Blogging the Red Carpet

I've always wanted to host a Oscar party, but it's on Sunday, and it usually runs late. And people, I have a strict bedtime. If Im not in bed reading my twenty pages a night, then I am not a happy person in the morning...and morning rolls around early these days (around 5:45). So for the 28th year in a row, I am watching the Oscar's in the same fashion. Except Scott is making me a fabulous dinner (stir fry and crab ragoons....that's right...he is making them). This year, we have done a horrible job of seeing movies. In all reality in 2009 we saw very few movies. and none that are nominated for an award. We just get soo busy. We really wanted to see Invictus, Up, Up in the Air. I want to see Precious, but I was telling Scott I know that I will need to get in the right frame of mind. Have a box of tissues and a few hours after wards to take it all in.
In watching an interview with Monique, I got a bit distressed. I guess that there has been a lot of criticism that this movie plays African American's in a dark light, shows them as abusive, etc. I loved what she said, and totally agree. This movie is colorless. There is this type of abuse in households regardless of skin color. It happens, and its out there, and that is what should be the part of the movie that is repulsive and should strike people...but again, I haven't seen the movie. Once I have time to watch, I'm sure I'll have much more to say.
I have no desire to see Avatar. I know everyone says I should see it, even if I don't like sci-fi.


So, here is my recap of the Oscar's starting with the red carpet.

#1. Sandra Bullock- stunning! she looks absolutely amazing.
#2. Kathy Ireland- you should stick with modeling, b/c you are not a natural in front of the camera. She seems VERY nervous and stiff. her left arm is just sticking out there in a "pose" but it looks fake.
#3. SJP- love the dress, hate the hair. Matthew- I think you are so super sexy in your spots of gray and a little bit of chub:)
#4. Tina Fey- you look amazing and beautiful. I love when funny girls can look gorgeous.
#5. Oh Hanna Montana...I have nothing to say about you except stop sloching.

----I feel like I'm starting to be a bit like Joan Rivers...I need to stop being so cynical----

---ps- when do I get to go to the Oscar's...and wear something amazing--

#6- I L-O-V-E Kate Winslet. She is stunning, beautiful, wonderfully poised. (speaking with an accent doesn't hurt:))

-oh, no, Kathy Ireland is back....what a disaster---
#7. How classy is Meryl Streep. Timeless. Attractive. Pure Class.


Red Carpet is over....enjoy the 82nd annual Academy Awards.

My FAVORITE Weekend of the year!

There is one weekend, one city, that any "good" Creighton alum hears about and can't help but smile. Two words that mean: The Big Bang, Brewery, Embassy Suites (RIP), Morgan Street, forgetfulness....oh, and did i mention basketball? It is the one weekend where Omaha miraculously moves itself to St. Louis, where alumns come and have thier "Creighton reunion". Where you can run into past basketball players that were their "favorite basketball players (of all time)". It's ARCH MADNESS!!!! It's Missouri Valley Basketball Tourney Time ladies and gentlemen...and for the 2nd time in 10 years...I will not be going:(
Well, I guess last year at this time I wasn't going either...and then on Friday I bought my plane ticket for the next day only to get there and watch Creighton get beaten by Illinois State by like 20 pts....talk about sucky!
Here are some of my favorite memories of St. Louis, the Arch, and the Madness.
10. Getting my picture taken with Kyle Korver Senior Year...yes, it's number 10...I know many of you are shocked....actually probably none of my "readers" are shocked...since you didn't really "know" me in college..
9. "Drunk Schmuck" singing Neal Diamond at the Big Bang...on stage...with the pianist
8. Walking into a bar in St. Louis and knowing 80% of the patrons in there...and everyone has been partaking in the St. Louis "business", so we are all friends.
7. Going on the Budwiser Brewery Tour, and again, knowing about 70% of the people on the tour with you...and then singing "white and the blue" in the tasting room
6. Standing in line 4 hours before the game senior year to get my front row seats....and then the a$$ security guards kicking everyone out b/c we were in the wrong seats....excuse me...this is my seat...this has been my seat for the whole season...just cuz we moved stadiums...um...cities...it's still my seat.
5. Seeing what AWESOME signs Joe Johns can come up with ( I think my favorite is still "Things on Fire...1. The Butternut Building #2. The Jays)
4. Randomly getting into a cab (TWICE) with John "so hot, want to touch the" Heine.
3. Getting to drink Boulevard.
2. Sleeping a small villiage in an embassey suite hotel room...and then "tricking" them into providing all of them free drinks during the happy hour
1. Championship game senior year...Emily and I's dad's both came, and after winning, we all went back to the bar....Great times, great celebration, one Hellofa time in St. Louis!

For all of you going...Cheer Loud....Know that i will be cheering from my couch, or if I get crazy enough, maybe a bar.

"The white and the blue
Colors two it is you we defend
Fearless for you
all our might to the fight we will lend
so WAVE banners wave,
we will fight on for your GLORY
The White and the BLUE
we will fight til the fight is WON!"

'Tis the end

I spent my Sunday trying to keep the Olympic spirit alive. I started the day watching the best Olympic movie ever...."The Cutting Edge", duh - for all of you out there thinking Miracle or some other boy sports movie:)

Then I joined, from what I could gather from facebook status', all of my friends nationwide to watch the USA/Canada gold hockey game. As I watched, in disbelief, Syd- the kid- Crosby, hit in the winning goal, I couldn't help but let out a little cheer. Crosby plays in the US. We hear about him all the time. I cheered for him in the Stanley Cup last year. How can I cheer against him now?

That got me further thinking, of course. In the business world, we often hear about the flattening of the world. With social networking no longer needing to take place in bars, or conferences, everyone can get to know everyone else. How does this effect the Olympics? I was in speech, and show choir, in high school. And you would after awhile, get to know your competitors from other schools. You would play cards during off-rounds, spend weeks together at camp, etc. It became a friendly competition. Now, multiply that by 500. That can only be how these olympians feel. On the hockey team, many of these players are playing against teammates, friends, collegeus. In the figure skating world, many of them train in the US or Canada, coming from Turkey, South Korea, etc.

Watching the female skiing, where every other person was taking a tumble, the camera's would often pan to other competitors faces and you would see true concern. No one wants to see their competitors get hurt. These people are athletes. They want to compete, and if everyone is hurt, that is a sucky competition. I'm sure these women are all facebook friends with each other;)

Well, another olympics are over...what sucks is from winter to spring you really have to wait 2.5 years. So....I guess I will have to find something to do until Summer 2012.

Thank you athletes for giving me a lot of time to sit on the couch and be amazed by your athleticism, lack of fear, and cheer you on!

Worry Wart

So...Ive been worrying (thinking) alot lately about a whole bunch of things I don't have a whole lot of control over. It really drives me crazy when you can't fall asleep, cuz you are too busy thinking over stupid, stupid stuff. If you are anything like me (God help you) you sit there and play over scenes that havent even happened yet. Some will be best case scenario, some worse, some are just bizaare.

So, as I was worrying, I tried to keep my mind off it by reading some of my FAVORITE poetry....I came across this one.

Funny how these things still apply to us as adults.

Whatif by Shel Silverstein


Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow talle?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

RIP Shel Silverstein. You truly are a genious.

olympic lovin

I love the Olympics....I always have. Some of my favorite memories involve Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarian Vit, Bonnie Blair, Shannon Miller (yeah- she's summer, but she is still an olympian), carrie shrug...so...I guess a lot of women are memorable.

But I love, for 3 weeks, that the WORLD seems to be cheering on something in "common" their own country.

We have already seen some amazing stories...and its only day three.

US Metals from short track speedskating, mogals, and nordic combined (our first EVER).

One of the greatest stories of these Olympics so far, is the story of J.R. Celsk, the American short track skater, who 6 months ago "nicked" his leg, almost severing his femoral artery, and thought his skating career was over, at 19. He proved himself and the rest of the world wrong on Saturday night, in an exciting ending, taking home the Bronze.

But we also have tragedy. As we all know, a Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, tragically died during a training run on Friday, prior to the opening ceremonies and creating an atmosphere of somberness. Luging is such a scary sport, and I think it's scariness was brought to light in these Olympic games.

Im sure there will be so many more memories creates, hero's created, tears of joy, tears of defeat, and many more "Star Spangled Banner".

As countries around the world unite to cheer on the few, I pray for safe tracks, beautiful figure skating, and lots of close finishes.

KIDS, I don't know what wrong with these kids today....

Actually, I kinda do. I think it's mostly the parents. My co-worker was talking about valentines day at her daughters school. MAN...it sucks to be a kid these days. You cant get any chocolate, or hearts, or anything b/c all the sudden in the last several years everyone is alergic to something. I would really like someone to do a study that tells me what SHIT we have put in some water source, or whatever is causing all of these deadly allergies, cuz if you asked me they seem to have come out of NO WHERE.

Anyways, they also cant bring in valentines...well, they CAN bring in valentines as long as they
a) have no gender diffarentiator
b)contain no candy
c) are not addressed
d) are exactly the same amount of valentines as there are kids

I get it, I do. Some smelly kid who eats glue didn't get any valentines one year and went and complained to his mommy who went and complained to the principal, who in turn created some rules so everyone was treated fairly.

This is also the same kid who is as coordinated as a bag of fruit, who can't figure out who to swing a bat, and complained because he never got any playing time...DUDE, figure it out. Your not an athlete....how about instead of complaining about what you are NOT good at, you figure out what you ARE good at and make yourself better.

Here is the thing. We are setting future generations up to be WUSSES!!! I see it at work all the time. Parent's who call me because I didn't hire their child (dude, its not hard to get a job here...you have to pass a basic math and drug test...your kid didn't pass one of those, and Im pretty sure he can count to 5....). Parents emailing/calling college professers to ask why thier kid didn't pass the class....(umm...he showed up twice, and didn't bother to spell check....oh...and he has his mom fighting his battles.)

If we never learn to lose, how do we learn to pick ourselves back up, hold our heads high and try again. What ever happened to the saying "if at first you don't succeed try and try again". Now it seems it's "if at first we don't succeed, figure out who we can blame, cuz it's certainly not my kids fault."

Kids need to be taught that everyone isn't always going to like them. People are mean. wait til they get to be teenagers. You get over it, you grow up and you learn to pick yourself up again.

Ms. Danz blogs Washington

This past Tuesday, Illinois held it's primary. It's over...Thank God...I have about 8 months of non-election commercials...yeah!

But as we go through yet another election cycle, I can't help but wonder...does it really matter? Are we really electing "leaders", people with visions of a different future, who can sacrifice their personal agenda for the greater good? or are we only electing politicians (people who talk a good talk, walk a "somewhat" good walk, and plan to retire as elected officials.

Now, as most of you know, I live in Chicago...so, perhaps my judgments are a bit jaded. We don't have the best track-record of quality leaders. Our governors extort, blackmail and, eventually, make our license plates. Our alderman’s staff, drivers, admins, etc. are full of nepotism (sisters making $100K a year to be a weekend driver, yet, we have to decrease/eliminate routes on the CTA because we can’t make a budget).

On a bigger scale, our congressman and senators refuse to work with each other. Regardless of my personal party affiliation, I find it repulsive that elected officials can’t work together to compromise, listen to each other and come up with solutions that are acceptable to all. No one SHOULD ever get everything they want. It’s called working together people. You are all VERY well educated people, did no one ever teach you along the way how to get along with people? Or are you just too concerned about winning your next race, that you can’t afford to “piss-off” your contributors. What a sad world we live in when the people who really are making decisions are the people with the biggest pocketbooks.

I propose setting a tenure limitation for all elected officials. There is a reason we don’t let Presidents have endless terms (that would be called a dictatorship…ok- not really they are still “elected”, so I’m being a bit dramatic), but I really think if people weren’t worried about constantly campaigning, trying to get funds, trying to work with their various large corporate donors, etc that we could actually GET something done in Washington, Chicago, Illinois, wherever.

Now, I know no one is going to listen to me. I don’t sit in Washington, I am not a lobbyist, senator’s assistant, or even a poly sci major, I’m just a girl with a blog. But I urge you to think about it this year as we come to mid-term elections. Would you rather elect a politician or elect a leader?Someone with a vision, someone who isn’t worried to put their personal views on hold for the greater good.