American Idol – Top 12 Men

Let’s see how long this re-capping thing goes.
This year, I’ll give my critique, as if I’m sitting on the left of Simon.

David Hernandez – “In the Midnight Hour”.  Sorry, David, I was watching Stargate: Atlantis and missed your performance.  Your recap video at the end of the show looked okay, though.

Chikezie – “More Today Than Yesterday”.  Sorry, still watching Stargate.  It was a good episode, too, with Ronan and Teal’c joining forces to kill a bunch of wraith.  Watching your recap video, I was wondering what kind of train wreck did I miss.  You looked like some sort of old-timey old timer.  Your looked shocked my ears into temporary deafness and I didn’t take note of your singing in the five second clip I saw.

David Cook – “Happy Together”.  I liked the way you started off kinda slow and sensitive.  I liked it less when you brought it up to the regular tempo and started kind of shouting a bit.  I believe I am the only one of the four judges who liked the way it began more than the way it ended.  You, as a person, are kind of forgettable though.

Jason Yeager – “Moon River”.  Nice try, sir.  Tough song to sing, tricky arrangement.  You did an okay job with it, but I don’t know if the kids will dig it.  Also, you have to work on not looking like Donnie Osmond.

Robbie Carrico – “One”.  I rather enjoyed that.  You seem to know what you’re doing and you’re capable of pulling it off.  At least for tonight.  One word of advice, though:  don’t let yourself get roped into that “I’m The Rocker Dude” thing, because once you get in there, any time you try to come out of it, the other judges will invariably reprimand you for not sticking to your thing, dawg.

David Archuleta – “Shop Around”.  Okay, I’ve fallen in love with you, and have a big man-crush on you.  I can only imagine the affect you’re having on little girls and grandmothers all around North America.  You did a great job singing, no doubt.  But a warning:  Don’t play “the nervous, goofy, shy, aw shucks” thing too much.  It will work for a bit longer, but then people will sicken of it.  Don’t let that happen, because I want to see you win it all.  Because I’m in love with you.

Danny Noriega – “Jailhouse Rock”.  When the music started, so fast, I was worried for you.  You immediately eased my fears, though, by sounding competent.  Then, about a third of the way in, I found you really, really boring.  And I’m not a fan of your “I can be a bitch” attitude.  You’re perhaps a fun novelty to have around for a while, in a “oh my goodness, will he say something outrageous” kind of way.  But ultimately, I don’t think you have what it takes to win.  Your personality will get in your way of advancing to the serious rounds.

Luke Menard – “Everybody’s Talkin'”.  Man oh man, did I NOT like this performance.  Bad song choice, my friend.  Unfortunately for you, I don’t think Everybody’s Talkin’ about your performance.  Really forgettable. (see what I did there, incorporated the song title into my criticism.  Note to self:  Must do that much more often.)

Colton Berry – “Suspicious Minds”.  I didn’t like the way he sang this. Not at all.  I hate when people smile during songs they shouldn’t be smiling through.  Have a look at the lyrics.  They aren’t supposed to be all smiley.  My advice:  go back and re-interpret the song.  How about this:  you and the person you’re singing to both have suspicious minds, right.  You both are distrustful of the other.  What if you make the choice that everything you’re saying to the other person is a lie because you’re actually a lying, cheating son of a bitch.  How would that affect the way you sang the song.  That’s just one idea.  But the one thing not to do is smile your way through the frickin’ thing.  Ugh.  However, I think I have a suspicious mind that the rest of the world disagrees with me, and you’ll be around for a while.

Garrett Haley – “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”.  I don’t like this kid much.  I think too many people have told you that you look like Leif Garrett, and it’s gone to your head.  You think you’re prettier than you are.  It was as bland a performance as this review of it is accurate.

Jason Castro – “What a Day for a Daydream”.  I thought you did a great job, and worked the song really well.  Couldn’t help but think you look like David Cassidy.  Good strong performance.  Now, next week, lets see what you do without the guitar.  Oh, and glad to hear your grandfather is retiring from his business.

Michael Johns – “Light My Fire”.  I’m trying to like this guy, because you have a great voice.  But you ust so much looks the part of “lead singer” that you bug me.  Although, when you speak, I like him again.  You did a super job being Jim Morrison on that song.  I’d like to see you next week take a risk and really re-interpret a song as your own, rather than do a rehash version of the original song.

All in all, a really strong group of guys.  Jason and David are my two favourites so far.  I expect both to go far.

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Rob Talks 2007 Movies

Movies
released in 2007 that I’ve seen:

 

“28
Weeks Later”
   I was somewhat disappointed with this
movie.  Was hoping it would be more like
28 Days Later (investing more in the characters, and all that), but ended up being a
not-too-interesting actioner.
“300”
– Beautiful to look at.  Not much
more.  But, oh so beautiful to look
at.  Recommend it on that alone.  Did I mention it was beautiful to look at?
“3:10
To Yuma”
– I quite enjoyed this western.  I’m a sucker for westerns, if they have any
meat to them.  This one was like the ribs
at Swiss Chalet.
“American
Gangster”
– I watched it. 
And then I stopped watching it when it was over.  That’s about it. Well-made, but ultimately
disappointing.  I found it to be a very
flat movie, in that there were no peaks and valleys for the action to move
into.
“The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
– I
thought this a was a good movie.  One of
my favourites of the year, actually. 
Maybe top ten?  Sure, this is my 1st
Top Ten.
“Atonement”
– This one left me wanting.  Started out
okay, but by the time the story split into two separate locations, I thought it
lost its steam.  And by steam I mean both
sexual intensity (which was there early on) and dramatic interest.
“Balls
Of Fury”
– I caught myself watching this with my son, who this
year is very into table tennis.  I told myself
I’d only watch a bit of it to see if it was as bad as I expected it to be.  I ended up watching the whole thing.  It’s the only comedy I can think of where I
didn’t laugh out loud once, yet still didn’t absolutely hate.  Weird effect on me, this one.
“Before
The Devil Knows You’re Dead”
 – Not what I’d call a happy movie.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great, and Ethan
Hawke is surprisingly not irritating. 
Pretty bleak, but an enjoyable romp into that bleakness.
“Black
Snake Moan”
– Really enjoyed this.  Maybe another of my top ten.  And it’s not a favourite just because Ricci
spends much of the time locked in a house in nothing but a tank top and
panties.  Great performances all
around.  Even JT was good.
“Blades
Of Glory”
– When will I tire of Will Farrell?  Well, I tired of him around the time of
Talledega Nights.  Disliked that movie a
whole lot.  But this one has plenty of
funny moments.  And that’s all you’re
looking for, right?
“The
Bourne Ultimatum”
– I’m a fan of the Bourne movies and this
one was maybe my favourite?  I honestly
don’t know.  I’ll say it’s a top ten
movie.  That’s 3 top tens so far.  Let’s keep track of that.
“Breach”
– Another good movie. Like the western genre, I’m also a sucker for a good
espionage movie and this has enough going for it to easily keep my
interest.  Does that sound like a good
endorsement?  Not really, maybe.  But I quite liked this movie.
“Bug”
– Didn’t really know much about this going into it, other than Ashley Judd is
in it and it’s directed by William Friedken. This movie about obsession and OCD
grabbed me and didn’t let go.  There’s a
tag you can put on the poster! 
“Control”
– I wasn’t much of a Joy Division fan back when they were actually a band.  I became more of a fan when I watched 24 Hour
Party People (a movie I’d recommend to anyone). 
This is a very good bio-pic, lovely to look at, with strong performances
and conveys a very strong sense of time and place.  Recommended.
“Die
Hard 4”
– You know. 
It’s Die Hard.  You try to look
beyond the implausibility and just enjoy the ride.  Well, those implausibles were pretty hard to
look beyond, but I managed. Lots of fun.
“Eastern
Promises”
– So, you’ve learned I’m a sucker for good westerns
and good espionage.  Add Russian mafia to
that list.  I’m going to say this is in
my top ten, but it might fall out of that list if many more below make it.  4th Top Ten.
“Epic
Movie”
– Ugh.
“Gone
Baby Gone”
– What a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting this to
be as good as it was.  I was disappointed
in the ending, but thought it was great otherwise.  I’ll give it Top Ten.  5th top ten.
“Grindhouse”
– Okay, obviously I’m going to have to re-calculate my top ten because this is
definitely on there too.  And very close
to the top.  Was this a 2007
release?  Guess so, because the list says
so.  I loved this movie going
experience.  Every moment rocked!!  Wow, thinking back on it, I’m tingly. 6th
Top Ten
“Hairspray
The Movie”
– Tried to watch all of this, but couldn’t get
through it.  Tried to like John
Travolta’s character, but couldn’t get through it.  Tried to like this movie, but couldn’t get
through it.
“Hannibal
Rising”  
– An okay
telling of the formative years of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.  Pretty standard as far as explaining how a
genius cannibal comes into being.
“Hot
Fuzz”
– another fun movie from the Shaun of the Dead boys.  I did find it a bit too long, but otherwise is
lots of fun.
“I
Am Legend”
– I didn’t like the
super-human-strength-and-super-fast zombies or whatever they were.  I wished they weren’t so dangerous
individually, but that their danger came from their numbers.  I liked pretty much everything about this
movie though.
“I’m
Not There”
– Really wanted to like this, but ended up turning
it off before it finished.  Which is
weird because I was ‘kind of’ enjoying it as I watched it, but at one point I
finally just gave up on it.  Maybe it was
that I was watching it late night one Friday night and I was over-tired?  Great performances, but just too non-linear
for my liking, at that time that I watched it. 
Maybe if I’d seen it in other circumstances, I’d be raving about it?
“The
Invasion”
– An slightly-better-than-ordinary re-telling of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  I found
myself caught up in the tension a few times, but overall, nothing really
fantastic.  I’d give it thumbs up.
“Joe
Strummer”
– The Future Is Unwritten.  A great bio of Joe Strummer of The
Clash.  Seeing that Joe Strummer is a
musical idol of mine, I was really glad to see this film.  Well done and made me crush on Strummer even
more.  Sigh.
“Juno”
– Let me voice my dissident opinion on this movie:  I did not cream my jeans for this movie.  I found the world they lived in to be far too
cartoony.  I was expecting something that
resembled realism, and I found something that resembled glibness.
“The
Kingdom”
– I really liked this movie.  Great performances all around.  Doesn’t give a very hopeful outlook for holy
war ever ending.  I’m gonna give it a Top
Ten. 7th Top Ten
“Knocked
Up”
– I really enjoyed this movie when I saw it, but every
time I think of it since, I seem to recall liking it less and less.  Weird sensation, that.   C’mon, Rob! 
Remember how much you liked it.  I
did!  I did like it!
“Michael
Clayton”
– I really liked the performances in this movie, but
the action of the movie was pretty pedestrian. 
Tom Wilkinson was, I thought, wonderful. 
The flick doesn’t paint lawyers in a very happy light.
“Music
& Lyrics”
– Didn’t care much for this.
“No
Country For Old Men”
– Definitely Top Ten, and either One or
Two, depending on my mood.  Fantastic on
all counts.  Loved the ending.  Loved how the ending puzzled and bothered so
many. 8th Top Ten
“Ocean’s
13”
– I liked it, but I hope this is the last in the
franchise.
“Pirates
Of The Caribbean 3”
– I liked it, but I hope this is the last
in the franchise.
“Shoot
Em Up”
– Watching this in the cinema, I didn’t know what to
make of it, but I was pretty sure I didn’t care for it.  Way too over the top.  Watching it again on the television, I
enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. 
What’s that mean?  That means go
home and watch it.  Don’t expect much and
you might just enjoy it.
“Sicko”
– Makes me glad to be in Canada,
paying huge taxes for a health care system that’s barely working.  Compared to the US system, it’s heavenly.  Another pointed doc from Michael Moore.
“The
Simpsons Movie”
– Funnier than I expected it to be.  Didn’t really offer much to warrant the big
screen treatment though.
“Spiderman
3”
– I liked it, but I find it’s getting boring re-hashing the
“with great power comes great sequels” formula. 
Let’s let Peter Parker put his troubled soul aside and let’s just see a
great kick-ass super-hero action movie.
“Superbad”
– Funny.  Silly.  The only thing keeping it from being the
ultimate teen sex flick was the lack of nudity. 
If there was some nudity in this film, it would be forever classic.  You know, like Porkys.
“Sweeney
Todd Movie”
– I don’t like musicals.  I loved, loved, loved this musical.  Depending on my mood, this ranks either one
or two in my Top Ten. 9th Top Ten.
“The
Ten”
– Here’s a weird little film that may have escaped a lot of people’s
notice.  I saw a trailer for this last
year, and the trailer was weird and funny enough for me to take notice.  Found the movie and watched it.  Lots of fun. 
Basically it’s ten short films, each one dealing with a different one of
the Ten Commandments.  Wynona Ryder has
sex with a ventriloquist doll.

“This
Is England”
  A great little
movie from England.  About a 12 year old loner kid in the late 70’s
burgeoning ska punk England
who finds companionship with a group of older skinheads.  Highly recommend you seek this out.
“Transformers
The Movie “
– I was never into the Transformers. 
Don’t think I’ve watched even a minute of the cartoons (they were
cartoons, right?).  So, coming into this
movie blind, I have to say I rather enjoyed it for what it was.  That’s enough on that.

“Zodiac”
– The 10th of my Top Ten
movies.  Hey, what’d’ya know.  I didn’t even have to go back and reconfigure
the top ten.  This is a great movie,
wonderful atmosphere, great intrigue, lots of troubled characters and takes its
time to let it all unfold.  Watch it.

 

My Top Ten movies I’ve seen that were released in 2007:

in order from Ten to One

 

10 Bourne Ultimatum

9  Before
The Devil Knows You’re Dead

8  Eastern
Promises

7  Assassination
of Jesse James

6  The
Kingdom

5  Gone
Baby Gone

4  Grindhouse

3  Zodiac
2  Sweeney Todd

1  No
Country For Old Men

Ten Random Songs

Time for another installment of “Ten Random Songs”.
Here are the next ten songs that get played on my iTunes. No cheating, no skipping embarrassing songs.

1) Stonger (feat. Daft Punk) – Kanye West: This is from his very good Graduation CD. Lots of great tunes for a Kanye fan to enjoy. I’ve seen Kanye perform this song several times on television and such. The first time was on the Ellen show (didn’t really seem right in that environment), the latest was last week on the Grammys, where Daft Punk supplied the beat looking very Tron-ish. I’d call myself a Kanye fan, but I’m not hard-core in any way. His huge ego is pretty funny. I have this song rated 4 stars out of 5.

2) Camptown Races – Vince Guaraldi:  Yeah, the Charlie Brown music guy.  Fast-paced, jazzy version of the song.  This swings, baby!  4 stars out of 5.

3) Gay Messiah – Rufus Wainwright: From his Want Two album.  I’ve found I’ve given Rufus more of a look than I would have, because his father is Louden, of whom I’m a big fan.  That’s quite a sentence, right there.  Now that I have a bunch of Rufus songs, I find I skip them when they show up on whatever shuffle playlist I have going.  I find a bunch of his songs kind of tedious. This is a keeper, though.

4) To It and At It – Stompin’ Tom Connors: One of those typical Stompin’ Tom songs.  Lots of fun.  On a side note, I’ve been working on a sketch (maybe for next summer’s Sketch22 show) that features someone playing a Stompin’ Tom tribute artist.  I hope that sketch comes to fruition.

5) Sometimes I Rhyme Slow – Jose Gonzalez: Honestly, I don’t  know anything about Jose Gonzalez.  Not sure how this ended up on my computer.  I’m diggin’ it though.  A slow-groove rap song with an oldsy r’n’b feel to it… just did a search and discovered to my surprise that Jose Gonzalez is a Swedish singer-songwriter.  This song doesn’t imply that, and I’m wondering whether it’s mislabeled.

6) Somebody Got Murdered – The Clash:  One of my second-tier Clash favourites.  Yes, Sandinista! is a triple-album, and at the time, many people were saying a lot of it was waste and fluff.  I always liked almost all of the stuff on it, though.  Even if it was pared down to double-album length, this song would have made the grade, I’m sure.

7) Almost All Day – The Waxwings:  iTunes tells me I’ve played this song once before, back in July of this year.  I know nothing about the song, or the group.  Kind of a lopey, sun-shiney sort of song.  I’ve got it rated 3 out of 5.  I think I’m gonna bump that up to 4, though.  Yep. I did. Nice song.  Singer kind of has a George Harrison sound to the voice.  And there’s kind of a Beatles-esque production quality as well that I’m kind of liking.  Ah, I discover they are a Detroit quartet.

8) Crazy In Love – The Magic Numbers: a cover of the Beyonce? song.  I guess it’s a Beyonce song.  Kind of an acoustic guitar duet version.  The Magic Numbers is a British indie band.  I like covers that take the original in a different version, and this delivers.  Kind of reminds me of that Elbow cover of Independent Woman or whatever it was called.  Nice acoustic song.

9) Answering Bell – Ryan Adams: I’ve got a few Ryan Adams songs. Sometimes he frustrates me, but I like this song. I think I’m jealous of his prolificity.  Did I just coin a new word?

10) Dark of the Matinee – Franz Ferdinand: This song keeps showing up on my shuffle playlists more than any other song it seems.  Maybe I just notice it everytime it comes on.  Good song, but I’m growing tired of it, I think.

That’s it.  Must go play table tennis with my son.  It’s a wild Friday night!!

Sunset Gun, I Love Your Loathing

Never before have I agreed in such totality with a movie critic.

She hates these “romantic” movies for exactly the same reasons I do.

Click this link and read the wisdom of Sunset Gun.

Will The Dressed Up Cats Lay In The Various Containers?

Oh, you know they will.  I’m continually amazed by what I might see on Japanese TV.

There’s a lot to be said for not understanding what is being said.  I think if knew Japanese, I would find this intolerable.  However, the mystery of the enthusiastic voice-over is entrancing.  And, those outfits!!

Should I Heed This Noxtificaxtion?

I received an email today from “PayPal”, telling me this was my final warning about the safety of my PayPal account.  Usually, I just delete these pieces of garbage, but I decided to read through it first.  Turns out, it’s a pretty poor piece of forgery.

Some highlights of ineptitude:

Misspellings:

“If you
do not update your billing informations…”
“Submiting invalid information…”

Totally ridiculous email link to respond to (PayPal uses AOL?):

Please update your PayPal profile in order to restore your online access:http://www.aol.com/redir.adp=1001 blah blah blah _url=http://201.155.199.155/icons/www.paypal.com/managament/cgi/

More misspellings or invented words:

“PayPal
treats your perxsonal information…”
“To change your noxtificaxtion preferences, click here. If you would
like to receive this email in text format, click here.”


Also, neither of the “click here” noted about were even working links.

Oh Say Can You See That I’m Lip-Synching?

When did it start?
When was the first time that someone sang a national anthem (or the like) at a public event, but instead of singing it live, moved their lips to a pre-recorded version.
That’s what happened at yesterday’s SuperBowl, when American Idol winner What’s Her Name came out on to the field, took the stage, and began to move her lips around, pretending to be actually singing.

When did this start?
When did it first become more important to someone to sound good rather than to sing live?  When did a competent, mistake-free pre-recorded lip-synch performance become more important than a live, mistakes-be-damned, honest performance?

Why are more people not insulted at this type of performance?  What does it say about a society where a pre-recorded lip-synching of THE NATIONAL ANTHEM is tolerated over a live in-the-moment performance?

Hopefully, Barack Obama will put an end to this, if he becomes PotUS.

Let’s Play “Find The Predicate Verb”!

Here’s the link to the article below

2,200 customers still without power Breaking News

Maritime Electric is warning those without power that complete restoration may not happened until the weekend

BY STAFF
The Guardian

The number of P.E.I. customers without electricity has plummeted to
approximately 2,200 by 6 a.m. Friday, a drop of almost 20,000 in a
24-year period as 38 Maritime Electric crews were able to take
advantage of better weather conditions Thursday to restore power
disrupted by a major freezing rain storm which crippled the province
earlier in the week.

The remaining outages are scattered across central and western Queens counties and West Prince.

Maritime Electric is warning those without power that complete
restoration may not happened until the weekend but the company is
hoping to have most outages repaired today.

For the first time this week, there are classes in the Western School
Board. But exams in the four high schools in the Western board have
been delayed until Monday.

The forecast is ominous as another bout of freezing rain is imminent.

Today will start out sunny but then clouding over in the afternoon.
Snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and rain, accompanied by high winds,
are in the forecast for tonight and Saturday.

Go back and re-read the first sentence of that article again.  And be appalled.

Let’s Play "Find The Predicate Verb"!

Here’s the link to the article below

2,200 customers still without power Breaking News

Maritime Electric is warning those without power that complete restoration may not happened until the weekend

BY STAFF
The Guardian

The number of P.E.I. customers without electricity has plummeted to

approximately 2,200 by 6 a.m. Friday, a drop of almost 20,000 in a

24-year period as 38 Maritime Electric crews were able to take

advantage of better weather conditions Thursday to restore power

disrupted by a major freezing rain storm which crippled the province

earlier in the week.

The remaining outages are scattered across central and western Queens counties and West Prince.

Maritime Electric is warning those without power that complete

restoration may not happened until the weekend but the company is

hoping to have most outages repaired today.

For the first time this week, there are classes in the Western School

Board. But exams in the four high schools in the Western board have

been delayed until Monday.

The forecast is ominous as another bout of freezing rain is imminent.

Today will start out sunny but then clouding over in the afternoon.

Snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and rain, accompanied by high winds,

are in the forecast for tonight and Saturday.

Go back and re-read the first sentence of that article again.  And be appalled.

Why, KFC, Are You Such A Teasing Temptress?

They happen. Those “I can’t be satisfied until I get a shot of KFC” feelings come over me maybe once a month or so.
I’d been having the craving for a couple of days, ever since someone casually mentioned KFC to someone else near me. I wasn’t even in the conversation, merely an unintentional eavesdropper. I heard the letters KFC and immediately had that feeling.
Tonight I got home from work, and as there wasn’t really time to get supper ready (Karyn was working ’til 8) before I took Cameron to his table tennis (well, there was time, but you know – that feeling makes one’s sense of time and rationale wonky), so I suggested I pick up K, then aFter pick up C, then after that, get KFC. So, that’s what we did.
I gotta say, I feel guilty enough getting KFC at a meal-time, but there’s something really disturbing about getting it after 8:30pm.
Anyway, we drive to the KFC in East Royalty, go to the drive-thru window and begin to place the order:

Me: I’d like a one-piece chicken, with wedges, please.
Him: Actually, we don’t have any wedges.

I take this in stride, as the wedges were for K, so I order crispy fries for her.
Him: What kind of chicken do you want for the one-piece?
Me (to Karyn): What kind?
K: Breast.
Me (to speaker): Breast please.
Him: Okay.

K’s order is in.
Me: I’d also like a popcorn chicken combo, sweet’n’sour sauce, crispy fries and a 7-Up.
Him: Actually, we don’t have any sweet’n’sour sauce.

I take this in stride, as the sauce is for C’s chicken, so I get Plum sauce instead. C’s order is in.
Me: And I’d like a 4-piece chicken combo–
Him: Actually, if you want a breast for the one-piece and fries, it’s gonna be about twenty minutes.
Me: Okay, then, I guess we’ll cancel our order.
(pause)
Him: Okay.

Now, I do a weird thing: I’m in the drive-thru, right, but instead of driving forward (there was nobody ahead of us) and thru, I decide to back out (there was nobody behind us). I do so rather awkwardly. Before I get all the way backed out, I begin to turn the car, and I get kind of wedged in the drive-thru. It takes, like, a 7-point turn in order to get out and get away. I was aware that it would have been easier, and possible at any point, to drive straight through, but I guess I couldn’t bear to drive by the drive-thru guy after canceling our order.

Anyway, we got away. Got Wendy’s instead.