cold turkey

It's official: I'm giving up Perez Hilton. For those of you who don't know, I have been mildly obsessed with this gossip blog for some time now. While I couldn't disagree more with most of his idiotic social and political beliefs, I don't think you have to agree with everything you read habitually, and he really does get the scoop, which is why I read his blog in the first place, right?

So, the whole Carrie Prejean controversy is played out, for sure, and while the names he called her and the violent threat he made were despicable, it really didn't bother me all that much because I'm not crazy about her either. However, a couple of his recent posts have sealed the deal. And please understand that I, in no way, am a homophobe or dislike gay people. This may come as a shock to some of you, but I really don't even think I'm against gay marriage. But that's neither here nor there. Now, to the offending posts ....

First, it was this a couple of days ago:

(and a quick disclaimer here ... I do not endorse his vulgar language, and the only reason I'm linking to the posts is because I don't want to get sued.)

Soap Star Quits Because Of Gay Kiss

Filed under: Gay Gay Gay > Z List

Lame!

Young & the Restless newcomer Chris Engen has up and left the series due to a shift in his character's orientation.

According to reports, the actor quit the soap this week because he allegedly did not want to kiss a male co-star.

Sources confirm that the actor has been absent from the tapings, calling in sick very frequently, and has been having meetings with the head honchos of the show. And they aren't too happy with him.

Since he is still under contract with the show, they might take legal action against him.

Seriously, you're an actor for crying out loud. You're not a writer. This is your job!

[Image via CBS.]

Posted: May 21, 2009 at 5:15 pm

And today, Perez has followed it up with this:

Homophobe Recast

Bye, bitch! Serves you right!

We mentioned yesterday about the douchebag actor on the Young and the Restless who refused to do a man-on-man kiss. He thought the shift was uncharacteristic and he held meetings with the heads of the program to get it changed.

When they didn't, Chris Engen up and quit.

Don't let the door hit you in your fat ass, buddy!

With integrity to stand by their storyline and two of their openly gay cast members, the show let the bastard walk and quickly hired a new fella: Michael Muhney from Veronica Mars

We wish Michael a lot of luck and hope Chris likes his new job as a kid's party clown!

[Image via CBS.]

Waaaait a second, lemmegethistraight ... a person is a homophobe simply because he refuses to be forced to make out with someone of the same sex? PLEASE! Hopefully, you all see the idiocy of this ... Would a homosexual actor be fired if he was uncomfortable with making out with someone of the opposite sex? If he did, that employer would have one hell of a lawsuit on its hands!

So, I've decided I'm tired of this little unintelligent peon's close-minded, vulgar and discriminatory ranting ... I'm done. buhbye perez!

Time to start packing ...

As of today, I am officially back from vacation, and I must say ... it does a body good. A trip to the beach was wayyyyy overdue (I firmly believe in going to the beach at least once a year.), and if there was ever a time when Sean and I need to get away and relax a little, this was it. We were fortunate to go to Destin, Fla. with his parents and stay (for free!) in a timeshare owned by some friends of theirs. I've been to Destin before, but the beach was more beautiful than I remembered it. Plus I was so in need of some relaxation that a trip to the North Pole probably would have done the trick. It's kind of like when you've sworn off sugar and then get a taste of that first cupcake ... it's that much sweeter! A funny thing happens every time I get out of Kentucky (or Tennessee, for that matter) and go somewhere warm and close to the ocean ... I find myself asking why I voluntarily live in a place that is either freezing or raining literally half the year. It never fails that I feel like moving the second I get back to the boring old bluegrass. So, one of these day I just might have to!

Anyway, we had sooo much fun and it was really great to just relax and sit on the beach for hours on end with a good book. On Friday, we visited Seaside, Fla. (about 20 mins. from Destin). I have also been there before, but this visit definitely topped the first one. If you don't know about Seaside, it's one of the coolest places I've seen. It's a planned community (I think one of the first in America), and you honestly feel like you're on a film set when you enter the town. Pastel-colored homes line the cobblestone streets, separated by the most perfect little white picket fences. The cutest shops you have ever seen all sit in a little circle in the middle of the town, and there is an open-air market basically on the beach. SO fun! But the best part was yet to come ...

So, one thing about Seaside that is really cool is that the movie The Truman Show was filmed there. If you've not seen the movie, it's basically about this guy Truman whose whole life has been filmed without him knowing it. They create this perfect little world called Seascape or something like that, with all these perfect people and perfect houses, etc. etc. And that's Seaside ... perfect! So, we were driving past the "Truman House" there on Natchez in Seaside on Friday, and this roofing guy who was doing some work on the house invited us in for a little tour! It was so fun to see all these rooms where they filmed the scenes, and we went home that night and rented the movie and picked out all the things we had just seen! A little corny, but it was fun. And, of course, there was lots of material for some great photos!

The front of the house, and the cute little sign on the cute little picket fence.

Here we have the Truman kitchen and living room. It's hard to tell here, but the tiling on the fireplace and floors perfectly matches every inch of pastel upholstery in that house ... amazing!

The back of the house .... love it!

Lastly, the adorable widow's watch on top of the house, and the view of beautiful Seaside!

Journalism is dead

Many of you have heard me make the above proclamation before, so I apologize for beating a dead horse, but ...

I have been so irritated all morning because of the Today Show! Why I continue choosing to watch this rubbish every morning as I eat my cereal is probably the appropriate question, but I refuse to be confined to the stuffy suits and blonde, pancake-face clones on the Fox News channel. No offense, Dad, and I actually do like Fox News, I just don't think it's fair that this is the only network I can watch and expect to see a semblance of the truth. And I emphasize the word semblance, because let's be honest, Fox may very well just be the other side of the same evil coin.

So, anway, I turn on the Today Show this morning, and I guess they're in Ireland all week in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day. OK, a little boring, not exactly the celebrity interview I hoped for, but whatever. So a few minutes into the segment, I've zoned out and am now reading the paper when I hear what must be some kind of mistake. They're devoting a good few minutes (which is an eternity in the world of television news - yes, I did learn something in college) to Barack Obama's Irish lineage. So, once again a mainstream "news" outlet has taken something completely unrelated to Obama and spun it to involve him.

Are they serious? Is there any chance that the Today Show, or any other non-Fox news program would EVER have done such a thing were George W. Bush to have Irish ancestors, for instance? Just think about it for a second - I have watched the Today Show pretty regularly for a long time, and I don't recall ever seeing coverage of George W. Bush that in any way resembled this type of fluffly, inconsequential nonsense, and especially not when we were smack in the middle of the biggest crisis this country has seen in decades. Is it too much to ask that we receive actual NEWS from these news programs? I really don't think I can handle four years (Lord, please don't let be eight.) of watching these anchors and reporters falling all over themselves to talk about Obama any chance they get. What's next, and in-depth report on the man's shaving schedule? Love him or hate him, support him or not, but at least do your job, and don't call it news if it's not. And don't even get me started on Michelle being the latest Vogue cover girl ...

Apologies for the angry post. I'll try to share something cheerier later.

that didn't take long ...

Decided I don't like "kitsch," just calling it caroline for now ...

Welcome to kitsch

As you know since you are here, I've decided to start a blog. Several things have prompted this decision, so I'll just do a quick rundown:

1. Two of my favorite people in the world have blogs that I love to read, and I'm just a little envious. I'm hoping mine will feature half of the laugh-out-loud-in-my-cubicle hilarity of Katie's and the fifteen-exlamation-points-in-a-row enthusiasm of Angela's.
2. I'm pretty lazy about keeping in touch with people. While I talk to my immediate family pretty regularly, it's not as often as I'd like, and there are countless other family members and friends that I don't communicate with nearly often enough. Plus, I am sometimes unsure if my little brother is aware that am, in fact, alive and figured this would be an easy and nag-free way to let him know.
3. I spend pretty much all day, every day reading words and correcting them. One would think being employed in a creative field would lend oneself to actually feeling creative, but the often humdrum repetition of the biggest chunk of my day has the opposite effect on me. I need an outlet!!
4. I must be honest, I have the tiniest glimmer of hope way down deep inside that my blog will become a sensation and I will one day enjoy the spoils of our Web-saturated, constantly connected culture in the form of millions of dollars, a la Perez Hilton. Except that my ascent to stardom will hopefully involve some level of intelligence and actual skill.
5. My boss is out of the office today, and after a while I run out of things to look at on the Internet. :-)

Now to the name ... I thought long and hard for about 10 minutes this morning about what to name my blog. (Patience is not one of my strong points.) This led me to Google a few different things, one of them being fashion terms, during which I came across the definition of kitsch.

Kitsch: A style incorporating elements from popular culture.

I love fashion and am obsessed with popular culture, so that's what I went with. Still not sure if I love it, so it could change. Suggestions are welcome, of course!