Search This Blog

Friday, March 27, 2009

Just Dance....gonna be ok

Gasp! Two blogs in two days!

This will be short though...

People can say what they want about pop music...that it has no soul, that it's manufactured, that it has a short shelf life but I have to disagree. Pop has given me more joy in my life than any classical piece (though there are a few that have a special place in my heart) has ever done.

Anyway, in the words of the great Gaga (that's Lady Gaga to you) Just Dance, (it's) gonna be okay.
I was feeling like crap yesterday and not really sure why. Just down. I had a workout ahead of me and didn't want to do it. "Just Dance" came on my iPod...so I did as Gaga instructed.

I went home, threw on some jeans and tennis shoes, hooked the iPod to my pocket, and danced to my 15 favorite songs (as of right now). I sweat, I jumped, I shook my booty, my dog thought I was losing it. But you know what? I felt sooo much better. Money problems, and all the other little things that bug me everyday were forgotten.

Screw the music snobs. I'd rather listen to Gaga

Just Dance, gonna be ok, da da do do, just dance
Spin that record babe (I always think of DJ Streamline here--->dh before we married)
da da do do,
Just Dance, gonna be ok, da da do do
Dance, Dance, Just, j j j just dance.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

American Idol Finals Week 3-Motown

What a relief! Soooo much better than country week and also it is soooo obvious who the weakest performers are.

Before I get into my recap/review though, a little about what is going on with me. Not much! Pretty boring stuff. I've just been working, chatting, Twittering, working out, and gardening. Hubby and I have some sprouts peeking through the soil...it will be interesting to see if we can keep them alive and eat some home grown produce this summer. Watched the Twilight movie last night...it could have been better, but overall, it was enjoyable. Hubby spent the whole movie going "He's going to bite her now right?" I need to go buy books 3 and 4. ONE freakin summer tour date leaked for NKOTB's tour today. ONE. In OHIO. Come on! Stop torturing me! I have a trip with like 10 girls to plan.

Ok, now... AMERICAN IDOL!

1. Matt, singing "Let's Get it On"- right off the bat, I was impressed. He is very talented. He's the guy that I had no clue about and now I thoroughly enjoy. I like that he got away from the piano a bit. I agree with Simon that the other guys need to keep their eye on him. His biggest weakness though...Justin Timberlake. He reminds me of him a lot, and that's not always a good thing. Is he unique enough to make it in the industry? I'm not sure.

2. Kris, singing "How Sweet it Is"- So normally this song makes me nauseated in it's "sweetness". Kris, however, brought it up to date for me with his Mraz-ey version of it. As usual, he looked hot. I absolutely adored his wife's reaction. What Kris has going for him is that his style is unique to everyone else in the competition and he always makes songs work for him. He could have the same problem as Matt in the industry though...is he unique enough?

3. Scott, singing "You Can't Hurry Love"- I think Scott is getting close to the end of his Idol run. He may make it another week, thanks to Megan and Michael, but this week it was really apparent he is nowhere nearly as strong a contestant as the top 5 or 6. Scott started the song off slow and I just thought "Oh god, Scott...not again!" Then he picked up the tempo. It was a nice effort but again, Simon was right. The piano playing was weird. Scott's comment about his pink pants "they told me 10 min before the show" was priceless.

4.Megan, singing "For Once in My Life"- Song starts...10 seconds later, I curl in a ball and just turn away. What is she doing? She picks songs and turns them into cheesy cruise ship material. Apparently, she doesn't know how to make a song her own. Everything cool about her just gets destroyed. Why are the stylists making her so glam? She's the cool, hippie chick. Oh, and Megan, don't walk. Just stand still and do your little shimmy. It was sooooo awkward.

5.Michael, singing "Ain't to Proud to Beg"- I don't think he understood what Smokey meant when he said to be grittier with the song. I thought he would be able to do it but the big guy couldn't. He was one of the few that obviously doesn't meet the caliber of the other contestants. He'll probably be forgotten along with many other former Idols, sad to say.

6.Lil, singing "Heat Wave"- Lil looked great. Well, I loved her dress, not the hair. Anyway, the beginning was awkward but at the end she really turned it up. I thought the judges were right on in their assessments. It was her week to shine and she just sparkled for a bit.

7.Anoop, singing "Oooo Baby Baby"- I think Anoop did really well. I was impressed. I didn't realize he had such a nice falsetto. Now if he can only do an upbeat number without seeming like the drunk guy at the party, he should stick around a while.

8. Adam, singing "The Tracks of My Tears"- When I first saw Adam looking like Elvis, I freaked out a little. "Noooo Adam, don't sell out!" He tricked me! Yeah, so he looked different ( and very handsome, fyi) but he still pulled off a killer performance. It was so mellow and I always wondered if he was capable of mellow. I have never heard that song...I would download Adam's version in a second. By far, the best performance of the night.

9. Danny, singing "Get Ready"-Ok, let me just say that I have been a big Danny fan from the beginning. I forgave his "drunk guy at the wedding" the first week. The thing is, its two weeks later and well, he's still really awkward to watch on stage. His clothes were better. I guess I just feel like all his songs are starting to sound the same to me. Still love his voice...I'm just getting bored.

10. Allison, singing "Papa was a Rolling Stone"- first I just have to say "No Simon, she did not SUCK last week. It just wasn't a strong week." Ok, Allison closed out the show with a bang. Another raw, rocker, holy cow how can a 16 year old sing like that? performance.

The judges-Paula is too old to wear a tutu dress. Kara made a lot of sense this week, and she looked gorgeous. The guys were the same as usual.

Most likely to download:Matt, Adam, Allison, and maybe Anoop





Wednesday, March 18, 2009

American Idol Finals Week 2-Grand Ole Opry

Due to wasting 3 hours of my evening watching the movie I reviewed in my previous post I can't do a play by play of American Idol this week...hubby and I power Tivo'd through 2 hours in 40 minutes.

1. I always DREAD country music week. Not only am I NOT a big fan of country...for whatever reason, its almost impossible for the idols to make country music interesting.
2. Kris Allen did great.
3. Adam Lambert was the only interesting one in the bunch. Was his version of "Walk the Line" really weird? Yes. I really liked his vocals. Insane. That guy is insane. I mean that in a good way.
4. Lil took one of the few country songs I like and made it super boring. I still think the show really over hyped her and now her weaknesses are starting to show.

I honestly have no clue who is going home this week...it could be anyone.
Most likely to download based on vocals-none

Movie Review: The Watchmen

When you've been with your husband for 10 years and he texts you and asks you on a date, you say "YES!". The date went fine, the movie however, was not. Hubby did not pick the movie, I sort of did and we agreed on it so the only people we can blame for wasting three hours (yeah, it's 3 hours...I had no idea) is ourselves.

We decided on the "superhero movie" because, well, you can't really go wrong with a "superhero movie" right? Even the not so good ones are entertaining and full of fights and special effects. The Watchmen, however, was a way to serious super hero movie. Let me put it this way; ever wonder what Superman, Batman, and Spiderman would do if they retired? Yeah. That's this movie.

Basically, during the opening credits you see some superheros in the 1940's rise to fame as The Watchmen and then one by one they are either killed, go insane, or retire completely. You then see the next generation rise up and retire. This is where the movie starts. It's 1985, America and Russia are in the middle of the cold war, Nixon is still president (???) because the superheros helped win Vietnam, and one of the retirees (Mr. Manhattan, a scientist who turned into a pretty hot naked blue guy who can manipulate matter after a nuclear accident) is working on developing clean energy to end our dependence on fossil fuels, etc. (Yes, we have been trying to deal with the fossil fuel mess for YEARS) One of the original superheroes gets murdered, another one is running around trying to convince the other retirees they need to find out who's behind it, and another one is super rich from exposing his true identity and marketing toys and such of himself. Anyway, all this stuff happens and it feels like the story is NEVER starting. Occasionally, the heroes have to pull out some old school moves to defend themselves, there is some super hero sex, and a lot of flashbacks.

I think they finally got to the plot the last 30 minutes or so. One of the retirees has gone rogue and is trying to cause a catastrophe ( I won't say why or there is NO point to watching it), and the remaining finally out of retirement heroes try to stop him. TRY.

None of the heroes except Mr. Manhattan really have any special powers besides speed and strength. It's about the closest thing to what I think it would be like if normal everyday people decided to put on a crazy costume and help out law enforcement.

None of the actors are recognizable, which is fine, but frustrating at the same time. There is full nudity quite often...Mrs. Jupiter gets it on with a couple people (nice to see natural breasts on screen for once), and Mr. Manhattan apparently does not care that his junk is swinging in the breeze the entire movie.

When the last thing you say is "Does this movie ever end?" and the first thing your husband says when it's over is, "Thank god that's over", its usually not a good sign. I could have been at home watching country week on American Idol, and being that is my least favorite week every year, I think that sums it up. Don't let the previews fool you. Those are literally the only cool super hero ish parts of the movie.

Babe, thanks for the date. Sorry the movie sucked.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

American Idol Finals Week 1-Michael Jackson

Around 6pm I started getting tweets from my east coast friends saying things like "my ears are bleeding" "that person should never sing again" and "I'm remembering how talented MJ really is/was"...so needless to say, I was not very excited about what I was going to witness when I finally got to see the episode.

Last night was the first of 10? weeks of the American Idol finals and the theme was the King of Pop's catalogue. I was pretty surprised...I mean...that's a tough first week! Anyway, lets got to the performances shall we?
1. Lil Rounds-for me the most over hyped contestant on the show. The judges and producers obviously expect her to make top 3 or something because they are surprisingly deaf to her bad notes. Ok, not BAD, but not GREAT. I have been unimpressed by her since she sang "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. Nothing about her seems any different from today's r&b diva. Last night she sang
"The Way You Make Me Feel", one of my MJ faves and she said "makin'" not "make" every time she sang the title line. Makin made me think of bacon. None of the judges seemed to notice. Overall, it wasn't very inspiring and I forgot about her by the fourth or fifth person. Simon was right about the outfit...it was straight out of 80's fashion hell.
2.Scott-I love Scott. He's not the best singer but how can you not love him? He's so genuine. I was really surprised that his sister was blind too. Scott sang "Keep the Faith" I've never heard it and I think that was to Scott's advantage...nothing to compare it to. I think he sang it well. I don't know if he's going to get a ton of votes for it, but I did give him one.
3. Danny- first off, his outfit was horrible. That jacket looked like it barely fit. And the dancing...well, it was bad and he knew it. His dancing reminded me of that drunk white dude at the club that has no clue he can't dance. He asked for a choreographer, which I found cute. Once I got passed how dorky he looked though, his vocals were insanely good. I can't really knock a guy who was having such a great time AND sounding so good. Got my vote.
4.Michael-Hardworking family man with a nice voice. He sang "You are Not Alone" well. There isn't much that grabs me about him though. Plus whenever I hear that song I think of junior prom with my ex and the fact that MJ was naked and had short hair in that video. He'll probably be gone around the top 10.
5.Jasmine-I had high hopes for her after her initial audition. She is definitely the total package, young, pretty, stylish, good voice. Unfortunately, she sucked her first week in the top 36 doing an uptempo song so now she's stuck on dreary ballads. I love "I'll be There" ( I prefer the nkotb version with Joey Mac singing, lol) but Jasmine just made it boring. If she survives this week, she'll have to do an uptempo song and show some of her attitude.
6. Kris-Kris is cute. Kris has a cute wife...aww they remind me of me and Joe. I love that! Kris is singing "Remember the Time". Oh dear. This is one of my top 3 fav
orite MJ songs. Please don't suck! He didn't suck...I really liked his Jason Mraz-y version. Too bad you could barely hear his guitar. Stupid sound guy. Kris definitely has his niche in this group. Got my vote.
Simon really pissed me off with the "you shouldn't have shown your wife this early" comment. How rude! I LOOOOVE that Kris' wife was so pissed. I would have been too. Simon, you are a moron. Chicks vote for cute guys regardless of their relationship status because deep down we think we always have a chance.
7. Allison-god I love this girl! 16, huge voice, not annoyingly sweet, rocker style. She sang "Give it To Me". I have heard this MJ song before but its not one of his well known tracks. She did great I think. It was dark and rocker and I loved her little retort to Simon about not being so dark. "Uh, well it's not a happy song...I don't cut myself or anything..." Allison, don't ever change. Got lots of votes.
8.Anoop- As soon as Ryan said Anoop was singing "Beat It" I knew it would be a disaster. I mean, nobody else can sing "Beat It". I doubt anyone could change it around the way Chris Cornell changed "Billie Jean" (that David Cook performed last year) It was pretty cheesy and karaoke. Poor Anoop. I like him but that was a dumb choice.
9.Jorge- I'll be upfront and say that I don't really know why he made it into the top 13. He's a likable guy with a good voice but that's about it. His left eye drives Joe and I crazy. He sang "Say Goodbye". Eh. Nothing special, not horrible. Won't miss him when he's gone but I think he'll stick around for a bit since he's got all of Puerto Rico voting for him....kinda like Jasmine Trias with her Hawaii backing.
10. Megan-ok, Megan is beautiful and quirky. I get it. I had high hopes for her back in the middle rounds but that crazy jiggle dance drives me nuts. At least tonight she did it on beat last night. She sang "Rockin Robin" though! Oh my god, all I could think about was the chicken dance at a roller rink. It was cute, but it just made her seem so cheesy. Hitting the notes can't save you from looking dumb on that song. And she "caw caw! ed" at the end. Oh dear.
11.Adam- Adam sang "Black or White". I wasn't sure how this was going to work...but I liked MOST of the song. I didn't like the bridge part with the strobe lights...he just over did that part in my opinion. The guy has major stage presence, great style, and can do crazy stuff with his voice better than the 80's rockers he emulates. So far the only Idol that matches his vocal craziness is the one and only Kelly C.. Adam will definitely go far in the competition...though I found Paula's reaction and tears pretty ridiculous for week 1. Got my vote.
12. Matt- Matt sang "Human Nature" and for whatever reason I thought the song was called "Why". Anyway, he played the piano and did his whole JT thing and I thought it was great. His best asset is his voice so the more he plays up his skills, the longer he'll last. He got my vote.
13. Alexis- my husband loooves her. She is like his fantasy of what I would be like as a super sexy rock star. She is pretty much MY fantasy of what I would be like as a super sexy rock star. LOL. Anyway, I love "Dirty Diana" and how she totally went for it. I didn't agree that she over did it at all. Have the judges seen the Dirty Diana video? Loved it. She got lots of our votes.

The judges-Simon was Simon. Randy was Randy. Paula, after being really coherent and pretty so far, is totally Drunk Paula again. It makes me sad. I'm embarrassed for her. Her hair and makeup were all shiny and it made her drunkenness seem even worse. The dress was weird. Ugh. Kara, after saying she was going to be "meaner" wasn't really mean. I liked her better in the first auditions. She's seems to be morphing into some combination of the three other judges. Come on Kara! Be the female Simon I want you to be!

Songs I'm Most Likely to Download based on vocals alone- Danny, Allison, and Matt

Is anyone else kind of burned out on the whole young mom/single mom thing?