1) Yes, it has singing. Yes, it has cheesy show choir dancing. But it’s funny.

2) It’s Freaks and Geeks meets Popular meets Miss Guided.

3) It’s getting overhyped, because the pilot, although entertaining, was a take-it-or-leave-it kind of showing. But I’ll take it.

4) The pilot is free on iTunes for the rest of the summer.

Want a heartwarming duck tale? Click below:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7619605

(sit through the ad…it’s worth it!)

And I’m pissed.

Not that you can shake hands now in this Swine Flu era.  Not that shaking his hand and meeting him is really a life-altering thing.

But yet, I’m pissed.

People who didn’t even know who he is got to meet him. Take their picture with him. Talk to him. Laugh with him. Stare at him and then ask the guy next to him, “Who’s this kid?”

So pissed.

It doesn’t matter that people are dying of some flu named after Porky, that people are out of a job and can’t put food on their table, or that some guy just changed senate parties. No, none of that matters, because I didn’t get to meet Josh Groban.

Boo-fricking-hoo. Waaaahhh, waaahhh, waaahhh.

And the worst part was I knew that he was coming. But I didn’t think I was invited to meet him. I had hijacked a celeb interview before, and have gotten dirty looks since…

But I’m still pissed.

People are surprised when I say I am a fan. Most times I am met with glazed eyes and a “who?” look of boredom. I am not quite a Grobanite. (does knowing he has a dog named Sweeney and that he dated Mad Men‘s January Jones make me a Grobanite?) But I’m not a fair-weather fan either. I like his music. I like his evolution. I like him as an artist.

And yes, I’m still pissed that I didn’t get to meet him.

I’m pissed, pissed, pissed.

And then, being me, I decided to analyze why I am pissed (anyone who knows me knows that a therapist exists inside my head when it really should exist outside it). I can’t figure out if I’m pissed because other people I know got to meet him, or pissed at myself for not going down there and making someone take a picture. Or am I pissed because I didn’t get a picture so I could plaster it on Facebook to all my neigh-sayers in high school and say, “See, I get to meet with important people and you don’t…nah-nah-nah”. Oh geez. I’ve reverted back to high school…Again. Someone please stop me.

What is it about celebrities that makes them so…well, worth the bad moods if you missed your chance to meet them? They are normal people, just like us. They just have cooler jobs and a better bank account. Every time I meet someone famous (which is not a lot, I might add), I’m always amazed at how down-to-earth they seem. How they don’t have that “larger-than-life” persona they exhibit on the screen. And how normal and accessible they feel. Maybe I just haven’t met those REALLY BIG celebrities that have entourages and people telling you whether you’re allowed to shake their hand or not. But seriously, meeting Josh Groban wouldn’t have changed my life. Unless we were to fall madly in love with each other from love at first sight (hey, it could happen), there is no way meeting him would have been anything other than a bragging right on Facebook.

But yet, I’m still pissed.

And, let’s be honest, Josh Groban is not the President. If I missed shaking the President’s hand, I’d be crying instead of being pissed. But there is something about meeting a celebrity, something about meeting someone whose career you either wish you had or who you just enjoy listening to, it’s that initial meeting and handshake that sets up such optimism for your own failed attempts. Like meeting Josh Groban would have put me in a good mood all day for no apparent reason. Although, isn’t it apparent? The only reason I wanted to meet Josh Groban was to tell him I liked his music and get a picture to post on Facebook with the caption, “Me and Josh Groban, hanging out”. Geez. I need help.

Ugh. I’m just so pissed I blew it with Josh Groban.

Malcolm Gladwell has this great book out there called, “Outliers”, that tells us people are successful because they practice a hella lot. I’d love to read this book, but my local library is out of it…yet again…(why does the library only carry 1 book per branch of popular books?! It’s so annoying…) And since I vowed not to buy any more books this year, I have to resort to people’s blogs telling me what the book says. Ultimately, it tells us that the successful people in life have practiced twelve million times more than you have to be successful. And that most people fail because they don’t want to practice. So I’m thinking that by the next time Josh comes around to the station, not only will the library have a copy of “Outliers” in stock, but I will have practiced my stalking skills twelve billion times over, and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to snap a picture.

And not be so pissed.

(No, this isn’t Josh Groban. But it is Tim Gunn. Nah-nah-nah.)

This is my Aunt’s take on what the picture would’ve looked like!

I may be biased by my high school connection, but I still think they’re great.  Listen to their debut album, and you’ll find yourself humming a happy tune. In fact, just try getting their new single “Fall Right Now” out of your head after you’ve heard it…come on, I dare you.

They produce those songs that annoyingly get stuck in your head (but in a good way), that you find yourself singing down the hall with a smile on your face for no apparent reason. They are the songs you blast with the windows down while cruising down Lake Shore on the first 70 degree spring day on your way to the Cubs game. Yup, that’s them.

Their catchy hooks may be mistaken for pop candy, but listen more closely and you’ll find there are equal parts of sweetness, wit and truth. Throw in the fresh face factor, Midwestern work ethic, and genuine love for what they do, and you get a pop-rock group that is neither over-produced nor underwhelming. What they are is genuine.

They write about what they know: growing up and staying young; love and heartache; family and even politics. They’ve known each other for years, and it shows. Their music is accessible, fun-but still poignant and lyrical.

They are the younger answer to Jason Mraz’s wordplay. They are the Barenaked Ladies without the substance abuse problem. They are best friends and lovers. They are a humble pop-rock group that makes fun of them selves before anyone else can. They are Josh and the Empty Pockets.

Album drops Tuesday, April 21.

See an interview here.

1. Yes this is a re-do. Jeremy Piven had the same sitcom back in the day. But this one is way more charming, and it doesn’t include Cupid in a dirty diaper.

2. It is your typical rom-com series, chockful of cliches and non-reality love moments that anyone who loves rom-coms will adore. It can be endearing, and tug on even the bitterest singledom’s sentimentatlity, but it might not be enough to win over a Tuesday audience full of cop shows and murder dramas.

3. Since I love rom-coms, this is my new favorite series.

4. Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), and Bobby Cannavale (Will and Grace) round out a very charming cast of people falling in love, trying to fall in love, or just trying to understand it.

5. It’s charming. There is no substance (yet), but it’s a nice break in my Tuesday night schedule of NCIS and The Mentalist. So hopefully, it will find it’s niche.

Tuesdays on ABC, 9pm

From Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love”:

“There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.”

2. An Elvis impersonator father pressuring his son into winning a basketball scholarship, that Notre Dame father who pressured all his kids into his Alma mater, a manic depressant mother who forces her daughter to live with her aging grandmother, and a mother who cuts her son’s hair too short…no wonder these kids had problems! However, it makes for intriguing stories.

3. Typical stereotypes. Typical high school in Warsaw, Indiana. Typical mean girl (with an anger management problem). Typical depressed (and repressed) artist looking for a way out of the cornfields. Typical jocks who are (surprise!) friends with the mean girl. Typical band geek with acne just trying to find love. All these stories are typical, but somehow, it was entertaining.

4. If you hated high school, you’ll love this movie because you will find yourself in one of these five storylines, and you will pat yourself on the back for getting through those tremulous times called high school.  If you like high school, you’ll love this movie because it brings you back to a time when you didn’t know what lied ahead, and where every fight, every heartbreak, every night spent in the basement of someone’s house playing pool meant the world to you. And if you’re impartial to high school, you’ll be reminded of that time when you graduated when you were either so excited to get the hell outta dodge, happy that you had the best four years of your life, or sad as hell that your glory days are over.

5. It’s Breakfast Club meets the Real World meets Varsity Blues, meets Mean Girls. All rolled up into one hour and a half miniseries called “I survived high school in Warsaw, Indiana and all I got was the best video yearbook of my life”!

3. The pale blue hue of the movie made everyone seem pale, and made me shiver a bit, which might have been because it was thundersnowing outside, or that the location of the movie was just right. Either way, I was drinking hot cocoa under a fleece blanket…gotta love movie atmosphere.

4. And yes, the book is WAY better than the movie…but then again, it always is…

5. It’s Interview with a Vampire meets high school, with a little twist of Harry Potter romance and magic, mixed in with a very blue, pale-hued location named Forks.

Now having a full cabinet of groceries has its drawbacks too…ok, no it doesn’t. The only drawback I had was that I couldn’t fit my I-talian breadsticks in the cabinet. So they reside in my oven basket.

Now my fridge is a whole ‘nother story. I have a mini-apartment-sized, bigger than a work fridge but smaller than a full fridge. And honestly, it has never been this full. Maybe the first time I moved in, and we realized that I would be the only one eating food, but seriously, it’s bustin’ at the seams. And for that, I am grateful.

So thank you, Mom and Dad, for feeding your daughter. Her stomach is very happy.

So with all this food, with fresh salad and chicken, tuna and eggs, meats and cheeses, all this variety, you know what I had for dinner tonight?

Cereal and s’mores.

xoxoxo

The first couple weeks are themed weeks, so tune in! For more information, see http://rabbitear.wordpress.com/

If you have an antenna and got a converter box, it’s on digital channel 11.2. Here’s the channel line-up:

Digital Channel 11.2
Comcast 243
RCN 611
AT&T 1011

I don’t usually toot my own horn (I know, I’m learning), so enjoy!