Pop Culture & What I Know For Sure

I have always loved television and movies and entertainment and celebrities.  Along with Amy and Heather, I consider TV as one of my best friends as a kid. Many of my memories growing up and milestones coincide with what television shows I was watching.  When I was very young and played house or Barbies, many of the story lines were ripped straight from One Life To Live or All My Children.  When my parents got divorced and my life became more unstable, the routine of watching my shows grounded me.  It was comforting knowing that Miss Ellie would always be there on Friday nights on Dallas or that Mrs. Garret took care of her girls on The Facts of Life (even when she couldn't be there, she sent her sister, remember?).

But it wasn't just TV, no, I loved everything about Hollywood.  I came of age at a time when Mary Hart and Entertainment Tonight were just getting big and People magazine's popularity exploded.  Over the years, I followed the lives of celebrities, went to the movies, watched the shows, bought the magazines and then eventually bookmarked all the web sites.

Not everyone thinks that's so cool.  In fact some people think it makes me simple-minded and ridiculous.  They think just because I enjoy a little celebrity dish, that I can't talk about politics or job sustainability or the stock market. Maybe that's why I have taken to calling myself a Pop Culuturalist over the years, because I wanted my love of celebrity and pop culture to be taken a little more seriously.

When I tell people that I am a fan of all things pop culture, there are some people that instantly change their expression from a "hi nice to talk with you" face to a "oh my god, please don't tell you me you are the reason the Kardashians exist, you are such a boob" face.  It's like people who say they prefer reading to watching TV and then look at you like they feel sorry for you.

I'm sure it doesn't help when I tell stories like the time I waited in line for Hulk Hogan's autograph in an airport in Indiana in 1990. Hogan wasn't at the height of any kind of fame at this point, it was post WWE mania and pre rise to reality show star.  He was sort of seen as "washed up" by some celebrity watchers.  But not to me.  To me he was the dude in that Rocky movie and a guy who had achieved so much pop culture success that they had made dolls of him.  So, yeah, I stood in line to get an autograph with two other men who obviously remembered Hulk in all his glory.  Unfortunately, right as I was about to talk to the big guy he had to leave to catch his plane. Or the time I told Ana Gasteyer that she was great in a movie that she wasn't in and told her she was wrong when she informed me it wasn't her (click here to hear the whole story on that one).

Stories like those make me sound a little nuts and simple.  I get that they are just people. I get that some of the celebrity watching has become a little overboard (I'm not a fan of TMZ).  BUT here's the what, I love pop culture and TV and movies and celebrities for the same reasons I did as a kid....the storytelling and the escapism and the pure fun of some of it.  It's fun to be a fan.  I don't make fun of people that are fans of sports and think that they can't have world views or can't talk politics. 

I am proud to be a fan of Hollywood and pop culture and the fact that I love that Victor and Nicki are remarried on Young and the Restless or that I could win a who knows all the words to the most sitcom theme songs from the past 30 years contest (wouldn't that be a fun?! If loving pop culture is wrong, I don't want to be right, I know that for sure this week.

Here's What Else I Know For Sure This Week:

• Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit is one week away!!!!!!!!!  If you live in Detroit, near Detroit or want to take a quick flight to Detroit, come to the show.  It's on Sunday, April 26th at 3 p.m. (doors open at 2 p.m.) at Saint Andrew's Hall.  And talk about some good storytelling, it's going to be amazing. Click here for details.

This is one of my favorite pics from one of our
  Listen To Your Mother Detroit rehearsals. 

• I suck at VEDA.  But I did make a video this week and it involves Patti LaBelle.

(Click here to watch the video.)

• Lucy and I have discovered a new/old show on Netflix, Gilmore Girls.  We just finished the first season last night and we LOVE it.  It's a great mother/daughter show and the first season was totally appropriate viewing for a 10 or 11-year-old girl in my opinion (and I'm pretty conservative-ish).

• My trip to Southfork, the ranch from the TV show Dallas, was one of my most favorite total freak out pop culture fan moments ever.

(Click here to watch the video.)

• The weather is finally getting a little bit warmer and sunnier here and it is EVERYTHING!!!!

• I am loving the new web site The Mid.  It is full of great parenting stuff and so much pop culture from the 1980s and 90s fun!  Check it out- http://www.themid.com.

• I love these Blank on Blank videos--they animate interviews with celebrities.  Here's a new one about one of my favorite celebrities who I would totally stand in line to meet...Dolly Parton.

(Click to watch the video.)

What do YOU know for sure this week?  Share what you know here in the comments or over on my Facebook page.