MTV Mix – Volume 3

Archive

Welcome to the first DOUBLE DIP of the “MTV Mix”! What does that mean? Well..you get 2 for the price of 1 this week. Two week’s worth of MTV shows to review this week. Last week, I got WAY behind on watching these shows and decided it would be best to put things off a week until I got caught up. So I will be talking about last week’s and this week’s episodes of each show. However, we are one show less this week. That’s not entirely true, but then again..it is. You will see what I mean in a moment. Lets get to it!

MONDAY

‘Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat’

The recap for last week’s episode is here.

We are now at the point in this show where we will finally stop talking about the “Austin” people. Wes is the only one left from that show. And so it’s him and Casey vs. everyone else! However, that also means that the others have to put someone else up against Wes in exile. Wes and Casey will no doubt be going into exile every time until they get eliminated. But I believe that there are quite a few weak teams that Wes and Casey could defeat along the way. I’m looking for Tina and Kenny to be gone first. I PRAY that happens, since Tina is annoying.

Once Wes is gone, things really get interesting. The “Austin” talk will stop completely. And that’s a good thing to me. This challenge has been way too predictable so far and hopefully this will change once the “Austin” people are gone. See how annoying that is..”Austin” people. And that’s basically how they say it. As I said before, there are four teams that should be there in the end, since they have distanced themselves from everyone else. I mentioned who those teams where above in my recap and I’m sure I will mention them again in just a little bit.

The recap for this week’s episode is there.

So this vote to see who went into exile along with Wes and Casey was interesting. Clearly, Tonya and Johnnie are a good team. They can be really good when they want to. In fact, they have jumped up to even with Shane and Linette and Darrell and Aviv. Basically, you have four tiers of teams. You have the top teams, which are Coral and Evan and Theo and Chanda. Then you have the upper tier and possible “Final Four” candidates in Shane and Linette, Darrell and Aviv, and Tonya and Johnnie. Then, you have the bottom tier which is Derrick and Diem, Tina and Kenny, and Katie and Eric. The fourth tier is “Team Austin” and that’s just Wes and Casey.

The weakest teams right now are Tina and Kenny and Katie and Eric. Based on points and finishes in challenges, these teams have done poorly. Wes and Casey and Derrick and Diem are right there with them. They can surprise some people when they want to, though. So really they should be going to exile first before Tonya and Johnnie. But since no one likes Tonya that well, they go with her. And Tonya has every right to be mad about it. But this is the game, so it’s not always based on performance like it should be. You have alliances and stuff that play a factor and this will get personal sooner than later.

Now I don’t think Tonya should be trying to get revenge now. That could cost her team. She will be so set on that she may forget the point of the game and that is to stick around until the end. Don’t get mad, just go out and win. Now if it stays Tonya and Johnnie vs. Wes and Casey..I don’t know what will happen. That’s a coin toss. Tonya and Johnnie are the stronger team, if they are focused and work as team. That is always a toss-up with them. Can Wes pull Casey along one more time? I think Wes has lost his “heart” to be in this game anymore, no matter what he says. So I say they go home if Tonya and Johnnie stay in exile. If it’s Tina and Kenny, though, Wes and Casey have the edge.

Finally, Evan’s injury will have some impact. But I still don’t know how much. Is it just there to put doubt in our heads about the greatness of Coral and Evan? I still feel they will be in the finals unless something goes horribly wrong between now and then. But I doubt they win the whole thing. Theo and Chanda are looking better and better.

‘Fast Inc.’

Last week, Todd and the gang had to go find a original 60’s/70’s Mini Cooper for Lola Glaudini from ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘Criminal Minds’. It was for her husband’s birthday. It also had to be a “left-hand” drive Cooper as well. Not going to be that easy according to Christian. They had four days to find it.

In addition to that car, Christian got a call from the LA County Sheriff department. They are going to shoot a promotional video for local street racers to get them “off the streets” and such. The cops want Christian and the gang to find a girl for the video to “grab” attention for their cause. Christian enlists Tater to find a hot chick who knows how to ride a sport bike really well! Tater is on this on his own. Christian goes to help with the Cooper search.

The search for the Cooper didn’t turn out that well at first. The only “left-hand” drive Cooper that could be found, without conversion, was located in England. Imagine that. And it also turns out that Lola is extremely picky and shot down all of the early cars that were found. Todd eventually found a Cooper that Lola would approve of. But it’s parked in some parking lot and Todd had to stay and wait for the owner. That didn’t work out that well either. Todd went to use the bathroom and the Cooper was gone. But they find the same car the next day at the same park. It was owned by a red-haired English man who plays soccer at the park. It took $15,000 cash, but they got the guy to sell it after some hard negotiating. They were happy about that. And Lola and her husband were happy about it as well. All good there.

The search for the hot motorcycle chick was a little interesting. It seems that not a lot of girls ride those types of GP bikes. And if they do, they aren’t that attractive. The number one thing is that the girl has to be able to ride the bike extremely well. Christian was a little concerned about the kind of girl that Tater would bring back. But Tater found one named Stella. An Asian chick and on his scale she was a 9. On my scale, she would be a 6.5 or a 7. That is right on the edge of hottness. But she looks good enough for what they were trying to do and she’s Asian..so that bumps her up a notch.

Stella was good enough in the “looks” department, but could she ride the bike? The answer was yes..she could! The cops were happy about Stella and her bike. And the gang was happy to make some LA cop friends for future..um..problems. The gang is back on the “winning” track after losing a car two weeks ago.

This week, Tater goes on a date with a girl named Natalie. Ah..Natalie! You can’t go wrong there. Anyways..this Natalie is about a 6.5 or a 7 on my scale a.k.a. “The Tater Special”, which is a 9 or a 10 on Tater’s scale. She’s also an exotic dancer. The guys don’t know about taking the “Tater Truck” on this date. Its nickname is “Birth Control”. Not a car that chicks drool over. But Tater does clean up the truck as best he can. He even paints Natalie’s name on the side of the passenger door.

Meanwhile, Christian gets a call from Tommy Chong of Cheech & Chong fame and ‘That 70’s Show’. He brings the guys a personal car of his that he wants to be made into a lowrider. It needs some HEAVY work, though. It’s up to the guys to do it for Tommy. Tommy thinks that Tater is from prison, which is pretty funny. Every guy from prison looks like Tater! HAHA!

Tommy is very picky about his lowrider. He wants only one guy to do the work on his lowrider. It’s some guy named Doc. He has done a lot of famous work on lowriders for famous people. Christian calls Todd and tells him that they need to find Doc. He’s not easy to find as you might guess. Quote of the Week comes from Christian, while he is making calls about the whereabouts of Doc. “Doc..as in ‘What’s up Doc?'” HAHAHA! They eventually track down Doc in Compton, CA.

So Tater gets sent back to Compton, where he visits Wally Dogg again. Wally still can’t believe Tater is in Compton again, but he seems glad to see him. Wally helps Tater find Doc. He hangs out at the racetrack selling hot dogs or something. Tater has to get ready for his date, though, so Todd and Christian go to the racetrack to find Doc. Not much luck the first time around, but they go again in the morning and find him. Doc’s apparently from Planet Get-Low! They drag him back to their garage to do the work on Tommy Chong’s lowrider. That is one wacky dude!

Tater’s date with Natalie was a little wet, because it was raining outside and it defeated the purpose of Tater cleaning his car since she couldn’t see it as well in the rain. Other than that, it seemed to go pretty well. Bonus points to Natalie for giving out the trademark “Natalie” …“Yeeaahh!” They arrange to hang out again the next day. As far as Tommy’s lowrider, well..Christian is nervous that Tommy won’t like it. But Chong LOVES it! No worries here and the streak continues!

TUESDAY

‘The Real World’

Last week, the cleanup in Key West after Hurricane Wilma began. The roomates had to go further north to Orlando to escape the hurricane. But once it blew over, they traveled back to their home. The damage to their house was not that bad. Their front gate got knocked down and wind screwed up a bunch of stuff. Water never entered the house, but their backyard was a swamp. Oh..and their car is destroyed as it got flooded.

Everyone, except Paula and Svetlana, went to check out their Mystic Tan store And that place was damaged a lot. Water went into the store about a foot. The place stinks of mildew and sewage. There is also no flood insurance available in Key West, FL, so they would have to replace everything themselves as well. The official “Fantasy Fest” in Key West was postponed, but the roommates and other locals decided to get all dressed up and party anyways.

Meanwhile, Paula and her boyfriend, Keith, spend more time together. Tyler and others don’t know about Keith staying there. But they eventually let him come to the house and visit after Tyler and Keith discuss what happened between Keith and Paula. Is it just me or can no one stand the sound of Paula’s voice? It sounds so fake sometimes. I don’t know. But her relationship with Keith was built on rocky foundation and no matter how much you may want to think it will change..it usually doesn’t. You have to have a stable foundation to build something on and that includes relationships.

The other main story is Svetlana. Tyler and the rest say that don’t believe anything that comes from her mouth. Svetlana found the book that Tyler wrote bad things about her in and she wants to destroy it. So she is upset and she calls her mom. Her mom tells Svetlana that Tyler and others are “low-lifes” for saying bad things about Svetlana that may or not be true. Tyler listens to their conversation. That leads to a big fight with Tyler yelling at Svetlana’s mom and then writing a nasty letter to Svetlana, telling her to go back to Philadelphia and things like that.

Zach tries to come down and calm Svetlana down. Svetlana doesn’t like the fact that Tyler wrote pages and pages of negative things about her. Zach tells her not to worry about it. Janelle then interrupts them and tells Svetlana that everyone, not just Janelle and Tyler, talk bad about Svetlana. Only because she embellishes and lies about little things. Svetlana feels like no one likes her in the house. Zach then attacks Tyler for writing the note to Svetlana, which Zach found first and tore down. Zach thought that was terrible for Tyler to do, since Svetlana is still just 19 years old and immature compared to the others. And I agree. Yes..Svetlana lies about things and there comes a point where you can’t take it anymore. But Tyler was wrong to write the note to Svetlana. It wasn’t necessary, but that’s who he is. Tyler is a jerk at times and Zach called him out on it. Props to Zach. I’m on his side.

Finally, the big news gets dropped on the roommates. Ricky, their boss from Mystic Tan, tells them that the damage to the store is too great for them to continue. They have to close down the store! The roomates are shocked! To me that wasn’t that shocking. Water can destroy a lot of things. It wasn’t a total loss, but it was big enough to not continue. It will be interesting to see what they do now, though.

And we will have to wait another week to find out what happens, because this week there was no new episode of ‘The Real World’. They aired reruns of other shows in its place. The next new episode is Tuesday, July 11. So look for new comments next week on that episode.

‘Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin’ Up’

It appears this show is done. No more episodes. So it looks like last week’s episode was the series finale. Only 6 episodes for this show, but I guess it makes sense. I did some research and found out that Jamie and Stu will be releasing their CD, “Blowin’ Up”, on July 11. So this show was really to plug that and document their journey a little bit. Looking back at last week’s episode, I could see it being the final episode since the record company was interested in them after their video shoot.

So there you go. A fun little show has come to a close. In it’s place, MTV is airing ‘My Super Sweet 16’..or so it looks like. That show PISSES me off, since kids are mad because their parents gave them a $75,000 car instead of the $100,000 car. Get over it! Therefore, ‘The Real World’ will now be my only show on Tuesdays to watch. Good enough for me. I just refuse to recap ‘My Super Sweet 16’! Unless a lot of people want me to recap AND they give me a little bit of money..then maybe I will recap it. But until that happens..no go!

A little update now. The show actually took a week off and moved timeslots without MTV saying anything about it. It went from Tuesday night to a strange Friday night and I missed the latest (possibly last) episode. Regardless, another episode did air and I did download the episode the other day. So without further delay..here is my recap/review of the newest and “lost” episode of ‘Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin’ Up”!

In this episode, Jamie is all worried about Warner Bros. Records calling about their record deal. He needs to worry about their performance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel LIVE’, though. And dealing with Stu is no easy task either. They fight and fight during this episode. It all begins with the photo shoot for a magazine.

The main problem is that Jamie Kennedy is already well-known and Stu is not. However, they are a rap duo now. So Stu feels like the sidekick to Jamie, when he wants to be equal. Jamie decides that only one person could solve their problems. And that is Ed McMahon a.k.a. Johnny Carson’s sidekick a.k.a. Johnny’s “Second Banana”! They shake hands and everything is fine until Stu finds out that Jamie is doing another movie! Uh..oh! And the pictures in the magazine feature Jamie in the front and Stu in the background. Stu doesn’t like that all. Stu wants to be in the movie now, but Jonathan Lipnicki, the kid from Jerry Maguire is all grown up and is playing the part of Jamie’s brother in the movie. Stu and Jonathan get into a fight, which leads to Stu walking out on Jamie and saying they are done!

Jamie goes to Jimmy Kimmel to tell him his problem. Jimmy tells Jamie to just get a new white rap partner to take Stu’s place. Just throw a gold chain out there on a string and reel them in! Jimmy says the people only care about Jamie Kennedy and not Stu. So Jamie auditions a bunch of white rappers to take Stu’s place. He finds one by the name of Young Church. Fantastic.

Meanwhile, Stu goes to talk to Jason Biggs from American Pie fame. Stu wants to live with Jason. HA! The talk seems to work, because the next thing you know Stu and Jason Biggs are rapping with E-40 in a studio! Yeah..you heard me. Not bad really. They have a song all about ripping Jamie Kennedy. It’s called “F**k Jamie Kennedy”! Jamie walks in on them and then gets kicked out by E-40’s bodyguards.

Things don’t work out that well with Jamie and Young Church. Church wants to change a line in the rap from Care Bears to Thundercats or something. But in the end, Jamie says he can’t diss Stu. He can’t have “beef” with him. So he walks out on Young Church and Jimmy Kimmel and goes to Jason Bigg’s house, where Stu is staying. And then we get the famous scene from Say Anything with John Cusack. Except instead of Jamie holding a radio above his head, he holds a flatscreen TV above his head with the music video of him and Stu rapping the “Bob Saget” song playing on it. Quite funny really. And the boys are back together! Bananas Unite!!

And there seems to be at least one more episode. It should air tonight (Friday), but I will cover it in detail in next week’s “MTV Mix”!

WEDNESDAY

‘The Hills’

Last week, Lauren had to go to this big photoshoot for her work. It happened to be on the same day as Jason’s birthday. There goes those plans to “spend the day together”. Jason doesn’t look too happy when Lauren breaks that news to him.

Audrina and Heidi talk about boys. Audrina goes out on a date with a model named Danny. And he’s a dumbass as you might expect. Did I mention that I LOVE Audrina?! Yeah..she’s hot. Heidi wants to know about Audrina and Brian. She says they “never took it to the next level”. They only hung out and stuff. Been there before. But believe me, Brian wants to take it to the next level. Thankfully, Audrina is not into Danny. And my hopes are still alive!

There is an awkward moment where Brian and Audrina join Lauren, Jason, Heidi, and Jordan at a restaurant. Brian doesn’t know that Audrina went on a date and Audrina comes right after her date. Heidi wants to know all about Danny and the look on Brian’s face is one I have had many times. That’s painful!

On Jason’s birthday, Jason goes golfing with Brian and Jordan. Lauren has to work, but Lauren’s birthday present to Jason is in the back of Jordan’s car. It’s a new set of golf clubs! Jason likes them a lot and Lauren is happy. A side note here. Anyone else think that little “yeeaahhh!” that Lauren does, in agreement after someone says something, is so cute and adorable?! You know..she says in this little girl voice, but you can’t help but smile at it. Yeah..anyways..maybe that’s just me.

Now for the trouble to start. Jason doesn’t think that Lauren is happy to finally see him after working all day. Then..Jason makes an odd comment. He wants to know if Lauren wants to go home after dinner with the gang. Now I figure he means together, of course. Lauren says she will see how it goes. Jason then says that if Lauren wants to go home, she can take the car home. And I am like..”huh?”! Lauren is like that too. That makes no sense. You’re going out without your girlfriend on your birthday. Doesn’t make much sense since he spent the day with his friends and five seconds ago Jason was whining about Lauren not being happy to see him. Now he’s all ready to ditch her. Way to blow things Jason!

They do the dinner thing. And here’s an interesting piece of news. Audrina used to work at Hooters! Awesome! In the middle of dinner, Jason walks out. Another odd thing as he ignores Lauren. WTF?! And did I not call this? Jason says he is just being friendly by talking to everyone and not sitting next to Lauren, but yeah..it’s just his true self shining through. Lauren is not happy. All I have to say is I told you so!! Lauren goes home and Jason goes out without her. Lauren is mad and Jason doesn’t know why. But they save that fight for another time. Dumbass!

This week, we start off with some interesting talk from Lauren, Heidi, and Audrina. It turns out to be the “6-Month Anniversary” for Heidi and Jordan. Jordan asked out Heidi with a bunch of lilies or something. And somehow this leads to Lauren talking about how big 6 months used to be back in high school. Here is her direct quote. “Do you remember how big of a deal 6 months used to be? Like if you were in high school and you were a good girl..like 6 months..you ‘gave it up’!” And I don’t think I have to explain that any further. Bad Lauren, but I like it! Hehehe.

Heidi still has issues with her job. I thought she quit? Anyways her boss tells her that they want to try and work her into the clubs. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people. She has to work Wednesday nights, but she can’t work THIS Wednesday. That’s her anniversary. She wants to start on Saturday, but her boss says no way. Then, she gives Heidi a list of rules. And basically the job is not as fun as Heidi thought it would be. No partying, while working! Bummer.

Jason wants to talk to Lauren about the other night (last episode). And Lauren is right when saying that since he spent all day with his friends, she figured he would want to spend the night with Lauren. Jason says that he never gets to see the guys that were there at his party. Lauren is not mad at Jason. She was just sad that night. And things seem be fine between them now. Of course, that will change soon enough.

Lauren and Whitney go with Teen Vogue to a big DKNY Jeans fashion show to kick off “L.A. Fashion Week”! It doesn’t go that well to start for Lauren. She was a few minutes late, which is a few too many minutes. Things go great for Whitney, however. They are missing a model at the show and Whitney has to take her place. She is actually working in the show to the surprise of Lauren and herself. But everything works out for Whitney. Her bosses think she could become a full-time model now. I think I see a little jealousy in Lauren’s eyes.

Heidi and Jordan do their anniversary thing a little earlier since Heidi has to work and Jordan gives her some earrings. Everything seems fine between them. Of course, Jordan and Brian come to “visit” Heidi at the LAX nightclub where she is supposed to be working. That leads to Heidi blowing off her job and getting into more trouble with her boss. And she even gets into a fight with Jordan, while she is getting in trouble with her work. Why? A guy named Josh (don’t hate me) took Heidi on a date a long time ago and he comes to talk to Heidi. This drives Jordan crazy. This only leads to a bigger fight in the car after the club is closed. That’s a good anniversary!

And look at the previews of future episodes. Lauren still having trouble with Jason. That’s shocking I know, but I told you so! He’s not going to change! Where’s Stephen when you need him?! Oh..he’s on TRL.

‘Cheyenne’

Last week, Cheyenne does a little traveling. They go from Las Vegas to Breckenridge, CO. She has do perform in each location. She is not too happy about packing. But she’s right..why go to Vegas when you are 15? No point. Nothing to do. Cheyenne’s mom thinks she will end up like Britney Spears and get married in Vegas and Cheyenne likes that idea. Her mom doesn’t as you might expect.

In Las Vegas, Cheyenne has to stay in the hotel while her parents go out to drink and gamble! HAHAHA! Cheyenne ends up singing at the “Consumer Electronics” convention. She’s hit the big time! But the people in attendance liked her well enough.

Next it was off to Colorado for some skiing and Cheyenne is excited, because she gets to hang out with people her own age there. That includes Cheyenne’s hot sister, Brittany. But Brittany brought her boyfriend along. Bummer. Somehow Cheyenne talks about having sex in those ski lift things. Interesting. My god..that is just wrong. Britney’s boyfriend is a weird, long-haired, pale skateboarder/snowboarder dude. Not right at all.

They learn how to snowboard in Breckenridge. Britney’s boyfriend, Chris, teaches Brittany. Cheyenne gets a personal instructor for her. After some fun in the snow, they all go to hang out in the lodge for a little bit. But eventually it’s time for Cheyenne to go to a local high school to speak to a choir. She’s never been to a real high school, so she is nervous. Everything goes fine here, though. She even makes a few new friends (i.e. weird guy) after singing to them.

She eventually ends up hanging out with that weird guy from the choir. Them actually having a relationship seems a little too forced to work, though. I mean..stop with that music! They barely know each other! Good song, but still..wrong time. Enough for this episode.

This week, Cheyenne loses a guitar player in her band to start things off. She’s picky on the replacement. She wants someone young, so that she can hang out with and be part of the family. But mom says she won’t hire someone “too cute”. No “bus” romances here! They begin their search for a new guitar player. There is some disagreements on the new guy, but they finally agree on a guy named Ethan. Yay!

The big news next is that Cheyenne gets to see her first tour bus! Rock & Roll! To say she is excited when she sees it..would be an understatement. Cheyenne thinks sharing the bus with a bunch of guys could get interesting. You think! Especially since you’re 15! Lucky for me, Brittany visits everyone on the tour bus. Interesting to note that one member of the band is actually married. And then we get a bunch of clips of Cheyenne and everyone on tour and in their tour bus. Yeah..that’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen you hear in the background. Stop the madness!! Hey..how about a plug for Verizon cell phones and V-Cast?! Sure thing.

Happy days are here now. Cheyenne goes back to Dallas to play at a famous club there. She also gets to spend time with Jason, the dreadlock college dude that Cheyenne likes. She wants to know if Jason wants to be in her music video. He agrees.

And speaking of the music video, we have some problems there. She is filming a video for her single, “Hanging On”. She wants Jason to be in it, of course, but the producers and creative people don’t know if that will work or not. Great..Cheyenne cries before she goes on TRL for the first time. And then she whines when she doesn’t get her way with the video. Jason is in the video, but Jason only gets a small cameo in it. Cheyenne wants Jason to be a bigger part of the video. So she fights with her mom about this and her mom is completely right. She cries some more and that’s all I can handle! Yeah..you’re the artist and its your music. But this is your first freakin’ video! And god knows it won’t matter what the hell it looks like since it will be blasted on MTV over and over again. So stop being a brat about things!

And that’s all I will say about this show. Still don’t like, but it’s watchable. Well..it is until it goes into the ‘My Super Sweet 16’ category, which is teenagers whining and complaining about how they don’t get their way. Thousands and thousands of fellow teenagers would KILL to be in the same position as Cheyenne and the people on ‘My Super Sweet 16’. This is “C-minus” show at best.

THURSDAY

‘Making the Band 3’

Last week, Diddy brought the girls to New York City. They moved into their new house there. They had their own beds with a portrait of each one of them hanging above their beds. Yeah..the house is crazy big, especially for New York City! And holy smokes..Aubrey has brown hair now! It doesn’t look that bad really.

Here comes Diddy to rain on their parades, though. Via the I-Chat, Diddy tells Aubrey that her hair looks like a wig. He then tells all the girls that their boyfriends will be gone soon. They will be the hottest girls around and all the guys will be after them. And oh look..they have a mouse in the house. They all scream and stuff, especially Aundrea. It continues to torment the girls all day long. So Aubrey breaks out a knife and goes to cut the mouse up. Dawn decides to call the extermigator instead, though. The girls think the two pet control specialists that come to the house are sexy or something.

Diddy brings in Betty Wright, a great vocal coach, to coach the girls and work on their voices. They then get a personal visit from Diddy to see how well they are doing. As soon as Diddy got there, they all went to crap. They were singing great until Diddy was there and then they got nervous. He doesn’t like it at all. He tells Shannon that she needs the most work than anyone else. Diddy tells Shannon that she needs to stop being scared and just break loose with things. Just be comfortable with herself on the stage.

Shannon continues to have trouble. She tries to be so perfect the first time that she usually holds back and doesn’t go all the way for fear that she might go too far and overdue it. She calls her husband to talk about her problems.

Diddy comes back to see how the girls are doing and he still doesn’t like it. He even boos them. He says they spent too much time signing autographs and being famous and not enough time working on their singing. He takes them to the studio, so they can hear how bad they are singing. Diddy then brings them back for some personal instruction. He tells the girls to think about whoever they have to think about to get them to sing the way they should and mean it. Everyone does good except for Shannon! Diddy calls her out once again. He says she is holding back the group. She needs to break out of her shell. Shannon says no one told her how to connect to the emotion of the song. They do try it one more time and this time Diddy gets goosebumps! They got so emotionally involved in the song that tears began to flow. Shannon says it was like a cleansing for them. And we end this episode on a positive note.

This week, Diddy has the girls go on “Hell Week”. They have 72 hours where they have to run around the live the life of a successful artist to see what’s it like. That means 6 a.m. wakeup calls and singing lessons with Betty Wright. She tells the girls that they have to be constantly singing and dancing so that they can just be “good enough”.

Now the girls have to prepare to face Miss Jones, a local radio DJ. Not good, since she was rude to them and made fun of them before. They go to Hot 97 FM for their interview on Day 2 of “Hell Week”. She wants them to freestyle over a beat and they blow that shot. They finally do sing “When We Make Love”. But Miss Jones calls them “wack” since they couldn’t do something on the spot. Her and her listeners came up with possible names for their group. They include “Catch a Brick!”, “Good Luck Lou!”, and “Three (Because Only Three of You Bitches Can Sing!)”. Miss Jones asks which three can sing and a girl says Wanita, Dawn, and Aundrea. Shannon and Aubrey don’t look happy. Wanita says it’s not cool that they were disrespected like that. They are a group. Aubrey says its frustrating to be consider “the white girl who can’t sing”.

The next thing they have to do is meet with the recording label company, Atlantic Records. They are in charge of marketing and everything else. The whole staff is there and they are intimidated again. Harve Pierre, Senior V.P./General Manager of Bad Boy Entertainment, Kevin Liles, Executive Vice President of Warner Music Group, and Andre Harrell, artist development, talk to them. They tell them to “dig in deep” and create hits. They have to get an album out soon. They won’t accept less than 120%!

They go straight to a production meeting after that to work with two producers. They seem to be pleased with them. With the exception of Aubrey. She is sucking! She doesn’t want to be “the pretty white girl that can’t sing”. They are pretty tired when they get back to the house. But they have a photoshoot to do. And now Aubrey is sick.

They get a visit from Hen Roc next, who is a big club promoter for Bad Boy Entertainment. He drags the girls along with him to various clubs so that they can network and talk to club DJs, so that their songs can be played in the clubs and get airplay. Aubrey is still sick, but she toughs it out. They go home and Aubrey talks to her boyfriend about being sick. They still have to go to Diddy’s house at 2 a.m. to write some songs. When they get there, Aubrey tells Diddy that she is sick. And Diddy sends Aubrey home right away! Aubrey wants to stay, but Diddy says she has a fever and he can’t risk the other girls getting sick. Aubrey leaves and she is upset. Diddy asks why and Aubrey says Diddy wants them to be an international supergroup, but it’s hard when they can’t be a group. Diddy doesn’t want the other girls to get sick. They sorta bump heads about the issue, but Aubrey goes home to get some rest.

The next day they go to Laurie Ann for some dance rehearsal and they are at the end of their hellacious 72 hours. They tell Laurie about the Miss Jones radio appearance and the names for their group. Laurie tells them to have “tough skin”. Forget all the negativity and just be yourself. It’s enough. Diddy picked you for a reason basically. Laurie gives them a good pep talk. Finally, they go back to Betty to sing some more and Aubrey sings her heart out. They all then crash back at their house due to exhaustion

Next up for the girls, it appears they are ready to make some sweet music. Yay! I don’t know about you, but they could be good. I know when I hear that “I Love You” song, I think of them and the competition. I didn’t even know that was a real song until I heard it on the radio. We’ll see if the girls can stop doubting themselves and be a group. Remember..Diddy picked them for a reason!

‘Run’s House’

Last week, Run starts off this episode by looking for a clean “reverend” collar for his suit. He tells his wife that he has a harder job than his brother Russell. Russell is just a producer. Rev Run is an entertainer and a producer. He has to sit and talk to others AND do his own thing. His wife nags him about when he is coming home. Run says he will be home sometime today. Hehehe. Run is off to a radio station to promote his new album.

Meanwhile, JoJo lies to his parents about passing driver’s education. Well..he did pass the class, but he failed the written exam. And Russy broke his Gameboy. This upsets Run, since he now feels that he is losing control of his house due to his professional career. He goes to talk to his bishop and see what he thinks. Run’s bishop tells him that if his family is not managed, then the family will get into trouble.

So the big thing here is family vs. career. Run goes and talks to his kids and tries to get control of the house again. He tells Russy that he is going to pay for a new Gameboy by doing chores and stuff. He will learn the value of money. He tells JoJo to work harder in school, since he is underachieving. He could do much better at school.

Finally, Run tells his brother, Russell, that he is going to work at home from now on. Russell doesn’t like that all. Too much money to do that, but Run says he is going to pay for it himself. So Russell doesn’t like it, but Run has made up his mind.

At the end of the episode, Run sits in his bathtub and writes on his phone as usual. The message of this show involves balancing work and family. “Life is a struggle and the harder you work, the more alive you should feel. So embrace the effort and you’ll discover that the balance will find you…”

This week, Run’s oldest daughter, Vanessa, gets a call from Maxim Magazine and she has a photoshoot with them. It’s for “100 hot celebrities” or something. But it would be great exposure for her modeling career. Vanessa just doesn’t want to be known as just a sex symbol, though. Vanessa is a little nervous to tell Run, so she tells her mom first. Eventually, she tells Run too and he says he trusts Vanessa to do the right thing.

Meanwhile, JoJo passed his written driving test. He said he guessed at the answers. He doesn’t seem too excited about passing. He says he can’t drive, which is why Run is paying for driving lessons for JoJo. A guy named Paul is JoJo’s driving instructor. JoJo is nervous. But in the end, Paul says he does a good job. JoJo is ready to drive now.

Run also gets a card in the mail for a special reveal of the new Lamborghini car. Run thinks it’s a sign from God or something. He goes and talks to his brother, Russell, about the whole Maxim Magazine thing. Run wants to go to the photoshoot with her, but Russell and his wife talk him out of it.

Angela goes with Vanessa to the photo shoot. And it’s an interesting one. It’s not that revealing, because Angela is right there to pull down Vanessa’s skirt when it rides up. Run calls the girls in the middle of the shoot. Vanessa tells Run that it’s not bad as he thinks. Then comes a shot where Vanessa is lying down on a bed. Angela argues with Vanessa about it, but Angela was told to watch her. They do the pictures, though.

And oh look..here comes Run home with a Lamborghini. Run also has a TV that comes out from a chest at the foot of the bed. That’s pretty sweet! He’s James Bond with kids says Run. At the end of the day Run writes..“Are you sceptical? The world is full of people who would prevent others from growing and changing for the better. Life moves forward and so do the ones you love. Let them flourish, and maybe you’ll change for the better too!”

‘Pimp My Ride’

Last week, the GAS crew pimped out a 1994 Mitsubishi Galant for a girl named Monique. She calls her car “Sugar Honey Iced Tea”! Why? Well..take the first letters from those words and you get a new word! So Monique really calls her car “S**t!” Get it?

Her car is all screwed up. Paint is peeling off and the seats are torn apart among other things. There are dents all over the car as well! On every side side of the car! She likes spoken-word poetry and takes care of her two little sisters. Monique tackles Xzibit when she sees him and Xzibit likes that a lot! He wants to do that again! Xzibit finds a needle inside of her car and that’s for Monique’s sister’s insulin. Xzibit thinks it might be for something illegal, though. She can also crawl from her backseat into her trunk. Not by original design of the car, though.

The GAS crew puts in a chaise lounge in the backseat of her car so she can be comfortable, while she writes her poetry. A hide-away laptop will also be in the backseat. The trunk now opens “flip-flop” style. Mad Mike hooks up the car with microphones in the bumpers of the car, so she can hear the world around her to be a good poetry. And here comes those useless 2″ TV monitors in the headlights of the car!! Stupid! The doors now open “suicide-style”. The car is now a baby blue color with a sun design on the car. Pretty sweet color actually. It’s looks damn good!

The best additions to this car are the chaise lounge in the back that is wrapped in white fur like a tiger, and the scrolling LED screen that is put in place of the sun visors. Monique’s lines of poetry actually scroll across this screen for all to read. Oh..and a projector screen pops out of her trunk so that she can have a stage for her poetry. In addition, Xzibit gave her a digital camera to finish things off!

This week, Xzibit and the GAS crew pimp out a 1976 Ford Econoline “Ice Cream” Truck! Yeah..you heard right! It’s for a guy named Dante and yes..he does really sell ice cream from the truck. He wanted to have his own business, so he decided to continue to sell ice cream from the truck. Fantastic!

When Xzibit sees this car, he’s scared for the kids. The ice cream truck looks like a kidnapper’s truck. But then he sees that the kids could be scary as well. All the windows on the truck are caged in. The kids bang on the truck and pull on the cages. The business is called “Amigos Ice Cream”, which is odd since Dante is not Mexican. But it was the original name and Dante kept it that way.

The crew decide to put in a mechanical arm to distribute the ice cream to the kids. Mad Mike wants to put in a plasma high-definition satellite TV with TiVo! My god! Also, there will be a touch-screen system for the ice cream selection process. There will also be a motorized door to reveal the ice cream selections. They are going for the whole “cool” theme here. The outside is painted in icy blue and white flakes. It’s cold in here! The gang gets a surprise when they tear up the truck, though. It’s mice! Not just a rat, but 8 mice!

To tell you the truth, the inside interior of the truck is not that great. It’s this rainbow candy stripe color. I guess it fits, but I don’t like it. The outside is okay. I thought it would look better, though. The wheels are cool and all the hi-tech stuff inside is AWESOME! That’s the best thing about the truck. Satellite TV in the truck with TiVo! Oh..and the new ice cream song is remixed! Xzibit gives him two iPods for his new iPod mixer DJ station, which is badass! Who wants some ice cream now?!?!

And that ends the third and special “double” volume of the “MTV Mix”! If you have any questions or suggestions, then send my way!

I’ll see you next week when we mix things up a bit!

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!