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AI Auditions Week 1

January 17 cont'd
OMG!! Another Ok kid from some of the same venues as my dd. Colton Swon and his brother both perform around the area. They also competed on the Gimme the Mike show although I think they were on the year after Alaina's sister. He really does have a good voice. Better than the audition showed. Okay, moving on.

1) I was thinking that I had the Simon thing figured out. I thought he was actually just trying to take the whole thing more seriously than he has the past couple of years. Then he goes and pulls a stunt like putting through people like Kayla and Kyle. Kayla is a sweetheart with a capital S but she is not that good of a singer. And she is going to trash her voice with that affected growl. And Kyle? This was not an Il Divo audition Simon. Or a political campaign....
2) Katie Malloy was very good, not to mention gorgeous but I don't think she was the best they heard so far.
3) They let people like Kyle through and not the Virgin Lips guy? Were they holding his values against him? He had a really good voice. Sure, he needed to find the right style. Like Kyle showed style?
4) I think the nails guy is adorable. He needs to throw away the icky baggie and get by on his voice and his cute brady bunch boy looks - he needs no gimmick.
5) Farm boy Drew: "As far as the city... I usually like my hay fields." I feel you man!! I love it. Simon doesn't get classic country. It's that simple. I'm not sure he'll make it past Hollywood because they have to be good performers and very versatile to do that but I LIKE HIM. AND he is adorable. If they can put Kayla through because they "like her" then I can root for Drew because I like him! And those Southern farm boys really are that polite, BTW. When I took catalog orders at Bass Pro, I always knew when I had a Southern boy on the phone. Just sayin'. The girls are going to fall in love with this guy.
6) I almost forgot; Nina is too old-fashioned for Simon?!?. The same Simon who took little "politician" frat-boy Kyle on his glee club performance. Okaaay.
7) I really didn't pay a lot of attention to the freak parade tonight. I fast forwarded through most of them but Cape Guy at the end? I don't care who ya are; that's funny right there8O)

AI Auditions Week 1

January 17
I'm so excited!!! I just got on DVR to watch last night's show and saw Alaina Whitaker!!! She and her older sister used to do some of the same shows as my dd, Cheyenne (20), who is about the age of her older sister who is also extremely talented. She competed on a tv show in Tulsa called Gimme the Mike and just did sooo well.

Chey stopped performing to have a baby so I haven't seen them in over a year but they are really a nice family. That was her grandma and sister etc waiting for her in the hall. At one time, her grandma wanted to try to have Cheyenne do shows with them. She was always so supportive of Cheyenne and told me that Cheyenne really had something special. Cheyenne just won't get her head wrapped around how good she really is.

The organization for singers that they all belonged to here in Oklahoma gave Cheyenne "Horizon" Award and picked her to compete in a national competition in Tennessee that last year she performed with them but we didn't have the money to go.

Anyway... I will seriously be rooting for Alaina!!! Their grandparents have worked so hard to make sure that they had every opportunity to succeed. I always felt bad that I couldn't give that to Cheyenne. Heck, half the time we don't even have a car. Sorry to ramble but I'm so excited for Alaina... and sad cuz it could have been Cheyenne. I'll get back to ya about the rest of the show after I watch it. I had to stop and post cuz I was just so danged excited. Cheyenne doesn't have a tv so she wasn't going to watch this year but she'll have to find a way now!

Americna Idol Auditions Week 1

I was posting about AI on my American Idol SparkTeam and decided I would also post my thoughts here on my old abandoned blog. I haven't decided if I will put it on my regular blog or not. My knitting friends prolly don't give a rat's tail what I think about AI. So, anyway... here are my thoughts so far on the audition shows for January 16th and 17th.
January 16
1) Sparkle Face was so obviously just putting on a show for the cameras. The judges treated her with respect and she was cool with them until she walked outside the door. You could almost see her take a deep breath and go "Showtime!"
2) Football Girl: Maybe I'm getting too cynical but that whole stunt just reeked of PR. It was perfectly okay to be unkind and make fun of several others but this girl just brought out the tender side? Yeah... um and about that bridge I'm selling. I had just as much sympathy for the poor Go Down Moses dude. He really seemed to not have a clue that he stank. Coworkers encouraged him to go make a fool of himself on national television?? If that's true, they should be ashamed.
3) I liked the same ones that BYU Sue mentioned; "the good-looking braids guy, the horse girl from Oregon, and the last girl who didn't watch R-rated movies." And what was up with Simon. There were the usual rumors that he wanted out of the show and I really wonder if they weren't true. He just seemed... bored? Detached?
4) And as for Princess Laiah, get a grip chick. They sent through plenty of geeky looking people. You. Can't. Sing. Move on.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

Exactly 110 years ago, 8-year-old Virginia Hanlon wrote to the (old)New York Sun to settle a question about whether Santa Claus exists.Many of her friends told Virginia that the answer to that question is,"no."Times have changed and newspapers, such as that version of the Sun,have come and gone. But the answer, published in 1897 by Sun editorialwriter Francis P. Church, is timeless:

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected bythe skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and giveto your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if therewere no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see SantaClaus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did youever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Movie Review: Freedom Writers

I'll make this brief. 5 stars. Watch it. Own it. Everyone who lives in this country should watch this movie. It will make you angry, it will make you cry but ultimately, it will give you hope. Thank God in Heaven for the Mrs. Gruwells in the world.

If you have often thought, "I just don't understand the gang mentality," watch this movie.
If you are worried that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, watch this movie.
If you care at all to understand how and why non-white races in this country feel disenfranchised, watch this movie.
If you don't believe that public schools are part of the problem more often than part of the solution, watch this movie.
If you don't believe that one good teacher can make a real difference, WATCH THIS MOVIE.

Bonni is buying a house!

I am so proud of Bonni, my oldest. First, she is such a good mommy to my boys. And she has a really good job and is very responsible with her money, although she can be kind of a shopaholic;o) Right now, I am really proud of her because even though she is a single mom, raising her two little boys on her own, she is buying a house! I see soooo many people her age making the same mistakes I did and ruining their credit. That is really easy to do nowadays but Bonni has avoided that pitfall and should be moving into her own home sometime next month.

Something to Talk About???

I am a huge American Idol fan. I have two kids who are performers - really good ones. I love the fact that this show has given so many young people the opportunity that they may have never had to achieve their dreams. The whole controversy this year over a certain young man and a website/movement to vote for the least worthy really has me pissed off. If you hate American Idol, vote with your remote not your phone. Don't take it out on the dreamers on the show or the fans.

I refuse to name the website that encourages people to vote for the worst performance cuz I will NOT contribute to their fame. I have, up to now refused to name the kid for the same reason. Regardless of whether or not this whole thing is engineered by the shows powers that be or truly the product of a bunch of sour jerks and just used to their advantage as much as possible, it makes me sick. I feel like all the folks in Harry Potter's world who won't speak Voldemort's name for fear of contributing to his power. But I have to get this out before I explode.

People who vote for Sanjaya because they hate Simon, or American Idol, or the Great Machine that is the popular music industry or WHATEVER are just a bunch of jerks who can't stand to see good things happening to anyone because it's not happening to them. All the horrible comments about this very YOUNG man are totally inappropriate; how would you feel if he was your kid, or brother or homeboy? I think it is easier to understand the rest of the world's impression of the "ugly American" when you read some of these comments. Comment on his talent or lack thereof but personal comments about his sexual orientation or his looks etc are just low class.

Let's be real. Sanjaya has a sweet but undeveloped voice. He seems like a nice, well brought up young man who is getting cocky from all the attention. He DOES NOT deserve to be there with the performers who are left. He absolutely, 100% should be the one to go home this week. Last week was probably his best performance, although it still wasn't up to the level of the competition. This week he straight-up sucked. I go to amateur as well as professional level performances a lot because of Cheyenne and Cameron. I have, quite literally, heard better at karaoke bars after 11 pm. Simon as well as Randy and Paul did nothing but speak the truth. Deal with it. Sadly, Phil Stacy or Chris Richardson or maybe even Kiki Jones will go home even though they have about a billion times more potential to sell records. That is not their loss, it is ours, the fans'.