Happy birthday, Eddie Murphy

 

    Born on April 3rd in 1961, Eddie Murphy was just a young child not yet knowing the greatness he will have and continue to have even to this day at the age of 64. Born in NYC, Eddie Murphy didn't rise to comedy until his late teens.

 He was mostly known for his stand-up specials, especially in 1984 where he would have one of his best Comedy specials ever wearing a signature purple ensemble and telling jokes that wouldn't be told today. Even if back then.... nobody cared who they hurt.

  Also, in the 1980's he became a cast member of the hit sitcom Saturday Night Live (or SNL for short), he made history with portraying a Black version of Mr. Rogers called Mr. Robinson's neighborhood, Buckwheat, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and many more characters. He also was the first cast member to host back in 1984 on the year I was born (I think the day too)

 

   Eddie Murphy came back to SNL around 2021, and it was considered the highest rated episode for the holiday season, and it happened around my birthday...another plus. He's also known for hit movies. Some good some....not so good. One of them was Beverly Hills Cop.

    Eddie plays a character named Axel Foley in the Beverly Hills Cops movies. Might be the reason why he was the host of SNL back in 84. He was a goofy cop that doesn't play by the law but helps out in the end. The two sequels that came afterwards.... they're ok but not worth seeing. 

    They made a recent one a few months to a year ago with Eddie Murphy coming back. They even throw in that he has a daughter, and his partner (played by Judge Reinhold) is missing.

   He was in other movies that were good in bad, but in the early 2000's there was a Dreamworks cartoon that brought Eddie Murphy more star power in the years to come. Voicing a Donkey to help a simple ogre to find love. Or get fairy creatures off his swamp.

    He voiced the character again in three other movies. In my opinion, they should have stopped after the second. Although the third was ok, it wasn't needed, and now they're making a fifth.

 Back in the 80's, the same time he was on SNL, Rick James gave him a record deal and he came out with a pretty good hit song called "Party all the time" and another song called, "Con-Confused" They were pretty good songs and memorable. 

   He hasn't done any other record deals in over 40 years, but he's not bad at singing.

   Eddie Murphy had a brother named Charlie who was in some of Eddie Murphy's shows, even shows with the Dave Chapelle. Sadly, his brother suffered from cervical cancer and died of leukemia in 2017. He was known as Black Jesus on the Dave Chapelle show.

   Eddie lost his father in a murder when he was only eight after his parents divorced, so he barely knew him.

   For Eddie, being a father is no picnic. He has been married more than once and has over ten kids from different women. He's a father to all of them and his oldest is thirty while his youngest is about six years old and named after his late brother. He got married again recently in 2024. He is also a grandfather from his oldest son who is a dad himself.

   Eddie Murphy is still acting in a few roles but not as many as back then in the 80's. But over 40 years of acting can make someone famous. Even though some of his movies were not positive, he has been doing pretty well for himself today as he had back in the 80s/ Happy Birthday to Eddie Murphy one hilarious actor.

Guest Stars on Seinfeld

 

     I have mentioned the pluthera of guest stars on Seinfeld before like Patrick Warburton and Bryan Cranston. But...there are a few others I haven't talked about. Some that are still around today; some that sadly passed away and some.... that wouldn't remember were on one episode of Seinfeld, and not just Seinfeld's girlfriends.

   I will mention one. Courtney Cox who played Seinfeld's girlfriend before becoming Monica on Seinfeld. It seemed the only way to get a discount on dry cleaning is for Seinfeld's girlfriend, played by Courtney, is her wife. It doesn't work out when Jerry falls in love with someone else. Out most of the girlfriends Jerry had, she was a positive. I'm happy Courtney is doing pretty well for herself today.

  Before getting his start on Everybody loves Raymond Brad Garrett starred as a mechanic named Roy who was obsessed over Jerry's car. Even to the point where he steals it when Jerry wants to have another mechanic look at it. After being on this show, he ended up doing some voice work for Disney as well as star as Ray's brother on his show. He's still around and acting; he even is good at Poker which is saw when celebrities were having poker tournaments to raise money for their charity.

 

    He will only be known as the soup nazi, but Larry Thoms still is pretty good as a minor character in minor roles. For some reason, he will only be known as 'Soup Nazi' or the phrase "NO SOUP FOR YOU!' guy. Seeing him live before at a casino, he's a really nice guy, and he's somewhat short; but so am I.

  Before being a famous comedian, Patton Oswalt stared in a small role in one scene of Seinfeld where Geore wants to find the movie 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' Jason Alexander gave Patton some helpful acting advice since this was his first acting career before making it big. Even though he had a small part, it made it to become a career he's worth mentioning once in a while. Patton is very funny and a really nice guy.

   With episodes of Seinfeld centering around mostly Jerry, George has parents as well. His father was played by two actors. I forgot the name of the first one, but the most memorable one was Jerry Stiller. Ben Stiller's father. He stuck around and made George's life a living nightmare throughout the whole series.

  Amanda Peet played another girlfriend of Seinfeld. She didn't become famous till after that role. I don't remember many of her movies except for maybe one. With her on Seinfeld, she had a dude that Jerry wonders if he is sleeping with her (of course). She dumps him and Jerry realizes how demanding she can be. With it all ending with George in the hospital because of the envelopes he was supposed to send.

    Jon Lovitz portrayed a friend of George and Jerry buying a wig after telling Jerry he was dealing with chemotherapy from cancer treatment. George knows the truth and eventually, Jerry finds out.apprently, Jon Lovitz character, Gary, dies in a car accident in a later episode. Him being on one episode can tell how much of a friend he really was to Jerry and George. Jon Lovitz is still acting. He even was on the SNL 50th anniversary special.

 James Spaeder was seen as the bad boy in some 80's movies. In Seinfeld, he's still a bad person, but only to George. It seems his character is going through the 12 steps of alcohol and is on step 9, which is making amends. He doesn't to George and well.... he keeps pestering James to apologize making him end up going back to drinking and going to anger management at the end, He became a good guy in another show after Seinfeld. Since then, I haven't heard from him in anything recently.

  One more Seinfeld girlfriend who was famous after Seinfeld is Lauren Graham. She played a girlfriend who had Jerry on a speed dial that started to upset her stepmother. Jerry eventually has his number hidden on her stepmother's speed dial for poison control and well....I don't know what happened after that. She was ok and ended up in Gilmore Girls after that. She was also in other movies some good, some bad.

    Phil Morris was seen mostly in later Seinfeld Episodes being a lawyer for Kramer mostly, but later Jerry, Geroge and Elaine in the finale. He would mimic OJ Simpson's lawyer Johnnie Cochrane. Having the same mannerisms and talent that he had. He was there till the end of Seinfeld, sadly losing the case. Phil has since went onto voice acting which he has done pretty well in and hasn't left acting yet.

    There were many stars on Seinfeld besides them like Mariska Hagerty, Drake Bell, Jermey Piven, Dan Courtese, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Silven, Tobin Bell and many more. I have talked a few before like Bryan Cranston and Patrick Warburton and many more. Even though Seinfeld has episodes that seem...too hard to watch today, I still get a kick out of watching them and recognizing stars that had their start on one of the funniest sitcoms of the 90's

Spring has arrived- POEM

 

It's getting warmer here,

the sun is shining

the snow is melting,

Spring 

has finally arrived

Flowers start to bloom as,

hibernation ends,

the coldness,

starts to fade,

as we see more rain,

as well,

as sun

When April comes,

it starts,

with rain,

and ends,

with sun,

Easter is coming around,

mid to end of April this year,

as every year,

it changes,

comes early,

or late

But Spring is here,

I fell it,

in the air,

the crisp,

blue sky,

showing sun,

and warmth

And yet...

the downside,

for me and others,

sneezing,

runny nose,

puffy eyes,

coughing,

with greatness,

of the season,

it has its downfall,

with allergy season

The flowers bloom,

the sun shines,

the warmth begins,

as rainfall comes,

spring is here,

but it won't last long

RIP Michelle Tratchenberg

 

   Sometimes...it's hard to tell yourself you're getting old when you find out a child star of the 90's just passed away.

   Her name was Michelle Trachtenberg, and she was a part of my childhood when I was a young kid. She was only younger than me by a year. Now....because of a liver transplant gone wrong, she's now in the stars with others that left us too soon.

     Michelle was born on October 11th in 85. Didn't even get a chance to see forty. I must be fortunate that I did, but now...I feel like a piece of my childhood was killed when she was found dead by her mother in her apartment in NYC

    First of all,...I knew it wouldn't be drug related, then again...I never knew what her life was like since I haven't seen her in a while.

 Her career began in the early 90's when she was just seven, maybe eight years old with an old Nickelodeon show that I loved to watch when I was young. It was called...Adventures of Pete and Pete.

   A show where there were two boys both named Pete. One older, and one younger. Michelle's character always hung out with the younger Pete, and they had adventures including saving their summer when a famous ice cream driver went missing.

     

  After that wonderful short-lived show ended, she decided to branch out into other projects. One being Nickelodeon's first movie called "Harriet the Spy" based on a book.

   She played Harriet and her adventures take her from understanding what has gone wrong to losing a good friend, to more friends.... then, having to explain about her notebook when it gets revealed to her schoolmates.

    I enjoyed that movie and it came out when she turned 11 in 96.

  Another movie she was in I want to talk about. It was a heinous live action movie of Inspector gadget starring Matthew Broderick as gadget. 

   Michelle played Penny but wasn't seen in the movie much. Disney really pissed off a lot of IG fans with that movie. They made a sequel starring French Stewart. Not great but...a little better than the original.

  She later starred in later seasons as Burffy's estranged half-sister Dawn. I never saw any of the episodes she was in, but she did ok. However, it seemed her character was considered an annoying one.

   I don't know why, she did fine. Then again, ever added a character to a tv show to boost ratings? I think that's what Buffy did. Some people liked it, some people hated it. I was ok with it.

   In her teens, she was in another Disney movie I never saw where she starred as a young girl who always wanted to learn how to ice skate.

  Again...never saw the movie, but it was a step up from her Inspector Gadget trainwreck movie. 

   She stars with Joan Cusack who I think is her mother that tries to get her to either go for her dreams or stop her from ice skating. I forget.

     After that movie, Michelle stopped acting for a little while. She eventually went back into TV starring as a villainous character in Gossip Girl. I never watched one episode...but I know who Gossip girl really is.

    Turns out it was one of the lead characters twin brothers. Ironic. They brought back the show, and I think Michelle might have been in a few episodes. I don't know.

   Before her death, she took some Selfies of herself to her fans to know that she was ok. However, a few were considered on how she looked. Her hair was thinning out, her eyes were yellow, and it seemed all she said was that it was aging.

   Replying that she's no longer a young woman that she used to be. I guess some people were concerned and wanted her to get some help. She even told fans that she had to have a liver transplant recently.

   Many fans were baffled over what happened after hearing about her death. I was one of them. Not a true fan, but I did grow up watching her on certain movies and tv shows.

     It seemed her death could have been caused by her body rejecting the liver transplant. They have done autopsies on her body, and she wasn't on drugs when she died, so it might have been liver failure.

   I will try to think of Michell in a positive light. Knowing that she was on Earth for a short time, she did do a lot with her career to make fans like me happy.

   Sad to say, it's going to happen to another young star soon. How? It could be drugs, or seizers, or even cancer. Let's hope Michelle enjoys the heavens while we enjoy her here on Earth for many years to come.

South Park today

 

       South Park is defiantly one of the...interesting cartoons not meant for children I have seen on tv since the late 1990's. Now, being 2025, a lot has changed in South Park, Colorado and not just the style of Cartoon itself, but it has changed with the times. From the Covid 19 Pandemic to using technology of today like The Simpsons are now. So... what has changed in South Park besides the design?

  The Style of the cartoon has defiantly changed. When it aired in 1997, they used cheap cutouts on paper, and it would take over one to two days to finish one episode. You can see in the later years how the quality has changed in the style.

    In the first episode even, before using computers was call a cut out of each character from Cartman having an anal probe to Kenny's death.

   Many years have gone by, and you can see a change in the characters when computer animation came around. Even in the characters. Kyle and Stan might be the same, but they became more vocal with certain things going on around them.

    Cartman has become more violent, worse than he was in the first season and even Anti-Sematic.

  Some characters we used to like on the show we are starting to now hate. Cartman was not one of them because we always hated him. 

   But Stan's father Randy, who is based on creator Trey Parker's actual father, has become worse.

    It amazes he his wife, Sharon, hasn't filed for divorce yet. Or she has, but winded up back to him a later season. I stopped watching South Park a couple of years ago. 

   When Covid-19 hit, South Park was there with a Pandemic special. Having almost every character wearing a mask (except for a few) how everyone was becoming isolated and different. How Cartman, was still Cartman as he acted like it was no big deal.

  They even killed off a few Characters that were minor to the show like one of the kids' new teachers. I forgot her name though.

 

    There had been tragedies in South Park behind the scenes. One of them was with the voice of a female actor going through tragedy behind the scenes.

    Mary Kay Bergman was one of the first female voice actors of the show. They had others, but there was something about her the show liked.

   Sadly....it wouldn't last. Around the mid to the end of the third season, Mary Kay Bergman committed suicide after dealing with the declining health of her mother.

   Another tragedy happened. But it was more of a character death than an actor. Sure, Kenny would die and come back the next episode, but this was permanent. When South Park did an episode involving Scientology and Tom Cruise being in the closet...

   Isaac Hayes, a former scientologist was not pleased and wanted out of the show. But those were rumors at the time.

   It turned out his health was declining, so they killed off one of many fans favorite character of the show. Sadly, he would die a couple of years later of a brain tumor.

   They have made changes to the voice casting with a voice actress named April Stewart. I don't really notice the change since I sound like her at times.

   I sometimes like to do voice over and sound like Wendy or Sharon or even Kyle's mom, Shiela, who was voiced by another actress until replaced.

   They even changed the future of the South Park boys. Kyle and Stan seem ok, but I think the biggest change...came in Cartman.

   From hating Jews to becoming Jewish and raising a family. Kenny becomes a tragic genius and well... it's pretty amazing. Cartman, becoming he hated and mocked when he was young. But then again...you never know what could happen.

   There have been thousands of changes on the show, even having the kids become adult women, ending obesity in Cartman and many more.

   Even the creators are bringing back a failing restaurant in Denver 'Casa Bonita' as it was considered famous after an episode of South Park had it on an episode. I stopped watching the show but still see some episodes on streaming. Who knows who long this show will last. But it won't beat the Simpsons in becoming the show to watch with the most episodes and celebrity guest spots