According to People magazine:

photo: People magazine


Hugh Jackman is the new "Sexiest Man Alive", according to People Magazine...
Guess Johnny Depp was busy, eh?

Happy Birthday!

Just want to say Happy Birthday to my cousin Nickie!



Hope your birthday is a happy one!
Let's celebrate!



(but not too much...)

It just keeps getting stranger...

Found this story today from the Associated Press about a guy who accosted his girlfriend with a sandwich. Must be a slow news day.

You just have to read it to believe it.
And no, I don't know if it was a club sandwich.

People really are strange, aren't they??

Mousey Milestones!!

Mickey Mouse is 80!!

The Walt Disney company is celebrating this treasured rodent's birthday in accordance to the anniversary of the release of 'Steamboat Willie'... Mickey's first big role.

Steamboat Willie - 1928 - How sweet is he here?
I just wanna hug his whole face.

Mickey went on to make quite an impression on the world.
Cartoon shorts, movies, books, tv, Mickey Mouse Club, comic strips & books, Disneyland, Disney World, merchandise (a huge category of its own, really), toys, video games, ice capades, music... the list goes on.

Mickey even has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame - and was the first cartoon character to have one, as it should be. That happened on his 50th birthday - 30 years ago!

Another big role was Fantasia (above), of course- and that is one of my favorites.
(Though I must admit in all honesty, I was rather frightened of the marching broomsticks.

Just a tad freaky.)

Mickey strikes a classic pose.

I'm a HUGE Mickey fan, always have been. I like most of the Disney characters well enough, but Mickey is the cat's meow (bad analogy, I know) for me.
He is sweet, charming, almost always happy, and just plain makes me feel good when I see him.

Who else can say that? (well, maybe the hubby - but he's not raking in billions of dollars every year, now is he? )

And I love that Mickey Mouse voice. Over the years it has been many people, I'm sure, but they all have that specific falsetto sound...
(You're trying to imitate it right now, aren't you?)

Ok, I'm not a fan of Minnie, I'll admit.
Maybe it's just cause I'm jealous and want Mickey all to myself, I don't know.

But they do look too cute in the above pic.

Thanks for all the memories, Mickey - and for making children (and adults!) smile all around the world! You're still my favorite cartoon character, hands down.
Guess I should say thanks to Walt Disney, the man, as well...
Though I think he should be thanking Mickey even more than me!

Bond, James Bond

Went to see Quantum of Solace over the weekend-

And while I didn't like it quite as much as Casino Royale, I did think it was a great flick- full of your typical numerous gorgeous locations (Bolivia, Austria, Russsia, Italy, as well as London of course - and Haiti, which was rather slumish to be honest), pretty much full-on action sequences, and the usual Bond suspects/villians.

I still say Daniel Craig is a dynamic, compelling, and quite impressive Bond. Again, I love the tenaciousness and somewhat darker style he portrays. And he's not bad to look at, either.

I won't even try to take on the plot, as far as explaining it goes. You can do that here if you feel the need.

One thing I will comment on is how incredibly packed the theater was. We were seat to seat, and the usher even had to come in and make us all move towards the middle to provide additional seating. I've never been to a film that swamped.
It was, in fact, a sell out. In the early afternoon, at that.

I heard it made over $70 million opening weekend, so that is in addition to the hundreds of millions it already made overseas, where it opened on October 31st.

- always helping the ladies...

- some more than others...

Sorry about the Twilight obsession...

Great photo of Kristen Stewart (Bella) and Rob Pattinson (Edward) -

From a photo shoot in Vanity Fair ...


Photo: Vanity Fair

Another great shot over at Fascination With Fear...

Only one week till Twilight opens nationwide.

Creepiness factor

Awhile back, my cousin Jackie posted her favorite commercial and asked what others' faves were, and at the time, I couldn't think of anything.
But I saw mine tonight. I forgot about it actually.
And I know there are people who think it is really stupid, but I think it's amusing as hell.



Must say I like this one better than the one he pukes in...

Bond is back!

Let's get this out there right away.

I am not a rabid James Bond fan.
HOWEVER,
I am a rabid 'Daniel Craig as James Bond' fan.

Truth be told, I've only seen a handful of James Bond movies over the years, so I am certainly not any kind of authority on which actor has portrayed him best.

But I've read some of Ian Fleming's Bond books, and I absolutely loved the movie Casino Royale, so I can make an authoritative declaration that Daniel Craig is a rocking good, authentic to the character, kick-ass Bond!

I remember when he was chosen for the role, all the Brits were pissed.... "he has blonde hair!" they screamed... Is that seriously their main objection? How shallow.

Well they were proved stupid (sorry, wrong) when Casino Royale shot into theaters like a cannon back in '06. It made a ton of money and really re-established the hard ass Bond character.

So he's back in Quantum of Solace (dumb name, I agree there), which opens here in the states on friday Nov. 14th.

And James is pretty pissed off about his girlfriend being offed at the end of 'Royale.
Revenge is an awesome motivator, and I - for one - love to watch him motivate.

I don't think you have to have seen any previous incarnations of Bond to enjoy the new ones, but I would suggest giving Casino Royale a peek, as it is a great action movie and in true Bond form, there is lots of sexy scenes and of course - "Bond. James Bond."

Sad news

I am always interested in the news.
Especially random, off the wall stuff.

While on CNN's website yesterday I saw a notice that the World's Ugliest Dog had died.


"Gus"

Gus was a 9 year old Chinese Crested dog who won the 'Ugliest Dog' title this summer.
He lost an eye in a fight with a cat, and lost one leg due to a skin tumor.
Naturally, he had no hair because of his breed.
But he sure looks happy in the above photo, eh?

He was rescued by his owner after they heard he was being kept in a crate in a garage.
Poor Gus had cancer, and the prize money from his win went to his radiation treatment.
Good to know he had caring owners at the end.

Rest in peace, Gus, knowing you were so ugly you're cute!

On a side note:

Now, in my mind, sweet old Gus had nothing on a previous Ugly Dog winner:


"Sam"

Oh my goodness!

Thank you

Happy Veterans Day!

Thanks to all servicemen, past and present, for preserving the dignity, perserverance, and valor of the USA...

Goodbye

Today we said goodbye to Michael Crichton -author of numerous best-selling books - who died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. He was 66.



Crichton, in addition to being a medical doctor and author, was heavily involved in tv and film production, creating the popular tv show E.R., and screenwriting such films as Jurassic Park (from his novel of the same name) and one of my favorite popcorn movies: Twister.

13 of his novels were put to film, including the aforementioned Jurassic Park, its sequel The Lost World, Congo, The Andromeda Strain, Timeline, The Thirteenth Warrior, Sphere, and Disclosure, to name a few.



a sampling of Crichton's more popular works

Though he did write a few non-fiction, most, if not all, of his books were scientific thrillers and mysteries, involving complex plots that usually had people in dire circumstances brought on by the futile and half-witted mistakes of intelligent people who think they know too much and don't think things entirely through.
This can be evidenced by and largely in Jurassic Park - still one of my favorite books.

Crichton was not only a prolific writer, he was apparently a prolific husband. After doing a bit of research on Wikipedia for this post, I found that he was married five times (divorced four of those times)... wow. He ended up with only one child, a daughter.
Also news to me was the fact that he was 6'9" !! No wonder he always wrote about scientific anomalies and DNA... He was freakishly tall.

He won countless writing awards and on top of that, even had a dinosaur, 'Crichtonsaurus bohlini' named after him in honor of Jurassic Park. Now how many people can say that?

As you might expect, Crichton was also heavily involved in enviromental causes, and believed one of the worst problems we face today is indeed global warming. He used that and many other ecological circumstances in alot of his works.

The world is now short one brilliant mind.
Rest in peace.

America has spoken

Here it is, people...



Get used to it.
I'm sure alot of folks thought it would never happen, but apparently -it has.

As I sat tonight, inexplicably mesmerized by the vote count on CNN, history was in the making.
And around 11:30pm, McCain conceded and it was all but over.

At midnight, we watched Obama make what I would call an excellent speech, full of promises for the growth of America. Hmmm... guess we'll have to take him at his word for the time being.

I will definately say he is a good-no, great- speaker. I actually wanted to listen to the entire thing, and I can say without any provocation, that I have never, EVER, seriously listened to an entire speech made by a president. Sad but true.

My only other thought is that I wish his name didn't rhyme with Osama. I know he can't help that but seriously, it's just not cool.

McCain was quite gracious in defeat. I thought his concession speech was a good one - an attempt to unify America and hope for better days ahead.
That's really what it's all about at this point.
Though I am a Republican, I do not always agree with party ways - and I do agree we need a change. I'm not one to say who I vote for, and people that know me know who I voted for, so I guess I will leave it at that.

In any event, my main hope is that some nutjob doesn't attempt to take Obama out before he even settles into the White House.

Whether I agree with America's choice or not, I wish the best for this country.
We'll see if Obama is it.
Congrats to him and his connections.

It's your right and your duty!

SO GET OUT THERE!!!

Question of the day

In the 'random thoughts' department:

I watched the movie, P.S. I Love You (again) the other night, and something makes me wonder.



How can a girl -


even one as lovely ...


yet slightly androgynous...

as Hiliary Swank-

get not one, but TWO good looking Irishmen to fall in love with her?


Gerard Butler


Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Ok, I know they are only playing characters in a film, and in fact - Butler is Scottish and Morgan is actually American, but hey - in real life stuff like that doesn't happen.

First of all, does she have to literally go to Ireland to find her men?
Are there none left in America?
Second, what are the chances of meeting two truly good looking decent men there?
And lastly - they freakin' KNEW each other and were great friends?


Morgan as 'William'


Butler as 'Gerry'

Seriously, if you think about the staggeringly huge improbability that is... it's almost a laugh.

But hey, it makes for a good romantic movie, and I can always watch these two guys in pretty much anything.

Some parting shots - just because I like good looking, dark haired guys!
(I should- I married one!)

yummy.

Bigger IS better...

The hubby & I got (as an early Christmas gift) a new tv.



It's a 40 inch flatscreen HDtv - Sony Bravia.

You can read about our uncontainable excitement here! I wrote a bit more detail in my other blog, as I was WAY thrilled to watch my beloved horror movies on such a big screen.

Above is the Packers~Titans game - it's awesome to watch it on this size of tv. We have went from a cumbersome and outdated 27 inch to this sleek, nifty 40 inch. Bigger is better, my friends.

It will be even better when our Steelers take on the Redskins tommorrow night on Monday Night Football!!

Go Steelers!