Haters Gonna Hate

Marlee Matlin Haters

Obsession Level: Really Just More Overwhelmed at Your Stupidity

This is a little different than my normal Blog posts...but I really feel like this needs to be said, and I want to say it...so I shall.  

So if you're a Marlee Matlin fan, which I am,  or even if you follow her just a little bit, you'll find out that people have a lot of strong opinions about her, especially within the deaf community.  People love her...people hate her...people just can't make up their minds.  It's really mind-boggling if you pay attention to it.  

Now, I don't hate any celebrities.  Some people I don't really care for all that much for one reason or another, but I don't hate them.  Ain't nobody got time for that.  Except for people who hate Marlee Matlin, apparently they have all the time in the world for that.  

I came across a particularly intense website that someone had made specifically for people to gather together in mutual hate and condemnation of this woman.  They rag her for everything in the book, they defame her personality (and I'd bet money most of them have never even met her), and they say that they hope she reads it and understands how despicable they think she is.  

I don't know if she's read it or not.  If she hasn't, she shouldn't.  If she has, she's been big enough not to say to them what I would say if I were her...I don't think I'd have nearly the self control she typically shows.  In fact, I'd probably have one great big sign for all the delightful little haters.  This one:

So I've decided to respond to a few of the things that I've read about what people do and don't like and what they've had to say.  To keep things interesting I'll be using some pictures that I've borrowed from the internet to illustrate my points and to break up the text...since it'll probably be long. So here goes...

First of all they say she's snobby, rude, etc.  What do they base this opinion on?  Whether or not she spoke to them when they saw her somewhere, how long she spoke to them etc.  

The first person I would respond to would be the person who posted the delightful rant about how they used to be a "huge fan" until "this happened" and then posts a video of Marlee...in a crowd...with her back to them...and they're yelling at her...but she's so rude that she doesn't even turn around, find them in the crowd, and speak to them.  To that person, this is how I felt when I read/watched your rant:

You apparently aren't a very big fan...or either you're just incredibly stupid...I don't even know how to respond to you except that your rant makes just about as much sense as if Star Jones had gotten mad at Marlee for not responding to what she whispered in her ear on Celebrity Apprentice.

The second group felt they didn't get the "attention" that they should have gotten when they met her.  Now, being a huge fan, I can understand that what you might want in terms of attention from your favorite celebrity and what you actually get may be different...and you may be a little let down...after all my three year old godchild cried for an hour after meeting her hero (who held her, hugged her, kissed her, and really gave her quite a bit of attention) because she wasn't going to get to take her home with her and keep her as what I can only imagine to be some kind of pet...but you're not three.  Get over it.

Think about this logically.  She's a celebrity...that means she has a lot of fans.  A lot of fans + limited time = be happy with what you get.  Also think about how weird that would be.  I sincerely doubt that any of you could be approached by an absolute stranger (because remember that even though you might be obsessed with her and feel like you know her, she didn't even know you existed before you walked up to her) who's all excited and grabby and stuff and become their instant best friend and want to marry them and give them a kidney in three seconds flat.  Now imagine multiplying that experience by about 200 people in an hour.  I'd want to hide in a closet.  So the fact that she's as friendly as she is with you for the few minutes she gets to know you means she's not half bad...and she's not easily frightened.

Then there was the goober that posted that she obviously had something against the deaf community.  They said it was like she wanted everyone to be hearing or would prefer to be hearing.  They said it was probably because she hasn't come to terms with the fact that she is deaf.

Now don't get me wrong, goober...I'm sure in other situations you have been an intelligent person and spoke only after thinking, but this wasn't one of those times.  She's been deaf most of her life...I'm pretty sure she's come to terms with it.  She does all kinds of things to advocate for the deaf community.  In fact, it was because of her that I became interested in finding out more about the deaf community, their obstacles, and how to get involved.  Enough said.

Then there's the whole speak/don't speak/sign/don't sign fiasco.  There's just no way she can come out a winner on that.  If she speaks, then people say she's all about audism, if she doesn't speak then there are people who say it's going to hurt her career.  

When she's signing, there are people that don't like choices she's made about signing (Signed English or ASL), and there are others that say that she's against using ASL and doesn't support it like she should because she speaks at times. 

Just try and work through that puzzle...you'll need Valium, a bottle of Scotch, a bottle of Tylenol, and probably a gallon of ice cream.  I bet you still won't be able to make sense of it.  The whole situation reminds me of an old adage I heard once: "It's like being a dog in heat, if you stand still they f*** you and if you run, they bite you in the a**."  You're not getting out of that one without someone thinking their way is better.

Oh, and by the way...she's against ASL?  There's an app for that...

Then let's also explore momentarily the fact that some individuals were ranting about her choice of the Starkey Hearing Foundation as her charity for Celebrity Apprentice.  Apparently to some this was just "more proof" that Marlee Matlin secretly hates the deaf community.

It's a charity.  It helps children.  It does good work.  She feels strongly about it so she chose it.  She did a phenomenal job raising a ton of money for it.  But no, don't worry about that...continue to  try to rip out her throat because it's not what you wanted or would have done.  That's logical, because we all know their are only two types of charities in the world: Your Favorite and Ones That Don't Deserve Any Recognition.

Then there are the people who constantly dog her about EVERY SINGLE THING SHE DOES OR SAYS!  If she doesn't speak out about something that they feel is unfair, insensitive, etc. then she's a terrible person for not speaking out on the matter.  If she does speak out about it then they say she should have kept her mouth shut or that she overreacted or didn't say the right thing.  It's another one of those impossible situations.

Then there's one that's a personal favorite of mine.  The haters that can't find anything better to complain about than the fact that Jack is her interpreter and it annoys them because she's a woman and should have a female interpreter because it just makes more sense.  I seriously can't even respond to that...

So that's my response to the main problems of the haters.  The fact that they feel the need to make websites and post entire channels of youtube videos just to hate on another person is ridiculous.  I wonder if she ever looks at that garbage that some people post and thinks: 

What I think it really boils down to is jealousy and sour grapes.  The only reason you would have to feel that much anger and hate toward someone you don't even know is if you're dealing with your own issues and you're jealous of something they have.  Maybe you should put all that negative energy into doing something productive that will make your life or the life of someone else better, instead of using it to attack someone, especially knowing that you would never say those things if you weren't tucked behind your screen and protected by the anonymity of the internet.     

So to those haters, I hope you find this and it makes sense to you, in which case you might stop being such a hater...or if it doesn't then you're welcome to hate me too because I would hate for you to run out of things to hate and have to look for even more trivial things to pick Marlee apart about.  

And if Marlee should see this, don't pay the haters any attention.  It's their problem, not yours.  When they get started, just smile at them and think:

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions.  Not Marlee Matlin's.  If they annoy you, it's all on me.  Have a nice day.

And this  one just because it's hilarious...I would totally ride a unicorn bicycle.

Celebrity Apprentice: Season 4

Celebrity Apprentice Season 4

Obsession Level: Couldn't Stop Watching

So my obsession with Marlee made me decide to watch this show.  I had never seen Celebrity Apprentice before, but I have to say that I could be a fan as long as there's at least one person on there I like to inspire me to watch.  Lucky for me, Marlee made it to the final episode, so I didn't lose interest at any point.  

All of the people on there weren't impressive to me.  In fact, most of them weren't even memorable.  I just finished it and I can't remember quite a few people that were on there.  I am going to comment, though, on the ones that I can remember...as well as on a few scenes that were very interesting.

We'll start with the most obvious person, Donald Trump.

Seriously, this man's face cracks me up.  He'd kill me in that board room because I would lose it laughing every time that he was trying to be serious.  

He didn't really get on my nerves like I thought he would.  I guess the oddest thing about him, aside from hair, is that he always looks massively confused.  

Two funny things about him on this particular season was when Marlee commented that people told her Dionne was a legend and he said "What do you mean people have told you?  You don't know that she's a legend?!"  Bless her heart, Marlee didn't skip a beat before pointing out that she's deaf.  The second was when Star (maybe?) was talking about the trailer task and said that Marlee was a demon in the bedroom and he said "I've heard that before about you, Marlee."  

Then there's Gary Busey...

This man is all shades of crazy.  He's quite possibly the craziest person ever that is not currently institutionalized.  He made me laugh, but I would have hated having to work with him.  He was all over the place and much of what he said was just utter nonsense.  I have no idea how he managed to stay on there as long as he did.

The next crazy person was Meatloaf.  

Meatloaf is a crybaby.  I would never have imagined that about him, but he is.  I felt like he cried at least once in every episode.  It was really getting annoying.  I wanted to give him a pacifier and a blankie.  

On top of that, though (because clearly that's not bad enough), he was given to random fits of anger.  Gary Busey was magnificent at pushing his buttons and he would blow up over nothing.

Like the entire episode with the paint and the sponges.  Do you remember that one?  He had a screaming rage fit over Gary "stealing" his paint...and then they found his bag.  Really?  Meatloaf, it's paint...go stand in the corner.

Another one that I would have sent to the corner regularly was Dionne Warwick.  

If I had any before, I now have zero respect for this woman.  She was lazy and a bully.  She was just nasty and was also prone to fits.  She was acting like a Diva and they were calling her a legend, but she's really just a has-been.  

Also, the amount of ignorance that poured forth from her mouth when they were writing the children's book was really amazing.  Children don't need to know about deaf people because it's sad and pathetic?  I'm with Nene on this one, I thought Marlee was about to fight Dionne.  I wouldn't have minded seeing that...

Since we're already talking about Nene, let's continue.

It seems like everyone hated Nene, but I loved her.  She was a pain to everyone, but she was absolutely hilarious!  Everything that came out of her mouth was funny.  The three funniest things she said, in my opinion:

"It's hard to fight with a 70 year old woman.  It just don't look right."

"I'm fixin' to take my ear plugs out and we're gonna fight."

"I'm doing all the work and you're sittin' over there lookin' like Casper the friendly ghost."  

I did think it was kind of crummy that she just left, though.  That wasn't really right.  

Speaking of Casper, let's talk about the person she was referring to: Latoya Jackson.

Can anyone explain to me why this person is famous?  Is it just because she's Michael Jackson's sister?  I was totally not impressed with her and I agree with Nene in that the only reason she was on the show and stayed on the show as long as she did is because of her last name.  

She was totally and completely useless.  She couldn't make decisions and she did most tasks like her thumbs were put on backwards.  Her baby voice annoyed me, and she was far too emotional.  She was also too "nice."  She was so nice that it had to be fake and it got really annoying in all of the fights. 

As if she wasn't annoying enough...Trump BROUGHT HER BACK after he fired her...just for her to get fired again.  

On the women's team they just duked it out every episode.  The two strongest competitors on that team were clearly Marlee and Star.  On the men's team it felt like "The Jonz" were constantly trying to wrangle in their nutcases.

Let's talk about Lil Jon.

I had never heard of him before, and he really impressed me.  He seems like a genuinely good guy, a good friend to John Rich, and he's funny.

I absolutely thought it was hilarious when he was talking about Gary and commented about how his jobs for one task were to go out and buy things and babysit Gary.  It's true.  I feel like most of the time Lil Jon was stuck trying to control either Gary or Meatloaf.  He and John Rich couldn't have drama because they had to stick together to keep those two chowderheads from killing each other over art supplies.  

Then there's John Rich.  Who ultimately won. (I am not happy about that.)

Now don't get me wrong.  I think he was a good guy.  He had a great charity and he did an impressive job on the show.  I have absolutely nothing against him.  I just didn't want him to win because I wanted Marlee to win, and I do think she deserved it more.  

He did deserve an award, though, for working with some of the people he had to work with (as did she).  I thought it was funny, though, that he clearly thought Marlee was going to be hard to come up against.  He complimented (in my opinion) her several times on being a one woman powerhouse.  

Ultimately, he won, and I wanted to flip the table.  

Then there's Star, who I actually thought might make it all the way through.

I really liked Star.  I know there was a lot of drama circling around her from time to time, but she was a very formidable adversary on the show.  In my opinion she was just playing the game and it's a cutthroat game.  She played well...but I think in the end it was her inability to take responsibility for anything that caused her downfall.  

And finally, the best of the best...Miss Marlee!

By now you already know I'm obsessed with this woman, and if you don't know then you haven't paid much attention.

She's amazing, and she should have won.  She brought in more money than anyone on the history of the show in one night.  

She never lost her cool with anyone, even  Dionne when she was being ignorant.  It was obvious that she was more than a little annoyed, but she was big enough not to say the things that I, and most people, probably would have said in that situation.

She wasn't creating drama and she tried to get along with everyone.  

Face it, even Donald Trump didn't really want her to lose.  He couldn't even bring himself to say "You're fired" to her at the end.  Instead he changed the ending and just announced the winner.  I have no idea why he chose John Rich over Marlee.  I really think it was a bad call, but what's done is done, I guess.  

Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

Obsession Level: Always THE Best Day in Computer Class!

I frankly hated computer class when I was younger.  Of course this was back when computers were fairly new to us.  There was no mouse, that would come later, so everything about them was restricted to the keyboard.  You can forget about "graphics" since giant pixelated pictures were what you got at best.  In fact, thinking back on it now it really seems strange that technology hasn't always been what it is today.  It makes me feel a little old when I think about that.  

In our computer classes in Elementary school, the normal agenda was typing.  Everything was about learning to type correctly.  There was some cat, Paws or something, that taught typing.  The program was boring.  I also remember much later having the Mavis Beacon teaches typing or something along the lines of that.  

There were also delightful days, though when we were allowed to play a game.  I remember the teacher had these big boxes full of games on floppy discs and you could select one to play.  She had a few copies of the classics like Carmen Sandiego and Oregon Trail.  I'd always rush to get Oregon Trail because I thought it was the best game ever!

Some years later, when we actually had a home computer, my mother brought home a game for me and my best friend.  We were so excited that we couldn't stand it.  It was Oregon Trail II!

Oregon Trail II was a lot like Oregon Trail the original in concept.  Now, though, it had graphics, and they were pretty.  We also had the use of our mouse.  Now I realize it wasn't an extremely impressive game in comparison to some of the games we have now, but we loved it.

I don't know if it was the game itself that we liked so much or the ability to put our friends and family on the game and make up scenarios about what was "really" happening along the Oregon Trail...We spent many nights just playing it over and over again.  I think we actually made it to Oregon a time or two.

Since I've gotten older I played the game once or twice on my own.  I realize, though, that without my best friend there the magic of the game is lost.  

I think it's sad that with all the games that have been produced throughout the years, future generations won't know the joy of deciding when to go hunt for meat and how to cure dysentery on a pixelated trip to Oregon.   

Lizard Lick Towing

Lizard Lick Towing

Obsession Level: Obsessed in Spurts?

I don't really know how to explain my relationship with this show.  I saw a bunch of my friends posting about it on Facebook so I decided one day to give it a try.  I was on one of my marathon television streaks and had already watched all the Duck Dynasty and Swamp People that OnDemand had to offer.  I admit that when I found the show, I watched all six episodes that they had there, but I wasn't sure if I was impressed or not.

Let me start by saying that I DO NOT believe for a second that this show is not staged.  It has to be.  The only part of it that I might actually believe is that they own a repo business.  That's about as far as I think the truth goes.  For one thing, they're going about repo all wrong in my opinion.  You don't go sneaking up to someone's house in the middle of the night.  That's asking for trouble. You turn your nice lights on your nice truck, knock on the door, and inform them that you are there to repo their vehicle and they can pick it up when they've talked to the lean-holder.  At least that's how I'd do it.  

Instead they end up in fights.  Lots and lots of fights.  The fights are then later followed up by someone coming to the office and screaming, yelling, and throwing things.  All of this happens in front of a camera crew, of course, and I've only ever seen the police get involved once.     

Ronnie and Amy apparently tried to get on Wife Swap at one point, but they weren't accepted.  I'm not sure why that is...I mean when your wife is a fighter and you own a repo business that apparently causes you to brawl with about ten different people a day, it seems reasonable that you would be prime material for Wife Swap.  

That being said, the show does offer some strange form of entertainment.  If nothing else, the analogies that Ronnie comes up with are often hilarious.  I don't watch this show regularly, and it certainly isn't one that I would tune in for each week, but every now and again I'll slip over to OnDemand and see which episodes are being stored there.  That's usually after I'm sure there are no other episodes of Duck Dynasty to watch, so you can see that I'm not completely obsessed.  I don't actually know that I would be able to recommend the show to anyone, at least not anyone looking for something to seriously watch, but if you're just looking for something new to help you kill a few hours without doing anything that's mentally strenuous, I guess it's good for that.  

A Kingdom For Keflings

A Kingdom For Keflings

Obsession Level: Short Lived But Intense

I was introduced to this game by a friend.  Actually by one that is very often mentioned in my blog...the same one that was involved in the Twilight time wasting, in the Drop Dead Diva addiction, and in the man-eating feety pajama fiasco.  We spend a lot of time together, and it's becoming more and more evident as I write more posts here.

This particular event, because it really was an event, took place shortly after her first child was born and I was visiting for a week.  It was also the first time that I'd ever been to her new house.  Her house had a game room that was stocked with all of their gaming systems, a television, and a couch that pulled out into a bed.  We also added a baby swing to rock the baby while she slept.  Armed with pajamas, snacks, half a dozen delivery menus and a week's worth of time, we were to enter that room and only come out to make bottles, go to the bathroom, or accept deliveries.  

What were we doing for an entire week?  Well, we were playing with the baby during her waking hours (which were few at the time) and the rest of the time we were dedicating to building a Kingdom for Keflings.  

What are Keflings you might ask?  They're tiny little gnome like creatures and we were giants responsible for building them a nice little place to live.  It's another one of those mindless games that eats up entire days of your life without you realizing what's happening to you.  You're running around building things, chopping down trees, and moving Keflings where you want them to be so that they can do some of the grunt work.  During that week we had entire conversations that consisted of "Drop a Kefling over there...I need a couple to stack this wood...go build a house to make more Keflings..." You get the point.  

That was a glorious week building that kingdom with my best friend, eating Chinese food, and taking care of our little newborn love.   The funny thing is that we never played the game again.  I'm not sure if she even has it anymore.  I don't know why we were never to return to that obsession again, but it was one that only lasted a week.  

Maybe the next time I visit I'll suggest that we look that one up again.  It was fun, even if it sounds really dumb in theory.  Maybe it was the company that really made it great!

Karina Lombard

Karina Lombard

Obsession Level: So We Meet Again...

By now you know about my obsession with the L Word.  When I first started watching the show it was with two friends.  One had never seen it before and the other was an addict already.  It took me being forced to watch a few episodes before I actually began to like the show, but soon I was looking forward to Girl's Night when both friends would arrive, snacks and beverages in hand, and we'd settle down to watch.  There was, of course, a lot of chatting that went on during the show about who liked who, who was the least liked character (always Tina), etc.

The one who had watched the show for ages loved Bette.  She absolutely adored her.  Bette could do no wrong in her opinion.  One night, after talking about Bette for a while, she decided to question me and the other friend about who we liked.  We both declared that we didn't know who we liked, but we could definitely say who we didn't like.  She kept insisting that wasn't good enough for her and that EVERYONE who watched the show had a favorite.  It was impossible to avoid.  

The other girl finally admitted to liking someone.  I think it was either Bette or Jenny.  I didn't want to admit who I liked, though, because I thought I'd get mercilessly teased since no one had mentioned liking this character at all.  I was intrigued by Marina.  I finally did admit it, and luckily I wasn't teased, but I was asked to explain why since she doesn't seem to be very well-liked.

To me, she's fascinating.  There are a lot of plot turns that revolve around her and sometimes you want to hate her but for some reason she makes it very difficult to hate her.  Needless to say, I was not happy when she left the show, but I was thrilled with her cameo appearances later.

After watching the show a few more times, I decided to look up the actress and see if there was anything interesting that she had been in.  I didn't remember ever having seen Karina Lombard before.  

What I did find out was interesting.  She was born in Tahiti to a European father and a Native American mother.  At about the age of one her parents split up and her father took the children to Europe where she grew up in various countries and was educated in Swiss boarding schools.  She speaks something like five languages fluently.  That explains a lot.  We could never figure out where she was from since her accent didn't really "go" with any one country.  Now I understand why.  She was mostly a model, but she's done a little acting with roles like "Girl on beach" being the most common types with a few bigger roles sprinkled in.  She's also a singer, but she sings in French.  

I also found out that she was on Legends of the Fall.  I had seen the movie once, but I guess I hadn't noticed her that time.  That meant, of course, that I had to go back and watch the movie...and yep, there she was.  She plays Isabel Two.  

After indulging also in watching quite a few interviews with her (thanks YouTube), I think this could really develop into a new obsession for me.  She hasn't done a lot, but I'm sure that I'm going to be exploring what she has done!  

The Sims

The Sims

Obsession Level: We Have A Love/Hate Relationship.  I Love It And It Hates To Let Me Get Anything Done

Whoever invented this game is a bonafide genius.  Seriously, you created a game that is absolutely addicting yet you really do nothing in the game.  I mean have you ever tried to explain to someone how you play Sims?  You build families and you live their lives.  Period.  Still there's something absolutely fascinating about the game.

I got the original Sims for Christmas one year and I was immediately hooked.  It was like a pixelated Barbie game in my opinion (I don't think that I played Barbie games like normal people...there were far too many affairs and murders in my games).  I could create any kind of people that I wanted and manipulate their lives.  Some I created merely for experimental purposes to see what would happen if I did things to them.  I ended up with a Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde type individual that drank crazy potions and went nuts on a regular basis, I have had characters that I wanted to get rid of so I put them in a room with a fireplace, removed all the doors, and started a fire (I think this game brings out a lot of your inner darkness) and I've lost countless kids to Social Services because they don't do their homework and they don't go to school.  Life was really good when I learned the money cheats.  My Sims are always rich and they never have to go to work.  I hated the money situation when I didn't know the cheat.  Now everyone's a millionaire!  

This is one of those games that you can easily stay up all night and all day and play like a zombie in front of your computer.  Once you start, it's terribly hard to stop.

That's why I have to frequently delete the game from my computer.  Whenever I have a lot of work to do or a tight deadline, I have to delete the game.  Otherwise it taunts me and tempts me with the idea that I'll just play for a few minutes.  That's never the case.  It's like eating one potato chip, it absolutely cannot be done.  So I give in for a few minutes and then it's suddenly three in the morning and I've done nothing but play Sims all day.  That's why the game has to be deleted from time to time.

If it's possible, Sims 2 is far better than the first one.  The graphics are better and the game has more detail.  I'm still a failure as a parent, though, and my kids are constantly being taken away.  Children in this game are very difficult to manage and they never want to do their homework.  I've figured out the only way to successfully raise children in my Sims households is to make sure that there are at least two adult women.  They have to be joint mothers so that someone is always after the kids to do what they need to do, eat when they need to eat, and sleep occasionally.  Realistically the homework that the kids have to do is ridiculous.  It takes all their time so they get depressed, and then they don't want to do the homework.  If you've got one kid you can handle it, but after that it's out of control.  I have also found that it's handy to have one genius child that create to love school work.  Then that child can spend all their time doing the homework that the other children leave scattered around the house and yard.  

There's only one thing on the second game that I don't like as much as the first.  The Sims on the second game age and eventually die.  The ones on the first game don't age.  Once they are adults they are just adults.  I like that since I get attached to my Sims and when they die I have to delete that family and start all over again by building back the original Sims that I was playing with before.  I'd like to be able to freeze them.

I haven't tried any of the other Sims games.  Frankly I just haven't ventured into it since I really don't need anymore Sims distraction in my life.  The copy of Sims 2 that I keep by computer already keeps me busy enough when I allow it to entice me to play.