Still Alice

I just completed an excellent book for my book club. The book is called Still Alice by Lisa Genova and follows the journey of a woman who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. This book is incredibly moving and I would highly recommend reading it.

How does this relate to the Buddy Bands blog? Easy. Remember the Full House episode when DJ volunteers at the retirement home? The episode is aptly named "The Volunteer". DJ befriends a kind old man named Eddie, who has Alzheimer's disease. She invites him back to Chez Tanner where he gets confused and calls DJ "Gloria", which is his daughter's name. (Side note: I once had a roommate named Gloria and had to bite my tongue every time I saw her because all I wanted to do was bust out singing songs with her name in them. Especially this one:

I don't think she was the type of person who would appreciate that, so I refrained.) Anyway, Eddie's actions confuse and sadden DJ leading to a "music moment" when Danny explains Eddie's situation to DJ and encourages her to continue to be his friend. Another life lesson courtesy of Danny Tanner. When I have kids, my parenting method will be to sit the rug rats in front of the TV and continually play Full House seasons one through eight. Good idea??

You can watch a clip of the conclusion of this episode below. Listen for Eddie's Harry Carey-like voice...Hey! If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?

Stephanie also boasts a hot to trot outfit in this episode:

Please note that in no way am I making light of this serious disease. Especially after reading Still Alice, I can't image what it would be like to have a loved one go through this, let alone go through it yourself. To learn more about Alzheimer's Disease, visit the website for the Alzheimer's Association.

Friends Forever,

AC Slater

Anyone Can Find Love

I will admit that I get pretty into the NBC show Biggest Loser. Who doesn't love a good makeover story? We are also doing a "Biggest Loser" competition at my work, so weight is on my mind a lot these days. This, in turn, reminds me of a Saved by the Bell episode called The Date Auction.

Saved by the Bell was always so good at addressing teen stereotypes, wasn't it? In this episode, there is a date auction where guys and girls are auctioned off like cattle for a date to the dance. Wendy, an overweight classmate (probably the only overweight student I have ever seen at Bayside, and never to appear again), bids a whopping $100 for a good time with Zack Morris. I can't blame her for this. $100 is a small price to pay for that heartthrob.

Side note - I find it ironic that the date auction is held to raise money for the skimpy new cheer leading uniforms, which might be quite unflattering on someone like Wendy (see picture)

Zack is bummed because Wendy isn't exactly his type. He makes excuses to try to get out of going to the dance with her, but ole Wendy figures him out. She ditches him at the dance, claiming she would rather "hang out by the finger foods". In the end, Zack sees what a jerk he has been, apologizes and asks Wendy to dance. And then we never see Wendy again, I guess it didn't work out between them? I am not surprised, I mean, we all know that Zack and Kelly are two people destined for each other anyway, right?

The moral of the story is, don't judge a book by its cover. Which I guess doesn't exactly apply because Wendy didn't really show us that she was cool or funny or really anything at all, except for a portly adolescent with 100 extra dollars to spend.

This theme appears again in this episode when Lisa acts like a brainiac to impress a guy (who looks like he is straight from Boyz II Men) named Brian. It is in this episode where Lisa utters that famous brainteaser, "What is art? Are we art? Is art, art?" The world will never know.

So, I guess what we have learned here is this: be yourself. Another life lesson brought to you by Buddy Bands.

Friends Forever,

AC Slater

Coming soon...

Christmas update: I received a beautiful new sewing machine for Christmas, so now I can sew my own buddy bands! Coming to a high school near you!

Friends Forever,

AC Slater

A Christmas Miracle

Have you ever experienced a Christmas miracle? Mine happened the day Zack Morris passed me on the streets of my hometown. It technically happened in August, but a Christmas miracle none the less.

Merry Christmas from me and Zack Morris!

Friends Forever,

AC Slater

Wrong 'R' You

As a gift to my mom, I have been going through our childhood home videos to organize and label them. I became very aware of what a lucky (read: spoiled) kid I was at Christmastime. I received many more gifts than necessary, and while I got excited about every gift (in a video I recently watched, I was ecstatic over the 64 pack of Crayola crayons - who wouldn't be?) and always said an enthusiastic "thank you", I can't help but think of how I thought this amount of gifts was normal when I was a kid. This got me thinking about a Christmas episode of Full House called "A Very Tanner Christmas".

Stephanie and Michelle are especially present-crazed this year. Uncle Jesse decides to open their eyes and takes them to serve at a soup kitchen to show them how lucky they are. Here is my favorite exchange:

Danny: Uncle Jesse has something really special planned for you.

Stephanie: All right, we're going to Toys R Us!

Jesse: Wrong R You.

I love it.

Of course, after serving at the soup kitchen, the girls have a change of heart and a life lesson is learned.

This episode is great in so many other ways as well, Uncle Jesse brings in fake snow for Rebecca, Steve and DJ fight because he is going to college 3000 miles away (she tries to get him to stay by buying him and expensive gift), and Vicki surprises Danny by coming home for the holidays. I recommend adding it to your list of holiday must-sees. You can find it by searching "A Very Tanner Christmas" on YouTube.

Cue sappy music. So, this Christmas, let us all take a moment to realize how lucky we all are. The 90s sitcoms gave us so many great Christmas memories that will last a lifetime. What more could we ask for?

Friends Forever,

AC Slater

PS. Don't forget the real reason for the season is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Who's Leon?

At the request of my cousin at our Thanksgiving shenanigans, I am going to include the show Home Improvement to the blog topics. The time period is a little later, but it's still a great show that always makes me laugh and it's my blog so I am including it.

One episode that my sister and I quote every holiday season recently came to mind. We were taking a pre-feast power walk on T-giving morning, and saw a neighbor had displayed five foot tall letters reading "NOEL". We immediately said to each other, "Who's Leon?"

Let me explain.

There is a terrific Christmas episode of Home Improvement. Mark dresses up as the letter 'N' in the church choir, spelling the word Noel. This interaction occurs between Al and Tim:

Al: I saw Mark in his costume. I always wanted to be the letter N.
Tim: That's impossible, Al. The song specifically says No Al.
[singing to the tune of Noel]
Tim: No Al, No Al, No Al, No Al.

Ha! Gets me every time.

When the boys line up in front of the church, they are backwards, spelling Leon. Al asks, "Who's Leon?" It doesn't sound as funny when I am writing it, but trust me, it is! You might also notice that the "L" in Noel also has appeared in episodes of Full House as Michelle's musical friend, Derek. More connections!

But my favorite part of all is when Tim tells his oldest son Brad, who would rather hang out with his friends on Christmas, "Christmas isn't about being with people you like, it's about being with family!"

You can see a clip of this episode, with all of the great stuff mentioned above here (there is a short intro before it starts).

Friends Forever,

AC Slater

Giving Thanks

As Thanksgiving approaches, I can't help but give thanks for the beautiful and poignant 90s sitcoms that kept me entertained as a little AC, and that still keep me entertained today -- providing the subject matter for this blog.

If you don't remember, there was a Thanksgiving themed SBTB episode, but it was of the College Years variety. Saved by the Bell: The College Years was a single season series with the Saved gang sans Jessie and Lisa. It never really made sense to me why they all ended up at the same college (Cal U) when it was clear in the High School episodes that Zack was going to Yale, Slater to Iowa, Kelly to Community College....it's kind of like the whole Tori Paradox. Anyways, I digress.

In the episode called "A Thanksgiving Story" (1993), the gang puts on a Thanksgiving dinner for inner-city kids. After the meal preparations go haywire (Screech's doing, no doubt), a line of 90s B-List celebrities show up to donate food. The list goes as follows:

Brian Austin Green (David Silver from Beverly Hills, 90210) Coincidentally, Kelly freaks out upon seeing him. Little did she know she would soon be cast alongside him as the girl you loved to hate, Valerie on 90210.

Jenna von Oy (Six from Blossom) Remember those hats??

Jonathan Brandis (90s heart-throb of seaQuest, Ladybugs and many other cameo appearances,

including DJ's first bf on Full House. Check out a clip here. I was immediately brought back to fifth grade awkwardness watching this. In real life he also dated Ashley Banks from Fresh Prince of Bel Aire. So many connections! On a sad note, Jonathan committed suicide in 2003. RIP)

Even Mr. Belding shows up for the festivities!

In the end, everything turned out great and I am sure it was the best Thanksgiving those poor inner-city kids ever had!

Friends Forever,

AC Slater