That other blog

You may remember my April 2008 post soliciting support for Amy Cook and Jess Allison in their respective cancer awareness projects. Today I’m posting about my son’s Movember mustache.

My 9 year old son is growing a mustache this November to help promote prostate and testicular cancer awareness (well, cancer awareness in general, but Movember has a men’s health slant.)

Jay is doing this both for the fun of it and because he recognizes the importance of the cause. Although he is unaware of just how closely prostate cancer has come into his life, he knows what is right… and he knows that all his male relatives, friends, and friend’s relatives are at risk. As he said in his “motivation” quote… he wants to be sure that there’s more knowledge about it for everyone’s sake.

Here are some of the basic facts:

• Besides skin cancer, prostate cancer is the msot common cancer to afflict American males, with nearly 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
• About 1 in every 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, and 1 of every 35 men (of every 35 men overall, not 35 men diagnosed) will die from prostate cancer.
• With early detection, treatment, and good health habits, survival rates for men are pretty good – recent numbers from the American Cancer Society suggest a 10-year survival rate of over 90% and a 15-year survival rate of around 75%. The key words there are “detection” and “treatment.”

If you told someone they had a 1 in 6 chance of winning a car or that their kid had a 1 in 6 chance of becoming president, they’d be thrilled. Most people consider those “good odds.”

Well, every American male has those same “good odds” of getting prostate cancer. The good news is that through increasing awareness, we can help make that less and less of a death sentence.

I’m proud of my son for a great many things. Today, I can add to that list the fact that he recognized that he could and should help save lives. And that’s exactly what he’s doing.  The fact that people he loves are included in that, is just a bonus.

1 in 6… think about that. Someone you know and care about probably will (if they haven’t already) contracted the disease.  They may have it and be undiagnosed. Or, they may have it and simply not told you. Or.. maybe you know and are helping them… well… survive.  Hopefully not just “survive” but “live life” with zeal and passion. But either way, the point is it’s one of those things that isn’t talked about much. Movember helps to change that.

I’m not sure what kind of mustache Jay will be rocking come December 1. Haha, to be honest, I’m not even sure how a mustache in 4th grade would be received. But, I know he’s already done something special and I think he’s going to have fun spreading the word this month and long afterward.

If you are interested in making a donation to the Movember Foundation and supporting Jay’s team, you can visit this link:

http://us.movember.com/mospace/210491/

From there, you can also get more information about the overall project, where they money goes, how it all started, etc., .

You may notice that Jay’s joined the team of Paul Goebel, the King of TV (a.k.a. the “TV Geek” from “Beat the Geeks”). I have to admit, I suggested picking that team… but when Jay was a toddler, he would watch Beat the Geeks with my wife and I and go “geeeeeeek…. geeeeex….  beee da geeeeeex,” so I consider this all just part of him fulfilling his destiny.

Whether you make a donation or not, please do take a moment to explore the site and consider what you can do to help “change the face of men’s health.”

Thank you.

Contributed by: Scott Copperman

I remember Soupy Sales.

I remember watching him on TV… as a guest on various game shows and on a bunch of comedies like the Love Boat and Fantasy Island and such.

I also remember hearing him on the radio. I actually remember him most from there. I’m not sure why it’s that more than any other venue, but wherever my memories of him take me, it’s always to a funny place.

Mr. Sales will be missed by a lot of people more important and more meaningful than me, but I’ll miss him too. I hope he rests in peace.

Contributed by: Scott Copperman

You may remember that I wrote earlier about a film called “Big Man Japan” (here and here).

I’ve tried to watch it online several times.  It’s available through ebay but only with subtitles. I thought the film my be released with dubbed voices, so I held out… eventually requesting the film through Netflix.

Netflix had me on the waiting list, and I waited… and waited… for quite a while.

I nearly bought copy off of ebay to show at my son’s sleepover party but decided the subtitles would be too much of a turn off for the kids.

About three weeks ago, I saw Netflix had made “Big Man Japan” available to watch instantly. I added it to the instant que for our Roku box, and waited for the right moment to watch the film with my son.

I considered screening it first, but everything I’d read online suggested it was a pretty light R rating, with little more than video game suggestiveness or gore. My son’s pretty good about knowing what the boundaries are, so I went ahead and put the film on while he and I were home alone this rainy afternoon.

The subtitles were a minus of sorts, but he’s watched many a godzilla film with subtitles. If there’s enough action, he’ll tough it out.

Big Man Japan actually fits all the action within a nice faux documentary context. I actually got sucked in a little during the mocumentary opening that consumed the first 15 minutes. Unfortunately that lowed my son’s interest level considerably.  He still made it through nearly 45 minutes of character development and backstories with subtitles before we decided to start fast-forwarding to the battle scenes.

They were not exactly action packed, they were more aimed at my generation than his. There was some clever banter between hero and monsters, some choices of actions by the same which reflected them being ordinary people with ordinary issues. There was some sexually suggestive dialogue and … we turned it off. (Mainly because of my son losing interest, but partly because I was starting to grow uncomfortable of what might happen in future scenes of the film.)

So… for all the hype, I did not watch the full film. I think it would be a fun watch, with the right person. But my son’s not that person.  Not right now.

We ended up switching to an old episode of Mythbusters on the DVR… the one where Adam stores his “flatus” (he gave one of the cylinders to Craig Ferguson 4 years later on Thursday night’s Late, Late Show).

Maybe we’ll revisit the film.  Maybe I’ll watch it by myself some other time. It seems like a clever movie, but I do hope that future Godzilla movies aren’t written that same way. My son loves the old school rubber monster battles – and so do I.

Contributed by: Scott Copperman

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Mr. Andrew Goldenberg.

I’m really enjoying watching these videos. They are only two of many.

Visit Andrew’s YouTube page to watch more.

Contributed by: Scott Copperman

As a former Commodore Amiga user, I always have a soft spot for all things Commodore.

Today I either just realized or just recalled how cool it is that people type the old Commodore Business Machines logo using C=.

That makes me smile. Contributed by: Scott Copperman