Chuck the Writer's enjoying "Man vs. Cartoon" on Tru TV

Okay... take one part Mythbusters, one part Monster Garage, mix in a bunch of college kids who actually go to college to STUDY (holy smokes), and give them a challenge to recreate a scene from a motion picture.

That's what I caught last night, on a show called "Man vs. Cartoon" on the TruTV network (what used to be Court TV).

Here's the premise. Engineering students at New Mexico Tech are given a challenge to recreate - and improve upon - a scene from a Road Runner cartoon, in which one of Wile E. Coyote's ACME mail order contraptions fails. Only the NMT engineering students have to make the contraption work.

Here's a clip from the show's intro:



Okay. So in one of the original Road Runner cartoons, the Road Runner is enticed by a tray of free bird seed. Wile E. Coyote fires a slingshot - which knocks over a watering can - which waters a flower - which grows, and upon whose stalk a match lights an explosive charge, sending an old shoe flying onto a see-saw - which releasee a mouse from a cage, which in turn takes some cheese off a balance scale, causing a weight to drop and trigger a shotgun, the bullet bounces off two targets, then ricochets off the barrel of a cannon. The cannon pivots into position, is lit by a nearby candle, and a cannon ball goes flying. Supposedly to hit the Road Runner - but as we all know, Wile E. Coyote's got as much of a chance of getting that Road Runner as I do of getting Megan Fox.

After watching the clip, the New Mexico Tech engineering students are challenged to put together the exact same Rube Goldberg-inspired contraption - only this time it has to hit the Road Runner. The six students are broken into three teams of two apiece, and are charged with working on each section of the contraption.

Personally, I would love to see these teams from New Mexico Tech go up against MIT or RPI to see which school's engineering or tech students could build a better roadrunner-killing contraption (they wouldn't stand a chance against either school), but it is a nice diversion to watch.

I wonder if they'll figure out how to make that special black paint that can be applied onto rocks and create instant tunnels.

Chuck the Writer has been Shooting in the Woods

No bullets or wounded people, mind you... this weekend I've been traipsing over to the Pine Bush Preserve and testing out some of my lenses on nature photography. Some of the shots I took were processed into HDR shots; others were left as is.

Here's the link. Hope everyone enjoys it. I will be adding more photos later in the week, so keep an eye on this slideshow for more images.

Chuck the Writer visits some more old children's shows

God sakes, I swear some of these shows are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

I forgot about such New York City-based children's show that appeared on my local cable system, including this gem called The Magic Garden on WPIX 11:



Meanwhile, over on WNEW 5, you could catch an episode of Wonderama:



Surprisingly, Wonderama used to get some popular guests to the show, including this early performance by ABBA:



And if that weren't enough, how about a children's show in New York City getting Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on the show - to compete in a game of marbles?? Wow!

WONDERAMA Feat. MUHAMMAD ALI Vs JOE FRAIZER - The best video clips are here

Any more fans out there?

Okay, Chuck forgot about ZOOM

Okay, so I forgot about those rugby-shirt-wearing kids from Boston who were part of PBS's classic show ZOOM.

Here's a clip from the very first episode of ZOOM, complete with the WGBH intro:



Here's a clip from the second year of ZOOM, featuring Bernadette Yao doing that weird butterfly thing with her arms (at around 0:37 on the clip):



This is a clip from Season 5's intro:



And for those of you who complain about a PBS show not being 100% educational, let me remind you that ZOOM was one of the few PBS shows to feature bilingualism. So if you ever want to say you can speak Ubbi-Dubbi, here's your chance for a refresher course...

Chuck the Writer recalls rare TV kids' shows from the past

Trolling around YouTube this afternoon and came across video clips of some shows from back in ancient times:

This was Jabberwocky, a children's TV show that I used to watch when I visited my grandmother in Boston. Apparently the show only aired in the Boston area, and it had a catchy theme song that I still can't get out of my head today.



I suppose every major city had their own regional children's broadcast programs, so if you weren't a fan of Jabberwocky, you could always switch over to WBZ and see Rex Trailer and the gang on the children's western show Boomtown. Not much on the show on YouTube, but there is this tribute clip that has some classic footage:



Among the children's programs from the 1970's that aired on my local PBS station was this offering, "Vegetable Soup," whose entire show focused on racial tolerance and the stamping out of prejudice. Plus it had a cool psychedelic funky opening theme song, as seen here:



Another cool show from the 1970's was Big Blue Marble, which focused on international relations, featuring stories about children of all nations and nationalities. I wonder if the same people who composed the theme song for this show also put together that "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" commercial for Coca-Cola.



And last but certainly not least, a real gem of a television show, Vision On, featured 30 minutes of activities and funnies and great stuff - all designed to be seen by both hearing-impaired and able-bodied children!



Feel free to post your own memories of obscure children's programs from the 1970's. Really fun stuff.

Chuck the Writer uploads more Vocal Group Hall of Fame photos

More photos recovered from my archives - this set of photos was taken at the 2001 inductions for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pa.

For those not familiar, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame is an organization devoted to honoring the famous vocal duos, trios, quartets, quintets and the like - from doo-wop to big band music.

The 2001 inductions, which were originally scheduled for September 11 (and were hastily rescheduled) included a reunion of past and present members of the Lettermen, as well as vocal performances from the Chordettes, the Lennon Sisters, the Miracles, and - for the first time in nearly 25 years - a reunion of the four original members of the Vogues. Way cool.

Although this was the third VGHF induction and concert that I ever attended, it was the first in which I was able to photograph and document the event, which I did so on what was then a state-of-the-art camera, my Nikon Coolpix 800.

Stop laughing.

I said stop laughing.

I worked that Coolpix 800 for at least a few more years, until it could go no further (I think around 2004) and then I went to my current Nikon D70 DSLR.

Anyways, I just recently received a DVD copy of the 2001 induction concert, and it was a fun show to watch. You can order your own copy by going to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame's website.

Chuck the Writer's 10 Favorite Shows of the 2008-09 TV Season

It's summertime, and I'm thinking back to the TV shows I started to watch with great anticipation, only to give up on them halfway through their broadcast runs. And other shows that I still continue to watch, whether they be intellectually stimulating or just electronic comfort food from the glass teat, as Harlan Ellison would say.

The following is a list of my ten favorite TV shows from the 2008-09 season. These were shows that I would make a concerted effort every week to watch, or DVR, or call my wife when I'm not home and ask her to set the DVR for me. I am listing them alphabetically, and if I'm missing your favorite shows on this list - well, that's what the comments page is for.

1. The Big Bang Theory - Probably the only television show about geek culture that doesn't make geek culture seem less than appealable. The adventures of Leonard, Sheldon, Raj and Wolowitz, along with their hot-but-clueless neighbor Penny, is just great television candy.
2. Deadliest Catch - I don't eat crab legs that often, but I enjoy watching the camaraderie and danger of those who work on the fishing vessels Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, Wizard and Time Bandit. It's one of my favorite "candid" reality shows.
3. Dollhouse - I never got into all that Josh Whedon fan-worship, but I really got into this series about programmable people who solve problems and then get their minds erased - sort of like "Rent-A-Person." The storylines keep you interested throughout the run. Plus, Eliza Dushku is Death Valley hot.
4. Flashpoint - Yes, it's another procedural drama from CBS, where you can't swing a cat without hitting a CSI or an NCIS or one of their spinoffs or clones. But Flashpoint is different, in that the show itself doesn't always have the cut-and-dry happy ending. Characters die. Characters get hurt. And for the men and women of the Strategic Response Unit, each case has after-effects that continue throughout the series run. Plus, it's fun to play "Spot the Canadian" - even though the show downplays its Toronto location, every so often (at least once per episode) there will be a reference to a Toronto street, neighborhood, or nearby Ontario location or local doughnut/coffee shop.
5. Friday Night Lights - How much do I love this family drama about a Texas town where high school football is all the rage? Let me count the ways. It's a great drama series, the acting and storylines are top-notch, and I deliberately avoided any spoiler alerts (as the series was first broadcast on Direct TV, which I don't have, so I had to wait patiently for the NBC broadcasts to air). Thankfully, the series will return for at least two more seasons.
6. Little Mosque on the Prairie - I have to watch this series through imported Canadian DVD's and YouTube postings, but it's hilarious and sweet. Imagine a culture-clash sitcom featuring a Muslim neighborhood in a Canadian prairie town. It sounds offensive, but when you watch the first couple of episodes you realize it's about as offensive as an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. And about as funny, too!
   
7. Pushing Daisies - One day in my life, I'll make a list of all the shows I used to love that were cut down too early in their prime - shows like Max Headroom and Dark Angel and the like. Pushing Daisies would be on that list. Whether it's the Tim Burton-influenced directing style or the delicate but definite wordplay, this show was fantastic. Screw the dumbasses at ABC for not giving it a decent sendoff.
   
8. United States of Tara - The last time I ever saw Toni Colette in anything, she was playing the frumpy teen Muriel (or was it Mariel?) in the film Muriel's Wedding. You know, the one that was full of ABBA songs before anyone ever heard of a Mamma Mia musical. In this show, Colette runs the gamut as a person with multiple personalities, playing every personality as if they had a life of their own - and convincingly so. A really funny show with lots of nuances.
   
9. The Venture Brothers - My favorite late-night cartoon skewers every action cartoon cliche, throws in about 50 pop culture references per episode, and is just a complete and unharnessed riot to watch.
   
10. VH1 Dating "Of Love" Shows - You know it's the same damn show over and over again, whether it's Flavor Flav or Bret Michaels or one of Flavor Flav's rejects or one of Bret Michaels' castoffs, or whether the castoffs are competing in "I Love Money" or "Charm School," these human trainwreck dating shows are completely addictive and fun to watch. It's like going to see the freak tent at the circus - see the guys with multiple tattoos and piercings! See the girls with Goodyear-inspired foobs! Watch as people get completely emotional and break down one day, and then are as chipper as a squirrel with a cachet of nuts the next!
    

There were a lot of shows I could have included on this list, but I have to catch up on DVR episodes of Lost and Fringe, and Heroes just fell off my radar. Plus, I could have added The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Escape to Chimp Eden, but then it would have been a Top 12 and this ain't college football, where you can have eleven teams in the Big 10.