Post from: Crushable

Yoga is one of those activities that is easy only once you’re consistently doing it—and even then it’s still difficult, as you move up through the various classes and levels. Actually getting to the point where you’re regularly taking classes several times a week is frustrating enough. But with The Blissology Project, you can actually take that daunting first step (into Downward Dog) without stressing.

For only $10, you get access to 4 yoga video classes taught by celebrity yogi Eoin Finn. You can watch them as many times as you want for 30 days. That’s insane, right?

First, let’s lay out the issues with keeping a consistent yoga schedule while you’re in college or starting out in your new job:

• Having the energy before or after work/class to actually go
• Working a studio into your commute
• Carrying around your yoga mat and change of clothes
• Figuring out when you can get away with being smelly and sweaty afterwards—on your lunch break? in-between classes?
• Paying $10 a class at minimum (or jostling for a spot in line for the pay-what-you-can places)

Yeah, it’s no wonder that many people are too intimidated or inconvenienced to incorporate yoga into their daily routine. So here’s where The Blissology Project comes in: you pay your $10 and then get to decide what the next month will be for you. Wherever you can set up a laptop, you can take one of the four classes; it’s up to you which ones you do each week.

That means you can do it late at night when most yoga studios are closed; you’ll have your own shower feet away (or down the hall in your dorm) to wash off in afterwards; and you won’t be as self-conscious as you would in a room with more experienced attendees.

Your guide, yogi and “blissologist” Eoin Finn, has worked with hundreds of professional athletes; plus, he’s endorsed by Oprah. Say no more!

Click to get your one-month subscription to The Blissology Project.

Related posts:

• You Can Thank Yoga for Gwyneth Paltrow Saving That Woman’s Life on 9/11
• Off The Market: Bethenny Frankel’s Exercise DVD ‘Body By Bethenny’

Post from: Crushable

It’s not an exact science, however; there’s no way to search which autographs made it onto Wikipedia, and it’s not as if there’s a clear pattern (though I have my theories). It’s more of a pleasant surprise to stumble upon when you happen to be looking up certain stars.

So why now? My best guess is that, as with most other modes of pop culture, teenagers and their tastes are taking over. Think about it: You’ve got the most tech-savvy generation starting to move into communities like Wikipedia, and of course they’d direct more attention toward the celebrities they follow. Then they draw from their autograph collections — or what’s available online, which is more often likely to be the signatures of teen stars — to post those online. Case in point: The Twilight trio are all featured.

This is by no means a complete list — just what I could find from poking around various celebrities’ pages and following the above instincts.

• Miley Cyrus
• Kristen Stewart
• Robert Pattinson
• Taylor Lautner
• John McCain
• Barack Obama
• Ashley Tisdale
• Alex Trebek
• Jay Leno
• Beyonce
• Oprah

Although the inclusion of autographs at first seems creepy, noteaking leaning toward the obsessive, now I would say that it’s a good thing. It personalizes the profile more. After all, you come to Wikipedia to learn things you don’t know. Wouldn’t it also stand that fans would like to live through their peers who were able to snag an autograph?

(It’s worth mentioning that there’s an unofficial wikia devoted just to autographs. Though they have only three entries, two are ones that Wikipedia doesn’t have: Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.)

A note on timing: According to the edits, some signatures like Kristen’s have been on the site since 2010 — but this trend as a whole still seems fairly new.

Related posts:

• Snap This: Getting Felicia Day’s Signature Tattooed on Your Leg Is the New “Will You Sign My Chest?”
• College Life: Your Pseudo-Professional Email Signature Is Offensive
• Snap This: Even Tina Fey’s Autograph Is Hilarious
• Gallery: ‘Doctor Who’s’ Matt Smith Signs Autographs For Hungry Fans
• Snap This: Wikipedia Killed ‘The Magic School Bus’

Post from: Crushable

Related posts:

• 12 Celebrities With Red, White, and Blue Hair
• Gallery: Celebs in Canadian Tuxedos for Canada Day
• Gallery: Celebs in Cat-Eye Glasses

Post from: Crushable

Photo courtesy Krissy Wall

Krissy Wall is Director, Development & Programming, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. She previously worked her way up through Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media from receptionist to Director of Unscripted Development. After a brief stint freelance producing for Bethenny Frankel’s Bravo TV show Bethenny Getting Married?, Krissy joined the network in 2010, and has been growing ever since.

We ate bowl fulls of fresh pasta at Speranza in Los Angeles’ Silverlake neighborhood, and dished about developing must-see TV.

You’ve worked with some pretty high profile people – Oprah, Ashton, Bethenny. I would freak out. Do you ever get starstruck?

In the workplace I have to turn off that part of my brain – if someone comes into the office that I admire, I’m quick to tell them I appreciate their work but always keep it professional. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. I met Hillary Clinton on OWN’s Extraordinary Moms shoot and I forgot the English language and could only speak in vowels.

I totally got that way, too, once, but it was because Ryan Phillippe was in front of me at the movie theater.

Ha! That makes sense, he is pretty dreamy. I’m also a huge music fan – I saw Jenny Lewis at a Vietnamese restaurant near my house and was so excited I had to leave.

When I think of “network executive,” I think boring corporate suit. And here you are, straight from work, in a trendy outfit and RayBans. What gives?

Occasionally, people in the office will wear suits if we have an event, but most days I’m in jeans and a button down shirt.

Thank God! Getting dressed up for work is such a chore.

I definitely want to look good – I work for Oprah. But, thankfully, I can still be me.

Your job is twofold – development AND programming. What is the difference?

In development, we take pitches from outside sources – producers, agents, talent or anyone who has an idea – and then we’ll decide if it’s something that would be right for the brand. We also develop ideas internally — we brainstorm, cut out magazine articles, try to find trends that would make a great TV show, look for great talent, and just basically work as an idea factory.

It sounds like your input really matters.

It’s pretty cool. I think everyone — the assistants and coordinators and executives really feel that. Everyone gets heard. It’s an awesome thing for the group to be a think tank together. But, when you do speak, it better be about something you believe in because you need to be able to support it fully.

Back to the programming aspect. The word “programming” makes me think of robots, but I imagine it’s more fun than that.

Programming is managing the shows that actually make it to air – everything from working with producers on casting, production management, and post production (editing, etc). I view cuts and give feedback to producers and editors from the network. I learned really quickly how many departments at a network are involved in the process. For one episode to go on the air, a lot of people work hard to weigh in and approve certain aspects. It’s a team effort. A big part of programming is working with a lot of different people to make sure the project is on track creatively and technically.

Tell me about the notes process. Is it pretty much just your opinion? Or was there some sort of basic training involved in how to properly deliver feedback?

There’s definitely a crash course to giving notes. It’s a skill that I’ve had to learn from my bosses. It’s just as important to be specific and clear about what’s working and not working as it is to be thoughtful – when you give notes you want to be clear so that they can be executed properly but you want to express a sense of gratitude to people who are working on the project.

When I was working in post production, I was the recipient of network notes. Because of that experience, I have a better understanding of how my words and direction affect the people who are making the content. Almost all of us at OWN have worked in production so we have a sense of empathy.

So, you found a great idea. What happens next?

We try to actually make television! We break out a format, decide how the show would work, and then usually we film and produce a presentation or a full on pilot to see if we can prove the content has legs, and then we bring it up the food chain. If everyone thinks there’s a good idea to create a series, they’ll green light it.

We have a whole research department at OWN. We listen to what they have to say about what people are watching, what’s happening in society, things that our core audience is already excited about, and then we try to make shows out of those ideas.

How did you get into this business? Did you always dream of one day working at a network?

I actually had no idea that I would work at a network when I first moved to LA. While I was out freelancing on my own, I got a call from OWN Senior Vice President of programming and development, Rod Aissa, a former boss of mine from Katalyst who had started working at OWN and he asked me to interview. In my mind, network executives were all suits, too, and I had this thought of, “I’m not a network executive. I won’t fit in there!” But then I interviewed with the department, and they were all brilliant people, and it was a relief that I could have a fancy sounding job and also get to be creative.

Are your friends constantly trying to get you to listen to their TV show ideas? I feel like that would get old fast.

You never know where you can get a great idea, so I usually listen. But it can be hard. Recently, I met a great guy and I thought we were gonna go out on a date — and then I realized he just wanted to pitch me an idea. That was disappointing.

What if someone has an idea that they’re passionate about that you don’t share their passion for? How do you let them down easy?

I try to explain a real reason why the idea doesn’t work for us. Everyone is human, and every person’s idea is important to them. I was a producer, and I remember how important that was when I was out pitching.

What’s the biggest bummer about your job?

When I’ve fallen in love with a concept for a show – it’s like I’ve already married it, and had kids with it, and I’m imagining our future, and I pitch it, and it’s just… crickets. But the opposite of that is also true – when I work on something that makes it to air, that win is equally satisfying.

What kind of skill set does someone in your position need to have?

You need to be creative. You need to be good with people, be a good listener, and have a passion for storytelling. I think you have to be a really curious person. A great development executive is excited about more than their job. The more plugged in I am to the world around me, the easier it is to spot trends. If I’m living and experiencing pop culture as a human, I’ll realize what makes good TV. And, you have to have a ham element to your personality – you can’t be afraid of public speaking, you have to be able to pitch to a large group of people.

You’re in your twenties, and I have to imagine the producers you work with are older than you. Do you ever feel like the kid sitting at the adult table?

I remember I was shooting a pilot a few months after I started my job, and I was nervous being the network executive on set – I’d never done that before, and I was decades younger than the producer I was working with, and I felt a little ridiculous. I had to prove to myself that it wasn’t ridiculous for me to be there. 99% of it was in my own head. It comes down to respect – if I’m respectful and grateful to my producers, it’s more collaborative.

If you went into work tomorrow, and your bosses said they would give an immediate green light to any show you wanted to develop, what would that dream show be?

That question freaks me out! I’m trying to find the dream show every day. It’s why I’m reading a million magazines and books and blogs and watching a lot of TV to try and find “the show” – when I do latch onto something I find myself asking “Is this idea just something that I’m obsessed with right now or is there really something there that has series potential?”

What’s the best part of your day?

Any time that there’s measurable success – if we get a cut of a project I worked on and it’s in great shape, or if we get graphics or main titles and they’re beautiful — recently I got stills from this production we worked on, and they were gorgeous, and it was really satisfying because I knew the idea was working. If I pitch something in a meeting and we decide to pilot it – or if a pilot I work on goes to series – there is no better feeling.

Related posts:

• Hollywood Jobs: Dan Curry, Visual Effects Supervisor
• Hollywood Jobs: Monifa Coffee, Makeup Artist
• Hollywood Jobs: Leslie Thorson, Location Manager

Post from: Crushable

• Are Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt planning Shiloh‘s fifth birthday party at a place called Soap Plant? (Lainey Gossip)

• Hilary Duff chats about married life at the Sobe event in the park outside our office. (Betty Confidential)

• Little House on the Prairie star Gigi Goyette claims she also slept with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990s, and her friends are claiming that the Governator left her injured after one encounter. (Celeb Dirty Laundry)

• What’s the cause of “the Oprah effect”? It’s because she personifies the American dream, says a gender studies expert. (My Daily)

Post from: Crushable

Related posts:

• A Guide to the Celebrities Who Have Not Been Cast in ‘The Hunger Games’
• Crushable Quotable: 14-Year-Old Oprah’s Cries For Attention Way More Intense Than Ours
• Daily WTF: Oprah Riding A Kangaroo. On A Cake.

Post from: Crushable

• Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Josh Groban, and many more were at the taping of Oprah‘s final show. (BuzzFeed)

• We have beheld the power of Beliebers, but did you know that the OG Zac Efron can still make his fans squeal and try to trample him? (College Candy)

• Lady Gaga and musician/bartender Luc Carl – who dated while she was still Stefani Germanotta and reunited when she became Gaga – have split, again. (YourTango)

• Here are a few names to match to the body parts listed above: Dolly Parton, Keith Richards, America Ferrera. (Betty Confidential)

Post from: Crushable

• Duchess Sarah Ferguson shared with Oprah her pain of not being invited to attend the Royal Wedding. Maaaybe because she was caught on-camera accepting money for access to her ex-husband? (People)

• This is a shame: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have announced that they’re separating. They were one of those Hollywood marriages that we thought was going to work. (Mommyish)

• This writer tried Madonna‘s PowerPlate workout for a month, and it actually worked! (MyDaily)

• Robert Pattinson reveals that most people he encounters these days become shallow acquaintances, because he doesn’t know how to trust people since they envision him only as Edward Cullen. (Celeb Dirty Laundry)

Post from: Crushable

• Aw, they’re meant for each other. Famewhore Oksana Grigorieva (Mel Gibson‘s ex) allegedly had a relationship with her ex-bodyguard, who’s written an “explosive” tell-all. (Celeb Dirty Laundry)

• Oprah, Tina Fey, and Clinton Kelly rank among this writer’s celebrity shopping buddies. Who would yours be? (The Frisky)

• For Kourtney Kardashian‘s birthday, sisters Kim and Khloe posted sweet messages and chidlhood pics. (Celebuzz)

• It’s Screen-Free Week, but how could we turn off the TV when the Will & Kate Lifetime movie is on tonight? (DoubleXMag)

• Blind critic Tommy Edison reviews Scream 4, hopes the victims looked good, at least. (BuzzFeed)

Post from: Crushable