Lea Thompson

Hello, and welcome to "hot chicks of my teen years". . .

This is a picture of Lea Thompson from one of her "Jane Doe" TV movies from the Hallmark channel. I post it because she's going to be starring in another Jane Doe film this month on the channel (January 14, 2006), and also because it gives me the chance to wax philosophical about a pretty actress.

We need to go "Back to the future" for this one. That's the hit film from 1985 that really put Lea in the spotlight. (Sigh) Sometimes it's frustrating to "fall in love" with a girl and then never see her again for another few years! She did other films, of course, but I somehow never got to see these in the theater and still haven't seen most of them. I can't imagine going to my parents and saying "I want to see a film called 'Casual Sex!'" Don't think that would have worked. But she always does a fine job as an actress. She nearly saved "Howard the Duck!" She even got tied up in it. One very interesting film she was in was "The Right to Remain Silent." You may enjoy that one if you prefer a more "psychological" drama. And of course, she starred in "Caroline in the City" on TV.

So if I can, I'll try to tune in and catch Lea in the new film. Who knows? She might get tied up again. . . :)

Here's a nice fan site with more info. about Lea:

http://www.frey-united.com/lea-thompson/

Charlie Chaplin clothing line

Remeber the old commercials about "you got your chocolate in my peanut butter?" Sometimes you find two things going together that don't always seem to belong together. Well, this is an example of one of those things. Take a look at the following press release from CNW Group:

KRYPTON IMAGINATION Inc is proud to announce that a license agreement for the creation of a ready-to-wear clothing line inspired on the life and work of CHARLIE CHAPLIN, has been signed between DONALDSON & PARTNERS SA and BUBBLES INCORPORATED SA. This license is a world première and regulates the future creation and development of collections of women's, men's and children's clothing and accessories, but also household articles. This exclusive agreement gives birth to the brand CHAPLIN and concerns initially the European countries, Russia, North Africa and Taiwan.

Now Chaplin was a great artist in many ways. But when I think of him, I don't think of high fashion! The photo above is how most of us think of Chaplin.

Now before you say it's an impossible mix, let's consider something. You may not think that Chaplin and computers would go together either, right? But they did. IBM used the Little Tramp character in some of it's advertisements for home computers back in the early 1980s. Don't believe me? There's a tiny image of it in the article below:

news.com.com/news/ 0-1006-201-6831982-0.html

Perhaps it's because Charlie often represented the "everyman" that advertisers look to his image. If Charlie likes a product, then it must be something that "everyman" would want.

Of course, I'm guessing that the clothing will be fine, with Chaplin being used as a sort of "logo" like those izod shirts do with the alligators. Same idea, I would guess. The clothing line is planned for later this year, so time will tell what we will get. In the meantime, to stay ahead of the trends, you may want to buy a pair of pants twice your size and a shirt that's about half your size. And the cane, don't forget the cane. :)

You can read the full press release at the link. It includes comments from Chaplin's family members:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2005/15/c0793.html

Roses and rain; Steve Sansweet

Happy new year from soggy Southern California! If you saw the Rose Parade this morning, you know what I'm talking about. A beautiful parade, as usual, but I'm glad I happened to be indoors watching it.

You know, sometimes I remember my small collection of Star Wars memorabilia and feel proud. And then, of course, I read this story about Steve Sansweet's ultimate collection and want to run and hide! I'm not kidding, folks, his collection is huge. If you've been a die-hard Star Wars collector for a while, you've probably already heard of Steve. Now we finally get a peek at how he takes care of such a massive collection. You can read all about it at http://www.rebelscum.com/ranchoobiwan.asp . Special thanks to the folks at Rebelscum.com and theforce.net for sharing this article!

My aim was true

Hi all, and welcome to 2006.

Last year, I invited several of my friends from work to join me for lunch at a local restaurant. This was just meant to be a time when we could "hang out" and talk with each other about things that we might not have the time or desire to talk about at work. Thanks to my computer, I printed out small maps of how to get to the restaurant (about 3 miles from work) and told them to arrive at noon. I tried to invite as many people as possible, with the theory that the more I invite, the more likely I'd get a good crowd to actually show up. (If I invite five, I should get at least 3, right?)

In the end, I invited at least ten people out to lunch. Two of them said they would try to bring their families. I reserved a table at the restaurant for at least 12 people. The day of the lunch, I dusted off my tiny digital camera and arrived about 10 minutes early. I took my seat at the center of a long table in a small room just off of the main dining area. After relaxing for a minute, I got up to peek out the window and see if I could spot them driving into the parking lot.

Lunchtime came. I kept peeking out the window. Then I sat down at the center of the table again. Five minutes went by. I reasoned that most people would likely be late if they had never been to this restaurant before. Then another five minutes went by. I got up to look out the window again. I didn't recognize anyone driving into the lot.

By 12:16, I said to myself, "Okay, I am going to buy lunch for the first person in my group who walks through that door!"

But nobody ever did. Nobody showed up.

"I don't know where they are," I told the waiter. "They knew this was the right time. I'll go ahead and order now." I ate my meal alone at a table that was big enough to serve 12 people.

As I sat there, I realized that I hadn't done anything wrong. I made the invitation. Nobody accepted it. It wasn't my fault. My aim was true. I had tried something good, and it didn't work. That's okay. My aim was true. I'd prefer it if they were here, but they're not, so I'm going to enjoy my meal by myself.

It reminds me a little of "The Wise Little Hen." I'd like to have help with the things I do, but if I don't get any help, that's just fine. I'm still going to do them. Just understand that you're cheating yourself from whatever good may come out of it.

And so, speaking of things that I have to do by myself, may I present this blog, my present to the world for 2006. May its words help you as much as they will help me.