A Christmas Gift

If you have $15 to spare this Christmas (and I know that can be asking a lot this year), please consider donating to this wonderful organization, Wreaths Across America. Every year, they seek to place a wreath on every grave of a fallen solider at Arlington National Cemetery. The program has grown in recent years. A quote from their website:

In December 2007, 286 participating locations hosted Wreaths Across America ceremonies overseeing the placement of 32,553 wreaths on the headstones of those who served and sacrificed for our freedoms. In 2008 that number will exceed 350 locations and 100,000 wreaths placed in honor!

Please consider giving to this worthy cause. The earlier the better - orders should be placed by December 1.

"Dear Zachary" See this movie.

The trailer to this movie is so compelling and tragic. I've been researching this movie a little, and it is even more fascinating than the trailer lets on. I don't want to give too much away because it's a really shocking story, but the movie has led to some important debate on the state of child advocacy and how children are protected by the law.

Do yourself a favor, and see this movie. It's playing in New York and will be on MSNBC on December 7.

http://www.dearzachary.com/

Whatever happened to predictability?

My good friend Amy recently told me that studies now show that watching tv can do a great deal of damage to babies. For example, she told me tv around infants younger than 2 can result in autism or other brain development disorders. Well, I am a living example of how extremely true that is.

My parents basically raised me on tv, and not the 'good for kids tv.' I'm not sure I've

ever seen an episode of Sesame Street (although I lie about it sometimes to fit in, seriously). On the other hand we have acutal home videos of my baby self watching tv with my dad. They're not that exciting... probably because my baby brain was melting.

Long story short, I am a long time fan of tv. I am a much bigger fan/connoisseur than I usual let on. But now that I know it's my parents' fault, let's just embrace it.

The first couple of shows I can remember loving when I was a little kid were The Simpsons and Full House. IMDB tells me these shows both started around the time I was four. Nice parenting, Gordy and Deb... shouldn't I have been in some child ballet class or something? (What parents deny their daughter ballet lessons?! But that's clearly a story for another blog or a therapist's office.)

At the time. I thought the Full House world was the greatest place on earth. I always related most to Stephanie because we were about the same age and suffered from severe middle child syndrome.

(Although, not to harp on the issue, Stephanie's parents put her in dance class. I'm sure we all remember the "Motown Philly" dance episode (3:30 to the end):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGE_iy-A1gQ&feature=related

and her dancing on the telethon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WtxWydIz80)

Face it, Stephanie was adorable back then. But unfortunately, recent events have led me to believe that I picked the wrong Full House character to align myself with.

As we have all learned from Perez Hilton, Tyler Durden and even the more reputable People magazine, the real life Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin) has had her ups and (mostly) downs.

At press time for this blog, Jodie Sweetin is separated from her second husband with whom she has a 6 month old baby (pictured above), divorced from her police officer first husband, and most notably a recovering meth addict... not to mention a washed up child star.

Which, obviously, begs the question... whatever happened to predictability?

Kipmif, It's not all bad news for Full House world though. Bob Saget is a little pervy, but not publicly addicted to meth, so he wins that round over Stephanie. Joey Gladstone broke Alanis Morisette's heart which led to some amazing angry chick music, which I am staunchly in favor of.

But as far as role models go... Clearly I should have chosen Lori Laughlin; she still looks amazing (pictured here with Zac Efron, nothing wrong with that). Or at least the Olsen twins. And I think we can all agree that John Stamos has definitely still got it.

"Go on..." (updated)

I'm not speaking for Kate (though we have shared a brain for the better part of the last 4 years), but I'm glad to see that 30 Rock didn't put me to sleep like last week's epiosde with Jennifer Aniston. Steve Martin was hilarious per usual, and the dream of a finding a soul mate who watches TV without expecting more was, well, ideal.


At the same time, it'll be nice to have an episode not based on a guest star for once. Thoughts? (This goes out to our four loyal readers)

Office was great. Toby is back!

Grey's: two comments: I hate Denny. There I said it. Two, why didn't anyone say anything to the chief that the interns were being all weird since no one was teaching them anything? That's why they started the whole thing, and the writers seemed to forget that.

And, end scene.

Update:

New scene. Favorite part of 30 Rock:

"Why Does the Building Keep Blowing Up?"

This weekend was filled with sightings and reasons to blog (it also helped that my friends constantly gave me suggestions on what to blog about).

Friday. Dinner at Elmo. We spotted Ryan from Road Rules/Real World Challenge/Gauntlet/Fresh Meat fame. One of those at least. It took some awkwardness (which I am king of), but after about the 10th glaringly obvious stare, it was confirmed by comparing his picture found on an iPhone and his likeness in person as he zoomed by our table.

Next up, Ultra. Birthday Party. We (four smartly dressed men) were denied admission, save a $40 cover. Come back an hour later with the birthday boy already inside and one lady accompanying us (evidently, a guy/girl ratio of five to one is the absolute maximum allowed at NYC area clubs), we were in. Music was great, expect that every 30 seconds the song would change. Just as you're about to hit the best part of, say, a Bon Jovi classic, it would switch to the Killers. Give me a break. I'm old. I need at least two minutes of a song to actually enjoy it.

Saturday. Bond. Good, not great. We bought tickets for the 5pm showing, ended up being way oversold, and waited for the 5:40. This turned out to be quite the right decision. Soon after standing in line at the theater entrance, the group ahead of us began chatting it up. Two things. First, they were talking about movies in the abstract sense, which was cool in college but outside of the "quad" that type of conversation should be kept to a minimum. (I guess the fact that we were near NYU didn't help matters) Second. Dancing. Two of the groupies (we were more concerned with him, not her) stepped to the side into the open lobby area. He was going to teach her how to perform some sort of dancing move that should only be practiced in a ballroom with country club ladies surrounding the dance floor. He was intense. Too intense. It was weird, awkward, and slightly rude all wrapped up into one. Luckily, Matt got pictures. They're not great, but that's what undercover iPhone picture taking will do to you.

The ending scene of Bond (in a desert hotel) confused me to pieces. Things blowing up for what I thought was absolutely no reason. I leaned over and asked Matt the title to this post. It reminded me of the end to The Notebook. Evidently, a friend of mine was asked, when seeing it with a mutual friend: "Wait. Are they dead?"

OMG. It's LOLCATS: LAW!

When Brian and I were studying for the bar I discovered (and mercilessly mocked) the fact that Brian has a soft spot for LOLCATS! For those of you without the same strange love for LOLCATS, it is a collection of pictures of cats in various adorable circumstances with captions of what the cat is thinking.

So today I was doing a little internet surfing, per usual, and hit the Brian motherload, LOLCATS: Studying for the Bar Edition. So, Brian, this one's for you.

Yes, this is all it takes to brighten Brian's day.

This one I kind of like... because at one time I knew what all those accronyms mean, and could recite them with ease. Now, I have almost no clue. (Only FSDPOR and WITNes are coming back to me... Thanks, Paula F.)

Congratulations are in order because Brian passed the infamous New York bar exam! And this post is my gift to him. Any LOL-ing? :)

I Have A Cool Mom

Usually when your mother is a control freak, you develop social and personality problems that you would rather keep to yourself. If you're Alexis Stewart, you get a TV show and tell anyone who watches. Daughter of Martha Stewart (lucky), Alexis and her best long-named friend Jennifer Koppelman Hutt (who went to law school - which just goes to show you that there are cool lawyers somewhere in the world) ridicule old clips of the Martha Stewart Show, which include gems such as twine collections, linen closets, cupcake decorating, and hemming a pair of pants. Don't be fooled. The show gets dirty and both Alexis and Jennifer get personal. Words such as boner, boobs, douche bag, and others get thrown around. A lot. This is basically the type of show I would want in case that recurring role on 30 Rock doesn't work out.