Anna’s Neighborhood

Shoutout to Carey for this incredible video.  Enjoy!

Today I present to you "Why Is This News?"  

I read a lot of terrible websites to try and get you guys the cream of the crop in celebrity gossip and every once in a while I stumble upon something that makes me groan and think to myself "Really? This is considered news?"  Usually it's things that make me feel dumber for reading the article. So I've decided that I'm going to begin composing a short feature called "Why Is This News?"

The first ever entry for WITN:  Ashlee Simpson Dyes Her Hair provided to us by the good people at US Weekly.

Why is this news?  I think I don't understand why this is such a big deal mainly because the article is about Ashlee Simpson.  She's not really famous for anything.  She's Jessica's younger sister and that's about it.  She had a failed music career, a failed appearance on SNL, a failed Orange Bowl appearance, nearly a failed marriage, and now a failed TV career since being booted off the remake of Melrose Place.  Maaaaybe if it was about someone semi-legit I could understand it being somewhat of a big deal.  But come on.  At the end of the day, it's still a story about someone dying their hair.  Why is this news?

Hope you enjoyed the first installment of WITN.  

In the latest poll, we discussed the Olsen twins and their new line of juniors clothing that is coming out.  The question was: The Olsen twins are launching a juniors clothing line for JC Penney.  Would you ever purchase and/or wear anything from their line?

Here's how the answers broke down:

0% said "Of course! They have the best style!" - Olsen twins fail.

12.5% said "I'd at least flip through the racks and see what it looked like."

50% said "Mmmm... doubtful.  Have you seen how they dress?"

37.5% said "Uh I'm a dude so...."

And now for a new feature of the poll results... some demographic analysis:

1 vote from Peoria, IL

1 vote from Kansas

1 vote from Carlsbad, Calif.

2 votes from Sacramento, Calif.

1 vote from good ole P-Town, Wash.

1 vote from Bellingham, Wash.

Look at Livin' the Dream go with its nationwide fanbase.  I appreciate it greatly.

It's also interesting to note that we have a large following from the male contingent. So shoutout to the dudes.  If you like the blog, pass the link to your friends!

The new poll is up and running so get to voting.  Here is the question:

If you lived in Australia and paid $1400 for your ticket to see Britney Spears, would you walk out in a fit of rage when you noticed her lip synching?

Follow up article to be posted shortly...

Editor's Note:  Shoutout to Phil who pointed out that Steven Tyler is in Aerosmith not the Rolling Stones.  Sorry about that - I can't keep all of those old dudes in rock bands straight.

Apparently Steven Tyler has fallen off the face of the earth and none of his Aerosmith bandmates know where he is so they are assuming this means he has left the band.  Isn't it time?  I mean how old are all they?  60? 65? Dare I say 70?  You had a great run Aerosmith but it's time.  I know, I know...it's a harsh statement.  But I'm sure that they have enough money to last them the rest of their life which can't be more than what 25 years?  Also Steven Tyler just fell off of a stage at one of his concerts.  Like straight up fell off the stage.  (P.S. Check out the jackass on the left who is clapping. Way to go buddy.)  That takes a toll on you when you're 30 let alone when you're 65 and I think Steven Tyler has finally realized that.  I mean it sucks that he's straight up not talking to his bandmates but it's time to move on to other projects Aerosmith.  Make cameos on TV shows, write a book, go count your money.  And also, if Richard Perry thinks he's just going to continue on with a new guy in Steven Tyler's place, good luck with that.  The only group that I think this has worked for is Journey because I hear the guy sounds eeeeexactly like the original guy.  So unless you can find a guy who looks and sounds like this I don't feel like this will end well for Aerosmith.  

They Have Suing in Alaska? 

Sorry I'm not so clever at the teasers.  So Levi Johnston who is Sarah Palin's daughter's baby's daddy (got that?) is suing for joint custody of their son.  Things are not so great right now between the Palins and good ole Levi, but I have two thoughts here.  First off, the Palins need to let him just see the kid.  He might be posing for Playgirl magazine and be a deadbeat 18-year-old but it's still his kid and I feel like Sarah Palin needs to still be on America's good side so just let him come over and hold the kid every once in a while.  To flip things around for a second, I feel like Sarah Palin is slightly crazy so how badly does Levi Johnston really want to be involved with all of them?  Are there that many 18, 19 year olds out there that want to be super dad except for Finn from Glee?  This is your get out of jail free-ish card.  (Okay but deep down inside, I still hope that he gets to see his kid.  I'm not as hardcore as I seem.)

The first thing I thought to myself when I saw this headline?  "Oh she's suing P-Diddy...or that back up dancer...or...Ben Affleck? Wait who was she actually married to?  Man this does not look good if you're Jennifer Lopez."  Ok so that was a string of things but you get the idea.  So this mysterious other ex-husband that nobody (at least not me) knew about now wants to make a movie that includes footage of J-Lo scantily clad, blah blah blah.  And J-Lo wants to stop it, blah blah blah.  I say J-Lo should let him try and go for it.  Did you read at the bottom of the article where not even TMZ wants a piece of this action?  The brother's got some issues getting his movie off the ground if TMZ is denying that they're working with him.  Furthermore, she's trying to sue him for 10 mil.  Come on now J-Lo...do you think he really has 10 mil to give you?  He's trying to make a movie off of home videos of you.  And do you really need another 10 million dollars Jennifer Lopez?  Add this story to the "Articles we'll never hear another word about" pile.

Ha that was terrible too.  If Justin Timberlake isn't going to make music and come to Arco Arena on tour so that I can see him maybe from a suite (luuuuuuv you), then he needs to do waaaay better projects than being the voice of Boo Boo the bear in animated movies.  He also is apparently going to be in a drama and also in a movie about the start of Facebook.  Not impressed JT.  You know what is impressive though?  The fact that there could be a Ghostbusters 3. I fricken loved Ghostbusters when I was a kid and I even have a picture of the four Ghostbusters and Sigourney Weaver signed by Ernie Hudson aka Winston.  It says "Amanda, who you gonna call?  Love Ernie Hudson aka Winston"  It's ok - you can be jealous for a few seconds.  I'll wait.  So yeah that would be awesome to have another Ghostbusters and if Justin Timberlake can somehow be involved in that, then all would be right in the world again.

Sidenote.  Shoutout to me for kicking butt at the gym today and taking two x-bike classes in a row.  I was sweating like Hailey and it was amazing.

So yesterday I saw "This Is It", the Michael Jackson movie.  I didn't LOOOOOOVE it like a lot of people I know said. I don't really need to see it another two, three or four times.  But I will say that it was really interesting.

I'm really fascinated by the "behind the scenes" parts of jobs.  I like to know the process behind how things work, all the details that go into making a successful business.  So for that reason, I was completely fascinated by this movie and the process of what went into creating the concert that Michael Jackson would have given in London.

The entire movie was footage from a few days/weeks of rehearsals leading up to the concert in London.  They showed the selection of the backup dancers and had interviews with the band members and other producers and stuff.  In a way, I'm glad that they didn't choose (or maybe it wasn't a choice) to interview Michael Jackson because you got the chance to listen to regular people who are getting to work with their absolute idol.  They spoke about his character, his humility, and his absolute genius and passion for what it does.  It was completely genuine and completely honest and really touching and moving too.  It wasn't some weirdo celebrity interview with all of these big words about artistic direction.  It was just normal guys and girls talking about how cool Michael Jackson is.

Like I said, it was pretty moving to see how these people talked about Michael Jackson and what it was like to just be in his presence.  The title of the movie couldn't be more fitting because for them, this really was it.  When the backup dancers were giving their first reactions to being chosen as his dancers, the guys had tears just streaming down their faces.  They never had to dance another day in their life if they didn't want to because they had gotten to dance with Michael Jackson.  All of the struggle and the rejection and even their triumphs were validated with this moment.  Maybe I'm just too emotional sometimes, but it really touched me.

And as geniuses as these dancers and band members and musical directors and video producers and lighting guys and etc. etc. are, none of them measure up to the absolute brilliance of Michael Jackson.  Even at 50, he made his dancers have to keep up with him and made the musical directors think twice.  Everyone had to be on point to keep up with the vision that he had.  What was most impressive isn't so much the vision that he came up with, but more the fact that he could so easily articulate exactly what he wanted.  Oh the musical director isn't sure which note to hit next? Bam Michael Jackson sings it.  It was pretty awesome to see.  And when he spoke to them and guided them and directed them, it wasn't ever as "I am Michael Jackson, you are beneath me and I will speak down to you".  In his words "We are sharing this adventure."

I have to say though, the show was completely stolen by one of his guitarists.  This chick, yes girl, HOOKED UP.  Holy cow.  And after researching her for this post, she is LEGIT.  First of all, she's barely 24.  Second of all, I heard from my dad that everybody else in the band had to audition, but Michael Jackson went and sought her out.  THAT is how legit she is. Except that in this video she says she auditions so, maybe my dad's not entirely correct. Here are a couple of videos. 

This is the only clip I can find of her in the movie and playing:

And then this is just a random video of her with a DJ from a radio station in LA playing "Beat It" which is what she first played for Michael Jackson:

Her name is Orianthi and she's unreal.  Shoot, I'd go see the movie just to see her play guitar.

So in closing, here are the highlights from the movie:

So there you have it.  My thoughts and feelings on "This Is It".  I'm glad I saw it and glad I got to experience it.  If you've seen it, let me know what you think!

And sorry if I ruined it for someone.  

So Jessica Simpson has decided that next time around she'd like to date an "intellectual man".  Why? Because she gets bored easily.  First off, the fact that she's had nothing but a string of long-term relationships does not give me the impression that she is someone who bores easily.  You've never really seen headlines where Jessica Simpson is serial dating from week to week.  Colin Farrel? Bored easily.  The girls on the Hills? Bored easily.  So I don't know if I quite buy that reasoning from her.

She also wants someone who "really understands his art."  Well let's see how that's worked out for her so far.  Nick Lachey I guess was an artist.  He was trying to launch his solo music career but that didn't really get moving very well and then they got divorced.  Then she dated John Mayer for a long time but he's way too into his art.  And that didn't well either.  Then she dated Tony Romo and everybody else gave him a hard time about it and a couple times it affected his art and then people gave him an even bigger hard time and then they broke up too.  Maybe it's time for her to find a normal dude.  

Time Magazine ran an article about what happens to your Facebook account when you die.  Not something I've ever thought about, but I guess Facebook needs to somehow cover all the bases.

If I ever pass away while my Facebook account is still active, I don't think I'd want my family and friends to de-activate it or memorialize it right away.  When I get around to writing a will, I'm going to have it so that Phil and James and probably the Big CM have the authority to go in and keep my Facebook account going.  Just something to freak people out a little bit.  Come on, isn't this a fantastic idea?  Everyone reading this knows they have one friend who would totally fall for that.  I wouldn't let them get crazy and talk about the Apocalypse or anything.  Just random stuff. Like "Amanda can't believe she still can't win at Scrabble, even when she plays against Elvis."  Or write on the wall of oh I don't know, a small, completely gullible and easily tricked former roommate of Phil's and say something like "So I've already been to Friday and you should stay home that day.  Seriously."  Come on - go out with a bang.

The people have spoken.  Or should I say the teenyboppers have spoken.  Miley Cyrus was voted the worst celebrity influence of 2009 and I have to say that I've kinda been saying this all along.  According to this article, she's trying to make the jump from Disney to more grown up things and I'm wondering what the rush is.  She's 16 isn't she?  It's okay for you to be a kid and make kid movies for a little bit longer.  And is the way you're going to try and get grown up attention to make not so great decisions?  This year, she dated a 20-year-old underwear model, was accused of mocking Asians and performed some kind of pole dancing routine at the Teen Choice Awards.  So yeah if I was a parent, I'd say she wasn't a great influence on my kid.

I still think a lot of it has to do with the level of immaturity that comes with being a teenager.  She can't just be a teenager because she's in the spotlight but how much does she really understand that people are watching her all the time.  Just because you get rid of your Twitter doesn't automatically mean that you're just hidden from the world.  I never thought I'd be saying this but look at the Jonas Brothers.  I'd totally let my kid listen to their music.  It might suck but you don't hear anything about them that is in anyway controversial.  Somebody's guiding them in the right direction and I just wonder how much guidance Miley Cyrus really gets.  Earlier this month, she chose to disband her Twitter account and said, I mean rapped, that it was pretty much of an invasion of privacy.  Fair.  What does her pops do?  He posts this little gem.  Does that strike anyone else as being strange?  Where's the "I stand by my daughter's decision to try and get a handle on her personal life considering she's only 16 years old"?  It's all just kind of weird to me.

Shoutout to James for officially being the first friend and reader of Livin the Dream who will make the trip to visit me and the CMs in Sacramento.  Mad props James.  

So go check out southwest.com!  The sale is only going to last until tomorrow night at midnight.  If you can clear a weekend to get up here, we will clear a weekend to entertain you!  

Plus... who wouldn't want to see this face for only $25...

As a few of my readers are guys, I updated the poll to feature an answer that caters just to you.  So now you have the option of selecting "Uh...I'm a dude, so..." as your answer to the poll.

So get back to votin!

In last week's poll we asked the question "How long do you think Khloe Kardashian's marriage to Lamar Odom will last?"

Here's how the votes broke down:

0% said 1 year

40% said 1 month

40% said six months

20% said "There's another Kardashian that's not Kim or Kourtney?"

0% said 3 weeks

For the record, when I was typing out the question just now I definitely wrote Kim, then Kourtney before remembering her name was Khloe so maybe I should have gone with "There's another Kardashian that's not Kim or Kourtney?" as my answer.

The moral of the story is that nobody thinks they're lasting.  Except I didn't put foreva-eva as an option so that could have been interesting to see if that got any votes.  

They signed the elusive pre-nup so congrats Khloe, you're about to get paaaaaid if this marriage goes south.  And Lamar actually had a semi-decent game against Denver the other night (during the 20 minutes I actually watched...I'm not sure if I'm allowed to watch the Lakers in my household).  So maybe this is turning out for the best for both of them?  I'm still not completely convinced but they signed the marriage license, everything is official, so now the countdown begins.  Wow, how cynical am I?  

The next poll question is up and running for your voting pleasure:

The Olsen twins are launching a juniors clothing line for JC Penney.  Would you ever purchase and/or wear anything from their line?

Your choices are:

- Of course!  They have the best style!

- I'd at least flip through the racks and see what it looked like.

- Mmmm...doubtful.  Have you seen how they dress?

Get to votin!