Living life in episodes

Kate's tweets over the past few months sound straight from a storyboard

Kate's tweets and pics seem to be exploiting more and more of the children's private moments, from birthday parties to pizza making to lacrosse games. And just this week, Kate posted her first video, a short clip of Leah snapping her toes that had a creepy "trained monkey" vibe to us. Filming children certainly has its risks, but is this kind of public exposure on twitter just as damaging to kids?

Said one popular Mommy blogger who wants to continue to blog about her family:

"There’s something about mothers lifting back the veil of the family that upsets people, that leads people to accuse the mothers who dare do such a thing of neglecting their maternal duties, of exploiting their children, of exposing their children to the dangers of the public sphere, of being bad. But that’s precisely what makes mom-blogging – to overuse a deservedly overused phrase – a radical act. We’ve always been told to not lift the veil. We’ve always been told to stay behind the veil, no matter what. We’ve always been told that the sanctity and well-being of our families depends upon the integrity of that veil – upon modesty and privacy and keeping our struggles and our victories to ourselves. Which has, over the course of the history of Western civilization (and that of other civilizations, of course, although I cannot speak to these with any authority), kept us isolated from one another. Kept us silent. I choose not to be silent. I choose to tell my stories, tell – while she is young – her stories, tell the stories of she and I and our family and our place in this world and to pull meaning from those stories and to speculate on those meanings and to reflect, out loud, on what it means to be a mom in this day and age and other days and ages and all the days and ages to come. I choose to use my voice, my fingers, my keyboard to make myself heard. I choose to write. If that makes me appear, to some, a crazy, narcissistic, exploitative zombie-pimp who whores her child out for the sake of a few bucks and the self-indulgence of storytelling, then so be it."

The quote above was written by
http://herbadmother.com/2011/08/mommy-blogging-for-fun-and-profit-and-hate-mail/

Jon on Inside Edition

Here is the video from Jon's May 16, 2012 appearance on Inside Edition.

Kate on Today

Kate is scheduled to be on Today this morning on NBC. Kate twittered that she will be "giving updates on my family and sharing my money saving tips from @CouponCabin!"

Oh, and lookie who else is gonna be on! 

Perhaps Kate is also hitting up an Apprentice casting call for next season?

Former child star: 'It warps your ability to find a certain identity'

Nick Stahl, who has struggled with addiction for years, has been missing since May 9. What he had to say about child stardom when Brad Renfro died is haunting. 

Update: After 10 days of being MIA, Stahl texted his wife Friday night to say that he is okay and plans to go into rehab.

Stahl on the set with Mel Gibson in 1993

The gifted former child actor Stahl was just 13 years old when he turned in a extraordinary debute performance as Chuck, a boy who is desperate to get into boarding school and is tutored by a disfigured neighbor played by Mel Gibson. Stahl turned to drugs in his teen years and beyond, and recently lost custody of his young daughter. When fellow teen heart-throb Brad Renfro died of a heroin overdose in 2008, Stahl had this to say about child stardom: 

"It warps your ability to find a certain identity. You are in a strange limbo. You are working in an adult world but being very young, you are not a part of it. You can't be included in it really. Then you go home and because you're with your friends not all that often, you're not fully a part of that, either. There are certain superficial elements of the business. Kind of putting on a good face even though you might be in pain."

Here's praying and hoping Stahl shows up safe and sound soon. 

Will Tony get another chance to push around the Shopping Kart?

Dancing With the Stars promises a controversial All-Star cast

S.O.S.

And for old time's sake: 

Consolation Prize: Kate plans to meet up with fans who signed up for cruise

The cruise-goer/mole who first broke the news to us of the cancellation has passed on to Realitytvkids.com an e-mail dated May 10 from Kate apologizing for canceling the cruise. The cruise-goer asked us not to share the word-for-word contents of the e-mail for their own anonymity. 

In the e-mail, Kate tells the cruise go-er that she is sorry for you and for me, and that she sent everyone who signed up an e-mail to tell them the same. Although Kate won't be going on the cruise, Kate says she would like to try to meet up in Ft. Lauderdale just before the cruise embarks and treat everyone to a meal. If Ft. Lauderdale doesn't work out, she wants to figure out another way to meet with all the cruise people. Kate says she doesn't want to be the reason that the cruise-goers don't have a great vacation.

Kate also plans to use a new e-mail address as of next week called marathonmomma8@gmail.com.

Happy birthday

As they turn eight today, we wish the sextuplets a peaceful, camera free year now and forever.

Please reserve comments for the previous cruise thread.

Kate's cruise cancelled

Full refunds are being offered.

According to a cruise-goer, the numbers Kate expected did not meet her expectations and Kate will reach out to all that booked.

This ship has sunk.

Two bits to get your purdy picture: Redux

Tony: We's koon huntin', Paw. Koon huntin' for krazy!

Anderson: But can them koons dance, boy?

Steve: No, but we all sure do fancy them there new-fangled pizza pie, Mista Cooper.

Anderson: Yee-haw!

It looks like Kate skipped the Kentucky Derby this year, but we weren't about to let her get away with skipping out on another Photoshop.  Check out last year's here. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Kate in Missouri

In case you missed it, which is entirely possible 

Kate is the keynote speaker tonight at the Tapas and Top Hats fundraiser to honor remarkable mothers of the Ozarks. The event is at the  Remington's Entertainment Complex in Springfield. Oh and since Kate has never once mentioned what this charity is for let alone encouraged her followers to donate, we thought we would. It's for this sweetie pie:

And this little pumpkin:

And  other kids like them. The fundraiser benefits Camp Barnabas, a camp for kids with special needs. According to their web site, "Our staff resolutely pursues activities that push the limits of what the outside world says is impossible for these incredible people who are our campers. We take every summer camp activity apart and put it back in a way that is doable for anyone who wants to participate – no matter what limitations are placed on them outside our camp grounds. Things like a high ropes course, canoeing, and swimming."


To donate to this great cause, click here to go to their donation page.

If you would like to mail your donation, please send your check to:


Camp Barnabas
P O Box 3200
Springfield, MO 65808

Jon's Philadelphia radio interview podcast

Some highlights from the Preston and Steve show yesterday include Jon's discussion of child support (he pays $1500 a month now and is caught up) and he says he and Kate are getting along better now and co-parenting. Listen here:

Wed, 2 May 2012 Daily Feed (05.02.12)

Meanwhile, Kate was outed as frying her hair in NYC and gorging at Fig & Olive thanks to this hilarious tweet:


Jason Backe‏

@Kateplusmy8 @deannatweeting I just realized I did a #dineandditch !!!! On me next time!!!! Xoxox

Public Service Announcement: Why photography can make or break a blog

We've never done a post on this. But after this....

Heeeeello down there can you hear me?!

this...

Moooo, who's there I can't see it's so dark!

and nearly gagging over this....

Now we know why Mady needed a glass of water so bad.

....It's time.

Photography can elevate your blog from mediocre to truly Pioneer Woman-ish fantastic. Especially when you are trying to convey the tastes and smells of delicious food. And while other bloggers can offer dozens of great tips on how to make your blog photos really wow your readers, we recognize the need to dumb it down for the dumb-ish and take baby steps. So for now we offer just three big ones:

1. get close
2. get closer
3. Photoshop (or iPhoto) is your friend

That's all you need. You don't need a DSLR or some kind of fancy lens. You don't need a photography class or to even be that artistic. Just invest in a point and shoot that has a "macro" or similar setting (allows you to shoot really close to your subject and captures all the details and makes them pop), get in there with your subject and snap away. Then after, don't be afraid to play with the photo in Photoshop or iPhoto until it looks really cool.

Here's some examples yours truly shot with a Canon Powershoot SX260 on the macro setting:

Get down in there. Get low with the food, get as close as you can, and shoot toward and into it, not hovering above it. Stop hovering, we're photographers not helicopter pilots!

Mmm, this simple pizza I made on the grill looks mouth-watering when you actually can see it.

I didn't even like these that much, I think I left something out, but using a white container, a fun angle,
natural light and getting in as close as possible makes them look yummier than they really are.

Even a mediocre Caesar salad just looks better when you get in close and don't hover.

Photoshop or iPhoto can help improve a blah photo. Take Kate's cow photo she probably took on her iPhone. It's so dark you can hardly tell what it is:

But with a little playing around on iPhoto, cropping it and lightening and adding some cool filters, it can look a lot better. It's still blurry, you can't make chicken soup out of chicken sh%&, but it's a lot more presentable.

Thanks for indulging me in sharing a little of my hobby of photography and may all blogs everywhere be forever more much prettier. Especially that one called kateplusmy8.com. Happy shooting and share your photos if you want, I'd love to see.