August 2008 - Posts
Sometimes I think I’m stuck in adolescence. But then it occurs to me: I hated high school and the way every decision I made (even down to picking out clothes for school) turned into the high drama that wins some stars Oscars. So yes, for me, high school sucked. But then why do I love TV shows that are focused on troubled (and not so troubled) teens making their way through beautiful candy-colored worlds?
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It's been a while, so how about a Multi-link Monday? You know the drill: I offer up five time-wasting but fun links to get your work week off to a smashing start. You're invited to add your own link suggestions in the comments.
• I took a cake-decorating class once. I had a blast, but I was humiliated by being the only person who finished the entire class and never once successfully crafted a frosting rose. So while I laugh my head off at the disasters on Cake Wrecks, I kind of feel their pain, too. Whether it's simply a super-inappropriate cake choice or a decorator who just didn't get it, this blog is hilarious. And the cakes features aren't by unpaid schmoes like me, they're cakes someone actually paid money for -- so their badness is kind of unforgiveable.
• My friend and co-worker Kim Carney found Yearbook Yourself, where you can upload a photo of yourself into the stereotypical yearbook shot of various decades. See yourself with 1980s big hair, or a late-'70s Farrah 'do, or...oh, wait, I can just look in my real yearbooks for that. I uploaded one of almost-10-month-old Kelly, and cracked up as I saw a little bit of what my little girl might look like in the goofy styles of yesteryear. She looks great with a 'fro, not so good with a 1960s Marlo Thomas flip.
• When AMC's fab "Mad Men" showed bits and pieces of Jackie Kennedy giving her 1962 TV tour of her White House renovations, I was itching to watch the whole thing. Apparently I wasn't the only one -- AMC has put the entire tour online (broken into four parts). Oh, how long ago those times seem. Want more? Here are plenty of photos of the renovation. (Love the swimming-pool mural!) Apparently the new Oval Office was finished while JFK and Jackie were on their fateful trip to Dallas, and it was dismantled before Jackie even returned.
• I know some of you love online games and such, so for you, I present this simple, yet strangely compelling, Internet kaleidoscope. Trippy! (Via The Stranger's Slog.)
• Reader-submitted link: Thanks to Amanda for this fun one. She says "Here is a good time-wasting site. Supposedly it is an Air Force test. The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds, you are phenomenal. It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes." Well, if that is true, then I'd be a heckuva Air Force pilot, since I lasted a gargantuan one second. I hope I will never have to defend our country from marauding blue blocks.
It’s certainly tough to put a new spin on much beloved original such as the Eurythmics’ "Sweet Dreams" and have most people love it, but some musicians can take anything from a huge hit to songs that are just OK and turn them into masterpieces.
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If there are 28 sports in the Olympic Games, why does it seem like the only one on is swimming? Help us rejigger the Olympic lineup -- should we add roller hockey and tug of war? Does basketball really count as an Olympic sport? Who wouldn't like to win a gold medal in bowling?
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I was cruisin’ in my ride and singing along to the Guns ‘n’ Roses “Greatest Hits” CD the other day when I thought, “Hmm…G’n’R rocks, but they sure did do a lot of covers.”
Fortunately, most of them are good, but I was suddenly reminded of one god-awful (in my opinion, anyway) cover: Sheryl Crow’s 1999 take on the classic “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”
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Occasionally, I have a moment when an actor I’m unfamiliar with pops off the movie screen. Perhaps that person has been around, maybe in television or in smaller roles, but then that one movie comes along and, suddenly, it’s as if they’re shining more brightly than before. Here are a couple people who have already done it – or have the potential to do it.
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Ready to find out our picks for the favorite and least-favorite commercials of the year? Here are some hints: We love the whole world, it's such a brilliant place. Boom-di-ada, boom-di-ada, boom-di-ada, boom-di-ada. And the least-favorite ad? HE JUST CAN'T STOP YELLING! EVER!
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It's been a bad weekend. They say celebrity deaths come in threes, but we've had two in two days and both were so unexpected, so early, that their load feels unbearably heavy. We don't need a third loss, thank you very much. First, genial and wickedly funny comic Bernic Mac, dead at 50. And now, legendary singer, songwriter, actor, and owner of many other entertainment job titles, the one, the only, Isaac Hayes.
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I awakened early this morning to the news that comedian Bernie Mac had died at age 50 of pneumonia. Mac, born Bernard McCullough, was hospitalized late last week and, despite suffering from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease, he was expected to be released and to recover. All of which made this morning's news that much more surprising and sad.
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After a thrilling season of “So You Think You Can Dance,” the right person took home the prize. Joshua Allen, smile bigger than ever (especially without his braces), seemed more surprised than anyone that he actually won the prize.
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I used to be embarrassed by the sheer number of magazines I subscribed to. I imagined the mailman trudging up to my door weighed down with a giant bundle, swearing under his breath about the lunatic who lived there. Since we've added baby Kelly to our household last October, I've let a lot of my subscriptions lapse. Now that she's sleeping longer, I'm starting to pick up some of my old favorites again. But my reading time is at a premium, and I'm not about to waste it.
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I don't consider myself an especially dark person and I'm not suffering from depression, but when it comes to the setting in most of the movies I enjoy, the darker and more dreary the better.
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Sometimes Hollywood can seem like a bad idea factory, endlessly pumping out retreads, remakes and generally lame concepts. And when I happen across one of these bad ideas, my only recourse is the deep sigh. Here are a few items that have made me sigh lately:
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It's your last chance to weigh in on our TV commercial contest! Before you do, let's discuss regional commercials, humor in ads, and commercial actors that we hate for absolutely no real reason. (There's no way that woman in the eyeglass ad is a wildlife photographer, please.)
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The photos of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's twins, Knox and Vivienne, hit the newsstands on Monday in the latest issue of People magazine (the cover photo went live on the magazine's Web site Sunday afternoon and can be seen here). People paid a reported $15 million for the photos, which will be featured in a 19-page spread in the magazine.
The magazine's editors hope interest in the celebrity babies will be strong enough that folks will plunk down their diminishing discretionary dollars to buy the issue. Will you? Do you plan to buy the latest issue of the celebrity magazine? Or will you merely look at the photos while standing in the check-out line instead of buying a copy?
Full disclosure: I was never a huge fan of "Sesame Street." Though I continue to compare people's behavior, from time to time, to that of Snuffleupagus, I wasn't impressed with the Muppet-driven show when it was age-appropriate for me, and my feelings didn't change when my youngest brother was born more than a decade later and I had a chance to re-formulate an opinion.
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