jpapagan's Blog

Here they are folks, the BEST of the finalists:



That's right, these two are the best.  This SHOULD be the final two this season.  It may not be, in fact it probably won't be... but it should.

If you have any musical training or just an ear for a good voice, you have to agree with me.  Certainly there is a lot of talent in the competition this year and all of the top finalists are pretty talented.  But Syesha and David Cook are a level above the rest.

David Cook has been getting rave reviews and he has a good shot at being in the final two and even winning.  But for some reason, Simon and Randy to an extent, have been a little biased against Syesha.  Simon continues to make comments that acknowledge how good she is ( like, "technically, it was very, very good...") but he continues to add inexplicably weird negative spins to his comments, like "I'm not sure what people will think of a song that they don't know at this stage of the competition," whatever that means.  He's being totally hypocritical when he says something like that.  Because how many times has he said that it's hard to sing Whitney or Mariah, et al, because you're going to be compared to the greats??  So now, when it's Mariah night, Syesha decides to sing something that is NOT one of Mariah's more well-known songs and Simon criticizes her for it!!!  I actually (and I can't believe I'm about to say this) TOTALLY AGREED WITH PAULA this week when she said Syesha was smart for choosing a lesser known Mariah song so that people would just judge her performance (which was superb) and not compare her so much to Mariah singing it.

Anyway, these two are the best.  Take it to the bank.  I think the teen girls might have more to say about it than I do and push David Archuletta to the top, but anything can happen.  We'll see.  At this stage, they are all very talented and it's all pretty much about personal taste.  So, here is how I would rank the remaining TOP 7 finalists:

1. David Cook
2. Syesha Mercado
3. Brooke White
4. Carly Smithson
5. David Archuletta
6. Kristy Lee Cook
7. Jason Castro

I was thinking about this - there are some great parallels between 'The View' hosts and rock bands.

Joy Behar is clearly the Bass Player - she is akin to Michael Anthony in Van Halen. No matter how many changes to the lead singer they make, she is content to stay out of the spotlight, not ruffle the feathers, and ride the gravy train as long as she can, happy to have a great gig.

Rosie O'Donnell is the lead singer... but not just any lead singer. She is like a Sammy Hagar / Axl Rose hybrid. She's basically the front man who already had a pre-established solo career (Sammy) and was brought in to replace the original lead singer, but ultimately her ego and alpha personality (Axl) caused too much friction, forcing her early departure.

Barbara Walters is like Eddie Van Halen - she doesn't ever quite have the persona to be a true front man, but because she's the founder and heart & soul of the band, her ego always rears it head when one of the lead singers gets too big for the rest of the band - and she squeezes them out.

I'm not sure yet about Elisabeth, Meredith, Lisa, Debbie and Star Jones.  Elisabeth is definitely the young, attractive one they brought in to try to stretch out the band's popularity to another generation.  I'm not sure who that equates to.

Let's talk about Lindsay Lohan -

She parties. She acts. She sings. She does a bunch of stuff I guess. Okay, on second thought, let's not talk about Lindsay. Let's just look.

Robert Altman made a bunch of movies (and TV shows) that had a lot of impact on the film industry over the past 50 years.

What's your favorite?

Mine is "Short Cuts" - fantastic actors and very intriguing twisting storylines. And Julianne Moore.

Tis the season to be tasty! There are plenty of things to love about the holiday season and here's one of my favorites:

Holiday Drinks at coffee shops!

Starbucks is the king of this, as they transform their stores into holiday gift shops for two months. Who doesn't love the RED CUPS? But the other shops - coffee bean, peet's, etc. - have all followed suit and they each offer their own variations of nutmeg-infused, noggy, cinammon-spiced holiday drinks and baked goods.

Let me just say that I love the entire scene.

For me, it starts in October because I'm a big fan of the PUMPKIN LATTES. This one is outstanding b/c it's so special. It's almost impossible to make at home because you can't find that secret pumpkin spice syrup anywhere in retail stores.

Then, when you've grown a little tired of all the pumpkin lattes, the holiday trifecta charges in from the bullpen for the home stretch:

The PEPPERMINT MOCHA, the EGGNOG LATTE and the GINGERBREAD LATTE.

Again, the gingerbread latte is unique because it's very hard to replicate on your own, making it a true special treat worth the stop in at the 'bucks. But you definitely need to be in the right mood for that one.

The eggnog latte is fun to make at home, if you have a good espresso machine - it's basically a regular latte, but just replacing the steamed milk with steamed eggnog. But be careful on the temperature of the eggnog, you can't steam it quite as hot as milk b/c you run the risk of actually cooking some of the egg (which would be gross).

Finally, the Peppermint Mocha is a favorite for many. It's a cafe mocha with peppermint syrup - easy to make at home too.

If you want a real secret treat, go into Starbucks and order off the menu by asking for a "Peppermint White Mocha" - a divine treat that needs no explanation. Or even fancier, try asking for a "Peppermint Marble Mocha" - the marble represents half white mocha and half chocolate mocha. Personally, I like white a little more but sometimes like a little touch of chocolate, so I like to really challenge the barista with something like this:

"Decaf Grande Nonfat Peppermint Bleached Marble Mocha with Whip"

The bleached part designates that there's a little more white than chocolate syrup. So if you get a grande, which normally has 4 pumps of syrup in it, you would get 3 pumps of white and 1 pump of chocolate. Many baristas will have no idea what you're talking about and you may have to explain to them what you want. But if you're not in a hurry, it's fun to test them with an order like this to see if you can find a really seasoned barista who can nail it on the fly.

Happy holidays and happy sipping!

How come the aliens in the new "Got Milk" ads can pronounce the word "aircraft" but not "dairy?"

just a thought.

Ok, so maybe it's not timely in the middle of the summer, but my last post about Emmy snubs got me thinking about the Oscars.

The Emmys changed their voting process this year and is getting a lot of heat for what a failure it was (with all of the odd nominations and omissions).

I think, however, that it IS time for the Oscars to change something. For years and years, good comedies and comedic performances have gotten the shaft from Oscar in favor of dramatic performances. If the Academy is going to be snooty about recognizing them as high-quality performances, then it's time to go ahead and add separate categories for Best Movie - Comedy, Best Actor - Comedy, etc, breaking them out like the Emmys and Golden Globes do.

Here is the start of a list I made off the top of my head of recent comedic performances that were outstanding and deserved to be recognized as such by the Academy. Why is a great performance that makes someone laugh inferior to a performance that makes someone cry? It shouldn't be.

CHEVY CHASE - Clark Griswold in "Vacation" (1983)
Arguably, one of the best characters in movie history. Here are the 5 nominees for Best Actor that year - you tell me Chevy wasn't shafted! -
Bob Duvall (Tender Mercies), Tom Courtenay (The Dresser)
Albert Finney (The Dresser), Michael Cain (Educating Rita)
Tom Conti (Reuben, Reuben)
MIKE MYERS - Austin Powers/Dr. Evil in "Austin Powers" (1997)
One Word: "Shhh!"
STEVE MARTIN - Navin R. Johnson, et al. in "The Jerk" (1979)
Okay, so he would have gone up against Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon that year... tough competition. And there was no way the Academy was going to unstuff it for this guy back then. No way. Lost cause. But worthy, nonetheless.
TED KNIGHT - Judge Smails in "Caddyshack" (1980)
This one would have been a "Supporting Actor" candidate and I'd argue it 'til the cows come home. Winner that year? Timothy Hutton for "Ordinary People." Exactly. Other memorable nominated performances included Jason Robards in "Melvin & Howard" and Michael O'Keefe in "The Great Santini." Puh-lease. All I can say to those chumps is, "How about a Fresca?"

Let's quickly talk about who did NOT get nominated, but should have.

1. Bradley Whitford (THE WEST WING)- as his wife (Jane Kaczmarek) said on Good Day, "he WAS the West Wing this season." The guy has basically taken over the show since Rob Lowe left, likely giving it an extra season or two of life with his charisma. He should have won a supporting emmy in the past but especially deserved a nod for lead actor this season. The nomination for Martin Sheen over him can only be explained by old voters who don't watch the show, voting for a name over a performance.

2. LOST - What's to say? The show WON the Best Drama emmy last year and wasn't even nominated this year. By far, this is the most talked about snub this year, especially online where the LOST fanatics reign supreme. This is my favorite show on the air right now, and since my opinion is gold, well... you see where I'm going. Shafted - Big Time. For a show that thrives on unexplainable phenomena, this omission is the most mysterious of all.

3. John Krasinski (THE OFFICE) - Okay, if you're going to pick a snub from The Office, the easy choice would be Rainn Wilson. Rest assured, Rainn will indeed garner a nom. or two before the NBC hit ends its run. The wacky characters always do. But I'm going to go with the less obvious choice here. The subtleties of Krasinki's "Jim" are so spot on for a guy who is the most normal person in his office, but not that bothered by it (see Ryan). He balances the soft art of quietly and sometimes anonymously heckling Dwight and Michael, while he struggles with his treadmill career path and his unfulfilled "friendship" with Pam. A show's "regular guy" is brilliantly played when you can totally identify with him, yet he is still amazingly compelling to watch. Such is Krasinski.

AND one snub that I go the other way on (in other words, I love it!)...

...ZERO nominations for the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!! Love it. It didn't take long (1 year) for the academy to choke on the media's oversaturation of these "ladies" as much as the rest of us have. I'm sure I'll hear it from my boss on this one, but I love that they got shut out. I'm setting the new over/under on the show's run at 2 more years, and I'll take the under.

...what you want. But don't leave me here forever.