Would Madonna go away already? I have to avert my eyes anytime her current face is shown on television. When I was a kid I was always amazed by some of the Hollywood legends who at one time were considered great beauties. Elizabeth Taylor is the example that is usually given. In her case it was all downhill after the age of 20. Lauren Bacall smoked way too much, and it is amazing that she still has a voice, not to mention still alive. Ginger Rogers? ugh. Garbo had the good sense to go into hiding, and Marilyn Monroe...well, it is not hard to imagine what she would have looked like ten years later. Unlike Anna Nicole Smith she would not have been rescued by a surgical operation. Most music artists are popular for 5 years max, so aging does not become a concern. Madonna's career has defied the usual boundaries, with 17 years of popularity in terms of producing new music that didn't bomb. The last two CDs have faltered, though she is still quite an arena draw (partially thanks to her sporadic touring over the years-keep'em wanting more). The current tour is receiving quite a bit of attention. But part of Madonna's appeal (like most female singers) has been her look, which is not what it once was. I think she peaked during the "Cherish" days (so long ago that I was still in high school). After that she became a little too obsessed with working out, and surgery removed any natural beauty in her face. That being said, she has fared quite a bit better than Whitney Houston. Mariah Carey, look out.
So that I do not appear entirely sexist, I have to mention that Robert Plant has taken on the puffy face that Jimmy Page has displayed for many a year. At least he still has somewhat of a singing voice.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
It really is the 21st century...
I hate smoke in bars and restaurants. Smoking in such places is a relic of decades past. That said, I never would have thought that smoking would be eradicated so soon in public places. It isn't really that many years since smoking was banned on planes. I think it was 3 or 4 years ago that New York City banned smoking. That got things rolling for the rest of the country. Chicago recently enacted a ban, though I don't think it has fully taken effect yet. Champaign-Urbana enacted a ban that is staggered-different dates for the bars and restaurants. Some of the quotes in that story are hilarious. I think they should go even further and ban dumb people like Alderwoman Stevenson from speaking. Despite being slightly less progressive Bloomington-Normal passed a similar ban, though just barely. As with Chambana, there were two different city councils to contend with, making it a lot like the situation where the House and the Senate have to come to an agreement on a bill if it is to become law. Once these bans go into effect there will be no turning back, and that is why some loudmouth smokers are up in arms. Too bad. Springfield is another Illinois city with the ban. Hopefully by the time I'm in Carbondale again the ban will be in place there--The Cellar will never be the same!
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Geh, geh, geh, geh, geh, geh, Gordo!
Kids are spoiled nowadays. Really. With the Internet and the multitude of cable channels the entertainment possibilities are endless. Me, I could either stare at the wall or stare at the sun. At least I was getting some fresh air if I was staring into the sun.
My few bastions of fun back then were the few chances to watch cartoons on tv. This tv being limited to 4 channels. This became 5 channels when C13 came along, and 6 channels when the fledgling Fox Network began broadcasting quality fare like Werewolf and 21 Jump Street. Ok, ok, so they had one winner with Married With Children. But I already had cable by that time anyway, so the Fox channel didn't matter as much.
So the late 70s and early 80s were the dark ages for my prepubescent mind. I was stuck with a smattering of cartoons in the early morning and after-school hours, and was left with watching shows like Barney Miller with my parents. Even the Barney Miller episodes after Abe Vigoda left. I can feel the sympathy pouring in, thanks.
Of course, Saturday mornings were a gold mine. Not only cartoons, but cartoons on all three networks, intersperced with Kool-Aid and Honeycomb commercials. Looking back, I realize that some of these cartoons were bad. Really bad. Everyone must remember those straight-from-the-arcade cartoons. Pac-Man (voiced by Marty Ingels, ack!), Q-Bert, Dragon's Lair-there was no stopping the lack of originality and the lack of any semblance of plot.
The always reliable Looney Toons (before they were censored) were a mainstay. Thundarr the Barbarian was an interesting ripoff of Star Wars. Dungeons and Dragons was entertaining, perhaps because it had practically nothing to do with the game.
One of my favorites was the Alf cartoon. It came along towards the end of my cartoon watching days (1987), so it had to appeal to an older audience to interest me. I didn't even like the Alf tv show very much and only watched the first season. The cartoon took place on Melmac, which was a good move since all the human characters on the original show were just plain boring.
Even better was a spinoff of this cartoon (that's right, somehow this cartoon was successful enough during it's very brief run to have a spinoff) called AlfTales, which used the cast from the first Alf cartoon as members of a cast that would perform a fractured fairy tale of sorts, only unlike the fractured fairy tales from the Bullwinkle cartoon, these were a half hour long.
Not impressed yet? Well, two of the main writers on AlfTales were David Cohen and Roger Schulman. David Cohen would go on to write for The Simpsons and Futurama. Schulman did even better, as he was one of the four writers credited with the Shrek screenplay. Hmmm, is it just a coincidence that Shrek also featured fairy tale parody? I think not.
It has been way over ten years since I saw any of the Alf cartoons, so maybe they are not as good as I remember. I recorded nearly every episode onto videotape, though the quality is undoubtedly lacking since I tried to squeeze 12 episodes onto each tape. They might not even play after all this time. One thing I hated about Saturday morning cartoons was the mountain of repeats that we would often have to wade through to discover a fresh episode. After I started recording the Alf cartoons, there was one that they just refused to repeat. It was the Legend of Sleepy Hollow episode. Meanwhile, they must have shown the Little Red Riding Hood episode 7 or 8 times. Talk about frustrating. Now it makes me think that maybe there was something controversial about the episode, causing NBC not to rerun it.
But all that does not matter now, as the Alf cartoons are now on DVD!!! Well, some of them, anyway. 9 of the 26 Alf Animated Adventures have been released, and 7 of the 21 AlfTales are available. No doubt if sales are good enough the rest of the episodes will be released. And yes, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow episode is on the AlfTales release, thank God. In a few days I will receive the discs-hopefully they won't be a disappointment after all this time.
My few bastions of fun back then were the few chances to watch cartoons on tv. This tv being limited to 4 channels. This became 5 channels when C13 came along, and 6 channels when the fledgling Fox Network began broadcasting quality fare like Werewolf and 21 Jump Street. Ok, ok, so they had one winner with Married With Children. But I already had cable by that time anyway, so the Fox channel didn't matter as much.
So the late 70s and early 80s were the dark ages for my prepubescent mind. I was stuck with a smattering of cartoons in the early morning and after-school hours, and was left with watching shows like Barney Miller with my parents. Even the Barney Miller episodes after Abe Vigoda left. I can feel the sympathy pouring in, thanks.
Of course, Saturday mornings were a gold mine. Not only cartoons, but cartoons on all three networks, intersperced with Kool-Aid and Honeycomb commercials. Looking back, I realize that some of these cartoons were bad. Really bad. Everyone must remember those straight-from-the-arcade cartoons. Pac-Man (voiced by Marty Ingels, ack!), Q-Bert, Dragon's Lair-there was no stopping the lack of originality and the lack of any semblance of plot.
The always reliable Looney Toons (before they were censored) were a mainstay. Thundarr the Barbarian was an interesting ripoff of Star Wars. Dungeons and Dragons was entertaining, perhaps because it had practically nothing to do with the game.
One of my favorites was the Alf cartoon. It came along towards the end of my cartoon watching days (1987), so it had to appeal to an older audience to interest me. I didn't even like the Alf tv show very much and only watched the first season. The cartoon took place on Melmac, which was a good move since all the human characters on the original show were just plain boring.
Even better was a spinoff of this cartoon (that's right, somehow this cartoon was successful enough during it's very brief run to have a spinoff) called AlfTales, which used the cast from the first Alf cartoon as members of a cast that would perform a fractured fairy tale of sorts, only unlike the fractured fairy tales from the Bullwinkle cartoon, these were a half hour long.
Not impressed yet? Well, two of the main writers on AlfTales were David Cohen and Roger Schulman. David Cohen would go on to write for The Simpsons and Futurama. Schulman did even better, as he was one of the four writers credited with the Shrek screenplay. Hmmm, is it just a coincidence that Shrek also featured fairy tale parody? I think not.
It has been way over ten years since I saw any of the Alf cartoons, so maybe they are not as good as I remember. I recorded nearly every episode onto videotape, though the quality is undoubtedly lacking since I tried to squeeze 12 episodes onto each tape. They might not even play after all this time. One thing I hated about Saturday morning cartoons was the mountain of repeats that we would often have to wade through to discover a fresh episode. After I started recording the Alf cartoons, there was one that they just refused to repeat. It was the Legend of Sleepy Hollow episode. Meanwhile, they must have shown the Little Red Riding Hood episode 7 or 8 times. Talk about frustrating. Now it makes me think that maybe there was something controversial about the episode, causing NBC not to rerun it.
But all that does not matter now, as the Alf cartoons are now on DVD!!! Well, some of them, anyway. 9 of the 26 Alf Animated Adventures have been released, and 7 of the 21 AlfTales are available. No doubt if sales are good enough the rest of the episodes will be released. And yes, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow episode is on the AlfTales release, thank God. In a few days I will receive the discs-hopefully they won't be a disappointment after all this time.