Season 5 of MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew,” kicked off last Thursday night with four crews from the South representing their own dance styles and teamwork as they vied for a spot in the next round of competition.

Twirlit stopped by the Warner Bros. soundstage where filming for this highly anticipated dance reality show takes place, and we saw the Southern moves from Xtreme Motion, Swagger Crew, Royal Flush, and Jungle Boogie.

I talked to the Atlanta crew “Royal Flush” about how they persevered after failing four times to make it to the Hollywood auditions for the show. And I have to say, I loved their enthusiasm and positive energy. Check out the video, and to catch more of these amazing dance moves, watch the show on Thursdays at 10pm ET/PT on MTV.

Behind The Scenes: MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” from twirlittv on Vimeo.

We have some fun giveaways on Twirlit this week!!

1) A chance to win a huge package of free chick flicks from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, in honor of their second Girls Night In promotion featuring branded environmentally friendly pink shrink wrap and priced at $14.95. Each DVD will also contain a free movie ticket to Nicholas Spark’s “Dear John” which opens February 5 in theaters everywhere.

2) Under Armour Workout Clothes

All you need to do is comment, tweet or blog about the giveaway to enter!  Too bad I can’t win.

MTV’s “My Life as Liz” starts off with the voice-over of angst-ridden Texas teenager Liz Lee saying “MTV made me do this.” Well, I’m sure that they didn’t force her to have her own show, but the concept of this show is refreshingly interesting. Granted, I graduated high school a while ago, but those pesky feelings of being an unpopular outsider haven’t exactly left me. I got a chance to speak with Liz Lee about our mutual distaste for Abercrombie &Fitch, the joy of not caring what people think and is this Cory Cooper person really a mean b*&*h?

How did this show come about? It’s an interesting hybrid of scripted and reality. What’s it like to star in “My Life as Liz”?
It started off in my broadcast journalism class. MTV was looking for a cast to do a spin-off of “The Paper,” so they had a posting up to answer questions on video. I just decided to do this, answer questions, and sent my tape in thinking nothing was going to happen. Then MTV came down, did an extended casting and then everything changed completely. That’s how the show got started.

So the concept of the show is that you used to be a popular girl and then senior year, everything changed? Why leave the hot clique? Most kids wait their whole lives to be popular.
So did I. I felt like I was on cloud nine to sit at the table with these popular girls. Um … I didn’t really have fun with them. I couldn’t be myself around them. One day Cory Cooper (the most popular girl in school) turned on me and she openly admits to wanting to destroy my life and be mean to me. It all started in 9th grade and me and Cory never got along. She doesn’t put it on for the cameras, she’s really that mean. She sort of just dethroned me. I just didn’t want to deal with it, and I made friends with the nerds. I decided I didn’t have to be popular and decided to just be me.

Is this really a reality show? How active are the producers in getting this show together?
The show is based on real events and relationships. Me, Troy and Miles, we are close. Me and Cory really do hate each other. People have said that we were actors. One lady said we were all actors and that the kids were always really nice. I was an outcast and it wasn’t like MTV came in and treated me differently. They didn’t try to be famous.

Interesting. So, is there diversity in your town? I mean, I watched a couple episodes and I don’t see any at all.
It’s a white-bread town in Texas. There are rednecks, hillbillies and there are like five African-American students that graduated. I just never saw them around. There are some Mexicans and its not a really diverse town. In a bubble — it’s so weird to live in Manhattan now. We have BBQ, we have fried chicken, and then to come here … restaurants and stuff.

There was a recent report that young people spend 7.5 hours per day online or using their phone, etc., how many hours are you online? Facebook? Twitter? Do you and your friends watch TV and movies online or on TV?
Umm, we’re pretty active online. We all have internet phones. Most of the time I think we twitter a lot because of the show! We can reach a bunch of people at once. Its a really awesome tool to keep in contact with the fans.

I love your character’s openness. Is it strange to be so open? Do you think that being a teenage girl is harder than ever with Facebook and every random blog where people can anonymously post rude things?
I try not to read too much of it. You know, it’s pretty crazy what people can say about you online. They can say some hurtful things. Me and Sully always say…haters gonna hate. We just live by that and accept it.

You’re pretty self-aware for a teenage girl. Any plans to pursue acting or the world of entertainment in the future?
I don’t know about acting. It’s not really a goal of mine. I don’t know how to play anyone else. If there are roles for nerdy chicks with Star Wars and sneakers though, I’d be good at that.

This show is really angsty. Are you the new Angela from “My So-Called Life”? Do you like being the poster-child for that angry outsider girl?
I love Juno and Daria and almost feel honored. It’s the weirdest thing ever. Crazy, not sure if I’ll ever be used to that.

Tell us something no one knows about you. A weird quirk? Style? Abercrombie to Urban Outfitters?
Pretty much all out there. A&F, I bought it because it was cool. Just a bunch of tans, grays and it was boring. After I dropped out of the popular crowd, there was no reason to keep buying from there. Everyone dresses like that at my high school.

Abercrombie sucks. So, Hills or Jersey Shore?
Jersey Shore. Snookie is the most entertaining!

Got any advice for any outcast, angsty teenager out there who doesn’t fit in at school?
Stick it through. Nerds get the last laugh because I feel, like my parents always said, “Don’t be mean to the nerds because they’ll be the boss one day.” We’re the silent majority. Once you get out of high school, it’s such a big world. High school is such a small fishbowl. They have so much to look forward to!

Ain’t that the truth. Thanks for talking to us, Liz. And if you’d like to channel your inner geek girl, check out “My Life as Liz,” on MTV every Monday night or at MTV.com.

My heart is saddened by Conando leaving “The Tonight Show,” as I grew up watching him. His self-deprecating, hilarious, smart, and kind nature have always been the reasons why I tuned in since the days when I was a pimply-faced teenage girl who would get in trouble for watching his show. I’ll always be down for Team Coco/Conando and will follow you wherever you go. (FOX)

I particularly loved this quote from his last show,
“All I ask is one thing particularly of young people that watch, please do NOT be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, its my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and are kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen. Its true.”

And I’m in full-on Conan mode, so check out this speech he gave at his alma mater..Harvard. OMG. HILARIOUS.

From the same network that brings you the lives of the rich and frivolous in “The Hills” and, of course, the tanned antics of “Jersey Shore,” comes a new show about four guys who are not only trying to achieve things off their “What Do You Want to Do Before You Die” list, but are also spreading goodwill along the way.

You may have seen the commercials, ads, or billboards for MTV’s “The Buried Life,” where Duncan, Ben, Jonnie, and Dave created a concept of not only trying to find purpose for themselves by playing basketball with President Obama, visiting the Playboy mansion, kissing Megan Fox, participating in a Krump competition, but also helping to deliver a baby and helping strangers achieve something from their lists.

These four guys made a promise to themselves that for every goal they achieve on their list, they would help a stranger do something on theirs. I talked to Duncan and Ben about what it took to really unearth “The Buried Life.”

Duncan and Ben, great to talk to you guys. Tell us about yourselves and how did this idea of “The Buried Life” begin?
BEN: Duncan and I are 25, Jonnie and Dave are 23, and we’re all from Victoria, Canada. We started this project in 2006 and we were going through what a lot of kids our age go through. You get to a point when you graduate college and you have no idea what’s next. We were searching for purpose and came up with this question, “What do you want to do before you die?”
DUNCAN: So, we bought a camera, worked random jobs and called companies to get sponsors to fund this project. And then it all started happening from there.

I read the NY Times article that mentioned “The Buried Life,” saying that this show represents the changing tide of MTV’s viewers in the age of Obama. What did you guys first think when you found yourselves on the front page of one of the most respected news sites in the world?
BEN: Very humbled, surprised, excited. We waited a long time to find a partner that would let us have creative control. We didn’t want to give that up. I mean, we directed, produced, edited, and chose the music for “The Buried Life.”
DUNCAN: When we saw ourselves on the NY Times, it was very cool because we felt like everyone would ask themselves that question just because of that article. That’s what we wanted to do, get everyone thinking about it.

Between the current dire situation in Haiti and our nation’s current unemployment rate, it seems as though we’re all searching for inspiration and hope more than ever. Do you think your show taps into that? How can the average person be inspired by “The Buried Life.”
BEN: Great question. Hopefully it’ll be easy to inspire anyone who watches because we’re just four regular guys and we had no ambition to start a TV show. It was just something to cross off our list, but it was never the original intent.
DUNCAN: I think that people will see that we do everything on our own and that anybody can do these things. We ended up doing lots of crazy things that people told us that we could never do because we just went for it. Hopefully they’ll see a lot of themselves in us.

Going back to that, young people are in the worst shape when it comes to the unemployment rate because companies seem to be focusing on keeping their current employees who already have experience. Yet you guys have done something really different by going against the grain. What words of advice would you give to a young person out there who doesn’t want to work a nine to five and has a dream/goal that seems impossible?
BEN: I think one of the biggest things to do to move forward is to share your ambitions or dreams, whatever they may be. Don’t keep your goals inside because that was really helpful for us. We thought about doing this and kept asking ourselves, well, why don’t we do them? We started telling people about it and people started helping us. They came through and helped us all the way, whatever. That was really surprising to us because we didn’t expect that people would just reach out and help so much. Also, persistence. Just don’t give up because a lot of people give up just before they break through so I’d say never give up on what you want.
DUNCAN: That’s reflected in all these items on our list because a lot of people will say, that’s impossible. Sometimes you don’t know. You fail the first, second time, and we just kept going. It was our third try to try to get into someone’s wedding and give a toast.

So, what are some of the craziest things that you crossed off your list of “Things I want to do before I die?” What are you STILL looking to cross off? And seriously, you guys got to play basketball with President Obama? What was that like, and did you get past him to score a basket?
DUNCAN: The craziest was probably Playboy mansion and just the audacity of our plan to get in. The probability of disaster was so high, so that was the craziest one. Delivering a baby was crazier than we thought it was. As for playing basketball with Obama, you have to stay tuned for that one. We can’t give anything away, but people will be really surprised.
BEN: The one we’re still looking to do is number 100, “go to space.” We also want to tell a judge, “You can’t handle the truth.”

Haha. You guys are CRAZY. So, does it get really stinky on that bus with four guys? And, do you have girlfriends? If so, what do they think about your efforts?
DUNCAN: It gets dirtier rather than stinkier because our costumes and stuff go everywhere with us. As for the girls question, this is the first time that we’re all single at the same time. By the way, do you know where the name of “Buried Life” came from?
NOPE. Tell us.
BEN: We tried to figure out a name for the concept of this show. Jonnie read this poem in English class by Matthew Arnold called “The Buried Life,” and it resonated with us. It speaks to the same feeling we had about how our daily lives can become so cumbersome. We all have this longing to live this buried life of purpose.

I’m inspired. So, did you ever in a million years think that you’d be where you are right now? How does it feel to stick to your guns about your show and not compromise?
DUNCAN: We never really started out with this desire. #53 — we were supposed to make a show in 2007. Then they told us that they wanted all the control, but we had a vision for it. Like Ben said earlier, we wanted it a certain way and when we partnered with MTV, they liked that it was real. That we’re just four regular guys. So in our partnership, we edit, choose music, are co-exec producers on the show — we’re part of it, and that’s really important for us.

Any last words, and what projects are you currently working on?
BEN: We have this goal to help build soccer fields in Africa and we partnered with a company that says that if we get 75,000 members on MTV’s “Buried Life” Facebook, they’re gonna fund a soccer field. We’d love it if you could help us out by joining to help these kids.

Serious? In that case, HERE’S A LINK TO MTV’S BURIED LIFE FACEBOOK. And check out the series premiere of MTV’s “Buried Life,” January 18 at 10PM ET/PT.

MTV is not exactly known for their musical rotation anymore. No, this cable network is more likely to be airing the drama between Kristin Cavallari and Audrina Patridge from “The Hills,” or, of course, the tanned, juiced-up antics of “Jersey Shore,” which has caused much uproar and simultaneous love from viewers. But this network does air a few shows that I continue to watch, one of which is the “True Life” series, where you can take a peek into the lives of young people facing anything from eating disorders to addiction to those struggling with financial issues.

And, of course, the more recent “16 and Pregnant,” docu-series which took us into the lives of Catelynn, Farrah, Amber, and Maci, teenage girls who let us see the hardships that go along with being super-young and pregnant. “Teen Mom” continues the story of these girls as they deal with adoption, school, parents and relationship issues, and it definitely doesn’t glamorize the realities and responsibilities of being a young mother.

I recently spoke with Catelynn, who spent her Junior year pregnant with her daughter, Carly. She and her boyfriend Tyler chose a semi-open adoption where they are able to communicate regularly with Carly’s adoptive parents, Brandon and Teresa. Though their parents disapprove of their decision, Catelynn and Tyler are dealing with the everyday reality of their decision.

Catelynn, really great to speak with you. So where are you from? And tell us a little bit about you, your favorite movies, TV shows, music — are you on Facebook obsessively?
I’m from Michigan and I love Pink. Instead of Facebook, I’m on MySpace, and I’m a normal teenager. I hang out with friends, love movies, go to school, go to bonfires.

Cool. So, how did you get involved with being on the show “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom”?
Well, MTV contacted my adoption agency and they were looking for girls who were 16, pregnant, and in their 3rd trimester. Then I made a video, got chosen by the producers, did the show “16 and pregnant” and decided to do “Teen Mom.”

Did you ever think that you’d be a young mother, and how difficult was it to decide to give Carly up for adoption? Has it gotten easier for you and Tyler over time?
I never thought I’d become pregnant. I really thought, “It would never happen to me.” It was definitely really hard going through the process of putting my daughter up for adoption. Me and Tyler have days when we miss her a ton, but we’ve been doing really good. It gets easier. We do have a semi-open adoption so we can get updates on her.

You’ve gone through pregnancy, and giving up your baby for adoption, all on national TV — is it weird to see your personal life displayed on TV and the Internet?
It’s weird at first, after seeing the commercials, but mostly it’s a cool experience because it let me put my story out there. I’m used to it now.

Do you think that you’re setting a good example out there for girls younger than you?
I do, because in my situation, I had to do what was best for my child. I can make something good come out of it. There are other options out there — its a good option. You have to think about what is best for your kid.

Very true. The USA had the highest rate of teen pregnancy and teen birth in the developed world. Why do you think that is?
I don’t think parents are talking to their kids about sex. I mean, we were never taught about birth control and prevention. Girls won’t have sex with condoms because the guys don’t like it, and that’s the truth. You’re taking a risk every time you have sex. I think there needs to be more education about this in school. Sex-Ed is sort of glossed over because they don’t talk about other options.

Do you think that the popular movie “Juno” glamorized teen pregnancy? What do you want to tell the young girls about what it’s really like to be a teen mom?
I mean, some things were the same — telling your parents, the awkwardness, but some of it wasn’t. They didn’t go into detail about the bad stuff. How you feel alone, stressful, parents freak out at you, and they made it more funny than serious.

Do you keep in contact with the other girls on the show? Maci, Amber or Farrah?
I talk to Maci sometimes, but not the other girls.

You’re a high school senior now, any plans for college? What do you ultimately want to do with your life?
Personally, after I graduate, I want to go to Community College and want to be a nurse in a maternity ward. I want to work with children. I definitely want to work while I’m in college.

For more on Catelynn and to watch clips from MTV’s “Teen Mom,” go to MTV.com or watch the show on MTV every Tuesday night at 10 PM PT/ET.

And without further ado, here’s the first part of our interview with the cast of ABC Family’s, “Greek.” (Spencer Grammar was shooting scenes so she couldn’t make the interview). Thanks to Amanda for hosting, Yosef for editing, and I had a blast as videographer/producer.

Twirlit.com Interviews The Cast of “Greek” from twirlittv on Vimeo.

Amanda P and I went to the set of ABC Family’s “Greek,” to interview the cast for their upcoming season premiere on January 25, 2010. Stay tuned for our video interviews with the cast. Oh..and we also got each of the cast members to say our name. Destiny’s Child, anyone? (Is that too old of a reference?)

I’m loving this “Decade in 7 Minutes” video and I actually remember where I was in each of these moments. For example, during that New York power outage, my friends and I ended up bar-hopping and not sleeping for more than 30 hours straight. We ended up eating pretzels, balance bars (what’s my obsession with these..not sure) and lots of cheapo wine. Sigh.

This kid, Nigahiga, who has millions of views on his youtube channel, gives a pretty hilarious impersonation of what happens in Asian dramas. I grew up watching these and they never make any sense and contain the following:

1) The gorgeous but extremely poor Farm girl who goes to the big city to become a model/designer/fashion star/movie star
2) The Evil stepmother- Self-explanatory and this woman usually is decked out with Louis Vuitton. What is it with my fellow Asians/Asian-Americans and designer clothing/bags? I don’t think I could ever justify paying 3 grand for a bag.
3) The hot, perfect man- Okay, okay. This is in every movie/drama, but you can always dream right?