What Should We As A Nation Do About Tom Cruise?

You seriously need to watch this before it gets pulled down (again)... Go Go GO! NOW!

If you can't spare nine minutes (though you really should), watch the 2-minute highlight clip (once again, before it gets taken down).

Props to Uncle Grambo for having the guts to post it...

- e

American Idol Returns... e is Left Unsettled

As some of you may remember, I didn't start watching American Idol until last season, which was apparently its worst season. I had been wearing the "I've never seen American Idol" badge with quite some honor for five years up until that point. It was just a fluke that I ended up tuning into it last year--my Tivo had been recording it as a "Suggestion," and I turned the TV on at that same time and was drawn in by the auditions. Remember that older gentleman who petitioned to audition in order to keep a promise to his wife who had just passed away, and then sang a beautiful song that made Paula (and me) cry? That was good stuff.

A few weeks went by, and once it got to the actual competition part of the show, my husband and I would forward through most of the singing and just listen to what the judges had to say, because we always got a kick out of how Randy kept saying "dawg" and "pitchy," and how awesome Simon was overall. I even went out and bought the American Idol ice cream (because, you must trust me, the birthday cake flavor ROCKED).

Despite the fact that last season ended up being total poop, I found myself growing increasingly excited yesterday about its seventh season premiere. So, with a big bowl of ice cream in my lap, I settled in last night, ready to be entertained. I dare say I nearly teared up when the opening credits started playing... this writers' strike has thrown off my normal nightly routine of unwinding with a recorded show, so I think I was just so thankful to have a smidgen of normalcy back in my life or something. Either that, or I unknowingly had foreseen that the premiere was largely going to be a bunch of crap.

I have a feeling a lot of people will disagree with me, but I was fairly turned off by last night's show. Someone who has been watching it since 2002 needs to explain a few things to me:

1) Does EVERYONE in the audition line actually get through to Simon, Paula and Randy? From the size of the crowd (thousands upon thousands), that would seem impossible. So have they ever explained the process--that perhaps only certain people make it to the three judges after an earlier screening? If that's the case, then they are clearly letting some people through who are just total freaks, solely to spice up the audition episodes.

2) When exactly do they go take videos of some of the spotlighted contestants' homes? They went into that wannabe Janis Joplin's studio apartment--so did they do that AFTER she knew she had been kicked off? It seems like the only way, right? Because, like with that girl who came from Oregon (I think) who they showed with her horses, clearly they couldn't have known about her before she auditioned, so they must have filmed it after they decided who they would spotlight. Which is fine for the people who moved ahead in the competition, but it makes the rant of the Glittery Girl seem less powerful when you know she then let them film her house after she had been rejected, solely to get more air-time.

I seriously cannot even comment any further on some of the people they spotlighted, for fear that I will offend someone. I will, however, say that I feel like a lot of people they spent time on seemed staged. Are you serious that that Egyptian dude really talked like that? He was totally trying to be like Borat, come on! And that guy who got waxed and wore the Princess-Leia-in-Jabba's-Lair bikini? Are you telling me that wasn't planned out with the producers in advance? Then, did you catch the really suspicious editing at one point? There was a girl who auditioned who had one huge hoop earring. But during the different clips of her singing and her responding to the judges, it flipped between her having one and then BOTH earrings! I replayed it on Tivo to be sure, and saw one person comment on it on a message board. I don't like when I'm watching "reality TV" and it appears to be fake. I only accept that on The Hills, thank you very much.

I'm attempting to think of some parts I actually enjoyed last night... Oh, I thought of one: when that blond chick belted out "HOW DO I GET YOU ALOONNNNNE," and Simon muttered, "You wouldn't."

Having said all of that, I will still watch the next 2-hour installment of the auditions tonight. There's nothing else on, and I want an excuse to eat more ice cream! Plus, they're going to be in Texas, so you know there will be some drama. I just hope that it is real drama this time around, and not staged.

Two decent reviews I read, in case you're hungry for more Idol news, are here (Washington Post) and here (Entertainment Weekly).

Let's all pray that Simon gets his groove back tonight.
- e

e Swoons Over the New Vanity Fair Cover

Be still my heart! More pics, and the article, can be found here. Is it May yet?

A Movie I'll Not Be Seeing... And One I Will

Lately I've been reading a lot about The Orphanage. The hype for this movie came out of the blue, and now, everywhere I turn there is a clip or raving review. But I won't be seeing it. Why? Because it appears to deal with evil little kids. And you know that if there's one thing I can't handle, it's evil little kids.

Produced by the same guy who made Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage is also in Spanish and has English subtitles. It's been out for a while overseas, but now "the creepy" has arrived stateside.




I have decided that I will be going to see another somewhat-scary movie, however, even though I initially wasn't planning on it. The reviews are rolling in, folks, and Cloverfield (from beloved Lost creator J.J. Abrams) is living up to its hype. So that's where I'll be next Friday, its official opening night--at the theater with all the other geeks waiting in line to see it before the mystery of what exactly it's about inevitably gets spoiled. But I'm still pretty sure I'll throw up on the poor person seated in front of me because of the shaky hand-held footage of which the entire movie is comprised...



- e

They Really DO Try Harder...

So... I'm still sick. In fact, I think I'm worse--now I can't even talk because my voice is so hoarse and my throat is so sore. But I must soldier on and write a post, dammit!

Today I thought I would write about surprisingly great service I received recently from Avis (rental cars). Over the holidays, we needed to rent an SUV (we do not have a car) in order to go back to Michigan before flying to North Dakota. We always have to get an SUV so that we can fit my dog's crate in the back, along with all of his paraphernalia and of our suitcases and whatnot.

In past years I have kept the SUV over the course of 1.5 weeks, just leaving it at my parents' in Michigan while we flew to North Dakota. This would usually run me $300 for the SUV (and you can imagine how much for fuel). Prices have risen and depending on when you book, the car could be upwards of $500 to keep for that long.

So I got a brilliant idea--I would make two "one-way" rentals that were one-day each. $60 to go from Chicago to Michigan at the beginning of our trip, and around the same price to come back at the end (not counting fuel, once again). I was very pleased with myself and my cleverness (although it actually should've been really obvious to me to do this for the past several years, but I digress).

The first day of our trip came. We made it to Michigan, slept at my parents' house, left our doggy behind and then drove to the Detroit airport in the wee hours the next morning. Imagine my shock when the Avis woman handed me my receipt for $250!!! You know what I said next... "Saaaaaaayyyyy whhhhaaaaaaaa?"

I told the woman in the parking lot who checked us in that the charges were way off. She said I would have to go into the building to have them straighten it out (the parking lot attendants had hand-held devices that allowed them to check people in and print receipts, but the on-premises office handled anything else). Since we were already nearing our flight time and still had to take the shuttle bus to the airport and go through security, we decided to call the 1-800 number later and get the bill corrected.

On the shuttle bus, I reviewed the receipt more carefully. I had been charged for mileage (366 miles, to be exact). I dug out the reservation page that I had printed when I first booked the car months ago... it did indeed say in small print that NO miles were included. My heart sank--I had been fooled! I have booked with Avis countless times, and unlimited miles were always included in the listed price, so I never gave it a second thought. I now realized that for one-way rentals it must be different.

I tried to cheer myself up by reasoning that the $250 for each of two one-way rentals was going to be the same price it would've been had I just kept the car the entire time we were in North Dakota... so at least I wasn't out any money. But I was still bitter.

When we got back to Michigan five days later, my dad insisted that I call Avis to see if they could give me a rate than included unlimited miles for our journey back to Chicago. So I called them, and they did indeed switch my rate from $60 plus a charge for every mile to $119 total with unlimited miles. Yay! I was happy.

Once I got back to Chicago and saw the $250 come through for the first rental on my credit card's web site, I got frustrated all over again. So, I called Avis and explained the situation. I told them that obviously it was my fault that I didn't read the agreement closely, but that, at the same time, I always used the web site to book rentals and had never been given a rate that didn't include unlimited miles. I also pointed out that no other options were given to me when booking online, so I didn't know there were multiple types of rates until I called about the one-way rental for our return trip.

To my absolutely amazement, the woman explained why the "no miles included" rate showed up for me, and then REFUNDED $116 from the $250!!! I was in shock--she was totally nice and didn't squabble about it at all. All this--and it had been MY fault essentially! If you're interested, the reason why I was given the "no miles included" rate in the first place was because my profile was linked to a company code, and Avis negotiated really low rates for "normal" rentals with its institutional clients, but for one-ways they essentially charged them up the wazoo (which the companies agreed to because it happens so rarely that someone makes a one-way trip). Mystery solved. She said that if I wanted to make another one-way trip in the future, to call instead of using the web site to book a car.

So the lesson in all of this is: Call if you have an issue with any company... you may be pleasantly surprised with their reaction.

I have one more example of excellent customer service that transpired over the holidays, but I will save that one for later. For now I need to concentrate on drinking my tea and returning to full strength...

- e

KISS off

I am still fighting a cold, so I only have the energy to post a quick note to see whether or not anyone out there has been watching Celebrity Apprentice? I am intrigued by the preview I saw for tonight's episode, where Gene Simmons apparently insults Trump's daughter, but I'm not sure if in my weakened state I can handle a reunion with Omarosa.

Thoughts?

Oh, and I'm over American Gladiators already. I watched Monday's show last night and it just gets really old, really quickly. The dialogue between the hosts and the contestants is just way too canned and cheesy. It was fun while it lasted. And Wolf still rocks.

Send "get healthy" vibes my way, please...

- e

Ay Ay, Captain!

Time for another Antarctica trip installment.

When I last left off, our ship had set sail and was crossing the turbulent Drake Passage. I popped Bonine to keep from getting sick... and for the most part, it worked. I still was often queasy and felt best when I was horizontal in my mini-bed, but I never threw up. Which, believe me, is saying a lot. The entire ship was pretty much bedridden for the first day because of the intense rocking. You know it's bad when they string large ropes all around the ship so that people can hold on to them just to make it across a small room. In addition, I found it humorous that all of the chairs in the dining room were chained to the floor:


I did brave the dining room for every meal (a girl's gotta eat!) and, at one point, was astonished to see the entire starboard (right) side of the ship get enveloped by a wave, which then sent silverware, glasses, dishes and the poor waiters sailing across the floor. Trust me, it is very scary to see nothing but water against the sides of the windows! But at that point, the other ship in the area had not sunk, so I don't think anyone was truly worried that anything could happen to our ship.

Especially after checking out "the bridge," or, "the place where the Captain hangs out." The expedition company that partners with National Geographic for these trips, Lindblad Expeditions, has an "open bridge" policy--meaning that guests are allowed in the bridge at almost any time. After my husband and I found our sea legs, we ventured up there to get a chance to check it out while everyone else was most likely asleep or wallowing in misery.

It is a very cool room that is filled with all sorts of tracking gadgets, maps and controls. If you're the kind of person who worries that if you accidentally press the wrong button on your computer, DVD player or PDA it might blow up, you would NOT want to be in the bridge. I found it fascinating, but stayed far away from all of the controls. One of our fellow guests was a pilot with Southwest, so I learned a lot listening to him talk to the navigators about all of the different machines.




We were told early on that nobody better sit in the Captain's favorite leather chair, but I snuck onto it while no one was looking - hee hee.

There was a ton of radar and sonar equipment that showed icebergs underwater and around the ship. However, our course was plotted by hand as well, and it was neat to look at the maps they had and see exactly where we were. It doesn't really hit you that you're at the bottom of the world until you look at a map and realize, "Holy crap, we ARE at the bottom of the world!"


I particularly liked two things I saw posted in the bridge. One was the "Beaufort wind scale," which I've pasted in below, but you may need to actually click on the picture to enlarge it and be able to read it. The far right column describes the effects of increasingly powerful winds. Gotta love that last line...



But my absolute favorite thing (at the time) I saw in that room was a small clip that was hung on a bulletin board near the kitchenette. On that second day of our trip, I thought it was funny. I asked our expedition leader where they got it, and he said it had been in a trade magazine, touting some sort of crew insurance. The next morning, as we watched the Explorer sinking, I couldn't help but think back to this small cutout and consider it in a much different light.

- e

TV Updates: My take on AG, TAR and the return of The Mole

American Gladiators

Let's just get the big question out of the way first, shall we? Did I like American Gladiators after being so excited that it was returning to the airwaves? Yes, I did. I was debating whether or not I should admit this, since my husband said that he overheard a bunch of people talking about how bad it was on his way to work, but I gots ta keep it real!

Here is what I liked about it:
1) As I hoped, there was minimal time spent on the hosts--Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. The time that they were on screen was indeed annoying, but bearable.
2) The show moved extremely fast--they really kept the action going and went from challenge to challenge quickly.
3) Speaking of the challenges, they were awesome--just like I remembered them, and some were even better. The Eliminator at the end just kills people--I felt so badly for everyone during it.
4) One word: WOLF! Hands down, the best Gladiator of all time. At first I was too scared to look at him because he reminded me of BOB from Twin Peaks. Just seeing that pic of him above again freaked me out. Wolf is less scary than BOB, actually. But he still rocks.

What I didn't like:
1) The cheese-o-meter straight up broke because it was cranked up so high on this show. The hosts' interviews were canned, as were the contestants' responses. So much so that I began to wonder if the show was actually real or completely faked. I hope it's not staged.
2) Choppy flow. Sure, they moved the show along quickly, but there were way too many breaks and commercials.
3) Too much time spent on showing the stats of the Gladiators and interviewing contestants after lame efforts. If someone gets pushed off of a platform within 2 seconds, you do NOT need to interview them. There's really not much they can say. "Uh, I fell." Similarly, once we know who all the Gladiators are, we don't need to be reminded of their stats before every challenge.
4) Titan. As Jon Stewart commented on The Daily Show last night, it looks like they just "unfroze him" from the original show. Titan is the worst--he's like a living Ken doll on steroids. He may look macho, but once he flashes that blindingly white smile and you realize his hair doesn't move, he becomes more laughable than scary.

I didn't realize that the premiere on Sunday was 2 hours, so I just finished it last night and still have Monday's show to get through. The only contestant I wanted to root for so far was the fireman from New York... so if I don't like any of the contestants in the next installment, it may be hard for me to continue watching, even though I did like it a lot overall. It will simply get old quickly if there's no one you really want to win. If anyone else watched it, let me know what you think. Somebody else liked this show, as it did very well in the ratings...

The Amazing Race

I'll write more on this when the season is over, but for now I just wanted to say this: I cannot STAND Ronald. I don't care if he actually didn't berate his daughter for once in the last episode, I seriously don't know what I'll do if they win the whole thing. He is completely ridiculous and needs some counseling. Some of the things he freaks out about are bizarre and always unwarranted. What I am really, really hoping will happen is that either his daughter or one of the other racers just hauls off and smacks him. Wouldn't that be great? Oh, and one more thing--enough with the "Who's Your Daddy?" shirts! He must have had 30 of those puppies made for the show?!?!

OK, I lied. One more thing. I had really wanted the Goths to win--I loved them despite fearing during the premiere that they would be really obnoxious. They weren't at all and were incredible athletes. Too bad they're in a dark closet listening to depressing music now. My hope is that either TK and Rachel or Nicolas (Chicago, represent!) and Donald win. Nate and Jen are actually worse than Ronald and Christina--they just need to go AWAY.

The Return of The Mole

As I scanned my daily media industry e-newsletter this morning, I could hardly believe my eyes. "ABC bringing back 'The Mole'" screamed the headline from Vanity Fair. I clicked on the link and held my breath... searching, searching, searching for one word and one word only. Anderson. For those of you who never watched this show, it was how Anderson Cooper and I met, so to speak. I fell in love with him instantly. This morning, a new hope sprung alive in me--would there be a way I could be reunited with Anderson that would be a little more uplifting than watching his news program (which is often thoroughly depressing)? Could they possibly have gotten him to come back and host The Mole again?

"Are you kidding me? Hell to the no," is probably what he said when they approached him about it. He's way past slumming it on reality TV now. But it was fun to have that hope, if only for just a millisecond, that he may be back. They actually don't have a host lined up yet, but they are looking for someone with that "Anderson quality." Good luck, peeps, it doesn't exist--he is one of a kind.

But I'll still watch the show because it really was a great show. If you never saw it, then get the DVD and read up on its premise and you will see what I mean. It was successful in over 40 countries as well (each ran its own version under the same format).

I'm assuming it may be a while before it is ready to go since they don't even have a host, but rest assured I will let you all know when I hear any concrete details. In the meantime, look at Anderson on the DVD cover--look at him, love him, bow down to him.

- e

This Baby Better Not Have Any Wrinkles

Last week, I was going through the latest "blind items" on the Internet and came across this one from the New York Post on January 2nd: Which 40ish actress has finally gotten pregnant for the first time? Her rep is denying it because she's only a month into it, and has suffered miscarriages in the past. Said our source: "Watch for her to get bangs and start wearing hats to hide her sagging face because you can't be on Botox when you are pregnant."

The consensus was that this must be Nicole Kidman, and sure enough, yesterday her rep confirmed Nicole's pregnancy to People magazine. I couldn't get past the fact that her rep said, "The couple are thrilled." Shouldn't it be "the couple is thrilled?" I think this may be some strange Aussie twist to the English language. I've noticed that sometimes the British will treat a band name as plural, saying something like "Radiohead are touring," whereas I would've thought it should be, "Radiohead is touring." And before you Brits out there jump all over me about how the Americans have ruined your language... I am not trying to pick a fight! But I am curious to know if anyone knows the background of the is/are discrepancy between Americans and British/Australians.

But back to the main subject of this post... Nicole Kidman is pregnant, and although I do not like her movies and her forehead scares the living bejeezus out of me and I think her husband looks like a girl, I wish her the best. If she has had miscarriages in the past it seems odd that they would be officially confirming her pregnancy this early, but perhaps if the effects of no Botox are going to be that hideous, they want to warn the public? It will be interesting to see if she goes into hiding or not.

- e

Pet Peeve of the Week: Email Forwards

As always seems to happen around this time of the year, I've come down with some sort of illness and am feeling a bit under the weather. So because I am all nasty and sick, this post will be especially bitter!

What prompted the subject of today's tirade was a message I received from a friend this morning, asking me to check into an email she had been forwarded that was "heartbreaking." However, she had a feeling that it was a scam, and had remembered that years ago I sent a diatribe against forwarded emails to all of my close friends, informing them of how the vast majority of these sorts of messages are bogus. The one my friend had received yesterday was entitled, "Please read for my daughter" and included a bunch of sappy sayings like, "Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles." At the end of the list of "Just for todays" was a plea from a 29-year-old father (a policeman) whose daughter Rachel has brain cancer. They didn't have enough money for an operation she needed, so for some unknown reason, AOL and ZDNet were going to pledge 32 cents for every three people the message was forwarded to in order to raise money for Rachel's urgent procedure.

Now, before I go any further... what is wrong with this picture? Why would AOL and ZDNet do this? (My point being, there are several people in need of help in the world and in this country--why would these firms open themselves to a barrage of sob stories by agreeing to help this one particular child?) How exactly would they track the email forwards? Why aren't they promoting their good deed? Wouldn't it get some sort of news coverage, if only locally? If they were going to help, is this really the most efficient and effective way to raise money--to forward around emails and give 32 cents for every three people reached? Why wouldn't the father include his phone number and address in case someone wanted to do more for Rachel's cause?

Because the entire situation is completely made up. I found that out in about 2 seconds by typing "brain cancer" into Snopes' Urban Legend Search Engine. This particular email about Rachel's brain cancer had been circulating in some way, shape or form since the year 2000! If you're curious about it's history, here's the link. To be extremely clear - Rachel DOES NOT EXIST.

Snopes.com's main page has a category listing of urban legends and forwarded emails... most that I have received fall under the "Inboxer Rebellion" section. Even things as innocuous as the pictures circulating of Tiger Woods' supposed house are not real.

Along the same lines, I hate those emails that end with asking you to forward the message to ten million other people. It is the year 2008, people!!! STOP THE MADNESS! These emails have been around since 1996, and anyone sending them at this point is just screaming to the world that he or she is an amateur and completely new to the Internet and/or email. I have yet to find a person who actually likes to receive these types of messages. I promise you, nothing bad will befall you if you don't forward a chain email on. In fact, I will go so far as to guarantee that good karma will come your way if you do NOT forward the message any further! If you are just too superstitious to believe that you will not forever be cursed for refusing to follow the demands of some anonymous spammer, then you may want to download the "Chain Letter Nullification" certificate that can be found in this hilarious post by a guy who seems even more fed up than I am about the proliferation of chain emails.

I will admit that it is indeed sad that there are still people out there who knowingly create these types of scams. I'm not really sure what they get out of it. And I fully realize that most people just hit "forward" without thinking through whether or not the subject of the email is plausible--they're not meaning any harm. But if you want to actually help children who are sick--give to a legitimate charity. Forwarding an email initiated by some crazy bastard is NOT going to help anyone, all it's going to do is give the creep who came up with the idea a cheap thrill when he sees it's made its way onto Urban Legend trackers.

So the lesson of the day is... if you get a forwarded email, use Snopes.com (or About.com's Urban Legend Netlore page) to investigate its validity, and then send the link proving its falsehood back to the sender so that they get the hint. You may have to do this a few times to the same person, forwarding seems to be an addiction of sorts for some people!

Alright, I have gotta go wire transfer some money to this guy in Nigeria who really needs my help... I'm pretty sure that one's not a scam, right?

- e

Clash of the Titan(s)

I've been catching up on all of my magazines this past week and read something two nights ago that blew my mind. American Gladiators is returning!?!?!?!

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't remember, who don't want to remember, or who are too young to know what I'm talking about, American Gladiators was a TV show that premiered in 1989 and ran several seasons. It featured these crazy "Gladiators" with hilarious names like Nitro and Turbo, and they would compete against contestants in challenges that usually involved wielding gigantic Styrofoam weapons and knocking each other off of various things. There was also a British version.

If you want a good laugh, check out this promo for the original season:



Two decades later, the revamped show premieres this Sunday on NBC at 9 EST/8 CST, and you can be sure that I will check it out. Come on, they now have peeps named Mayhem, Justice, Titan and Venom!!! How can you NOT check this show out, at least once?!?!

What is making me a little wary, however, is that it hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. I hope their presence is minimal and that the main focus of the show remains people getting knocked off of stuff like back in the day.

OK, phew. I just checked out the show's web site and it does indeed appear that people are falling off of balance beams and getting hit down from walls and ropes and whatnot. And the arena in which they compete still looks cool. Alas, the weapons don't appear to be Styrofoam anymore--at least on the outside...





Another important facet of the show has remained the same--the hideous hairstyles and outfits of the Gladiators!

Once again, YESSSSSSS!!!!!


- e

The Drake Passage - Take One

At the end of my last post about my Antarctica trip, the National Geographic Endeavour had just pulled away from its dock at Ushuaia, Argentina and was on its way. As on any ship, the first thing we all had to do was a mandatory safety briefing where you learn how to put on your life vest (we actually donned life jackets every time we left the ship on zodiacs, which was at least twice a day) and where to go in an emergency. I've been through drills like this on other boats countless times, but when the Explorer sank just a few days afterward and our ship was one of two that came to the rescue, it took on a whole different meaning and I think we were all glad that they made us pay attention during the drill.

But at that point we of course did not know what awaited us, so my husband and I took some time upfront to explore the ship--it was essentially a mini-mini-mini version of other cruise ships we have been on in the past. There was a mini-gym, a mini-library, a mini-store, and so on. However, our room was about the same size as it had been on other ships (pretty much because those rooms can't get any smaller in the first place), and the lounge/bar area and dining room were large enough to hold all 102 guests at once, so they didn't feel too crowded.



Yes, all rooms had separate beds and you couldn't move them together. I found that hilarious. But I will say that I slept better on that bed than I have in years--probably something to do with taking a lot of anti-seasickness medicine, being exhausted every day and being gently rocked to sleep on the waves every night (except three of the nights, but I'll get to that later). Truly, though, it was a comfortable bed.

After we got our bearings inside (OK, so we actually couldn't figure out where we were on the ship for like 3 days--details!) we walked around on the various decks outside to take in the scenery. The beginning and the end of the trip were when the most sea birds followed the ship, because at that point you're still in relatively warm weather, and it's when the ship kicks up the most krill and other yucky stuff from the sea that birds like to eat. It's like a free meal for them just following the ship. I would have posted some bird pictures, but I don't think that justice would be done to the birds as you really can't see how magnificent they are. There were giant albatrosses and petrels and all sorts of birds that you can't find anywhere else. I liked it because it looked like they were having fun chasing the ship and swooping all around us.

OK, fine, here's one bird picture. I can't tell which one it is, though, but it might have been an albatross because it was HUGE.


I then tried to get a "I'm the king of the woooorrrrllllllldd!" picture, but it was SO windy that I nearly got blown over. So I couldn't get up any higher on the boat for fear of being knocked overboard (you can see the wave ahead of the ship... trust me, it was rocky), but I attempted to get into the pose nonetheless. Luckily, only one other passenger (besides my husband, who already knows I'm goofy) saw me do this.


What happened over the next 1.5 days was a whole lot of rockin' and rollin' as we crossed the infamous Drake Passage--the area where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet, known as the roughest stretch of open sea in the world. While I will write a little about our experience on the Drake in my next post about the trip, I found this guy's write-up (he was not on my ship, his post was linked from Wikipedia) pretty accurate, though no one on my ship got seriously hurt.

As we started entering the Drake I popped a few Bonine (later finding out that I read the directions wrong and should have only taken one, which would account for the fact that I slept much of the subsequent 36 hours), mentally prepared myself (let's just say I'm known to get seasick) and started praying.

- e

Get (Back) Into the Groove

Ah, January 2nd. That blessed day when everything returns to normal.

Even though I'm no longer working for The Man, over the last few months I finally established somewhat of a daily routine (much to my dog's delight), and am very ready for it to resume. So is my dog, actually, as he is fast asleep right now, recovering from all of his holiday traveling and adventures. His recovery process involves loud snoring.

But before leaving the holidays behind completely, I need to mention two things that I did over the break:

1) I saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yes, you read that right.

and

2) I played Guitar Hero 3 (and 2) for the first time.


First, the movie. As stated Monday, my husband and I were in North Dakota visiting his family, and our yearly tradition is to take his three nephews to a movie. As a five-year-old was in the mix, Alvin and the Chipmunks was our safest bet. It wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, although I don't think I've been in a theater packed with toddlers in, well... OK, I've never been in a theater full of toddlers until that moment. Needless to say, it wasn't a quiet and serene experience. But I got over it quickly. Truth be told, I used to love the Chipmunks cartoon back in the day--I had their album and would play their Christmas song over and over and over, so I figured that I might actually get a kick out of the movie. While I still prefer the animated show, the movie had decent CGI versions of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Jason Lee (playing their owner, Dave) was bearable only because I forced myself to stop thinking about the fact that he believes in the alien Xenu.

Although the movie was about 45 minutes longer than it should have been, especially considering kids' short attention spans, it was enjoyable--and I got to hear the Christmas song again!

Me, I want a huuuuula-hoop!

Or perhaps I now want a guitar?

A (slightly) more adult activity was a highlight of our stays both in North Dakota and Michigan. In North Dakota, we had gotten the oldest of our nephews Guitar Hero 3 and two of the Guitar Hero 2 guitar controllers (the GH3 guitar controllers were sold out everywhere). I'm quite positive that the only reason we bought two controllers was so that my husband could play along with his nephew during the few days were were all together. In Michigan, one of my cousins brought Guitar Hero 2 to our family gathering and all of the adults took turns trying it out. I significantly improved my skillzzz in Michigan after I learned that you didn't need to keep pressing the button (just the strummer-thingy is needed) if there were two of the same notes in a row. But I still was pretty bad. Nevertheless, it was extremely fun and if you get a chance to play it, I highly recommend it. Just be prepared to have the songs stuck in your head for weeks afterward (I'm still singing 'Barracuda,' which is not right).


(Note to husband: my endorsement of this game does not mean we are going to buy an entire system just to play it. Sorry.)

- e

... In With the New

Happy New Year!

After spending twelve straight hours running around like a crazy freak cleaning my condo in preparation for our New Year's Eve guests, I was able to kick back last night around 8 PM with my husband and our friends. We went out for a delicious dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, and then came back to play 80s Trivial Pursuit whilst switching among the various count-down shows. MTV's was particularly sad--Tila Tequila as one of the hosts--are you kidding me??? There was something wrong with our satellite dish feed so CNN wasn't coming in and I was freaking out that I couldn't catch a glimpse of my boy Anderson. But I freaked out even more when I couldn't remember that the name of Suzanne Vega's "Do-Do-Do-Do" song is technically "Tom's Diner." I'm slippin', peeps, I'm slippin'! Needless to say, my husband and I didn't win Trivial Pursuit, though my husband did recall that the cheesy fantasy movie that Tom Cruise and that chick from Ferris Bueller's Day Off starred in was Legend, not Labyrinth, as I had thought (that one had David Bowie).

But enough about 2007--I don't like to dwell on the past. Today it's 2008, and I've decided that "2008 is gonna be great!" That phrase will be my official motto for the year. Extremely original and complex, I know. But I'm a sucker for rhymes, what can I say?

While I normally do not have a motto for each year, I have actually been creating annual themes for quite some time. I've had The Year of Enlightenment, The Year of Productivity, The Year of Positivity... etc., etc. How it works is that I decide upon a theme with the help of my friend DY, and then we meet up at some point in early January and write out "rules" for the year that revolve around the theme. While the list of rules isn't typically referred to much during the course of the subsequent twelve months, it does help to physically write down the goals at the outset of the year--and it's fun to dig up the papers later on and gauge how well we stuck to the theme.

Are you ready for this year's theme?

Drum roll please...

It is The Year of Prioritization. Not quite as catchy as the other ones, but important nonetheless. I chose this theme because over the past few months I've been significantly busier than I ever was when working for The Man, and I therefore need to focus in on how to best spend my time, rather than running around chasing every idea that pops into my head. Until I find a way to visit the magical Island on which my beloved show Lost takes place so that I can jump around in time (that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!), there's only 24 hours in each day, and I need to use the hours that I'm awake more wisely.

Fear not, however, because continuing to post daily on this site will remain a high priority for me, as long as leaving comments on this site becomes a higher priority for you. Hee, hee.

Here's to 2008... have you heard? It's gonna be great!

- e