Now Showing - "Match Game"

Gene Rayburn has had enough, and he's turned the tables on Charles Nelson Reilly; turns out hosting's not as easy as it looks.

Also with Brett Somers, Eva Gabor, MacLean Stevenson, Marcia Wallace, and a celebrity I cannot identify named Bart. Alas, Marcia Wallce never yelled at him in the Mrs. Krabappel voice we've all come to know and love.

(Is it just me, or does the set look like psychedelic Dixie?)
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RIP Charles Nelson Reilly

In the 70s, when I was a little 'mo, there were two bright beams of light, and they both appeared on game shows. One was, of course, Paul Lynde. The other was Charles Nelson Reilly.

And now they're both gone.

I doubt that Match Game would have had half the zing it did without Charles Nelson Reilly's witty zingers and double entendres, playfully scrapping with Brett Somers the way he did.

He never bothered to come out, he said, because he never needed to. He lived openly in Beverly Hills with his partner Patrick, and just kept on with his patented schtick. In later years he turned to teaching, schooling both Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler in the art of funny.

In a career spanning fifty years he did it all: Broadway, movies, television. He acted, directed, and wrote, as well as teaching.

He will be missed.
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Now Showing - Lucy Analyzes Charlie Brown

She really is terrible to him, but she's much more likable here than she is in the strips.
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Good Grief! Fantagraphics Strikes Again!!

One of the most ambitious projects in modern publishing has been undertaken by Fantagraphics: The Complete Peanuts, by Charles Schultz.

Every six months for twelve-and-a-half years a new volume, containing two years' worth of the 50 written and drawn entirely by Charles Schultz, is being released. The current volume (shown) is number 7, which I have been savouring all weekend. Then, when I'm done, I'll go back and reread them all. That's so much Peanuts I'll be lucky if I don't have diverticulitis by the time I'm done. ; )

I'll be the first to admit that Charlie Brown and his gang are not for everyone. The humour is subtle, and not every strip is funny, at least not in the laugh-inducing way. I will say, though, that reading them in this form allows their impact to build, an impact which is absent reading one strip a day in the newspaper.

"What a brilliant, truly modern, totally weird idea it was to create a comic strip about a chronically depressed child," said Time magazine, and I could scarcely have said it better myself. I have already made plain my assertion that I am Charlie Brown all grown up, from my enormous, bald pumpkin head to the casual abuse I suffer even at the hands of people who are nominally my friends.

Of course, not all of Charlie's friends are cruel to him; I've been lucky to have met my Schroeder, my Linus, even a Peppermint Patty or two (hey Seumas!). Really, it's only Lucy and Violet who are bitches to him, but when they are it is extreme. They are the kind of bullies who make it difficult for anyone else to be nice to him, and I am certainly familiar with their ilk.

Having the chance to revisit the Peanuts gang in their entirety has given me the opportunity to shed some light on the dynamics of the life I've been living, and once again (as I'm sure I will every six months for the next nine years) I offer my thanks and gratitude to Fantagraphics for making such a voyage of discovery possible.
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Emperor Pays Visit To Queen

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan have arrived in Britain; their three-day visit follows a weeklong visit of the Baltic nations (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and Sweden.



During their stay the royal couple will attend a conference at the Linnean Society, which devotes itself to natural history. The society is named for Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish taxonomist whose methods for classifying animals and plants is still used. A visit to the historic university town of Oxford and a state dinner at Buckingham Palace are also scheduled.

The last time the Imperial couple were in London - in 1998 - they were jeered by WWII veterans. Veterans of that conflict are still calling for an apology from Japan for its wartime atrocities.
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Now Showing - BAFTA Tribute to Billy Connolly

The other week I watched a great one-hour tribute to Billy Connolly on YouTube.

Here's the first part. The usual rules apply: after watching it, tap the YouTube icon on the screen and it should take you to the rest. It features hilarious testimony from Bob Geldof and Dame Judi Dench as well as many others, and includes a great overview of his career thus far.

I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.
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Say It Ain't So, Ro!

According to peerless font of celebrity information Entertainment Tonight, Rosie O'Donnell won't be coming back to The View to finish out the remaining three weeks on her contract.

Word of her early departure had been swirling around the blogosphere ever since Rosie's onscreen dustup Thursday with Bush Administration stooge Elisabeth Hasselbeck, but I guess I refused to believe the possibility that it might be true. According to ET the word came down from ABC itself.

In lighter news, Donald Trump stopped baiting Rosie long enough to castigate Elisabeth as "one of the dumber people on television". Coming from him that's, um, almost flattery.
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I Really Am A Pepper!

I used to love the Dr. Pepper ads, including their insanely catchy ear-worm of a jingle: I'm a Pepper, you're a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper, wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too!

Now, thanks to an online quiz I learned about from my buddy at Y | O | Y, it turns out to be true.

You Are Dr. Pepper

You're very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you. People who like you think they have great taste... and they usually do. Your best soda match: Root Beer Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

But I also like 7Up as well, so cool, so shiny, so refreshing... Oh dear, I suppose I'm destined to be unhappy.
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Sunday Funny - "Pardon My Planet"

I was cleaning out my iPhoto folder this evening (it could happen!) when I ran across this cartoon I'd admired, by Vic Lee.
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Photo Essay: 2007 Has Been For The Birds

This year, thus far, has proven to be a very good year. As I hope these pictures show, I've seen and done things that have enriched my life immeasurably. Some of these pictures have been published before, though some have not, and never in this configuration anyway. For my newer readers, who may have missed their earlier appearance, I hope you enjoy them.


From this Bald Eagle I met at the Vancouver Yacht Club...


...to this Rufous-sided Towhee in Bear Creek Park.


From one of Stanley Park's famous herons...


...to a Canada gosling at Horseshoe Bay.


From this dandy little fellow, who may or may not be a Varied Thrush...


...to this one I can't seem to identify at all.

2007 has been for the birds...




...and the ladybugs...


...and whatever this is!
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Where Am I?

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Happy Memorial Day

To all my American friends and readers, have a safe and happy Memorial Day long weekend.
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Now Showing - "Thank God You're Here"

The premise is simple: take an actor, put them in an odd costume, then let them walk through a door into a scene about which they have no foreknowledge, where they will be forced to improvise in front of a live studio audience for 5 minutes. For them, it must be excruciating, and occasionally for us it is as well. But when it works it's hilarious.

It's an Australian show, so I have no idea who any of these people are.

(I also learned that there's no Burger King in Australia; it's called Hungry Jacks there. Too right!)
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My Greatest Challenge Yet

I know I should be blogging, but the sun is out and my neighbourhood is full of men in shorts. You should see the parade of fuzzy stems passing my window.

Come to think of it, I'm better off inside. Best to leave the ankle-biting and shin-humping to dogs, I say.

On top of that, (in case you couldn't tell by the tone of this post) this is what's officially known as "the silly season". Summertime, when the living is easy, fish are jumping, cotton is high, and all that hoo-hah, plus trying to drag news out of anyone is like trying to drag a cogent argument out of Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

The problem seems to have two solutions: a) more photo essays (because they've always proven popular, I keep taking photos, and I'm pretty good at writing them), and b) more movie and book reviews. These prove a little more difficult, because it's hard to review a thing and not be judgemental.

Why the sudden reticence with regards to being judgemental, you might ask, if you know me? To which I would answer, in the proud history of reasonable debate here at the Pop Culture Institute, "Shut up".

I like to try and do different things here, as well as trying to do things differently. I don't mind a bad review if it's accurate, but I've read alot of hatchet jobs that were just filthy with someone's opinion, and the criticism was entirely unwarranted. You know the kind I mean. "Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore is hardly Citizen Kane." Well, duh!

So I guess it's more screenings and more "Books Wormed" for the time being. Now if only I had a book to read around here somewhere...

(turns around, trips over a pile of books, falls headlong into a larger pile, which causes a third, even larger pile to fall on him)
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Trafalgar Square Becomes Trafalgar Park

This weekend, at least, going down to Trafalgar Square for grass won't necessarily involve breaking the law.

As part of a promotion attempting to draw people out of the congested heart of London and into its green spaces, more than 2000 square metres of turf were laid in the iconic plaza. After two days, the turf will be reused at Bishop's Park in Hammersmith and Fulham.

I love the idea of this promotion. I have long been a supporter of intra-city tourism, not that such a thing is that easy to do in a city as small as Vancouver. But for London the idea is dead brilliant.

[S O U R C E]
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The Wacky World of Widgets

Some of you may have noticed the "now you see it, now you don't" widget from Last.fm that this page has been sporting, directly beneath my Links.

Well, it's supposed to list the tracks I'm listening to as I'm listening to them, and when it does it's great.

The problem is, it only seems to do it when it feels like it, and it didn't feel like it more often than it did. So I've removed it for good this time, and I don't think I'll be suckered into putting it up again. The last thing this page needs is an unreliable widget, given how unreliable our editorial policy is.

Meanwhile, the search continues for more widgets, preferably ones that actually work...
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Hugh Laurie, OBE

It's not such an awfully long way from the Cambridge Footlights to Buckingham Palace, especially if you're Hugh Laurie.

The star of TV's House, as well as A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Black Adder, not to mention Jeeves & Wooster (as well as numerous movies) has visited the Queen at home and come away with a lovely parting gift.

What gets me is why so many in the media have taken to calling him an "unlikely" sex symbol. Sure he may be a little grizzled, but that voice, those eyes...

Open wide and say "Ahhh" indeed.
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700 Reasons To Celebrate

For all that I'm attempting to be earnest here, I'd be the first to admit that a blog is bullshit.

This, for instance, is my 700th post. Or is it? Because I have always deleted posts and reposted old posts and added posts months after the fact (not to mention posts I have written then never posted) this is not the 700th time I've sat down at my desk and written something that's appeared here. Yet this is, for all intents and purposes, my 700th post.

The purpose of the Pop Culture Institute has always been to enlighten and to entertain. 'Enlightertainment' I guess you could call it if, like me, you're one of those annoying people who likes to mash together two words like some meme-crazed neologist.

But another purpose has always been to make this blog a sort of perpetual calendar of Pop Culture. The Bonnie & Clyde post appearing below as well as "Happy Birthday Joan Collins" will, in all likelihood, appear on this blog on this date next year and the year after that. I may change the text or the photo, I may even add another "On This Day" or another birthday, if I can find a format that's pleasing to me, but there you have it.

This will mean that next year I may have the luxury to write fewer posts, but more in-depth ones. I know, I know... Depth? In a blog? It's crazy to even suggest it, I know, but there you have it.

As an expression of my personality, the Pop Culture Institute functions brilliantly. It is smart right up to the point where it's expected to be smart, at which point it becomes a twit. Just when you think you can't take anymore boasting and pomposity - BAM! - there's a bit of self-loathing. Just like... Uh... Someone or other.

I've always believed that Pop Culture is the People's History. Having read more history books than I care (or dare) to count, I can tell you that history is alot of dry old facts about politicians and generals, and is of no interest to anyone other than historians. It's no wonder most people have little sense of their history.

Pop Culture, on the other hand - so shallow, so easily denigrated - has been and always will be endlessly fascinating, because it is about people. True, sometimes those people will be politicians and generals, but they're just as likely to be housewives or pop stars or criminals too.

I've come pretty far, given that it's only my 700th post. I've often contemplated giving up, but I just can't bring myself to do it. In trying to create something unique and durable (or at least as durable as alot of pixels can be) I've built something I love more than anything else I've ever done. I only hope I feel as upbeat after my 7000th post as I do right now.

Thanks for reading.
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Well Whattaya Know?!

Church Sign Generator is perhaps the greatest website ever.
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Books Wormed: "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame

[Illustration of Toad Hall by David K. Stone (Golden Press, NY, 1968)]

I hear it often enough: "Why do you keep buying books if you haven't read all the ones you have?" Usually I shrug or change the subject, because if I gave the answer I want to - "Shut the Hell up!" - I'd have even fewer friends than I already do.

The real answer, though, is that I believe in everything in its time. Often I like to read multiple books on the same subject back to back, for the sake of immersion. Also, just because I buy a book now doesn't mean I feel like reading it now; I may feel like reading it at 2 AM 10 months from now, only then I may not have the money, and I definitely won't have anyplace to buy it. Vancouver, far from being a city that never sleeps, often goes to bed early.

Of all the books in my library, The Wind in the Willows surely holds the record for delayed gratification.

I've had it since I was at least eight years old; I've schlepped it everywhere with me over the years, through dozens of moves and over thousands of kilometres, yet in all that time I've never even thought about relinquishing it. I've read the first chapter a dozen times at least, but could never bring myself to read beyond than that.

Despite this, I read it on Saturday in one sitting. Why? Simply because its time had come.

And I loved it, of course, as I knew I someday would. Children's literature is oddly soothing (even when it is raucous) and I've been sore in need of soothing lately. Also, the book is rich in poetry, voluble in its praise of the natural world, and May-time in Vancouver is both of these things as well. As a human and an artist, I decided it was finally time to enfold the book's lessons into my life. This time, when I got to the end of the first chapter, I pushed on...

Though The Wind in the Willows is a children's book, children in 1908 were clearly extra smart compared with even adults today. Based on vocabulary alone, it would have been impossible for me to read before now, even if I were to read it at my desk with the ample resources of the Internet handy. Besides an abundance of British-isms, every interaction in the book is subtextually layered, and these layers would have been lost on me until recently.

It is also quite racy for a children's book, unaffected by a puritan urge to protect children from the truth which has infected KidLit of late. Characters smoke and drink (responsibly), firearms are discharged (though no one is killed), and there is even the suggestion of carnality (albeit of the Edwardian, heavily euphemised variety) between a certain Toad and his jailer's daughter. The Toad even gets up in drag, as fine a British tradition as drinking and smoking if ever there was one.

I find it odd that such real-life behaviours should be so frowned upon, yet anthropromorphism - a far more serious crime, really - nevertheless forms the backbone of much children's media.

Inasmuch as everything ever written by the British can be read as a parable about class, The Wind in the Willows does not disappoint. The wealthy Toad is also boastful, incautious, and fickle. Though Badger is heroic, much is made of the common way he speaks. It is Mole and Rat, both firmly middle class, who save the day.

They did, of course, save Kenneth Grahame's day. The immediate success of the book allowed him to quit his job in a bank and depart it for another bank altogether, a river bank - specifically the Thames - where he whiled away his days "messing about in boats" and listening the the wind of the willows, which to his ears, must have sounded like cheering.
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