Or at least reality TV. Maybe that’s what it is – the difference between movies and TV. Because when I saw this:

Knocked Up

Allison Scott is an up-and-coming entertainment journalist whose 24-year-old life is on the fast track. But it gets seriously derailed when a drunken one-nighter with slacker Ben Stone results in an unwanted pregnancy. Faced with the prospect of going it alone or getting to know the baby’s father, Allison decides to give the lovable doof a chance.

I started laughing maniacally. And then I started writing the Letter to the Young Women of America.

Dear Ladies:

It has come to my attention (through the wonders of our Big Brother) that you have attended the movie “Knocked Up”. Please be advised that this movie is absolutely 100% fantasy, much along the lines of “Cinderella” and “Snow White” – this is not how it happens. After a one night stand, when you say “I’m pregnant” I can guarantee that you’ll get some replies more along these lines:

• I had a vasectomy.
• You HAVE to get rid of it.
• So what do you want ME to do about it?
• How do you know/Are you sure it’s mine?

Additionally, if you already HAVE children, expect to hear something more like

• You’re trying to trap me into marriage??!!??
• Ah, I see. Looking for a Daddy for your OTHER kids too, huh?

(Not that there’s anything wrong with looking for a Daddy for your kids, but perhaps a one-night stand isn’t the best way to go about that, hmm?)

Take responsibility for yourself, Dear Ladies. Stay on the sober side of things. If you plan on going out on a manhunt, get the sponge and put it in BEFORE you go out (it’s good for 24 hours). Even if you’re on the pill/patch/shot. Even if he’s wearing a condom. It’s called “Redundant birth control”.

Take care of YOURSELVES, Dear Ladies. Nobody else will. No excuses.

Love,

Big Brother’s Mama.

Holly: Your daughter! *giggles while trying to frown*
Me: hmm? what did she do??!!??
Holly: I just brushed Jill’s bangs out of her face and she said ” No!” I said but it looks silly and she said ” But I wnat to look like lannah, lannah has her hair in her eyes. I can’t see!”

Jill:

Alannah:

I’ve been WordPress Plugin shopping again. The latest experiments were the Ping Myspace and the Wordbook (WordPress to Facebook) plugin.

I’m pleased to say that WordBook works well – very well. I did have an issue when I first installed it which turned out to be a mySQL version issue. I commented the WordBook page with my issues, and Rob was not only immediately in communication with me, but released a backwards-compatible version of the plugin after we spoke.

The PingMySpace plugin, unfortunately, didn’t fare so well – but from what I can see that is NOT the fault of the plugin developer. The plugin is not advertised as a crossposter as much as it is a NOTIFIER – an important distinction to make. Unfortunately, it looks like only one out of three posts here are getting a myspace blog notification. From the commentary on the plugin’s site this would appear to be a myspace issue, not an issue with the plugin. I’m keeping in the plugin lineup, and simply not going to worry much about it being current over there.

Developers, thank you for your hard work – it is truly appreciated!

trite and true – Women’s Health Magazine. My favorite?

2. If “yourself” is not a morning person, wake up and drink the coffee. Everything else can f-ing wait.

Today, exactly four years ago, we looked like this…

at the OH so lovely three o’clock. In the morning. Fortunately, you quickly grew out of that. You’ve made great strides since then, both physically and mentally.

Blessedly, you were (and are) a happy baby, easygoing and readily entertained.

And? Can we talk about the chick magnet behavior? I’m not in a hurry to be a grandmother, and neither is Holly.

There are a lot of things I wish for you, big boy. But the biggest one is for you to do nothing more than be happy.

This is a test of the Wordbook (WordPress to Facebook) plugin. This is only a test.

If you can read this on myspace, the Ping Myspace “plugin” is working.

Wired How To says to get a blog – and specifically mentions WordPress. I should note – the article links to but does not SAY that they’re referring to self-hosted WordPress blogs. I’m not sure if the tools mentioned in the article are available on wordpress.com.

Why mention WordPress specifically? Because WordPress.org has a vibrant and active and OPEN plugin/widget development community. The vast majority of social networking sites realize that not everyone wants to participate in the “roach motel” model (data goes in, but it doesn’t come out…) and have widgets/plugins available.

I have a Livejournal account, a Blogger profile, a myspace profile, a rarely-used flickr account (more on that later), facebook profile (you’ll have to log in to see it), and a few others. ALL of it points back here through plugins and widgets. If I took the time to update each and every one of those sites, I would NEVER get anything done. Also? They could all shut down tomorrow, and I would not have lost a THING.

Having a self-hosted blog adds a bit of stability to your online life as well. There will always be The Next Greatest Thing – online development is something of a treadmill with SOMEONE ELSE in charge of the speed control. That may work fine for you – but this is MY sandbox. There is no “we just got bought out, here are some new censorship rules“.

If you take nothing else away from this post, please hear my motto:

ANYTHING worth doing on the internet is worth doing on YOUR OWN TERMS.