| October 15, 2009 | It Takes Two |
Chris and I have two great ideas for our costumes this Halloween. Unfortunately I can't tell you what they are so that you can help us decide, because that would ruin the surprise. We take Halloween VERY seriously, and we don't like to announce our costumes ahead of time. It would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it? Last year we dressed up as Sid and Nancy and imitated their classic poses. When we were out at a party in Santa Monica at Joanna's house, to complete the effect, we made sure to shout key lines from the 1986 film "Sid and Nancy: Love Kills." Of course, this meant I was saying things like, "Siiiiid! They wouldn't send us any money! They said we'd spend it on DRUGS!" Check out our pics from Halloween 2008 in LA. For Halloween 2007, we dressed up as Rick Deckard and Rachael the replicant from 1982's "Blade Runner." We are both HUGE fans of the film, so we didn't forget the important details. For example, I don't even smoke, but I held a clove cigarette during the Voight-Kampff test "interrogation scene" photos. See our pics from Halloween 2007 in LA. For Halloween 2006, we dressed up as Britney and K.Fed. They were still married at the time. And we had the babies, and everything. No detail was spared. Chris wore huge diamond (well, Cubic Zirconia) stud earrings and white sneakers, and I drove the car with the babies on my lap. See our pics from Halloween 2006 in LA.For Halloween 2006, we made a video of trying to decide what to wear. We posted it on Yahoo! Video and YouTube and it went viral and received over 13,000 views. Check it out: Labels: chris, halloween, pics, video posted by Jess Barron @ 8:16 AM 
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| October 13, 2009 | Chris and I Went on CNN |
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When we woke up yesterday, we were supposed to look at a wedding location in Malibu, but they canceled on us. Then we got a voice message from a friend who said, "You should call me. CNN is looking for people for a segment that you guys would be perfect for." A full week after the announcement of David Letterman's affairs, office relationships are still something everyone is talking about. CNN wanted to speak with people who had gotten engaged/married after meeting in the workplace. Chris and I met in 2005 when we were working together at Yahoo!. We met in a company-wide editorial meeting in Sunnyvale in a conference room called Apollo. There was an initial attraction for both of us, but since our careers at Yahoo! were incredibly important to us, we debated whether or not it was worth risking an involvement with a co-worker. We sat 30 feet away from each other in an open newsroom. Overall our advice to anyone contemplating a romance with someone in their office was to take it slow, and be aware of the rules in your workplace. Chris and I waited four months before we ended up kissing each other. We also researched our company policy about workplace romances. I was an editorial manager at the time, and I didn't want this to reflect poorly on either of us. We were honest and up-front with our co-workers when we started dating, and we tried to be self-aware with no PDAs or flirting in the office in order to make sure none of our colleagues were uncomfortable. I was nervous about telling them about the relationship, but surprised at how supportive our co-workers were. My hope is that we had some good advice to offer, but sometimes I think luck plays such a big part in success. There is no doubt about it that we were lucky. I'm not entirely sure I would recommend a workplace romance to anyone who is contemplating it. I have heard the opposite side of this tale (the horror story) from many friends, and I know if the relationship ends up badly it can have uncomfortable consequences. I guess the important thing is to go in understanding the risks involved. Here's the video from CNN: posted by Jess Barron @ 4:56 PM
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| October 12, 2009 | Noir Is the Poetry of Failure |
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Reading David Lehman's The Murder Mystery, Film Noir, and Poetry Loved what he wrote: Noir is the flip side of Horatio Alger. It is the product of desperation, the recurrent dream of failure, a catalogue of the many things that can go wrong and do go wrong when lust and greed overlap. It is in this regard that noir could be said to extend a tradition of American literature, which 'from Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, and Dickinson through Crane, Dreiser, and Faulkner has been obsessed with crime, guilt, deception, deceit, nightmare, mystery, murder, and the disintegrating psyche.' Labels: film, movie, noir, poetry posted by Jess Barron @ 8:41 PM
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| October 9, 2009 | Mo Lahv Fo Yoostah |
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It was just a few days ago that I posted about all the great press Yoostar has been getting, and now there are two more positive mentions to add to that list: Today "Esquire" magazine put Yoostar first on its list of the "Best Toys of 2009." They wrote: "No one remembers the year they got their fifty-third action figure, but if you want to make a memory that a kid won't ever forget — it's on this list." W00t! On Wednesday night "Entertainment Tonight" ahost Mark Steines tried Yoostar and performed in scenes from "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Psycho." Here's the video which aired on "ET" on Oct 7, 2009: posted by Jess Barron @ 7:09 PM
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| October 7, 2009 | Being Scarlett |
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To celebrate the 70th anniversary of "Gone With the Wind," Yoostar launched 5 iconic scenes from the film, allowing you to literally step into Scarlett's shoes. Debbie and I couldn't wait to try out our Southern accents and, more importantly, get ourselves next to Rhett.  In Debbie's "Gone With the Wind" performance, she pulled out the handkerchief to play Scarlett in mourning when Rhett tells her he can't go on any longer without her. "You really are the most ill-bred man to come here at a time like this!" she tells him while choking back tears. "So, I see, I shall have to marry you," Rhett replies. Debbie/Scarlett tells him, "I've never heard of such bad taste." Be sure to ask him for a big diamond, Scarlett! In my first "Gone With the Wind" performance, Rhett told me: "I don't think I'll kiss you, though you need kissing badly." I countered with, "And I suppose you think you're the proper person?" When he replied in his non-committal way, "I might be -- if the right moment ever came," I told him that he was a "conceited, black-hearted varmint." It was a lot of fun and flirtation without leaving my living room. In my second "Gone With the Wind" performance, I told Rhett that I was fond of him, but not madly in love with him. Then he asked me what kind of engagement ring I wanted. I told him: "Oh, a diamond Rhett! And do buy a great big one!" He told me he would buy me the biggest and most vulgar diamond in all of Atlanta. But then he called me a hypocrite, so romance is definitely confusing.But why stop there? I decided to bring Scarlett into scenes from other movies to create some Yoostar Movie Mash-ups. For example, what if the Southern Belle had Lou Costello working for her? Find out in "Scarlett O'Hara Meets Lou Costello." Or, what if Scarlett was a sorority girl at Faber College with John Belushi and the "Animal House" gang? Check out Scarlett's Lunch With Bluto to see how that might've gone. Or, what if Scarlett when out on a date with Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) from "Back to School?" See for yourself in "Scarlett O'Hara's Date With Thornton Melon." What if Scarlett's relationship with Thornton didn't go so well (her love life wasn't so lucky, after all), and they ended up breaking up? Check out "Scarlett O'Hara and Thornton Melon's Divorce." Labels: gonewiththewind, video, yoostar posted by Jess Barron @ 10:09 AM
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