Give until it hurts.

It's the holiday season once again. Family, coworkers, and people you barely know expect you to participate in annual gift exchanges. Let me share something...a secret...Target Corporation, Best Buy, Sony, Apple...none of these companies need our $$$. Do any of us really need another coffee table book, a DVD or pair of gloves? This year's let's focus on organizations whose function it is to make the world a better, more aware, and civil place. How about volunteering at your local nursing home, food shelf, or church? Donate to a homeless shelter, national park, crisis nursery, or animal humane society. GIFTS LIKE THESE make a difference in our communities. They also capture the true beauty of season.

It's amazing what a nose job can do...

Patrick Dempsey is living out a real-life fairy tale! The star of the #1 box office movie "Enchanted" and TV series "Grey's Anatomy" has officially made the transition from ugly duckling to Prince Charming. You'll remember Dempsey as nerdy, yet spunky Ronald in the 1987 flick, "Can't Buy Me Love," in which he paid the school's head cheerleader to act as his girlfriend in hopes of breaking into the popular crowd. Dempsey was funny and heartbreaking as Ronald, but was a hard sell as a leading man. His career fizzled after the movie's release when 21 year old Patrick married his agent, who was 26 years his senior.

Flash forward 20 years to Dempsey stepping out with a new nose and a new wife, and you've got a leading role in "Grey's Anatomy" and People Magazine as the #2 Sexiest Man Alive. (For the record, I miss his old nose. It gave him character, which is apparently is a deficit in Hollywood.) Not a day must go by when Dempsey doesn't pinch himself to make sure he's not dreaming.

Andre Kim does the laundry

Samsung recently commissioned eccentric Korean clothing designer, Andre Kim, to design a washing machine. Kim must have thought of upper-middle class ajumma who love to strut around with Louis Vuitton bags when he designed this baby. It doesn't look too bad, with the exception of the tacky gold emblem.

Here is Mr. Kim, Korea's UNICEF ambassador, at this week's Christmas card campaign in Seoul. Kim seemed to be especially pleased to make an appearance alongside star Kim Rae-Won.

"Go, Go Speed Racer!"

Feast your eyes on new photos of the live action film, "Speed Racer," based on the 1960s Japanese anime series, "Mach Go Go Go." Actor Emile Hersh plays Speed, joined by Matthew Fox as Racer X, that girl from "Black Snake Moan" as Trixie, and Korean mega-star, Rain, in his first American role Speed's racing rival. Interesting to note is that Emile Hersh beat out both Shia LaBeouf and Zach Efron for the role of Speed. What the movie trailer, here!

These Korean celebs want you to adopt an orphan...

If you're Korean, that is! But I'd bet my left arm that none of these celebrities would ever adopt an orphan, unless it was at gunpoint. In Korea, raising a child separate from ones own bloodline is as popular an idea as eating your own offspring or sleeping with your grandma. Still, the South Korean government is trying to stem the tide of overseas adoptions by encouraging domestic adoptions with their "Letters from the Angels" campaign. Above is campaign participant, Jang Hyuk, who stars in Ajumma's favorite movie, "Windstruck." Below is Korean drama star, Yun Eun-Hye. (Her stick arms snapped off immediately after the photo was taken, by the way.)

Did you know that the Korean government has no problem adopting to couples who smoke, but refuses adoption to couples who are fat? True fact. I'm sure Korea wanted to include a ban on ugly couples, too.

Crisis: Major oil spill on Korea's western coast

A Hong Kong vessel, called the Hebei Spirit, collided with an oil tanker off of South Korea’s west coast on Friday, causing more than 66,000 barrels of crude oil to spill in what was believed to be South Korea’s largest offshore oil leak, officials said.

Strong winds and prevailing currents meant oil was expected to start washing up on shore and flow into fishing grounds and fishing farms, about 6 miles from the leak, by Saturday morning, the Coast Guard said in a statement. Authorities set up a special fence 5 miles in length to try and contain the oil, the statement said. The slick was 4.6 miles long and over 1 mile wide, the ministry said.

The spill occurred in a region known for its scenic beaches, including Mallipo Beach. It is also home to a national maritime park and an important refueling stop for migratory birds. The collision left holes in three containers aboard the tanker. Spills from two containers were later stopped, but oil was still leaking from the third container. YTN, a 24-hour cable news channel, showed footage of the black oil gushing out of the ship and into the ocean.

The South Korean tanker was fitted with one hull. An international ban on such ships is due to start in 2010. Modern tankers are fitted with two hulls to cut the risk of an oil spill and are usually more expensive to hire. South Korean oil companies are probably the world's ``biggest users'' of single-hull tankers, Per Mansson, a tanker broker at Nor Ocean Stockholm AB, said in an e-mailed note today. ``This might change policies in Korea and that would be tremendous for the market.''

South Korea's government will form a committee comprising oil-spill experts and seek help from residents of nearby regions to contain the slick, according to the statement. The vessel held 263,000 tons of crude oil and there were no casualties, it said.

(To put things in an American perspective, in 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker released about 260,000 barrels, or 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in what turned into a major environmental disaster.)

Look Ma, no pants!

I dig Anna Faris. She's cute and funny, but not like a crazed blonde speed addict, like Cameron Diaz. Here is Anna at GQ's Man of the Year celebration. Daaaamn! The girl's got legs. If I had legs like hers I'd wouldn't bother to wear pants, even in the winter.

Vin Diesel as the Terminator?

Rumors are flying that Vin Diesel may take on the role as the newest assassin in T4. Producers are supposedly considering Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, as well.

Ajumma Runs Away with Bruce Campbell

You've probably spent countless sleepless nights wondering what ever happened to Bruce Campbell, star of "Evil Dead" and dashing thief Autolycus from "Xena." Here's your answer! He's been making a string of B-list horror flicks and is now working on a sequel to his movie, "My Name is Bruce." Mr. Campbell recently made an appearance at SPIKE TV's 2007 Scream Awards where he chopsockied the red carpet to pieces. Bruce is personality-plus in my book. If both he and Christian Bale showed up on my doorstep with tickets to Maui in hand, I'd run away with Bruce for sure!

Clones Vol. 3: Rumer Willis and Adam Brody

I saw this photo of Rumer Willis and thought it was Adam Brody looking especially rough. Ouch..................to Adam.