Oprah: The Farewell Season

Is anyone else feeling as distraught over saying goodbye to Oprah as I am?

I know that she’s set to launch her OWN (pardon the pun) network (yes, it is entitled, OWN – the Oprah Winfrey Network) but, to me, it just isn’t the same!

Oprah’s show is 25 years old. I’m almost 27. Do the math – Oprah has been around my entire life, and, I’ve loved the show since I was old enough to watch it!

I have to admit, as much as some people will mock me for it, Oprah is one of my idols! She is definitely a role model to me, as she should be for many women. It really is bittersweet having to “say goodbye” to her – almost like a breakup or the end of a friendship! It really is the close of an important chapter in pop culture history.

That being said, we all know that “The Big O” is not ACTUALLY going anywhere. I mean, Oprah will probably surpass Betty White in longevity. She’ll be the Brett Favre of TV – she’s not ever going to actually retire. So, I know that this “farewell season” is just farewell to THIS era of the O, and not goodbye forever.

So, a part of me is anticipating what she’ll do next, and it’s kind of exciting. Even moreso than that, I’m really anxious to see what Oprah has in store for her final season. What surprises is she going to have in store? What big names will she wow us with? I can’t imagine all the stops she’ll pull out this year.

It does make me sad that a lifelong goal of mine was to appear on the Oprah show as a guest – ok, or at the very least, to attend a taping as a member of the audience – and now, I see that this will not be happening. Bummer!

I’m still excited to see what awesomeness Queen Oprah will bring us with her 25th season.

Everybody set your DVR’s for that series recording! The farewell season starts Monday, 9.13.10…I know I’ll be watching, will you?
PS: Who do you guys think will REPLACE Oprah? Such speculation. My guess? Has to be Ellen. Thoughts?

Movie Review: Twilight Saga: ECLIPSE … Love the Books, But The Movies Leave Me Wanting More…

Ok … I hate to say this but…Eclipse was just “okay.”

I love the Twilight series.

Wait, strike that. Let me rephrase: I love the Twilight BOOK series.

Also – I like Kristen Stewart. I like Taylor Lautner. I like Robert Pattinson. Conceivably, I SHOULD like the movies.

They just aren’t GOOD.

Don’t get me wrong: they entertain me. I will see every single one of them. I get goosebumps when I see the trailers for the next upcoming film.

However, that’s only because I’m in love with the romance, drama, and action of the BOOKS.

I also get caught up in the hooplah, the hype, and the whole pop culture phenomenon that IS the Twilight Saga.

It almost makes me forget how average – even below average – that the movies really are.

I do not know what is lacking, because, the books have it ALL. I mean, they are AMAZING. I always feel badly for people who have only seen the movies, and who have never read the entire book series, because, they are totally, 100% missing out on something magical.

The movies “should” rock. After seeing “Remember Me,” I learned that Robert Pattinson is actually an amazing actor. I can tell, too, that Kristen Stewart is also an amazingly gifted actress who truly cares about her craft, maybe more so than any of the others. Taylor Lautner, well, who cares if he can even act or not….look at him. (All kidding aside, he seems like a decent actor, as well.) And it isn’t like the movies aren’t making money, so, they have to have an awesome budget, right?

So — the ingredients are there – the books were genius, there are good actors on board, what seems to be a nice supporting cast (Anna Kendrick was nominated for an Oscar, right? And Peter Facinelli is a good actor, what gives?) – and there should be a big budget … so what is lacking?

Am I the only person that thinks this?

I thought that the 2nd movie, New Moon, was better than this one, though this one should have had a lot more romantic tension and action than what came through on screen. Something just always seems “lost in translation” to me. I said that after the FIRST  Twilight movie.

And one more thing:

ALL OF THE FIGHT SCENES IN THE TWILIGHT MOVIES ARE EXQUISITELY LAME. Come on! I get it, gotta keep a PG-13 rating for the kiddos, but CUT ME A BREAK. Super lame. Corny. Times TEN. No….times infinity!

Don’t get me wrong – there were some OMG amazingly romantic, butterfly-inducing moments in Eclipse. I’m still in love with Edward but crossed over to be borderline Team Jacob in this movie and found myself, on occasion, so wanting to BE Bella that it wasn’t even funny. I’m still a Twihard. I don’t mean to betray my kind. It’s just … I wanted it to be MORE than it was.

Maybe I’m just watching too much True Blood? Or has Vampire Diaries clouded my mind? Did I just hype it up too much in my head?

Thoughts?

Ok, I’m going to go read Midnight Sun now.  Please don’t send the Volturi after me.

*Hides from mobs of angry Twilight fans*

THE BACHELOR BREAKUP: Jake and Vienna … my personal thoughts…

 I’m usually not all Perez-Hilton mean in my blog but I can’t help it with this one …..WHO CARES?!!?!??  She was a skank who looked like a cross-eyed tranny horse.

 The show is among the fakest out there (save for most things on MTV and VH1) and anyone who goes on it or The Bachelorette has no concept of what real love is, nor a chance of finding it. (Trista and Ryan may be an exception.)  This girl was, from what I gather just from reading magazines, watching TV, and having ears and eyes, a piece of fame-seeking, white trash with a not-so-shocking, love ’em and leave ’em party-girl past. And Jake? Um, Douchebag. (Please note the capital D.) There you have it – Glitzburgh’s take on the least-shocking, least-important breakup of the moment. Why did I invest 60 seconds of my time and a couple inches of my blog space in writing this, again??

PS: YUP, I’m ready for the “haterade” … bring on the nasty comments! The beauty of creating, maintaining, and writing your own blog, is that you can write whatever you please, and spread your own opinions across the web like wildfire! So, bring it on. Most people whoI talk to tend to agree with me, anyway…We all have our guilty pleasures, I watch some crap TV, too. Unfortunately, I’ve just had my fill of The Bachelor series, even WITHOUT EVER WATCHING IT, and I am annoyed that every one of these couples’ breakups or Bachelor/Bachelorette scandals is “news”. I mean, WHAT?!?? It *WASN’T* TRUE LOVE? OMG!!!!!!!!! What is the world coming to?!???

Cut me a break. The show has been on forever. Isn’t it time to call it quits? The gimmicks get worse each season. I don’t even WATCH it but the clips they show on other entertainment shows, the previews/commercials, and the things that I read in magazines, are enough to make me throw up in my mouth a little. I’ve just had enough of it…and this particular couple gets on my nerves beyond belief. When he was on Dancing with the Stars I wanted to throw things at the TV. Hell, I wanted to throw TVs at the TV!

The show makes a mockery of romance, relationships, courtship, and marriage. It’s rather sickening and pathetic. No wonder women in our country have a warped perception of relationships and marrige. (Just a little food for thought.)

Pittsburgh Marathon Was Da’ Bomb … (Too Soon?)

Soooo, I went down to the Marathon this morning to watch my Boyfriend cross the Finish Line and was yelled at by a Police Officer that I “couldn’t go down that street, there was an emergency.”

So, I started walking in another direction.

“Or that street!”

I was then told to turn around and go back to my car.

But then I got a “M’am, you can’t go that way.”

“Well, where is the finish line,” I asked.

The officer replied that he had no idea, “where the runners would finish now.”

I grew very confused.

To my left, a girl was bawling that she got diverted from the race course and couldn’t finish the race because the finish line was closed. She’d trained for this all year.

Cop tells us there’s a “situation.” Guy next to him tells me there’s a bomb at the finish line. Runners are MAD that they can’t finish the race. Lots of crying, swearing, breathless phone calls, people roaming aimlessly. (and, on an unrelated note, body odor.)

Next, a large group of people, myself included, are sent across the Clemente bridge in the midst of the choas.

Wait….a bomb? Really?

Yes. It was true. A female officer proceeds to tell me they’re considering canceling the race and closing down the Convention Center.

Way to cause panic amidst a crowd!

It turns out that there was truly a bomb threat at today’s Pittsburgh Marathon, which boasted 16,000 participants and thousands of additional attendees and spectators.

The threat was real, but the race went on.

Apparently, a pipe bomb was found in an abandoned microwave oven left on a sidewalk near the finish line of the race.

A bomb squad robot dismantled the bomb and no harm was done.

Many runners were told to stop running, and, at least from my point of view, there was chaos for about a half an hour, though, local news outlets are reporting that the whole event took place and was averted in a matter of 12 minutes or so.

Luckily, not too many people were affected by this scare, and the race, for the most part, went on as scheduled. Once they opened roads back up and let us walk over to the finish line, most people were blissfully ignorant and unaware that the bomb scare had even taken place.

The police on the scene and the media did a pretty good job of keeping it on the DL until the Marathon was finished. (I, on the other hand, was frantic because I had no way of getting in touch with my boyfriend, or back to my car, for about half an hour!)

After yesterday’s car-bomb scare in New York City’s Times Square, one has to wonder what’s going on lately. I mean, who DOES that?!?

That being said, I’m glad everything is well, and, I’d rather be inconvenienced for a half an hour than have them be lax on security. So kudos to the Pittsburgh police. It may have messed with my plans for the day but, it is ALWAYS “better to be safe than sorry” in my book!

(It WAS kind of unnerving for a brief time, though! Whew)

Review: Romantically Challenged ~ A “Pittsburgh” Based Sitcom? The Red Foam Finger Stuck Out Like a Sore Thumb!

Romantically Challenged (Alyssa Milano’s new ABC sitcom, “set in Pittsburgh”) is … cute. Mildly cute.

However, for being set in Pittsburgh, it doesn’t “feel” very…. “Pittsburgh” to me.

First of all, the city has only been mentioned once (that I could count) in two episodes. (Last week, a waiter said he was returning to his previous job with the Pittsburgh Police Department.) That’s fine and all, but, when they show fleeting outdoors shots, it doesn’t “look” like Pittsburgh to me, either.

Why “set” a series in a city if you aren’t going to “play into” that city?

(Additionally, to me, the show is trying too hard to be “Friends”, which, it clearly isn’t. There IS a coffee-shop hangout. There ISN’T the Rachel-Ross-Phoebe-Monica-Chandler-Joey chemistry and humor.)

It’s just … somehow LACKING to me. I feel like that if the show could really bring some LIFE and some CHARACTER into it, really SHOW people what Pittsburgh IS, then it may have a chance at being a success. (Since it IS ‘based’ in Pittsburgh, and all….supposedly.)

To me, it just doesn’t seem to have the right type of humor, the right type of camaraderie, the right type of characters. Something seems a little off.

The coffee shop is not “hometown” enough. The taxis throw me off. The red foam finger in the last episode was all wrong. What Pittsburgh team is RED? Why would someone living in Pittsburgh have a RED foam finger? Grr.

The whole thing just reeks of L.A people.-displaced-in-NY-pretending-to-be-in-Pittsburgh.

The show has a chance…maybe. Alyssa Milano is ADORABLE. But, ehh….I dunno. Mediocre at best?

Maybe they should cast some REAL Pittsburghers in it and show ’em how it’s DONE in Da’ Burgh!!!!! 🙂

Thoughts?

Project Runway: Bye Bye (for real this time) Anthony!

First off: ANTHONY, I LOVE YOU!

I am so bummed that Anthony Williams is gone….for real this time!

For those of you who do not watch Project Runway regularly, Anthony was booted, but since Maya left voluntarily, he was allowed back in to the competition.

I personally think that he deserved to make it to Bryant Park more than Jay (sorry to say it!)

What do you all think? To me, Anthony’s personality shone through in his designs, and, his portfolio was gorgeous! He designed dresses to make a woman feel like a lady – and look sexy and sophisticated at the same time.

Jay always fumbles and seems lost! He has these awesome pieces that still are somehow lacking!

So, since I am obviously not a Jay fan, and Anthony is gone, I’m now rooting for my other favorite, Seth Aaron…but I’d take Emilio over Mila any day!

Psssst…I stumbled across this GREAT Project Runway blog ~ check it out:

http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Lady GaGa Sells Out Pittsburgh in Record Time! Under 2 Minutes!

Pop-sensation and all around fierce-and-fabulous Lady GaGa has sold out Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center in record time!

Local Pittsburgh news stations – and Gaga’s BFF / Celebrity Gossip Guru, blogger Perez Hilton – reported yesterday that GaGa sold out the new Pittsburgh venue for her September 5th show in under 2 minutes! That’s about 19,000 seats! Tickets went on sale at 10:00am EST and were gone by 10:02.

Tickets are now going for $1500 on ticket brokering websites such as StubHub.com. Many fans are disappointed that they didn’t get tickets. (I, personally, know about 8 people who tried from 9:55 a.m. all the way until 11am – phone and Ticketmaster.com – with no luck at all.) Hopefully, more seats will be released closer to the show, or, GaGa’s “Little Monsters” will SOMEHOW, some way, be able to find tickets on eBay, Craigslist, and the like at a lower rate.

If anyone wants to hook ME up with tickets…..let me know 😉

How Social Media Changes Things – Online Bullying, Mean Girls, and Cowards!

Today, I got harassed on Formspring.me. Ever seen the movie “Mean Girls?” Yeah, it was like that. As one of my Twitter friends called it; it was a “jealous high school cheerleader rant.”

Sure, by having profiles on Facebook and Twitter, Formspring, Gluten Free Faces, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites, in addition to developing this blog and writing for various others, I am certainly “putting myself out there” and “setting myself up” for this childishness.

Does that mean that I, or anyone, deserves it? No. I still am baffled.

I got some nasty, mean, malicious, and hurtful messages in my Formspring inbox this evening. From 2 days ago, they told me that I am ugly with bad hair, my blogs are terrible and not going anywhere, that I complain about my illnesses too much, and that I am shallow, whiny, and self-absorbed. (Oh, and they also dissed on Pittsburgh, wondering why I’d write a blog called Glitzburgh when Pittsburgh is not a big city and is never going to be?)

I cried for a little bit, because I am nice to everybody, and I didn’t feel I did anything to deserve it, and thus, it hurt my feelings. I treat people with kindness and respect, and go out of my way for others. I’m always very conscious of, and aware of, other people’s feelings – more than most people I know – and  I would do anything for my loved ones. I’m rather analytical and on the deep side….but, apparently, to my little online frenemy, I’m shallow. (Maybe because I decided to do this type of entertainment blog for fun? Because I like clothes? I don’t know. They said I’m shallow, but obviously not shallow enough to do anything about my “horrible 1990’s hair.”)

Nonetheless, after I shed a few tears (hey, it all hurt me pretty badly!) I did what I do best: thought about it, and wrote about it.

I’m writing about it now; and I vented a bit on Facebook. It is simply how I deal with my feelings. But what it really made me ponder was how social media and the Internet changes things.

Sure, girls could be mean in middle school, but you almost always found out about it, and who said it, etc. Online, people can hide on anonymous message boards, or under fake accounts on various websites. Sure, maybe I, as a blogger and a fan of social networking, am putting myself out there.

But, what about young kids? Are kids in middle school and high school getting harassed even more now, with the invent of social media and all of it’s various apps? If I, a mature, emotionally sound, 26 year old, had such a reaction to this cruel and spiteful messages, how would a 14 year old girl react? I‘m old enough to realize that people can be two-faced. It is why I, for a long time, had trouble trusting people. It is hard not to be suspicious when there is so much backstabbing.

I know that not everyone is kind, though. I also know that some people never mature, or “grow up” even as they grow older. I also know that people who go out of their way to hurt others, are somehow hurting themselves.

Does a teenager or “tween” know this? When I was in high school, AIM was the big thing. Now, there are so many ways for kids to be mean online, without ever having to confront their target face-to-face. I worry now about online bullying, only for the sake of younger kids.

I hope that their parents are educating them that these “mean people” and “cyber bullies” have no life of their own, and that meanness is almost always a result of hurt or some unfulfilled void. (Mine had to have been someone I knew – in fact I have a few suspects haha – and I wouldn’t say that I have a bully per se, but, same type of thing….)

I am happy with my life and with who I am, and after the initial shock, I’m over it. I mean, it still hurt, and I’m still appalled – at a loss for words, almost – about how a person could be so mean, but, I’m over it. I just hope that other people do not let this type of  ridiculousness get them too down in the dumps.

As for whoever wrote it to ME – I cordially invite you to come forward! Why hide behind Formspring if you have such strong feelings? Don’t be a coward, have the courage and maturity to come clean! I welcome it and look forward to hearing from you, since you have so much to say!

Since you knew so much about my life and my writing, I’m sure you’re a fan and will find a way to contact me   🙂

After all, you aren’t emotionally involved enough to be hateful or hurtful unless you know someone or have some sort of connection, so, I’m curious to see who you are and what I ever did to you. Let’s work it out!

xoxo,

Ashley

glitzburgh@gmail.com

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS: For more information on online bullying:

http://www.besafeonline.org/English/bullying_online.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2009/03/facebook_twitte.html

Surgery Tomorrow – Yikes!

I posted a new “Ashley’s Journey to Wellness” entry on the Arthritis Foundation Rheum for Wellness Blog. I’m having knee surgery tomorrow. OUCH!!

http://arthritisfoundationwpa.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/ashleys-journey-to-wellness-entry-11-fingers-crossed-knee-surgery-tomorrow-ashley-boynes-community-development-director-arthritis-foundation-wpa-chapter/