Dear Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French,

When you think the news can't get any worse-- I find today that the two of you are retiring the olde "French & Saunders" act. Why do I care? I live in the States, and getting ahold of your work (as a team and as, er, solo artists) is no easy feat. I am comforted only by the advent of the region-free DVD player, with which my odds at watching you two dramatically increase.

Blah blah blah, yep-- I'm complaining. Wasting time, no less, when what I OUGHT to be doing is thanking you for making me lose count of the number of times I have laughed my ass off watching you-- and for the few times when I have possibly gotten a little teary eyed. Possibly.

Thank you. Best wishes to you both in your lives after French & Saunders. I'm off to form a Lananeeneenoonoo tribute band-- see you at Wembley, then.

Dear Travis Barker,

Yesterday I was in line at my local grocery store listening to the clerk and customers ahead of me having a light and cheery conversation about plane crashes and burning to death. It was uplifting, I tell ya. When I got up to the clerk, I couldn't help but say something snarky about what a positive and enlightening conversation, which is when he told me that "some rock star" was in a plane crash. I started flipping through my mental rolodex of rock stars, wondering who it was-- and then the clerk said, "the drummer from blink-182."

JAW DROP.

I drove the whole way home thinking you had died-- he never told me that you survived the crash. Suddenly, hearing that you'd been horribly burned was good news, since it meant you were- miraculously- ALIVE.

I'm sending you and AM all the good thoughts and best wishes I have for your recovery. I'm sending all the good thoughts and best wishes I have to your families and friends. Especially, I'm sending all the good thoughts and best wishes I have to the families of the 4 folks we lost in the crash.

Thanks for all the fantastic inspiration behind the drumkit-- I'm trying to repay you with some kind of prayer...

xoxo