por Storytime with GamerDude
GamerDude talks about how he's always loved Thanksgiving, and how he believes it gets short-changed, wedged between Halloween and Christmas. He talks about the food we all love to eat, and discusses how he used to be a "turkey traditionalist," but has broadened his horizons over the years. GamerDude also talks about the importance of being grateful for things, and how there is always something we can be grateful for, even if it feels like that may not be the case. He talks about the little things in life that are things that we can appreciate, and be thankful for, from the warmth of the sunshine, to the way music makes us feel, to the worlds we can explore in books. He also shares a Thanksgiving prayer.
This week, GamerDude goes back for some of his favorite Thanksgiving stories from the first three seasons of Storytime. He talks about how his cousins gobbled up all the leftover turkey one year, leaving GamerDad with no leftovers to snack on. He talks about the differences between his grandmothers' Thanksgivings, and how he tried to graduate from the "kids table" at his dad's mom's house. And he talks about how all of the things we think we know about Thanksgiving probably aren't actually true.
This week, GamerDude remembers some more of the things that he grew up with that have disappeared since he was a kid. He talks about how colored toilet paper was a thing, and how it was designed to match the colored fixtures in bathrooms back in the day. He also talks about how kitchen appliances used to have a variety of colors, from Harvest Gold to Avocado to Coppertone. He also remembers some of the weird flavors of Jello that used to exist. GamerDude also remembers Saturday morning cartoons, and how shows like Scooby Doo, Hong Kong Phooey and The Wacky Racers started on Saturday mornings. He also discusses how Disney wormed its way into our subconscious with its Superbowl commercials and its weekly Wonderful World of Disney shows. GamerDude also talks about Wite-Out and how it was the miracle eraser in a bottle. He also remembers one of the shows he grew up with: Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, which was one of the first nature shows. He talks about how he watched it every Saturday night.
Returning to one of his favorite topics, GamerDude talks about some movies that were big when they came out but, in his opinion, haven't held up over time. He talks about some dramas, like The Matrix and Top Gun, which he doesn't believe have aged well. GamerDude also talks about several comedies that have not stood the test of time, from The Mask, with Jim Carrey, to Weekend at Bernie's, to the classic Blazing Saddles (along with several more). GamerDude also talks about genre tropes that used to exist that seem to have disappeared over the years. He talks about how "swords and sorcery" movies, like Conan the Barbarian and Clash of the Titans, used to be big, but seem to be gone from Hollywood. He talks about how body swapping used to be a big thing in movies, and how cemetaries used to appear prominantly as well. GamerDude also has a few classic movie lines that were classic, still may be classic, but because of their context, don't have the same impact they used to have.
For Halloween this year, GamerDude heads back to the Halloween Room for some ghost stories. He has dug into his collection of short stories for a couple of ghost stories to send chills up your spine. He has also found some two-sentence horror stories on-line that he shares. He also digs into the background of a couple of haunted houses/haunted hotels. He talks about Sarah Winchester and the Winchester Mystery Mansion, and then digs into the history of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. He talks about the murders and suicides there, and the strange disappearance of Elisa Lam. And this is the link to the creepy video of Elisa Lam that documents her behavior before she disappeared at the hotel.
This week, GamerDude talks about catching Covid, despite all of the precautions he's been taking for more than two-and-a-half years. He talks about the frustration he feels about all he's given up, and the way he's had to change his life to avoid Covid, only to contract it anyway. GamerDude also has some stories for Spooky October. He has always been a fan of spooky stories and unsolved mysteries, and he talks about why "ghost ship" stories are so interesting to him. He talks about the circumstances of one of the more famous ghost ships, the Mary Celeste. He talks about how it set sail in 1872 from New York, bound for Italy, and how it was found adrift in the Atlatnic about three weeks later, with everything intact, including the cargo, but no trace of the crew. He also shares stories of several other ghost ships in the past, and how it appears that people actually do just disappear without a trace.
Despite his best efforts (which included rarely leaving the house), Covid found GamerDude and ran his vocal cords through a blender. No worries, though; he decided to go back to Season One to re-master some more stories from the first year of the podcast. He talks about some of the superstitions he believed in (and some he didn't). He also talks about Halloween when he was a kid, and how important trick-or-treating was. And he also re-visits his stories about the NFL and how it owned Sunday afternoons when he was a kid.
This week, GamerDude decided to try something a little different. He's slowed things down a little, and taken some time to talk about the lost art of listening. He remembers the sounds of the neighborhoods he's lived in, and grown up in, from the lawn mowers in the distance to the barking dog two blocks over. He remembers the sounds of the garbage trucks, and the train whistle miles away, and he talks about how sitting and listening to those sounds was like listening to the heartbeat of your neighborhood. GamerDude also talks about the heartbeat of nature, and the sound of the bugs, and the birds, and the breezes. He also talks about sounds that are distinctly night-time sounds, and how you can always tell it's night-time just by the sounds you hear. GamerDude also shares some of the sounds that were an ordinary part of his life that are slowly fading from the world. He talks about, and shares sounds from, rotary phones, manual typewriters, and doorbells. And what episode about long lost sounds would be complete without the sound of the old dial-up internet connection?
GamerDude continues with his discussion of weird facts and odd information he's collected over the years. He talks about his fascination with books like the Information Please almanac, and shares some passages from The Public Speaking Treasure Chest, a book he has from 1942. He talks about how much he liked puzzles and riddles when he was growing up. He shares some of the riddles from a book he has from 1968, which is chock full of quizzes, puzzles and riddles. He also shares a couple of the stories from The Stupid History of the Human Race, because it just serves to confirm that, for however long people have been around, they remain dependably stupid. GamerDude finishes up with one of his favorite stories about how the Roman Empire influenced the design of the Space Shuttle. It's based on one of those old sayings that we all like to wish was applied more often: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
After talking with his daughter this week, GamerDude realized that the "going out" things that he used to do in his twenties don't really exist anymore. He remembers the various places he could go and the things he could do for entertainment on the weekends. GamerDude talks about the prevalence of comedy clubs back in the 1980s and 1990s, with names like "Bananas" or "Giggles." He talks about the many stars of the past twenty years who started as stand-up comics in the 1980s, from Eddie Murphy to Robin Williams to David Letterman. He also talks about how "Comedy Night" at the local bars would bring some young, aspiring comics into town to test their material, and you could have a front row seat. He also talks about music clubs, and how going out to a bar or a club to listen to live music was a regular thing. He talks about a duo he met in college, and how they would pack the crowds in to the little bar at the local Holiday Inn on the weekends. GamerDude also talks about the dance clubs that seemed to be in every town, and discusses the various places he would go in New Jersey, from Connections to the Parsippany Hilton for dancing the night away. He also talks about a couple of the big clubs in New York City - The Limelight and Studio 54 - that he never went to but that he had heard about. He also talks about how society has changed in so many ways so that venues like these clubs just don't exist anymore, and how people's attitudes, in general, have made the existence of these clubs - at least the way they used to be - almost impossible.