the Tommy Page Page

The guys lost the final round of the Battle of the Sexes competition on local radio station Z95.3, and because we were only down by one point, the only person to really blame is me.

However, while listening to the station at work, we were wondering who this artist Tomi Swick was, and all I could think of was the guy who sang a love song to Stephanie Tanner on Full House, when really he had just changed the words of the song from "Jennifer" to "Stephanie" (it has the same amount of syllables, you see).

After some very basic Googling, it became clear that Tommy Page was who I was thinking of, and he was actually a real singer. Not only that, he reached every major milestone that a late-eighties early-nineties pop star could ever want, including the guest spot on Full House: he opened for the New Kids on the Block's Step by Step tour, was interviewed by both Regis and Kathie Lee, featured on the covers of the country's finest teen magazines, got a song on the Dick Tracy soundtrack, had both a Christmas single and a duet with pop legend Tiffany, worked with Micheal Bolton, and was big in Japan. He also apparently jumped on the flashy flash-intro bandwagon of the year 2000, which is still visible on his official website.

I salute you, TP. Your legacy will always live on in our hearts and minds...
Tommy Page: The guy who sang a song to Stephanie while spending the day with DJ and sweet-talking Michelle and dating Jennifer and hanging out with Uncle Jesse and being friends with Danny and making Kimmy Gibbler swoon, who was also a respected musician.

Mastheads and Model Heads

So I was in a fabric store purchasing some sort of unit of fabric for a dress for my mother, as a favour.

I was waiting at the checkout line trying to look like I knew what I was doing there, when I looked at the one magazine that was on sale, as one often does when stuck in a checkout line.

Now being a guy who doesn't often frequent fabric stores to purchase units of fabric for dresses for my mother, as a favour, I had never seen this particular magazine, and so was quite surprised to see the word "Butt" in giant pink type across the top of it.

It took me a second to figure out what the actual name of the magazine was really supposed to be, until I saw that their website was www.butterick.com.

Needless to say, as soon as I got home I went to their website and found that this was not the first time they had placed a model in a bad position on the cover: just check out this gem here. Even if you could excuse the word "Butt" because it looks like there could be more to it underneath, on this cover one could easily assume that the name of the publication was indeed, "Buttock".

Graphic Design Lesson: Location, location, location.

Screeched

1. To cry out in a high-pitched, strident voice.
2. To make a sound suggestive of a screech: Tires screeched on the wet pavement.

"Screeched" is also apparently the longest one-syllable word in the English language.

Coincidentally, the iTunes Music Store just got screeched: Apple has added the first season of Saved by the Bell to their downloadable TV Show offerings (not that us Canadians can get any Bayside on our side of the border just yet).

I could definitely spend the full 10 minutes it would take to watch the 30 second previews of each episode, but was shocked to hear a crazy over-the-top version of the theme song in episode 20. Not that the original was mellow or anything, it's just that after watching thousands of SBTB episodes growing up, it actually hurt my ears to hear a different rendition.

Life Lessons I Learned From Radio

This guy gave me a call this morning. I was just heading out to work when the phone rang, and it was Drew Savage, a popular radio host from the local station Z95.3. It seems my casual entry into the Battle of the Sexes contest had become an oddly surreal event and I was now a contestant. Being on the radio is weird: you realize people all across the city are listening to what you are saying at that exact moment, you don't hear the sound effects and music everyone else does, and talking to these radio personalities on the phone is like talking to your radio but the people respond.

Anyway, here's how the battle went down:

In short, I learned two things today:

1. Never promise what you can't deliver.

2. Adding salt to water increases the time it takes the water to boil.

On top of all that, I was late for work. I had originally thought that this would be okay as I imagined bringing in trays of lattes, mochas and caramel apple ciders with bags of chocolate croissants for everyone, but in the end, I was late, had no food, and a loser.

Thank you Drew Savage.