Saturday, March 4, 2006
I had already viewed her Star Search appearance and it was easy to see why she won. In her second appearance on that show singing I Am Changing, she scored perfect 5’s from all the judges. She went on to score perfect 5’s every time she appeared. (Her first appearance is unavailable) Tiffany was the only contestant on that show to achieve that feat. At one point during the performance of I Am Changing, she shows a vocal range that is just mind boggling. Top that off with a naturally wonderful stage presence, and you’ll be wishing Idol would lower their age requir
ements just so that you can see her do it again. It’ll make your spine tingle. Judge Jack Osborne himself said, “I’ve seen so many musicians three times your age, and not one was as good as you.” For her efforts, Tiffany took home a prize of $100,000 dollars. While it may seem small in comparison to the million dollar plus contract awarded to winners of American Idol, it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Evans family.Born in the Bronx, Tiffany is only one of ten children. By the time she was a toddler, Tiffany was already singing her heart out.
"Everyone that I saw on TV, I would just copy them and say, 'Oh, I want to be like that, too!'" she admits. "I knew that I wanted to be a singer for as long as I could remember and that I wanted to have a beautiful voice."
After listening to Tiffany emulate the likes of Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Toni Braxton when she was just nine years old, her family realized that she was blessed with a special talent. But it was to be a difficult path for Tiffany to go from being a young girl singing for sheer joy of it in her bedroom to being the winner of Star Search and launching her career.
Unexpectedly, the house the Evans family was renting was sold and they were forced to find shelter elsewhere. For a while they lived out of their van, until Tiffany’s father decided to relocate to New Jersey to find work and a place for his family to live. Whether it was fate intervening, or just plain luck, it turned out to be the move that would launch Tiffany’s career.
"As the family toured the city, Tiffany noticed a hotel that featured a room called the Tiffany Lounge. "Oh, Daddy! Look!" she exclaimed, "It's named after me!" As fate would have it, the Tiffany Lounge was open to minors and so Tiffany and her father decided to see a show. While the lounge act, the Johnny Ingram Band, was performing, the bandleader looked out into the audience, saw Tiffany, stepped off the stage, handed the little girl the mike and asked her if she could sing. Tiffany proceeded to regale Ingram and the audience with a heart-stopping rendition of "I Will Always Love You."
It wasn’t long before Tiffany began working with Sal Dupree, a noted vocal coach, but the family was still a long ways from being out of the woods. With the family still struggling to make ends meet, it was Sal who told Tiffany about the auditions for Star Search. Heading back to New York, 10 year old Tiffany stood out in the freezing cold for hours with hundreds of others who hoped to be selected. She nailed her audition and the rest as they say, is history.
Using the winnings from Star Search, the family was finally able to move into a new home, and in 2003 signed a record deal with Columbia Records.
"My parents had been praying and saying that we have to make the best of this and if it doesn't go well we have to start again," she remembers. "And when I was signed, I was like, 'Oh gosh! This is it!"
Tiffany has also decided to try her acting chops. She landed a small role in the TV series The District, was in the film Diary of a Mad Blackwoman, and was chosen to sing the song “Who Am I” in the Disney DVD Tarzan II. She has a new CD single, and is scheduled to release a full CD this June. Tiffany recently appeared at a pre-grammy’s award luncheon where Ciara praised her performance and passed her the torch of being tomorrow’s Whitney Houston. Added to all this is the fact that Tiffany is already a senior in high school.
Tiffany has also performed the National Anthem at NFl games, appeared in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and has appeared on Oprah twice. She is planning a third visit before her CD is released.
And what advice does Tiffany have for her fans?
"I want them to know that if you fall, it's not hard to get back up again," she says. "You've been through a lot but it all pays off. If you can dream it, you can achieve it."
starring
Heath Ledger
Jake Gyllenhaal
Michelle Williams
Anne Hathaway
directed by
Ang Lee
A ranch hand, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) meets rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) while working as sheep herders in the mountains of Wyoming during the summer of 1963. During their time together they fall in love and have sex. Yet, it is a love that is never acknowledged between them as being such. It is as Ennis puts it, “a one-shot deal going on.”
“You know I ain't queer,” he tells Jack just to make sure he understands.
Jack’s reply, “Neither am I.”
One need to look no further then when Ennis tells the story of how his father took him to view the corpse of a gay man who was tortured in a way unfathomable and then beaten to death, to understand the consequences of not only being gay in 1963 but being discovered. It’s a story that casts a dark shadow over the rest of the film. Both men do what they can to fit in. They marry and have children. With Ennis, it is a way to prove that his summer on Brokeback was just a one shot deal, with Jack it is more a marriage of convenience and necessity.
It is under this dark and ominous cloud that these men must find a way to share their love, in whatever way possible and still try to fit into what society views as being normal Jack knows he is gay without admitting it. We experience their joy when they are together. We feel their loneliness when they are apart. When four years have passed since their summer on the mountain, Ennis anxiously awaits a first visit by Jack. He chain smokes and chugs on beer trying to stay calm, unable to hide his feelings. It is also the first time that his wife, Alma (Michelle Williams), begins to realize there is more to the relationship than meets the eye.
Ang Lee’s direction of this film is beyond reproach. It would have been tempting for some directors to exploit the subject matter and hammer us over the head with it. Lee keeps the focus on a very personal level, never letting the story get off target or go off on a wild tangent. He never strays from the personal aspect, and lets the rest of the story unfold around that.
The cast is as superb as the direction. I have seen Heath Ledger in several films, most of them instantly forgettable so I was totally unprepared and shocked by the depth of emotion he brings to Ennis here. And he does it not by being over the top, but with a great deal of subtlety and nuance. Ennis is a man of few words, but Ledger tells us everything we need to know about him without a tremendous amount of dialogue.
Gyllenhaal is every bit as good as Jack Twist. Unlike Ennis, Jack Twist is a man of many words, but he is also a man who never gives up on his dream of someday living the life he wants to, and sharing it with the person he loves the most.
In supporting roles, both Michelle Williams as Alma and Anne Hathaway as Jack’s wife Lureen are excellent also. We suspect that Lureen’s marriage to Jack is as much a marriage of convenience for her as it is for him. She doesn’t have much screen time, but she makes the most of it. If her roles in the straight to DVD film Havoc and Brokeback are any indication, her days of being thought of as the Princess in the Princess Diaries films will soon be forgotten. Regrettably, I had not seen any of Michelle Williams work before Brokeback but I wish I had. She is very deserving of her Academy Award nomination for her work here.
There will always be those who say that much of the recognition Brokeback is receiving has more to do with its subject matter than with the quality of the film itself. Nothing could be more wrong. Yes, the subject matter may be controversial to some, but the truth is there is there is no reason why it should be.
Although things have changed quite a bit since 1963 there are still way too many who fear gays as if they were the devil, the boogeyman, and should all carry the last name of Nasty as Alma calls Jack at one point. In the week before I saw Brokeback Mountain, a man walked into a gay bar in Massachusetts and began assaulting the patrons with a hatchet and a gun. In Roanoke Virginia five years ago, Ronald Edward Gay walked into the Backstreet Café and began shooting, simply because he wanted to kill homosexuals. Scotty Joe Weaver was tortured mercilessly, and then murdered just for being gay.
If the day ever comes, and whether or not it is in my lifetime, that a person can love someone of their own gender and walk through a mall, a parking lot, or an amusement park hand in hand without receiving so much as a glance, then Brokeback Mountain may no longer be controversial. But it’ll still be a great film, and when you’re a great film you know I have no choice but to give you an overwhelming A+.
The trouble is, when it comes to their God, and only their God, there are still a great many people who believe that as long as you can say Amen, then you’re a-ok in their book. It's as if praising Jesus gives instant infallibility. The thought that somebody would be using religion strictly for political purposes doesn’t ente into their realm of probability or even a slight possibility.
But it doesn’t surprise me one bit. When you read that there are people who believe George W. was appointed by God himself, then what else can you expect? Honestly, if George was to nuke L.A. under the guise that God told him to get with it, some people would buy it hook line and sinker, then tune into the Trinity Broadcast Network afterward to praise Jesus along with the Crouches for bestowing upon them such a great man. It’s as if the Holy Trinity has become the Holy Quadrinity with God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and his consigliore, George “Tom Hagen” Bush.
But it’s kind of silly for me to be writing this. I guess it helps relieve some of the anger and helps to keep me from getting an ulcer. There is nothing in this world that will ever convince those who believe in the infallibility of Pope George Bush that they are nothing more than the Tootsie Roll Pop at the end of George Bush’s stick. In other words, some of the biggest suckers their God has ever created. It’s not like they have suddenly popped out of the woodwork. They’ve always been in this country's woodwork, but with their God in the white house and his Apostles in the Congress and Guardian Angels in the Supreme Court, it has all become a horse of a different color. Now they want to inject their beliefs into every aspect of our lives, whether it’s what we read or write, listen to or watch, or whether it’s shredding the constitution to a point where it will no longer be recognizable and nothing more than their own personal version of “One God, Our God, and Nobody Else’s God.”
I have to believe that most Christians still believe that their faith is between themselves, their God, their family, how they themselves lead their live, and that their religious beliefs were not meant to be inscribed into the constitution as tablets of stone. I also have to wonder if they aren’t tired of the extremism of the minority, which is more vocal and who seek publicity as if they were Paris Hilton trying to whore herself on television. As sure as I’m sitting here, and as Bush continues his theocratic reign over one calamity after another, one can only imagine how it will all end. And if and when that ultimate disaster should come, people will not remember that it was a nutty fringe element of Christianity that aided and abetted this president, but only that it was all done in the name of God.
Friday, March 3, 2006
As it turned out, we didn’t see that much of Lisa in Hollywood at all, and what little we did see was very unimpressive after her audition. Yet, from what the judges had told her I fully expected to see her in the final twenty-four as most people did. Maybe it was just nerves that were holding her back, but then again maybe it was something else. When you perform in Hollywood, you are required to work with other contestants, sing without a band and with little rehearsal. As it turns out, this may have had more to do with not only the lack of screen time of Lisa in Hollywood, but also why she didn’t appear to be as polished in the small clips in which we did see her.
By now you have heard about Lisa’s appearance in the Los Angeles production of the Lion King as Nala. She appeared in it for eleven months, until she was forced out by contract limitations for minors. If that is all there was to tell, I would as most people probably have done, shrugged my shoulders, said she probably looked cute dressed up as Nala and forgotten about it. But her stint in the Lion King is only a small small part of the career Lisa Tucker has really enjoyed. As a matter of fact, there’s probably a ton of sixteen year olds out in Hollywood auditioning for parts wishing they had credentials such as Lisa’s to fall back on.
As I often have done once American Idol starts a new season, I began searching for more information about some of the contestants who could already be considered favorites. There was a post on the IMDB American Idol Message board one afternoon which mentioned her appearance on Star Search. It was something I hadn’t heard of before and after one quick Google search I found not only photographs of her appearance on that show but video as well. I found it odd that she was appearing on American Idol with all the exposure she had enjoyed previously.
I also found it strange that although American Idol had mentioned Lion King, they had never said anything about her stint on Star Search. You can watch her performances at CBS Star Search. You can also watch the performance of the young lady, Tiffany Evans, who did her in. And it seemed to me that thirteen year old Lisa was pretty much the same well rehearsed individual that sixteen year old Lisa is today.
I posted the articles, there was some discussion about it, and though it continues to stay with me as the competition has moved on, I didn’t think I would be bringing the matter up again. Then I found out that her Star Search appearance was just the tip of the iceberg. I was looking for a photo of Lisa that I could use, and ran across one. The only problem was that the picture was there, but the professional web site it had appeared on had vanished. That web site was www.lisa-tucker.com. Don’t bother clicking on the link. It isn’t there anymore.
I also ran across this article from the California State Fullerton Daily Titan. It seems that Lisa’s professionalism went even further than what we had previously known. Besides her appearance on Star Search and in the Lion King, it turns out that Lisa was a two time winner on Ed McMahon’s Next Big Star. After three appearances with big Ed, you’d have to think she is on a first name basis with him. It doesn’t end there.
Having noticed her singing ability in the back yard, her parents began taking her on auditions, and my thoughts of Lisa as possibly being dragged from one audition to another by stage door parents seems to have some basis in reality.
From the Titan:
“When I was little, I used to sing all the time,” Lisa said. “One day when I was standing on the diving board singing, my dad really took notice.”Deciding to follow up on Lisa’s potential, her parents answered an advertisement for the Orange County Children’s Theatre. The theater was holding open auditions for the production, “The Little Princess.”She auditioned and was immediately awarded a co-lead role in the production.
It was shortly after that that she auditioned for and appeared as Nala in The Lion King.
Lisa rehearsed for the role of Nala for two months and performed the role nine months during 2000 and 2001.After her 11-month run as Nala, Lisa stepped down from the part due to contract limitations for minors.
Hardly the work of the raw talent that we have always thought of as appearing on American Idol is it? But it doesn’t even stop there. Still more, as she has performed solo in concert also:
Her upcoming concert, her biggest solo event to date, will be in a 1,000-seat theater on June 2 at 5 p.m. at Servite High School in Anaheim. She has already sold more than 700 tickets. Preparing for the concert, which will feature her brothers Billy Tucker, 17 and Stanley Tucker, 19, choreography and backup singers, consumes a large portion of Lisa’s time. She attends voice and piano lessons and approaches her craft highly prepared.
And I wonder what ever happened to this little project:
However, Lisa recently signed on with two producers (not named) to be in a band featuring four other girls. Although the band doesn’t have a name and she hasn’t met the other girls, Lisa is recording music for a demo.“Then all the girls will come together for a video and then they’ll name the band,” Lisa said.
There was also a CD:
Moving to the family room, Lisa, her parents and her cat Minnie, listen to tracks from her upcoming CD; all are lip-synching the songs.
Although she is her toughest critic, Lisa is pleasantly surprised with the songs she is hearing in completion for the first time. Stan is highly involved in writing music and lyrics for his daughter. Her parents were also an influence on the music in her upcoming CD.
What became of the group or the CD is unkown as of yet. And of all the performers on this show, I don’t think there’s a single one of them who would salivate at the thought of being represented by a top talent agent as Lisa has been:
Prepared for a famous future, the two-time winner on “Ed McMahon’s Next Big Star” television show is currently signed with the William Morris Agency and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actor’s Equity Association. Lisa’s wants to utilize her dream of becoming a famous singer to benefit society.
So should all of this be a problem? In my opinion, it almost certainly should be. We have been told time and time again by the judges about the amazing talent of Lisa at such a young age and that she doesn’t even need American Idol. Obviously for some reason, her parents must think otherwise. If some of the other contestants had even a third of this type of representation, or the advantages of continuous rehearsals and vocal coaching, appearing in three different televised competitions, they too wouldn’t need American Idol unless they were sought out to be a featured performer as it appears Lisa may have been.
And the truth is it is details like these that American Idol continues to hide from an unsuspecting public who is under the false impression that other than the Lion King, Lisa has had no more experience than any of the other contestants. Heck, even Paula Abdul should be jealous of Lisa’s resume. One can’t help but wonder how Lisa’s appearance on American Idol really came about and why is she even on the show. And is it really fair for someone of her extensive show business background to even be competing?
There’s no doubt that there are many questions here, most of which will never be answered. But just remember, that next week when the judges are talking about a sixteen year old with amazing talent, they are talking about a sixteen year old who in every sense has been gussied up and polished for the occasion.
Look I don’t blame Lisa. I blame American Idol for trying to perpetrate the myth that Lisa is an amazing talent who simply crawled out of her Nala costume and into an American Idol audition room. Lisa may be the nicest kid in the world. But she is also as much of a professional as Hilary Duff was when she was Lizzie McGuire. So who’s kidding who here?
And then you think of contestants like Melissa McGhee, who couldn't even get any airtime on the show until the opening night of the final twenty-four. She's certainly in danger of being eliminated, but maybe, if she had a resume such as Lisa's, Lisa's training, Lisa's representation, and Lisa's free pass to the final twelve, then just as Simon Cowell had told Lisa, could perhaps someone like Melissa who has to work her tail off might "sail through to the finals" as Cowell might say.
You be the judge.
Thursday, March 2, 2006
American Idol
The Day After
The Next to Last Train to Obscurity Road
When you live on the West Coast you have two choices. You can go online at six o’clock and find out who was eliminated or you can wait until you can see for yourself when the results show airs, three hours after everybody in the Eastern and Central times zone has seen it. I usually will do both. Find out and then watch.
I predicted Brenna, Heather, David and Bucky would be going home. I was right on three of them, and the one I was wrong on was just me throwing an imaginary dart at my computer screen and seeing where it landed. So far this year I’ve had five out of eight right so my percentage is pretty good. Why did America not see fit to let four contestants stay another week? Here are my thoughts on what happened.
Brenna Gethers
As you recall, I picked her to go last week also but was hesitant to do so this week. In my days on the message boards, I have only seen maybe one person continually excuse her antics. And they were antics. I think Brenna was trying her best to get in the spotlight as much as possible, especially since she is obviously lacking in the talent department. The only question was if she had the fan base of people who would keep pulling her through as they did Master P on dancing with the Stars for several weeks. As it turned out she didn’t.
There may be several reasons for it. Master P had fans before he took his first step across the dance floor. On American Idol you build your fan base from scratch. I have no problem with a contestant being honest and real, but I’m not sure that Brenna‘s evil witch bitch act was nothing more than a ploy by her to bring attention to herself. It may have worked, if she had been giving great performances along with her act, but her best performance was only average. This week it was worse than terrible, sealing her fate, and giving the majority of the viewers something to stand up and cheer about. But maybe she’ll earn a spot on The Surreal Life just as Omarosa from the Apprentice did.
Certainly her farewell antics on tonight's results show did anything but endear her to anyone.
Heather Cox
I thought Heather was certainly likable enough, but it was obvious she was out of her league in this competition. She wasn’t going to make the final twelve, and even if she had managed to escape this week, she most certainly would have been eliminated next week. Her performance last week was easily the worst of the lot, and she probably should have been given the boot then. This week, she was better, but it was still a long way from being anything to write home about. So there is no surprise at all in this pick.
Then again, maybe she’s a victim of the Mariah Carey curse. This often happens when someone chooses to sing one of her songs, and most contestants stay away from them. That is one reason we probably never heard “Hero” until Heather gave it a shot. It’s doubtful anybody will try it again.
David Radford
David was one of the more likable contestants on the show. And after the Hollywood auditions I thought he would do better than he did the past two weeks. Last weeks performance was okay, but this week’s was a total disaster. Sometimes, if you’re one of the favorites, you can have a very bad performance and still continue on. I’ve seen it time and time again. But David was saddled with the ghost of John Stevens from day one, and was certainly never favored to win this competition or to even go very far.
I don’t know how much experience David had performing before a live audience, but he always seemed a bit timid in his performance. When you’re that uptight, it sometimes will affect your vocals also and nothing was more evident of that then David’s totally disastrous performance this week.
Sway Penala
Well what can you say? Certainly entering the top 24 contestants rounds, many had Sway picked to do much better than he did up to this point. Last week’s performance was just okay at best, although he did s
how promising ability. This week he just seemed disinterested. What is so puzzling about Sway is that he had been performing in a group who had a recording contract and left it to be on this show, so he should have had an advantage. Obviously he has the ability. Maybe Sway was just uncomfortable going it alone. It’s hard to figure out.
Puzzling also was the fact that of all the singers who sang in their farewell performance, Sway actually sounded a lot better than he did last night. If you base it solely on last night, certainly Kevin was no better than Sway, but it was probably his fan base that barely saved him. As for my pick, I did pick Bucky to go home, although he was certainly better than either Sway or Kevin. I just didn’t think he had as strong of a fan base as he apparently does.
Looking Ahead to Tuesday:
Pencil them in:
Mandisa, Lisa, and Paris have had their ticket to the final twelve for a while. Mandisa deserves hers, but I think flaws in both Lisa and Paris continue to be overlooked. Yet, there are some contestants the judges bestow a free pass on from the time they audition so you know the judges are going to often look the other way. It may not be fair, but there are always a few every year.
Last night I watched as Paris hugged each contestant who was voted off and then shed a few tears for added drama. Again I was reminded of Fantasia who did the exact same thing every week and had the feeling she (Fantasia) was being imitated by Paris once again (See American Idol: The Cat Fight Begins). The difference is Fantasia’s emotions were genuine. I’m not so sure about Paris.
Almost there:
Ayla, Katherine Mcphee, and Kellie at this stage would be my picks to make the top twelve also. Certainly Katherine’s performance on Tuesday was far from noteworthy, but she had been perfect up until then and could survive one down week. Another one could possibly hurt her if one of the others in danger surprises and gives a great performance.
Ayla has been consistent and excellent in both of her appearances. But she has had trouble getting the kind of respect I think she deserves, especially from Cowell. One bad performance could certainly put her in even more danger than Katherine. As for Kellie, I think her personality alone will get her into the top twelve unless she falters badly.
In Big Trouble:
Obviously Kinnik Sky is in the most trouble. She’s been in the bottom both of her two weeks and it’s going to take one of the others to give a horrendous performance and for Kinnik to really shine to make it in. Not impossible to do, but extremely difficult and not likely. I think Kinnik has great ability and given the chance to get into the twelve, I think we would see it. But when three have already gotten their free pass, it’s strictly a numbers game.
Of the women, that leaves Melissa McGhee. Melissa shouldn’t be in this position but unfortunately she is. This is in large part due to the fact that we never saw Melissa until last week. While she hasn’t been spectacular, she certainly has been consistent and I’ve enjoyed listening to her sultry voice and watching her perform. Next week she needs to be better than just consistently good because of the handicap the producers have stuck her with. She needs to be excellent and really stand out. Just being good won’t do it.
If she does by chance hit a home run, that would mean trouble for Ayla or Katherine when frankly, I’d rather see either Paris or Lisa hitting the road. Lisa was terrible in the Hollywood audition segments, and has not done anything better than average since. As a matter of fact, Lisa was once the talk of the Idol message boards, but now she hardly gets a mention.
Looking Ahead to Wednesday:
Pencil them in:
I can’t think of any scenario where Ace, Chris, Taylor or Elliot won’t make it into the top twelve. So that leaves only two positions. Undoubtedly somebody else who deserves to be in there will get left out. The men’s competition this year is tough with a capitol T.
Almost there:
Of the men left, none of them are almost there.
In Danger:
It could be Bucky, Kevin, Will, or Gedeon going home. Kevin is in the most danger. I think the competition is just too tough this year for him to get in on the cute factor. The other three will have to really be on their game to get in and none of them can afford even an average performance. If they all should falter, than that leaves an opening for Kevin to make it in. For once, it just may actually come down to how well these four guys perform on this one particular night and nothing else, and whether or not the judges can keep their opinions honest, something they often fail to do.
Next Wednesday should be the most interesting program we’ve ever had at this stage of the game.
American Idol
The Day After
The Boys Go in Where the Girls Have Been.
For the most part, the gals last night were only so-so and that’s being generous with my praise. There were several good performances, but nothing close to being outstanding. In fact, I can’t think of one performance last week either that left an everlasting impression on my feeble mind. Usually those performances come after the competition is whittled down to 12 finalists. Also last week, the boys nudged the girls out by a hair. If they are equally as good as they were last week, they’ll have done better than the gals again. So how did it all come down? That’s what I’m here for!
Taylor Hicks – Easy
Last week I thought Taylor did quite well with Elton John’s song Leave On. In his introduction he tells us that his grey hair has become almost a curse. It makes him easily recognizable on the street until he puts a toboggan on to cover it and once again becomes Mr. Everyman. Live on stage, Taylor gives us another good vocal performance. But just like last week there are a few slight off notes which is surprising because this song should have been easy. But the thing about Taylor is those very few notes he misses usually go unnoticed because his personality and performance more than make up for it, and he does hit the important notes. If this was last night and Taylor was competing against the gals, I might have said this was “excellent.” Tonight as it turns out it’s just “very good.” I think at this point you can pencil Taylor into the top twelve.
Elliot Yamin – Moody’s Mood for Love
You already know that vocally, I think Elliot may be the best in the competition, and he proved it last week. Great vocalists will often pick difficult songs just to prove how good they are. It doesn’t help that I’m totally unfamiliar with this song.
In Elliot’s video, he tells us how after making it to Hollywood his mom ended up in intensive care. I know, I know, I’ve been very critical about most of these continual sob stories but somehow this seems different. Obviously Elliot went through the Hollywood Auditions and last weeks show without having mentioned it. He seemed sincere when he talked about it for the first time tonight, while other contestants would have been hitting us over the head with a story like this every time they hit the stage. So I don’t mind it one bit.
As for the song, I needn’t have worried. Elliot is right on the money again vocally. And just listening to it one can tell it would be difficult for the most seasoned vocalist. But Elliot again pulls it off flawlessly. If I have any criticism at all, it’s that Elliot needs to find a song where he can start showing off some charisma and at the same time get the audience into it. As usual, there are those who will comment on a contestant’s appearance first and vocal ability second. I know, it shouldn’t matter but that’s the world we live in. How else can you explain Britney Spears?
Ace Young – If You’re Not the One
I was quite hard on Ace last week because of his tweener and teen appeal. I decide to put that out of my mind this week and look at it from a different angle. In his opening video we again get hats. What is it with the hats this week? Ace keeps his in his back pocket for luck.
As for his performance, I’m enjoying it much better than last week. I don’t think he’s playing to his teen fans at all and for the first time I think it’s more about the song than anything else. I think it’s a very good performance. Certainly not a great performance and maybe not even a memorable one but it is still very good. As for his hats he tosses one into the stands and Brenna grabs it. I hope this is not some kind of sign that she is sticking around for another week. I think Ace is the third contestant you can write on your scorecard for the top twelve. Better yet, the guys are obviously on a roll again tonight.
Gedeon McKinney – A Change is Going to Come
I didn’t care for Gedeon’s version of Shout last week. Maybe it was the after effects from having watched him gone up the elevator to find out he had made it to the top 24. He seemed just a bit too cocky afterwards. In his video, he tells us about how he forgot the lyrics during the Hollywood edition, how he covered it, and afterwards he tells us, “I’ll never ever forget the lyrics again.” I find his video quite entertaining, and I’m thinking that I misjudged him.
I don’t know about that but this is far and away a huge improvement over “Shout.” And this is a big Sam Cooke fan talking here. He’s off by just a hair on the second and third bar but other than that, Gedeon owns the song, me, the audience and the judges. It always surprises me when someone so young can get into a song as old as this and sing it so well. It is certainly an A performance. Gedeon will easily make it through to next week, and unless he stumbles badly, should make the top 12. And afterwards he seems genuinely humble. Talk about misjudging someone! I guess I get fifty lashes with a wet noodle. I think if these first four performances were stacked up against the best the girls had to offer last night, at least three of these guys would finish ahead of anything the girls did.
Kevin Covais – I Heard it Through the Grapevine
I really enjoyed Kevin’s performance last week. I’m not happy with this song choice simply because of how well known the song is, and I also got burned out on back when it was the theme song for grapes or grape jelly or something like that. But I can hope he’ll do something with it. In his video he tells us how he has suddenly become a chick magnet. Are they for real? Look, Kevin is a nice likable kid, but when girls say they want to pinch your cheek, it’s because they think of you as their baby brother. In a way, the whole sex idol bit seems more like they are ridiculing him then anything else.
It doesn’t get any better. Kevin does not make the song original, does not do anything special with it, plus vocally I think he’s way off the mark. But the girls in the dog pound are enjoying it and Randy and Paula love him and love the song. I’m shaking my head wondering if I haven’t gone completely tone deaf. Fortunately, Simon bails me out as he often does. He thinks everybody is in la-la land and I think if you really thought this was a good performance so are you. When they put a picture of Chicken Little up next to Kevin, it reinforces my belief that they are making fun of him, not having fun with him. I think it’s shameful and I’m not sure that Kevin appreciated the chicken picture at all. I feel sorry for him in a way, but feeling sorry for him won’t make the performance any better. It appears the show has suddenly taken a turn for the worse.
Sway Penala – Overjoyed
Another song I don’t know. But that’s about par for the course for me. I didn’t care for Sway’s rendition of Reasons last week, although Paula and Randy and my girlfriend, Alice Kramden, loved it. Maybe Sway will pull it off and win me over and get the guys back on track. Sway’s video is how last week was his most memorable moment because both of his parents were together for the first time in years watching it. Okay, okay, maybe I was too hard on him.
But then again, maybe not. There is nothing to like about Sway’s performance this week. He is way off in the vocal department and in the performance department. Worse yet, he doesn’t even seem to be connecting with the song. It’s as if he’s just going through the motions. Paula uses the words disconnected also, so I know it’s not my imagination when Paula of all people says something like that. Simon thinks he may be on his way home. I have to agree.
Will Makar – Lady
Oh no! In his video Will tells us how great it was to meet Justin Guarini. That’s not something you really want to do as Justin has become better known for his failure to make it then anything he ever did on Idol. Hopefully Will won’t be afflicted by the “Curse of Justin”.
Lady is an old Kenny Rogers song. Again it’s one of those songs that a performer has left his mark on. If you’re going to sing it, you had better hit it out of the park. Will doesn’t. It’s a good performance, and certainly much better than Kevin and Sway. Vocally I can’t find any fault with it, Will has a nice voice but he still doesn’t seem to understand that when you’re on stage, you have to do something to win the audience over. I think the judges are overly harsh on him, especially after the way Paula and Randy went ga-ga over Kevin’s performance. Whether Will lives to see next week depends on his fan base and how loyal they are. He shouldn’t be in trouble based on this alone, but he may well be.
Bucky Covington – The Thunder Rolls
Bucky’s video tells us how California food is different than what he is used to getting back in North Carolina. He says the chicken out here always has something on it so it must be French or something. I guess he never thought of strolling down to the nearest KFC. Yep, we do have those out here believe it or not. He doesn’t say if whether or not he pulled a Kellie Pickler and tried Calamari.
Of course I know this song. Everybody knows this song. I’m not sure it’s a good choice because as soon as you open your mouth everybody is going to have Garth Brooks on their mind. Bucky starts off well, but when he hits the first lyric “thunder rolls” he goes completely off track and never recovers. The rest of the song is a total mess, and his vocal inexperience has never been more obvious. Perhaps it’s because this song starts out kind of quiet, then has dramatic tones when you get to the chorus that throws him into such a tail spin. It’s like he couldn’t make the adjustment. But again, Randy and Paula have nothing but praise for him. Even Simon’s criticism is mild, saying the song wasn’t that bad but he never sees Bucky as a star performer. I’m suddenly feeling like the odd man out. I’m certainly wondering how the rest of America saw it. Or if not them, a couple of my faithful readers (hint hint)
David Radford – The Way You Look Tonight
David choosing this Sinatra standard certainly doesn’t come as a surprise. He obviously has decided to get back into his element, although I thought he was okay last week when he was trying to show he could go beyond that. Of course, the judges convinced him that was a mistake, so we’re back to having David become a rat pack wannabe.
David’s video tells us how he used his mom’s cell phone cord to hold his pants up during the auditions. Hey, you have to do what you can do. I’ve been in that predicament myself, but I never used a phone chord.
When David begins singing, I’m totally amazed. I’m amazed that one of the contestants who is singing his kind of song in his kind of genre by his kind of performer can be this bad. And unlike a lot of people, I actually like this kind of music. I was hoping that David would be good enough to erase the crooner stigma left from the John Stevens fiasco of a couple of years ago. Instead, he’s just a reminder of it tonight. He’s not connecting with the song, the audience, the judges and I doubt if he is connecting with the rest of America. Vocally, he is all over the place from beginning to end, and what started out as a good evening for the guys has really gone down hill. The judges agree with me, and unless all the grandparents in America, or if there are any Lawrence Welk fans still alive, kicking and dialing their phones, it could be David’s swan song.
Chris Daughtry – Hemorrhage
Huh? I certainly have never heard of this song, so I’m a bit disappointed in the choice. It’s generally harder to judge someone when they do a song you are not familiar with. I really enjoyed Chris’s rendition of Wanted Dead or Alive last week and am hoping for at the very least more of the same. I like the fact that he says he is singing this song because he wants people to feel like they are at a rock concert, and he also adds he likes it because it tells how people should nurture relationships and not take them for granted. That explanation eases my fears a bit. I mean this is a guy who married a woman who already had two kids, has raised and supported them as his own with a job that is far from anything noteworthy, but never ever throws it out there at us continuously and hammers us over the head with it. The only time it was mentioned was by Chris’s wife during his audition, and I honestly believe she wanted this for him because he seems to be a great guy.
And the reason I wrote all of that is because after his performance, I want everybody on Chris’s side. Wow! Double Wow! Triple Wow! Bo Bice Who? There aren’t enough superlatives in my keyboard to tell you how I felt about Christ tonight. Not only did he make us feel like we were at a rock concert, it’s the kind of performance that would have you rushing out to buy his CD. Let me tell you something, if this is any indication at all of this guy’s talent, we are in for a real treat in the weeks ahead. You can not only pencil Chris into the top twelve, you can now list him as the odds-on favorite. Simply outstanding and I’m happy as a clam that the judges see it my way completely for a change. This was one memorable performance, and the only thing you wonder is, how could Chris possibly top it?
The Best:
Really, there is no question about it. Chris stood head and tails at the top. Behind him and not too shabby themselves were Elliott and Gedeon. Slightly behind those two you can put Taylor Hicks. You can probably put Ace and Will right behind them. And at this point, it’s obvious the guys should be favored in this competition when we get to the final twelve. I think you’ll find a few of the girls eliminated very quickly before the first guy goes.
The Worst:
David Radford gets this award. Sway was only slightly better but that’s like a baseball team losing only 99 games instead of a hundred. Kevin belongs down in this pack also. Heck might as well toss Bucky into the basket.
Pack your bags:
Based only on tonight, it could be any of the three mentioned. I don’t think Kevin will be going home. He seems to be one of those that will hang around awhile so people can moan and groan about why he is still on the show and why more deserving contestants are being voted off. All you have to do is remember John Stevens and Scott Savol (although personally, I never thought Scott was that bad vocally) and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Kevin is more than likely going to wind up being this years whipping boy, and I hate to see that. So it comes down to David, Bucky, and Sway. For some reason, I think Sway may be back for another week. David and Bucky, your bus is waiting.
I’ll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on what America decided. Till then, stay safe.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
American Idol
The Day After
The Girls Try to Shine
Katherine McPhee – All in Love is Fair
In my opinion Katherine hit a home run last week at the end of the show. This week she goes first and I’m hoping for a big performance from her. She spends her “about my self” telling us how her and Kellie Pickler are best friends. I think it’s kind of cute, as they look like two kindergarten kids in the sand box. Then Katherine begins to sing, and the kindergarten analogy is fitting as everything from her outfit to her vocals are kindergarten quality. I’m not that familiar with the song, but I do know when somebody is doing a poor job of vocalizing. The judges are harsh with her, and they should be. She’s obviously a much better performer than this. Not a good sign for what is to come the rest of the evening. I am really disappointed.
Kinnik Sky – Here for the Party
Kinnik is in a very cute cowboy outfit which is a great improvement over what Katherine was wearing, and it’s a far cry from the drab plain outfit she wore last week. In her video segment she tells us that she cried the first time she saw the Idol stage and the lights. Let’s hope her vocals don’t make us cry. It doesn’t make me cry but it doesn’t excite me a whole lot. It’s not a difficult song choice, and I have to hand it to her for trying to do something unexpected. And although I really appreciate the fact that Kinnik is trying, it doesn’t really excite me. It’s not a mediocre performance by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just one of those performances we’ve seen a thousand times on this show. Compared to Katherine’s weak performance however it is an improvement. Randy enjoyed the entertainment part, but says the song wasn’t much. It’s just one of those happy party songs that didn’t show off her vocal talent. Paula says at this stage of the competition it’s about picking songs that show your amazing range, and this song didn’t do that. Simon says on the plus side, she attempted to do something different to stand out, on the negative side he says it’s something he expects to see when you come off of Magic Mountain. I only partially agree with the judges. Look, it wasn’t the most memorable performance in the world, but again it’s the same old story. The judges say be different, but when a contestant does do something different, it’s all wrong. You can’t win.
Lisa Tucker – I Wonder Who’s Loving You
In Lisa’s video, she tells us the difference between being in The Lion King for a year, and being on Idol and how Idol is so much scarier. Right away I’m not buying it for a second because she fails to mention her performances on Star Search and whatever other gigs she’s done that we don’t know about. I don’t see that as being much different than being on Idol. So she’s been there and done that. I guess it is best not to remind America how polished and seasoned she really is supposed to be. Anyway, when she talks about being scared going out on stage, and all the lights, again I’m getting the vibe that she’s given this same interview a few hundred times. I know I’m being tough on her, but I have never cared much for a snow job.
All of that being said, the vocals are good and Lisa is the best of tonight to this point. But you can be a good vocalist and be boring. Add three years to her age and I think that’s what everybody would have said. Instead we get the usual from the judges about singing songs that are right for you and make you stand out and blah blah blah. Which brings me to my next point that I’ve made over and over. If one of the contestants who weren’t one of their favorites gave this performance, I think they would be a lot harsher than they were. When a favorite just gives an average performance, they seem to fall all over themselves to find a way to give praise and criticism at the same time. Except for Paula, who is truly amazed by Lisa’s act tonight. She makes no bones about who her favorites are. If Lisa had walked out with snot running down her nose, Paula would have said it was a great special effect.
Melissa McGhee – Why Haven’t I Heard From You
If you’ve ever heard Reba McEntire sing this song, you know right away it’s going to be difficult for Melissa to leave her mark. Melissa has a sultry kind of voice, and although she performs the song well, it is still no better than Kinnik but not any worse either. But just the fact that Melissa has a different quality about her voice makes it a bit different. Melissa also comes out ahead simply because this is a more difficult song to sing than the one chosen by Kinnick. Randy has praise, Paula has praise, Cowell tells her she’s still not connecting with the audience. When you haven’t ever had judges fawning all over you, any criticism at this stage of the game can be deadly, especially from Simon.
Heather Cox – Hero
Heather decides to sing a Mariah Carey song that’s never been sung on the show before. Any time you decide to sing a Mariah song on Idol, it can be an instant career killer, and a lot more dangerous than the snake Heather has wrapped around her neck in the introduction video. The first part of the song tells us why. Heather has great difficulty with it at the beginning, but by the end seems to find her way enough to finally bring it home. If she had started as well as she finished there wouldn’t be a problem. Paula says good not great. Randy said she looks great, but singing Mariah is not a good idea, especially a stylized song such as this. Simon agrees and calls it pointless and not great. I think it is quite an improvement over last week, but still only good enough to throw her into a big pack of other singers this week.
Brenna Gethers – Last Dance
Last Dance is a famous Donna Summers disco song and I’m actually looking forward to hearing Brenna sing it. I also like Brenna’s opening video because she doesn’t put on any pretension about trying to play to the audience. Maybe she can win me over to her side after all. But then Brenna comes out to sing and all hope is lost. Let me start by saying that I liked the color of Brenna‘s outfit. That’s the last good thing I can say because if you recall how bad Bobby Bennett was last week, Brenna is much worse. And it doesn’t help that she’s immediately her usual obnoxious self on the stage when the song is over. Really, it’s hard to be that bad and for the most part the judges and probably everybody else who saw it agree with me. Brenna doesn’t though. She thinks we are all tone deaf. Simon says she’ll probably be going home, and I think he wishes she had been the one with the snake wrapped around her neck. As for her going home, I’m not so sure.
Paris Bennett – Wind Beneath My Wings
Wow, right away I’m immediately taken by Paris’s outfit. That is I wish someone had taken me outside and shot me after seeing it. Everything about it is hideous, and her hair makes her look 57 instead of sixteen. Of course, she is going to sing a Bette Midler song so maybe she’s trying to look the part. She starts by telling us all about the clothes she owns. You won’t see her at the Dollar store, that’s for sure. I’m not impressed, but I have a feeling I’ll be a minority of one. She sings the low parts way too low and she sings the highs loud enough so that they probably heard her over at Disneyland. Again, it just seems to me that Lisa and Paris have no real conviction as to what they are singing. If I thought the judges were being totally honest, I have a feeling they would agree with me. I can tell this by how they dance around in their criticism when it comes to one of their favorites, especially Randy and Paula. It just wasn’t a good performance, but the worst criticism is from Simon who says it was boring. None of the judges actually mention the vocals.
Look at it this way, folks. I hate to pick on these young contestants but I’m convinced it’s their age that is as much of the appeal as their vocal ability. Shut your mind down to that fact, close your eyes when they are singing, and ask yourself if any of these contestant have sang anything in anyway that would make you rush out and want to own their CD. Hopefully things will improve with Ayla.
Ayla Brown – I Want You to Need Me
In her video tells how entering American Idol has been a completely new experience for her. She’s used to working out in the gym and not wearing makeup. But you never would know it. She looks stunning.
Let me tell you, that when this competition started, I didn’t think of Ayla Brown as one of the top contestants, but between this performance and last week, Ayla has completely won me over. She is right on the money in just about every aspect of the song. Beautifully done. It sent chills down my spine. I can’t fault it in anyway. The judges continue to be stunned also. It’s as if they don’t know how to praise her since she hasn’t been on their watch list since the auditions. Then we get to Simon, and he brings out the over-achiever label as if somehow working up from C’s to A’s is something awful. Why is it people keep picking on this girl because she’s a hard worker? It was an excellent performance, so why can’t they just say so? Hopefully things are looking up.
Kellie Pickler – Let’s Give ‘em Something to Talk About
Just as she always is, Kellie’s good natured persona comes through on her video. She talks about eating squid for the first time and the last time, and dogs that have a bigger wardrobe than she does. And you don’t doubt her sincerity for a minute. I can agree with her about calamari. I tried it once also and once was enough for me. The performance of her song is a lot better than last week. Her nerves are a thing of the past and this is a much better song for her. It’s not a difficult song by, but it’s just right for her. She wins me over, the dog pound over, Paula over, Randy over, and even Simon. Everybody is smiling and I hope the rest of America is also. Finally, we’re on a roll.
Mandisa – Cry
Mandisa’s video shows a rather clever trick she pulled on Ryan which is kind of funny. Her hairdo tonight reminds me instantly of Paris earlier in the evening. If it makes Paris look 57 it makes Mandisa look 97. No matter though. It’s quite obvious that Mandisa has some vocal chops. But she is far from perfect singing Cry. Maybe it’s the fact that when Mandisa is great, she’s so great that any misstep we might not notice with one of the other performers is magnified a bit. It’s a good performance, but not great and not much fun at all. I’d rather see her perform like last week, not to mention letting her hair down. The judges seem to agree with me somewhat, except Paula of course.
The Best:
The Worst:
Pack Your Bags:
Not as easy to choose as you might think. If you voted for who should go home, then Brenna would have headed out the door last week, and could buy her plane ticket home this week. But I keep remembering how long Master P hung around on Dancing with the Stars week after mediocre week even though he was absolutely atrocious. There are just a lot of people who will vote for bad performances. There is no doubt that Brenna should get out of Dodge. But unlike Dancing with the Stars, two people must go so I don’t think Brenna can be saved. And as she gets on the plane she can hold the door open for Heather Cox.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Instruction Manual? We don't need no stinking instruction manual!
0 comments Posted by Clyde at 9:32 PM
In two days EA will release their third expansion pack Open For Business, for The Sims 2 franchise, and before it even hits the shelf it will already have been certified as gold. When the basic Sims 2 game was released, it sold faster than any other computer game in history. You have to hand it to Maxis though. They don’t like to hedge their bets.
So one has to wonder how do they get so many people to buy a game before it’s ever released? I mean the possibility certainly exists that once simmers have the game in their hands and loaded on their computers, it just might suck. The trick is, if you pre-order the game you get a few extra items to download into the game. With Nightlife, they gave you an extra automobile for the Sims to drive, with Open for Business; you get a couple of extra mascot outfits. In the pictures featuring one of these mascots, the Sim looks as if they just jumped out of a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Well, maybe EA made a deal with them too. And if you’re a rabid player in the Sims 2 community, you don’t want to be the only dodo head on the block that doesn’t have the extra mascot suit. The rest of the community might boil you in a vat of mac n’ cheese if you dare to mention this on the Sims 2 BBS which has recently undergone a significant name change to Sims 2 Forum. I guess Forum just sounds cooler than BBS.
I did the preorder bit myself for Nightlife. But I never got the code and I never got the car. I paid an extra ten bucks for overnight shipping and handling just so I could have Nightlife on the day of its release. Besides I couldn’t think of anything cooler than having my main Sims, The Baker Family, take a spin in their new hot rod. I suppose I could have started writing numerous emails to the company from where I purchased the game to get my code, but in the end I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. As for the Bakers, they had to settle for a plain old ordinary Van, although I did have several different colors to choose from.
This Christmas, EA Games found another easy way to stuff some simoleans into their bank account. They released the Special Edition Sims 2 Holiday Pack. The holiday pack was a special edition of the basic Sims 2 game, where you could get 40 extra items. But dummies like me, who paid the same price for the same game without mistletoe, holly, a lit up reindeer or a musical snowman, weren’t going to get the special items because we bought Sims 2 when it was first released.
Not wanting to be seen as a bunch of Scrooges, Maxis took care of all of us though who already had the game. They said we could download the 40 or so items for the low low price of only $14.99. Now, get out your calculators and follow along with me. In order to have all of the Christmas items, if I paid the 14.99, that meant I had payed roughly sixty-four dollars that people buying the game for the first time at Christmas were getting for about $39.99. (The game was listed as $49.99, but Christmas sales being what they are it was easy to find it at the reduced price, and in some places even less.)
I really couldn’t help but feel like a lot of the faithful Simmers who had kept this game popular were getting a royal woo-hooed screwing. As it turned out though, you weren’t actually paying $14.99 for forty new items. You were going to pay the $14.99 for only about 28 items. And why is that? Because Maxis gave away twelve of the items free on their web site. So let’s do the math. If I had waited a year or so to buy the basic game, I could have had it, plus an extra 40 Christmas items for $39.99. Since I bought the game when it was first released, the game, and just 28 Christmas items cost me $64.00. Yes I got suckered in and bought the thing anyway. But the stuff did come in handy for the Christmas story I was writing. Hey, any excuse will do!
But there is another gimmick that has become basically obvious. It used to be that when you bought a game, you also received an instruction booklet telling you how the game was supposed to be played and everything you needed to get started. Then companies like Prima Game Guides figured out that Joe Schmo who was sitting at home struggling to get through the latest incarnation of Mario Brothers would pay good money to solve the mysteries of all the secret treasures and all the hidden caves and tunnels. And of course I’m sure that Prima pays licensing fees and the game companies get their cut.
Now though, it seems they have decided to take it a step further. The instruction booklet that came with Nightlife was practically non existent. I think it had about four pages with one of those being the cover and one being the back with the EA games logo. It had no information on how to do the most basic simple things that should be in any instruction manual. How were simmers supposed to know how to lay driveways? How were simmers supposed to know how to build a garage? How are simmers suppose to know that if you had the “age Sims cheat on” you can’t lay a driveway? That was one detail many of those who purchased Nightlife had trouble figuring out.
I suppose you could spend several hours monkeying around, tinkering around, accidentally killing off a few Sim families in order to get it right. Or you can do what probably Maxis and Prima hoped you would do which was buy the games guide so they both could get their cut. Yeah, I bought it. I bought it for the basic game and Nightlife but not for University. And several months later, I still hadn’t figured out everything a Sim was supposed to do at college. I also suppose you could go on the Sims 2 BBS, err I mean Forum and ask, but if you ask a question that’s already been asked a few hundred times, the people there have a tendency to tell you to quit being a cheapskate and buy the damn guide! Only they aren’t allowed to use that particular adjective as it could result in banishment for life. So now, not only are we paying for the game, we basically are being forced into buying a $20 direction book for it also. Yeah, I know. We’re all a bunch of idiots.
I just read a review that says the new Open for Business expansion pack has a high learning curve. The review didn’t say how big the manual is for that game, but I have a feeling I’ll be forced to dole out another 20 Simoleans for the Prima Guide again. But I have made some strides.
I didn’t preorder the game, so I won’t be getting the chicken mascot. My Sims will have to struggle along without it just like they have without the hot rod card. But The Baker Family and my 50 or so other families have managed quite nicely without it. And I’m sure they’ll all do equally as well in their Sim life without dressing up for the Chicken Little look-a-like contest. As for me, I’ll pick the game up later in the week. Probably for about $29.95 which means I’ll save $5 off of the full price on-line retail outfits sell it for, and I’ll save another ten simoleans by not paying the overnight shipping. And it will make me feel a little bit better that I’m finally beginning to see the light. By the way, I wonder what the next expansion pack will be?
Grey's Anatomy: Season Two, Episode 19 What did I do to deserve this?
0 comments Posted by Clyde at 2:29 AM
Okay, so sometimes, even though the best of us make rash decisions, bad decisions, decisions we know we’re going to pretty much regret, the moment, the minute, especially the morning after. I mean maybe not regret “regret” because at least….you know we put ourselves out there, but still, something inside us decides to do a crazy thing. A thing we know will probably turn around and bite us on the ass. Yet, we do it anyway. What I’m saying is we reap what we sow. What comes around goes around. It’s Karma, and anyway you slice it, karma sucks…………Like I said, payback’s a bitch. (Added after Dr. Bailey tells Dr. Addison what her medical problem is)
The Patients:
Keith Paulus - admitted to the hospital with chest pains. His girlfriend, Amy, is with him and they are making big wedding plans. At first it’s thought to be a possible tumor, later we find it is something else.
Dr. Addison Shepherd - Derek’s wife comes into the hospital and asks Dr. Bailey to help her with an embarrassing female problem. It seems she has poison oak in the very last place a woman would want to have it after relieving herself in the great outdoors.
Shawn Begleiter – An 11 year old boy who has been adopted by a gay male couple is admitted with a head injury suffered during a little league baseball game.
Picking up where we left off:
Both George and Meredith face the consequences of their night together. Denny, who was a heart transplant patient in a previous episode (he didn’t receive the heart) that Izzy had begun to fall for returns after a medical episode.
Where it all led to:
Izzy, Christine, and Alex begin to suspect something happened between George and Meredith, because of how they are reacting to each other. After Denny is admitted, Alex begins to feel pangs of jealousy; especially after Meredith tells him that he and Izzy will never be a couple because of Alex having blown his chance by cheating on her. Alex then guesses correctly that Meredith slept with George and she admits it just as George arrives on the scene followed by Izzy and Christine. George accuses her of telling everybody, but after seeing Christine and Izzy’s reaction knows that she didn’t. He falls down the stairs and is treated by a new doctor, Dr. Callie Torrez, who is impressed that he is the George who performed a heart operation in an elevator. Meredith tells Derek that she might lose all of her friends over what she has done. He tells her that they (Meredith and Derek) can be friends and she tells him they can’t. Later, Christine tells Meredith there’s no way she could have not have known that George was in love with her. George goes home and begins to pack his bags and we are finally given a flashback as to what happened that night. In the middle of their lovemaking, Meredith realizes she has made a mistake and begins to cry, causing George to run out of the room. Meredith shows up just as George is getting ready to leave and tries to explain why it happened. She asks him if things could go back to the way they were before they slept together. George answers no, that they can’t go back. He is sitting out on the sidewalk when Dr. Callie Torrez happens by. He tells her he is going on a trip. She tells him when he gets back to give her a call and write her phone number on his hand. Dr. Burke sees George sitting outside with his suitcase and takes him home with him, much to Christine’s chagrin. The episode ends with Derek and Meredith trying to be friends by taking their dog for a walk.
How the medical cases were resolved:
Keith Paulus – It turns out that his mass is actually a coronary artery aneurism. If he doesn’t have an operation, he could die at any time. If he does have the operation, he could die during it. Just before he is ready to be operated on, his girlfriend Amy walks out of the room and tells George and Christine that there isn’t going to be a wedding. After George asks her what about “in sickness and in health” she tells him she is not strong enough to handle it. Right after she leaves, Keith crashes, but Dr. Burke manages to save his life and it is up to him to tell Keith that his fiance isn’t there and won’t return.
Shawn Begleiter – At first he has some minor bleeding, but later suffers acute hydrocephalous which requires Derek to drill in his skull. At first his two fathers start to leave, then decide to stay and be strong for their son. When the drilling is finished and the boy is okay, Rick (the boy’s father) throws up.
Dr. Addison Shepherd – Miranda Bailey tries to treat Addison’s poison oak while trying to keep it a secret. At one point, Addison begins crying and Miranda’s breasts begin leaking milk. Later, she finally decides to tell Derek about it, asking him if this is enough retribution for her having slept with Mark. Derek begins to laugh about it.
Get out the handkerchiefs:
Dr. Burke having to tell Keith about his fiancé dumping him. Meredith beginning to cry during her lovemaking with George. George packing to leave the house and move on and Meredith explaining why she slept with him. George apologizing to Olivia, telling her that if he made her feel the way he’s feeling now, he is sorry for it.
Most unexpected moment:
Meredith crying when she had sex with George.
Weakest moment:
After what happened with George and her own worshipping of Derek, deciding that she can after all try to be just friends with him. It was a bit much, too soon.
What they said:
Izzy: (after coming out of the bedroom with Alex) What? So I slept with him again? So I’m a big whore. A big horny whore who can’t get enough.
*****
George: Did Meredith say anything? To anyone about anything?
Christine: No, are you going to dish?
George: No
Christine: Then leave me alone, I’m working.
*****
Meredith: How do you know I did something?
Alex: Because Bambi looks pissed and you look guilty.
*****
Christine (in the operating room): Stop pouting.
George: I’m not pouting.
Christine: Oh, please! I’m not even looking at you and I can feel you pouting. Whatever Meredith did it wasn’t on purpose so get over it already. (Dr. Burke clears his throat). I’m not being inappropriate, he’s acting like she skinned his puppy.
*****
George (to Dr. Burke): I believe in Karma. You know, good people deserve good things. At least I always thought that that’s the way the universe worked.
Christine: How can you think that and practice medicine?
George (yelling): Why? I’m not saying that everybody who gets sick or everybody who dies is bad. I’m saying I think that there’s a balance. Or that there should be some sort of balance.
Dr. Burke: Good God, O’Malley, what in the hell did Grey do to you?
*****
Izzy: It’s really not fair. We treat jerks all the time. Patch ‘em up, send ‘em off. Whether they deserve it or not. No big deal.
*****
Miranda: Do you mind if I ask how this happened?
Addison: I slept with Mark!
Miranda: You slept with Mark and he had poison oak on his….
Addison: No! I slept with Mark a year ago and this is what I get!
*****
Shawn (after waking up): Dad, you look white. Are you okay? (Rick immediately throws up)
Rick (standing back up): Yes.
*****
Miranda: There are some things you just don’t get to know, not from me.
Derek (asking where his wife is): You have to tell me where she is. I saved your husband’s life.
Miranda: She saved my baby.
Derek: Baby trumps husband?
Miranda: mmm...
Derek (as Miranda walks away): Baby trumps husband?
*****
Amy: You have a life, you fall in love, you make plans, and you have fantasies. And none of it involves them ending in the blink of an eye.
*****
Izzy: What’s going on?
Alex (talking about George): Fetus is freaking out.
*****
Christine (talking about George to Meredith): He’s the weaker kid. Gee, even I don’t beat up on the weaker kids.
*****
Christine (to George): Okay, George. The pity thing…it’s not good. If you want crappy things to stop happening to you then stop accepting crap and demand something more.
*****
Meredith (in response to George asking him why she slept with him): I didn’t know I didn’t want to. You were there and you were saying all these perfect things. And it thought maybe, maybe I’ve just been overlooking something, and if I just give it a chance because you’re George, and you’re so great, I didn’t know I didn’t want to until I knew I didn’t want to.
*****
Dr. Burke: He’s your friend and he needed our help.
Christine: Is his problems surgical?
Dr. Burke: No
Christine: Then technically, he doesn’t need our help.
George’s closing narration:
One way or another, our karma will leave us to face ourselves. We can look our karma in the eye, or we can wait for it to sneak up on us from behind. One way or another, our karma will always find us. And the truth is as surgeons, we have more chances than most to set the balance in our favor. No matter how hard we try, we can’t escape our karma. It follows us home. I guess we can’t really complain about karma. It’s not unexpected. It just evens the score. And even when we know we’re about to do something we know will tempt karma to bite us in the ass, it goes without saying we do it anyway.
Episode Grade:
B. The patient cases weren’t that interesting. I have faults with Derek and Meredith trying to be friends. It seems everybody in the world but those two know that won’t work.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
When Carrie Underwood won American Idol, I believe the first person she thanked was God. I began thinking about that sometime later, and I wondered if she really shouldn’t have just been thanking all of her fans who dialed more often and dialed faster to get her the votes she needed to win. Of course, it’s just one of those funny thoughts that occur to me from time to time. It was also one of those thoughts that I decided might lead to a nice little article on this blog sooner or later.
Last night, while I was Googling some search terms, I ran across this article at Reality Blurred. Part of it reads:
Among other questions, the contestants were asked, “If you win, who will you thank first?” Of the 24, well over half—15—said they’d thank God or Jesus first. Paris Bennett, Chris Daughtry, Brenna Gethers, Taylor Hicks, Will Maker, Melissa McGhee, Sway, Gedeon McKinney, Kellie Pickler, David Radford, Kinnik Sky, Elliott Yamin all say they will thank God first, most likely for deciding that they are better and more worthy than the other God-lovers. Heather Cox, Mandisa, and Stevie Scott plan to thank Jesus Christ, so they get points for originality. If you don’t want your American Idol to think that a higher power intervened on their behalf, then your options are Ayla Brown, Bobby Bennett, Bucky Covington, Patrick Hall, Kevin Kovias, Katharine McPhee, Becky O’Donohue, Lisa Tucker, and Ace Young, most of who plan to thank their parents, family members, or the viewers if they win.
So of course, I decided to write about this before someone else did. I started by posting a message on the IMDB American Idol Board, just before I went off to bed to get a few reactions. I wrote my question in a rather whimsical manner, but when you start writing about God, people suddenly tend to become very serious and dry as if God doesn’t have a sense of humor at all. The reactions were just about what I expected.
The majority of opinions is that they are thanking God for giving them the ability to sing better and have more vocal ability than the other contestants more then for getting the most votes. I suppose they could be doing that, although none of the contestants say that in their profile. The closest one to speak in such general terms is Mandisa who says, “Jesus, he is so good to me!” Mandisa also says Jesus “saved her life” so maybe that’s what she’s thanking him for. It certainly would be understandable. Heck, I’d certainly thank anybody who saved my life.
It does occur to me however, that if it is singing ability they are thanking God for instead of their high price vocal instructors, does that mean the one who wins prayed a few seconds longer and harder for their vocal ability than Stevie Scott, or any of the others who will drop by the wayside in the weeks ahead?
Stevie Scott was going to thank God if she won but she exited stage left on the very first show. I mean, you would have thought that God would have told her to pick a different song to sing. Does she now thank God for not giving her the right song choice, or not making her a better singer so she could win?
Maybe they learned something from George Bush. It’s better to shore up your base first then grab as many of the rest of the votes as you can. I wonder if there isn’t a pastor out there telling his congregation to vote for American Idol contestants because they are going to thank God and that the rest of the contestants must be heathen Democrats because they failed to mention God in their profile. I know, it’s far fetched but they could do it. After all, there’s no election laws that says a church can’t promote one American Idol contestant over another.
Then again I could be all wrong. Maybe a few gamblers made it up into heaven and they have a betting pool on American Idol, just like they do in Vegas. Before the final twenty-four took to the stage, Ace Young was a 7 – 2 favorite. Ace says he is going to thank his parents first. But like the people who are thanking God, he doesn’t say if he is thanking them for conceiving him and letting him be born, or thanking them for supporting him as he worked his way up the career ladder. And do his odds now drop because he forgot to say he would thank The Almighty first? If there is a betting pool going on in the hereafter, I wonder what the odds are on Ace now? And if he does win, what does that mean for all those who have been praying every night to win? Did they get a busy signal? Or maybe they forgot that their God might be busy with a few other more important matters rather than who is more deserving to win a talent contest.
When I was very young, my mother used to hit the Bingo Parlors. One night I prayed to God that she would win and she did. She won a hundred simoleans, quite a handsome sum in those days. So I began praying to God for all kinds of things that I thought were important. But it never really worked, so maybe there’s only one request fulfilled per customer. If that’s true, I wish I had known. I would have saved mine for a later date.
And then there are those who are going to thank Jesus Christ first. If they win, does that mean its better to go through an emissary since God might be a little bit busy?
I’m sure many of these contestants are sincere in their belief. But I’m also sure that maybe some of them who answered the question “Who are you going to thank first,” gave that answer because they thought that’s what people would want to read or hear. It is after all, a cutthroat competition. Sort of like our Presidential elections.
Honestly, if a contestant wants to thank God for helping them to win, than that’s okay. If they want to thank God for giving them better singing ability, that’s okay too. I mean, one believes what they believe and there isn’t a thing wrong with it. But whatever their reasons, or however sincere they are or not, it won’t influence me one way or the other in how I perceive the competitors. Come to think of it, I doubt if Simon Cowell cares about who they are going to thank either, and maybe that has more to do with it than anything else.
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