I Love Ellen.

I know I have a glut of backlogged posts that at this rate may never see the light of day, but all I want to write about is Ellen Degeneres.
If you don't know, I got hooked on daytime tv when I was sick/recovering and spending a lot of time on the couch. Today I was cleaning in preparation for Nadia's arrival this evening and I had Ellen (the show) on to keep me company.

If you haven't heard, it ended up being an unusual show this afternoon. Ellen took the opening monologue time to give a tear-filled explanation of why she was having a crummy day. Ends up she is involved in a messy situation surrounding a rescue dog. Needless to say, I found myself on the couch still wearing yellow rubber gloves and holding a sponge: watching. There is the curiosity factor that is a draw whenever someone who is a public figure does something totally uncharacteristic in a very public way (after all if the world was ending I figured I'd rather hear it from Ellen than the local news guy anyway). Besides the curiosity that drew me out of the bathroom mid-scrub, I also had this crazy feeling that I should support Ellen by watching. I'm not sure I can explain it better than that. She is a part of Hollywood, this system and industry that spends so much energy trying to keep up appearances, that for someone to go against the grain and behave in a normal way (i.e., having a bad day and being upset about something) is a really big deal. It wasn't a publicity stunt or a practical joke. It was a sincere show of distress and a direct address of what it takes to do a show when you have other things on you mind and your heart. All this is to say that it left an impression and I have a lot of respect for Ellen Degeneres. **Also because then she went on the host a couple and their eight kids (6 yr old twins and 6 2-yr olds). heh heh.

When I started writing this there wasn't anything on YouTube yet, but I have since found a clip on TMZ; if you are interested in seeing part what happened you can check it out there. TMZ has sponsor ads, so sorry about that. From my brief googling it looks like her moment as a regular person is getting plenty of coverage. Maybe that was the goal and the hope is that her public plea gets the situation sorted out. In any event, it struck a cord in me and I felt compelled to spend a few minutes writing about it and thinking about the impact atypical celeb behavior can have.