Entertainment

 Have I got a colorful person for you to meet today!  You may already be somewhat familiar with her, or at least with her work…or maybe I should say play. How about work-play? Ding ding ding, that’s it.

I’m talking about SARK, the author and writer who encourages us to all be more succulent, juicy people.  Not only is she a wonderful writer and not only is she brilliantly artistic, she’s a cat lover.  That pretty much makes her “my kind of people.”

I first became familiar with her work after I lost my mother in 2006.  My mom had an unusual love of books and, like SARK, read one each day.  When Steph (daughter #3 a.k.a. “the baby”) and I were sorting through mom’s hundreds of books, I brought a lot of them home with us and took the rest to the Salvation Army.  One of the ones I adopted was a small book which was so colorful and…. well, happy….that I knew I had to have it.  You know when you go to pick out a puppy, you want the one that runs to you, wagging its tail, wanting to play?  That’s the attitude this little book had, and at that (lowest) point in my life - that’s just what I needed.  Living Juicy came home with me, already named and housebroken.

I sat it on my desk, instead of filing it away on bookshelves like I did the other books.  “The one with the wagging tail” would be the first one I’d read, as soon as the mood to read returned.  After a few weeks, I took the little book to the bathtub with me and I soaked in both the bubbles and the SARKisms.

I found the inside of the book to be so much fun, I didn’t want to step outside of it again.  So, I never did entirely.

Some may think of SARK as over the top - something I’m sure she’d take as a compliment.  To me, she’ll always be the first author I read after losing my mom.  It struck me, then and now, as a sign that it’s okay for life to go on - and it’s more than okay to smile again.

Millions of fans have their own personal reasons for loving SARK’s work - whether it’s a personal story or simply a matter of, “She slaps a smile on my day.”  If you’ve never read her work, do yourself a favor and have at it!  I’m fairly certain you’ll find your own reason to love her….and maybe even join her over the top.  The view?  Amazing.

Below is a link to a great profile on SARK by a writer, Chris Colin, who’s also a fan of her Juicy living.  

On the Job:  Go Ahead and Try to Hate SARK

Within the article is a link to SARK’s website - you’ll pretty much want to check that out, too.

At The Movies Tin Sign
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Three of my favorite young people (two daughters and a boyfriend….Brittany’s, not mine) and I saw Hairspray last night.  I was expecting it to be good - after all, if John Travolta and Queen Latifah are on board - it has to be a fun ride.  What I wasn’t expecting was for it to be great. 

I’d read review after review saying things like, “I smiled through the whole movie…” and I kept thinking, No one smiles through a whole movie - unless it’s my husband and there’s a lot of kicking, shoving, punching, and throwing bodies going on.  Yet, I lost track of the number of times I caught myself smiling ear to ear.

The entire cast is simply perfect - I don’t know when I’ve seen a better job of casting.  John Travolta (Edna) is adorably hilarious as a larger than life mother, Queen Latifah proves that she’s one of the most gifted singers we’ve ever had, and Niki Blonsky (Tracey), Zac Efron (Link), Amanda Bynes (Penny), Elijah Kelly (Seaweed), and James Marsden (Corny) are each mesmerizing.

It’s a wonderfully fun feel great movie and we all know there aren’t nearly enough of those. I’m hoping that it’s such a runaway hit that Hollyood starts shelling them out like they once did Spaghetti westerns.

Go see Hairspray only if you want a toe tapping, fun, feel good, spirit-lifting evening full of smiles.  I honestly didn’t want it to end.

“If things go well and we get married, I’m going to be smart this time and I’m going to have him sign a prenup and if we get divorced, I’ll get half his allowance.” – Paula Abdul on The View, talking about her younger boyfriend

Fridays take themselves so lightly, I didn’t think a heavy quote would be appropriate.  Besides I love this one!  Half his allowance…

Photo Credit:  WireImage - Paula Abdula and TJ Torregiani were at the “Hairspray” New York City Premiere.  My youngest daughters and I will be at the “Hairspray” Owensboro premiere tonight, but I’m not expecting any paparazzi. 

One of my daughters e-mailed me the link to a post Mandisa made on her MySpace.  She wrote it at the end of Sanjaya’s American Idol run.  It was so moving and sweet that it left tears in my eyes - not tears of sadness, but tears of amazement. 

MySpace is, primarily, a place where people promote themselves.  It’s covered with young girls and boys (and not so young girls and boys) who post pictures of themselves in various stages of dress and undress. Here I am laughing (I’m just funny that way…), Here I am making a mad face (You’d better not mess with me…), Here I am sitting on the john (Oh my gawd, is that sexy or whut…).  A recent AI contestant took it a step further and, in addition to the john picture, included a patriotic set of pics of her on a war memorial. 

Another recent contestant, after making her exit, hastily added nude pictures to her MySpace page.  It’s like it hit  her: Wait a minute! I don’t have any talent! Plan B!

Then like a candle burning in the middle of the night, you have someone like beautiful Mandisa. Click the link (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=56974104&blogID=255117148&MyToken=fc13a23c-2f3f-4cce-bbc9-f403c80c8480) for a post you’ll want to read.

Even if you’ve never watched American Idol before and have no idea who either of these young people are - you’ll get something out of her words.  I promise.

At the end of the message, Mandisa encourages everyone to pray for Sanjaya. I propose that, in addition, we all pray for more Mandisas.  

There haven’t been a lot of reasons to smile lately.  Most of us would settle for a reason to smirk, wouldn’t we?

Life does go on, though - it was true after September 11, it was true after Katrina, and it’s true now.  The heart breaks, the mind shatters, but time keeps marching along. Somehow, everyone has to pick up the pieces of their emotions and get back to work.  All the while, of course, remembering those who’ve lost what none of us should ever have to lose.  Keep those prayers and thoughts flowing.

One thing that did bring a smile to my face was the manner in which Pamela Anderson recently gave us all a lesson in “coolness.”  Before I get to that, maybe I should tell you why it was especially entertaining for me.  I’m a straight female who happens to be a huge fan of Pamela’s.  From what I’ve seen and heard, there aren’t many of us around.  After all, as much as she has going (and going and going) for her, every self-respecting female should hate her with a cruel unChristian hatred. 

Eh, I just can’t.  She’s too entertaining!  As an actress, I think she’s very underrated.  I also think she’s a whole heckuva lot smarter than most people think she is.  She has a smile that lights up an entire seacoast and she loves her sons with all of her heart.  I even like her voice - I’m a voice-person and hers is especially lovely.

Anyway, recently some pics of her on the beach turned up online.  Just about every celebrity blog imaginable was posting the pics and with very unkind remarks.  When I saw them I thought one thing:   Her face looks like it’s supposed to look!  I’d rather see an actress who’s closing in on 40 with wrinkles than a “Desperate” looking clown.  The forever-shocked face is the thing nightmares are made of!  I think she looks darned good for a 39 year old without make-up.  She looks a lot better than a lot of the younger Hollywood crowd.

The thing that actually brought a smile to my face was what she posted on her official site about the pictures:

I’ve just been sent some pics from Hawaii - I have to laugh - well at least the world knows I don’t get botox - ha!…I’m much hotter in my mind - (I swear I look better) - then again I hardly check a mirror before I go outside - may start doing that more. I may have to start working out too though - genes and gymnastics have gotten me this far. I just refuse to let these paparazzi ruin my time or my lifestyle in general with my children - I’m not going to spend time putting makeup on or staying covered up on the beach - it’s definitely surreal though - I think I look alright but everywhere you turn you have a camera in your face - up you butt - it’s crazy - too many tabloids - must be running out of stuff to print…I’m a semi-retired single mom - hello?

I think she illustrates a pretty good lesson, here, in not taking yourself too seriously.  She didn’t get mad at the photographers or lash out at the bloggers (even though most were pretty cruel) - she didn’t post photoshopped pics and say, “THIS IS HOW I REALLY LOOK!  NOW DON’T YOU FEEL STUPID!”

All of us have times in our lives when we don’t come out on top..times when our worst, rather than our best is on the grandest of stages for others to see.  We can either get mad and blame others (and in turn make an even bigger ass out of ourselves), or we can try to slap on a better face really quick in an effort to convince people “it” never happened.  Or we can simply take complete ownership of the moment a la Pamela.

She kind of just shared in the laugh and showed that she’s a cool customer.

Here are some of the photos, click each to see the larger version.  I think she looks great for any age and any person - but to be thisclose to 40, semi-retired, and a mom of two?  Are you freakin’ kidding me? 

The photos are HQ, which means they’re incredibly huge and life-like…..hello, hello???  I think I just lost all the males and most of the females. 

Darn. Double dirty darn. Nah, that doesn’t cut it.  I’ll tell you what, if someone will write down every foul, horrible curse word in existence….and I give  you the liberty to even make some up….then have it notorized and faxed to me, I’ll sign it.

With a flourish.

My internet’s homepage just lost a great deal of interest for me, and my mornings have been robbed of a sure-fire 7:00 am smile.  My much-loved Foxtrot, one of the funniest, most brilliant comics ever (it’s like the Peanuts of this generation), will now only run on Sunday’s. 

Seems the creative genius behind Jason and the rest, Bill Amend, wants to experience more from life.  He wants to try new things, have new experiences, have more time with his family…..I don’t know, something about living life outside of working all the time.

But, Bill, how will I make it through the day without Jason, Peter, Paige, mom, dad, lizards, and the fun they bring with them?! I’m as addicted to this family as I am to coffee.  Come on, handcuff yourself to your drawing table and keep on keeping on…my mornings demand it!

…oh, alright.  Have it your way - have your…have your life.  Have your family…have your fun.  I still have Garfield.  And..and… I still have the Dilbert’s that make sense to me.  (The height of humiliation is having to carry a newspaper through the house, folded open to the comics and ask someone, “What does this mean…” followed a few minutes later by, “Oh I get it now.  Yeah, that’s pretty funny!”)

In all seriousness, I’m impressed with Bill Amend’s decision.  You gotta love someone who wants to stop embracing life with just one arm and go after it with both.  He’ll get a lot more out of it that way.  Embracing with just one arm is like kissing with just one lip.

Hopefully, the incredibly popular Foxtrot will continue in the way Peanuts has been.  Ironic, isn’t it - one’s in reruns because the creator died and one will be in reruns because the creator’s living.  

I raise my coffee cup to you Bill Amend.  You may not know it, but coffee cups and I have spent 19 years with you and you’ve given me millions of smiles. I’m smiling this morning, too, because I think you’re going to wear this living out loud thing beautifully. And, at least we’ll have Sunday’s together.  I didn’t even get that from Opus and Bill the Cat.

Like they say, “Life’s for the living.”  And like I say, “Never live just above a whisper - live out loud or stay in bed.”  Okay, I’ve never said that before today…but, yeah, you get the idea.

Joi

I thought this was pretty admirable.  Petitie and pretty actress Christina Ricci was named the “Worst Dressed Celebrity” by PETA because of a fur coat she wore on a cover of W Magazine.  She didn’t get defensive or simply blow it off, she wrote them a letter of apology:

“After being named on the PETA worst dressed list for wearing fur on the cover of W magazine, I have been deluged with angry and disappointed fans. I never meant to hurt nor anger anyone with my insensitivity. For what it is worth I have received the message loud and clear and will not be wearing fur in the future. I apologize for my offensive actions.”

That just impresses the heck out of me. She refers to her actions as insensitive and offensive, when she did a helluva lot less than most celebrities (and pageant winners) do without so much as an “Oops..”

Good for her!  Eh, these days, having class deserves at least two exclamation marks, so make that Good for her!!

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Have you seen the trailer for the movie, Transformers? AMAZING!  I’m all psyched up, so I can just imagine how worked up my husband will be when he sees it.  Click HERE to check it out.  The good news is it looks like it’ll be an amazing ride.  The bad news is, the ride will have to wait until July.

Have trailers always come out this early or is this a new thing to work up interest? If that’s the case, I think there’ll be long, long lines around theaters in July.

The cast includes Josh Duhamel, Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Anthony Anderson, and Jon Voight.  The official website is http://www.transformersmovie.com/ and it, too, is pretty amazing.

Have an awesome Thursday!

Joi

On the other side of the link below is a fun little drag and place game. As time’s running out (pretty darned quickly, at that), you have to drag the names of the states and place them in their place. 

A little tip, be very careful where you let go of the state - make sure the tip of the red arrow is right over the right place.  Connecticut and I had a devil of a time wiggling in.

It’s pretty fun - be sure to share it with all the young people you know.

And to those who are tempted to think “Not a problem,” be warned the time runs out faster than you think it will!

http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf 

Joi

“Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.”

“Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.“

“I find it interresting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God’s will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at commensurate speed.” 

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!“

Maya Angelou is most definitely one of my own She-roes.

Joi

—–SPOILER FREE REVIEW —- -

My 3 daughters, one of their boyfriends, and I went to see Superman Returns last night.  We’d been looking forward to it for MONTHS, so I was a little nervous - when you’re all hyped up about a movie, it can go either way.  On the one hand, you can get sheer gold - like Memoirs of a Geisha, but on the other hand you can get something of an all together different color and odor - like King Kong.

Thanks be to the movie gods, Superman Returns was a brilliantly amazing movie and worth every moment spent in anticipation.  The effects were mind-blowing and the direction was flawless.  Movies like this can tend to have kernels of corn here and there, but Superman Returns never came close to even having one.

The casting was also flawless.  Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane was a perfect choice.  She’s even prettier as a brunette - draws more attention to her gorgeous face.  She’s the real life love of Orlando Bloom, btw. Now there’s another movie - Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man’s Chest - I’m all hyped up about seeing.  I know it’ll be gold - it has two of my faves, Keira and The Depp.  Can’t miss.

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther was as good as Jack Nicholson as the Joker.  That, for me, is the ultimate measure of a villain.  IN FACT, the original Michael Keaton Batman movie is my measure of a “Comic Book” movie, and Superman Returns is every bit as good.  It blows Spider-Man’s drawers completely off.    

Parker Posey and James Marsden were also flawless as Kitty and Richard.  I’m not at all familiar with Parker Posey’s work, but now I’m going to hunt out other movies she’s made.  She was adorable.

If there’s any justice left in Hollywood, there’ll be all kinds of awards handed out to this movie - especially to its young director, Bryan Singer.  You really ought to see this movie - it’s one of the best.

Oh, on a sidenote - you know I’d posted before about Brandon Routh, Superman.  How he had been on One Life to Live before, but was fired?  Yes, One Life to Live, the soap opera.  And, no, I don’t watch it - I just happen to not miss an episode.

Anyhoo, on the drive home we were talking about how, after he was fired, Brandon put a message up on his website.  He’s a down to earth midwestern boy, a very devout Christian, and full of faith.  Very, very inspiring for anyone, but especially for such a young anyone.  After he was fired, he was extremely disappointed.  He wrote on his website how he felt that he’d been treated unfairly, and how sorry he was for his fans.  He went on to say that he was leaving it in God’s hands because he just KNEW He had something big planned for him.  He said he was trusting the Lord to help him, and pretty much said that with God’s help, he’d one day show those who’d wronged him what he could do.  Super, Man!

Um, that brings us to the Quote of the Day:

“If God’s on your side, make your plans as big as you want them to be.”

***The amazing Stand Ups at the top of the post, as well as the poster at the bottom are available at All Posters.com. 

Joi