Did
you know that there's a new "Wonder Woman" movie out now? If you haven't, you're probably living under
a rock, or have just crawled out of the bunker that you built in 1999 to
prepare for the Y2K disaster that never actually happened.
"Wonder
Woman" is on track to become one of the most successful films of the
year. It's still got some catching up
to do when it comes to past blockbusters such as "Beauty and the
Beast" and "Guardians of the Galaxy 2", but if the film's
opening weekend is any indication, I think it could be breaking some box office
records yet.
Now,
when it comes to superhero movies, traditionally I don't really rush out to go
see them. It's a genre of movie that I
never really got into even though I have seen almost every Batman movie ever
made. Though hearing all of the great
things about "Wonder Woman", it's one film I'd consider
watching.
In fact, there are some theatres that are hosting special Wonder Woman themed
screenings of the film. One such
screening was in Austin, Texas. Now, I
don't know whether it has already happened yet or not (my assumption is that it
has), but this movie theatre did something rather unique in celebration of the
film.
They had a "women only" screening.
This not only meant that all of the film patrons were female, but the
people who worked as ushers, the concession clerks, the ticket sellers, and
even the film projector operators were female.
Now, as far as my thoughts go - it's a great idea. It can serve as a real bonding experience for women to enjoy a
movie starring a female protagonist.
It's a great learning experience for mothers to teach their daughters
that they can be strong and powerful.
It's a way for women to be able to enjoy a film without getting hit on,
cat called, or groped by some men who can't sit through a film without being a
jerk. Who would complain about
something like that?
Well, apparently a lot of people are.
When word got out about the all-women screening of "Wonder Woman",
some people (mostly men) crawled out of the woodwork to voice how 'unfair' and
'sexist' it was to block men from seeing the movie. They also called for the theatre to host all men screenings of
the same film, and some are even boycotting the film as a result of it.
(Granted, some are also boycotting the film for other reasons involving the
film's star and her stance on the country of Israel, but I won't be touching
upon that subject except for the fact that I do not believe in boycotts at all
- especially not for that reason.)
I
just find it funny that people are complaining about this in the first
place. Especially in the wake of
everything that has happened in the last month or so.
Just think about it. In a world where
concert goers are targeted by terrorists, and where people are slaughtered just
because they want to have a good time, THIS is your main concern? You're upset because you're barred from a
female only screening of the "Wonder Woman" film?
I
mean, it's just for one screening. It's
not as if the theatre can outright ban all men from seeing the movie for the
rest of the film's screening, and bar men from buying the movie on Blu-Ray or
stop them from accessing the film on Netflix.
Seriously, think about it before you spout your words of nonsense and
sexism.
But
I suppose it is part and parcel of being considered a fanboy (or fangirl)
troll. You know the ones I'm talking
about. The ones who claim to be the
biggest fan of a particular piece of pop culture be it Wonder Woman, or James
Bond, or Doctor Who, or My Little Pony.
But instead of talking about how much they love a film, they do
everything they can to not only spread how much they hate it, but also attack
those who like it.
I
mean, yes, every film, television show, and album should be exposed to both
positive feedback and constructive criticism.
Artists love to hear kudos and compliments about something they have
released. And I'm sure that if a
complaint is worded in a way that it appears to be constructive, most would be
receptive of that as well. After all,
you can't improve on anything unless you know what is working and what isn't.
But launching these whinefests about how men aren't allowed to see ONE Wonder
Woman screening is just ridiculous.
It's a movie that has a great cast, a great plot from what I understand,
and the special effects are brilliant just based on what I've seen in
trailers. To boycott a film because of
one event is silliness.
And to attack other people who love the film and
support the idea of an all-female showing of the film - that just serves
absolutely no purpose whatsoever other than to make those people making the
rude comments look even more foolish than they already are.
It's just like when the new Ghostbusters remake was released last year, and you
had self professed fans of the series bashing the film at every
opportunity. Yes, the original film was
better, but after watching the remake, I absolutely loved the end result. And I guarantee you that most of the people
who were making the loudest complaints were self confessed "fanboys"
who had a huge issue with making all of the Ghostbusters female.
And just like "Wonder Woman", where actress Gal Gadot is getting
attacked for her stance on being pro-Israeli (a stance which essentially has
nothing to do with the movie), Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones was attacked with
so much vitriol that she felt she had to shut down her Twitter account. Imagine being barraged with racist and
sexist tweets sent out by self-proclaimed "fanboys" because they
don't like the idea of a female Ghostbuster.
It just goes to show how sometimes "fans" can be so misguided
and so obnoxious that they tend to be seen as fun killers.
I'm just going to point out the obvious.
If you aren't a fan of a movie, don't go and see it. If you don't like a television show, don't
watch it. If you don't like a musical
artist, don't download their song from iTunes.
But don't attack others because they disagree with you. Don't cry out accusations of sexism when
thou dost be sexist yourself.
And stop trying to suck the fun out of life.
Just because you might feel the need to play the role of the
"grouchy neighbour" in every aspect of your life doesn't mean that us
moviegoers have to put up with it or listen to it. And perhaps maybe if you "fanboys" stopped getting
offended by everything, maybe you might learn how to enjoy life and have fun
again.
Previously
on America's Next Top Model...oh, no...wait.
I'm doing Jem Reviewed. Sorry. Anyway, last time we checked in on Jem, we met fashion designer Regine Cesaire, who learned a
valuable lesson about putting substance before style.
This
week, we're going to be looking at Episode 63:
A Change of Heart.
And
this week's episode begins at an electronics expo featuring some of the hottest
electronics of the year. Of course,
that year happens to be 1988, but just go with it! Jerrica is there with Rio looking over some of the state of the
art synthesizers that are present, and the salesperson notices that Jerrica is
fascinated by it. I would think that
Kimber would be more of a person to talk to about that...since you know, she's
played one since Jem and the Holograms made their debut! But no, it's set up so that Rio is the one who feigns interest in it because
he's Mr. Big Shot Engineer who plans all of Jem's shows. Oh, great.
If I had known that Rio was going to be the star of this show, I'd have
skipped this episode completely.
While
Rio is impressed by the new synthesizer, another person is getting bored. Across the hall, the Stingers are examining
another model of the same musical instrument, and Minx is all but unimpressed. She even kicks the machine which causes the
salespeople at the display to lose their minds. It seems as though Riot is bored as well and he leaves telling
Minx and Rapture to buy whatever they want.
What, is he their sugar daddy too?
I just don't understand the relationship between the Stingers, and I
probably won't ever since we only have two more episodes after this one.
Rapture
points out that Rio is at another display, and at first, Minx fakes not being
interested. After all, Rio's the one
guy who dumped her for Jerrica/Jem/Jaime/whatever J person she decides to
be. However, Rapture's coaxing causes
Minx to find the courage to try again.
Okay, I will say this. Even
though Rapture and Minx are horrible people, I appreciate that they won't turn
their backs on each other. They're kind
of like sisters in a way.
Rio
is none too impressed to see Minx hanging around, and at first turns on the
freeze towards her - until they find a common bond over synthesizers. Seems that Minx is a genius with electronic
equipment and brags about building her first synthesizer at the age of
fourteen. That's mighty impressive,
actually! Minx offers to help Rio when
Rio talks about how he always wanted to build a synthesizer from scratch, and
Minx draws him some diagrams about what chips he should use. Huh, who knew that Minx could be so helpful?
Naturally once Jerrica comes back and sees Rio and Minx together, Rio
practically shoves her to one side and tells her that he has no interest in
her. See, this is one reason why Rio's
a jerk. Then again, so is Minx
sometimes. Whatever the case, Minx
tells Rapture that she's not giving up in her quest to steal Rio away from Jem,
and the next step in her plan will take place at the celebrity beach party.
I'm
thinking this celebrity beach party is Jem's take on the MTV Spring Break Party
that aired on that network for several years.
There are a lot of celebrities there including the Stingers, Jem and the
Holograms, the Limp Lizards, and...OH MY GOSH THE MISFITS ARE HERE TOO! I never thought I'd say this, but I really
missed them!
Lindsey
Pearce is hosting the event, and she starts by interviewing Jem about the
dangers of sun exposure. Riveting
stuff, I tell you. It's not until Riot
crashes the interview and brags about how he and Jem would make the perfect
couple that it starts to get a little more entertaining. I should note that Jem looks as if she's
annoyed, but something about her also leads me to believe that if Lindsey
wasn't around, she and he would share a sex on the beach. And not necessarily the beverage either.
Instead,
Jem will have to settle for some sand in the schnozz, as Pizzazz literally
kicks sand in her face. Real mature,
Pizzazz. This causes Jem and Pizzazz to
get into a fight over Riot! Oh, sweet
Jesus, Riot isn't Archie Andrews and you two aren't Betty and Veronica. Grow up the pair of you. But Pizzazz makes it clear that she always
gets what she wants and Jem had better get out of her way.
Wow...we're going all the way back to Episode 1 for this classic! The Misfits perform "Outta My Way"
one more time as the video shows Jem and Pizzazz trying to get Riot into their
arms. Interestingly, Clash appears in
this video. I guess they forgave her
for the "Video Wars" incident?
Sadly this is the LAST song you'll hear from the Misfits. I know, bummer, huh? So, thank you Ellen Bernfeld for the
brilliant vocal talents. You really
were fantastic doing Pizzazz's vocals, and the Misfits songs for the most part
were better than both the Holograms AND the Stingers.
So
with Jem and Pizzazz essentially reverting back to their childhood, Minx takes
the opportunity to find Rio and hit on him again. She tempts him with promises of synthesizers, microchips, and
making love underneath the Santa Monica Pier.
Rio rejects her again, and Minx throws a volleyball at him and storms
off in anger. Okay, seriously, this
episode is really not a great pro-woman episode at all.
Rapture tries to comfort Minx, but she refuses to listen to reason. Minx decides that the best way to cool off
is to go into the ocean for a swim. But
Minx doesn't notice that there is a sign that is warning of a dangerous
undertow and that swimmers are not allowed in the water for that very reason!
Rapture watches in horror as Minx is taken by the current and swept out to
sea. Isn't it interesting how a couple
of episodes ago, it was Rapture that almost drowned and this week it's
Minx. I'm thinking Riot should probably
stay away from swimming pools and jacuzzis.
And
Riot should probably stay away from Jem and Pizzazz. Rapture tries to get his attention regarding Minx, but Riot's too
busy mesmerized by the fight like a Jerry Springer audience member. Seriously, is this the "I hate
everyone" episode?
Rapture manages to find Rio and alerts him of what happened, and once Rio spots
Minx struggling to stay above the water, he dives into the ocean to try and
save her. It's a bit of a struggle at
first as the undertow drags Minx to the bottom of the ocean, but fortunately
she isn't too far out that Rio can easily find her. He brings her back up to the surface and carries her back to the
beach at the same time that Lindsey Pearce tells Jem and Pizzazz to shut up and
help.
It's
almost as if I'm watching an episode of "Baywatch" as Rio gives Minx
CPR. Luckily, Minx regains
consciousness and is immediately thankful towards Rio for saving her. In fact, she is so thankful that she tells
Rio, Jem and the Holograms that she will never forget what they did and she
will now promise to be good and kind to them and anybody else. That's...nice?
And, say farewell to the Misfits until the finale. Sigh...I wish the show had gone on so we could give them a proper
sendoff. Rumour has it that had the
show continued, a fifth Misfit named Graphix was slated to be added. That's your Jem Triviafor today - and one
more reason why Clash should MOVE ON FROM THE MISFITS...
Back
to the show. Riot and Rapture force
Minx to get some rest because clearly she's not acting like herself. But the next morning, when Riot and Rapture
are ready to start rehearsing for their upcoming concert, Minx is focused on
writing the names of all of the people whom she wants to make amends with and
be nice to. Funny...I don't see any of
the Misfits names on there. You'd think
that since the Stingers essentially replaced them as the antagonists of this
show now, they'd be considerate.
Rapture is concerned that Minx has lost the plot, but Riot's convinced
that Minx will come around eventually once she has had her fun.
For
now, let's watch as Minx drops by Rio's office in what I assume is inside
Starlight Music. Minx has decided that
she owes Rio for saving her the other day, to which Rio really doesn't seem to
care that much. But when Minx pulls out
a diagram of the dream synthesizer the Rio has wanted to build, he seems to be
impressed. Minx offers to help him put
it together just as Jerrica walks in the door.
At this point, I half expect there to be a repeat catfight between
Jerrica and Minx as there was between Jem and Pizzazz because classy gals
always pull each other's hair out over a man.
To Jerrica's shock, Minx offers to make amends to her as well, and she wants to
give her and everyone else at Starlight House some presents to show her
appreciation - which causes Jerrica to give Minx her "what the flock are
you smoking" look. Rio does seem
convinced that the near-death experience has caused Minx to be absolutely
sincere, and with his prodding, Jerrica agrees to give Minx a shot.
Complete with an I WIL B GD license plate on her car, Minx has paid a visit to
Jerrica and the Starlight Girls with what looks like a couple of bags of gifts
for all the girls. Minx explained that
she didn't treat them very nice the first time she was a guest there - if you
recall, she made Krissie cry and shoved three-fifths of the Holograms into the
swimming pool. Jerrica calls the girls
over to have them accept the gifts because she's a good foster parent...SAID
NOBODY EVER. I mean, three of your
girls ran away from home - and of those three, one got nearly eaten by a
bear. But hey, what do I know?
The gifts Minx brought are quite nice for a dozen girls. There are water pistols that shoot quite a
long distance, and tons of ice cream, cookies, and candy for the girls to gorge
themselves on. I can't tell whether
Minx was being sincere or being evil here...but let's go with sincerity. Minx also out of the blue offers to install
a security system at Starlight Mansion for them to protect their equipment - a
gesture Jerrica finds thoughtful. Why
don't you just hand Riot the keys to the front door? That's essentially what you're doing by having Minx program
it! Jerrica must have gotten a new
prescription for stupid pills.
But
then again, Minx might have taken some honesty pills herself. When she sees that Rapture and Riot are
trying to take advantage of some poor woman with Rapture's "Call me now,
I'm Miss Cleo" scam, Minx exposes the scam right there and then, and the
woman storms away in a huff. Rapture is
seeing red and is about to kill Minx, but Minx simply states that she was
trying to make they appreciate the virtue of honesty. Yeah, Minx. Preaching to
the choir there.
Speaking of which, Riot and Rapture have had enough of Minx's personality
change, and they decide to try and get through to her in song. The song itself - "Are You Feeling
Alright?" is one of the Stingers weakest songs as far as style and lyrics
go - however, the video does do a great job with illustrating the frustration
that Riot and Rapture have. Especially
since this new personality shift has caused Minx to lose her edge. At one point, Minx starts playing classical
music instead of the hard rock edge the Stingers are known for!
In fact, Riot and Rapture are so sick of Minx's dependency towards Rio, Jem,
and the Holograms, and they are so annoyed by Minx's lack of confidence in
herself that they throw her out of the group!
Later,
Minx finds herself at Rio's office where she tells him the sob story of what
just happened, and how she has nobody left to talk to. Rio does try to act sympathetic, but
unfortunately his mouth says all the wrong things, and it causes Minx to get
even more depressed about herself. She
runs out of the room and straight to the elevator.
At
this point, Jem approaches Rio and asks what is going on and all Rio just
explains that Minx was upset and he may have made things worse and he doesn't
know what she's going to do. Well, you
could look for her, you know.
The duo eventually find Minx standing on the edge of the roof of Starlight
Mansion where she threatens to jump off.
WHAT? So now we're going to
showcase suicide on this show?
Seriously, what is the limits that this show will go to? This episode is soon going to be added to my
"I hate this episode" list.
Of course, it takes a little more creative talk from Rio which may include a
little begging, a little pleading, and a LOT of apologizing before Minx decides
to step back onto the roof. But she
grabs onto Rio and holds him tight while tearfully telling him that she has
nobody left. This makes Jem look very
concerned and Rio looking as if he has just gotten arrested for drug
trafficking.
Once
Minx has calmed down, Jerrica and Rio discuss how Minx went completely off the
deep end, and Rio is concerned that Minx has gotten too co-dependent and wants to
tell her to back off. But Jerrica also
notes that Minx has been trying so hard to change and she doesn't want Minx to
think that they are ungrateful.
Well, Jerrica, if you were actually at your own home once in a while, you might
notice that things aren't exactly going so well there. Thanks to Minx's generosity, half of the
Starlight Girls have discovered that ink can go into the water pistols just as
well as water can, and they proceed to squirt each other...and Aja with
ink. Meanwhile the other half of the
girls are feeling incredibly sick after gorging on all of Baskin-Robbins
thirty-one flavours. If I ate that much
ice cream, I'd be sick too.
As
Aja washes her clothes, she is venting to Jerrica about how Minx has been a
pest, but once again Jerrica seems hesitant to yell at her about it. Luckily, Aja has more than enough strength
to cause some stings to the ex-Stinger herself! At
least that is until Minx has announced that the burglar alarm is now in place
and shows them the combinations to activate and deactivate it.Then Aja is all like "I can't yell at
her because she is being nice and junk like that".
In
fact, Minx's generosity isn't over yet.
She has arranged to take Jerrica out for a shopping spree at the House
of Glamour and tells Jerrica that she has paid for a complete makeover! Oh, wow!
All of a sudden it's like Minx has transformed into Tyra Banks. And she's all smize as the good people of
Glamour work on Jerrica, including covering her face with a gigantic mud
pack. It's very nice of her to do so...
...or
maybe she's just trying to get Jerrica out of the picture so she can canoodle
with Rio as she works on his synthesizer.
Wow, maybe she's not so nice after all.
But Rio is getting more and more annoyed that Minx is not letting him
touch HIS synthesizer. He tries to get
Minx to let him help, but Minx insists on being helpful. I think Minx wouldn't know what helpful is
if someone opened up Webster's Dictionary to the H section and whacked her over
the noggin with it.
Oh,
and Minx's foolproof burglar alarm? One
of the Starlight Girls...Marianne, JoEllen, Delaree...you know, the one that's
not Ba Nee, Krissie, or Ashley? They
open up a window and before you know it, a piercing noise fills the house. What's worse, the combinations that Minx
gave the girls doesn't do anything to stop it.
Psst...I slowed down the scene where Minx shows them. The code is 6717. Next time you'll remember.
Or, Rio can just yank the system out of the wall. He's good at destroying things. Plants.
Faces of gang members. Jerrica's
heart.
Speaking
of Jerrica, the makeover that Minx gave her is ridiculous. Her hair literally looks like a toilet
brush. I'm surprised Kimber doesn't
roll over on the floor laughing her ass off.
Jerrica has had enough of Minx's "help", as have Rio and the
rest of the Holograms, and they have a meeting to discuss how they can tell
Minx to knock it off...right at the moment Minx comes downstairs to surprise
Rio with his new synthesizer.
Oops.
Well, knowing first hand how fragile Minx is, Jerrica tries to tell Minx that
she is driving them all insane...with lyrics from a Jem and the Holograms song
called "Too Much". Well, at
least they had that song title ten years before the Spice Girls did. The song itself is a nice ballad that seems
to have a hard edge...and once the song is finished, get a look at Minx's face
and how that sweet smile turns to an angry scowl!
Minx runs back upstairs with the synthesizer and climbs out onto the roof where
Jerrica and Rio are like...not again.
But instead of threatening to jump, she yells at them and throws the
synthesizer down onto the ground, breaking it into a million pieces. And right there we see the old Minx back.
To confirm it, she smashes the water guns, she melts all the ice cream, she
squirts ink on everyone's clothes and pees at the front door. Well, okay, three of those things really
happen. Whatever the case, Minx is no
longer going to be good. And frankly
I'm kind of relieved. Sweet and peppy
Minx kind of creeped me out. A lot.
So, Rio's synthesizer is no more. But
Rio doesn't mind. He's decided to take
the tips that Minx gave him and is doing it himself. He tells Jerrica that it may take him longer than Minx, but he's
having fun learning. I haven't the heart
to tell him that by the time he finishes it, the technology will be obsolete,
but bless his heart for trying! Jerrica
meanwhile laments that she was starting to like Minx and she hopes that she
learned something from this.
Uh...W---WHAT?!?! You lying COW! Jerrica, you NEVER liked Minx. You were suspicious of her from day
one! Even when she was trying to be
nice, you were always trying to reject her or question her motives. I mean, yeah, Minx was never going to be
Shirley Temple, but still, your giving her the benefit of the doubt was all
phony and high and mighty. Sheesh,
you're no better than Rio!
Just...go. Go away. And take your plant kicking, purple haired
man child with you!
Okay. I feel better now. I had my Snickers. I can
continue with the conclusion.
Which is that the Stingers have welcomed Minx
back and they are playing their concert, and the lights go out. Amusingly, when Rapture and Riot announce
that Minx can help fix it, Minx ignores them, saying that the word help is no
longer in her vocabulary. Rapture and
Riot give each other the look as Minx continues to file her nails. Oh, that Minx!
Okay, so not my favourite episode...but I do like that Rapture and now Minx
have had standalone episodes. Next
week, it's Riot's turn. Should I be
afraid?
Welcome
to the first day of June...as well as the first Throwback
Thursday post
of June 2017. And for today's topic, I
will be looking at something within the realm of television - particularly
cable television. Now, I know that with
Android boxes and Apple TV receivers, and Netflix that cable television is
dying out somewhat - but back in the time period we'll be going back to, it was
seen as an important innovation behind how we receive our news.
Before that though, let's see what else took place on June 1 throughout
history!
1495 - John Cor, a monk, records the first batch of
Scotch whisky
1533 - Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England
1779 - Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for
malfeasance
1792 - Kentucky becomes the fifteenth state to
join the United States
1796 - Tennessee becomes the sixteenth state to
join the United States
1812 - U.S. President James Madison asks congress
to declare war on the United Kingdom, thus setting the stage for the War of
1812
1813 - James Lawrence is mortally wounded aboard
the USS Chesapeake and gives the final order - "Don't give up the
ship!"
1831 - James Clark Ross becomes the first
European to reach the North Magnetic Pole
1915 - Actor John Randolph (d. 2004) is born in
New York, New York
1916 - Louis Brandeis becomes the first Jewish
person to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court
1926 - Actor/producer Andy Griffith (d. 2012) is
born in Mount Airy, North Carolina
1927 - Axe murderer Lizzie Borden dies of
pneumonia at the age of 66
1930 - Actor Edward Woodward (d. 2009) is born in
Croydon, Surrey, England
1939 - Actor Cleavon Little (d. 1992) is born in
Chickasha, Oklahoma
1943 - British actor Leslie Howard is killed when
the plane that he is on is shot down by German Junkers Ju 88s
1948 - Actor Powers Boothe (d. 2017) is born in
Snyder, Texas
1958 - Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement
to lead France by decree for half a year
1962 - Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel
1974 - The Heimlich Maneuver procedure is first
published in the journal "Emergency Medicine"
1988 - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
Treaty comes into effect
1991 - Temptations singer David Ruffin dies at
the age of 50
2001 - A deadly day in history; on the same day
that the crown prince of Nepal shoots several members of his family to death, a
suicide bomber kills 21 people at a Tel Aviv discotheque - also in 2001, Dennis
the Menace creator Hank Ketchum dies at the age of 81
2009 - General Motors files for Chapter 11
bankruptcy
2011 - Springfield, Massachusetts is struck by an
EF3 tornado, killing four
2014 - Actress Ann B. Davis passes away at the age
of 88
And
for celebrity birthdays, the following become one more year older - Joan Copeland, Pat Boone, Peter Masterson, Morgan Freeman, Linda Scott, Brian Cox, Jonathan Pryce, Ronnie Wood, Charlene, Wayne Nelson, Tom Robinson, Ronnie Dunn, Lisa Hartman Black, Robin Mattson, Simon Gallup, Mark Curry, John Huston, Mike Joyce, David Westhead, Jason Donovan, Teri Polo, Adam Garcia, Heidi Klum, Alanis Morissette, Amy Schumer, and Tom Holland.
So,
what date will we be going back in time to today?
How about June 1, 1980? It is a date that I was not around for, but I'll do my best.
Now
when it comes down to what television was like in 1980, it was beginning to
change in a big way. No longer was
television limited to just the three big networks (ABC, CBS, NBC). Since 1970, specialty cable channels were
making their mark on the cable landscape, and by 1980, more and more households
were subscribing to cable television to open up their world with more choices
than ever before.
Certainly,
no man decided to take on the television industry quite like media mogul Ted
Turner. Over the years, he's been the
head figure behind the creation of some of the most watched networks on cable
television. These include the first
so-called "superstation" known as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Adult
Swim, TruTV, and Boomerang, among others.
Although my family didn't become cable television subscribers until the
late 1980s, once we were hooked up, I can remember watching at least half of
these channels. Particularly TBS on
those free preview weekends in which they were unscrambled. Those were fun weekends.
Now,
when it comes to cable channels, they also shaped the way that many of us got
our news. And depending on how far you
leaned on the political spectrum, there were news channels available for
everybody from MSNBC to FOX News. Or,
FAUX news, as I call it.
And yeah. I went there.
On
June 1, 1980, Ted Turner decided that he would start up his own news
channel. One that simply didn't
broadcast the news of the world at eleven o'clock each night. It would be a network that would have
twenty-four hour coverage of the news, seven days a week.
It
would be a cable channel that Ted Turner would dub the Cable News Network. Or, CNN, if you want the
abbreviated version.
When
CNN made its debut, it made history as the first twenty-four hour news channel
to broadcast on the air, as well as the first station in the United States to
provide all news, all the time.
In
the United States and Canada, CNN is one of the highest rated news outlets - in
2015, it is estimated that almost 100 million viewers have accessed the network
through television, computer, mobile phone, and tablet.
The
network made its debut at 5:00pm on June 1, 1980 with a brief introduction by
Ted Turner himself before the channel was turned over to the first reporting
duo - married news broadcasters Lois Hart and David Walker. Over the next year, then executive vice
president of the network Burt Reinhardt hired the first two hundred employees
of the channel himself, and by January 1982, a second network, CNN2 was
launched.
(CNN2
would later become HLN - or the "Forensic Files" channel. Whichever you want to refer it to as.)
And
in the thirty-six years since CNN debuted, they have been there covering
everything from earthquakes to forest fires.
From elections to coup d'etats.
They
were there in 1986 when the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded. After all of the network news outlets
suspended coverage right after the explosion, CNN kept reporting on what had
happened minute by minute.
In 1987, when baby Jessica fell down the well, CNN was there to report on the
incident minute by minute until the child was finally rescued.
Of
course, everyone remembers watching the infamous White Bronco chase on June 17,
1994 in which CNN followed O.J. Simpson's getaway car from nearly the beginning
until the end. I know it's etched on my
mind all these years later.
CNN was also the first network to bring us coverage of the 9/11 attacks,
reporting on the incident just a couple of minutes after the first plane struck
the World Trade Center.
And of course, CNN was the go-to network for election coverage which saw Donald
Trump get elected as President of the United States - as well as earning the
ire of Trump and his supporters for what Trump labeled as "fake
news".
And yet in spite of that CNN remains the victor in the cable channel news
wars. Go figure.
I
am the kind of guy who doesn't like making New Year's Resolutions. Let's face it. Nine times out of ten, we never keep them. But I will say that one of the things that I
wanted to do with 2017 was a lot of soul-searching.
I also don't like using the term midlife crisis, because none of us really know
what our midlife point is going to be.
For some it's 40. For others,
30. For some, it might even be
ten. And let's hope that none of us
have the latter happen to us! But I
will say that 36 has been a kind of transition year. It's a year in which I am still young enough to remember past
mistakes, but am old enough to have learned my lesson so that I don't continue
to make the same mistakes.
Recently
though, I've come to a distinct conclusion about myself that I initially
believed was one of the biggest mistakes of my life - but instead ended up
being one of the greatest things I could have done for myself. Ultimately, this decision shaped the way
that I look at success, and it showed me that I don't really need to listen to
what society deems is best if I don't agree with it.
You see, fifteen years ago, I became a university dropout. And up until recently, I saw it as a secret
shame.
It wasn't exactly what I had planned on doing.
In fact, I already had my life planned out by the time I was
thirty. I was going to graduate high
school and flee as far away from my hometown as I possibly could, go to school
to become the next Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, or Peter Jennings (the main news
anchors when I was at university), and be the best damn journalist I could
be. That was the plan.
Reality was that I came back to the town I tried to flee from with my tail
between my legs, and have been working a full time job in retail ever
since. Not exactly my idea of having a
dream come true, but let's face it...you take what you are given in this world
and you try to make the best of it.
Because
looking back on it, if I had stayed, I'd probably be in the same situation
anyway, only with a lot more debt and a degree that would have basically
amounted to nothing.
The story begins in the winter of 2000.
That was right around the time in which the various colleges and
universities were coming to our schools to have Q&A sessions about their
schools, what they had to offer, what scholarships they had, the programs they
had in their arsenal. It was an
exciting time, as I had long had enough of my high school, and was looking
forward to going off to school.
Of course, our guidance counselors were there to try and help us figure out the
right schools for us to go to. And
considering that it cost us quite a bit of money to even apply to schools, it
was a decision that was not to be taken lightly.
I guess the first thing that I found odd was that my own guidance counselor only
seemed to focus on the most prestigious universities in Canada. I brought up the idea of possibly going to a
community college or a trade school just to see what they had to say, and my
guidance counselor informed me that if I really wanted to see success, I'd have
to go to university.
See, my school was one that celebrated academics and the arts. It was admittedly what attracted me to go to
that high school in the first place.
That, plus I lived next door to the building. But sometimes I got the impression that the school didn't really
care about what information they gave their students. It was more along the lines of them wanting to boast about having
such and such a percentage of their students going off to university - or at
least, that's the impression that I felt anyway. The guidance counselor didn't even want to discuss the idea of
going to a community college as she insisted my grades were good enough to get
into university. So, that was where my
first mistake was made. Only focusing
on universities and not expanding my search to include colleges was not a good
decision.
However, because I narrowed my search, I found what I thought was the perfect
university. I've probably mentioned the
name of the university before in my blog, but I'll just state that it happens
to be located in Ottawa. They had an
acclaimed journalism program that seemed like it would be the perfect fit for
me, and I went to the open house during Spring Break to check it out. I was convinced that this was the school for
me, and was looking forward to applying.
Unfortunately when I received my final report card in June, my average just
missed the cutoff point for acceptance into the program. Instead, I opted to go into
communications. At least it was still
under the media umbrella, and I figured that if I did well in that course, I
would be able to get back into the journalism program the following year.
Needless to say, it didn't happen.
I'll say this about the university experience.
Socially, it was probably one of the highlights of my life. I got along well with mostly everyone, and
while I didn't really go out drinking or party that much, mostly everyone on my
floor at rez respected that. And I
really appreciated the fact that there was always something to do at any given
hour of the day when classes were not in session. There were some days in which I would go down to the all-night
cafe in the ground floor of the residence hall and just sit there and be chill. It was my first taste of freedom and I
really enjoyed that part of it.
But as I got settled into my classes, and as the months passed by, I found that
I hated the classroom experience with a passion. I couldn't figure out how a professor could really be able to
connect with all 700 of his students inside of a classroom as large as a movie
theatre. It also didn't help that in my
communications class, I had two different professors - one for semester one and
one for semester two. Both had such
different styles of lecturing that I found it just impossible to keep up. And it was like this in every single one of
my classes.
The lone exception was my film studies class, where we got to at least watch a
movie every week, and where my teaching assistant was incredible. I think the film studies class was my
favourite, and part of me was questioning whether I should have made that my
major instead. Questions that will
remain unanswered, I suppose.
Despite the fact that I wasn't feeling the first year of school, I really
busted my butt to stay in the program.
I did everything possible which included drinking several bottles of
Jolt Cola to pull all-nighters for my exams
(NOTE: Don't ever do that. Jolt Cola is the most disgusting soda that I
have ever drank. Even more disgusting
than Mountain Dew.)
In the
end, I did what I thought was fairly well.
A 79% average. Not bad in most
places, right? Well, unfortunately, I
needed a solid 80% to stay in the program, and the school was not really
willing to cut me a break. They told me
that in order to stay in the program, I'd have to redo my entire first year
over again.
That was the very moment I suspected that I made the wrong choice. But the stubborn Taurus in me was determined
not to let this faze me. So I couldn't
continue with mass communications...I thought that there were other choices
that I could do instead. But with a 79%
average, my selection was extremely limited.
Apparently I had decided to attend a university with impossibly high
standards - as most universities in Canada and the United States seem to
be. The only option left was to go for
a General Arts degree - which essentially would mean that I would get a degree,
but that was all that I would have. It
just seemed like it was a waste of money and time to go for a degree that I
really didn't want or have any interest in.
And
during my second and final year of university, I found it to be one of the
worst years ever. My professors were
dry and uninspiring, my rez friends split up in different directions and I
rarely ever saw them...and I was realizing that I was very unhappy. I was no longer thinking of the experience
as being a good one. I was thinking
that the longer I stayed, the more unhappy I would be.
So at the end of the second year - after essentially flunking out of school - I
made the decision to move on. It wasn't
an easy choice to make. Truth be told,
I really didn't want to leave like that.
And for years afterward, I kicked myself over and over again about how
stupid I was and how I closed a lot of doors in my future, and how my life
would be forever ruined because I didn't get that piece of paper.
It has been fifteen years since that day.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
My life's not exactly the most glamourous in the world. My job isn't exactly making me independently
wealthy. And honestly, the closest I'll
ever get to living the cosmopolitan life is the checkout counters at a grocery
store where they sell Cosmo Magazine - a publication I despise with the heat of
an active volcano.
Yet,
I'm actually okay with this. And do you
want to know why? Because I still
managed to make a few of my dreams come true in spite of not getting a
university degree. After all, I am a
homeowner. Sure, it's no McMansion with
a fancy white fence around it. But I
learned that I don't need to have an expensive home to feel like a success.
I
also managed to get all of my student debt paid off. Granted, it took me thirteen years to pay for it - and no degree
to show for it. But I could have ended
up owing a lot more. In a way, I thank
myself for waving a white flag of surrender before I got in too deep. At least with a mortgage, I have something
to show for that debt!
But I think the most important thing I learned from all this is that university
is NOT for everybody. I know that it
was a poor fit for me. I couldn't
handle the supersized classes, I fell asleep listening to professors babble on
about stuff that was NOT ON THE FINAL EXAM MIGHT I ADD, and I just think that
while it was a great thing for me socially, everything else was completely
wrong.
I think if I get the chance to do it again, I would finance the whole
experience myself, and take something that I know would be a useful skill. I would definitely choose a college or a
trade school. I like small classes and
instructors who are more available for you.
I learn best by doing things - not listening to someone drone on and
on. And, I know several college and
trade school grads that make more money than those who have a university
degree.
I also think that the guidance counselors at my school were idiots. But that's more of a personal opinion and
not factual. Unless you all want it to
be.
Society has a funny way of defining
success (as does Dannii Minogue, apparently). They feel that success means
that you have to have a house that is humongous and pristine, have a job that
nets you over a hundred grand a year, you must have children to be successful,
and you have to go to university. I'm
here to tell you that I am living proof that society is screwed up and that you
all need to find your own path to happiness.
Maybe I don't have the degree.
Or the expensive house. Or the
kids. So, what? I'm not about to let society dictate to me
that I am unsuccessful because of it.
I am who I am. And I'm in the driver's
seat. Ironic, since I don't know how to
drive. But hey, let's go with it.
Maybe back in 2002, it was my biggest regret.
In 2017, it became my biggest learning experience. One I needed to have.