THE MUPPET SHOW, BROOKE SHIELDS

November 9, 1980.

This is one of the funniest episodes of this show. The parody of Alice in Wonderland is pulled off with all the classic Jim Hensen bizarre style.

The Mad Hatter's tea party scene is the funniest part of this particular episode.

I used to watch "The Muppet Show" every night at 7:00 and every day as well when YTV moved it to 3:30. However, looking at the list on Epguides, it is astounding how many guest stars I don't remember. I remembered Brooke Shields of course as well as Twiggy, Jonathan Winters, Carol Burnett, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Johnny Cash, Lena Horn, Jean-Pierre Rampaule (I hope I'm remembering that name right), John Denver, and Chris Langham. (His episode would have featured Richard Pryer but this being 1980 Pryer was too whacked out on cocaine to do the show so Hensen pressed one of the writers into service.)

It is also remarkable the diversity of guest stars the show attracted, as the list above will attest. Everybody from George Burns to Peter Sellers to Mack Davis to Alice Cooper showed up at the Muppets' theatre.

Also, with regards to the Alice In Wonderland parody episode currently under discussion, I doubt you could get away with saying the word "hooca" on a children's or "family" show today.

DOES GOD HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR?

Another guest post from Ms. Gillie. Remember, guest posts can be sent to
alexhorton55@gmail.com

There are many schools of thought on this issue, some say he does, others aren't sure, and still others say he does not.




I personally think he does, because he created those tropical fish one may see in stores, seagulls, and of course us. Why did I lump us in with the comical creations? It's simple. My friend from church told me about this comic that showed a jar on its side, God, and the word uh-oh in quotations.



Friends I am not making Mock of our Creator, but I do believe He has a wonderful sense of humor. I also believe he wants us to have fun getting to know Him.



Bye for now and God bless



Ms. Gillie

HANK'S HOCKEY SONG FOR CBC SONG QUEST HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA

Hi all,


I`m forwarding you a link where you can (if you wish) offer support for Hank Fisher`s (Washboard Hank) song entry in the CBC`s Hockey Night in Canada Song Quest. Hank has been a professional musician through all the 25 plus years I`ve known him. His creativity is celebrated from coat to coast (to coast) and even in the United States.

Also a quick mention of the very excellent open mic he hosts every Thursday evening at Mark`s Finer Diner on Lansdowne Street in Peterborough. Always a good event!

The email below is self-explanatory.

James

Subject:FW: Hank's Hockey song for CBC Song Quest Hockey Night in Canada

Our Friend Hank: What a great song; forward this to all your friends.

Thanks,

Norm and Kathryn

Hi Friends,

I have entered this song in the Song Quest hockey song contest, please listen and vote. Pass this along to anyone you like. Thanks alot!

http://music.cbc.ca/#/Hockey-Night-in-Canada-Song-Quest

VOTING HAS STARTED for Hockey Night in Canada Song Quest: http://music.cbc.ca/#/Hockey-Night-in-Canada-Song-QuestClick on the "listen and Vote" then scroll down and choose Ontario. Search Washboard Hank.



If you rabidly love the song you can vote once a day. Thanks alot!!



Washboard Hank

DUFFY'S TAVERN, ARCHIE IS IN POOR SPIRITS

December 22, 1948.

Forced to work Christmas Eve, with all his friends abandoning him and only a lousy Christmas card from Duffy, Archie does not exactly have the warmest attitude to the holiday season. Then a stranger comes into the bar and takes Archie for a walk around the neighbourhood. Miraculous events ensue, including a man blinded in the war getting back his eyesight and time stopping to prevent a man from committing suicide at the stroke of midnight, and Archie returns to the tavern filled with the warmth of Christmas.

This episode contains a lot of the usual fake sentiment one finds in Christmas specials. It is quite obvious the stranger is Jesus, but the usual nonjudgmental Jesus who doesn't expect anything from anyone and whose whole bag is peace, warmth and comfort. The whole thing comes wrapped up with a post-war, late 1940s overtone.

INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES, THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP

October 10, 1949.

This is a weird episode of this classic radio series.

Tony Murilo is a young man who makes a living creating wax figures of murderers, including the devil. A man shows up one day wanting Tony to make him a wax face, his previous face having been eaten off by a traveling companion in the desert. Tony crafts the stranger a face in the likeness of his own.

The stranger, who is exactly like Tony except with no conscience, takes up residence in the refrigeration room of Tony's workshop and steals Tony's girlfriend, Tena. They murder a man, steal his wedding band and marry.

Tony drives them to the motor lodge where the stranger and Tena will be spending their honeymoon, then sneaks into the cabin where the newlyweds are staying and burns off the man's face. The cabin burns to the ground, killing Tena and the stranger.

However, when the fire is investigated, no charred bodies are found, just a whole lot of wax. Out of Tony's inventory, the figure of Bloody Mary and the figure of the devil are the only two pieces missing. In the cabin's rubble the investigators also turn up a wedding band.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

    Last Sunday's episode of "This American Life" was really interesting.

Been picking up a lot of AM stations in the late afternoons the past couple days. That's the one good thing about the winter months. Stations have included WSAR, WXRL with polka show and an as yet unid station on 1260 that appears to have a sports format. Also picked up 1540 WDCD Rochester in lull of CHIN.

Yesterday morning, I picked up 1040 WYSL (WYXL?) which I assume is in Rochester. Travel show featuring talk about the Fingerlakes region.

Mike Hogan is a great broadcaster.

UNNATURAL ALL AROUND

The following is a guest post.

Other than the obituary for Dr. Cleaver Keenan, the Alex Horton Blog hasn't really featured material written by others before. However, this does not mean I haven't wanted such material from the day I started this blog.

If you would like to write a guest post for the Alex Horton Blog, email it to
alexhorton55@gmail.com

Note: Posts will not be edited for spelling and grammar. I will post writings which do not mesh with my opinions on things, thus, the views of a guest poster are the views of the contributor/victim and are not necissarily my own.

Today we feature the first of what I hope will be many posts (at least until she gets her own blog) from a young lady named Ms. Gillie. Ms. Gillie lives in the Hamilton, Ontario area and has gotten more into the writin game in the past little while.

Without further ado,
Here's Ms. Gillie's debut.

Recently I went to the library in my neighborhood, and was shocked to find a book called Two Boys Kissing. It was about these two young men who were no longer together, but wanted to set some kind of record. I, frowning a little more than slightly, refused said book, and chose something that wouldn't make me so uncomfortable.




What's going on? Why am I talking about this? Let's look at the history. 1976 Jack Tripper had to fake homosexuality to live with two women on Three's Company. 1998 Will And Grace unknowingly promoted the liberal media's "I'm ok. That's ok.` agenda. Many more have followed since.



What can we do? First we must pray, then watch, and then write our media outlets.



Bye for now. God bless and keep all of you out there.



Ms. Gillie

GRADUATION DAY

By some ghost writer using the name of Anne M. Martin. New York: Scholastic, 2000.

I can see what the ladies at Snark Squad mean when they talk about the BSC books.

Kristy makes everything about herself and is of course bossy. Throughout this famous children's literature series she never gets less bossy. In "Graduation Day", Kristy makes graduation from middle school all about her by worrying over whether the Baby-sitters Club will continue when the girls start high school. See, Kristy has such low self-esteem that if she's not in charge of something she can't make it through life.

Also, as the Snark Squad ladies say, Claudia does seem to be retarded. She can't even spell Mary Anne correctly, even though she's probably seen it in the club book hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

The other screwed up thing about this book is it reads like the last in the series, when in fact there are a couple more after this. Mary Anne and her family move into their new house in the summer after graduation, but "Graduation Day" has them already in the place.

CLOTH DIAPER ROUNDUP

A British site with lots of reviews and info.

An American site with lots of reviews and info.

The blog of a cloth diaper company.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Was picking up truckers talking on their CB radios yesterday morning; a guy named Black Rooster talking to a lady named Magnolia, another guy at his house in Mobile, Alabama talking about hurricanes.

At least the whole debacle involving Rob Ford has gotten his radio show cancelled. Sitting politicians should not have radio or television shows as their office gives them enough of a platform to disseminate their opinions. (I know he now has a TV show but it's on Sun News so no one will see it.)

Heard a ham radio operator under WTWW 5830 the other night say "WA3GH Green Hornet."

One day, CFRX's transmitter is going to break down and they're just not going to bother turning it back on.

BRUCE HORN THE WORLD TOMORROW-GOD'S HOLY DAYS

The main thing I disagreed with in this message was Horn's (and I guess by extension the Living Church of God's) interpretation of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It represents Christ making a permanent end of sin, not a second chance for salvation. The Book of Hebrews says "It is appointed unto a man once to die and after that the judgment." You only get this life to make things right with God.

As for people who lived before Jesus Christ came: God has always provided a way for those who really wanted to know Him to do so. We see this a number of times in the Old Testament, Job and Rahab being but two examples. As for those in parts of the world that didn't yet have the Gospel, God will literally reveal Himself to those in such places whom He has predestined to be His.

Also, Acts 12 4 is not a mistranslation. The king was celebrating Easter because he was pagan and Easter is a pagan holiday.

Finally, the people we call Jews today are not part of God's Israel people. See Revelation 2 9 and 3 9.

ZACK POONIN-THE FUNCTIONING OF THE CHURCH

I don't disagree with the main point of this sermon, but I have a couple quibbles with some of the things said at the beginning.

First, I'm not so sure the devil can't read our thoughts. 1 Corinthians 2 11 is talking about knowing another's thoughts among men.

As far as the point about hurting God is concerned, in the King James in Psalm 139 24, the word is translated wicked. The psalmist does not want any wicked way found in him.

JOHN PIPER-MEASURES OF FAITH AND GIFTS OF GRACE

I agree we shouldn't forsake our assembling together because of some slight from a brother or sister, but what if your church is apostate? Or, what if there is such a spirit of darkness you can't bear to go there anymore?

As far as the distribution of gifts is concerned, I think every Christian has at least one main gift. Many have a few main gifts. When it comes to the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12, Christians should have all these gifts, at least to some degree.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Man, Rogers', you really are a piece of work. You fire staff from CIWW and say in your press release that it's to do with "the changing needs of our audience" or something. Then come to find out it's because your company is yet again going through a round of staff eliminations.

Can't get anything on the weather band of my shortwave. There's just an open carrier there now.

Was listening to radio stations from Italy on the internet again the other day. So wonderful to hear a rock station that has a big news package.

IRON MIKE BENSON DEAD AT 60

Former morning show host on 97.7 Hits FM (CHTZ-fm) St. Catherine's has died of cancer at the age of 60.

I used to catch Benson's show fairly regularly when Hits FM was coming in where I live. Though I disapproved of a lot of the humour, I couldn't help but love
Benson's style, and the overall hard, brash image of the station, for that matter.

One true test of good radio is if it makes you wish you were in the studio with the announcer(s) and producer. Benson passed on this score, having a place in my imagination along with the announcers on "The WRVO Playhouse", the announcers spinning the old country music on WSM and the fine men and women of the BBC in this regard.

SAM CAMPBELL SEVENTY YEARS LATER

Just got finished reading "Too Much Salt And Pepper", the latest book by naturalist Campbell I've reread from my childhood.

Reading Campbell's books, it strikes me just how much our social mindset has changed. People don't have the happy, laugh through anything attitude Sam and Jenny display in their stories. Hi Bub would have probably been placed on Ritolin today and Carol (a giggly teenager, a rare bird indeed these days) would probably be placed on antidepressants for being too happy.

Campbell's thoughts on everything in nature working toward growth are almost heretical today, what with all the people on Disability who have back troubles that prevent them from working but which still allow them to carry a two four up a hill. The lessons about personal responsibility and not blaming other people are all but unheard of today.

You bloody people. These kids set up websites and become activists about global warming, but schools are cancelling their outdoor education and environmental learning programs. Sure, there are outdoor nursery schools if you've got the money to pay for them, but by and large our young people are disconnecting from nature, trekking across screens, harvesting their farms of microchips.

PROBLEM, REACTION, PARENTING

The following are my comments on the article in the October 7 issue of Maclean's about the high cost of raising children.

Originally, God did not intend the cost of raising children to be very high. While one financial analyst (or something of the kind) quoted in the article talks in a horrified manner about parents needing family close by to ease their financial burden, traditionally, extended families have preferred to live close together. One reason for this is precisely so that extended family could help bring up the children. It wasn't until the twentieth century that women bought into the lie that they could have it all and started working for pay fulltime outside the home, forcing the government (for the remainder of this article, when I say government, substitute the word Jews) to open daycares.

As a side note, the article emphasizes parents paying exhorbitant amounts for spaces in licensed daycares (if a space can even be found), but it wasn't so long ago that parents sent children to unlicensed daycares or babysitters if they had to work and most of those children turned out fine. Can't bad things go on in a licensed daycare as well as an unlicensed one?

As far as the cost of signing children up for extraciricular activities, it used to be, even in cities, that if children wanted to swim, they went up to the public pool. If they wanted to play baseball, kids would find an open field. However, these days, with the government not enforcing God's law when it comes to kidnappers and pedophiles, city streets and other areas are no longer safe so children don't have these options.

As regards miscellaneous other costs, why do you need to do things like take expensive trips to Disneyland anyway?

Concerning the cost of postsecondary education and children departing the nest at later ages, these kids are going off to college and university to get training for fields they'll probably never get jobs in. If the government hadn't mandated so many licenses and qualifications for different kinds of work, it would be easier for people to make a living. However, what with needing a license for this and a university degree/college diploma for that, it is so difficult for a young person to start a business or begin their career in a particular field many of today's young adults can't get on their feet. (Of course, there are numerous government-caused economic factors involved as well.)

I hope I never meet the woman quoted in the article who said the decision to have children was a purely emotional one. If they gave out awards for Jezabel spirits... "Parents don't do a cost-benefit analysis." Buck, woman, could you possibly be any colder?!

Why does Maclean's continue to pull this kind of garbage? I am increasingly starting to wonder why I read Maclean's or any of the other audio magazines the CNIB sends me. They all present such a narrow, mainstream view of things. What makes it worse is that even in this internet age there are still blind people who don't have alternative sources of information. As this article highlights in particular, if it weren't for the new book list I don't think I would want to receive any audio magazines from the CNIB anymore.

INTERNET STUFF

Where has the category list on Wattpad gone?

Good to see the online Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind has a couple new feature writers.

More internet spying and targeting of ads is being made public, confirming what many of us have suspected all along.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF: STREAMS FROM CANADIAN TV STATIONS

Cool that Global has a live stream available. Also cool CKWS-tv streams it's evening news.

I don't think "Dark Matter" with Art Bell is going off Sirius-XM for the reasons Bell stated on his website. Art Bell is an intelligent man; he must have anticipated those problems before he signed up with the satcaster.

Noticed the last time Larry and Jane hosted "Allan Wiener Worldwide" Jane was a lot livelier and more involved in the broadcast. Good to see.

What will Nick Digilio producer Craig Collins be doing now?

What's AM 740 doing broadcasting a show called "The Nineties At Nine?"