Subject: Ryan Seacrest

• Drenched In Blog: Tranny Time with Devendra Banhart

  September 21, 2007

• Super Bowl TV: What to Watch Before the Big Game

  February 1, 2008

• Kentucky Derby vs. Stanley Cup

  April 9, 2008

• Carrie On!

  The American Idol finals inspire Beatlemania-like frenzies on the Richmond Strip

  June 2, 2005

• American Idol Returns Tonight... Yawn

  Come back Kelly Clarkson, all is forgiven... If you've been lucky enough to spend the past several months in a media-deprivation tank - or maybe you just don't read the Houston Chronicle - then you no doubt know Fox's shrill-singing flagship series American Idol returns tonight at 7 p.m. (As opposed to its torture-sanctioning flagship series 24, which returned Sunday.) Rocks Off realizes many readers will greet this occasion by turning off their cell phones and instructing family members

  January 13, 2009

• Idol Beat: Hollywood Week, Part 1

  [Note: Because a lot of people are apparently into American Idol, Rocks Off asked contributor Ray Cummings to keep track of this season for us. This is his first report.] "Hollywood Week" marks the point in American Idol's grist-mill rigamorole calendar where the kid gloves come off, when being cute 'n' quirky with the hint of a decent set of pipes isn't enough anymore, when it's time to separate the Kimberly Caldwells from the Josiah Lemings, when the cavalcade of Ford product placement be

  February 5, 2009

• Idol Beat, Part 1: More Hollywood Week

  Photos courtesy FoxYou thought the funeral was over? You thought all those tears were dried up? You were wrong, my friends - so very, very wrong. Aye, verily, the bloodletting continued unabated as Hollywood Week wound down. Hey, Ryan Seacrest warned us at the outset: "The stakes are as high as they've ever been, and the pressure is even higher. This... is American Idol!" DAY 4 Seacrest: "It's Day 4 of a long and grinding Hell week." Indeed, but with all due respect to the nervous, s

  February 12, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Final 36, Group 2

  Michael Becker/ Fox Adam LambertThere were a few seconds during the Rolling Stones' 2006 Super Bowl halftime performance where formaldehyded guitarist Keith Richards let his inner demon peek out. I can't remember for the life of me which song the band was playing, but Richards let loose with a bit of gnarly fret nastiness where he could've played it straight; it was a quick, effective display of virtuosity, a reminder that dude could've run away with the entire mini-set if he'd so chose.

  February 26, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Final 13

  Ray Mickshaw/ Fox Paula liked the way Scott McIntyre handled his instrument.Tonight's theme? "Michael Jackson Night." Thus, a lot of tears (and no lack of cruel laughter) are pretty much guaranteed - and the King of Pop won't even be there! * Ryan Seacrest outsources announcing duties to some nameless stooge. Hey, anonymous announcers need work, too. Toupees don't buy themselves! * This big kahuna stage set is like a night club from Xanadu or Buck Rogers, which probably wasn't the vibe

  March 11, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Ten Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Songs in the Key of Idol: Stevie Wonder performs Thursday night.I dare you. I double-dog dare you. Try not to break out into a toothy, mile-wide grin while watching Stevie Wonder command a stage, loop-de-looping through a handful of his zillions of classics in that inimitable zig-zag, running-through-tonal-mazes-at-light-speed style of his. Was he actually playing those keys live last night on American Idol? Doesn't matter, because we knew he was singing "O

  March 27, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Nine

  Fox Scott McIntyre: Don't go changin'...Remember last week's requiem for the Sarvernator? Turns out that Anoop - Season 8's Great Dork Hope - is in the same damn leaky boat: a phenom before the judges, a lamestain when serenading America. His put-on Usher turn last night cemented his unworthy status, and officially killed any affection I ever had for the guy. In all likelihood, Anoop will be in tonight's bottom three with Megan Joy and Lil Rounds, and he will deserve it. Last night was r

  April 1, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Eight

  Photos by Michael Becker/ Fox Front runner: Adam Lambert, American Idol's likely last man standing.Long before being voted in as California's current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a popular sci-fi action movie called Predator. The specifics of the plot aren't important, but the underlying schematic is a bunch of characters getting picked off, one by one, by some dangerous, mysterious other. (See also Alien, Sunshine, Event Horizon, and a billion other movies.) And so the big

  April 8, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Eight Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Guests of the Sheik: Flo Rida and his "harem."First things first: in yesterday's Idol Beat, I made reference to how excited I was for Idol Gives Back, a wildly successful annual event/trainwreck wherein the program brings a ton of celebrities on in an effort to raise money for various worthy charaties. I've just learned that Idol Gives Back won't be happening this year due to the recession. (The announcement was made last December, and I totally missed it.)

  April 9, 2009

• Kathy Griffin

  How D-list is this?

  July 26, 2007

• Il Communication

  June 15, 2006

• Knocked Up

  Judd Apatow delivers another spot-on geek-fantasy-come-true

  May 31, 2007

• Best Local Girl Made Good

  September 23, 2004

• Gut Buster

  The sun is shining on Ralphie May, and he's making hay

  January 22, 2004

• Idol Beat: The Top Five

  That Jamie Foxx, right? A Rennaisance man if there ever was one: the guy's a comedic genius (see In Living Color; tons of flicks), a big-screen leading man, credible action star, R&B champion - plus, as it turns out, he's a natural at mentoring American Idol hopefuls. I wouldn't have figured on him doling out advice to contestants during "Rat Pack Week," yet there he was. (I smell a Foxx-as-Sammy-Davis-Jr. in an as-yet-unconceived Rat Pack biopic, don't you?) Let's consider our Top Five from

  April 29, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Four Results

  Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxNo More Pencils: Slash (right) took American Idol's Final 4 to school Wednesday night. "Who will graduate from the school of rock? And who will just get schooled?" Ryan Seacrest asked, rhetorically, at the beginning of Wednesday night's episode of American Idol. We wondered, then. I smelled an upset, myself. Just felt it. Kris Allen should be going home, I knew - but the likelihood that America could screw up and shaft Allison Iraheta or Adam Lambert just as easily. (L

  May 7, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Three Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Homeward Bound: Danny Gokey's exit didn't prompt a whole lot of tears."I think we've had enough suspense, enough commercials - let's just get to it." This is what Danny Gokey told Ryan Seacrest, and, by proxy, America. We were in agreeance - Wednesday night's show was almost over, and at the point Gokey said the above, Katy Perry's appearance was the last roadblock standing in the way of everybody on Earth discovering whether the Idol axe would fall on MOR

  May 14, 2009

• Halloween Countdown: How Best To Go For The `90s-Nostalgia Look

  Halloween is coming, and that means many, many costuming mistakes will be made by normally sane adults. To help stop this scourge, each Thursday we will be offering tips and analysis of what to avoid, or possibly what to do. Check out past entries here and here. If VH1 has taught us nothing else, it's shown that it's never too soon to be nostalgic. This Halloween, tap into the cultural era academics refer to as "the `90s" and impress friends with your knowledge of history. Rekindle their fond me

  October 15, 2009