As we close in on tonight’s World Series game, people around the Tampa Bay area are alive with the excitement that tends to unify a region. It’s funny to think about last season or even the beginning of this season and how people all over the area looked at the Tampa Bay Rays as a colossal joke. You never saw Rays t-shirts being worn. They could not even give away tickets to the game. And now…, now everyone is their biggest fan.
The irony amuses me.
At the same time, I love seeing the excitement in the kids at school. Even at my daughter’s elementary school I can find signs that say “Go Rays!” nearly everywhere I look. At the high school, the kids are more subtle, but the excitement is surely bubbling underneath the surface.
I haven’t watched any of the games, but I do wish the Rays the best of luck,. It would be thrilling to see them win the big one. This is such a young, enthusiastic team. They know they have a lot to prove and it’s been encouraging watching all that pay off for them.
It wasn’t so long ago that people here in the Tampa Bay area did nothing but complain about the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. That was back when they were still called the Devil Rays, before the days of Evan Longoria (brother to Eva) and other newly lauded players. People dissed them, they were the butt of jokes and it seemed like there was absolutely nothing they could do to sell seats to the games.
Things have changed now. I suppose the locals are fair weather friends. Now that the Rays have made it to the playoffs, people are taking off work and skipping school to watch the team in action just a couple hours from now. Start time is 2:30 pm.
The websites for our local television stations are all decked out in Rays colors, with most of the front page information devoted to the team. Fans have been showing their support this week by getting “Rayhawks” – essentially Mohawks – on the sidewalks outside of Tropicana Field.
Fan loyalty is a delicate thing, though. I have to wonder what will happen in the future if there are bad season ahead.
I was just watching house tonight and thinking about how much I love House’s new sidekick, private detective Lucas. Lucas is played by Michael Weston and he is breathing life into the show. He makes me realize how thoroughly depressing Robert Sean Leonard’s Dr. Wilson has become.
Amidst my hopes that Weston might stick around, I found some articles that show I’m almost tow months late on the news that House creator David Shore is creating an entire show around Weston’s character.
The new show won’t be a spinoff, in the true sense of the word. Rather, Shore is using House as a platform to launch the new show.
Either way, that’ exciting. I’ve seen Weston is his bit parts on Six Feet Under, Scrubs, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He actually has quite a lengthy filmography. He’s talented, compelling, and likable. I have high hopes for the new show.
Right now it looks like the Lucas character might be a new love interest for Dr. Cuddy.
He is finally admitting to the world that he is gay. That’s Clay Aiken, the former American Idol runner-up that made so many young girls swoon back in his heyday. Quickly, though, stories began to surface about Aiken using online hook-up sites to meet with gay men, as well as he overall effeminate demeanor, which seemed to get more and more pronounced over the past several years.
He’s on the cover of People magazine along with his new son, Parker, who was conceived via in vitro fertilization with his best friend, Jaymes Foster.
I think his biggest mistake is in assuming that people even care anymore.
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This little tidbit “came out” about the same time that Lindsay Lohan went on record with what the world alreeady knew — she is also gay. Her secret might have been harder to hide, since she is rarely seen without her butch sidekick Samantha Ronson (who, by the way, is more manly looking than Aiken.)
I have some random comments to make about some of the movie trailers I saw yesterday.
High School Musical 3
Aside from being frightening just for the sheer volume of nasally teen singers involved in the clips they showed, it was also kind of terrifying to see a flash of a scene that I think was supposed to be the basketball team putting up their hooded jacket in sync. Instead, it really, really looked like a lot of white, suburban teens putting on KKK hoods.
Role Models
This is the first time I can actually recall hearing a LOT of hardcore swearing in a movie trailer. There was liberal use of the words sh*t and f*ck, as well as the word c*m. There was also a close-up of a child drawing a picture of people’s naughty bits. The disturbing thing is that this is the only trailer that got laughter out of the audience.
I hope I did not offend anyone by listing the words, even though they are not fully typed out. I just wanted to give you a feel for the tone of the trailer.
Want to go to one of the U.S. Disney parks for free in 2009? All you have to do is show up o your birthday. Talk about a great deal.
In an age when few if any restaurant even offer you a free meal on your birthday, Disney is willing to hand you a park pass worth about $75. Sweet.
My daughter and I usually go on her birthday every year, but I do not have her on her actual birthday this year, so we will just have to wait until mine and make a day of it together.
You can either register online (disneyparks.com) in advance or just show up at the gate with your photo ID. My daughter does not have a photo ID yet (she’s only five), so something official wither birth date on it will work.
If you have already bought passes for days that include your birthday, you can alternately get a one-day, one-park ticket to use within the next year, a Fastpass for four rides for up to six people (Fastpass allows you to basically zoom right past the long lines for any number of the more popular rides), or a gift card amount equal to the cost of the free ticket to use in the parks.
How come I cannot locate a full version of the SNL skit where Tina Fey portrays Sarah Palin? I have found clips, commentaries and a LOT of Obama supporters hoaxing the public into watching cheesy Obama-worship fan-vid that are labeled “Tina Fey Sarah Palin FULL version.” Not that I am surprised that an ultra-lib supporter would stoop to dishonesty and bait-and-switch tactics – but that is another topic altogether.
No, really, where in the world is the full version of the skit, void of a news programs intro or needless editorializing?
If you find a link to the full version, let me know.
Just a little gumble on my part. I got some paperwork in my daughter’s homework folder that I have to return tomorrow. Usually, I would not really mind, but these are all forms I was careful to fill out the first day of school and return the first day. Somehow the school lost Gigi’s paperwork! It’s an annoyance, really.
She is only in Kindergarten and this is only her 4th week and I have a file folder that is already overstuffed. It seems like I have filled out more forms than anyone could possibly need. *sigh*
I know businesses like to give you their phone number using letters that spell out words so that you can remember their number easier, but I find it annoying. Go ahead, give me the cutsie number, but have the heart to translate it into actual numbers underneath. Please?
I find it awkward to hunt peck around the phone keypad looking for the corresponding number and I am prone to mis-dialing.
Case in point – I was going through some old gift cards I forgot I had just now and calling to see if I have balances left on any of them. The back of the Toys’R'Us card says to call 1800-TOYSRUS. I thought I dialed it correctly, but when I connected to the number, all I heard is a woman’s voice saying, “Call 1-888-FREESEX, that’s 1-888-FREESEX.”
Huh?
At first I thought it was a case of a wily phone sex business snapping up the Toys’R’Us number after it expired. I even spent a few minutes doing an internet search to see if this had been reported in the news. And then, I realized I probably just mis-dialed and tried the number again. This time I actually connected with Toys’R’Us.
By the way, my gift card balance is zero. It’s old enough that the balance got eaten up in ridiculous fees.
I went ahead and watched the two-hour series premiere of the new 90210 television show on the CW. Back when the original 90210 was on, I was in college and rather enjoyed the show – as schmaltzy as it was. I was mostly interested tonight is comparing the two versions.
In a nutshell, the modern version is way more risqué. One of the first scenes of the premiere shows one of the main characters walking up on a boy as he is getting a blowjob in his car. Underage drinking is portrayed, drug use is shown, and the kids are much more brazen about disobeying both their parents and their teachers. It made the scene in the original 90210 where Dylan deflowers Brenda in a hotel room during prom look almost puritanical.
The new Beverley Hills, 90210 has already set a similar tone to the original in at least one way: adult will be involved in the story lines and important issues will be tackled. In just the two-hour premiere I saw allusions to storylines to come involving long-lost children that were given up for adoption, the trauma of divorce, unfaithfulness in relationships., drug addiction, mixed-race families, caring for elderly relatives, and more.
I think I will set the DVR for next week and see if this version continues to entertain me as much as the original.
Sean Combs, the man so desperate for a nickname that he gives them to himself, is an ass. And guess what, Diddy – most of the world agrees with me. You are so surrounded by yes-men that you have no idea how much of a joke you have become.
The latest laugh-fest headed up by Combs is his video blog posting where he complains about the high cost of gas. He is right about the high cost being an important issue and that people are upset about it. However, does he really think that people want to hear his profanity-filled rant about how he can no longer afford to fly in a private jet at $200,000 a trip so he can pursue his “acting career” (the “career” only he is taking seriously)? Should we feel sorry for him that he has to fly commercial? I think not.
What an ass. At least he can still afford to travel. A lot of regular folks out there have had to cut back on food and transportation – and that includes flying at all.
OK, we get it. David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation facility for the treatment of sex addiction. I’ve found it humorous to read the comments and opinions on lots of other blogs. Most of them naively believe that Duchovny’s addiction simply means he is addicted to having sexual intercourse, and some have even commented that his wife, Tea Leoni, must feel lucky.
Unfortunately, sex addiction has a lot less to do with a pure physical need for sex and more to do with an emotional disconnect. Sex addicts often have trouble with honest emotional relationships and compulsively seek to connect with other people via impersonal intimate acts like masturbation, affairs, prostitutes, voyeurism, and other intimately unfulfilling behaviors that are many times abusive, secretive, and lead to depression.
Sex addicts often find that their compulsive needs come before family, work and personal health.
His entire family is in my thoughts, and I wish everyone the best. Difficult times are certainly at hand for them.
I’m not a huge Sarah Jessica Parker fan, but this scene from the 1993 film “Hocus Pocus” always makes me laugh. Sometimes the clip just runs through my mind for no particular reason and I have to stiffle a giggle. I think the reason I recalled it tonight was all this talk about Halloween costumes.
By the way, though I can take or leave Parker, I adore Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy.
My daughter is 5. She has moved recently into different musical tastes. She is no longer interested in seeing Laurie Berkner or The Wiggles in concert. “Oh, yuck!” she exclaimed.
Nope, she recently informed me she wants to see The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus in concert.
*sigh*
Unless you have been living in the back woods without electricity lately, you know all about the last Miley Cyrus tour, the expense of the tickets and how in-demand they were. Tickets were expensive to begin with, but once they got bought up by bulk resellers and scalpers, they become positively unaffordable.
The fan base for Miley Cyrus is young girls. Their parents are the ones forking over the dough for the tickets. And, there is obviously disposable income left in this society, or entertainers would not be able to demand and get such high prices.
I had to tell my daughter I could not afford for her to see Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers in concert. She is 5. Her abstract reasoning has not kicked in yet. She just could not understand.
And now I am seeing how Cyrus is celebrating her 16th birthday at Disneyland out in California and tickets to the party will be a mere $250.
What?
They go on sale August 30 and the event is expected to sell out quickly.
