As if it wasn't bad enough that America voted off the talented and lovely Alexis Grace on last night's American Idol, leaving the far less talented Michael Sarver in the competition and on the tour, the poor girl wasn't even allowed to exit the show with dignity. Instead, she was forced to "sing for her life," while the judges decided whether or not she was worthy of using their "save" on.
Gross!!!!!
Now, I can't say I disagree with the judges' choice not to use the save, but forcing Alexis to desperately make her case, just moments after being told she received the fewest amount of votes in the Top 11, was just wrong. What happened to the lovely send-off video and kind words from the judges? Gone. Instead, she had to plead her case to the judges via the very song they said they don't think she should have chosen, and then listen to Simon tell her "You were good, but not good enough."
I repeat -- gross!!
There's got to be a better way for the end of the show to go down, right? Right????
8 Aralık 2012 Cumartesi
Ok, I'll Say It -- The New Judges Save/Sing-For-Your-Life Is Icky!
X-Factor's Danyl Johnson - Bisexual?
Below is a video of X-Factor contestant Danyl Johnson, who Simon Cowell said gave the best first audition he's ever seen. I mean...it's good, sure, and the guy certainly has stage presence, but methinks Cowell overstates just a bit.
I'm more interested in a quote he gave to London's The Mirror, in which he declares he dates both women and men, and says, "I don’t like to conform or be put into one box or another and if I’m honest all the judges are good-looking. If I like someone’s personality it doesn’t really matter what they look like or what sex they are."
Looks like Adam Lambert is not the only singing contestant who likes the fellas!
Gay, straight, bisexual -- do you love this guy? And is he the next Susan Boyle? Let me know your thoughts.
SYTYCD's Will Wingfield Joins Broadway's "In The Heights"
So You Think You Can Dance is taking over the world!
First Lacey Schwimmer, Dmitry Chaplin and Chelsie Hightower infiltrated Dancing with the Stars, Travis Wall returned triumphantly as a choreographer on the show, Kherington Payne got cast in the remake of Fame and Neil Haskell showed up Off-Broadway in Altar Boyz and on Broadway in 9 to 5. Now Season 4's Will Wingfield will be the new "Graffiti Pete" in In the Heights!
I saw Will, who was egregriously kicked off in the Top 8 of SYTYCD two seasons ago, this summer at City Center Encore's The Wiz, where he played the head monkey. Though he didn't have much to do, he danced fabulously, and certainly had more energy than star Ashanti. I mean...
Also coming to the Great White Way this fall is Season 3 runner-up Danny Tidwell, who will be a featured dancer in Memphis. Love!
Now we just gotta find a place for Katee Sheean and Janette Manrara!
Idol Thoughts Interviews So You Think You Can Dance's Nigel Lythgoe
I just got off the phone with Nigel Lythgoe, and here's a few nuggets of information he shared about Season 6 of So You Think You Can Dance:
-Because of scheduling issues, the season finale episode will feature the Top 6, instead of the usual Top 4. This was to avoid starting with a "Top 18". By my estimations, this would put the finale on December 16, 2009.
-Adam Shankman joining the show does not mean the end of guest judges -- in fact, Jennifer Lopez, a big fan of the show, has expressed interest in joining the panel, and Nigel still hopes to get Paula Abdul from time to time.
-If the show is not successful in the fall Nigel expects it will return to the summer -- he can't imagine Fox would throw the baby out with the bathwater.
-Nigel thinks this past season was booooooooooooring, and though the dancers were technically adept, he thought they were seriously lacking in personality.
-He thinks Danny Tidwell is the best dancer the show has had, and thinks Travis Wall was a better dancer than Benji Schwimmer, and, in this past season, Brandon was a better dancer than Jeanine.
Episode 2 of the new season of SYTYCD airs tonight!
Listen to a Clip of American Idol champ Kris Allen's New Single "Live Like We're Dying"
I'm a big Kris Allen fan. Big. And I couldn't be more excited that the 23-second clip below of his rumored new single "Live Like We're Dying" sounds AWESOME. Like, One Republic meets Jason Mraz AWESOME. It's a cover of a song by a band called The Scripts, but since no one's ever heard of them, or the song, who the heck cares? The song is (have I mentioned?) AWESOME!
Listen below and let me know what you think.
7 Aralık 2012 Cuma
Waiting for an order granting Supreme Court review in a same-sex marriage case. [UPDATE: Granted!!]
The Conference is over for today; that was some time ago. What's going on now is composing orders, if any are to be released today. Simple grants are easier to write than, say, consolidated grants among several picked cases....UPDATE: "Prop. 8 is grant[d]. So is Windsor. Those are the only two marriage cases granted."
I expect the Court to act today on the gay-marriage petitions for two reasons. First, it has to rule on the petitions at this Conference if they are going to be argued in March. Otherwise, it has to wait until April. And the Court would prefer to have more time between the argument and when the Court ends the Term in late-June.
Prop. 8 is granted on the petition question -- whether 14th Am. bars Calif. from defining marriage in traditional way. Plus an added question: Whether the backers of Prop. 8 have standing in the case under Art. III.
In Windsor, the government petition (12-307) is the one granted. In addition to the petition question -- whether Sec. 3 of DOMA violates equal protection under 5th Amendment, there are two other questions: does the fact that government agreed with the 2d CA decision deprive the Court of jurisdiction to hear and decide the case, and whether BLAG (House GOP leaders) has Art. III standing in this case.AND: "The Court... has agreed to take up virtually all of the key issues about same-sex marriage, but has given itself a way to avoid final decisions on the merits issues."
Katie Roiphe tries to fathom the depths of why she's buying really expensive shoes.
You have read Adorno. You are able to think critically about your desire for the shoes. Furthermore, you have a healthy class-hatred for people who dress habitually in clothes from this store...And:
If you do walk out with the shoes... they work like a drug—the anxieties that were plaguing you before you enter the store have lifted. As you step out into traffic, the still and stagnant city is suddenly charged with possibilityThat's where the internal argument ends up, and obviously she buys the shoes. Obviously, there's a huge mental element to consumerism, both before and after the purchase. Note that anxieties must be stirred up to provide an additional argument: I need to dispel these anxieties! She gets off on the purchase.
The parties you have scribbled in your calendar seem more glittery or interesting or fun, and you in the shoes, more daunting, more sylphlike, more free, more invulnerable....
Do you want to be the kind of person who sacrifices, overreaches, for a pair of shoes, who imbues them with a romantic overlay that a material object cannot possibly sustain?
My question: Why shoes? There's some discussion of how "will transform you into someone else" — special shoe magic. (See "The Wizard of Oz.") There's oddly little reference to sex. Roiphe ignores Freud, who famously saw shoes as vagina symbols. Roiphe wants — or wants "you" — to be daunting, sylphlike, free, and invulnerable.
A sylph is a female fairy. In Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock," "women who are full of spleen and vanity turn into sylphs when they die because their spirits are too full of dark vapors to ascend to the skies." (Here is "The Rape of the Lock," with the illustrations by Aubry Beardsley, for only 99¢ on Kindle!)
So, maybe, why shoes? Why not dresses, jackets, jewelry, sweaters? I think it's that you've got to specialize — unless you're actually rich — if you're going to shop in the really expensive places. You can trick yourself into thinking you've been indulged. Still, why specialize in shoes?