Ashlee’s Wombwatch Continues
Ashlee Simpson’s uterus is starting to get on our nerves. We understand that every woman has a right to “out” herself whenever she sees fit, but when daddy’s already done it for you and the entire world won’t shut up about it, maybe it’s time to stop fooling us with your fallopian tubes. So we had hoped that when Ashlee taped the Ellen DeGeneres show yesterday, she’d use her sit-down with the affable, judgment-free Ellen as the right forum to introduce her fetus to the world. Didn’t happen.Instead she made Ellen evaluate her bod, standing up and saying, “That is definitely something that I choose personally not to discuss, except for the fact that, maybe, do I look like I had 10 cheeseburgers or something? Because I don't think I do.”
No, Ashlee. You look skinny. Bitch.
The only clue Ashlee maybe kinda gave Ellen was her clever answer to how she knew fiancé Pete Wentz was the one. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe when his jeans fit me. I decided we could wear the same clothes.”Jeans or genes?
Idol (Live) Redux: My Heart Goes Out to Jason Castro
Last week, I thought I had it all figured out. If you're a preteen, you vote for David Archuleta. If you're a teenage girl, you love Jason Castro. And if you are a full-grown adult, you are all about David Cook.
But tonight, sitting in the live audience at Idol, I came to the realization that no matter who you are or what your age, when you hear David Archuleta in person, it is hard not to admit: He is so undeniably talented—with a voice so flawless and dynamic and pure, it actually resonates in your soul—that he probably most deserves to be the winner of this year's American Idol. (It would explain why he got the only full-audience standing O's of the night—and two of them, at that! He is that good.)
Still, here's the truly ridiculous thing you can clown me for (and I know many of you will): The 13-year-old girl in me weeps for Jason Castro.
Not because he has the strongest voice of the remaining four (he of all people will tell you he does not) and not because he deserves to win (he does not), but because Jason is so much better than that unfortunate catastrophic display we saw tonight, which would be a pretty bad exit. I can tell you that in rehearsal, the guy was good—really good. And so obviously, his nerves got the best of him, and now it will be a huge shock if J.C. doesn't get the boot tomorrow night.
Archuleta has a huge fan following (see: two standing O's). Ditto for Cook and rightfully so. (On the way out tonight, I nearly got run over by a shaking and crying fan who was screaming about David's "blue eyes" that "looked right at" her as she jumped up and down and called everyone she knew on her cell.) And Syesha Mercado seems to be getting stronger and stronger each and every week—not to mention, the heartfelt tears tonight will certainly win her a few extra votes.
And so, unless Simon's harsh words motivate a surprisingly large number of my fellow 13-year-old-girls-at-heart, it is probably time to say goodbye to this season's resident charming-but-awkward dreadlocked cutie. (In preparation, I will be listening over and over to my favorite Idol downloads so far this season—"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Hallelujah"—and prepping for my eighth-grade geography test tomorrow.)
But let's be honest. It has to be David versus David in the end, right? They are both crazy good, and all the more impressive in person.
Who do you think most deserves to stay around another week? Feel free to comment below.
AI OD: A farewell to Jason Castro
Despite a few amazing performances through his run on American Idol, Jason Castro seemed to be really running out of fuel by the end here. On the show he even said that he felt his inexperience was really starting to hurt him. He could barely handle trying to prepare two songs each week, along with the required group number choreography and those awesome Ford commercial shoots and flying to Vegas to help promote Cirque du Soleil, and was really sweating having to try and handle three more for next week.
It’s easy to forget that Jason’s only been singing a year or so, so unlike most of these other contestants who’ve been doing this for years in one capacity or another, he’s not only new to singing competitions and performing, but new to the discipline of singing altogether. In Jason Castro’s exit interview, he said he came into the competition just to see where it would go and didn’t even consider the possibility of him winning until more recently.
Considering the criticism he took in earlier rounds for not taking it seriously enough and not practicing as hard or diligently as he should have, this fits. Jason is clearly a laid-back guy and he was just on the show having fun and seeing how far he could get. When it suddenly became even fractionally possible he could win, he started to take things more seriously, which in some ways seems to have affected his performances negatively. Maybe the nerves and anxiety kicked in. Of his departure he said, “I would have liked to go farther but I don’t think I could have handled it,” which I believe is the first time a contestant has come right out and said that they’d gone far enough.
When the judges started saying that it felt like they weren’t getting the same Jason Castro they’d first put through into the competition, Jason felt he had to agree with them. “I was just feeling me losing that power,” he said, ” just because I couldn’t connect with the songs. I really had a hard time when we picked it up to two songs. I wasn’t committing to either one and I couldn’t connect. You need time for that.”
Jason also commented of his inexperience that “I just showed enough potential that I could potentially be somebody … I’m very much what the show was originally about. I’m kind of as raw as it gets.” These comments are especially telling in a season when the show has been criticized for the professional pedigree some contestants like Kristy Lee Cook and Carly Smithson have brought with them. At one time I believe contestants were scrutinized to ensure they’d never been signed to recording contracts, as the show was truly seeking undiscovered talent. In an attempt to bolster ratings maybe, those rules have changed to where they simply cannot be currently under contract.
These rules opened up the doors for all kinds of recording industry failures to creep into the audition rooms. And so when you have a truly new voice to the industry in Jason, and someone who is awkward in interviews and just completely not used to the spotlight and competition, as contestants like David Archuleta definitely are, they’re going to resonate with the viewers at home. This is someone they can relate to because he’s just a regular guy. He’s overwhelmed by this whole experience, but he’s embracing it and enjoying every moment. And Jason’s going to keep on enjoying his ride however far it may take him.
Jason’s Journey in Video (with a few bonuses at the end):
Elimination:
Top 4 (1) “I Shot the Sheriff”, Bob Marley:
Top 4 (2) “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Bob Dylan:
Top 5 (1) “Forever in Blue Jeans,” Neil Diamond:
Top 5 (2) “September Morn,” Neil Diamond:
Top 6 “Memory,” Cats:
Top 7 “I Don’t Wanna Cry,” Mariah Carey:
Top 8 “Over the Rainbow,” Israel Kamakawiwo’ole:
Top 9 “Travelin’ Thru,” Dolly Parton:
Top 10 “Fragile,” Sting:
Top 11 “Michelle,” The Beatles:
Top 12 “If I Fell,” The Beatles:
Top 16 “Hallelujah,” Leonard Cohen:
Top 20 “I Just Want To Be Your Everything,” Andy Gibb:
Top 24 “Daydream,” The Lovin’ Spoonful:
American Idol was infamously not allowed to show Jason’s Hollywood performance of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” so here’s an earlier live version of it:
Jason also wanted to sing Sublime’s “Santeria” but couldn’t get it cleared, but here’s what that might have sounded like:
And who can forget that Jason Castro appeared on the MTV reality show Cheyenne about the title character’s attempts to make it famous. Jason was just one of the guys hanging around (with shorter dreads):
IDOL SEASON 7 FAREWELLS
#5 - Brooke White
#6 - Carly Smithson
#7 - Kristy Lee Cook
#8 - Michael Johns
#9 - Ramiele Malubay
#10 - Chikezie
#11 - Amanda Overmyer
#12 - David Hernandez
#13 - Danny Noriega
#14 - Asia’h Epperson
#15 - Luke Menard
#16 - Kady Malloy
#17 - Robbie Carrico
#18 - Alaina Whitaker
#19 - Alexandrea Lushington
#20 - Jason Yeager
#21 - Colton Berry
#22 - Joanne Borgella
#23 - Amy Davis
#24 - Garrett Haley
You’re watching Duel on ABC
December 17 marked the debut of ABC’s latest game show: Duel. This week-long competition is described by the network as “a high-stakes tournament-style game show” at the end of which the winner could win over $1.5 million dollars.
I didn’t really know what to expect from the game but, thanks to most of my series being in reruns and to ABC’s online and on-screen marketing campaign, I decided I needed to give the show a try.
The rules were confusing at first but, after a complete duel, I finally made sense of everything and enjoyed the remainder of the episode. The questions are difficult enough to have contestants ponder how many chips they’ll risk, thus ensuring that the game has some suspense.
The contestants are of various locations and have different backgrounds, which makes the game even more interesting when the player must pick an opponent based on a short introduction of three randomly-picked contestants.
There were a few things that got on my nerves and those mostly have to do with the host, ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning radio show host Mike Greenberg. Even if I didn’t expect him to be totally comfortable since this was the first episode, I expected a bit more smiles and cutesy jokes like all other game show hosts say. At times, it even looked like he was a tad bored! I hope that whoever writes the few lines Greenberg has to say finds something different than “Screen up!” and “You’re watching Duel on ABC.” It was getting old after 15 minutes of show! Oh, and one last thing, Greenberg needs to lose the pen!
No matter the host, I was entertained enough by Duel to tune in for more tomorrow night (and probably for the rest of the week). If you want to test your Duel skills, you can play the game online at ABC.com.