Fergaliciously Nostalgic 2: The Remix

So, after a first successful attempt at guest blogging, it's time to keep the momentum going

(NASA is still relevant people)

As such I shall continue to discuss nostalgic points from my youth. Tailgating from the last post, it is time to tackle educational shows that masquerade as game shows! The #1 culprit has to be

That's right, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Sure it had game show qualities like a competition, prizes and questions that if answered correctly you advance. You know what else has questions and answers that if correct you are rewarded... geography quizzes. I'm onto you educational system!

(She's onto you as well)

But really, the show was quite informative and I imagine helped encourage my thirst for knowledge. It was also perfectly set up to go an almost unlimited number of seasons (given good ratings).

(Darnit Chuck, you were on the upswing)

Carmen had potentially countless minions and they'd only get caught if the player figured out everything. I feel like everybody can use more of these type of shows. Trickery that educates people.

(Or was it all an illusion, Michael)

This is 30

Another year, another compilation. And I know it's been forever, and I'd like to make this one all about me and the flattering things you've said to/about me since my last birthday--

me:  i can feel the vitamins coursing through me!
Éamonn:  "KATTTIIEEEE SMAAASSSHHHH"
(for some reason you're the Hulk in my fantasy)

Sal: I read this in your voice

-- but then I thought, in the grand, kinda-annual tradition, let's shine the spotlight your way.

Mary: Can I note that David just came up on my "People to follow" on Twitter because we're both following The Real Adam West

me:  well, i was on o2 three times last night
so i suspect it will be a quiet weekend
Kaz:  I was trying to figure out the superhero terminology
and then went oh, periodic table

Anthony: if you can live in one city in westoros where would you live

(im a dork just answer the question)

Cat: haha someone just called that their toilet is bubbling

it's really hard to not laugh at that
Cat: i would run out and call ghost busters

Éamonn:  with that thing I can be all like PEW PEW PEW DEMONS!

Bre:  oh, I forgot to tell you he showed me his nunchucks

Éamonn: who knows though, we all make some poor judgement calls when we're younger

If I did all the shit I wanted to do when i was a kid, I'd be driving the Ninja Turtle Van right now

Cat: so oceanport has hired hot garbagemen

Bre: haha, totes and now I have to have coffee with her!

maybe I should say drinks

and just get super drunk

me: hahahah or you can go for coffee and you can just spike yours

Bre:  haha I like that too

she'll be all "I'm a doctor" and I'll be all "I'm drunk"

Ryan: i think i have that disease where you're a lottery winner who hasn't won the lottery yet

Éamonn:  I made an excel graph: number of monitors versus number of eyes

one of the lines was surprisingly flat

Bre: his mom was a potter
Katie: as in beatrix?

Cat: so i was going thru my texts trying to delete them
as i have well over a thousand
and it's slowing my phone down
and i was so drunk i kept hitting RESEND instead of delete!!!!
OMG
HORRORS

Ryan: it's amazing how many results i get for a gchat search of "whiskey slurpee"

David: it's never a good sign when you're watching keeping up with the kardashians, and you're like "I feel you khloe"

Bre: My entire family just broke into "irish rover" on the trolly back from the wedding. The other family was horrified.
Bre: then my mom starting singing the Boston College fight song with my cousin

Ryan: i always wanted to say in confession that i honored another god over my god but i never had the balls

Cat: haha and it'd be wonderful aside from i always feel really dumb around sal  

Cat: he once told me i needed to learn to listen to context clues in stories

Éamonn: Yea, I went 100% magic
but I miss some of the neat little effects you get from the melee combat
I married a guy and traveled with him as a companion and I eventually had to send him home because I kept accidently hitting him with lightening and slitting his throat with my conjured sword
Éamonn: I told Nathan not to read too much into that

Bre:  I think I may need to quit the online dating scene. Today I realized I was messaging a homeless, schizophrenic drug addict who I mistook for a sensitive writer.

Katie: i'm hungry

i want to be sitting at home in my corner eating something involving cheese

Cat: you realize you just described yourself as a mouse right?

Cat: sometimes, when i'm bored, i think up ways to torture people

Maggie: clouds ain't nothing but bitches and hoes, man

me:  ooooooooh SNAP 
Éamonn:  (I haven't arrived at a point yet)

Not much of a joiner

I've never been one for big groups. You can ask David, who frequently laments my tendency to "hide" when we "have people over" (quotes make everything sketchy), or even the athletic trainer at my high school, who, when I asked his opinion on whether I should go to Brown or UVA, pointed out that UVA has a very active Greek life and that I was "not much of a joiner."

I got indignant.

Then he pointed out that I was sitting on an overturned ball bucket, the same spot from which I had watched every home game in my three years of varsity play. And it was true. I hated watching from inside the dugout. Even when softball girls aren't being mean (I say that with love), they are chatty, and I don't like to be distracted.

So why am I telling you all this?

Because starting on Tuesday, I'll be reporting to you from the Democratic Convention. My boss is speaking there, and so we'll all be going down partially as support and partially to run some programs about social justice. We were supposed to go to the Republican Convention as well but we couldn't get credentialed. Words can not express my disappointment--- I have a feeling going to the Republican convention would be akin to when I visited Adelaida in Austin and people would eye-ball me and immediately ask where I was from. It was awesome.

Not that I'm trying to cast Republicans as the almighty Other or something. I've worked for Democrats for all of my professional life, but I've always been registered independent and I tend to cast a skeptical eye towards anyone (and there are many) who views party politics as a team sport. Or any type of sport. And with that as the criteria, I'm quite confident that the convention down in Charlotte will sport an enviable cast of normies and crazies.

Although perhaps nothing as amazing as Clint Eastwood talking to an invisible Obama.  A girl can dream.

Michael Higgins kicks some ass

This clip is a little old, but it's new to me and so I post it here. Not only is it nice to hear some cut-the-bullshit from a credible source, but it's done with such style.  Michael Higgins here is the current President of Ireland and also went to school in these United States.

 

Also, I love his Limerick accent. Dropping the "h" off of every "th" combo just makes me happy.

Fergaliciously Nostalgic

There has been a debate (with myself) on how to get back into guest blogging and what I could bring to TFLW. It is what would keep me up at night if I didn't pass out immediately upon getting in bed. I considered going the topical route and give my two cents towards the big or little issues of the day. This could be a soapbox to expound my views and attempt to justify those views. Or this could be an opportunity to pull a Seinfeld, and talk about nothing of importance.

About 2 weeks ago there was a trending topic on Google+, #TakeMeToYourChildhood,  which is a much creepier way of saying #Nostalgia. I can get very nostalgic (full disclosure - iTunes playlist with over 200 theme songs). I'm known to get nostalgic about Rumors (great D.C. hotspot by the way) and that place still exists. Idealized walks back down Memory Lane (no Minnie Ripperton) are the way to go. In my youth I was heavily exposed (indoctrinated) to Nickelodeon; PBS and other television programs geared towards my age group which leaves me with knowledge of cartoons, live action game shows, and educational shows that pass as game shows.

Ladies and gentlemen, for my first entry I've decided to talk about a show from 2 decades ago (late 80's - early 90's) when cartoons had implausible storylines, but just seemed better. I'm sure people of all generations will say the same thing, but guess what, this isn't their entry. Ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment, I present Denver The Last Dinosaur. How does a prehistoric guitar playing, english understanding human-size dinosaur seem so well adjusted to the 1990's... who cares, he is my pal and can be yours as well.

Oh those were the days, before cynicism kicked in and everything had to be examined. But really, shouldn't we care? After sharing this entry to the trending topic steam I received a comment from a random person which is what happens when you make things public, "He's my friend and a whole lot more.... hmm...wonder what they meant by that." I mean his point is valid by todays standards, but in yesteryear, we wouldn't even pause

.

So I say that to say this, listen to theme songs, talk about the shows you grew up on and remember them fondly, but under no circumstances really take the time to examine what you use to watch. It ruins things! Childhood is a magical time and we are really losing magic people. Kids are growing up too fast and arguably worse, the programming is terrible with the exceptions of Young Justice and http://www.tv.com/shows/the-avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes/. So in reviewing what was written, I did decide to make this a soapbox.

I'll leave you all with some theme songs to some random shows.

So audience of The Famous Last Word, has there been any nostalgia that has been ruined or almost ruined by going back and re-examining your past?

Please see HR to claim your boxers

Oh, you know, just another one of those days where you go to the ladies room and there's a random pair of men's worn boxers in the hallway.

Our HR girl has dreamt of this day since she began a career in this industry...

"Ensuing Company-Wide Staff Email

To: Office Staff

From: Lisa

Subject: Found

A pair of men's Tommy Hilfiger boxer briefs was found near in the hallway near the elevator. Please see me to claim them.

-HR"

It's the little things that make a day great.

Top 100 "challenged" books of 2000-2009 and why I've never done cocaine

The American Library Association publishes a list of the most banned/challenged books by decade.  (Side note: referring to a banned book as "challenged" is a bit like the Irish habit of referring to forty years of sectarian violence as "the Troubles," and World War II as "the emergency.")

I stumbled across the list during one of those Internet tangents that happen to the best of us.

Mary: I remember Go Ask Alice
Mary: Not a lot about the plot, but definitely remember that it was kind of "controversial" book and so we were all into it
me: there's a song by Jefferson Airplane called White Rabbit that came out in 1969
Mary: right
me: I was reading the lyrics, I think it's definitely where the title came from
Mary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Ask_Alice

Right.  So as long as I'm being all Captain Obvious-

-I'd like to point out that the only reason I read Go Ask Alice in the 7th grade was because it was banned, and that was reason enough for me.  In case you haven't read it, Go Ask Alice is the "diary" of a young girl who slowly becomes involved with drugs and eventually (spoiler alert) dies.  At one time, it was required reading in our public school.  It was banned, presumably because there is drug use, sex and rape.  Parents complained.    And I get wanting to protect your kids, but 1) I do not support banning books for any reason and 2) by the time we were in 7th grade, one of the hot topics was about how Eddie cheated on Meg with Nina and they went to third base, so unfortunately kids at that age are a little more aware than we'd like them to be, so throwing something like Go Ask Alice at them isn't exactly going to get the same reaction as when they found out about Santa Claus.  Granted, we were still using bases to talk about sexual acts, but hey, who doesn't?  

Anyway, Go Ask Alice is obviously much more of a warning against drugs than an advertisement, probably because, like another popular young adult book of our times, it was written by a Mormon With a Social Agenda.

Not that one.

There it is.  Stephanie Meyer, author of Twilight.  With Seth Green?

Which brings me to another ridiculous Young Adult series, Sweet Valley High.

I started reading SVH when I was something like 11 years old, and it featured all sorts of amazing story lines.  I mean, check out the mustache on this guy.  LOOK AT THE MUSTACHE:

The twins were kidnapped, solving murders and almost-raped at least 50 times through the series.  There was even an evil twin (triplet??) who shows up and tries to take over their lives.  (And yet, SVH has never made that banned books list.)  Anyway, in one of the books, deaf beauty Regina Marrow tries cocaine just once and dies due to an undetected heart murmur.  Dies on a couch, asking for stupid Elizabeth Wakefield who has eyes the color of the Pacific Ocean and all-American good looks.  Also, I think she had just become not-deaf like, the book before.

Yes.  Because she dies.

This book scared the crap out of me and hence I became the coke-free blogger I am today.  Thanks, Francine Pascal and your army of ghost writers.

So without further ado, I present the ALA's Most Challenged Books list of 2000-2009.  Use it as a check list.  (Particularly #34 and #35.)  I put a star next to the ones I've read so that you can compare, and also because I'm a show-off.