What Do You Want To Do Before You Die?

Ride in a hot air balloon, travel to Australia, swim with dolphins, meet a celebrity, be on the jumbotron at a major sporting event… these are just some of the things that are on my bucket list.  I think… If I could find where I put it.

Most people have a list of things that they want to accomplish before they die, whether it is written down or just in their head.  The four boys on MTV’s hit show, The Buried Life, take their bucket list to the extreme.  After watching this show, I can’t help but feel inspired to dig out my old bucket list and actually accomplish the items and live my life to the fullest.

Picture taken from http://www.mtv.com/

With items like steal a lock of Robert Pattinson’s hair, escape from a deserted island, and ask Taylor Swift out on a date, my items seem small and easily achievable in comparison.

The four boys on this show are Ben Nemtin, Dave Lingwood, Duncan Penn, and Jonnie Penn. They are all in their mid-twenties and are from Canada.

Picture taken from http://www.papermag.com/

Nemtin is the brains behind all of the operations.  He will do whatever he needs to do to get the item crossed off the list.  He is not afraid of dressing up, stealing media passes, or sweet-talking whoever is standing in his way.  He comes up with all of the ideas to make things happen and has the persuading words to make them happen. He is also the narrator for most of the episodes.

Lingwood is the free-spirit of the group.  On an episode where the boys were planning on streaking at a sporting event, they decided to go to a nudest camp in order to try to get comfortable being naked.  Lingwood was the first one to strip down and was dancing naked on a dock for the camera.  He is also seen in an episode where the boys were trying to cross “Marry a Stranger” off of their list- of course Lingwood participated in that one.  He married a girl in Las Vegas that he met a day before, and they are still married!!

The Penn brothers are the realistic boys in the group.  Duncan is the one who always seems to turn Nemtin’s crazy ideas into a concrete plan for the boys to work with.  Jonnie, the most shy out of the group, brings the boys back to a state of focus when they get off on their crazy ideas.  He also does a lot of the filming and editing for the show.

The boys travel around America in a big purple bus that actually has their list items painted on the side.  In every episode they cross something off of their list, as well as help somebody else cross something off of their list.  They do not stop at anything and welcome challenges in their tasks.  It’s nice to see a reality series whose characters use their rising fame to do something good for society!

What do you think? What do you want to do before you die?

Kendra Wilkinson- Living the Single Life

For people that get as excited about trashy reality TV as I do, they might be excited for the season premier of Kendra on the E! Network.  Previews show Kendra Wilkinson and husband, Hank Baskett, fighting over the stresses of his job moving him all around the country. 

Wilkinson is upset that Baskett’s job as a professional football player has moved the family 5 or 6 times in 2 years.  She is trying her best to put her past behind her and create a good life for Hank Baskett Jr. For her, a good life for her child includes a permanent home where he can grow up with stability.

The previews for the show hint that the couple is going to have some problems with this in the future, but luckily we do not have to wait until the season to start to find this out.

Wilkinson and Baskett Jr. Photo taken from OK! magazine

Because Baskett got released from the Philadelphia Eagles in September, he has recently signed to play with the Minnesota Vikings.  Wilkinson does not want to move to Minnesota, so she has decided to leave Baskett and move to the west coast with Baskett Jr.

“Moving across the country by myself makes me think of my own mom who raised me and my brother by alone,” she told Life & Style magazine. “Hank’s not going to be there forever, but with him not physically here, I’m a single parent now.”

I commend her for wanting to do what is right for Baskett Jr., and raise him in a permanent, stable home, but I can’t help but feel sorry for Baskett.  He is doing the only thing he knows how to do to support his family, yet he doesn’t get to see them.  I would also be hurt if I heard my wife calling herself a “single mom” just because she didn’t want to live in the city where I needed to be to work.

On the other hand, as some headlines could be misleading and could be interpreted as the couple is separating, but this is not the case!  In fact, Wilkinson tells the Huffington Post that they are able to keep their marriage alive long distance.   “We definitely keep things spicy even though we’re not together in person,” she said in an interview.

Hopefully this means that we won’t see an end to the couple any time soon! On her reality show, the couple can be seen working through their issues and being there for each other through anything.  In fact, despite all of their recent problems, Wilkinson has told the Huffington Post that they are looking forward to baby number two!

She hopes to have a baby girl, and compares her ideal baby to Shiloh.  “She’s going to be a tomboy.  She’s going to be out there rolling around in the dirt,” she said.

I am happy to see the couple looking towards the future, and that this is just one more bump that they are going to work through and come out stronger in the end.  I can’t wait to follow them through the journey when the next season of Kendra starts on November 7!