Tonight the cast of GLEE will pay homage to the late great King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

The show will feature some of Jackson’s greatest records and will surly server up high energy dance numbers, reminiscent to that of King of Pop.

Make sure you keep up with me on twitter during the show and look out for this episodes official gleek hash-tag  #GleeHee.

GLEE airs tonight @ 8PM on FOX43, followed by New Girl @ 9PM and Raising Hope @ 9:30PM.

CLICK HERE to see how you can win tickets to the sneak preview screening of Big Miracle!

A movie reviewer loves this day! All year long we go to movies and review them based on our feelings and observations. When it’s time for the nominations, we are put to the test. Did the movies we reviewed as the best of the year stand out among all the rest in the eyes of the Oscar voters? Today was the day we got our answers!

Here were MY picks for BEST PICTURE — the first ones I felt were a lock for a nomination (the asterisks denotes the actual nominations):
**The Descendants
**The Artist
**Midnight in Paris
**Warhorse
**Hugo
The Ides of March
**The Help
**Moneyball

These were the ones I felt COULD get in but were on the bubble:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
**The Tree of Life
Bridesmaids
Drive
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two

One film received a nomination that wasn’t on my list at all:
**Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The most interesting thing about the list of Best Picture nominees is that there are only nine. The Academy expanded nominations from five to ten a few years ago, but this year — tweaking the rules — required winning nominees to receive a certain percentage of votes for inclusion. Five to 10 films could have been nominated — apparently only nine received enough attention from Academy voters.

As for the Acting nominations. I went five for five in the BEST ACTRESS category. The nominees are:
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn’

I went four for five in the BEST ACTOR category. The nominees are:
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Denian Bichir, “A Better Life”

Other categories of note:
BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Max von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

My first thoughts looking over the list:
1 – So excited for Melissa McCarthy and “Bridesmaids”!
2 – No “Ides of March” in the Best Picture list?
3 – Where was “The Adventures of Tin Tin”? One nomination and not even for Best Animated Feature?
4 – So sad that the best of the Harry Potter film series was relegated to Visual Effects, Art Direction and Makeup nominations, again.
5 – Isn’t Max von Sydow the guy who doesn’t say a word in “Extrememly Loud and Incredibly Close”? That’s awesome.
6 – And YAY! for Melissa McCarthy! Did I already mention that?

I’m sure I will have more thoughts when there’s time to digest it all. That’s another blog for another day.

For a complete list of Oscar Nominations, visit the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences websit by CLICKING HERE.

The winners will be announced Sunday, February 26th and I will be tweeting and posting on facebook via The Hampton Roads Show twitter and facebook pages. So much fun! Let me know your thoughts below!

American Idol kicks off an all new season tonight with its usual round of auditions.

Returning judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson, along with host Ryan Seacrest, will begin yet another journey searching for America’s next the big recording star.

The show will begin it’s two-hour premier with auditions in Charlotte/Savannah tonight Jan 18th at 8PM. The premier will continue tomorrow with a one-hour show at 8PM.

Just when my mission to get fit was becoming a little easier Burger King decided to kick it up a notch.

The popular burger chain is currently testing a new delivery service. For a $2 fee, customers in the Maryland and Northern Virginia area will be able to order food by delivery. The orders must valuing at least $8 to $10 and will be delivered to homes that are at least 10 minutes away from participating restaurants.

Orders are made either by phone or online at www.bkdelivers.com.

The food will be delivered to customers doors piping hot after being  kept warm in a thermal bag until it arrives.

Delivered meals are, during the time of the trial, limited to lunch and dinner food items only. Milkshakes, fountain drinks, coffee and breakfast items will not be served through the developing delivery service.

For those a bit skeptical about the success of a BK delivery service should know that the idea is not technically a new. A higher end version of Burger Kind called, “The Whooper Bar” in South Beach Fla. is not only fully equipped with a bar, but also offers a free delivery service, with a spending minimum of $10.

Also on the Burger King delivery bandwagon are Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Columbia and Peru.

So what do think Hampton Roads? Will you call an order in for a burger? Or do you think the idea is a waste of time?

Chime in let me know your thoughts.

“The Finder”

Do you Spotify?

About 4.4 million folks log on to Spotify to find their favorite songs, create playlists and share their tunes with others when connected to Facebook. The social music site works by allowing users to download free software, then scroll through tons of songs and artists to handpick music that will satisfy their heart’s desire.

Right now, these music lovers can listen to unlimited music for the first six months before you are reduced to 10 hours a month. But that’s all about to change.

According to a recent report, Spotify is getting ready to pull the plug on the free unlimited part.

This isn’t uncommon though. Most online music and movie sites have done similar things that have irked the music aficionados of the world. Pandora, last.fm, Rhapsody, Netflix … all of these services started out with much more free listening time, then pulled back on the reins when they realized they had a big crowd following them. Somehow, we have this crazy notion that music should be free and on demand anytime we want it and freak out when people mess with our jams. (How dare they?)

Before you plan to go all Office Space on the Spotify headquarters, keep in mind that if you have an account, you will still get 10 hours a month worth of free songs with a limit of 5 times a song. If that’s not enough for you, splurge a little bit and pay $4.99 and $9.99 on a subscription and you’ll be good to go.

I use Grooveshark. It’s basically the YouTube of a music site and you don’t really need an account to enjoy, for now at least. I just connected with my Facebook account this week and get less ads. Connecting with Twitter and Facebook allows you to find your friends and share music amongst yourselves as well, similar to Spotify. Premium accounts will set you back $6 or $9 a month if you want to listen from anywhere and experience no ads. (It’s basically Spotify with free unlimited.)

Grooveshark claims it will always have free accounts for users, but I won’t hold my breath on when the unlimited part goes away from this service, too.

For my fellow music lovers, though, I figured I’d help ease the pain when your free allotment of hours end with Spotify and you need a crutch. If you are new to Grooveshark and don’t mind someone with completely random music taste, find me on Grooveshark.

Keep rocking the free world, folks.

—

Jessica O. Swink is a blogger for Overheard Online on Fox43TV.com. You can find subscribe to her updates on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/jessica.o.swink  or check her out on Twitter @JessicaOSwink

A 14yr old runs away in Dallas in 2010. Finding her way to Houston, she was arrested for theft.

When asked who she was, she gave the police a fake name. When the police ran the name it was matched to a 22yr old illegal immigrant who was wanted on warrants.

Although immigrant officials took the 14yr old’s finger prints, her identity was never verified and she was then deported to Columbia.

Oscar® winner Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star in the action-thriller “Safe House.” Washington plays the most dangerous renegade from the CIA, who comes back onto the grid after a decade on the run.  When the South African safe house he’s remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, a rookie operative (Reynolds) escapes with him. Now, the unlikely allies must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead.

CLICK HERE to find out how YOU can win tickets to see Safe House!