Always Finkin...

Commercial Jingles We Grew Up With Part 4

2009-12-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

So, today we're going way back to when I was just a lowercase tee. These were very pleasant to stumble across and I'd like to share them with you today:

Chiquita Bananas

This next one was done by The Limelighters and I understand it's rather rare:

Coca Cola

And lastly (for today) Another favorite:

Good And Plenty

Next time the last in our series of favorite commercial jingles.
Stay tuned.

Commercial Jingles We Grew Up With Part 3

2009-11-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

After looking over some of the commercial jingles I have I see that I am missing my favorite. Once I find it I will post it, but until then, you'll have to wait to see which one it is.

So today we have three that are kind of related.
First:

Mr. Clean

Next there's:

AlkaSeltzer

And finally, reaching way back, we have:

Brylcream
because a little dab will do ya.

More soon.

Commercial Jingles We Grew Up With Part 2

2009-11-25T12:13:00.000-08:00

Some of the commercials were used by others later on even if slightly altered. Case in point:

Slinky

Which was used in the Ren and Stimpy Show and renamed Log.

Other commercial jingles kept running over and over in our heads such as:

The Meow Mix Commercial.

Then there were those that were a bit too long and a tad too bouncy:

Rice Crispies

For example.

Well that's it for today. Stay tuned for more commercial hits tomorrow.

Commercial Jingles We Grew Up With

2009-11-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

Many of us grew up hearing certain jingles on the radio and on TV that have stuck with us throughout our lives. Some we hated and some we enjoyed. Some we couldn't get out of our head no matter how we tried. Here are a few that I have enjoyed over the years, that I feel didn't drive me too insane after several hundred listenings.

Sara Lee

Chili's

Dr. Pepper

Ken-L-Ration

Stick around and I'll have some more next time. (They will even be better than these.)

Where did Gene Roddenberry get the idea for the Star Trek Theme?

2009-11-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

I was over at IMDB a little while ago and noticed that someone else had figured out why "Daisy" was used as the song that the computer, HAL, sang in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I had been aware of this information for several years but never thought to blog about it before.
Then I remembered a video I put together last year. It explains where I believe that Gene Roddenberry came up with the idea for the opening of his Star Trek Series. It's from the Outer Limits episode that starred William Shatner entitled: "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" (1964)

So I include the mashup here and see if you don't agree.

Please leave any comments about this observation below.

Stroke

2009-02-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

Marcus Tee

Optical Contusions

2008-11-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple Optical Contusions I came up with recently.

I call this first one "Self Exam."

This next one I call "Holey Hand."

Marcus Tee

A couple photoshopped images

2008-08-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple Photoshopped images I threw together the other day combining two things I really enjoy.

Marcus Tee

The Final of Finals

2008-08-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

When I lived in southern Cal I used to listen to KPFK radio on Sunday nights. They had a show called Hour 25, hosted by Mike Hodel and Mitchell Harding, that usually included some pretty interesting things. I was in the habit of recording these programs and I wish I had kept them but, alas, they have been lost along with a great many treasures of mine over time.
One thing that I heard on that show was a short piece that one of the hosts read called "The Final of Finals." I really thought it was inventive and I transposed it and stowed it away somewhere. I just fond it the other day and I did a search to see if anyone else knew what it was. Apparently many people are aware of it, But I also noticed that ever one of them have a bit more tacked onto the end of it than I had heard originally. So, in the interest of accurate history, I give you the original "Final of Finals":

The Final of Finals

1.) Medicine

You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have 15 minutes.

2.) Public Speaking

Twenty-five hundred riot-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

3.) Biology

Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if this form of life had devoloped five hundred million years earlier, with special attention to its probable effect on the English Parliamentary system.
Approve your thesis.

4.) Music

Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum.
You'll find a piano under your seat.

5.) Psychology

Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment, and repressed frustrations of each of the following:

Alexander of Aphrodisias
Ramses II
Gregory of Nicaea
Hammurabi.

Support your evaluation with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

6.) Political Science

There is a red phone on the desk beside you. Start world war III. Report on the social-political effects, if any.

7.) Sociology

Estimate the sociological problems that might accompany the end of the world.

8.) Engineering

The disassembled pieces of a high-powered rifle have been placed on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual printed in Swahili. In ten minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

9.) Economics

Develop a realistic plan for re-financing the national debt.
Trace the possible effects of your plan in the following areas:

Cubism
The Donatist Controversy
The Wave Theory of Light.

Outline a method for preventing these effects. Criticize this theory from all possible point of view. Point out the deficiencies in your point of view as demonstrated in your answer to the last question.

10.) Epistomology

Take a position for or against Truth.
Prove the validity of your stand.

11.) Physics

Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of mathematics on science.

12.) Philosophy

Sketch the development of human thought. Estimate its significance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought.

13.) General Knowledge

Describe in detail. Be objective and specific.
You have four hours.

Marcus Tee

Wally Cleaver?

2008-06-17T09:27:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, June 14, 2008 my daughter and I went to Santa Rosa to a car show. Well, we really didn't go to see the cars. We went to see Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver) from Leave It To Beaver. It was a really cool experience. He is a very likable and friendly guy. My daughter was very impressed by him also. He and his wife, Lauren were there along with Jon Provest (Timmy Martin from Lassie) and his wife, author Laurie Jacobson. Also there, was Frank Bank (Lumpy from LITB) and his wife, Rebecca Fink.
I asked Tony to sign the book I wrote on LITB, which he did. That was awesome.

So I now have met Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Frank Bank and have been in touch by Email with Jeri Weil (Judy Hensler from LITB), Stanley Fafara (Whitey Whitney from LITB), Patty Turner (Linda Dennison from LITB)and Justin Restivo (Lumpy Rutherford in the LITB movie of '97).
So, all in all it was a very good day.

Marcus Tee

And so it goes...

2007-11-17T15:46:00.001-08:00

I have two older brothers between me and my sister. My brothers are a couple years older than me but my sister was born seven years prior to my birth. They say when a sibling is born that far apart that the relationship is more like Aunt and Nephew as opposed to sister and brother. That was how it was between my sister and I. She would always stick up for me when my bratty brothers were picking on me and would defend me to the bitter end when we would fight.

Her I.Q. was two points above mine but still I had it all over her with knowing all the stupid, inconsequential things that guys enjoy knowing. I was never into sports so much, so my vast acquisitions were more to the leaning of TV and Science Fiction and Comics. Some times we would get into heated discussions on some minor point that she would insist she was right about, but, in the end, I would prove her wrong and she would steam for awhile until the next subject would arise.

I remember once she was sitting along side the dirt road we lived on in southern California, talking to a repairman who was fixing something on a telephone pole. It was very hot that day and before long she had succumbed to the heat and passed out. That scared me, thinking that something bad could happen to my only sister. I was 5 at the time.

She took after my dad who had a very stubborn streak and would back down from very little. When the two of them had gotten into a discussion, where each knew they were right, it very seldom ended well. They loved each other a great deal. She was very saddened when he died a few years back.

As the years passed my sister moved away to live with some friends in the Bay Area near San Francisco. She met a guy there and they soon were married. They had three great children and I had two neices and a nephew. My wife and I moved to the Bay Area with my parents and we were all back together again as even my brothers had moved there also.

It is a great place to live but since we moved here our health hasn't been too good. I acquirded diabetes and CHF (congestive heart failure) along with high blood pressure and I was diagnosed with a bad ticker resulting in double bypass surgery a few years back.

Not to be outdone, my sister also became diabetic. She too has high blood pressure and she had a blood clot in her leg on two different occasions. At one point she was admitted to the hospital where upon it was determined that the carotid artery on the left side of her neck was comepletely blocked. The doctors said that she would be alright as there are two, one on each side of the neck, and the other one would take over and she should be fine. She went home and I was admitted into the hospital that week for a nine-day stay with Cellulitis.

This is all kind of tough since our mother is 82 years old and runs circles aound us, literally. I can't understand how she can be in such good shape at that age.

So it appeared that my sister and I were in a race to see who would die first. Her with her clots and other goods or me with my bad ticker and both of us with HB and diabetes.

It's really unfortunate that today, at 4:45 pm after suffering a massive stroke, she won.

Marcus Tee

What's up with Heroes?

2007-10-26T03:01:00.000-07:00

Well I'll tell you...
My Golden Helix Theory:

Marcus Tee

Is your glass half empty, or half full?

2007-10-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

Most say that to see it half full is postivie and to see it half empty is negative. I beg to differ. If the glass is half full, that means whoever filled it didn't finish the job, a negative thing. Whereas if the glass is half empty, that means someone just enjoyed half a glass and that is a positive thing.

Marcus Tee

Cutom Tennies

2007-09-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a pair of customized, hand-drawn tennis shoes made for a little boy that I thought were really cool:

(Click on image to see larger view)

To see more of this person's artwork visit:

Jonny Comics

Marcus Tee

Datsun1200

2007-01-13T17:47:00.000-08:00

Datsun1200

An article written by a good friend.

Marcus Tee

Sally Lou

2006-08-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

I got a friend that lives in Florida. We call him Tall Paul. He up and married this pretty little philly named Sally Lou Wigstagle. Sally Lou was right nice lookin' but had the annoying habit of brushin' her teeth with an old pair of Mrs. Hedley's panty hose. I tried to tell her that it wasn't such a good idea but she just shushed me and kept on rubbin' away. Two of her grandchildren should be ready for parole in a couple of months and I hear ole Paul hanged 'isself a week ago last May...

Marcus Tee

The Teatons Revisited

2006-07-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

I ran across this article today in the Midland Daily News from Michigan about The Teatons that I posted several weeks ago. Interesting stuff.

Marcus Tee

Raw Meat (with apologies to Max Cannon)

2006-07-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

Smouch?

2006-03-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

If you haven't been to this site yet, you might want to check it out. It's called Smouch.com and it's a place where you can rewrite Japanese commercials. There are several clips of Japanese commercials with the soundtrack still intact. Click on "New Smouch" and you can add your own subtitled dialog. The results can be serious, poignant or just plain funny. Here is one I did.

There are over 2,000 registered users here and the average age is most likely around 16-18 so you're going to see a lot of obscenities. But, after filtering through the junk, you will see that some of these people do have the ability to crack wise in a clean way. And these are usually the really funny ones.

Another I did is here:

Here, of course, I was just writing what I thought the person sounded like they were saying:

As I did here:

So, check it out and enjoy a fresh Smouch today!

Marcus Tee

TVLand's Monoply

2006-03-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

It's really sad how greedy stations get when it comes to fleecing the viewers of the programs they show. Take for example TVLand who just aired an episode of Leave It To Beaver called "Wally Buys A Car." By the time they got done with it it had been trimmed no less than seven minutes to make time for commercial breaks. If they do that to every episode over the period of an entire season that's 1638 minutes or 27.3 hours!. Imagine the money made on commercials run during this time while the viewing public misses key scenes. And now missing is the entire ending of each episode as they air their inane babble and then voiceover the final scene and credits.
This is just one series. Now imagine the amount of time when you add up all the series that they have a monopoly on. The commercial airtime is staggering . And if that isn't enough, the original actors, who starred in many of the shows that we hold dear, see absolutely zero in residuals.
I think it's time that TVLand give up Leave It To Beaver, and all the other shows that they are monopolizing, and give the smaller, independent stations a chance to air these shows, and maybe, just maybe the local stations won't butcher these programs by paring them down to practically nothing.

BTW: if you don't think TVLand is shaving major time off the shows just wait a couple weeks until they begin rerunning the Leave It To Beaver series and get out your DVD of the first season. Compare the episodes. You will see that there are MAJOR chunks missing. This is happening with all the series they show.

Marcus Tee

Doc Savage and his Five Aides

2005-10-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Doc Savage. Oh, I guess we weren't were we? Nonetheless, I have to say that of all the books I've read for entertainment purposes the ones I remember most fondly were the Doc Savage series. I read the most of them in 1969 when I was 15 years old and very impressionable. I spent the whole summer reading and drove my whole family crazy because that was all I would do. It was pure heaven. I remember the first one I ever bought was (Bantam of course) The Sargasso Ogre. I was enthralled by this story about the Bermuda Triangle. I never knew a thing about it until then.
I admit that the reading was geared to the young teenage mind but then I was a young teenager and it suited me perfectly. (How unfortunate that I have not progressed emotionally past that stage in my life. Sigh.) I have been drawn to all facets of science and science fiction and believe I did progress a bit more in school after my introduction to his series.
If you have never read any of the DS books, I would recommend them, not as an avenue to higher learning but most assuredly as a way to spark the interest in the juvenile mind. Either your own or some child you know that needs a little push to get him to enjoy his reading a bit more.

Marcus Tee

The Teatons

2005-08-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Have you seen them around? I saw one the other day and I wondered "What The...?"
They're little post-it notes that have a cartoon on them. They pop up in the most unusual places. There was one stuck to the sign in the stationary isle of a Target store. I hear they are popping up all over the planet. There was one seen on the Adams School Bike racks in Midland, Michigan and another in the United Kingdom. They've also been sighted in Milan Italy!
If you have any info about these little one-panel cartoons, please send an email to me or post a reply here. BTW : that's the one I saw most recently.

Marcus Tee

Can it really be found?

2005-07-06T00:56:00.000-07:00

I was surfing the other day. Yeah, net surfing, that's right. I was searching for some info on a recipe that my pop used to use way back when I was a kid. It was this really good topping for ice cream made from Hershey's cocoa. It was kinda thick but not like fudge. I don't think he put milk in it. Anyways I got a real craving for it and decided I'd make some. I used AllTheWeb (my personal favorite search engine) and found what I thought must be the recipe. I tried making it tonight and lo and behold, it wasn't anything like the way my pops used to make. A bit ago I tried to find the right recipe, using some more precise verbiage in the search eng. I spent waaay too much time and never did find that recipe.

Now, you have to realize that I really pride myself on my ability to locate just about any bit of info on the net. (I was an "expert" on Askme.com for years.) I mean, after all, isn't that what the net is there for? Can't you find out anything if you look long enough? Well, I thought you could but, alas, no.

Earlier tonight I was looking for some info on a cloak (yeah, cloak, as in LOTR or Harry Potter) and I spent another huge amount of time and found nothing on this particular garment. For cryin' out loud, it was made in 2001. I can't even find a listing for the mfg. (Sandman)

So here are the few things I have been unable to find on the net lately. If you can find them I will tip my hat to you for your effort and success:

As I said, chocolate topping made with Hershey's cocoa that is NOT made with milk but is thick and sticky on ice cream.
Info on a company called Sandman ((C) 2001 D.C. Comics) that manufactured cloaks in 2001.
Info on a group, that I heard on Doctor Demento a couple dozen years back, called One foot In The Grave. I contacted a group with that name but they claim never to have performed the song I heard. (Not my imagination as I have the song on cassette. It's called Leave It To Beaver.")

If you can't find something, feel free to post below. I'm sure I'm not the only one, right?

Marcus Tee

No Time Like The Future

2005-04-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Recently I was informed that my brother had a heart attack and they are giving him a pacemaker. This comes as no surprise as my father had a pacemaker and I've had OHS (open heart surgery) and my sister and I have CHF (congestive heart failure). But I am sure that things will start looking up. I mean where else can they go? That's the one reassuring thing about bad stuff that happens to people. You can always count on things to get better when they've reached bottom.

Of course we all know that that is not true. Our perception of "the bottom" is warped and due to a limited imagination or an unwillingness to face the truth. And the truth of the matter is; things can always get worse. Example: 911 = thousands dead. Tsunami = tens of thousands dead.
So the next time someone calls to tell you Aunt Martha is in the hospital, you can be sure it can get worse. Just wait and see...

Marcus Tee

New Grandchild

2005-03-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

I finally have something to write about again. On March 7 this year I became a granpa for the fifth time. Aydin George is the little fella's name. 9 lbs 8oz.
Here are a couple of pics.
And here he is with his gramps

Marcus Tee