Thursday, February 26, 2009

American Idol - NEXT!

Top 36 Section B

I ended up having to work late last night and for a minute, I thought I was going to miss Idol tonight. But my student worker showed up at 6:30 and so I headed out and just walked in the door at 7pm and turned on the tv in time to hear Ryan’s famous words…

“This….Is American Idol!”

Then we have a few judges comments, including one baffling comment from Kara – “There are no second chances.” WTF?? Ummm, what about the wild card round, hello?? Then we have some discussion about Simon changing seats this week and I don’t think we ever really find out why.

So let’s move on the performances shall we?

Jasmine Murray – “Love Song” - Perhaps it was just nerves, but I caught a few missed notes, it seemed, here and there and I think it may end up costing her if the other performers can pick it up a notch tonight.

Matt Giraud – “Viva la Vida” – Wow…he had more missed notes than the first time I tried to blog idol! And I missed a LOT of them! Sorry Matt…it’s been real…

Jeanine Vailes – “This Love” – I will just say she is no Blake Lewis.

NOTE: Commercial break…Saw a new commercial for Hulu.com. I love my Tammy and all, but suddenly I feel like I must score a date with Eliza Dushku…

Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle – Did what I can only assume was an original song - Well…um…ok, white tails don’t work with khaki shorts, especially with brown socks and tennis shoes. But as for his song…It’s the best I’ve heard so far tonight. I’m debating going out on a limb here and saying he just might get enough votes. Kara got in a nice dig at Simon when she mentioned Nick/Norman’s shirt.

Allison Iraheta – “Alone” – I still get goosebumps remembering when Carrie Underwood did this song back in season 4. I think I only heard one rough spot, but overall it was an awesome performance.

Kris Allen – “Man in the Mirror” – This is a guy who suffered from a lack of airtime during Hollywood week and I really don’t remember seeing him in his audition either. Not bad, I almost feel cheated that we didn’t see much of him before. He started out a little forgettable but finished well.

Megan Corkrey – “Put Your Records On” – I sat through her performance and nothing came to mind. I don’t know. She just didn’t wow me. It looked like she was trying to bounce her boobies up there, but I don’t think she has enough up there to shake. For once, I can agree with Simon, I think she may have oversang it.

Matt Breitzke – “If You Could Only See” – The oil man got through last week, this week it’s the welder’s turn. He’s got a good voice, but I’m not sure I can see him actually winning this thing. But I thought it was one of the better performances tonight. The judges disagreed.

Jessie Langseth – “Bette Davis Eyes” – Moments before the performance, Tammy texted me and said she hoped Jessie would do this song. I think she definitely changed it up and gave it a different sound, making it her own. I wonder what America will think…I’m not sure it was enough.

Kai Kalama – “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” - Another of the good voices, but honestly, I think you put him in the mix and match bin with Kris and Matt.

Mishavonna Henson – “Drops of Jupiter” – Wrong song for her. Too clean. Reminds me of when Liza Minelli sang We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert.

Adam Lambert – “Satisfaction” – Hands down, best vocals of the night.
OK, so time to vote! Based on tonight’s performances, here’s my predictions:

Top Male: Adam Lambert
Top Female: Allison Iraheta

Next Highest Vote Getter: Pick ‘em out of a hat: Kai, Kris, or Matt. But wait…those three are going to split a lot of votes. Most of the other women tonight were a bit forgettable. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Nick/Norman takes the 3rd seat tonight.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Heroes: Save the Blogger, Save the World

Tonight, we are diving deeper into the 4th volume of a show that many outlets seem to have given up on. EW.com does weekly wrap ups of several shows, which up until this volume (Fugitives) included Heroes. But now they aren’t doing the wrap up of Heroes, so here I am, attempting to fill the void…

When they left off last week, the tables had turned on Noah Bennett as he found himself drugged and captured by Peter Petrelli, Matt Parkman, and the rest of the good guys. Additionally, Uber-Villain Sylar, whom we thought may have found some redeeming qualities a few weeks ago until he sliced open his girlfriend’s head, saved another person with abilities from an all-expense paid trip to internment camp. The person, a young boy with knowledge of the whereabouts of Sylar’s birth father, is continuing to accompany Sylar in his quest.

Chapter 4 – Cold Wars

We open tonight in Costa Verde, CA, where Parkman and Suresh meet up with Peter at a hotel complex where they are discussing what to do with Noah. Parkman is convinced Noah is too well trained to be handled easily. This apparently is in preparation for the capture of Noah, where he is sitting in a hotel bar sipping on a drink. Noah is taken back to the hotel where he is tied up. Parkman is using his mind probing ability to see into Noah’s past, and witnesses a meeting between Noah and Angela Petrelli as they discuss the destruction of Primatech Paper, Noah’s former employer. Angela gives Noah a watch, possibly as a reward for meritorious service? Somehow I doubt that. Angela tells him to go home and take care of Claire, and take care of himself. Matt jumps out and decides what he must do next with this pseudo-mind meld.

Back at Senator Nathan Petrelli’s Internment Central headquarters, Nathan speaks with his Agent Danko to discuss their next moves as well. Nathan doesn’t like what he hears as he asked the agent, “Are you spying on me?” (Imagine a bad DeNiro impersonation here)

Suresh urges Parkman to reconsider what he is doing to Noah, calling it torture. Peter and Parkman defend the actions and win the argument as Parkman re-enters Noah’s mind. This time it’s a memory of Noah sitting at home, and it’s the day that Nathan informs Noah of his plans to round up people with abilities. Nathan assures Noah that Claire could be an exception to the round up…if he is willing to help. Noah takes Nathan to a warehouse where there are boxes and boxes of documents, weapons…and information.

Matt is back out and reveals what he has learned to Peter and Suresh. Again they argue about what they are doing and Matt writes down the combination to the storage facility from Noah’s mind. He offers it to Suresh, but he doesn’t take it. Instead, Peter grabs the info and goes to check it out. Upon Peter’s arrival, he opens up a crate and says, “Jackpot”. Little does he know that the room is bugged with cameras and his brother’s army is watching, uttering their own word: “Gotcha”.

Senator Petrelli orders the men to capture Peter and Agent Danko tells his men: “Phasers on stun.” They arrive to pick up little brother and Peter flies away like a bird.

Meanwhile back at the hotel, Noah swears he won’t let Parkman back inside his head, but Matt succeeds anyway and he witnesses another meeting with Noah, Nathan, and the lead agent. Following the meeting, Noah finds his way into a cab being driven by Mohinder Suresh. Noah is telling Suresh about Nathan’s program and Matt is back out, asking Suresh about the meeting. The questioning doesn’t go well as Suresh’s super strength kicks in and Matt is thrown across the room. The two men argue and when they are done, they look over and Noah is gone. Matt and Mohinder take off in search of Noah, who is seen trying to break into a car to make his escape. Unfortunately for him, Peter manages to drop in on him before he can hot wire the car.

Peter and Matt continue to question Suresh who says yes, Noah told him about the plan, but that he didn’t believe him. Matt goes back into Noah’s head where he learns about another meeting between Noah and the Hunter. Noah has brought the booze and it starts out under the guise of a social call. The Hunter reveals just how much he already knows about Noah and his family, and past involvement with the Company. Noah has advice for Agent Danko, but Danko doesn’t appear to be willing to take it. Matt gives Peter the address to Agent Danko’s apartment and Noah tries to warn him that if he goes, they are all dead. That they are unraveling things they cannot understand. Meanwhile, Nathan & Danko’s army are readying themselves outside the hotel room.

Danko is back at his apartment and he turns around to find Peter standing there, holding a gun on him. Nathan watches on a monitor back at central. Peter and Danko talk and Danko challenges Peter to kill him. He puts his head up against the gun and says go ahead and pull the trigger. Nathan walks in (wtf?) and tells Peter not to do it. Danko says if he shoots, then he wins because the world will know just how dangerous Peter is. Peter fires a shot at Danko and gets him in the arm. Nathan warns him that if he fires another shot, he was signing his death warrant. Peter flies out the window and the swat team storms the hotel rooms in search of Parkman, Mohinder, and Noah. Noah tells Matt that Daphne (the speedster) is still alive and Matt searches Noah’s mind again and verifies the information. Mohinder is waging war in the parking lot against the team of agents who pump enough sedative into him to bring down a bull elephant. Suresh is captured. The agents enter the hotel room and capture Parkman as Noah is released from the chair. However as Nathan is walking Matt out to the vans, Peter drops a smoke bomb into the group of men before swooping out of the sky to snatch up Matt.

Next we are taken to a cell where Suresh is chained to a chair and splashed with water to wake him up so that Nathan can talk to him. Nathan gives him his rhetoric about how his actions have convinced “hardliners” that he is dangerous and should be executed. Nathan says he needs Suresh’s help and shows Suresh a video of Daphne and warns him that these agents will kill Daphne, Peter, and Suresh.

Noah is walking and talking with Danko. Noah tells him he is dedicated to his job, its all he has left. Danko has his full support. Danko leaves and Nathan walks over to a park bench where he sits next to Angela Petrelli. Noah tells her he thinks Danko trusts him now.

We cut to the loft of season 1 Hero Isaac Mendez where Matt is painting a vision of the future in an attempt to find Daphne, but instead he has painted scenes that he can’t believe he is seeing. Peter tells him to relax because he is not a murderer. The camera pans back to show a new scene painted on the floor over a nuclear explosion foreseen by Isaac (season 1 fans should remember this well). The explosion is still there, only in the foreground is the nation’s capitol…Washington DC.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I'm Too Sexy...

Top 36 – Group 1

I'm a little behind on posting this because we're having internet/telephone issues at home. It started Monday afternoon. Got home from work and found that all the pretty green lights on my modem were not on. Ugh. This has happened once before and it resolved itself a few hours later, so I didn't worry too much at first. Then the next morning (yesterday) there was no change so I called mediacom and they said the there were no outages in the area and the earliest they could send someone out was today (Wednesday). So being the minor Idol geek that I am, I kept my notes and brought them to work with me this morning so I could share them with you. Aren't you lucky?

2-Hours! OK, I'm not complaining or anything, but why doesn't Heroes give us 2-hour episodes??? Just sayin...

Billboard Hot 100 Night and we got started right off the bat after a brief explanation of how things will work this year. Of course, I’m anxious to hear those words “after the break” because I just got home and I have to run back outside for a minute.

So here it is: Top male, top female, and the next highest vote getter advance to the top 12. Yes, I know that puts us at 9, but there will also be 3 wildcards added to the mix later on. If you’ll remember back to season 2, Clay Aiken was a wildcard.

I’m going to try to do things a little different this year. I’ll summarize the acts like I usually do, but I’m going to try not to invest myself emotionally in the singers until we get to the top 12. That doesn’t mean I won’t try to predict who stays, it just means I won’t let cleavage influence my vote. Not yet, anyway…

Jackie Tohn: A Little Less Talk and A Little More Action or maybe it’s Satisfy Me? I don’t know. Didn’t Carrie do this song back in season 4? Not bad, not bad…started a little lackadaisical for me, but she got into it and finished strong.

Ricky Braddy: Slows it down with something by Leon Russell. Sorry, I’m not familiar enough with Leon to know the title of this one. Nice voice, good tone, like Randy said. But I thought it was boring.

Alexis Grace: Never loved a Man by Aretha Franklin. Another good voice, but at this level, shouldn’t they all have good voices? Great job, but like Ricky, I don’t know if its enough for America to vote her through. Simon liked her.

Brent Keith: The Nashville Star contestant; is he this year’s token country act? He does Hicktown and tries to rock it out, but I think there were better song choices to rock out with country. Paula gives props to Josh Gracin and Bucky Covington :) Simon proves yet again he knows nothing about country music.

Stevie Wright: Bringing some Taylor Swift tonight but I’m not sure it worked for her. She seems to have problems with the lower register and I think she’s going to leave a lot of people disappointed.

Anoop Desai: Noop Dawg! Song choice is Angel of Mine by Monica; A good song choice for him, but another one of those calm, soothing songs that doesn’t get your blood pumping.

Casey Carlson: Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by the Police. This performance had train wreck written all over it, in my opinion. I agree with Randy, I like the song, but wow…it just didn’t work. Simon said she couldn’t have chosen a worse song. I say she could have. Right Said Fred, anyone?

Michael Sarver: I Don’t Wanna Be by Gavin DeGraw; I think the nerves kinda took control at the beginning as something just didn’t sound right, but looks like he chased them away midway through the song. Still a little all over the place in spots.

Anne Marie Boskovich: Natural Woman. This was an interesting choice. My first thought was that it might be too safe. But I think it may have worked for her. Ted Danson seemed to like it. Randy wasn’t so sure though. Simon thought she may have blown it.

Stephen Fowler: Rock with You by Michael Jackson. Finally something with a beat to it! He’s got the voice for this song, but he sounds too tentative. Come on, when is someone going to bust one out?

Tatiana Del Toro: Laughing girl; Saving All My Love by Whitney Houston. Historically, contestants doing Whitney’s songs get sent home early. But I’m a little concerned tonight. Because just before she came out on stage, Tammy and I had this exchange:

Me: Laughing Girl is next.
Tammy: I’m dreading it.
Tammy: I hope she bombs out
Me: You know she will.

And then, she pulls this song out and despite the criticism from the judges, I thought she knocked one out of the park.

Danny Gokey: Singing Hero by Mariah Carey. What’s with all the iconic artists tonight? Did anyone else have visions of David Cook during this performance? He handles this one quite well, I thought and has strengthened his position as an early favorite. Best performance of the night.

Just a thought though, but I’m wondering why nobody tried to do Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood? And if you are sitting there watching this and thinking, “I’m missing Scrubs for this?” you can relax…both episodes of Scrubs were repeats tonight.

So based on tonight’s performances only, here’s who I thought had the best night:

Top Male: Danny Gokey
Top Female: Tatiana Del Toro
Next Highest vote getter: Toss up between Jackie Tohn/Anne Marie Boskovich, with a slight edge to Jackie.
Fortunately, I also think voters will realize that Tatiana is too annoying to stay in the competition and not vote for her, opening the door for both Jackie and Anne-Marie to advance.

So its on to Wednesday night and the results show. So, I leave you with this….

I’m too sexy for my shirt…too sexy for my shirt…so sexy it hurrrrtttsssss….

Come on, sing it with me…

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Happy February!

Where does the time go?

I've officially completed my recent block of classes and now I'm taking 3 weeks off of school in order to regain my focus. Work demands were pulling from my allotted homework & class time and honestly, I thought there was no way I was going to pass these courses.

To my pleasant surprise, I made it!

So I take a break now and gather my wits, and when classes resume for me on March 9, I will only be taking one at a time. First up, Cultural Diversity. Stay Tuned..

Meanwhile, I'm conducting a search for a new car. Well, new to me anyway. I may have been successful. Stay tuned on that one too...

And finally, the voting season on Idol begins tonight! Do you have any favorites? I've seen a few people that I like, but I would prefer not to emotionally invest myself in someone that Fox has forcefed down our throats in the early audition/Hollywood rounds. I'm going to try and hold off from publicly supporting someone until we get to the top 12.