Top 10 Fictional Boyfriends

Elizabeth and I love coming up with top 10 lists. Today at lunch she told me that she and her roommate were discussing their new list: 10 favorite fictional characters you would want as a boyfriend. So of course, I had to make this the subject of my latest blog entry. Here's my list.
10. Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) from the film Some Kind of Wonderful. I was so in love with Keith when I was in high school. He's the sensitive artist that goes unnoticed. This is my favorite John Hughes movie.
9. Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey) from the film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Yes, he's the stereotypical guy guy, but he's a family guy and that's super important to me. Bonus is the hotness factor.
8. Pete (Topher Grace) from the film Win a Date With Tad Hamilton. This is probably the shocker on the list, but any guy who can decipher the different smiles his girlfriend has is a definite heart stealer.
7. Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) from the film The Notebook. Noah is super cute when he's young, but it's his dedication to his wife later in the story that I think is the most romantic aspect about his character.
6. Dr. Derek Shephard aka Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) from the TV show Grey's Anatomy. Derek is a brain surgeon and intelligence is very attractive. (Plus, I've always had a thing for Dempsey since Can't Buy Me Love and Loverboy. He gets hotter with age.)
5. Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) from the TV show Gilmore Girls. His intellect is so damn sexy. He's painted as the bad kid, but he's simply misunderstood. Plus, he's a published author.
4. Jim Stark (James Dean) from the film Rebel Without a Cause. Jim is looking for someone who gets him because he's lost in his search for himself. The mother instinct in me wants to take care of him.
3. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) from the TV show Firefly. Mal is the modern day Indiana Jones but hotter. I dig his loyalty to his crew.
2. Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) from the TV show Supernatural. For one, he's the perfect boyfriend to have around if there's a demon hunting you. Two, he's hot. Three, I love his sense of humor and sarcasm.
1. Sawyer (Josh Holloway) from the TV show Lost. I am totally crushing on Sawyer lately. He's tough, manly, has great hair, sexy, and is the total bad guy, but I love him.

Movie night this coming weekend

I know many of you are going to Thane and Kristi's annual Halloween party this Friday as will I, so I'm looking at doing a movie night this Saturday or Sunday. Saturday I have an Arbonne party at 3 in Irvine, so I can probably swing something after 7/7:30, which I know is around the time Jason and the guys like to go out. Otherwise, I'm pretty open after 5 on Sunday. We can see either The Prestige or Running With Scissors. Let me know which one you're more interested in seeing and which night is better for you.

Anybody interested in a movie night?

There are a few new movies either currently playing or soon to be released that I'm excited to see. I wanted to find out if anybody wants to join me and I'll organize a night out at the movies. Several are only playing in limited release, which probably means a trip to LA. The three that are already released that I'm interested in are Little Children with Kate Winslet, Jesus Camp (a documentary), and The Black Dahlia (yes, I want to see a Scarlett Johansson film even though I usually don't like her). The Prestige (wide) and Running with Scissors (limited) open this weekend. Oct. 27th Stranger than Fiction will be in wide release, while Babel is in limited release Nov. 10th along with Fur (a fictionalize story about photographer Diane Arbus, someone I'm intrigued by). Nov. 17th we've got Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Bobby, Fast Food Nation, and For Your Consideration. I'd obviously like to get a movie night going before the end of November, so I'll stop there. Comment and let me know which one(s) you're interested in.

Political environmental trashing

I hate this time of year for one reason: all those damn political campaigning signs. (I'm not even going to start on the lame ass commercials we must put up with for state candidates.) Is it really necessary to pollute the streets, fences, telephone poles, lawns, etc. with all these stupid candidate and proposition posters? I'm curious how many people vote for someone simply because the candidate's name has become ingrained into the brain due to all the signs that have been plastered around the neighborhood. Honestly, if your voting decisions are made based on who advertises more, then you shouldn't be voting. Read the voting brochure that comes in the mail where you can actually learn something about the candidates' backgrounds and platforms. Better yet, try reading the newspaper, researching online, or going to a community lecture to find out more about each candidate. Isn't that what an informed constituency should do? For everyone's sake, please don't make your vote a popularity vote, which is what the signs are. I vented in the car today to Shawn, and he made a great point. He said it reminds him of high school when kids running for student government put signs up all over campus. You know the kid who has the most money and is most popular based on how many detailed, expensive signs he puts up. I once ran for student government in junior high. Guess what, my dad made all 10 of my signs and they looked cool, but they were no match for the tons of signs some kids' parents must have spent a fortune on. Imagine how much money the candidates spend on all these stupid signs that plague us during political campaigning season. Why not put that money to better use? It's gotten out of control. If you're going to pollute the landscape, at least do it with a spray can and paint a cool mural that makes some sort of social or political statement. I'd much rather there be graffitti art on the fenced up empty lot than all those damn campaign signs.

I love Boondocks

Aaron Gruder's been on a roll this week. Just had to share this one.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20061014/cx_bo_uc/bo20061014

My other website

I wanted to update everyone on www.shawnandmarisa.com. It is currently under construction. For now, you will find links to this blog as well as our photo gallery. Shawn has uploaded our pictures to this cool website where you can peruse the galleries along with the links to Thane and Jason's galleries.

http://www.shawnandmarisa.com

NY's CBGB's is closing

I'm so sad that this was one of the places I wanted to go to when I visit NY. Too bad my trip never came to fruition these past 2 years and now CBGB's is gone. For those youngsters, CBGB's was the launching pad for many rock and punk bands, such as The Ramones and Blondie. The owner is going to "move it" to Vegas, but it's just not the same.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061009/ap_en_ot/cbgb_s_shutdown

Finally a post w/ some social significance beyond electronic media

The National Book Awards were announced today by famed Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights Books in San Francisco. I'm most interested in reading Mark Z. Danielewski's novel Only Revolutions, for I remember hearing interesting reviews of his first novel House of Leaves. The article indicates that his latest novel is comprised of 2 parallel narratives one running front to back, the other back to front. I'm highly interested in learning more about modern narrative structures such as this. I love things that mess with traditional conventions.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-et-nba12oct12,1,7387480.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-frontpage

Supporting my Arbonne sister

I have to share this with you because I'm so thrilled for her. Our friend Tammi Cubilette will be in an upcoming episode of Brothers and Sisters and an episode of Las Vegas. How cool is that? Tammi is one of the many reasons I love Arbonne. She is part of Kristi's LA team, and we are all so grateful for Arbonne bringing her into our lives. She's a beautiful person and now a good friend. However, I am now SUPER jealous of Tammi cuz the girl got to work with Sally Field. How cool is that? I will find out more info on the scenes to look for her in and I'll let everyone know. Congrats to Tammi!!!

Favorite Musical Moments on Film

I was reading Pop Candy's blog today and came across this link to a list of favorite musical moments on film. Of course, this got me thinking what my faves are. I would have to say the #1 moment that comes to mind is the piano scene in Beautiful Girls when the boys sing "Sweet Caroline." It's a classic moment for me, plus it's a Neil Diamond song. It's perfect in so many ways! There are actually many memorable moments in that movie, hence why it's one of my faves. A couple of my other favorite musical moments would also been from the list: the bus scene in Almost Famous when everyone starts singing Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," when Duckie in Pretty in Pink breaks out singing Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness," and "Stuck in the Middle With You" from Reservoir Dogs, better known as the ear chopping scene. I get goosebumps whenever I hear the last one. One small musical scene that I love that's not on the list is in American Beauty when Kevin Spacey is driving in his car singing "American Woman." It's a short scene but I love how he rocks out in the car even for that brief moment. That's a man after my heart. I love the scene in Pleasantville when "At Last" comes on the radio as Tobey Maguire is driving with his new girlfriend Margaret to lover's lane. It's so romantically picturesque with the trees all in bloom and love in the air. Yes, I am a sappy girl. I'd like to hear what your favorite musical moments in film are. If you'd like to see the list that started this rambling, here's the link.
http://www.bullz-eye.com/movies/features/2006/movie_tunes.htm

Eddie Vedder on Sundance Channel

Last season Sundance Channel premiered a new show called Iconoclasts. The second season premieres Oct. 26 at 9pm PT with my love Eddie Vedder. This episode will pair Eddie with surfing legend Laird Hamilton. Here's the description from the Sundance Channel website: This episode brings musician and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder together with big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton to talk about life, art and nature as they experience the awe-inspiring sights and sports of Maui. The discussion continues backstage at a Pearl Jam concert in Santa Barbara. I can't wait!!! Eddie on TV. Too bad I don't have a bigger TV. I'm eager with anticipation to hear his thoughts, especially on art. I wonder if he'll talk about politics and other social issues he isn't afraid to tackle. Guess I have to wait the next 3 weeks to find out. Maybe I should have a countdown on my blog to the premiere. Hmm...wonder how I could set that up cuz you know how obsessed I am with him? Hope others will tune in. The other episode that should be entertaining is Dave Chappelle with Maya Angelou. Now that's one crazy combo if I've ever heard of one. That ep airs Nov. 30.

Nutrition 101

I'm back in school. Yep you heard right. I'm taking a nutrition class at OCC. I figured why not get myself in good shape before I starting gaining weight with pregnancy. I've already been working with a wellness coach through our gym for about 3 months now, so the nutrition class fits right in with what I've already been working on with my coach.

The class meets for 5 weeks on Thursdays from 9:30-1:00. It's a small group of about 12 or 13 students, one guy and mostly middle age women who are going back to school for a dietician technician certificate OCC offers. The focus is prenatal and infant nutrition. Perfect!! I spent most of yesterday doing my homework actually. I had to read 2 chapters, but the overachiever I am I read 3. The book is titled Eating Expectantly and has a section with healthy recipes. I love to cook!! I can't wait to try out some of the recipes. One thing I love about this book is it breaks down key vitamins and minerals and tells you what they are good for and what foods are good sources for each. Obviously, there's a lot of info geared toward pregnancy, but it's not just for women. For example, I learned that while calcium and phosphorus are vital in building bones, too much phosphorus (often found in carbonated sodas and animal protein) can draw calcium out of the body. Did you know excess Vitamin A can be toxic to a fetus? Therefore, you don't want to take more than the recommended dietary reference intake. Lastly, for men, zinc is required for sperm production. Zinc is found in oysters, turkey, lean pork, wheat germ, whole grains, lima beans, and almonds. Now I understand the jokes about oysters.

Also for homework I had to do a daily food log for 2 days. The website we used is www.mypyramidtracker.gov. I highly recommend everyone check this site out. It's run by the USDA. It's kind of hard entering the food and serving sizes, but I love the fact that it calculates how much of each nutrient you are getting. I've always been curious about this, and now I can figure it out. I get plenty of grains, which I already knew, and fruit is my one weak area, which is one of the goals I'm working on with my wellness coach. I highly recommend that everyone do a food log for a couple of days to find out your weak areas so you can put more attention into eating the right foods. It's so important to take care of your body, unless you want to develop one of the thousands of diseases people seem to get today. I don't know about you but I don't want to have to start taking tons of meds by the time I'm 50, plus I want to live as long as possible (so I can drive Shawn crazy). Ha ha!

I love Sundays! Time for catchup

Today is a perfect day, kind of. I'm lounging around all day watching football with Greg and Shawn. I'm a bit stressed out watching football though because I'm 0 and 3 in our fantasy league. As many of you know, I take my fantasy football very serious. I'm so competitive and I hate to lose to any of the guys, especially when I'm the only girl in the league. It's pathetic when 4 guys on my bench are outscoring everyone's active roster. I'm not very good picking out who to start. Some day I will learn to go against my instinct, I hope.

On to other news, I've checked out quite a few of the new TV shows this year, so I want to share my thoughts. I watched Ugly Betty, which was pretty boring. Very cliched and all done better in the film The Devil Wears Prada. I'm bummed because I like America Ferrera, but there's no way I can sit through that much campiness each week. Actually, the best thing about the premiere, which I know my brother will like, was Gina Gershon. Otherwise, I felt the ep was disjointed and the writers couldn't avoid every possible cliche w/ an ugly duckling story.

Onto my favorite new show: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. And I found another fan. Thanks, Greg. Studio 60 has a great cast with excellent writing. I do love shows/movies about the behind-the-scenes workings in entertainment. There are so many great inside jokes for those of us who are entertainment junkies. Plus, Matthew Perry is so cute. For the guys, Amanda Peet is great in her role. She's tough but adorable. And you know I love strong women characters. I highly recommend that you check out Studio 60 Monday nights at 10.

As for returning shows, I'm giving up Gilmore Girls, aka The CW's new teen soap opera. I'm done with the crappy love triangles on this show. It's as if the writers know nothing else about relationships. Boring! CSI is always great. They started off the season strong with a cliffhanger two-parter. Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) has had some great plot twists. I'm glad they didn't open the season focusing on Grissom and Sara's love affair. Grey's Anatomy is always great. They didn't start the first ep like I wanted them to, but it's alright. I was hoping that Meredith would walk away from the two guys that like her and instead head down the stairs to be by Izzie's side. I mean her silly love triangle is pathetic compared to Izzie losing Denny, but again, I'm not the writer. Supernatural was a great premiere, but I'm bummed the cool car was destroyed. I'm even more sad to see the dad die, but I already knew it was coming because I heard ABC is trying to create a show for that actor, who everyone loved as Denny on GA. It's my own fault for reading the entertainment rags that I already knew this. Reminder to everyone: Lost premiere is this Wed. I hope Sawyer and Jack survive the Others. If they kill off either of them, I will stop watching. I mean we're talking hot times two.

Well half-time is over, so I've gotta get back to football. I plan to update you on my vacation later today. Wish my team luck!!