Apr 28, 2010

11 Grandest Celebrity Pools

If you think Hollywood celebrities can spend all of their money just to have a good night skinny dipping in one of those expensive and fancy five star hotels in US, then you're wrong. These nth million dollar paid celebrities can buy the whole Pittsburgh Baseball Stadium in Pensylvania without even exerting too much effort. And owning one of the grandest swimming pools is easy as breathing. Proof? Here's the list of the hottest and the grandest celebrity swimming pools in Hollywood.

1 Sylvester Stallone

With much adorned with a grand bronze statue of “Rocky Balboa” at one end, there is no point to ponder. The Greek motif gives the actor’s stunning Miami pool a historical Olympian feel.
sylvester stallone pool
2 Lance Armstrong

The exquisite landscape and the huge inground swimming pool are definitely the highlights of Lance Armstrong’s home in Austin. With its cozy fireplace, stone cabana and Gothic-style lanterns, the pool area has a charming and resort feel that is stylish and relaxed.
lance armstrong pool
3 Cher

Designed by Cher’s longtime friend Ron Wilson, Cher’s Renaissance inspired residence in Malibu has a stunning, infinity-edge pool, that transcends into a vast ocean view. This is the sanctuary where the singer-actress says she spends all of her time in summer.
cher pool
4 John Travolta and Kelly Preston

Actor John Travolta calls his house in Florida a “mid-century-style home”, and says that coming up with the design was one of the most challenging tasks he’s ever taken on. The pool and cabana have a sleek and modern feel streamlines seamlessly with the architecture of the house.
john travolta pool
5 Rob Lowe

Actor Rob Lowe’s southern California home is pure eye candy. The pool is especially marvelous and sporty. The rest of the house is built towards a neo-classical-style that stems from Lowe’s love of late 18th-century English manors.
rob lowe pool
6 Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher

Hollywood’s high profile couple worked together with designer Brad Dunning to come up with the stylish design of their Beverly Hills nest. The swimming pool has a very classical, functional, and sophisticated appeal, all to set alongside and compliment a spacious deck and garden.
demi moore pool
7 Ryan Seacrest

The home of the dubbed “hardest working man in Hollywood” and also the host of American Idol, boasts a flourishing garden overlooking a spectacular view. The simplicity in the pool’s design emanates a sleek look; all while exuding a relaxing and Zen environment.
ryan seacrest pool
8 Ralph and Ricky Lauren

Legendary clothing designer, Ralph Lauren, has an eye for more than just fashion. He and his wife, Ricky chose a lush and green landscaping plan to encompass their immense pool to their home in Jamaica.
ralph ricky lauren pool
9 Jayne Mansfield

Late actress Jayne Mansfield demanded “a heart-shaped house with a heart-shaped pool” before she would agree to wed Mickey Hargitay. Not only did was her wish granted but she also has the prestige of owning one of the most unique celebrity swimming pools in Beverly Hills.
jayne mansfield pool
10 Diane Keaton

Actress Diane Keaton’s Spanish Colonial Revival house in Bel-Air has very unique swimming pool. She went with the concept to use the bright, earthy colors inspired by the colors of a few California tile tables at a swap meet. Diane then tore apart the tiles and assembled them in a mosaic fashion as her pool tiles.
diane keaton pool
11 Alan Ladd

Actor Alan Ladd’s home is the sheer definition of classic California during the 1940s. His pool’s simple and elegant design perfectly melds with the warm air of a lazy SoCal summer.
alan ladd pool

Apr 20, 2010

Top 10 Interesting Swimming Pool Scenes

There are  movies that are packed with cool scenes that made them so famous that even these scenes have their own comedic parody seen somewhere, specifically on Youtube. Lady Gaga's Telephone Parody on Youtube can be a hit, but hey, how much funny or hilarious the parody is, it can never leave that "awesomeness" to everyone who have seen the original video.

Compared to movies.

So, here's a list of funny, notable swimming pool scenes, since it was no surprise that no one had ever put one together involving swimming pools.

10 Harold and Maude
1971, Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon


This is a terrific movie about a 19 year old young man named Harold (played by Bud Cort) who develops a relationship with a woman named Maude in her late 70s (played by Ruth Gordon.) Harold fakes his suicide numerous times throughout the movie in a desperate attempt for his mother’s attention. In this scene we see Harold’s mom swim right past him during another one of his fake suicides.

Interesting Fact: Harold and Maude is number 45 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Funniest Movies of all time and was also a play on Broadway.
9 Mommy Dearest
1981, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford

Faye Dunaway’s over the top performance as Joan Crawford is evident in this pool scene as she easily beats her daughter in a swimming-pool race and then brags about her victory by proclaiming “You lost again”. She then becomes enraged at her daughter when she reacts with childish disappointment.

Interesting Fact: Joan Crawford once said in an interview in the early 1970s that of the current young actresses only Faye Dunaway had “what it takes” to be a true star. The movie Mommy Dearest ended up damaging Dunaway’s career, and Dunaway later stated that she wished she had never appeared in it.

8 National Lampoon’s Vacation
1983, Chevy Chase and Christie Brinkley

Who can forget this famous pool scene as Chevy Chase and the sexy Christie Brinkley whom he sees throughout the entire vacation in different spots along the way end up skinny dipping together? The pool scene starts about 2/3s into this clip.

Interesting Fact: Brinkley was never actually nude in the film, though it was reported the producers hoped she would be. Christie Brinkley recently recreated this famous swimming pool scene with Chevy Chase for a DirecTV commercial.
7 Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1982, Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold

This famous pool scene starts after Reinhold’s character Brad arrives back home and hits the bathroom after a long hard day at Captain Hook’s Fish and Chips. Phoebe Cates then catches his eye through the bathroom window.

Interesting Fact: Phoebe Cates was initially reluctant to go through with her character’s pool side topless scene because she thought the neighbors might be spying on the set from the surrounding rooftops. Not that it’s like the birth place of William Shakespeare or anything but according to the address given in Wikipedia.
6 Meet The Parents
2000, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro
This is a very funny pool scene where Gaylord Focker played by Ben Stiller is having a bad game at a pool volleyball game. Desperately trying to impress his girl friends parents and their friends he overcompensates and ends up spiking the ball into the face of the bride to be.

Interesting Fact: At one time Jim Carrey was slated to star as the lead and even contributed to the screenplay, such as the main character being named ‘Focker’. The MPAA would not allow the name ‘Focker’ unless the film makers could find an actual person with that surname.

5 Back to School
1986, Rodney Dangerfield

This is a very funny film but you have to be a Dangerfield fan to enjoy it. Rodney has some classic one-liners throughout the movie. In this pool scene Dangerfield’s character Thornton Melon performs his famous “Triple Lindy.”

Interesting Fact: The movie was filmed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison which was called Grand Lakes University in the movie. However the swim stadium scenes were filmed at a Country Club in the City of Industry, about 25 miles southeast of Hollywood, California.

4 Bathing Beauty
1944, Esther Williams

You can’t have a top 10 memorable swimming pool movie list and not include Esther Williams. This grand water ballet became famous and is the scene most people associate with her. This was also her first staring role.

Interesting Fact: The movie was initially to be titled “The Co-Ed” with Red Skelton having top billing. However, once MGM executives watched the first cut of the film, they realized that Esther Williams’ role should be showcased more and was then changed to “Bathing Beauty”,

3 It’s a wonderful Life
1946, James Stewart and Donna Reed

“Did you know there’s a swimming pool under this floor? And did you know that button behind you causes this floor to open up? And did you further know that George Bailey is dancing right over that crack?”

Interesting Fact: The swimming pool used during this famous scene is located at Beverly Hills High School and is still in operation. Director Frank Capra agreed to pay a bonus of $25 to any teen willing to jump into the pool on cue during the scene’s memorable climax.
2 Caddy Shack
1980, Bill Murray

If you hear the words Baby Ruth candy bar and swimming pool in the same sentence and you don’t smile a little you probably did not see this movie or have no sense of humor. This scene contains around 2 seconds of nudity.

Interesting Fact: The famous pool scene was filmed at Plantation Country Club in Plantation, Florida and was based on a real-life incident at Brian Doyle-Murray’s (one of the movies writers) high school.

1The Graduate
1967, Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft

Not only is this a great pool scene but it’s also a great movie. This memorable pool scene starts with the song “Sound of Silence” (not quite half way through this clip) Make sure you watch this scene through the end of the second Simon & Garfunkel song (“April Come She Will”) where Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) re-enters the pool and is looking up from his raft at the Robinsons.

Interesting Fact: The “Taft Hotel” scenes in this movie were filmed at the famed Ambassador Hotel, the same hotel in which U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated less than six months after the film’s release.

Source:  http://listverse.com/2009/02/10/top-10-memorable-swimming-pool-scenes

Apr 8, 2010

Swimming it all through Therapy

Bob Monke loves playing golf with his friends. Who wouldn't be? He played a round of golf with his buddies, but he ended up giving up playing the game he loved the most. And that was last year. A year later, it's a whole different story. He just golfed yesterday, happily.


Monke made his way back to golfing through the exercise he gets at the water therapy school, Nye Legacy and with the help of his therapist, Stacey Buckley. Working out with few sets of routines aimed, twice a week at 7:30am, increases balance and cardiovascular function.


Kathy Kirby, Director of rehabilitation for Nye Senior Services said that the pool is constantly used during the day.

The swimming pool room has high ceilings and completely large. The Aqua tile floor and white tiles half way up the walls give the whole pool room a spa impact. The pool depth ranges from 4 feet to 4 1/2 feet, and a hand rail eliminates any pool jitter occurrence.