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!

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!

Why Watch American Idol Season 7?

I'll be the first one to admit that I have questionable taste in music, TV, and especially movies, but American Idol is something that I'll defend until the show reaches its series finale, whenever that may be.

I've been an avid Idol fan since Season 1, only missing performances during Season 5, most of which I've since caught up on via YouTube. With Season 7 just around the corner, I recently got into a conversation at work where someone asked me why I was still so into the show six years after its premiere in the United States.

And no, it's not just because of Carrie Underwood...
Though this picture makes me think that's enough reason....

No, not just the rumors of Baylie Brown trying out again.

The thing that I like, actually love, about American Idol is that it's one of the few television shows in the U.S. that anyone could talk about with anyone and people would understand what you're talking about. They might not be watching that particular season or they might be unfamiliar with your favorite Idol, but most everyone has seen the show. People know what it's about and chances are they've followed at least one of the seasons to a moderate level and maybe even voted for an Idol or two.

I think that I legitimately have about 100 channels on my cable TV plan right now, which I know pales in comparison to people who have DirecTV or some kind of "All the Best" (AKA "All Your Loot") cable package from Time Warner. With cable TV fragmenting the television audience more and more with all these niche channels, there are so few programs that "everyone watches," these days.

Now I know that the upper middle class, college educated audience likes to say that "everyone" watches The Colbert Report and The Daily Show and always likes to say that "more people get their news from Colbert and Stewart than they do from network news" for some reason when they're trying to make a point (which is completely not true if people would actually check the ratings...as these were always some of the more idiotic statements I ever heard from liberal fist-pumpers in one of my classes), but really, it's only a small population of people that attracts a smaller audience than professional wrestling that watch those programs.

Kicks Colbert's ass

And yes, "everyone" in the literal sense does not watch American Idol. But I don't think I would be taking too big of a gamble when saying that close to a majority of our population has seen at least one episode of the singing/popularity competition. We're in a new era where there won't be 30 million people tuning in to see the last episode of a TV show. Remember when Seinfeld aired its final episode and everyone was wondering if it was going to top Cheers? That's never going to happen again. Even The Simpsons, currently television's longest running sitcom, whenever it ends, will not even come close to the numbers that Cheers had for its final episode. This isn't because it's not as good of a show (though most would argue that it's lost some of its luster), but it's because we're just in a different era of TV.

Those happy days are gone...
And Michael Richards is racist...
Or he just has an anger management problem.

Gone are the days when "everyone" watched one show. There is no Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but there's Leno, Kimmel, Chelsea, Letterman, Colbert, and Stewart. There's no Dallas, but there's Grey's, Desperate, LOST, Friday Night Lights, Sopranos (RIP), Sex and the City (RIP), Entourage, Six Feet Under, Weeds, Gossip Girl, Smallville, Brothers and Sisters, Boston Legal, House, ER, Prison Break, and 24. But with Idol, we get pretty close. People generally know what the show is about and because the show reaches such a disproportionate mass of people compared to many other television programs, people continue hearing about it and reading about it.

Call me nostalgic, but I think that's awesome.

Yes, so the show is filled with sponsorship and cheesy music videos. Through all the clutter, there are a lot of diamonds in the rough as Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Fantasia Barrino, Josh Gracin, and more have proven through their commercial success.

It begins... [Kelly Clarkson]


It continues... [Kelly Clarkson]

People say that they're annoyed with the "bad auditions," but I feel like they're comic relief for all the serious stories and serious talent that comes to the auditions. Without the silly auditions, the show would feel like a musical version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

And a lot of them are really unique [Blake Lewis]

And memorable [Blake Lewis' Virtual Insanity].

If you don't like the music, singing, smiles, or general upbeat nature of the show, then that totally makes sense. Clearly, the show has been proven to find a commercially successful artist that will appeal to the masses through its voting system. If you love underground hip-hop or dark rock music, chances are the show won't really do anything for you. However, for what it is, I love how American Idol can be one of the few shows left that you can strike up random conversation about with pretty much anyone.

While it sounds like there will be a return to focusing on the contestants for the upcoming season, much like what was done this season with So You Think You Can Dance, with the performances, features, personalities, and music that await us come January, I cannot wait for American Idol Season 7.