This Is Just Not Right.

As I've said before, I could take or leave Beyoncé. So she finally got hitched to Jay-Z? Who cares, they were already acting like a boring married couple anyway. She's had a few songs that I like--most recently "Irreplaceable"... and I still put on "Ring the Alarm" when I want a good work-out--but most of the time I don't think twice about her.

Until I saw THIS completely disturbing ad for her new line of clothing--for little girls?!?!


Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?

No, it's not a joke. Just look at the homepage for Beyoncé's clothing line, House of Deréon, and you can tell that these kiddie styles fit right in.

Has someone called Child Services yet? Seriously, what was she thinking? This is really bad. I don't think I could even walk in those high heels, let alone a freakin' five-year-old! What's next... is Jay-Z going to come out with a line for toddlers so that people can dress their young sons up like gangstas and pimps? You know, to complement their sisters wearing Deréon Girls?

Ugh... OK, I've made up my mind. I no longer like Beyoncé--at all. (Added bonus from swearing off the "Bootylicious" singer--I don't have to keep typing in the annoying HTML code for the accented e's!)

- e

Reality Roundup - AI, Top Chef, The Bachelor, Survivor, The Hills

Is it summertime yet? I'm just about ready to turn off my TV permanently. With the exception of Lost, everything I've been watching lately has been pretty darn bad, or is almost over with anyway. Let's review my list of "regulars" (don't read if you aren't caught up on all of these shows...):

American Idol

THANK GOD Jason Castro is gone. I literally could no longer stand to look at him and his dopey smiley face. But it's not like the final three are that much better. Syesha annoyed me a long time ago when she first did that scary "baby cry" noise. David Archuleta is way too happy and I just don't see him doing well after this show. Seriously, would you buy his CD? I wouldn't. David Cook has grown on me, and I hope he wins. But even if he doesn't, I think he's at the point where he'll do the best out of all of this season's contestants. The thing I'm not sure about, however, is whether or not anyone will be interested in him once he starts singing his own songs and not cleverly arranged covers.



The Bachelor

It's wrong, how much I love this show. But its finale is next week... all good things must come to an end. I want Matt to pick Shayne, simply because I never liked Chelsea. Does anyone else think she's just kind of, um, manly? I totally do not get his attraction to her. Unfortunately, I do think he's going to pick her because he already mentioned that he thought his parents would love her. That's a sign! (As a side-note, is it really bad that I slo-mo'd the preview for the finale to see if I could figure out who he proposes to based on their nail polish? It is, isn't it? By the way, you can't tell... they are both sporting the same color.)



Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites

This season has been awesome. But with Ozzy gone and James being forced to leave, I have to admit that I'm not quite as into it as I once was. Good thing that its finale also is coming up this Sunday (after another episode airs at its usual time tonight). At this point, I don't really care who wins, but of everyone left, I hope it goes to Amanda. (I hear she is still with Ozzy, by the way!)


The Hills

This show continues to frustrate me while fascinating me at the same time. I have to laugh that its finale is coming up next week, because NOTHING HAPPENED ALL SEASON once again. I don't know if I can stand to watch this show anymore if it comes back for another run... I think Lauren is mean to Audrina and if Audrina leaves (as she should), there won't be much reason for me to tune in anymore (no Justin Bobby cameos? Forget it!). Spencer and Heidi continue to be the WORST, and the word is that they've signed an agreement with a major celebrity tabloid to break up, get back together, and then even get MARRIED, all in return for primo press coverage. How twisted is that?




Top Chef

Maybe I'm biased (I WAS on the show, after all), but I'm loving Top Chef: Chicago. They've already gotten rid of all of the people I didn't like (though Dale's negativity, Andrew's hyper-freakishness and Lisa's snottiness are wearing on me), and I'm enjoying seeing different areas of my hometown showcased. I hope that either Antonia, Stephanie or Richard ends up victorious (and that Spike starts his own line of headwear).

Tonight we have Survivor, the Scrubs Princess Bride episode, The Office (don't get me started on how bad THIS show has been lately) and Lost. If I am not entertained by any of them... then the TV goes out the window.

- e

Inconceivable!

I've never watched Scrubs, but I think I'm going to have to this week. My friend Nerdy P gave me the heads up that Thursday night's episode (which I believe is its season finale) will be an homage to my most favorite movie of all time, The Princess Bride.

While the above clip (and others I've seen) don't really seem to be that directly connected to the movie, I'll tune in anyway just to see what Braff and company are able to pull off. Apparently it is the most expensive episode the show has ever filmed.

If they are really going to spoof TPB, then there better at least be some awesome sword-fighting sequences. "You killed my father, prepare to die!!!!"

- e

e's Favorite Things: Crap You Didn't Know You Needed at BB&B and L&T

You gotta love springtime in Chicago. One day it's 40 degrees and hailing, the next day it's 80 degrees and humid. A side effect of these wild swings in the weather is that nearly everyone in the city gets sick at one point or another. And now it's my turn.

I started sensing that I might be coming down with something late last week, when I woke up with a tickle in the back of my throat and that gross "sick taste" in my mouth. Sure enough, as each day progressed, I felt worse and worse. Now I'm totally disgusting and have a small pharmacy of meds in my bathroom after a doctor's visit yesterday.

But before my sore throat spiraled into complete and utter grossness, I thought that I could perhaps fight the battle against germs in one small way: I would get new pillows, a new comforter and anti-microbe cases for both my mattress and my pillows.

So this weekend I trekked all around my neighborhood... to Linens 'n Things, to Bed Bath & Beyond, and then back to Linens & Things (I found another 20% off coupon, hooray!). While I was a good girl and stuck to my list of items I needed to get, I couldn't help but marvel at all of the crap I desperately wanted to get. I am now convinced that these stores pipe some sort of magical vapors out through their ventilation systems to make people go crazy and buy ridiculous gadgets and unnecessary toys.

Do I really need an inflatable, floating house? I don't even have a backyard, much less kids, much less a pool! But dammit, it was awesome and was only $10. I found myself thinking, Who do I know with a pool... I will get this for them! Then I stopped myself and forced my legs to keep moving...

... Only to be drawn to the weatherproof recliner the next aisle over. Hmm, now that I'm writing from home, maybe I should get outside more often. Wait, what? There's a complete set of deck furniture for only $200? Must... get... out... of... here...

I had almost made it to the safety of the check-out line when I spotted a wine bottle opener that converted into a thermometer that could then transform into a back massager. I HAD TO HAVE IT! (OK, so maybe I made that one up, but you know there are crazy things like that in these stores!)

Back away, e, back away, I told myself. I paid for my new pillows and got the heck out of there.

After I was back in the fresh air, I realized that I seriously need to spend several hours in both Linens 'n Things and Bed Bath & Beyond one day. Yeah, some of the stuff they carry is over-the-top, but other things really are cool. I owe it to myself to thoroughly investigate the crap I didn't even know I needed.

Ice Cream Ball... here I come! (Seriously, what IS that thing?)

- e

Welcome to Your Summer, Courtesy of Johnnifer

So John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston are dating. I don't like either of them, so I don't really care. That being said, I would much rather see pictures of them gracing the covers of every magazine this summer than, say, Britney Spears or Ashlee Simpson. Therefore, I will accept this most unlikely of pairings and will read ridiculous updates of their romance ("He sent her flowers every day!") if it means that I can forget about celebrities I like even less for a little while. Could the Jen/John pairing overshadow even the Mariah/Nick surprise marriage? I hope so, because I don't like Mariah, either.

(Who do I like? That is the question.)

Here We Go Again...

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise. So much so that I wish I ran this web site (I'd do a better job... they haven't updated it since '06!). But anyway, as you've undoubtedly heard by now, Mr. Crazy is returning to Oprah--twice so I better steel myself for the media onslaught that's sure to follow his appearance.

He's going to be on tomorrow's show, which was shot at his home in Colorado. Then he'll be back again on Monday from her studio (but it has already been taped, phew. Otherwise I'd be really scared walking around Chicago next week if he was on the loose).

I really hope Oprah "goes there" and asks him the tough questions about his freakishness. Supposedly she's going to cover a lot of ground... from how he and Katie's parents get along, to his spat with Matt Lauer over psychiatric drugs (the "you're glib!" heard around the world), to his couch-jumping antics on her own show. But it's not like we can really believe any of his answers... he's an actor for God's sake, and one that needs to improve his image significantly.

Especially after CHER comes out and starts talking about an affair they had decades ago. I mean, that's just straight-up disgusting. I didn't want to know about that! Now I have a really bad vision in my head of those two together, and it's even worse than the one I had of each of them separately. And I'm sure we'll all keep hearing about this most odd of flings because Cher's also going to be on Oprah next week... on May 8th.

Despite my hatred of Tom Cruise, I will be watching the shows. We'll all undoubtedly see clip after clip from his interviews replayed on every major news outlet, so why not catch the originals? I predict that Tom will behave himself and that it will be quite boring. I also predict that I still won't like him any better afterward.

- e

Keanu's Reaction to Paula's American Idol Blunder: Whoa.

How can I NOT comment on last night's American Idol, especially since I reminisced about the better, simpler (yet equally as confused) Paula Abdul of 1991 only yesterday?

I am so glad I rallied around 11 Pm last night to forward quickly through the final five's Neil Diamond performances. Typically I don't even watch the songs in their entirety, I just want to get a taste of each one and then hear the judges' comments. So I'm really pleased I didn't skip through the "blunder heard 'round the country"... Paula critiquing TWO performances by Jason Castro, when in fact he had only sang once at that point.

You can bet your sweet bippy that conspiracy theorists have run amok across the Internet this morning. Had the producers written Paula's notes in advance for her? Was Paula going from her take on the dress rehearsals (which she's admitted before to watching)? What in the heck happened? Does this incident undermine the show's credibility?

Writers who were actually on the scene can comment on the chaos better than I ever could, so I encourage you to read Entertainment Weekly's account of the mayhem here. Even on TV you could tell that Simon was internally freaking out... I can't imagine the producers' reactions!
I wish I could've witnessed it myself.

Rest assured that they're going to address Paula's goof tonight--they pretty much have to or the rumors are going to spiral out of control that the show is either rigged or the judges have canned responses that aren't even based on the contestants' actual performances.

I will throw one theory out there that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere: What if Paula can actually time-travel? We cannot possibly know what she's capable of... this is a woman who danced with a cartoon cat and made it look effortless! She probably went to the future, saw Jason's second act, and then jotted down notes to save herself the effort later. If I could time-travel, I would've done the exact same thing.

A few other comments on the show last night... Brooke picked the ultimate worst song ever: "I Am, I Said."

Consider these lyrics:
"I am," I said.
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair.

NOT EVEN THE CHAIR?!?! Are you kidding me?? Neil Diamond couldn't have taken 5 seconds to brainstorm other words that rhyme with "there"? (For the record, there are many!) Awful.

I do wonder if Neil is going to perform tonight (I'm assuming he is, but didn't watch the end of the show so I'm not sure if Ryan gave us a teaser or not). If he does, what's he going to sing? If he does "Heartlight," another awful song because it's based on frickin' E.T., then I will be cheering. Because it will be so bad that it will rock.

I hope Jason Castro goes home. The weird faces he makes when he sings (and his eyebrows) are freaking me out too much. We shall soon see... But as far as I'm concerned, David Cook has already won. At least Paula got one thing right last night when she said she felt like she was looking at the American Idol after his performance.

- e

e's Favorite Things: Keanu Reeves in the "Rush, Rush" Video

I've been meaning to mention this for a while... perhaps the anticipation for tonight's installment of American Idol reminded me... but I recently downloaded Paula Abdul's 1991 song "Rush, Rush" from iTunes. Yeah, I said it! I paid 99 cents for it and I'm not ashamed.

First off, I like the song, but secondly, the video is one of my favorites of all time. Because my boy Keanu Reeves is in it. I have always loved Keanu (long live Bill & Ted!), but he is at his best in "Rush, Rush." Like most of what Paula says on AI, this video makes no sense. What year is it supposed to be? Why are they jumping around in time? Why is everyone hating on my man? It doesn't matter, I guess... because, as Keanu says, "It just reminds you that we're all alone, that's all."

You know you want to see it again! Around 3 minutes and 10 seconds is where they have their nonsensical conversation.

I LOVE IT.

After watching this, I found it really striking how neither Paula nor Keanu has aged... and I honest to God don't think either has had any (if much) work done (at least on their faces).

Perhaps now is the time I should tell you that I actually saw Paula Abdul in concert. It was "The Club MTV Tour" and she was with the likes of Tone Loc and Milli Vanilli (who I saw a second time in concert with Nerdy P). And yes, the show did rock and I know you are jealous.

I really think that when Paula releases the second single off of her new album that she MUST reunite with Keanu for the video. Do you think he would do it?
Or would he just say: "Whoa. No."

- e

Animal Kingdom and Day Two at Disney

On our final full day in Orlando, my husband and I spent six hours at Animal Kingdom and the next eight hours back at the Magic Kingdom. Yes, my friends, that equals FOURTEEN hours straight of theme park madness.

We also went to Animal Kingdom in 2000 and 2006 and really enjoyed it... they've done a great job with this park. My husband especially likes the "Expedition Everest" rollercoaster that is fairly new. I dig it because I totally believe in Bigfoot (also known as the Yeti) and they have a pretty lifelike one that jumps out at you. Some crazy dude videotaped the entire ride from his front-row seat, if you're interested... the parts that are all dark are where the ride is actually going backward. It is crazy.

Other attractions I would recommend at Animal Kingdom are:
- DINOSAUR
Please do yourself and everyone around you a favor and do NOT take any small kids on this ride. Every time I've gone on it, someone ignores all of the signs which state that it's really scary for little children, and some poor kid ends up hyperventilating. The ride is intense, but it totally rocks. You can see a short clip of it here.
- It's Tough to Be a Bug
This is another one of those interactive 3-D movies. It also scares the bejeezus out of little kids... seriously, people bail out of that theater left and right. Maybe it has something to do with the thousands of fake spiders that drop from the sky? Anyway, I still like it.
- The Finding Nemo musical.
This one is new and very well done.
- The Safari
They do a very good job with simulating the experience while also throwing in some education about poachers.

Once over at Disney, we went on just about every ride and attraction there was... including the Liberty Belle Steamboat (I have been to Disney countless times and have NEVER gone on this) and the Hall of Presidents?!?! I was worried that the park would be more crowded than it was when I had gone on Thursday, but it was actually much less packed. Look, no line for Pirates of the Caribbean!



Yes, I did run around all day wearing the Pirate Mickey Ears that my friend Nerdy P got me. I was not the only one there with such accessories. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I also got a skull and crossbones ring, which you can see in this picture of me and my Mickey Waffle.


Do you have a new respect for how patient my husband must be to put up with me?

At 10 PM they have a fireworks show, and we got a primo seat on this bench right on the bridge in front of Cinderella's Castle. The fireworks are great, but the best part is at the very beginning. There's this chick who is all lit up to look like Tinkerbell, and she zooms down this invisible wire from the top of the castle over to the roof of a building across the pond... it is really cool.

It was certainly a long day, but we had a lot of fun. I wanted to end my write-ups on Orlando by clarifying something from my post about Islands of Adventure. I do think that park is overall the best for attention to detail throughout its grounds and I think it has some of the coolest rides. But the Magic Kingdom will always be my favorite... even when the Harry Potter Wizarding World is built a few years from now over at IOA. You just can't beat the original Disney park, what can I say? Don't mess with Mickey!

- e

No Pudge Brownies... The Perfect Food?

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you may have gotten the sense that I like sweets. If you got that impression, then you are correct. Chocolate in particular is my weakness... or do I actually get strength from chocolate? I think it's the latter.

Anyway, yesterday I baked up a batch of No Pudge brownies, and thought I should tell you about the wonder of this brand, just in case you weren't aware. I was introduced to No Pudge in grad school, where the closest grocery store was a Whole Foods (before they started popping up everywhere). I've been getting them ever since, going on seven years now. As you may have figured out from the brand name, they are no-fat, low-calorie brownies--a true miracle if I've ever heard of one.

Since I pretty much never cook or bake anything, they had to be reaaaalllly easy in order for me to attempt to make them. And they are. You just pour the bag of mix into a bowl and stir it up with a cup of yogurt. Even I can handle that.

My personal favorite is the "Raspberry," but I've also mixed in flavored yogurts and small fruit chunks to the "Original" mix and they turn out well, too. If you've never tried them before, see if they are at a grocery store near you here.

Even though it is breakfast time right now, I think I'm going to go have one from the batch I made last night just to start this day off on the right note!

- e

Solo at Disney

I've decided I'm going to need to break my time at Disney into two posts because I have too many pictures I want to share. So I'll start with the day that I spent by myself at EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom... I was at EPCOT for about 4 hours, and then spent the next 8 hours running around Disney. Yes, I spent 12 hours in total at Disney that day... and yes, I'm crazy.

When you are alone at these parks, it's amazing how much you can get through. Often times they will call single riders to the front of the line to fill in empty seats, but beyond that, you just can make it across the park much more quickly when you don't have anyone else to worry about. Therefore, I'm proud to say that in those 8 hours, I went on every ride I wanted to and then some. The funny thing was, several people felt the need to inquire whether I was alone. Be it someone who I asked to take a picture for me, or another visitor by me in a line or next to me on a ride, people kept staring at me like I was insane. I guess it is a pretty unusual thing to see--someone flying solo at Disney. When I did this in 2006, I was asked the same question back then, too: "Are you by yourself here?!?!"

Anyway, since I am the absolute master of the "Fastpass" system which allows you to bypass long lines in exchange for waiting to return to the ride hours later, I whipped around the grounds and even had time to watch the Country Bear Jamboree and take the train ride around the perimeter of the park. The longest wait was for my favorite ride, Peter Pan's Flight (80 minutes!), so I got a Fastpass for that at around 3 PM and came back to ride it at 8:30 PM.

While the 2008 theme at Disney is "The year of a million dreams," they are also touting their "Pirates and Princesses Party," which, believe you me, I considered going to. But you have to buy a separate ticket for it, and it really is for kids, so I decided I had to draw the line somewhere. I did enjoy this Pirate Mickey sculpture at the park's entrance, though.


My one regret is that I didn't get my picture with this guy who was walking around as Captain Jack Sparrow. He looked EXACTLY LIKE Johnny Depp--it was amazing.

The highlight of the day came in the form of a picture I bought after riding Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I went on this ride in 2006 and bought the picture that was secretly snapped of me at a particularly intense part of the ride (you shoot at alien targets with a blaster that is connected to your moving ride-pod-thingy). This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of myself, and still hangs on my fridge (click to enlarge and get the full effect for both of the Buzz pictures below).



I still laugh whenever I see it. I don't think I've ever looked as serious as I do in that picture about anything else in my life. I was so focused on ridding the universe of evil aliens--someone had to save the world!

So here I am on the same ride this year (they've added a bunch of effects surrounding the picture now, so I cropped it to make it more comparable). As soon as I saw a bright flash after the climactic part of the ride, I thought, "Ahhh, CRAP! My lips were pulled over my teeth like a freak."

Indeed they were.



Two days later, I returned to the Magic Kingdom with my husband in tow. He had wanted me to get all of the "lame rides" out of my system when I was there by myself so that we could concentrate on the attractions that were more worthy of his time. He didn't really want to go on, say, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (which I'm still mad about, as they destroyed one of my favorites, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, to build Pooh in its place). Now all that can be found of Mr. Toad is a statue of him in the pet cemetery outside of the Haunted Mansion. Boo!

I threw in the towel around 9:30 that night, as I knew I had two more full days of theme park mayhem still ahead of me. I had a great time at EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom by myself, and I highly recommend a solo trip to Disney to anyone who loves the park and can get away with doing it.

When you're alone, there's no one to yell at you for eating Mickey-shaped ice cream bars, funnel cakes, popcorn and waffle cones all day! Not like I did that or anything...

- e

The Lucky Jackson Band and Dave Matthews Ba-, er, Trippin' Billies

This past weekend I was invited to the House of Blues to see Trippin' Billies, a Dave Matthews Band tribute band. I've seen DMB in concert several times across multiple states since the early 90s, so I was excited to see how well Trippin' Billies could replicate their sound.

We had been under the impression that the main act started around 9, but they actually didn't go on until 10:30, so we caught most of the opening group, The Lucky Jackson Band. I knew nothing about them, and for the first few songs I actually thought that they were a Bruce Springsteen tribute band or something--the lead singer sounded EXACTLY like The Boss, it was freaky! If you don't believe me, click here and play song #8, Too Many Love Songs. Their CD is now on iTunes, if you're interested...

To be clear, they are NOT a Bruce Springsteen cover band, they are just their own band with their own songs and they were pretty fun to watch. I think unfortunately for them they may sound a little too much like Bruce and the E-Street Band, which could turn people off--like they're trying to be copycats or something. But I personally thought they put on a good show. For those of you in Chicago, they have a song called Lincoln Park Trixie which is pretty funny and can be accessed from the same link above.

When the time came for Trippin' Billies to perform, I was ready to hear some songs that I could sing along with. While they didn't play all of my favorites (or if they did, they played them after I left at midnight), they played several that I knew, including Dream Girl, Grey Street, Everyday, Satellite and #41.

What kind of threw me was that the lead singer looked nothing like Dave Matthews, but he sounded just like him. So I basically didn't want to look at the stage or it would ruin the illusion for me. I think the band sounded closer to the "real" band than the singer sounded like Dave, though.

You can see a video of them playing Ants Marching here. The lead singer I saw looked nothing like the guy in this video... it's either now a different guy, or he grew his hair out to look like that floppy-haired kid Erik (the "ice cream scooper") from the current season of Survivor. Anyway, I thought the lead singer I saw sounded a lot more like Dave than the guy in the linked video.

All of this has inspired me to list my Top Six Favorite Dave Matthews Band songs. Here they are, in no particular order:

Grace is Gone
Say Goodbye
Crush
Crash Into Me
#41
Long Black Veil (some may cry "Blasphemy!" but I like his version (I don't think the band was with him on this one) better than Johnny Cash's)

If you've never seen or heard it, here it is:

As for the songs I don't like from DMB... there aren't too many, but the one that comes to mind right away is Proudest Monkey. I don't even like the title. Proudest Monkey?!?

- e

The Pop Century Resort

After spending four nights at the largest Marriott in the world, my husband and I packed up and moved over to Disney's Pop Century Resort for our remaining two days in Orlando. I wanted to be on Disney's grounds, but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for a room we would only be sleeping in.

A friend had clued me in to Disney's line of (currently four) "value resorts": comparatively cheap hotels that are close to the parks and that give guests access to free Disney transportation (not only to the parks, but also to and from the airport) and "extra magic hours" (extended park hours at one theme park per day).

When I was researching where to stay, I saw that the value resorts ranged from $89 (off-season) to $109 a night, whereas the next-cheapest hotel on Disney grounds (at least for the time we were there) was $300 a night! So I figured I really couldn't justify paying an extra $400 or so over the course of two nights for a room we just wanted to crash in for 8 hours each day.

That being said, I can't lie and say that my husband and I didn't feel out of place at the Pop Century. It is definitely geared at families... not couples in their mid-30s with no kids (who had just come from a business conference surrounded by guys in suits for the past four days). Disney poured all of its money for this location into the common areas... as you can see from my pictures, they had absolutely incredible decorations and bigger-than-life statues all around that were extremely cool. There were buildings for each decade from the 1950s through the '90s, all with corresponding decor. But they couldn't really hide the fact that the place was still essentially a motel. I'm pretty sure the area must have been where they used to house the summer interns or something--that's the kind of feel the buildings had.

We were in the '60s area, and the first thing my husband said when he entered our room was, "I think they actually built and decorated this room IN the '60s." It was clean, but the amenities were definitely bare bones.

There was a huge core building where you check in that also housed an arcade, a shopping area and a large cafeteria with a wide variety of food options. But I think we were literally the only people there without kids, and so therefore we were not desensitized to everything that comes with a ton of small children running around.

Two sets of friends of mine have stayed at the Pop Century with children ranging from 2 - 5 years old, and they have liked it. Kids dig the common areas, and the pools and playgrounds are extremely nice. And once you start adding up the $80 a day or so for park tickets for each person (which doesn't include meals or flights to Orlando, et cetera), I think that having four resorts on Disney grounds that are around $100-a-night is essential.

Here is a picture of the "hippy dippy pool," which has flowers spraying down water in the shallow areas. And parents take note: there IS a bar near this pool!


I really liked the pool near the 50s area... you may not be able to tell from this picture, but it is shaped like a bowling pin.

My friends thought I would get a kick out of all of the pop culture references throughout the grounds, and they were correct. I made my husband traipse all around with me to ensure I saw absolutely everything. In addition to the decorations on the buildings, the statues and the pools, there were little signs on the walkway that surrounded the resort that listed the dates of some notable events in pop culture. In the area where you check in, they have a ton of memorabilia from the '50s through the '90s. And everywhere you went, they played EXCELLENT music, which I always appreciate!

Here are two more of my favorite pictures from Pop Century. You can tell how big the replicas are in the Big Wheel picture, where there is a person walking next to it in the bottom-right of the frame.




So in short, I would recommend Pop Century, or any of the Disney value resorts, to families. A trip to Orlando is already going to run you thousands of dollars between flights and/or gas for a road trip, park tickets, food, and all of the inevitable Disney crap your kids will make you buy for them. Why pay hundreds more for a hotel? If all you need is a clean place and don't mind not having a luxurious room, then I think you would be happy to save some money by staying at Pop Century. While we didn't make use of the free Disney transportation to/from the airport and the parks (we had a rental car, but we did get to park at the parks for free because we stayed at Pop Century), I would think that would also be extremely helpful for a family trying to juggle a few kids and carry-on luggage (Pop Century will check bags for you and deliver them to and from your room).

For those of you who dare go to Disney World without kids, then it really comes down to what you care about most. If you can deal with a simple room in exchange for a low price and proximity to the theme parks, the go with the value resorts. If you would be bothered by spartan amenities and lots of little kids running around, then don't.

The best part is, with the money we saved by staying at Pop Century, I could totally justify buying myself several pirate-related Christmas ornaments, a skull and crossbones ring, and a huge Princess mug. But you'll have to wait for a later post to see those!

- e

Say It Ain't So!

Does it make me an awful person for not wanting certain people to procreate?

The latest pregnancy rumor that has me all riled up is about Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz. People.com reports that she's expecting, my latest issue of Us Weekly has a spotlight about this same story on its cover, and Ashlee didn't exactly deny the rumors in an interview on MTV. Noooooo!!!!! I can't deal with "bump watch" for her for the next nine months. Seriously, I can't deal with it. I will have to stop reading all of my magazines and visiting all of my gossip web sites. I refuse to put myself through the agony.

I simply cannot stand these two. First off, he is a dork--plain and simple. And not in a good way. He looks exactly the same in every single picture I've ever seen of him... he's sporting some stupid hat or hoodie, is wearing mostly black clothes, and his stringy hair is combed down over his forehead and eyeliner-rimmed eyes, He is NOT cute, but has somehow fooled a bunch of young girls who like his band, Fall Out Boy, into thinking that he is.

And as for her? I seriously don't even know where to begin. Oh, wait, yes I do... just read my rant about Jessica Simpson, because it pretty much all applies to her sister as well. The only difference between Ashlee and Jessica is that Ashlee had a nose job and thinks she's a "rocker chick" because she dates a wimpy guy in a poser band. That entire family just needs to GO AWAY. Stop torturing the rest of us!

And if the rumors are true... then there's going to be yet ANOTHER annoying Simpson offspring to grate on the nerves of generations to come.

I weep for the future.

- e