Tevelision
TV shows, commercials, that sort of thing
Now relegated to Blogblivion...Saturday, September 09, 2006
House and Standoff First Impressions *SPOILERS*
To be honest, we’d gotten a little bored with House, with it falling into something of a good but not compelling status. However, it was mandatory to watch the first episode Tuesday, to see the outcome of the freaky season finale.
It was a better segue than I’d expected, flashing forward a couple months, past the surgery and to the end of the convalescence period instigated by the shooting. As rumored to be needed because Hugh Laurie was in pain from all the fake limping, the side-effect of the surgery was elimination of the character’s leg pain.
This eliminated his reason for being cross, and his need for a steady stream of vicodin. Yet people aren’t sure what to do with a nice Greg House, and he ends up questioning his own competence, made worse by his boss cruelly vetoing a hunch. From him a hunch is as good as someone else’s factually deduced certainty. I diagnose computers by hunch as often as not, so I can relate.
The next episode ought to be a great followup, given that his boss second guessed herself, applied his recommendation to the patient as he left, naturally with miraculous results, and insisted on keeping it secret on the theory that House needs to know he can be wrong sometimes. It was wrong, unexpected, and darn well should blow up in her face. So now episode two is must-see, and we’re on track to keep watching after all. Despite the insane decision to switch the show from 9:00 to 8:00, mandating that we tape it.
At least they put something good in that 9:00 slot. The new show, Standoff, looked so amusing and well cast, we decided to watch it too, hitting record at the last minute.
We enjoyed it and will keep trying to catch it. The absolute best touch, which folks who never saw the original MASH movie might not appreciate, was when a cell phone rang with the MASH theme. A young guy had taken hostage everyone in a coffee shop and had taken away their cell phones. He was posing as an Islamic suicide bomber to spite his parents. So, yeah, “suicide is painless...” Heh. We both burst out laughing. The resolution of the situation was impressive, too. Well written stuff.
Oh, and next time I do a Google-baiting nude, naked, topless, without clothes, photos, free, fake, whatever keywords post with celebrity names, I shall have to make sure I add Rosemarie DeWitt and Raquel Alessi to the list. Oh wait, I kind of just did…
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Hey Look, It’s A Post!
For lack of anything better and more time-consuming to post at the moment, Jeff posted not-necessarily-stupid-at-all questions about food and reminded me that I wanted to point out this Cook’s Thesaurus site. It’s pretty cool and edumacational.
Now off to play with servers… Maybe I’ll post again later about pork chops, working at home, House, Standoff, or whatever.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Received In E-Mail
Friday, August 18, 2006
Salmon: The Results Post
Yay, Benji won! Oh wait, wrong results…
So, what happened with the salmon?
Above is a picture of it as a small portion appeared on Deb’s plate.
I used my cast iron frying pan, which I was thinking to do anyway because covering it on a burner creates an oven-like cooking effect. Heated it a little with some olive oil, put the salmon skin side down, put some lemon pepper - what seemed like a generous amount - and a slight bit of olive oil on the top, and cooked it for a minute or two on the stove.
Then I stuck it in a “425” oven. Ten minutes later, I was amazed at how slowly it was cooking. Though the pilot runs pretty warm and it would have slow-cooked through eventually. Turns out that no gas gets to the burner tube in the oven, and nothing past the pilot will light. Doh. Probably the burner tube thingy has to be replaced, which when it had to be done when I lived in Quincy cost the landlord $150. But gave the stove decades more of life.
So it was that I ended up with the pan on the burner, per my original plan before there was such a chorus of “and then put it in the oven...” from commenters. Cooked it mostly covered on low heat, and in the end turned it over for a minute, then back, to make the top look more traditionally cooked. Contrary to my normal penchant for cooking things to death, I got it only just done as one is supposed to do with fish.
How was it?
Very fishy smelling. I didn’t expect salmon to smell so stridently fishy. Very strong tasting, if not bad. The lemon pepper was good, but mostly buried under the taste of the salmon. When I saw Jen’s pointer to a recipe for cumin encrusted salmon I thought it sounded way to strongly spiced, but this piece of fish could have handled that and would have been good. I could easily have doubled the lemon pepper, or mixed in or replaced that with some other spices. Not like I have to conserve the lemon pepper; it was fifty cents for a good sized container. Heck, I pour on the expensive spices, when I am on familiar ground.
Next we’ll have to try a white variety of fish. It’s good to know that even though the cheapest of cheap price for fish is $5 a pound, 0.6 lbs was at least a serving more than we needed.
Oh, Sadie hated it. She wasn’t very hungry anyway, and instead of letting her sit at the table and think about trying a piece of the salmon, we enthusistically told her it was “like tuna,” which is one of her favorite things, and gave her a bite in the living room. She was all betrayed because she though “like tuna” meant “it is tuna.” Oh well. As we tell her, all we ask is that she try it, and be open to trying it again sometime in the future when her tastes might have changed or it might be a better version of the food. Since she eats almost anything, she’s entitled to a few exceptions.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen” The Big Finale, Take One
Still collecting my thoughts and mentally composing a post, which is likely not to be written until tonight or otherwise later.
A couple quick thoughts, though. First, I expected a 2 hour finale that would do more than make it so you didn’t have to see the entire prior season before watching about an hour and five minutes of actual finale… and fluffy at that.
The challenge was cool though. I’d forgotten that one, and I seem to recall last year it wasn’t close like this year.
Finally, until they opened the doors, it was absolutely unclear who the choice of winner would be. Neither would have been a surprise. Either would have been deserving. We’re pleased with ourselves for having pegged the winner in like the second episode of the season, having only seen her weaknesses, some evident right up through the “three months later scene,” later. To the extent I had any expectation which one had won, it was the one who lost and will now get pretty much the job of her choice somewhere.
Argh. I am tempted to just expand this and write it in full now, but I’ll ponder further and expand on this later. My mental composition included a point by point comparison of things like restaurant design, menu, food, staff issues, etc.
Stay tuned… I may simply edit this post rather than creating a second one that covers part of the same ground.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Rambling Thunder
Thor and Elisabeth Shue would be proud.
I can’t help mentally adding “shape of a blog!” after “‘ThunderJournal’ *lightning strike*” but maybe that’s just me.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen: It Really Was A Shocker
Usually when they say Most. Shocking. Elimination. Ever. in the promos, they’re full of hyperbole up to their eyeballs. But the elimination of the hands-down favorite to win? That was indeed a surprise.
In the context of the season, anyway. Not at all, in context of the episode.
So. The challenge. A tough one it was, too, but the kind of thing a great chef can hope to do with no help from America’s Test Kitchen. Taste someone else’s dish, then recreate it based on what you see and taste, with no recipe.
I knew Virginia had it when she used white beans instead of potato; that made far more sense to me. And grapefruit? How inspired. Makes sense, though; citrus and fish.
It says something good about all three of them that they were able to create similar dishes that looked and tasted great, but Virginia got the reverse engineering completely right. That’s astonishingly good.
Lest we forget that the contest is as much about running a restaurant, about the leadership and business end, this episode culled Keith on that very basis. We’d wondered if he could run a place, and maybe he could learn, but then… maybe not as readily as some.
Besides the normal food service aspect, this episode was about running the kitchen, calling and keeping track of orders, directing the other chefs, and providing quality control.
To his credit, Keith caught the overcooked spaghetti. However, he had a total lack of leadership and ability to stay on top of the orders. I was surprised how bad he was.
Heather was better. She’s still inconsistent, but it wouldn’t bother me to see her win. She can learn and improve. She caught the lumpy potato but didn’t send it back, tripped up on the quality control element. To Heather’s credit at the end of the episode she had gained respect for Virginia and recognized Keith’s failings, even though she went through with the plan to nominate Virginia for elimination.
Maybe Gordon’s pointers helped. Maybe her newfound confidence helped. Maybe it’s what she’s better at than running a food prep station. Virginia was easily best at the being in charge test. Salmon versus bass was an easy QC catch, but she did it and reacted decisively.
In the end, Virginia deserved to stay. Keith didn’t. You could see how tough it was for Ramsay to send him packing. I think he expected Keith to win. So perhaps as well that Keith let his true colors show, with his ridiculous sassing and attitude about being dismissed.
And so it’s Virginia versus Heather! Seeing Heather in the finale is no surprise. It has seemed almost inevitable from the beginning. Keith wasn’t initially obvious as a finalist. Virginia was never obvious as a finalist, but she’s come into her own. I have serious doubts Heather can beat her. I expected Heather versus Keith, with Keith winning. Had Sara hung on, I’d say Heather versus Sara, Heather would win. Heather versus Virginia, though… I’d probably put money on Virginia winning it, if I were required to place a bet. And no way I’d have seen that coming a few weeks ago. It’s a close competition. Can’t wait to see what happens next week!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen: Ding Dong, Sara’s Gone
Hell, yes! No. More. Sara.
Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!
I practically did a happy dance. We both clapped and cheered. For something on TV! How lame is that? But it was Sara.
Okay, the challenge. That was cool. In retrospect, given that each construction worker was supposed to sample each dish and vote, as opposed to selecting what sounded good to them, the result was entirely predictable.
Heather went totally lowbrow, but chicken sandwich and fries is so… McDonald’s. While I love McDonald’s and it has a revered place as part of any normal person’s diet, it’s not going to win a “which is best” vote against, well, lots of things.
Conversely, Sara, whom I’d bet got the second lowest vote count, went weirdly highbrow. Quail? Hello!? Who eats Quail? Surely not many construction workers for lunch.
Keith had a shot, with his lobster and greens, but not everyone likes lobster, and fewer like greens.
Virginia, though… how all-American is a turkey sandwich? Without being traditional fast food. Take something most people love, fancy it up, but not over the top, and you’ve got a winner. Smart. She may fall apart every time she’s on the vegetable station, but apparently she can plan a menu people will enjoy, and relate to the public personably.
Every time she does something right, then she gets goofy. That was a cool prize, though; almost a grand worth of stuff. On top of a guarantee at the final three!
For the dinner service, Heather was amazing and showed why she was an early favorite. Keith only messed up in a minor way. I still see those two in the final, yet… the teaser previews for next week said we’ll be shocked (again) at who is eliminated. That would have to mean Heather or Keith, because Virginia wouldn’t be shocking.
Sara was bad. Really, majorly bad. Justifiably the one to go home even if Virginia weren’t safe bad.
Fascinating tactic, telling Virginia she was no longer safe. We assumed that was more ploy than true, and that turned out to be the case.
In the end, Virginia had only herself to challenge, and she did it. She’s at that “still growing up” age. When she had a choice to take herself out of it, or not, sending Sara home, she agonized but then you could see the mental switch flipping. We witnessed a life-changing moment right there on camera, in which everything changed for her, not just externally, but in her mind and her self-perception. Virginia lit up with it.
I may be rooting for Keith and expecting him to win. I may be impressed with Heather and not at all unhappy if she wins instead. But watching Virginia at that moment was one of the most compelling things this season. If that gives her the momentum and fortitude to compete as if she really belongs, who knows… The others are human too. Heather, especially, can break under pressure. Maybe it’ll be a completely unexpected Keith and Virginia finale. Maybe the trip to Vegas was indeed foreshadowing.
By the way, did I mention Sara’s gone? And I’m thrilled? Yes!!
Update:
Excellent commentary along similar lines, via Jen, who let Beth speak for her.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen: Anger Management And The Ex-Con
If someone showed me a pile of ingredients and said “make me something great in 20 minutes” my reaction would be “20 minutes? You have to be kidding!”
And so it was a great job they all did on the challenge in last night’s episode of Hell’s Kitchen. The compliment for Garrett’s veal sounded like a death knell to me, though, even before it became clear where the episode was going.
For what it’s worth, I have never used saffron, but I know enough not to overuse it.
Keith just keeps pulling ahead, further out of the same league as everyone else. He showed himself to be the obvious winner last night because he remembers “it’s about the food.” I can remember a challenge last year where Elsie was second place and deserved to be picked by the winner, Michael as I recall, to join him in the reward. She wasn’t; a game-playing choice was made.
Keith went right ahead and picked Virginia, the second best, because she desrved it. Michael was a slimeball. Keith is a nice guy, but appears to have some requisite backbone.
Sara continues to impress, for “damn you Garrett for being the unquestionable elimination this week and keeping Sara safe” values of “impress.” I was sure the two choices would be Garrett and Sara, but Virginia was not out of line. The thing is, Virginia had difficulty with a more challenging station than Sara’s.
I was concerned, when they put Keith’s veal chop on the menu, that it would sabotage him. That worked out great. It really was complementary, rather than “let’s mess you up.”
Heather was right. Garrett is scary. The editing, itself an entertaining part of the show to watch, surely doesn’t help. He almost needed to go before he could land himself back in jail.
The editing is also an entertaining part of the previews. Really? We won’t believe who’s going home? Ohmygod!
The only one I would have trouble believing going home next week would be Keith! I’d be kind of surprised at Heather, though she really is inconsistent. The breathless assertion of the preview might be aimed at the people who have voted Heather favorite chef each week in that goofy text messaging contest. If all those people keep voting for her, they’d no doubt be surprised.
Sara? No problem believing she could go any time. She’s not only a total bitch, but also she’s getting over her head.
Virginia? No problem believing she could go. She’s actually not that bad, but keeps winding up on the chopping block with someone else who just happens to be worse or a clearer choice that week.
I’m rooting for a Keith versus Heather finale. I could live with either of them winning, though I’d rather see Keith take the prize. Keith leaving before the finale would be a surprise. Nobody else. Unless they’re talking pleasant surprise, or the “it’s about time!” factor and Sara is out next week.
Because, as you all know by now, Sara must go!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen: Sara Must Go But She’s No Rug Either
The preview ads last week for Hell’s Kitchen this week blared “you won’t believe who’s going home!”
I was eager to see last night’s episode to find out whether that meant Sara (yay!) or Heather (unyay!), which would have been the real shockers-on-some-level coming at it from last week.
This week was indeed interesting. Maribel going home was indeed a surprise. Part of me is pissed it wasn’t Sara, both because I loathe her and because she was Just That Bad. So bad I’m actually surprised, since I thought she at least had some competence, however full of herself she may be.
They were impressive for the challenge. I can’t imagine planning three semi-fancy courses on the fly while spending 20 minutes buying the groceries needed for them. Ironic that the winning team for the challenge got utterly blown away at dinner service. Despite the blue team having to stop to unload a truck! Now that was mean.
Garrett’s sign language… Is it just me, or did Ramsay react just a tad too strongly? The finger was directed at the girls on the winning team, not the chef, I would presume. How is that any worse than cursing in the kitchen? Is it a British cultural thing, to take that especially badly?
That said, Garrett never impressed me and he just keeps doing it less so. Kind of the anti-Keith. I could see Keith winning it, and he didn’t stand out in the beginning. Be interesting if it came down to a Keith versus Heather finale.
I don’t remember it ever being so lopsided before as it was last night.
Sara has to watch it. She is convinced she knows better than the chef… and anyone else. That got her in major trouble. The reds weren’t being a team. Two strong leaders - if they are leaders and not mere bosses - drowned out Mirabel and stepped on each other. Keith and Heather are leaders more than bosses, especially Keith, and are more capable of teamwork.
In the end, Ramsay made the right choice. I was sure it’d be Sara for being so bad and obnoxious, but it was Maribel for a lack of fire, assertiveness, leadership, but complimentary to her otherwise. I remarked that she was this season’s Elsie, but without the ability. Then I had to explain not because she was a token brownish person, but the mild-mannered, homesick family woman.
Sara at least has fire. She dares, even when she’s a wrongheaded bitch. I can’t see her running a restaurant unless she mellows a bit, but he was right to give her another week, after coming that close to leaving. Maybe it’ll put the fear of Gordon into her.
I would have liked to have heard the nominations. My expectation was that Sara would nominate Maribel, and the other two would nominate Sara.
Anyway, next week should be interesting, as they collapse into one team.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Hell’s Kitchen: Clearcut Loser Edition
This has been an ambiguous-feeling season of Hell’s Kitchen so far, with the exception of Sara being a total bitch and Heather being the apparent leader. In this episode, and now that we’re down to six players, the individuals are feeling more distinct, and their quality is becoming clearer. Plus the chef is actually handing out compliments! He seemed disappointed that Rachel stumbled. Now it’s clear why Keith is there, and remains there.
I was surprised they did so badly with the spread of “fake” foods. I’ve never had caviar, nor do I plan to, so I don’t know what that would have tasted like to me. However, shouldn’t paté faked from ground hot dogs at least taste a bit… odd… compared to what you might expect fowl liver to taste like? I dunno; maybe it’s a psychological thing.
Which led to the blind taste test. Mostly they did pretty well, and where they failed, well… who has ever tasted sea urchin? Who would want to? And short ribs? I’d have probably tasted them and said “beef.” Hey, it was okay to say “chicken.” Nobody expects you to say “chicken breast.” Heh.
Good episode, at any rate. I find it surprising they seem to have so much trouble cooking meat to the appropriate done-ness, if that’s a prime focus of their station. Guess it’s the pressure. My problem would probably be the urge to cook everything well done because it seems wrong otherwise.
I don’t think Virginia got any brownie points for unloading about Sara, which if he actually did miss it originally, he probably knew about by that point after the fact. They had fun editing the scene though.
Heather was really thrown by being yelled at, after usually being perfect. Finally some weakness.
The promo for next week’s episode said “you won’t believe who goes home!” Since the only person there who would provoke that level of excitement is Sara, I have my fingers crossed. Though Heather would also be a shocker, but a negative rather than “ding dong the wicked witch is dead” positive surprise. Please be Sara… please be Sara…
Friday, June 30, 2006
These Are Not Your Nephew’s Transformers
The Transformers were after my time, more of a thing for my younger brother and especially my nephew. I used to piss off my nephew by singing the start of the Transformers song with the words “the Transformers… Gobots in disguise” when we lived in the same house.
There is a teaser trailer at the Transformers Movie site. It really only sets the tone. But holy crap, what a tone it sets. I can’t wait to see the final result.
Via Opposable Thumbs at Ars Technica.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
It’s getting hot in here…
Reading this ode to onions reminded me that I’d meant to post about Hell’s Kitchen. (The link? The mention of mirepoix, which I had never heard of before the prep they did in the first episode last night. Isn’t it strange when that happens?) Of course, I had a hell of a time hearing most of it because we were running dreadfully late due to the sort of mess that always saves itself for the rare nights there’s actually something on TV (people turning simple things into complicated things...it’s a good thing Jay’s the one whose work situation it was, I’d have totally lost my shit but he’s more patient...way, way more patient), and I had the wild overtired Sadie to herd as a result, but I did manage a few impressions:
1. Heather has got it together so amazingly that it hardly seems like a contest right now. It’s going to be so interesting to see if anything trips her up along the way.
2. Of the guys, the one that Ramsay sent back to safety during the second episode’s elimination--Tom? (I’d check the site but the computer I’m on at the moment would collapse under the weight of the thing...the whole Fox site is pure evil, my machine at home can barely handle it)--really impressed me. I’ve no idea if the man can cook, but he’s the only person I’ve ever heard offer up a good reason why he should stay. Dude knows what he’s there for and has a good sense for the business side of things, which the show is also about to a greater extent than it’s usually credited for.
3. I missed the part where the fellow lost it and went home. It’s got to be much harder than it looks to deal with the pressure, even when you’ve been through the selection process and even when you know what you’ve signed up for.
4. I’m not sure how much the dynamic overall has been affected by that this is the second season of the show. Forewarned and forearmed, yes? And yet you still have Sara whooping for joy and suchlike. More of them seem to realize that there’s a gaming element to it, though, and that ought to make things interesting going forward.
Now if we could just get Ming and company to make another season of Cooking Under Fire, I’d be content.
(Onion link courtesy of The Moderate Voice.)
Monday, June 12, 2006
Monday, Monday…Yay!
I was less than thrilled to wake up this morning and discover that it’s Monday again.
Then I remembered that today is Monday, June 12, which means that Hell’s Kitchen starts tonight.
YAY!!!
Saturday, June 10, 2006
KY and Gro Jobs
Kate posted about the same woman appearing in the K-Y Warming Gel and Miracle-Gro TV commercials, both of which encourage growth.
I had noticed the same thing and forgotten to blog about it.
Turns out her name is Erica Shaffer (warning, site plays music, which as you know if you’ve been online more than about a week is a rude design flaw) and she’s in a lot more than two ad campaigns. She’s even been in a bunch of stuff that isn’t ads.
The fascinating thing is that she is fetching, yet at the same time generic, nondescript, malleable. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, for landing acting work. It wouldn’t be that hard to see her in commercials for two products and not realize it was her. I seem to recall the reason I noticed was because KY and Miracle-Gro happened to play almost back to back.
The funny thing is, she and the last advertising actress who made me say “is that the same one?” (Diet Coke skater and Old Navy Madras), Nicole Vicius, are both associated with the Cartoon Network; the one as character voices and the other as “voice of.”
“Surpassingly Bad”
Via Billy Beck, via Trey Givens, a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner that will make you laugh and cringe, and be so happy you are not the lyrically dyslexic singer - or the person whose funeral it apparently is.
This is probably funnier than any of the American Idol tryout disasters some people watch the early episodes of AI to see.
Monday, May 29, 2006
American Idol: Gone But Not Forgotten
Sadie and I went to a cookout at my youngest brother’s house today. My older brother and sister were there.
Out of the blue my older brother said that he didn’t follow American Idol, but saw a little bit of the results finale. He thought Taylor Hicks was the worst singer on the stage, and is completely baffled that he was the winner.
I thought that was intriguing; sort of like an unclothed emperor moment. All the more so because Taylor has at times reminded me a little of the brother in question. Go figure.
My sister-in-law’s mother and her boyfriend, a blues guitarist whose accent sounds like he could be from Jamaica or elsewhere in the Carribean, were nearby and while they never claimed to like Taylor, were surprised at my vehemence. They were avid American Idol watchers and kept being disappointed that “the good singers” got voted off early. They loved Elliot. They seemed to like Mandisa, and she particularly liked Paris. What I found interesting was that the talk of Taylor made him remark how bad Bruce Springsteen sounds to him; that his guitar playing always sounds “off.” I think that was part of the observation that you don’t have to be great to sell and get rich. They also thought it was a mistake for someone like Katharine to try to cover someone like Celine Dion or Whitney Houston on AI without the chops for it.
And so the water cooler effect continues, despite Idol being done for the season. It’ll be cool knowing there’s another pair of Idol watchers in the extended family next season. Give us something to talk about if we end up at family events together.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
AI 5: Finally Finale
I’m cheering for Taylor, of course.
I have, however, been forced to reassess my deep dislike of Katharine, due to this USA Today article that my darling husband sent me. In it, Katharine’s plastic cracks a bit, so to speak, and she shows both a bit of wildness and a bit of common sense that I find far more appealing than I ever have found her musical style. To wit:
While her favorite past time is dance class, she says, “I haven’t worked out in four months. I feel like I’m a big blob. I don’t have any muscle in my body. I’ve definitely not been dieting. I’m an anti-dieter. I don’t think it works. I’ve totally struggled with body weight. I was up and down with my weight. I’d get good feedback from bookers — we’d love to book her, but… it’s a shame you have to be so skinny and so in shape. I met a dietitian before American Idol and she just taught me to eat normally and have peace with food. Now I just don’t have any kind of emotional eating anymore. I still have weight on me. I’m still not what Hollywood wants — stick skinny. But I’m happy with food and able to eat and that’s what women should be able to do — eat food and I don’t think twice about it. After American Idol, I’d love to have a trainer who gets me to the gym two or three times a week because I surely don’t do it on my own.”
I just can’t hate her anymore after reading that.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Freddie and the Soul Patrol
Freddie Garrity, of Freddie and the Dreamers, has died at 69. I am familiar with the catchy song “Do The Freddie,” but was unaware of the background:
It was on an American television show that Mr Garrity was asked about his stage antics.
“It’s a dance,” he said, “It’s called the Freddie.”
Within weeks, the band was back in the charts with a song called Do The Freddie.
Naturally this made me think of pending American Idol season 5 winner Taylor Hicks (you could say he has it all sewn up). Perhaps he should come out with a similar song; “Do The Taylor, Woooh!”
All joking aside, I’m telling you now rest in peace Freddie.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
American Idol and Other TV
I neglected to post about American Idol after Tuesday night’s competition, but I didn’t have a whole lot to say. Here’s a great long post, including a results update.
Did anyone notice if the blonde skater girl selling us Diet Coke is the same one employed as the lead in the latest Old Navy commercial? Or is she just that similar looking? It was odd seeing her twice relatively close together for different products, kind of like if you saw Zoe Bartlet telling you migraines are for real and of course Excedrin helps, then telling you in the same half hour that her Secret is she’s fluent in Italian and just wants to jump the hunk.
Anyway, I thought Elliot was quite good overall. On another night, Open Arms might have been enough to blow away everyone else, but sadly Katharine stepped it up when it mattered and boobs alone might not have saved her, and Taylor was going to get a pass even if he hadn’t. I didn’t care for two of his three songs as such, but he did them well, even making me like them better than I might have.
Katharine was decent in the first number, astonishing with Over The Rainbow, and decent on the last number apart from the damn smile. I have the blues… *GRIN* I’m in such a sorry state, but look at my great teeth! I have never heard that intro to Over The Rainbow before, so when she started singing, I was like “is this a different song by the same name? Weird!” I was glad she told off the judges after the first song, when they criticized song choice of a song Clive Davis picked. Duh.
Taylor showed he has a voice. I loved Dancing In The Dark, starring Paula Abdul as Courtney Cox, as I observed to Deb on the rewatch. She was out, so I saw the whole thing and part of House before she got home, then we watched Idol on tape for her benefit. She was too squicked by the revelation that a digestive system can reverse itself, just as she arrived, to watch the part of House prior to that. Plus it’s not the same once you know how it turns out. I think it’s time for them to have a parasite that’s been mutated by a virus to thrive on heavy metals and is triggered by a fungus to secrete a toxin that gets worse the more you lie. Or something.
You Are So Beautiful was good, showing he has a voice and not just a schtick. The fact that his voice cracked on the “to me” line only bothered me mildly, because it kind of fit the song. Which to me is a “meh” song, so all the better I liked it when he did it.
I hate hate hated his last song. That was what he wanted to do for love songs week? Yeesh. Hated the song. Really hated the performance. But then, I know he was supposed to be amazingly great and all, but I don’t think I have liked any Otis Reading song ever that wasn’t Dock Of The Bay.
All three made weird self-selections. Elliott gets a ton of credit for being the most consistent. I can’t necessarily say he wasn’t the worst of the night, but he was more than good enough to justify going on rather than the cumulative ugh of Toothy McPheebot. She is one lucky girl to have made it far enough to get into the finals, and I hope she remembers that.
The thing is, at least the top four were so similarly talented that it made this a tough year to pick. A lot of it ends up being other factors. I was surprised they were that close, when they showed the percentages. DialIdol made it seem like Taylor had far more of the vote than that and was nowhere close to the others.
Speaking of Taylor, I had seen people griping about his barking out of “soul patrol” but somehow I had never noticed it myself. I think it was a set of sounds so unexpected to me that I was hearing “ooh ooh!” or something like it as he pumped his hand in the air. This week I finally caught it, and boy was it annoying and overdone, the latter I think intentionally on his part.
WTF is a “soul patrol” anyway? Something of his invention that’s part of his schtick?
I find myself lacking enthusiasm for next week’s competition show, though last year the final results show was fun, seeing all the performances by people who’d been voted off and other musicians. Taylor Hicks will win unless something really weird happens. Kat will get a recording contract anyway, as will Elliott, and as will Chris. Chris will have the most staying and selling power over the decades.
At least Top Model had good results, if also close. Jade screwed up and talked back when she had a chance to go through to the final and win. Hate her or not, she was good. Joanie will do well and can really turn it on for the camera. Danielle, though, she has presence, a glow you could really see in the finale. No, I don’t watch this regularly, but we caught parts and even all of some of them. It’s a far better show than I would ever have imagined. Besides, Twiggy is one of the judges.
Since most of our traffic comes from female celebrity names, usually female (what is up with the sicko who got here with David Caruso nude?), usually with the words nude, naked, without clothes, undressed, topless, fake, photos, and so forth associated, and since have written about Idol enough to be surprisingly far up there when searching American Idol Results, I should add some of those names. You know, Kellie Pickler, or Kelly for the misspellers, Katharine “Kat” McPhee, Melissa McGhee, Lisa Tucker, Mandisa, Paris Bennett, Becky O’Donohue, Stevie Scott, Brenna Gathers, Heather Cox, Kinnik Sky, and local Idol-milking minor celebrity Ayla Brown. Of course, for the gals it’s Chris Daughtry who should be mentioned together with words like nude, naked and so forth. Perhaps these will help sustain our search traffic through the summer, until Erica Durance, Alexis Bledel, and so forth return. Or not.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
True confessions: AI edition
So when I got home last night Jay was holding the phone, a sheepish look on his face. And so ended our glorious non-voting pact.
Of course, I took the phone from him and voted for Elliott like 20 times. Because the McPheebot must be deactivated!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Over The Rainbow
Allegedly the judge’s choice for Katharine this week, selected by Simon, is Over The Rainbow. Interesting choice indeed. It could make or easily break her. Here’s hoping for the latter.
That song was a huge favorite of mine when I was very young. I liked to sing it, and would attempt to play it on my grandfather’s organ, using a song book that told you what to press without having to know how to read music.
When I was in first grade, I don’t remember how or why the topic of songs came up, but I sang the beginning of the song in class. The kids made so much fun of me - not for my singing, but for the lyrics and choice of song - that it was a major formative experience in making me more rather than less introverted, and skittish about performing in front of others or making my likes known to others. Other experiences reinforced the “singing in the presence of others” thing over the years, most memorably ones involving a cousin and a stepsister, but that’s where I remember it starting, associated with Over The Rainbow.
Monday, May 15, 2006
West Wing
Well, that’s over. So sad. Possible spoilers if you haven’t seen it or for that matter other recent episodes.
Mainly, a question: What was the last thing Bartlet said?
When he unwrapped the napkin (which I realized was the napkin just before he did so), Deb had no idea its significance so I excitedly started to explain, and neither of us heard the final words.
I did hear the part where Abby noted that he’d made it. That has to be a worry on every first lady’s mind; will he get out of office alive.
If the show had to end, this was a good and logical place to end it. To me, the past year, the campaigns and all, have been great. Apparently to others, not so much. It was cool seeing the behind the scenes bits that happen during the innauguration, and how the transition works.
Bartlet should have known better when asked whose idea the January 20 thing was, but maybe he was being intentionally funny instead of sounding wonky this time.
The big question hanging over the episode got answered; Toby’s pardon. Guess we will never know where he got the information. He has said not his brother. There was speculation it was Andi; maybe from her being on the right committee to know, and so he was protecting her. The whole Toby plot seemed strange after they set it up to “obviously” be CJ.
No particular Charlie and Zoe resolution, and indeed no first daughters.
Donna’s office was absurd, yet touching.
It was nice to have affirmation that Donna and Josh ended up in the right place.
I watched the first episode, which I’d never seen in full. It was funny seeing Lisa Edelstein as the law student/bar tender/hooker Sam got mixed up with. I can see why Moira Kelly’s character didn’t last. She was annoying, and the acting was nothing more than Kate Mosley goes to Washington following her skating career and ditching that loser Doug Dorsey.
I know I have more to say, but can’t think of it and work beckons.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
American Idol: Results from an Alternate Reality
Did you see how shocked Katharine was? As well she should have been, since it took an awful lot of people being on crack to save her with their votes.
At the same time I’m disappointed, and concerned that we’re headed for a “false idol” year, I think it may be better for Chris. He’ll get to record, but perhaps being in fourth place will keep him from being as overproduced as Bo’s first album was. We’ll be ready to buy it when it’s released. I can’t see eagerly awaiting albums from any of the others, or buying at all from Katharine.
And yet I can still appreciate that all four have talent, which really showed in their group medley tonight. Even Katharine, who seems to do better that way, whether because it’s in a group or not under the stress of competition.
Thinking a bit more, it could be that Taylor just sewed it up. The battle of Chris versus Taylor would have been epic, and he was the one who might have beaten the Taylor juggernaut.
Then again, if Clay Elliott keeps ratcheting it up, not only being a great singer, but performing non-boringly, who knows.
Katharine has become the Scott Savol of this season. Imagine Scott having knocked out Bo and made it to the finals. Ugh.
If what I see on the newsgroup is correct, next week’s theme will be one song each selected by the judges, contestant, and Clive Davis. That certainly could be interesting.
It’ll be weird without Chris though. It’s like the fabric of reality just shifted to some weird alternate timeline.
So Much AI Blogging, So Little Time
If you need something to do while awaiting the results show when Chris Katharine (please?) gets the axe, then check out some of the best and funniest Idol blogging I have seen, by Doug Williams.
SarahK, your Idol blogging now has worthy competition.
Well, then there’s always the not-necessarily-funny takes by Dean, Kate, Kate, Sharon, and Ann.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
American Idol Final Four: Katharine’s Death By Elvis
I’ll just copy and paste from my spoiler post earlier and comment on the performances, which did wind up being of those songs.
Taylor: Jailhouse Rock and In the Ghetto
Amazing performance on the first one; easy to see why he has such a fan base when he’s at his best, and that was about his best of the season. I’d happily see him perform it live. Hold that thought and see later in this post.
Oh, Valerie watched him intently during this performance, but didn’t make a sound.
His second song, not so much, and disappointing compared to my expectations from Taylor. I love that song and know it pretty well, and didn’t like how it was changed - and I don’t mean the trimming to fit the required duration. It was okay, even good, but not all that to me. Deb had a more positive impression, and we talked about how different our perspectives are on Elvis, given that she’s not old enough to remember him being alive.
Chris: Suspicious Minds and A Little Less Conversation
I wrote earlier: “The first is perfect and can really show some range for Chris.” Wow. He so totally nailed it, and got the red-blooded American women Deb speaks of when he performs warmed up for what was to follow later. I said above I’d enjoy seeing Taylor live covering Jailhouse Rock. The difference is that Chris could have a radio hit covering Suspicious Minds. Looked at like that, no comparison.
Valerie started cooing at Chris in response to this song! We just abount flipped. I don’t know if I have mentioned how much she loves music and how strongly opinionated she seems to be about what she’s hearing, but there you go. Taylor she was rapt and quiet. Chris she was rapt and audibly approving.
I found the second one to be a station turner when it was hot a few years back, when someone discovered it mouldering in a vault and got it high on the charts posthumously. I’d never heard it before then. No appeal. No interest. Chris made me like the song. Elvis? Not so much. It doesn’t get much better. Deb strongly invoked the red-blooded American women factor.
Elliott: Trouble and If I Can Dream
But not in that order. I loved If I Can Dream, and he performed more appealingly than ever tonight. Not so much my song, but he was great. I’d really like to hear Mandisa do it, with its gospel leanings.
Valerie went nuts for Elliott’s performance, cooing and ahh-gooing and just loving it.
With his second performance, Elliott won the night. He deserves first place this week. If he is voted off, it will be more than just another case of people getting voted off the night they do unexpectedly well, it’ll be tragic.
Katharine: Hound Dog/All Shook Up and Can’t Help Falling In Love
That was really bad. Started not so bad, but it was utter folly to make it a medley, never mind forgetting words and getting breathless. I think I actually liked it a lot better than Deb, if I am remembering right. Just not enough to keep it from being hands down worst of the first set and probably the night.
Valerie opined on Katharine too. It made her cry. That was funny.
Her second performance wasn’t much better. If it wasn’t worse. Sure enough, she picked an easy song for me to be unimpressed with, and succeeded in unimpressing me.
So tonight there is no question that Katharine was the worst. It’s not even close. First through third we’d say it’s Elliott, Chris, and Taylor. Which probably means Elliott and Katharine will be bottom two, but it’ll be a major shocker if Katharine doesn’t go home.
After she’s gone, as Deb says, any of the remaining three could win and we’d be happy. They are all that good.
Now to go see whether other bloggers were on hallucinogens or agree with me this week…
Update:
Has the DEA checked the water supply nationally for hallucinogens? They appear to be widespread in the populace…
Fox Threw a Party on a Tuesday Night…
In our referrers I noticed a search hit for “American Idol spoiler list,” where we are on the first page of results because after last week’s show I talked of having seen a list of alleged songs in advance, not believed it, and been surprised it was totally accurate.
There is a similar list on the AI newsgroup this week, so for the insatiably curious, I will post it, hidden below the fold for those who don’t wish to be (maybe) spoiled. The post author actually attributes it to a mainstream article this week, rather than inside information as last week’s list apparently was. That article is here and you can see all of them by scrolling the slide show. Or just click to expand this and see the raw info (and let’s not forget my wonderful commentary) below.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Erica Durance NSFW and Search Spike Oddness
I have a lot of fun loading the blog with evocative (provocative?) search terms that get people landing here unexpectedly. Probably the most successful ever has been Erica Durance nude, naked, topless, without clothes, free pictures, photos, whatever. Mostly the first one though.
Erica Durance is the babe they brought into the Smallville world to play Chloe’s cousin, Lois Lane. I haven’t watched Smallville in ages, though not for lack of interest. It’s the tradition I have of compulsive show watching drifting off into “whatever,” whether triggered by schedule changes or viewing conflicts or lapses in quality or what. In this case I figure there’s always DVD eventually.
Unlike most celebrities, she did appear nude in a film, House of the Dead, and at least one picture of her topless does exist.
We recently had a strange spike in traffic, primarily from image searches for Erica Durance that treated us as if we were hosting the NSFW (not safe for work) picture you will see below the fold, somehow passing it through from another site, in their 2004 section. The archive it sent people to on our blog didn’t even appear to mention Erica Durance, let alone link the picture. Crazy interwebs. And so we got this:
Makes me wonder what happened on the latest Smallville to provoke the surge of searches for Erica Durance in some state or another of undress.
If we’re going to get the traffic, we might as well have the real thing available. So here it is, below the fold:
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
A running runner who runs.
Well, actually more like a mothering mother who mothers right now.
Busy, busy day. Busy busy day tomorrow.
But I have to say that I think we might have seen just the slightest bit of evidence tonight that Katharine has a little place, deep inside, that is not 100% plastic, thus making her makeup 99.47% pure faking faker who fakes. Like freaking soap or something, but in this case purity isn’t really a selling point.
Did I steal “faking faker who fakes” from someone? If so, my apologies.
Seriously, did you see her face when they panned back to her while Elliott was singing? She looked like she knew that it was just wrong, candidate.
Anyhoo, back sometime tomorrow...maybe. I have plans involving a sponge and my kitchen floor after we get home. Must. Clean. Floor. ‘Til it shines like Kat’s plastic smile.
Ahem.
In other reality TV news…
I keep forgetting to post about Hell’s Kitchen coming back, but Jen reminded me! Hell’s Kitchen is coming back! June 12! Yay!