Watched all six hours, or whatever it was. I’d give the broadcast a solid B, maybe an A-minus. I was entertained _ well as much as you can be by a show that has so many dull moments.
Highlights:
Ellen DeGeneres was funny. Not raucously funny. Not off-the-wall funny. But solidly funny throughout. She’s charming and likable and funny. Just funny. The opening wasn’t great, but she was much better when she interacted with people in the audience, especially Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood.
Loved the Jack Black/John C. Reilly/Will Ferrell "Ballad of the Tragically Un-nominated." Didn’t think I would at first, but it was funny. And those guys can perform.
James Taylor and Randy Newman are two of my personal favorites. Both have strong connections to the Eagles, so obviously I’m going to be on board.
Jennifer Hudson winning for Best Support Actress just a couple of years after being on American Idol. Ain’t America great?
Beyonce.
Robert Downey Jr., making fun of his past indiscretions during his presentation.
Jerry Seinfeld still has it as a stand-up comedian.
Presenters George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Speilberg.
Scorsese, who receives his first Oscar from those three in the best moment of the show. How Scorsese could not have won earlier is a mystery, but the Academy has finally corrected its wrong. The icing on the cake is that The Departed won for best movie. Hooray! I loved the movie, one of Scorsese’s best.
How could anyone like their chances today against Creighton? Wichita State hasn’t won in Omaha in 15 years. The last time it happened, Paul Wight was the Shockers’ center. He’s now retired from professional wrestling.
I think WSU is finished. I think the mental drain from this long season has taken its toll and I’m not so sure everyone wouldn’t be better served if the Shockers’ season ended swiftly in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament next week. Under normal circumstances I would never suggest such a thing. I’m all about fighting until the bitter end. But I think the bitter end is here.
I fought and I lost. I tried to keep from having tears well up in my eyes while watching this ridiculous finale of a three-part episode on Grey’s this week. But the tears finally appeared and I feel like much less of a man because of that.
The whole point of this Meredity-Grey-Must-Die arc was to reach that emotional place within every human being that shows our incredible gullibility. And damn if the show’s creator and writer, Shonda Rimes, didn’t reach mine.
But I hated the premise, which was that Meredith faced grave danger at perhaps her own doing yet came out of the ordeal just fine and, presumably, wiser. They took her to the brink of death only to bring her back and it was shameless. This show might never recover, in my opinion. But that’s just me.
Anyone?
Tonight is the night. We’ll rid ourselves of four American Idol contestants (sorry if that sounded harsh), which will leave 20 vying for the crown.
We’re now being led to believe that the competition is over and that 27-year-old Lakisha Jones, who was spectacular Wednesday night, is the winner. Not so fast. What is wrong with you people? Don’t you remember how involved this process is?
I’m ashamed of Simon Cowell for basically annointing Jones as the winner after just one stage performance. There are many weeks to get through and one performance _ great as it might have been _ does not seal the deal.
Jones is cleary the frontrunner, but there are three other women who could give her a challenge. They are: Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle and Sabrina Sloan. As for the men, forget it. I don’t see anybody there, with the possible exception of Chris Sligh, who can hang with the women.
As for who gets eliminated tonight, here are my choices: Men, Sundance Head and Paul Kim. Women, Antonella Barba and Haley Scarnato. We’ll see how close I am.
Every year, my goal is to see every movie that receives a major nomination for an Academy Award _ Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Director.
I always fall short because of this nasty little thing in my life called a job. Have you noticed how jobs get in the way sometimes?
Anyway, with the Oscars coming up Sunday there are still a lot of movies I haven’t seen.
Here’s the list: Little Children, Blood Diamond, Half Nelson, The Last King of Scotland, Volver, Notes on a Scandal, The Devil Wears Prada, Babel and Letters from Iwo Jima.
Here’s my plan. I’m going to see The Last King of Scotland and Notes on a Scandal tomorrow before the Wichita State-Missouri State basketball game. I can knock off these two back-to-back at the Premiere Palace.
I’ll rent Babel, The Devil Wears Prada and Half Nelson later in the week. I’ll see Blood Diamond and Letters From Iwo Jima at the theater. Which leaves Volver and Little Children _ I have no idea how I’m going to see those. That means I might go into Sunday’s Oscar telecast without the necessary expertise to authoritatively pick the winners. Drat.
Have you been watching this three-part sweeps-inspired travesty?
I’m sure you have, since almost everyone in America is a Grey’s fan. So am I, obviously, or I wouldn’t be writing about the show. But this three-parter is testing my loyalty.
As you know, the character for which the show is named, Meredith Gray, is in grave danger. She spent, by my account, 40 minutes under water during last week’s episode, yet somehow clings to life in Seattle Grace Hospital. Forty minutes is a long time to be under water, but dramatic license is a wonderful thing. So we can believe that, somehow, she was able to survive.
Part three is this week and Meredith is, according to the promos, without a heartbeat as she desperately tries to hold on.
Please.
It would be a great thing for the show if they killed off Meredith, but does anyone honestly think that’s going to happen? What then? McDreamy’s Anatomy? Don’t think so.
Meredith will pull out of this and we’ll all wonder why we wasted three weeks of our lives watching. The show used to be better than this.
Still love the show. Still no apologies. But I am glad we’re down to the final 24 _ 12 men and 12 women. Should make for compelling television the next three months.
I’ll be watching weekly and reporting here on my blob, so keep tabs. And contribute, please. I want to know what you think more than you want to know what I think. Trust me on that one.
My favorites?
For the men, it’s Chris Slingh. Who doesn’t love this hair-challenged dude? And you know what? He can really sing.
For the women it’s professional backup singer Melinda Doolittle, who has the best voice in the competition. But she’s a pro, so shouldn’t she be pretty good?
Hello, all. As you might know, my son has an internship this summer that will take him to the bustling metropolis of Atlanta. I have been there a few times, but am not that familiar with the town, especially as it pertains to possible cheap housing, transportation, etc.
Specifically, I’m wondering whether he can get by on public transportation to and from Turner Field? He has been told by some that he would be wise to have his personal car in Atlanta to get to and from.
Also, any ideas as to where he should live would be appreciated. He’ll be spending most of his time at baseball games so we’re not looking for the Taj Mahal.
As always, any input is appreciated.
Bob
I saw the Revlon Super Bowl ad in which it was intimated that rocker Sheryl Crow _ my favorite female rocker, in fact _ had played a gig in Wichita. I looked at my friends and none of us could remember that happening. So we figured out that it was just a part of the commercial and not something we were going to get worked up about.
So why does this story continue to have legs? Because a DJ by the name of Dan Tooker won’t let it go. And The Eagle continues to write about it. And, as far as I can tell, it’s a silly little story not worthy of much discussion.
Crow has never played Wichita. The commercial, on which Crow is shown performing in "Wichita, KS," clearly used some creative license. I’m over it.
I do hope she comes to town sometime. I’d ask her to dinner. If she wants to perform a concert, too, that would be great.
Loved ‘em. Watched every second and can’t think of a performance I didn’t like. Maybe a little bit too much Mary J. Blige, but that’s just me.
The kid rapper, Chris Brown, was amazing. So was Christina Aguilera and the Dixie Chicks. I’m sure the conservatives who broke ranks with them after Natalie Maines’ comments about George W. are thrilled with the pile of Grammys they won.
Being a music lover, it’s harder and harder to keep up the older I get. I don’t want to be one of those "old people" who loses touch with the mainstream music scene. So I try to buy as much of the new stuff as possible and at least have a working knowledge of what’s going on.
The tribute to Don Henley and the Eagles was pretty good, not great. Wasn’t crazy about the lead singer of Rascal Flatts trying to nail Hotel California and Life in the Fast Lane, but the guitar work was fantastic. And it was good to see Henley present the final Grammy of the night for best album to the Dixie Chicks, although I have to say I had a difficult time taking my eyes off of Scarlett Johannsen. I watched her in Match Point when I was sick last week and let’s just say she was fun to watch.
More to come this week. American Idol starts to cook now.