Bull Run Festival of Lights

We went to the Festival of Lights in Bull Run Regional Park, Centerville, VA.

They put up Holiday lights throughout the park and car drive slowly through enjoying the show. We go every year, and it's becoming a nice little tradition.

It's $20 per car at the weekend. For more details, and a coupon, visit the home page.

I put my new Kodak Zi8 video camera on the dash and recorded the "Toy Land" section. It's not the most riviting of videos, but it gives an idea of what to expect.



I would recommend going if you're in the area.

New DWTS Cast - I Got Hardly Any Right!

Well I got 5 out of 16 for the new Dancing with the Stars cast - pretty pathetic!

It's interesting that a lot of the rumors this time came from Twitter. Perhaps people were over-analyzing some of the tweets and creating false rumors. In the past the rumors tended to come from leaks. I think ABC did really well keeping the cast under wraps!

Here is the actual cast of Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars!

Women
Macy Gray - singer
Melissa Joan Hart - actress
Kathy Ireland - model
Mya - singer
Natalie Coughlin - Olympic swimmer
Joanna Krupa - model
Debi Mazar - actress
Kelly Osbourne - fashion designer

Men
Mark Dacascos - actor and TV host
Ashley Hamilton - actor and comedian
Michael Irvin - ex-football player
Donny Osmond - singer
Tom DeLay - ex House Majority leader
Aaron Carter - singer
Chuck Liddell - UFC fighter
Louie Vito - professional snowboarder

It's going to be a fun season!

Update 2 - My Guesses for the Cast of Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars

This is the second update to my original post on my guesses for the cast of DWTS season 9. La Toya Jackson has decided not to compete in DWTS (didn't she know she was on my list??) so I've had to take her off. However, Evelyn McCormack of examiner.com points out that Kelly Osbourne tweeted that she had decided to do a show in the US - "something I never thought I would do". So I added her. Below is my updated list.

There are lots of rumors about who is appearing in season 9 of DWTS and it's always hard to know which to believe. That, of course, is part of the fun!

So, in the spirit of fun, I thought I'd put together a list of my guesses for the 16 celebrities in the new season, if I had to choose right now.

It's based, mainly, on these two wonderful pages - Dancing with the Stars Season 9 and DWTS Season 9, and all the pages they link to.

I found the women harder - there are less rumors - but you know there will also be someone that no one expected! In order of confidence:

Men

Lou Ferrigno - actor, body builder and former tortured superhero
Donny Osmond - singer, actor and jolly nice guy
Kurt Angle - wrestler, actor (?)
Jeremy Roenick - retired hockey player
Ashley Hamilton - comedian, actor, son of George
Aaron Carter - singer, Reality TVer
Dean McDermott - Reality TVer, husband of Tori Spelling
Danny Gokey - singer, American Idol alumni

Women

Vera Wang - fashion designer and former skater (sic)
Debi Mazar - actress
Sherri Shepherd - comedian, actress, talk show host
Audrina Partridge - Reality TVer
Beth Otrozky - model, correspondent, wife of Howard Stern (new)
Kelly Osbourne - fashion designer, actress, model, radio personality, Reality TVer (new)
Erin Andrews - sportscaster
Misty May Treanor - Beach volleyball superstar


I'll update this as new information comes to light, and when the announcement is made we can see how close I was!

Update 1 - My Guesses for the Cast of Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars

This is an update to my original post on my guesses for the cast of DWTS season 9. It's only been five hours and puredwts.com reports that Howard Stern has said that his wife, Beth Otrozky, with be traveling to Los Angeles next month to participate in a televised reality show! Below is my updated list.

There are lots of rumors about who is appearing in season 9 of DWTS and it's always hard to know which to believe. That, of course, is part of the fun!

So, in the spirit of fun, I thought I'd put together a list of my guesses for the 16 celebrities in the new season, if I had to choose right now.

It's based, mainly, on these two wonderful pages - Dancing with the Stars Season 9 and DWTS Season 9, and all the pages they link to.

I found the women harder - there are less rumors - but you know there will also be someone that no one expected! In order of confidence:

Men

Lou Ferrigno - actor, body builder and former tortured superhero
Donny Osmond - singer, actor and jolly nice guy
Kurt Angle - wrestler, actor (?)
Jeremy Roenick - retired hockey player
Ashley Hamilton - comedian, actor, son of George
Aaron Carter - singer, Reality TVer
Dean McDermott - Reality TVer, husband of Tori Spelling
Danny Gokey - singer, American Idol alumni

Women

Vera Wang - fashion designer and former skater (sic)
Debi Mazar - actress
LaToya Jackson - singer, sister of someone famous
Sherri Shepherd - comedian, actress, talk show host
Audrina Partridge - Reality TVer
Erin Andrews - sportscaster
Misty May Treanor - Beach volleyball superstar
Beth Otrozky - model, correspondent, wife of Howard Stern (new)

I'll update this as new information comes to light, and when the announcement is made we can see how close I was!

My Guesses for the Cast of Season 9 of Dancing with the Stars

There are lots of rumors about who is appearing in season 9 of DWTS and it's always hard to know which to believe. That, of course, is part of the fun!

So, in the spirit of fun, I thought I'd put together a list of my guesses for the 16 celebrities in the new season, if I had to choose right now.

It's based, mainly, on these two wonderful pages - Dancing with the Stars Season 9 and DWTS Season 9, and all the pages they link to.

I found the women harder - there are less rumors - but you know there will also be someone that no one expected! In order of confidence:

Men

Lou Ferrigno - actor, body builder and former tortured superhero
Donny Osmond - singer, actor and jolly nice guy
Kurt Angle - wrestler, actor (?)
Jeremy Roenick - retired hockey player
Ashley Hamilton - comedian, actor, son of George
Aaron Carter - singer, Reality TVer
Dean McDermott - Reality TVer, husband of Tori Spelling
Danny Gokey - singer, American Idol alumni

Women

Vera Wang - fashion designer and former skater (sic)
Debi Mazar - actress
LaToya Jackson - singer, sister of someone famous
Sherri Shepherd - comedian, actress, talk show host
Audrina Partridge - Reality TVer
Erin Andrews - sportscaster
Misty May Treanor - Beach volleyball superstar
Nancy O'Dell - TV presenter

I'll update this as new information comes to light, and when the announcement is made we can see how close I was!

Mockery of a Mockery - Fake Speidi Fools No One With Airport Arrival, Plots Reality Return

So. After trying to leave twice, and then actually leaving, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt never left at all and are still there, sending decoys to LAX.

This is really childish, right? This makes a mockery of what is becoming a mockery of a reality show.

Wow, I didn't think you could get a mockery of a reality show!


Fake Speidi Fools No One With Airport Arrival, Plots Reality Return - E! Online

Heidi and Spencer Finally Getting Out of There

It has been confirmed that Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have left the reality show "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here" after only a few days.

They had previously walked off twice but then came back (the second time the others had started to share their things among themselves).

They weren't going to last long - I think they thought it was a hotel retreat or something.

My favorite quote from Spencer was "..this cast is devaluing our fame right now". Priceless!!

They will be on the show for one more night (Tuesday).


Volatile ‘Hills’ couple quit reality show again - Access Hollywood - msnbc.com:

"After threatening to walk off the set of “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!” twice during the season premiere, Heidi and Spencer Pratt have now officially quit the show."

Beating a Reality Show to Death?

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is a very successful UK reality show that had one failed attempt at migration across the pond in 2003 on ABC.

NBC has now bravely taken on the reins, hoping the horse doesn't die beneath them.

The show is largely unchanged except for the fact that NBC will show it every evening, Monday-Thursday, for three weeks in June starting on the 1st.

The show will have recorded highlights and live sections as well. Celebrities will have to learn to survive in the jungle, and get "luxuries" by winning mini-competitions. And, of course, they will steadily be voted off until a winner emerges.

Despite it's success in the UK the show has had it's critics, mainly about how the contestants aren't actually celebrities and, well, how stupid it is.

I's only a bit of fun, and using semi-celebrities means viewers have at least heard of them, or can look them up if they haven't.

The danger for NBC, in my opinion, is using what are, effectively, professional reality contestants. The one's that have no experience in this line of work are Lou Diamond Phillips (what's he doing here??), John Salley, Frangela (are they competing as one or two contestants?) and Patti Blagojevich. The others are just leveraging their past reality glories, or not as the case may be. (By the way I'm counting professional wrestling as a reality show, or perhaps "un-reality" might be a better expression). This may turn it into another reality show that people have seen before.

The show is being hosted by Myleene Klass, a former UK contestant famous for her white bikini, and Damien Fahey the MTV guy.

Here is the full list of contestants.

Janice Dickerson - Ex-model and Reality Star
Lou Diamond Phillips - Actor
John Salley - Sports Host
Patti Blagojevich - Ex-First Lady
Torrie Wilson - WWE Diva and Model
Heidi Montag - Reality TV Star
Spencer Pratt - Reality TV Star
Sanjaya Malakar - Over-achieving Singer
Stephen Baldwin - Ex-actor
Frangela - Comedy Duo

Dancing with the Stars - Week 3 Judges' Scores

The Woz is definately in the dance-off this week. He only got 10 points and Denise (the next lowest) got 16.

That means (assuming he scores the same from the judges in the dance-off) he needs about 60% more than Denise in viewer votes. Too complicated! How to vote

The Celebrities and their partners

Lil' Kim and Derek Hough - 25
Steve-O and Lacey Schwimmer - 15
Lawrence Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska - 20
Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas Jr - 27
Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough - 23
Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke - 27
Denise Richards and Maksim Chmerkovskiy - 16
David Alan Grier and Kym Johnson - 24
Ty Murray and Chelsie Hightower - 23
Steve Wozniak and Karina Smirnoff - 10 (sic)
Holly Madison and Dmitry Chaplin - 17
Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani - 27

There's a big gap between the favorites (Lil Kim, Shawn, Melissa and Gilles) and the not-so favorites (Woz, Steve-O, Denise, Holly)

Dancing with the Stars Injury Report

There have been a number of injury reports about the stars in season 8 of Dancing with the Stars. I thought I would summarize the known injuries and some of the ones you may not have heard about.

Jewel - two, count 'em, two fractured tibia. That's impressive. She does seem in good shape to me but I guess standing at a microphone with a guitar doesn't condition you for dancing. She was replaced by Holly Madison - model and Hugh Hefner ex.

Nancy O'Dell - needs a operation on a torn meniscus. That sort of injury could happen to anyone. One has to wonder about the timing though - there was hardly any coverage about her dancing, the only referral to it on her Titter account was that she was working on her abs because her first dress showed her tummy. Conspiracy rules!

Gilles Marini - separated shoulder. Before the premier Gilles had reported a sore shoulder and a groin strain. After seeing his first dance I'm pretty sure where the groin strain came from. He's going to carry on through the pain after getting steroid shots.

Steve Wozniak - fractured foot. The Woz's foot swelled up the day before the premier but he didn't go to the doctor in case the doctor stopped him dancing! Karina Smirnoff, his partner, has a low-grade, but persistent, headache caused by his insufferable cheerfulness....

Steve-O - torn back muscle. Apparently Steve-O has torn some muscles in his back which hurt when he dances. Now he knows what a pain in the back.... is.

Holly Madison doesn't have any injuries, but her partner Dmitry Chaplin does. He gets very rough, reddened skin on his chest after he dances with her. Apparently, he's allergic to silicon.

Get the latest on Dancing with the Stars

Desi Arnez jr on DWTS?

Continuing their interest in older dancers, the producers of Dancing with the Stars have apparently invited Desi Arnez jr to join the cast of season 8

Another New Year's Resolution - Losing Weight

The New years brings many resolutions the most popular being losing weight. Not to be outdone, my wife and I have decided to try Nutrisystem.

We don't need to lose huge amounts of weight but getting healthier is always a good thing.

It's only been a few days but it seems to be easy enough to do - I haven't done any closet snacking yet. We'll just have to see if I lose any weight!

I've started a blog - Waist Disposal (ha!) - to record how I'm doing.

Check it out!

New Year's Resolution

I resolve to write more, focus more and be right more.