IMDB's 20th Anniversary

Twitter and Facebook are amazing, they really are. Millions upon millions of people all over the world use the sites every day (speaking of, if you haven't seen it, The Social Network is fabulous). I'll admit I'm addicted to them both, but I'll always have a deep and everlasting love for IMDB.com.

This love started early. When I was younger, I would watch TV shows and movies and wonder about the actresses and actors in them. I wanted to know and see more of them so I'd look up their name. This was before Googling was a verb, and there were other search engines like Dogpile and AskJeeves that competed with it. No matter what search engine I used, IMDB was always the first site suggested when I tried to look up a celebrity. 

Eventually, I created a username on the site, browsed through message boards and searched through Julia Roberts' movies I still needed to see. The site became my go-to guide to anything I wanted to know about pop culture. It's like a more reliable, more in-depth and accurate version of Wikipedia, but all the topics were related to pop culture. It's the ultimate pop-culture encyclopedia.

Using the site has become second nature for me. I don't even know what it'd be like not to have it.

Just this weekend, after seeing The Social Network, I went straight home and typed in the movie in the search bar on the site. I was in awe of the movie and wanted to relive the "zinger" quotes. Zinger quotes are what I call the most memorable quotes that viewers want to relive/revisit after leaving the theater, so we look them up online.

In honor of one of my top 5 favorite site's anniversary, I've listed what I love the most about it.

1. The Message Boards.

 Pop culture fans across the world unite in boards specified by need. If you can remember a scene from a movie but can't remember what it is, there's a board called "I need to know" for you to post your questions. My questions always get responses within 24 hours. There's also a message board that's dedicated to lists of movies related in some way. If you want to know the names of any movie made about dogs, or even as specific as Golden Retrievers for that matter, you can post your question on the message board and users will reply back with names of films that fit your inquiry.

2. My Movies.

It doesn't matter whether you're searching through old classics or upcoming releases, when you see information for the new Jon Hamm film, you want to write it down. IMDB gives you the choice to catalog your list of movies you want to see or absolutely love. On any IMDB page for a movie, there's the option to "Add Movie to My Movies." The My Movies feature keeps track of all the movies you've added and you're able to go back through the list and click the links for each title.

3. The Trivia pages.

This is probably my favorite feature of IMDB, and something a lot of people aren't familiar with. Every movie, TV show, actor and actress page has a link to a trivia page. Want to know how much the dresses Emily Blunt wore in The Young Victoria were insured for? Curious about the love affair between Cary Grant and Sophia Loren?  Didn't know Tom Hanks was once a hotel bellman for Cher?

4. The Quote pages.

This page is for anyone who's wanted to reread, requote, or relive a film's moment of greatness, but was scared they would remember or quote it wrong.



5. The purpose of the site (keeping record)

The fact that you can search someone's name and
see what movies they've been in, are filming, just finished filming, or are rumored to be in. GREATNESS.

Stand Up to Cancer Telethon

My roommates and I stumbled on the Stand Up To Cancer special a week ago and I'm so glad we  did. Normally I think telethons seem really boring to watch, but it was amazing to hear and see all the different people who've been affected by cancer.


I had no idea all the greats who've died from cancer. Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, John Wayne, Jack Lemmon, Mr. Rogers, Peter Jennings, Farah Fawcett, Dennis Hopper, Patrick Schwayze...

I had no idea that Katie Couric was a widow. Her husband AND sister both lost their lives to cancer, and she is doing great things for cancer awareness. She had both a colonoscopy and mammogram ON AIR to raise awareness about both cancers.


It was also terribly sad to hear stories of everyday people affected by cancer. They showed a woman who lost her husband on her wedding day and a curly haired boy who lost his fight with the disease.

Rob Lowe from Brothers and Sisters wore a shirt that said "In Memory of Mom."

 Denzel Washington said some powerful lines about what life would be like if no one stood up for moments in history like Valley Forge, Iwo Jima, A bridge in Selma (civil rights),...etc.  He said, "We're here because they did ((stand up)), because we know what's possible when enough of us stand together."


What got me the most is when Patrick Swayze's wife spoke during the telethon. Her husband spoke at the first SUTC telethon in 2008, and it was  his first network TV appearance after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. When she spoke on stage,  a video of Patrick's speech played on the big screen behind her. Patrick begins saying, "Tonight I stand here just another individual living with cancer." 


It was incredibly hard to watch Lisa Niemi (his wife) stand on stage as her Patrick's speech echoed throughout the auditorium. I can't imagine talking about my husband's death on national television, while a video of him speaking about the disease that would kill him played behind me. It was such a powerful moment in the telethon and I really admire her courage to speak about something so personal.

All of this inspired me to find out more about SUTC and see how I could help.

I decided to visit their website. This is what I saw when I went to the site.  It makes me happy.

I've always wondered how much you have to donate in order to talk to a celebrity for these things. It's something worth researching, that's for sure. Phone convo with George Clooney? Yes, please!

 Here's a guy who donated money to Stand Up To Cancer, and recorded his phone conversation with Aubrey Plaza, from NBC's show Parks and Recreation. He was genuinely surprised he got to talk to someone! Take a look.

Rachel Zoe is love