Look out, country music world. Here comes Kelly Clarkson! The pop superstar placed her foot squarely in the country music world over the weekend at the CMA Festival in Nashville, debuting the track “Tie It Up” and telling the audience: “I’ve been nervous all day because I wanted to be good for you!” Did the original American Idol have cause to be concerned? Listen to the song now and decide for yourself: Kelly Clarkson – “Tie It Up” (Live)
Attendees at the San Diego County Fair spent the weekend flooding social media sites with photos of the Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joe… and then dialing 911 to report their heart attacks, we’d have to imagine. The item – which seriously does exist – places Sloppy Joe meat between two halves of a Krispy Kreme Glazed donut . It is then wrapped in bacon and deep-fried and slid over a stick for easy eating. Other menu delicacies at the event included fried Kool-Aid balls and fried Klondike bars. We think we’re gonna be ill. Let’s all go ogle some Kate Upton photos to feel better.
Gerard Butler is a man of many interesting talents. He proved this and then some on a visit to the German talk show Wetten, dass..? First, he found himself imitating his guest, a professional nut cracker. He decided, hilariously, to try to crack nuts with his rear end – one of his best features – but could only break two of them and could not stop laughing. The host then recalled an anecdote Butler once offered regarding pouring ice down his pants during a sweltering movie shoot, and begged him to reenact it. Reluctantly, Butler obliged. You gotta watch: Gerard Butler on Wetten, dass..?
Look out, Tom Brady! ESPN confirms that Tim Tebow will sign with the New England Patriots tomorrow, as the embattled ex-Bronco and ex-Jet looks to resurrect his career with one of the NFL’s top franchises. Tebow was released by New York in late April after producing very little as Mark Sanchez’s backup last season. In New England, he will be reunited with former Head Coach Josh McDaniels, who currently serves as the Patriots’ Offensive Coordinator. Chuck Norris is clearly a fan of this move… but should Patriot supporters be excited? Is the team making a good move in signing Tebow? Yes, he will soon take over for Tom Brady Yes, he’ll run a few read-options No, he’s a bust! Can I just see him shirtless? View Poll »
Pink has debuted a new hairstyle that is very … un-Pink. Channeling her inner Amber Rose , the singer, whose trademark pixie cut dates back a decade, rocked long hair while enjoying a day out with the family: There was still an edge to the new look, have no fear. Pink shavd half her head a la Ciara and the trend which is currently taking over Hollywood. She also kept one strand of her luscious locks pink. Why’d she do it? She Tweets: “Officially decided that June is crazy hair month . If there’s something you have been wanting to do – go for it! No Fear! Crazy hair is fun.” Works for us. What do you think of Pink’s long hair? Love it! She looks great! Not a huge fan, but it’s okay I guess. Without the short hair, she’s just not Pink! View Poll »
At WWDC 2013 (Worldwide Development Conference), Apple Senior V.P. Craig Federighi unveiled the company’s latest version of OS X, OS X Mavericks. With OS X Mavericks, Apple is moving away from the cat-themed names of the first nine versions of OS X. RIP Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion . Among the most notable features of OS X Mavericks: Finder Tabs. Native to OS X (and not via third party apps) at last. Tagging. Files, folders and documents for better organization. Multiple Displays. Full-screen mode from OS X now supports multiple displays. Using Airplay, users can use an Apple TV powered monitor or TV as a full, secondary display. There’s a lot more to discuss about it too … OS X Mavericks will contain new features that improve battery life by reducing CPU activity up to 72 percent, offering better MacBook performance. It also has compressed memory which should improve response time. That means apps should load a lot faster and wake from sleep more quickly. A feature called App Nap is designed to figure out what apps are in use and what apps are just running idle and sucking power when not in use. Safari will offer a better sidebar and home page and reading lists from LinkedIn and Twitter, providing even more efficient, responsive access to articles. Apple is creating a new iCloud Keychain for passwords that work across devices. It’s encrypted and even comes with a suggested secure password. Not only can users respond to mail messages directly from a notification, push notifications from iOS devices can be sent directly to the desktop. iBooks and Apple Maps are now standalone applications for OS X. With iBooks, users can access their past purchases, bookmarks and content. For Maps, users can push directions from Maps to their iOS device and there will be an SDK so developers can integrate Maps into their own OS X apps. The calendar in OS X Mavericks drops the leather look of OS X 10.7 and OS X 10.8 and is a smooth, clean design. It now has better scrolling to boot. The app also speaks seamlessly with Apple Maps when it comes to directions and can even provide suggestions when creating new entries.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey had “A Manzo of Her Word” but it was a little boy who stole the show. We recap the smiles and tears in this week’s THG +/- review. Someone completely stole the show this week and it wasn’t a housewife. It wasn’t even one of their husbands. It was a little boy who learned to say I love you, Mommy . Plus 50 . To be honest at first it appeared that little Nick was only repeating the words to get the lollipop but when Chris Laurita said that it had been over 18 months since his wife had heard those words from her son, I couldn’t help but be moved, no matter what the child’s motivation. Housewives usually doesn’t require its audience to use that part of the brain, nevermind their hearts. It was almost disconcerting. Not to fear. There’s still plenty of the normal nonsense to fill the hour. Especially when we get to visit with Teresa and her kids. At least they weren’t cursing at one another this week. Plus 18. But can any of them communicate without screaming? Gia seems to think she’s in charge. Milania basically tells everyone else where to get off, and Gabriella looked like she was zoning out as a means of escape. Minus 12. I couldn’t say that I blamed her. Caroline’s daughter, Lauren said that the Guidice kids were being raised by wolves. I think that might be an insult to wolves. They have more sense . Teresa’s still hanging out with Kim D. Minus 22. Why is this woman back on my TV screen? These shows always breed the hangers on, looking for more than their 15 minutes of fame. Caroline called a summit meeting with Teresa and then she ordered an iced tea. You’d think alcohol would be mandatory to get through that meal. How funny was it when Caroline told Teresa that she was sent by Joe and Teresa shot back with, “He’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel.” Plus 18 . Teresa was right. Caroline is preachy but she’s also right. Life is short. Why let the stupid stuff take over? Now if she could only use that advice to mend fences with her own sister. And what is up with Fran? She looked like a heavier clone of Dina. And she moved in along with her stray pets. Minus 8 . Caroline’s husband Albert is a saint. Is there any way they can write Kathy out of the show? She’s generally boring and her husband Rich has become intolerable. Even Kathy seems to have grown weary of his frat boy antics. When Kathy told her husband that she was trying to raise Joseph to be a gentleman, all i could think was that it would have helped if she’d married one. Plus 13 when she tells her daughter to stick with school so she’ll have better options than Kathy did. Of course if we lost Kathy then we’d also lose Rosie. Hmm…I’m not sure where that lands in the points system. Did Rosie really have to join in on the guys poker game? Just because she’s a lesbian doesn’t make her one of the boys. Minus 9. But then we wouldn’t have had Joe Gorga telling Rosie she couldn’t write off all men if she’d never tried one. That earned a serious eye roll but I wouldn’t expect anything less from Joe. Of course he needs to start expecting less. Mush less when it comes to selling his giant McMansion. A 10,000 square foot house on 2 & 1/2 acres. Minus 15 . It sounds like someone was overcompensating. It was funny to watch the faux marble crumble and the fixtures fall off as Joe and Melissa crowed about their masterpiece. And shouldn’t their realtor have told them that having their kids around for the open house doesn’t make it feel more homey…it reminds people that it’s your home. Minus 10. But I think I’ll keep my $3.8 million in the bank and out of the Jersey real estate market, at least until next week. Episode total = +11! Season total = +29!
Plenty of favors, both formal and sexual—but mostly sexual—are exchanged in this week’s Mad Men , lending the episode its title: “Favors.” Don does all he can to help the Rosens’ son Mitchell from entering prison for draft evasion. All in the hopes, of course, of Syliva returning the favor. Ted ends up doing the bulk of the favor, asking a friend to give Mitchell a relatively harmless pilot position. Mrs. Campbell’s male caretaker may or may not be offering her some sexual favors of his own. And of course…Sylvia returns the favor. But “Favors” is less about the favors themselves, and more about the motives behind the favors. So many of our favorite Mad Men characters are supremely selfish, with only brief moments of compassion or consideration. It makes us wonder what’s in it for them. We’ve already discussed Don’s motives. He’s clearly not over Sylvia. He wants to help Mitchell so that he can get her to talk to him again; so that he’ll be seen as the hero. Ted is one of the only “compassionate by default” characters on the show, making his favor more of a reflex than a cunning strategy. He agrees to help Don help Mitchell with very little hesitation—and this, after Don nearly destroyed a dinner with Chevy by “testing the waters” on their willingness to help, given their large military contract. Only after his initial willingness does Ted realize he can use the situation to get a little something out of Don. What does he want out of Don? Just for him to be a better partner; pay attention, stop subtly competing. The most interesting motive reveal of all this episode comes from the frustratingly enigmatic Bob. We get our first real glimpse into who Bob is and what he’s after with a perplexing scene between him and Pete. After hearing that the caretaker may be taking advantage of Pete’s Mom, Bob, who recommended him, gives a long impassioned speech about how loving a man can make you feel lively, ending with a subtle-ish come-on to Pete. That Bob is homosexual would not be particularly shocking or groundbreaking—especially given Salvatore’s storyline over the first three seasons—but that he is interested in Pete certainly would be. It seems a tad asynchronous, so we’ll see how it pans out. Hopefully this isn’t the last of the Bob-related reveals, as his odd nature seems to be leading up to something big. Bob isn’t the only one with some Pete-related chemistry this week. Signs that were pointing to something between Peggy and Stan, and then Peggy and Ted, are now inching ever-so slightly towards Peggy and Pete. Beginning with Pete’s mom mistaking Peggy for Trudy—complete with an accidental reference to their child together—and ending with parallels between their lonely isolated home lives (Peggy seems to be searching for someone that can be there to kill rats—and it won’t be Stan, who adamantly proclaimed “I’m not your boyfriend), it seems Peggy and Pete may soon find themselves settling for each other out of sheer convenience. The biggest moment of the episode came, however, when Sally walks in on Don collecting his “favor” from Sylvia. Tensions have been rising all season long, and we knew Don’s affair would come back to bite him in the ass. Despite Sally seemingly coming to a reluctant surrender of her panicked disgust over discovering her father cheating, the event may just have irreparably damaged her and her relationship to Don. As soon as Sally saw Don and Sylvia together, the act became so, so real. The affair between Sylvia and Don may just be the crashing-down of Don’s world that the entire season has been pointing to. We’ll see if Sally lets it slip. RATING: 3/5
There was no topping the Red Wedding on last night’s Game of Thrones Season 3 finale. But there was plenty for the HBO epic to set up for next season, from Arya making her first kill to Ygritte shooting arrows into Jon Snow to Jaime actually returning home. Elsewhere, Dany conquered Yunkai and received a hero’s welcome; while Joffrey challenged Tywin and Walder Frey savored his bloody victory from the Sunday before. Will he get his comeuppance next year? Will Joffrey finally receive his? Visit TV Fanatic for a full review of the Game of Thrones season finale and grade Season 3 now: A B C D F View Poll »
Last night’s offering of Keeping Up With the Kardashians continued the now-familiar storyline of Bruce and Brody Jenner trying to repair their relationship. Meanwhile, Kris Jenner and the girls battled allegations from Ellen Pearson, Robert Kardashian Sr.’s ex-wife, with emotions running high as always. Perhaps most significantly, Rob Kardashian gaining 50 pounds carried the most weight Sunday … pun intended. Come along for THG’s official +/- recap! Rob Kardashian’s weight loss became a major story last month. Now, we get to see the precursor – the gain, and the concern of his family members. He’d put on 50 pounds, and felt he was “embarrassing to the family” after weighing in at 241 pounds with a 45-inch waist. Wow dude. Minus 241 . Not only that, be missed the private training sessions Kim Kardashian had set up for him, even as his body fat reached upwards of 50 percent. 50! “I really needed a pregnant friend,” Kim joked, in the line of the night. When Rob insisted he wasn’t pregnant, Kim said, “I know, but you eat like one.” Plus 70 , because even though it was clearly scripted, ouch! The tough love continued, too. Khloe’s plan was to get him to binge hard, getting him so sick on junk food that he’d never want to eat it again. Unfortunately, the plan backfired, however Rob did say later that he wanted to get fit and planned to work out with Khloe’s husband Lamar. Plus 40 . He’s proving a man of his word, too, looking noticeably slimmer and saying his goal is to get down to 200 pounds by July 4. Good work, Rob. Plus 20 . Meanwhile, Kris & Ko. continued their feud with her ex’s other ex, which seems designed primarily to stretch Keeping Up into its hour-long time slot. Seriously. Don’t you miss the half-hour days? Minus 50 . As for Brody and Bruce, we’ve been hearing whispers for awhile, but it was surprising to learn just how absent Bruce was from Brody Jenner’s life. No wonder Brody said Bruce is not the best father . Minus 50 . While it’s terrific to see that they both care enough to work on things now, you can’t help but feel that Bruce’s image has been dented a bit by this. Plus 150 for E! showing his faults, though, and for the father-son duo making strides to improve the situation. Because that’s what it’s all about, no? EPISODE TOTAL: -61!
