America's Got Talent; Big Brother 8; American Inventor; The Next Best Thing

A montage of reviews, pics and video snippets of ongoing reality talent shows.

We've got "America's Got Talent" down to the top 20. Also, Big Brother 8 continues on and this might be an interesting series, the jury's still out. Also, The Next Best Thing, an impersonator contest, continues down to the finals.

And then there's the American Inventor and yes we've got pics and video but ALSO, just to keep us informed, I've got pics and a description of the BEST invention of last year.

You'll love it.

Pic of the Day

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Quote of the Day Classic Quotes by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) English writer Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet. In short, my dear, kiss me and be quiet. --------------- Civility costs nothing, and buys everything. ---------------

Web Site Worth the Visit Geography Test It's time for your U.S. Geography Test ! You must drag and drop all 48 states in the time allotted to be promoted to the 4th grade. Click the webpage below.. Ready.. Begin !. ABOVE WEB PAGE HERE

TIDBITS Friday The 13th Facts-A Few Days Late According to Smithsonian Magazine "fear of the #13 costs American a billion dollars per year in absenteeism, train and plane cancellations, and reduced commerce on the 13th of the month." * Fear of Friday the 13th dates back to Nordic Mythology. Many of their thirteenth Gods met with violent deaths, such as Loki, the trickster. * Ancient Romans regarded the number 13 as a symbol of death, destruction and misfortune. * Lizzy Borden uttered a total of 13 words at her trial. * There were 13 original colonies. * A witches coven consists of 13 members. * Tarot Card number 13 is the Death Card,depicting the Grim Reaper (although it is read as transition or change and not literal death). * Hotels rarely have a room number 13. Usually it is called 12a or 14. Same with floors of buildings and the elevators without a #13 button. Highways sometimes will skip exit 13 altogether also. * There are 13 steps leading to the gallows. * 13 knots in a hangman's noose. * 13 feet which the guillotine blade falls. * The driver of Princess Diana hit pillar #13 at Place de l'Alma when she was killed in Paris, France. * 13 people, Christ and his 12 disciples, were in attendance at the last supper. This is where the Christian belief ties in, making Friday a believed unlucky day, as the crucifixtion occurred on a Friday. * Certain ocean liners will be held in dock until after midnight to appease passenger's fears on Friday the 13th. * British study concluded that even though there were less cars on the road on Friday the 13th (as compared with other Fridays) more accidents were reported. * Trisadekaphobia is the technical name for fear of Friday the 13th. * Apollo 13, 1970, the 13th mission launched from pad #39 (13 x 3), mission was aborted, after an explosion occurred in the fuel cell of their service module. The rocket had left launcing pad at 13:13 CST and the date was April 13th. * Epluribus Unum has 13 letters. * The US Seal has 13 stars, bars, feathers in the eagle's tail, 13 bars in one claw, 13 olive branches in the other. * A "quatrorzieme" is a professional 14th guest hired by the French who had only 13 guests in attendance for dinner, who felt that was unlucky. * A baker's dozen consists of 13 for a reason! So the story goes a witch near Albany, NY demanded 13 items every time she came in to a particular bakery, and one day the old baker could not afford her extra biscuit. She sneered some strange words at the man, and he suffered terrible luck from then on, until he brought her another 13 rolls. After that life was once again easy for the baker and word spread around town.The custom is still sometimes practiced today.

 


The Next Best Thing

This contest featuring a competition for the best impersonator is not over yet. There were 14 semi-finalists and the episode aired on 7/11/07 narrowed them down to five. As I understand it, there is another top five from a different city so there is now at least ten in the finals.

This is an enjoyable series but I'll allow that I've always been fascinated with impersonators. The problem, as I see it, is that the hype to promote this series has been seriously missing.

Below a video of the winning Frank Sinatra Impersonation in song:


The top five on the night reviewed here were impersonators for:
Little Richard
Elvis
Frank Sinatra
Robin Williams
Barbra Streisand

Below, some pics of the impersonators.


American Inventor 2007-Tampa and Houston

This interesting contest continues on and Americans are, if nothing else, ah....inventive.

Improbably inventions submitted on the evening of 7/11/07 included a special mattress with a place to put one's breasts, a mouth cleaner that affixed to one's tongue, a pet jacuzzi, a Lego house, carrots for tanning and a "rocking" lawnmower. Some of these inventions were winners. That lawnmower was cool. The way it worked, the main body of the lawnmower rested in a sort of cradle device. Metallic arms allowed the lawnmower to rock back and forth within the cradle device, making pushing and shoving close to obstacles unnecessary. The Lego house has a long way to go but the concept was that with the advance of non-flammable plastics, the time has come to build REAL houses out of plastic-type Lego blocks.



One alleged invention was called a "pet jacuzzi". Now the concept of a pet jacuzzi is not so ridiculous that Americans won't buy it. Americans shamelessly love their dogs. In fact, I came across another pet bathing device HERE so it's been done. The linked doggy-washing device is nothing more than a fance hose. But that thing presented on this episode of American Inventor was hilarious. It was nought but a plastic box in which we normally store out linens. Only this plastic box had a hole carved out of the lid for the doggy's head. The concept was that you put your dog inside the box, slip the lid over his head and the dog can't move or run off. It was also damn hard to wash the pup in that contraption.

Being a sucker for cute inventions, I perused my house for my own personal nominee for the best invention that I foolishly purchased in the past year. My self-named "lite-brite" invention wins the prize.



The montage above shows how this little gem works. It affixes to anything you want through the miracle of velcro. The best place to stick this thing is a cabinet or cupboard somewhere in your house that needs some more light. Of course you can always run and get the flashlight but the artful placement of these little light things had made my life much better. I even put one directly ON my remote control for the TV.

Since it's held on by velcro the little light can be pulled off whenever needed and put back with a quick push. I've put one under my kitchen cabinet where I keep my kitchen computer's CPU because hey, it's dark in there and once in a while I need to put in or remove a CD or some such. I've also put one inside the door of my bathroom closet and a dresser that opens from the front. If you change your mind they are simple enough to move to a better and more convenient locale.

Below a video of a proposed "squirrel circus".


Links to prior reviews of American Inventor

-Premiere Show
-Lots of toilet inventions 6/27/07
-Hats and a Squirrel Circus

America's Got Talent 07-The Las Vegas Callbacks

So 70 acts got through to Las Vegas but only 20 would be chosen for the finals. The acts fall into two categories-music/variety. The episode featured on 7/10/07 filtered those acts down from 35 to 10 from each category.

I can see where the judges are going here with their eliminations. For "American Idol" has the market on music so the ideal act for "America's Got Talent" would be a variety act or a musical act with a twists. Musical groups do great on this competition.

My personal fave act so far in the musical category is a singing group called the "Glamazons". They are plus-sized gals who can belt out a tune. This is a group perfect for this series. They're different, they're good, and there's plenty of American women what can relate. I thought they looked damn good too.

A video of a Glamazon performance below:


There were a couple of amazing magic acts featured on this night, the best one featured in the video below:


Below is a video of a montage of various acts, some good and some bad.


There is one act that seems to be getting a lot of play so keep an eye out for a solo male singer named Cas Haley. Sometimes these contest shows signal who's going to get some help by the time spent interviewing or featuring a particular act. Cas Haley is a stay-at-home Dad who is nondescript in terms of looks. I've got a pic of him and his young son in the montage below.

So far, keep eyeballs peeled for The Glamazons and Cas Haley.



Links to prior reviews of America's Got Talent 2007:
-NBC's "America's Got Talent" Web Site
-America's Got Talent Premiers 6/5/07
-The 6/19/07 episode
-New York 6/26/06
-First of Las Vegas Callbacks

Big brother 8

Below, a blurb from CBS its mighty self.

"BIG BROTHER 8" HOUSEGUESTS SEND CAROL PACKING

Carol Journey Is the First Houseguest to Officially Be Evicted from the BIG BROTHER 8 House

After being nominated for eviction by Kail Harbick, Carol Journey was evicted last night from the BIG BROTHER 8 House by a vote of 10-1 by her fellow Houseguests, with everyone voting out Carol except Jen (Head of Household and the two eviction nominees do not vote). On Tuesday, Daniele won the Power of Veto, but chose to leave the nominations as they stood, leaving Carol Journey and Amber Siyavus on the chopping block.

During last night's live broadcast, the 21-year-old student from Lawrence, Kan., learned her fate and left the House. After leaving BIG BROTHER 8, Carol was interviewed by Julie Chen about her experience.

Carol was part of the BIG BROTHER 8 enemy twist that will play out throughout the summer and with her eviction, she and her former best friend become the first pair of rivals to be split up this season. Her former best friend, Jessica Hughbanks, remains in the house.

"America's Player," Eric Stein, voted Carol out of the house because viewers voted for him to do so. Each week, the prevailing viewers' vote must be carried out by Stein in order for him to be financially rewarded. Viewers can vote on "America's Player's" next move on CBS.com or via text messaging on a mobile phone.

Each Thursday, the Houseguests compete to become Head of Household. The perks of the position include a luxurious private bedroom and bathroom, along with a plasma screen spy cam to monitor other Houseguests' activities. However, it also includes the responsibility of having to nominate two fellow Houseguests for eviction. On the weeks when there are veto challenges, one of the nominees can be saved from the chopping block if they, or another Houseguest, wins the Power of Veto competition and chooses to save one of the nominees, while giving themselves immunity from nomination. If they choose to use the veto power, the Head of Household must immediately choose another nominee.

After last night's eviction, the houseguests competed in a competition called "Majority Rules" to see who would become the next Head of Household. Jen Johnson, the 23-year-old nanny from Beverly Hills, Calif., won the coveted position.

For more information about the aftermath of Carol's eviction from BIG BROTHER 8, log on to www.CBS.com.

BIG BROTHER 8 is broadcast each week on Sundays (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT), Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) and the live eviction show, hosted by Julie Chen, on Thursdays (8:00-9:00 PM live ET/delayed PT).

I'm just not at all sure I like this series. Yes this is the first time I've watched this series and I imagine it's much more entertaining to a younger person than myself.

Below, a short video of the beautiful bodies of the Big Brother contenders.


Older, married people like myself tend to eschew shows featuring buff young bods and hot libidos. Which, so far as I can see, Big Brother does. This show also seems like a reality show soap opera and I've never much like soap operas.

And CBS is struggling to keep this series afloat by adding many new twists and changes to how the game plays out. Now there is featured one contender who is "America's Player". By going to the CBS web site, viewers can vote on how they want America's player to vote or what action they want him or her to take. There is also the addition of an ongoing drama between several of the players from an incident or incidents in their past. This year we have Daniele and her father Dirty Dick as well as estranged homosexual couple Joe and Dustin.



Below a short video of a strained interaction between Dustin and Joe.




And let us please not forget nut case Jen who has a real problem with pictures of herself.

Beginning List of contenders for Big Brother 8:
Jessica
Nick
Eric
Daniele
Dick
Jen
Mike
Kail
Joe
Carol
Amber
Zach
Jameka
Dustin

Remaining Contenders as of this writing:

Jessica
Nick
Eric
Daniele
Dick
Jen
Mike
Kail
Joe
Amber
Zach
Jameka
Dustin

Links to prior reviews of Big Brother 8
-The 2007 Competition Begins
First Eviction


More TV Reviews HERE
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