AI : Results

Well, two out of four ain’t bad. And to be honest, I did have Jason Y and Alexandrea on my list for eliminations as well, but I thought they might earn second chances from America for looks (him) and talent (her). But I guess viewers are less tolerant of cheesy performances and bizarre fashion choices than I thought. Can’t say I’m especially disappointed to see any of them leave – although it was sad that Alaina got so upset. Personally the most surprising thing about her breakdown to me is that it hasn’t happened before. Oh well. Four more down, sixteen left to go.

American Idol - Top Twenty

Personally I think that at this point in the game forcing the vote to eliminate the bottom two boys and the bottom two girls is unfair. The girls have more talented members than the boys so far and it is a real disservice to the ones that are better than many of the boys but will still be kicked off because it has to be even. Why does it have to be even between genders anyway? I get it on So You Think You Can Dance – it’s pretty difficult to keep having waltzes and tangos if all the contestants are boys, but this is a SOLO singing competition. There aren’t going to be any love duets, so how about we kick off the four with the lowest votes period? Anyway, here’s the run down:

Michael Johns – shouted the whole song. I may have to admit that he isn’t as good as I originally thought – one more chance and I won’t be able to say “he could do better” anymore.
Jason Castro - Boring song, and he still has the dreads. Ick.
Luke Menard – He’s a little too full of himself for my taste. Yeah, you’re good looking, get over it. But he was pretty good – I didn’t think he was good at all last week, so I was impressed this week.
Robbie Carrico – not good. It sounded karaoke, big time. And get a brush.
Danny Noriega –I’m not going to judge his performance because I have an inexplicable fondness for Danny so I probably think he is much better than he actually is. I will say that he should probably be singing on girls night.
David Hernandez – awful. Was he trying to look angry or seductive at the camera? And was he wearing a jacket AND a hoodie, or did his jacket have a hood? The judges liked him but I thought it was bad all over.
Jason Yeager – Actually sounded pretty good, but the whole ‘frat boy at Club Med on spring break’ performance was over the top.
Chikezie – Didn’t he have a last name before? I didn’t know he got so big in just two weeks that he could go with the single moniker. Anyway, he was really good, but the back up singers were awful. Whatever notes they were singing did not go at all with the one he sang – they really ruined his performance.
David Cook – Did you see him wink? Gross. But he was pretty good, definitely an improvement on last week.
David Archuleta – Definitely the front runner for the boys if not the whole show. He chose a nice slow song that took all of the theatricality out of his performance and just left the talent. Brilliant.
Carly Smithson – She has such a big voice and she really uses it well. I like her.
Syesha Mercado – She was really quiet this week, and maybe not as good as last week, but still good.
Brooke White – I thought the song was in a little too low a register to really let her voice shine. But she still gave a great performance.
Ramiele Malubay – Not nearly as good as last week. And her tank top / skinny jeans combo made her look like a giant fatass, which I’m sure she is not.
Kristi Lee Cook – Love her. I can’t wait to see her when a real stylist has gotten a hold of her – she’ll be gorgeous. In the shiny outfit she wore last night she definitely looked like a tomboy from a small town all dressed up for a night at the local pool hall.
Amanda Overmyer – She lost it this week. Her vocal was not good (she knew it too, you could see it on her face) and the bouffant with the blond halo made her face look like the sun. Probably not the look she was going for.
Alaina Whitaker – started out beautifully and then went a little off key for the rest. And she has a huge hurdle to overcome because she’s just not quite as pretty or as memorable as the other two blondes.
Alexandrea Lushington – Apparently she was late to the show from a recent hike through Runyon Canyon Park (in high heeled boots no less) and only had time to change one earring before running out on stage. I guess she sang too – the judges seemed to imply that she did but I was struck deaf by the clothing. And she looked so quirky and cute last week. Well, we still got quirky.
Kady Malloy – she was not stiff like pencil this week, she actually almost fell down the stairs. Which unfortunately affected her voice a bit, I think.
Asia “extra h” Epperson – Something threw her off at the very beginning – I don’t know what it was but you could see it happen. She lost the note and started doing her practiced motions at the wrong time (at one point I thought “why is she stroking her hair?” and then she sang about the telephone and started to raise her hand again and I realized she was just totally off her game), but she did sort of recover by the end. And her skirt didn’t fit – the high waist and pencil cut would actually have been very stylish on her, but the wrinkles around her hips indicated that it was one size too small.

Verdict: The boys improved somewhat and the girls had some stumbles. I say it’s going to be bye-bye Robbie, David H, Amanda and Alaina.

Lois Lame

There is a new movie coming out called 21, based on the true story of several MIT students who took on Vegas in a card counting scheme. The movie stars Kate Bosworth, and seeing how cute and perky she is as a college student has re-awakened by irrational hatred of her in Superman Returns. I have no problem with her in general – she was charming in Blue Crush and she has that cool, one blue eye, one brown eye thing going on – but she absolutely ruined Superman. Let’s ignore for a second the fact that she is in no way believable as the mother of a 5 year old son, and not just because she looks like childbirth would snap her like a twig. No, the problem goes beyond that. Superman Returns takes place supposedly after Superman has been gone for 5 years. Five years after he met Lois Lane and had a mysterious relationship with her that may or may not have resulted in the birth of her son. Now, seeing as when they first met Lois was already a famous reporter with a successful career and throwing in a little time for the relationship and the five years interim, do we think that maybe the casting of a 23 year old actress is a little inappropriate? I’m going to assume that the Daily Planet doesn’t typically hire sixteen year olds, but instead wants college grads with at least a minor in journalism. And I can’t imagine that it is that easy to become Metropolis’ biggest journalist, so I figure it had to have taken Lois at least a few years to work herself up to that level. So that makes her at least 25 before they even meet. Add in those five years again and we are looking at a 30 year old Lois at the minimum, and I’m sorry, but plucky little Kate Bosworth cannot play 30. She doesn’t have the necessary air of cynicism or experience to pull off a world weary, seen it all, journalist. A better choice would have been Parker Posey, who was woefully underused in the movie anyway (and, believe it or not, is 39). It would have been so much more provocative to have an evidently older Lois playing off of a still youthful Superman. How much more dramatic would it be if Lois not only had hard feelings toward Superman for leaving, but also because he still looks the same age; reminding her of her own waning youth and the differences between them? That would have taken a movie that was all about the action and given it depth.

And yes – I know Superman Returns came out in 2006, but so what? It is a major flaw in the movie and should not be forgiven just because it happened 2 years ago.

The Assassination of 'The Assassination of Jesse James'

Seriously – what is the deal with the total lack of any marketing for this movie? First we had zero previews, then a very limited run in theaters. Now, it has come out on DVD and there had not been a stitch of advertising for that either. I don’t get it. Casey Affleck was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance for Christ sake – doesn’t that imply that maybe the movie is halfway decent? And correct me if I’m wrong, but typically Brad Pitt movies are somewhat popular. I am at a total loss to explain any of this. Someday I will rent and watch the movie, and maybe that will give me some insight.

The 80th Annual Hollywood Ego-fest, I mean Academy Awards

Yay, Ratatouille! That’s the only winner (okay, it’s the only nominee) I have seen. It was awesome and deserved to win. I’m sure everyone else deserved it too. Especially Diablo Cody. How amazing is it that the screenplay she wrote to prove she could write a screenplay and therefore deserved to adapt her own book into a film, won an Oscar? That is talent. All in all, this year’s show was probably the best Oscars telecast I have ever seen – it is the first one since I have had my DVR. I didn’t have to watch any boring speeches or awards for dull categories – just zip, zip, zip check out the presenters’ dresses, maybe hear a few jokes along with the winners and boom, over. It took me an hour and a half.

Basil Anyone?

Another product with an infomercial feel to their ads that has been airing alot lately is the Aerogarden. This is a special device you can use to grow herbs or tomatoes or lettuce right on your counter top. It seems pretty cool – there are these little packets that have the seeds and nutrients in them and apparently they cause your chosen plant to grow quite quickly. But the ad has gone a bit over board in their zest to demonstrate the prodigious growth rate using this system. According to the ads, you will practically be over run with foliage in just 36 days. Now, I don’t use that many fresh herbs, and I’d rather not be forced to eat a head of lettuce every day just to avoid turning my kitchen into a jungle. I’m glad the system is effective, and it seems kind of cool (although I would find it way too big to actually have in my kitchen), but this is one instance where I actually hope the product doesn’t work as well as they say it does. Otherwise, the attack of the killer tomatoes may only be one phone call away.

Puff-tastic

Several months ago I was looking through a catalog and I saw this weird pan for making pancake puffs. I thought to myself “who would want that?” and moved on. Then I began seeing commercials for the same kind of pan – apparently while I’ve been cooped up in my house with my kids, the sensation of pancakes baked into golf ball sized puffs has been sweeping the nation. Who knew? Now, in theory this sounds kind of good – especially the ones that they fill with pudding or whip cream, but somehow the commercial fails to make them look at all appetizing. A pyramid of spherical pancakes (looking like doughnut holes, basically) with syrup poured all over them just doesn’t look that good. And to be honest, I’m not sure why this isn’t more appealing to me – I love sweets and carbs so this should get me salivating like a starving pit bull. But it doesn’t. And does anyone else think that flipping them with the aid of a wooden skewer isn’t as easy as it appears? I can barely flip flat pancakes with a spatula, so I’m rabidly skeptical that one prong is going to grab onto half cooked batter and flip it over easy as pie. But what do I know – I thought the whole idea of globular pancakes was stupid in the first place.