Territorial Bloggings

Hah!

-ghp

This is a particularly brutal British Public Service Announcement on the subject of texting while driving. It’s not for the faint of heart. Neither is it unimportant. It’s very timely and, I think, very effective.

More description & discussion over at EW.com.

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This is very, very cool…

Brimming over with EPIC WIN!

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I’m not going to bother to wait and view the results show to post some thoughts; the likely ejectees this week are largely irrelevant (it’s gonna be Michael or Megan, but it should be Scott)…

This is, I think, the best season of Idol to date, in terms of talent from top to bottom in the Top 11 (I feel compelled to include Alexis, because she is more talented than Michael, Megan, or Scott, and really shouldn’t have been eliminated last week…). In past seasons, there were usually two, rarely three, obvious contenders who were a cut above everyone else. Of course, there were the token “genre” entries, but they were never that strong across the board.

AI:1 had Kelly & Tamyra; AI:2, Ruben & Clay; AI:3, LaToya, Fantasia, & Jennifer; AI:4, Bo & Carrie; AI:5, Kat, Taylor, Elliot, & Daughtry; AI:6, Jordin & Blake; AI:7, David & David. (NOTE 1: Voting didn’t always reflect the true talent – see Tamyra, LaToya, Jennifer, Elliot, & Daughtry. NOTE 2: AI:5 is the only season that can really compare to the top-to-bottom talent level evidenced in AI:8. It still falls short, IMO…)

What sets AI:8 apart is that, not only did the producers cast each of the musical genre “slots” that they seek to fill each year, this year they did so with folks who are very talented and really have a chance to build a genuine, non-gimmick-based fan base.

Matt. Kris. Lil. Allison. Adam. Danny. Anoop. Alexis.

A full eight — *8* — out of the top 11 were good & talented enough that, if they made it to the finale, no one would’ve been shocked. Think about that. The only fodder in the top 11 were Megan (the token blonde hottie/quirky artiste), Michael (the token family man/Daughtry story), and Scott (the token feel-good story who sings good enough, but wouldn’t still be here, IMO, if it wasn’t for his being blind).

At this point, my favorite is Allison. If Daughtry paved the way, and Cook proved that a rocker guy could win the competition, then I think Allison will prove that a girl with a rock edge, not to mention a young contestant, can win. She’s refreshing. She’s real. She’s cute. She arguably has the most vocal talent. She’s awesome.

And then there’s Adam. I’m not a fan. He’s too faux for my taste. He’s Constantine – The Next Generation, aka, The Poseur 2.0. He’s over the top self-indulgent, in guise of being “artistic”. He’s undeniably talented. Vocally, he’s brilliant. When he exhibits proper self control, that is.

Case in point: What he did with The Tracks of My Tears was beautiful. It was the thing we look for each season – an Idol “Moment” – Clay’s Solitaire, Kat’s Over The Rainbow, etc… Adam was respectful to Smokey Robinson, both in how he solicited input/history about the song, as well as how he carried himself/performed the song.

Contrast this with what he did last week, during Grand Ole Opry week. Adam treated Randy Travis with a bit of contempt (but not overly so). His contempt for the genre & the Opry, however, oozed forth uncontrollably. He gave no respect whatsoever to Johnny Cash and Ring of Fire. It was a big old middle finger, both in conception, and in execution.

That, in short, is my problem with Adam. He could’ve treated Opry week with the same respect as he gave Motown. He just chose not to, for some reason. And I don’t buy “artistic license” as a viable reason, not when he acted like he did on camera. Nope, I don’t want him to win. Not one little bit.

My top fave: Allison
My 2nd fave: Matt
My 3rd fave: Kris or Lil

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That was a busy week, that third & final week of semifinal AI:8 action, wasn’t it? We got both the 3rd flight of semifinalists and the judges’ choice wild-card soiree, back-to-back. Lucky us!

First, the 3rd semifinal flight. Overall, I think this group acquitted itself better than the first two groups did; however, I fear that’s damning it with faint praise. Lil Rounds making it to the Finals was about as sure a thing as the sun coming up in the morning – it was going to happen, and it was right that it happened. Barring any major meltdowns, Lil is slotted for the top half of the Finals, and I’d likely put her in the top 4…

Second in, as the top vote-getting guy, was Scott MacIntyre. Again, this was pretty much a given, what with his backstory & his reasonably-slightly-above-average vocal abilities. I honestly don’t know how deep he’ll go in the competition, because I could easily see his fan-base getting splintered & siphoned off in other directions. Or not. You just don’t know sometimes…

Third, and last, in was Jorge making it in over Ju’Not. I was mildly surprised/disappointed, but not majorly so. Frankly, Jorge makes pretty good sense from a “casting” point-of-view – he’ll make for some good TV until the time he’s eliminated, some time in the bottom half of the Finals.

So, with America’s job done, and 9 slots of the Finals filled, we moved on to the Wild Card round, where the judges got to “fix” things and ensure that America wasn’t allowed to totally mess things up by keeping out a truly “deserving” talent. And, oh yeah, maybe even get some good TV by, say, having someone like Tatiana back on again…

Ultimately, I don’t have a problem with anyone they brought back (although I must say that I would’ve liked to have seen Nick/Normund again!), even Tatiana. Heck, I even think the judges were pretty up front about what they were trying to do in terms of “casting”.

I will, however, say this: I think the judges pretty much knew exactly who was going through into the Finals (including that there would 13 instead of just 12) well before the wild card show even started. Those 8 wild card performances were just pro forma ways to get some more ad revenue.

In the end, Jasmine getting through was not a shock at all – that was going to happen as soon as she blew her shot in the semis by not choosing the right song. Megan made it through because Simon & Kara like her look (even though her sound isn’t that great). Matt earned it by singing his butt off (and by being a favorite of the judges), and Anoop seems to have gotten in because the judges plain wanted him there. Frankly, if it had been up to me, I would’ve kept Megan & Anoop out, and put in either Jesse and/or Nick/Normund…

As for Tatiana, well, it was fun to watch the judges call her out on various things, like the accent, the acting, the personalities, and singing the same song three times.

Now we begin the endgame — the 11 week march to the Finale. Hopefully we’ll make it with our interest and our sanity intact…

-ghp

Well, now. That was… something, now wasn’t it? And it wasn’t better than last week. It’s always a bit disheartening when people don’t learn from the misfortune of others. And the second group of semifinalists most certainly did not learn from the mistakes made by group #1. No, they seemed hell-bent on providing even more object lessons from which their compatriots in the 3rd seminfinal flight could learn. Horrific song choice? Check! Weak performance and/or stage fright? Check!

In the end, though, once again I wasn’t terribly surprised by who America put through. Allison & Adam deserved to go through because they were the best girl & guy of the evening, by a pretty clear margin. Kris, well, he was likable, didn’t stink, & didn’t choke — and that can go a long way at this stage.

Allison is going to be fun to watch. She is genuinely talented, and she’s a genuine, honest-to-goodness (it would seem) 16 y/o girl. There doesn’t seem to be much, if any, pretense to her, and that’s always a refreshing thing to find in a contestant. It makes it easy to root for her — she’s cute, she’s bubbly, she’s honest, she’s unique, and she can flat out sing.

Adam, on the other hand, is far more polarizing, even though the judges fell all over themselves loving him (and Paula was about ready to birth him his babies…). Perhaps it’s his musical theater background, or his horrific song choice (Satisfaction? Really? The Stones never really work on a show like Idol, for a solo artist, especially for someone trying to ACT like they have the nuts to pull it off…). Adam strikes me as the next generation Constantine — i.e., Poseur2.0 — IOW, he is trying to pull off convincing us that he’s got rock cred, rather than just letting it happen (it’s the difference between, say Daughtry/Bo & Constantine…). A huge number of folks are gonna like Adam & propel him along, and he does have a certain amount of talent. But there will also be a not insignificant number of folks (and I think I’ll be in this latter group) who just don’t like him because he just doesn’t ring true/genuine — there’s a bit too much smarmy, pretty-boy-and-he-knows-it to him for my taste.

Kris, well, he’s fodder for the Finals, and another body for the tour. Frankly, I would’ve preferred to see Nick/Normund, if only because he was entertaining and he openly acknowledged the joke, even as he could actually sing a little.

Next week, it’s on to the third & last semifinal, along with the totally judge driven wildcard show. It should be interesting to see how that all plays out.

-ghp

Eh, at least I’m getting these out before the 2nd semi-final performance show tonight…

In short, I think America got things pretty much right with who they put through into the finals from the first group of 12 semi-finalists.

Alexis & Danny were the only two who stood out as being good enough to have a viable shot at winning the whole shebang at this early stage. In fact, if I’m being reckless enough to tag someone as a winner this early, I’d say it’s Danny – he’s got the whole package: looks, presence, personality, likability, sincerity, backstory, maturity, and (oh, yeah) voice. He’s been a featured player because of the backstory of his wife dying, and that’s helped a lot in terms of building fan base; although there is a bit of a backlash starting to build (I don’t see that being a long-term problem, however — he’s too genuinely likable for it to grab hold & gain any real traction…). Alexiscould also be a good story, as she is cute as a button, has a good story, a cute kid, and can sing. I don’t quite buy the comparisons to Kelly Clarkson, though…

Michael Sarver is a feel good story, and a welcome third addition to the finals. I hope he makes the tour, and can make a viable career out of the music biz for himself and his family. Besides, he didn’t crumble under the spotlight & pressure of performing on the live stage…

Too many of the other 9, however, did. This semi-final structure that the producers have revisited (hearkening back to early seasons) is a fairly merciless one. It exposes these singers quickly and without a safety net, when compared to the more gradual elimination process of the past few seasons. It’s rather more brutal and representative of the “real world”. I wouldn’t say it’s cruel, necessarily, but it’s certainly not gentle. What it does do, however, is show us quite clearly who is ready and who is not ready for the rigors of the grind that awaits in the Bataan-like march that is the AI Finals. Spotlights. Pressure. Exposure.

What will be most interesting, then, I think, is to see who gets brought back for the “Wild Card” show, as well as just how the wild cards get chosen. Will the judges choose those brought back, and then America chooses the winners? The producers, then the judges? Some strange combo? And can we avoid prolonged exposure to Tatiana? (’cause you know we’re going to see her again — there’s just no way the producers will not make that bear dance again for our morbid enjoyment & the potential of a meltdown on live TV, no matter how much the poor girl might try to keep her dignity intact (and I actually think she really did try to keep her dignity intact on the results show…))

My last thought: I’m glad that they added Kara as the fourth judge. She’s added a nice dynamic to the festivities, even beyond some actual, you know, competent judging & contemporary credibility.

-ghp

So, it’s back.

Tomorrow, it awakens from it’s slumber.

The Winter behemoth that devours all that dare enter its path.

American Idol

I’m ambivalent, I must confess. I’ve semi/sorta kept up during the off-season. I mean, how can you not keep up with Paula having near meltdowns & threatening to walk away from the franchise that rejuvenated her career? Or not learn that a 4th judge has been added to the menagerie, and react with a little bit of hope that perhaps (oh, hoping against hope!) the judging won’t suck in such a violently horrific fashion. But it will… *sigh*

Anywhoo, I’ll watch. I’ll blog. I’ll probably even end up blogging regularly & on a schedule. Although my preference is to not spend too much time & effort on caring, and thus on blogging, until after the Hollywood phase.

As you recall, I’ve long posited that AI is actually three shows in one:

1. The Train Wreck Auditions – wherein we all slake the thirst of our collective morbid curiosity on the refreshing nectar of the psychotically deluded, the bad, and the ugly…
2. Hollywood Week & most of the Semi-Finals – here, we begin the transformation from morbid, drive-by, TV, into an only slightly more respectable and/or of redeeming value entertainment product…
3. The Finals – finally, we get the Bataan-like death march of the AI Finals process, which gives us the veneer of presentability & respectability that we so desperately want after the first two phases of the competition. Unfortunately, we don’t truly trust it after so many years of AI, because we know that the judging is violently offensive, the themes are wantonly abusive, and the voting process makes an old Soviet-era election look trustworthy & legit.

Oh, who am I trying to fool? I’ll watch. I’ll rage. I’ll blog.

And I hope you’ll read.

-ghp

There is so much that is both right and wrong, good and bad about this video clip, words almost fail me. I must confess that it enchants me. Not for the theology, but for the simple fact that it’s a catchy little new wave/pop ditty that is so rich with cheeze that it’s almost sinfully good. I think back to the early 80′s, and that song makes perfect sense, both musically and visually. And God help me, I love it. For some reason, whenever I see the background singers doing their little wiggly-dance-thingy, I think of the Joan Cusack character in Sixteen Candles (the girl who wore the back brace), when she was at the school dance, doing her little wiggly-move-back-and-forth dance. And I giggle.

Zap!

HT: BJS – and go there for a good outline & discussion of why this video is an object lesson against falling prey to “contemporary” worship fads.

-ghp

This time, Tears for Fears’ classic Head Over Heels (off of 1985′s Songs from the Big Chair) gets the literal remake treatment…

-ghp