Remember the Shake 'n Bake television commercials?

 This is one of those commercials that we had so much fun with by being silly and mocking it endlessly. Actually, I had forgotten about this commercial until The Captain made the statement along with the accent . . . "and I helped" . . . and we took off with it being silly for the longest time as I remember doing back in the day. 
 I love these type of commercials that you can goof on endlessly!
In my opinion, Shake 'n Bake was the worse thing to happen to chicken . . . it was awful stuff even though the concept was a good one.

Shake 'n Bake is particularly noted for its television commercials in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The most popular in the series featured the children helping make Shake 'n Bake with their mothers, enthusiastically exclaiming "And I helped!"

In 1998, a new commercial was tried with a different catchphrase . . . "I made Shake 'n Bake, and Mama helped". This was on aired a few times and is the least recognized commercial.

Source:  Wikipedia

Gidget . . . The Taco Bell Dog

When I think about some of my favorite television commercials of all time, The Taco Bell Dog is in my top 5 . . . could possibly even be my favorite.

Since Gidget died and Taco Bell changed their television marketing, their commercials just aren't special anymore.

This is my tribute to Gidget . . . The Taco Bell Dog.  Miss you!

Babyboomer Weddings

The Captain and I finally made it legal and got married . . . hopefully we can now get back to the business of writing about the way things were back in the day and pop culture in general.

Babyboomer weddings . . . most are untraditional since it is usually not the first marriage.  Many of us want something totally different than the first time around.  

What we really wanted was a hippie-style wedding on the beach . . . but we settled for a tropical theme with everyone wearing casual beach attire.  

My niece discovered the old record player and LPs from way back in the day . . . we partied to everything from Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii to Paul Revere and the Raiders.

We conducted our own wedding ceremony . . . it was special and so meaningful for us.  Nothing traditional for these two babyboomer free spirits!

I'd love to hear about 

other babyboomer weddings!

An update for Babyboomer Flashback

My apologies for not being very active with this blog!

I've had so much going on . . . not only projects on and offline, but I have been busy planning my wedding.  So I guess you could say that instead of feeling nostalgic, I've been thinking about the future.

After things calm down a bit, my cute pirate (Capt Black Eagle) and I will be collaborating on this blog . . . we have so many awesome ideas that are coming up for this blog.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward ~ Hollywood Magic

“Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades,

 but to be married to a man who makes you laugh

 every day . . . ah, now that is a real treat.”

Joanne Woodward . . . 

married to Paul Newman 45 years

Falling Skies Episode 2

What is new in Episode 2?  Well we get a closer look at how the aliens use the kids they have captured, a new character is introduced along with a complication to personal relationships that it brings, and a bit more insight into the intelligence level of the aliens.

Every work of fiction requires us to suspend our rational selves to accept certain elements of the plot.  This work of fiction is a bit more intelligent about it. Some of these elements are as follows.

1. The aliens kill the adults, but use a spinal like device to control the children.  They are used by the aliens to carry out tasks like gathering scrap.  Now my question is this...why?  Wouldn't an advanced alien culture be able to construct machines to do the same job faster?  Then again a ready made expendable organic work force might be better?  That is something worthy of discussion.

2. In one of the first scenes, the character played by Noah Wyle organizes a group to try and free some of the kids, primarily his own son, exposes another good point for discussion.  If you had invaded and defeated an enemy that you consider inferior, what precautions would you take in guarding your captives?  The aliens only used a few mechs and skitters to protect their captive work party. Does this mean the aliens are spread thin?  Maybe they are so convinced of their own superiority that they don't feel they need more?

3. During the attempt to rescue some of the kids one of the rescuers sees his own son, and in true movie fashion he screws up the plan by dashing out to save him.  This sets in motion a series of predictable events and also gives us a little more insight into the aliens.  During the ensuing short battle, the rescuers save the man's son, but at the same time two of the rescuers are taken prisoner by a mech.  Later, some of the kids drag off one of the rescuers to do who knows what to her, while the other rescuer is left behind.  A mech is guarding him when a group of captured children are lined up and then shot by the mech.  The rescuer is set free to tell the others of what will happen if the resistance continues to resist.  This is straight out of World War II tactics by Nazi Germany.  It didn't work for the Germans...of course it will not work here. But would it work in today's world?

Those are some interesting things to ponder.

A new character is introduced...I remember this guy from the show "Wings" even though I seldom watched the show.  I also think he was in the movie "Hamburger Hill"...good movie. The new character is a doctor who says he can remove the mind control device from the kids.  We will see how that works out.

The main charcter (Noah what'shisname) captures an alien and now we will probably learn a lot more about these skitters in the next episodes.

The premier had way too many commercials...this time out in a 60 minute show there were ~20 minutes of commercials.  Commercials can be annoying..but they do make TV possible.  I will say that they planned the breaks in a fairly artful way.

This is only the second episode, will it keep me for the third?  Yes.  However, I do reserve the right to go fishing for the 4th.

Falling Skies Episode 1

My first impression of the movie was the promo image...suddenly I found myself doing the flashback thing to the original series "V".  I sort of watched "V", but mostly didn't.  So, I went into this experience with a prejudiced view of what I would see.

As with many shows there is, or at least should be some sort of plot.  If my conjecture of what I will see in future episodes is correct, I think many of you will be surprised.  I know I will be if I am right.  So let's start at the beginning.

WARNING SPOILER ALERT

If you have not seen the 2 hour premiere...read no further

The show starts with action...action is good.  Within just a few minutes you know a great deal of the background story...Aliens have invaded earth and destroyed the military...taken most of the cities..and are enslaving children.  A group of humans have formed a resistance movement to oppose the freedom sucking aliens.  If that is the story then this will bore me to tears...I don't think this will be the case...or shouldn't be...this story line has potential.

Noah Wiley (no clue who he is) and Dale Dye (I know who he is) along with some other (I don't know who they are) make up the resistance group.  The acting is...pretty good so far...so I will not be annoyed at people who are reading their lines.  Now lets look a little deeper into this whole storyline thing.

Noah Wiley makes references to the resistance movement style of the American Revolution.  He had to dumb it down for the younger people he was talking with by making sports references...I actually liked that they took the time to do some teaching in the world of reality.  

There were references to religion...neither in favor or opposition..just the statement of fact that people are religious.  Again a nice neutral approach to a touchy subject...bravo.

There were some other plot elements added that I think are exciting...and could make for some decent TV...but the biggest clue to a plot twist is what I call the "Inverse V". During two spots in the premiere clues were given about what I think will be an eventual plot twist.

The first is where children are gathered around an old man who is teaching them biology.  He tells the kids that we need to find a way to kill the "skitters".  The Skitters are the organic life form that are the aliens.  They have the required ugly heads, and 4 legs.  They are almost tripod-like in appearance.  The second alien form are the "Mechs".  The Mech's are two legged robots.  One of the characters asked about why the Skitters that have four legs and the Mechs have two.

Now...What if.  The Skitters are not the actual mastermind aliens (maybe they are more like dogs..or lemurs).  Since we humans make our robots to look like us...would it stand to reason that the actual mastermind aliens create Mechs to look like them?  If you remember in "V" the aliens disguised themselves as humans...what if in Falling Skies...the aliens do look human?  This could be fun.

Based on the premiere I am interested enough to watch the next installment on Sunday at 10pm Eastern.  Can they keep my interest?  We will see.

Falling Skies

For those of you who follow me on The Crows Nest, and Cosmic Chili you know I do not blog about entertainment, much less Television Shows.  There is a reason for this.  I have very limited time to watch TV.  I reserve my television gazing time for History or Science shows.  When it comes to mini-series it will be things like a nice Ken Burns documentary, or the Hanks/Spielberg series like Band of Brothers, or from Earth to the Moon.  So what possessed me to even dedicate 2 hours of my time watching a show about fiction?  Marketing.

I am as cynical as can be when it comes to marketing ploys.  I am oblivious to most marketing attempts.  When the commercials come on my mind goes somewhere else.  In this case the marketing came out of nowhere.  For a reason I can not recall I signed up for a site called Klout. You can read more about it at the link.  They sent me an email that offered some free stuff just for saying I want the stuff.  Although they said I didn't have to do anything (which is totally true), I thought I would conduct an experiment.  I would participate as best I could with what limited time I have.  This blog is part of the participation...as well as some tweets.  It got me interested in the Movie, and TNT in general ( still regard Ted Turner as a total ass). This is what brings me to the movie.

Over the life of this series I will comment on the Movie, what I like and what I don't.  I will be upfront with you...I am not a professional movie critic.  I am, however, very good at observing those around me, and describing what I like.  Stay tuned as I give my impressions of Falling Skies.

DISCLAIMER

The Rose Tattoo / Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster

The Rose Tattoo is a 1955 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play by Williams and Hal Kanter and directed by Daniel Mann, with stars Anna Magnani (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress),  Burt Lancaster, Marisa Pavan and Jo Van Fleet.


 

The Rose Tattoo tells the story of Serafina Delle Rose, an Italian-American widow in Louisiana who has allowed herself to withdraw from the world after her husband, Rosario Delle Rose is killed by police while smuggling, and tries to force her teenage daughter to do the same.

Serafina is tortured by rumors of Rosario's affair with another woman.  In the dramatic scene on the following video, Serafina confronts Father DeLeo and asks him if anyone had confessed about having an affair with Rosario.  The priest insists that he cannot divulge this information, but the look on his face says it all for Serafina.  She insists that her husband did not "put the horns" on her as she is mocked by her female neighbors.

Ahhhhh but wait . . . along comes Alvaro, a handsome Italian truck driver who enters her life . . . you'll have to see the movie to see what happens!







The Rose Tattoo is one of my all time favorite movies that I didn't discover until  the 1980's . . . it reminds me of my family . . . dramatic italians, what can I say?  The way everyone is dressed and everything about this movie makes me nostalgic for the days of my childhood.

The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show

There were millions of kids at the airport, which nobody had expected. We heard about it mid-air. There were journalists on the plane, and the pilot had rang ahead and said "Tell the boys there's a big crowd waiting for them." We thought 'Wow! God, we have really made it.' I remember, for instance, the great moment of getting into the limo and putting on the radio, and hearing a running commentary on us: 'They have just left the airport and are coming towards New York City...' It was like a dream. The greatest fantasy ever."  Paul McCartney

Source:  The Beatles

February 1964 . . . they had arrived!

For as long as live, I don't think I will ever experience such a happening as the Beatles' first visit to the United States.  

As a elementary school aged music lover, all the hype was so exciting.  Their music had a different sound, they had a totally different look.  Prior to the Beatles, the excitement was all about Elvis Presley . . . but he was of another generation, my parents' generation.  The Beatles were all about my generation . . . they belonged to us and we identified with them.

For the first time in my life, I wanted my hair cut in the Beatles mop top style . . . and I got my first haircut.  All of a sudden, the boys at school dumped their crew cuts and started letting their hair grow out.

By the time The Beatles arrived, the hype was at a fevered pitch and their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was all we could talk about with friends.  The only things I would spend my allowance on were those associated with The Beatles . . . and I had it all.

My parents watched The Ed Sullivan Show with me . . . in horror . . . they felt the winds of change as I sat directly in front of the television, totally mesmerized . . . a new world was born for my generation.

They are timeless in my opinion . . . their music has stood the test of time and they remain one of my favorite groups of all time.

Drive-In Movie Theaters . . . great memories!

Whatever happened to drive in theatres?

Some of my fondest childhood memories involved going to the drive-in movie theatres with the family.  We would pop massive amounts of popcorn, fill the cooler with drinks and sandwiches, gather pillows and blankets and off we would go for a night of watching movies at the drive-in.

The movie wasn't always the main attraction for us kids.  Most drive-in movie theaters in my area had massive playgrounds.  The sound of laughter from the kids at the playground and the smell of food from the refreshment stand would hypnotize us into wanting to watch the movie from the playground area.  My parents usually took lawn chairs and would indulge our desire to hang out at the playground area with the other kids.  It was euphoric for us . . . it was such a festive atmosphere buzzing with people everywhere.

How about those intermission clips featuring dancing popcorn and soda?  I loved those intermission clips!  I can't believe that we loved that nasty pizza from the refreshment stand . . . it was more like cardboard with tomato sauce and melted cheese!



My parents didn't have to deal with not being able to take us to R-rated movies . . . they didn't exist.  It was an innocent time and we were able to be kids without having sexual innuendo in our face 24/7.  It was simple family fun and we went often.  The only problem we had was keeping the mosquitoes away!

As I approached high school age, the drive-in movie theaters were the big hang out on the weekends.  Seems like we kind of chased the families away and took over.  There was a theater in particular that we shared with three other high schools as the cool hang out.  Those were great times!

Movies started changing and became sexual where it didn't have to be, in my opinion.  A good story is a good story without the sex.  Those movies embarrassed me . . . especially since we hung out in mixed company.  Not that I'm a prude or anything, but I was so very innocent . . . but you know, I feel like most of the time it is just not necessary, even now.  The movie makers love to shock us, although we have become desensitized and are no longer shocked.  I would not like to be a kid growing up in today's time . . . this is their "normal".

Little by little, we lost interest in going to see movies outdoors . . . and during the 70's and 80's, thousands of drive-in movie theaters closed.  Malls became popular and the single movie theaters turned into multiplex theaters.  I guess with lowered attendance and revenue, drive-in movie theater owners found that they could make more money by selling the land to developers and get out of the business.

It is sad . . . I often think of those times and how cool it would be to see a movie outdoors and relive those times for just a night.  However, in my area there is only one left that I know of and it is in a bad part of town . . . but I don't think I would feel safe in a drive-in movie theater in these crazy times of high crime in the best part of town. The times have drastically changed since those simple, innocent times that I loved so much.

What are your memories of drive-in movie theaters?

  

Do you still go to them or would you go if they were available in your area?

Learn more about the history of drive-in movie theaters, 

find a theater in your area and much more . . .

DriveInMovie.com

Drive-Ins.com

Photo credit:  Date: 8/19/1961; Artist: George Hughes; Title: Drive-In Movies; Copyright: 1961 SEPS. All rights reserved.

My new home page

 

My home page is back!  Now you can keep up with all of my blogs, websites and places on the web in one place.  Click here to go to the blog, where you can follow via Blogger, Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, my new Facebook Fan Page or through RSS feed via your favorite reader or email.  You can also follow me on Twitter where all my blog posts are automatically tweeted.

For my Adgitize and Entrecard blogging friends . . . within the next couple of days, I will be setting up Adgitize and Entrecard . . . so you will have one more place to click!

My apologies for not being around as much . . . there are not enough hours in the day for everything I have been working on, but I should be back to "normal" soon.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Vintage Television Commercials

Television commercials are like

 a time capsule of pop culture history.  

I've gathered some videos that depict

 what I consider the lost era of innocence

 . . . the 50's and 60's.

50's and 60's Commercials Vintage 50's and 60's Commercials 60's Commercials Classic 60's Commercials

Here are the Anacin commercials . . . Mother Please is really poor quality, but the only one I could find :(










OMG I'm enjoying this way too much :)

Some updates . . . Hey Mikey!!

How about Mother Nature?




Better refresh the page . . . this post is still evolving!!

Vintage Postcards

Old postcards take me back to childhood days of vacationing at the Gulf beaches and spending a lot of time in the tourist traps, where the racks of postcards were lined up . . . an art gallery of sorts that would fascinate me and draw me like a magnet.  My mom is a shopaholic and loves to linger in any type of store, and I loved it when she took us to the tourist traps so I could check out the colorful treasures on those spinner racks.

The vintage postcards on this post are from back in the 1910 - 1920 era . . . The Tampa Bay Hotel, a U.S. National Historic Landmark.  Among its many distinguished visitors . . . Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders . . . the hotel was used as a base of operations when the Spanish-American War broke out.

 I'll be writing a post about this gorgeous landmark that is just as beautiful as I imagine it was back in the day.  It is now the home of the University of Tampa and the Henry Plant Museum . . . with beautiful grounds what wind along the Hillsborough River.  It will be posted on my other blog My Florida Paradise.

This post is being linked to one of the most

 awesome blog discoveries I have

 made in quite some time . . .

It is a blog hop/meme of people who love vintage stuff . . . seems like I have been lost in Colorado Lady's blog forever . . . back and forth to the participants in her weekly event and checking out everyone's vintage thingie posts.  I hope to make a weekly visit to the Vintage Thingie Thursday a regular feature of this blog!
Even if you don't have a blog post to link, it is so cool to check out everyone else's posts and discover some new blogs.  I've recently found some that are dedicated to collecting vintage kitchen stuff . . . that post is coming soon . . . I'll share links for those of you who also love that kind of vintage stuff :)

Nostalgic items . . . do you collect them?

Do you collect nostalgic items
 from your childhood?

I remember the day my husband proudly announced that he had thrown away all those boxes of junk magazines and "all those 8 tracks that we don't listen to anymore" that were cluttering up the storage shed.

Thank God my 45's and my mom and nana's 78's
 were safe and secure in the house!  I still have them.

I still have my quadrophonic stereo system!
  Music and anything related to music is special to me.

The "junk magazines" were from way back in the day of the British invasion . . . those teen magazines and "special edition magazines" that featured The Beatles, Herman's Hermits all the way through the breakup of The Beatles, tons of those special magazines of The Monkees . . . and on and on and on.  

Then there were the fashion magazines that were the beginning of the supermodels featuring Twiggy . . . OMG . . . you can imagine my horror.  I even had all the magazines that featured Ali McGraw, who started her career as a model . . . she was one of my favorite role models.  I'm a big time pack rat and so nostalgic for things from my past that I loved.

I even saved some of my favorite outfits from way back . . . every once in a while I like to look at them . . . at least the ones that made it through "the cut" . . .

One of the things I love to do is go to antique shops that have the old kitchenware my nana used in our kitchen as I learned to cook by her side.  I have a lot of that stuff and guard them like the treasures they are, but I use them everyday.  In particular, I love those old clay bread bowls.  

Red enamelware is my favorite!

Although practical kitchen stuff is what I love to pick up at flea markets and antique stores, I also collect Disney stuff.  There is something about Tinkerbell that takes me back to my childhood!  I love my collection of Tinkerbell figurines . . . and the Christmas ornaments.

I still have my first dolly . . . and many of the stuffed animals from my childhood.  Yes . . . I am a terrible pack rat!

I can guess that many of you guys still have the comic books from your childhood . . . many of you ladies still have your first Barbie.  If you didn't save them from your childhood and then ended up in the trash like much of my stuff,  have you tried to replace them?

What are some of the
 nostalgic items you still have?

Or wish you still did?

The games we played

Writing the post on Atari Games brought back memories of a time before computers, cell phones, Ipods and that new technology has brought us since the days before computers were a common item in our homes.

As a child, I was happy with my dolls, board games, playing cards, dominoes . . . and playing outdoors getting exercise.  We entertained ourselves by riding our bikes around the neighborhood, having hula hoop contests, jumping rope, playing badmitton, catch the ball, dodge ball.

It is sad that mothers in present time have to be afraid to let the kids play even in the front yard with all the weirdos out there grabbing children in plain sight . . . daylight.

The days gone by were so innocent . . . we didn't have to worry about that kind of weirdness . . . what has happened to our society?

Anyway, I digressed . . . I wanted to talk about how babyboomers entertained themselves without all the fancy stuff the kids of today have.  I'm jealous, although I didn't miss what I didn't know I didn't have :)

As a younger child I loved Cootie and Potato Head . . . I would spend hours on the floor playing jacks, pick up sticks or building odd objects with my Tinker Toys.
 
How about the Slinky?  It fascinated me . . . so did the Etch-A-Sketch.

My nana played cards with us all the time.  My favorite card game was Old Maid, although I really took it serious and get really mad if I got stuck with the Old Maid card.  I am still a sore loser!  She taught us how to play all types of rummy, poker and I loved to play war . . . I still do.

When I think back at my favorite board games, my number one would have to be Monopoly . . . the game that never seems to end . . . and we loved it that way.  There was a board game we played that I'm not even sure was popular, but my brother and I sure loved it . . . it was called Careers . . . cool game, I still have it.

Even as a child I loved music.  I still have my nana's collection of 78's . . . Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney were her favorites.  My collection of 45's are still in those funky colored 45 holders that hold stacked records and have the handle on the top.  I thought about selling them on eBay, but I couldn't part with them even though I haven't played them in years.  Yes, I'm a pack rat!

I still have my quadrophonic stereo that was my prized possession of later days . . . I really thought I was something with a speaker in every corner of my room . . . although my parents hated how I HAD to play it so loud.  It just didn't sound right unless it was super loud :)

One of my favorite pastimes was playing my guitar and making up songs . . . something I continued to do through my adult life.  Some things don't change with age and I guess we all have that inner child within us.  Don't we?

The games we played and those things we did to entertain ourselves were pretty cool, in my opinion.  Although I am jealous that we didn't have computers, in a way I am glad we didn't . . . don't know if that makes sense to anyone.  We had interaction and activity with friends and family . . . the computer tends to isolate.

What do you think?

What are some of your recollections
 of your childhood and the games you played?

K-Mart Blue Light Special . . . back in the day

This image represents the 1970's from a 1996 Kmart calendar

 tracing the history of Kmart through the decades. 

The image is being used for fair use purposes only.  All rights reserved by KaizenVerdant

Does anyone remember the original blue light specials at K-Mart?  

When least expected, the blue light (a mobile police light) would light up at a specific section of the store where a discount was being offered.  Simultaneously, the speakers would be blaring "attention Kmart shoppers" . . . announcing what the special was, directing customers to the flashing blue light.

Actually, the phrase "attention Kmart shoppers" is part of American pop culture history.  Did you know it was included in the movies Troop Beverly Hills, Six Days Seven Nights and Beetlejuice?

The original marketing plan of the Blue Light Special was first introduced in 1965 and was retired in 1991.  Various marketing campaigns using the phrase have come and gone, but none of the revivals had the excitement of the original concept at the peak of Kmart's success.

Who's The Boss . . . 1984-1992

Who's The Boss was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1980's, 

winning multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

The sitcom broadcast from 1984-1992 

with the same cast . . .

Tony Danza, Judith Light, Alyssa Milano,
 Danny Pintauro and Katherine Helmond

We loved watching the perils of the male housekeeper and
the workaholic woman he was employed by.  Together, along with
her mom Mona, they struggled with the difficulties of raising
children, dealing with everyday ups and downs of life, death
and of course my favorite part, romance.

Tony Micelli, a widower and retired professional baseball second baseman, wanted a better life for his daughter Samantha . . . away from Brooklyn.

They ended up in the yuppie community of Fairfield, Connecticut where Tony accepts a job as a live-in housekeeper for Angela Bower, a divorced advertising executive with a son Jonathan.  

Her mother Mona could have possibly been the first "cougar woman" portrayed on television . . . quite unusual for those times.  The powers that be took much liberty and sexual innuendo with this character and her men friends who ranged from preppy college age hotties to silver haired foxes.

Mona was my favorite character!

Throughout the course of the eight seasons, there were hints of mutual attraction between Tony and Angela, although they dated others and denied their feelings for each other for many years.  What developed through the years was an awesome friendship . . . they were best friends and relied on each other for emotional support.  In my opinion, it was a wonderful message of the "friends first" mentality.

In the final season, they enjoy a whirlwind romance that continued until the close of the sitcom . . . leaving the audience to wonder . . . and possibly open the door for another sitcom at another time.

So . . . who was the real boss?

Tony and Angela's Top 10 Moments

A reunion show would be awesome . . . 

and the rumors have been flying around

 for the past couple of years.