Author Archives: Rob MacD

What starts as a typical on-the-field report turns kind of ugly after the throw-back to the studio.

It gets interesting after the 50 second mark. Wonder what the Christmas parties are like at the NY Good Day office?

http://www.glumbert.com/embed/anchorreporter

Okay, overwhelming demand demands I post my thoughts on last night’s performances by the girls of American Idol.

Who am I to disappoint an imaginary following?

Here they are:

Asia’h Epperson – “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”: Despite the awfulness of the song, it’s a good, strong performance to start off the show. She has strong vocals and showed them off. Good for her. Simon, making the first of numerous comments I disagree with (usually I agree with everything he says – does he have ulterior motives this season?), didn’t like it. He is wrong.

Kady Malloy – “Who Wants To Live Forever”: She shouldn’t be in the competition. She doesn’t have the vocal range needed. And Simon is right: she has no personality when she sings. Goodbye Kady, this week.

Amanda Overmeyer – “I Hate Myself For Loving You”: Everyone else gushed about this performance, but I didn’t get it. I’ve fallen off the Overmeyer wagon (don’t think I was ever on it, actually) because every performance sounds and looks the same. Sure, she has a strong voice, and mostly sings all the right notes, but there’s something missing from her performances. At too many times during her performance, it seemed to me she was just going through the motions. Then, occasionally, she’d nail it for a few moments. I guess it’s those nailed moments that sold the judges, but it was the motions moments that I didn’t buy.

Carly Smithson – “I Drove All Night”: Again, Simon is wrong by saying this wasn’t the right song for her. I thought she completely nailed it. Great vocal, so shut up Simon! Carly is kind of an odd contestant. She reminds me of Seinfeld’s girlfriend in his show, the one who would look gorgeous or ugly depending on the shadows. Not saying she looks ugly, ever, but depending on the angle, her appearance changes dramatically. I like her a fair amount.

Kristy Lee Cook – “Faithfully”: Simon is right, here, though. She is forgettable. Her performance was okay, but she just doesn’t have the chops and personality that most others in the competition have. She’s at risk of leaving this week.

Ramiele Malubay – “Against All Odd”: Like the other judges said, she seems to have lost confidence in her performances. She did a good job with singing, but it should have been so much more. I think you’re safe this week, but watch that lack of confidence, sister! Own that stage! Raaahhhhh!!!

Brooke White – “Love Is A Battlefield”: I hadn’t warmed up to Brooke until last night’s performance. I thought it was a great performance, and again, Simon was right when he said it worked because she didn’t arrange it so that the band built up to a big ending (like Paula wanted). A nice, yummy performance. I’m growing into a fan, I think.

Syesha Mercado – “Saving All My Love For You”: Okay, good performance, but nothing was done to elevate you above the pack of talented singers. And you gotta watch those “Broadway” things you do. That’s all I’m gonna say. Other than, your look is exactly the type of girl who I want to live in a loft in Manhattan with, reading the Sunday Times in bed, wearing only and panties and my t-shirt, as you pad across the hardwood floor to get us both another cup of coffee. And a second danish for you, you bad girl! And oh how we’d laugh! Our friends would hate how much in love we are. But we wouldn’t care. That’s why I’m a fan of you. But, I can’t be too much a fan of you, though, because I know that someday you’ll leave me and our loft for some creepy artiste you found in the village, who says he loves you for you, but really just wants another conquest. Dammit! Don’t you see that my love for you is honest, and pure, and forever? Why? Why would you do this to me? How can you just end it like that?

Leaving this week: Kady Malloy and Kristy Lee Cook. They should be the ones to leave, and I’ll say they will be the ones to go.

Imagine this: You go to Japan and you get some Japanese people to dress up like the artists who performed We Are The World, and get them to sing the song in Engrish. And then you videotape it. Imagine how awesome that would be.

Now watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/v/36w-CyqCO1A&rel=1&border=0

Of course, me being currently in Sketch22 writing mode and looking for awesome ideas for this summer’s show, I immediately think how awesome a Charlottetown version of that would be. Only, instead of Japanese, we get the local eccentrics to dress up.

Vote now to decide which We Are The World artist Darlene the Hanger Lady would impersonate.

Technorati Tags: We Are The World, Japan, video

Here I go with another pointless, irrelevant assessment of the guys of AI. Why haven’t I rated the girls’ performances yet? Honestly, I don’t have it in me to do two recaps a week of this show. So, next week, when they go to Top 12, the chicks and the guys will get the full brunt of my wrath. Lucky then, will be the four who get eliminated this week.

Here, then, my super-fast recap:

Luke Menard – “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”: No, I won’t make a joke about the title of the song and how I’d bet my life that he’ll be one of the two guys who go go this week. I won’t make that joke. But he will go this week, unless the Idiotic Masses of America ™ keep him around. Hope they don’t. Hope he goes.

David Archuleta – “Another Day In Paradise”: He seemed nervous playing the piano and singing at the beginning. Once he left the piano, he picked up the confidence, and, I thought, did a wonderful job. Simon’s right, though. Next week he’s got to brighten the mood.

Danny Noriega – “Tainted Love”: I liked the arrangement of the song, but I really didn’t like the way he performed it. Pretty weak, vocally. He’ll be gone this week, unless tIMoA ™ haven’t grown tired of his personality yet. He’s a weird character, this Danny. I enjoy his attitude, yet at the same time I am completely bored by it. It’s anyone’s guess how long he’ll stay around, but it won’t be because of his vocal talent.

David Hernandez – “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”: I honestly don’t remember this performance, but I seem to remember thinking he did a good job on a song I don’t like. I do remember the exaggerated eyebrow action. Gotta watch that, kid. Simon says you’re a 100% lock to come back for another week, so I guess I’ll take him at his word.

Michael Johns – “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”: Every time I see him, I like him less. I wasn’t crazy about this performance. I thought there was something lacking. I think what was lacking, actually, was Michael’s talent. I think he looks like a star, sounds like a star, but I don’t think he has the character to be a star. Right now the judges are all over him with praise, but mark my words: someday they’ll come around to my point of view. He’s safe, I assume.

David Cook – “Hello”: When I watched it, I liked the arrangement of the song, but not your performance. I realize now that my not liking it had nothing to do with the performance, and everything to do with your hair. I hate that ‘do, dude. It ruins everything. It was a good performance.

John Castro – “Hellelujah”: Jason’s another one of those guys with a weird personality. Very much a shy odd-duck. I’m pretty sure I like his personality, but I’d not be surprised to realize I actually don’t. In any event, personality aside, I thought this was a good performance. Kind of breathy, and a few soft notes, but I could pass those off as adding to the sensitivity of the performance. I hope he stays around, because I think I like him.

Chikezie – “All The Man That I Need”: Liked the performance, didn’t like the song. I don’t know what to make of Chikezie. I think he may be the forgotten voice in this group. I think he has a nice voice, seems to have something of a personality, but I wouldn’t be surprised any week if he gets voted out because he seems to be an invisible contestant. I’m not even sure what that means, but I think I’m right. I hope he sticks around.

I’ll say Luke Menard is definitely going, and the second to leave this week will be either Chikezie or Danny Noriega. I’d also not be surprised if Michael Johns leaves.I’ll put it on the line, though, and say Menard and Chikezie don’t make it to Top 12.

Technorati Tags: American Idol, Top 8 Guys

Lab results show claims about natural product from P.E.I. questionable
from CBC | Prince Edward Island News

Claims that a nutritional supplement, advertised as being manufactured on
Prince Edward Island, is made from natural sources are questionable, an
investigation by CBC News has found.

So, this is the 100th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. There are many celebrations and events taking place on PEI this year to commemorate the publication of the book.

This year saw the publication of a new “Anne” book by Budge Wilson, entitled “Before Green Gables“. This novel tells the story of Anne Shirley’s difficult early life before she arrived at Green Gables.
It’s an interesting idea, imagining the events and incidents that shaped Anne into the lovable character we all cherish.

But I don’t think Budge went far enough. To really understand Anne, I think we need to go right back to before her birth. We need to know about her gestation. I want to know everything about those pre-birth months, from the moment Walter Shirley’s lucky sperm met Bertha’s egg. I assume everyone else does too.

So, that’s why I’m writing Anne of Amniotic Uterus, a new novel that tells of the pre-life and loves of the precocious fetus that would become Anne with an E.

As a teaser, I hereby offer up the first sentence of my novel. I hope you enjoy it:

Miss Bertha Shirley’s ovary resided just where the Uterine main wall
dipped down into a little cervix, fringed with myometrium and ladies’
endometrium and traversed by a vagina that had its source away back in
the fallopian tubes of the old Pelvic Basin; it was reputed to be an
intricate, headlong vagina in its earlier course through the labia
minora, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it
reached Shirley’s ovaries it was a quiet, well-conducted little womb,
for not even a sigmoid colon could run past Miss Bertha Shirley’s ova
without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious
that Shirley’s ovary was ripe with estrogen, keeping a sharp eye on
everything that passed, from egg and spermatazoa, and that if she
noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had
ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

Technorati Tags: Anne of Green Gables, Budge Wilson, Before Green Gables, satire

Would you rather be:

Smarter than you look

or

Not as dumb as you look

??

I’m walking up Fitzroy Street, just outside the ATC, with my headphones on, listening to my iPod. A guy (I’ll say a haggard looking guy) is walking down towards me with his little dog on a leash.

As he meets me, his mouth moves because he’s speaking. I can’t hear him until I remove the phones, at which point I hear the end of his question:

Him: … named Brown?

Me: Pardon?

Him: Some guy named Brown.

At this point, I notice the mucus dripping from his nose. From that moment on, I cannot stop looking at it drip. Ugh.

After a confusing pause:

Me: Are you looking for someone?

Him: Brown. For a job.

Me: Richard Brown? Are you looking for City Hall?

Him: Yeah. I was told if you want a job in this town, you gotta go talk to this Brown fellow.

Me: I don’t know about that, but City Hall is (I tell him the directions)

Off he walks.

I missed doing a review of the top 12 girls.  Mostly because the performances I saw (I saw them all) weren’t really inspiring enough to devote time to typing about them.

I could say the same about the guys performances last night.  Almost.

My gimmick for this review is that, since it’s the Top Ten, I’ll stick to only ten word reviews of each performer.  Not counting names and names of songs.

Theme for the night:  Songs from the ’70s

Here I go:

Michael Johns – Go Your Own Way: His worst performance yet. Strained on high notes. Lackadaisical performance.

Jason Castro – I Just Want To Be Your Everything: Non-memorable. Playing guitar got in the way of vocal consistency.

Luke Menard – Killer Queen: Did not like the falsetto. Simon gets it right again.

Robbie Carrico – Hot Blooded: Rocker?  Not rocker. Rocker? Not rocker.  Who cares.  Just sing.

Danny Noriega – Until You Come Back To Me: Didn’t like you last week. Like you this week. Passable.

David Hernandez – Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone: Well sung, but fakey, emotionally. Didn’t believe what he sang.

Jason Yeager – Long Train Running: Your plot of boring us all is working. Good bye.

Chikezie – I Believe To My Soul: Better than last week, but I didn’t care for song.

David Cook – All Right Now: I was making toast during his performance. Sounded okay, though.

David Archuleta – Imagine: A really great re-arrangement, performed with skill and honest emotion.

Really, only one performance worth talking about, and that was David Archuleta’s.  Really good stuff.  He seems to be head and shoulders above any of the other performers this year.  The only question is:  will we tire of his goofy aw-shucks?

In danger of leaving this week:  Jason Yeager & Robbie Carrico.  Jason needs to go, and I think we’re all tired of Robbie’s insistence of being a rocker despite having the vocal chops for it.

Will remain despite weak performances this week: Michael Johns & John Castro

Technorati Tags: American Idol, Top Ten

I never got into Garfield.  Never found it that amusing, on those rare times when I’d bother to read it at all.
You might say I’m anti-Garfield.
So, when I came across a post on MetaFilter about Garfield Minus Garfield, I didn’t think it would be that interesting to me.  Somebody took a bunch of Garfield strips and removed Garfield from them completely.  What you’re left with is the human character (is his name “John”?) basically talking to himself.
It makes him seem schizophrenic.  I wasn’t expecting to laugh at it at all, but I found myself laughing out loud a number of times.  Without Garfield, the guy is totally bonkers.

Take a look.