Book Club: Things I Can't Explain Chapters 5 & 6

You can check out my write ups on Chapters 1 & 2 and Chapters 3 & 4 in this post I'm talking about Chapters 5 & 6.

Chapter 5
Clarissa and Nick take a taxi back to the old Daily Post building where Nick's motorcycle was left.  The don't get a chance to chat it the taxi because the cabbie was a chatterbox.  Back at the building Nick offers to give her a ride home on his bike, but he takes her to an overlook of the Brooklyn Bridge and right before they were going to kiss, Nick tells her that he has a girlfriend.  Clarissa is hurt but accepts his ride home.

Thoughts
Decent chapter where the first half is Clarissa's narrative on her feelings for Nick, how everything is moving fast and the second half on how devastated she is but trying to rationalize that everything that happened tonight was too good to be true.  We also have Nick, essentially, saying how long he has pined over Clarissa, how he too never had the nerve to talk to her beyond their brief coffee chat.  He states that he wants to kiss, essentially he's wanted too for a long time, but he can't because of his girlfriend, a girlfriend that he doesn't seem very happy to be with.

Chapter 6
This is a brief chapter about Clarissa in her apartment the morning after her crazy evening and night with Nick and her parents.  He get a brief look at her financials, meet her black cat Elvis that she almost named Sabrina or Salem (know what I mean, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more), her financial situation and how she still is pining over Nick.  The chapter ends with Sabrina getting an email about a potential future job opportunity.

Thoughts
Not a whole lot to say outside the description.  The chapter is brief and straight forward.  We get another "Clarissa" moment as she tells us her obsession with lists and making lists about lists.

I'm very much so enjoying this book and the story over all.  I'm going to tweet Melissa Joan Hart and see if she has an opinion.

Until Next Time!

Muppets

I grew up loving The Muppets.  I remember, every weekend, watching the Muppet Show, it was and is a fantastic half hour of entertainment.  Over the years I have watched all the movies, specials, and televisions series that have come out.

On the movie side of things, I have enjoyed them all each with their own uniqueness, with Muppet's From Space being my least favorite.  Honestly though I haven't watched Muppet's Take Manhattan in years, so I need to give it a re-watch.  If I had to pick a favorite it's the original Muppet Movie, followed closely by the Jason Segel written The Muppets.

I have also watched all of the shows over the years and this is where the Muppet's fail to capture the magic that was the original series.  I enjoyed Muppet's Tonight and The Muppets for what they were but they weren't great.
 

This new series, Muppets Now is the closest to what was so amazing about The Muppet Show.  I really hope the continue with this format, but I would like to see some more variety of sketches.  I wonder why they just haven't done the Muppet Show again with the same format? 

I grew up watching Sesame Street, of course, and when I discovered Jim Henson was behind Fraggle Rock I became and instant fan.  My all time favorite Muppet special is Muppet Family Christmas which combines all three of these amazing shows. We even get live action Muppet Babies!

I have watched other Jim Henson properties like Dinosaurs and The Dark Crystal, and although they are good, they aren't on the same level for me as the Muppets.

Until Next Time

Book Club: Things I Can't Explain Chapters 3 & 4

Welcome to Part 2 of the Things I Can't Explain Book Club, you can read part 1 here.

Chapters 3  & 4 really could have been one chapter.  At the end of Chapter 2 Clarissa's parents Janet & Marshall have surprised Clarissa as she's getting coffee from CCG.  Her shock at seeing them is explained by the fact that her parents are separated, not divorced,  and aren't living with each other.  Essentially Marshall's job as an architect was hit hard be the recession and business hasn't been good.  On the other hand Janet, after Ferguson moved out, discovered that Tofu can make a good glue and made millions selling it to NASA and later the Chinese space program.  Needless to say her increased income and her husband's decreased income didn't mix well.

We learn that Ferguson had some big things going on, but Clarissa wouldn't go into details.  We also get the back story of what happened with her best friend Sam and even why her parents didn't notice how he entered into her room through an extension ladder as she lived on the second floor.

Clarissa hadn't told her parents that she broke up with skateboard maker Norm and that her Daily Post job had shutdown.  In a panic she said that CCG, named Nick, was her boyfriend.  Nick plays along and goes to dinner with Clarissa's parents.  She almost ruined things by ordering him prawns at the restaurant when he's allergic to shellfish.  They get through dinner with Clarissa now more smitten than ever with Nick.  Her parents had to head right out after having to go to the airport.

Thoughts 
I enjoyed these two chapters but at the same time was annoyed.  If she had just told her parents the truth a huge headache could have been avoided.  However, they we wouldn't have Clarissa's hilarious hijinks to endure.  With all the characters I can hear the voices of the actors when I'm reading their dialogue.  I'm excited to check out the next two chapters.

I'm very curious as to how Clarissa is going to explain all of this to Nick and his explanation as to why he went along with it. It was hinted in the reading that he may have a crush on her.

Check out Brandon's Thoughts on these two chapters.

Until Next Time!

Book Club: Things I Can't Explain Chapters 1 & 2

Things I Can't Explain 

by Mitchell Kriegman

Based on the popular Nickelodeon television show Clarissa Explains It All which was created by Mitchell Kriegman, Things I Can't Explain is the continued story of Clarissa Darling.  When we last saw her on the show she was in her late teens navigating life in her suburban Ohio home, now we find her in her late twenties navigating life in Manhattan.

The show ran on SNICK or Saturday Night Nickelodeon, from March 1991 to October 1994 a total five seasons and 65 episodes.  A pilot called Clarissa was shot in 1995 for CBS but wasn't picked up.  In that show Clarissa had just moved to New York and got a job for a New York City newspaper.

Chapter 1
We find Clarissa living in New York City looking for a job as the newspaper she was working, The New York Post has closed down.  She narrates us through her day after leaving a job interview to be a faculty adviser for a private school newspaper, it didn't go well.  While riding the train to get coffee Clarissa breaks down her definition if a micro-relationship and who around the city she has them with.  She also introduces us to who her current friends are.  To her the most important micro-relationship is that of the CCG: Cute Coffee Guy who works at the coffee stand in the lobby of the former New York Post building and when she arrives at the end of the chapter he is not there.

Thoughts
This did feel like a Clarissa Explains it all episode, she is the narrator and we are seeing things from her perspective.  The pictures in the book remind me of the pictures that would appear on screen as Clarissa sat and broke the fourth wall talking directly to the camera on the show.  One page has a map of her coffee places, clearly the most important thing for her to track in Manhattan.  I'm not a coffee lover, but I know people who are and that is definitely and important thing for them.  I was surprised about her reaction to hearing the assumed 7th or 8th graders talking so explicitly about sex, I'm not saying I condone it but it doesn't surprise me.

Chapter 2
Clarissa is devastated that CCG is not manning his coffee cart and some young blonde girl is, Clarissa is panicked that he isn't there and instantly jealous of the young girl, Clementine.  She was just filling in for him while he made a phone call.  CCG explains all this when he returns and breaks protocol asking her name and just as she is about to answer her parents arrive.

Thoughts
Clarissa has some serious issues with sex.  First off she has an issue with Clementine's eyebrow piercing and large tongue piercing, referring to it as a rite of passage and sexual turn on for some people and then referring to it as a choking hazard.  Later in the chapter when she's trying to psych herself up to flirt with CCG she makes reference to the "snotty little seventh grade slut-ling."  This was released and I believe takes place in 2015 I'm surprised she's such a prude.


Check out my buddy Brandon's thoughts on these chapters here: Book Club

Until Next Time

Bucket List Achievement: The Evil Dead at the Drive-In!

Back on June 5, 2020 I got a Twitter private message from Grindhouse Releasing asking if I had a contact for Pride's Corner Drive-In in Westbrook as they had a special Drive-In edition of The Evil Dead that they wanted to tour around the county this Summer.  Of course I did so I connected Grindhouse Releasing to Jeff Tevanian the owner of Pride's Corner.

The reason Grindhouse reached out to me is because back in 2010 I was instrumental in helping bring The Evil Dead to the Nickelodeon in Portland, Maine when they had a new 35mm print they were touring.

This is my favorite film so to see it at the drive-in would be amazing!  But of course later on the 5th it was announced that the first stop on the Drive-in tour is June 13th at Pride's Corner and Kate, Wesley, & I had camping reservations in Medway.  Talk about disappointing!

For next two plus months I watched Grindhouse announce screening after screening no where near the State of Maine.  Then on Sunday August 16th while checking Facebook I got a notification from the Skowhegan Drive-In that they had added and event I might be interested in.

Needless to say I bought tickets for Saturday Night immediately!!  I love Pride's Corner, I would consider it "my" drive-in, but when they screened the film it was a midnight and a single feature.  Skowhegan is just a bit further travel time, and it's a double feature starting at 8:20 pm.  What's even better is that I've never seen Pieces, but I want too!

I asked Kate if she wanted to go, she said to check with my friends first and if no one could go she would.  My best pal John is going with me.  Interestingly enough though I found this in my Facebook memories;

I know for a fact she hasn't seen it since then whereas I on the other hand watch it multiple times a year!  I'll post a follow up to this on Sunday after going to see the films!

Until Next Time!

Writing for Me

When I started this particular blog I did so for me, to have fun with my writing and to write about what I wanted when I wanted and not feel obligated.  With my Wrestling Insomniac blog I do feel obligated to post new content on at least a semi-regular basis.  Sometimes this pressure that I put on myself takes away the fun of what blogging and writing is supposed to be.

Recently I felt this way about this blog, obligated to write and getting more annoyed with myself with each passing day for not posting something. 

Fact of the matter is, is that I have been writing, just not on my blogs.  I have been working on my History of Limitless Wrestling book, and undertaking far more daunting that I initially thought it would be.  However, I am excited about the progress that I have made.

Work has been a struggle this week.  The days are dragging long and once I get home the evenings going  by too fast.

I started a new book yesterday, Mustache Shenanigans by Jay Chandrasekhar, it came out in 2017 just prior to Super Troopers 2.  So far I am enjoying the hell out of it and am looking forward reading more of it.

I checked out the Kevin Bacon flick You Should Have Left, it was my first Red Box rental in months  It's a really solid flick, not what I expected.  If you like a unique psychological thriller with a bit of ghost story thrown in it well worth your time.

I'm changing my internet providers, currently I'm with Consolidated Communications formerly Fairpoint.  I was paying a good rate for 25mbps and everything we needed it for was working just fine.  However the rate went up and now for only $4 more a month I can get 100mbps from Spectrum so we are making a change.  I'm looking forward to seeing if the speed really is that much faster.

Until Next Time! 

College Degree

When I was in High School I didn't appreciate being there, going to college was never really something that I wanted to do but I knew it was something that you should do so I applied to one school; Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island....and I got accepted.  I was excited to get accepted, who doesn't like approval, but I was on the fence about going.

My girlfriend at the time basically said that she wasn't interested in a long distance relationship and if I went then we would be done.  That was enough for me to decide to not go because deep down I didn't want to anyway.  I did call them and defer enrollment for a year, just in case, but never ended up going.

Fast forward 21 years and I'm working in dispatch, really burnt out because of the hours and it's a high stress job I've been doing for almost 20 years, my health isn't the best, and I really need to make a change.  My wife encourages me to go back to school to get a degree to help me find that better job in the State.  When I ask her if she really thinks I can go back to school, she doesn't hesitate her support and encouragement.

So I start looking into it, a couple days later I get an email from my Union about a free college benefit they offer.  Less than an month later I'm taking online classes at Eastern Gateway Community College.  You can read me about that here.

Yesterday in the mail I got my diploma. I knew I had officially earned my degree at the end of May when my classes finalized, but holding this in my hands, now it feels real!  I never thought I would have one of these, it was worth the hard work these last two years and I'm proud to have earned this.

Until Next Time!!

Nightmare Cafe

When I was a kid I would go to my Dad's every other weekend and few times I would spend Friday nights at my step-grandparents home.  It was one of the these Friday nights that I first stumbled across Nightmare Cafe.  I can't recall what I was doing but I was in bed just not paying attention to the TV when the voice of Robert Englund's Blackie came across the TV with:

"Now that I've got your attention here's the deal.  See those two people, that's Frank and that's Fay, strangers when they met.  Turns out they have a lot in common.  Both died in the same night, both ended up in the same body of water and both took refuge in the same all night cafe.  Me, I run the place, names Blackie.  I've been here from the beginning.  Now I know say Frank and Fay are dead, but the Cafe needed a new cook and waitress so it gave them a second chance at life.  They do their job they get to stick around and help unsuspecting customers turn their lives around.  Of course anything can happen to those that wander in, their worst nightmares or their forbidden dreams.  Yeah it all happens here, this little place we call the Nightmare Cafe."

Needless the say I was intrigued and was sucked right into the episode.  I only managed to watch three or four episodes and then it just wasn't on.  I searched the TV Guide for a few months and it just didn't find it.  This was 1992 I couldn't just do a Google search to find out what happened to it.

Once the internet became a thing I would search for it and all I could ever find was issue 28 of Epi-log Magazine and the soundtrack on CD & Cassette.  In fact this show has never been commercially released.  Epi-Log was essentially a televisions show episode guide magazine.  Again, before the internet this is how people found this information out.

Eventually it was through the internet that I was able to locate and acquire the episodes.  I was a bit concerned that I had romanticized just how good the show was over the years and that it wouldn't hold up to hype that I had built in my mind.  To me, it was everything I recalled and more.

Aired January 29 - April 3, 1992 on NBC
Wes Craven Films & MGM/UA Television

1 hour episodes

Blackie - Robert Englund

Frank - Jack Coleman

Fay - Lindsay Frost

Episode 1 Pilot

This episode introduces us to Frank, Fay, Blackie, and the Cafe, who is just as much a character in the show as everyone else.  Fay and Frank have both died but find themselves at the Cafe.  Blackie explains they are alive because of the Cafe who gave them a second chance.  In exchange they must now work at the Cafe helping all those who come into the Cafe get what they deserve.

Episode 2 Dying Well is the Best Revenge

Frank tries to help a married woman with an obsessive husband

Episode 3 Fay & Ivy

Fay's sister Ivy comes to visit her with along with her boyfriend Jesse

Episode 4 The Heart of the Mystery

The cafe slows down time to aid a detective in cracking the case of an unsolved murder before his death

Episode 5 Sanctuary for a Child

The Cafe acts as a Tardis in this episode bringing the gang to Frank's hometown where he can help a comatose boy.

Episode 6 Aliens Ate My Lunch

In what would be the final episode, a tabloid reporter makes up a story about an alien invasion resulting in his fiction becoming fact.
Until Next Time!