American Idol Review

Wow… on American Idol tonight, the girls were… bad. Really bad.

If you've been following the show up until now, you know that the girls have done really really well, and that the young'uns have been the best of the bunch. Something happened today that changed all that. They just... didn't have it, whatever "it" is.

Syesha did a good job. She sang well, she was engaging and she wasn't off. I missed what the judges said because I was letting the dog out. (She was driving me crazy.)

Kristy Lee Cook actually did a good job this week, and since I like her, that made me happy. My boyfriend is in love with her, and he'll be happy. I didn't like her last week, but she did sing well this week - and she sure is pretty.

Amanda proved she has variety, and then the judges told her they didn't like it. That's too bad, because she actually did well tonight. And then Paula went ahead and told her she's unique to the competition and they need people like her. Be that as it may, Paula told that to at least one other girl... urg. At least Simon was honest about the girl's dress.

Alaina… Alain RUINED a song I LOVE ("Hopelessly Devoted to You") and fortunately, the judges agreed. It was funny, because my roommate, Melody, didn't realize what the song was until the last several measures.

Kady also did a bad job. The difference is because I hadn't heard of the song, I didn't know how bad it was, unlike with Alaina.

The worst of the night, though, had to have been Asia'H. The song was bad, and then, to make it worse, Randy and Paula went and complimented her! Fortunately, though, Simon came through and told the truth.

Here's the thing, everyone always gets mad at Simon, but I almost always agree with him. Simon tells the truth. Randy just makes things up. And Paula loves everyone.

Fortunately, it's no longer up to the judges… it's up to us. And this week, Syesha is the only one who did a good job.

Smallville Episode Review: "Persona"

As mentioned in the "Recap" post, I'm trying something different. This, instead of a play-by-play, will sum up this week's episode without too many spoilers.

The episode tonight was incredibly intense. As you may or may not be able to recall, the last episode ended with Kara missing, a problem in Lex's lab, Lex revealing that his dead baby brother, Julien, was alive, and Jar-El, Clark's birth father, telling Clark that he's messed things up for the last time.

Turns out, Jar-El, instead of killing someone close to Clark has simply been holding him for the time being. Meanwhile, a Phantom Clark-look-alike has taken Clark's place and moved into his life. The problem? Other than the fact that our hero is in deep trouble: no one's realized.

For the Clark phantom, there's another problem: the yellow sun of our world turns his skin to stone. He needs to try to figure out a way to make that stop, realizing that sooner or later, someone's going to catch on. And it's just a matter of time before someone does.

This episode was intriguing, and it raises lots of questions:
How much longer before something happens to make Lana and Clark break it off for good? Their relationship isn't the best at the end of this episode: to put it lightly. Which would you choose, though: a man who says he loves you but is never there, or someone impersonating him who would turn over the world for you?
When will they find Kara? Is her memory going to return?
How will Professor Fine's finding information about himself affect Clark (read the recap) and the others?
How will Lex handle the situation with his brother? Does it help shape who he becomes?

Smallville: Episode Recap "Persona"

Trying something new. This recap contains an in-depth depiction of what happened in Smalllville tonight. Unfortunately, something I thought unimportant in a last episode was important. Figures.

Well, the new Smallville began with a much-needed bang. Lana and Clark in bed, and then the editor of the Daily Planet (who is dating Lois on the DL) goes to Lionel Luthor and basically says, "You're my father, pay up." He adds that he was made from the original Julien's DNA because Lex missed his brother - and that Lex had told him not to go to Lionel because Lionel might decide to turn on him.

Lana and Clark wake up together in bed, and Clark is very affectionate, telling her how beautiful she is, and being all-around very open with her.

Meanwhile, there is somebody knocking off homeless guys, and Lana has him traced to Suicide Slums (if you follow Smallville like I do, you know that's where Lionel Luthor's parents lived before he killed them - or had them killed) and Clark goes. Clark confronts his former history teacher who was created by Kryptonians - and he calls "Clark" out as not being Kal-el. The new Clark (whom we'll call NEW) explains that he can't go out into the sun without being turned to stone - he thinks that the professor can help. The professor ignores him. But then agrees to help, once NEW reminds him that Kal-el tried to kill him.

There is a shield from a Kryptonian that will lead to a Kryptonian who can help him. NEW takes the bait and goes to visit Chloe, who, in confusion, reminds him that he already has the shield. Chloe realizes that somethings wrong with Clark - and that it's not actually him. She goes to
Lana to warn her, and learns that NEW and Lana are leaving Smallvillle.

Then, Lana suggests that NEW go to the fortress for the shield he can't find, after he mentions he thinks Kara might have taken it.

When he gets there, Jar-El calls him the phantom, tells him to leave, and then releases the real Kal-El, who goes to Lana, saves her, then tries to find out what to do to destroy NEW (should I call him the Phantom now, I wonder?? Nah. Too confusing). Clark goes Lionel Luthor, who at some point became an emissary of Jar-El and asks him for help. After Lionel suggests what he can do - using the shield, of course, he goes into an elevator and Clark leaves. Lionel then becomes the professor (who has the ability to become others - he once impersonated Jonathon Kent -- after Mr. Kent died).

Clark goes to Chloe, and tells her he can't find the shield. He proves that he's not NEW by stepping into the light, and she gives him the shield. He does what the Lionel Professor told him, and says the name of the Kryptonian who supposedly owns it. He approaches the Kryptonian, and tells him who he is (Kal-El). "Ahh, the House of El." Dear old Clarky falls for the whole thing hook, line and sinker, as they say.

Clark obtains the blue Kryptonite from him, which is what the professor said would help NEW not be affected by the sun.

Here's the thing with Krytonian minerals: they affect Clark and NEW oppositely. Blue Krytonite turns Clark into a human.

Then, there's this big old scene with Lana, Clark and NEW, where Lana goes to take the blue stone to NEW and then realizes that she's more in love than she ever has been... and then she gives him the stone. NEW breaks into a million pieces - stone, and then a break.

The kicker: the Professor wants help from the Krytonian who created him... he's damaged. He's used both Clark and the Phantom for that (finding him). He kills the Kryptonian - or at least it looks that way. He gets the information out of him to survive.

Lex fires Julien from the Daily Planet. Julien's not upset. Instead, he's looking forward to being part of his newfound family. Huh. He goes out to dinner with Lionel, and after, just as he tells Julien he's a Luthor, they're mugged and Julien's killed.

Was it planned? Lex hears the news and is devastated by it - Lionel looked pretty upset, too.

Curious episode: Clark and Lana are together, but not. Julien, a newly found son and brother, is killed. The Professor is back and powerful.

I really hope that Clark can fly by the end of this season. And a part of me wonders if this is the final straw for Lex - if his brother's second death is what pushes him over the edge and turns him into the Lex we all know and hate.

What do you think?

Me, I'm off for coffee.... yum.

House, "It's A Wonderful Lie" review

This episode was particularly odd because it was about a mother and her daughter who supposedly never lied to one another. Mom told daughter about all of her sexual escapades. They think that her sexual escapades are part of the mom's problem - temporary paralysis due to use of ecstasy. But then, she goes blind, too - and that's clearly not a result of x, so they're back to the drawing board.
(Spoiler alert)
Eventually, they learn that she has cancer, and that her daughter, who offered to complete the bone marrow transplant for her is not, in reality, her daughter at all, but a kid mom took off of another woman who didn't want a child. The woman asked that the mom not ever let her daughter know who her real mom was.

For some reason, House took great joy in the fact that the daughter had told her mother that she would die - without question - if she wouldn't allow the bone marrow test.

I like House... I like that he genuinely cares about doing his job well - whether or not his means of doing so are questionable.

I like the team that House has assembled. They work well together, and I think Thirteen is great (does she have a real name now???). I also like they play with House, particularly in this episode. House needs people who can hold their own around him... and they can.

Why would House feel the need for gifts to such an extent that he would only put his own name in the hat? Doesn't he realize they're not dumb enough to fall for that? HE hired them for goodness sake.

American Idol Day 2

Day 2 of American Idol. I love Auditions... I really do.

I do have two things to point out before I go on: don't sing a song by an American Idol and please dress professionally. By the way, they don't usually give you advice unless you're going through.

Good:
Jessica Brown (first to go) - going to Hollywood
Alaina - (compared to Carrie Underwood) - going to Hollywood
Bruce Dickson - I think my sister should marry him, he's never kissed a girl, and wants to wait 'til his wedding day; that's my sister's thought - they didn't like him
Pia Easley - liked her, and so did they - Hollywood
Bradon Green - Simon says forgettable, Paula likes 'im, and Randy says yes, too - Hollywood
Kady Malloy - she did Britney Spears well, I didn't like her Carrie Underwood, but she did herself well. Randy agrees, Paula liked her, Simon thinks she's the best so far - Hello, Hollywood
Kyle Ensley - good, but not quit Idol material (much better than I thought he was) - Simon says yes, though; Randy said no, and Paula said yes, too; so their we go - Hollywood
Colton Swann - He's good - Paula said yes, so did Randy, Simon says yes - Hollywood (good sense of humor, too)
Andrew Poppelreiter - real cute, adorable accent, good but country - Simon says no, Randy yes, Paula said yes, too - I'm sooo excited - going to Hollywood
Nina Shaw - old-fashioned cabaret singer - but she went through to Hollywood anyway


Bad:
Esteban Deanda - scariness all around, people
Victoria Metz - even worse
Gregory and Mia Tobias - I thought she was okay, but she sounded bad next to him
Kayla Hatfield - yelling or singing? Randy and Simon said yes, so she's going to Hollywood
Says my roommate "It's kinda funny who Simon likes and who he doesn't. I wonder what's going on in his British head."
Douglas - went on and on about how good he is, but really, not
Angela Riley - her hubby's hot, but her voice was soooo not
Tammy Tuzinski - R&B/Pop, and her Idol is Celine Dion. Hmmm. I had a bad feeling about her from the beginning - no's across the board
Kyle Reinnek - the verse was fine, the chorus was bad - the judges said no, too


Only 24 people from Dallas. Ouch.

Thoughts About American Idol Season 7

All I've heard about in the last few months is "how much better" this season of American Idol is supposed to be. Tonight started out pretty well. There were some great voices, there were some terrible voices. There were some good attitudes, and there were some people who needed to have their mouths washed out with soap.

My favorites were: Junot - amazing voice, great smile, Christina (in red - was that her name?)
- beautiful and great voice; Chris (I think - black guy with dreds) aMAZing voice... and he's very pretty. I agree with Simon, that he's in it to win. Dawn (last girl to go - in the blue - was that her name?) - soooo sweet, good voice, and really beautiful.

Some highlights: Miss Alexis in her sparkly "I'm so 13" makeup and earrings making a huge deal out of her rejection. I don't know what they said to her when she wasn't shown on the show, but my word... wow, it wasn't that bad. Honey, you need to take some chill pills. Trust me, you can't sing. You can't. I covered my ears, and then laughed my butt off at your overreaction.
Miss Christina in her Princess Leia outfit. Here's the thing sweetie, it's an addition. The idea is not to dress up like you're going to a gaming convention, because you're not. You're going to an audition, a job interview, if you will. Dress like it. The people who got in who were "all dressed alike" yes, many of them were dressed with a similar theme in mind: professionalism.

Anyway, Phili sent 39 people to Hollywood. Can't wait to see tomorrow's show.

Recap ofTerminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles "Gnothi Seauton"

In 2007, Sarah and John are "time lagged" because of the jump. Cameron walks in, and explains that future John has sent back "Resistance Fighters" to protect himself. (Anyone who has seen the Terminator movies knows that.)

While Sarah and Cameron go looking for someone to help them get fake IDs, they stumble across a Terminator. Cameron gets hit by a car and goes through the windshield (kinda like a deer) and then told the occupants of the car to stay calm, and goes running off. That has to be terrifying.

I keep wondering why Sarah doesn't dye her hair or something - cut it, get hair extensions, that kind of thing. But no. John is given strict instructions to stay put (which he violates by going to the mall and hacking into a computer, what a surprise) and they girls go to get fake IDs from an ex-boyfriend, Enrique. Unfortunately, they run into a problem because he's quit. But his nephew has taken over the "family business" as it were.

Meanwhile, someone sets a mechanic head on a table. When a cat licks it, the eyes light up. Moments later, a man and his dog are walking by a construction site when a long, mechanic hand reaches out of the debris and snatches both dog and man. Blood scatters across the walls... ahh yes, the beginnings of the new Skynet.

Enrique's nephew, Carlos, charges them $20,000 for the IDs, while Cameron's waiting outside. She gets picked up by a cop and is going in for the kill, when Sarah stop her and pretends to be her stepmother.

John gets it into his head to break into his mother's ex-fiance (Charley Dixon)'s house and traipses around there stupidly. when her ex catches him and tries to welcome/hug him, John warns him not to, and punches him out and runs out when he does anyway. I don't get it.

At the very end, Sarah and Cameron confront Enrique, having learned that he was a snitch through Carlos - who didn't know they were listening, or that they understood - and kill Enrique.