Darren Criss covers Little Mermaid

Speaking of Glee, this guy is really taking off - and with a Little Mermaid cover, too!

The gays invaded TV

Last night I watched this week's episode of Glee.

It featured a story line about teenage bullying that culminated in a straight boy-on-gay boy slow dance at their parents' wedding. This dance may have been the sweetest moment on TV this season. Not just in terms of story, although that really was quite a moment.

But because this is a blockbuster show with huge ratings. Maybe America has finally moved on from the treat-gays-like-shit mentality.

It also got me to thinking... does every show have a gay character?

Glee, Brothers & Sisters (3 main characters are gay), True Blood (at least 2 but seriously, the show is as gay as they come), Nurse Jackie, Modern Family (married men with adopted baby), Desperate Housewives, The Office...

What am I missing?

(By the way - where are the lesbians on TV?)

Favorite Shows

Despite the absence of Lost and some other favorites that have closed shop, there sure is lots of good TV happening.

Walking Dead
Yes, it's a scary-as-hell zombie show, but it's also not a zombie show at all. The parallels to our economy, government, screwed up politics and human nature in general make this easily the best show on TV now.

Glee
Total guilty pleasure. But then Finn and Kurt dance together at their parents' wedding and I cried like a baby. And who didn't download Teenage Dream?

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
So wrong. Dee's facial expressions are alone worth watching.

30 Rock
Sort of a sweeter version of Arrested Development in a way. The humor is all over the place. I just don't know where they come up with this stuff.

Modern Family
Easily the second funniest show on TV right now.

Cougartown
Also funny and so underrated.

Brothers & Sisters
Another guilty pleasure, maybe a little too soapy this season, but still very affecting. Great acting.

Dexter
They changed it up after last season's superior story line. And it's working.

And of course... Chelsea Lately, The Middle, How I Met Your Mother, and The A-List (Logo). That show is a hot mess.

18 Kids and Counting: "Duggars at the Doctor" and "First Grandduggar"

First of all, can I just say "wow," Anna Renee Keller Duggar, I am so proud you! I'm sure she's been surrounded by pregnancy and childbirth her whole life, just living in that lifestyle, but she delivered her first child, at home, mostly unassisted save for a doula and a couple family members toward the end, and completely without drugs! Seriously, I am impressed by this girl!

So, the shows. The first episode was a regular half-hour episode they were obviously planning to show anyway. It began with Anna and Michelle having back-to-back OB/GYN appointments. How adorable. Anna: "It's unusual having a mother in-law who's expecting... and not as far along as you are." Josh managed to drag himself out of bed to get his wife to her appointment on time, which was considerate. However, I have the feeling that when he moaned that "It's really early in the morning," it was probably like 7 AM. Josh called his parents and said he and Anna would pick them up because "we know you don't have any vehicles over there." I don't know if that was sarcastic or not, considering we always see like 10 cars/vans/busses parked in front of the Duggar house. Anyway, remember back when Josh and Anna got married and I said there could potentially be a Father of the Bride II situation? I was right.

At the doctor, Jim Bob proudly announced to the receptionist that both his wife and his child were expecting babies. I don't think she knew what to make of that. Even though the Duggar girls were praying hard for twin girls, this child is a singleton (which means Michelle will have to get pregnant one more time to get to an even 20). Anna got her exam first, then sat on her husband's lap to do a little interview with the cameras, because even at 30 weeks pregnant, she cannot sit in her own chair or go without touching him. After her exam, Michelle shares her exciting news with Josh and Anna - they're 9 weeks pregnant (Anna: "Oh neat!"). They got pregnant on Father's Day. Do you know where the entire Duggar family was on Father's Day? Touring around the country on a bus. Groooosssss!

In the second half of the episode, Jim Bob "held down the fort" while Michelle, Anna, and the older Duggar girls went to a giant kids' consignment sale about an hour away. Anna needed to get some baby furniture and stuff, and Michelle apparently needed five more of those bouncy baby seats. Surprisingly, this group of women was allowed to spend a day out by themselves without any men to protect and supervise them! The mystery of whether Anna and Michelle share that same green maternity shirt was solved - they each have their own! Meanwhile, Jim Bob took care of the younger kids back home, which included letting them run around the house and get hurt every five minutes, and making his famous canned tuna + BBQ sauce recipe (it's in their book). One of the boys was trying to operate a can opener with his mouth - was that the same boy who tried to adjust the crutches with his mouth a few weeks ago?! Jim Bob to Jennifer (or Hannie?) playing with a glue stick: "That'll make a big mess, so we're going to make it disappear. [Does some slight-of-hand move and glue is gone.]"

The second episode was an hour-long birth special they managed to throw together in four days. I have to say, as much as I love watching the Duggars, 90 minutes is a bit much. And First Grandduggar was mostly filler - they didn't even get to the actual birth until like the last ten minutes! A lot of stuff in this show seemed to be a direct shout-out to the internet fans, however:

• How do Josh and Anna have enough money from the car lot to get by?
  They almost don't, and business this summer was slow (maybe because they were traveling on the DuggarBus most of the summer?), so they nearly had to dip into some savings, but then didn't. Josh needs to sell six cars a week (a month? I think it said a week) to earn enough for them. I am also thinking this is why they chose to have a home birth - way cheaper than going to the hospital.


• What do Josh and Anna do all day?
  From the looks of things, they wake up whenever, roll onto the car lot sometime after 10 AM, sit around all day, maybe pray? (Anna: "Once you get to the car lot, you never know what's going to happen." Yeah, it seemed really exciting there.) Anna is learning about selling cars - the problem is, I don't think she can even drive. She doesn't know the difference between automatic and "standard" (I assume she means manual) transmission, so I'm sure she really helps make those sales.


• Does Anna really have a purse that says "JOSHY GIRL?"
  Yes, they zoomed in on it sitting there!


• Isn't Josh getting so fat?
  Yes, he knows it, and everyone else knows it. Their Bradley coach mentioned it ("Josh has gained a little weight, along with Anna..."), and Josh himself brought it up a couple times ("Anna's gonna drop that weight, and I'm gonna be stuck with this - hopefully not for life").


• Did Anna get to see her family at all?
  Yes, her mom and sisters came for her baby shower, and it was the first time they'd all seen each other in nearly a year (except for sister Suze, who spent most of the summer with them). Her sisters seem pretty trendy, less plain and conservative than Anna, and definitely more fun-loving! Maybe Anna is just shy on camera, but her sisters seemed more like Cousin Amy (also, they love Cousin Amy!). Suze got a pretty rockin' haircut since she'd returned home, and I wonder why - is it because she's a celebrity now after being on TV, or maybe because she's more "worldly," having traveled around with the Duggars?

Other notable moments: Josh hosing himself down with a can of hairspray - just like his dad! Anna saying they're not trying to set a record with having kids - woo hoo! Jim Bob saying that during the baby shower he might take the boys "someplace where kids eat free." Jill and some little J'boy curling ribbons for shower decorations (Boy: "I do that with a pocket knife." Jill: "Really?" Boy: "I cut myself." Jill: "Oh."). Joseph Duggar is growing into quite the cutie! Michelle corrected a potential cake wreck by correcting the spelling of her granddaughter's bizarre name. Everyone freaking out over that chocolate-in-diaper baby shower game like they'd never heard of such an amazing idea before.

Finally, we get to the actual birth. Josh, in his "iPray" t-shirt, tracked Anna's contraction times on an iPod. Anna is asked what is the most painful thing she's ever experienced. "I haven't had a lot of pain. I've had chicken pox?" It was ten days before her due date, so I guess Dr. Sarver, Cousin Amy, and the entire Duggar family thought it was safe to travel (doctor was "out of town," Amy was in Disney World, and the Duggars were at ATI family camp in Big Sandy, TX). So with literally everyone away, Josh and Anna decided at the last minute to have a home birth with their Bradley coach as their doula. And this is where I'm so impressed with her. For most of the day it was just Anna, Josh, the doula... oh and a three-person TLC camera crew. Michelle and Jill (who I guess won the birth lottery and got to attend while her sisters corralled the little ones in Texas) flew home and arrived at Josh and Anna's literally just in time for her to deliver. I have to admit, the delivery scene was pretty sweet, and it was cute to see Josh holding the baby, cutting the cord, weighing her, and all that.

And then they appeared on the Today Show! Just another normal family…

By the way, let's add a new rule to the Duggar Drinking Game: take a sip every time Michelle mentions a "season of life."

Guitar Hero 5

Anyone have this yet? Worth buying?

Cool Posters

I'm not overly familiar with how often these become available, but so far, they're pretty cool.


Lost Posters

Spoilerish LOST Stuff

It's never too early to begin discussing LOST!

Courtesy of DocArtz:

Okay folks, it’s been a pretty boring week as far as spoilers are concerned. As usual, the network of folks on the island have been buzzing about various filming bits. Now there is something new to report, that may indicate something cool is about to slip out. More after the jump.

So let’s summarize. So far the 'big' scoops have consisted of stuff that we knew we’d see. They have filmed some stuff outside of the four-toed-statue. They have filmed some stuff at the old Swan Station dig site, well… no crap. Now, a very awesome source on the island is indicating that something is going on with a particular location that is sort of an axis for the world of LOST. Scenes shot at this location will be very telling indeed, and you can bet all eyes are watching. I only need to say three letters for you to know what I’m talking about: LAX.

So far no details have emerged, since Hawaii is five hours behind I’m waiting for everybody to wake up so I can get more details, but judging by the exclamation marks I’m guessing there is some filming going on involving LAX. Frankly, whatever is happening might be too telling for me to report here. It’s going to be very difficult to avoid the ruiners this season, but I’m guessing you all know where to watch to keep up on the unrestrained spoiler madness.

So this is a big test for folks wanting to stay away from major spoilers this year. What we find out from a set report today could explicitly answer the question of “did they change time?”, and you have to ask yourself: do I want to discover this in the context of the story, or on somebody’s website? Either way is no statement of character, mind you. The spoiler debate is a hot one, but at the core let’s not be judgmental. If anything, it’s an interesting social experiment. Are you going to be watching? Or will you be putting on your aluminum hat? Let me know below.

Project Runway

It's about damn time!
Season 6 of Project Runway premieres Thursday, August 20 at 10pm on Lifetime.

BILLY MAYS

Rumor has it he was snorting Oxi-Clean.

Pee Wee Herman

I am a huge fan of Pee Wee Herman. I was excited to see this news posted on BuzzFeed.com today:

Word 'round the film scene is that after many years in hiding (post-indecent exposure charges), Paul Reubens may be reprising the role of Pee-wee Herman on the big screen! First he will do a limited engagement stage performance in November (tickets on sale now), then we will see if the feature film pans out. Oh Pee-wee, it's been too long!

Perseid Meteor Shower

The revolution may not be televised, but the Perseid meteor shower will be Twittered. The Perseid shower is an annual event each August, with this year’s peak arriving in the predawn hours of August 12. Follow and/or use the hashtag #meteorwatch to get involved with the global Twitter Meteorwatch.

Hot Dog Hideaway

Build-It-Yourself Meat House Kit
What child doesn't imagine a house made of meat during the holidays? Our bestselling Hot Dog Hideaway kit comes with enough cured deli slices and kosher dogs (Over 10 pounds!) to make a veritable McMansion of meat! Just follow the included blueprints and use the pate spackle to join it together and smooth over the rough edges. Not only will you get the complete Hot Dog Hideaway, but also a set of meat landscaping materials to make pimento loaf trees and meatball bushes.

Note: This kit will only remain edible for three weeks without refrigeration.
buy yours HERE for only $79.95

Lost: 15 Must-Answer Mysteries

Head on over to EW and read what Jeff Jensen has to say about the mysteries of LOST.

Do YOU have any others you'd like to see resolved in the final season?

You Don't See This Every Day.

So I was driving home the other day and I saw this dude riding his bike. Didn't think much of it until I got closer and realized he was riding no-handed. Through the grass. Along side the road.

Now, it's one thing to ride no-handed on the regular street, but this guy, it seemed, was really quite talented. Okay, I'll admit that not only am I easily amused but I am not a very good no-handed rider. In fact, I probably can't even do it anymore. Besides, one of the worst bike wrecks in my childhood happened while attempting to ride no-handed while jumping a curb. Yeah... bad idea. But I digress.

As I pass the guy riding no-handed on his bike through the uneven grass, I notice part of the reason he's no-handed is because he's on his cellphone. Hey cool trick! And, to add to his repertoire of tricks, he's also listening to an ipod!!

I think the only way to top this act would be to have a cigarette dangling out of your mouth. Anyone care to try it?

Weinermobile News

One of the six iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles had an unfortunate accident last Friday, crashing into the house of Nick Krupp in Racine, Wis. July 17th. The 22 year old female driver lurched the vehicle forward, according to eyewitnesses, mistakingly thinking she was in reverse. The vehicle plunged forward into the dwelling cracking the foundation, shifting front decking, and causing moderate damage to the vehicle. The driver was fortunately found to be unharmed when police arrived and insurance is expected to pay for the damage. The unlucky Wienermobile will be back in action shortly, following repairs.

HotDoggerBlog

The Hamburger Bed

I heard the Hamburger Bed was up for auction on Ebay. Although I would have loved to own this wondrous piece of pop culture, I definitely wouldn't have been able to come up with THAT much money for it. Wow. Wonder if the winner actually did pay that much.

MJ Broke The Interwebs!

Interesting story, courtesy of CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- How many people does it take to break the Internet? On June 25, we found out it's just one -- if that one is Michael Jackson. Jackson's death caused Twitter outages, as portrayed by Raul Orozco in this take on Twitter's fail whale.


The biggest showbiz story of the year saw the troubled star take a good slice of the Internet with him, as the ripples caused by the news of his death swept around the globe. "Between approximately 2:40 p.m. PDT and 3:15 p.m. PDT today, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson," a Google spokesman told CNET, which also reported that Google News users complained that the service was inaccessible for a time. At its peak, Google Trends rated the Jackson story as "volcanic."

As sites fell, users raced to other sites: TechCrunch reported that TMZ, which broke the story, had several outages; users then switched to Perez Hilton's blog, which also struggled to deal with the requests it received. CNN reported a fivefold rise in traffic and visitors in just over an hour, receiving 20 million page views in the hour the story broke.

Twitter crashed as users saw multiple "fail whales" -- the illustrations the site uses as error messages -- user FoieGrasie posting, "Irony: The protesters in Iran using twitter as com are unable to get online because of all the posts of 'Michael Jackson RIP.' Well done." The site's status blog said that Twitter had had to temporarily disable its search results, saved searches and trend topics.

Wikipedia saw a flurry of activity, with close to 500 edits made to Jackson's entry in less than 24 hours. CNET reported that by 3:15pm PDT, Wikipedia seemed to be "temporarily overloaded."

The LA Times, the first news organization to confirm Jackson's death, suffered outages. The site also reported that AOL's instant messenger service had been hit, quoting an AOL statement that said, "AIM was down for approximately 40 minutes this afternoon." The statement said, "Today was a seminal moment in Internet history. We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth."

By Friday morning, news sites seemed to be coping with traffic but Jackson fan site mjfanclub.net was still performing sluggishly. Mashable.com reported that tributes to, and remarks upon, Michael Jackson's death were responsible for 30 percent of tweets.

As with any breaking piece of news on the Web, the reports of Jackson's death sparked something of a feeding frenzy -- and with that came rumor that dragged in other celebrities completely unconnected to the King of Pop's death.

One Wikipedia prankster wrote that Jackson had been "savagely murdered" by his brother Tito, who had strangled him "with a microphone cord."

Soon rumors spread online that movie star Jeff Goldblum had fallen from the Kauri Cliffs in New Zealand while filming his latest movie. On several search engines, "Jeff Goldblum" soon became the only non-Jackson-related term to crop up in the top 10.

The rumors forced Goldblum's publicist to issue a statement to media outlets, saying: "Reports that Jeff Goldblum has passed away are completely untrue. He is fine and in Los Angeles."

At the same time Harrison Ford was also rumored to have fallen from a yacht off the south of France.

Web site snopes.com, which shoots down rumors, gossip and urban legends -- and how they originated -- said the likely culprit was a Web site which allows users to input celebrity names -- and then inserts them into fake templated stories (a further variant has stars dying in a plane crash).

In a sense the feeding frenzy was understandable -- Jackson's death, coming only hours after that of 1970s icon Farah Fawcett, left many Web users, shocked by the news of Jackson's death, asking what would happen next. In this febrile climate any rumor runs the risk of being seized on, believed and treated with more credulity than usual.

The need of the professional media to be first with the news -- many did for a short time report the Goldblum rumor as fact -- adds further veracity. And, of course, the whole process is speeded up by the Web.

There is also, of course, the old adage that celebrities die in threes, with the deaths of Gianni Versace, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa in 1997 frequently held up as an example of this.
advertisement

But while Diana and Teresa passed away with seven days of each other in August and September, Versace was killed in early July. Their deaths were most keenly mourned by the same broad sections of the public -- and hence were inextricably interlinked.

The Web can link disseminate news -- but like any form of communication it can also help us create what we expect to see next.

What Every Picnic Needs!

A T-Rex Watermelon Boat! Whee!

Lost Tidbits

Just a few nuggets of goodness....

The sixth season will begin with an examination of what happened after Juliet seemingly detonated the hydrogen bomb. As usual, [Matthew] Fox said, "It's very surprising and probably fairly confusing initially to the audience." Source: Kristin on E!Online

Team Darlton is checking the availability of several MVPs [from past seasons to appear in the series final season. ...] After sitting out last season, [Emilie] de Ravin will return as a full-time series regular for Lost's sixth and final season, Team Darlton confirms. "Damon and I are very excited to bring Claire back to the show," says Carlton Cuse, "and even more excited for people to experience just how she will return." Source: The Ausiello Files

"Like, a third of the way in to the season, I would guess we are going to settle into one time frame, and it will be very linear-no more flashbacks, nothing. It will be on the Island and sort of a final conflict to the end," said [Matthew] Fox. He assured fans that all the crazy storylines introduced in earlier seasons will be resolved and that the conflict between Jack and Locke "will come head to head" this season, but he wouldn't divulge more than that. When asked what would happen if he did, he said, "Some guys would pull up outside this building in a white van and masks, and I'd never be seen again." Source: Kristin on E!Online

Lost masterminds Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have been dropping hints about how the show will end next spring. Among the mysteries unravelled in the very last episode will be the significance of the four-toed statue, what the Smoke Monster really is and who the skeletons in the cave were. [...] Says Cuse: "The end of the show will be a combination of trying to answer mysteries the audience still cares about, such as the statue and the Smoke Monster. We'll also be answering the skeletons in the cave question. We will answer the questions we feel are important and central to the plot. At the same time we will be trying to tell redemption stories about the characters. These characters do indeed have a destiny." Source: Sunday Mercury

RHONJ

Over 4.6 million viewers watched the finale of Real Housewives of New Jersey Tuesday—making Bravo the #1-rated television network that night and resulting in four new episodes of the show to air in the coming weeks.

The first season of New Jersey—which only had a run of six episodes—was the highest rated series out of the entire Real Housewives franchise. Knowing the hit Bravo has on its hands, four new episodes (a reunion preview, above left) of RHONJ will air over the next two weeks:

"THE LAST SUPPER," Thursday, June 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT – It was a dinner unlike any other. "The Last Supper" features never-before-seen footage, new commentary from the Jersey Housewives and their families, and a shocking post-dinner gathering that has to be seen to be believed.

"REUNION: WATCH WHAT HAPPENS PART ONE," Tuesday, June 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT – The ladies sit down with Bravo's Andy Cohen, for part one of this explosive reunion special.

"REUNION: WATCH WHAT HAPPENS PART TWO," Thursday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT – A reunion special so juicy it needed two episodes – watch what happens as the Jersey ladies finally let it all out on the table.

"THE LOST FOOTAGE" – Thursday, July 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT – Bubbies, Botox and Books – the ladies from Jersey had their share of drama, but we could only fit so much into each episode. "The Real Housewives of New Jersey – The Lost Footage" features new moments from season one with Housewives Caroline, Dina, Jacqueline, Teresa and Danielle.

David Sedaris

David Sedaris remembers the city of his youth: We talk Raleigh one day: Arts: Reading

Shared via AddThis

(sorta) Idol News

American Idol powerhouse vocalist Carly Smithson is joining the original guys of Evanescence, who are relaunching as a hard-rock band called The Fallen.

Shawn Johnson Euthanized

Juliet's Odyssey

Courtesy of Doc Jensen at EW.com

My Extensions!!!