Joshua on one of my favorite reality tv shows of all time, and yes, probably one of my guiltiest pleasures of all times since it takes up three days of my already busy week, departed the show this week when he was voted out on a three to one vote from the Big Brother house after being lead to believe that he was staying. 

Josh is the gay, or bisexual he says, man who has had numerous blowups in the house, and seems sneaky and conniving, but is nonetheless one of my favorite houseguests because he’s on the team I’m rooting for with James, and because he’s got that heartless, sort of bitchy quality that makes him fun to watch on the Big Brother show. 

He is explosive though, and for that I think he paid with his leaving the house since people tend to feel they can’t trust such explosive personalities.  Ryan, who I thought didn’t have a chance of staying so long in the Big Brother house, is still left, even though I’m not really sure why.  He and Joshua had an alliance that apparently didn’t mean anything to Ryan after he was talked out of it by Natalie (who didn’t know he had the alliance). 

And another thing, if I have to look at Natalie’s rat nest hair, screechy voice, and hypocritical Christian butt any longer, I really don’t think I can take it.  I don’t understand why Sheila, whom I also have a distaste for on the show, and Natalie, have such huge powers of persuasion in this house, but all I can really chalk it up to is the fact that none of these people have any spines if they are listening to these two delusional chicks. 

Natalie is actually an embarrassment of a woman.  She chases after a guy, Matty, who has no interest in her and even treated her downright cruelly at times, and even after he has left the house, she keeps talking about him, staring at his picture, and saying that she is avenging him.  Why, honey? 

He certainly wouldn’t give a rat’s a#$ if you left the house when he was there!  Natalie is not only annoying, but she is really a weak woman who has to have the approval of a man to be accepted, she actually hard to watch because she’s a pathetic basketcase who is also a stalker. 

The last episode of Lost, my currently favorite TV show that’s on, may have left some fans a little confused, confounded, or even further mystified by the mystery that is Lost.  Fans may have had some of their theories thrown out the window, or further confirmed by this latest episode.  For me, I’m one of the time warp/alternate dimension theorists when it comes to Lost, because it’s the only plausible explanation that encompasses most of what I’ve seen in the show thus far. 

Although the purgatory themes seemed best at first, because of all the seeming tales of evil acts and redemption as confirmed by most of the character’s back stories, seemed to point to the fact that they all had sketchy pasts and were redeeming themselves on the island.  Although this story line does not really jive with the alternative universe/ time warp theory, it’s all I cling to now when it seems they throw another wrench into pretty much every theory with each episode.

Desmond time jumps several times in the last episode, in increasing frequency toward the end, between what seems like might be his past life and the present time when he and Sayid embark on a helicopter ride back to the ship where the people who have come with Naomi to either resscue them or so something bad, as they are led to believe by the Locke character, who is often a dividing force among the characters of the show, but also a leader in many aspects. 

When the encounter some rough patches and lightning, this is when Desmond begins jumping between his two lives, and he’s confused about what’s going on.  We see that he tries to go back to his long lost love when he is in his pre-island life, and she will not have him and even despises him, and then at the end of the episode, we see that she has been searching for him (as we knew before), so we have to wonder what happened to change her mind in between.

The time jumping is what Lost is known for, but only this time we actually see Sayid jumping between two different times.  Anyone who figures out what’s going on must be granted a genius title! 

Well, apparently it was a busy week for the Big Brother contestants.  According to live feeds, I read on another site that Amanda, the “booty girl” with the butt that would make any girl envious, passed out because she is hypoglycemic and needed sugar.  She was rushed off to a hospital after also having a mini seizure-like episode after she awoke. 

Another female player, Allison, Ryan’s partner, was reportedly also rushed off in an ambulance after having a bad allergic reaction to something she ate.  No word yet on whether either contestant will be back on the show, but let’s hope they will be, because they both add a lot to the show. 

This season of Big Brother has proven to be one of the most interesting so far, if you ask me.  The twist this season, if you don’t watch, is that each player came into the house already being (unknown to them), matched up to what the producers said per personality tests was  a “perfect match” for them (romantically).  The catch was, they and their partner did everything together - slept in the same bed, made the decision on who to vote out together, and got eachother in trouble - together.

The catch has definitely thrown some wrenches in the show, getting Parker and his partner, and Ryan’s girlfriend who spilled the beans about their pre-existing relationship only two days into the game, Jen, voted off the show for being too strong and outspoken players in the game.   Ryan and Allison were saved from eviction because Jen has a big mouth, and Parker also showed that he had a trouble making side to him - never a good combination on Big Brother, if you ask me.

They’ve already lost one player, Joshua’s partner, to a family emergency, and had to replace him with another castmate Sharon who had already been voted out of the house as the first eviction with her idiot partner who got them into hot water on the first night there. 

This season of Big Brother has egos to spare, and a lot of men and women who seem to butt heads and not know how to play the game in a cool and collected way.  I’m constantly shouting at the screen DUH, but I have to admit it makes for good television watching these idiots shoot themselves in the foot over and over again. 

Well, I sure am!  Addicted to HGTV that is.  Yep, it’s true.  I must have reached some magical age or point in my life where watching HGTV seems to be the most enthralling thing I can get my hands on when I’m flipping through stations.  Forget tv shows, movies and documentaries, as long as I’m watching a home get redone start to finish, or someone gutting their bathroom, I find it scintillating to anticipate the way the rooms are going to look when they’re done. 

I’ve even gotten my boyfriend hooked on a few of their shows, like What’s My House Worth and House Hunters.  Yes, the bug will get you when you buy a home, especially if you’ve never owned a home before, I promise!  HGTV has really hit its prime in the last few years too, as people are becoming more and more stressed out from jobs and other stressors, and want their home to be somewhat of an “oasis” away from it all. 

You see on HGTV by looking at all these homes that a lot of people go really overboard and seem to spend a life savings on fixing up homes, but some people do it just right, and see high returns on their investments of sweat equity and money (yes, sweat equity is a new term I learned from HGTV, that and “curb appeal”). 

The TV station has definitely cornered the market on home improvement, with other stations like the DIY station and Bravo trying to get a piece of the action by adding their own do it yourself home programs and designing programs showing homeowners how to do things themselves, or simply how to coordinate colors.  It can be dangerous though - you’ll find you’re wanting to go out and spend thousands of dollars to get “the look”, so just be careful! 

I’ve been hearing so many of my friends and coworkers complaining about their regular “land line” cable companies lately, that I’m so grateful when we moved into our new house we chose to go to satellite TV.  Not only have we had more outages, I feel our service is so much better since moving to this form of cable television.  Which brings me to my review of a specific satellite TV provide, Dish Network Satellite, which I’m sure you’ve heard of since it’s increasing popularity over the past five years.  It seems more and more homes are opting to get this minimally invasive, little satellite dish on their home since it’s spread in popularity thanks to good word of mouth. 

The best part about this is that you can opt for the plan that fits your budget comfortably, and their are plans that start as low as just under twenty bucks a month currently, which is a genuine bargain.  It’s easy to add the channels that you want to add as well if you find that you want more channel offerings after you get your initial package. 

Right now the very cool thing running with this particular Dish TV provider is that you can choose from 1 of 5 free specials, so if you want to choose the free installation, you can choose that, or if something else appeals to you, there are free channels that you can choose from for a limited time (and yes, they’re really good ones), free HD DVR upgrade, free activation, free activation and also they offer free fall specials and I’m sure there would be other ongoing changes to additional specials if one of those didn’t fit.

That’s a great deal, especially considering that one thing isn’t going to appeal to everyone when it comes to their cable provider, so they’ve let you do the choosing of what you get for free - talk about creative sales!   Dish Network also makes it totally easy for you to order their services by letting your order their television  cable services online or over the phone, which anyone, like me, who’s online all the time anyways and doesn’t like to talk on the phone, can always appreciate.  As a customer of satellite television, I can honestly say that I’d recommend this reputable company to anyone else wanting a reliable, easy service with flexible options and great entertainment capabilities! 

We have recently moved, and before when we lived in our apartment, we had purchased digital cable from our landline cable company, Time Warner.  We decided that we would go with one of the dish network deals when we signed up with our local Dish Network Promotions dealer, which happens to be DirecTV, and we couldn’t be happier with the service, the user interface, and the price.  If you are moving and thinking about switching to a satellite dish service instead of traditional cable, I’d recommend looking into it, because so far we do not have any complaints.

When we call, we get good service and fast resolution, and we have had no problems with the dish itself.  When the guy came out to install the satellite dish, he took his time and made sure he found a spot that it would not be an eye sore, and took care to mount it correctly and securely.  Heck, he even offered to clean up the cables he left after he cut them to fit our satellite rig, but I ended up cleaning them because I felt bad he had to go up on our roof! 

He told us all about how to use the interface, record TV shows with the DVR, which I think is very user friendly, even for me, who happens to be somewhat of a lunkhead when I’m trying to learn new TV remote controls or how to do anything new when it comes to cable or television.  You can find some great dish network offers nowadays that make it well worth your time if you’re thinking of switching or are moving to a new area. 

Our service has been great so far, and we have no complaints.  We have a great plan and plenty of channels to choose from, and I love the menu setup which is easy to read and easy to navigate.  I think that is important to everyone, not just me! 

I liked the first season of the HBO original series “Entourage”, which is basically a guy version of Sex and the City, but I have to say, the second and third season are becoming a bit cumbersome, even for a thirty minute show. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the flashiness of the show, the visually appealing people (there’s something for men and women in this show of gorgeous people), but at some point it’s all become tiring and totally shallow.  So, I figure either I’m outgrowing watching ridiculously over the top, non-reality based tv, or others might be feeling the same as me. 

The show just doesn’t really go anywhere, and you don’t feel any sense of loss or connection for the characters, because everything in their life is so temporary and not meaningful in any way.  If I have to watch the main character, Vincent Chase, who yes is a good looking guy, bed one more overly eager Hollywood idiot who chases stardom, I think I’m gonna vomit. 

I have noticed they’ve curbed the chick magnet angel a bit with Vincent lately, but man was it getting ridiculous. It makes every woman in Hollywood look like a celebrity whore, to say the least.  Maybe parts of Entourage are true, and this really is how Hollywood is. Then, all I can say is thank God I never chose to be an actor or anywhere near this industry of shallowness, temporariness, and general meaninglessness! 

I still like Jeremy Piven in the show, but even he can’t save the lack of enthusiasm in the show.  I’m wondering if they’ve changed up writing or if this type of show just has so long of a shelf life because it is so empty.  I  mean, there’s Seinfeld, which can carry on without having a meaning, but there’s not enough talent involved in this show to carry it off much longer, and the characters haven’t made themselves beloved, memorable characters. 

Oh God, I sound like an old lady. 

I have grown from the status of hating HGTV and everything it stood for, to loving it within a matter of months - months that it took me to finally purchase my first house that is.  Now you’d think I’m a friggin Martha Stewart wannabe.   Every time I get the chance, when I’m working out in the basement, my channel surfing invariably lands on some new do it yourself or home decorating show, whether it be on the king of home making, HGTV, or one of it’s spin offs like Discovery Home. 

I’ve found myself on the girlie do it yourself show “ToolBelt Diva” where a woman who knows how to do just about anything and everything shows you how to hang chandeliers, do decks, and stairwells, all while still maintaining perfectly manicured hands which I find absolutely amazing.

In all seriousness though, I’ve gotten some great decorating ideas and the confidence to try do it myself projects just from watching these shows that I once thought were a silly waste of time.  There are the flipping shows also which I find interesting, where people go out and buy a fixer upper and turn it into an overnight sale sensation making minor and major cosmetic improvements, then there are gardening shows that show you how to manicure the perfect garden as well as landscaping and outdoor project shows that seem to go over just about everything - sometimes I’m surprised they don’t run out of subject matter!

Anyways, HGTV has really become huge, with their dream home giveaway and I believe also now their own spinoff magazine.  It seems everyone nowadays is very much into fixing up their homes, and doing a lot of it themselves, for as cheap as they can, and watching these shows, while sometimes they are not realistic, can definitely give you some great ideas on decor and how to do it for less than hiring an interior decorator, but all the while coming out with great results.  I love it, I’m addicted.  I never thought I’d say that before the age of fifty, but here I am! 

Grey’s Anatomy, there is no doubt, is more of a “chick” show than a guy’s type of show.  And that’s precisely why I love it so much.  My boyfriend can watch his basketball games while I’m in my tv room, slobbering over my latest infatuation, Dr. McDreamy, played by Patrick Dempsey, and wallowing in the awesomeness of how the quasi-soap opera tends to bring realness to the sometimes unreal situations they tend to find themselves in every day.

Add to that the sexual tension and subplots in the show, and you’ve got bonified woman-candy for a show!  But on a serious note, I do think the show is well crafted, and does have some excellent acting involved as well.  While Ellen Pompeo’s take on her character Meredith Grey is sometimes a little whiny at times and needy, I do like the other characters in the show.  George’s goofy take on his character is a good twist and the fact that he’s obsessed with Meredith is just another juicy - woman friendly twist to the show that makes it a juicy bit for the taking and makes it all that much more of a guilty pleasure. 

The melodramatic aspect of the show is what makes it a guilty pleasure for me.  I usually don’t get into shows where girls are all mopey over a guy, and there’s almost invariably a sappy, emotional ending to each episode, but somehow with Grey’s Anatomy I let it slide, and it just seems to fit the actors and the stories the show’s writers have created for the talented actors. 

Let’s face it, there’s a reason why Grey’s Anatomy is a huge commercial success - because sex sells, and so does melodrama.  And bring on some more!  I’m on the second CD - I got Netflix of my own especially for this show, since my boyfriend tends to gobble up the Netflix movie rentals with his own rentals, and this one if finally something of my own!

My boyfriend has been a member of Netflix forever, the only problem is, when I want a movie or a show to rent, he takes forever to put it in his qeu for me, or he forgets, so finally, I got sick of not seeing what I want to see, and signed up for the free Netflix trial that they offer to new customers, and if I like it, I’ll continue on with it at the program where you can get a few movies out each month. 

I’m only sticking with the lower one because I figure he has it too, so he can put the movies we want in his qeu, while mine will be more of a supplementary membership for things like shows and workout videos that we want to try, or things like the first and second season of Grey’s Anatomy, which I’ve been dying to see, but unable to get him to rent because it’s a “chick show”. 

I love Netflix because it’s so easy to go in and pick movies out, and many times the movies are available right away for shipping.  It’s got an easy to use interface that’s user friendly, and Netflix also has more movies than any other online service I’ve ever looked into, such as the Blockbuster online video rental. 

The only better thing about Blockbuster is that if you live near one, you can drop your DVD’s off when you’re done with them and pick one out again right away right there in the store instead of waiting for them to be check in at Netflix before you get your next movie in the qeu shipped off to you for your viewing pleasure. 

Netflix has tons of workout DVD’s, yoga, TV shows, movies and obscure documentaries.  Everything I could possibly think of from sixties and seventies movies that I typed in their search bar was ACTUALLY available, so even the pickiest movie watcher or tv watcher would probably be able to find what they are looking for at Netflix. 

Seriously, I think if you like to watch movies, and you’re a renter at a video store still, you need to look into Netflix, I truly believe it’s the video store of the future.  Heck, of the present, if you ask me!