What's on the telly this week?
Apr. 22nd, 2004 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1Saw Entertainment Tonight this evening. Apparently I'm not the only one out there who's shocked and stunned by the ousting of Jennifer on this week's installment of American Idol. WTF?
I thought this was supposed to be a talent contest, not a popularity contest! If it was me voting, I would vote on who was either the best singer, or the one who improved the most during the week. I wouldn't vote for someone in this contents only "Because he's CUUUUTE!" If looks are all they're going for, that's pretty vapid.
I can name many singers (mostly folksingers and songwriters) who have great voices and great songs, but don't have the looks. Joni Mitchell wouldn't have made it far if she started her career here. Ditto that for Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler.
And so this week, there are six candiates remaining. Where do I rank them? Before this week, my top two were Fantasia and Jennifer, my middle two were George and LaToya, and my bottom three were Diana, Jasmine, and John S. (John L -- the pen salesman, as Simon called him -- got the lest votes last week.)
I really thought John was going to get the least votes this week. I know he's a fellow Buffalonian -- he's from East Amherst, which is a suburb -- but he seems to have only one style: 1940's crooner. (I suspect he's been listening to his grandparents' LPs.) He's also young, and I'm guessing he doesn't have a lot of life experiences. I don't hear a lot of emotion or passion in his voice when he sings. But he could make a great career as a wedding singer someday...or sell lots of albums with cover songs. There's still a market for that type of music. Ask Michael Civisca.
LaToya's voice just doesn't do it for me. There's no special spark I hear or see when she performs.
So, unless the producers decide to do a recount, or even a revote, my top two are Fantasia and George, followed by LaToya and Diana, and then Jasmine and John.
Guilty pleasure of the week: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC), on Spike TV. Take a bizarre Japanese game show where the contestants do all these weird physical activities and try to avoid falling into muddy water, add two American play-by-play commentators, throw out the translations, and you've got a riot of a program. (Trivia: The Japanese game show on which this show is derived is called 'Takeshi's Castle".)
Honorable mention goes to...Mythbusters, on the Discovery Channel. Two Hollywood FX guys with over 30 years' combined experience in the industry, with an apparently unlimited budget and almost no time constraints, to systematically debunk many of the myths and urban legends that have been making the rounds of the Internet for the past several years. One of their catch-phrases which is used often is "Don't try this at home. We're what you call 'experts'." I've seen them recreate and debunk myths like the man who fell from the 24th floor trying to prove shatterproof glass, the 'chicken gun' to fire frozen and thawed birds at airplane windshields (the airframers call this "birdstrike testing" and it's necessary for airwothiness certification), the explosive decompression of an airplane fuselage, and the wodden cannon. When I watch them, it's clear to me that these guys love what they do. They're two mad scientists who are serious about what they do....but not necessarily how they do it! That's the type of work environment I want to be in!
I thought this was supposed to be a talent contest, not a popularity contest! If it was me voting, I would vote on who was either the best singer, or the one who improved the most during the week. I wouldn't vote for someone in this contents only "Because he's CUUUUTE!" If looks are all they're going for, that's pretty vapid.
I can name many singers (mostly folksingers and songwriters) who have great voices and great songs, but don't have the looks. Joni Mitchell wouldn't have made it far if she started her career here. Ditto that for Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler.
And so this week, there are six candiates remaining. Where do I rank them? Before this week, my top two were Fantasia and Jennifer, my middle two were George and LaToya, and my bottom three were Diana, Jasmine, and John S. (John L -- the pen salesman, as Simon called him -- got the lest votes last week.)
I really thought John was going to get the least votes this week. I know he's a fellow Buffalonian -- he's from East Amherst, which is a suburb -- but he seems to have only one style: 1940's crooner. (I suspect he's been listening to his grandparents' LPs.) He's also young, and I'm guessing he doesn't have a lot of life experiences. I don't hear a lot of emotion or passion in his voice when he sings. But he could make a great career as a wedding singer someday...or sell lots of albums with cover songs. There's still a market for that type of music. Ask Michael Civisca.
LaToya's voice just doesn't do it for me. There's no special spark I hear or see when she performs.
So, unless the producers decide to do a recount, or even a revote, my top two are Fantasia and George, followed by LaToya and Diana, and then Jasmine and John.
Guilty pleasure of the week: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC), on Spike TV. Take a bizarre Japanese game show where the contestants do all these weird physical activities and try to avoid falling into muddy water, add two American play-by-play commentators, throw out the translations, and you've got a riot of a program. (Trivia: The Japanese game show on which this show is derived is called 'Takeshi's Castle".)
Honorable mention goes to...Mythbusters, on the Discovery Channel. Two Hollywood FX guys with over 30 years' combined experience in the industry, with an apparently unlimited budget and almost no time constraints, to systematically debunk many of the myths and urban legends that have been making the rounds of the Internet for the past several years. One of their catch-phrases which is used often is "Don't try this at home. We're what you call 'experts'." I've seen them recreate and debunk myths like the man who fell from the 24th floor trying to prove shatterproof glass, the 'chicken gun' to fire frozen and thawed birds at airplane windshields (the airframers call this "birdstrike testing" and it's necessary for airwothiness certification), the explosive decompression of an airplane fuselage, and the wodden cannon. When I watch them, it's clear to me that these guys love what they do. They're two mad scientists who are serious about what they do....but not necessarily how they do it! That's the type of work environment I want to be in!
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 07:54 pm (UTC)I'm putting my money on Fantasia. Which, of course, will mean she won't win. I'm still trying to figure out what the world ever saw in folks like Kelly Clarkson, that Justin guy and (shudder) Clay Aiken.
Though, please, dear God, get rid of Barry Manilow and bring back Quentin Tarentino (sp?), who's been the most entertaining person in the handful of episodes I've seen so far.
Truly, this show is so bad some nights it casts a weird spell of its own...
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 10:47 pm (UTC)Actually, I was referring to the voters out there who put looks and popularity above talent, and not the show itself. But you probably already knew that.
I'm still trying to figure out what the world ever saw in folks like Kelly Clarkson, that Justin guy and (shudder) Clay Aiken.
Two words: Record $ale$. Like TV, it's a numbers game out there, I'm sorry to say. It's where quality doesn't get in the way of quality. And what makes it even worse is that everyone is trying to sound like each other, and not coming up with their own individual and unique sound.
I, for one, would rather listen to (and watch) Tori Amos or Kate Bush over Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 08:36 pm (UTC)Ok... now that *that's* out of my system ;)
Hope you don't mind the intrusion :)
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 10:53 pm (UTC)Although I kind of wonder if this is the type of fiasco we'd have if we had electronic voting machines that couldn't produce a paper trail in the event of a recount.
P.S. I love the cat icon!
no subject
Date: 2004-04-23 03:26 am (UTC)I wouldn't be as leary of electronic voting machines if I didn't work in the IT industry and know just how half-assed most code is these days. All in the name of getting things to market faster and cheaper. I just wouldn't trust that the manufacturer of said voting machines wouldn't go the route of say, M$, with it's not-even-half-assed Quality Control. We'd see security releases and code releases out the wazoo and no accountability.
Now, electronic voting in conjunction with say, a paper receipt that had to be deposited at the same time, I might be cool with. But that would make too much sense.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-23 09:37 pm (UTC)I wouldn't be as leary of electronic voting machines if I didn't work in the IT industry ...
You too, huh?
I just wouldn't trust that the manufacturer of said voting machines wouldn't go the route of say, M$, with it's not-even-half-assed Quality Control. We'd see security releases and code releases out the wazoo and no accountability.
Not to mention software engineering. It's gonna take a large company or government organization with some clout to demand CMM SEI Level 5 compliance for all their software before M$ sits up and takes notice.
Now, electronic voting in conjunction with say, a paper receipt that had to be deposited at the same time, I might be cool with. But that would make too much sense.
Of course. And the paper receipt can't be taken away from the voting location. Too much risk of vote-selling....or so the opponents of paper-auditable machines claim.