My fun gig

My new recap of Dancing With The Stars is up if anyone wants a peek. This is the semifinals and next week is the finals then I'll be done with this gig *sniff*. It still amazes me how ABC manages to draw what should be a half hour show into 1 1/2 hours, but it's not boring. I'll miss it.

When I was about ten my father took me and my older sister to see The Harlem Globetrotters. If I live to be 110 I'll never forget it. I hope my son has the same experience because he, his Dad and I are going to see them tomorrow. Dad came through as usual and got us kick-butt courtside seats. I can't wait!

A Million Words of Crap or A Waste Of A Tree

Normally I can find something to like about any book I read (I read Ivanhoe, for crying out loud) but I'm on page 80 of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces and that's as far as I'm going. It's boring me to death. He just had two root canals without anesthesia and I was annoyed with his whining. I can't take it anymore. I gave it the bum's rush and started Marley and Me. I'm on page ten and I've already laughed, cried and been hooked. My kind of book. I won't bother with Frey again.

I feel bad for Dick Cheney. Hunting buddies shoot each other all the time, but this poor schlep has to have it plastered on Leno and Letterman with comments like, "After shooting a lawyer, Cheney's approval rating went up 92%!" The Smoking Gun has the best headline that would only work in print, "See Dick. Run!" You know them over there, Mr. Frey's nemesis.

Not afraid of my phone

I just finished Stephen King's Cell. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. The premise is fantastic--a strange "Pulse" invades cell phones and anyone who uses one becomes a homicidal maniac, stripped down to humanity's most ferocious nature. But King doesn't back it up with much. The characters aren't interesting and the plot is lame as the refugees walk from Boston to Maine in an attempt to find an area where there is no cell phone coverage. The main character, Clay, is looking for his son who may or may not have become a "phoner." That's it, that's the whole plot. King seems obsessed with this end of civilization thing but if you want to see a shining example of this read The Stand. It seems to me this book would have flown better as a short story or a novella. Worth reading if you're a die hard fan like me but wait for the paperback.

Reading is FUN-damental!

I heard Jim Trelease speak last night at my son's elementary school. He's the author of the Read Aloud Handbook, as well as several others, and his message is simple; kids who love reading do far better in school than kids who don't. I almost didn't attend because I knew this already and my son loves reading so I thought I wouldn't learn anything. But I did, like don't force your kids to read. The enjoyment factor is critical. Second, even if your kids are reading on their own, you should still be reading aloud to them, preferably from books that are a little beyond them. They will get new words, new stories, new ideas from this, not to mention the bonding that goes on when you curl up with your child and read to them. This I did not know, so I got some books from Jim's list to get started right away. I've missed reading aloud--my inner ham comes out as I do voices and characters. I love it as much as he does.