Two and a Half Men -Details Leaked

My husband is a big fan of the show, while I just watch it when we're in same room. While he's been in Iraq, I had taped the shows.  During the hiatus, John settled for reruns. They still make him smile and laugh.

Now, details have leaked about the first taping. What did the producers do with Charlie's character? Does Ashton Kutcher replace him or play a new role? Did John Stamos make a guest appearance?

Well I'll spill the beans on the first question--they kill off the character of Charlie Harper! How?

Drum roll please.... Answers to those questions and more from a Deadline report (click here)  from the first live audience taping last night.  The season premieres September 19 so mark your calendars!

Gulf Spills Shows Hypocrasy

My eldest child was watching the news with us and airing was a daily segment on the Gulf oil spill and the threat to the fishlife.  He then piped up and asked "Why does everyone care about the dolphins and fish and not as many people care about dogs and cats?"

I asked him what he meant. He went on to explain (and I'm paraphrasing from kid lingo) that suddenly the whole country was concerned about dolphins and seagulls and other water life suffering as a result of the BP oil rig explosion. Drawing from our family's experience in rescuing stray dogs and cats, he wondered why there isn't the same national movement to get people to spay/neuter their pets, why people who abandon their pets don't go to jail or pay fines like BP Oil.

I was amazed at his analysis!  And I applauded him for his keen perception.

Kirstie Allie's Organic Weight Loss

If you follow the actress, Kirstie Allie, or the hit show Dancing with the Stars and had a thumb on the pulse of her weight loss goals, then it was no surprise that Kirstie, dubbed the "Fat Actress", would launch her own program for shedding the pounds.

Sure, we knew she was going to lose significant weight on the dancing show, especially since she lasted to the final round.  Kirstie lost 90 pounds. One-third of that weight she lost during the dance show. The other 60 pound loss is through her fresh and real approach.

What's different about her program? Kirstie has gone organic. Is this something new? No. But this program is branded with Kirstie's name. Yes another weight loss product created by a celebrity. Nothing wrong with that concept--it's a free country and another revenue source.  The beauty of this country. But look at her now. She's done it and good for her.

Does it work? Well I confess I've tried a few programs and honestly, I learned that each human body is different. Some respond better to certain food regiments, for example avoiding breads/pasta, others like the grapefruit diet, there's the soup diet, the South Beach diet,  the Atkins diet and my diet--the tuna and pineapple diet--that's tuna in the day and pineapple in the evening. It could be a tuna salad, tuna sandwich, tuna with crackers. Now I do eat other foods but when I'm busy (which is  most of the time)  that's my Fast food--fast to prepare, quick to eat and it's light! But that's at lunch and dinner, is a homecooked meal for the entire family.

But EVERYONE benefits from exercise! Kirstie did!

Visit her website http://www.organicliaison.com/ and to see her photos and get a FREE copy of her book, Body Game.

Thelma & Louise's original ending

There's a reason they call it "freeze frame". The final scene of this sleeper hit (Thelma and Louise drive their car off the cliff and as it cannons in the air) is frozen on screen and in our minds lasting decades of conversation about the movement of feminism.  Women can be as crazy as men!

Marking the 20th Anniversary,  you can see the original ending on Blue-ray. Does the car run off the cliff? Do we follow it to its landing? Is there no trajectory car and does the director offer a completely different ending?  Susan Sarandon is interviewed and shares that she grilled the director, Ridley Scott, before she agreed to accept the part of Louise. Critics agree if the ending were any different, the movie would not be the icon it is today. Order your Blue-ray DVD or the original DVD below for the best prices.  If you haven't seen the movie, it is considered a classic in film industry.

For a list of Yahoo!'s 100 Movies to See Before You Die: The Modern Classics.

The Facts of Life

What girl my age didn't watch this series and identify with one of the members. Were you more like beautiful bombshell Blair or portly Natalie (with all due affection) or tomboy Jo or cutie Tooty? Wait there missing the traditional nerd. Yes I definitely identified with Blair who was not always taken seriously. People judge on looks and if you're beautiful and smile a lot, the assumption is that we're dumb blondes. Which means we have to work extra hard to prove we're pretty AND smart.

Did you know that Lisa Whelchel, the actress who played Blair was a born-again Christian and refused to play the scene where she is the first girl to lose her virginity? Good for her! I wonder how many actresses out there forgo their personal values to land a role? How many are comfortable disrobing, appearing nude, or acting violent?

Yes someone has to play these roles but I hope actors who have strong beliefs stand up for them.

Are there any quality programs for teens that doesn't involve sex, drugs, violence or vampires? TV Land is our favorite channel although my eldest wants to watch the blood sucking vampires. With a growing number of bad influences, it gets harder each day to teach and discipline our children and teach good from bad.

Good Morning America featured the reunion this morning and here's the link to photos then and now.
Enjoy the journey back in time.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/slideshow/facts-life-cast-now-reunion-13300472

Minnesota Mom Fined $1million for Illegal Music Downloads

When I came across this article I had mixed feelings. (scroll down for complete article).

First, stealing is stealing. Yet downloading unpurchased music or "sharing music files" doesn't conjure up the same reaction or emotions since we don't physically see a person swipe an object in a store and stick it in their pocket. Technically, it is illegal and I'm surprised that music file sharing websites like LimeShare were just recently closed down. The fact is there are costs that go into producing a song and mouths to feed. Believe it or not there are many people involved in the making of that song and its distribution. The singer, the other talent playing musical instruments, the recording studio, the editing studio, the record label and the distribution. So when I pay $0.99 for one song, think about it. All the contributors receive a few cents. That's why they need to sell millions to make a living.

On the other hand, the punishment should fit the crime. Now in a store, if you stole a CD, the store has the right to call Police and have you arrested. That goes on your record forever as petty theft. So a $1million fine is insane. And because the fine is so ludicrous, I wager that it will NOT deter people from the continued practice of illegally downloading songs.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. I doubt Jammie, the Minnesota mom, will be paying the $1 million. Such an extreme fine could create a backlash toward the music label industry. A fair punishment would send a clear message and deter future downloading.

What do you think?

Written by Daniel Kreps for the Amplifier

What's the value of a song? Jammie Thomas-Rasset has spent the last few years in court debating that question. The Minnesota mother of four is being penalized for illegally downloading and sharing 24 songs on the peer-to-peer file-sharing network Kazaa in 2006, but how much she owes the record labels has been in question. The jury in her third trial has just ruled that Thomas-Rasset should pay Capitol Records $1.5 million, CNET reports, which breaks down to $62,500 per song. It's a heavy penalty considering the 24 tunes would only cost approximately $24 on iTunes, which was Thomas-Rasset' argument, too

Thanks to Thomas-Rasset's colorful case, she has become the public face of the record industry's battle with illegal downloaders. In her first trial, in 2007, the jury demanded she pay $222,000 for violating the copyright on more than 1,700 songs by Green Day, Aerosmith and Richard Marx, to name a few. (Marx said he was "ashamed" to be associated with the "farcical" prosecution of an illegal downloader.) Thomas-Rasset maintained she wasn't the computer user who did the file sharing, and her legal team cited an error in jury instruction to secure a second trial in 2009 that ended with a much harsher result: an astronomical fine of $1.92 million. However, earlier this year a U.S. District Court judge found the $1.92 million penalty against Thomas-Rasset to be "monstrous and shocking" and "gross injustice" before lowering it to $54,000, or $2,250 a song. Thomas-Rasset and her legal team decided to appeal that decision, too.


The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the organization that represents the four major record labels, was pleased by the most recent decision, even if it has no intention to collect the $1.5 million from Thomas-Rasset. "Now with three jury decisions behind us along with a clear affirmation of Ms. Thomas-Rasset's willful liability, it is our hope that she finally accepts responsibility for her actions," the RIAA said in a statement. Earlier this year, the RIAA offered Thomas-Rasset the opportunity to end the legal battle for $25,000 and an admission of guilt; Thomas-Rasset declined.

Burying a Midwestern mom in insurmountable debt isn't the best publicity move, so rather than argue the labels are entitled to the cash, the RIAA has sought to make this trial into a cautionary tale for anyone considering illegally downloading music -- a reminder that there are penalties. But as the constantly declining weekly Nielsen SoundScan sales figures demonstrate, nothing seems to have deterred music fans from stealing rather than purchasing songs and albums. And in a digital world now dominated by Bit Torrent and Rapidshare, a trial over a music-sharing dinosaur like Kazaa seems nothing but antiquated. (Last month, after a decade of illegal file sharing, peer-to-peer service LimeWire was shut down by the government, much to the surprise of the millions who thought LimeWire had faded years ago into the Internet ether.)

Still, Thomas-Rasset and her legal team are already making plans to appeal, setting the stage for a fourth trial. "The fight continues," promised Thomas-Rasset's lawyer Kiwi Camara. Even if Thomas-Rasset were to win the next trial, the RIAA would likely appeal that decision to ensure that copyright infringement without penalization won't happen. This story has the potential to drag on well into the next decade -- when for $1.5 million, all of Thomas-Rasset's four kids could finish law school and take up the fight on her behalf.

2010 Youth Olympics Opening Ceremony, Singapore

Well as much as I take pride in keeping up with news and events around the world, somehow, this soccer mom almost missed this historical event had it not been for my children.

Below is a brief  YouTube video highlight of the magnificent opening ceremony with vibrant colors, staging, featuring both native and American pop music as the background for the presentations. They even played 1950's classics and more.

Who knew about this event for the youth? How did it miss my radar? My children are enthralled and so now I'm wondering how to augment the family income to support their Olympic dreams! This is a great motivator for children to learn the value of discipline, whether it's sports or academic. So share this with your family one night over dinner!

Click here to view the video!
Click here for part 2.

Emjoy!