Category: Celebrity Fluff

The 2013 30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 17

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, Celebrity Fluff, Relationships, WWE Wrasslin'

Day 17: Something you wish you were good at.

Nothing.

I have limited patience to learn a skill. I have many half completed crafts, paintings, projects, etc. Unless I’m truly passionate about something (writing), I really don’t care. I don’t feel some void because I lack talent in a particular area.

If I really wanted to excel @ something, I would. That sounds arrogant but its true. If I want to do well in something, I will work my butt off to excel, otherwise it’s a chore. This applies to my interpersonal relationships, work, education, et al. If I care, I will bust my butt to be the best (insert thing here) I can be. Otherwise I’m indifferent.

I love Drew’s photos, but I’ve never wanted to take them. I love my friend’s artwork but I have no desire to paint. I wouldn’t mind learning to ballroom dance, but I’ll take lessons someday. I don’t fret over what I can’t do; I only take joy in what I can do, because what I can do, I do well & I’m proud of the things I can do, to the level that I sometimes want to take a page from the Chris Jericho playbook & say I am the best in the world at what I do.

Heart Attack

by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Current Events, Douchers, Seriously WTF?

Jennifer Lawrence is pretty much the cutest thing ever.

At 22, she has starred in two major franchises, one of which is expected to break the box office bank this year, has been nominated for two Academy Awards and took home her first last night for the critically acclaimed Silver Linings Playbook. Despite the fame and hype, she remains delightfully dorky, with witty comments like “I beat Meryl” and poses with her Oscar shooting the finger. Lawrence doesn’t take herself too seriously, which is good for the rest of us socially awkward weirdos.

Everyone was talking about Lawrence, but not because of her big win, but because while rushing to accept the highest honour of her field, she tripped over her huge Dior gown and fell flat on her face (something I would totally do). Yes, the top story was not about this young woman’s big moment, or even Daniel Day Lewis’s record breaking third trophy, it was that a girl fell down.

Photo credit: Just Jared
Photo credit: Just Jared

What shocked me during the show was that while the rest of the seasoned and polished actors sat stoically in their seats and tittled at Lawrence’s awkward fall, only Playbook co-star Bradley Cooper and Hugh Jackman rushed to the young woman’s aid, the former remaining on the steps until she reached the stage safely. Many bloggers and entertainment journalists were quick to downplay the actions of these two gentlemen, claiming that “it’s just what normal folks do” and “not a big deal.”

Well, the right thing to do IS a big deal.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a friend or a total stranger (Jackman and Lawrence had never met prior to this moment), being genuinely kind to another human being is a big deal. We so often downplay the acts of kindness that people bestow on us while holding on to the mean things and making them a big deal. Perhaps we should do it in reverse. There’s something to be said for chivalry, which seems lost on so many men (and women) these days and there’s something to be said for two Hollywood hunks jumping from their seats and running in their tuxedos to help a young woman to her feet. Yes, it was “the right thing to do” but they didn’t have to do it. There was security, any number of other actors, Lawrence managed to make it to her feet on her own, but they still instinctively thought to help her. Cooper remaining on the stairs while Jackman led the auditorium in a standing ovation was also sweet; they attempted to turn the moment around for her, and in a small way, they did as Lawrence thanked everyone for the applause in her quirky way.

Perhaps if we focused more on praising people for acts of kindness instead of blowing up misfortunes and who did what to wrong who on what day, we could all be a little bit happier. We all complain about the lack of human compassion in the world, but then we downplay acts of kindness as “No big deal” and “Why are we talking about it?” Meanwhile, an inappropriate joke made by the Onion will generate rage and attention long after the apology was issued. Perhaps we should take more time to talk up the things people do that are great, as in the long run, those acts of genuine kindness should hold more weight than the times we screwed up. I’m pretty sure Jennifer Lawrence would rather people talk about how nice these men were than continuously asking her how it felt to fall down.

Or maybe everyone was just jealous that she gets Bradley Cooper and Hugh Jackman helping her up while when we fall down, we just fall down.

The 2013 30 Day Blog Challenge Day 16

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Mommydom, My New Life As Me

Day 16: List your five greatest accomplishments.

1. Becoming a mom. My road to becoming a mom was not easy. I literally had to earn the right to become a mother. I think because I had to fight for it, to earn that priviledge, that honour makes me understand what I have and appreciate it more. I’m not saying other moms don’t; but when you’ve had to fight for something, it makes you realize how much you want it, how much you love it. When you have to put yourself out there and risk everything just to have it, it makes you realize how much it means to you. Becoming a mom made me realize how much I could love another person, how important the idea of protecting and loving those who are “mine” (and nothing hurts worse than losing one that is “yours”). They are “mine” and I have an obligation to protect them, teach them, love them, and hope I don’t screw it up along the way. So far, I think I’ve done pretty well.

2. My journalism diploma. That is my baby. I worked my butt off to get it and achieved every goal I had for myself professionally since I was eight years old. That piece of paper is my professional world. It’s my livelihood, my passion, hanging on my wall.

3. Interviewing Amanda Marshall. Everyone wants to meet their idol; I got to do the thing I loved the most in the whole wide world while talking to my idol. From her wishing Yogi well on an audition to her refreshingly honest answers, it was the greatest day of my career and not much will touch it.

4. My name in print. All of it, every single time. My byline is the greatest thing in the whole wide world to me that is not one of my children. It still amuses me to this day like the first time. I love my job more than anything else in the entire world (again, that is not my daughters) and nothing, not even Channing Tatum offering to run away with me, Ryan Gosling and Chris Hemsworth would be as amazing as seeing my name in print beside something I’ve written. When someone tells me they liked it, I’m even happier.

5. I’m still alive. Sometimes, when life kicks our asses, we need to hold onto this; we’re still alive. My life hasn’t always been easy, sometimes it’s been awful and horrible and really sucky, but I’m still alive. That means there’s a tomorrow to look forward to! For every horrible day, there’s an amazing one coming and sometimes we need to look forward to those amazing days and remember that we are one of the lucky ones; we’re still here.

Everyone

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, ASH General, ASH Photography, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Just Fun, My New Life As Me

image

Look what we did!

I know it might seem super lame to you, but to me this is a big deal.

When I started ASH Multimedia two years ago, it was originally a companion site for my former husband’s photography. He couldn’t generate interest in his photos, so he thought my writing would help. When we split up, I was unsure of what to do with it, so my dearest friend Drew suggested we work on it together…so we did.

For a good long time, I only had one fan. I adored my one fan. They meant everything to me because they were reading what I wrote. Then, more of you came and slowly, this little blog turned into something successful…sort of.

I write a lot of words. It’s all I do. Sometimes I write about my life and how I screw it up almost every second of every day. Sometimes I struggle to be a single mom. Sometimes I look at the latest mess I’ve gotten into. Sometimes, I just have an idea & want to share it with y’all. Maybe you’ve had the same thought and felt like someone got it. Maybe you thought I was an idiot. Regardless, you read this blog. Sometimes, you read it more than once. Some of you are regulars. So, whether you’re that one fan that kept me motivated for two years or someone who just popped in; thank you so much for reading my kooky little words. It may not seem like much to you, but it means everything in the entire world to me. No matter how successful I become as a writer or a person, I’ll always remember the day my little project reached this milestone and smile.

So, thanks for making my project something. Thanks for stopping by. I’ll keep writing if you’ll keep coming. If I’ve ever said anything that helped you, made you think or anything other than I’m an idiot, thanks. The one thing I hope you take into the next 10k is this: If you find that something I say makes you think of yourself, a moment in time or whatever, maybe there’s a reason. Maybe there’s something to it that you need to apply to your own life. We could all use a little guidance, and if in any way made you think, then I did my job as a writer well.

-MHC

The 2013 30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 5

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Mommydom, MusicIsLifeIsMusicIsLife, My New Life As Me

Day 5: name 5 things that make you happy right now.

Most things make me happy. I’m a generally happy person. I live a blessed life: I have three amazing children, awesome friends. I have a church community that is welcoming and allows me to grow spiritually. I’ve been blessed with many talents. I enjoy my work @ my law firm & my magazine. But I’m sure there are five things that make me happiest:

1. My daughters. Durr.
2. Maroon 5. I saw them last night & they were amazing. Adam Levine is smoking hot live & Owl City was an amazing opening act. All good things.
3. Drew. My best friend always makes life awesome.
4. The sun. I’ll like it more when it’s warm.
5. Paint. My living room is finally being painted, which will make my house a little more “mine.”

The 2013 30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 1

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, MH vs Dating, Mommydom, MusicIsLifeIsMusicIsLife, My New Life As Me

Blog challenge

We did this last year and it was fun, so we’re going to do it again this year. I was going to wait until the first of March, but I don’t feel like it, so we’re starting today! Enjoy!

Day One: List 20 Random Facts About Yourself

1. I will only use one brand of makeup. Allegedly they test on animals. My friend sends me photos of dead bunnies and I cry.

2. The only time I ever wanted to write poetry was after watching 10 Things I Hate About You. I thought if my person & I ever had some tragic, Shakespearean falling out, I could write something similar and it would open the doors of communication and we’d work it out. But I’m a horrible poet & chances are Heath Ledger would have taken his guitar & run with it.

3. I have a freakish obsession with pancakes.

4. I currently think the Imagine Dragons are the best new band in the history of everything.

5. Nothing can be wrong in the world when Lifehouse is on my stereo.

6. I named one of my children after a minor character in a horror movie.

7. I often wish I could change my major to Social Work. It’s why my blog’s content has gravitated towards self help.

8. I abhor the smell of vanilla.

9. I don’t own a copy of Le Petit Prince, not in french nor in english and that makes me totally sad.

10. I have a bigger TV set than anyone I know and I never watch it ever. I use it for digital music and video games.

11. I’m a huge Zelda nerd & I have never finished the game Majora’s Mask.

12. I hate planning things for myself. I hate anything that makes me the centre of attention, so my birthday plans start out with me attempting to plan, then forgetting and realizing three days before that I’m not doing anything.

13. I walked out on a date after 20 minutes because the guy told me he didn’t see the value of higher education.

14. I love Maroon 5 and Adam Levine more than anything, but I still think Songs About Jane mostly sucks.

15. My three year old has tried to teach me to understand football. She explains it better than most dudes that I know.

16. I still listen to boy bands and contend that *N’Sync was far superior to the Backstreet Boys.

17. My one goal in life is to report from a war zone. The closest I’ve come is live tweeting Dawna playing Call of Duty.

18. I have been trying to quit consuming caffeine for a month now. I have gone zero days without it.

19. I suffer from insomnia. Whenever I’m stressed or hurting, sleep is the first thing to go.

20. I’ve avoided Walmart for three weeks and will continue to do so for the next two.

Reblogged: Teaming with No H8!

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH General, ASH Photography, Celebrity Fluff, Uncategorized

This is the article that I wrote about Andrew Freij & the No H8 campaign!

andrewfreij1's avatarafreij

By: Mary-Helen Clark

Andrew Freij is more than just a pretty face, he wants to make a difference.

For many American young people, their 21st birthday is an excuse to imbibe to excess, and cause mayhem. But for the Livonia native, it was an opportunity to speak out for a very important cause.  The actor and model teamed up with the NO H8 campaign to support same sex marriage as well as LGBT rights and went on tour, visiting various cities across Canada and the US to promote tolerance.

“I didn’t want to go out and party, I wanted to support a cause,” Freij said. 

“I have so many friends in the gay and lesbian community and I wanted to support them. My ultimate goal in life is to use my career to change something, I want to make a difference and the No H8 Campaign is just the…

View original post 262 more words

Kiss Me

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Photography, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Douchers, Quotable Quotes and Potpourri, Relationships, Seriously WTF?

“In the end, even if not in the short-term, love will conquer all.”

I found this quote on Twitter & I thought it was too cute.

It made me think as lately most of my friends are at these relationship crossroads. It happens to everyone after you’ve been with someone for more than a few months and that warm fuzzy infatuation feeling wears off and you’re in that real love stage. We all end up in that place and for some reason, when things get a little hard, one person wants to work on it while one person always seems to want to bail. We live in a society where love is disposable. When life gets hard, we throw it away & think everything gets better. Oh, we’ll get a new partner & it’ll be better…until chances are we ruin that relationship. It probably fell apart the same way too. But why?

Because the problem never went away…because the problem is you.

Yes, YOU.

You are the problem, just like I am the problem, everyone is the problem! The truth is that we think because we left a relationship, then we “fixed” the problem, when in fact the problem is still there. It’s internal and it’s never going to get better and just because you’re going to make the same mistakes over again.

Maybe you never tell your partners when you’re angry, so they’re constantly guessing why you’re mad and then you just walk away because well…they’re still doing that thing that pissed you off. People don’t read minds, how were they to know when you didn’t tell them? Maybe they asked and you said it’s fine (SUCH a chick move). Maybe you overreact when you need to have a frank conversation and cry, so that your partner doesn’t feel they can tell you when your relationship needs work. Maybe when you feel confused, you try to rationalize & take everyone’s advice but your own & make a giant mess & ruin everything. Maybe you bury your head in the sand like an ostritch and pretend everything is fine when in reality, everyone is pissed off and nothing is working. Maybe you displace aggression and yell about the floor mat but in reality you had a bad day at work. But there is something that needs work and that something is how you handle conflict, how you handle stress, how you handle arguments, you, you, YOU. The reason you can’t find someone is because of you.

This is one of the reasons I continually try to evolve as a person. I know that friendships and relationships end and it’s because of something I did (as well as something they did), so I try harder to improve myself because remaining static will only hinder your life’s journey.

20130123-121743.jpg

However, chances are that much like the quote says, there is that one person that you can conquer odds with…eventually. Maybe it’s the person you’ve been with for years, maybe it’s that old flame that sticks out in your mind but you treated them really crummy. But that’s the person you need to know about the most and you will loop back over and over to that person. People believe once something fails, it’s broken but just because you’ve found “the one” doesn’t mean the path to forever is going to run smoothly. In fact, a lot of times there will be periods of damn hard. However, running away from the problem doesn’t make it go away. It just eats at you, damaging the rest of who you are until you become a broken person. Look at Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Timberlake left Biel when she was hoping for a commitment and he wasn’t ready to settle down. He dumped her unceremoniously and slutted it up. Six months later, Timberlake went back to Biel and asked for another chance and the couple wed late 2012.

Sometimes things just don’t effing work at the time, but they won’t ever work if you don’t even try. They won’t work with the next person either. It’ll be a continuous loop of failed relationships until you look at yourself and start looking at how you treat others, how you communicate with them, how much you invest in actually attempting to make it work. But eventually, you’ll meet someone that you can’t stop thinking about no matter how many times you eff it up and eventually, it’ll work. I mentioned it back in September and it bears repeating, that couples who have been married 40 or 50 years will tell you that in their day, you fixed something when it didn’t work right, you didn’t just throw it away.

20130123-122938.jpg

Carry On

by maryhelenc, posted in ASH General, Celebrity Fluff, Political Fluff, Quotable Quotes and Potpourri, Relationships, Seriously WTF?, Television

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Dear Dr. Martin Luther King,

Today we celebrate your life & legacy. Almost 50 years ago, you had a dream. A dream that all men were created equal & that all minorities would be treated as equals. In a way, we’ve done that, as today your nation is also publicly swearing Barack Obama in to his second term as President, the first biracial president. During your time Dr. King, that couldn’t have happened, so that is progress. There is no more segregation, everyone seems equal on the surface, so there’s that.

However, things aren’t ideal sir, & for that I’m sorry. We’re still a racist society. People still crack jokes about the disrespectful folks on Maury as if they are the spokespeople of your race, instead of the lowest common denominator. You’re dismissed as drug dealers & criminals & you can count the number of Oscar winners on your hands. We still segregate people, only we’ve moved on to the LGBT community. Your nation lets them vote, but not get married. Your nation looks down on immigrants, giving them low paying jobs, stereotypes based on those jobs. I don’t feel you would approve of the way Mexican Americans or Arab Americans are treated. Your nation responds to threats by bombing every nation to the ground. I don’t think that was part of your dream & I’m sorry.

We as people are apathetic now. A man of your conviction would be treated as a sideshow act, while we waited for the Kardashians to come on TV. Your nation celebrates a man who beats his girlfriend, treats criminal records as “cred.” Your nation uses charity work as a status symbol, a chance for photo ops while the issues with poverty, homelessness & a fractured foster care system go ignored. Inner city schools are closed, so children are sandwiched in classrooms, but more concern is paid to the NHL lockout. Your nation cares more about their right to bear arms than the death of Trayvon Martin, a 15 year old boy who was attacked and shot for wearing a hoodie & refusing to answer a man on a power trip & the victims of the Newton CT massacre. We are a society of “Me” not “We” & I’m sorry.

We don’t love each other. We push away those who love us & hurt those who love us when our ego is bruised. We don’t forgive mistakes, we punish. We milk past hurts as an excuse to ruin the present & very few of us live up to our potential. You gave a message that love could change the world & somewhere along the way we lost that message & lost what love is. It got lost in the pursuit of money & notoriety, the quest to be right instead of be understood. You taught us about non-violent resistance, how assertive words & passion bring about the reward. You taught us that faith in your conviction, truth in your words & love in your heart could change the world. Somewhere we became selfish & missed the mark & I’m sorry.

I’m sorry that your nation & others lost your message & now only listen to you today because they’ll be forced to. You can take solace in the man that leads your beloved country heard you & continues to fight for your weakest, those without a voice & hopefully, change will come. I hope that today, everyone hears a transcript of your great words, whether that you had a dream or that you were on the mountaintop & focuses on loving their fellow man. Maybe they can quit their “harmless” jokes (that I too am guilty of), stop generalizing entire groups of people, & learn to love people & allow love to flourish.

I hope one person hears your words that will be played before every American TV show & takes them to heart & applies them to their life. For they will show others, who will show others & eventually, your dream will be a reality, even if it takes 100 years.

Sincerely,

MHC