The thing about it was the building itself. I walked in and I felt it all. The history. The pressure. The amounts of change that were made in that building. The fear. I looked at the architecture of the stairs and was just floored. I don’t know how to describe it, but that place oozes power. It’s odd. Through the whispers of the people, I knew that things would be changed. People in New York would be affected.

There was a part of me that was horribly intimidated, but really there was a part of me that wanted to be a part of it. I’ll be discussing in future posts what I’d have to do (or give up) but the feeling was nice. Making change. I could see myself do that. Maybe one day.

Image via CBS

I basically wasted an hour last week having the whole Amazing Race episode become moot when teams had to sign up for two different flights. If someone told me “Gary and Mallory received an Express Pass,” that’s all I needed to know.

Whoever decided to design the challenges this season get my gratitude. Not only giving people a periodic table, but forcing them to wear insane kangaroo suits was amazing.

Watching several teams all walking down the street in kangaroo outfits was comedic gold.

The episode was actually paced well without having another Roadblock.

Read my full Commentary (!) at Reality TV Calendar.

Image via CBS

Jet was still working on the clue for the roadblock because they couldn’t figure out the password. Tenth place team Kent & Vyxsin and all of the other teams started to head back to the main area of Sydney as they searched for town hall where they would find a clue involving the phrase “To Sail, To Stop” and sign up for flight information.

We got some more background information of each of the teams. Amanda & Kris worried about being u-turned again. Each group had their doubts and worries. Zev’s Asperger’s/Taxi door opening skills may be an issue during the race. Jet continuously abused the phrase, “Son of a buck,” as he stressed out. The Globetrotters are good friends and joke around about their differences, further emphasizing the strong relationship. Luke joked around about how he now has race girlfriends (Jamie & Cara), which made me wonder if he ever actually had a girlfriend (or boyfriend). Ron & Christina bicker about ferries and we flashbacked to previous problems, Ron knows of his impatience but blamed it on sleep deprivation.

Read the rest at TheCelebrityCafe.com!

Image via Bravo TV

Back in the stew room, Dale and Tiffany were shocked about Angelo’s elimination. Dale was happy he spent the last set of challenges winning, but knew that most of the contestants will be eliminated at one point. At the apartment, Richard was planning different recipes in his notebook with Mike talking about plans. Tiffany was looking pretty in hopes that her personality will exude through her food.

In the kitchen, Paula Deen awaited the cheftestants, full of laughter. Padma and Paula announce their quickfire challenge: a deep fryer challenge. Paula points out that everything can be deep fried (even her staple butter) and the winner will get $5,000.

As time started, all the contestants ran into the pantry grabbing different forms of oils. Dale decided to wrap oyster in beef and battered it. Antonia decided to go with a fried shrimp salad. Mike wanted to use the “chicken oyster” which was inspired by Richard’s book. Richard wanted to fry mayonnaise flavored with coffee and lime. Carla was nervous about the quickfire and her dish wasn’t working; the fish to batter ratio was wrong. Tiffany decided to go for a fried chicken wing/fried pickle combination.

Read the whole article at The Celebrity Cafe!

Image via The CW

[America's Next Top Model - Season 16 Episode 1]

Tyra introduced this season of America’s Next Top Model by joking around about all the previous seasons’ casting episodes. She poked fun of previous contestant auditions’ archtypes including that one b*tch contestant that would scream, “I’m not here to make friends.” There is no actual casting week this season.

Of course, Tyra decided to fake out the girls and teach them a lesson on rejection. While the 14 girls were introduced to the Jays like a normal casting week, they were punked into thinking they were eliminated.

We flashed back to Los Angeles, when the girls arrived for what they thought was casting week. The Jays had an evaluation and a photo and, while in the background, Tyra selected her 14. We’re introduced to several contestants: Monique had some hooch issues. Kasia was a plus sized model who was in V Magazine (in an amazing leopard outfit). Sara was the stereotypical androgynous not-model model.

Read the whole article at The Celebrity Cafe!

Blogs are an interesting thing. Especially personal blogs like mine that don’t have any real “agenda” to it. I’m not hawking anything except for my own self-worth as a writer. I don’t often talk about whether or not I have a political agenda, my stance on things like …abortion (actually, my stance is: I’m not a woman, I shouldn’t decide). Often people stumble across my blog because they know me or my writing.

Most of my posts are personal ramblings and I wouldn’t change it in any way. I’m not writing/blogging for anyone else except for myself. It’s a glorified diary here on the internet. And you have access to it.

I don’t mind. I’ll admit I still have that secret need to become an E-List celebrity. I’m not aiming too high. E seems obtainable. But either way, people I’m sure will still look at my blog and wonder.

I’m very happy that Pink is not only still prominent in the music industry, that she is pregnant. I really hope she does have a son so that she will actually name him Jameson. Who expected a music career like this from the girl with short neon-pink hair singing R&B music about how she just wanted real love. To me, Pink represents that underdog that finally got to that point where she can do whatever the hell she wants and can get away with it. She’s well… “Too School for Cool.”

It’s funny, the first time I heard the song I thought, “Oh it’s another one of those songs that Adam Lambert* could have taken.” But it grew on me instantly when I actually heard the lyrics to the song. It’s all about underdog pride; celebrating how everyone is different and original. Kind of like watching Ann win ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ It’s actually an anthem that resonated (apparently) with many of my Facebook friends as well.

I was a bit disappointed by the use of the song on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ but I guess that’s what we/you get for making the song an “instant dance.” I’m sure we’ll see the instant dance again next season.

*Random Fact: Adam Lambert’s song “Whataya Want from Me” was orignally performed by Pink and was supposed to be on her album Funhouse. It was cut and eventually given to Adam Lambert. To make it even more interesting, he was nominated for a Grammy. [He lost]

36. Jason Derulo – (71 Points) Jason had more of an impact early into 2010, thus leading him to be a bit forgotten in the second half of 2010. He also showed up on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ to promote an already dead song, which was really odd as well.

Charted Songs:
“In My Head” – #52
“Ridin’ Solo” – #79

35. Cee Lo Green – (74 Points) - “Fuck You” is an amazing song and it was horribly catchy. Then the song got cleaned up… and then used on ‘Glee.’ I still love the original version tons more. It has an old school Motown feeling to it, yet with really modern day references. You don’t know how utterly happy I am to see that the song got nominated for a Grammy, see a catchy hook and the abuse of the word “Fuck” is a good thing sometimes.

Charted Songs:
“F**k You” – #27

34. 2PM – (76 Points) The Korean boy band got a big boost because I saw them in concert with the Wonder Girls. Yeah, they are as attractive as their music videos showed them as. That and their songs are really catchy, even when I don’t know the words. One of my favorite covers this year on YouTube was this really good medley/mash-up:

Charted Songs:

“Without U” – #41
“Heartbeat” – #85

33. Wonder Girls – (78 Points) I didn’t plan that the Wonder Girls and 2PM would have charted so close. It was all about the scoring system since they only had one song, but it was more impactive (Op, I used that word again! MS Word is going to hate me!) in my head than two 2PM songs. It was cool to see them in concert and I’ve gotten used to having Lim in the group. Having the number 23 song would have landed the Wonder Girls in the top last year, but they didn’t release anything after “Two Different Tears,” instead focusing on world domination with the one song and constantly singing “Nobody.”

Charted Songs:

“Two Different Tears” – #23

With a tied score, two artists had 80 points: Enrique Iglesias and Natasha Bedingfield. As I mentioned in my video, I ranked Natasha higher based off of her best placement.

32. Enrique Iglesias – (80 Points) Enrique really was part of a whole ton of late 90s artists that surprised me and made a big impact on the 2010 music scene, unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough for him to crack the top 30. His song, “I Like It” was horribly overplayed, so I may have been a bit sour about the whole song, but this actually benefitted Pitbull since I decided to allow full points to anyone in the song.

Charted Songs:
“I Like It (ft. Pitbull)” – #31
“Heartbeat (ft. Nicole Scherzinger)” – #91

31. Natasha Bedingfield – (80 Points) – Here is an artist that I really liked one song this year that seems like no one else liked. I believe that “Touch” is a very underrated song and it has a catchy beat. The song also shows a very wide vocal range for Beddingfield and a creative storytelling manner in the song. It’s like everything is magically connected.

Charted Songs:

“Touch” – #21

Just as a quick scoring chart, the number 30 artist has 83 points, and two artists had 68 points, putting them at 37/38. The songs and artists that made the top 30 had songs that were just heavily promoted and advertised or overplayed on my iPod.

Traditionally, I don’t mind attacking any electronic based screen with a soft cloth and a a blue cleaner with some ammonia in it. While I like to be green and all, I don’t understand why ammonia is evil. I swear, it’s good for no streaks. I’m sure that someone out there is screaming “Don’t do that to the monitor! Ahhh! Nooooo!” Well, I’ve been doing it for a while and it seems to work.

I just wiped my monitor with a soft cloth…Well, I guess I’ll wait until Monday to get rid of the smudgy fingerprints.