Practically Perfect in Every Way

It’s official. I want to be Cate Blanchett when I grow up.

I was already fairly certain of this fact, but after watching Lesley Stahl’s 60 Minutes interview with the Oscar winner last night, any lingering doubts I may have had completely disappeared.

Cate Blanchett is perfection. She’s beautiful. Stupidly talented. Tall. Self-deprecating. Low maintenance. Married to a normal-looking man. And has never, to my knowledge, had a nip slip.

She also appears to value her personal relationships over her career. Last year she resigned from her dream job as co-artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company in order to mother her three boys, because apparently parenting isn’t something she and her husband, Andrew Upton, want to “outsource.”

Cate and her insourcing hubby

And recently she’s made headlines for dedicating her BAFTA win to friend Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died in February, saying, “You raised the bar continually. Phil, buddy, this is for you, you bastard. Hope you're proud." (She even makes the use of the word bastard sound classy.) She was also pictured bringing gifts to “Phil’s” children the day after his death, after having flown in from the west coast for this specific purpose.

  Cate and Philip Seymour Hoffman at the The Talented Mr. Ripley premiere in 1999.   

Unfortunately, there always has to be a hater in the group and, in this particular group, it’s Woody Allen. Allen directed Cate in her latest film Blue Jasmine, for which she won the aforementioned BAFTA, and apparently told her after her first few takes on the film that she was “awful.” Of course, Woody Allen’s not exactly known for his always impeccable judgment. On the other hand, I guess if anyone understands poor acting or acting poorly, it’s him.

As you may have noticed from the above clip, Cate is one of those rare characters that you can watch in an interview and come away liking even more. Other C/Kates might want to take note. Actually, not just C/Kates. There are quite a few people, in Hollywood especially, that could stand to learn that a little charm, class and humility go a long way.

Maybe Cate and I should teach a class.

Australia's Golden Wattle

Cate Blanchett is a very relatable woman but she also seems to get that she’s not “every woman”; that you can’t be “every woman” when you’re making 85 times more than most women – and, let’s be honest, men – make. In this respect, she appears to have a fair amount of self-awareness.

So, basically, she’s like the exact opposite of Oprah.

And I love her for that.

Obviously, though, there are also many reasons to love Cate that have very little to do with hating Oprah.

This is a woman who has made a reputation for herself as being a hard worker; a woman who has had to learn to balance work and family. Clearly she has it a lot easier than a lot of other people, but she’s still a working mom.

The term “working mother” gets thrown around a lot, and certain duchesses women are touted for somehow managing to “work” several hours a week, 2-3 times per year while also finding time to instruct their nannies on how to raise their children. Obviously acting isn’t the hardest job in the world, nor the most important (d’you hear that, Tom?), but I would argue that it’s a wee bit more strenuous and time-consuming than smiling, waving, and shaking hands for approximately 10 hours per month.

I mean, if we’re going to pick celebrities to be our role models, shouldn’t we pick someone like Cate? Someone with a personality? Someone with a strong work ethic? Someone who’s actually accomplished something?

Cate Blanchett is a real working mom. She’s a real role model. And she’s a real classy lady.

Perhaps other C/Kates should start paying attention. They might just learn something.

No Good Deed

People get fired for a cornucopia of reasons—stealing, lying, ineptitude, laziness—but it’s rare that someone gets fired for actually DOING HIS JOB (unless he works for the government, of course). Such was the case, though, for Florida lifeguard, Tomas Lopez. You see, Lopez was recently terminated from his position after, wait for it, saving a drowning man.

Tomas Lopez: lifeguard, rule-breaker

The drowning man, who has yet to be identified, had the misfortune of starting to drown 1,500 feet outside of the lifeguard-patrolled area, or, more specifically, in the “swim at your own risk” portion of the ocean. According to Lopez’s boss, Lopez broke the rules by leaving the protected area of the beach to save the man, and was, therefore, terminated from his position. I understand that rules are rules, but c’mon! What was he supposed to do? Let the guy drown? Yeah, that would’ve been great PR for your beach, sir. “Lifeguard watches as man drowns.” I mean, you can’t train someone to save lives and then ask him not to.

But it gets better.

Not only did they fire Lopez, but they also fired several other lifeguards who, when asked, said they’d do what Lopez did—that is, their job—given a similar situation.

They’ve all since been offered their jobs back (I’m sure the bad PR the beach has gotten has nothing to do with it), but Lopez, at least, has politely declined. I can’t say that I blame him. Who wants to work at a place, or for a boss, like that? And to that point, who wants to swim there either? I’d say that a beach where the lifeguards get fired for saving drowning people is a place I’d prefer to steer well clear of.  

So, remember, if you find yourself swimming at a certain beach in Florida, you most definitely swim at your own risk.

Open Mouth. Insert Louboutin.

Kathie Lee Gifford.

Just her name can evoke strong emotion, negative emotion for many, but until recently I never really understood the negativity. In fact, I’ve been known to defend her against some of her more vocal detractors. But even I can’t defend her latest guffaw, nor would I want to.

Let me set the scene: Martin Short was recently on the fourth hour of The Today Show, an hour infamous for sloppy reporting and inebriated hosts, one of whom is Kathie Lee. She and her only slightly less worthless cohost, Hoda Kotb, began asking Short—who was promoting his latest film Madagascar 3—questions about his personal life and, specifically, his marriage. Gifford asked Short how long he’d been married, how he and his wife kept the love alive in their relationship, and the secret to an enduring marriage. All appropriate questions, except for one thing: Martin Short’s wife, Nancy, is dead.

And has been since 2010, when she fell victim to ovarian cancer.

  "Let me distract you from the stupidity coming out of my mouth by doing these cool hand gestures." 

I mean, really, there are struggling and out-of-work journalists out there and this fool gets her own show? Twice? It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad. For future reference, Kathie Lee, there’s a little thing called research. Maybe you should try it next time. To her credit, she did offer an on-air apology once she’d been notified of what a giant ass she’d just made of herself, but honestly, too little too late.

And proving yet again what a class act he is, Mr. Short never called her out for being an idiot; he instead tried to answer the asinine questions to the best of his ability—albeit, slightly confusedly—and has even come to her defense, saying, “people make mistakes.”

It’s true. People do make mistakes.

Especially when they can’t be bothered to do their homework.