As your body grows bigger
Your mind grows flowered
It's great to learn
Cause knowledge is power!
It's Schoolhouse Rocky
That chip off the block
Of your favorite schoolhouse
Schoolhouse Rock!
5, 10, 15, 20 of the best Schoolhouse Rock music videos. Relieve your childhood, sing along and enjoy!
In 1980 when Fame hit the big screen the world was introduced to Gene Anthony Ray. When his character Leroy Johnson hit the dance floor to audition for the School of the Arts, let’s just say some jaws dropped and hit the floor as well.
If you were a fan of Fame you remember Leroy refused to wear tights (in the beginning at least) and he was known for his short shorts and painted on jeans. I often wondered what kind of material those jeans were made out of because they needed to be forgiving and supportive at the same time. Leroy was that guy who had that bad boy exterior but would melt your heart when he’d break into a high kick, fall down into the splits, spin around, whip his body up then do a back flip and end with a shimmy-shake in 5 seconds flat. What a talent.
The movie was full of energy, great singing and dancing. This iconic scene with the song of the movie’s title could easily be the inspiration for today’s flash mobs:
Even though she had starred as the title character in 1976′s Sparkle, Irene Cara shot to stardom in Fame. Her vocal styling gave us tender and melodic on Out Here on My Own and she brought the sass in the jam Hot Lunch. One of my favorite songs from the movie was written and sung by actor Paul McCrane who played Montgomery:
I love how he performed the song 30 years later on NBC’s Harry’s Law:
The film’s climactic ending spawned copycat renditions of I Sing the Body Electric at graduation ceremonies throughout the 80s. Who didn’t feel like they could take on the world after this orchestrated masterpiece:
You can’t talk about Fame without mentioning the woman who was there from the first take on the movie set to the last take of the TV series in 1987: the one and only Debbie Allen. Without her choreography and direction there would have been no Fame. There would have been no famous tapping of the stick with the line:
You got big dreams…you want fame, we’ll fame costs and right here is where you start paying in sweat.
It was great seeing Gene Anthony Ray and Debbie Allen continue in the TV series. Someone else who continued was cast dancer Michael “Det. Eddie Torres” DeLorenzo. The next few clips you can witness his fro and his footwork. First, check him out at the end of the TV show opening, along with Jasmine “Whitley Gilbert” Guy:
I have to say RIP Dominique “Poltergeist” Dunne after that scene. I also have to mention that I find it funny how the characters of Coco and Danny pop up at the end of the scene after all the serious dancing is over. It’s amazing how the musical and dancing talent on television has grown. I don’t think that many of the principal actors on the TV show Fame would have made it through any audition process today. Even with that said, that doesn’t stop me from having a few more musical numbers that I loved on the show. This scene was a classic student-teacher moment:
I never thought that the character Doris should have been singing, but this was one of her more memorable performances:
Recently Janet Jackson told Anderson Cooper she didn’t have a good experience on the show, but this is a favorite moment of mine from her first episode called “Indian Summer” and she sang her own song “Two to the Power of Love.”
After all these years this next scene still chokes me up. The actor Michael Thoma who played drama teacher Professor Crandall had terminal cancer in real life and the cast knew it as they sang this song to him in his final episode:
The final clip may have brought the dance down memory lane to a two tissue halt. But if you stuck out the ride with me I hope it took you back to a time when you can see how the arts in schools were appreciated and celebrated. Without Fame there would be no Glee or Smash. It makes me want to slap on some leg warmers, crank up the tunes and do a few Leroy inspired shimmy-shakes.
There is something about a salty-sweet combination that is so satisfying. I love sitting in a dark movie theater enjoying a bag/box/tub of hot buttered popcorn mixed with Raisinets. Some prefer adding M&Ms or Milk Duds, but whatever the combo of chocolate and salt it is always a home run for me. Like a lot of children, I was introduced to dipping my McDonald’s french fries into my vanilla milkshake. I don’t frequent the golden arches that much anymore but I recently relived my childhood with that exact order and it still provided me with a guilty pleasure.
A couple other combinations I’ve been known to indulge: Chicken salad on a cinnamon raisin bagel and I found this southwestern chunky salsa that I really love and used it over pasta when I realized I didn’t have any tomato sauce. It was rather tasty. A friend of mine mentioned putting cranberry sauce instead of jelly on biscuits, which I never thought of but I imagine would be yummy.
What unconventional food combinations do you enjoy? I’ve never crushed potato chips and put them on a hoagie like Dr. Huxtable on The Cosby Show, but I have taken a cue from another popular sitcom with this food combo:
Peter Brady’s pork chops and applesauce bit is legendary. But maybe you prefer the “pixie stick-Cap’n Crunch” sandwich from The Breakfast Club:
Here’s one last delicacy to chomp on. This scene from the movie Elf will give you a cavity just from viewing it. I will leave you with Will Farrell’s character Buddy creating the concoction of spaghetti with maple syrup, chocolate syrup, pop tarts, mints, M&M’s, and sprinkles. Mangia!
This past Saturday I met my girlfriends Sharlene and Robin for dinner at the yummy restaurant Matchbox. A gamut of topics were covered but at the end of the evening Robin was exclaiming, “Oh man, Kelly’s ruined soaps for me!” We had been discussing reality TV shows and somehow segued into scripted soap operas. Sharlene and I have known each other almost 20 years, so she knows my quirks and how analytical I can be. She knows how I am quick to mention when something in a show or movie would never translate into real life. Here are a few of the examples I shared:
It cracks me up when the actors are constantly standing in a room with lots of furniture and they never sit down. This scene from The Young & the Restless is even more ludicrous because the character Nick Newman is on crutches and it takes him several scenes before he sits down. I cannot imagine anyone in real life with crutches standing up to have a conversation once they got home.
This scene from The Bold & the Beautiful shows the actors pacing around the room never sitting down, but I find it funny because the character Taylor says: “You don’t expect me to sit around at home all day…” and my response would be that you don’t do it now, so why start? And on top of that, they completely ignore “the baby” until the very end of the clip.
I understand the importance of blocking on a soap opera; it’s good to see the facial expressions of all the actors in the scene simultaneously. Having a lengthy conversation with someone’s back is simply not normal. Yelling at someone’s back is even funnier to me. This classic Katherine and Jill argument on Y&R is a good example:
When you are about to give or get bad news, the expression “are you sitting down” usually comes to mind. Well, not in the land of soap operas; not on General Hospital for this scene when Dr. Quartermaine comes to break the news to Robin that she is HIV-positive. At the end of the scene the doctor says “we need to sit down and discuss…” yeah, yeah, yeah…we know that probably won’t happen.
A few more soap-isms that make me laugh:
Characters with very little job skills all of a sudden become CEOs of multimillion dollar companies.
At these high-powered companies, none of the people really do any work. When they need to inform someone in their life about major news they never just call them. Instead they leave the office and head out to the ranch, the coffee-house, the hospital or go stand outside in a park while it’s snowing to talk.
Babies that are born are all of a sudden teenagers six months later, but all of the adults are exactly the same age.
We all know that a death means nothing because anyone can come back to life to boost ratings.
The co-mingling of partners and endless bed-hopping becomes almost incestuous after a while. Plus, some women don’t seem to get the reputation of being a slut for being with all the male cast members. When all was said and done All My Children’s Erica Kane’s full name was Erica Kane Martin Brent Cudahy Chandler Montgomery Montgomery Chandler Marick Marick Montgomery.
There’s always one minority family hanging on for air time.
Even though it was one of the biggest soap opera love stories of all time and the TV ratings were over the moon (30 million viewers!), it’s still fascinating that Laura married Luke on General Hospital even though he raped her.
When characters who have been on again/off again for a couple of decades decide to reconcile they embrace each other with a passionate kiss like they are teenagers all over again. I am not saying it’s not possible, but how many times can Y&R’s Victor Newman yell at Nikki and make her cry, then still make her weak in the knees with a kiss after 30 years.
In order for new viewers to tune in on any given day it’s the script writers’ responsibility to provide dialogue that always rehashes the same dilemma in varying ways. Plus, they always have to include the names and relations of the characters in every sentence in every episode.
The ending of a scene in which an actor is shown delivering a staggering line or leaving us with a telltale expressive face is called a “tag.” It’s a soap opera staple – an art form - that lingering expression we all know too well. I think all soap stars can take a lesson on tagging from this little guy.
I’m sorry if I ruined soaps for Robin by sharing these observations. I have a feeling lots of people have them; I’m sure Robin has had many of them as well. A soap opera wouldn’t be “a story” without all of these elements. I know it’s all fantasy and part of the genre. I think it would be fun to spend the day with your friends or co-workers and have everyone talk and “block” like they were on a soap.
I had to end this post with this example of some of the worst acting and shameless, overdone product placement from Days of Our Lives. Cheerio!
This is one of my favorite pictures of my baby cousin, Heather and me. Yes, my hair is a hot mess and I am rockin’ my beloved Grease t-shirt, which I eventually made into a pillow! We are proudly posing in front of the Wonder Woman mural my uncle painted on Heather’s bedroom wall. I love how the three of us are color coordinated and actually my hair sort of resembles that of the mural version of this rock star shero. Anyway, my uncle thought it was important for her to have a strong role model to look up to. And wouldn’t you know it – my cousin has grown up to be her own real life Wonder Woman. I am so proud of her!
To my surprise one day I met the real Wonder Woman. The summer after I graduated from college in 1992, I was working as a receptionist for the new sports radio station in the DC area called WTEM-AM, Sports Radio 570. I was stunned when the door swung open and there was Lynda Carter standing before me. Not only was I confused as to why she was at a sports radio station, but also her scent was so intoxicating I was taken aback. It was Diana Prince in the flesh, and she was just as nice and lovely as she appeared on-screen. We chatted for a while before she headed back to the studio for her interview about a tennis tournament she and her husband were hosting that coming weekend. It’s rare when I am in the presence of entertainers that I get star struck, but she caught me off guard. Secretly in my head I wanted to ask her to spin around, but how silly would have that been.
I knew at some point I wanted to blog about my encounter with Wonder Woman, and with the latest news events I was compelled to tie this memory in with the Trayvon Martin case. I know I have been posting non-stop about Trayvon, but more than likely I will continue to do so off and on until justice is served. With all the crazy tales coming from the George Zimmerman camp it’s becoming more and more insane to hear what’s being reported. We want justice and the truth. Who better to get it? Wonder Woman. We need her Lasso of Truth. That special golden lasso forces her captives to obey and tell the truth. If I could summon Diana Prince to spin into Wonder Woman, jump into her invisible plane and head to Florida with her Lasso of Truth I would do it in a heartbeat. And in a heartbeat I bet George Zimmerman would be behind bars faster than you can sing and jam to the show’s theme song:
When I lived in New York I worked for Oxygen Media inside Chelsea Market, which is built in the former National Biscuit Company factory where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced. Chelsea Market is a great place to go for food and shopping, plus around every corner there is a window into the past. Traces of the old Nabisco factory are on display, which gives the two-block complex such a cool historical feel. I often wondered if there had been studies on what it says about you based on your method for eating an Oreo cookie. I know I’ve enjoyed them:
whole
dipped in milk
pulled apart so the cream could be licked
pulled apart so the cream could be scraped off either with your teeth or with the un-creamed cookie
crumbled on top of other sweet treats
as the cookies for ice cream sandwiches
I think that makes me an average Oreo eater. I have yet to have one deep-fried. I need to add that to my to-do list along with trying out the Oreo creations at The Donut Pub and the Hill Country Chicken. These two Manhattan hot spots were featured on CBS Sunday Morning by one of my favorite comedians/political satirists Mo Rocca. This weekend he had the best assignment to explore the world of the Oreo as it celebrates it centennial. Not a bad day’s work paying homage to Nabisco’s little darling of a cookie. The Oreo is still yummy, going strong and looking good for 100. Now if I could just get a couple Double Stuf and a cold glass of milk I’d be a happy camper.
For 37 seasons Saturday Night Live has been an NBC staple. With that kind of longevity, it is hard to keep the material fresh and funny. So, it’s such a treat when there are episodes where sketch after sketch you find yourself crying from laughter. This season the shows hosted by Melissa McCarthy and Maya Rudolph filled that bill for me and were complete grand slams. Thinking about these funny gals made me remember last year’s SNL reunion show on Oprah where original cast member Jane Curtin said that during her tenure (1975-1980) it was a misogynistic environment.
[John Belushi] said, ‘Women are just fundamentally not funny.’ You’d go to a table read, and if a woman writer had written a piece for John, he would not read it in his full voice. He would whisper it. He felt as though it was his duty to sabotage pieces that were written by women.
Speaking of sabotaging women — with the great birth control debate in the news the past couple of weeks, I loved how SNL addressed the issue in their popular bit, Really!?! with Seth and Amy. I also loved how Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, called out the panel by asking the obvious question:
Where are the women? It’s outrageous that the Republicans would not allow a single individual representing the tens of millions of women who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventive health care services, including family planning.
If the House committee wanted to only address a panel of religious leaders why not include women? Last time I checked there are plenty of female religious leaders that could have taken part. So much for the expression “You’ve Really Come A Long Way, Baby.” Oddly enough, the Virgina Slims ad campaign that brought that expression into our daily dialogue highlighted a photo in the background of how men oppressed women, while showing a colorful splashy photo of a happy model appearing in control of her life in the foreground.
Background copy says: In 1962, Mr. Lee Evans made it clear that he wore the pants in the family. But once a week, he didn't mind giving them to his wife.
Background copy says: In 1913, equal opportunity employer Richard Pittman gave women every opportunity to shine.
Looks like the background image and messages from those ads continue to be more appealing to some men and places women exactly where they want them to be — in the background.
In the 1980s the VHS machine and tape revolutionized how we watched television. Setting the timer for your favorite shows while you were out of the house was the newest luxury. Finding out that someone in your household recorded over the episodes of Friday Night Videos was grounds for World War III. Before Blockbuster video became a household name in 1985, I got video rentals from the local mom and pop shop. The first video I ever rented was Michael Jackson’s The Making of Thriller documentary in 1983. I was 13 years old and I must have driven my family crazy with the repetitious play. Michael and his desire to elevate music videos into short movies mesmerized the whole world. With Thriller he changed the game for the music industry.
Fast forward to February 8, 1986 – another game changer was about to take place. On this date Oprah Winfrey became the first African-American woman to host a nationally syndicated talk show, and daytime television would never be the same.
First Oprah Winfrey Show
My VCR went into overdrive. Recordings of her talk show was imperative so I could respond to the lunchroom conversation when someone asked, “Did you see Oprah yesterday?” For 25 years that question continued to be asked. Whether you are a fan or foe, you must admit the lessons from those shows infiltrated the consciousness of the world. I’ve always been a fan. Thank you Oprah for shining your light on me. I think today I’ll dust of a VHS tape for old times sake.
You never know what’s going on behind closed doors. You can’t imagine the pain people are suffering unless you can walk in their shoes. The news of Don Cornelius’s suicide is beyond shocking to the general public. I wonder if his friends knew how dire things were in his life. Now more than ever the world needs to pray for Peace, Love and Soul. He taught the world how to get their groove on, unscramble words to make phrases and showed us all how to stay hip in the latest threads. Regardless of race, creed or color, I imagine at some point in your life you’ve strutted your stuff down a Soul Train line. If you haven’t, today is the day to do it. Like Don would say:
And You Can Bet Your Last Money, It’s Gonna Be A Stone Gas, Honey!
For more about the life and legacy of Don Cornelius, VH-1 did a wonderful documentary on Soul Train. Jump on board and take the ride.
A thirty-second ad is going for a cool 3.5 million dollars at this year’s Super Bowl. All companies that fork up that kind of dough are looking for a great ROI: Return on Investment. Volkswagon strikes back in amazing fashion for this year’s game with a sequel to their 2011 “The Force” called “The Bark Side.”
And a beloved 80s icon takes the day off for more fun:
To have a winning commercial the formula is simple – you must feature at least one of the following:
animals
kids
athletes
a sexy female singer, beauty queen or model
a catchy phrase
a historical reference or iconic figure
Before kickoff of Super Bowl XLVI here’s proof that the formula works with the Top XX ads (in my opinion at least) through the years:
Volkswagon “The Force” (2011)
Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” (2010)
