Steve Urkel Throwback Hip Hop

You may or may not remember, but back in the early 90's HIV was a big concern. Since I was not really old enough to understand it, it didn't really affect me until Magic Johnson picked it up. All of a sudden a lot of my favorite NBA players were preaching about abstinence and safe sex (ironically, what I know now is that most of them weren't practicing either of those concepts). Anyway, one of the promo things Magic put together was called Time Out: The Truth About HIV, AIDS, and You. This thing featured all kinds of early 90's stars such as Paula Abdul, Kirstie Alley, Luke Perry (best intro video ever), and Sinbad (I saw that movie...and I wish I would have picked Sinbad in last week's draft). But the only thing I really remember from this video is Jaleel "Steve Urkell/Sonic the Hedgehog" White's rap video about not having sex.



This came out in 1992, one year before Snoop's best cd, Doggystyle. He's still churning out records...what's happened to Jaleel? He could be a dance icon with his moves...


I suppose I could also call him Jaleel "Sonic the Hedgehog" White.

I Love Old School PSAs

I love old school stuff - hip-hop, video games and tv just to name a few. That said, I just finished plowing through 3 hours of the new American Gladiators and it was awesome. There were some people who didn't like it but let's go through some of the differences to see if they are just whining:

Host: Hulk Hogan is an improvement over whoever they threw at us previously.

Gladiators: This could really be split into three categories:
Looks: They are better now (except for Helga) but that could simply be the transition from the 90's to now.
Names: A wash. Are they cheesy now (Justice, Helga, Wolf)? Yes, but are they any worse than Malibu, Blazer, Laser, Tazer...
Skill: This is an area where the old school gladiators have a distinct edge. They just didn't mess up. Ever. These new gladiators have messed up in nearly every challenge.

Events: I haven't seen all of them, but it seems like they've beefed up all of the old events and brought in some new ones that are pretty good. To top it off, the Eliminator is now badass - a certified strength drainer.

I'm sure there's other things I could talk about but in general if you liked the old school show, you should like this one. It's awesome. I love throwback shows and I wish they would have brought this earlier. Also, one other thing you can't discount - DVR. The fact that I could watch a 2 hours episode in less than an hour is awesome.

You know what else that's old school that I love? PSAs. You don't really see them anymore, but when those things would come on, I'd always perk up to hear what these celebrities had to offer. There were some awesome ones and some ridiculous ones, like this one featuring Gary Gait*.



I have no clue who that dude is (I guess he used to play lacrosse), but I'm not sure that PSA said anything. I was expecting there to be another 20 or 30 seconds...but it just stops. I guess I'll just follow suit.

In any case, here's another PSA that you probably haven't seen.



See, you shouldn't smoke or drink and you should watch American Gladiators. Now even, the Skeet Thrower is helping society.

*HT: The Big Lead