Apr
26
2011

Seven Cool Facts About Scooby Doo

Pop Culture for the Whole Family

Seven Cool Facts About Scooby Doo

When you have four kids it’s often hard to find one thing all of them will agree upon.  Whether it’s what to serve for dinner, what time to go to bed, what park to visit, or most importantly, what to watch on television.  My oldest will complain the shows are too ‘baby-ish’, while the youngest will moan that a show is too ‘boring’.  But there is one show that all of them agree upon and that is Scooby Doo.  

Scooby Doo originally aired in 1969 and has since seen countless variations of the original Scooby Doo Where Are You! There was, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, What's New, Scooby-Doo, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! and currently Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. 

I decided to do a little bit of research about Scooby Doo and found out some very interesting things about the popular series and thought I would share a bit of these fun facts with you!

Did you know:

Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins first aired on September 13, 2009, which was the 40th anniversary of Scooby Doo

Frank Welker is the voice of Fred Jones since the series began in 1969, and in 2000 also began voicing Scooby Doo.  

In addition to his Scooby Doo voice roles, Frank Welker also voiced Megatron in the animated Transformers series, and Soundwave and Ravage in the big screen Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Casey Kasem, the iconic voice of Shaggy – relinquished his role in 1995 after having to provide his voice to a Burger King commercial because he’s a strict vegetarian.  Kasem returned to What’s New Scooby Doo when the production company agreed to make Shaggy a vegetarian!

Shaggy’s real name is Norville.

In the original pitch the show was called Mysteries Five and the characters were named Geoff, Mike, Kelly, Linda, Linda's brother "W.W." and their dog, Too Much – later changed from Geoff/Mike to "Fred", Kelly was renamed to "Daphne", Linda was now called "Velma", and Shaggy (formerly "W.W.") was no longer her brother.

Canadian band Simple Plan recorded the theme song for the  ‘What’s New Scooby Doo?’ series.

So now you can impress the entire family with your Scooby Doo trivia knowledge!

Source: Wikipedia

Apr
20
2011

What To Do On A Cold On Easter Weekend

Kids Stuck Inside? Here's A Way To Keep Them Entertained

What To Do On A Cold On Easter Weekend

Normally I find myself eagerly anticipating the Easter weekend.  The first long weekend of spring, it means the kids are able to run and play outside for much of the four days.  And with the sun  shining, the parks clean and dry and the kids happily anticipating the arrival of the Easter bunny (and the copious amounts of chocolate the bunny brings) it means I can do my ‘Easter bunny prep’ while the kids are outside enjoying the nice weather.

Now, I don’t know where you live, but where I live in Ottawa that’s not happening this long weekend.  Want to know why?  Because it’s freezing here!  As I write this it is currently -6 degrees.  Which means my plans for a nice long weekend of kids playing outside for hours on end has been changed to kids playing outside for about 20 minutes before each of them start to trickle in complaining of cold feet/noses/hands/ears, followed by the standard cry of ‘I’m bored’.   And on any other weekend that would be ok, except Easter weekend tends to be one of my busiest, because in addition to shopping for and preparing Easter dinner for 13 people, I’m also moonlighting as The Easter Bunny. 

Thankfully TELETOON comes to my rescue once again with a long weekend schedule that includes three movie marathons featuring a mix of animated films starring the network’s favourite Easter Bunny, Bugs Bunny! Not to mention they’re showing one of my faves, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory as their Saturday Night Big Ticket Movie. I can’t imagine another movie more suited for Easter weekend and more appropriate to get your kids excited to hunt for their very own chocolate the next morning! 

So if it’s snowing where you are this Easter long weekend, or you just want to settle in and enjoy some time off with the kids, TELETOON has something for the whole family. 

Now if only they could get me to stop eating the Easter chocolate.

Check out TELETOON’s awesome Easter weekend line-up and enjoy while the entire family is crashing from the inevitable sugar high!

Friday, April 22
9 a.m. ET/PT – Babe (1995; Live-Action)
10:30 a.m. ET/PT – Babe: Pig in the City (1998; Live-Action)
12 noon ET/PT – Charlotte’s Web (2006; Live-Action)
1:30 p.m. ET/PT – Happily N’Ever After (2006; Animated)
 
Sunday, April 24
9 a.m. ET/PT – The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981; Animated)
11 a.m. ET/PT – Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters (1988; Animated)
1 p.m. ET/PT – Bugs Bunny’s 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982; Animated)
3 p.m. ET/PT – The Bugs Bunny, Road Runner Movie (1979; Animated)
5 p.m. ET/PT – Tom & Jerry and the Magic Ring (2002; Animated)
 
Monday, April 25
9 a.m. ET/PT – Daffy Duck’s Fantastic Island (1983; Animated)
11 a.m. ET/PT – Hoot (2006; Live-Action)
12:30 p.m. ET/PT – Bugs Bunny’s 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982; Animated)
2:30 p.m. ET/PT – The Bugs Bunny, Road Runner Movie (1979; Animated)
4:30 p.m. ET/PT – Chicken Run (2000; Animated)
7 p.m. ET/PT – Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005; Animated)

Scene and Heard
Confessions from a Pop Culture Mummy

 

This blog proudly sponsored by TELETOON Network

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Apr
13
2011

Bethenny Frankel: Bethenny Ever After

This Real Housewife Speaks About Married Life And Baby Bryn

Bethenny Frankel: Bethenny Ever After

Are you a fan of those ‘Real Housewives’ shows? I must admit, for all of my love of reality television I never got into these shows. I don’t know why since they seem like the kind of material I would love, but I just never started watching. I kind of regret this since I hear so much about them but I just never seem to tune in at the right time. These shows are so popular that one of the stars of Real Housewives of New York, Bethenny Frankel, has since branched out into her own spinoff.

This is the second season of the aptly titled Bethenny Getting Married, now titled Bethenny Ever After and in it Bethenny ‘is back as her life goes into over-drive while she balances motherhood and becoming a real “Real Housewife,” all while juggling her career as an author and natural foods chef’.

Bethenny
sat down and did a conference call to promote the new season of the show and here’s what she had to say about her, her husband and baby Bryn;

Have you and Jason grown as a couple since last season?

Since the first season, well, you know, there was a lot in the first season about being pregnant and having a baby and planning a wedding which are, as you know, big crescendos. Now we’re into the thick of being married and the first year of marriage is hard because it’s two people from two different worlds now aligning, living together which I talk about in my book, Place of Yes, coming together.

So it’s basically the show has a lot about in-laws and religion and to say the very least we go there just with what really goes on in marriage. And you can’t understand what people go through until you are actually married because it’s just - it’s a family and the dynamic just changes.

Why do you think it is that people connect with you so much?

I mean it always boils back I think to honesty and owning it, just it is what it is and, you know, being honest about it. I mean - or, you know, it’s a very real reality TV show. It’s a reality sitcom. It’s kind of like Seinfeld where there are just these different characters that appear and these ridiculous situations just happen to appear. And it’s pretty much just my normal life. It’s just what really goes on. It’s not all that glamorous. It’s only glamorous if I have to do something glamorous for work but I’m not running around at Fashion Week or doing anything. I’m, you know, hanging with my family. That’s all we really do but somehow it’s interesting.

Have you talked about having more kids? Is this something you want to continue and have a big family?

I mean look, I’m 40. It’s not like I could have a brood or anything but Jason really wants to have more kids so that’s why that’s even been a conversation or a discussion. It just isn’t something I would have thought about right so soon but I mean he’s right that we don’t have all the time in the world. We’re both old so, yes, I mean it’s too addictive. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

After the baby, you were criticized for losing the weight so quickly. What was your response to that?

No, look, I’m not supposed to keep my baby weight on because I’m supposed to make people feel better and I’m not supposed to lose it because I’m supposed to show everybody how it’s done. I did what I do. And on my tour, I have had - you know, between 1,000 and 1,800 women in a room and I have said, here’s the deal on the international weight loss scandal that I had. What - how many of you have treated pregnancy like a complete free-for-all binge? Not just eating what you want but going off the rail saying, this is your only time to do this. And half the room raised their hands because that’s what people do. I gained - anybody who’s a mom knows that gaining 35 pounds by the time you’re giving birth five weeks early isn’t really gaining too little.

And anyone who’s had a C-section knows they don’t let you eat for days until you pass gas and you’re in the hospital for six days and there I lost weight. And then I went back to normal. I didn’t go on a crash diet, which is what most people do when they have a baby. They go on a crash diet. It doesn’t work. They beat themselves up. They start the process all over again. They start eating more. And now they’re six months and they’re in a bad place. I was just like, healthy before, during, and after. And I think it’s a great message to say to people, you don’t have to get all wound up about it. You don’t have to binge while you’re pregnant and you don’t have to crash diet when you’re not.

I have to admit I am tempted to watch this show based on this interview alone. Bethenny sounds like a no nonsense kind of gal. I am however holding out for my very own Real Housewives of Ottawa. Can someone make that happen?

You can catch Bethenny Ever After Thursdays at 10 pm on Slice Network.

Scene and Heard
Confessions from a Pop Culture Mummy



Photos courtesy of Slice TV
 

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