Back to School Music

 

Everyone take your seats, class is in session!

Welcome back to Me and You and a Blog Named Boo. I hope everyone had a happy, safe, and healthy summer! Please do everything you can to stay healthy, and I mean that physically, mentally, and emotionally. Take advantage of every resource you can to maintain safety, health, and sanity at this trying time.

As is tradition here at the blog the days after Labor Day, I present some fun stuff to clear your mind of the summer cobwebs and get you back to school, so to speak. Summer is usually (hopefully) a time to relax, unwind, and take a vacation (or several). With fall approaching, it's time to get back in focus, because we have the best time of year ahead of us! When we were kids, going back to school made sure we were focused and alert. As adults, we have to do it ourselves.

With this in mind, here are some songs to put you in a studious frame of mind. Pay attention, they'll be a pop quiz later!

Enjoy! Class dismissed!

Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land

Continuing our back to school transition, today we travel with Donald Duck to Mathmagic Land, where Donald learns the importance of math in our everyday lives and the world around us.

I love these side projects of Disney that, sadly, you never get to see anymore. Their feature-length movies are wonderful, but they did a great deal of short form projects that demonstrate as much artistry and care as the big features. I love coming across stuff like this.

Enjoy!

Teen Titans GO! Back to School!

Welcome back to school everyone! Summer is over--at least the part that counts--and everyone is back to school, work, or whatever their normal grind is. I hope your summer was a fantastic one!

To formally put the summer behind us and get our minds focused on our studies, I propose we clear the cobwebs from our minds with help from--Teen Titans GO! Although the show gets a lot of grief from fans who prefer other versions of the team, I love this incarnation of the characters.

In this 20-minute extravaganza, the team taps into their school spirit to learn, teach, and dance. Enjoy!

List O' Links for Friday, September 18, 2015

Wow, I haven't done these in awhile. It's high time I get back to them!

Notice that instead of the usual picture of someone using a computer, I opted for a nice autumn scene. The great season is less than a week away, so I thought it both appropriate and a nice change of pace. I hope your summer season was a fun and happy one!

Now on to the links!

For the first time in America, Burger King is releasing their Halloween Whopper, along with a Pumpkin Spice Oreo Milkshake. I'm not a big Whopper fan, but this looks interesting!

This is a long-awaited weekend for Whovians--the relaunched Doctor Who debuts its ninth season this Saturday. I started watching the new Who at the start of this year, so I'm looking forward to this!

ABC Family has announced their lineup for this year's 13 Night of Halloween. Check it out here!

The fall season, and even the summer season, sees the launch of many pumpkin flavored beers. But if you're looking for a seasonal brew without pumpkin, you have several options. Marketwatch has ten non-pumpkin brews that are still perfect for the fall!

If you use the Internet--and obviously, you do--you may wonder why memes use the same large font all the time. Look no further than this article from Vox that explains how the Impact font became the standard font of memes everywhere.

Finally, I didn't present any back to school material this year as I usually do, but I can't let September pass without mentioning it at least once. Here is a comparison of getting ready for the school season back in the 70s versus today. Sounds accurate.

Have a great weekend! And please remember that the Countdown to Halloween starts in less than two weeks on Thursday, October 1st! Be there or beware!

List O' Links for Friday, September 5th, 2014

For the first time in a long time, I'm posting a List O' Links to round out the week. I hope you find these links as entertaining as I do!

Sticking with the Back to School theme this week, the retro 70s site Plaid Stallions showcases a sampling of back to school attire from the polyester decade. As bad as 70s fashion often looks, I kind of wish people still dressed like this!

If you're a fan of animation like I am, you've no doubt heard of the legendary Don Bluth, the former Disney animator who broke out on his own. Learn more about his story here thanks to the Onion AV Club.

Now that it's September, General Mills is once again offering its Monster Cereals for the adoring public. This year, Frankenberry, Chocula, and Booberry get redesigns from top DC Comics artists Jim Lee, Terry and Rachel Dobson, and Dave Johnson. Take a look!

One of my favorite video games growing up in the 80s was the Activision classic Kaboom! Thanks to modern technology, I can play it again online (even though I have two Atari 2600s at home). You can play too!

Finally, this link is almost a good year old, but still worth checking out: amazing Jaws-themed alternative art. As is the shark movie Jaws. Not artwork about human jaws. Because unless you're a dentist, that would be boring. And even if you are a dentist, that might be boring.

Have a great weekend!

Go Back to School---The Peanuts Way!

I love the comic strip Peanuts. You know it, I know it, your grandma knows it, and if you don't know it, you know it now. You also know I'm doing a Back to School theme this week, so without further comment, here are several fun Back to School-related Peanuts images I've amassed over time. 

No one knows the stress and anxiety school can generate for kids better than Good Ol' Charlie Brown and the gang, so who better to share our grief with? Enjoy!

Back to School Hip Hop

Yo yo yo, whassup? Continuing Back to School Week, I offer a streetwise celebration today. I have two clips that embrace Back to School time with a hip hop flare. Let's get widit!

First, this commercial from Kmart sells the store's back to school wares hip hop style, courtesy of two musical cafeteria ladies. My school lunches were never this fly!

And here, a real life family prepares for the new school year to the tune of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back," renamed "Baby Got Class." They do a great job!



Today was my kids' first day of school. Have a great year guys! I love you!

Tuesday's Overlooked Film: Blackboard Jungle

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the long Labor Day weekend. Summer is over, or at least that's what society tells us. Considering it's 90+ degrees outside, I beg to differ. However, the time after Labor Day is indeed Back to School time, when we turn our thoughts from beaches and barbecues to books and binders. It's a busy time and an anxious time, but here at Me and You, I try to find the positive and the entertaining in the situation. Case in point: this week's Tuesday's Overlooked Film, the 1955 classic Blackboard Jungle.

Based on a novel by Evan Hunter, Blackboard Jungle stars Glenn Ford as a high school teacher trying to bring education and hope to the angry, delinquent students in his class. Classmates include future legend Sidney Poitier, the late Vic Morrow, and M*A*S*H alum Jamie Farr (credited in the film by his real name, Jamille Farrar). Despite being rejected by both the students and by the staff around him, Ford sallies forth to show the students a better path.

Blackboard Jungle is one of the first in the "teacher making a difference" subgenre of drama, and is a template for future films such as Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds. The film is also interesting in that we get to see big stars in their earliest roles. Finally, it introduced the song "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets to the mainstream, helping the rise of rock'n'roll.

The movie is readily available on DVD and streaming services, so it's easy to track down.

There's the bell--don't be late for class!

Goofy, "Teachers Are People"

Today is the last day of my Back to School Week, and I close it out with a look at that most important of society roles, the schoolteacher. My wife (who celebrates her birthday today--Happy Birthday, Sweetie!) is a teacher, and I have several friends who are teachers as well, so I have a great deal of respect for the profession.  And I can't think of someone better to demonstrate the qualifications needed for this career than--Goofy.

Here he is in "Teachers Are People."  Or in his case, dogs.  Enjoy!

Back to School with the Peanuts Gang!

Wake up, sleepyheads!  We're back to school this week, which may have many of you down in the dumps.  Never fear, the Peanuts gang is here to get you through it.

Everyone loves to make fun of the trombone-sounding teachers from the animated specials.  Now you can enjoy--the remix!



It could be worse--they could have Cameron Diaz's Bad Teacher in charge of their class!



Finally, perhaps no other character has had more of a rough time of it at school than Peppermint Patty.  Here, she headlines an episode of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, the Saturday morning series of Peanuts antics, in all her sleeping glory.



Thanks!

Back to School TV Commercials

Continuing my Back to School Week "lessons", I have some TV commercials which I hope you find as entertaining as I do.

First up: a young goth girl goes shopping for school supplies at Staples with her dad.  But not just any dad!



Not to be outdone, OfficeMax reminds you that they are a great back to school destination.  But don't forget your lunch!



You'd be surprised what materials are necessary for school; you can't just think of pens and pencils.  You need fresh clothes as well.  Thankfully, we have Fruit of the Loom to remind us of that.



That commercial from 2010 possibly inspired this new commercial from Target, and it's my favorite new commercial of any kind in quite awhile.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you--DENIM!



Target also aired some other commercials in their back to school series, including a 2nd grade teacher and everyone's memory of a PE coach!

Finally, a quick but heartwarming commercial, courtesy of the masters of  heartwarming, Hallmark.  You really should do this for your children.  My wife and I give cards to our kids every year on their first day, and it's a small but significant way to show your children how proud you are of them.



That's it for this year's batch.  Thanks!

OK, maybe just a little more denim.

Tuesday's Forgotten Film: Three O'Clock High

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had a great summer and Labor Day weekend.  Now it's time to get back to business, back to work, and back to school.  Speaking of which, I'm unofficially declaring it Back to School Week here at the blog.  My two young ones are starting their new school year today, and my teacher wife was back in the classroom last Thursday, so there's no better time to focus on all things scholastic than this week, and we start today with the Forgotten Film Three O'Clock High.

The movie follows high schooler Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko) as he begins a day of school poorly which only gets worse, when he ticks off the new student bully, Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson), who threatens to beat the crap out of Jerry at three o'clock that afternoon.  The meek Jerry wants nothing to do with the altercation and tries a variety of methods to avoid it, from reasoning with Buddy, to getting himself detention, to hiring someone else to fight Buddy for him, all to no avail.  Jerry has no choice but to face the tyrant himself.  Who wins? Who loses? You'll need to watch to find out.

Fortunately, unlike many other Forgotten Films/TV I've written about in the past, Three O'Clock High is readily available on DVD and Netflix streaming.

Or, you can simply watch it here:








I'll have more back to school goodness all week, so please come back tomorrow.  For more Forgotten A/V, click here.  Thanks!

Back to School 2009: Mad TV's Public Schoolhouse Rock

Although the Labor Day weekend is still a few days before us, the summer is already effectively over for many. My wife, a kindergarten teacher, begins her first day of the year tomorrow. Our 6-year-old daughter begins first grade on Wednesday. Many college students (you perhaps?) start this week, if they haven't started already. Although the calendar says otherwise, fall is here. To begrudgingly acknowledge this fact, here is the blog's kickoff to fall, courtesy of Mad TV.

Mad TV was the Fox network's answer to Saturday Night Live until this past spring, when it was canceled. One of its long-running skits was a series of animated spoofs of one of my alltime favorite TV shows, Schoolhouse Rock. Although they are funny, they also carry a sad message on the state of urban public schools in America. Here are Mad TV's twisted versions of Rock classics. Enjoy!






For more back to school treats, here is my post from last year.

Back to School

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and a fantastic summer!

September is a pretty hectic month for everyone. Kids and college students are starting a new school year and getting acquainted with their classes, people are working harder at their jobs than they've been the last three months, and well, it's just a busy month. Time for everyone to blow the cobwebs out of their brains and refocus for the rest of the year and get "back to school," at least in theory. Let's take that time--now!

First, let's stock up on school supplies at Staples and get the school year started off right. At least for exasperated parents, it's "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"



Let's recap our alphabet with the help of Professors Howard, Fine, and Howard--The Three Stooges!



Looks like Big Bird could use some help with his ABCs as well!



For a more dignified look at the alphabet, here is a wonderful clip also from Sesame Street called "Madrigal Alphabet."



Let's expand from letters to words with the help of Schoolhouse Rock, and one of their most popular segments, "Conjunction Junction!"

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Let's not forget numbers, especially our multiplication tables, and remember, "Three is a Magic Number."

 

Science is an important subject. Let's take a tour of our solar system with "Interplanet Janet." And here at Me and You, Pluto is STILL a planet!



OK, time for recess. I'll see you all again this weekend for the Saturday Matinee!