I Want Candy (Corn)

Since Halloween is rapidly approaching, I've already rode down to CVS and Walgreen's and stocked up on candies I can pass out to the kids that do show up on my doorstep tomorrow night.  

While I'm waiting for the adorable girls and ghouls to show up in their costumes with bags in hand, in addition to my obligatory pint of Blue Bell, I'll have a few bags of candy corn standing by for my personal consumption.

While I love chocolate in all its forms, when I have a taste for it I can't get enough of candy corn.   My love for it however runs in cycles.  

The last time I ate some of it was during the move, when I bought a bag of it during a fuel stop in Hammond, LA   I destroyed it before we left Tangipahoa Parish.  


I may go a few months without even thinking about it or walk past it while I'm grabbing bags of Hershey's kisses or whatever chocolate du jour I'm feeling at that moment.  But when I get a taste for it, I'm scarfing it up in mass quantities for at least two weeks, and just as suddenly as the craving for it came, it's gone.

But my craving for it is back, and just in time for Halloween.

15 Albums In 15 Minutes

My participation in chain style postings on Facebook is about as rare as KFC being served at a PETA convention.   But this time resistance was futile to this one because it appeals to the music snob in me.

I was asked by my Newfie transplant friend Paula on September 4 to compile a list of fifteen albums I'd heard that will always stick with me for whatever reason, but only had fifteen minutes to do so.   Then I had to tag fifteen friends after compiling my list .

Here are the albums I chose:

1. Funkentelechy vs Placebo Syndrome Parliament
2. Risque-Chic
3. Off The Wall-Michael Jackson
4. Fear Of A Black Planet-Public Enemy
5. The Clarke Duke Project-George Duke and Stanley Clarke
6. Open Mind- Jean-Luc Ponty
7. Purple Rain-Prince
8. Go For Your Guns-Isley Brothers
9. Born To Sing-EnVogue
10. Songs In The Key Of Life- Stevie Wonder
11. Who Is Jill Scott-Jill Scott
12. Bad Girls-Donna Summer
13. We Are Family-Sister Sledge
14. All n All-Earth,Wind and Fire
15. The Right Stuff-Vanessa Williams

Hey, I only had fifteen minutes, so stop tripping.   I spent my teen years in the 70's and Saturdays watching Soul Train in what is arguably the Golden Age for music.    

So if you can do better, post your list of 15 songs in 15 minutes in the comment thread below.   I'm interested to see what you loyal TransGriot readers come up with.   

'Soul Train' Gets New Ownership-Where The New Shows At?

Must See TV when I was growing up was getting up at 7 AM on Saturday morning to watch my favorite cartoons, then flipping the channel at noon to watch Soul Train.

The hippest trip in America was my peeps version of American Bandstand. It was where me and my friends tuned in to catch up on the latest dances and see my favorite R&B and soul artists.

From 1970 until the 2005-2006 television season we were treated to new episodes and the iconic Soul Train Dancers.

They are so ingrained in African-American culture that In Living Color parodied them during its run.

And what party or African-American wedding did you attend over the last few decades that at one point or another didn't break out at the reception into an impromptu Soul Train line?

There was an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air that showed Vivian and Phil's engagement on an episode of Soul Train and reappearance during their wedding anniversary along with the kids on a Soul Train episode.

Well, that iconic slice of my youth has new owners. Show creator and long time host Don Cornelius sold the show in June 2008 to a Los Angeles based production company called MadVision Entertainment.

MadVision's plan at the time was to open up the show’s archives for older consumers as well as to create a new version of the program for younger ones.

“The series has never been shown on DVD, and it’s not been utilized on video-on-demand or mobile or Internet platforms,” Peter Griffith, a co-founder of MadVision, said. “There are many opportunities that we are exploring.

While the new Soul Train shows haven't materialized yet in the two years since the deal, it does have a website.

Could there be new episodes of Soul Train on the horizon? I certainly hope so.

Moni's Last Louisville Supper

At this moment I'm probably crying a little bit as I chill at my fave Louisville pizza place and enjoy a last meal with friends.

I fell in love with Impellizzeri's pizza before I moved up here at its old location.

It's also where Polar had his wedding rehearsal dinner back in 2004. They shut down for two years after that, then reopened in a new location on Bardstown Road a few blocks from Eastern Parkway.

The pizza and those garlic breadsticks dripping in butter are still there.

So if I was going to pick a place to have a last meal in town with my Louisville family, that's one of them. It has special significance for me, Polar and Dawn.

Besides, I already hit Kingfish on River Rd. two weeks ago and ate some 'Krispy Kracks' since they pulled out of the Houston market in 2006.

Well, until the next time.

Archie Dates A Sistah

So what does the Archie comics team do for an encore after a six comic dream sequence storyline in which Archie gets married to both Betty and Veronica?

That storyline also garnered increased sales and media attention for the iconic comic franchise and rekindled a lot of Archie comic book fans like myself interest in the hijinks and goings on in Riverdale.

Can you say 'interracial relationship' TransGriot boys and girls?

And no, Archie isn't dating Nancy Woods either.

In the soon to be released Archie Comics 608 and 609 Betty and Veronica will have a little competition for Archie's affections from an unexpected direction.

Her name is Valerie Brown, and you've seen her before. She's the lead songwriter and bassist for Josie And the Pussycats.

I used to read those comics on the regular as well and get up on Saturday mornings to watch the cartoon version.



What sets up the story entitled 'It Starts With a Kiss' is the Archies do a joint musical tour with Josie and the Pussycats. Of course Alexander Cabot as the Pussycats manager sets up some shady stuff unbeknownst to either band which results in Josie and the Pussycats getting top billing instead of co-equal status.

That gets unraveled by Veronica's cousin Marcy, who is acting as the Archies agent.

During this tour a romance gets kindled between Valerie and Archie, and you'll have to get Issues 608 and 609 to find out how.

Yep, will have to head back to my fave comic shop to pick these issue up. I'm just as curious to see how this is going to play out as well.

Confessions Of A Chocoholic

I have an addition I'm not ever going to get treated for.

I'm addicted to chocolate.

Be it light, dark, white, whatever, the TransGriot like any estrogen based lifeform loves her some chocolate.

I have inhaled entire bags of Hershey's Kisses in two hours or less. Chocolate bars are not safe anywhere around me and neither are plain M&M's.

That love of chocolate extends to chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake or any cheesecake with chocolate swirled in it, chocolate ice cream and chocolate shakes.

Hmm, just talking about chocolate is making me fiend for it.

And on that note, it's time to go get some. Have a feeling I'll be consuming mass quantities of it tonight.

Shipley's Donuts

I've discussed my love of iconic Houston centric foods on TransGriot. One of them I got reacquainted with when I went back home for the Christmas holidays was Shipley's Donuts.

Before Krispy Kreme even opened their first store in the Houston area, for 73 years Shipley's has been synonymous with donuts in H-town. They have expanded their reach beyond Houston and have 220 locations in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Some of the Shipley's locations have drive through windows in addition to being open 24 hours for all us night owls who wanted something to eat after leaving the club, on the way home from a late night at work.

So if I was fiending for a ham and cheese or sausage and cheese kolache at 3 AM or wanted a half dozen glazed donuts to eat when the mood struck me with my hot chocolate, no problem.

One of the Shipley's locations is just four blocks down the street from my grandmother's house on MLK Blvd near Loop 610. I needed some exercise and fresh air, so I decided to bounce from my grandmother's place for a few minutes and take a little stroll to grab a half dozen since I hadn't eaten them since 2000.

Yep, they were still as delicious as I remembered them,

I went back the day I was going to leave Houston to take some with me to eat on the bus ride back to Da Ville, but the moment I picked to purchase them they were out of glazed donuts. I was a little disappointed and didn't consider grabbing a few kolaches instead because I had my heart set on the donuts.

Oh well, they'll be waiting for me on my next visit home.

Urban Dictionary Definition of Monica

Monica

A name derived from the Latin language meaning "A wise councilor." A Catholic Saint.

The sexiest woman on the planet. Never see her without peeing your pants. Can't help but pop one when you look at her. Always laughing and has a smile that makes you poop your pants, but you gotta love her.


Okay...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=monica

Single Ladies-Chipettes Style

In honor of my Houston homegirl Beyonce snagging six Grammys, including the Song of the Year Grammy for 'Single Ladies', had to post the Chipettes version from the recent Alvin and The Chipmunks sequel movie.

TVOne To Begin Broadcasting 'A Different World'

Since I have yet to see and I'm still waiting for Seasons 2-6 of A Different World to be sold on DVD, (and for that matter Seasons 2-6 of Living Single), I was glad to hear that TVOne will start broadcasting tonight my favorite show at 10-11 PM Eastern and 1-2 AM Eastern Time.

I own Season One and I've already expressed myself about how I felt about it. (it sucked). I deal with those episodes until the Debbie Allen produced ones start showing up in Season 2.

At any rate, glad to see it's back on the air.

Now if we A Different World fans could get the opportunity to buy the DVD's for our favorite show.

'Caprica' Begins

The night me and other Battlestar fans have been waiting for ever since the reimagined BSG ended and we got a taste of it in a miniseries is finally taking place.

We finally get to see the season premiere on SyFy of the Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica next week, but this weekend they reran the episode kicking off the show. The new episodes start next week.

There's even a website on SyFy that has a mock Caprican newspaper that you can leave comments on.

Every now and then you'll see one on the various posts from TauronMoni on it. ;)

While this one is set in the BSG universe, it's taking place 58 years before the events depicted in Battlestar Galactica.

I'm anxious to see how it will play out and looking forward to killing an hour in front of the TV watching it.

This Is A Late Night Show

With all the fuss over the Leno vs Conan controversy, and I'm not a big fan of either one, it reminded me that January 3, 1989 was the first broadcast of my standard for late night shows, The Arsenio Hall Show.

Late night shows haven't been the same to me since his went off the air.

Caprica-The Series

The day we Battlestar fans have been waiting for since our fave series found our Earth 150,000 years ago and went out on top in the ratings after four seasons is fast approaching.

Caprica, the prequel series for Battlestar Galactica will finally start Friday, January 22.

While waiting for Caprica to start we BSG junkies have been teased with trailers and given a taste of Caprica thanks to last year's miniseries.

While there are some elements that are familiar to BSG viewers, this prequel takes place 58 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica in a technologically advanced world similar to our own planet.

The other thing that's an integral part of this series is the dawn of the Cylons weaved into the stories of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas.

And while we do have a teenage William Adama, the future commander of the Battlestar Galactica appearing in this series, the other characters are specific to this series and this time period in the BSG storyline.

It's being produced by Ronald Moore and David Eick, the same team that brought us BSG as well.

In any case, looking forward to finally getting the chance to watch intelligently written TV again and being back in the BSG universe even though we know how this story is going to play out.

Or do we?

Archie Marries Betty

Finally picked up my copy of Archie 604, which continues the six issue story arc of the comic world's favorite playa-playa deciding to settle down with one of the two lovely ladies vying for his romantic attention.

In Issues 600, 601, and 602 it shows us Archie's life after marrying Veronica, complete with twins, living large lifestyle and an executive job at Lodge Industries.

But fans of the Archie comics, and count the TransGriot among them, were rooting for Betty to marry Archie, and starting with issue 603 that's what we got.

We're treated to the other fork in Memory Lane and what transpired as Archie gets engaged to and is now on the verge of marrying Elizabeth Ann Cooper.

Unlike the earlier issues in which Veronica's spare no expense wedding was the hit of the social season that garnered media coverage, Archie and Betty's wedding is a small scale one at Pop's.

Archie is having a hard time finding a job like everyone else in America these days. Betty ends up getting the job in New York she applied for prior to graduating from college and she and Archie move there after their wedding.

Veronica pins him down at the reception and Archie explains why he chose Betty over her. She offers as the maid of honor to pay for the honeymoon since money is tight for the newlyweds, but Archie declines the offer. (Hmm, Veronica's growing up)

After a year in New York, they move back to Riverdale on their first anniversary and end up with teaching jobs at Riverdale High. I'll let you read 604 to find out why.

Betty also drops the bomb at the end of the issue that she's pregnant.

Looking forward to picking up Issues 605 and 606, the final one in this six comic series arc that wraps up this storyline.

Oh by the way, if you missed any of these issues, there will be one coming out around March which will consolidate the entire story arc in one issue tentatively titled Archie, Marry Me.

Anxiously waiting for Issue 605 to hit the stands now to see if Betty has twins.

Archie Gets Engaged To Betty-Veronica Trips Out

Most of you TransGriot readers know I'm a big fan of the Archie comic books and have been reading them and the Josie and the Pussycats ones since childhood.

I've been eagerly reading and collecting the six comic book series that started this summer with Issue 600 in which Archie on the eve of his college graduation takes a walk down Memory Lane. He takes the left fork and is catapulted into a world that has him getting married to Veronica with Betty eventually agreeing to be the maid of honor at their wedding.

Since there were six comic books in the series and the fan sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of Betty marrying Archie, they gave the people (and the TransGriot) what they wanted starting with Issue 604.

Archie at the end of Issue 603 leaves the big house he shares with Veronica and the twins to take a walk in the first winter snow of the season as is his tradition.

He takes the other fork of Memory Lane and is deposited back in time, winter coat and all to the eve of his college graduation once again. The ceremony goes on as before with Dilton giving the valedictory speech (who else?) but with everyone after the graduation heading to Pop's Chocklit Shoppe for a post graduation party.

Archie drives himself, Reggie and Jughead to the event. While doing so Archie tells the fellas he's made up his mind which of the two lovely ladies competing for his attention he plans to marry.

After arriving at Pop's and trying to have a private chat with Veronica, he gives up after she constantly interrupts him with details about her upcoming fabulous post graduate life.

He finds Betty and joins her for a shared soda, After a few moments of conversation with her and confiding to Betty he would never be able to fit into Veronica's high society world, he pops the question with a stunned Veronica looking on.

My fellow Archie comic enthusiast Jackie of the THINGS According To Me blog and I speculated in an October 10 post and a comment thread of her blog about how she would handle it:

I'm betting that Veronica's spoiled butt doesn't, but then again she may shock us. Monica Roberts October 10, 2009

Can I call it people? Wish I had the same luck picking five numbers plus a powerball.

Veronica didn't even come close to handling it with the class that Betty did when the script was flipped. She acted just like the spoiled little rich girl she was while storming out of Pop's.

I'll let y'all read Issue 604 for yourselves. In the meantime, I'm waiting for Issue 605 to hit the stands detailing Archie and Betty's married life and Issue 606 closing out this story arc.

I Love Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is one of my favorite game shows.

It was a NBC show that debuted on March 30, 1964 with Art Fleming as its host. I used to watch it back in the day until it went off the air in 1975.

Jeopardy! was revived and debuted in its current format on September 10, 1984 with host Alex Trebek. It is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the revival during the 2008-09 television season.

I am such a fan of the show I bought the computer version of it a few years ago, and beat it down to win $26,000 virtual dollars.

Like all Jeopardy! fans I play along and try to answer the questions before the contestants do. I got so good at it that one day during my airline days I was competing with one of my coworkers Rick Owen. At that time Jeopardy! came on in Houston at 3;30 PM and we had a break during that period.

Both of us were in such a zone that day the rest of the peeps in the ticket counter breakroom where were we matched up in this battle of wits would wait for one of us to speak before they would chime in with their answer.

After it was over, my co workers offered to take up a collection for me and Oscar's (Rick's nickname) hotel bills so that we could fly to LA and break the Jeopardy! bank.

Yeah yeah, I know. Geek moment. But I saw it (and still do) as an excellent opportunity to test and hone my knowledge.

And yeah, I like Alex Trebek as the host.

I actually tried to audition for Jeopardy! when they had contestant searches in Houston and Louisville. There were 3,000 people at the Houston one and 2,500 at the one they held here in Louisville and I unfortunately had to be at work on the days they held them.

I know they are looking for African descended contestants on the show, so maybe I'll pursue that dream of appearing on Jeopardy and taking out Ken Jennings record.