Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday Facebook FUN! "Cleveland Rocks!"

Somebody tell LeBron James to crank this up!
It ran on "The Drew Carey Show" from 1997 - 2004:

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hi Tim! Bye Tom! See you soon Deb Munro

There are still folks in the sports world who carry themselves with a lot of class! Tim Tebow is one. Tom Larscheid is another. Unfortunately Tom is retiring after 30 years as the Vancouver Canucks' colour commentator. Check out some of Tommy's classic calls here.

"The Price is Right" host Drew Carey is carrying a lot less weight now. About 80 pounds less! He has just a bit more to take off.

Voice123 is celebrating their 7th anniversary and meetups are being organized everywhere. In fact, well known Vancouver voice talent and coach Deb Munro and I had planned to meet this afternoon in Kelowna but she was classy enough (as usual) to let me know this morning that her travel times had changed as she was waiting on a script from a client. Believe it or not, Deb is a fan of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. I actually liked them a lot growing up too - especially Andre Thornton, who had to deal with losing his wife and 3 year old daughter in a 1977 car accident. I just noticed in the Andre Thornton article that he was born on August 13th - the same day my wife and I were married 22 years ago (in two weeks).

Today would have been my brother's birthday and I will be visiting the cemetery a little later with my parents. David Hass died early last year and he is deeply missed.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Friday Facebook FUN! Oh Yeah!

My status last night: "Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.
I don't care...about dieting..."
Congrats on a game one victory last night for the Rutland Rockies as they opened a Best of Five against West Kelowna. My son, Justin, finished on the mound. Here is a picture of the team.

Thursday morning link from Wednesday night in Vancouver:
Lights (fireworks!), America, Action! Celebration of Light raw video USA

Wednesday morning status: OOOh NOOO! KOOvalchuk deal Kaput! The 17-year, $102 million contract circumvents the NHL's salary cap. AND he won't be playing at 44!...I know I wasn't playing in the NHL at 44 either:)

Tuesday morning status: OOOh NOOO! Lindsay Lohan follows up "The Parent Trap" with "The Prison Trap?" :)

Monday morning status: OOOh NOOO! MOnday - the Only day of the week featuring the letter O...

Sunday morning status: OOOh yeah! OOsthuizen wins The Open by a touchdown over WestwOOd...Tiger WOOds 13 back...OOuch!

Saturday afternoon link: I don't see Elton John on this list...I'll have to ask him about this tonight:)
Saturday afternoon link: ‎"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" BECAUSE Sir Elton John is in Kelowna tonight!

Meanwhile, tying in with my affection for the letter O today, this is one of the catchiest songs ever:
Yello's "Oh Yeah!"

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Getting Animated with Stephanie Ciccarelli

I am pleased to feature guest blogger, Stephanie Ciccarelli, today. Stephanie is a communicator extraordinaire who is so connected to
many folks in the voiceover industry and shares her wisdom through
her blogging and travels. I am lucky enough to call her a good friend!

I like this animated photo taken by Rick Lance at the recent VOICE2010 conference in Los Angeles. PS This is not the same Rick Lanz who used to lace them up for the Vancouver Canucks. Stephanie is on the right while Linda Ristig is on the left.

Sources are not able to confirm the conversation that took place, but knowing Stephanie, my guess is it involved another passion of hers: sipping tea...
Knowing Linda, they may have talked about staying happy, healthy, and loved!

Stephanie gets animated as well in this article, which ties in nicely with the voiceover and sports themes I love.
 
Behind the Mic: The Voice Talent of ProStars
By Stephanie Ciccarelli
Everyone remembers growing up with certain cartoons that made an impact on their generation, and for those interested in sports, there was an animated series called ProStars on Saturday mornings that combined celebrity, athleticism and heroic efforts to fight crime in each exciting episode.

ProStars was broadcast in 1991-1992 and featured live action appearances in addition to the animated likenesses of sport superstars Michael Jordan (NBA), Wayne Gretzky (NHL) and Bo Jackson (NFL and MLB respectively). The cartoon likenesses of Mike, Wayne and Bo had their voices supplied by Dorian Harewood (Michael Jordan), Townsend Coleman (Wayne Gretzky) and Dave Fennoy (Bo Jackson).

Originally developed for ESPN, ProStars included live action wraparound appearances at the beginning and end of the program giving viewers an opportunity to watch these stars in action and also to observe these heroes answering questions from fans.

The all-star trio trotted around the globe fighting crime, helping Mama to defeat villains using their unique athletic skill sets. A tagalong, Denise, followed them on their missions and instead of being of much assistance, often ended up being rescued by the team!

I have fond memories of watching this cartoon and we can thank sources like YouTube for bringing some of those moments back to us online. Having met both Townsend Coleman and Dave Fennoy, it is doubly satisfying to revisit this cartoon with the insight that the voices were not those of the celebrities but of hard working voice actors of whom I am blessed to count among my acquaintance.

The ProStars voice cast includes:
  • Dorian Harewood (Michael Jordan)
  • Townsend Coleman (Wayne Gretzky)
  • Dave Fennoy (Bo Jackson)
  • Susan Silo (Mama)
  • Diana Barrows (Denise)
  • Tara Strong (Laura) (as Tara Charendoff)
  • Jack Angel (voice)
  • Rob Paulsen (voice)
  • Robert Morse (additional voices)
  • William Callaway (additional voices)
About the Author
Stephanie Ciccarelli is the Chief Marketing Officer at Voices.com. Stephanie is one of the most connected people in voice overs, a sought after expert and trusted industry source. In 2003, she co-founded Voices.com, the voice over marketplace, and has been actively engaged in the voice acting community ever since. Mrs. Ciccarelli graduated with a Bachelor of Musical Arts '06 from the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario and is also the author of many eBooks, including the Definitive Guide to Voice Over Success, editor of the VOX Daily Voice Actors Blog and also shares her insights and unique perspectives via podcast.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Soccer Success & Marriage Success

The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does. ~ Phil Woosnam from 1974
Spain's 1-0 victory over the Netherlands on Sunday afternoon attracted an average audience of 5.131 million viewers to the CBC-TV network, with a peak of 7.664 million, according to BBM overnight measurements.
Radio-Canada television drew 685, 000 in French for a combined 5.816 million watchers, a number 105 per cent higher than the English and French broadcasts of the 2006 final brought in.

In the United States, television viewership was up 41 per cent from four years ago, drawing 15.545 million on ABC and 8.8 million on Spanish-language Univision, according to Nielsen Media Research.

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By the way, the rules of marriage are very simple, basically it is this: if HE moves, kick HIM. If HE doesn't move, kick HIM until HE does:)  ~ Ralph Hass from 2010
My 22nd anniversary is in 4 1/2  weeks♥ ♥

My voiceover friend, Stu Gray, also writes a blog called The Marry Blogger. He was also just published on Yahoo and Tango.com with an article on how to keep your marriage stable. Thank you Stu!

I LOVE my marriage and voiceover work! Without question, my number one fan is my wife, Darlene. Should I set up a Facebook fan page for her to show my appreciation? I KNOW she would not like that...

Friday, July 09, 2010

Friday Facebook FUN! Featuring LeBron

Should I or shouldn't I set up a Facebook Fan Page for my voiceover business? My answer is NO as I feel "there is a lot of  'push comes to shove' or 'gush comes to love' as people in any industry market themselves (ie. LeBron James)."

I shared that thought moments ago on Peter O'Connell's voxmarketising blog. You can read the rest of my thoughts and Peter's heartfelt post here:
taking drastic action

Well, we did this two weeks ago and here we go again with Friday Facebook FUN! Featuring LeBron.

My status this morning: The 2010 Winter Olympic Games cost our province $925 million dollars to stage and host...ironically, this is the same amount as LeBron James' contract in Miami$$
I am looking forward to the day NBA hoops returns to the Pacific Northwest...in Vancouver and Seattle, who still own the Supersonics name...I hear LeBron might buy both cities:)

My status last night: I am wearing MY Heat jersey to men's basketball tonight - and will be scoring more points than LeBron:)

My status yesterday morning: LBJ Watch 2010: LeBron James Jumps Ship to Miami! All over the news & sports...Reality TV show to follow...

Wednesday afternoon status: Hope LeBron announces plans to play pro in Spain tomorrow...enough hype already...BUT it looks like it will be the Knicks or Nets...

Wednesday afternoon link: We do things a little differently in Canada.
I guess that's why Chris Bosh left for Miami...

Tuesday morning status: LeBron is on Twitter now...First tweet: "Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building."...His free agent decision will be delayed for 6 weeks as he masters Twitter...

Tuesday morning link: My high school classmate, Shawn Bird, is a real writer, teacher and a blogger. Shawn also has a birthday today! I invite you to read her latest post, Today I’m 21.

Monday afternoon status: Studio is silent as outside my window I am happy to see and hear the HedgeMasters dealing with 40 hedges in a "violent" manner:)

Monday afternoon link: Maple Leafs' GM Brian Burke keeps his promises - especially to his children.

Life is not all fun and games. Brian Burke learned that this past February. LeBron James learned that last night with "The Decision."

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Happy July 4th! Classic Steinbrenner on "Seinfeld"

Happy Birthday to the USA!

1)  In basketball, Dallas is happy that Dirk Nowitzki is returning.
I hope LeBron does that for Cleveland!
Dirk Nowitzki has got to be happy (along with his advisor, Holger Geschwindner) that Germany is in the final four of soccer's World Cup. That's who I am cheering for since my Mom was born there!
Germany takes on Spain this Wednesday in one semi while
Uruguay and the Netherlands meet Tuesday.

2)  Tag along on an NFL broadcast bootcamp here.

3)  Starting tomorrow on the NHL Network: 35 Years of Stanley Cup Clinchers. Watch summer weeknights at 8 pm (ET).

4)  There is nothing more American in the sports world than the
New York Yankees. July 4th is a big part of their history. Lou Gehrig
gave his classic farewell speech at the old Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939. Dave Righetti pitched a no-hitter on July 4, 1983. And today,
owner George Steinbrenner turns 80-years-old. I learned all this in
an article from FanHouse.

Remember Steinbrenner on "Seinfeld?"
Click here for classic stuff by the voice of Larry David!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

50 posts & 50-yard line = Canada Day football!

This is my 50th blog post of the year so let's celebrate! Easy enough - as today is Canada Day! At this pace I would hit 100 posts for the year...

Which sport features a 50 and posts? That, of course, would be football. The center of all the action would be the 50-yard line
while each end has goalposts. That is for American football.

But in Canada we have a larger field: 110 yards to be precise. The middle is the 55-yard line. The American field is 53⅓ yards wide. Here it is 65 yards wide. Canada has three downs, not four. The goalposts for kicking are placed at the goal line in Canadian football and the end line in the American game. Our season starts sooner too: professional football starts in Canada today! And the NFL Network is carrying 14 games - including the season opener today at 7:00 PM ET featuring the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders in a rematch of last year's Grey Cup championship game.

Marv Levy coached the Montreal Alouettes from 1973 - 1977. He won two championships in the CFL. Marv would end up as the winningest coach in Buffalo Bills' history, putting together a 112-70 regular season record and going 11-8 in the playoffs. Below is his first Bills' game as head coach in 1986 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This clip (with my voiceover) ran on the final edition of the season's "Thurman Thomas Show" on January 9/10, 2010:

Marv Levy was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2001. Thurman Thomas was inducted in 2007. Click here to see Marv introduce Thurman.

And here is the fast-paced opening we had for the final edition of the  "Thurman Thomas Show" earlier this year. *Editor's note July 3: This link appears to go to recent Bills' stories from training camp. Plan B: On the bottom left of the page, click on "Thurman Thomas Show" and then select Week 18 at the top (Offseason Outlook).*

Catch up with me and the Bills again in two months!