The Rutbreakers: "Kids Incorporated" and the Disney Pipeline of Doom

Every once in a while, I get in a rut. I keep looking at or thinking about the same old things. The same clips on YouTube, the same fanfictions, etc. Usually what breaks me out of said rut is either a completely new topic of which I know little, yet fascinates me or a return to something that I have not looked at in a very long time. In this case this is something that I knew existed but really didn't know anything about. I have decided to write about some of these under the umbrella title "The Rutbreakers".

I have been on an 80s music kick of late, listening to certain songs from Chicago, Mike and the Mechanics (which might have become m second favorite band), Phil Collins and the Go-Go's. Why? Well I like the music. It sounds nicer to me. Sue me. Anyway, I was looking for cover versions of these songs to try and expand the possibilities when I came across a link of some cover versions that were done on a show called "Kids Incorporated"

Now, to this point, I knew very little about this program. The outside edge of knowledge that I knew about this was that one of the cast members of this show was one Stacy Ferguson, who eventually rose to fame alongside the Black Eyed Peas as Fergie. So I assumed that there was singing involved in the program because of her involvement. And I was proven correct.  I began to look into these covers.  But as Lewis Black would say, "Then things got strange"

I saw this cover of Belinda Carlisle's hit "Heaven is a Place on Earth"

I have no words for this. None.

The picture says it all. The girl who eventually become Fergie hugging what appears to be a green ball with a moustache. This green ball, who is probably an alien giving the context of the song, then is green screened flying off with the kids waving at what was probably a tennis ball or a light marked spot.

And yet, it fascinated me a bit. So, given my methods, I looked into this program. It aired from 84-92, first in syndication and then on the Disney Channel. In addition to Fergie, the singer Martika, whose hit "Toy Soldiers" plays in our store a lot, and Jennifer Love Hewitt also appeared on this show.

And that got me thinking again.

The Disney Channel, for years has been a pipeline for young girls and young boys to make it in the business. What learning about this show told me was that this "pipeline of doom"stretched further than I could have thought. It essentially, in the sense of the Disney Channel itself, started with these 3 girls, then went to Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake on The New Mickey Mouse Club, then Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Tisdale, Shia LaBeouf, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Debby Ryan,  etc.

It's a never ending pipeline of young stars who eventually break down or use drugs in some fashion. 

I was happy ( in terms of finding a pattern only) that Fergie did have drug problems in the 90s, which delayed her career. 

It's almost as if the Disney Channel is like a farm team for the majors and when you reach a certain age, you graduate the farm and move onto the next level. And apparently the farm team doesn't really mention the dangers of drug use, considering so many of them do.

Anyway, that's my ramble on this topic. I still dont know why I find it fascinating though? Is it seeing the young starlets and knowing the future, is it the Barney-like effects and plots, is it the music? I don't know. All I know is that it revved my mental juices and got me out of a bit of a rut. And for that I thank it.

What do you think?

Anatomy of a Theme

As most people who read this blog know, television is kind of my milieu.  And it is one particular element of television that I wish to talk about today:

The Television Theme Song.

What do they represent? The really good ones stick out and represent what you are about to see for the next 30/60 minutes. Some of them may bring about memories of watching said series in a particular environment with a particular person perhaps. They are part of our cultural knowledge.

And yet the artform is basically extinct. Networks, seeking more ad time to make money, have basically eliminated the television theme song. Some still exist, but more on that later.

First I want to mention one particular person and one particular theme. The person is Mike Post, who is generally regarded as the scion of the television theme music. Indeed, his themes for Law & Order, Hill Street Blues, Magnum P.I., The A-Team and others are imprinted in our minds.

His one theme I want to talk about is L.A. Law.

Why do I choose this one? Because I read a blurb in TV Guide which gave it a most particular description, with which I think I can illustrate the importance of the artform. I read this blurb in a CD cover for TV Guide issued theme songs. They described the theme of L.A. Law as representing, and I paraphrase:

" A lady lawyer in a courtroom presenting a case. She is dressed in a stiff, lawyer like outfit. However, underneath this outfit is a sexy red negligee, maybe for surprising a guy later."

As you can probably guess, the trumpet and horns represent the lawyer side and the saxophone represents the negligee.

And anyone who had ever seen L.A. Law would probably make that an apt description for the program. So the theme, once again, represents what you, the viewer is about to see. 

Now, to conclude, the television theme song is basically extinct from a lot of television. But there are exceptions. The most notable one IMO, is Game of Thrones.

An epic theme for an epic show. Helps to make it stand out. Wish television would go back to this artform more often.

What do you think?

Snowpocalypse Now

 So this is my first post in a while and my first post of 2018, and it is address a specific issue.

As I speak, the East Coast has been rocked by what the weathermen call a "bomb cyclone". What it means, I don't know or really care to know; if they had just said "big snowstorm" it probably wouldn't have made a difference.

That is not the issue I have.

The city of Tallahassee, Florida, due to this storm, received the first snow that it had seen since 1988, coincidentally, the year of my birth. The predicted total for the city was about 1-1.5 inches of snow.

This was their reaction

https://www.facebook.com/GoodMorningAmerica/videos/10156744147308812/


They closed the schools. For one inch of snow.

I'm sorry. I know you haven't seen snow except on television or the movies, but closing the schools for 1 INCH OF SNOW!

Now their argument is probably because since they don't get snow all the time, they aren't prepared to deal with it.

And while that may be valid, I find it hilarious.

This state deals with hurricanes and tropical storms, most of which is consisting of rain AKA water AKA H2O.

What is snow? WATER AKA H2O.

I just find it funny that they are prepared to deal with one menace but once it changes clothes, they are scared.

"We aren't scared of rain and water, we deal with it all the time!" to "OH MY GOD, IT CHANGED INTO SNOW! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

What do you think?

J'accuse

In the recent months, there have been many stories about sexual harassment particularly in the pop culture industry. People like Kevin Spacey and Charlie Rose have lost their jobs and have instantly been painted with the scarlet letter by people. Now in both of those cases, the men in question confessed to wrongdoing so those accusations were founded correctly

What I'm worried about is accusations that are false or flimsy and being only reported in order to achieve a goal, whether it be money or the classic Warhol 15 minutes of fame.

These days accusations can spread like wildfire and once they are out in the ethos, unless fought in court and proven innocent, it can be very hard to to take away the label.

One major example of this happened tonight, December 4th. As I write this, 2 hours ago, a girl posted a story on Twitter about how she was raped by her best friend, another girl. The girl accused is one Melanie Martinez, a very popular singer. As of this moment, she is trending #3 in the United States and looking at some of the tweets, the people are angry and taking her music off their IPod, like that would mean much to her personally, although maybe it does.

Now I am not suggesting in any way that the girl made this story up. It could very well be true. My point is that we are so quick to judge and roast that we don't use caution. We form the angry mob too quickly at times, and in this case two hours is very quick.

Of course the other thing I want to say on the matter is that women rape too. Women sexually assault too. 9 times out of 10, men are reported to do it. But women can do it too. And it kind of bothers me as a man myself, to be shoe horned in with them. Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive. I dont know.

What do you think?

Fandom = Lack of Enjoyment

This week, "Justice League" comes out. I won't go and see it because I dont go to the movies in general, but many people will. And given reactions, many people will be disappointed and cry that WB/DC is finished and Marvel Studios rules all.

And it makes me depressed. But not for the reasons that you may think.

I grew up with DC Comics. I am generally a DC person. But I don't hate Marvel Comics or their heroes, or their movies for that matter. I think Chris Evans (Captain America) is the best casting for a superhero since Christopher Reeve was cast as Superman. But the problem is that now it seems that if I support one side or the other, I get blasted or have to defend it. Fandom should be about enjoyment of a product, not anger or debate. Oh sure, the classic debates on which hero could beat whom are common enough. But they should not be shaming.

DC and Marvel rely on each other to push each other and succeed. And both companies understand that. Kevin Feige, the mastermind behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently called the DC-Marvel rivalry "ridiculous" and that he would go see Justice League himself.

Yet fans, partially because they like to feel superior over others and partially because we live in a culture where grey area doesn't really exist, will not stand by this and continue to cry conspiracies and throw hated at each other when they are all truly fans of the same medium.

There is no enjoyment in fandom anymore. It's partially the same with Doctor Who and infighting about where the show is going, who the Doctor should be, etc. And quite frankly, it has rankled my views on Doctor Who too.

Instead of enjoyment, it seems like you have volunteered for an army and you are going to war to defend your turf against those who deem to knock you down.  So instead of being happy, you are on the front lines all the time.

Why can't we just enjoy what we want to enjoy without other people telling us that we should or should not like it?

I feel like I have a ton more to say on this particular subject, but they all basically go back to that specific point.

So what to do you think?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changeeeeees

Apt. 15A Sayre Court, Madison, New Jersey.

I have lived at this address for about 25 years, first going back and forth between my mother and father and finally permanently with my father.

In 2 days, I will no longer be living there. Me and my father will be moving to another place in Madison. The place, to be honest, is nicer. It is bigger, so there will be more room for two grown men.

But will it be home? We will see. I am excited and nervous. I have never been one to fully embrace change on the outset of it. But you get used to it. I don't know how long it will take me to get used to this new place. But I hope it will be relatively quick. 

I apologize for the lack of blog posts but as you can guess, I have been pretty busy.

Why I Hate Politics

So I wake up this morning to the worst mass shooting in US History. A man opens fire on a concert below like its target practice. Sickening, indeed. But that is not what I want to talk about. Instead, what I want to talk about is the reaction to said shooting and why it illustrates why I hate politics.

So there are people on Twitter arguing this morning whether the government should call this quote "an act of terrorism". The same thing happened in the Obama administration when the nightclub shooting happened. My response to this and I'm sorry for swearing:

WHO FUCKING CARES WHAT IT'S CALLED?

The bottom line is that it happened and it has to be dealt with REGARDLESS of what it's called. I could care less what it's labeled as. And it illustrates why I hate politics in general. Politics to me is a bunch of people arguing over mostly trivial things, like wording and language, as opposed to more broader issues. The minutia of what is discussed in Congress is probably the reason why so little actually gets done, in my opinion. It is ridiculous at times. And it has showed its head today, when the larger issue of gun control (there's another thing, the NRA greasing the palms) should be discussed with compromise and with full attention, instead of worrying about language.

It's nonsense. And that is a reason why I hate politics. And I hate that over the last two years it has become the main topic that it has. Especially in the hands of some people who just spout. The Eckes family discusses politics a lot but we do it deftly and listen to each other. That's not what you get on Twitter. Which raises the ridiculousness factor beyond the boundaries of sense.

And speaking of sense, another story came out earlier this week which pissed me off.

This librarian who rejected the Dr. Seuss books because of them being "racist" should be let go because she lacks common sense. Talk about putting a big massive target on yourself and libraries in general by doing something so STUPID. If there was any logic behind it, then it may have some merit, but not letting in Dr. Seuss books? Ridiculous. And people wonder why people actually voted for Donald Trump. Partly because actions like this make no common sense.

Here's Bill Maher's rant on Democratic PC and how it led to President Trump. Try to have a good day.