For the Few of You Who Care

Not too many song spoilers from next week, but the themes are a song from the year you were born and a song that is currently on the Billboard charts. Looking over the pop Billboard charts, I am reminded why I don't listen to much music made after 1995, but I realize there are other charts. Supposedly Kat is going a KT Tunstall song for her Billboard song, Paris is doing Prince's "Kiss" for her birth year song, and Taylor is doing a Bon Jovi song (I didn't even know they had any new songs out).

Here's the track listing for the AI5 CD. If this is indeed the real track listing, I'll buy it since there are more than 3 tracks that I'll like. That's my criteria. I have the AI4 CD and there are only 3 songs I refuse to listen to (Carrie, Lindsey, and Mikalah). Despite my undying love for JPL I don't have season 3's CD. I did try to burn my mom's copy but I can't. I don't give a rat's ass about seasons 1 or 2. Anyway, enough rambling, here's the tentative track listing of the CD, which is to be released May 23.

1. Kevin Covais - "When I Fall In Love" - I'll skip this one.
2. Melissa McGhee - "What About Love" - I love Heart and I sort of liked Melissa. It was a travesty that Carrie's "Alone" wasn't on last year's CD.
3. Lisa Tucker - "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" - I'll skip this one.
4. Mandisa - "I'm Every Woman" - I hate this overdone song, but Mandisa made it her own, which I didn't even think was possible.
5. Bucky Covington - "Superstition" - He didn't do that well on the show when he did this song, but I imagine they could clean him up quite nicely in the studio.
6. Paris Bennett - "Midnight Train To Georgia" - This is another song that is overdone (it was even on the AI3 CD), but I thought she did it well.
7. Ace Young - "Father Figure" - Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! OMG!!!11111!!!!!!!!! I should be drawn and quartered for this, but I like Ace's version better than George Michael's. To be perfectly honest, I'd buy the CD just for this even if all the other tracks were duets by Kellie and Taylor.
8. Katherine McPhee - "Think" - Eh. We'll see.
9. Kellie Pickler - "Walkin' After Midnight" - SKIP!
10. Chris Daughtry - "Wanted Dead Or Alive" - If he un-goatifies his voice I'll listen to this.
11. Taylor Hicks - "Takin’ It To The Streets" - I despise Taylor and this song, despite my love for the Doobies ("Doobie Brothers, smokin' doobies with my brothers.")
12. Elliott Yamin - "Moody’s Mood For Love" - Boring
I wonder what the cheesy group sing will be this year?

All my info taken from MJ's Big Blog.

Drug Testing

Yay for a new Office!!

"Heroine"

Do you know what this is?
Yeah, it's Northern Lights blah blah cannabis.
No, it's marijuana.

You're not on anything? Good.

Smokin' doobies with my brothers.

Jim's Stanley impression.

John Krasinski is incredible at portraying emotion without talking.

The way Jim turned the interview around on Dwight

Clove cigarettes at the Alicia Keys concert.

Oscar was in Mexico once at age 8 for his great grandmother's funeral, so he might be a drug mule.

What a Douchebag

Wasn't this guy a back-up dancer? What's the deal with the jazz hands then?

Also, this was shamelessly borrowed from March. I had to share because it put a huge smile on my face this morning:



Some college-aged guy just won an accordian on "The Price is Right." WTF?

Sometimes We Get it Right

My faith in our country has been restored just a bit. I had Kellie in the top 2, and I'm extremely glad I was wrong.

New Office tonight! From NBC.com:

"When Dwight (Rainn Wilson) finds half a joint in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot, he puts on his Volunteer Sheriff's uniform and launches a full investigation -- prompting Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) to ask for an unusual favor. Pam (Jenna Fischer) playfully issues a challenge to Jim (John Krasinski) and he does his best to follow through with it. B.J. Novak , Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, Phyllis Smith, Melora Hardin and David Denham also star."

Go here and scroll down a bit for a hilarious 3-minute clip.

In the words of Dwight: "Being a narc is the coolest job you can have.""

American Dreamz

As previously posted, Rusty and I went to see American Dreamz last Saturday. As I'm sure everyone knows from the commercials, it's a parody of "American Idol." What I didn't know until my mom told me when I mentioned that I was going to see it was that it is also a parody of the Bush administration. Before typing that sentence I spent a lot of time debating whether this movie was a spoof, a parody, or satire. I suppose since a spoof is a form of parody and parody is a form of satire that it is, in fact, satire. Wikipedia defines satire as a literary technique which exposes the follies of its subject to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking...change. The humor of...satire tends to be subtle, using irony and deadpan humor liberally. And that, my friends, was the main problem of American Dreamz.

Written and directed by Paul Weitz of American Pie fame, this movie was silly, not biting. Obvious, not subtle. A bad attempt to try to make satire out of two things that have become intrinsically satirical anyway. The producers really do look for freaks, or at the very least, people with interesting back stories. People really are two-faced and dangerously competitive. Terrorists really are plotting against our country. The tagline is, "Imagine a country where the President never reads the newspaper, where the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons, and more people vote for a pop idol than their next President." While this may be a hyperbole, how far from the truth is it really? This movie had excellent potential, but I felt like someone came up with the idea and then wrote the screenplay in a day. Absolutely nothing was wrong with the movie except for the writing. Sometimes when the jokes write themselves, they're not as funny.

Anyone who has seen more than one episode of "American Idol" will recognize the Clay Aiken type, the Bo Bice type, and the black diva type singing songs excellently written by Stephen Task, who also wrote the music for Hedwig and the Angry Itch. The American Dreamz theme song, which features the lyric, "American Dreamz, dreamz with a z" is no worse than any of the real coronation songs that Idol winners have had to sing, and that is funny. I would have much preferred to lose the Bush bashing in favor of more jabs at past contestants and the type-casting of which American Idol is so fond.

American Dreamz stars Hugh Grant as a Simon Cowell/Ryan Seacrest hybrid, Dennis Quaid as the Prez who is likely to be easily distracted by shiny things, Mandy Moore (who I feel is holding her own as an actress) as a viciously ambitious "American Dreamz" contestant, Willem Dafoe as the president's Cheney-esque puppet master, Chris Klein as the dim-witted, wounded-in-combat army veteran boyfriend, Jennifer Coolidge as the stage mom from hell, and Sam Golzari as the Iraqi soldier with a penchant for show tunes.

Don't pay movie theater prices to see this movie, or, if you insist, go to a matinee and skip the popcorn. If you hate Bush or love "American Idol" rent or Netflix it.

For Not Dim

Screen caps of Kat from last night. I don't know if your ridiculous comment was ridiculous = hot or ridiculous = hideous color, visible panty lines, and made a girl with an awesome figure look fat, but I was not digging the dress. And, uh, you might want to scroll about 3/4 of the way down because I think we might have seen something we weren't supposed to see. Her hair extensions looked ratty too. I think my lesbian crush on Kat is over.

P.S. She also did my major pet peeve: smiled and waved during a sad song. That is unacceptable in my book.

Love Songs

It looks like, against my better judgment, I'm going to the American Idol concert with Rusty. I said I wouldn't go any farther than Hershey, and it's coming there July 12. I should have said I wouldn't go any farther than my backyard :).

Tonight was very awkward all around! You could cut the tension with a knife. And I freaking loved it! I'm glad Ace wasn't there because I feel like that David dude would have ripped him a new one.

Katharine - I thought she was pitchy. Ambitious song choice. I still say she thinks she's better than she is.

Elliott - He sounded great, but that was a very boring song (isn't that pretty much the same thing I say about him every week?).

Kellie - That was absolutely horrific. Who likes this girl?! And don't bother to dress up or anything, geez.

Paris - She's really good and she doesn't annoy me as much as she used to.

Taylor - That was as horrific as Kellie. I can't stand this guy.

Chris - I hate that song with the fire of 1,000 suns. I thought he was ok, but I think it's just because I have a soft spot in my heart for him now that we locked doors together.

WTF was up with the massive number of Z-list celebrities in the audience this week?

I think Katharine is leaving.

Blogs That Are Better Than Mine

I came upon this blog today because of an article in Slate about how the writer is quitting. It's a shame, because it's very good and her experiences remind me of my own (except for the glamorous ones, of which I have none). My favorite is the one about having her parents listen to the top singles of the year and getting their opinions because, again, it reminds me of my parents. One of the songs reviewed by her parents was "In Da Club" by 50 Cent. I was washing my car at my parents' house and that song came on the radio and my dad gave me a WTF look. If it ain't John Denver or the Beach Boys, he ain't having none of it. You can find the articles here and here.

4-Day Weekend

I'm now back at work after a nice 4-day weekend, and luckily I didn't have a lot of messages; in fact, I had fewer messages over 4 days than I have had some Thursday afternoons when I come in. The weekend was pretty uneventful (except for the fight I wrote about in my last post). I got my car inspected on Friday, and it only needed an air filter. Yay! I also got new wiper blades put on, which is nice because now my wipers actually work. It cost $11 PER BLADE though. If I had known that I would have just dealt with the aggravation of trying to put them on myself.

While we were waiting for my car, my dad and I had breakfast at Denny's. Moons Over My Hammy, while having the dumbest name in the world, is one of the best meals ever. My dad, who recently retired after teaching since 1965 told me the best place to punch a kid without leaving a mark. That might come in handy if the skate church kids continue to get smart with me about blocking my driveway area. After breakfast we called to see how long my car would be and they told me an hour and a half, so we went to my parents' house. As we were turning onto their road (5 minutes away, although this time it took about 10 because my dad missed the interstate exit [he has lived in the same home for more than 30 years] because I was distracting him) I got a call saying my car was done. Nice.

Since we were already at my parents' house, my mom and I drove to the Amish market to look at picnic tables since that is what they are getting me for my birthday. My mom also decided to buy me some food, which is always appreciated. Then she took me to get my car.

On Saturday I cleaned the house and then went to see American Dreamz and to the Olive Garden with Rusty. I was going to include my review here, but this post is already too long, so I'll do it separately. On Sunday I did jack shit because I was so tired from getting no sleep on Saturday night. I did watch Tapeheads, an 80s John Cusack movie. I rated it 1 star on Netflix. I loves me some John Cusack, but he seriously needs help choosing scripts. I can only think of 3 movies of his that I've liked.

Yesterday I was bored out of my mind because I was pretty much broke and didn't want to drive anywhere because of the price of gas. I did get to see Ace on "Regis and Kelly" and also on "Ellen" though. As usual, he sounded like ass but looked good. I was reminded how insanely annoying Kelly Ripa is and while watching Ellen I was further creeped out by Ace and his brother's relationship. Apparently he's going to sing "Butterflies" on the CD...meh.

Last night Chris and I watched "Walker" again. He (Walker, not Chris) performed a funeral for some dude and then delivered a baby who of course came out completely clean. Then I half-watched "24" and waited for Romano (I didn't even know he was on that show) to be killed by a helicopter.

I slept very well last night and had a dream that Chris Daughtry and I were in my old elementary school locking all the doors. I wonder what Freud would have to say about that.

Sleep, Elusive Sleep

Last night I was awakened yet again by neighbors. I awoke to, "Fuck!" followed by a car door slamming and someone peeling out. Then neighbor (girl #1) and girl #2 were screaming at each other. Then fuck guy came back yelling that he wanted his CDs back and threatened to break the door down while girl #2 cried and said she was walking home while fuck guy screamed at here to stay where she was. Then girl #1 opened the door and fought with fuck guy who told her that he served his country for 4 years. Then fuck guy went around to the bathroom window, but apparently it was too high to break into (even though there are 2 ladders sitting next to it). Lather, rinse, repeat. After they finally left I couldn't sleep so I laid on the couch and watched most of Say Anything till I fell asleep...until they came back again. Luckily this time they weren't as loud.

About 85-90% of my hits have been from people searching for images of a certain deceased frontman's wife and daughter, which I posted last September. I took the photo down a couple days ago, but I'm still on the first page of Google images. I deleted the post, so hopefully that'll stop. Today from 2:30 until 10 AM I had 14 hits from people searching for that from the US, Cyprus, the Philippines, Austria, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and Canada. WTF? It's not a huge deal, but I'd rather have fewer people finding my blog than have all my traffic be from that.

Ode to Ace

Oh, Ace, you beautiful, beautiful, beautiful man. I called you as the winner before the season even started. You coulda been a contendah! Here's what happened: Your audition was pretty meh actually, but I think that's only because I don't like boyband music. During the Hollywood rounds you looked hot and made the girls scream which put Simon on high alert (although listening back, you screwed up your words and I think you sounded like ass--sorry!).

Then you did "Father Figure" and my world stood still for a minute thirty. After that performance I said you were excellent at playing the game and that you had the best song choice of all time. Your voice was strong (for you), you looked great, sang well, and didn't do any of that damned falsetto (except for the little "hmmm" thing that made girls everywhere melt). You were teh sex! The nose crinkle! The naked! The I'll be your daddy! The stomach shirt grabbing! That video is my most watched after JPL's "A Little Less Conversation," and that has 2 years on you (Yes, I have an extensive collection of AI downloads, shut up.) Randy said, "You can actually sing! Oh my god!" Simon told him he had the X factor and that he would sail through. So what happened? Every single performance after "FF," that's what!

"If You're Not the One" was horrendous! "Butterflies" actually wasn't that bad, but at this point you were already losing steam. "Do I Do" was your first time on the big stage, and I know you were probably nervous as hell, but you blew it! "In the Still of the Night" was actually pretty good and we got to see a little more of your "strong" voice there. "Drops of Jupiter" was a hot mess, "I Wanna Cry" was decent, "We Will Rock You" and the poorly-fitting leather pants were ill-advised, and "That's All" was mediocre. I guess you were just lucky with the "FF" song choice, but you made me look like an ass as I held out week after week for another "FF"-like performance. I'm used to rooting for the underdog who everyone makes fun of though. My advice to you: soap operas. And don't sing anymore.

Oh well. You can still be my preacher teacher. I have a couple things in mind.

It's Called Personal Responsibility. Get Some.

I have a post-in-progress about the things that are wrong with our society, and one of them is a lack of personal responsibility. This article from The Slate made me angry. Now that the government has made some headway with banning smoking, it has moved on to fighting obesity. It's fine to have programs promoting healthy living and to educate the public, but to regulate junk food sales and ban the use of trans fats? 1984 may not be so far off after all.

I can understand banning smoking in some public places, such as hospitals. But to ban it in a bar or in a person's car or outside on the streets is ludicrous. Everyone knows that bars are smoky; if you don't like it, don't go. Your car is your own personal property, and I understand that people throwing butts out the window is a problem, but perhaps cars shouldn't have stopped coming equipped with an ash tray then. Allowing smoking on the streets also creates the problem of dropped butts, and I understand not allowing smoking right in front of the door of a public building, but people can steer clear of the smoke if they choose to do so.

Banning trans fats is a whole other ballgame though. Secondhand smoke can allegedly cause health problems, but who else is obesity hurting? If I want to eat at McDonald's every day and weigh 500 pounds then that's my right. What seems to be forgotten is that there are healthy, fit people who are able to eat fast food in moderation. I see plenty of thin people at McDonald's when I go. Yes, there are people who have become addicted to junk food, but at the risk of sounding like a Republican, that's not the government's problem.

I know there's a link between the growing rates of obesity and the rising cost of healthcare, but people are always going to be obese. No government program or news story or warning label on a package is going to stop that. Good nutrition needs to start at a young age and needs to be reinforced by parents. Our "rush, rush" society looks to convenience food eaten quickly in the car in between baseball practice and piano lessons instead of taking the time to make a home-cooked meal that is eaten at the table by the whole family. The problem's roots go much deeper than people eating fatty foods, and fighting the symptoms isn't going to cure the cause.

Borrowed from B

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18 and find line 4. "...with. Sometimes they were paralyzed, sometimes they..." From The World According to Garp by John Irving.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, what do you find? My office printer.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? American Idol

4. Without looking, guess what time it is. 9:00 AM

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time? 9:01 AM

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? shuffling papers in the next room; footsteps; "Plush" by STP on the classic alternative radio station, making me feel old again.

7. When did you last step outside? at about 8:15, walking from the garage to the office

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at? my work website

9. What are you wearing? black T-shirt, khakis, and a white cardigan sweater thingy

10. Did you dream last night? I don't remember my dream.

11. When did you last laugh? Last night with Rusty watching American Idol

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in? A hideous painting of a vase of flowers sitting off-center on a silver tray on a table (and for whatever reason, leaves and petals [which don't even match the flowers in the vase] have fallen off and are lying on the table) with 3 different fugly pillows that appear to be floating in air in the background and something else which I suppose are velvet curtains that have a scraggly-looking fringe hanging down even further in the background. You know, I never really paid attention to that painting before, but a monkey could have painted something more artistically pleasing than that. There is also a calendar, a bulletin board, and a clock.

13. Seen anything weird lately? That painting

14. What do you think of this quiz? ??

15. What is the last film you saw? Junebug

16. If you turned into a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? A house, a trip to London, a master's degree, clothes and shoes, stuff for the house, and stuff for my friends and family.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do? I would cure diseases that have no cure right now, like cancer and AIDS. I would also make sure that wealth was more evenly distributed, because it pisses me off that some people have no home or food while others can buy a $10,000 handbag.

19. Do you like to Dance? Noooooooooooooo

20. George Bush? Liar, idiot, puppet

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? Kate

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what would you call him? Rusty is going to have 2 best friends with boys named Ethan.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad? Yes. If I were rich, I'd move to England without even having been there. I'm very unhappy with our country right now (waits for Homeland Security to bum rush me for being unpatriotic).

24. What would you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates? Free booze for all!

For Not Dim

Because I love ya I braved one of the tween message boards to find you Kat pictures from last night. Looking over them again, I'm amazed at how stunning she is. Here they are.

Standards

I know very few of these songs, and the ones I do know I don't like, so I'll keep this short:

Everyone sounded great with 3 exceptions:

Kellie sounded like complete and total ass.
Taylor sounded like he does every single other week, which to me is like ass. Everyone else changed it up a little except him. I tired of his schtick months ago.
Ace sounded sort of bad but he gave me the vapors. Good god that man is hot. And I totally called the suit (this morning on the blog) and the ponytail (to Rusty on the phone before she came over).

My favorites of the night:

Katharine by a long shot (and Dim, even I was turned on by her tonight),
Elliott,
then Paris

Kellie should go home tomorrow but she won't, so Ace should definitely go, but I'm afraid Elliott will go due to the hotness vote.

P.S. I forgot that Michael Rapaport was in the audience clapping for Ace. Show, please never make me connect Ace to Michael Rapaport ever again. The War at Home is the worst. show. ever.

Gross

I had a massive case of writer's block over the past couple days (and was sort of busy, at least for me), but I have come back to bring you this: Cruise to Eat Nutritious Placenta. I know people do that, but seriously, that's nasty.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. On Friday I went out to eat with some people from work, and then came home and watched the old ER episodes where Carter causes his friend and roommate to throw himself on the subway rails. My Carter hatred knows no bounds and I would probably kill myself over living with him too.

On Saturday, Rusty and I went hiking, and as she will tell you in her more detailed post, I fell into a creek. After that we went to McDonald's, but it's totally ok because we burned way more calories than we ate. After we got back Saturday I didn't do too much because I was in too much pain to move, but I did get some laundry done and watched some of that show on Bravo about the real desperate housewives of the OC.

On Sunday we went for dinner at Chris's grandparents' house and then came home and watched the second half of Jesus Christ Superstar. I watched the first half on Saturday night as I was battling insomnia caused by my pain. Just FYI, it takes until Pilate's Dream for 2 Simply Sleep to kick in, although they're not strong enough that Jesus screaming at the people in the temple doesn't wake you up. After that we watched Clueless despite many protests by Chris.

Yesterday I was off work because of a completely pointless doctor's appointment. It was good though, because somehow I managed to lose 10 pounds since Christmas, and my blood pressure is 100/60. My bp has always been low, but this is the lowest it has been. I guess that's good. After that I went to Target and got some shorts and crappy T-shirts so I don't ruin decent stuff in case I fall into another creek on a hike. Then I did some random things in the afternoon including washing my car, which massively needed it. I also got a notice that my rent is going up starting in June. Greeeeeeat.

Today I'm back at work, and Rusty is coming over tonight to watch Idol, and for the first time I'm not looking forward to the show because I don't like standards. My only hope is that Ace wear a suit.

5 Favorites

I borrowed this from March.

Sight: The clock reading 4:15 P.M. on a weekday (I"m with March on this one)
Chris
Fall leaves
The sink when it's not full of dishes
The trees in the spring when they begin to flower and bud

Smell: Honeysuckle Yankee Candle
Gasoline
"Man smells:" cologne, aftershave, etc.
Lilacs
Clean laundry

Taste: Hard-shelled crabs
Tiramisu
A good steak
My roasted broccoli
Tiger's Blood shaved ice from Aloha Snow

Hear: Any one of the billions of songs that I love
Birds singing
The sound of an orchestra. I always wished I knew how to play the violin.
The sound of a summer night
The way it sounds when it snows

Touch: Chris
A fresh buzz cut
Being wrapped in warm covers on a cold morning
The hot water of the shower in the morning
Flannel

I Love Bucky

Bucky's exit interview with Entertainment Weekly. He has a good head on his shoulders.

"...Thank God people are different. If not, we'd all live in the same place and
listen to the same music. And it'd get real crowded, y'know?"

Hee!

Veddy Interesting...

I'm glad to have Ace around for another week, but it's too bad Bucky's gone. I liked the group sing, but it would have been nice to, you know, actually be able to see them singing. Maybe one of you can clear something up for Rusty and me. Isn't "Under Pressure" a David Bowie song? Next week: Rod Stewart. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!

I found this on this site. It's originally from Brian May's site, and it makes me feel a little better about his treatment Tuesday night:

AMERICAN IDOL - ACE - AND BEING MISREPRESENTED ..
OK … it begins ….the fallout from American Idol.

There is so much to say - I sure have learned a lot myself already from this experience … but slowly will do it … one thing at a time …

Firstly let me comment on ACE. He’s a great guy.

Some of you have written in accusing me of undermining ACE with his interpretation of WWRY. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m afraid this is an illustration of exactly what I have been quoted as saying about the programme ….. that the critical process would be better off done in private, like we do in auditioning for our musical … .

We had an interaction with ACE, a conversation, in which we gave him the best advice we possibly could, based on studying the demo’s which we already had in our iTunes - which I’d personally given a lot of time to study. This conversation, in my book, ought to have been private, but that is not the style of the show, sadly. But the even more unfortunate thing is that you are then in the hands of the video editors, who seem to seize with glee anything that looks negative. It was edited in such a way that it looked as if I was purely negative - they very naughtily inserted a bit that I said about “not on my own song” so it appeared that I said it AFTER we had played together, which was not the way it happened …making me look like I was against the whole thing. But this was not the case. Having said that I wouldn’t be able to play the arrangement exactly like his demo, and that I didn’t think it would work without the stomps and claps which are foundation of the song, we then discussed how we could improve his ideas and with a mixture of a quick conference and spontaneous creation we came up with a kind of mixture of his thoughts and ours - WHICH WAS THE BASIS FOR THE ARRANGEMENT THAT YOU SAW THE HOUSE BAND PLAY ON THE NIGHT ! It was actually pretty damn good, I thought, for a quick attempt … and he sang it very well live. If you talk to ACE he will confirm that we parted on the very best terms, and he thanked me for the input. I made it very clear that I respected him for taking chances and trying to make the song his own. The version you saw on TV used a straight sample beat with stomps and claps which set up the song in the first verse in the classic way, and then a working in of an underpinning riff (close to what I had done in our rehearsal period together, in response to Ace’s idea) and then back to a straighter 3rd verse, but ending in his delayed phrase end stop, again, just as we did it together …. and I thought it was damn good.

Just in case any of this isn’t clear …. the version of WWRY that ACE performed on AI last night was a DIRECT RESULT of his own ingenuity and the advice we gave him, with our full encouragement and blessing. And he definitely rocked. And we wish him much luck in the contest.

If you watch the programme again you will notice that ACE said he enjoyed working with us, and that I also said quite clearly that I thought an approach of personalising songs was a necessary ingredient of greatness … my exact words were … “He’s a very interactive person, and that’s what makes Greatness”. I hope that wherever ACE is right now he remembers that there is mutual respect there between us, and much good feeling. And to all you guys out there who have become his fans … please remember this too …

As for the rest …..well, a little later ..

But I was impressed with all our new friends, the Idols - wonderful job, guys, THANKS ! .. and we feel really complimented.

With Love

Bri

Tonight is a rerun of The Office: The Dundies. Good episode, especially if you like Jim/Pam (I refuse to call them Jam). I won't give away any more since Rusty hasn't see it :)

Queen

Since Rusty's not here, I'm submitting my recap early.

Bucky - Hee! I love Bucky! That didn't sound that great, but major props for doing "Fat Bottom Girls."

Ace - Oh, honey. I still love you, and that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but you should have taken my advice and done "Killer Queen." I don't think you're manly enough for "We Will Rock You." You tried... I'm really pissed that they showed Brian May and Queen dude #2 busting on Ace. That was unnecessary. He was just trying to change the song up, guys. It's not like "We Will Rock You" is a masterpiece. Bugger off. Simon, Ace didn't screw up the words, so you bugger off too. Oh, and Ace, your leather pants should have been tighter.

What the hell is Mickey Dolenz doing in the audience?

Kellie - Ahhh! Those low lights did her face no favors. She was all right, but she's still a fucking idiot. "What do you mean on paper?" Punch.

Heh, some guy in the audience was checking his watch.

Chris - Ohhh, I love guys in eyeliner! He looked hot tonight. I agree with Simon, I didn't like that song, but I thought he did it well. He should have done a more well-known song though. I hate the judges! One week it's "Song choice is key." Tonight apparently it's "It doesn't matter what song you sing (if you're Chris) as long as you sing the hell out of it." Nice.

Katharine - Again, what the hell is that outfit?! Yeah, she had a change of heart because Mandisa left so she took her song. I know nothing about voice, but I thought that was horrible. The judges disagree, but they're idiots too. I think Katharine is good, but I think she thinks she's better than she is.

Elliott - He's looking better every week. I guess it's because he's growing his hair out. He sounded good, but he pussed out on the ending. I guess no one can belt like Freddie though.

Taylor - I was typing Elliott's synopsis as he was on and I liked it, but then I turned around and realized that I still hate Taylor. I don't like that song either.

Paris - I haven't liked Paris since her audition, but that was my favorite of the night. Way to go, girl!

I guess it could be Bucky, but I have to say bye, Ace. See you at the finale. If you want something to rock, come on over to my place.

Spoilers

I have spoilers from USA Today of what everyone is singing tonight. I'm going to post my thoughts, but I won't post the actual songs in case people who watch don't want to be spoiled. I'm also very disappointed that I will be watching by myself tonight since Rusty is hanging out with B. in SC. Of all the weeks to be away! :)

Ace - HAHAHAHA!! This should be the trainwreck of the century! I can't wait!
Bucky - YES!! This spoiler sort of makes me think they aren't true, but if it is true that's SO AWESOME that he's singing this song!
Chris - I don't know this song
Elliott - Meh. I don't like this song, but I'm sure he'll do fine.
Katharine - I don't know this song.
Kellie - Trainwreck of the century #2. She's a complete idiot for picking this.
Paris - I don't know this song.
Taylor - Shut up, Taylor. I hate this song.

Only 10 hours and 15 minutes to go!

"Controversy"

This year AI has been pretty tame compared to others; this is pretty funny though.

Issues

I'm getting really tired of hearing people bitch about the legislation around illegal immigrants, which makes it a felony to be in the country illegally, fines employers who hire illegal immigrants, and builds a fence at the border. I can't believe I agree with the Republicans, but the keyword here is illegal. Heaven forbid we don't do something that is illegal! Why even bother to obey the law at all? If you want to come here, do it legally. Plenty of people have. Unlike the Republicans, I don't totally buy into the whole "They're taking jobs from our citizens" bullshit, but this is a non-issue. If you do something illegal, you should be punished.

I'm also a tired of the race card being played in the alleged rape of the stripper at the Duke University lacrosse team party. If a woman was raped, why does it matter what color she is or what color the players were? They took DNA samples from all the players except one: the only black player. This is based on the fact that the stripper said all the men who assaulted her were white. Shouldn't they have taken all the DNA anyway? Would black leaders be speaking out against the rape if the victim were white? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it really shouldn't matter.

A Case of the Mondays

Don't really have anything to talk about except for the fact that the songs on the "Classic Alternative" radio station I'm listening to are from when I was in high school. Way to make me feel old, station!

Because It's My Blog...

...and I can post whatever I want!

Queen Night Wish List and Idol Thoughts

I am so geeked for Queen night because I like Queen and because it will be the biggest Idol trainwreck of all time. Usually when they do artist nights it's someone lame like Gloria Estefan or someone I've never heard of like those people who sang "Solid as a Rock."

Ace - Bicycle Race or Killer Queen
Bucky - Fat Bottom Girls
Taylor - a sudden bout of laryngitis lasting the rest of the season
Elliott - Another One Bites the Dust
Chris - I Want to Break Free

I was and wasn't surprised that Mandisa went home the other night. I think at this point anyone could go home any week (except, of course, Kellie, Chris, and Taylor). Mandisa did piss off a lot of people on 21st century night, and she wasn't the best on country night. I think that was a deadly combination. I'm sort of meh about the whole thing, except she did sort of irk me this morning when I was reading her EW interview. I think the interviewer said something about how he would have been glad to have been in her group of 3 and she said (paraphrasing), "Yeah, and Chris's group was good too." I'd like to think that wasn't meant to be a dig on Ace and Bucky, but it's sort of hard not to take it that way.

My favorite parts of Wednesday night were how incredibly hot Ace looked all butched out in the pimpmercial (he can fix my car any time) and how Bucky was singing "Any Man of Mine" and then noticed the camera and stopped.

I leave you with this, which made me giggle and then made me want to take a shower:

Rusty Is a Wiseacre

Rusty made a comment on my "I Love Spring" post saying that we should go hiking, with "hiking" in capital letters. She did this because last winter I had the big idea that she and I should go hiking pretty much every weekend. We both need to lose weight and get in better shape, and we both love to hike. Guess how many times we hiked last year? Zero. This past winter, I had the big idea again. What Rusty does not realize is that I have now gone to the York County Department of Parks and Recreation website and have printed trail maps from 6 of the county parks. This year we will do it.

Here It Is

They made up the title. Thanks to Rusty for scanning it!

For Dim Again

Idol Finalist Mandisa is Big Fan of Anti Gay Writer

Jen's Least Favorite Night (AKA Country Night)

Mommy, Kenny Rogers's face is scaring me! He looks younger now than he did in the '80s. The reason I wait till Wednesday morning to do my AI post is two-fold. The first is that I'm usually too tired after the show to do it, the second is that it's a good test of whether or not someone is memorable. I'm finding that most people last night weren't.

Taylor: As per my usual Taylor routine, I left the room to go do something while he was on, but I did hear that he sounded like ass and was completely off key.

Mandisa: "Any Man of Mine?" Even I could pick a better country song than that. She sounded ok, I guess, but that was a bad choice.

Elliott: I don't remember what he sang to save my life, but I remember thinking he sounded good.

Paris: "How Do I Live" is about as country as "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." Paris sounded fine, but again: crappy choice.

Ace: I thought he sounded the best he has since "Father Figure" and he looked like he actually washed his hair. Oh Ace, I'm sorry that I ever doubted you. Now lets go have a million babies. I'm really scared for him, especially considering he was #5, but he did get to stand right behind Ryan at the closing, which is always a plus. I'm not ready to lose him yet, especially if next week is truly Queen night like I heard it will be. Ace can sing "Fat Bottom Girls." He'll probably sing "You're My Best Friend" though, but a girl can dream.

Kellie: Never heard the song. She sounded fine but I know nothing about country.

Chris: I don't have any idea what song he sang, but that was my second favorite performance of his. He almost made up for singing Creed last week. Almost.

Katharine: That song sucked but she sounded pretty good.

Bucky: Even though I can't remember what song he did, I had heard it before, but I think that's because someone did a pop remake of it. He sounded like ass.

I wish would go: Kellie or Taylor
Will go: This is hard. I'm leaning towards Ace, but I REALLY don't want that to happen yet. I even tried to vote for him about 15 times last night. Only 3 went through, which is another possibly good sign. Maybe Bucky or Katharine will go home. I'd sacrifice Bucky for Ace in a heartbeat. I'm shallow like that.

For Dim

Beard

Ryan Seacrest has been seen canoodling with Teri Hatcher.

Simon was calling Teri Ryan's beard. Quite frankly, Ryan was inviting that comment with his ill-advised facial hair last night.

Oh, Snap!

My normal Wednesday morning post will be up tomorrow, but I had an "Ohhhh!" moment in the car on the way home from watching Idol. When Simon said something to Ryan about Desperate Housewives and then told him to lose the beard. The beard thing didn't click with me right away. Me-ow!

A Trainwreck of Biblical Proportions

Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan, and Courtney Love are planning a Hawaii vacation...together. Do you think there will be any drugs involved?

I Love Spring

It is now officially my favorite time of year. I think, like most people, I have a mild form of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I can't stand January, February, and March. This is the best time of year though. Everything is so pretty. The grass is turning green again, the trees are flowering, the birds are singing (although I hate it when I'm trying to sleep and there's some annoying bird outside my window), the flowers are blooming, and it's still light out after dinner. The world becomes rejuvenated at this time, and so do I. It's also my time for big ideas. I've already given up on the spring cleaning including washing my windows inside and out idea because that sucks, but I'm still entertaining the herb garden idea.

Summer's fine, but it gets too hot. Fall is great too, but winter comes after it. Winter is even ok until after New Year's Day. But Spring is just perfect.

I Spoke Too Soon

My letter was in yesterday's paper! Page 2 of the Viewpoints section. I can't find it online, but I think Rusty has a scanner, so maybe she'll be nice enough to let me use it :).