Little Miss Sunshine

   Recently watched 'Little Miss Sunshine' and it has been already 20 years since that movie came out. How has twenty years gone by. What is this movie about? Well...the story takes place in a small New Mexico town where a young girl (played by Abigail Breslin) wanting to get into a little miss sunshine pageant in California. 

   She enters the pageant while her father (played by Greg Kinner) is dealing with an opportunity of a lifetime. Meanwhile, her mother picks up her older brother (played by Steve Carell) out of a psychiatric ward after his life came crashing down.

    This movie would not be made today, but back in 2006, many people didn't know better. 

   Child beauty pageants were all the rage back in the mid 2000's. This movie shows one girl's obsession to win a pageant. She was considered a unique person and was being trained by her grandfather (portrayed by the late Alan Arkin)

    As they travel to California, a lot of things happen, some good.... some bad

   They have to ride in a beat-up van that breaks down, the horn is stuck, and the father is pulled over by an officer. Meanwhile, the older brother (portrayed by the criminally talented Paul Dano) takes a vow of silence until he gets into flight school.

   However; he is color blind and starts to blow up in front of everyone when he realizes that he won't be able to become what he wants to become.

  Alan Arkin won an Oscar for a supporting role in "Little Miss Sunshine" His portrayal as a fowl mouth grandfather who helps Olive get to the pageant even if he doesn't survive near the end of the movie. His overuse of drugs causes his character to overdose before reaching to their destination.

    Little Miss Sunshine was also nominated for best picture but lost to The Departed. 

   They finally made it to the pageant, but it seems Olive's brother and even father are having second doubts on her preforming after seeing how every other girl looks. Olive goes through with it and performs a disturbing routine with the music "super freak" People wanted her kicked off and disqualified, but it seems her family joins her and dances.

   They are later disqualified and are ok with it with Olive knowing her grandfather was helping her along the way.

  Twenty years later, this movie is still worth seeing. I enjoy it today. Sadly, we did lose Alan Arkin, and this movie would not be made today since having young girls' model or be in fashion shows seems highly.... inappropriate for today. 

  I guess, back then, people were into dressing up their young girls to put into modeling or down a runway. Not today

Is Spring Here?- POEM

 

The end of March is here

Spring has Sprung

But has it

has the cold disappeared

if so

why all the rain

The rain gets heavy

in the spring

as cold and hot

combined,

rain,

every day

April Showers,

do bring the May flowers

but it also brings the rain,

as well as the pollen,

and even,

the allergies

the sneezes

the coughing

the aches and pains

and feeling that pollen

is your mortal enemy

the sun is out

the flowers bloom

and the sun is out

at times

not everyday

From Easter,

to Mother's Day

Spring is here,

but it doesn't feel like it yet

It will soon

But it won't last long

Are all cereal mascots male?

 

     I don't eat cereal, but I know the certain mascots that are on the box of cereals. From the Cheerios honeybee to Tony the Tigar for frosted flakes. There is one question that might boggle some minds. Why no female cereal mascots?

     I mean yes, we do have female food mascots from the Mortan salt girl to Sunshine raisins girl. Even Land O Lakes had a female Indian on their butter packages before removing it. But....in the world of cereal mascots....no females. 

     Even Raj from Big Bang Theory pointed it out saying, "It's all one big breakfast sausage fest." LOL

   Snap, Crackle and Pop are known for their Rice Krispies cereal. Even their treats that are made with their cereal and melting marshmallow melting them together to make a rectangle treat. Snap, Crackle and Pop became the mascots that have changed with every few years. 

   They were friendly small mascots that make the cereal talk.

Cap'n Crunch is not even a Captain. He's an admiral. How would I know? The design of his uniform. The hat to the stripes on his jacket. But....he always claimed that his cereal stayed crunchy to the last bite.

    It was made by the Quaker Oats company as Cap'n Crunch's first name is Horatio. Some people claimed the cereal cut the roof of their mouth. Without me trying it....I wouldn't know, but I wouldn't be surprised.

   Tony the Tiger was voiced by the late Thurl Ravencroft. The man behind the "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch" is involved in voicing the Tiger that wanted kids to play sports while eating sugary cereal. I feel this is......wrong. My brother used to eat this cereal. 

    People are trying to get kids off of sugary cereals like frosted flakes. But with this mascot.... I don't think it will work. At least he is promoting exercising. 

  Toucan Sam is another male cereal mascot that gave kids fruity rings called froot loops. However, all of the flavors taste the same.

   He used to be voiced by Mel Blanc. Now he's voiced by another actor. Plus....the recent design they made of him makes him look disturbing. It's gonna haunt my nightmares. I think they recently changed Sam back to normal after a lot of complaints and death threats to the Kellogg's company

    This bird has a problem. Before I stopped eating cereal, this was the cereal I was into. Eating chocolate cereal called Cocoa Puffs. The mascot was a bird that is obsessed with chocolate. He has a problem and needs help.

   Almost all of the mascots that were created has some sort of strangeness. This one goes 'cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

    And then, there's the Trix Rabbit who never had one bowl of Trix cereal. (Maybe he had I'm not sure) There is always a quote saying: 'silly rabbit. Trix are for kids.' And of course.... the bunny is depressed. And I thought the cuckoo bird had problems.

    

  With yesterday being St. Patrick's Day, this is one mascot that is tattooed in my childhood thanks to my brother's obsession for Lucky Charms. 

   It was like Cheerios but had marshmallow bits in it. Like horseshoes, blue moon, red ballon and a few more. They had an interesting ad which had kids trying to catch his cereal and he would find a way to escape. Works every time, I guess.

    Why do I feel there is no female cereal mascot in this? I don't know, maybe people thought the demographic would not work if a female character was on a cereal box. They would go with a bird, a bee, a rabbit and even a leprechaun. I guess it's ok, but I feel in the future, there will be our first cereal mascot. But who?

Pi day-POEM

 

Today is Pi Day

3.14159265.....

Or March 14th

3/14

The start of the Pi

have a slice

and learn

the equation

of Pi

It might take you a while

People eat pie

and some try to figure out

Pi

A man created the day

in 2009

Larry Shaw

decided to create

Pi Day

on March 14th

It involves the equation

and pie

It's also Einstein's birthday

the same day

the equation for pi

is remembered

has anyone 

ever solved it?

It's already

the middle of March

Spring is coming

And today

we celebrate

the circumference 

of a circle

Enjoy the history

of a mathmatic

equation

that still has a day

of its own

on Einstein's birthday

and the day

Hawking died

Mario Bros. Movies

 

   Today is March 10th, or as some people say, Mar10 day. Honoring the Super Mario bros. from games to movies.

    I want to talk about the movies, but first.... how it all started and how it became a global phenomenon. The story of two Italian plumbers....and how they became amazingly popular.

    It was started as a Nintendo game back in 1985 with Mario's first name being 'Jumper Man'. He had a video game that showed him saving a princess named Peach from an evil dragon named Bowser. 

      It's the whole save a girl from dragon thing. Soon he had a brother named Luigi. In earlier games, both Mario and Luigi looked similar. By the time the 90's hit, they showed a difference in look.

   I used to play some of the games, but we had a Sega Genisis. When Nintendo 64 came around, my brother bought the Mario 64 game and well.... he played until he got to the final round.

    It was worth it having 3D effects, and it was pretty cool. Then....came the movies.

  Before Nintendo 64 came out, there was movie based on the game. Super Mario Bros. starred the late Bob Hopkins and John Leguizamo. Bob portrayed Mario and John was Luigi.

     This was supposed to be a live action movie based on the video game. Dennis Hopper played King Koopa. He was supposed to be a Donald Trump like villain with a lizard tongue. (Similar to Donald Trump today) It flopped in theaters and let's just say.... there was not gonna be a sequel.

    It would take almost 30 before another film would hit. Some people were skeptical because they were afraid it would feel like the last movie. Thankfully, it was not live action. Chris Pratt would voice Mario.

    Some people were skeptical on that since they thought he wouldn't be that great. He was...fine. 

    Jack Black voiced Bower which was pretty good as he did an amazing job. Charlie Day voiced Luigi. The movie...was ok. Wasn't great, but it was better than the 1993 movie, which I think my brother saw.... but I don't know.

          In the movie, Mario and Luigi have a plumbing business that is.... not going well. They end up in another world through a magical pipe.

     Luigi ends up in danger as Mario soon finds a mushroom kingdom. He meets Princess Peach and some toads that are going to help Mario save his brother and get them home.

     However, they have to deal with other characters like Donkey Kong (voiced by Seth Rogan) and try to beat him to get to where they need to go.

   In the new upcoming movie, Yoshi was going to be a new character and he's going to be voiced by Donald Glover. How do I feel about this.... I guess I'm fine with it. I like Donald Glover is a great actor, but Yoshi only says his name over and over again.

    I guess that's ok. I'm not going to see this movie in theaters. When it comes to streaming... I will.

    Here's a little hidden Easter egg. Well, there are many for video game fans. One of them is the original voice actor of Mario in video games and cartoons. Charles Martinet voices Mario and Luigi's father.

   He retired recently and made a voice appearance in this movie. He has since retired and I guess this was his last voice acting. He's still alive today, but taking it easy.

    Mario is very popular that he has a day named after him. Mar10, or March 10th is short for Mario. For that, enjoy it and his Nintendo amazement from the original game to the movies.

    For it being Mario day, it feels as if Nintendo created something that can't be stopped.

       From the beginnings of a video game, to what today is considered a phenomenom.

Freddie Prinze Jr. Never knew his father

 

    If you know who Freddie Prinze Jr. is, then you have seen him in movies like "I know what you did last summer", "She's all That." "Scooby Doo one and two" and many more. What some might not know is....his father was an actor as well. Sadly....he never knew him since his parents divorced when he was only a baby and his father took his own life at the age of 22

  Freddie Prinze was known for his comedy. Doing stand-up and starred in a show called "Chico and the Man" 

   Never saw one episode, but it starred him as a man named Chico and was with Jack Albertson (known as Grandpa Joe in "Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory") plays a drunk widower who befriends Chico.

     I never got into the show since it came out in the 70's and he was only in a few episodes before he took his own life.

     He was funny on the show, but nobody knew the dark side of Freddie Prinze Sr. He was doing stand-up comedy to hide his pain and depression he was suffering.

    Freddie Prinze Jr. was born in 1976. His father died a year later never knowing his son. Maybe Freddie Prinze Jr. does have a few memories of him, but they are not strong. His family went through a divorce when he was only a baby.

   That was the last straw for Freddie Prinze Sr. His depression worsened as he tried to hide it. It got stronger. Finally....he took his own life a year after his only son was born.

   Freddie Prinze Jr. is still alive and well. He was raised by his mother and his grandmother in New Mexico. He got his start in acting in the "I know what you did last summer" franchise. He started becoming the go to actor for 90's movies. 

   Meeting Sarah Michelle Geller and marrying her. They both starred in the "Scooby Doo" franchise as Fred and Daphne.

    I think both of them have stopped acting to focus on their family. Maybe Freddie has come back, but I haven't seen him in much. Sarah will be known as 'Buffy' to me. Freddie Prinze Jr. joined the "Punky Brewster" reboot...which didn't do well.

   Since then, I haven't seen him in much, but many people who used to watch "Chico and the Man" will see a bit of his father in him.

   Too bad he doesn't remember his father that well. Sad that he left us at a young age from depression that overtook him.

     If I ever had seen him in anything, it would be his comedy specials. No one knew the sadness inside. Similar to Robin Williams...you never know what comedian holds a darkness in them that some...cannot get out of. 

Zodiac Murder Obsession

 

   Many people have obsessions with certain things. For me, it's celebrity birthdays as well as astrology and Dolphins. But I Digress.

    I recently saw the move "Zodiac" which is based on a tragedy that happened in San Francisco back in the late 1960's. A few people were murdered, mostly women, and their lover that they are with either dies or survives.

    A cartoonist named Robert Graysmith was so captivated with the story, he wanted to know more about. Making his obsession the story of the movie Zodiac.

     Jake Gyllenhaal portrayed Robert as a cartoonist who soon decides to trade everything for making a story that would end in his marriage. Even the real Robert Graysmith, who is still alive today, said, "after seeing this film, now I know why my wife left me."

   The movie begins on the Fourth of July where a couple goes to a lake and is alone. Suddenly, a man comes and shoots them, leaving one of them alive.

   He comes back again stabbing another couple, one survives. Shoots and kills a cab driver, threatens to kill kids getting off a bus. And much more. To this day, the Zodiac killer had never been caught, and they believe he is long dead.

   Robert Downey Jr. portrays Paul Avery. Another worker of the San Francisco Chronicle and eventually decided to go his own way. Never knowing he would end up losing his job after his life is threatened by the Zodiac killer.

   Some of the movie is mostly "historical fiction" which means the names are real, but what they did, the fabricated information on

  People assumed it might have been more than one person involved. Who knows. He left puzzles for not only the police, but the people that worked with the Newspaper....which got Robert Graysmith involved with the obsession.

    In the movie, near the ending, there is a hidden gem. One of the survivors of the Zodiac Killer, Bryan C. Hartnell, is seen only quickly as an extra walking past Mark Ruffalo and Dumont Mullrony.

   He doesn't remember much of the tragic incident and has come back to ID who he thought was the killer

   Some people thought a man named Arthur Leigh Allen was the killer. His birthday was around December which is when one of the first killings occurred.

    He was accused, arrested, and his brother was estranged from him. He is portrayed by John Carroll Lynch in the movie "Zodiac" He did a pretty good job portraying someone who was fingered as a killer in people's eyes.

  The last time he is seen is when Robert Graysmith meets him in his new job working at a hardware store.

   The book came out in the 90's and the movie was out in 2007. After the movie ended, the case went back open. However, Arthur Leigh Allen died of a heart attack back in the 90's and they considered him to have been the real Zodiac Killer.

   I don't know if the case is closed or not. All I know is.... this movie shows an obsession from one man's point of view, and how far it would go. I don't know if Zodiac won any academy awards.... but it did get San Fransico to reopen the case wide open. However, I fear this case will remain...cold.