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A Britney Spears/Hunger Games mash up.

Just what I need since I can't find my keys and someone spent the weekend taking money out of our account via ATMs in California.

God love me, I found myself DVR'ing (and watching) the latest MTV "documentary" on Britney Spears, BRITNEY SPEARS: FOR THE RECORD. They billed it as a no-holds-barred look at her life over the past couple of years, but it was surprisingly devoid of any juicy bits. Even when they asked her about shaving her head, her answer seemed ... I don't know. The word "fake" comes to mind. Britney just kept reiterating how she's had "hard" or "difficult" times, and how she was "kind of a mess." Dude, that's an understatment if I've ever heard one!

At the same time, there was this really soft, vulnerable side to Britney that came across beautifully. She talked a lot about feeling lonely, about where her rebellious streak comes from, and a tiny bit about the breakup from Justin, and how she came apart in the aftermath. That really was the beginning of her downfall, if you think about it - it's when she started running around, partying too hard and cavorting with the likes of K-Fed. Even in that obnoxious TOXIC "reality show" she did about their relationship, she talked about feeling so lonely and just wanting to be married and have babies.

Anyway, I finished the show feeling like Britney still hasn't spoken honestly about the majority of her "stuff" - i.e., the breakdown, custody battle, etc. - which is totally her right, but then why make a documentary called FOR THE RECORD if much of the record is left off the record? Yet, there were other parts - things like watching how the paparazzi hounds her, and how fragile she looks when she realizes how many hacks are vying for her picture - that made me remember why I liked Britney in the first place, all the way back in 1999. I'd just seen an episode of MAKING THE VIDEO where she was doing the shoot for "Crazy" and I couldn't believe how hard this 17-year-old kid was forced to work. At one point in the episode, she was just dog tired and begging for a break, and I really felt for this girl. Well, I still feel for her. She was a total train wreck, but how many of us haven't have train wreck times in our lives? And at least for "real" people, we can be train wrecks without video cameras and paparazzi documenting our every moves.

So Brit-Brit seems to be growing up, and she seems to have learned some lessons. Good for her. I hope this does mark her "comeback," whether or not she hates the expression. At the same time, if the comeback doesn't happen, I wonder if she could find happiness back in Alabama, just being a mom and a sister and a daughter and a friend. Perhaps life out of the spotlight would be kinder to her? I don't know.

Random side note: does anyone else think Madonna (who appears in FOR THE RECORD briefly) has started to look like the scary plastic surgery lady who resembles a cat? :: shudder ::

Readers might remember last July when the Webmeister and I were in Berlin, we visited the Zoo and it's most famous resident, the adorable polar bear cub, Knut:



So cute, that Knut!

Well, the other day the Webmeister forwarded me some rather disturbing news about my furry now not-so-little friend. It appears Knut has gone all Britney on us.

Knut the polar bear has turned from a cuddly cub into a publicity-addicted psycho, one of his keepers has claimed.

Markus Roebke said Berlin Zoo's celebrity animal was obsessed with the limelight and howled with rage when denied an audience.

"Knut must go and the sooner the better," he said, insisting that the bear should be sent to an animal park where he received less attention

"He is addicted to the whole show, the human adulation. It is not healthy.

"He actually cries out or whimpers if he sees that there is not a spectator outside his enclosure ready to ooh and aah at him.

"When the zoo had to shut because of black ice everywhere he howled until staff members stood before him and calmed him down."

Mr Roebke added: "The trouble is that he identifies himself as a human and not as a polar bear...Knut needs publicity and that must change."

Mr Roebke is not the only observer to question Knut's sanity. In January, a prominent animal conservationist branded him "an animal psychopath".

by Laura Leuck illustrated Kyle M. Stone Harcourt 2007 This cracks me up. Not the book but my original notes taken a few weeks back. This rhyming picture book explores The joy of raising boys Without a mother's love aboard A pirate ship of noise A father's tenderness is buried In text beneath the gruff Exterior of belching lads And other other pirate stuff First, I don't remember penning