Month: June 2008

The Making of K3’s “Kissing Day”

I’m still not ready with my intended posts, and embedding YouTube videos is so quick and easy that’s what I’ll do. And, guess what? Once again it’s K3’s greatest song, “Kusjesdag” — Kissing Day!

Most of you will run screaming from the room, or maybe just click away from here, but I think this is one of the best bits of pre-fab fluff I’ve ever heard. I love this song. It’s an anthem! An antidote to all of the terrible events, man-made and natural, on this Friday the 13th.

So here we go with a short “making of” about the “Kusjesdag” video. The ladies could be saying rude things for all I know, and if they are, you’d have to know Flemish to know that. Following the mini-documentary is another live (undoubtedly lip-synched) performance. This one was, I assume, done at one of the Studio 100 theme parks. I think I just about have the dance moves memorized. 😉

Belgian Beauties Belting It Out

More music from Belgium, but it’s very different from the Studio 100 pop stuff. This is the Scala & Kolacny Brothers Choir. The video player starts with their version of radiohead’s “Creep”, that you can see here I featured many months ago. There’s just a still picture for that one, but in the second clip you’ll see them performing a well-known U2 tune. And the last one is a video of “The Blower’s Daughter”, as featured in the the movie Closer.

Jon Provost’s Graceful Movie Mom

Nobody ever says just the name “Lassie”, do they? Doesn’t everybody who’s old enough to know the TV show say “Timmy and Lassie”?

Jon Provost says he has no problem with the idea that he played second fiddle to a dog, but once he was on board the series he was the star. Tommy Rettig was great playing Jeff, Lassie’s previous owner, but the character Timmy has achieved the status of a pop culture icon.

I’ve featured Provost several times here, and I highly recommend his tell-all book, Timmy’s In The Well. The Daily Breeze, out in L.A., CA way, has a good, concise article about Jon that I’ll link to right here.

The article mentions that Provost is in The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. Of the movie, Jon says, “At ease with grown-ups, I struck up a conversation with Mr. Crosby while we waited for technicians to light the set. Whatever I said made him laugh. “Say, this kid ad libs better than Bob Hope!”” And here Jon is, in “The Country Girl.”

[flv:/Video/2008/JUN/CountryGirl.flv 440 330]

Great death scene, Jon. Hey, I’ve met somebody who met Grace Kelly. And she was no dog!

Eye Am OK

In the middle of lunch today at work I suddenly saw a new, dark floater in my eye that still has a vitreous. I knew immediately it couldn’t be ignored, so I called my eye surgeon. He wanted to see me right away, and he found a small hole in the retina. He patched it with a laser, and it seems OK now, but I’m prohibited from running until my follow-up appointment next week. I can’t imagine what could have caused this, other than watching the K3 videos. 😉

Studio 100 Globalizes

K3 - Kristel Verbeke, Karen Damen, Kathleen Aerts
K3 (l-r) Kristel Verbeke, Karen Damen, Kathleen Aerts in their “Kissing Day” costumes

I’m preparing a lot of audio and video clips for what is turning into a long build-up to a Petula Clark post. One week ago I knew nothing of Studio 100 in Belgium, and now I’m intrigued by the outfit. D.F. Rogers has spotted a video about the history of Studio 100, and it’s at this link. The page is done in Flash, and the player starts automatically. (It misbehaves a tiny bit, so I suggest opening it in a new window.)

I had speculated on K3 being a good prospect for Disney, but now I see that Studio 100 feels they don’t need Disney, although it’s not K3 they’ll be exporting. Dennis also uncovered a detailed proposal by Studio 100 for the expansion of Mega Mindy into the UK. You can read it at this link. (It’s in PDF and it’s big, so it’s probably better to right-click and save it, rather than open in your browser.) Get a load of these talking points I’ve selected.

  • We are witnessing ever-increasing age-compression, a fact that is heavily influencing the programming and marketing of both Disney and Nickelodeon. In today’s World, Mega Mindy will appeal to ages 7 through 17 if thoughtfully produced, and well cast.
  • The insatiable drive for expansion through excellence has resulted in the decision to globalize Studio 100, using our formula for success, which is deceptively simple, but adhered to strictly in every instance.
  • There are distinct forces of attraction which combine to provide an irresistible argument that a well written, well shot United Kingdom Mega Mindy will be a huge success in the English speaking World. Let us note that it is already a hit in Belgium and in the Netherlands, which has only one home grown super heroine to speak of.
  • If Hillary Clinton affects the Worldview by becoming ‘leader of the Free World’, in the same way that Margaret Thatcher affected the British view in the 1980’s, Mega Mindy will be in a perfect position to benefit.

How about that last point? They won’t be able to capitalize on the Presidency of Hillary Clinton, but it was an interesting idea. OK, that’s enough for now about Studio 100, K3, and Mega Mindy! Next up… XUXA!