Valentine's Day with Tony Danza
I had been trying to get tickets to Tony Danza's morning talk show since it premiered in September. I grew up watching Who's The Boss each week and Taxi reruns and have always loved him, maybe because he is Italiano like me.

Anyway, I couldn't get tickets because the show was always filled. But a couple months ago I noticed on ABC's site it said, "Attention Single Women in NY." I clicked on the link and it asked if I'd like to attend a special Valentine's taping of The Tony Danza Show. I entered my name and forgot all about it. Then a few weeks ago I received a call on my cell phone asking if I still wanted to go to a taping. I said sure, but asked what I had to do? I was afraid they would be setting me up on TV or something. It turns out the audience is going to be full of single women, and single men are gonna come out and give us gifts. So, I wasn't going to say no to a taping AND free gifts. The intern on the phone also mentioned we might all be going out to lunch with Tony afterward! How cool is that?

So me and my girlfriend went to the live taping Valentine's Day morning. We were told that we had to wear red or pink.

If anything, I hope to ask about the tattoo on his arm. I used to always look for it on Who's the Boss, but could never really see what the picture was of. I know it says "Keep On Truckin," but underneath that I think its a cartoon of a man walking? or ribbons? urghh it's been annoying me for years.

Taping Recap
OMG! It was amazing! Did anyone watch the show? I might not have gotten a car like the Oprah audience BUT we all received a free 2-night 3-day trip to Marco Island in FL! The trip is valued at $870! I have to pay taxes on it though, but big deal. I'm still in shock over the tons of free gifts that we got.

OK let me back track a bit. Our audience full of women was instructed to go outside and help film Tony's intro bit. We all had to scream "Live from New York!" This is when I saw Desperate Housewives guest, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, enter the building. He was really shy and sweet and nodded to everyone and shook my friend's hand. He looks better looking in person. The show for some reason makes him seem darker and heavier than he is.

Anyway after that we went back in the studio to watch the show. Tony did a push up contest with Ricardo and won. Since Tony won everyone in the audience won a box of Givere chocolates and EchoWomen Perfume by Davidoff--it's new.

Tony by the way looked great, in a red shirt and black pin stripe suit. He's tiny in person though. He also did little tap dancing steps during the commercial breaks for the audience. He said he learnt after an episode of Taxi had the cast pretend to tap dance, but he decided it would be fun to really learn so he did.

Also Tony announced in the beginning that all the women present would get Message Connextion bracelets, which cost $200! Everyone of course thought that was great.

During one of the commercial breaks, I was able to ask Tony about his tattoo. :) He said he no longer has it, since he had it removed. It did say Keep On Truckin though and had a Mr. Natural cartoon underneath. Thus, I was right it is a cartoon man taking wide steps.

The next guest was an animal expert, who had the cutest puppies on and a big bunny. We were all given another gift, a CD of Elvis love songs called: Love, Elvis

There was still another surprise though, over a hundred single men came out and gave each of us a bouquet of assorted colored roses.

From the calls I got after the taping, I was apparently in several of the camera shots and one close-up right after they announced the free trip. Great, so my mouth was probably open or I was screaming like a wacko. lol.

After the taping Tony took everyone on a Spirit Lunch Cruise around the Statue of Liberty. Too bad the weather was so icky out, it was sleeting when we went around the statue. While aboard I was able to take a group photo with Tony and give him a quick hug. Yay! I also met two girls that are from my town in CT but who I hadn't known and some nice guys too. My group of new friends and I went out to a bar in Chelsea when the cruise ended.

Oh by the way The Tony Danza Show has been renewed for another season.

Peer Pressure
It was weird enough going back to school for my master's degree and being with students of all ages with different careers and various undergrad degrees, but I didn't think there would still be fads or that I'd fall victim to peer pressure.

Generally everyone seems to like being different except for when it comes to what they drink. Besides the Starbucks cartons scattered on our large tables, most of the people in my 6 hour classes buy VitaminWater during our breaks. There would be a bottle next to each notebook when I got back. I felt I wasn't part of a clique or something, lol.

I managed to hold off trying the expensive flavored water during my Fall semester, mainly because I'm cheap and I don't drink too much (been dehydrated twice as a result). I was also put off by the vast selection of colored waters. Each go by funky names like Focus, Revive and Balance. What if I purchased the wrong one? And ended up with one that I didn't like and had a full bottle on my desk mocking me while I did my work. I mean, do I try the green, pink, red, blue or yellow one?

So finally outside of class, when I was grocery shopping after work I bought 3 bottles for $9.99 (yikes!) After much deliberation I chose Green Tea (Rescue), Lemon Tea (Vital-t) and Raspberry Apple (Defense). I liked them all, although the green tea a little less than the others. They are not sugary like Gatorade and not as blah as water. Also each bottle lasted me two days, again I can't consume too much liquids for some reason. However, I felt healthy drinking the vitamin water and I rarely do anything healthy.

A funny feature is that each bottle has an amusing paragraph on the label giving some little anecdote. One wrote about Golden Girls being Sex and the City 20 years later, which was a nice brief distraction from my other readings. So now I found another way to spend money like it was water ;)

Conclusion: Be a sheep like I was and try it :)

Finders Keepers
Usually in the city It's not amazing the things that people throw away but what people actually owned in the first place.

My windows look over a shared courtyard, where the building's garbage bins are located. Over the last few months I've spotted a big ugly teddy bear, dirty cabinets, weird textbooks on massage techniques, New Kids On the Block cassettes, rusted weights and many other crappy things.

Today was different though, outside was a modern looking red sofa chair.



I happen to have a red chenille coach, so after inspecting the chair and finding it suitable, I lug the thing up to my apartment. There was a brief episode of it being wedged in my door, but I managed.

I forgot how small my place is, because this chair that once looked tiny outside is gigantic inside my room. I gave it a quick scrub before putting it in the corner near my bookshelf. Yes, that's my thighmaster peeking out from underneath. The pillow I already had on my coach, it's hiding a tear in the fabric of the chair.

Do you think it looks ok? Too crowded? Is it weird that I don't know who owned the chair before?

PS: today DSW was giving away umbrellas with purchase, and I just so happened to have bought these cute Steve Madden pink pumps on my way home, thus I now have a mini DSW umbrella. It's supposed to rain tomorrow too. The shoes looked like these but in pale pink colors.

News: Cost of Necessities Rises in New York Oh great! Like I needed an article to tell me this.

etc: here are some more photos of my little studio.

Tara on the Dark Continent
Being the name obsessed person that I am, last year I typed my first name in eBay's search bar and found out that there was a 70s comic book heroine named Tara. She was part of "Femforce" from Paragon Comics who was in charge of protecting mother earth. So, I bid on the comic and win,because I thought it would be cool to frame it and hang in my apartment.

So I get the comic book and turns out that Superhero Tara, might as well be a porn star, all she wears is pasties and panties, lol. I'm still gonna hang the cover up on my wall, but definately not the back cover. I'm having problems though finding a frame that fits, since it's a different size than the comics that are out now and the comic book store on 14th Street closes before 5 each day. What's a superheroine to do?

Article: I come from Planet Tiffany

Be a real hero and help the children:
Barefoot Principessa is having a raffle that supports the March Of Dimes, even a dollar helps. I just gave $5.

Million Dollar Baby
I finally saw Million Dollar Baby.

The film was very powerful and filmed in Clint Eastwood's traditional dark, majestic, shadow style. Not only did Clint star in the film and direct and produce it, he also wrote most of the musical score.

Hillary Swank was amazing, she managed to be tough and innocent at the same time, and like most of her films this was another heartbreaker. Definitely bring the tissues. However, I was really impressed that even though the film is very sad, it didn't go the extra mile to shove the sadness in the audience's face like some Oscar hopefuls try to do, and most of the story was very happy and inspirational.

With his deep smooth voice, Morgan Freeman provides some of the narration, reminiscent of his work in Shawshank Redemption. I enjoy it so much that I could seriously just hear his voice in lieu of actually seeing a movie.

Overall it was a great picture and deserves the Oscar nominations it has received, but honestly with these three great actors working together how could this film have been bad? I usually don't like when the same actors and actresses continually receive Academy Awards but I think Swank should win another Best Actress award for her portrayal.

The best thing about this movie is that it hits you more later. It has been a few days and I keep thinking about it.

Here is a review I wrote for another Best Picture nominee, The Aviator .

Super Bowl Commercials 2005
Did you miss the Super Bowl commercials? You can watch all of them at IFILM with no downloading and it plays one after another. Check out the Ameriquest cat killer ad and the Diet Pepsi Ladies Man one with Carter from Queer Eye. I also liked the Burt Reynolds one.