What Really Ground Young Me's Gears: Age Requirements!

Welcome to the Chronicles of Trevor, the only where people of all ages are allowed to view all my posts, even 0-year-olds! 

And now, a special version of What Really Grinds My Gears. Today I'm talking about something that young me hated, and thought was a form of ageism.

You know how contests and giveaways have "Official Rules"? These often contain age limits. Some are open to those as young as 13, but most are limited to people of age 18 and up. As a young tween-age kid, this really irked me. It was like the companies were like "Hey everyone, YOU can have the chance WIN THIS COOL PRIZE!" "Sorry, you're too frakkin' young, we need to exclude you".

What was worse for young me were the very rare contests that were open only to those aged 21 and up. I get it for campaigns from alcoholic beverage companies, but there were some giveaways where the higher age made absolutely no sense!

Take for instance, HGTV's Dream Home Sweepstakes. When 10 year old me first seen the 21+ age limit of that contest, I got so angry, that I tensed up, and kicked my bedroom wall. It caused my big toenail to break, and enough blood to fill a NyQuil dosage cup seeped out of my toe.

It was the policy of Scripps Networks (the then-owners of HGTV) that caused the bump in age limit. 

What also irks me is that when Scripps Networks was bought out by Discovery, they inherited that annoying policy. So when I was 20, I saw an ad for a Gold Rush-themed giveaway where you could win a Mason jar full of gold nuggets. When I seen "Open to legal US residents, aged 21 or over", I was so mad! My blood was BOILING AS RAPIDLY AS WHITE-HOT MAGMA! 

I could understand the age limit if it was a giveaway for a jar of moonshine from Moonshiners, but A FRAKKIN' MASON JAR FULL OF GOLD NUGGETS? WHY DO YOU NEED TO BE 21 TO GET A JAR OF GOLD NUGGETS? IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'RE THE ONE MINING FOR IT! Screw Scripps, and Down with Discovery. Also OF COURSE a moron like David Zaslav would change his company's policy after acquiring another company. Just look at how he's ruining the animation industry.

But I digress. Another thing I hated about age limits are that sometimes, they can be downright hypocritical.

Take for instance, a local radio station where I live, Mix 104.1, back in 2019, was promoting a Kesha concert and giving away tickets. It was sponsored by the station, and a few others. After the main part of the promotion, the station's announcer said "This is a 21 and over event" as if she had channeled her inner MicroMachines commercial guy. But wanna hear the worst part? One of the sponsors was EDAVILLE FAMILY THEME PARK, a local amusement park in my area that has a railroad which features THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE!!!!!

YOU READ THAT RIGHT. 

THOMAS! 

THE! 

TANK! 

ENGINE!!!!!!!! 

Why in ABC's Wide World of Sports would they of all people sponsor a non-family-friendly event? Someone call Mattel, Gullane (Thomas) Ltd., and Britt Allcroft, I sense a revocation of the Thomas & Friends license.

After that, a year later, Mix 104.1 promoted and sponsored another concert, thus one was supposed to help children with leukemia. It would've been a great thing to hear, had the Mix announcer not stated it was a 21-and-over event.

WHAT THE FRAK, MIX? YOU HAD ONE JOB YET AGAIN, AND YOU SCREWED UP JUST LIKE LAST TIME! But at least it's going to a great cause. 

Because of that, I'm no longer a Mix 104.1 listener.

I hope you enjoyed that little tangent on how age limits used to irk me when I was younger.

What Really Grinds My Gears: 20th Century Studios (updated)

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Family Guy ©20th Century FOX Television

Wanna know what grinds my gears? The 2020 rebrand of 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios.

This rebrand is the New Coke of the film industry. 

I think that because it disrespects the legacy of William Fox, and since it is so unconventional compared to other acquisitions.

A little backstory about this company. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation was founded in 1935, as a result of a merger between Fox Film Corporation and 20th Century Pictures, Inc. 

Fox Film was founded in 1915 by William Fox, a successful businessman who owned a handful of nickelodeons (5¢ theaters, also the origin of the name of the network that brought you SpongeBob SquarePants). Those nickelodeons were all in the New York area, and was owned by a company called the Fox Office Attractions Company, a play on words (Box Office; Fox rhymes with Box). This company would later on become Fox Film, as a company merged with another company owned by Fox, a film distributor, Greater New York Film Rental.

This is the first logo of Fox Film, circa 1915.

20th Century Pictures, Inc was founded by ex-United Artists president Joseph Schenck and ex-Warner exec Darryl F. Zanuck in 1933. This company used a logo that may seem familiar to some.

From: The Call Of The Wild (1935), the last film released by 20th Century Pictures before its merger with Fox.

In 1935, these companies would merge, forming the 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. The 20th Century Pictures logo would be altered to reflect this merger.

This is the 1935 logo. Notice that the name FOX is now on the structure.

In the 50s, 20th Century-Fox, alongside William Fox-founded Deluxe Laboratories, created the CinemaScope ratio, still used today in the film industry. With this innovation, a new logo was created, with a tilted 0.

This was the logo for CinemaScope releases, which added another section with strings to the famous fanfare, composed by Alfred Newman. Everyone knows the fanfare, so I won't link it here.

In the 1980s, the designer of the previous logo, Rocky Longo, designed a new logo, which is the basis for the later computer generated logos following it.

Around this time, Rupert Murdoch acquired the studio, renaming it to "20th Century Fox Film Corporation", dropping the hyphen, and started a network named after the recently-acquired company, alongside the acquisition of the TV stations owned by Metromedia Inc. Other than that, in 1994, Studio Productions, now known as Flip Your Lid Animation, created the most iconic logo for 20th Century Fox, the 1st computer generated logo of TCF. That's right, I'm talking about this legendary logo:

Alongside the release of Fox's highest-grossing movie, and the highest-grossing movie of all time, James Cameron's Avatar, Blue Sky Studios, the animation studio of TCF, introduced this masterclass of a remastered logo:

But unfortunately, Disney did the unthinkable, and defaced the logo, and in 2020 of all years, by rebranding this award-winning studio as the soulless, bland:

And Disney has been turning them into a laughingstock, by making a TERRIBLE Home Alone reboot, and some shawty films with no rewatch value. AND Avatar: The Way Of Water.

Speaking of which, the 4K Blu-Ray and the theatrical re-release of the first Avatar film replaced (plastered) the original 20th Century Fox logo with the 20th Century Studios logo, even though Disney said that films prior to 2020 would keep the original Fox logos. Heck, they even plastered the Fox logo on international prints of the 25th Anniversary Edition of Titanic (1997), another James Cameron film. I guess Disney has been screwing him and fans of his work for 20th Century Fox over.

Thanks for reading!

In-Store Music: An Editorial.

 

This is The Chronicles of Trevor, the blog that's never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.

Ever noticed the washed-up 5-year-old pop music and overplayed classic songs that play while you're at the supermarket buying your groceries? That's one of the modern mainstays in music nowadays. 

    Back in the late 70s and 80s, stores would play instrumental tunes. Kmart for instance used a track by Mladen Franko and His Orchestra called "Jamboree", which would later on become famous in the vaporwave scene, and be used in a video called "retail", originally uploaded by deleted YouTube channel Alan Grant, but reuploaded to the platform by a handful of other channels.

In 1993, though, one evil company would rise above, with a focus on playing popular music in grocery stores nationwide. This company would be known as the In-Store Audio Network.

I've had a grudge against this company since 2018, when I heard Tom Cochrane's original version of "Life is a Highway" play in my local Stop & Shop. I hate that version with a fiery passion. The loud, high-pitched, tinny harmonica in it is like the world's sharpest needle puncturing through both my eardrums! And I couldn't control it, since I was at a grocery store, and I didn't have headphones. I would rather listen to the 2006 cover of the song by Rascal Flatts, since that's the one I first heard. Cars was my favorite Pixar film then, and the "Life is a Highway" scene has been engraved into my head since then, and I associate the song with Cars. So whenever I hear Tom Cochrane's version, I see this in my mind:

After that, a year later, Aerosmith's song "Cryin'" played, a song that has an unnecessary harmonica solo at the fadeout of the song, using a similar tinny sound as the "LiaH" one. I had to bite my finger (it didn't bleed) to relieve the pain of the devilish screeching. Unfortunately for me, my former school nurse from my elementary school was there, and it made me kinda embarrased.

Later on in 2023, a year after ISAN rebranded to Stingray, one of the worst washed-up pop songs EVER to come out of Canada, "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, came on, but I didn't freak out. I just said, "Oh God, This song? This is the best thing they could pull out of their butt? If so, what the heck!" I've hated this song ever since its debut, since the otherwise cute and innocent-looking young woman that is Carly Rae Jepsen was singing with God-awful autotuned harmonization that's just bad, and the terribly repetitive lyrics are a nuisance to anyone who wants to keep shopping. But the not-so-redeeming factor of this garbage heap of a song is the orchestral samples in the background. Other that that, I told my stepdad Tom, who works at the deli that the song was on, and that I didn't get angry.

Another pet peeve of Stop & Shop's feed, is the advertisements that play for the products available at S&S, where after the voice-over, usually a woman with terrible vocal fry (I think it's a "how do you do, fellow kids" moment, since that one voice from that certain short video app has it, and the voiceover was talking about hiring and jobs), says the slogan "Stop & Shop. Feed The Moment", a 5-note piano jingle plays, usually twice as loud as the voice-over. It's even more noticable with an ad for products from companies owned by Asians and Pacific Islanders. The male voiceover was very quiet, but the Piano jingle was 10 times as loud. It made me think of the Mad Piano from Mario 64 jumpscaring grocery store shoppers. as in this video.

This has been an editorial by the owner and writer of this blog. Thank you for reading.

Shopping Segments in Newscasts: An Editorial

    

    Journalists have one of the toughest jobs out there. Reporters have to deal with random guys that shout swears in the mic, and Video-bombers. But one thing that's ruining Journalism more than those attention-hungry morons are "Steals & Deals" segments interrupting newscasts. 4 years ago, my local Fox affiliate, WFXT 25, started airing segments called "Local Steals & Deals" which consists of a bored-sounding host who over-exaggerates things about a product, raving about it, etc. These products are NOT local, the only steal is them stealing 5 precious minutes they could've used for news, and you can get the same products at Walmart for cheaper! (which makes sense, considering Cox Media Group, 25's owner, is owned by Apollo Global Management, who also owns Walmart.) It's like your newscast is being interrupted by QVC or HSN. 

    3 years later, the CBS-owned station in my area, WBZ, started airing a similar program for stations owned by CBS, called "CBS Deals". It's exactly the same as "L. S. & D.", with the same 4-note marimba chime playing before the product-hawking begins. and a similarly bored-sounding host. That is because both segments are produced by a New York-based company called Knocking. Local Steals & Deals used to be hosted by Lisa Robertson, former QVC host. In her first few segments, she sounded cheerful, but when 2020 came along, she sounded more bored, and kinda meh. 

    Also, the fact that the owned-and-operated stations of a major network like CBS need to have one of those deals segments is WAY beyond me. They're CBS, they don't need to cheapen their newscasts, they have a buttload of cash! They're owned by Paramount Global, for Pete's sake! The same Paramount that owns Nickelodeon, and therefore, SpongeBob! They could use that SpongeCash wisely, and not use a steals and deals segment and be greedy like Mr. Krabs. But then again, it's Paramount Global we're talking about, who used to be known as Viacom, one of the GREEDIEST companies on Earth.

    Also also, these steals and deals segments are redundant, since a lot of the syndicated talk shows that WBZ and WFXT air already have a steals and deals segment included as part of the time.

    My tip for WBZ and WFXT, Get rid of the steals and deals segments. Also to Cox Media Group, Trade WFXT back to Fox for KTBC in Austin, since the Standard General/Tegna deal died.

That was my editorial for tonight. The views and opinions expressed therein were my opinions only, and may not necessarily reflect the views of my readers, and that's alright. I respect your views and opinions.

Thanks for reading :)