Hey Camp Fans!

We’ve covered former summer camper Mrs. Maggie Gyllenhaal before here on the Everything Summer Camp Blog. We discussed her camp history with her brother, Jake, at Camp Walt Whitman as well as her path that led her to the big screen. But her previous post only scratched the surface about what makes this chick tick! Let’s learn some more things about Maggie.

We all know her as Maggie. She always knew herself as Maggie. But it took her until the age of 36 before discovering what her actual and full name is: Margalit. She was going about some administrative requirements to legally take her husband’s last name. She was rather shocked when she asked her parents to find her birth certificate and she saw her actual name in print.

So this post on Maggie Gyllenhaal has become one on Margalit Sarsgaard after she married Peter Sarsgaard and they started a family together. She knew Peter through her brother as one of his best friends and the eventually fell in love. Together they have two daughters who are everything to them. There’s Gloria Ray, 7, and Ramona, 13. “Once you're a mom,” Maggie has revealed, “There are secret things you know—like in your pocket, you'll find a bag of Cheerios.”

Maggie has been in more than 30 movies! Her brother’s been in just over 40. It’s a good amount of movies considering classic Hollywood names like Tom Hanks and Matt Damon sit with their filmography count under 90. There are few folks in Hollywood who are able to pull off numbers that exceed 100. Some folks seemingly don’t sleep based on their busy careers such as Samuel L. Jackson who’s been in 126 movies.

Maggie’s been in such films as ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ in which she worked alongside Julia Roberts, ‘Nanny McPhee Returns’ in which she played the role of Mrs. Green, as well as the sequel to the movie ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’, in which she plays Rachel Dawes. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about this beautiful actress and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Basketball Lovers!

One name that will never fade from the NBA’s memory is the legendary Michael Jordan. An all-star player who ceaselessly amazed fans and colleagues, Michael Jordan goes down in history as one of the best athletes to play the game. Not a camper himself, but the owner of his own basketball camp, the Michael Jordan Flight School—the leading youth basketball camp in the world—I’ve covered Michael previously on the Blog.

But there’s much more to learn about this magical basketball player. Here’s a little bit more about him.

It Tongues in the Family
Notorious for sticking his tongue out, when it came to focus on the court, Michael’s father is where he got it from. His dad would have his tongue hanging out as he fix-it projects around the house. Turns out that Michael’s father got it from HIS father. He recalls Michael’s grandfather who would have his tongue out as he worked on automobiles. It’s since been coined as ‘Concentration Tongue’.

Michael Jordan wore the number 23 for his whole career…except for one day when somebody stole his jersey from the locker room about an hour before gametime. The thief was never found and, forced to go with what they had around, Michael wore a nameless jersey with the number 12 printed on it.

His own childhood hero, Michael loved watching Magic Johnson when he was growing up. His friends started calling him Magic Jordan and the license plate of the first car he ever got even read ‘MGCJRDN’. Magic and Michael eventually became very good friends.

Have fun with your friends on the hoop and court you have available to you and look into visiting a basketball camp for your next summer stay! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey Camp Fans!

We’re all fans of Jon Favreau whether we know it or not. He’s the director of such classic films as ‘Elf’, the ‘Iron Man’ trilogy, and ‘Zathura’. We already published a Blog post about him a few years back where we discussed his camp history at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, located on a private lake in the western area of the Catskill Mountains, just outside Hancock, New York.

But that last post only scratched the surface about this guy. Let’s learn more about Mr. Favreau.

Unhappy with a bunch of dead-end jobs, Jon one day quit his day job and hit the road for Chicago to pursue his new dream of becoming an improvisational comedy star. In a short time, he got a job at the well-respected comedy club the Second City (which has been mentioned in other celebrities’ posts). He wasn’t employed as a performer, however, but as a dishwasher. It was a START!

Once he got his foot in the acting door and had one or two movies under his belt, Jon thought he’d be better off in the acting business if he lost some weight. He put himself on a strict diet that resulted in losing 80 pounds! Unfortunately, casting folks wanted the bigger guy they’d seen in previous movies, not this suddenly trim, sporty actor. It cost him a number of jobs.

In his previous post, I explained that Jon got his first taste of fame and recognition for the short role he played on the hit sitcom, ‘Friends’. He played a millionaire boyfriend to Courteney Cox’s character for a number of episodes. Ironically, he had a chance to play another romantic interest to Courteney’s character and one of the six main friends—Chandler Bing. The part was originally offered to Jon, actually, but he turned it down which was probably for the best. After all, who can imagine anyone as Chandler beside Matthew Perry? 

With an impressive resume, it’s about to get even more impressive since Jon’s been hired as showrunner for a new, live-action Star Wars show coming out for Disney’s streaming service called ‘The Mandalorian’. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about this star director and his acting career that blossomed into so much more. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Music Lovers!

If you like country music as much as you like your chicken fried, there’s a good chance you’re a fan of the Zac Brown Band. You know we’re fans here at Everything Summer Camp; we already published a Blog post about him five years ago. We covered a good amount of ground in the previous post. For instance, he was a cabin leader at Camp Mikell in his home state of Georgia as well as Camp Glisson

But that only scratches the surface. Learn some more about Mr. Zac Brown—

A wunderkind is a German word that refers to somebody who is very successful at a rather young age. Zac’s musical career started at just seven years old when he started learning to play the classical guitar. When he was just 19, he started touring, playing classic covers and original music—his dog and a drummer were his only company. By 25, Zac made his own recording label, Southern Ground.

Along with his father, Zac opened up a restaurant called ‘Zac’s Place’ in 2004. Located in his home state of Georgia, Zac’s Place featured southern-style food. The father/son team eventually sold their restaurant which enabled Zac to fund his tour—he bought a tour bus and began touring full-time with the entirety of the Zac Brown Band under their new label Southern Ground (which was initially named Home Grown).  

Zac’s got five children! His kids’ names are Georgia, Alexander, Frost, Joni, and Lucy—a nice-sized family (not quite the dozen sons and daughters like the family to which he was born, but still…pretty big)! Zac himself was his parents’ penultimate or second-to-last child.

Are you a fan of Zac Brown Band? Go ahead and enjoy some of their music today and enjoy your chicken fried! And, as always, thanks for reading, Folks!

- John

Hey, Football Fans!

Who doesn’t love a nice Brees? Drew Brees, that is! We definitely do, here at Everything Summer Camp—after all, Drew was a summer camper himself back in the day! I posted about this beloved quarterback and how he attended Camp Champions in Marble Falls. I disclosed that information on the last Blog post I wrote about him from a number of years ago.

You can read the previous Blog post I wrote about him by clicking right here. But, since it’s been so long since his last post, I thought we could revisit Drew to get to know him a little bit better.

Brees-y, You Were Born This Way!

When he was a young boy, Drew was teased because of a birthmark he had on his right cheek. He was given the option to have his mark removed, but he decided—despite the adversity it brought—to keep his mark. It’s brought him adversity, yes—but it also brought him a sense of individuality and character.

Born to Quarterback!

Brees’ success in football seems to track the generations in his family. His mother’s brother, Uncle Marty Akins, was a quarterback with the Texas Longhorns and his grandfather from his mother’s side, Ray Akins, was a Texas High School football coach. And both of Drew’s parents were interested in athleticism to a certain degree as well and encouraged Drew’s investment in the world of sports.

Determination Does You Good

By his second year playing as high school quarterback at Westlake School, Brees wanted to quit football because he didn’t have faith in his skills as an athlete. Baseball was a passion of his as well and he thought he had a better shot in Baseball than he did Football. His friends and family encouraged him to stick with football and he ended up earning varsity letterman in basketball, football, AND baseball! And look at him now!

We love the true-to-self style of Drew and I hope these facts were new for all of you about this fantastic football player and former summer camper. If you have interest in checking out his old stomping grounds at Camp Champions, give them a closer look some time. And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John