TV Revs-In the Motherhood, Samantha Who, Celeb App., Dance with Stars, American Idol; Thoughts-Tea Parties and the Shamwow Guy

Couple of reviews here. Beginning with a "Celebrity Apprentice" update and it's about time Dennis Rodman is gone.

Reviews of comedies "In the Motherhood" and "Samantha Who?" I'll do my best to be kind.

With pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.
=============
In thoughts this week we've got info on the upcoming tea parties…time for us to take to the streets folks.

The shamwow guy, what a shame.

We've got an actual cardinal singing of spring to us, the quip of the week, and a rant about Obama hiring and firing folks. Will you be next?

Finally, the WORST inventions...ever. A cat wig?
==============
It was not planned that a 1989 old-fashioned film about parenting and the travails of same would air the seem weekend that I dutifully taped the very hip and modern "Sex in the City" but so it was.

So The Wise I gives a review of both movies, the similarities (few), the differences (many...how times change) and attempts to draw a moral from it all.

With pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.
=========
Her bouncy boobs didn't save her and his cadre of geeks with their robo-phones didn't save him.

Two contenders booted off of "Dancing With the Stars" 09 and we're almost, not quite but almost, down to a legion of serious dancers.

With pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.
=========
It was seriously time for Megan Joy to go although she was sure a fresh-faced beauty and, eh, a bit different.

Another top eight contender is also very different and we've got lots on this plus the top three performances of Itune night and the very worst of the lot.

With pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.
==================

Pic of the Day





DISCLAIMER: Movie Reviews

I rarely see a first-run movie so any movie reviews I do are likely older ones. But if you're looking to rent a DVD for the weekend, or just want a new perspective on a movie you remember fondly, or not-so-fondly, read on.

Review Two Movies-One from 1989, One from 2008

I planned to watch one of the movies reviewed below as I went to great lengths to DVR the thing. The other movie happened to be playing at a time when I had nothing better to watch. I do pay a premium for these movies and so when I saw Steve Martin starring in yet another movie where he’s a great Dad I decided to settle in, surf the net, and let the movie play out as a sort of background noise.

This spur of the moment movie was titled “Parenthood” and let me say right now that Steve Martin should be the best father on the planet because he’s hardly ever in any other film besides being cast as a loving but beleaguered father. I don’t even know if Steve Martin has kids but I’d sure like to talk to them, get the inside scoop so to speak.

The other, properly DVR’d and relished for proper watching time was “Sex in the City”. Which is odd, I’d offer, in that I have NEVER watched a single episode of that vaunted TV show. I sure heard plenty about it, however, and I thought, cool, I’ll watch the movie and catch up on everything.

Both movies featured a segment of the population that were very far apart. And both movies did a pretty good job of it.

“Parenthood” was by far the better movie in terms of acting, fluidity of screen play, message and believability.

Yes indeed, yon reader, you read this right. One might think “Parenthood” would be a schmaltzy movie, a shallow affair that is filled with knee-jerk emotions and armchair solutions.

Well there’s that.

“Sex in the City” however, no matter how vaunted its TV predecessor, was a disjointed, illogical, confusing mess of a film. “Parenthood” flowed logically, was comprehensible and the acting was pretty good.

“Parenthood” is the story of the Buckman family. The patriarch of the Buckman, played wonderfully by Jason Robards, is himself an imperfect parent, at least as his grown kids see it. Frank Buckman has four kids and this movie is the story of those kids and how they struggle to deal with THEIR kids.

Gil Buckman, played by Martin, has three children. His kids are weird, the oldest labeled as psychologically troubled by the school, the youngest a toddler who oddly enjoys banging his head against things.

One of Gil’s sisters has a troublesome teenaged daughter and a son entering puberty roughly and without the help of a father. The movie deals with her struggles to deal with the daughter and her errant boyfriend, dating as a single parent, and that son who is overwhelmed as his body changes and new urges come upon him.

Gil’s other sister is married to an anal control freak, played by Rick Moranis. They have one daughter who the control freak spends endless hours teaching her things way above her age level.

The youngest of the Buckman brood is the black sheep who makes a sudden appearance after many years away. He brings back a son, obviously a half-black child who was abandoned on his doorstep by the child’s mother. The Buckman black sheep is his biological father as we are to understand.

This black sheep is beloved by patriarch Frank Buckman even as the cherished son attempts to steal his father’s joy, a classic car he nourished from junk to spit shine. This black sheep turns out to have amassed some huge gambling debts and when chicanery doesn’t work, he approaches his father for $26,000 to prevent his murder from those bookies he owes.



The movie plows along, engagingly and entertainingly, yes it does. The characters struggle with their children, quit their jobs, fulfill their obligations, see their children ran off, suffer the pain of life gone awry, deal with unwanted pregnancies, all the things parents deal with on a regular basis across America’s fruited plains.

As expected, the movie does have a semi-sweet ending. The solutions come but they are not perfect. The black sheep runs away rather than accept the maturity to handle his debts. The half-black son is abandoned but accepted with great love into the Buckman clan, an invitation the child eagerly accepts so the Buckmans can’t be all that bad. Remarriages happen, unplanned babies are birthed, teenage marriages succeed if only temporarily.

Frank Buckman’s mother sums the whole thing up in a scene and while it might be knee jerk, it’s different and thoughtful. Something about a roller coaster.

I quite enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to almost anyone. In fact I want my own granddaughter Kaitlyn Mae to watch it some day.

Below, one of Steve Martin’s best scenes in the movie.


==========================
SEX IN THE CITY

Two actors in this movie went on to become way more famous than their bit parts would suggest. Jennifer Hudson plays writer Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant and we all know how far this former runner-up for American Idol has become.

And there’s Gilles Marini, a fellow whose penis was on display in this movie, if only for a few seconds. Marini now dances, very well, in ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and for this he will more likely be a household face than because of this movie.



I am sorry folks. This movie has two major, major flaws. First, parts of the plot are totally unbelievable. Second, the screenplay does not roll along engagingly. It is, instead, disjointed, rocky, confusing. The writers seemed to have randomly stuck scenes in for want of leaving an awkward vacuum.

This movie is about characters as far removed from those in “Parenthood”, reviewed above, as possible.

All of the main characters are female, they all seem to be financially well off, and while they are in relationships with the opposite sex of some sort, there’s very little going on in the way or parenthood. In fact, the film’s star doesn’t appear will ever have a child and doesn’t seemed concerned about it.

Another character, Samantha, played by Kim Cattrall, turns 50 in the film and has no children. Miranda, played by Cynthia Nixon, has a little boy but I question her devotion to her son, more on this later, and unbelievableness, later. Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, has an adopted Chinese daughter and later becomes pregnant. I wonder about her motherhood skills as she constantly exposes her daughter to adult female sex talk totally inappropriate for such a young girl.

In fact, the characters in “Sex in the City” could be called, by the unkind, as vapid, shallow and possessing few morals. The kind would dismiss them as confused females sprung from today’s culture.

But hey, for movie viewers such as myself, it’s an escape into a fantasy world. I quite enjoyed the fashion and there was plenty of it. Surely any female tuning into to this movie would know, by virtue of the TV predecessor and its fame, that fashion was a benchmark of the series.

I don’t dress, or did I ever dress, like those women and for sure I never attended a fashion show as feature in the film clip below.



Again, it’s a movie, it’s fantasy, it’s about a life that ordinary women like me imagine is lived by some females out there even though most of us don’t know any of them.

If the movie had just stuck to the sex scenes, the fashion shows, maybe a little on the male/female relationships, no one could complain about not having gotten their money’s worth.

But no, they had to go and make a story line and this was the problem.

Nixon’s character confesses, during a lunch dinner, that her life has been so busy that she and her husband hadn’t had sex in six months.

Folks, SIX MONTHS? Any normal married couple in the mid to late 30’s as I surmise this character is, going without sex for six months should be on the verge of divorce. I’ll go out on a limb here and say there’s something seriously wrong with that marriage and I’m nowhere near the league of these characters in “Sex and the City”. These modern, young, hip, liberated women should be doing the deed every night as I envision, at least every other night. But nothing for six months?

At some point in time later, Nixon’s character’s husband suddenly confesses, out of nowhere, that he engaged in a one night stand. Folks, I find this totally unbelievable. Maybe I missed something but hey, it’s not like Nixon’s character CAUGHT the guy in the act. Everybody out there who’s got a husband who would voluntarily, for no reason save to assuage a guilty conscience, confess to adultery, please raise your hand. Hell, how many women would confess to such a thing if not required?

Not that I write with any expertise on the matter but hey, a spouse who ups and confesses to a one-night adulterous affair has one of two things going on…he or she wants his or her spouse to know that he or she was driven to such an act OR the adulterous spouse wants to brag.

We could understand a confession of an ongoing affair as maybe real love is involved, perhaps a request for a divorce. But to just up and confess such a thing?

Nixon’s character, she who admitted she and hubby had sex a full six months ago, proceeds to kick out her adulterous husband and the rest of the movie involves, in jagged, difficult to follow sequences, that character’s wrestling and coming to terms with the betrayal.

First, no sex for six months, right there something’s wrong. The guy admits he had a one night stand but sheesh, you’d think she’d cut him some slack. Don’t forget, Nixon’s character has a little boy and did she give that child any thought?

Yeah, eventually Nixon’s character reconciled with her husband but I wanted to slap her early on to get a grip, face that letting six months slip by with no physical activity (sure, in certain circumstances such a thing happens but in one’s mid-30’s?) was a sign something was amiss.

Then we have Parker’s character and her groom-to-be got cold feet on his wedding day.

Folks, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone overreact like Parker’s character. Understand that the hunk she was marrying didn’t leave her standing at the altar. He did phone her up while he was in his limousine. He said he couldn’t go through with it but soon enough he realized his mistake and had his limo driver chase Parker’s character’s limo through town. He even got out of the car to express his regret and goodness, he was ready to get married. It was, as the viewer understand, a moment of cold feet. Instead Parker’s character beats the guy all to hell with her bouquet and leaves him cold.

This was unbelievable as well. Both of these women came off as cold, vapid, unforgiving, almost unhuman.

Of course the movie continued on after the initial break-ups. We had the characters going to Mexico, racing madly through town to be together on New Year’s Eve, moving out of apartments and back into apartments and meanwhile, over here, we had another character filled with the hots for some stud muffin (Gilles Marini…now dancing on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars”) who beds a different babe every night, sometimes two a night. He’s hardly anybody I’d lust for but then I’m not a character on “Sex in the City”. Sure, he was a handsome dude but I stand by my belief that females are just not as into looks as our male counterparts. I’d have been turned off dead the moment I saw him in bed with two babes, which this character did witness. It only aroused her more.

Like I said, the “Sex in the City” characters were of a different breed, miles apart, from the “Parenthood” characters. Well of course, I understand, they were two very different screenplays telling two very different stories. It was a coincidence that I’d watched both movies on the same day but there was a certain serendipity about that bit of providence.

And on some level I did enjoy the film “Sex in the City”. It’s definitely a chick flick film but I’m willing to bet very few women who see this movie, or watched the TV show for that matter, were anything like the characters as depicted. For us less sophisticated and worldly women, this movie was more an intriguing peek into a world we know we’d never populate and most importantly, we’d never want to.

===================


Bad Guy of the Week-the Shamwow Guy


I have a particular fondness for the Shamwow guy. I like him way more than the more ubiquitous Billy Mays because I think Billy Mays is deceptive. Mays looks the part of everyone’s kindly Uncle until he springs his latest snake oil on us.

The Shamwow guy, real name Vince Shlomi, looks exactly his part. He has that fast, clipped, snake oil voice. He wears that little microphone as most men wear a wrist watch. His smile is more of a smirk and by me, the Shamwow guy would never pretend to be your kindly Uncle.

It would turn out that ole Vince didn’t properly pay his hooker and ended up in the slammer.

Heh.

It’s a storyline that suits him well.



It’s so appropriate somehow. Billy Mays would never hire a hooker.

Protocol and the Obamas

So okay, just for a brief moment I am going to defend one of the Obamas anyway. Don’t blink cause it won’t last.

But I think all the brouhaha about Michelle Obama “touching” the Queen of England to be a big bunch of noise. First, the precious Queen, said queen and her forebears already soundly rejected by Americans long ago I remind, touched Michelle FIRST.

So by what the hell rule can’t Michelle touch her back?

As I understand it, the Queen put her arm slightly, and with affection I assume, behind Michelle’s back. Michelle put her arm behind the queen’s back in a similar manner. These actions, performed almost concurrently, left a picture of the First Lady and the Queen of England standing with arms slightly behind each other’s back.

Well I thought it made a great picture but now I am to understand that touching the Queen of England is somehow forbidden?

Why?

And if the Queen of England doesn’t want to be touched, then maybe she ought not to go around touching other people



As for President Obama bowing to that Saudi Son of a Camel King, don’t look for Chris Matthews to bring this matter up on his show.

Protocol is, and has always been, that American Presidents never bow to foreign kings. They don’t bow to foreign kings of any kind, much less those sons of camels who suffocate an oil rich country with an oppressive religion and use teams of religious police to keep women in a form of slavery and to terrorize the people.

I will apply the same standard to Barack as I did to Michelle. Had the Saudi king bowed to him then a responding bow might have been appropriate. As it was, look at the picture above, now totally ignored by the Lamestream media as it was a HUGE presidential gaffe. Only Barack is bowing to that son of a camel.

It’s the saddest damn degradation by an American President my sad eyes have ever witnessed.

God save this country cause Obama’s going to lose any respect anyone on the planet ever had for it.

Hiring and Firing by Barack Obama]


Barack Obama has never done anything. He’s never run a company. He was once a “community organizer”, a job that requires taking public and grant funding and distributing it around to future voters. But he’s never had to meet a payroll, negotiate with a union, deal with angry customers or anything even the most humble of businesses must deal with every damn day.

Now we’ve got Obama and his crew of Chicago thugs hiring and firing people, riling up the hoi polloi to picket homes of American citizens, and God only knows what else he’ll get involved with before we’re finally rid of him.

Does yon reader know that many employees of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd’s beloved Fannie May and Freddie Mac are going to be receiving “retention” bonuses soon? Will Barack get his union pals to pack buses to go to these folks’ home and intimidate them like he did with the AIG fellows?



It’s not that I want to defend the folks at AIG, or even to rile against the dishonest politicians at Fannie May and Freddie Mac. But if we’re going to have a former community organizer hiring and firing, or lambasting private citizens like no President ever should do, all should be treated equally to this blatant ignorance of the constitution by this community organizer.

Worst Inventions in History

In the list of the top ten worst inventions of history, we have the cat wig and the battery powered, battery charger.



The pedal powered wheelchair also amuses.



This week’s quip of the week belongs to mine own granddaughter. Who is all of five years old and well-versed on all things medical it would seem.

The plan was for Kaitlyn, a remarkably well-behaved child, to take the phone during my daily call to her mother, my daughter.

Kaitlyn would then tell me that she got a bad mark in pre-school. A fact that would, as was the plan, shock me. Kaitlyn never misbehaves in pre-school or Sunday school and she is, indeed, the darling of those charged with teaching her.

I say this as a fact, not just because she’s my grandchild. If it were not true, I’d likely not say anything as opposed to typing provable lies on my Blog is what I’m saying here.

Anyway, when her mother suggested that Kaitlyn pull this trick on Mom-Mom, which would be me, as opposed to Mee-Maw, her paternal grandmother and original intended recipient of the April Fool joke, Kaitlyn said, quietly and solemnly…”No. Mom-Mom’s had a quadruple bypass”.

Heh. A medical genius and very considerate of her maternal grandmother who might pass right out at the news that Kaitlyn has been bad in school.

Delaware Tea Party



As I understand it there are hundreds of tea parties planned across the fruited plains. Most are scheduled for tax day, 4/15/09, as are the
two in Delaware closest to me.

Just like the days when I marched against the Vietnam war, just like the time when my youthful self carried buckets around Washington D.C. where I might witness Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, just like the times when I lit candles in the rain and sang for peace, so too will my older, more wiser self, join the middle-class riff-raff to protest the mindless spending of our tax dollars to save the mortgages of those who overspent or to get more Democrats elected via briberies with our tax dollars.

I will Blog the tea parties, take movies and pictures.

Look for it on this Blog and if you hear about the middle-aged heart patient arrested for public nuisance in Delaware, pray that it’s not me.

The Cardinal Sings

I dutifully took my video recorder outside every morning during the early exercise session that I catch some vids of the chattering birds so excited by the spring weather now upon.

I had visions of a handsome montage that would include the loud clatter of the woodpecker as he wound round and round the tree he wanted to claim for his own. Too the montage would have the rusty gate song of the red-winged blackbird and with some luck I would capture the bright red flash of his wing patch as he soared to another tree to continue his song he thinks so beautiful.

I would have the Star Wars electronic gun sounds of the dark-eyed juncos before they left for migration, the chitter-chatter of the many goldfinches, the soft “peter-peter” of the titmouse and, of course, the glorious call of the cardinal as he perched atop the tallest tree, singing to attract the females and to let other cardinal males in the area know that this was HIS territory, damn it, stay away.

Well I managed to get some video of the cardinal. There would be no mistaking that this is a home-made video. Nobody would bother viewing the thing on You Tube.

So I throw it up on the only Blog that would have it, my very own.

Enjoy.





Ending With a Smile



 




”Celebrity Apprentice” 2009 Update

On the episode aired on 3/22/09-the challenge was for the two teams to create a rousing and inspiring presentation for the sales personnel of ANC. I don’t know what ANC stands for but the product was a video phone. A concept whose time has come, I shrug, and hey, I didn’t even know they had such things.

Of course one can easily make a video and send it over the Internet in many forms and fashions. The phone featured on this episode allowed the two talkers to see each other WHILE they talked, something that I think is possible on the Internet but I have no idea how.

Also, cell phones often have a video recorder type of thing and it seems to me that via this method a caller can see another caller.

As for two callers seeing each other as they talk, I see this ANC phone as the pioneer in what will someday be a very ordinary and common thing.

The ladies’ team lost this challenge and their team leader, Claudia Jordan, was sent home.

The guys’ team, those Kings of the Universe, won this, their first victory.

The ladies’ team put on some sort of disjointed, hard to follow, type of thing. Joan Rivers served as a mistress of ceremonies of a sort and while Rivers was well-received, it was the fellows’ presentation that got the most votes from the attendees the presentations were meant to impress and inspire.

Brian McKnight performed as part of the KOTU’s presentation and hey, McKnight is a singer after all. The ANC attendees quite enjoyed McKnight’s performance and hurray for the guys for finally pulling in a victory.



The following week, 3/29/09, Dennis Rodman finally got the boot and yes, Rodman’s intrigue has run its course.

The task this week was really weird. In a Loew’s hotel, each team was put in charge of
Five rooms each.

I’ve never stayed in a Loew’s hotel but damn the patrons of the hotel serviced by the two Celebrity Apprentice teams sure had fancy accommodations. Members of each team served as a concierge and this was interesting.



Rodman provided the angst, intrigue and conflict for this task. Indeed Denis was the Project Manager for the men’s team while Tionne was the leader for the women.

Various vignettes showed Dennis doing odd things, for example in one case he got into a car with some customers and went to the hotel with them!

Dennis’ teammates commented on Dennis’ oddness and his penchant for the drink.

What’s interesting is that it was a no-brainer that Rodman had to go. He got drunk after all and didn’t lead his team.

I wonder how humiliating it’s got to be for a famous person like Rodman to go through such a public slap. I also wonder if Rodman won’t now enter a rehab clinic and come back as a reborn star, full of sober life and laughter and ready to make money hosting shows, making movies or working on whatever offers will come his way as a result of all the attention.

It’s how they script these things folk.

Below, a short vid of Brian McKnight’s beloved performance that won the task for KOTU.

-3/22/09 remix

-Jesse James-founder of West Coast Choppers
-Dennis Rodman-5 time NBA champion-sent home 3/29/09
-Andrew "Dice" Clay-once dirty mouthed comedian-sent home 3/1/09
-Joan Rivers-talk show host
-Herschel Walker-Retired NFL player
-Khloe Kardashian-the Kardashian without the nice ass
-Tionne "T-Box" Watkins-R&B singer
-Natalie Gulbis-Professional golfer
-Tom Green-Actor, comedian-sent home 3/15/09
-Claudia Jordan-Actress, model-sent home 3/22/09
-Clint black-country music star
-Brande Roderick-Actress and Playboy model
-Brian McKnight mutli platinum R&B singer
-Melissa Rivers-daughter of Joan Rivers
-Scott Hamilton-gold medal olympic figure skater-sent home 3/8/09
-Annie Duke-professional poker player, motivational speaker

”In the Motherhood”

According to this show’s ABC site this show is written by the viewers.

As of this writing, the show airs at the family hour, 8 pm, on Thursdays nights. The stars are:

Cheryl Hines as Jane-Emily’s sister
Megan Mullally-as Rosemary
Jessica St. Clair-Emily-Jane’s sister
Ron ReacoLee-Jason
Horatio Sanchez-Manny

Megan Mullally is a fine actress, best known for her role as a gum-chewing, wise-cracking woman of the world on “Will and Grace”. So while I didn’t much like that series, I could see Megan’s acting was top notch.

In fact it was Rosemary’s story that was the main theme of the show on the premiere night, 3/26/09. Rosemary, who is 50 years old as she stated repeatedly on the show, pretended to be pregnant because she liked the attention pregnant women got. I won’t go into the storylines a pretend pregnancy would bring. Use your imagination, including up until the fake pregnancy is discovered.



The premiere episode also featured Jane, the recently divorced Mom, dealing with sexual harassment in the work place as well as a workplace romance. It had its chuckles.

Emily has two little black children and at first sight I’d argue the viewer is startled. Emily is very Caucasian. Being such a woman of the world that I am, I assumed Emily had to be married to a black man, which she is.

Beyond that I don’t see a single reason to have a mixed-marriage in the storyline but then again I don’t see any reason not to have one. I suppose the fact could someday give bored script writers a story line.

Finally we have the “Manny”, a male “nanny”. Of course this “manny” is blessed with child-rearing wisdom way beyond that of any mere mortal female. I think that concept is a real yawn.

At any rate, this series is alleged to be based on true stories submitted by real mothers. Which is a fine idea as there almost as many motherhood stories as there are dollars in Obama’s budget.

Check out the web site to see how to submit a story. Whether or not there’s financial remuneration in same I do not know.

Would I watch it again? No. The show, as premiered, did not have any kind of hook to pull me back. Then again I am intrigued by the story lines coming from real mothers. For that I’d recommend the show to see how this concept pans out.

Samantha, Who?

ABC’s web site for this series HERE.

It’s not as if ABC hasn’t done everything possible to shove this alleged comedy down our throats, including having it follow last year’s “Dancing With the Stars”, with promo from that same popular ABC show included.

This year they’ve got this series, featuring the following characters/stars, coming on right after “In the Motherhood”, on Thursday nights at 8:30:

Jennifer Esposito-Andrea Belladonna
Melissa McCarthy-Dena
Christina Applegate-Samantha Newly
Barry Watson-Todd
Jean Smart-Regina Newly

Below is ABC’s synopsis of the premise of “Samantha Who?”

After a hit-and-run accident left Samantha Newly (Christina Applegate) in an eight-day coma, she awoke with retrograde amnesia, which allowed her to fully function in the world but leaves her with no personal memories of her past. As she began her quest to rediscover herself, she learned that she had been a horrible person. Vain, selfish and potentially surrounded by far more enemies than friends, she made a conscious decision to improve herself moving forward with the help of her eclectic friends and family.

I don’t know what makes a successful comedy series. “Cheers” was a successful comedy series. “Friends” was another. “I Love Lucy” is a winner from the past.

I’d suggest that most successful comedy series have charming, lovable, but flawed characters and story lines that add a human dimension that we can identify with and maybe chuckle to as well. The scripts are generally believable, not too complicated, and filled with the humor of human frailty.

Unlikable characters don’t do well on a comedy series save for their contribution to the storyline as unlikable, this understood by the viewer right along.

The characters on Samantha Who? Are, in most cases, not likeable. The lead character, of course, is Christina Applegate, who is very pretty, but of course. And, in fact, Christina’s character is very likeable. Indeed when a vignette comes on featuring Christina as her “old” self, it startles. The viewer does not see Christina as the nasty person she once was, as the premise suggests.

Christina’s character spends much of the show making amends for folks around her who behave very disgracefully. Should her character inadvertently be the cause of confusion or grief, Applegate’s character will go to great lengths to apologize and make things right.

I find it difficult to believe that her character was once so nasty.

Christina’s parents are portrayed as vapid and shallow, offering an obvious reason why Christina became such a despicable human being. So while Christina changed as a result of her coma, the nasty folks around her keep right on being nasty.

On the night of 3/26/09, we have Samantha’s former boyfriend, Todd, who is still totally in love with Samantha, hell Todd was in love with the nasty Samantha. He’s really in over his head with the new and improved Samantha. Unbelievably, Todd and Samantha live together, but only as “roommates” while Samantha searches for her true self.

Samantha’s friend, Andrea, was once Samantha’s nasty friend in arms. Now Samantha constantly has to duel with Andrea, who is still a nasty somebody while Samantha is now new and improved. Another friend of Samantha’s, Dena, was once scorned and mistreated by the nasty Samantha. One would think that Dena’s character would be likeable but I find her characterization to be totally unbelievable. In fact, I think Samantha’s boyfriend, Todd, should be leaving Samantha to have the apartment they once shared all to herself so any likeability Todd has is over-ridden by his new castrati manner of handling Samantha, improved or not.

Andrea found herself smitten with a famous athlete who turns out to be a homosexual. The story line evolved around Samantha and Todd’s efforts to inform Andrea about the gayness of the man she so adored.

Lookit, a woman of this Andrea’s worldliness doesn’t know that a guy is a homosexual? I don’t believe it for a minute. Sure it was thrown in the story line for yuk-yuk’s but I was merely insulted that the writers thought I was so dumb as to believe it.

Meanwhile, Dena and Samantha’s parents get all involved with some soldier overseas that Dena has somehow caused to fall in love with her. When Dena fails to properly deliver that Dear John letter, Samantha’s mother, and most improbably then Samantha’s father, try to do the deed and still this love-struck soldier sends expensive gifts and eventually his own fine self to Dena’s doorstep.

Like I said, almost insulting to the viewer that we should believe such storylines.

Samantha Who? Didn’t fare well even when it was aided by all the power of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars”.

Left on its own it won’t go far either.
============
AMERICAN IDOL-Itunes night



A little catch up news. Danny Gokey suffered a major loss in his life in that his wife died as a result of heart complications. It was reported on AOL.com that Danny’s grandfather died this past week.

Horrible time to suffer a personal loss while under pressure to compete.

Allison Ireheta was in the bottom three again this past week. This is her second time at the bottom and soon enough she’ll be going home. While such as who goes home or who goes on is subject to the vagaries of the voting public and that is the plan, the contenders surely can do things that give them an edge.

Allison deserved to be in the bottom three and soon she will go home.

This did not have to be, I assert though I could, hey, be wrong. It’s been known to happen. But Allison had to go and dress like a biker chick on drugs and dear Lord that hair.

What I don’t understand here is why someone doesn’t advise these kids on the facts. Allison has a dynamite voice, the best of the lot one might argue. All the child had to do is dress a bit more, eh, “normal” until she won the big prize. Then she could go out into the world and knock them dead with bright red spiky hair, leggings under puffy dresses, big wool scarves wrapped around the neck like a soft boa constrictor and platform shoes that stretch to the stars. Normal Americans consider that sort of fashion a bit odd and given a choice between eight, nine or ten fantastic young singers, the edge will likely go to the one Americans across the fruited plains can relate to.

Allison’s performance on what I call Itunes night mostly because the only criteria for song selection was one that received “a lot” of downloads on Itunes, however that’s defined. The field was pretty much open is what I’m saying here. Allison sang a tune called “Don’t Speak”, which I didn’t know but then I knew few of the songs sung this night. She played a guitar this night and that was an intriguing twist.

BUT HER OUTFIT!?!?

Every single judge mentioned that girl’s getup and it’s no wonder. She looked as if she were a five year old who raided her grandmother’s closet and put on every piece of clothing that struck her childish fancy.



I am sorry, it might not be fair, I understand this is a singing contest, yada, yada, but the competition is damn tough when American Idol is narrowed down to the top ten. Every one of those singers are good enough to get their own record so attention needs to be paid to stage presence, performance presentation and yes, FASHION!

I think Allison had a chance to make it to the top five and she could have been true to herself AFTER she won the prize, or at least got to the top of the pile.

It’s a dumb way to compete and unless the judges save her, which they might who knows, Allison will take her leave long before she should.

So on to the rest of the contenders on Itunes night and we begin with Anoop. Anoop was too in the bottom three and soon enough he will be gone. Anoop’s got a nice voice but so do they all. At this point they need to be something really special, they need a voice to belt it outta there, they need stage presence, an engaging personality and that something unknown that causes the public to vote for them. Anoop is just ho-hum when compared to his competition.

Anoop sang an Usher tune, a sort of rap kind of tune. He showed some soul but let’s face, Anoop’s not black and there’s a certain disconnect there. Anoop said he wants to be a great R&B artist but I just don’t know. Anoop strikes me as a great singer of ballads, maybe a lead singer for a garage band group.

Anoop won the Simon excoriation of the night. Simon called the performance a mess and said the whole thing gave him a headache.

On to Megan Joy and here’s the third member of the bottom three and the contender who eventually got sent home.

Actually Megan stayed around way longer than she should have but she’s so very pretty and she’s, eh, different.

Megan sang the worst possible song on the planet, a Bob Marley tune called “Turn Your Lights Down Low”. Once again I am not familiar with this tune but it’s no mind, it sounded awful and out of all the songs that child could have sung she chose this one?

Simon said the truest words of the night as he asserted that nobody will like that song and I, for one, did not.

Megan displayed a pretty good attitude, all things considered. She stood her ground and I often lecture about this. Problem was Megan was a bit too cocky so she got sent home the following night and so the judges refused to save her.

And so it is.

Danny Gokey sang a Rascal/Flats tune-“What Hurts the Most” and it was, indeed, a most beautiful ballad, perfect for him. Simon thought the performance was Danny’s best. While I don’t know that it was all that, it was very good and Gokey’s still around. Danny got a spot in my top three performances for Itunes night.

Scott MacIntyre got a slot in my top three performances on Itunes night. He certainly deserved it as Scott sang the perfect tune, in the perfect manner and if Scott’s looking to hang in there, he did the right thing.

Scott sang Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are”. Come on, how perfect was this? Scott was confident and sure of himself and he should have been. I still see Scott as cruise ship material but on this night he shined as he never did before and likely won’t again.

Matt Giraud sang a tune I didn’t know called “You Found Me”. I thought Matt’s vocals were pretty good, nice falsetto, the piano added to the performance. The judges didn’t much like Matt’s performance but he wasn’t in the bottom three and I don’t think he belonged there.

I once thought that Lil Rounds had this competition all sewed up, lock, stock and barrel. But Lil keeps choosing songs that do not demonstrate who the public thinks she is, which is a cross between a Whitney Houston and a Tina Turner. Instead Lil keeps wimping out and last night she sang a Celine Dionne tune-“I Surrender”.

Hey, I like Celine but this was just not Lil. The judges, in many ways and fashions, agreed with me. Lil also needs to go back to her original hair style. She keeps showing up in these straight hair-dos when that short style suits her so well. Lil looked lovely, however, as she always does.

The best performance of the night, hands down, was Adam Lambert. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that I think Adam is now a lock to win this.

The guy’s a great entertainer, he takes chances, he loves the camera, he’s got a voice, he’s got the face, the style…his picture should be under the word “entertainer”.

My daughter told me, as we discussed the show, that most more ordinary Americans probably wouldn’t listen to an Adam Lambert type of entertainer, certainly not pay to see him perform. But now that we’ve been introduced to such a talent, well we Americans out here in la-la land know it when we see it.

Adam sang “Play that Funky Music” and what’s there to say? He was great, he entertained, he’s original and he deserves to win.

Finally on to Kris. This night Kris played the piano and sang the soulful “Ain’t No Sunshine”.

Perhaps it’s a personal prejudice but I don’t especially like Kris. I don’t dislike him, certainly, but he’s given no performance, good or bad frankly, which even had me take notice.

He’s never been in the bottom three yet, however, and almost always he’s liked by the judges.

So I leave it there. Some contenders you just like, some you hate and in this case, some just bore me to tears.

Adam Lambert
Alexis Grace-sent home 3/18/09
Allison Iraheta
Anoop Desai
Danny Gokey
Jasmine Murray-sent home 3/11/09
Jorge Nunez-sent home 3/11/09
Kris Allen
Lil Rounds
Matt Giraud
Megan Joy-sent home 4/1/09
Michael Sarver-sent home 3/26/09
Scott MacIntyre

Below a short remix of my nominations for the top 3 performances of the night on Itunes night-4/2/09. Plus, of course, the WORST performance.

-REMIX ITUNES NIGHT

===============
DANCING WITH THE STARS-Two Sent Home



Finally folks, that awful Steve Wozniak goes home and it’s time.

Not that he didn’t seem like a nice enough fellow but he can’t dance and non-dancers shouldn’t get a whole lotte time on this show about dancing, sheesh.

Holly Madison got sent home although it should have been Steve-O because at least Holly could wiggle her boobs with a verve. But Holly wasn’t long for this show either so let it be, as the Beatles would say.

On 3/30/09, two new dances were introduced and I like them. Well the Argentina Tango can be a bit of a bore but the Lindy Hop is happening, cool and fun to watch.

I don’t know what’s different about an Argentina Tango and a regular ole tango except there seems to be a lot of leg movement up and all about. I also don’t know what’s much different about the Lindy Hop than the Quickstep except the Lindy Hop seems bouncier. I enjoyed the Lindy Hop, all performances of the dance, even the one by Steve-O.

Richard Grier, in fact, performed a Linday Hop and I thought he did real well. Grier knows youngster and he did a cartwheel as part of the dance which impressed me all to hell.

Grier and his partner got 22 points for their performance.

Lil Kim, the pretty lady who’s up against mighty competition, did an Argentine Tango and it was pretty to watch. The choreography featured some awesome leg movements and Lil Kim had some great legs. I’d estimated that she’d score in the upper 20’s before her dance was done and sure enough Lil Kim and her partner scored 27 points.

Chuck Wicks and his fiancé did a Lindy Hop and first, their waitress and soda jerk outfits were impossible cute. I thought Grier gave a much better, and more difficult, performance but Wicks too scored 22 points for his performance.

Lawrence Taylor can’t seem to capture the grace so many athletes who danced on the show before him had. Still I like the guy and I sense he gives it his all. Taylor and his partner performed an Argentine Tango and as I watched I note that this dance seems to be easier for guys than girls. Seems that it’s the women doing all the fancy leg movement while the guy just kind of waltzing the lady around the floor.

Taylor received 19 points for his performance and that score seemed about right.



Ty Murray is a cute fellow and I like him. And he’s doing quite well after a very lackluster beginning. He’ll never outdance Gilles Marini but he did a lot of lifts during his Lindy Hop, he looked good, and he got not a shameful 25 points for the performance.

Ah, Wozniak and his partner performed an Argentine Tango and here’s a dance that requires grace and passion and neither of those words fit Wozniak a whit. As I saw it, Steve barely moved although his partner gave it her best by wearing the skimpiest outfit…EVER!

Steve and his partner got a grand total of 12 points and hey, that was two points better than the prior week!

Melissa Rycroft looks to be the number one female contender and she’s a challenge to Gilles. Melissa and her partner performed a Linday Hop that was fun to watch and looked perfect to me.

Melissa and her partner got 29 points for their performance, almost perfect and by me, it should have been a perfect score.

Next up, Holly and her partner performed an Argentine Tango and right from the start, snort, the woman fell off the chair.

So okay, I shouldn’t snort but you gotta hate when that happens. Holly looked awkward throughout the entire performance but she did a great flip. Holly and her partner got 16 points for their performance and that was about right.

Steve-O and his partner performed a Lindy Hop and all I can say is Steve-O is no dancer.

It seems to me that Steve-O got a lot of publicity for his appearances on Dancing with the Stars and it’s time for him to go home now.

Steve-O and his partner received 15 points for their performance and by me this was five points too many.

Ah…the sexy, the suave…Gilles Marini performed an Argentine Tango with his partner and he look good, what else is there to say?

Marini and his partner received a perfect score of 30 and for sure Gilles is the dancer to beat.

Last was the cute Shawn Johnson and I thought her gymnastic moves during her rendition of the Lindy Hop was cute. The judges however, were not amused.

They griped that Shawn was taking liberties with the dance steps and well hell yeah she was.

The curmudgeon judges only gave Shawn and her partner 25 points for what I thought was quite an entertaining performance to watch.



And so it was. There are nine “stars” left. Look for Steve-O and Taylor to go home soon.

Look for Marini, Rycroft and dark horse Lil Kim to be the top three this year.

Below a short remix of dances for the evening I thought yon reader needed to see. With mine own wise commentary spliced in, of course.



Madison Holly/Dmitry Chaplin-sent home 3/31/09
Carlisle Brenda/Jonathan Roberts-sent home 3/17/09
Grier David alan/Kim Johnson
Johnson Shawn/Mark Ballas
Lil Kim/Derek Hough
Marini Gilles/Cheryl Burke
Murray Ty/Chelsea Hightower
Steve-o/Lacey Schwimmer
Richards Denise/Maksim Chmerkovskiy-sent home 3/24/09
Rycroft Melissa/Tony Dovolani
Taylor Lawrence/Edyta Sliwinska
Wicks Chuck/Julianna Hough
Wozniak Steve/Karina Smirnoff-sent home 3/31/09

=================
A Brain Infection? A Medical Journey Surpassed by Few

A Medical Odyssey to a Quadruple Heart Bypass

To My Townhall Blog

My Twitter Page, I post all Blog posts there with the link

My Face Book Page

MySpace Page

EMAIL ME