Latest Cheetah Girls Movie Sucks

I watch enough kids Tv that I'm sure I can say quite objectively that the Cheetah Girls suck. They didn't used to suck, their first movie was OK. This 3rd film in India sucks, though. "Dance me if you can" is the most lame song I've ever heard. their acting is fine, their dancing is a lot of fun, but the lyrics to their song are very very lame- too many poorly formed rhymes and awkward words in the songs. The girls have talent, and the dancing is fun, but the words are lame. Also- the storyline for the movie was also pretty stupid. The obvious solution to the problem that even my 7 yr old suggested early in the movie wasn't ever brought up. Why didn't they all 3 just SPLIT the pay?

Jason Lee's new baby girl's name Xoo KleenR

I'm always amazed by celebrity baby names. I wonder if I were a celebrity if I would have named my kids stranger things. Jason Lee has a son named Pilot Inspektor, They just had a new baby girl and haven't announced the name yet. I'm voting for "Xoo KleenR" in case they haven't decided yet.

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale have just had their second child, too. Oldest boy is named Kingston, and the new one is named Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale

It all makes Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter "Apple" sound quite peachy.

Penn & Teller (aren't they gay men?) have named their "daughter" Moxie Crime Fighter

Jamie Oliver has daughters named Poppy Honey, Dixie Boo and Dixie Dot (I wonder if they're twins?)

Bob Geldoff (who is that?) has daughters named Fifi Trixibelle and Peaches Honeyblossom. It just makes me want to puke.

So- if you plan to become famous, I advise you have your children first. That's what I did. Otherwise, I might have named them something stupid. If Jason Lee doesn't choose Xoo KleenR, maybe Lil qT, Strudel Noodler, or MuMu Lampshade Boppity Lee or Finnicky Pineapple.


for more stupid celebrity names check this list at stupidcelebrities.com

Paris and Angelina and Madonna and a little Jamie Lee (Not Jamie Lynn)

Paris Hilton is visiting Vegas with Benji.

Am I the only one who doesn't care? Why is this story so popular? I can see why the whole Angelina baby twins pictures are so exciting. I mean, what could be more exciting than having six kids, right?
I don't think it's newsworthy that Angelina's dad is quoted as being "excited and happy" about the birth of the twins. Of course he is, what the hell is newsworthy about that? I think it would be newsworthy really if he said "I am afraid she won't lose her baby weight" or how about "I'm wondering if she's going to breastfeed them both." Or how about "They're not as cute as I thought they'd be." But happy and excited. Nope. Not newsworthy. Not at all. Everyone else on the planet is happy and excited, too.
I wonder if they're done. I mean, the tabloids (not that I care) made such a stink about her being weak and having all these emergencies, but is it really true? Or are they just making news about nothing. I mean, she could be totally strong and healthy and they just make a big deal about her sitting down or something and acting like she's too tired to stand anymore. Give the girl a break. I'm so glad they moved to that area where they'll be left alone. I would have done the same thing. Hmmm, maybe I will.

And what's the deal with Madonna.
OK, so she's dumping her husband and the guy she's with is dumping his wife. OOh- surprise. Am I the only one who was actually surprised by the idea that she had ever settled down? Remember that sex book she wrote, come on. And this guy she's with, some sports guy. His wife is all upset calling Madonna a home wrecker. Whatever, it's her stupid husband that's with her. It takes two. It's not like Madonna yanked him away by his earlobe. HE is the homewrecker, she's just a

Oh my, I can't believe I am calling a celebrity names based on the stupid tabloid stories. Really, I don't care about these things.

But her books are so stupid. Did you know Madonna wrote some children's books. They're the absolute stupidest things in print. Shallow characters, boring dialogue and complete brainlessness.

Jamie Lee Curtis, she writes good children's books.

Is it too late to be a mermaid when I grow up?

I should check into the whole mermaid thing. When my sister and I were little we'd swim in our Grandma's doughboy pool all day long. I once eloquently declared that we were "as brown as a paper bag" from the sun. "Let's be mermaids" we'd say and try swimming with our ankles hooked together.

In fact, just last week at the hotel in Portland, my daughters and I were mermaids, although we weren't nearly as cool as the girls from this Australian Tv show that's been picked up by Nickelodeon (do they call it that anymore, or is it just Nick?)

Anyhow- the mermaid TV show H20 is awesome. I hate that the characters are young teens struggling with boyfriend/girlfriend issues, but honestly, it's always tastefully done and gives us fuel for conversation. I think Australia would be like the worst place to be a mermaid, what with the Irikandji- deadly microscopic jellyfish- swimming around everywhere.

The girls are adorable. Why do magic girls always come in three's? Phoebe, Prue & Piper, now Cleo, Emma and Rickey. Anyhow- I predict that H20 will become wildly popular because I love it. OK - oh I just remembered how out-of-touch I am with the rest of the world. Sorry girls, better find another job.

Is a meme to win a book technically a "media" relevant post?

All sorts of goodies from Tricia Goyer. Check it out here...
and enter for yourself, enjoy!

1. List three things you would do with a chest full of gold (assuming you got to keep it!)

I'd put some in savings, invest some in real estate, spend a ridiculous amount at a spa, hand a few gold coins out to total strangers (mostly moms) fund several chinese adoptions and college funds and.... start a foundation to decide about at a later date

2. List three charities/missions/organizations you support (and why).
goodwill, christmas child, youth sports, and girl scouts.

3. List three ways you have volunteered your time/services.
girl scout leader, raking leaves for the elderly, packaging food donations for food banks and making baby blankets for displaced youth

4. List three things you keep "hidden" when company comes over.
bras in the bathroom, dirty cloth diapers in the bathtub, not much else- my guests can see the mess.


5. List the last three things you've lost.
keys. purse. cell phone

6. List the last three things you've found.
keys purse cell phone

I am totally Enchanted

Does everyone else love this movie? We embarrassed the kids when we saw it at the theater by dancing around as we left singing "That's how you know." My movie-buying mother-in-law bought it for M2's birthday and we love it. Have I ever mentioned that in High School my favorite movie was "Can't by me love" and I was totally in love with Patrick Dempsey (Is that his name?) Well he sure has aged nicely, he's just as cute in this film as he was when I was a kid. I heard he's on an addictive prime time TV series I don't have the attention span for. Enjoy this film , it's rated G so it's totally kid-safe. If you're the "no magical stuff" kind of mom, then you'd be turned off by the title anyways and wouldn't even be reading my reviews to begin with, so whatever. have a great day.

HDTV? WTF?

I just don't get it.

I see this commercial last night, one of the ones that depicts the ongoing battle between cable television and satellite television. When I was a kid one of the big deals was that only on satellite can you get 350 sports channels and 280 movie channels in 300 languages. Now, it's HDTV. Apparently you can't get HDTV on Cable. I've seen this term, HTDV all over the place. So I ask my husband; what is HDTV? "It's the picture quality" he says. Maybe I got the short answer because we really were in the middle of watching something. I hope there's more to it than that, really. PICTURE quality? Who the hell watches TV for the picture quality? I watch for the story line. How can the same general public that loves youtube really be THAT concerned with picture quality? I don't buy it. Who the hell cares? Maybe there's like smell-o-vision involved or something? I just really don't give a crap about HDTV, it seems like the stupidest thing- all you have to do is aim your bunny ears toward Hollywood, and put a bit of aluminum foil on one of them. Picture Quality; Hmph

Family Film Festival

We occasionally have a family film festival. Normally I am a bedtime story kind of Mom. I love snuggling up and sharing a book with the girls, but there are days when I need to get work done on the computer, or my throat is sore, or I'm simply not in the mood to lay down and or read. Sharing a movie with the kids is fun. Sometimes we rent, sometimes we pay per view, and sometimes we watch one from our home collection. I'd say we have 4-6 movie nights per month. Usually every Friday and sometimes more often. I have even found a way to let them eat popcorn in the living room without driving me nuts.

When I was a id movies-on-demand weren't the norm. We'd wait all year to see the annual broadcast of The Wizard of Oz.

So what are your family film traditions?

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I love this movie. I love musicals. My kids love to sing, E1 is a way better singer than I am, in fact she is going to Portland with her singing group to perform next month and to New York in the late Summer. She's ALWAYS singing. You know how some kids run into their room and blast their Stereo. She goes into her room and sings. I can tell how she feels by the song that she's singing. And it's the tune, not the words that do the expressing.

Back to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I get so much more out of it as an adult than I did as a child. I don't even think I liked it as a kd, so I was surprised that my kids liked it. Same thing with Herbie (not Herbie reloaded with Lindsey Lohan, although that one was cute, too.) I'm talking about Herbie the Love Bug.

Anyhow, if you haven't seen Chitty Chitty bang Bang with your kids, you might want to check it out for your next family film night. Watch the Costumes. Listen to the songs. Sing them. Discuss the relationships between the Characters. Compare the lunacy of the Baron with modern day and historical rulers. And while you're at it, go ahead and let them eat popcorn in the living room. Throw a sheet on the floor and tell them it's a picnic movie night, so you don't get popcorn everywhere.

Nim' Island

Thank Goodness Abigail Breslin is doing something new. She's a talented little girl, but I really hated "Little Miss Sunshine." What a lucky kid to get to work with the elusive Jody Foster, it must have been an excellent script for JF to even consider doing it, WTH does she do lately anyways? I guess whatever the heck she wants. Is Nim's Island any relationship to the Secret of Nim? Or is it the secret of Nimh? Such mysteries of life and children's media.

IMDB- have you tried it?

Hello, mammas, I just wanted to let you know about a tool I use to evaluate and find family movies and other reviews. The Internet movie database has a resource where you can find out which other movies your favorite actors and actresses have been in. So if your daughter gets all crazy about Hilary Duff's movies (she really was great before the whole skeleton eating disorder- hopefully she'll grow out of it. Did you know she was homeschooled?) You can enter Hilary Duff's name into the search bar and it will bring up her page that has a list of all her movies (each movie in the database has its own page) The Imdb is also a good resource for independent films, too. In addition, they have photo gallery pages and a little message board forum for each celebrity and movie in their database. So check it out, I think you'll like it.

Go ahead, sign up now.

Back in the old days (Um, like last week when my travel blog was rejected) you used to have to have 20 posts in a blog that was at least 90 days old. SO I decided to pay attention to that little blog, and make a few other ones, since my pagerank on my original blog sucks, I figured they could build off of each other and maybe one day, when google updates their pageranking system (which I hear is like very 90 days) then maybe my original blog will be worth something, and then maybe I can grow these other blogs, too and Mwa hahaaha rule the mom blogging world, like Dooce and Amalah.

But now, they have changed the rules, so that any blog that has ten posts and is 30 days old will qualify.

I think it's a stupid mistake. There's already too many of us scrambling like vultures to grab the few opportunities that are available for new bloggers. They pay $20 for posting when you sign up, just to announce that you've done it. So they'll have all these people signing up and getting paid for making their first post announcing that they've signed up and then their system will be overloaded because all these people will be trying to get paid posts all the time. It isn't easy hitting the refresh button ten thousand times a day hoping a new one will come up. And sometimes the verification words are long and complicated. Like "Renoir $285,837.20" and things like that. It's not a lifestyle everyone is cut out for. If you think you might be the one who can handle it, then click the purple image below and they will help you register for paid blogging. I don't think you can handle it, though. I am just warning you.

You should do it fast because I don't know if they'll stay in business like this for long. Hopefully you're someone with a blog that has a higher page rank than mine, so that you won't be taking opportunities that I could be using to feed my kids. My six kids. Seriously.

Celebrity Valentines

I will leave you today with some funny celebrity Valentines I stumbled upon. So what if they're from 2002. Enjoy.

Little Square Wheels

Little Square Wheels is a great little CD we keep in the car. I actually got it from an old neighbor, a homeschooling Goddess (I'm serious, she was amazing) that lived around the corner from us when I was pregnant with G1. I don'[t know if her husband IS Doug Fleming Jr or if he was his partner or something, but somehow, he's got something to do with this CD. She's the mamma who first introduced me to The Well Trained Mind. I wonder how they're doing now? Heidi, the Artist from Seattle. I hope they're doing well. I thought her husband's name was Bill.

I've gotta admit

I am totally addicted to Rosie O'Donnell's blog. It's like she's just another mom. And really, in a way, she is. She might never worry about her mortgage payment but she really is just a mom. When it comes down to it, we all are.

Pregnant Again

Not me, silly. It's Tori Spelling. I blogged about her back in September. So we're old friends. I will bet thousands of dollars that she has a girl this time. That's how it is in Hollywood, they all have a boy and a girl. It's a good thing we moved away from there.

The Water Horse

This film was adorable. I didn't really find anything offensive in it. Maybe some foul language, maybe?

I am sure there's a financial connection between the fact that the Discovery Channel is showing all sorts of things about the Loch Ness Monster during the same time this film comes out. It always works that way. How often is the Loch Ness Monster ever mentioned? I think I've gone a year or more between hearing or using the term and now suddenly it's all over TV and there's a movie coming out.

I think a prospective filmmaker would do well to figure out what's going to be on TV if they can't afford to PUT it there simply to hype up their movie.

I think it was very sad how angry and mean the military man was. Maybe that's why I think military people are crazy sometimes. Movies always portray it as such a mean element of socialization. Why would anyone want to put themselves through that?

I think the scenes where the kid was riding on the back of "Caruso" (his name for the water horse) were impossible. The thing clearly (and logistically) had slippery skin. How are we supposed to believe that that little boy was able to hold on tight enough to go zipping through the water like that? It looked like fun, exploring the wonderful world of sunken ships and hidden ancient monuments and everything but seriously, I just couldn't get past the fact that there was nothing to hold on to and they were going very very fast.

Also, there's a scene where the beast rams into an underwater gate (which I'd like to verify historically, it sounds interesting) and the beast in unscathed. I just think he should have cut himself or something. It didn't seem real enough.

And I wish we'd seen more of a love affair between the lovely widow mum and the groundsman. Boy, he sure was a hottie.

Not a Review

I just had to note that I found a blog by Nichole Ritchie's man, describing the feelings of coming home with his new baby, Harlow. Such sweet Sentiments.

The Golden Compass

I think all they hype about this movie making kids want to kill God was ridiculous. It was fantastic. The whole Ice bear fighting scene was very well done, I normally hate fast-action fight scenes because to me it's just a mass of killing and mean-ness. This was a one-on-one fight, though and while I expected Lyra to TELL her friend that the bad ice bear killed his father, She didn't, so maybe that will come out in a sequel. Santa got my daughter the books for Christmas (so many levels of humor there) so I should try to read them. Nicole Kidman was wonderful as always. We didn't get to see much of her, but the film was excellent. It's one I'd like to own.

Here's something very few people will notice- Lyra wears an amazing pink/purple toned knitted sweater. Apparently it's made from twine and strings or something. I looked it up online, it's totally one-of-a-kind. That means I can never ever have one. That means I can't even make one. How unfair is that? I want one more than ever.

Anyhow, I don't think the movie will make anyone want to kill God. I don't think God can die anyways. I think the movie does show how giving too much power to ANY authority (the magistrate in this movie appears to represent a government AND a religion) can be a bad thing.

I don't think kids will get THAT from this movie, though- they're more interested in the concept of having an animal attached to them all the time. Especially my purse-dog-loving 11 yr old.