Obama Archives - AJ Feuerman

Friday Favorites: Falling Into Fall

September 29, 2017 By AJ Leave a Comment

Do you ever talk out loud while you type? I find that when I am alone at home, working on this stuff, sometimes I speak what I am typing out loud. It’s an old-lady type trait that at first angered me but now kind of makes me laugh. Anyway, just know that as I am typing this, I am saying it out loud to myself. Also, know I am super happy it’s Fall; I can’t wait for the weather to change. Mostly because the heat in Los Angeles lasts til October and my office doesn’t have air conditioning. But I digress!

WHAT I READ

As it is Fall, it is time for Gourds. This article about them from 2009 is HYSTERICAL. Side note: I made the mistake of covertly reading it during a meeting. And then I died laughing. (Luckily it was a casual group.)
When her employees go on vacation, Arianna Huffington DELETES THEIR WORK EMAILS. WOW. Who has the balls to do that? Well, I guess she does.
This great list of brunch spots in Santa Monica which made me think I need to do my own “Best Brunches in ________________” lists!
Looks like Obama’s chillin’ with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. You know what those guys are thinking, right? “Not my monkeys, not my circus.”

OTHER BLOGGERS & INFLUENCERS

A Cookie Named Desire’s recipe for Brown Butter Banana Cake with Brown Butter Frosting. Because REASONS.
I’m super into protein pancakes, believe it or not. I love Beyond Frosting’s Banana Walnut Protein Pancake recipe — although for me, I’d have to omit the walnuts.
And since I seem to be on this random, massive banana kick here, how about this amazing looking chocolate chip banana bread from What’s Gaby Cooking?

EARLIER THIS WEEK

I wrote a review of Hollywood’s 800 Degrees Pizzeria. It’s delicious! And I’m giving away a $25 gift card!
The Valley Film Festival let me talk to a room full of filmmakers about “The Fine Art of PR for Indie Film.” I don’t know what they were thinking. But if you want to listen to me talk too much and name drop, click here.
Megyn Kelly’s daytime talk show launched on NBC. Jane Fonda had a rather compelling reaction when Kelly asked her about her plastic surgery….

VIDEO SPOTLIGHT

I can’t say I know anything about Ugandan politics but boy does their Parliament throw down. An all-out brawl broke out — click to 2:30 if you don’t want to wait, but the crescendo’s not bad either.

HBO has scheduled the Spielberg documentary for October. I’m pretty excited. What’s your favorite Steven Spielberg movie?

What’s In My Pocket Friday

January 27, 2017 By AJ Leave a Comment

Best of the web — and in the world

Confession: I love falling asleep at night watching television in bed. That’s a genuine sleep. Like, if you pass out watching something on TV that you put on with the intent to finish, that is some real-tired. And it’s a good sleep. Not like that sleep you fall into when you lay there for an hour, trying to force your brain to shut off, praying the sleep will eventually come. Last night was the first night in ages, in fact, when I slept straight through to my alarm waking me up the next morning in quite some time. Real sleep is the business.

ANYWAY….

Friends, enjoy these things that are presently giving me all the feels.

The problem with watching a Tasty video, is you end up actually watching like NINE Tasty videos.

This week, the nation’s zoos had a Twitter battle in which they just all posted photos of their cutest animals. This is why social media was invented, folks. It was amazing.
When do the Obamas come back from vacation? I don’t like the substitute teacher…. But did you catch the launch of the Obama Foundation? Looks promising. I’m basically down for whatever Bae wants to do.

I’m excited to be speaking at Dad 2.0 in February! I’ll be on a panel to discuss influencer marketing. What inappropriate overshare will I offer this time? Stay tuned….
My “Hollywood Brunch” instagram account is picking up! Make sure you’re following me here.
I took this quiz on Buzzfeed that assures me I am definitely over 30 (THANKS BUZZFEED). I liked it because it made me ever so nostalgic for the good ol’ days of MTV.

I shall conclude with NORBERT. I guess Norbert has been a thing for a while but I just discovered him and OMG is he the CUTEST! Just watch him give little high fives….

What’s In My Pocket Friday

November 23, 2016 By AJ Leave a Comment

Best of the web — and in the world

Best of the web? Yes. Best of the world? That, also. I reached a tipping point this week when I was watching some ass-clown I refuse to reference by name at a white supremacist meeting (Call it what you want, National Policy Institute) give a speech that essentially set civil rights and basic, human ethics back 100 years. The next day I watched another bigot announce to his “conservative” brothers and sisters that they needed to boycott Target because of their extreme leftist policies — you know, the ones that embrace diversity and compassion. (And by the by, I am filled with warmth seeing how many people liked and shared this tweet yesterday and today. Keep up the good work!)

I realized that today, tomorrow and in the days following, I need to keep my focus on some of the good in the world because there is plenty of it left, no matter how the news makes us feel. So please know that while I am still filled with the fire of a thousand suns, in this little pocket of the universe, in this moment, there is only goodness and warmth.

Take a moment and watch just a little of the ceremony held at The WHite House this week wherein President Obama gave out 21 Presidential Medals of Freedom. President Obama has given out more of these Medals than any other President in our history.

You may not recall, but three years ago, President George H.W. Bush shaved his head in solidarity with a young boy, Patrick, who was battling Leukemia. Now three years later, former President Bush has let everyone know on Twitter that Patrick is better!
Michael J. Fox joined Dave Matthews on stage at a recent show to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research… and banged out an impressive guitar solo:

Meet Ed Moseley, an 86-year-old grandfather in Georgia, who doesn’t believe you are ever too old to learn something new. He recently taught himself to knit so he could make caps for premature newborns.
Get ready for pure, complete joy. This mom surprised her children with a puppy adoption.

And if that doesn’t do it, more goodness…

COMEDY IS GOOD! Putting some good old-fashioned pragmatism to work here, I realized that if I need a laugh, I just need to watch something funny, right? I’ve been watching the hell out of comedy specials on Netflix. John Mulaney’s is my favorite.

MUSIC IS GOOD! Especially holiday music. I do recognize that first, it’s early, and second, some people are not the type to listen to this music too much nor too often, but for me, bring it. It cheers me right up. I create a playlist for holiday music every year on Spotify and working on the playlist alone brings a smile to my face.

PUPPIES ARE GOOD! Kittens are also welcome. Please see BUZZFEED ANIMALS for all the cuteness you will ever need and more. I subscribe to their “puppy a day” newsletter and I love to read this page for a pick-me-up. Like this story about “Quantico” star Priyanka Chopra who liked the puppies at her Buzzfeed photoshoot so much, she just adopted one of them on the spot.

Just to be clear, I’m not trying to diminish how messed up things are right now. Because they are. And I promise I will not sit idly by and do nothing about it. Sometimes I get indescribably furious and sometimes I just cry. But most of the time, I allow what I am feeling to empower and inspire me. Here is a good site that may do the same for you (but if you don’t like curse words, stay away). I admire my strong friends who are taking a big stand and have jumped full-throttle into activism (read this – GO MEGHAN!). But for these few minutes spent writing (and for you, reading) this post, everything was positive — I think it’s important we remember things like these are happening. Now more than ever.