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It practically gallops!

Thermoplastic Polymer

Disney Vinylmation figures on store shelf One of my daughter’s friends thought it would be cool if I was represented as a Disney Vinylmation figurine. My daughter imagined it having a beard, wearing headphones and a plaid shirt. Before my vacation, I had never heard of Disney Vinylmation figures.

My daughter and her friends collect the items, which she described as a 3-D canvas, shaped like Mickey Mouse. Some of the art is abstract, some makes sense. A few are creepy, such as the figure with the zipper in the Urban series. I found it hard to ignore the shape of Mickey when looking at the Villains series, for example.

Disney Vinylmation - opening the box Disney Vinylmation - opening the box Like the baseball cards of my youth, the contents of a Vinylmation package are a surprise. You could get one of 11 known designs in a series or you might get the mystery figurine, which is not displayed with the others in the Disney Store. I think they want you to end up with duplicates, which you would then trade with other Vinylmation enthusiasts. Or you could save them until the day they finally put you on “Hoarders.”

Disney Vinylmation - foil package Disney Vinylmation - Hyena Villain My daughter’s friend gave one to my wife as a birthday gift. Later in the week, we went shopping at Tysons Corner Center. My daughter bought a figurine for herself, which we watched her open. A message inside the first flap said “There’s no turning back now.” The next flaps read “Are you ready?” and “Prepare yourself…” The figurine was sealed inside a foil bag. It turned out to be Banzai from “The Lion King.”

March 31, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Mourns the Wicked

The Google alert I have for my name keeps me informed about other interesting Frank Murphys in the world.  For example, I was bummed to read this month that football player Frank D. Murphy appears to have re-injured his Achilles and is “physically unable to perform” for the Tampa Bay Storm.

An old blog post about other Frank Murphys elicited the following email from a guy named David this week:

I was bored and Googling my good friend Frank Murphy and I stumbled on your blog post in 2008 about the funeral home in Salem, Mass. that he runs. Just a couple of positive comments.
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1: Frank is a wonderful person. I’m glad that other people see and appreciate that and that it comes through the articles people write and quote in the media (and Frank does not know I’m writing this ☺). His whole (5th generation now) business model is, as far as I can tell, to be an upstanding involved member of the community and get business that way.
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2: The web site wickedlocal.com name comes from a long line of local idioms here in the Boston area. Sorry, Bahstin areah.
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“Wicked” is one of those words that can mean a lot of different things. It’s usually used as a superlative, but not always. “Wicked cool” means, well, wicked cool. Or, neat, exciting, interesting, outstanding. “Wicked pissah” is the same but more localized. Just “wicked” means wicked cool, but more modern in style.
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So wickedlocal.com is an attempt to be very local in the quite local dialect. Of course there is always the whole weird conflicted thing of shame and pride in the witchcraft trials going on in Salem too, but wickedlocal.com covers a lot of eastern Mass. And is not Salem specific.

March 30, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Ay-ples and Ba-nay-nays

What is Monkey Ice? Perhaps the “Planet of the Apes” version of Vanilla Ice? Or an arena where Capuchins play hockey? Actually, it’s an ice drink product at Weigel’s that comes in four different flavors: Monkey Brains (watermelon), Monkey Mush (banana), Monkey Tango (orange), and Monkey Zing (green apple).

Over the winter, Weigel’s contacted me via Twitter about possibly having a tweet-up to sample their red velvet cappuccino. The timing didn’t work out, partly because of my vacation. As temperatures increased, they suggested sampling Monkey Ice instead. When we looked at our calendars, April Fools’ Day seemed like a natural choice to fling free Monkey Ice.

The location that Weigel’s chose is one I know. When they opened their store at 9729 Middlebrook Pike in 2008, I was there to buy discounted gas and milk. If 20 ounces of free Monkey Ice sounds good to you, show up on Friday between noon and 1:00 p.m.

March 29, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Lymon Y’all of Georgia

During the current school year, I have been reading Carla Javier’s weekly column in the Knoxville News Sentinel. I got an interesting email from her the other day. She probably doesn’t realize that I already knew who she was.

My name is Carla Javier and I am a senior at Knoxville Catholic. (Sidenote: I actually was on the Scholars’ Bowl team with Frank Jr. when I was a freshman. Small world.)
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I am contacting you because I have a story that I think you might find interesting, that I was hoping you could maybe mention on your blog.
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Last winter, I applied to Sprite Refreshing Films in conjunction with Dreaming Tree Films for the chance to go to a big city for a week and produce a short film with a celebrity. In January, I received my call, informing me I was one of 60 filmmakers chosen from a pool of over 4500 applications. I traveled to Atlanta for a week in February to shoot a short film– from script to casting to rehearsals to shooting to editing– featuring none other than Grammy-nominated Natasha Bedingfield (whose songs, by the way, I hear quite often played on your station!)
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Anyway, the reason why I am emailing you is our film is set to release on April 12. The trailer will be in movie theaters– like our own Pinnacle–, the popcorn buckets will be promoting the program (which gives young filmmakers like myself the once in a lifetime opportunity to shoot a film with stars!), and the voting begins.
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Voting? See, five other cities like my own had teams like mine that created their own films with other celebrities. We are in a contest. April 12-22 we are facing off with the Dallas team with a voting competition. Votes are texts (‘ATL’ to 777483). Also, if people vote with cap codes from bottles of Sprite, then we get 10 extra points. Whichever team wins then faces off with the other two winners, and whoever wins that will be able to present at an LA summer film festival.
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I enjoyed my experience so much and would love to share it with the community, as well as try to earn their support in the contest. My week working on the film and meeting Natasha was hectic, exciting, and something I really think your readers would like.
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Anyway, any support you could give would be very much appreciated!
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Thanks and just let me know,
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Carla Javier

March 28, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment 

Deep in the Heart of Text Us

Over 1,000 people are expected at the 13th annual Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk presented by Kimberly-Clark, on Sunday, April 10 at Knoxville Catholic High School, 9245 Fox Lonas Road. The event will raise funds for Columbus Home Children’s Services, a program of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee (CCETN).

In addition to Kimberly-Clark, the Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk is supported by corporate sponsors B&W Y-12, Covenant Health, Regions Bank and Xinergy.

The festivities will begin at 2:00 p.m. on April 10 with games, inflatables and other activities on the football field at Catholic High. In the event of rain, the event moves indoors to the basketball court. At 3:00 p.m., Father Ragan Schriver, CCETN’s executive director, will lead a one-mile fun walk around the Catholic High track and the walking trail on the adjacent campus of All Saints Catholic Church.

Participants are encouraged to solicit pledges from friends and family members. The Walk participant who collects the most money in pledges will win a year’s worth of movie tickets from Regal Cinemas.

Advance registration costs $15 per person or $30 per family of four. On the day of the event, the cost is $20 per person and $35 per family. Those who register by March 30 are guaranteed a commemorative t-shirt. Those registering later can get shirts while supplies last.

Domino’s, Chili’s, Rita’s Ice and Krispy Kreme are among the companies who donate food for the event, at no charge to the registered walkers.

This year’s Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk is being promoted through traditional and social media outlets. Star 102.1 is the radio sponsor and on-air personality Frank Murphy is the honorary chairman of the event. WBIR-TV donated public service announcements. The online registration site at http://columbushomewalk.eventbrite.com is easily linked to users’ Facebook accounts. A short code of http://tinyurl.com/kidswalk13 is ideal for Twitter updates. Potential participants can get basic details about the Walk by texting the word WALK to 41522.

For nearly 40 years, Columbus Home has provided hope, help and safe haven for at-risk children and youth. Its continuum of care includes these programs:

  • Columbus Home Children’s Emergency Shelter> for children birth to 17 who are removed from the home because of immediate endangerment
  • Columbus Home Group Home for boys 12-17 who have been separated from their families for a variety of reasons
  • Parent Place, which provides a safe, home-like atmosphere for court-ordered supervised visitation between children and their non-custodial parent
  • Columbus Home Assisting Parents (C.H.A.P.), providing in-home parenting education and case management to prevent child abuse and neglect

As with all Catholic Charities programs, Columbus Home serves anyone with demonstrated need regardless of race, religion or ability to pay. In East Tennessee, fewer than 5 percent of clients are Catholic.

A member agency of Catholic Charities USA, the nation’s largest network of social services, CCETN’s mission is to address the unmet needs of the most vulnerable of our region by providing shelter, nourishment, counseling and education in order to foster human dignity. All of CCETN’s 18 programs operating across East Tennessee are fully accredited by the international Council on Accreditation.

March 27, 2011 | Filed Under Catholic | 1 Comment 

Conversation Theory

Nine years ago today I arrived in Knoxville for the first time when a now-defunct radio station flew me in for an audition. I moved here about a month later for the opportunity to be on the air instead of behind the scenes. Today I was struck by how much my life has changed since moving. I was running some errands around the neighborhood when I met a listener. Here are the highlights of what she said during our brief talk:

  • I recognized you by your voice
  • I listen all the time
  • I know you’re interested in forensics
  • We think one of my relatives was murdered
  • The police investigation hasn’t proved anything
  • We hired an expert pathologist
http://www.frankmurphy.com/passionforradio.htm

March 26, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

How Many Feet in a Yard?

Have you seen the preview of the April 7th “Bones” episode? In it, Bones and Booth visit a fictional university’s body farm for a “ripped from the headlines” story about feet that wash up on a beach. Bones is absolutely giddy about a body that bursts from a buildup of decomposition gases. Fox has posted some publicity photos on Facebook.

Entertainment Weekly posted some inside information last month when the episode was being filmed:

They’re shooting the body farm episode, which features Twilight star Michael Welch (with whom Nathan and Bones creator Hart Hanson worked on CBS’ Joan of Arcadia) guest-starring as a grad student. “They find body parts that have been washed up on the shore between Canada and the United States, and they trace them back to a flood that occurred at a body farm. A body farm is a forensics apology lab at a university where they put corpses in various different situations and environments to study how they decompose. And this is a real thing,” he says.

March 25, 2011 | Filed Under Body Farm | 2 Comments 

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