Roughly 20 years ago, in the year 2005,
I was put in this afterschool care program called LATCH KEY in Raycam Community Centre at Campbell Ave due to my mother having to work until 5:30PM as an early Childhood educator from within the same building.
As I mentioned in several posts in the past, Latch Key had this bigass Widescreen TV in one of their rooms and we actually got the chance to watch TV on that thing.
The Channel's we tuned though were limited to YTV though so that's that.
But aside from the loss of watching Cartoon Network,
I did get exposed to the various Nickelodeon shows that were picked up by YTV during that time.
Spongebob, Fairly OddParents, Avatar The last Airbender, etc.
But one show stood out from the crowd and it wasn't even from Nickelodeon but rather was made in CANADA.
That show being....
BEING IAN.
This is a show set in Burnaby, BC starring the titular 12 year old IAN KELLY.
It's a rare feet for a show of it's stature like BEING IAN to be set in a neighboring municipality like Burnaby.
For one, whenever a show or movie uses Vancouver or it's neighboring municipality cities like Burnaby, Richmond, Delta, Abbotsford, Surrey, etc.,
They are always set in the United States.
Shows like THE X-FILES are no exception.... at least for the first 5 seasons.
The End(Season 5 Finale) was the final episode of X-Files to be filmed in Vancouver
until the 2016 revival.
Starting in Season 6, The show would move filming to Los Angeles.
But even if the show is willing to keep the setting Canadian, the chances are VANCOUVER is gonna get the most out of the spotlight....
Or TORONTO as well.
Not Being Ian.
The show is firmly set in Burnaby for most of it's 4 season run....
minus the episode where Ian goes to visit Rogers Arena
(Back when it was originally called GM Place)
and the 2-Parter where the Kelly Family drive to Los Angeles with hilarious results.
BEING IAN was created by Ian James Corlett.
If that name sounds familiar, you're absolutely right.
The show is created by one of the original English Voice Actors for Son Goku from Dragon Ball Z
But Ian did not voice the character bearing his namesake.
Instead, the role of Ian Kelly went to RICHARD IAN COX.
If the name Richard Ian Cox rings a bell to you, you're right again.
Ian Kelly is voiced by INUYASHA!!!
As a matter of fact,
I did actually get to meet Richard in person at ANIREVO back in August 2018.
Richard Ian Cox is the one in the middle of this Panel.
Sorry, but at that time I recorded him on video, he shaved his beard.
But what does BEING IAN have in similarity to my childhood?
Hang in there, That's where the personal Anecdotes come in.
Well, I could only watch the show when attending the Latch Key program due to the fact that.... I think the show was on at 4:30PM so before my mother picked me up.
But when It was available, it was worth watching.
The series follows the life of Ian Kelly as he aspires to be a filmmaker.
But the problem facing Ian is his hectic life dealt by his family who are portrayed as indifferent to his endeavors.
His father Kenneth Ken Kelly owns a Piano Store who proves to be a bit of a dull knife in the kitchen.
Maybe enough to give Peg Pete a run for her money, what with her hotheaded attitude throughout the episodes of Goof Troop.
And Ian's idiot brother Kyle and Korey.....
Well, you know how it is with older brothers who pick on you when you're the youngest child so....
So that leaves Ian with the support of his friends
Tyrone Ty Washington, his African-American Best friend/Voice of Reason,
&
Sandra Sandi Crocker, his tomboyish athletic best friend
So much for a guy who has his own camcorder.
And that's where the personal childhood anecdotes and similarities come to shine.
Ever since I saw old video footage of myself from when I was a toddler, I've developed a fascination with Video Cameras.
Eventually, I got ahold of a couple of Sony Handycam Camcorders to shoot some experimental videos with.
But compared to that photo above from 2008, This camera as shown below was the one I used the most:
I'm somewhat embarrassed to show off what I recorded because this is coming off someone who's mother was very strict about keeping a watch on me until High School so she wouldn't let me go out by myself so a lot of my camera footage were just me messing around with the various effects and texts that were built in these cameras as well as point the camera at random crap that my perfect 20/20 eyes can see.
But hey, whenever us kids from the mid-2000s get ahold of these Tape-Based Cameras regardless if they're advertised as Analog or Digital, we often want to be experimental so we point at whatever we see.
Even though the lens was pointing downwards in this 2006 photo,
the camcorder wasn't recording so please don't ask if my Camcorder caught my shorts, sandals,
or Crabs trying to steal my Food.
Most of my Camera Experimenting pretty much happened when I was not at the Latch Key program because my mother prohibited me from bringing not only my Gameboy or Nintendo DS handhelds wherever I go but she also held that moratorium prohibition even on my Cameras due to what was thought to be a fear of me losing or breaking it.
So yeah, All my footage is kept within the confines of my home or my family vacations.
That all changed in the later years but even then, that's high school and a lot of those photos or videos were taken on my various phones I had.
Such as this one below taken on my iPhone 5S during my High School Prom back in 2016.
If you're gonna ask who's the girl standing next to me in the photo,
her name is Liza Lam and yes I had a crush on her back in the day.
And yes,
Liza is the inspiration for my Megumi Character in my MARYLANDIA Series concept.
I also decided to portray Megumi as somewhat of a mediator, Novelist, motivationist, etc. because you can do that in cartoons.
And unlike Liza, Megumi has Purple Hair who's front bangs are stylized like a mid to late-1960's haircut.
I'll have a written bio on this character once I create the Character sheets in the future.
Anyway, my point being is that the show has heavy nostalgia for most of us Early Gen-Z Canadians who grew up with shows like this on YTV.
Sure, We mostly had Nickelodeon shows that YTV secured the rights to but when it came to MADE-IN-CANADA cartoons, Being Ian takes that cake.
Sure, others came like CAPTAIN FLAMINGO, MARTIN MYSTERY, etc
but people would like to say that BEING IAN is the lighter fluid to that Nostalgia Barbeque that they all remember and love.
Probably because unlike Captain Flamingo, which is set in Toronto,
Being Ian is set closer to home which is Van....... I mean.... BURNABY.
(Almost said Vancouver there. Heh Heh.)
And certainly shows.
But now let's compare Ian to another Character...
NO, THIS IS NOT A CHARACTER CLASH POST SO KEEP YOUR COMMENTS TO YOURSELF PLEASE...
But DOUG doesn't need a Camcorder to record his adventures in Bluffington.
He just needs his imagination and a dia....... er..... Journal to jot down his everyday life.Plus, Doug's American as he was born in Bloatsburg, Virginia....
Before moving to Bluffington, Virginia in August 11 1991
AND HE LIVES IN THE EAST COAST!
Ian on the other hand is Canadian Born.
Don't ask if Ian's Hospital of Birth is in Burnaby, New Westminster, or Vancouver.
And like me, he lives in the West Coast.
However, I live in the Vancouver area, though my area is within walking distance to the Skytrain which routes to Burnaby.
as a matter of fact, the only time I lived in the Burnaby area was when I was in Kindergarten from September 2003 until June 2004 due to living at a nice but expensive house in Myrtle Street that my mother could no longer afford the rent due to her and my father separating.
Plus unlike both Doug and Ian,
I'm an only child.
I don't have any siblings and I never had any growing up.
But hey, we can only imagine what kind of life we had if things were a little different for us.
And one more thing before I close this blogpost:
Being Ian premiered exactly 11 years after Nickelodeon's DOUG aired it's last episode
(And 6 years after Disney's DOUG aired it's last episode)
But pretty much 10 years after YTV bought the Canadian rights to Nickelodeon's DOUG in 1995 so have at that.
You learn so many things while being a blogger, especially with a combination of your own childhood experiences as well as researching said show's quirks, nostalgia, etc.
And seeing as I've got a lot of childhood photos in my WD Easystore External HDD, I think it's about time to create new posts documenting some of my childhood experiences.
And yes, surprise appearances of my computers from my Childhood are going to be included, what with Family Day 2025 coming up. So stay tuned.
As always, see you next blogpost.
On an unrelated note:
I had some issues with the Maverick Falcon 7900RT PC during the making of this blogpost.
It started to hang when Idle and then gave me Blue Screens of Death when that happens.
I suspect it had something to do with the recent NVIDIA 572.16 driver update but I took a look and it might have something to do with my USB Power Savings as well as my PCIE Power Management so I took care of that, and also had to physically clean up my PC to remove whatever could be causing the instability.
I don't want to assume the worst but if that doesn't fix the problem, it might mean I may have to replace the AORUS motherboard, Ryzen 9 CPU, DDR5 Ram, and whatever SSD I'm using for my Windows 11 Boot Drive if the problem still persists.
(My other SSDs, Samsung 980 1TB D Drive & Lexar NM710 2TB Game Drive are just fine)
And I really like that AORUS Motherboard too.
Oh well, better wait and see.
Update as of February 13 2025:
This update is unrelated to BEING IAN but rather about my PC:
The idle hanging problem has since been fixed as of the February 11 Patch Tuesday Update for Windows 11.....
Though I'm still walking on Thin Ice with this issue so I really don't want to assume the worst of my problems until I locate the root cause of the instability of Feb 5-6.
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