TV Guilty Pleasures

My name is Jenna and I watch some weird-ass television. I blame it on those dangerous holiday marathons. I work at home a lot, you know. I sit in my pj's with a glass of wine, banging away on the keys and in the background is whatever marathon they have playing.

I have been known to watch soap operas. Don't judge.

Last year, Deadliest Catch sucked me in. I'm a vegetarian for frak's sake! How can I spend hours on end watching unwashed men scream at each other while catching pounds of crabs?

R.I.P. Captain Phil. Sniff.

This Halloween it was Ghost Adventures. I've said it before, but I got to go hunting with the Ghost Hunters at the Stanley Hotel (yeah, that's the Shining hotel and creepy as hell) in a group with Amanda Tapping. I've been unable to resist ghost hunting shows ever since. I started watching because lead investigator Zak Bagans looks like a good buddy of mine. (Fellow journos, you KNOW who I'm talking about.) Now I can't stop.

I'm going to jump on the band wagon and tease him about the incubus/succubus thing. See? If you watched, you'd know what I mean by that!

Spartacus: Blood and Sand and it's prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena may be soft core porn, but it's gladiators, ancient Rome and Lucy Lawless. It's unapologetic and violent and I love every dirty, salacious minute of it. Come on, it's boobs, blood and ancient fluffers! Also, I want to create a drinking game based on the number of times they say "absent."

Oh Andy. Get well soon!

Since I'm avoiding work tonight by watching Zak tell spirits who their daddy is, I got to thinking about guilty TV pleasures. You know, those shows you're embarrassed to tell people you love. The ones that make them sneer at you and roll their eyes...to cover up for the fact that they weep through The Bachelor.

I really, really miss the Japanese Iron Chef. The dubbing was priceless. "Oh, the carrots feel so luxurious in my mouth!"

So what are yours? My goal is to expose us all for the goofballs we are. I posted the request on Twitter and Facebook 10 minutes ago and already I have over 20 different entries. Leave me your guilty pleasure in the comments or on either one of those sites. I'll post the results next week. Come on. It will feel so good to know you're not the only one.

Makeup Commericals LIE!!! (And lots of geeky goodness)

Today, I'm taking time out of your regularly scheduled programming to talk about something girlie. Makeup advertising. And really, advertising in general, so guys, give me a sec here. And below I have links to all the craziness I've been up to lately. (PLANET HULK and Mel Gibson interviews to come.)

Anyway, I've been home because of the rainpocalypse and when I'm on my couch, the television is on. Daytime programming is god awful and the commercials are worse. For those of you who don't know, I was a makeup artist for fifteen years. (Wanna see my craziness? Check it out here.)

Yes, that's a dragon on my leg.

So I see this commercial for roll-on foundation. It comes with it's own special paint roller.

I could make jokes about spackle, but I'm sure the one you just came up with is funnier. I'm sorry, but who is stupid enough to buy into this? I don't care that Evangeline Lilly is hawking this crap. I guarantee she isn't using it. This is the same bullshit I see every few weeks. Vibrating mascara? No, I'm not kidding.

Anyone think those are real lashes?

Unless you're buying this because you're too embarassed to enter a sex shop to purchase a "personal massager", you have been duped. (I'm sorry. We've all done it. I know I did before I sold this crap on QVC. Not kidding about that either.) In case you didn't know (and the industry makes sure you don't), the cosmetics industry is not regulated by the FDA. So they can sell you as many magic 'you won't have any more wrinkles on your 50-year-old face' potions and 'your eyelashes will be so long you'll whack the person down the hall with them' serums as they want. In case you're wondering, every single mascara commercial has models in fake lashes! Fake lashes in commercials selling you a black-tinted cream to make your lashes look full! If that isn't blatant false advertising, I don't know what is.

So here's the deal. Before you buy, think about this. If the creams worked that well, no one would spend thousands of dollars on cosmetic surgery. If the mascaras were so amazing, everyone would be smacking each other with their lashes. 'Hope in a Jar' is bullshit. Powder filled with mica (shine is baaaad when you're trying to cover flaws...hear me Bare Essentials?) isn't going to give you flawless skin and oh my god no, you shouldn't sleep in it! Are you insane? And plastering your foundation on with a paint roller is very, very stupid. We now return you to your regularly scheduled geeky program.

The Seeker Speaks-My interview with Craig Horner

Alyssa Milano Travels from Castle to the Jersey Shore

Why Don't Scandals Hurt Charlie Sheen's Career?

By the Power of Grayskull-The He-Man Art Show!

Video: 'Spider-Man 4' Cancelation And Reaction From Around The Web

Ghost Hunters International Returns to Scare the Pants off You

Kerr Smith Lives the Unexpected Life

I was a Ghost Hunter for a day!

I am so lame. I spent Halloween night reviewing movies and watching television. Freelance means that most of my social interaction involves avatars and typing. Anyway, I spent the scariest night of the year watching the Ghost Hunters 5 scariest episodes. Aside from keeping me awake all night, it reminded me of the time I hunted ghosts with the team.


I'm not kidding! I actually got to hunt with Jason, Grant, Steve and Tango! Last year, the SyFy Channel (oh wait...it was still Sci Fi back then) flew a bunch of us up to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado (yes, that's the Shining hotel!) to check out their upcoming shows for the season. At the end of the night, the TAPS team took groups of us out to see if we could scare ourselves up some ghosties.

Creepiest hotel EVER!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a big skeptic. I always think people are trying to fool me. Buuut, I do think there is something out there that is unexplainable. No reason not to believe that ghosts exist.

We started with Grant and Jason in a hotel room in the dark (sounds kind of dirty, no?). Through a series of yes and no questions, and some blinking equipment, we found out that the spirit in the room used to work in the hotel, and really, really liked the ladies. He told us that he used to spy on the female inhabitants of the hotel room from the closet. Each of the female reporters got to hang with him in there. When I closed the door, I could swear it got colder. And the cold felt like it was moving up my back like a hand...damn it! Now I'm going to have to sleep with the light on again.

Grant and Jason during the day's interviews.

Next, we walked down a haunted hotel hallway. I didn't feel anything right away, but as we found out, there was a presence. The TAPS team member said, "If anyone is here with us, can you give us a sign?" As if on cue, the honeymooning couple in one of the rooms started moaning passionately! We barely made it out of there before cracking up hysterically!

The infamous moaning couple hallway.

Finally, we ended up in a tiny little hotel room, supposedly one of the most haunted in the hotel. The light from the moon was pretty bright, so we could definitely see clearly. I was sitting on the bed with one other person in full sight. Everyone else was on the floor. And all of a sudden, something flicked my earring! We checked the windows. No drafts. Magnets wouldn't have worked. The earrings are silver. I have no idea if it was the ghost of the little girl who supposedly haunts that room or if there was some elaborate trickery. (I really, really want to believe it was the ghost.) All I know is, it swung! Coolest thing ever.

Later on, Amanda Tapping from Stargate and Sanctuary joined the group as we explored the old performance hall. (It was still set up from the day's wedding...might have been our moaners.) We got to play with equipment, and wander the basement where a homeless woman apparently died. This year at Comic Con, I got to chat with Tapping for a bit. While talking about our shared Ghost Hunters experience, I asked her if she believed. "Oh, absolutely, I absolutely believe in it. There are forces at work in our world we don't understand. And maybe we shouldn't. Maybe that's part of the beauty of mystery. I love the fact that there are mysterious things and the unexplained, and people try so hard scientifically to explain it. But maybe it just shouldn't be. I love that. I often feel like there are spirits around that are protecting me. I know when my eldest brother passed away, I kept knowing that he was around. I knew he was there. And he would manifest in different ways. This will make me sound totally hokey, but I absolutely believe."

Me with the super-nice Amanda Tapping!

Me too.

I know this is random, but we got a few gifts when we got to the hotel. A Ghost Hunters sweatshirt that my husband took from me, (OK, fine, I gave it to him.) a flashlight, (makes sense) a compass (um...why?) and a giant pocket knife (because I was going to, what...stab the ghosts?)