Susan Wagner
Is Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Still Scary?
Do Michael Jackson's living dead still scare you? Credit: Getty Images
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video debuted in 1982, and has been mesmerizing viewers ever since with its vision of werewolves and zombies. The dancing undead are pretty darn frightening, or at least they were 17 years ago. But has "Thriller" stood the test of time?
Our sister site, Holidash, took on this question. Reporter Nick Zaino talked with two Jackson fans, his 8-year-old niece Natalie and her 6-year-old sister, Clara, and they agreed: "Thriller" is still scary.
Holidash: Do you like the Thriller video by Michael Jackson?
Natalie: Oh my god, no.
Clara: No, we do not like it. We just hate it. We hate it.
Find out what scares Natalie and Clara at Holidash -- and see the entire video. Then decide for yourself: Is "Thriller" still the scariest music video ever?
Cookie Dough
Each week our friends at Cookie magazine bring us the best of what's hot and cool for kids and parents. This week, on-the-go nap kits, a cozy fall sweater, and a backpack that gives back.
Kate Plus 8: TLC Bids Jon Adieu
TLC is dropping Jon Gosselin from his family's reality show. Photo: Getty Images
Jon's "recent antics," of course, would consist mostly of his very public dating life, which apparently started before he and estranged wife Kate officially separated in June. The couple have been criticized for the way they have handled their breakup, but in recent days Kate -- who had been vilified as the bad guy in the Gosselin house -- has been focusing on her career, appearing as a guest host on The View, and reportedly filming a pilot with Paula Deen. Jon, on the other hand, has been planning his new career as a clothing designer for Ed Hardy, and going to lots of bars with much younger women.
But let's get back to what that inside source said: There's "...no way the show could continue to portray him as a doting dad." We're curious about why that is -- is it because he's not a doting dad? Because viewers don't want to see him as a doting dad? Or because TLC thinks the show will do better if the set up is single working mom Kate and her kids? Whatever the case may be, as of November 2, Kate and the eight will be on their own, at least on TLC.
What do you think -- will you miss Jon Gosselin, or is this just the beginning of the end for the Jon & Kate Plus 8 franchise? Will you keep watching once Jon is gone, or have you already changed the channel?
Cookie Dough
Each week, our friends at Cookie magazine bring us the best of what's hot and cool for parents and kids. This week: One-of-a-kind huggable bears, a book tote that helps feed kids in Nepal, and a super retro table lamp.
Cookie Dough
Each week, our friends at Cookie magazine bring us the best of what's hot and cool for kids and parents. This week: Fair trade toys, a place for all your cords, and napkin rings that hug you back.
Jon vs. Kate - Whose Side Are You On?
ParentDish and Life and Style magazine want to know: In the Gosselin divorce, whose side are you on these days?
Jon and Kate Gosselin's 9-year-old twins, Mady and Cara, started school today, and just like moms and dads across the country, the couple were at the bus stop to send the girls off for their first day of third grade. Except, of course, the Gosselins are not just like other moms and dads -- they're reality television stars in the midst of a much-discussed divorce.
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Jon Gosselin, specifically, has been a topic of conversation this week, at least on one morning show: Ex-girlfriend -- and former Star magazine reporter -- Kate Major dished about her relationship with the 32-year-old dad of eight on CBS' The Early Show last week, describing Gosselin's behavior as "some bachelor romp or whatever you want to call it." Major -- a former reporter for the tabloid Star magazine -- says she quit her job to be with Gosselin, who promised to make her his personal assistant. But that didn't pan out, and neither did the relationship. "He did not act like an adult, or a grown man, or a father. It's sad, I think the fame has just gone to his head," Major told The Early Show.
So what's Jon Gosselin up to these days? He's got a new girlfriend and a new career. Gosselin has been dating 22-year-old Hailey Glassman, whose dad happens to be estranged wife Kate's plastic surgeon. The pair were in France in July for talks with Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier about a line of kids' clothing that Gosselin is going to design. Rumor has it he will have his own kids -- all eight of them -- modeling the togs.
Meanwhile, Kate Gosselin was home in Pennsylvania with the kids, and has been spotted wearing her wedding ring.
Jon also has eight stitches in his head right now, after an incident where he reportedly banged into a cabinet door in the dark at the Gosselin home in Pennsylvania. Kate, on the other hand, is prepping for an upcoming spot as a guest host on The View. So Kate is working and Jon is crashing into things. Interesting.
The most interesting thing, though, is this: Jon Gosselin's post-separation behavior -- his hook ups with Kate Major and Hailey Glassman (who was photographed apparently passed out in a potted plant) and his late-night parties at swanky clubs -- seems to be swaying public opinion about his soon-to-be ex-wife. After all these years of thinking that Kate was the problem with that marriage, the weirdly-tressed mama is beginning to look like the mature, responsible one, while Jon is looking like one of those pathetic mid-life crisis guys, albeit a few years too early.
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Jon & Kate Gosselin
Today we all have a window into the Gosselin's life on TLC's "Jon and Kate Plus 8." And of course, part of peeking into someone else's life is hypothesizing how we might do things differently or better, because it's always easy to imagine what you would do in someone else's shoes. Especially now.
Bauer-Griffin
Kate Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8
Is it splitsville for the Gosselins?
Kate Gosselin, star of TLC's hit show "Jon & Kate Plus 8," speaks Wednesday May 13, 2009, at the Frauenthal Center in Muskegon, Mich. We may be seeing a lot more of Kate solo, now that her marriage is collapsing.
Dave Raczkowski, MLIVE.com / AP
Jon and Kate Gosselin of the hit TLC show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" film an episode where they receive their own choppers (motorcycles) from the Orange County Choppers of the other TLC show, "American Chopper." The Gosselins go for a ride with the "American Chopper" cast before Kate later takes her custom pink bike for a ride of her own. All the while their children wander about the front lawn, not receiving much attention.
Bauer-Griffin
Over the past five years, Kate Gosselin's life has gone from miracle mom to reality TV train wreck. What's next for Gosselin and her family? Maybe a return to something closer to normal. Here, Gosselin is spotted pushing around one of her daughters in a shopping cart at Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Bauer-Griffin
Kate Gosselin, seen here promoting her book "Multiple Blessings," seems to have made a life for herself that doesn't include husband Jon, who is reported to have been having an affair. But what about the kids?
David Livingston, Getty Images
Once upon a time, not so long ago, the Gosselins were our favorite reality tv family. It was hard not to love them -- after all, we all know how parenting changes us.
Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you had one more child? How about two more? How about SIX more?
Four years ago, Jon and Kate Gosselin went from being parents of two to parents of eight, and their lives have never been the same.
Getty Images
Today we all have a window into that life on TLC's Jon and Kate Plus 8. And of course, part of peeking into someone else's life is hypothesizing how we might do things differently or better, because it's always easy to imagine what you would do in someone else's shoes.
What is harder to imagine is what it would really be like to walk in those other shoes -- what's it like to wake up every morning and be Kate Gosselin? ParentDish had a chance to ask her just that recently.
TLC.Discovery.com
In a normal week, the Gosselins have a television crew in their house about half the time, which is a lot, if you think about it. And while they will occasionally opt out of filming specific moments with their kids, the Gosselins have no editorial control over the show -- what you see is what you get, packaged by a team of folks at Discovery and TLC. But, Kate says, this is reality TV, and it accurately reflects life at the Gosselin house; nothing is pre-planned or made up. "We don't have time to memorize scripts," she jokes.
I believe that.
"We set out to show the truth," Kate says, "I couldn't watch it if it weren't true." What you see, in every televised moment, is precisely what is happening -- no stage directions or do-overs. This is life at the Gosselin house.
Getty Images
Kate Gosselin has gotten quite a bit of flak, both from the media and from viewers, for the way she treats her husband; the two are often shown bickering during the show. Kate says the criticisms don't bother her; she doesn't Google herself or make a practice of reading about herself on or off line. "Everyone has an opinion," she says, "and I'm only paying attention to my own." But she does admit that the way the show is edited affects how people see her family and her marriage. "If Jon and I have three spats over a two day period, they're going to edit it to make it look like those happened in the 22 minute period." The show is just a small slice of her family's life, after all.
TLC.Discovery.com
Kate is clearly focused not on what goes on outside her family but on her children. Her goal, she says, is to treat each child like an only child -- a hard thing to do when you're the mom of eight. "I hold myself to a very high standard," she says. At the same time, though, she's not trying to be perfect, or even to appear perfect to viewers of the show. She's just living her life.
And yes, she's living it with television cameras in her house, but it's still her real life. Kate says that while the experience of being on television has changed her life, it hasn't changed who she is. She says the same about having eight children -- "It's hard to live through what we have lived through and not change. We are the same -- it's how people treat us" that is different.
Getty Images
One of the hardest things about her family, Kate says, is the noise; there are days when the older girls, Cara and Mady, come home from school and their reports about what they have done are drowned out by the noise of the sextuplets. More than anything, she says, she longs for peace and quiet -- otherwise, she would not change a thing about her life.
Getty Images
Cookie Dough
Each week, our friends at Cookie Magazine bring us the best of what's cool for kids and parents. This week: A twirly dress, some retro blocks, and three ways to store your stuff.
Octomom: Behind the Scenes
Nadya Suleman, aka Octomom, has 14 children. She also has financial troubles and a rocky relationship with her mother. But we knew all of that already. What we don't know is what life is like in the Suleman household on a daily basis.
Thanks to FOX and RadarOnline, now we do. "Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage" took us inside Nadya Suleman's home and life. In a two-hour special that culled film and interviews shot over six months, we saw Suleman interacting with her children and her parents, and trying to explain how she wound up in this place.
So what's it like being the Octomom?
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How Does She Do It?
Nadya Suleman captivated us when she gave birth to octupluets -- but then we found out she had six other kids at home and we could not look away.
Fox
Jason Mitchell, BuzzFoto / FilmMagic
Octomom: Behind the Scenes
Nadyla Suleman tends to her babies. Camera crews followed the single mom of 14 for six months to see what life as America's most famous tabloid mother is really like.
Fox
Suleman admits that she is not a perfect parent -- and the footage shot in her home bears this out, with shots of her children hitting her and cursing at her.
Fox
Nadya Suleman is living a surreal life these days, with surveillance cameras on her house and a film crew in her kitchen.
Fox
Suleman, who once said that she would like to be a reality-TV parenting expert, talked about her personal parenting philosophy.
"You just have to show them what to do," she said into the camera. "You don't reprimand a child, no matter what age, and say don't do that, stop doing that ... You have to show them what is appropriate. You know that -- or people should know that." She laughed. "You have to model healthy behavior. You don't just punish; that's superfluous, I think. That's to no avail."
Not terrible advice, except for the fact that it's not working at all for the Suleman kids.
On an outing to the park, two-year-old Caleb, one of Suleman's twins, slapped her; she put him in a time out. He immediately stood up, called Suleman a "bitch," (twice) and walked away to play on the playground. In the background, we heard Suleman say, "Why is this happening?"
Later, Caleb slapped the camera and called the reporter a "bitch." Suleman put him in time-out, but she's giggling as she does it.
On an outing with her older children, two of them hit her; her 8-year-old had a tantrum about his ice skates. Suleman sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I'm not the best parent in the world," Suleman said. And son Elijah, 8, piped up: "Yeah, you're not the best parent."
We can judge Nadya Suleman for her parenting skills, but she's not doing anything that other parents aren't doing. There are plenty of kids out there who misbehave because no one tells them not to. What sets Suleman apart from her parenting peers is not that her toddler hits or swears; it's the way she cultivates the media's attention, even when it means risking her children's health and well-being.
Suleman blames the media -- specifically, the tabloids -- for making her life chaotic, but she allows cameras into her home while simultaneously pushing her neighbors away. She has installed security cameras and a gate at her house, but it appears that it is the neighbors, not the paparazzi, that she is warding off. She will not let her children play with the other kids on her block, and she accuses one neighbor of looking over her fence.
"I catch myself living in fear, to a certain degree," she says. What she fears, though, is that the neighbors will come into her house and film the children.
Suleman's fame is of course a fluke; until her octuplets arrived, she was just another single mom. But Nadya Suleman was fully aware, even before her babies were born, that being the Octomom was her road to fame.
How do we know this? Because last night, FOX aired never-before-seen footage of the octuplets' birth, shot in the delivery room by a cameraperson hired by Suleman herself. The footage is shocking not because we see anything horrific in the delivery but because the woman with the camera engages in a battle with the delivery room nurses over who has the most right to be in the delivery room. A nurse tells her, "I'm trying to ensure the safety of everyone in this room," but the camera keeps rolling.
It's amazing that Suleman has that record of her children's birth -- after all, cameras are typically prohibited in operating rooms -- but what is more amazing is that she chose to have a camera crew in the delivery room in the first place. As much as we might want to believe that she puts her children's health and safety first, that bit of film, that ongoing argument between the cameraperson and the nurse about who had more right to be in the OR at that moment, leaves us wondering: Was Nadya Suleman really thinking about her children, or was she already counting on the TV deal for the film of their births?
It is impossible to feel badly for Nadya Suleman; after all, she brought this on herself. But it is equally impossible not to wonder what will become of her children. The most heart-wrenching moment in the FOX special came when Suleman admitted, "I screwed myself. I screwed up my life, I screwed up my kids' lives ... I have to put on this strong facade and I have to pretend like I don't regret it. I can't regret it now because I love them, they're here ... What was I thinking?"
We're all wondering that, honestly.
Fabulous Birthday Cakes
For your next party, think outside the cake box. Credit: Amy's Creative Cakes
We're not talking buttercream frosting or chocolate ganache filling (although those are delicious). We're talking about cakes that look like sushi and handbags and beehives -- and, of course, a cheeseburger with fries (our favorite). You can see all these fantastic cakes and more at AOL's Party Central; they've gathered the best of the bizarre birthday cakes together in one place, to inspire and amuse.
Birthdays only come once a year; this year, celebrate with an over-the-top dessert made to look like ... well, like pretty much anything you can think of.
Cookie Dough
Each week, our friends at Cookie Magazine share their favorite products for parents and kids. This weeks picks will keep your little one dry in the rain, get rid of wrinkles on the fly, and help the whole family save water.
