Last week I was asked if I would like to attend the premiere of the new Winnie the Pooh movie and I was pretty happy. I mean I get to go to a lot of the new animated features and my kids love them, but my youngest is normally left being tagged along. He loves the movies, but a lot of the story goes over his little 3-year old head. When I got the Winnie invite I was so happy that I was going to take just him to the movie and have a great old Mother/Son bonding moment. Until I realized that the premiere fell on the exact day and time of my other son’s 5th birthday party. Boo.
But since I really wanted to know what this movie was about (the commercials make me cry!) I thought I would ask my good friend Candace to take her girls to see it and write a guest review for me. Candace was nice enough to take one for the team and eat popcorn and kinder-eggs and drink pop at 11 o’clock in the morning for me and report back on the movie. Here’s what Candace had to say:
Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh. Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff. He’s
Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh. Willy, nilly, silly old bear.
Is there anything more quintessentially child-like than Winnie the Pooh? Winnie the Pooh and friends embrace all the wonderfully innocent things that go along with being a child under six. So if you’re looking for humour directed at you, the parent, to you know, get you through 65 minutes of an animated movie, then you can forget it. It’s not in this movie and I for one, say hooray! Some movies should just be for the kids. More often than not there is always something that panders to the adults in a kids movie that flies over the kids heads, which always makes me ask “Who’s the movie for anyway?
This Winnie the Pooh movie is set in the 100 Acre Woods of course, where Pooh is desperately seeking honey. While on his quest he finds Eeyore, who is gloomier than usual since he’s lost his tail. Pooh puts friendship before food and enlists the rest of the characters to help him find Eeyore’s tail. Along the way they run into the dreaded Backson and find out where Christopher Robin goes during the day. It’s a sweet story that will keep your little one amused for just the right amount of time.
Before the movie starts, look for the animated short, The Ballad of Nessie about Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster and her best friend MacQuack. It made me cry….and that’s the point of the whole story. Those darn Disney people and their lessons. Too cute.
For many of you who have seen the trailer and are wondering, “Who sings that song?”. It’s “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane. It’s only on the trailer and not available on the soundtrack. Finally, listen for Zooey Deschanel singing the Winnie the Pooh song. Love her.
Get in touch with your inner child and go enjoy this perfect kid’s movie!
Thanks for the great review Candace!
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
Big Brother 13 kicked off last night and given that it’s my all time favourite reality show, I sat down eager for it to begin. The first episode is where we get the formalities of meeting the new cast out of the way so it’s always a bit hard to judge if it will be a good season or not. It isn’t until a few days in the house that we actually get to see what everyone is really like and if they have any game or not.
This year Big Brother promises us some ‘big twists’ like they do every year and then they introduce us to the new cast members. Here’s a brief roundup of each and what I think of them:
Dominic – adrenaline junkie who lives at home, cute, virgin – won’t last
Cassi – hot model from Nashville – don’t underestimate her - she’s smart
Lawon – the token flamboyant houseguest – not sure, but I think this man has some game
Keith – youth minister who’s a horndog – not a lot of game but will be a physical challenger
Shelly – VP of bus dev for outdoor company – the token ‘mom’ in the group – she kinda scares me, will go early
Adam – heavy metal dude into Beverly Hills 90210 – too cocky and too loud, will go early
Porche – VIP Cocktail Waitress – please make her leave soon – she’s annoying
Kalia - relationship blogger – describes herself as a real life Carrie Bradshaw – no game, will be gone early
Then the first twist comes that the houseguests will need to pair up and play the game as duos instead of on their own. They are told that they can choose their partner but that they have to do so immediately. Here are the pairings:
Adam/Dominic, Porche/Keith, Cassi/Shelly, Lawon/Kalia. Please note that the only pairing I like in all of this is the Cassi/Shelly pairing. I get that they only had minutes to get to know each other, but the other 3 pairings seemed really terrible and poorly matched. Porche and Kalia had about 2-minutes to complain about their respective partners when the doorbell rings and here comes twist #2. In walk Rachel and Brandon from last year, followed a few minutes later by Jeff and Jordan from BB 11 (love them so much) and finally a few minutes later by BB 8 winner Evil Dick and his barely recognizable daughter Danielle.
So now I have some mixed feelings because while it’s nice to see the old cast, I wish CBS would have just saved them for an all-star ep. I find it really unfair to the new cast to bring them in with 6 veteran cast members. New casts need their own time to carve out their own niche and now that won’t be able to happen. Regardless of how the game plays out, CBS is limiting its new cast from becoming stars in their own right by resting on the star power of past players.
I already love Jeff and Jordan again, especially after the diary room discussion about how long they have been together, so obviously I’m rooting for them to win. And while I don’t love any of the new cast members yet, I also don’t hate any of them which to me means that they will get walked all over by the veterans since none of them are standing out yet. It has only been one episode though so someone might surprise me. I put my money on Cassi.
The HOH challenge involved team mates having to hang onto a giant banana while getting chocolate and whip cream sprayed at them. Images of last year’s hot dog challenge sprung into my head making me really wonder if the producers have just run out of ideas or if this season will actually offer us something different to look forward to.
Annoying laugh girl Rachel won the HOH after cutting a deal with Dick and Danielle and was told that she needed to nominate one pair for eviction. Everyone is ok with that until Julie comes on the screen and reveals that there’s one last twist – the Golden Key. I would just like to say that Big Brother really needs to come up with better names for their ‘twists’ because ‘The Golden Key’ is just dumb.
The Golden Key means that of the two people nominated for elimination, the one who isn’t eliminated can’t be nominated again until the final 10. Basically, as Rachel put it, the Golden key is the ultimate floater. So now the players have to strategize about who they want to get rid of, but also who they want to keep.
While I do wish that CBS wouldn’t rely on past guests I do like this year’s cast. I’m excited to keep watching and I already can’t stand Rachel and her annoying laugh and stupid lapdog Brandon but it will be fun to watch them. But I can’t help but think that I don’t even remember any of the new people and all I care about is the veterans and how I really hope Jordan and Jeff will make it through to the end.
So tell me, did you watch? And who are your faves?
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
Last week marked the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first official trip to Canada, and as luck would have it they visited Ottawa, where I live! Of course the city was electric with excitement over news of the visit, and as William and Kate touched down in Ottawa, crowds had gathered by the thousands to greet them. Unfortunately, that was also the last day of school for my kids, so I chose to stay home and read all about the trip instead of dragging my children out amongst the masses to catch a glimpse.
So I’m at home reading my twitter feed when I.stop.dead.in.my.tracks. Rosey Edeh is in Ottawa. Rosey Edeh, who is a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight Canada Is. In. Ottawa!! I have been following Rosey on Twitter for a long time and luckily for me she follows me back, so as soon as I realize Entertainment Tonight Canada would be following the Royal Tour, I decide that I need to take a chance here. So I DM Rosey on twitter (who for the record I don’t know, but who always replies any time I tweet her) and say this:
"I know you're probably super busy while you're here but if you have a spare moment would love to meet you & maybe intvw you for my YMC Blog (this is me giving her an out in case she thinks I’m a crazy stalker)"
And this is what she replies:
"Love to! Just finished. Catching flight at 7p. At Rideau hall right now.:)"
What!? Whoa!? She said she’d love to!!! At this point I’m running around my house trying to throw something on that will look relatively decent to meet Rosey, when I realize that maybe she was saying she would love to but she has to catch a flight so that’s too bad you crazy stalker. So I dm this:
"I can meet you anywhere if you're free - I'm only about 20 mins from downtown:) (Please note I think I’m further than 20 minutes from downtown but this is an opportunity I’m not prepared to lose so speeding will be a factor here)"
Rosey replies:
"Chateau Laurier. I'll be there in 30 min in lobby for about 30min. Good?"
Please note at this point I am a certifiable giddy, whirling dervish, running around my house trying to transform out of the mom who is dealing with 4 kids who are now done school for the summer, to someone who looks presentable enough to interview one of the stars of the biggest entertainment news show on television. No pressure.
So what do I respond –
"absolutely see you there! (I’m not crazy – you take these opportunities where you can get them!)"
So I run downstairs and thankfully my husband has come home from work early because it is the last day of school and I run past him to tell him where I’m going and he tells me that I’ll never make it in time and I just tell him of course I will you’re crazy and I’m off! So I get about half way there (with only minimal speeding I might add) when I come to a complete stop. On the highway. Damn. I hate it when he's right. I'm feeling a little defeated now, so I DM Rosey again (my car was at a complete stop ok):
"currently in 'royal traffic' and at least 15mins out so if you have to leave I understand (see – me giving her another out in case she’s convinced I’m a stalker but she’s just too nice to say so)"
Her response:
"Not there yet either! Waiting for a cab. Be at least another 15 min! Batt dying. see you soon!"
Well alright! I’m back to giddy and patiently make my way through all the royal traffic. I finally arrive and park downtown and run to The Chateau Laurier to see Rosey waiting out front for her cab and she greets me with a big smile and is so gorgeous and I know she has to leave but she really wants me to get my interview so she suggests we go inside so that we can chat where it’s not too loud.
We sit and I ask her about how long she’s been with Entertainment Tonight Canada, and she tells me she’s been with it since the very first show in 2005 and that it is in fact her dream job (it would be my dream job too!) When she first started with the show, she had a 10-year old, but because this was her passion and she was so into pop culture and entertainment she made it work. Rosey’s daughter Micha is now 16 and even helps Rosey prepare for her interviews! She told me that when she needs to know about what’s really new on the scene, she goes right to Micha, because Micha always knows! In fact, Micha will be on the red carpet at The Teen Choice Awards with Rosey as they co-report for ET Canada! At this point I give Rosey the ‘Coolest Mom of the Year’ award because, well, that’s just super cool! Also, I now wish I were Rosey’s daughter
Rosey, a former Olympic track star has always been a fan of pop culture and movies and entertainment. When she was younger she said “I did the Whoopi Goldberg thing where I put the towel on my head and would go in the mirror with the microphone and I would talk and have so much fun. I loved movies, I’ve always loved movies. I would go to movies by myself at a very young age. It was in me. If no one would go with me I didn’t care. “
While she was still running track she met a news director from Montreal named Ron Reusch who told her that when she was done with her athletic career he wanted her to come and work for him in TV. And even though she didn’t study to be on television he saw something in her. So when her track career ended she was ready for a new challenge and she went for it. She did sports and the weather and whatever she could get and then she heard about the ET Canada opportunity and sent in her tape. The rest is history.
We spoke about how difficult it can be sometimes to interview the hottest celebs around. Especially when you’re working an event and your time is limited and it’s so hard to get that exact reaction that you’re looking for. She said: “I understand the importance of an interview. I love connecting with people and that’s one of the reasons I do it. Sometimes you’re on the red carpet and you don’t get time to connect - you get one question and they move on, but every now and then there’s something.”
Rosey lights up when she talks about her job. You can tell that she’s one of those lucky people who really loves what she does and the people she gets to work with. She goes on to talk about interviewing stars like Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt (who kissed her hand) and Will Smith, and how those stars are the ones that could sell you swamp land in Florida full of alligators because they’re just so damn charming! And the effect speaking to stars like that has had on Rosey – well she says this:
"When you’re in the room with someone with that much energy, you just don’t forget it and you go 'yeah I’ve gotta live my life like that."
For the record – Rosey has that exact kind of energy. As I left our very quick and all too brief meeting (damn Royal Visit traffic!) I couldn't help but think 'yeah, I've gotta live my life like that!'
As we were wrapping up, I asked Rosey what her one piece of advice was to me and other bloggers like me who want to continue to write and report and grow, and this is what she said:
"What you’re doing matters because you’re following your heart and it’s your passion. Never, never let go of your passion no matter how many ‘no’s’ you get for whatever reason. Use those ‘no’s’ as a propeller, have it propel you forward."
Totally worth the mad dash across town. And with that Rosey gave me a big hug and I thanked her for taking the time to chat with me and we both dashed off!
You can watch Rosey on ET Canada weeknights at 7:30 or you can follow her on twitter at @RoseyEdeh or @DivaJock.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
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