It’s no secret that I covet celebrity bodies. I mean really, who doesn’t?! I’ve blogged about the celebrity arms I wish I had and who my celeb run inspirations are, but I still don’t have a ‘celebrity body’. Mostly because I don’t dedicate all of my time to working out and I kinda really like Big Macs. Oh and there’s that little issue of having 4 kids to watch all day long.
So, when my friend Kathy Buckworth started tweeting about this ’14-day running challenge’ I got intrigued. After all, I have recently started running again and I’m all for a challenge, so I wanted to know more. Kathy decided that since she was on vacation at a cottage and couldn’t get to the gym that she was going to challenge herself to run for 14-days in a row. The distance and time wasn’t critical – what was important was actually getting out and running every day. I liked it. I liked it a lot. I decided I was going to do that.
Let’s also focus on the fact that I’m trying to get myself a gig on TV – as Derick Fage’s new co-host of Daytime Ottawa. And let’s also focus on the fact that the co-host who has left, TL Rader, is a dancer, with a dancer’s body. So while I pursue my dream job of co-hosting Daytime Ottawa, in the back of my mind I realize that the whole ‘the camera adds 10 pounds’ thing really is true and a 14-day running challenge just might be what I need right now.
Long story short, today was day 5 of my challenge and I’m still going strong. And even after going out with my besties for dinner and 2 pitchers of Sangria and a ‘Moxie-cised’ Bellini last night, I still got up at 6:45 and ran my 4.5km. And the best part is the sense of accomplishment I get from completing each run. The14-day challenge is a short term goal that I can commit to.
A lot of you have been asking me about it and if there are rules about distance and timing and the answer is 'no'! You run as long as you want and as fast as you want – the only rule is to run for 14 days in a row!
So, who wants to join me?! 14 days of running – it doesn’t matter how far or how long. I bet you’ll be happy you did it! Let me know and tweet me @kellidaisy so we can motivate each other!
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
The movie The Help opens in theatres today. Based on the bestselling book of the same name The Help will grab you from the minute you sit down and not let you go until the credits start rolling. It is a movie that will touch you, anger you, maybe make you feel a little ashamed and make you cry, all while serving up a healthy dose of laughter. From the opening scene of the movie when I started tearing up, I knew that this was going to be a good one.
If you haven’t read the book yet, which I haven’t (but will promptly be buying) The Help is about a young woman named Skeeter, played by the lovely Emma Stone, who wants to be a serious journalist. The film takes place in 1960’s Mississippi – a time when most young women were less concerned with becoming career women and more concerned with hosting bridge club and making babies. Skeeter, after becoming more and more disturbed by her friends' behaviour and attitude towards ‘the help’ decides that she wants to write a book chronicling stories from The Help’s perspective. Now she just needs to recruit some maids to help her write their stories, a difficult task given the volatile era.
Enter Viola Davis as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minnie who play maids to two of Skeeter’s friends who reluctantly decide to help her out. The trio embark on secret meetings where Aibileen and Minnie recall the tales that surround their life as maids – both good and bad. Skeeter earns the trust of the women as they break all of society’s rules to expose what life is like when you’re the help.
As far as casting goes, I will say right now that if Viola Davis doesn’t get nominated for an Academy Award it will be a crime. Her eyes alone paint a hauntingly real picture of what African American women in 1960’s Mississippi must have experienced. Her portrayal of a maid who spends more time raising white babies than their mothers do, will reduce you to tears on more than one occasion. Octavia Spencer’s character Minnie provides some of the films funniest and most laugh out loud moments, and together they are a force of character, determination and friendship that provides some of the best onscreen moments that will keep you talking long after you leave the theatre.
The entire cast of this film was incredible, including Bryce Dallas Howard who plays her racist Southern Belle Hilly Holbrook to evil perfection. She is a constant reminder that sometimes racism can be pretty and perfect and wear the proper shade of lipstick. Screen legends Sissy Spacek and Cicely Tyson both appear in the movie and while only for a shorter period of time provide some of the most funny and moving scenes. Jessica Chastain’s portrayal of Celia Foote gives you someone to root for as she proves that not everyone is like the Hilly Holbrook’s of the world.
I know they typically say that books tend to be better than the movies they are derived from. I have heard from many of you who have raved about the novel The Help and I will definitely be picking it up now because if the movie was this good, the book must be phenomenal. I don't know if you read the book first if you will love the movie as much as I did, but I can't see why you wouldn't. I saw The Help with my girlfriend Tracy who is currently reading the book and both of us couldn’t stop talking about it after.
Life is too short to spend good money on bad movies, so if you want to see a good movie worth the price of admission this weekend, please go see The Help. I promise you, you won’t be sorry.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
Jessica Alba doesn’t consider herself to be a former child star, since most of her successes as an actress came when she was no longer a kid actor. Most people first came to know Jessica through the hit television show Dark Angel, but I first remember watching her on the television reboot of the series Flipper when she was just 14 years old.
Jessica Alba, now 30 and currently expecting her second child, is a far cry from the young girl who once starred on that television series. The actress can be seen soon in the upcoming Spy Kids: All the Time in the World In 4D. I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a conference call with her.
Since Spy Kids is a movie targeted at families, part of the publicity tour was for Jessica to do some press with female bloggers. I was contacted about the conference call and told it would be 20-minutes in length and that everyone would be put in a specific order to ask their question to Jessica.
There were 16 bloggers on the call (I was the only one representing Canada) and I was slotted in at number 11 to ask my question. With 20 minutes and 16 bloggers – I was a little worried I wouldn`t get a chance to ask my question. But even if I didn’t get a chance to ask, I could listen to what she had to say and get a feel for her and the movie. I was happy just to be asked to be on the call!
The call started with a little confusion as the moderator of the call had no idea when Jessica joined and said ‘Hi, it's Jessica’ that it was Jessica Alba and proceeded to ask her what outlet she was with. This was followed by a slightly uneasy ‘I think I’m the person being interviewed’. So while the poor girl moderating must have had a small heart attack I think the rest of us were put at ease a little. It’s hard doing a conference call like this because you don’t have a lot of time to build a rapport with the person you’re interviewing. You kind of hope that the one question you ask will be good and that you’ll get a good answer.
Jessica was really nice. She was forthcoming with her answers and really seemed to light up when asked about her daughter and her own experiences being a mother. When one of the bloggers complimented her sense of style she seemed genuinely flattered. I was trying to keep track of the questions asked so I wouldn’t ask her a duplicate and at the same time praying that my kids would be quiet long enough for me to finish the call without someone crying, screaming or hitting each other. Ah the glamorous life of a blogger!
The clock was ticking down and I was getting a little nervous that I wouldn't get to ask a question, especially because Jessica seemed to enjoy chatting with the ladies on the call. She wasn't giving just one word answers; she was really having a conversation with everyone on the call and enjoying talking about her career and her life as a wife and working mother. Just when I thought we’re about to run out of time they announce it was my turn! I asked Jessica if she would want her kids to become actors when they grow up, because she successfully transitioned from child actor to bona fide movie star. She kind of nervously laughed – that ‘Oh God my kids really might want to be actors one day’ laugh and said;
‘After they’re done with college they can do whatever they want and I’ll support them. I just think they need to; they have the luxury of spending time to have an education and to grow up differently than I did. If they want to get into the arts, it’s only going to make them more dynamic as artists the more life experience they have to bring to their work, so if that is what they want to do at the end of the day, I’m all for it as long as they finish college.’
I was happy that I got to ask Jessica Alba a question and have a little chat with her, and even happier because I was the last blogger to get to ask a question before our time ran out. We didn’t chat too much about the movie – it was more just a nice conversation about life and family.
I am looking forward to seeing Spy Kids: All the Time in the World especially because I like introducing my kids to movies that are live action and that spur their imagination. There’s nothing better than a movie about spy kids to do that! And I get to say that I had a conversation with Jessica Alba, and that’s pretty cool too!
Spy Kids: All The Time in the World in 4D hits theatres on August 19th. Check out the trailer below!
Scene and Heard
Confession of a Pop Culture Mummy
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