Triple R Early Edition

Hello everyone. As I am driving home to LA for the holidays tomorrow I won't be able to post our weekly edition of Romance Rumors and Rumblings. And boy oh boy there is a lot going on in the world of Hollywood romance.

Carrie Underwood is Engaged
Carrie Underwood and her hockey player boyfriend are engaged. Good for them. I'm a huge Carrie Underwood fan as she seems completely normal and down to earth plus she's an American Idol alum so what's not to like. She's genuinely talented and really pretty and yes I think she could be my girl crush. There I said it.

Brody and Jayde Split
So if any of you have ever watched an episode of The Hills you know who Brody and Jayde are. They've been dating for, as it says in the article, "about 15 months." Why isn't it just straight 15 months? Because they've broken up and gotten back together more times than I can count. On the show, they fight all the time. They broke up on the show this season, then they got back together at the end, but now apparently they've broken up again and this time for good. I'll believe it when I see it. The best part about this whole story is that they have to film the next season of The Hills together so that should be awesome.

Leann Rimes is Officially Divorced
So here's what I don't understand about this article. Why is this news? Leann Rimes has been stepping out with the guy she had the affair with for like 3 months. I think we all pretty much knew that a divorce was pending. I feel bad for her ex-husband though. He seems like a nice quiet guy who just wanted to be married.

Kate Hudson and A-Rod Call it Quits
So much for another Kate Hudson fling. Looks like she and A-Rod have officially called it quits and ::gasp:: she didn't invite him to her holiday party. O.M.G. This doesn't exactly surprise me. He was with Madonna for crying out loud. It just seemed like way too weird of a match. He's too much of a pretty boy for her hippy dippy ways.

One Jo Bro Ties the Knot
This story is ridiculous. The oldest Jonas Brother Kevin who is all of about 22 got married over the weekend in a CASTLE in Long Island. There was a giant blizzard but that didn't stop their 400 GUESTS from witnessing the wedding. The bride wore Vera Wang - blah blah, how unoriginal. You know what the most interesting part of this story? That Kevin Jonas can get laid now. Yep I said it. No more purity ring for K Jo.

Jon Minus Kate
It's official. Jon and Kate Gosselin are divorced. I mean there's not much to say here really. They thought it wouldn't happen until January but apparently they expedited Jon and Kate's so now it's done. The judge was probably tired of reading all about them accusing each other of terrible things and just said Ugh let's get this over with. Frankly, who can blame him?

Divorce for Tiger
Looks like Elin is moving forward with divorcing Tiger Woods. By the way did you know her name is pronounced Ee-lynn and not Ellen? Not only that but she has hired what appears to be the most powerful divorce lawyer in the world. Watch out Tiger. "Sources" all keep saying that she is definitely leaving him and it also looks like she will be spending Christmas in Sweden with the kids. Tiger meanwhile hasn't been seen in about three weeks which is kind of weird. It will be interesting to see how the prenup comes into play here. It looks like it could hold which would work out in Tiger's favor.

Phew. Hope you kept up. I think I still left out a few things if you can believe that.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. Peace, love and joy to all of you and your loved ones!

Video of the Day Christmas Style

With Christmas quickly approaching, I felt a holiday-themed video of the day would be appropriate. You should turn the volume up on your computer to really enjoy this.

UPDATE - 1/4/10
I removed the video because it played automatically and it reminded me of going to the websites I used to work on at CBS and having this music play or someone yelling on your screen but you can't find where it's coming from. Hope you enjoyed it/laughed.

New Awesome Link

I found this link while I was perusing Cake Wrecks. And if you haven't looked at Cake Wrecks yet, it's really good for a laugh, especially the comments so do yourself a favor!

Today we present:

Your Status is Annoying

"You think peanut butter is yummy? I don't care. You love your boyfriend? I really don't care. Just because the technology is available, doesn't mean you have to use it."

Enjoy.

Part Dos of Triple R-The Tiger Woods Edition

Okay we are ready now for part two of "Romance Rumors and Rumblings - The Tiger Woods Edition". I took a few days off because it was the fall finale of "Glee" then we had Scotto and James in the house (shoutout) all weekend.

On to the good stuff. On Tuesday we discussed the mistresses and Tiger's wife so that means today we will discuss the man of the hour himself as well as what the future may hold for Mr. Woods. This could also be long too, so that's your disclaimer.

Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all

I'm semi-stealing this joke from CM but somewhere Phil Mickelson is having a great week. Man I did not see this coming. An affair with one woman maybe but upwards of 10? I'm not going to go through who each and every woman is but let me tell you, there's no one special on that list. A bunch of waitresses, some partygoers and club hoppers, I think a porn star was mentioned; where are your standards Tiger? But I think I'm getting ahead of myself.

So why does one of the most successful pro athletes in the world (money and championship-wise) end up in trouble like this? My first thought is that it stems from boredom. We all think he's amazing. We can't take our eyes off him when he plays and can't stop talking about him around the water cooler the next day. But maybe he thinks of it as just another day. Maybe because golf is technically his job he sees it like we see our jobs. You get up and go to work. Sometimes you have a good day and sometimes you have a bad day. The day ends and you come home. You eat dinner, talk with your family, maybe argue with your wife. You watch TV. You go to bed. And you do it all again the next day. I know it's crazy to think because his job involves travel and fancy cars and clothes and all the riches of a celeb lifestyle. But maybe he really is tired of it.

Think of something you've been doing since you were what 3 years old? Not many of us really have a thing like that. I guess mine is reading so I'll use that. How big of a "passion" do I really have for reading? At the end of the day, I like doing it. Some days I really can't wait to snuggle up with a good book and some nights I'm like ugh reading sounds like way too much work right now. But it doesn't define me like golf defines Tiger Woods. Tiger has been playing golf for a really long time and I don't think it's the actual golf that he might be bored with, but possibly more of everything that goes with it.

So with that comes a second guess as to why this is all happening: the pressures of his lifestyle. Again it's hard for us to imagine but it's not out of the realm of possibility is it? Having never played real golf in my entire life, I'm not gonna lie, I think golf is an incredibly stressful sport. I don't really understand what's so relaxing about it, except if you play it my way. And my way includes flip cup, iPod speakers blasting Journey and snacks. I don't know, golf just seems really stressful. It's just you out there in your own head and that can take a toll on a person. And god forbid the ball gets stuck in the sand or next to a tree. Then you basically have to make a shot that involves phrases like "98 degree angle" and magic/wizardry isn't allowed. That stresses me out just thinking about it. So not only does Tiger have to play golf, but he gets the privilege of doing it with 8000 people standing four feet away from him staring at him. I'm sorry but these all sound like very high pressure situations to me. Plus because he's Tiger, he's not supposed to lose. So if he does for some reason lose, he gets analyzed and questioned and that can stress someone out too. He also has to maintain a certain image for his endorsements; he has to be that ultimate man all the time to fit the brand of Nike and Gillette and Tag Heuer watches and Gatorade.

So boredom and/or stress seem to be some plausible ideas as to why he could have gone semi-out of control like this right?

Okay so now why these random, obscure women? And why so many? I cannot understand why someone cheats. If things aren't good at home and you want to be with someone else, then leave and go. Divorce isn't that great for your image but trust me, you look like an even bigger jackass now. So I will never understand cheating and frankly I don't want to. Perhaps this is him rebelling. If he is that sick of the lifestyle and the standards he has to uphold all the time, maybe this is his way of doing something completely out of character and the exact opposite of everything people think about him. Maybe if he is sick of his boring life, this would be the obvious way to make things a lot less boring. I just don't think he was expecting to get caught. So that's his bad for getting with LA cocktail waitresses who want to get famous fast. Clearly they are loving this attention.

So do I feel bad for Tiger Woods? Not really. He effed up. (Warning: girl power talk about to commence) He had a wife who appeared to love him and support him and his career and not to mention the two children they have. If nothing else, the kids have to come into play at some point to make someone think twice about their decisions. Although they're too young now, I'm sure at some point in their life things will come up and then what? I'm just saying that he had it all and for whatever reason, he felt the need to throw it all away. I just don't get it. Like I said before, if you're that unhappy with things, just leave. You'll look bad at first, but people will get over divorce a heck of a lot faster than they will when it comes out you slept with 13 women over the last few years.

The Future

So what lies ahead for these three parties?

Well clearly the mistresses are already doing their part to cash in on the situation. One is already getting offers to do Playboy, I think all of them are hiring Gloria Allred for some situation. Why do THEY need a lawyer? That's what I don't get at all. The paparazzi is all about them. So slowly but surely, I feel like they're all getting what they wanted. Like I said before, cocktail waitresses and socialites are usually about one thing: the attention. So congrats girls, I guess.

We've started to see the direction that Tiger's wife might take. It's rumored that she's bought a house in Sweden and did it all on her own. Apparently she was also spotted without her wedding ring while pumping gas in Florida. So maybe that means that she's getting used to the idea of living life without him? I'm not gonna lie, I would probably walk away if I was her. Take Tiger to the house, take the kids, hire a bunch of maids and nannies and just make it work.

Finally we've also started to see the "fallout" that Tiger is suffering. A couple of sponsors have dropped him, most notably Gatorade and Gillette. He's taken an indefinite leave from golf. But you wonder if somehow it's the fact that he's not playing golf more than anything else. Gatorade came out pretty quickly and said they were stopping his drink, but otherwise it's been slow announcements here or there with most of them not happening until after he announced he wasn't playing golf for the next little while.

In the end I think Tiger will come out just fine. Nike's standing by him as is EA Sports. He'll come back to golf and dominate just like he did after his knee surgery and every other time he's needed to. If he's smart, he waits until his wife tells him he can go back to playing golf. His focus should be on figuring out what he wants. But he also needs to realize that what he wants might not be what he gets to have. Right now, his future probably lies in the hands of his wife and he has to be okay with that. She gets to call the shots right now and he needs to respect that.

Triple R - Special Tiger Woods Edition Part I

It's Tuesday so that means it's time for everybody's favorite new feature: Romance Rumors and Rumblings. Today though it's time for a very special edition (already!?). Today we dedicate our feature to our good friend Mr. Tiger Woods. It's time.

To keep things clear, we are going to break things down into a few categories: the mistresses, the wife, Mr. Woods himself and the future.

First, a little history for those who have been living in a cave for the past 2 weeks. I didn't know this but apparently the very first mistress story came about before the entire car accident thing happened. The National Enquirer ran this story about a New York socialite having an affair with Tiger but the woman denies it. Then a few days later it comes out that he got into a car crash and hit a tree. That weekend, things start to get shadier and shadier. Why was Tiger leaving his house at 2:30 in the morning? Why doesn't he talk to police about what happened? Well then our good friends at TMZ report that he and his wife had been fighting over these rumored affairs and he stormed out of the house. So then they issue a statement where he says his wife acted courageously and helped him during the crash. After this, another woman comes forward and says she had a 31-month affair with him. Then the voicemail comes out where he tells her to take her name off her phone. So Tiger tries to man up and issue another statement about his "transgressions". But despite all of that, chaos has ensued and now as many as 10 women are coming forward claiming to have been with him.

The Mistresses
Like I said, as of Monday, as many as 10 women have come forward to say that they were somehow intimately involved with Tiger Woods. For some, it was just a couple of nights here and there while others insist that they carried on long-term relationships with the golfer. The most notable ones are the one New York socialite who started this whole thing and then a second one who was on some terrible show on VH1 and has quite the rap sheet.

So my beef with the mistresses is this: is this really the way you want to get your 15 minutes of fame? Are people that obsessed with becoming famous that they'll go to these lengths? These women have gotten a hold of pretty much every trashy tabloid and newspaper that will listen to them and disclosed basically everything. The more details the better. But is this really how you want to get your name out there? With Radar Online and TMZ sharing every gory detail of your past with the world? These websites and tabloids will get their hands on anything and everything and run with it. So apparently these women really don't have a lot of pride in themselves, which I guess is clear based on the fact that they fully consented to having an affair. Sorry if that's harsh but give me a break. For 15 minutes of fame, you're going to let videos and topless pictures and news about how you were in jail once and did all of these scandalous things come out? Why can't you just try and get famous by being really terrible on an audition episode of American Idol like normal people?

Furthermore, do these women really think people are going to believe their "I had no idea he was a celebrity" sob stories? Please. He is Tiger Woods. Even if you don't watch golf, you mean to tell me you've never flipped through a magazine and seen a Gatorade ad? You've never seen one of those Gillette commercials on TV? Have you ever heard of Nike? Come on. Or on second thought, I guess if all you do is party and waitress and go out to clubs, maybe you don't have time to watch TV or look through magazines.

And in my final notes about the mistresses, who saves 100s and 100s of text messages without thinking to themselves "You know, at some point these could be really valuable." I love CM a lot but I have no desire to save any of his text messages. I'm sorry but it's true. Furthermore, how is it even possible to save that many? I'm just saying that I am 99% sure these women fully knew what they were getting themselves and had a master plan to expose everything when the time was right the whole time. Shady.

The Wife
So if all of these affairs really did happen (and at this point, it's getting pretty hard to find evidence that says otherwise), how pissed are you if you're Elin? If she did in fact go after his car with golf clubs because she was all sorts of infuriated with him, who can blame her. She's stood by him as the trophy wife for the past five years and this is the thanks she gets? Golf is boring and she watched a lot of golf to show her support for him. Plus, she's a supermodel. It doesn't really get any better than that for a dude.

So what are her options? Well, she can leave him. And she can stay with him. Usually the immediate answer is you leave his ass. But not so fast. There of course is the almighty prenup to consider. Originally she would get 20 mil if she stayed with him for 10 years. Now things have apparently been rearranged so that she can get up to 80 mil for only 7 years. For those keeping score at home, that's in only two more years. Furthermore, pictures of her and their kids are going for like 250K. So then she can sell her story to the highest bidder: Why I Stayed with Tiger. US Weekly would love it.

Is this really the path that celebrity marriages have taken? Everything ultimately ends in dollars? That makes me pretty sad. Yes they were apparently doing some intense counseling when all the affair news started coming out and you have to give them credit for that because something tells me not a lot of high profile couples take that route and if so, they don't talk about it. But at the end of the day, people aren't talking about that are they? People aren't writing stories about deals where if Tiger goes through three years of intense counseling then she'll stay with him are they. Dollars baby, dollars.

But I'm sorry Elin. I'd still leave him. Five years, two children - and something tells me that Tiger Woods was not the easiest guy to live with. If money's what you want, I'm pretty sure that can be arranged. There's already stories that say she bought some castle or something in her home country of Sweden and that she hasn't been at their home in a few days. So maybe things are already heading in that direction. She has every right to take him to the house right now because he's essentially made a fool out of her. And yes maybe I'm getting all girl power on everyone right now but I'm sorry, she'll have a lot of judges on her side who will give her what she wants over how ever many years she wants it. Take the kids, get child support, and then sell your story of how you were hurt and embarassed but now you're a single lady making it in a big bad world. Yeah ladies!

Ooooh looks like I'm leaving you guys hanging. This is long enough for now... tomorrow or Thursday we will post part dos and discuss Tiger himself as well as what the future holds for everyone.

CHEESEBURGERS!

Welcome to the greatest post in the history of Livin the Dream.

Julie, who is currently my absolute hero and favorite person, sent me the following link:

Cheese and Burger Society

Do yourself a favor and click on View Burgers. Also turn up the volume on your computer. This is work-friendly so no worries. Seriously, do it now. I can wait.

Yes you're right. A collection of 30 delicious cheeseburgers packed with toppings, sauces, and cheeses for your viewing pleasure. Just seeing them not enough? Well then Joe from Family Guy will tell you just how amazing they are (that's why you're supposed to turn the volume on your computer up).

Craving more? Oh don't worry my friends. Click on the Make the Burger tab of any of the cheeseburgers. Ingredients baby, ingredients.

Which leads me to the most brilliant idea ever: the debut of a new feature on Livin the Dream.

The Cheeseburger of the Month

What!? That's crazy talk! I know. It's hard to contain your excitement.

Once a month, I will attempt, to the best of my ability, to recreate one of the cheeseburgers featured on the Cheese and Burger Society website. Along the way, the chaos will be documented via picture and/or video if I decide to get really crazy. Then, after feasting, we will post reviews of how the cheeseburger tasted maybe with some guest quotes.

It's going to be amazing.

First order of business, acquire a George Foreman grill. Though not the optimal way to cook a cheeseburger, for our purposes, it will do until we can do a BBQ.

Projected start date: January 2010.

If you're in the Sacramento area, you will be invited to join in on the Burger of the Month festivities so stay tuned!

Disclaimer: Some of the cheeseburgers have ingredients that might be a little hard to acquire at the fine grocery stores of Sac-Town. So we might take some artistic liberty with some of the toppings.

This originally started as "The 12 Days of Cheeseburger Christmas" but then I realized I'd probably have to do "The 112 Days of Working Out" in order to compensate for 12 straight days of cheeseburgers. So then I went to Cheeseburger of the Week. But then after looking at some of the ingredients, I realized it could a) get expensive to buy meat and different toppings every week and b) still be a little bit of cheeseburger overkill.

So a Cheeseburger of the Month made the most sense financially and um cheeseburger-ly. And as Julie said "Then it is a delicious treat to look forward to rather than a weekly chore." Brilliant.

In conclusion, this really is the greatest idea ever. And who knows? Maybe after I've mastered the first 12 cheeseburgers, perhaps I will have developed my culinary skills enough to tackle the rest.

Celebrity News and Notes 12.1.09

When did it become December? Let's go!

(That intro was supposed to be like they do on that show Most Extreme Elimination Challenge - see the 1:24 mark of that clip.)

Pure Hilarity

So I don't know what drove me to click on the link for this story but I'm kind of glad I did. So I see this headline that says Hailey Glassman aka Jon Gosselin's ex-22-year-old-rebound is finally going out on dates and I actually thought to myself "Good for her". I mean really it is good for her. She got caught up in this whirlwind with this dbag guy 10 years older than her who ended up kicking her to the curb to save his rep and, even though I probably made fun of her a lot on the Vox blog, we are new and improved with a new and improved attitude.

But then I read the article. Really? After I just said such nice things about you Hailey Glassman? Wait, let me say that in language you understand: I was like OMG Hailey's way cool =) I hope things work out for her n stuff. But then I read what she Twittered and I was l

ike wtf. Anyway, so now I think she's still just like...eh...annoying. haha.

Not Another One

So we know that everything Simon Cowell touches basically turns to gold. But do we really need yet another reality talent show here in the USA? Um I think not. We've got American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, the show with David Hasselhoff, So You Think You Can Dance and those are just the ones on primetime regular TV. Is it that hard to get creative and make scripted television anymore? This is a weird one though because it doesn't sound like they're actually making a TV show. It's going to be all online with people doing a pay-per-view system to watch episodes. Has anything like this been done before? Not sure. But I can't see a lot of success with this. I've worked with a system like this before and let me tell you, people get cranky when they think they're not getting what they paid for. But then again, if you're going to try to get people to throw money away on something, Vegas is the place to do that.

Solo Jo Bro

Hopefully there aren't any 14-year-olds reading this right now, but I think we are starting to see the end of the Jonas Brothers. What! I know. I've seen it before. When Justin Timberlake got to sing all of "Gone" by himself on the Celebrity album, that was a sign. He was the youngest, he was the best-looking (except for JC) and he was the most talented. So is Nick Jonas. The oldest one is about to get married. Oh and by the way, did anybody out there know that he's only 21 and about to get married? But I digress. The middle one is weird-looking. But Nick is very marketable and has a lot of years left in this business. And as much as they want to put out statements and Twitters and messages on their website that this is not the end of the Jo Bros... sorry boys and sorry teenyboppers.

Romance Rumors and Rumblings

I'm thinking of starting a new feature here on Livin' the Dream called "Romance Rumors and Rumblings" aka Triple R. Because in the world of celebrity gossip, there are never enough stories about who's hooking up and breaking up these days. So welcome to the first installment. I'm taking a page from Phil's blog and turning this into a weekly feature composed of all the best (and worst) romance rumors from the week.

Speaking of Phil, no rumors here. He and The Shelbs are engaged! Giant Livin the Dream shoutout to the two of them.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon might be broken up. I say might because this is one of those "a source close to the couple has revealed" stories. Their reps are denying that they've split up so I guess this is still a developing story but I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being true. Personally I think Jake Gyllenhaal (who might have more unnecessary vowels in his name than I do) is getting a little tired of waiting for Reese to be "ready" to marry him.

Don't get me wrong. I am a huge fan of anything Reese Witherspoon does. But she talks an awful lot about not being "ready" for another marriage and I don't get what's holding her back still. I understood at first that she was being careful because she had just gone through a pretty public and not so nice divorce. However, that was almost four years ago. Then here comes a guy who helps you through that, who has been there for your kids, and seems like he's a pretty upstanding guy. So what's the problem? If I'm Jake I'm starting to get a little irritated I think.

Chelsea Clinton is engaged. That's all really.

Apparently Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are on the rocks too. Maybe I'm not reading the right celeb gossip sites, but how did I not know about this "tell all" book about them? Brangelina: The Untold Story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie comes out tomorrow and predicts they will be split up by Christmas 2010. I don't see it. I think they both are finally doing what they want with their lives and have the family that both of them, Brad especially, have wanted for a while. Yes I'm sure things in their life are crazy but that's pretty standard when you're mega-superstars and have like 10 kids. You have to admit though, they've slowed down a lot. Shoot this time last year, Jolie would have been pregnant again. You don't hear as much about them which is why these rumors start up most of the time. Who wants to write about the great charity work they're doing when they can make something up about their distressed relationship? They're starting to be a little bit boring and ::gasp:: normal. Let's look at the stuff that they allegedly fight about: the kids, the messy house, the nanny, politics. Hate to break it to everyone but I'm pretty sure this is what every normal couple argues about. In conclusion, everyone needs to calm down.

Finally, George Clooney introduced his girlfriend to his mother the other night. So could this be it for George Clooney's bachelorhood? Could he finally have found The One? Calm down people - they've only been dating for five months. But still, when mom is brought into the picture, traditionally that means things are pretty serious. In a way I hope George Clooney doesn't ever get married. It's totally part of his allure and what makes him so mysterious. He stays out of the spotlight, he's aloof, and he just doesn't really have relationships. It's his "thing".

So now we have the predictions section of our new weekly feature. I totally just made that up:
Reese and Jake split up: 87% that this comes out as true
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split up: 32% that this comes out true
George Clooney marries his new girlfriend: 50-50. He's tough to read.

The John Mayer Enigma

I found an actually interesting about John Mayer on Yahoo the other day. The title was "Why Do People Loathe John Mayer?". An article in "Details" magazine (never heard of it) basically asks the question of why people can't stand John Mayer. And his answers were pretty surprising and actually made me think that maybe he's not that bad after all.

It's true though. When John Mayer does anything but make music, he is kind of a giant dbag. From his Twitters to his romantic escapades, he just always comes off as an ass.

But apparently he is aware of this. And I guess he has no problem with it.

So does this make him more of a dbag? Does he come off as a lot more self-absorbed because he just doesn't care what people think?

I don't think that he doesn't care. I think he actually does care and I think it might even bother him that people give him a hard time.

I'm not sure if some of you out there have ever known a musician in your life, but I've known a couple and they are well, different from the average bear. Without their instrument, be it voice, guitar, piano, harmonica, whatever, they don't always know the best way to express themselves. Guys and girls I've known that are musicians are often reserved and don't want to be in the spotlight unless they're playing for people. They're just different.

For the most part, I think this is how John Mayer is. For the most part. This doesn't explain his random (and often borderline inappropriate) Twitters but let's face it. Twitter is first of all another way to protect yourself while you tell people how you really feel about things. And second, there are a lot worse things that people are putting on the Internet these days. Somehow it's become just a free for all for people to post whatever they want, whenever they want. I think it's terrible that people don't always take into consideration the repercussions of what they post on the internet, but that's another post for another time.

Then there's the whole dating celebrities thing. Think about this. How many super famous people can you name that are dating someone who is not also a celebrity? I'd be impressed if you could name me more than five. I think celebs are drawn to each other because they go through the same life experiences. Paparazzi, fabulous parties, long hours on set or in the studio is hard for those not in the business to understand. If you have a significant other, doesn't it make it easier if they understand your lifestyle/interests/career? And if you're not with someone right now, wouldn't you want to be with someone who gets that stuff too? So I don't think John Mayer is dating famous people just to be like "I'm John Mayer, I do what I want." I think as someone who comes off as pretty introverted to me, he wants someone who appreciates a quiet night at home. Now, the fact that the people he dates always end up being drop dead gorgeous is another story. Do I ever see John Mayer dating someone "normal looking"? No. So maybe this is where he starts to seem a little self-centered. It's a fine line my friends. A fine line.

The fact that he has a vast collection of women's leather bags is just disturbing. But come on, again, what celebrity out there doesn't own a bunch of ridiculous stuff. I hear Nicolas Cage owned a poisonous snake AND the antidote for the venom in case someone got bit. It's what you do when you're a celebrity. Cars, snakes, women's purses, whatever. You make money to spend it.

So bottom line is, John Mayer is an enigma. Hence the title of this post. But after reading this article, I honestly don't think he means to come off as an ass. It just kind of happens if you can believe that. I think at the end of the day he just wants to make music and play his guitar. Really it's pretty simple when you think about it. But I also think that sometimes he takes a little bit of satisfaction in putting that zinger up on Twitter or getting photographed with Jennifer Aniston on his arm. Just a little bit.

Video of the Day Thanksgiving Edition

If you haven't seen the show Glee, seriously what are you waiting for?

This is a video of the cast singing the National Anthem at Game 3 of the World Series in September or whenever that was. Le. Git.

Potluck Etiquette 101

The holidays are upon us which means it's time for family, friends and food. And with food usually comes everyone's favorite: the potluck. Today I had my first official potluck of the holiday season and there were a few, well, observations that were made. So I thought I would make a simple how-to guide to navigating the potluck. Enjoy.

Sign up for something legit. Don't be that guy who writes down "napkins" when everyone else is about to go out and drop 20-30 bucks on a halfway decent potluck item. You by no means need to go out and pull a Martha Stewart on everyone but come on. At least make the attempt to couple a few items together and bring like napkins AND soup. This is your disclaimer: you look like a cheapskate and people will make jokes about you for years.

Also, if you forget or are just too busy to contribute to the potluck, just man up and say so. Don't try to just buddy up with someone and claim that you and someone else have a "joint" item. Especially if the item is salad. A "joint salad"? Really? At least if you're going to try and cover up the fact that you're the guy that didn't bring anything try to join up with someone who brought something legit. "Joint yams" or "joint mashed potatoes and gravy" sounds a lot better than "joint salad". Oh and you probably shouldn't let us see you pouring the store bought bag of salad into a bowl five seconds before everyone is about to eat. So if your forget, your first option should be to man up and apologize and say you forgot. Second option is to join forces with someone whose dish is a good one.

Okay so you make the decision to be that guy who is just going to bring napkins. Fine. Well then for the love of sweet baby Jesus, don't be the first person in line to get your food. Have some sense of decency and courtesy and a) let your boss go first, b) let a LADY go first or c) let someone who actually spent more than $3.99 on their item go first. I mean it's really just all about manners at this point.

Similarly, if you are that guy that just brought napkins, the least you can do is use your own napkins to then help to clean up. Likewise, if you forget/straight up don't bring an item, you really should offer to clean up. Again, manners people.

Finally, the clean up is really the trickiest part of the whole potluck experience because frankly, no one wants to do it. But here is one small rule of thumb. If you did not bring the item, you should find out who did before you straight up just throw away any leftovers. Maybe someone wanted to keep those deviled eggs.

Overall, nobody really likes pot lucks. They're kind of a hassle, nobody has the time to make something or really the money to go out and buy something to contribute. And if you're like me you're paranoid about if anyone will actually eat what you brought.

So there you go. Your friendly guide to all things potluck just in time for the holiday season.

Good luck everyone.

Why is This News?

Welcome to the new and improved version of Why is This News? Today we have two articles for your head-scratching pleasure.

In addition to asking myself "Why on earth is this news?", I also said a lot of things when I saw this article about Food Network sweetheart Paula Dean. The headline itself is enough to really make you wonder what these gossip sites subject us to. I mean I can kind of see it as it's a story about a celebrity who got hurt. But how many of you out there honestly know who Paula Dean is? I probably wouldn't if my mom didn't watch her every day. So I can see this story on Food Network's website but US Magazine? Seems like a stretch.

Plus they couldn't think of a headline that didn't involve "whacked" and "flying ham"? I think that's what makes this story the worst. Once again, I lend my media relations expertise and come up with: Paula Dean Doing Ok After Fluke Injury at Thanksgiving Food Drive.

Our next article is about the extremely talented actor Brad Pitt. Apparently his new look isn't going over so well with some in the celeb styling business.

I don't know why he has chosen to sport the beard but who cares? This goes up there with Ashlee Simpson dying her hair. I think my favorite part is when they bring in all of these "experts" to analyze exactly why he has decided to grow a beard. One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair? Amazing.

Why is this news?

New Link

I love cake. I think it is so delicious. So what could be better than a site devoted entirely to cakes?

How about a site devoted entirely to cakes that fail at life?

I present to you Cake Wrecks

Take a look through some of the pictures. The commentary is also hilarious. I'll be adding this to my list of favorite links here on LTD.

The Twilight People are Super Annoying

I don't even have a catchy title for my first official post on the brand new home of Livin the Dream. I mean it is what it is really. The people from Twilight are super annoying. I guess maybe not all of them. But that's because you don't hear about any of them except for the two main characters: Robert Pattinson, the one with the fabulous hair, and Kristen Stewart who looks like she would always rather be anywhere but doing press for the movie currently making her millions of dollars.

Okay so let me preface this by saying I have never read the Twilight books but I have seen the Twilight movie because Monica is my best friend and I will do anything for her. But I don't get it. I hear that if you read the book it's easier to understand the obsession with this Edward person but I still don't see it. To me it's still a vampire love story and that's just not my thing. So I'm sorry Twilight but I tried. Maaaaaybe in like five years I'll read the book like I did with Harry Potter. But that's a giant maybe.

What I do know is that I hear waaaay too much about the people in this movie. First of all, there are like 25 characters in the movie Twilight which is way too many to keep track of. And all of them are on OMG! and US Weekly's website pretty much every day for something. And I don't know who they are because I'm not "in" with Twilight. But they talk about the main characters the most. Let me break it down. Robert Pattinson plays Edward who is a vampire and has amazing hair. Kristin Stewart plays Bella who, as far as I can tell, is this emo girl teenager who doesn't like to make friends or speak clearly. Edward and Bella are in love but it's like a forbidden love because he's a vampire and so he innately wants to kill her and get at her blood but he doesn't. So they can't get too close but he has some vow that he's made to protect her forever.

So now that we've gotten that out of the way, I see these two everywhere. Seriously, everywhere. But here's the biggest thing about them. The love scenes they have in the movie(s) are pretty steamy and intense because they are portraying this whole forbidden love thing so of course all of my favorite gossip sites turn that into this giant guessing game of are they or aren't they. Are they together? Apparently inquiring minds want to know. I am not one of these inquiring minds.

I guess as an actor, especially one that has such a strong recurring role, this is something you have to be prepared for. BUT, I do this for a living and I see one really big flaw with how all of the Twilight people are handling this situation. You need to come at everyone with one solid statement regarding your stance. And then stick to it. And they are not doing that at all. So this is why I am irritated with these two and their whole media camp.

If you're not together, DON'T DO THIS. If you are in no way an item and want to completely dispel that rumor, DON'T DO THIS.

Seriously Twilight people? Your movie is making millions of dollars for you and you can't find someone smarter to handle this issue. The point isn't if they are together but denying it. There is nothing wrong with that. You can deny what you want till you're blue in the face. The point is that they are saying one thing and then doing another and that does not make for successful rumor squashing. If they aren't together, then it's time for someone to craft a statement along the lines of "Kristin/Robert is a great actor/actress and I really enjoy working with him/her. Our relationship however is strictly professional. Off camera we are very very good friends and enjoy spending time together, but we maintain a completely professional relationship both on and off the set of Twilight." Bam. This must be why they pay me the big bucks at UC Davis because I just came up with that in like a minute. Again, even if they are doing the hippity dippity on the side, if they don't want people to know or whatever, then that's fine. But you cannot say one thing and then go off and go to clubs all by themselves and not expect people to talk about this. They can't say oh no no we're not together, that's ridiculous and then go on giant radio shows (because as much as I hate Ryan Seacrest, his radio show is giant) and then have their so-called publicist straight up cut off the interview. How does that look? Terrible. You can't avoid the issue, but evading makes it even worse. So bust out your statement, read it off a piece of paper if you have to, but that should be the mantra you live by.

In conclusion, as far as I'm concerned, the Twilight people are not handling their media relations. And I hope you also learned something about the business I work in.

Now it's time to write a swim recap...

Welcome to the New and Improved LTD

Hello friends of Livin' the Dream!

Welcome to the new and improved home for your (hopefully) favorite spot for celeb gossip, ridiculous wedding planning stories, rants about the bike riders in Davis and oh so much more.

I've made the decision to continue LTD here on Blogspot or Google Blogger or whatever it's called because I was feelin a bit constrained over on Vox. I had a great time there but there were a few key aspects that I needed to completely fulfill my blogging experience. I couldn't rearrange my sidebar, I couldn't track how many people were reading, I just couldn't do a lot of the things that other people can do with their blogs.

Here's the catch. Another issue with Vox? Oh yeah, if you choose to leave there's no way to export your posts and import them to the new blog.

So we're starting all over again. But this is a good thing. New home, new look, maybe some new features. Maybe some new fans?

And congrats Nick... you can now post comments.