Lost played Xanadu! ... and other highlights from last night's TV

Seriously, Hurley is awesome! How funny to hear him pop in that Xanadu tape! Perfect timing for Skater to get their groove on... or at least conspire against Locke.

And yay, we got to see clean cut Jack again! *sigh* What a dreamboat...

But let's get to the most important part of last night's episode of Lost - Kate's last line in the episode, of course! HOLY CRAP!!! Did *not* see that coming... of course, I'll be honest, I'm usually caught off guard on what happens in this show and I LOVE IT! I don't want to spoil anything if you haven't seen the episode yet so highlight the rest of the text in this paragraph to see my thoughts. So does that mean we know who the fifth member of the Oceanic Six is? And at the same time, who it isn't? And BTW - could it be that that character is still stuck on the island and one of the reasons why Jack eventually wants to go back? Or is she just gone for good? Oh, how sad... Anyway, if you-know-who is a member of the Oceanic Six, does that mean the last member is the person in the coffin in the season finale? I'm dying to know who that is! (Word is we'll find out this season, but I have a feeling it won't be until the post-strike episodes.) And how about Jack's testimony at Kate's trial - only eight of them survived the plane crash??? What the ---? And why doesn't he want to see the little one? And aren't they somehow related anyway? I'm sure there's more to discuss but that's all I got for now. EW.com just posted a really great interview with the producers of the show, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.

So moving on to American Idol... I'm so glad I waited to watch that show on my DVR and not live b/c I pretty much fast forwarded through the whole thing. I'm really annoyed with the producers and their whole theme night thing - not only were the solo performances this week a snooze b/c they couldn't really pick their own style of songs, but how about that group performance??? YUCK! It was so boring! They don't normally do group performances at this point, do they? I guess I just don't like changes. But c'mon, that performance was almost comical. Especially at the end when they all clumsily (is that even a word?) got into their final position and just stood there waiting for the last note so they could finally throw their arms out for the final pose. (You just know Amanda Overmyer was dying inside.)

Chris Sligh, from last season, posts his reviews on EW.com and he made a good point - it's mind-boggling that the judges sat in a room and all agreed that someone like Garret Haley or Luke Menard or Jason Yaeger would be better than Josiah Leming. (I may have messed up those names, but I'm too lazy to double check.) But I hear Josiah is doing well and that Ellen even had him on her show and gave him all these musical instruments and stuff. (But how will all that fit in his car???)

For me, the best part of the show was Paula Abdul's music video. I dug it. It reminded me of the good ole days of Straight Up and Forever Your Girl. I was so happy to see her dance in it - sure, you could tell she couldn't go all out like before but she rocked it. And of course, it was cool to see Randy. I am concerned if they have her perform the song on the show - what is she going to do? Lip sync on a singing competition show? (that she judges???!!!) Anyway, are you paying attention, Britney? You can have your comeback, too! We are dying to see you get your mojo back!

And then finally, we've got America's Best Dance Crew. Yes, Thursday is a busy night for me. This show is amazing. If you miss So You Think You Can Dance and are craving some *real* dancing (not that nonsense on that Dance Wars show), then you've got to check this show out. It's produced by Randy Jackson, hosted by Mario Lopez, and the judges are Shane Sparks, Lil Mama, and JC Chasez (and they're good judges, too). These guys are amazing! Here are my two favorite groups so far:

JabbaWockeez



Kaba Modern



There's also a group that performs on old skool rollerskates!

I thought he looked familiar!

So do you remember the dreadlocked American Idol contestant? OK, me neither because I don't think they really showed him during the audition and Hollywood rounds.


But then when they showed him at the beginning of tonight's American Idol episode, I kept thinking... I've seen him before! And then suddenly it came to me - he was the crush of that girl singer who had her own show on MTV. Of course, I couldn't remember her name, either, so I had to google to get to Cheyenne Kimball.

Jason was her crush and appeared in a few of the episodes. I didn't know he was a musician as well. I just figured he was some random boy from the 'hood.


Anyway, I can now rest easy now and enjoy the boys' performances.

What's up with throwing theme nights in already? Ick! Did they do this last year, too? I'd rather they sing what they want and save the themes for the top 12.

Who I'd like to see come back next week:

• David Cook - I never paid much attention to him before but I really dug this performance
  
• Robbie Carrico - Rockers rule (and in case you were wondering, the pop band he was in was called Boyz N Girlz United and he may or may not have dated Britney Spears when they toured together)
  
• David Archuleta - I don't think he can win but c'mon, he truly is ADORABLE
  
• Jason Castro - Laidback cool
  
• Michael Johns - G'day mate!

Not interested: Jason Yeager (Moon River), Luke Menard, and Garret Haley (Is it horrible that I kind of agreed with Simon on this one? He is kinda creepy looking...)

This post is for my brother

(Let's see if he's even reading this thing...)

Kristi Yamaguchi has joined the cast for the next season of Dancing with the Stars!

I'm actually pretty impressed with the new line-up. It's awesome to see these professional dancers transform these guys into amazing ballroom dancers - so why not do it?

Here's the cast:

Marlee Matlin (Oscar winner)
Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller)
Marissa Janet Winokur (Broadway star- Hairspray)
Adam Carolla (co-host of The Man Show)
Kristi Yamaguchi (Olympic figure skater)
Cristian de la Fuente ("Latin heart throb")
Monica Seles (Tennis champ)
Mario (R&B singer)
Steve Guttenburg (actor)
Jason Taylor (Miami Dolphins NFL)
Shannon Elizabeth (actress)
Priscilla Presley (actress)

It'll be really interesting to see how Marlee performs - it'll be inspiring to see a deaf woman rock to the music! My expectations are pretty high for Kristi, Marissa Janet Winokur, and Mario since those guys are experienced dancers. I have a feeling Penn will bug me.

Out of these guys, the only ones I didn't recongnize are Cristian de la Fuente and Jason Taylor.

BTW, it looks like Julianne Hough's reign will end as supposedly she's partnering with Adam Carolla and I will be SHOCKED if he actually shows some skills on the ballroom. But I'm sure we can count on him for some entertaining sound bites at least.

The new season debuts Monday, March 17th, on ABC at 8PM PST.

More info can be found here.

Ratings systems

This morning I was listening to Alice radio and Hooman and Marcus Osbourne were giving reviews of that new Hayden Christensen movie. One liked it, one didn't but the funny part came at the end when they gave their final reviews. Hooman gave it 1 1/3 Persian carpets (really? it's that granular???) and Marcus gave it four and something thunder claps. And that made me laugh out loud at the randomness of it all.

If I had a ratings system, what would I use? I think I would choose chocolate chip cookies, as in - I give the movie "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" a solid four out of five chocolate chip cookies.

How about you guys, what would you use?

Thoughts on the Top 24

Did you watch tonight's episode of American Idol? If so, let's talk. I still can't get over that Josiah didn't make the finals. He was profiled so much in the past few weeks and had one of the best audition pieces in Hollywood. Too bad he totally choked at the end. And who would have thought Simon would fight for Kyle Ensley (the lovable nerd with crazy hair and tie)?

As for the finalists - there were a lot of them that we hadn't seen much of yet. They're going to have a tough time surviving the weeder rounds.

Here are my thoughts on the ones I do remember:

- Danny Noriega is pretty, isn't he? A little too pretty for my taste. And he seems to be a bit flamboyant when performing. His voice is OK but for me... NEXT!

- Amanda Overmyer (rocker lady) is going to be real interesting if she makes it to the top 12. Imagine her doing country, or disco, or latin! She might be OK but it will be interesting to see if she can change it up

- David Archuleta (the one who had a paralyzed vocal cord) is a cutie but I'm not swooning over him like the judges are

- Carly Smithson (the Irish chick that missed her first time around b/c of visa problems) will be fun to watch. She's a belter that looks like a rocker. Do you think she ate a green lollipop before her final Hollywood audition? Her green tongue frightened me a bit.

- Asia'h Epperson (the one whose Dad passed away) has a nice scratchy voice - it's different and I kinda like it

- Ramiele Malubay - Yeah! Pinay Power! (I'm guessing she's flip, but I don't really know.)

On a random note, I was not digging Paula's 'do in this episode. Unfortunately, because of my relatively new shaggy / grown-out mullet haircut, that's probably how my hair would look if pulled back in a low pony. *sigh*

Here's a TV Guide recap of the finalists if you want a more complete rundown.

Wait, is that it?

Did I miss something? I just spent two hours watching the first Hollywood episode of American Idol and now the judges are ready to select the final 24 already!

What happened to the group performances??? You know, where the kids are forced to work with people they may or may not get along with, stay up all night, learn and harmonize a new song, throw some choreography together, and voila - a recipe for a good ole hot mess. (I'm trying to incorporate Project Runway speak whenever possible.)

I always like how the group performances add to the drama factor which the producers try to carry throughout the rest of the season.

Alas, it looks like there will be no boy bands in the making or wannabe Dreamgirls this year. They added a bunch of other changes instead - like allowing the singers to play their own instrument and they got a band and back up singers for their last solo performance for the judges.

I'm excited - it looks like they got a good bunch of really talented singers that all have unique, cool sounds. So we'll see - final 24 tomorrow!

It's Grammy time!

I caught bits and pieces of the show tonight. Luckily, my sister reminded me about it.

Amy Winehouse seemed to score big tonight. Too bad she wasn't allowed to attend the show in person though...

Regarding the show:

1. The Beatles thing? Um... I didn't quite get it. Then again, I wasn't really watching. But the parts that I did catch left me thinking, what the heck?

2. Kanye almost brought me to tears with his tribute to his mom. So touching...

3. I liked Fergie and John Legend, too - fun collaboration. Just like Rhianna and Time. Or is it The Time? I don't know... but it sure was fun to hear O-E-O-E-O again.

4. Did Beyonce's intro for Tina Turner remind you of Catherine Zeta Jone's performance from Chicago? I'm assuming Chicago inspired it, anyway.

5. Jason Bateman is funny.

Then I missed a big chunk when I went to the grocery. I have it on DVR but don't know if I'll actually go back and review it.

6. Enjoyed the Gershwin piano tribute but really liked the duet between Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli. I might have to copy their CD's that I gave my mom for Christmas last year next time I'm home. (heehee)

7. Amy Winehouse gave a good performance but I was more interested (surprised?) in her reaction to her Grammy win.

8. I feel SOOOOO horrible for admitting this, but my first thought on seeing Jerry Lee Lewis perform was, "He's still alive?!!" BUT my second thought was, "Wow, he's still rockin' it."

9. Herbie Hancock won Album of the Year? OK.


BTW - just caught CBS's commercial for their upcoming premiere of the network-OK'd version of Dexter. I don't have Showtime so I've never seen the show but have always heard a lot of good things about it. I still think the premise is pretty creepy, and honestly even the CBS commercials are a little "eeks!" for me. But I'll try to at least check out the first episode.

Weekly Wrap-up

Some random thoughts from this past week:

1. Did you know about the very contagious sickness called b*itch*ssness that is out there in our community? Oh yeah, it's out there, just ask Diddy about it.

2. I'm really proud of Chris March from Project Runway. He was eliminated in episode 4, brought back on episode 5 (due to Jack's condition), and he's been hanging in there week after week, winning the WWE Diva challenge this week, and now was able to show his collection in Bryant Park during Fashion Week! Good for him.

If you want to see the final collections by the final five designers, Bravo has posted them on their website - you'll see some past participants from America's Next Top Model. Even though all five showed collections, we'll all have to wait and watch the remaining PR episodes to see who are the real finalists.

3. This is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but is fresh in my mind since Bravo airs Project Runway repeats all the time. During the judging for the denim challenge, I loved it when Heidi asks Ricky, "What's up with you?" Finally! It was funny to have someone call him out on all his constant crying and stuff.

4. About Lost... yeah, that's exactly what I am. Flashbacks, flashforwards, four new characters, who's good, who's bad, who's who they say are... egads! It's not *that* bad for me... I'm gettin' it so far. But hopefully it doesn't go to Alias status where the plot's twists and turns throw me into a headspin and I just give up.

I can't resist

Trust me, I hate myself for even caring enough to post this, but I can't resist. I have just a few comments upon viewing Heidi's music video for "Higher":



1. I never really noticed her twins enhancement... until now. Geez, isn't her frame too tiny for those things?
2. I have a feeling Heidi is a really bad dancer
3. Seriously? She really had Spencer film this video? I think Paris did a better version of the whole beach thing

Anyway, I wonder when The Hills will be back? I miss those crazy kids.


P.S. Her "Higher" song isn't *that* bad. I mean, I'm not planning to download it or anything but it's not horrible.

P.P.S. When searching for Paris's music video, I found at least two others - who knew! Was her album popular and I just didn't realize it?

Favorite Superbowl Commercials?

I didn't really pay too much attention to the Superbowl commercials this year - too much chit chatting, playing with kids, snacking (there was even an ice cream sundae bar, people!!!), etc.

I caught the Justin Timberlake pepsi one, and the Vicky's Secret one, plus the trailers for Wanted and Leatherheads... all OK, but none that were phenomenal or anything.

So later I plan to review them all here, but where should I start? What were your faves?

Matt Damon is really cool

Well, I knew he was a bad-ass actor from those Bourne films, but now I am really convinced that Matt Damon is simply a really cool and funny guy. Have you heard about the running joke on the Jimmy Kimmel show where Jimmy ends every show with something like "Apologies to Matt Damon - we ran out of time"? So he does this every night and then eventually Matt Damon actually makes an appearance on his show last year - here's the clip, the actual "interview" is perfect:



So now Jimmy is celebrating his fifth year anniversary with the show so his girlfriend, Sarah Silverman, prepares the following video as his present:



I busted out laughing when I saw this. That's one sense of humor.