L is for Laughter

Laughing is good for the soul, and it's good for your health.  For real, it's good for you!

Here are some of the things that never fail to make me laugh:

Saturday Night Live

We all know the new SNL has its moments of hilarity, but for the most part pales in comparison to the days
of old with Steve Martin, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and then the not-so-old-but-still-old-school days of old with Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon and Chris Farley.   I was even a fan of Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph's day.

Anytime I need a good laugh, I pop in my SNL: Best of Will Ferrell, SNL: Best of Chris Farley or The Women of SNL.

Jim Carrey


I don't care if it's Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, Dumb & Dumber, The Cable Guy or Bruce Almighty.  If it's Jim, it's all good.






Bill Engvall

I LOVE this dude.  He is so funny.  I think the thing I appreciate about him the most is that he's hilarious without being vulgar.  Nowadays it's rare to find a comedian with the ability to make you laugh without being disgusting or dropping f-bombs every other second.  I have all of his comedy albums, and I frequently listen to them on my school commute.  One day I WILL see him live!

Craig Ferguson


Since we're on stand-up, this guy is another one of my favorites.  He's also on my List, so that's a bonus.  I watch Craigyferg every night before I go to bed.  Win!






National Lampoon

Christmas Vacation.  Vacation.  European Vacation. Animal House.  Van Wilder.  Doesn't matter, if it's National Lampoon, I'm laughing.  Unless it's the more recent attempts at comedy/soft porn/obscene nonsense.  Those aren't funny.  Give me Van Wilder or Cousin Eddie any day.

Friends

We all know I love Friends.  I've seen every single episode of the much-beloved series at least seven times now.  Every few months Hubs and I start watching them again from start to finish.  It doesn't matter that I've memorized the episodes; I still laugh my butt off when I watch them.  I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me, too.





Mel Brooks

This man is pure genius.  Every film of his I've seen has been comedy gold.  Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, History of the World, Blazing Saddles - all fantastic.  Slapstick is a gem.

A Fabulous Day in New Orleans

If I had to pick one word to describe today, it would be FANTABULOUS.  Myself and three of my girlfriends purchased tickets to see the musical Hairspray at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre when they went on sale two months ago.  Unfortunately one of the girls hasn't been feeling well and had to miss out on today's adventure.  I invited my younger cousin along because she's a huge Hairspray fan, and also because it would be a shame to waste the ticket (we had the best seats in the house - no lie). 

The production didn't start until 2pm, so we decided to make a day of it in the French Quarter.  You know, play tourist (it's fun to do that occasionally). Also, our beloved Saints were hosting the Atlanta "dirty birds" at noon, so we donned our WHO DAT gear in solidarity.  Yes, we're all crazy sports people down here.



First we roamed over to Jackson Square, which is where one of the most beautiful buildings in the world (in my opinion) stands - the St. Louis Cathedral.  I've mentioned the cathedral in previous posts, but today was completely different because for the FIRST TIME EVER, I was in Jackson Square when the doors were opened.  As many times as I've been there in my life - which is dozens - the doors have always been locked. 



Me, my cousin and girlfriends in front of St. Louis Cathedral



So, imagine my absolute delight when we realized the doors were open and we could actually go inside!  I was speechless.  I'm not Catholic, but you can't help but feel awestruck by the magnificence and beauty of it.  I found myself having to control the urge to cry.  You can feel the history when you're inside.  There really aren't enough words to describe it.  At that moment, I could have spent the rest of the day inside, just looking at the stained glass, statues, every nook and cranny.  Unfortunately we showed up in the middle of mass, so we couldn't take pictures or roam as freely as we would have liked. 

From there we strolled through the Quarter looking for someplace to eat lunch.  There are little restaurants and bistros at every corner, but we settled on a place boasting to be the "Original" New Orleans Seafood Restaurant.  I'm not sure how valid that declaration is, although on the menu they claimed to have been opened before the Battle of New Orleans.  So, take that with a grain of salt. 

My cousin and I split crabmeat au gratin with an appetizer of crab cakes.  Although I've had many various versions of seafood in my life, I had never before had crabmeat au gratin.  The coz' insisted I would love it, and I'll try anything once, so I went along with it.  Took me a bit to adjust to the texture and mix of crab meat with cheese, but it was actually pretty good.  The crab cakes were delicious.  All in all it was a little heavy for a lunch, but we all enjoyed our meals.  

The girls playing with Mardi Gras
 masks and me with my awesome new wig!



After lunch we decided to stroll through the French Market, which is basically a collection of tables covered in everything from jewelry to purses, shirts, knicknacks, etc.  Anything and everything you could want.  A thosand people selling you different versions of the same things.  (Think flea market with lots of cajun.) 

My cousin found a Bob Marley bracelet and a new Saints t-shirt, my friend found a new Who Dat shirt and I found the most awesome wig ever made:  a black and gold feathered wig - aka Saints wig (told you we were serious).  We spent an hour or so browsing the tables, then stopping in shops we passed as we made our way back towards the theatre . 

When we arrived at the theatre, we found our seats and waited for the show to start.  When we saw "The Wedding Singer" back in July, I remember thinking no other performance could live up to that one.  I was wrong.

These people did John Waters justice.  The man would be proud.  There was innuendo, raunchy, music and fun.    Surprisingly the scene stealer was a woman who played Penny's mother/matron/warden/PE coach/principal.  She was hilarious.  Also, Tracy's parents were a big hit.  I was actually surprised at how many children were there.  The material was a little too adult for young kids.  I think parents were imagining the remake of Hairspray (with Zac Efron) and forgot about John Waters' version. 

Anyhoo, the musical was wonderful and we had a fabulous day.  I can't wait to do it again!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Reasons I LOVE Friends (the tv show, not my actual friends. Because, let's be honest, you really don't care about the latter.)

I've been patiently waiting for the hubby to go through his entire Star Trek: DS9 dvd collection (do you know how many discs are in each season?  SEVEN!) for the past few weeks. 

We own several different television shows on dvd.  His favorites are Star Trek and the other Star Treks.  He has something like three different versions of that show on dvd.  One has William Shatner, one has that bald guy - Mr. Xavier? - and the other is the DS9 with the guy I dislike the least, Captain Sisko.

My favorites are NCIS, Will & Grace, Sex & the City, The Girls Next Door and, of course, FRIENDS.  (The hub actually really likes Friends too, so it's a win-win on that one.)

I've watched the entire series through at least four times, not counting the original runs and all of the reruns I've watched on TBS (very funny).

So, since we will start watching my beloved show again tonight, I felt it necessary to share with you guys a list of my most favorite episodes/scenes/quotes from the 10-year run.  Obviously it would take days to list all of my favorites, but I've painstakingly narrowed it down to a few.  I'm including video clips of the favorite moments, courtesy of Youtube.  (Note:  I was quite frustrated to learn that some of the very best Friends moments are not available on youtube. Major suckage.)

Here they are, in no particular order:

The "Pivot!" scene from The One With The Cop

The "Who knows who best" game in The One With the Embryos

Ross Playing the Keyboard from The One Where Chandler Crosses the Line

The One With The Prom Video

"They don't know we know they know we know!" from The One Where Everybody Finds Out

I couldn't find one with the majority of the hilarious conversations, so I had to settle for this one.  When Phoebe "seduces" Chandler hoping to get a confession out of him.

"Ah, salmon skin roll" from The One with Unagi

As a little bonus, I've also added some funny Friends bloopers:

Ah, my dear Friends.  How I love thee.

Fantabulous Friday

That's right, baby.  It's FRIDAY (chicka chicka yeah)  yet again.  I'm psyched.  Are you?

Of course you are. 

My weekend plans are already fantabulous - despite a potential hurricane - and, as such, today is fantabulous. Expectation can be such a mood booster. 

So today (and every Friday, as per last week's post) I will present you with some of what I consider the most FANTABULOUS things/people/foods/places in the world. 

Are you ready for this? 

Here we go.

1.  Friends reruns

This particular episode depicted in the picture is one of my favorite episodes of Friends.  Ever. (The one with the embryos)

It doesn't matter how many times I've seen Ross, Rachel and Joey moving the couch up the stairs with Ross screaming, "Pivot! Pivot! PIVOT!"  I still laugh hysterically.  I've seen the series all the way through at least four times, not counting the hundreds of episodes I've watched on TBS (very funny).

Friends is also great therapy when you're having a bad day (or week).  It's hard to not be in a good mood after watching a few episodes.
 
Now that I've mentioned Friends,  I may have to blog about my favorite episodes sometime soon..... (Note to self.)

2. Pad Thai

 If you've never tried Thai food (or if you have and found it too spicy) I insist you try Pad Thai.  I was iffy about even going to a Thai restaurant, but last summer my bestie insisted I didn't know what I was missing.    Well, since my motto is to try everything once, I had no choice.  Mo recommended the chicken pad thai.  I took one bite, and it was magical.  The sky opened up and light shone down from Heaven.  Angels began to sing softly while little butterflies and fairies flew around sprinkling glitter on my head. 

Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but close.  I ended up going back again the next day. 

You can also buy the make-your-own boxes of it at grocery stores.  All you need to add is an egg, bean sprouts and the meat of your choice.  It's not too spicy, but still has the Thai flavor to it.  I could live on this stuff alone.  It's delicious.  Nay, it's FANTABULOUS.

3. Michael J. Fox

I started thinking about this eternal optimist yesterday after (finally) watching Teen Wolf for the first time - thanks Sara for recommending it - and how incredibly awesome this dude is. 

Of course, he's cool because he's been Marty McFly, Alex Keaton, Dr. Benjamin Stone (in Doc Hollywood, one of my favorite MJF movies) and even Stuart Little -the voice, not the mouse.

What makes him fantabulous is the way he's dealt with Parkinson's disease.  He's been determined to continue working, as well as raise awareness and money for research on his illness (See his Foundation for Parkinson's Research website here.)  He's got the warmest personality, and even if you've never met him, to watch him on television or in movies is to feel like you know him. 

Right on, Scott Howard.  Right on. 


4..  Demotivational Posters

From sarcastic to raunchy (and even sometimes really offensive), these pictures can keep you entertained for a good hour.  Even longer if you're at work.

I wish there was an iPhone app for these things.  (Maybe there is....I should get on that ASAP.)

If you get bored, search "demotivational posters" on Google. The best I've seen are "mooseknuckle" and anything related to Chuck Norris, emo or ugly.  Please check it out.  You won't be sorry!



I couldn't come up with more today because.....well, honestly, do you people think I have nothing better to do than write blogs? 

Okay, so usually I don't have anything better to do.  Tomorrow is an exception, though - going to see The Wedding Singer musical with three FANTABULOUS girlfriends of mine! - and I'm way too excited to think about much else.  You'll forgive me later, I know you will.  At least I hope so.  If not, I can always buy presents...