Book Review - Secret Life of Prince Charming

First~

#1-Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to all the men and women who fight for me every day. I know several cool folks in the military, and I thank you all for your dedication to your jobs, for your heart, and for having the courage to risk your lives to keep our country and way of life secure.

#2-Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband! Eight years ago tomorrow a judge in Indianapolis allowed these two nerds to get married:

and life just hasn't been the same since.

Here's to eight-plus more~

Now for the blog! A few weeks back, a mom-friend complained to me that Glee was very racy and the language and situations were inappropriate for children.

She was right, but I hadn't really thought about it because my little ladies are too young to watch the show and they aren't really interested in it anyway. So it hasn't been an issue at my house.

But I felt bad because other friends and I (used to) discuss it on FB every Thurs., and us mommies have to stick together. Mommy solidarity!

At the start of this season, the music and the choreography were still engaging, but I kept with it (despite the flagging storyline) primarily because Jane Lynch (and all the cast members of those Christopher Guest mockumentaries) is/are the funniest human(s) on the planet.

I commented it had peaked with the Madonna bit, but I gotta confess. They sure showed me. The writers got together and pulled out some really strong and moving final episodes.

I actually got a little misty at the wheelchair rider dreaming of being a dancer and the mother-daughter setup they unfolded between Idina and little Rachel. And a fun dose of Lady Gaga theatricality always wins. That was a brilliant finale.

(Here, I always chalked up my high tolerance for theatricality as the result of growing up in such close proximity to New Orleans. I completely forgot artists such as Queen, Alice Cooper, Bowie, Kiss, Elton John, etc., who were cuttin up during my formative years.)

So there you go. My DVR's still set for Glee.

As for book reviews, finished The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti, and man, I wished I was still teaching high school for a few minutes so I could round up a group of YA girls and get their take on it.

Here's the cover, which bears no relation to the plot (never at any time does this scene occur in the book):

I gotta be honest with you guys. I found SLPC to be predominantly... Boring.

And I hate to say that because I really enjoyed the humor and heart of Honey, Baby, Sweetheart. So I wondered if it's because I'm a grown-up (no giggling). To me the story behind SL of PC isn't new, and frankly, it's tiresome.

I mean, Caletti had a lot of good messages and great instructive stories, but I found it hard to slog through 200 pages of dumb girls and even dumber women making dumb love decisions. And then hot musician boy who's really sweet doesn't show up until the last 100 pages of her 325-page book.

Where's the fun in that?

If I were re-structuring it, I'd have introduced hot musician boy who's really sweet much earlier and had the struggle with MC's "I'm waiting for you to turn into a monster" ongoing as they learn the mistakes of her mom and her dad's exes.

That would've added a little sugar to the medicine. As it is, there just wasn't enough reason to care, and I had to will myself to keep reading.

But I'm ready to be challenged! Someone who loved it, please chime in and straighten me out. Tell me I missed the point just as surely as Lisa Schwartzbaum did reviewing SATC2.

On that note, even JRM got it when I said if I buy him a vintage Rolex that I've had engraved with a little phrase that's meaningful to the two of us for an anniversary present, and he in return buys me a flatscreen TV for our bedroom... He's in trouble.

Have a great holiday, guys. Til Wednesday~

Madonna Earth

So Happy Earth Day! The girls and I'll be at the Rave at 4:45 p.m. watching Oceans, and I cannot wait! I know, Nerds Unite (again). But it's really not like that. OK, it is, but it's more a tradition that started last year.

I love love love movies, right? And I would live in the movie theater if I could, but that's ridiculous. Still, I'm always looking for something good the girls and I can see. In that spirit, I don't know if anyone remembers last year Disney made a big deal about their movie Earth. If you went to see it on Earth Day, they'd plant a tree for every ticket sold.

So naturally we went. It was gorgeous and beautiful, and ... there was a circle of life moment that took us a few hours to get over. Wah wah waaahh... I felt bad about that.

When I was a kid, grown ups were always showing us movies like Bambi and Old Yeller and Dumbo and Where the Red Fern Grows, and I swore that I would never, NEVER! watch another movie that starred an animal again as long as I lived...

Well, we got over Earth, and before the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, they had a trailer for Oceans. Now I gotta tell you guys, I like the earth, but I LOVE the ocean. So I'm totally psyched.

I'm also hoping it'll be harder to get emotionally attached to a squid than say, a bear. (Of course, they'll probably make it Flipper or something. I'll let you know.)

Bonus: For every ticket sold today, Disney's donating a dollar to save the coral reefs. So... looking for something fun to do?

As for Madonna, well, you might've caught this week's Glee, which was devoted to her legacy. Richard said some of his secretaries were surprised that they were uncomfortable letting their kids watch it because it was too provocative.

At first I was empathetic and wondered if maybe there should've been more warning. But then I thought some more, and c'mon, people. This is Madonna we're talking about. Remember her? The one who got kicked out of the Catholic church by His Holiness himself? The name should've been warning enough.

Richard wondered how much she got paid for allowing them to use her songs. I wondered how much she paid them for making it look like there was actually a method to all her exhibitionism.

I was in middle school when Madonna was really getting big, and my parents were super strict. I mean, they worked hard to shelter us, bless their hearts.

I love my parents. And I knew every word to every Madonna song ever released. Even some that weren't released. And of course, I saw all the videos.

I try to remind myself of this as my little ladies creep closer and closer to their tweens. You can only protect them so far. And then they leave you and go to school/dance/art/friends'/etc.

Sigh.

When you think about it, parenthood is just one long journey into never sleeping again. Seriously. They're born, up all night. They move to "big girl beds," up all night. Even now.

Richard and I were having this big discussion last night about whether it's fair to attribute positive social change to Madge and all her silly antics when in walks Catherine--who'd been tucked in an hour before, mind you. She saw a UFO from her window.

I had to let Richard take that one. He's the SciFi nerd.

Then they'll start dating and driving, holy cow, no sleep. Then college... 

And that's how it goes, teenage girls. If that isn't an abstinence lesson in and of itself, I don't know what is.

OK, I'm just kidding. I don't know the magic formula. Is it right to shelter kids from sexual messages? Or should they be viewed as conversation starters. Of course, it all depends on maturity level, I know. Ultimately, while that Glee episode did push the envelope (much like its subject), the overall message was positive.

There's a lot of talk that kids are exposed to too much sexuality today. I grew up with Prince and Madonna and Duran Duran... My parents had the Rolling Stones and the Doors, Woodstock and Studio 54... my grandparents had Marilyn Monroe and Rosalind Russell...

So I'm not sure it's fair to say that.

I wasn't a sexually active teen, but some of my friends were. And we all knew what each other was doing and talked about it. (Ugh! Did I mention parenthood equals no sleep?)

Get me outta here. On a more positive note, I finished the new book!

Now before you spray coffee on your computer, it's not completely finished. The story's there all the way to the end, but I really pushed through it fast. Now I'm going back and filling in details at certain spots. And I really like it!

I'm also super excited that I actually came up with a completely new, standalone work that isn't part of the previous series. It's very encouraging. I just might be a novelist after all. Now if I could just get somebody in the publishing world to agree...

Still waiting on that front. Have a great weekend, guys. Next post, Monday~