Off My Shelf

In this episode Sarah Behl is here to chat about coming of age, high school hijinks, and creepy older men as we discuss Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Dazed and Confused

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Ridgemont rating

I was right the first time. The full frontal was removed cuz the movie would have gotten an X rating.

Forest Whitaker in red track suit

Dazed and confused music budget

It is estimated that the budget for the film was $6.9 million and 1/6 of that was spent on music rights. That means they spent about $1.15 million on music alone.

Music References

Sarah and I made a few music references to songs that are in film. Below are the movie names, songs, and reference songs

Godzilla (1998) Puff Daddy sampled a Led Zeppelin song

Original – Kashmir by Led Zeppelin

Cover – Come With Me by Puff Daddy feat. Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin)

Wild Wild West 

So I realized something when looking up these 2 songs, there are additional songs that are sampled in each song.

In Kool Moe Dee’s song he samples the opening title music from “The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly”

In Will Smith’s version he samples 2 songs for his beat, of course Kool Moe Dee’s version of the song but also “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder

Original – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Main Title) by Ennio Morricone

Original – Wild Wild West by Kool Mo Dee

Original – I Wish by Stevie Wonder

Cover – Wild Wild West by Will Smith

Across the Universe

The film that came out in 2007 took inspiration from and utilized the songs of the Beetles. I have never gotten around to seeing it, no reason in particular, but now that it has been brought up, I will have to find it and have a look.

Forbidden Planet

The 1956 film is on any Sci-Fi lover’s must see film list. It is definitely the type of film that captures the imagination and makes you think. Also the poster art is AMAZING!

You’re probably wondering why there is a new episode 41 up. I’m not a perfectionist but I just wasn’t happy with what I had up before and it didn’t do the show justice. I looked over what I had put together, reworked it, and added some new content. Enjoy.

Darkwing Duck

Trans Script

Hello my name is Tracey James and Welcome to off my shelf, a podcast about movies that are well off my shelf. Where we go through my DVDs and talk about the movies in my collection. In this episode Erika was supposed to return to talk about Darkwing Duck but I have yet to figure out how to remotely record an episode in a way that actually sounds good. If you have any notes or ideas let me know.

Anyways, like I said I am talking about Darkwing Duck this week, a Disney cartoon about a daring detective duck that adores articulating in alliteration. That took a lot of effort to say. I didn’t realize how much alliteration there was in this show until I had to watch the episodes back to back. I found it very interesting.

I personally enjoy when people play with language. For example puns. A pun is a play on words that produces a humorous effect by using a word that suggests two or more meanings, or by exploiting similar sounding words that have different meanings. People who know me know that I love a good pun. Actually that’s not true, I love a bad pun too. Friends know they can get me laughing with bad puns especially the daddiest of dad jokes. Like why did the pony not sing at her recital? Because she was a little horse.

But I also thoroughly enjoy some good alliteration; the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Every once in a while I articulate alliteratively amongst acquaintances. You would have noticed this if you listened to the christmas episodes or the halloween episode I give the group an alliterative…lets call it title. The thing is that you have to have a vast vocabulary and your brain has to work like a thesaurus to do it right. Because you don’t want to lose meaning but you also want to be understood. It seems simple but can take effort and that is what I enjoy most about it.

Darkwing also spouts dialogue like a 1950s gumshoe, right out detective novels, pulp magazines, and film noir. That is how you get him saying lines like

“A desperate criminal is at large, and terror runs through the streets like a pair of cheap stockings!”

Its thoroughly enjoyable.

But the dialogue isn’t the only way the show plays with language. There are the names of characters, organizations, as well as locations that are punny, witty, and entertaining.

We can start with Darkwing Duck himself. His alter ego is Drake Mallard. It literally means “Male Duck”. Then there is Gosalyn Mallard. Her first name is a play on gosling which is what you call a young goose. So she is young goose duck. They live in a city called St Canard. Canard is French for Duck. There are also the names of other characters Like Dr. Reginald Bushroot and Dr. Rhoda Dendron who are botanists. Taurus Bulba who is a bull. Vladimir Grizzlikof who is a grizzly bear secret agent. Then there is the super-secret intelligence organization SHUSH and their nemesis FOWL, the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny.

Then you have the names of the actual episodes like Apes of Wrath, Paraducks, Trading Faces, and Days of blunder just to name a few. All references that most kids would never get.

The show was released in 1991, right when how cartoons were being made was changing. A lot of the mid and late 80s cartoons were about pushing toys. As in there was a toy and a show was built around it and used to sell to kids. This was done with many shows including Care Bears, He-Man/She-ra, Glow Worms, Transformers, GI Joe, excetera. Because it wasn’t focused on just the kids wanting toys, it had a bit of room to play with.

This show was an original property created by Tad Stones for disney that emphasized action instead of adventure and was their first show that was a genre parody, taking notes from classic superheros. You can see this in his costume, weaponry, and general schick. He is dressed like the Shadow, Uses a gas gun like the SandMan, and practices his vigilante justice at night like the Batman.

We all know Batman, with his dark brooding behaviour as he puts fear into criminals in the depth of the night, but The Shadow and the Sandman have both fallen into relative obscurity. . The Sandman, not to be confused with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, was a DC Golden Age superhero in the 1930s. He wore a fedora and a gas mask and used a gas gun to sedate criminals. The Shadow is also from the 1930s but he was published in a series of pulp novels and had a popular radio drama. He wore a large brimmed hat and a cape over a suit. Sound familiar? He may also sound a little more familiar because of the 1994 film starring Alec Baldwin. For some reason at that time a few studios thought it was a good idea to dust off obscure heroes pulled from serials and make big budget movies out of them including 1996’s The Phantom starring Billy Zane, 1989’s Brenda Starr starring Broke Shields and Timothy Dalton and 1990’s Dick Tracy starring Warren Beatty, Madonna, and Al Pacino. That last one wasn’t that obscure and was pretty good actually. It even garnered 7 oscar nominations and won 3 of them including Art Direction, Make-up, and Original song for “Sooner or later” which was sung by Madonna in a husky seductive lounge singer voice. Despite being too young at the time to watch it, I remember having a Dick Tracy shirt as a kid. Why not? It had my name on it.

The episodes in the show played out just as pulpy and ridiculous as those from the old serials but it was a lot sillier than I remembered. Much more slapsticky. I remembered it having humour but more along the lines of the 1994 Spiderman Cartoon. It still aged pretty well but as an adult I found the story telling falling a bit flat but I think kids would totally still enjoy it.

I mean not everything aged well. There were comments made in the show that made my ears perk up like

“There’s No profit in Nutrition” and “Without paper money the economy will tank”.

Boy were they wrong when they said that

Societal focus has definitely changed since that time and comments like that make it brutally obvious. I mean the nutrition industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that doesn’t just cover consumables like food, juices and waters, but also fitness which includes gyms, sports facilities, programs, and accoutrement to go along with it like gear, accessories, and clothing. I mean huge, established companies completely changed their focus and marketing to get in on this trend. Look at fast food for example where they have added salads to menus and changed terminologies so they seem less of what they are. They have added terms like cafe and bake shop and bistro to their name. There is also the proliferation of gyms. They are big business and are scattered through big cities and small towns alike allowing easy access to a workout or at least a feigned attempt at completing a resolution. All this has a ripple effect that pours into other industries like medicine, fabrication, and construction.

Now when it comes to money, something like 90% of the world’s money is currently digital, so I don’t think a lack of paper money would tank the economy, not anymore at least. I mean, it would definitely have adverse effects if something like 5 trillion dollars just disappears but they could just print more. Isn’t that how they got out of the great depression essentially? Plus, physical money has been slowly disappearing for a while now. More and more people choose to pay for purchases with cards or their phones, or they make online purchases. Soon it will all be digital, it will be attached to our identity and we will walk around with this one thing that has everything about us on it. Wait…I am describing a smart phone…

Back to Darkwing Duck. Another reason I loved rewatching the show was listening to the voices. There are some amazing and prolific voice actors used in the show. Just look at who voiced Darkwing Duck, Jim Cummings. He has been doing voice work since the mid-80s and has racked up over 550 credits since then. He has been part of everything that would trigger nostalgic euphoria in in a Gen X-er including Transformers, The Real GhostBusters, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, Tiny Toon Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Winnie the Pooh, and so much more.

He has actually been the voice of Winnie the Pooh since 1988 and the 4th person to take on the task of vocalizing the iconic character. The character was first brought to life on television in 1960 as a marionette articulated and voiced by Franz Fazakas. Who in himself is well known in the world of puppets as he designed, articulated, and did special effects with the Jim Henson Company on Labyrinth (1986), The Muppet Movie (1979) and The Dark Crystal (1982) as well as the Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock. Then Pooh was voiced by Sterling Holloway from (1966–1977), Hal Smith from (1981–1986), and then finally Jim Cummings. Cummings has also been the voice of Tigger, my favourite character in the hundred acre woods even though the utterly depressed Eyore comes in a close second.

While looking all this up I also found out he did the voice of shredder on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now you might say, that’s not right, shredder was voiced by Uncle Phil. You would be right. Shredder was voiced by James Avery, a fact I have known for a while but I remember my mind being blown when I found out. But the cartoon, which was on air for 10 seasons, actually used 6 people to voice the character. Avery was the main voice for the first 7 seasons, William E. Martin for seasons eight and ten, then they used alternates to fill in the gaps which were Dorian Harewood, Pat Fraley, Townsend Coleman, and Jim Cummings. My mind has been blown again!

Jim Cummings was also brought back to voice DW in the new DuckTales show that premiered in 2017.

I just have to say, I know I have talked about being sick of people remaking and rebooting things but Ducktales did it so well I cannot complain about it. I thoroughly enjoy watching this updated version and there are a number of reasons why.

The theme song! It is practically the same just modernized a bit like what they did with 2012 TMNT

Before I continue, I don’t know if this is a spoiler or not so I am going to let you know I am going to talk about a pretty specific detail in the new show. So if you aren’t caught up I am letting you know you might want to skip ahead a bit.

We good?

Ok so in the new show they did like a Gray Ghost episode. In this new ducktales world, Darkwing duck was just a tv show and they go to him for some help and he is all like I am just an actor, I can’t do anything, and then he turns it around and is like I can do stuff let me help. I found that a really interesting way to bring him into the show but also wondered why it was done that way. I always believed that Darkwing Duck and Ducktales were in the same world, just different cities because they were in an anthropomorphic world, they shared characters, and the visual styles of the shows were similar. So he could have just been a superhero visiting Duckburg from St Canard. But it turns out that Tad Stones, the creator, did not believe this. And that may be why they introduced him into the show in that fashion. To keep their worlds separate but known to each other.

End of spoiler

Sadly they did not bring back the original Launchpad McQuack into the new show. Terence McGovern voiced everything Launchpad was a part of in the 90s including tv shows, specials, movies, and even a video game. Not sure why he wasn’t brought back for the new show but they did use him in another video game that was released in 2013. He has been working in the industry since the 70s but has mainly been doing voice work since the late 80s. But he has been in front of the camera many times. He even had a small role in one of my favourite guilty pleasure films, Innerspace. Its just so much campy fun. From 1987, the movie stars Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, and Meg Ryan. It kind of takes the premise of Fantastic Voyage, also an amazing sci-fi classic, where they shrink people and inject them into a body and then they go bananas with it. I haven’t watched that movie in FOREVER! I should change that quickly.

Then there is Christine Cavanaugh who voiced Goslyn. I found several mind blowing things out about her.

I am gonna start with the sad thing, She died in 2014 of undisclosed causes?! What? She was only 51. That made me really sad.

Then I started going through her filmography. She was the voice of both Dexter from Dexter’s Lab and Chuckie from Rugrats! I mean I watched Dexters Lab excessively. One thing I will always remember from that show is “Omelet du fromage” also dial M for monkey was so great. But I also watched a decent amount of Rugrats so i am not sure why i didn’t put that together before. She also voices Babe in Babe. Confession I have never watched that movie but for some reason the line “That’ll do pig. That’ll do.” has been well known to me for a very long time.

This next tidbit wasn’t a surprise to me and gives me an excuse to talk about one of my favourite shows, the X-Files. She was in one of the best episodes, Small Potatoes. And this is not just my opinion but many people’s opinions. It is on all the lists. Anyways, If you don’t remember It is the one with the guy who had his tail removed as a kid who can change form and impregnated several women and tried to seduce scully. She played Amanda Nelligan, a woman who had watched Star Wars 368 times as it was her favourite movie and she started humming the theme. Which circles back to Dexter’s lab as his password to get into his lab is “Star Wars” but all he can say is “omelet du fromage”. Another tidbit is that the episode was written by Vince Gilligan who is now most known as the creator of Breaking Bad.

There are so many other voice actors. In the pilot episode alone there was Tim Curry and Marcia Wallace. Tim Curry voiced the first bad guy introduced in the series, Taurus Bulba, who was only in 3 episodes. We all know him from his amazing ability as a character actor. From rocky horror picture show, to Clue, to legend, to It and so much more. But he has done a lot of voice work as well. He has done voices in Tailspin, Batman the animated series, Gargoyles, Freakazoid, Duckman and a bunch more. One thing that blew my mind was that he did voice work on Wing Commander 3. The game that was ruined by the horrible movie that starred Freddie Prinze Jr. but was the first movie to have the perfected technique that people now call “bullet time”. Yeah, no, it wasn’t the matrix. It was just used way better in the Matrix. I mean both movies were released the same year, even the same month, but just a couple weeks before. Anyways, another person who did voice work in Wing Commander is Mark Hamil. He voiced Christopher Blair aka Maverick. And now we are back to star wars.

Marcia Wallace, do you know who that is? It’s Mrs. Krabappel! She is in the pilot for like 2 mins and as soon as she spoke I was like Mrs Krabappel! Her voice is so distinctive. I knew it instantly. After the 2-parter pilot she only comes back for 2 more episodes.

There was also another Simpson’s alum, Dan Castellaneta, Who is the voice of Homer and a bunch of other characters including Krusty, Groundskeeper Willie, Itchy, and sideshow mel. In Darkwing duck he voiced the regular villain Megavolt showing up in 21 episodes of the show. Actually that was the villian that showed up the most in the series. I didn’t know this but it really isn’t that much of a surprise but he also was the voice of the Robot Devil on the other Matt Groening show Futurama. He also did a few voices in the Rugrats franchise so he would have worked with Christine Cavanaugh.

Frank Welker, who I talked about in the last episode was also a decent part of the show as he shows up in 18 episodes as a variety of characters.

There is also Michael Bell, who voiced Quackerjack. Like Jim Cummings his filmography is filled with everything nostalgic. He has been acting since the 50s and was doing voice work since the late 70s, amassing a filmography of over 350 credits. He did voice work in Captain Planet, GI Goe, Gargoyles, Smurfs, and so much more.

He is also my Star trek connection! I mean him being on Gargoyles is practically a star trek connection as a bunch of Star Trek main cast did voices on the show including Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Kate Mulgrew and Nichelle Nichols. But Frank Welker and Jim Cumming both did voices on gargoyles as well. What makes Bell a proper connection is that he was actually in episodes of star trek. He was in “Encounter at far point” the first episode of TNG. He was also in 2 episodes of DS9 “The homecoming” and “The Marqui: Part 2” from season 2. And then he did voices in a couple video games. They weren’t all the same character.

While scrolling through the list of voice actors I found another connection that I didn’t realize was there because it was not part of the boxset that I have. Rene Auberjonois aka Odo did a voice in one of the later episodes of the show.

Rob Paulsen was also part of the show voicing the agent of FOWL, Steel beak. When I first heard him I was like. I know that voice but I couldn’t quite place it so when I looked him up it made so much sense. He’s the voice of Yakko Warner – you know, from Animaniacs. As soon as I read that I was like, YES that is what it is. And Yakko’s World popped right into my head.

United states, canada, mexico, panama, haiti, jamaica, peuro, republic dominican, cuba, caribbean, greenland, elsalvador too.

That was totally from memory.

Side note, well I guess this would be a side note to the side note. I had to look up some stats about the song.

The song was written by Randy Rogel who wrote for Animaniacs and Batman the animated series

There was a ton more stuff which is fascinating but you can check out the Animaniacs Wiki for the rest.

https://animaniacs.fandom.com/wiki/Yakko%27s_World_(song)

But scrolling through all of Paulsens 515 credits on IMDB I was like what?! He didn’t just voice Yakko but also Pinky as well as several other voices. He was also a part of GI Joe, Jem, Transformers, Chip-N-Dale rescue rangers, Spiderman, The Tick (He was Arther!), Dexter’s Lab, Johnny Bravo, Power Puff Girls, Phineas and Ferb, Rick and Morty, and the list goes on and on.

It blows my mind how many shows some of these people are in. But I guess that is a testament of how good they are at their job. I mean, I love H Jon Benjamin and Seth Green and Kristen Schaal, but they sound pretty much the same in everything they do. So you hear them and are like that’s this person. Don’t get me wrong, I love the work that they do In Bob’s Burgers, and Archer, and Family Guy, And TMNT, and Gravity Falls and so much more but their distinct voices are easily picked out. Where as some of the people listed above I would never have guessed as their ability to manipulate their voices is mindblowing.

Also can I just mention how I totally enjoy the theme song. This was during the time when they put serious effort into theme songs which is a practice that waned for a while but I have noticed is something that is coming back. Theme songs didn’t just open the show they also gave a background to the characters and set up what you were going to watch. They got you excited, pumped. This is one of the reasons why I will always say that the ThunderCats theme is the best cartoon theme song. It is so hype.

Thundercats are on the move

So good!

It is closely followed by the 1960s Spiderman theme song but the Darkwing theme is totally in the top 10.

Before people get all up in arms yelling, What about batman! And The simpsons! Those themes are amazing!! That is true, I totally agree with you but I am looking at lyrical content coupled with the music. But if we are including just music Batman would be first, followed by thundercats, the simpsons, then spiderman. And gravity falls would have to be in there somewhere oh and X-Men and TMNT. There are so many that are so good! I almost forgot Tailspin and Jem and Steven Universe, and Ducktales and the list goes on!

I wonder which one is gonna be stuck in your head for the rest of the day?

I remember waking up blurry eyed at 6am on a saturday morning, something I now consider tourure that would never wish on my worst enemy, clicking on and staying glued to the television until 10. It got you going and you lived off that show high for the rest of the day. Running around and going nuts. But this is an experience and concept that generations to come will never understand. The last official airing of “Saturday morning cartoons” ended in september of 2014. Most people probably didn’t notice, as how we consume shows and media in general has changed so much. But with the advent of channels dedicated to animation and kids programming as well as on-demand and streaming services it was deemed unprofitable or not worthwhile by most networks. If you wake up early on a saturday most channels run infomercials now. What a waste of airtime! But those were good times.

I guess I haven’t talked about the boxset or the actual episodes. I have the Darkwing Duck volume one boxset that, according to the packaging, was released in 2006. It covers the first 27 episodes of the series including the 2-parter pilot “Darkly Dawns the Duck” – the alliteration started early – and ends at “Smarter Than a Speeding Bullet” I was surprised that the show only had 91 episodes overall and was originally aired in 1991 and 1992. I could have sworn this show was easily on for 5 to 6 years with a lot more episodes. But I guess as a kid you aren’t really paying much attention to that kind of thing plus with reruns it may have been exactly that.

In the pilot we don’t actually get an origin story for Darkwing Duck. When we are introduced to him he is already a vigilante for justice stopping evil doers in St Canard. We catch up with him on his nightly rounds and you see the kind of antics he gets into. But it seems he is more interested in making a name for himself like Booster Gold than just for the good of the city like Daredevil.

But what you do get in this episode is DW picking up his sidekicks, Goslyn and Launchpad. I have to say, Launchpad’s involvement isn’t really that interesting. He is just a guy who thinks he will be a good sidekick and then keeps showing up and doing stuff until DW says fine, sure, you’re my sidekick. But Goslyn’s intro was something I did not remember. I always thought she was simply Drake Mallard’s daughter but it isn’t that simple. She is actually adopted by Mallard at the end of the 2 part pilot after they bond when he saves her. But it is immediately clear that her spunky attitude mixed with adorable charm will get them into some fun antics throughout the show. He also cancels the plans of the first noteworthy bad guy, Taurus Bulba. Up until that point he had been despatching the antics of penty thieves and lackies.

In the next episode you get one of the few villian stories that have an origin. You are introduced to Dr. Reginald Bushroot, a lovestruck botanist who wants to be more like plants by being able to absorb nutrients and energy from the sun and the air around him. He gets his wish when he tries a concoction he developed on himself turning him into a half duck/half plant that can control plants. He is like a much goofier version of poison Ivy. But he is mainly out to get revenge on his ex-employer, mean ex-co-workers, and to profess his love for the one person who was kind to him, fellow botanist Dr. Rhoda Dendron.

Most other villians already exist in the world and you just go on an action filled adventure as DW thwarts their diabolical and regularly illogical deeds. There is Lilliput Goony that is like an evil Antman, as he controls ants and can shrink things, and his plot is to just shrink buildings, steal from them, and make them part of his mini-golf course. When you meet SteelBeak, an agent of FOWL who is more of a Bond villain than a cartoon villain, he is trying to flood a desert to get access to a kingdom rich with oil called Oil Rabia. Real subtle. Megavolt, has the power of electrokinesis and is not quite right. His thing is he wants to free anything that is powered by electricity as he believes they have been enslaved by mankind or should I say duck kind? There is also QuackerJack. Like Batman’s Joker, he is a jester that has manic mood swings and likes to fight with toys. But unlike the joker this jester dresses in motley, is a lot less deadly, and has clear goals, To get money, get his toys back on the market, and squash the competition.

Though taking influence from many comic heros and villians all this was softened and adjusted for the impressionable minds of the young audience that would be watching it. There were no deep conspiracies, or sexual innuendo, or dark underbelly. Well there are always dark aspects of shows/movies like this because they are supposed to show triumph and perseverance and you have to have something to overcome to get that across. So there are sad aspects like the death of loved ones, bullies, insecurities, mental instability, and defeats but this is all buried in brightly coloured, flamboyantly animated, slapstick adventures that involve mutants, aliens, vampire potatoes, cocktail making gorillas, and even Evil Elvis impersonators.

To recap, Darkwing Duck has aged surprisingly well. Though some of the content is out of date and the antics silly, the show overall is still fun to watch with decent story lines and great voicework. I think little kids would get a kick out of being introduced to a show like this and parents would feel the calm of a nostalgic euphoria.

Well, I guess that’s it for this episode of off my shelf, again. Until next time you can follow along on twitter and instagram @omyshelf or you can send me emails at omyshelf@ gmail.com

Off my shelf will be back on May 4th when we will be talking about highschool shenanigans and teenage rebellion with Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont high.

Hope you’ll be here to listen.

Music: Loop of the Darkwing Duck Theme

In this episode you get to listen to me talk to no one as I ramble on about Curious George and Dark city. This is because the world is ending or something.

Curious George

Dark City

Because this is a solo episode I did a lot of work writing this up so you get a transcript.

Hello my name is Tracey James and Welcome to off my shelf, a podcast about movies that are well off my shelf. Where we go through my DVDs and talk about the movies in my collection. In this episode Shayna Fine was supposed to be here to talk all about Curious George and Dark city but due to the beginning of the end we thought it best not to get together.

We are both trying our best to be responsible parts of society by doing our duty: self-isolating and social distancing. That could not have been accomplished recording in my small apartment across a 2 foot table. So now you get the fortunate (or possibly unfortunate) pleasure of listening to my sultry voice meader through a self discussion of these 2 movies.

I know, these films are a very weird combo to discuss. Why, you might ask, are these 2 together then? Well because they came together in alphabetical order. That’s it. I do move things around sometimes but it made little difference in this case. Curious George is the last of the films in the s and the Ds are strange and amazing but nothing that really goes with it. So this stuck.

But 2006’s Curious George is a great movie to help you forget about what is going on. I know, I know, it is a silly kids animated movie. But it is so cute, and so adorable, that you just kinda smile and it makes you feel less…less…forlorn.

Curious George is based on the series of kids books that many of us grew up with. These books have been published since 1941 and were created by Margaret and H.A. Rey. But his first appearance was 2 years earlier in another book by H.A.Rey called Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys about a Giraffe and her 9 monkey friends. The story actually sounds really depressing about taking animals and putting them in the zoo and deforestation and then there is a fire. What?! But from that we got Curious George who was one of the 9 monkeys. We are actually lucky to have these stories at all because the Rey’s were Jewish and living in Paris at the start of WW2. They had to flee on homemade bicycles and they managed to get out just before Hitler’s army invaded France. One of the few items they took with them was the manuscripts for Curious George.

There were only 7 books published during the author’s lifetime.

Curious George (1941)

Where the only recurring characters were George and the Man in the yellow hat. In the original stories, the “Man in the Yellow Hat” was never given a name but I guess for story purposes he was given one for this movie “Ted” who was voiced by Will Farrell.

I actually think the voice work in this movie is fantastic. Farrell does an awesome job in his first animated role as Ted sounding goofy, clumsy, frustrated but never mean. David Cross is just hilarious as Junior, the jealous, unappreciated son of the aged explorer Mr. Bloomsberry voiced by Dick Van Dyke.

There was a scene in the movie where Ted and Junior were talking and I had the weirdest, This is right but there is something wrong moment. You know what I mean, like when you see someone everyday and they do something minor to change themselves and you can’t put a finger on it, like teeth whitening. Well it is because 4 years after this film, Farrell and Cross did voices in Megamind together (that is also another hilarious movie) and I think my brain was like “Shouldn’t that be Megamind and Minion”? Because of that movie I cannot hear the word melancholy without giggling. Meh-lonk-olee?

There was also the voice talents of Drew Barrymore, Eugene Levy – this was actually his first animated film as well. Which seemed surprising to me but maybe that is because he has done several since – , and Frank Welker.

That last name may not be known by most but Frank Welker, who vocalizes Curious George’s adorable little monkey sounds, has been doing voice work for decades and you would for sure have heard him. He is the original voice of Scooby Doo and still does his voice today, Also Santa’s little helper on the Simpsons, The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin “Who disturbs my slumber?”, a bunch of voices in Transformers including Megatron and Soundwave, Nibbler from Futurama, and Grimace described as “a large, purple anthropomorphic being of indeterminate species with short arms and legs” from McDonald Land (who remembers mcdonald land? That just triggers a memory of the Simpsons when Homer becomes Krusty and was at Krusty Burger to introduce their new burger (the one with ketchup), he beats up the Krusty Burglar cuz he thinks he is going to steal all the burgers. “Stop, stop, he’s already dead!” gets me every time. ), Welker has over 800 credits on IMDB.

Frank Welker is also my Star Trek Connection!! Actually he has several connections to Star Trek. He did voices in 2 video games, Was the voice of an “Alien Creature” in the 8th episode of season 5 of Voyager called “Nothing Human”. And, what I think is the coolest connection, he does Spock’s screams in Star Trek 3 Search for Spock. It is no wilhelm scream but it is pretty amazing.

If you don’t know, or maybe you have heard references to this but aren’t sure, this is the wilhelm scream. It is an absolutely ridiculous scream that has been used in film since 1951. Though it was voiced by Sheb Wooley it was named after the character Private Wilhelm, who was shot in the leg in the 1953 western The Charge at Feather River where the sound effect was used. Since then, the sound has gained a certain level of notoriety after, as an in-joke, it has been added to many famous movies, tv shows, and videogames (I’m looking at you Starcraft!). It is said to be in over 433 films and it is fun to pick out when you hear it.

But I digress, back to Curious george. Another thing that makes this movie just so light and fun is the soundtrack by Jack Johnson. You can’t frown while listening to it. Well one kind of breaks your heart right at the beginning but that is it. The song “Supposed to be” that plays over the opening of the film where you find George in the jungle playing with all his jungle friends being cute and curious and then they all go home with their parents and you realize he is all alone….i’m not crying, you’re crying! At least it is not as bad as Up! Or Finding Nemo or any Disney movie really where they actively try to break you with the immediate cruel death of a close loved one. For this I could see poachers moving through the jungle underbrush coming after him and his mother all very Bambi-esque. Anyways all the songs just exude a sunny carefree-ness that Johnson’s music is known for and that really adds to the vibrant nature of the movie and helps you forget all of that unpleasantness at the beginning.

In addition to the 9 songs that are used in the film, Johnson, for the soundtrack Album which has the long title “Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George” has 3 additional songs. Including a song about recycling called “The 3 Rs” which explains, well, the 3 Rs, you know reduce , reuse, recycle; a Lullaby, and the song “We’re going to be friends”. I knew that JackJohnson didn’t write this song but I was very surprised to find out that it was written by another Jack, Jack White of the White Stripes in 2001 and was part of the album White Blood Cells released in 2002. I just thought the song was much older than that. But this was also used as the opening song for the weird and wonderful Napoleon Dynamite. The song has had several covers done by various artists as well as specially played for Conan O’Brien by request when the White Stripes came on Late Night. Conan also uses it as the opening to his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.

What else is there to say about this movie. I didn’t talk much about the story line cuz it isn’t that deep or anything. Ted goes to Africa to find the lost shrine of Zagawa to save a museum but comes back with a monkey and the antics ensue. It is whimsical, bright, but not insipid. It is easy and silly with lots of visual gags for kids but there are some tidbits thrown in there for adults as well. Like I said, it is just a really cute movie.

But then I got to over thinking and adulting and the consequences of bringing an undeclared animal into a foregn city. Then because of what is going on I think of movies like Contagion and 28 days later. He could be out there being cute but infecting all the people and bringing down society. Or am i just remembering a robot chicken skit…hmm. Who knew that Robot chicken didn’t just make us laugh but taught us lessons too?

Well that got dark, I guess this is my smooth segue from Curious George to Dark City.

Anyways, Dark City, the sci-fi cult classic from 1998 directed by the same guy who directed The Crow, Alex Proyas.

Ah, The Crow, another sci-fi cult classic that’s excessively 90’s which gained most of its notoriety from

Cashing in on that emo/goth scene that was prevalent at the time

Brandon Lee was the son of Bruce Lee and just starting to make a name for himself in film when tragedy struck. There has been all kinds of speculation on how he died. Officially he died of a gunshot wound received on set from a faulty prop gun but there were whispers about the set being cursed (Poltergeist and The Exorcist style), there was a conspiracy, it was payback for something he had done, and all sorts of things.

Did you know there were 4 crow movies and a TV show? I didn’t!

The Crow (1994)

Then there was

This is knowledge I can’t un-know. I kinda want to see these especially since the 3rd and 4th movie have the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Edward Furlong, David Boreanaz, Tara Reid, and Dennis Hopper. What?!

Alex Proyas, also went on to direct the critic and audience despised movies Knowing starring Nic Cage and the culturally and racially insensitive Gods of Egypt. He also directed the not so bad but could have been way better I,Robot.

The thing that pissed me off about this movie more than anything else is that it should not have been called I, Robot in the first place. Yeah the story stems from the Isaac Asimov book of the same name that establishes the 3 Laws of robotics but that book is several short stories of robots and their evolution into future society. The story used in the movie was that of a novel called Caliban aka Issac Asimov’s Caliban written by Roger MacBride Allen set in the world that Asimov had created and published in 1993. Sure the book is a lot darker and twisted but it is that story and McBride doesn’t even get credit for it (at least not on IMDB).

Anyways, Dark City has the visual styling of The Crow meets the matrix, meets chronicles of Riddick. As in there are pale-skinned men wrapped in leathery outfits, in a dark gray/green toned environment, with weird monolithic sculptures. I know the Matrix and Chronicles of Riddick was released after Dark City but I’m weary to give it credit for influencing their visual style. But instead of being futuristic Dark City is set in the very 1940s/50s film noir city like you’re reading one of those old detective novels but with sci-fi elements.

The film makers took the name Dark City a little too seriously when they made this film. I know it is supposed to take place in a mysterious city in perpetual night but I spent most of the movie squinting trying to figure out what was going on. Everything happened in the shadows making parts of the movie very hard to follow.

I hadn’t watched this movie in years and remembered very little except Keifer Sutherland being in it and there was something to do with aliens and a beach.

Keifer Sutherland has never shied away from sci-fi throughout his career. Even before Dark City he was in the show Amazing stories created by Steven Spielberg (who directed a few episodes including the episode Sutherland was in with Keven Costner, The Mission), The Lost Boys, Flatliners, and Twin peaks. This movie came in the midst of what some consider a slump in his career which didn’t really pick back up until he starred as Jack Bauer in 24.

But the movie also stars 2 Oscar winners, Jennifer Connelly who won for A Beautiful Mind in 2002 (surprisingly her only oscar nomination and win) and William Hurt who won for Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1986 (He also had 3 other nominations, Children of a Lesser God, Broadcast News, and A History of Violence), as well as the talented Rufus Sewell (who i enjoy best when he plays a bad guy, especially in a Knight’s Tale) who also had the misfortune of being in the movie Gods of Egypt working with Proyas again.

From the rest of the cast, which is full of names I don’t recognise but some faces I kind of do, there are some great and cheesy movie connections. Like

Richard O’Brien, who plays Mr Hand. You would probably know him best from Rocky Horror Picture show as Riff Raff so he is used to being ultra pale and in a kinky get up. But I was tickled to find out he was also in the cinematic wonder Spice World! Colours of the world, Spice up your life! Confession moment, I have never watched Spice world but I may know all the Spice girls lyrics and dance moves. Keep that knowledge to yourself..

Then there is Ian Richardson who was a classically trained british actor. He was the titular politician in the original House of Cards which the popular netfix series was based on.

There Is also Bruce Spence. Who I recognized from Mad Max but found he was in some other huge franchises including being in Ace Venture When Nature Calls, He did the voice of Chum in Finding Nemo, was the train man in The Matrix Revolutions, Lord of the Rings Return of the King, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. But was also in serious bombs like Australia, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I, Frankenstein, and sadly also Gods of Egypt.

John Bluthal was in Fifth Element (one of my fave movies. I can watch that movie over and over). He played Professor Pacoli right at the beginning. He was the one yelling “Aziz Light!”

Looking up all these actors also made me realize how many Aussies were in the movie. Then found out most of the shooting locations were actually in Australia. So then that made a whole lot of sense.

I also found a star Trek connection!! I swear star trek has been around for so long in so many iterations it is more of a shock not to find a connection than there is to find a connection. I mean it isn’t a great connection as it is with Discovery but it is a connection nonetheless. It is Melissa George, She was in the season 2 episode “If Memory Serves”. It was the one that was a direct connection to the first episode of the Original Series when Pike was the Captain of the Enterprise. It was crap.

Anyways, back to Dark City. The movie where an alien race created a floating city in space where they give people false memories and observe them to somehow determine the origins of the soul to save their dying species for some reason. But don’t worry, one of the people in the city is immune to the alien powers and will free the humans…or just let them go to the beach. Yeah….no wonder I didn’t remember what this movie is about. It is crazy convoluted and the convolution doesn’t come back together to make any sense.

The beach that everyone was trying to get to or really the main character was trying to get to was Shell beach. This was also something that made me laugh cuz I kept confusing it with shell city. What is Shell City you may ask? Well if you are familiar with who lives in a pineapple under the sea you would know. It is where king neptune’s crown was taken as part of the lemon scented plan zee in the Spongebob Movie. There is another movie that I cannot get enough of. You want a feel-good movie? You should watch that.

Well I think that is it. I still enjoy the adorableness that is Curious George but not really into the bleak Dark City.

I guess that’s it for this episode of Off My Shelf

Until next time you can follow along on Instagram and twitter @omyshelf or you can send an email to [email protected]

On the next episode, if everything gets back to normal, I will have a guest and we will be talking about Darkwing Duck.

Hope you’ll be here to listen.

Music Used in this Episode

Wallflowers – Bad Snacks Support by RFM – NCM: https://bit.ly/2xGHypM

In this episode Adam Upper joined me to chat about the battle between heaven and hell for souls of mankind and honor, obedience and love in the mythic far east with Constantine and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Constantine

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

John Constantine Hellblazer

Constantine created by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette, John Totleben, Jamie Delano and John Ridgway, first appeared in The Saga of Swamp Thing #37 in June 1985.  He got his own comic book Hellblazer in 1988.

The collectable comic book that comes with the DVD includes a reprint of Hellblazer #41 “Dangerous Habits”, a Hellblazer short story “The Gangster, The Whore, and the Magician”, a short comic “The First Time” (the origin of John’s biggest vice), and Character bios.  This tiny thing is filled with a lot.

X-Files Episodes

I am thoroughly embarrassed to say, after I made the statement of being such a such fan, I misspoke. I called the episode with the guy under the escalator (Eugene Victor Tooms) “Stretch” when it was actually “Squeeze” (S1E3). But to make this worse, the specific episode he was referencing was this characters second appearance which was the episode “Tooms” (S1E21).

Then there is the episode I couldn’t remember which I believe was “Pusher” (S3E17)

Meteor Man

This is a Sci-Fi, action, comedy from 1993. It didn’t do well with critics or audiences but it was one of the earliest Black superhero movies.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107563/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Leonard Part 6

Well, this absolutely horrendous film was made and exists somewhere. And I just came to the realisation that the villain in this was played by Gloria Foster who was the Oracle in The Matrix.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093405/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

The Cloverfield Paradox

This was the Cloverfield movie we couldn’t remember that starred Ziyi Zhang.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2548396/?ref_=tt_sims_tti

In this episode Mike Suderman is here to talk about the best way to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. As we talk about Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Destroyer

Conan: The Adventurer

Was a short lived cartoon based on the movies that aired between 1992-93.  But since I have mentioned it the theme song has been stuck in my head. So it is going to be stuck in your head too.

Quote

So the quote I totally butchered from the film was this

“Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world.”

Butchered Quote

What Mike was trying to say was “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”

This is a Shakespeare quote from King Henry the Fourth, Part Two

The Savage Avengers

So according to a very quick search the Savage Avengers is an ongoing series that started in May 2019.  And the guy we didn’t recognize on the cover is Doctor Voodoo.

Savage Land

Ok so the reason why this place was protected was because, well the easy was to explain it is, aliens. Here is the Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Land

Wolverine

When Magneto removed Wolverine’s adamantium and he went savage started in Wolverine 99 which was published in March 1996.

The Venture Brothers

It will actually be season 8 that they would be working on if they are working on a new season. The show has been around since 2003.

Wilt Chamberlain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Andre the Giant

Here is that pic I was talking about

This week Austin Wong returns for Valentines episode that is more of an anti-Valentines episode as we talk about 2 very different movies Closer and Comic Book Villains

Closer

Comic Book Villains

Conversation Hearts

These kitschy Valentines favourites have been around since 1901 but the company who made them, Necco, filed for bankruptcy in 2018 making the candies unavailable last year.  But the company was bought by  Spangler Candy Company and the candies have returned just in time to add more sugar to an already sweet holiday.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The movie, released in 2003,  was based on the well received Alan Moore comic series of the same name.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311429/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

Closer The Play

Closer was the second play written by Patrick Marber and was first performed in London in 1997. It then moved to Broadway making its North American debut in 1999.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closer_(play)

Jason Bateman show

The show we couldn’t remember was “The Outsider”

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8550800/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3

Black Mirror

The Episode I watched was S4E1 “USS Callister”

The episode Austin recommends is S3E4 “San Junipero “

Love Death and Robots

Sorry, I misspoke it is not “Love Sex and Robots” but “Love Death and Robots”.

There are 18 episodes in the first season and here are my faves

E2 – “3 Robots”

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The movie based on a book of the same title by John Berendt came out in 1997, 23 years ago. I mean it was later than I thought but it still makes me feel old!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119668/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Gaysian

The short film released in 2013 was written, directed, and produced by Austin Wong.

Reel Asian Film Festival

As mentioned here is the link for the Reel Asian site and the fundraiser.

Site: https://www.reelasian.com/

Fundraiser: https://www.reelasian.com/lnyfundraiser/

In this episode Julian Spillane and I get deep as we talk everything Clerks as we discuss the whole…series so far. Clerks, Clerks 2, and Clerks Unsensored.

Clerks

Clerks 2

Clerks Unsensored

Star Trek Timeline

So who’s surprised we started talking about Star Trek? No one! Anyways here are the future timeline

Star Trek Enterprise – (2151-2161)

I was wrong about WW3 though. It is much MUCH sooner than I though and also lasts a very long time, 2026 – 2053. That is so soon! But it is happening.

Tim Whatley

Portrayed by Brian Cranston, he appeared in 5 episodes over 3 seasons of Seinfeld

The Mom and Pop Store (S6E8)

The Label Maker  (S6E12)

The Jimmy (S6E19)

The Yada Yada (S8E19)

The Strike (S9E10)

Cost of Building the Death Star

Here is the Mental Floss article I was referring to

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89311/it-would-cost-ps62-octillion-operate-death-star-each-day

In this very first episode of 2020 Mike Suderman joins me to talk about the amazing but short lived animated series Clone High

Clone High

Phil Lord and Chris Miller Star Wars Movie

Just to verify, it was the Solo movie that they were let go from.

Sad Gif

Cougar town community crossover

Here is the crossover vid I was making reference to.

Mad TV Clips

Michael McDonald as Stuart

Nicole Sulivan

Marilyn Manson Food Pyramid song

Is the “Food Pyramid” wrong?

According to this article from Harvard…kinda. The pyramid has been updated and we are supposed to follow that and something called the “Health Eating Plate” They have graphs and charts in the article.

Healthy Eating Pyramid

What does human taste like?

Right below the food pyramid, here is the VSauce video I was talking about. I probably watched this video like 3 years ago and upon re-watching I am shocked at how accurately I remembered the video content. I think it had some sort of affect on me.  I warn you, it starts funny but gets disturbing pretty quickly though still thoroughly intriguing. You have been warned.

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>

Tenacious D

So turn up the volume and remember you are lost on an epic quest. Enjoy.

Note: I tried to find the official video for this song but that proved difficult. I found posts about people not being able to find the video either. It is all LotR climbing a treacherous mountain in a storm and stuff.

Star Trek

Correction: I am horrible with dates that is one of the reasons why I hated history class in school, DS9 ended in 1999 and Voyager ended in 2001. So the Star Trek that would have been on would be Enterprise. But that doesn’t mean there still couldn’t have been crossover.

Also I did find one Star Trek connection, Andy Dick was on Voyager. He played EMH-2 Dr. Bradley on the Season 4 Episode 14 episode “Message in a Bottle”. That’s a pretty cheesy but funny episode. Also he was never on “Scrubs”

But where can I find the Mist?

So this is a Gorillas in the Mist reference, a film from 1988 staring Sigourney Weaver. And the scientist’s name we couldn’t remember was Dian Fossey.

Clone High in the Spider-Verse

Here is a gif to show where it was in the movie.

Why a #2 Pencil?

According to the first result on Google, “So #2 pencils were just the right mix of darkness and hardness of the graphite/clay core to block the light effectively, while also not smudging too much.”

This is from an article that was published in 2010 and also includes a related comic from XKCD, info on updated Scantron machines and a bunch on bonus pencil facts.

Why You Used to Have to Use #2 Pencils With Scantron Forms

Bubba Sparxxx

Yes, with 3 “x”. Honestly I remembered the name but I couldn’t remember the song at all but then as soon as the beat started I was like, “Yeah, that’s it.”

This is my Side

Apparently the paint-a-line-down-the-middle-of-the-room thing is called the “This is my side” tv trope. At least that is what the TVTropes website call it. The article doesn’t give an origin to this but it does give a bunch of great examples in different media.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisIsMySide

JFK Talking backwards

Here is the video of that backwards talking scene.

 Other Subliminal messages

So I could have done the hard work and gone back to the episode and found all the stuff that flashes on screen but luckily someone else did!

https://clonehighusa.fandom.com/wiki/Subliminal_Messages

Stamos!

It’s the second annual Off My Shelf Christmas Extravaganza!

For the holiday season I gathered a candy coated cacophony of comrades to chat about a couple holiday favourites to get us in a holly jolly Christmas mood.

This year we are talking about the festive favourites Gremlins and National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation!

My guests are

Alix Cook

Title: Gremlins

Title: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Jello Shots

Each recipe makes about 12 shots.

Red

Green

John Hughes

So I got my notes mixed up, John Hughes did not write Gremlins, he wrote Christmas Vacation. Chris Columbus wrote Gremlins. I would have thought someone would have called me on that but he did have to do with the production of movie so I guess a bit of drinking got everybody mixed up

Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones is a prolific animator who created beloved characters as well as directed, wrote, and produced animated shorts and films. Check out his IMDB you will easily recognise his work.

Comic Books in the Gremlins movie

The 3D comic that was referred to seems to be something called “The Woods of Terror” which seemed to be some sort of 3D comic book. I only found this out by rewatching part of the film as while googling I found no reference to the book that was being read in the film.

While googling I did find this cool article about the history of 3D Comics and this article about the comic books that make an appearance .  There is a Conan, House of Mystery, and All-Star Squadron, that can be identified. He also mentions a possible theme with the issues that are shown. It is a quick read but interesting.

Zenith

The electronics company started in 1918 with making radio equipment. They got into TVs in 1948 but it wasn’t until 1956 when they introduced “Space Command” the first TV remote as we know them. They had a bunch of innovations in the realm of TV for years and then they just kind of stalled. But without them I don’t know what the state of TV would be. I believe they are still making things.

Missed Star Trek Reference

Well it happened, there was a Star Trek reference that I missed that Sean got. He was talking about Deputy Brent who was played by Johnathan Banks. He was in the DS9 S1E12 “Battle Lines” but he was wrong about him being in a bunch of TNG episodes. So I am taking this as a win for me.

Questionable Content

As mentioned this is a web comic and I have been reading it for years. Absolutely love it. I met the author Jeph Jacques a couple of times when he did the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

I got a Hanerole sketch when I bought his book.

and I got a plush Pintsize that sits on top of my shelf.

The specific comic I was referring to was the one published on Dec 12, 2019.

Christmas Quiz

Here are the questions and answers in case you want to know

1. What kind of Christmas Eve made santa ask, “Rudolph with your nose so bright, would you guide my sleigh tonight?”

2. Rudolph may not have been able to play in any reindeer games, but this actor got to play the lead in the spectacularly horrible film.

3. Not everything at Christmas happens at the North Pole, when Buddy the Elf decides to leave he says farewell to everyone including this creature that is the last to wish him well.

4. Elf was directed by this marvelous man with a varied career as both a director and actor who is known for comedic roles and lately his obsession with food.

5. Elf isn’t Favreau’s only Christmas film, he also starred alongside his longtime buddy Vince Vaughn with Reese Witherspoon in this mostly forgotten holiday film.

6. If you pay attention to Four Christmases, you would have noticed a cameo by this blue eyed actor from a beloved Christmas classic who is no kid anymore.

7. Billingsley as Ralphy had a holiday filled with high jinx including a run in with this yellow eyes bully. (When asking this question I misspoke and called the character “Randy” sorry)

8. Farkus was played by Zach Ward, who has continued his career by doing a lot of TV and bmovies including the 2016 “A Christmas in Vermont” which also starred this SNL alum.

Home Movie Cameras in the 1950s

So according to my very minimal googling. I came across this video.

So $59.50 in 1950 is the equivalent of $633.41 today. I mean, that is a lot but it is cheaper than a lot of cell phones out there.

Why did I ask about a Pony?

Well I was making reference to this. Some people in the room missed it some didn’t

Harissa

Harissa is a spicy and aromatic chile paste that’s a widely used staple in North African and Middle Eastern cooking.

Life Day

This is a star wars thing. I know, neeeeeeeeeeerd!

According to Starwars.com : “November 17 is an important day on the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk — it’s Life Day! A celebration of nature, family and new life. ”

So technically we missed it but still it is a holiday! That link even tells you how to throw a Life Day celebration. You totally know you are going to do that next year