Vanessa & Ralph Still in the Running on Amazing Race 20 (so Far)

I'm grateful to still have Vanessa and Ralph in the running here on Episode 6 of The Amazing Race 20. Not only is Vanessa the Sexiest racer in this Race (though in the above pic she looks less made up than usual, having swam underwater in the last roadblock), she keeps the faith with her hot and awesomely suggestive quotes such as these past episode's gems during a challenge where they had to find the magic apple hidden in a carload full of 'em:

Vanessa: (Jumping out of the trunk of the car after rooting around the apples for the clue) 

"I Hope That's the FIRST and LAST time I'll ever be in the trunk of a car" LOL

And later as a Man yells at them from the sidelines:

Ralph: “Either that guy is telling us to go faster, or he’s looking at Vanessa’s Melons.”

Vanessa: “I don’t think he can even SEE my Melons…But I AM going Commando!”

Well, maybe that GUY wasn't checking it out, but I certainly was! Hope this team can keep up as the Race progresses! They came in second to last this time...Oooh, that's cutting it close!

The Descendants' Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley in The Descendants

 Living here in Hawaii, I was really looking forward to the much-praised George Clooney movie The Descendants, the story of a local man named Matt King who must come to terms with his wife’s passing while negotiating a huge land-deal that holds a huge community in balance. and while that film was terrific and gave me everything I hoped it would, the thing that really made the story for me was the interaction  he had between his daughters, and in particular, the older daughter Alexandra, played by actress Shailene Woodley.

George Clooney, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller

Amara Miller as Scottie and Shailene Woodley as Alexandra

Shailene Woodley! Holy CRAP, where did this luscious young thing COME FROM? With a Sharp, Sassy and totally SEXY attitude, she came onto the screen like a no-nonsense, loud cussin’ locomotive, talking down to her Dad like SHE was the parent and HE was the kid! The scenes and dialog between Clooney and Woodley are fierce and fiery, and I just loved watching the two of them go at it, Alex breathing sparks as poor Dad Clooney tries to keep up!

Father and Daughter: Clooney as Matt King and Shailene as Alex

With her intense, arching eyebrows and condescending look, she takes control of every scene she’s in like a fresh-faced Rosmund Pike (with just a dash of Julia Roberts for good measure) ready to duke it out like Marcia Brady running for Class President, making her a package too cool to contain!

Above and Below: Dealing with Frustration

Chewing Out her Little Sister with Sid (Nick Krause) looking on

And besides all of that larger-than-life attitude, Shailene’s rocking’ the sexiest lil body, a wonderful figure that we are treated to many, many grateful times during the course of the movie! When You’ve a got a story with the backdrop of beautiful Hawaii, it only makes sense to have such a hottie running around in as many bkini outfits as possible!

Looking Lovely on the Shore

As well as lounging at the Pool!

Keeping sure to avoid tan lines...

And always remembering to tie back up before getting up!

Ahhh, looking forward to seeing MORE of this lovely young lass…

Notes on Amazing Race 20

It occurred to me while watching the latest chapter of Amazing Race 20 of how much contestant Vanessa Macias (the only resident cutie left on the show since Asian babes Misa and Maiya got eliminated) reminds me of exotic British model Leilani Dowding. They’ve been building Vanessa (and her teammate beau Ralph) up as the season’s trolls, but I find their comments more humorous than cutting, and anyway, hell, if trolls are gonna look like Vanessa, I’ll take it! 

Gotta love when she finds the next challenge is to taste 14 different salamis, and she coyly says “I haven’t had that much salami since high school, haha!” nudge, nudge, wink, wink, LOL! 

Hope this fun team doesn’t get eliminated for a long time to come!

Memories of an Indian Chief Tootsie Roll Wrapper

I remember back when we were little kids on one of my visits to my Aunt's house, my cousin Jan coming out and excitedly telling me she'd gotten a Tootsie Roll Pop Wrapper with an INDIAN on it! When I said I had NO IDEA what she was talking about, she told me, "Don't you know? When you find a wrapper with an Indian Chief on it, you get a FREE TOOTSIE ROLL POP!"


Well, I hadn't heard THAT one before, but, intrigued by such a proposition, agreed to go down with her to the corner liquor store where we ususally bought our candy to watch her redeem it. Sauntering into the store, Jan picked up a new Tootsie Roll Pop from the rack and went to the cashier. Before the lady could ring her up, she placed the Indian wrapper on the counter in front of her. "I have a wrapper with the Indian Chief on it." Jan said proudly, 'So that means I can get a free one, right?"


Well, that Chinese lady behind the counter squinted her eyes in a puzzled way and said (in the way only an old Chinese lady could), "EHHH?!"


Hmmm. This wasn't what Jan was expecting. "They said that if the wrapper has an Indian Chief, I can get a free Tootsie Roll Pop?" Jan began again.


The lady slowly but firmly started shaking her head, and pushed the wrapper back to her. Needless to say, we walked out of that store without any free candy THAT Day!


Walking back to the house, I actually felt kind of bad seeing as how bummed out Jan was, but her disappointment wouldn't last long- the very next week I was over at her house, she exclaimed, You gotta see what I got!"  She ran into the house and came out with a ziplock bag containing a withered weed or something in it. "Look!" she said proudly- "A Four-Leaf Clover I found in the yard yesterday!" And indeed, upon closer inspection, it WAS! AHAHAHA, That girl was always a true-believer in the wonderment of childhood!


*PS* Growing Up, I'd always wondered just WHERE Jan got it in her head that she could get a free pop with an Indian Chief Wrapper, but going online, I was to find that this was a widely held belief among kids since, like, forever! An early Urban Legend, just for us kids!
And completely false, to boot!

A Disneyfied Rap Song: "Super Bass"

There’s this terrific video making the rounds of this cute young girl playing her rendition of the Nicki Minaj song “Super Bass” with a decidedly sunny and uplifting twist to it! With her tursty ukulele and crystal clear voice, she takes the rap song and turns it into a positively “Disneyfied” poppy version (tho with all the swear words intact, so beware!)…You don’t have to know the Nicky Minaj version to enjoy it, but if you do, your appreciation of this wonderful arrangement can only increase a hundredfold!

Online buzz says this girl’s name is Nicole, though she goes by “uuuuuuuuukewithme” on Youtube, LOL. Besides this awesome cover, she does several others, all with the same cheerful demeanor and spunkiness! And Hey...Reading further online, it seems like EVERYONE is out there covering this song on Ukulele...WTH...? Is this some new kind of trend? "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips" for a new generation? AHAHA! 

A Mere Coincidence? The Secret Babs/Metallica Connection

Barbra Streisand The Way We Were LP

About 15 years or so ago, I was in Tower Reocrd with some friends and was looking through their Barbra Streisand Albums. At the time I was looking  to possibly pick up a Greatest Hits from her (I never did til her ESSENTIALS collection years later, but I digress) but as I picked up her album THE WAY WE WERE and flipped over the cover, I was struck by the silhouette of a woman in red framed in black. There was something really familiar about this image.

Barbra Streisand The Way We Were Back Cover

Then it hit me, and from of ALL PLACES…the back cover of her LP looked like a dead ringer for…................................The cover of Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” album! WHAT THE HECK…?

 Excitedly, I ran to my friends and said, “Hey, Look, Check it out, guys, doesn’t it look like the Metallica cover was meant to be spoofing this Barbra Streisand album?”, to which they took a quick glance over at the LPs and offered a weak, “I doubt it”.

Whaaaa! They didn’t think it was anything more than a coincidence. I looked at both albums in my hands and thought they better get their eyes checked! I decided the only way I was gonna find any information on this was to go onto the internet, and went home with a strong resolve to get some proof to show my friends that I was right!

Sadly, the internet didn’t bring up ANYTHING to connect the artwork from the albums to each other in even the most vague of ways! I was surprised that NO ONE besides me had ever noticed the similarity… Man, were they right? Was it really just coincidence, or was it simply that fans of either artist wouldn’t have any idea about the other’s existence?? I mean, It’s not like you’d see Metallica fans going in to buy the latest Babs album or Streisand aficionados strolling over to pick up Master Of Puppets, right?

Years and years later, and I still have no information that would tell me otherwise, but boy, every time I see the back of that album, it drives me crazy, they look so similar! I finally decided to upload both images to my blog to let you decide for yourself! At least THIS way, there will be at least ONE blog on the net proclaiming this connection! LOL

Notes on Amazing Race 20

Aw, the hot Asian chicks were first out- those were two fine ass gals! Bummers, there goes my eye candy for this Race.Though they were from San Diego, sisters Misa and Maiya Tanaka looked SO local (with flowers in hair and all), everyone called them the "Hawaii Girls"! LOL

Poor things- Luck just wasn’t on their side this episode! They came in last for just about every challenge, but when they came to the final one of making Empanadas, they were skilled enough (it’s like making gyoza! noted one of the sisters) to finish quick and managed to gain a  few minutes over the team in front of them.

Unfortunately, not only did they have to backtrack to get their backpacks, but managed to run right past Phil on the mat, giving Team Guido the chance to slip in and take the spot! Phil was later to remark to the crushed girls that it was the firs time He ever saw a team so close to the mat and still get overtaken by another team! Too Bad!

The Berenstain Bears

Sad to hear Jan Berenstain passed away a few days ago. (Stan Berenstain passed away in 2005). Though their Berenstain Bears series got a bit saccharine in later years, I did so love those early ones- The Big Honey Hunt, The  Bike Lesson, The Bears Vacation, The Bears Picnic and Bears in The Night...they were always must reads on my visits to the library!

Out of all of the "I Can Read" books, those Berenstain Bear books were the ones that attracted me more than any Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham stuff. In fact, some of my earliest Children's Book memories are of having "Old Hat New Hat" and "Bears On Wheels" read to me. As I recall, these were part of a gift subscription an Aunt got for us, and I remember just sitting there soaking in the illustrations- Just mesmerizing to this impressionable youngster!

Taking out these books again to scan some of them for this post has got me all nostalgic again..the visuals these books have are so endearing to me...just looking at all the colorfully depicted hats in Old Hat New Hat sparks long forgotten feelings tucked away in the back of my mind, like a return to childhood!

Lady And The Tramp "Bella Notte"

With the Walt Disney Pictures classic Lady and The Tramp being released on Blu-ray for the first time, I thought it a good opportunity to relate a story about the lovely song Bella Notte (which appears in the movie during the oh-so-famous Spaghetti and Meatballs scene) that will be common knowledge to anyone who owned the read-along LP but possibly news to anyone else!

Like most kids growing up in the 70’s, our household was filled with thoseWalt Disney LP storybooks which featured miniaturized versions of the movies along with a 12 page accompanying booklet one could “read along with” as the record played. In those days before home video, these records were the closest a Disney-loving kid could get to having any of those precious movies!

The first LP we had that I really remember enjoying was the one they made for “The Jungle Book”, not only did it feature the songs from the movie, they used the actual dialog from the scenes, and they even got Sebastian Cabot (the voice of Bagheera) to narrate the tale, giving the record a sense of authenticity. It really was like having the movie back then!

A little later we got more albums like Pinnochio, Alice In Wonderland  and Bambi, but the one that I really took to my heart was the Lady And The Tramp LP. I’d always been interested in the movie, what with growing up seeing the pictures and merchandise connected to it, but I’d never seen the movie itself, and I figured that this was a way I could finally “watch” it, albeit in audio and picture form!

Oh how I loved that record! The story Of the “Uptown Girl” Cocker Spaniel and the “Street-Smart” Mongrel was gripping and emotional even for a kid of 7, the voice talent fun and engaging, and the songs were just top notch! Tunes like He’s A Tramp, La La Lu, and the all-around favorite in our household, The Siamese Cat Song were played over and over again!

Out of them all though, the song that I really, REALLY loved was “Bella Notte”. Even as a kid I could tell that this beautiful song was done in the old style vocal stylings, and it also tickled me that the song was sung by a character with this zany Italian accent before pouring out with this smooth, dreamy song. Man, I could not WAIT for the movie to get a movie re-release so I could see this on the big screen!

Read-Along Record Version of Bella Notte:

Finally, when I was about 10, Lady and the Tramp DID make its way back into theaters, and I didn’t waste any time getting together my brothers and sister to go down to the local theater to catch that it! What I DIDN’T know at the time was that unlike the Jungle Book LP, the Lady And The Tramp Read Along Record that I loved so much had been completely re-done by an in-house cast, including the voices of the characters and yes, even the SONGS! The movie I ended up seeing in the theater didn’t resemble my beloved record at ALL!

My first inkling that something was wrong was when Jock, the Scottish Terrier began talking. Rather than the sprightly voice I knew from the record, this sounded like a very OLD sounding MAN! I turned to my brother and said , ‘Hey, he sounds funny. That doesn’t sound like Jock at all!” But the movie kept going, and one by one, as each character talked, I got more and more confused. What WAS this?! The Jungle Book Record sounded just like the movie…why didn’t this one? But things were only going to get grimmer for the 10 year old me when the SONGS started!

Naturally, ALL of the songs differed from the LP I knew, but the ones that surprised me the MOST were “He’s A Tramp”, “The Siamese Cat Song” and then… the scene with Bella Notte. I was waiting for the beautiful song I knew from the record, and I have to say, I was SHOCKED by how different it was- Where the album featured a vocalist with a smooth 50’s crooner type of voice, the movie featured a rough, over exaggerated thick cartoonish Italian accented actor hamming its way through the song! I was like WHAAAA!! In the end, I found myself feeling EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!

Movie Release version of Bella Notte:

Well, time moves on and people grow up, and I eventually learned to love the Lady and The Tramp movie on its own merit, but every time it would get to the Bella Notte scene, I would wince remembering how much BETTER (to me) the Record I grew up with was! Going online, I was happily surprised to find that someone had UPLOADED a clip of that version I loved so much as a child, and listening to it, It’s even BETTER than I remember…Sooooooo GOOD! 

"Orphan" leads to "Hunger Games"

Though the creepily disturbing horror film "Orphan" came out quite awhile ago ( in 2009 or so),  I'd only recently picked it up along with a whole stack of DVDs at a clearance sale. Well, to say that Orphan was interesting is an understatement at best, this tale of a mysterious little girl who's been adopted into a happy family was so OVER THE TOP, I was TOTALLY entertained throughout the whole movie from its haunting beginnings to its unbelievably KRAZEE conclusion that I became an Isabelle Fuhrman fan instantly, and just HAD to see what else she 'd done!

Wednesday Addmas ain't got nuthin' on Esther!

Well,  turns out Isabelle hadn't appeared in all that many things (being only 13 years old might have something to do with it), but then I read that she was going to play a part in the upcoming movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins' HUNGER GAMES and that she was going to play (if online buzz is any indication) a very lethal and cool character named CLOVE.

Now, I'd heard of the Hunger Games of course, the trilogy is hard to miss as it's quickly become a must-read along the lines of the Harry Potter/Percy Jackson genre (Okay, maybe more along the lines of Lemony Snicket or Louis Sachar) but I hadn't thought of checking it out until this bit of news, and I was curious as to what kind of character this "Clove" was anyway...

Isabelle Fuhrman (from HungerGamesTrilogy.net)

I worked with this guy who read a lot of books and among them was the Hunger Games series, so one morning I simply asked him, "Hey, in the Hunger Games, does that character Clove have a significant part?" Honestly, he couldn't quite remember who I was talking about, so I figured the character wasn't all that big, but he added, "It's all told in the first-person, so you don't get too much information about the other contestants." Well, that wasn't good news for any Isabelle Fuhrman fans, but whatever.


The next day, much to my surprise, He brought all three hardbound books to work, telling me, "Here, you should just read them yourself and find out." LOL! So though I really hadn't counted on taking on the series, I soon found my nights doing just that! AHAHA

Well, after reading the first book, my suspicions are confirmed, as Clove DOES only appear sporadically  in the story (since I don't want to give away any spoilers for anyone, Ill leave it at that) but I have to say that this tale is a pretty cool and interesting one at that, and I'm now about halfway through "Catching Fire", the second book in the series, and FULLY INVESTED in the story! Ooh, can't WAIT for the Movie! Only another month!