Fun Friday: Television-Themed Nail Art

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I wasn't allowed to paint my nails until fifth grade, as my mom saw it as a gateway to makeup or something. As you might imagine, I went overboard in the few years after that... in sixth and seventh grade, I painted my nails weekly. In eighth grade, as my collection of colors and brushes grew, I'd plan several outfits in a row, paint my nails so they'd go with all of them, then repeat the process so that my nails matched my clothes as often as possible. At some point I acquired a set of small bottles of nail polish with very, very thin brushes, along with a booklet to show you how to paint designs. I never got good at it. I could do a simple flower one one nail after messing up the other nine... that was about the extent of my skill. My sister, on the other hand, is quite good at nail design, cranking out a truly cool set of fingers a few times a year. [and, in case you were wondering, I no longer ever paint my fingernails... the look of chipping after two days bothers me. BUT, I never go longer than a day without paint on my toenails, so I still retain an extensive color collection that I utilize monthly or so!]

Anyway, I came across a slideshow of "comedy nail designs" and wanted to share a few of my favorites. Weigh in on which you like best (from my picks or from the original collection) or shoot us a link to some other neat nails!

The Big Bang Theory

Doug!

Futurama

South Park

well... what did you think??

Fun Friday: Be a 90s Nick Character!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I love that I can catch a bunch of my favorite NickToons late at night! If I'm home alone and bored, I definitely tune in for Rugrats... which I still think is one of the best cartoons of all time. Well, Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, Doug, Hey Arnold!, and Ren & Stimpy all make appearances in the latest infographic flowchart that you should totally check out. I know some of you aren't in love with clicking on links, so I've added it below (albeit a little smaller), though credit totally belongs to flavorwire!! Go through and take a look... are you going to be Alex Mack? Little Pete? Bobby Budnick? Clarissa?? Personally, I came up either Clarissa or Olmec, depending on how I interpret the "were you close with your neighbors?" question. Let us know who you are!

Jennifer Lewis, Flavorwire

The Life and Death of Saturday Morning Cartoons

by Christopher Scott

When I was a kid (or should I say younger) there was no better day of the week than Saturday. It wasn’t the elation of not being at school that kept me going. Nor was it the fact that I could sleep in until my parents would be ready to go back to bed (mainly because most of the time I was up early anyway). No. It was that Saturday was the one day a week that cartoons would air on almost every channel for hours on end! It was a dream come true!

Each and every local network affiliate had some assembly of TV aimed at my age group. Some were educational and others were sophomoric, but all were great in their own ways. I would get up early (sometimes I even set an alarm if the show was good enough), plop down in front of the TV, and watch whatever cartoon was on that attracted my interests. Mainly these were colorful, well-animated shows that catered to young boys, but occasionally my sister would be up and we’d have to … “share.” My dad would usually have some sort of doughnuts or cinnamon buns to enjoy which only further reinforce my obsession with this day to end all days. It was, by far, the greatest memory of my childhood I have.

The cartoons that aired were also amazing in quality! The storylines were so much more elaborate than a normal weekday cartoon because the networks knew that they would have a captive audience every week. There was never a chance that someone would miss what they would have to offer, so they didn’t resort to just humor to catch interests. Shows like Sonic the Hedgehog, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, and X-Men were heavy hitters. Even non-cartoon shows like Power Rangers and Goosebumps premiered on Saturday-only occasions. Even while I write this, more names are coming to mind that are just stunning. Batman The Animated Series, Animaniacs, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pepper Ann, Disney’s Doug. In my opinion, it was the Golden Age of cartoons and we will never have another time that they will make such an impact on children’s lives.

Today things are different though. Saturday cartoons still exist, but without all of the flair and excitement. Most of the shows that air have already premiered on other networks, which make them lose any semblance of uniqueness. The monopoly of Saturday morning has been replaced by multiple 24-hour cartoon cable networks like Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Nickelodeon. Also, the quality of the original series on Saturday has gone down drastically. After looking at the programming lineup for Saturday this week on broadcast channels, I didn’t find a single new series for the 7- to 11-year-old age group except maybe this show called Horseland about girls who ride horses at a ranch. (I guess the horses can talk to each other, but not to the girls or something. I don’t know.) There are a few shows that are several years old that stopped airing new episodes like Yu-Gi-Oh and Sonic X, and Disney continues to replay the same episodes of Hannah Montana for the 150^th time, but that is it!

I think the worst part of all is that this is just one more way kids are losing their childhoods without even knowing it. Sure, they can still watch great cartoons that air on some other networks, but it’s just not the same. Either they have to constantly watch out for when their show might be on, they have to set-up a DVR device, or they have to watch it online later. Plus, one great show that airs on Monday at 5pm, another on Wednesday at 7pm, and three on Friday on two separate channels starting at 8pm doesn’t have that impact that Saturday morning would have when every show worth watching was on at some point or another. And all a parent had to do to connect with their child back then was grab a chair and watch. There was no planning, no schedules, and no problems. There will never be another time that such a composition of great children’s programming will ever exist. When I have kids, I just hope that I can manage to keep the dream alive to give them the wonderful memories that I had growing up through the means of a DVR. It won’t be easy, but the payoff will definitely be worth it.

I want to hear from you! What shows or experiences do you remember about Saturday morning cartoon blocks? And do you agree with me, or do you think that things have actually gotten better since the demise of Saturday cartoons? Leave your comments below!

Throwback: Favorite Cartoons

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Since Comic-Con officially starts today, I thought that I'd do a throwback that features some of my favorite cartoons. And not just those from childhood, either. I totally watched cartoons through high school, haha.Sure, I still catch them on Netflix every now and then, but I haven't regularly followed any (not counting The Simpsons and South Park, since they're not geared toward children anyway) regularly in years.

My mom tells me that I had a Rainbow Brite obsession as soon as I could discern specific programs on television. I remember renting a few at the video store when I was learning to read, but I honestly can't remember watching the show on regular television. I still love Rainbow Brite, and will be rocking a shirt from the show tomorrow! (Today is my Marvel shirt. of course.)

Now, my very favorite from elementary school: ThunderCats. You better believe that I was the only girl in the first grade rocking a ThunderCats lunchbox and thermos! I loved that show, from how cute Snarf was to how cool it looked when Cheetara ran to the Rober-Berbles and how neat it was to have robot pandas around. Mumm-ra was a pretty scary bad guy, but I thought he was unique.

Next, the cartoons that I watched religiously after school as part of the Disney Afternoon years: Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, and Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers. As I've probably mentioned before, Rescue Rangers was what we talked about at snack time in Kindergarten, so I had to be up the latest adventures of Chip, Dale, Monty, Gadget, and Zipper! FatCat was my favorite villain, though Nimnul ran a close second! I thought that the storyline for Gummi Bears was just fabulous, and the characters were quite lovable. With TaleSpin, it was simply the characters. I thought that Don Carnage was a hilarious bad guy, and the idea of "cloud-kicking" blew my mind. The storylines were a bit outrageous (I wasn't the best at allowing myself to have a willing suspension of disbelief as a child) and wrapped themselves up all too quickly, but how could you not love Wildcat, Baloo, Molly, Kit, and the others?

And, on the weekends as a youngin', Foofur and Punky Brewster were my Saturday Morning Cartoons of choice. As a kid who was deathly afraid of dogs, the idea that a bunch of canines lived together (along with Fencer the cat and a few rats) with no real owner was amusing. The constant hiding from the realtor was funny to me, and I just remember laughing at the show all the time. With Punky, I think it was Glomer who first sucked me in. He seemed like such a cool "pet" and I had a fascination with magical creatures and the world of fun that they could create for someone. Sure, Punky and her friends were cool, but Glomer, he was amazing! 

Middle school was pretty simple for me... Rugrats and Doug. I was new to having Nickelodeon, and those two shows were big hits with me and my siblings. While everything that the rugrats ever did was pretty unbelievable, I adored their ability to teach about other cultures and holidays, and thought that the writing was great. Doug was quite a bit more believable (well, not the fact that people were blue, haha), and I thought that most of the secondary characters were well-written and developed... like Judy, Connie, and Mr. Dink. I'll even admit that I actually liked the Disney episodes of The Brand-Spankin' New Doug, which wasn't a hit with a lot of other people. I thought that aging the kids a year did a lot for the show and the way they handled the situations that were faced.

In high school my favorites included The Weekenders, Teacher's Pet, Recess, and Pepper Ann. The first two were Saturday morning shows, the latter two were afterschool shows (though they began on Saturdays, of course). I've written about a few of these before, but in a nutshell, it was the characters that kept me coming back. In The Weekenders, the cast was pretty small, so it was easy to latch on to each of the four, and understand where they were coming from and what they were doing. With Teacher's Pet, the idea that a dog went to school was pretty intriguing, but the fact that his teacher was also his owner (and she didn't realize who the dog was) baffled me to the point that I just couldn't stop watching, waiting for the day that she discovered the truth. My fourth grade wasn't like Recess in any way (we didn't even have cliques yet), but the storylines were incredibly believable to me, and the roles that the kids took in each scheme just made sense. Similarly, although I couldn't directly relate to Pepper Ann, I just "got" the show and her interactions with other characters was just moving for me. 

My college cartoon was totally As Told by Ginger, which I just thought was written well. There were a bunch of characters, the storylines were more pre-teen/teen-oriented, and the depiction of social life at school was a little more believable than a lot of other shows. Plus, there was a special where they went to camp, and I spent two of my summer during college working at a resident camp, so that held a special place in my heart. 

I know you're dying to share... what have your favorite cartoons been throughout life??

Casting News; Comic-Con Tips; Cancellations and Renewals

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

- Farrah from Teen Mom may be the next Charlie's Angel.

- Mike Vogel is taking on a lead role in PanAm.

- Kal Penn, who notably left his role on House to pursue a non-entertainment career for the Obama administration, is returning to television on How I Met Your Mother. I am not thrilled. It's also looking like Season 8 (2012-2013) will be the finale for the show. I'm okay with that.

- on a related note, Neil Patrick Harris is going to be a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance.

- Speaking of House, Cuddy's been out, but Chase has re-signed. Thirteen is still up in the air.

- Tons of giveaways happen at Comic-Con, one of which are these bags from the WB. Um, and they're giving away a car.

- And, if you can't be at the Con, watch what you can on G4!

- If I wasn't going to the Con, I might've been heading to the San Francisco casting call for The Price is Right contestants! (it's way out in the middle of nowhere and not in the city though!) Other cities follow.

- Netflix won't be streaming any more episodes from NBC.

- Aubrey from 16 and Pregnant was caught shoplifting some makeup.

- Wall $t. Wives is seeking cast members.

- TNT canceled Men of a Certain Age.

- Teen Wolf was renewed. So was Single Ladies.

- The Gosselins went to Mount Rushmore... maybe that'll be seen on a future episode of Kate Plus Eight.

- Season 4 of Merlin will be on SyFy in 2012.

-FX picked up American Horror Story, to premiere in October with 13 episodes.

- Charlie Sheen will be in a show called Anger Management, based on the 2003 film. No network is attached yet.

- And, as a reminder, Doug will be returning to television. I'm excited.

Favorite Episodes: Doug

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Doug is unique in that it started out on Nickelodeon and later became a Disney cartoon. This is really interesting for those of you who are around my age, since when I was a child the rivalry between Nickelodeon and Disney was just like Coke & Pepsi or McDonald's & Burger King. While this competition still exists to a certain extent, I don't believe that it is anywhere near as fierce now. In fact, five years ago I spent a lot of time with 9-11 year olds, and sometimes they wouldn't even remember which network broadcast a certain show. In my day, if you got something like that wrong, you had to be prepared to get into an argument with the next kid, 'cuz everyone had a stance on which channel played the better shows, and what those shows were.

Anyway, back to the point. Doug was a sixth grader on Nick and a seventh grader on Disney. He eventually gets a little sister (he already has an older one), and the middle school experience is very different for Doug and his peers. The rest of the town has changed a bit, too, but on to the list! From the Nick eps, my favorite season is 3, and from the Disney, season 1. They're technically two different shows, and that's reflected in the series numbering below. For the Nick episodes (which are almost always 2 separate storylines), I chose the pairs I liked best (aka I had to really like both stories for it to make the cut). Video clips are really rare for this show, apparently. I embedded the only ones I could find, since there's not many.

Season 1: Doug Gets His Ears Lowered / Doug on the Wild Side (S01E08) The first story is about Doug needing to find a barber who works like his old barber did. He eventually finds what he's looking for and is overjoyed. The second story has Doug's motorcycle-riding grandmother coming to visit, and she's a daredevil. Doug learns a bit about taking risks and enjoying life, while trying out a little motorcycle riding and some sushi in the process.

Season 2: Doug's Dinner Date / Doug Meets Fentruck (So2E04) The whole gang is invited to Patti's house for dinner, and Doug misunderstands when he think they're going to be having liver and onions. Since he hates that dish, he tries hard to prepare himself ahead of time, all for nothing. It's kinda humorous. Then, we get the first episode with the exchange student from Yakestonia, Fentruck. Fentruck gets along with everyone pretty well, until Doug thinks he has a crush on Patti. But, all's well that ends well.

Season 3: Doug's Huge Zit / Doug Flies a Kite (S03E05) The first half isn't that unique, but it's good to see a run-of-the-mill storyline about teenage issues like pimples. The second half is really touching, as Doug and his dad enter a kite competition, and while his dad has a conservative and traditional design, Doug wants something cutting edge.

Season 4: Doug's Birthday Present / Doug's Fan Club (S04E06) In the first story, Doug's dad thinks he needs to get Doug awesome birthday presents because Beebe gets really impressive presents from her father. So he decides to open up his own photography studio, but then he never had any time for the family. In the second story, Doug is doing magic tricks (this happens on and off in the series), and a third-grader really gets impressed. The kid starts following him around, and eventually annoys Doug. Doug yells at him, the kid gets upset, and Doug feels guilty. The first half is one clip, the second half is in two clips.





Season 1: Doug's Last Birthday (S01E01) I like this episode because it's so much exposition in updating the characters and the town. The title comes from the fact that Doug isn't coping with the change very well, and wants to stop getting older, hence no more birthdays. The honker Burger has been replaced with a fancy French restaurant, Roger's rich, Connie's thin, the Beets are breaking up, Patti is partly homeschooled, and his mom is pregnant. Really, that is a lot to take in before starting seventh grade!

Season 2: Doug's Dougapooluza (S02E06) Connie wants to win a radio contest so she can be a rock star. She's even thinking about quitting school, since one of the Beets did. She gets Doug involved, and begins to have second thoughts about the importance of school. Meanwhile, Skeeter and the twins try to create a machine that'll make monster noises to communicate with the lake monster.

Season 3: Doug's Dream House (S03E07) Doug is really excited that Patti will be staying with the Funnie family for a week when her dad goes out of town. But, then he becomes paranoid that Judy is going to let it slide that Doug is obsessed with Patti. It's amusing to say the least.

Top 7 Worst Female Middle Names

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

As promised, as a follow-up to the worst male middle names, here we go with the ladies... unfortunately, I was unable to come up with more than seven truly bad middle names. I'd love to know others if you are aware of them!

7. Dharma Freedom Finklestein (Dharma & Greg). A strange name overall, that's for sure. The reason it's the least embarrassing is that Dharma actually isn't that bothered by it. Growing up with hippie parents, you have to expect things like this, I guess. (although Family Ties had hippie parents and they didn't give crazy names...)

6. Jacqueline Beulah Burkhart (That 70s Show). Jackie gets pisssssed whenever her middle name is said. And for a spoiled little rich girl, "Beulah" is a doozy.

5. Calliope Iphigenia Torres (Grey's Anatomy). Well, it's clear that her parents loved the Greeks, that's for sure! At least "Calliope" can be shortened to something cute, like "Callie." :)

4. Hayley Dream-Smasher Smith (American Dad!). Well, when you're born on safari because your dad thinks pregnant mom can travel against the doctor's wishes, and you take up your dad's free time, it's easy to see how your middle name becomes "Dream-Smasher."

3. Robin Charles Scherbatsky, Jr. (How I Met Your Mother). Ouchies. Yes, Robin's Canadian, and that's often the butt of the jokes about her, but this one simply comes from her father wishing for a boy. And while fans of the show enjoy poking fun at her stage-name "Robin Sparkles," it makes sense... how would you sell a song about going to the mall when you're a boy?

2. Cate Stinky Hennessy (8 Simple Rules [for Dating my Teenage Daughter]). Again, the fault of a father. While Cate tries hard to pretend that the "S" initial stands for "Stacy," her namesake is a friend that her father accidentally stabbed in Korea. Regardless, "Stinky" is a crappy name to be stuck with.

1. Cleopatra Dirtbike Funnie (Doug). Three names, none of which are fabulous. Now, let's remember that many characters on this show have strange names... Douglas Yancey Funnie, Judith Anastasia Funnie, Theda Opal Funnie, Mosquito Valentine, Tippingdale Dink, Chalky Studebaker, Al and Moo Sleech, and Patti Mayonnaise are just some of the more major characters with tragically funny names. But "Cleopatra" and "Dirtbike" ???? yikes. Oh, and the manner in which she receives this name is also amusing... long story short, Doug is making a Christmas list, claims it's a list of possible baby names, older sister Judy snatches it and reads it aloud, then mocks the "Dirtbike" suggestion by giving overly-theatrical ideas, like "Cleopatra."

Top 10 Worst Male Middle Names

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I'm one of those people who were given a middle name that sucked. When I got married I gave it the boot, throwing my maiden name into that slot instead (which, actually, is much worse in a sense, but anyway). There are a lot of television characters with unfortunate middle names. This week we'll go over some males, next week the females!

10. Theodore Jasper Dettweiler (Recess). "Jasper" isn't all that bad, but it's bad enough for a fourth grade to go by TJ instead.
9. Bartholomew Jojo Simpson (The Simpsons). "Jojo" isn't that bad, either, but let's keep in mind that it's Bart, and he's not exactly high on the list of kids-so-perfect-nobody-will-tease-them. Plus, it sounds goofy.
8. Leonard Leakey Hofstadter (The Big Bang Theory). Yes, he's named after an archaeologist friend of the family, but it's geeky and laughable.
7. Waldo Geraldo Faldo (Family Matters). Now, having each of your names rhyme might qualify you to be higher on the list, but the strangeness of the character in general balances that out some.
6. Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten (The Simpsons). Um, who names their child after the founder of fascism?
5. Douglas Yancey Funnie (Doug). Here, we have a name that you could play off as being some beloved ancestor's name. But only if it was used sparingly. On Doug, we see the name used frequently, and the guidance counselor ALWAYS makes sure to use the Yancey.
4. Maxwell Beverly Sheffield (The Nanny). For a man so important in New York, you'd think they'd give him an honorable middle name. But the other reason he ranks so highly is the humorous scene in which the name is revealed, and Fran's reaction to hearing it.
3. Geoffrey Barbara Butler (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). Boys with girly middle names top the list because it's odd and hard to play off. I went to school with a girl named Michael (first name), and it was very strange. I haven't seen her in ten years, but I wonder if she eventually began going by something else... Oh, and let's not forget the irony of having your surname be your profession.
2. Drew Allison Carey (The Drew Carey Show). Allison is a REALLY girly name, and not even in an old-fashioned way. Plus, it's his REAL name as well. AND, all three of his names have female spellings but the same pronunciations.
1. Chandler Muriel Bing (Friends). Not only is "Muriel" a really unimpressive middle name, but "Chandler" "Bing" never really had a chance in the first place. I mean, Chandler is not that enticing of a name, and even Phoebe's dimly-portrayed brother chooses it as a girl's name for one of his triplets. And once a name gets used by a dog, that's it.

Top 20 Television Sibling Rivalries! Part II

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Here we go, the top ten I chose for biggest sibling rivalries!

10. Doug & Judy Funnie. They're a pain in eachother's butts. They pick on one another, scheme to get the other's goat, and generally argue to no end. Doug tells a white lie to Judy about his Christmas List, and the next thing you know, Judy gets to name their baby sister Cleopatra, and Doug's joke of "Dirt Bike" becomes her middle name. Mom is too meek to really care about their arguments, and many times Doug and Judy just battle it out until the bitter end.

9. Marcia & Jan Brady. You should've seen this one coming. It's definitely one of the classic rivalries. We all know that Marcia is the pretty one and that Jan just gets ignored. Hating your glasses and wanting to wear a wig to get a different perspective is one thing, but inventing a fake boyfriend and having the operator call your house so you can pretend it's George Glass is another. Still, Marcia did a lot of showing off, whining, and proactivity to get her way in the family, so she deserved to be hated.

8. Raymond & Robert Barone. omg, who does Mom love more?!? such a big deal, for no reason at all! But, even when Robert manages to do something stellar enough for recognition, Raymond pretty much always manages to steal the spotlight in one way or another. There's not really a lot of different things that they fight eachother for, it's really a main focus on their "dear" mother.

7. Ren & Louis Stevens. I see this one as a real classic sibling rivalry. Ren was the smart one, Louis was the mischievous one. They often had to bribe eachother to get what they wanted, and the other would go along with it... sometimes. Rarely, they would actually go far to cover for one another, but generally speaking, they were cutthroat enemies. And they were CRAZY CREATIVE with how they got back at one another, which is something you see pretty rarely these days.

6. DJ & Stephanie Tanner. All Stephanie ever wanted to do was be just like DJ (except have a BFF smarter than Kimmy Gibbler. not that Gia was that great, but anyway...). Stephanie would con DJ into doing what she wanted (often because DJ would sneak out or make out or stop eating or get a bad grade or scratch the car or....). On MANY an occasion, Stephanie stole an article of clothing from DJ, only to have something go wrong (the mustard from the Funky Franks, for instance). Plus, how many times did Mr. Bear have to get thrown around to make a point?

5. Cory & Eric Matthews. They often fought over the use of their bedroom (and mysteriously switched sides of the room several times, so I guess their space issues carried on off-screen, LoL). They fought over belongings. They fought over girls. They each had their go-to parent, but sometimes wanted the attention of the other instead. Eric was the more athletic one, but Cory gave sports a try with wrestling at one point (although there was the baseball obsession, the failure at basketball, and the attempt of scuba diving in the first season... none of which really ever surfaced again). Lastly, I think part of the fact that Eric was so girl-crazy was that Cory always had the steady Topanga by his side.

4. Monica & Ross Gellar. Um, so the main reason they're so high up on the list is that they remind me of my relationship with my younger brother. As the eldest, I pretty much always got him to do what I wanted. We tricked eachother with trivia and played board games hardcore (even now, we rarely get together without playing a game of some sort). You might go as far to say that I'm the obvious favorite, and if my mom wanted to create an exercise room, there's a good chance she'd do it in my brother's room (since I have trophies and plaques and all that jazz). And if you didn't see the parallels and thought I was just talking about myself, you need to watch more Friends.

3. Becky & Darlene Connor. This one is a true favorite. Mostly because of the early years, when Becky was the smart perfectionist and Darlene was the tomboy who didn't give a damn. Becky's obsession with hair, clothes, and boys was often a subject of ridicule by Darlene. Likewise, Becky would tease Darlene for her drab clothes and pessimistic demeanor. Darlene would also make fun of Becky's "bubble butt," right up until "original Becky" left with eloped-husband Mark. Oh, and this is all before we consider their arguments over stuff like chores, the phone, and their generic, blue-collar, crappy life.

2. Mary & Lucy Camden. Yep, I'm totally defending how high I put them on the list. I don't even know that I can remember how many different boys they fought over. The same goes with outfits. And with the family's attention. And popularity. Plus, they have a full-out brawl at least twice. Even when they date separate boys, they still act in complete competition (think Ben and Kevin!).

1. Dana Foster & JT Lambert. They were enemies even before they were step-siblings! In the pilot episode we learn that JT put a (dead) rat in Dana's locker. Dana was definitely the smartass in the family, and would often come back at JT (and Frank and Cody) with witty insults. JT referred to Dana as "Barky," and she had an endless supply of nicknames for him, too. I don't know that I have a favorite interchange between the two, but this is from a very early episode, and it showcases the Lambert's famed way of consuming chocolate milk.


who didn't make the list? Tia and Tamara; Kim and Christine; Wally and the Beav; Mary & Laura. And many others, obviously. But these pairs were considered.

So what does this mean? There were no correct guesses. But never fear, a more exciting contest is in the making, to be brought to light as soon as I can secure a good number of players, so interested lurkers might want to consider sending me a message or making a comment! :)