How Your Friends Really See You

How your friends really see you.

Now, they're all nice to you and all. But this is how they really think about you when you bend over backward to please them.

2019

America, What Happened?

Here is the real America?

America, what happened? I only posted this because that is the most humongous pizza I ever have seen. No lie!

2019

Don't Make Me....

Don't make me drop a house on you!

Exactly! You know there have been times when you felt exactly the same way. And beware, you never know what lurks behind that charming face!

2019

Taylor Swift 2014 Grammys

Taylor Swift always finds some new way to remain the center of attention.

Whether it be dancing in front of the refrigerator (now that's original!), or

dancing with a special friend, or

putting on some of her signature dance moves for no apparent reason, or

All right, here's where that other one was shopped from.

looking sultry and mysterious when she's getting ready to perform, or

What, they gave me another award and I have to schlep up there to get it?

whipping her head around like a maniac while she's performing! Got to love this girl.

Incidentally, we have a full page of enticing Taylor Swift pictures here.

2019

Best Reasons to Support Immigration Reform

And here we have the bottom line on immigration reform. And, if you're gonna stick around...

2019

Best Reason to Support Gay Marriage

There is a reason for everybody to support gay marriage. They want to be miserable, too! Well, you know, if you really want to be miserable, I suppose it would be ok.

2019

Think Before You Eat

Keep Track of What You Eat

Thin before you eat!

Think before you eat! Notice I did not say "don't eat." That's up to you. Most of these foods are simply too good to pass up completely, so I don't. But these are rare treats, not constants.

Just be aware of what it does to you to eat these types of foods. Eating them every so often is perfectly fine, which is what I do. Where you will run into problems is if any of these foods appears too regularly in your diet without some kind of corresponding trade-off.

Just for my own reference, because I think it's good for everyone to realize what they eat, I'm listing my own eating habits of these foods below. I've never really been overweight, at least noticeably. I can't remember the last time I ate at a fast food place like McDonalds. Pretty much everything is prepared at home. I still wear the same sizes I wore 20 years ago, more or less. I still fit into the same suits from then (ok, they aren't quite as loose on me as they were then, but I can and do occasionally still wear them). I can pick up shirts and pants from the '90s and wear them easily.

Whatever I do, it works for me. I hope what you do works for you.

My diet is pretty boring overall, but I have my moments. When I'm traveling overseas, I will indulge just to experience things (and, more importantly, I don't have my kitchen there anyway!).

Looking at that list, I don't do Frappucinos or chips and queso more than, say once every few years. Those are spur-of-the-moment foods which I might order under circumstances where they are there and there aren't a lot of good choices. Depends on the situation, but certainly never at home.

Milkshakes are a rare event. Maybe once or twice a year? Depends on the situation, I might buy a quart of ice cream once a year and then have several times in a month, but then not again for a year or two.

I might drink a 21-ounce can of soda once a month - I don't keep them in my house, but sometimes when you're out and about, they're convenient. I also get a can when I donate to Goodwill occasionally, probably every couple of months.

Cheesecake is a treat, maybe once a year, but probably less often than that. Same with pepperoni pizza (I love pizza, but eat it very rarely). Same with burritos, those are situational foods - if you're out somewhere and it's available, dig in!

Donuts depend on my willpower when I am in the supermarket. If there's a box on sale, I may buy it and then overdose on those glazed donuts for a week. Maybe buy a box two or three times a year?

I probably eat fried chicken breast once a month, same for the cheeseburger/fries, though they're both hit and miss. I had some fried chicken last week, but haven't had any burgers since last fall, maybe four or five months ago.

Now, what do I indulge in way too much? Popcorn is evil. Keep it away from me! LOL.

2019

Duck Face!

Duck face!

Those World War II girls knew how to make the duck face!

Okay, they're really not from 1942 or World War II, but it's nice to think that they are.

Here's another astonishing cutie from the war years who looks astonishingly like Lynda Carter - who played a World War II girl in "Wonder Woman":

Okay, one more cute girl from that time:

"Torpedo 1944"

Now, just as a wrap-up to this whole "duck face" topic, here is the summary.

And, in conclusion, no, ladies, the below is no longer considered attractive. Good luck.

2019

Jennifer Lawrence on Food

Jennifer Lawrence on the Best Things in Life

Jennifer Lawrence and Ryan Seacrest talk about Jennifer's favorite subject.

As part of my continuing observation of the wit and ways of Jennifer Lawrence, we present Jennifer Lawrence starring in: "I'm Hungry!"

This is Jennifer Lawrence on food.

As my old chemistry teacher used to say, "You have to eat, or you'll die!"

Nothing wrong with eating.

It's good that a girl knows what she likes.

Incidentally, is Ryan Seacrest always in the straight man in these deals?

Anyway, just Jennifer bein' real, y'all.

2019

Women's Suffrage

Women's suffrage. I wrote a review of "Mary Poppins" the other day for no apparent reason other than that I had been reading something about "Saving Mr. Banks" - the publicity from which we learned the astounding the fact that Tom Hanks actually is related to Walt Disney, go figure - and, as you probably know if you're as obsessed with Disney as I am, one of the main characters is a suffragette.

Whew. that was some sentence. I'm all out of breath.

Side note: never say a bad word about "Mary Poppins" in my presence. That's one of those "don't go there" lines you shall not cross. Thank you very much. Indubitably.

Anyway, "Saving Mr. Banks" is all about how the nice lady behind "Mary Poppins" actually wasn't very nice at all. Some will say that she, in fact, was very nice, but that Walt was mean to her. Given the fact that he paid her almost a million dollars in the early Sixties, just exactly how mean could he have been to her? She was still disowning the movie - the highest grossing film of 1965, with 13 Academy Award nominations and the pinnacle of the careers of every single person involve (well, except perhaps for Hermione Baddeley, she did a lot of fine work elsewhere) right up until the day she died. So I have my doubts about how much of a joy she, in fact, was to work with.

Circling back around to my point, suffragettes have been on my mind. I spotted the above "classic" ad somewhere or other, and it amused me. The idea of being under "petticoat rule" is just too delightful for words. Will they take away our beer, chips and man caves? Oh, my! Let's go fly a kite instead!

But, let me just say right up front, so that there is not a scintilla of misunderstanding about why I posted that picture above: I am all for spot removers.

"No romance!" she commanded.

2019

Taylor Swift Surprised Faces

This Girl Has It Down To A Science!

All right, you aren't going to get trenchant social commentary or biting political wisdom or any of that from me tonight.

Instead, all I've got is Taylor Swift's patented collection of ... surprised faces!

Like, OMG, I've won AGAIN??????

You mean I won that award that I didn't even know existed???? OMG!!!!!!

Anyway, this girl gets more awards than Wilt Chamberlain got women. She has so many awards on her shelf that her house is sinking like Tiger Wood's. There is some talk of them putting in a solar collector across the street for when the sun strikes her collection of silver statuettes.

Seriously, this is a whole new art form, like Dadaism or the Bauhaus school. "Taylor Swift ... surprised!"

And here, without further ado, our collection of Taylor Swift ... surprised!

The famous Kanye West moment, when maybe she really WAS surprised.

I think that's George Lopez horning in on her act here....

This one is my personal fave

Neil Patrick Harris must not have practiced his "SURPRISED!" face that day.

"You mean the women's room is clear now? OMG!"

Taylor Swift is great!

2019

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Jennifer Lawrence Style

Jennifer Lawrence having a spot of fun while Taylor Swift thinks that she has the spotlight.

Anybody who follows this blog probably knows that I find Jennifer Lawrence delightfully wacky. Well, I am delighted to be able to report that she hasn't lost a step yet. So, here we have lifestyles of the rich and famous, Jennifer Lawrence division.

At the 2014 Golden Globes ceremony, we have Jennifer making fun of Taylor Swift while Taylor was being interviewed by the ubiquitous Ryan Seacrest. Or something like that. Lawrence looked so relaxed at being at this affair, almost like it is a study break at high school. I suppose when you spend half of you life at awards ceremonies or preparing for them, they kind of lose that mystique, you know?

All right, I don't spend my time at awards shows, either. So we can only imagine.

Ryan Seacrest is the perfect straight man, he never even looks over.

Now, I'm not the suspicious type - oh wait, yes I am - so the fact that Seacrest was there makes me wonder. People might recall his part in the infamous "spilling of the dead leader's ashes" bit on the red carpet by Sacha Baron Cohen a few years ago while the latter was promoting his "The Dictator" movie.

Then, we take into account that Lawrence herself was famously interview-bombed by none other than Jack Nicholson recently. These red carpet/interview interruptions seem to be the new way to get a little extra attention.

So, I have my doubts that everything here is as impromptu as it all is supposed to appear. Especially considering that Lawrence was only there to accept an award as being the best actress in the world right now.

What do you think she is, some kind of actress? Well... yes. Yes, I do. These folks don't just "do things" at events on national tv without probably rehearsing them beforehand with something approaching sheer neurotic compulsion. Though I have to admit, Lawrence just might.

Anyway, all that aside, Taylor Swift and Lawrence appear to have struck up quite the chummy friendship all of a sudden. Taylor, she, ahem, gets around. She also has a strange tendency to get into weird personal situations at big events, such as the time she made that face when her pal Selena Gomez kissed Justin Bieber in front of her. So, she's kind of a player in that way, too. Any publicity is good, though these folks sure don't need any more than they already have.

Anyway, below is some of the cutesy dialogs from the event.

"I was going to come in and push you down the stairs," Oscar winner Lawrence quipped to Grammy winner Swift. "I was like, 'She'll crack up. She would really love that.'"

Swift, beautiful in a red Carolina Herrera gown, kind of grunted that she was indeed amused by the idea. "That's so funny," she replied.

The two stars then shared a girly bit of banter over whether Lawrence had ever been to one of the singer's concerts. "She's never invited me," the "Hunger Games" actress claimed with fake indignation, prompting Swift to retort in Valley-Girl-speak, "I have invited you so many times!"

Isn't that so cutesy.

The friends find other ways to stay in touch, though. "Oh my God, I freaked out over the CMAs," Lawrence gushed. "I sent her a text message that was like six inches long."

"I was reading it, like, 'This is the most heartfelt text I've ever gotten," Swift noted. "I don't remember [what it said], but she was just so incredible. American Hustle, I was doing the same thing. I wanted so badly to send a novel text message!"

It's all just too cutesy and high school, let me go throw up. But they're both still ultra-cute.

All right, get ready for it, here's a patented "Taylor Swift surprised look" to end things.

"Oh, mygod, I'M LIKE SO SURPRISED!"

As a postscript to this, two weeks later, at the 2014 Grammys (these girls hit all the big awards shows), Swift had this to say to Lawrence (through the national media, of course, that's how big stars communicate instead of sending texts):

Thanks for your friendship and thanks for making amazing, terrifying faces behind me on camera when I'm trying to do an interview and not mess up! Good luck. I hope you win. I hope you win everything all the time. 

Awww, see, it was all taken in good spirit. Lawrence, incidentally, said she didn't think she had been on camera when she was goofing around - which kind of makes sense since she looked utterly stupid while she was doing whatever it was that she was doing.

2019