It’s a been a busy spring of releases for the Wii, and it’ll only get worse with the Wii Fit next week.
But available right this very instant:
DECA SPORTS! One disc, ten games. What other console gives you curling game, for goodness’ sake?!? Has anyone picked this up yet? What didja think?
Well, that went as everyone and their mother predicted, didn’t it? I think even Syesha (and her mother) would have predicted the Battle of the Davids for the finale.
Really, the most entertaining part of the evening was whatever the hell that thing Fantasia was doing on stage was. I swear to you that Simon’s reaction shot mirrored mine almost exactly. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more odd, surreal, or over-the-top, she’d start rolling her shoulders, hunching her back, and kicking a leg. It was utterly bizarre, and the Must See moment of the week for television. I usually fast forward through the live acts, but this one was son crazy, I had to watch it (and Simon’s confused response to it.)
So, who wins next week? The story of the underdog little kid? Or the older rocker? I think Cook should win, but I get the feeling Archuleta has the votes and will take it, making Cook the second most successful second place finisher of all time, right after Clay Aiken.
Really, did you see that Fantasia number? Look it up on YouTube. It’s phenomenal in its awfulness. The three backup singers in the mini-dresses lend the whole thing an odd Robert Plant feel, to boot. Wow.
Update: Here’s Fantasia’s performance.
More Twittering from last week
It’s the annual three songs per contestant round — judges’ choice, contestant’s choice, producer’s choice. Once again, there are some odd choices foisted upon the contestants (via conspicuous iPhones), who then give themselves some rather odd song selections.
Anything I type here is likely to agree with something the judges said tonight. And given that I’m dragging already this evening, I’m not going to stay up late typing it all out. I’ll just say this: If I were Archuleta or Mercado, I’d be ticked off that the producers gave Cook that song to close the show while handing me such drivel.
It was a foregone conclusion going into this night — Syesha was going home this week. The judges stuck by that play book, too.
It’s the Battle of the Davids next week: The youth with the voting bloc versus the slightly creepy-looking guy who’s too good for Idol. He should be on a pro-level competition like ROCK STAR: INXS, where he could be judged by creepier looking guys with lots of tattoos.
What did you think? What song stood out to you? I’ll give a nod to David Archuleta for “And So It Goes.” It was a disastrous song in the second season, but worked very very well for David in this season, I thought.
Here are some recent Twitter posts. Once again, I had to split them into two parts from sheer volume. Part 2 will be up tomorrow.
Follow the Twitter postings all as they happen at Twitter.com/augiedb.
Here we go again:
Interesting choice. I guess putting out a disc of a two hour “event” show is the easiest way to cash in.
There’s a movie coming out soon. Didja know about that one? It ties in with that little “Iron Man” movie that the kids seem to love these days. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marvel come out with some ads soon that mention the tie-in between the two movies. They have to be hoping “Hulk” drafts off “Iron Man.”
But these were two telemovies done years after the Bill Bixby series ended. Even better, one guest starred The Mighty Thor, while the other featured Daredevil. I think Stan Lee appeared in both, too.
They’re re-releasing the original three movies again. Why, yes, there is a sequel coming out to theaters fairly soon. If you already bought the boxed set that came out a couple or three years ago, you don’t really need to buy this set. There are some new extras on these discs, but you’re probably better off with that earlier boxed set.
On the other hand, this set is in the thinner cases. If you’re looking to save an inch on your bookcase, buy this set. (Please click through the cover image above. Thanks!) Or, if you’re very picky, you can buy the individual movies and not the whole set. This way, you can skip “Temple of Doom,” if you’re a hater.
Best Buy is giving out free “Indiana Jones” comic books with the DVDs, though I don’t know what material they’re using for it. Likely, it’s some Dark Horse comic material.
Features Forest Whitaker (who’s always watchable) and Denzel Washington (who Oprah and all the ladies love). It’s a 1930s period piece set in Texas. It’s a Civil Rights tale, a debating championship tale, a union tale.
Diane Lane stars in something whose trailer looked good, but the movie probably stunk. I don’t know. Did anyone see it?
“Untraceable fuses Saw with The Net in a perverse yet moralistic story about a psychopath who broadcasts acts of torture over the internet–all to better reveal the twisted underbelly of the American public, who hasten the victims’ deaths simply by looking at the website.”
Could be horribly crappy and stereotypical. Could be one of those Hollywood constructs where tech can do ANYTHING. Or it could be a serious and interesting investigation of the dangers of the internet and how we can learn to protect ourselves and our privacy. Likely, it’s one of the first two. Maybe both.
Next Week: That special edition of 24’s first season is out, and more of THE MUPPET SHOW. Yay!
David Archuleta’s dad loses ‘American Idol’ backstage pass - Yahoo! News
Despite a warning, Jeff Archuleta insisted on altering “Stand by Me,” one of two songs his son sang on the show Tuesday. By adding a verse from Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls,” the father incurred additional costs for “American Idol,” the person said.
Shows me how well I know the song that I didn’t notice that at all. . .
24 hours later, I’ve yet to receive an offer to buy me out.
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time, though. It was a bit unfair of me to spring this on corporate America on a Friday. I’m sure there’s a corporate office staying up late this weekend trying to raise the funds. They’re probably working on a bond issue or something. Two million bucks isn’t always “ready cash,” unless your Apple.
If you’re Apple, I’ll lower the price to $1.9 million, if you throw in a couple of iMacs.
Let’s wait this out till Monday. Something’s going to come. How can it not? This is almost literally too good a deal to pass up!
ESPN - One tape turned over by Walsh shows Patriots also stole offensive signals - NFL
From Day 1 of the Spygate saga in September, the controversy over New England’s illicit videotaping practices has centered on the Patriots’ efforts to steal their opponents’ defensive signals. But the tapes delivered via FedEx to NFL headquarters in New York on Thursday morning also include evidence of an effort by New England to steal offensive signals, which would broaden the extent of the team’s surveillance operation.
I’ve never been prouder to be a fan of the NY Giants. The Patriots, as it turns out, is a ring of cheaters.
I can be bought.
And it can be profitable to the both of us.
I’ll set the price at $1,000,000.
That’s not much these days. That price won’t buy you many 30 second spots in prime time television. Heck, depending on the show you’re buying ad time on, you might not get more than a minute.
I’m offering you something better:
My blog. It’s for sale. I’ll change the name to “[Your Company’s Name Here] Presents Various and Sundry.” Heck, I’ll buy that as a domain name. I’ll make you the exclusive advertiser on a blog that updates at least five days a week.
You’ll get better than a million dollars’ worth of press coverage on the deal. What better story for the tech press to fawn over for a week or two than your company buying up a no name meaningless blog. It’s an amazing publicity stunt that makes no sense. It’s PERFECT internet fodder.
This blog doesn’t have a big readership. It’s definitely under a thousand readers. It’s probably closer to 500. It makes so little sense for you to sponsor it that it’ll command great attention. We can do a joint press release that’ll light up the blogosphere. I can get on one of those crazy Revision3 video podcasts. I’d happily be a guest on Net@Nite. TechCrunch would be all over this. I’m available to do press with all the cable news stations. I can blog the experience, to boot. It’s material for me; it’s tons of publicity for you. I’ll wear a baseball cap and a t-shirt with your company’s name on it when doing all of these shows.
I can even talk to the point that this deal will mark the end of the second web boom.
I am a friggin’ sell out. Just go ahead and buy me now. My e-mail address is linked to my name at the top of the right column.
Sadly, someone already beat me to Buymyblog.com.
But I won’t let that stop me. Others sell pixels for a dollar a shot. Others promise to do outlandish things. Some sell space for tattoos on their body, but I’m not going that far. I’m skipping all the work part. I’m just going to do my thing and take your money, sponsor!
You need something more personal? I’m going to be a Dad this fall. I can be a stay-at-home Dad with your million dollars.
Wait, I forgot about the taxes. Better make it two million bucks, just to be safe.
GoldenPalace, are you reading this? Call me. I like to play poker, too. . .
Barring all that, I’ll take a Drobo for lesser terms.
Twitter Starts Blacklisting Spammers
You know you’ve made it as a communications medium when you start attracting spammers. On Twitter, the problem is getting bad enough that the service is starting to blacklist people who spam other members. There is already an unofficial site called The Twitter Blacklist that lists 329 known spammers on the service. . .
And, I might add, The Twitter Backlist is powered by Perl. Go, Twitter!
Honestly, I fast-forwarded through most of it tonight. Bo Bice sang. So did Maroon V. The remaining contestants did another in a series of increasingly awkward group singalongs.
Then Jason went home and nobody mourned. Even Jason was happy, telling Ryan that he’s relieved because he didn’t want to sing three songs next week.
And an argument can be made that the three best singers are in the top three this season. IDOL works again.
Four contestants. Two songs. ONE American Idol.I should write reality TV show scripts.
Ryan leaks out a bit of interesting info, right at the top of the show: Only one of the remaining contestants has never been a #1 vote getter. I’m guessing Syesha, sadly. She’s doomed to be the Kimberley Locke of Season Seven.
What’s up with that wig they stuck on Paula’s head tonight? Weird.
It’s a bit of a reach to think that one of the Idols might one day land in the RnR HOF.
Thankfully, the judges will critique the contestants after each song. Is this due to the time saved by only needing to do eight songs this week? Or are we trying to save Paula any more embarrassment after last week’s debacle? You make the call.
David Cook - “Hungry Like the Wolf” - The “doo doo doo doo” moments seem forced. Maybe he should have left those to the background singers. His voice sounds fine, but the song has lost all of the rhythm and the melody that make it great. It’s just David Cook doing his thing over the song. He even looks bored as he sings the song. He’s not getting into the song. He seems distant from it. I’m not a fan.
Syesha Mercado - “Proud Mary” - Seems like a natural fit. She’s doing choreography with it, which means the judges will scream “Broadway” again. She’s being “Elvised” — the camera is avoiding her hips when she’s rolling them.
Yeah, the song did her no favors in the “Broadway” department. But she’s very comfortable on the stage. The vocal is lost to the manic choreography. I don’t know if I’d follow Simon calling it “bad” and “shrieky,” but I don’t think it showed her at her best.
Jason Castro - “I Shot the Sheriff” - Oh, my. The dreadlocks are let loose! The kid has done this show for how many weeks now? He still hasn’t figured out how not to blow air into the mic. UGH. At least he seems comfortable on the stage. He’s alive during the song for the first time in a month. Sadly, it’s a piss poor performance. Wait, that’s it? The song seemed about 20 seconds long. Strange. And karaoke. Crash and burn.
Oh, Randy beat Simon to the karaoke comment.
Paula is right — he’s never performed more to the audience. But it doesn’t matter. It’s crap.
I’m getting tired and cranky.
David Archuleta - “Stand By Me” - Of course he’s doing this song. It fits perfectly into his wheel house. (I can’t believe it took me this long to get to that cliched phrase tonight.) He did it well. Maybe the bar has been set so low this week, but I really liked it. Best song of the night so far, though he have his usual bit of breathiness in the second half.
And I swear I wrote the preceding paragraph before Simon said it nearly word for word. Wow.
For the second half of the show, I promise to be much more succinct.
David Cook - “Baba O’Riley” - I really liked it, though it nailed the problem with the night: this show’s format doesn’t give the contestants enough room to work a song. Give the song another minute to breathe and I think he could REALLY recreate the song into something new. This was just the trailer for Cook’s cinematic recreation of The Who. Good job.
Syesha Mercado - “A Change Is Gonna Come” - (I was really hoping she’d sing Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” a la Nadia Turner.) Give her a mic and let her pure voice come out. Beautiful, though again the need to shorten the song up to a minute and a half means she needs to go from power to slightness to power.
Randy hated it. Paula stands to applaud. Syesha cries. Simon agrees with Paula and says Randy got it completely wrong. Syesha brings up the Civil Right aspect of the song twice. Boy, they’re bringing out all the tricks to save her tonight, aren’t they? GOOD. Or is it just that they want to get rid of Castro so badly that they’ll praise everyone else to the hilt? Don’t they realize that reverse logic works better on Idol voters? Uh oh.
“Randy, thanks for the buzz kill… Randy, we’re running out of time. Hell’s Kitchen’s gonna start. - Ryan
Jason Castro - “Mr. Tambourine Man” - I hear William Shatner already. Crap, then he goes and forgets the lyrics. Why doesn’t he just crucify himself on the Simon Cross now? Why bother with the show, really? Welcome to Jason’s Very Very Bad Night.
I think this might be the first ever Double Idol Crash and Burn!
Let’s cancel the vote and just kick him off the show now. Why doesn’t he just go home and save us all the trouble?
Didn’t Josh Gracin blow a lyric in Season Two in the round of four, too? No, that was the round of five? He recovered, had a good week in the Round of 4, and went straight home.
David Archuleta - “Love Me Tender” - Another good song choice. He didn’t know the song in advance. Uh oh. He’s visibly fighting to keep his eyes open, but he’s remembering the lyrics.
Whoa. Stop the presses. I thought he was brilliant on that. He was subtle enough and subdued enough to eliminate all of his annoying traits. He was in control of that song and made it work.
Clearly, Castro was the worst of the night and deserves to go home. Archuleta won, with Cook in second and Syesha in a close third. But does it matter? Will America vote on talent? Will Cook pull a Daughtry tomorrow night? Will Syesha’s crying get her enough sympathy votes to trump the avalanche of pity votes that “I Forgot The Lyrics” Jason will be getting?
I think Jason will go home tonight. Syesha goes home next week. The finale is between the two Davids. Cook wins it all. I have to believe that, or my head will explode.
You know the drill by now, right? Catch them all right here. Or see a lot of them now, with more tomorrow:
Augie De Blieck Jr. doesn't know when to shut up, which makes him the perfect blogger. That, and he reads a lot of other blogs. You can e-mail him, if you really wanted to.
