free stuff weekend

One of the great things about living in LA -- if you have the patience for waiting in lines and then waiting in seats for things that never start on time -- is the opportunity to see television show tapings or attend panels with celebrities hocking their movies and television shows/specials for free. And this weekend, I did both!

Saturday morning, I got up WAY TOO early and headed to Hollywood for the taping of the May 8th episode of Katie Couric's show, Katie. The daytime talk show normally tapes in New York City, but this weekend Katie took over Jimmy Kimmel's studio to tape a week of shows in three days. The taping we attended (their first of two on Saturday) required us to be in line at 7:30am for our priority seating... which then took place around 8:30. The taping then started around 9:15 and taped totally out of order until around 10:45 with guests will.i.am (who taped first due to his performance, but will appear last when it airs) and Zooey Deschanel. 

I love Zooey so it was fun to see her talking about New Girl, her band She & Him, and her awesome website for young girls, HelloGiggles.com. (And as it turns out, I'll see her again tonight when I attend FOX's New Girl finale screening and panel at the TV Academy.) 

As for will.i.am, after the Black Eyed Peas opened for U2 on the U2360 tour, I feel like I've seen enough of him and his bandmates to last a lifetime. (Not a BEP fan. Sorry.) But it was interesting to hear him chat with Katie about his philanthropic work to get kids interested in science and technology. I had no idea he was doing that and have a newfound respect for the guy... even if he is the person responsible for "I Gotta Feeling."

And I am now able to verify that when TV hosts say "And everyone in our studio audience is going home with a copy of _____'s new [cd/book/whatever] ______ " they are actually telling the truth! I left the show with a copy of the new She & Him Volume 3 cd, and will.i.am's new #Willpower cd... one of which I will actually listen to. 

Then on Sunday night, I headed to Westwood's Wadsworth Theatre for an official TV Academy event: An Evening with Michael Buble'. Michael, his manager and the executive producers of his 2012 holiday special are hoping for an Emmy nomination, so they came to schmooze and entertain Academy voters (hi... that's me and some of my TV biz friends :). The panel was interesting, especially hearing how they used technology to allow Michael to sing with Bing Crosby (via a clip of Bing's holiday special from the '70s). But the best part of the night was getting a free three-song concert from the adorable Mr. Buble. He's just so fun in concert. I never cared about him till a friend dragged me to see him in concert four or five years ago. Now I heart him :) 

Oh, and to top it off, we got a free copy of his brand new cd To Be Loved as we exited the theatre... at the same time his bodyguards were trying to get Michael to his car. Yes, a mob scene ensued. But I was not part of it.... which isn't to say a certain friend of mine who really loves Michael Buble was not ;) 

an adorkable evening

I've already raved on here about how much I love New Girl. And tonight, after spending an hour and a half at PaleyFest watching the cast and creators answer q's, make fun of each other and -- in the case of Jake Johnson (Nick) -- recreate awful dance moves to the show's theme song, I can say that I love it even more! 

Who's that girl? It's... Liz!?!? Jess seriously IS based on show creator Liz Meriwether (below, 2nd from right), who is a total dork. And watching her and Zooey Deschanel sitting next to each other, answering questions, giggling and picking on "the boys" was kinda freaky. 

The cast seems to get along awesomely and hilarity ensued as the evening wore on, with costars basically throwing each other under the bus in attempts to make the others sing, dance and strip. (Only the aforementioned dancing actually happened though. Boo!). They also took cash from their own pockets to fill up the "douche bag jar" when saying something, well, douchy. (And yes, Max Greenfield [Schmidt] put the most cash in ;). Overall, it was a great evening and one of the most entertaining TV panels I've attended. 

PS: They showed us a sneak peek at tomorrow's episode, titled "Injured." It was both hilarious and heartwarming. Watching TV shows in a theater full of people vs. at home in your living room alone adds a whole new level of entertainment. If you've never watched New Girl, tomorrow is a great one to start with. It gives a glimpse at each of the five main characters' idiosyncrasies, as well as the crazy yet loving dynamics that exist amongst "the fab five," as a fan called them tonight. 

things i'm looking forward to this weekend

1) Spending most of Saturday in auntie-mode... hanging with my cool psuedo-niece and two of my cutie psuedo-nephews + going to a baby shower to celebrate the coming-arrival of psuedo-nephew #6


2) Spending Saturday Night laughing at stuff like this...




3) Hearing this song...



(played on that awesome blue Gibson, my favorite guitar on the planet!)

And this song....



And/or this song...



... LIVE on the Grammy's Sunday night!

AND watching both that rock band and that beautiful woman with that amazing voice win a boatload of little gold gramophones!

adorkable overload

What's my fave new show this tv season? If you'd asked me back in October, I would have given some highfalutin answer like Person of Interest. And while I do enjoy that drama from the mind of the awesome JJ Abrams, I have to say the new show I most look forward to each week is the adorkable (yes, I just said that) New Girl, starring queen of the adorkables, Zooey Deschanel. It's not like it's ground-breaking TV. And it's never going to unseat Friends as my fave sitcom of all time. But New Girl makes me happy. From the cute theme song ("Who's that girl?.... Who's that girl?.... It's Jess!") to the totally stereotypical three guy roommates who all secretly crush on Jess in their own adorkable (yes I said it again) ways, the show just makes me smile. Maybe it's because I secretly wish I could be as cute, quirky and carefree as Jess... adorkable (yeah, yeah), if you will. Whatever the reason, I'm glad other people agree with me and love the show too. It's very in sync with my unwritten 2012 goal to surround myself with more positivity, so I'm glad it's not in danger of cancellation anytime soon.

Zooey also is co-founder of a cute, quirky, drowning in positivity blog with an adorkable (last time... I promise.) name, HelloGiggles. And while I think I'm probably not their demo (since I'm old now), I still enjoy checking it out every now and then. The Treats section has some good recipes. And the How To's section is always educational. Take this recent post titled How to Small Talk. I learned things you should make small talk about include BBC Masterpiece Classics and your favorite Goldie Hawn movies, and you should never make small talk about your job. This explains a lot about my social life (or lack thereof) and why I hate going to parties where small talk might be required. ;)