Tag Archives: Entertainment

Calling Susan Lucci

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13

Last night was an amazing night. Dashing in a tux with alongside my wife in her striking auburn Donna Karan gown, we walked the red carpet. Lightbulbs flashed, interviewers were everywhere, and the fans were delirious.  And the after parties, well I don’t kiss and tell. Suffice to say, the tabloids will be buzzing this week. Glorious, it was just a glorious night.  Now, I had my speeches prepared.  Humble, humorous, hip, I had it all going on.  What, pray tell, you may be thinking was going on? Well, I had been nominated for two more blogger awards – the Sunshine Award and The One Lovely Blog Award and last night was the Blogger Awards. As noted above, the award ceremony was posh. You didn’t hear about it? That wasn’t a dream was it?

Let me first answer some questions associated with the awards.  Here goes:

Favorite Number: 7. Not so original. Truthfully, it doesn’t mean all that much to me.

Favorite Non-Alcoholic Drink: Yoohoo. Chocolate milk – yum, yum.

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook. I am not so into it but have never even been on Twitter.

My Passion: Sports.  I am currently sports depressed. Darn Philadelphia teams.

Favorite Pattern: The patterns of nature. Patterns in the sky, on leaves and the bark on trees, for example.

Favorite Day of the Week: The Sabbath. I enjoy the serenity.

Favorite Flower: Marigolds. I don’t know many flowers but I bought these at the flower show on a 2nd grade trip for my mother. I was a good boy!

One of the awards instructed me to note: Seven Things You May Not Know About Me. So, here goes 7 more.

1. The first song I ever memorized all the words to is Meeting Across the River by Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band.

2. Batman is my favorite superhero.

3. The first time I really thought I wanted to be a writer was after completing John Updike’s Rabbit series.

4. I love snow (even more so when I was younger).

5. I always wanted to be 6’2’’. I would have settled for 6’3’’ or 6’4’’. I’m 5’11. Oh well!

6. I don’t enjoy scary movies.

7. I am not good at learning languages.

Now let me tell you about My Nominees. I’m going to note 7 as it is my favorite number. The first two are the people who gave it to me. Thanks so much to both of you.

1. marymenkedick.wordpress.com

2. denobears.wordpress.com

3. parentingisfunny.wordpress.com

4. clotildajamcracker.wordpress.com

5. livenowandzen.com

6. slapppshotblog.com

7. fullofsmyles.com

I have now been nominated for 4 awards. I am 14 short of Susan Lucci who was nominated 18 times before she won. So, there is hope for me. I’ll see you at the awards show next year.  Get your formal wear ready.

Sometime Shy

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21

When I was in college, I used to be one of the guys that hung around the keg. It wasn’t because I was some crazy beer guzzling get out of my way must have beer now kind of guy. No. While I enjoyed the beer, the bigger reason for my chosen location was my shyness and hanging by the keg allowed for easy conversation and generally happy people. I have always considered myself shy and still do to this day. It’s not one of my traits I am particularly proud of and it’s not easily changed. So, when people used to give advice, “Just go say hi to her,” it was not so simple.

I believe in irony. I think G-d has a devilish sense of humor (ironic – huh). The irony is that as a blogger I put personal information, thoughts, feelings etc. out in the blogosphere that anyone can see. In fact, the more people that see it, the happier I am (you have my full permission to forward this to someone else or to reblog it. Really, it’s fine. Go ahead.). I can’t tell you how many times I wrote something and my wife will say to me, “Are you sure you want to say that?” or a friend will say afterwards, “I don’t know if I would have shared that.” I just kind of smile and say, “Why not?” It’s not so personal. Yet, on the flip side there are plenty of people who I see whom I would never even have thought to have shared the information. It’s as if I have a different personality on line as compared to my ‘real life.’ I think this is true of many people – hiding in the virtual world.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying I was nominated for an award. I’d like to thank the academy. Actually, it’s not that award but instead is the Versatile Blogger award. I wonder about these awards. I keep seeing people get nominated but don’t know who is actually winning them and what that means. It seems more like a way for us bloggers to tell each other that we enjoy their blogs. I’m cool with that. Though again, I feel a little shy about being nominated. The rules include saying 7 things about myself — which I do with every entry — yet to say it here feels awkward. Man, I got issues. Anyway here goes:

1. I think peanut butter should be a separate food group.

2. I am a big Springsteen fan.

3. My favorite season is fall.

4. I can’t draw.

5. I wish I had a full head of hair.

6. I think the last episode of Seinfeld is underrated.

7. I take pride in my role as a father.

I hope you said the list quickly. Shy thing, you know. Anyway, it feels odd to try and find 7 things that somehow convey who I am. Alright, enough of this. Now, I would like to nominate 15 bloggers for the award – each of whom I enjoy reading. The first two are the bloggers who nominated me. Thanks Patricia and Raani.

1. patgarciabookreviews.wordpress.com

2. raaniyork.wordpress.com

3. robertjhorton.wordpress.com

4. allthingsboys.wordpress.com

5. linneann.wordpress.com

6. lostandforgotten.wordpress.com

7. emeraldpie.wordpress.com

8. perfectlyimperfectmomma.com

9. elskenewman.wordpress.com

10. dearoptimists.com

11. blog.shoesonthewrongfeet.com

12. momopause.wordpress.com

13. jessieclemence.com

14. somethinglikeaduck.wordpress.com

15. insanityofmotherhood.com

I hope to get much more practice getting nominated and receiving awards. I will have to come up with some catchy stories and be more magnaminous. Any tips anyone? I’m getting too old to stand by the keg.

 

Commercial Free, Please!

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4

I sometimes feel queasy in malls. It could be the stale conditioned air, or the odor from the fake plants, or the mess of smells that emanate from the food court. Or maybe it is the massive amount of commercialism and the constant thought that runs through my head when I find myself in such a place – “Why the hell does anyone need this stuff?”

I’ll get back to that. My boys and I are all off from school this week. My wife decided to take the week off as well, so we could enjoy some family time together. After some debate, we ended up going to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. Located on the waterfront across the river from downtown Philadelphia, the aquarium had ample parking with a fish motif throughout the lot and entrance area. There was a line to get in, but it moved quickly. The entrance fee was somewhat steep – they were not open to negotiations – but I was convinced the large aquarium surely would have much to offer.

It feels good to say told you so. There were numerous displays in the aquarium including some where you could touch the fish. I actually petted a shark and a stingray. I was trying to be a good parent – definitely would not have bothered if I was there childless – and inspire my children to take chances and get out of their comfort zone. Nothing doing. Oh well. There was one room that was more like a tunnel through an aquarium with sharks all about. Another area included a spot where children could put their heads into an inverted fish bowl and look out and see the fish up close and personal. Photo op! Anyway, we also wandered outside where they have Penguin Island. My children, who are more into “hands-on” than “eyes-on” displays, enjoyed themselves at a breakneck pace, rarely slowing down to stare at the fish.

So, as you can tell from this description, a good time was had by all. However, there was something about the aquarium that bothered me. It seemed as if everywhere you turned, there was something for sale. Firstly, the food court was massive and was a throughway that we seemed to have to use perpetually. Then, there was the gift shop. It was large and filled with so many useless items. They also had face painting, an area to have your child pose on a surfboard, and other cash guzzlers located throughout the aquarium.  None of this is outrageous and is almost standard these days at attractions. Probably just my craziness. Yet, it felt as though the commercialism was everywhere. We were in the aquarium 10 minutes before we actually saw fish, though we had passed half a dozen stands selling all types of unnecessary items. Aquarium? Mall? I don’t think it was the smell of fish making me queasy!

Oscar Says No

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Tree of Life – eitz chaim as my people call it. In this case, however, I am talking about the movie. It is nominated for an Oscar for best picture.  As a movie lover who does not find time to get to the movies very often, I rely on Netflix. Anyway, I try to watch those movies up for awards.  It makes the show more interesting, and I figure if it is up for an award, the movie must be half decent.

Now, back to the Tree of Life – uggh. I don’t get it. My wife actually clapped when it was finally over. Now normally when people clap, it is to show enjoyment, appreciation, and approval. Well, let’s just say that was not the case here. Actually, the clapping was to show enjoyment – that the movie was over!  Maybe, it was too deep, maybe I did not pay attention enough, maybe I was not prepared to think as much as the movie demanded. Now, the story itself – what I got out of it at least – was somewhat interesting. However, the interludes or the artsy stuff to put it formally were odd, annoying, and unnecessary. Even more so, these interludes added nothing to the movie.

Well, you cross Tree of Life off my to see list. Next up is The Help. My vote for best picture is still available.