American Idol: The Tears of Boredom Edition

Ok, so just last week I talked about how I was going to start recapping Idol. Yeah. Not so much this week. Maybe I'll do that when we finally get rid of the riff raf (sp?) and get down to 12. For now, I'm so bored out of my mind that I can't even bother because that would require watching the show and paying attention to names.

First off, was Paula actually coherent and constructive tonight? I had to do a double take a couple of times because I was amazed that she was making sense and saying something more than "I love you" and "you were great." She actually disagreed a couple of times when Randy thought someone was good. I'm shocked.

I watched the show tonight by starting to listen to the songs, and then FF through to the comments for most of them. There were a couple that I listened to straight through. Namely Chris Sligh and Nick Pedro. Call me crazy, but I love Nick's voice. I just wish he had more personality. Same with Brandon Rogers.

To tell you how bored I was tonight, I actually stopped the show and deleted it before I realized that I hadn't seen everyone. After the pimped Chris Richardson, I went ahead and stopped watching, thinking I had seen the final pimp spot. (Consequently, I'm sick of the show going on about how the last performer was the best they've ever seen simply because they were the last performer. I think by that point we're all just relieved to have the show over, so stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes and make us believe that the last 2 hours were anything but mind-numbing. It wasn't until I was reading someone else's recap that it occurred to me that I completely forgot that Sundance was still around. Maybe that's because subconsciously I wished he would be gone. Though, if you pay attention to DialIdol, he's pulling the same numbers Taylor did all last year. Granted, DialIdol is not scientific and can be way off especially since they use a formula for votes and busy signals and don't actually count number of votes. But still, it makes me think Sundance isn't going anywhere for a while.

My predictions for this week: In a perfect world, Sundance and Sanjaya would go. My fear is that it will be Nick Pedro and Brandon Rogers. However, since I think they're two of the best vocalists, (but not performers), I am going to pick two less likely candidates with hopes that by not naming them, Nick and Brandon will be safe. So my official prediction for the week is AJ Tibaldo and Jared Cotter for dedicating "Let's get it on" to his parents. (And who edged out Chris Richardson a/k/a Timberfake for this spot simply because I think America is under some delusion that Chris R. is (a) attractive and/or (b) can sing better than my sauce pan).

Seriously though, it's going to be Nick and Brandon.

Just what I need, another TV obsession.

Ok, I'll get to Heroes in a moment. But first, I was growing extremely sick and tired of those commercials for the Black Donnellys. Every time the TV was on NBC this week, I had to see another preview. A mob show. I get it. Enough.

Lucky for me, when Heroes ended tonight, I couldn't find anything better on TV, and left the channel on. Seriously. The Black Donnellys? Fan-friggin-tastic. So good. I don't know if the show can live up to the pilot, but I certainly hope so. If you didn't catch it tonight, they're re-airing the pilot on Thursday at 10. It's definitely worth it. I really thought I was going to hate it, so don't let those thoughts dissuade you.

Now, Heroes is one spectacular piece of television itself. Unlike Lost, when Heroes says they will answer some questions, they do. They've already progressed the storyline further in half a season that Lost has been able to do in 3 seasons. At the beginning of the season of Heroes, I didn't think I would like it, mainly because comic book shows are not my thing. I don't like X-Men or Superman, or Spiderman. But Heroes I like. Do yourself a favor and catch it either in reruns or wait until the DVDs. It may be one of those shows that plays well on DVD when you can watch multiple episodes.

The Winds of Change

Sorry, live blogging during the Oscars. Since it's 11:15 and no end in sight, I figured I had to do something to keep me aweak. Alan Arkin swept in out of nowhere to claim Supporting Actor. And then Little Miss Sunshine clenched Original Screenplay. Call me crazy, but as of this moment, I think the little movie that could, will. Although my predictions are already locked, and I'm not doing so hot, I think Little Miss Sunshine is going to pull it off. We'll see.

Edited to add:... But it didn't.

Was it just me, or were these one of the most boring Oscars ever? No funny speeches, and Ellen didn't perform the way I thought she should have. It was very eh.

Oscar Predix 2007

We all know how much I love to make predictions to see if they come true. And Aggs requested that I voice my opinions this year. I'll have to look back through my posts to see how I did last year. I've been holding back and not reading the media's predictions so I'm not biased by that. Which seems odd since you'd think I'd base opinions on how others see the movies. But I like to pick more on gut reactions and logic. So without further ado, here they go.

Edited to add: checked last year's predix and I was 4 of 5. I missed Supporting Actress, but actually nailed Best Picture. I forgot to do director. We'll see if I do better this year.

Best Picture
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Departed
The Queen

Admittedly, the only one of these I've seen is Little Miss Sunshine. I loved that movie and would love for it to win. However, as much as I want that, it's a long shot. It's going to be a toss up between Babel and Letters from Iwo Jima. Just as Crash swept in out of no where and won last year, Babel, the same type of movie, could do so here. But never count out how much the Academy people love a Clint Eastwood flick.

What I want to win: Little Miss Sunshine
Will win: Letters from Iwo Jima

Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Again, haven't seen any of these. The story the last few years has been about how Scorsese will finally take it this year. From the people who have seen his movie, they weren't all that impressed. As much as the Academy loves Clint Eastwood, I think Scorsese will break through this year and take it home.

Who I want to win: Martin Scorsese
Who will: Martin Scorsese

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

This is getting embarrassing that I really haven't seen these movies. I did see Will Smith and liked it, but didn't love it. I have always had a soft spot for Ryan Gosling and heard he is fantastic in his movie. However, he is a really long shot. And Aggs would swoon for a thousand years to see her Leo win. (That's an obsession that dates back to 1997 when she and I decorated our dorm room with the Leo blinds. They were a fantastic invention where we cut up Leo's Teen Beat photos into slats and taped them to the outside of the blinds so that you could turn the blinds and Leo would magically appear. No, we weren't seriously that obsessed, just wacky bored. But we were the talk of the floor for weeks by our impressed floormates.) When the noms came out, someone, who shall remain nameless feared that Peter O'Toole would get the post-humous sympathy vote. Her fears were negated when I pointed out that was Peter Boyle that died. This is really Forest Whitaker's to lose. I like him. If he loses this one, I will be stunned.

Who I want to win: Ryan Gosling
Who will: Forest Whitaker

Best Actress
Penélope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

I could handle any of these ladies winning, with the exception of Penelope Cruz. She bugs the heck out of me and I don't think she is a decent actress, let alone a good one. Helen Mirren has this one wrapped up, with a possible late surge from Meryl Streep.

Who I want to win: Kate Winslet
Who will: Helen Mirren

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Eddie Murphy has been sweeping awards season this year. Personally, I think this is a weak category. I could see either Djimon or Mark getting a surge for their work. And Dreamgirls didn't get the big nominations like they thought they would. I really want to go for an underdog here, even though my gut tells me no.

Who I want to win: Mark Wahlberg
Who will: Djimon Hounsou (Just kidding, officially I'm wagering on Eddie Murphy, but these were all getting too predictable).

Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail BreslinLittle Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Abigail Breslin was fantastic in her role. Any other year and she would likely have stole this award. But people love the Cinderella story of Jennifer Hudson way too much to let her go without winning. While I'll be shocked if she doesn't win, the lack of noms for Dreamgirls may be an indication that she won't pull it off.

Who I want to win: Abigail Breslin
Who will: Jennifer Hudson

Looking back over these, it seems like there are really going to be no surprises this year. They just seem too much like shoe-ins. The only one's I think are up for grabs are Best Picture and Supporting Actor. And the latter may all be in my imagination.

3 of 4 Baby

Ok, I'm very proud of my AI predictions. As I predicted, Paul Kim, Rudy Cardenas and Amy Krebs were sent packing. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that Nicole Tranquillo was going to go given her horrendous performance. But I'll take batting at .700.

All 12 of my predicted final 12 are still in. Earlier I edited to interchange AJ Tibaldo and Nick Pedro since I can't keep them straight in my head and said the wrong one. I just have this fear that it will be neither of them and Sundance will make it through. I hope I'm wrong on that.

Till next week.

American Idol: The ladies.

Ok, so I’m writing this live during the show, and before the judges make their comments. We’ll see if they agree with me tonight.

Stephanie Edwards
Don’t remember her at all. Good voice, but I was bored through about the first 2/3. She looks like the really tall girl that didn’t make it through. Much better start than the guys, but she wasn’t memorable to me. Maybe it’s because she has not had screen time prior to this. Fantasia 2.0.

Amy Krebs
Who is this chick? She reminds me of someone both in name and face. Why do I feel like I know her? Ok, so she can’t make me love her. She also can’t make me not change the channel. Boring. And she was flat on her held notes.

Leslie Hunt
No prior exposure that I recall. I like the intonation of her voice, but not her performance. Something was off the whole song. Out of tune it seemed. She looks so much older than 24.

Sabrina Sloan
Again, don’t recognize her. I Didn’t care for the performance at all (apparently I’m in the minority. Enough with the runs. She’s talented, but maybe it was because I was running around the house, but I just didn’t like it. Maybe if I gave it a second chance.

Antonella Barba
Someone who was overexposed. I thought she was overrated to begin with. Not to mention, her “all boys love me” attitude. It was a weird song choice and a weird arrangement. She’s out of tune early and on the end of every line. But, Simon’s criticisms are going to goad her fans into keeping her here at least one more week.

Jordin Sparks
When she talks to Ryan beforehand, it’s obvious how young she is. I like her voice, and she’ll be safe because she’s the young girl. They have to have at least one teen in the top twelve. I didn’t like the performance. The song seemed maybe a bit too low through the whole thing. Would have liked to hear her sing something that spanned more than ½ octave.

Nicole Tranquillo
She looks very forgettable. Looks like 2 other girls who have already performed. Ok, what the heck is this song choice. Don’t like the speaking song thing. And she needs to pick a note. She’s not going to last long.

Haley Scarnato
Don’t know her at all. It was ok song wise, but not memorable. Not my favorite of the night.

Melinda Doolittle
I have high expectations for her because I loved her early rounds. Let’s see how she holds up. Ok, she’s living up to it. Great voice and performance. Does Aretha justice. This girl’s already a star without this show. She’s definitely one of my early faves.

Alaina Alexander
Don’t’ like the breathiness in her background clip. Hopefully she does something to make me distinguish her from the other 3 blondes that have already performed. Shaky, breathy start. She’s going to suffer from coming after Melinda’s dynamic performance. In one word: meh.

Gina Glocksen
I loved her in the early rounds. Wasn’t feeling it when the song started. I liked her during the chorus, but it was a tad on the boring side. And any time I hear this song, I think of good ole Bridget Jones. I thought she did well enough for the song. Still liking her.

LaKisha Jones
I like her, but she’s very much Mandisa part deux. And she was given the pimp spot. I just wish she’d stop talking about her daughter. I know everyone has their niche. She’s definitely got a big voice. But I like Melinda better. I think that depending on which of the two got the final pimp spot, they would have gotten the "best of the night" declarations.

Ok, girls were better than the boys. Slightly. Again, there are a few certain ones for the tope 6 girls, and several that it’s going to depend on voting. The guarantees: Melinda Doolittle, Gina Glocksen, LaKisha Jones and Jordin Sparks. I think the other two will be Sabrina Sloan and Haley Scarnato. Just my gut feeling.

Out this week: Amy Krebs and Leslie Hunt

American Idol: And so it begins.

Ok, so I’m going to recap American Idol this year with my thoughts. Whether or not you care to read, it’s your decision. It doesn’t really matter anyway since only about 3 people read this anymore. But here goes.

Shockingly, I almost always agree with Simon. Must be that great music sense I’ve got :) . I think Paula just parrots back whatever Randy says. So I don’t really tend to listen to her at all.

Rudy Cardenas
Eh. He starts the show out, and in my opinion, is not at the level he should be at. He’s rubbed me wrong from day 1, and I can’t really get invested in him.

Brandon Rogers
I like him. I like the fact that he’s paid his dues as a backup singer. Wasn’t my favorite performance tonight, but after seeing the recap at the end, it’s obvious he did a lot better tonight than most of these dudes.

Sundance Head
Even before the judges comments, I thought to myself that he wasn’t in tune the entire song. Actually, my cat, who is a great judge of music, had his ears penned back every time he tried to hit one note in the chorus. (As a sidenote, my cat really and truly recognizes horrible music. During the early rounds, any time someone was way off key or couldn’t sing at all, he gets all spazzy and pins his ears back and looks around the room. It’s quite funny really.) I think his uniqueness has got him this far, and hope that he doesn’t unfairly scrape by based on the amount screen time he got early on. Definitely the worst performance of the night.

Paul Kim
I’m over the bare feet thing. I didn’t like him early on, and my opinion didn’t much change tonight. Not even anything to say about him.

Chris Richardson
When they showed him making the top 24, I thought, “who is this guy?” He’s got pretty eyes. I just don’t think he sings very well.

Nick Pedro
I want to root for him. The fact that he knew enough to bow out last year instead of flat out pursuing when not ready for it made me respect him a bit. But didn’t care for it tonight.

Blake Lewis
I was really starting to hate the beat-boxing and thought he was a one trick pony. I was prepared to hate on him throughout the whole competition for it. But dang. The boy rocked that song. I adore that he chose a Keane song. Something unique. Glad to see that he can sing.

Sanjaya Malakar
Ok, he looks so young. He was a much better performer tonight than I thought he would be. He seemed so shy the early rounds. And he’s got a good voice. Since most of these guys are older, he’s going to get the teeny-bopper vote. It was boring though.

Chris Sligh
I’m a softie for funny boys. He’s got a great personality and that’s going to get him far. The fact that he’s a great performer will get him even farther. I didn’t like the song choice tonight, but it was a good show. This was the one major time I disagreed with Simon.

Jared Cotter
Decent voice. But he blends in for me. Nothing outstanding about him. He kinda seems too pretty boy for me.

AJ Tabaldo
I didn’t like him throughout the early rounds. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, he’s tried out 5 times before. Maybe that should have told him something. That said, I liked him tonight. I feel like he turned off the smarmy and gave a unique performance.

Phil Stacey
Ok, we get it. He missed the birth of his daughter to audition. I think he’s decent, but tonight something was off about his tone. I disagree that this was the best performance of the night. I think his early exposure on the show will get him a good fan base.

Overall, I’m unimpressed by the boys. I think that no one stands out as extremely talented. Which means that the top 6 boys will be determined by fan base, ergo, who got the most exposure in the early rounds. My prediction is that the top 6 will be: Blake Lewis, Brandon Rogers, Chris Sligh, Phil Stacey, AJ Tibaldo, and either Sanjaya Malakar or Chris Richardson.

(Edited prior to elims on Thursday because I can't seem to keep Nick Pedro and AJ Tibaldo straight. Both tried out previously and have Spanish sounding names. I had Nick here and after a re-read realized it was supposed to be AJ. Oye. May not sound like much to you, but as a person who gets swept up in March Madness and the like, I love to keep track of how I do at predictions.)

The two out tonight: Paul Kim and Rudy Cardenas. I’ll check DialIdol later to see if America is agreeing with me.

Seriously?

In the span of 24 hours, Britney Spears checks herself into rehab, checks herself out of rehab, and then shaves her head? (Don't believe me? See this pic.)

We're way past the point where she needs an intervention.

Music of the Moment

Kelly P. asked me the other night what music I've been listening to. And what Kelly P. wants, Kelly P. gets.

[New post feature: Click the CD cover to be taken to where you can buy it. Technology is my friend.]

Mat Kearney Nothing Left to Lose
Love. Every. Song. Seriously, fabulous CD. If you watch Grey's Anatomy, you've heard at least 3 of Mat's songs. His songs were used in the first two episodes of this season and at least one more episode later. The one that sticks out in my head is his song, All I need, which was used at the end of the season premeire to show everyone and as Izzy is laying on the bathroom floor. Mat reminds me of the likes of Josh Kelley and John Mayer.



Marc Broussard Carencro
This CD was recommended to me by Amazon based on my other music choices. And although I wouldn't consider it like any other CD I have, I love it. Very soulful. I can't even think of whom he reminds me. Just trust me. Great CD.




Gary Jules Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets
Ah, an oldie but a goodie. Well at least an oldie for me. I stumbled upon Gary a few years ago while browsing my favorite music cite, CDBaby. Bought the CD and loved it for a while and forgot about it. His most famous song is Mad World, which has been used in numerous movies. Heck, even my parents have heard that song. Then, my Dad wanted to find a song used on Grey's Anatomy during the scene where George's dad dies, and after looking it up, found out it was a Gary song. (Falling Awake) Although, not on this CD. As far as I know, his CDs are available for download, but you can still buy them at CDBaby. Which proves that CDBaby is still the best and Grey's Anatomy has some fabulous music choices.



Aqualung Strange and Beautiful
Aqualung was the opening act for The Fray when K and I saw them a few months ago. (Again, The Fray, highly used on Grey's). However, K and I could barely understand a word they sang all night. Not a good stage performance. Yet, a good CD.

White Trash Castle V-day?

You have got to be kidding me. On the news this morning, they're reporting from a White Castle to spotlight making your reservations for Valentine's Day. They have the tables draped in cheap, red paper with fake flowers and a "reserved" sign. I wish I were joking, but you can make your reservations for Wed. night to avoid the crowd. They even have the Valentine's box to go if you can't squeeze in a sit-down meal complete with a generic card for your sweetie.

Isn't it common knowledge that White Castle universally causes gastrointestinal problems by all who injest? What a lovely and romantic way to spend the evening.

The Concert formerly known as the Grammys.

Did I miss the moment when they stopped giving awards at the Grammys and instead just had performance after performance? Seriously. I was watching them tonight, and in the 3.25 hours they were on, I swear they gave out 8 awards. And half of those were R&B awards. There were a whole bunch of performances by randomly put together groups and each of those went on way too long. Maybe it was just me, but the show was bizarre as heck. I was so not a fan.

And can someone explain to me the difference between Record of the Year and Album of the Year? Is one a writing thing and one a performance thing? I have never gotten that distinction.

Late Night Movie

Maybe because it's really late, but I'm watching a DVR'd movie called the Socratic Method, and I'm finding it really funny. It's a satirical comedy following 3 first year law students during their first semester in law school. There are so many true to life moments, it's giggle worthy.