andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Parent’s Just Don’t Understand… Yet?

Hey Ethel! I killed those Nazi zombies with my, uhh... I killed those Nazis!

Our parents are great, for the most part.  When we are too small to defend or feed ourselves, they take care of us.  As we grow and mature, they guide and nurture us so that we can become fully functional human beings, and not the equivalent of lower primates, sitting in trees flinging our own crap at each other (thank you Red Forman).  But one area where most parents don’t quite have the ability to be the all-knowing influence they would like to be:  video games.

When I was growing up playing tag and hide-and-seek, my parents totally understood.  They would ask how the game went, where I was hiding, what kind of tag rules I played with – they were very involved, because they could relate my experience to their own. However, when I picked up my first Genesis game, they watched Sonic the Hedgehog like he was an alien from outer space (wait, was he?), shook their heads, and left the room.  Thus ended my parent’s ability to fully understand me – from that day forward, there would always be that barrier between us – the invisible yet impassable wall made of 1-ups and gold coins. READ MORE »

Patrick Cranshaw, who played “Blue” in Old School, died on Wednesday at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, of natural causes. He was 86.

Though an acting veteran of over 50 years, Cranshaw is best known ? among people under 30 at least?for his small role as a frat brother in the Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn film Old School.

In a memorable scene, Blue is ready to fight two topless women in a mud wrestling match, when he dies of a heart attack.

At his funeral, Ferrell yells, “You’re my boy, Blue,” a line that people yelled out to Cranshaw before his death.

Cranshaw will appear in Air Buddies, a film set for release sometime this year. He most recently appeared in Herbie: Fully Loaded, and has also been in Best in Show, Almost Heroes, Ed Wood, The Beverly Hillbillies, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Bonnie and Clyde and Green Acres.