Oops, there I go again...

Just as I thought I was back on my blogging game, a nice long weekend in New York distracts me, combined with two late nights at work to start the week. Now, as I'm sitting down to say something, a little Sevie has some homework to do on the computer. It's always something, isn't it?

Well, so as not to make this a completely worthless post, here's a link from Entertainment Weekly that wraps up their theory on "Lost." It sounds pretty good to me, but then again I'm usually pretty slow when it comes to these things. Blame it on balancing too many shows-- my plots get mixed up. I am glad, though, that the token irrational and inept CTU employee on "24" got the boot yesterday. One more week of plump Sean Astin and I was about to have a fit.

Oh, and one more thing. As I was completing an online transaction earlier today (using my real name, of course), I was surprised and baffled to find this message after I entered all my normal info and clicked submit: A name can only contain letters, spaces, /, ', and periods

Oh really? Cause last I checked my first name actually had a hyphen in it. I didn't realize you could just rewrite the rules on what goes for names. I guess it's understandable since those backslashes are really becoming popular... (!?!) But seriously, my problems never end...

More on the Idols

Is it just me or is Ace Young the Idol hottie? As evidenced by his web-following, clearly it's not just me. So he wasn't really my style at first, a little too polished with his whole scruffy/frat boy look ( if that makes any sense) but after tonight I'm won over! I even caught myself almost squealing like a teenager during the middle of his performance of George Michael's "Father Figure" (perfect song choice!) . As my mom said, "He's a Hottie, and he can sing? Vote for him!" Word to that, mom.

Let the real games begin...

American Idol Season 5 kicked off its real competition tonight starting with the Top 12 girls, and despite being fairly disappointed overall, Paris Bennett's performance of "Midnight Train to Georgia" more than made up for it. The girl was seriously on her game from the minute she took the stage; I couldn't believe her confidence and comfort level up there. As an aside, is anyone else noticing the striking resemblance of Paris to Dr. Bailey on "Grey's Anatomy"? Auddie and I had already been calling her 'Mini Bailey,' and with tonight's new hairdo, she's really looked like her spitting miniature image. Here's your photo comparison, and I'll update the photo when I can grab a better one from tonight's performance:

Other Idol thoughts: my early faves at this point are Paris, of course, as well as Lisa Tucker (I mean, she was Nala in a production of "The Lion King," who can resist??) and Katharine McPhee. Can we just skip all the bad people (Um, we get that the judges think Becky O'Donohue is "gorgeous" and all, but I thought her rendition of "Because the Night" was straight-up drunken bar Karaoke or something) and move on to the final 3?

Besides, I actually watched the Olympics tonight-- oh come on, who can pass up women's figure skating??-- and trying to cram in both lengthy programs is making my brain fry.

Obligatory Olympic Post

So based on the fact that other networks were not backing down in the face of this year's Winter Olympics in Torino on NBC, I really didn't think I'd be watching much of the televised action (come on, "24" vs. Ice Dancing? No contest). Not to mention the Internet spoilers didn't help the cause. But now and again I've actually managed to tune in to catch some of the more exciting headlines of this year's games. By the time you read this, it'll all be old news, but I guess with the whole time delay anyway, it's already old by the time it's on TV.

To start, check out this amazing photo of a long hill ski jumper:

If you didn't see the U.S. lowlight of Lindsay Jacobelli's late-run tumble in the Women's Snowboarding Cross (one of the coolest events ever, by the way), you've probably heard about it since. The same girl who was so calm after her Visa check card had been stolen (worst Olympic athlete commercial?) clearly couldn't maintain her composure enough to win a race that was hers and claim the gold medal that was only one easy jump within her reach. Yikes.. there's some irony for you. Sometimes I don't know how these athletes do it. I kick myself over a near-win in text-twist (what's that last 3 letter word?? I didn't even know 'daw' was a word!), so I can't imagine coming so close to being the world's best and then blowing it. And then having to hear everyone talk about how you failed. And of course knowing randomite bloggers like myself are still talking about it. Now that's a guaranteed meltdown.

In other random Olympic excitement, I was at the gym watching some Saturday morning coverage when I was initially bummed to find the men's 12.5km biathlon pursuit on the little screen. Little did I know, this event is actually incredibly exciting to watch, and it even kept me on the dreadmill for nearly an hour so I could watch the race in full! You see, the biathlon involves a cross country skiing course (at a ridiculously high altitude, and mostly uphill, mind you) with intermittent stops where athletes have to shoot targets that are 50 yards away and sometimes as small as a silver dollar. It's pretty freakin' amazing when you stop and think about it. Anyway, the race that I happened to catch was extremely exciting from start to finish, with the Frenchman Vincent Defrasne barely edging out the favorite 5-time Olympic gold medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen from Norway. He even overcame a slip and near-fall with the finish line in sight!

Last thoughts: I'm not too crazy about the medals this year. The big hole in the middle of the medal makes it look kinda cheap, like what a little kid would make in kindergarten class and bring home for his mom. Oh well, I suppose it's still pretty special. I wouldn't complain if you gave me one. And at least there's a story behind the design.

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Happy 26th Birthday to my brother, Huan! Thanks to his companionship, I got to play sports outside with the boys, walk to 7-11 to get slurpees and slim jims, and basically have a whole lot of fun. All around I like to think it made me a pretty tough gal (read: tomboy). Thanks, Huan, for always including me even when it was just you and the boys. And yes, I forgive you for practicing all those WWF wrestling moves on me.

Anyway, here's to Huan, who after all these years I can still count on to be a protective big bro and a great pal. Here are some of my favorite snapshots of our youth:

Project Runway

So I totally missed the boat on this one, but thanks to last week's snow-in, I was able to settle in on the couch and catch the last five episodes of Season 2 of Bravo's "Project Runway."

Naturally, in my continual effort to always be "in the loop" when it comes to anything pop culture (note: my definition of pop culture does not encompass celebrity culture), and after receiving a Project Runway mini-mag with a recent Banana Republic purchase, I just couldn't ignore it any longer! I finally gave in after being part an engaging e-mail chain that exchanged thoughts on the show; whose designs sucked, whose were amazing; who should win, who will win, and so on and so forth.

So this is like a much better, more interesting version of the now-defunct "Apprentice," except Heidi Klum is a far more attractive host than is Donald Trump, and "auf Wiedersehen!" is the new "You're Fired." (But wasn't the original reality one-liner "You are the weakest link...g'bye!"?)

Anyway, if you're even remotely into fashion-- scratch that, you don't even need to be into fashion to enjoy this show, the great personalities and group dynamic are enough to pull you in.

To give you the quick rundown, each week designers compete in a specific task (e.g. design an outfit using only supplies purchased at a flower shop; design an evening gown that Iman will wear to a red-carpet event), and the winner of the final challenge wins a mentorship with the Banana Republic design team, $100,000 to start their own line, a 2007 Saturn SkyRoadster (who knew Saturn made sports cars? It's not terrible, either.), and a full spread in Elle magazine featuring their original designs.

Here's a quick sampling of what they do: below are the three best designs from the "Garden Party" (flower shop-only) challenge:

Now that it's down to the final three in the ultimate face-off at Olympus Fashion Week in New York, I have to root for our Vietnamese gal Chloe Dao, though I actually like Daniel V. the best (if only because he is only 24 and it makes me completely jealous to think of how good he is at what he does) , and with the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if the over-exuberant Santino wows the judges come Fashion Week. The final challenge isn't airing for a couple weeks (Wed., March 1, 10 PM) , and before then it appears Bravo is running a PR marathon, so if you're feeling lazy and one of the lucky ones who gets Prez. day off (you don't actually have to be lucky, you just have to not be me), tune in to catch up on all the excitement!

A note from the editor.

Dear Readers:

I deeply apologize for any personal anguish I have caused by neglecting my blog and thus, neglecting you, my audience and sole reason for cyber-fruition. Any excuse I have is just that, an excuse, and if I call myself a true "blogger" then I must follow through on this implied promise to serve the Web, much as a gardener would water his plants or a pet owner would walk his dog. However, I cannot make guarantees, and as much as I would love to be on the daily updating circuit, I fear this is a far too ambitious goal. That said, I will promise to try harder and to do better, so that if you load up pouy.blogspot.com at least twice during your workweek, you won't see the same played-out post that greeted you the time before. If I do fail, however, please remember that there are many other fabulous things to read on the Web, so I encourage you to go forth; explore at will, you'll be amazed at what's out there! On the other hand, I do appreciate those of you who regularly visit, comment, or give me suggestions. After all, without a little prodding and guilt-tripping, I'd probably have stopped updating long ago. Thanks again and again and again.

Regards,
Pouy T

Music for a good cause

Many of you may have heard another great TV tune at the end of last week's riveting Grey's Anatomy episode following the Super Bowl, so here's my post about it.


(Photo by T.Dozol, from In The Sun Foundation)

In response to the devastation experienced in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, Michael Stipe, king of cool and lead singer of R.E.M., started a foundation called In The Sun. Not knowing what exactly he could do to help, but knowing full well what he was good at, Stipe decided to record an EP and give 100% of the proceeds to Mercy Corps to benefit the victims of the Hurricane. The timing may seem a little delayed, but Stipe makes a good point in saying even though the news cycle may have pushed Katrina from the headlines, there is still much to be done. The EP, "In the Sun," features six different versions of the Joseph Arthur song of the same name, and all are worth a listen. Chris Martin is featured on two cuts, one is mixed by my favorite ex-teenybopper J. Timberlake, and another features the original songwriter Joseph Arthur.

The EP is available in full from iTunes. Six tracks of great music at $4.95, all for a good cause. You can't beat it. Go forth and check it out.

#1 single

As if I needed anything new to watch on TV, I managed to catch a couple reruns of Lisa Loeb's new reality TV Show, #1 Single, and I have to say it's really quite good. Who knew Lisa Loeb, 37 and desperate to have babies (she said it herself -- "I don't want maybes, i want babies!" were her exact words), could be so great for TV? Despite the fact that she agreed to put her life on TV and thus can be considered not "normal" and even slightly crazy, she comes off as an incredibly down-to-earth and totally cool person. It's a little unsettling that she constantly emphasizes her normalness and anti-gossip/celeb personality, yet she's on this cable reality TV show about her personal life. I dunno. Maybe that's the irony of it all. Either way, in watching Lisa in her dating escapades, you kind of want to be her friend and you definitely want her to find Mr. Right. The way she dials up her mom to chat, stuffs donuts in her face, or is a self-professed techie geek... all of it is completely charming and makes her an infinitely likeable "character" for her show.

I do have to say though, what kind of unbelievable coincidence is it that in Lisa's first AirTroductions experience, her date would be with another quasi-celebrity (author Allen Salkin, who penned the Seinfeldian Festivus) who would subsequently land Lisa on New York Post's page 6? Strange I tell you.

Anywho. I'll probably have to cut out another show on my ever-growing roster to make room for this. After all, it was Lisa who originally inspired me "Stay," as I, with my slightly Lisa Loeb-esque glasses pranced around my basement doing my own personal rendition of the music video... To think, that was 1994!!!