Category: Entertainment

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Entertainment Travel

X Arm

X Arm is a brand new, never before seen Extreme Sport created by Art Davie, the co-founder the world-famous UFC.  It’s a crazy combination of Arm Wrestling, MMA, Boxing and Kick Boxing. 

 
Art Davie, hamming it up with Natasha and me

Running the program are Tedd Williams, founder and promoter of the Gladiator Challenge MMA events, Cal Worsham, all around bad-ass, and Cobra Rhodes, arm wrestling legend.

The X Arm fighters were each hand-picked and invited to attend one of two boot camp sessions at the American Sports University in San Bernardino, California.  One month later, they converged on the spot for the tournament on a closed set, along with a few select guests to make up the audience. 

It was a spectacle, to say the least: great moves, several amazing knock outs, unbelievable submission attempts, ingenious strategy as well as buckets of sweat, a few splashes of blood, and even a couple of broken bones.  All that, jammed into three, 1-minute rounds per fight.  Action packed?  You bet your ass it is.

GO HERE to catch a glimpse of the promo for the first episode of the X Arm reality series, which will cover the event from boot camp through the championship round.  It’s going to air on RipeTV.com (I’ll post a link each time a new episode is up) as well as on Comcast Cable -> On Demand -> The Cutting Edge, starting in late October.

Episode One aired October 23rd:  Bootcamp Day One.

Who ARE these athletes, you ask?  Well, aren’t you lucky I was taking notes!  The faces of the X Arm premier event are Ivan Gatoloai, Steve Walston, Rick Cheek, Fredrick Steen, Homer Moore, Justin Del Mugnaio, Bond Laupua, Rick Vardell, James Cordrey, and Andy Flennay.  Also on hand are Dave Huckaba and the always entertaining Tyson Johnson. 

Fierce?  Yes, they are.  But even more amazing, to me, anyway, is that all the fighters and their corner men were kept together for four days, and rather than hostility, there was a serious camaraderie.  Having been behind the scenes at plenty of MMA/Cage Fighting events, I was really pleased to see that every single one of their heads could fit in the breakfast room at one time. 

Not only that, but some wonderful friendships were made, strategies traded, and work out partners created.  Natasha and I?  We laughed until our faces hurt.  And then we laughed until our stomachs hurt.  

Because, apparently, this combination is even funnier than its individual parts:



Rick, Cobra Rhodes, Dave Huckaba and my Jeremy

And then when you go adding these two to the mix:


Cal Worsham and his wife
(hello Andrea’s glass of wine!  you look so lonely amongst all those beer bottles)

You’ve got more side-splitting laughs than an all-star comedy show.  Luckily for me, there weren’t any laughter-induced bladder control issues. 

WHAT?  You STILL haven’t clicked over to watch the promo?  Well here you go, lazy: X Arm Promo.  When you’re done, come back here and tell me what you think.    Right up your alley?  Too gruesome for you?  Have questions about the event?  Want me to give Tedd and Cal your demo for the X Arm event in January 2009?  GO!

* If any of you X Arm peeps would like me to change your link, email me at Jerdre53(at)aol(dot)com.  And while you’re at it, leave a comment so we know you were here! *

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Entertainment Life in general Motherhood and Pregnancy

The Price of Silence

The sun glints off the tip of my scalpel as I prepare to make an incision.  I hesitate – is this really necessary?  A quick nod, and seconds later the sharp blade pierces the skin above my heart. 

I remove the slippery, pulsating organ and place it gently on a platter made of fine, polished silver.

“We need to talk,” I whisper, poking an aorta with my gloved finger.

My heart says nothing, just continues its rhythmic beating as if it were still encased in my chest.

I take a deep breath and begin the meticulous dissection of my warm heart.  They must be in there, somewhere.  The place that pounds when I see billows of smoke in the distance, even if it’s only visible when my eyes are closed.  The spot that squeezes when I see a pregnant woman, and I don’t even understand why.   The general area that leaps into my throat when I think my dark thoughts in the middle of a sunny day.  They must be silenced, for they won’t listen to reason.

My search is in vain.  All that sits upon the tray is bloody, cut up meat where a perfectly performing heart once was.  Disappointed, I place the mess back into the gaping hole in my rib cage, and close it with my needle and thread.

“I was afraid this might happen, ” I say quietly, and make my way to the bathroom.  I wash the scalpel, wipe it dry. 

My eyes travel upward with the arc of my hand.  A single drop of blood splashes on the counter top as I make the first of many cuts that will lead me to my brain.  It must be silenced, for it won’t listen to reason.

Categories
Entertainment Kids

Nemo, and Other Undesirables

With my first child, I was adamant that she wouldn’t watch TV or be overwhelmed with “character” stuff.  Through that first year, I was pretty successful.  She was blissfully ignorant of cartoons and their merchandise, and our house was a Disney-free zone.

Then we came upon Alison’s first birthday closely followed by Christmas, and were inundated by gifts covered in Disney Princesses, Dora the Explorer, and Thomas the Tank Engine.  Gifts which, incidentally, Alison loved passionately.

Fast forward a couple of years, and enter a new baby on the scene.  A baby who, at the tender age of 15 months, knows the names of a lot of cartoon characters.  Not necessarily because she watches THAT much TV (although, yes, I admit she comes running at the first notes of The Backyardigans theme song) but because she has inherited Alison’s STUFF.

Stuff in perfectly good condition, stuff that’s actually pretty well designed save for that cartoon character smiling up from its surface.  A necessary evil?  Perhaps.

I have come to appreciate the educational cartoons and characters for the learning tools they can be.  Alison is much more willing to learn Spanish because she hears it from Dora and Diego as well as from us.  If she’s forgetting her manners, all I have to do is call her, “Princess Cleotasha” and she’ll shape up faster than if I try reminding her to be polite.

And Blythe?  Well, she spotted some juice with Elmo on it at the store the other day and could not rest until said juice was resting comfortably in the cart next to her.  Who can turn down a little voice saying, “Emmoh, pease?  Peeeease, mama, Emmmmooooooh?” 

Say a little prayer for me, m’kay?

Categories
Blogging Business Entertainment Life in general

Audience of One

Years ago I read somewhere that to be successful at writing (or acting, or whatever your craft may be) you should think of your audience as you work.  Without your audience, “they” said, you would be less able to fully engage yourself. 

Originally, this blog was supposed to be a spin off of my childbirth education website.  But if you were to go back and read those first posts (and believe me, I’m not encouraging you to do that) you would see how dry and bo-ring they were.  I hardly ever posted back then, because even I didn’t have any interest in reading something so… stiff.

But then I decided to find my audience.  Who could I write to, and feel completely at home with myself?  That answer was easy: my best friend of 17 years, Rachel.  Not only has she encouraged me to continue writing in many ways over time, but I also know that no matter what I say, she’s not going to laugh at me.  Well, she might, but it’s in a totally nice, non-judgmental way.

Whenever I sit down here to write a post, I pretend like I’m writing to Rachel.  She gets my sense of humor, and she loves me despite my quirks.  I can just be.  It’s incredibly liberating.  Rachel is my audience of one – and the reason I’m able to get over my self-doubt enough to write things for all the world to see.

The difference between the dull posts of my first 5 or so months here, and everything after that, is plain to see: Rachel helps me to be a better me.

———–

Do you have an audience, or are you able to hone your skills for yourself alone?

Categories
Entertainment Marriage

Movie Night: The Strangers with Liv Tyler

Last night Jeremy and I lingered over a delicious dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant.  I may or may not have been licking my plate and shaking the last drop of Pinot Grigio out of my glass, but who can blame me?  It’s not often I get to have an uninterrupted conversation with my husband and enjoy a whole, hot meal. 

Unfortunately, my overzealous eating made us about 10 minutes late for the new Adam Sandler movie.  We were faced with two choices: pick a different movie, or miss the start of The Zohan and hope we could find decent seats in the dark.  Another movie, The Strangers, was just starting, so we went with that.  After all, it had Liv Tyler in it and she’s nice to look at.  How bad could it be?

Turns out, it wasn’t all that bad but it was a horror movie.  I was a bit skeeved out by The Strangers, mainly because I live in the middle of nowhere.  The premise is that some random sociopaths decide to prey on anyone who happens to be home in a remote area of Pennsylvania.  Surprise!  Our protagonists are home and happen to answer their door at 4 am when someone knocks. 

Personally?  I call the Sheriff anytime I think someone might even be thinking about coming down my driveway after an acceptable hour.  One time, while I was pregnant with Alison and Jeremy was out of town, I heard what sounded like little people running around on my roof at 10 o’clock at night, I’m not even kidding.  If I were in The Strangers, I would have gone up on the roof to investigate.  But since I’m a real person with a brain, I called the Sheriff and made the dispatcher stay on the phone with me until they arrived. 

Are you on the edge of your seat, waiting to find out who was running around on my roof?  Did the Sheriff’s Deputy get decapitated by an axe-wielding maniac?  No, it was just the dang Peacocks, pooping all over the place, as usual.

My critical review of The Strangers would be 2 1/2 out of 4 stars.  Plenty of jump-in-your-seat moments, but a fairly predictable slasher flick.  It is loosely based on a a couple of crimes, including the Manson murders, which intrigued me.  I spent some time reading about those on wikipedia, and now I’m even more disturbed.  Given the choice again, I’d see The Zohan, even if I missed the first few minutes.  Laughs beat out skeeves, any day!