My Three Songs: 07/27/11

1. Lynyrd Skynyrd - What's Your Name
2. Slaughter - Up All Night
3. KISS - Calling Dr. Love

Theme: "What's Up Doc?" Bugs Bunny uttered that phrase for the first time in "A Wild Hare," a cartoon short released on this day in 1940.

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Flintstones premiering on ABC in prime time.  Time to celebrate with songs featuring "rock" or "stone" in the title for the Noon Lunch Whistle.  The Flintstones was not only the first prime time cartoon, leading to current classics like The Simpsons and South Park, but it also gave us Betty Rubble.

I've Got Pac-Man Fever

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Pac-Man.  A yellow circle eating white dots (an occasionally some fruit) while getting chased through a maze by colorful ghosts.

So to celebrate, here are ten cool things you can do today:

#1: Play Google Pac-Man

You know how Google changes its logo all the time for special events, holidays, etc.?  Well today, they've designed their logo to look like Pac-Man.

The best part?  If you go to Google and click the Insert Coin button (temporarily replacing the "feeling lucky" button) - you can actually play Pac-Man in the logo using your arrow keys!  If you click it twice there's a Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man to play with (although I haven't figured out how to make Ms. Pac-Man move yet).  Ahh, Google.  I know you're trying to run the world, but it's stuff like this makes me love you.

#2. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Pac-Man.
Check out the official Pac-Man web site at www.pacman.com.  Learn all the history of Pac-Man, buy Pac-Man merch, check out the games, download screen savers and wallpapers for your computer, and more.

#3.  Play Free Pac-Man
Visit www.freepacman.org for a flash version of the game that uses the original board.  It's not official, but it's free.

#4.  Download Pac-Man for your iPod, iPhone, or iPad.
Take Pac-Man with you anywhere you want to go.  Click here to get the app in iTunes.

#5. Watch the old Pac-Man Saturday morning cartoon!
Tired of playing the game?  Then let the wondrous people at Hannah-Barbera work their magic.


#6. Eat some Pac-Man cereal.
All this video game playing and cartoon watching is making me hungry. I should have started my day with some sugar-coated cereal filled with marshmallows in the shapes of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.  It's deliciously 80's!


#7.  Eat some Pac-Man pasta.
Too late in the day for cereal? Never! But if you're looking for a warm Pac-meal, why not have Chef Boyardee help you out?

OK, I know they make this or the cereal anymore, and if you have any laying around your kitchen I'd be really concerned about expiration dates.

#8. Watch the "Square Pegs" episode, "Pac-Man Fever."
Long before Sarah Jessica Parker was considered anything close to sexy in Sex In The City, she starred as a super-nerd in the TV show Square Pegs.  Check out this episode where everyone is addicted to Pac-Man... or something.  I didn't bother to watch the whole thing.


#9. Spend some time with Ms. Pac-Man:
She's not just Pac-Man with a bow. And she eats pretzels.


#10. Get Pac-Man Fever 
Back at the height of the Pac-Man craze, a couple of guys named Buckner and Garcia recorded the song, "Pac-Man Fever."  The song is a terrible novelty track, yet it actually became a Top Ten hit single.  Apparently all the drugs everyone was taking in the 70's didn't wear off until well after 1982.  Click here to download the song for yourself. Interesting fact: Buckner and Garcia also wrote the theme song for WKRP in Cincinnati - so I guess they aren't all bad.

Chapter 56.1: Morons in Marketing

What idiot decided that placing faux pipe bombs in several U.S. cities was a good idea? Placing fears of terrorism aside -- if you can -- how could anyone think this was a good idea? Is there no sense anymore? Was there anyone in that marketing department who spoke up and said, "You know, it's obvious to you and me in the office that these are fake, but place this blinky thing under a bridge in Boston, where it's cold and people aren't going to look too closely for the cartoon image, and we might have a problem. I mean, people are told to run away from bombs, not peek at them to determine whether it's related to a cable TV show."

I hope the next meeting for that marketing department is in a holding cell -- or better yet, prison. Fire the person who was responsible for this! Fire them all!