Thing of the Week: Amber's Crying

I'm starting another new, weekly post on the blog called the Thing of the Week. I tend to write about a lot of things (clearly, that's what the blog is all about) but I'm going to start singling out one thing each week that deserves special attention. So, the first ever Thing of the Week is:
Amber's Crying on Big Brother 8

If you watch Big Brother this season you know that single mother, Amber, cries at the drop of a hat. She cries when she's happy, she cries when she's sad, she cries when she votes and she cries when people say mean things (or nice things) to other people in the Big Brother house.

If you go to YouTube.com and search "Amber Big Brother Crying" there are 30 clips of her bawling her eyes out. If you are unfamiliar with show, please check out some of the clips and experience her tears of joy... or sorrow... or Tuesday...

Summer Sickness

The title of the post works on so many levels. First off, I'm sick of the sticky summer weather. I'm ready for the cooler Fall temperatures and wearing jeans and t-shirts without feeling like turning inside-out. Agree?

Secondly- I'm actually sick. What am I sick with? I'm not even sure. It's some sort of summer cold-achy-miserable type thing. What I do know is that there is one thing that is getting me through the day: Zicam Cold Remedy nose spray. Please don't let this photo of a stuffed-up lumberjack discourage you; this product is great! I don't know what it is, and it quite possibly could be a placebo effect, but it always makes me feel better. I think Zicam and Red Bull were the two things that got me through my last two years of college (besides the binge drinking.) I also fully expect a case of Zicam and/or Red Bull on my doorstep tomorrow. Isn't that was Rosie O'Donnell does? Mention stuff and get free stuff? Yes.

The other summer sickness that I have is my new love for Big Brother 8 on CBS. This is actually the first year that I'm diligently watching Big Bro, but I'm into it. I only started watching because there is NOTHING good on TV this summer, but I'm totally digging it now. Last night's episode is what pushed me over the edge. The house guests went from quietly scheming behind each other's backs, to flat out saying, "If you do this, I'm gonna do this!" which is slightly unusual on competition shows.

There's no way I'm gonna give a Big Brother update after every episode, since the show is on like 12 times a week, but I will just give a few notes right now. This season there's a new gimmick called "America's Player" where one contestant's actions are controlled by the viewers. Each week, America gives Eric a task to complete, like lying about something dramatic happening in his past, or getting certain house guests nominated for eviction. After every 5 completed tasks he wins $10,000. Pretty cool. What's actually neat about the new twist is that the other contestants don't know that America is telling him what to do. We'll have to watch and see if anything interesting actually comes up.

Now... let's get to the good stuff. The most hated player on the show is by far the selfish bitch, Jen. She's a self-centered nanny who doesn't care what she says to the other house guests and makes no qualms about announcing her strategy or reason for voting certain people. The cast was shaken last week when Jen won Head of Household after a fluke in the competition, but as soon as she loses power there is no doubt she'll get the boot. Everyone hates her.

The best was her reaction to their photo reveal a few shows ago. Jen FREAKED OUT and cried and made a huge scene about her cast member photo because it, "makes it look like she has these weird eye bags but they're like... not even hers!" It was amazing. That's the exact moment that everyone in the house was like, "Oh, crap. I hate her." You can watch the clip over at the Big Brother website, and view some additional photos. Oh ya, the cameras in the house are on 24/7 so you can also subscribe to the site and watch the house guests all day and night, you perv.

Big Brother 8 is on (takes a deep breath) Tuesdays at 9 and Thursdays at 8, with the eviction ceremony on Sunday nights at 8. All of this craziness takes place on CBS.

So You Think You Can Dance

You can argue with me all you want, but I will say that So You Think You Can Dance is probably the best show on TV this summer. As I said in my previous post, I really don't like much of anything that's on the telly right now, but SYTYCD has always been one of my faves.

Now that the audition episodes are over and the actual competition gets going, the real fun has begun. In case you are unfamiliar with the show I'll tell you how it works. Much like American Idol, it has two nights; a performance night and a results night. Performance night pairs up the dancers and makes them do a routine in a particular style (hip-hop, ballroom, contemporary, etc) and then the viewers vote to keep their faves on. On results night, the three pairs w/ the lowest votes each perform solo dances of their choice, and then the SYTYCD judges cut one guy and one girl from the show. I definitely like the fact that although America chooses the bottom six people, the judges (people with actual dance experience) vote off the worst.

My favorite part of the show is the beginning of results night, when all the remaining dancers perform together in a group number. They always seem to be shockingly good, and it's really fun to see everyone together dancing for fun. Last week's show featured a dance choreographed by Wade Robson that still gives me goosebumps when I watch it. Even if you don't appreciate dance as much as I do, you can enjoy this piece. The choreography is awesome, and I don't just mean how the dancers are moving... the camera moves are amazing, too. I can't imagine having enough creativity to think that up. That's probably why Wade is the man. Check out the performance of "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" before big brother yanks it off the web.
Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See


Wade Robson also choreographed one of last season's best dances to "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" so check that out, too.
Ramalama (Bang Bang)



So You Think You Can Dance airs tonight and every Wednesday at 8pm with the results Thursday at 9pm. You can head over to Fox.com/dance to learn more about this season's contestants and play some random trivia game. Unfortunately, the website offers little in the way of videos. People (like me) want to watch the performances over and over again... you should get on that, Fox!

Summer Television Sucks

Summer television sucks. There, I said it. If you've ever read this blog before then you know I'm a big fan of TV. Partially because it's the business that I'm in, and partially because I just really like it and I don't have the attention span to watch movies. Unfortunately I feel like there are zero point zero zero good shows on this summer. Ok... that's not completely true, but there are very few shows that pique my interest right now. I used to schedule my life around what was on TV (Wow... sad to see that in print) and now I'm going to be forced to do things like... go outside. *dry heaves* There are two shows that I really can't even stand to watch this summer. I'm sorry if you like them or have a part in their creation, but they're awful.

Pirate Master. I give it an "oh, brother" and a "gaahhh." This show is exactly like Survivor (which is a good show) but the people have to pretend they're pirates. Yes, pirates. They pretend to look for this old captain's treasure and they find the skeletons of other pirates and stuff like that. This show goes beyond reality shows where the contestants simply exaggerate their personalities; these contestants have to act genuinely interesting in being a pirate. wtf?

Fast Cars & Superstars. This is the showing that should be called NASCAR-ing with Celebrities. Now, I will admit that I could see how producers came up with this idea. I picture them sitting in a board room saying, "Ok... what's hot with Americans right now. Dancing with the Stars is good. Those other celebrities-doing-things shows rated well. What about NASCAR?! That's great between the coasts! Let's make celebrities drive the racecars! Done!" But in practice the actual show is sooooo boring! In my head I pictured 10 celebs get in racecars going head-to-head and have one of them inevitably crash into the wall and have to be extinguished by the pit crew. Unfortunately, the real show has each celeb doing time trials by themselves on the track. Who wants to watch that?! Not I, sir. Not I.

There are actually a few shows that I look forward to watching. Each one of them is back for their third season. Coincidence? Not going to give long explanations, but watch these:

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List returns for season 3. Kathy is hilarious and the cast of supporting characters is just as good. Check it out Tuesday nights at 10pm on Bravo.

So You Think You Can Dance is back for a third season and it's just as good as the last two. Now that the audition episodes are over the good stuff can begin. SYTYCD is on FOX, Wednesday nights at 8pm.

Top Chef is also back for its third season. Although it is probably my least favorite of the Bravo competition shows (Project Runway, Top Design, Shear Genius) it's still a great program and worth checking out. I only wish I could smell the food! Top Chef is on Wednesdays at 10pm on Bravo.

If you love TV as much as I do, you should check out Yahoo! TV every day to see what's on the telly tonight. They have an easy-to-read programming grid and lots of extra content. Happy watching!

So Many Weddings

There's not too much going on in my broadcasting world at the moment. The new job is starting to wear me down a little bit. The hours are a lot more intense than what I had originally thought. I'm gaining some good experience, but I'm also learning that it's not exactly where I want to be at the moment. I've been following through with some other opportunities that I was following before I got this job. I'll let you know what's up as soon as I know anything!

Apparently it is time for all of my friends to get married. At least that is what I gather from the past two weekends. Last weekend my good friends Brian and Steph were married in Hershey, PA... the land of chocolate (the air smelled like chocolate, people. It was amazing.) I was fortunate enough to be asked to be a groomsman in the ceremony and I had a great time. The wedding was beautiful and everyone had a blast!

This past weekend I was back in PA, this time at Westminster for one of my best friends wedding! Danielle and (Matt) Slacker got married at Wallace Memorial Chapel. The new Slackers asked me to do a reading during the ceremony (which I was really nervous about) but they said I did a good job. Phew. The wedding was very intimate, including their family and close friends (most of which were my close friends, too... which was really nice!) Again, everyone had an awesome time. So great to see everyone!

I had mentioned to several family members that Carolyn and I really needed a "big plant" for our apartment to finish it off. We were having the hardest time finding a tree or plant that wasn't over $100 so things were looking bleek. Always trying to be helpful, my Mom, Dad, and brother tried to hook me up witih this mail-order "lucky bean tree." No exactly the tree we were looking for, but I do have to say that it's almost doubled in size since I got it! Pretty lucky so far.

Luckily for us though, a few weeks later the bodega gods smiled on us and we managed to find a giant palm thing for only $25 on the street! Here is the majesty that is our cheap tree. It's probably infested with deadly beetles from Mexico or something, but for right now it looks great!

So as you can see, my life is uncontrollably exciting right now. Other people's weddings and cheap foliage. This city never sleeps!

Here are some additional wedding photos. Maybe I should become a wedding photographer instead?

The Week with "The Interview"

This week in broadcasting wasn't filled with much activity on campus, mostly because I wasn't on campus until late Wednesday night! I was in New York from Monday to Wednesday and had a really nice time with my mom and brother. Once I got back to campus things went as normal. I produced and anchored the news with Liz on Thursday afternoon and directed The County Line like usual. The show was all right... not one of the best, by far.

The career search saw my first interview for an actual post-graduation job! I had my interview for the Page Program at NBC on Tuesday morning. The interview went really well. It was about 30min long the guy who inteviewed me asked me some really good questions. Basically why I would make a good page and what I thought he was looking for in a page. I learned more about the actual program, and also came to the decision that I'm definitely not going to put all of my eggs in one basket. I'm going to start aggressively looking for jobs both in the area in elsewhere. I also learned the importance of having contacts in various markets. I know that is something that I need to work on because it will definitely benefit me in the future. I probably wouldn't even have gotten the NBC interview had I not been put in contact with Nikki.

I found an article on IWantMedia.com about Ted Koppel leaving ABC. It seems like all the major anchors are leaving the big networks. More openings for me, I guess!