Ten Earworms That Will Never Go Away!!

Have you ever heard a piece of music, and for days after couldn’t get it out of your head? Sometimes this can happen even with songs we don’t like, they sneak in like worms and stay in our ears. Hence the name. These can come from anywhere-TV themes, movie music, advertisements, and of course songs we hear on the radio. A big one is Christmas music, which makes sense considering how often those songs are played. But that’s a subject for another day.

Today I wanted to talk about some of the more annoying one’s, the ear worms we wish would go away…but they never do! Here are ten examples, some are more general and others are more just me (I think). This list is in no specific order.



10.Mickey by Toni Basil


Todd in the Shadows just reminded me of this, and it’s a good one. Toni Basil’s song is pretty silly and stupid..but try to forget it, I dare you!

9.Sweet Nightingale from Cinderella/Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins

So I decided to make this a tie because these are both short songs that found a way to be memorable as hell. Even if we don’t remember them as much as adults. Though I swear the first one was just in my head the other day. The scene in Cinderella has yhe stepsisters screeching the song, and then it blends into a beautiful version Cinderella is singing. It’s the screeching version I find harder to forget. As for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, do I really need to explain that one?

8.Meow Mix

Wanted at least one ad, and this one is perfect. Maybe just me, but that’s another story. It’s such a simple concept but the ads is one you will never get out of your head.

7.Ducktales

I had to bring this one up, how could I not? Even though to be fair this was never a problem I personally had. But that’s because I never watched the show, I was to old. But from what I understand the people who did will simply never forget.

6.Willy Wonka’s Welcome Song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This is….what  the hell is this? I really have no idea what to make of it, it is so corny and sugary sweet it will give you cavities! I have no idea what he idea was, but it is definitely unforgettable. My favorite part is the soccer mom, her reaction is perfect.

5.Back to the Future Main Theme

This is one that may be more just me, but when you’ve seen this movie as many time as I have I guess this problem is inevitable. I once had this theme blasting in my head for two straight weeks! To be fair it is a fantastic movie score, one of the best ever, and it’s no surprise I love it so much. I just wish it would go away!

4.Mmm Bopp by Hanson

Mickey was the annoying song of the 80’s no one could forget, and Hanson was nice enough to give the 90’s equivalent. What the hell are they singing about anyway??

3.It’s a Small World After All

If there is one that is common to pretty much everyone on the planet, I think this is it! This isn’t from a TV show or movie, it’s from Disney World (or Disneyland). To be honest, I love the Small World ride in Disney. It’s one of my favorites, and if you got to Disney you simply have to ride. But that song…it will never leave!

2.McDonald’s Filet of Fish

Believe it or not, finding an example from the world of advertising wasn’t easy. Not because they’re so rare, but because they are so common! The whole point of a good jingle is to stay in your head and make sure you never forget it. But without a doubt one of the most memorable ads was from McDonald’s, everyone who heard this had it stuck in there head for says. Annoying or brilliant? You make the call.

1.Family Feud

I wanted a TV show for this final spot, but finding just one is pretty darn hard. But I finally settled on this one. I just adored this show as a kid..so much so that the theme was usually playing in my head pretty much all the time. What about The Price is Right? Yeah that was a good one but Family Feud was definitely the worst ear worm between the two, for me.

So what about you guys? Any annoying music you can’t get our of your head? Comment and share. I get the feeling a second list may be coming, there are justs omany of these! I could do a while list just on Sesame Street alone!


The real question is now that  I have heard all of these, which one will be blaring in my head all day tomorrow? 

Five Cool Things From Star Trek-TNG First Year

I always try to be fair. The other day I made fun of things I don’t like in Star Trek first season, which is generally considered really good (one or two episodes not withstanding). I decided that maybe I was being a little harsh, and it would only be right to do the opposite approach.

Star Trek-The Next Generation had a first season which was…not very good really. There were numerous problems which have been documented elsewhere. There were so many stupid things behind the scenes like inane scripts and even on the screen like the rotating chief engineer in every episode crap. Suffice to say, it took until the 3rd season to really get the show we all love today. But…is there anything good at all in that first season? ANYTHING?



Here now are five cool things from Star Trek-TNG First Year. And I’m not going to lie, this list was not the easiest list I have ever come up with since most everything from that year was stupid and eventually changed or improved right down to those awful reclining chairs they had for the navigator and conn officers on the Bridge (who thought those were a good idea??).



Q

The funny thing is that Q was created by accident. When the powers that be wanted a two hour pilot, Roddenberry added the Q stuff. And good thing because Q is quite literally the best thing in the pilot. He is the only one who doesn’t feel, well, boring! John DeLancie took this character and made him one of the most popular villains ever. Take for example his second appearance in season one. The episode is about as good as any season one episode, but you still get some great Q moments and one of the best Q/Picard exchanges ever. You could even argue he’s not even really evil, except in his first appearance he clearly was intended to be more of a menace than he would become. He appeared in several more episodes, DS9, Voyager, and even video games but it was season one where it all started.

Special TV-Disney TV Specials

 

This Sunday ABC is presenting a huge special for Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary. It’s supposed to be a huge two hour affair. After I heard about this, two things came to my mind.

The first, why does Disney have to ruin Star Wars? Maybe I am just old and don’t get it, but having Darth Vader and Storm troopers in the Disney parades drives me crazy. It’s an insult to the characters in my opinion. And since Star Tours wasn’t enough, now Disneyland is going to have an entire land for Star Wars! That makes no sense (and is probably the real for this special). Oh and did I mention that Space Mountain was changed to have Star Wars elements in it? Why?????? I DON’T WANT TO GO TO DISNEYLAND FOR STAR WARS CRAP!!!!!


Yeah I know Star Wars was always part of Disney with Star Tours and yeah the movie was good so maybe I’m overreacting. I just don’t get it. By the way Disney World is doing a stage show and a nighttime spectacular which is better but still WHY IS STAR WARS TAKING OVER DISNEY!! At least when Disney went “Frozen” happy that made a kind of sense.


The second thing that came to my mind, what ever happened to the Disney TV specials? When I was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s Disney had tons of specials, celebrating everything from a new park or attraction opening to holidays to some characters anniversary. It seemed like they hit their peak in the 90’s with a really bad special featuring Caroline Rhea. After that they just kind of, vanished. But when they were big especially in the 80’s and 90’s, they were real big! I’ve covered at least two (Mickey’s 50th Birthday and the Opening of Disney/MGM Studios) but that was just a drop in the bucket.

Five Dumb Things From Star Trek First Year

People talk a lot about the third season of the original series, and how bad it was. And it was at times. Many of the episode were cheaply made, badly written, and in some cases just plain boring. But what I never got is, why does the third season get all the hate? Before Trek hit its stride at the top of the second season the series had some serious growing pains. Some things in the first dozen episodes are just plain..stupid. For instance, it took Nimoy to get Spock down right as he is clearly using emotions like smiling and grinning at times, other times shouting for no good reason. The first dozen or so episodes almost feel like a different show compared to the second and third season, and some things are just plain head scratching!

Here are five things from the first season of Star Trek that drive me crazy.





Special Effects

Yeah this may not be very fair, but if you watch the episodes in order one thing you notice is the advance in the effects. And no I am not talking about the dogital rematered versions they did, that’s another topic. I mean just on the show. The shots of the ship are awful and the aliens are weak. Compare the Gorn in “Arena” to the Mugato in “A Private Little War”. I am not saying it was perfect after, both “Catspaw” and “Journey to Babel” were second season episodes and are famous for the bad effects. But those early episodes really felt awful. The second and third season did a better job, and stopped using the same stock shots over and over!! So much so the remastered effects really help those episodes…and dammit I am going to discuss those one day!!

600th Blog Special-TV Shows I Truly Miss Being On TV

Amazingly it took me a whole year to reach 600, I guess last year was on the slow side. I always like to stop when I hit the 100 mark and reflect, what started as a lark has evolved into 600 articles over four and a half years. I truly never saw that coming. Of course, if it weren’t for Manic Expression I am sure that would not be the case. So what am I going to talk about today? I have discussed my favorite shows before, but there is a difference between a favorite show and a show that I actually miss.

Ok, let me back up. The title may be a strange one if you don’t understand what I mean. Of course, when I was a kid things were different. If you missed a TV show…you missed it. End of story. And if the show went off the air it was gone. Yeah some went to syndication but with a few special exceptions that never lasted either. But these days there are many ways to watch TV shows, old and new, so it’s hard to say I “miss” a show when it’s available on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Netflix, or DVD. Not to mention our DVR’s which can catch those re-runs that still very much exist.


No, what I am talking about are TV shows that I miss being on first run TV, mostly because of the memories involved. TV shows that we enjoy watching come and go  but for a variety of reasons, there are some that stay with us. Remembering watching them brings back fond memories. Yes we can catch a re-run, stream, download, or pop in a DVD of that show it’s still not the same as when we saw it for the first time.


Of course, movies are like this too. I adored Star Trek IV when I first saw and will never feel that way again. Heck even Back to the Future, as many times as I’ve seen it, I have never felt that same awe and excitement as when I saw it thirty plus years ago. This is especially true if it’s something you saw as a kid, since watching something as a child and watching it as an adult is very different. But the same experience can happen even as an adult. A great example is The Nostalgia Critic, which is one of those things I wish I could go back and re-discover for the first time because the night I first stumbled onto it was a special thing for me (and I have explained why elsewhere).


Ok so let’s go thru my choices and I hope I explain my reasoning better. By the way these are in no particular order.




This show was a big part of my weekend routine growing up. This was what we watched Sunday night at 7,for about six years anyway. Solid Gold was like this in the 80’s but I don’t have many memories of that show. AMHV was different.  I loved the show because in the age way before reality TV and social media, it was easy to forget there were other people in the world. This show gave us a small window which reminded us that there were people out there, and doing something like tripping and falling happens to the best of us. As for the Tom Bergeron version we have today, yeah I have watched it but the classic version is and will always be my favorite.

Five Celebrities I Loved Before They Hit it Big

About six months ago I talked about actress’s who had potential to be big stars…but for whatever reason just never captured the right magic (or were typecast) so they sort of faded away. However, today I wanted to discuss the other side of that coin.

Very often we don’t become familiar with an actor or actress until they become a big name. But once in a while someone will get our attention when they are just starting out, and we get to enjoy the rest of the world discovering how cool this actor is when we have already noticed. For instance, I already loved Teri Hatcher from her minor roles in sitcoms (like Night Court and Seinfeld) and movies (Tango & Cash, Soapdish) before Lois and Clark:The New Adventures of Superman and of course Desperate Housewives finally made her a household name.

 

Here are five other actors/actress’s who had been around for awhile before hitting the big time, but  I was already a big fan before they became a household name. 

Lauren Graham

Graham is best know for Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, but she was actually around a lot before those two shows. I don’t think there was a sitcom in the 90’s she didn’t make at least one appearance in. Caroline in the City, Seinfeld, NewsRadio, 3rd Rock. She also starred in four awful sitcoms that never went anywhere. I think it was her turn on NewsRadio that I really liked her, even if many many disagree with me, she had a way of being ditzy but still intelligent at the same time. I never watched Gilmore Girls but she was good in Parenthood.

My Tribute-Top 5 Oddest Bruce Willis Roles

I’ve always been a major Bruce Willis fan. Oh, ok I’m not going to lie and say I’ve seen everything he’s ever been in. But ever since I saw him in Die Hard I was a fan. Anyone here ever hear of that movie? Yes I’m teasing..it’s freaking DIE HARD!! He has a way of coming off as an every guy and being super cool at the same time (even if the movie sucks). Armageddon had tons of problems, but Willis wasn’t one of them! RED has a stupid premise but somehow it worked mostly thanks to Willis. The Disney movie “The Kid” was cliche tripe but Willis managed to make it more than that, he elevated it into a good movie. And The Sixth Sense should have been stupid too but Willis as really good in that (ok I never saw it). I also never saw The Looper though I wanted to.

True not every movie he did was good. Hudson Hawk anyone? How about Bonfire of the Vanities? To this day I will never understand how you can have Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, and Melanie Griffith in one movie and the movie is still awful! How does that happen? Maybe I should see it sometime. And what the hell was he doing in the god awful Ocean Eleven sequel anyway?

The funny thing is that while most people think Willis as a cool action star, he does have a snarky side. And as a result has taken comedic roles in movies and even TV shows that play against his usual type. Most people will instantly think of Moonlighting, that hit show where Willis started to get everyone’s attention. But here are five other odd Willis movie roles where he played against type, and was pretty damn good.


#5.The Story of Us

I am talking about this one because it’s a movie I am betting very few saw, or even heard of. What’s it about? Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfieffer are a married couple having hard times. Yep, that’s about it. And yes this was a movie that played in theaters! I know, I am so happy to say I saw it. What’s odd about it that Willis is so normal here. He’s not an action star or being snarky. He’s just a guy. And yes this movie is cliche and, to be fair, not very good. It feels like a TV movie…but it’s worth a watch. I’m a sucker for these kinds of movies.