eBay: Space 1999 DVD Set 2 FREE SHIPPING Gerry Anderson TV

Vintage Science Fiction Television At The Umbrella Shoppe!

eBay: Space 1999 DVD Set 2 FREE SHIPPING Gerry Anderson Program

eBay: Yokai 100 Monsters DVD FREE SHIPPING

Weird Stuff Under The Umbrella!

eBay: Yokai 100 Monsters DVD FREE SHIPPING

Lou Reed, Transformer & Other Glam Essentials

Please give this a listen. David Bowie and fellow Spider, Mick Ronson, are at the helm. Songs about Andy Warhol, make-up, jealousy, and the lovely seediness that Lou seems to channel straight from NYC. Give the Velvet Underground a spin if you have not already. While you're at it, check out the king of glam, Marc Bolan of T. Rex. You will thank me later. Bolan was England's first pop sensation in the wake of the Beatles' demise. We are talking SUPERSTAR across the pond. But then again, don't the Brits seem to always have superior rock and roll sensibilities? Yes they do. What is wrong with us? OK, you give us The Beatles and Bowie? Here's Hall And Oates...



Who Loves Ya Baby?
E$

Mark Cuban: On The Brink Of Elimination

Saturn 3...I Beg You To Watch This

PLEASE. Please. P L E A S E! PLEASE. Watch The Movie, Saturn 3. Picture this: 1980, Farrah Fawcett, KIRK Douglas, Harvey Keitel and a killer robot named Hector. Isn't this enough for you? No? Still not convinced? Robot chasing Farrah through dimly lit corridors and ductwork. More? Crushing moral dilemma: man vs. machine. Trying to be like Star Wars and Alien. Are you watching yet?

Who Loves Ya Baby?
E$

Big Wheel

So, today someone asked me if I had ever owned a Big Wheel. I got one for my 6th birthday. I rode that thing until the front wheel literally split in half. I loved that it had a handbrake on the side so you could do skids around corners. I used to pedal really quickly down my driveway and then when I got to the bottom I would pull the brake to hear that awesome sound of fat plastic tires scraping against cement and also to experience the feeling of spinning in a circle! I remember when the Green Machine came out shortly after the Big Wheel. I hated that thing because it was too complicated to steer. Stick shifts? Come on! It also felt like you were laying down while riding it. And don't even get me started on the Inchworm! That thing required too much footwork and took forever to get anywhere! The Big Wheel was definitely where it was at!

Preach it Brother!

AMEN.

Movie Reviews For Amiable, If Not A Trifle Demanding, Space People From Outer Space

I thought the "I Don't Feel So Good" post was fun, so let's do another, shall we? This time the subject is movies!!! Specifically, let's pretend that we have been conquered by very amiable space people. We really dig them, so we want to "turn them on" to some great flicks! Come up with a top 5 and perhaps some supporting commentary. Feel free to ad pictures and links!!!!

Elliott Begins:
Most of you know that movies are not my specific pop culture addiction. I'm a little more TV/music, but I love me a good film. So, cut me some slack if I don't come off like some Ingmar Bergman freak...Ethel Merman, perhaps....

I'll start with my favorite comedy, OFFICE SPACE:

Start Here

Ok, good. Wasn't that funny?

Why, you ask, does this movie make my coveted top 5??? If for no other reason, watch it for the Michael Bolton character, played by the John Ritter-esque, David Herman. The scene where he let's loose on the office printer, set to the sounds of "gangsta" rap, is GOLDEN!!!



This movie is so right on the mark about the absurdity of corporate cubicle hell. All of your favorite co-workers are featured! It's memorable, quotable and re-watchable. "Hey Peter! They're showing the breast exam..."



Next on the list is a horror film that I only recently saw - The Wicker Man.

Check out this original trailer from 1973.

If you have not seen this, do so.

If you have seen this, I bet you still think of it sometimes.



Ok, the inevitable has come. STAR WARS !!!! I can not resist it's charms. I was seven when the first movie came out. I was a boy. Do the math. Also, I think the groovy space people would dig it.



Good Vs. Evil. Action. Sarcasm. Lasers. Robots. Darth Vader. What more, I ask you?? Besides, the Star Wars television holiday special is such an enigma in and of itself. Who remembers that one??? It was on TV after Star Wars, but before Empire, I think.

Next is a concert film, but a film nonetheless! And what a concert film it is...Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars with David Bowie. The thing was shot with poor sound and lighting, which gave it a really other worldly quality that truly suited the whole alien motif. The current DVD release has considerably cleaned up sound and video. This is a great document of the British Glam phenomenon. Watch for covers of The Rolling Stones and The Velvet Underground.



Lastly, you begging space people, is a touching love story, where the will to survive is what it takes to push yourself to the next level and feel no pain and kick some ass. In other words, ROCKY.






Joe Adds:

We come in peace, and here are five movies I'd like to share with them there green-skinned fellas. Keep in mind, of course, that I have a decided bent towards the genre film:

1. The Changeling: In order to acclimate the aliens to what real fear feels like, there are several points in this movie that suffice. The poor child's disembodied voice, piano notes played by the ether, visions of violence in the attic, and that goddamned red bouncy ball. Classic ghost story/haunted house chiller of the first order.

2. Stand By Me: No matter what age, generation, color, creed, or gender, every human of the last half of the twentieth century can identify with this film. Taken from a novella by Stephen King, Stand By Me tackles issues that most people, at one time or another, have faced growing up: parental apathy, ignorance, or downright neglect, the loss of a beloved family member, the quest to define oneself to oneself and in the eyes of others, the awkward journey from childhood to adolescence and beyond, facing the bully...and winning, and feeling a sad, nostalgic ping for those close friends left far behind so long ago. In some way, I think everybody's childhood can be seen in this movie. Everybody's got that body next to the train tracks, symbolizing the end of their innocence.

3. Murder on the Orient Express: In my humble opinion, there is NO better way to spend three hours in front of a TV or film screen than this absolutely epic Sidney Lumet adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic. Honestly, it is the best mystery story that I have ever read, and this movie adaptation does the book absolute justice. Every time I watch it, I catch something new, some nuance, that hadn't registered before. And the cast! Good Lord, the cast. Albert Finney, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Jacqueline Bisset, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Michael York, and on and on. If you are truly ignorant of the plot and the solution to the crime, and honestly guess the correct solution before Poirot has it, then you are lying. Mystery doesn't get better than this movie, and movies rarely do, either.

4. High Fidelity: Never have adult relationships and the American/British (it's based on a Brit novel) male's fascination with popular music come together so sweetly. I almost included Almost Famous, but I think High Fidelity is a much more fun treatment of music's influence on the life of the man-child than Cameron Crowe's masterpiece. Through all of John Cusack's and Jack Black's histrionic bullshit, the message is clear. Happiness, especially romantic bliss, cannot be found in song lyrics, or words of any kind. Relationships evolve on their own, no matter what Of Montreal or The Kinky Wizards are singing about.

5. Basquiat: Artists suffer and toil and become famous and suffer some more and make more art and become more famous and suffer still more greatly, produce greatness, and then they're gone. And then we blink, and wonder what has blinded our vision for that brief and glorious moment in time. That was JMB.

Peter adds:

ok. so i work in at a university library and have access to over 4700 dvds and i have seen zillions of films, but for you my visiting friends i will give specifics:

5. Sixteen Candles



This film is the epitome of the 80s teen shenanigans. great fashion. John Cusack! A character named Long Duk Dong! Brilliant comedy bits.

4. The Birds



I like this film because it's believable and creepy without being over the top. The best scene in the movie is when Tippi Hedren is waiting in the school yard for classes to dismiss. As she sits, birds start quietly flying in and sitting behind her on swing sets, monkey bars and telephone wires. She is completely unaware of this until she slowly turns around and there are literally hundreds of birds sitting there waiting on her to move. Yikes!

3. Memento

The attractive thing about this film is that it's all out of order. You need to be focused when watching this though because if you don't pay attention then you'll miss important elements. Definitely a scholarly film!

2. Mulholland Dr.

David Lynch is the master of creating disturbing characters and disturbing scenarios. I don't know what the hell this movie is supposed to be
about, but that's why i love it so much. I always discover something new when watching it and it never becomes boring. Plus Naomi Watts is nekkid in it! wooohoooo!

1. The Graduate

The musical composition and visual components of this film are extremely admirable. Add to it and relationship between a younger man and older woman and you get delicious moments of sophisticated comedy and drama. I think the editing techniques were way ahead of its time.

Honorable mentions: Buffalo '66, American Beauty, The Shining , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Girl Next Door

Laura adds:

Jeesh! Almost all of mine have been mentioned here...

1) Grease-i, quite literally, watched this movie every single day of 5th grade. i'm not the only person who did this either. i think there must be some sort of weird trend with young girls and this movie. we love it. we flock to it. we go to the anniversary releases and sing every song. i loved the 50s fervor that swept the nation in the 80s and i LOVE this movie. the music, the way too old actors, the drag racing! it was all great! i can recite every line-yes, i know it's annoying...sorry. my grease record is one of my most prized possessions-something passed down to me from my parents that they've owned since i was ONE! i went with them to see this in the theater in 1977 when i was approximately one. they also have a cassette tape of me, 2 years old, singing, "look at me, i'm sandra dee, lousy with virginity!"...klassy! it's just in my blood. grease IS the freaking word.

2) American Beauty-i went to see this movie by myself in the theater. when it was over, and elliott smith's version of "because" came on when the credits rolled, i just sat there, slack jawed. had every middle class american's life really just been captured on celluloid? yes. this movie was amazing. finally, i appreciated that i was one of the weirdos, therefore, i was, in reality, somewhat normal. the abused son capturing the paper bag blowing in the wind and seeing the tumultuous beauty...still sits with me.

3) Almost Famous-"one day, you'll be cool." several years later, the young boy that heard these words is on tour with "stillwater", a fictional, badass, 70s rock band. this movie totally captures a vibe that, as someone born in the late 70s, never thought i'd feel. i can't hear tiny dancer without getting the nostalgic feeling of riding on the tour bus with stillwater...it's as if i was there.

4) Hands on a Hard Body-this documentary chronicles the 1995 contest held in longview, TX (actually, it's now defunct, because a contestant in 2005 went seemingly crazy, broke into a K-Mart, stole a shotgun, and committed suicide). the cast of characters includes the wise soothsayer: benny perkins, the religious zealot: norma, the toothless janis and her husband who sports a cardboard hat reading "go baby go". just try and imagine for a moment 24 small town folks trying to keep one hand on a nissan hard body truck for as long as possible. yeshhh, it's as funny as it sounds. this may still be available through netflix or blockbuster total access, but i checked amazon just now and original dvds are going for as much as $200!!!

5) High Fidelity-when this movie came out, my husband and i had not been dating long. i remember leaving the theater and him saying something like "it's really strange seeing a movie that captures your life so perfectly." it does, and that's why i love it.

MumsTheWurd!: Vintage Is The New "Old"

MumsTheWurd!: Vintage Is The New "Old"

Phil Spector's Appearance

Can someone out there please tell me what is going on with Phil Spector's appearance? He looks like a post-menopausal librarian. Maybe it's part of his defense. "I don't know what you are talking about Judge. I didn't murder anyone. I've been stacking books the past 40 years."

Beatles Alpha Omega CD Compilatons

I am listening to this Beatles compilation called, The Beatles Alpha & Omega. It comes in 2 volumes of 3 cds each. Imagine, a total of 6 cds full of every imaginable (yes, Imagine is on there) Beatles song, along with songs from the early solo careers. It apparently was released right after the Beatles broke up, but has been long out of print and hard to find. Check it out in The Umbrella Shoppe. It's cool, it goes from songs like I'll Follow The Sun to I Am The Walrus to Bangladesh. Face it, the Beatles will always BE.

Who Loves Ya Baby?
E$

Oh man, Oh Yoko just came on...

Goober (George Lindsey) vs. Gilligan (Bob Denver) @ WWWF Grudge Match

Goober (George Lindsey) vs. Gilligan (Bob Denver) @ WWWF Grudge Match

YouTube - Nanny and the Professor TV show intro

YouTube - Nanny and the Professor TV show intro

Shaft & Shaft's Big Score! 2 DVD Set

Good Sunday Morning To Ya!

I put some DVDs up for auction in The Umbrella Shoppe last night, including this nice Shaft/Shaft's Big Score! double feature. Check here for the details.

Who Loves Ya Baby?
E$

Game 1, Spurs-Nuggets, Tonight On TNT

Brady Kids Cartoon!!!

Not many people remember this cartoon. It wasn't very good, no, but still, it was the ANIMATED BRADY BUNCH KIDS AND SOME BIRD WITH A WIZARD'S HAT!!!!!

Office Space Fans Look Here!!!

Please view this:

New On The Television Horizon

I hope all of you out there in TV Land are doing well. Exciting things are on the horizon! NBA playoffs begin today. GO SPURS GO! Spurs face the Nuggets in round 1, starting tomorrow evening on TNT.

A new season of Little People, Big World is underway on The Learning Channel. What are the Roloffs up to now? Will there be anymore trebuchet mishaps? Will Amy chill out and stop being so mean to Matt? Probably not.

We are giving "Thank God You're Here" a try. It's a new comedy improvisation show on NBC. So far, it has been hit and miss. A little more miss than hit, actually. There have been some exceptions, like Harland Williams, and some surprises, like Star Trek's George Takei. This show depends completely on the talent pool, so let's try a little harder than Mo'Nique and Shannon Elizabeth.

I hope What About Brian comes back for another season. I guess it is kind of Felicity for the 30ish set, but come on, it's from the LOST people!! We have loved it thus far. It's good to see Barry Watson back at the very least...

More Later...

E$

To Tell The Truth...

KITTY CARLISLE HART: 1910-2007

Actress, singer, 'To Tell the Truth' star

Steven Winn, Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Kitty Carlisle Hart, the supremely elegant actress, singer, arts advocate and TV personality who enjoyed one of the longest and most varied career runs in U.S. arts history, died Tuesday in New York at age 96. She had been ailing since a bout with pneumonia in December, according to her son, Christopher Hart. A scheduled San Francisco appearance in March had been canceled.

Hart, also known as Kitty Carlisle, is remembered for her role as the romantic musical heroine of the 1935 Marx Brothers film "A Night at the Opera" and she sang in the 1948 U.S. premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera "The Rape of Lucretia." Her long run as a panelist on the CBS game show "To Tell the Truth" made her a regular presence in the country's living rooms from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Hart's great talent, however, was not her own performing skills, but rather a faultless instinct for making the most of her own radiant charm, formidable intelligence and impeccable sense of style. Like an expert director or accompanist, Hart made everyone and everything else shine more brightly in her reflected light. She turned personality and her own glowing personal magnetism into an art form, most notably as an arts funding official and activist.

"She was always charming and very tough and very engaging," said San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas, who had been a friend for decades. "I don't think Kitty Carlisle Hart was upstaged ever, by anybody, in spite of the huge personalities who surrounded her." Thomas said he knew only two other women who could "plant" themselves in a room with the same authority that Hart did. "One was Ethel Merman, and the other was Pamela Harriman."

"I can't think of anybody left who really knew the great creators of the 20th century," said Michael Strunksy, trustee of the Ira Gershwin estate and nephew of Ira Gershwin's wife Leonore. "She was the lifeline to the Gershwins, to Rodgers and Hammerstein and everyone right through to Steve Sondheim."

Kitty Carlisle married playwright Moss Hart in 1946, after turning down a proposal, as she repeatedly said, from George Gershwin. The couple had two children. When her husband died in 1961, Kitty Carlisle Hart was just getting started. She spent 20 years (1976-96) as chair of the New York State Council on the Arts and received the National Medal of Arts in 1991.

She appeared in the self-referential role of a society dowager in the 1993 film "Six Degrees of Separation" and in her 90s, took to the cabaret circuit. Her touring one-woman show of song and reminiscence, "Here's to Life," played the Plush Room in San Francisco in 2006, when Hart was 95. In that 70-minute act, she sang tunes by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and others and remembered an encounter with Harpo Marx when he was wearing only a towel.

One of Hart's greatest and most sustained achievements came as an unflagging lobbyist for government arts funding. Gracious and gifted with a perpetual museum-quality smile, she could also be blunt. "The funding problem has always been difficult," she told The Chronicle in 1996. "Now it's become impossible because the climate of the country has changed. And I don't understand it. The rich people have more money. Now we're turning into a country of yahoos. It's very distressing."

Born Catherine Conn in New Orleans on Sept. 3, 1910, Kitty Carlisle found her stage name in a phone book and studied singing in Paris and acting in London. She made her Broadway debut as Prince Orlovsky in "Die Fledermaus" in 1933. She appeared in three films, including "She Loves Me Not" with Bing Crosby, the following year. By the time of "A Night at the Opera" in 1935, her brief Hollywood career had already peaked. Hart first sang at the Metropolitan Opera in 1967, reprising her "Die Fledermaus" debut, and spent two decades as a regular panelist on "To Tell the Truth." Hart, who never had a styled hair out of place, looked as fabulous in a blindfold as she did in full-dress evening wear. Thomas said she was "one of the great party-givers in New York. No door was ever closed to her."

In addition to her son, Christopher, a Los Angeles theatrical director, Hart is survived by a daughter, New York physician Catherine Carlisle Hart, and three grandchildren.

Chronicle news services contributed to this report. E-mail Steven Winn at swinn@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Romper Room

Ok, who out there watched Romper Room? I am curious, because I really never saw this program very often, but heard about it all of the time. That seems strange to me, so I thought I'd take an informal survey....

The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane

I remember seeing this movie on network television, on a weekend afternoon. I've always been a Jodie Foster fan. It's a 70's thing. Anyway, JEESH, this is a creepy movie! It's a French movie. Their sensibilities are a little different, let's just say. Martin Sheen plays a really disturbing pedophile. There are bodies in basements and plenty of inclement weather. I would recommend this for weekend viewing. Perhaps when it's raining...

Who Loves Ya Baby?
E$ Does...

happy lost day!!!

a co-worker told me yesterday that she read that LOST is about to get much more "lord of the flies"-like...yessssssssssssssss...that will be awesome! we've constantly got the LOST itch that we just can't scratch! last week was superb and left us begging for more! while 75% (rough estimate) of modern day programming sucks, even though we have 8,672,007 channels to choose from, there are a few keeping the small flame of hope we have going.

cheers to LOST, for taking a lackluster, piece of coal, at the beginning of the season and turning it into a diamond!

Marvin Zindler!!!

Does anyone remember Marvin Zindler, newscaster? I do. And he haunts me every now and again. His voice was kind of Muppety and loud, I believe....

Wouldn't it be great...

if people dealt with problems like cartoon characters?

for example: jerry is constantly giving tom "the business", and tom's always getting upset, huffing around, looking for a way to get jerry. he concocts some great scheme...and as it's playing out, instead of jerry getting squished by the flagpole tom's set up to fall on him, tom runs smack dab into the ironing board on the way there, and the iron falls straight on his behind, where he's hairless for about 2 seconds.

i think it would be funny if people got so mad that their head literally exploded, but instead of being gross, their head pieces turned to confetti, and everyone around that mad person threw a party (afterall, who can pass up fresh confetti!?!), instead of being upset by the mad person!!!

What Makes a Great Sitcom?

This article takes a look at the falling-off of the 4-camera sitcom format, and the five elements that combined to make all the great shows of the past. Where'd they all go?



read more | digg story

will i always dislike brenda?

we watched an episode of six feet under tonight where they all recall their final interactions with their dad the last time they saw him before he died...

sfu is just a very realistic show...if you've seen it, you know what i'm talking about. how do you want your last interactions to be with people before you die? just an interesting topic to chew on...

Tot Blooded Check It and See!

So as I was assorting my tater tots on a baking pan this afternoon, I began thinking about how this food item is so freaking awesome. I mean, come on, it's a crispy tater molded into a shape of a giant eraser! I can remember back in 7th grade that many a boy's eyes would light up when taters tots were on the school lunch menu. It also meant that you had better be on your guard. You see, the middle school that I went to, the boys didn't play nice in the lunch room. If you took your eyes off of your tray, you could easily get your tots swiped by a fellow classmate. Therefore, on tater tot day, if you looked around the cafeteria, you would see a lot of arms tightly wrapped around trays. I remember one of my fellow classmates used to go as far as licking each tater tot just so he could have a more relaxed lunch. Well, I have been eating tater tots ever since and have tried several brands over the years including an organic brand by the name of Cascadian Farms, but nothing can beat the flavor and texture of the Harris Teeter brand tater tots. If you don't have a Harris Teeter in your town, then sadly, my friend, you are truly missing out.....

The Wisdom Of Balboa

Rocky Balboa once said, "It's not how hard you can hit, but how many times you can get hit hard, and still keep moving forward." Damned if he wasn't right...

I Don't Feel So Good

Elliott Begins: Do you remember staying home from school when you were a kid? You may have been sick. You might not have been. But you remember the feeling, don't you? When you were young enough to still be taken care of by your parents. When they got your medicine and made sure you took it. When they gave you comfort food and Sprite. That's what I mean. The early morning segment was always dreamy. Maybe I slept a little, on and off, while keeping a sleepy eye on Mighty Mouse. But I always caught the "Bozo Show" that featured the fan favorite "Grand Prize Game" where a kid pitched ping pong balls into buckets for, what seemed to me like, piles of treasure and gifts. I always wished that I could get on that damn show and put the ping pong ball in every bucket with ease.

Let's see, I vividly remember game shows being on the television in the mid-morning period, when you still felt like you had a million days off from school. I also remember the unpleasant interruptions from the news and then, inevitably, the dreaded soap opera. Uggghhhh!! That meant two things to me: 1) it would be a few hours till a sit-com of some sort - perhaps, Too Close For Comfort! - and 2) that I had, what seemed, about 5 minutes until school started. Oh yes, I always stumbled upon Gomer Pyle, USMC at the most inopportune times. The late afternoon usually featured cartoons or action shows. Perhaps CHiPs or Johnny Quest....

Ok, you get the idea. Using the magic of Google, I am going to give various people collaborative access to this document. Each person will read and add to the document. We can also share editorial thoughts about the document as it develops. Don't want to say too much more. Let's just go with it, shall we?

Peter Adds:

Staying home sick from school always felt surreal. Even though the living room couch was the exact same couch I always lounge on and watch television shows, it just felt really different. Probably because it was loaded down with blankets and pillows and had a little metal fold out table next to it equipped with 7-up, crackers, and sometimes medicine. It was weird hearing the telephone ring because I knew there was no way it was for me. If the doorbell rang, I knew it had to be the mailman or UPS man delivering something. Sometimes my mother would have one of her lady friends come over and visit and I always felt embarrassed being on "display" in my den of sickness dressed in pajamas. Her friends would always give me that sympathetic look and I would always be eager to hear what they were talking about in the other room. In Middle school I had a lot of stomach issues, so when I would get up, I would feel pretty good thinking I could go to school. So I would clean up, get dressed, put on my shoes and make my bed. I would go downstairs and get something to eat and with that first bite, I realized that I really didn't feel well. So after a few minutes of debate, I asked my mom if I could stay home. She would say yes and I remember how strange it felt to take my shoes off again and get undressed. It felt really wrong. It's like my clothes were saying..."what are you doing? you just put me on?" Don't get me wrong. I appreciated staying home, but for that short moment I felt really displaced. I always hated when it became 3pm because the whole appreciation for being at home was almost over. I would always creep to the window and watch as my school bus pulled up and let everyone off. It was an interesting perspective to see what all my friends looked like getting off the bus. I would always look to see what they were carrying to see if I missed anything interesting that day. Yes, being home sick was comforting even though at times it involved vomiting or a plethora of nasal discharge, but being home sick post 6pm was the pits!

Sarah adds:

I know what you mean about the "post 6 p.m." time of a sick day -- it was kind of a let down at that point because everything different about the day is suddenly over, similar to the post unwrapping of presents on Christmas day. That always leaves me a little down...My strongest memory of staying home sick came when I was much older, about 16 or 17. I had skipped school the previous day (with my parent's permission -- never as fun) because my older cousin, who was visiting from Kentucky, and I were going to the beach. Well, the Florida sun was especially harsh on my fair skin that day, or perhaps it was the fact that I didn't use sunscreen. Either way, I went home with a horrible, horrible sunburn, blisters and all. My out-of-town cousin, on the other hand, was nicely tanned. That night, I attempted to join my family at a Mexican restaurant but felt so bad (sun poisoning, I'm guessing) that I retired to our van (a lovely grey and blue van complete with captain's chairs and decorative stripes) to sleep for the rest of the night. Needless to say, I was in no shape to go to school the next day and had to stay home sick. Karma's a bitch.

Elliott: What Peter said about the couch is dead on. It always seemed different when it was awaiting your sick arrival. Yes, it always sucked when it got to 3pm and you knew everyone else was off too. The day just felt different....Darker. Mashed potatoes were a tried and true sick food. Especially when homemade.

I do recall Leave It To Beaver being on a lot. You'd be sailing smoothly over the TV waves and then, BASHO!! You smack dead into Gomer Pyle, USMC...

Laura: Staying home sick for me had it's good and bad points. Good: Channel 41 showed great shows up until about 11 AM. The lineup didn't change for about 10 years either. We got The Brady Bunch, The Munsters, Green Acres, Leave It To Beaver, etc. I always made sure to catch The Price is Right also...sadly though, for me, I got the slew of 80s game shows, which consisted of very lame shows like "Scrabble". Bad: My parents didn't have cable. Can anyone fill me in on what it was like to have a sick day with cable? Were there movies on that were good? Did you watch the Nickelodeon lineup? I got lucky sometimes and got to spend my sick days with my grandparents who had cable. Grandparents were always the BEST when you were sick. The sympathy your parents couldn't muster up? You were SURE to get it with the grandparents. Oranges sliced for you, ice cream, orange juice-made in the blender so it was frothy...The best sick day I could ask for was always a sick day over at the grandparents house. If I was home, it was no cable and when I got older, I was left alone to fend for my sick self...except I do vividly remember once when I was sick, my dad came home, and while I was asleep on the couch that had been transformed into my own personal infirmary, my dad started vacuuming.

Good Times.

Peter adds:

Even though we had cable when I was home sick, I kept it to the local channels because I didn't want my mom to think I was having too good a time. Although, there was this one time she had to go to the post office and I switched over to MTV and watched about an hour of it. It was the first time I had ever seen that channel. I still remember that video too. It was April Wine, but I don't remember the name of the song. All I remember is that they were playing in the back of an 18 wheeler! By the way, Laura, don't you talk about the game show Scrabble! The sound effects were priceless! :)