To Drink or Not to Drink

Hee hee, I've got a little Mumble stuffed animal (main penguin in Happy Feet) that came in a box of Persil laundry detergent. It turns inside out-- it can either be an egg, or turn it inside out and it becomes Mumble!!

So, there's been a lot of talk lately about the binge drinking culture among teenagers and young adults in this country. There's been a lot of newspaper coverage, and it has become a political topic, in terms of how best to discourage/combat the binge drinking culture. There's a TV commercial that states on a "good" night out, young adults drink in the neighborhood of 40 units of alcohol, which is 5,000 calories, which equals 5 Christmas dinners. Yikes! Unfortunately, it is true over here that pretty much everything social revolves around alcohol. Whether it's happy hour, a BBQ, getting together to play cards, even going to the theatre (you pre-order drinks at the bar for intermission), everything involves drinking. It's just not a social event unless there is alcohol available. It's almost an equation, alcohol=fun. And it's cultural. Back to what I started with, the binge-drinking culture...on the front page of the free daily newspaper on Monday was a picture of Kimberley Stewart, Rod Stewart's daughter. She is 27 and she's currently in hospital, being treated for liver disease due to her heavy boozing. And there's a quote from daddy dearest: he is quoted as stating that she said to him, but Dad we're Scottish, I thought I could drink, and he told her, no, darling, it doesn't work like that.

"ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo, baby please don't go!"

elijah wood, robin williams, nicole kidman, hugh jackman...and i think i'm missing one or two other big names.

i will never think of the way penguins move as waddling ever again! i swear this movie was made for me. the trailers are absolutely hysterical, and for once i'm not worried that the trailers have given away all the best bits of the movie, even though there are four trailers. my favorite far and away is the one where there's an a cappella quartet of penguins who break into a popular song from the eighties. which i constantly sang to maja on our trip, in part because it made me so happy to sing it, and in part to get back at her for constantly "singing" the mission impossible theme song. i know, i know, i need to stop talking about this movie, i'm surely boring you all to death, but if you haven't checked out the link yet, click on the happy feet is coming in november bit, underneath the penguin...go on, you know you want to!