Friday, March 12, 2010

R.I.P. Corey Haim

I was so sad when I heard the news of Corey Haim's death on Wednesday morning when I was checking Twitter. I saw the @CNNbrk post about it. Unfortunately, like I've posted on here before... I saw it coming. I never met or knew Corey but I saw "The Two Corey's" and the episode when Feldman and Haim had a major fallout after Feldman learned that Haim was using again. Around that time I posted on here a "A Message to Corey Haim" pleading that he stop using before the drugs kill him. I doubt that he ever saw that blog post but at least I said something. At 38 he was still far too young to succumb to death. I was a big fan of him growing up and I would have loved to see him in many more movies and TV shows. I wish that he could have stayed clean long enough to reestablish his reputation and prove to everyone (including himself) that he still had amazing talent and could produce a great performance... sober. Unfortunately, I think that the drugs just got the best of him and he couldn't stay clean long enough to be successful again. He will be greatly missed and I'm very sad that the younger generations and the generations to come will never have an opportunity to experience the talents (and great looks) of this amazing actor. R.I.P Corey Haim.



Here's the full "cause of death" report, according to Ktla.com:
LOS ANGELES -- According to early autopsy results, actor Corey Haim died of pulmonary congestion.

The former child star died after an apparent accidental drug overdose on Wednesday.

Haim's mother Judy told "Access Hollywood" that the Los Angeles County coroner's office revealed her son's cause of death to her today, and also said he had an enlarged heart and his lungs were filled with water.

The coroner's office also said that prescription bottles containing four different medications were taken from Haim's room, according to "Access Hollywood." The coroner did not confirm whether the medications were found in his body.

The former actor collapsed in front of his mother around 1:00 a.m. inside an apartment in the Oakwood Apartment Complex, located between Burbank and the Hollywood Hills, officials said.

"As he got out of bed he felt a little weak and went down to the floor on his knees," said Asst. Chief Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office.

His mother called paramedics and the actor was transported to Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank where he was pronounced dead at 2:15 a.m., Winter said.

Haim had been suffering from flu-like symptoms before he died and was getting over-the-counter and prescription medications, Police Sgt. William Mann said.

Four prescription bottles, not related to his illness, were found inside the apartment, according to TMZ. No illicit drugs were found inside the apartment, the site added.

The Canadian-born actor had struggled with drug addiction for many years.

Haim became a teen heartthrob in the 80s after appearing in the 1986 film "Lucas" and 1987's "The Lost Boys," which also starred fellow teen idol Corey Feldman.

Both actors appeared together on the A&E show "The Two Coreys," which aired from 2007 to 2008.

Haim was nominated for a Viewer's Choice Award at the 22nd Annual Gemini Awards in Canada for his role on the show, which was canceled after two seasons.

Feldman issued the following statement on Wednesday regarding his friend's death:

I was awakened at 8:30 this morning by my brother and sister knocking on my bedroom door. They informed me of the loss of my brother Corey Haim. My eyes weren't even open all the way when the tears started streaming down my face. I am so sorry for Corey, his mother Judy, his family, my family, all of our fans, and of course my son who I will have to find a way to explain this to when he gets home from school. This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family, and best friend. We must all take this as a lesson in how we treat the people we share this world with while they are still here to make a difference. Please respect our families as we struggle and grieve through this difficult time. I hope the art Corey has left behind will be remembered as the passion of that for which he truly lived.

Corey Feldman
"The Two Corey's"


Haim acknowledged his struggle with drug abuse to The Sun in 2004, saying, "I was working on Lost Boys when I smoked my first joint."

"I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack," he said.

Haim said he went into rehabilitation and was put on prescription drugs, which he began abusing.

"I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck," he said. "But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day -- the doctors could not believe I was taking that much," he said.

"And that was just the Valium - I'm not talking about the other pills I went through."

In 1997 he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing debts for medical expenses and more than $200,000 in state and federal taxes.

His assets included a few thousand dollars in cash, clothing and royalty rights.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Palm Pre Plus Review

Okay, so, I've had my Palm Pre Plus (Verizon) for a couple of weeks now. Overall, I LOVE the phone! My two biggest complaints are that the battery life isn't very good. Fortunately, I do charge my phone every night when I go to bed but if I spend a significant amount of time playing around with it, it does go through the battery quickly. My other big complaint... There's not an app that does turn by turn directions... at least not that I've found. You can pay for VZ Navigator but I'm not about to pay extra for that. My brother has the Droid (also on Verizon) and that comes with a program that does turn by turn voice directions. I wish my Palm Pre did that. It's got Google Maps so I can see where I'm at and I can get directions but I can't have the phone "guide" me with directions. I'd like it if I could. I like the touch screen and the keyboard doesn't give me any problems. I do love having the keyboard. The keys are a little small, I have small hands and usually use my nails to type, but it's not a big deal. The size of the phone is good and I like the size of the screen. It's not too small. It would be nice if the phone had a miniSD slot but the phone itself has 16GB of space so it's not like I really need a miniSD slot. The camera works well and I like the flash feature on it. I downloaded a Twitter app and a free TwitPhoto app, which I do like using. I was able to sync the Palm Desktop software with my phone when I initially set it up but I did have to download something onto my computer to do it and the phone isn't designed to backup to your computer like my Palm Pilot Zire 31 did. It would be nice if I could back it up like that. You can set up a Palm Profile (which you do on your phone and can't really access through a regular website) where your information is backed up to online so at least there's a backup of everything if something does happen to your phone but it would be nice if I could backup everything easily right to my computer. All in all, I really like this phone and I'd definitely recommend it.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Cruise 2010

Sadly, I will not be going on the NKOTB Cruise in May of this year (and I didn't go last year either). However, I am still going on a cruise... for a longer period of time for the same price (and sooner). :-) Hubby and I are taking a cruise in March. I'm SO excited!!!! On March 20 we're flying down to Tampa, Florida where we'll stay at a hotel that night and then leave the next day to go on a 7 night cruise on Carnival Cruise lines. It's classified as an "Exotic" Western Caribbean Cruise. We're going to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Honduras. I'm excited for Zac to experience a cruise since he's never been on one and I'm excited to take another cruise. Back when I graduated from college in 2000, my grandparents took the whole family on a cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Princess Cay. That was a Princess Cruise lines cruise. It was fun. This cruise that Zac and I are taking is 2 nights longer. We won't do many shore excursions... maybe only one but we are definitely going to enjoy the chance to relax and take in the sun, sea and sand (when we do reach each destination). We plan on doing some reef snorkeling and then we'll play it by ear on other excursions. I'm also looking forward to the chance to enjoy some tropical weather and leave worries by the wayside (for a week or so). I'll try to remember to post some pictures when we return. It'll be a good time!

A Day in the Life of NKOTB

I found this video, thanks to a link from Joe on Twitter. Talk about a busy day.


Saturday, January 30, 2010

Joey McIntyre Concert- January 19, 2010

I just realized that I hadn't posted about my experience at the Joe Mac concert in Detroit. I guess there's not a lot to say. Nothing particularly exciting happened but it was still a lot of fun to go to. I did go to the concert by myself. It might have been a little more fun if I had been with some girl friends or my sister but my sister is back down in Florida and I don't really have any girl friends that would have wanted to go.

The doors opened at 8 pm. I got there around 7:30 pm. When I went down there, I stayed at my aunt and uncle's house in Grosse Point Park because I didn't want to stay at a hotel and I didn't have the money to spend on a hotel. My aunt was nice enough to take me to the concert and pick me up. That worked out well because then I didn't have to try to find the theater or a place to park. When I got there, there was a pretty big line of fans waiting outside. The temperature was really cold too. I wore a black dress, some tall, heeled boots (that I borrowed from my aunt) and tights. I was still really cold though. It took a little while to warm up once I got into the Magic Bag Theater.

Joe opened the show by singing, "Here We Go Again." I don't remember the full playlist but he did several of his own songs as well as some NKOTB songs. One great thing about watching him perform is that he just really enjoys it. He loves being up on stage and interacting with the fans. I don't know if he prefers smaller venues are larger ones but I can tell that either way, he just likes being on stage. It's fun to watch him in a small venue because of all of the fan interaction that takes place. You can get a good sense of what he's like and that just makes him even more likable. During one part of the show, he brought a guy up on stage who also went on the NKOTB Cruise last May. He's just a big NKOTB fan. He sang the rap from the NKOTB song, "No More Games." The guy did a good job too.... not as good as Donnie does but still a good job.

All in all, it was a good show and I'm glad that I made the trip down to Detroit to go to it.

 
The person who took this picture was only a couple feet in front of me. I hate when that happens. I look kind of crazy in this picture. LOL

 
 

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Movies

So, what's the deal with all of the gory, killing, demonesque movies that are coming out? Seriously. Each time I rent a movie, I see previews for movies like this. What is wrong with the people making these movies and why do people go and see them? There are movies about zombies, people being possessed by demons and movies that have tons of blood and gore. It's just wrong! Movies like that should not be made and it saddens me that they are. It really makes me sick.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Joey Mac

Well all, for now the New Kids are not on tour but I do hope that they tour again. However, Joey will be doing a short solo concert tour this month. On January 19 I get to go and see him in Detroit at Magic Bag club. I'm looking forward to seeing him in concert again. Besides seeing the whole group in Denver for their Denver 2008 and 2009 concerts, I saw Joe in Detroit when I was in college and Jordan in Tampa when I lived there. I look forward to seeing Joe in Detroit again. It'll be a good time.