December 23, 2006

It’s A Trip.

Earl and I are on our way to suburban Philly to spend some quality holiday time with his family. I always find it quite interesting to be amongst the traveling public, especially around the holidays, because there are a number of people that reserve their adventures for exclusively this time of year and don’t otherwise leave their little world. I find watching these folks fascinating. They get breathless over the fact that there is a Sbarros at selected Thruway service areas. (I hate to see what happens when the Outback Steakhouses open at service areas in the mid part of next year. They’ll pee their pants with excitement.) They adhere to the posted speed limit like glue. Their hands are at the 10 and 2 positions on the steering wheel.

Earl is driving this morning as a holiday treat to me. Surprisingly I’m not clinging to the roof of the car in terror as I occasionally do when he drives. I claim to be the world’s best driver because quite frankly I am and I think that in turn makes me one of the world’s worst passengers. But over the years I’ve learned to calm down and keep my mouth shut. And that is why I’m blogging while he’s driving.

Tomorrow night we’ll leave the family party around 8 or 9 p.m., getting us home close to 2 a.m. It’ll be pitch black as we drive through the Poconos and there will be little to see. Buzzed on sugar and Christmas goodies from the party, I’ll probably stop at Hickory Run for a quick McJolt and I’ll get to see how surly people get when they have to drive on Christmas Eve. Maybe I’ll invite Santa Claus to go drag racing through Scranton. Also kidding aside, I actually love the annual Christmas Eve trek very much.

Celebrity Spirit.

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Over the past number of years I’ve become increasingly disenchanted with the folks in Hollywood. Now don’t get me wrong, there are still many incredibly talented men and women that take to the big and small screens that I find quite enjoyable, but on the whole, I feel that most celebrities are overpaid, whiney and lack creativity and imagination. Those that are very good at their craft are often overshadowed by those that I can’t fathom why America cares about them because I can’t figure out why they’re famous (i.e. Paris Hilton) or they are a product of some bizarre star creation machine that takes what little talent they have and tries to amplify it (i.e. Ashlee Simpson).

There has been a story running on all the cable news outlets, every entertainment show and a lot of blogs about the whole Rosie O’Donnell versus Donald Trump debate. It’s a “Bloody Hollywood Feud!” is proclaimed as thunderous, ominous music blares from the smallest of speakers, letting us know that this is serious. Dum-dum-DUM!

You’re probably aware that the current Miss USA, miss what’s her name from some state, did some very un-Miss USA type things, which reportedly include a lot of drinking, some assorted chemical illegal substances, perhaps some kissing with Miss Teen USA and a sprinkling of possibly creative sexual adventures with a random sampling of men. Donald Trump, the owner of the Miss USA franchise was going to “fire” her (because after all that’s what he does, especially on “The Apprentice” which by th way, starts very soon, check your local listings, wink wink) but then decided he’d give her a second chance as Miss USA as long as she checked into rehab. As the announcement was being shown on CNN we were watching at work, without sound and I said to my co-workers, “watch, she’s going to cry, she’s going to cry, here it comes” and then after a precalculated number of head turns and manufactured words, she made the beauty queen sad face and started crying.

Anyways, the next day on The View, Rosie O’Donnell called Donald Trump on the carpet for this whole thing. She did an impersonation of him, including a dead-on mockery of his ‘hair flop’ and basically said that this whole thing was ridiculous because of his sordid past including multiple wives, mistresses, etc. and basically who was he to be the “moral compass” for anyone. Donald fired back by saying she was a big, fat, ugly lesbian who had a big mouth and has been basically ranting ever since.

All I have to say is this. Rosie O’Donnell has s a bigger heart than any fortune Donald Trump could amass. Rosie has taken her celebrity and has given back ten-fold to the community through various charities and other efforts. She goes out of her way to help those that are in need, whether she’s establishing better housing for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina or arranging for a young girl with Cystic Fibrosis to meet the cast of Rent. Yes, she’s loud, she’s opinionated, she probably runs contrary in her beliefs than the rest of this whacked out country and she’s in your face, but my God, she has a bigger heart than most that have “lots”.

I’ve always been a fan of Rosie O’Donnell. I always will be. And there are few celebrities that I would like to meet. But I would really like to meet Rosie O’Donnell. Just so I could shake her hand and say “thank you”.