3 New Songs I Like

3 new songs I’ve discovered in the past month are Hold Back the River by James Bay, Renegades by X Ambassadors and Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy.

Hold Back the River by James Bay has an interesting sound and a great beat. I also like that it starts low and slow in the beginning and gets louder and faster as it gets to the chorus. The song reminds me of Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye and Take Me to Church by Hozier in that the first time you hear it it sounds kind of unremarkable and not very memorable but upon subsequent listens it begins to grow on you and you don’t understand why you didn’t like it at first. Bottom line if you’ve heard it before and weren’t too impressed at first give it more of a chance.

Hold Back the River can be found on the James Bay’ album Chaos and the Calm.

Renegades by X Ambassadors is another song I’m enjoying right now. It has a nice beat, an upbeat, catchy chorus and ever since songs like Ho Hey by The Lumineers or Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men I’ve really liked folk rock infused songs and this song has a little bit of that at times.

Currently Renegades is only available as a single but will be available on X Ambassadors’ album VHS when it comes out June 30th.

Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy is the fourth single released from their new album. When Fall Out Boy released their 1st new album in four years in 2013 I was excited to hear that they were back from hiatus. The only problem with the album, Save Rock and Roll, was that I didn’t like their new songs as much as I did their old ones. It wasn’t until the first single, Centuries, off their latest album, American Beauty/American Psycho, that I found that to me they had found their pre-hiatus sound again. Now as for the song Uma Thurman I like that it samples some of The Munsters’ theme music while retaining the sound that is uniquely them. It’s just a really great feel good song and fun to listen to.

The newest Fall Out Boy album that includes the song Uma Thurman is entitled American Beauty/American Psycho.

Degrassi is moving to Netflix

Last Thursday (June 4th, 2015) when I found out Degrassi (originally known as Degrassi: The Next Generation) had been cancelled after 14 seasons I was kinda surprised because since the show just changes out the cast when characters graduate I thought that would allow it to go on indefinitely. After reading more articles about Degrassi being cancelled I discovered that TeenNick and MTV Canada had actually just decided they were no longer going to air the show after Season 14 ends in July. The production company, DHX Media, was now shopping the show around to new networks and Tuesday (June 9th, 2015) they announced that Netflix and Canada’s Family Channel will air 20 new episodes of Degrassi starting in early 2016. The show will also become known as Degrassi: Next Class.

I figure the 14 seasons of the current iteration of Degrassi (TNG from Seasons 1-9) will be all one show and next year’s show will be a new show starting at Season 1. It would be too confusing otherwise if one show had three titles. I still haven’t decided if I want to watch it yet but I like that the co-creator Linda Shuyler has stated that they want to tell stories for the newest generation of teens meaning it might get back to being how it used to be and not a 90210 clone.

When I first discovered Degrassi over a decade ago I never thought it would go on this long. I actually didn’t watch Degrassi when it first premiered because we didn’t get the digital cable channel Noggin/The-N it aired on. Luckily our local cable company had a channel that previewed a different digital cable channel every week and one week in 2003 was Noggin/The-N allowing me to check out what shows the network aired like Degrassi. I don’t actually remember what episode I watched but I do remember that I enjoyed it.

It wasn’t until summer of 2004 that I got to watch Degrassi again when we finally got digital cable. Over that summer I watched repeats of Seasons 1-3 and remember by the fall I began seeing previews for Season 4 starting in October. I then began watching each new episode as they aired every friday night at 8. I think maybe around Season 5 I discovered that Canada aired new episodes of Degrassi before the United States so to watch them before they aired on TV here I would watch them on YouTube. The only problem was that since we had dial-up internet at the time I would have to start playing the video, pause it and then let it buffer to the end because otherwise it would stutter and freeze when watching it.

At least when Season 6 began in fall 2006 The-N began airing the new episodes before they aired in Canada. Now no one has to be annoyed waiting for new episodes in Canada or the United States because now new episodes air the same night and time in both countries. I wonder how that will work now that it will air on Netflix here. If it’s anything like the new Canadian show Between it airs on City in Canada at 8pm and by 11:30pm it’s uploaded on Netflix in the U.S. I wouldn’t think they would upload all the new episodes to Netflix before they air on Family Channel.

As of now I’ve seen all of Seasons 1-13 and have to watch the 5 latest episodes of Season 14 aired before the last 12 begin airing next month. After remembering these memories of watching Degrassi I have decided I will check out the first episode of Degrassi: Next Class when it comes to Netflix next year.

Asus c300 Chromebook: Final Verdict

After using a Chromebook almost daily since December 30th, 2014 I’ve discovered how awesome they can truly be. Now I already owned a MacBook Air and a Windows 8 PC but wanted to see what all the fuss over Chromebooks was about. As discussed in my previous post ‘My Chromebook Experiment’ I purchased the Asus c300 Chromebook after having so much success with Asus when buying a PC and that it was $50 cheaper than the Toshiba Chromebook 2.

About a month and a half later I’ve become really accustomed to using a Chromebook as my daily computer. I’ve found that I can do almost everything with a Chromebook that I could with a Mac or PC. For the limitations I do come across I have been using my MacBook Air. You have to remember that a Chromebook, while it can do a lot of things it can’t be your only computer if you need to run programs and software locally on your computer.

What a Chromebook can do?

Create and edit documents, spreadsheets and slides

The easiest way to create and edit documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations is to use Google Drive which allows you to store and save the work you do in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms. If you want to use Microsoft Office you can, albeit an online version offered through One Drive that gives you access to versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote with limited features.

Surf the web, watch videos, stream music

Since a Chromebook is built around the Google Chrome web browser you can imagine it performs very well when it comes to surfing the web. I tend to have a lot of tabs open and multi-task a lot with what I’m working on and my Chromebook seems to handle this quite well.

Watching videos on YouTube and sites like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon also works very well and almost never has a problem during playback except for a small stutter that doesn’t happen too often.

When I want to listen to music I stream my music collection that I have stored on Amazon Music or I stream my favorite radio stations. It seems to be that the stuttering happens for the most part when I’m streaming music and have 6-8 tabs open. As it happens so quick and only happens once or twice a day depending on how long I use the computer for I don’t really get bothered by these small glitches.

Edit pictures with Pixlr Editor

Save and backup media to usb devices like a Flash drive or an external hard drive

Print using Google Cloud Print

What a Chromebook can’t do?

Install and run programs and software

This is where my MacBook Air comes into play. Before using a Chromebook I used iTunes on a daily basis to listen to my music but since Chromebooks don’t have enough space for all my music and can’t run iTunes I uploaded my music to Amazon and can stream it on amazon.com. When I want to buy new music I buy MP3s through Amazon instead of iTunes. When I need to use iTunes to sync music to my iPhone I just decide to use my MacBook Air that day.

The other program I need to use my MacBook Air for is Kodak All-in-One Printer Home Center when I need to use my printer to scan a document or photo to my computer. Now if I just want to print something I can still use my Chromebook because I set up my printer for use with Google Cloud Print.

I usually end up using my MacBook Air about once or twice a month so I can use iTunes to transfer my song purchases to my iPhone. I don’t always get around to it though because I can access my newest music on my iPhone with the Amazon Music app.

Store all your media locally on the hard drive

Since most Chromebooks come with a 16 or 32GB flash storage drive it doesn’t leave you much space at all to store music, photos and files. That’s what your Google Drive is for. You are encouraged to store everything in the cloud with such little storage offered locally.

Now that I’ve covered what a Chromebook can and cannot do I will try to explain what Asus has done on top of the basics to improve a Chromebooks functionality.

Asus c300 Chromebook features:

Long battery life

After fully charging it the battery life easily lasts 10 hours. It would probably last even longer if I decreased the brightness of the screen I’m sure I could most likely get another couple hours. Most of the time I can get two days out of the battery life if I use the computer for 5 hours a day. On the third day I will plug it in and it fully charges after only 1 and a half hours to 2 hours of being plugged in. I’m very impressed with the battery life and now when I use my MacBook Air I’m annoyed how it goes from 100% charged to 5% after only 3 hours of use.

Largest touchpad available on a Chromebook

Since I’ve never used any other Chromebook I wouldn’t know how the touchpad compares to other Chromebooks or if it really is the largest available; that’s just what Asus states. As for how it stacks up to a MacBook Air or Windows 8 PC touchpad it’s more responsive than what a PC offers but still not as great as a MacBook Air. Basically it’s not the worst when it comes to responsiveness but it could be better in the clicking and dragging area.

High-quality audio

When you play music or anything with audio without headphones you will have to turn it all the way up and silence your surroundings in order to hear it. Otherwise you will be straining to hear what you’re trying to listen to. That is why using headphones to listen to audio is your best solution and it doesn’t seem to be very fussy when it comes to using any brand of headphone unlike Apple products. Whether I’m using my $10 JVC Gumy Earbuds or my $99 Bose Earbuds the audio sounds very nice and gets even better when I use the Bose ones that have a better range.

Ultra thin and light

At just 3 pounds it is very light to pick up and move compared to most Windows Laptop PCs that I’ve owned which weighed around 10 pounds and up.

Larger than Average Screen size

When researching Chromebooks I found that most of them had 11.6 inch screens and if you wanted the bigger 13.3 inch size you would need to pay more for it. Since I was accustomed to 13.3 inch I wanted to stick with it. The standard size for Acer, HP and Samsung was 11.6 and the 13.3 models were sometimes $100 or more. Then you have Asus and Toshiba who both sell affordable 13.3 inch Chromebooks. Now in 2015 Acer will be the first to sell a 15.6 inch model; this will most definitely inspire the other brands to make a 15.6 inch Chromebook too. I’ve found the perfect size Chromebook for me is right in the middle, 13.3.

100GB of Google Drive space free for 2 years

When you purchase a new Chromebook and log onto your Google Drive with it, it will automatically claim your free 100GB of space. Now since I bought mine during the holiday season I got 1TB of space free for 2 years because Google was giving away more for the holidays.

Asus c300 full specifications:

Intel Bay-Trail Dual Core Celeron Processor

Chrome operating system

4GB RAM

13.3 inch 16:9 HD Display

16GB eMMC flash storage

HD Web Camera

802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 4.0

1 x audio jack

1 x USB 3.0 port

1 x USB 2.0 port

1 x SD card reader

1 x AC adapter plug

13.0 x 9.1 x 0.9 inch (WxDxH)

3.08 pounds

Kensington lock

Final Thoughts:

As you can see depending on what you need to do with a computer a Chromebook can be a very useful device and possibly even a computer replacement if you don’t need to do anything locally. The thing that got me to seriously consider a Chromebook in the first place was that unlike a MacBook Air, where you have to download and install updates leading you to have to babysit your computer all day and make sure the update is going right, you don’t have to mess with updates as Google takes care of those. When I first bought a Chromebook I never expected to be able to do all the things with it I do, especially being able to update this blog. As a matter-of-fact I wrote this whole post on my Chromebook with the help of Google Docs and Drive. If you’ve been contemplating buying a Chromebook but don’t know if you’d be wasting your money just remember if you already do everything in the Chrome browser anyways you’ll feel right at home with a Chromebook.

My Chromebook Experiment

Ever since I can remember I’ve had an affinity towards the latest and greatest in tech and the Chromebook is no exception. Even though I own a MacBook Air and an Asus Windows 8 PC I still felt intrigued to learn about Chromebooks and Chrome OS. So I decided after the holidays that I was going to buy myself a Chromebook and see if I could get by with just a Chromebook.

I spent much of this month researching Chromebooks and trying to figure out which one to buy. Even though I read great reviews about the Acer C720 and the Samsung Chromebook 2 I still decided against them due to my owning Acer and Samsung computer products in the past and not having the best experience. Remembering that when I was deciding on a Windows 8 PC I had found that two of the top OEMs were Asus and Toshiba and figured why not get a Chromebook from one of them.

While the Toshiba Chromebook 2 had everything I want in a Chromebook; 4GB RAM and 13.3 inch screen, I just didn’t like the price of $399. Luckily the Asus c300 also had 4GB RAM and 13.3 inch screen and was only $249, I had only wanted to spend at max $300. This was the deciding factor in my purchasing of the Asus c300 Chromebook.

To prepare myself for using a Chromebook I had been doing everything on my MacBook Air in the Chrome browser. So when I received my Chromebook yesterday I basically already knew what to expect. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was the amazingly long battery life it has. It most definitely is on par with my MacBook Air.

I will be posting my comprehensive review for the Asus c300 within the next couple weeks after I’ve had a chance to become accustomed with it. I do plan to post updates along the way though as I learn more about my Chromebook and Chrome OS in general.

I will leave you with two interesting things I’ve discovered about my Chromebook so far. In order to right-click in Chrome OS you can either hold down alt and click the trackpad or you can  2-finger tap the trackpad. The other interesting thing I’ve discovered is that if you have your music saved to a USB flash drive you can play from it, proving that it can do things offline.

Why Hulu Plus is Worth $8 a month

Hulu Plus is a video-streaming service that allows you to stream full episodes and clips of TV shows and movies for $8 a month. I don’t watch movies on Hulu Plus just TV shows so I won’t be able to review what the movie variety is like.
Basically when you sign up for Hulu Plus you gain the ability to watch any current season episode of primetime TV shows from most networks excluding CBS. Your favorite shows you like to watch and the day after the new episodes air on traditional TV they will be added to your Queue. I’m not really sure what time they get added although other users say around 5:00am.

The thing I like best about Hulu Plus is that it provides DVR-like access for only $8 a month. A traditional DVR from your local cable provider normally costs somewhere north of $10 a month. I pay $16 a month for mine. I use Hulu Plus to stream my shows from ABC, CW, FOX and NBC and use the DVR from the cable company to record shows that don’t stream. I find using both services together helps me to never miss an episode of one of my favorite shows.

Another thing I like about Hulu Plus is how many places you can watch your shows. They have apps for your tablet, phone, video game console, TV, blu-ray player and media set-top box. You can also stream on hulu.com on your computer. My set-up is PS3 for the living room, Roku streaming box for my bedroom and occasionally on my MacBook Air when the living room TV is in use.

The one thing I find a little annoying about Hulu Plus though is that they have commercials. Now for the most part they aren’t that noticeable on most shows since each commercial break normally only has 2 commercials and are in the same place as if you were watching them on traditional TV. For some odd reason though shows on NBC can have anywhere between 2 to 5 commercials each commercial break. But for $8 a month I’m willing to overlook this one caveat.

For cord-cutters Netflix and Hulu Plus together make for incredible value providing you a vault of older shows, trailing seasons of current shows and access to new episodes of your favorite shows provided they aren’t shows from CBS. You have to use cbs.com to watch The Big Bang Theory. Although CBS has created their own streaming service they don’t have apps for many devices yet.

For anyone who likes to watch TV but doesn’t want to pay for cable, Hulu Plus is a must-have. You get access to many shows you like to watch and can watch them on your time just like a DVR. Watching a commercial here or there is not too big of an issue and they go by very fast anyways. All in all Hulu Plus is great service worth having and makes keeping track of new episodes of your shows a breeze.

New Imagine Dragons Album 2015

Even though Imagine Dragons has only put out one album, Night Visions, so far they are doing quite well for a fairly new rock group. 5 of the songs on the album became singles; It’s Time, Radioactive, Hear Me (UK only), Demons and On Top of the World and they even got a Grammy award for their song Radioactive. I really enjoy the songs on Night Visions and consider myself a fan of Imagine Dragons.

On December 16th, 2014 Imagine Dragons announced the name and release date for their second album. It’s called Smoke and Mirrors and it will be released on February 17th, 2014. You can pre-order the album now. An exclusive Deluxe edition is available for pre-order from Target, it will have 4 extra songs.

List of songs on Smoke and Mirrors:

1. Shots
2. Gold
3. Smoke And Mirrors
4. I’m So Sorry
5. I Bet My Life
6. Polaroid
7. Friction
8. It Comes Back To You
9. Dream
10. Trouble
11. Summer
12. Hopeless Opus
13. The Fall

Two singles have been released from Smoke and Mirrors so far; I Bet My Life and Gold. You can tell just from those 2 tracks that Imagine Dragons is trying something a little different. A lot of Night Visions had a little bit of a pop sound while these 2 new singles sound more rock.

I pre-ordered my copy of Smoke and Mirrors from Amazon. I can’t wait to check out the rest of the tracks on the album.

Why Netflix is Worth $8 a month

Netflix is a video-streaming service that allows you to stream as many movies and tv shows as you want for $8 a month. They also still offer dvd by mail rental plans. This review is just for the streaming part of Netflix.

When you sign up for Netflix you get a My List which is a list of shows and movies for you to choose from that you want to watch. You add shows to your My List by clicking on Add to My List when checking out a title.

Netflix has so many choices available that you’d be hard-pressed not to find something to watch. Of course on the other hand with so many options to look through you might waste all the time you had to watch in the first place. Luckily they do show you recommendations on what to watch based on your interest in another title that’s similar.

The thing I like best about Netflix is the ability to binge watch tv shows. I always think I will get around to watching 3 to 4 episodes a night of a drama that’s around 42 minutes but I never do. 2 is usually my max for dramas and 4 for sitcoms. I guess I just like the idea that I can watch as many episodes in a row as I want.

I also like that Netflix is pretty quick at adding new episodes of a show within a year of their initial airing. Shows I currently have on My List that aired from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014 that were added to Netflix this fall are Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1, The Originals Season 1, The Vampire Diaries Season 5 and The 100 Season 1. When new episodes of a show are added and you currently have the show in your list you receive an email saying new episodes have arrived for the show. Netflix even sends you emails for shows they think you would like to watch based on what you’ve watched in the past.

I know I mentioned Netflix also has movies to stream but I personally don’t watch movies as often as I do tv shows. The last movie I think I streamed was Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. I couldn’t tell you how long it takes for new movies to show up on Netflix streaming. I do know that Netflix DVD rental releases new movies 28 days after they come out on DVD and on-demand. It’s completely your decision on what you watch.

Another great thing about Netflix is the variety of devices that have a Netflix app; tablets, phones, video game consoles, TVs, blu-ray players and media streaming set-top boxes. You can also stream on netflix.com on the computer. My set-up is PS3 for the living room, Roku streaming box for my bedroom and occasionally on my MacBook Air when the living room TV is in use.

An interesting development with Netflix is their involvement in creating original series; Orange is the New Black, Hemlock Grove and even cartoons like Turbo FAST which is based on the DreamWorks movie Turbo. Two new shows coming this month are Marco Polo (meant to rival HBO’s Game of Thrones) and All Hail King Julien (an animated show based upon King Julien in the DreamWorks’ Madagascar film series). I predict in the next few years Netflix will have a line-up of pretty successful original series.

I like the way Netflix has evolved since its creation and hope it continues to change the television landscape. Netflix is a great service for cord-cutters and is also a great supplement to cable. Hopefully the great price of $8 a month holds for a long time to come. It would be a shame for them to jack up the price if their original shows take off in the ratings.

Original shows premiering this month on Netflix:

Marco Polo December 12th

All Hail King Julien December 19th

What I Actually Need in a Smartphone

I have spent the better part of 2 years trying to find the perfect smartphone. In that time I’ve learned there is no such thing as the perfect device. Today I will be discussing what I actually need in a smartphone and not what I think I want.

Since the beginning of 2013 I’ve owned an iPhone 4, a Nokia Lumia 521, an iPod Touch and dumb-phone combo, an iPhone 5c, a Moto X 2013, a Moto G 2013, a Samsung Galaxy S4, a HTC One M8, an iPhone 6 and now my current phone is an iPhone 5s.

After Owning 10 smartphones in 2 years I’ve finally figured out what I need in a smartphone:

Enough storage space for music, apps and photos

A decent camera

4-inch screen to make it manageable to use

Most of all though it should work well as a phone. The 2 things I find most important are loud enough speakers and a reliable signal.

I had found the iPhone 6 near perfect except the screen was a little too big for my liking and it was only 16GB. I was filling it pretty fast. I decided to sell it to Gazelle and instead of buying a 64GB iPhone 6 I got a 32GB iPhone 5s due to its compact size.

I plan to use my 5s until it no longer works since Apple has given up on phones with 4-inch screens and I don’t want anything bigger than that.

Shows You Should Be Watching: Vampire Diaries Edition

The Vampire Diaries is a show you should be watching. (Warning: spoilers ahead. Which are hard to avoid including on a review for a show that is currently airing its 6rh Season.)

The original summary of The Vampire Diaries released by The CW explains what the show is about better than I ever could; Four months after the tragic car accident that killed their parents, 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev, “DeGrassi: The Next Generation”) and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen, “Everwood”) are still trying to cope with their grief and move on with their lives.  Elena has always been the star student; beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends, but now she finds herself struggling to hide her sadness from the world.  As the school year begins, Elena and her friends are fascinated by a handsome and mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley, “Army Wives”). Stefan and Elena are immediately drawn to one another, and Elena has no way of knowing that Stefan is a centuries-old vampire, struggling to live peacefully among humans, while his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder, “Lost”) is the embodiment of vampire violence and brutality.  Now these two vampire brothers ? one good, one evil ? are at war for Elena’s soul and for the souls of her friends, family and all the residents of the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia.

Now before Fall 2009 when TVD premiered I was not into the idea of Twilight-esque stories and the whole vampire craze. I just didn’t see the appeal. The only things I knew about vampires then was what the story of Dracula stated. I only decided to watch Vampire Diaries because I watched Nina Dobrev on DeGrassi: The Next Generation and the description of the show was very intriguing.

Once I watched the show for the first time I was sucked in and couldn’t wait until the next episode. There are just so many elements of the show that make it great to watch but the main 3 in my opinion are; character development, story and relationships.

The character development on The Vampire Diaries is one of the best parts of the show. Two of the characters who have gone through the most noticeable changes since the start of the show are Caroline Forbes and Tyler Lockwood. Before being turned into a vampire Caroline was a spoiled self-entitled brat most of the time and now her personality is completely unrecognizable as she is caring, protective of her friends and doesn’t take crap from anyone. Now with Tyler before he triggered his werewolf gene he was a selfish, arrogant bully but over the seasons since, he has learned to tone down his temper and tries to think before he acts.

Another thing The Vampire Diaries does that is great for character development is flashbacks that explain a characters’ past more thoroughly. Even full episodes dedicated to flashbacks are very interesting to watch and they still manage to keep the plot in the present going.

The second best part of the show is the story arcs. Every season has an over-arching story that usually comes to an explosive conclusion. Season 1 was basically getting to know the Salvatore brothers, learning how Mystic Falls acts towards supernatural beings and being prepared for the arrival of Katerina Petrova. Season 2 was all about preparing for the arrival of Klaus and discovering the Sun and the Moon curse. Season 3 was about The Originals and how they have shaped the vampire world over a 1,000 years. Season 4 was about Elena becoming a vampire. the Five Hunters and meeting the first immortal, Silas. Season 5 was about the Travelers’ and the destruction of the other side.

Finally the third best part of the show is the relationships. The writers are very good at making you care for couples that you wouldn’t think you would. From the beginning I was very fond of Stefan and Elena together and got frustrated with all the scenes they made that hinted at Damon and Elena falling in love. Now that Elena is no longer with either of them I still prefer her with Stefan but can still appreciate her relationship with Damon. Some of my other favorite couples are Bonnie and Jeremy, Caroline and Tyler and Alaric and Jenna.

Although the current season isn’t as great as Seasons 1-3 it is beginning to hit its stride again for the first time since The Originals were spun-off into their own show and left The Vampire Diaries. I hope we get a few more good seasons out of the show before it ends though. I could go on and on about this show but I will just leave you with check out the show and I bet you won’t regret it.

Places to watch it: Seasons 1-5 are on Netflix, current Season 6 episodes are on Hulu Plus and new episodes air Thursdays at 8 on The CW.

The CW Fall 2014 Schedule Prediction

The CW Fall 2014 Schedule Prediction

Canceled: The Carrie Diaries, The Tomorrow People and Star-Crossed
Mid-season: Beauty and the Beast, Hart of Dixie, Jane the Virgin and IZOMBIE.

I’m not that great at predicting the schedule for The CW and will try my best.

Mondays
8:00pm Arrow
9:00pm The Flash (NEW)

The CW should make Mondays their night for super-hero shows and IZOMBIE could air in mid-season on Mondays.

Tuesdays
8:00pm The Originals
9:00pm Supernatural

I would leave Tuesdays alone and let The Originals and Supernatural stay together.

Wednesdays
8:00pm Supernatural: Bloodlines (NEW)
9:00pm The 100

I would think the Supernatural spin-off will get picked up next week by The CW. It might fit well with The 100 I’m thinking.

Thursdays
8:00pm The Vampire Diaries
9:00pm The Messengers (NEW)

The Messengers is more sci-fi like The Vampire Diaries and might do better in the post Vampire Diaries time-slot then Reign did this year.

Fridays
8:00pm America’s Next Top Model
9:00pm Reign

America’s Next Top Model always airs Fridays at 8 and the show that airs after it is usually with a female lead (i.e. Nikita and Hart of Dixie) so why not try Reign after it at 9.