DZER the local celebrity ... and HNT

OK, to get it over with, let me start out with this Thursday's installment of Half-Nekkid Thursday from Guam:

DZER THE MAD HATTER!!

I sooooo almost posted an ass shot ... but then I figured I didn't need to cause any projectile vomiting and/or massive queasiness attacks across the world of the Internet, so no butt shots for you folks. (pause for applause, congratulations, sending of fruit baskets). So, all of you really lucked out this week. Now, I can't promise you that I won't eventually feel mean and sick enough to actually post my ass, so you'd better watch out! LOL

I'm a big fan of hats. I like wearing them. I wish I could wear them more often. In fact, I wish I was living in the 1930s and 1940s, when pretty much all men wore hats, when it was a part of the usual fashion day.

Back then, a hatless man was almost never a businessman. If you had to wear a suit to work, you wore a hat. Suits were coat, slacks, tie, jacket and hat.

I really don't know why hats fell so out of favor and out of fashion with men in the United States. Sure, working cowboys still wear hats. Some people who work out in the field; construction workers too. Some golf pros. But really, who wears hats to work?

Some guys wear baseball caps, usually with their favorite MLB, NFL, NBA or college team logos on them. That's really about it these days. Those are the only hats you see out with any frequency. I have a few ballcaps. I have a couple of light straw hats that I use when I play golf — they provide the best shade. And when you keep your head shaved, it's important to protect the skin on the skull; it is one of the WORST places to get sunburned. Trust me on this one LOL

The hat show here is one of my faves, mostly because it can be worn in several different ways. Down low on the forehead, brim flipped up, or with front of brim flipped down. High and back on the head, brim flipped up. Slightly tilted on the head, cocked sideways. Pulled down almost over my eyes. I wore it to a card game earlier this week — it's not a lucky hat, at least not so far. LOL

CELEB-DZERALITY
As some of you know, I'm something of a local celebrity here on my island. Now I'm not so full of myself that I think I'm an A-List kind of celebrity; I'm just a very well-known face/personality.

It all comes from my writing. People still recognize me from years back when I was in Sports and did this local feature called Pigskin Progs, which has like 8 people making football picks every week. I haven't been in it regularly in a LONG time but people still come up to me and say, "Hey, you're that Pigskin Prog, right?"

I also have a bit of notoriety from DVD and movie reviews that I've written. When I do them, depending on the topic, I get e-mail from all over. I slammed Keanu Reeves once and had his fans from the U.S., Europe and Brazil writing me to tell me how off-base I was LOL. An anime review I did, and one on Alan Rickman films, are still up on Web sites from around the world. Type in my name and "anime," or my name and "alan+rickman" and you'll see.

A column I wrote about how movies almost always make comic books suck was a very popular one with people. In fact, I even appeared on an Australian radio show (via phone in) to discuss my views on the subject. Neat, huh? LOL

I'm more well known for a couple of other regular features that I write. The first is the Jingle George holiday stuff. I've been doing that for years and years now, and during the holiday season it's a weekly feature for like 6-8 weeks, depending. In fact, I started last week. You can read it HERE.

The next installment is this Saturday. I still don't have a clear idea what I'm going to write about, but part of it will involve the fact that 95 percent of my Christmas cards are written, addressed, stamped and ready to be mailed in the morning. Heh.

I also might use it to talk about specialty wraps that I use. I like to use special and cool boxes as wrapping elements. I keep my eye out for them throughout the year and pick them up as things go along. When Christmas comes around, I snap them up as quickly as possible, even if I know I won't use them for the current Christmas. Why? Well, because there's always NEXT Christmas.

So, thanks to my celebrity as Jingle George, I do more than just write articles. I also make public appearances. I pretend to hate them, but being the ham that I am, I actually love them. LOL ... one of the ones I've done for a couple years in a row is the unveiling of a Christmas train scene at a local hotel. Tourists love to get their picture taken with me, even though they don't know who I am, because I am white, in a Santa hat, and big and ROUND. LOL

The other thing for which I'm very well known — actually, it's the thing that really made me "famous" here — is for a series of columns I wrote about quitting smoking, called Quest to Quit. I got so much support and recognition from the community; it was — and is — totally amazing. The day after I write a column (they're more spread out now, but I still do them) I get a LOT of people coming up to me to say "good job," "keep it up," or something similar.

Earlier today, I was one of three people interviewed by a video production company. The local government is putting together a training video and wanted people from the community who have quit smoking to be in it. So I was interviewed about why I quit smoking, how I did it. etc. The next time they take put together training pamphlets, they want to use me as one of the featured "models."

OK ... enough bragging for today.

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• In 1668, Pale' San Vitores, the first missionary to Guam, renamed the island chain to "Las Marianas," after Mariana of Austria, widow of Spain's Philip IV.