This is so awesome. Please take a moment to read:

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was ...rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Which Superhero Are You, Steve & Dave?

Steve	Dave
If Steve was a superhero he would be Superman	If Dave was a superhero he would be Green Lantern
Comments:	Comments:
Steve: that's whats up Dave: You hate Superman, remember? Steve: As a protagonist sure, he’s limited and boring. But ill take his powers. Steve: and the comparison. Lauren: Hahaha, superman.... Really? Dave: ‎"S" is for Steve Vasey Steve: man of steel baby.... get used to it. if he had a jewfro in that picture we'd look like twins. Lauren: Omggg I remain unconvinced Steve: i have the suit. ill show you Joe B.: Steve, doesn't this dovetail well with your latex fetish? Tim: I guess superdouche was taken? lol Lauren: Steve. I think u in a cape is needed to settle this in my head. Steve: consider this matter settled. its going to be a capey V-Day Jess: I'm Rogue from X-men the tv cartoon. Actually wait a second....do I want to be her or be with her? meow! Steve: you want to be with her. :-) we all did at some point.	Steve: pffft green lantern. i wouldnt wish that on anybody... you have some ring you found in a cereal box that gives you the power of imagination. oh ya.... and your kryptonite is the colour yellow.... the whole colour. not a specific item....anything yellow. yellow car, death. pack of sticky notes, death. a banana, death. the Pittsburgh steelers, death. a bumble bee, death. worst super hero ever. Craig: Agreed, I'd say Wolverine for sure! Dave: He's the best superhero ever! You can do anything your mind can imagine! Travel to distant galaxies. Meet alien chicks. Yellow is the colour of fear! It goes back to origins of the emerald light of willpower. I'd take his powers in a second. Steve: yaaaaawn..... sorry i didnt have time to read that. i was too busy having sex with girls. Craig: ‎............. Bazinga Dave: Steve, remember that you have always hated Daredevil more than any other. Steve: i dunno.... daredevil is blind, but still a super hero. he's playing the hand he was dealt. green lantern gets routinely thwarted by a colour...and not even a primary one. He's not even trying. Dave: Yellow is a primary colour, Steve. It's not the colour itself. Each colour is lined up with an emotion. Green is will, yelllow is fear, red is rage, blue is hope, indigo is compassion, purple is love, orange is avarice, black is death and white is life. You know all this, of course. Steve: yaaaaaaaaaawn.... sorry. sex again.

Who would you be? Find out, click here

In which our leaders get into a time loop.

Episode 84: Time Loop

In which our leaders attempt to review a year in their lives. The incomplete recording session turns to nothing but a shit show.

Episode 83: A Shit Show

Picked this little ditty up on Typepad feed. Thanks, Oof.

After reviewing the second season of "The Walking Dead", the team at The Slingshot Channel realized that firearms are weapons of last resort in a Zombie outbreak. Gunshots are just too loud, veritable dinner bells for the Undead.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a man who:

1) Has too much time on his hands
2) Is making the best possible use of that time

via oofblamargh.typepad.com

This long overdue episode features Dave and Steve discussing their mutual adoration of pissing off geeks on the internet. Amanda helps the boys focus their thoughts and review some news stories.

Episode 82: The Professional Insult League

This little Flame War was pulled from a Facebook thread that took place on December 13, 2011. It began as our leaders' friend, Joe, put up a new status update.

Enjoy.

Joe: Kane return with mask!!!!!!! nuff said! EPIC!!

Dave: Really? That excites you?

Joe: sadly............... yes

Luke: Sorry Joe. WWE is obsolete.

[There was a post that existed here where Jonathan commented that the WWE had more friends and money than any of us.]

Jonathan Ross Buckham: And yeah the Mask he wore to come out in, over the other mask WICKED. I hope he keeps it at least for entrances. 3:)

Dave: The WWE has more friends than me? I'll be up tonight thinking about that one. Oh, and no one cares what you think and/or hope, douche.

Jonathan Ross Buckham: Lets see Mr McMahon turned the company into a multi-BILLION dollar industry which donates to charity, pays tribute to the troops, help stop bullying, and the list goes on. Needless to say it's only gotten MORE popular over the years and each of it's shows has the highest ratings each and every week. I'd say its far from obsolete. Thats my only argument here.

Jonathan Ross Buckham: And honestly since i admit my earlier pot-shot was uncalled for, so i recind my comment, but would appreciate a bit of mature discussion. We'e not here to air personal grievances. we're on Joe's post.

Dave: The name's Poody. Get it right. I've forgotten more about wrestling than you'll ever know. It sucks now. Really bad. I've tried getting back into it. It's weak sauce. To the point where Kane putting on a mask is some kind of "news". The ratings are directly tied to the breeding patterns of rednecks and their merchandise sales are related to the day welfare cheques are issued.

Luke: Can I like a comment twice? It really deserves it.

Jonathan Ross Buckham: I could really care less what your name is. I'm gonna keep this mature like i said I would. No matter how much you or anybody else thinks it gone downhill and we are all entitiled to our opinions, but the company lets face it financially and in the regard of picking up it's image is doing very very well. And we all know wrestling, ok? I'm not gonna debate about who knows more or whatever. I couldnt care less. So we've both watched it for a long time and maybe u've watched it for longer. Whatever. I'm sticking to the original point that is the WWE is NOT obsolete. Thats all.

Luke: Now I need a triple dislike button.

Joe: Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, nice discussion??????????? I still love wrestling, I've just never grown out of it I'm not here to make enemies *lol*

Steve: wwe....kane???? .... gay!

Jonathan Ross Buckham: If it's so "gay" then why bother commenting on it? Btw thats not a gret word to use. There are people who would really take offence to that.

Steve: well im not one of them.... you little internet hall monitoring dick suck!
and if your past the age of 14 wrestling is gay! no sexually developed male should enjoy greasy men in tights mock fighting each other..... get your head on straight buckham!

Luke: Seriously. "gret"?

Jonathan Ross Buckham: Lol ok well as I said to the other guys earlier here, if thats your opinion so be it, but are you so insecure you need to a) bash others opinions, b)use homophobic slurs, and c)act like a child? Al I can say is you have my pity. Honestly. I hope you grow up soon. Joe deserves better friends than all of you,

Jonathan Ross Buckham: And yes Luke Gret...I mistyped. It happens.

Steve: johnathan, that is my opinion and i find it amusing that all you have to do between raw and smackdown is troll facebook for anti-wwe comments.
joe deserves better friends then us because we dont like wrestling? I think joe deserves a better friend then a newsy hat wearing man child who uses crisco while jacking off to pictures of kane.

Jonathan Ross Buckham: ok...whatever. I'm just a il bit more mature than you obviously and such i'm dropping this, cause ure arguing this like a child...so w/e. Grow up and come talk to me only then.

Steve: and thank you look for pointing out this dumb shit’s spelling errors.... the community owes you a service.

Steve: “come talk to me only then”? are you challenging to a fight in your fit of nerd rage?

[Jonathan blocks Steve, Dave and Luke on Facebook at this point.]

Steve: Johnathan Ross Buckham!!! you deleted all your posts? ...i will take that as a sign of my victory. Thank you for playing

Luke: I think the newsy blocked me. I can't see his messages anymore. Douche.

In which Dave introduces Ashley to Steve. Along with the Verdone, they coin a new phrase.

Episode 81: I Don't Want to be His Fucking Child!

The condo boom has changed the face of Toronto, but now the Financial District at King and Bay is moving down to the waterfront. The Toronto Star's Christopher Hume show us how.

Via thestar.com

Where do religious freedoms end and personal rights supersede?

Right. Fucking. Here.

A coalition of Christian and Jewish groups say an anti-bullying bill harms faith-based learning.

Here's the story with some of my own editorial:

Some Christian and Jewish groups are denouncing Premier Dalton McGuinty’s anti-bullying legislation, calling it a front for his “radical sex education” agenda.

The Institute for Canadian Values held a news conference Tuesday morning, condemning the premier for a section of the new anti-bullying legislation that allows for all publicly funded school boards to “host gay clubs.”

Oh, Jesus!? The gays are allowed to have "clubs" now? We can't ridicule them and treat them like dirt until they commit suicide anymore? What happened to this world? Surely there is some vigilant bigot to save the day, right? Cue McVety:

The Institute’s president is Dr. Charles McVety, a politically savvy Evangelist who was against proposed changes to the provincial physical health and education curriculum last year. Those changes included discussing same-sex couples in Grade 3.

“We don’t understand why this keeps coming back,” McVety said.

I'd like to give him the answer myself, but surprisingly our idiot Premier has got it figured out...

But speaking in Windsor, McGuinty denounced the criticism.

“Are there gay children attending Catholic schools in Ontario? Yes. Are there gay teachers teaching in Catholic schools in Ontario? Yes,” McGuinty said.

“The purpose of our accepting schools act is to send a strong signal to all Ontarians, of all faiths and backgrounds, all places of origin, culture, ethnicities, in our province and our publicly funded schools — schools will be warm and accepting of all our children, regardless of their sexual orientation as well.”

I know what you're thinking. McGuinty surprised the fuck out of me with this one too. Good for him though. If he's saying it then it reflects the values of most Ontarians as McGuinty wouldn't dare take such a polarizing stance without backup. The anti-bullying legislation, created after recent high profile youth suicides including that of gay Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley, was introduced by the Liberals last week.

“I fully expect Catholic kids will use the word gay,” said McGuinty. “I fully expect Catholic teachers will use the word gay and as a Catholic premier in Ontario, I am going to talk about gay kids.”

There is a time and place for everything, said Rondo Thomas, of the Evangelical Association, but there is no “time and place” in an 8-year-old’s mind to try to make them conceptualize something beyond “tying their shoes.”

Hold it right there, Rondo. If that is a real name? My nine year old kid has been well aware of what it means to be gay for years. He goes to a Catholic school. I don't think we give kids any credit really. Hatred (like homophobia) starts with the parents and their example. So does tolerance, love and acceptance.

“The anti-bullying legislation that Mr. McGuinty is proposing constitutes a violation of our religious freedoms that are guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and further to that, it violates the common law of separation of church and state,” he said. “Please erase this unnecessary clause and show Ontarians you really care and we will join you in the anti-bullying campaign.”

The backlash to introducing this bill could be “quite severe,” he added.

Jack Fonseca, of the Campaign Life Coalition, agreed, saying the premier is misguided in this section of the anti-bullying legislation.

“Catholic teaching, the Catholic church and Catholic schools teach love of God and love of neighbour and if that is taught that is the best defense for children — whether they are same-sex attracted or overweight, skinny or wear glasses … it doesn’t matter, that is the best defense.”

Really? People are supposed to turn the other cheek? Use some kind of God shield from human degradation that your statement seems to condone?

Fonseca said McGuinty wants to force Catholic schools to do something, regardless of what the bishops say. “That is a violation of Catholic rights in Ontario,” he said.

Is it a violation of Catholic rights? Or this just bigotry in disguise?

All bullying is an expression of hate and it is wrong. I'm not surprised that there are those who will resist change. I'm just saying that their motives and argument are complete nonsense.

I'm not talking about gay rights exclusively. This applies to everyone and anyone who has had a hard time fitting in by no fault of their own. It's a big step to take as a society, so let's try not to fuck it up.

Peace.

via www.thestar.com

Internet children, December 1st, 2011 is the SECOND (Great) "Canadian National Day of Podcasting"! and we are giving our gift to the world via this show. You're welcome!

Also, Lauren and Amanda are in the studio to discuss some important topics with our leaders. This includes a story about a family who are killing their kids with fat! It truly is the holiday season!

Episode 80: Podcast Day is the New Christmas!

Images posted on Paulina Gretzky's now-defunct Twitter page included this sultry image of the blond in skimpy lingerie.

How long until a porno tape is "leaked" into the mainstream media featuring Paulina Gretzky? I'm going to say less than a year but we just might get lucky.

She'll be able to join the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, as daughters of wealthy and famous men, who'll suck a dick on a home camcorder for just the slightest possibility of breaking out into the limelight. Perhaps, we'll see a reality show come from this... "Gretzky Knows Best!"

"Don't go where the dick is, go to where the dick is going to be, Paulina."

I just knew that Twitter brought all kinds of joy the world, including me. Check it out:

Paulina Gretzky, the wild child daughter of Wayne Gretzky, loves a night out with her BFFs in Los Angeles.

The struggling model/singer/actress also loves documenting her fabulous celebutante lifestyle and curvy figure — often revealed in too-tight, too-short skirts and tube tops — on Twitter. But abruptly over the weekend, the daughter of world famous hockey legend Gretzky and Janet Jones, shut down her Twitter account — much to the chagrin of men everywhere.

Paulina was born Dec. 19, 1988 four months after her dad was traded to the L.A. Kings. She is the eldest of five children.

As Gretzky’s name was linked last week with the potential sale of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, it’s possible the news raised the profile of his daughter’s racy online photographs. Her dad was born and raised in Brantford, a far cry from the Hollywood nightlife that has attracted his eldest daughter. Before her Twitter was closed, she tweeted “Having a nice sit down dinner with my dad about social media..haha #SIKEEE (sic).”

Photographs posted by Gretzky’s fun loving daughter include a sultry image of the blond lying in bed in skimpy lingerie, dancing suggestively at a nightclub, lying poolside in a red bikini and striking a pose with girlfriends — backs arched, chests out.

While she may have grown up to be a Hollywood cliché — following in the path of other rich offspring such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie — Gretzky is struggling for a career she can call her own. She had her modelling debut on the cover of Flare magazine in 2005.

On her website, for example, she boasts that her single Collecting Dust “scored a television hit” after it was featured on MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.

“The forums, message boards and chat rooms for MTV’s hit show were flooded with comments, questions and requests for the song,” Gretzky wrote on the website. The song chronicles the sadness of a lost love. “Page by page I learn / how fast love letters burn.”

Men on Twitter are weeping that the starlet’s account has been closed. Last month, the website COED Magazine posted Gretzky’s 77 sexiest Twitpics, which received plenty of reaction.

Paulina’s a “smoke show” tweeted one man. He commented the young Gretzky was “clearly his greatest accomplishment.”

Another man agreed. “Thanks for putting the Great One’s daughter on my radar. She’s a beaut!”

Apparently the young Gretzky had an unmissable presence on Twitter. “Discovering @Paulina Gretzky on Twitter is like a British person stumbling upon Kate Middleton,” one person tweeted.

But for now at least, she’s off the air.

On Saturday, she tweeted, “Taking a break from Twitter for a bit. Happy Holidays!!! xoxo”

Tweeter @HockeyDad92 was crestfallen. “Please. Don’t go.” And another requested, “Give us one more pic for the holidays? Please.”

Via thestar.com

Oh, poor @HockeyDad92... we feel your pain.

In which the infamous Amanda makes her permanent return from Winnipeg! This monumental event sets off an chain reaction that gets the group taking about their sexual fantasies, personal stimulation tactics and what if they were porn stars.

Episode 79: Dirty Laundry Factor

Just a great answer to a simple question.

Via YouTube.com

Saw these on Facebook and then they disappeared. I found them and wanted to add them to the vault.

Enjoy.

The Toronto Blue Jays have gone back to the future with their new logo and uniforms.

I was relieved today to see the "new" look  for the 2012 season did not go crazy like a lot of us were worried about. There were a lot of rumours about making the team all red to match to push a "Canadiana" theme.

They now look a lot like they did when I was growing up. They have modernized it slightly so that it doesn't scream seventies as much as it used to.

They are putting the blue back into Blue Jays, which is awesome.

I suspect that fans and players alike will be really happy with the new look and feel for the team. I know that I am.

Here are a few more photos and videos to take it all in.

From the Jimmy Kimmel Show:

Via YouTube.com

In this sexy and provocative episode, the one and only Luke makes his triumphant return!

Ladies, prepare yourself to hear about what you have been missing all of your life.

Gentlemen, take notes from this Zen master as he instructs you on how to please a woman with clockwise precision.

This ain't your Daddy's "Cool Hand Luke". He's a knuckle-down type of guy and he makes the women hot with his magic fingers!

Episode 78: Knuckle-Down Luke

So, early this morning the New York police evicted the protestors in Zuccotti Park. There are reports of excessive force, pepper spray, and general police douche baggery. Seems a little extreme for a bunch of people living in tents.... but hey! What do I know?Get some of the story Here! I’m sure new information will surface later in the day.

Didn’t somebody once say "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”? ... that sounds like something somebody would say. 

My nine year old son, Eamon, has created an imaginary restaurant and menu. I thought it was realy cute so I decided to perserve it here on this blog for posterity.

He named his restaurant, Pizza O'Math.

Bon Appetit!

Eamon's Pizza Lovin' Menu

In conjunction with Pizza O'Math

Head Chef - Eamon

Restaurant Manager - James (day)

Restaurant Manger - Daniel (night)

Waiters - Mutsa, Anthony, Makar

Beverages

Pizzas

Sides

Desserts

In which Steve learns that Ray Bourque is not a cut of pork. Jeff and Verdone tag team in and out. Dave makes some important announcements and teaches the group about the Mirror Universe.

Episode 77: Ray Bourque?

There are some gay penguins in Toronto and there is only one solution: pussy. 

However, I am skeptical of this lasting. It didn't work for Heath and Jake and I don't think it's going to last here.

So what if Buddy likes getting his penguin dick sucked by a Pedro?

Buddy left his wife for Pedro for Christ's sake! It doesn't get more obvious than that.

It's all being covered up under the conspiracy of "mating". I know the truth.

It's still a cool story:

“Gay penguins to be separated’’ reads a headline on the ABC News website.

Love is in the air... male African penguins Buddy and Pedro are exhibiting signs of mating behaviour.

The Toronto Zoo plans to separate Buddy and Pedro to mate with other female African penguins there, because the penguins are endangered. Buddy and Pedro have great genes for breeding. A video of the penguins uploaded to YouTube had more than 70,000 views by Tuesday evening.  

Before Buddy, 20, met Pedro, 10, in an all-male flock in Toledo, Buddy had a female partner for 10 years and even produced a few offspring.

Since “pair-bonding’’ in Ohio and later moving to Toronto in May to join a group of 10 other male and female African penguins for breeding purposes, Buddy and Pedro have barely left each other’s side. But in a few weeks they’ll be paired up with younger females in the group, Buddy with Farai, 3, and Pedro with Thandiwey, 4.

Each pair will have a room to themselves in the penguin house, with a box for the egg they produce. The penguins will guard their nest area. 

Via thestar.com

Last week, a Lil Mart convenience store in Odenville, Alabama, became the official retail launch site for a new vending concept that could be the ultimate convenience for carnivores--a vending machine that dispenses steak in the same way other vending machines dispense cola.

Very redneck.

Via cbs42.com

Customers can feed $1 or $5 bills into the machine developed by Birmingham, Ala.-based Smart Butcher or swipe a credit or debit card and pay $2.49 for pork steaks, $3.99 for an 8-oz. sirloin or $5.99 for a 12-oz. ribeye steak. The machine also sells sausages and other meats.

This is truly a Canadian crime spree!

HAMILTON—Police say poppy donation boxes were stolen from two Tim Hortons restaurants this morning.

Police say a man placed an order at the Tim Hortons at 65 Ottawa St. N. at about 5:30 a.m. and fled with two poppy donation boxes when the clerk turned away from the counter.

About 30 minutes later, police say the same thing happened at a Tim Hortons at 239 King St. W. with a man matching the same description.

The suspect is described as an east Asian man in his 20s, five-foot-eight and 165 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and sporting a goatee.

He was wearing a dark blue jacket with a white stripe down the sleeves and a logo on the back, and dark jeans.

These incidents happened a day after police reported a poppy box stolen from a pizza shop in Toronto.

via www.thestar.com

In Canada, the poppy is the official symbol of remembrance (for those who have died in war since 1914) worn during the two weeks before November 11th.

What an asshole!

It's about time the rest of you get with us beautiful blues! I like it!

A California scientist says he has developed a quick and easy laser procedure to permanently change brown eyes to blue without damaging vision.

Gregg Homer of Stroma Medical told KTLA.com that he has been working on the technology for 10 years.

Even brown-eyed people have blue eyes underneath the brown layer of pigment, Homer said.

He uses a laser tuned to a specific frequency to remove the brown pigment from the surface of the iris. The procedure takes about 20 seconds. When laser energy is absorbed by the eye's brown pigment, Homer says the pigment tissue changes and then the body sheds the altered tissue, changing brown eyes to blue within two to three weeks.

The brown tissue never regenerates.

Homer told KTLA.com that tests have shown no signs of tissue damage so far. He still has another year of research to complete on the procedure.

Homer is a former entertainment lawyer turned law professor who obtained a science degree at Stanford while teaching, Stroma CEO Doug Daniels told the Orange County Register. Homer already holds several patents.

Stroma will present the research and findings at a medical device investing forum in California later this month.

Homer believes the procedure will be available outside the United States in 18 months and in the U.S. in three years.

It will cost about $5,000.

Homer told KTLA.com that thousands of people have already emailed him expressing interest.

“A blue eye is not opaque, you can see deeply into it, and a brown eye is very opaque. I think there is something very meaningful about this idea of having open windows to the soul.”

via www.thestar.com

In this very spooky Halloween special: Steve, Dave and Verdone become "The Talking Dead" for you! 

The 1983 club prepares for the greatest 30th birthday party of all time!

"Enjoy the VYou with Steve" gets resurrected!

We close off this most epic episode with two fantastic pilots callled:
"Life Advice with Verdone" and "Medical Advice with Verdone"

Episode 76: Halloween Thriller '83 Style

Steve and Dave have cooked up a brand new concept:

a summit for all people (like themselves) who were born in the year 1983.

This event will be held in 2013 as the children of '83 turn 30 years old.

What makes people from 1983 so special? We're totally awesome!

It will be a chance for a generation to compare notes on what they have done with their time so far and what the future holds.

Thos concept includes the best and brightest being called as keynote speakers to share their perspective and engage in active panels.

Some of the top people born in 1983 invited will include (pending future events and scheduling):

1. Steve
2. Dave
3. Verdone (Life Advice with Verdone)
4. Chris Hemswoth (Thor / Kirk's Dad)
5. Mila Kunis (Hottie Actress)
6. Jonah Hill (Funny Fat Man)
7. Henry Cavill (Superman)
8. Jesse Eisenberg (Facebook Man)
9. Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man)
10. Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds)
11. Maggie Grace (Lost/Taken)
12. Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane)
13. Leelee Sobieski (Joan-of-Arc)
14. Miranda Kerr (Victoria Secret Model)
15. Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
16. Carrie Underwood (American Idol)
17. Hillary Scott  (American Pornographic Actress)
18. Mika (British Singer)
19. Nicky Hilton (Socialite Cunt)
20. Ricky Mabe (Zack & Miri Make a Porno)
21. Jason Spezza (Canadian Hockey Player)
22. Sam Winchester (Ghost Hunter / Demon-Blood Drinker / Vessel of Lucifer) ...the actor, Jared Padalecki, is born in the 1982 (yuck!) but his character is born in 1983 (yay!). If he chooses to attend, he must be in character the ENTIRE time or he will be escorted from the venue.
23. Alona Tal (Jo Harvelle)
24. Nicki Clyne (Cally Henderson Tyrol) - This is debatable. We cheered when Cally died.

What a list, eh!?

Only people born in 1983 will be admitted to this historic and super-amazing fun fest! We will be checking identification.

We'll also be reviewing important historical events, such as:

• January 2  - Kate Bosworth is born
• January 23 – The A-Team debuts on NBC
  
• February 3 - Hillary Scott  is born
• February 20 - Nicki Clyne is born
• February 21 - Mélanie Laurent is born
• March 8 – IBM releases the IBM PC XT
• March 10 – MTV airs the video to Michael Jackson's song "Billie Jean" for the first time. The video is the first by a black artist to gain heavy airplay on MTV.
• March 10 - Carrie Underwood is born
• March 18 - Dave is born
• April 15 – Tokyo Disneyland opens
• April 20 - Miranda Kerr is born
• May - Jason Todd makes his debut as the second Robin in Detective Comics #526
• May – First report of the virus that causes AIDS
• May 2 - Sam Winchester is born
• May 5 - Henry Cavill is born
• May 6 - Gabourey Sidibe is born
• May 24 - Ricky Mabe is born
• May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of year.
• June 6 - Octopussy is released
• June 13 - Jason Spezza is born
• July 4 - Verdone is born
• July 9 - Steve is born
• June 10 - Leelee Sobieski is born (or was she?)
• July 21 – The lowest temperature on earth is recorded in Vostok Station, Antarctica with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F)
• July 27 – Madonna releases her debut album on Warner Bros.
• August 11 - Chris Hemswoth is born
• August 14 - Mila Kunis is born
• August 18 - Mika is born
• August 20 - Andrew Garfield
• August 30 – STS-8: Space Shuttle Challenger carries Guion S. Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, into space
• September 16 – Ronald Reagan announces that the Global Positioning System (GPS) would be made available for civilian use
• September 21 - Maggie Grace is born
• September 18 – The rock group Kiss officially appear in public without makeup for the first time on MTV
• September 24 – The Red Hot Chili Peppers launch their first, self-titled, album
• October 5 - Jesse Eisenberg and Nicky Hilton are born
• October 20 - Alona Tal is born
• November 2 - The demon Azazel attacks the Winchester family
• December 2 – Michael Jackson's world famous music video for "Thriller" is broadcast for the first time. It will become the most often repeated and famous music video of all time and increase his own popularity and the record sales of the album "Thriller".
• December 9 - Scarface is released
• December 20 - Jonah Hill is born
• 1983 was a landmark year in film. More films have gotten an R rating than any other year thus far.

Some other boring stuff happened too. We'll get to that later.

In this episode, our leaders are reunited! They discuss the results of the 2011 Ontario election and Dave's recent international adventure at the View Askew charity ball hockey tournament in New Jersey.

They also examine one of the benefactors of the charity tournament, The Wayne Foundation, in further detail including the issues of CSEC (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) and DMST (Domestic Minor Sexual Trafficking).

A special guest also drops in on the show...

Episode 75: Garden State of Mind

Biker Mice from Mars was a cartoon TV show that followed three anthropomorphic mice motorcyclists named Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie who escaped a war on their home planet Mars before arriving to defend the Earth from the evil that destroyed their homeland (the Plutarkians) and to one day return to Mars.

It ran from 1993 to 1996 for a total of 65 episodes.

The team was comprised of:

Throttle - The leader-figure of the trio with tan fur. Throttle's vision was damaged in the same incident that caused the losses of Modo's arm and the right side of Vinnie's face. As a result he wears green sunglasses with field spec capabilities. His sight does not appear to have been damaged completely, as he is able to look through a telescope in "Back to Mars" (current fan theories state that he can see without his shades for limited periods of time). On his right hand he wears a battle glove (coined "Nuke Knucks") which increases the strength of his blows with that fist. His first symbolic quote in the series was, "In this wild and woolly universe, there are three things you can count on: your brains, your bros and your bike!"

Modo  - The gentle giant of the three with gray fur and an eye-patch, suggesting that his eye may have been damaged during Karbunkle's experiments. He lost his right arm in the same incident that burned off the right side of Vinnie's face and damaged Throttle's vision. His robotic arm replacement has a built-in laser cannon and has great strength. When angry his right eye flashes red. He is prone to fits of rage when he or his bros are referred to as 'rats'. He is by far the strongest of the three mice, but also seems to have the most obvious capacity to love (Vinnie's attempts are often considered to be flirting). His bike is the only one out of the three with a definite name ("Lil' Hoss"), and the one with the most demonstrated AI capability. His first signature quote was "My momma didn't raise no stinkin' rat!"

Vinnie - Self-proclaimed lady-killer with white fur. The right side of his face was burned off in the same incident where Throttle's vision was damaged and where Modo lost his right arm; thus, Vinnie wears a flexible faceplate. He rides a red racing Sport bike, and is a thrill-seeker, often volunteering for the most dangerous tasks, enjoying the rush and subsequent glory. He wears a green X-cross bandolier on his chest, and wields expanding flares as well. His bike seems to have the greatest arsenal of weaponry between the three, and he is the best overall biker of the trio. He has a recurring catchphrase, "What a rush!", and has a signature laugh of triumph.

Charlene "Charley" Davidson  - The Mice are always backed up by Charley, a human mechanic who owns the Last Chance Garage in Chicago. She is also responsible for upgrades on the bros' bikes and is a high-tech genius in her own right.

Enjoy the video intro.

I saw this story yesterday in the Toronto Star about a kid from Ottawa, Jamie Hubley, that committed suicide partyly due to intense bullying because he was gay.

Bullying may be too soft of a word....

It implies some kind of adolescent behaviour that is excuable. It should be described more accuratley: human cruelty. It is simply a crime. We have to start making some changes.

This story invoked a lot of emotions for me:

Sadness for the loss of a young life and the family & friends who now mourn him.

Empathy for what this kid went through. I'm not gay but I was called that and a lot of other things when I was growing up. If you have never gone through it then I imagine it would be difficult to understand. It's one of the worst things someone can through psychologically. For a kid, it can be too much to handle.

Outrage against the little pricks responsible and all others like them. Somebody needs to start paying for these crimes. No more free rides. No more "boys will be boys" attitude. They have all been getting a free ride for despicable behaviour for way too long. The only solution is a zero tolerance policy in school. You can't really change who they are.

I've pulled  this column by Heather Mallick for you. I found put this case and the ongoing issue of bullying and gay rights in perspective. 

What a shockingly beautiful boy Jamie Hubley was. The ruddy hair, the smokin’ wide grin, that shy downward look — I’m wild and bold but, um, maybe not so much, the look seemed to say — as he sang Lady Gaga’s new song, “Born This Way,” on YouTube.

Jamie was only 15, which is why I’m journalistic ethics-wise allowed to refer to him by his first name, as if he were a friend of mine. And how I wish he had been. This kid could have helped my sadness, I could have helped his, he would have brought credit and affection and candour to everyone who knew him, but now he’s dead, no chance now.

When brightness falls, it falls so hard. Watch Jamie singing. He doesn’t get the low notes quite right. It makes your heart crack.

The Ottawa schoolboy died Saturday of human cruelty, profoundly depressed after years of being bullied for being gay. He killed himself. I’m astonished to read that he was being hounded even in Grade 7 — students tried to stuff batteries down his throat on the school bus after he chose figure skating over ice hockey — but then I remember Grade 7 and what little animals we were.

We were allowed to behave like rodents then, sharp-toothed and scurrying in packs, looking to munch on whatever was available, including each other.

The starter efforts at talking openly about teen suicide give the best advice extant, that time is a healer, that this too shall pass. Jamie wrote in his online suicide note: “It’s just too hard. I don’t want to wait three more years, this hurts too much. How do you even know it will get better? It’s not.”

You can’t tell a 15-year-old to wait three years. To him, it sounds like 30, which to a teenager is practically dead anyway. And when I look at middle-aged people, including many in public life, who can’t admit publicly that they’re gay, it’s clear that time heals nothing. We all fear bullying.

Foolishly, I thought this was generational and that kids were taught to be different now, more humane. As schools become multiracial, girls dare to speak up in class and be smart and everyone’s online and typing out the contents of their souls, I assumed that kids like Jamie, who wanted to sing or act rather than just go into thick-necked grunting mode for the course of their adolescence, would find a place to flourish.

I was wrong. The kids who called Jamie names in the hallway, who tore down his posters for a Rainbow club at A.Y. Jackson Secondary School (this was the school he moved to in an effort to escape bullies), the teenagers who mocked him online, we all went to school with those kids. Maybe we were those kids. Maybe we still are.

There a little dark creature inside all of us, a homunculus as it was known in the Middle Ages, or a tiny human. He is filled with meanness. I always imagine him looking like one of the black pond tadpoles I remember from childhood, little slippery lumps of menace. (In fact, of course, they were harmless and the neighbourhood boys should not have set them on fire.)

Well, there’s a little hate generator in every one of us and he’s the source of the bullying we see in politics, school, workplaces, hockey rinks, talk radio, yell TV, tabloid newspapers and especially online. We live in a bullying culture, in which I suggest you not be gay or a native Canadian or unemployed or in any non-powerful group. Don’t go online if you’re vulnerable.

But who spends the most time online, aside from the old Angry Pajamas of extremist politics? Teenagers, naturally.

If it helps to personalize it, picture your inner nasty as the icon you see on the doors of public toilets, but armed with a pitchfork. Instantly recognizably as Average Guy, he doesn’t just live inside the kids who helped drive Jamie to suicide, he lives inside all of us.

The trick of being civilized is that we silence him when he pokes our mean gland. And he’s not necessarily male. Females are talented bullies with a real eye for where the shiv will do the most emotional damage. No? Rent Mean Girls and see what I mean.

High school is the distillation of our lives, with a term limit, filled with cliques and home to the best and worst of our traits. Remember those hallways lined with lockers, which I recall happily but now realize must have seemed to the bullied kids like a gauntlet they had to run over and over, five days a week. What I wonder is if Jamie’s tormentors understand even now what they did and why.

As Jamie wrote in his last post on his Tumblr blog, “To the people who didn’t like me (many) a big f --k you. Go ride a unicorn.”

And then he adds, “But we love you anyway.”

Even as he headed for death, he had to add, in a clause from a naturally kind heart, some forgiveness for his tormentors.

I cannot get over this.

I’m hoping the schoolmates who mocked and tormented Jamie can’t get over it either. They’re not going to be better people until they confront their own cruelty.

We won’t stigmatize bullying until we force the bullies to understand what they do what they do, that an ugly voice emerges from the black dot inside you, urging you on to call kids like Jamie a “fag.”

Depression was Jamie’s constant, the kind of depression that is implacable in the face of total family love, medical care, counselling and loyal friends. Jamie’s father, Allan, wrote in his public statement that for most of his life, Jamie was “a happy and confident child.” Later, though, he asked “a question no child should have to ask — why do people say mean things to me?”

Hubley pointed out that cyber-bullying has created a new problem. There is no longer any refuge. “Children often feel there is no safe place to go; even when they are at home they can still be victims.” Jamie knew his tormentors were reading his blog. “You bent me until I broke. Happy? You win,” he wrote just days before he killed himself. A student at his school wrote on the new R.I.P. Jamie website, “I had seen him earlier that day [the day of his death] and he had cuts all over his wrists, his arms, even his face.” This matches Jamie’s single sentence entry, “Cut my face.” At this point he was in such despair that he no longer minded handing the confessional gift of his pain to those who were out to hurt him. A day later he quoted from another blog, a list of wounds that would not be the list of a depressed university student or a dentist or rape victim. It is quintessentially high school. It includes being “the first one to ask to hang out, the only one to try, not being invited.”

“F--- high school and f--- having shitty friends.” These words aren’t the whole truth of Jamie’s life but only the last miserable segment of it.

Look at his face as his handsome father proudly poses with his hand on the shoulder of his beloved child. Jamie, in a dress shirt with black bow tie, had clearly been in the spotlight. The photograph radiates love and happiness and is the portrait Allan Hubley chose to represent the bond he had with his 15-year-old darling.

What chills me is that Jamie’s bullies probably thought this picture was funny. I hope they’re not laughing now.

If they are, they haven’t learned to suppress their inner dark voice, the little hate lump urging them to deflect the hate that might come their way.

“You can’t break when you’re already broken.” That was the title of Jamie’s blog and the last words he saw. He was gay and bullies broke him.

Now we will have to reassemble our memories and our morals so that maybe no one like Jamie breaks again. But I suspect there will be other Jamies.

via www.thestar.com

Steve and Dave conduct their fourth candidate interview in preparation for the 2011 Ontario provincial election.

This episode showcases Family Coalition Party candidate for the Burlington riding, Tim O'Brien.

Episode 74: Family Coalition

Steve and Dave conduct their third candidate interview in preparation for the 2011 Ontario provincial election.

This episode showcases Freedom Party candidate for the Burlington riding, Andrew Brannan.

Episode 73: Freedom Party

Steve and Dave interview their second candidate running in the 2011 Ontario provincial election.

This episode showcases New Democratic Party candidate for the Burlington riding, Peggy Russell.

Episode 72: New Democrat

WORCESTER, MASS. — Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes — and lots of doubts about his future.

Now 12 years old, he is is the longest surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.

His owner says every day is a blessing because such cats usually survive only for a few days.

Via www.thestar.com

In this episode, our leaders interview the first of several candidates from the 2011 Ontario provincial election.

This epic installment showcases Libertarian Party candidate for the Hamilton East—Stoney Creek riding, Greg Pattinson. Find out all about this party's platform and ideology here! Now!

Episode 71: Libertarian

Prepare yourself. One of the first signs of human mutation resulting in  actual bonafide superpowers has been documented.

We've got a little Magneto on our hands.

"Mom, look what I can do!" David Petrovic, 4, stands in his garden in south Belgrade, Serbia as silverware sticks to his chest. David's parents claim the boy has a rare ability to attract metal objects to his body.

Erik Lehnsherr, eat your heart out.

And, apparently, it's genetic... which makes total sense.

David isn't the only Serbian boy who has the special gift. His cousin Luka Lukic, 6, also has the "rare" ability of attracting metal objects, such as this plate, to his body. The two boys live with their family in the central Serbian town of Gornji Milanovac.

Of course, this could all be some sort of scam. I would really like to believe this legitimate. Please, God, make this be true.

Via www.star.com

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future was a science fiction/action television show that ran from 1987–88.

It merged live action with animation based on computer-generated images. By today's standards, it was garbage. The merger of animation and live action was not very well done. Hell, it wasn't even great for the the standards of it's time.

It ran for only 22 episodes in Canadian/American syndication. While the show was incredibly short-lived, I remember it having an early impact on me. It was probably the first piece of material that introduced me to the concept of a cybernetic revolt.

The acting was decent but it wasn't enough to hold it up. While the overall storyline was a cool concept but it was a really poor execution. The show couldn't decide whether it wanted to appeal to kids or adult so it ended up doing neither very well.

The storyline was set on Earth in the 22nd century following the Metal Wars, a cybernetic revolt that resulted in the subjugation of the human race by intelligent machines. Captain Jonathan Power and a small group of guerrilla fighters, called "The Soldiers Of The Future," opposes the machine forces that dominate Earth.

The team consisted of:

Captain Jonathan Power (Timothy Dunigan), master of the incredible Power Suits, which transform each soldier into a one-man attack force.

Major Matthew 'Hawk' Masterson (Peter MacNeill), fighter in the skies. For some reason he outranked Captain Power but that didn't really seem to matter.

Lieutenant Michael 'Tank' Ellis (Sven-Ole Thorsen), ground assault unit.

Sergeant Robert 'Scout' Baker (Maurice Dean Wint), espionage and communications

Corporal Jennifer 'Pilot' Chase (Jessica Steen), tactical systems expert.

The "Big Bad" of the show was Lord Dredd, played by David Hemblen. For me, he was the greatest actor on the show and delivered a pretty decent performance.

Here's the intro (it wasn't easy to find):

It's even better in Spanish.

C.O.P.S. (Central Organization of Police Specialists) was a cartoon television show, which ran from 1988–1989, and used the tag line: "Fighting crime in a future time, protecting Empire City from Big Boss and his gang of crooks". There were a total of 65 episodes.

I wish this show had lasted longer then it did. C'est la vie.

Here's the breakdown...

The year: 2020. The place: Empire City. The situation: Brandon “Big Boss” Babel (along with his gang of crooks) is holding the entire city under the palm of his iron hand and the Empire City Police Department can do nothing to stop him. As a last resort, Mayor Davis sends in Special Agent Baldwin P. Vess (Codename: Bulletproof) to take him down. However, Bulletproof suffered very serious injuries in a car wreck during a fight with Big Boss' criminal henchmen and had to be taken to the hospital, where he is given a cybernetic bullet-resistant torso to save his life as it would take years for his torso to recover.

While staying at the hospital, Bulletproof, knowing he cannot do all of this alone recruits police officers from all over the country. This was one of the most diverse and comprehensive crime-fighting forces ever portrayed in any fictional setting that I've seen.

• P.J. O'Malley (Codename: LongArm) - The Beat Cop
• Donny Brooks (Codename: HardTop) - The Patrol and Pursuit Officer
• David E. Harlson (Codename: "Highway") - The Motorcycle Patrol Officer
• Colt Howards  (Codename: "Mace") - The S.W.A.T. Officer
• Stan Hyde (Codename: "Barricade") - The Riot Control and Hostage Negotiation Officer
• Tina Cassidy (Codename: "Mainframe") - The Police Technical Analyst
• Walker Calhoun (Codename: "Sundown") - The Texas Ranger
• Suzie Young (Codename: "Mirage") - The Vice Officer
• Hugh S. Forward (Codename: "Bullseye") - The Police Helicopter Pilot
• Rex Pointer (Codename: "Bowser") and his robot dog, Blitz   - The K-9 Officer
• Baldwin P. Vess (Codename: "Bulletproof") - The FBI Agent / Detective

The team is dubbed as “the finest law enforcement agency there is in the country.”

Bulletproof becomes the proud founder and commander of C.O.P.S.

Together, he and his C.O.P.S. team are able to take down Big Boss and his gang of crooks and thwart the first of many of Big Boss' criminal schemes.

The show's futuristic setting looked incredibly like the 1920s with a modern spin.

Check out this very memorable and iconic opening theme.

Steve and Dave welcome Jeff and Verdone back to the program. This wiley band reflect on where they were ten years ago during the September 11th terrorists attacks.

Episode 70: Where Were You?

Live Show Tonight!

Check us out for a live SDRT podcast at the historic Imperial Pub in Toronto at 8 PM. 54 Dundas St. E. @ Yonge-Dundas sq.

Who you gonna' call? Not these guys.

Ghostbusters was cartoon TV show based on a live-action television show from 1975-1976 titled The Ghost Busters.

This is a direct follow-up to my previous blog where I covered that oher Ghostbusters cartoon. The two franchises are not related other than their name. This show forced the other to tack "real" onto their name.

This cartoon ran from 1986 to 1987 for a total of 65 episodes. I'm a little unsure how they did that may episodes in such a short time.

At first, I didn't remember there being a second "Ghostbusters" cartoon. However, upon doing my research and watching the clip below it all came back to me in a flash. Perhaps it will for you too.

Jake Kong, Eddie Spenser and Tracy the Gorilla are The Ghost Busters. Why they had a gorilla on the team is a matter I'm not clear on. There were plenty of people looking for jobs during the 1980s recession is unclear and outrageous to me.

Apparently, Tracy is extremely smart and is credited with inventing all of the "Ghostbusting gadgets". Tracy is also very powerful and uses his strength to get out of tight spots. Unlike the live-action series where he only wore various hats (most commonly a beanie), in this series, he wears a fedora, backpack and khaki shorts....

Planet of the Apes come to mind for anyone else?

Together, they have dedicated themselves to ridding the world of the evil ghost wizard Prime Evil and his cast of henchmen.

Anyways, the wraps up my two-part special on all cartoons "Ghostbusters". Well, that't not exactly true. There are a few other spin-offs, but they dreadful and will not be brought up anytime soon.

Peace!

The Real Ghostbusters was a cartoon TV show based on the 1984 film, Ghostbusters.

It ran from 1986 to to 1991 on ABC and had total of 147 episodes.

The "Real" moniker was in reference to another Ghostbusters cartoon, which I'll cover in my next blog.

This was a staple of 1980s cartoon watching for any boy (and some girls, I'm sure).

The series continues the adventures of paranormal investigators Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, their secretary Janine Melnitz and their mascot ghost Slimer.

Of the original movie cast, only Ernie Hudson auditioned to play his character (Zeddemore) in the series; however, as a very special "fuck you" to Ernie Hudson, the role was given to Arsenio Hall. I'm not sure what Hudson did to piss off the producers but it must have been pretty bad to get your role taken away by Arsenio.

The role of Peter Venkman was split between Garfield himself, Lorenzo Music, and goofy fuck-wad extrordinaire, Dave Coulier. If you will remember, Coulier was the Full House star that received fellatio in a theatre from Alanis Morrissette. But I digress...

When I was a kid this show was what life was all about. The characters didn't look (or even act) very much like their movie counerparts. They wore different coloured jumpsuits... I suppose so we could tell them apart. Egon became a blonde (actually, all of the characters were redesigned). The character of Slimer was reinvented as well. Oh yeah, and a metric ton of licensed merchandise was released including toys, clothes, toy slime...and the list keeps on going.

While doing research for this blog I realized that Babylon 5 creator,  J. Michael Straczynski, was a writer for this show for several years. That was a nice surprise.

 A few years ago, it was advertised that they were going to start doing reruns of this old favourite of mine on some cartoon network. As I was watching an episode back I realized that the show wasn't really that good... at least for an adult.

However, you can't fight the memory and I'll hold a special place for the "real" Ghostbusters in my heart.

Supposedly, this is a banned commercial for that oldtime favourite: Pop Rocks.

There's been a bunch of this kind of stuff around the internet. I cite my Skittles Porn blog from a few months ago.

Buckle-up, tourists, for this long awaited and exclusive interview with Red State producer, Jon Gordon (@thejongordon).

Steve and Dave get the inside scoop on the making of Red State, Gordon's career in the film industry with Miramax and Universal Studios, as well as the upcoming (and much anticipated) Hit Somebody! films.

Episode 69: Jon Gordon Does 69 with Steve & Dave

Super Dave (also known as The Super Dave Osborne Show) was a Canadian/American variety show starring and hosted by the fictional character Super Dave Osborne (played by Bob Einstein). Super Dave's signature was to perform outrageous daredevil stunts which invariably went awry and resulted in his grievous injury - usually at the end of an episode. 

It ran from 1987 to 1991 on Showtime in the US and the Global Television Network in Canada. It's unclear how many episodes there were in total.

Super Dave was spun off from the Canadian sketch comedy series Bizarre, which featured Bob Einstein in recurring roles, including Super Dave.

Super Dave took place in a theater with an audience. The stage featured his signature "bulb wall" - a movable wall lined with red, white and blue light bulbs, which would act as a curtain. He would often do an introductory monologue, and introduce guest performers there. The studio was located at the fictional "Super Dave Compound"... in actuality the Glen Warren Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Musical guests on the show included Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Doug and the Slugs, k.d. lang, Jerry Lee Lewis, Colin James, Bobby McFerrin, Kenny Rogers, and Sonny Bono. Other types of performances were also featured, including ventriloquist Ronn Lucas, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, impressionist André-Philippe Gagnon, comedian Steve Allen, and the Smothers Brothers, whose variety show Einstein got his start writing for.

Besides simply bringing performers onstage normally, a false reason was often given for the performer's appearance - for instance, they might be introduced as a member of the show or compound's staff that Super Dave would allow to perform, or an audience member who suddenly revealed a talent. When a performer was introduced with such a fake background story, Super Dave would often go to thank the performer after a short simple performance, only to have them continue with a more elaborate performance before he could do so; this would repeat several times. Kenny Rogers was a good exaple of this.

Super Dave was accompanied by several recurring characters including:

1. Mike Walden, Super Dave's announcer, whose loud suits were frequently the subject of mockery. He was almost always present in the remote segments.
2. Fuji Hakayito (Art Irizawa), Super Dave's barely comprehensible stunt coordinator.

I could not find the intro to this show so I decided these videos were the next best thing. Enjoy.

Spider-Man was a cartoon TV show starring the Marvel Comics superhero, Spider-Man.

The series focuses on Peter Parker during his college years at Empire State University. As the story begins, Peter has already gained his superpowers and is a part-time freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle.

The show was fairly faithful to the source materials but a lot of things were changed and updated for modern presentation. For example, Hobgoblin appears before Green Goblin, rather than vice versa as it should be.

The show features most of Spider-Man's classic villains, including the Kingpin, the Green Goblin, the Lizard, the Scorpion, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Shocker, the Rhino, the Vulture, the Chameleon, and Venom. Over the course of the series the single Peter contends with the romantic love interests of Mary Jane Watson, Felicia Hardy and her alter ego, the Black Cat.

The series also features numerous crossovers by other Marvel Comics characters, including the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, Blade, the Punisher, and Captain America. 

Even the Clone Saga, with Ben Reilly, was touched upon briefly in one episode.

The show ran on Fox Kids from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998 for a total of 65 episodes.

This show got me hooked on Spider-Man. I can remember every episode of the series with clarity. From there I started reading the books pretty regularily and cemented the character among my favourite comic heroes ever.

I believe it to be one of the greatest cartoons ever produced. It certainly reinvented the way to present a comic book with an ongoing story arch that abandoned the campiness that 1960s counterparts were laced with.

The instrumental theme song for the series (including the lyrics) was performed by Joe Perry of Aerosmith. Very memorable.

Little House on the Prairie was a western drama TV show, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s.

The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books.

It was the first example I was exposed to of a show where I watched the characters grow up, get married, have children, and die in the same story arch. 

The show's central characters are Charles Ingalls, farmer and patriarch, with his wife, Caroline, and four daughters, Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace, later adding adopted children Albert, Cassandra  and James.

Other essential characters included the friendly Nels Oleson, proprietor of the town's general store, Oleson's Mercantile; his malicious, gossiping wife, Harriet; and their two spoiled children, Nellie and Willie; and later, their adopted child, Nancy.

The series began on the NBC network on September 11, 1974, and ended on May 10, 1982 for a toal of 203 episodes, plus five TV specials.

The show was known for it's guest stars, which it had in abundence, from Johnny Cash to Sean Penn. However, my favourite was when the Colonel himself, Harland Sanders, showed up for an episode. He pitched the idea to the local store owner, Oleson, of opening a restaurant franchise that focused solely on fried chicken, an idea to which he balked at and quickly dismissed.

The show also had a number of more tragics moments such as one of the Ingall daughters going blind and (years later) her baby is killed in a fire.

Another memorable episode focused on women's rights such as voting. Little House explored many themes and every episode was filled with family values, love, friendship, and faith. Adoption, alcoholism, racism and blindness were portrayed in the scripts. Some plots also included subjects such as drug addiction (i.e. morphine), leukemia, prejudice, and even rape.

I watched this show in syndication on a fairly consistent basis. The story was very addictive.

The entrance music, written and conducted by David Rose, is very comforting piece of music that brings back memories around this show. Enjoy.

Here's the ending theme:

In this episode our leaders connect with a blast from their past, Amanda Dowell. Verdone joins this threesome on their enticing journey as they explore their past acting careers and what Steve wants to do to Amanda.

Episode 68: Thespians

Get Smart was a comedy TV show that satired the secret agent genre. It was one of the only things that was created by Mel Brooks  that I actually liked.

While I typically blog about shows that ran when I was a kid, this one is an exception. It was over many years before I was born but I watched it in frequent syndication on YTV in the 1990s.

The show starred Don Adams (as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86), Barbara Feldon (as Agent 99), and Edward Platt (as Chief).

The series was broadcast on NBC from September 18, 1965, to April 12, 1969, after which it moved to the CBS network for its final season, running from September 26, 1969, to September 11, 1970, with 138 total episodes produced. 

The series centered on bungling secret agent Maxwell Smart, also known as Agent 86, and his experienced female partner is Agent 99 (whose real name is never revealed in the series).

It's potrayal of women as equals in the workplace was groundbreaking. Even if that workplace is fantasy secret spy stuff.

This type of humour was brand new to me when I started watching it. Today, so much can be connected with it's influence, at least to me.

Agents 86 and 99 work for CONTROL, a secret U.S. government counter-intelligence agency based in Washington, D.C. The pair investigates and thwarts various threats to the world, though Smart's incompetence invariably causes complications. However, Smart never fails to save the day, typically thanks to his own dumb luck and often by 99's skills. Looking on is the long-suffering head of CONTROL, who is addressed simply as "Chief."

The nemesis of CONTROL is KAOS, described as "an international organization of evil." KAOS was supposedly formed in Bucharest, Romania, in 1904. In an episode of the series, after making a series of demands in a recording, the speaker mentions the demands are from "KAOS, a Delaware Corporation." When Smart asks the chief about this, he mentions they did it for tax reasons.

Neither CONTROL nor KAOS is actually an acronym. Bernie Kopell played Conrad Siegfried,  the most often-seen recurring KAOS agent, supposedly of German descent.

Devices such as a shoe phone, The Cone Of Silence and inner apartment booby traps were a regular part of most episodes.

Max and 99 married in season four. They had twins in season five. Agent 99 became the first woman on a hit sit-com to keep her job after marriage and motherhood. Even "99's mother" never referred to her daughter by name. Her name wasn't even mentioned in her wedding. I missed the end of this episode when I was ten because I had to run off to a baseball game. My mother assured me that they got married and the next episode they were. Still, I regret not seeing that episode even today.

Under The Umbrella Tree was a Canadian children's TV show that featured three puppets and a woman who share a house on Spring Street in a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario.

The characters include Holly (a human), Iggy (an iguana), Jacob (a Blue Jay), and Gloria (a gopher). The show's title is derived from the fact that the characters live together in a home featuring a prominent indoor umbrella tree.

This was a stable of morning teleivision when I was a kid. It was weekday morning show between Mr. Dressup and Sesame Street.

It originally aired on CBC from 1986–1993 for a total of 280 episodes. 

Holly serves as a parental figure and mentor for the three puppet characters. She affectionately refers to Iggy, Gloria and Jacob as her 'roommates', although she seems to handle most of the day-to-day running of the household such as cleaning, cooking, and is the one who pays the rent. 

Anyone else feel bad for Holly?