I recently saw a huge point of purchase displays for the movie 2012. I never got to see it in the movie theater and I thought I would either purchase it or rent it.

How did we start believing that the world was going to end in 2012? December 21 or 23, 2012 is the end date of the 5,125 year long Mayan Calendar. Some believe that 2012 will mark the beginning of a new spiritual era, while others believe that it will mark the end of the world. The Mayan’s themselves never predicted an end on this date.

I remember this Russian comedian and wondered what happened to him. Well, if you book a Branson vacation package you will be sure to see him there! He has daily shows in Branson.

Smirnoff was born Yakov Naumovich Pokhis on January 24, 1951 in the Ukraine. In Odessa, Ukraine, he was an art teacher. He came to the United States in 1977 where he worked as a bartender in New York. He started acting and comedy routines and has appeared in “Moscow on the Hudson” with Robin Williams, “Brewster’s Millions” with Richard Pryor, “The Money Pit” with Tom Hanks and “Heartburn” with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. On television he appeared in his own series called “What a Country.”

Smirnoff is proud to be an American citizen and continues to paint, often featuring the Statue of Liberty (where is was sworn in as a citizen) in his paintings. After 911, Smirnoff created the painting “America’s Heart.” He did not sign the painting but included this message:

“The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart.”

The mural was included at Ground Zero until wind damaged forced the removal. Parts of the mural can be seen in Branson. Smirnoff said about his American citizenry in his book “America On Six Rubles A Day”:

July 4, 1986, is a date I’ll never forget. It was then that the Statue of Liberty ceremonies were held at Ellis Island and I was sworn in as an American citizen. Now, no matter what date you become a citizen, it will be a thrill like none you’ve ever had before. It was a double thrill for me because I was chosen to represent California at that ceremony. Then came the unveiling of the newly renovated Statue of Liberty. Like a lot of you, I hoped that they hadn’t modernized her too much. But my worries were for nothing. She was as beautiful as ever, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was oblivious to everything around me; it was like I was in a trance.

Remember the scene from Rocky where he drink raw eggs? Too bad he didn’t know that he could get the same protein from whey protein powder. Just the thought of drinking raw eggs makes me sick to my stomach! The problem with drinking raw eggs is that some eggs contain the bacteria Salmonella enteritidis. The bacteria is found in the yolk of the egg, but is is also possible for it to be in egg whites as well. Always cook your eggs!

My daughter is taking American History at the High School, so I am relearning a lot about our history. One thing I came across was the Liberty Party.

The Liberty Party was formed in the 1840s and was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause. Their first presidential candidate was James G. Birney from Kentucky (he was a former slaveholder) in 1840 and 1844. In 1840, Birney received only 6,797 votes, but in the 1844 election he received 62,103 votes (2.3% of the popular vote).

Salmon Chase. Obviously they did not have shampoo for hair loss in those days!

In 1848, the Liberty Party met with others and ended up forming the Free Soil Party which later merged with the Republican party in 1854. In 1849, Salmon P. Chase was nominated from the Free Soil Party as a Senate candidate from Ohio and won that seat. In 1855, he won the governorship of Ohio.

Recently, Andrew Koenig, an American actor has been reported as missing. Andrew’s father, Walter Koenig who played Chekov in the originally Star Trek series, is hoping for his safe return.

Andrew Koenig was born August 17, 1968. Koenig is best know for his portrayal of Richard “Boner” Stabone in the television series Growing Pains. I remember that the character was into building muscle before there ever was the mention of natural muscle builders or bsn cell mass. Here is a sample of dialogue from the program:

Eddie: Uhh umm uh, what’s your dad’s name bone ?
Richard ‘Boner’ Stabone: Sylvester.
Mike: Wait a minute… Your dad’s name is Sylvester Stabone?
Richard ‘Boner’ Stabone: Who knew!

Here is a clip about him being missing:

Today, a red herring refers to a deliberate misdirection. Red herrings were used in hunting by poachers. Poachers would drag a red herring across the path between the prey and the hunting party. The scent of the herring would throw off the dogs, since the smell of fish was often used in training hunting dogs. The first use of red herring as a misdirection appeared in the Liverpool Daily Post of 11 July 1884:

The talk of revolutionary dangers is a mere red-herring.

Entertainment Weekly has rated the top 50 High School Movies. I am listing the top ten from this list here. If you want to see the entire list go here. Some of my favorite from the list include Dead Poet’s Society, Napoleon Dynamite, and Splendor in the Grass. Most of these movies feature fresh face kids who never need to look for acne solutions!

10. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – 1986
Who didn’t want to be Ferris in 12th grade? Who wouldn’t want school to be a magical place where you could wake up and call in sick (with an awesome hacking-cough keyboard) and then see your name in a get-well-soon message painted on the side of a water tower by lunch, all while you were cruising through Chicago in a red Ferrari? Thanks to Matthew Broderick as Ferris, teenagerdom has never felt more fun or mythic.
9. Election – 1999
Before taking on geezers (About Schmidt) and oenophiles (Sideways), director Alexander Payne in Election scabrously exposed the most embarrassing shortcomings of high schoolers in an artful, hilarious way. He doesn’t go easy on anybody — not Matthew Broderick’s weak, meddling teacher, nor Reese Witherspoon’s Fargo-accented student-council-president candidate. In fact, Election is as mean as high school at its worst.
8. Boys N the Hood – 1991
Set in South Central Los Angeles, John Singleton’s Oscar-nominated directorial debut revealed what it’s like to come of age — and cram for the SATs — in a community plagued by crime, violence, and gang warfare. By contrasting the collegiate aspirations of bookworm Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and football star Ricky Baker (Morris Chestnut) with the self-destructive lifestyle of dropout/drug dealer Doughboy (Ice Cube), Boyz effectively pimped for education.
7. Clueless – 1995
It’s a rare movie that makes you want to befriend the prettiest, most popular girl in school. But not all girls are Cher (Alicia Silverstone), who gets as many killer lines as fashion ensembles, learns that seeing the best in others is a way to better yourself, and discovers the joy of shopping with a well-dressed gay man — all at the ripe age of 15. Credit writer-director Amy Heckerling for making this modern-day Emma consistently smart and funny.
6. American Graffiti – 1973
Graffiti’s cast of teens — including Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard — has serious decisions to make on a late-summer night filled with rock music and hot rods, the kind that can only be made if they stay up ’til dawn. Should they ditch town for college? Should they stay with their gals? Whatever the choice, it infuses this most innocently joyous eve-of-adulthood film with that bittersweet feeling of leaving one’s childhood behind.
5. Heathers – 1989
For those who dream about offing an obnoxious classmate, Heathers is the ultimate fantasy. Full of mordant wit, shocking violence, and savvy performances by Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, the flick was the antithesis of the earnest ’80s John Hughes films — you’d never see Molly Ringwald serving up a kitchen-cleaner cocktail for Ally Sheedy. Even today, Heathers’ spin on cliques, teen suicide, and homosexuality still has bite.
4. Rebel Without a Cause – 1955
”You’re tearing me apart,” Jim Stark (James Dean) howls at his parents. For the new kid in school, it doesn’t get any easier. Though he finds a friend in the extremely troubled Plato (Sam Mineo), Stark gets into it on his first day with a gang of bullies, in a knife fight and later in a chickie run. Dean was a refreshing change from the well-scrubbed teens of earlier Hollywood films. Here was a character young audiences could finally recognize.
3. Dazed and Confused – 1993
Matthew McConaughey’s Wooderson likes high school girls because even though he gets older, they stay the same age. We feel the same way about Richard Linklater’s minutiae-filled comedic epic about the last day of school in 1976 — we may get older, but Dazed is ageless. And for a movie featuring so many stoners, Dazed is mammothly ambitious: Few other films say as much about starting, sticking around in, and leaving high school.
2. Fast Times at Ridgemont High – 1982
When screenwriter Cameron Crowe went undercover to observe the species Teenagerus americanus, he returned with more than the usual grab-bag of anecdotes about horny, apple-pie-humping guys and the popularity-obsessed girls who must fight them off with a stick. He returned with 24-karat truth. To watch Fast Times today is to know exactly what it felt like to be fixated on sex, drugs, and rock & roll in Southern California circa 1982. It also launched careers and dished out still-relevant life lessons: Jennifer Jason Leigh (relax your throat muscles when fellating a carrot), Phoebe Cates (always knock before entering a bathroom), and Judge Reinhold. And Sean Penn’s Jeff Spicoli, with his checkerboard Vans and bong-hit grin, was a geyser of catchphrases (”Aloha, Mr. Hand!”). The film never strains for coming-of-age treacle. Maybe that’s why it still feels so…right. Especially Damone’s sage advice: ”When it comes down to making out, whenever possible put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.”
1. The Breakfast Club – 1985
We see it as we want to see it — in the simplest terms, the most convenient definition: The Breakfast Club is the best high school movie of all time. It may lack the scope of its peers — the drinking, the driving, the listless loitering in parking lots — as well as any scenes that actually take place during school. But if hell is other people — and high school is hell — then John Hughes is the genre’s Sartre, and this is his No Exit. The concept is simple: one Saturday detention, five unhappy teens, and their scramble to prove they’re each something more than a brain (Anthony Michael Hall), an athlete (Emilio Estevez), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), a princess (Molly Ringwald), and a criminal (Judd Nelson). Following the farcical fluff of Sixteen Candles, the issues Hughes explored — sex, drugs, abuse, suicide, the need to belong to something — were surprisingly subversive and handled with bracing, R-rated honesty. ”’Kids movie’ was a derogatory term,” recalls Nelson, ”and Hughes was definitely not making that.” Thus, 21 years later, the film still sparks intense debates about the trials of teen life. (Sheedy’s goth freak gets a makeover, then gets the guy: well-earned happy ending or antifeminist propaganda? Discuss!). Never mind the serious sociological stuff. The Breakfast Club rules because watching the group dismantle/ignore the authority of Principal ”Dick” Vernon (Paul Gleason) is a vicarious thrill at any age. It rules because Simple Minds’ ”Don’t You Forget About Me” is a kick-ass theme. Mostly it rules because, as Hall puts it: ”In the end, you learn maybe we’re more alike than we realize, and that’s kind of cool.” Leave it to the neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie to get all cheesy.

Celebrity Fit Club on VH1 is now in its seventh season. This season, celebrities include Bobby Brown, Shar Jackson, Jay McCarroll, Nicole Eggert, Sebastian Bach, KayCee Stroh, Kevin Federline, and Tanisha Thomas. It doesn’t look like any of these celebrities have invested in a natural fat burner lately, but the boot camp style of this season is sure putting them through the workout! You can watch Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp on Mondays at 9:00pm on VH1.

No, not really love, but love as in nothing, the score that starts all tennis games. How did the term originate? Some believe that it was adapted from the phrase “to play for love of the game”. Basically to play for nothing. Others believe that it comes from the French word l’oeuf meaning an egg. I guess an egg resembles a zero?

There is something creepy about peeking through window blinds to see what your neighbors are up to and no one portrayed this feeling better than Alfred Hitchcock. One of my favorite Hitchcock movies is Rear Window.

The film was based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich entitled It Had to be Murder. The movie stars James Stewart as a photographer who spies on his neighbor while recuperating from a broken leg. His girlfriend is played by Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr plays on of the neighbors. The movie received four Academy Award nominations.