Friday, March 10, 2006
Kinnik Sky
I think Kinnik did well to make it this far. She only gave one performance that could be considered worthwhile and that was last week. If she does have talent we never did get to see much of it. In her first appearance her vocals were all over the place and the same this week. She barely managed to stay on the show after her rendition of Here for the Money which was her best performance. She needed to hit one out of the park and she didn't. It's as simple as that.
Frankly, I’m not that sure that Kinnik was the best pick to go to the final 24. She was one of the last two girls put through, and I was kind of surprised she was picked over the other girl. In short, Kinnik never lived up to her billing.
Will Makar
Will had the cute All-American boy looks and he had a voice. So what was the problem? My guess is that he totally lacked any performing experience on stage or anywhere else for that matter. In his first week he wasn’t very good at all and appeared as nervous as a cat. He improved quite a bit last week, and again this week. It appeared as if he was finally beginning to find his footing. Unfortunately, Idol doesn’t often give you time to make gradual improvements unless you’re being touted by the judges week after week. You’ll know that by how often they tell you it was a bad song choice but you sang good. Something we’ve heard regarding a couple of contestants who went on to the final twelve.
In a different Idol season, Will might have survived. But the men are too strong this year so Will became the odd man out .
Ayla Brown
I have to admit, I was disappointed to see Ayla go. I would have been disappointed to see Melissa go. Neither one of them deserved the hand of cards dealt to them. So why was it Ayla instead of Melissa?
In the past few weeks I’ve noticed a groundswell of support for Melissa. Part of this was because of her underdog status going in and not having any airtime. In the end, this may have worked to her advantage in keeping her on the show one more week at least.
What people didn’t realize was that Ayla in a sense was an underdog also. Although she did get some airtime during the auditions, there wasn’t much more after that until the final 24. And right away Simon did a number on her, unfairly sticking Ayla with the label of being an overachiever. T
o many, that meant she was in the competition for no other reason then to win another trophy. This was something I heard time and time again, from a bunch of people who somehow think they know more about this girl or what’s in her head than you or I do.Remember when Simon said he thought she was a person who had never seen anything but an A on her report card? Ayla replied that indeed, she had been a C student and had to work hard to get to where she was. Instead of Simon saying he was wrong he simply worked it in his favor by turning it around and saying, “That’s exactly what I mean.” And then to add to it he said, “You’re the type of person who can probably achieve anything they want to, if we told you we were going to have a juggling competition, then tomorrow you would come in and juggle.” Whether Simon meant this the way it sounded, well you’re guess is as good as mine. Too many people took the fact that Ayla was a hard worker, and the fact that she seemed to come from a privileged background as to be some kind of criminal offense. What they forgot was that to be a great basketball player, takes a huge amount of work, as does achieving straight A’s while going to a school where a high academic average is required. But it was at that moment that I believe Ayla’s fate was sealed.
It certainly wasn’t her performances, although the judges griping on Tuesday night about doing a performance song didn’t really help. If it had been Paris, Lisa, Mandisa, or Kellie, they would have been gushing about Ayla trying to do something different. And besides, her two other performances were excellent and as good as any of the other ladies except Mandisa. But that’s the way this show is.
Gedeon McKinney
This was the shocker for me. Gedeon was coming off two excellent performances. Even his first performance of Shout wasn’t really that terrible. So did Gideon do anything wrong. Yes, he did as a matter of fact.
If you remember back to when the judges were telling the contestants they were going to the final 24, after Gedeon was given the news he made this long speech that made him sound just a bit too cocky and a bit too arrogant. I’m sure he didn’t mean for it to, but that’s the way it sounded to most people. After Gedeon had gotten back into the elevator, Simon even said that if he had heard that speech beforehand, he wouldn’t have put him through. Unfortunately, it certainly had to hurt Gedeon in developing any kind of a loyal fan base. By the time we found out how nice a guy Gedeon really was, it was probably too late for him to build a that base. Beyond that there may have been other factors as well.
I don’t think anybody was as surprised than Kevin was that he was staying. If you read the message boards, I think everybody was stunned. How did Kevin get through when anyway you look at it, he’s the weakest of the men contestants? There are probably a thousand theories, none of them provable. For instance, there are web sites that are set up to encourage people to vote the worst person through. Idol producers have claimed that it doesn’t make a difference in the voting. Numerically, this may be true when you get down to the last five or six contestants, but when you have this many contestants and the margin between them may be razor thin, you have to think that it certainly helps. Don’t get me wrong. I like Kevin. But he is not going to be the Idol and is only here for a few laughs and someone to ridicule (think John Stevens and Scott Savol) until he stays way too long and more worthy contestants are given the boot. There's at least one of these guys every year.
Looking Ahead:
The Contenders:
The Gals:
Based on everything we’ve witnessed so far, you would certainly have to give the edge to Mandisa. She is far and away superior to any of the other ladies in every department.
And although not my picks personally, you can’t argue that Katherine McPhee and Kellie Pickler could make it also. If Katherine comes on strong vocally and performs up to her obvious capabilities, she could overtake Mandisa. Why Kellie though? It would seem that almost everybody seems to like her for whatever reason. Vocally she is lacking, but personality wise she seems to have captured the Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson market, Added to that her stage presence is helping to cover her weaker vocal ability.
The Guys:
This is as strong of a lineup as I’ve ever seen in the three years I’ve watched this show. Right now I think Chris and Taylor are out in front of the pack and the rest of the guys will have to play catch up. Not as difficult as it may seem now that one of the best voices in the competition in Gedeon has been axed.
Possible Breakthroughs:
The Gals:
Obviously this list would include Lisa Tucker and Paris Bennett simply because of the hype surrounding them and the fact that Idol wants them to get as far as possible. Do you think the fact that next week is Stevie Wonder week is a coincidence? It’s going to take a major mistake to get either one of these contestants off of the show because when they are just fair, or even relatively bad, it will be overlooked. You find that out if you’ve watched this show often enough. And don’t be fooled. American may vote but it’s the judges who have them by the hind quarters.
The Guys:
Elliott Yamin certainly has the voice, probably the best voice in the competition. He also certainly knows how to use it. The problem is he’s lacking in stage presence and charisma and he will need to develop some quickly. He should be strong next week with it being Stevie Wonder week. Ace is another possibility. I don’t really have a clue as to how strong his appeal is. But using Constantine Maroulis as my guide, Ace is going to have to do something a little more upbeat. But Stevie Wonder should be one of his strengths also.
Bringing up the rear:
Melissa McGhee is certainly in the most danger. Her fans rallied around to save her this week but it won’t be so easy from here on out. She needs a dynamic performance every week or she’ll be gone quickly. Even then it may not be enough. Kevin should have gone this week simply because everybody other one of the guys has more to offer. Bucky was one of the bottom three this week though, and you can only wonder what he may do with a Stevie Wonder song. That alone may seal his fate next week. But then again, it should also be a trouble area next week for Chris also, but I doubt that it will matter that much.
That’s it for this week. See you next week at this same blog time, same blog station.
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Gedeon McKinney – When A Man Loves a Woman
Gedeon tells us he likes to paint, and shows us something about music making the world go round. Huh? I suppose so. But I never understood Picasso either. Anyway, he’s performing a song we all know and love, so he had better be on his game.
After a small but faulty misstep in the opening bar, Gedeon is easily into his groove. This is obvious what he was cut out for. It’s a very good performance by Gedeon and I especially like the way he wraps it up in the end. However, for some reason I find his ears a big distraction. It was probably not noticeable on a 19 inch portable, but certainly distracting on the big screen.
The judges seem to think it was good, although Simon says it was a bit caberet. I thought it was excellent, and Gedeon probably bought himself a ticket to another week.
Chris Daughtry – Broken
After telling us he once styled his hair like Ryan Secrest, but without telling us why we get to listen to Chris. This song is quite a bit different from what he sang last week. It takes me only a second or two to adjust to the change but no more than that. It’s another excellent performance by Chris and it’s getting to the point where I’ll be looking forward to him every week. Of course Simon has to be a bit of curmudgeon telling him the song was boring. It’s going to be one of those nights as far as Simon is concerned. Chris thinks he did okay and I think he did better than that.
Kevin Covais – “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)
After telling us how much he loves Kanye West, Kevin starts into this very slow ballad. It is certainly a big improvement over last week. I can’t find any fault at all with his vocals and he does have a nice sweet voice. Randy says it’s a nice performance, Paula loves Kevin’s ballads and says when she looks around everybody has a smile on their face. Simon says it’s like watching puppy plays which could explain all the smiles Paula was talking about. Okay, here it is in a nutshell. As long as Kevin sticks to ballads he’s very good. The problem is you can’t get through this competition singing a ballad every week. Eventually it’ll become boring to me, to you, and to the people at home. Despite his good vocalization, I think Kevin is in real danger.
Bucky Covington – Wave on Wave
I immediately find out something new about Bucky. He has a twin brother. When he begins singing, it’s obvious that this song fits Bucky like a glove. His voice reminds me of Billy Ray Cyrus, the difference being that Bucky can carry a tune much much better than Billy Ray. Randy coins a new phrase, calling it Bucky Country Kind of Thing. I’m thinking Bucky should be on Nashville Star, but those curmudgeons over there probably wouldn’t like his stringy long hair and ear rings. Simon says it’s just something you can hear in a bar. Simon is wrong, and I’m beginning to think he’s trying to find a way to convince people at home that somebody has to go home. Bucky’s twin brother joins him on stage at the end and we now have Bucky I and Bucky II.
Will Makar – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
Doesn’t Will remind you of the kid everybody would like to have? When Paula said he was like one of the Brady Kids it’s easy to see what she meant. After finding out that Will has been studying Japanese, he begins to sing. Wow, another really good performance! Easily Will’s best and he seems to be looking more and more comfortable each week out on the stage. Still, I can’t help thinking of Donny Osmond.
Randy doesn’t like it. He says it’s not good. Paula totally disagrees with Randy, Simon agrees with Randy right after his usual insult thrown at Paula. Really, I thought it was a very nice performance. But again I’m thinking Randy and Simon are trying to find a way to give the people at home a good reason to boot someone. Then again, I always liked Donny back in the days when he was a young squirt. Because of the harsh criticism from the great Swami Simon, Will could be in trouble.
Taylor Hicks – Takin’ It to the Street
After showing us his silly wabbit outfit, (okay bunny, but silly bunny isn’t as poetic) Taylor takes to the stage. I’m happy that I know most of the songs tonight so I’m filled with anticipation. His vocals start out a bit shady but only briefly. Once Taylor begins cranking it up with his right arm, he just take off with the song. The audience seems to love it, and so do I. You can’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm and his connection with the audience even if he does appear to be a bit spastic at times. As far as having fun, I think Taylor has the most fun out on stage of any contestant I have ever seen. Sure he takes the competition seriously, but it never looks that way. As Simon says, it’s all about having fun!
Elliott Yamin – Heaven
We find out that Elliott is deaf in one ear and to me that’s amazing. Again, this is a song I’m quite familiar with. Right away, it seems Elliott is off of his game. It’s certainly not his best vocals, but the thing about Elliott is that even when his vocals are a bit below what we’re used to, they’re still better than just about everybody else. Here’s where I worry about Elliott. These great, or in this case good vocals, can only take you so far no matter how many times the judges proclaim it’s just about the singing. It’s the same problem that Kevin would have in the final twelve and it’s the fact that these slow slow ballads can quickly become tedious watching them on stage. Somewhere along the line you have to give that one knockout vocal with a great stage performance to match. Still, Elliott should make the final twelve…..maybe.
Ace Young – Butterflies
Okay first off, I wish he would take the cap off of his head and put it back in his pocket. Second, what is Ace doing singing a Michael Jackson song? After pounding a few nails into the roof, Ace begins to sing.
Okay, I know the ladies love him so I’ll keep an open mind. Ouch!!!! Okay, Ace hits his very first very high falsetto and the crystal on my watch shatters. I’m not sure if it’s Ace’s singing or the girls in the background squealing that did it. I know these shows have applause signs but where did the squeal signs come from? Actually, I’m thinking about a falsetto singer from the sixties named Lou Christie that I really liked…..at least the two songs of his that were hits before he faded into oblivion. The judges like it, Paula likes it, and Simon kind of likes it. As for me, I find the whole thing quite mystifying.
The Best:
Chris, Gedeon, Bucky and Taylor would be my choices. Okay, I know I should pick one but that’s like asking me to choose Swiss Cheese over American Cheese.
The Worst
Are you kidding? I have to use the word worst with these guys tonight? Since you put me on the spot I’d have to probably go with Kevin, because he still lacks any charisma when he’s singing. He only shows that when they are joking around with him. Don’t ask me to pick another worst, just leave it in the suggestion box.
Pack Your Bags:
Obviously I have to go with Kevin, especially since he was in the bottom last week. That was easy enough. And then who? Well, it has to come down to who I think will get the least call in votes which obviously are no real reflection on their performance. I’m not absolutely positive that Elliot, despite his excellent vocals has enough fans. But I already have him marked for the top twelve so that’s out. So it comes down to Bucky and Will. My thinking is, Bucky did a much better job tonight then Will, so it’s back to the Brady home for him. And by the way, what happened to Tiger?
Tomorrow I’ll give you my thoughts on who didn’t make the grade and why. I’ll also preview the final twelve and give you my early favorites. See you then.
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Paris Bennett – Conga
The show wastes no time tonight in getting started with one of my favorites, Fantasia…..oops I mean Paris Bennett. After quickly telling us she’s a tomboy at heart because of having so many brothers, Paris glides out on the stage and begins to sing. Her outfit is a definite improvement over the grandma dress of last week. The first close up though tells me that she looks as if those brothers were the ones who put her eye makeup on. Plus, she’s wearing enough jewelry that you could melt down and mold into an anchor.
The song is nothing spectacular, simply okay and nothing more. But I’m noticing something else. I don’t think she can dance. Everytime she starts to dance and move her feet the camera moves in for a close up of her face, or behind the audience. The very few steps that do get on camera tells me I’m onto something. Guess you can’t copy the bobo dance very week because people begin to catch on. The judges make their usual lame excuses for another just average performance just as they did last week, and I can see all the television viewers sitting at home totally convinced and ready to dial her number. It’s hard to believe that just four weeks ago I actually thought this girl had something.
Lisa Tucker – Where I Stand
Lisa tells us she likes Jimi Hendrix and can play the guitar. Something I already knew. I like Lisa’s outfit tonight, and hopefully tonight she’ll show us some of that real professionalism. Then she starts to sing. It’s the same type of song she’s sang for the last two weeks only this time the vocals are bad, extremely bad.
Let me explain something. By the time I write this I have watched the performances at least twice, sometimes three times. My first impression was that Lisa’s performance was just poor. The second time around I realized how really bad it was. Worse, the performance to go with the bad vocals was just as wooden as it has always been. But who am I to judge. But speaking of judges…
Again we get the judges trying to gloss over a mediocre performance of someone they’ve hyped and tried to get America to buy into (something they’ve probably done) You know the routine, bad song choice, song too old…blah, blah, blah and nothing about how really bad it was. And despite all that Simon again tells her she’s going to sail through. Ryan asks her why she picked that song, and here’s her answer, “Well….I….thought that the words were totally appropriate for going to the top twelve.” Huh? Yep, you heard that explanation right. I’ve heard some weird things but that’s the weirdest.
And after the judges gloss over their criticism, Simon does manage to say something that speaks volumes. “You’re singing songs that sound like your mum’s choosing them.”
The camera gives us a quick shot of Lisa’s mom and if looks could kill, Simon would be a dead man.
I don’t know how many of you have read my background article on Lisa, but it is obvious that from the time she started singing she has had her career micro-managed by her parents. She is in fact singing the same type of songs she sang on Star Search three years ago. When you’re a cute thirteen year old on Star Search, you can get by with it. When you’re 16 and on American Idol, and have a wealth of experience you can’t go out there week after week and get by on just being cute, especially when your cute stage is long behind you.
Frankly, I had the suspicion that Lisa’s career had hit a brick wall and it’s easy to see why. Her parents may have thought they knew what was best for her, but comparing performances then and now, she really hasn’t progressed that much at all if any. So I blame her parents and now I feel sorry for Lisa, but not enough to grade her performance tonight any better than a complete failure. But remember, she’ll sail through to the next round. Now if she can get emancipated from Ma and Pa Tucker and get some good advice, perhaps we’ll see what she can really do.
Melissa McGhee – What About Love?
After telling us how much Melissa likes cool fast cars she comes out to sing What About Love? The song choice tells me quite a bit. First off, Melissa is no dummy. She knows the show and the judges have given her Mount Everest to climb in order to get into the finals. So Melissa has taken the challenge and chosen an extremely difficult song. My hat is off to her and I bow down to her for having the guts to come out week after week and take chances to prove herself.
And I think she does very very well with the song. As good as Heart? Of course not, but nobody does it that well and I only detect one time that she misses a note. Randy and Paula praise her for a change. But Simon is there to try and give her her ticket home telling her she was shouting the song. Again, I’ve listened to it twice and Simon is completely wrong on this. But sometimes he has his own agenda and where Simon goes, 98 per cent of the time America follows. Unless maybe America finally starts to wise up to the constant manipulation.
And because of that, Melissa is in deep doo doo, but if there was any real justice in the world she shouldn’t be.
Kinnik Sky – If I Ain’t Got You
Last week, Kinnik gave a good performance of Here for the Party. But for some reason Katherine McPhee gets some air time to put to rest rumors that she was quitting the show because she was pregnant. Yeah, I saw that rumor.
After telling us that she loves chitlins she comes out to perform. Last week she looked very cute in her western outfit. This week, sorry to say her outfit is horrendous. The blouse by itself is okay. The skirt by itself would be okay. But put the two together and it’s a mismatch from Hell. Worse yet, this week I’m not sure if it’s a poor makeup job or just the extreme close-ups but Kinnik’s face looks distorted.
Her vocals aren’t any better either. I said last week that Kinnik needed a great performance, and this isn’t it. She’s off key, the performance itself is not engrossing at all. The judges comments are no better than mine, and I thought Simon was going to carry Kinnik’s suitcase to the waiting taxi before the show was over. Turn out the lights Kinnik, the party is over.
Katherine McPhee – “Think”
Certainly the song choice is quite a bit different from what we’ve heard previously from Katherine. The song is also one of my favorites and has been ever since Aretha Franklin sang it in The Blues Brothers. So I’m hoping for better things from Katherine this week.
Katherine comes out wearing a maternity dress…just kidding. After telling us she learned her smoldering look from Constantine (which I think is kind of cute) she’s ready to begin and she’s actually looking good in just a solid black shirt and jeans.
She doesn’t disappoint me. At first when you’ve seen a vocalist such as Katherine who has only done ballads previously, it feels odd watching them do something else. But after a few seconds it all comes together.
The vocals are good and she looks comfortable out on stage. It’s not a spectacular performance by any means, but she’s doing what Lisa should have done. She’s showing us she can do more, and that she actually has personality although I think she goes a bit overboard when the song is finished. I like it, the judges like it, and you can pencil in Katherine for next week.
Ayla Brown – Unwritten
Ayla tells us a little story about believing her father was Elvis. Oh, so that’s what Elvis has been doing? Again a song I’m not familiar with. I really have to get my radio off the oldies stations.
Right off the bat we see Ayla has made a disastrous mistake. Her hair is awful and her outfit is hideous. The pants look like she got them out of a Little Lord Fauntleroy outlet store. And finally it dawns on me who she looks like. It’s a young Martha Plimpton only a bit better looking and much much taller.
And starting out, she has terrible trouble with the first few bars of the song. After that she does get much better though and finishes strong. The problem is the outfit and hair are too much of a distraction I’m not sure anybody will notice how well she did or didn’t do. For the first time Simon does compliment her saying it was good but not fantastic. The question is was it enough?
Later, we found out that Ayla had never performed anything but ballads so I’ll give her extra points for not only knowing she had to do, but giving it a good attempt in the process.
Mandisa – I’m Every Woman
Last week was a down week for Mandisa, well about as down as a week can get for her which isn’t a whole lot. And do you really need me to write anymore than this? She just nails it. This performance is everything that last week’s wasn’t. It harkens back to her first performance in the final twelve, and outshines ever other female competitor this evening the way Chris Daughtry did last week with the guys. Randy says it’s the best female vocal of the season, and Simon uses the same line he used with Chris last week that she probably made the other girls hate her guts. I doubt it. Great is great, and I’m sure the other contestants liked it just as well. How could you not?
Kellie Pickler – I’m the Only One
Minx – (noun) 1. A seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men.
And now you know what Simon is thinking about every time Kellie walks out on stage. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.
After showing us that her dog is no brighter than she is, Kellie comes out to sing. I think she is way off in the first couple of bars, going way to low. But Kellie being Kellie, she carries on and by the middle of the vocals is about where she should be. As much as many of us are tired of the country bumpkin act, you can’t deny her stage presence which seems to help cover her many vocal weaknesses.
Look, I’m not sure if she is as dumb as she acts, but I have to begrudgingly admit she could win the audience at home over. The judges again love her, although Simon says she isn’t the best vocalist. Then after telling Kellie she reminds him of a naughty little minx he throws a sharpened dart at Carrie Underwood by telling the world he prefers her to last years winner. Ouch! I’m sure he doesn’t mean vocally because in that department, Carrie would chew her up and spit her out. Somewhere in the back of my head I hear Forrest Gump saying, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
The Best:
Mandisa. Then I would put Melissa McGhee and Katherine Mcphee behind her.
The Worst:
Kinnik, followed very closely by Lisa Tucker, and behind her at a great distance I’d have to say all things considered, Ayla.
Pack Your Bags:
Well there’s Kinnik. You can take it to the bank. Then there’s everybody else. Let’s start by saying that if we believe Simon, Paris, Mandisa, Katherine, Kellie, and Lisa have their ticket to the final twelve.
That leaves Melissa McGhee and Ayla Brown, neither of whom should be in this predicament. Yes, Ayla’s performance was not her best in trying to do something she had never done before, but she was very good last week and the week before and is working hard to improve. Melissa has been very consistent if not spectacular every week, and I’d go so far as to say way better than what most people expected.
If there were any justice at all, Robby the Robot, also known as Lisa Tucker should be the one going home. She’s never been better than average with a wealth of experience, and tonight she was extremely poor. And her explanation for song choice afterwards tells you all you need to know. The girl has talent, but unless she can find somebody besides her parents to manage her career and teach her that there’s a lot more to performing on stage then standing in front of a microphone she’ll never have a career. Paris also has been mostly average in all departments, although never coming close to being as bad as Lisa was tonight. But there is no justice in the world and rarely ever on this show.
In a number’s game, it’s probably going to be Melissa going home with Kinnik. Ayla will probably squeak by to survive until next week but don’t be surprised if she doesn’t.
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
I found these stories about people being murdered, chopped up into little pieces, stuffed into trunks and cardboard boxes and shipped off to another state, locked up in a bus terminal locker, or maybe just stabbed a few hundred times with a knitting needle quite compelling for a while. But eventually I got bored and dived back into Nancy Drew’s Mystery at the Ski Jump. Nancy getting clobbered on the head a few times, or forced to breathe chloroform was way more exciting. I would read the Hardy Boys too, but being in a house with four sisters, Nancy was always laying around the house somewhere. Well, her books were but you knew what I meant.
After having done a quick ten second search on Google, I found out that most of these magazines are no longer printed. They’ve been outdone, outclassed, and outsexified by modern cable TV and its spit and polished anchors who’ll give you the crime story in all its glorious details without you even having to put your reading glasses on. Aren’t we lucky to be living in this modern era?
The reason I bring this up is because these days, you can’t escape the case of the murdered girl no matter where you try to hide. Seriously, is there anybody who hasn’t heard of Chandra Levy, Laci Petersen, or Natalie Holloway by now? I wish I had a timing meter on my TV, just so we would know for sure how many hours CNN, MSNBC, and Faux News. As a rule of thumb, Faux News will spend countless hours on these true crime stories to distract viewers from the rotten job that the official Faux News Idol George Bush is doing.
This past week brought news of another brutal slaying. Imette St. Guillen, who was studying criminal justice, was raped, strangled, mutilated and bludgeoned before her body was left on the side of a remote road in Brooklyn. It is certainly a tragic story, and I’m sure we can all sympathize with Imette’s parents and loved ones. Yet, I have never exactly figured out how certain crime cases get picked up for wall to wall cable news coverage when there are literally thousands upon thousands incidents of rape, kidnapping, and murder happening all around this country every day that we never hear about, nor do their grieving families get one iota of air time.I have to wonder if the cable news networks have an elite staff of specialists that study intently all the murder cases that come over the wire until they find one that fits the right criteria. Having found one, they then rush it out to Dan Abrams, Nancy Grace or the entire roster of Fox New anchors.
Do they have a simple check list or a scoring system? Does the scoring system look something like this?
Male Crime Victim - 0 Points
Famous Male may have committed crime - 10 Points.
Female - 5 Points
Blonde - 5 Points
Brunette - 2 Points
21 to 25 - 4 Points
18 to 21 - 5 Points
Poor - 0 Points
Middle Class - 3 Points
Wealthy - 5 Points
Married - 2 points, 4 points if deceased has children, 6 points if pregnant at time of crime.
Look, I don’t want to appear unsympathetic to the innocent victims of these crimes, but we have become a nation more interested in the latest murder case than the fact that we have lost over 2300 service men and women in a war that is going no where, should never have been started, and was based on a lie. What about those families, mothers, fathers, grandparents, husbands, wives, and children? How often do we get wall to wall coverage of their loss?
I suppose we do every once in a while but only when there is a perverted right wing publicity seeking wacko church group from Kansas picketing their funeral because they believe that our soldiers who were killed overseas are going to rot in hell for fighting for a country that approves of homosexuality. Add that bit of spice to the funerals and the networks have you covered.
I know what you’re thinking though. You’re thinking, “But Clyde, we know how our soldiers died. It isn’t sexy and there isn’t any mystery involved.”
I don’t know how sexy you want it but over 2,000 soldiers and thousands more Iraqi citizens have died because of a lie, over 3000 people died at the World Trade Center because an administration that couldn’t be bothered with a “Bin Laden determined to attack memo” while they were having fun in the sun in Texas, people were dying while the president was engrossed in My Pet Goat and having a photo-op, we sent soldiers over there with no body armor, Mission Accomplished still isn’t accomplished, Civil War is breaking out in Iraq, and deaths continued despite the claims all is well. That may not be sexy, but the fact that we as a nation cared so damn little to let it happen, voted the idiots back into office to continue to let it happen, may well be the biggest most stupendous murder mystery case this country has ever seen. Now cover that Nancy Grace.
Sunday, March 5, 2006
For all the talk about not being main stream, and all the self congratulatory back patting for always being out front and ahead in the issues,
Like I said, Crash was an okay movie. But there was nothing cutting edge about it. It dealt with racism, but it’s not the first to do so, and in time will be quickly forgotten. It is never groundbreaking and not even particularly great film making. There are many more films out there that dealt with race far better and were way more sincere, but they didn’t came close to winning an Academy Award. It doesn’t matter to me one iota how many times Roger Ebert tries to proclaim Crash as the better film. One need look no further than films such as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, or Malcolm X to see films that are way more powerful and better made. As Jami Bernard from the New York Daily News stated, “The only thing we really learn from Crash is that it’s not a good idea to live in
For all the fancy words about how progressive they are in
The worst part is, by bestowing the award to Crash, they ended up feeding into the same hate filled frenzy they seem to be so much against, giving the same people who would love to tear up the constitution something else to shout their glee about. One needs to look no further than some of the message boards for
Thank you
And there were probably five times more than that but thankfully the Administrators were deleting them as fast as they could and just getting the page to load from all the traffic was a major problem. But, the Academy and its members can go to their parties knowing comfort in the knowledge that they have kept
You know that when the wingnuts are suddenly proclaiming the virtues of a film about race, that something is totally amiss. Seriously, I doubt if any of them actually watched one minute of Crash either. But they’ll take their victories any way they can get them, even if it means embracing another subject matter they have little interest in.
And during the awards there was something more telling than anything else going on, something I mentioned as I blogged the event. Time and time again we were reminded of the fact that
(It would seem I'm not the only one who feels this way. An excellent article by Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times runs along these same lines).
I had thought about blogging the Oscars, decided I didn't want to, then decided I ought to, then said thought it would be too much trouble. The biggest obstacle was if I wanted to do this, I would have to do it from my living room on a dial-up. Well, I could do it in the den if I wanted to subject myself to viewing it in 19 inch fuzzy tv instead of 55 inch wides screen HD. But in the end I decided to give it a shot and see how it goes.
Right now we're about 35 minutes away. I think the main reason I'm even bothering to watch this year is because Jon Stewart is the host. I used to be an avid Academy Awards watcher but in the past few years, my interest is dwindled. I still have video tapes of the ceremonies going back to about 1994, so if this one turns out to be too big of a snooze fest, I can grab one of those and see if it isn't more interesting. Let's catch up on the pre-awards junk:
4:30 p.m. PST George Clooney is being interviewed. It's the usual idiot question being asked, "Of the three awards you are being nominated for which one would he prefer to win?" I'm hoping George says "every damn one of them" but he doesn't of course so I don't listen to what will obviously be a stock answer.
4:38 p.m. PST I have decided to make my first prediction. I predict that the first award will be given out at 5:25 PST. I wonder if you can place a bet on that in Vegas.
5:06 p.m. - After struggling with my dial-up, watching a CGI laden opening segment, then a rather clever bit about Stewart being asked to host the Oscars after Crystal, Goldberg, and others turned it down, Stewart takes the stage. He looks very uncomfortable.
5:10 p.m. - Stewart seems to be getting a bit more comfortable. After Shindler's List and Munich, he asks what Spielberg will do to the Jews next.
5:12 p.m. - Walk the Line is Ray with White People. I never thought of it that way.
5:13 p.m. - Some western film clips strung together showing that there is a touch of gayness in a lot of the old cowboy films. It's mildly funny I suppose, but the same theme has been done to death in parodies.
5:19 - First award given out by Nicole Kidman for Best Supporting Actor. And the winner is George Clooney for Syriana. I think I predicted that on at least one web site so it's no surprise. George says, "so I'm not winning director." Since I haven't seen Syriana though so I can't say whether he deserved it or not. I would have like to have seen Jake Gyllenhaal get it. I was six minutes late in my prediction.
5:20 - Clooney says that sometimes Hollywood is out of touch but he makes a good point. They were out in front on many issues where they were accused of being out of touch including racism.
5:25 - Tom Hanks is on doing a bit about acceptance speeches. His hair is longer than when he was trapped on the island. And he's looking a bit old.
5:26 - Ben Stiller shows up to give the special visual effects award. One of the nominees is Narnia, and that's something I should have written about but not for reasons you think. At 5:29 the award is finally given to King Kong. Can't argue with that, but I liked War of the Worlds also.
5:31 - Reese Witherspoon shows up to give the award for best animated feature. I like Reese, loved her in Walk the Line, but am not sure about her politics. Of the nominees, I've seen none of them. At 5:32 the Oscar goes to Wallace and Gromit. No surprise there.
5:34 - Naomi Watts shows up to introduce the first nominee for best song. It's Travelin' Through written and performed by Dolly Parton. While she's singing I can only think that Naomi Watt did a magnificent job in King Kong and should have been nominated. I wonder what Dolly looks like when she wakes up in the morning without any makeup. Or does she wear it 24/7? The song isn't doing much for me.
5:38 - Dolly is finished, get's her applause and we go to commercials. Time to head to the potty.
5:42 - Luke and Owen Wilson come out for the live action short. I could draw a title out of the hat and have no clue as most people don't. If you want to find out the winner go to the IMDB. Then it's animated short. Chicken Little and Abby Mallard come out to give that award. I didn't see Chicken Little, but I made a Sims 2 shirt with him on it. Thanks to those who hate my political viewpoint among other things and voted it a one, it was banished from that site not once but twice. If you're wondering what all this has to do with the Oscars - absolutely nothing.
5:48 - Jennifer Anniston hops out on stage to give out the Best Costume Designer. Of course, we see an Oscar in Jennifer's future.....not. Memoirs of a Geisha nabs the award. There's a film that didn't do very well at the box office or in the awards department. I'll let you know what I think about it as soon as the DVD comes out.
5:51 - Russell Crowe comes out to introduce some clips of how famous people were portrayed in the movies. No word on whether he threw any telephones while we are away for the clips. On the clips, we see the real person, and the actor portraying them. Clever and interesting. I always like the clips stuff.
5:58 - I hurry back into the room just in time to see the award for makeup given to Narnia. Well, you have to throw it a piece of the Oscar pie don't you? There's some woman in the audience who looks like she's crying, but it could be makeup which would be fitting for this award.
6:01 - Rachael McAdams comes out to tell about technical awards given out in another ceremony. Rachael is hot, and I mean hot in the way her career has just exploded.
6:03 - Morgan Freeman comes out to give the award for something we care about, Best Supporting Actress. Amy Adams won an award for Junebug will it carry over? She's Ebert's prediction. I think I picked Rachael Weisz for The Constant Gardener, but I'd like to see Michelle Williams get it. It goes to Rachael Weisz at 6:06. Well, at least my prediction was right. Before we go to commercial break we see a clip from Good Night and Good Luck, a movie I want to see but have been unable to. Is this how they are going to show the best picture clips this year? Introducing commercials? Are you kidding me! We'll see!
6:11 Lauren Becall, the legend comes out. I still remember the look on her face when she lost the award a few years back when she was heavily favored. She looked as if somebody had thrown a pie at her. We're seeing more clips, but I don't know exactly what the theme is. Guess I should have been paying more attention then writing about the egg on her face a few years back. I think it has something to do with black and white cinemotography which is a roundabout way of getting a dig in at the company that colorized Three Stooges shorts and Shirley Temple movies.
6:16 - Some stuff about Oscar campaigning. It's clips as if they were political campaign ads which is getting a double dig in. It would work if it were funnier.
6:19 - Terence Howard from Hustle and flow comes out to give the award for Best Documentary short subjedt. Time for a quick break. I'm sure they are important films, but they never play on theaters here and hard to find on DVD sometimes also. The title of the winner is probably longer than the film. A Note of Triumph: something or other.
6:21 - Charlize Theron shows up. She must have a dislocated shoulder because it looks like it has an ice pack on it. This is for best documentary feature film. The award goes to the Penquin movie. The winners come out carrying stuffed Penquins. Did they go to the carnival before hand?
6:24 - Jennifer Lopez comes out to introduce another song. This one is from Crash. I saw Crash but I don't remember the song nor am I familiar with the artists. No, I haven't been living in Outter Space the past year. It only seems like it. There's fire and smoke all over the place and it's reminiscent of that horrible play Travolta was supposed to be doing in Staying Alive. I guess it's supposed to be meaningful, meaning it's time for a cigarette.
6:32 - Sandra Bullock head out on to the stage. I have some stock in their new movie coming out in June over at the HSX and I think it's called The Lake House so go see it so that my portfolio will rise. This award is art direction. King Kong should win for its New York scenes alone, but we'll see. It goes to Memoirs of a Geisha though. Well, at least it has a couple of awards it can plaster on the DVD cover when it comes out.
6:36 - More pat on the back film clips about films that make us think and have some effect on society. I don't know it's a strange mix of clips. But one of my favorite all time films To Kill A Mockingbird is included. I love Jon Stewart's comment, "And none of those issues were ever a problem again."
6:41 - The president of the Academy comes out. Time for a nap.
6:43 - Selma Hayak comes out looking stunning in a blue dress. It's time for Best Original Score. We get the famous violin player playing scores over the film clips. I know his name but I can't spell it so I won't. I did well if I spelled Hayak right. Brokeback picks up this one. If you've read my review, you know I'm happy about this.
6:45 - Jake Gyllenhaal comes out. This is the second or third time tonight we've been reminded that watching movies on TV isn't as great of an experience as watching in a theater. I guess Hollywood is worried about the box office receipts. Not too much to worry about nominating any crowd pleasers for the major awards this year though.
7:00 - Eric Bana and Jessica Alba come out for the best sound award. When I see Jessica Alba, what she's saying is the last thing on my mind or anything else to do with sound. King Kong nabs this one, and I think that makes two. Hollywood always tries to makeup for none of the box office bonanzas getting awards by throwing them a bone in the technical department.
7:03 - Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin come out to tell us about Robert Altman's honorary award. He's always been a Hollywood favorite if not anybody elses. I guess his films are great filmmaking, but other than M.A.S.H. I've always found his films to be a crushing bore no matter how well they are crafted. If I wanted to pay 8.00 to go to film school for a couple of hours, I would.
7:10 - Altman arrives after Meryl And Lily do their thing about overlapping dialogue. Nothing wrong with overlapping dialogue, but in an Altman film, there is way too much of it, even if you have ten people talking at once. But he started the trend so you can understand why he would be in love with the premise.
7:17- Ludacris introduces the next song called It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp from Hustle and Flow. I guess Hollywood has to show they are keeping up with the times. I don't think much of it, but I'm an old fart so what do I know? Anyway, I miss who the female singer is but it doesn't matter because she's beautiful.
7:18 - Queen Latifah comes out to give the best song award. Only three nominee's this year. Don't know if that's a new rule or there just weren't any noteworthy songs in the film. It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp wins the award making Queen Latifah happy. Honestly, that's okay because it was better than the other two. They say something which gets them bleeped. Obviously this telecast is on a delay. Guess we'll find out later what they said. And they are excited.
7:27 - Jennifer Garner presents the award for Best Sound Editing. It goes to King Kong. But soundwise, I would have been just as happy with War. I was going to write my review of War today but never got to it. I will soon.
7:30 - Academy Award Winner George Clooney comes out for the Memorials of those who have passed away. This always makes me sad and there's always a few that I somehow missed their passing. I didn't know Onna White, the choreographer had died.
7:37 - Will Smith is saddled with Best Foreign Film. I've seen none of these of course. Tsotsi from South Africa wins. Guess I guessed wrong in the contest I entered. Win some lose some, but what can you expect when you're just guessing. It's not like handicapping the Super Bowl.
7:41 - Ziya Zhang comes out and I have to look fast to make sure I spell it right. For editing the award goes to Crash. I'm still not sure I spelled the name Ziya right or Zhang right. Crash was the other Best Picture film I saw. It was a good film, but they threw in a bit too much in the way of coincidences and most of the meaning was lost.
7:44 - Hilary Swank comes out to give the award for acting in a leading role. Philip Seymour Hoffman is supposed to be a shoe in for this. But Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain was amazing. Joaquin was great in Walk The Line too. No surprise here. It's just as predicted. Sometimes it's better to imitate than to give a hard and difficult performance that requires much more subtlety.
7:54 - Two time nominee but Oscarless John Travolta comes out to give the cinematography award. The Oscar goes to Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm not sure I'm getting this. This is a film that opened to horrid reveiws and was forgotten about quickly. It's not a good sign for Brokeback Mountain.
7:57 - Jamie Foxx is ready to give the award for Best Actress. If anybody but Reese wins this award it will be a shock. No surprise. Reese Witherspoon wins! I'm glad for her. Is she going to mention Joaquin? There it is...whew she had me worried. A long speech, but you don't get a chance like that very often. It is 8:03 by the time she finishes.
8:24 - After having lost my connection I'll try to catch up. The screenplay awards went as expected to Crash and Brokeback Mountain. Ang Lee won best Director. Crash won best picture, and one can only think that a lot of people voted for the safe option or maybe there is still a great amount of homophobia even in Hollywood. Be writing more about this as soon as I change computers.
Final thoughts: For the most part, the awards show was a bore throughout. They were trying to rush through everything as quickly as possible. The speeches were short but for the most part uninteresting to listen to. The film clips were only mildly entertaining. The absolute worst decision was to lead into commercials with clips from the best picture. What a load of crap that was. Really, these are suppose to be the best films of the year, and that's how they are treated. I have a feeling the audience ratings for this telecast were in the toilet.
I was disappointed in Jon Stewart. It was nothing at all like we've come to expect.
As for the awards, I haven't seen Syriana, but I suspect George Clooney's Best Supporting Actor was a way to award him for his film activism and rolling up all of his nominations into one.
I guess some people are shocked by Crash winning the Best Picture award. I'm very disappointed but not shocked. But the award makes no more sense then when Shakespeare In Love won best picture, The Sting, or Annie Hall. When it comes to the Best Picture award (which let's face it is the BIG ONE), Hollywood will take the safer route time and time again despite all the talk about how they are so forward thinking. I can't point example after example of this. I've seen both films, and while I enjoyed Crash, I thought it was way too depended on coincidence and way too manipulative. It was the kind of movie that wants to hit you over the head with a sledge hammer to get it's message across. It's all too obvious. But most of all for Hollywood, it was a safer bet.
I think what hurt Brokeback was the endless parodies everybody has been doing. After a while it begins get a bit ridiculous. Would we have seen these same parodies if the film had been about racism? Can you imagine the outcry.
The truth is, too many people only saw or couldn't get beyond the thinking that Brokeback Mountain was nothing more than a love story. But this was not Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw. What the film was about was the fact that two people in this country cannot profess that love, or be in love without being ridiculed or fearful for their lives. It's about the fact that it's still okay to run parody after parody about homosexuals and putting a stamp of approval on it.
Maybe I'm just too involved with the subject matter. I wpent six months (three months of research, three months of writing) my own story dealing with it. The things I read, and the things I learned made me understand that until we change our way of thinking in this country, as long as we have idiots who still believe that homosexuality is a matter of choice, as long as it's okay to make one parody after another, then every time a Gay person walks out on the street, hops into a subway, or goes to a night club, they will still have to fear for their life.
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