Sunday, May 31, 2009

"Up": The most wonderful movie you will ever see

I love me some Pixar. I name The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E as some of my favorite movies of all time. So when I say that Up is the best Pixar movie I've ever seen, I want you to know where I'm coming from. Because within the first 10 minutes of the movie, I knew it was special. Half way through the movie, around the time when Kevin the bird and Dug the talking dog showed up, I was convinced it was my favorite Pixar movie. And by the end of the film, with the final shot of the house, it became one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. The sheer joy I felt while watching this movie is hard to put into words. It was just wonderful. On every possible level. The animation was (as always) amazing, the characters were charming, funny, and well-developed, and the story was filled with just enough action to keep it exciting, as well as being cute as hell. I'm not embarassed to admit that I spent the movie alternating between crying from sadness, crying from cuteness, laughing hysterically, and smiling so hard at everything I left the theater with my face hurting. Like everything Pixar releases, it's a movie that people of all ages can enjoy. That's why Pixar is so amazing. The themes of their movies are universal and you're left with the feeling that you watched something that really meant something, even when it is a movie about flying houses and talking dogs.

I guess after all that it would be kind of redundant for me to say: go see this movie right now! But uh, GO SEE THIS MOVIE! Seriously. You will not be dissapointed.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Stanley Cup Finals. Tonight.

8:00. NBC. This is what will be happening again:















This guy is going to have an amazing series:

























And this is what I think of Pittsburgh's "Captain":


That is all.

Tonight. 8:00 PM. NBC. Be there.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Another does of abuse

So that's it Zod is back! That's our cliffhanger, uggh leave it to Tess and Millar/Gough to bring back the lameness from the season 5. I mean seriously Clark defeated him, shouldn't that be enough. This is our cliffhanger. In my humblest opinion so not worth wafting through the 21 episodes of randomness and at times crap to get to that. Truly a dissapointment.

Boy does this show deliver on its promises, it was rumor that 2 people would die and as if its not enough that they split apart the one functioning couple this season as a means to an end but they had to go and kill Jimmy in an attempt to teach the lesson that humanity is not all that seems. Jimmy, really people, Jimmy Olsen the wholesome sweetheart was murdered by Davis without the Beast and my tears are evidence of the injustice that this is. It was almost as if it came out of nowhere and was simply an attempt to strike at the strings of the fans hearts. I may be alone in my love for the character of Jimmy but this is simply unacceptable and I can't even blame Clark. I actually at this point wish that it had been Oliver instead--I definitely partly blame him for this tragedy.



Here's the basic plot of what happens Clark comes clean about his true plans to split Davis from his monster and Oliver tells all about how he killed Lex and once again reinforces the need to get rid of some people as a means to an end. Meanwhile Clark and Oliver are fighting over how to dispose of the Beast, Lois gets sent to the future in the midst of a tussle with Tess. As if things weren't already complicated enough between her and Clark she is now 1000 years or so in to the future with no way of getting home. Anyways Oliver and the legion do a little backstabbing of Clark and Jimmy finds him and discovers the answer to the mystery that is Clark and well when that happen I had this horrid feeling that he was going to die, cause generally when people find out about Clark, they no longer are necessary. So anyways Clark blows up the beast but in the midst of this Jimmy finally gives Chloe his wedding present. It's this beautiful apartment that can be described as a lighthouse in the middle of Metropolis once it undergoes some serious renovations. Davis is passed out and Chloe and Jimmy finally talk and discover that they still really love each other and are meant to be together. And forgiveness is given and they reunite through a sweet kiss...and of course Davis being a maniac, waking to this site shoves a pole into Jimmy's back.
Of course when he realized everything Chloe did was out of her love for Clark and not out of real feelings for him. Skipping the unnecessary explanations of how Davis bites it, I really hate the way the writers felt that it would be okay to replace Jimmy with his little brother, I mean that is such a co-op for such a classic and lovable character. In the end Clark doesn't even show up for his funeral and the cherry on this horrid disaster, that is the end of season 8, he decides that humanity might not be deserving of protection, because it was Davis that killed Jimmy and not the Beast. So he walks away from Smallville and Chloe. Who knew saying goodbye to Lana would also mean farewell to Jimmy :(
Regrettably I am disappointed with this finale, I'm not so bitter about the show itself cause its slow gotten worst since season 5 but this is truly and fully unacceptable. But at least I have time to get over the sting that is this episode before season 9 returns in September for yet another round of abuse. Honestly, all of my shows have been letting me down with their grand finales, really writers, creators make better material PLEASE!!!

Why do I watch this show again?

Trek

Alt Universe anyone?
Well that's what all the Trekkies and non-Trekkies find when they go to see the new Star Trek film.

From the little I know there are definite changes made from the series, but obviously it's to difficult to translate the massive history that is the phenomena of the Star Trek series, that has the widest fan base. So there was a lot of pressure for the director, creators, writers and actors alike. Along with that fact it was one of the first summer movies of 2009 and none of it was a let down! I really appreciated the direction the film took, because I am one girl whose late to the sci-fi fan game and really actually detested the fact that my dad would regularly watch the show when aired on television; I know a boo for me, but what do you expect I was all about the Friends and other randomous things.

So I suggest if u still haven't seen either don't let the sci-fi history stop you from the amazing ride. But I still advise that you see it with someone who understands the significance of each character it makes it better, that's why I took my pops, Hee!

Okay some stuff about the film there's a kick A!! car scene, a wicked storm--I mean the aesthetics alone will draw you in, an apperance by the original Spock and finally an amazing cast with astounding of amounts of hottness (I'm referring to Chris Pine aka James T. Kirk, William Shatner's replacement; He's come along way since Just My Luck. Good for him). It was refreshing to see a well known story told in an unpredicatable manner! Yay for J.J. Abrams.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

What now?

I have to admit to being a little depressed that the television season is "over". Yes, I know TV still airs during the summer, but it's not the same. American Idol was my last finale this year, and now I feel kind of...lost (I seriously got depressed today when I realized AI wasn't going to be on. I can't believe how much that show got to me this year). Not to say that there aren't shows on that I watch during the summer. I will probably be watching So You Think You Can Dance (not the audition shows though. Too much second hand embarrassment). Speaking of embarrassment, I will also be watching True Blood when the second season premiers June 14th. That show is SO trashy and kind of bad, but I can't help it, I can't stop watching it. Also, Project Runway comes back this summer, but we are going to have to wait until August for our Tim Gunn fix :(

Still, TV is my main "fandom" and I had a moment earlier when I thought, "now what am I going to talk about on the blog?" But then I realized that this blog was never supposed to be only about television! There are plenty of things floating around in mind grapes's mind grapes! So while TV will still be the main focus on the blog, you will start to get a broader variety of things that make me happy. I am planning on doing an end of the season recap post, where I talk about which show's had the overall best season, favorite episodes, best finale, etc. But I also will probably start talking more about the Red Wings as they get closer to the Stanley Cup finals, I'm already imagining multitudes of Kris Allen posts, and you're probably going to be hearing A LOT about the Harry Potter movie before and after it comes out. And who knows, you may even get some more podcasts!

I'm still new to this blogging thing, and half the time I still feel like I'm really only doing this for myself more than anyone else, but that's ok. Because it is extremely fun and I'm not going to quit anytime soon. I hope our dear readers continue to come along for the ride! What we lack in smarts and coherency, we make up for in randomness and fun!

Monday, May 25, 2009

My Abusive BF (long overdue)



Make a wish, three dangerous words you don't want to hear from a mysterious magician in the town of Smallville. In an attempt to cheer up a sad Chloe on her birthday, as an inadvertent way to get on Oliver's good side, she turns Chloe into Lois, outwardly. And it makes for some rather humorous comments along with some trouble for Clark.
Addressing the whole taking of Lois' identity for a day, Chloe just missed how her life was before she quit/got fired (can't remember) from the Daily Planet and she didn't mind being wooed, as it were by Clark for a bit, cause you know they sorta have a thing. But eventually she spills to Clark that it really is her Chloe and Clark being the guy who leaps before looking he busts in on Zatanna, the scandily clad magician to stop her evil plan. But he doesn't check his desires at the door and ends up forgetting who is, just another overplayed storyline in this saga..that seems to be endless.
Alas in the midst of all this we discover that Zatanna has a sob story just like every other villianess on this planet and hates that she can never grant any of her wishes, so with the aid of her family's spell book she begins to bring her father. But to bring a person back from that another has to die, and Clark being so strong willed about the value of human life talks her out of it and Metropolis survives another day and another weird story.

Eternal.
It so final in a sense and that's what exactly we find to be about Clark and Davis' relationship. They are brothers in the sense that they both came from Krypton, but it ends there because they both had different paths and experiences with their time on the planet Earth, in the town of Smallville, and as always Davis gets the short end of the stick while Clark is living a beloved farm life. This episode really takes the time to delve into the animosity between Clark and Doomsday. Along with all this backstory Tess of course finds a way to involve herself and when she discovers the horrendous acts that Davis has committed to "suppress the Beast," she takes it upon herself to end his life. When that fails she holds him prisoner, but eventually he heals from the horrible burn scars and escapes and heads to none other than his divorcee crush Chloe Sullivan.
Obviously not the most ingenious of plans because Clark finds out and gets involved--this is after they have become friends and Clark is feeling pity for his Kryptonian brother and thus has the urge to find another way to solve the problem that is Doomsday, one that doesnt involve the ending of his life. Yet Chloe being the strongwilled genius she is finds a detour around Clark's impostion to follow through with the plan. So at some abandoned lab of a former scientist she locks Davis in the cage and douses him in the green meteor rock that is poision to he and his kinsmen. Clark shows up just in time for goodbyes and is unable to stop his death.
But as always people don't really die, let me rephrase necessary people don't really die and besides Doomsday was made to adapt to anything that threathened his existence. So in the end, once again he calls upon Chloe to help him with his burden. So his new residence becomes the Talon's basement, right below his "beloved."

The next episode is why I struggle with this show, we are introduced to Stiletto, which is Lois masquerading as a hero in an attempt to get an exclusive with the Red Blue Blur. Besides being an utter waste of storytelling time, we do get the chance to catch up to Jimmy's storyline and things are definitely abysmal but if it weren't for him Lois and Clark might not have been able to get out the scrape they were in. Along with the light that is Jimmy, we also see Clark and Lois bonding more over the experience of Clark saving her life and possibly them finally ignite that flame that is their love for one another.

The next couple of episodes involve Chloe who I love, but currently I struggle with her character and her choices, specifically her situation with Davis. It confounds me how she can go from being separated from Jimmy--a serious and drastic occurrence in her life, to be the end all and be all for Davis. Putting that aside I have to say that this are pretty decent in pushing the story forward.
Clark is suspicious and doesn't think that the Cornfield Killer is really dead, so he's on a beast-hunt. And he first shows up at Chloe's door, which is also currently Davis' residence. Anyways when things escalate to the point where both Oliver and Jimmy almost lose their lives to the Beast and Clark is sent on a wild goose chase to Alaska by his Best Bud, Chloe and Davis take off out of town. Following through with the intial plan of following of the grid, Chole being driven by her desire to protect Clark and save more lives, imprisons herself to the side of Davis Bloom; Beast/Man and things aren't looking good. Becuase with a special appearnace by Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta on BSG!!) we find out that she is the cure, in a sense, to Davis' problem but there is a question of how long his obsession with her will withold the demon inside him.

The penultimate story is chilling is starts with Clark finding Chloe scarred and beaten running in the middle of nowhere, and in the end she begs Clark to kill Davis, she pleads with him that there is no other way. But we discover that behind this set up is Tess and her super metoer freaks who are pulling the strings in an attempt to get Clark to fulfill his destiny. Which essentially involves murdering Davis Bloom, the man and the beast along with him. Clark not accepting this destiny and upholding his belief in the value of humanity he refuses, but underhandly plans as if he is going to kill Davis. Involving Oliver who is glad to see that Clark is sees the need to get his hands dirty quickly and blindly goes on a mission to get the black meteor rock gets caught, not as the Green Arrow but as Oliver with all his charm in bed waiting as Tess comes into her room. Luckily, he is there when the super meteor freak team turns against Tess (with good reason) and attacks her at home with some serious pyro power and takes her hostage. When Clark finally catches back up to the culprits that took his powers and left him stranded, the Green Arrow is there with a green meteor ring, to save the day and aid in getting Clark back his powers, emotions erupt mostly from Clark and a definable rift is caused, leaving Chloe still with Davis and nowhere to be found.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

OH. MY. GOD.

KRIS WON AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I can't believe it! I'm so so happy and so proud of this guy! And Adam too! Adam is awesome and fantastic and is going to have a fantastic career and I love him almost as much as Kris. But holy crap KRIS WON! No one ever thought this would happen, but it did. Is it the biggest upset in Idol history? I don't know and I don't care, I'm just so unbelievably proud to call myself a Kris fan! What a season! Amazing! Thank you for all of those people who voted for him! The Derelict, Zozizzle, Good Grief, Mom! You guys helped too! I cannot wait to buy my first Kris Allen CD! And Adam CD! And Allison CD! And....god, I don't know, this is just so fantastic! *group hugs all around*

*WTF my font size got all messed up but I don't care!!!!! as;lkdfj;saldkfjals;dfjs;aldkjf;asldkjf;asdlkfjas;dlfalfjk

Quick thoughts on the American Idol performances

The clear loser of tonight was Kara for writing that shitty coronation song. Wow. Terrible. I was embarrassed for both of them that they had to sing that.

Adam: "Mad World". This is one of my favorite Adam performances and I think he performed beautifully on it yet again. I did get a bit of a chuckle out of the trench coat and the dry ice, but it was still very good. Didn't quite pack the punch of the first time he did it (I'm not sure he connected with it as well), but still good.

Kris: "Ain't No Sunshine". I was so happy he picked this song. SO HAPPY! This was the song that made me fall in love with Kris in the first place and hearing it again was just magical. He sounded fantastic and it may have even been better than the first time he sang it. I just loved it to death! It may have been my favorite performance of the night.

Adam: "A Change Is Going To Come". This sounded really great too. I completely disagree with Paula that it was one of his best performances, but it was good. There were moments in there where his voice sounded a little hoarse and off a bit, but he connected with it for the most part. I really wouldn't have picked this song for him though and was kind of disappointed that we didn't get a "crazy" Adam performance tonight.

Kris: "What's Going On". This is where my extreme bias comes in, because I absolutely LOVE it when Kris does performances like this. I loved it when he did it with "She Works Hard For The Money" and "Heartless" and I loved it here. As soon as I saw Kris with his guitar, surrounded by percussionists, I was in heaven. He put his own spin to the song and added sufficient emotion to the lyrics (particularly when he stopped to sing the lyrics "war is not the answer"). I hated that Simon said the performance was "too small", because well, what the hell did they expect Kris to do with a low-key song like that? He didn't pick the song after all. I liked this a lot better than Adam's second song, but then again, I'm biased.

Adam and Kris: "No Boundaries". I'm doing them together because I don't really know what I can say about this song. Neither of them sounded very good. With Adam, he seemed to lose the lyrics a lot and was a bit "pitchy" as Randy would say. The range of the song was way too big for Kris and he seemed to really be stretching to hit some of those high notes. However, while Adam was more technically proficient with the song, Kris did seem to connect with it a little more and you could tell he was really, really trying. I can't fault either of them for their performances however, because that was just a shitty ass song that I don't think either of them could have done anything with. Can you please go now, Kara?

Overall, besides the coronation song, I thought this was a great finale, with both boys giving fantastic performances that they should be proud of. I can't wait for tomorrow no matter what the outcome is! Kradam has already won, ya'll!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

American Idol Top 2 Finalists: We're all winners!


As I was reading through these articles about the adorable press conference Adam and Kris did yesterday (adorable video here), I was overwhelmed by the feeling that, well....I wish they both could win! Reading about how much these guys genuinely like and respect and support each other made me actually get a little emotional. Like they said repeatedly in those articles, they feel like they've both won, and you know, I feel like we've all won too! This sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I just love this finale so much. SO MUCH! And I can't believe we actually have it. A Kradam finale was just a small pipe dream I had when I started watching this season, and now it's a reality. I've felt beaten down by this season many times (I blame Danny...and Kara), but now I couldn't be happier. If Alan Sepinwall wasn't my favorite TV critic already, he would be after this article, which pretty much expressed my thoughts exactly: that in a season filled with unnecessary changes, manufactured drama, over-pimped contestants, attention-hogging judges, and a lesser focus on the most important part of the show, the contestants, we somehow managed to get one of the best, most interesting and love-filled finales this show has ever had (the fantastic website What Not To Sing also has a similar article about the awesome finale in spite of a weak season). You know, I hope somehow, someway, Kris and Adam get the same number of votes on Wednesday and they call it a tie and they both win the show and then live happily ever after THE END.

On a more serious note however, I will be voting the four hours for Kris tonight, heh. After the results show last week, I was just so excited Kris made it into the finale that I went on and on about how I didn't care who won. And reading all this lovely Kradam press recently made me feel the same way. But when I really thought about it, deep down inside, I do want to see Kris win. I've been voting for Kris every week since Top 9 week, fully expecting every week for him to go home. But he didn't, and we finally got him into the final 2, and well, I'm not gonna stop voting for him now, heh. I think if "Heartless" showed us anything last week, it's that Kris wants to win this, and thinking about what his face would look like if/when Ryan announces his name as the winner of American Idol gives me a happy feeling inside (although Kris always looks so shocked and amazed every time he makes it through, the poor kid might pass out on stage if he wins, hee!). Now let me clarify for all the Glamberts out there, that I would be extremely happy if Adam were to win as well. Like I said, both of these guys deserve to be in the finale and truthfully, if we're basing the win by pure, God-given singing talent, then Adam probably deserves it more. No one can hit the notes Adam can (I love Adam's voice, I just prefer Kris's more). In fact, I think Adam will probably win, but I do think it will be closer than a lot of people originally thought (only a million votes separated the two last week).

Although, you know what I want the most? I want both guys to just go out there and do their best. I don't want the producers or the judges ruining the finale by manipulating anything. No bussing, no pimping, just let the performances speak for themselves. I want the show to just let both of these guys go out there and do what they do and hopefully have great nights. Remember, in a Kradam finale, we all win!

*Be back later with thoughts on the performances

Monday, May 18, 2009

Finale Roundup, Part 2

Some more thoughts on some recent finales.

Supernatural
4.22 "Lucifer Rising"-

Fantastic. Fan-fucking-tastic! I was a little skeptical about this finale because I wasn't too crazy about the episode prior, plus, I was unsure about the whole angel/demon war storyline brewing this season, but I really liked this. It was exciting, thought-provoking, and emotional. Supernatural generally really impresses me with its finales, and while I don't know if this was my favorite of all the seasons' finales, I found that it came together really well. So much of the show this year has been devoted to the growing rift between Sam and Dean, and while this episode exploited that a lot, it also reinforced more than any other episode this season, just how much those two really love and care for each other. I expect things might be a little tense between them next season, but there was never any doubt watching this that things will be OK between them eventually. I also thought the mytharc stuff with the 66 seals/Lillith/the angels/Chuck the prophet/Azazel was really cool. There are times that storyline turned me off this season because it was confusing, but it all made sense in the end and had a really fascinating conclusion. It's interesting that even now the show is still bringing together the mythology of Azazel and the "special children" from season 1. It's also interesting that Ruby was a bad guy all along. I was unsure how I felt about it at the time because I've always liked Ruby, but the more I think about it, the more I like it, because it finally gave Ruby something to do of importance, instead of just being Sam's "sidekick". Don't really know where they're going to go next season with Lucifer rising and all, but I'm excited about it all the same. I heard that next season might be this show's last, and while that saddens me, I'm happy that the show can go out on top. Because as of right now, it's one of the most rewarding, creative, and fun shows on television. Y'all need to start watching!

24 7.23 & 7.24 "6:00 AM- 8:00 AM"-
I haven't been blogging about 24 at all this season, but I have been watching and enjoying season 7. I didn't like this season as much as previous seasons, but I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that each season of 24 loses a bit of its luster. I was obsessed with 24 back in the day, and I think the first 5 seasons of the show are some of the best seasons of television ever. Season 6 however was....not good, and then the Writer's Strike made us wait 2 years for a new season, so I lost my obsession, but I think I'll still always like this show. It's just so exciting! How can you not like Jack Bauer kicking ass and taking names? Although, surprisingly, the finale made me get emotional on more than one occasion. Particularly anything with Tony. Oh Tony...I was so happy you came back, but my emotions kept getting toyed with as you went from bad to good to bad to maybe good in the end. I like that Tony was just doing everything for revenge, and that while he did extremely bad stuff, maybe he wasn't entirely evil. He also survived! Was not expecting that. Tony was, and I think always will be, my favorite character, and as such, this season was a roller coaster for me. I hope that he becomes good again and him and Jack can be best friends forever like old times! I also liked that Olivia got her comeuppance in the end, but was extremely sad for President Taylor because of it. I like her. I think she may have ended up being one of the better presidents on this show (also, was the show setting up a little Taylor/Ethan? Eh? Eh?). Overall, I liked the finale, even though I found the ending of the episode a bit strange. There wasn't a huge cliffhanger like a lot of seasons have, but a lot of little cliffhangers. That last shot with Kim and Jack was sort of anticlimactic, and we still have no idea what happened with Renee and Wilson. Still, I'll probably be watching again next season. I just can't quit this show!

Friday, May 15, 2009

OMG we're podcasting again?!


Ashitakas Angels Podcast #2 - Ashitakas Angels

Yes! We are podcasting again! Why? Because we like the sound of our own voices! Today's installment features:

1. Office finale squee!
2. 30 Rock finale hilarity!
3. Talk of the Detroit Red Wings and their domination of all other teams!
4. Mentions of Kradam fanfic. Be warned.
5. Musical interludes!
6. A serious message for Good Grief.
7. A discussion of the Grey's Anatomy finale and its weirdness. Plus: Does Kevin McKidd = Marian Hossa?
8. Did we mention Kradam?
9. Insanity + Kris Allen outro

~mind grapes and zozizzle

Thursday, May 14, 2009

First Attempt at Podcasting!


Ashitakas Angels Podcast #1 - Ashitakas Angels

Dear readers,

1. We just watched the Lost finale.
2. We didn't have the words to adequately express our reactions in blog form. Therefore, we are attempting podcasting.
3. We're amateurs. We have no idea what we're doing. Be nice.
4. We cover the Lost finale + some American Idol squee.
5. Enjoy!

mindgrapes and zozizzle

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

American Idol Top 3 Finalists Perform: Vote for talent! Bring Kradam to the finale!

So, before we begin, some laughs:

Why you should vote for Kris and Adam on American Idol: An illustrated thesis. Hilarious.

Why I hate Danny Gokey [RAP]. Fantastic.

25 Reasons to vote for Kris Allen.
Wonderful.

This week's 3 part Entertainment Weekly Idolatry. Amazing. (As an aside, you all need to go back and watch all the previous episodes of Idolatry. I look forward to watching Michael Slezak's take on the show almost more than the show itself! They are also the ones who originated the "Put the GO in Gokey" movement, and have been huge supporters of this season's underdogs, Kris and Allison. Go watch!)

Before we begin again, I have to bring up something silly. I went back and looked at all my older American Idol posts recently, and I noticed that the level of swearing increased exponentially on each post, heh. Because Zozizzle and GoodGrief still try to make this somewhat of a "family blog", I'm going to try and not swear or keysmash as much as I have been, heh. Sometimes I can't help it though! I've come to the slow realization that American Idol is mostly filled with pain and heartbreak. I have found the little tiny bit of good in it, but mostly, I still kind of hate this show. Especially after last week when I was never more mad or upset over an episode of a show in my life! Let's hope this week is better, yes?

And here we go! Oh Kris honey, the bus is coming for you tonight no matter how well you do. Don't let them get you down though! Two songs tonight: Judges choice and contestants choice.

Judges choice first. I actually already know what the judges picked for each contestant, so now I'm just anticipating what they're going to do with it. Surprisingly, I think Danny got the worst song choice.

Danny: Paula chose "Dance Little Sister" by Terence Trent D'Arby for him. Danny didn't know the song, heh. I had never heard of the song either actually. But when I looked it up, it definitely fits his voice. Ok, so this performance is typical Danny. He's powering through it. It's not that he's singing it badly, he just sort of...yells it. He's scatting with a saxophone player on stage. I hate saxophones. It's pretty upbeat and of course, he's dancing. It wasn't bad at all, but it was pretty much what Danny does every week. LOL Kara is critiquing his dancing! This is the first time I think I've ever liked Kara, heh. Simon is being kind of harsh to Danny....and I love it!

Kris: Randy and Kara picked "Apologize" by OneRepublic. I think this is a pretty good song choice for him. I like that they went with something more current for him. He's playing the piano. He changed the song a little, but it still has that "hip-hop" sound. His voice sounds fantastic! There are a few bum notes in there, but for the most part it's great! He's singing it pretty straight though. Not really changing it too much. Kara! You chose this song! How can you criticize the arrangement when you chose the song?! And how can you criticize Kris for not changing the song, when Danny just sang a karaoke version of his song? OMG did Simon just support Kris? I...don't know what to do with this. The judges have gone insane!

Adam: Simon picked "One" by U2. He's got the "Mad World" lighting going for him. The beginning sounded really really good, but I did not like the screeching in the middle. Normally I don't mind when Adam "screams", but I don't know, he kind of lost me for a bit there. Not my favorite Adam performance. Did I miss something? Normally I like Adam, but I was underwhelmed. Wow, the judges are being extremely annoying right now. It's not that they're praising Adam, it's the way they're doing it. Can't they just critique the performances without acting like children? God! I want to KILL Kara.

Danny: His pick is "You Are So Beautiful". This song always reminds me of the movie The Little Rascals. Yes, I'm a giant dork. This is such a typical Danny song choice. Sappy and cheesy. Really really slow and kind of boring. His voice sounds good though because he isn't shouting....and now he's shouting. Should have seen that coming. That was pretty good, I guess. I think this may have been one of his better performances actually. It was still boring though, and he did nothing special with the song. The judges love him. Blech.

Kris: "Heartless" by Kanye West! What? WHAT?! I never in a million years thought Kris Allen of all people would pick this song. It's just him and an acoustic guitar! He totally rearranged the song! This is so cool! I've never heard the song sung like this. No one else on this show can do what Kris just did. Wow. I loved it! Amazing. This just proves how musically talented he really is. He played two instruments tonight! No one else can do that! The judges loved it! Yay! Go Kris go! I'm so proud of him!

Adam: He's singing Aerosmith lol. Show us how Aerosmith is done, Adam! We need to erase what Danny did to Aerosmith last week. "Cryin'". Now this is a more upbeat Adam. Not as crazy as other Adam performances though, which is probably a good thing for him at this stage. Pretty good. His voice sounds great. I think I liked it better than his first performance. Still didn't love it though. The judges did, of course. Is it just me, or was Adam kind of off tonight? Whoa...did Simon just beg people to vote for Adam?! Strange.

Final thoughts: So....that was sort of underwhelming, yes? I think I expected both Kris and Adam to totally blow it out of the water, but I think Kris was the only one who came close to doing that. "Heartless" was definitely the best performance of the night by far, and for that I think he "won" the night, even though his "Apologize" wasn't the best performance of his (I still liked it though). Even so, Adam was way WAY better than Danny, who was just sort of...blah. Like always. If there's any justice in the world, we will get our Kradam finale! Please make it so, America!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Finale Roundup, Part 1

*I thought I'd do a roundup for some finales that have aired recently. I didn't have strong enough opinions about any of these episodes to write full posts about them, so I'm collecting some of my thoughts about them here.

Chuck
2.22 "Chuck Versus the Ring"-

Single greatest scene of the finale: Jeffster. Mr. Roboto. Indian lesbian. Epic.
I actually think I may have liked "Chuck Versus the Colonel" better than this episode, but I still loved this episode a whole lot. I LOVED the end. Loved it SO much. And if we don't get another season, I may have to protest NBC forever.

Dollhouse 1.12 "Omega"-
Meh. I wanted to like this. I really really did, but man did that disappoint me. The best thing, by far, was Alan Tudyk's amazing performance, but where was the 'wow' factor? Where were the thrills? This was kind of boring. And while stuff happened in it, nothing really changed. Echo is still Echo (and why the heck would Omega want to become Echo again?). Not to mention we had to go through the whole episode hearing about how great and special and wonderful Echo/Caroline is with no real explanation as to why she was so special. Blech. I'll probably watch it next season, but I really would not be sad if this show got canceled.

House 5.24 "Both Sides Now"-
Oh I love it when House does its trippy finales. Some of my favorite episodes of television ever have been two of House's trippy finales, "No Reason" and "House's Head". While I didn't like this episode quite as much as those two, I still loved that it screwed with us in the end. House has been so hit or miss for me this season, but this episode I thought was fantastic, mostly because of that freaky realization (the direction for that scene was brilliant as well). House going into the mental institute was intriguing, but at the same time, this show constantly pulls these sorts of storylines that seem to be huge changing points for the series, but ultimately lead nowhere. Methinks that's what's going to happen with the mental institute storyline as well, but I'm still excited to see where it takes us anyways. I'm just happy I finally like this show again!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Lost 5.15 "Follow the Leader"

Not much to say about this episode. It was very much a set-up episode for next week's SEASON FINALE OMG!!!!!!1111 Ahem...I actually wasn't going to write anything about his episode, which I enjoyed, but didn't really love (mostly because it just made me confused), but I made a pact to myself that I would write a post about every episode of Lost this season. And because no one else posts on this blog and you're all probably sick of hearing about American Idol, I present to you, the top 5 best things about last night's episode:

1. Sawyer/Juliet: Has it happened? Have they become my new OTP? Maybe. Although, is it just me, or is anyone else expecting DOOM for them in the finale? Their conversations just seemed so final. Sigh. They're probably going to kill off Juliet so they can pair Sawyer with Kate again.

2. Sayid: Surprise, muthafuckas! That is what I imagine Sayid wanted to say last night when he made his grand re-entrance. You know, I don't even like Sayid, but sometimes on this show, when characters are gone for a really long time and then come back, it's very exciting.

3. Annoyed!Ben: Annoyed!Ben is my favorite flavor of Ben. He looked pissed the whole episode. And it was cracking me up.

4. Hurley, from the future: Hands down best conversation of the episode and one of the funniest moments of the season. There should be a show just about Hurley, Miles, and Jin. And Daniel too. When he comes back to life....which he will.

5. Jacob-killing Locke: Oh Locke-y. Just what are you planning on doing? You've gone crazy again. And I like it. This show is such a mindfrak.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

American Idol Top 4 Results: Heartbreak?

Yes, I'm skipping Lost again this week. I wasn't going to subject myself to the results show tonight, but I knew if I watched Lost all I would be able to think about was AI and I wouldn't be able to pay attention. Of course, with what I think is probably going to happen tonight, I'll probably be too inconsolable and despondent to watch much of anything tonight or tomorrow :(

Happy thoughts! Think happy thoughts! Go in Gokey!

Interesting that in the video recap, they made it seem like everyone was in danger except Adam. Also they highlighted Danny's horrible scream again. It gets funnier every time I hear it.

No Doubt, Daughtry, and Paula Abdul are performing tonight. One of these I'm guessing is going to be a trainwreck. I think you might be able to guess.

Ford music video: These are so stupid. Like, they were always going to be lame because they're just there as product placement for Ford, but it's like they don't even try anymore. God, this show sold out a long time ago.

Group performance: "Schools Out" Slash is playing guitar! Oh, heh, Kris's voice is really not suited for this song. They all sound great together though. Oh look, Allison and Adam get to duet again. Damn, Slash can play. Heh, that was fun. Never thought I would see that on American Idol. Ryan and Slash are so awkward together. You know who I love? Ryan Seacrest. There, I said it. He's a good host, and he seems to genuinely care about the contestants. Good guy.

Ryan is talking to all the idols about last night. Kris was giving a really cute answer about how he was so happy to be there and then Simon called him out on it as being too humble. Jesus fuck, Simon! You're still trying to throw Kris under the bus? God, I hate this stupid fucking show. Wow, so Danny knows how bad he was last night. Good on ya, Danny. At least you aren't delusional. You're still annoying as fuck though! That's right, Allison! You stick up for yourself!

Paula Abdul performance. You know what, I love the song "Straight Up". That shit is hot. Oh no, Paula. That outfit is not age appropriate. This is another generic Britney/techno/pop song with way too much autotune. And she's lip-synching. I don't even know what to do with this at all. I just kind of feel uncomfortable. I'm glad that's over.

No Doubt performance. They're singing "Just A Girl"? I thought they had some kind of new music coming out. You know, I kind of thought they broke up, heh. I do love No Doubt, but Gwen Stefani does not sound very good. For some reason, whenever bands go onto Idol they never sound good. Pushups on the stage, Gwen? This was a very strange performance. Ok, so apparently they're just touring, but they don't have a new CD.

Results: I'm so fucking nervous. The first person safe is....AS;DLKFJ;ADKLSJF;ADKLSFJ;LAKSDJF;DKLSJF;LDKSJF;ADKLSJF;ADKLSJF;LKAD
KRIS IS SAFE KRIS IS SAFE KRIS IS SAFE KRIS IS SAFE KRIS IS SAFE KRIS IS SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE GREATEST FUCKING DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!! I'm like crying. My hands are shaking. Thank you, America! Thank you SO FUCKING MUCH! God, I can't believe that just happened. I cannot believe it!

Wow. I need to like, calm myself down. I can't believe I'm getting so emotional over this stupid show.

Daughtry performance. Dude, they keep talking about how he was shock-booted during top 4 week when he was on the show. Are they setting up a Danny shock boot? Could it be possible? Please! I like Daughtry. He's a cool dude and this song is pretty nice.

Results: Adam is safe! Danny is...safe. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor poor sweet Allison! Oh man! Allison, honey. You deserved it WAY more than Danny! You are awesome and beautiful and I can't wait to buy your record. Shit son, her sing-out is fierce. This is how you sing a fucking rock song! Girlfriend is going to have a great career out of this. I'm not worried about her at all. She's one of the most talented contestants this show has ever had and it's a fucking travesty that she went out before Gokeyoke. Farewell sweet sweet Allison! I look forward to seeing more of you in the future, you little rock godess!

So....all in all, that was both amazing and terrible all at the same time. My heart breaks for Allison, but I'm mostly just absolutely ecstatic that Kris made it through. After the producers and judges tried so hard to get rid of him yesterday, he proved everyone wrong and made it. I am so ridiculously proud of him. He has one of the best Idol journeys so far and I'm proud to be his fan. And if he goes out next week, you know, that's ok. He made it way further than anyone thought he would and he gets his hometown visit! Yay! Still, all I will be able to dream about is the Adam/Kris finale on the horizon. It can happen! We can make it happen! We must avenge Allison by getting rid of Danny next week! Let us unite forces to get our finale of awesome! Kradam 4eva!!!!!!!11111

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

American Idol Top 4 Finalists Perform: Put the Go in Gokey!

Hey, so I am able to watch tonight after all! I hope you all enjoyed my overly long and slightly embarrassing PSA I posted earlier today, heh.

Here we go! Rock week! Slash! They're singing duets! As long as Kris doesn't have to sing with Danny, I'll be good.

Adam: "Whole Lotta Love" Of course. How could Adam not sing that song? This is like, destiny right here. Heh, they've got the band on stage. He sounds exactly like Robert Plant. Wow. This is really good, but we knew it would be, didn't we? Damn, this shit is intense, heh. He is crazy! Whoa...this is a really weird ending. He pretty much stopped the song and just started going insane. That was rockin! But...it was totally expected, heh. How could Adam not do well on rock week? God, I hate Kara so much. How does she get more annoying every week?

Allison: She got her hair done by Adam's hair stylist. She's so cute. "Cry Baby". When she belts it out she can really belt it out. The softer and lower parts of this song aren't as good as the louder parts. Pretty good, but the song was a little slower than I thought she was going to do. Aw man, I'm kind of agreeing with the judges in that this wasn't one of my favorite performances of hers. It was still really good though. Oh lordy, Allison is giving Simon sass. Go Allison! She's fantastic!

Kris/Danny Duet: No! Kris was supposed to duet with Adam! And he gets Gokey? NO! Are they trying to sabotage Kris? "Renegade" Wow, they're harmonizing really well right now. I hate Danny so much. This is kind of awkward, because neither or these guys are really suited for rock, and they really don't have much chemistry. Poor poor Kris having to sing with Danny. He did not look happy. The harmonizing was really great, but you could barely hear the solo stuff and in my opinion, Danny sounded more out of tune than Kris, but Kris wasn't really that great either. Simon: "Danny, you were better than Kris" Shit! Shit shit shit! SHIT! I was right. They paired them together in order to de-pimp Kris. This is horrible.

Kris: Wow, and he's going right after he did a duet and Simon told him he was worse than Danny. Damn they are really trying to screw him over. He's doing the Beatles! Yay! "Come Together". He's playing the electric guitar! This is great! Who knew Kris could rock?! That. Was. Awesome. Wow, but the judges are being harsh. Oh god...poor Kris. They are totally throwing him under the bus. This is horrible. Like, they're not even trying to hide it. He looks so sad! I feel terrible for him. It wasn't his best performance, but it wasn't as bad as the judges made it out to be. Kris isn't a "rocker" but he tried his best and even put a new spin on the song. And he played the guitar! Poor baby.

Danny: "Dream On" Crash and burn, Danny! Crash and burn! Why does he always look so awkward when he sings? Wow, this is horrible. Not good. And I'm not just saying that because it's Danny. This is genuinely horrible. OMG. That last scream was the worst thing I've ever heard on this show. Terrible. That hurt my ears. I actually laughed out loud it was so bad. I think he really did crash and burn! And now the judges are criticizing him, but they're still trying to be nice. Why? Why?! Why does he deserve this special treatment? He gets an 'A+' for effort, Paula? Really? REALLY?! How could they give props to Danny for "trying" for that shit performance, but they criticize Kris for taking a risk? This is complete and utter bullshit.

Adam/Allison Duet: "Slow Ride" Nice pants Adam, heh. Yes, they sound great together. I'm still so unbelievably pissed about Kris having to sing with Danny though so I'm not enjoying this at all. I'm bitter. That was great, but I'm still bitter. Simon threw Allison under the bus a bit after her performance, but her being able to sing with Adam in the duet TOTALLY saves her. It is just SO obvious who the judges and the producers want to be in the final three that I completely and totally resented this performance.

Final thoughts: FUCK YOU, AMERICAN IDOL! FUCK YOU AND YOUR STUPID FUCKING SHIT SHOW! I have never seen this level of manipulation ever. It's always bad on this show, but I've never thought it would be this bad. Case in point, the best of the night was Adam. He was great, but you know what pisses me off? Even though he went first, Simon brought him up in every other performance as a comparison. And then, even though he's gotten the pimp spot three times already on this show (including last week), he gets to go last again. And doing a cute rock duet with Allison too! I like Adam, but jeez is the level of pimping kind of ridiculous. No wonder Kris looked so sad the whole show. He had to have known what was coming for him: performing with Karaoke Gokey, compared unfavorably to Danny, had two performances in a row, performed in the middle of the show, overly harsh criticism from the judges, compared unfavorably to Adam, and finally, to put the last nail in the coffin, Simon told Allison and Adam their duet was way better than his. Ugh. Poor poor Kris. He doesn't deserve this. And the sad part is, this night probably is sending him home tomorrow. And if he does go home, you know what, good. He doesn't need to be pushed around on this stupid shit show. He has already gotten good exposure and I'm sure he'll do just fine for himself.

Sigh. That was an extremely depressing hour of television.

American Idol PSA

America,

Please. I'm begging you. Do the right thing. Make this happen:


















As the folks at Entertainment Weekly would say: Put the 'Go' in Gokey!

Signed,

A concerned fan


As an aside, it's up in the air whether I'll be able to watch the show tonight, which pains me more than you know (Sigh. How did I get to this point?). I'm going to try and vote, but I'm still nervous as heck for my dream final three. Now, I've shared my disdain for Danny before on this blog so you might think I'm just trying to spite the guy, but I really want an Adam/Allison/Kris final three because I truly believe they are the most deserving contestants. Adam may be one of the most talented contestants this show has ever had, and Allison and Kris have advanced on this show based on their amazing performances alone. Neither of them got screen time at the beginning of the show and neither of them have ever been pimped by the judges or the producers. I still kind of can't believe they've made it this far with all of those things working against them.

For the (two) people who read this blog, you might be under the assumption that I'm some kind of hardcore Idol fan. The truth is, I have never been into this show. I'm interested in pop culture in general, so I always sort of follow it every year. I can name all the winners and the majority of the notable contestants. I've also watched all of the finales and have caught episodes here and there. The truth is however, I've always kind of resisted American Idol. I perceived it as over-produced, manipulative, money-grubbing schlock that only appealed to teenage girls and rewarded contestants for "yelling" rather than singing. I always sort of made fun of it from a distance. Yes, I'd watch the finales, and yes I had my favorites, but I've never picked up a phone to vote for this show, and I always swore I never would. I never cared about it, never got connected (I was really upset when Clay didn't win in Season 2 however, but that was a long long time ago and I'm still not really sure what I was thinking).

So what changed this year? For some ungodly reason I started watching this season since the auditions. I don't know what compelled me. I'm still trying to figure it out. I also ended up watching all 3 of the semifinal rounds (Zozizzle has a fabulous post about Group 3 here). So because I was familiar with the contestants, I continued to follow the competition. I very rarely watched the episodes, but I did check up to see who was doing well, who was doing poorly, and who was getting eliminated. Through all of my following online, I was led to believe that Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey were the only two contestants who mattered, and all of the other contestants should just give up because there was no way they could beat them. It was with that in mind that I sat down to watch my first uninterrupted episode of American Idol this season during Top 9 week. I resist front-runners. Don't like them. I've already said that I think this show is manipulative, and pimped front-runners are the worst example of that. So I watched the episode and to no surprise, found the two front-runners not exactly living up to their hype (Adam's performance was good, but strange. "Play That Funky Music"? Really?). So it was to my surprise that the last performer of the night, Kris Allen, a guy who I remembered liking from the semifinals and had been reading some pretty good press about but for the most part wasn't really on anyone's radar, came out and totally won the night. His "Ain't No Sunshine" was hands down the best performance of the night, much better than the front-runners', and it has stood up as probably my favorite performance of the whole season (watch video of it here). At first I was pleasantly surprised (there was genuine shock in my reaction post), and then I just got angry. I was angry that this guy wasn't pimped like the other contestants even though he was so good. I was angry that the judges just said that the performance was his best, but not the best of the night. So I did what any normal, sane person would do, I picked up the phone and voted. Only one time, but I voted. Kris ended my Idol-voting-virginity. I was ashamed of myself, but I felt like I had to right some kind of injustice or something. I then found myself doing crazy things, like watching all of his other performances on youtube and buying his studio versions off of iTunes. I started clearing my Tuesday nights so I could power vote for him and I TiVo-ed Lost so I could watch the results show live, because I had to see if he made it another week. Kris turned me into an Idol junkie! And I couldn't be happier.

American Idol is still over-produced, manipulative, and money-grubbing, and they still reward people for shouting (see: Danny), but it also shows off week after week, genuine talent from some extremely cool kids. It's exciting to see what they're going to sing every week and how they're going to do. And while the judges can be attention-hogging at times, the show is still more than anything, about discovering undiscovered talent. Kris is the kind of musician who I can see myself listening to. He doesn't have the "biggest" voice in the competition, but that's precisely why I like him. He doesn't shout and power his way through a performance, but instead is always subtle, nuanced, and controlled. You really believe that he thinks about the songs before he sings them, and as such, creates an emotional connection to the lyrics he's singing. He has come up with some extremely creative arrangements and is the only contestant to ever play two instruments on the show. I think he's given some of the best performances of the season (Besides "Ain't No Sunshine", my other favorite performances are "To Make You Feel My Love", "Falling Slowly", and "She Works Hard For the Money"), on top of being an extremely nice, humble, cool guy. I sincerely want him to be successful, and whether that's in winning this show or in getting a recording contract after his journey ends, it doesn't matter. I think he deserves all the best, and heck, they all do! I know I said I don't like front-runners, but I genuinely like Adam a lot (watch his "Mad World" performance. Amazing), and I absolutely adore Allison. True, I don't like Danny, but I think the guy is a great singer who does appeal to a lot of people (just not me).

So why am I writing all of this now? Mostly because I'm bored. But also because I'm super nervous and antsy about tonight. I wanted to get this out there now because as much as I hate to even entertain the thought, I have a feeling Kris could be leaving us soon, and as such, my Idol journey this season will be over also (well, I'll probably tune into the finale to see Adam win). I'm not going to say you should vote for Kris. If you are the voting type, vote for whoever you want! All my votes will go to Kris however, and I hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will read this and throw a few votes his way. Even though I am nervous, I'm still really genuinely excited about rock week. I think it's going to be awesome and I will definitely be posting my reactions, I just don't know when exactly I'll be able to.

So to wrap this all up, vote for Kris/Allison/Adam....and put the 'Go' in Gokey! :)

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The one thing that could finally make me fall in love with 'Dollhouse':

WASH! So. Fucking. Awesome.

I'm not taking back the things I said about Dollhouse in my last post, but this episode ("Briar Rose") goes a long way in getting me on the right track to maybe eventually love this show. Even though I was spoiled for the Alpha twist in the end, I thought this episode was awesome in large part because Alan Tudyk is just so darn awesome!

Well played, Show. Well played.