The Chatterbox

The Chatterbox

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August 21, 2009
The summer movies you didn't see
Summertime is when Hollywood releases its biggest, flashiest films, and this summer has been no exception. Loud, noisy, and often dumb movies like Transformers 2, Star Trek, and G.I. Joe have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. But some smaller films are deserving of your time and attention, too. Don't let these movies pass you by: Moon Sam Rockwell does double duty as the sole human inhabitant of a lunar-based space station, named Sam Bell, who's nearing the end of a three-year contract to mine for a source of clean energy. Living alone so far from home takes a...
District 9, Moon, Movies, Summer, The Hurt Locker
August 14, 2009
The Brady Bunch
Who could forget "The Brady Bunch," season four, episode 18? But do you remember NFL season 2007, episode 18-0? Like the pass that Bobby Brady threw to break Marsha’s nose, Eli Manning released the football. But unlike Marsha, Plaxico Burress caught it. Oh, how I wish the football would have hit Burress in the nose instead. I remember that day after the Super Bowl; the city of Boston was mute. No one wanted to talk about it. We needed to quickly forget that unforgettable season. Well, The Brady Bunch is now back. Greg, Marsha, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy are out. Wes Welker,...
Football, New England Patriots, Sports, Super Bowl
August 14, 2009
"Death Panels" would be an excellent name for a rock band
Watching the struggle for health care reform has been morbidly fascinating. Nearly everybody agrees that the system in place right now in the United States needs serious help, but that's the only common ground to be had. Conservatives accuse liberals of creeping statism with the plan under consideration in Congress, while liberals accuse conservatives of not providing alternatives. And then there are the death panels. If you didn't hear about it, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wrote on her Facebook page that the reform bill would create what she called "death panels," an impassive group of...
Health Care Reform, Politics, Sarah Palin
August 13, 2009
Woman tweets during childbirth
Yes, you read that right. No, she didn’t have some weird delivery complication or medical condition, she was tweeting, as in, posting on Twitter. You know, that fun little social networking site where you can instantly alert all of your “followers” of your every thought and move (in 140 characters or fewer, of course). And when the tweeter (or eh hem, is it twit?) is none other than Twitter CEO’s wife and baby mama, the tweets were heard ‘round the world. Maybe given her husband's job title she had no choice, but this feels like a new low. Although, this is surely not the first birth story...
Childbirth, Internet use, Social Networking, Twitter
August 12, 2009
Beyond Organics?
Just when I think I have healthy and sustainable eating somewhat figured out, I read, learn or hear something that makes me rethink my ways. If you had told me I would be spend so much of my energy devoted to healthy eating for my family when I was teenager, I would have looked at you sideways. Well, first I would have had to stop drinking my High Fructose Soda and eating my Partially Hydrogenated Snack, then I could have looked at you sideways. I simply didn’t think too much about what I ate as a teen. That was my parents’ job, and to their credit, they did a pretty wonderful job. My mom...
Healthy Eating
August 11, 2009
Breastfeeding doll
The world is a strange place. And Bebe Gloton just made it even stranger. Oh, you don't know Bebe? Let me introduce you. Bebe, this is the world. World, this is the newest children's toy, Bebe, "the doll that suckles 6-year-old girls." Wait...what? That's right. Little girls, or boys (whatever tickles your fancy), wear a vest that has daisies where the breasts would be and the doll will make suckling noises when held up to the daisies. hmmmm... The Spanish manufacturers say "the doll is meant to encourage nurturing in young girls and to promote breast-feeding." Umm...I don't really know what...
Breastfeeding, Children's Toy, Doll
August 7, 2009
John Hughes, 1950-2009
I can't ever recall a string of celebrity deaths quite like this one. Yesterday, the celebrated writer and director John Hughes died suddenly of a heart attack at age 59. Even if you haven't seen his movies, you've probably heard of them. Sixteen Candles. Pretty in Pink. The Breakfast Club. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Uncle Buck. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. And many more. I was a little young to catch the brunt of Hughes-mania. I came to his films later, in the mid-to-late-90s. As a result, I always wondered a few things about them. For example: If Cameron's problem is that he lets his...
Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, John Hughes, Movies, Pretty in Pink
August 4, 2009
Barefoot running
Lets talk about FiveFinger shoes, the shoe that has toes. When I first saw these shoes on a middle-aged woman on the train, I was like, "OMG, WTF!" I thought this was the next fashion faux pas since Crocs! Then, today I saw a guy running outside with them on. And then I read Lindsay's blog from Monday and it all came together. FiveFinger shoes were created to experience the barefoot effect during sports, play, and everyday activity, while giving you the grip and protection of regular shoes. They might look strange and totally dorky (in my opinion), but the website is kind of selling me on...
Barefoot, Running, Shoes