SNL - Ford Hybrid Commercial

As my hubby was checking out hybrid car leases online, I asked him if he would consider a Toyota after all of the trouble they were having last year, with recalls and mechanical problems. He said he might, and then I remembered this SNL commercial parody. It's super funny, check it out.

If you are not in the US and can't watch this video (like me), you can also watch it here. The audio is a little off but the video quality is good. Enjoy  : )

I Am Guest Blogging!

Photo Credit

I am a Blogger Buddy! A dear friend of mine, Kyra (you may remember her from this post, or this post), of The Scribe's Desk, has asked me to be a guest blogger for her "Blogger Buddy Thursdays" today. I am so excited! I have never guest blogged before, so this is a first for me. Please go on over to her site and have a look around. She is an excellent writer and a fantastic blogger, she's been at it for years (and she even has her own children's book out, called Tale of the Lost Swan Egg, which is wonderful). I love her blog and her writing and I bet you will too. I am very honored to have my post up on her site today. I hope you enjoy it  : )

SNL - Liquorville Sketch And Barry Gibb Talk Show

I just watched last night's SNL episode with hubby, tonight. I had to DVR it because he was out of town yesterday and we wanted to watch it together. That's sometimes the only thing we get to do together as a couple in a week, so I made sure to make it happen. I was excited for this particular episode because, one, I'm a closet Justin Timberlake fan (I even forced my husband to dance our first song at our wedding, last year, to his song, My Love. I shocked all of my friends, but I digress) and two, it was the season finale. But not only am I a Justin fan, I am also a Justin SNL Host fan. I swear he is one of the best hosts they have on the show these days (not to discount Walkin, Baldwin or Martin, some of my other favs), every time he hosts, the show is golden. And this was no exception. I pretty much laughed my butt off at every skit. So here is the best one of the night, hands down. A warning, these are not appropriate for kids.

Liquorville SNL Sketch with Justin Timberlake - Click here for this week’s top video clips

The Digital Short was awesome too, but much too risque for me to post here. If you are up for it, watch it here. It is, of course, hilarious, as the Justin and Andy ones always are.  Also, as a tribute to my hubby, because he always loves the Barry Gibb Talk Show ones so much, I'll post that one as well. I love it when they bring Jimmy Fallon on the show, he's one of my favorites too (and man is he adorable, I miss his hot/cuteness on the show).



Please Note, I had to change these videos because the originals that I posted from YouTube are no longer available. I these found other versions but the Barry Gibb's one is only watchable in the US. If you are outside the US (like in Canada, where I am) you can watch it here. 

Also, "Really, With Seth Meyers" was absolutely hilarious. Watch a shaky, but available in Canada, version here. And the last one I'll put in here, is "Herb Welch," the old news broadcaster who hits everyone with his mic, which was super funny too. Watch that one here.

I didn't plan on listing almost all of the sketches, but I couldn't help myself. Honestly it was one of the best episodes in years. If you have a chance to watch the whole thing, I suggest you do because it is well worth it. Enjoy!

SNL - High Fructose Corn Syrup Commercial Parody

Here is a funny SNL skit, it originally aired in March, but they played it again on last night's show. I love how Bobby Moynihan plays the big kid in the end, he's hilarious.

You can watch the original version of this commercial here. I guess the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) was trying to re-brand high fructose corn syrup and pass it off as healthy in moderation. I'm not so sure about healthy, I'd much rather have my kids have real juice instead (no sugar or any sweetener added), but that's just me. 

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

Last night a few girlfriends and I went out for a night on the town (in Vancouver), to celebrate my friend Brighter Scribe's birthday. It was a bit of a gong show, but in a good way. There was a lot of typical girl stuff, like taking too long to leave, (it's hard for four mom's to get ready to go out, because we all have our kids to deal with at the same time) and forgetting things and having to go back for them. I alone forgot the gift for the birthday girl, my bus pass and my earrings, and Brighter forgot her rings. And then getting to the restaurant, we didn't realize the hockey game was on, so we had to wait for half an hour to be seated because the place was so packed. Once we got seated though dinner was perfect, there was delicious food, yummy drinks (I had 2 Belinnis, my favorite!) and great conversation. And we were all so excited to go dancing. Being moms who barely ever go dancing, the anticipation had us a bit giddy (and of course the drinks helped too).

Once we were done dinner we headed for the club, Library Square, for 80s night (with some 90s thrown in there too). Weird name I know, it doesn't entice a picture of a dance club atmosphere, but it's actually just perfect. Except for the line ups. Last time I went there I waited for an hour and a half to get in. So I said, this time lets go early, and we did, but we still had to wait. We waited almost an hour outside, but luckily it wasn't raining and the night wasn't too cold. I felt bad that we had to wait, because the place was my idea and I didn't want everyone to be irritated with me, and give up and go home early. But we were troopers. Being the moms that we are, I guess we have all developed a great amount of patience. And once we got in, it was well worth the wait! I danced for over 4 hours straight and I loved every minute of it. The music was awesome! 

This was the first song we heard last night, that really got us to start dancing (there were a few when we first got in, that weren't so good, but after this one played they just got better and better from there). And it ended up feeling like a bit of a theme song for me. I was playing it in my head when I woke up this morning and thought that it was just so fitting for my night.

 

At about 2 am, two of the ladies wanted to go home, they were done (and I can understand why, it was a long/but awesome night). But Brighter wanted to stay until close, she was like "it's my birthday and I am staying until the lights turn on." And so I gladly stayed with her, I used to (back in the day) stay out all night long and go to after parties and all night breakfast places and not get home until 8 in the morning sometimes. Even though I haven't done anything like that in years, my adventurous side will gladly have me stay until the bitter end of a fun night;  I don't want to miss out on anything and I want to live the night to the fullest. 

During the night my friend Brighter, got chummy with one of the DJs, and he was really great. He settled a bet of ours and he played all of our requests; he even rescued her from an overly gropey dance partner. At the end of the night he played two of my favorites for me, Deee-Lite's "Groove Is In The Heart" and ABBA's "Dancing Queen" and left me feeling very grateful. It's amazing how one night out can rejuvenate you, and dancing can make you feel young again. Not that I am old, it's just that I don't always feel young. I know they say "you're as young as you feel," but being a parent and a responsible adult, doesn't always give the allure or feeling of youthfulness. So thank you Patrick the DJ (and thank you to my girls too!), last night was awesome and exactly what I needed!!!

 
PS. Happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely mommies out there. I hope your day was a special one!!!

SNL - Iran So Far

Here is a little midweek humor. I've been super busy and extremely exhausted, not to mention down right sad about yesterday's results in the Canadian federal election. So I needed to post something funny to lift my spirits. I really hope this SNL skit doesn't offend anyone, but if it does then I guess we just have a different taste in humor. This is probably my all-time favorite SNL Digital Short (this and "D**k in a Box" are tied for first place, actually), I think it's extremely hilarious and it definitely comes with a warning that it's not appropriate for kids or for people who are offended easily. Enjoy!

PS. Anyone catch "The Voice" tonight and last week? I think I like it. I used to watch American Idol, way back, years ago, but got bored of the same old, same old. The Voice was fresh and I liked that it had all good singers. I also liked that the coaches couldn't see the contestants before they picked them. Anyways I'll keep watching, it's definitely piqued my curiosity.

Keep Pushin' On

Yesterday, I responded to a friend's post on Facebook. She was talking about a rough patch she is dealing with right now, so I posted this on her wall.

And since then I can't stop thinking about this song, and it's lyrics. "Keep pushin' on, things are gonna get better, it won't take long, keep on pushin' to the top." Not only is it a great song to dance to (every time I hear it I want to jump up and start dancing), but it is also inspiring. I think I need a little of that inspiration right now, myself. Things have been difficult for us lately too.  My family and I are going through a rough patch of our own (financially), and it's taking it's toll. One of the hardest parts of dealing with times like these, is that it can put a strain on your marriage. I know my marriage isn't in any trouble, and I know I am a very lucky lady, but having that kind of tension in the house can effect your kids and other family members and is just down right depressing. So with a small glimmer of good news today and a little bit of hope, I am going to "keep pushin' on" and pray that "things are gonna get better." And hopefully soon we will get through this rough patch. Wish me luck, and enjoy the song, it's a good one  : )

Shelley Elaine, On SNL Weekend Update

I need to post something fun again, I've been feeling very weighed down by all of the messed up stuff happening in the world right now. Since I joined Twitter a few weeks ago, it seems like all I've read and tweeted about is horrible things happening to animals, people and the planet. It's making me feel very overwhelmed. So, I just need to let off some steam and have a little fun. I think that this may be the beginning of Fun Fridays. I am going to try and post funny videos every Friday and see how that works out. We all need a little laughter in our lives, right?

Here's one I watched last weekend and it had me cracking up, I love Kirsten Wig, she's hilarious.

10 Songs I Am Loving Right Now

Here is another fun favorites list. It's not my all time favorites, because that would be too hard, but it's the 10 songs that I am really loving right now and can't stop listening to. Feel free to leave me a comment of your faves, I love hearing about new music or thinking about songs I haven't thought of in awhile. Here it goes, in no particular order.

Esthero - Black Mermaid

Adele - Someone Like You

Lightning Dust - Highway

Emiliana Torrini - Sunny Road

Spree Wilson - Don't Pass Me By, Featuring Esthero

Lightning Dust - Never Seen

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

Kate Earl - Nobody

Adele - Tired

PS - Earth Hour was great last night, we turned off all of the lights and lit candles and made up ghost stories. It was my hubby, my kids, my niece and nephew, my mom in law and myself and it was a blast. It was so cute 'cause each kid took turns making up their own ghost stories and all the stories were great. We also played games and just hung out as a family, with no TV or computer or video game distractions, and they loved it. It made me think that we should do this kind of thing more often. Maybe we should do our own family Earth Hour once a month, just for the fun of it.

My All Time Favorite Movie Scenes

Okay, I've been reading a lot of enviro and political stuff lately and sometimes it really gets me down (on a side note - I was told when I took Enviromental Studies in college that sometimes you can start to feel depressed when faced with all of the horrible stuff happening to the planet, and it's true. I think that's why many people choose to ignore the issues and stay ignorant, so that they don't have to know and feel bad about what is going on around them). So I've decided to write about something fun. I have a friend who does a lot of movie reviews and she has inspired me to write a little movie review of my own. Or, not really a review, more like a favorite scene list. So here it goes, in no particular order:

Tank Girl - Sand Shower Scene

Watch it here

Photo Credit

Dirty Dancing - Learning To Dance (on the log, in the field and in the water) Scene

 Watch it here

Photo Credit

Bourne Identity - First Kiss Scene

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Escape From Cannibal Island Scene

Romeo & Juliet - First Meet Scene

Ever After - Just Breath Scene

(This was the only good quality clip with the scene in it, it goes from 1:31-1:37)

Hackers - Under Water Ending Scene

Moulin Rouge - Roxanne Tango Scene

I am sure I could go on but I won't, for now...

Going West - Cool Animation

This is so creative, check it out.

The Bachelor - The Final Rose - Review

I have to say congratulations to Brad and Emily, I hope they have a wonderful life together. I hope they make it through the rough patch and come out of the process a stronger couple. Their engagement was really touching and emotional and I hope they can hang on to that love. It's been really funny reviewing this show (my guilty pleasure), because I've never done this kind of thing before, but I enjoyed it.

It's always a bittersweet ending when the show is over. I am so happy for Emily, but soooo sad for Chantal. I really liked her, I liked her spunk and zest for life. She has great energy and she carried herself through this difficult process with integrity. I knew Brad was going to pick Emily, but I kept rooting for Chantal in my mind because I liked her so much. Not that I didn't like Emily, because Emily is so sweet, and adorable and kindhearted. But I just felt something more for Chantal, it was an understanding. It's like I knew what she was feeling, falling for someone so hard, and the spark seemed so real, and then not having that love returned. As women I think most of us have been there, I know I have (along time ago, in my early 20s when I was searching for that someone special, and it seemed to take forever to find him). Chantal was so relate-able that I had to root for her, she reminded me of myself. I was surprised to hear, during the After The Final Rose show, that she is already seeing someone new. Good for her, but hopefully she is really over Brad enough to be in a new relationship, because she didn't quite look that way. I'm sure it was all very fresh seeing him again and now that she has closure, hopefully she can move on and really be happy. Good luck to her.

One thing I especially liked about the After The Final Rose show was seeing the couples that stayed together. I think my favorite couple is Ali and Roberto. I loved their season, it was so romantic, and Roberto is such an amazing guy. Ali is very lucky to have found him! All of the couples' advice to Brad and Emily was great and as a fan it's always nice to get an update. So I am glad that this season is over and I can have my Monday nights back. Until May anyways, when Ashley will be the new Bachelorette.

Photo Credit

Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice - Amazing Video Footage

 Wow this is so fascinating and beautiful! Polar Bears filmed by super high tech spy cameras. Check out these videos from the BBC movie, Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice, by filmmaker John Downer. 

For more info about the movie and how it was filmed check out John Downer's website.

Photo Credit

A Biggest Loser Quote, Is My New Mantra

I watch The Biggest Loser and every week and I find it so inspiring. These people that are so down and lost, get given an amazing chance to find themselves again. Their battle on the show is not just about weight loss, it's about changing their lives for the better, about living, really living, again. They need to find the things that are holding them back and realize what's pushing them down and break the cycle, or some of them won't make it. It's life or death really. Continuing to lead the lives they have led, eating the way they have and not exercising at all, would certainly lead them into an early grave. That's why it's so inspiring, because you watch them figure it out. They go through the process of dramatic change, right before your eyes. And it makes you, the viewer, feel like you are not the only one battling hardships and challenges and if they can do it so can you.


I've battled with my weight too in the past few years (7 to be exact, since the birth of my first child). Not to the the extent that I'd need to go on a show like that, but I certainly would love to go to a facility like Fitness Ridge! That would be so great, just working out all day and having your meals made for you and having someone to teach you good recipes, tailored to your body type. Having a great trainer teach you all the exercises that would be right for you, it would all be a dream come true. But who has the money for that? So what does a "regular joe" have to do? Eat right and exercise. Right? Easier said than done, sometimes. I've had many excuses and I think the biggest ones are, "I'm too busy,"  'I'm too tired," " I don't feel like being on a diet right now" and "I don't need to change anything, I'm fine the way I am." Which are all cop outs of course, but I've said them to myself thousands of times. The funny thing is I used to be tiny. Before kids I could fit into a size 2 (mind you I'm only 5'1"), but now I'm not even close to my old body. As the years have gone by I've been adding a good five to ten pounds, which is really starting to add up.

So here is my inspiration (after that long rant, sorry). I watched episode 9 last week and something one of the contestants said really made me think. It's funny that I've seen all of the seasons, and it's taken this long for something that was said to really hit home with me, but better late than never, right. It's even taken a week and a half of me thinking about it and applying it to my daily life that I've realized that it's really stuck (and I feel good about it). The contestants had just come back from being at home for two weeks, and some did well, while others did not. During the weight in, Hannah (who did really well) said "I've spent the past 15 years sabotaging myself, and going home, and saying no, which in turn was saying yes to myself, felt really great." I thought really hard about that, because it really struck me. I guess for me, dieting has always seemed like you are depriving yourself of things that you want. It feels negative, but if you look at it the way Hannah said, it's actually positive. You may be saying no to the foods that aren't good for you, but you are actually allowing yourself to do something right and positive for yourself. You are saying yes to you! I want to say yes to me. I want to say yes to looking and feeling good! I don't want to be tired and not have any energy for my kids. I don't want to go shopping for new clothes and not buy anything, because I don't feel good in anything I try on. I am tired of saying no to the life and body I want. What is more important? That desert, or having a good life? So here I go, I am saying no to fattening foods that aren't good for me and I am "SAYING YES TO MYSELF!"  There is my new mantra, wish me luck.  : )

(Oh, and thank you Hannah Curlee, of The Biggest Loser, for giving it to me!)

Photo Credit

Balloon House, From The Movie Up, Comes To Life

What a cool experiment! The National Geographic made it happen. 

Check it out:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/community/blogs/ngc/_nat-geo-brings-disneypixar-up-balloon-house-life

And see more great pictures here too:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/upinspired-floating-house-14?xg_source=facebook

The Bachelor - Episode 10, The Women Tell All - Review

Usually, I don't really like watching the "Women Tell All" episode (though I always do), but this time was different. I saw the need for it. I've always thought of it as an excuse to drag the show out, and keep you hanging on for one more week, but it made sense to me for this particular season. A lot of women had issues they really needed to work out and get closure on. For instance with Ashely H, she, like I suspected, unintentionally sabotaged her relationship with Brad. She was too scared to become vulnerable, and she let the situation of the show damage the view she had of her relationship with him. Instead of trusting him, and their feelings for each other, she let her fears get in the way. You could see her doing it repeatedly. It's unfortunate because she really regrets it now. But at least she got to say she was sorry and give him a proper hug good bye. Hopefully she'll move on and learn from her mistakes. On a side note, I didn't know what to think of her as a brunette. I really liked her with blonde hair. Some people look great as blondes and she is one of them. Nevertheless, I do understand her wanting the change, I used to do that after the end of major relationships too. It would always feel so empowering to make a drastic change in your appearance, just by changing your hair colour. I think it helps you feel better about yourself and enables the moving on phase. So good luck to her, she deserves to find true love.


Next I am going to talk about the dreaded Michelle. I have to say, I did feel bad for her, somewhat. I don't know how much I believe all of her excuses for her behavior, but at least she wasn't up there saying that she did nothing wrong. She was visibly shaken and crying real tears. Were they tears for the sake of regaining positive opinions of her? I don't know, but I really do believe that she missed her daughter and was acting kind of crazy because of it. Did the editing and stress of the show make her actions and opinions seem more glaring? A lot of the other women seemed to say that they genuinely liked her during the show and were more mad at her after seeing all of the horrible things she said during interviews. I really do think that she had the wrong kind of attitude. Going into a show like that and saying "I don't want to make friends" is pretty silly. How are you going to function in that kind of a situation, if you have no one to talk to and be friends with? And does that give you the right to be back stabbing and manipulative? There are ways of going about things where you don't have to be mean and put people down to get ahead. It's called having integrity. She could have done it much more tastefully and would not have had such of a negative reaction. But maybe the show needed to have a bad girl for the season and they added more of her negative comments and less of others to make her look more villainous. She did seem to feel bad and maybe she's learned a lesson for it. Who knows, but if I were one of her friends from the show, it would take quite a while for her to win my friendship back, but maybe it could happen.


Onto Brad. He seemed very happy with his selection, and even called her his "significant other." I was trying to gauge his reaction when Chris Harrison said each of the two ladies names, to see if he had any telling facial reactions to them. I even re-winded it (I love my DVR) and played it over a few times to really see, but it was quite hard to tell. The only thing I could say about doing that, is I saw him have a slight eye flinch or wince (though very slight) when Chris said Chantal and he had a little corner smile when Chris said Emily. It could mean nothing of course, but maybe it means he picked Emily. I am still rooting for Chantal though. I love Emily and he probably does too, but watching those clips of him and Chantal together, made me want him to pick her so badly! Still, he probably picked Emily. Either way it will be bittersweet to watch it all, because one amazing woman will be brokenhearted and the other will be over the moon and so happy to have her love returned. On the other hand, as a good friend said to me, the one who doesn't get picked will probably be the next Bachelorette. 

I can't wait for next Monday night!

Photo Credit

SNL - Feline Culinary Creations

This skit is hilarious! I love Saturday Night Live! Check it out here:

http://eater.com/archives/2010/12/13/cat-cuisine.php#more

The Bachelor - Episode 9 Review

Well, here I go again, giving a review of one of my favorite shows, The Bachelor, corny I know, but I can't help myself. This seemed like a really emotional episode to me. You could practically feel the emotion emanating from the TV screen. I'll start with Brad and Chantal. Their fantasy date seemed perfect and their chemistry just flowed so well, I love them together. And their date was so adventurous and fun and romantic too. I would love a safari date like that! Seeing all of those beautiful creatures so close in front of you, but they are in their natural habitat, not in some cage in a zoo. Awesome, and I think the best part of the date (though the safari is hard to top) was the tree house "fantasy suite." To be outside like that, all night long, sleeping under the stars, so romantic!! It's like camping in style, but you don't have to pitch a tent and you are high up in a tree with a view and an awesome bed to sleep in. Incredible! I also really liked how Chantal described being in love with Brad, how she felt like he made her want to be a better person for him, and to give her self unselfishly. I believe true love makes you feel that way. I am totally rooting for her... But...

Yes, there is a but coming up. As much as I love Emily, and she is such a sweetheart, I couldn't really see them ending up together... until now. I just didn't see as much of a spark there. You could tell he was attracted to her and he admired her. But I was wondering, where is the passion and the strong emotional connection? I didn't see it before... but I saw it tonight. The way Brad was talking about Emily's daughter and being a family with them and you could see the tears in both of their eyes, I felt it too. Their connection seemed so much more solid tonight, and he seemed so happy. Also he told her he loved her, that's a pretty big tip off! He didn't tell Chantal that, when she told him she loved him. So there's the but, I am rooting for Chantal, but he may now have a stronger connection with Emily. And I'm sure if he ends up with her he will be happy, she is a wonderful woman and a really great and kind person. But I'll feel so bad for Chantal, because their chemistry is real and the spark is there, but maybe it's not enough. Who knows, we'll find out in two weeks I guess.

Oh, I should probably talk a little about Ashley too. I never really saw much there between her and Brad. And all the confusion and miscommunication they had going on was so silly. If you can't communicate, then what do you really have? Nothing really. I do feel bad for her, of course, but when she said she was so surprised (about being sent home), I thought why? Didn't she see this coming? I mean, the other girls were telling him they love him and want to be with him and have a future with him, and she didn't say any of that. She didn't really talk about any kind of future with him at all. So it's no big surprise that he sent her home. I do hope she finds true love eventually, when she figures out what she really wants and is a little more settled.

So next week is The Women Tell All, my least favorite part of the show frankly, but I'll watch it. It'll be interesting to see if Michelle is still all witchy, or if maybe she regrets the way she was acting on the show (probably not). We'll see.

Photo Credit

Hottie Body Hump Club!

This is soooooo funny!!! I practically exer-cried! Jimmy Kimmel is brilliantastic!

Adele - What A Voice!!!

A friend of mine posted this song on Facebook and I'm in love, I can't stop listening to it! Her voice is so beautiful and haunting. You can read the lyrics in the description part of the YouTube page. They really made me think back to my late teens, early 20's, and all the falling in love I did back then. I think that this is a song that almost anyone can relate to, talking about love and glory days. It makes me all nostalgic. It's crazy how a song can elicit so many emotions and memories out of you, just by someone sharing a story or experience. It's like that story makes you feel connected to the person singing it. Anyways, it's a really beautiful song, check it out if you like...