Filed under: American Idol
In case you haven’t heard, the American Idol has now begun. Great. I now have to carve out two to three WHOLE evenings in my very busy schedule which consists of:
- Doing nothing
- Trying out every cushion on my couch
- Contemplating what I would add to the ’food pyramid’ if the the FDA asked me; Cheetos or Cherry Nibs? (Probably the Nibs, they don’t leave offensive orange dust on your fingertips.)
and now devote that time to watching the television. The sacrifices that I make. Especially when ’Lost’ starts next week and I’ll really be screwed. When will I have time for ‘Top Chef’?!
A few thoughts from the first round of tryouts:
Phoenix:
- A new judge. (!) This needed to happen about four years ago. And have her take the place of Paula. Now if we could just have DL Hughley take the place of Randy, then we’d really have something! I do think it’s awesome that after 8 seasons of doing this, that Paula still can’t tell people “No.” Instead it’s, “um…I’m going to have to pass” (while casting her eyes downward.) Eight years!
- Girl with the unfortunate gauged ears and even uglier tattoos. I enjoy your voice, especially on the difficult and screechy “Barracuda” but I really hate your stupid gauged ears. This is one tradition we should have left in New Guinea where it belongs. If you actually make it to the Top 12, I’m afraid that all the grandmothers in America that back-lashed Carly Smithson would do the same to you.
- Bikini Girl – luckily my DVR missed the twenty minutes of the show that you took up. I hope that you enjoy your six minutes of fleeting fame, and since you’ll probably wear a sweater to Hollywood, no one will actually know who you are.
- The Blind dude. No doubt his story was inspirational. I can’t play the piano or sing and he even does a better job combing his hair than I do. And I can SEE myself in the mirror! But if we’re being honest with ourselves he really wasn’t that good of a singer. Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone because I think I’m pretty much the only one who knows.
Kansas City:
There were only a couple that I really liked:
- Anoop Dawg . Who knew that an Indian American who’s wasting his parent’s money getting a masters in FOLKLORE at UNC would be able to produce such smooth, soulful sounds? Yeah. Not me. Paula always looks like she’s in love with pretty much everyone after downing her Xanax, but the new judge even seemed impressed.
- Lil Rounds. Not only do you have the best name in all of entertainment, but you can sing as well. And sure, you were caught in a hurricane and now live in a hotel, blah, blah, blah, but what is really amazing is that you are 23 and have three children (!) I will root for you until the top six. And then I will stop.
- Asa Barnes. I only remember your name because it is so weird. But how can you NOT root for someone who not only teaches middle school marching band (my personal definition of hell) but who also has a cute daughter that he seems to…like and spend time with. Good for you Asa! You just made my list.
- Danny Gokey. I realize that AI has to make us feel badly at least once an episode and the way they teased us with this guy over three commercial breaks, you knew it was going to be big. Losing his wife a mere month ago is about as depressing as imagining Ryan Seacrest’s personal life. And I don’t mind telling you that my face was beginning to leak. Just a wee bit, now. I mean, this was worse than the blind dude. But then he started singing, and he can actually sing! So he belongs on the show and should be a mortal lock for the top 12 with his singing AND saddest story ever.
Freakin’ AI. We’ll now be going steady for the next 5 months.
Filed under: Movies
It is not often that there is one good movie at the multi-plex, much less two. However this Christmas break I had the opportunity to view two excellent films. Yes, films so good that I need to encourage others to see them. Granted, I’m sure all one of my reader has already seen both of these, but it’s worth repeatin’.
Valkyrie
From the days of Maverick and Goose there has been no better movie star than Tom Cruise. That is, until his feet were introduced to Oprah’s couch and he kept professing his love for his newly acquired alien, “Kate” Holmes. At that point he was dead to me. However in this film, Mr. Cruise does a good job of projecting some near human attributes. He caused me to pause several times, “You know, that Tom Cruise really isn’t that bad. I can almost believe that he is married. Look at him act like he likes his wife.” In addition, he’s also rocking a sick perm.
This movie was great. I know next to nothing about history, except that these events actually happened. I found that I was on the edge of my seat for most of the film, hoping against hope that they would get that small guy with the combover and the brush mustache. When it was over, I was literally shocked as I figured that only about 20 minutes had passed, and not the full two hours and 8 minutes of the movie’s actual duration. I was also emotionally exhausted and wondering where I could pick up a sweet uniform to wear all the time.
From there, I traipsed over to see:
Benjamin Button
Yes, he’s riding a scooter. Please, don’t ask. So I’m fully aware that the full title of this movie is “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” however, I have taken to referring to this as simply “The Button Movie.” I was expecting this flick to be good as I am a David Fincher fan, but I remained impressed at just how good and thought provoking it actually was. I love movies that suck me in from the very beginning and this one did. Also, I have never been a huge fan of Cate Blanchett and her face, but I actually didn’t mind her in this one. Perhaps because she spent much of the movie with a CGI face on top of her real one, but her ordinary annoyingness that comes through in certain roles was remarkably absent. In addition, it made me contemplate things. This is difficult to do as I usually try never to think more than necessary, however it made me contemplate, what WOULD it actually be like to be aging backwards? At first, it sounds awesome, because your best years are in front of you, but when you get younger and younger and your mind is actually older and older, and everyone you know is getting older while you could go hang out at the skatepark if you wished, made me realize that it would be surprisingly non-enjoyable and most of all, lonely. Also, since no one reads this site, I don’t mind telling you either that tears were shed. And not just by the annoying old lady behind me. No, my own face sprung an actual leak during the presentation of the movie. About seven annoying times.
Deathmatch Winner: The Button movie by a thread. HA! I can gauge a movie’s goodness by what I think about it the next day. If it pervades my thoughts the next day, I know that I have witnessed a quality exposition. (For example after viewing “Return of the Jedi” for the first time, it was all I could think about in my 5th grade class. And except for the Ewoks, that remains one of my favorite in the trilogy. I never count the new ones as Star Wars movies. But I digress…) I loved the story, the look and feel and overall “ambience,” of the whole thing as well as the acting of all involved. It also made me want to get a little place on Lake Pontchartrain where I could sit in my robe and watch the sunrise in my bathrobe and slippers.
Conclusion: You should really see both of these, but if you only have $8.25, see the Button.
