Well Kept Men

I was channel surfing this weekend and happened to come across the show, Househusbands of Hollywood. A simple and a guilty new pleasure of mine. What initially caught my eye was Tempest Bledsoe, all growed up. I left the show on and started to watch it. Slowly I was captivated and preceded to watch it non-stop. There was a mini-marathon going on and I was excited to catch up with all the events. From the first episode to the most recent.

The 5 guys are as follows:

• Charlie Mattera-  actor/screen writer and former Bank robber. You don’t actually see his wife but you hear her a lot. She’s constantly calling him to check up on him. He seems to be honest and a very likable guy.
• Danny Barclay- another aspiring actor. He’s married to Katherine, a lawyer for a Hollywood firm. She sends daily e-mail to do lists for him. It’s classic when his wife comes home and pulls her car into his “man cave” ending their brief night of male bonding.
• Billy Ashley- former pro baseball player whose career was cut short by injuries. Stay at home dad taking care of the 2 kids and helping his wife (make-up artist to the stars) operate her make-up line of products. Watching him cook for her friends like some metro-sexual boy toy is funny as hell.
• Grant Reynolds- another aspiring actor, is married to Jill Barberie and has decided to stay at home with their young toddler. He’s a former Marine who also fixes up vintage motorcycles. In one episode the couple argues over her spending habits and it’s classic California vernacular; “Babe” Dude” “Babe” Dude” “Babe”
• Darryl Bell- long time partner to Tempest Bledsoe (Vanessa Huxtable), actor and blogger who is also developing a sports talk radio show. Watching him trying to cajole Tempest into buying a BMW 650I was funny as sh*t.

Each guy has a man-cave and they meet once a week to bond and complain to each other on the rigors of being househusbands. It was exhilarating to watch these “kept men” in action.

With so many examples of Housewives of________ (fill in the blank), which portray men as nothing more than baby making, bill paying, to be seen not heard individuals, watching these men who for a lack of better words handle the home while the women earn the bacon, is entertaining. I love the whole idea behind the premise and couldn’t help think that I could be a well off lady’s “Kept man”.

“Keeping the wife happy is easy- just do whatever she asks and don’t ever do anything wrong. Now if you do something wrong, don’t ever admit it. Hide it in the hamper or blame it on the cats. If all else fails, distract her by saying something nice about her clothes or hair.” Charlie

I can’t wait for Saturday to find out what Tempest has to tell Darryl.

President Obama’s Education Speech

President Obama is scheduled to give a speech about education to our nations students on Tuesday. You can read it beforehand on the White House Web Site and will be broadcast at 1200 P.M. on C-Span. The theme is; stay in school, study hard and have goals for your education.

Great idea. Having the President talk to kids and encourage them to dream big and work hard to attain their goals. Something all parents should do and having the President re-enforce the message can be inspiring to young minds.

Kids at school

But wait. Like everything now the Right has a problem with it.

Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer said in a statement he was “absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.” (AP)  There are numerous other statements that mirror this one. Quoting some parents that are outraged that the President will speak to their children about educating themselves. How dare they! Although they never mention when President Bush did a similar speech in 1991. (Although I’m sure the Left had a fit as well).

People RELAX! Having someone, who used his education to attain the biggest job in the world, tell kids to do good in school is far from political indoctrination. Your kid is not going to turn into Karl Marx because they were told to get an education.

Around my neck of the woods another incident, similar in nature, was how one town had the Presidents book “Dreams of my Father” on their summer reading list. My first thought, having read the book myself, was that’s a long book. Interesting but a tough read, especially for kids nowadays. Kids who are used to video games and I want it now mentality.

But of course people had a problem with that as well.

The chairwoman of the Hingham Republican Town Committee, who has a son entering 11th grade, said she thought it “a poor choice”. Obama “is a current political figure. He’s an important historical figure, no quibbles about that. But the goal of the community read is to bring people together. I just think they could have made a less divisive choice.” (Boston Herald) I ask, divisive to whom?

I wonder if she would have thought the same thing if the book was Senator McCain’s “Faith of my Fathers”?

“For men commit injuries either through fear or through hate” Machiavelli

Role model

Michael Vick, is there a more polarizing sports figure right now ? The media and the public are debating, with righteous indignation, whether or not he should be allowed to play football again.

“Should be banned for life”, “Back to the Ghetto” and “Not a role model at all” are just a few things I’ve heard on the radio alone. I haven’t heard this many people upset with athletes since…maybe O.J. ?

Not being a football fiend myself my pigskin knowledge is rudimentary at best. Golf and Tennis are my things. For me Football is something I will do in a social setting. I could care less who wins and I do not have a favorite team or player.

What’s comical and eerie at the same time, IMO, is the way people obsess with athletes. In particular adults. Enjoy the game but worshipping another man is …

It seems as though people and in particular, the media love to build an athlete up to be the second coming of the Messiah. At least until he or she pisses off some reporter. Then, these same reporters will climb mountains to find dirt, any dirt to tear them down.

Especially, the channel people watch to get their daily highlight fix. This channel has gone from the place for sports to the daily dirt show starring your favorite player. Self-righteous in their smug reports of alleged wrong doing. They’ve forgotten that you report the news but don’t become part of the story.

Anyhow, Michael Vick is an athlete. He served his time. If he can play let him play. Athletes ARE NOT role models.