Drug Charges Can't Keep Robin Thicke From Las Vegas

My friend Lena was in Vegas over the weekend for a medical conference and this presented itself as the perfect excuse to drive to Vegas for a nice vacation.

Angel and I drove out Saturday morning and got to Vegas with plenty of time to grab some of my favorite fried chicken at Raising Cane's

I have driven to Vegas with the sole intention of eating Raising Cane's, thus starting the trip with this delicious meal set a precedent for awesome. To top off the Cane's experience, as I was ordering my food 'Someone Like You' by Adele came on and everyone in the restaurant started singing it. I'm not even kidding, it was amazing.

The afternoon progressed with a very lazy and fulfilling Boy Meets World marathon in the hotel room while Angel and I waited for Lena to conclude her conference. I don't care where I am, I will always choose watching Boy Meets World over going out if it is on television.

Classic 90s, they just don't make 'em like that anymore.

The marathon conveniently ended when Lena's conference ended, so we took the first-time Vegas tourist to the strip for some sightseeing.

The sightseeing consisted mostly of us visiting the Bellagio and Paris Hotels/Casinos since they are nearest to Planet Hollywood where we were staying. I think we spent an hour sightseeing. Although that is a rather lame attempt at tourism, the little time sightseeing was made totally worth it when we ran into Mark Salling of Glee.

Random celebrity sightings are not very frequent in my life, and even less frequent in medical school student Lena's life, so this was a very lucky day for us. Salling was totally not in the mood to be recognized or to be photographed and all photo requests from fans were politely denied. I respect that, no means no. In the future he should try harder to be inconspicuous if he doesn't want to be recognized, dude didn't even cover the mohawk with a hat or put on sunglasses, so he wasn't trying very hard to be unseen. Plus, he looks exactly like Puck in real life, like he was even wearing clothes that I'm pretty sure Puck has worn on Glee. Oh well, the only image I have is that in my head that I would telepathically communicate to you if I had that gift. For now, you shall just have to believe me.

The brief sightseeing was followed by us returning to our hotel for dinner at Earl of Sandwich and to get ready for the night of going out. It was at this point that we discovered Pride and Prejudice was on television (the Kiera Knightley version) so naturally we watched this. I'm not even a fan of this version, but I love Jane Austen's story so much I can't help but watch it. At this point, I could have concluded my trip and felt it totally worth it.

We then glammed it up for a night of dancing at The Bank. I have officially doubled my nightclub quota for the year and feel pretty good to have that goal met when it is just February. They say two is better than one, and I guess I would agree that that this second outing for the year was better than the first. Especially when you consider that this time I got to see Robin Thicke perform..

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I am pretty much the luckiest girl in the world.

Raising Cane's, Boy Meets World marathon, Mark Salling, and Robin Thicke at The Bank, were equally gratifying. Angel says this is because we are so well-rounded, I think it is because we are just a couple simpletons.

Where Are They Now...Shawn Hunter

I was recently catching up with Rider Strong (ie I was reading his Twitter updates), and he mentioned...

@onthestorm Bullet Magazine asked me to write a piece for their next issue: what I think happened to Shawn Hunter. Not easy but I sent it off last night

Now, I'm not mixing up fictional character Shawn Hunter with live actor Rider Strong, because we already know what happened/is currently going on with Rider Strong; however, we have no idea what happened to Shawn Hunter and the rest of the gang when the curtains fell just as Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric were off to New York. Thus, enter a new segment: you tell me what you think became of the much loved character.

First up, Shawn Hunter.

To get this started, here are some ReTweets that Rider Strong shared based from fans.

@ianthomasfew @onthestorm Mr. Hunter traveled the country in his dad's trailer dominating poetry slams. Angela had lots of babies. The End.

@mdelahanty @onthestorm Shawn went on to become a famous musician and became a heroin addict, robbing Cory & Topanga..ending his life w/an o.d. @ 27

Love them or hate them, and then tell me what you think happened, or what you hope happened.

I Love And Hate Glee

I remember thinking when Glee premiered, "LOVE THIS SHOW!" Then Fox played this great tease on fans by waiting months before the fall premiere and did all that crappy scheduling during American Idol season. Ugh, those jerks. I'm pretty sure the scheduling people at Fox knew exactly what they were doing when they introduced it, took it away, brought it back, took it away again, brought it back ... All the teasing made us want it even more, and now I find myself watching it week after week with friends, despite the fact that I'm utterly disappointed with the characters, the story lines, and the messages the show is sending.

For the record, this post contains spoilers, so if you have not seen the most recent episode and you like surprises, you should probably stop reading.

Let me begin by saying that Coach Beiste is the character I have the least qualms with, and I actually find her story lines to be the most real and relate-able. Expressing your emotions for the first time is hard. Additionally, I find flirting to be awkward, and I generally fail at it in a big way.

That being said... Santana, could you please stop being such a bitch and just get over yourself? I'm not trying to be insensitive to the fact that she is struggling with her sexuality, I merely am so tired of the writers making her more and more mean with each episode. The show tries to be anti-bullying (remember when Kurt felt forced to leave McKinley for his safety last season - the best story line the show produced last season), yet they make their characters into the most unlikable and harshest bullies I have ever seen. The worst part is that, every time Santana has an "Awwww" moment, later in that episode or by the next episode, she has reverted back to her "I hate everyone except Brittany" personality that totally isolates her from the group.

Then there is Quinn. The poor teen mom who gave her daughter up for adoption and now is trying to steal her daughter back, and will do anything, including plant false evidence, to make that happen. Yeah, umm...great role model.

As for the adoptive mother of Quinn's baby, Ms. Corcoran, aka Rachel Berry's biological mother, this thing you are doing with Puck, NOT OK! Seriously? What is with shows promoting student teacher relations that are way inappropriate? Anyone seen Pretty Little Liars? That show has another student-teacher relationship story line and I'm just trying to understand when THAT became so common that it is now included on hit Teen shows. I mean, Mr. Schu is already pushing the line with student teacher relations the way he coaches, but at least he has stood firm on the no dating or sexual relations with a student rule.

Ok, and can we rewind to when Artie got waaaaaaaaay to power hunger as director and straight out told Rachel and Blaine that they need to lose their virginity if they ever want to be successful in West Side Story. Not good advice! Furthermore, asking a teacher at your school if she is a virgin, NOT OK! Shesh, these shows are confusing the role of teacher and friend and can I say that, as an educator, the two are not the same. Teachers are not suppose to be your friend, they are an adult that you respect and hopefully trust, but they are not your friend. Teachers that try too hard to be friends with their students end up losing control of the class, I see it every week.

Man, I miss the 90s. Remember how cute it was that Cory and Topanga waited until they were married to shack up, and how totally ok that show made it? Today, if you are a virgin in high school, let alone a virgin into your adult life, there is something wrong with you.

Shows like Glee, The Secret Life of An American Teenager, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, 90210, blah blah blah, they set horrible examples. They portray parents incapable of taking care of themselves let alone their teenagers, teenagers killing and then not facing consequences, teachers who date students, sex, sex, sex. There was not that much sex going on at my high school, seriously. Though, the teacher/student inappropriate relations that did happen, but still, it wasn't glorified, it destroyed families and people's career.

I would like to see the 90s return to TV. People were less Hollywood/more normal looking, more relate-able, and just overall better people. I watch them as adults and I still want to be their friend.

*Sigh*

"Don't eff with Topangs"

Do you know why September 24, 1993 is such an important day?

It was the premiere of Boy Meets World. In other words, it was the day your life changed forever.

I don't believe that is an overstatement. Even if you didn't start watching the show at the time because you were 6 or 7 and thus most likely too young to appreciate it, chances are you spent many Friday nights perched on the couch glued to the TGIF line-up as a pre-teen, so you became VERY familiar with the lives of Cory, Topanga, and Shawn. I will even go so far as to say that you probably secretly dreamed of having Mr. Feeny as a neighbor/principal/teacher/professor. Oh yes, the man of way too many hats would have been a lovely addition to any life, right?

So did you celebrate yesterday, the 18 anniversary of when Boy Meets World premiered, by doing anything special or memorable?

No you say?! How could you forget such an anniversary? For shame.

Well, although you might have gone about yesterday like every other day, Danielle Fishel celebrated the anniversary of the day her life changed forever by getting into a fight at a rock concert! Huzzah! Wow, September 24 is like a really special day in her life.

This is one of those moments I love Twitter and the obsession people have with using it to post the deets of their life.

So, what happened? What could cause the loveable Topanga to snap and throw a fist at a stranger? Well, the answer is hair pulling coupled with threats of "effing" her up. And I quote (via Twitter):

"Ok...deets from last nights fight. 2 girls in front of us, SITTING DOWN at a rock show, got mad because my bf (it helps the story if you picture Cory Matthews as said bf) bumped into the back of their Chairs. They stood up & got in his face, i stepped in front of him & said "what's your problem?" Chick said "don't eff with me "topanga, i Will eff you up" & then pulled my hair. So i clocked her in the face. Hard. She started crying and security threw them out. My first fight!"

And...caption the photo: "I swear to God, i just got into a fist fight with a girl. Don't eff with Topangs, i will punch your lights out."

Oh Topanga, you are so badass.

Cory and Topanga Forever

Just because seeing this in my Twitterfeed kind of made my day

Ben Savage is probably the only Cardinal/Tree I could love.

Teen Dream Revisited - Jaleel White

Its a rare condition in this day and age
To read any good news on the newspaper page
Love and tradition of the grand design,
Some people say its even harder to find.
Well then there must be some magic clue
Inside these gentle walls
Cause all I see is a tower of dreams
Real love burstin out of every seam.

Family Matters, Full House, Step by Step, and Boy Meets World are the four TGIF shows that defined my Friday nights as a child. While I was falling for bad boy Shawn Hunter on BMW, I was also falling for the suave, sexy (ok, at 10 I was probably not thinking sexy) Stefan Urquelle. The idea that Steve Urkel and Stefan Urquelle were played by the same person was beyond mind blowing to my pre-teen brain. Stefan was so confident, good looking, and smooth with the ladies, no way was he the same guy as Urkel!
In retrospect, the show probably had a pretty bad message when you consider that Steve Urkel had to create a machine to tranform his DNA in order to turn himself into a cool guy before Laura would even consider giving him the time of day. And then that whole, Steve dating Myra thing while Laura was falling for Stefan is a little weird; regardless, I love this show.

What has Jaleel White been up to since he left Steve and Stefan for good? Like the other level-headed 90s teen television stars, he attended and graduated college. He graduated from UCLA Film School in 2001. Seriously, these kids from the 90s are awesome, no wonder we all turned out so normal. It pains me to think what the generation raised on 2000s TV will become...

I keep up with Jaleel on Twitter (because we are tots bff, duh!) and this is what I know: 1) according to his bio, he once got busy in a Burger King bathroom. 2) he approves of Tia Mowry, husband (some actor I've never heard of), and the soon to come addition 3) he has a daughter 4) he recently did some community service (picture below)

And, my own Psych addiction tells me that he was in an episode in 2009, along with fellow 90s guy, Keenan Thompson.

Next up for him, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.

Teen Dream Revisited- Rider Strong

Shawn Hunter is the first "bad boy" I ever fell for. The boy who came from a broken family, was briefly adopted by a teacher, and would later discover he has a long lost brother, was the total oppostie of his BFF Cory Matthews who came from the pinnacle of perfect, family. You always felt bad for Shawn, like he was a lost puppy just trying to find a home. He was just one reason why Boy Meets World was, and will continue to be, one of my favorite TV shows.

So what has he been up to since then? Well like his co-star Ben Savage (ssssss), he spent some time in college and away from Hollywood after Boy Meets World ended. However, unlike Ben, Rider has since returned to the world of cameras and scripts and most recently was spotted at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York where Rider and his brother, Shiloh, debuted their new comedy short, Dungeon Master. Apparently, Rider and his brother were addicted to D&D and that is what inspired their new film.

I don't care much for D&D, but I have recently discovered the sci-fi and semi-gamer within me, so I kind of feel like Rider and I would be totally perfect together. Maybe I'll see him at Comic-Con this year *fingers crossed*

Interesting facts, according to his IMDB page: - Full name is Rider King Strong, "If I ever become a porn star, I won't have to change my name." (Please don't become a porn star, that's a Screech move, not classy) - Graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University, 2004 (such a smarty, I love me a man with a brain) - One of his close friends is Will Friedle, who was one of the other cast members of the show "Boy Meets World" (1993). They see each other often. (how precious is that, they KIT)