Classic Commercials - Apex Tech

I watched a lot of WOR (channel 9), WPIX (channel 11), and Fox (Channel 5) growing up here in New York mainly because those were the stations that had cartoons as well as classic 80's shows in syndication like Diff'rent Strokes, Facts Of Life, and Mr. Belvedere. Because these stations were local, you get local commercials. One I remember as a kid involved a mythical place called Apex Tech.

I had no idea what Apex Tech was other than the fact it seemed that a friendly bald headed guy would tell you how important it was to be able to fix car engines, repair a refrigerator, and most importantly service air conditioners. Students appeared to be working very hard around him. His classic sign off "Now I can't call you, you have to the take the first step" is legendary.

I had forgotten about Apex Tech until I was walking down 6th Avenue in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago and stumbled across this and nearly crapped my pants...

It was almost like running into an old friend from elementary school you hadn't seen in years. The memories started coming back and I almost wanted to walk across the street to see if that affable bald headed instructor was still there (or still alive since its been nearly 20 years). Thankfully somebody on YouTube posted one of the old commercials. The audio isn't the greatest but it includes one of the greatest catch phrases of my early years...

Glory days of public access TV...

The Voice Of God vs. The Scary Preacher Guy in Poltergeist 2

Sad news from the sports world yesterday as it was announced that New York Yankee public address announcer Bob Shepard died. Hearing the report was funny in that many people said that he "believed to be" 99 years old. I'm not sure why he wouldn't confirm his age so close to 100 years old but that's not the point here.

After seeing pictures of Bob Shepard, I realized two things:

1.) He had a lot of liver spots all over his face and head.

and

2.) He looked a lot like the preacher guy from Poltergeist 2. Remember him? All he wanted to do was take Carol Anne back to the promised land. He seemed like a nice guy but he looked very freaky and obviously had ulterior evil motives.

Anyway see below for the resemblance and tell me I'm wrong...

How Hard Was This??? Live Aid Elton John

I'm a HUGE sucker for the original Live Aid concert...with the wife away this weekend, I'm catching up with it again. The Elton John set intrigues me. First of all, he appears to completely coked out. Then, not only does he play a rare "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Kiki Dee, he actually gives up one of his most iconic songs to a very young George Michael to sing..."Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". Watch the video and count how many times that Elton was DYING to join in. Of course the fact that he didn't, helped this become George Micheal's coming out party..."coming out" meaning that he was truly a solo superstar and not gay (that happened a few years later).


Good stuff here...and look out for Andrew Ridgley!!! (the soggy other half of WHAM)

Movie Review - Orphan

Its been waaaaay too long since I posted something. Between my job (I need money to live) and personal stuff (this is where I talk about a fight I had with an major illness...but I really was just lazy), I had little time to devote to this site. That will hopefully change.

I'm going to change gears for a little while and focus on movie reviews. I'll still throw in other things but movies are easy to bang out. The movies being reviewed will be a mix of old and new. They will also NOT BE SPOILER FREE so if you haven't seen the movie being reviewed and want to see it DON'T READ THE REVIEW. First up...The Orphan.

Circumstances seeing this movie:
I saw this movie a few weeks ago after somebody telling my wife that the twist at the end is AWESOME. Thankfully it had been running on Showtime so I DVRed it and watched it over two days.

Plot Overview:
A married couple (not necessarily happily married) are still getting over the loss of a miscarriage. They decide to adopt but instead of adopting a newborn baby, or at least a child under the age of 3, they decide to adopt a 9 year old girl found in an orphanage in Russia...HUGE MISTAKE!!!



Quickie Review:
Not a bad movie, not a great one. Trying to figure out what the orphan girl's true intentions were interesting but when they are revealed, I was a little disappointed. I was impressed at how far fetched the twist was and that someone would think of that but this movie would be thrown in jail by the common sense police.

Common Sense Violations:
1.) How about the twist...THE ORPHAN IS ACTUALLY A 33 YEAR OLD WOMAN WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION THAT MAKES HER LOOK LIKE A 9 YEAR OLD GIRL!!! Plus, she's fascinated with the Dads that have adopted her in the past...so much so that she'll kill anyone that gets in her way. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? As I said before, I'll give a 10 for the originality of the twist, but a 2 for seeing how that twist ties to a movie. The closest thing I could I think of would be Webster or Gary Coleman being adopted by a family and they fall in love with the mother and kill the Dad.

2.) The fact that the father completely ignores all signs that the orphan is a psycho. He throws his wife of probably 5-10 years under the bus and trusts this new child he met 6 months ago completely. Fine, he wouldn't know that she's really as old as she really is...but to not at least see that she's up to no good? WAKE THE F' UP!!!

3.) I don't understand the relationship between the husband and wife...one minute they're having risque sex in the kitchen and shortly thereafter he teases her about prior drinking problems and tries to get her committed. I don't get that....then again, he was probably really horny and just wanted to get some action. Guys are mean/cool like that sometimes.



Scenes I liked:
1.) The sort of sex scene in the kitchen. Good stuff there for a non-nudity scene...but I dare any parents of small children to try this while the sun is still out.

2.) All scenes with the Orphan involving the other kids. Knowing the twist now, she's one mean 33 year old woman.

3.) The scene where the Orphan shows how good of a piano player she is plus the mother's reaction to it. Pretty creepy and the song she plays is really cool too.

4.) The fact that the father dies...movies usually let the good people live at the end or just kill the family pet. NOT THIS ONE!

Let's cut the shit Hungieman, is there any sex/nudity?
This movie is mammary free...but the sex scene is pretty good for not showing any boobs...the lead actress has nice cleavage

Recommended?
Probably only the same circumstances I saw it under...it was on cable and I had the ability to record it to watch at my leisure.



Final review:
5 out of 10.