Spending Christmas with Elmo

This is one of the cutest things I've ever seen!

Oh give me a break, Heidi

Please humor me - let's just take a moment to really process this photo.



While I was at Walgreen's, I happened to notice Heidi on the cover of US Weekly announcing how her and Spencer are no longer engaged. And apparently she sold the story to the tabloid. I'm a little bit annoyed with myself that I had to stop and check out the article BUT at least I didn't spend any of my money on this garbage. Basically it was an interview with both her AND Spencer and even though they're no longer planning a wedding, they're still boyfriend and girlfriend.

This is supposed to be newsworthy?

And then you have this stupid, stupid, stupid photo! (A similar close-up version serves as the cover photo.) I mean, seriously, if you were bummed about having to call off your engagement, would you really agree to pose in a wedding dress with a pouty look on your face holding a photo of you and your former fiance surrounded by bridal magazines? It's just so contrived and insincere and just plain silly.

Ugh. Why do I even care???

Clash of the Choirs giggles

Heehee... did Tracy Morgan just announce the winner of Clash of the Choirs as Team LA-kee?


Or as they prefer to be called, Team Lachey.

Are you f^&*ing kidding me - Jamie-Lynn is pregnant???

Uh, yeah, that's right. According to an upcoming article in OK! magazine, Jamie-Lynn announces that she is pregnant. At 16!!!

I'm about as sad and disappointed as when Britney came out with that awful VMA performance.

I had high hopes for Jamie-Lynn. I was really hoping she would grow up to be the Britney from the good ole days without all the trashiness. And it looked like she was on the right track. She always looks cute and age appropriate and now this... *sigh*

It's going to be so weird to see her pregnant.

My new fave show: Jon and Kate Plus 8

I've recently become addicted to Jon and Kate Plus 8 after it was highly recommended by my sister. It's basically a documentary-style show that highlights the day to day lives of this young couple Jon and Kate and their eight (yep, eight!) kids. And not just any eight kids - six year old TWIN daughters and three year old SEXTUPLETS (three girls, three boys)!

I'm not sure why I'm such a fan of this show. It airs on both TLC and the Discovery Channel and those networks air other shows about couples with "multiples" but I don't find the other shows that interesting at all. There's just something so cute and fascinating about Jon and Kate's family. The couple is impressive, too. Kate definitely rules the house (as most moms do) but when the Dad is home, he contributes as well.

I love how they have a "just go for it!" attitude. They'll take the eight kids everywhere and make sure they have the same experience as most normal kids that aren't from such a huge family. For example, the two of them took the eight kids to the local theme park. Each parent pushed a three baby across stroller - one for the girls and one for the boys. To help keep track of all of them, they made each kid wear matching T-shirts that were numbered 1-8. Oh boy.

They get a lot of help from the community, too. I think their church donated a bunch when the sextuplets were first born. A local hair cut place gave them free haircuts for all the kids until they're five. Kate was able to get free plastic surgery for her belly (which she actually showed on TV! It was very doughy like.) I think Dr. Phil supplied them with free nanny service for awhile, too.

Now that I've watched several episodes, I've learned a lot about the kiddies. My sister and I agree that Aaden is our favorite. He's the little boy with the glasses so they nickname him "The Professor." He also likes to pretend that he's different animals and even tries to imitate them.

Anyway, if you want to feel like maybe your life isn't that hectic, then watch this show. And it's super cute, too.

P.S. You can find more info about the family on their website.

Checking back in with the Newport Harbor gang

MTV sure is nice - while we wait for the return of The Hills - Paris style, we get to check in with our old Newport Harbor friends.

Last time we saw them, Chrissy was headed to college (UCSB) and Clay was returning for his senior year (ooh, she was dating a younger man - did not know that!) and they decided to try a long distance relationship. Well, it looks like Chrissy took my advice and has found herself a cute little honey (with a cute little name - Billy!) at school. But she was still stringing poor Clay along...

And now she is returning back home for a weekend visit - the first time her and Clay have seen each other since she left! (I'd say about two months later) Unfortunately, Clay is leaving town to go visit colleges. So they have this super awkward dinner at his beach house where he wants to keep dating and she's being wishy washy.

The next night Chrissy has a party so it's too bad Clay can't come. But ALL his friends are there! And guess who else is there? Chrissy's sorority sisters from UCSB! And that's not all! They secretly invited... wait for it... BILLY! (Speaking of which, I think Billy looks sort of like a dark haired Justin Timberlake... thoughts, anyone?)

So now Billy is there with his entourage and there's all this whispering of who's that? Are they dating? What about Clay? etc etc Next thing you know, Chrissy is making out with Billy in front of everyone! Including Clay's friends! And her parents are home! DRAMA!

So Clay's buddy, Grant, leaves Clay a voicemail while at the party to tell him what's up. When Clay returns, he and Grant decide they need to make a trip to UCSB to check things out for themselves.

OK, what??? Grant already saw what was going down - he knows what's up. And now Clay knows, too, so wouldn't it have been simpler if Clay just called out Chrissy on it and be done with it? Is there really a need for the two of these misfits to take an hour and a half trip to SB just to catch his psuedo-GF making out with another dude?

But I don't want to digress from Chrissy's poorly planned PDA... a date with Clay one night where she is too much of a wimp to be honest and lets Clay think they are still hot and steady and then the next night is neckin' with another dude in front of all their friends??? STOOPID.

A movie site that I probably should not have discovered

A long time ago, my old roommate and I had this conversation about how he sat through a really bad movie just because he had to know how it ended. He even joked about creating a website that just gave the ending to movies.

Well, ask and you shall receive! I just recently stumbled onto http://www.themoviespoiler.com/. With such a staightforward URL, I'm surprised I only discovered it now.

I had read this review of the Keira Knightley film, "Atonement", where this young girl makes this accusation about another character and lives are dramatically affected. And well, I was impatient and just had to know what the accusation was so I found the info on this movie spoiler website. It's like a two minute overview of a two hour film. So I loved getting my question resolved right away but then the movie sounded kind of good so now I'm bummed because I already know the ending. (I also now know the ending to "I Am Legend".)

So if you want to know what happens in a movie, but not actually sit through it - see if it's listed here. You've been warned, though - only check it out if you're absolutely sure you don't want to see the movie itself!

James Franco's take on Justin Bobby

I'm currently watching The Hills finale party on MTV. It's cute... they have the whole red carpet thing and so far, I've seen Elodie and Lo make their appearances with Frankie on the way! :P

Anyway, check this out - James Franco and Mila Kunis re-enact a scene from The Hills:

News from the Bravo world

I'm a big fan of Bravo TV. I regularly watch gems like Real Housewives and Project Runway. Plus Bravo had two fun new specials - a Kathy Griffin comedy special and a Top Chef Holiday Cooking Competition.

Anyway, look what I learned. Project Runway's Jack is now dating Top Chef's Dale!

Man candy

Sorry for the lack of posts lately... I've definitely had things to say, just no time to blog about it. (Darn work!)

So it will be just little tidbits here and there for now.

Such as... hello! There was some fine looking man candy out there in TV land last week.

Exhibit A: Henry in Ugly Betty (after sink exposion, ice cream scene, etc...)
Exhibit B: Nate in Gossip Girl (when he was gettin' it on with Blair)

Who knew these boys were so buff???


Note: These comments are made with total respect to the actors that portray Henry and Nate as I am just admiring their physique. :)

Double Take

Has anyone else noticed that Jared's commercial with ballroom dancers at the end? I think it's Edyta and Maks!!!

Getting started on my 2008 New Year's Resolutions

2007 has been a very fun year for me with a bunch of new experiences:

• Exploring Tokyo
• Climbing the Great Wall
• Running my first marathon (twice)
• Going ziplining (thanks, Amanda!)

And I've already thought of one thing that I'd like to accomplish next year:

Change a flat tire.

(Sure would've come in handy last night.)

Happy Holidays!

Aw yeah... it's Christmastime, woo-hoo! I finally busted out the Christmas decor tonight. I don't have much, but I do have enough little items (like my Hallmark snowman below) to make me all merry and festive!



Can't wait to stock up on more Christmas decorations on December 26th! :)

The Smartest and the Dumbest Celebrities

And yet another tip from my sis (maybe she needs to start her own pop culture blog???)

Entertainment Weekly recently published a list with the top 50 smartest people in Hollywood.

Here's the top five:
1. Judd Apatow, director/writer/producer
2. Steven Spielberg, director/producer
3. James Cameron, director/producer
4. Ari Emanuel, partner of the Endeavor Agency
5. Will Smith, actor/producer

In response, the NY Daily News has published a list of the top 50 dumbest people in Hollywood.

And their top five:
1. Lindsay Lohan - poor movie choices ("I Know Who Killed Me"), delinquent behavior and bad taste in men
2. Kim Kardashian - because it is sad when you leak your sex tape and nobody cares
3. Spencer Pratt - who thinks his life on MTV's "The Hills" is reality - and believes we think so, too
4. Jeff Kwatinetz - the man that gave the okay for Britney Spears' disastrous MTV Video Music Awards performance
5. Shia LaBeouf - the 21 year-old "Transformers" star, for getting arrested while refusing to leave a Walgreens pharmacy

Thoughts? Personally, I enjoy any time Spencer Pratt is publicly ridiculed. Surprisingly, Paris Hilton doesn't appear in the dumb list at all which shocks me because she would be my #1, purely for that "dumb voice" she uses intentionally.

Before they were famous...

Another tip from my sister - check it out!


They may look like younger versions of Christina Aguilera, JC Chasez, and Nick Carter but nope, it's our favorite professional ballroom dancers!

If you don't know the story, Mark Ballas (Sabrina's partner and now BF) has parents who I guess are legendary ballroom dancers and they lived in London. Julianne (Helio's partner and winner) and Derek (Kelly Taylor's - oops, I mean Jennie's - partner) Hough were shipped off to London at a young age to train with Ballas' parents. Julianne and Mark became professional partners and Mark and Derek became good friends. The three of them had a singing group when they were younger called 2B1G (get it?) and now Derek and Mark play in a band called Almost Amy.

Aren't they adorable?

YES!!! Mystery solved!

Thanks to my wonderful sister, I have now figured out who Real Housewives' Lauri reminds me of! As you can see to the left, it is the puppet (NOT muppet, which explains why my google searches were unsuccessful), Madame. I'm not sure how we know this character - but it looks like she had a talk show in the early 80s. Anyway, I'm so glad someone knew who I was talking about and that I wasn't crazy - figures it would be my sis! (We come from a weird family, I guess - heehee...)

It's so nice to have this all figured out! Ah, I can now finally watch Real Housewives in peace.

"Last Christmas" for the new generation

Did you guys check out the Christmas specials this week? On Wednesday, I caught a little bit of NBC's Christmas at Rockefeller Center special. Ashley Tisdale, one of the many stars of Disney's megahit High School Musical (and its sequel), was one of the hosts and also performed - singing her version of Wham's "Last Christmas". My sister had "warned" me about this because I guess Ashley also performed this number during the Thanksgiving Day parade and my sister's reaction was something like, "hmmm... I don't think that quite works." Anyway, this time I got to see for myself! And yep, it was weird. First of all, was she even alive when this song came out? Well, I googled this and no, she was born in 1985 and Wham released "Last Christmas" the year before. But I guess it's not that weird... it would be like someone my age re-doing a song from 1974. I'd be curious to hear what today's version of "The Way We Were" would sound like!

OK, back to the performance - check it out and see what you think. It sounds like Ashley is one of those "manufactured" singers, you know, not that good but good enough. It sort of sounded like karaoke at a pre-teen slumber party.



Plus - she was lip syncing the whole time! She wasn't even dancing or anything. Inexcusable. I mean, even Britney managed to sing live during her appearance. Ah, the good ole days...

Project Runway Menswear Edition

Sweet P got pretty lucky this time, huh? Her shirt was a disaster! But everyone's outfit was kind of a mess. And on top of that - boring! And if anyone plans to audition for next season's Project Runway, it's best that you make sure you are well prepared to handle the following challenges beforehand:

- Designing for men
- Designing for women that are REAL sizes, not model thin
- Designing with unusual materials - plants, recyclable materials, grocery items, etc

Anyway, this episode brought back a random memory. Did Sweet P's shirt...


... remind you of the designer-wannabe shirt Denise made for Theo?

Another funny SNL clip

While I was home for the holidays, I happened to catch an old SNL episode on E!. Coincidentally, it was the Lindsay Lohan episode that had the Debbie Downer sketch that I had previously mentioned.

Well, there's another moment from this episode that made me laugh out loud. During Lohan's opening monologue, Rachel Dratch impersonated Hilary Duff, Amy Poehler impersonated Avril Lavigne, and Maya Rudolph impersonated Whitney Houston. While all the women were hilarious, Amy's interpretation of Avril was over the top hysterical!!! She appears about 2 minutes into the clip.

What are your recent downloads?

I'm all about iTunes now. I can't even remember the last time I bought a real, physical CD. In fact, I'm not even sure if I download an entire album anymore - unless it was for a soundtrack, like "Hairspray". Mostly, I just download random singles which is why I love those iTunes gift cards. I buy them for myself sometimes when I'm in line at the grocery or Target. Those came in real handy when I was building my marathon mix.

Anyway, so here's my fun question - what are the last five songs / albums that you've downloaded? (Or purchased - if you are old skool. heehee.)

Here are five tunes I've downloaded this month and that I've been listening to endlessly lately:

• Hate That I Love You - Rhianna w. Ne-Yo
  
• Love Song - Sara Bareilles
  
• Do It Well - Jennifer Lopez
  
• No One - Alicia Keys
  
• Because of You - Ne-Yo

Yeah, yeah, I know - I am totally Top 40. I can't help it! I like catchy songs!

Someone please help me name that muppet!

OK, something on the Real Housewives of Orange County has really been bugging me lately so I thought I'd just throw it out there and see if anyone can help. One of the housewives, Lauri, is often referred to as the "hot" one, MILF if you will. And I just don't get it because to me, she looks like the roughest one out of the bunch! Sure, she has a fit body compared to the others, but her face is just bleh! Like a man in drag. (I'm sorry, but that's the best way to describe it!) And one of the college-age boys once referred to her as the most beautiful woman in the world. Really? Anyway, the thing that bugs me is that every time I see her, she reminds me of an old lady muppet but I can't really place the muppet name or where she's appeared (The Muppet Show? Sesame Street? A Muppet movie?) I've googled and can't find a picture of this muppet. It's not one of the muppets listed here. I know this is a RANDOM question, but if you have any ideas, let me know!

Dancing with the Stars came to an end tonight. I actually enjoyed all the montages (plus it helped that I watched it off my DVR so it was quick to run through). The highlight clips reminded me how much I missed and enjoyed Drew Lachey as the guest host! But I'm glad to have another dance show to look forward to for January.

As for The Hills, is it really possible that we've seen the last of Justin Bobby??? I hope so! Were you guys as pissed as I was when Audrina left with him after their blow up at Opera? I'm glad she dropped him off alone. And could Spencer be any more immature about the wedding stuff?

Top Four "Did You See That?" Moments of the Week

American Music Awards - Well, I thought I was somewhat in touch with the teen set, but apparently not. Who the heck are the Jonas Brothers? Based on their performance at the AMAs, they are "hot stuff" with the tweens. I only mention them here because one of them did a nice recovery after falling during their big stage entrance. And boo for the much too hyped performance by Beyonce. They kept teasing that everyone would be talking about this performance. I expected some extravagant stage number with tons of dancers and flames and other special effects, etc. And it just ended up being a country version of "Irreplaceable" sung with some band called Sugarland.

Project Runway - The caliber of their celebrity guests is growing big time! Check out who visits the designers in the second week of this season. (I would have thought someone like her would be reserved for the finale, you know?)

Dancing with the Stars Results Show - Sabrina and Mark return and do an amazing performance to Avril Lavigne's "Complicated":



Grey's Anatomy - The last scene with Seth Green and his exploding artery. I was screaming when I saw that!!! Was anyone else scared that Bailey got hit between the crashing emergency vehicles? Or is anyone else still worried that Meredith is now stuck under one of them?

Gossip Girl and Project Runway

Gossip Girl: So do you think Chuck really likes Blair or is he just putting on a good show to get in her pants? I'm so confused! It was kinda nice that he bought her that diamond necklace that she wanted and he *was* there at midnight on her birthday, unlike Nate (aka Carrie Underwood's BF) who was having a late night chat with Jenny. Are they going to get together now? Is he still in love with Serena or just moving on? Maybe he just likes girls with long blonde hair! I suppose if I looked up the books, I could figure out what's going to happen but I won't spoil it. Unless the writer's strike continues and there are no more new episodes...

Project Runway: First off, I'm not surprised they saved the wacky one and booted off the boring one with poor execution. Remember Vince from last season??? They'll keep the kooky lady around for a little bit, I bet... And what's up with the models? Is it just me, or are they across the board REALLY bad??? I felt like they just ripped them out of some local modeling school in some mall in NJ or something. They walked funny, didn't seem confident, seemed to be struggling with walking in heels, etc. I didn't feel like any of them were really selling it like the models from season's past.

It's that time of the year again...

... for People Magazine to announce their "Sexiest Man Alive"! And as you can see, this year's winner is Jason Bourne himself, otherwise known as Matt Damon. Not my particular cup of tea, but I consider him a worthy winner. Especially when I read this article where he thought Tom Brady should have received the "honor" instead.

Anyway, congrats to Matt - I remember during the press junkets for the Ocean movies that George Clooney and Brad Pitt would tease him about never having this prestigious honor since they've both been named twice. Heck, even Matt's buddy, Ben Affleck, has received this accolade.

So good for him!

Wow - even HBO is covering this!

OK, I know I'm not a big sports fan but I do realize that Michigan and Ohio State have one of the biggest collegiate rivalries EVER if not *the* biggest. (Is it the biggest? I don't know.)

But still - I was pleasantly surprised to flip to HBO and see that it was airing a documentary on this rivalry. So it's pretty big, huh?

I was enjoying all the wisecracking jokes on OSU by Michigan alumni but I am in a weird position since I'm originally from Ohio but chose to attend Michigan (but c'mon - it *is* the academic superior of the two!) Anyway - jokes on OSU are funny, but jokes on the state of Ohio? Not funny. (And no, I don't remember any of them.)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to finally watching my first Michigan football game this season on Saturday - and if I only watch one, this is the one to watch!

GO BLUE!


** Update: I didn't realize this the first time I visited the site, but there's also a vote so click here and VOTE MICHIGAN!

"You have to crash a brand new car to break it in."

These wise words were uttered during Bravo's The Real Housewives of Orange County (just starting their third season, by the way).

And guess what - no Jo or Slade this season! I'm a little disappointed since Jo was kind of entertaining. But Slade is annoying so I guess that's OK.

I found out some scoop here. Either Jo and Slade declined to appear because of Jo's recording commitments (yes, it's not just Heidi, but her, too) OR Bravo didn't invite them because Jo is no longer a "housewife" (which she never really was in the first place)since her and Slade broke up.

But bonus, rumor is that they may do a spin-off focusing on Jo and her musical ambitions.

Also, being a Big Ten girl, I'm not too familiar with the Cali schools, but I thought Berkeley was the smarty pants one? Apparently Jeana's daughter, Kara, is going there because she didn't get accepted to either of her top two choices, USC and UCLA. I'm worried for this SoCal girl... it's a big culture change to Berkeley.

Random Tomato Adventure that made me laugh

OK, short story - this is a video clip of a woman who decides to spend an entire work day in NYC in a gigantic tomato costume. I'll warn you that it's a long clip, but it made me chuckle - especially the scenes in the subway.



Long story: Back in the day, I was a huge fan of Television Without Pity. This is a very entertaining site that gives lengthy recaps of your favorite shows and because of the witty commentary, the recaps are often more entertaining than the shows themselves. It's a great site to goof off with at work. :) I'm not sure why I don't read it as often now... I guess my own blogs give me enough goof off time. Heehee.

Anyway, one of the founders and editors of TWoP, this person nicknamed "Sars", decided to ask her readers to raise $40,000 for a charity. If they met their goal, she would wear a tomato costume and re-enact a scene from My So-Called Life. I guess it's this "classic" scene after Jordan Catalano first kisses Angela Chase and then she twirls around on the sidewalk and stuff.

Well, I wasn't familiar with this scene so I found it here - it's about six minutes in.

The Great Debate: Should Lauren reunite with Heidi?

"I want to forgive you... [pause] and I want to forget you."

Eee... yikes!

What was your reaction to this? Mine was more of a jaw dropping shock but when watched the aftershow online afterward (first time doing so and it's rather entertaining), the crowd was cheering her on!

So I'm torn (and yes, I know, that it's pretty sad when I get torn over something like this) on whether or not Lauren and Heidi should be friends.

On one hand, Heidi pretty much crawled back to Lauren asking for her forgiveness. She went to Lauren's apartment and even brought pretty yellow flowers! And you know Lauren really missed Heidi's friendship back when her and Audrina had that teary fireside chat at the beach.

And honestly, who cares anymore about the sex video scandal! It's such old news now. It doesn't even matter if they did or didn't have one - even if they did, it's not exactly that scandalous - considering where they live and all. :)

On the other hand, Heidi is in love with a guy who seems to take pleasure in making Lauren miserable. They did a funny thing on the aftershow - they showed the clip of Heidi saying "Spencer doesn't hate you" followed by a montage of umpteen clips from various episodes where Spencer is totally trashing Lauren. Heehee.

So really - how well would their friendship work given the Spencer issue?

Changing topics - what the hell is wrong with Audrina??? Why is she so obsessed with a guy that just looks so filthy and gross and burps incessantly on their dates? And did Sean Kingston send flowers to just her or both her and Chiara?

Next week Heidi and Spencer break up... is this when that fake break up will come into play?

SNL Flashback: Debbie Downer

This post is dedicated to my friend Jen who didn't understand my Debbie Downer reference. This sketch is particularly funny because it's the one with Lindsay Lohan where the actors struggled with keeping straight faces.

Another strike! My world is crumbling...

Egads - Broadway stagehands are now on strike meaning most of the shows were dark yesterday. Theatre-goers were able to get refunds for tickets to canceled shows or exchange the tickets for the next available date. Sucks for the out of town folks that had their hearts on seeing their favorite shows. Shows not affected by the strike are listed here.

So sad. I like my Times Square to be a happy place.

Speaking of Broadway, I got to watch the Broadway musical version of Legally Blonde. MTV actually aired a presentation of it and did this cute thing where they got the girls from The Hills to host it.

I think Legally Blonde debuted in San Francisco before opening on Broadway and I remember listening to a sound clip from the show thinking it was way too cheesy. I was surprised - the tunes from the show are actually kind of catchy. Be warned, the phrase "Omigod - omigod, you guys!" is repeated constantly throughout the show but overall, it's pretty cute with fun song and dance numbers. A lot of the punchlines are straight out of the movie so that was kind of repetitive, but it was still pretty entertaining.

It was interesting to see where they made the musical numbers - some are obvious choices like Elle's Harvard admission "essay" and the "Bend and Snap". But some were kind of random - like our introduction to Brooke Wyndham (Elle's murder suspect / fitness guru / sorority sister) with the jump-roping-on-crack number, "Whipped into Shape".

Click here for a sneak preview. It looks like there should be encore presentations on MTV on November 13th at 11AM.

Holiday Time and Thursday Night TV

I went to Starbucks this morning and yay! It's red cup time, meaning the holidays are finally here! I love seeing red Starbucks cups - makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. But for some reason, I wasn't really paying attention until after I ordered so I got my orange mocha frappuccino light instead of the peppermint mocha version.

I also like all the holiday commercials that are now. Even those cheesy ones from Kay's Jewelers.

Anyway... on to Thursday night TV. My biggest laugh out loud moment was when Amanda broke out into "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yards..." during Wilhemina and Bradford's wedding on Ugly Betty. HILARIOUS! Runner ups: 1) montage of Kenneth's parties on 30 Rock, particularly the Halloween one where Tina Fey dressed up as Harry Potter and 2)Meredith's facial expressions when George and Izzie complained about their lack of chemistry on Grey's Anatomy. Speaking of which, that storyline has been so annoying! They put us through all that ickiness and broke Callie's heart only for them to not end up together because they are bad under the sheets??? Why waste our time, writers??? (By the way, I am totally freaking out about the writer's strike - look how long we have until our favorite shows go into repeats - until who knows when!!! This is serious, people, we might not get Lost until fall 2008, maybe even spring 2009! WAAAHHH!)

Regarding The Office, does anyone else find it interesting that being a new couple has resulted in Pam looking cuter than ever, but Jim is at his scruffiest?

Do you have all the fashion essentials?

On Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, Tim always highlights the "basics" that every woman should have in their closet. I've been meaning to get a copy of this for my reference and here it is!

Tim Gunn’s 10 Essential Items Every Woman Needs

• Basic black dress
  
• Trench coat
  
• Classic dress pants
  
• Classic white shirt
  
• Skirt
  
• Blazer
  
• Day dress
  
• Cashmere sweater
  
• Jeans
  
• A comfortable alternative to a sweatsuit

Outside the cashmere sweater, I think I have something that represents the rest of the items, but they're not perfect. You know, not really nice classic pieces that will last for awhile. And I think that will be the goal... don't know how long it will take, but I hope to be a real grown up and have all the essentials!

By the way, season 4 of Project Runway starts on November 14th - yay!

Earthquake!

So I've been in northern California for over six years now - I've been around for some earthquakes but none that I really remember.

Well, I finally had my first real experience last Tuesday during the 5.6 earthquake in the San Jose area. And I know, these are very serious natural phenomenons and not thrill rides, but since all is safe, I will admit - it was really cool!

I happened to be driving home when it occurred (it was around 8PM) and I saw some friends of mine walking around the neighborhood. I pulled over to chat with them and then it happened. My friend was leaning into my car since we were chatting and then his wife started freaking out a bit.

I did notice some rocking but I honestly thought my friend was shaking my car. (I don't know, he could have been that strong!) So I just sat there in my car while it was rocking (nothing major, it really felt like someone moving it) and it lasted for quite a bit - at least 10 seconds or so. Long enough for us to actually comment that it was still going on.

Anyway, it was cool - it stopped, I drove home, my friends walked home and all is good. Everything was fine in my apartment but I guess those closer to the 'quake had some things move around.

I'm pretty sure we felt an aftershock the next day when I was at work. My building is not exactly the most solid. I'm on the second floor and sometimes when someone is walking by rather heavily, my monitor will kind of shake. But we all felt the shaking and it was pretty major, but brief.

Anyway, hopefully that will be the worse I experience!

Wait - you mean this show isn't 100% real?

I missed Monday's episode of The Hills, but apparently one of the storylines followed Heidi's 21st birthday. If you recall from last season, she spent her 20th birthday in an Audrey Hepburn 'do complete with tiara clubbin' with friends (and avoiding Audrina). This year, she got all dolled up for an intimate dinner with just her and Spencer. And it sounded like she spent most of the dinner convincing herself that she's having a good time.



But when in *reality*, she had a rockin' 21st birthday celebration in Vegas. She even performed!!!



So what do you guys think? I personally enjoyed Spencer's "raise the roof" background support. I know sound quality isn't great, but do you think she was singing at all? Looked like major lip sync action to me. Also, I hope she works out her choreography or performance movements or something... looks kind of silly to me. :)

Anyway, I guess the show producers are completely avoiding Heidi's aspiring singing career and Lauren's fashion line when editing for this show. It's interesting. It seems like Lauren is still working as an intern at Teen Vogue while simultaneously launching her own fashion line. I mean, it's not all fake - she does appear to be doing some grunt work like when she had to help out with the Marc Jacobs crew in NYC. And Heidi would have to balance her time between doing PR in cute pencil skirts at Bolthouse while recording her tunes.

And how about the other people/cast? Like when they hired Elodie's replacement at Bolthouse. Did they really interview real PR people and then say oh, yeah, by the way - you could potentially be a cast member in an MTV drama? Or did MTV people just cast the person themselves?

I'll stop thinking about it now. It'll probably just make my head explode.

Funniest thing I saw on TV last week

Did any of you watch 30 Rock last week? It was HYSTERICAL! As if the "Page Off" wasn't funny enough (how do they come up with these characters???), they also had the best scene EVER with the therapy scene between Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan.

If you're not familiar with the show, it is based on the behind the scenes antics for a Saturday Night Live-like show. Tina Fey is the head writer (somehow she is perfect for this role!), Tracy Morgan is one of the lead actors on the fake show, and Alec Baldwin is the "suit" (I'm not sure if he is just the head of the network or head of the GE corporation that owns the network, but basically he's "The Man" on this show.)

Anyway, Tracy's character has daddy issues so Alec's character sets up a therapy session for him to work the issues out. And then... well, hilarity ensues...

I'll be shocked if Alec doesn't score an Emmy for this alone. He was practically breaking a sweat!

Satisfying season finale to "Damages"

Oy boy - my head is still spinning from all the twists served up in last night's season finale of Damages. This FX series is definitely one of the most intriguing, intelligent, mind-confusing shows this year. And it might not come back! People - if it does come back, watch this show!

After all the questions developed throughout the season, we finally got some answers. I never know where this show is headed with all the crazy twists. Last night alone we learned:

• Patty ordered the attack on Ellen, not Frobisher, and Uncle Pete helps!
  
• The bearded guy is actually a cop! (thus able to retrieve the one clue from Ellen and David's apartment)
  
• Mr. Nye is not another bad guy after all, and is actually in cahoots with the FBI (I knew that old guy couldn't be bad!!!)
  
• Greg's confession tape was ironically hidden in the Statue of Liberty bookkend that was used to kill David by the thugs trying to find the aforementioned tape
  
• Ellen actually agrees to help the FBI and goes back to work with Patty

And karma is a bee-yotch, huh? That rat ends up getting shut out of the settlement and then kills Frobisher as revenge.

Well, I hope the show comes back - I will definitely be watching! It's fun to watch Glenn Close wig out!

Dancing with the Stars

Dude - did you guys see Marie Osmond pass out on tonight's show??? I went from "what a silly prankster" to "holy crap, is she OK?". That was scary. Is this show live? I'm surprised they showed that. She fell hard... I wonder if she got a bump on her head.

Tyce Diorio rocks!

As I happily bummed around my apartment on Saturday in preparation for my second first marathon :P, I was happy to discover that MTV was running a marathon of its own - of Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance! (i.e. the Benji / Travis season)

I got to see some of my favorite performances including Ivan and Allison's contemporary piece to Why by Annie Lennox. (This is the one where Allison is wearing a black slip dress and Ivan is wearing black button down and pants.) This whole time I thought that had been a Mia Michaels piece but no, it was actually choreographed by Tyce Diorio!

You know, I think he might be my favorite all around choreographer because he can do pieces like that plus all his fun Broadway ones, like Benji and Donyelle's Hairspray, Shauna and Jimmy's Ease on Down the Road, the group Lion King, etc.

My least favorite? Dan Karaty. He is so generic and boring compared to all the other choreographers. He typically choreographs "pop" routines, which is described as hip hop with jazz elements or something like that.

Anyway, there was this school kid routine he did with Lacey and Kameron this season to Fergie. Lacey was this sassy girl and Kameron was chasing her around. Well, it turns out that he pretty much copied this routine from one he did last season with Natalie and Musa to Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous.

I don't even like him as a judge, either. I don't feel like he gives any good, solid feedback, just criticizes them. I think he is just jealous of the dancers. heehee

Potential Guilty Pleasure Alert: Pageant Place

So I haven't had a chance to watch a full episode yet - BUT I think this Pageant Place show on MTV might be pretty entertaining.

Everyone knows about the Tara Connor (former Miss USA) scandal. She was sent to rehab after it was reported that she was partying too hard, doing drugs, etc. It seems that the one who reported her was her former friend, current Miss Teen USA (Katie Blair) - who supposedly did it because she thought Tara was trying to steal her boyfriend or something (not that it wasn't true, but still - harsh!)

Anyway, back to Pageant Place. Donald Trump came up with the idea to get Miss Teen USA, Miss USA, and Miss Universe to all live together in an apartment in NYC and film the drama that results. But that's not all - Trump also decides to bring back former Miss USA and add her to the mix as well.

Potential for lots of cat fights, people! Miss Teen USA and former Miss USA for the reasons mentioned above. Current Miss USA (the one that fell on her bum) is pissed that Tara is being brought back because this is supposed to be "her year". And who knows, maybe Miss USA is pissed at Miss Universe for beating her in the *worldwide* competition. :P

Weird thing... the current commercials show conflict between the reigning Mis Teen USA and Miss USA. Drama!

Comcast is not my friend

Well, believe it or not, folks - this month has been so crazy that I have not even been able to keep up with my beloved TV shows!!!

Thus the reason behind no posts.

I usually keep up with my Thursday shows so I was so excited to dive into my DVR recordings tonight. And yes, it did record 30 Rock, The Office, Ugly Betty, and Grey's Anatomy... sort of. The video was there but I don't know what the sound was... but it was the same thing on all of them! Some weird, boring documentary or something. Not only that, my DVR even split up some of my shows into different recorded segments!

Comcast has been poopy this week. First, I had no sound. Second, the box was frozen (thus did not record ANYTHING during my trip this week). And now - video but with different sound!

*sigh*

Anyway, on a separate note - come on, Tribe! Just one more win - give the Red Sox the boot!

Halfway through premiere week and the shows are rockin'!

So much to comment on! My thoughts so far...

The Hills

I know Lauren has her flaws, but she's awesome in my book. Her facial expressions when Jason first told her that he had a girlfriend and that they were moving in together were hilarious. Then to hear they're engaged!!! Crazy. She's totally right, though. Why would you get engaged when you're A) only 20, B) have only been dating for seven (or 6? or maybe only 4?) months, and C) are just out of rehab. What a bonehead. I loved when Lauren commented that when she's engaged, she would hope that it's not announced at a keg party. As for Heidi and Spencer... *sigh* Who even cares anymore? Shopping for wedding dresses, registering at C&B, and Spencer hasn't even told his parents yet? What a pathetic relationship. It's pretty sad when Jen Bunney is the voice of reason.


Damages

As much as I love all the twists and turns this show offers... I'm getting pretty impatient and just want to know what the heck happens at the end! I wish I had waited until the show was over in the hopes that FX would air an all day marathon. Now that would be enjoyable - if not a waste of an entire day. If that does happen, I'll let you know - it's a really great, suspenseful show.


Dancing with the Stars

I knew Sabrina was gonna rock it. I've seen the Cheetah Girls movies (don't judge) and I've always thought she was the best dancer out of the bunch, and they're all pretty good (the others being two of the members from girl group 3LW, both in attendance, and Raven Symone - as in "That's So Raven!"). Her facials were over the top which would normally bug me, but I felt they fit right in on this show. I'm curious to see how she performs in classic ballroom next week. I'm sure she'll be great.

Drew Lachey is doing an awesome job filling in for Samantha Harris. Can we make him a permanent replacement? Please???? I really enjoy his backstage on-the-fly banter, so much more natural than Samantha who often made me cringe during her interviews. Drew's comments about the male pro dancers over-styled hair serving as helmets made me chuckle.

I was pleased with the guys night. I thought it was going to be a big snooze fest after the amazing performances from the ladies, but there were some surprises. For me personally, Helio jumped from "Who cares?" status at the beginning of the show to "I love this guy!" by the end. He's so smiley and happy and he really cracks me up. He has an awesome partner with current champ Julianne who I feel is consistently delivering an "in it to win it" attitude in every single of one her performances so far this season (as in the pro dancers routines or dancing with Helio).

Floyd has turned out to be the biggest disappointment in my book. All the guys considered him their toughest competition - they don't have anything to worry about. Carrie called it - it's like he attacks the dance too much. Maybe he'll be different with the ballroom. Did anyone else find it weird that the two people most hot and bothered from Albert Reed's hip shaking dance performance were Len and Bruno???

Too bad for Alec Mazo - first to get the boot again! But it was cute that he asked everyone to vote for his professional partner and new bride, Edyta, in the future.


Gossip Girl

This is definitely becoming one of my new favorite shows. I like the characters, the storylines, the clothes, the settings... all fun. And as much as I hate hate hate this Chuck character, I love love love the Dan character. I mean, he might be one of my favorite guys on TV... right up there with Jim Halpert! The comment that Chuck's black eye looks lonely, walking in circles outside Serena's hotel, the apology about the "wave"... such a cutie! Although I wish he hadn't walked out on Serena at the end. The romance can't die there, can it? (Embarrassing confession: I am very tempted to start reading the teen-targeted book series to learn more about what happens!) Blair and Chuck are just like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe's characters from "Cruel Intentions" - evil, but entertaining. And who are these stoopid girls that keep hooking up with Chuck??? I don't find one iota of him attractive. On a side note - this show makes me so excited about my upcoming trip to NYC! Can't wait!!!


Newport Harbour

I love Allie's comment to her dad about not asking for a graduation present... she just wants a full summer trip in Europe. Nice... And c'mon, do we really expect Clay and Chrissy to maintain a long distance relationship while she goes away for school? They're relationship seems so shallow... oh wait, sorry, I forgot these are high school kids. Never mind. Anyway - Chrissy, go for the cute college boys!!!

That's it for now... I'm sure I'll have much to post on Thursday night's must see TV!!!

AHHHH - it's fall season premiere week!!!

I'm in trouble. With less than two weeks before my marathon debut, I know I should be focusing on my training and more importantly, REST!, but how am I supposed to do this when work is piling up and hello!!! so many of my favorite shows are returning???!

I can't verify these are all premiering this week, however, here is what I am planning to add to my DVR. (Once I clear out all of last season's So You Think You Can Dance episodes...) New shows are marked with an * since I'm not sure I want to commit any precious DVR space just yet.

Monday

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Heroes (NBC)

Tuesday

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
The Reaper* (The CW)

Wednesday

Pushing Daisies* (ABC)
Private Practice (reluctantly) (ABC)
Dirty Sexy Money* (ABC)
Gossip Girl (The CW)

Thursday

30 Rock (NBC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

Sunday

Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)


If you're not as excited as I am, check out the following clips. (BTW - these definitely will debut this week - WOOHOO!):

The Office (NBC, Thursday, 9PM)




Ugly Betty (ABC, Thursday, 8PM)




Grey's Anatomy (ABC, Thursday, 9PM)




What are you planning to check out???

Star Wars casting scoop

I am thoroughly enjoying my lazy Saturday today. (Well, not that lazy - I did run 12 miles this morning. In the rain!) It's like the TV programmers knew I was going to be a bum today... MTV is running a marathon of this past season's So You Think You Can Dance and ABC Family is running a marathon of Ugly Betty! Yippee!

But for now, I'm parked at A&E for this Star Wars documentary called, "Star Wars: Empire of Dreams". It's a pretty cool special documenting the making of the original trilogy. I love this "behind the scenes" kind of scoop.

They just went through some of the casting, where they showed screen tests of various actors. Kurt Russell was almost Hans Solo. William Katt (Great American Superhero, the nice boy with the frizzy blonde hair in the Stephen King film, "Carrie") was almost Luke Skywalker, a character that was once called Luke Skykiller(???). And Cindy Williams (Shirley from Laverne & Shirley) was almost Princess Leia!!!

Well, I'm happy with the choices they made.

From the east coast to the west coast...

Some random thoughts after tonight's episode of Newport Harbour:

• Allie and Samantha are a serious pair of dum-dums... how is it possible that they are graduating?
  
• Chrissy and Clay are kind of a cute couple, I guess
  
• Chase has good taste in pizza (no pun intended)
  
• Taylor's hair is about a foot too long for me

I also caught the premiere of Gossip Girl on the CW. It's been awhile since I've been hooked on a fictional high school drama - couldn't really get into The O.C., One Tree Hill, or the like... BUT I think this one might have just earned a spot on my DVR list. First of all, it features a voice-over by Miss Kristen Bell which is nice since Veronica Mars is gone. Oh wait, that was a high school show, wasn't it? OK, forget what I said earlier. Anyway, I guess the show is based on some book series and it's about a bunch of kids that attend a prep school in NYC. I like all the characters, except for sleazy Chuck (aka potential date rapist), and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the new potential romance develops between popular and rich Serena (played by the soccer player girl from "The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants") and the not-so-rich, not well known but still kinda cool Dan.

Seinfeld Poster Challenge

Some fun from tbs.com... There are 38 Seinfeld references in this picture - can you find them all?

Beyonce - Best Dressed of 2007?

I'm so confused. People Magazine named Beyonce as one of the top ten best dressed of 2007.

Um... okay... I'm just confused because these are Beyonce's looks that I remember from this year:


Academy Awards


BET Awards


Golden Globe Awards

Ah, the wonderful Prom Episode!!!

Prom episodes of Laguna Beach - and now Newport Harbour - are the best. But again, I have to go back to my usual curiosity - is this really what teenagers do today, or is this just the MTV world? Specifically - the extravagant methods of securing a prom date. (Although I think the ones in this episode pale in comparison from previous years... hello - gorilla suits!!!) And if it is really like this in the real world, is it because of Laguna Beach? I mean, don't you think the producers forced the first season gang (Trey, Steven, Dieter, etc.) to do something big for their prom date requests? And now it's an expected thing - a new tradition! So where did it start? It's another chicken-or-the-egg dilemma...

Did it seem weird that Chrissy and Taylor got their nails done together? I mean Taylor has this on-off thing with Chase, and Chrissy smooched him - so wouldn't that be awkward?

Let's talk dresses... Sasha and Allie wore the same dress, right? I think I had a Barbie doll with a similar outfit, except I think it was more of a nightgown thing. Speaking of which, Chrissy's dress sort of looked like a Barbie doll dress as well. And Allie and Samantha sure do like their pink, huh? I guess the Pretty in Pink party wasn't enough, since they did pink again with prom.

Sasha seems like a cool chick (compared to the rest of the gang, anyway). I loved when she asked Grant, "Why are you staring at me?" 'Cuz he's drunk and he's hoping you'll make out with him! (Notice him grabbing her leg later that night.) Grant in his fancy prom duds stumbling on the exercise bike was hilarious!

Finally, a couple of random questions:

• Does Allie remind anyone else of Brooke Hogan?
  
• How much is Chrissy's dad gonna punish her (and Clay, probably) after seeing this episode???

Tidbits on My Boys

Finally - the real reason between the animosity between Kenny and Stephanie!!!

And Andy's wife, Meredith, is actually played by Jim Gaffigan's real-life wife! (Jim Gaffigan plays Andy.)

One of the funniest things I watched on TV last week...

I finally caught an episode of HBO's Flight of the Conchords this past weekend. Of course, it happened to be the season finale. Ah well... hopefully, there will be re-runs.

Anyway, this show is hilarious! I didn't know anything about it when I tuned in, but from what I can tell - it's about these two New Zealand guys, living in NYC, that make up a band called Flight of the Conchords. It's very quirky and has an indie-film feel to it. Some of the scenes with their manager totally crack me up.

But the best part for me? When one of the main characters gets all mad after being replaced in the band, he starts to break out in dance. But not just any dance - a Kevin Bacon-worthy Footloose performance!!!

Check it out:

Monday Night TV thoughts

Soooooo much to comment on... but it's really late and I should really go to bed. But before I do, some quick comments on all the super good TV that was on tonight.

As usual, nice twist on The Closer. And I'm so happy that Brenda and Fritz are happy together again. But I am sad that it was the season finale...

My Boys - yay for two episodes, but again, boo that the season is now over. That was a crazy short season - what's up with that? And did they seriously leave us hanging by not telling us who PJ invited to Italy??? I'm guessing it was Thorn... who else would have made her that upset when she thought she was stood up?

The Hills - grrrr... despite the appearances of Jason, Justin, AND Spencer - I am still the most annoyed about Heidi getting that stupid promotion! First of all, I doubt she is qualified and second, she stole it from Elodie!!! I like Elodie. Personally, I find the whole "new events director position - with an office" thing highly suspicious. Seems just something the producers purely invented to create more drama. Heidi and Spencer are both going to H-E-double hockey sticks, if you ask me.

The Pick Up Artist - yay, they finally kicked out Pradeep!!! It's about time. He's annoying AND a horrible wingman.

"It's Britney, Bitch" - um, I beg to differ...

I will freely admit that I was pretty excited to hear that Britney was going to open up the MTV VMA awards. I haven't watched that show in years, but I was definitely going to tune in for the return of Britney. I mean, she had some amazing VMA performances! I'm not even talking about the python or Madonna smooch - I'm old school, so I liked that first school girl routine that was sort of a medley with N Sync. The following year, she did the Oops routine in that flesh colored sparkly outfit that may or may not have inspired my Halloween costume that year.

So if you want my take on her performance, read on...

In short, it was a complete disaster and huge disappointment. I can think of umpteen million things that went wrong and not one single thing that went right. This performance does Britney's career no favors - I honestly believe she would have been better off if she had not performed at all.

From what I remember, here's what did not work for me. I'm sure I will miss a bunch of points, but her performance was such a dud that I can't bear to replay it on my DVR to give a complete analysis.

• First shot was a close-up of Miss Brit. OK, I know she's still growing out her hair but yuck! What was up with the nasty blonde hair? The roots looked horrible! I wonder if she meant to wear a hat and then something went wrong last minute? It just did not look performance ready
  
• Then I noticed the blue eyes, which sort of scared me at first - like she looked possessed! And maybe she was... at least something would explain her performance then
  
• Then we pan down to her outfit... oh boy. Why, why, why? The bra / hot pants combo was such a bad idea... hey, she's had two kids, I don't expect her to have a tight bod, but I don't think she should be flaunting her bare midriff either. I couldn't ignore the belly and the booty... but maybe people are into that.
  
• As usual - the lip sync. She didn't even try to make it look like she was singing!
  
• Then there was the overall performance. It was like she was just running through a dress rehearsal or something - it was so half-assed. The dancing was weak, she looked like an amateur sticking out amongst all the professional dancers (NOT the Britney I once knew!) I don't know - maybe she couldn't shake it that much with those stiletto boots?
  
• And as if that wasn't bad enough, the producers would then pan the audience for reaction shots - Rihanna, P. Diddy, and 50 cent all had expressions of "What the hell?"

Ugh, that's all I have to say about it. It almost makes me sad... that's not the Britney I had once idolized a long long time ago. What happened to her???

I guess MTV was still smart to put her on first, as I ended up tuning in for the rest of the show - at least Chris Brown and Rihanna managed to put on a worthy performance.

Update: Alicia Keys rocked, too

More of The Hills ...

You know, sometimes I think I should re-title this blog as "I Watch Bad TV So You Don't Have To". It's an addiction, I tell you, an addiction!

(AY - good luck surviving!)

I'm really bad at noticing plastic surgery. It's just not very obvious to me, unless someone points it out of course.

For example, during the recent episode of The Hills, Heidi met up with Jen Bunney for brunch. First thing Heidi says: "You look so different!" And Jen did look different, but I couldn't figure out why. I didn't think it was plastic surgery because it's not like she looked prettier or anything. But apparently, that's what it was! (Click here for picture)

I guess it's the thing to do on The Hills. I personally didn't think Heidi really needed a nose job either, but what do I know.

Also, what are your thoughts on the term "homeboy" or "homey"? It seems like the kids on this show use this term a lot (both girls and guys, ex. Lauren's hilarious comment that "homeboy wore combat boots to a barbeque - I know you don't want to call that your boyfriend") Anyway, I'm starting to notice this term a lot more in random blogs, too, so just curious if this is regaining popularity. (After all, Laguna Beach did give us the gift of "Dunzo")

MTV whore :)

I've been watching The Hills and it's been bugging me why that Frankie dude looked so familiar. But today I remembered! He was on that other MTV docu-drama, twentyfourseven. Do you remember this show? It was short lived and followed the lives of seven up and coming Hollywood "hotshots". Frankie was the party promoter one... he was in charge of getting all the ladies to their club openings.

So it looks like Brody and Frankie really are the new couple! And even recently double dated with the Duff sisters! (How small is that town, anyway?)

On a separate topic... what's with all the Nelly Furtado bits on MTV? Does she have an album coming out soon? Or an MTV special? I don't get it.

Things that made me squirm this week...

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina and her enlightening response to the geography question:



And ones that just don't need a video clip...

• Big Brother 8's Eric and Jessica sharing their first kiss
  
• Kissing lessons on VH1's The Pick Up Artist
  
• Jason Wahler "rapping" on MTV's Celebrity Rap Superstar
  
• The episode of A&E's Gene Simmons Family Jewels which documented Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed getting face lifts

Who are our sassy heroines of today?

OK, please be patient with me as this is a pretty random topic... (I know, what else is new?)

So today I caught a little bit of "Superman Returns" on HBO during my very relaxing labor day holiday. I remembered liking it when it first came out in theatres... enjoyed Brandon Routh's portrayal with his pretty blue (OK, fake) eyes. But the casting of Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane bugged me because she is sooo unlike Margot Kidder. Now, I don't know all the details behind the making of this new film so maybe there was a reason for casting the little waif-like, baby-face actress. But for me, I loved the chemistry in the original films between Kidder and Christopher Reeve as Superman / Clark Kent. Lois Lane was just such a cool character - a sassy, ballsy, guy's gal, tough chick, etc.

Same goes for Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. I love Star Wars, but I'm not a die hard fan, since the pre-quel trilogy was a huge disappointment for me. Again, they didn't have that humorous playful chemistry that the originals had with Leia and Hans Solo.

And I was thinking about it... are there actresses from today's generation that could capture the "magic" that Margot Kidder and Carrie Fisher gave in their legendary performances? Someone that could portray the whole "sassy, ballsy, guy's gal, tough chick" - someone that could be considered sexy, but not be an obvious sex symbol but funny, too.

I couldn't really think of anyone that was a perfect fit, but here are some that I think could possibly work:

• Jennifer Garner
• Reese Witherspoon
• Anne Hathaway

I don't know... what do you think?

Wrap Up of random things from TV this week

Here's some random comments from things I've seen on TV last week:

Newport Beach
Is it wrong to have a "Pretty in Pink" theme for a 32nd birthday party???

Top Chef
Dude, the chopping wars were awesome! I don't know what Casey was doing to those onions... she was cutting as slow as I would. Sara rocked! Diced onions were flying everywhere! And then Hung with those chickens? He scares me.

Big Brother and that new Drew Carey game show
To win HoH (head of household), houseguests had to guess the results of polls on various BB situations. For example, what percent of voters thought so and so looked best in the bunny outfit? There were a whole series of these and I thought, what a stupid game!!! Who cares! I didn't realize the whole game was just an advertisement of the new Drew Carey game show (in addition to The Price is Right) - the Power of 10.

Preview of Big Shots show
So I caught a commercial of that new Big Shots show while watching the Ugly Betty rerun. I had high hopes since it does have Michael Vartan (yum) but I have to say, the show looks completely obnoxious. It focuses on a group of four, young, rich, high-powered CEOs and all their "problems" with their women and their work stuff. Actually, only the scenes with Christopher Titus and Dylan McDermott bugged me. BUT they do have a good time slot this fall on Thursdays after Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.

Real World and DHV

So on this week's episode of VH1's The Pick Up Artist, we learned about the importance of demonstrating a higher value, or DHV.

For example, in last night's Real World-Sydney, I would have given Irish girl Noirin a decent DHV. But once she started snoggin' Isaac (sorry - still in Harry Potter mode) at the club, she immediately plummeted to a DLV in my book. Isaac is kind of ick. Don't even remind me about when they got back to the house.

The whole Dunbar-Parisa thing... sad! Dunbar to Parisa: "I respect you the most so I'm going to be the rudest to you." Parisa to Dunbar: "I'll tell you what I think by writing you a letter."

These people are so dysfunctional... why am I watching this???

LOL - Do people really speak in IM???

I have another random comment about the recent episode of The Hills. I recently asked my friend JW if people actually spoke in IM abbreviations (LOL, BRB, LMAO - I'm not hip enough to know any others...) I originally thought this was limited to the teenage scene but I got my answer while watching The Hills yesterday.

Upon learning of Heidi and Spencer's engagement, Elodie's first response was "O. M. G." Literally. And I've always considered her one of the brighter ones on this show. Although I guess it's not really a bad thing... you're just being more efficient in your oral communications, right?

On a related topic (but not really) - how come Elodie appears to be much more tolerant of Spencer this season? I like when people on the show trash him!

Looks like I will be tuning into Heroes this fall...

I really appreciate you guys who check in from time to time to hear my random thoughts on TV and what not. And I know a lot of you don't really care about American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance and although I do stand by my position that it's my blog and I'll write what I want :), I also try to make an effort from time to time to mention things that I know you guys are more interested in.

For example, I tried to get into Heroes last season. But it never hooked me in. Well, I'm going to give it another try this fall because they just cast one of my fave actresses, Kristen Bell, from one of my fave shows (RIP), Veronica Mars.

Michael Ausiello just posted a great interview with her to discuss her new Heroes gig and other projects.

Some highlights:

• She was honored to be considered for Lost, but ultimately chose Heroes because she could stay in Los Angeles and she is already friends with several people from that show
  
• She will appear in at least 13 episodes which could possibly be extended
  
• She would love to go back to Broadway and hinted that maybe she'd consider appearing in the musical version of Legally Blonde in the spring
  
• A movie version of Veronica Mars is something that both she and creator Rob Thomas would love to do (which would be awesome!)
  

A very satisfying ending...

I finally finished the last of the Harry Potter books tonight. Still digesting everything, but.... wow.

That J.K. Rowling sure can tell a good story.

:)

FINALLY! Heidi proves she's not a complete idiot

For once, Heidi made me cheer for her tonight. It made me so giddy with happiness to see Spencer's shocked expression when he came home to discover Heidi painting over his "Hollywood" graffiti mural, aka one of Spencer's many "surprises". Good times, good times. This made up for his stupid-ass comment earlier in the episode when he explained how he used to think marriage was only for guys that couldn't get laid and who would give half their money away. (Argh...)

Oh and remember when I was wondering about that Umbrella song at the end of The Hills premiere? I think it's Mandy Moore! Check out the video below...



And remember crazy Brooke from Real World Denver? The girl that was always having screaming / crying fits? Well, apparently she's dating Evelyn from that Fresh Meat season! She's bi !!! Who knew! Wasn't she always talking about making her gay roommate straight?

One more thing...

Since you know I like to be in the loop on all the big buzz items in pop culture, I'm sure I will be checking this out at some point this weekend.

:)

Random comments on a Friday afternoon

One follow up comment on the SYTYCD finale, I was surprised that they didn't do an encore performance of Lacey and Kameron's Mia Michaels contemporary piece from the first competition show.

Also, I just discovered that there's a My Boys blog by the actor that plays Brendan, aka Brando. In his latest blog, he mentions that there were scenes from the last episode ($$$ problems) that were actually shot in Chicago off Lake Shore Drive. I wonder which scenes because all the exterior shots looked like they were shot on a lot to me. Maybe the one outside Bobby's apartment/penthouse? Or the yoga one? Definitely not outside the Brazilian restaurant.

Click here to see photos from the upcoming "The Dark Knight" film, the sequel to "Batman Begins". Heath Ledger is pretty creepy looking as the new Joker.

One more to go...

So I finally finished Harry Potter Book 6 - The Half Blood Prince. (I know, I'm way off my schedule.) I could comment... but I think I'll just wait until I finish the whole thing - at this rate, who knows when that will be?

But drop me a line if you've read or are reading them, too. I know I will definitely want to discuss when I'm through.

Sabra Rocks!

Well, it seemed like everyone knew that Sabra and Danny would be in the final two - and the adorable Sabra won the whole thing! Who would have thought? That's actually pretty impressive because I don't think she got any exposure during the audition shows, right? And it just shows... you don't have to be able to do a million turns to win! She's a little powerhouse, you know? Like Lacey commented, she really is all muscle, huh?

I liked all the dances that got "encore" performances, but the main thing I will take away from the season finale was the DISAPPOINTING "performance" between Cat and Nigel that they kept teasing about throughout the whole finale. I kept thinking that silly video was just the opener and that after it was over, the two would come out on stage and do a dance. C'mon ... the other show did it! Both Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris from Dancing with the Stars did performances with the professional dancers and they ended up being cute routines. I'm very disappointed in those Cat and Nigel.

And I had no idea that good-bye song was from Ryan Cabrera! His live version wasn't so hot, though. However, it was definitely a better performance than Nicole from PCD. (BTW - Did she drop her last name?) I thought the staging was lame with the whole singing inside the box and the weak choreo... I appreciated that she sang most of it live, however, that song is eh. Is that her debut single? She didn't have anything better?

Another random note - Neil actually has a pretty TV-friendly face. And they've already established this week that the girls adore him... I could really see him being a breakout star here. Like the next Zac Efron (any of you catch that reference???).

Also, what are your thoughts on the American Band show? I don't think that will make the cut for me this fall, how about you?

Heidi Montag's new single... or maybe not?

In case you missed it, Ryan Seacrest debuted the first single from aspiring pop singer Heidi Montag, aka Lauren's ex-BFF from The Hills. It features a rap by her beau Spencer Pratt (I know!)... more on that later.

You can hear it here.

But now it seems that this song is NOT the intended debut single of Heidi (although it is her and Spencer "singing"/rapping) - supposedly they were just messing around in the studio and her record company leaked it out. Apparently, Heidi is very distraught that this single is our first impression of her "singing" ability and has been crying all day long.

The song isn't that bad... as you'd expect, it's very processed like a Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton song. And I hate myself for saying this... but Spencer's rap isn't bad, either. If I hadn't known it was him, I might have actually liked it.

Let me know what you think.

For Office Fans...

Dunder Mifflin has a new website! Actual content is limited, however, it does include a press release highlighting Ryan's new promotion! :)

For Lost Fans...

If you like behind-the-scenes stories, here's an interesting article about how Lost was first created. It explains why Jeffrey Lieber shares "Created by" credits with Lost rockstars JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof.

Another TV tip - VH1's The Pickup Artist

OK, guys, here's another show I'm going to throw out there... The Pickup Artist on VH1. It's a competition show where "Mystery" (aka The Pickup Artist) and his two wingmen coach 8 awkward dudes on how to pick up chicks. Kind of like Hitch. I was a little skeptical at first, because Mystery is not exactly the cat's meow in my book, but he appears to have some well thought out strategies and so far it's been quite interesting! There's only been two episodes so far and it's just so funny to hear how they break it all down.

For example, here's some terminology introduced in the second episode:

• Avatar (personal image): All the guys were told they blend in too much so they were each told to give themselves a makeover and create a unique look for themselves. Some worked out well (Spoon and his new mohawk and ear piercings) and others (the 45 yr old in hip hop clothes) not so much
  
• Gambit (opening line): The guys were then taught the value of a good opener - the point of which is to create interest in you, without appearing too interested in them. They guys were then taught a whole set of canned, "proven" openers to try out at the bar that night. They pretty much all seemed like survey questions, like "Hey guys - do you floss before or after you brush?" or "My friend's girlfriend kissed a girl - is that cheating?" or "Is it OK to have strippers at my friend's bachelor party?". Another tip - "Hey - want to see me breakdance?" is not a good opener
  
• Set (a group of people): The guys' competition in this episode was to see who could best open a set. The guys were videotaped talking to people at a bar while Mystery and his wingmen watched and commented. Let me tell you - sports commentary on pick up attempts is hilarious!
  

Overall - good show. Very entertaining!

The Hills!!!

Before we begin... yay for the SYTYCD final four, Lacey, Sabra, Danny, and Neil! I'm happy with those choices. I'm so sad the show is ending though. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if some of the good ballroom dancers went on to Dancing with the Stars? You know, like Pasha, for example.

As for the Hills... yay, the gang is back! And I've got LOTS of comments!

First episode:

• So - was there a sex tape or not? And I could see Spencer starting that rumor - but Heidi?
  
• Spencer and his fishtank - ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Seriously, what is wrong with this kid?
  
• C'mon, Whitney, Lauren's London boy was cute!
  
• Speaking of which, I can appreciate Lauren wanting to date like a guy... but she was getting kind of annoying with boasting about her "jackpot" at the club
  
• Jen Bunney and her "focusing on real friendships"... PLEASE!!! Did she forget that Heidi basically told her to beat it when she visited her at Bolthouse after the Brody scandal?
  
• Ooh - catfight at Les Deux! It almost got as intense as when Alex bitched out Jessica in Cabo. Almost. But it was still good.
  
• Yay, it's Elodie! Diggin' the new brunette 'do...
  
• Random comment - I'm a big fan of Lauren and all her "frocks"
  
• What version of the Umbrella song did they play at the end of the first episode? Was that Rhianna? I like the original version better.

Second episode:

• Spencer's "gift".... where do we even begin? Obviously, the fish tank was not really an indication of the *horrible* taste Spencer has in home decor. Graffiti??? All over the living room??? In a really nice apartment??? Heidi - how many red flags does a girl need?!!!! Geesh.
  
• OK, first impression of Justin, Audrina's ex - did anyone see that coming? I was *not* expecting a long-haired, artsy looking fellow - especially one that wants to be nicknamed Bobby.
  
• YAY - Lo is back! And I'm with her, I prefer a guy who is good already - none of this bad boy nonsense
  
• Lauren is *really* good at giving the evil death stare - has Audrina learned nothing from the Heidi fiasco?
  
• How many cats do these girls have?
  
• Spencer is so incredibly lame when he was shopping for rings... "Where's the bling?" Ick. As for the proposal... well, I just don't get why Heidi loves him so much.
  

The teasers for the rest of the season look awesome! Whitney kisses Brody? Lauren hangs out with Jason again? Lauren and Jason run into Heidi and Spencer? Can't wait!

Darn MTV - why did you have to debut Newport Harbor afterward? I need to get to bed!!! I'll comment on that one later...

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Big Brother, Real World - Sydney and other random comments

It's so nice to have movie channels! It's like having my own little Netflix because I get to check out so many new movies. Well, new to me, that is.

For example, I had a nice relaxing Friday evening watching Breakfast at Tiffany's - a classic Audrey Hepburn film. It was good - although there were a couple of items that totally threw me off. First off, Audrey's character, Holly Golightly is horrible to her poor cat! Of course, all is well by the end of the movie, but there were a couple of scenes during the film that I found horrifying! Poor little furball. But the cat treatment is NOTHING compared to Mickey Rooney's role in the film. Maybe this is well known to others, but not to me. For some reason, they decided to cast Mickey Rooney as Holly's cranky and eccentric neighbor that lives upstairs. Oh, did I mention the neighbor is also supposed to be Japanese???!!! His portrayal was so over-the-top with his facial expressions and "accent" and well, pretty much offensive and would NEVER fly in today's world. It's just so weird! I mean, you know, Mickey Rooney, right? He's that cute little old guy that used to be in all those movie musicals with Judy Garland when he was younger? Anyway, I'll always look at him differently now...

I also half-watched Dukes of Hazzard. Woah, they weren't kidding when they said Jessica Simpson couldn't act. I mean, it's not like she had to do much in this film - it wasn't a drama or anything! Seriously, every line was painful to watch. BUT - she did look amazing, I'll give her that.

Just Like Heaven - a chick flick with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, set in San Francisco. You'd think this would be a slam dunk for me, right? Surprisingly, no, it really wasn't. Didn't buy the chemistry... also I didn't really buy Reese as a doctor, which surprised me.

Over to the TV world... I caught bits and pieces of Real World - Sydney. First impressions - I don't think Kelly Anne is all that cute. Along those lines, I don't think Dunbar is all that hot either. And Parisa looks so much better in her interviews than in the day to day shots.

I was also going to post that people should check out Big Brother if for nothing else, to check out grown adults living in the house wearing full sized furry bunny suits. It's pretty amusing, I must say. But they have this guy - nicknamed Evil Dick - who's just that. Evil and a dick. He's just so cold and mean and says the cruelest things to all the other houseguests. And I think it's more than just game playing strategy - I think he really is that mean and cruel. And it's even worse because now other people are stooping to his level. They are lashing back with mean comments that they probably wouldn't say but they've just been egged on so much. It's not even entertaining anymore - it's just sad and depressing.

On to much more exciting news - The Hills is back tonight!!! YAY!!!