The Final Out at Shea Stadium

No major post today...just a moment of silence. Here's the last pitch and out at Sunday's Met game taken from my phone. You can hear the crowd go nuts as it looks like it might be a homerun. I love the guy who screams "Oh my God!!!!!". That's me at the end shouting "set up the stage!" in anticipation of the lame ceremony they were having after the game.

Oh well...rest in peace old friend

Shea Stadium
1964-2008

Ranking the McDonalds Characters

Like most kids, I believed in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny. I also believed in Ronald McDonald and anytime it was announced that he was going to make an appearance at a local McDonald's, I was all over it. But then my fear of clowns would kick so I never got to see him. I did enjoy him and his goofy companions from afar though and this post is dedicated to them.

Top 5 McDonald's Characters:

5.) Birdie the Early Bird -



I really have no idea what the supporting cast of Ronald McDonald represented. Some are easily more definable than others. Birdie the Early Bird falls into the "hard to define" category. I'm assuming she promoted the breakfast side of McDonald's (and nothing beat a tasty "Big Breakfast" meal back in 1987). However, now that I think of it, early birds are supposed to get the early worms. Though no worms have never been found in a McDonald's meal, it would appear that Birdie is not a good mascot.

4.) The Fry Kids -



These guys make perfect sense. They look like fries and chicken nuggets, and they babble on unintelligibly. It looks like they were always having a grand old time but sadly, I would imagine that they all died by the age of 20 due to high cholesterol and four blocked arteries. They probably had really bad acne too.

3.) Ronald McDonald -



For what its worth, he is an icon. His red hair and yellow jump suit match the colors of the famous Arches logo. Being a clown, he's friendly to most kids...(not me though). He STILL makes a lot of promotional appearances (I saw him a few months ago at a local McDonald's and he was swamped by little kids). Mysteriously, I've never seen a Ronald McDonald actually sample some of the food at the restaurant he calls his namesake.

2.) The Hamburglar -




Again, his character makes little sense. Is he promoting children to STEAL hamburgers from a local MacDonald's? His little getup is interesting too as I've never seen a burglar with a cape much less a prison outfit. His hat intrigues me as well...


1.) Grimace -



Good old Grimace. The Destro to Cobra Commander, the Iron Hide to Optimus Prime, Grimace seems to be Ronald McDonald's best friend and close confidant. Again, Grimace doesn't look anything like something you can find on the McDonald's menu unless you ate 10 Big Macs along with some purple food coloring. Then maybe, you could create your own Grimace in your bathroom. The closest I think of is a hash brown but I'm writing that more because I'm getting hungry.

Honorable mentions:
Mayor McCheese




Anyway, This commercial pretty much sums up the kind of commercials one could make with a $5,000 budget back in the 80's. Note how not one food item is brought up.

Updates

Happy Monday to you all. First and foremost, the Mets flushed another season away over the past week. Just though I'd mention that as I close the refridgerator door with my head in it another dozen times...

On another note, based on some very nice contructive criticism that makes a lot of sense, I moved the music player to the top of the screen...no more scrolling to the bottom. It should make things easier on the whole. As for the music itself, if you don't like it....well now you can move your mouse over to the pause button and press it. Presto! No more music.

I'm not going to please everybody here...heck, I probably won't please half of you but I'm trying my best.

Classic TV Intros - My Two Dads

My Two Dads was a show I enjoyed watching after school (it may have been on USA paired with Just The Ten Of Us). It involved two men, either of which was the father of a teenage daughter named Nicole. The Dad's were played by Paul Reiser (hot off his appearance in Aliens) and Greg Evigan (not sure what he's been up to lately but I used to love saying his last name for some reason...Evigan).

The daughter was played Stacy Keanan, who I definitely had a crush on. She popped up again on the Patrick Duffy/Suzanne Somers show "Step By Step" but this was a show that she owned. She also had a really hot blond haired friend but I couldn't tell you her name. There also was an old lady who played the judge who assigned Nicole to this completely absurd situation...no one wanted to do a paternity test?

Here's the intro...follow as long if you wish below:





Actually before commenting on it piece by piece, I noticed that there is an EXTREMELY annoying saxophone blaring over the main theme song. It doesn't even sound like its in the right key or if its playing the right song. I couldn't help but notice that...anyway:

0:00-0:13 - A rarity at the time, a voiceover begins the opening intro to set the premise. Why two grown men would take on a 14 year old daughter that they never knew they had is beyond me. In fact, this show could have easily been paired with the HBO show Cathouse and shown at 12:30am if they REALLY wanted to push the envelope. I'd be promoting sleepovers at my place if I was them.

0:14-0:18 - That judge needs to be stripped of her judgeship (or whatever its called). Again, if some judge forced me to take care of a child because I MIGHT be the child's father, I'd head right down to the local DNA office. Even weirder is that she owns and lives in the same building that the two Dads and the girl live in.

0:21- 0:25 - A quick montage showing how "different" the Dad's are. In hindsight, they are probably very similar except for the fact that Paul Reiser's character probably hasn't been laid in years and Greg Evigan's character has threesomes every night.

0:28 - 0:33 - Odd how they "rank" the characters in the show. I sort of see why Paul Reiser gets top billing but why does Greg Evigan's name come after Dick Butkus and the judge?

0:36-0:37 - Very creepy that the judge comes down to visit them in nothing but a robe.

0:44-0:46 - I forgot that Dick Butkus was even in this show. I think he ran the local diner or something like that. I like how in two of his clips he's seen throwing a football (because he was famous for being....well, a football player).

0:50 - After a flurry of montage shots, we get the money shot of Greg Evigan. He sort of looks like Kenny Loggins to me. In fact the "You Can Count On Me" theme song sounds like its being sung by Kenny Loggins.

Wow, there are a lot of sweaters seen in this clip. Again, that saxophone is so annoying...it could be Clarence Clemmons playing on speed.

Enjoy the weekend and stay dry and if you're in the NY area.