What On Earth?-Column #49, June 2006

Well, here we are in June. This month, we salute two things: Our American Flag (on June 14), and Father's Day, celebrated on the third Sunday in June. That's how I'll start the column. But before I do, I want to thank you guys for 4 years of my take on current events. And I've made things even better by putting up a couple blogs on Xanga and MySpace, both of which use my SN. And even better than that, I've taken measures to make sure that whoever leaves comments on there RESPECTS me. And by that, I mean, being NICE. Your definition may vary, depending on how you see fit.

We all know about the stories on the news about MySpace and why so many men have been using it to solicit women into having sex with them. Earlier this year, 6 men were arrested in Colorado for doing just that. And a Dateline NBC mini-series about Internet predators aired last month. Parents, if you're reading this now, you realize that this site, as well as my Xanga and MySpace, is family-friendly. However, you should still monitor younger kids' use of those services, so that I can maintain the cleanliness and respect that they deserve (and most of the people who are reading this now are about as old as I am, or a little bit older or even a little bit younger).

Now, the purpose of this month. The first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington in 1910. Mrs. John Brice Dodd, who lived in Spokane, thought that fathers deserve a holiday to honor them. So, she talked with her minister about it, and he and a few other ministers as well as the YMCA convinced others to celebrate the holiday, which quickly spread across the country, and in 1924, President Coolidge asked us to honor our dads with Father's Day. And it's been going strong ever since.

As for Flag Day, it all began in 1777, more than a year after the Declaration of Independence was signed. That year, the American colonies' leaders deicided to accept a new flag as our country's symbol. Before that, they used the Grand Union Flag which had the small design of the UK flag (Called the Union Jack). But this flag had 13 stars, to symbolize the original colonies, and was made by a seamstress named Betsy Ross.

Now, we're going to start out with the column, with the NEWS as the first category. As you may be aware, the illegal immigration issue has taken stage around the country, on how to combat this issue. A guest worker program is in the works, which is good news to us, but we need to do more.

Also in the works, the Senate is again debating a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Again, I'm a Democrat, and I oppose such moves. Republicans claim that they want to "protect" marriage, and that we're "anti-family". What they don't know is that marriage is defined as a union of TWO PEOPLE (not necessarily Man-Woman).

Next category is SPORTS. We've got another World Cup coming up, and it'll be in Germany (and their team won in '02). Some people didn't know that the US actually hosted the World Cup in 1994 (right in my hometown in Dallas)! I hope they'll do it again. As for baseball, Roger Clemens is back with his Houston Astros! We saw him play for 2 teams who have been to the World Series (and won) in the Yankees and Red Sox. The Astros made it to the World Series and lost to the White Sox (who reversed their own curse, like the Red Sox did in '04). This month is all about the Stanley Cup for hockey fans, and for Stars fans, well, they made it to the first round, and were eliminated. For the Mavericks, well, they made it all the way to the Finals and are currently playing the Miami Heat. You'll see how well they do, next column.

My next category is GAME SHOWS. The new season of Lingo is going strong, with that new progressive jackpot. Starts up at $10K and goes up $1,000 until someone wins that. Then, of course, there's the new version of I've Got A Secret on GSN, and if you've played that before, you know how this one works! Then, of course, there's PLAYMANIA. It's the only show where YOU, the viewers become the contestants. All you have to do is text the word PLAY to 77177 and you'll be entered to play a few games where you can win cash and prizes (like gift cards to Dick's Sporting Goods). Hosted by Shandi Finnessy (of US Lingo) and Mel Peachy (of UK's quiz show QuizNation), you never know when they'll be calling YOU!

Speaking of GSN Originals, it's been 4 years since a new batch was created. One of those debuted in Tax Day '02, the others came in this month, 4 years ago. Here we go.

"Whammy! The ALL-NEW Press Your Luck"-This show, hosted by Todd Newton, is a revival of the Classic PYL we all have come to know and love, with Big Bucks, Great Prizes, and Whammies. But there are a few differences between the two, and you'll see them, as I give the rules. In Round 1, the 3 players get to start off with some cold cash in their bank; $1,000 to be exact. They can add to that by taking spins at the Big Board loaded with cash and prizes. But, if they hit a Whammy, they not only lose all their loot, but that knocks them out of the rest of the round. After each of the players takes a spin, more whammies are added to the board, making it more difficult to hold onto your stash. If you're afraid of the whammy, you can FREEZE your score at any time to protect your winnings. Round 2 is the question round, but unlike the Classic PYL, there are 5 questions instead of 4. Same rules apply (3 spins for a correct buzz-in answer, 1 spin for a correct multiple choice answer). In Round 3, it's where the fun really gets fun! Over $100K worth of cash and prizes are loaded onto the board, and in addition to the whammies, you will notice some DOUBLE WHAMMIES. They not only take all the loot you've won, but to ensure you know their presence, they'll dump something on you! Also, anyone who hits 4 whammies is eliminated, as I'm sure you know; and you can also pass your remaining spins to another player to hold onto your score (and whoever gets your spins MUST take them before dealing with the earned spins, just like the Classic PYL). And, as we all know, whoever has the highest score at the end of the game is the winner and the ONLY one to keep all the cash and prizes they've earned, like the Classic! In Season 1, you'll notice such spaces as the GEM or Spin Again and CAR or Spin Again. Those spaces entitle you to a sleek-looking Gem Car, and to win it, you'll have to hit the GEM space in Round 1, hit the CAR space in Round 3, not hit a Whammy, and win the game. Also, you'd find $1,000 or Spin Again in Round 3.

Season 2 (2003) made things better. First off, you now could win a Suzuki Aerio by hitting both halves of the car key along with winning the game, provided you held onto them. Second, the $1K/Spin Again becomes $555/Spin Again. Third, anytime you hit a Whammy, all your cash and prizes go into a progressive jackpot known as the BIG BANK, which starts at $3,000. To claim its contents, all you had to do was land on the BIG BANK square and answer an open-ended question correctly. "Friend Or Foe?"-This show, hosted by MTV's Kennedy (Lisa Kennedy Montgomery), tests your ability to TRUST someone to win money. 6 contestants are put into 3 teams and each team starts with a "Trust Fund" of $200. In Round 1, the teams are then asked 4 multiple-choice questions at $500 a pop, and the 2 players on each team must agree to an answer before locking it in. After all 4 questions are asked, the lowest-scoring team is eliminated, and heads to the "Trust Box". There, the 2 players must convince each other why they should vote "Friend." After all is said and done, the players vote. If the 2 vote Friend, they split the Trust Fund. If one votes Friend and the other Foe, the Foe takes all the money. But if they're stupid enough as to both vote Foe, both are stupid enough to go home empty-handed. In Round 2, the 2 remaining teams repeat the same thing, with questions worth $1,000 a pop. In Round 3, the last team goes into a 60-second shootout to earn more cash. 10 questions are asked, each with 2 choices and each worth $500. If they answer all 10 questions correctly before missing 3 (represented by strikes), their total Trust Fund is doubled. In Season 2, the teams were randomly chosen, and the players don't get the initial $200, unless a team bombs out in the first round. "Russian Roulette"-This show, hosted by Mark L. Walberg, tests your ability to stay in the game. It kinda reminds you of the real thing, where players spin a gun, and if it goes off in your face, you're dead. This show reminds us of that, except we don't get shot; we just fall through a drop door. 4 contestants are standing on "Drop Zones" similar to that of a six-cylinder chamber of a "gun", and are asked to challenge their opponents to answer multiple-choice questions. Each round starts with one "Drop Zone", and a new one is added with each new question, up to 5 out of 6. Obviously a correct answer wins you more money, but an incorrect answer makes it worse for you to stay in the game, and you'll see why! Anyway, In Round 1, each question has 3 choices and is worth $150 (which is the starting score).

Now, here's where the Russian Roulette goes into play: Whenever a player misses a question, they lose all their money to the challenging player. Then they must pull a lever in front of them, that triggers a set of red lights spinning around the six Drop Zones. If their zone is NOT lit, the game continues, and they become the challenger. But if their zone IS lit, they fall through the drop door, and the round ends. However, if time runs out during a round and nobody has been eliminated, the player with the most money gets to pull a special center-stage lever and randomly eliminate one of their opponents. However, if there's a tie for the lead, Mark does the honors of pulling the lever. If an eliminated player had any money, it is split up among the remaining players.

In Round 2, questions are worth $200 and have 4 choices and play just like Round 1. In Round 3, questions are worth $300 and still have 4 choices, but with 2 players remaining, whoever is asked the question can answer the question themselves or pass it to the remaining opponent. However, if time ends during this round, whoever has the lower score is eliminated and the player keeps all the money they've accumulated up to this point, and plays the bonus round, for a chance at the biggest prize in cable game show history: $100,000!

In the bonus round, the champ must answer 5 questions in 60 seconds. Every 10 seconds, one drop zone opens. If the player runs out of time, or gets a question wrong, he or she drops, and is awarded $500 for each correct answer. For each question, the player can think out the answer out loud, but must lock in the answer with "My answer is..." (similar to "Final Answer" on Millionaire). If they're able to nail all 5 questions within the 60 seconds, they win $10,000 and the opportunity to turn that into $100,000 in one final game of Russian Roulette. If they're able to survive the spin, the $100,000 is theirs, otherwise it's only the front game money they keep.

In Season 2, there were a few changes. First off, Round 3 questions are now worth $250; and in the bonus round, players answer 10 questions (with 3 choices each) at $300 a pop if they run out of time or get a question wrong. In addition, in both the front game and end game, the length of the spin is controlled by how long the lever is held down (except in the tie-breaker spin, which is still random).

Next category is MUSIC. Now, in 1999, the A-Teens (originally called the ABBA Teens) gave us a thrill when they launched their inaugural ABBA Generation album, with their renditions of 11 ABBA classics (and 2 bonus songs in HAPPY NEW YEAR and KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU). In 2001, they took things a step further with Teen Spirit, where songs like UPSIDE DOWN, HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD, and SUGAR RUSH made them a hit (although it was Upside Down that made them famous). In 2002 (that's right 4 years ago THIS MONTH), they took it even further with Pop 'Til You Drop. On there, you'll notice some nice tracks in FLOORFILLER and LET YOUR HEART DO ALL THE TALKING, but you'll also find their renditions of "School's Out" by Alice Cooper (yes, it's a HE) and Elvis' "Can't Help Falling In Love With You". As a matter of fact, they used the latter song and shot a Music Video in honor of the song being featured in Disney's "Lilo & Stitch", which is chock-filled with pop artists' renditions of The King's songs. I've seen it a few times, and I highly recommend it to you!

You wanna know what else happened 4 years ago this month? Well, Mexican-born Latino singer Paulina Rubio, who was more famous as an actress and released several Latino albums to boot, took US pop music to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL with her first English-speaking album in "Border Girl". Prior to the album's release, her venture into the US music world had already gotten plenty of airtime on US radio stations with her first hit single (and lead track) in "Don't Say Goodbye." You can view the music video of the aforementioned song by going to the 3rd Floor page, and also there's an interview video that goes along with it, so you'll know more about it as you go along!

I continue the Music category with a bit of history. 4 years ago this month, American Idol premiered on Fox. A spin-off of UK's "Pop Idol" on ITV and originally subtitled "The Search for a Superstar", this lets you put your singing talents to the test. One of the judges you'll find on the US version is also on the UK version. Yes, it's the judge we LOVE TO HATE: SIMON COWELL. His partners are Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. On the UK version, he's got Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman, and Neil "Dr" Fox. And while we're on the subject if Idol, Taylor Hicks is your new American Idol (joining the winners in Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, and Carrie Underwood) with Katharine McPhee as the runner-up (joining Justin Guarini, Clay Aiken, Diana DeGarmo, and Bo Bice).