Spielberg doesn't answer my calls...and neither does Emily Blunt

I've been meaning to donate to help the Haitian earthquake victims, but I had kept forgetting to do it when I got home. While paying bills this evening, I was watching the Hope for Haiti benefit show thingie (often referred to as a telethon) and decided to call. I got a busy signal for several minutes. Finally, after I don't know how many redial button pushes, I get actual ringing.

Sweet! I'd just seen Steven Spielberg talk to some lady, maybe he'd answer the phone. Or maybe Leo would, or John Cusack, or that old dude sitting next to Julia Roberts (later found out that was Mel Gibson).

No such luck. I got a guy named L.J. Nothing against L.J., he was nice and all, but he's no Daniel Craig. When I finished up the call, I thought maybe only the folks tossing out the big bucks get moved up the phone line to talk to the famous people.

Wrong again! Some woman donated $5 more than me and she got to talk to Taylor Swift. Maybe I should have said I was donating the money in honor of someone. The phone calls I heard on the show mostly involved people donating in honor of their kids, a parent or grandparent who had passed away, or someone they knew who had some awful disease.

Now that the telethon is over I have two questions:
1) Did Justin Timberlake choose the Jeff Buckley cover himself?
2) What the bleep is up with Brad Pitt's beard?

If you'd like to donate, please do so here.

Weekend Update

I probably should have posted this photo last week when we got hit with the snow. Oh well. I was trying to show how deep the snow was. I'm not sure I was quite successful. Now that we've had 30 degree days I am actually seeing some green on the path I had dug to my car from the homestead.

I worked from home on the snow day and successfully resisted the urge to play Lego Indiana Jones 2 which was calling to me from the living room. I have to say I enjoyed being able to stay in my jammies all day (except for the hour of snow shoveling that is).

One of my completely meaningless wishes is coming true tonight...Ricky Gervais is hosting an awards show. In this case, it is the Golden Globes. Be prepared to hear plenty of comments on how award shows don't mean anything when compared to what is happening in Haiti. Hopefully Gervais will be able to lighten the mood (although I feel the freely flowing alcohol will probably help the audience out as well).

If we're lucky we'll get Steve Carrell accepting something.



Speaking of movies, I was able to see The Young Victoria last week-ish. If you are a fan of Emily Blunt, who is one of the best young actresses out there, English period pieces, and/or the history of the monarchy, you will enjoy the movie. Emily is practically shining in the role and convincingly takes us from a 17 yr. old girl to a proper queen. The art direction, production design, costumes, etc. are amazing. The opulence of a recently finished Buckingham Palace is a sight to behold. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the political intrigue that surrounded her ascension to and initial phase as The Queen. Rupert Friend, who some of you may know as the guy who sort of looks like Orlando Bloom and was dating Keira Knightly, plays Prince Albert. I've read some reviews that claim there wasn't enough spark between the two actors, but I disagree. In a time when you had to essentially date with about 10 hangers on and you only saw each other a couple times of year max, I think it's too contemporary to have a huge amount of heat going on. It was more fun to watch the awkwardness and to see him pining while she was busy running a nation.

Time to return to football before not only the Golden Globes, but also 24 starts tonight (!!!!! get me the schematic Chloe!!!!)and it's part 2 of Return to Cranford on PBS. I don't know what I would do if I actually had a social life.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I just read that Satan's mistress has signed a deal with Fox News. It's good to see that someone who ditched her last job without a second thought can bounce back quickly. ARRRGHHHHH!!!!!

Walter is spinning in his grave.

Eventually I will leave the house for milk

This is Buster, my sister's puppy. I tried to take a good picture of him at Christmas, but he kept moving on me. He is my new favorite little ball of love and fur.

I know I had said I would do a Best of list, but I realized that I was somewhat disappointed with a lot of the pop culture that was out there this year.

So, instead, here is a Fave Things '09 list that will be a big mishmash.



A Few Of My Favorite Things...in no particular order:

Movies--Up was my fave film of the year. Words can't properly describe how brilliant it was. Here's some other great ones: The Hurt Locker, District 9, 500 Days of Summer, Fabulous Mr. Fox, Away We Go (that did come out this year right? I finally saw it on DVD a couple of weeks ago), Thirst (a Korean vampire flick) and Up In The Air.

Music--I feel like I was totally left behind as far as music goes this year. I looked over some year end lists via NPR, Pitchfork, Spin, etc. and realized this was the first year I felt uncool. Sigh. Just so long as I don't start listening to jazz.. However, I can strongly recommend Muse's The Resistance and Lily Allen's It's Not Me It's You. I really loved Lily's song The Fear so I eventually broke down and bought the CD. I was pleasantly surprised by how strong a songwriter she is. The live R.E.M. set that came out this year which featured their rehearsals for their last album was fabulous. It was refreshing to hear the band revisiting material from the first few years of their existence.

TV--Community and The Soup have helped me continue to adore Joel McHale. Mad Men was very brave as it shook everything up in its season ending episode. Battlestar Galactica proved why it was one of the best shows ever on television. Lost gives us some of the best ensemble acting out there. And, the final David Tennant Doctor Who episodes had me crying on my couch.

What will the new year bring? Hopefully a great season of 24 and Lost; less division and anger in D.C.; Glenn Beck losing the ability to speak; excellent music; happiness and peace...you know, the usual...Happy 2010.