TV Tidbits-Desperate Housewives and Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood Feud

A little bit of this, little bit of that.

A tribute to our veterans with a picture that will amaze.

Plus some TV tidbits. It's great, it's zany, it's offbeat, it's funny, it's true life.

I speak of my new TV fascination…."Desperate Housewives"

Plus what's with Faith Hill at the 2006 CMA Awards?

Finally, the new series, "Brothers and Sisters". There are very distasteful liberal flaws in this series and it could cause it to fail.

Pic of the Day

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Quote of the Day "Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart." Unknown Author

Web Site Worth the Visit Billy Joel Didn’t Start the Fire Here’s an artfully prepared compilation of past events flashed by to the tune of Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. It’s riveting, well-prepared and sure to bring memories. History With Music

TIDBITS Wedding Rings These days, many people take wedding bands and engagement rings for granted, and although they give these beautiful items of jewelry with integrity and love, they are often given with no real knowledge of the meaning behind them. Both wedding bands and engagement rings are very special items of jewelry; in fact, they are more than just jewelry - they are the symbols of many emotions and promises such as: Love Commitment Fidelity Eternity Honour But where - and why - did these popular and sentimental pieces of jewelry stem from? The History Of Wedding Bands These items of jewelry have a history that spans many centuries and passes through many countries from all around the planet. Below, you will find a brief history of the wedding and engagement ring, as reported from country to country. EGYPTIANS The now-famous wedding band is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt, where it is said that plant sections were fashioned in to circles to signify never-ending and immortal love.. It was thought that the fourth finger (which we now know as the ring finger) contained a special vein that was connected directly to the heart, and therefore this became the official finger for the wedding band. ROMANS The Romans also agreed with the Egyptians with regards to the wedding ring finger and its meaning, but rather than offering wedding bands as a symbol of love, they awarded them as a symbol of ownership. Roman men would "claim" their woman with the giving of a ring. ASIANS / ARABS Puzzle rings were a complex type of jewellery that were once popular in Asia, and these jewels had the charming knack of being able to fall apart and put back together again - if you knew how to do this, of course. Wealthy Middle Eastern men then began to use these rings as wedding bands for their wives, who were often forced to wear a puzzle ring when their husband was away. The husband would know upon his return whether any of his wives had been disloyal by removing the ring whilst he was away, because the ring was designed to collapse upon removal and could only be put together again if you had the skill and knowledge required. EUROPEANS Several centuries ago, the Europeans became rather taken with what we would class as an engagement ring, but was then called a Poesy Ring. This ring was given to a loved one as a form of promise, and signified fidelity and love. The Poesy Ring was offered as a pledge of eternal togetherness, much as today's engagement rings are offered as a promise of eternal marriage. AMERICANS During Colonial times, all items of jewellery in America were prohibited due to their apparent moral worthlessness. Instead, a more practical thimble was given as a token of love and as a pledge of eternal togetherness. However, after they were married, the women tended to remove the bottom of their "engagement thimble" to form a type of ring. History Of Engagement Rings The engagement ring of today also has its own varied and interesting history, some of which is explored below. Engagement rings have been known by many different names, have symboliZed a variety of different things and have not always been made of precious metals and stunning gems! GREEKS The ancient Greeks are thought to have been the forerunners in the rising of the traditional engagement ring. Given as a token of care and affection, the rings used by the Greeks were known as betrothal rings and were given before marriage.. However, the giving of these rings was not always a pre-requisite to marriage and was often given in the same way as a friendship ring might be given today. ROMANS As seen by their use of the wedding ring, ancient Romans weren't the most sentimental of people, and the early version of their "engagement ring" were thought to have carved keys on them. It has been debated that this could have been to symboliZe the woman's right to access and own half of everything following marriage. However, the more sentimental like to think that the key may have been a key to her husband's heart. ROYALTY AND THE AFFLUENT Engagement rings as we know them today - stunning gems encased in precious metals - became popular in around the fourteenth or fifteenth century, when the affluent and the royals began to exchange and wear these jewels. However, these items were so expensive that nobody other than the royals and the rich could afford to exchange them. It was to be many centuries before these engagement rings would become more popular or traditional. Why a ring? The purpose of engagement rings and wedding bands is to convey deep emotions of eternal love, eternal happiness, eternal commitment, and eternal togetherness. In fact, these rings signify eternity - between the giver and the recipient. A ring, of course, is a complete circle with no break and no end or beginning, which means that it just goes on and on - it is eternal. And, since folklore has it that the fourth finger of the left hand has a vein leading directly to the heart, it is only natural that both engagement and wedding rings would be worn on this particular finger, which was once reputed to be a direct route to the heart. Summary In short, it is clear that the giving of a ring in honour of a union, betrothal, and marriage has been going on since ancient times, and although it may not always have been as glamorous and romantic as it is today, it was still a way of exchanging a contract of betrothal or marriage. Thankfully, today's wedding bands and engagement rings are not made of hair, grass, plants or twine as they may have been in ancient times, but of beautiful metals set with stunning gems, such as platinum, titanium, white gold, gold, sapphires, diamonds, rubies and emeralds. These incredible items of jewelry are likely to remain as popular as ever as the centuries go by, and even as the rest of the world advances in to a futuristic and technological age, it's hard to imagine a day where a beautiful diamond engagement ring doesn't melt the heart of its recipient.

The Veteran

It is the VETERAN , not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN , not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN , not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN , not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the ! VETERAN , not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN ,
who salutes the Flag,

It is the veteran,
who serves under the Flag, !

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

 


Faith Hill-OOPS, At the 2006 Country Music Awards

It’s one of those slips that makes the viewer gasp almost in embarrassment and yet it’s just so delicious one must marvel at the perfection of the moment.

Carrie Underwood is quite the rising country star but it would seem, at least as I opine, that the country/western elite take exception to her humble beginnings as a winner of “American Idol”.

I am a firm defender of this singing competition series in that, at least as I opine again, the concept seems so, eh, “democratic” to me.

Of course there’s plenty of people who oppose democracy because a democracy allows EVERYONE a chance to win. The entrenched tend to do everything possible to keep out the challengers even if it most unfair. Those youngsters who enter Fox’s “American Idol” competition have talent, hope and ambition. What rule says the music industry should continue to be dominated by dirty old men who demand “couch rehearsals” before allowing entry to the vaunted world of music stardom?

So Faith Hill got her snobby self caught doing two perfectly terrible things. One-she raised her arms in glee at the announcement except she did it BEFORE the announcement for Female Vocalist of the Year. Had kind Faith waited a few more seconds before celebrating so publicly and caught on camera, she would have heard Carrie Underwood’s name and not, heh, FAITH HILL.

Then sweet Faith makes a godawful face and plainly mouths the word “WHAT?”, again all captured by cameras and so delightful it’s almost a sin.

So add a third crime to Faith Hill’s very bad manners. Instead of simply apologizing, this shallow woman tells us dumb bells out here in la-la land that it was all a “JOKE”!

Yeah, and I got a bridge to sell cheap. I never did particularly like Faith Hill but I’ll sure never buy a record of hers now.



From Yahoo.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Recording star Faith Hill insisted on Tuesday she was just clowning around backstage at the Country Music Association Awards when cameras caught her apparently reacting with angry disbelief as rival Carrie Underwood was named female vocalist of the year.

Desperate Housewives

It’s taken almost five weeks before I got the courage to stand up proudly and admit that I am totally smitten with ABC’s hit series “Desperate Housewives”.

Indeed.

It began with Lifetime’s late Saturday night repeats of the series. Hey, it’s 11:00 pm and I hate to watch the nightly news. Soon I was hooked.

Then ABC announced the premiere of new episodes in September and I tuned in.

“Desperate Housewives” does not fit into a preconceived television genre. It’s not strictly a drama, or strictly a comedy, or strictly a soap opera, or even, oddly, strictly a mystery.

Yet the series fills all of those adjectives.

The characters on “Desperate Housewives” are varied and interesting and every episode has several plot lines that keep a busy mind occupied.

”Desperate Housewives” Home Page



The Characters

“Desperate Housewives” does have a core set of female characters but unlike a soap opera, the weekly story does not revolve around only this set of players. New characters come and go in the series and though this practice does tend to cause a viewer to speculate on just how the new character will suddenly disappear from the series, it is all in good fun.

Bree, played by Marcia Cross, is a stolid and staid housewife with two very ill-behaved children. Her first husband is deceased and Bree has remarried to a possibly murderer although we don’t know this for sure.

Bree will spend endless afternoons polishing silverware and baking pesto and basil chicken. Every beautiful red hair is combed carefully in place and viewers were treated to one episode when Bree first dabbled with oral sex although, ahem, initially she demurred from the practice, declaring she is a “Republican”.

Susan, played by Terri Hatcher of “Superman” fame, is a dreamer who seeks true love and fidelity. Susan is the single Mom of one daughter and is currently is in love with a man who doesn’t even remember her. A sweet-talking British man currently fills in for her memory-addled former lover.

Lynette, played by Felicity Huffman, is a take-charge career woman who has a bounty of children but doesn’t seem to like them very much. Currently Felicity is married to a man who wants to “follow his dream” and open a pizza parlor.

Lynette is the mythical woman of steel with a heart soft as soap.

Gabrielle, played by Eva Longoria, is currently married to a very wealthy man although this “War of the Roses” couple are either making passionate love or tearing apart their beautiful home.

Gabrielle currently finds herself in need of employment and her search for a way to earn money is an intriguing addition to the plot line.

Edie, played by Nicollette Sheradan, is the vamp of Wisteria Lane. Edie will fulfill any man’s sexual fantasy, including any fantasies of husbands and boyfriends of others in her surround.

She’s evil, a bit playful, and really a woman with a tender heart once you get past the thigh-high leather boots.

Other female characters come and go in this series and always they add to the plot in delightful, weird and intriguing ways.

The Plot

“Desperate Housewives” has no continual plot except the enduring mystery of what really happened to Mary Alice Young, a former resident of Wisteria Lane who suddenly committed suicide. Mary Alice is the narrator of “Desperate Housewives”, with each episode usually beginning and ending with some words from Mary Alice Young, now presumably calling in from heaven.

Unlike the series’ title might infer, this is NOT a “Peyton Place” type of soap-opera sexy drama. The ladies of Wisteria Lane are not vapid women with empty and unfulfilled lives. They DO have dramas and life’s events with which they must cope and the dramas change weekly, much like our own lives.

Although this series is definitely not for children so keep them away from this show as it airs on Sunday evenings at 9 pm, on ABC.

There are plenty of male characters in “Desperate Housewives”. Next week perhaps?

”Brothers and Sisters”

”Brothers and Sisters” web site HERE

I only chanced across this series because of my devotion to the above, “Desperate Housewives”. For “Brothers and Sisters” follows right behind “Desperate Housewives” in its Sunday night time slot.

I must suppose this timing is intentional for “Brothers and Sisters” is a show that follows the drama/comedy/mystery type of format in the same manner of “DH”. EXCEPT, I must state right now, “Brothers and Sisters” is some sort of weird show that is so liberal it almost makes one’s eyes go back into one’s head. I have a perfect example of such unbelievable liberalism, more on this later.

For now, the plot of the series consists of a family of, well, brothers and sisters. The matriarch of the family is played by Sally Fields and just so yon reader knows that this right-winger is not imagining things, Sally Fields is an admitted liberal, even on the show. In fact, her daughter, played by Calista Flockhart, is a conservative radio talk show host and, hint, hint, Laura Ingraham of REAL conservative radio talk show fame smirks that this character may well be based on her own fine self. The unpleasant relationship between the very liberal mother and the right-wing radio talk show daughter is but one of the many sub plots ongoing in this series.

When the series first premiered the viewer was treated to a show with the Patriarch of the family. This fellow was loved and revered by his children but the man died in that first show of a heart attack. Later it was revealed that for all of his childrens’ adulation, he’d been having an affair behind his wife’s back, had an illegitimate child with her and also managed to pilfer millions of dollars from the family business’ pension fund.

Not such a nice guy.

Along the way there’ve been plots involving the sharing of sperm from two brothers to help a sterile brother; a botched love affair between Calista’s character and another, more liberal, talk show host; AND…tada, but of course, the homosexual brother seeks a lasting love.

It is the most recent sub plot in this show that illustrates the separation from reality of liberalism. One brother is characterized as a former soldier who went to Iraq in a spate of patriotism after the 9-11 attacks.

Folks, if this character were a Vietnam vet his characterization as written by the show’s writers would fit this stereotype to a T. The war-addled character, now home from Iraq but a drunk and drug addict as a result of his experiences overseas, was called BACK to action in this past night’s episode, 11/12/06.

First, there is no great problem with veterans of the Iraq conflicts becoming washed-out drug addicts as was the case with the ill-fought Vietnam war. Not to state the obvious here, but our military is now populated with VOLUNTEERS. It makes all the difference in the world. Draftees can be embittered by losing buddies and by suffering the horrors of war much easier than a young person who actually CHOSE this job.

In a totally unbelievable desperation, the drug-addled Iraq war veteran goes nuts and threatens to run to Mexico to avoid going back into action. Again, go with me here, my own daughter signed up for the military during her late teen years. At the last minute she got cold feet and hey, the military didn’t WANT someone so damned reluctant to serve. This portrayal of a trapped victim of a mighty military snubs anything resembling the truth.

This episode of “Brothers and Sisters” leaves us with the desperate war protester in some sort of coma and near death, such was his fear of watching “people killed” yet again.

Not even close to how it really is, proving that the show’s writers are stuck in the 70’s in terms of their thinking.

And hey, I’ll say it. The sub-plot involving the gay brother is so shallow as to be nowhere near believable. Aaaaaaand… shows with a guy passionately kissing another guy simply don’t make it on prime time. Yes I know the Hollywood crowd hates this unfair form of prejudice by the American public but there’s as of yet no law to FORCE people to tune in to watch something they find so viscerally unpleasant, however unfair it might be. I have to click the channel to another station it’s just so distasteful to watch.

I predict this show doesn’t make it to “Desperate Housewives” status.

More TV Reviews HERE
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