OK, I feel better about these commercials knowing that Eliza and Summer apparently thought they were as corny as I did.
"Do we get to say, "You go, Girl!" at any point?
"Girl Power!"
Also, I can't even begin to describe how amazingly hilarious last week's episode of the Dollhouse was, but here is just a taste:
*******UPDATED!! NOW WITH MORE AWESOMENESS!!!!*********
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thoughts on Lost - He's Our You
OK...let's see if more actually happened in this episode than I originally gave it credit for...
- Open with a montage of the history of Ben and Sayid's relationship. Ben is a creep and Sayid is his (sometimes) reluctant killer.
- They seemed to be trying to make the father and little Sayid the bad guys in that opening shot, but it's not like there is a KFC around the corner. Sayid's older brother is going to have to get past his squeamishness if he wants any good eatin'. From the looks of him, SOMEBODY has been making sure he has plenty of nourishment on his plate...his dad just wants to make sure he continues in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.
- A little more insight into Young Ben's hospitality...he definitely wants to get in Sayid the Hostile's good graces so that he can join up with whom he really believes to be HIS people, by delivering Sayid to his hero Richard.
Interesting note here...Ben refers to Richard as the Hostile "Leader," and that certainly seems to be the case based on what we've seen so far. So where is Widmore? Pretty sure he's there somewhere (based on his "three decades" remark to Locke when they met in the desert hospital), and he said that he was their leader. Has he not taken the throne yet? Was he lying? Is he the REAL leader, and Richard is his representative?
Seeing this whole thing play out just reiterates the question to me...how/why did Ben take the "leadership" role? I still think that Widmore is the one that Ben pushes out in order to take control, I just can't figure out what Richard's part in that is. Once again...if we can figure out Richard, we're a lot closer to figuring out everything there is to figure out, in my opinion.
- So why is it that only those specific people in Widmore's organization needed to be killed? Ben says that they are the only ones who pose a threat...how about Widmore himself? I don't think that is why Ben "released" Sayid at all. I think that Ben just pointed Sayid at enough people and pulled the trigger to ensure that Sayid could not argue with the fact that he is a killer if Ben ever needed his "services" again.
- Our "Michael Emerson is awesome" moment of the week: "Congratulations! Mission accomplished!"
Hee.
- I totally missed Horace cutting the cuffs off Sayid's wrists the first time I watched...when I saw the clippers and Horace told Sayid to hold out his hands, I immediately closed my eyes, plugged my ears and went to the "Lalalala, I can't hear you!" place.
- I'm kind of torn on the whole love rectangle we have going on right now...I've thought for a while that Sawyer and Kate should end up together, because he obviously really LURVES her, while Jack just wants somebody he can fix. However, now I think Sawyer is really happy with Juliet, and Kate would just make him miserable. In fact...Kate has made pretty much every guy she's been with miserable at some point, while everybody who has been with Juliet always seems really happy about it (Goodwin, Jack, Sawyer...heck, she even had Ben cooking hams!).
Now I'm starting to think that Jack and Kate deserve each other the most...just go make each other miserable and leave everybody else alone.
- Line of the night: "A twelve year old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?"
- Also, the follow up: "Yeah, sweet kid, huh?"
- Interesting point about Sawyer...we are all invested in the characters that we have been watching for 5 years now, so of course our sympathies and interests are with them and we assume that Sawyer would be putting their interests and well-being above everything else. However, Sawyer only knew those people for three months, and he hasn't seen them in three years. These D.I. folks have been his friends, neighbors, and responsibility for the last THREE YEARS. Plus, like he told Sayid, he has a good life here...the first "good" life he has ever had, in all likelihood. "But he's living a lie," you say...well, he was a con man. All he has ever done is live lies. At least this one makes him feel happy and useful. If I was in his shoes, I know where my ultimate loyalties would be.
- As for Sayid, I can sort of see where he's coming from in not wanting to go along with Sawyer's plan, and he does give a better explanation later, but my first thoughts were that he was being stubbornly stupid. Sawyer is trying to save him by offering a plan that will keep the D.I. off of him, and he flat out refuses. By the end of the episode, though, it's clear that Sayid just doesn't want to settle back into Island life...he sees no reason to stay here, so he has no plans to assimilate and get comfortable living the Dharma life.
- I wonder if that lunch table is the "cool kids" table or the "outcast" table? Guess it all depends on your perspective.
- Hurley's reaction to Jack telling him that Sawyer told him to mind his own business was pretty much the same one that I had..."And you're GOING to?" Yeah, Hugo, I don't believe that for a second, either.
- Again, it's just nice to see Hurley happy again after a long time of Hurley in despair.
- Ugh, Roger Workman. What a pathetic waste of space this guy is. And he went into a battle of wits unarmed:
"Can't believe you got caught by these IDIOTS"
"Yet, you're the one who mops up after them."
"Yeah, well......."
NICE comeback, Roger!
- That scene with Ben delivering the sandwich was TOO well acted and scripted. It was uncomfortable. There has been a LOT of abuse there, and the actor playing Young Ben portrayed it perfectly.
- This is the first time I remember Ben (at any age) being unconvincing when lying, and it's not just because he's younger...he lied very convincingly to Phil (who is, admittedly, a dimwit). It is obviously because he's scared to death. Of his FATHER. Ugh.
- Emerson again, with perfect delivery: "John Locke is dead. I think he was murdered."
- So we know now why Sayid came back from building houses in the Dominican and started shooting people and impaling them on cutlery....it's because Ben wound him up and pointed him in the right direction. It was almost like watching someone under post-hypnotic suggestion the way Ben knew EXACTLY how to manipulate him.
- Oldham is an interesting (and creepy) dude. Living in a teepee, eschewing technology, kind of a "one with the Island" type guy. Wonder if what he fed to Sayid was made out of similar stuff as what we've seen Locke use in the past to induce Boone's hallucinations and to launch himself on his little "spirit walk" we saw after Eko died.
And there was yet another image of a record player...almost like he's keeping tabs on the Island's progress as it spins through time, to use Faraday's example.
- There have been a lot of instances and happenings on this show that stretched believability, but I don't think we have ever been asked to suspend belief this dramatically: Sayid can be restrained by PHIL and RADZINSKY? Please. We've seen this guy breakdance people to death, and now we're supposed to believe these two eggheads can restrain him with one on each arm? Right.
- They changed Sayid's dialogue in the flashback scene at the dock...originally he tells Jack that if he ever sees him OR Ben again, it will be very unpleasant. This time, he only directs the threat at Ben. May not mean anything, but I wanted to point it out in case it turns out to be some sort of weird time loop/alternate timeline thing.
- Wow...Ilana knows her Scotch, AND she likes her ribeye bloody? A woman after my own heart...no wonder Sayid was fooled. Again.
- So, after all that, Sayid could have just told the truth in the first place since nobody would believe him anyway? Glad Sayid could find the humor in that little bit of irony. I don't think Sawyer found it funny.
And...Horace seemed a bit concerned, as well...I wonder how much he knows about the Island and its "special properties?"
- When that look of recognition flashed on Sayid's face when they pulled him out of the van, I was bracing myself for him to holler out, "Well hey, Kate! Hey, Juliet!" That was some really good stuff Oldham had him on.
- And the look between Sawyer and Juliet said a mouthful: "So you have this all under control, huh?"
- Man, I just want to punch Radzinsky in the face, even if I partly agree with him. They can't just let Sayid stick around and endanger the D.I. But I also agree with Sawyer...it's not enough just to survive, one has to be worthy of survival. Right, Admiral Adama?
For those who didn't catch the reference, Radzinsky threatens Horace that he is going to tattle to Ann Arbor. That is the home of the University of Michigan, which is where the DeGroots were professors. The DeGroots, with the backing of the Hanso Foundation, are the ones who started the Dharma Initiative, and who are apparently still running it in some capacity in 1977.
- Wow...Sayid has TERRIBLE luck with women. He's been with four women on this show...three have wound up dead (one killed by him), and two have pulled guns on him. He's a fighter, not a lover.
- I don't know what Ilana believes or knows....but she does NOT work for the Avileno family, I'm betting. She IS working for Benjamin Linus, whether she knows it or not.
- Sayid's whole "purpose" talk with Sawyer really intensified my concern that he was going to die. The scene in the beginning with him and his brother really reminded me of Eko's farewell episode, and then Ilana told him "You are going to pay for what you did," and he was obviously being eaten alive by shame and guilt, and he could see no future for himself on the Island...it was just all shaping up to be bad news for Sayid.
- Rewatching Sawyer and Kate's scene on her front porch had me re-thinking my original thoughts on what she was saying...she seemed really uncomfortable with what she was about to tell him. Maybe "I know why I came back" was going to be, "I came back because I wanted to be with JACK?" That is what she told Jack, after all.
- "Three years with no burning buses...y'all are back for ONE DAY!"
Hee.
- Further proof that Phil is a dimwit...there is a fire reported. So he grabs his gun on the way out. He's going to SHOOT the fire into submission.
- Loved Sayid's increasingly panicked reaction to seeing the O6 at the airport: "Are you sure we are going to Guam?"
And, one theory that was floating around about Ben's appearance was proven untrue: Ben was obviously not beaten up by Sayid. I'm pretty much convinced now that his injuries have something to do with Desmond and Penny.
- And then, after an episode that was pretty light on content in my opinion, all hell breaks loose in the last two minutes.
So...what does Sayid shooting Ben mean? First of all, I don't think there is any way that Ben is dead. We know that the Island doesn't let people die until it is finished with them. My bet is that sometime next week we see Ben picking himself up and brushing the dirt off.
Darlton sort of addressed this on their podcast...the old cliche about time travel, and one that we have heard on this show, is that we could go back in time and kill Hitler and stop the Holocaust and WWII (my personal feelings on that one have always been this...with no Hitler there is no WWII, and the US remains mired in a Depression, and there is no "Greatest Generation," and maybe the US doesn't develop into a superpower...unintended consequences suck).
Anyway...Damon actually said something like, "What if I TRIED to shoot Hitler as a boy and I MISSED...and that is why he BECAME HITLER?" Interesting.
I believe that the Faraday Rules will hold true, and the universe will course correct...but it should be interesting to see the ramifications.
I mean, if young Ben is dead, what's going to happen to Ben in 2007? Will he just disappear?
But he's not dead.
Right?
Namaste.
- I wonder if that lunch table is the "cool kids" table or the "outcast" table? Guess it all depends on your perspective.
- Hurley's reaction to Jack telling him that Sawyer told him to mind his own business was pretty much the same one that I had..."And you're GOING to?" Yeah, Hugo, I don't believe that for a second, either.
- Again, it's just nice to see Hurley happy again after a long time of Hurley in despair.
- Ugh, Roger Workman. What a pathetic waste of space this guy is. And he went into a battle of wits unarmed:
"Can't believe you got caught by these IDIOTS"
"Yet, you're the one who mops up after them."
"Yeah, well......."
NICE comeback, Roger!
- That scene with Ben delivering the sandwich was TOO well acted and scripted. It was uncomfortable. There has been a LOT of abuse there, and the actor playing Young Ben portrayed it perfectly.
- This is the first time I remember Ben (at any age) being unconvincing when lying, and it's not just because he's younger...he lied very convincingly to Phil (who is, admittedly, a dimwit). It is obviously because he's scared to death. Of his FATHER. Ugh.
- Emerson again, with perfect delivery: "John Locke is dead. I think he was murdered."
- So we know now why Sayid came back from building houses in the Dominican and started shooting people and impaling them on cutlery....it's because Ben wound him up and pointed him in the right direction. It was almost like watching someone under post-hypnotic suggestion the way Ben knew EXACTLY how to manipulate him.
- Oldham is an interesting (and creepy) dude. Living in a teepee, eschewing technology, kind of a "one with the Island" type guy. Wonder if what he fed to Sayid was made out of similar stuff as what we've seen Locke use in the past to induce Boone's hallucinations and to launch himself on his little "spirit walk" we saw after Eko died.
And there was yet another image of a record player...almost like he's keeping tabs on the Island's progress as it spins through time, to use Faraday's example.
- There have been a lot of instances and happenings on this show that stretched believability, but I don't think we have ever been asked to suspend belief this dramatically: Sayid can be restrained by PHIL and RADZINSKY? Please. We've seen this guy breakdance people to death, and now we're supposed to believe these two eggheads can restrain him with one on each arm? Right.
- They changed Sayid's dialogue in the flashback scene at the dock...originally he tells Jack that if he ever sees him OR Ben again, it will be very unpleasant. This time, he only directs the threat at Ben. May not mean anything, but I wanted to point it out in case it turns out to be some sort of weird time loop/alternate timeline thing.
- Wow...Ilana knows her Scotch, AND she likes her ribeye bloody? A woman after my own heart...no wonder Sayid was fooled. Again.
- So, after all that, Sayid could have just told the truth in the first place since nobody would believe him anyway? Glad Sayid could find the humor in that little bit of irony. I don't think Sawyer found it funny.
And...Horace seemed a bit concerned, as well...I wonder how much he knows about the Island and its "special properties?"
- When that look of recognition flashed on Sayid's face when they pulled him out of the van, I was bracing myself for him to holler out, "Well hey, Kate! Hey, Juliet!" That was some really good stuff Oldham had him on.
- And the look between Sawyer and Juliet said a mouthful: "So you have this all under control, huh?"
- Man, I just want to punch Radzinsky in the face, even if I partly agree with him. They can't just let Sayid stick around and endanger the D.I. But I also agree with Sawyer...it's not enough just to survive, one has to be worthy of survival. Right, Admiral Adama?
For those who didn't catch the reference, Radzinsky threatens Horace that he is going to tattle to Ann Arbor. That is the home of the University of Michigan, which is where the DeGroots were professors. The DeGroots, with the backing of the Hanso Foundation, are the ones who started the Dharma Initiative, and who are apparently still running it in some capacity in 1977.
- Wow...Sayid has TERRIBLE luck with women. He's been with four women on this show...three have wound up dead (one killed by him), and two have pulled guns on him. He's a fighter, not a lover.
- I don't know what Ilana believes or knows....but she does NOT work for the Avileno family, I'm betting. She IS working for Benjamin Linus, whether she knows it or not.
- Sayid's whole "purpose" talk with Sawyer really intensified my concern that he was going to die. The scene in the beginning with him and his brother really reminded me of Eko's farewell episode, and then Ilana told him "You are going to pay for what you did," and he was obviously being eaten alive by shame and guilt, and he could see no future for himself on the Island...it was just all shaping up to be bad news for Sayid.
- Rewatching Sawyer and Kate's scene on her front porch had me re-thinking my original thoughts on what she was saying...she seemed really uncomfortable with what she was about to tell him. Maybe "I know why I came back" was going to be, "I came back because I wanted to be with JACK?" That is what she told Jack, after all.
- "Three years with no burning buses...y'all are back for ONE DAY!"
Hee.
- Further proof that Phil is a dimwit...there is a fire reported. So he grabs his gun on the way out. He's going to SHOOT the fire into submission.
- Loved Sayid's increasingly panicked reaction to seeing the O6 at the airport: "Are you sure we are going to Guam?"
And, one theory that was floating around about Ben's appearance was proven untrue: Ben was obviously not beaten up by Sayid. I'm pretty much convinced now that his injuries have something to do with Desmond and Penny.
- And then, after an episode that was pretty light on content in my opinion, all hell breaks loose in the last two minutes.
So...what does Sayid shooting Ben mean? First of all, I don't think there is any way that Ben is dead. We know that the Island doesn't let people die until it is finished with them. My bet is that sometime next week we see Ben picking himself up and brushing the dirt off.
Darlton sort of addressed this on their podcast...the old cliche about time travel, and one that we have heard on this show, is that we could go back in time and kill Hitler and stop the Holocaust and WWII (my personal feelings on that one have always been this...with no Hitler there is no WWII, and the US remains mired in a Depression, and there is no "Greatest Generation," and maybe the US doesn't develop into a superpower...unintended consequences suck).
Anyway...Damon actually said something like, "What if I TRIED to shoot Hitler as a boy and I MISSED...and that is why he BECAME HITLER?" Interesting.
I believe that the Faraday Rules will hold true, and the universe will course correct...but it should be interesting to see the ramifications.
I mean, if young Ben is dead, what's going to happen to Ben in 2007? Will he just disappear?
But he's not dead.
Right?
Namaste.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Idol thoughts - top 10
Motown night! They should turn this into a mini-Idol Gives Back...after all, Motown is located in a third world country.
Kara IMMEDIATELY ticks me off by saying Alexis fell victim to bad song choices for "the last few times." First of all, there have only been two performances by her since she wowed everybody with "Never Loved a Man," and two weeks ago was when she did Dirty Diana, which seems to be right up Kara's "dirty it up, Alexis" alley. So, I start the show in a bad mood already. I really just need to start fast forwarding through this part every week.
On with the show!
1) Matt Giraud - "Let's Get it On": OK, song choice...I wouldn't have picked it. But I think that's because I would have a really hard time singing this song with a straight face. Maybe I'm just repressed, but I can't see myself going on stage in front of 30 million people (well, 25...forgot the ratings are in the tank this year) and singing "let's have sex" over and over again, and shaking hands with a bunch of teenagers in the front row while I was doing it. Only Marvin Gaye can get away with this in a non-ironic way...if you're not Marvin Gaye, you almost have to go the Jack Black place with it (for those who haven't seen High Fidelity...watch that movie. A vastly under-rated classic, in my opinion).
So, outside of my own insecurities...this was a very nice performance. The song fit his voice very well, even if I still think he gets a bit riff-happy at times.
Simon said it was "corny" at times, and I say again...it's almost impossible to pull this song off WITHOUT being corny at some point, isn't it?
2) Kris Allen - "How Sweet it Is": Kris shows up ready to FIGHT! in his vintage army shirt and Daniel Faraday tie.
One thing that confuses me about Kris is his choices as to when to use his guitar. I would not have used the guitar on "Remember the Time," but he did. I thought last week (To Make You Feel My Love) was a great opportunity to use the guitar, but he didn't. This week, he used the guitar again, and once again it is completely overpowered by the rest of the band, so why bother?
As for his performance, it was another very good outing in a very consistent string for him. With this song, it is very easy to fall into an imitation of either Marvin Gaye or (more likely) James Taylor, but Kara was right (finally)...this rendition was very much Kris, and that is a good thing.
Plus, his wife is still hot. At the rate that the females are dropping off this show (more to come on that later), somebody needs to stick around to provide the eye candy.
3) Scott MacIntyre - "You Can't Hurry Love": Copy and paste:
As a singer, he's not that talented...average at best. Great pianist. Picks the most corny, boring, white-bread song available on a weekly basis. Seems like a great guy.
That's the one good thing about Scott sticking around...it's one fewer contestant that I have to come up with something to say about.
4) Megan Joy - "For Once in My Life": Ugh. This one hurt. I have to now officially remove myself from the Megan Joy for American Idol 2009 Campaign. I can not in good conscience support her after THAT. Good grief...bad song choice, bad outfit, and "pitchy" does not even do it justice. Randybot got one right...that was a trainwreck. That was so bad the crowd doesn't even bother to boo Randybot or Simon when they were ripping her to shreds.
Sigh.
5) Anoop Desai - "Ooh Baby Baby": LOVE this song...one of the prettiest melodies ever. Other than his falsetto being a little weak at times, Anoop does a very nice job vocally with this one, building on his performance from last week. I made the note while he was singing that he needs to watch the "dead eyes," and then Simon pointed out that he looked like he was half asleep at times...that's the only real problem I had with the performance. Now that he's proven over the last two weeks that he definitely has the pipes to warrant him being here, I hope to see him branch out next week into the more "fun" Anoop that we saw earlier in the season.
I love Ryan Seacrest, but that was a really stupid question...does he think he can win? How is he supposed to answer that? Anoop gave the best answer you can give...if I didn't think I could win, why would I be here?
6) Michael Sarver - "Ain't Too Proud to Beg": Ohhhhh....never mind my answer to Ryan's question. Apparently, THIS is what it looks like when you are still hanging around, even though you know that you really don't have a shot at winning. Nice of Simon to point that out....and then call it "constructive" criticism. Hey Simon...I do not think that word means what you think it means. What exactly is constructive about "you are merely cannon fodder and have NO shot at winning this"?
Anyway, the performance was typical Michael Sarver...a very good karaoke version of a very good karaoke song. The ending, however, was PAINFULLY bad...tried to reach for something there that is out of his range.
Kara again nailed it (she redeemed herself nicely after the opening segment): Michael is a good singer, but they are looking for an artist, and that's not what he is. And he still doesn't get it...his response to the criticism seems to be that he needs to sing better. Michael...your voice is not the problem. YOU are the problem. You seem to be a genuinely nice guy, and I hope for nothing but the best in your future endeavors...but you are not a Pop Music Superstar.
Part of his problem (and I know I'm spending way too much time on him, but I think this may be the last opportunity to talk about him) is that he thinks he's a "Soul" singer. He's really, really not. It's uncomfortable to watch him try to sing soul, because he's as white as white can be. He is a country singer, if anything, and admitting that to himself may be something that will help him if he wants to continue in the industry.
7) Lil Rounds - "Heat Wave": I admit to getting a little misty in the pre-song video for this one...it really hasn't been that long ago that Smokey was "living that," you know?
Anyway...I think this was a make or break week for Lil. I've been saying for weeks now that she is a GOOD singer, not a great one, and this was another example of that. She REALLY oversang this in several parts which caused her to go way, way sharp to the point of being actually off the pitch entirely. For her style of singing, this should have been a week for her to knock it out of the park, and instead I think she lined a sharp single to left. Good enough to stick around, but not good enough to propel her to the top, which I think she might have done if she could have pulled off a "blow you away" type performance. It's becoming more and more clear every week that she just doesn't have one of those performances in her.
8) Adam Lambert - "Tracks of My Tears": Dude...Smokey Robinson can WRITE some SONGS, can't he? This is another great song, and a great song CHOICE. Adam needed to come back to Earth a little after the little trip to Venus he took last week (there was a much cheaper joke there that I managed to avoid), and this whole performance was just a series of perfect choices. My first thought was that he looked like Elvis (fitting, since my mom said 4 weeks ago that he IS Elvis, in her opinion), but upon further review I think it's more like Kurt Russell PLAYING Elvis that he looks like. Great suit. Very scaled back, tender performance, virtually perfect vocally (except for one MINOR little pitch wobble during the ending).
I've talked before (as Simon often does as well) about contestants having The Moment when you're no longer watching a karaoke performance, you are watching a star. David Cook (Hello), Bo Bice (Whipping Post), Carrie Underwood (Alone), Chris Daughtry (Walk the Line)...the list goes on and on. I think Adam has already had a moment or two like that, but if he goes on to win I think this will be the night we point back to and say that this is when it became a foregone conclusion.
9) Danny Gokey - "Get Ready": The other thing Adam did was make Danny look amateurish by comparison. This was good, and if he went on at any other time in the show I would probably be a lot kinder...but coming after Adam, this seemed very Taylor Hicks to me. Seriously, watch it back...is there really THAT much difference between this performance and something Taylor would do? Danny is a good vocalist, people obviously like him...he's going to be around until the end, I believe, and he probably deserves that. But he's no Adam Lambert.
10) Alison Iraheta - "Papa Was a Rolling Stone": Hey, did you guys know she's only sixteen? Sixteen years old. Yep. Won't be seventeen until next year. Last year, she was only fifteen. Amazing, huh, how that works? That it's been only sixteen years since she was born, and now she's just SIXTEEN? SIXTEEN!!!
Sorry...every season when there is a sixteen year old (and there always seems to be one), the judges feel the need to point it out about SIXTEEN times during their commentary. We get it.
And she is AWESOME. Fantastic voice, great stage presence, and she continues to pick great songs. Love the arrangement, too...this was just superb, and the second best of the night by a lot. She and Adam were leagues above everyone else tonight, in my opinion.
I saw where she was going to end up when she started that last line, and I didn't think she was going to make it to that last note, but she NAILED it.
Final thoughts:
There is really beginning to be some separation here, in my opinion. Adam, Alison, and Danny are clearly the frontrunners. Next you have a group of Lil, Matt, Anoop, and Kris that are good enough to provide some entertainment for the next several weeks but have no real shot at winning. Then you have Michael, Scott, and Megan (::sob::) who should be cleaned out in rapid-fire succession over the next three weeks.
I think that I may start a weekly ranking system of just MY favorites, not necessarily a prediction of how it will turn out. I will post on the day after the elimination shows.
Predictions:
Who SHOULD be in the bottom 3: Michael, Megan, Scott
Who WILL be in the bottom 3: I think America gets it right tonight: Michael, Megan, Scott
Who SHOULD go home: Megan...I'm hoping it's her, because my heart can't take another week of watching her self-destruct.
Who WILL go home: Michael
Kara IMMEDIATELY ticks me off by saying Alexis fell victim to bad song choices for "the last few times." First of all, there have only been two performances by her since she wowed everybody with "Never Loved a Man," and two weeks ago was when she did Dirty Diana, which seems to be right up Kara's "dirty it up, Alexis" alley. So, I start the show in a bad mood already. I really just need to start fast forwarding through this part every week.
On with the show!
1) Matt Giraud - "Let's Get it On": OK, song choice...I wouldn't have picked it. But I think that's because I would have a really hard time singing this song with a straight face. Maybe I'm just repressed, but I can't see myself going on stage in front of 30 million people (well, 25...forgot the ratings are in the tank this year) and singing "let's have sex" over and over again, and shaking hands with a bunch of teenagers in the front row while I was doing it. Only Marvin Gaye can get away with this in a non-ironic way...if you're not Marvin Gaye, you almost have to go the Jack Black place with it (for those who haven't seen High Fidelity...watch that movie. A vastly under-rated classic, in my opinion).
So, outside of my own insecurities...this was a very nice performance. The song fit his voice very well, even if I still think he gets a bit riff-happy at times.
Simon said it was "corny" at times, and I say again...it's almost impossible to pull this song off WITHOUT being corny at some point, isn't it?
2) Kris Allen - "How Sweet it Is": Kris shows up ready to FIGHT! in his vintage army shirt and Daniel Faraday tie.
One thing that confuses me about Kris is his choices as to when to use his guitar. I would not have used the guitar on "Remember the Time," but he did. I thought last week (To Make You Feel My Love) was a great opportunity to use the guitar, but he didn't. This week, he used the guitar again, and once again it is completely overpowered by the rest of the band, so why bother?
As for his performance, it was another very good outing in a very consistent string for him. With this song, it is very easy to fall into an imitation of either Marvin Gaye or (more likely) James Taylor, but Kara was right (finally)...this rendition was very much Kris, and that is a good thing.
Plus, his wife is still hot. At the rate that the females are dropping off this show (more to come on that later), somebody needs to stick around to provide the eye candy.
3) Scott MacIntyre - "You Can't Hurry Love": Copy and paste:
As a singer, he's not that talented...average at best. Great pianist. Picks the most corny, boring, white-bread song available on a weekly basis. Seems like a great guy.
That's the one good thing about Scott sticking around...it's one fewer contestant that I have to come up with something to say about.
4) Megan Joy - "For Once in My Life": Ugh. This one hurt. I have to now officially remove myself from the Megan Joy for American Idol 2009 Campaign. I can not in good conscience support her after THAT. Good grief...bad song choice, bad outfit, and "pitchy" does not even do it justice. Randybot got one right...that was a trainwreck. That was so bad the crowd doesn't even bother to boo Randybot or Simon when they were ripping her to shreds.
Sigh.
5) Anoop Desai - "Ooh Baby Baby": LOVE this song...one of the prettiest melodies ever. Other than his falsetto being a little weak at times, Anoop does a very nice job vocally with this one, building on his performance from last week. I made the note while he was singing that he needs to watch the "dead eyes," and then Simon pointed out that he looked like he was half asleep at times...that's the only real problem I had with the performance. Now that he's proven over the last two weeks that he definitely has the pipes to warrant him being here, I hope to see him branch out next week into the more "fun" Anoop that we saw earlier in the season.
I love Ryan Seacrest, but that was a really stupid question...does he think he can win? How is he supposed to answer that? Anoop gave the best answer you can give...if I didn't think I could win, why would I be here?
6) Michael Sarver - "Ain't Too Proud to Beg": Ohhhhh....never mind my answer to Ryan's question. Apparently, THIS is what it looks like when you are still hanging around, even though you know that you really don't have a shot at winning. Nice of Simon to point that out....and then call it "constructive" criticism. Hey Simon...I do not think that word means what you think it means. What exactly is constructive about "you are merely cannon fodder and have NO shot at winning this"?
Anyway, the performance was typical Michael Sarver...a very good karaoke version of a very good karaoke song. The ending, however, was PAINFULLY bad...tried to reach for something there that is out of his range.
Kara again nailed it (she redeemed herself nicely after the opening segment): Michael is a good singer, but they are looking for an artist, and that's not what he is. And he still doesn't get it...his response to the criticism seems to be that he needs to sing better. Michael...your voice is not the problem. YOU are the problem. You seem to be a genuinely nice guy, and I hope for nothing but the best in your future endeavors...but you are not a Pop Music Superstar.
Part of his problem (and I know I'm spending way too much time on him, but I think this may be the last opportunity to talk about him) is that he thinks he's a "Soul" singer. He's really, really not. It's uncomfortable to watch him try to sing soul, because he's as white as white can be. He is a country singer, if anything, and admitting that to himself may be something that will help him if he wants to continue in the industry.
7) Lil Rounds - "Heat Wave": I admit to getting a little misty in the pre-song video for this one...it really hasn't been that long ago that Smokey was "living that," you know?
Anyway...I think this was a make or break week for Lil. I've been saying for weeks now that she is a GOOD singer, not a great one, and this was another example of that. She REALLY oversang this in several parts which caused her to go way, way sharp to the point of being actually off the pitch entirely. For her style of singing, this should have been a week for her to knock it out of the park, and instead I think she lined a sharp single to left. Good enough to stick around, but not good enough to propel her to the top, which I think she might have done if she could have pulled off a "blow you away" type performance. It's becoming more and more clear every week that she just doesn't have one of those performances in her.
8) Adam Lambert - "Tracks of My Tears": Dude...Smokey Robinson can WRITE some SONGS, can't he? This is another great song, and a great song CHOICE. Adam needed to come back to Earth a little after the little trip to Venus he took last week (there was a much cheaper joke there that I managed to avoid), and this whole performance was just a series of perfect choices. My first thought was that he looked like Elvis (fitting, since my mom said 4 weeks ago that he IS Elvis, in her opinion), but upon further review I think it's more like Kurt Russell PLAYING Elvis that he looks like. Great suit. Very scaled back, tender performance, virtually perfect vocally (except for one MINOR little pitch wobble during the ending).
I've talked before (as Simon often does as well) about contestants having The Moment when you're no longer watching a karaoke performance, you are watching a star. David Cook (Hello), Bo Bice (Whipping Post), Carrie Underwood (Alone), Chris Daughtry (Walk the Line)...the list goes on and on. I think Adam has already had a moment or two like that, but if he goes on to win I think this will be the night we point back to and say that this is when it became a foregone conclusion.
9) Danny Gokey - "Get Ready": The other thing Adam did was make Danny look amateurish by comparison. This was good, and if he went on at any other time in the show I would probably be a lot kinder...but coming after Adam, this seemed very Taylor Hicks to me. Seriously, watch it back...is there really THAT much difference between this performance and something Taylor would do? Danny is a good vocalist, people obviously like him...he's going to be around until the end, I believe, and he probably deserves that. But he's no Adam Lambert.
10) Alison Iraheta - "Papa Was a Rolling Stone": Hey, did you guys know she's only sixteen? Sixteen years old. Yep. Won't be seventeen until next year. Last year, she was only fifteen. Amazing, huh, how that works? That it's been only sixteen years since she was born, and now she's just SIXTEEN? SIXTEEN!!!
Sorry...every season when there is a sixteen year old (and there always seems to be one), the judges feel the need to point it out about SIXTEEN times during their commentary. We get it.
And she is AWESOME. Fantastic voice, great stage presence, and she continues to pick great songs. Love the arrangement, too...this was just superb, and the second best of the night by a lot. She and Adam were leagues above everyone else tonight, in my opinion.
I saw where she was going to end up when she started that last line, and I didn't think she was going to make it to that last note, but she NAILED it.
Final thoughts:
There is really beginning to be some separation here, in my opinion. Adam, Alison, and Danny are clearly the frontrunners. Next you have a group of Lil, Matt, Anoop, and Kris that are good enough to provide some entertainment for the next several weeks but have no real shot at winning. Then you have Michael, Scott, and Megan (::sob::) who should be cleaned out in rapid-fire succession over the next three weeks.
I think that I may start a weekly ranking system of just MY favorites, not necessarily a prediction of how it will turn out. I will post on the day after the elimination shows.
Predictions:
Who SHOULD be in the bottom 3: Michael, Megan, Scott
Who WILL be in the bottom 3: I think America gets it right tonight: Michael, Megan, Scott
Who SHOULD go home: Megan...I'm hoping it's her, because my heart can't take another week of watching her self-destruct.
Who WILL go home: Michael
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Saying the right things
UGASports subscription site has an article up today in which Willie Martinez pretty much accepts the full responsibility for the defensive shortcomings of last year's team. Pretty much a 100% "mea culpa," with only a short little reference to the injury problems, which he immediately says is not an excuse...it's the coaching staff's job to get people ready to play, injuries or no injuries.
It's another example of UGA players and coaches saying all of the right things, and furthers my hopes that we may actually sneak up on some folks this year, if we tighten up on the myriad of mistakes that we saw last year, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Not going to link or post, since it's a subscriber site, but here is a small excerpt, featuring The Liberian Nightmare:
GO DAWGS!!
It's another example of UGA players and coaches saying all of the right things, and furthers my hopes that we may actually sneak up on some folks this year, if we tighten up on the myriad of mistakes that we saw last year, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Not going to link or post, since it's a subscriber site, but here is a small excerpt, featuring The Liberian Nightmare:
Linebacker Rennie Curran said the defense is more determined than he's ever seen.
"Nobody liked what happened to us last year," he said. "It was embarrassing. We haven't forgotten that."
Martinez said [they] won't.
"I hope they take it personal. It was us. We want to do a better job,"
Martinez said. "It's like anything any year, you're trying to build off the
positives but also learn from your mistakes, why they happened. A lot of times
too, guys didn't make plays when they were in position to make plays, but we've
got to do a better job. We've got to do a better job of finishing games. We
didn't put 60 minutes together in games. We should have and we're doing
everything in our power to make [sure] that doesn't happen again."
GO DAWGS!!
Monday, March 23, 2009
More from The Ginger Assassin
The more I hear from this guy, the more I love him. I'm not going to be one of these morons already going into the "We're better off without Stafford" theme, because that's just silly. But I am definitely pumped about the attitude that Joe C is bringing to the job this year, and can't wait to see what he can do.
Here is Chris Low's (ESPN) interview...and here is the most interesting part, in my opinion:
He also mentions that it is hard to take a leadership role when you are not playing, and he looks forward to being the leader of the team that he believes he can be. I'm looking forward to it.
ONLY 166 DAYS UNTIL KICKOFF!!!!
GO DAWGS!!!
Here is Chris Low's (ESPN) interview...and here is the most interesting part, in my opinion:
You guys won 10 games last season. But when you're ranked No. 1 going
into the year and fail to play in the SEC championship game or a BCS bowl game,nobody obviously is going to be happy. How disappointing was last season given the expectations?
JC: The most disappointing thing, when you consider how much hype we had coming in and we didn't do as well as we expected, was that it wasn't something that made everybody mad. That's what we're trying to get right now, an attitude that our backs are against the wall and we've got to earn everything. There were times last year I thought when things were going bad that people started hanging their heads. It was like we got in a rut and couldn't get out.
He also mentions that it is hard to take a leadership role when you are not playing, and he looks forward to being the leader of the team that he believes he can be. I'm looking forward to it.
ONLY 166 DAYS UNTIL KICKOFF!!!!
GO DAWGS!!!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thoughts on Lost - Namaste
Anybody else get the feeling we were kind of watching Part 2 of the last episode, "LeFleur"? Just like that one, this one leaned more to character interaction/development, with a few little nuggets thrown in to fill in more of the mythology. More than anything, I feel like these last two episodes are moving the pieces in place to set up for the big stories to come.
Let's get started...
- Well, Lapidus IS a talented pilot, but he apparently had a little help setting the plane down so serenely on the Hydra Island. Yep, just like many thought (and I didn't) they did in fact land on a runway, one that we can only assume is the same one that the Others were building back when Sawyer and Kate were part of the chain gang.
So, SOMEBODY knew they were coming...Ben? He did benefit from its existence, since without it he would have been in a crash landing. Jacob? Alpert? Don't know, but I do know that it was a nice little callback moment.
Also, did you notice the transmission coming back over the radio as the co-pilot tried to send the Mayday signal? A man's voice intoning, "...15...16...". Sounded like the transmission that Danielle's crew heard that drew them to the Island. We know that Danielle changed that transmission to her own call for help back around 1988. So...is that a DIFFERENT transmission, or has something changed in the timeline that kept the original transmission from being changed? Maybe there is another radio tower on the Hydra Island that was broadcasting the Numbers, just like on the main Island?
- Did Flight 815 have a co-pilot? I can only assume it did...I ask because the pilot of 815 was killed by Smokey, and I believe that was because he wasn't supposed to be the pilot...Frank was. So now I'm wondering if the co-pilot was killed by the Island because he is not supposed to be here, either, only Frank?
- I got a little misty during the Hurley/Sawyer reunion...shut up, so did you, you're just not secure enough to admit it.
- Notice, in Sawyer's greeting: Hurley=Khan, Jack=Doc, but Kate is not Freckles. She's Kate. I think Sawyer is REALLY trying to keep his feeling reined in.
- I keep forgetting that the characters aren't getting as much of the story as we are. Jack, Kate, and Hurley come back to the Island, and all of a sudden Jin and Sawyer are in the Dharma Initiative...and it's 1977. Hurley's reaction was priceless: "Uh....WHAT?"
- Hurley: "Dude, your English is AWESOME!" Hee. Great to have funny Hurley back this week, rather than borderline catatonic Hurley.
- Mentioned this earlier, but there is no way Sawyer ever wore that UGA sweatshirt. He may have camped under it at times, but he never wore it.
- Sawyer doesn't want anything to screw up "everything we got here." Again, like I mentioned before, Sawyer is HAPPY with his new life. And why wouldn't he be? He has an honest job for once, people actually look up to him, he has the love of a beautiful woman, Dharma beer...why would he want anything to change that? Do you think he actually wants to go back to his old life? Heck, no.
- So we finally meet Radzinsky...designing the Swan station. Awesome. He's a bit of a jerk, though.
And he's a Muppet fan. Check the top left monitor:
- The scenes of the Flight 316 survivors are so reminiscent of Season 1, which I'm sure is intentional. We even had that shot where someone is giving a speech (this time it was Frank) and the camera pans around as everybody listens and reacts. The camera did seem to focus on a couple of people in particular...wonder if they will have some significance later?
Oh, and if I was a survivor, I definitely would have been on Caesar's team. Let's see....wait here and do nothing, or go look through those buildings RIGHT OVER THERE that may have some resources we can use to survive, and probably even some way of communicating with the outside world? Of course, Frank knows plenty that they don't...
- And Horace and Amy's baby is....ETHAN. Definitely a goosebump moment, and I particularly loved how Juliet was immediately creeped out and in a HUGE hurry to give that baby back.
But...that would have meant he was only 27 when the Losties landed on the Island (1977 to 2004), and he only would have been 24 in the scenes we saw him in with Juliet after she arrived on the Island in 2001. Man, Island living must be pretty rough....he looked at least 7-8 years older than that, didn't he?
Honestly? I think the writers just wanted to show that mothers could carry babies back during this time, and then once the baby was born they wanted it to have some sort of significance, and Ethan fit the timeline better than anybody else they could think of that would mean anything to the viewers. Anybody have any other theories? Why does Ethan appear to be aging faster than normal?
Ooooh....maybe that's IT? Just like Alpert has something going on where he DOESN'T age, maybe since Ethan was carried to term and born here, it affects the aging process somehow? Hmmm.....
- It's sort of subtle early on, but you can definitely see that Jack keeps trying to re-assume his position as the Leader of the Pack, but Sawyer keeps beating him to it. You can sort of see it in this exchange:
JACK: You want us to say we came in on the sub. How's that gonna work?
SAWYER: Everyone gets knocked out before the trip, so no one meets each other until we process 'em.
JACK: Look, we need to find the rest of the people from the plane.
SAWYER: If there was a plane, Jin will find it. So we got about ten minutes to make intake, or y'all are gonna be camping in the jungle for a long time. There ain't another batch of recruits due in for six months.
JACK: What do you think?
KATE: I think we should listen to Sawyer.
HURLEY: I vote for not camping.
SAWYER: Trust me. Do what I say. Everything will be fine. Let's move.
SAWYER: Everyone gets knocked out before the trip, so no one meets each other until we process 'em.
JACK: Look, we need to find the rest of the people from the plane.
SAWYER: If there was a plane, Jin will find it. So we got about ten minutes to make intake, or y'all are gonna be camping in the jungle for a long time. There ain't another batch of recruits due in for six months.
JACK: What do you think?
KATE: I think we should listen to Sawyer.
HURLEY: I vote for not camping.
SAWYER: Trust me. Do what I say. Everything will be fine. Let's move.
Jack even turned to Kate for back up....but none was coming this time. You know that eats at him, and we will see this dynamic played out (awesomely) again a little later on.
- Nice, informative little exchange between Hurley and Sawyer in the van. Hurley reminded Sawyer (and us) that the D.I. has a doomed future. Sawyer knows that, but Faraday has apparently told them not to try and stop it. And Daniel is not there "anymore." We saw him at the Orchid station in "Because You Left." So...where is Daniel now? Just in a different part of the D.I. from what we have seen? Off on his own, infiltrating the work crew at the Orchid? Or, does Sawyer mean that he's not "there" anymore mentally, off his rocker?
By the way...the Purge that Ben helped to initiate was in 1992, 15 years from when they are now. I don't think that is the "war" that Widmore referred to. Remember in the Comic-con video that Chang referred to a "violent purge" that is apparently unavoidable, and I think that is a different occurrence from the Purge we have already seen. If nothing else, something has to happen that causes Chang to lose his arm (he has a prosthetic in the Swan Orientation Video), and I think that may be a result of an earlier battle between the Hostiles and the D.I.
- HURLEY: What if they start asking us questions we can't answer, like, uh, who's president in 1977?
Welcome back, Hugo.
- LOVED Miles's reaction to seeing the new "recruits." Miles is probably the most consistently funny character on this show, which is saying a lot.
- Apparently, Ben has done SOMETHING right...remember when the Island wouldn't cure him of the tumor on his back, and he had to have Jack operate? Notice when he took his sling off in the jungle, he was flexing his arm back and forth....I believe the Island healed him this time, just like it healed Locke (and maybe Rose).
- LAPIDUS: Sun, that boat I came here on--it was filled with commandos whose only mission was to get him.
BEN: And how'd that work out for everyone?
BEN: And how'd that work out for everyone?
Emerson's delivery on this line was perfect, as usual...I rewound and watched that exchange about 5 times.
- Wow, this certainly is a different version of Sun than the one we first saw on the Island, isn't it? The shy, demure, obedient wife who always made sure her sweater was buttoned all the way to the top seems like a distant memory now.
- The whole Dharma vibe cracks me up. Everybody is so cheerful and happy, even while delivering lines like, "Please stay within the confines of your living quarters...our Barracks are surrounded by a high frequence sonar fence...some of the rules in your security handbook will seem pretty scary...etc..."
- One of my favorite lines of the night: "Based on your aptitude tests, you'll be doing janitorial work."
- The security guy, Phil, is one of the great "Hey, It's That Guy" actors on television. I went to IMDB.com to figure out what I recognized him from, and the answer is...everything.
- Hmm...that Juliet/Kate reunion was a little icy, wasn't it? And...apparently (according to some of the DarkUFO folks), Kate has been assigned to the motor pool (where Juliet works). And she is living right next door, again probably because Juliet arranged it. I think Juliet wants to be able to keep an eye on Kate. (Hurley? He's been assigned to the kitchen, of course)
- Radzinksy is very concerned that a Hostile might know where the Swan is being built and what it is. Probably because they think the Hostiles don't know where the A-bomb is buried, which we know is incorrect...Richard is the one who buried it.
- The Island is a very spooky place in 2007. Reminded me of one of those old slasher films where the killer goes crazy on the summer campers.
- Nice of Smokey and The Whispers to show up as the welcome committee.
By the way...that is going to be the name of my Motown tribute band. Smokey and The Whispers.
- Christian is the MASTER of creepy entrances, isn't he? In Jacob's cabin, at the bottom of Locke's well, now here in the barracks...he does an excellent job of finding shadows he can spookily step out of.
- So how are they going back to 1977? Christian said they have a "long journey" ahead of them...back to the Frozen Donkey Wheel, maybe?
- OK, here is another theory going around the blogosphere...check out the shape over Sun's left shoulder. After going back and watching it (and pausing it), I definitely think it's a person, MAYBE a blond haired girl. She seems to turn and look at Sun when Sun is talking. Whether it is just a production error or not, I don't know, but the door did blow open right before that...almost like someone was walking in.
- The Jack/Juliet reunion was MUCH warmer, although they were stupid to do it on the front porch when Jack had just walked away from a very suspicious-seeming Phil.
- The whole Sawyer/Jack conversation was very satisfying to someone like myself...Jack grates on my nerves with his arrogance and need to be in charge all of the time, to always have to fix somebody, etc. Sawyer laid it on the line for him...Jack abdicated the throne when he left, and Sawyer has replaced him as the guy in charge. Jack seems to begrudgingly accept it for now...but I have a feeling he's going to rebel and do something stupid.
- My advice for Sawyer is to release Sayid, but send a message to Alpert along with him. We'll see.
- So, what to make of the little mini-wave between Kate and Sawyer? Definitely still some sort of feelings there, but I honestly think that Sawyer knows he has a good thing right now and doesn't want to mess it up. I also think that, ultimately, it's Kate that he loves, even if Juliet is probably better for him. Isn't that usually how it is?
- The actor playing Young Ben has done a great job studying Emerson...if there was any doubt who he was, all you had to do was look at the expressionless face and the crazy eyes to know that this was Ben in all of his creepiness.
As for why he was delivering food to the prisoner, remember from "The Man Behind the Curtain" that Ben wants to be with the Others...he saw a vision of his mom out beyond the fence, he actually went to Alpert and asked to join them only to be told, "Not yet." So he identifies more with Sayid than he does his alcoholic jerk of a Dad, I would think, so he feels like he is giving aid and comfort to a friend, not an enemy.
Overall, another good episode, if a little less dense than the earlier episodes of this season. Like I said, the pieces are being moved into place, and I can't wait to see what Darlton has in store for them.
Namaste.
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