March 21: Ed O’Neill

• His full name is Edward Leonard O’Neill.

• He was born on April 12, 1946.
• He is an American actor and comedian.
• Some of his roles on television are Al Bundy on the sitcom Married with Children.
• He was nominated for two Golden Globe awards for the show.
• He also starred as Jamie Pritchett on the award-winning ABC sitcom Modern Family. He was nominated for three primetime Emmy awards and won 4 Screen Actors Guild award for this series.
• He also appeared in the Wayne’s World movie series, Little Giants, Prefontaine, The Bone Collector and Sun Dogs. He has been voice work for the Wreck-It Ralph the franchise and Finding Dory.

Early Life

• His family was an Irish American Catholic family.
• They lived in Youngstown, Ohio. He was born on April 12, 1946.
• His mother’s name was Ruth Ann. She was a homemaker and a social worker.
• His father’s name is Edward Philip O’Neill, and he was a steel mill worker and a truck driver.
• Ed attended Ursuline High School where he played football.
• When he was 14 years old, he worked in construction and at the steel mill.
• He got awarded a football scholarship to Ohio University and he majored in history. He left the university after his sophomore year and admits That he spent more time playing sports and partying than studying. He also was in a feud with his coach.
• He decided to transfer to Youngstown State University where he was a defensive line man.

Professional Football Career

Pittsburgh Steelers

• He signed as an undrafted free agent in 1969 under rookie head coach Chuck Noll but he was cut from the team in training camp.
• Later on in life while he was on Married with Children he played a former high school football star that didn’t make it big and constantly reminisced about his glory days at Polk High.
• Former Pittsburgh Steelers great and Pro football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw also made two guest appearances on the show.
• Ed worked as a substitute social studies teacher at his former school Ursuline high school before he became an actor.

Career

• He re-enrolled at Youngstown State University after being cut by the Steelers and was one of the first students in the school’s new theatre program. In 1979 he played a boxer in the Broadway play called knockout. After that he landed his first movie role as a police detective in the movie called Cruising with Al Pacino.
• In 1985 he was in a Red Lobster commercial.
• In 1986 he was in the show called Popeye Doyle he was an NYPD detective. His name was Jimmy Popeye Doyle.
• This was a two-hour made-for-TV movie and was filmed and shown on network television.
• He received good reviews for his performance and the show received positive rating but was never picked up for regular television.
• In 1986 while he was playing the role of Lenny in a stage production of the play Of Mice and Men a casting agent from the Fox television network saw him.
• He Asked him to audition for the role of Al Bundy on Married with Children.
• At this time the show was in its very beginning stages and the proposal was being made to create the show. It was going to be about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago.
• He got the part because during the audition he just slumped his shoulders and sighed as he was going to go through the front door of the home.

• Married with children’s first episode aired on April 5, 1987, and ended after 11 seasons on June 9, 1990.
• During and after the success of Married with Children, Ed also starred in films like Dutch and Little Giants. 
• He also had small parts in the Bone Collector, Wayne’s world and Wayne’s world 2.

• He made a brief appearance on the comedy variety show called In Living Colour.
• He played the Dirty Dozen’s champion who defeats the challenger played by Jamie Foxx.
  

He also made an appearance on the sitcom called 8 simple rules. He played an ex-boyfriend of one of the characters played by Katie Stegall who was also his wife Peggy Bundy on Married with Children.

During the 1990s played on a lot of commercials for 1 800 COLLECT

• The creator of the Law and Order series Dick Wolf gave Ed the role of Sgt. Joe Friday in his 2003 remake of the classic TV crime series called Dragnet.
• The series however was cancelled by ABC in its second season. He began to appear as Governor Eric Baker as a recurring role on NBC’s show called The West Wing.
  

• He also played Bill on HBO’s television series called John from Cincinnati.
• He also guest starred on the hit show Miami Vice.
  

• In 2008 he appeared in an advertisement for the then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama as Al the Shoe Salesman.
• In 2009 the cast of Married with Children came together again when they were honoured at the seventh annual TV Land Award show.
  From 2009 to 2020 Ed played the role of J Pritchett on the ABC sitcom called Modern Family.
  

• He received three primetime Emmy award nominations in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
• Since 2012 Ed has done voiceovers for TV advertisements for the drug Zyrtec and with Walmart for their brand of mobile phone service called Straight Talk.
• In 2016 he starred as Hank the Octopus in the movie called Finding Dory.
• According to Ed he didn’t realize that he had a starring role at first in the film. But as his voice recording sessions continued and most of his interactions turned out to be with Dory it was only then that he started to realize that Hank the Octopus might be a major character in the film.

Personal Life

• He is married to actress Catherine Rusoff. 
• As of 2016 they were living in Los Angeles with their two daughters. 
• He has trained for 22 years under his mentor Rorion Gracie. In December 2007 he received his black belt.
• He was introduced to Brazilian jujitsu by his friend writer/Director John Milius. 
• In 2012 during the filming of TV documentary I Am Bruce Lee, Ed states that he considers getting his black belt the greatest achievement of his life besides his children.

Let’s end class with a funny video with Ed on Ellen.

March 9: Zack & Cody

• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is an American Disney Channel Original Series created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan.
• The series premiered on March 18, 2005 and was one of the first five shows available on the iTunes Store!

Premise

• The series is set in the Tipton Hotel in Boston.
• The series centers upon Zack and Cody Martin (Dylan and Cole Sprouse), who are trouble-making twins that live at the Tipton Hotel.
• The series main cast consists of Zack and Cody along with ditsy hotel heiress London Tipton (Brenda Song), the candy counter girl Maddie (Ashley Tisdale), the hotel’s manager, Mr. Moseby (Phill Lewis), and the boys’ single mother Carey (Kim Rhodes).

Main Characters

Zack Martin (Dylan Sprouse)

• Zack is the cool, outgoing, immature twin. He is 10 minutes older than Cody. Zack usually dresses in skater clothes.
• At school, he is a straight “D” student, but he is best in class at wood shop. In his other classes, he has taken advantage of teachers and has pretended to have dyslexia to get accommodations.
• Zack has a huge crush on Maddie even though he’s much younger than her. He calls her “sweet thang” because she works at the candy counter!

Cody Martin (Cole Sprouse)

• Cody is the calm, mature, and smarter twin. Cody is the more gentle twin compared to his brother and somehow always gets talked into going along with Zack’s schemes.
• He is a straight A student, however, he is not as strong as Zack in wood shop, where Zack excels.
• In one episode, he moves into the coat closet because he is not happy with his brother’s sloppiness.

Maddie Fitzpatrick (Ashley Tisdale)

• Maddie has an incredibly long name: Madeline Margaret Genevieve Miranda Catherine Fitzpatrick.
• Maddie is the teenage candy-counter girl at the Tipton Hotel, a cashier at the Cluck Bucket, manager on the Camp Tipton Daycare Center, counselor for her school’s summer camp program – Camp Heaven on Earth – who just got back from Antarctica according to London in the episode First Day of High School.
• While she comes from a lower-class family, Maddie is very hard-working, outspoken, and intelligent. She is a strong supporter of environmental causes.
• However, she isn’t perfect. In a few episodes, it is shown as being very selfish and a bigger opportunist than London, though she always loses out when this side of her personality is shown.
• Maddie is London’s closest friend, though London often treats her like a servant, as in the episode “Footloser”, usually bribing her with money.
• Maddie also babysat Zack and Cody throughout season one.

London Tipton (Brenda Song)

• She is the daughter of Wilfred Tipton, the owner of the Tipton Hotel.
• She is an obvious parody of Paris Hilton, down to the ditzy demeanor and frivolous spending and name of the character (London/Paris and Tipton/Hilton).
• Although you never see Mr. Tipton fully (usually hiding behind his security force, which stands on all sides…. in the tradition of Wilson from Home Improvement), he is frequently mentioned.
• London is a dim-witted, spoiled, rich teenager with her own private suite at the Tipton Hotel in Boston, complete with a lot of closets (each with their own talking mirror) and a kitchen which takes up most of the floor.
• She does not have a nanny, or some other adult, to help her but relies on the Tipton Hotel Staff for any assistance and/or guidance. Mr. Moseby is like a father figure, often giving her advice, telling her when she did something wrong, and teaching her how to drive! She also talks to Maddie about her problems even though they are very different.

• When she’s happy, she usually claps her hands repeatedly while saying her catchphrase, “Yay me!” She also has her own web show called “Yay Me! Starring London Tipton” that exists both within the show and in the real world.

Mr. Moseby (Phill Lewis)

• Mr. Moseby is the somewhat uptight manager of the Tipton Hotel, who speaks with a wide vocabulary. He is often annoyed by Zack and Cody’s schemes and is often annoyed by them, but he actually cares about them a lot and acts like a father figure to them.
• Mr. Moseby is more of a father to London than her own, because he is seldom around, he even said he taught London how to walk, her ABC’s, and how to drive (or tried to). He cares for London and treats her like his own. He also taught Zack how to play mini golf.
• A running gag of the series is that Mr. Moseby often makes a fool of himself in front of people (e.g.: hitting a baby doll that wouldn’t stop crying against a chair when a woman with a baby walked by), or making a sarcastic comment about himself (that the customers think is true, and not sarcastic).

Carey Martin (Kim Rhodes)

• Carey is the single mother of Zack and Cody. She was married to Kurt Martin but they divorced after the twins were born for unstated reasons. Their dad appears in just a few episodes.
• Carey works as a singer in the hotel lounge. She and her sons traveled a lot before arriving at the Tipton, which she calls the “best gig we’ve ever had”.
• During the first season, Carey had short blonde hair, though in some episodes of the second season and throughout the third, she has red hair.
• The hotel janitor, Arwin, has said on several occasions that he has a crush on her. Whenever Zack and Cody have an argument, she tells them about her and her ex-boyfriends stories, much to their dismay.

Esteban Ramirez (Adrian R’Mante)

• Esteban also has a really long name! His name is Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya de la Rosa Ramírez.
• He started out as a bellhop (person who helps people carry their luggage to their rooms), but he got promoted to the assistant night manager at the Tipton.
• He has a Spanish accent, which causes some people to have trouble understanding him.
• He has a pet chicken named Dudley who he considers to be his best friend.
• Although he’s an adult, he can be dramatic and a little bit dumb, so he gets along well with Zack and Cody. He has a friendly, older brother-type relationship with Zack and Cody, affectionately calling them “Little Blond Peoples”.

Arwin Hochauser (Brian Stepanek)

• He is the Tipton Hotel’s engineer and resided in the hotel. He’s portrayed as brilliant but socially awkward.
• Arwin is considered childlike by many characters in the show; he enjoys picture books, sleeps with a sock monkey, and eats a lunch packed by his mother. However, Arwin is much loved by Zack and Cody.
• He became favored among the series viewers which led to spin-off plans for the character, which unfortunately fell through.

• This is my favourite scene from the show!! They needed to make a commercial to promote the hotel with all the staff!

Spinoff: The Suite Life on Deck

• Although the “Arwin” spinoff never happened, the Zack and Cody spinoff ‘The Suite Life on Deck’ was a huge success!
• The series follows twin brothers Zack and Cody and hotel heiress London Tipton in a new setting, the S.S. Tipton, which is a cruise ship that Mr. Moseby manages.
• London is in highschool with the boys because she kept skipping highschool and getting kicked out for being too high maintenance!
• On this ship, they attend classes at “Seven Seas High”. The ship travels around the world to countries, such as Italy, Greece, India, Morocco, the United Kingdom, and many more, where the characters experience different cultures and adventures and where Zack and Cody usually get in trouble.

Bailey Pickett (Debby Ryan)

• Bailey is a smart, kindhearted girl from a small farm in Kettlecorn, Kansas. She is also quite physically strong from growing up on a farm.
• Bailey enrolls in Seven Seas High to go out and explore the world. However, Bailey couldn’t get into the school. Every student has a roommate who is the same gender as them (girls can only be roommates with girls), and everyone had a roommate.
• In order to get in, Bailey pretended to be a boy; she wore more loose-fitting clothing and a cap to cover her hair.
• She gets assigned as Zack’s roommate and is disgusted by his messiness. At first, they didn’t get along, but when Zack found out that Bailey was a girl, they became better friends. Zack also promised to keep Bailey’s secret.
• Everyone else found out that she was a girl during a fire drill when her hat fell off. She was able to stay as long as she became roommates with the only girl who didn’t have one– London!
• Her friendship dynamic with London is similar to Maddie where London teases Bailey for not being as fashionable, but deep down, they love each other and are best friends!
• She is described as nice, fun, and loving for other people’s feelings, which shows how sensitive she is. She is a sweet, down-to-earth girl. She is as intelligent as Cody and becomes his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Zack has a different girlfriend basically every episode.

• In the show, Maddie even visits the gang on the ship!

March 7: Pop Culture

What Is Pop Culture?

• Pop culture is a short form for popular culture. It generally refers to the dominant or prevalent traditions and ideas in a certain society.
• In modern Western countries this term is used to describe various cultural products such as movies, music, art and television that the majority of people enjoy regularly.
• The products that we consider pop culture appeal to a large group of people meaning that they target a large broad audience and are enjoyed by lots of people.

The History of Pop Culture

• The term pop culture started during the 19^th century.
• It used to be connected to the lower classes people and considered them to be uneducated.
• The upper class of people with higher education had their term and it was called official culture.
• When literacy rates began to grow higher in Britain during this time, more and more people began to spend time and money on cultural products.
• It was mostly from entertainment.
• This created an interest for cheap popular literature called penny dreadfuls or penny fiction.
• These stories were published weekly for the cost of a single penny.
• In the 20^th century, the end of World War II caused a lot of cultural changes.
• This was because of the innovations of mass media. The meaning of pop culture started to mix with mass culture or culture for mass consumption.
• These changes were most noticeable in the United States At first. In the 1950s people started to use the shortened form pop culture rather than popular culture.

Here Are Some of the Best Moments in Pop Culture History

The Definitions of Pop Culture

• There are several definitions of the way people see pop culture.
• The simplest way pop culture is defined is a culture that is liked by many people, and there is no negative meaning to it.
• Another definition is one that says pop culture is leftovers that are left behind after we identify the high culture.
• This means it seems like pop culture is the inferior one and is consumed by lower classes in society.
• Another way to define pop culture is as commercial objects made to be consumed by many people and the objects are made to control people.
• According to this definition pop culture is a tool that is used to control a lot of people.
• The next definition of pop culture is one that says popular culture is folk culture. This means it’s a culture from the people. It isn’t forced on people instead it’s authentic and shouldn’t be considered commercial.
• This means that with this definition pop culture is partly rendered by the upper classes while different parts of it are being chosen by large number of people meaning the majority of people can keep or get rid of different parts of pop culture that they don’t want or believe in.
• The last way of defining pop culture is the way our society is today. The lines of what we see as authentic and what is commercial are blurred in our society.
• People are free to consume whatever they like and reject what they don’t like.

Here’s a video about society and pop culture.

Pop Culture Today

• The Internet has made cultural products very accessible.
• Because of this you can almost say that anything could be considered pop culture.
• Things like movies, music, video games and comic books are much easier to access now because of the Internet.
• Therefore, certain media have gained popularity because they have reached a much bigger audience because of the Internet.

Does Pop Culture Build Empathy?

• Let’s ask ourselves this question that we ever felt deeply connected to a film or TV series or character?
• The power of stories that are told on the screen, in person or on the computer, continue to have people trying to find ways to engage with each other and the content that they are watching.
• The Internet can be seen as pop culture because of pages like Facebook.
• Sometimes it can be seen as the problem rather than a positive for people to be engaged in.
• However, right now we can also understand the benefits of engaging people on places like Facebook.
• Successful TV shows can be considered pop culture because they appeal to the viewer by having their storylines and characters be relatable.
• It is this connection between the viewer and the character that becomes the ultimate entertainment.
• The writers write about situations and topics that people can relate to. An example is the show Modern Family.
• It draws on family experiences with a mixture of members dealing with modern situations.
• When we watch a sitcom like this it makes us laugh but we also relate emotionally with the family events and relationships between the characters.
• This show aired for almost a decade. It continued to be a hit, but it also received a lot of awards and had very large audience engagement and participation.
• This showed the real connection between audience and what was going on in the show.

Even The Big Bang Theory had a show about pop culture. Here’s a snippet of that show.

Kerr and Tina suggested a couple of different types of pop culture that they wanted to see.

This is an example of a flash mob.

Does anyone remember this one? It started out as a challenge to benefit ALS. Did you participate in one? I did. I found a video with a lot of people you guys will definitely recognize.

March 2: Jersey Boys

• Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.
• The musical is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and eventual break-up of the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll group The Four Seasons.
• The musical is structured as four “seasons”. Each chapter of the story narrated by a different member of the band who gives his own perspective on its history and music.
• Each member had his own perspective on what happened during their time as a group.
• Tommy DeVito was approached to tell his story last. He told the writers, “Don’t listen to those guys. I’ll tell you what really happened.”
• Elice said that getting DeVito’s version was a “eureka moment” and the contradiction in their stories ended up being incorporated in the musical.

• Songs include “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Sherry”, “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)”, “My Eyes Adored You”, “Stay”, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, “Walk Like A Man”, “Who Loves You”, “Working My Way Back to You” and “Rag Doll”, among others.

History of the Show

• The musical premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2004 and ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2017.
• Since its debut, it has been on two North American national tours and two national tours of the UK and Ireland.
• There have been productions of the show in London’s West End, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Melbourne and other Australian cities, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Dubai, and China.
• Due to the success of the national tour’s long stop at Toronto Centre for the Arts in Toronto, Ontario, in autumn 2008, a Toronto production opened on December 12, 2008 with a new, mostly Canadian cast that included Jeremy Kushnier and Jenny Lee Stern from the first national tour. This production closed on August 22, 2010, on the show’s second anniversary.
• Jersey Boys won four 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.

Why Tell This Story?

• Little was known to the public about the group’s history prior to the premiere of the musical, because the magazines of the era did not write much about them.
• Brickman and Elice also used material from interviews with surviving Four Seasons members Gaudio, Frankie Valli and Tommy DeVito.
• While the Four Seasons as a group made headlines, as individuals they did not receive much press due to groups like the Beatles receiving the attention.
• In their research, Brickman and Elice were surprised to find that the members had prison records, which might have prevented their music from being played if it had been publicized when they were active.
• According to Gaudio, “Back then, things were a little clean-cut, don’t forget, so the idea of our story getting out was horrifying to us.”
• Other bands of the time projected street-tough images, but The Four Seasons cleaned themselves up in order to be palatable for mainstream listeners.

Characters

• Frankie Valli – Member and lead vocalist of The Four Seasons.

• Tommy DeVito – Member and lead guitar player of The Four Seasons. He eventually leaves the group when he racks up a debt with a loan shark.

• Bob Gaudio – Songwriter, member and keyboard player of The Four Seasons. He is the youngest and last member to join the group.

• Nick Massi – Member and bass player of The Four Seasons. He has a good ear for vocals and helps train Frankie with his singing.

• Joe Pesci – Referred to as “Joey”. He is a friend of Tommy, Frankie and Nick. He helps introduce Bob Gaudio to them. He eventually becomes an actor.

• Mary Delgado – Frankie Valli’s first wife. She advises Frankie on the spelling of his stage name, and marries him while the group is just starting out. They separate when the strain of Frankie’s career is too much on their relationship.

• Bob Crewe – Record producer that signs on the group before they rename themselves as The Four Seasons. He helps them record and release their music.

• Gyp DeCarlo – A mob boss that has ties to The Four Seasons via Tommy DeVito. He helps the group when Tommy racks up a significant amount of debts, mediating their negotiations with the loan shark as a third party.

“Jersey Boys” The Movie

• Jersey Boys is a 2014 American musical drama film.
• It is directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, based on the 2004 Tony Award-winning jukebox musical of the same name.
• Original band members of the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio serve as executive producers. Bob Gaudio also composed the film’s music.
• Jersey Boys was released as a movie in the United States on June 20, 2014. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $67 million worldwide.

Positive Reviews for the Show

• Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote, “THE CROWD GOES WILD. I’m talking about the real, mostly middle-aged crowd at the August Wilson Theater, who seem to have forgotten what year it is or how old they are or, most important, that John Lloyd Young is not Frankie Valli. And everything that has led up to that curtain call feels, for just a second, as real and vivid as the sting of your hands clapping together.”

• Charles Spencer from The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Overpaid, over-sexed and over here, it will, I suspect be some time before London says Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye) to the PHENOMENAL Jersey Boys.”
• Benedict Nightingale from The Times said, “Oh What a Night. There were times when I felt that the performers were making even the Beatles sound somewhat lacking in musical texture.”
• To sum up, this is a beloved musical enjoyed by fans all over the world!

February 28: Aladdin

• Aladdin is associated with the Arabic story of 1001 nights.
• The King thought his wife Scheherazade was unfaithful and threatened to execute her, but she started telling him a story each night. 
• He enjoyed the stories and wanted to hear the next one, so didn’t execute her. 
• Aladdin was added to the stories later but was an Arabic folk tale of the same time.  Of course, the whole 1001 Nights is fictional, Scheherazade was not a real person.

Here is another version that I found, and it’s called the original version.

• Aladdin is an impoverished young man living in “one of the cities of China“.
• He is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin’s late father, Mustapha.
• He is a tailor. He convinced Aladdin and his mother of his good will by pretending to set him up as a wealthy merchant.
• The sorcerer’s real motive is to persuade young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave.
• After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave.
• Aladdin is still wearing a magic ring the sorcerer has lent him.
• When he rubs his hands in despair, he rubs the ring by mistake and a genie appears and releases him from the cave.
• This allows him to return to his mother and he still has the lamp.
• When his mother tries to clean the lamp, so they can sell it to buy food for their supper, a second far more powerful genie appears who has to do whatever the person holding the lamp wants the genie to do.
• With the assistance of the genie of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries Princess Badroulbadour.
• She is the sultan‘s daughter (after magically foiling her marriage to the vizier‘s son).
• The genie builds Aladdin and his bride a wonderful palace, far more magnificent than the sultan’s.
• The sorcerer hears of Aladdin’s good fortune and returns.
• He gets his hands on the lamp by tricking Aladdin’s wife. His wife does not know how important the lamp is.
• He offers to exchange a new lamp or her old lamp.
• Once he succeeds, he orders the genie of the lamp to take the palace, along with all its contents, to his home in the Maghreb.
• Aladdin still has the magic ring and can summon the less powerful genie to come and help.
• The genie of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the genie of the lamp.
• But he is able to transport Aladdin to the Maghreb.
• Now Aladdin’s wife uses her “woman’s wiles” to take back the lamp and slays the sorcerer, returning the palace to its proper place.
• The sorcerer’s more powerful and evil brother plots to destroy Aladdin for killing his brother by disguising himself as an old woman known for her healing powers.
• Badroulbadour falls for his disguise and commands the “woman” to stay in her palace in case of any illnesses.
• Aladdin is warned of this danger by the genie of the lamp and slays the impostor.
• Aladdin eventually succeeds to his father-in-law’s throne.

I thought it would be fun to try to find a video to explain how the genie came to be in the bottle in the first place.

Did you know there’s even a song about genie in the bottle?

What Can We Learn From The Story of Aladdin?

• Be yourself: both Aladdin and Jasmine tried to teach us to be who we are. They teach us how important it is to not try to be someone else or change into people others want us to be. It is important to be who were meant to be.
• You are greater than your situation: it is important to believe in yourself all the time especially if others are doubting you and trying to encourage you.
• Value friendship: Aladdin taught us the importance of friendship in both good and bad times. An example is when the sultan learned the hard way that not all friends can be trusted. His friendship with Jarfar was important to him but he ended up betraying him. However Aladdin showed him what true friendship really was because he set the genie free with his last wish. He chose friendship over material things.
• Don’t be greedy: in the scene when Aladdin meets genie and discovers that he will be only granted three wishes. Genie breaks down the rules for him. Another good example is again when Aladdin chooses to set the genie free as his last wish.

Let’s look at different stars that provided the voice of the genie.

Robin Williams

Will Smith

Which version did you like the best?

James Corden even had a part in Aladdin on his show!

What impact does the movie Aladdin have on us today? How does it tie in with Full House? Does anybody know?

I know we usually finish class with a funny video. But I thought it would be fun to look at different actors that provide voices to Aladdin.

February 23: Fuller House

• Fuller House is the sequel to Full House.
• The theme song is the same song, but it’s sung by Carly Rae Jepsen, who sang “Call Me Maybe”!

• The show is a Netflix original series, which means that it never aired on cable television. You can only watch it on Netflix. The reboot has been a wild success for Netflix! Early in the series’ run, it was one of its most popular original series.

Premise

• Twenty-one years have passed since the last episode of Full House, and the Tanner Clan are about to move out of their home permanently.
• Danny re-married someone new, and he and Rebecca have gotten a new job offer to work in LA to start a new morning show.
• Uncle Jesse heads to LA to be with Becky as well as start a new musical job.
• Uncle Jesse and Becky’s twin boys, Nicky & Alex, are now in college with a focus on operating a food truck taco business.
• Uncle Joey has gotten a job as a live comedian act in Las Vegas and married with four kids.
• Stephanie has a successful DJ career and goes by her sister’s name as “DJ Tanner.”
• Michelle is not in the show. She is in New York focusing on her fashion career.
• With the entire family taking major directions away from their house, Danny decided to sell their home, ending the Tanner Household. However, fate would change with D.J.
• D.J. became a veterinarian and started a family with her husband, Tommy Fuller. Together, they have three boys: 13-year-old Jackson, 7-year-old Max, and baby Tommy Jr.
• Unfortunately, Tommy died in the line of duty as a firefighter a year earlier. D.J. has been taking refuge back at the Tanner House until she can figure things out.
• She is too proud to admit she is struggling to find stability and balance within her life, but she admitted her troubles to her baby. The family overheard her real feelings on the baby monitor and decided to help her.
• The house now belongs to D.J. and the Fuller boys, making it the Fuller House.
• When everyone heard of D.J.’s plight, the entire family suddenly volunteered to stay behind to help D.J., but D.J. herself couldn’t allow the entire clan to make such a sacrifice for her.
• However, Stephanie had no major obligations and decided to put her DJ career on hold to help D.J. manage the house. Shortly after, Kimmy Gibber (DJ’s best friend since childhood) and her daughter Ramona also moved in with the Fuller family as additional support.
• Despite having a party girl lifestyle as a DJ, Stephanie ultimately learned she wanted more stability and helped D.J. out with the boys.
• Because of Tommy’s death, she never had the chance to tell D.J. and the family that she discovered she’s incapable of having children.
• Struggling with the idea of never able to have a family of her own, Stephanie takes some comfort that she’s helping D.J. raise the Fuller boys as she attempts to find someone herself.
• So now the script is flipped: instead of three men parenting three little girls, it’s three women parenting three little boys!

• The show ended in 2020. It was very emotional for all of the actors!

Rest In Peace, Bob Saget

• Less than two years after the show ended, Bob Saget, died unexpectedly in his sleep.
• He played the grandfather of the Tanner Family in Fuller House and the father of the Tanner kids in Full House.

• On January 9, 2022, Bob Saget was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Orange County, Florida. He had missed his scheduled checkout time, and family members became concerned after being unable to contact him.
• The cause of death was a head injury from an accidental fall. He was infected with COVID-19 at the time, but there were no signs that it played a role in his death.
• His funeral was on January 14, 2022. He was buried in a cemetery near his parents and sister. The Full House cast played a big role in honoring his life at his funeral.

Why weren’t Mary-Kate and Ashley in the re-boot?

• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were the only members of the original Full House cast that didn’t come back for the re-boot.
• They started acting on Full House when they were only 6 months old! When the series ended, they were only 9 years old.
• They acted in multiple shows and movies over the years. They haven’t acted together since 2004.
• Since their careers are now in fashion, the show writers made Michelle a fashion designer.

Cast Interviews

• Since this show is copyrighted by Netflix, there aren’t many clips of the show on YouTube for us to watch.
• Something that’s great about the sequel is that the cast did a variety of interviews to promote it! Let’s watch some of these interviews!

Sources

https://fullhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Fuller_House

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jeff-franklin-ousted-fuller-house-behavior-complaints-1089371/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Saget#:~:text=Robert%20Lane%20Saget%20(May%2017,House%20(2016%E2%80%932020).

February 21: Spy Balloons

What Is a Spy Balloon?

• A spy balloon is a gas-filled balloon that flies very high in the sky.
•  It flies about the same height that a commercial airplane flies.
• It has some it has equipment on it like security cameras and imaging technology on it.
• These kinds of instruments are pointing down to the ground and collecting information through photography and other imaging so that it can see everything going on down on the ground.

Why Would Someone Want to Use a Spy Balloon Instead of Just Using Satellites?

• Satellites are the preferred method of spying from overhead.
• Spy satellites are above us even today. They are at one of two different types of orbit.
• There are three types of earth orbit. They are high earth orbit, medium Earth orbit and low earth orbit.
• High earth orbit means that they are farthest away from the surface. An example is many weather and communication satellites.
• Satellites that have a medium or mid earth orbit can include navigation and specialty satellites that are designed to monitor a particular location.
• Low earth orbit satellites are the most common scientific satellites. They can include NASA’s Earth observing system fleet.
• The low earth orbit is also good because the closer you are to something the more clearly you can see it.
• The height of the orbit or distance between the satellite and the earth surface, determines how quickly the satellite moves around the earth.
• Spy balloons have the advantages of both the satellites combined.
• These balloons are much closer to the ground than any of the satellites so they can see things even more clearly.
• Also, the balloons are moving but they’re moving much slower, so they have a much more accurate area of site which is also called persistence.
• However, spying is not usually done with balloons today because they are relatively an easy target, and they are not completely controllable.

What Types of Surveillance Are Spy Balloons Capable of?

• Today imaging is conducted across different regions of something called the electromagnetic spectrum.
• This means the range of all types of electromagnetic radiation.
• Radiation is energy that travels and spread out as it goes.
• Some examples are the visible light that comes from the lamp in your house and the radio waves that come from the radio station. Microwaves infrared light and x-rays are also different examples.
• Humans can see in a certain range of the spectrum called the visible spectrum.
• An example is to take a picture with your camera of your dog and that’s invisible photograph.
• A spy balloon does this too. They take regular photographs, but they have a very good zoom in capability and can magnify the image quite a lot.
• You can also gather different types of information in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
• You can use infrared light. An example is if it’s nighttime a camera operating in the visible part of the spectrum is not going to show you anything because it’s too dark but if you use an infrared camera from the spy balloon it can pick up things from the heat in the dark.

How Can These Balloons Navigate?

• Most of these balloons are guided by the wind. There are no people on board them.
• They are at the mercy of what the weather is at the time.
•  However, they sometimes have a guiding apparatus on them which help them change the balloons altitude to catch the winds going in particular direction.
• According to reports US official said the Chinese surveillance balloon had propellers to help steer it. If this is true it means that the operator would have much more control over the path of the balloon.

Which Countries Are Known to Be Using Spy Balloons?

• The Pentagon has had programs over the last few decades studying what can be done with balloons that could be done in the past.
• The US too many balloons over the Soviet Union in the 1940s and 1950s but they were eventually replaced by the higher altitude spy airplanes.
• They are now using satellites instead.

Here is a picture of a spy balloon from the war.

Project Moby Dick was an early Cold War-era effort by the U.S. to monitor the Soviet Union using high-altitude balloons.

Today’s has been very serious so I thought that we do in class with a couple of funny balloon videos. This one is for Irene.

This one is for Jean-Luc.

https://youtu.be/9hOirbemB9g I hope you all enjoyed today’s class. I learned a lot too.        

February 16: Full House

• Full House is an American television sitcom that aired from September 22, 1987 to May 23, 1995, on ABC.
• It has a total of 192 episodes in 8 seasons.
• The series was videotaped live before a studio audience at the Lorimar Studios in Los Angeles.

Premise

• Before the beginning of the series, news anchorman Danny Tanner married Pam Katsopolis, and they had three daughters: D.J. (Donna Jo), Stephanie, and Michelle.
• After Pam is tragically killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, Danny soon realizes he needs help in raising his daughters.
• He recruits his brother-in-law, Jesse Katsopolis – a rock musician and a motorcycle guy – as well as his best friend, Joey Gladstone – a comedian who does impressions – to move in and help him provide a stable home. The girls must then adjust to having two more men in the house (basically like three dads).
• In season two, Danny is reassigned from his duties as sports anchor by his television station to become co-host of a local morning show, Wake Up, San Francisco, and is teamed up with Nebraska native Rebecca “Becky” Donaldson.
• Jesse and Becky eventually fall in love, and get married in season four.
• In season five, Becky gives birth to twin sons, Nicky and Alex, bringing the total to nine family members living in the house in San Francisco, with the combination of the Tanners and the Katsopolises.
• The family dog, a golden retriever named Comet joins the show in season three episode after his mother, Minnie gives birth to a litter of puppies on Jesse’s bed and the girls are allowed to keep one of them.

Characters

Danny Tanner

• Danny Tanner was born on December 11, 1957, to his mom, Claire Tanner, and his father. He has a younger sister named Wendy.
• When he was 10, he was being bullied by a big kid until Joey Gladstone stepped up and saved him, and that is how they became best friends. They also went to college together.

• Danny dated his first wife, Pamela or Pam, in highschool, and they eloped when they were young. Jesse Katsopolis is her brother, and he becomes Danny’s brother-in-law.
• Danny is the archetype of the “not-hip dad” or the “uncool” character. He sees himself as the “raddest, baddest” dad ever (which his daughters do not agree with him about at all).
• Danny is usually seen as a control freak, not by just the girls, but by the rest of the family as a whole.
• Danny is protective of his daughters. He has a habit of spoiling Michelle and treating her like a baby.
• D.J., on the other hand, usually has a rebellious attitude towards him when she finds out he’s been prying into her private life (something she constantly warns Stephanie against), and his habits of doing this usually lead to arguments, which usually lead to her running off and/or isolating herself in her room.

Jesse Katsopolis

• Jesse Katsopolis is Danny Tanner’s brother-in-law and uncle of D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle, and is Pam’s younger brother, the husband of Rebecca, and father to Alex and Nicky.
• During his time as a student in Golden Bay High School, he had a strong relationship with Carrie Fowler but they broke up in 1980, aside from that he had had a miserable time in school.
• During that time, he was playing a lot of show’s with his band and he just got a brand new motorcycle and he said it was a lot more, fun than going to English class with Mr. Pearson which caused him to drop out. However, he ends up finishing by getting a GED.
• Jesse only planned to stay for a couple of weeks but ends up staying for the whole series, along with Joey Gladstone. Jesse describes in later episodes how Pam was a great influence in his life, and how, despite his rebel attitude, she managed to keep him in check.
• He used to be a “bad boy”, but that begins to change when he begins taking care of the girls (especially Michelle), and really changes when he begins having a relationship with his love, Rebecca “Becky” Donaldson.
• His role model is Elvis Presley—particularly in the earlier seasons—not only in music but in style and attitude as well. He even takes a job as an Elvis impersonator, which he keeps a secret at first.
• He is portrayed as being freewheeling and laid back (especially in earlier seasons). Danny sometimes considers him to be irresponsible.
• Jesse really starts maturing after he and Becky have kids. He is always shown to be a caring uncle. Jesse is also known for his famous recipe of fried chicken.
• While he does address Joey and Danny by their informal names, he often addresses them by their given first names (i.e., Joseph and Daniel) as a form of affection.

Joey Gladstone

• Joseph Alvin “Joey” Gladstone is the childhood best friend of Danny, and adulthood friend of Jesse.
• There was some tension between Joey and Jesse when they first moved in, but they quickly become good friends. He usually handles the day-to-day raising of the kids by doing chores like making meals, driving the kids to school appointments, and after school activities, taking care of Michelle as a baby, and helping the kids with their homework. He also buys D.J. her first car for her 16th birthday.
• Jesse asks Joey to be his best man at his wedding. Jesse also insists his children call Joey, “Uncle Joey” as a sign of respect.
• Joey tries to be a stand-up comedian, whose act usually includes imitations of cartoon-character voices such as Popeye, Bullwinkle, Pepe LePew, Elmer Fudd, and many more.

Donna Jo (D.J.)

• D.J. is the eldest daughter. She is shown handling many tough situations with general ease. She is like any other tween and teenager.
• Although she finds her dad controlling and gets upset at times over him eavesdropping over the boys that she likes or embarrassing her, she is always quick to apologize when she snaps at him. Regardless of the circumstances, in the end, she understands why her dad is trying to control her and learns her lesson (usually the hard way).
• D.J. shows great sensitivity toward her younger sisters and is a role model for them.
• For her sisters, she is usually easy-going, but in the first four seasons, when she has to share a room with Stephanie. She is authoritative, reminding her about the two rules set in the series premiere: never touch her belongings, and never set foot on her side of the room. More often than not, Stephanie is seen breaking both rules at once.

• She gets her own bedroom, but she is still a role model. In the episode “Stephanie’s Wild Ride”, Stephanie’s is going on joy rides until D.J. warns to tell Danny on her. Later, D.J. then has a chat about the danger of joy rides despite Stephanie not wanting to talk about it.
• D.J. is a straight A student. Her interests include music (such as George Michael, Milli Vanilli, and Bananarama and The Bangles), movies, and hanging out with her friends. I
• In early episodes, she was shown practicing karate and is mentioned that she is a purple belt. In later seasons, she was shown to love horseback riding, dreaming of having her own horse, and practicing karate. She is also on the soccer team.
• Like her sisters after her, she was a member of a Honeybee troop, as addressed in the season one episodes “Sea Cruise” and “Danny’s Very First Date”. In the former, she retires from the organization and passes the “Queen Bee” crown – or rather, antenna – onto Stephanie.

Stephanie Tanner

• Stephanie is the middle child. Stephanie is the most excitable of the girls—a trait she inherited from her mother, and the most talkative—a trait from her father. She often struggles with being the middle child and wanting attention.
• Still, she is quite well-behaved and very hard on herself whenever she did something wrong.
• Although often noble and trustworthy, Stephanie has her weaknesses, which include being able to be swayed by her peers into dangerous situations, and prying. Like D.J., Stephanie is a good student.
• Her favorite color is pink. Stephanie is very athletic, as she also loves to dance and she performs ballet very well. Like D.J. and eventually Michelle, Stephanie is a member of the “Honey Bees” (an organization similar to Girl Scouts) in the first few seasons.
• Stephanie loves Comet. She was very enthusiastic about getting a dog and grows up loving him, and even finds him to be a companion.

Michelle Tanner

• Michelle Elizabeth Tanner is the youngest daughter of Danny and Pam Tanner on Full House, portrayed by both Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
• Up until season 4, she is spoiled and always gets what she wants, which often makes Stephanie frustrated.
• Michelle often feels left out when D.J. and Stephanie get to hang out together. She wants to be like her sisters.
• Michelle’s hobbies include Honeybees, ballet, soccer, and horseback riding. Like D.J. and Stephanie, Michelle is a good student.
• She is very close to Jesse, who nicknamed her “munchkin”. Jesse, in addition to being her uncle, is a surrogate dad to her just like he is to her sisters.

• During the run of the series, the character of Michelle uses many catch phrases (more than any other character): “You’re in big trouble, mister!”, “Capisce?” (Kapeesh; Italian for “understand?” – which Jesse taught her), “Thank you very much”, “You got a bad attitude!”, “Aw, nuts!”, “Just doing my job”, “It will be my pleasure”, “No way, José!”, “I’m not busy”, ”What a rip-off!”, ”DUH!”, “Oh please!”, “Ous-cream!”, and of course, “You got it, dude!”

Next week, we’ll do the spinoff series, Fuller House! 🙂

February 14: Happy Valentine’s Day!

The History of Valentine’s Day

• Even though you can’t go in any store or mall during January and February without seeing boxes of candy, teddy bears holding hearts and a lot of decorations to remind us of Valentine’s Day, the real history of Valentine’s Day comes from ancient Rome and Victorian England.
• The real history of Valentine’s Day is not at all a celebration like it is today.

St. Valentine Actually Refers to More Than One Person

• The Catholic Church has records of at least three different people named Valentine or Valentinus.
• One of them was a priest in third century Rome. He went against the emperor Claudius when he decided to outlaw marriage for young men.
• Valentine continued performing the marriage ceremonies for the people that loved each other in secret. When Claudius found out was doing this, another Valentine was to have helped Christians to escape from prison he had him killed.
• Another Valentine was believed to have helped Christians escape from prison.
• Another person named Valentine was believed to have sent the first Valentine letter from prison.
• It was a letter to the jail supervisor’s daughter. The legend says that he had signed the note “from your Valentine”. This is where we might have learned to sign all our Valentine greetings today.

In the 1300s, It Officially Became a Holiday Associated with Love

• At the end of the fifth century Roman Pope Gelasius officially declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day.
• Valentine’s Day was not associated with love and romance until the Middle Ages.
• This tradition was started in France and England because they believed that birds started their meetings on February 14.

Cupid Has Its Roots in Greek Mythology

• Cupid is a cherub that appears on Valentine’s Day cards often holding a bow and arrow.
• However this figure can be traced all the way back to 700 BC to the Greek god of love named Eros.
• He was a very handsome man with the power to make people fall in love.
• The Romans created Eros into the image of a cute little boy with a bow and arrow they began calling him Cupid. This didn’t happen until the fourth century BCE.
• By the beginning of the 19^th century Cupid had become a symbol for Valentine’s Day due to his love matching powers.

The First Valentine Was Sent in the 15^th Century

• The oldest record of Valentine being sent was a poem written by a French Medieval Duke named Charles to his wife in 1450.
• He was in prison and the Tower of London, and he was only 21 years old.

My very gentle Valentine,

Since for me you were born too soon,

And I for you was born too late.

God forgives him who has estranged

Me from you for the whole year.

I am already sick of,

My very gentle Valentine.

The Tradition of Giving Valentine’s Day Flowers Dates Back to the 17^th Century

• This tradition can be traced back to when King Charles II of Sweden learned the language of flowers.
• This means each flower has different meanings.
• He learned it on a trip to Persia and went back home to Europe continue the tradition.
• The act of giving flowers came a popular trend during the period Victorian era especially on Valentine’s Day with red roses.
• Today nearly 250 million roses are grown to prepare for Valentine’s Day each year.
• Some countries like Ecuador, Kenya or Columbia will ship roses to different countries since roses do not grow in colder temperatures.

More Than 8 Billion Conversation Hearts Are Manufactured Each Year

• To keep up with the demand these conversation hearts must begin to be manufactured right after Valentine’s Day to be ready for next year.
• That comes out to be almost 100,000 pounds of candy being made state. The hearts have about 45 different sayings including True Love, Hug Me and You Rock.
• Words of encouragement were added to the sweethearts in 2022. Sayings like Way to Go, crush it, and High-Five were meant to share with friends as well as people you love.

Valentine’s Day Is Celebrated Differently around the World

• Many Latin American countries know the holiday as El dia de los enamorados (Day of lovers) or Dia del amor y la Amistad (day of love and friendship).
• On this day couples exchange flowers and chocolate but more focus is directed to showing gratitude to friends.
• In Japan it’s customary for just the women to give can gifts of hope chocolate to the man in their lives.
• The quality of the chocolate is an indication of the true feelings towards their partner.
• On March 14 exactly a month later the man return the favour and give gifts to their women in their lives.
• This day is called White Day.

Now that we’ve looked at some history about Valentine’s Day, I thought I would find some fun videos about Valentine’s Day.

How could we possibly celebrate Valentine’s Day without this video?

To end class, I thought we could listen to a Valentine’s Day song.

Here are some questions to ponder about Valentine’s Day.

1. What is the most popular flower to give on Valentine’s Day and what colour is it? Is it a red daisy or red rose?
2. What is the name of the winged child that shoots the arrow to make people fall in love? Is it Cupid? True or false.
3. What is the date of Valentine’s Day?
4. Are the two most popular Valentine’s Day gifts flowers and chocolate? True or false.
5. Is it true Valentine’s are only for people you are married to?

February 7: Sir Elton John

• Elton John is a British singer, pianist and composer.
• He has sold more than 300 million records and found success on Broadway when he composed the music score for the Tony award winning hit Billy Elliot and the Lion King.

Who is Elton John?

• Elton John has a unique blend of pop and rock style which has helped turn him into one of the 20^th century’s biggest music stars.
• He was musically gifted from a very young age. He even taught himself how to play the piano when he was four years old.
• At the age of 15 with the help of his mom and stepfather, Elton was hired as a pianist at a nearby pub playing Thursday to Sunday nights.
• He was known as Reggie at the time, and he played songs by Jim Reeves and Ray Charles as well as some of his own songs.
• He began to wear horn rimmed glasses to imitate Buddy Holly.
• He released his first self-titled American album in 1970 which made him an international star.
• Some of his most famous chart-topping hits include Crocodile Rock, Philadelphia Freedom and Candle in the Wind.
• He was very successful on Broadway as well because he wrote the musical score from Billy Elliot.
• It was on Broadway in 2008 and won10 Tony awards.
• Elton was inducted into the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and he was even knighted in 1998.

Early Life and Career in England

• Elton’s real name is Reginald Kenneth Dwight. He was born on March 25, 1947, in Pinner, Middlesex England.
• He discovered his passion for music at a very early age and even taught himself how to play the piano when he was only four years old.
• He even got a scholarship to a youth program at the Royal Academy of music in London.
• His relationship with his father was very difficult.
• His father was a member of the Royal Air Force. His parents got a divorce when he was a teenager and he and his father did not agree on what Elton’s future was going to be.
• Elton really enjoyed the sounds of early rock ‘n’ roll and wanted to pursue a career in pop music.
• He dropped out of school when he was 17 to follow his dream even though his father did not agree.
• He started playing with a group called Bluesology and his stage name Elton John came from mixing together two names of members of the group.
• In 1967 Elton answered an ad for songwriter for Liberty Records. Of course, he got the job and teamed up with a lyricist named Bernie Taupin.
• The next year they switched to the DJM label and started writing songs for other artists.
• In 1969, he got his first big break as a singer with the album called Empty Sky. The songs were written by him and Taubin.
• However, the album didn’t do very well but in 1970 he came out with an album called Elton John.
• It featured his first hit called Your Song.

• More hits from that album were released called Crocodile Rock, Bennie and the Jets and Island Girl.
• He started to enjoy a series of top-selling albums during this time called Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in 1973 and Rock of the Westies in 1975.

Here is a picture of Elton John and his long-time writing partner Bernie Taupin in 1985.

Here is a picture of the 1910 piano Elton used to write his first 5 albums.

Memorable Songs and Energetic Live Performances

• Being one of the top acts of the 1970s Elton John received the same amount of success for his famous live shows.
• He always dressed in fabulous, over-the-top costumes and glasses for his concerts.
• During an interview with W Elton explained that he wasn’t a sex symbol like David Bowie or Freddie Mercury.
• He felt he had to dress more on the humorous side because if he was going to be stuck behind a piano for two hours, he was going to make people look at him.

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

• In 1976 Elton topped the charts with Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. This was a duet with Kiki Dee.

• After that he decided to take a break from music to focus on his soccer team that he co-owned in England.

• He also announced publicly that he was bisexual and later came out as a gay man.
• During this time, he was ridiculed and taunted for his sexuality.
• After all the controversy began to die down, he made his triumphant return to the music scene in 1979 with the album called A Single Man.

Little Jeannie and Empty Garden

• In the 1980s Elton created fewer smash hits. He still did well on the charts though. Some of the most memorable songs are called Little Jeannie and Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny). This song was written as a tribute to his friend John Lennon who was killed in 1980.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

• Elton was starting to branch out in different directions, so he teamed up with lyricist Tim Rice for several projects.
• They worked together on the soundtrack for the 1994 animated hit called The Lion King.
• One of the movie songs called Can You Feel the Love Tonight gave Elton John is first Academy award when for the Best Original Song.
• They also received a Tony award for best Original Score in 2000 for their musical Aida.
• He received several other different honours around this time as well.
• In 1994 he was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

• Queen Elizabeth II made Elton a Commander of the Order of the British Empire the following year.
• The Queen knighted him several years later making him officially Sir Elton John.

Candle in the Wind 1997

• Even though he enjoyed a lot of recognition and praise he experienced overwhelming grief in the summer of 1997.
• Elton had lost two of his good friends, fashion designer Gianni Versace and.
• He decided to change the words to one of his classic songs called Candle in the Wind as a tribute to her during the funeral.
• All the proceeds to this song were going to a charitable trust established in her honour. Candle in the Wind 1997 was a tremendous success and sold more than 30 million copies that year.
• He holds the record for the second-best selling song of all time for this song which he originally wrote to honour Marilyn Monroe and later performed as a tribute to his friend the late Princess Diana.

Later Albums, Books, Broadway, and Movies

• In 2006 he released The Captain and the Kid. This was a sequel album to his earlier autobiographical album called Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy released in 1975.
• In 2010 Elton worked with Leon Russell to work on the album called The Union which led to a tour.
• In 2013 Elton released his 30^th studio album called The Diving Board. It was produced it was produced by T-bone Burnett.
• In February 2016 he released his 33^rd studio album called Wonderful Crazy Night. This album received generally positive reviews.

Billy Elliot The Musical and Rocket Man

• Elton was also in high demand for a songwriter.
• He was instrumental in bringing Billy Elliot the Musical to the stage. The show was made from the 2000 film. It opened on Broadway 2008, and it was a critical and commercial success.
• He also worked on the 2011 animated film Gnomeo and Juliet. He was a producer and composer for that film.
• In 2012 he was lucky enough to perform with people like Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton, Stevie wonder and Paul McCartney. They were all performing at Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne celebration. At the same time, we learned that Elton and his husband were working on a biopic about the legendary musician called Rocketman.
• The film premiered at the May 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
• People were watching the film because of its whimsical musical scenes as well as the honest portrayal of John’s sexuality.
• Elton John followed with a publication of his autobiography called Mr. in late 2019 as well.
• In January 2020 Elton and Taupin won the Best Original Song at the Golden Globe Awards for Rocketman’s song called (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.
• Amazingly it was their first shared award after more than ½ a century of creating some of the most popular music it’s together.
• They got another honour the following month at the Academy Awards for The Best Original Song.

Farewell Tour

• On January 24, 2018, at Elton announced that he would retire from the road after the planned Farewell Yellow Brick Tour. It was set to start that September. He said that his priorities had changed and that he planned to spend more time with his husband David and their kids. He didn’t want to miss making treasured memories with his family.
• Also, in 2018 he decided to end his Las Vegas residency that was called The Million Dollar Piano. It ended on May 17th with the performance at Caesar’s Palace.

Substance Abuse Issues and Elton John AIDS Foundation

• In 1990 after years of battling substance abuse issues, mostly cocaine, and dealing with many side effects including severe epileptic seizures Elton went into rehabilitation.
• After successfully completing rehab Elton was grateful for his second chance at life. He decided found his own charitable organization to help people fight against AIDS.
• It was established in the United States in 1992 and was called the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
• It is brought in more than $400 million to support HIV/AIDS programs around the world.
• In addition to his own foundation, he supports several different charities and arts organizations including The Globe Theatre and the Royal Academy of Music.
• In March 2020, Elton hosted the IHeart Living Room Concert for America to raise funds for coronavirus relief efforts.
• Some of the performers who performed at the event benefit were Alicia Keys, Sam Smith and Dave Grohl.

Husband and Sons

Here is a picture of Elton John’s husband David Furnish, and his sons Zachary Furnish-John and Elijah Furnish-John.

• Elton meant his longtime partner David furnish at a dinner party in 1993.
• They got married in a civil ceremony on December 21, 2005. Incidentally it was the same day the civil partnership act 2004 went into effect.
• With the help of a surrogate the couple welcomed their first son Zachary Furnish-John in December 2010 and then their second child Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John in January 2013.
• Nine years after their civil ceremony on December 21, 2014, the couple had a wedding after the laws allowing gay marriage took effect in Britain.

I know we usually end class with a funny video. So here it is.