Missing the GSAC

Just saw one video on Youtube of the APU at Biola game last year that APU won with 5 second to go. They brought out a fake Eagle to pump up the crowd then he ripped off a red shirt to reveal a Cougar 'Blackout' shirt underneath. BRUTAL, but funny. I can't believe how much I miss the rivalry. I also miss Ken Ammann and Concordia Basketball a bit. Finally found this clip, too:

Best.Song.Ever.

A while back I did a list of my favorite songs of all time. Of course, a ton of U2 songs were on there, along with Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah, Comfortably Numb, I Walk the Line, Sympathy for the Devil, Garth's "The River", and a handful of Beatles songs.

I'm not sure where exactly I had Imagine on the list, probably somewhere close to the top, but under U2's "One". Well, as of today, I'm making it #1 on my list (sorry, Mr. Hewson). I've always loved the song. Now I have a strange reason to bump it to #1. Imagine has stood the test of time, and is such a damn beautiful song, that I believe it is impossible to cover poorly. I have not heard a bad version of it. On Tuesday the Instant Karma Darfur benefit CD was released, and it included three versions of the song: Jack Johnson, Me'Shell NGodechello, and...Avril Lavigne. Now, I kinda like Avril (guilty pleasure), but she doesn't have a stellar voice. Her cover of Imagine......AMAZING.

So that got me thinking: Are there any bad covers of Imagine out there? A search on Itunes found me some possibilities: A Perfect Circle, Dolly Parton, Ruben Studdard, Rick Springfield.....Antonio Banderas. Every single version sounded good, even Banderas (no, no, no...too sexy!!!).

Find me another song that can be covered by ANYONE in any style and still sound incredible.

Update

Negreanu finished third in the shootout. The 5K No-Limit Hold 'em event started yesterday and after the first day, Jennifer Tilly is fourth in chips. I just don't get it. She is a braclet winner (the 2005 Ladies event), but every time I've seen her play, she comes off like a bigger donkey than me! And her "teacher" is Phil "The Unabomber" Laak, who I think is one of the most overrated players in poker.

Then again, I read both of their columns in Bluff Magazine every month, and they are both rather intelligent about the game. But then again, so is Phil Gordon, one of the greatest Poker minds out there, who NEVER produces on the felt. He has ZERO braclets, but has taught me more about poker than any other pro (probably because I haven't read Supersystem yet).

The countdown is on: six days until the best new event of the year: The World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Hold 'em!

Negreanu: Final Table

My favorite professional, Daniel Negreanu is at the final table tonight of the two-day No-Limit Hold 'em Shootout. This event is unique in that there are three "Rounds" of sit-and-go shootout tournaments. If you win your table in the first round (90 of the 900 entrants) then you are automatically in the money, and you move onto the semifinals (9 tables, ten people on each). Negreanu is one of the nine guys to win in that round, and will play the final table tonight, going for his third braclet. He's got a formidable foe in Erick "E-Dog" Lindgren, who also has some braclets to his credit.

I love the shootout, because you have to play heads up twice before you even get to the final table, and it's the most similar thing to the home games I'm used to playing.

Eleventh Heaven

Odelay is official turning into PokerBlog for the summer. I live vicariously through the participants in the World Series of Poker, following everything intently on the internets, just wishing that I was able to go there and play.

Phil Hellmuth Jr. has just won his record-breaking 11th World Series of Poker braclet (the big prize, in addition to a huge mound of cash, that you get for winning one of the 50-odd events in the World Series of Poker). With #11 he breaks the tie that he had with other legends Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson.

Hellmuth takes a ton of heat as the "poker brat" as he has been villified in this day and age of 24-7 televised poker. He truly is an arrogant prick, and he has the biggest ego in poker. But here's the thing: Everytime he says that he is the "greatest no-limit holdem player in the world", He's RIGHT. All 11 of his braclets have come in the event. He was the youngest main event champion of all-time (Beating Johnny Chan in 1989 to keep Chan from getting his third straight title), and he now holds records for most braclets and most cashes at the World Series. He is unbelievably good.

I still don't like him a whole lot, but my hat is off today to Phil Hellmuth for winning #11. Now lets just hope Doyle Brunson can win another one!

If you're missing Lost already...

Sawyer S.O.B. Ever notice that Sawyer from Lost is the expert at delivering a certain line?

July 10th, 2007 - - Could It Come any sooner!?!?

And a bonus link
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Sq3D039JCY

Angels 19, Dodgers 4

What a great weekend, huh!?!?!?

Ok, One More

Best. Idol Moment. Ever.

The Last Idol Post

This season has been just boring enough that I am official just as sick of writing about American Idol as you are of reading what I have to say about it. Thus, this will most likely be my last post on the subject until after the finale. A few things floating around in my brain:

• Bottom line is: All four of these singers could win this thing, even Lakisha if she shines like she used to over the next few weeks


• I think that Jordan should and will win but, of course, you never know.


• Blake put together an epic performance last week. I now have him ranked just slightly above Melinda for my #2 spot, simply because I want to see him in the final. A Melinda v. Jordan finale would be rather repetitive and boring. Blake would give it some diversity and some vigor.


• Melinda doesn't need to win. She's the Daughtry of this year in that way. Of course, all four of 'em will have careers regardless.


• Final Four: The time when upsets become the norm: LaToya London, Chris Daughtry, Tamyra Gray, Anthony Federo...ok, maybe not that one. So will someone shocking go home this week? I ask "What would be shocking"? Jordan would shock everyone, but honestly, it's all so close that nothing would suprise me.


• Why the heck are they doing "Boogie" night for the top-four? I almost don't even want to watch. Are they that desparate that they have to invite a Gibb?!?!

Top Six and a New #1

#1 Jordin Sparks - Another phenomenal performance and I finally move her up to #1. It's fun to see how much she has blossomed this year. I have had her in my top-four all season, but it's time to face reality: No matter how technically brilliant Melinda is, she is a niche performer with little cross-over appeal (More on that below). Jordin is the perfect American Idol and is by far the most marketable performer. Oh, and she was freaking incredible last night.

#2 Melinda Doolittle - Not to take anything away from Mindy-do. She is the most polished, technically sound, talented performer at this stage in the competition that Idol has probably ever seen. But is she a good American Idol? Here's how I look at it: Who are the most successful of the past American Idols? I would say Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. Who are the least commercially successful? Ruben and Fantasia. Why? Cross-Market appeal. Both Ruben and Fantasia are limited Genre performers. They just aren't going to have a big hit that will rise to #1 on the R&B, Gospel AND Pop charts. Kelly and Carrie can have the same song on the pop charts, the rock charts (Kelly) the Gospel and Country Charts (Carrie) at the same time. It's all about that cross-over marketability. Doolittle, I believe, will fall into that later category, where she is HUGE on the R&B chart, or the gospel chart, but struggles to maintain pop success. A long justification for bumping her to #2, but it was needed, especially after she sang such a big powerful God-Lovin' Faith Hill song last night, that I totally loved.

#3 Blake Lewis - The only one with any true upset potential (because Lakisha has been fading so fast) left in the competition. I respect the guy for going with one of my all-time favoritist songs (Lennon's Imagine), but there is just something a little wierd and a little off when he just sits and sings a straight slow ballad and actually just sings. I can't even put my finger on it, it's just....wierd. I dunno. We haven't had any beatboxing in a while, either. At first I was afraid (i was petrified) that he would over-kill it, now I think he's been underutilizing an entertaining aspect of his performance repertoire.

#4 Lakisha - Did she really cover past American Idol winners two weeks in a row? Obviously, the single baby-mama is an inspiration to her, but really? A Fantasia song on a night like Idol-Gives-Back? Really?

#5 Chris Richardson - I will shoot myself in the head before I put him higher than the four above, but the dude had a GREAT performance last night. Great song for the night, great performance. Great voice. I have nothing to criticize about the performance.

#6 Phil Stacey - Dude butchered a GREAT Garth Brooks song. I thought he would do a solid country ballad a little justice, but, NOPE. It was wretched. Time for the Weekly World News' Bat-Boy to take a hike!

Idol Top Seven

1. Melinda Doolittle
2. Jordin Sparks - She just keeps getting better and better. Melinda is more polished, but this kid SHOULD be the next American Idol.
3. LaKisha - My girl has been weak the last few weeks. Mind you "Lakisha Weak" is a billion times better than "Chris Richardson Strong"...
4. Blake Lewis - I wanted him to bust out something more upbeat on Country night, that he could lay down some beatbox to, so I was disappointed. Instead, he sang a song that really needs a redneck twine to sound good.
5. Sanjaya Malakar - I was hoping for one of the sillier Shania Twain songs from him (Man, I feel like a woman?). Another creepy/entertaining performance.
6. Phil Stacey - Nothing entertaining about it. I'm just not a fan. I'm extremely indifferent about him. He adds NOTHING to the show.
7. Chris Richardson - Every week I talk about wanting to kick him in the balls, or punch him in the face. I've run out of places that I want to physically hurt Mr. K-Fed/Timberlake.

Idle Top-8

So for all of the zero people that still read my blog, I'm changing up my idol ranking tonight. There are three categories: The Good, The Bad and the Sanjaya. There are just four performers that I remotely care for, three that I really don't like and then, well, Mr. Vote for the Worst.

Like I've said before, at this point I just want him to stick around for the entertainment value of it all, seeing him try to tackle all of the genres. I watch T.V. to be entertained and I can't get angry about the results of American Idol. Honestly.

So first for the Good:

1. Melinda Doolittle - I was finally able to come to a decision and rank my front-runner after last night. Not that Melinda was all that super (read boring and dated), it had more to do with LaKisha making a really bad song selection and just facing that Melinda is flat better.

2. LaKisha

3. Jordin Sparks - I think she has the best "pop" hope to actually be a bankable start out of this competition, at least of the womens. Melinda and LaKisha, like Ruben Studdard before them, are very niche - old school soul performers when it comes down to it.

4. Blake Lewis - I still like this guy. Do I think he's a great singer? No, but he's darn perfect to be the American Idol regardless. And he had the only performance last night that has stuck in my head at all!

The Sanjina has to rank #5 by default. That is how far I want to see him get into the competition. Of course, I care so little this season about who really wins it, that, if he gets this far, even I might start voting for him. I would be pretty darn funny to see him get to the finals!

And now the BAD, and at this point, I just want to lump them all together: The Whore, the Wannabe and the Freaky Bald Dude. Hailey might have covered herself up a little bit better this week, but she compensated by throwing on the street walker eyeshadow and lipstick. Way to go! (SIDE NOTE: Thank you Simon for saying what everyone else is thinking: You're voice can't compete, so keep taking off your clothes every week to get the vote) I am back to wanting to kick Chris Richardson in the balls, especially after he destroyed a good Carlos Santana/Rob Thomas song. and Powder err...Phil Stacey, he just adds zero entertainment value to the show. He's lame.

For your viewing pleasure

Idol Nine

1. DoKisha LaMelinda - I just can't pick a front runner still. My head says MindyDo, but my heart is still with Kiki. They were both nails last night as always. Dial-Idol, which was finally accurate again last week (the text-messagers didn't vote for Chris Sligh either), says that one of our lovely ladies takes a hit this week, so we'll see...

3. Gina Glocksen - She had such a great performance that I just can't move her down. I want to see her do well in the show. I could lose Jordin and not be sad, I could lose Blake and not care, but if Gina leaves, that blows.

4. Jordin - Last night she finally had a performance where I never though of her as the 17-year old baby. She held her own with the older contestants. Imagine how this girl is going to be in eleven years when she's the same age that Melinda is now?!?

5. Blake Lewis - Great all-around performance. Not the perfect vocal, but it was still alot of fun.

6. Chris Richardson - Only moves "Up" out of default because i had to move the next guy down. Timberfed had a decent performance. I'm not hating the guy as much anymore, he's a nice enough kid, I am just completely lukewarm about him.

7. Phil Stacey - I'm over Phil.

8. Sanjina - You read that right. I moved him up a spot. He isn't going anywhere for a while, so it's nice to at least be entertained by him every week, and I definitely was entertained last night. His vocal, insidentally, was the best that he has shown YET in the semifinals and finals. Still mediocre, but not terrible like usual.

9. The Whore - Hailey Scarnato just really needs to dissappear and this week, finally, I think it might happen.

This is cooler than R2D2 Mailboxes!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32140

Opening Day

Angels win, Dodgers lost. What could be better? Oh, and Gary Matthews Jr. is staying off of my "Spit list" for now. How refreshing was it to see a center fielder who ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO MAKE PLAYS ON THE BALL!?!?!? It's so nice to have Friggin banished back to leftfield again!

In other Angels news: Percy official retired as an Angel yesterday.

This got me thinking about how they haven't put anyone in the Angels Hall of Fame in a while, or retired any numbers. I think the next no-brainer for BOTH is #31 - Chuck Finley. I'm suprised it hasn't happened yet. C'mon Arte, get 'er dun! Percival, I think, should be in the Angels HOF, but not have the number retired. We'll see....eventually.

AI6: Top-Ten

1. Mindy-Kisha Doolittle - A Pair of Donna Summer songs - The Top two stay the same this week. I just can't pick a favorite anymore between the two of them. I feel more attached to LaKisha, but Melinda is just a little better performer/singer.

3. Gina Glocksen - I'll Stand By You - If she keeps making these perfect song choices, she's going to stick around for a while. Heaping piles of praise from the judges won't hurt either. I am liking her more and more. Hopefully she'll stay consistent.

4. Jordin - Hey Baby - Her performance was an absolute mess. This has been my problem with her that I've said over and over - Because she's so far behind Mindy and Kiki, she HAS to pick the perfect song every week. This wasn't it.

5. Chris Sligh - He REALLY took a hit this week. He picked the right song, but couldn't nail it. Looking so unprofessional at this stage is not a good thing. I love the guy, but he's not going to be around very long with stuff like this.

6. Blake Lewis - The Cure's Love Song - I'm still not sure what I think about his performance last night. He has a great voice and it was cool to see him strip away the gimmick and just sing a ballady song for once. It was a restrained performance and you could see that/feel that. You could tell that he was uncomfortable holding back like that.

7. Phil Stacey - Every Breath You Take - I'm suprised the judges didn't rip him for unoriginality. He once again showed what a great voice he has and this was a very strong night for him.

8. Timberfed - Don't Speak - I still want to punch him in the face. I hated his Boy-Band version of a No Doubt song. It just felt wrong.

9. Haley Scarnato - True Colors - With Sanjina getting all of the VFTW help, I can't believe that THIS CHICK hasn't been booted yet. Am I the only one who is sick of her whoring it up to cover up the fact that she can't sing?!?!? She is the poor man's Katherine McPhee. All Style, no substance.

10. Sanjina - It's just comical at this point. Gwen Stefani ripped on him in her video clip, Simon virtually said "I give up, America likes you for some strange reason". And Ryan ALMOST alluded to the vote-for-the-worst help. He said something along the lines of "To vote for Sanjaya, for a number of reasons, dial......" It was a subliminal slip, if you ask me. And to be quite honest - Although he is absolutely TERRIBLE, he sure is fun to watch every week and as long as it's mediocre people going home and not great people, I don't care if he sticks around anymore. You don't want to watch, but you can't look away!!

AI6: Round One - The Whale Heard 'round the World

1. Kiki (God Bless the Child) - LaKisha can do no wrong. One of the few times that I have thought to myself "Must. Own. Single. NOW!" I LOVE her.

1B. Melinda Doolittle (Home from The Wiz) - Melinda truly proved that #1 - She is one of only two people with a legitimate shot at winning this season, and #2 - She can sing the frickin' phone book! This was perhaps the worst song choice, and the worst Melinda performance yet, but it was still better than 90% of the stuff we've seen this entire season.

3. Jordin Sparks (If We Hold on Together) - The song was a little cheesy, but Jordin showed tonight that she has a VOICE that can compete with the big two. The question is can she compete all-around (personality, stage presence, etc.)?

4. Chris Sligh (Endless Love) - Even before Randy made the comparison, I said to myself "Chris turned this into a Coldplay song". While I commend the effort, and I absolutely love this guy as a person and as a performer, the problem is that Endless Love is NOT a Coldplay song, and the arrangement turned into a complete mess! That misstep might just cost him, too. Dial Idol has him in the bottom three. You can go find the other bottom three on your own, I don’t want to ruin any surprises (since they have been perfectly accurate so far this season).

5. Gina Glocksen (Love Child) – Not my favorite performance by any means, but I still like her. It was a weird performance.

6. Stephanie Edwards (Love Hangover) – I liked it a lot better than the judges did. She did pretty darn good, but she is so overshadowed by the other three women that are in her same style, that she will probably be going home sooner than she should.

7. Blake Lewis (You Keep Me Hanging On) – What the heck happened to Blake?!?!?! He wanted to make it a contemporary song. The problem was, he “modernized” it right up to 1984. Way to go. It’s feast or famine when you make a song your own and try and put it into your own style. Blake’s remix was clearly famine this week.

8. Brandon Rogers (You Can’t Hurry Love) – I figured out what’s wrong with Brandon. He’s a great a cappella singer. Ever since the Semis, when he’s played with music, he’s been terrible. I REALLY wanted to like him, But I just don’t.

9. Phil Stacey (I’m Gunna Make You Love Me) – No you’re not. I guess he’s still a decent singer; he was just way too Michael Bolton-y for me.

10. Haley Scarnato (Missing You) – But we won’t be missing YOU. The good news: She was (barely) better than Mr. Malakar. The Bad news: He’s got a lot of Vote For the Worst steam, thanks to the Howard Stern radio show.

11. Timberfed (The Boss) – If I was on the cruise ship that this guy was singing on, well, I’d be spending a lot of time in the casino. I don’t hate him as much as I did Elliott Yamin, but it’s close.
12. Sangina (Ain’t No Mountain) – How funny was it to hear Simon Cowell call Diana Ross a Whale?!?! Honestly! When he said, “If you hear a giant Wail in Beverly Hills”, I think 100% of American heard something different!!!! What else is there to say. He was bad. We all know he sucks. Now he has to throw in a different crappy hairstyle to his mop every week? Who cares! We always joke about Paula slipping her room key to the male competitors that she pines for. Maybe Sanjina was hoping to get a room key slipped to him from Seacrest.

American Idol - Top 12

I know you've all been holding your breath to see my first rankings of the season for American Idol (at least Crystal has). There isn't a shadow of a doubt that a woman will win this season. I believe the producers helped stack the deck on that side because the WANT a female winner, and let a more watered down group of guys into the semifinals. That being said, my rankings truly reflect how feast or famine it is with the dudes this season.

1. Lakisha Jones - Is she better than Mandisa? I think she is, and Mandisa was my favorite last season until she got the early boot. I love her story, her personality and her freaking amazing voice.

1.5. Melinda Doolittle - She was a solid 2nd until she threw the 90-yard touchdown pass this week. An unbelievable performance with attitude, personality and a dominant voice. I think it's so funny how she kinda "turns off" her stage persona the second she sees Ryan and the judges and turns back into the shy, cute backup singer. But as Simon said, she's a Tiger!

3. Chris Sligh - I don't know how long his voice is going to keep him in the competition. That's the bad news. The good news is. He has THE BEST personality of any finalist in six seasons. He's hilarious and fun and DOES have a pretty good voice. And I really want him to stick around long enough to make David Hasselhoff cry!

4. Gina Glocksen - It's Nikki McKibben with a better voice, better personality and a smarter sense of what she needs to do in this competition. She rocked the house last week and I hope she gets to stick around for a while. I want her in Abba week and in Gwen Stefani week, for sure.

5. Blake Lewis - The only other guy I like besides Chris, and he's probably a better overall performer than Sligh. I was really worried about him overkilling the beatbox thing, but so far he has used it well. I'm afraid for him in coming weeks, because he is such a niche performer.

6. Stephanie Edwards - The beginning of the second tier. She has the goods, but she has struggled for the past few weeks. I really WANT her to be good.

7. Jordin Sparks - Jordin should have waited three years before trying out for Idol, and she could have had a better chance to win the whole thing. I just don't see her being able to make the right song choices every week. And I don't see her being able to outlast the other singers in her "genre group", to put it nicely.

8. Brandon Rogers - Like Stephanie, he's a lot better than he has performed. I want to see him do well, too.

9. Haley Scarnato - Another person who I WANT to like. I don't know if she has the goods to keep sliding through, but I want to see her grow as a singer every week.

10. Phil Stacey - He had been my third-highest guy for a while, but there is just something about him that is starting to rub me the wrong way. This is one person who could end up jumping quite a bit on my list.

11. Chris Richardson, hereforeto be known as TimberFed - I suppose he's a good singer, and he's got the ladies. I HATE HIM. He's Justin Timberlake without actual talent. He's Kevin Federline without a bald ex-wife. He's the poser saggy-pants white guy-who doesn't know he's white. He's Jamie Kennedy's B-Rad in Malibu's Most Wanted. I hate him.

12. Sanjaya Malakar - Can someone PLEASE explain to me what the hell he is still doing here. WHY do people like him. HOW on earth is he still getting the tween vote? The only reason I'm not more upset about it is because really, in the 6 guy/6 girl format, who would have been a better male choice? Sundance (I have another not-so-PG nickname for him)? Jared Hand-over-the-face Cotter? None of them are worthy of the top-12, and that's more of the problem. I would love to see Sabrina Sloan (Guadalupe Streisand) get another crack. I'd like to see Alaina get another shot. They would have been better choices for the top-12, but I digress.

Top-Ten Songs Named After Women

Sorry, Paul Hutchins, but you got your list totally wrong:

I Agree with:

Eleanor Rigby -- The Beatles
Ana Ng -- They Might Be Giants
Maggie Mae -- Rod Stewart
Billie Jean -- Michael Jackson
Layla -- Eric Clapton
Anna Begins -- Counting Crows

But you left Out:
Be My Yoko Ono -- Barenaked Ladies
Ms. Jackson - Outcast
Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel
Visions of Johanna - Bob Dylan
To Ramona - Bob Dylan
Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - Bob Dylan
Maggie's Farm - Bob Dylan
Amanda - Boston
See Emily Play - Pink Floyd
Gloria - U2 (I think I cheated here)
Grace - U2 (and here, too)

I'm sure there's a ton more that I'm just not thinking of!

You Get What You Give

I haven't written in a while, and I don't really have anything important to say, but I saw this picture of Dave Evans and thought it was worth posting about. It's from a Time Magazine article from last year when they were at Abbey Road with Green Day. Most of the article is about Music Rising and all, but the final question was "what two contemporary songs would you most want your name attached to. He says Wonderwall by Oasis (obvious choice) and You Get What You Give by the New Radicals.

That one suprises me, although I think if U2 had written that song (minus the celebrity disses at the end), it would probably be one of their biggest hits of all time.

And it's funny to me, because there was this guy at Biola, who dated a friend of Melissa, who ...shall we say was not all that interested in the truth. He claimed to have hung out with the Mark Tremonti from Creed (even scored me an "autograph") and he also said that he helped to write the New Radicals album, but couldn't have his name listed because of some songwriters union thing. Nice.

It's a Lie!

I miss my family, but I don't miss the OC! Orange County

You're rich, pretty, and living a charmed life. (Or you seriously wish you were.) From Disneyland to Laguna Beach, you're all about living the California dream life. Just make sure to marry rich - so you don't have to work for it!

Where Does Your Inner Californian Belong?

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-01-03-the-OC-canceled_x.htm?csp=34

I almost got sad, but then I remembered that I haven't watched the show since Marissa started kissing girls.

Brokeback Doogie

So I'm committing to writing some actual "Web journal" type content this week, since it's been a long freaking time. Today's topic: The un-closeting of Neil Patrick Harris. The big question floating around about all of this is "Were you suprised?". Me? Actually, I was and I wasn't. Afterall, the guy have been a broadway actor forever. But it's still hard to picture Barney, his beloved gigelo character on How I Met Your Mother (Mondays at 8:00pm, CBS), taking it up the tailpipe.

And then George from Grey's Anatomy came out the same week. That one was strange because I wouldn't expect it. Here's to hoping that they don't go and change their characters in anyway on their shows. That would be stoopid.

Friday Random Ten

1. Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me - Pearl Jam from Vitalogy
2. Helter Skelter - U2 from Rattle and Hum
3. Silent All These Years - Tori Anus from Star Lounge Collection 1996
4. Miami - Will Smith from Big Willie Style
5. Lovesong - Mars Hill from The Scenic Route
6. Little Man Big Man - Toad the Wet Sprocket from Coil
7. Idiot Box - Aquabats from The Fury of the Aquabats
8. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan from Bootleg Series Volume 4
9. Grand Illusion - Styx from Return to Paradise
10. Stand Inside Your Love - Smashing Pumpkins from Rotten Apples

T.R.T.

Hey remember when we all used to do a Friday Random Ten? Yeah, it's been a while. Here's one for this week, a day early.

1. Emily's Love Song - Skypark from Am I Pretty?
2. Disappear - Hoobastank from The Reason
3. Thirty Three - Smashing Pumpkins from VH1 Storytellers Bootleg
4. Rag Doll - Aerosmith from Big Ones
5. I Wanna Hold Your Hand - The Beatles from Anthology
6. Shut Your Mouth - Garbage from Beautiful Garbage
7. We Dance Alone - Beck from The Information
8. Losing My Religion - R.E.M. from SNL 25 Years of Performances
9. Run Around - Van Hagar from The Best of Both Worlds
10. Ground Beneath Her Feet - U2 from Live at Irving Plaza

Even Fatter Than the Real Thing

Taking his title as the world's biggest rock star a little too literally, the U2 frontman proudly showed off his ever-growing food baby that he's stored in his midsection while vacationing in Croatia. The 46-year-old rocker was with his wife of 24 years enjoying the Adriatic sun when onlookers spotted a beached Bono relaxing by the shore. No rescue efforts were made to return Bono back into the ocean.

Happy Lost Day!

Season Three starts tonight at 9:00!!!!!!

List of the Day: Favorite Lost characters

1. Kate (was there ever any doubt)
2. Hurley
3. Charlie
4. Locke
5. Sawyer
6. Jin & Sun
7. Jack
8. Desmond
9. Mr. Eko
10. Alvar Hanso

Farewell, Fish!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2604570

One of the best players and best character guys in the history of the Anahiem Angels is going to retire on Thursday. Tim was such a great player and I've grown up watching him since he won AL Rookie of the Year when I was 15. He will go down as my second favorite Angel ever. #1 on my list was the other player I grew up watching. He stays #1 because I have a more romantic take on things from when I was even younger. I was 9 when he was a rookie and he hit back-to-back home runs when I was there for my 10th birthday the following year. That kind of memory can't be beat. My favorite Halos of all time (in my lifetime, that is):

1. Wally Joyner
2. Tim Salmon
3. Chuck Finley
4. The Wonderdog Rex Hudler
5. Dick Schofield
6. Gary Discarcina
7. Mark Langston
8. Troy Percival
9. Troy Glaus
10. Darin Erstad
11. Kirk McCaskill
12. Jim Edmonds
13. Adam Kennedy
14. Bob Boone
15. Vladomir Guerrero
Honorable Mention: Mike James' Sideburns, Jack Howell, Mike Witt

Dishonorable mention for my least favorite Angel's - Mo Vaughn, Cecil Fielder, Tony Phillips, Brad "Roids" Fulmer and of course..... Mr. Clean - Garrett "Friggin" Anderson.

He's Still a Genius (in France)

Weird Al's new album is coming out next Tuesday. I know I'm a nerd, but he's still REALLY good at what he does. He did a spot on rendition of You're Beautiful, that won't be on the album:

http://media.thechrispirilloshow.com/mp3/yourepitiful.mp3

And the newest video is for "White and Nerdy" An amazing Chamelionarre parody:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1194164636&n=2

He will also have a Green Day parody: "Canadian Idiot" and parodies of Usher, Taylor Hicks and R.Kelly (Trapped in the Drive Through), which is sure to be funny.

Life with Coaxial

First off: I'm going to my Bosses house to watch the finale of Rock Star: SUPERNOVA tonight. I really don't know who is going to win. Last year we knew for a few weeks. This year Dilana was the shoo-in, but Toby has made a serious case for himself and I don't think Magni is out of it. As far as who I WANT to win: EVS!!!!!! I'd be happy with any of the four.

The good news is that I did get cable in time for September and the new season of television. The bad news: I have more than one conflict in need of resolution, having only one tv and one tivo. The following is my nightly breakdown of what I'll be watching this fall, or at least, what my Tivo will be watching. When I start my early mornings at Target, I'll be in bed at 9:00 (except Wednesdays for LOST, of course), so I'll have alot of TV catch up to do on the weekends.

Sunday (while watching Sunday Night Football during commercials)
8:00 - The Amazing Race (I'll have to catch Makeover: Home Edition and the Simpsons in reruns).
9:00 - ESPN
10:00 - Without a Trace

Monday (whilst watching Monday Night Football during commercials)
8:00 - 1st half of 7th Heaven
8:30 - How I Met Your Mother
9:00 - The Bachelor: Rome or Heroes. If one sucks than it'll be the other. If Heroes rocks, then I'll be watching that.
10:00 - What about Brian (although I might be watching Studio 60 if it blows my mind).

Tuesday (my go-to-bed-early night)
8:00 - Gilmore Girls
9:00 - ESPN
10:00 - ESPN

Wednesday
8:00 - 20 Good Years
8:30 - 30 Rock
9:00 - LOST, baby!!!!!!!
10:00 - coinflip: The Nine or Kidnapped, which ever pilot I like better

Thursday
8:00 pm - Survivor
9:00 pm - Grey Anatomy
10:00 pm - Shark

Friday
8:00 pm - The Ghost Whisperer
9:00 pm - Close to Home
10:00 pm - Numbers

TOP FIVE MOST ANTICIPATED RETURNS:
1. LOST
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Amazing Race
5. Survivor

TOP FIVE MOST ANTICIPATED PILOTS:
1. 30 Rock
2. Heroes
3. Studio 60
4. The Nine
5. Shark

5-0

Being a temporary "bachelor", I took part in five fantasy football drafts this year. I had a pretty good start this weekend as all of my teams won. I have the Bankers Bunch, which you can link to from the right hand column. I've been in this league with a bunch of Biola grads for eight years. I've never won and I've only come close twice, but it's the best league I've ever seen. I got criticized big time for one of my early picks this year, but so far so good. I beat Josh! Then there is the Cramer league, which I've been in for eleven years, since my junior year in high school. I also have a four-man league with the Hutch Bros. and Mark, which we draft through email every year.

This year I added two more leagues, since I'm solo up here and didn't have any reason NOT to. I am in a league with people from work and a league with people from church.

A New (old) Look

+ =

A SECOND JOB!

Yup, I just got hired at Target to work the Flow/Truck Unload shift, 4am-9am!

It's Been Awhile

So I haven't posted any actual text on this blog in ages...Still kickin' it in Eugene solo. I love my job and love the people I work with. I just hope that I can have my family with me soon! Outside of work, I've had a little extra free time, but no money, so that has translated into the following activities:

1. Fantasy Football - This season I am in five leagues - The Bankers Bunch (see link on the right) which I've been in for 8 years, the Cramer League, which by my count I've been in for 11 or 12 years (I don't know if we started my junior or senior year in high school), a church league up here and a work league up here. Plus with The Hutch Bros and T-Boy we do a four-man league that we draft over the internets. The other four we all do live drafts for (two this weekend!). Needless to say, when my family and i are back together, I won't even dream of doing this much. Too much time away from home for the drafts. I'll stick to the SoCal ones, where I'll be drafting on-line anyway.

2. $1.50 Movies - We have a cheap theater here, so i've actually been able to see quite a few movies this summer. I usually sneak into a second movie, so really, my movies are costing $0.75. Not bad.

3. Poker! - I actually got to play poker on Sunday night for the first time in MONTHS. A person I work with does a $5 buy-in tournament with her friends from Church and they invited me this week. Only four of us showed up and I finished second, so I kept my $5. Sucky the way I got eliminated. We were heads up and our chip stacks were pretty even. After some agressive betting on both parts, the board read 8-10-J-9 (the 9 came on the turn). I had 7-J suited, so I had been agressive with top pair. I got my straight on the turn and went all-in. The second she called me, I knew she had a queen for the higher straight, and that was all she wrote. She had Q-10 off-suit, so I was suprised that she was keeping up with my agressive betting the whole way.

4. TV - We're getting cable in the apartments today! (I live in a campus apartment right now). I have been living off of high-powered rabbit ears since I got here. I have a good signal on ABC, CBS and NBC and a decent black-and-white view of Fox. Now I'm going to have a clear picture on all of those, just in time for the fall seasons to start! Oh yeah, and a little thing called ESPN...just in time for football season. I'll have another TV post at some point.

5. Church stuff - I was blessed to walk into an awesome church group right away up here, since our friends Katie and Craig are already here and Craig is the Associate Pastor at Calvary Fellowship. On monday nights a bunch of people get together and do some fun activity at the church (Bocce ball, frisbee golf, etc.) and then we go to the music leaders house for a firepit, roasting smores and dogs. Then we usually play some sort of group board game. That has been fun and a great distraction my loneliness.

It's not Louie at the last supper, but it's good...

Flashback of the Day

Season Ocho

For my birthday last month, I got a handful of giftcards for best buy (and I've had some Itunes giftcards for a while), and they've been burning a hole in my pocket! Tommorow I'll finally use some of them as the Simpsons Season 8 DVD set comes out. I've been saving my gift cards for this and a few other things that are coming out soon: a new Weird Al album, the new Killers album, the new Bob Dylan Album and the U2 ZooTV Live from Sydney DVD.

Wisdom of a Friend

My friend Kate said something remarkable on her Blog that really hit home with me: Transition is Tiring. When I first left home to come up here to Eugene, I had a very tough few weeks of depression. I was just tired all of the time. Then we got word of the house selling and we were in a happy transition period, anticipating and planning for the move. Then we fell out of escrow and the bottom fell out again. I still got to go home for six days and spend some time with the kids and with Melissa, but then I had to come back, alone, again. Since I got back almost a week ago, back into this period of transition and an unknown future, I again feel tired all of the time. I didn't get out of bed until 1:30 in the afternoon on Saturday. I've had to drag myself out of bed every day.

I'm ready, Lord, for this transition time to be over! I'm ready to have my family all back together again! I'm ready for answers!

New Bat? Saunders Out?

All of a sudden, this is turning into an Anaheim Angels blog, because that's all I seem to be posting about lately....

Regardless, I'm intruiged by the news today that Andruw Jones has been claimed on waivers by an unspecified team. Could it be the Halos? I would be pretty happy if it were, and if the trade got worked out for Saunders and/or Bootcheck. As long as Weaver isn't part of it. Weaver would have been worth it if we had pulled off the Soriano deal, but not for Jones.

Here's to hoping that we get a bat, so that we can stick with the A's for the next two months...

What happened to Chip?

Lazy Eye and Reichen sitting in a tree....

First Place, baby!

The good son is 7-0 and the Angels are back in first place in the AL West...It's good to be a halo fan!

Shine On, Syd

Roger Keith Barrett, January 6, 1946 - July 9, 2006

Friday Random Ten

1. Addicted to Love - Robert Palmer from Billboard 1986
2. Same - Snow Patrol from Final Straw
3. Wicked Ways - Garbage from Version 2.o
4. Poncho and Lefty - Willie Nelson with Merle Haggard from Super Hits
5. It's Not Fair - Mars Hill from Mars Hill
6. Biding My Time - Pink Floyd from Relics
7. You'll Be Back For Me- Crystal Lewis from Greatest Hits
8. Rollin' and Tumblin' - Eric Clapton from Unplugged
9. If You've Got Trouble - The Beatles from Anthology 2
10. Folding - Sonichrome from Breathe the Daylight

Too little, too late?

Well, what every Angels fan has wanted all season finally happened on Friday as Bill Stoneman finally got the stones to send down Jeff Weaver and bring up STUD minor league pitcher Jared Weaver.

Ever since the World Series win in 2002, everyone has sort of perceived Bill Stoneman to be a golden-boy, but ever since, through MULTIPLE stoopid moves, he's come down to earth. I hated in in the late 90's and I still don't like him today. Letting Troy Glaus go was a mistake, and I don't just say that because he was my favorite player. Glaus was only one year removed from his Lasik and before the knee injury was hitting the snot out of the ball. Stoneman got trigger happy and as a result, made two mistakes at once. He let Glaus go and in the process, made Chone Figgins the defacto third-baseman. I love Figgins and he is a pure catalyst for this team. But he was a perfect role player. The club had the ability to start him every day somewhere, whether at DH or filling in to give anyone else a day off.

Then he let Bengie Molina get away last year. The better Napoli develops, the less this one is going to hurt, but really that's just dumb luck for Stoneman. The biggest clutch-hitter on the team and the leader of the "Latino Half" of the club, Molina was not resigned because Stoneman didn't find him worth the cost when he had a solid defensive catcher in Jose Molina and he also had.....Josh Paul. Well Paul turned into a big-ole bust, the likes of which haven't been seen since Justin Bauchman. Napoli got called up and has been incredible, but Stoneman gets ZERO credit for that one.

And then the team was looking for another bat over the past month, which they desperatley need and apparently, the cost was too high for Stoneman to pull the trigger on trading prospects. I'm sorry, but other than Jared Weaver, there are three other starters at Salt Lake who are valuable. Stoneman was probably demanding that Jeff Weaver be part of any deals, and nobody wants to touch that plague. Now we get NOTHING for him, no power hitter, but a stronger rotation? As long as Colon can get back into form (I give him 5 starts before I give up hope/2 down, three to go), we'll be ok with pitching and the same rotation (Weaver, Colon, Escobar, Lackey, Santana) should be in one piece next season, and that's pretty damn good. a #1 guy, two young potential #1 guys, and two solid #2/3 guys in Kelvin and Lackey.

But without a deal for a bat, it's too little too late for this season. Pack it in. Let the young guys (Morales, Napoli, Murphy, Kendrick) continue to get experience at the big league level. That will only help them out for next year and the years to come. All four of them were rushed to the show, but now that they are here, let them get their AB's.

And one more note to Stoned-man: Since we're going to phone in the rest of the year anyway, isn't it time to dump JC Romero and let JONATHAN ROUWENHORST get up to the show, too!?!?! Between him and Esteban Yan, you're 0-for-2 on signing lefty relief. Give your own guy a shot now!

The Nerd Is Still Alive

The nerdy part of me that loves Weird Al Yankovic, I don't think, will ever die. He finally has a new album coming out later this year (it's been three years) and he has released the first single, a James Blunt paroditty called "You're Pitiful".

Check it out HERE.

Monday Random Ten

Still alive and kicking in Eugene...working my tail off right now...

1. Creep - Radiohead from Pablo Honey
2. Fuel - Tom Wuest from WOW Worship: Green
3. Welcome to the Machine - Pink Floyd from Wish You Were Here
4. Anna Begins - Counting Crows from August and Everything After
5. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band from Crash
6. Questions - Plankeye from The Spark
7. Damn - Matchbox 20 from Yourself or Someone Like You
8. Say Goodbye to Hollywood - Billy Joel from The Essential Billy Joel
9. Dead - They Might Be Giants from Flood
10. Happy Jack - The Who from The Ultimate Collection

Greetings from the other side of the world

Well, it's just Eugene, but without my family, it sure feels like the other side of the planet! I'm safe and sound in Oregon, just finishing up my first day of work. Then it's back to my 400-square foot apt. to set up shop and watch the basketball game (fortunately, ABC is one of the two stations that I get reception for!).

Please continue to pray for us. For sanity while we are apart and for our darn house to sell quickly!!! We just lowered the price, yet again.

Another Story...

I almost forgot the funniest thing that ever happened in the Brant days! File this under boys-will-be-boys:

One night after a concert at Red Hill Lutheran, we were fooling around in the parking lot with a flat rolling dolly, 'cause we were loading equipment into cars and such (remember, I was a first-class roadie back then). Someone came up with the brilliant idea of doing a JackAss style stunt where someone goes Indiana Jones and jumps into the side of a Van, off of the Dolly, which was going at a high rate of speed.

I was the idiot who volunteered to try the stunt. So I get on the dolly, in position to make the jump and they push me towards the van. As I get closer I begin to realize "If I push off of this dolly to jump, it will come out from under me and I will eat it straight into the pavement." So I froze up and ended up careening right into the side of the van. Somehow with how my leg hit the side of the van, I got a puncture wound on my leg. It didn't bleed or anything, but you could see about two millimeters down into my knee. It was pretty cool.

I still have the scar from it!

Long Live Holy Cow/The Glovers/MALICIDE!!!

I just reconnected with one of my best friends from High School, Brant Debow (Blog link on the right). Brant and I became friends through the quasi-retarded "christian club" at Woodbridge High School, when he was a senior and I was a freshman. I quickly became his lackey/hanger-on/roadie for his glam/metal band "Malicide". We became really good friends and I got to know a whole new group of people and started going to a second church (Red Hill Lutheran). I got in the most trouble of my life with him, too. We had gone to a concert (Focused, Unashamed, Dog Baby, etc.) down in southern OC and I was supposed to be home by midnight. Well, we were kinda-sorta working the show and kinda-sorta stayed until 2:00 am, and I kinda never called home to tell my mom where I was. Ooooops.

Anywoo...Brant and I were pretty good friends, we just lost touch after high school. He had moved on to play in Holy Cow a sortof Biola Band, when I was still in high school, and I would go see him play a TON. When I got to Biola and had a radio show on KBBK, I thought it was cool that I wasn't the only one who wanted to hear "Raid" on the radio. (I'm playing the Chrysanthemum E.P. on my Ipod as we speak).

Brant was also a drummer for Plain Jane, and the Holy Cow redux band, The Glovers. Good times!

My funniest memories with Brant were playing Zootball at the tennis courts in Turtle Rock and yelling "C-MON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" really loud out the windows of his white van, scaring the crap out of joggers and what-not.

Now we're both married dads, we still have a ton of the same interests (poker, d-land, etc.) and we reconnect just in time for me to move to Oregon. Bummer!!!!

Happy 6-6-06

Monday Random Ten

My last random ten until I get settled in Oregon, So I'll do two.

1. Who's Gunna Ride Your Wild Horses - U2 from Achtung Baby
2. Time to Get Ill - The Beastie Boys from Licensed to Ill
3. Ready for the Rain - Dime Store Prophets from Love is Against the Grain
4. Extra Pale - Goo Goo Dolls from Dizzy Up the Girl
5. Happiness is Warm Gun - The Beatles from Anthology 3
6. Never on Sunday - The Chordettes from The Wonder Years Soundrack (Disc 3)
7. Do You Feel Loved - U2 from Pop
8. Alex Descends Into Hell for a Bottle of Milk/Korova 1 - U2 from The Fly Single
9. The Great Gig in the Sky - Pink Floyd from Dark Side of the Moon
10. Desire - U2 from Live at Irving Plaza, 12-05-2000

Four u2 songs and I wasn't even trying.

Now my "Road Trip" playlist. I'll take the first random song from each of the following artists, in honor of my dad and I driving up to Oregon together on Father's Day.

First, the bands/people that we have seen together in concert

1. Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
2. Merle Haggard - Pennies from Heaven
3. Amos Lee - Soul Suckers
(We've also seen Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Beach Boys and Chicago)

Oh and Dylan, of course(four times) -

1. Every Grain of Sand (Biograph, disc 2)
2. Not Dark Yet (Best of Volume 2)
3. Highway 61 Revisited (Best of Volume 2)
4. I Believe in You (Biograph, disc 3)
5. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Best of Volume 2)
6. Lay Lady Lay (Best of Volume 1)
7. It Ain't Me Babe (Biograph, disc 2)
8. Cold Irons Bound (Time out of Mind)
9. Jokerman (Best of Volume 1)
10. Baby, Let me Follow You Down (Bootleg Series Volume 4)

Sicky Sicky

Mel took Drew into the Doctor this morning, because he still has a fever (it got as high as 103 on Tuesday). Turns out he has a mild ear infection, AND some tonsilitis. He has a non-penicilin med for the ear infection (since Abby and Mom are both allergic) and the tonsilitis should run it's course on it's own.

Fun, fun!

Also, I got the details on my apartment in Oregon: 400 square feet, baby! It comes with a bed and built-in dresser, a closet and....that's about it. The kitchen has a fridge, a range and a sink. My boss, Corey, is giving me a recliner-type chair of his to use and I'll be bringing a card-table and chairs to eat at (and play poker at, of course). He's also trying to get ahold of a microwave for me. If we don't find one up there, I'll go to a thrift store or, worst-case, I'll rent one. Gotta have a nuker!

I am definitely not looking foward to being a bachelor again, especially with the great-unknown ahead of us: How long will it be for?!?!?!?! But I am looking forward to the road-trip to get there. I'm going with my dad, so it'll be nice to get a little time with him, since it might be one of the last chances to do that for quite a while.

List of the Week: Computer Animation

Cars comes out in a few weeks, and my kids are more excited for this than anything they've ever seen. "Look Daddy! Car race movie!!!" In anticipation of (hopefully) another gem from the good people at Pixar, here is my list of the top-ten computer animated movies.


1. Finding Nemo - This is the creme-de-la-creme of the Pixar library. Wonderful story, great characters, perfect voice cast, and it looks spectacular.
2. Toy Story 2 - The first was great and this one improved upon it in so manys.
3. Shrek - I'm in the minority, I think, of people who liked the first one better than the second one. I think it was just so unique and distinguished itself from the Pixar films, that as the original, it really set the tone that was continued in the sequel.
4. Toy Story - Another amazing film. It's crazy, though, how the animation seemed so incredible at the time, but now, compared to the latest CGI flicks, it seems so primative.
5. Monster's Inc. - I love the story so much, and the adventure of it all, that it makes up for some questionable casting (Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Tilly). I'm not a fan of gimmick voice-casting, just to get big names. The voice actor has to fit the part. You want to remember the character, not just who did the voice. If it's a super recognizable voice, it usually doesn't work. John Goodman and Billy Crystal, however, work perfectly. I'm sure it's darn near impossible to get the perfect mix.
6. A Bugs Life - Another great pixar Flik (ha! get it?). A great case of perfectly cast voices. Kevin Spacey is the main villain, but you don't think "spacey" you think "Hopper".
7. Shrek 2 - Maybe it's over-saturation that drops it this far, because the kids watch it so darn much in the car. This is one of the best adult-inside-joke movies in the genre.
8. The Incredibles - Another fun story with perfect voice-casting. Bravo for NOT hiring Patrick Warburton for Mr. Incredible, but another deep-voiced actor: Coach! (Craig T. Nelson). Samuel L. Jackson is my favorite voice in the movie, with Jason Lee a close second.
9. Antz - Too "adult" many times, if I remember correctly, but I know that I enjoyed it.
10. Ice Age - You can tell that the quality really drops off by the end of this list. The first one was unique and fun and had a great adventure story, but it fell victim to the gimmick casting problem with Ray Romano.

Honorable Mention:
Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie. It was good, but it was so far below the Veggie Tales episodes, that I just can't rank it any higher.

Another MAJOR wt-freak from last night

Watch at your own risk


I still don't know what he won't do for love.

One Love, One Life, One HORRIBLE MOMENT

Why? Why oh why would Mary J. Blidge agree to come on and allow Elliot the Troll to butcher One? I think last night Bono died, rolled over in his grave, and then came back to life. So Elliot's mom won an award for best "family moment" or some crap like that (we have only watched bits and pieces so far). I have to say, after they gave her some much screen time, we know where Elliot gets his looks from. I think they used that family as models for some of the Lord of the Rings creatures. Watching her made me throw up in my mouth a little.

So Taylor won. Woopie! Welcome to the world of Fantasia/Reuben/Justin/Bo and Diana, where your albums don't sell crap.

Now back to take another headache pill...my brain still hurts from trying to take in everything on the Lost finale....a foot statue with four toes?!!?!? WTF?!?!?!?

And The Next Singer to be destroyed by 19-entertainment will be...

Go ahead and crown Mr. Hicks as your next American Idol. Simon hand picked him to be the winner last night and that ALWAYS leads to a victory. The fact of the matter is: Katharine didn't pull it off last night. Frankly, neither did Taylor, but he had enough momentum coming in and a big enough fanbase already in place, that he should walk away with the title tonight.

The evening came across pretty anti-climatic to me. Taylor was flat-out boring during his two redux songs. Katharine was solid in her two (I'm really starting to dig Black Horse and a Cherry Tree), but she sang both of them a lot better the first time around.

After those performances, I was still up in the air with who I would vote for. Katharine sang a hunk of pre-made pop crap called "my destiny". Your destiny? to finish second, sweetheart, sorry. It was a TERRIBLE song, and Cat was completely uninspired. I think she sounded a ton worse on TV than in person, because the judges liked HER, but she did absolutely nothing interesting with the song and in a matter of 2 minutes, turned herself directly into a cheap knock-off of Kelly Clarkson, who has emerged from the Idol shadow to be a legitimate pop star.

Taylor's song sucked equally as bad. Taylor himself, however, made it work for him. The first half of the song was miserable, and I thought that he was also being victimized by the crappy-song-that-he-shouldn't-have-ever-had-to-sing-in-the-first-place. About halfway through, however, it all of a sudden became a Taylor Hicks song and a solid Taylor Hicks performance.

My American Idol: Taylor Hicks.

One interesting note: I have always wanted the person that goes on to win. I wanted Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia and Carrie (although last year was the toughest call). I think I'm going to be right once again. According to Dial Idol, I am right, and it won't even be close.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

I realize that my reviews haven't had that unique attempt at "humor" that I usually throw out there lately, and I think it's because all of the crap-tacular performers have long gone, and they're the easiest ones to throw the poisoned darts at. Well, maybe it'll be back this week as I have new-found loathing for the troll-boy, for one simple reason: He is NOT an american idol. Simple. He doesn't look like an American Idol and as was evidenced last night, he only sounds like an American Idol about 33% of the time. And if you open your eyes and try to watch the stiff wigger, it just gets worse, again. But more on Mr. Tunnis in a minute.

Let's talk about one of the shining moments in Idol HISTORY: Catherine McPhee rockin the Rainbow. Cat freaking nailed one of (if not THE) biggest moments ever on this show when she blew the roof off of Somewhere Over the Rainbow last night. I still have to consider Fantasia's "summertime" to be the biggest moment for me, because A - It propelled her to victory the next week and, B - I was a fantasia-hater for most of the competition and that completely turned it around and made her my favorite.

Last week I said that Cat phoned it in and wasn't taking it seriously enough. Maybe she was just feeling defeated, knowing that she couldn't do justice to Elvis week, because this week she was on top of her game. Granted, if I knew she was going to do R-Kelly, I would have hoped it was Trapped in the Closet, but I digress... I also thought that her Billie Holiday-ish third song was PERFECT and absolutely what I would love for her to do. Queen Latifah put out a Jazzy type of album last year. I wish we could go back in time and have Cat record that exact album and have Queeny stick to Chicago songs (which she nailed). That jazzy/bluesy stuff is RIGHT where Cat needs to be.

And what about the Ass-soul Patrol? He was good. No, he was GREAT. Taylor is awesome. His moment long passed when he did George Harrison's Something, but he is still a great soul singer.

I have to pick a new number one, since Chris is gone, so who's it going to be? Isn't it obvious from my rant above??!?!

1. Catherine
2. Taylor
3. The Toad-Faced/Buck-Toothed/Less-personality-than-David-Blaine - Elliot

Yeah. Um, what the heck is that guy still doing in this competition?!!?!?!! Nikki McKibben made the top three of season one, so strangers things have happened. I called him a wigger earlier. The dude has ONE move that isn't stiff - He moves his right arm up and down like he's Eminem, or something. This isn't a battle, RABBIT! You freaking sing SOUL music. News Flash - YOU'RE NOT A GANSTA.

Anyway: I have avoided Dial-Idol until after I type my prediction, but I doubt it will change: Elliot will be going home, they will first tell Taylor he is safe.

Now what does Dial-Idol say? ..... Closer than I thought it would be....

Site News: Back in Black

I think I read somewhere that Black is the new Orange, so out with the old, in with the new. I revamped the linkage, now on the right. Now Odelay is color-blind-friendly! And, I don't have to change the text size everytime I post, which is good.

Basically, I just got sick of the look of the old site.

If you regularly read my blog, post a comment somewheres so I know! I'd love to add to my friends and family sections, so if you blogsterbate, let me know that, too!

Better Late Than Never

I'm home sick, so my review and predictions are a little late. Sorry about that. Last night was good. I liked seven of the eight performances. Cat was unimpressive in her first song and forgot a word or two in her second. Not good at this stage of the competition. My ranking of the four will probably shock you.

1. Chris - Flawless again. I loved the songs he chose
2. Taylor - He has such a great voice and he was able to show off both sides of himself last night, which was good.
3. Elliot- I've officially changed my tune on the troll. Dude was amazing last night. period. He picked the perfect songs and i was even able to watch him with my eyes open and still enjoy it!
4. Cat- I don't know what it is. I still love her, but she just didn't seem to take it seriously enough last night.

Predictions: Cat and Elliot will probably be in the bottom two and Cat will probably be going home. I think Elliott did enough to move on. I don't think Cat has Paris' votes locked in, they could scatter to all three, so that won't help her.

NOTE: There have been many shockers with the final three, and I won't be surprised if Chris goes home. Taylor is 100% safe and would be the only one to completely shock me. Elliot was AMAZING last night, and enough people might assume Chris is safe and spend more time voting for Elliott. It's happened before. It would SUCK SWEATY DONKEY GNADS, but it could happen.

Cherry Trees, Styx and...the BEATLES?!?!!?

A strange night on Idol. Paris was great, Elliot was....Elliot, Chris rocked Styx, Taylor CHEATED and Catharine had her "moment". It's actually a bummer that one of these five has to go home, especially since it'll be Paris and she's a good enough singer to make the top-three.

1. Chris (Renegade, I Dare You) - I wish I has put it in print last week, when I heard they were doing songs from the year they were born. I was hoping he might get crazy and do a Styx song. I was actually thinking "Babe" would have been a great choice, even though I don't like that song. Instead, you goes the Billy-Madison route with my #2 favorite styx song, and IT ROCKED. The judges didn't like the second song, moreover, they didn't like him singing it, because his voice is TRASHED. So what? He's a hard rocker. With his style of voice, it'll go out on him occasionally. I still liked the song, even though I had never heard of it and still have no idea who sings it. It was a perfect choice for him.

2. Catharine (Against All Odds, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree) Apparently, America stayed focused on her rough first performance because she was second-to-last in voting on Dial Idol. Against All Odds was bad. She was off from the first note and never fully recovered. However, she MORE than make up for it with her second song. I strongly dislike the original version by KT Tunstall, I don't know why. Catharine put enough of her own spin on it, had fun with it and it was FREAKING AMAZING. I don't know what happened with her voice on that first song, because we all know she can sing. Hopefully this won't kill her.

3. Paris (Kiss, Be Without You) If you add in the degree of difficulty that she gave herself tonight, it is all the more remarkable how well she did. I REALLY liked her take on the Prince classic. Then, she goes after, perhaps, the biggest song out there right now (other than "Bad Day") and she did a good job with it. I like Mary J. Blige and Paris didn't quite live up to the original, and she went with a carbon-copy, but it was still pretty damn good.

4. Taylor (Play that Funky Music, Something) - Was it a good move? Probably. Does anyone else even CARE that he didn't choose an actually current song? Probably not. Taylor cheated and took the Beatles "Something" with his second song, since it is currently on the Billboard Catalog Album chart (probably on "1"). At first I was thinking it was weak, but then he sang the song. Holy Crap. Best version of Something since the original.

5. Elliot (On Broadway, Home) - I really wish Simon didn't steal my line: Why on earth would he pick a song where the lines are "I want to go Home"?!?!?! That's just bad kharma. And it's stupid. The good thing is, He sang it VERY well. I love Michael Buble and it wasn't as good as the original, but it was still his best song of the night. I did my whole eyes-closed thing during On Broadway (actually it was eyes-on-the-laundry). I think he sang it very well. There is no doubt that he's a good technical singer. The problem was, I HATE THAT SONG, and just like Simon, it's really easy to be biased against a performance if you can't get turned on by the song.

Bottom two prediction: Paris, Cat

Going Home: Paris.

I think at this point, we are headed for a Taylor/Chris finale, which I think would be the best finale yet. Both of them are out of the American Idol traditional mold and since (other then Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" album) I don't normal like the pop-centric music that this show has spit out, That is a very good thing.

Day Without an Immigrant

I, for one, had an AWESOME commute to work this morning!

FRT

1. Only Fools - Crystal Lewis from Greatest Hits
2. With a Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles from Sgt. Peppers
3. Marquis in Spades - Smashing Pumpkins from Judas O
4. Powdered Milk Man - The Aquabats from The Fury of the Aquabats
5. Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar from King Biscuit: 25 Years of Rock
6. Tommorow - U2 from October
7. Geek U.S.A - Smashing Pumpkins from Earphoria
8. Fuel - Sonicflood from Resonate
9. Coming into Los Angeles - Arlo Guthrie from Woodstock
10. Lurgee - Radiohead from Pablo Honey

A Christian Random Ten

1. A Million Miles Away - Mercy Me from Undone
2. Love is Against the Grain - Dime Store Prophets from Love is Against the Grain
3. The Walls - Israelites from Washaway
4. Blessed Assurance - The O.C. Supertones from Faith of a Child: The Supertones Worship Project
5. Lay Your Hands on Me, God - Steve Mills from Don't Forget
6. Boy on a String - Jars of Clay from Self-titled debut
7. Mr. Moresby - Mars Hill from Self-titled debut
8. Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? - Delirious from Cutting Edge
9. Dichotomy - Plank Eye from The Spark
10. But Now My Eyes are Open - Tree63 from The Answer to the Question

Andrea Blind-chelli and the love songs

Another miserable week overall on Idol. Song selection was pretty bad, especially for Taylor and Paris. Cat was pretty darn good, but the judges slammed her. I thought that was odd. Chris was the only one to pick a great song and nail it. Elliott....well, just read below.

1. Chris - (#1 this week) - Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman - It wasn't his best performance, but he nailed it once again and was far and away the best of the night. I'm starting to think he's got a legitimate chance of making the final-two against Taylor, but Catharine can still get there too, if she quits over-singing.

2. Catharine - (#3) - I Have Nothing - It's a close race again for second between her and Paris, and I think she did just enough with a tough song to keep her here for another week. The judges bashed her up and down for not coming anywhere near Whitney. They may be right, but I think she can get there, eventually. I liked the performance better than they did.

3. Paris - (#4) - The Way We Were - I'm not a Barbara-Big-Nose fan, so I wasn't excited about Paris doing this song. She sang it REALLY slow and boring, even for an already slow and boring song. I LOVE PARIS, but for some reason, she isn't clicking with the voters, and I'm afraid that she's going home tonight. Brutal. She has a great voice and a great personality, what's not to like?!!?!

4. Taylor (#5) - Just Once - Taylor did a terrible job tonight, with a really terrible song. Not much else to say. He's going to stay on top of the voting and out of the bottom three anyway, but he was simply brutal last night.

5. Elliott (#2) - A Song For You - I made a committment to watch his performance with my eyes closed this week, so I could focus on his voice. I'm glad I did, because I'm now starting to come over to the parrallel universe. This was a pretty bad song and a very scatter-brained arrangement, but he sang REALLY well through the whole song. I still don't think I'd rush out to buy his album, but he is a good singer.

6. Kelli (#6) - Unchained Melody - REALLY risky choice, seeing as how it is Simon's favorite song. Hopefully the honeymoon is over between her and her fans, who have to be realizing that she doesn't have anywhere near good enough pipes to keep going. Tragically, She's got enough of a fan base and will get just enough kick from vote-for-the-worst to stick around another week and unjustly go further than Paris. That is just insane.

Bottom Three Prediction: Kelli, Paris, Catharine

Going Home: Paris. It's wrong. Just plain WRONG I tell ya!!!!!

Life, etc.

The start of another long week in the life of the Askews! Another weekend has passed and two agents came through the open house and that was it. It's wierd. We thought this thing would sell really easy and really quick, but instead, we're becoming the poster children for the whole "housing-market-is-slowing-down" rumors. We reduced the price of the house this week, so hopefully that will do something soon. It's really hard to keep from going completely in the tank on this. I pray every night asking for God to continue to work and I truly believe that everything is in his control. Everything that has happened to this point with the job, the move, etc. has been completely from him. We KNOW that this is all going to work out the way it is supposed to. But the further we get from what WE think is best (selling NOW, moving TOGETHER), the harder it becomes to trust in the path that lies before us. My life verse has always been Jeremiah 29:11. I sure need to remember it now more than ever. It's just hard to imagine that I might not be with my family if I have to go up for my June 1 start date and we haven't sold yet.

Jamie, Jack & Stench

So, apparently Jamie, Jack & Stench are off the air on Star 98.7. The stupid station, which has changed course twice in the last 12 months (first to the whole "LA's Best Variety" crap) is now going to LA's Best Alternative, or something like that, and they have canned all the DJ's. According to Jack's Blog, The latest news is that they have just been put on hold and haven't been fired YET. There is a ton of uproar and public support, but it seems that Star is going the way of the current radio trend that Jack FM is capitalizing on. I think it's lame, because a TON of people WANT to listen to a talk show on their morning commute and I'm one of them. I never really got into Mark & Brian or Kevin & Bean, I won't go anywhere near Adam Carrolla, so that leaves me with ESPN Radio or AM Talk. Colin Cowherd is the worst sports radio guy on earth. So I'm stuck listening to Bill Handel on the news. This is fine and all, but not as entertaining as Jamie & Co.

Then there is the whole idea of Star calling themselves "Alternative" radio. What exactly is the definition of "alternative" music this week? Alt used to be the grunge movement of music, then in the mid-90's all of KROQ's playlist (Beck, No Doubt, Blink) got grouped there. Then it morphed into the new KROQ standards of the Killers/Keane/White Stripes/etc. Now Star is trying to call their generic/mostly Adult Contemporary mix "alternative"? I give up.

I am a Poker god!

Ok, maybe not, but I did finally win my first tournament in a long time on Saturday night, beating some formidible on-line players in a five-handed sit-and-go tournament. The most seasoned on-line player and frequent casino cash-game player was Brad Hutchins and he was the first one out. Paul Hutchins followed suit, playing the role of gracious host by taking third.

Then we were three-handed when Mark Ford went all in with pocket dueces. I made the call with A-8 of hearts, assuming Mark had a small pair. Any large pair would have enduced a slow play, because he would want to ensure action. Surpisingly, Shawn Bleid called behind me and we gave Mark a chance to double-double. Shan and I made an agreement to check the hand down to the river, since at least 50% of the total chips were already in the pot. We all flipped and Shan had an A-5? (some low card) - off-suit. Surprising call with an all-in and a call already in place. An Ace came on the flop and I held on to win, taking a commanding lead and knocking T-Boy out.

I'm a terrible heads-up player, or at least I have been in the past. I lost the first few pots because Shan was playing perfect agressive poker. I was still around a 3-2 chip-leader when he went all in. I read that he had a modest hand and was trying to steal the blinds, so I called with 10-9 of Hearts, suited connectors. It wasn't a great call, but I figured, I was happy to get in the money and get my 10 bucks back, if he has an Ace with another card, then I'm only down about 70%-30%. I sucked out a 9 on the river to win it, so I was pretty happy.

We played a cash game after that ($4 buy-in, nickel/quarter limits), and I won two bucks more, so that was cool.

It's Friday

1. Walking After You - The Foo Fighters from The Colour and The Shape
2. Bugs - Skypark from One More Night With The Frogs
3. The Candyman - From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Soundtrack
4. Why Can't This Be Love - Van Hagar from The Best of Both Worlds
5. Alimony - Weird Al Yankovic from Even Worse
6. Things Have Changed - Bob Dylan from Best of Vol. 2
7. Piano Sonata 15, Op.28, 4th Movement - Beethoven from Baby Einstein Traveling Melodies
8. If You Wear That Velvet Dress - U2 from Pop
9. Rocketown - George Michael W. Smith from The First Decade
10. All Falls Down - Kanye West from The College Dropout

Leaving the Beard Behind

Brian and Ron, sitting in a tree....k.i.s.s.i.n.g.

Crooning and Bewildering

How is it that someone can get this far in the competition and then have a performance SO bad, that it wouldn't even have made it past the first round? And I'm not even talking about Gary, er...Ace... whatever. Kelli's performance of Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered was so bad, I have propelled Elliot above her, against my better judgement. Paris and "Cat" rocked the house and Chris put in another solid performance, taking a bold move on one of my all-time favorite songs.

The following are my up-to-date rankings. I think that my ever-fluctuating 2-4 reflect the fact that for the first time, I think, ever, we don't have a clear-cut Final TWO, like we usually do: Kelly/Justin , Clay/Ruben, Fantasia/that other chick, Carrie/Bo. This year I can realistically see any of five people in the top-two (and I would have said six before Kelli's choke-job last night).

1. Chris - Dropped it down a notch with What a Wonderful World. Looked lame, sang great. Proved to any doubters that he can ACTUALLY SING, when he isn't belting at the top of his lungs.

2. Paris - Back in shot-gun for me after a perfect week with Foolish Things. I do this silly point-system thing most weeks that I get from Slimtainment. She got the first perfect 25/25 that I have ever scored. Simply amazing.

3. Catharine - And she gets a 24/25. She sang Someone to Watch Over Me and absolutely rocked it. If I had to have any critisizm, it was just a little vampy, a little broadway, and a LOT of makeup. But does any of that really matter? Paula made the best comment for her: She seemed like a previous Idol, already a professional, coming back to perform.

4. Taylor - I love the guy. I love his voice and he belted on You Send Me, but I was just a little bored. I guess I'm sort of getting tired of the "act" a little. I don't think he SHOULD win the show, but I definitely think he COULD.

5. Elliot - I still have this whole parrallel universe theory. EVERYBODY seems to like the way this guy sings and I simply DO NOT. He was fine last night, but I just don't like his voice. And why was everyone shocked last night when Simon pointed out that the dude has NO personality? I should also mention that a certain friend of mine likes him and my wife and I figured out why: He kinda looks like your hubby. Close your eyes for his next performance. Maybe you'll come around to the "dark side" with me, too.

6. Pickler - Wow. So bad that I am out of words. She did the best thing she possibly could by saying "I butchered it, y'all" (why could I picture Amy Poehler playing her the entire time, too?). Admitting it was a bad week makes her look good, in a wierd way, as opposed to last week when Ace was torn a new one by all three judges and then he has the balls to say "Well I think I rocked." She will stick around, but can she keep performing up to the level she has truly only shown once or twice during the finals?

7. Gary..er...Ace - Actually did a pretty good job last night, singing That's All. He looked obnoxiously boy-bandish with the hair pulled back into a gay cinna-bun, though, and that is a BIG mistake to mess with your looks when your bread-and-butter is your faggy pretty-boy looks and not your voice.

I think it's ironic that for the first time Ace-hole sings REALLY WELL, and he'll probably be going home this week. That's my hunch, anyway. At least he gets to go out on a good note with a good song. Although, It would be pretty funny if Pickler had to sing the Bewildering thing-a-ma-bob again.

Bottom Three prediction: Gary, Elliot, Pickler

Going home: Gary.

Slogan of the Day

"Johnny Damon - Looks Like Jesus, Acts Like Judas, Throws Like Mary"

Friday...er...Monday Random Ten

1. Subterranean Homesick Alien - Radiohead from OK Computer
2. All the Way Home - Spinal Tap from Break like the Wind
3. She Belongs to Me - Grateful Dead from Postcards of the Hanging: Grateful Dead Sing Dylan
4. Sing for the Moment - Eminem from The Eminem Show
5. You Make Me - Wierd Al Yankovic from Even Worse
6. Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff& The Fresh Prince from MTV Party to Go Platinum Mix
7. Summer Rain - U2 from 7
8. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry from Billboard Top Hits: 1976
9. Radar Love - Golden Earring from 1970's Classic Rock Compilation
10. It's Easy Mmmkay - Mr. Mackey, Stan Marsh & Eric Cartman from South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut Soundtrack

I'm in Love

I've experienced heaven in an 8-ounce glass bottle. Coca-cola Blak is the new coke/coffee hybrid and it is incredible. When I saw ads for it last week I was very curious: Is it a coffee drink that tastes like Coke? Or a soda that tastes like coffee?

Well, I'm here to tell you, friends, that it is the latter. First there was cherry coke. Then vanilla coke. Then coke with lime. And now, topping them all. Coffee Coke.

The revolution has begun people! Go out and buy a four-pack. Target has 'em for sure.

I haven't done a list in a while. Here's my new top-ten morning caffeine pick-me-ups.

1. Coca-Cola Blak. Once the honeymoon is over (I'm drinking my very first one as we speak), I'm sure it'll drop a little.

2. Starbucks store-bought carmel frappucino

3. Venti Triple White Chocolate Mocha (starbucks, of course)

4. Monster-Khaos

5. Store-bought vanilla frappucino

6. store-bought double-shot espresso&cream

7. Venti Black Iced Tea, with sweetener (eight pumps) - this is my #1 afternoon/evening caffeine drink.

8. Dr. Pepper

9. Grande Caramel Macchiato

10. (R.I.P.) - 8-oz. Chantico

Honorable Mention: Toffee Almond Bar, my favorite breakfast snack