The Saturday Six

Welcome to The Saturday Six! In this entry, I'll talk about my six favorite things from this past week!

1. Veronica Mars

Since my favorite show ever is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, peepz always tell me that I should watch Veronica Mars, which is (obviously) not quite as brillz as Buffy, but similar to the show in that it features mystery, snappy one-liners, a blonde lead, and boyfriend issues. Last Monday I decided to watch the first episode... which turned into a 12 episode marathon. This show is fantastic!

I finished the first season last night and thought it was amazing. Smart, funny writing, complex and endearing characters (I love Keith Mars the most!), interesting mysteries that continually surprise... Much like a Kelly Osbourne album, this show has it all! I seriously laughed prox a million times, got teary-eyed a few times, and had to pick my jaw up from off the floor (where Solomon was scratching it and hissing at it) a few times. The only bad thing about the show is that I HATE the theme song. Terrible theme song or not, I can't wait to watch the rest of the seasons!

P.S. I feel even more drawn to this show because I graduated from Neptune High School, which is the name of the fictional school V. Mars attends!!

2. "E.T. (Futuristic Lover)"

In what might be the next single from Katy's highly-anticipated second album Teenage Dream, Ms. Perry sings says about her alien BF. Throughout the course of the song, she says she wants to be stunned with lasers and to be walk on her lover's wavelength and be there when he vibrates. LOVE IT.

3. Chocolate Dirt Ice Cream

You know how when you get ice cream cake, you force your self to eat the vanilla and chocolate ice cream when all you really want are the delicious crunchies in the middle of the cake?!

Well, this radio station I listen to on the way home from work decided to start selling ice cream called Chocolate Dirt, which is chocolate ice cream with the crunchies inside! Unfortunately for most of you, this ice cream is sold exclusively in these locations.

4. Clearance Sales!

I LOVE CHEAP/FREE THINGS. This week, I went to Target to buy the cheapest shirt possible because I was staying with a friend for the week and packed one shirt too few. So I went to the clearance section (duh) and bought this red plaid shirt...

FOR $4!!!! YAY! (And I know it's hot outside, but the shirt isn't thick and my office is freezing anyway.)

5. Jesus Camp

I FINALLY watched Jesus Camp this week and it was hilarious. Here's my favorite girl in the movie. Her name is Tory and she is so0o0o0o0o0o smart because she doesn't "dance of the flesh" and she doesn't believe in guys or girls!

“My favorite kind of music is like, Christian heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll. It focuses and the basis is towards Jesus. And some of the songs don’t actually say like, ‘Jesus’ or ‘our lord’ or, and stuff like that. But they do have a Christian basis and it is focused towards him. So that’s why I like Christian. And, but, really, Britney Spears and like, Lindsay Lohan and some people like that, I could definitely care less about them. Because their main, their songs are mainly based on either like, guys or girls and we as Christians, I do not, well I, do not believe in that.”

6. Taco Dinners

Well, I actually haven't made tacos for dinner yet... But I'm heading over to Josh's right now to make some! MMMM.

Not Betty!

LOL!
That's exactly how I felt when I found out
:(

Female Versions of Hustlas '09

Did y'all watch Divas 2009 on VH1 the other night??
If not, don't worry: I invited over my bff Josh and watched it for you.

If you don't know what VH1 Divas is, here's a quick history lesson.
From 1998-2004, VH1 brought a gaggle of Divas together on one stage to see if they would get into cat fights and help VH1 get higher ratings. In their first run, they had all the biggest divas on, including Mariah, Aretha, Celine, Cher, Brandy, Whitney, Beyoncé, Diana Ross, RuPaul, Chaka Khan, Elton John and a bunch of others. (While they did have Stevie on for a duet with the Dixie Chicks, she never got to headline! ROBBED!)

Anyway, in 2004, they decided to add Jessica Simpson and The Pussycat Dolls to the Divas line-up and no one watched (duh) and the show disappeared for 5 years.

Well last Friday, it was back in full force!
The chosen Divas were:
Jennifer Hudson
Kelly Clarkson
Adele
Leona Lewis
Miley Cyrus
Jordin Sparks

Here's what went down.

Ex-American Idol judge Paula Abdul was the host of the event. She started out by lip-syncing her biggest hits (not including "Here For the Music" or "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow").

Sorry, I love Paula and am VERY sad that she won't be returning to Idol this year, but she should find a career path that does not involve comedy in any way.... Her joke delivery just didn't work and the whole thing felt awkward.

For example, she was at one point blessed with the presence of my wife Kathy Griffin.

And she awkwardly joked about how Kathy always talks about her and Kathy was thinking "This is why I make fun of you" but it was live so Kathy had to control her urges.

And that wasn't even the worst of it. Paula stumbled over to the front of the stage and starting wailing about how there was girl in the audience that she recognized. So Lucille II came on stage and awkward dialogue ensued for like three hours.

Eventually, Lucille II just stole Paula's shoes and bounced before her vertigo came back.

So anyway, aside from Paula's bad hosting job, the show was pretty good!

Things started with Jennifer Hudson, who did not sing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." Since she didn't sing our favorite song, Josh and I just talked about how weird her outfit looked.

Then, goddess Kelly Clarkson performed a beautiful, acoustic-like version of her song, "Halo pt. 2 (Already Gone)."

I loved the arrangement! And Kelly's performance altogether! She's so talented.

I think something else happened after that, and then Adele took the stage!

I'm so glad VH1 decided to include Adele in the line-up, since she's mostly known as a UK singer. I think she's so talented (especially when you consider that her CD came out when she was 19, yet sounds like something written by someone much older) and I can't wait for new music from Adele.

Leona Lewis performed her new single "Happy," which is decent but nowhere as good as "Bleeding Love." I normally love Leona, but something was missing in this performance.

Despite her amazing vocals, the performance was kind of boring since Leona didn't express any emotions.

The final Divette to perform was Miley!!!

Miley made up for the fact that she does not have the same vocal capabilities as Kelly, Adele, Leona, Jordin, and J.Hud by being the first Diva who seemed to have fun during her performance. People knock Miley all the time, but it's hard to deny that she is a great performer.

VH1 invited a few special guests to the stage to perform in duets.

Some were amazing.

Some were... unbalanced.

And one was kind of mystifying! They had Miley perform "If It Makes You Happy" with Sheryl Crow, and for some reason made the innocent teen sing the "I still get stoned" line!!

OH! And did I mention who else showed up? Some of the attractive cast members of True Blood!

But not Eric :(

So anyway, despite a few boring performances and one giant mistake in the line-up.... Divas was pretty good! I'm excited to see what they do next year. Who do you think will be invited to perform?

P.S. Isn't that a great group shot? Kelly and Jordin are making fun of American Idol, Adele and Leona are making fun of Americans, Miley is being ignored, and Jennifer Hudson is about to start crying.

True Blood: Season 1 Review

For the past week or so, when I haven't been slaving away at work, I've been watching the first season of True Blood. Several of my friends had recommended it, so I finally got to watching it.

For those of you who don't know anything about the show, I'll give you a brief synopsis.

The show follows Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress living in the fictional town of Bon Temps, LA.

The show takes place two years after vampires have "come out of the coffin." They now live among humans and demand equal rights. This is one of my favorite things about the show; the vampires are not some secret cult that only some people know about. Everyone is aware of their existence, although many people are still reluctant about granting equal rights to vamps.

Sookie works at a bar/restaurant (just like me!) called Merlotte's, which serves as a sort of meeting place for the town. As customers come in, Sookie's telepathy often reveals what citizens of the town are thinking and thereby alerts the viewer to the atmosphere in town.

Sookie's boss is Sam Merlotte.

Yeah, Sam isn't that interesting at first. But he gets more interesting as the season continues.

One day, Merlotte's gets its first vampire customer, Bill Compton.

Bill is 170-something years old and has just moved back to Bon Temps, where he lived before he became a vampire. Sookie is immediately drawn to him and their relationship is one of the main storylines of the season.

The other central storyline revolves around a string of murders in the town. Someone is killing off a bunch of the women in Bon Temps and coincidentally (?) they are all linked to Sookie's brother, Jason Stackhouse.

Jason spends about 80% of his on-screen time naked. He is a womanizer (womanizer, oh womanizer) who is not exactly the brightest resident of Bon Temps. He is also the lead suspect in the murders.

The other main character in the show is Sookie's best friend.

Tara Thorton is a .... loud young woman who always speaks her mind. While her rudeness sometimes turned me off, she is one of the funnier characters on the show and often provides comic relief. She also tends to think everyone is racist (look out for the Serena Williams reference in episode 8). Tara's personal storyline doesn't really start until a few episodes in, so I won't ruin anything.

Anyway, I really enjoyed season 1 and am looking forward to season 2.

I found the mystery surrounding the serial killer to be interesting and at times surprising. In the end, I was satisfied with the outcome. I also really like the characters. Except for the drug dealing prostitute character, I like every character and feel like they are nuanced and interesting. I also think that the acting is mostly solid throughout. I'm not quite sure how Anna Paquin won the Best Actress Emmy though; she's one of the weaker actors in my opinion.

I feel like the Sookie and Bill love story is not fleshed out enough. Whenever I talk to people about the show, they seem to say "OMG Sookie and Bill are soooo in love and the perfect couple!" I don't understand where these ideas come from. They don't really spend that much time together on the series and their relationship still seems like a relationship that has just begun. I'm hoping that next season there is either a larger focus on the couple that justifies their out of control emotions OR less drama surrounding them. Either choice is fine with me.

SPOILERS!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!!

DON'T READ BELOW IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED!!

SPOILERS!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!!

Now, for anyone who has already watched, here are my more spoilerific thoughts.

- Is that Lafayette in the car? I HOPE SO! But I kind of doubt it.
- Wasn't Bill climbing out of the ground and embracing Sookie oddly ... thrilling?
- Why does Tara think her bad attitude comes from a demon? Alcoholism, ok. But rudeness? That baffled me.
- While I'm satisfied with the serial killer conclusion, why did it have to be him? I really liked him. Oh well.
- I don't think I like where Jason's storyline is going. Didn't he just finish telling that creepy anti-vampire guy that he met a vampire (the one he imprisoned) and now likes them? It seems uncharacteristic that he'd join the anti-vamp club.
- I wasn't sure at first, but now I like Sam and Tara together. And the woman with the pig? I'm thinking she's a witch and the pig is her familiar. I would love that since I took a class last year about witches and would be paying close attention for inclusion of witch lore.

END SPOILERS!!!
END SPOILERS!!!
END SPOILERS!!!

The new season starts June 14th, so if you haven't watched, you have enough time to catch up!

The Screecher Goes Down

So, none of my scenarios played out on the American Idol finale last night, but something even better happened: Kris Allen won fair and square!!!

Yeah, he was shocked he won, just like I was.
Adam and his metal shoulder cages went DOWN and I'm so happy. And no, this does not mean that America hates gays. They just hate terrible singers who don't understand that screeching is not the same as singing/belting.

Oh, and the Idol producers have obviously been reading my blog because they brought back my two favorite ladies this season:

Katrina aka Bikini Girl returned for an awesome performance (with Kara, who I suddenly like more!)

As did the girl who deserved the title of American Idol but was taken from us too early. Yes, my girl TATIANA DEL TORO returned!!!

Tatiana won "Outstanding Female" at the Idol Awards. The video of all her best moments reminded me why I love the girl.

In the above pic, Tatiana says, "To every guy who told me that I had to sleep with him to get my album out, this is for all of you, that I can do this because I am a damn good vocalist."
Gotta love her.

Oh, and of course she gave another rousing rendition of "Saving All My Love For You."

So I'm really pleased with this year's finale. "No Boundaries" is lame, but I still downloaded it to support Kris.

Oh, and when I went to download the song, I noticed something strange in Kris' bio....

Yeah, looks like someone wrote out the statement assuming Adam would win and forgot to change one "Lambert" to "Allen." How unprofessional.

Now let's see where he goes. I predict he'll outsell Carrie Underwood.

The Perfect American Idol Finale

As some of you may already know by now, I kind of despise Adam Lambert, the kid who is apparently the 'front runner' this season on American Idol.

Last night, the top 2 was revealed as Adam and Kris Allen.

Obviously I'm rooting for Kris, who is a better singer, more commercially relevant, more attractive and less screechy.

No one knows for sure how the finale will turn out, but here are three possible scenarios for Tuesday night's finale.

1. After weeks and weeks of screeching, Adam loses his voice right before Tuesday's finale.

To replace him, the producers will naturally reach out to Danny Gokey, who made it to the Top 3. However, Gokey will already have a record deal and won't want to come back. Allison Iraheta (top 4) will also not return, as she has a gig Tuesday night in the local department store. The producers will keep trying and eventually secure Jasmine Murray.

Jasmine was the first contestant sent home this season and will be the only contestant willing to come back.

So the finale will be:

Yeah, and we know how that will play out. Kris wins!!


2. Remember these pictures of Adam that leaked shortly after he appeared on Idol?

Well, on Monday night, the person who leaked them will leak the OTHER photos taken during this session.... Yes, a nude photo scandal will take place!

The producers will be forced to kick Adam out of the competition, since they did the same to poor Frenchie Davis.

When they are unable to convince the other members of the top 13 to come back (in this alternate scenario, Jasmine Murray's phone fell in the ocean and she will not get the call) the producers will fix an error they made during the Wild Card round....

They will bring back Tatiana DelToro.

Instead of declaring either Kris OR Tatiana the winner, the two will BOTH win the competition and record a CD of duets.

3. Right before Tuesday's show, Adam will run to the local Rite Aid to grab some gallons of make-up. But when he gets to the make-up aisle, he'll realize that he can not go on stage to compete in the finale....

When Adam refuses to go on stage without his CoverGirl, the producers will run around looking for the make-up he needs. However, I will have stopped all the CoverGirl delivery trucks and no make-up will go out that day.

When the producers are forced to find a replacement, they will think:
"Who is another performer who we have called theatrical in the past?" Of course, they will think of Syesha Mercado, from season 7 of American Idol.

They will then remember how unfair the judges were to this goddess; the judges called her 'theatrical' like it was a bad thing (unlike Adam......) and when she sang the best note ever while performing Fantasia Barrino's "I Believe," the judges told her she shouldn't sing that song because she is not Fantasia -- aka she is beautiful, literate and has a soothing singing voice.

Naturally, Syesha will come back and although Kris will end up winning, Syesha will be remembered by record label executives, get a record deal and sell more CDs than Clay Aiken Carrie Underwood.

So, as is clear from any of these scenarios, Kris Allen needs to win American Idol!

Think of it this way - if he wins, he will definitely be the most attractive male idol winner!

So remember, next Tuesday, whether you watch the show or not,

Bye Bye Battlestar

Earlier tonight, one of my favorite television shows Battlestar Galactica came to an end.

Honestly, I was slightly disappointed by some parts of the finale.
Too little Helo, too much trying to make Starbuck be a hero, too much implying that "All Along the Watchtower" was written more than 150,000 years ago (I'd like to see a mini-series about Bob Dylan coming across the Cylon tune... or being a Cylon himself!)

However, there were moments I really loved too, like the moment when they all stuck their hands in the bath with Anders (ha, sounds even more interesting now!), Starbuck saying goodbye to Anders, Anders being a martyr, flashbacks to Roslin with normal-looking hair.

But while I wanted to say goodbye to BSG in a blog post, the person I'd really like to say goodbye to specifically is President Roslin. She was my favorite character on the show by far. She fought through the death of her family, a religious crisis, a rigged election, cancer and the loss of her hair, the loss of her aide (RIP Billy!), threats from Adar on Caprica, an arrest and slight revolt on Galactica and of course that awkward date with a former student, and she still made it to "Earth" in the end. Although the show is fictional, I still find it heartbreaking that she never got to live in that cabin with Adama. And on a side note, her death was totally similar to the 13th day of my Mexico trip.... I think that implies that the events of the show ARE true and that I am a descendent of Roslin!

So here on my blog, I'd like to officially say goodbye to one of my favorite TV characters ever.

Farewell great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother Laura Roslin!! E>