Scareboarders: This Year's Bad April Fools' Day Gag

I always try to do something stupid for April Fool's Day.  It's the prankster in me.  Three years ago I said that my girlfriend at the time and myself were adopting a Chinese baby named Ling Long.  Some people got really mad in that, they believed it.  So I skipped pulling a prank the next two years because of it.  Yes, I really made some people mad with that one.

So this year I was back at it.  But I wanted to do something so stupid that no one would really believe it.  But it couldn't be too stupid.  That would give away the joke.  So I needed something out of left field that would make people say, "what?"  But I needed it to be real enough that they would think about it before discarding it.

So my first thought was, "Let me do something like "Ghost Hunters."  You know, these guys:

What if I said I had a show like, "Ghost Hunters" that was being looked at by the Sy-Fy channel?  But it couldn't be a total ripoff.  It had to be "one louder."  It had to have a little "Jackass" in it.  You know, these guys:

That's when it hit me.  It had to be "Jackass" meets "Ghost Hunters."  It was all about skateboarders and other extreme sports type of guys who venture into haunted places.  I would call it, "Scareboarders!!!"

To pad the joke, I also decided to ask local music artists for permission to use their music.  Namely, since Sy-Fy is on a budget they wouldn't want to pay for national artists.  So yes, I threw the hook out there to all my musician friends. 

So to finally sell it to all my friends on Facebook I posted that a couple of friends and myself were developing the with the Sy-Fy channel to bring it to TV.  That's when I also mentioned the need for local music bands. 

I did get a whole bunch of likes.  Of course, I don't know if they got that it was a joke, or that I was really trying to get a TV series.  I did manage to snag one friend.  She even tagged a friend of hers' so that he would let me know what music I could use for the show.

At the end of day I did come clean.  Everyone thought it was funny.  So no hurt feelings like when I said I was adopting a little Chinese girl.  I'm really proud of what I thought of this year.  And on a side note, if Sy-Fy really does like the idea of a show that's described as "Ghost Hunters" meets "Jackass" let me know.  I think we could work something out.

Rise

If I ever needed a boxing entrance song, it would be "Rise" by "The Cult."  They have a lot of great songs, but I really dig that one.  For those who are unfamiliar with it, check this out:

You can easily see why I love this song.  But sometimes songs have odd memories attached to them.  And as much as I love this song, it has a strange odd memory that comes to me whenever I hear it.

The year was 2003.  Chad Michael Murray was the hunk of the WB with parts on Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, and Dawson's Creek.  Here's his IMDB page:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614877/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

Seriously, the guy could do no wrong.  So the WB decided to reboot the Lone Ranger with a TV movie.  If the movie did well, then they would start a series the next year.  Never heard of it?  Well, check this out:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0323100/?ref_=nv_sr_3  In a weird bit of TV trivia, The Lone Ranger was the WB's first made for TV movie.

So what's the problem with all this?  Well, it's hard to find clips from the show, but here's the one I can find.  It will show you what happens when you take an old Western, and then add WB teen drama to it.

The truth is, the movie turned out awful.  It was just mind numbing trying to figure out where they were going with it.  The part that I remember about it, and the part that this blog entry is about has to do with a training montage.  That's right, in the movie the Lone Ranger becomes who he is by training with Tonto.  Since they only had so much time in movie to do stuff, they condensed the Lone Ranger's training into a (not kidding) Rocky style montage.

And the music over top of that training montage?  I'm not sure.  The soundtrack isn't listed on the IMDB.  So here I am watching this.  Tonto and the Lone Ranger are running around, riding horses, shooting bows/arrows, and pistols, and just going training montage crazy to some sort of strange rap song.  Here's the montage starting at the 1:30 mark:

 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3efgk_chad-michael-murray-in-the-lone-ran_shortfilms&start=88

Frankly, it's one of those things you don't tend to forget.  The funniest part was that it looked like their outfits were a cross between new Western wear and clothes from, "The Gap."  I just couldn't take it seriously.  And that's probably one reason that it's stuck in my head all these years. 

After some searching it seems I have found a battle scene from the movie that features, "Rise."  Head to the 9:00 minute mark.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3efmf_chad-michael-murray-in-the-lone-ran_shortfilms&start=534

And then it continues in this:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3efpl_chad-michael-murray-in-the-lone-ran_shortfilms&start=1

Say, how do you like that kick at the 1:07 minute mark?  Yeah, I'd break both my legs if I did that.

So as I sit here years later, I can only think of this terrible Lone Ranger movie every single time I hear "Rise" by "The Cult."  It's kind of weird what the brain will do.  I can only think of Homer Simpson telling his brain to shut up, or he was going to send more alcohol it's way to shut it up.  That's how I feel about my brain every time I hear this song.