Idol

I think Lakisha might bite it tonight. It probably shouldn't be her, but America doesn't like big girls. If not Lakisha, probably Phil. I thought Phil did really well, but he always seems to land at the bottom. I still don't like Chris. I agree with Simon, he's too nasal and too whiney. Blake rocked it as usual. Melinda was great, also as usual. I think the judge's heard a different performance for Jordin than we did. I didn't care for it. There were several pitchy spots. They're so up her ass it's not funny. And if I hear Randy say she's 17 one more time, I'll scream. It's not 17-year-old Idol. I could give a rat's ass if she's better than every 17-year old out there. She's not as good as Blake or Melinda, or even as good as Phil has been for the last two weeks. But she can do no wrong in their eyes. In any case, I think it will be Lakisha tonight. Like I said before, big girls have to be perfect in every other way in order to advance on Idol and she has struggled for two weeks now. It should be Chris, but I doubt it will be. I hope it's not Phil. He has really stepped it up the past two weeks and doesn't deserve to go this week. I don't think he'll make it to the final, but he should hang on for now. Maybe he'll be this year's Elliot Yamin and make it to the final three with Melinda and Blake!

Harry Potter

This weekend, I finished reading Order of the Phoenix. I forgot how good it is. I don't think the Harry Potter books get enough credit for how good they are, because people tend to dismiss them as kids' books, but the writing really is very good. Rowling, I think, really remembers what it is like to be a teenager. I hope the movie does the book justice.

IT'S ABOUT FRIGGIN' TIME!

Lawd ha' mussy! I thought Sanjaya was never gonna get voted off! I definitely don't think Blake should have been in the bottom 3, but I wasn't shocked. I think Chris got a lot of sympathy votes from the folks that thought Simon was rolling his eyes at Virginia Tech. I didn't think that for a second. I thought he was rolling his eyes at the same thing I was rolling mine at: I thought Chris brought up Tech to curry favor because he knew he was in trouble. I know he's from Virginia and he probably does have some friends that go there, but it just seemed like a suck-up move. In any case, thank God it's over. Sanjaya is gone. I feel sorry for the other 9 finalists that have to go on the Top 10 tour with him this summer...

Phil = Country? Who Knew??

It was Country Night on Idol last night and who should be a closet country music fan, but Phil Stacey? Who would have expected it? Certainly not me! He has not shown the slightest indication of wanting anything to do with country music before last night. I don't remember what his audition song was, but I don't think it was a country song. I tell you, though, he rocked the house! I think he was easily the best performance of the night and started off with a bang. I said to Chrissy, when they went to commercial and said Jordin was coming up next, "I bet Jordin will do a Martina McBride song." She just seems like the type. I think she thinks enough of herself to do a song by the mentor-of-the-week. Don't get me wrong, I think she's very good, but I think she is a little full of herself (Chrissy says a lot). I don't think I saw the same performance the judges did, though. I thought it was a bit boring and too loud. Sanjaya sucked as usual and his hair looked ridiculous. Lakisha struggled singing "Jesus Take the Wheel." I think she was very obviously out of her comfort zone and it showed. This will be a rough week for her. I think Simon nailed it on the head when he critiqued Chris. I think he did sound nasally, and when Chris tried to say that it was "the style," it sounded like BS. Also, when Chris mentioned VA Tech, it seemed very contrived. I hope not. He's from Virginia, so I hope it was genuine. That's what I think Simon was rolling his eyes at. Melinda kicked ass. Surprise, surprise. She seemed very comfortable singing country. She's got what Taylor had last year. It doesn't matter the genre or theme, they just have the talent to fit in and perform well. Blake has that, too, but I don't think to the extent that Melinda & Taylor have. He had one or too "pitchy" points (as they say), but overall a very solid performance. Especially for someone who doesn't appear to have a country bone in his body.

I think the reason they wait so late in the finals to do the Country theme is because there are always so many people who aren't comfortable with it. If there are fewer contestants, then there are fewer bad performances. Sanjaya, Lakisha and Chris should be in the bottom three and (I know I've said it before, but) Sanjaya should go home. Really. He was so bad, even the audience didn't seem overly thrilled with his performance. Usually they cheer for him like he's one of the Beatles. Last night, they just politely applauded. He better go home tonight...

HOLY CRAP!!

Edward Norton has been cast in The Incredible Hulk, the sequel/franchise reboot of Ang Lee's Hulk. Damn, but this is good news! As much as I enjoyed the first movie, for whatever reason, it didn't live up to expectations. Now, I have mentioned before how unreasonable I thought those expectations were, so I won't go in to that here. After all, with a $137M budget, I can see how they would be disappointed with a $62M opening weekend and a final total of $377M worldwide. But I digress. They decided to rework things for the next movie. So they got Louis Leterrier (of Transporter fame) to direct and have stated that they will amp up the action in the sequel. That had me worried. Part of what makes the Hulk great is the Jekyll/Hyde psychological aspect, so I was worried they would completely disregard that part and just go for a Hulk-Smash-fest. I'm actually surprised Norton signed up for this. He has normally eschewed (yes, I went to college) big budget, Hollywood roles in favor for more intimate fare. Granted, he has done schlock like The Italian Job (which I do actually like) just to fulfill contractual obligations, but normally, he chooses his roles very carefully. Hopefully, this is a good sign that he sees something in Leterrier and in the script that leads him to believe that, despite the big budget and high profile, this movie is quality material. Hell, even when he phones it in, his performance is better than 90% of the actors in Hollywood.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday to my niece & nephew!! Today, they are 21 and 15 respectively! Hope you have a great one guys!! Love you BIG!!!

I Knew It!

It's not my fault! It has nothing to do with the crap I eat. It's all in my genes!

Jurassic Park Time

Researchers decode T Rex genetic material

Very cool! We're, like, 3 steps away from cloning a T-Rex. I remember seeing an article a while back (jeez, looks like 10 years!) about a woolly mammoth that they found fairly well preserved in ice. There was talk at that time regarding whether or not it would be possible to clone a mammoth. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before science advances to the point that it is possible. Once it's possible, no doubt it will be done. Oh, love the line about the T-Rex tasting like chicken. :-)

Latin Night on Idol

For Latin Night last night, the Idols had Jennifer Lopez for their mentor. Mmmm... JLo... I'm sorry. Where was I? Oh yes, Idol. For the most part, Latin Night was pretty lackluster. No one really did great except for Blake. Melinda started off looking great, sounding good, and actually pulling off sultry. Lakeisha did ok with Conga. I think she may have a rough time this week. I don't get the whole Chris thing. He's so whiney and nasal. Haley, I get. She's not great, but Simon nailed it right on the head. Skimply clothing is her strategy, and that is what has gotten her this far. The judges didn't seem to like Phil, but I thought he did very well. The "voice crack" in the end seemed more a stylistic choice than a failing in talent, but maybe that's just me. Jordin struggled with turn the beat around. I actually think she & Haley would have done well switching songs. The styles would have suited them better. Oh, and I don't care for the nose ring. I think that was new last week. Ick. Blake rocked the house singing I Need to Know by JLo's hubby, Marc Anthony. Excellent song choice and excellent performance. Although, I must confess, I was hoping he'd sing La Vida Loca. Now, for the painful part - Sanjaya was actually good last night. I think he benefitted from 2 things: 1) good hair (no faux-hawk); 2) no movement, he sat still on stage. My guess: Lakeisha, Haley and Phil in the bottom 3 with Haley going home. I could see Lakeisha going, basically because of the Mandisa-factor (big girls on Idol pretty much have to be perfect in every other regard - one slip in singin or clothing choice and America (especially voting teen America) will pounce), but I think it will be Haley. Especially since Simon called her on the skimpy-clothes strategy, which made her seem very uncomfortable that he called her on it. I think that tactic only really works in a don't-ask-don't-tell sort of way. Once it's out in the open that she's doing that, it loses its draw.

Only in D.C.

Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com

Wow. I don't know that I have ever heard anything as beautiful or read anything so sad. Ok, so maybe it's not that bad. I mean, it's not a woman selling her daughter for money to buy crack or students being run over in Tiananmen Square. But the story moved me like most stories don't these days. There's only so many times you can hear about a wife killing her husband for insurance money or a drunk truck driver plowing through a family on the Beltway before you start to get numb. Now, I don't profess to be an expert in classical music, and I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't heard of Joshua Bell before I read this article, but holy mackerel! Even through the lousy, hidden-camera audio streaming over the internet, I could hear that this man is a master. I think the beauty of the music made such a sharp contrast to the sadness of the article - Here was one of the world's greatest living violinists and everyone was so wrapped up in their own little world that they didn't even notice he was there! It was amazing, sad, beautiful and pathetic all at the same time.

Ok, This is Getting Boring

I'm not even bothering to predict Sanjaya's Idol demise this week. Actually, I just as I started to write this came up with a new theory on Sanjaya. I think he sold his soul to Satan. That would explain his otherwise inexplicable rise to power. Regardless of how/why, his success is robbing me of my joie de vivre, so I'll make this quick and painless. Blake, Melinda Jordin, and Lakisha all kicked butt. Gina and (believe it or not) Chris did really well, too. I think Gina's close to hitting the wall in terms of her ability. She's just not in the same league as Lakisha or Melinda. I was worried with Chris, because I love that song, and he's always whiney, but that was probably his best performance. Didn't butcher the song like I thought he would. Phil did ok, as did Haley (hot! - but Chrissy thinks she's a skank). Sanjaya sucked, as usual. But since he made his deal, he won't even be in the bottom 3. That honor will go to Phil, Gina and Haley with Phil getting the boot.

On a non-Idol note, yesterday, I had the worst allergy attack I've had in years. Literally, probably 10-12 years. Don't know what it was, but I heard tree pollen was high yesterday. I had to run to CVS in the middle of the day to buy some Actifed and tissues. By that point, I looked like a cocaine addict. My eyes were completely red, I was sniffling and/or sneezing constantly. Not a pretty picture. By the end of the day, I was a little loopy from the anti-histimine, but doing ok. Looked like Rudolph, though. Much better today. I think the rain has taken some of the allergens out of the air. Don't know why it hit me so bad yesterday. I've been taking my Loratadine religiously. I hope I'm not building an immunity to it.

Oh, and in my fantasy headline of the day: Halle Berry says she wishes we could all be "inside her right now"... Well, just like I married Chrissy knowing she'd leave me for Dale, Jr., she's always known that Halle Berry's in my Top 5.

P.S. The Shield, season 6 premiere last night! WOO HOO!! It's back, baby!!