Batson's Blog

Another season of TV shows is just starting. In fact, tonight is the season premiere of White Collar on the USA Network . I can’t personally attest to the quality of the show since I’ve only seen a few episodes of it. However, the fact that the show is on its fifth season says something. The couple of times I did watch, I watched for one reason: Tiffani Thiessen . She, among a few others, is the topic for my blog today. At this point she has got to be considered one of Hollywood’s most sustainable stars. Thiessen’s first major success was as Kelly Kapowski on Saved By The Bell . That show is still on reruns in syndication (the same can’t be said for Saved By The Bell: The New Class ). After SBTB , Thiessen went on to 90210 , keeping things interesting as the vampy Valerie Malone after Shannen Doherty’s departure from the show left a possibility of boredom on the Beverly Hills-themed drama. Thiessen floundered a bit after her run on 90210. Shows like Fastlane , Good Mor...

It's Boss's Day. What better way to celebrate than by counting down 10 of the most horrible bosses to work for? You think you have it bad? Try being under the employ of some of these people... 10. Michael Scott It's hard not to like Michael Scott...if you're watching him on The Office. If you're his employee, that's an entirely different story. He's in way over his head when it comes to managing anyone. In his attempts to be politically correct, he ends up offending many of his employees. He's constantly trying to be the center of attention, making a miserable work setting for the crew that works at Dunder Mifflin. He'll often make promises, but renege on those promises when he realizes they won't work. His heart is in the right spot at times, but he usually messes up anything that starts off with good intentions. 9. Parker Selfridge I was going to place Donald Trump here (due to some of his horrible decisions in the board...

Last month Bruno Mars was announced as the half time performer for Super Bowl XLVIII . He's a fresh choice and an amazing singer. It should be a highly entertaining show if they can select some PG-rated songs in his repertoire. Who opens the show though? Who is the National Anthem singer? Miley Cyrus From a publicity standpoint, the obvious choice would be Miley Cyrus. The twerking, tongue-wagging, foam finger-waving Cyrus has been grabbing headlines since before her performance at the Mtv VMA's. If they want headlines, then NFL and Fox executives would be smart to choose Ms. Bangerz . It wouldn't be a bad decision on Miley's part either. After all the disparaging headlines and remarks she's gotten lately, it would be a nice change of pace for her to deliver a great version of "The Star Spangled Banner." Hunter Hayes If you take a look at the history of national anthem singers at the Super Bowl, most tend to be female. There are som...

I got some sad news recently: Taco John's discontinued their deliciously underrated treat: the apple grande. For me, this is worse than the Twinkie ordeal earlier this year. I grew up eating these whenever my family went to Taco John's. You didn't even need to get a taco. A Pepsi, potato oles and an apple grande was a delicious meal by itself. The apple grande was not one of those treats that you'd often hear people talking about. There are probably quite a few people out there who never even got to experience the taste bud happiness that the apple grande provided. It was an amazing, crispy flour tortilla that was coated in cinnamon and sugar and topped with warm apple filling, cheddar cheese and crushed cinnamon candy. I was told by one of the Taco John's locations that they no longer served the apple grande and that it was a nationwide change. I don't know if that's the case or not. The item is still listed on the Taco John's website...

Thousands of people were in Concord for the Bank of America 500 this weekend. I made a stop, just south of the Speedway, at Granny Mac's Bake Shop . I wasn't really sure what to expect going there. Had I checked out their website, I probably would've had a better idea. Once you walk in, there are donuts, cookies and other goodies to the right. The cupcakes are to the left. I started walking to the display case and quickly noticed that these cupcakes are huge! They’re Perkins Mammoth Muffins huge or Sam’s Club huge. One thing's for sure: you don't need too many of these cupcakes to make a hearty dessert. Strawberry Cupcake This cupcake was potent! I could smell it in my car on the way home even though the cupcake was securely packed into a plastic bakery box. There's a nice strawberry flavor to it. In searching for awesome cupcakes this year, I've realized that some strawberry cupcakes have a really strong strawberry flavor (almost to t...

The rave reviews and building intrigue got to me. I went to go see Gravity . I wasn’t really sure what to expect. No bad reviews? That’s a gamble. After all, when people rave about movies, there’s a safe bet they won’t be good. Half of the movies that earn Academy Awards each year are more boring than entertaining. Meanwhile, how was a 90-minute moving going to be able to capture my attention when the focus is on an astronaut being stranded in space? Well, the reviews were right and the movie had my attention from the get go. So if you see any headlines that say, ‘ Gravity soared,’ ‘ Gravity was out of this world!,’ ‘Get pulled in by Gravity ’ or any other cheesy puns, you can probably believe them. It wasn’t the best movie ever. It was groundbreaking in a way though. It’s essentially just two actors – Sandra Bullock and George Clooney – in a weightless, soundless environment. I’m not sure how accurate their depiction of space was (moreso than Star Trek and Star ...

The 2013 American Music Awards nominations were announced by Kelly Clarkson and will.i.am in New York City this morning. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis lead the pack of nominees with six nominations. Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake are right behind them with five, while Rihanna, Robin Thicke and Florida Georgia Line received four nominations each. I was happy to see Pink announced as a contender for Female Artist of the year. Her competition includes Swift and Rihanna. She's also nominated for Favorite Artist - Adult Contemporary, but she'll have to beat out Bruno Mars and Maroon 5 for that. Artist of the Year? Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake are all up for that one. Meanwhile there's a new category for "Single of the Year." Thicke's "Blurred Lines" is, of course, up for that award. Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" was also nominated. "Thrift Shop" was appropria...