People, People Who Read People

I used to read People magazine. When it first came out, I thought it was interesting. Even had a subscription to it for a couple years. But eventually, I got over it.

The downside is that I simply cannot tell you the names of Brad and Angelina's kids, or who Lindsey Lohan's feuding with now. The good news is that I don't know the names of Brad and Angelina's kids... The other good thing is when I'm in the doctor's or dentist's office, I always go for the People magazine, just to find out how culturally out of touch I am.

The one I last caught was the People Extra, 30 Exclusive Celebrity Excerpts from December 2006, with Teri Hatcher, Anderson Cooper (yes, GP!), Vanessa Williams, and the ubiquitous Rachael Ray on the cover. Some of it was actually rather interesting: Cooper on his brother's suicide, Bob Newhart on becoming a dad, Larry David on "My Seinfeld Life".

Then I read "The Son We Lost" by Elizabeth Edwards. She's the wife of 2008 Presidential candidate John Edwards, and was writing about Wade, their 16-year-old, who was killed when the Jeep he was driving flipped off a highway in North Carolina on April 4, 1996. I knew it would be painful, but then I read this:
The grocery store was hard. How many times could I pass his favorite food, his choice of soda? Once he came crashing in on me, and I was thrown to the floor. I sat in the soda aisle and cried. Although the store was crowded, no one walked down the aisle in which I sat, flattened by Cherry Coke.
It was that paragraph that really got to me.

On a lighter note, there were those pieces such as "My Father, My President", a book Doro Bush wrote about Bush 41 and the family. What we got were the family Christmas cards over the years, and how Bush 43 was referred to as George, Jr. I expect answering a JEOPARDY question as GB Jr. wouldn't fly.
***
Speaking of JEOPARDY!, it is my self-appointed responsibility as a former champion to alert you to the fact that the show is offering its online test January 23, 24, and 25, but you must pre-register at jeopardy.com.
***
And speaking of game shows, Tom the Dog is on 1 Vs. 100 again tonight on NBC, as Mob member #81, at least $4,421.05 richer. Don't forget to pay the estimated tax, Tom!
***
Lydia was home with a strep throat Wednesday. You know when something is going to be terrible and you watch it anyway? Such was the case with
Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title, correctly described by Mark Evanier as "one of the crummiest but fun obscure movies ever made. It was produced and co-written by its co-star, Morey Amsterdam and it also stars Rose Marie, Richard Deacon", all alums of The Dick van Dyke show, and a bunch of guest stars he described, plus Irene Ryan dressed as Granny, and driving the Beverly Hillbillies' vehicle. I should have counted the number of time Rose rolled her eyes at some comment that Morey made; had to be in the high teens, at least.
***
100 Years of Pictures to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire". It's NOT very good, but is a video that's SO earnest...