Mood:  quizzical

I've never watched an episode of American Idol all the way through. People are surprised when they ask me about the show, and I tell them I don't watch it. They figure that since I'm in the entertainment business, that's at the top of my priority list. I have watched a segment here or there, or I watched about 15 minutes during one season finale.

But I watched about a half hour or forty-five minutes of the show this week.

I'm still not impressed. There are some contestants there who do a fine job of moving air over their vocal cords.

But singing and entertaining is soooo much more than that. There's a line from a song that goes, "Boy can you make folks feel what you feel inside?"

Singing is about communicating. And I look at those contestants who I had the misfortune to see the other night and I'm just puzzled. NONE of them had IT.

IT, whatever it is, or however you want to describe it, is that elusive "star quality".

Perhaps these contestants can sing, but so few of them can move; emote; convince; convey; or even act.

To be successful in the entertainment business, one has to have everything--the whole kit 'n kaboodle, and those contestants I saw the other night--DON'T.

You have to feel sorry for them. They want THIS so badly.

I admit it takes guts to get up there, "put it out there" and try. Most people never get that far. But these wanna-bes don't have the chops for what it takes, and will never know what they are missing.

Can IT be learned, or is it innate? I have no idea. But how can a 17 year old convincingly sing about life--when he or she hasn't lived it?

Yes, I know there have been some teen artists who have made it big...but on the whole...watching some wanna-be perform inadequately on television is not my idea of a fun evening.

Give me some real music any day...

Mood:  bright

Have you seen the Jimmy Kimmel video "I'm ******* Ben Affleck"?

It's been getting web attention for a week, and I just watched it. It's hilarous! But what strikes me, is the number of people who lined up to be in it. This is a video clip that is created for art--for fun--and not for commerce.

Imagine how many of those artists have teams of dealmakers, and how many contract points have to be negotiated before one of them appears in a movie, television show, or sound recording? But this video was in pure fun, and I don't know when I've laughed so much.

Vince Gill was on tv last week, and he talked about his 43 song CD, which was quite a risk, but was a critical success and just won a Grammy, and he used the phrase, "Try to show people what art looks like, rather than commerce..."

That's the absolute truth. And the commerce has gotten so big and so corporate controlled, that we've lost true sight of what art is about in the first place. So, Thanks Vince for making great music, without selling it out. And thanks Jimmy (and friends) for making a video thats sole purpose was to make people laugh.

We need more of that.

Mood:  spacey

Are the Oscars worth it? That's the question that was asked on a CNN article a few days ago. I posted a comment to the comment section, which didn't get picked to be listed, but still, are the Oscars worth it?

It seems like each year I look forward to the Oscars, and it's such a let down. Everyone else seems to hate long speeches by the winners. I guess I'm the only person who thinks "let them talk". It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it'd be nice to hear what they have to say.

I say cut the stupid insipid banter between presenters. It's poorly written and even more poorly executed. I say cut the opening sequence. It takes up time, and really--except for Billy Crystal--who has pulled off a good one?

Anyway, the original article was at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/13/oscars.criticism/index.html

Have a great day!