A fun way to wake up...

Today in music history: 1984

Today we look back to 1984, and find:


"Time after Time" by Cyndi Lauper!

OMG, I love this song.  Such a classic, a great karaoke song, and fun to boot.

Even though her hair is crazy, and the clothes are a bit...odd.

Even the covers of this song are great:


Bonus filming at First Ave!

Previously in music history 1984:

Footloose 

Hello 

Let's hear it for the boy

For all the video game nerds out there...

The funny stuff: Nothing new, so something new

I've been playing Diablo III, Blizzard's highly anticipated dungeon crawler a bunch lately.

They've put in a bunch of Easter Eggs and things, so I thought I'd share one of the ones I found just yesterday:

Hopefully you can see that :)

I'm in a dungeon called "Development Hell", and I'm fighting a mob named Kevin K Griffith<3D Artist>.  Every single mob in the dungeon is named from someone on the development team, and the last boss is Jay Wilson, the Game Director.

It was a hoot and a half, and things like this are what make Blizzard games so fun.

Today in music history: 1985

Today we go back to 1985, and find:


"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears.

This is a great one, eminently sing-along-able, and a catchy hook.  The look of the video is totally 80's but so it the song, so it works.

What do you think of this song? 

Previously in 1985:

"Don't You(Forget About Me)"

"Everything She Wants"

"We Are The World"

Super Cute time!

So a thing in medicine is cochlear implants.  This allows a deaf person to hear, sometimes for the first time int their life.

Sometimes, the activation sessions are recorded, and they are super cute, as follows:

Top 10: TGIF!

And we’re back, with another top 10!  This week, I’m going to look at my favorite shows on ABC’s TGIF lineup.

Started in 1989, the original run of TGIF lasted until 2000.  There were quite a few one season or less shows I don’t really remember, but there were also a bunch that lasted for quite a few seasons.

No honorable mentions this week, since the one I remember outside of my top 10 I didn’t like.

So, to start things off…

10

Clueless

Yes. This was based off the movie, and it was pretty fun.  Alicia Silverstone didn’t return, in favor of the blond girl from Are You Afraid of the Dark, but Brittany Murphy and Stacey Dash came back, as well as several of the teachers and family.  This was kind of brainless fun.  It was “White Girl Problems” before that was a thing, but you didn’t hate Cher for it, it was just how she was raised.

9

Teen Angel

Marty and Steve were best friends, until Marty ate a six month old cheese burger from under Steve’s bed.  Now Marty’s dead, and…they’re still best friends because Marty is Steve’s guardian angel.  Weird premise, but it was to go along with the supernatural theme of the week, apparently.  This was another throwaway show, as it barely lasted a season, but it has stuck in my mind all these years, so who knows?

8

Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper

This was about a teacher/basketball coach at a school in Ohio.  I don’t remember too many of the details of this one, but I do remember enjoying it, and watching Lori Beth Dinberg outside of her All That confines.  It was apparently on for five seasons, who knew?

7

Step By Step

Ahh, the Lamert/Foster family.  A new retelling of the Brady Bunch story, Carol Foster, with her three kids, and Frank Lambert, with his three, get married, and the families combine in some interesting ways.  Dana and JT hate each other, Karen tries to get Al to be more girlie, and the two younger boys tried to get noticed.  It was a fun show, even if it did try too hard some times *cough*Cody*cough*

6

Sister Sister

Tia and Tamara Mowry starred as…wait for it…twins.  Yeah, surprise surprise.  They were separated at birth, and discover each other in the mall.  Typical twin shenanigans followed, though the girls definitely had their own things at the same time.  The show actually only lasted two seasons on TGIF, but had an additional four on The WB.

5

Full House

Who doesn’t love the Tanners?  Danny, Uncle Jesse, Joey, DJ, Steph and Michelle were a constant in my TV lineup, even after the show was cancelled due to all the syndication deals it has.  Terribly saccharine, this show really knew how to try to get a person to feel for the characters.  That isn’t to say they were successful all, or even most of the time, but they tried, gosh darn it, and we like them for it.

4

Dinosaurs

Yes, the show that made ‘Not the Mama’ popular.  This was a live action show, all the characters were giant costumes that the puppeteers wore, and voices were dubbed in.  It was a silly, fun little show that ended with the dad ending the world.  Happy time for all! 

3

Family Matters

“Did I do thaaaaaat?”  A common refrain heard ever Friday night, when Steve Urkel did something stupid.  This was a great show, and even though it was a comedy, the characters learned, and grew.  I don’t think many people know this:  Steve and Laura get married in the end.  Yes, Steve.  And Laura.  Not Stephon, not geeky Laura, but Steve and Laura.  This show, along with character development, was exceptionally whacky, mostly due to Steve and his crazy inventions.  We loved him for it though, and the show was great because of him.  Though the whole, ‘trying to make Jaleel White look cool’ failed every time, cause he is one weird looking dude.

2

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

Another terribly fun show.  At least this one didn’t try to be based in reality with it’s whackiness.  Everyone rooted for Sabrina and Harvey to get together, and they eventually did…in the series finale on another network.  The situations were almost always enjoyable, and even if they did change the rules approximately three times an episode, it was still a good show, and one that stands the test of time, even if it’s fashions don’t.

And the number one show is…

1

Boy Meets World

Another top pick I’m sure no one is surprised over.  I love this show so much.  The characters are fantastic, the situations, for the most part, are based in reality, and feel as though they are handled in a way that is, if not how normal people would handle them, at least done in the way we would expect the characters to deal with them.  Cory and Topanga 4eva!

Today in Music History: 1986

Today, we look back to 1986, and find:


"Live to Tell" by Madonna.

I think this must have been a movie tie in, starring Sean Penn?  It seemed like a dumb movie, which went well with the dumb song.  It looked like someone told Madonna to behave, because she sits in a chair and pout the entire video, all while wearing a dress the women of the 1950's would call stogy.

It was terribly boring as well, just when you thought there would be a big chorus, or something, ANYthing, the song kind of peters out and dies right there on the editing room floor.

I have to admit, I still don't recognize this song at all, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I had ever heard it, which should show a bit about it's quality.

What did you think of this song?

Previously in 1986:

Addicted to love

The Greatest Love of All

So You Think You Can Dance: 5/30

This week saw the show on Wednesday, with another two hour block, this time in LA

There were only a couple of memorable dancers this time, though a whole lot got through.

The Twins: These 32 year old(read:too old to audition) twins got a full pre audition segment, and a bunch of banter with the judges.  I can kind of see what the guy from last week was saying.  They don’t have a lot of time with the people that do qualify, and yet they spend tons of time on people we will never see again.  That would totally rankle me as well.  Anyway, they were fabulous, and annoying, and I was ready for them to be off my screen almost right away, but the producers must have loved them, because see above.

Sam kicked from home: Sam had a sob story of how her mother didn’t appreciate her dancing, and kicked her out of the house six months prior, so now she is living with a friend, and boo-hoo poor little rich girl who obviously wasn’t telling the whole story.  Anyway, she danced into choreography, and on to Vegas.

Megan w/mom: In direct contract, we had Megan and her mom, who apparently divorced the dad for Megan’s dance career?  That doesn’t sound right…but that’s what the show made it sound like.  Another good dancer off to Vegas.

Karate guy: This guy melded martial arts with dance, and the judges lapped it up, saying he was one of the first to really do it right.  He did look pretty freaking awesome, I must admit.  He’s off to Vegas, obvs.

Ring Dancer: He had amazing control of his ring, but no real dance talent to speak of, and so he bowed out during the learn choreography stage, and he and his ring rolled off into the sunset.

Red headed ballet dancer: Another amazingly controlled dancer with tons of emotion during his dance.  He almost threw it all away by going for the whacky to start, but Nigel saw through it, and called him out to do a traditional piece after, and he got sent straight to Vegas.

There were a few others that went on, though they were only glossed over: Tapper, Sasha Lite, and Comtemporary guy#38321, and a few who didn’t really do a lot for me: Alexa, who made it to the green mile last year, and Elianna, the stripper pole dancer, and lastly, Johnny Waacks, who didn’t make it through, but was entertaining for what he was, an arm-spinner guy.

And that was LA!  Next week is Atlanta and Dallas, I think.

It's Friday!!!

Happy Friday everyone!

Today we have a book review, as usual, it is:

 The Emerald City by J. A. Beard

Gail Dorjee just lost her parents, and her rich uncle sent her to boarding school, Osland Academy, so as to not have to deal with her.

She gets paired with a flighty girl named Lydia, who everyone calls ‘Brainless,’ and Leandra, a timid girl with many phobias nicknamed ‘Coward Queen.’  There’s a cute boy, Nick MacEvoy, who doesn’t display any kind of emotion, and Gail calls him heartless.