Category Archives: Popular Culture

H.R. Pufnstuf

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I would like to thank all of my readers who identified the 1970s television show in my previous post. As it turns out, the show was H.R. Pufnstuf by Sid and Marty Krofft. I remember watching the show Saturday mornings as a kid (Now I know why I am so screwed up! 🙂 ).

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Our public library actually had a DVD with some episodes on it, so I watched some of them with my kids. Ah, talk about memories! Good o’l Pufnstuf, Jimmy, Freddie, Cling and Clang, Dr. Blinky, and of course, Witchiepoo! Unfortunately, my kids thought the shows were quite cheesy! (And I have to admit that they are right… nothing like a few decades to dull one’s memory! You also have to watch for a bit of racism, e.g., the redwood trees)

For those who want to walk down memory lane to the psychedelic seventies, check out the wikipedia article or see if your local library have any of the DVDs — or you can buy the complete series on DVD from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com!

One thing I thought I should clarify: The proper spelling is Pufnstuf, not Puffenstuff or Puffenstuf.

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Who’s your friend when things get ruff? H.R. Pufnstuff!


Help with 1970s Pop Culture Reference

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OK, this may seem a bit strange, but I want some help to identify a 1970s pop culture reference. I was watching the music video for Everclear’s song “AM Radio” and for the life of me I can’t recall the name of a TV show/movie that is referenced in the video. Here are some image captures:

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If anyone can help me here, it would be much appreciated as it is kind of bugging me!

The video, by the way, is quite clever. It has references to Kojak, Brady Bunch, American Bandstand, Pong, The land Before Time, among others.


24: Jack is Back!

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As you could probably gather from my Third Annual Ralphies Post, I don’t watch much TV. When I do get into a show, I am rather religious about it. So far this year I have been watching Battlestar Galactica faithfully and catching the occasion episode of House. But tonight, Jack is Back! The two hour, two day, season premier of 24 begins tonight on Fox and I already gave notice to my wife that she will be tucking in the kids tonight (and tomorrow night as well).

Jack is back. Sweet.

UPDATE: I just noticed that Mark Goodacre has linked to a news article that sees Jack Bauer as a Christ figure:

What would Jack do? Tune in to ’24’
TV: Watch for a miracle as Christ-like parallels continue in premiere

This is even better. Now I can appease my conscience by telling myself I am doing research for my religion and popular culture class!


Third Annual Ralphies – Second Annual Codex Edition (Best of 2006)

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Welcome to the Third Annual Ralphies — Second Annual Codex Edition. Following the example of Ed Cook (see his posts on music, film and books), traditionally a number of other bloggers follow suit and offer their own “Ralphies.” This year Mark Goodacre and Chris Brady has thus far compiled (or at least started to) some of their favorite music, books, and films of 2006.

What follows is my own list. While I have tried to honour Ed’s template, I find it difficult to narrow lists like these down to one top pick, so I have includes some runner-ups.

Best SONG of the year: Hmmm.. this is a tough one. I, like Ed, quite like Gnarls Barkley‘s Moby-esque song “Crazy” (From St. Elsewhere; Watch on YouTube; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), though I’m not sure it is quite “Song of the Year” material. The same goes for the new U2 song (with Greenday), “The Saints Are Coming” (From U218 Singles; Watch on YouTube; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), as well as The Killers song “When You Were Young” (From Sam’s Town; Watch on YouTube; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com).

tunstall.jpgWhile this may surprise some, my best song for 2006 is KT Tunstall‘s “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” (From Eye to the Telescope; Watch on YouTube; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). This is a very catchy song, though what makes me pick it as my best of 2006 is my respect for her musical abilities. Make sure to watch the live version.

The best Canadian song of the year is the Barenaked Ladies, “Easy” (From Barenaked Ladies Are Me; Watch on YouTube; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com).

Best CD of the year: While all of the songs noted above are on good albums, I would probably have to vote for The Killers, Sam’s Town as my best of 2006 (Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) since there are a number of excellent songs on the CD.

Best MUSIC VIDEO of the year: I really like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers video for “Dani California” (From Stadium Arcadium; Watch on YouTube; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). Watching it is a flashback through all the rock and roll fads from the 50’s to today — and the song isn’t half bad as well!

the_departed.jpgBest MOVIE of the year: This is always tough one for me. Like Ed, there are many movies I enjoyed (e.g., Nacho Libre, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, X-Men: The Last Stand, Mission Impossible III, Flags of Our Fathers, and even Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby was worth watching just for the “Dear Lord Baby Jesusâ€? scene!), but they’re not really “Film of the Year” material.

In terms of movies released in 2006, my vote for best movie of 2006 would be The Departed (Martin Scorsese; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). This is a great gangster film and all of the actors had great performances, especially Jack Nicholson. Second runner up would be Casino Royale (Martin Campbell; IMDB), which did for Bond what Batman Begins did for the Batman franchise last year.

Honourable mention goes to Thank You for Not Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2005 [I watched it in 2006]; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). In addition, I found Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq (Andrew Berends, 2005 [I watched it in 2006]; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) to be quite interesting for its portrayal of life in Iraq.

Best KID’s MOVIE of the year: I tend to watch a lot of kid’s films with my children, so I thought I would add this category. It would be easy to pick Cars (John Lassiter; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), Over the Hedge (Tim Johnson; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (Carlos Saldanha; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), or even Curious George (Matthew O’Callaghan; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com).

Instead of any of those movies, I’m picking Hoodwinked! (Cory and Todd Edwards; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) as my favourite kid’s movie of 2006. I found this deconstruction of Little Red Riding Hood quite amusing. While some have slammed its animation as cheap, I kind of like the minimalist CGI animation — after all, it is supposed to look like a cartoon isn’t it?!

Worst MOVIE of the year: This is an easy one for me this year. I mistakenly rented Black Dahlia (Ulli Lommel; IMDB) thinking it was Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia (IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). Never before have I appreciated the significance of a definite article! Lommel’s film was a B-film at its worst. Calling it a “B-film” is an insult to other B-Films! This straight -to-DVD movie truly was one of the most vile, disgusting films I have ever (partially) viewed. I didn’t finish watching it and was quite appreciative when the video store let me exchange it for a different video free of charge.

Best TV SHOW of the Year: Since we are talking about the entire year, I have to include 24 (Fox) as one of the best shows on television. I am looking forward to January 14, 2007 when this year’s season begins. That being said, top honours goes to Battlestar Galactica (SciFi). I love science fiction and I find this new series quite well-written.

protest_against_god.jpgBest NONFICTION BOOK of the year: This is a tough one since I have read quite a few non-fiction books this year. My top pick is by fellow Canadian, William S. Morrow. His book, Protest Against God: The Eclipse of a Biblical Tradition (Hebrew Bible Monographs 4; Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2006; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) is a fascinating study of why the biblical tradition of lament or protest against God was suppressed and marginalized.

While I can’t say that I have read it cover-to-cover, the top biblical commentary in 2006 is Ralph Klein’s commentary, 1 Chronicles (Hermeneia; Fortress, 2006; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). This is a superb commentary on this often neglected biblical book.

If I look outside my primary areas of research, then I would pick U2 by U2 (HarperEntertainment, 2006; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) as one of the best of 2006.

Best FICTION BOOK of the year: I haven’t read a tonne of fiction this year, but I would say that Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt: A Novel (Knopf, 2005 [I read it in 2006]; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) was one of my favourites (see my post on it here). I also read a number of novels by Dean Koontz, which I found to be guilty pleasures.

Well, that’s about all I can muster right now, so I’ll see you at next year’s Ralphies!