British Politick

Over the last few years, I have had a growing fascination with British politics of the past, specifically elections. Usually, I hate politics because I have always believed that politics, down in its core, is arguing over minutia for the most part. Also that common sense and logic have basically gone out the window. But British politics fascinates me for two main reasons.

The first reason is that Great Britain is, in many ways, much smaller than the United States, The population is more concentrated in a small space. That leads to more face to face drama between differing factions. You can't get away from opponents and you have to stand your ground. This type of closeness is most observed in the House of Commons where MPs (equatable to US. representatives) are squeezed together in a small space. Winston Churchill once said that the reason for that was to create tension and lack of comfort. And he's right. If you ever go onto YouTube and see funny Parliament moments, you will know what I mean.

The second reason is basically that Britain is still at its heart an old fashioned country. They still use paper ballots for their elections instead of voting machines. They have lords from each constituency (equatable in a way to US districts) read out the result to the public. There is mudslinging but it seems to have a veneer of primness about it that seems to raise it above the rest, even though it must be said that most people believe that the UK tabloid press is much more biting and caustic than the US tabloid press. Nevertheless, there seems to be a veneer about it. It is also treated more like a game in Britain or so it seems to me. And also it is very uniform and statistical.

The basic way to describe how a British election works is to compare Britain to Texas, or any other state. Each constituency sends a representative (MP) to Parliament. The party that has the majority of MPs in the House of Commons gets power and the leader of said party becomes Prime Minister.

I don't wish to go into the many details of the subject, so I will just leave you with the theme that the BBC, for a long time, used for their election broadcasts (which go on for hours into the night and next morning) It is called "Arthur" by Rick Wakeman and it illustrates the drama which the British seem to treat politics.

No Crying in Baseball (Warning: Cursing)

I have gotten to the point in my sports existence where I understand that teams do lose games. However,last night, the New York Yankees lost a game that made me react in a way that I haven't in a very long time.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of it, you can look those up. But, it brought out rage in me that I haven't really felt in a long time. I was angry at anything and everything at once. Usually, the losses don't bother me but the reaction to the losses by other fans does. This loss bothered me. Like no loss has bothered me in at least a few years. I actually cried (more like teared up). At a fucking baseball game. I ranted and raved, and people said I was nuts (and I probably am). That it's one game and it doesn't affect my life, just like my parents and my psychologist said.

But it did this time. And that in itself, bothers me.

In fact it made my mood so dour, that I had to stop my workout after a half hour because I was in such a dour mood. I wasn't mean to my trainer and I'm going back tomorrow for a half hour to make it up.

But it got to me. Not just in the mind, not just in my mood, but in what I do with my time. It affected my life. And that makes it even worse. So I've decided to come to you about this and tell you about it, so that maybe you guys can understand and help me understand.

When I was in high school, I was very introverted socially. I could not interact with people socially because I didn't know much about music, movies, pop culture etc. (I've gotten better at that in time). But I did start to become knowledgeable about sports. And that is what sports in general has meant to me. It has been my social lifeline, my link to the outside. Along with that notion comes my belief (wrongly, but it is innerly in there), that the sports team you root for is your representation. It represents you. I've read some reports on sports fan psychology and this is not unusual. A lot of sports fans believe that their team is an extension of themselves. So essentially, through a transitive property, if the team is doing well, you are doing well. If the team sucks, you suck. I know it sounds stupid and illogical, but in my subconscious and emotions, it seems to take root. That is point #1.

Point #2 is that in this day and age of social media, Twitter and sports talk radio becomes an echo chamber of negativity. So that if said sports team is not doing well, there is an echo chamber effect where people are talking about it. So to go along with point #1, in these echo chambers, there are a bunch of voices that are basically saying "You suck." through point #1. I've mentioned my problems with fanbases in an earlier post. This is an extension of said problem.

I should add that Point #1 has an addendum that sports is essentially my hobby and pastime so it takes up a lot of time in my life and space in my mind in general.

Now to Point #3. And this is something ethereal. I described my pain last night as having been "violated" Now that is not, in relative terms, close to what happened. But in my mind, it seems to feel that way and let me explain why. In looking at Point #1, along with a team representing you, it kind of represents your faith. You put faith in something, you expect it to come to fruition. But when it doesn't, you feel cheated and somewhat have your trust violated. Now putting your faith/trust into a group of overpaid men who are hitting a ball for fun and making gobs of money seems on the surface, stupid. But once again, it goes back to Point #1. And if they fail, particularly in the way that they did last night, you feel violated and angry. That is the way I felt last night.


It's a huge jumble of thoughts. but it seems to extensively come down to this. I believe that the New York Yankees represent me and so if they fail, I fail. Not only do I fail, my faith fails, which makes me question the whole point of faith to begin with. And because of the echo chamber of life now, this feeling get intensified and repeated. And it comes to the point where I feel violated and it does affect my life.

As I said before I am a very insular person and when the one extension that I have seems to go wrong, it affects me a lot. And if  I'm not going to blame the extension itself, it seems I lash out at the people on the other side.

And in terms of suppressing it, it takes up such a big chunk of my time and my mind that I don't know where to find a replacement that is currently at my fingertips, or a mental thing to replace it with that is readily available, cheap, and big enough to take it down.

So I am stuck in this cycle, which reminds me of a drug addiction. And I dont think there is something big enough and cheap enough that can get me out of it. And if there is, I hope somebody can tell me please. Thank you.

Rutbreaker: The Curious Case of "Run With Us"

Take a look at this video. It's of a mid 80s song called "Run With Us" and it looks pretty straightforward for the time. The singer, Lisa Lougheed, has the big hair and all and it is full with synthesizers and guitar riffs.

What makes this song unique is it's origin. If you notice in the title, it has in parentheses (The Raccoons). Obviously the Raccoons was the band who originally sung the song and this is a cover right?

Wrong.

This is the Raccoons that are being mentioned:

It's a cartoon and "Run With Us" is its end credits theme. 

   

Now 80s cartoons had some rockin' music to go along with all the guns and aliens and great characters (all of which in no way could and would be exploited for the toy market; no siree). But even then, the main themes of these cartoons were the star. This was the end credits theme, a theme that usually is a remix or instrumental of the intro theme. For these creators to create not only an original song for the end credits but a song that is supercharged with more angst and worry perhaps than the usual 80s cartoon song is interesting and quite frankly commendable. If they are willing to put that much effort into a cartoon when they could have easily slapdashed it, then they were truly devoted to the project and to making it work.

"Run With Us" was made into a single and didn't do all that much on the Canadian charts. That's right, Canadian. Now some things make sense.

Anyway, it got me thinking, in my ADD way, to arguably the most successful song that could have ever come out of a cartoon. Two come to mind.

- The theme of Bob The Builder hit the top of the charts in the UK in 2000. It not only was a #1, it was the highest selling single OF THE YEAR in the UK. I'm not going to post it due to potentially scaring away people, but I think most people know it and it is on YouTube.

- A song that was just put in as an insert in the cartoon The Archies and it ended up becoming a classic. I speak of course of "Sugar Sugar"

The difference between the two is that while the BTB theme was a hit in the UK, it did not make a peep in the US. "Sugar Sugar" was a hit everywhere and still remains a classic song fondly remembered in that era.

What about you guys? What cartoon songs do you think could have made a blip musically. Please comment or get me on Facebook. Thanks.

The Renaissance WILL be Televised

           Over the past few years  Robert Mills, the Vice President of Alternative Series at ABC, has brought classic game shows back to life. It has almost become a science with them. It all began with Celebrity Family Feud with Steve Harvey (who arguably has been the center of this game show renaissance along with Mills). Then To Tell The Truth, which has aired in every single decade since the 1950s (TPiR has too although the format had changed while TTTT's fundamentally hasn't.) Then, Match Game with Alec Baldwin, followed by The $100,000 Pyramid with Michael Strahan.

          This year, they have added 2 more to that stable: Press Your Luck with Elizabeth Banks, an interesting get for a game show; and Card Sharks with Joel McHale. Both, through 2 weeks, have proven to be ratings winners in demographics and overall. But why are game shows going through a second renaissance?

          In my opinion, it comes down to one simple thing. Game shows are positive programming. In this turbulent time, most of what is thrown at us on the TV screen is negative. The news is negative, late night talk shows are shading politics, dramas have well, drama. Even sitcoms can be more serious and take on a strong tone. Game shows, inherently are positive; They involve rooting for ordinary people to win thousands of dollars in cash and prizes for playing a game that people can play along with at home

         So why use these classic formats instead of creating new ones? Well, Mills put it very succinctly in an interview with Vulture. He said:

"The old games themselves are good. I would love to try new games, but the stuff that [past producers] did — they were geniuses. These games are incredibly well-built machines. They’re time-tested. You know that they work. The nostalgia helps, and that’s another selling point."

The geniuses he mentions here are Bill Carruthers (PYL) who formerly worked with Chuck Barris, Bob Stewart (100k) who studied under the guiding wing of Mark Goodson (all the others). These guys knew what they were doing when they were creating these formats. And they are inherently known to the public. People are familiar with them and comfortable with them. Heck, classic game show reruns can be seen all the time on Buzzr and GSN. So there is less risk when choosing to watch them. And what ABC has done really well is meld modern technology and pacing into these classic formats while not mutilating the formats. So viewers get the best updated.

So to close off. kudos to ABC and Robert Mills bring this new game show renaissance about and hoping that it continues for a long time to come

Only in America...would you find a boulder dealer

From time to time I see things that just make me think "Only in America...."

So, I'm on my way to work yesterday, traveling on I-80 West, and my eyes turn to a billboard; one of those electronic ones that changes ads in different intervals. The ad had just changed and on the billboard now appeared the following words:

BOULDERS FOR SALE.

Yes, they were selling boulders or big rocks.

Why would you sell rocks? THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! All you need to do is go into the wilderness and find them. You need to hire a truck to collect them or maybe a crane to pick it up but still, why would you go to a rock dealer to buy a boulder?

Are there used boulder dealers? Do people wander around a yard with different boulders lined up and they are inspecting the quality of each boulder?

"Yessiree, this boulder only has 2000 years on it and was crafted through the finest sediment and shale in the Northeast Territory!"

I understand the concept of a stone mason or even a smith of rocks, but still selling boulders freelance seems like something very out there.

"Well Johnny, what do your parents do for a living?"

"My Mommy is a teacher and my Daddy sells boulders."

Right.

And now I Face the Finale Curtain.....

Over the past week, we have had two of the most popular shows on television wrap up their runs. The Big Bang Theory ended on Thursday night, to mostly positive reviews, I would say. And then there is Game of Thrones which ended last night and created a nuclear explosion on Twitter.

Television series finales have a tendency to be very hit or miss. And there is reason for that. You are wrapping up stories and characters that audiences have come to know, love and hate over the years the show has been on the air. And most of the time, fans come up with their own ending in mind or predictions based on how they want the series to end. Which creates a massive set of expectations that programs have to meet. And, as it turns out, they very rarely do.

When you talk about series finales, IMO, the best and most remembered has to be the finale of M*A*S*H, which was for many years, the highest rated program in the history of American television. What I think helps that finale is that the show is built in with a ready made climax. They're in a war so the logical finale would be that the characters get to go home. With that out of the way, the writers can focus more on the characters and how to wrap up the relationships with each other. The result is a great character piece which is fondly remembered by all who saw it.

Newhart is also up there for a very different reason. I'm going to spoil it so if you don't want to know what happens...too bad. Anyway it turns out that the entire series (Bob Newhart as an innkeeper in a quirky Vermont town) is a dream of Bob Hartley's, Newhart's character from the classic Bob Newhart show. While a show like Dallas was lambasted for making an entire season a dream, Newhart was praised for it. The reason is that the show itself was quirky enough that it could probably be believed as a dream, plus Newhart's dead pan charm was able to carry it through. I don't think any other TV show could pull it off now which makes that finale stand out as unique.

On the other side, there are other finales that didn't fare so well:

Seinfeld- Simple expectations, plus its very hard to wrap up "a show about nothing"

Lost- The complicated plot that made the show formidable came back to bite it at the end. Hard to wrap up

How I Met Your Mother- A case of setting an ending in stone early on and not letting the show breathe and grow

St. Elsewhere- Look up Tommy Westphall. On the surface, it's cool, but when you start to to analyse it, you get a headache

There are, of course, other finales that fall in the middle of not outstanding but not horrible. And in a way, those might be the worst type of the 3. Because one thing that a series finale should be is memorable. And by going to the opposite ends of the spectrum, you ensure that the finale is at least memorable. Now die-hard fans will probably remember it, but to capture the general public's attention you really have to make a show of it. So being top notch or hilariously bad will leave a lasting memory And that allows the TV show in question to live long after its demise, whether aided by syndication or not.

Talk to you later.

FanFiction (or a bit of self promotion)

I have just done something that I thought I would not do for a long time.

I wrote a fanfiction.

This was not the first time I wrote one, and the ones that I had written in the past were received well. But my problem with writing fanfiction was finishing them. I always had the great gem of an idea. But I could not flesh it out properly. That's why, if I were to write one again, it would be a one shot.

And that is what I have done.

The story is called Elemental Magic and it involves the television show Merlin, combined with Sherlock Holmes. Mainly it involves Holmes, as portrayed by Jeremy Brett, the man in the picture, above, as he encounters Morgana Pendragon, as portrayed by Katie McGrath, who now plays Lena Luthor on Supergirl. It is a simple tale with a hint of romance (Not with Holmes, perish the thought!).

Anyway, If you would like to read it,  please do and if you want to review it, do that too. Remember this is my first fanfic in a long time so be kind with me.

Thanks and I'll talk to you later.