"If you plan in rescuing a vampire during daylight, I have seriously overestimated your intelligence."

Well, season 3 of True Blood seems to be starting out with a lot of sex, violence and blood, isn't it? Alan Ball surely wants us to get our moneys worth! I've had a request to provide spoiler alerts for these kinds of posts, so for all of you who are planning to watch and haven't yet: SPOILER ALERT!!!

Best part of the episode...we finally get to meet Alcide Herveaux!

Even though I'm all for Sookie and Eric getting together, while reading the books I also fell a little bit in love with True Blood's resident werewolf (doesn't every town need a resident werewolf?), Alcide. Regardless of the fact that he has some major ex baggage, he's still a great distraction from the fact that Bill's been kidnapped (not that I miss him).

Anyway, back to this week's episode.

Of course the main focus again was the disappearance of Bill Compton. Eric and Sookie were almost able to get some information out of the werewolf that broke into Sookie's house, but all they were able to get, through Sookie's telepathy, was "Jackson" as in Mississippi. Luckily for Sookie, Eric knows a strong, handsome werewolf bodyguard to keep her safe on her trip east. We also get to learn a little bit more about Bill's past with one of his captor's, Lorena and his wife from his human life AND a teeny bit more of a hint that maybe Bill wasn't in Bon Temps and HAPPENED to meet Sookie, but that he was there with purpose. Hopefully Sookie is careful on her quest to find Bill. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her over someone who may or may not be actually in love with her.

Moving along, we all knew after last week that something was about to go down between Franklin and Tara, and in true Alan Ball/HBO/True Blood fashion, we are treated to a pretty intense sex scene between the two (speaking of which, I'm not even going to rehash the violent hate sex between Lorena and Bill ending the episode). At least Tara and Sookie had a touching makeup at Eggs' funeral. It wasn't all naughty sex for her this week!

And finally, as per usual, some of my favorite moments star the lovable, albeit not too intelligent, Jason in all his glory. I love that he has finally figured out what he wants to do with his life (become a cop) and I love his theory that if a question is on the sample test, it won't be on the real test, so why study it? If only that were true! Judging by previews for next week, Jason will find a way to get around that pesky test with Andy Bellefleur.

So here's what I've decided about season 3 of True Blood. Rather than simply adapting the third book of the series "Club Dead", as they more or less did for seasons 1 and 2, it seems as though they're combining a few of the books into one season. Which I get, considering there are 10 books as of now, and it's pretty unlikely that there will be 10 seasons of the show. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Although, there have been a lot of things showing up this season that don't happen until much farther along in the series. We shall see where the crazy humans, vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, etc in Bon Temps and, now, Jackson, Mississippi take us over the next 9 episodes.

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Eric Northman, "True Blood"

"You worry too much, Bella. You’re going to go prematurely gray."

A few months back, I came to the conclusion that Kristen Stewart either (a) has great red carpet style or (b) has hired a fabulous stylist for red carpets, premieres, and press events. Now, I have to assume she hired a stylist, because her "street style" seems to be a bit grunge like. Maybe she wishes she was in her 20s back in the 90s and hung with Kurt Cobain and Jordan Catalano. I don't know.

Anyway, over the past few weeks, Miss Stewart had been running all around the world promoting Eclipse, which opens in mere hours here in the US. And, as I said before, she has been working some seriously fierce fashion. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that her nasty mullet left over from the Runaways, in which she starred as rocker Joan Jett, has finally grown out.

In honor of the third, and my personal favorite, book's big premiere I thought I'd highlight some of my favorite Kristen Stewart fashion moments over the past few weeks. She stuck with black, white and metallics which some may find boring and safe, but I find them to be classic with a twist! Here are my top 7 (why stop at 5?):

At an Eclipse screening in NYC in RM by Roland Mouret (and a super fun braid hairdo):

On her way into a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman in Herve Leger by Max Azria:

At a Today Show taping in Helmut Lang:

At the LA premiere of Eclipse in Elie Saab:

At the Berlin premiere of Eclipse in Versace:

At a press event in Rome in J. Mendel:

And finally, at the MTV Movie Awards in Dolce & Gabbana:

Way to work it K. Stew! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do for your future premieres. And, you better be paying your stylist well. He or she deserves it!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Alice Cullen, "Eclipse"

''I'm always going to guard and protect Ali's heart. I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve.''

Moving forward with my social anthropology research that I began last week with the cruise, I've decided to take a in depth look at the oh-so-addictive "dating" show, The Bachelorette (or the Bachelor in some cases). Now, I've only watched a few seasons, so my knowledge of the show is a bit limited, but I will go off of what I do know.

From watching this season, in particular, I've learned many what-to-do's and what-not-to-do's on a reality dating show, which I will now discuss.

This season we have as our Bachelorette career gal Ali from the previous season of the Bachelor starring pilot Jake (who, by the way, just split from winner/his fiancee Vienna). As per usual, the next season of the Bachelor/Bachelorette typically stars a fan fave from the previous season, who was booted with a broken heart and now back and ready to "find love". I only watched 1 or 2 episodes of Jake's season, so I didn't really get to know Ali back then, but supposedly she was a front runner for Jake's heart, until she decided her job was more important than an engagement, that would inevitably end, as all, with the exception of Trista and Ryan, do.

Let's get back to the topic at hand, what-to-do and what-not-to-do. As in every other competition reality show, the contestants always need to go in with a strategy in order to stick around. Here's what I've learned from this season of the Bachelorette:

DO: Come out of the gate with a sweet, although not too cheesy, opening line to make sure she/he remembers you, and ideally your name, when it's time for the cocktail party.

DON'T: Reveal TMI, embarrassing stories about yourself at the first meeting, that will cause uncomfortable, WTF moments from both the bachelor/bachelorette and the viewers.

DO: Share personal stories, which will make the bachelor/bachelorette feel like they've connected more with you than other contestants, but don't use them to your advantage (see Chris L. who decided to wait to tell Ali about his mother who had recently passed away).

DON'T: Use affectionate nicknames (ie Baby, Babe, etc) for someone you've never actually spent any alone time with. It won't make the other person feel like he/she is more into you and just causes awkward moments.

DO: Make yourself become the "villian" of the house. Apparently it makes you stand out and brings out sympathy of the bachelor/bachelorette who sees beyond what the other people in the house sees, or their "genuineness".

DON'T: Come on the show if you have a girlfriend/boyfriend at home. The bachelor/bachelorette will ALWAYS find out. Although, it does allow for some great dramatic television! So, maybe that could be a DO if you want to parlay your time on the show into an acting career.

DO: Find a way to get a little smooch action on one-on-one dates. A good make-out sesh can easily be confused for real chemistry and connection.

DON'T: Act like a crazy person, by singing (not well), declaring your love on the first date, repeating a catch phrase (I'm talkin' to you, Kasey!) over and over again, tattooing your body with said catch phrase, or basically being too desperate.

DO: Expect to do plenty of promotional "we love each other and are planning our wedding" stops "after the final rose" but....

DON'T: Expect to actually end up marrying the bachelor/bachelorette.

So I know I sound like a cynic about "love" with my theories on the Bachelor/Bachelorette, but you have to take history into account. The only couple from the show that ended up getting married are Trista and Ryan, from the first season of the Bachelorette and while Jason from the Bachelor a few years ago did end up marrying someone from the show, it WASN'T the girl he proposed to in the final episode. I will continue in my quest to be an social anthropologist while watching the remainder of the current season and maybe I'll be able to add to my list of do's and dont's.

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Kasey, "The Bachelorette"

"There's werewolves? Big Foot, is he real, too? ... Santa?"

I was a little bit unsure as to whether or not I should post my thoughts on the new episodes of True Blood. Because I've read the books, I was concerned I may inadvertently give things away thinking it's happened in the show already because it happened in the books. But, by request from my lovely friend Snow White, I've decided to go ahead and do it. Since I neglected to post last week, I'll make this a two episode recap.

In the first episode of the season, Bad Blood, we pick up pretty much from the exact moment the 2nd season finale left off: Sookie returns to the table after her post-proposal freak out to find that Bill's been abducted, Jason and Andy deal with the fact they just killed Eggs, Tara also deals with Eggs being killed, Jessica accidentally kills a trucker and Sam has set out to meet his biological family. Now, I have to say, the majority of this episode was mostly setting up the new season, which is fairly typical of season premieres. They don't want to go in guns blazing to end up puttering out in the end. Although we do discover a learn about a new breed of supes getting thrown into the mix: werewolves. Plus, we get to see the two best parts of the show, lots of gratuitous scenes of both Jason Stackhouse and Eric Northman. What more do you need, really? I guess that's how Alan Ball decided to start things off with a bang! For which, I applaud him.

Moving along to last night's episode, Beautifully Broken. We get to meet a few new characters this week, which is always fun. After Tara tries to kill herself, Lafayette takes her to see his mother in a psychiatric facility, whom he fears Tara will end up like should she continue down the path she's on. There he meets the conveniently dreamy nurse Jesus. From what I've read, and hopefully not giving too much away, he will become a regular feature in the fabulous Lafayette's life this season. But love isn't only in the air for Lafeyette. While accidentally ending up on a meth lab bust with Andy, Jason sees an enigmatic blonde who will most likely be popping back up in his life in the near future.

We also get to meet three new vampires: Russell Edgington, the kind of Mississippi who we learn orchestrated the kidnapping of Bill, his boytoy Talbot and Franklin Mott, a mysterious character who broke into someone's house (was it Bill's or Sookie's) looking for information about Sookie and a possible love interest for broken Tara.

Beyond meeting the newbies, we (finally) learn that Lorena was also involved in Bill's kidnapping, we get a touching moment between Pam and Jessica about how to dispose of bodies (vampire mentoring at its finest), we get some sweet brother/sister love moments between Sookie and Jason and we are treated to some great sexual tension between our favorite vamp Eric and Sookie.

All in all, a very good start to what's looking to be a very good season. I'm not shy about the fact I'm not team Bill, so let's continue to keep him out of the picture to allow for much more Eric/Sookie time. I'm excited for next week when it looks like we'll finally get to meet Alcide!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Jason Stackhouse, "True Blood"

"The thing is, there were only 14 other guys in my class...so it's not saying much, but I guess I'm the most popular!"

I already knew I was madly in love with the jazz dancing farm boy Kent Boyd, but last night's episode of So You Think You Can Dance really solidified every reason why! Due to this, I decided I'm going to dedicate my post today to gush about him.

I was a tad concerned when Cat announced he had pulled Anya and the Cha-Cha out of the hat, but then they rolled tape and I knew I was in for an amazing time! Not only did he really hold his own against the best female ballroom dancer SYTYCD has ever seen, he looked like he was genuinely having a blast.



See! Even Cat and the judges adore him! The question is, how on earth could you NOT?! Not only does he have amazing talent and ability, but he has personality for days. From the moment he's on stage, he exudes fun and humble (and a little nervous) confidence. I don't foresee this guy going anywhere in the near future.

I'm going to go ahead and predict the top 3 will be my fave Kent, Alex and Robert. Sorry ladies, but the only ones I was really impressed by were the all-stars. I can't wait for Travis or Sonya to get their choreographing hands on Kent and for him to be paired with Courtney or Kathryn. Hopefully one of those things will happen next week!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Kent Boyd, "So You Think You Can Dance"

"Next week's no good for me... The Jonas Brothers are in town. But any week after that, it's totally fine."

There's something about bachelorette and bachelor parties that bring the fun out in people. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to celebrate the lovely sex superhero Bryanna's upcoming nuptials in Vegas on the water, otherwise known as the Carnival Ensenada Cruise.

I've always said I'll be the first to admit when I've been wrong, and I definitely had a picture in my head about what a cruise would be like. Apparently I believe everything Chelsea Handler says, and when I read her chapter on cruises in her book "My Horizontal Life" I came to believe that cruises were not exactly my scene. But like I said, I'll admit when I was wrong! Being the social anthropologist that I have decided I am, I figured I should document my top 5 findings of what an Ensenada cruise is really all about.

1. If you don't want to have to worry about sea sickness, just keeping drinking!

2. If you are there with a bachelor or bachelorette party, make sure you have at least one theme night, so that way you stand out and everyone wants to hang out with your group. For example, sex superheros, matching tanks, speedos and mustaches, 70s and 80s gear (and mustaches), and characters from movies about bachelor parties (see below example):

3. If you go to Papas and Beer for your day trip off the boat, make sure your friends don't become "that girl" after one (or ten) too many tequila shots.

4. After a few cocktails the hilarious one-liners will more easily flow into the course of conversations (whether or not the grammar actually makes sense).

5. Coming home after 4 days and 3 nights at sea causes a fun hangover consisting of swaying and rocking and mimosa withdrawals.

All that being said, I have to conclude my findings by saying that my cruise hangover was well worth it. I was able to spend a lot of time with a group of lovely, wonderful ladies and meet some fun, interesting people. Maybe I should expand my social anthropology research to do things like this every weekend!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Alan Garner, "The Hangover"

"I'm from a freaking farm, and I just danced next to Alex freaking Wong, and Anthony, who could frickin' smash the crap out of me."

We officially have our top 10, I mean 11, season 7, So You Think You Can Dance dancers! It looks like this season is going to be particularly good, with a bevy of extremely talented dancers at our disposal.

I'll admit, when I heard earlier this year that they were only doing a top 10 and bringing back all stars from previous seasons as partners, I was worried that it would make the show less interesting to watch. I also worried that the all stars would end up outshining the newbies, making it harder for them to garner votes from the viewers. I then realized that by the time it was top 10 in previous season that the weak dancers were weeded out and the strong dancers were really provided the opportunity to shine. Now I think it will just make for a much more competitive, exciting season, which is great since season 6 was semi-lackluster.

Now for our top 11. And, just for fun, I'll compare them to contestants from the past few seasons:

Kent Boyd - jazz dancing farm boy from Ohio, this season's Jakob

Alex Wong - ballet dancer from Miami who had made top 20 in season 5 but couldn't get out of his contract with the Miami Ballet, this season's Will

Billy Bell - contemporary dancer who had to drop out of season 6's top 20 due to illness, this season's Billy Bell :)

Lauren Froderman - ex cheerleader, contemporary dancer who impressed the judges throughout the entire Vegas week with her flawless technique and fun personality, this season's Jeanine

Jose Ruiz - Miami based B Boy who grew into new styles during Vegas week, this season's Legacy

Alexie Agdeppa - jazz dancer from LA who's ALMOST made top 20 4 times, this season's Katee

Melinda Sullivan - unique tap dancer, mentored by a great tap legend, this season's Evan

Adechike Torbert - contemporary dancer who pissed off the judges by tapping in his first Vegas solo, then re-won them over by nailing his "dance for your life" dance, this season's Brandon

Christina Santana - salsa dancer who barely missed making the top 20 last season, this season's Janette

(Now the next 2 dancers weren't given much air time in Vegas, but I'll do my best)

Ashley Galvan - contemporary dancer and Lil' C's favorite, this season's Kathryn

Robert Roldan - contemporary dancer, who trains at Alvin Alley with Billy, this season's Mark

Let's go back now to my personal favorite. I absolutely LOVE Kent Boyd! If he doesn't win, I may end up crying myself to sleep every night. OK, that's a bit dramatic, but still. It would kind of be like last season when everyone thought Jakob would win because he killed it every performance, but then lost out to Russell, who I thought was overrated even in the audition episodes. Back to Kent. Now, I'm by no means a dancer of any kind, but I can appreciate natural talent when I see it. This boy has EVERYTHING that it takes to make it a long way in SYTYCD: talent, technique, heart, passion, personality, I could go on and on. If you don't believe me, take a look at this little ditty Fox threw together for us all about the young man from a farm in Ohio:



I can't wait to see him excel over the course of the show. And, I especially can't wait to see him partnered with my favorite all stars Courtney Galiano (who saw her in Vocal Adrenaline in Glee!?) and Kathryn McCormick. Or the routines Sonya, Wade, Mia or Travis come up with for him. Should be good!

Be sure to check out the top 11 show their stuff, in their own style, tonight on the "Meet The Top 11" special tonight on Fox.

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Kent Boyd, "So You Think You Can Dance"

"You think Puck and Santana will acknowledge my existence if we're not in glee club together." "She has a point."

I don't even know where to begin about last night's episode of Glee. I can probably sum what I thought about it in two words: SIMPLY AMAZING!

Going in to the episode there were a few things that I was hoping would happen. I definitely haven't been secretive about my love for Jesse St. James, so my biggest hope was that he would end up sabotaging Vocal Adrenaline's performance and try to win back Rachel's heart in the end. Unfortunately, earlier in the day yesterday I read an interview Jonathan Groff gave about the filming of the episode and how it was his last. I guess there goes my hope of a Rachel/Jesse reconciliation. At least I still have hope that Glee provided the exposure necessary to make Jonathan Groff a big star.

Back to what actually happened.

We find out Sue is going to be a judge at Regionals; Mr. Shue and New Directions freak out and think they don't stand a chance to win; they realize it's not about winning but the "journey" and decide to do a medley of Journey songs for their performance; Quinn reconciles with her mother, goes into labor and rushes to the hospital with New Directions coming along for support; Vocal Adrenaline (well, Jesse mainly, with a bunch of past So You Think You Can Dance dancers backing him up) KILLS it with Bohemian Rhapsody; Quinn has a baby girl; Rachel and Shelby have a touching moment backstage about heart and family (where Shelby finds out about Quinn's new baby); the judges Olivia Newton John, Josh Groban, Rod Remington and Sue Sylvester debate about which group should win; Vocal Adrenaline ends up winning which leads to New Directions being forced to disband by Principal Figgins; Emma sticks up for glee leading to a revelation by Mr. Shue that he loves her, even though she's now dating her dentist; New Directions performs a touching thank you to Mr. Shue, witnessed by Sue; Sue decides that she'll give glee some of her Cheerios budget to keep them around another year; the show ends on a happy note with Mr. Shue and Puck singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and all the glee clubbers happy!

That's that, in a very large nutshell. I really do think that this was the best episode of the season, which is appropriate, it being the finale and all. I'm not surprised that they had Vocal Adrenaline beat New Directions in the end...it really is too soon for them to be the "best." I was very happy to discover that Quinn's baby was being adopted by Shelby, meaning that Idina Menzel will hopefully be around a lot next season. I am very excited to see where season 2 takes us.

Now for the music. I pretty much loved every performance this week, so I'll include the studio versions of them all!











I'll leave you now as the crew at McKinley High left us for the summer, with Puck and Mr. Shue's lovely rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow:



Until Next time... xoxo

Title Quote: Puck and Mercedes, "Glee"

"I know that we are young and I know that you may love me. But I just can't be with you like this anymore. Alejandro."

Hey Gaga fans! The Steven Klein directed video for Lady Gaga's latest single, Alejandro was released for our viewing pleasure today.



Part Madonna video, part war film, Steven Klein and Lady Gaga really use both of their aesthetics to bring us a fierce 9 minutes of music, dance and fashion. I'm a huge fan of his photography and so I'm not surprised I was visually pleased watching the video. His editorial featuring Victoria and David Beckham in W Magazine back in 2007 were some of my favorite celebrity fashion editorial photos.

I'm already reading about the backlash that will come about from religious groups as to most of the imagery in the video, but I guess Lady Gaga is used to this by now. I'm not sure there has been anything that she's done that hasn't caused some sort of controversy, but isn't that what artists want?

Now I want her to make a video for my favorite track on the Fame Monster, Dance in the Dark. I can see all the disco balls already!!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Lady Gaga, "Alejandro"

"Sometimes the bitch wins."

The wait is almost over! Only a little over a week left until the season 3 premiere of True Blood.

Yesterday we were treated to a brand spankin' new trailer with a pretty in depth look at the drama to come over the next 12 episodes.



I don't know about you, but I think this looks even better than I expected. Club Dead was one of my favorite books of the Sookie Stackhouse novels so I've been really looking forward to seeing how Alan Ball translates it on to our television sets each week. I am also looking forward to seeing much more Sookie/Eric interaction and meeting all the new characters, Alcide in particular.

If you need more True Blood to tide you over until Sunday, June 13, click HERE for HBO's True Blood page, which includes all the trailers and original minisodes.

Until next time... xo

Title Quote: Sookie Stackhouse, "Club Dead"

"They call it a funkification, meaning they show us what they've got and we spiral into a deep cloud of funk."

It's Wednesday, and we all know what that means. Time for my weekly Glee wrap up! Or "Hump Day" as Mr. Shue awkwardly pointed out last night.

I'm not the biggest fan of funk music which worried me a bit going in to the episode, considering it was called "Funk," but I was pleasantly surprised. Let's break it on down, shall we?

I have to say, I was nervous about what was happening with Jesse St. James when I saw the preview for this week's episode last week, and all my fears came true. Not only has he gone back to the dark side of Vocal Adrenaline, but he's also the ring leader of the destroy New Directions and Rachel Berry brigade. Poor girl just can't catch a break, can she? And while I am upset that Jesse is again the villain, he did kill it with his performance of Queen's Another One Bites the Dust.



Basically the episode revolved around getting the New Directions kids (and everyone else) out of their respective funks. New Directions being psyched out by Vocal Adrenaline, Mr Shue being threatened (again) by Sue Sylvester (which led to way too many awkward moments for my taste), Quinn dealing with the hardships of teen pregnancy, etc. I was pleased to see the Quinn got a solo song this week, as she hasn't really had much spotlight on her singing, rather than her pregnancy, before. While she may not have the chops of Rachel or Mercedes, she still threw down with an amazing performance of James Brown's It's a Man's Man's Man's World.



I'm not really going to go in to the whole Mr. Shue/Sue Sylvester seduction, because I don't really think Shue played this one right at all. I can see why he thought that leading her on would be a good way to get back at her, but I also think in the end it just made him look like a jerk. Hasn't he learned that you can't fight fire with fire? Puck and Finn were almost expelled at the beginning of the episode by doing so. Which also led to some classic Mrs. Robinson moments with Finn and Terri Schuester at Sheets and Things.

Also, loved that Sue had Kurt do a 14 minute long Celine Dion solo (all in French) to win the Cheerio's 6th national championship! If only they had shown a teeny bit of it. And, speaking of Kurt, his defense of Rachel after she's egged by Jesse and Vocal Adrenaline, led to another great one-liner, "Rachel's one of us - we're the only ones who get to humiliate her."

Anyway, as the episode wraps up we see New Directions finally figuring out what it is that they can do to beat Vocal Adrenaline in the end: FUNK! Apparently Vocal Adrenaline are "souless automatons" so they are unable to perform this style of music. The tables are turned in the end when New Directions invites Vocal Adrenaline to watch them in their newest funk number.



All in all, another solid Glee episode. I'm really looking forward to next week's season finale. Maybe Jesse St. James will realize the wrong he's done and come back over to the good side. Doubtful, but a girl can dream!

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Artie, "Glee"

"Everybody hates you today. A superstar by tomorrow. You gotta put a smile on. Just to hide your sorrow."

Now, I'm going out on a limb today by coming clean about my guiltiest pleasure of 2010 (so far): season 9 of American Idol. Up until last week, I was pretty undercover about the fact I had been sucked in, but alas, I was. I realize that this confession may knock whatever music street cred I may or may not have down a notch or two, but I don't really care!

Lee DeWyze was my favorite contestant of the season. I will admit, however, that when he was chosen for the top 24, I didn't get his appeal. Then I heard his voice and was blown away. I was very pleased last Wednesday night when they announced this year's winner and it was him.

In the aftermath of his big win, the press rounds began. This morning on Live with Regis and Kelly, Lee performed an amazing acoustic version of his American Idol single, Beautiful Day.

As a fan of music, I wanted to do a bit of research on my newest crush. During some of his interviews on the show, Lee would talk about the original songs he had written and used to perform prior to Idol. I decided to track these down.

Upon Google and YouTube searches I discovered that Lee has 2 independent studio albums under his belt. I decided to head over to iTunes and see what was available, and I was able to grab up a copy of Slumberland, recorded last year and I LOVE it. It's a little Kings of Leon meets Dave Matthews Band, both of whom I'm a fan.

Enjoy a playlist of my favorite Slumberland tracks and singles from the show:

Lee DeWyze by Erin Boy

Here's hoping Lee's career goes the way of Kelly and Carrie and not Ruben and Taylor.

Until next time... xo

Title quote: Lee DeWyze, "Flower Child"