has happened with Jem courtesy of Clash and the Misfits, Jem still has her loyal fans.  But Clash is determined to get rid of every single one of them.  Problem is, the crowd is getting restless and she is wondering if she should go out to greet them.  Eric tells her to wait a minute, for the longer she keeps them waiting, the angrier they'll be.  Of course, what Eric doesn't realize is that the real Jem is fast approaching, but we'll wait and see what happens.



By the time fake Jem comes on stage, she's going on a rant about how all her fans want to do is take from her, and how she's going to do the taking now.  I'm more impressed by the fact that Clash has found a way to mimic Jem's speaking voice perfectly.  She's like the female Rich Little!



Of course, Clash never gets to finish her soliloquy as Fake Jem as Real Jem comes storming the stage and demanding to know what the hell she is doing.  Of course, both Real Jem and Fake Jem make the statement that they are the real deal, and the audience is left extremely confused and Jem is left extremely frustrated...

...until she comes up with a sure fire way to tell the two apart.  Real Jem simply asks Fake Jem to sing one of her songs.  And right then and there, the hearts of all of the Misfits drop as Clash makes the decision to sing the song "I Believe in Happy Endings".



I only wish I had a sound clip of that performance.  Needless to say, it's pretty awful.  You can tell that Samantha Newark was doing the singing in that scene.  Funny thing is, in this week's edition of Jem Trivia, Samantha Newark has proven that she can sing a lot better than that.  Don't believe me?  Here's proof below!



Not bad, huh?  I mean, the song itself is a cheesy retrospect of her Jem days, but for a singing voice, it's pretty decent.

At this point, the fans raid the truck of the vegetable farmer and start throwing tomatoes at the Fake Jem!  Amusingly, the dad gets pissed at the crowd for ruining his veggies until Rio tells him that they'll pay for all the damage.  I guess it's the least they can do.



And when one tomato smacks Clash hard in the head, it causes her to remove her Jem mask.  The jig is up, and the Misfits try to escape - but first they have to deal with the stage crew they abused prior to the concert.  I love it when the baddies get their just desserts.

And with the Real Jem back on the stage, it's time for the most ironic song to have ever played on this series so far.



I'll admit that stylistically, "The Real Me" is epic.  It's a product of its time, of course, but it's very well done.  But, my problem with this song is that Jem sings about how Clash was NOT the real her, and how she tricked others into believing lies caused by Clash.  The only thing is...JEM'S NOT THE REAL YOU EITHER!!!  For Jem to be singing about falseness and fakery when she's essentially built a career out of falseness and fakery for two whole years - it's just plain irony.



So, we've had yet another doppelganger episode, and to be honest, there were some parts I strongly disliked...but I think the saving grace was psycho Jem.  She was comedy gold!



Next week - the episode that launched a thousand lesbian fan fics.  And no, I'm not kidding either.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Closing the Combination Lock on Trump's "Locker Room" Mentality

One of the many confessions that I have made in this blog is the one about how when I was in school, I loathed gym class.

I mean, don't get me wrong.  I understand the need to have physical education and a health curriculum implemented in the public and private school system.  We need to learn how to take care of our bodies as well as our minds. 

I just wasn't a natural born athlete.

But you know, I'm okay with that.  So I'm not the fastest runner.  So I look like a dead trout when I swim.  So I'd rather dunk a donut than a basketball.  So what?  As far as I'm concerned, some people are born with natural sport talent and others aren't.  I just drew the short stick when it came to athletics.



I think the worst part about gym class for me was going into the locker room or the change room.  We had to change into our gym clothes from our street clothes and it was definitely not one of my favourite parts of the whole day. 

I mean, nobody towel snapped me or made fun of certain parts of my body or anything.  But I was always the first one in the locker room and the first one out.  I was a master of the twenty second quick change.  Well, that, plus as a teenager I was chubby and was concerned about the other kids in my gym class making fun of my "moobs", so to speak. 

Of course, that wasn't the only reason why I made a quick dash in and out of the locker room. 

Truth be told, when you're fourteen or fifteen years old, it's such a difficult age to try and get to know yourself.  And more often than not, you sort of subconsciously do what your peers do even though you may secretly want to punch them in the schnozz.  Believe me, I had my moments where I thought about it, but suppressed my violent urges.

But as someone who never quite fit in with my peers at that age, I really kept to myself.  It's just as well though.  With the way that many of the guys I went to school with talked, it was almost as if I were not at a high school locker room, but the Playboy mansion.  I mean, talk about teenage-fueled misogyny! Imagine a group of ninth and tenth graders comparing our female classmates to slabs of beef, or commenting on how the bigger their boobs were, the more attractive they are.  Not exactly a conversation that was deep or meaningful.  And while many of them happily gabbed on about these subjects, I decided that I really wanted no part of it.

Now, to be fair, I can only imagine that when the shoe was on the other foot, the girls were being just as - shall we say - descriptive with their vocabulary about the boys in the school too.  It most definitely wasn't one sided. 

It was just conversation that I had absolutely no use for, as I was always taught to respect the opposite sex and to not make comments like that.  Mind you, that attitude never really helped my dating life in school, but at least I was being true to who I was.  And, I think that while my parents were influential in making sure that I tried to respect women, maybe some of those boys didn't have that growing up.  It certainly would have explained a lot.

Now, this would be about twenty years ago.  And back in those days, we were around 14, 15 years old.  I think I can safely say that in those twenty years, most of those boys have grown to become men and hopefully have shed their misogynistic skins to become productive and respectful members of society.  I mean, I definitely am not going to make excuses for that behaviour back then, but your brain is definitely a lot less capable of being mature and making good choices as a teenager than it is when you're an adult.  It could also explain why I found school more difficult on a social level than the average person.  Who can say, really? 

Again, this is what I experienced when I was a teen.  Your experiences may not have been the same as mine and yours may be better or worse than mine.  I'm just sharing what I saw through my own two eyes and heard with my own two ears.

But what happens when you become my age or older and you're STILL making misogynistic comments towards women?  And worse, you make absolutely zero apologies for it?  I think that's when you stop blaming the locker room and start taking responsibility for the fact that you just might be completely and totally wrong.



I know I promised that I wouldn't talk about a certain presidential candidate until the American election was over, but given the recent comments by Donald Trump, I almost think that it would be a disservice to myself if I didn't call him out on it.

Now, before I go on with this editorial of sorts, I realize that some of you reading this might be Trump supporters.  I'll warn you ahead of time that you're probably not going to like what I plan to write in the next few paragraphs, so I'm giving you the opportunity to back out now and instead watch this episode of Inspector Gadget.  Appropriately, it's the one where Gadget joins a health club that turns out to be a M.A.D. trap!

But for those of you who want to hear me out, I'll give the basic 411 about the latest happening from the Republican nominee.

Eleven years ago, in 2005, Donald Trump (who at that point was the host of the reality television series "The Apprentice") and then "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush were doing an interview aboard the Access Hollywood bus in preparation for the Prime Time Emmy Awards, and during this interview, they met up with "Days of our Lives" actress Arianna Zucker, who gave both of them a tour of the set.  Back in 2005, the interview aired without a hitch.

But it was what was left on the cutting room floor that has everybody in an uproar and everybody choosing sides.

You see, whether both men were aware of it or not, the microphones and videotapes were still on, and they captured every single word of the behind the scenes conversations that we weren't meant to hear. 

To say the least, things were discussed and words were said that I most certainly will not be repeating in this blog post.  Too disgusting for my tastes.  I suppose that you can Google what was said if you really want to, but I will not repost them here.  Let's just say that if I were Arianna Zucker, or Bush's "Access Hollywood" co-host Nancy O'Dell, I would be mortified, and rightfully so.  Indeed, both women have issued their own personal statements on the matter which can also be easily found on the World Wide Web.



The end result was that Donald Trump's presidential campaign added yet another scandal to its already damaged armor, and his popularity seems to be getting weaker and weaker despite the cries of his most loyal supporters.  When Donald's own wife Melania calls him out on it, you know he did something extremely low - even by his own standards.  I mean, this was the guy who made Omarosa a "star" - the same Omarosa that seems to want to set the women's movement back decades just as Trump has.  Just saying.

As for Billy Bush, suffice to say, his tenure as the third host of "Today" - a show that he left "Access Hollywood" to host back in August - will likely be cut extremely short, and Bush will more than likely be let out of his contract with NBC over the next few weeks.

So, I guess the question is...was the right decision made?  Ultimately, yes, I do believe so, though I am conflicted.  Yes, the tape was eleven years old, and yes, in most cases I don't think a person should be held accountable for something that happened that long ago.  However, due to the seriousness of what was said, there was really no other option.



In regards to Billy Bush, I understand that what he said back in that eleven-year-old interview was incredibly foolish and immature.  In a statement he made recently, he acknowledged that he was a lot younger and didn't know any better, but maintained that he was wrong for saying those things and that he was incredibly sorry.  And, you know...I do believe he is sincere.

Honestly, if Billy Bush was one of those 14-year-old boys back in 2005 that I went to high school with, I think the public might have been more forgiving, as he would have been a kid back then.  Although it still wouldn't have made it right, you could at least chalk it up to pure teenage immaturity.  At the time of that interview, Bush was 33, and by then he should really have known better - especially as a host of a nationally syndicated program like "Access Hollywood" where he would have met hundreds of actresses, singers, and models.  Ultimately, he's paying the price for that now, but I would like to hope that he at least has learned from it and will not have feelings like that as he tries to clean up the mess that was made.



However, I also have the feeling that if Bush is going to be made to step down from his job, Trump should step down from running for President.  Because while Bush's poor choice of words and actions have painted him in a bad light, at least he isn't trying to run to govern a nation of over 300 million people!

Think about this for a second.  Would you feel comfortable having a man in charge of an entire nation that knowingly makes disgusting comments about 51% of the population?  I'm not even going into the remarks he's made against immigrants and people within the LGBTQ community - though my opinion is that those remarks are just as awful.  I'm talking about a nation in which women have fought hard to achieve equity for themselves.  A nation in which women fought even harder to even get the right to vote in the first place.  How can a man claim to be representing the American public when he doesn't even seem to respect half of the people he wants to represent? 

Perhaps even more mind-boggling is how so many women can even consider giving him their vote after all of this?  I don't know any woman that would ever think it would be okay for the leader of a nation to brag about how he can get a woman to do whatever he wants by grabbing her by the...well, you understand what I mean.  It's foul, disgusting, and frankly, it's part of the reason why we have people like Brock Turner walking the streets.

To be honest with you, I'm absolutely kind of baffled over how America ended up with Donald Trump as a possible candidate for the American Presidency in the first place.  To be fair though, I'm equally baffled by how Hillary Clinton became the Democratic nominee.  I get the feeling that some people in America think they're voting on who will be America's Next Top Model instead of America's Next President.  This whole campaign has felt like some twisted reality show.  All we need now is Jerry Springer to show up and throw Jerry beads at the spectators. 

Regardless, these are the two people who are the frontrunners of the election (independent candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are also choices, but unless some wacky thing happens, I doubt either one will get enough votes to make a difference).  And while I am ineligible to vote in the election due to my Canadian citizenship, I know that if I had the choice between a candidate who allegedly deleted e-mails and whose husband cheated on her with a White House Intern or a candidate who mocks people, treats women like objects (and actually defends it by dismissing it as locker room talk), and who has uttered some of the most offensive and dangerous statements during both Presidential debates that have aired - well to me, the choice is dead obvious.  I'd rather have a woman who has flaws take the presidency than a man who thinks a woman IS a flaw.

It's not just locker room talk when you're running for president.  It's a serious matter that needs to be addressed.  And I feel that if Billy Bush is going to be towel whipped for his comments, it's only fair that Trump get the same treatment.  Not even my 14 and 15 year old classmates back in the day joked about rape or sexual assault.  As immature and gross as they were, not even they crossed THAT line.

Because women are not objects.  They aren't sides of beef.  They aren't meant to be grabbed by...well, you know.  Women are beautiful.  Women are intelligent.  Women are to be loved, cherished, and respected.

And Trump needs to realize that women have held the right to vote since 1919 in the United States.  It's not really a good idea to disrespect and demean them just twenty-six days before the election - regardless of whether it was eleven years ago or eleven seconds ago.