The Fabulous Life of Jobin Hume

How did this get lost in the shuffle?

OK - I am just now watching the MTV Video Music Awards from Sunday night. Because there has been so much talk about Kanye-gate 2009 no one has mentioned the BIZARRO public therapy session Madonna conducted at the beginning of the ceremony.

1 - no one needs a lecture about how we abandoned Michael Jackson.  He caused his own problems.

2 - She looked like a wax statue.  Less is more when you are injecting your face. And back-combing your hair.  And lecturing the audience of millions.

3 - Speaking of wax statue - as I have said before.  I don't get Lady Gaga.  She is growing on me as in I sing along on the radio, etc - but then she breaks out some nonsense like this and I just don't even know what to say or where to look. 

4 - I like it that Madonna is totally somber and yet we get crowd shots of Pink checking her blackberry.  I feel you Pink.

5 - Janet looks totally fierce!

6 - I usually can't stand Katy Perry, and yet I am loving her singing Queen!

Ten minutes in, I am loving this show - how did ALL of this get pushed aside by yet another Kanye West outburst?  I am a fan, but seriously, isn't it more noteworthy when he doesn't embarass himself?  How did I not watch this live?  Next year if you could just remind me that I wanted to watch live, that would be awesome.

I would like to feel sorry for this guy, but...

I am watching the nightly news on NBC, and there is a piece about how grocery stores are booming thanks to more people cooking instead of eating out, etc.  This is great.  They are talking about how they are hiring and all these people who used to have other jobs are now "settling" for entry level jobs in grocery stores.

They feature a guy who is working in produce at Whole Foods, but he has his PhD.  His quote:

"my dissertation was in the use of fictional forms of autobiography in Peruvian Literature." He is fine with a job that is "more simple" where you "clock in at 9 and out at 5".

My questions are as follows:

1 - What was the job market for this guy prior to the recession

2 - Are the hours for teaching "fictional forms of autobiography in Peruvian Literature" really grueling?  Is this a much needed respite from being pretentious?

3 - Is he kidding me with this?

The show ends with a group of kids are are gathering up supplies to send to Africa - clothes, cloth to make clothes, notebooks etc.  They cut to an interview with the teacher who has a chalkboard leaning up against the orphanage wall while the kids sit on the dirt outside to learn.  He is very excited because now he can assign them homework because each child has their own pen.  They didn't have this before. Many of these kids are getting their first pair of shoes.

Now I am thinking:

1 - Why doesn't Peruvian Literature professor spend some time on this?

2 - Since I am the one shopping for the organic produce he is selling and not shopping at Cub and sending the extra money to Africa or even kids here who don't have supplies, where do I get off judging him?

This is a long way to point your attention to www.donorschoose.org - because I love this site and haven't given money there in a while.  No matter how tight I might think my situation is, it is good to have a reminder that I am rich beyond the imagination of most people in the world, and if you are reading this, you probably are too.

So, next week I will clip some coupons and send some money here as well.

Is this even possible?

Watching Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press.  Is there any chance that "broken elbow" is code for face lift?  I am not even kdding.  She looks great, at a MINIMUM botox and fillers.  The difference between March and July is shocking.  I realize one is a close up and one isn't, but come on - decide for yourself:

March: 

July:

Not that I'm not anxious for a change of subject...

But I am surprisingly bummed that this is what wiped Michael Jackson off the cnn.com home page.  For two reasons:

1 - this guy seems normal and this is a random thing that you could have a "minor" head bump and then die 2 days later.  Unlike drug overdosing, this could happen to anybody. 

2 - Shouldn't it be the ongoing situation in Iran, health care or the coup in Honduras that took the headline?

OK, without rehashing his life

Michael Jackson died yesterday and while I remember him as a huge star when I was in elementary school, of course, we all know the issues in his recent life.

I am not even going to get into that, but rather observe the following about the media coverage of this:

1. If someone had said his name 2 days ago most people would respond "freakshow" or "child molester" "hotel-balcony-baby-dangler" or "plastic surgery cautionary tale", but now he was the greatest entertainer of all time 
2. The summary of the media coverage for me, is the fact that the Today Show is interviewing COREY FELDMAN, where they dug him up from I have no idea.  In any event, he is introduced as a lifelong friend of MJ.  Then one minute later in the interview it comes out that he hasn't talked to or seen Michael in SEVEN YEARS.  Way to score the big story Today Show 

This does give me an opportunity to review the outfit I wore to school in 4th grade:

1. Michael Jackson t-shirt with the Billie Jean picture, pink 
2. Lee Jeans, Pin-stripe 
3. Earrings, White Sparkly Glove 
4. Nike Tennis Shoes, Powder Blue Swish 

I was the coolest, most badass fourth grader in town.   Pinning jeans into a really unflattering sillhouette didn't come into play until sixth grade or I assure you that would have been in the mix.

Ve Cont Believe He Won a Second Term

If you haven't seen it already, check out this movie "Second Term" from Jib Jab Media.  It is pretty funny.

Boot Camp, Day 8.  Theresa was our instructor today.  She is good, and very nice, but she is really into the whole "Boot camp" mentality.  She says "Tricep Push Back" and we have to shout "TRICEP PUSH BACK MA'AM".  If we don't shout it loud enough, we have to do burpees instead.  I bet you haven't heard "burpees" since elementary school.

Today was a "push" day again.  So we did about 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer for cardio, and then hundreds of push ups, military presses, planks, etc.  It was hard but definately easier than last week.

Wartime sacrifice

I hate to quote a gossip column to describe my feelings about politics, but the first two paragraphs of Cindy Adam's column today pretty much sum it all up.  He is just not fabulous.(###)