Fun: Adelaide Gives Back the Mink, etc.

Instead of working on a proper blog post for today I spent the time watching the Frank Sinatra/Marlon Brando version of Guys and Dolls. Interesting meditation on good/bad, marriage/single, faith/luck, religion/spirit. Do you think the messages hold up from 1938?

Vivian Blaine, whom I suspect was verging on 40licious as Adelaide, stole it all away.

Health: Telomeres Affect Aging (and Exactly What Is a Telomere Anyway?)

Telomeres and Aging
By Wendy Hanlan
This post originally appeared on WendyHanlan.com


Okay, what is all the buzz about telomeres? I’m hearing that the research they’re doing on telomeres is going to completely change the anti-aging industry and the products that will be available to us. Am I interested? A resounding YES! I’ve decided to do some research on the subject of telomeres and aging and this is what I found out.

The scientific definition of telomeres: they are non-coding sequences of repetitive DNA at the end of chromosomes that are linked to human lifespan. The research that is being done right now, is all about seeking natural compounds that will turn on expression of telomerase, an enzyme that restores the length of telomeres.

Keeping telomeres long by reversing age-related shortening can potentially slow the onset of poor health and increase human lifespan. Watch the following video for a more in depth look at telomeres.

However, as we await the latest developments in anti aging strategies such as inducing telomerase activity, there are a few lifestyle changes we can make to slow down telomere shortening as much as possible.

Dr. Andrews, a molecular biologist who has studied aging at a molecular level for more than 15 years, shared seven of the best known ways science knows of now to slow down telomere shortening to live longer:

1. Don’t ever smoke. Smoking is not only hazardous to your lungs and cardiovascular health, but is also found to increase rate of telomere shortening, which can lead to dysfunction and instability of chromosomes.
2. De-stress your life. The more stress you have in your life, the greater risk of increasing the rate of telomere shortening and aging more quickly. How to slow it down? As simple as it might sound, the key is to always have a positive outlook on life. Plus, enjoy a vacation once in a while, enjoy friends and social activities, receive plenty of sleep every night, and try meditation.
3. Exercise regularly. By increasing amounts of physical activity, especially intense physical activity, research shows you could keep your telomeres long and healthy, even buffering the effects of chronic stress.
4. Get your antioxidants daily. When high amounts of free radicals attack cells (causing oxidative stress), they leave no stone unturned making chromosomes and their telomeres vulnerable to shortening. You can best protect yourself by getting plenty of antioxidants in your diet from eating fruits and vegetables daily and supplements.
5. Never go without fish oil. Fish oil contains long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that are well-known for being healthy to the heart, but recent evidence has shown that increasing amounts in the diet is associated also with slowing telomere shortening over time. You can get enough by eating fish a couple of times per week and by supplementing with long-chain omega-3s daily.
6. Get enough of the “sunshine vitamin.” Several discoveries have made vitamin D the most popular nutrient of the decade because of its many benefits including an association with longer telomere length. You can make sure you’re getting enough by practicing safe sun exposure and supplementing with vitamin D daily.
7. Practice safe weight loss. Maintaining a healthy weight is important to keep telomeres long.

What have you heard about telomeres and aging? Post your comments!

Noodles, Tokyo style

This Makes Me Happy and Sad All at the Same Time

Home

I just returned from a seven-day road trip. There is very little glamor, after at least five of these now, in traveling with a slightly stinky beagly mutt in a Prius. And a man who can do a scary-good Tom Jones.  But I can say this, now that I'm letting the rumble of the road wear off with a fresh glass of wine from A Blooming Hill Vineyard (my bonus mother's winery near Portland, Ore.) and some Olive Pit olives stuffed with bleu cheese: We are hard-wired to go home.

We did the Seattle and Port Townsend rounds, visiting 40M, Amanda, Alison and All Adither. And then, Ground Zero for "home." For at least three generations, McGradys have convened in Lilliwaup, Washington, for holidays. My Uncle Seamus lives in the 1930's homestead, which has a fireplace my great grandfather built from beach rocks. We like Thanksgiving the best because it doesn't involve complex codes for gift-giving and we are all tremendous cooks and we really, really enjoy being around each other.

Throughout the day on Thursday, the kids and cousins and friends spent time doing what we do there: hiking up to the tiny ancient graveyard where family and strangers are buried, where in 2003 we dumped the bulk of my dad's ashes under a huckleberry bush. We saw fresh bear poop. From an obviously huge bear. And scurried down the hill. We went out in the pelting rain, in the dark when the tide was low, and carried kids over rivulets and collected hundreds of perfect oysters. One of the most magical moments was hiking along the creek (where, legend has it, my great grandmother and grandfather took watercress from along the banks to feed their wedding guests watercress sandwiches) and watched salmon spawning. Two-foot-long silvery fish fought their way against the rushing water, suddenly losing ground and coming back, never minding their dead brethren on the side.

In my hypnosis watching those fish, it all came very clear that despite crazy relatives and the long drive and that I could have spent my vacation somewhere sunny and tropical, I had to come home. It is in my genetic code. And I am grateful to have a place.

A really important message

Bratz Dolls May Give Young Girls Unrealistic Expectations Of Head Size

Chris Jordan

Today I brought this amazing artist, Chris Jordan, to work to talk to our people. 120 RSVP'd. Maybe half of that showed up. No execs, really, which is what I'd wanted.

It is days like this that I think I'm in a small army of people who are trying to make a difference in how we live as Americans, how we consume, how we need to change. Everything.

If you need beauty tonight

Thanks to Don for this.

More TV

I was on national TV today, talking about refrigerator recycling. So fun! And hey, someone hand that woman a safety pin!

Best. Wedding. Ever.

I have no plans to get married any time soon, but I feel like I need to start making friends with these people in Minnesota so that they can all be in mine.

Another Tough Day at the Office

Vanessa and KTLA's Gayle Anderson talk about ways to save energy this summer.

Nation's Girlfriends Unveil New Economic Plan: 'Let's Move In Together'

Not really relevant to 40licious, but just hilarious.

The Question on Everyone's Mind ...

My hairstylist, the sassy and savvy Sue Ann Jewers, is amazing. She makes me feel like a movie star every time I see her. So I'm helping her put together a "recession special" class, Cut Your Man's Hair, which teaches women and men how to help properly coif their partner. Check out the video, and let us know if you want to come to the class! Send a note to us at cutyourmanshair@gmail.com.

The blog is here.

The Best 6 Minutes of Your Evening

Thanks to my new friend Kevin Bronson (yes, THE Kevin Bronson of Buzzbands.la) for turning me on to this. If you are a fan of live music, or even if the closest you've been to a club is at your cousin's penny-ante poker game, bookmark his site.

Tweenbot: People, at their core, are good

In the tradition of GREAT things coming out of my alma mater, an NYU student conducted a social experiment to see if strangers would help a derailed robot get to its destination, the southwest corner of Washington Square Park.

To paraphrase Anne Frank, I do believe that people don't suck as much as we generally think they do.

Spam a lot

My father was always an early adopter. He got the first stereo remote control, and would amuse and amaze visitors by waving one arm up and down (the other in his pocket) as the volume of the music mysteriously changed accordingly. In first grade, we had a ditto machine that bested the copier at my school. Betamax? Yep. Laser Disc? Check.

And of course, every iteration of computer (though he was a WordStar loyalist until his death in 2003. We could never talk him out of that one). Always one to spot a bargain and/or satisfy his curiosity, he would click on offers for "Free Cash!" and "L1tTl3 Blu3 P1LL!" and "I am Russian teenager." He had a small army employed to de-bug his hard drive.

I miss him every day in a different way. Sometimes it's because I want to tell him that I got a new job or fell in love or the dog got her tumor cut off or that little Bjorn went through the Christmas pageant talking about "Baby Cheeses." Sometimes it's to ask advice on how to soften up a cheap, mean editor. I forget my grandmother's mother's maiden name. I want to show him pictures of Israel, from my brother's wedding. But today, I want to send him this clip about spam, because he would laugh his big Irish laugh and send it around to the rest of the family.

Dad, I don't know exactly where you are. But I hope you have a fast Internet connection. Here you go.

HIT "FULL SCREEN" FOR BEST VIEWING

As much as I want to jump off Facebook every time somebody does something I don't understand, like send me a sea garden creature or pelt me with a virtual snowball, cool people from the woodwork of my past tap me on the shoulder and I'm so happy to hear from them and then I relent and dig out pictures from my prom or whatever. Not like I'm a difficult person to find.

For those of you who don't face the Face, here's a video that explains it in real terms. For those of you who do, you will again realize the absurdity of it all. (Thanks, my friend and co-conspirator, Don at Open Trench!)

Soundtrack of Our Lives

Could It Be Magic - Barry Manilow

When you're 40licious, you have a very specific soundtrack to your life. My first memories of music were dancing for anyone who would watch in my dad's home office, the long leather couch a stage, to Teresa Brewer's "Put Another Nickel in Music Music Music." Later, there was listening to disco and yacht rock on a Snoopy transistor radio under my pillow -- Little River Band, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Eric Clapton ("Lay Down Sally" seemed like a very dirty song to me). And then on to junior high and high school for a stupefying cocktail consisting mainly of New Wave/Southern Rock/Led Zeppelin/Journey/REO Speedwagon/Foreigner/Loverboy, infused with the adolescent yearnings of the FAME soundtrack. (I also lip synched Irene Cara's "Why Me?" at a talent show in a gold lame top over a black pleather miniskirt.)

There are the breakup albums, with the Cranberries and Ani Di Franco leading the pack. And always through everything, Beatles, since I took it upon myself to illustrate what Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds might look like.

So I don't know why it is that tonight, getting ready to hunker down for my homebody Saturday with a French film (I'm in a phase, but please do get Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, you will be so much richer as a person for seeing them), and I do a little channel flip to see Tony Orlando and some middle-aged woman with a Mom haircut hawking the Time-Life collection "Romancing the 70s." It's a monstrous compendium of 156 songs. These songs are in my DNA. I've heard them all thousands of times. And I don't know why I am so riveted by the clips of Anne Murray, Neil Sedaka, Lionel Ritchie, BJ Thomas, Captain & Tenille -- there are scores -- in their 70s flair and gloss. But I am, and I can't turn away, and choking back tears is a futile effort.

My first reaction is to wonder why I am so moved by this music, these wide collars and far out hairstyles. A mental check confirms it is not PMS.

It is because the 70s were about summer breezes and midnight trains to Georgia and morning breaking. Danny's song and Annie's song. Or knocking three times and taking a little afternoon delight. Asking if you know where you're going to.

I can't think of a contemporary song that grabs me in the exact same spot. Maybe it's nostalgia. Maybe it's because I know I'll never love this way again.

I Love You Madly

PostSecret: A Valentine Video


You all know who you are. Happy Valentine's Day.

Goodbye, Catwoman

We lost our dear, inimitable Eartha Kitt yesterday. Eartha, wherever you are, I trust you don't have to pay retail there. You will be missed.