I'll admit it... I've been keepin' up with the Kardashians

Now don't judge me - the show is pretty entertaining! I initially thought the show would revolve around just Kim so I avoided the show at first. I figured it would be like the Paris and Nicole show and I thought they were completely obnoxious. Ok, fine, Nicole did make me laugh every now and then.

Anyway... the Kardashians show is very different. It's cute because it's all about the family. I always enjoy those type of shows because I like to see them in their "real" element, away from all the celebrity stuff. Other good ones: Family Jewels (Gene Simmons), Hogan Knows Best, Run's House, and of course, the original - The Osbournes.

In the show, we actually see more of Kim's sisters, Khloe and Kourtney. They're kind of like Paris and Nicole with the antics they pull. Example - bringing in a homeless man to clean up in their parents bathroom and then dressing him up in their step-dad's clothes.

But my favorite episode is when they focused on their brother, Rob (who seems like a total sweetie) and his relationship with a Cheetah girl! I love them Cheetah Girls so I totally approve and they're very cute together - however getting a tattoo of her full name after three months of dating... eeeyikes!!!

Oh, and guess who their step dad is - Bruce flippin' Jenner! That's another funny part of the show... poor Bruce is so out of place with these crazies.

There are two more kids - Kendall and Kylie. They are the youngins and are the kids of Bruce and Kris Jenner. The other four (Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, and Rob) are the kids of Robert Kardashian, i.e. OJ's lawyer. There are some touching moments about him as you can see that the kids are still struggling with the death of their dad.

Anyway, check it out on E! I don't know when it's on but I just added it to my DVR. They've made the cut. :)

Just give up

This just cracks me up.

I've officially become my mom

... because I caught myself taking notes while watching Suze Orman.

Suze is strictly a DVR show for me. But every now and then I'll pull up an episode in the hopes I'll pick up a new thing or two. Also, the show sort of has a Ricki Lake/Jerry Springer factor for me... that is, you hear these people talk about their really screwed up financial situations, and you think, "Boy, I'm glad I'm not him!"

Anyway, on this episode, Suze had a guest from MorningStar who recommended her top five mutual funds for retirement accounts. Turns out I didn't need to furiously take notes, because they posted them online here.

Happy investing!


P.S. Congratulate me - I finally finished my taxes!!! This year was particularly painful because I unloaded some ESPP shares for the first time. Entering the line by line item for 12 different lots of stocks was making my head go dizzy!

People are evil

At least that's what I learned when I watched the season finale of The Gauntlet last week. Did anyone else happen to catch it? Poor Eric... he's the big guy on the Veterans team. That guy was never going to make it far on the final challenge. First of all, it looked like a crazy hot day in Mexico. Second, the challenge kicked off with a half mile swim to shore. OK, that would pretty much knock me out. Anyway, each team then had to chain themselves to each other and go for a run and do a series of challenges.

Eric was dying once he got out of the water. He could barely put his shoes on. Honestly, from this point on, he looked like he could pass out at any second. Real wobbly and stuff. His teammates just barked at him the whole way. When getting ready for the run, they decided to put him at the end of the chain so they could, and I quote, "drag him".

And that's pretty much what they did and it made me sick. This poor guy is dying, but he's being dragged by a chain around his waist by eight people who are all yelling at him. San Diego Brad was the only one that cared about his health and spoke up for him.

Somehow, they do manage to drag him for a bit until eventually he keels over and um, is flat out on the ground struggling to breathe! His teammates' reaction? "He cost us $30K!" Ugh... so evil. OK, I should clarify - it was really that Ev chick that came across as pure evil with all the whining about the money. But they all looked like a**holes, in my opinion.

On a random note... I was at the gym last night (I KNOW! Crazy, right?) and as I was flipping through the channels while on the elliptical, I saw a commercial for the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice.

That show is still on? News to me...

In Treatment...

... is wicked addicting. So I'm glad this season is ending soon. At least I think it's ending, anyway.

When I first saw the commercials for this show, I thought, "Oh boy - that looks super boring." If you're not familiar with the show, here's the deal:

"In Treatment" is an HBO series starring Gabriel Byrne as a therapist named Paul treating a variety of patients. It's a half hour show that airs every day Monday through Friday. And every episode represents the therapy session between Paul and one of his patients. I usually catch the Wed-Fri shows. Wednesday is Sophie - a pre-teen competitive gymnast who has issues with her dad. Thursday is Jake (aka Knox Overstreet) and Amy (aka Natasha from "Bridget Jones' Diary" or McDreamy's sister) - a couple who is considering divorce. And on Friday, the tables are reversed because Paul then meets with his own therapist, Gina (Dianne Wiest).

Monday and Tuesday is Blair Underwood and Melissa George (not sure which is which) but I never seem to catch those. I know the Melissa George one must be juicy because she plays Laura who develops a thing for Paul and Paul in turn thinks he might be falling for her but he's married with kids plus the whole doctor/patient thing and stuff. The Laura drama usually spills into Paul's Friday session with Gina.

Anyway, it's actually a pretty good series that just sucks you in. I guess I like it because I'm a nosy person and I enjoy prying into people's personal lives. Even if they aren't real. :)

Plus, I've got about five different HBO channels (and now, IN DEMAND - woot woot!) so it seems like there is always an episode on. I actually don't even know what time the shows regularly appear.

So if you have HBO, I recommend. Be nosy like me!

I am fascinated by David Cook

When David Cook began to sing tonight, my first thought was oh no... he's doing the Lionel Richie thing again?

But I really enjoyed his version of Billie Jean. I think his 80's pop-turned-rock interpretations are really amazing - even more creative and enjoyable than the Blake Lewis beatbox stuff that impressed me last year.

I think Chikezie will go home this week. Thoughts anyone?

Thanks Syesha...

... for making me feel like an ancient old fart.

I was half-listening to her intro part and then all of a sudden I hear her say, "I was born in ... blah, blah, blah... on January 2nd, 1987."

1987???

Holy crap, I'm old.

Expanding the Office fanbase!

I recently learned that my sister has never watched "The Office". Outrageous, I know! Turns out that she always wanted to, but didn't want to just jump in the middle. So a few months ago, I loaned my sister my entire DVD collection of "The Office". Yep, my sister was able to discover and enjoy seasons 1 through 3 all together without suffering through those painful "will they or won't they" cliffhangers!

Granted, she has a 9 month old baby (the CUTEST baby in the world, by the way!) so it's not like she can go in audgepodge mode and hibernate for an entire weekend to plow through the DVDs all at once. So it took a couple of months, but she finished them all and she loved them! Yay! We make a good team, I got her hooked on "The Office", she got me hooked on "Jon and Kate plus eight".

I wasn't sure if she would find them funny because the show is kinda quirky plus she's never really been in a stuffy office environment - before full-time momminess, her previous careers included being a social worker and a nursing assistant at a retirement home.

So I busted out laughing when she asked me (with a completely straight face) - "So do offices really have party planning committees???"

Random thought...

Tonight, Jason Castro reminded me a lot of a young John Travolta. You know, from the Grease days.

It's like they read my mind!!!

So thanks to my mom, I've been DVR-ing the Suze Orman show. I caught up on one today and I was thinking, you know, this would be a perfect person to impersonate on SNL. And I'm sitting here watching SNL right now (yes, I'll admit to watching SNL on a Saturday night) and guess what has just popped up??? A Suze Orman sketch!

OK, it just finished. Kristen Wiig did a decent job but I was hoping to see her bust out with a "DENIED! DENIED! You are SOOOOOOOO DENIED!!!" No such luck.

I love seeing how the SNL writers watch the same weird stuff I watch. Amy Poehler's interpretation of Christian "Hot Tranny Mess" Siriano was hilarious.

Maybe there will be a Jon & Kate plus Eight sketch next... :P

Say wha??????

Hello again, everyone! Yes, I've been MIA. Too much traveling and working and not enough sleep.

But anyway, what an amazing episode of Lost tonight! It was another one of those twisty ones, too. Surprising ending, yes, but I'm still a little miffed at the writers for breaking my heart like that. Didn't watch the episode yet? Well, then you better leave now because I want to discuss!

Normally, I don't find the Jin and Sun storylines that interesting, but I really liked the one tonight. We see Sun getting ready to have her baby intercut with scenes of Jin buying a stuffed panda and rushing to get to the hospital. We soon learn - ta da! - that Sun is one of the "Oceanic Six". So of course, I immediately think, cool, now we know Jin and Sun are the last of the Oceanic Six. But then I remember, wait, we already have five - Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, and little baby Aaron. But then maybe the baby doesn't count???

Anyway, cut to Island time. Jin finds out that Sun cheated on him so he gets all mad and won't talk to her. She's scared he's left her. But in the end, Jin has a heart to heart with Rose's husband (can't remember his name) and forgives Sun later and even makes her a nice dinner. It was such a sweet scene! (I even teared a little.) He admits that he was a different man before the crash and that he didn't show her affection and it was that man that drove her to have the affair which is why he forgives her. Then she cries and tells him she loves him, and he loves her, and the baby is really his, and they hug and live happily ever after!

Right?

NO.

Stupid mean writers. Cuz this whole time we're being so happy for the couple and thinking how they made it off the island and are going to have their baby and it was all a big fake-out! Sun had her baby alright - ALONE. I'm still trying to figure out when those Jin scenes were from. I'm guessing before the plane crash since he told the nurse he's only been married for two months. He wasn't bringing the stuffed panda to his wife, he was bringing it to the granddaughter or daughter of some big important client.

ANYWAY - we finally get clued in when we see Sun back at her apartment and Hurley comes to visit her. Hurley gets to meet the little baby girl (so cute! and so little!) and he accompanies Sun to visit Jin *sniff, sniff* at his grave!

Dude, it was so sad. This episode reminded me of the season premiere of Ugly Betty. They showed all these romantic, happy scenes with Hilda and Santos after he was in the store robbery. And then in the final scene, you realized she was in her room all alone in the dark, mourning his death. You cruel TV writers! Playing with my emotions that way!

Anyway, we also got another interesting tidbit. Walt's dad (Michael?) must be Ben's spy on the boat. He actually left the show before I started watching but I had heard rumors his character would return. And it's revealed to Desmond that his nemesis is the owner of the boat as well. Interesting!


Uh-oh, I just made another realization... Sawyer doesn't make it!!!!


(Speaking of Sawyer, I saw the little pop-up ad that mentioned you can get your own Sawyer nickname on abc.com... mine turned out to be Betty. Don't get it.)

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?