Reality Shows

Now, I'm a sucker for reality shows. I love them. Saying this, I realize that most are scripted, much like the fine fare we watch from professional actors, producers, writers, etc. I also realize that some of the interviews with contestants are often taped after the show is over, to provide a level of suspense to the story. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how different a person looks in an aside during the show, to how they look when on the show. I was kinda ticked off when I learned that the contestants on "Who's Line is it Anyway" were sometimes given time to think of, or plan their responses to the game in question. The editing makes it appear that they thought of something off the top of their heads, not to say that the show isn't funny. I loved Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie, their humor was evident - especially when Richard Simmons was a guest contestant. I'm still trying to get rid of the headache from my fits of laughter on that show. The editors make these shows funny by making it seem as if contestants were thinking of that stuff on the cuff, or creating tension in a situation that didn't actually happen, and I'm still okay with that. I'm getting to my point, I promise.

I just don't get the dancing shows. I don't. I mean, with a lot of the shows, they dangle an absurd amount of money as a prize to watch "normal" people show their ugly side. Amazing Race (my favorite), Survivor, Unanimous, Big Brother, The Chair, The Chamber, the list goes on and on. Money is a great motivator of the masses, and a large sum of money can change a personality at the drop of a hat. Heck, even the awful "Pirate Master" gives money as a prize. On "American Idol", you can get a recording contract and tour the country. You could very well be the next Carrie Underwood or Chris Daughtry (good) or the next Fantasia or Diana DeGarmo(bad, oh, so bad). But nonetheless, your 15 minutes of fame is assured just by being on that show. Dancing shows, though, what's the prize? Can you tell me who won first season of "So, You Think You Can Dance?" (Nick, I think) Second season was the wacky Benji Schwimmer (It's a little gay I know this, I admit). Well, what did he win? I didn't hear anything about a dancing contract with Clive Davis' label. Maybe he could put on some skates and play Diego in the Ice Capades. Maybe he'll entertain us all with a rousing swing dance routine, while people gorge themselves on surf and turf on a Western Carribbean cruiseline. I think he did get a contract to be a dancer in Celine Dion's multi-million dollar show in Las Vegas. Whooppee! I get to be in the background to dance for Frenchie!! Well, French-Canadian, anyway.

Don't even get me started on "Dancing with the Stars". I've watched most of the 3 seasons of that trainwreck, and still cannot understand how this show is so popular. None of the ballroom dances look vaguely similar to something that would be taught in a normal dance studio to beginners. Samba, Mambo, Jive, blend right into the Waltz, Foxtrot or Charleston. They all look pretty much the same. The traditional ballroom dance is bent, and shaped by these experts, until they become just entertainment, and do not focus on the traditional steps. The voting is a freakin' joke, as well. Two football players went very, very far in the show, and both of them were a mess. Jerry Rice (lost) and Emmet Smith (won) went as far as they did on that show, based solely upon who they were on the football field and not what they did on the dance floor. I would have liked to seen if the country music fans would have kept Sarah Evans in the competition, due to the fact that they liked her song "Suds in the Bucket", and not because her Samba was Oh, So, FABOOOOOOOLUSSSSSS....... Oh, and the summer seems to be the worst time of them all for really atrocious reality shows. Okay, so there's "Hell's Kitchen" which I have as a guilty pleasure. I love it when Chef Ramsey started screaming at the staff and calling them all "donkeys". Just the way he says it makes me laugh. For the love, though, Mark Burnett, STOP !!! Haven't you made enough money on the smash hit of Survivor? Please stop attaching your name to shows that are hokey, contrived, or just plain bad. I deserve better, we deserve better. Oh, and one more thing ---"Don't Forget the Lyrics" I hope you lose your buns off to "The Singing Bee". I swear, the pregnant pauses on that show are as bad as "Millionaire". Nobody is sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for you to show us if the four words you are looking for are "in the bus, girl" or "on the bus, girl". Wayne Brady, SHAME !!

That being said, Rachel and I are sending in a video to "So, You Think you can Dance?" for next season. I invite you to check it out:

http://www.ican.ie/campaigns/universalmusic/dancesisterdance/myvid/index.php?v=86f3d427157a1

Until next time.

Weekends

Last Wednesday, I received a phone call from Sarah, asking me if everything was okay with Rachel and the baby. There was a small misunderstanding about something Rachel posted on the Family Website, and Sarah/Ben were calling to make sure that things were okay. So, Ben and I started to talk, and he let me know that they were going to Niagra Falls and then Palmyra for the Pageant. I thought that would be fun, so I told him to have a blast. Well, I started talking to Rachel about it and she said that sounded like fun. I told her, jokingly, that she should pack up the kids and join them. She said it would be nice to see some family, and go on a mini-vacation. I was working the weekend, so I couldn't go. She decided to call Mom, and see if Mom could be talked into playing hooky and join her for the drive. Mom's quote was, I believe, "Rachel, you are so bad." So, they left Friday morning to head to Rachel's grandmother's retirement apartment (it was on the way) and then to Canada to meet Ben at their hotel. Rachel will have to post her comments on what they did and such, as I wasn't there. Here's a few pics, though:



So, that was Niagara Falls on Friday evening and the Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was spent driving to Palmyra and seeing some of the sights before the Pageant. Again, Rachel would be best to ask about this, but she said that the evening was great and the girls were gems being as tired as they were. Even Mom said the Pageant was great, and she would know, being that she was one of the original six people who joined the church. *giggles*

So, that left me to fend for myself for the weekend. Well, I received an email on Friday from Amazon.com (maybe I'll get paid for ad placement) letting me know that my order of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was being prepared for shipment. Well, in the past, Amazon has sometimes been less than prompt with shippingorders to us, I took this to mean that my copy of Potter would not be here on Saturday. In talking to Mom, she said that she had not ordered her copy of the book yet, and so I decided to brave the stores in search of a copy, even though I had not preordered a copy. There are two Wal-Mart stores that are 24 hour stores that are equidistant from our house, so I decided to try the biggest one, as they would have the bigger shipment of books, thus more likely to get a copy quickly. I went into the store, and found that there was a line to purchase the book, but no display or anyone to ask about what the procedure was. I just left, as the line was way too freaking long, and I wasn't about to wait another hour in that line. I high-tailed it to the other store (which is the one I wanted to go to in the first place), walked in and there was a display of books, right by the registers. No lines, nothing. I even got a collectable poster, and two wristbands they were giving out to determine the order in which customers could buy the book. The wristbands had the main color and name of the 4 houses of Hogwarts, and they were handed out to people who were in line. I didn't see Hufflepuff (they were last) but I snagged a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw one. I wish I had gotten more, as people are now selling them on eBay as collector's items. I am keeping the green one, as Nancy said in our conversation about the book that I would be best in Slytherin. I am giving the Ravenclaw one to Liz Ott, as she is one of the smartest people I know and would do best in there. Silly, but I like them. They'll do until the pink breast cancer bracelets make a comeback - - I love that charity !!

I'll give my review of the book in another post, time for bed.

A Good Day

Today would have sucked, except for a two things (other than Rachel, and the girls, that is). Kirk Gallion, see first blog posting, and I were talking at church on Sunday about his experience watching Transformers: The Movie. He took his son, and right towards the end, Elijah was complaining that his throat hurt. He kept on about it to the point where Kirk was forced to leave with Elijah before the movie ended. Upon arrival at home, and with Dee asking question, it was discovered that Elijah had swallowed a candy that still had a wrapper on it, and thought he was going to die. Later, at church, I was talking to one of the dental students before Gospel Doctrine, and he asked me if I had seen Transformers yet. I said, nope, that we had gone to see Harry Potter and the OOTP (more Harry Potter news to follow). He said that he had seen it three times already, and said it was a can't miss. I replied about my love for movies, and how I think CGI in movies is almost too pervasive now i.e. Star Wars, Spiderman, Superman, etc. I miss the old special effects, and camera tricks that they used to use. I said that since Transformers was right up this alley, that I was probably going to wait until the video came out. Well, then Kirk asked me if I wanted to go and see it, since his wife was going up to Palmyra for the weekend for the Pageant. Boy, am I glad I went. Although bordering on campy, it blew me away. I loved the fact that they used the same actor's voice for Optimus Prime that I remember from the anime when I was a kid, really loved Shia LeBeouf's character, and fetching loved the new Camaro they showed. I can't wait to buy this, or see again.

Okay, so second good thing is that my copy of Willow I bought off half.com came today. I was on vacation last week, and we spent a few days at Mom's. One afternoon, I popped the movie in, and started to watch it. I remembered the two "bobbins" mostly, and how darling I thought that they were. I didn't get much of the way through it, as I fell asleep in the recliner (I know, shades of Dad). So, when we got home, I found a used copy online and bought it. I also watched a few clips from Willow on YouTube, but I don't have to anymore. Can't wait to finish the movie, now that it's been added to my collection.

I have to say, there was one little hiccup to my day, though. I was at a worksite today, and was repairing the computer that controls the phone system for this site. I finished it, and went to the back to work on another issue. I went into the manager's office when I was done, to close the tickets. I happened to swivel around to say "Hello" to someone who greeted me, and I saw three boxes on the floor. The one on the the bottom I recognized immediately from the white and red print, even before I read the outside "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". The two boxes on top were plain brown, but bore stickers that read same and "Do Not Open until July 21st" but whose tape was cut. The box was kinda open, and I couldn't resist. I closed the door, and opened one of the boxes. I held the book in my hand, turned it over a few times to enjoy the adrenaline rush, and then put it back in the box and reclosed it. Talk about temptation, I so could have stashed two copies in my laptop back, left the money and then walked out of the store. Danged Honesty. Still, the rush was kinda cool, and I'm one of the few of the millions who are waiting for the books to have seen and held a copy. Nonetheless, I didn't read any of it, so I have nothing to tell you about plot, who survives, etc. Just thought it was cool.

Memories come flooding back

So, tonight, Rachel was talking about wanting funnel cakes. She's pregnant, so I was trying to indulge her in this. I was looking online for a funnel cake recipe, and found one that I thought would work. I started looking for ingredients, when I stumbled upon a 4-pak of canned biscuits in the back of the fridge. I remembered when I was younger, some of the best treats that I could remember were when Mom would fry up a can of biscuits and we would dip them in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, and white or chocolate frosting. S0, I thought that frying up a can of donuts was close to funnel cake, or as close as I could come without pulling out a stand mixer.

I got a top from a soda bottle, and cut holes in the middle. I put fresh oil in my fryer and WHAMMO! Rachel was impressed by my ingenuity, and she got what she wanted. It was nice to be the hero. We're gonna try it again, this time with the girls. It's a cheap dessert, at the very least, and we can include the girls in prep. They'll love to help, just as we did when I was younger.

Okay ... we've started

To all !!

Rachel and I decided to catch a wave of technology, and create a blog. I know what most of you are thinking .... they'll probably just quit after a week or two of posting stuff. Well, we'll do our best to not allow that to happen. Also, this way we can post our own stuff about our family without making it seem like a contest on the shared family site. So, to that end ... welcome !

Tonight we were invited to grill over at the Gallion's house. For those that do not know who the Gallions are, I am sure you will find out over the course of reading blogs who they are, but the short story is that Dee (short for Deanna, which she hates) and Kirk are two of the most generous, friendly and warm people that I have ever met. They have entered into my exclusive friend club, only four members at this time are Jim and Jessica Jardine, and Ed and Liz Ott. They mean so much to Rachel and I, and it is hard to even think about moving from here now that we have found our kindred spirits. Rachel and I brought Scene It! Squabble edition to play, since we still hadn't broken the plastic after a few months of buying it. It's a version of Battle of the Sexes, where men and women are on opposite teams and they answer questions that are sometime based in stereotypes i.e. girls answer questions on chick flicks, and boys answer questions on sports. It was great fun, if you love the Scene It! series of games and was fun to get together with the Gallions and the Otts to barbecue chicken, play games, and discuss a certain part of the female anatomy ..... seriously, you had to be there....

So, later, Rachel was reading to Allison before bed. They were at the chapter in Alladin (Disney version, Copyright - All Rights Reserved) where the Genie is granting the three wishes. We like to ask questions to see if Allison understands what she is hearing, or not. So, Rachel asks Allie what her three wishes would be. Here they are: First, she wishes to be Allie. Second, she wishes for a baby sister. Third, she wishes to go to her cousin's birthday part. After a few more questions, we found out that Allie was referring to Hannah. Kinda funny how they think at this age ... ask Allison this question in one year, and I know the answer would be so different.