Entries Tagged 'entertainment' ↓

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If you’ve read the terrific blogs, Busy Dad Blog and BusyDad Tales, you’ll understand why I express such excitement about his upcoming guest spot on my new podcast. Here’s the promo video for the show, Soapbox Radio.

To participate, visit the Soapbox Radio site here.

Or just click this button:

Then, click on the orange “click to listen” button that looks like this:

(not that button, of course, the one on the Soapbox Radio site).

If you’d like to ask Jim a question, call 347.326.9613 and I’ll identify you by your area code when we’re ready to get you on the air.

If you’d prefer to chat in the chatroom (where you could also ask him a question) just click on the button that looks like this one (on the Soapbox Radio site):

When you’re on the Soapbox Radio site, that button should bring up the chatroom screen. You could register as a BlogTalkRadio listener, then we’ll be able to know who you are when you ask the question or you could participate as a guest.

I’m thrilled to have Jim as my first guest and hope you’ll join us!

We here at Soapbox Mom are excited about the latest addition to the site - a podcast! We’re calling it Soapbox Radio. It’s a show for moms, dads, men, women, and kids about anything and everything. I’m kicking off the show by highlighting bloggers, particularly those whom I know relatively well and think are just so amazing that I want the world to hear about them (or at least the handful of people who will listen to the show!). I’ll have shownotes and links after the shows as well as previews about upcoming shows right here on Soapbox Mom and also on my Soapbox Radio site.

I’m especially excited to say that on Tuesday, May 13 at 1:00 pm (ET) I’ll be joined by my first guest, BD (or Jim) author of the Busy Dad Blog and BusyDad Tales - the comic (illustrated by Jim’s childhood friend, Jeff Day). Jim is a tremendously talented guy with an adorable young son, whom he fondly refers to as Fury. You can see Jim and Fury in the entertaining videos on his site and read all about them on both sites.

Soapbox Radio is recorded live each week on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm (ET). Just follow this link and click on “click to listen.” You can call in and ask questions (or tell Jim how much you enjoy his blog and comic!) at 347.326.9613. If you miss the show, you’ll be able to download it and play it right on this website.

Before the first show, though, I’m asking for your help. I need a tagline for the show.

Here are some of the ideas suggested so far:

Soapbox Radio -

1. … - bringing out your inner soap.

2. … - bringing the box to you.

3. … - getting to the heart of the matter.

4. … - where the blog is the box.

5. … - the podcast that brings the soapbox to you.

6. … - bringing out the soap inside you.

7. … - gettin’ soapy wit it.

8. … - the platform for people to be real and be heard!

9. … - [open to something completely different!]

What do you think? My daughter and I like #4, my hubby likes #1, and my son loves (and came up with) #6. Feel free to write in your own!

But even more importantly, please tune in on Tuesday!

Walking around the streets near Columbia University in Manhattan on a beautiful spring day, I stopped abruptly when I saw the sign. It said "Tom’s Restaurant" on one side of the building and "Restaurant" on the other. I stared for a moment or two, then grabbed the arm of another chaperone and said, "Wait. We have to stop. Do you recognize that place?" As soon as she saw it, she knew.

She, too, was a loyal fan of the Seinfeld series. She knew it was the home of the "Big Salad," the place where George, Elaine and Jerry frequently met and discussed sometimes controversial (but mostly mundane) topics. Where George griped about everything under the sun and Jerry pondered imponderables.

Without hesitation, we went inside for lunch and noticed that the interior looked nothing like it did on the show - completely different floorplan, different art on the walls (this place was covered with signed caricatures and photos of the stars of the show), different condiment containers and different booths.

But the hostess? She could have come straight out of one of the sitcom’s episodes.

Here’s the scene. The restaurant is quite small, with three rows of booths, very narrow aisles between them and a counter. One booth could be described by restaurant people as a "six-top" which means it seats six adults, all the others seat four.

We arrived before the lunch rush, so most of the booths were empty. We were a group of eight, two chaperones and six kids. Or, if you look at it the way I looked at it, two groups of four people each. I had been traveling around Manhattan with the same three girls, so I was expecting to sit in a booth with the four of us (as we had done for every other meal).

The hostess had a different idea.

With a gorgeously strong, rapid fire Manhattan accent, she asserted, " ‘Ow menny ya got? Ya got eight? Right here! Come ohvah heaah. You can sit heaah. Eight. Right? Yeaah. It’s peh-fect. We’ll just pull up a chair, put it on the end. Theaah ya go. The rest of ya sit…ya know…theaah."

She gestured matter of factly toward the six top and looked into my eyes as if it were an order, not a suggestion. I hesitated…knowing, first of all that certain girls didn’t want to sit together and the way they were about to squeeze in would have resulted in elbowing, arguing and an all around unpleasant dining experience. Just try to shove tween girls together who don’t like each other very much, you’ll quickly discover just how nasty they can get. It’s a catty, sarcastic phase.

But the hostess could care less.

She scowled at me with growing impatience and a "WTF are ya doin’ ya frickin’ tourist? Sit ya a@# down already!" kind of look, still motioning for us to fill in the six-top booth.

Meanwhile, some of the girls had climbed out of the six-top, others had climbed in, and my three girls had opened menus, sat down and started getting comfortable in a four top in the next row. They then said, "We’re sitting here ," without even looking up from the menus.

Our lovely hostess, now completely annoyed with us, tried one last attempt, "Wha? Ya got eight, right? Right here. Whaat’s wrong with this? This is fa eight. Right heeaah. I got a chair. I’ll put the chair heeaah. You’ll be fine."

I explained that we were fine as we were. No thanks, we would just sit separately. It was better that way. For us. You know, the customers . We grumbled among ourselves as if we were taking cues from George Costanza himself. "Do you believe that woman? Expecting us to squeeze in there?! Ridiculous! What was she thinking? Well, I’m not doing it."

Lovely hostess rolled her eyes, threw up her arms, sighed and said, "Fine. Whatevah."

But it wasn’t fine.

She came back again and said, "Ya know…if we get busy…now you’re takin’ up two booths. You can all fit in that one booth. It’s fa eight. Y’can sit ova theeaah (motioning again in the direction of the six-top)."

"Uh, well, sorry, we’re already here. It’s early. We’ll probably be gone before you fill up. If we have to move later, we will. But we’d rather stay here. For now. Okay?" I offer in my most sincere, midwestern (please let this end soon) voice.

Just as the drinks arrived, another group of five (that happened to also be part of our main group) walked in the door. Five. All of the girls were tiny, young tweens, so they dove right into a four-top booth. But the hostess would not have it. She walked over to the half of our group sitting in the six-top and commanded them, "Yor gonna haffta move. We gotta bigga group heeaaah. Ya gotta move."

They packed up the drinks, menus and personal belongings and sat in the four-top booth behind us.

I had to laugh. Would there be any better way to enjoy the restaurant from Seinfeld? Thanks, lady. Now can I get that Big Salad?

____________________

Special thanks to Sister Sassy from Sisters of a Different Order for mentioning the Big Salad and Melisa from Suburban Scrawl , noting that Tom’s was called Monk’s in the show in comments on yesterday’s post .

Visit Wordless Wednesday HQ here .

When I first read an outrageous headline screaming something like “Miley Cyrus Bare in Vanity Fair” I felt shocked and disappointed. I wondered whether she was about to topple off her teen-pop-star-queen throne despite the fact that she seemed so centered (due in large part to her strong family support system).

Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus

As I learned more about the photo shoot, it just didn’t seem like much of anything, other than yet another story in which a young girl is contemplating her future career path and wondering where to go with her enormously successful billion dollar business.

I mean, would I want my daughter to pose like that at fifteen? Of course not. But that’s not the point. It’s incomparable. Apples to oranges. Cyrus is huge. Mega gargantuan. Tickets for her concerts sold out in minutes. She’s a pop megastar. She travels in a different universe.

Besides, Cyrus admitted her mistake, quickly apologized and expressed regret about the controversial photo. Okay, fine. Let’s just forgive the girl and move on.

But…then I spoke with my kids about Miley’s photo.

They expressed outrage. Disappointment. Even disgust.

Darling Daughter: “Why would she do something like this? She’s fifteen! Fifteen! She shouldn’t have let them take that kind of picture of her.”

Dear Son: “First it was Britney Spears and then Jamie Lynn Spears and now this?!”

DD: “She’s huge! What does she want… more fans?!”

DS: “It’s disgusting.”

DD: “Yeah. It’s just wrong.”

DS: “What does she think all the little kids are going to think? Does she even care?”

Their theory was that maybe Miley wanted to change the balance of the whole “Best of Both Worlds” shtick. They believe that she does “way more” Hannah Montana (fun, simple, happy songs) and only a few Miley Cyrus (harder, rockier, racier songs).

“Maybe,” they pondered, “she wants to do more of the Miley. But she’s only fifteen. All those fans that love the Hannah Montana side are still there. And they’re really disappointed.”

I think they have a point. Fans often follow the fads and images presented by their idols. I remember Madonna way back in the 80s and the whole material girl trend. She influenced fashions while encouraging girls to express themselves.

Young girls dream about their idols and think things like, “I want to be just like her!” Most of Cyrus’s fans range from about six to thirteen. Would we want those young girls posing the way she posed? Again, no. Annie Leibovitz is not going to be taking any of their portraits.

The most disconcerting part of the photo shoot for me was that it did seem as if she wanted something more. As if she wanted to expand her fan base to reach older kids. But not yet, Miley, not yet. Ride this wave just a little longer. Please. Don’t rush it. Your childhood’s already been mangled. No need to try to leap frog over it altogether. There will plenty of time for reinvention. Look at Madonna.

The difference is that Madonna’s fans did not see her getting racy and over the top until she was well into her twenties. And most of her fans were around the same age (or at least in the same generation).

Miley’s fans are much younger than she is and, if she starts to drastically change her image, we don’t want them following in her footsteps. Miley has been the exception to the unfortunate rule of young pop stars like Britney, Lindsay and Jamie Lynn.

Miley was always the breath of fresh air. We need that air. Please learn from this mistake, Miley.

I have had such a good day and am in such a great mood; I’ve decided this meme is a perfect post for today.

I’ve been tagged by my wonderful friend, Ann over at A Nice Place in the Sun. If you haven’t read her blog yet, stop by. It always makes me smile. Thanks, Ann, for being you and for thinking of me. I, too, love books and find this meme playful and fun!

So, here it is…

It’s been called the 123 Book Meme, The Fifth Sentence on Page 123 and now, After the Fifth on Page 123. Here’s the way it works:

1. Find the book closest to you (with at least 123 pages).

2. Open it to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people and post a comment here after you post it to your blog, so others can read it (including me!).

My book is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (whose initials just happen to be the same as the author of the book chosen by Ann, but your book does not need to be written by some SG person).

I recommend this book, Water for Elephants. It was a big hit at my book club. It’s a bit of a bizarre book, but a great read. It’s about a circus, but also about loyalty, loss and love. Stay with it until it gets good (and trust me, it will).

Here are the three sentences after the fifth sentence on page 123:

There’s a shuffling, and someone shushing someone.

“What is it?” calls August.

“Did Clive feed the cats?”

Now, for the tagging. I’m picking people whose blogs are some of my absolute favorites, who (I think) like to read and would have fun with this meme:

Dan at Cafe Leone

rkref at Roadkill Refugee

PG at Annoyingly Boring

Karlene at Inksplasher (I’m working on those book reviews, K)

Deb at Missives from Suburbia (b/c this meme is a lot easier and maybe more fun than the last one I tagged you with!!)

I’m so curious to see which blurbs these five bloggers find and use. In fact, I’ll modify the meme to say that it doesn’t need to be the book nearest you, rather, pick a book you’d like to include (for whatever reason). I hope you have fun with this one!!

As of today, February 10, 2008, BMG Mom is Soapbox Mom.

It came to me in a dream…

No, not really, I just thought it would be easier for people to remember, become familiar with…I don’t know, Soapbox Mom just sounded better to me (and less cumbersome) than Being a Mom is Great!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed a little because the transition was a little bumpy (and that explains why I haven’t been hopping around all your blogs as much as I usually do…).

So thanks for taking the trouble to find me over here. Come, gather ’round and join me in this idyllic, parklike setting (yeah, whatever) so I can comfortably stand on our modern day equivalent of the soapbox (this blog!).

Wahoo!!!

If you like clues, mysteries and DS games that make you think a little, you’ll probably be intrigued by this new title (expected to be released on February 10). Here’s the official website.

Intrigued? Watch this:

This is the first Layton game to be released in the US (although other Layton games have been released in the Japanese market). I learned about it when I received this mysterious letter:

I’m looking forward to playing this game. It looks like a much more fun way to do brain teasers and logic games because creators wove the games into a mysterious storyline, with appealing characters and English accents. The direction and pace make it feel more like a mini movie than, say, Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney.

Games created from popular movies always stink. So, I say, enough with the lousy movie tie-ins, just give us good games that make us feel like we’re interacting with a new movie. I like that idea.

All in all, Professor Layton and the Curious Village seems to be a promising new game. I’ll update this post as I discover more information (or receive more mysterious letters). Look for it today — wherever you buy DS games!!

I’m so excited about a website our friends told us about last night.

It’s called Free Rice and it looks like this:

It’s great for your (older) kids, but don’t be surprised if you join in and try it, too. But be warned: it might be hard to stop.

Here’s how it works:

They give you a word and four other words beneath it. Then, you choose which of the four words most accurately defines or describes the first word. The site tracks each right answer and increases the degree of difficulty to keep you (or your kids) at the right level.

But here’s the best part: for each right answer, they’ll* donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

Wanna try it?

Just click the picture (below) or go to freerice.com.

______________________

*The rice is paid for by adverstisers/sponsors of the Free Rice website. So you don’t have to contribute a cent. It’s fun! Give it a try! And I’m not getting anything for telling you about it either. I just think it’s cool and worth a look!