BRBTV News Blog: January 2024

Friday, January 26, 2024

Camel ride, anyone? Let's travel to Egypt next ...

We made it to Friday, thank the Lord, and another travel video has dropped on this author's secondary YouTube channel. This time it's quite an exotic locale, a trip to another continent, and a tour of ancient holy sites. Back in 1996, I traveled with my mom on a Holy Land pilgrimage, I guess they call them. We just called it a two-week tour of holy sites. We spent a lot of time in Israel, and we also spent a couple days in Jordan that were fabulous (now there is a surprisingly lovely country, and a peaceful one, at least at the time -- we stayed in Aqaba). But then the tail end of the trip was spent in the amazing Egypt. We saw the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo, stepped inside one of the pyramids at Giza, had dinner aboard a boat on the Nile. It was all quite astonishing, and I've always wanted to go back. I was using a regular film camera back then, so I have no video of my own from the trip. But a member of the party named Terri was kind enough to make a copy of her own extensive video for my mom and I, and that's what you'll see here in two parts.

Terri did the hike up Mt. Sinai at sunrise, which my mom and I did not do. It was way too early in the morning for me to get up, and there has always been the question as to whether or not this truly is the real Mt. Sinai (read Howard Blum's "The Gold of Exodus" and you'll get a whole different view). So that time at the top of the "accepted" site of Mt. Sinai is what you see at the beginning of this video.

You'll also get a quick glimpse of an Egyptian wedding ceremony taking place at our hotel. It was loud and grand, and as I was watching part of the procession in the hotel lobby, a kid who was attending, maybe about 12 or 13 years old, was sitting nearby with friends and asked me if I would go into the reception with him for a couple minutes. I said sure, so we went inside and sat down, and all the adults at the reception who knew him starting laughing and clapping for him, that he brought a young American female to the party. It was a very funny moment, not shown on this video but just going on behind the scenes.

At the end of this first part, as our tour bus arrives at the Pyramids, you can get a feel for a phenomenon that I was very struck by -- the bursting metro region of Cairo (we were told the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 16 million at the time) comes up to the Pyramids and just stops, and there's nothing but desert beyond, on the other side of the Pyramids.

But wow, as I watch this video, I can hear my mother talking in the background in parts, and I can feel like I'm right back there, all those years ago, as I see our group sitting on the floor of the Muhammad Ali Mosque. I remember how it felt, what temperature that cavernous room was, how it all looked with the bright lights above us everywhere, how the carpet felt. So thankful to Terri for capturing this video.

See the other videos on the "Let's Go Adventuring" playlist -- another one is dropped each Friday, at least for the next few months.

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

When is being a narcissist OK? On TV, of course!

This author has delved into the psychology of narcissism lately for reasons I won't go into (!). The more I analyze, and the more I think about it, the more I realize we have had a lot of narcissists on the television shows we have known and loved over the years. In fact, narcissists have really made the world go 'round, when it comes to TV. They make for interesting -- albeit compelling -- characters. If you'd like a primer on just what narcissism is, from a psychological standpoint, you can do an online search, or I can recommend this playlist from MedCircle. In the meantime, why don't we have some fun with a little look at TV characters we could probably peg as narcissists? It happens to be that these are all female, but hey, that's just how it worked out, since this author has a chick perspective!!!

Blair Warner, "The Facts of Life"

From her love affair with the mirror to the continual catty exchanges with her no-nonsense schoolmate Jo, Blair was always a treat (or an ordeal) to watch. Lisa Whelchel portrayed her with such ease, acting circles around most of the other cast members in the 1979 first season (and she was a teen) before the show winnowed the girls down to a core of four the following year.

Hilary Banks, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"

BRBTV always considered her the Veronica Lodge of the "Fresh Prince" show, and she did it with such style. Oooh, la-la, those '90s fashions -- we loved them. We always admired her flair and her confident air, as portrayed by Karyn Parsons.

Ginger, "Gilligan's Island"

This author is a redhead, so how could I not admire Ginger? Always my fave "Gilligan" character, hands down. Her slinky golden dress (which I actually tried to find online one time, when I was considering cosplaying the show at a con with a couple buddies), her soft, lilting voice, her coo-ing ... her self-absorption. Wow, what a package. In the eternal question of Mary Ann vs. Ginger, BRBTV highly recommends Ginger!

Alexis Carrington, "Dynasty"

Oh, boy, now here's a good one. You couldn't get any more fiercely, beautifully, shrewdly, intelligently and very highly female-ly (?) narcissistic than the queen antagonist of the classic '80s soap "Dynasty." We have to qualify this by saying this is the Alexis of the original "Dynasty" series, not the CW remake, as beloved as it is by BRBTV (such wonderful eye candy, for one thing). The latter Alexis had far less bite, far fewer smarts. The original Alexis as portrayed by Joan Collins was always a force to be reckoned with, someone you admired without wanting to.

Miss Piggy, "The Muppets"

That beautiful porker with such amore for her co-star Kermit the Frog will always be dear to our hearts. She's fashionable, she's really quite dazzling, and she never has a hair out of place. Even if pigs don't really have that kind of hair. OK, whatever.

Veronica Lodge, various Archies series in animation and live action

We can't mention Veronica Lodge above without including her, too! And she's been portrayed in several TV Archies incarnations over the years. We especially love the quite whiny version in the animated "Archie's Weird Mysteries" series of 1999, in which there was, appropriately enough, a Veronica-focused episode called "Me! Me! Me!" Voiced by Camille Schmidt, she was so true to the comics version of the character. Also the case for Alyson Court's voicework on "The New Archies" of a few years earlier. Not so true to the comics version is the Veronica of the live-action "Riverdale." In fact, as portrayed by Camila Mendes, she is intelligent, savvy and often kind. She thinks about others in her actions. Hmmm ... that just doesn't work, ya know??? Anyway, take heart, another live-action incarnation, the TV movie "Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again," featured Karen Kopins as a Veronica in high Veronica style.

Daphne Blake, various Scooby-Doo series

We can't say that Daphne has always been depicted as a narcissist, but she sometimes has. The late '80s "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" comes to mind, where the lovely Kellie Martin's voicework lit up Daph in some nice full-color, self-involved splendor. What a surprise, knowing Martin so well from "Life Goes On" and the later "Mystery Woman" series. But anyone will tell you (I'm looking at you, Wendy!) that Daphne Blake is very smart, too. And she's so often kind and considerate. Even if she is a bit of a klutz.

Any others? Who have I left out? How about some male examples? Feel free to comment below!

Friday, January 12, 2024

Feel like doing a little adventuring? Hop along on this new playlist

Traveling is the spice of life, right, kinda like variety? Going to new places, if only for a week or even a day, broadens one's horizons, gives a glimpse of another kind of life or another culture. This author believes that we are truly blessed any time we have the opportunity to travel, and I've been blessed to do my fair share of it over the years. I was digging through some video recently (see previous posts!) and realized I have a lot of great little clips from various places I've been. I really need to share that, I was thinking. But when would I find the time? Oh, maybe here and there, in-between other projects. Anyway, I'm starting to load some of these video clips onto my secondary YouTube channel, and I'll be dropping them on Friday mornings. Not every Friday -- maybe once or twice a month? With the exception of one (the 1996 trip to Egypt, dropping next month) they will all be my own original video. The first one, a soldier reenactment from a visit to the Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit, is here:

The playlist is called "Let's Go Adventuring!" and it will be all raw video, right out of the camera -- no fancy tricks or gadgets or theme music or whatever. Just clips, to help you feel as if you are the one walking through the locale yourself. It's a vicarious sort of thing, ya know?

So please go like and subscribe, and come along adventuring with me!

Thursday, January 04, 2024

Terrific non-TV Toys: Catwoman, Vinyl Vixens by Funko, 2015

They are vixens cast in vinyl -- and sometimes they wear vinyl, too! What we're looking at in the latest episode of Terrific non-TV Toys (the first episode of the new season!) is a Catwoman figure from Funko's Vinyl Vixens series. You'll see she has some elements of Julie Newmar / Eartha Kitt of the 1960s "Batman" series, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer of "Batman Returns." She's slinky fun!

See the other episodes in the Terrific non-TV Toys series.

Monday, January 01, 2024

Happy New Year! How's-about an updated episode guide to the collectibles series of BRBTV

We continue to get better, not so much older, so let's embrace that thought as we plunge into another year in this thing we call life.

Here is your recap of the year's episodes of our two web series, Terrific TV Toys and Terrific non-TV Toys. Have you checked out the T3 Facebook page? If not, head on over there and share the love of these toys related to our beloved classic TV shows. And remember that you can catch other great videos on the BRBTV YouTube channel, plus subscribe to this author's secondary YouTube channel to see interviews, acting clips, and crazy stuff like 1990s episodes of local TV shows!