Kat with a K

The Most Incredibly Exciting Week Ever

Okay, that may be overstating things a little, but seriously, folks, there's a lot of exciting pop culture stuff going on in the next week or so. Here's a rundown of the things that interest me. (Notes: All times are Eastern. Here's an explanation of "upfronts".)

Thursday, May 13
8 p.m.: The Vampire Diaries season finale (The episode description promises death and destruction. Damon says he wants to eat cotton candy and steal Stefan's girl. Yes, please!)
10 p.m.: Private Practice season finale (Okay, I'm not actually that excited about this, but apparently a main character will die, so there's that.)

Friday, May 14
Robin Hood and Letters to Juliet come out. No, I'm not expecting cinematic greatness from either, but as I am a fan of Matthew MacFadyen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and laughably bad historical movies, in the former case, and Amanda Seyfried, Gael Garcia Bernal, silly Taylor Swift songs, and Italy, in the latter case, I am looking forward to both of these.

Monday, May 17
9 p.m.: Gossip Girl season finale (Blair responds to Chuck's ultimatum and, as usual, Jenny does something that makes us want to kill her. Necessary preparations: watch An Affair to Remember; buy scotch.)
10 p.m.: Castle season finale (I'm rather hoping this will see the end of Anders Demming getting between Castle and Beckett, but we'll see. It's too early in the series for Castle and Beckett to get together, anyway.)
Muse's new single, "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)," is released. (On a Monday? Yeah, I don't know.)
NBC and FOX Upfronts

Tuesday, May 18
9 p.m.: Neil Patrick Harris guest stars on Glee. Joss Whedon directs. (I don't need to explain why this is exciting, do I? Didn't think so.)
11 p.m.: Bradley Whitford on Chelsea Lately
The Demon's Covenant, the second book in Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon trilogy, is released.
The third album of songs from Glee comes out.
ABC Upfronts

Wednesday, May 19
8 p.m.: The Good Guys preview episode (If you're unclear on my feelings about this, um, head over here.)
Google I/O 2010 begins.
CBS Upfronts

Thursday, May 20
8 p.m.: Bones season finale (They're saying it's going to be shocking and polarizing, again. So I'm a little worried. But at least no alternate realities this time!)
9 p.m.: Grey's Anatomy season finale
10 p.m.: The Mentalist season finale
Google I/O 2010 ends, so we'll hopefully have an Android-as-hotspot announcement by then.
CW Upfronts

American Idol vs. Google Voice

As I've mentioned, Katie Stevens, a girl from my small hometown, is on American Idol this season. She has now made it to the top 24, which means that, on Tuesday night, I was trying to figure out how to actually vote on the darn thing for the first time ever. And I couldn't do it. I got a busy signal a few times, which seemed reasonable, but then it just kept ringing and ringing. I IMed a friend who's a regular Idol watcher. "Is it supposed to just ring? Is something supposed to HAPPEN?" Yes, he assure me, something was supposed to happen. I was supposed to hear a recording that thanked me for voting. This never, ever happened.

On a hunch, I turned off Google Voice (which I LOVE, except for now this one issue) for this one call and tried again. Success! I immediately got the recording I had been told I should get. So. It turns out that I am not too dumb to vote for American Idol after all, and I can assure you that that is a relief. If you're using Google Voice and are not sure how to turn it off for such purposes, here are some quick instructions:

1. Open the Voice app. (NOT the Dialer.)
2. Go to the Menu (menu button on my phone) and select Settings.
3. Select Making Calls.
4. Select "Ask every time I make a call."

Buzz "Following" Order

I understand why some people don't want Buzz to automatically display their contacts. The issue hadn't really occurred to me, because I have no anonymous sources and I don't think there's anyone I talk to who I wouldn't want my other contacts to know about. But I do understand why others are concerned.

Anyway, the part that seems weird to me is the common perception (has Google actually stated this? Not sure.) that the list of people you're following are in order by how much you e-mail or Google chat with them. This seems blatantly untrue. The person who is first on my list . . . well, actually, I was going to say that yes, over the whole time I've had Gmail, he's probably the non-listserv address I've e-mailed most, but he started using his current address not too long ago, so that's not even necessarily true. But it might be. So I'll give them a pass on that one.

But there are two people who I've talked to on Google Chat practically every day for years. Wouldn't you think they'd be at the top of the list? No, they're numbers 11 and 14. Someone else I've talked to practically every day for the past few weeks is even further down. Number 4 on the list is someone I e-mail maybe twice a week on average. So . . . I'm sure there is some sort of ordering going on here, but it's not what we think it is.

More on Buzz later today . . .