BRIGHTENED MY DAY

If someone can get me to laugh at 8:30 in the morning than that person is one of two things: a scholar or a genuinely funny person. The actor/actress Viola Davis I believe is the latter.

Starring in the movie DOUBT along side Meryl Streep, it's not necessarily how long Davis was in the movie but the difference her character made on the movie the short time she was on screen. This morning she was on GMA (Good Morning America) talking with the crew about her nomination for an OSCAR for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Drama. In her short interview with GMA she was candid, cute and extremely real. She compared her being in the same scene with Meryl Streep to going 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. She also responded to the fact that at first Oprah wanted her role and directly wrote to the director asking for this role. Can you believe she was turned down? In response Davis says that she was glad that Oprah through her a bone because she needed this job! All last night she said her and her husband couldn't sleep and they kept asking each other if the other was sleeping -NOPE! Finally, the funniest thing was when cohost Robin Roberts told her to expect a lot of phone calls today from family, friends, first, second, third and fourth cousins. Davis laughed and said that she didn't want her third and fourth cousins to call... almost as if they would have some alterior motive, LOL!

If you want something to make your day click on the following link, it will make you smile!
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6707312

HAPPY DAY

As most of you know, every day I begin my day by watching ABC and end my day watching ABC.
It just so happens that Good Morning America and Nightline are two of the best produced telelvision news programs on TV today, and when I have time I love to watch World News Tonight with Charlie Gibson.

Yesterday was probably one of the best days in a long while when it came to delivering compelling, human interest news - in my opinion anyway! Four stories really caught my eye in particular. Check them out below if you're interested, and I know you will be!

4. In Pakistan, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto (left, photo courtesy of ABC NEWS)was haulted on Friday from attempting to hold protest rally's. Bhutto and her supporters are pushing for democracy in a country that has been reluctant to change with the times. Bhutto was placed under house arrest yesterday, forbidden to leave her compound by local officials - barbed wire, police brutality, road blocks, and tear gas have been prominent in the city. To read more log onto the following site: ABC INTERNATIONAL NEWS

3. I watched the Country Music Awards earlier in the week and saw a mesmorizing performance by American Idol alumn Kellie Pickler that paralyzed me! If you watched Pickler when she was A.I. she played the 'dumb girl role' while on the show that was neither cute or impressive - what a long way she has come! On the CMA's she sang the song called 'I Wonder,' and by the end of the song she was in tears on the stage barely being able to continue the song. The entire audiene lept to their feet and applauded the song. As I sat there I wondered as to why the song was so meaningful to her? Usually I am a stickler for lyrics but I didn't catch the lyrics I was just enjoying the song - yah, very strange for me to just enjoy a melody without giving any thought the lyrics! Two days later Good Morning America ran the following story which explains Kellie's song which is in fact about her relationship with her estranged mother. Watch the story and Pickler's performance below!






2. The following story made my Friday morning! How often do we see someone on the street, in the next car, at a club or on the subway but have neglected to say anything? Well New Yorker Patrick Moberg was another statistic but then decided to do something about it after spotting his 'dream girl' in a NYC subway! He created a website NYGirlOfMyDreams.com and believe it or not found the girl of his dreams in less than a week! To make a long story short, Camille Hayton is from Austrailia, her apartment recently burned down, then heard about the Web site from a friend, met Patrick on Thursday night to talk and was on Good Morning America Friday morning to talk about the site he put up in a quest to find her. Read and watch the story by clicking here! Patrick Moberg and Camille Hayton's Story!
I may be a big sap but this story gives me the inspiration to fall in love!!!


1. This story I chose as the most important news because we are guilty of being prejudice towards the homeless! On World News Tonight (last night) they named one of my favorite female singers/musicians as their PERSON OF THE WEEK. If you guessed Natalie Merchant you'd be correct! There is a new music compilation out right now called 'Give Us Your Poor,' that was put together to help end homelessness on the streets. Now what is so great about this disc is that both the spoken word and music was written by people who are or have been without a home at one time. Natalie Merchant, Danny Glover, Keb Mo, Medeleine Peyroux (I LOVE HER), and Mario Frangoulis all lend their voices and time on this amazing CD that has both some really strong lessons and songs! Frangoulis penns my favorite song on the disc called 'Feels Like Home.' The song, both touching and catchy is a knock-out that I'm sure you will like. Watch it below!!!



Have you ever heard of music for the soul? Well this is that kind of disc. Go buy it, or give it as a gift... they will enjoy it!

Read the story by clicking here, you will be so happy you did! Lending a Voice to the Homeless

GOOD AND BAD TV

Like most Americans (and the world) I enjoy television as much as the next person!

Heroes, Kid Nation, Brothers and Sisters, and Good Morning America are just some of my favorite guilty pleasures that I watch either daily or weekly! For some that don't know me very well you might not be aware that my all time favorite show is I Love Lucy. Did you know that? I think I can go out on a limb and say that I Love Lucy is also my brothers favorite show of all time too!

Today I just saw a new episode of I Love Lucy and I was so happy! Maybe I should clarfiy, it wasn't a new episode it was just one to me and that coming from me is saying something, I was certain I had seen them all. This episode was about a British admirer/starlette who was extremely fond of Ricky and Lucy wasn't having any of the flirting that was going on. I will save you with the entire detail of the program but Lucy ends up on a horse by the end of the episode which brought me to tears! Another part of the episode that was halarious was when the starlette wanted to get Ricky by himself so she asked permission from Lucy to take him to a luncheon. Lucy said the only way he could go was if she attended also. The British bitch said she would have invited Lucy but she only has a two-seater so she wouldn't know where to put Lucy. Lucy said "Why don't you tie me on the front of the car like a deer?!"

Okay maybe you had to be there to watch it... but it was funny! On the otherhand something I can't stand is bad television and when I was watching Ugly Betty on TV this past Thursday I was sick to my stomach on what bad TV the show is!

As you know the show is supposed to take place in New York City but is filmed almost entirely in Los Angeles. I know that a lot of shows are done this way but in the last few months I have watched as Ugly Betty uses obvious Los Angeles' backdrops, trying to pull them off for New York City clubs. Last season they used the Aston Kutcher invested restaurant "THE GEISHA HOUSE." Maybe I am being too picky since half of the country has no idea what "The Geisha House" is but why should they ruin it for the Los Angeles locals?

This week the show did it again and it made me even more upset because it involved the musical Wicked! All week long the show was advertising that it would be featuring the musid of the Tony Award Winning show and I was so giddy because I love the music of Wicked so much! When I got home they again tried to make the lobby of The Pantages Theatre to be the lobby of the The Gershwin Theatre in Manhattan. Not only did Ugly Betty ruin it for LA residents but they also ruined it for the NYC residents also. I was also excited to see the original cast of Wicked on Ugly Betty, but of course that wasn't going to happen either because the cast was the LA cast!

Again, maybe I am being way too picky but I feel that when a television show has milions of dollars for each episode they should do their best to make a great show that will be impressive 50 years from now just like I Love Lucy!