J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff won last night’s Dancing With the Stars freestyle round by a landslide. Though I love Derek Hough and Cheryl Burke, they barely compared. Burke’s freestyle was far too contained, and Hough’s lacked the originality and fun that he’s known for. Plus, Karina has never won the competition, and this is her year. Did I mention that she has one of the best bodies I’ve ever seen in my life? First I’ll buy that tiny little outfit as motivation, and then I’ll start ballroom dancing. Watch below.
Category: General
Quote of the Day — ‘X Factor’s’ Stacy Francis
“I respect Nicole and I love her but I think that as a creative executive — Simon, that’s the lane that he’s in, you know? So that’s when I think I crashed and burned — those last two weeks when I didn’t have his help. And unfortunately, I wasn’t in his category. So unfortunately, I had to bite the bullet.” ‘X Factor’s’ Stacy Francis on whether Nicole Scherzinger’s poor song-choices resulted in her elimination from the competition and whether she would have rather had Simon Cowell as her mentor.
‘Hugo’ — Movie Review
Written By: Kris Arnold, Contributing Editor
‘Hugo’ might be the most personal film of Martin Scorcese’s career. Based on Brian Selznick’s children’s book, ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’, Scorcese shows his love for the history of cinema through the eyes of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield).
Set in a dreamy version of 1930’s Paris, Cabret is an orphan who lives in a train station where he steals food and avoids the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) who sends stray kids to an orphanage.
Cabret learned the art of clockmaking from his late father (Jude Law) and inherited his love of film. Hugo longs to finish restoring a relic left behind by his father, an automaton (a robot made of clock parts resembling a turn of the century version of C-3PO). The key to the restoration lies with another orphan, Isabelle (Chlöe Grace Moretz), and the couple she lives with (Ben Kingsley and Helen McCrory). Hugo introduces Isabelle to the magic of movies, and their quest ferries them through film history and the pioneering works of Georges Méliès.
Hugo is a film that doubles as an art exhibit, curated by Scorsese, who’s passion for cinema permeates this entire production. On display are works from a stellar cast and a list of Academy Award winners for cinematography, film editing, visual effects, music, costume design, all against the backdrop of the imaginative set designed by Dante Ferretti. At it’s core, Hugo is a touching tale with wounded characters searching for a purpose, and it will appeal to anyone passionate about the history of film.
OVERALL RATING: 4/5 DISHES
Katy Perry Sings ‘The One That Got Away’ at the AMA’s — Beautiful!
Kelly Clarkson Sings ‘Mr. Know It All’ at the AMA’s — Stunning!
If you read my very harsh Nicki Minaj post, then you know my complaints about unnecessary, over-the-top performances that lack actual singing. Well — I forgot about Kelly Clarkson’s performance of ‘Mr. Know It All’ when I said that. She looked beautiful and sounded great. My only complaint was the cheesy arrangement — but you can’t have everything. Watch below.
Nicki Minaj & David Guetta Open the AMA’s — Ridiculous Performance
Remember in college when your friends went to that very loud club with the terrible music, got super-wasted, and insisted that they were having the time of their life? Let’s just say that Nicki Minaj’s performance at the American Music Awards brought back some of those painful memories. Does anyone just sing anymore? Is Lady Gaga responsible for these costume monstrosities? For goodness sakes, what was on Nicki Minaj’s ass during the opening of that song? If the show is called the ‘American Music Awards,’ then where is the real music? Watch below.
Music Spotlight On: Beirut
I discovered Beirut on NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk Concert‘ series, and I’ve been listening to their album, ‘The Rip Tide’, ever since. The band is currently comprised of six members, including Zach Condon, Perrin Cloutier, Nick Petree, Paul Collins, Kelly Pratt, and Ben Lanz. When researching the origin of Beirut, I found that my limited musical knowledge made it difficult to explain their musical influences. As a result, I’ve deicded to completely rip off another website’s description. Here goes: “The music combines elements of Eastern European and Balkan folk with Western pop music, fusing the American mainstream and indie-rock culture and the World Music market.” And there you have it. Listen to their performance below.
‘Young Adult’ — Movie Review
Written By: Kris Arnold, Contributing Editor
When asked about ‘Young Adult’ at a press conference for the film, Patton Oswalt said, “You have finally made progress as a group when you can be depicted as the full spectrum…a hero, and a villain, and funny, and an asshole just like we all are every second of the day.” If this is true, then women have definitely made progress in Hollywood.
This second collaboration between screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman stars Charlize Theron as Mavis Gary, a teen-lit ghost writer, who abruptly flees Minneapolis for her small hometown to win back a former boyfriend who is now a happily married new father. Mavis lives in a fantasy world not unlike the characters she writes about, only her lifetime of compiling misdeeds and shallow decisions have left her empty and desperate. This is not the typical woman that Hollywood usually offers, but a bold portrayal of a complex female lead character bearing all her strengths and weaknesses. It is a pleasure to have another Reitman film with all the enjoyable laughs of a stylized comedy and the soul of a realistic drama.
THE DISHMASTER RATING: 4/5 DISHES
Tabloid Gossip — Week-in-Review — Brain-Drain
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- Ricky Gervais will host the Golden Globes again. Tv
- ‘American Idol’s’ Ruben Studdard is getting divorced. TvGuide
- Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are over. TheSuperficial
- Troy Aikman is divorced. TMZ
- Nikki Reed doesn’t like her ‘Twilight’ co-stars. E! Online
- Jack Wagner and Heather Locklear called off their engagement. PopCrunch
- ‘The Bachelor’s’ Vienna Girardi and Kasey Kahl broke up. Us Magazine
- Kris Humpries celebrated his Kim Kardashian divorce into an endorsement deal. NYT
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Delivers Toys to Los Angeles Children’s Hospital
Maksim Chmerkovskiy has recieved a significant amount of heat in the press lately for his Dancing With the Stars behavior, so I thought it only fair to report on his positive actions. He visited the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital to deliver toys and books to the children involved in dance therapy. I’m told he also danced with the patients in the Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer Artists Program, which is dedicated to bringing art to critically and chronically ill children, teens, and families. The donated toys were collected by Cost Plus World Market, as a part of the Share the Joy program. As an aside, would it be wrong to point out how hot Maksim looks in the pictures below? Inappropriate?
*Photos Courtesy of Wire Image