por Storytime with GamerDude
As he's talked about in previous episodes, GamerDude is a big fan of the movies. In this episode, he talks about 10 classic movies from the "good old days" that he believes everyone should take the time and add to their "must see" movie list. Now, these are not the 10 greatest movies of all time, or the 10 best; these are just 10 movies that, to GamerDude, are really good movies that everyone should take the time to watch. The list runs the gamut from The Wizard of Oz to The Dirty Dozen, and includes comedies, dramas and action films. With all of the movies he's watched over the years, GamerDude has also compiled a list of what he considers to be the most over-used movie tropes - those scenes or devices that they use in every movie that, after so many years of overuse, are boring and almost painful to watch. From the ever-present empty parking spot in front of every building our hero visits to machine guns that are never able to hit the target, GamerDude gives you a list of 10 tropes he can do without.
In another "very special episode" of Storytime, GamerDude talks about growing up as a Christian Scientist, which is a religion that focuses, in part, on healing through prayer. He talks about growing up without medicine and never having gone to a doctor as a child. He explains how his parents were devout Christian Scientists, how he and his siblings were brought up in the religion, and how it impacted his life growing up. He also talks about how and why he stopped practicing Christian Science in his 20s, which started when a girlfriend insisted he take some aspirin when he was sick. He talks about how his sense of spirituality has grown and changed since childhood, and how his beliefs today reflect his experiences as he has grown.
GamerDude has always been a fan of television and in this episode, he has more stories about the TV shows he grew up with. Television changed in the 1970s, right when GamerDude was at his most impressionable. In addition to explaining how all TV in the 1970s was "appointment TV" because there was no way to record the shows, he talks about the changes in television, from allowing married couples to actually share a bed on television, to the acceptance of "bathroom humor" in All in the Family, to the the "T & A" shows of the '70s, which gave us "Daisy Dukes," Three's Company, and Charlie's Angels. GamerDude also talks about his top five most memorable shows from the '70s: Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Happy Days and One Day At a Time. As you might expect, two of those choices had everything to do with a young, hormonal teenager falling "in love" with the characters on the shows. To wrap this episode up, GamerDude re-visits his "Five Season Rule" for television series, because he just won't stop talking about it!
Books have always held a special place in GamerDude's heart. For as long as he can remember, he has used books to visit different places, differnt times, different worlds, and has used them both as entertainment and as an escape. In this episode, he talks about the books he read as a kid, starting in kindergarten, when he discovered Sally, Dick and Jane. He moved on to The Hardy Boys and devoured as many of their books as he could get his hands on. He talks about discovering The Three Investigators when browsing the Scholastic Book Club Catalog and remembers his favorite sports books: Great Moments in Pro Football, Strange But True Football Stories and Strange But True Baseball Stories. And he talks about the only biography he remembers from childhood - the story of Yankee great, Lou Gehrig. He also talks about some of his favorite authors. He discussed his feelings about Stephen King's works, and how he favors his early works far more than his more recent efforts. And he talks about Donald E. Westlake, the prolific master of the caper novel, and two of his favorite books from his teen years: Cops and Robbers and The Hot Rock. He also mentions some of his other favorite authors: Elmore Leonard, Lee Childs, and Michael Connelly, before wrapping up by discussing how much he misses the days when he could just sit and read.
GamerDude has more stories about his father, "GamerDad". In this episode, GamerDude tells the stories of the bonding moments he remembers with his father. He tells the story about the one time his father actually played softball with him and the neighborhood kids, wearing Bermuda shorts and combat boots. He talks about bonding with his father while sorting nails and screws and nuts and bolts in the precursor to "the Man Cave," that area of the basement known as "The Workbench." GamerDude then revisits the trips to the auctions his father attended every Saturday, and talks about the "wonder boxes" his dad would bring home. He then talks about two memorable moments when his father came to his rescue, once when his car broke down at Great Adventure, and once after "The Great Bike Accident." The thing GamerDude remembers most about his dad is, as difficult a man as he could be, he was always there, and that is a tradition that GamerDude has tried to carry on with his own kids - being there.
As the end of summer slowly approaches, GamerDude remembers when he first left home to attend college. He tells the stories about how his parents vetoed his thoughts of attending college at the beach, nixing his plans to apply to the College of the Virgin Islands and the University of Tampa, and explains how and why he wound up at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He talks about how nervous he was about meeting his first roommate, who was supposed to be an international exchange student, and how he figured out a way to meet people in a place where he did not know a single soul. He then talks about his first major - journalism, why he choose it, and why he changed it. He talks about the majors he went through - from journalism to accounting to business to education before settling on a liberal arts degree. He closes by talking about how the college experience gave him the understanding that he was free to make choices that were right for him, even though those choices might not be what others would consider "right."
Reading, and telling stories, and listening to stories, has always been a part of GamerDude's life. In this episode, he talks about how his mother used to read to him when he was young, how many of the stories have stayed with him through the years, and how he has passed those stories on to his kids. He talks about the "My Bookhouse" collection he grew up with, and some of the stories his mother read to him. He then reads one of his favorites: The Knights of the Silver Shield.
GamerDude's passion for cars and driving is well-known. The stories today go back to when he first became aware of the mechanics of driving while driving with his Dad. He talks about when he drove his aunt's Ford Bronco in her field when he was 11, and how that gave him "the bug" for driving. He talks about driving up and down his parents' driveway hundreds of times, practicing K-turns and parallel parking, and damaging two cars in the process. He tells the story about his driving test in an ice storm, and his first accident a week later. He talks about how he enjoys driving, and seeing things, and going places, and experiencing them first-hand from behind the wheel. GamerDude finishes the episode with a rant about driving and the pet peeves he has today, from people who don't signal and don't know how to make a left turn, to the rubber-neckers and texters who make the roads a hazard for everyone.
GamerDude's father found out about Chincoteague, Virginia when GamerDude was still young, and discovered it was an answer to a prayer - it gave the family the perfect vacation, at least as far as GamerDad was concerned. Chincoteague is right next to the Assateague National Seashore, and it gave GamerDude's dad a quiet, undeveloped, non-commercial vacation spot where he could sit on the sand, read a book, and watch the ocean. It was great for a busy corporate type, but for GamerDude, it was just another situation where he had to find ways to entertain himself. In this episode, he talks about the various vacation rentals his family used over the years, from a mobile home, to a two-bedroom cottage, to a creaky old Victorian style home. He talks about the dinners out, the fried food in the south, and the deliciousness that is fresh seafood right off the boat. He remembers Bill's Seafood Restaurant and the giant flounder filets, as well as fresh claim strips and sauteed sea scallops. On the beach, he talks about keeping himself busy for hours, learning to body surf. And he talks about keeping busy when not on the beach, from riding bikes to playing outside as the mosquito truck made its rounds. He also remembers discovering an Asteroids game at the local campground, and a table-top Space Invaders game at the local Pizza Hut, which began his life-long love affair with video games. And GamerDude recalls how his dad punched a couch, and remembers how he discovered that his parents were still . . . romantically inclined.
Independence Day in the US means different things to different people. When GamerDude was growing up, sparklers and the town fireworks were part of the tradition. He tells the stories about how sparklers were THE big thing. He remembers his family's efforts to enjoy the bicentennial of the United States. That involved trying to see the "tall ships" and the biggest fireworks display ever, while his dad still tried to avoid lines and traffic. GamerDude remembers his trip into New York, as a young adult, to see the Macy's fireworks display, and All. That. Walking. And he tells the story about how, as a teenager, he smuggled fireworks home from vacation one year so that he could have his own fireworks display for the family on the following Fourth of July. It went off without a hitch.....mostly.