I got to watch in realtime Wednesday night! (And then I was too tired to write up a recap then, but....yeah.) So, anyway, the Top 14 performed, except for those who didn't.
See, it's like this: The producers ruled that if the judges could agree unanimously on any contestants, they would get a free pass into the Top 10, and whoever was left would be left for America to decide. So Keith, Jennifer and Harry got together and gave Fast Passes to Olivia(Yay!), Dalton(Yay!), Treny(Yay?) and La'Porsha(ugh). So that left ten singers fighting for the final six spots. What happened after that? Read on....(totally had Steven Tyler screeching that phrase right there) to find out.
Manny Torres performed Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster," and the best thing I can say about it was that it wasn't very challenging rangewise. Also, that rhythm seemed really choppy, so maybe that had something to do with it. But it was extremely forgettable, though he seemed to have fun.
Gianna Isabella sang Annie Lennox's "I Put a Spell On You," which was boring. She was wearing a weird outfit, I was expecting an upbeat tonal shift which never happened, and then all the high notes just seemed to be jammed in there to say "I'm YELLING!" Not a fan.
Thomas Stringfellow did One Direction's "Story of My Life," which was fine, I suppose. It had nice guitar in the background. That hat was horrible, though. Couldn't pay attention between that and his hair, which was equally bad. The teen girls in the audience loved it, by the loud squealing which could be heard.
Tristan McIntosh did Rascal Flatts's "What Hurts the Most", which was actually first done by Mark Wills. It was weird hearing a girl sing this, like when Danny Gokey did "Jesus Take the Wheel." But it worked. What I scribbled down in my notebook: "Whoa. Terrific."
First off, I was distracted during Avalon Young's performance simply because she was wearing makeup. She looks like Elaine from Seinfeld that way. She did a Chris Brown song called "Excuse Me Miss," and it was weird, but it fit Avalon. She seemed nervous, though, and it felt like karaoke-good, not last-American-Idol-good.
Jenn Blosil managed to ruin Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors." I kinda thought that was one of those which it was hard to mess up. Her voice sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard, and those glitter eyebrows were the last straw. This was all-around terrible.
Lee Jean did another Ed Sheeran song, this one called "Make It Rain." I couldn't hear the guitar, but it was another nice Lee performance.
Sonika Vaid was next. She did Celine Dion's "I Surrender," because everyone has to do that at least once every season. There's something about her eyebrows.... and this was just such a boring song.
Jeneve Rose Mitchell surprised everyone by simply singing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" without doing anything outlandish to it. It was weird, but interesting. And a little boring, because it was so subdued. Her voice was all over the place, but the emotion was there. "Did you like that?" Harry asked Jennifer. "Well....it was fun....?" she mumbled.
MacKenzie Bourg was the last contestant of the night, and he did an original song called "Roses." That was strange. The girls in the audience loved it. He seemed nervous and mumbling, but the guitar was played well. He also stole one of Jemma Simmons' shirts. (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reference.)
I voted the maximum amount for Tristan and Lee, and then for Jeneve to try to keep her on there, with a couple online votes for Avalon and MacKenzie. And then I voted the old-fashioned way, by phone, for Tristan, Lee and Jeneve.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Stories, Discernment and Homework
This Laura Story song has been stuck in my head an especially large amount for the last couple months. It usually plays pretty often, for whatever reason, but....yeah. I'm just...exhausted. More than usual. Past the energy of complaining. Past "keep your head and keep plowing." At least that ear infection is slowly improving, that's something.
Almost halfway through the final Harry Potter, which will be something done, at least, once it's finished. This has been an incredibly unproductive week; haven't been able to concentrate on homework at all, and haven't even written up this week's Idol recaps yet. J.K. Rowling's writing has definitely gotten better over time; it's just....something, I don't know. They're all so massively long, for one thing. (Between the seven, they cover roughly 3,600 pages and just over a million words. 1,084,170 to be Hermione-exact.) That takes a lot of energy. And like Martin Cothran wrote once in an editorial in an issue of The Classical Teacher magazine, he was quoting Madeleine L'Engle's opinion of Rowling's books: "They're nice stories, it's just....there's nothing to them." Because there isn't. So they aren't really that harmful, like a lot of people said. They're just empty. Which is much worse in some ways, because there isn't anything to ponder which could be considered worthwhile(though I have no doubt lots of academic scholarly papers and books have dissected elements.)
I've also been watching handfuls of episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it was homework. That was also tiring, but for a different reason. For one thing, I had my critical observation reporter instinct on. And for another, Buffy is what turned Joss Whedon into Joss Whedon; so that was interesting from that standpoint. And they have been very well-written and engaging plotlines; though a lot of Wikipedia research has had to be done to finish the outline of blank spaces between episodes. But even if the makeup of the vampires is really awful as-only-90's-special-effects-can-be on second viewing; vampires are still scary. I mean, I appreciate that Whedon played with and mixed up all the stereotypes and historical depictions into crafting this world and everything, but the concept is incredibly uncomfortable. But as somebody who frequently tries to evaluate pop culture by Biblical principles and mesh them whenever possible, while still striving for and admiring high artistic quality, it's an interesting situation. It's one of those "some people can eat meat sacrificed to idols and others can't" deals like Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 8, or the folks at PluggedIn are always arguing amongst themselves about. I'll skip the Buffy section of the Whedonverse if possible, and let others appreciate all the good parts(which, of course, there are lots of).
But the thing that makes Buffy most dangerous is that it's such a well-told story. Louis L'Amour knew this well, that well-crafted narratives can be bombs. So did G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Harper Lee and Agatha Christie, plus a lot of other dead people I can't think of right now. Stephen King knows this. When tales are engaging, with an emotional pull created by following the adventures and trials of very complex characters with a lot of depth, that creates a lot of potential energy. MacGyver would be one of the first to agree that when a bunch of highly-flammable potential energy is bottled up, things will go either very right, or very, very wrong. (Come to think of it, Peter Parker and Norman Osborn serve as good examples, too.) The main premise of "high school is hell", taken literally like it is in the show, is really interesting from a storytelling angle. Never having attended an actual high school, I can't say how accurate that is, and I would be more inclined to say that college is. But apparently Buffy had quite a bit of trouble with that, too. Anyway, for me, the dark side of Buffy is too strong to think it very safe to be around.
The Harry Potter books contain a lot of magical elements, too, but they strike me as harmless because they are first and foremost not well written enough to pose a danger. The later books have progressed far enough for me to shrug and say, "Huh. That was fine, I guess," and forget most of what happened almost immediately, but the early ones made me angry they were so bad; the fierce kind where I wanted to fire the book as hard as I could into the wall and cry in frustration at society in general for turning these into basically the biggest book series ever.
Fuller House premiered on Netflix Friday; and they managed to match the tone perfectly. That's pretty amazing. And it doesn't help if you're one of those strange people who dislike Full House, but if you're a fan it's been awesome to see how the Tanners are doing nowadays. And as sitcoms, they both fill a much different niche of the storytelling spectrum; so the goals and expectations are different. Because the world needs more sitcoms which are actually funny, and because the main goal was to literally recapture Full House if possible, Fuller House is a success. (Especially when thrown into contrast with all those other Netflix shows....they are dark. Have mercy.)
So now I'll get to work on those Idol recaps and then head back to doing homework.
Almost halfway through the final Harry Potter, which will be something done, at least, once it's finished. This has been an incredibly unproductive week; haven't been able to concentrate on homework at all, and haven't even written up this week's Idol recaps yet. J.K. Rowling's writing has definitely gotten better over time; it's just....something, I don't know. They're all so massively long, for one thing. (Between the seven, they cover roughly 3,600 pages and just over a million words. 1,084,170 to be Hermione-exact.) That takes a lot of energy. And like Martin Cothran wrote once in an editorial in an issue of The Classical Teacher magazine, he was quoting Madeleine L'Engle's opinion of Rowling's books: "They're nice stories, it's just....there's nothing to them." Because there isn't. So they aren't really that harmful, like a lot of people said. They're just empty. Which is much worse in some ways, because there isn't anything to ponder which could be considered worthwhile(though I have no doubt lots of academic scholarly papers and books have dissected elements.)
I've also been watching handfuls of episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it was homework. That was also tiring, but for a different reason. For one thing, I had my critical observation reporter instinct on. And for another, Buffy is what turned Joss Whedon into Joss Whedon; so that was interesting from that standpoint. And they have been very well-written and engaging plotlines; though a lot of Wikipedia research has had to be done to finish the outline of blank spaces between episodes. But even if the makeup of the vampires is really awful as-only-90's-special-effects-can-be on second viewing; vampires are still scary. I mean, I appreciate that Whedon played with and mixed up all the stereotypes and historical depictions into crafting this world and everything, but the concept is incredibly uncomfortable. But as somebody who frequently tries to evaluate pop culture by Biblical principles and mesh them whenever possible, while still striving for and admiring high artistic quality, it's an interesting situation. It's one of those "some people can eat meat sacrificed to idols and others can't" deals like Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 8, or the folks at PluggedIn are always arguing amongst themselves about. I'll skip the Buffy section of the Whedonverse if possible, and let others appreciate all the good parts(which, of course, there are lots of).
But the thing that makes Buffy most dangerous is that it's such a well-told story. Louis L'Amour knew this well, that well-crafted narratives can be bombs. So did G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Harper Lee and Agatha Christie, plus a lot of other dead people I can't think of right now. Stephen King knows this. When tales are engaging, with an emotional pull created by following the adventures and trials of very complex characters with a lot of depth, that creates a lot of potential energy. MacGyver would be one of the first to agree that when a bunch of highly-flammable potential energy is bottled up, things will go either very right, or very, very wrong. (Come to think of it, Peter Parker and Norman Osborn serve as good examples, too.) The main premise of "high school is hell", taken literally like it is in the show, is really interesting from a storytelling angle. Never having attended an actual high school, I can't say how accurate that is, and I would be more inclined to say that college is. But apparently Buffy had quite a bit of trouble with that, too. Anyway, for me, the dark side of Buffy is too strong to think it very safe to be around.
The Harry Potter books contain a lot of magical elements, too, but they strike me as harmless because they are first and foremost not well written enough to pose a danger. The later books have progressed far enough for me to shrug and say, "Huh. That was fine, I guess," and forget most of what happened almost immediately, but the early ones made me angry they were so bad; the fierce kind where I wanted to fire the book as hard as I could into the wall and cry in frustration at society in general for turning these into basically the biggest book series ever.
Fuller House premiered on Netflix Friday; and they managed to match the tone perfectly. That's pretty amazing. And it doesn't help if you're one of those strange people who dislike Full House, but if you're a fan it's been awesome to see how the Tanners are doing nowadays. And as sitcoms, they both fill a much different niche of the storytelling spectrum; so the goals and expectations are different. Because the world needs more sitcoms which are actually funny, and because the main goal was to literally recapture Full House if possible, Fuller House is a success. (Especially when thrown into contrast with all those other Netflix shows....they are dark. Have mercy.)
So now I'll get to work on those Idol recaps and then head back to doing homework.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Middle of February
It's the middle of that impossible-to-spell month of February. What's been happening? Quite a bit of homework, which hasn't turned out how I've hoped most of it would. Catching up on American Idol clips on YouTube, and wondering why it seems so important to keep writing recaps if nobody's reading them. Lots of staring into space at the cream-colored walls of the apartment and wondering why it feels so empty. Occasionally walking to Taco Bell when I can't stand cafeteria food any longer. Picking up groceries from the scruffy gas station within walking distance. (It seems like a law that there must be at least one endearingly-scruffy gas station within walking distance of a college campus.) There's been too much analyzing of story structure from four different perspectives simultaneously to enjoy any stories, whether books or movies, which seems entirely wrong.
I have plowed through several more of J.K. Rowling's books, so I just have the last one left to have conquered that whole series. (It's required pop-culture knowledge for living in the 21st century....especially if you're an English major. Sigh.)
Dad finished his Master's degree, which is exciting. Amy is trying to get over pinkeye, which isn't. Grandpa's hanging in there. Everybody was glad I could drop by over the weekend; Trevor, Rags and Banjo especially.
News of friends: Dylan is enjoying school in Stillwater, Scotty dropped by GBC for a visit yesterday morning, Susan's play just wrapped up, and Ashland got a guinea pig.
Songs of the Day recently: Brad Paisley's "Letter To Me," the National Anthem, the sort-of-SGYC song "Jesus I Come," Garth Brooks' "What She's Doing Now" and the "Down By the Creek Bank" theme, among others.
The Broncos won the Super Bowl 24-10 over the Panthers a couple weeks ago, and Denny Hamlin just barely won the Daytona 500 yesterday, beating Martin Truex Jr. by something like six inches.
I have plowed through several more of J.K. Rowling's books, so I just have the last one left to have conquered that whole series. (It's required pop-culture knowledge for living in the 21st century....especially if you're an English major. Sigh.)
Dad finished his Master's degree, which is exciting. Amy is trying to get over pinkeye, which isn't. Grandpa's hanging in there. Everybody was glad I could drop by over the weekend; Trevor, Rags and Banjo especially.
News of friends: Dylan is enjoying school in Stillwater, Scotty dropped by GBC for a visit yesterday morning, Susan's play just wrapped up, and Ashland got a guinea pig.
Songs of the Day recently: Brad Paisley's "Letter To Me," the National Anthem, the sort-of-SGYC song "Jesus I Come," Garth Brooks' "What She's Doing Now" and the "Down By the Creek Bank" theme, among others.
The Broncos won the Super Bowl 24-10 over the Panthers a couple weeks ago, and Denny Hamlin just barely won the Daytona 500 yesterday, beating Martin Truex Jr. by something like six inches.
AI 15.14 - Top 24, Part Two - Cutting the Field
And so we have to chop the field down to 14 by the end of the night....but first, let's have some duets with former contestants. We had David Cook, Chris Daughtry and Jordin Sparks all show up, which was cool. Not as cool is that it's Monday night when I am first watching these videos, but...oh well.
Jenn Blosil sang with Constantine Maroulis, they sang Frank Sinatra's "My Funny Valentine". It was extremely dull.
His other duet was with Shelbie Z on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," which was fine.
Lee Jean was paired up with Chris Daughtry, which was awesome enough by itself. And then they do "Home," which is even better. This was fantastic - the only way it could be better is if it was a studio version.
Manny Torres was teamed with Jordin Sparks singing her song "No Air," and he looked a bit intimidated.
Amelia Eisenhauer and Kellie Pickler teamed up, and I bet they had a blast rehearsing. They did Sara Evans' "Suds in the Bucket," which is awesome, Amelia played her fiddle, and it was just terrific. Keith was singing along the whole way through. "I loved that and thought it was absolutely terrific!" - Harry.
Kory Wheeler and Haley Reinhart did Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets," one of her big songs from the show(one that I almost liked from her), but she's still annoying. He wasn't much better. The trouble is, I think, that he looks like Taran Kilian from Saturday Night Live, so I always expect sketch comedy. Anyway, it was fine for a duet, but really bland as a performance.
CJ Johnson was paired up with David Cook, so he got a boost in Wesley Points for that right there. They did a song called "The World I Know" by Collective Soul, and David forgot a pick during rehearsal. CJ just completely lacks star potential and emotion in his voice. David wins this duet by an embarrassingly large margin.
Tristan McIntosh was also paired with Kellie Pickler, I guess they figured, "Hey, Amelia and Tristan are friends, they already knew each other, go to the same high school, let's give them the same mentor from their backyard, pretty much." During rehearsal, Kellie said, "My husband never cries, all right? And your audition made him cry." They did Kellie's song "Best Days of Your Life," and it was pretty good.
Haley's other song was with Adam Lasher, they did Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," she was way better than he was. It's just a really lame song choice. I was laughing at how cheesy it was.
Jordin's other song was with Trent Harmon, and he said she was giving him advice like a mom, haha. They did "To Love Somebody" by the Bee Gees. It was pretty good.
Chris's other song was with Dalton Rapattoni, they did Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," and the band totally overpowered both of them, unfortunately. They both had fun out there, though. It earns extra points for energy.
The other person David was paired up with was Olivia Rox; they did his song "Light On". "The song covers a pretty large range from lowest note to highest note....I'm glad I'm doing a song with a lady, 'cause Olivia seems like she can do that," he said during an interview at rehearsal. I love both of their voices, because they can put so much emotion into lyrics, but except for a long high note where they meshed perfectly, there was this weird disconnect between them which shouldn't have been there. Thankfully the judges loved it.
I'd say the winners tonight were Lee, Amelia and Trent, with Olivia, Tristan and Dalton following.
Cut were Amelia(RATS), Kory, Adam, Shelbie(Yay!) and CJ. Except for Amelia, the judges got it right this week.
And out Top 14 is now Avalon, Dalton, Gianna, Jeneve, Jenn(Ugh), La'Porsha(Ugh), Lee, MacKenzie, Manny, Olivia, Sonika, Thomas, Trent and Tristan. Going live next week, and Kelly Clarkson will return to the show.
Jenn Blosil sang with Constantine Maroulis, they sang Frank Sinatra's "My Funny Valentine". It was extremely dull.
His other duet was with Shelbie Z on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," which was fine.
Lee Jean was paired up with Chris Daughtry, which was awesome enough by itself. And then they do "Home," which is even better. This was fantastic - the only way it could be better is if it was a studio version.
Manny Torres was teamed with Jordin Sparks singing her song "No Air," and he looked a bit intimidated.
Amelia Eisenhauer and Kellie Pickler teamed up, and I bet they had a blast rehearsing. They did Sara Evans' "Suds in the Bucket," which is awesome, Amelia played her fiddle, and it was just terrific. Keith was singing along the whole way through. "I loved that and thought it was absolutely terrific!" - Harry.
Kory Wheeler and Haley Reinhart did Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets," one of her big songs from the show(one that I almost liked from her), but she's still annoying. He wasn't much better. The trouble is, I think, that he looks like Taran Kilian from Saturday Night Live, so I always expect sketch comedy. Anyway, it was fine for a duet, but really bland as a performance.
CJ Johnson was paired up with David Cook, so he got a boost in Wesley Points for that right there. They did a song called "The World I Know" by Collective Soul, and David forgot a pick during rehearsal. CJ just completely lacks star potential and emotion in his voice. David wins this duet by an embarrassingly large margin.
Tristan McIntosh was also paired with Kellie Pickler, I guess they figured, "Hey, Amelia and Tristan are friends, they already knew each other, go to the same high school, let's give them the same mentor from their backyard, pretty much." During rehearsal, Kellie said, "My husband never cries, all right? And your audition made him cry." They did Kellie's song "Best Days of Your Life," and it was pretty good.
Haley's other song was with Adam Lasher, they did Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," she was way better than he was. It's just a really lame song choice. I was laughing at how cheesy it was.
Jordin's other song was with Trent Harmon, and he said she was giving him advice like a mom, haha. They did "To Love Somebody" by the Bee Gees. It was pretty good.
Chris's other song was with Dalton Rapattoni, they did Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," and the band totally overpowered both of them, unfortunately. They both had fun out there, though. It earns extra points for energy.
The other person David was paired up with was Olivia Rox; they did his song "Light On". "The song covers a pretty large range from lowest note to highest note....I'm glad I'm doing a song with a lady, 'cause Olivia seems like she can do that," he said during an interview at rehearsal. I love both of their voices, because they can put so much emotion into lyrics, but except for a long high note where they meshed perfectly, there was this weird disconnect between them which shouldn't have been there. Thankfully the judges loved it.
I'd say the winners tonight were Lee, Amelia and Trent, with Olivia, Tristan and Dalton following.
Cut were Amelia(RATS), Kory, Adam, Shelbie(Yay!) and CJ. Except for Amelia, the judges got it right this week.
And out Top 14 is now Avalon, Dalton, Gianna, Jeneve, Jenn(Ugh), La'Porsha(Ugh), Lee, MacKenzie, Manny, Olivia, Sonika, Thomas, Trent and Tristan. Going live next week, and Kelly Clarkson will return to the show.
AI 15.13 - Top 24, Part Two
The second half of the final Top 24 ever on American Idol. It was a busy week/weekend full of homework, so though this was shown Wednesday, I only got to the videos on Monday night.
Shelbie Z - "Work Hard, Play Harder," by Gretchen Wilson - I've mentioned before that I really do not like her, yes? Nor do I like this song. And this was an extremely boring performance of it. "For me, you sacrificed the whole song just so you could have that big note at the end." - Keith.
Jenn Blosil - "Sorry," by Justin Bieber - In the first place, she's annoying. In the second place, there is something astonishingly creepy and terrifying about her. In the third place, this is a Justin Bieber song. Also, she was mumbling all the time. And then there was some weird yowling. "It was extremely out of tune." - Harry.
Kory Wheeler - "Let It Go," by James Bay - He looked petrified to be onstage, and weirdly out of place at the piano. And the song didn't really seem to be about anything. "It wasn't great. And the reason it wasn't great was because it wasn't special." - Harry.
Manny Torres - "Adventure of a Lifetime," by Coldplay - Uh....well, he had fun. I was distracted the whole time by the weird shirt he was wearing. And there was a neat continuous guitar riff in the background. "I don't think that was a good song for your vocal strengths, but it suited your spirit really, really well." - KU. Also, apparently he was a preacher's kid.
Lee Jean - "Runaway," by Ed Sheeran - He can do origami. That's cool. This was boring for a Lee performance, but the best of the night thus far. Eventually he's gonna run out of Ed Sheeran tunes, though. "Man, I don't know what it is about these song choices tonight..." Keith shakes his head. (And gets loudly booed by the crowd.) "He's right. Everybody's just not picking those big hits that everybody knows and wants to sing along to....and that's what you gotta do, you know, to get the audiences on your side. ...'Cause next week America starts voting." - Jennifer. Harry gave instructions on playing guitar more smoothly. "You're a talented guy, and fortunately, it was one of the better performances of the night."
CJ Johnson - "I'll Be," by Edwin McCain - Best song choice of the night, but he looked kind of constipated singing it. And it's one of those comforting songs that makes you sleepy. Felt like karaoke. At this point of the competition, that won't cut it.
Tristan McIntosh - "Good Girl," by Carrie Underwood - FINALLY! An upbeat song we know, sung fairly well! She started too low for her vocal range, and it pretty much stayed there the whole time...also, she can sing the alphabet backwards. Bonus points for wearing a jean jacket, but this was NOT one of her better performances. "I really like that song. I didn't like it for you, but you're gonna kill it when you find the right song." - KU. (I agree.)
Trent Harmon - "What Are You Listening To?", by Chris Stapleton - ...I'm sorry. That was just awful. And he said he stole his hat from some girl?
Adam Lasher - "Black and Gold," by Sam Sparro - Thoroughly forgettable, though it was upbeat, which was a rare feat indeed tonight. But it was bizarre, as were his shiny gold high-top boots. "I felt like you were a buoy on the ocean; just kind of wishy-washy. And it's hard for me to get past that." - Harry. "I couldn't get into the melody of it or anything." - Jennifer.
Dalton Rapattoni - "Rebel Yell," by Billy Idol - This was sung with great intensity. Keith and Jennifer were singing along; JayLo squealed. "I thought it was absolutely tremendous." - Harry.
Olivia Rox - "Confident," by Demi Lovato - She rocked it. "Annnd the show starts now...." Keith laughed.
Amelia Eisenhauer - "Wake Me Up," by Avicii - That was awesome. "I think you need to find stuff that's a little bit quirkier. Because you're a little bit quirky." - Harry. She laughed, "I can see that."
Olivia, Amelia and Dalton won the night, in that order, and Tristan and Lee didn't do great, they were the next-best. Everyone else was just atrocious.
Shelbie Z - "Work Hard, Play Harder," by Gretchen Wilson - I've mentioned before that I really do not like her, yes? Nor do I like this song. And this was an extremely boring performance of it. "For me, you sacrificed the whole song just so you could have that big note at the end." - Keith.
Jenn Blosil - "Sorry," by Justin Bieber - In the first place, she's annoying. In the second place, there is something astonishingly creepy and terrifying about her. In the third place, this is a Justin Bieber song. Also, she was mumbling all the time. And then there was some weird yowling. "It was extremely out of tune." - Harry.
Kory Wheeler - "Let It Go," by James Bay - He looked petrified to be onstage, and weirdly out of place at the piano. And the song didn't really seem to be about anything. "It wasn't great. And the reason it wasn't great was because it wasn't special." - Harry.
Manny Torres - "Adventure of a Lifetime," by Coldplay - Uh....well, he had fun. I was distracted the whole time by the weird shirt he was wearing. And there was a neat continuous guitar riff in the background. "I don't think that was a good song for your vocal strengths, but it suited your spirit really, really well." - KU. Also, apparently he was a preacher's kid.
Lee Jean - "Runaway," by Ed Sheeran - He can do origami. That's cool. This was boring for a Lee performance, but the best of the night thus far. Eventually he's gonna run out of Ed Sheeran tunes, though. "Man, I don't know what it is about these song choices tonight..." Keith shakes his head. (And gets loudly booed by the crowd.) "He's right. Everybody's just not picking those big hits that everybody knows and wants to sing along to....and that's what you gotta do, you know, to get the audiences on your side. ...'Cause next week America starts voting." - Jennifer. Harry gave instructions on playing guitar more smoothly. "You're a talented guy, and fortunately, it was one of the better performances of the night."
CJ Johnson - "I'll Be," by Edwin McCain - Best song choice of the night, but he looked kind of constipated singing it. And it's one of those comforting songs that makes you sleepy. Felt like karaoke. At this point of the competition, that won't cut it.
Tristan McIntosh - "Good Girl," by Carrie Underwood - FINALLY! An upbeat song we know, sung fairly well! She started too low for her vocal range, and it pretty much stayed there the whole time...also, she can sing the alphabet backwards. Bonus points for wearing a jean jacket, but this was NOT one of her better performances. "I really like that song. I didn't like it for you, but you're gonna kill it when you find the right song." - KU. (I agree.)
Trent Harmon - "What Are You Listening To?", by Chris Stapleton - ...I'm sorry. That was just awful. And he said he stole his hat from some girl?
Adam Lasher - "Black and Gold," by Sam Sparro - Thoroughly forgettable, though it was upbeat, which was a rare feat indeed tonight. But it was bizarre, as were his shiny gold high-top boots. "I felt like you were a buoy on the ocean; just kind of wishy-washy. And it's hard for me to get past that." - Harry. "I couldn't get into the melody of it or anything." - Jennifer.
Dalton Rapattoni - "Rebel Yell," by Billy Idol - This was sung with great intensity. Keith and Jennifer were singing along; JayLo squealed. "I thought it was absolutely tremendous." - Harry.
Olivia Rox - "Confident," by Demi Lovato - She rocked it. "Annnd the show starts now...." Keith laughed.
Amelia Eisenhauer - "Wake Me Up," by Avicii - That was awesome. "I think you need to find stuff that's a little bit quirkier. Because you're a little bit quirky." - Harry. She laughed, "I can see that."
Olivia, Amelia and Dalton won the night, in that order, and Tristan and Lee didn't do great, they were the next-best. Everyone else was just atrocious.
Friday, February 12, 2016
AI 15.12 Top 24, Part One - Cutting the Field
WE HAD SCOTTY MCCREERY RETURN TO IDOL! Yes, that totally deserved all-caps. There was also a lot of other duets, none of which were as cool as Scotty's. And five of the contestants were sent home by the judges.
James VIII teamed up with a guy named Caleb Johnson, who is a rocker dude who won Season 13(which I did not watch.) Their song was "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones, which was just a lot of shouting. Caleb Johnson was the better part of this duet.
Jordan Sasser was paired with Fantasia(winner of Season 3), they did her song "I Believe", and this was A MESS. He kept crossing over into her space when he was singing, and it was just awful wailing like dogs howling at a police siren. Jennifer looked like she wanted to cry. "Be careful about upstaging the person you're on stage with," - Harry. "Yeah, when you sing a duet, do it together," Jennifer added.
MacKenzie Bourg had to sing with Season 10 runner-up Lauren Alaina, unfortunately. (I STILL REALLY HATE HER. I'll think of a reason later.) Anyway, they sang Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance", and it was appallingly bad. Like, I texted Mom saying I didn't realize you even could mess up that song.... I linked to the music video so that y'all can wash the nasty taste out of your ears. Anyway, Lauren....was herself. It made him extremely uncomfortable. And he wasn't used to singing coutnry, so he repeatedly messed up lyrics. "That might be the first time I've ever seen Lauren blush," Keith commented. "That girl likes you....I mean, I'm just sayin'..." "In case he didn't notice?" Jennifer laughs. "Sparks were flyin'!"
Emily Brooke also sang with Lauren earlier in the night sometime, they did Carrie's "Flat On the Floor", which is one of my least-favorite Carrie songs, and it was certainly one of Lauren's worst performances(of which there were many). I'm really glad I missed seeing this one on TV.
Gianna Isabella sang with Nick Fradiani, winner of Season 14(which I didn't watch). They did a song of his called "Beautiful Life", I don't think I would have voted for him. She looked like she was singing something from High School Musical.
Stephany Negrete was paired with Ruben Studdard, winner of Season 2. They sang something called "Superstar" by a group called The Carpenters, and it was so exceptionally dull that I was reading an ESPN article the whole song. (Failed the Louise Test.)
Avalon Young was also paired with Ruben, they sang his song "Flying Without Wings", which was apparently his winning song. It was fine for a duet, but not great, and a little awkward, like most of them tend to be.
Thomas Stringfellow was the other person Nick Fradiani sang with, they did Michael Jackon's "Man In the Mirror." There have certainly been better Idol versions of this song. Besides, "This is awful!", the first things I noticed were that Nick Fradiani was wearing leather pants, Thomas was wearing suspenders, and you could clearly see all the hair on the back of Thomas's neck, which was yet another strange thing.
La"Porsha Renae was Fantasia's other contestant, they did "Summertime" by Ella Fitzgerald. I didn't like it much.
Sonika Vaid also sang with Caleb Johnson, they did the Adele theme to Skyfall, the newest James Bond movie that came out a couple months ago. (I don't understand all the fuss about Adele.) It was weirdly theatrical, but she does have a nice voice.
We're finally to Scotty's duets! (He was the winner of Season 10, quick history lesson.) He sang first with Jenna Renae, they did his song "See You Tonight"(link because it's such a cool video.) This was terrific in my opinion; Keith had the goofiest grin on his face the whole time.
Scotty's other duet was with Jeneve Rose Mitchell, and they did Montgomery Gentry's "Gone", which was one of his top performances(out of many). Click here. Anyway, Jeneve is crazy, so it was a little bizarre, but it was kind of enjoyable. It was also a bit of a train wreck. Keith couldn't even find words to describe it. After sputtering for several moments, he just said, "Look, I like you. I'm just gonna forget that performance ever happened."
So those safe were La'Porsha(Rats, but I knew it), Avalon(which I was happy about), Sonika(still not sure), MacKenzie(okay), Thomas(SMH), Gianna(Meh) and Jeneve(Yay, I think?).
Getting cut were James VIII(YAY!!!!), Jordan(YAYY!!!), Jenna(Rats; but I knew it), Stephany(Why was she even here?) and Emily(Too many teens with more talent).
Next week we see Dalton, Tristan, Olivia, Amelia, Lee and Trent; and then during duets on Thursday night Chris Daughtry AND David Cook are back!
Other notes: Keith and Scotty both had awesome leather jackets, and Harry has an excellent poker face.
James VIII teamed up with a guy named Caleb Johnson, who is a rocker dude who won Season 13(which I did not watch.) Their song was "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones, which was just a lot of shouting. Caleb Johnson was the better part of this duet.
Jordan Sasser was paired with Fantasia(winner of Season 3), they did her song "I Believe", and this was A MESS. He kept crossing over into her space when he was singing, and it was just awful wailing like dogs howling at a police siren. Jennifer looked like she wanted to cry. "Be careful about upstaging the person you're on stage with," - Harry. "Yeah, when you sing a duet, do it together," Jennifer added.
MacKenzie Bourg had to sing with Season 10 runner-up Lauren Alaina, unfortunately. (I STILL REALLY HATE HER. I'll think of a reason later.) Anyway, they sang Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance", and it was appallingly bad. Like, I texted Mom saying I didn't realize you even could mess up that song.... I linked to the music video so that y'all can wash the nasty taste out of your ears. Anyway, Lauren....was herself. It made him extremely uncomfortable. And he wasn't used to singing coutnry, so he repeatedly messed up lyrics. "That might be the first time I've ever seen Lauren blush," Keith commented. "That girl likes you....I mean, I'm just sayin'..." "In case he didn't notice?" Jennifer laughs. "Sparks were flyin'!"
Emily Brooke also sang with Lauren earlier in the night sometime, they did Carrie's "Flat On the Floor", which is one of my least-favorite Carrie songs, and it was certainly one of Lauren's worst performances(of which there were many). I'm really glad I missed seeing this one on TV.
Gianna Isabella sang with Nick Fradiani, winner of Season 14(which I didn't watch). They did a song of his called "Beautiful Life", I don't think I would have voted for him. She looked like she was singing something from High School Musical.
Stephany Negrete was paired with Ruben Studdard, winner of Season 2. They sang something called "Superstar" by a group called The Carpenters, and it was so exceptionally dull that I was reading an ESPN article the whole song. (Failed the Louise Test.)
Avalon Young was also paired with Ruben, they sang his song "Flying Without Wings", which was apparently his winning song. It was fine for a duet, but not great, and a little awkward, like most of them tend to be.
Thomas Stringfellow was the other person Nick Fradiani sang with, they did Michael Jackon's "Man In the Mirror." There have certainly been better Idol versions of this song. Besides, "This is awful!", the first things I noticed were that Nick Fradiani was wearing leather pants, Thomas was wearing suspenders, and you could clearly see all the hair on the back of Thomas's neck, which was yet another strange thing.
La"Porsha Renae was Fantasia's other contestant, they did "Summertime" by Ella Fitzgerald. I didn't like it much.
Sonika Vaid also sang with Caleb Johnson, they did the Adele theme to Skyfall, the newest James Bond movie that came out a couple months ago. (I don't understand all the fuss about Adele.) It was weirdly theatrical, but she does have a nice voice.
We're finally to Scotty's duets! (He was the winner of Season 10, quick history lesson.) He sang first with Jenna Renae, they did his song "See You Tonight"(link because it's such a cool video.) This was terrific in my opinion; Keith had the goofiest grin on his face the whole time.
Scotty's other duet was with Jeneve Rose Mitchell, and they did Montgomery Gentry's "Gone", which was one of his top performances(out of many). Click here. Anyway, Jeneve is crazy, so it was a little bizarre, but it was kind of enjoyable. It was also a bit of a train wreck. Keith couldn't even find words to describe it. After sputtering for several moments, he just said, "Look, I like you. I'm just gonna forget that performance ever happened."
So those safe were La'Porsha(Rats, but I knew it), Avalon(which I was happy about), Sonika(still not sure), MacKenzie(okay), Thomas(SMH), Gianna(Meh) and Jeneve(Yay, I think?).
Getting cut were James VIII(YAY!!!!), Jordan(YAYY!!!), Jenna(Rats; but I knew it), Stephany(Why was she even here?) and Emily(Too many teens with more talent).
Next week we see Dalton, Tristan, Olivia, Amelia, Lee and Trent; and then during duets on Thursday night Chris Daughtry AND David Cook are back!
Other notes: Keith and Scotty both had awesome leather jackets, and Harry has an excellent poker face.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
AI 15.11 - Top 24, Part One
I missed last night's episode, so I had to piece it together from YouTube clips. But hey, that's better than nothing.
La'Porsha Renae - "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner - Not a fan. I fell asleep during the opening, and then I hate this song, anyway. But even on Idol, there's been better performances.
Jeneve Rose Mitchell - "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan - She can apparently play fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass, harp, flute, French horn, cello, banjo, ukelele, piano, trumpet and kazoo. (Can you top that, Keith?) She played the harp, which was odd, and it was an extremely subdued performance. It wasn't bad; just really hard to know how to critique it. Maybe a bit dull. "You're extraordinary. You really are. And I love the way you take risks." - KU. Jennifer got "goosies," which is a good thing.
Stephany Negrete - "Mamma Knows Best" by Jessie J - So....did she decide, "Hey, I can't sing that well and I won't get the pretty vote, so I'll just dance around onstage in leather pants and hope that's good enough?" Cause....it wasn't.
Sonika Vaid - "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars - Huh. She collects sheet music, but she plays piano by ear. (Also, how great of a name is "Sonika" for a singer?) I think this song was written for one of the Hunger Games movies? That's a really ugly dress. This song was pretty good, but in a Disney-cover type way. My opinion after comparing this to Taylor's original is that Taylor wins hands-down.
Avalon Young - "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber - A Bieber song? Really? It actually wasn't that bad. Avalon just seems like she'd be cool to hang out with; and then she can sing, too. That was a really cool hoodie she was wearing.
Jenna Renae - "My Church" by Maren Morris - She'd barely even started when Keith whoops and hollers, "I love this song!" It was almost all right, there was just something a little off about this performance...and the Carmen Sandiego fedora didn't help. And the all-black made her look a bit witchy. She looked like she had fun, though.
MacKenzie Bourg - "Say Something" by A Great Big World - That is a tiny guitar. And he just looks weird - like Kris Allen mixed with Peter Parker. But his voice is really good, in an unusually quiet way.
Thomas Stringfellow - "Creep" by Radiohead - Weird title for a song. He is extremely fluent in Pig Latin. None of this performance seemed to fit together, from the all-the-way-buttoned-up flannel shirt to the floppy farmer hat to the strangely-finished guitar to the extremely jerky strumming motion. I couldn't understand hardly any of the lyrics because of the wailing falsetto. I just didn't get it. The audience and the judges loved it.
Gianna Isabella - "I Put a Spell On You" by Annie Lennox - She really loves reading. "Now I'm really into horror books. I love the goriness of it all...but I'm not a serial killer, I promise." I haven't quite figured her out yet. Sometimes she seems like a goofy teenager, other times more like Haley Reinhart.
Emily Brooke - "I Am Invincible" by Cassdee Pope - Her guitar has autographs from Taylor Swift, Leann Rimes, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, the Eli Young Band, Steve Wariner and many, many more. If it was me, I would never play that guitar ever. It would just be an amazing decoration. Anyway, it's really weird, but I supposed fitting in a full-circle way, when Idol contestants do songs from The Voice's singers who have done well. Anyway, she looked petrified and it felt like a high school talent show. It was all over the place, which was ironic given the lyrics she was supposed to be singing. And while the dancing wasn't Megan Joy Corkrey-level awful, it wasn't good, either.
James VIII - "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West - Okay, that was cool. He got his guitar(which is awesome-looking) by earning his Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts. This was my favorite performance from him, but he's still really creepy. The judges were bored.
Jordan Sasser - "All By Myself" by Celine Dion - Good news: He got a haircut finally. Bad news: He's still intolerable. This was just....weird. "I felt it was a bit too theatrical for me, and I missed the heart." - KU. "That first 'all by myself' should have broken our hearts. Instead I was wondering about the key you picked to sing it in....I shouldn't have been thinking about that." - Jennifer. "You have a great voice, but that was real showoffy for me. Just sing the song!" - Harry.
Keith's jacket was awesome, and it looked like Jennifer was going with an Attack of the Clones Padme Amidala look, maybe. I guess I liked Avalon and MacKenzie the best of the night.
La'Porsha Renae - "Proud Mary" by Tina Turner - Not a fan. I fell asleep during the opening, and then I hate this song, anyway. But even on Idol, there's been better performances.
Jeneve Rose Mitchell - "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan - She can apparently play fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bass, harp, flute, French horn, cello, banjo, ukelele, piano, trumpet and kazoo. (Can you top that, Keith?) She played the harp, which was odd, and it was an extremely subdued performance. It wasn't bad; just really hard to know how to critique it. Maybe a bit dull. "You're extraordinary. You really are. And I love the way you take risks." - KU. Jennifer got "goosies," which is a good thing.
Stephany Negrete - "Mamma Knows Best" by Jessie J - So....did she decide, "Hey, I can't sing that well and I won't get the pretty vote, so I'll just dance around onstage in leather pants and hope that's good enough?" Cause....it wasn't.
Sonika Vaid - "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars - Huh. She collects sheet music, but she plays piano by ear. (Also, how great of a name is "Sonika" for a singer?) I think this song was written for one of the Hunger Games movies? That's a really ugly dress. This song was pretty good, but in a Disney-cover type way. My opinion after comparing this to Taylor's original is that Taylor wins hands-down.
Avalon Young - "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber - A Bieber song? Really? It actually wasn't that bad. Avalon just seems like she'd be cool to hang out with; and then she can sing, too. That was a really cool hoodie she was wearing.
Jenna Renae - "My Church" by Maren Morris - She'd barely even started when Keith whoops and hollers, "I love this song!" It was almost all right, there was just something a little off about this performance...and the Carmen Sandiego fedora didn't help. And the all-black made her look a bit witchy. She looked like she had fun, though.
MacKenzie Bourg - "Say Something" by A Great Big World - That is a tiny guitar. And he just looks weird - like Kris Allen mixed with Peter Parker. But his voice is really good, in an unusually quiet way.
Thomas Stringfellow - "Creep" by Radiohead - Weird title for a song. He is extremely fluent in Pig Latin. None of this performance seemed to fit together, from the all-the-way-buttoned-up flannel shirt to the floppy farmer hat to the strangely-finished guitar to the extremely jerky strumming motion. I couldn't understand hardly any of the lyrics because of the wailing falsetto. I just didn't get it. The audience and the judges loved it.
Gianna Isabella - "I Put a Spell On You" by Annie Lennox - She really loves reading. "Now I'm really into horror books. I love the goriness of it all...but I'm not a serial killer, I promise." I haven't quite figured her out yet. Sometimes she seems like a goofy teenager, other times more like Haley Reinhart.
Emily Brooke - "I Am Invincible" by Cassdee Pope - Her guitar has autographs from Taylor Swift, Leann Rimes, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, the Eli Young Band, Steve Wariner and many, many more. If it was me, I would never play that guitar ever. It would just be an amazing decoration. Anyway, it's really weird, but I supposed fitting in a full-circle way, when Idol contestants do songs from The Voice's singers who have done well. Anyway, she looked petrified and it felt like a high school talent show. It was all over the place, which was ironic given the lyrics she was supposed to be singing. And while the dancing wasn't Megan Joy Corkrey-level awful, it wasn't good, either.
James VIII - "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West - Okay, that was cool. He got his guitar(which is awesome-looking) by earning his Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts. This was my favorite performance from him, but he's still really creepy. The judges were bored.
Jordan Sasser - "All By Myself" by Celine Dion - Good news: He got a haircut finally. Bad news: He's still intolerable. This was just....weird. "I felt it was a bit too theatrical for me, and I missed the heart." - KU. "That first 'all by myself' should have broken our hearts. Instead I was wondering about the key you picked to sing it in....I shouldn't have been thinking about that." - Jennifer. "You have a great voice, but that was real showoffy for me. Just sing the song!" - Harry.
Keith's jacket was awesome, and it looked like Jennifer was going with an Attack of the Clones Padme Amidala look, maybe. I guess I liked Avalon and MacKenzie the best of the night.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
American Idol Season 15 - Top 24
Here we go....the final Top 24 American Idol contestants have been revealed.
So, who are they? What are my opinions on them? Who am I definitely going to be pulling for from the start? Read and find out...
Okay, that was a really over-the-top Ryan Seacrest thing to say. I guess I'll organize it alphabetically by first name, since that seems easiest.
Adam Lasher
I honestly cannot remember a thing about this dude. Probably not a good sign....
Amelia Eisenhauer
The ninja fiddler. She's funny, can sing well, and connects well with fans. She's one of my favorites.
Avalon Young
Entertaining klutzy tomboy waitress with a pretty good voice, but not quite superstar level.
CJ Johnson
He's pretty good(as he should be, being a professional musician), but he's not that "final Idol" great. He's actually just kind of boring.
Dalton Rapattoni
Dallas chill-rocker dude; part of Chicken Noodle Soup's feud with Envy on Group Night. One of the guys who has a real shot at winning.
Emily Brooke
Blonde teen with a pretty good voice, but there's simply too many talented teenagers for them all to get through. She'll probably miss that cut.
Gianna Isabella
Her mom was a pop star in the 80's and is now micromanaging every aspect of her daughter's career. If Mom would just leave, she might have a chance. Unless that happens, I don't think she'll get very far.
James VIII
Someone please explain how he even got to Hollywood, much less this far.
Jeneve Rose Mitchell
She's this year's Casey Abrams; you have no idea what she's going to do beforehand, or even while she's onstage, but after it's over you shake your head in puzzlement and say, "That.....was bizarre. But it kinda worked. I don't think I really liked it much, but I want to see more." Besides, you don't see people play cello while singing very often, especially if they're remixed country hits.
Jenn Blosil
Still too....whatever indefinable character traits to follow; all the way since auditions.
Jenna Renae
She's a little boring and forgettable, but her voice is good, and she plays piano well. She's just not instantly-recognizable; which is a big problem at this juncture of the competition.
Jordan Sasser
I don't quite understand what the judges see in this guy.
Kory Wheeler
His voice is all right, but he's just so forgettable...
LaPorsha Renae
Her hair is AWFUL. Her voice isn't very pleasant to listen to. At all. But she'll likely get black votes.
Lee Jean
One of this season's friendly teens, of which there's a lot. His style is laid-back, but really interesting. Definitely one of the top guys this season.
MacKenzie Bourg
Poor guy's got to be getting all kinds of teased about his name. Mostly known for his medley of judges' songs during auditions.
Manny Torres
Funny dude. Has a decent voice; may get a good ways through because of his personality.
Olivia Rox
She just has stage presence. That's hard to judge or quantify, but she has it. She looks comfortable performing and has fun doing it. And she can sing and play guitar! Really hoping she does well.
Shelbie Z
Annoying. Talkative. Strong-willed. Can't sing well enough to justify everything else.
Sonika Vaid
Really loved her audition, but the Group Night antics as part of Envy took major points away.
Stephany Negrete
I don't really remember her at all, but she was part of the group Envy, so that's not a good sign.
Thomas Stringfellow
His voice is awful, but there's an unusual quality to his performances that's interesting enough that he got this far. Might get the female teenage voting bloc, if Mackenzie doesn't.
Trent Harmon
The R&B farmer who caught mono during Hollywood Week. Hoping he does well.
Tristan McIntosh
Funny, awkward teenager from Nashville; she and Amelia go to the same high school. Known from auditions as the military daughter; she does well at interacting with fans, too.
Of the guys, I want Dalton, Lee Jean, Mackenzie and Trent to do well, of the girls, I'm cheering for Amelia, Avalon, Jenna, Jeneve, Olivia and Tristan.
So, who are they? What are my opinions on them? Who am I definitely going to be pulling for from the start? Read and find out...
Okay, that was a really over-the-top Ryan Seacrest thing to say. I guess I'll organize it alphabetically by first name, since that seems easiest.
Adam Lasher
I honestly cannot remember a thing about this dude. Probably not a good sign....
Amelia Eisenhauer
The ninja fiddler. She's funny, can sing well, and connects well with fans. She's one of my favorites.
Avalon Young
Entertaining klutzy tomboy waitress with a pretty good voice, but not quite superstar level.
CJ Johnson
He's pretty good(as he should be, being a professional musician), but he's not that "final Idol" great. He's actually just kind of boring.
Dalton Rapattoni
Dallas chill-rocker dude; part of Chicken Noodle Soup's feud with Envy on Group Night. One of the guys who has a real shot at winning.
Emily Brooke
Blonde teen with a pretty good voice, but there's simply too many talented teenagers for them all to get through. She'll probably miss that cut.
Gianna Isabella
Her mom was a pop star in the 80's and is now micromanaging every aspect of her daughter's career. If Mom would just leave, she might have a chance. Unless that happens, I don't think she'll get very far.
James VIII
Someone please explain how he even got to Hollywood, much less this far.
Jeneve Rose Mitchell
She's this year's Casey Abrams; you have no idea what she's going to do beforehand, or even while she's onstage, but after it's over you shake your head in puzzlement and say, "That.....was bizarre. But it kinda worked. I don't think I really liked it much, but I want to see more." Besides, you don't see people play cello while singing very often, especially if they're remixed country hits.
Jenn Blosil
Still too....whatever indefinable character traits to follow; all the way since auditions.
Jenna Renae
She's a little boring and forgettable, but her voice is good, and she plays piano well. She's just not instantly-recognizable; which is a big problem at this juncture of the competition.
Jordan Sasser
I don't quite understand what the judges see in this guy.
Kory Wheeler
His voice is all right, but he's just so forgettable...
LaPorsha Renae
Her hair is AWFUL. Her voice isn't very pleasant to listen to. At all. But she'll likely get black votes.
Lee Jean
One of this season's friendly teens, of which there's a lot. His style is laid-back, but really interesting. Definitely one of the top guys this season.
MacKenzie Bourg
Poor guy's got to be getting all kinds of teased about his name. Mostly known for his medley of judges' songs during auditions.
Manny Torres
Funny dude. Has a decent voice; may get a good ways through because of his personality.
Olivia Rox
She just has stage presence. That's hard to judge or quantify, but she has it. She looks comfortable performing and has fun doing it. And she can sing and play guitar! Really hoping she does well.
Shelbie Z
Annoying. Talkative. Strong-willed. Can't sing well enough to justify everything else.
Sonika Vaid
Really loved her audition, but the Group Night antics as part of Envy took major points away.
Stephany Negrete
I don't really remember her at all, but she was part of the group Envy, so that's not a good sign.
Thomas Stringfellow
His voice is awful, but there's an unusual quality to his performances that's interesting enough that he got this far. Might get the female teenage voting bloc, if Mackenzie doesn't.
Trent Harmon
The R&B farmer who caught mono during Hollywood Week. Hoping he does well.
Tristan McIntosh
Funny, awkward teenager from Nashville; she and Amelia go to the same high school. Known from auditions as the military daughter; she does well at interacting with fans, too.
Of the guys, I want Dalton, Lee Jean, Mackenzie and Trent to do well, of the girls, I'm cheering for Amelia, Avalon, Jenna, Jeneve, Olivia and Tristan.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Screen Crushes of My Teenage Years
Well, I figured if I took the time to list out screen crushes from childhood, I may as well do the same for the teenage version of Wes, too... I'll try to make this roughly chronological.
Belle - Beauty and the Beast
Why? -
Not many women love reading as much as Belle does. She's very observant, kind, and a little strange, in a good way. She'll launch into musical numbers for no reason. She's a storyteller who finds the beauty in the world whenever she can. And she hates Gaston.
Lola Bunny - Space Jam
Why? -
She's athletic. She's Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. She's opinionated and spunky. And competitive! (And she has bangs.)
Buttercup - The Princess Bride
Why? -
If Westley could endure being captured by pirates, becoming the most legendary pirate on the seas himself, freeclimb up the Cliffs of Insanity, defeat Inigo Montoya in a fencing match, best Fezzik at wrestling and outwit Vizzini in a Battle of Wits, then survive the Lightning Sand, the Flaming Geysers and the ROUSes in the Fire Swamp, and THEN be imprisoned in either the Zoo of Death or the Pit of Despair(your choice), and THEN be put through the MACHINE in order to ride off happily into the night(or not; again, your choice), then wouldn't you say she was some special girl?
And that's not even getting into all the things William Goldman said about her....
Mary Jane Watson - Sam Rami Spider-Man trilogy
Why? -
Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker is such a good character, you instantly fall in love with MJ, too. She sticks by Pete and Harry through everything in their crazy lives, and works her way up into Broadway.
Kristy Lee Cook - American Idol Season 7
Why? -
The field was absolutely loaded with talent this season, but it's hard not to love an Oregon cowgirl who sold her horse to pay for plane fare to auditions in Philadelphia. (She got the horse back.) And she sings country. (This clip is actually "Faithfully" by Journey, but the tone is the same, anyway.) I was extremely displeased when she got booted out of the competition in seventh place, which Damon, Trish and the rest of the AI discussion group could tell you..
The Teenage Girl in Craig Morgan's "That's What I Love About Sunday" Music Video
Why? -
Nobody ever said these make sense....I just thought she was pretty. Besides, it's such a great true-to-life song. And the video was played almost-nonstop on The Country Network all the time.
Shawn Johnson
Why? -
Gymnasts are graceful. And focused. And the Olympics comes around so rarely, you got to support the people from your country. (Plus Canada, being a neighbor, and Australia, cause of the cool accents, and sometimes Great Britain, for the accents.) And she's a little more than a year older than I am, so that made it less weird than most screen crushes are. (It's just a bizarre concept, when you think about it....)
Siobhan Magnus - American Idol Season 9
Why? -
She was quirky. And her voice was different, but not bad. She was my favorite girl this season.
Natalie Portman
Why? -
She's pretty in an everyday way, not a "I'm-a-Hollywood-movie-star" way. And in interviews she seems very down-to-earth. Plus she's just a good actress.
Gwen Stacy - Amazing Spider-Man movies.
Why? -
Gwen was about the only watchable part of these movies. She's smart(valedictorian of her class), resourceful, and she's a bit of a dork.
Hollie Cavanagh - American Idol Season 11
Why? -
She can sing. (This clip is the first song I could find on YouTube.) And she's pretty in a Natalie Portman type of way. And the way her accent shifts from Texas drawl to classy British English and back in midsentence was hysterical. She was funny.
Belle - Beauty and the Beast
Why? -
Not many women love reading as much as Belle does. She's very observant, kind, and a little strange, in a good way. She'll launch into musical numbers for no reason. She's a storyteller who finds the beauty in the world whenever she can. And she hates Gaston.
Lola Bunny - Space Jam
Why? -
She's athletic. She's Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. She's opinionated and spunky. And competitive! (And she has bangs.)
Buttercup - The Princess Bride
Why? -
If Westley could endure being captured by pirates, becoming the most legendary pirate on the seas himself, freeclimb up the Cliffs of Insanity, defeat Inigo Montoya in a fencing match, best Fezzik at wrestling and outwit Vizzini in a Battle of Wits, then survive the Lightning Sand, the Flaming Geysers and the ROUSes in the Fire Swamp, and THEN be imprisoned in either the Zoo of Death or the Pit of Despair(your choice), and THEN be put through the MACHINE in order to ride off happily into the night(or not; again, your choice), then wouldn't you say she was some special girl?
And that's not even getting into all the things William Goldman said about her....
Mary Jane Watson - Sam Rami Spider-Man trilogy
Why? -
Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker is such a good character, you instantly fall in love with MJ, too. She sticks by Pete and Harry through everything in their crazy lives, and works her way up into Broadway.
Kristy Lee Cook - American Idol Season 7
Why? -
The field was absolutely loaded with talent this season, but it's hard not to love an Oregon cowgirl who sold her horse to pay for plane fare to auditions in Philadelphia. (She got the horse back.) And she sings country. (This clip is actually "Faithfully" by Journey, but the tone is the same, anyway.) I was extremely displeased when she got booted out of the competition in seventh place, which Damon, Trish and the rest of the AI discussion group could tell you..
The Teenage Girl in Craig Morgan's "That's What I Love About Sunday" Music Video
Why? -
Nobody ever said these make sense....I just thought she was pretty. Besides, it's such a great true-to-life song. And the video was played almost-nonstop on The Country Network all the time.
Shawn Johnson
Why? -
Gymnasts are graceful. And focused. And the Olympics comes around so rarely, you got to support the people from your country. (Plus Canada, being a neighbor, and Australia, cause of the cool accents, and sometimes Great Britain, for the accents.) And she's a little more than a year older than I am, so that made it less weird than most screen crushes are. (It's just a bizarre concept, when you think about it....)
Siobhan Magnus - American Idol Season 9
Why? -
She was quirky. And her voice was different, but not bad. She was my favorite girl this season.
Natalie Portman
Why? -
She's pretty in an everyday way, not a "I'm-a-Hollywood-movie-star" way. And in interviews she seems very down-to-earth. Plus she's just a good actress.
Gwen Stacy - Amazing Spider-Man movies.
Gwen was about the only watchable part of these movies. She's smart(valedictorian of her class), resourceful, and she's a bit of a dork.
Hollie Cavanagh - American Idol Season 11
Why? -
She can sing. (This clip is the first song I could find on YouTube.) And she's pretty in a Natalie Portman type of way. And the way her accent shifts from Texas drawl to classy British English and back in midsentence was hysterical. She was funny.
Screen Crushes of My Childhood
Since Mom and Dad were youth pastors, I was always tagging along with them on stuff, surrounded by teenagers. That's influenced a lot of my pop-culture tastes. Like, a lot. Anyway, teens have all sorts of crushes and things, it's a natural part of that stage of life.
I didn't always realize these were my screen crushes at the time, but it's one of those things you discover when you're suddenly reminded of it after a long time.
Belle - Beauty and the Beast
Why? - Well, where to start? She loves reading! She sings musical numbers spontaneously! She is very observant, and a little strange. She's a storyteller, and she loves finding the beauty in this world. And she disdains Gaston, which is a plus. (I think he's part of the reason I've never had any desire to hunt. The Fox and the Hound is the other, besides my vision and intolerance for blood.)
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Why? - No idea, exactly. It's one of those things that can't be understood, what exactly makes someone attractive. But it was the late 90's/early 2000's, so that's part of the explanation. Anyway, I really enjoyed them as Sam and Emma Stanton in Switching Goals, but I would watch just about anything they were in.
Kate Douglas - The Big Green
Why? - She's hardworking, basically taking on the role of the team captain. She's determined to lead the team as best she can, and her ambitions are higher than sticking around town and working as a cashier at the Piggily Wiggily. She's loyal to Juan, and she isn't afraid to share her opinions.
Deena Stewart - 7th Heaven
Why? - She was Simon's girlfriend, and he was my favorite character on this show. (Matt was also cool.) Plus the scene this screenshot was taken from, from the Season 3 episode "Nobody Knows...", was when she told Simon about her leukemia. That was the first time I'd ever heard of cancer (I was five), so it was especially distressing.
Ariel - The Little Mermaid
Why? - She's curious, imaginative, creative and awkward. And also a bit of a rebel.
Lola Bunny - Space Jam
Why? - She's athletic. She's opinionated and spunky. And she's Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. (Really, that fact by itself would be enough to think well of her.) As Tweety says, "She's hot!" She has bangs. (Which is a good thiing.) And competitive! (Which is even better.)
Buttercup - The Princess Bride
Why? - If Westley could endure being captured by pirates, becoming the most legendary pirate on the seas himself, freeclimb up the Cliffs of Insanity, defeat Inigo Montoya in a fencing match, best Fezzik at wrestling and outwit Vizzini in a Battle of Wits, then survive the Lightning Sand, the Flaming Geysers and the ROUSes in the Fire Swamp, and THEN be imprisoned in either the Zoo of Death or the Pit of Despair(your choice), and THEN be put through the MACHINE in order to ride off happily into the night(or not; again, your choice), then wouldn't you say she was some special girl? And that's not even getting into all the things William Goldman said about her....
Lady - Lady and the Tramp
Why? - Because dogs are awesome, duh.... And she protects her people from that rat and the evil Siamese cats. And not all screen crushes have to be people, right? (Other dog-crushes: Buddy from the Air Bud movies, Pongo and Perdita from 101 Dalmatians, The Fox and the Hound's Copper, Wishbone, Skip from My Dog Skip, Inspector Gadget's Brain, and while not a dog, Ernie the goat from The Big Green is a Nubian, which has always been my favorite breed.)
Sam Kepler - Wishbone
Why? - Sam cares about her friends and their animals, and she's just always so nice. She loves sports just as much as Joe does, and she is terrific at soccer and roller hockey. She's a bit of a nerd. She's smart, adventurous, and gets herself into trouble pretty often. Basically she's awesome.
Lizzie McGuire - Lizzie McGuire
Why? - Grandpa had cable, so it was while visiting him that you could watch channels like ESPN, Animal Planet (which was actually about animals then) and Disney Channel. So I wasn't all that familiar with this show/character, but every once in a while there was an episode on while flipping channels. But Lizzie seemed really friendly, and the Wikipedia page of the show describes her as "shy, compassionate, clumsy and extremely loyal," which totally seem like good qualities.
Hallie Parker - The Parent Trap
Why? - Not sure....but Lindsay Lohan had a very expressive face. And denim jackets are really cool.
Padme Amidala - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Why? - She is graceful and studious in her political role; caring when it comes to those around her, she believes in democracy and is firmly against corruption. If she has to, she can fight very well. She's sort of a female version of Atticus Finch; maybe what Scout grew up to be like. (Go Set a Watchman doesn't count as showing a grown-up Jean Louise, because it was the parent of To Kill a Mockingbird.)
I didn't always realize these were my screen crushes at the time, but it's one of those things you discover when you're suddenly reminded of it after a long time.
Belle - Beauty and the Beast
Why? - Well, where to start? She loves reading! She sings musical numbers spontaneously! She is very observant, and a little strange. She's a storyteller, and she loves finding the beauty in this world. And she disdains Gaston, which is a plus. (I think he's part of the reason I've never had any desire to hunt. The Fox and the Hound is the other, besides my vision and intolerance for blood.)
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Why? - No idea, exactly. It's one of those things that can't be understood, what exactly makes someone attractive. But it was the late 90's/early 2000's, so that's part of the explanation. Anyway, I really enjoyed them as Sam and Emma Stanton in Switching Goals, but I would watch just about anything they were in.
Kate Douglas - The Big Green
Why? - She's hardworking, basically taking on the role of the team captain. She's determined to lead the team as best she can, and her ambitions are higher than sticking around town and working as a cashier at the Piggily Wiggily. She's loyal to Juan, and she isn't afraid to share her opinions.
Deena Stewart - 7th Heaven
Why? - She was Simon's girlfriend, and he was my favorite character on this show. (Matt was also cool.) Plus the scene this screenshot was taken from, from the Season 3 episode "Nobody Knows...", was when she told Simon about her leukemia. That was the first time I'd ever heard of cancer (I was five), so it was especially distressing.
Ariel - The Little Mermaid
Why? - She's curious, imaginative, creative and awkward. And also a bit of a rebel.
Lola Bunny - Space Jam
Why? - She's athletic. She's opinionated and spunky. And she's Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. (Really, that fact by itself would be enough to think well of her.) As Tweety says, "She's hot!" She has bangs. (Which is a good thiing.) And competitive! (Which is even better.)
Buttercup - The Princess Bride
Why? - If Westley could endure being captured by pirates, becoming the most legendary pirate on the seas himself, freeclimb up the Cliffs of Insanity, defeat Inigo Montoya in a fencing match, best Fezzik at wrestling and outwit Vizzini in a Battle of Wits, then survive the Lightning Sand, the Flaming Geysers and the ROUSes in the Fire Swamp, and THEN be imprisoned in either the Zoo of Death or the Pit of Despair(your choice), and THEN be put through the MACHINE in order to ride off happily into the night(or not; again, your choice), then wouldn't you say she was some special girl? And that's not even getting into all the things William Goldman said about her....
Lady - Lady and the Tramp
Why? - Because dogs are awesome, duh.... And she protects her people from that rat and the evil Siamese cats. And not all screen crushes have to be people, right? (Other dog-crushes: Buddy from the Air Bud movies, Pongo and Perdita from 101 Dalmatians, The Fox and the Hound's Copper, Wishbone, Skip from My Dog Skip, Inspector Gadget's Brain, and while not a dog, Ernie the goat from The Big Green is a Nubian, which has always been my favorite breed.)
Sam Kepler - Wishbone
Why? - Sam cares about her friends and their animals, and she's just always so nice. She loves sports just as much as Joe does, and she is terrific at soccer and roller hockey. She's a bit of a nerd. She's smart, adventurous, and gets herself into trouble pretty often. Basically she's awesome.
Lizzie McGuire - Lizzie McGuire
Why? - Grandpa had cable, so it was while visiting him that you could watch channels like ESPN, Animal Planet (which was actually about animals then) and Disney Channel. So I wasn't all that familiar with this show/character, but every once in a while there was an episode on while flipping channels. But Lizzie seemed really friendly, and the Wikipedia page of the show describes her as "shy, compassionate, clumsy and extremely loyal," which totally seem like good qualities.
Hallie Parker - The Parent Trap
Why? - Not sure....but Lindsay Lohan had a very expressive face. And denim jackets are really cool.
Padme Amidala - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Why? - She is graceful and studious in her political role; caring when it comes to those around her, she believes in democracy and is firmly against corruption. If she has to, she can fight very well. She's sort of a female version of Atticus Finch; maybe what Scout grew up to be like. (Go Set a Watchman doesn't count as showing a grown-up Jean Louise, because it was the parent of To Kill a Mockingbird.)
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Remembering the Challenger Explosion
Thursday marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Challenger explosion. I was really surprised(and disappointed) that I couldn't find any TV specials about it. (Scowling particuarly hard in the direction of the History Channel.) This YouTube video archived the live news feed of the explosion. That night, President Ronald Reagan gave the following speech, written by Peggy Noonan. (Emphasis mine.)
"...Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all the people of our country. This is, truly, a national loss. Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight - we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, and overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gergory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. The families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we are thinking of you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge, and I will meet it with joy.'
"They had a hunger to explore the universe and to discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century: it's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States Space Program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we've forgotten that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff: I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew were pulling us into the future, and we will continue to follow.
"I've always had great faith in, and respect for, our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program, we don't keep secrets and cover things up, we do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change any of it in a minute. We will continue our quest in space; there will be more shuttle flights, and more shuttle crews, and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here. Our hopes and our journeys continue.
"I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and every woman who works for NASA, or who worked on this mission, and tell them: 'Your dedication and professionalism had moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.'
"There's a coincidence today, on this day 390 years ago the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Canada. In his lifetime, the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He was raised by the sea, lived on the sea, and he was buried by it.' Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew, their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."
This is an amazing speech. The world has gotten so cynical, I'm ashamed to say that I wonder exactly how much of this was heartfelt and how much was acting. But that doesn't matter, because it works either way. It had been a long time since the country had had a disaster of this scale(JFK's death, probably?); and we were hurting. We needed to hear this message, to calm our nerves and assure us the world would keep spinning. The language he used is extremely plain and everyday; even the multisyllable words are common and simple, like "coincidence" and "Challenger". It's easy to understand. And it's comforting. Inspiring, even. (The cynical part of me wonders what are we inspired about, like it does during the Olympics.)
But that paragraph speaking straight to the kids - that's one of the greatest parts of this speech. Mom was one of those kids watching; I was watching fifteen years later when 9/11 happened. Resgan just explained what happened, like Mr. Rogers advised, and he didn't hide that he didn't understand it all yet, either.
But as a nation, we mourned. Together. This happened in the aftermath of 9/11, but grief brings people together far closer than anything else does. It's comforting, somehow, particularly in these times we live in now, to realize that it's possible for an entire country to be weeping in response to an event. Maybe that's just because we're constantly at each other's throats about race violence or gay rights or abortion or any of the other things ripping the nation apart right now.
"They had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge, and I will meet it with joy.'" (Looking at you, Leslie Knope.) That might be one of the most perfect and inspirational epitaphs you could ask for.
Think about it.
Don't you want to have someone say that about you when you're gone?
I just shook my head at the part where he said "we don't keep secrets and cover things up, we do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change any of it in a minute." We don't do that any longer. Maybe we never did. But a lot of things change in thirty years, and a lot of that freedom, that feeling of invincibility, has gotten lost somewhere along the way. And it's really sad.
That final phrase is amazing. "...and they slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." "Surly" means "ill-humored or ill-tempered" according to my copy of the Webster New American Handy College Dictionary, which is a great way of looking at this life, because it's just so true. And while Dale Hinshaw from Philip Gulley's Harmony novels might be a weirdo who could've come straight from Pawnee, he has good intentions, most of the time. But anyway, he said once that being faced with sickness was bound to turn our thoughts to the eternal. This is especially true in times of massive tragedy like this.
I don't know, I've always said pop-culturally I belonged to the 80's. So that might have played a part in the solemnity that was the anniversary, why I couldn't concentrate on school. Or maybe it's just my love of history. One of the most amazing sights at the Newseum while on Youth Tour was the local paper right after the disaster from Christa McAuliffe's hometown. The scale of the event had something to do with it; cell phones and the internet didn't exist yet. But I read somewhere that 85 percent of the country knew what happened within one hour.
It just needed to be talked about.
"...Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all the people of our country. This is, truly, a national loss. Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight - we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, and overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gergory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. The families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we are thinking of you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge, and I will meet it with joy.'
"They had a hunger to explore the universe and to discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century: it's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States Space Program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we've forgotten that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff: I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew were pulling us into the future, and we will continue to follow.
"I've always had great faith in, and respect for, our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program, we don't keep secrets and cover things up, we do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change any of it in a minute. We will continue our quest in space; there will be more shuttle flights, and more shuttle crews, and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here. Our hopes and our journeys continue.
"I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and every woman who works for NASA, or who worked on this mission, and tell them: 'Your dedication and professionalism had moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.'
"There's a coincidence today, on this day 390 years ago the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Canada. In his lifetime, the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He was raised by the sea, lived on the sea, and he was buried by it.' Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew, their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."
This is an amazing speech. The world has gotten so cynical, I'm ashamed to say that I wonder exactly how much of this was heartfelt and how much was acting. But that doesn't matter, because it works either way. It had been a long time since the country had had a disaster of this scale(JFK's death, probably?); and we were hurting. We needed to hear this message, to calm our nerves and assure us the world would keep spinning. The language he used is extremely plain and everyday; even the multisyllable words are common and simple, like "coincidence" and "Challenger". It's easy to understand. And it's comforting. Inspiring, even. (The cynical part of me wonders what are we inspired about, like it does during the Olympics.)
But that paragraph speaking straight to the kids - that's one of the greatest parts of this speech. Mom was one of those kids watching; I was watching fifteen years later when 9/11 happened. Resgan just explained what happened, like Mr. Rogers advised, and he didn't hide that he didn't understand it all yet, either.
But as a nation, we mourned. Together. This happened in the aftermath of 9/11, but grief brings people together far closer than anything else does. It's comforting, somehow, particularly in these times we live in now, to realize that it's possible for an entire country to be weeping in response to an event. Maybe that's just because we're constantly at each other's throats about race violence or gay rights or abortion or any of the other things ripping the nation apart right now.
"They had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge, and I will meet it with joy.'" (Looking at you, Leslie Knope.) That might be one of the most perfect and inspirational epitaphs you could ask for.
Think about it.
Don't you want to have someone say that about you when you're gone?
I just shook my head at the part where he said "we don't keep secrets and cover things up, we do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change any of it in a minute." We don't do that any longer. Maybe we never did. But a lot of things change in thirty years, and a lot of that freedom, that feeling of invincibility, has gotten lost somewhere along the way. And it's really sad.
That final phrase is amazing. "...and they slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." "Surly" means "ill-humored or ill-tempered" according to my copy of the Webster New American Handy College Dictionary, which is a great way of looking at this life, because it's just so true. And while Dale Hinshaw from Philip Gulley's Harmony novels might be a weirdo who could've come straight from Pawnee, he has good intentions, most of the time. But anyway, he said once that being faced with sickness was bound to turn our thoughts to the eternal. This is especially true in times of massive tragedy like this.
I don't know, I've always said pop-culturally I belonged to the 80's. So that might have played a part in the solemnity that was the anniversary, why I couldn't concentrate on school. Or maybe it's just my love of history. One of the most amazing sights at the Newseum while on Youth Tour was the local paper right after the disaster from Christa McAuliffe's hometown. The scale of the event had something to do with it; cell phones and the internet didn't exist yet. But I read somewhere that 85 percent of the country knew what happened within one hour.
 |
| The front page of the Concord (N.H.) Monitor from Tuesday, January 28, 1986. Concord was the hometown of civilian astronaut Christa McAuliffe, a teacher at the high school. |
Thursday, January 28, 2016
AI 15.8 - Hollywood: Group Round
This is where things get hectic. Ladies and gentlemen: the infamous Group Night!
Some people made it through more than others. (The judges, particularly Harry, had a rough day.)
"They gotta figure out which song they're gonna sing, they got to figure out the choreography they're gonna use, and they gotta figure out how to not kill each other tonight," Keith observed.
We started the day with 108 contestants. The casualties began even before the performances; as Po Scott dropped out of the competition completely; leaving Dalton Rappatoni and Kassy Levels scrambling to find a third member for their group(Chicken Noodle Soup) to be legal. (They had to be either three or four members.)
Malie "Miss Alaska DJ" Delgado, Manny Torres and Christian Eason were left as a threesome after La'Porscha dropped out; they had to pull together a new song and everything, so they changed their group's name to Rebirth while they were at it.
Team Blue Eyes was made up of Jordan Sasser, Kory Wheeler, Jenna Renae and some girl named Kelsie Watts, who had Allison Iraheta-red-dyed hair. They sang a Bruno Mars song called "Treasure", and they were all safe.
Milk and Cookies, composed of Jenn Blosil and Sara Sturm, together with a black girl named Bri Ray and a tall blonde named Lynzee Fraye, rehearsed in the bathroom for lack of anywhere else with enough space to practice. Besides Sara, I hated everyone, but they were all through...
There was an entertaining montage about what a chocoholic JayLo apparently is, after she tries to steal some of Keith's food like Nicki used to. "Ya know, she looks thin, but she eats about six and a half pounds of chocolate a day," Harry quips. "No, it's more like eight pounds," Keith answers, grinning. She protests. "Would you like some sushi instead? I'm having some delivered..." (Smart guy, eating snacks like sushi and trail mix to keep Jennifer and Nicki from eating all his food.)
The next group was Ooh X2, made up of Tristan McIntosh, Amelia "Mystery Samurai Fiddler" Eisenhauer, Lee Jean and some blonde girl whose name started with H. "That sounded like you all were an actual vocal group!" Keith praised them. They were all through, which was awesome. Jeneve Rose Mitchell was also safe, from a different group.
Next up was Just Trent, the Group Round's first-ever group of one. (Mono is apparently contagious, and the producers wanted to keep the other contestants as healthy as possible.) He got through.
The next group was called Singing Out Loud, made up of Michelle Marie, Lindsey Carrier, Ashley Lusk and Shelbie Z. Their song was Carrie's "Undo It", and it was awful. I would have been just fine with everyone in this group packing their bags, but only Lindsey was booted out, which was even worse because she was the team's leader.
Elvie Shane, John Wayne Schulz and Jessica Cabral were a group, and they were visibly exhausted. "You're genuinely exhausted by this point, but you still gotta perform. Welcome to your career! It's gonna be like this all the time. The only thing is, you gotta hide that tiredness from me." Keith critiques helpfully. Elvie was cut.
Also cut was Ashley Adams-Soderbergh the weird Hawaiian misfit, and Cameron Richard. Mackenzie Bourg was safe.
It wouldn't be Group Night without some Drama, right? That came in the form of the rivalry which quickly developed between Envy(Sonika Vaid, Stephany Negrete and Andrew Nazaberkian the Tall Russian) and Chicken Noodle Soup(Dalton, Kassy and a girl named Anatalia Villaranda). Anatalia was an alto stuck with the three sopranos of Envy, and they literally abandoned her in the hallway. Since Chicken Noodle Soup needed a third member, she was drafted, and there was plenty of fireworks the next day between the two groups. All members of both groups advanced, and Sonika crossed the line into "I can't vote for her" territory. Dalton still gets cool points.
His former rival Jackie Butler(with the green hair) and obese Brian Dale Brown were both cut, as was Josiah Siska(rats!).
Trick or Treat Try was another one of those groups who practiced in the bathroom; their roster was Kayce Haynes and three guys we'd never heard of named Marcio Donaldson, Jon Klaasen and Kylle Thompson. Their song was "Uptown Funk" and they were all safe. (I would've booted them all out...bow ties are stupid.)
"If you could have any talent in the world other than singing, what would it be?" Harry asked Jennifer. She thinks a minute. "Painting." "Really? Have you tried it?" "Yup. I'm awful at it." "Well, what'd you try? Oils? Watercolors?" "Crayons, everything!"
The roster of LOUD Joy Dove, Daniel Farmer and Lindita the Personal Trainer made up the group known as Smooth Soul, doing Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," of all things...Daniel was cut.
Las Orinquas was Gianna Isabella, some girl named Dana Ordway and a bossy girl named Eliz Camacho. Eliz was eliminated after Harry said "There were two 24-year-olds in this group. And you were outsang by the 15-year-old." (Gianna does a happy dance here.)
The Good Vibes were four "Who?" contestants; a redheaded guy named Joe Kahlman, another dude named Anesai Talai, a girl named Olivia Thai and a nerdy girl named Jessica Paige, who was the only one to advance. "Guys, you look like your dog just died," Harry was really at his wit's end by this point.
CJ Johnson the Memphis musician, another guy named Zach Joseph, a blonde ponytailed girl named Jess Kellner and another blonde girl with a headband named Jessica Baker were another group, and Zach was the odd one out here.
Thomas Stringfellow was part of a group with Bryson Dunn, Thomas Hendricks and some guy with the last name Muglia; the Thomases were the lucky ones. "You guys are all absolutely great solo artists....but that was really average." Harry complains.
Then it was Rebirth's(Malie, Manny and Christian) turn....they did "Stayin' Alive," and it was pretty good. "Best group of the day, don't ya think?" JayLo asks the guys.
The Three Sistas were La'Porscha and two girls named Marlena Johnson and Tonie Starr, Shelbie Z was originally part of this group before defecting to Singing Out Loud. So she was replaced by La'Porscha, who came in from Rebirth, and they also did "Stayin' Alive" as one of the last acts of the day. Everyone forgot the lyrics. Aggravatingly, they were all safe. "That's how you forget the words!" Harry laughed, applauding. "That was like watching Dreamgirls or somethin'," Jennifer said.
The Soulcats were the last group of the day, composed of Jonathan Arthur Greene and three people we'd never seen before: Lauren Wright(not the friend of the Hankinses who went to church camp), Marshall Cunningham and some guy named Dylan. Lauren and Marshall were safe, the other two weren't.
Some people made it through more than others. (The judges, particularly Harry, had a rough day.)
"They gotta figure out which song they're gonna sing, they got to figure out the choreography they're gonna use, and they gotta figure out how to not kill each other tonight," Keith observed.
 |
| This is just a stock-type picture I took of my guitar a long time ago. I got tired of using the same AI logo all the time with these posts. |
Malie "Miss Alaska DJ" Delgado, Manny Torres and Christian Eason were left as a threesome after La'Porscha dropped out; they had to pull together a new song and everything, so they changed their group's name to Rebirth while they were at it.
Team Blue Eyes was made up of Jordan Sasser, Kory Wheeler, Jenna Renae and some girl named Kelsie Watts, who had Allison Iraheta-red-dyed hair. They sang a Bruno Mars song called "Treasure", and they were all safe.
Milk and Cookies, composed of Jenn Blosil and Sara Sturm, together with a black girl named Bri Ray and a tall blonde named Lynzee Fraye, rehearsed in the bathroom for lack of anywhere else with enough space to practice. Besides Sara, I hated everyone, but they were all through...
There was an entertaining montage about what a chocoholic JayLo apparently is, after she tries to steal some of Keith's food like Nicki used to. "Ya know, she looks thin, but she eats about six and a half pounds of chocolate a day," Harry quips. "No, it's more like eight pounds," Keith answers, grinning. She protests. "Would you like some sushi instead? I'm having some delivered..." (Smart guy, eating snacks like sushi and trail mix to keep Jennifer and Nicki from eating all his food.)
The next group was Ooh X2, made up of Tristan McIntosh, Amelia "Mystery Samurai Fiddler" Eisenhauer, Lee Jean and some blonde girl whose name started with H. "That sounded like you all were an actual vocal group!" Keith praised them. They were all through, which was awesome. Jeneve Rose Mitchell was also safe, from a different group.
Next up was Just Trent, the Group Round's first-ever group of one. (Mono is apparently contagious, and the producers wanted to keep the other contestants as healthy as possible.) He got through.
The next group was called Singing Out Loud, made up of Michelle Marie, Lindsey Carrier, Ashley Lusk and Shelbie Z. Their song was Carrie's "Undo It", and it was awful. I would have been just fine with everyone in this group packing their bags, but only Lindsey was booted out, which was even worse because she was the team's leader.
Elvie Shane, John Wayne Schulz and Jessica Cabral were a group, and they were visibly exhausted. "You're genuinely exhausted by this point, but you still gotta perform. Welcome to your career! It's gonna be like this all the time. The only thing is, you gotta hide that tiredness from me." Keith critiques helpfully. Elvie was cut.
Also cut was Ashley Adams-Soderbergh the weird Hawaiian misfit, and Cameron Richard. Mackenzie Bourg was safe.
It wouldn't be Group Night without some Drama, right? That came in the form of the rivalry which quickly developed between Envy(Sonika Vaid, Stephany Negrete and Andrew Nazaberkian the Tall Russian) and Chicken Noodle Soup(Dalton, Kassy and a girl named Anatalia Villaranda). Anatalia was an alto stuck with the three sopranos of Envy, and they literally abandoned her in the hallway. Since Chicken Noodle Soup needed a third member, she was drafted, and there was plenty of fireworks the next day between the two groups. All members of both groups advanced, and Sonika crossed the line into "I can't vote for her" territory. Dalton still gets cool points.
His former rival Jackie Butler(with the green hair) and obese Brian Dale Brown were both cut, as was Josiah Siska(rats!).
Trick or Treat Try was another one of those groups who practiced in the bathroom; their roster was Kayce Haynes and three guys we'd never heard of named Marcio Donaldson, Jon Klaasen and Kylle Thompson. Their song was "Uptown Funk" and they were all safe. (I would've booted them all out...bow ties are stupid.)
"If you could have any talent in the world other than singing, what would it be?" Harry asked Jennifer. She thinks a minute. "Painting." "Really? Have you tried it?" "Yup. I'm awful at it." "Well, what'd you try? Oils? Watercolors?" "Crayons, everything!"
The roster of LOUD Joy Dove, Daniel Farmer and Lindita the Personal Trainer made up the group known as Smooth Soul, doing Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," of all things...Daniel was cut.
Las Orinquas was Gianna Isabella, some girl named Dana Ordway and a bossy girl named Eliz Camacho. Eliz was eliminated after Harry said "There were two 24-year-olds in this group. And you were outsang by the 15-year-old." (Gianna does a happy dance here.)
The Good Vibes were four "Who?" contestants; a redheaded guy named Joe Kahlman, another dude named Anesai Talai, a girl named Olivia Thai and a nerdy girl named Jessica Paige, who was the only one to advance. "Guys, you look like your dog just died," Harry was really at his wit's end by this point.
CJ Johnson the Memphis musician, another guy named Zach Joseph, a blonde ponytailed girl named Jess Kellner and another blonde girl with a headband named Jessica Baker were another group, and Zach was the odd one out here.
Thomas Stringfellow was part of a group with Bryson Dunn, Thomas Hendricks and some guy with the last name Muglia; the Thomases were the lucky ones. "You guys are all absolutely great solo artists....but that was really average." Harry complains.
Then it was Rebirth's(Malie, Manny and Christian) turn....they did "Stayin' Alive," and it was pretty good. "Best group of the day, don't ya think?" JayLo asks the guys.
The Three Sistas were La'Porscha and two girls named Marlena Johnson and Tonie Starr, Shelbie Z was originally part of this group before defecting to Singing Out Loud. So she was replaced by La'Porscha, who came in from Rebirth, and they also did "Stayin' Alive" as one of the last acts of the day. Everyone forgot the lyrics. Aggravatingly, they were all safe. "That's how you forget the words!" Harry laughed, applauding. "That was like watching Dreamgirls or somethin'," Jennifer said.
The Soulcats were the last group of the day, composed of Jonathan Arthur Greene and three people we'd never seen before: Lauren Wright(not the friend of the Hankinses who went to church camp), Marshall Cunningham and some guy named Dylan. Lauren and Marshall were safe, the other two weren't.
AI 15.7 - Hollywood: Lines of Ten
Dim the lights, please....
We're in Hollywood now. This is where the pressure ramps up exponentially, drama is captured onscreen, and the field is winnowed down to a manageable number. 190 people were given Golden Tickets, but many of them would see their dreams shatter in the opening of "Hell Week," as it's been called frequently in the past. First up, the Lines of Ten(which is exactly what it sounds like). Everyone sings, then the field is weeded. Those who survive advance to the Group Round.
The first thing we learned was that Dalton Rappatoni and Jackie Butler were rivals on the Dallas alt-rock scene; they both survived into the Group Round, as did Jordan Sasser.
The next row included Jenn Blosil(ew), Thomas Stringfellow and Olivia Rox, all of who escaped unscathed. (Go Thomas and Olivia!)
Jessica Cabral(who I don't really remember much), Melanie "Model Eyes" Tierce and Sonika Vaid were all in the next line, and sadly, Melanie was cut.
In the fourth line we saw, La'Porscha "HORRIBLE PERM" Renae got through(BOO....), while Harrison Cohen was dropped. His answer to the interview question, "What're you gonna do now?" was "Well, I guess fill out some college applications..."
Manny "Crush on Jennifer" Torres, Daniel "Crush on Jennifer" Farmer and Sara Sturm all made it through in one piece.
Lee Jean got through, which was cool. Shelbie Z the Hairdresser advancing was not. With that, the first day of Hollywood Week ended, and people got an anxious night's sleep.
When Day 2 opened, Jeneve Rose Mitchell(Off-the-Grid Cello Cowgirl) played a funky version of Little Big Town's "Boondocks" well enough to get through, and then there was a funny montage of the parents watching; Jimmy Kimmel running into Ryan, and contestants freaking out about One Direction doing a soundcheck across the street.
Gianna Isabella and Tristan McIntosh(with the army mom) were both safe; Tristan sang Carrie's "Something in the Water."
Kyrsti Jewel "Superfan" Chavez wasn't able to keep going, but Cameron Richard was, and frustratingly, Michelle Marie was allowed to keep going.
Creepy Kerry Courtney, Sand Springs plumber Jake Dillon, Melany Huber the girl with cancer and Ethan Kuntz all were sent packing.
Trent Harmon the R&B Farmer got mono, but somehow powered through to last another day. Po Scott had a Princess Leia hairdo going on, which maybe intimidated the judges into sending her through, and Emily Brooke also advanced.
108 contestants remain....
We're in Hollywood now. This is where the pressure ramps up exponentially, drama is captured onscreen, and the field is winnowed down to a manageable number. 190 people were given Golden Tickets, but many of them would see their dreams shatter in the opening of "Hell Week," as it's been called frequently in the past. First up, the Lines of Ten(which is exactly what it sounds like). Everyone sings, then the field is weeded. Those who survive advance to the Group Round.
The first thing we learned was that Dalton Rappatoni and Jackie Butler were rivals on the Dallas alt-rock scene; they both survived into the Group Round, as did Jordan Sasser.
The next row included Jenn Blosil(ew), Thomas Stringfellow and Olivia Rox, all of who escaped unscathed. (Go Thomas and Olivia!)
Jessica Cabral(who I don't really remember much), Melanie "Model Eyes" Tierce and Sonika Vaid were all in the next line, and sadly, Melanie was cut.
In the fourth line we saw, La'Porscha "HORRIBLE PERM" Renae got through(BOO....), while Harrison Cohen was dropped. His answer to the interview question, "What're you gonna do now?" was "Well, I guess fill out some college applications..."
Manny "Crush on Jennifer" Torres, Daniel "Crush on Jennifer" Farmer and Sara Sturm all made it through in one piece.
Lee Jean got through, which was cool. Shelbie Z the Hairdresser advancing was not. With that, the first day of Hollywood Week ended, and people got an anxious night's sleep.
When Day 2 opened, Jeneve Rose Mitchell(Off-the-Grid Cello Cowgirl) played a funky version of Little Big Town's "Boondocks" well enough to get through, and then there was a funny montage of the parents watching; Jimmy Kimmel running into Ryan, and contestants freaking out about One Direction doing a soundcheck across the street.
Gianna Isabella and Tristan McIntosh(with the army mom) were both safe; Tristan sang Carrie's "Something in the Water."
Kyrsti Jewel "Superfan" Chavez wasn't able to keep going, but Cameron Richard was, and frustratingly, Michelle Marie was allowed to keep going.
Creepy Kerry Courtney, Sand Springs plumber Jake Dillon, Melany Huber the girl with cancer and Ethan Kuntz all were sent packing.
Trent Harmon the R&B Farmer got mono, but somehow powered through to last another day. Po Scott had a Princess Leia hairdo going on, which maybe intimidated the judges into sending her through, and Emily Brooke also advanced.
108 contestants remain....
Modeling Christlikeness in a Sitcom-like Stage Family
The first assignment for Topics of Advanced Composition was for a personal essay. I was missing everyone from the BCM. So this was good(though tough to reexperience everything from this time) to write, and extremely easy to research. It scored a 93, and when I turned in a revised draft, Dr. Dial-Driver gave me a look like, "Really?" That version got a 100 points.
Talking
about the citizens of Pawnee, Indiana, Parks
and Recreation’s Ben Wyatt says at one point, “You know, it’s weird. I’ve been
to a lot of towns…usually people don’t care about anything. I mean, don’t get
me wrong, they’re weirdos, but….they’re weirdos that care” (“Time Capsule”). For
a while around the Northeastern State University campus, and to a lesser extent
the city of Tahlequah or Cherokee County generally, if “the SWAT team” were
mentioned, the speaker likely didn’t mean a squad of heavily-armed law
enforcement officers. Instead they were talking about the drama ministry of the
Baptist Collegiate Ministries, which was considered as somewhat of a loose
cannon amongst the tight-knit community of BCM outreaches. But we cared about
each other. And that was important.
I
was a loner growing up, for the most part. Not that I didn’t like people – it’s
more just that I like a small group of specific
people, and if someone is able to gain my trust in order to be called a friend,
then that trust is nearly indestructible. I had acted in middle school musicals
with our homeschool co-op and really enjoyed that, but in general, Oklahoma is
rather lacking in acting opportunities. So there was just the occasional
murder-mystery, and quoting good TV lines with my siblings. But in general,
nothing, which didn’t do much to take my mind off a disastrous freshman year of
college or the violent implosion of the sarcastic, witty and creative support
group that served as our personal Buffy-type
“Scooby Gang” for me and my friends in surviving high school.
The
project known as “Students with a Testimony” began when Samantha Hill
transferred to NSU around the spring of 2012 from Carl Albert; their branch of
the BCM had a drama ministry primarily used as a tool for evangelization, and
Sam wanted to continue that work in and around Tahlequah. She obtained the
blessing of NSU BCM directors Bob and Debbie Lipscomb, and then the project was
off and running. So she set out to round up some team members through
word-of-mouth.
“I pretty much just had to go out on a limb, finding
strangers who wanted to be a part of the BCM and say, ‘Hey, are you a Christian?
Would you like to share your testimony?’” she said during an interview for an
unpublished newspaper article in September 2013. “I was the crazy girl that
everyone saw coming and, believe me, they’d run the other way, because they
knew exactly what I was wanting to recruit them for.”
Sam tried to recruit me to immediately join the team when I
came to Tahlequah in fall 2012, but I declined, since I thought I had better
focus solely on schoolwork until I was more adapted to campus culture. Besides,
I was more involved at the time with Campus Christian Fellowship, another
ministry which has (though no one on either side wants to actually admit it) a
fierce rivalry with the BCM. She got about a dozen people to sign up, though;
and they performed a handful of shows in churches of various sizes,
interspersing testimonies and Scripture with music and comedy sketches.
Through a mix of gentle pestering by Sam throughout the year
and knowing several other people who attended the BCM regularly, together with
realizing that CCF wasn’t at all a place where I could grow spiritually, I
started going to the Monday-night worship service, and gradually discovered
that this was a good organization to be a part of. When fall 2013 started up
and the SWAT sign-ups were passed around, I figured that I ought to dive deeper
into helping out. It had been forever since I’d acted in anything, and besides,
it was a ministry opportunity. The team was made up of mostly new faces this
time around, with Haley Ritter co-leading the group with Sam for a semester.
“I actually heard about SWAT when I first met Sam and Haley,
they were telling me about it, and it seemed like a really, really cool way to
do ministry,” said Elizabeth Hodge in an interview from September 2013. “I’ve
been involved in theater most of my life, but never have done any kind of
ministry like this before. It’s a really cool way to spread the Gospel, because
you don’t have to go five thousand miles away and spend five thousand dollars.”
Once we’d gotten the sketches memorized, life quickly turned
into something of a sitcom: Friends was
blended into Full House and the
sketch comedy group Studio C, and then that combination was added to the
YouTube series Messy Mondays, as I
put it in a blog post simply titled “SWAT.” But we really did become like
family. Sam was the mom of the group, Haley the drill-sergeant aunt. And together,
they kept things running with a mix of strictness and sweetness. Jacob was the
cool older cousin, while Elizabeth, Susan and I were like siblings. Neighbors
included the spacey janitor James, four-wheeling Becca, obnoxious Scott (everyone
hated him), couple Skylar and Ja Li Si (we gave them a hard time, of course),
while Caleb and Holly were always sort of hanging out in the corner. New
additions to the cast several weeks in were TJ, serving as the fiery deadpan
snarker in addition to doing voiceovers, while Justin turned out to be a
jack-of-all-trades, doing everything from locating churches to running sound
equipment and acting.
There were a lot of coffee runs to McDonald’s when someone
had a lot on their mind –
“Random coffee runs late at night
make for a gem of a night,” Elizabeth tweeted once – and there was entertaining
improvisation out of necessity, and malapropisms galore (well-chronicled in my
video “SWAT Blooper Reel”). Road trips to and from shows were also very…interesting,
to say the least. As Elizabeth said, “The basic theme of all our road trips is,
like once we get there, you ask: ‘…But did we die?’ And that sums up everything
perfectly.” For example, there was that night we went looking for the invisible
church in Sallisaw.
Having put together a silent project to go with the
Lifehouse song “Everything” for a charity fundraiser/talent show, we were
invited to perform it at a revival at Deliverance Baptist the next week. We didn’t
usually do shows on Wednesday nights unless it was a special occasion, and this
definitely counted. Thing was, though, we’d lost several key props between
performances, since it was supposed to be a one-time thing. And several people
were late, adding to the tension. So we nervously played ping pong to pass the
time, then split up, one group racing to Wal-Mart for glass-bottled root beer,
the other group flying to Dollar Tree for play-food money. We got to Sallisaw
with a half hour to spare, more than enough time to find the church…..except
that none of us can find it on our
phones’ maps. We did find three other
churches, which all turned out to be the wrong ones. So we finally talk Jacob
into calling the pastor, where he’s given directions which sound
straightforward enough: “At Wal-Mart, turn right onto Maple and then drive a
ways, and then another right.” Maple is located, but it leads to a really
sketchy-looking neighborhood….and none of us (ten people in three vehicles) had
ever been to this city before, so we were completely lost. And by now it was
pouring down rain. Susan and I ask for directions from some terrified
construction workers at the Assembly of God, which turns out to be another dead
end. (Also, we realized once we got back in the car that she was already in
costume as Death.) We get a lead on another place it might be, which takes us
several miles out of town and past three burned-out buildings which were at one
point churches. The search has now taken an hour and fifteen minutes, all five
occupants of our car vote for giving up and finding dinner. We relay this
information back to the other two cars, and then eat and drive back home to
Tahlequah, crying in frustration yet knowing the situation was hilarious. . This
experience was recapped in far more detail in my blog post “Getting Lost.”
Weather slowed the beginning of our spring semester’s schedule,
but the execution of the performances was greatly improved, due in part to the
addition of Drew and Ashleigh as tech crew and about a quarter of the cast
dropping out. We banded together often to cover roles whenever necessary, and
strengthened connections with the other BCM ministries, as the more musical of
us joined the worship band. Organization-wide lunch hangouts were a staple of
Friday afternoons, and watch parties during Thunder games caused much screaming
and strangling of pillows. The overall atmosphere was much like working in
Pawnee’s Parks Department, and when you enjoy your coworkers, coming in every
day is awesome. Most of us spent nearly every nonclass moment in either the
BCM’s basement, living room or office. Special SWAT events included Christmas
caroling at a senior citizens’ center - three days before Thanksgiving - a
birthday party picnic, and a game night featuring intense rounds of Catchphrase
and Apples to Apples. An elderly pastor in Muskogee even gave a handful of us
marriage advice after the show one night. (”If you live long enough to say
‘Yes, dear,’ you’ll live to learn everything else.”) Pretty good advice.
After Sam and her husband moved once she graduated, the way
everyone planned the leadership transition to take place was for Susan to take
over the reins the next year, with me taking the second-in-command role which
Haley had filled. But there were a lot of family problems at home, which meant
that I had to leave for a semester in order to help out. Susan’s theater duties
kept her too stressed to run SWAT properly, so it was absorbed into the worship
band, where it limped along for the rest of the year before apparently being
shut down sometime in spring 2015. And by then transfers happened – Skylar and
I came to RSU, Elizabeth went to NSUBA, Caleb to Southwest Baptist, etc. And
life happened, too – Justin and Ashleigh fell in love almost immediately, and
their wedding will be held in a couple months. Jacob is engaged now, and Haley
got married. Ja Li Si became Miss Cherokee last year, and began dating Sam’s
brother. Graduations will begin proceeding in a couple months.
We weren’t that successful at evangelizing, but we did do
well at encouraging those who needed it – whether that was audience members,
relatives, friends or castmates – through the spiritual valleys, discouragements,
breakups, general insecurity and school panic of this life. We were a team, which doesn’t come up very often.
You don’t really get that Parks and Rec vibe
in real life very often. And when you do….that ought to be treasured. “A team
isn’t a bunch of kids out to win; a team is something you belong to. Something
you feel. Something you have to earn,” Gordon Bombay said in The Mighty Ducks. We earned that, and
you don’t let those ties fall slack. So we still keep in touch, and have
mini-reunions whenever possible. I may be allergic to college, but SWAT has
definitely been one of the highlights.
Works
Cited
Coburn, Wesley.
“Getting Lost”. Blog post. Another Lover
of the Blade. Blogger. 21 November 2013. Web. 17 January 2016.
--------------------.
“SWAT”. Blog post. Another Lover of the
Blade. Blogger. 9 November 2013. Web. 17 January 2016.
-------------------.
“SWAT Blooper Reel”. Online video clip. YouTube.
YouTube. 29 December 2014. Web. 17 January 2015.
Hill, Samantha. Personal interview.
9 September 2013.
Hodge, Elizabeth. Personal
interview. 9 September 2013.
------------------
(HodgepodgeEH). “Random coffee outings late at night make for a gem of a
night.” 7 March 2014. Tweet.
The Mighty Ducks. 1992. Dir. Stephen
Herek. Buena Vista Pictures, 1992. DVD.
“Time Capsule”. Parks and Recreation: Season Three. Writ.
Michael Schur. Dir. Michael Schur. NBCUniversal Television Distribution. 2011. DVD.
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