"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances."
I was very sad today to hear about Junior Seau's suicide. I immediately remembered him as being exceedingly human - friendly and kind. He had to be for me to remember meeting him -- I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning.
In September '94, my family was on vacation in San Diego. On the morning of September 5, we were eating at a deli called D.Z. Akins and my parents saw him at a nearby table. I would not have picked him out -- I've never been that into football. But my dad picked up a newspaper from a rack outside because Junior was center, front page. He'd played an amazing game the night before versus the Denver Broncos. My mom asked him to autograph the newspaper. He was all smiles and flattered to be asked. I think he was excited to make the front page and I'm pretty sure my brother and I were introduced and he was nice to us.
FYI - Headline is "High Fives for No. 55" -- Junior was #55. :)
A lot of the commentary on the news this morning has been about Junior's irrefutable joy for life and great kindness. His love for his three children and ex-wife. I don't doubt any of it. It is so sad he is gone and the circumstances could not be worse.
Rest in peace, Mr. Seau. I hope whatever demons plagued you have subsided now.
A little more:
Marcellus Wiley Gets Emotional Over Junior Seau Death On ESPN (VIDEO)
Ok, so here's the thing. I love me some Bethenny Frankel. I do. I can't help it.
And I guess she is launching a Spanx-like line of under-clothes to further torture us and our bulging body parts.
Here's where it goes awry. When she announces she is using "real" women in the ad campaign.
There is not a doubt in my mind that these women are REAL. I'm sure if one of them were sitting here beside me, I could reach out and punch her in the nose if it suited me. I'm sure they are real, which is to say I'm sure they are ALIVE. But that's where it ends for me.
When someone advertises someting with "real" women, what they are trying to tell you is these women represent TYPICAL, AVERAGE women. The women in this image do not look typical to me. Granted there's not a supermodel in the group, but show me a heavier woman in sassy flats! Show me a woman with frizzy hair managing three kids. Her sizing actually goes up to a 2 or 3XL so show me one of THOSE "real" women, Bethenny!
I still love you Bethenny. As far as reality TV show stars go, you're pretty "real" yourself. But let's be honest here. Let's show everyone what typical really is. Because those are the women buying Skinny Girl's shaping bodysuit.
P.S. (Really, BF, I love you. Send me free Skinny Girl booze, won't you? Thanks.)
I was chatting with an old friend last night. Someone who is religious and kind. I am not religious and can only hope people think of me as kind. I wanted to ask her what she thought about people like the Westboro BaptistChurch, which - in case you have not heard of them - is an Independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals of American servicemen and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is actually monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.
To be clear, the WBC is not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations. They are a congregation of about 40, overseen by an impassioned self-declared "civil rights activist" named Fred Phelps. Phelps is a disbarred attorney who has named one of his websites "God Hates Fags."
I did not know who the WBC was until they decided to protest a Foo Fighters concert in Kansas. The Foo Fighters took an unusual but brilliant approach toward it. Waving their "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" signs, I don't even think they knew how totally ridiculous they looked, unknowingly cheering for the very band they were protesting. Morons. My favorite part is the old lady at the end with her "God Hates Fags" sign who says "I loved that song!" (They're singing about "hot man muffins" - she's clueless.)
FYI, Dave Grohl looks dead sexy in flanel and cowboy boots.
And yesterday, I was reading about the WBC's plans to protest at Whitney Houston's funeral.
Disgusting.
So I asked my friend, how people who claim so vehemently to love God, act out in such terrible ways in his name? How would God feel about that?
Like I said, I'm not religious but I think that if there is a God, whatever or whoever he/she/it is, God would not want that.
Seems like a pretty simplistic statement as I read back over it, but that's all I get out of groups like the WBC.
And my friend said she believes God loves all his creatures. Even those idiots. And all I could think about that, actually, is that God SHOULD love those people. Because they clearly have not had enough love in their lives to know better. I think they probably need God's love more than I do.
Kenny G and his wife of 20 years have seperated. Lovesick sax-lovers everywhere are weeping with sappy, sappy sentiment, draped in black, deep in mourning.
How do you leave a guy with such FABULOUS ringlets of curls?! I just don't know.
As I tweeted a moment ago, it must have been the bad sax...
I REALLY hope she left him for Dave Koz.
And personally, I prefer Dave Koz. He gave my favorite soap, General Hospital, it's saxy theme:
Per various news sources, Ryan Seacrest's media conglomerate is teaming up with AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) and Mark Cuban to rebrand Cuban's HDNet as AXS TV (pronounced "Access").
Ryan Seacrest: E! host, reality TV producer, morning radio host, top 40 radio host, American Idol host...
It is a daily struggle for me. I wanna like the guy. But the Kardashians are kind of his fault.
But you can bet your sweet arse I was tuned into the premiere of "American Idol" last night. I love me some bad, bad auditions.
But where the eff were they?! How am I supposed to feel better about myself at the cost of others' humility if not for the epic audition fails? (It's called schadenfreude, people. Live it.)
I did like the new spin at the top; the "where were you when" montage. I cannot believe Idol is 11 years old! Kelly Clarkson is approaching 30! I mean, this isn't the Kennedy assassination - I have no idea where I was when Kelly Clarkson won, but I know I watched it. I remember my inexplicable fascination with Justin Guarini's hair (but not his voice - I thought he was overrated)...
So last night's other highlights for me included the very first auditioner - a fantastic singer, age 17, who looked about age 12, and sang like a young Michael Jackson. First audition, first through to Hollywood.
Seriously, I cannot believe he is 17. I want a birth certificate.
The poor, unfortunate student who came from Africa to audition in Savannah. And sang like William Hung. Henceforth, he shall be known as Afro-Hung.
I was going to spare you a clip but I just couldn't resist. You may post all of your gratitude below in the comments section. You're welcome in advance.
Ashlee Altise, who walked in looking pretty ghetto, down to her mismatched open-toe ankle boots (I'm sure it was intentional but she looked ridiculous). She was one of those stories where you knew they'd build it all up and then she's sing like crap... Except she was good! You just know she's gonna end up in the top 20 so I'll have to keep judging her ghetto fashion choices.
Dear lord, I hope they do something with her hair.
Seemed like everyone was the MOST over the moon over the final audition of the episode, Phillip Phillips (yes, real name) but I didn't get it. I thought he was good and sort of adorable, but I didn't feel the same exuberance my twitter feed was busting with. Maybe it will come to me later...?
THIS. {{prolonged awkward pause}} Is American Idol.