Where Are They Now? Dina From 'Salute Your Shorts'

Not a long post, and I'll keep this short and to the point. Many a young man who are now of their 20's came up on the fineness we all knew as 'Dina' on Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts". Seemingly racially ambiguous and pleasing to many of our eyes she was many of our first television crushes. Well we grew up and forgot about her and apparently she grew up too and she's still fine.

This was her then:










This is her now:

Where Are They Now: Steve Francis

(LOL @ me looking at this pic and thinking Steve's arm was hers. Big wide ass fingers and shit. I was about dumb out on her for having Ninja Turtle hands.)

The hell happened to Steve Francis? Damn. 32 and washed up and smoked up. I swear great basketball players of the last generation used to be great into their mid-thirties and didn't start declining until their late thirties. Meanwhile Iverson, Marbury, Francis, Antoine Walker all stink and nobody wants them or has wanted them really since they were thirty. Football players lasted longer than them and they're professional crash dummies for a living. Jesus, Brett Favre's arm is held together by a piece of bubble gum and chicken wire and people still fly to Mississippi to coerce him out of retirement and he's like 50 and these cats can't get a run in at the local Y. Shameful. I'm mad Steve Francis won't change his game and I'm mad that he looks like K-Ci or JoJo, whichever one that weighs like 95 pounds and has the noticeable drug problem.



Sad thing is that Memphis Grizzlies didn't even want Antoine Walker or Steve Francis in the past year. Now that's saying something. The Los Angeles Clippers are who the Memphis Grizzlies want to be when they grow up. The Grizzlies are so bad Canada didn't want them and there ain't shit to do in Canada at all. Kurt Angle (while in Vancouver) famously joked: "In Canada, you can't even have a barbecue in your backyard without being attacked by a moose or even a grizzly bar. Then again the Grizzlies don't beat anyone here in Vancouver, oh it's true, it's true." The Grizzlies need bodies like the Army needs bodies and THIS is the squad that felt Walker and Francis were below them?

Yall dudes, man I swear.

Where are they now (March 8th Edition Pt. 2)

My Brother & Me was the show. Might've been the GOAT show on Nickelodeon if it had more longevity. All I know is that shit was the 'Must See TV' NBC was talking about. There wasn't a kid with or without cable who wasn't up on it. You could poll a random room of 90s Nickleodeon watching twenty something year olds and probably get 4 different answers out of who they're voting for but almost to a man they'd agree on that show's greatness. We all had our opinions on the best episodes from the one where Kendall Gill guest starred to the one where Goo had punch (My favorite) but whichever your favorite episode was, that show had no bad episodes.

Anyway, Alfee, the main character used to be the man back in the day, right? Well damn he look different now. Time hasn't been overly kind to him as this photo shows. He looks like a cross between Charlie Murphy & Fabo from D4L. I don't know what the hell he's doing as far as his acting career is concerned but he's a rapper now and goes by the stage name Showbizz (myspace.com/showbizness). I've never heard anything from the dude, but good luck on that hip hop career, Alfee. We're pulling for you here at HAWO. If nothing else you were the starting player on a championship team for Nick for years man. We respect and honor your contribution.



Dee Dee, Alfee's little brother, seems to have done real well for himself. He goes to Morehouse College and plays catcher for the baseball team there and is supposed to be a decent enough player. From everything I read dude seems to have a good head on his shoulders even despite this pic of his friends and him with some random white girl. Something just don't pass the smell test in this picture. I that looks like they're going to run a train on. Dee Dee, homie, you might want to keep this picture for your records, playboy in case this chick wanna hit you with a rape accusation. You know how they do, man. Have Atlanta looking like Rosewood. You better hold onto this picture like it's your house key. Might be your get out of jail free card because in the pic it looks like she's clearly enjoying being around y'all and is with whatever you and your crew is planning for the night. Add that to the fact of how she's got a leg in the air like she's a cheerleader only there's no game going on. I see you Paris. I think the thing to key on in this picture are the two blue cups that I can promise you aren't holding Kool-Aid. Be careful, Dee Dee. Don't go anything Alfee wouldn't do. *Looks up at Alfee* On second thought, do exactly what Alfee wouldn't.

And then there's Deon. Always knew she was gonna be special when she grew up, just was late on figuring out who she became. I didn't make the connection between her on MTV and her as Deon from the show until 2005. No doubt the most successful since the show "Deon" is now 'Amanda Diva' the VJ/DJ/Songstress/Rapper/The Honorable 'Sass's Future Wife whose been holding down MTV/MTV2/the airwaves and the new look revamped Floetry . Damn, though, I ain't know she was gonna turn out like THIS though. She finer than a mother-- well this is a family oriented blog, I won't say what she's fine as but she's definitely easy on the eyes. I don't even know why it's such a shocker when you see the girls of film and television from yesteryear and they're all grown up and pop up in somebody's music video like Rudy (Cosby Show) or Meagan Good or surface on some new show or movie like Journee Smollet or Raven Symone but it always catches you off guard. Like these people are supposed to go crawl into a spiderhole and live out the rest of their days like Saddamm. Like when you don't see them on television they're supposed to cease to exist. I mean the fact of the matter is, none of these people lived normal lives so they had to be extra extra strong motivated and strong willed. Anyway baby is fine. I saw some of these pics and I swear on my mama I needed to get up and walk out of the room, like I was watching Dwight Howard's 'Superman Dunk'. It pulls a reaction out of you to see this woman. Me and my cousin used to argue over who was finer, Deon or Melanie Parker (Alfee & Dee Dee's sister), he always went with Melanie and I went with Deon. I think we know who won and who took the loss in that argument now. Yeah she definitely needs her own post in the future on this blog because there just isn't enough time to fully give her the props she deserves in this "Where Are They Now" post. We'll revisit with her later in the month. Trust me.

Like I said, great show, great times and great opportunity it affords me to post this picture from possibly the best character on the show, Goo. And he always has and always will have a spot in my television character hall of fame. Somewhere in between Prop Joe and Paulie Walnuts, not quite as high as some of my all-time favorite characters but high enough. I don't know if I thought he'd look a lot different than what he looks now and I'm not sure if I'd want him to change. He might lose some of his goo-ness. That would be a bad thing. Listen if someone from Hollywood is out there reading this, hire this guy and give the world back it's goo. Can we get this guy some work? I mean seriously.

Almost forgot, even though she has nothing to do at all with the show, the daughter on Gullah Gullah Island is all grown up now and she is cute as well. Not quite Amanda Diva fine but I'm not kicking her off my couch if she wanted to sit and watch Lost with me. She's 20 now and in college and definitely brings a surprise when you see her compared to the little girl you remember from the show. I was trying to give my viewing audience an update of the seldom seen Marisol from that show, but I've been unsuccessful so far. Lord knows she was on point back then, so there's no telling how bad she is now. My guess is that she'll turn up in some rappers video and have cats drooling on themselves like they put that needle in their arm with that Blue Magic. Hopefully she surfaces. Keep your fingers crossed and eyes open.



Oh yeah one last thing:








If God made something finer he kept it to himself. I'm too good to y'all ain't I?

Where are they now (March 8th Edition Pt. 1)

From time to time in different bouts of boredom, I sometime think about old school TV I used to watch and how great shows were back the and how the kids today have to watch a bunch of garbage and how unfair it is. A lot has changed since then which got me thinking why not take a look at how much things have changed and what better way to accomplish that then by showing what people look like now and how much things really have changed for the people we remember watching growing up.

Exhibit A we have: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (The OG's, not that watered down nonsense they tried to pass off on you past Season 2.) Unfortunately we here at HAWO sadly have to report that the Yellow Ranger (Trini) was killed in a car accident back in 2001. RIP to her. Zordon, hold your head. I always found it wild how the black ranger was black, the yellow ranger was asian and later the white ranger would be --wait for it--white. Seemed way too easy to me. That among other things like the fact that the show fell off after the 2nd or 3rd set of zords and whole wost of minor inconsistencies keep this show from being the dominant kid show of my childhood. MMPR was like Grant Hill. Had all the intangibles you'd want in a TV show; terrific all-around and promising beyond anything it could have ever hoped for, but after the first few great years for some reason never materialized on that ability.

Anways the remaining cast member don't look like that pic above now. Nothing is Mighty or Powerful about these Rangers anymore. They don't look like teenagers who protect the town from Rita's monsters, they look like the town now. I mean look at this picture from '06:

I mean in their day their mugs used to be on cereal boxes and action figures used to be jammed at the bottom of that box you'd kill over trying to find, but now they look like you'd catch them at 1:00 AM in the cereal aisle at Kroger. The Red Ranger especially looks (guy in the white button down) like you'd catch him twice a day in Kroger. I'm disappointed the most in you Jason. Folks if it hurts you to see these pics imagine how it makes me feel. I had all that shit they were peddling. I had the morphers, I had the green ranger's flute/sword thingy and I went out and saw their shitty movie the day it came out and wouldn't let my parents off the hook for that little 'privilege' for a month. Looking at these pics makes me feel like I stumbled into a spoiler for the series finale of "The Wire". I only wish I could unsee these but it gets worse...

I really ain't even mad at you Bulk. You're about what I remember you to be. Portly, jolly, goofy, dim-witted background character. You've kept it realer than anyone else you used to roll with I guess. Hulk out and get cake, figuratively and literally my dude. Holla at Skull for me when you see him. And since we're talking about you and Skull, what was with you guys? I know he was your roaddog and all and every scene you were in he was in and vice-versa but what was really going on with you guys? I always sensed a "Bert & Ernie" relationship between y'all. Am I picking up on something that was obvious but was never focused in on? You tell me.



What in the blue hell is this though? You're the Black Ranger and you look like you should have been the Pink Ranger. Plus your hairline is a wreck. I told you about hitting up that fat dude at the end of the row in the barbershop whose chair is always open. It's open for a reason, nigga. He'll have you looking like, well you. Then you have the nerve to smile and stick your tongue out the corner of your mouth. Nigga you ugly. You ain't Michael Jordan. You ain't on a basketball court. You ain't dunking. You don't have a jersey on. Close your mouth. Put your shirt on. Cut your hair off and start over. You've lost that hairline to the struggle, homeboy. Best to cut ties with it now and build on the future. If your hairline was a basketball player it would be Kwame Brown. It's a bust and even if you try to put a smiling spin on it, it's still Kwame Brown. Jerry Rice thinks your hairline lost. Other than the Red Ranger, on the playground during recess you were the most sought after role whenever kids would be emulating the show (Not me, I was always the Green Ranger and the White Ranger because Tommy was my dude back then). Get your life in order.

The one, lone bright spot from the rangers of my childhood that didn't fall off was the Pink Ranger. I had the biggest crush on Kimberly way back when. I had shit all laid out when I was 10. I was gonna marry the Pink Ranger and Aaliyah, become a Mormon and live out the rest of my days in Utah eating happy meals and hating on Karl Malone and John Stockton. Unfortunately that dream can never be but it makes me smile to see at least one part of that equation still possible. I'm sure many young men were introduced to puberty through this gift from God. Everybody who watched this show that I knew thought she was at least cute. Even the most pro-black negros from my youth that were taking their cues from Denzel in and worshipping at the alter of Malcolm X, Mike Tyson and Michael Jordan at that time were drawn to this angel. I'm probably rewriting history a bit here, but the moral of this story is she held up pretty well over the years. I think she went on to co-star in Felicity on the WB but I couldn't tune in to that show if her, Aaliyah and I was on that show. I think I was too busy watching more affluent upstanding shows like Homeboyz In Outerspace and losing retroactively.




Any I think I'll be re-examining My Brother & Me or Gullah Gullah Island and giving you updates on some of those characters. You'll be shocked at what Alfie is up to, these days. Stay Tuned...