Craig. HA! Best. Mole. Ever. It’s a shame the season wasn’t handled better, because that was genius. Which means, the winner, thank goodness, was Super Veiny Soccer Dad, Mark, who was playing so his pregnant wife could stay home and raise kids instead of both of them working two jobs to keep the roof over their head. Gotta respect that. 420K should help out with that a little. But, the most rewarding moment of the night? Nicole = Big Fat Nada. Satisfying results.

The buried clues were, in many cases, so buried that even the biggest Mole geek ever wouldn’t find them, but some were right out there. Mostly, however, I loved how close Mark came to being executed on several occasions, Victoria should have been in the game, and Paul should have won the game. 4 seconds, Paul, that’s why you’re in the loser seat. Yowza. He was the only one who had Craig pegged the earliest, but on a tie, didn’t answer fast enough and was out. That’s gotta hurt.

Big Bro on tonight, but I’m spoiled from a pal who watches the feeds so I know who gets POV and whether or not it’s used and…yeah, I think I’ll catch up on the Olympics. I finally got to see a replay of our relay swim team takng the gold, and wow, that was satisfying, especially after the smack talk from France. Our Boy Mikey owes Lezak like, a car, or something for insuring he has that second gold around his neck. Saw the mens gymnastic team pull a bronze out of nowhere. Also cool. So I’m fiinally getting a chance to get a little bit of it. What are you loving? What’s been your highlight?

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest! Details in Monday’s post.

Tags: Writing by Donna
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So, first I have to remember it’s football Sunday’s again and set my evening DVR accordingly. Which is how I missed Big Bro last night. I do know that Keesha and Libra were put on the block (shocking) by Michelle, a bunch of former players came back for the food comp, and that Jerry is now the most loathed person in the house for simultaneously being the most hypocritical (okay for him to remove his Marine gear when he has to screw someone over in the house, but not okay for Dan to take off his cross for the same reason - and Dan didn’t even have a choice.) So…nothing new really.

Tonight? The Mole Finale Part 2. Where we’d better find out who did what. I was done with this show weeks ago, so I’m glad the rest of the world will be done now, too. No more Dance, just more BB ridiculousness, and more of the same, most likely, on Project Runwway. Thank goodness it’s Olympics week or we’d be forced to have a life or something! Or, you know, read more.

We are having a SHaQ Attack contest this week! Nothing difficult - I’m in the middle packing up my college student for our cross country trek next week - so, just send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “I need to read!” in the subject line. A winner will be drawn Friday and get a copy of a book from my website bookshelf. (Newly designed, user friendly - check it out!)

Enter at will….and DISH a little while you’re here!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Last night’s announcement show on So You Think You Can Dance MORE than made up for the rather meh performance finale the evening before. In fact, it was probably the most enjoyable finale show I’ve seen in ages. We got favorite performances all over the place, many of them my faves as well. Great to recall what a wonderful season it truly was. We got a peek at the contestants from yesteryears, including a group dance at the end with our own top 20 of this season. We got all of the top 20 back on this stage, and wasn’t it wild the number of them that made you go, ooooh yeah, I forgot all about that person! We got both Mary (w/Dmitry) and Nigel (with Debbie Allen Dance Academy tap kids) on stage performing. Mary’s was most amazing since she just sprained her ankle days before. I do not know how she did that and am only sorry we didn’t get to see her dance full tilt. Wow, pretty damn good legs for a 50+ year old woman. Pretty damn good everything. And Dmitry with no shirt is always a Good Thing. We got to see the completely twisted Wade Robson Dead Bunnies Dancing routine, which I completely loved for all it’s absolute freakness. Shane came back with a final top 20 hip hop routine that made me miss him so much more. Ok, so sure we inexplicably had the Jonas Brothers which was the only thing I fast forwarded through and so entirely unnecessary to the program, but the goodness completely outweighed that bit of pandering.

In the end, Courtney went first, then, to the shock of most of the audience, if not me personally, Katee went second, but received a Top Girl consolation prize of 50K, which made me and alot of people a lot happier. Then it was finally down to Twitch and Joshua and I was rooting for Josh and….he did it! I felt bad that Twitch didn’t get his video send off - they should have done one for both before announcing the winner - that was my only slight critique of the night. But Twitch was so thrilled for Josh and a very gracious runner up. Seeing Josh cry and his then the camera on his dad crying, both of them looking so identical, was sweet and cute. Great season, great fun. I wish they were coming to a venue a little closer to me. I might have actually gotten the ticket this year.

I did get the ticket to the American Idol concert (or a friend did) and we go next week. Woo hoo!

Okay, now on to the major disappointment that is this season of Project Runway. The total cutie Apolo Ohno (who lost the Anton somewhere….) was the guest judge and gave them the challenge of coming up with sportswear the women athletes could wear during opening ceremonies. (Not that the winning design would be used btw, Ralph Lauren already locked that up. And no one would be insane enough to trust this crop of designers with something so important.) Which turned out to be true as only three or four of them actually even designed anything closely resembling sportswear. You know when Stella opts for black leather for the USA athletes and it looks more sporty than over half the other things up there that the challenge has gone seriously wrong. Michael Kors summed it up best when, after seeing the entries, said, “What, did you give them the instructions to the challenge in another language?” Which…..exactly. In the end, Teri is once again a bridesmaid, Joe comes in third, and Korto wins. I was okay with that line up. In the bottom were a very sulky Daniel who I want gone now, Alice In Wonderland, and Jerrell. Alice leaves us, but any of them could have gone. None of them will win. All the designs can be seen on the website - link in the column to your right.

We also had Big Brother which was slightly more entertaining - America got to wake them up all night, which was most amusing. Jesse was booted out in a last minute destruction of the original alliance. Thank god America got that right and made Dan boot the inflatable houseguest out. Loved that. Then it all went to crap when Michelle won HOH. But at least it won’t be boring for the feed watchers this week.

Mostly, I reveled in the greatness that was the SYTYCD finale. That was made of awesome and ever so much fun. Sigh that it’s over for another year. But we do get Dancing With The Stars back next month! (With the return of Maks. Yay! More shirtless dancers! Bring it on!)

We also have a winner in this week’s innaugural New Site SHaQ Attack contest. I asked you to hunt for the title of my only non-fiction entry and you all got it right - Perfectly Plum. The winning blog babe is? Karen H from NC!! Woo hoo!! Congrats Karen!!

Tune in next week for more MAC and another SHaQ! Until then….DISH! What did you think? Did your favorite win? Who goes next on BB? And do we care that Brooke Shields is on Project Runway next week? Are we wasting the best guest judges ever on a season of meh? Poor Tim.

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Okay, it’s like they got together on So You Think You Can Dance, and went, ooooh, let’s pair everyone with everyone who is left, maybe even bring back cool choreographer Wade Robson, and then, um……yeah, pick every single dance style of Donna hates and make them do that. Thanks, show.

Seriously. Lyrical, Broadway, Jive, Fox Trot and, wait for it, Russian dancing. Which I didn’t know I didn’t like so much until I had to watch it. Yes, yes, I totally get that it was physically insane. It was also kind of like Cold War Comedy from yester-milennium.

Yes, we did get Twitch and Courtney with NappyTabs hip hop, which - who dressed Courtney tonight and why in the hell do they hate her so much? Yikes on her costumes. Which were really….costumey. And the hip hop was okay, kind of intersting in places, cute. But who knew that was the highlight? I should have just watched that over and over.

It’s not that the remaining performances were bad, they were all actually quite brilliant in their own way. But mostly what I took from them was they were exhausting. Like the choreographers all got together and said, “I can make them work harder than you! Let’s run them into the ground! Good times!” So my pleasure quotient was decidely diminished because I was exhausted just watching them and it started to feel very “trained monkey” to me after a while. As I said, don’t get me wrong - some brilliant stuff. But, my god, would it have killed the choreo’s to let them freaking breathe for a moment? Think about what Josh and Twitch had to do, especially Josh, going from that Russian routine, straight to that Jive on Crack number, and then hardly a breath before Mia’s insane Braveheart Meets Mama Mia finale.

There was mention in the press a few days ago that two dancers were taken to the hospital at one point during the week for collapsing. No mention was ever made about which ones collapsed, though word is it was Twitch and Joshua - does that shock anyone? - and Nigel went out of his way tonight to talk about how they don’t care if they’re half dead, or even all dead, the audience wants their show, dammit. So, dance monkeys dance! Seriously, it was just a little much. And less entertaining for it. I wanted to yell, “Slow the hell down already!” I wanted to stand by the stage much the same way they do during marathons with cups of water for the runners.

So…I wasn’t happy with the finale, despite the insanely high level of performances they all gave. It was truly amazing any of them were still standing by the end. The judges mostly gushed, but eventually handed out the criticisms also. I know they have a tour to prepare for now, which might end up being more work than the show prep, but at least they’ll just be in front of an audience, and not the world, as they tour. And it will be the same performances week to week, no steep learning curve once the show hits the road. I think they had to be more riduculously relieved than sad in any way that they were done competing when they walked off the floor for the final time last night. I found myself wondering if any of them, as they walked off, was thinking, “Oh thank god, no new routines to learn this week, no pulling freaking Samoan Disco out of the hat!” I know I was happy, and relieved, for them.

So, on to more important things…like who should win? None of the routines this week were going to sway me one way or the other. None moved me to that extent, or to any real extent, anyway. I found myself far more armchair observer than involved viewer for these routines. The only edge of my seat action was worrying they might literally pass out on the floor. So I asked myself who I found myself watching most. Joshua. Maybe it was the Energizer Bunny-ness they all expected of him this week. His jobs in those performances might not have been delivered smoothly or precisely, but damn if he didn’t truck through each one, heaving various girls, even Twitch around, when called upon to do so. Over, and over. And over. And then over again. Just his stamina alone had my respect. Katee pulled me in, too. Courtney was almost manic tonight, and for whatever reason Twitch was entertaining, but not riveting.

So….while Joshua certainly is far and away from being the best dancer on the show, also addressed by Nigel, for entertainment value, charisma, dedication, work ethic, charm, and just plain likeability…I’m going with Josh. A Katee win would be very fine with me. Twitch would get a nod and a golf clap. And, I admit, I’d be disappointed if Courtney won. Not because she hasn’t shown the same chops as Josh and worked every bit as hard, she just doesn’t call to me on those other intangible levels.

What say you, Ameriker? (And did we love Cat’s interviews? There had better be an Emmy nod for her next year. Let her duke it out with Tom Bergeron. I’d be totally game for that.)

And no, I haven’t forgotten about Project Runway and Our Tim. I kinda wish I could as this season has been startlingly unfulfilling as yet. I’ll recap tomorrow after viewing…providing I love the winner for SYTYCD. Otherwise I might be too verklempt. Cross fingers this episode is More Fun For Fashion than the previous ones thus far. Well. It would kind of have to be now, wouldn’t it?

Tag. You’re all it. DISH!!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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So, it’s true, I’m not the Big Brother fan I once was. One Donato Season soured me for all eternity. But the Summer Realty TV Programming malaise got to me and I found myself continuing to watch this summer. Yes, what this says about me, I don’t really want to know.

However, it all paid off last night in what was an epic episode of this long running series. Inflatable Jesse managed to stir up the entire house by playing “telephone” and relaying info he was overhearing (without even trying) to the current HOH, April. Mind you, everything he relayed was true, but this set off a chain of shout fests that was so ridiculous it was amusing as all hell to watch. But Most Entertaining Moment in years? Watching the entire house, all shouted and screamed out and still pissed off as hell, having to jointly sing Happy Birthday to Keesha. It was the most awkward Happy Birthday song in the history of Happy Birthday singing. I loved it.

What I hated? That Jesse, who is still a tool, mind you, despite the fact that I totally loved how ridiculous he was to think that turning the house against each other would help him out. His strategery was that stirring things up would help him this week since he’s on the block, while simultaneously not thinking it through at all (quel shock) and realizing that everyone WAS targeting Memphis, but now that you’re pissing them all off, they’ll just target you instead. Dumbass. Back to what I hated - watching him comfort Dan (despite the fact he was being played - okay, maybe that was really entertaining as well) and later on, Michelle, who was to tickled to get the Hawaii vacation only to have it snatched away by Smug Libra in exchange for the Red Leotard of Skankiness made me actually think Jesse could be a nice guy when he wants to be. Thanks, show.

All in all, epic episode. I don’t know how they packed it all in. Topped by Jerry-atric winnng the POV, bargaining 2/3 of April’s winnings away from her, and not using it. HA! Seriously, bring this every week and I’ll keep tuning in.

And, on the live feeds, it looks like the fun hasn’t stopped. Half the house is actively lying to April that they will still honor her request to target Memphis over Jesse. And AP Dan looks a little green exiting the DR after being told by America who he has to vote for. Good times. Should be fun this Thursday!

Tune in tomorrow for the So You Think You Can Dance Finale MAC! I’m both excited to see who wins, and sad that my fave show of the summer is coming to an end. At least we have Our Phil coming in a few weeks to Save Us with another Amazing Race. Woo hoo!

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest - details in Monday’s post. AND you can also enter this month’s New Release Contest on my homepage. Good luck!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Okay, so it took an entire season of The Mole for me to warm up to the new host, Jon, but he won me over in the opening recap when he sums up the exodus of the last week’s player by saying they were now Paul Free. HA! HA HA!

Now we’re down to Craig, Mark, and Nicole, and frankly any of them could be the Mole, but I’d rank the probability from Mark as the least to Craig as most likely, which I hate, because I want Craig to win. But if Nicole is the mole, well that’s almost too insufferable. And if it’s Mark…hand the man a prize because he totally covered his tracks with his vein-popping, rabid competitiveness.

So, they use their wits to diffuse a bomb in under an hour to add 50K to the pot, which brings it over 400K. Not bad! Then they race around the city to see who can complete three tasks first and get to the table where they can look at the Mole’s dossier or add another 75K to the pot. Mark wins this (and I had SO hoped it was Craig) and takes the dossier. (You knew there was no way he was passing that up, note taking freak that he is.) Then we go to the final test….AND THE SHOW IS OVER. What? I thought it was the finale. But no. Denied. That will be next week folks, complete with a return of all the other players for a reunion. Because this season was so bad we want to rehash it? No. We want to know who the Mole is now and just be done with it. Sigh. So….not the Finale. Sheesh. The series that won’t die.

Is it September yet? Can we get Our Phil back? Even our Probst would be welcome. And more Dancing With the Stars.

Okay, so lets backtrack to Sunday night’s Design Star, which was actually the finale. It was an entertaining enough hour where everyone but Mikey V returned for a mini-reunion. Can’t say I blame Mikey for the no show because it would have been a little challenging not asking him about the whole gay porn movie thing that has led to his suspension from the police force. Which sucks, btw. I hope he gains enough new clients from his, ahem, exposure on the show, to walk away from the hypocrites.

There was the obligatory look back at the wackiness, the tears, with some special focus on Tracee, Michael Stribling (who brought his mom with him - props for owning that moment, because, what else can you do really?) and Jen. But we finally got around to telling the world who is going to get their own television program (after giving them a cruise and a fistful of cash apiece…) And the winner? Jennifer! Who is deserving, but it wasn’t until the moment of that final reveal that I realized I must have wanted Matt to win a bit more, because I was a teesny bit disappointed when it wasn’t his name called. Hunh. But, for a so-so season, it was a decent enough ending. She could have looked a little more excited about the win, but I’m sure she was jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, on the inside. I hope.

Tonight is Death Valley Tuesday, where the only thing on is Big Brother, yawn, where we find out who wins POV, if Memphis is really leaving, or if we can finally, dear god, get rid of Jesse, if Keesha can be any more self serving in a game where, at least temporarily, you have to play well with others and not try to find a new boyfriend just because April did, and, oh yeah, if Dan could be any more freaking obvious about being America’s Player. Nice motivational speeches the other night though.

Don’t forget to check out Monday’s post for all the details on both the blog contest and the site contest going on right this very second! Thanks for all the kudos on the new site. I hope you find it easier to navigate and cheerful to look at.

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Whaddya think? Check out the new digs! And click on the links up there on top and see my new bookshelf, the updated printable booklist with all my backlist info (including what books came out in what order and which ones are connected) AND!! Most importantly, click on the Contest link and enter my website contest celebrating the release of my latest, The Black Sheep & The English Rose. That contest runs all month long, winner announced September 1st -and check out the spiffy prize!

Of course…I didn’t forget my Blog Babes! We’re still having our regular SHaQ Attack weekly contest. Only, this time I think we should re-invoke the Scavenger Hunt Question part that gave the contest it’s name. With the new site and all….it’s only fitting!

So, this week’s contest question is: Name the only non-fiction title I’ve had published. Send me an email to donna@donnakauffman.com, with “It’s not always make believe!” in the subject line. I’ll draw one winner on Friday, and they can have their pick of any one book on my fancy schmancy new bookshelf.

Tune in tomorrow for Design Star and Mole MAC: The Finale Edition!

In the meantime, cruise around the new place, enter some contests, and let me know what you think!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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How much do we love Cat? How much was she robbed of the Emmy host nod? Seriously robbed, that’s how much.

On last night’s So You Think You Can Dance penultimate results show, there is much love and lectures, all postive and well meant. All six give us a solo, a six year old schooled the audience in being a beat boy, someone named Lady Ga Ga danced and lip synced and should stop doing both immediately, then we found out who made the final four. I thought Courtney would go, but, in the end, it was Chelsie. Which…I wasn’t shocked. Katee was the only possible shocker there and she was sent to safety first. For the guys, a newly brace-free Joshua was promoted to the finale first, and given Chelsie’s exit, I knew it was going to be Twitch, and I was okay with that, despite my enjoyment of him this season. I really felt it should be Mark to go on. He’s so blossomed these past few weeks. But no, Twitch stays, and I was kind of surprised by how disappointed I was, as I mentioned my enjoyment factor above. I think we would have had a more powerful final four with Mark/Courtney/Joshua/Katee, regardless of pairings. Twitch won’t diminish that much, but he will some, so…whoda thought I’d be sayin’ that? But I am.

Then we switch over to Big Brother, do some serious fast forwarding through the highlight reel from just a few days ago (like we need that much reminding?) and through more pointless drama, only to find out the idiots didn’t switch it up, even after Jesse became even more of an entitled ass than he usually is…and booted Angie. Who gave perhaps the most concise, pointed, rational last-words-speech ever. Like….Angie, you’d have to be talking to rational folks for that to work. But nice try. She exits on a landslide 9-0 vote. Dumbasses. The HOH is an endurance competition which I won’t even check the feed spoilers to find out who won, because that is how much I no longer care. Unless it’s Renny, for which I would totally tune back in. Whoda thought I’d have ever said that, either.

We also have a contest going on this week, to celebrate the release of my latest book, The Black Sheep & The English Rose. Three lucky blog babes will win an advance copy of my October Christmas anthology, To All A Good Night. All ya had ta do was send me an email. And the winners are? Jenn C, Cathie C, and Linda H!! Congratulations! Emails are on their way to you to get your shipping addresses. Happy reading!

SO! Now for the most fun news, next week? Another cool SHaQ Attack Celebration Contest. What will we be celebrating you ask, you clever Blog Babes, you? Why, the unveiling of my brand new website. There may be some interruption with the site over the weekend, while me make the final switchover, but come Monday morning, drop by and check out the new digs! I will be having a month-long contest on my main home page as well, to celebrate, with quite the fun prize, so be sure to check that out as well.

In the meantime, have a great weekend. Stay cool, read something hot! And, oh yeah, DISH!!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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