Citizen Mom

EARLY WORD: You Must Be My Lucky Star

I Still Love You, Johnny Slash!

Geek girls of the 1980s, rejoice! "Square Pegs" -- the entire series -- is being released on DVD on May 20. No word on whether Devo will reunite to play at Muffy's Tepperman's New Wave bat mitzvah. And the DVD had better include the real theme song. Was that by The Waitresses?

Hell, I Could Have Told Them That

The makers of LifeStyles condoms recently offered 10 posters for download on their website, featuring women of various shapes  in various states of undress, portraying different "lifestyles." Hence the girl in her underpants sitting atop a washing machine -- she's "Dirty."

The winner (above) -- by a margin of 15 percent over its nearest competitor -- is called "Well Rounded." Interestingly, among the 10 images, the rear view was the only one that featured only a specific body part instead of the whole hottie.

Proving once again that American men do, in fact, like big butts and cannot lie.

I Want Candy! And Toys. And Video Games...

By Amy Z. Quinn

For The Inquirer

If the basket your child is tucking into right now is anything like the one my son just got, the milk chocolate bunny and the Zitner's Butter Krak eggs are in a battle for space with toys, clothing, and nonedibles of all kinds. Maybe yours has a new Wii game, or a Webkinz. Perhaps the basket is full of candy, but there's a new bike sitting next to it.

Somewhere along the way - probably when we parents started blaming the Easter bunny and the trick-or-treat bag, rather than ourselves, for childhood obesity - Easter became another gift-giving holiday. When I was a kid, the best part of Easter morning was deciding whether to attack the big egg in the middle or head straight for the chocolate bunny's ears, not wondering which new Wii game would be tucked in there, too. Kids today cannot live by Cadbury eggs alone.

These days, the idea of doing what our parents did - handing a child a basket full of chocolate and saying, "Here, have at it" - seems irresponsible, unless maybe it's organic dark chocolate and in 100-calorie packs. But what of replacing the expectation of candy with the expectation of yet more toys and gifts - is that just irresponsibility of another kind?

Over the last month, the front aisles at Target and every dollar store in the land have been stuffed to bursting with Easter knickknacks, along with non-holiday-specific springtime-themed tchotchkes in case you want to get into the holiday spirit but don't actually celebrate Easter. This year's big Easter basket-timed DVD releases - Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie on March 11 foremost among them - were ready to fill in any empty space that might have been left alongside the Peeps.

Read The Rest In Today's Inquirer!

CONFETTI BETTY: Michelle Obama And The Hundred And Ten Percenters

"First and foremost, I am struggling every day to try to keep it together."

This was Michelle Obama, current embodiment of "put together" woman, chatting with a group of suburban moms in an Episcopal church in a well-heeled Philadelphia suburb on Thursday, part of a daylong swing across southeastern Pennsylvania in advance of the the state's all-important April 22 primary. Around her sat five women, all working moms of preschoolers, all with fresh hairdos and nice handbags and, it must be said, all white -- though not all Democrats. Their children's class had just been treated to a reading of Dr. Seuss by Mrs. Obama, who then came upstairs for a little girl talk.

[Obligatory Michelle Obama fashion report: Gray wide-legged chalk-stripe pants, white scoop-neck top with wide black belt, with a black cardigan. Call it Daytime Fierce.]

Carla Van Winkle said the Child Care Tax Credit is nice and all, but seems unrealistic given what day-care really costs. "I pay a lot more than $5,000 a year," she said. High school teacher Michelle Daniszewski talked about how she was torn over whether to return to work after the birth of her second child, now 20 months old, but "it really made sense just for the benefits." The flip side? "I'm spending over $40,000 a year in day care," more than half her salary, she said.

Maria Spahr, whose job at 3M means frequent travel away from her young daughter, said without family members nearby to help out, her own delicate domestic balancing act would fail.  Obama talked about how fortunate she was to have her mother alive, available and willing to help her care for Malia and Sasha while she and Barack are out campaigning, saying "She is helping me raise my girls, which is allowing me to breathe." At this point even I couldn't suppress a knowing smile, thinking about how my mother would be greeting my son's school bus that afternoon.

Read the rest at HERE! [McClatchyDC.com]

Photo by Jonathan D. Niemerfroh/Main Line Times

I Can't Stop Smiling

Watching Ben Franklin Watching Ben Franklin Like Woah: 'John Adams' Premiere

Meta moment! I'm sitting inside the small theater at the National Constitution Center, watching HBO's preview of Episode 2 of  John Adams. On the screen, the British actor Tom Wilkinson is doing a mighty fine Dr. Franklin. I look to my left and there, a few rows down, is beloved Philly "Franklin interpreter" Ralph Archbold, wearing average guy clothing but with that unmistakable hairdo.

Also in attendance: Historian and author David McCullough, author of the book which spawned the miniseries; writer Kirk Ellis, in period garb no less; actor Paul Giamatti, who renders Adams with a barely-contained fury at politicians who posture and wheedle while blood spills on Bunker Hill; and producer Tom Hanks.

In introducing the episode, Hanks recounted listening to a National Park Service guide talk about John Adams' inauguration as president inside Independence Hall -- it being the first time a nation's power had transferred freely, without family connection or revolution or death -- and how it made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.  Hanks also praised McCullough for cluing him into the fact that Adams, a lawyer, had successfully defended the British soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre, which he said he'd never learned in history class.

Laura Linney, who plays Abigail Adams, wasn't there, but her presence on the screen was huge. There's a reason this woman has been nominated for an Oscar three times, people. I won't give you a whole review -- the series debuts Sunday night, so watch it yerselves -- but when the only critique you can make of a production is that Philly guy David Morse's George Washington nose is distracting, that tells you something.

Photos by Vic Suede for Phawker.

RELATED: Dan Gross on the red carpet

TONIGHT: Join or Die

This evening, Confetti Betty joins the swells, including Tom Hanks and Paul Giamatti, at the National Constitution Center for a special HBO preview screening of  John Adams. The seven-part miniseries also stars Laura Linney, one of my most faves, and premieres Sunday. Here's a peek.

'The shot in the ass that we needed'

I still think it should have been a woman who did the induction, but she and Justin have a song together. Bad video, I'll sub it out when there's better available.
Justin Timberlake inducts Madonna:

RELATED: Growing up with Madonna.

"Bill Clinton is the most loved Democrat in Philadelphia so whatever he says is alright with everybody."*

I've been receiving reports from some of the city's Democratic Ward Leaders, who gathered today to hear a pitch from former President Bill Clinton on behalf of his wife in anticipation of Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.

According to sources who just left the meeting, attended by Mayor Nutter and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, both of whom have publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, the former president gave a passionate pitch for his wife's candidacy for president, but ward leaders voted to defer making an official endorsement until they have a chance to hear from both candidates in person.

Fifth District Ward Leader Michael Boyle, who represents parts of Center City, said Sens. Obama and Clinton will be invited to address the city Dems' Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, to be held April 14.

"I think the plan is to invite the both of them, and I think the thinking is that they should both be there," Boyle said after the meeting.

Obama's pitchman today was U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who, like Pres. Clinton, fielded questions from the assembled ward leaders, many of whom sported buttons advertising their support for Obama or Clinton. "There was a question about will (Obama) man up when the right-wing attack machine goes up against him," said one ward leader, who asked not to be identified by name but described himself as "an Obama guy."

Boyle said it's a legitimate question for both candidates, but he thinks either will be up for it. "Republicans are going to scare people, which is what they do best," he said.

Still, despite the hard sell from both candidates' camps -- nobody's losing sight of November. "No matter who wins (the nomination), everybody in that room is going to be 150 percent behind them," one ward leader said. "There's nobody who doesn't like both of them, and everybody at the end of the day is going to be on the same team."

One Democratic committeeman, who was not at the meeting today, echoed that: "Oh, I hate Hillary, but I am what I am, so . . . "

At the meeting, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, head of the city's Democratic Committee, described himself as a superdelegate who remains uncommitted to either Obama or Clinton.

* from that 'Obama guy' ward leader

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