2011 Emmys...and TV

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Clearly I don't blog enough.

It's been basically a year since my last "real" blog--about the last Emmys. Those were worth blogging about and so were this year's!

Jane Lynch set some obviously high expectations being Jane Lynch and all. I would say she did not disappoint. There was just the right mix of Sue Sylvester sarcasm, slightly masculine charm and proud lesbian sweetheart. She let the show roll on as scheduled and picked up some great jokes along the way as they happened. Her nod to the Modern Family sweep was well received ("Welcome back to the Modern Family Awards.")

The video clips/parodies were a bit lengthy. The opening number could have been a little shorter, as Jane calls out herself in the actual dialogue, but the singing was surprisingly good. Hated the Jersey Shore junk--don't care if they're spoofing themselves, they are still being featured on national television which is a travesty. The only clip I can't complain about was The Office parody--I'm biased being obsessed and whatnot. On a similar note, loved that Ed Helms came out for the phenomenal Lonely Island medley. And John Stamos too? Yes please. And I'll have seconds. *Favorite at home moment for me: When my sister asked me, "Who is that Michale Bolton guy dressed like Johnny Depp?"*

Overall, a great night of television honoring television. Kate Winslet, Boardwalk Empire, Modern Family--all of my favorites at least. Can't wait for the new seasons to premiere this week and next. Already loving the new show 2 Broke Girls from the creator Sex & the City. A little risque. A little cliche. Pretty enjoyable for a pilot. And Up All Night exceeded my expectations which were already pretty high for a Will Arnett/Christina Applegate/Maya Rudolph/Lorne Michaels/Cute baby show. Such a refreshing and realistic new take on family life. Felt like they could have been related to the Modern Family. The GLEE premiere was everything it should have been--glittery, over-the-top-showstopping and flamboyantly full of bow-ties! Good choice of songs, however, I think they missed a real chance at a fantastic mash-up of "We've Got the Beat" and "You Can't Stop the Beat." Just my opinion.

Coming up: the highly anticipated Office premiere. Who will be the new manager? What is James Spader doing as Robert California? Will Pam be super pregnant (since Jenna Fischer is also expecting)? Did Jim Carrey's character ever make it to the Finger Lakes?

Only time and shrinking DVR space will tell. Now that State of Georgia was canceled, I need me some good TV replacements. Bring it on, Fall season.

Eat. Pray. Love. Just get me out of here.

My intense desire to travel and growing need to get the h-e-double hockey stick out of here, grew exponentially with each of these gorgeous photos.

A friend from PA posted this link and I wondered what's more likely: I will someday have the opportunity to travel to these unbelievable locations, OR that I someday will develop the ability to climb into computer screen photos...

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GLEE Birthday Cake

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The much anticipate cake for my sister's 17th birthday....


This year, it was all about the GLEE. It's one of her favorite shows (a Vampire Diaries cake would not have been nearly as fun) and there was an all new episode the night of her party. The episode may have been aptly titled"Funeral," but the cake was the life of the party.

I used a large layer of banana cake on bottom and a small, two layer chocolate banana cake (recipe is for muffins but I added an extra 3T water and 1T of vegetable oil.) These recipes are from the FAAN website for allergy awareness. My sister lives with severe allergies and it feels good finally giving her birthday-worthy cakes.
I'm no Duff but I wanted to capture GLEE with the iconic slushie. Came up with the idea and ran. The colors match the themed plates and I chose a large tube of blue piping gel, blue and clear sugar sprinkles and white cake sparkles which looked like confetti.
The gel gave the real, gooey slush look and the varying sprinkle added texture like slushy ice; I mixed in a lighter blue gel in to add another depth of swirly color. The gel really oozed down the side of the cake well and the extra splatters were a finishing touch. I was quite proud of the finished result. The frosting and piping work could use some refining on my part--I'm taking cake decorating classes this summer--but I think I won on the design and detailing. Everyone loved it and Sara was happy, which was really all that mattered.


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Cake Balls!

Back by popular demand--well by request of one person--Cake Balls!

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My first attempt at making these little luscious treats was for my Easter baskets.
Tried to make them Cake Pops but after several failed attempts at putting them on the lolipop sticks, I dropped them in some decorative cupcake tins and called it a Happy Easter!


This time around, I went for no sticks or frills. Just some sprinkles and colorful tins. They were a graduation gift for my boyfriend's sister who is also leaving for a cruise tomorrow, hence the little umbrella and tree.



How to make Cake Balls:

• One (1) boxed cake mix, any flavor you like

• One (1) can of frosting, whatever flavor goes best with the cake you chose

• One (1) bag of melting chocolate, white or semi-sweet are my favorite

• A pack of fun cupcake tins

1. Bake the cake as directed for a large 13x9 pan, or something similar in size.
2. Let cool COMPLETELY. Not the kind of "cool" that you let slide when you're desperate to just frost and eat. *I found it speeds up the process to crumble into hot cake chunks and put into a bowl in the fridge.
3. After the cake is cool, attack the cake with a fork in a large mixing bowl til it is almost like cake-bread crumbs. Some bigger chunks may remain mixed in.
   
4. With a big rubber spatula, scoop almost the whole can of cool frosting into the cake crumbs. After attempting to mix with the spatula, you'll find your hands will do a much better job. Add the rest of the frosting if it's not moist enough.
   
5. Thoroughly mix until all the crumbs are almost mushy with frosting and the cake is mold-able.
6. Roll the cake mush into smallish, palm-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Let the cake get cool and firm in the fridge (or freezer if you're in a rush.) Melt your chocolate in a tall/deep mug while you're waiting.
   
7. When they are firm enough to work with, use a fork to dip the cake balls into the chocolate, and place back onto the parchment. Add some sprinkles while the chocolate is still warm.
   
8. After they're all dipped in goodness, again place them in the fridge until they have a hard outer shell.
   
9. Place the little rounds into cupcake tins and serve!
10. If I figure out a way to make them work on the lolipop sticks without sliding off, I'll let you know!

Got the idea from www.Bakerella.com!

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2010 Emmys

I always like watching an award show when I'm actually familiar with most of the nominees; I also like watching an award show where those familiar nominees win.

The 2010 Emmys hosted by late night, kinda funny man Jimmy Fallon were surprisingly entertaining. Not being a fan of Late Night, I was hesitant of the ex-SNL heartthrob's hosting ability. His small bits and songs were clever and not lame like most of his usual skits. Song parodies have always been a specialty of his from his Dave Matthews impressions to his short-lived career as a recording artist.

The big surprise opening that everyone seemed to know about was an eclectic rendition of Sprinsteen's "Born to Run." Fallon was accompanied by an obvious selection of Glee's best (Lea Michelle, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley and Chris Colfer) as well as Jane Lynch, Tina Fey, Joel McHale, Nina Dobrev John Hamm and little cameos from Betty White and Randy Jackson. A regular star studded stunner, right? And then we add a dash of suck--Kate Gosselin.

Is America really telling me that if I want to someday have a spot on the Emmys, all I need to do is produce a litter of Asian babies, proceed to act humiliatingly horrible while exploiting said babies on national TV and then skank it up a bit on any show that will now exploit my publicity pulling power? At least her performance made her look like a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm flailing-tube girl.

Moving on from that side-rant, some really talented performers left with the gold. Jane Lynch and Ryan Murphy won for the Glee team and Mad Men won all over the board on the drama side. Modern Family took home some much deserved kudos for writing, Eric Stonestreet for being hilarious and the show won Outstanding Comedy Series. A lot of other shows/miniseries won that I know nothing about, but congratulations nonetheless.

Most importantly the red carpet looked fierce tonight. The Glee ladies stole the spotlight during the pre-show but Lea Michelle did not get the solo tonight; Jane Lynch glowed like her Emmy in a royal purple, one shoulder dress and Diana Agron (Quinn) looked elegant in lace. John Krasinski looked effortlessly handsome along with Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Colfer (Kurt, Glee) and Jon Hamm. Unfortunately, not everyone looked ferosh. My girl, Mindy Kaling looked a little Sex and the City-walk of shame and Lauren Graham and Amber Riley suffered the effects that white can have on any body shape.

Overall, it was a great six hours of non-stop Emmys coverage thanks to E! and NBC. It was a great season for television and I look forward to a new season of shows to obsess over. I just hope my DVR can handle the excellence that's coming its way.

SYTYCD

Remember that time I was going to blog all about this season of SYTYCD? Hmm.
Looks like life, or something like it, got in the way of that plan. I personally blame my DVR for allowing me to procrastinate and watch every episode the next day on fast forward mode.

To sum things up: They did a great job giving the All-Stars props for their performances instead of making them just props for performances. Sometimes, the contestants were a little out shined by their more seasoned partners while others blew them off the stage. The tour situation is a little questionable if you ask me; Only the Top 6 get to go on tour? And the rest are All-Stars that have already had their chance? Weird but, I guess it makes sense following the season.

Season 7 of SYTYCD can't be discussed without bringing up the obvious--what the hell were they doing to these kids to cause so many injuries? The answer: Over working them. Alex, a professional ballerina, injured himself doing a leap and is now out of commission for 3+ months. He is probably most use to all the rehearsal and excess work and it seems even his body succumbed to the stress along with Ashley, Billy and Lauren. Hopefully next season they take it down a notch for these young dancers so they don't damage their goods permanently.

Now we're down to the Top 3. Do I agree with America? Yes and a sort of No. I love Robert and Kent and Lauren is pretty amazing. I have issue with two things, however: Why not a Top 4? And Adechike should have been gone a lot sooner then poor Billy Bell. Mr. Bell sustained a knee injury and still kicked the ass of that Bollywood number after the bizarre no one-gets-sent-home-episode. He was voted out the same night as the worst dancer of the season, Jose who clearly only got votes based on the whiteness/wideness of his smile. My ideal finale would have included Robert, Kent, Lauren and Billy.

My picture says it all...

• Voted off
  
• Out by injury
  
• Unfairly cast off because of slightly feminine tendencies

We'll see how the finale goes. It is usually filled with amazing dances from throughout the season and special guests that few people will care about. Hopefully they bring back at least Billy and Ashley to remind us how they were robbed by injury and injustice.

Please, be tamed...just a little.

As I sat at my computer this morning for the last time before I venture off to Disney World for a week, a disturbingly, revealing photo from the Much Music Awards of, who else, Miley Cyrus, appears in front of my groggy eyes. First off, it is far too early in the morning for me to be seeing 17-year-old, lady parts or anything of the sort (thanks Perez Hilton) without so much as a cup of coffee. Secondly, why Miley? I was actually just starting to support your rebellion.

Just the other day, I was defending your statement about teeny-bopper boys being able to flaunt their goods in tiny tanks and skinny-girl jeans and how it's unfair that you can't express yourself. And then you wear an unbelievably, inappropriate, white bodysuit, clearly stolen from Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera's 2003 performance with Madonna at the VMAs, except they wore a bottom half. Not only does this reveal that you have bad taste but that you apparently keep up with your favorite bikini wax artist.

These are the sort of pictures that should be haunting you in your mid-to-late 20s when you "accidentally" forget your underwear out one night, wearing a mini dress while lunging out of a limo. I am interested to see how she squirms her way out of this one. None of that "I'm a big girl now" crap because this is one of those things her parents should lock her up for--or her parents should be locked up for letting her do. This will be a defining moment for Billy Ray and Mrs. Billy Ray: Will they go the Lohan family route and let things spiral out of control and suck up the fame at their daughter's expense? Or, will Billy Ray step in like Britney's dad and delegate her every move and demand she wears proper undergarments?