American Idol, Books, and stuff
Life is busy and crazy and I had a cold and my sinus thing is worse and there was much sleeping. That's my two weeks in a nutshell.
Meanwhile, American Idol has started YAY! I told myself I was going to not watch the auditions. That didn't work. Then I told myself that I'd tape the auditions and only watch the legit people. ... Yeah, that didn't work either.
So far, I have to admit that I'm really disappointed with the people they are letting through. You can tell by the auditions what 'type' they are hoping to win for the season (not that it really works out for them, because they totally can't tell what the viewing audience is going to go for, right Taylor Hicks?) Anyway, last year they let through soooo many "belters" -- the Top 24 was top-heavy with that 'type'. This year they're letting through a lot of the blonde, blue-eyed, Carrie Underwood types, so I guess they want a female country singer winner this year. That said, my faves are... none of those types.
Philadelphia:
I liked the little bit we got to see of Jonathon Baines. He was young, cute in a "oh he's cute but I can't imagine anyone ever having sex with him" kind of way, and had a boy-band type sound, which is definitely marketable in this day and age.
I really really liked Chris Watson (black guy with short dreads.) His voice was really smooth and interesting, he was hot in the "oh yeah baby" kind of way, and he seemed pretty humble.
Dallas:
I am all about Kyle Ensley, as anybody who knows me well will not be surprised about in the least. He was the geeky college kid wearing the red tie who wants to go into politics. I actually liked his voice the best out of everyone we saw in the first two shows: it was unpolished and I definitely agree with Randy that it felt very "glee club" (I had actually thought "male choir", but whatever), but I think he has HUGE potential. He reminded me a bit of Clay Aiken in that he tends to over-enunciate and come off very musical theatre, but the underlying talent is there. (Um, Clay is better, though.)
So of course, those three are bound to be eliminated during Hollywood Week. My faves from the auditions have NEVER gotten through.
I have also been doing some reading at work because it is OMG SO SLOW. I failed at 50bookchallenge in 2007 :( so now I'm back trying to get through 50 in 2008. Here's what I've read so far:
01. The Coming Storm by Paul Russell
371 pages.
This is a story about four people, each of them living a lie in some fashion and, for some of them, coming to believe the lie. Claire, the only female protagonist, gets the short end of the straw as the story focuses on the headmaster of a private boys school, one of his new male teachers, and the blossoming romantic relationship between the teacher and a student. The schmoopmeister in me was hoping for an epilogue that would really tie things up for that relationship. And though the story was exceptionally well written, it just didn't grab me. And I totally didn't get the whole dream-dog thing.
02. Dying To Live by Kim Paffenroth
190 pages.
ZOMBIES! *ahem* The story starts a year into a zombie uprising, so you jump straight into the action. It's a very simple read, with unfortunately a lot of "tell instead of show" moments as our hero, Jonah, meets up with a band of survivors and hears their stories. I would have much preferred that the author had let the new characters take over the POV narration at certain points so we could SEE their experiences instead of hearing about them. The author also seems to shy away from certain things -- I'm not sure if it's because he's using a lot of passive voice or if he just wasn't comfortable with some of his subject matter. There's also a semi-mystical figure who I could have done without. Ah well, a nice easy read.
03. The Words of Their Roaring by Matthew Smith
338 pages.
MORE ZOMBIES! *cough* Better written than Dying To Live, but still ranked higher on my no no no *rolls eyes* meter. I mean, this one ended up with talking, thinking, reasoning zombies. Why? THE AUTHOR DOESN'T KNOW. If you're going to give your zeds the ability to talk and think, then you'd better have a good reason... because the whole reason zombies are so damn scary is that YOU CAN'T REASON WITH THEM. *sigh* There's a lot of other plot holes as well. I think this one had a lot of potential, but the author used some pretty stock two-dimensional characterizations and didn't think things through.
Book Count: 3 of 50
Word Count: 899 of 15,000
Meanwhile, I'm thisclose to actually going on a whirlwind crazy 2 day trip to New York in April. OMG.
.
Meanwhile, American Idol has started YAY! I told myself I was going to not watch the auditions. That didn't work. Then I told myself that I'd tape the auditions and only watch the legit people. ... Yeah, that didn't work either.
So far, I have to admit that I'm really disappointed with the people they are letting through. You can tell by the auditions what 'type' they are hoping to win for the season (not that it really works out for them, because they totally can't tell what the viewing audience is going to go for, right Taylor Hicks?) Anyway, last year they let through soooo many "belters" -- the Top 24 was top-heavy with that 'type'. This year they're letting through a lot of the blonde, blue-eyed, Carrie Underwood types, so I guess they want a female country singer winner this year. That said, my faves are... none of those types.
Philadelphia:
I liked the little bit we got to see of Jonathon Baines. He was young, cute in a "oh he's cute but I can't imagine anyone ever having sex with him" kind of way, and had a boy-band type sound, which is definitely marketable in this day and age.
I really really liked Chris Watson (black guy with short dreads.) His voice was really smooth and interesting, he was hot in the "oh yeah baby" kind of way, and he seemed pretty humble.
Dallas:
I am all about Kyle Ensley, as anybody who knows me well will not be surprised about in the least. He was the geeky college kid wearing the red tie who wants to go into politics. I actually liked his voice the best out of everyone we saw in the first two shows: it was unpolished and I definitely agree with Randy that it felt very "glee club" (I had actually thought "male choir", but whatever), but I think he has HUGE potential. He reminded me a bit of Clay Aiken in that he tends to over-enunciate and come off very musical theatre, but the underlying talent is there. (Um, Clay is better, though.)
So of course, those three are bound to be eliminated during Hollywood Week. My faves from the auditions have NEVER gotten through.
I have also been doing some reading at work because it is OMG SO SLOW. I failed at 50bookchallenge in 2007 :( so now I'm back trying to get through 50 in 2008. Here's what I've read so far:
01. The Coming Storm by Paul Russell
371 pages.
This is a story about four people, each of them living a lie in some fashion and, for some of them, coming to believe the lie. Claire, the only female protagonist, gets the short end of the straw as the story focuses on the headmaster of a private boys school, one of his new male teachers, and the blossoming romantic relationship between the teacher and a student. The schmoopmeister in me was hoping for an epilogue that would really tie things up for that relationship. And though the story was exceptionally well written, it just didn't grab me. And I totally didn't get the whole dream-dog thing.
02. Dying To Live by Kim Paffenroth
190 pages.
ZOMBIES! *ahem* The story starts a year into a zombie uprising, so you jump straight into the action. It's a very simple read, with unfortunately a lot of "tell instead of show" moments as our hero, Jonah, meets up with a band of survivors and hears their stories. I would have much preferred that the author had let the new characters take over the POV narration at certain points so we could SEE their experiences instead of hearing about them. The author also seems to shy away from certain things -- I'm not sure if it's because he's using a lot of passive voice or if he just wasn't comfortable with some of his subject matter. There's also a semi-mystical figure who I could have done without. Ah well, a nice easy read.
03. The Words of Their Roaring by Matthew Smith
338 pages.
MORE ZOMBIES! *cough* Better written than Dying To Live, but still ranked higher on my no no no *rolls eyes* meter. I mean, this one ended up with talking, thinking, reasoning zombies. Why? THE AUTHOR DOESN'T KNOW. If you're going to give your zeds the ability to talk and think, then you'd better have a good reason... because the whole reason zombies are so damn scary is that YOU CAN'T REASON WITH THEM. *sigh* There's a lot of other plot holes as well. I think this one had a lot of potential, but the author used some pretty stock two-dimensional characterizations and didn't think things through.
Book Count: 3 of 50
Word Count: 899 of 15,000
Meanwhile, I'm thisclose to actually going on a whirlwind crazy 2 day trip to New York in April. OMG.
.