Cheers & Jeers

Cheers to good sitcoms! I love laughing out loud when I’m watching TV, but before this year there hasn’t been much to laugh about. I absolutely love newcomers Happy Endings, New Girl and Up All Night, along with my old favorites 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and Modern Family. I’m also still enjoying 2 Broke Girls and Whitney and Are You There, Chelsea got a little better last week. I’m so excited for the premier of Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 after Modern Family on April 11. I love Krysten Ritter and James Van Der Beek playing James Van Der Beek? Awesome!

Cheers to Rachel Bilson’s rap! While it’s not nearly as good as Natalie Portman’s rap, Rachel’s is pretty funny. I love her and I love Hart Of Dixie so I thought it was cute, entertaining and adorable. I love The O.C. shout out.

Cheers to vacations! I’m going to Disneyland in February, Sacramento in March and doing a Tennessee/Missouri road trip in April. We'll hit Dollywood, Nashville, Graceland, Branson and St. Louis. There’s a possible trip to Atlanta in September also. I love vacations!

Cheers to Jennifer Aniston’s pregnancy!? Ok, not so fast. This is just a rumor, but I hope it’s true! Gossip sites would like you to believe there is a ton of evidence. She’s been skipping high profile parties, she stopped smoking, and she’s sporting a “six month” baby bump. I know, I know. I’m not usually one of those people who suspect a pregnancy when a star eats a cheeseburger. Also, most people gain weight when they quit smoking. And there’s no way she’s six months along with that tiny little “bump”. Plus, it could just be ill-fitting clothes or bad posture. I’d like to believe it’s true though, she would be such a cute mom! Team Aniston!

Cheers to Silent House! This is a remake of the 2010 Uruguayan movie La Casa Muda, based on real events that took place in the ‘40s. I’m excited. First, because I love Elizabeth Olsen. She was amazing in Martha Marcy May Marlene. Second, this looks like one of the scariest horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. And third, the movie is in real time and was shot in one take! Now that’s talent!

Cheers to Russell Brand! He’s writing another memoir. I’m a big fan of his first two books so of course I’ll pick this one up the day it’s released. It’s been reported that he’ll start where the last book left off and detail his relationship with Katy Perry. Ok, so maybe jeers? It’s kinda too soon to talk about her, right? I don’t care. I’m reading it!

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Jeers to Lana Del Rey. Did you see her on SNL? She was terrible! I really wanted to see her perform because I like a few of her songs. But she looked so uncomfortable, didn’t seem to be aware of her body and sang like she was half asleep. I previously thought her voice was deep, calm and interesting, but during her performance she couldn’t hit the low notes and sounded so bad when yodeling. I guess not everyone hated her though. Her EP was released on iTunes the day after SNL and it’s currently at number 12. Her full length album is out on January 31. Although she was terrible, I’m probably still going to check out more of her music.

Jeers to Taylor Swift as Eponine. They’re making a movie based on the musical Les Miserables and they offered Taylor the main character! I like Taylor, but I don't think she can pull this off. She won the part over Lea Michele, Scarlett Johansson and Evan Rachel Wood. I honestly don’t like those three for the part either, but at least they've acted before. Valentine’s Day doesn’t count. I also don’t think Taylor can sing that well. But I am excited about the movie and the rest of the cast: Amanda Seyfried, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Sasha Baron Cohen, Aaron Tveit, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter. Wow!

Jeers to Sh*t People Say. I LOVED Sh*t Girls Say and a few after that were kinda funny too, but now it’s just getting ridiculous. There’s black girls, black guys, Asian girls, Spanish girls, gay guys, black gays, single girls, drunk white girls, vegans, yogis, monks, nobody, and now Sh*t People Say While Watching Sh*t People Say Videos. Last week, during our snow storm, someone even created Sh*t Seattlites Say When It Snows. Ugh. I’m over it. But if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t seen the original Sh*t Girls Say, watch episode 1 and 2 immediately.

Jeers to Marilyn Monroe tributes. I want to see My Week With Marilyn and from what I’ve seen and read it sounds like Michelle Williams did an amazing job channeling the late actress, but I think the recent tributes are played out. Time to get original, people!

(Lindsay Lohan, Blake Lively, Michelle Williams, Katharine McPhee)

Jeers to Heidi and Seal’s divorce. So sad! They were one of my favorite celebrity couples. They seemed to have it all figured out and were very vocal about their love for each other. They even renewed their wedding vows every year! They are responsible, classy people so I hope the split is clean for the sake of their children.

Man Candy Monday - Harry Shum Jr

It's obvious that there isn't a shortage of hot guys on Glee.

But am I the only one who's noticing Harry Shum Jr lately? He's always played Mike Chang so well - the quiet guy with the fancy footwork. But this season he's got actual storylines and he totally killed it on the Asian F episode with this little ditty:

(skip to 17:45)

If you don't watch Glee, you may recognize him from Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D. He's so freaking talented it's unbelievable and he's also lookin' real good lately!

I'm linking up with Leeann at Join The Gossip for Man Candy Monday!

Musicals

I love musicals. I wish I could be a Broadway star. Too bad I lack the talent. I have season subscriptions at both of the Seattle theaters and have even attended a few on Broadway in New York City and in The West End in London.

Similar to this post about the concerts I've seen, I thought I'd share with you the musicals I've been to. This list does not include high school or local/community theater.

Rent x5 (once in LA)

Grease

Hair x2

Chicago x2

Phantom of the Opera

Singing in the Rain

Avenue Q (London)

The Nutcracker

The Rockettes x2 (once in NYC)

Spamalot

Jersey Boys

Mamma Mia!

Spring Awakening

The Lion King

Catch Me If You Can

White Christmas

Legally Blonde

Wicked

Rock of Ages (NYC)

In the Heights (NYC)

Annie

Xanadu

Fiddler on the Roof

South Pacific

Dreamgirls

Burn the Floor

A Christmas Story

9 to 5
Marry Poppins

Guys and Dolls

Aladdin

I already have my subscriptions for next season and will be seeing these shows:

Les Miserables

Cinderella

Oklahoma!

Damn Yankees

Rent (for the sixth time)

West Side Story

Beauty and the Beast

Million Dollar Quartet

American Idiot

My absolute favorite musical is Rent  followed by Rock of Ages, Billy Elliot, Hair, Xanadu and Chicago.

The musicals I'm dying to see are The Book of Mormon, Hairspray, A Chorus Line and Little Shop of Horrors.

The only thing is, I don't do plays. I've seen a few, but they are really awkward and quiet and way too serious for me. I need to laugh, sing and dance when I go out to the theater. My husband, who is all about martial arts, snowboarding and hiking, had never been to a musical before we got married. But now he goes twice a year with me and really enjoys it. (I let him choose which ones he wants to see).  I think everyone should see at least one musical in their lifetime. If you need any reviews or recommendations, let me know!

My Thoughts On The Tonys

I loved the opening number. So true. Check it out.

Daniel Radcliffe really impressed me with his dancing and American accent. I love John Leguizamo, but really, who doesn’t?

I saw Catch Me If You Can premier in Seattle before it made it to Broadway and really liked it. It was the same cast, too. Norbert Leo Butz (who won for this role) and Aaron Tveit (from Gossip Girl, a few other Broadway musicals and NPH’s production of RENT last summer) played the main characters.

I really, really need to see The Book of Mormon! It cleaned up with nine awards including Best Book, Best Score and Best Musical! Nikki M. James was adorable and so heartfelt when she won for Best Actress in a Musical. We’re contemplating a trip to NYC later this year, just to see it. My husband's family is Mormon (we aren’t) so we totally get the jokes and it’s very hilarious. By the way, I’ve kind of always had a crush on Trey Parker and BASEketball is one of my favorite movies. That should probably be an embarrassing admission, but it’s true! Check out “I Believe.”

The Hugh and Neil song was awesome.

Spiderman looks so boring. Robin Williams annoys the shit out of me. He always has. Sister Act looks cute. I loved that movie was a kid. I want to see Memphis. I missed it when it came through Seattle a few years ago. I don’t know anything about Anything Goes, but it looks good just for the dancing.

I need to see Company! It has NPH, my girlfriend Christina Hendricks and Steven Colbert? Awesome. It's playing in movie theaters this week! I’m begging a friend to go with me tomorrow night.

NPH rapped at the end. Pretty cute.

P.S. I don't do plays, only musicals. Plays make me uncomfortable, especially if they aren’t comedies.

Random

I have a lot of random things going on in my mind right now. I thought I’d share.

I write the number 8 backwards. No one ever corrected me. My grandma noticed when I was about ten years old. And she kindly reminded me last week that I still do it. Oh well.

Lemon Pez is my favorite smell. Well, maybe Christmas trees are, but lemon Pez takes a very close second. I love the taste, too. Pez is one of my favorite candies and lemon is the best of the flavors.

I hate grammatical errors. I know we’re all human and make mistakes, but we have computers to help us now. Spell check people! My biggest pet peeve is how people are overusing and abusing apostrophes. Here’s what I saw on Facebook yesterday: cd’s, dvd’s, Seahawk’s, pizza’s, microbrew’s, the 80's and up’s and down’s. It seems like the difference between it’s and its is the hardest thing for people to understand. And don’t get me started on their/there/they’re, too/to/two and your/you’re. Some of my friends making these errors are college graduates. One even has a degree in English! How did they even graduate from middle school? Look, even CNN can’t get it right!

Let me just say something before I’m called a hypocrite. I’m the first to admit that I don’t use the proper writing style on this blog. I don't use quotation marks or italics when naming a book or movie and I don't always make complete sentences. I probably should, but I write how I talk and this is a casual place. On that note, if you ever see a spelling or grammar error here, please, please, please let me know. I’ve read some of my old posts and noticed a few and felt so stupid.

Ashton Kutcher is replacing Charlie Sheen on Two And A Half Men. Really? Did Charlie just get punked? I don’t like the show at all, and I don't really even like Ashton that much, but now I’m kind of curious how they are going to pull it off. I’m glad the cast and crew will have work again, but shouldn't the show just go away? By the way, I’m so sick of “Winning” and especially, “Duh. Winning.”

I’m finally on the Adele bandwagon. I honestly don’t know what took me so long. I loved Chasing Pavements and Rolling in the Deep, but never listened to anything else. I guess I thought all of her songs would be slow and depressing. I recently bought both albums and I love them (maybe 19 more than 21). She has one amazing voice! I’ve seen her do a few interviews and she’s so funny and sweet. I’m a fan.

I hate sharing food with people. On occasion, I’ll take a corner bite of a dessert we’re all sharing, but I don’t like it. And I absolutely cannot share dairy products. No yogurt, whipped cream, milk, sour cream, cream cheese, ice cream or milk shakes. Not even with my husband or kids. It gives me the creeps and I just gagged while thinking about it. This picture is supposed to be sexy and seductive, but it gives me a stomach ache.

My Mother’s Day sucked. We were all sick. My two year old wouldn’t have anything to do with my husband and clung to me all day. As much as I wanted to just lie around and read or watch a movie, I had chores to do because I put them off all week. I didn’t get a gift. Not even a card or flowers. Jacob usually looks at my Amazon and Etsy wishlists and gets me exactly what I want, but we had a rough week and our sick kids were on our minds. He did make a delicious breakfast that morning and he's taking me to dinner at The Melting Pot tonight. He even called the babysitter (my sister) on his own! We also have a musical to see on Sunday. Two dates in one week when we haven't had any (besides a movie) since Milo was born? I’ll take it!

I got my ticket to see Britney. Ticket prices went from $60 to $999. Insane. I paid $168 for one ticket. I’ll be sitting 18 rows up from the stage. Not too great, but not too bad. This is the most I’ve ever spent on a concert and I don’t plan on doing it again. Only for my dear Britney.

Nolan is potty trained! On May 1, we put him in some Thomas and Friends underwear and never looked back. He had two accidents each day for the first three days, but he’s been accident free for 14 days now. He even woke up in a dry Pull Up the last two mornings. It’s so nice to only have to change one kid! I still have to accompany him to the bathroom because we’re having some aim issues, but that's ok with me. I’m so happy he caught on so quickly. I think a lot of parents are in a hurry to potty train before their kids are ready. We waited (he's 2 years, 8 months) and it was a breeze!

RENT at the Hollywood Bowl!

Well, we did it. We got to see Neil Patrick Harris’s special engagement of RENT at the Hollywood Bowl!

The Bowl was so cool. Everyone gets there early to picnic and drink and just hang out hours before a performance starts. We might have gotten there a little too early for Jacob.

RENT itself was amazing! I had low expectations of a few stars (uh hem, Vanessa Hudgens and Nicole Scherzinger), so the all star cast actually impressed me. The music seemed to be a little slow the entire performance and they had to tweak a few things to make the production work on that particular stage, but it turned out pretty well. It was definitely a performance for people who’ve already seen it. The crowd was singing along and cheering non-stop. It was a lot of fun!

Vanessa Hudgens and Aaron Tveit

Wayne Brady

Nicole Scherzinger

Unfortunately, we didn’t attend the same night Zac Efron did.

Did you see this video clip of him tipping his girlfriend Vanessa during her performance of “Out Tonight?”