Tag: The Addams Family

Posted in Chronic Conditions

They’re creepy and they’re kooky…

Posted on by D. Parker

Guess what? I won! I entered a contest, on a whim, to win tickets to the Seniors (High School) London Performing Arts Academy (London, Ontario, Canada Not-for-Profit School of The Arts) interpretation of The Addams Family musical.

Funny jokes, snap snap, cotton candy, snap snap, audience laughter, snap snap, and musical notes surrounded us, offering the most elusive thing as society struggles…joy. For a couple of hours I was in the Addams mansion, laughing, tapping my feet, and snapping my fingers.

Some highlights: George Crosby as the dashing Gomez Addams brought smiles, laughter, and applause (cara mia).

Uncle Fester, played to distraction by Juan Ambrosio-Ungson stole every scene he was in.

Maddie Carrick brought her vision of the enigmatic Morticia Addams to life death with soaring vocals, dance, tight black dress, and humour.

Lauren Atkinson was a love-struck version of Wednesday Addams, whose impressive vocals pulled us in many directions.

Dylan Lale was comedically candid as Grandma Addams.

Leland Chafee was a treat as the tortured teen, Pugsley.

Mackenna Van Massenhoven was a sheer delight as the ever-changing Alice Beineke, wow, what a voice.

Also, kudos to Will Deman as Lucas Beineke, Xavier Kitching as Mal Beineke, Max Loblaw as Lurch and The Addams Ancestors were entertaining and diverting, in the best way possible.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but this ain’t your Mom’s high school musical; I was impressed by the talent, enthusiasm, and effort all the players brought to the stage. The singing was superb, the choreography swell, and the sets subtle (but effective).

London Performing Arts Academy The Addams Family

Only time and love can brew such a darkly delicious stew. They were, as promised, creepy and kooky, mysterious and ooky…Thank you all for the magical night.

London Performing Arts Academy
They're creepy and they're kooky...thankfully. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2014/10/20/hide-and-shriek-with-the-addams-family/

Yup, they’re out there, the indies (independents, not the big bucks), waiting. Indie authors (https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/05/21/how-i-met-your-author/), artists and performing artists galore. Your community and other communities have so much to offer, locally. Art classes and exhibitions, bird watching, cooking/food, nature walks, theater, concerts, plays, gardening, trivia nights, history, craft shows, haunted walks, plants, pottery, paintings, poetry, films, fashion, festivals, fantasy…fun. I visited Museum London for an art show/tour (free).

Meryl McMaster (Canadian, b. 1988), Edge of a Moment, 2017, archival inkjet photograph on paper, Collection of Museum London; Purchase, John H. and Elizabeth Moore Acquisition Fund, 2017

Know what else is indie and free? The support group I founded to help those with chronic conditions, Chronic Not Hopeless (chronicnothopeless@gmail.com), yup, free Zoom activities for anyone, anywhere. Sadly, lots of stuff isn’t free, like chocolate, candy, ice cream, and tea, but with inflation, shopping the sales makes you patient. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2022/01/21/cant-buy-me-love/

So it’s good to step outside your comfort zone, literally and figuratively. For those with chronic conditions, anytime leaving home is can be a big adventure. You have to have a plan within a plan within a plan, so basically, planception. You need your gargoyles in a row, or at least know where your gargoyles are, in the relative scheme of things. So I had a plan and everything went as planned…no, better than planned.

Sometimes, creepy and kooky is a good thing. Does anyone remember The Addams Family motto? “Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc” or “We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us”. Maybe we should update it to, “Veritas numquam perit” or “Truth never perishes”…but the truth can be bought, sold, stolen, hidden, maimed, incapacitated, disfigured, kidnapped, horribly mangled, lost. We need to protect it before it does perish.

Posted in Blogs, Canada, Uncategorized

Why I Will Never Be Freshly Pressed

Posted on by D. Parker

I don’t own an iron…https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/03/26/why-i-will-never-be-freshly-pressed/

Many of you reading this are WordPress Bloggers. You may have heard of being ‘Freshly Pressed’, where WordPress Editors pick out posts that are instantly given a lot of attention. It feels like their way of saying some bloggers are better than others, that they’re more worthy of sharing.

I even Googled, ‘How to get Freshly Pressed’.
Hmmm, note to self, next time you search, add, ‘on WordPress’, because, wow, that got weird, really fast.

Apparently none of my blog posts have: ‘enlightened’, ‘inspired’, ‘entertained’, or got the WordPress Editors ‘talking’.

Oh well, at least I’ve learned a lot about blogging, sorta…

  • I’m more concise (applause).

  • I know about: fonts, stats, sharing, widgets, I know what SEO stands for, Search Engine Oops, maybe I don’t.

  • I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest – I’m everywhere and as it turns out, nowhere.

  • I’ve virtually met fantastic people…or who knows, maybe they’re all one giant app that pretends to be bloggers and readers.

  • I’ve made mistakes…many. I’ve had popular posts and some you could hear crickets chirping as the post sits there being ignored.

  • I’ve been encouraged, discouraged, disappointed, and delighted.

  • I’ve learned to not take it too seriously.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/03/26/why-i-will-never-be-freshly-pressed/

  • Yet for Freshly Pressed folks, apparently I don’t write ‘unique content’ that’s free of  ‘bad stuff’  (where’s the fun in that?).

  • I don’t have a ‘point of view’ (that’s silly, everyone has a point of view, even if they borrowed it from someone else).

  • I don’t paint them ‘a picture’ or make it easy on their eyes (this seems like a blatant attempt to get me to buy a Premium package).

  • I don’t add ‘relevant tags’ (too many tags, not enough tags, make up your mind).

    My headlines can be ‘ignored’ (I already put the word ‘Obscure’ in my tagline).

  • I make typoos, er, typos. Sorry I’m not prefect, WordPress.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/03/26/why-i-will-never-be-freshly-pressed/

I’ve tried, I really have, for over 500 posts, but sigh, I’m still in The-Land-of-Never-To-Be-Freshly-Pressed. It’s worse than being Friend-zoned.

  • Well, I never really wanted to be Freshly Pressed anyway (so there).

  • You can keep your FP Clique.

  • You keep your special jackets that say FP on them and super-duper secret decoder rings.

  • Keep your secret Clubhouse where all the Freshly Pressed elite virtually hang out and talk about us losers that will never be Pressed.

Just realized, this little rant probably  got me banned from being Freshly Pressed, for my blogging lifetime. So what? I was never going to be anyway (er, was I?).

So, why will I never be Freshly Pressed? Ummm, no clue….

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/03/26/why-i-will-never-be-freshly-pressed/
How could you not Freshly Press this face?

 

Posted in Holidays, Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

My Fair Munster

Posted on by D. Parker

1addams1Married in 1865 Herman and Lily Munster had a love that was timeless.

With Universal Studios as producer, The Munsters were able to use classic monster images to which they added running gags, including the central theme that they considered themselves just an average, middle-class family to make a typical sitcom into a brilliantly campy classic.

Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster, Frankenstein’s monster/joke-cracking suburban Dad was electric. Yvonne De Carlo as a blood-sucking Donna Reedesque PTA Mom was inspired. Add cool cars, pets, a young werewolf, older vampire and of course, the family oddball, the ‘plain’ niece, Marilyn, and they had a runaway hit.

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What I could piece together about The Munsters:

1313 Mockingbird Lane has been used in many TV series and movies in various forms including Desperate Housewives.

Spot was alleged to be a fire-breathing T Rex, not a dragon.

The Munsters and The Addams Family ran concurrently, 1964-1966. The Munsters had higher ratings, but was knocked out by Batman, in colour. Kapow!

Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were in Car 54, Where Are You? together before The Munsters. Gwynne says “Car 54, Where Are You?” in the Munster Go Home! film.

Herman worked at Gateman, Goodbury & Grave Funeral Parlor. The spooky John Carradine played Mr. Gateman.

1addams2

Fred Gwynne continued acting, including Jud Crandall in Stephen King’s Pet Semetary (I guess you could say Gage was his Achilles’ Heel) and who could forget his conversation with Joe Pecsi about the ‘yutes’ in My Cousin Vinny.

Pat Priest replaced Beverley Owen as Marilyn Munster after episode 13; the two were so similar most people didn’t even notice.

Butch Patrick played himself, dressed as Eddie Munster in The Simpsons in 1999.

Fred Gwynne’s costume weighed about 50lbs and filming in black & white they had to use violet face paint to catch the light.

1addams3

The Munsters did have a certain built-in charm.

Posted in halloween, Holidays, Televison, Uncategorized

Hide and Shriek with The Addams Family

Posted on by D. Parker

1addams6Those famous finger snaps, and like Pavlov’s pups so many of us are transported into The Addams Family mansion.

Growing up I always thought maybe I’d been switched at birth with The Addams Family; I don’t believe I was the only person in my family who felt the same.

For me,  John Astin brought the Charles Addams cartoons to life with his irresistible paranormal charm.

Though wealthy, The Addams Family macabre eccentricity caused them to live as outcasts; it was a role they seemed to relish. They were also portrayed as close-knit, respectful, and loving. This satirical translation of an ideal American family may not have lasted long, but their influence refuses to give up the ghost, including: movies (the best with Raul Julia, Anjelica Houston, Christina Ricci, Carol Kane, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, etc.), cartoons, books, games, musicals – they simply refuse to pass on.

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Creepy, kooky, mysterious and ooky Addams Family bits and pieces:

The Addams Family motto: Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc. In Addams Latin, simply: We gladly feast on those who would subdue us.

Their mansion at 0001 Cemetary Lane was inspired by Edward Hopper’s 1925 painting about the alienation of modern life, House by the Railroad. Looks like Charles Addams’ friend, Alfred Hitchcock may have liked the painting too, think Psycho.1addams

Charles Addams had no names for the family in his one-panel cartoons, for the TV series he helped pick some out. The nursery rhyme line, Wednesday’s child is full of woe was inspiring.

Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of Wizard of Oz fame  played Morticia’s Mom.

1addams15The Addams Family loved pets, including but not limited to: a vulture, piranha, an octopus, a giant squid, a man-eating plant, a jaguar, spiders, and who could forget Kitty Kat?

 Ted Cassidy as Lurch gave himself a speaking role by ad-libbing, “You rang?” and also played Thing T. Thing (guess what the T stands for).

 And I’m listening to the CD of original music from The Addams Family, composed by incomparable Vic Mizzy right now, cara mia.

Joyeux Halloween!