"Kendra" Post 3

This is the most exciting episode if you ask me.  It is the day of her wedding and she is very nervous yet excited and Hank, her future husband, feels the same.  They are having a huge wedding and it’s held at the playboy mansion.  Kendra’s brother walks her down the isle and you can tell that it means a lot to her.  The have every detail planned and the wedding is beautiful.  Kendra actually messes up her vows but it is humorous because it really just shows her personality, fun and carefree.  Her bridesmaids include Holly and Bridget, two former girlfriends of Hefner too.  The reception is with all of her family and friends and everyone has a great time.

"Kendra" Post 2

 

In this episode of Kendra she is getting married so her mother and friends are throwing her a bridal party.  She is very excited until she finds out some unexpected news.  She is pregnant and wonders how her mother will react since it is before her and Hank are officially married.  Kendra is very nervous and anxious to talk to her mother and doesn’t expect the bridal party to be for another week but her mother surprises her.  Her mom is in the middle of making a toast to Kendra and hands her an alcoholic beverage but she refuses and blurts out that it is because she is pregnant.  Her mother was in shock and didn’t say much so Kendra ran out and was really upset.  They don’t speak for a couple of weeks and finally Kendra gets the courage to call her so that they can talk about everything.  Her mother explains that she is just worried that everything is happening to fast, Kendra understands that and apologizes for blurting it out at the bridal party in front of everyone and realizes that she may have told her mother at an inappropriate time.  Everything turns out okay and they start back up planning the wedding and now preparing for a baby.

"Kendra" Post 1

Kendra, a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, has moved on to bigger and better things. She recently was engaged to Hank Basket a NBA player. They are moving in together and are having a big garage sale to get rid of all the extra things she doesn’t need. Kendra is sort of a pack rat and likes to keep everything, but her fiancé Hank talks her into giving a lot away and she decides to give all the money she raised to an animal shelter. Her friends make plans to get up early and start selling things, but early for Kendra is around eleven o’clock. They finally get everything set up but realize that no one is showing up, so they start to make signs and go around the neighborhood to ask people to come and check it out. By the end of the day there hard work starts to pay off and they get a few customers and they get rid of unneeded things and raise some money for the shelter. I like t his show a lot it is very humorous to see how Kendra and her friends handle certain situations and it keeps my attention.

"Brooke Knows Best" Post 3

Brooke was planning a big comeback in her singing and performing career and was eager to get started.  She was at her first dance rehearsal when she got a shocking phone call.  Her dad, Hulk Hogan a former pro-wrestler, had an incident where his legs went numb and he collapsed.  Brooke hurried to the hospital and had to put her career on pause.  Brooke’s dad went through a painful surgery but was feeling much better after a couple of days.  After Brooke made sure that her dad was okay she was back to work, but only had one day of rehearsal until her big show.   She was extremely stressed and had to work extra hard to learn the performance for her show the next day.  After her dad heard that she gave up rehearsing for her big show to come and comfort him he knew that he had to be there to support her.  That was a big surprise for Brooke and she was very thankful for him and he was as well for her.  She nailed her performance and was relieved that everything worked out.

"Brooke Knows Best" Post 2

One of Brooke’s roommates, Ashley, decides to go green and is trying to convince Brooke to go green also.  Brooke doesn’t really have an interest in this, but Ashley was determined and even bought new toilets, shower faucets with timers, and turned the air-conditioning off.  Brooke was not happy and started to rebel, their friendship was getting difficult.  The third roommate Glenn tried to get them back to themselves and getting along so he took them to dinner.  They both agreed to go halfway.  Brooke would help to protect the planet more and live with most of these changes and Ashley agreed to not be so harsh about it and take bothers feelings into consideration.  This made there living arrangements a lot easier and also helped for a good cause.   The three roommates were all happy again and getting along.

“Brooke Knows Best” Post 1

In this episode Brooke and her friends find a stray dog on the beach.  They search for its owner but can’t find it anywhere so they bring it back to their apartment.  Pets aren’t aloud in their building but they decide to keep the dog until they can find its owner.  They put up posters all over and hoped that someone would recognize the dog.  They decided to call him Nemo.  Brooke and her friends had previous plans to go to Key West so they asked Hulk Hogan, Brooke’s dad, to dog sit.  Hulk Hogan asked another good wrestling friend to help.  Nemo seemed to take a liking to Hulk but not to his friend.  The dog got into all of his clothes and tore everything up.  Luckily the next day the owner called the house and claimed the dog his real name turned out to be Lucas.  Brooke and her friends hurried back to say goodbye and were upset about it but knew they did someone a huge favor and felt good about it.  

The Ugly Truth

This movie is about Abby Richter, played by Katherine Heigl, who wants to find the perfect guy.  She is not very smooth and doesn’t know what she is doing wrong.  Abby is a morning show producer, and she happens to watch a segment of a local television show, “The Ugly Truth,” the host is Mike Chadway, played by Gerard Butler, he is a chauvinist who irritates Abby into calling the show and commenting on air.  The next day she finds out that her morning show needs more ratings and her boss has hired Mike to do a segment on their show to boost ratings. 

These two do not start off good.  Abby is a control freak and Mike is disgusting, or at least that’s what they think of each other.  A new guy is about to come into Abby’s life and he is “the man of her dreams”.   She tries to impress him so much that it starts to scare him off until Mike comes to her rescue.   He gives her his advice and to her surprise it actually works.  Their deal is that if his advice helps her get the man she wants then she will work with him happily, but if it doesn’t he agrees to quit the morning show. 

Mike succeeds at helping the ratings of the show, and successfully guides Abby to be exactly what her perfect guy would want.  Mike finds that Abby is actually the perfect girl for him and although they have so many differences they end up together and being happy with one another’s flaws.

This light-hearted movie did not have great reviews, but I enjoyed it.  Critics said it was a formula movie in which boy meets girl and lives happily ever after.  Although this is true, it was humorous and caught my attention from the beginning.  I thought when the cat ran up into the tree was one of the funniest scenes, and when Mike kissed Abby in the elevator was the most romantic scene.  If you enjoy Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses then you will enjoy this movie.  Since this was a “chick flick” most of the people in the audience were female, but there were a few males.  Many in the theater were laughing and smiling and seemed to be enjoying the movie.  

“Class, please take out your iPhone”

USA TODAY Tuesday, July 21, 2009

How many times have you heard your teacher say, ”Put your phone away”?  Colleges are offering a course taught by Apple employees that actually allow students to explore and use their iPhone during class time. 

There is an app (short for application) for just about anything and colleges and universities are taking notice.  Now they are offering courses in programming iPhone applications to computer related majors.  Independent programmers who pay $99 fee to create, test, and distribute their app largely produce these programs.  The class also offers qualifying colleges and universities to produce iPhone apps at no cost. 

The course is really appealing to college students.  It is current with the technology they are using everyday.   It is a hands on class that students really like.  After taking this course, students are able to create their own applications and in return are making money.   Students are learning to problem solve, and are developing “real-world” skills.   It is a college course that is becoming more popular at universities.  

“Student ordered to pay $675,000 for downloads”

State Journal Register—August 2, 2009

A federal jury on Friday ordered a Boston University graduate student who admitted he had illegally downloaded and shared music online to pay $675,000 to four record labels.  Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., admitted in court that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs. Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to between $750 and $30,000 per download.  But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds that thee downloads were willful.  Jurors ordered Tenenbaum to pay $22,500 for each incident of the copyright. 

Although this article is short I think it gives a good message to many teens.  Many people download music like it isn’t anything.  Obviously the authorities were setting an example of this person considering the outrageous dollar amount he was fined.  They were trying to get the message out that downloading is a serious crime and you will be punished if caught.   

“Jackson kids show value of picking a guardian”

State Journal Register—August 2, 2009

The tragic death of Michael Jackson has been in the news for weeks. Who will have custody of Jackson’s three children has been a hot topic of discussion in the news.  This article shows an example of how another couple went to extremes in trying to set up the custody for their children in the event something ever happened. 

From the beginning the couple had problems choosing who would get custody of the children if something ever happened to one of them.  They came to make an unusual agreement that the children would go to the wife and it’d be her families’ choice if they died on an even numbered year.  If the year was odd then the kids would go to the husband’s side of the family, and it just so happened that it was an odd numbered year.

It’s been an emotionally fought process from day one and this procedure is getting a renewed look at.  This is a struggle that often many parents have a problem with.   A lot of times it is such a difficult decision that parents delay in doing their wills altogether which ultimately leaves their children for the courts decision.  Lawyers usually say such decisions should be made before the child is born. 

Jackson’s three children are the subjects of a custody hearing Monday in Los Angeles.  Whomever parents choose the court has the last say.  I think that this is a good thing because the court will see both points of view and get to ask what the children want and what would be the best for them.

"Simon Cowell Pay Raise"

Chicago Tribune--Wednesday, July 29, 2009

American Idol is watched by millions of viewers each year and I saw an article where Simon Cowell is fighting for a $45 million raise. Is he worth all that?  Simon Cowell’s push for a raise was right after host Ryan Seacrest’s new contract and his co-cost Paula Abdul was also seeking a big raise in pay. 

Contracts are not uncommonly raised for the stars that are legions, which make the show and have millions of fans that watch because of them.  If they don’t keep the main three judges around then they are in danger of loosing most of their ratings.  Although ratings have declined in the past few years it is still the most-watched show on television besides the Super Bowl, and it gets the highest ratings from advertisers.  In the most recent season, the program averaged 26.6 million viewers per episode.   Advertisers gave out more than $700,000 for a 30-second commercial, and overall American Idol took almost $850 million in advertising revenue last season, more than any other television show.

With the amount of money generated by American Idol is Simon Cowell justified in the amount he is asking for?  While his contract does not expire until next season, Fox is committed to “American Idol” for another two years so they want to finalize the contract now.  I enjoy his personality.   He makes the show fun and interesting because you never know what he will say and that keeps me watching.  I think his comments are straightforward, and he is the judge people love to hate.  He is needed for the shows popularity and would be difficult to replace.