We arrive in Greensboro, North Carolina on December 13 to compete 2 days later at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, I am not confident I will make it past the first round, but I am proud of myself for overcoming several fears and making the most of this 10 day training experience. Now it is show time! My fellow divers are wonderfully supportive of each other, and on Competition Day it doesn’t feel so much like we were competing against each other, but that we are striving to do our best. And do our best we do. I – well watch the show and you can see how I did. Suffice it to say that I was thrilled to be there, and it was a blast taping the show. It was “live to tape” (no reshoots) but it took 5 hours to finish, with all the stopping and starting. I know it will be really fun to watch too (only 2 hours), so I hope you tune in tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan 9 at 8p/7c on Fox! I want to thank my awesome coach, Karl Warden, for his amazing guidance, his loving patience and his diving expertise. I also want to … Continue reading →

I recently had the honor of speaking at TEDxTopanga about a topic that is very important to me, human overpopulation. I spoke on the importance of smaller family size because it is a taboo subject all around the world and I don’t like shying away from important topics! It is vital that we discuss the issue of if we are going to solve the very serious dilemma we are in. Let’s stop the denial! If enough people watch the video, it will appear on TED.com, a site that opens up this discussion to millions of people. As of now, amongst the thousands of talks on TED.com, not one focuses on human overpopulation. Please help me start a conversation about stabilizing world population by playing the video below. And please share the link on your facebook and twitter pages. Every bit helps! Thank you for your support! Enjoy the video and I look forward to your feedback!

I have a huge setback on my 8th training day.  I get a concussion from attempting an inward dive (jump off backwards, and then dive forwards- yikes).  This dive totally feeds into my childhood fear of hitting my head on the board, but what I do instead is hit the water with the side of my head, way hard.  After a visit to the ER and to a neurologist, I am pronounced non-brain damaged, but I am ordered to rest for 2 days.   Whaaaa?  I cannot stop training, I suck at all my dives and I am going to get behind and and and… Karl Warden, my coach, reassures me I will be ready for competition day at the end of the week, but I don’t believe him. Back at the pool, I am badly shaken by the concussion (or whatever it was that made me slur my words and lose my balance for half an hour), and I regress: my fear of heights comes back.  I am also tired of hurting – my shoulders, stiff from flinging my arms up; my thighs, stinging from hitting the water wrong over and over; my head, sensitive from the incident a few … Continue reading →

When Rob Bagshaw, a fantastic showrunner who had worked with me on The B Team called and asked if I would be an alternate diver on Fox’s upcoming 2 hour special jumped at the chance.  As well as I can jump, that is. Jumps, flips, turns, handstands – these are all skills needed for diving, and I have none of them. I couldn’t make the cheerleading team in 7 th grade because my cartwheel flopped over every time. But I was jazzed to get the opportunity to train with an expert dive coach for 10 days, because when does an old dog get to learn new tricks? Stars in Danger: The HIgh Dive. By the time Rob called me, the 8 selected celebs had already been practicing diving for 4 days, and already 3 of the 4 men had dropped out. I was proud to hear that BH Housewives Kim and Kyle Richards, Jenny “JWoww” Farley from Jersey Shore and the pro surfer Bethany Hamilton had not wimped out. So it seemed like I might have a pretty good chance of becoming a competing diver, if Fox was OK with a woman taking Joey, Jose’s or Romeo’s place. Turns out they weren’t, but Fox … Continue reading →

THE FRANKENSTEIN BROTHERS has been renamed A BEER TALE and has received a terrific distribution deal throughout the USA and CANADA!! As of yesterday, November 13th, 2012 you will be able to purchase A BEER TALE at RedBox, Netflix, On Demand, iTunes, Blockbuster, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, DVD Empire, and Movies Unlimited. The easiest way to access these venues is by going to: www.abeertale.com

My friend Scott Dupont , producer and host of the terrific movie “What is the Electric Car?” sent out an email yesterday about his trip down the 405S, a freeway  here in Los Angeles.  During that 32  miles, he saw 30 electric cars  driving that same stretch!  Scott says, “I was purposely driving slow and just watching all these EVs pass me in the HOV lane.”  (In California, most no emission vehicles can drive in the carpool lane). – 21 Chevy VOLTS – 4 Nissan LEAFs – 2 Tesla Roadsters – 2 Mitsubishi MiEV – 1 BMW Active-e Scott continues, “This was on a single commute down one small stretch of highway. I could not believe it!” When Scott, also an actor, arrived at Manhattan Beach Studios from his home in the valley, he got another nice surprise.  He writes, ” When I got to Manhattan Beach Studios, every single EV charging station was full including a Ford all electric Transit van (first one I have seen in public)! Just wanted to share what I thought was a cause for celebration”. I see other electric cars every single day as I drive around Southern California, a far cry from just 2 years … Continue reading →

Ian, our friend Konrad and I went to Burning Man this year. We drove 15 hours in a motorhome to the hot and dusty Nevada desert and camped with 50,000 other people in a temporary city of tents and RVs to see art, hear music, people watch, participate and plain ol get out of our comfort zone. Burning Man is an annual one week festival always held around Labour Day weekend that celebrates individuality within community, radical self expression, reliance and generosity. Here is a video that gives you an idea of the experience. I love this aerial view of a city that springs up and is gone again in a week.