American Idol 4/22/08 and 4/23/08

OK, so who watched American Idol this week? Interesting right? Out of all themes on the plant, they pick Andrew Lloyd Webber. I personally thought that it was a very interesting choice. It takes a different kind of skill to sing songs that are meant for Broadway. Granted, most of the contestants did a pretty good job with. Each person twisted the song a little in order for it to fit their own style of music. Some contestants were more successful than others. I really want to know what you all think about the theme this week. Was the theme too narrow and was it not geared toward the singing abilities of the contestants? Let me know!

OK, now on to the results show on Wednesday. Clearly, because there are so little contestants left, it really is hard to see anyone go. The bottom two people this week were Siesha Mercato and Carly Smithson. After America voted, Carly went home. Many people that I have spoken think that Carly should have stayed and that Jason should have been in the bottom and subsequently, gone home last night. I’m curious to know what you all think about the eliminations. Should Carly have gone home last night? Should Jason have been in the bottom two instead? Let me know what you think about the eliminations and what the future holds for the rest of the contestants on American Idol as the competition is coming to close.  

American Idol and iTunes

Hey everybody! For those of you that do not know, American Idol has this deal with iTunes, that after every contestant sings, the studio recording of their song gets uploaded to iTunes. I recognize that some people may not agree with practice. I can see how people would think that American Idol is jumping too quickly into making multiple stars out of their show. I actually like the idea of putting the contestants’ songs on iTunes. My reason for this is that I like many of the people on the show, not just one. This practice allows me to download the songs I like each week from people I liked that particular week. I think this practice is a good idea. What do you all think? Do you think that American Idol and iTunes should wait and only put the winner’s songs up at the end of the competition? Let me know.

Also, in other American Idol news. This past Wednesday, Kristie Lee Cook was voted off American Idol. As this was happening, the first thing that came to my mind was, “It’s about time America sent her home.” Within the first couple of weeks, I knew that Kristie Lee Cook did not have what it takes to win the American Idol competition. I think she was on the show way too long. For those of you that watch American Idol, let me know what you think. What it Kristie Lee Cook’s time to go? Was is too soon? Was she on way too long? I’m curious to know what others think about this.

Film Review – Shutter

Hey everybody! Yesterday I went to the Madison Movie Theater with a friend and her two overnights to see the movie Shutter. When we decided to go, I was in the mood for a scary movie, so I was excited. Ok, keep this in mind: we are four girls, walking to a 9:25pm scary movie, we are the only people in the theater, and they put us in the creepiest theater there. The set up for us to see this movie was perfect. For those of you that do not know, the movie Shutter is about a newly wed husband and wife that go on a working honeymoon to Japan. The husband, Ben, is a photographer who lands a job in Japan. His wife, Jane, usually does some exploring in Tokyo while Ben is a work all day. While Ben and Jane are driving to their hotel, they have a car accident because Jane thinks she hit a “girl” that was in the middle of the road. Once Ben and Jane emerge from the car, there is no sign of the girl anywhere. At first, Ben does not believe Jane about the girl. As the movie progresses, stranger things keep happening and finally Ben believes Jane. Eventually, they find out that the “girl” is a ghost and Jane is determined to solve the mystery. Strangely enough, Ben is connected to this girl’s ghost. Anymore information would give the movie away. Starring in this movie is Rachael Taylor, Joshua Jackson, David Denman, James Kyson Lee, and Maya Hazen. To be perfectly honest, I did not think that this movie was particularly amazing. I love to know what people thought of the movie. Let me know!

Film Review – 21

Hello again! Last weekend, I went to the movies with a couple of friends to see the movie 21. For those of you that do not know, the movie 21is about a guy named Ben that goes to MIT. He is a really smart guy that excels in all his classes. His dream is to graduate from MIT and attend Harvard Medical School. Because his family cannot pay the tuition for Harvard Medical School, the only way that Ben will be able to attend Harvard Medical School is if he wins the scholarship that would grant him full tuition. After his interview with a representative from Harvard Medical School, the representative tells Ben that in order to win the scholarship, his essay must “wow” the committee and just off the page. At this point, Ben is discouraged because he does not think that he has any experiences that would “wow” Harvard Medical School. Soon after, Ben is recruited to join a secret team ran by a teacher (Kevin Spacey) from MIT. The purpose of this team is to count cards in Blackjack at casinos in Las Vegas in order to make money. Ben reluctantly joins for the sole purpose in winning enough money to pay his tuition to Harvard Medical School. Does Ben make enough money to pay his tuition or does he win the scholarship? Does his team make it out of Las Vegas or do they get in trouble with the law? You are going to have to see the movie to find out. I loved this movie and I hope you guys do too. Let me know what you think! 

Movie Review – Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who

Hey everybody! Yesterday I went to the Madison Movie Theater with a couple friends to see Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino. It was probably one the cutest movies I have ever seen! In the movie, Horton is the main character. He is a goofy elephant that teaches the children animals of the forest that they live in different things. One day, Horton finds a purple clover that has a little, tiny speck on it. Most people would pay no attention to the speck, but Horton was extremely curious about this speck. As he examined the speck more closely, Horton begun to hear voices and sounds coming from the speck. As it turns out, the speck actually contains a town called Whoville. Whoville is a community that contains people called Whos. Horton eventually becomes in contact with the mayor of Whoville. Horton than vows to get the speck to safety. The other people in Horton’s forest do not believe him about the speck. After some convincing, the people in the forest believe in Whoville and Horton ensures the people of Whoville that they are safe. This animated feature contains the voices of Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Dan Fogler, Carol Burnett, and Seth Rogen. According to Yahoo! critics and users, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who is rated about ”B.” If you have seen the movie as well, please let me know what you thought about it.  

Film Review – Vantage Point

Today I went to the movies with my brother and we saw the movie Vantage Point. Vantage Point is about relations with Spain and the United States to eliminate terrorism around the world. The movie opens with the President of the United States arriving at a plaza in Spain. As he begins his speech, a shot is fired and the President falls to the ground. As the secret service agents run to his side and scramble to locate the shooter, a bomb then explodes in the lobby of a hotel, followed by a bomb exploding at the plaza. After all these events happen, the movie suddenly rewinds itself to 23 minutes before the acts of terrorism occur. The movie then continues play and rewind the entire time, showing the different view points of each person that is involved with the shooting/bombing. The movie appears to be very well put together in that each time someone else’s view point is shown, a little more of the puzzle is revealed to the viewer. By the end, all pieces are revealed, along with a few surprises and the viewer (in my opinion) leaves with the idea that everything worked out the way it should. This movie stars Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, and Sigourney Weaver. According to Yahoo!, the critics rated Vantage Point a “C” and Yahoo! users rated Vantage Point a “B-.” I thought this movie deserved much more than either a “C” or a “B-.” I am curious to know what you all think. If you have seen this movie and want to lend your opinion, that would be great. For those of you that are interested, Vantage Point is currently out in the movie theaters.

American Idol Episodes: 3/11/08 and 3/12/08

Who likes American Idol? To be honest with everybody, I hated American Idol until this season. I always thought it was a pointless show. I always thought that if you knew how to sing and you wanted to be “the next big thing,” if it was in your cards, you would make it. I actually blame my interest in American Idol on my mother. I was incredibly amused to find out why my mom started watching American Idol. This is her first season watching it as well. My mom blamed the writer’s strike. She told me one day, “I’m so sick of all the repeats and my favorite shows never coming back! I just started watching American Idol.” Ever since she told me that, I was hooked. I don’t really know much about the American Idol past. The pnly thing I can really tell you about is that Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood came out of it as stars. Anyway, back to this season. In the group of contestants, I am a big fan of David Archaleta and David Hernandez. What prompted me to write about American Idol this week is the fact that David Hernandez was actually voted off. I was actually sad and I called my mom immediately. My mom and I are way to into it, if you ask me. I just wanted to know if there any other people out there that agree with me in that David Hernandez was voted off way too early. I have another question for those of you who are American Idol fans: Do you think that David Archaleta will win the whole competition just because he has been so popular from the start? Is it really even fair if he does win? Blog me back, I would love to hear your responses.

Don’t Forget the Lyrics!

Hey everybody! I just couldn’t help myself, today I have to write about the latest episode of Don’t Forget the Lyrics. For those of you that don’t know, Don’t Forget the Lyrics is a game show that is hosted by Wayne Brady. The point of the show is for people to sing karaoke style, however, the tricky part is that some of the words are missing. The contestant has to fill in the missing words correctly in order to move on to the next monetary level. The goal is to reach the one million dollar mark. I wanted to write about the episode last night because I thought it was extremely entertaining. The girl that was on, Jill, was probably the best contestant I have seen on that show. While she sang to each song, she had a different dance move to go with it. She even took time out at one point to break dance on stage between songs. It was hilarious! Jill also had a great singing voice. Unfortunately, she didn’t make to a million dollars. She walked away with $350,000. Personally, I don’t think that too bad, do you? I definitely recommend the show to anyone who enjoys singing and occasionally dancing. Don’t Forget the Lyrics is on Fox at 9:00 pm on Thursdays. For more information about the show, you can check out: http://www.fox.com/dontforget/

Have the Oscars Become Boring?

Every February, the Oscars role around to finish up the entertainment year. The big question is, “Have the Oscars gotten boring?” We all watch the Oscars every year and it is pretty much the same format. We have excepted the fact that same awards are given every year; I typically just stay up until the awards I want to see are given. Also, what determines whether or not I watch the Oscars is who is hosting it. Many times, the host makes or breaks the Oscars. The host engages the crowd and sets the tone of the whole show. Salon.com actually discusses some of the things that the Oscars could do to take the show to the next step. One thing that the site mentions is that the Oscars could include all films, even films that were not from the last year. All films would add a higher competition to the show and only the most deserving would win. Also, new categories of awards would allow for more people/films to win and it would give other people the recognition that their piece deserves. There has even been talks of instituting penalties for people who make inappropriate/dishonest speeches. Celebrities should not be omitted from punishment if necessary. Many other things could be done to make the Oscars better for the viewing audience. Maybe not this year, but years in the future could bring a more exciting Oscar experience. Check out what Salon.com has to say by visiting: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2008/02/22/oscar_fixes/index.html

Presidential Styles

How funny is it that people sometimes pay more attention to what our presidential candidates are wearing instead of what they are actually advocating? Throughout history, presidents and first ladies have drawn the eyes of America not by what is coming out of their mouths, but what is on their backs. Why is that? People are more interested in making sure that our country’s important people look like they fit in to today’s society rather than better things in today’s society. It is das to know that people go into the voting booth and check off the person that has a better looking tie rather than the person that will benefit the country to their fullest extent. As bizarre as it sounds, I almost wish our presidential candidates all wore the same outfit so that the country would have the ability to make a clear decision about who they think would be better for the country. Most candidates would argue that their style is based on showing the population that they are well put together and respectable on their issues. I think that this campaign, people should focus on the issues that we want to correct in this nation and vote based on brains not brand-names. For an article relating to this blog entry, check out  http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Vote2008/story?id=4243961&page=1