Gosselin & Hayes

The season finale for Jon & Kate Plus 8 is Monday. The season opener for a similar show, Table for Twelve, follows. I’ve seen just a few episodes of Table for Twelve, the Hayes family of 3 sets of multiples (10 kids), and I’ve liked what I’ve seen. People will think they are copy cats of the Gosselins, but they live a blue collar life compared to what is almost a white collar life in the Gosselin house. The Hayes’ lives haven’t been invaded with invites to attend special events or see special things, from the episodes I’ve watched. Check it out to see what you think.

Gosselin Gripe

I recently watched an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 where Jon and one of his daughters went to Utah to ski and snowboard, and the rest of the family went to see Sesame Street Live. Now maybe they are making tons of money and can afford both of these things. But they had their own box at Sesame Street Live and those typically are unaffordable. Plus they got to meet all the characters afterwards. Kate talked about how the kids were tired and they were just making their way to their car as though she didn’t know this was going to happen. But they were the only attendees in the hallway with the characters. And the characters gave them each a goody bag of stuff. That is not something regular people get.

Maybe the show people knew they were going to be there and wanted to do this. Maybe she really didn’t expect it. But I think it was probably part of the conversation when the offer for the nice seating was arranged. I kind of like that Kate didn’t say they got special attention because, although acknowledging it is fair to the viewer, it just bugs me that they get stuff for just being on TV and hearing it would be annoying.

I’m guessing that Jon didn’t have to pay for the Utah accommodations. And, to my cynical eye, it looks like the ski place closed the tube run so just they could be on it. How nice for them.

Yes, it’s reality, their reality.

I complain because I’m jealous. Maybe I should quit complaining and try to figure out how I can get some special attention and have people giving me stuff left and right.

Natasha Richardson’s Death

I was unusually saddened by Natasha Richardson’s death. It’s not that it’s because she in particular is dead. I am stunned that what sounds like an innocuous fall could result in death. How easy it seems to be. People will say she should have worn a helmet or that the ambulance workers should have not been sent away without seeing her. The ski resort staff obviously knew what could happen, but do most lay people? It seems like a greater effort should be made to make people aware of the dangers of a head injury and what symptoms to look for.

When news first came out that she had been hospitalized and was considered to be brain-dead, my mind turned to the practical matters. After alerting her family about her circumstances, someone would need to get her things from her room and check her out of the hotel, maybe return a rental car, cancel upcoming appointments. Practical things that must be hard to do when faced with what was going on. Now any staff she employed, personal assistant or publicity people and others, are suddenly out of a job.

Although the ski resort says they followed protocol in how they treated her, I’m guessing they will be sued. It would be to point out that they should do more in the future to prevent this type of death. Things like having educational materials to give to people who may have suffered a head injury so they know what to look for, or to requiring helmets for all skiing and lessons, or even xraying everyone who falls.

It’s so tragic to know that this could happen to anyone. I wish that she could have lived to be able to use her noteriety to teach others what could happen.

Blueberry Muffins

Because I had about a cup and a half of huge blueberries that I picked in the summer, I looked on WordPress.com for a muffin recipe. I found one at sandgroper14.wordpress.com. Very easy and quick. The muffins are good and they freeze well. I was able to use more blueberries than the recipe called for and had no problems. It’s nice to have a reminder of summer to get through the last stages of winter!

Bono insults Coldplay’s Chris Martin

Bono, in a BBC radio show promoting his band’s new album, called Coldplay frontman Chris Martin a ‘wanker’ (a swear word in Britain) and a ‘completely dysfunctional character and a cretin but he happens to be a genius melodist.’ Is this similar to to negative political campaigns where the guy who wants to win says nothing about how good he is but everything about how bad the other guy is? One article I read online theorized that Bono is worried that Coldplay will become the most popular band and that U2’s stardom will be diminished. I would believe that before I believe Bono’s own explanation that it was too early in the day (although it was noon in Britain) for his lack of verbal control.

U2 is doing an awful lot of what I see as unusual press for this album. I heard they were the musical guest for an entire week of David Letterman’s late night talk show and they are practically partners with the BBC such that there is a section on their site for U2 information. I’ve seen TV commercials for the album and Comcast digital is offering U2 videos via its On Demand feature.

One article referred to Bono as a “multi-millionaire humanitarian.” Isn’t that an oxymoron?