Cellulite. Stretch marks. Body hair. These are just a few things that women have that are deemed unacceptable in most of Western culture. We’ve discussed the battle against cellulite and the battle for body positivity, but it is a tough war. The cards are stacked against us, so we need all the voices we can get. One powerful emerging voice is Jameela Jamil, actress on the Good Place who plays Tahani al-Jamil. (Super side note: The Good Place is a freaking fantastic show. Watch it).
Before you read any further, skip all the way to the comment section below and leave your answer to the question, is a hot dog a sandwich? Then, when you’re finished reading, go back to your comment and reply to it… if you changed your mind or feel any differently about the matter.
This all started when an old teacher of mine presented the question on Facebook as a result of a discussion that began in his English class. This individual teaches just outside of New York City, in New Jersey, so you’d imagine that everyone he knows is relatively familiar with high-quality sandwiches. (New York and New Jersey have some of the best sandwiches… period!) Without sharing too many opinions, Facebook was clearly divided. People were getting particularly picky with naming conventions, essentially stating that anything with its own name (burger) isn’t a sandwich. Others were quite clear that anything between two slices of bread was, in fact, a sandwich. Someone even went far enough to provide Webster’s definition of sandwich, which states a: two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between; b: one slice of bread covered with food. Clearly, the folk at Webster’s are big fans of open-faced sandwiches.
After over 80 comments, someone stated that Rutt’s Hut (one of the most iconic hot dog eateries in the country, founded in 1928) doesn’t list hot dogs under the sandwich section. This idea led to the teacher physically going to Rutt’s Hut and recording the man himself give his two cents. The verdict: the hinge of the bun makes it one piece of bread, so he doesn’t consider it to be a sandwich. Still, he sounded very understanding of those that did.
Throwing my own opinions aside from the start, I decided to take this to some heavyweights in the world of sandwiches, since the teacher took it to a heavyweight in the world of hot dogs. Not only did I get clear-cut answers from both of these gentlemen, but one of them seemed fed up with the question, as if he was sick and tired of answering it over and over again. Hopefully, this prevents people from asking him… as long as they see this first.
Eric Greenspan, also known as Chef Greeny, is an LA-based celebrity chef who has made countless appearances as a competitor and judge on Food Network. Since we’ve seen nearly every episode of everything ever on Food Network (the good stuff), we’d go as far as saying Greeny is arguably the greatest competitor in the history of Cutthroat Kitchen. His resume doesn’t need anything else, but we’d love to let you know that he is the king of grilled cheese. We’ve had his grilled cheeses many times over on Melrose Ave. When I asked Greeny his thoughts on the matter, he got right to the point. “I’m saying yes. Stuff between bread. End of story.”
Jeff Mauro, who is the host of Food Network’s The Kitchen and Sandwich King, is a self-proclaimed professional combiner of meat, cheese, and bread. While Jeff didn’t attend Le Cordon Bleu like Greeny, he strong-armed his love for sandwiches and used that force to win the 7th season of the Food Network Star competition. Jeff went on to defend the need for a sandwich only show and now appears in Subway ads. This guy, who is extremely likable and charismatic, has made a living from sandwiches. Taking all of that into consideration, are we surprised by what Jeff had to say? Not really, he agreed with Greeny and even stated, “End of story for the love of God.”
After presenting all that information, we only have one question for anyone who denies that a hot dog is a sandwich. If you’re clinging on to the one piece of hinging bread argument, what happens when the bun tears in half? Stay hungry and fit!
I found this to be an extremely interesting list for a few reasons. First, it’s Forbes, so you assume it has more legitimacy than what you’d find peppered all over your feed on Facebook. Obviously, there is some accuracy to these figures, not that they’re entirely accurate or rather, not that they tell you the whole story. Second, the title states this list contains “The World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities.” While I can really break that down and talk about what they might mean by both the world’s and highest-paid, the most intriguing part is the word, “celebrity.”
I’ve always been confused by that word. Webster defines it as ‘a famous person,’ but this list clearly does not contain the highest-paid famous people in the world. At a quick glance, it contains very few, if any, billionaires. Bill Gates is certainly a celebrity by that definition and he definitely qualifies by the monetary standard, but they don’t seem to be including anyone in that specific industry. In fact, I decided to break this down to figure out who is on the list.
One path to success
As the LA Fit Expo is in just a few days and the Evolution Fitness Conference comes with it, tens of thousands of fitness enthusiasts and hundreds of fitness professionals will be walking through the doors of the convention center. The energy as high as everyone aims to meet their favorite social media celebrities, grab a picture to post online, and pick up some free shirt and supplement samples. It’s like a feeding frenzy but the positivity in the room is outstanding.
Organizations including POUND and many others take the stage to demo their newest and most challenging group training formats while vendors show off their most advanced products to date. It isn’t quite the same as IDEA, IHRSA, SCW Mania, or Perform Better, but the EFC still gives professionals the opportunity to learn from their peers and even gain some continuing education units in the process. All of this comes at reasonable rates if you can find parking.
With a heavy heart, I share the news of Robin Williams’ passing. What else could I write besides this? It’s difficult to know where to start. The shock, the disbelief. Chris texted me what happened before it had really hit social media. I responded with a slew of “No, no no no, that can’t be right” and it got worse when the news confirmed it. It was that jolt in the stomach, that jarring that makes you disoriented. Was he just a celebrity? Couldn’t be because it’s hit so close. It cuts too deep. I must’ve known him. I’ve never cried over a death of a celebrity, and it seems trivial to call him that. I did cry over Robin Williams’ passing. It didn’t seem right or fair. He was just always there.
Robin Williams, of course, meant something different to my generation than it did to, say, my parents’. For me, he didn’t start as Mork, though he did make me laugh there. For me, he started as Mrs. Doubtfire, as the Genie, as Peter Pan. That’s what my generation holds him most closely as, I think. I keep searching for a word that represents him to me. Yes, a legend. Yes, a genius. For what word I want to say…is almost a guardian. A guardian over us kids to keep us laughing in the face of anything. To learn, as my friend Robyn noted, to have a sense of humor in the face of terrible times. He taught us to bravely be yourself no matter what. He was so genuinely himself that he didn’t even need to tell us to be ourselves, he simply set an example.
His movies were always our go-to’s to make us laugh or smile when we needed it. Feeling down? Just YouTube a clip of him doing impressions, voices, anything. Your lips will turn up into a smile and soon after, a laugh. It’s as if he was always there for us when we were down. He would bring back the silly into ourselves. As if he were our nanny, making sure we were okay. I suppose that’s why I reach out for the word guardian more than anything else.
He was human. And he showed his human self and his dramatic skills in movies like “Good Will Hunting” and “Good Morning Vietnam”–my favorites of his more “dramatic” pieces even though Vietnam had plenty of laughs. My friend and I will be doing a movie tribute to Robin Williams tonight. Our childhood entertainer, our guardian, our uncle. A man who would always be there despite everything. But now that is not so. Which is why I think it hurts us so badly. More than other celebrity deaths. It’s still unbelievable. I kept crossing my fingers and hoping that when I woke up this morning, it wouldn’t be so. It still was. It is part of life. Just not a part of life we want to accept so early from a generous, warm-hearted, incredibly talented man. Which is why we are all so in pain from this loss.
His heart. His warm, generous, reaching-to-all heart. It would always bleed through every performance. His most human quality was how he cared. How warmth emanated off him and surrounded us like the Genie’s hug. He taught us to use our hearts, to be vulnerable, to be ourselves. I’m still going to look at his face (which looks closest to my dad’s out of Hollywood, which doesn’t help any) and be in shock. When you close your eyes as tightly as you can, and then open them again, hoping that he will still be there. Declare it unfair and impossible. I know he will be remembered for all of these qualities listed. I know our generation will weep in his passing for losing such an amazing character, the warmest heart, and our silliest guardian. And as lines keep saying everywhere to make me cry again–Genie, you’re free. We love you.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a book I can read over and over again. I think the first time I read it I was either in middle school or high school. The last time I read it was about four years ago, so it wasn’t too fresh in my head but also I still remembered all the main plot points. I was very excited for this movie to come out, and it seemed to take forever for it to actually release! But that’s my anticipation talking. Let’s get to the review.
This movie had a solid amount of great actors: Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield (boy from Hugo, who was brilliant in that as well), and a grown-up Abigail Breslin. If a movie has Harrison Ford in it, I’m going to get excited. Leave me alone, I’m a Star Wars nerd. However, I was slightly anxious that they would botch it up when it is such a great and captivating book. It also made me nervous that by the time we saw it, it had only 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Still Fresh, but not as high as I would’ve hoped. However, I was not disappointed.
I really thought I would be, honestly. However, the movie kept me engaged the entire time. The acting was superb by all involved and they were able to show the depth of Ender’s emotions. That’s what I was worried about. A lot of the book is in Ender’s head. Of course, the same complexity isn’t there, but I wasn’t expecting it to that degree. However, it surprised me with showing all the steps that led him to the end. I think it helped that Orson Scott Card (the author) was one of the producers.
For those who haven’t read the book, the basic premise is that the International Military is recruiting children to become the next great commander to defeat the alien race that previously invaded Earth. The story centers around one boy, Ender, a “third” (third-born), who has been chosen and pushed towards what the military wants from him. However, like many action flicks, it isn’t a straight-shooter. Ender is deeply conflicted at many levels, and the movie actually depicted that. Perhaps not as well as in the book, but it certainly came across. Ender is the world’s hope.
Surprisingly enough, they hit all the major plot points I hoped for. Sure they skipped a few too many battle room scenes, but I understand. They kept it under two hours, impressively. The movie built up properly, from the beginning, until the very end. I am not one for giving spoilers, but the one of the most powerful scenes (the end battle), I feel, really captured the intensity and emotion from the book. That was what I was most concerned with.
Overall, I suggest to Ender’s Game fans to see this movie. It’s not going to be exactly as you imagined. It never is with book to movie adaptations, but this production gets close, at least for me. It gets a hearty thumbs up from me and I will most likely get it on DVD/Blu-Ray. The plot is captivating, the acting is believable, and you feel for Ender the whole way through. Use impending-doom-movies to stay hungry and fit!
BONUS KITTY PIC
Belly out!
This will be a short one because I don’t have a whole lot to say about this movie. There’s just something about it that leaves me short on words. It was a very good movie but there was something missing that made it fall short of exceptional and it had all the tools in place. So what was missing?
The most intriguing bit of information pertaining to this movie is the fact that the writer (or someone up there) wanted Eminem (Yes, Marshall Mathers/Slim Shady, the rapper) to play the lead. When they approached him with the role he said that he would take it if they shot the movie in Detroit. Em wanted to help his city’s economy and give it some attention. When they declined, he declined and as a result we watched Matt Damon in another lead role. Nothing special.
This movie shared some similarities to District 9 (in terms of casting, setting, and feeling) and that could have been avoided if the movie was shot in Detroit. Still, its use of a future Los Angeles had little impact on the movie’s grand picture, which highlighted the inequalities between the upper class and everyone else. The upper class was symbolized by the “heavenly” Elysium (city in the sky) while Earth was the diseased and destroyed land for all of us who are not worth hundreds of millions or more.
The message is simple and I love it. Do not allow those in the upper class to create further disparity between the rich and poor. Fight to save the lives of the majority of the population because everyone has a life worth living. Make it the last thing you do before you die to give it your all and help as many as you can no matter what impact that has on your own life.
Matt Damon did a fine job but a different and new face might have been refreshing. The villain was amazing and outperformed everyone else. Although the performances were not amazing. The sets were mostly clean and beautiful, the editing and clarity in the action scenes were relatively crisp, and the writing was solid.
The movie was very good but was missing that element to make it great. Maybe a new lead could have put it over the edge. Maybe an extra 10 minutes of character building could have led to that attachment for the audience to love the lead. In the end, SPOILER, Max dies and I didn’t really feel bad or sad about it. That is where they fell short in my book. Make us love Max, make us love the movie. It was short, which I liked, because every movie is over two hours nowadays. However, at just over 90 minutes long, take another ten minutes to build the character up so we feel for the loss a little more.
Villain
But as I said, it was good and I have no major complaints. With some added content on the DVD this movie really could become amazing. All in all, it’s a short movie that entertains enough and promotes positive messages to earn a thumbs up and a seal of approval, courtesy of Hungry. Helping the greater good and making sacrifices is one great way to stay hungry and fit.
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Did I get your attention? But here’s the best part: I DIDN’T MAKE IT UP. I even screenshotted it and everything, look below for yourself. And surprisingly enough, that isn’t the reason for this post. It came at quite a convenient time because we’ve been wanting to introduce our Pinterest to you. Now that you’re introduced, you should check us out, we’re obviously kind of a big deal (as per Ellen).
It’s real life!
Besides celebrity appearances of our favorite comedians/icons, we pin lots of great stuff from our own recipes to hilarious geeky stuff that bleeds our nerdiness out to beautiful nature we’d love to adventure in. At first, I didn’t really get Pinterest, so I didn’t really use it. The more I used it, the more I fell in love with it. It’s not just useful for us to get our posts out on the Interweb, but so great to find other recipes that people all across the globe are sharing. It’s a fantastic, eye-candy database of endless information and knowledge.
I’ll just click on the ‘Geek’ tab and laugh constantly or click on ‘Food & Drink’ to have a drool session. It’s such a fabulous tool–people like visuals. They like images to pull themselves in. I’m so glad I started using it. But I have to watch out…it’s addicting! I am slowly adding all of our recipes, workouts, and other posts to our boards so stay tuned to stay hungry and fit!
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BONUS KITTY PIC
Sajah LOVES chin rubs…look at that face
If you follow us, there is a decent chance you know who this man (Joe Weider) is. If you aren’t familiar with the name, then maybe you’ve heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Maybe you’ve even heard of a few magazines including Men’s Fitness, Shape, Flex, and Muscle&Fitness. Perhaps you’ve tried a Tiger’s Milk bar or some Schiff Glucosamine. You might have even read about the International Federation of Bodybuilders or Mr/Mrs Olympia. You can give Joe Weider credit for most of that.
Bollocks. Well–mostly. It was a tough year, tough competition, for a lot of movies and actors that deserved awards. This will be just a quick review of our night and what we thought of the beloved Academy Awards. And let me insert that I didn’t quite pay attention to all of it. However, I enjoy everyone getting together to celebrate actors and movies.
Well, our night was filled with cuteness from baby kittens to a baby human. Regardless of who won, it was going to be a good night for us–pizza, bread and brie, salad, homemade banana bread, girl scout cookies, family, and more. We came over hungry and ate a lot, watching the Awards as the night went on. We didn’t watch the pre-show where everyone shows off what they’re wearing because we don’t particularly care for it. We tuned in at 6:15 MT, right before Seth McFarlane went into his introduction.
So, McFarlane pretty much lived up to his reputation, being funny sometimes, trashy many of the times, and awkward most of the time. He was also laughing at himself a lot, which I found amusing. I didn’t hate him as a host, but would rather have Ellen DeGeneres instead (good God, she was hilarious). Now I will just highlight some of the parts we either loved or hated (maybe we are extreme-type of people).
Anne Hathaway winning Best Supporting Actress. Yay! We were happy about this and think she deserved it. Though Chris didn’t like the new Les Mis that much (because he had seen better productions of it, I thoroughly enjoyed it however), we both agreed that Hathaway threw herself into that performance and really gave it her all. That’s when I think people deserve awards, when they act through passion and really transform into the role. Cheers to you, Hathaway.
Daniel Day Lewis winning Best Actor. Okay, so yes it’s Daniel Day Lewis. And yes, he’s an incredible actor. He completely transforms himself into whatever character he’s playing. We Saw Lincoln and it was creepy how much he looked and acted like him, as if we were seeing the real Lincoln before us. He did deserve it, of course he did, it’s Daniel Day Lewis. However, Chris and I both really wanted Hugh Jackman to win it for Les Mis. He completely carried that movie, he was incredible in it. We knew Daniel Day Lewis would win, but wish somehow there could be a tie for Jackman.
Les Miserables Cast Singing. We loved when seemingly the entire cast of Les Mis came out to sing their Oscar-nominated song (I now have Les Mis Pandora station on, I’m doomed to have it in my head forever again). It was a powerful performance and great to see everyone singing. True talent there.
The Hobbit Not Winning Anything. Now, we know The Hobbit was not nearly as good as the LOTR Trilogy, but it deserved something. Make-up (how did it NOT win that), costumes, visual design–come on, something! That was something that definitely ticked us off.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi Not Being Nominated. This was Chris’ favorite movie of 2012. It was a brilliant documentary of a brilliant Sushi chef and his sons. It deserved great credit, and should’ve at least been nominated for Best Documentary. Very, very disappointing. If you haven’t seen it yet, do so. It’s on Netflix Instant.
Beasts of the Southern Wild Being Nominated for Best Picture. We obviously don’t do our research, so we were very delightfully surprised that it got a nomination for Best Picture–good for them! It was one of our favorites for the year, extremely real and honest. Chris found it the most emotionally-provoking out of all the films we saw in 2012, even more than Les Mis. There was just something about it, hard to describe. Can’t wait to get it on DVD. That little girl was amazing.
Quvenzhané Wallis being nominated for Best Actress. WOW. Speaking of “that little girl,” we had no clue she had been nominated. This was definitely a high point of the night. She was absolutely incredible. We loved her spirit, her voice, her view of the world–the acting was just flawless in our opinion. So happy to see her get recognition she deserved. She was truly amazing, she made the movie.
Life of Pi winning so many awards. We were shocked to see that Life of Pi got so many awards including Best Director! We are happy though, because we feel it deserved it, though it didn’t get as much attention in the Box Office as we thought it should have. It was great to see such a wonderful adventure and story get great recognition. And who doesn’t love Ang Lee!
Brave Beating Wreck-It Ralph in Best Animated Film. What! I know it’s Pixar, and it’s about a kick-butt little girl, but this Pixar movie didn’t live up to its other excellent movies. And Wreck-It Ralph–what a movie! It was so well done, with a star-studded cast, great humor, and awesome throw-backs for us nerds. Maybe that’s why it didn’t win, because it definitely spoke to nerds. Well whatever with awards, Wreck-It Ralph left us smiling the whole time.
I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that is a quick run-down of our highs and lows for the night. Tell us what you thought, too!
Cheers!
