Hodgepodge of random comments

Have you heard about the new Harry Potter theme park? I would love to go! Won't that be so cool? We could all hang out in Hogsmeade!

Coming to Orlanda in 2009: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter



Also, the Cavs are in the NBA finals??? No way! OK, you know I don't follow sports, but I managed to catch this headline. How exciting! Is Cleveland ever in the finals for anything??? Woot-woot! Yay for LeBron!

I recently checked out Kelly Clarkson's new video. I know the song is about her ex dumping her for some other chick, but I wonder what the meaning of the video is. If you catch the beginning, it's almost like the dude murdered his girlfriend (Kelly) so then she immediately haunts him afterward but then turns out to be alive in the end. ???? Check it out and send me your thoughts.



And I happy to note that summer TV doesn't really suck. :) I've been digging So You Think You Can Dance lately - there are some really amazing dancers on that show. And tomorrow night is the premiere of Kathy Griffin's My Life on the D-List... OK, yes, she's obnoxious but she's also HILARIOUS. If you have Bravo, check it out. I'm sure there are lots of other good shows coming out soon, here's one list in case you're interested.

I also saw Pirates this weekend. Long movie!!! It was good, though... but I think I enjoyed the first two more. They went a little overboard with Jack Sparrow - sure he's the main thrill in the movies but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Not only did they have multiple Jack Sparrows in several scenes, but they also had his dad (played by Depp's original inspiration, Keith Richards) and it was just too much! Plus I didn't remember the first two that much so it took me awhile to remember things like that Black Pearl and Flying Dutchmen were ships and stuff. Actually most of the stuff in that movie went over my head, similar to the second one. But it still had its funny moments so I suppose it's worth seeing on the big screen.

Catching up on my shows...

I spent a good chunk of last weekend bonding with my TV and DVR - how I've missed them so!

Anyway, I'm all caught up on the season finales and boy, there were some doozies (hello, LOST???!!!) but just quickly I wanted to mention something that I almost missed. One of my favorite American Idol alums, Elliot Yamin, did a guest appearance on one of the results shows. Sure, he's sporting a new 'do, but did you check out his new choppers??? HUGE improvement. Check it out... (by the way, love this song!)



Also, did you all hear about how Miss USA wiped out during the Miss Universe pageant? Here's a video clip of that, too.

Sitting at Narita Airport...

Well, it's been a fun-filled week in Tokyo but I must say I am so excited about flying home after two weeks of traveling. I would be even more excited if Japan Airlines would accept my AA miles to upgrade my seat, but oh well.

So thanks to abc.com and iTunes, I've been catching up with some of favorite shows since CNN and BBC get old after awhile ... especially since their stories just run on a loop. BBC reporters are pretty amusing, though.

Anyway, how awesome was the season finale of The Office??? I loved it. You know, those writers are really talented... they managed to drag the Pam/Jim drama for an entire season without losing our interest. And the way they came back together was so perfect! So much more satisfying than if they just got together after last season's finale. They each learned so much about themselves through this process and now can come together as this perfect couple. I can't wait!!! I just loved that scene during Pam's "talking head" interview and she's telling us how she'll be OK and then Jim just rushes in to ask her out - loved it! Of course, I guess I should wonder what happened to Karen (did he ditch her in NYC?) b/c I do like her, too, but who cares? Jim asked Pam out!!!

Greetings from Shenzhen

So I'm just chilling here in Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) getting ready to fly to Tokyo later today. Without access to my favorite channels, I've been forced to watch *ack!* CNN!!! (chuckle, chuckle)

What have I learned? Hmmm... how about this: out of all the "mail order" brides available on the internet, over 70% are filipino (not that this is really new info). NO THANK YOU!

I did hear that Ian and Melinda got booted this week. I want my Joey and Apolo showdown!!! And Jordin vs Blake? Very interesting. I hope Jordin wins... she would make an American Idol-esque record anyway, you know? Let's hope Blake gets runner-up so he can make a cool album with his own style.

Thanks to YouTube - I did get to catch some of the performances (both DWTS and AI). Love the internet!

Greetings from Beijing!

12 hours later and I have finally arrived in Beijing. Luckily, the four movies shown in a row helped the time fly by.

Anyway, just wanted to make one small comment on what I thought was the funniest line from Thursday's episode of The Office.

"... but I'm really looking for someone with a sales background."

That made me laugh out loud.

Last Night's Crazy Creepy Lost Episode (Don't Read if You Haven't Seen It Yet!)

Holy Crap! How creepy was that scene with Locke and Ben in that little shack with "Jacob"? Ben is so frickkin' CREEPY!!! That scene was right out of Psycho! And just when I'm getting over all that... then BANG! Down goes Locke in the pit with the remnants of Ben's "people". I had heard there would be a lot of deaths in the final episodes of this season - but are they really going to lose Locke? What a way to go. Of course, when Locke was bending over looking at the grave pit with Ben standing behind him, didn't you just expect that Locke was going to end up down there? I actually thought Ben was just going to shove him in.

So again, I don't claim to understand all the Lost stories and plotlines. In fact, I'll freely admit that I don't get most of them since I just started watching this season. But I do have some questions - so feel free to chime in to clue me in.

OK, so we discovered that Ben's mom died while giving birth to him and he had an a**hole of a father. I guess that explains why he is a big weirdo now. (And that he looked like Harry Potter as a kid.)

I guess I'm confused how he's tied in with that guy that recruited Juliet to come to the island. (Is it Richard?) He looked the same age when he met Ben as a child, so does he just not age? And did Ben decide to align himself with Richard and his crew and that's why he was OK to gas all his people?

And are we supposed to assume that van where he celebrated his bday with his dad the last time is the same van that Hurley went cruising in? I like how they always connect random things from different episodes. (Like the time they explained why that hottie from Love Actually went to the bathroom)

Anyway... BEN IS SO CREEPY!!! If I ever see that actor in anything else, all I will think is how creepy he was in Lost.

Bee Gees night on American Idol

I thought Bee Gees night would be a little fun but instead it was a big fat dud. I actually liked Blake's rendition of "You Should Be Dancing" (although it seemed like he was just goofing around with all the dancing and beatboxing and not delivering a prepared performance like last week). I agree with Simon, why did he pick that second song???

I didn't think anyone else's performances were all that interesting. I also would like to see Jordin start singing like a teenager and not a Celine Dion wannabe. Although - how about that nice compliment from Barry Gibb?

Speaking of Barry Gibb, he continues in the example of other old school artists that never let go of their signature look - that hairstyle is all him. Other examples: Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, etc...

Here is some disturbing news: Blake is dating Antonella??? Ick!

What the heck???

As Marc from Ugly Betty would say, shut the front door!!! Joey Fatone was in the bottom two??? How is this possible? Where are all the N Sync fans??? I can't believe it. Do I have to start voting now? I was fully expecting a Joey vs. Apolo showdown in the finals. I'm still hoping for it.

Obviously, it was Billy Ray's time to go tonight. But I thought it would then be Ian, followed by Laila and then have the amazing dance-off with the boys and their cute blondies!

Craziness.

One more video clip: Blake's "You Give Love a Bad Name"

And as long as I'm linking video clips, here is one more - Blake's beatbox rendition of "You Give Love a Bad Name" on American Idol's Bon Jovi night.

The Office: Jim and Dwight Impersonate Each Other

Amanda's comment reminded me of when Jim and Dwight impersonated each other on a recent episode of The Office. If this doesn't make you laugh out loud, I don't know what will!

I remember thinking I should link these clips when I saw the episode - thanks for the reminder, Amanda!

Quick Snippets of the Week

Wow, my last posting was on April 17th. My bad. Anyway, although I am completely behind at work, my brain is already completely fried (and it's only Monday - waaah!) so I think I need an entertainment break.

Since I didn't have time to post on all my favorite shows... I'll just offer some commentary on what I found interesting during this past week of TV. (And I just got a DVR - yeehaw! Maybe I'll have more fun stuff to comment on... as if I need to watch any more TV...)

Dancing with the Stars: Cute - Brandon, Kelly, and Donna all came out to cheer on Steve Sanders!

American Idol: I thought Blake's "remix" of You Give Love a Bad Name was pretty cool. It's always fun when AI actually yields something pretty hip and contemporary - compared to say, Mandy from Barry Manilow. Also, I thought it was pretty cool that Jon Bon Jovi let him do that - sure, he had his reservations, but he was still OK with it. I still remember when Ace Young wanted to mix up a Queen song, and the guy was like, um... no.

Veronica Mars: Is back! Woo-hoo! There were a lot of funny moments in this episode but obviously the huge thing was Piz finally making a move on Veronica. Personally, I thought the smooches were kind of luke-warm, so I'm not buying the whole "Pizonica" thing. I'm still a fan of Veronica and Logan even though he's moved on to her friend. Logan and Veronica (aka LoVe) - now those two had CHEMISTRY.

Lost: Hello! How insane was that ending with Locke, Locke's dad, and Sawyer?! Couldn't you just feel the hate oozing out of Sawyer's eyes all the way through your TV screen??? Talk about intense death scene. Also, how is it that Juliet looks so luminous while at the camp. She must have some beauty products stashed away in the forest too.

The Office: When will they start getting Pam and Jim back together??? I'm worried now b/c there are reports that they shot two season finales b/c they're waiting to see if Karen's (Rashida Jones) pilot gets picked up. Egads!

Ugly Betty: I thought this episode was HILARIOUS! Especially funny was when Wilhemina forced Marc to rough her up and then they started swatting each other before he knocked her down the stairs. Hate Alexis's admin, though... he was such a sweetie on Veronica Mars and now he is just an a**hole, throwing stuff at Betty when she was doing so well on the mechanical bull. Although I am disappointed at Betty for taking other people's food out of the fridge - shouldn't matter if there's a name or not, you know it's not yours!

Grey's Anatomy: OK, we can talk about GA, like Meredith getting slapped by her dad, George and Izzie smooching again, Christina trying on frou-frou wedding dresses... however, what I really found interesting was how I'm so NOT sold on the GA spin-off. Weird, b/c I would have thought creator Shonda Rhimes could do no wrong, but I honestly wasn't really into the SoCal show. However, it was interesting to see Piz from VM in this new role as the receptionist - who knew he had all that hiding under his scrubby clothes!!!

Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Conan was in SF last week and I loved how they tried to work that into the show with funny commentary such as "picking up a** at the 24 hr Safeway at the Marina" and discussing the upcoming Bay to Breakers as "good for people that love to run but hate wearing clothes or being sober".

Desperate Housewives: The ending where Mike picks up Susan and lays one on her? GAG. But the story with Lynette, Tom, and the hot chef was interesting - didn't see that coming! But it looks like Lynette was really tormented by the whole thing - more trouble to come, I'm sure. Too bad - b/c Jason Gedrick is yummy.

Brothers and Sisters: Seriously - if you're looking for aspirin, would you really take something from your brother's prescription bottle? And not even read it??? Why wouldn't you stick to something like Tylenol or Advil?