Home Improvement

Created by Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra, and David MacFadzean, American's favorite sitcom, Home Improvement, aired staring 1991, ending 1999. Launching the acting career of Tim Allen, all across America, the well known sitcom hit the top of the charts. Everybody loved the Taylor family: Tim (Tim Allen), Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three sons, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith).

Growing up, Home Improvement was THE show to watch at dinner. My father can do an amazing impression of Tim Allen's well known chuckle... or laugh... or WHAT WAS THAT? - Ohh ho ho. Dinners were never dull with Tim Allen's stereotypical "manly man" humor; he loves power tools, cars, sports, and always seems to THINK he knows what he's talking about, even though we know he doesn't, he's the typical "know it all", "never wrong" male. (We all know the type)

Tool Time always proved to be a hysterical riot. Al Borland (Richard Karn), Tim's assistant, always had some type of failure on the show using power tools and constantly discussed his lonesome life with his mother. This alway recieved chuckles from the family.

The mysterious neighbor, Wilson (Earl Hindman), never showed below his eyes, growing up I always assumed there was some odd deformity of his lower face, I believe alot of children, and possibly adults shared this similar thought. It was very odd. However the circumstances, Wilson was the almighty advice giver, solving all household problems. Every episode of Home Improvement taught life lessons, under all that humor.

Although Home Improvement has siezed to produce new episodes, the reruns are still aired on tv today. I look back at Home Improvement as a time that my family gathered together, ate dinner as a family, and laughed together. That was a time of no worries, no stress, and free time.

We salute you, Tim Allen, for bringing families together for 30 minute segments, sharing humor and life lessons along the way.

Oh Comfort Me, Movies of the 90's- Part Two

Picking up from where we left off we're starting with Number 5, working our way to the Number One, Greatest movie of the 90's...

5. Wayne's World (1992) - Two slacker friends try to promote their public-access cable show.- Probably one of the greatest soundtracks of a movie EVER! (Yes, I own it) Mike Myers and Dana Carvey are constantly making you laugh. Not to mention, who doesn't remember the scene while driving in the car singing "Bohemian Rhapsody", greatest scene ever. Plus the "Wayne's World Theme" is probably one of the best songs created in a movie. "Wayne's World, Party on, Excellent, dededo dededo dededo!"

4. Office Space (1999) - Comedic tale of company workers who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.- I will admit, when I first watched this movie I didn't like it very much, I thought it was very slow. But now that I'm older and so much more wiser (ha!), this is one of my favorite movies, as it is for any sane person.- I was once told by my ex-boyfriend that if he were to choose any scene of any movie to describe me, it would be when Richard Riehle, playing Tom Smykowski, describes his "Jump to Conclusions" mat. I took that offensively...

3. Clueless (1995) - Cher, a high school student in Beverly Hills, must survive the ups and downs of adolescent life.- This is one of my favorite movies from it's release to today. Sure Alicia Silverstone was AWESOME in this movie, but Paul Rudd is SOOOO HOT! This was when i fell in love with Brittany Murphy and Donald Faison. Clueless is like, one of the movies that DEFINES 90's flicks. It was even made fun of in Not Another Teen Movie (2001), So you KNOW it's gotta be worth something.

2. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) - A remake of the classic Shakespare play "The Taming of the Shrew.", set in a modern day highschool.- The classic Teenage love, lies and consequences movie. Aside from how hot gorgeous Heath Ledger is, 10 Things I Hate About You is an absolute classic that I can seriously watch for hours and hours on end. Also being made fun of in Not Another Teen Movie, 10 Things I Hate About You is yet another 90's defining movie, and the King of teen-love-flicks-land.

1. A Night at the Roxbury (1998) - Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan play the Roxbury Guys, Steve and Doug Butabi, who want to get into the best club in town, and also hope to open their own club.- Placed in the top 5 movies quoted in the 1990's, A Night at the Roxbury is still one of the greatest movies EVER made. Saturday Night Live really set this pair off, and made Will Ferrell my ultimate favorite actor, even today. This movie never gets old. No matter what mood I'm in, this film can turn everything around and littreally have me LOLing. Ferrell and Katten are a riot. Funny thing, my girl friends and I were out this past weekend at a "social gathering place" and the DJ spins out "What Is Love?" by Haddaway, that song can no longer be just a song, it is forever linked to the infamous "head jerk" of the Butabi brothers (Ferrell and Kattan). So of course, getting into the song, my girl friends and I do the jerk, looking around to see that a good 90 percent of the crowd was also, doing the jerk. It was awesome.

If you haven't seen A NIight at the Roxbury, you're not living life, this is a MUST SEE MOVIE!

We salute you, Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, for playing the roles of the Butabi brothers oh so well and creating the infamaous, forever known, head jerk to "What Is Love?".

Oh Comfort Me, Movies of the 90's- Part One

Not only did the 90's bring about the greatest decade in music, it also brought in some pretty wicked movies. Now all of this is opinionated and i really don't care what you have to say (Malcolm!), but these are my top 10 personal comfort movies of the 90's, that NEVER get old.



THIS IS NOT A GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME LIST, THIS IS A GREATEST MOVIES OF THE 90'S LIST.

10- Cruel Intentions (1999) - Kathryn makes a bet that her step-brother, Sebastian, won't be able to bed Annette (a virgin, who wants to wait until love). If he loses, Kathryn gets his Jaguar, if he wins, he gets Kathryn. - Why would such twisted movie be a comfort to me? I'd probably have to asnwer that by saying that I love the entire cast, Sarah Michelle Geller, Ryan Phillippee (SO hot!), Reese Witherspoon, and Selma Blair all together is awesome! I love this movie, although I haven't really decided why... it's so twisted...



9- Clerks (1994) - A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof. - Let's be serious, why wouldn't someone love this movie? Staring Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, and Kevin Smith. Who doesn't like to see how much other people's lives suck? Plus Jay and Silent Bob are like, the coolest people ever.

8- Hocus Pocus (1993) - More than 300 years ago, 3 witches were sentenced to die in Salem, Massachusetts and a boy was turned into a cat. Now it's Halloween, and the witches are back. This time, they've got their eyes on immortal life and have turned their wrath on trick-or-treaters and it's up to the 300-year-old cat to save the day. - Any kid who grew up in the 90's will tell you that Hocus Pocus is one of the greatest Halloween movies of all time. I have watched this movie EVERY Halloween, it's funny and still holds the whole, Halloween spirit, Halloweentown doesn't have anything on Hocus Pocus. Staring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the three ridiculous witches.

7- Happy Gilmore (1996) - A rejected hockey player puts his skills to the golf course to save his grandmother's house. - When mentioning Adam Sandler's best films, Happy GIlmore is close to the top. Everything about this movie is funny, right down to the tri-picture rear-view mirror decoration of Gilmore's grandmother. There's no question as to why Happy Gilmore is on my top 10 comfort movies.

6- Billy Madison (1995) - In order to inherit his fed up father's hotel empire, an immature and lazy man must repeat grades 1-12 all over again. - In my opinion, one of the only movies to surpass Happy Gilmore as Sandler's best, is Billy Madison. Again, the same is true as any other Sandler film, you are laughing till you cry, or pee your pants- I've done both :-)

Due to the manor of such a list, this is only Part one, Part Two, containing movies 1-5, will be on the next blog.

We salute you, Adam Sandler, for being able to produce two of the greatest movie of all time.

Throw In The Towel Already!

As much as I love music from the 90's, the bands trying to "bring it back" should stop while they're ahead. I'm sorry, but theres some bands that just really kill themselves in trying to keep up with the music trends. I know you were HOT in the day, but times are a changin' and you trying to "re-invent" yourselves just isn't working out.
Don't know who I'm talking about? Oh I'll fill you in.

Green Day! Seriously? You were AWESOME in the 90's! The release of Dookie in 1994 won a Grammy for "Best Alternative Album" in '95! Everyone STILL loves "Basketcase", "Longview", and "When I Come Around", we're still playing those at parties and they're still on the radio! Seriously, because of that album, you were invited to Woodstock of '94. WOODSTOCK! Do you honestly think you would be invited with your stupid American Idiot, Stop Drop and Roll!, and 21st Century Breakdown alubums?! I'll give YOU a 21st century breakdown: STOP! You were so much better in the 90's, PLEASE leave the business with what little pride you still have. "Redundant" and "Good Riddance" were two more awesome songs you poped out, when? oh yeah, IN THE 90'S!!! "Good Riddance" was used in an episode of Seinfeld (One of the greatest shows ever!) and two episodes of ER! AND you guest stared in King of the Hill, dude, the only thing you've guest stared in lately is The Simpsons Movie, and they MADE FUN OF YOU!!! everyone in the crowd threw cans and trash at you until you ended up in the acid filled lake! Yeah, that's how much we like you these days. You have totally committed musical suicide in my eyes.

Alanis Morissette, I'm not going to go all that tough on you concidering i absolutley love you and you ARE the female voice no matter what generation you're in and you realized you were on top in the 90's and it's not working out in the new generation, so you stopped before you could destroy your image. Nice. You rocked my world with Jagged Little Pill. I loved every single song on that album, and still do. Jagged Little Pill remains the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the U.S., and the highest selling debut album worldwide in music history, selling 30 million records worldwide, with hits like "You Oughta Know", "All I Really Want", "Hand In My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", and "Head Over Feet". The album won six Juno Awards in 1996: Album of the Year, Single of the Year ("You Oughta Know"), Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Best Rock Album. At the 1996 Grammys, she won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song (both for "You Oughta Know"), Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. Morissette came out with another album in 1998 that also did really well. But after taking a break and trying again to produce yet another album in 2004, she proved to be quite a let down. But I Guess she noticed this and went back into the studio to re-make Jagged Little Pill acousticly, which is pretty good. So congrats on realizing that you rocked the 90's!
As a break from the criticizing, you want to hear a super ticked female, listen to Alanis Morissette. shew! I <3>

So in closing, Green Day, you are looooonnggg overdue to STOP singing. Alanis Morissette, I now respect you even more, which I didn't even think was possible anyway.


We salute you, Alanis Morissette, for your ability to swallow your pride and throw in the towel while you're still on top as the leading voice of all ticked off females worldwide. Job well done.

Music Masterminds

Warning: The following blog post is completely and utterly opinionated. The views are personally expressed and do not require you to agree with what is being stated. In order to eliminate the urge to "fight me till the death" to prove your opinion, I am willing to agree to disagree in advance.

The 90's holds claim to the greatest decade of music yet to have been AND yet to be. - Minus the whole boy-band scene. Ugh.
Here's a fun little game- Given the opportuntity to marry anyone at all based on their music, including songwritting, musical ability, and singing, who would you choose? ---sorry, this eliminates all "artists" who don't write their own songs, ohhhh burn :-(

>>>>>>>Pause for Reflection<<<<<<<

Personally, I'm already engaged to Music God, Jerry Cantrell, he just doesn't know it yet. But if something were to happen to my lovely fiance, I would turn to the Music Kings- Aaron Lewis (of Staind)and Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana), THEY can fight till the death for me ;-)

(And I don't want to hear that Cobain is already dead.)

(Exception to the Warning- Anyone who disagrees with any of these 3 men being 3 of the top songwritters in history: FLAG POLE! You know the drill.)

Sure, Cantrell may not be the sexiest man alive, but let's be serious, the man is a GOD! For those of you who are musically challenged, Jerry Cantrell is the lead guitarist, co- lyricist, co- vocalist, and main composer of Alice in Chains. Alice in Chains has sold more than 14 million albums in the United States, released two number-one albums and 19 top 40 singles, and has received six Grammy nominations.
AIC Singles that MAKE the 90's: "Man In The Box", "Rooster", "Them Bones", "Heaven Beside You", "No Excuses", "Bleed The Freak", "Would?", "I Stay Away", "Down In A Hole", and the best for Last- "Nutshell" - MY personal favorite.

But right along side AIC in the defining music of the 90's, Stone Temple Pilots. STP's five studio albums have sold over 17 million copies in the United States alone and nearly 40 million albums worldwide.The band has had fifteen top ten singles on the Billboard rock charts, including six number ones, and one number one album. In 1993, the band won a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for their song "Plush".
STP Singles that MAKE the 90's: "Creep", "Big Empty", "Plush", "Sex Type Thing", Vasoline", "Down", "Trippin' On A Hole in a Paper Heart", and the greatest- "Interstate Love Song".


Aside from AIC and STP, music the 90's is defined by numerous bands such as:
Red Hot Chili Peppers with "Otherside", "Aeroplane", "Give It Away", "Under The Bridge", "Californication", "Scar Tissure", and "Around The World".
Bush with "Machinehead", "Swallowed", "Everything Zen", "Glycerine", and "Little Things".
Smashing Pumpkins with "1979", "Disarm", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "Cherub Rock", and

"Tonight, Tonight".
Hootie and the Blowfish with "Hold My Hand", "Lry Her Cry", and "Only Wanna Be With You".
Live with "Lightning Crashes", "I Alone", "Selling The Drama", and "Supernatural".
Green Day with "Basketcase", "When I come Around", "Brain Stew/Jaded", "Redundant", and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)".
Nirvana with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Lithium", "Rape Me", "Heart Shaped Box", "Come As You Are", and "About A Girl".


I can go on forever and ever about the music of the 90's, band by band, song by song, but I doubt we seriously have time for all I have to say. So I'll wrap it up and leave you wanting more.
The music of the 90's can not even begin to be compared to music of today, nor can it be recreated, unfortunatley.


So in honor of the musical masterminds of the 1990's, We salute you, Jerry Cantrell, Aaron Lewis, Kurt Cobain, and every other band a part of the 90's grunge/alternative rock/acoustic movement in making our musical history one that we will never forget, nor will we want to.

I <3 Digital Doggie

GigaPets.

Does anybody remember GigaPets? Those little electronic toys with the little pet (mine was a dog) that you had to take care of? Looking back, those things are SO annoying; you had to play with them everyday, you had to feed them three times a day or they would die, they were always asking for treats, and you had to take it to the doctor like once a week.

Released in 1997 by Tiger Electronics (now a division on Hasbro), I was seven years old when Santa brought me my first GigaPet, it was the "Digital Doggie", as opposed to "Bit Critter", "Compu Kitty", or "Micro Chimp", looking back today- "Micro Chimp" would've been sweet to have). I loved that GigaPet. I hooked it onto my belt loop on my jeans when I went out riding my bike with the neighbors, onto my bookbag when I went to school, and onto the string you pull to adjust the blinds on the window in my room. I carried it everywhere.

I'm not sure what really happened to my "Digital Doggie", but I do know it consists of my 3.5 year younger sister and a bathtub full of water. So in comes my second GigaPet. It was also a "Digital Doggie", guess mom didn't think I'd notice the difference, too bad she didn't realize my old dog was dying because I didn't feed it enough, this little guy had a healthy heart. But I didn't complain.

Three months later I dropped my GigaPet in the driveway and didn't realize it till I went out riding bikes, who knows how long after I'd lost it, and saw it smashed at the end of the driveway, run over by a car. I never told my mom about the crushed GigaPet, but that's alright, because we know now, and possibly then also, that GigaPets were a fad that lasted MAYBE a year.

GigaPets were re-released in 2006 with new designs, new animals, and more advanced technology compare to the 1997 edition. But in reality, I'm not sure how successful that went considering I never heard about it. Looking back in the technological world, GigaPets were one of the very first digital pets to be released in the United States. Today, many companies have released similar digital pets for the 20th century youth, I've vaguely heard of Tamogatchis or something or other, but GigaPets set the digital world off.

If anyone knows where you can buy the classic "Digital Doggie" or "Micro Chimp" GigaPet, PLEASE, let me know! I SO want one now that I'm 18. Seriously.

We salute you, Tiger Electronics, for creating the GigaPet, one of the first digital pets in the US, also probably the most annoying.