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March 31, 2008
The Cubs Still Suck, but Is It "Lets" or "Let's"?
By: The Dude on the Right
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Another year. Another Cubs' Home Opener. Another day of crappy weather.
Alright, fine, in the history of Home Openers, today's weather wasn't that crappy, but a couple of rain delays didn't help the mood, again working to convince me that I need to stop going to Opening Day for the Chicago Cubs, that is, until next year. And even though my Mondays are usually set aside for podcasts, I'm not in the mood to talk mostly because I will probably do bad things like pronounce Fukudome wrong, or get into a tirade about the help a member of the County Sheriff's department gets when his car overheats (fine, maybe it was on fire, but from the vapor escaping under the hood at the time it didn't look like a fire, but it was enough to warrant two State troopers, a Chicago roller closing an entrance ramp, a couple of IDOT trucks, and an emergency vehicle, all of which caused a traffic delay that caused me to have to risk my car in a lot near Wrigley Field, paying more to park than for my ticket, and I better get off of this subject right now before I really get myself in trouble. See, I don't need to talk to get into a tirade!).
So today I'm not podcasting, I'm actually writing about how my horoscope was sort of correct, when, as I read it this morning it stated: "Something weird will catch your eye today. You will find yourself attracted to this weird thing like a magnet is attracted to a refrigerator door." The surprising thing is that there wasn't one thing weird (at least in my eyes), catching my eyes today, but rather two.
One is simple, and it occurred with where we were sitting, but quickly I noticed three dudettes paying attention to the game and filling in their scorecards, and I think what surprised me most was that these dudettes weren't tween girls being taught how to pay attention to baseball by their fathers, and they weren't blue-haired dudettes, carefully paying attention to every play. Nope, these dudettes were college-age (at least I'm assuming because they looked like college girls, and were drinking beer), and they seemed to want to make sure their scorecards were filled in properly, especially the one sitting behind us, who got slightly confused when the Milwaukee Brewers had their pitcher bat in the 8th spot, and conferred with my buddy, The Dude on the Left, for the correct scoring of the inning. Baseball chicks, old style. Gotta love it!
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The other weird thing that really caught my eye, and had me obsessing about it, was that today there was the unveiling of the Ernie Banks' statue outside of Wrigley Field, and as I saw the presentation on the TV at Sluggers, there, engraved on the side of the base of the statue, was the saying "Lets play two." I didn't see an apostrophe and then I began obsessing on if it should be "Lets" or "Let's," and wondering if maybe I just missed seeing the apostrophe. So, after the game, while we were walking around the ballpark and in front of the statue, I made the effort to confirm what I saw, and engraved on the statue base was "Lets play two," at least I think so, unless I was hallucinating. Now I am obsessed if "Lets" should be "Let's," or "Lets" is okay as "Lets." My damn horoscope was right.
And on a third note, other than Fukudome hitting that three-run homer to tie the game, the other most entertaining part about the game was watching the ground's crew, their attempt at rolling up the tarp after the second rain-delay (it was very funny to watch, and I think they might need a little more Spring training), and their creating what looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics on the dirt in the infield. Both The Dude on the Left and I think their has to be a more efficient way to accomplish what they attempted to do, and could be done complete with maybe some sponsoring from a company like ChemLawn.
Another Chicago Cubs home opener. Another loss. At least it didn't snow. And who are these baseball scorecard keeping dudettes? It's another year of baseball! Let's play two! Or should that be "Lets play two!" Who cares, it just means Spring is hear, at least sort of!
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2008
What to Write About: The Upcoming Cubs' Home Opener, or the Sirius-XM Merger?
By:
The Dude on the Right
I was debating on whether to blog about going to the Cubs’ Home Opener tomorrow,
or satellite radio. Sure, the two topics are at the opposite ends of the
spectrum, and since I’m not really looking forward to the ballgame because of
the weather I suppose, later this week, I’ll write about another Cubs’ Home
Opener with crappy weather. That leaves this blog to wondering if I’m nuts
questioning why there has been such opposition to the Sirius-XM merger, even
after the Justice Department gave the initial go-ahead. This comes about after
reading
a story about how 11 state attorneys general want the FCC to put restrictions
upon letting the two companies merge.
The story I read references the restrictions of making the merged Sirius sell interoperable radios, an a la carte basis of paying for channels, and the most bizarre, divesting some radio spectrum to allow another competitor into the business, and my wondering comes from my own experience the last time I drove home to the middle of Ohio from my dude-pad near Chicago and because even though I’m a Sirius subscriber, the satellite folks were in competition during the entire day, as they always are.
My trip home began on a Thursday, at about 1PM, which for me means that I was done listening to the West Coast feed of The Howard Stern Show. I listen to the West Coast feed because in the mornings, prior to the 8AM start time, I jump between Steve Dahl and Jonathan Brandmeier, depending on what they are talking about, and even after 8, if Howard isn’t on something that interests me, I’m now bouncing between the three of them. Mornings aside, on my drive, from 1PM to 2PM, I found myself listening to the Stern Wrap-Up Show, leaving me to 2PM where now that Dahl is in the mornings, I’m listening to Roe Conn on the AM dial of my car because I enjoy him more than anything "talk" on Sirius in the afternoon. The problem is that, during the day, the WLS signal only gets me to about the Ohio-Indiana border while driving, leaving me this time with the competition decision of music on some of the Sirius channels or my own music on my iPhone, but you know what, this time I was in the mood for my own music so I put my iPhone into its car dock and listened to my music for the rest of the trip. In the span of the thirteen hours, starting when I woke up, my choices went from two radio personalities I enjoy on my FM dial, to listening to my satellite radio, to listening to music on my iPhone, and then arriving in my homestead driveway and saying "Hello, Mom!"
I guess, at some issue, restricting the merger is supposed to protect consumers and preserve competition, as the article states, but as far as competition, maybe it’s just because I’m lucky that I live in a city with such a great AM/FM radio spectrum (most of which you can actually get streaming on the internet), and I own an iPod-style product, so for me the competition is already there. And as far as protecting the consumer, satellite radio is not a necessity, for anyone, so if there is an issue of protecting consumers I would think Sirius, as an entity designed to hopefully make money some day, knows the price points that people will be willing to pay for their service. Trust me, as much as I like Howard Stern, if suddenly, after the merger, they say getting Howard will cost me forty bucks a month it will be "Goodbye Sirius, hello podcasts!"
But what I find most bizarre is the request of giving up some radio spectrum so someone else can become a competitor in the business. My question is "Why?" After seeing how Sirius and XM have had a hell of a time becoming profitable in competition, who in their right mind would think "Hey, there’s some satellite radio spectrum available! I can program radio better than the already established Sirius. Do you see how popular that Hannah Montana chick is? It will be all Hannah Montana, all of the time, from space! Let’s build a satellite!" Instead, if you really want to protect the consumers, I’m thinking you would leave Sirius with the spectrum satellite radio was envisioned with so they could expand services for the consumer, like the video-in-car system they are rolling out, and incorporating the real-time traffic on your navigation system XM has. And you know what, if they are a smart company, they will develop ways to use the extra spectrum, at a reasonable price, so that consumers win, and the company wins.
I was happy to finally read the Justice Department approved the merger, but surprised to read nearly a dozen attorneys generals now want restrictions. Maybe they don’t have the competition I have in my radio listening because their normal radio sucks, they don’t have an iPod with their own music (Dudes, and maybe dudettes, my 81 year old mom has an iPod), or maybe they don’t realize people are paying for programming, not necessity.
I will say I like the idea of a la carte pricing, but as far as competition, it’s already there. And far as protecting the consumer I would like to think Sirius’ mission statement isn’t "Let’s screw over the customer and drive this company into the ground." I’m thinking, right now, their mission statement should be "We will do everything we can to get Howard Stern, and hell, if this merger gets approved, even Oprah and Opie & Anthony, signed on for five more years after their current contracts are up. Hopefully they won’t want too much of a raise."
People generally need electricity - they "pay" for satellite radio, and will only pay when they find it beneficial and doesn’t cost too much. Attorneys general, maybe you should be worrying about gas prices, about your housing markets (especially you, Mr. Ohio), not something I will, or will not, pay for.
Sorry this blog is so long - I get long-winded sometimes, especially when I don't want the government messing up something I enjoy, like choosing between my local radio personalities, my satellite radio, and my own music preferences. And damn it, there's a part of me that would like the option to listen to the Oprah channel.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 6:55 PM | Comments (1)
What's New? A Movie Review of "21."
The Dude on the Right almost took his life savings out of the bank and headed to Las Vegas after seeing "21" because he had delusions that he could count cards. Luckily he came to his senses and decided to write a review about the movie rather than being stranded in Las Vegas, having to call his mom to wire him some money so he could buy a plane ticket home, then, of course, foolishly thinking that his luck was going to change.
Posted by Rightdude at 1:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Superhero Movie."
Since when do the outtakes of a movie, shown during the credits, warrant raising a movie rating 1 star? Well, The Dude on the Right explains during his review of "Superhero Movie" as he added a star to his rating. He also wonders how a nationally syndicated movie reviewer can think, and write, that Tracy Morgan has two roles in the movie. The heck with you Kevin Hart!
Posted by Rightdude at 2:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2008
You Don't Need "Earth Hour," You Just Need My Mom.
By:
The Dude on the Right
So, tomorrow, Saturday, March 29th, from 8PM to 9PM, if I want to participate in
"Earth Hour," I'm supposed to turn off all of my lights, but what confuses me is
that at the Earth Hour web
site there is a link of what to do when the lights are off, but the link
doesn't really tell me anything to do during that hour. And with turning
off the lights are they expecting me to also turn off my TV and my computers,
which I consider essential appliances? And with turning off the lights,
and as they add, non-essential appliances, which must not include my TV nor
computers because I consider them essential, I think my microwave oven is
hard-wired so how am I supposed to turn that off? And with turning off the
lights and non-essential appliances (except my microwave), yet leaving my
computer and TV on because I consider them essential, and changing to energy
efficient bulbs, what if, during that hour when I'm trying to change my light
bulbs, I drop one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, thereby releasing
toxic mercury into the air, how am I supposed to see what I am supposed to clean
up without the lights on? And with turning off the lights and
non-essential appliances (except my microwave), yet leaving my computer and TV
on because I consider them essential, and breaking that compact fluorescent bulb
that I can't see how to clean yet breath in the mercury, when I fall down the
stairs and break my leg how am I supposed to call 911 since I unplugged my
cordless phone, which at the time I was unplugging things I considered
non-essential?
Suddenly "Earth Hour" has become very complicated, but, as I reflect back on my life, I'm thinking none of us need an "Earth Hour" to help us remember to turn off the lights, we just need our Moms, or at least my Mom. You see, my Mom is the Queen at knowing when we leave lights on, no matter what part of the house. She will be sitting in her living room chair, see a large glow as we are leaving the kitchen, and tell us to go back and turn off the light. She will be sitting in her living room chair, see a subtle glow from around a corner, bounced off a door and a ceiling, leaving just a smidge of brightness on a wall that shouldn't have a smidge of brightness on it, and say "Did you leave the light on in the bathroom?" She will be sitting in her living room chair, seeing the remnants of light (and I swear light leaves "remnants" on your clothes, especially when you are coming from the basement), thus instructing you to go back downstairs and turn off the light in the laundry room at the opposite corner of the house. "Earth Hour" pales in comparison to the "turning off the light" power of my Mom.
Since, though, Mom is in Ohio and I am here in Illinois, there I will be, tomorrow night, with no lights on, although my computer, TV, and microwave will still be working. I'll be inhaling toxic mercury complete with a broken leg and a non-working cordless phone, still wondering what I should do with the lights off because the Earth Hour web site never gave me instructions on something to do during that hour. And if those Earth Hours folks had at least said something like "Plan to be with the one you love, turn off all of your lights, pretend it's a blackout, and do what you would do in a blackout with the one you love," or in the words of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with!", well, I'm thinking the worst of my problems might begin to show about three months from now.
You know what, screw that being with the one you're with in a forced blackout like this "Earth Hour," and I suppose the word "screw" isn't the appropriate word. Maybe it's better being curled up at the bottom of the stairs, with a broken leg, inhaling mercury, knowing my TV, computers, and microwave still are working, rather than child support some nine months from tomorrow.
The thing is just listening to my Mom will resolve all of these potential problems - Turn off the lights and wear a Jimmy Hat (my Mom is hip, she has an iPod). Listening to her saves money, and future money. Maybe we just need to listen to my Mom rather than worrying about turning off the lights for an hour and not knowing what to do.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 7:57 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Welcome "Tripping the Rift" Fans, Poor Chikezie, and "The Biggest Loser" Talk.
The Dude on the Right keeps this podcast kind of short, but he finds enough time to welcome visitors finding Entertainment Ave! thanks to looking up sixsells.com, the website for "Tripping the Rift," which is in the site because of their DVD review. He is also getting frustrated with "The Biggest Loser," and thinks Chikezie was robbed on "American Idol." Hopefully The Dude will quit worrying about the singers and get back to making fun of Paula Abdul.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:22 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2008
What's New? A DVD Review of "Jimmy Carter Man From Plains."
Go figure, there's a DVD about the controversy that came about from Jimmy Carter writing a book called "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," and The Dude on the Right says, during his DVD review of "Jimmy Carter Man From Plains," how he was fascinated at the look at what goes into putting on a promotional tour for the book, especially when the tour involves Secret Service dudes who have to remind autograph seekers to keep their hands out of their pockets and travel usually involves a police escort.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2008
Is Seeing "American Idol" Live That Much Better than On TV?
By:
The Dude on the Right
So it is "Songs the Year You Were Born" night. Oh, goody, it is "Songs
When I Was in College" night, or thereabout. I'm sure flashbacks will be
in order, but I'll only type about them if I think they will be okay for my Mom
to read. Here we go...
Ramiele Malubay - Born in 1987
- Sings - "Alone" by Heart
- A song I totally love, but man she doesn't have the pipes to pull off the
chorus for this song and the bombastic sound the Wilson sisters had.
Totally wrong song choice, and I'm sorry she is sick. Ramiele, quick
shaking hands with people and then touching your eyes or picking your nose.
That's how you get sick.
Jason Castro - Born in 1987
- Sings - "Fragile" by Sting
- Does a good job by playing the guitar, it keeps him behind the mike and not
having to perform. The singing is good, the song is sort of boring, but it
should be enough to keep him going, especially because I think the dudettes dig
him.
Syesha Mercado - Born in 1987
- Sings - "If I Was Your Woman" by Stephanie Mills, I think.
- A really nice R&B performance. Vocal range was good, performance was
good, and this was a great performance that should keep her to the next week.
- What the hell is with all of these 21 year olds? I remember, sort of, my
21st birthday, and I wasn't singing in 1988. Thankfully the picture people
supposedly took of me on my 21st birthday has disappeared, I hope.
Chikezie
- Born in 1985
- Sings - "If Only For One Night" by Luther Vandross
- Chikezie is showing he might be the next R&B singer to blow up across the
Universe. From week to week he shows differences he can tackle, and he
actually needs to lose this competition to make his own career, a la Daughtry.
Brooke White
- Born in 1983
- Sings - "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
- How boring can you get. Sure, it's nice on piano, and she screwed up the
start, but unless she does something special to get her butt off the piano
stool, or straddles it like Tori Amos, as much as I think she is purty, sings
purty, and has talent, this week wasn't her best. So much potential that
went away.
Michael
Johns - Born in 1978
- Sings - "We Will Rock You " by Queen
- Only a few words need to be written - You are no Freddie Mercury. I
guess a few more words are needed - the band didn't help. I don't know
what the judges heard, but he just doesn't seem to have the persona to be
Freddie, at least on TV I guess. For whatever reason I thought he wasn't
that good. Maybe I should just wonder what is wrong with me, or I need to
be there, live.
- I was 10 or 11 when this song came out, the first album I ever bought was
"Night at the Opera," and I found "News of the World" fantastic as the years
went on, especially with the album art. I always loved reading "No
Synthesisers!"
Carly Smithson - Born in 1983
- Sings - "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler
- A simple choice for her, but for me it just brings back flashbacks of high
school. Ugh! Okay, singing wise Carly was good, but she just seems
to be singing, not performing, and for Jim Steinman songs, as much as it is
about the song, it's more about the performance of the song. She just sang
it, whereas Meat Loaf knows how to perform. She needed to really find Jim
Steinman history and how Meat Loaf made those songs performance art. That
is what Jim Steinman did.
David Archuleta - Born in 1990
- Sings - "You're the Voice" by Farnham Johnny?
- Is he just trying to get other people money by singing obscure songs?
That said, I really like the song, like the performance, and I was graduating
college when this dude was being born. He tried to branch out, but I'm
guessing in 1990 there are better songs, that people might actually know, that
he could have really blown out of the competition. We'll see if his good
looks still keep him in the competition.
Kristy Lee Cook - Born in
1984
- Sings - "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood
- Gosh girl, I like you, but how the hell did you get this far in the
competition. You sing nice enough, at least this week, sort of, but you
aren't a performer in any sense of the word. Thank your lucky stars you
got to the final 10 to go on tour because a lot of other singers are better than
you. And from the judge's comments, what the hell am I not hearing nor
seeing on my screen tonight.
David Cook - Born in 1982
- Sings - "Billy Jean" by Michael Jackson
- Nice change of a Michael Jackson song. If anyone ever says "How do I
make a song my own?" this is the performance they should show. He works
the stage, he sings like a rocker, and if he doesn't win he will probably have a
fantastic career anyway. He actually got in touch with a song with the
year he was born, and if I had a dollar I might actually download that song
version from iTunes. (Dude note: As I laid in bed last night I couldn't sleep because
I just had to figure David's version probably wasn't his own arrangement. Sure enough,
I did some quick research this morning and guess I missed at the beginning where
they said it was Chris Cornell's version. Thought he did a good job, anyway. DOTR)
Let's wrap this up...
From a lot of the comments I'm guessing that the performances came off a hell of a lot better live than on my TV because, well, when I thought some of them didn't do well, Simon-Paula-Randy thought they were great. I know live is better than TV, but is there that much of a difference. If the "American Idol" folks want to prove it to me, fly me out for next week's show, otherwise, I don't think anyone did that well this week except David Cook.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2008
What's New? A DVD Review of "Tripping the Rift: The Movie."
When the Dude on the Right was watching "Tripping the Rift: The Movie," and then reviewed it, he wondered how he never was pointed towards the series when it was on TV. The Dude, being all things movies and pop culture, loved all of the spoofs and making fun of things we watch daily on the DVD, although he did think the "Frankenstein" segment was a little too long. That being said, if you are in touch with pop culture today, "Tripping the Rift: The Movie" should be on your DVD "Must Watch" list.
Posted by Rightdude at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)
What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast: The Dude's a Handyman and Stu's Bad Days.
Both The Dude on the Right and Stu Gotz survived their respective Easter Weekends, and here they are for their Weekend Wrap-Up Podcast! Stu has been having some bad days, with today's reason being because he had to poop, while The Dude shows he still can be a handyman although he isn't very good at picking winners during March Madness. They both talk about movies they didn't see, talk about "South Park" which they did see, and Stu celebrated Easter on Friday - Find out why by listening.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:24 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2008
Davidson and San Diego - I Hate You. And I Love You.
By:
The Dude on the Right
I'm
back! It was an Easter Weekend, and with
my Dad's passing in January, and my sister making her way to the cold
weather, instead of normally visiting a week earlier to avoid the holiday
traffic, well, I ventured to Ohio this Easter Weekend just in time for about 6
inches of snow to shovel. I also changed a bathroom sink faucet, but those
are both stories for another blog or maybe a podcast. This blog is about
basketball, and my not being able to scream at my internet screen.
You see, for the first time in years, I wasn't able to sit at work and waste the bosses money, umm, my money, by paying attention to the first weekend for the NCAA March Madness tournament. And then, when I was able to take a look, my picks were already looking bad. Siena beating Vanderbilt hurt me a lot, although it probably hurt a lot of people, except those folks who were Siena alumni, but what really hurt in that first round was San Diego beating U Conn, one of the teams I had in the final two. I figured I was sort of screwed, but who, other than San Diego fans, were actually thinking San Diego could win? And as my brackets started to fall, it was today that I knew I was done, because, well, my final four is left at a final two, with one of them not getting to my finals.
That said, Davidson College, University, whatever the hell you are, I hate you, because my last chance for maybe a couple of big screen TV's, or some cash, well, was left with Georgetown. If you had a fun college name like Gonzaga, or a fun mascot name like the Saluki's, or maybe a name referenced with God (Like St. Mary's who didn't seem to have God on their side losing to Miami), I would have picked you, but you were playing Georgetown, Hoyas, and you were a 10 seed, v. a 2 seed, whom I had at least going to the final four. In my goofy name category, Wildcats v. Hoyas, I'm picking a Hoya.
And I lost.
And so, pretty much, I'm done with this year's NCAA March Madness season. Davidson and San Diego, you both took me out of winning cool stuff, but with that winning I can quicklier get back to my life after one weekend.
For me it's one weekend and done for my NCAA Tourney picks, and now I have to go back to the Mega Millions this week, with a jackpot of $95 Million on Tuesday. With numbers like 65, 87, 69, 87, 96, and a Mega Ball of 102, I know I can win. Oh, wait, I don't think I can pick any of those numbers. Maybe I'll just go with 1,2,3,4,5 and a Mega Ball of 6. I think it has the same odds.
Happy March Madness! Umm, it's almost April.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
It's March Madness Baby! And I've Got North Carolina? And Politics?
By:
The Dude on the Right
It's
March Madness Baby! I suppose I could go back and look at the calendars,
but doesn't this College Basketball tournament season seem to be a week later,
we all know Easter is at its earliest, and my being on the road tomorrow is
going to drive me crazy because I won't have an instant wireless connection to
update the scores of every NCAA tournament game so I know that I'm still alive
to win $5 Million bucks thanks to Yahoo!. That, and it's also snowing at
home (the picture on the right I stole from my sister). I am also torn
because I entered about six online pools and wondered if I should go for broke,
with the same picks on every site, winning tickets to next year's Final Four,
about $20,000 bucks, a couple of flat-screen TVs, and something else, or should
I change my picks for every site hoping to just win something. I went for
broke. Come sometime in April I will have a very cool Dude-Pad with money
to spare and TV's, that is, unless, Michigan State can't get through a few rounds
and Kansas State can't, at least, beat USC in the first round.
Also, with it being Easter weekend and today being the 5th year anniversary of our looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (at least we found Saddam Hussein, but where is Osama bin Laden?), I still wonder if I should get into political thoughts on my website. His wacky Pastor aside, especially because as I have been sitting in a Church and took what my Pastor said with a grain of salt, I still think Barack Obama shows himself as a better states-person. There, I said it again, I'm a Barack Obama man, and why in the hell can't we just get rid of all of this delegate crap since we seem to know how to count votes in 2008. Maybe.
Good luck with your March Madness picks, especially since I have Vanderbilt beating Kansas.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 8:24 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2008
Watching Singers v. Dancers
By:
The Dude on the Right
Last night I sort of watched "Dancing With the Stars," especially for my
favorites, Julianne Hough, Edyta, and Kym Johnson. Isn't it kind of funny
that we don't need to reference Edyta with her last name anymore? Anyway,
I don't care about any of the "celebrity" female dancers much (nor the dude
celebrities, but I did find Adam Carolla and Penn Jillette fun to watch), wonder
why Julianne wore a giant, yellow outfit (rather than a skimpy, yellow outfit),
and Kym actually looked hotter than Julianne. But tonight the dancing is
over because tonight is about singing (and cuter dudettes).
My brilliant dancing analysis will come later as their Spring season goes on, but here are my musical musings about tonight and singing, and it's The Beatles night, as opposed to John Lennon and Paul McCartney night last week. How much did the "American Idol" folks pay for the rights to use these songs that mediocre singers could butcher, anyway? ...
Amanda Overmyer
- Sings - Back in the U.S.S.R.
- Something just sounds wrong, like she's not in synch with the band or
something, but it's not working for me. This song doesn't need a southern
twang to it. And I don't like her bouncing up and down while she is
singing.
Kristy Lee Cook
- Sings - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
- What the hell did you ever listen to on the radio? You picked the song
based on title. You don't know any Beatles' songs? It's kind of
"new" to you?
- She's cute but the song is in the wrong key (she can't hit the low notes), and
if she keeps going on it's because she is cute. She did hit the high note
at the end, but the performance seemed kind of lame. At least Paula
thought she looked gorgeous.
David Archuleta
- Sings - The Long and Winding Road
- You thought "Dang it!" when you forgot the lyrics last week. Luckily you
didn't think "Oh, F&^$, how in the hell could I forget the words to a song in
front of 30 million F$#%ing people?"
- He shows his vocal pipes this week (again) so we know he can sing the
slow songs, and if this keeps up he's the next Josh Groban. He needs to
prove he can sing something up-tempo in my book to make it to the ultimate pop
level. He'll be in it for the long haul even if he sucks just because the
girls like him.
How stupid was that iPhone commercial. I understand product placement, but Ryan Seacrest should be fired because he isn't even trying anymore. Last week he busted on Jim Carrey promoting "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", and this week it was the iPhone. Either he is the worst pitch-man ever, or he is the greatest at scripts written up as "Promote this by having the attitude of "What the hell is this shit?"
Michael
Johns
- Sings - A Day in the Life
- This is not a good song to trim, though I thought he did a decent job trying
to pull it off. To do it his way he probably needed a month to work to
rehearse it (and a different band), but I think the dudettes will find him cute
enough to pull him to the next round.
Brooke White
- Sings - Here Comes the Sun
- She's married. Damn, so much for fantasies about my future wife.
- No matter what, I think we have already found our next "Carrie Underwood
Country Star" no matter if she wins or not. She performs, is purty, and
somehow seems to be able to put her mark on every song. I don't care what
Randy says, what Paula says, or what Simon says, because I really liked her
"fly-a-way" performance and her attitude, but Brooke, don't beat yourself up so
much because for me it worked.
David Cook
- Sings - Daytripper - The Whitesnake version
- He's sticking with the rocker mode, and this is a song that works for him, but
I'm thinking the kids in the audience don't understand the voice box thing.
He should have just stuck to rocking and not gone Peter Frampton on our ass.
There's still something I don't like about him because it just seems he is
copying people.
Carly Smithson
- Sings - Blackbird
- She's starting to get that "crazy-eye" look, where I can see the tops of the
whites of her eyes, and it well, isn't a good look. I will, every week, be
not liking her only because she had a major recording contract before. I
know that is kind of petty, but for some of the other contestants where this is
their first chance, someone who actually has gotten to the precipice, and even
though the record company supposedly was her downfall, she has at least gotten
there before. And you know what, I didn't really like her performance this
week, either.
Jason Castro
- Sings - Michelle
- He just seems giddy rather than in love while he is singing. His smile
is actually almost scary. Dude, you need to learn how to drop that smile
and make it sincere rather than a plastered-on smile. The singing was
okay, and although Simon thought he looked good, I thought the goofy look
sucked.
Syesha Mercado
- Sings - Yesterday
- She's cuter with the tighter hair, with the ponytail. The straighter
hair was okay, but she just needed to pull it back.
- She sings nice, but the performance was boring except for the high notes.
The better place would have been at the front of the stage, not on the stool.
The singing should keep her going on through next week.
Chikezie
- Sings - I've Just Seen a Face
- He has just turned into my favorite "American Idol" contestant ever. He
works every genre, tries to step over party lines, and just seems to try to show
that he can try anything. He's a kind of bizarre dude, but sings perfect
for every side. The only problem is he doesn't know if he should settle
into being Usher or Cowboy Troy.
Ramiele Malubay
- Sings - I Should Have Known Better
- She was the last singer of the night, which is usually the one who is supposed
to do the most fabulous version, but I thought her performance was boring, even
though she sang alright. Just an "Umm" for me.
Let's wrap this up...
Why does everyone take this season to bust on Simon. It seems like an easy joke, but it's not appropriate for people to pretty much dismiss everything he might say. I really hope they get away from The Beatles' songs, no matter how much they paid for them, because we have now found out that there are a lot of people who can't sing, or arrange, Beatles' songs. Please let us get to wacky mentors again, because as much as they sucked, they were better than a lot of these people singing songs they couldn't learn from John Lennon nor Paul McCartney.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 9:03 PM | Comments (3)
March 17, 2008
What's New? Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! Stay Awake on a Plane, Horton, DVD's, and Child Rearing.
The Dude on the Right introduces Stu Gotz to the new way he wants to start the podcasts, but Stu isn't buying it. Even though The Dude can't convince Stu the new opening is better, The Dude gives a story why he doesn't sleep on a plane, they both talk about "Horton Hears a Who!", and since Stu has kids, well, Stu lets The Dude know his kids would have been out of the theater with the third kick. That's not enough for a podcast, so The Dude on the Right also talks about his "DVD Sunday!"
Posted by Rightdude at 8:30 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2008
What's New? DVD Reviews of "30 Days of Night" and "Wrestlemaniac."
The Dude on the Right spent his Sunday watching a bunch of DVD's, and in the middle saw Tiger Woods sink a fantastic putt to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He didn't review Tiger's putt, but he did start stacking up some DVD reviews in the likes of "30 Days of Night" and "Wrestlemaniac"
(The photo in this blog is from the wrestling film because I believe it's way too cold in Alaska in winter for dudettes to dress like that).
The Dude will be working on his reviews of "Tripping the Rift: The Movie" and "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (Who knew classic video games could be so fascinating?) during the week, as well as getting ready for Easter weekend.
A podcast or two might also show up this week, another blog, and some American Idol commentary.
It's just another week in the Entertainment Ave! internet.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!"
For some reason The Dude on the Right went to see a movie when he knew there would be kids there, so for some of this review of "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" we get to find out why The Dude wouldn't be a good parent. He also didn't care for the movie that much, and with the rambunctious kids he wonders if they were lying when they told their parents they really liked it.
Posted by Rightdude at 2:37 PM | Comments (1)
March 14, 2008
What's New? Some Movie Previews.
By:
The Dude on the Right
Hey, we've got some new movie previews posted, namely
"Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,"
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall,"
"Superhero Movie,"
and
"The Happening."
I give you my brilliant take on if these movies might be any good, but at least
the previews also give you links to the official sites. Happy surfing!
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 8:12 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Ashley Alexandra Dupre (a.k.a. Kristen), Idol Talk, Nice Weather, and a Toilet.
The Dude on the Right changes the way he starts this podcast, which deals with lots of topical topics. Of course The Dude talks a bit about Ashley Alexandra Dupre, a.k.a. Kristen, a.k.a. the dudette who slept with Eliot Spitzer, but he also was able to enjoy some Spring weather hitting Chicagoland. The Dude also gives some thoughts on David Hernandez being booted from American Idol, but wonders about a woman stuck to her toilet, hoping, but doubting, that she had the coolest bathroom ever. The end question is if she was as comfortable on her toilet as the Easter Bunny to the right seems to be?
Posted by Rightdude at 6:19 PM | Comments (1)
March 12, 2008
What's New? A DVD Review of "Spiral."
The Dude on the Right sometimes gets nervous when he gets DVD's to review that never made it to his gigaplex, but, for his DVD review of "Spiral," the only reason the movie disappointed him was because it was rated PG-13, therefore not having its "Huey Lewis" moment, and thus eliminating it from the realm of "totally creepy, freaky, but great and twisted" thrillers. If your woman doesn't like blood, guts, swearing, and nudity, "Spiral" is a nice, twisted movie for you to rent.
Posted by Rightdude at 7:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2008
The Pressure Starts to Hit the American Idol 12
By:
The Dude on the Right
We are finally down to the final 12, thank whatever God you pray to, because now
I can finally to actually try and get to know the "American Idol" contestants,
or at least identify them better, even if it isn't really by their name.
It also helps freeing up my Thursday night TV viewing, especially as "30 Rock"
and "My Name is Earl" returns pretty soon, because Idol is back to its
appropriate two nights a week. Enough prologue, the theme of tonight is
the Lennon/McCartney songbook, so this night has the potential for some
train-wrecks. Let's get to the show...
Syesha Mercado
- Sings - Got to Get You Into My Life
- Better hair, nice look, bad earrings.
- Thought she started well, but then kind of messed up making it "her own"
during the chorus. Even though, she has the looks, the voice, and has tons
of potential, she's starting to be a performer.
Chikezie
- Sings - She's a Woman
- He is really coming into his own and I think he did a great job. He
works the stage, acts just a tad goofy for the song, and at first, when "Idol"
started, I didn't like him, but slowly Chikezie is becoming one of my favorites.
Somewhere the "confidence" drug hit this dude.
Ramiele Malubay
- Sings - In My Life
- First impression - wrong song. Her voice is nice, but after following
Chikezie's performance it's almost like following Jerry Lee Lewis back in the
old days of rock & roll. She looks good, sings okay, but the performance
was bland. Paula thought she looked pretty.
Jason Castro
- Dude, you sound like a surfer, a stoner, like, well, you just want to
sing, and keep the karma.
- Sings - If I Fell
- He's got the Jack Johnson vibe but with a reggae look instead. He sings
well enough, I like that he's also a musician and maybe sticking to the
surfer/reggae attitude will do him well. I don't think it will get him to
the finals, but Paula at least feels his heart.
Carly Smithson
- Sings - Come Together
- As much as I don't like her being in the competition, but damn, I love that
accent.
- The voice is there, because it always is, and I do like the version she put
together, but even though she almost had a career before, there is something
about her look that bothers me. I think it's her hair.
David Cook
- Sings - Eleanor Rigby
- There's just something about him that I don't like. I don't know if it's
his look, or maybe his attitude, or just seeming to be like Chris Daughtry.
Paula thinks he's a horse, but I just find him, umm, done before. I don't
see him winning but still getting radio play. The only problem he has
right now is not seeming to have a previous band career like Daughtry did.
Brooke White
- Sings - Let it Be
- Good song after a long commercial break to let us forget performances.
She sings pretty, plays pretty, and does that half "playing to the camera" but
still "I'm wrapped up in the song so leave me alone" performance well.
Nice. I like her. She sings purty.
David Hernandez
- Sings - I Saw Her Standing There
- He seems to try too hard to be a performer, and his singing for this song
isn't that great. I think this was just a total wrong song choice for him
from the Beatles' catalog he was given. He better have a good fan base
otherwise he will be gone.
Amanda Overmyer
- Sings - You Can't Do That
- It's the first song that she heard this week. Bad pants. She stays
true to who she is, but I don't see it getting her to the end of the competition
- just not "pop" enough for the show. She does have the attitude, and the
voice, to hit her nitch, but I don't think it will be with "American Idol."
Good week for her, though.
Michael Johns
- Sings - Across the Universe
- It's not a performer song, but let's see what he does with it... So far
it's stale because he can't separate himself from his microphone stand.
Like everyone else, he sings nice enough, but it's not a performance to
remember.
Kristy Lee Cook
-
Sings - Eight Days a Week
- She knows what to do with the songs, but it was a crappy arrangement.
She's a country singer, she knows it, and looks to follow in the footsteps of
Carrie Underwood, but this was not a song that could be turned into a country
song in a week. The song sounded forced, she looks purty, sings purty, but
everything sounded wrong. It was all over the place.
David Archuleta
- Sings - We Can Work It Out
- My advice for him, because he has so much potential, is don't let the
"American Idol" folks fuck you up because they let you fuck it up this week.
Forget the hair styling, forget the clothes, forget the pressure, and just, for
every week, let yourself have fun. Sure, it's easier said than done, but
that is your forte. Bounce back to a few weeks ago when you just sang.
The pressure of competition has hit a couple of contestants, some of them picked wrong songs, but the next couple of weeks will start to tell who gets the popularity vote. And next week come the Mentors. God, for Howard Stern fans we can only hope that one of them is Bruce, as in Bruce Springsteen. Artie Lange knows why.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 9:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up! "10,000 B.C.", DST, Stu's Netfilx Movies, Killing a Hawk, Some Politics, Arena Football, and More!
So it looks like Stu Gotz and The Dude on the Right were able to work through their busy schedules and put together a new podcast of "Stu & The Dude's Weekend Wrap-Up!" They talk about a lot of stuff like movies ("10,000 B.C.", "Next," "Live Free or Die Hard," and "Spiral"), Daylight Saving Time (They hate it), A Pro Golfer killing a hawk (the animal people are pissed), Arena Football (Stu went over the weekend - The Dude almost 20 years ago), politics, and boobs - with the last two kind of intertwining. And even though this podcast is just over 20 minutes, they also talk about more. How do they do it? It's a mystery of the Gods.
Posted by Rightdude at 5:48 PM | Comments (0)
March 9, 2008
Daylight Saving Time Just Isn't the Same
By:
The Dude on the Right
So a group of us got together last night and since this is the new weekend for
Daylight Saving Time, we reminisced a bit about how back in college the changing
of the clocks pretty much had two meanings - "Spring"ing forward sucked because
it was one less hour to drink, while Fall"ing backward was party time, but for
each season there was always the untold rule of pretty much doing absolutely
nothing during the afternoon except watch TV (my choice was golf) in order to
begin resetting the body clock, and then getting back to studying that night. I told the tale of how I was late for Easter mass one
Sunday because I forget to set my clock ahead and walked in halfway through
mass, while Whammy now laments one less hour of sleep. The Dude on the
Left sees things a little differently, namely that you shouldn't miss out on
your hour of sleep, that you should still get your prescribed nine hours and the
hell with the rest of the day, while Stu Gotz and Mama Gotz quickly reminded The
Dude on the Left of his lack of children who don't really grasp the concept of
time changes nor sleeping in.
And while I had many intentions of being very
productive today, maybe catching another movie, doing some DVD reviews, or
cleaning, when I woke up this morning, looked at the clock that said 8:15, which
really meant 9:15 because I didn't reset it yet, I knew today was going to be
pretty much useless in terms of getting much done because I was already out of
synch with my day. So resigned to the fact of a discombobulated Sunday, my
accomplishments have been few today, but I think I'm okay with that. I did
watch a DVD I need to review, called "Spiral," which I'll write about later this
week, I did get this cool Headline Animator going for our
Mostly Entertainment
link on the web site (sure, it's only on the home page right now, and here, but
I did say today was going to be useless). Such was my afternoon.
My
evening is even looking even more exciting as I finally decide if Flickr will be
the site for posting all of the old family photos I am trying to scan,
archive, and get out on the web for all to see.
I mentioned in a previous blog about enlisting Mom's help in
identifying a batch of photos, and since I've finally settled on my Canon
scanner to do the job, I've been e-mailing her copies of the pictures, at first
just looking for simple things like who is in the photo, maybe an age or year,
but Mom has gone a step further, giving some nice back stories, like for this
picture of a baby and a dog she e-mailed me back (My Mom is so hip!): "I'm
positive that is me in the
rocker as Mother always talked about how the dog would be by my side to protect
me. The dog's name was Skippy. There was another dog who was the
mascot of the Boy Scout's Troop, and he was called Trooper. A beautiful
dog. His dog house was back by the garage."
My body clock should be back to normal tomorrow, and maybe having Daylight Saving Time a few weeks earlier isn't so bad, especially since it looks like those of us in Chicagoland will be breaking out of our cold spell for a week. All I do know is that it was so much easier to deal with time changes back in college.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 4:13 PM | Comments (0)
March 8, 2008
What's New? A Movie Review of "10,000 B.C."
The Dude on the Right has a question: "Does the trailer for '10,000 B.C.' hint anywhere that the movie would be appropriate for a 4 or 5 year old girl?" So even though he questions some people's parenting skills, during his movie review he didn't think "10,000 B.C." was as bad as some critics are saying. Sure, you have to suspend reality a bit, but at least our main tribe and characters speak English and there's even a translator for some of the other tribes.
Posted by Rightdude at 3:42 PM | Comments (0)
March 6, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: Abducted by Space Aliens, Bye Brett, Voice Mail, Strippers, and Thank a Pig.
The Dude on the Right explains why he thinks he might have been abducted by space aliens during this podcast, but at least he doesn't think he got an anal probe. He also understands, yet still pokes fun, at why Brett Favre got weepy today during his retirement press conference. The Dude also gives his explanation of proper etiquette for voice mail, wishes some of the dudettes on "American Idol" had been strippers, and with the drug Heparin, thinks you should thank a pig and a scientist, pray it's not a Chinese pig, although he has no problem with the scientist being Chinese.
Posted by Rightdude at 6:35 PM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2008
No Reports, yet, of the Dudettes Being Strippers (Damn!), but It's Their Turn for "American Idol" 80's Night
By:
The Dude on the Right
So it's 80's night, and it's ladies' night, hope they're feeling right, and
wearing clothes that are tight. I'm gonna stop now and just get to what I
thought of the signing...
Asia'h Epperson
- She fell on her roller skates, wow.
- I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston
- Sings well enough and is smart enough to know she isn't Whitney, but she
performs well. Paula is on her feet. Yay!
- Randy has to show how cool he is. Dude, we get it.
Kady Malloy
- Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen
- One of my favoritist songs ever, and singing wise I thought she way great.
If she actually did the entire version instead of a shortened version I might
actually buy the thing on iTunes, but sadly it was shortened. The other
problem is that I guess they aren't letting these people actually perform,
seemingly being restricted to that small circle in the center of the stage.
- And Paula knows where the magic is, but Simon kind of gets it right on the
personality side.
Amanda Overmyer
- I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett
- She almost seems to have lost her confidence and keeps looking at something at
the edge of the stage likes she's not sure of herself. Too bad because she
should have bolted this song out of the ballpark. The singing was okay for
it, but for me it seemed timid.
- I guess the judges saw something different or maybe she was singing to them,
and for that it would work, but for my TV it didn't. She almost looked out
of it. Guess we'll see.
Carly Smithson
- On a personal note I don't want her to win because she already had her
chance at a recording contract and has the performing experience, but I
digress...
- I Drove All Night - Cyndi Lauper (1989), Celine Dion (2003)
- She sang great, her tattoo bugs me, and fine, give her a recording contract
but get her off the competition.
- Paula thinks Carly is a dependable dog.
Kristy Lee Cook
- She thought she was a dog?
- Faithfully - Journey
- What are the odds on Randy mentioning he worked with Journey? We'll see.
- She's a girl, but can't hit the high notes like Steve Perry did? And
what's up with the red tongue? She would have done better trying to turn
this "Faithfully" into a country version.
- Yup, Randy called Steve Perry, "Perry." Paula thinks it could be a country
hit, but for me it wasn't country enough except for maybe the looks. Maybe
the red tongue is from medication as it sounds her voice is having problems.
Ramiele Malubay
- Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins
- I like her, thinks she sings well, but man, this song didn't work for me.
Worst song choice of the night, mostly because she couldn't sing the entire
thing to work it.
- Paula is, well, in full Paula mode.
Brooke White
- Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
- She sings purty, she is purty, but this song is all about passion, and her
performance totally lacked it. And what's up with the giant "looks like
one of those candy, sucker" rings on the girl's fingers. I guess I'm just
not a fashion guru. She needed to kick butt on this song, and didn't.
- Randy proves that he doesn't know things, again, and I don't agree with Simon
on his take on her performance.
Syesha Mercado
- Saving All My Love for You - Whitney Houston
- At times she sings like an angry Whitney Houston, which is okay, and does a
fine job with the rest of it.. She should move on, and with no real
comments from the judges I'm guessing they are running out of time, but if you
watch her doing Whitney compared to Asia'h at the top of the show, you can see
Syesha being the better singer.
Once again I question some song choices because I seem to remember that during the 80's there were many a decent, power song for dudettes to sing, in just about every genre. Fine, I don't know if they were given a list of songs and were told "Here, pick something from this list," or at least were able to make some suggestions before being told they couldn't sing them, but then again, as I think about it, how many of these girls actually know any decent songs from the 80's because while I was attending high school and college, well, some of them weren't born yet.
Right now most of any of them can be voted off the island tomorrow, I mean booted from "American Idol," because I have no emotions tied into their stories, but when the final 12 time comes next week I think this competition turns in to "cute dudettes" v. David Archuleta. I guess we'll just have to wait and see for a week.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 8:29 PM | Comments (0)
The Dudes are in Turmoil, but the "American Idol" 80's Live On
By:
The Dude on the Right
So it's 80's night, not to be confused with Ladies' night, and dude scandals are
all over the place, from David Hernandez once being a stripper to someone
looking like Danny Noriega spouting stuff about Santa. Doesn't matter,
here comes the singing...
Luke Menard
- Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham!
- Dude, what in the hell were you thinking? I know the 80's is a
weird place to find music, but umm, Wham!? Very boring, lame, and how in
the hell does this make you shine?
- Paula Abdul is starting to look to be in rare form tonight. I hope
it keeps going.
David Archuleta
- Another Day in Paradise - Phil Collins
- Does his own piano playing - nice, then works from the piano to the stage to
work the crowd. Outfit blows, but he's got everything this competition
wants in someone to win and take control.
- Simon is correct, though, that David needs to pick things up a bit with
a "happier" song.
Danny Noriega
- Tainted Love - Soft Cell
- The problem is that when you try to cover an 80's song, and be an 80's poser,
unless you were living in the 80's, you probably can't pose like the 80's.
The song was boring, and at this point I would like to see the list these dudes
were given of the songs they could pick. If he picked this song on his own
it's another "Dude, what in the hell were you thinking?"
David Hernandez
- Dude, I know it's embarrassing, but we don't want to know about your boogers.
- It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion (and Meat Loaf)
- You are not Meat Loaf, and you are not Celine Dion, because you're not a
performer like Meat Loaf, and, well, you're not Celine Dion. David sang
nice enough, but this is a performance song, and for me he fell flat.
He'll still, probably, go on to the final 12, but if you want to know how to be
a performer, find some video of Meat Loaf singing this song, or any song.
Michael Johns
- Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
- I'm guessing, so far, that every one of these people have to pick a crappy
song from the 80's because why else would all of these dudes be singing these
songs? I liked "The Breakfast Club," but songs from that soundtrack aren't
the best songs of the 80's.
- The other thing I wonder is why Randy Jackson is referencing Michael Hutchence
from INXS for this song, unless I missed something, or Randy just thinks this
Michael is being Micheal Hutchence.
David Cook
- Hello - Lionel Richie
- I'll give him credit for trying to turn this song into his own, and playing
the guitar, but the problem I had is that for him this should have been a 90's
theme, with him turning it up another notch and being possessed by either the
spirit of Nirvana or maybe The Offspring (ala their version of "Feelings") for
the song.
Jason Castro
- Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen (I think).
- Sure, this song has been done by the likes of U2, and Jeff Buckley, and tons
of other folks but do you really think any of the kids have heard this song
before, except from maybe "Shrek"? He did a nice job, but is pulling out
an obscure song the way to go for "American Idol"? You sing well, the
judges loved it, but will the kids like it? Hmmm?
Chikezie
- All the Woman (Man) I Need - Whitney Houston (Luther Vandross)
- He did good enough singing, is coming into his own knowing where he needs to
be in the R&B nation, but as an "American Idol" finalist, he still has some
work.
Part of the problem is that the singers are in that mode of "too many singers, trying to fit too many songs, into a one hour show" so they have to cut the songs pretty much in half. This doesn't let anyone really be able to state the song, work the song, and then show they are fantastic doing the song. I don't care what anyone says, and especially if he can pull out some spunk, David Archuleta already has this thing won. And I still want to see the list of songs these dudes could pick from the 80's because there was some decent music from that decade, but you wouldn't know it from watching the dudes sing.
We'll see how the dudettes sing tomorrow.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)
March 3, 2008
What's New? A Podcast of: RIP Jeff Healey, GWS Eddie Van Halen, Oops Jimmy Buffett, and Oprah.
The Dude on the Right is flying solo for this weekend wrap-up podcast, and as it turns out, the podcast isn't about his weekend at all. Nope, this podcast is about music and Oprah.
On the music side The Dude comments about the passing of Jeff Healey, a fantastic guitarist who also happened to be blind. You might remember his hit "Angel Eyes," but if you love guitar, he is so much more. Continuing on the music side The Dude talks about Van Halen maybe not canceling their tour, just re-arranging a few dates, and laments that he probably won't be seeing Jimmy Buffett at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL, because, well, he's an idiot.
And what would a podcast be without him commenting on Oprah's latest conquest, namely "Oprah's Big Give" winning the ratings for Sunday night Primetime TV.
Posted by Rightdude at 7:09 PM | Comments (0)
March 2, 2008
25+ Gallons of Saltwater in My Living Room - Almost
By:
The Dude on the Right
I normally don't blog as much I have been lately, but there weren't many movies
I wanted to see over the weekend, even though I probably should have caught up
on a few from the week before, and after seeing
"Semi-Pro," I actually wasn't in a movie-seeing mood. But I did need
to do some cleaning around the Dude-Pad so I opted for that, and in the process
almost had 25+ gallons of saltwater soaking in to my living room floor, probably
resulting in the killing of my kids.
Yup, my kid's house needed some cleaning and maintenance of its own, and part of that was re-installing a protein skimmer that, well, it's a long story, but I took it off some time ago, but with my hoping to buy a new anemone for the tank, I knew I needed to get it going again. So I put it back together, hung it off the back of the tank, fired it up, and at first things to be going well, until, thankfully, I heard a dripping coming from the back of my fish tank. At first I thought I just didn't tighten the locking collar enough, but still the connection at the bottom of the skimmer kept dripping (and not a slow drip, either). So I had to yank the contraption from the tank, take it to my kitchen, and investigate. What did my investigation find? Well, low and behold the o-ring was dried up and showed cracks when it was stretched a bit. At first I contemplated "How does an o-ring go bad, and since when does that cause a catastrophe?", but then I remembered that the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was caused by an o-ring that failed. I guess o-rings have been something I have taken for granted as part of my fish tank set up, and used to be something Space Shuttle engineers took for granted as well (at least some of them), but now I realize their importance again. I could see Steve, Ashley, and Bamm looking at me like "Dad, what the hell were you thinking?", but as I said, thankfully the dripping was landing on something that made noise, as apposed to if it had just been dripping on the carpet, because then the timers would have shut off the lights on the tank, I wouldn't have noticed the water level dropping, and then I would have woken up in morning to find three kids flopping around, or dead, with my living room carpet soaked.
The Dude pad is almost clean, my kids are still swimming around, I have to find some new o-rings, and as I have had bad dreams of my accidentally tipping over my fish tank and hysterically trying to save the life's of my kids, my worst nightmare, a slow leak of my fish tank, almost came to life.
And you thought having a dog as a pet was difficult.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 7:01 PM | Comments (0)
March 1, 2008
Mom, You Better Stick Around for A While.
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The Best Buy and new scanner stories kind of fold together, so this blog starts with my scanner buying experience. As I mentioned in a previous blog my scanner shopping was necessitated by needing to scan medium format negatives, and although liking the Epson scanner, I hated their software. Best Buy let me return the scanner, which was nice of them, and then I headed to Staples who had an HP flatbed scanner that almost sounded too good to be true, and it was. First I was disappointed in the software they were using (maybe I am just too used to the Photosmart S20 software and afraid of change), but when it started to look like it would take hours to scan negatives, well, I started to get worried that my search for a medium format scanner under a thousand bucks was for naught. Staples took the HP scanner back (Yay!), but I had one more hope, a Canon flatbed scanner, and that took me back to Best Buy. The medium format photos in this blog were all done with my new scanner, a Canon 8800F, and so far I am happy with it because the speed of the scanning is acceptable for what I want to do, and their software is a little more intuitive (but damn, I still like that Photosmart S20 format), so I think I'm going to stick with the Canon scanner. As such, Best Buy, don't expect another return from me, at least for this scanner.
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But Best Buy, what the hell is with the overly-friendly associates.
In this world where they say the easiest way to get sick is to shake the hand of someone who has a cold/flu virus, both of my trips to Best Buy were greeted with dudes overly-enthusiastic to help me, and wanting to shake my hand. There I am, just looking for a scanner I already had decided I wanted to buy, but it was "Hi, my name is Joe. What's your name?" as they extended their hand for a handshake.
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Not wanting to seem like a total ass, I extended my hand to shake theirs (how do they know I didn't just pick my nose or scratch my ass, and conversely, how do I know they didn't just pick their nose or scratch their ass), and said "I'm The Dude. I want to buy this scanner." Suddenly germs were transferred, Best Buy doesn't have an easy access to Purell, or those wipes the grocery stores have so you can clean off the cart handle, and now, in addition to finally hoping this scanner will do the job I want to do, I have to remember not to let my hands get anywhere near my eyes nor mouth, much less pick my nose. And if these Best Buy associates are going to continue this process of wanting to shake my hand I'm going to have to either be an asshole when I shop there by not shaking their hands, bring my own bottle of Purell, or just not go to Best Buy anymore and shop online where now all I have to worry about is if the UPS driver has a cold, but can, at least, easily wash my hands before I pick my nose.
So what does any of this have to do with my Mom and her sticking around a while? Well, since I have a new scanner that seems to do the job, I have over 100 medium format negatives to scan and post somewhere, and the only person I know who can help me identify the people, places, and things in these photos is my Mom. For example, from the photos I have posted for this blog, I have no idea who the dude is with the old car, the delivery truck is for the old Home Dairy in Lorain, OH, but I'm wondering who is John Lopatkowvich, and have I always been spelling my Mom's maiden name improperly, or what happened to the "w"? The photo of the three children, I'm assuming, are my Mom, my Uncle Ed, and my Aunt Lily, and I'm 99.9999999% sure the cute girl in the dancing outfit is my Mom. As I quickly flicked through these negatives they almost seem to encompass from about 1935 thru the late 1950's, and Mom, if you're reading this, I'll need your help to identify/place them all, and it might take a little while. You'd better stick around.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at 6:29 PM | Comments (1)
