Blake Lewis Video Transformation - American Idol to Audio Day Dream

If you can't get enough of Seattle beatboxer and American Idol Season 6 finalist Blake Lewis while you're waiting for Audio Day Dream (A.D.D., being released on December 4, 2007), check out the video transformation that I put together on Flektor!



Enjoy!

My desktop is a floortop

Despite everyone telling me that "moving sucks," it actually hasn't been all that bad so far. I would say that I'm about 50% done after a couple days and am actually really looking forward to the less cluttered layout of my new room! I am driving boxes over and walking large furniture over, so it's definitely been a workout trying to get all this done. In the end, it'll be for the better because not only is it a cheaper place, but I'll also actually be using a desk so it'll be easier for me to type (right now, I type while sitting on the edge of my bed, which makes it really uncomfortable to do anything).

So while my computer has lost its shelf and is now sitting on the floor and my TV/monitor is now about 8 inches from my face while I type this, I'll do as much of a catch up as I can stand doing while nearly going blind looking at the screen.

1) Enchanted - A Quick Movie Review

Honestly, I thought I was done with Disney movies. I didn't like Ratatouille, nor did I really think The Incredibles was all that good (even though both got great reviews). But I saw Enchanted on its opening day and absolutely loved it. While Amy Adams (Giselle) steals the show and has been generating quite the buzz in her role as the latest (and greatest) Disney princess, I thought that Grey's Anatomy's Patrick Dempsey did a great job as well. Seeing as Dempsey is now known as "McDreamy" to a large portion of the American public, his performance was good enough that I didn't think of him that way throughout the movie and I actually watch Grey's Anatomy.

In terms of story, yes, it's a little bit predictable. If people complain that the story was really predictable, people need to remember that at the end of the day, Enchanted IS A DISNEY MOVIE. Was anyone guessing wrong about what would happen when Simba returned to Pride Rock? Did anyone think that Sleeping Beauty was just going to sleep forever? I get annoyed when people talk about that plot lines of Disney/teen movies and complain about them being predictable because these movies are much less about the outcome and more about the journey to get there. In Enchanted, the characters take a journey from the animated world to the real life world in a story about princesses, princes, evil stepmothers, poison apples, and facing reality - same story as always, but it's a lot of fun to see the two worlds collide.

No, I didn't think the movie had a lot of laugh out loud parts, but I did think that it had a lot to like. The whole movie is very upbeat and I enjoyed watching Disney poke a little bit of fun at itself and its animated movies with this one. The movie isn't filled with singing (thank the lord that it wasn't overkill), but there is one song where they have a huge cast of people dancing around in the streets of New York City the same way that you have seen people, cookware, animals, etc., dance in other animated Disney movies. Seeing one of these HUGE dance numbers come to life was really a sight to behold and I thought it was one of the highlights of the whole movie that almost made it worth the price of admission for that part alone. I would definitely recommend the movie to anyone who needs a break from the killing sprees (I also saw Hitman last week) and just wants to sit back and enjoy what will definitely be the biggest movie this holiday season.

And of course, Carrie Underwood's "Ever Ever After" (which I'll post again, because I want to see it again) is the theme to the movie.

2) Marie' Digby and Kelly Clarkson concerts

Last weekend, I saw both Marie' Digby (Troubadour) and Kelly Clarkson (Gibson Amphitheatre) in concert. If I'm being completely honest, I actually liked Marie's show a lot more than I did Kelly's.

This guy (Dave Kim) accompanies Marie' songs on the violin and I think it's pretty fly.

Marie' was performing in front of a sold out crowd at the famed Troubadour in Los Angeles after a tour around the country and it felt good to welcome her back to her home turf. She put on a great show and her set was a bit longer than normal as she was headlining a show with two opening acts. Highlights of the show were her performance of "Beauty Walking Away" and "Spell," which was recently featured on the TV show Smallville. Her vocals are so pure and songs are just so good every time. I got to catch up with Marie' a little bit after the show and can't wait to see her again soon!

Love Marie'.

Kelly Clarkson put on a good show, though she did forget the words to "Miss Independent" and "Breakaway," which was a bit of a bummer to me! I also wish that she would have performed "A Moment Like This," but something tells me that she's trying to stay far far away from American Idol while she's on tour. Here's the best moment of the show, where she performed Miss Independent with an intro from AC/DC's "Back in Black."


3) Spice Girls Taping for BBC

In one of the more random things I've done lately, I got to see the Spice Girls perform live at CBS studios for a fundraiser that was airing on the BBC. I am not exaggerating when I say that the audience was about 90% female, 8% gay male, and 2% straight male (so probably me and about 4 other guys). It was a ton of fun, even though we had to wait outside for two hours before making it in. I can't say too much about it because I'm no Spice Girls fanatic, but I will say that I did really enjoy it and that they are all the hottest moms EVER.

4) Hell's Kitchen

I went to a taping for Hell's Kitchen: Season 5 this past Saturday, which was quite the experience. The show's set was much larger than I ever expected and seeing Gordon Ramsey in real life was a big thrill! I can't say anything about it because of the NDA I signed, but it was preeeetty sweet.

I'm going to do some writing over on Rotten Potatoes, but that's what's been going on!

Blogging returns after Hell's Kitchen

I spent much of the afternoon and evening today moving boxes to my new place, so I'm giving myself a break and I'm off to a taping for Hell's Kitchen Season 5 bright and early tomorrow morning.

Blogging will return after I return from what I hope to be a successful dinner service with Gordon Ramsey and the new cast.

For now, check out my latest post on who I believe to be the two hottest hotties on television today over at the on-topic sister blog Rotten Potatoes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I'll be down in San Diego for the day today.

Unfortunately, real life threw me a bit of a curveball and we're being forced out of our current apartment so I've been dealing with finding a new apartment (success) and starting to get everything packed up. Because I am bitter, if anyone stumbles on here by doing a search on Lido Equities Management, know that they raised our rent by 22% spontaneously after we've been paying rent on time in this apartment for years. I understand that they want to make more money, but man, that's cold-blooded. Anyways!

Lots of fun stuff to blog about when I get back from SD. I went to a Spice Girls taping for the BBC (yes, it was fab), Marie' Digby concert, and Kelly Clarkson concert last weekend, which was all kinds of exciting. Apparently, Blogger can take video uploads now, so I tried to use it here, but it just took too long and the upload failed. What's weird is Google owns Blogger and Google owns YouTube, but Blogger just took 20 minutes of my life trying and failing to do what I just successfully did on YouTube over the course of two minutes.

Dark room + zoom = poop video.

On Wednesday, I caught the 10:45 AM showing of Enchanted, which made me believe that Giselle is now the "new Belle" (aka: Hottest animated character ever... people always give me weird looks when I say that).


I picked up Jordin Sparks' debut album, which I wrote about on Americanidol.com. In a pleasant surprise, the album is pretty good! I don't think that there's necessarily any songs that I'm going to listen to over and over, but the whole CD is pretty decent overall. Somehow, "This Is My Now" has also grown on me as well in the studio version. One way or another, the CD will be accompanying me via iPod on my way down to SD.

Again, happy Thanksgiving!

Carrie Underwood "Ever Ever After" music video from new Disney Movie Enchanted

As if I needed further proof that Carrie Underwood is the most beautiful woman to ever walk the face of the planet, the music video for "Ever Ever After," off the Enchanted soundtrack will make anyone a believer.



Initially, I wasn't crazy about the song, but when you pair it with animated and real life Carrie, you can't not love it.

Jordin Sparks' next single, "No Air" Featuring Chris Brown?

After the leak of Jordin Sparks' song "No Air," off her debut album coming in a couple weeks, people are speculating that it'll be her next single. I do like the song, but because the quality of the leaks that are out there, it's tough to tell just how much I like it.

While I'm sure this video will get shut down, enjoy the sneak peek while you can!



I like Chris Brown. I like Jordin Sparks. So logic would say that I would like them together!

It worked for Rihanna and Ne-Yo's "Hate That I Love You," so hopefully Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks have a hit on their hands!

2 Girls 1 Cup, Two Girls One Cup, is the most NSFW thing I have ever, ever seen

There was a time when the picture known as "goatsex," which was a man holding his anus open to an ungodly level, was the most disgusting and shocking thing on the Internet (I believe it has actually been "banned from the Internet."). Many a message board goer got tricked into looking at the "goatsex" image, but now there is a new video that is now the new "goatsex" - called "2 Girls 1 Cup," made famous by Perez Hilton.

If you haven't seen "Two Girls One Cup" or "2girls1cup," which I refuse to hyperlink because it's honestly one of the most disgusting videos I have ever seen in my whole life (really, you might barf), I highly suggest you do not watch it.

Not only is it the most NSFW (Not Safe For Work, like to the point that you would get fired for even loading it) video that you might ever load onto your computer, but the images stay in your head for a while.

IF you are so inclined to watch it, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, do not watch it at work or if you have anything close to a weak stomach. It is completely disgusting, out of control, and I take no responsibility for you watching the video.

However, I took one for the team here on the Interweb and watched the video. My reaction was very similar to this very popular reaction on YouTube. I can honestly say that this guy's reaction appears completely genuine and I would be hard pressed to find anyone who does not have a similar reaction as I honestly was repeatedly covering my eyes and slamming the back of my head on my bed while watching the video.



If you are still interested in the video, John Mayer did a parody and you should be able to understand the video after watching his.



If you somehow end up watching the video, at least you won't be eating for days. Seriously, I'm warning you this video is disgusting and everyone who has seen it will tell you not to watch it, though I did laugh because I cannot believe this video actually exists, but it is FREAKIN GROSS.

I did it to be up with "pop culture," after my roommate Ryan told me about this phenomenon, but man... it's gross.

It has potential to be the new goatsex, so watch out when people send you video clips!

Check out my Flektor video on Carrie Underwood

One of the projects I wanted to do over the weekend was learning how to use Flektor. Surprisingly, I actually finished (I usually end up falling asleep all over the place and not getting anything done, which is what happened with me and packing this weekend).

What is Flektor? It's a site where you can use a web-based version of a more easy to use iMovie (consequently, with less features) to create and edit embeddable videos out of YouTube clips, MySpace video clips, etc. You can also create slideshows and a bunch of other things that I have yet to explore.

Regardless, I needed a subject that I could stand looking at for 4 or 5 hours or so, so I chose to make a video of Carrie Underwood that follows her time on American Idol Season 4 and beyond.

Over ten minutes of Carrie, made by me...

The video includes performances from American Idol, along with music videos and performances from Carnival Ride and Some Hearts. Enjoy!


It's long, but if you have a minute, I think it's pretty cool!

Why paintballs? Why??

Yesterday, I went to the wedding of two of my friends Ali and Alex. While unrelated to the subject of this post, it was one of the more fun weddings I've ever been to! There was great food, jokes in the ceremony, and people even had theme music while they walked down the aisle! (which is exactly what I've thought to do if I ever got married) They both looked so happy and I was so happy that I got to be there to share their day with them! For any lamers who thought that the USC/Cal football game was worth missing their friends' wedding, they all missed out on a really good time.

Anyways, so while I was driving home from Burbank, I was on the 110S going past downtown. All of a sudden, I hear this "THUNK THUNK THUNK!!!" sound all over my car! It literally sounded like someone was on the roof of my car and was banging on the roof and the windows with an enclosed fist. Since I'm going about 70MPH, my first thought was that ninjas or some homeless man had somehow landed on the top of my car and they were banging on the roof to tell me to stop. I was going to start swerving wildly to throw them off the car (and kill them, consequently, which didn't occur to me at the time), until I realized what was actually happening.

Some asshole(s) were shooting at cars on the freeway with a really loud/high powered paintball gun and my poor white car was one of the victims. Since I exited so fast trying to throw off the hypothetical ninjas, my car only took about 5 shots of green paint. Because I am completely OCD about having my car always look clean, I was REALLY pissed about it! I wasn't really upset about the act itself, but I was more annoyed that I had to go to wash my own car at one of those outdoor car washes in a suit because I didn't want the green paint to stain my paint job. So here I am, at midnight, in a full suit with my Salsa dancing shoes on, spraying huge blots of green paint off the windows and body of my car after an embarrassing drive down La Cienega with green paint peppered all down the side of my car.

I called the police, who transferred me to the LAPD, who transferred me to the CHP. What I've come to realize about the police is that they want to do the least amount of work possible. Do any of you have co-workers who always hand work off to other people so that they get to sit there idle and not have to do any paperwork?

I am convinced that the whole police system here in Los Angeles is filled with those kind of people. No one wants to help, nor care, and they just want to hand the problem off to other people and give you vague answers all the time because they want to have zero responsibilities beyond alphabetizing and filling out forms wrong (don't think I don't remember that, bozos from the Pacific division). This is a big reason why I don't watch police-based TV shows, because I know they are filled with more fantasy than the movie Big Fish and believe that someone from law enforcement, somewhere, sometime had to have paid off network executives to make it seem like the majority of people who work there actually care about their jobs. I'm sure that there are police officers and dispatch operators who really care about their jobs and take ownership over each and every person, case, or call, but I think they are few and far between.

Every police person that I have ever dealt with is "that guy" who is annoyed with having to answer any questions or passes work off to other people. I remember when I was younger, I used to think policemen and policewomen were the coolest, toughest people on the planet. Now, I can't even watch policemen doing heroic things on television and I roll my eyes during cop movies because I know that in reality, most people in law enforcement are just trying to get a paycheck, frustrated by bureaucracy, and staring at the clock because they want to go home.

The paint came off. I'm going downstairs to wax my car now. While it sucked to get "paintballed," it sucked even worse to have my complete and utter lack of respect for our police system be confirmed and justified yet again.

Check out my new blog

Hey guys,

I started up a new on-topic blog called Rotten Potatoes - Editorializing Television, where I'll be putting most of my television talk now because I think it was getting to be too much on here. I'll be writing longer editorials about television shows on that site to keep my brain fresh and ready to go for whenever that next big break comes. Of course, this site will remain the primary blog, but I'm really excited about the new blog and hope that it's a success!

Sugarland performs Stay at 2007 CMAs

Along with Kellie Pickler's performance of "I Wonder," this video shows Sugarland's performance of "Stay" at the 2007 CMAs was truly one of the show stoppers on the night. Both Pickler and Sugarland really deserved the standing ovations they received and this performance gave me chills.

Finally made the most popular blog list on AmericanIdol.com

Today, for the first time, my blog on AmericanIdol.com, called "Neverending Idol Crushes" made the top ten most popular blog list!

It's impossible to read on here, but it's in the bottom right, sitting in the #7 spot!

There's a first time for everything.

Tom Brady suspended for steroids?

Was Tom Brady really suspended for steroid use?

No, he wasn't. It was a joke. It may have been a scary joke, but a joke nonetheless.

Kellie Pickler performs "I Wonder" at 2007 CMAs

The lovely TG brought this performance from last night's 41st Annual CMAs to my attention - American Idol Season 5 finalist Kellie Pickler's "I Wonder." I didn't see this one last night because I didn't make it through the whole show (it's on DVR, watching the rest this weekend).

Performance of the night? Maybe...

So good, but it made me REALLY emo at work.

2007 Country Music Awards (CMA) Winners! / Carrie Underwood Picture and Video Bonanza

Since I can't sleep, let's talk about what I watched on TV tonight - the 2007 Country Music Awards or 2007 CMAs, which rolls off the tongue a little better.

Something that I really like about the Country Music Awards is that every single award sounds like a really big one. In some other larger award shows, especially in music and movies, two subjects that I'm pretty knowledgeable about, there's always a ton of categories that we inevitably know nothing about. You pretend that you know all these movies and artists, but you just have no idea who they are or what they are a lot of times if you're being honest with yourself.

Carrie = Winnarrrrr!! x2

However, in the CMAs, because the show is already broken out by specifically awarding the achievements of performers in one genre, pretty much every category not only makes sense, but is a big deal!

Without further adoooo, here are the winners for the 2007 41st Annual CMA Awards.

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney

Female Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood

Harroooo two-time 2007 CMA winner Carrie Underwood!

Male Vocalist of the Year: Brad Paisley

Horizon Award: Taylor Swift


Vocal Group of the Year: Rascal Flatts

Vocal Duo of the Year: Sugarland

Single of the Year: "Before He Cheats" - Artist Carrie Underwood/Producer Mark Bright

Album of the Year: "It Just Comes Natural" - Artist George Strait

Song of the Year: "Give It Away"

Musical Event of the Year: "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" - Tracy Lawrence featuring Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley

Music Video of the Year: "Online" - Artist Brad Paisley/Director Jason Alexander

Musician of the Year: Jerry Douglas - Dobro

A lot of people on certain message boards were giving me crap for saying that I thought Taylor Swift was going to win the Horizon Award, which is kind of like Best New Artist for Country music. Apparently, many on the CMT website believed that American Idol Season 5 finalist Kellie Pickler deserved the award, which would have been great as well.

I think that Taylor Swift has a huge teen/early college fan base within the up and coming generation of "new country" lovers and that her fans love her enough to stick by her.

While the CMAs aren't fan voted, I think that you want to give your Best New Artist equivalent to an artist that you think is going to have some staying power and represent the industry well. Before Christina Aguilera went "Dirrrttyyyyyy," she beat out Britney Spears for Best New Artist, despite trailing her in album sales. I attributed the win to her then-less controversial image and more critical acclaim for her vocals compared to many other teeny-boppers that had one album wonder potential. Taylor Swift has not only the fan base, but she's entertaining and had a really great first album with tons of single-worthy tracks. More than that, she's "cool," 17 years old, and she's going to stay cool. Despite what others may say, I think it was a great choice.

And it doesn't hurt when you look like this

Sugarland had an absolutely lights out performance. Carrie Underwood performed "So Small" in a really long (and pretty) yellow dress, though her performance got outshined by Sugarland's a little bit. I think Rascal Flatts won Vocal Group of the Year for the sixth year in a row if I'm correct, which might be a CMA record? Those guys are incredible.

Here's Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood sharing the stage at the Grammys performing some country classics in one of the cooler videos you'll see today.



Here's Carrie and Rascal performing their ever famous "God Bless The Broken Road" duet on American Idol, which marked the definitive moment that I started to get into country music (Carrie's initial Rascal-less performance of the song got the ball rolling and this made it completely happen).


This is unrelated, but "God Bless The Broken Road," has to be one of the best songs ever. It's really simple, it might be a little cheesy, but that song is amazing. Here's JR Aquino, a YouTube celebrity in his own right, singing that very song. It has nothing to do with the CMA awards, but I thought he was pretty good and thought it was worth posting.


Carrie didn't end up winning Music Video of the Year for "Before He Cheats," but it's always worth watching!


Until next year, CMAs!

Byeeeee!!

American Idol Season 7 kicks off on... January 15th!

Wondering when American Idol Season 7 starts?

Dun, dun na naaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Now we officially know! The search for the seventh superstar begins on January 15th!

Y'all know what it issssssss...

Kitchen Nightmares on Hulu? I am a Hulu Fanboy

In honor of my pending trip to Hell's Kitchen in a couple weeks, I wanted to continue the Hulu-rific fun with a full streaming episode of Kitchen Nightmares! (ok and I'm just trying to figure out what the best size is for the videos).

Hulu = Cool!

Embedding full episodes of The Office via NBC/FOX joint venture Hulu??

I just had to try this to see if this worked and it actually does!! Who knew?? Hulu!

Who Knew??

So there's been a lot of talk about the NBC/FOX joint venture Hulu, but one of the coolest things about Hulu is that I can embed full episodes from any number of NBC/FOX TV shows or selected movies onto my own website from the Hulu site!

How crazy is that?

From The Office...

Branch Wars - The Office

To Heroes...

They can now be watched pretty much anywhere at any time! To me, this is really sweet!

Viva Hulu!

Los Angeles cast of Wicked invades Ugly Betty

One of the cooler things on TV last week was the Wicked-themed episode of Ugly Betty. Like Marie' Digby's cover of Britney Spears' "Gimme More," combining Wicked (my favorite musical) with Ugly Betty (my favorite TV show other than American Idol) was a pretty amazing combination!

What made it even better was that the Los Angeles cast (Megan Hilty, Eden Espinosa, Kristoffer Cusick) were actually the cast members that were on the show! They pretended it was on Broadway, it was actually at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood with the all-star Los Angeles cast!

If you missed it, here are some clips!

Popular (Megan Hilty and Eden Espinosa)

That's her! (Megan Hilty, the best Glinda of all the Glindas of Wicked)


I'm Not That Girl (would be sung by Eden Espinosa)

A little less green, but Elphaba! (Eden Espinosa)


Here's both of them (holy crap!)

Congrats to the Wicked cast! This episode will live on my DVR forever.

Since it's been a minute since we've done a celeb sighting, I present Suge Knight!

At the USC Football game this weekend, I met Suge Knight of Death Row Records fame, which has got to be one of the more rare pictures I can add to my celeb collection.

Me and Suge Knight with "stunna shades" on (Thanks, "Girls Next Door" and Kendra)
...I knew these Pradas would go to good use one day...

It felt good to be back at USC and being on the field brought back a lot of memories. I got to say hi to my former bosses and see two of my best friends in the world, Mariana and Carolyn.

I didn't get to see as many people as I wanted due to traffic and the fact that my phone was only receiving half the text messages sent to me, only to receive others hours after the game ended, but it was nice regardless.

Jordin Sparks releases music video for Tattoo

American Idol Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks just released her music video for her Top 40 single "Tattoo."

If you haven't yet seen it, here it is!

Jordin Sparks - Tattoo
Uploaded by Alisvideo

I like the song, but the video is just "aight wit me, dawg."

Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride Debuts Gold with First Week Sales Totaling 527,101

Carrie Underwood broke a pretty disgusting (in a good way) number of records with the release of her second album Carnival Ride last week.

Stompin' fools, yo.

Powered by a huge fanbase of Carrie fans and her newest single "So Small," here's what Carrie managed to do in just one week.

Records and Chace Crawford! (allegedly)

- Debuted atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums and Billboard 200 charts with first-week sales totaling 527,101 (Gold)
- 60% increase over Carrie’s debut-week sales of her six-time platinum album Some Hearts (which tallied 314,549)
- Carnival Ride also became the largest country debut in digital album chart history with digital sales of 44,928
- Highest first week sales of any female artist this year (and it's November!!)

And you know, just top things off with a little World Series action.

It's time for Blake Lewis to Break Anotha... not Break Another

My favorite Idol from Season 6, Blake Lewis, just released his first single called "Break Anotha" earlier this week off his upcoming CD Audio Day Dream. I posted trailers earlier this week and they featured the guitar line that is used in the actual single.

While it's not a music video, you can hear the whole song right here.

B-b-b-break Anotha

I don't know about you, but I love it, as does Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly, who said "I'm so totally jazzed by Blake Lewis' dizzyingly catchy (if somewhat unfortunately titled) new single, "Break Anotha." But then again, maybe not. After several listens, "Break Anotha," with its opening blast of sirens and its hiccup-y beats, sounds like it could easily hold its own on Billboard's Hot 100. In other words, it's not just a "good for an Idol graduate" kind of single, but instead the kind of track I'd spend money to download."

Do yo' thang, Blake.