Lily's favorite things of 2009

Hello my lovely blog readers!

I said back in September that I was going to do a blog a few days before New Years Eve listing my favorite things of 2009. It is the day after Christmas, so I have some good stuff to do. I am going to present my favorite things of 2009 for my blog-verse.

Lily's favorite movie of 2009:
I saw a lot of good movies this year, but the one that I think was the best was 500 Days of Summer. The movie, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, was very well written, acted and it was just REALLY sweet. A close runner-up is The Twilight Saga: New Moon. I love Twilight books and movies, and this movie was SO good.

Lily's favorite SCRIPTED TV show of 2009:
I don't watch very many scripted TV shows (I love reality shows though), but the one that is definitely my favorite is Grey's Anatomy. I started watching this show mid-way through the 3rd season, kind of fell out of touch with it the 4th season but have gotten back into it. And I own the first 2 seasons on DVD and want to get the rest. It's just so good, has likeable characters, and realistic situations.

Lily's favorite REALITY TV show of 2009:
Like I said, I watch a ton of reality shows, of all different varieties. But the one that I have stuck with the longest, which is therefore my favorite, is American Idol. I have watched this show since 2003 and have enjoyed every season. This past season did not end in a victory for Adam Lambert, my favorite since the semi-finals round, but it was still one of the best seasons in recent years. And next year, Ellen DeGeneres is the new judge, replacing Paula Abdul, so I can't wait to see what she has in store for us.

Lily's favorite NEW TV show of 2009 (scripted or reality):
I love watching new TV shows that debut, whether they are scripted or reality. The winner of this category is a reality show, and it is The Sing-Off. This show is an acapella singing group competition, where 8 of the best acapella singing groups from around the country (and one outside the country) compete for a Sony recording contract and $100,000. Like American Idol, this show did not end in a victory for my favorite group, the Beelzebubs, but it was still really fun to watch. I hope they bring this back next year.

Lily's favorite song of 2009:
I love music. Lots of it. I will listen to anything that is not classical, techno or death metal. I liked a lot of different songs this year, but the one that was my absolute favorite is "Raining Sunshine" by Miranda Cosgrove. This song was one of the main songs in the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". I first heard this song on Nickelodeon, the network that made Miranda a star, and I just thought it had this vibe to make you feel good. This song has gotten me through hard situations (bad days, the time my brother had to go to the ER, and just really upsetting nights), and it always makes me feel so much better. And I indirectly told Miranda that one night her music made me stop crying (I had tweeted someone else and mentioned her by her Twitter name in the tweet), and she tweeted me saying that she was glad that she could help me. A very close runner up is a song by one of Miranda's co-stars, "So Close" by Jennette McCurdy. This song was basically the story of my life this year. It's a song that every girl can relate to.

Lily's favorite album of 2009:
I have a lot of albums that I got this year. I haven't listened to all of them in full, but the best one I DID hear in full I am going to call a tie between Kris Allen by Kris Allen and Just Like You by Allison Iraheta. Both of these individuals were finalists on American Idol this year. Kris's album has the vibe to make you feel good, with songs like "Live Like We're Dying", "Written All Over My Face", "The Truth" and "Red Guitar", while Allison's makes you want to get up and jam out, with songs like "Friday I'll Be Over U", "Robot Love", "D Is For Dangerous", "Don't Waste the Pretty" and "Holiday".

Lily's favorite new friend of 2009:
I made a lot of new friends this year, but the best ones were all awesome in different ways. I'm gonna call this a tie between Wallace, Denise, Jason, Chrissy, Clarissa and Wendy. I met all of these individuals on idolforums.com, and now keep in touch with them either through that website, Twitter or AOL Instant Messanger. It's just great to talk to these individuals.

Lily's favorite group of friends of 2009:
There is really no contest for this award, and it goes to Theresa, Kathleen, Melanie, Sarah, Mackenzy and Brianna, also known as the Single Ladies. We met on archuletafans.com and we just basically have girl talk every day in our one specific topic thread on that website. We help each other through the good times and the bad, talk about our boy crushes and celeb crushes, and are just always there for each other. True blue friends to the end!

Lily's favorite celebrity that she became close to because of Twitter of 2009:
This is a relatively new award, because Twitter is the hottest thing around. My friends say I have Twitter powers because I get all sorts of celebrities to Tweet me. There are a few I talk to pretty regularly, but the 3 I talk to the most are Alex Wagner-Trugman, Stephen Fishbach and Brett Clouser. All 3 of these guys are famous for being on reality shows (Alex on American Idol and Stephen and Brett on Survivor, but different seasons). They're all SO nice and sweet and I always enjoy talking about various things with them. An honorable mention goes to Ashley Trainer. She is also from "Survivor" and we love talking about our favorite TV shows together (we like a lot of the same ones).

Lily's favorite best friend of 2009:
This award goes to Jenny. She and I met a little over a year ago on archuletafans.com and now we talk all the time on either Twitter or AOL Instant Messanger about everything. She's like my honorary sister because we share a lot of the same interests and talk about everything. I love her. Everyone needs a Jenny in their life to talk to.

So there you have it! My favorite things of 2009. Feel free to comment if you want to.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

The last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger.

Since tonight was the final episode of the "Survivor" season, my blog title seems fitting for what I'm about to post. My final commentary for the season.

There are 5 members left in the Aiga tribe. Four of them are members of the former Foa Foa, and the last remaining Galu member is Brett. Russell wants to get rid of him because he's a threat for both jury votes and physicality.

The second-to-last Immunity Challenge is won by Brett for the 3rd consecutive time, forcing the Foa Foa four to vote out one of their own. Russell wants to keep Natalie around because he thinks she is easy to beat, so he tells Mick to vote Jaison and vice versa, leaving the vote up to Natalie, Russell and Brett. At Tribal Council, Jaison is sent home by a vote of 4-1. I liked Jaison. He was on the verge of quitting a few times, but he stuck it out and I applaud him for that. Peace out Jaison, and congrats on never being a quitter.

Before the castaways head to their final Immunity Challenge, they pay tribute to their fallen soldiers as traditionally done in the final episode. I did that as well tonight, through a video which I will post when I am done. The final Immunity Challenge was a nailbiter. Natalie and Mick went out early, leaving only Brett and Russell. After awhile, Brett is out of the challenge, meaning Russell wins Immunity for the first time. The Foa Foa 3 then go with their original plan to vote out the final Galu member, but Russell has some second thoughts because Brett is deserving of the million dollar prize, so he talks to Brett about it. At Tribal Council, Russell goes against his word and Brett is sent home by a vote of 3-1. I have a little story that I'm gonna tell about Brett, and to do so, I am going to start a new paragraph.

I first decided to keep my eye on Brett at the beginning of the season because he was good-looking, and he seemed like a cool guy based on his pre-show videos. I found him on Twitter and let him know that I was going to keep my eye on him this season. He tweeted me back saying "Just bring some grace when you watch me do silly, stupid things. lol." I didn't see it at first because at the time my computer charger was dead and so I couldn't get on the internet anywhere besides school, so I just happened to check my Twitter one day at school and there his Tweet was in my replies. I added something on Twitter where his updates are sent to my cell phone. So whenever he tweets something to me, someone that I follow, or the whole world, it will show up on my phone. He is the founder of this clothing company that is advocating for healthy body image. I have struggled with that for a long time, so some of his Tweets were really inspiring and uplifiting for me. And then the following Monday I was having a bad day, so I was on the bus home, my crying eyes hidden behind sunglasses, and I sent him a tweet text (or as I say, twext) saying I could really use one of his inspirational Tweets because I was having a really bad day. That Thursday I felt my phone buzz and there was a tweet to me from him saying that he hoped my week had turned out well. I was really surprised and touched that he remembered something. Since then we have kept in close contact on Twitter talking about everything. He is SO sweet and caring and inspiring and always there to make me smile when I need to. So Brett, peace out, you're amazing, and I hope to keep talking to you on Twitter even though this season is over.

Okay, now back to the game. Mick, Natalie and Russell are the final 3, so they get a chance to plead their case for a million dollars to the jury. 9 people that they had a hand in voting out now hold their fate. The final Tribal Council was really fun. Brett gets the award for most awesome and funny question. And no I'm not biased when I say that, it was really awesome and funny. You gotta admit that. At the live reunion show in Los Angeles, it is revealed that Natalie is the Sole Survivor by a vote of 7-2-0 with Mick recieving no votes. I liked Natalie from the beginning of the season til now. She was sort of underestimated. It was her and Jaison's move to vote Erik off that started the demise of Galu, and then she made strong alliances with Russell, Mick, and Brett to stay in the game, and she played it to the end and is now a million dollars richer. Congratulations to Natalie and the remaining castaways. This has been one crazy season of Survivor.

To close out the night, here is a video I made for the season. I made it a few days ago and made some changes based on the order. To close out "Survivor: Samoa", please enjoy this video.



The next season, "Survivor: Heroes vs Villains" begins on February 11th, 2010. I will recap that season and continue to share random thoughts. I hope you continue to read this!

One final thing. I must give a shoutout to another great Survivor commentator, Stephen Fishbach. He was the runner-up of "Survivor: Tocantins" and my favorite contestant of that season. I talk to him on Twitter as well and he has read this blog. He's very nice and has enjoyed reading this blog, and I enjoy reading his as well.

Okay, that's really it for the night! Peace out y'all, I'll talk to you soon.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Remember all the things we wanted, now all our memories, they're haunted, we were always meant to say goodbye.

Only two episodes left for this season of "Survivor". One of them was tonight, the finale is this Sunday. Since one episode was tonight, I have some recapping to do.

There are now 6 finalists left, and only two of them are made up of the former Galu. Only one has been a "true" Galu, since Shambo aligned with the Foa Foa four. Brett points out that he's the last true Galu member in a confessional.

Natalie forms an alliance with Brett, who states that the two of them come from similar backgrounds, so that's grounds for a good alliance. Russell sees Brett as a threat to win over the jury since they are made up of members of the former Galu.

The reward challenge is won by the team of Jaison, Shambo and Russell, and while on their reward, they discuss Natalie, Mick and Brett possibly being in an alliance that they'd have to split apart. Russell would like to vote out Brett, but in case he won immunity, they would have to vote for Mick.

Back at the Aiga camp, Mick, Brett and Natalie make the best of their day and spend some time together. Natalie, who has been aligned with Russell since the beginning, states that it is hard to balance her head and her heart.

The Immunity Challenge is won by Brett for the second time in a row, collapsing Russell's plan to vote him out. Jaison states that they have to vote out Shambo since she's the only remaining member of the former Galu that is vulnerable. Russell and Jaison talk about voting out Shambo, and Shambo and Russell talk about voting out Mick. Russell is undecided on who he is going to vote for.

At Tribal Council, Russell follows the majority to vote out Shambo 5-1, therefore splitting the Foa Foa alliance back down to the 4 original members. As for Shambo being voted out, all I can say is peace out and good riddance.

This Sunday, December 20th, is the final episode of "Survivor: Samoa". I will try to post a blog before that time because I have a video I made that I want to share. And then after the finale I will post another one that I made but have not uploaded to youtube yet. I hope that you will enjoy them.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Your true colors are beautiful, like a rainbow.

Two days in a row, school has been cancelled. And one of those days was Thursday. And Thursday means Survivor, and Survivor means I blog about the episode.

After John's vote-out, Shambo is stunned. Russell lies to her about why he voted for him, and she believes him and doesn't get mad.

At the challenge, Jeff announces that the tribe will be playing for immunity. Jaison wins the challenge for the second consecutive time, and is safe from the Tribal Council vote.

At camp, Shambo is absolutely sure that she wants Dave out. Monica talks with Russell about the possibility of voting for Shambo, and he flirts with the idea a little. He talks to Dave about voting her out.

At the first Tribal Council of the night, Dave is voted out 7-1. I never really liked Dave. He just seemed sort of standoffish and stupid. So peace out Dave. For someone with an IQ as high as yours, you made some kind of dumb moves. And I also must give a little shoutout to Laura Morett for telling Brett Clouser to "stay strong". I just thought that was sweet.

The next day, Russell decides that the biggest threat left in the game is Brett, which left me sort of stunned. I understand where he's coming from, but I don't think he'll be gone quite yet.

The second Immunity Challenge of the night was basically a neck-and-neck competition between Brett and Mick, with Brett emerging victorious. When that happened I was like "yeah baby!" even tho my mom was behind me. I told her that I have liked him since the beginning of the season, and she didn't say anything back. And with Brett's win, Russell's plan to vote him out fell flat.

Monica tries to scramble to get people to vote against Russell, and she confesses to Russell that she knows what he does for a living and knows that he doesn't need the prize money. Russell tries to figure out who told her and then learns that Jaison had told her. He talks to him about it, and Jaison feels a little worried that there now may be a target on his back.

At Tribal Council, Russell openly wears the Hidden Immunity Idol, and Monica's scrambling for votes is discussed. After the vote, it is revealed that Monica's scrambling proved ineffective as she is voted out 5-2. Monica impressed me. I thought that she would be voted out really early in the game for being weak physically, but she managed to make it to the final 7. So I gotta give it to her for making it out that long. Peace out Monica. Stay beautiful.

There's my recap for the week. I'm gonna try to get warmed up (it was in the teens today, temperature wise, and I had to shovel the end of the driveway, which was very hard). I'll try to post some more later this week.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I'll stand by you, take me in, into your darkest hour, and I'll never desert you, I'll stand by you.

So, after 2 weeks of craziness, including Thanksgiving, my birthday, and getting another new charger for my laptop, it's finally Thursday, with a non-recap episode of Survivor (Thanksgiving Day's episode was the recap, which I watched, but felt no need to blog about).

After the previous Tribal Council, Shambo is very pleased with the vote-out of Laura. They had been rivals since the beginning. Personally, I like Laura. I've talked to her on Twitter before, she's read this blog, and she's very nice and enjoyed reading this blog.

Instead of a Reward Challenge, it's the annual Survivor Auction. I always like watching these episodes. It's always interesting. For one of the items up for bid, it's a mystery item that will give the winning bidder an advantage in the Immunity Challenge. Jaison spends all his money on the item and wins.

At camp, Shambo is upset by the fact that the chickens they own had to be cooked up. That night, she has a dream that the tribe voted Dave out of the game. Score one for her remembering her dreams, I rarely remember mine. I can remember bits and pieces of mine, but never the whole dream.

The Immunity Challenge is won by Jaison, who used his advantage to help him win. Shambo talks with Russell about voting for Dave, and then Russell talks to John. He realizes that John is a threat in the game, so he turns to Dave and Mick about voting for John. The two of them relay to the rest of the tribe except John and Shambo.

At Tribal Council, another shocked castaway is sent home when John is voted out 7-1-1. I was always sort of neutral on John, but he eventually rubbed me the wrong way. Changing his vote in the last Tribal Council didn't help him at all. It eventually sort of screwed him over. Peace out John.

Shambo was the sole member of the tribe that didn't vote against John, so will she stay loyal to the former Foa Foa? Will Russell try to stay loyal to her when he didn't this time? Tune in next week to find out!

So there's my recap for this week. I may write an entry tomorrow about what I did for Thanksgiving/my 20th birthday, but we'll see.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***