A "Cool Stuff" Christmas

God Bless YouTube! You can now visit the many ghosts of "Cool Stuff" Christmases past. Introduce yourself, or get reacquainted for you few original fans, to Santa Mann, Reindeer Boy, Jim's Head, The Shiny Happy Snowman and much much more.
As you watch and think, "Good God, These are so Lame!" Just remember these were originally produced way back in December 1991 when the entertainment bar was set much lower.

Check out the Cool Stuff Christmas Playlist
and be sure to subscribe to the PlasticVille Productions Channel to be in the loop when I post more filler extravaganzas.

The Arthur E. Willey Show

After years of thinking about it, I recently purchased a used 3/4" video deck from EBay (for all of $50 - gotta love EBay!). You might be asking yourself; What the Hell is that and why do I care? Well way back in the early 1990's when I was at UMass and then at my first job with Continental Cablevision, 3/4" was the video tape format of the times for facilities a bit behind the times. I produced lots of crap on 3/4" in the early 90's including the award winning comedy series "Cool Stuff" with the legendary Art Mann. We ended up doing 36 episodes and got a huge cult following of at least 20 people. This deck lets me get those decaying tapes of comedy gold (or possibly zinc) out to all of you.

One of the earliest things I ever made was The Arthur E. Willey Show. I was doing man on the street interviews for some school project and we came across Arthur. After just a few seconds with him I knew I had to do whatever I could to get his message out. The urge to sing his praises was just too strong - and sing his praises I did, along with guest vocalist Jim McKeever. I think I even got credit for this as some sort of independent study.

Now, for your viewing pleasure: The Arthur E. Willey Show

Samantha Survives

Samantha's surgery went down Monday December 18th and was successful. They took an X-Ray before starting surgery to see if was even worth the attempt. There was no sign of metastasis so they went ahead with the surgery to remove the growth. Once they had her open, the vet changed his diagnosis and now no longer thinks it was even cancer. Seems it was just some sort of cyst. She's home, fighting her neck collar, trying to rest and recover despite the ever present and curious Homer.
A Christmas miracle!

Final Patriots Home Game

Today was the last New England Patriots home game of the regular season, and quite possibly it was the last game for us as it seems unlikely we'll continue with our season tickets - but that's another story. Today's story was about how this game was going to be special. Since we had traded for extra tickets to take family to the Pats - Bears game last month, it was just Lori and I for today's finale. The Patriots have not been looking like the solid, playoff-ready, December team they've been in recent years, so I was really looking forward to them stepping up and blowing out the Houston Texans, which they did with a final score of 40 - 7. The surprise of the day was to see Lori blowing out as well - as in puking. Often.

You see, last night she attended a neighborhood "cookie swap" - which I've since learned is code for "playing quarters all night and getting totally cocked." Hell, I would have made some cookies had I known the code. When I brought her home at 2:30am this morning, I figured I'd be placing some calls around 10am for someone to replace her at the game, but she insisted she was good to go. On the way to the game she puked (this is only the second time I've ever seen her get sick) out the window of my truck while speeding down Rt 495 - a sight I've not seen since road trips at UMass. I was remarkably restrained despite just seeing someone puke all over my beloved Envoy, and I offered to turn around and head home. She decided to press on; such a hungover trooper that girl. Once we arrived at the stadium I was spotted by an old high school buddy and while we chatted Lori ran off to the bathroom to puke some more. I've never seen her in such rough shape. By the time she came out of the bathroom she wanted to just stay inside the clubhouse and sleep, but I convinced her to come sit outside and get some fresh air. Slumped in her seat with her head hung low, she looked more like a homeless person than the boisterous and lively football fan she is. She ran back inside for the bathroom a couple times in the first quarter. As the score mounted I knew we'd be leaving early. We left with 8 minutes to go in the first half. And she puked once more on the drive home for good luck.

I considered bringing a camera today since it might be our last game at Gillette, but I figured nothing photo-worthy would really happen. Boy, was I wrong. On the good side, it was the quickest I've ever gotten out of the stadium.

Bad News for Samantha

Yesterday we learned that our cat Samantha has cancer. Next week she'll be having surgery to remove the growth, or they'll discover it has already metastasized all over her and won't bother with surgery. We've had her for six years after rescuing her from a shelter when she was four. I'm pulling for a Christmas miracle that Sammy comes through just fine since cat surgery is sucking my Christmas funds dry. A hopefully live and well Samantha could be Lori's only gift. It already is a bit of a Christmas miracle that I even went along with cat surgery, but when the wife comes home crying from a veterinarian visit it isn't the best time for a "let nature takes its course" speech. At least Samantha has Larry The Lizard to console her.