A warning before your Superbowl munching

No double-dipping! Inspired by the "Seinfield" episode, a new study shows that dipping food, biting a part off, then double-dipping the half-bitten part back into the bowl DOES in fact spread bacteria. Before you decide to double-dip, look around the room and decide if you'd be okay kissing everyone there. :P


Thanks Jon for sending me this interesting article!

SAG Awards 2008

The SAG Awards have come and gone once again! Like last year, we thoroughly enjoyed our time as seatfillers, and I apparently even had a brief moment on camera when "The Office" won (since I was sitting at their table)! You can read more about it where I'm guest blogging this week. I again compiled a list of everyone I sat with, spoke to, and saw from a distance during the show.

The tributes to Heath Ledger were touching during the ceremony... After the montage of SAG actors/actresses who died this year, you could tell Heath's picture was tacked on quickly to the end, since his death was so recent. The show went to commercial right after that, which, for those of us in the ceremony meant that the lights came up and people were free to mill about. However, at this break, the mood was somber and quiet - few people stood. In a heartfelt speech, Daniel Day-Lewis also dedicated his acting award of the night to Heath.

Did anyone catch the show? I don't know how interesting it is to watch if you're not there, but we had a great time. :)

Something in the water...

What was going on last Fall? There are SO MANY pregnant women in my midst! Megan, Sun, Leslie, Boualoy, Kim, Andrea, Maria, Ingrid, Audrey, Leah, Tara... they're all due later this year. I know our lives go through phases when it seems like we're attending lots of weddings or frequently going to baby showers, but I didn't realize it would happen in such a tour de force!

Anyone else want to share any "expecting" news? :)

Guest Blogger

My friend RC has kindly asked me to guest post on his blog while he attends a wedding. So for random Sampson-updates (mostly entertainment-related), you should check out his site this week. :)

"Heath Ledger: Dead at 28"

It floors me when people my own age die.

That's what happened when I opened up my browser and the newslines announced Heath Ledger's death. I couldn't believe it! Minutes later, my husband emailed me a link to a simliar newstory, which confirmed the tragedy. I then did as many others might have yesterday - scoured the internet for more information, saddened as different articles reflected on Heath's promising career and young child. I am still wondering if his death was accidental... or not.

I remember feeling this way before. Stunned. Disappointed. A little like I lost a piece of my childhood. It was four years ago when I found out Jonathan Brandis had killed himself. I grew up watching him in movies and on tv - he was my first "celebrity crush", and I even had a poster of him in my bedroom when I was in middle school. For days after I read the small newstory online, I couldn't stop thinking about how depressed and lonely he must've felt to feel like the only solution was death. I couldn't believe someone who had only lived a couple decades didn't want to see what many more decades would bring... how things could change in less than a year. The same feelings emanated after reading earlier this month about Brad Renfro's death at 25 years old - he was another actor I had first seen as a child.

My friend RC wrote a post about the "death of celebrities". In it, I appreciated his last line:

Heath, I don't know what to say about your death, other than I hope that those you left behind will find what you did not.

* * *

And then, just as abruptly as the news broke of his unexpected death, the rest of the world moves on. And while I know that's good and right and how life works, it makes me reexamine my own life... What impact am I having on the world around me? Am I in a holding pattern until my next "life phase" instead of doing what matters because I'm alive today? What a gift we have in life! To grow and learn, to love and feel real emotions, and to experience the scope of Creation. I pray we can all live to our fullest potential - every day.

HA! My fear is not unfounded...

It could be because I saw Stephen King's IT when I was in fifth grade (due to a bad-influencing friend - unbeknownst to my mother), but clowns freak me out. A lot. Now a study shows kids don't like them anyway! :)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22685723/from/ET/

[I would put a picture with this post, but the obvious one would be a clown, and I just don't want it there!]

How did your candidate handle baby Dahlia?

I thought this article and the accompanying "photo essay" were interesting to read and see. Thought you might as well!

Movie reviews (in brief)

Over the past two weeks, I've actually seen some movies (thanks to gift cards, airplane rides, and a little cousin's Christmas gift). Here are my quick reviews and ratings in the order I saw them...


Juno
Quirky, entertaining, and fresh. It's not one of those, "Wow! That movie was AMAZING!" feelings so much as "Hey! I really enjoyed that - I wouldn't mind seeing it again soon." The music fit the witty dialogue perfectly. Grete's star rating (out of 5): 4 stars




High School Musical 2
Ugh. CHEESY, fake, unoriginal ("Saved by the Bell" summer job episodes, anyone?), waaaay overrated (if you consider tween reviews "ratings"), and did I mention cheesy? It was a little painful to watch them say something hoaky and then immediately know a song would be sung about said hoaky-statement. The only good part was that the airline chose to play something other than clips of sports and news shows for the flight. Grete's star rating: 1 star


High School Musical (yes, I saw the original one after the sequel)
This one benefited from the fact that I saw the worse one first. And those darn songs are so basic and repetitive that they get stuck in your head after one viewing! The writing was slightly more entertaining than "2", but otherwise it was also cheesy, unoriginal (I saw many Grease plot throwbacks), and made for ages 15 and under (hence, my little cousin wanted it for Christmas). Grete's star rating: 1 1/2 stars

Atonement
I purposely avoided hearing summary reviews for this because I really wanted to take in any surprises in my own viewing of the movie. I thought going in: romantic drama. Yes, it was romantic. Yes, it was dramatic. But, goodness, it was DEPRESSINGLY tragic for most of the latter half. All the beautiful cinematography, costuming, and face close-ups only suck you into the cheerlessness more until you leave feeling like, "*sigh* That was NOT what I was expecting to see." Jon told me afterwards I should've guessed from the title word that it would mean something bad would need redemption. Grete's star rating for movie quality: 4 stars. Grete's star rating for upliftingness (if that's a word): 1/2 star.

Anyone have any recommendations for me to see?