By Jasmine Williams
After a two-week hiatus for another popular televised competition (wink wink), So You Think You Can Dance is finally back! And following on the heels of the USA’s stellar performance in said competition, the pressure is certainly on for the Top 14 to deliver.
This week, the dancers are faced with the monumentally nerve-wracking task this week of recreating Emmy-winning choreographer/resident goddess Mia Michael’s routines from previous seasons while keeping in mind the fact that four of them will be going home almost immediately afterward. You can’t see it, but I’m sympathy-sweating right now. But, the SYTYCD-geek in me can’t wait to see those old routines!
Here are my favourite moments from this week’s episode:
1. Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt
While I love a celebrity guest judge, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson is my new BFF (though he doesn’t know it yet), I love it even more when they bring in the professionals. The “Ballet Boys” had some really enlightening comments and added a nice balance to the campiness of Mary’s shouting and Nigel’s slightly-lecherous old man commentary. Who else cringed when he mentioned “Fifty Shades of Grey”? Also, I thought it was adorable (albeit slightly pretentious) how they didn’t know any of the routines or who SYTYCD alum Titch Twitch was.
2. Holy props, Batman
Mia Michaels’ group performance had everything: rope climbing, roses, girls in hoop skirts, and a single, stolen kiss. While it was almost overwhelming at times, the dancers’ pulled it off flawlessly, swinging from those ropes like Gothic Victorian Tarzans. Yes, that’s a thing. Well, now it is.
3. Janelle and Dareian’s Bed routine Read more…
You guys!! China has it’s very own version of The Voice and they discovered a teenage girl who could become a new Adele. She sang the British powerhouse’s “Someone Like You” and stunned the judges, some of whom fought back tears. All four judges turned their chairs around.
Do you think she compares?
Because TLC seems to enjoy finding the most interesting characters to profile on their reality shows, they now have a new series featuring a little girl who goes by the name “Honey Boo Boo.”
If you’re unfamiliar with who she is, “Honey Boo Boo” (her real name is Alana Thompson) is a beauty pageant queen who has previously been on Toddlers & Tiaras. In her new show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, TLC will follow the six-year-old’s home life with her family. In the first episode, it appears that she will be spending it in a farm-like setting that seems to have huge pits of mud.
I’m not much for reality series, but this particular show is a little concerning and horrifying to me. A six-year-old definitely doesn’t need a reality show or be subject to this much exposure. I mean really, didn’t anyone learn from Jon and Kate Plus 8?
But for good measure, remember her stint on Toddlers & Tiaras?
By Jasmine Williams
This week, we get to learn a little bit more about the Top 16 dancers. The weirdest tidbits? Lindsay has a foot phobia, and Eliana killed her pet bird by sleeping on it. Maybe we learned a little too much. And while the dancers’ unusual secrets might be memorable, their routines this week were definitely not. A lot of the routines didn’t quite hit the mark, and got some rough critiques from the judges. Better luck next time?
Here are the top five performances from this week’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance:
1. Charlie Chaplin-esque group routine
This number focused mysteriously around a bright red umbrella. With a bit of TV magic, the umbrella stood out beautifully against the colourless dancers. The costuming was also brilliant, complete with fake mustaches, baggy pants, and suspenders. Even the choreography seemed to mirror Chaplin’s jerky movements and odd characters. All in all, a very cool routine.
2. Amber and Brandon “sultry and soulful” jazz
I don’t know about the audience, but I felt like I needed a fan and a glass of water watching this routine. It was as hot and steamy as a summer in the deep South. Amber looked completely in her element and Brandon was a strong and supportive partner. My favourite part? When Brandon pushed a chair across the stage, which Amber sat on without even looking at it! How do they do that?!
3. Amelia and Will’s quirky contemporary Read more…
By Jasmine Williams
This week, we see the Jersey Shore roomies be less than supportive of Snooki and her little meatball, J-Woww’s dad who surprisingly looks like an English professor, and Jionni try to kick Roger in the head.
Here’s what I learned on this week’s episode of Snooki and JWoww ”Sober party of one.”
1. Ouch, J-Woww! I get the Jersey Shore cast being less than supportive about Snooki’s big news. It is Snooki after all, the girl who blacked out on the very first night back in Season 1. But J-Woww’s supposed to be her bestie. You can’t join in with the teasing, you have to back her up. But she was arguably the worst, calling Snooki “miserable” and saying that watching her makes her not want to have a kid. Ouch, I really felt for Snooks with that one.
2. The gay friends Joey: These guys were so great, but Nicole’s Joey was the best. He took one shot of Patron too many and was completely wasted. He had J-Woww spray tan his butt, hit on Roger while slurring his words, and managed to flip the couch over while still sitting on it. Also, the fact that he looks like a guido lumberjack but sounds like David Beckham is comedy gold.
3. Roger needs to get laid: I’m getting really tired of him talking about how much he doesn’t get laid/his dick/his venereal disease history. Enough already. I know he’s all about being the funny guy, but it seems that especially when he’s drunk, he’s a bit of an oversharer. And the fact that tonight, he was sitting right next to J-Woww’s father? Disrespectful. Maybe if he and J-Woww smushed a little more, he wouldn’t be so obnoxious.
After a week away from our television screens to celebrate the July 4 holiday, SYTYCD is back for its first “real” show of the season. The Top 20 dancers are all partnered up, styles have been chosen and their fates are left in the hands of the voting public. But this time around, the audience will be voting for individuals, not couples, since two winners will be crowned.
Here are the Top 5 moments from this week’s episode:
1. The Opening Group Routine — Working a daytime desk job for the summer, I can relate to the frustration of working in such a confined space. This routine, choreographed by Christopher Scott, exemplified this wonderfully. The dancers movements were so sharp and contained, and I loved the angular way they moved around the stage. The desk and coffee mug props were used well and throwing the papers up at the end was a nice touch. Doesn’t everybody wish they could do that sometimes?
2. Witney and Chehon’s Samba — Alright, so it’s not quite fair that Witney got her style right off the bat, but I guess that’s just the luck of the draw. She killed this flirty samba routine that was energetic, sassy, and right up her alley, and earned first class tickets on Mary’s Hot Tamale train. But what about her Read more…
By Jasmine Williams
In this week’s episode, JWoww celebrates her birthday by eating herself in cake form. Then, the girls go to a sex museum and learn that deer have threesomes and pee their pants getting scared by ninjas at a Japanese restaurant in New York City. So just a regular day.
Here’s what I learned on this week’s episode of Snooki and JWoww ”It Looks Like a Meatball.”
1. Roger’s a big bully. I know I was singing Roger’s praises last week but in this episode, I couldn’t help but feel like his so-called friendly “ball-busting” of Jionni got a little mean. He’s short, we get it. But you know that friend who always takes a joke just a tad too far? Admittedly, singing the Oompa-Loompa song, when Snooki and Jionni got in the car was funny, and yes, their kid has a very small chance of making the NBA someday. But it seemed that Roger took any and every opportunity to drive that fact home, even when Snooki was visibly upset. Not cool man.
2. JWoww knows how to bargain. As the girls are getting settled into their new home, much of this episode consisted of them going from store to store looking for fabric and wallpaper. While I’m scared of what their place is going to like, as Snooki said that she wants her room be covered in animal print and “very tacky,” I must admit that I can learn a thing or two from JWoww. A pouty face and a bat of the lashes and she brought their purchase down almost 50%. Girl’s got some skills.
Some people take things a little too seriously. After airing a creepy, fictional special about the existence of mermaids on Animal Planet, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. started getting a few calls asking whether or not mermaids are real.
The answer they came up with might surprise you: flying unicorns, Teletubbies and sharktapuses actually exist. Except not really because they’re all made up in FICTION dummy. The agency confirmed that the half-human, half-fish sea creatures are not genuine, living species in a statement: ”Mermaids – those half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea – are legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial… But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.”
They had to compile the response out of already existing information because, duh, they don’t have a department devoted to studying mythical sea creatures. We’re glad they settled it for us. I mean, Ariel is one thing but the mermaids explored in the television special Mermaids: The Body Found are damn creepy (see below)
Keep in mind this statement comes just after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement assuring us that zombies are not real. Suspicious. Are these agencies all trying to hide something from us?
Watch the trailer here:
By Jasmine Williams
The second episode picks up exactly where the first left off, with JWoww still attempting to process Snooki’s big news but deciding to move in anyway, despite knowing nothing about what living with a pregnant chick might entail. Or anything about what’s on the lease for that matter. Sigh.
Here’s what I learned on this week’s episode of Snooki and JWoww “Sorry Neighbours, Cause These Bitches Are Moving In.”
1. Roger is the best. Honestly, I never thought much of Roger on Jersey Shore. He just seemed like a guy who had his act together and seemed to balance Jenni’s admittedly bitchy tendencies. But so far on Snooki and J-Woww, he has truly proven himself to be a great boyfriend. Despite disagreeing with Jenni’s choices to move in with Snooki, he supports her wholeheartedly, carrying her luggage in and never getting in her way. They also have a very cute banter that’s not super lovey-dovey and nauseating but just shows how they’re on the same page with each other. And when he tried to teach her to drive manual in his truck, it was priceless. That’s trust right there.
2. But JWoww needs to calm down. Despite her tough girl attitude, JWoww definitely has some insecurity that she needs to work on. When Roger and Jionni were joking about his future bachelorette party, she was against him even going. And now the joke she made in Ep. 1 about having his dick above her fireplace doesn’t seem so funny. Relax Jenni! Roger’s a good guy and he’s not going anywhere, but he will if you try to put him on such a short leash. But maybe she’s just moody because it’s her birthday and Jionni put a ring on it before Roger did.
3. Jionni and Snooki are really, really short. Obviously that goes without saying, but this episode really drove that fact home. When Snooki had to give her fiancé a boost to help him get luggage into the back of their SUV, it was like two Smurfs… well trying, to get luggage into an SUV. And standing next to Roger and JWoww, Snooki and Jionni really do look pint-sized. But Jionni’s a good sport and laughs off Roger’s constant short jokes. And with Snooki being only 4’9”, it makes sense that she’d be with a guy that’s not too much taller than her. And it may even be a good omen for her; we all remember how Kim and Kris worked out.
By Jasmine Williams
First there was the Pauly D Project. Now, there’s the inevitable Snooki and JWoww spinoff show appropriately (albeit unoriginally) titled Snooki & JWoww. The premise? Both girls want to have one last hurrah before settling down with their respective beaus. While the first episode was pretty lackluster compared to a booze-soaked episode of Jersey Shore, having a pregnant Snooki and JWoww living under one roof will certainly be an interesting situation (no pun intended).
Here’s what I learned on the premier of Snooki and J-Woww:
1) Despite being a 24-year-old gajillionaire, Snooki still lives at home with her parents. She also doesn’t do her own laundry, cook for herself, buy groceries, and does not even know what a utility bill is let alone paid one. And J-Woww wants to move in with her why? As her boyfriend Roger pointed out, the only thing Snooki actually knows how to do is get white-girl wasted. Which something tells me doesn’t exactly get the chores done.
2) The real estate market in Jersey City kinda sucks. Besides the eye candy that was their tardy real estate agent Victor, the girls’ apartment search wasn’t much to write home about at first. With 100-year-old buildings, beds that “smell like grandmas” and creepy, shirtless next door neighbours, the first couple of place were pretty awful. But it has to get worse before it gets better, right? And by better I mean a beautiful converted firehouse that’s probably bigger than my parent’s house. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but I’m dropping out of school and becoming a reality star. Like tomorrow.
3) Reality stars don’t tell their best friends about their pregnancies and engagements right away like normal people. Read more…
Hear that? It’s the sound of hundreds of dancers’ hearts breaking. Vegas week is finally here and with it come the cruelest cuts of the competition. Favourites fall from grace, and underdogs survive and even thrive in the pressure cooker that is the Planet Hollywood Hotel.
Here are the top five moments from Vegas Week (in no particular order):
1) Hampton “The Exorcist” Williams bowing out of the competition: After receiving the longest standing ovation of the entire competition thus far, and leaving almost all the judges in tears, this beautiful creature of a popper decided to leave after being unable to hack Twitch and Comfort’s crazy fast Atlanta-style hip hop choreo. It’s sad but as Nigel said, this competition is meant for people who can adapt to other styles. ‘Tis the nature of the beast. Dragon House dancers Boris and Andre also found the hip hop round too tough, but last member Cyrus makes it all the way through and does an epic solo to boot!
Here’s his original performance:
2) Team Ballroom: Favourites Whitney Carson and Lindsay Arnold are not only blonde bombshell ballroom dancing divas, they are also childhood friends who have danced together since they were little. And coincidence (or maybe not), the two end up rooming together in Vegas! How adorbs! And it seems that there’s no cattiness between the girls as they support each other throughout the week and even make it to the very last round before the Green Mile! Let’s hope there’s room in the top 20 for both of them, the fact that they’re both so similar makes me a little nervous.
3) Alexa Anderson: Read more…
There’s nothing like the gift of a glorious, surprise water spray attack for Father’s Day. It’s doubly funny because the joyous occasion is supposed to pay homage to hard-working dads everywhere — so they’re probs expecting morning breakfast or a steak barbecue, not a full-power hose in the face.
Jimmy Kimmel continued encouraging families to play pranks on each other with his newest YouTube challenge “Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I Sprayed My Dad With a Hose.”
My favourite is the dude at the end who gets sprayed on the way to work in his suit … oh wait a second, that’s Kimmel getting served.
There are soo many celeb covers of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” that we’re starting to get sick of them. But here’s why this one rocks:
1) Carly Rae Jepsen is in it! Does that disqualify it as a cover? Anyway, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots are in it too so it’s at least two-thirds of a cover.
2) Plain old guitars are so passe. This version includes a xylophone, tambourine, triangle and a kazoo. All the instruments you’d find in an elementary school. That means we could totally learn it, right?
3) The guy in the fedora makes us so happy. We want to dance with him.
The cover was filmed backstage before Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
By Jasmine Williams
This week, So You Think You Can Dance returns to Hotlanta, which if you remember, was where Season 8’s winner Melanie auditioned. And Debbie Allen of “Fame” fame was the guest judge. No pressure. Will lightning strike the same spot twice?
Here are the top 5 auditions from this week’s episode:
1) Damon Bellmon, 20 and Deon Lewis, 19
These two hip-hoppers fell into some controversy last year when their performance was accused of being a rip-off of a French dancing duet, Les Twins. While they claim it was a whole misunderstanding (and to give them credit, they did say it in their interview with Cat last year that it was inspired by the group), they came hard this year with their own choreography and a dubstep mashup of “Moves Like Jagger.” Unfortunately, only Damon made it through to Vegas, but Deon promised to support his dance partner every step of the way. Awww.
2) Audrey Case, 18 Read more…
People don’t usually take comedians seriously but given the importance of the issue, Andy Samberg decided to speak up against cannibals. Samberg shared the important anti-zombie PSA with Jimmy Kimmel.
Here are Samberg’s top tips:
1) Don’t eat any people.
2) Do eat things that are not people.
3) Do make sure it’s really lobster (not a person in a lobster costume).
4) Don’t snort bath salts.
5) Denver (it’s a great city).
Watch it here:
Even after I read the headlines about Andrew De Leon being a goth Susan Boyle, I did NOT expect what came out of his mouth.
De Leon talks about being inspired by Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie growing up. ”They really became an escape for someone like me who felt that I was an outsider. Growing up I was alienated,” he says.
His audition for America’s Got Talent was the first time he’s sung in front of anyone in his life (including his family) and his voice was absolutely beautiful. The judges were shocked when the operatic music came on — they expected some type of rock — proving that you shouldn’t make judgements based on how someone looks.
De Leon, who is a makeup artist, literally made people in the audience cry and got a deserved standing ovation at the end. Now I must remind you of the obligatory lessons learned: there’s a star in everyone, don’t make judgements about someone based on how they look. GO FOR YOUR DREAMS.
Watch it here:
I’m admittedly biased since I’m Canadian, but here’s just another reason why Canada and SportsCenter SportsCentre ROCK. Spontaneous dance parties are not just welcomed here, they’re encouraged on national television.
The description on TSN Canada is: “Jay and Dan decide to… wait for it………………….. DANCE!” Best part? Dan stealthily spunks up his look with sunglasses midway through.
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS BACK! PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS BACK! PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS BACK! And I could not be any happier! Finally all my sought out questions will be answered. All my waiting will be rewarded. Or so I thought.
As I put on my ‘I love Mr. Fitz’ crop top and awaited the return of my favorite show; I couldn’t help but feel that by the end of the episode I was left with more questions then answers.
Here are five things I learned on last night’s premiere, “I Play With Body Parts.”
1) ‘A’ is back: Game on bitches, just when you thought the girls were safe, the A Team strikes again. First, ‘A’ tries to frame the girls by making it look like they were the ones who stole Allison’s body. Then ‘A’ traps Aria in one of her school’s bathroom stalls just so he/she/they can torture her. Looks like Mona isn’t the only mastermind behind Allison’s death. This just leaves me with one question: who can A be? I hope I don’t have to wait until this season finale to find out because I just might feel ripped off.
2) Emily helped dig up Allison’s body: Read more…
Tonight’s the premiere of Pretty Little Liars, season three. FINALLY. The date has been marked on my very own Pretty Little Liars calendar since the end of season two. So to all my friends, if you continuously bug me tonight, be prepared to die because I’m obvs be sitting on the couch, wearing my I love Mr. Fitz crop top and watching the PLL marathon on ABC.
Yes, I know I have fangirl problems to the extreme but really who can blame me? Two words: Ian Harding. Here, I will give you a second to look him up… See told you he is HOT!
Ian isn’t the only reason why you should watch the premiere of PLL. Here are five more:
1) A new “A”
According to ABC Family we’ll be introduced to a new ‘A, who will use Aria’s past mistakes to taunt her. I’m a little excited to see what ‘A’ has in store for Aria especially after watching the season three promo, which shows Aria, trapped in a bathroom stall screaming for her life. My one concern is that Ezra will be caught up in this mess and I CANNOT have anything happen to him. My fangirl heart could not take that!
2) Ali’s grave is robbed? Read more…
I’m dreading this Fox dating show called The Choice, which features sleazy, celebrity bachelors that all agree to go on semi blind dates. The show is set up similar to The Voice in that the celebs can’t see their potential dates — they can only hear their voices. The contestants share their date pitches with the celebrities until they’re chosen.
GAG. Apparently Fox likes to recycle every successful show by applying the exact same formula to other aspects of life.
Celebrity bachelors include Jersey Shore’s Pauly D and ‘The Situation,’ as well as American Idol star singer Taylor Hicks. First, I don’t know why anyone would want to go on a romantic date with anyone whose motto is DTF and also, why would Joe Jonas need help finding a date? Weren’t girls all over him a couple years ago?
Female celebrities include actress Carmen Electra and model Hope Dworaczyk. The trailer below insists no one plays the dating game like Fox, but The Choice and Take Me Out is a little too tacky for me. What do you guys think?
Watch it here:
