Let me start off by saying that this is the first time I've kept up with this pop sensation of a reality game show competition. This is the first season I've actually watched every show (not voted..I won't go that far). Never really cared before but in staying with my brother and his TIVO its easier to keep up with it now and not miss a show.
OK Alright, we are down to the nine. I can say that this season is definitely full of talent...real talent...talent that can actually be compared to most of the singers out there that are selling albums. In fact you'd really be hard pressed for some singers that can get up there and compete in that arena. It seems to be one of the most testing environments to sing in. In fact the "past contestants" that have been on to guest sing would not make it on this season. Now who should win and who will win? Well David Cook should win, he is the most consistent, most original and most talented. Who will win? David Arculeta (sp?) will win based on the huge voting and texting crowd of tenny bopper girls. He's not the most talented as has been show his last few times at bat. He had a couple real hits (like Imagine) but he's still too young and too inconsistent. Plus he is definitely a "stage mommy kid star". That being said who knows what will happen. Additionally the runners up in AI seem to do OK with albums and deals after the show. (Hudson, Aiken, Daughtry, etc..) You don't have to "win" to win. So those that shine still rise to the top.
As for the others that made it to the top ten; they all have a cheesy AI tour to look forward to and deals of their own for other things. Brooke stands out of the females left(she has real talent and potential). Kristy Lee made a bold and smart pick of song this week with "God Bless America" getting the Jesus and Support our soldier- we-love America vote. Smart. She didn't even have to sing it that well. She stayed out of the bottom three with that pick. Sayesha did the best she's ever done on the show but still landed in the bottom three, its all about the votes. Dreadlock Jason is just too bland to stay around much longer and Michael the Aussie is better suited as frontman for a band. Our Irish lass can sing but I have trouble rooting for someone who already had a record deal and album released. I think AI is for new talent. Lastly is Ramielle the little girl that could. She can belt it out at times but often is just a tad above Karaoke singers. She stays in purely on her voting base not her talent.
As for Simon: I almost always agree with his opinion and for the most part he is the only one that counts. And he is almost always right. Paula is just a mess each week and can't seem to form full sentences. Randy always is on his "pitchy" meter in his comments. Let's tune in and see how this one turns out! And that's it for this blog for me!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Las Vegas Never Sleeps? Ha!
I have been living in Las Vegas for some months now and I have a couple relevant observations about this "City"
For starters there is not a "City" here, Las Vegas is a strip of casinos "the Strip", an old run down section of casinos (the Fremont district) and hundreds of suburbs that consist of a housing section, a grocery store and gas station and that's about it. Then a few miles down from that is another housing section, a grocery store and gas station. Then there are a couple of the super store blocks (the Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot and Parking lot) But there is not a City to speak of here. There is no Financial District with all the bank and office builings, courthouse, post office, restaurants and bars (everything is spread out in the suburbs in single servings) Apparently the city officials were too busy counting casino coffers to actually plan any type of CITY per se. Things seem to be just built wherever they were needed at the time or decided by the developers who bought the land.
This leads into the weekly traffic and roadway issues of Las Vegas. Gridlock has started and continues on a daily basis, mainly do to poor city planning where everyone tries to get back to their little suburbia by one or two roads with no options for taking back roads or alternate routes. The railroad cuts many roads in half with very few ways around it. Many roads are just not done.... the developers or the city just stopped building in the middle of a road (with no signs to let you know the road ends in a mile). Many a times you will be cursing as you do a U-turn and head back the way you came, searching for how to get over to another part of town.
There are many "Ghost Lots" in Las Vegas... that is there are lots where beautiful walls went up to enclose a housing section then the home building stopped (due to the housing bust here) so it became nothing but a walled in section of dirt. There are also tons of "Ghost Storefronts" which are sections of shopping centers where builders built shop spaces (to be rented later but still haven't) these have been vacant since the build, many of them for years now.
As for Vegas 24/7 well its partially true... that is Gambling and Gaming are 25 hours a day as is cocktail service on the floor. As for nightclubs and restaurants...forget about it. If you want to eat at a Casino restaurant plan on sitting before 10pm after that its a crap shoot on finding anything decent. And Nightclubs where you can dance the night away?..Yea as long as your night ends by around 2am (unless they are really, really busy they don't stay open). The other 24 hour places are the local video poker bars (they cater to locals, are usually manned by a single bartender on graveyard shift and rarely have more than a few patrons in the late, late hours, good for a late night bite) Everything else in Vegas is like a normal town (stores are closed at nights, any banking, postal, office type things closed as well).
Nothing in Vegas is ever done. Its in a constant state of construction. They say the state bird is a Crane. Even if something looks done...its not. Every five years its redone. That being said..there is no history in Vegas the most is "yeah the Blah-Blah used to be there where the "insert shiny new building name here". If its old it dies an implosion death.
There are no clocks or windows on the casino level. This is done on purpose casinos don't want you to know what time it is, how long you've been giving them money or when the sun comes up. I can only imagine a casino with windows allowing the early morning sun come in.
This is not a kid friendly town any more (and it shouldn't be). Vegas is an Adult playground! Its all about gambling, booze, nightlife, and spending cash. I am still shocked by family who are pushing a stroller through the casino at 1:30 in the morning with three more rugrats in tow. I also mean that it is not a kid friendly town for locals either. There are no parks. If you see kids playing its usually in the middle of the street. Or in a dirt field of rocks. Its kinda sad.
Its hard to meet people here. Everyone seems to be living in their own little work/suburbia lifestyle. Work friends are the staple. Everyone else is a tourist.
On the PLUS side of Vegas... You can pretty much get whatever you want in this town. As everything is shipped in mostly by rail daily. Name it, you can buy it somewhere here. When they are open some of the best restaurants in the world are here, again Name it and you can eat that specialty here. Everything is new; nothing in Vegas is old cause if it gets old they knock it down and build something new in its spot. Vegas is relatively clean. Its ard to find much dirt on new things. The weather is mostly agreeable (except for those blazing summer months in the low 100's).
For starters there is not a "City" here, Las Vegas is a strip of casinos "the Strip", an old run down section of casinos (the Fremont district) and hundreds of suburbs that consist of a housing section, a grocery store and gas station and that's about it. Then a few miles down from that is another housing section, a grocery store and gas station. Then there are a couple of the super store blocks (the Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot and Parking lot) But there is not a City to speak of here. There is no Financial District with all the bank and office builings, courthouse, post office, restaurants and bars (everything is spread out in the suburbs in single servings) Apparently the city officials were too busy counting casino coffers to actually plan any type of CITY per se. Things seem to be just built wherever they were needed at the time or decided by the developers who bought the land.
This leads into the weekly traffic and roadway issues of Las Vegas. Gridlock has started and continues on a daily basis, mainly do to poor city planning where everyone tries to get back to their little suburbia by one or two roads with no options for taking back roads or alternate routes. The railroad cuts many roads in half with very few ways around it. Many roads are just not done.... the developers or the city just stopped building in the middle of a road (with no signs to let you know the road ends in a mile). Many a times you will be cursing as you do a U-turn and head back the way you came, searching for how to get over to another part of town.
There are many "Ghost Lots" in Las Vegas... that is there are lots where beautiful walls went up to enclose a housing section then the home building stopped (due to the housing bust here) so it became nothing but a walled in section of dirt. There are also tons of "Ghost Storefronts" which are sections of shopping centers where builders built shop spaces (to be rented later but still haven't) these have been vacant since the build, many of them for years now.
As for Vegas 24/7 well its partially true... that is Gambling and Gaming are 25 hours a day as is cocktail service on the floor. As for nightclubs and restaurants...forget about it. If you want to eat at a Casino restaurant plan on sitting before 10pm after that its a crap shoot on finding anything decent. And Nightclubs where you can dance the night away?..Yea as long as your night ends by around 2am (unless they are really, really busy they don't stay open). The other 24 hour places are the local video poker bars (they cater to locals, are usually manned by a single bartender on graveyard shift and rarely have more than a few patrons in the late, late hours, good for a late night bite) Everything else in Vegas is like a normal town (stores are closed at nights, any banking, postal, office type things closed as well).
Nothing in Vegas is ever done. Its in a constant state of construction. They say the state bird is a Crane. Even if something looks done...its not. Every five years its redone. That being said..there is no history in Vegas the most is "yeah the Blah-Blah used to be there where the "insert shiny new building name here". If its old it dies an implosion death.
There are no clocks or windows on the casino level. This is done on purpose casinos don't want you to know what time it is, how long you've been giving them money or when the sun comes up. I can only imagine a casino with windows allowing the early morning sun come in.
This is not a kid friendly town any more (and it shouldn't be). Vegas is an Adult playground! Its all about gambling, booze, nightlife, and spending cash. I am still shocked by family who are pushing a stroller through the casino at 1:30 in the morning with three more rugrats in tow. I also mean that it is not a kid friendly town for locals either. There are no parks. If you see kids playing its usually in the middle of the street. Or in a dirt field of rocks. Its kinda sad.
Its hard to meet people here. Everyone seems to be living in their own little work/suburbia lifestyle. Work friends are the staple. Everyone else is a tourist.
On the PLUS side of Vegas... You can pretty much get whatever you want in this town. As everything is shipped in mostly by rail daily. Name it, you can buy it somewhere here. When they are open some of the best restaurants in the world are here, again Name it and you can eat that specialty here. Everything is new; nothing in Vegas is old cause if it gets old they knock it down and build something new in its spot. Vegas is relatively clean. Its ard to find much dirt on new things. The weather is mostly agreeable (except for those blazing summer months in the low 100's).
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Episode #1 -My Intention and a bit LOST
OK, so this is my first venture into the blogging world..... What are my Intentions in doing so.
I titled my blog "Commentary by EMH" because that is what I intend to do with this site...that is comment about things. What things you might ask? Well its wide open and that will give me latitude in topics of choice. Seeing how I've been in the entertainment world for half my life alot will probably end up in that arena. Like "LOST" (one of my favorite TV shows-Part because of the writing and part in support for my friend Jorge Garcia- we were in acting class together in LA when he got the show, shot the pilot in Hawaii, then announced to us all that the show was picked up and he was moving there...since then the show took off!) this show is all over the place now! Every episode opens more cans of worms than a boatload of Sunday fishermen. There are so many unanswered questions from every season and every episode. It is so hard to track what is going on and with who its going on with... monsters, ghosts. time travel. killing after killing, secret after secret with no real answers, I'm intrigued each week but it is getting a little ....Lost.
Next time some Commentary on such things as "Las Vegas" (currently living and working here), IDOL(keeping up with it each week-never did before), YouTube (obsession with it), Micros*&t (sucks), Nightclubs (I am a VIP host for one), My Career (Acting, Writing, Directing, Producing...) etc...
OK that is it for now!
I titled my blog "Commentary by EMH" because that is what I intend to do with this site...that is comment about things. What things you might ask? Well its wide open and that will give me latitude in topics of choice. Seeing how I've been in the entertainment world for half my life alot will probably end up in that arena. Like "LOST" (one of my favorite TV shows-Part because of the writing and part in support for my friend Jorge Garcia- we were in acting class together in LA when he got the show, shot the pilot in Hawaii, then announced to us all that the show was picked up and he was moving there...since then the show took off!) this show is all over the place now! Every episode opens more cans of worms than a boatload of Sunday fishermen. There are so many unanswered questions from every season and every episode. It is so hard to track what is going on and with who its going on with... monsters, ghosts. time travel. killing after killing, secret after secret with no real answers, I'm intrigued each week but it is getting a little ....Lost.
Next time some Commentary on such things as "Las Vegas" (currently living and working here), IDOL(keeping up with it each week-never did before), YouTube (obsession with it), Micros*&t (sucks), Nightclubs (I am a VIP host for one), My Career (Acting, Writing, Directing, Producing...) etc...
OK that is it for now!
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