A friend of mine reads one to two novels a week. He can do this because he considers watching TV a waste of time. I’ve encountered others who, when I ask, “Did you see that show last nigh?” will say things like, “Oh, I never watch TV.” Invariably their tone is so smug when they utter this phrase.

I admit that I watch more television than a person should. There are times when I just want to turn off my brain and veg. I don’t really have the patience to stick through a whole show so I’m always surfing the channels, trying to avoid the junk on the airwaves such as the endless number of hook-up shows. But I found a new program that is like a family-sized bag of Doritos and gallon of Coke for your eyes and mind.

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Popularity: 10% [?]

If you were to have told me, about a year ago, that I would be using social media on a regular basis, I would have thought you were insane. To me, social media was nothing more than Facebook and MySpace, nothing more, nothing less. I thought that blogging was just for nerds and people with just too much time on their hands. However, after one of my PR courses (Strategies and Issues), I found myself slowly getting used to using, and understanding exactly what social media and blogging were. The course was very social media heavy; understanding the use of blogs and social media sites, how to effectively use social media today, and about half way through the course, each student had to create his and her own blog.

At first, I could not be bothered, and my friend Dara and I would just roll our eyes with sheer boredom. As she became less and less interested in the class, I became more fixated on blogging and the Internet. I was one of the very few students who updated their blogs more than once a week because I was genuinely interested in what I was writing about (Public Relations and Popular Culture).

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Popularity: 12% [?]

When I went to see The Counterfeiters at Magnolia a few months ago, I saw the poster for The Fall.  It caught my eye as I was headed to the ladies room before the movie started.  I stood transfixed by the poster.  I’m not really sure why; I just stared at it a few moments, and then I saw the starring line, and great googly moogly, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Lee Pace was the star?!  Then I got to see a trailer for it before The Counterfeiters, and I was speechless.  I HAD to see this movie!

Ok, so at this point, you’re probably thinking, “Who the heck is Lee Pace?”  Well, he’s only the cutest thing to ever hit the silver screen.  If it’s possible, I’m more enamored with him than Daniel Day Lewis and Hugh Jackman put together.  Yeah, I know; it’s probably hard to believe, but I think it’s got a lot to do with the character he was playing the first time I ever saw him: Ned, the Piemaker, from Pushing Daisies.

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Popularity: 10% [?]

In the battle of the bulge one of the greatest weapons that we have is the diet drink.  You see, in the past if you wanted a sweet refreshing drink you had to have sugar.  Thanks to modern science, with its unnatural and inorganic ways, this is not the case.  You can enjoy a sweet refreshing drink with little or no calories.  The same great taste with no sacrifice. It truly is the ability to have your cake and eat it too. 

The diet soda is a breakthrough in ways few problems have the ability to be solved.  Imagine if you will that it was possible to have more government spending and yet pay less in taxes.  Think of the possibilities, more programs for you and me, but not taking away our hard earned money, fantastic.  This is the gift that diet soda has given humanity.  

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Popularity: 8% [?]

It’s summer time and with this hot and sweaty season, most people go on some type of vacation and I’m proud to say I am one of those “most people.” I am heading to Destin, Florida in a week with my family and my boyfriend and I must say I’ve never been so ready for relaxation in my life!

This year has been a crazy and busy year. I just started a new job, I’m busy with my blog, my podcast and writing on Culture Feast, and I’m ready to just sit on the beach and stare at the ocean. What is it about life that gets us so stressed out that sometimes we get even stressed about taking a vacation?

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Popularity: 8% [?]

A good friend of mine recently quit writing. She was a member of my critique group and I learned so much from her about the rules and techniques of the craft. I always looked forward to our meetings every week and enjoyed talking books with her.

What’s so tragic is that she’s incredibly talented. She’s written a thriller that, I thought, rivaled and even exceeded some of the brand-name authors you can pick up at your local bookstore. So what happened? There were several reasons why she came to her decision, but the last time she came to our group, she boiled it down to, “I haven’t written anything in weeks and I don’t really feel guilty about it.”

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Popularity: 7% [?]

It's not often that I have the time to give my grandmother a shout-out, but  here it is. I want to give big props to my g-ma  for her helping me to reach my quest of 'World's Strongest Man in the Email-Deleting Finger Catagory'. Thanks to her, I have added millimeters of girth and amazing definition to my email-deleting finger.

On any given Monday, I could spend minutes a day deleting all of the unread emails that she has forwarded me. I don't mean any disrespect to my grandmother, but I pretty much got the 'Obama = terrorist' message in your first email. You know I am a well informed, educated man. I graduated from an accredited university (UNT '07); you were there.  I'm not amongst the undereducated masses that not only thought finishing high school was unnecessary, but also make up the majority of stereotypical Texans.  I just don't fall into that group of people that is swayed by propaganda whether it is political, racist, or fear based.
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Popularity: 9% [?]