Pre-Thanksgiving randomness, the Sexiest Man Alive and too much estrogen

Matthew McConaughey is People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. For serious? Who decides this? The same nameless, faceless board of people who certified pork as the “other white meat”? The people who made up Secretary’s’ Day? I’m sure I’ll take tons of crap for this but come ON, MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY??

Sure, he’s a good-looking guy. But if it’s based on who’s “hot” right now, in 2005, you can turn the pages of People Magazine and see at least 5 people who are as physically as great looking as MC but much bigger on the world radar right now: Kanye West, Matthew Fox, Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhall, George Clooney, Orlando Bloom. Why Matthew McConaughey? But then, why Boss’s Day? Anyone? Who’s REALLY the Sexiest Man Alive?

Oprah for President – I try not to watch daytime TV when I’m not working because I always end up feeling like a sad housewife (minus the husband, house and kids). But today I watched highlights from Oprah’s 20th anniversary show. Good Lord. Oprah is honestly one of the most gracious, generous, wonderful human beings alive. I mean, how much good has that woman done? I want her job…and the means to help people feel so freaking happy, confident and fulfilled every single day, though I guess in our own way we all kind of have that power. But not like Oprah. Not cry-from-happiness-for-a-solid-hour kind of helpful. What boss takes their entire company (470 employees) and their entire families to Hawaii? Sign me up for that job.

My friend the Dshaw is convinced that successful, famous copywriters (famous copywriters?) will have the clout to get her to the Oprah’s Favorites show someday. If you meet such a person, Dshaw I want to go with you.

The only time prison and country music simultaneously gave me the chills and made me cry – “Walk the Line”. Saw it, loved it. But then, my mama raised me right. All good self-respecting southerners love them some JC (coincidence? I think not. Just kidding….really. I want to avoid having lightning strike me 2 days before T-Day.) I can’t believe they both actually sang the songs and sang them so damned well. I got actually got chills at the beginning while the prisoners were clapping, cheering and waiting for Johnny to come out and perform. And I got chills and more than a little misty when Johnny proposed to June onstage. Even sans leather. Joaquin is a vegan or some shit like that so he refused to wear leather, which the real Johnny would kick some ass over. It’s called acting, Joaquin.

Yeah, there’s a lot of estrogen flowing through my veins right now.
No day but Wednesday – Speaking of estrogen, the wait is almost over. “Rent” opens tomorrow. Dshaw can finally stop singing into her hairbrush, we can all stop crying at the previews and see if the movie is as good as the real deal. Has anybody seen a sneak preview?
Sak’s: uncovering a niche market in the commoner? I haven’t made too many trips to Sak’s since my downward income spiral into advertising began 2 1/2 years ago. Everyone knows that the commoners shop at Macy’s, at least here in SF. But today I wanted to track down some perfume I read about in Lucky (just for fun and sampling, not for buying) so I lifted my unemployed head as high as I could and strolled into Sak’s like I owned the place.

I was wearing jeans, my favorite Pumas and my Mrs. Darcy t-shirt, a freebie from the “Pride and Prejudice” premiere. (Sadly, 3 people on the street thought Mrs. Darcy was my actual name and that I’d gone to the trouble of printing up t-shirts with my new last name after getting married. I got 3 different “Congratulations!” For the love of GOD, people – read a book! See a movie!) Needless to say, I looked decidedly different from the rest of the very spiffily-dressed clientele but that didn’t seem to matter.

At the La Mer counter, 4 women offered to help me – in a genuine, non-annoying manner – in less than 2 minutes. They offered me 2 samples - a moisturizer and an eye crème - and considering how much La Mer costs, it felt like I’d just received $25 of free product. At Laura Mercier I received 3 samples of moisturizer, at Jo Malone, 5 different perfume samples and then the mother load: a free sample of Flower Bomb, pure deliciousness at a mere $125 per ounce.

What gives? Why is a commoner like me getting such excellent customer service and a bunch of freebies?

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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone…just in case the blogging urge doesn’t hit me again before Thursday.