Celebrity culture and gossip is infectious. Not only does it dominate the airwaves, web and radio, but it is becoming an integral part of daily conversation and interaction. Who hasn’t mentioned GaGa’s meat dress in casual conversation?

I am certainly a follower of all things gossip, Perez Hilton is one of my most visited websites. With the recent release of Lindsay Lohan from custody, followed by a release of several pictures featuring the starlet, a syringe and a tourniquet, I got to thinking, which we all know is a dangerous thing!

We all have the same argument when it comes to Celeb gossip: “Who cares? What makes them so special?” Plenty of people get DWI’s every day, and that isn’t headline news! I do not pretend to have the answers to these questions I find myself asking as I browse through my seventh page of TMZ, I do, however, have an alternate solution.

I have spent the day browsing the internet for real people gossip. Interesting, fascinating and lurid stories about non-celebrities.

My requirements are as follows:

1. The subjects must not have any public presence based on involvement in the entertainment industry.

2. Subjects must be recognized for something gossip-worthy; you will want to mention it at your next dinner party.

Though she has now become a bit of a quasi-celeb, Octo-Mom at her beginnings would have been a prefect example.

So here is what I’ve found:

1. In Ireland, a brother and sister got married. The two go by the pseudonyms James and Maura, as to avoid potential and likely arrest. The two met at a bar and instantly fell in love. After years of dating, James’ estranged mother realized a shocking detail about her son’s girlfriend;  her father was the man James’ mother had had a torrid affair with, resulting in the birth of illegitimate child James. James and Maura had no idea they had half siblings elsewhere in the country, much less that each was in love with their respective half sibling. Can you imagine? Bringing home your boy/girlfriend only to have your parents say “Whoa, guess what? You are dating your brother/sister?” Yikes. The two decided to stare genetic similarities and the law in the face and proudly declare their ongoing love and devotion. The two wed in Ireland in early September. It must have been very difficult for guests to decide whether they were there for the bride, or the groom.

2. In Pennsylvania, a woman killed a fox with her bare hands. While out for a stroll, a fox climbed out of a drain pipe and attacked her. In the midst of defending herself, Rachel Cohen had the clarity of mind to remember that the fox would need to be tested for rabies. She then smothered the fox with a plastic bag she happened to have on hand. The fox tested positive for rabies and Rachel is receiving rabies shots. Foxes are one of my biggest fears, along with sharks and mayonnaise, so I may be employing Ms. Rachel Cohen as my personal fox protector.

3.  Someone in Australia decided to take a dangerous ride on a whale! It is an ongoing investigation, but someone is said to have taken a ride on the back of a Southern Right Whale at Middleton Beach in Albany, AUS. A photograph was taken of the rogue whale rider, but has not been released yet. So much for swimming with the dolphins, this person had bigger mammals in mind!

4. James Willie Jones, a father from Lake Mary FL, stormed onto a bus and threatened a group of students, as well as the driver of the bus, who had been bullying his daughter. Now, this isn’t exactly an over-reaction on Jones’ part, his daughter, who has cerebral palsy, was being teased, poked, and physically tormented by these precious individuals. In an act of parental defense he boarded the bus and let ‘em have it! His backlash can be seen on a video captured by a student on the bus. Was he right? Wrong? Inbetween?

5. A Massachsetts man named Ron Sveden thought he had lung cancer, only to find, upon medical exploration, that he had a pea plant growing inside his lung. The best explanation doctors could offer on this bewildering situation is that while eating peas, Sveden must have inhaled one that became lodged in his lung and eventually sprouted. I will have to be more careful while eating watermelons and apples, not that I know seeds CAN sprout in your body!

For more info on all of these stories, do what I did and look it up! You might find even more odd gossip out there! Sites I scoured included dailymail.co.uk, cw23.com, abc.com, and cnn.com.

‘Til next time, with so much more to share,

-Allie

Werewolves do exist! Mystic Falls has become a hotbed for supernatural beings, and poor Elena Gilbert is caught in the middle of a mystic mine-field. In this week’s episode of Vampire Diaries, Elena starts to learn a bit more about her Doppleganger, Katherine, and the life her birth mother led. Caroline becomes a true beast as she tries, and fails, to control her vampire instincts; and werewolves are real, and alive in Mystic Falls and searching for fresh vampire meat!

Is it wrong that I am rooting for the werewolf? I would like nothing more than for a werewolf to fatally sink his teeth into Caroline, especially now that she and Katherine seem to be forming an evil vampire tag team. I was a huge fan of killing off newborn vampire Caroline last week, and now that shes attacked Matt and compelled people willy-nilly, I say stake her!

Damon showed some vulnerability this week, and while his honesty is admirable, I don’t blame Elena for not forgiving him, its a miracle she still has her brother and Damon’s lack of respect for humans cannot continue to go unpunished.

I’m excited to see what Elena discovers about Katherine’s (or shall we say Katerina’s) past and their connection, and that werewolf better start rippin’ vampires to shreds!

Nikita has got enough surprises to last a lifetime! While the action scenes are quite cool, I like Nikita’s human side. She may not be teddy bears and rainbow candy, but she has compassion, which shows when she protects others, like Jill the reporter, from Division.

It is only a matter of time before Division discovers that Alex is the mole. Nikita trained her well, but it seems like she keeps getting lucky and should probably try to stay under the radar a bit more than she has.

My absolute FAVORITE part of the show is that the scenes filmed on a supposed North Virginia University campus were actually filmed at the University of Toronto, my Alma Mater. The red brick building that looks like a castle is where I took a number of literature classes, and the grey stone building is Burwash Hall, a dorm building where I spent many days and nights over the years! How I miss college! The scenes on campus were almost as exciting for me as the one time Medium featured a picture of many of my college friends as Ariel’s high school football team!

Next weel loks like some more hell-raising on Nikita’s part, and I just can’t wait!

‘Til next time,

-Allie

The time has come for a Hellcats After-Chat, and after the last episode, there is much to discuss!

The much anticipated date between Dan and Savannah occurred last night on The CW, and despite a mass of alcohol, an impromptu street acrobatic performance and a bar fight, the date itself was pretty lackluster. Any chemistry between Dan and Savannah was lost in the fabricated drama. The REAL points of interest we totally lost because we never got to see Dan and Savannah actually be together, but by the look of things, we will have plenty more SaDannah (new nickname coined by me) moments to analyze.

We FINALLY get to see Marti in action as a wannabe lawyer, and I must say, she may have won her professor over, but she still has to prove her capabilities to me! I hope we get to see a more intellectual side and less argumentative side of our heroine.

Vanessa makes a confession about her past relationship with Lancer football coach Red, and its juicy! The two of them had a torrid affair when she was a student and he was the school’s MARRIED football coach. Vanessa is truly sweet as she confesses to her gorgeous boyfriend and obviously still harbors a lot of guilt over the situation. Its OK coach Vanessa, it is all in the past now, time to move onwards, to Nationals!

In a desperate attempt to get back on the team, super annoying and totally terrible Alice starts taking HGH and painkillers. Excellent life decision! I hope the school finds out and she is expelled. I am tired of her soulless antics!

Next week promises to bring more drama, and I’m ready, how bout you?

‘Til next time, with tons more to say,

-Allie

First up, Vampire Diaries. Caroline is back! After being in a car accident, fed Damon’s blood then killed by Katherine posing as Elena, she has arisen as the newest vampire in Mystic Falls, and just in time for the school carnival! As Elena put it best, her best friend is a witch, her boyfriend is a vampire and she has a doppleganger that is bent on destroying all of them. That’s a lot for a high schooler to handle! I don’t know about you, but I’d love to see Elena have a good day, where no one close to her dies, or gets stabbed, or kidnapped, or eats one of her friends. While Stefan’s kiss on the ferris wheel was cute, I say too little too late! Hes already gone and introduced literal worlds of evil into Elena’s life, its time to let these people be and take your vampire meddling elsewhere! I know Elena and Stefan love each other and all, but in my book, love means never having to say “why are you systematically killing people around me?” But maybe thats just me. Damon continues to be his evil self, but I do think he should have just put Caroline out of her misery. She won’t ever by Miss Mystic Falls again, last I checked Vampires were ineligible. Plus one more blood thirsty vampire is NOT what this town needs. Perhaps next week Katherine will resurface to ripple the water a bit more, heaven forbid these poor people get a day of peace!

Now for Nikita Deets! This week we learn about Alex. We now know she isn’t just some new recruit, she was planted by Nikita so she could have an ally on the inside. While her first mission is a total mess, she is well on her way to helping Nikita take the division down. We learn that Nikita was the one who got Alex clean, and that Nikita knows about Alex’s past. Nikita says she knows who killed Alex’s parents. We are supposed to assume that it was the division, but I think it was Nikita herself and she is using Alex not only to help her avenge the death of her parents, but to repent for what she did. That’s just my guess though.

One thing I did appreciate was Michael, and the series itself, recognizing that a mess of gunfire in a subway would not go unnoticed. Usually the spies just leave, scene changes and that’s that, but now at least the writers take into account that massive shootouts are rarely ignored by the public. Thank you CW!

Both series leave me wanting more next week, and you can bet I’m going to get it!

‘Til next time, with fangs bared and guns ablazing,

-Allie

Hellcats After-Chat numero uno!

Episode two of Hellcats was on last night at 9pm. Here is a quick recap:

We find out the Savannah’s sister is the Captain of rival team Memphis Christian. When she falls from a mount during their competition, Savannah rushes to her side, thus leaving the Hellcats in the lurch. Coach  Vanessa uses her powers of persuasion to get the Hellcats another time slot on Saturday so Savannah can stay with her sister.

Marti and her mom have some on-going drama and we learn from Marti’s friend Dan that the tension between Marti and her Mother, Wanda, comes from years on incidents. Wanda gets in with the Hellcats by dropping by Cheertown for an impromptu rib dinner.

Coach Vanessa finds herself in a tricky situation as she hides her past romance with the football team’s head coach from her current doctor boyfriend.

Alice is nasty as usual as she puts herself ahead of the team, and we learn a bit more about Savannah’s background and her conflict with her uber-religious family. In the end the Hellcats win the qualifying competition, Marti and Lewis dance, and Dan asks Savannah on a date.

This episode was really more about family than it was about cheering. Savannah’s character is revealed and I really got to like her. She is a strong girl who decided not to let her family, or anyone else, make her decisions for her. I am very excited for Dan and Savannah’s date and think that the two of them together will be the perfect match.

Marti and Lewis, I’m also excited for. Lewis seems like a very relaxed, laid back guy, and Marti really needs to lose the “my-life-is-so-much-more-everything-than-yours” attitude. I’m having a hard time warming up to Marti and I feel like she needs to realize that being a cheerleader doesn’t make her less unique, it makes her more so.

Alice is just plain wretched. I know every show needs a villain, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could like this girl for more than 5 seconds. Does she have any friends, cause it doesn’t seem like it! I want to see a more human side of her, because right now shes a bit of a caricature.

Next week will be the big date between Dan and Savannah, and from the looks of things, Savannah gets totally smashed! Should be a good one.

“Til next time, with more After-Chat,

-Allie

Hello All!

As some of you may remember, Fall TV is one of the things I love the most about the changing seasons (allergies however are not, my nose and eyes seem to have some sort of vendetta against me).

The CW is full of shows that are a bit of a guilty pleasure, but are definitely discussion-inspiring. Starting next week after every episode of Hellcats, Vampire Diaries and Nikita I will be giving a brief synopsis and ALL of my opinions on the evening’s episode.

Here is the best part, each of my lovely readers (that’s you!) will be able to comment and let me, and everyone else who reads my blog, know exactly what your opinions on the shows are!

Are the Hellcats the judgemental ones, or does Marti need to get off her “indie-rocker” high horse? Do we sense some sexual tension between Nikita and Michael? Is anyone else confused by all the Vampire contradictions out there? And Ian Somerhalder is just SO gorgey!

It will be your turn to share!

Don’t worry, I’ll still be blogging about life outside of Television, this is just something new so we can all get that CW primetime frustration/excitement out there!

So watch, read and tell the world what you think!

‘Til next time, with LOADS of opinions,

-Allie