never liked leno

not from the very beginning, his humor was patronizing and condescending and his insecure ego always spoiled his comedy for me, but then, that could just be my imagination... or my perception, being me and all... anyway, tonight he again showed me why i don't watch him even though i used to love the tonight show... it was so obvious that nbc forced the four finalists from the voice on him as he disregarded and dismissed their performances with a cursory calling of their name introduction and then leaving them unmentioned (and even cutting them off) when he went back to talking with his guests... he is such a turn off for me that i don't even watch when someone i like is on his show because he ruins it for me with his disrespect and phoniness... and he did it again tonight... he won't be on the tube again by my choice...

dia, meanwhile, was so nervous, stiff, and incongruous... they dress her up like a conservative little kid from the sixties and then she sings an alternative anthem from the nineties on a show for grandmothers, definitely not good marketing... she should have done a song from the audience's generation or at least a throw-back like time after time that javier did... oh well, another blown opportunity cuz she just isn't ready, but someday, hopefully, she will get it and her magic will burst out just right...

i can see it, which is why i watch her... even on leno :)

the game sucked, mostly because the chicago coach doesn't seem to understand basketball is a eam sport and just because a player wins mvp does not mean he can do it all... and if the coach does understand that, well, he can't control his mvp or team, so they lose again because they are predictable... crunch time it is derek rose one on one and the rest of the team goes to sleep... way to lose...

meanwhile,

Sunday, May 1, 2011

four stars?

home early from softball and looking for something to watch on tv, finding nothing but a sci-fi movie called children of men that the tv gave four stars and maybe i missed something good in the first 20 minutes that would change my mind, but watching the second 20 minutes i am wondering how this film could get four stars, unless it's on a scale to ten stars...

so predictable, so cheesy (church music when the man cries after the girl dies, holy obvious trust the hero moment, really, i mean, rather than actually using dialogue, storyline, and actions, but then, that is the delusional blind faith culture we live in so why bother with imagination, logic, reasoning, rational thought, and intelligence, after all)... the british accents are so think the dialogue is wasted in many places, but then, that is the british way quite often... halfway through all i see is a sadly poorly put together film)... on to something else...

the voice perhaps... christina is not at her best, sounds out of shape... ceelo sounded surprisingly good... blake is country, nothing spectacular, but the formula is obvious try to attract a crossover audience, what else can be said... the issue for me is that the judges are singers, artists, talent that have professional coaches and trainers and managers and agents and engineers to make them sound even better, so really, are they the right people, the experts at developing talent?... the best music producers do not perform because their talent is building a team that creates the package that is the artist...

apparently the producers did their job (and the real work) cuz the singers are already screened and the judges have been coached to play their parts in yet another staged reality show... but there may be some excellent voices to listen to if the scripted drama and judges egos don't get in the way...

meanwhile, backgroun tv is doing it's job, at least minimally, giving me a distraction to clear my mind and focus my mind on meaningless banter so i can either relax and nod off or drift into my own world of rhymes and babble and the fun of being me...

what's that about the egos? :)

another idol

i enjoyed the girl at the piano a lot more than diddy, but then, i love music and singers and melodies and songs... most hip hop and rap is too much like preaching, whether it's hard edged, violent, or soft like the song he did tonight... preaching with attitude all about me me me and how good or great i am... sing me a story (that's the key, sing, you know?) and please keep your ego in check and above all else, keep your religion out of it...

tonight a touch of star trek:next generation, some actual news, which is seriously rare, a couple of the simpsons, idol, bones, and the mentalist and by then, hopefully, sleep...

meanwhile, the bottom three is not too surprising after last night, though two of them were in my original top four or five and one remained in my top five after last night because her first week was just that strong, but the personality is slipping and she is showing that she neds grooming, confidence, and more edge... my number one remains...

i still don't remember all their names, so i'll be politically incorrect and identify the bottom three as the black girl, the white girl, and the hispanic girl cuz visually they are and i'll pick the black girl to go first (actually, she was my first night pick for bottom three)... it probably doesn't help her (or any of the girls) that the majority of the idol audience is young white girls, so the boys have the huge advantage...

right, ashton... kid, the others are just better... and the judges will not use their save for ashton... she could get into a broadway show, she's not bad, but the others in that group of three are just better... even if the voting audience was not very skewed to the pretty boys...

idol report out...

idol 13?

not season 13, but the jump from 24 to 13 was kind of sudden, especially since the judges are being like uber saccharin nice like nobody wants to be blunt or the bad guy… too much gooey cheerleader crap becomes fake after a while though… so i tune out the judges and listen to the voices and i like some of what i hear and the top three i picked last week changed a bit, but number one is still number one, big time… two and three slipped a bit, but i wasn’t paying enough attention (and i tuned in a bit late) to remember the names of the guys (and they were boys) who might have slipped into two or three… my three remain in the top five for now though… maybe i'll pay more attention next week...

idol season 10

i missed the boys yesterday and missed a coup-le of the girls tonight, but from what i heard here are my picks for top three, in order, for week one... the difference between one and two was appearance and style and choice of song (personal preference and originality), though two had an amazing voice, maybe even better than my first pick...

Pia Toscano "I'll Stand by You" (The Pretenders)
Karen Rodriguez "Hero" (Mariah Carey)
Thia Megia "Out Here on My Own" (Irene Cara)

weeks shall pass and we shall find out if my semi-attentive impulse picks shall hang in there or be eliminated... i may not have the patience to be around the tv every week, but i'll tune in now and then and i'll check out what's happening on wiki and if you do, let me know what you think of the voices you hear :)

mostly sports

tv has been mostly sports with some re-runs of ncis tossed in and the occasional cartoon or sci-fi distraction... life has been too busy for much of anything else... i've even been choosing music and browsing/reading the web and enjoy exploring youtube more than commercial toob lately... so what's new on your set?...

lost interest

principle too... in idol, that is... i mean, surely i knew the audience was seriously skewed and had no appreciation of talent or personality or, go figure, vocal ability, but still, they could have gone with pretty boys with better voices this year... the best voices went early in the top twelve, except for crystal who ran circles around lee head to head last night and tonight... it is sad and even pathetic to see such an undeserving winner, i mean, is it is really a talent contest...

it is not though, it's a middle america white bread teenage cirl bland fest... last hyear was obvious, this year even more obvious... when the girls stopped splitting their vote between lee and casey, crystal didn't have a chance... meanwhile, lee will sell a little to the artistically uneducated who don't mind stiff clones who wouldn't win most neighborhood bar karaoke contests, i mean, it was fitting joe cocker showed up... they probably couldn't get the boss out to sing for his bland imitator...

so the idol season was disappointing right up to the end... i wouldn't pay to see the top twelve with lee as the lead, just as i felt the best talent last year was not given the win either... middle america votes for the bland, which makes the show disappointing for anyone who thinks the most talented singer-performer should win...

might be time to return to forgetting to turn the tv on :)

another idol

missed crystal, who is a favorite of mine and andrew, who is not, so woke from a nap as tim was singing and he so made simon and company flat out wrong when they started on him in the first show of 24 by saying he didn't belong and kept on him week after week until finally simon admits tim has something this week by saying he went from zero to hero in two weeks... he's not my favorite, but he's got what an american idol winner needs, just like last year's winner...

and they seem to like the bruce springsteen clone, but lee still does not do much for me... he might make it another week, but he does not belong in the top five or beyond... aaron, on the other hand, just might... i think he snuck ahead of michael and tim this week for the fifth spot...

the judges have played with soiban's head lately and she's just got to shut them out, stop listening, stop thinking, and just sing because she's got the best voice on the show this year by far... and her response to the judges attempt to box her into a specific style was so right...

michael disappointed me this week, sleepy and not as emothional as the song needed to be... he looked like a tooy big little boy singing a song and that song needs a deep man (or woman) telling a story with a tear in the eye and a cry, not a wine, but a serious plea in the voice... still, he deserves to be ahead of others and not be in the bottom two...

katie was kind of odd for me this week, needs more maturity and energy, but she's got style and personality and definitely remains in my top four...

casey sings a song that was not really elvis, but a reminder of a time white singers stole blank singer's songs because of the racial prejudice of the time... a lloyd price song made even more popular by little richard, except for the prejudice white folk of the 50s who went for the elvis version, though not that much...

and in the end, andrew and lee are gone for me... casey is shakey this week as is michael and the rst, the top five... crystal, soiban, tim, katie, aaron (the last three in variable order)...

more idol

i watched the singing show, but missed the elimination show and last night found out the judges used their save and good news, cuz michael deserves to go farther but it also shows how young the audience has become and black male singers do not seem to be too popular with idol voters...

no surprises, still the same top few, crystal, soiban... katie has risen, casey probably, and rounding out the top five, almost anybody except andrew... since two have to go, tim, aaron, lee, and michael are at risk... i say lee, though people seem to like his bruce springsteen imitations... time keeps surprising everyone with his positivity and pure pleasure in singing... aaron could have a bad week, but he's got a lot of raw talent for his age... michael might not win the young crowd over, but any way you look at it, i see the top four staying crystal, soiban, katie, and casey... though not necessarily in that order...

rah rah...

craig is not my only friend

i missed last night's debut of craig's new robot sidekick and tonight hung out with my friend jackson to share a pizza for my birthday while watching idol and the womens ncaa championship game and then i found time for craig... we really do have a similar thread running through our brains...

tv has been way in the background lately, how about you?

idle idol

kinda boring start, what with soiban blowing the pitch all over the room and becoming a character... she needs to find her soft depths and more variety to win this, and most especially she must stay on pitch... even more, she must learn to take criticism and deal with not being perfect cuz everybody has off nights, especially early on in a career... her sheltered, maybe spoiled diva showed tonight... or just too sensitive?... two sides of the same coin... either way, she's becoming too predictable... maybe she should try some janis ian or minnie ripperton or mariah or even barbara streisand...

luckily, there are a few others who don't have a fraction of the talent, like didi, andrew, and tim (though tim does have personality and a contageous positivity which should carry him a few more weeks, maybe)... they have some talent, but not enough to go much further... or farther, for that matter... we shall see what they do tonight... meanwhile, casey locked in another week doing what he does, which is what so many have done before, which is entertaining, like last years winner, but not amazing... i want amazing...

and while michael was not amazing, he was closer than casey... there are soft depths i was talking about... that is michael's element, the soft teddy pendegrass melodic bluesy songs, sad or happy, emo sells...

didi almost sold the song on performance, but it got overdone and hammy and off and i did not enjoy her voice at all... ryan may have saved her by exposing (or suggesting) the personal heartbreak behind the song and yet, her inability to talk about it dropped her even further from idol status... got to be able to make the people cry with your story when you've got one if you want to climb to the top...

am i taking this crap seriously?... lol lam

every one of these ten singers are going on the americal idol tour and if they do not feel that bliss every week, they are fools and more egocentric than i want to root for, so yes, soiban disappointed and dropped a bit, michel rose... and tim exemplifies what i mean about enjoying the once in a lifetime opportuninty, but still looks way too goofy to sell a beautiful love song to the camera, even as his voice gets better each week, it still stays way too white bread flat to be another surprise like chris from last year, and then again he could go surprisingly far (he already has, actually) just cuz he's got the right attitude... maybe...

andrew, i find boring... low energy and no personality and not entertaining, but he might have skated through this week, unless the blatent blast of personal pity-the-girl melodrama saves didi...

katy has guts taking on songs and artists that may be beyond her years, but she's surprisingly carrying it off more often than not and tonight, choosing aretha, follows her bold pattern... the outfit was so potato sack looking that it distracted from the performance... trying to look hot and raw and sexy and full of attitude in a potato sack does not work, but her voice improves each week and she moves on easily...

lee is a bruce springsteen wanna-be with potential to make it into the top five if he lets himself go and finds more confidence... and he came closer than he has in a few weeks to performing up to his potential, i do see the bruce in him rising, so he moves on for sure... he could have dropped into the bottom three, but he didn't...

crystal has put on a lot of weight since early on, maybe the diabetes, but she's got the pipes and personality and talent and style... and if she gets up from the piano to really sing (cuz she's concentrating too much on the fingers)... and she did, and it was almost amazing... she's still #1 for me, even if, in the end, she isn't america's idol...

aaron has so much potential for his age, he could go top few if he hits every note and grows into his songs... and he sings a great song and pulls it off, even though i didn't like the last note or a few others and he was boring during the i know, but he still moves on...

so bottoming out remains didi, andrew, and tim... maybe soiban if they want to bring drama to the show (and that means either they fix the voting or the majority of viewers are fickle and have add voting many times each), but she has too much voice to be knocked off this early if talent means anything on this show... and the judges would save her if they have any integrity... anyway, the top few don't change much for me... get on with it, aye?...

idol boys

ok, ellen is getting on my nerves... how many times will she use the words adorable and great and think she can get away with it just by following it with her dumb grin (and i adore her, mind you)... but she is adding so little to the show beyond the i'm just a goofy fan bit and occasional silly amusing lines... and cara does little more... the judges are the most annoying and boring part of the show... and that's the impression the first five minutes gave me...

first contestant?... oh, was there one?... yeah, the bruce springsteen clone will probably do well, especially if he chooses the right songs because he has that good old american grittiness and sincerity in his voice... like many of the third or fourth place finishers have had in previous years... maybe even a second placer, aye?...

ok, so lee is americana and moves on to next week... and number to, alex, too stiff and performing and not in the song... he might not make it... and the stupid intellectual pit bull war between ryan and simon is juvenile and the slurpy flirtation between cara and simon is too put on and the atmosphere is losing authenticity and drowning out the voices... and poor randy, his dawg schtick used to be annoying, but i almost miss it because it was more authentic than the soft soap he's peddling now... the absence of paula and her emotional connection with the idol dream and the contestants is becoming more evident with each show...

and tim does a decent job with halleluya, but no roof is being blown off... he moves on in my book though... andrew sanitized christina's genie in a bottle and is did not work for me at all... and the brevity of the performances is also killing the show... they should have stayed with two hours and let the singers sing whole songs... the show is not about the music, it's about the judge's soap opera antics and quips and way too little music... the judges are disappointed a lot this year, and this idol viewer is very disappointed in the judges and production... was it paula that kept the emphasis on the performance of the singers?... or is the transparency of the egocentric judging finaly showing through... or both...

casey has what it takes to be in the top three... he has a style that takes over a song, a genuine performance quality that is uniquely his which is what a star is about, becoming part of the song and give it your mark... not great, but he'll move on... and the judges remain annoyingly innocuous... aaron has something like clay aikin did, a nerdy nebishy surprising quality that will probably keep him in it, but he's not a favorite for me... but the judges are reading way too much into things, especially cara... two women trying to do what paula did and they fail miserably... and all four judges are contradicting themselves so much week to week, it's making their input into the show, which is the majority of face time, meaningless... they are so not giving me the impression that they have any credibility in judging singers or performers... maybe because none of them are (turn on the sarcasm sign)...

it's sad that most of my impressions of the show are about the judges, not about the eight singers... but that's what is most wrong with idol season nine... the spotlight is turned in the wrong direction...

toddrick trying to do freddy mercury was sad... good karaoke version of the somebody to love, but it did not win me over... for me, he's got to be gone next week, but the theatrical quality of the song might get him more votes than others who gave lackluster performances tonight... all in all, the girls impress me much more than the guys, but that's not saying too much this year as a day later, in spite of enjoying a few of them a lot last night, i am not remembering any of the girls as must see again performances...

michael has grown on me... i want him to do well... not impressed with the song at all, but that's just taste... the voice and performance, however, definitely got my attention... he moves on for sure no matter what the judges might say... and after listening to the judges all i come away with is how self-serving and put on they are... and cara is so getting on my nerves way more than ellen did at the start of the show...

so michael leads, casey second, lee third, tim, aaron, alex bunched behind them and the other two are gone for me... so who cares, aye? :)

idol not

the worst idol show i've watched in a long time, maybe since the beginning (though i've not watched more than half the shows i think... some talent, some potential, but the performances were boring and karaoke... still worse, the judges were boring... that show misses paula and the cutsie kara begging to be liked and the carefree ellen’s flippant irreverence does not make up for the lack of knowledge of being in the contestant’s shoes… ellen is is a comedienne and I love her for many reasons, but she is not a musical judge and the show needs a singer-performer on that panel…

the show lacks an authentic performer judge… a performing artist who knows the experience of trying to make it as a singer and dancer and performer … can I emphasize there must be a legitimate musical performer on the judges table enough?… I truly didn’t think I’d miss her often cheesy comments and sometimes weepy personality as much as I do, but she had the dream in her eyes and that is missing now… her artistic musical focus cut through the music business advice that the boys give (and often give well)… she found words to reach the dream of being the star, the winner, with the feeling of the singer’s personality…

and I’ve got to wonder if a lack of paula is part of the reason the first show bombed as it did because it were her energy that was missing from the show and that same energy was missing from every one of the contestants… alas, there is a whole lot of work to be done and maybe that’s why simon might not be calling this his last year cuz he is smart enough to know what does not work…

2/24/10 update... the boys weren't much better, if at all, and the judges banter was worse... maybe i'll tune in again when they get to the final four or so... they've pretty much lost me for this season...