'Mad Men' Actress Plays 'Child Star Psychologist' and the Result Is Hilarious (VIDEO)

vrijdag 13 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Maressa Brown 16 hours ago

Mad Men star Kiernan Shipka had a breakout year as Sally Draper on the sixth season of the series, turning into a full-blown teen, catching dad Don in a compromising position, and going away to boarding school. Her dramatic performance was worthy of a standing ovation to say the least. And if that wasn't enough, turns out she's a legitimate comedian, too!

In the sequel to her first Funny or Die sketch, Kiernan stars as a "Child Star Psychologist," counseling the likes of Looper's Pierce Gagnon, Modern Family's Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, and Moonrise Kingdom's Jared Gilman on their very specific, kiiinda hilarious Hollywood kid issues. Check it out ...

HA, love it. Now I'm totally convinced that Kiernan injects a bit of her own personality into her portrayal of Sally Draper, because she is clearly the master of that dry, wry, slightly-cynical humor. And man, she's only 13! Also, how funny are Pierce, Aubrey, and Jared? 

The sad thing is this cracks us up because it's so true that child stars can end up with some serious issues! I mean, I don't know about these three, but all you have to do is watch the VMAs or look at any tabloid stand to see former adorable kid stars -- Miley, LiLo, the Biebs -- gone wild! Though she can't quit her day job as Sally Draper, Hollywood really could use Kiernan!

How funny is this?!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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PTA President Accused of Making Child Pornography ... at Elementary School!

vrijdag 30 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Jeanne Sager 3 hours ago

A community is in turmoil after the former PTA president at the local elementary school was arrested. Cops say 37-year-old David M. Navarro (not to be confused with rocker Dave Navarro) recorded the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl on school property. Then he posted it on the Internet! Technically that means child pornography was being made at an elementary school!

How could such a thing happen? How could a guy who'd do that not only get into a school, but rise to the president of the Belfair Elementary School PTA? Surely heads should roll.

Well, maybe not.

The school's superintendent says they did a "state patrol background check" on Navarro when he became an elementary school volunteer back in 2011. It missed a 2009 charge for "lewd and lascivious acts with a child" as well as "indecent exposure." But that charge was dropped ... Navarro was never prosecuted.

Unfortunately, this is the shortcoming of background checks. Typically they only uncover things that have been prosecuted. If someone skates or -- almost worse -- flies under the radar for years, a background check does diddly squat. It can't really determine the potential for someone to do something bad, only if they have been prosecuted in the past for doing something wrong.

What we're left with is an imperfect system that puts people like David M. Navarro in a school. It puts a guy who police say shot at least six videos of this poor little girl, including one of her performing oral sex on school grounds, in a school.

The only good news in all of this is that authorities here in the states were tipped off by police overseas who noted a GPS stamp on one of the videos found online (because, of course, child pornography spreads like a virus) that directed them to the Bellfair school. They were able to nail their suspect.

Navarro is accused of uploading some 14 inappropriate photos to the site in addition to the video. He's facing federal child pornography charges. If he's guilty, he will go away for a good long time -- and that should show up on ANY background check.

Do you have faith in background checks? Do you see any way to improve them?

Image via stevendepolo/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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'Bachelorette' Star Is Expecting Her First Child

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AppId is over the quota
by Sasha Brown-Worsham 4 hours ago

DeAnna Pappas was a favorite of Bachelor and Bachelorette fans and we all wanted to see her find her happy ending. Now it seems she is well on her way. She and husband Stephen Stagliano have just announced that they are expecting their first baby on February 8, 2014. Apparently, they tried for a year so it's extra special.

DeAnna was one of the two final women who were ultimately rejected by Bachelor Brad Womack. Later, she went on to star in her own Bachelorette, became engaged to Jesse Csincsak, and then broke that off.

Still, she is considered a Bachelor success story because she ultimately married the twin brother of Michael Stagliano, who was once a contestant on The Bachelorette. It's just one big happy family.

One of the most endearing things about Pappas has always been her openness and honesty. She lost her mother as a child and talked on the show quite a bit about her grief and how much she missed her.

I am sure that a little part of her is thrilled that this baby is going to be a part of her mother as well. Both my husband and I have lost our mothers now, and we are also acutely aware that this new baby we are expecting next January is going to be part of both of them. That means a lot.

DeAnna deserves all the happiness in the world and it's especially nice that she is sharing how long they tried. A lot of people don't discuss that, but it DOES make it more special in many ways. When you get pregnant more quickly, it's still special, but it's not quite the same. I am sure a year of trying was stressful.

Pappas says she could wait to find out the sex, but Stephen wants to know. Either way, Bachelor nation may not know until the baby is born. But that's OK. Another Bachelor baby is always good news. This show can use all the love it can get. Most of what it has in its wake are fails. 

Congrats to the couple!

Are you happy for DeAnna?

Image via Splash

Click the "Like" button below if you're a fan of The Bachelor(ette) ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sasha Brown-Worsham

can't decide whether she is a mother, writer, or runner, but is usually all three at some point each day. She has written for dozens of print magazines, newspapers, and websites. She rarely ever writes on bathroom walls.

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Letter Telling Family to Euthanize Autistic Child Ruled Out as a Hate Crime

dinsdag 20 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota

In a letter that proves that there is pink paper in the depths of hell, a family of a teenager with autism was recently told to euthanize the 13-year-old or move out of their neighborhood. The typed letter that came from an anonymous neighbor of Maxwell Begley's family has gone viral, angering just about anyone who reads it. That includes the cops, who are trying to figure out what to do about the "pissed off mother" who sent the note.

For starters, if and when they find her, they won't be charging her with a hate crime.

It's too bad.

The letter is certainly full of hateful comments about the 13-year-old, from urging the Begleys to donate whatever “non-retarded body parts he possesses" to science to referring to noises the child makes when outside as "noise polluting whaling (sic)." But Durham Regional Police in the Begleys' hometown of Newcastle, Ontario, have reviewed the letter and determined the language doesn't qualify as a hate crime under Canadian statutes.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that the cops have taken the letter in as evidence, and they are trying to do something about it.

Criminal charges could come of this. Thank goodness.

Because a letter like that can't just make us mad. While that's all well and good in terms of increasing awareness of the discrimination and cruelty kids on the autism spectrum (and their families) encounter, Internet outrage isn't worth a whole lot. Throw in $1.50 and you might get a decent cup of coffee.

A letter like this crosses so many lines that it has to get the writer in real trouble, right? Otherwise, what's to keep them from doing it again?

Criminalizing behavior like this is the only sure way to prevent it from being repeated.

Frankly, it's hard to figure out the exact line between freedom of speech and harassing speech, and I'll admit I'm no expert on Canadian laws.

It's OK to hate on your neighbors from the privacy of your own home -- according to one survey, as many as 60 percent of people have admitted they don't get along with the folks next door. But you certainly don't take it beyond personal griping, and especially not in the form of a hate-filled screed about an innocent child.

It would seem to be criminal to have actually sent this letter to the family. This wasn't a letter someone wrote on their own computer, printed, then balled up and threw away. It wasn't even a rather inappropriate blog post.

This was a letter specifically sent to the Begley family. It was meant to hit them at home, on their own turf, where they should be able to feel safe, where Maxwell should be able to feel loved.

At the very least, the letter writer should be forced to do a little community service ... perhaps at a place that serves kids with special needs?

Check out the letter -- do you think it's criminal?

Images via Frederic Bisson/Flickr; Begley family

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Drinking Soda May Make Your Child More Violent and Aggressive

zaterdag 17 augustus 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Mary Fischer 22 hours ago

Soda, or should I say sugar water, is already horrible for our kids in about a gazillion different ways. It can rot their teeth. It makes them all hyper and unruly. And it's loaded with empty calories and caffeine and chemicals and all sorts of disgusting stuff.

But if that isn't enough to convince parents that their kids shouldn't be drinking it, a new study from the Journal of Pediatrics says soda may make kids more violent and prone to aggressive behavior.

The research was conducted at Columbia University, and moms of 5-year-olds were asked how much soda their kids drink.

Half of the moms reported their kids drinking at least one soda per day, and 1 in 25 kids consumed four sodas per day. (Seriously?)

And guess what? The ones who had four per day were found to be more than twice as likely to physically attack others, get into fights, and destroy personal belongings than the kids who drank stuff other than soda.

So there you have it. Not only is soda detrimental to your child's health, it also has the potential to make him a little monster.

My son is seven, and he's never had one single sip of soda. And I plan on doing everything in my power to keep things that way until he's much, much older -- hopefully until he's a teenager (at which point soda will probably be the least of my concerns as far as what he's drinking goes.)

And I have to admit -- when I heard that there are 5-year-olds out there drinking it? I was more than a little appalled. What parent in their right mind gives a child that young soda? I hate to be judgy, because there are a whole host of other treats I allow my child to have -- but soda? For some reason, it just seems so much worse to me than other sweets. Maybe it's because it's carbonated. Or maybe it's because it's a liquid and gets into their bloodstream faster than cookies or cake. Whatever the case, as far as my kid is concerned, soda is the devil -- something I don't want him getting mixed up with and turning into a mean little hyperactive, aggressive animal.

Hopefully after hearing about this study, more parents who do allow their children to drink it will think twice and fill up their kids' cups with something else. (How about water? There's a thought.)

Do your kids drink soda?

Image via -Marlith-/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mary Fischer

is the writer behind The Mommyologist, and the mom of a future famous comedian. Her current loves include cosmopolitans, reality TV, and shoes that don't pinch her feet.

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Nanny Says Mom Beat Her Up When She Tried to Stop Her From Driving Drunk With Child (VIDEO)

donderdag 18 juli 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Kiri Blakeley 3 hours ago

A mom of two is accused of beating up her nanny. She allegedly attacked her, grabbed her neck, pulled her hair, threw her to the ground, and tried to punch her. Sheesh, what could cause a mother to go off on her nanny like that? Did the nanny give the kid a juice box or something? Nope. Reportedly, the nanny was merely trying to stop the mom from driving with her 14-month-old in the car -- because she was drunk.

Reportedly, the 20-year-old nanny thought the 44-year-old mom from Long Island, New York, Laura Bowery-Falco, was inebriated and shouldn't be driving. But after the fracas, Bowery-Falco allegedly got in her car anyway and drove away with the kid in tow. Shortly afterwards, the mom was pulled over by cops and arrested on DUI charges. She is also charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of the child.

Her lawyer denies everything.

The mom is a wealthy woman who owns an equestrian stable in the Hamptons, a playground for New York's elite. No doubt she doesn't like being told what to do.

It's not totally clear what happened here, though if she was arrested on DUI charges, I assume there was some good evidence she was driving when she shouldn't be -- but the truth is that nannies put up with a lot. Nannies got a bad rap thanks to the horrific case of Yoselyn Ortega, who allegedly killed her two young charges, but the vast majority of the time, nannies are good people who are in a difficult position. They're in charge of the kids and not in charge at the same time.

I know from my time being a teen au pair that it can be an awkward situation in the extreme, depending on how the mom is. In one of my au pair jobs, I watched the mom make horrible decisions about her kids -- including physically disciplining them in ways I felt were inappropriate -- and yet I couldn't say anything about it. It didn't help that I was in a foreign country. I finally left the house for good one day when she slapped her daughter and I listened to the little girl cry hysterically.

The mom here, if the nanny's version is correct, should have been grateful that the nanny cared enough about her child to step in and try to stop the mom from making a bad decision about her kid. But that's not usually the way it works.

I really feel for this nanny. Hopefully she can find a better family -- or get out of the nanny business, which can be a thankless one.

Have you ever had a nanny or been one?

Image via New York 4/YouTube

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