Thriller "Flash Mob"

Thriller from Juliana on Vimeo.

Now, I'm not the type who likes to go out looking like a zombie, but when I heard through the grapevine that Denver would be attacked by a flash mob performing Thriller on Halloween night, I was nothing but game.

For four Sundays, my friend Virginia and I joined dozens of Denverites in a small downtown dance space. We were just one of many fleets of zombie wannabes, thirsty to master MJ's moves.

It takes commitment to become a zombie. Many have tried. Many have failed. We were out for blood.

We stood stiffly in the front row, mastering zombie crawls and shoulder twitches week after week. We learned pelvic thrusts, and head tilts, fancy footwork, and striking poses. By the end, we danced like the dead and were well prepared to stun Denver dwellers on Halloween night.

Maybe you've heard of a "flash mob" before. Like when The Black Eyed Peas performed "I've got a feeling" on Michigan Avenue to kick-off Oprah's 24th season. I got chills watching one enthusiastic fan electrify a crowd of 20,000 to all dance in sync...now that's freaking cool.



Jayne and I discovered a flash-mob while walking through Liverpool Station in London. Dozens and dozens of people were dancing to the beat of their own drum; to the music on their own iPods!

My friend John pointed me to some scholarly research on the topic, an article by Bill Waisk out of Harpers Magazine, which defines a flash mob as "a public gathering of complete strangers, organized via the Internet or mobile phone, who perform a pointless act and then disperse again."

It has been something as simple as pre-arranging a bunch of strangers to look up to the sky at a precise moment.

I had imagined our flash mob would go like this: a bunch of random zombies would come from all sides of the city and unite at the D & F tower at dusk. When the clock strikes 5:30, music would blare from the loudspeakers across Skyline Park, signaling hundreds of zombies to dance in unison to surprise an unsuspecting crowd. Doesn't that sound cool!




Now, while our attempt at a flash mob was a little less "flash-mob-y" as expected (the roped off dance area, the awaiting crowd, and the media attention made it feel more like an outdoor dance performance than a true "flash mob"), it was still pretty cool. When else can you do something as random as dance in unison with two hundred other strangers to Michael Jackson's Thriller, and then scatter into the abyss? If you weren't there, you will never know!

Learning the Thriller dance is a life skill. Much like the Electric Slide, or the Macarena, one day, everyone will know all the moves to Michael Jackson's Thriller. So get to it!

http://www.thrillerdancenight.com/Thriller/Workshop_Videos_YouTube.html

or checkout CBS4.com:
http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id=63946@kcnc.dayport.com

Destination Guide: Omaha, NE

Check out my Travel Channel video on Yahoo! Travel!!!

The Old Market
Omaha, NE

Or go to:

http://bit.ly/xyvQa

All Wrapped up in 'Unwrapped'

Friday morning, I skipped out of the office and onto the set of the Food Network's Unwrapped.

After spending months on the phone researching chocolate bars and candy, planning shoots, and booking crews, it was time to see it all come together. Today, we would be filming our first set of host wraps for the 10th season of Unwrapped. Many of the products I'd been working on would now be introduced by the one and only, Marc Summers!

Marc Summers, our veteran Unwrapped host (and everyone's favorite game show host of the eighties and nineties--Hello Double Dare and What Would You Do!!!), flew in to Denver for this glorious occasion.


Our whole crew was excited to spend the day on location. We had lights, we had the camera, we were ready for action. We set up props, logged with 'Script Boy,' and even starred as extras!

We ooohed and ahhed as Marc nailed line after line of flawless intros and outros. It takes a lifetime to learn how to crank 'em out like he did.

The former magician had plenty up his sleeves, including mind boggling "now you see it, now you don't" disappearing tricks and incredible scare tactics. ;) I will never forget the time Marc played a practical joke on me. As the tapes were rolling, I walked through the shot as an "extra" carrying a sandwich, when Marc stopped mid-sentence, turned and roared like a zombie in a haunted house! I nearly poured the entire plateful of chips down my shirt! It was startling, but hilarious. A good chuckle indeed!



At one point, I found myself sharing salad and pizza with Marc at the crew lunch. Sitting directly across from him, I reached into my back pocket and found all those questions I'd saved for one of those "If you could have dinner with any person in the world" type situations. Did you always want to be a TV host? Where is your favorite place to travel to? What's your dream job?



It was great to be back on the set again. It's super fun to work in TV. Our crew is fantastic. And I say that not because I'll see them all at the office tomorrow. We have a really fun group of people on our team.


Can't wait to do it again!

You are what you eat.

Think about your favorite foods. I'm thinking Thai food. Cookie Dough. Any kind of pasta. Chick-fil-A! Mmmmmm. Now, imagine someone told you you could never eat those foods again.

That's what it felt like when my doctor told me I had food allergies to five of the most popular ingredients in the American diet:
1. Wheat
2. Milk
3. Eggs
4. Soy
5. Peanuts

It was a like a death sentence in the world of food. What! I can't eat wheat! No pasta. No bread. No cookies! Wheat's in everything. Ok, ok. Fine. Well, I guess I don't need to drink a glass of milk everyday, I'm not getting any taller. No, wait, milk is in butter, it's in cheese, it's in ice cream. Sigh. I can never go back to Switzerland! It would be too horrible to go there and eat no cheese and no chocolate! OOhh, but I can still go to Hungary...GOULASH! Yay! But no egg noodles. No Germany. No spaetzel. And Italy, forget it.

Okay. I'll just eat Asian food. I'm down with that. I'll just pretend I'm in Korea! That's where I came from. Maybe that kind of cuisine is what my body craves. I'll eat rice, kimchi, seaweed, soup, and meat. It's too good to be true-Not so fast! Soy sauce. I can't eat soy! It's practically in like EVERY Asian food. I LOVE ASIAN FOOD. This is no good!

I have always pretty much eaten whatever I wanted. When I'm feeling fat, I cut down on the cupcakes, but never have I actually been on a diet. And now, I'm totally on the opposite end of the spectrum. I've got to study every damn thing I put in my mouth, which means I'm hungry all the time.

I decided I would give this diet a couple months trial.

I started reading the labels on everything. What was once a routine trip to the grocery store became an afternoon activity. Pretty much every box or can I put into my hand went straight back onto the shelf. What is this "soy lethicin". It's in freaking everything. I don't care to what quantity, the labels on almost all packaged food in the grocery contains this ingredient.

By the end of the trip, my cart was merely full of fruit and veggies, rice and Rice Krispies. Bye bye cookie dough. Hello veggies.


I started shopping at Sunflower Market and Vitamin Cottage. So this is where all that organic, guten-free, alternative diet food lives. It was a whole new world. Soy-free this and milk-free that. Did you know they make cake mix that's wheat-free, milk-free, egg-free! Now that's worth $5. Ever hear of rice cheese (yuck, is disgusting), or corn pasta? Hallelujah.

After a number of bad run -in's with goat milk (ewwe), overcooked rice pasta, and wheat-free, dairy-free "Mac and Chreese," I surrendered to a diet of simple but boring rice and seaweed and an avocado for calories. It's one thing to be Vegetarian. It's a whole other story to be allergic to wheat, milk, soy, eggs, and peanuts. Unlucky.

It's ironic that within the same few weeks I started my new job working on a show for the Food network, I also discovered my food allergies. It was like the universe was trying to tell me to focus on nutrition (or lack there of) and take some time to learn what's in the food I eat.

Interestingly, a date with a true Allergist shed a whole new light on the situation. While my original blood test indicated I had five dreaded food allergies, completing a skin test revealed nothing of the sort. The food allergies...Bogus! That's right, the initial results were absolutely BOGUS. Thank God I didn't let this fiasco continue on any longer.

Bar-cycle: Pub Crawl on Bikes!

Biking from bar to bar in Northwest Denver was one heck of a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. My buddy Millsy invited me to join his wife and friends on an annual tradition, the 7th annual Fall Crawl. With more than 150 bikers last year, it was quite a site to see... We pedaled to six neighborhood bars: Three Dog Tavern, El Chapultepec Too, Coral Room, Berkeley Inn, The Oriental Theater, and Music Bar (quite a creative way to learn my way around Denver...)

One last summer splash

When Jayne heard it would be 80 degrees the last weekend of September, a last-minute "road trip float trip" was a no-brainer!

In a day's notice, I met Jayne and her roommate Kim in Vail with a sleeping bag, some food and wine, and a swimsuit. We headed 2 hours West to Grand Junction to meet two more friends and float down Ruby-Horsethief Canyons.

After a few minor hang ups and slow downs, we put on on the Colorado river, and started sailing down in a culebra, two kayaks, and a ducky--with an gator, shamu, and inflatable swan at our tails!

We floated down the river for two days, floating approximately 25 miles from Colorado to Utah!

We paddled through gorgeous red canyons and black rocks underneath a deep blue sky.

I took go at kayaking and had an exciting run through some small rapids (can't wait to try kayaking again).

We made great friends with our inflatable animals and the 20 strapping lads who sailed down after us (hello batchelor party!).

We camped in the real wilderness (not even in Africa did I have to poo in a bag! Seriously? A $12 disposable poo bag!)

All was well...Until we tried to go home. Kim and I were assigned the duty of picking up Jayne's the car at the put in. Though we'd been forewarned that Jayne's car had a sketchy start up, we did not expect to get stranded with a dead car battery. We were lucky to cross paths with a local mechanic, who kindly pointed out the silent alarm was preventing any kind of start up. So, we waited several hours for rescue.

At this point, most people would probably feel like shooting themselves. I oddly had the reverse reaction. I began to feel my heart beat faster and faster, and secretly loved the idea that we were in the midst of an exciting and unplanned situation. It was that familiar feeling of being a traveler. Being in an unexpected situation. Being fast on your toes. Being at the world's mercy. Sometimes, you were just not meant to get on the train. Sometimes, you're knee deep in water in front of Venice's Basicila de San Marco. Sometimes, you eat a mouthful of bugs. But you always come out of it with a good story.

Kim and I decided to kill my iPhone battery and have a dance party in the dark. Eventually, our new friends managed to shuttle Jayne back to her car to turn off the alarm and charge the battery. It was great to know I would make it back to work the next morning, some 200 miles away, though I wondered when would be the next time I'd feel the travel-bug speeding through my system.

Here's to the memories

These are the girls I grew up with.

There was a time not a day went by that I didn't see these girls. We went to school together, we played on the same soccer team, we had sleepovers, we wrote notes, we made embarrassing home videos, we talked on the phone, we learned how to drive, we talked about our dreams, and we graduated together.

Years have passed since we've all been together in the same room. Another reunion was well overdue. This one included all great things from the past: dinner, hot tubing, girl talk, a giant 5 pound bag of Gummy Bears, and lots and lots and lots of laughing.

We sat around the table and had many things to celebrate: Cyndi is engaged to her college sweetheart! Kristin is expecting! Kara is buying a new house! Bryn just graduated law school! I have a full passport and a new job!

It's fun to see how we've all grown up, how much we've changed and how much we're still the same. I don't know if anyone would have predicted that Kara and Kris would grow up to be hard core cops; That Cyn would move far from home and follow a military life; that I would have traveled the world. And though our lives are moving to a slightly different beat, it's good to see everyone happy.

We stayed up late watching home videos in our PJ's, giggling about old times caught live on tape! Fireworks. Jenny's House. CNN. Popsicles. Embarrassing Music Videos. 9 Lives. Spice Girls. And, Lean on Me.

To the ladies, thank you, thank you, for being you!