Right, Renewal and A Little Night Music

( Vampire Diaries SPOILER)

Ok, so I was right about Katherine not being in the tomb on The Vampire Diaries! However, we have to wait 5 weeks for the next new episode. Torture.

The torturous wait as to whether ABC Family would renew Greek is finally over. The series has been renewed for season 4. Although they only renewed the show for 10 episodes, I am ecstatic that it will be back. I am completely smitten with the show and am happy that it won't be added to any canceled lists...yet.

Musically, I've really been enjoying Lady Antebellum's Need You Now. The album is sort of country meets early Fleetwood Mac and I just cannot get enough of it. Also really looking forward to Daniel Merriweather's new album Love and War. Daniel was the featured vocalist on Mark Ronson's Stop Me and Ronson produced this project too. There is an amazing duet with Adele called Water and a Flame. It drops this Tuesday, February 23! My favorite music discovery this week is V.V Brown's Traveling Like The Light. This quirky British singer has a retro vibe, but her interesting song interpretation is an enjoyable music-forward nod to the past.

Vampire Diaries List of Speculations

In honor of the last new episode of The Vampire Diaries until March 25, here is a list of my speculations:

1. Katherine is not in the tomb.
2. The remaining vamps in the tomb are all dead.
3. Katherine turns Stefan and Damon during their rescue attempt. They drink her blood and are killed, maybe even by their father...only to become the undead.
4. Emily and Katherine had a deal that preceded Damon's deal with Emily.
5. Emily was always loyal to Katherine and the reason she didn't want the tomb opened was due to Katherine not being there.
6. I do believe it is possible that Emily had a change of heart and mind, but I am suspect.
7. Katherine won't live too long after the tomb resolution.
8. Pearl and Anna escape and will return to Mystic Falls one day.
9. Alaric's wife Isabelle is a vamp and possibly under Katherine's control.
10. Maybe Damon actually kills Katherine to save Stefan or Elena?

How far off am I?

Grammy's Ladies' Night

The ladies ruled the 2010 Grammy Awards. Lady Gaga opened the show with much theatrical flair and a head-to-head piano duel with Sir Elton John. Thankfully, she has the vocal chops to back up her over-the-top, yet oh-so-enjoyable avant guard theatrics. I wonder how she will age and mature as an artist? Will she still work this schtick at 50 a la Madonna?

Next up was Beyonce. At first, I thought she had gone all 1989 Rhythm Nation with her music corp dancers. However, once she launched into If I Were A Boy there was not even a glimmer or memory of Miss Jackson as her performance was pure Sasha Fierce. I haven't decided if I am on board with this whole Sasha Fierce alter-ego, but this performance was a pretty convincing argument. In mid-performance, she launched into Alanis Morisette's You Oughta Know and I couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't have been more powerful to have actually had Alanis join her. I've concluded that Ms. Knowles days of sharing the stage are way, way over (Right Kelly? Right Michelle?)

Lady Antebellum's performance was pretty good and I think they've come into their own as the next big harmonious country trio. I did feel a little badly for Hillary Scott when the screen came down and hit her in the head. She recovered nicely and I enjoyed their performance of I Need You Know. Did you know that lead-singer Charles Kelley is singer Josh Kelley's brother? Did you know Josh Kelley is married to Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy and Knocked Up? Now that you know all of this, do you care?

P!nk! Her performance of Glitter In the Air was the high-point of the show for me. It was an awesome athletic feat showcasing her amazing vocal talent with her stunning mid-air acrobatics.

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles was a very welcome addition to Bon Jovi's Who Says You Can't Go Home. I was really glad she stuck around for Livin' on Prayer. I wish there was a Sugarland performance this year. They always, always deliver.

The Michael Jackson Earth Song was really cheesy, but Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Underwood were outstanding. The whole 3D stunt just didn't work. Watching Beyonce and Rihanna grooving to the performance with their crooked 3D glasses...priceless.

I was really looking forward to Taylor Swift's performance with Stevie Nicks, but it was kind of off-key and a bit all over the place. Taylor has never been a great live performer, but this was a total botch. I don't know if her nerves got the best of her coupled with performing with a true icon, but it was not good.

The main thing I will take away from the powerful female performances from the 2010 Grammy Awards is that the Britney-age of lip synching and dancing may have finally come to a close. Viva live vocals!

Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris - For Haiti

Watch here

New Year, New TV Talk...

Whoa, the end of 2009 brought the utter, total and completely massive failure of my blog. New year, new start and new crap to discuss!

I feel sort of ashamed that I am about to blog about entertainment with all that is going on in Haiti. If you are reading this and haven't donated even the smallest amount to the Red Cross, please do so. The Haitian need seems so insurmountable, but a small contribution can make a difference.

Ok, so where to begin? The Vampire Diaries returned tonight and it was not disappointing. I am so glad that Jasmine Guy has turned out to be a bit more than stunt casting. Her 2 scenes with Stefan tonight were really great. ** The Vampire Diaries Spoilers ahead** I loved that Damon basically kidnapped Elena after she hit the latest yet-to-be-identified-vampire in Mystic Falls. Good road trip to meet a witch about a tomb. Also, I loved that there were post-Lexi ramifications. I am still hoping that she some how survived, but it does seem unlikely. The twist about Elena's adoption was so great. Elena saving Damon was a genius move by the writer's to further integrate and develop more depth and perhaps more compassion for his character. Kevin Williamson has claimed that Elena and Damon will become good friends, but that Stefan and Elena are really and truly in love...which I think I like better than the typical tried and true love-triangle. **end Vampire Diaries spoilers**

White Collar also premiered this week after a brief hiatus. The cliff-hanger resolve is still on-going, but for the most part Peter and Neal's bromance continues. I love their relationship and the writer's are beautifully developing and layering the growing trust between the FBI agent and the con man. Tiffani Thiessen and Willie Garson are superb supporting players. White Collar is definitely one of my favorite shows of the 2009-2010 TV season.

Yes, Glee has been uneven and a bit all over the place, but I've decided to just give in, enjoy and let the musical goodness wash over me. I plan to give myself fixes from the DVD until the new episodes premiere in April. It also doesn't hurt that the show is filmed on the same studio lot that I work on and I've had multiple random cast sightings since they began filming again last week. I know, I know...so braggy and name-dropperish...I know!

The Office also returned tonight, but I was not happy that it was a clip show. A freakin' clip show! I think clip shows are the absolute dregs of television society. I feel gypped!

I am ecstatic that Project Runway is back in NYC. Hopefully, the cast will be more interesting and less annoying than the dullards from last season. New York also means Nina Garcia and Michael Kors will be around for each episode. It just wasn't the same when they didn't appear last season.

Lastly, I think I will share some initial impressions from Life Unexpected. I hated that the show was marketed with comparisons to Juno and The Gilmore Girls. Ugh. I think it was more in the Everwood territory with a couple of very brief relational glimpses of The Gilmore Girls. Shiri Appleby is no Lauren Graham...although it was kind of nice to see Shiri back on TV. Yep, I was a huge Roswell dork.

Stay tuned as I plan to have a lot to say in 2010!

Massive Blog Fail!

Ok, so November was a pretty epic massive blog fail! I wrote 2 entries which I never posted. One about people texting while driving and the other about Adam Lambert on the AMA's. The texting entry was just too angry. I will keep the funny bits and re-write it soon. I decided midway through the Adam Lambert entry that I just didn't care anymore. So I deleted it!

December you've snuck up on me yet again. Christmas is in 20 days! Twenty! It if finally cold here in LA and if the cold stays I am hoping for a massive rush of holiday cheer.

Hmmm, so far in December I've eaten great amounts of sushi at Katsuya, given a presentation that went really, really well and played tennis. I am hoping this month brings more tennis, more sushi and I definitely want to focus on reconnecting with family and friends. I am also going to reconnect with this blog, and write some funny #&$%#*!

Happy Day!

I FINALLY got a new computer today! My old computer died a couple of months ago and I didn't know how I was going to cope without it. Cut to two months or so later...still no computer, but I am fine. My iPhone became my computer and now it is happily just my phone again.

I had grits with my bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast and they were divine. I love good company and tasty treats during a lazy Saturday morning nosh. I dream of my next breakfast at Good Enough To Eat in New York City. There aren't better scrambled eggs anywhere. Anywhere!

I think I found a new dining room table. A round table for a round dining room.

This week's Television winners were The Vampire Diaries and America's Next Top Model. Diaries was suspense, scary and scintillating! The brother dynamic between Stefan and Damon was well explored and it was highly entertaining. On Model, they are finally down to the final 2. Nicole made it (no brainer) and Laura. I'm not sad to see Erin go. I predict that Nicole will be the winner. I think even Helen Keller can see that and she's dead.

The TV loser this week is my beloved So You Think You Can Dance. I don't know what is up with the show, but it just seems stale. Season 5 was so much fun and so awesome to watch, but even though the producers claim that the season 6 dancers are they best they've ever recruited, it is just a snooze fest. I also miss the rotating guest judge. Not Little C or Toni Basil so much, but Miss Debbie Allen and, of course, Mia Michaels are sorely missed. I also loathe the threat of Paula Abdul as guest judge, choreographer or performer. I am hoping the show picks up near the top 10 mark, but perhaps So You Think You Can Dance is best left as a summer delight?

The only thing keeping this from being a supreme happy day is the fact that iTunes does not carry more of the Alphabeat catalog. Check out their new single The Spell here.