B-Side Blog

REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA: Season Ends with Plenty of Eye Kandi

Well, the generally unremarkable fourth season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta came to an end last night, and like many of the other seasons (except for the first), it just barely lurched over the finish line. More so than any of the other casts, the Atlanta crew always starts strong — full of bluster and screaming — and mellows out into a series of uninspired scenarios. This season saw the strange rise of Black Baby Gate, a scandal so dumb it was almost briliant, but aside from that, we had no major drama. NeNe was still mad at Kim; NeNe was mad at Shereé again; Cynthia was mad at her sister — it was all pretty dull, save for a few unbelievable fights (Marlo vs. Sherayay anyone?).

Continue reading “REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA: Season Ends with Plenty of Eye Kandi”

PREVIEW: Here Come The Real Housewives of New York City!

Spring is in the air. I guess that would make sense since it’s Spring, and all, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that the weather is getting warmer, and the TV is getting HOTTER (now I sound like a promo writer for ABC). Not only are our beloved Real Housewives of New Jersey about to reclaim their trashy, suburban spot on our DVRs, but now come the revamped and retooled Real Housewives of New York City. This iteration has always been my favorite of the bunch, but after a cast overhaul that saw Jill, Kelly, Alex, and that other woman (I mean… seriously?) dropped like a stale bagel, I’m not totally sure I’m ready for this new bunch. All I see are a lot of strange, toothy mouthes. Of course, I’m totally open to it all, and with Ramona and LuAnn still fighting, there’s no way this could go wrong. Already we have LuAnn’s stellar quote of the season, “What other dirty tricks do you have to pull out of your PINOT-FILLED ASS??” not to mention Jacques saying “A BAAAABY???” in the most amusingly French way possible. Plus, drunk, naked Sonja galavanting in a pool with a martini glass. IT’S LIKE A SCENE RIGHT OUT OF MY LIFE.

Above, check out an extended preview of the season, which was teased last night on the utterly ridiculous disaster known as Watch What Happens: All Stars or something like that. New York City has yet to have a dud season, and this appears to be no exception.

WATCH WHAT CRAPPENS: Ep. 11 – New Bravo Pilots, Persian Colonics, and Atlanta Wigs

This week on Watch What Crappens, Ronnie, Matt, and I tackle rumors that Bethenny Frankel may be getting divorced. Plus, we also give our very candid opinions on seven greenlit Bravo pilots. After that, it’s on to Shahs of Sunset, Real Housewives of Atlanta, and Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis. Lots to discuss, and plenty of inappropriate comments along the way. Come listen!

Remember you can listen at the Sideshow Network and subscribe on iTunes here.

Plus stay tuned to learn details about how you can come see our very first LIVE podcast happening later this month at the Improv Olympic!

Win an OXO Food Scale!!

The wonderful people at OXO were kind enough to send me a complimentary food scale to try out, and I can already tell you that I love it. Compared to my old scale (a rickety, plastic thing that did the job, but was difficult to read), this new electronic one is a breeze. The display is large and very readable, and the best part of all — it detaches from the scale. Yes, the display actually can pull out from the scale, which means that if you’re weighing large things (big bowls, boxes), you don’t have to pull that annoying move where you crouch down and peer under the object. You know what I’m talking about. Next thing you know, you’re all “Is that a 1 or a 7?” Well, with a pull-out display, the numbers are in the open and easy to decipher. Huzzah!

Now, as useful as this scale can be in the kitchen, it’s perhaps even more useful when it comes to mailing things. I recently sent off a box to my brother, and the food scale allowed me to weigh it here at home, which in turn meant I could print out the postage online, and skip the entire post office in general (a.k.a. twenty minutes of waiting in line behind a surly woman named Anushka who most certainly would haggle about postage for sending candelabras to the Ukraine). For that alone, I am grateful.

Okay, now here’s the fun part. You can win a food scale of your own from OXO! Details after the jump… Continue reading “Win an OXO Food Scale!!”

5 Best ‘Call Me Maybe’ Tributes

Since Los Angeles Top-40 radio stations are perennially six weeks behind the rest of the country, I’m only now discovering the pure joy of a pop confection known simply as “Call Me Maybe.” The song, which is in iTunes’ top ten (and notably #74 on KIIS-FM Los Angeles’s playlist), might be described by the casual observer as “vapid” or “ridiculous.” But to me, I call it nothing short of SHEER GENIUS.

Sure, Carly Rae Jepsen’s mere name might make you want to go running for the hills, and sure she might be the protege of The Biebs, but don’t let this pseudo-Michelle Trachtenberg scare you. The only thing you should fear is the song’s hook taking up permanent residence in your head for the next several weeks.

Nevertheless, after the jump, check out five surprisingly fun and charming tributes to “Call Me Maybe,” including one co-starring Justin Bieber himself!

Continue reading “5 Best ‘Call Me Maybe’ Tributes”

Ranking The P90x Supporting Cast From Worst To Best

Anyone who’s been within earshot of me in the past several months knows that I’ve taken the plunge and joined the P90X craze, which has been a journey unto itself. P90X, as many of you probably know, is a workout-at-home program that has users cycling through about ten DVDs repeatedly over the course of ninety days. As a result, we P90Xers are exposed to the same jokes, the same comments, and the same chatter day after day, week after week, and at the center of it all is fitness guru Tony Horton, who takes us to hell and back every day with a colorful cast of supporting characters. It doesn’t take long to grow attached to some of these oft-silent people in the background, and I know many users have their favorites (as well as those they detest). With that in mind, I decided to compile a list — a ranking of all the supporting cast members from worst to best. There were definitely some difficult decisions, but hey, I know it’s hard. It’s supposed to be!

Some clarification before we begin. This list only includes the original P90X. P90X Plus and P90X2 are not represented.

Let’s get busy. Continue reading “Ranking The P90x Supporting Cast From Worst To Best”

RHOATL PHOTOCAP: Kim and Cynthia Wig Out

Black Baby Gate is the gift that keeps on giving, except it’s one of those gifts that no one really wants — like some cheap vase from World Market. Still, the BBG was in full force on Sunday’s Real Housewives of Atlanta, with Kim interacting with Cynthia since the whole mess first began. Maybe it’s me, but I can’t help thinking that Kim is milking this stupid situation. Kandi told her umpteen times that it was all benign, but Kim never backed away from a chance to make drama. Maybe that’s why it was also surprising that Sweetie finally got canned but off camera. You’d think Kim would relish the chance to waggle her finger at her underling in front of the nation. Continue reading “RHOATL PHOTOCAP: Kim and Cynthia Wig Out”

A New Look at B-Side Blog

In case you didn’t notice, there’s a new look here at B-Side Blog. It all happened because my previous theme was so slow on the backend (ie. the control panels, the stuff I need to do to upload posts) that I decided to streamline everything into a clean, simple layout. Some notable features you may wish to use and peruse:

Searching: The search field is no longer hidden away in the sidebar. Now it’s located conveniently in the header, just under the site’s logo. You can also find search boxes in the sidebar and footer. Search freely and blissfully!
Featured Stories: Previously, my site had a giant slide show up top that would scroll through the featured blog posts of the moment. I’ve scrapped the slideshow, but up in the header, there’s still a nifty slider of the stuff I either want you to see or think you might have missed. You may see it change shape here and there as I may tinker with its look.
Sharing: At the bottom of every post is now not just a Facebook and Twitter sharing feature, but a way for you to share over sites like Google Plus, Pinterest, and StumbleUpon. I’m not totally sold on the current sharing plugin; so it may change around a bit, but either way, be sure to share anything you like!
Instagram! On the sidebar, you may notice a little slideshow. That’s my Instagram feed! If you like it, feel free to follow me on Instagram. User name: bsideblog. Otherwise, enjoy the pics.
Shifty Sidebar: The new theme peels away the sidebar on individual posts. I wanted to keep it, but I didn’t know how, and now, I’ve grown to like the no-frills experience it offers. Don’t be confused if you can’t find the sidebar — it’s not there. And if you really want it back, I’ll look into seeing how I can implement it on individual pages

I think that’s about it. I hope you like the new look and find that content is easier to access than ever before. As usual, I’m behind on all my posts, but keep an eye out because I will catch up. I swear!

RHOC PHOTOCAP: Restaurants and Recovery

After last week’s krunko-Bunco party (and yes, I did just coin that term), things settled down on Tuesday’s Real Housewives of Orange County. We dealt with the aftermath of Briana’s major surgery as well as the more amusing recovery process of Alexis’s minor procedure. It should be noted that while Briana had her janky thyroid and lymph nodes removed — requiring delicate neck surgery — she returned home and slipped into bed with little more than a few bottles of water, a pillow, and her mom doting on her. Alexis, meanwhile, had a full-on nurse to tend to her nose job, and while I believe she was in great pain, it was hard to drum up too much sympathy for her in the wake of Briana’s harrowing hospital experience. Leave it to Alexis to still try to one-up someone else.

Continue reading “RHOC PHOTOCAP: Restaurants and Recovery”

YEA OR NAY: Do We Like A Simple Layout?

“New temporary layout? That’s pretty cool.”

I’ve had to pare down my site template while I try to figure out what’s been causing outages on the backend (caused by the site eating up too much memory). Now that the site has been simplified, I’m sort of digging it.

I had originally gone with my previous layout (Arras) in order to introduce a slideshow to better drum up interest in posts that may have been “below the fold.” But now there’s so much… space. I do miss some of the slideshow’s functionality.

What say you, readers from the Internet. Do we like simple? Or informative?