Live Redemption: Katy Perry

Okay, so I know most people don't like KP and I admit, a lot of her songs - especially on her new CD - sound like robotvoice.  I think it's a shame, though, because she really has a nice/unique voice and is a talented songwriter.  She's just an easy target when pointing fingers at "all those girls who can't really sing" because she's hot and doesn't hide it.  While I can't wait for her to turn down the showgirl image a little and be more serious, I still think she has some of the most original pop songs out on the radio today.

For this Live Redemption, I want to contrast her aweful Saturday Night Live performance with what she actually can do.  And on the same note, why does everybody sound so gross on SNL?

The Unfortunate:



The Less Unfortunate:



The Better:

Network TV Fall Shows

I can't wait for the new Fall shows to start.  After my wild Saturday night of watching five hours straight of Hoarders: Buried Alive with my mom, it's a good thing something new is on.  The shows I'm most excited about:

- Modern Family this Wednesday at 9:00pm on ABC
- I'll admit: I'll be watching Cougar Town this Wednesday right after Modern Family
- Running Wilde this Tuesday at 9:30pm on Fox

And of course the Thursday NBC block with:
- Community at 8:00pm
- 30 Rock at 8:30pm
- The Office at 9:00pm
- I'll probably watch Outsourced, but I heard it isn't very good.  Based on the previews, I can see why.

I'll also check in on The Simpsons this Sunday at 8:00pm on Fox.

The only new show that I'm really looking forward to is Running Wilde -- mainly because it stars Will Arnett and will have guest appearances by David Cross.  That should make for a pretty good Gob/Tobias-inspired reunion.  Also, I like Keri Russell from Waitress a few years back.

I think the highlight of this season will be the completely live episode of 30 Rock airing October 14th.  They'll be doing two shows, one for East and one for West Coast.  I hope there's a way to see them both.

Too bad Parks and Recreation won't come back until next Spring...

VMAs 2010

Thank goodness for the ability to record TV shows.  After skipping the commercials and performances I didn't want to see, I think I spent about an hour watching what would've been a three hour show.  Especially because it wasn't very good.

It's kind of sad that the musical talent at the Emmys (Jimmy Fallon and a number by Jewel) was better than most of what we saw at the MTV Video Musica Awards.  Most people at the VMAs started singing live and then switched immediately to background recordings.  I realize you need that when you're dancing around (like Usher), but when your background recording screams AutoTune and your dancing takes you back to the '90s, it's a little depressing.  I was even disappointed by "good" singers like Taylor Swift, who usually sounds okay live but this time was so quiet I couldn't hear her. 

The one act I was impressed by, though, was the seamless four-song combo by Bruno Mars, B.o.b., Hayley Williams, and Parramore.  I don't even like any of their songs especially, but the way they melted into one sequence over the different genres impressed me.  Oh, and what?  People singing without background vocals or a huge band and even singing AND playing an instrument?  Uh-oh. 



I thought Mary J. Blige sounded great as always even though only being the "featuring" part of the song she was in; Florence and the Machine was also great.  Eminem did a duet about abuse that I only listen to because of the female part... wait, didn't he already do that in like '99?  Lady Gaga was her usual annoying self, but could've at least performed.  Also missed Katy Perry and Beyonce.  Overall, the show was pretty bad, but I was mainly watching it for Chelsea Handler anyway.

Work of Art

Currently I'm addicted to Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.  Same set-up as Top Chef (which I'm also hooked on), but craftier and with more neurotic people.  Check it out!

Watch Work of Art here.  (Click "Read More" to see all parts of the episode, or "Next Entries" to see newer episodes.)

Daria Complete Animated Series on DVD

I've been trying to post no more than once a day to avoid running out of things to write about, but I'm too excited for this one.  I just found out on May 11th 2010, the complete series of one of my favorite shows ever will be released on DVD.  You can pre-order it at Amazon and it includes all five seasons as well as both movies.  I heard it took them so long because they had to get the rights to all the songs they used in the series.  Either way, remember whose birthday is in May...

Ich versuche nicht mehr als einmal am Tag etwas so schreiben, dass ich nach einer Woch noch was zu berichten habe, aber ich bin zur Zeit sehr aufgeregt.  Ich habe gerade herausgefunden, dass eine meiner Lieblingssendungen am 11. Mai auf DVD erscheint.  Alle fünf Staffeln un beide Filme in einem Set.  Denk dran wer im Mai Geburtstag hat...

Watch TV Online

A lot of people have already figured this one out, but I'll share it anyway: how to watch TV shows online.

I'm obsessed with a few TV shows. But besides living abroad the past six months, I also haven't had cable in my house for almost three years. Now that my mommy's not here to record shows for me, I switched to online mode. While you can watch shows on the channel's website, you a) have to sit through commercials and b) they don't work abroad. Here are some other options:

1. A really good site to use is Hulu.com. It has a lot of shows, some movies, and is updated regularly. However, it doesn't work outside of the US. Also, a quick check showed that older shows you used to watch might not be on it (Rocko's Modern Life, Clarissa Explains it All, Ghostwriter...).

2. A friend of mine told me about TVshack.net. It's like Hulu, but seems to have more shows and movies, especially old ones. The big plus: it works outside the US. One drawback is that a lot of shows are on Megavideo, which only lets you watch about an hour of shows/movies at a time. When this happens, simply replug your router to get a new IP address or hide your IP address (see below).

3. Another drawback of TVshack is that it doesn't have the episode the same day as it comes out sometimes. When that happens, I've found TVduck.com to work.

4. The last thing I want to mention is a program calld HotSpot Shield. This program safely hides your IP address from evil hackers. What this actually means is that you can watch episodes on the shows' official channels. This is helpful for some sports broadcasts as well as other things not available outside the US, like Pandora. The only problem is that it puts an extra ad on every single page you look at and really slows down your Internet.

Happy viewing!

Heute zeige ich euch einige Seiten auf denen man (amerikanische) Sendungen und Filme sich anschauen kann:

1. Eine gute Seite ist Hulu.com. Leider funktioniert diese Seite nicht außerhalb der USA...

2. Ein Freund hat mir TVshack.net gezeigt. Man kann fast alle Sendungen und viele Filme schauen, sogar außerhalb der USA. Was nicht so toll ist, ist dass man manche Sendungen oder Filme nur über Megavideo spielen kann. Mit diesem "Player" kann man nur eine Stunde am Tag was schauen. Wenn das passiert, muss man aber nur sein Internet neu starten. Man kann auch seine IP Adresse verstecken (siehe unten).

3. Manchmal hat TVshack die neuesten Folgen nicht am selben Tag, an dem sie in den USA ausgestrahlt werden. Wenn das passiert, hat TVduck oft die neusten Folgen.

4. Ein sehr gutes Programm nennt sich HotSpot Shield. Mit diesem Programm kann man seine IP Adresse verstecken. D.h. Internetseiten wissesn nicht dass man nicht in Amerika ist. Mit dieser Software kann man also alles auf Hulu oder den ofiziellen Seiten der Sender schauen. Seiten wie Pandora, die normalerweise nicht außerhalb der USA funktionieren, kann man jetzt auch besuchen. Das große Nachteil: viel Reklame und dadurch langsames Internet auf allen Seiten.

Frohes glotzen!