7 Sep
It’s hot! Molly Campbell has a funny new book out “Characters In Search of A Novel.” Get it HERE
The New Yorker: Test Your Fashion I.Q. with Paul Rudnick
Hilarious post “Stuff People Say To New Moms” by “occasional optimist” Laura at Stroller Parking Only
Mental Floss: “17 Euphemisms for SEX From The 1880s” by Adrienne Crezo. Clever!
Loretta LaRoche and “The Power of Humor” by Dr. Mehmet Oz at Oprah.com
28 Aug
Back to school. Exciting. Bittersweet. Often overwhelming.
Based on my experience…
Your kid doesn’t need a “Tiger Mom” to berate or shame him or her into being a good student.
They don’t need to be workaholics or spend all their time on homework, test prep, calculus or – God forbid – the violin!
All they need is a desire to succeed, positive motivation, respect, common sense and solid advice from a student who’s been there and done that – recently.
I recommend this down-to-earth study guide from Princeton University graduate Suzanne Raga in an easy to read and entertaining eBook.
*You can buy the eBook for $4.99 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
http://yourockbook.wordpress.com/
31 Jul
DO THE MATH!
4,000 bloggers, 3800 of them women, 3 days, 5 billion cups of coffee, 10 million chocolate chip cookies, 2500 pairs of Spanx, 6600 sore feet, 3500 PMS cravings, 7500 killer cramps, 1,200,000 clever business cards, hundreds of dozens of deals, a multitude of parties, enough swag to fill five aircraft carriers, enough estrogen and “you go girl” power to charge India’s electricity grid.
ANY advice? Survival tips?
27 Jul
Annie Wood (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here are some quick cures for the summer blues and blahs…
Comedy Writer, TV/Film actress Annie Wood at http://www.anniewood.com Annie is the host/co-producer of the national game show, #BZZZ! Actress #GoodLuckChuck #MySistersKeeper Guest on #TheTonightShow, WGA Writer, TV ♡er. http://www.comediva.com in Anniewood, California
Humor columnist, Jen X’pert Jenny Isenman at The Suburban Jungle and at The Huffington Post Women
DOG LOVERS! New book coming out! Rabid: Are You Crazy About Your Dog or Just Crazy? [Hardcover] Pamela Redmond Satran (Author)
“When To Stop Exercising” at DivineCaroline.com
“Pinsanity”
10 Jul
July is National Boredom Month, and so I celebrate boredom. Come on, cultivate your ennui.
And may the force be with you.
Arrrgh!
1. READ A BOOK. WTF why not – How ’bout a clever book about boredom?
ANATOMY OF BOREDOM – Boredom: A Lively History by Peter Toohey (via BrainPickings!)
2. PLAY OLD SCHOOL SCRABBLE – or a “bored game” of your choice – ‘TIL YOUR EYES BLEED or ‘TIL NOBODY IN YOUR FAMILY IS SPEAKING TO YOU.
3. Catch up with the 21st century. Go electronic with Scrabble Flash.
4. DRINK, preferably with friends (FB friends don’t count) and when in a jolly mood. Wine away.
5. Join a club. Hmmm, here’s one!
7. HIT the “celebrity news.” Reading about how bored senseless Paris Hilton and/or Lindsay Lohan are – with all their money, glam, beauty, youth, personal assistants, movie star friends, toys, talents, trainers, and resources – will help you focus on your own blessings…
like “Thank God, I can’t afford a cocaine habit,” or “Good thing I don’t have to worry about totaling my Porsche Carrera 997 S,” or “Darn, I don’t have anything to wear to my court appearance today.”
I Feel Your Pain by Barb Best is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
19 Jun
COFFEE! For millions (like me) it’s as necessary as the air we breathe. Many of us (like me) are happily addicted to our caffeinated coffee. We are wired, buzzed, adrenalized due to the turb0-charged brown bean. And Starbucks = Coffee.
Meet Kenny! I met the affable (like me) author Kenneth Brown and his lovely wife Ashley at the Book Expo of America. Kenneth is a coffee connoisseur and former Starbucks manager who has written an entertaining and informative book Inside the Cup: Translating Starbucks into a Drinkable Language.
In Inside the Cup, you can learn to speak Starbucks – like me, you know you want to increase your cool factor:
“Wet doppio macchiato. Espresso con panna venti. 5 Pump caramel frappuccino mocha extra whip. Triple, breve espresso macchiato.” Mamma Mocha Mia!
You can discover which of the 10 Starbucks Customers you are: Are you the Buddy-Buddy, the Mom, the Runner, a Regular? The Starbucks Maven?
There’s a terrific chapter / list of Kids’ Drinks – and ALL are decaffeinated. Organic chocolate milk. Cinnamon dolce syrup. Blended strawberry lemonade. Yum.
There are lots of FUN facts, quotes, and even a chapter on – OMG – tea.
The “Caffeine content of popular Starbucks beverages” table – priceless!
Inside the Cup. Available as an eBook and paperback on Amazon.
I’m curious… how important is coffee to your day? Are you hooked?
Starbucks Touchscreen Storefronts (Photo credit: DavidErickson)
15 Jun
In honor of Father’s Day this Sunday, here are some Dad writers I LOVE!
Dan Zevin FUNNY author at danzevin.com, Thurber Prize for American Humor finalist. NEW book Dan Gets A Minivan
Jim Higley Motivational writer “Bobblehead Dad” 
Tim Bete Classic parody! Cap’n Billy “TheButcher” MacDougall’s Guide to Pirate Parenting
Patrick Caneday Graceful writer and brilliant newspaper columnist. His book is Crooked Birdhouse: Random Thoughts On Being Human
Bill Cosby Fun stuff on his web site BillCosby.com
Chocolate cake for breakfast, yeah!
12 Jun
When it comes to pain, death has to be way up there on the list.
Before you “check out” for good, check out this funny and touching collection of essays, EXIT LAUGHING: How Humor Takes the Sting Out of Death.
This remarkable anthology is edited by novelist Victoria Zackheim. I met Victoria last week at the Book Expo of America. Her impressive bio is here.
The stories are profoundly life and laughter affirming. Exit Laughing is available on Amazon. Enjoy!
Amazon Customer Review
Laughing All The Way,June 11, 2012Exit Laughing is a fascinating anthology. It lovingly takes on the subject of death with grace, courage, and (thank God!) humor. It’s this celebration of laughter, even in dying and death, that makes the book so remarkable. The essays are poignant, funny, and memorable. They demonstrate the life-affirming power of humor. A great collection edited by Victoria Zackheim.
I Feel Your Pain by Barb Best is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
13 Apr
THANK YOU ERMA!
We baby boomers share a common “Mirth Mother” in beloved humorist and best selling author Erma Bombeck.
We were weaned on Erma’s wise and witty columns via newspaper clippings that our mothers proudly posted on the refrigerator door (this served as a blog in ancient times.)
While many of our mothers were marginalized by stunted cultural expectations and a crying lack of opportunity, Erma broke through those prickly barriers of her day with brilliant humor and unforgettable humanity to provide Mom with a powerful voice and much needed comic relief.
Sweetly subversive and hot damn hilarious, Erma poked enormous fun at the absurdity of women’s lives yet clearly valued parenting, marriage, and the vital importance for us all to fulfill our potential.
Erma epitomized “The One Who Does It All” – successful career, happy family – not to mention fame and fortune – all while being incredibly funny and (genuinely) nice. No small feat, but a worthy goal!
Let us thank “Erma Bombeck, Mirth Mother“ for blessing us with the inspiration, the role model and the legacy of laughter. (Now sit up straight and stop chewing with your mouth open!)
Barb Best
Barb Best, 2010 Erma Bombeck Global Humor Winner
Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop
6 Feb
Guns aren’t nice, so here’s a poem in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
WHAT THE HELL DO WOMEN WANT ANYWAY?
What do women want, dude?
I’ll tell you!
Kill the black widow spider
Smash the horse fly
Wrestle that ’gator in yonder lake
Slice the venom-spitting snake.
Pulverize the prowler
In one Superman swoop,
No spurting blood
No cracking bones
Do it nice, don’t tell me how
No messes, but do it now.
What do women want, dude?
I’ll tell you!
Purr like a kitten, tiger
Dance the Howdy Doody
Rock ‘n Roll me with violins,
Shower me with mortal sins.
Sail me love letters
In my alphabet soup
Stir it hard,
Use your imagination,
Be a prince, show some stately grace,
Valentine me with diamonds and lace.
What do women want, dude?
Most of all?
At least try to enthrall,
A dozen red roses, pricks and all.
Available on Amazon as a paperback and an eBook http://amzn.to/tgOu8b
©2013, Barb Best and Barb’s Blast Humor Blog. All rights reserved.
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