Hey CDTA. What the fuck.

So the Capital District Transit Authority is installing a new express bus thing called BusPlus. It will start in 2011, and the line that would be most relevant to my interests is the one from Schenectady to Albany, as it goes right past my home stops and my work stops.

This is the BusPlus program's primer.

This is a great idea, and I am all for things that make our bus system more efficient. Those of you who read my twitter know how irritated I can get with the delays and minor problems with the bus system. So any way of improving things is just dandy with me.

My problem with this BusPlus idea is simply this: Someone did not think out the timing of replacing the stops involved. They replaced shelters at the spots along the BusPlus route. One of the drivers explained how it works: it goes from downtown Albany to downtown Schenectady and doesn't stop at every stop -- just the silver and red BusPlus stations (IE North Allen & Central, or Westgate Plaza). It will stop at all of those. They replaced all of the ones in the Albany section, as far as I can tell. I cannot vouch for Schenectady, as I do not live there.

They fixed all the Albany stops except one. Colonie Center, Northway Mall.

Guess when they decided to redo these stops? Anyone? Bueller?
Yeah, mid-November. I asked another driver how long that they planned to work on it, and he said it would be finished after Christmas. In the meantime, they completely tore down the old shelters and moved a stop.

First of all, there are at least three reasons why doing it now is a TERRIBLE idea.

1) It is the stop for the MALL. At peak holiday shopping time. You turn it into mud farmer central and demolish the stop, and make it increasingly difficult to get on or off at the stop. With larger amounts of traffic -- pedestrian, bus, or motor vehicle - it is not safe to do that.

You moved the stop going down to Albany, so now it is located across Central Ave, by the dry cleaner's. It's well lit, which is great, but the problem there is you have to cross both the entrance and exits to Northway Mall. Which, might I remind you, has shops in it that people will be going to, doing their holiday shopping. Large amounts of pedestrians in an unregulated driveway + large amounts of traffic + buses = problems.

2) It is NOVEMBER. And there is no shelter at the bus stops. Sure, most bus stops don't have shelters. But they also don't have a lot of people using those stops. And it's cold. Today's weather is the perfect example. The wind was outrageous, the rain was drenching, and there is no shelter for these people who are waiting for their buses. There are parents with small children who are exposed to the elements here.
Wait til it starts snowing. Class act.

3) Okay, I kinda combined 1 and 3. My point remains that it is a ridiculous time to redo this stop. I am really irritated by this. Especially as the later hours the mall has, the fewer buses run. So you have more crowded buses, more really cold people waiting to go home, and it's not a good scene. I just cannot imagine how this stop wasn't redone in August or September instead of now.

One other thing: I was quite fortunate to have, the night before they tore the shelters down, to have seen a sign tacked up in the shelter explaining that starting the next day, 14 November, they would be redoing the stops. Having been there at that same stop the day before, I distinctly do not remember seeing the sign. Great way of communicating something that important, CDTA.

30 day televison meme!

As if you weren't bored by the 30 day music meme, now I'm gonna do the 30 day television meme!

I promise not all the answers will be Battlestar Galactica or Lost.

Day 01 - A show that should have never been canceled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this t.v season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of your favorite t.v show
Day 08 - A show everyone should watch
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best t.v show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First t.v show obsession
Day 29 - Current t.v show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

ABC continually screws over its television series that are critically acclaimed. (See: Daisies, Pushing; Night, Sports; anything likes)

So it should come as no surprise that this show aired on ABC. I thought about picking Sports Night because I feel it was unjustifiably cancelled in its 3rd season but then I remember this show only had half a season and it wasn't enough. Cupid was a midseason replacement show starring Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, and was created by Rob Marshall (Veronica Mars fans might know of him).

The concept was simple: this guy in Chicago claimed that he was actually Cupid, the God of Love and he could only get back to Mount Olympus by putting 100 couples together. Since he's cray-cray, the powers that be had him visiting psychologist Paula Marshall, and having therapy sessions with her. He starts to make a believer out of her.

I'm hoping this series becomes available on DVD soon. It's ridiculously hard to find.

fuuuuuuuu carpenter ants

So first I'll get my dream out the way. Yes, I had another weird dream. This time it included the Top Gear cast but did not include Monique which would have been awesome.

It was extremely weird. I joined the cast to be the American girl they were teaching how to drive for the new series, and somehow (Gods, I don't know how) Jeremy and I ended up in a relationship. But it was like a platonic one and his wife was chill with it. I don't even know.

I do know I was watching Top Gear before bed and I was thinking earlier in the day how much I'd love to move to London for a year or two. (Not gonna happen, but I can dream).

So since it's the 28th of June, I will list all the books I read this month (plus one I forgot to include last month). Because I injured my ankle I've been reading a lot more books than normal, so I'm hoping once I feel better I will not get through so many so quickly.

Miracle at St. Anna, James McBride
Spike Lee recently made this into a movie, and I dug this out of the bargain bin at Borders. I didn't really have any expectations for this, since I hadn't seen the movie, but the basic plot intrigued me. A group of African-American soldiers gets separated from their unit in Italy and has to rely on a village for survival. It's an interesting look at racism and how African American soldiers felt fighting a war for a country that didn't even care about them in a place that only a few of them knew of. SOmething was lacking and I'm not sure what, but it was an interesting read.

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics, Eleanor Herman.
I've read a lot of royal compilation books since I'm obsessed with royalty (I think it's the English in me). But it was a breath of fresh air to read this book, which gave me a bunch of stories I didn't even know! And she tells them so well, it's like reading a gossip mag but informational and interesting at the same time. Loved this book 100%.

The Secret Bride in the Court of Henry VIII.

The story of Mary Tudor, Queen of France and how she comes to marry the Duke of Suffolk is this book's tale. The Tudor period is a dark, dramatic, ridiculously insane period of English history that is interesting enough without having to fictionalize it. And I have yet to find anyone besides Phillipa Gregory who can. Diane Haeger tries, but it took til halfway through the book for me to care about Mary's fate. It helped that I kept picturing Charles Brandon as the man who plays him on TV.



Naamah's Kiss, Jacqueline Carey
This is the first book in a new trilogy in Carey's Terre d'Ange series. I was a little wary of this book because I always felt that the Imriel series wasn't nearly as well done as the first trilogy. With this book set 150 years after the events of the original two series, it makes it easier for the reader to get used to the new cast of characters, not always looking over their shoulders to see when X awesome character might show up. The story's a bit weak and Moirin is more of a Mary Sue than Phedre was but it was still an enjoyable read.

Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman.
I heart short story collections. I am starting to heart Neil Gaiman. So this was a good collection. I didn't dislike any pieces and "Snow, Glass, Apples" is really chillingly good.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson.

This book everyone has been raving about like crazy but I was afraid I would hate it because the description on the back was kind of annoying. I figured out the solution to the puzzle well ahead of Mikael and Lisbeth, but the story was incredibly rapturous and I couldn't put the book down til the end. Definitely highly recommended.

I decided to read another book that's part of a trilogy next:
The Hunger Games, Susanne Collins.

This is the story of a post-Apocalyptic North America where the country is 12 districts run by a Capitol. After defeating the districts in a rebellion, the Capitol now hosts a game for teenagers in which they must kill each other to win. Two kids, a boy and a girl, are chosen from each district. And Katliss's sister is chosen, so she takes her spot. It's incredibly moving book. When I started it, I was like, "I will just read one chapter." I couldn't put it down. I got to Part II and set it down. Thirty seconds later I said, "well, one more chapter." I finished the book. Incredibly wonderfully disturbingly captivating.

So I went for one more book in a trilogy.
Daughter of the Blood: The Black Jewels 1, Anne Bishop.

This was the most disgusting, ridiculous, misogynistic, misiandristic, misanthropic piece of crap I have ever read in my life. Incest, rape, child molestation, and child abuse run rampant in this world and the hero is a 700 year old man who is in love with a 7 year old girl. This is completely and utterly devoid of merit and I will not be continuing this series.


PS: I have these fucking carpenter ants in my house and I want to cut a bitch bc they keep divebombing me.

i can barely recall but it's all coming back to me now

So Captain Klutz-A-Lot strikes again. I was walking home from the grocery store and I tripped over a curb I didn't see and went flat on my kness. Injuring my ankle in the process so I had to limp home. Right now I have it elevated on top of my penguin and putting it to sleep accidentally in so doing. I feel that this is better for me than it tweaking in pain every thirty seconds, which is what it was doing during dinner.

Day 01 - Your favorite song
Day 02 - A song that makes you happy
Day 03 - A song that makes you sad
Day 04 - A song that reminds you of someone
Day 05 - A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 06 - A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 07 - A song that you can dance to
Day 08 - A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 09 - A song from your favorite band
Day 10 - A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 11 - A song that describes you
Day 12 - A song from your favorite album
Day 13 - A song that you listen to when you're angry
Day 14 - A song that you listen to when you're happy
Day 15 - A song that you listen to when you're sad
Day 16 - A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 17 - A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 18 - A song that makes you laugh
Day 19 - Your least favorite song
Day 20 - A song that you know all the words to
Day 21 - A song from a band you hate
Day 22 - A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 23 - A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 24 - A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 25 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 26 - A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 - A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 - A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 - A song from your childhood
Day 30 - Your favorite song at this time last year

I try not to believe in guilty pleasures because you shouldn't be ashamed of the things you like. And you all know that I love pretty much all music. I am that person who listens to everything, with no qualifiers. I like country and I like rap. I don't like everything in all genres, but I appreciate the craft that goes into even the cheesiest of pop songs. Except Heidi Montag. Nothing's gonna save that trainwreck.

I guess if I had to go with a guilty pleasure it would be this song, which I only learned because our music player tells us the name of artists who sing them. Everyone hates on her but the woman can sing!



[Facebook readers, this is Céline Dion's It's All Coming Back to Me Now. Bonus points go to Wendy who will recognize Jim Steinman's craftmanship behind this song.]

anytime i need to see your face i just close my eyes

Ok, scuse you customers, but I'm allowed to work at a children's store even if I don't have children. Maybe I don't have kids because I don't want them, maybe I work here because the pay is good and the company's good. But for you to say "why do you work here then if you don't have kids?" That kinda makes me mad.

On a side note, I love seeing little babies, but I feel that my biological clock doesn't work because seeing them doesn't make me want them. I'm very okay with this.


Day 01 - Your favorite song
Day 02 - A song that makes you happy
Day 03 - A song that makes you sad
Day 04 - A song that reminds you of someone
Day 05 - A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 06 - A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 07 - A song that you can dance to
Day 08 - A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 09 - A song from your favorite band
Day 10 - A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 11 - A song that describes you
Day 12 - A song from your favorite album
Day 13 - A song that you listen to when you're angry
Day 14 - A song that you listen to when you're happy
Day 15 - A song that you listen to when you're sad
Day 16 - A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 17 - A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 18 - A song that makes you laugh
Day 19 - Your least favorite song
Day 20 - A song that you know all the words to
Day 21 - A song from a band you hate
Day 22 - A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 23 - A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 24 - A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 25 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 26 - A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 - A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 - A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 - A song from your childhood
Day 30 - Your favorite song at this time last year

I'm a song memorizer! There are entire songs that I know in Italian or Spanish simply because I remember all the lyrics. But my specialty is all the Savage Garden discography. While I claimed allegiance to the BSB clique in high school, my heart truly madly deeply belonged to Darren and Daniel of the Australian band Savage Garden. I still love Darren solo, and lord knows how jealous I was of when she met him a few years back.



[Song for FB readers is Savage Garden's "I Want You."]

the light is electric yeah

Today's entry is brought to you by the fact that I am missing the skin off half my right foot. Story continues after today's meme.

Day 01 - Your favorite song
Day 02 - A song that makes you happy
Day 03 - A song that makes you sad
Day 04 - A song that reminds you of someone
Day 05 - A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 06 - A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 07 - A song that you can dance to
Day 08 - A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 09 - A song from your favorite band
Day 10 - A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 11 - A song that describes you
Day 12 - A song from your favorite album
Day 13 - A song that you listen to when you're angry
Day 14 - A song that you listen to when you're happy
Day 15 - A song that you listen to when you're sad
Day 16 - A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 17 - A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 18 - A song that makes you laugh

Oh this one's easy. It wasn't easy when I was thinking about it a few days ago, knowing it was coming up, but it played on my mp3 player and I realized it was perfect for this meme. So enjoy:


For facebook readers, the video is Seether's FMLYHM.

It's such a bitter, jaded, and angry song which sums up Seether's entire repertoire, but if I recall correctly this entire album was a reply to the lead singer breaking up with Amy Lee of Evanescence. She of course started it with the album "The Open Door," so you know. If you're famous musicians you gotta fight your breakups through music, it's only logical. (Note: this is not sarcasm).

I'm ambivalent about Seether. They know how to rock, but they also tend to be pretty damned misogynistic with their lyrics and it bothers me to listen to some of it. How do you feel about them?

So I'm missing skin from the top of my foot and here's why: I was moving my stuff around today to try to make my room more habitable. I positioned the bed where I wanted it except that it was half on top of some boxes that I'd neglected to move out the way. So I did the logical thing, and shoved the boxes over to the right. Forgot my foot was underneath, so when the bed dropped it hit my foot.

This didn't scrape my foot, I'll have you know. What happened next did. My left foot slipped and I fell onto the bed, throwing my entire weight on the bed on top of my foot. That uh, kinda hurt. And removed a layer of skin. Ouch.

I just don't get folks sometimes.

You know, one of my friends on FB joined one of those groups on FB. And while ostensibly I should know how horrific the commentary on that page is, it just horrifies me that people feel this way about other living, breathing people.

It makes me sick, and the fact that they are doing it in the name of the flag of our country, one that embraced immigrants from every walk of life and every nationality, just makes me want to throw things. I often wonder how many of these people actually have seen the "welfare abusing Mexicans" that they claim to be defending their flag and country from. (It doesn't hurt that most of these posts are written in increasingly illiterate forms of English). I don't know how to reach out to people with this viewpoint and try to help reach a compromise. It really bothers me to see such a divisive split in schools of thought, where any little bit of dissent is a bad thing.

Maybe I'm an over-educated college graduate liberal, but all I can think of is this wonderful speech from The American President, which is one of my top ten movies of all time. It says exactly what I want to, but far more eloquently. Thank you, Mr. Sorkin, for writing such an amazing speech.

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free". --Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas), The American President

My heart is in Bolivia right now.

Idol time!

Songs of the Cinema + Duets. Is that something they introduced last season? I feel like maybe S2 had them but I really don't remember. Also, why didn't Ryan mention the television classic The Jamie Foxx Show?

Lee Dewyze - Kiss from a Rose
I was bored with this, and think it was a bad song choice. Weaksauce from a contender for top two.

Michael Lynche - That Song from Free Willy
This was ok, slightly better than Lee's, but I still don't care.

Crystal Bowersox & Lee Dewyze - Falling Slowly
Like the judges, I loved this. I want the iTunes studio version. Their voices complimented each other nicely and I really loved the camera work, for once.

Casey James - Mrs Robinson
Dear goat, that's a tiny guitar. PS: You still sound like a goat being lead to slaughter. No dice. Ugh, Randy, way to kill the joke. I totally forgot Kara's the token cougar on the show.

Crystal Bowersox - I'm Alright
I don't remember this song from Caddyshack but I can recognize a yacht rock song when I hear it. Crystal does an excellent job on it as well, although it was a little shouty.

Michael Lynche & Casey James - Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman
I remember Daughtry did this by himself and it still sucked, because the song sucked. Casey can play a guitar, that's for sure, but ugh, this was completely and utterly terrible. I don't know WHAT the judges heard. Props to Ellen for making the easy joke.

Best of the night: Crystal & Crystal/Lee
Worst of the Night: Casey & Casey/Michael
Bottom 2: Casey & Lee (Oooh, look, I'm being ~controversial~)
Going home: Casey

PS: Allison Janney on Lost, in an episode that was merely mediocre and I need deconstruction from Doc Jenson to save. your thoughts?

PPS: Just watched the Top Gear special in Bolivia and I must say how much more I want to go to freaking Bolivia and Chile. GDI, boys. Also, uh, the British I mean Jeremy Clarkson are really xenophobic, damn.

stanning for dcook

I now have either an inxplicable rash on my arms or another sunburn. GDI it's not like I went out tanning. MY ARMS ITCH make it stop.

PS in other news, I may have shrieked and flailed like a little girl when David Cook appeared on Idol Gives Back. Yes, I am a hopeless fangirl. There is no cure. DC <3

PPS: I am srsly wanting another DD Iced Tea. I got one on a lark today and it was delicious.

I was helping this lady in my store, telling her about the awesome clearance sale we were testing and everything. I go to ring her up and she refuses to put in her email address which is fine, cause it's optional. Then she busts out this whopper of a line. "It's illegal for you to require my email address for discounts."

Baffled, I said, "uh, no it's not. Also your email isn't required."

"Well you shouldn't have to get my info to give me discounts." Uh, I'm gonna go with NO here. You see, my store kind of has customers that stop shopping here after a certain age and it's easier (read: cheaper) to have the customer sign up for our mailers periodically instead of mailing out thousands of fliers to parents whose kids are too old for the store.

Also, it is not illegal. So there.

That reminds me of the lady who screamed at me that because the Government knows how much money she makes she doesn't have to give me that information. Because I work for the Government. And the CARD Act doesn't require annual income on credit applications any more or anything....

Look, I get it, frustrating having to say no to every damned sales pitch that gets tossed your way at every store. But there is no excuse for being an utter bitch to me. None. YOU walked in my store, and decided to buy something. And my job is to sell you those things regardless of whether or not you think you need them. I'm not gonna badger you about it. But I find myself recoiling after I say the words, "go ahead and enter in your email for me" and expecting a bitchy reply every single time.

I often wonder how likely it is that people don't have email addresses in this day and age. Maybe it's because I've had an email address since I was 17, but I just don't understand how people this day and age don't have one. Is it really that uncommon? Is this a privilege that I have?

I'd cut off my feet to spite my face but that might hurt.

1) My feet hurt. See, I can't wear open toed shoes to work anymore, it violates our dress code. It sucks. So I bought a pair of cheap flat ballerina type shoes to wear and they hurt my feet. So that's a no go. Back to socks and shoes until I can find a better solution. Kim suggested Crocs and as ugly as they are I've heard they are ridiculously comfortable. So let us hope.

2) Big Mike got saved on AI. I don't think I would have used it on him, because what happens if Siobhan or Lee ends up as part of the double elimination next week? Ahh well, at least there is a save rule. There wasn't one when I watched seasons 2-7.

4) My Time Warner DVR is a piece of shit and I hate it. Ever since they "upgraded" it, it hasn't worked right. It freezes, it deleted ALL my scheduled recordings and I only noticed with three minutes to go before American Idol started (I always, always, always watch on tape delay) that it and Lost weren't recording. Then tonight I had planned to come home, make dinner, and eat dinner while watching Lost. And yet, the DVR didn't record it.
So I checked my scheduled recordings, and Lost is set to record next week, but no trace of this week's Desmond-centric episode. So I had to go and download it. YAY. PS: Desmond, I love you.

5) OH GOD I HAVE PARTY IN THE USA STUCK IN MY HEAD OH GOD OH GOD GET IT OUT

travel travel travel, plus bonus AI coverage

If any of you are familiar with my mall layout and maybe two of you are, you will note that there's a Liberty Travel agency next door to my store. This is one of the worst things for me to have as a neighbour.

Every day they change the destinations and prices of round trip tickets to far off destinations. The prices for round trip to London keep going down, and I keep my eye on the Sydney and Santiago prices. I am very lucky I have no vacation time accrued yet to spend my hard earned money on a trip to some cool place like those. But it's not helping my wanderlust. I want to get up and go somewhere cool, not just across town to Colonie every day.

I have to keep telling myself, once I get moved into the new apartment, once I get settled in a new place I can work toward the goal of getting into the Peace Corps. My goal is to have an apartment chosen in the next two weeks, and if possible, moving most of my stuff by early May. This is of course contingent on finding a place that will allow me to move in early and is ok'd by my roommate.

I just... I want to be irresponsible and go somewhere different. I want to go and visit far off locales. I want to do what Emma did and spend three months travelling North America, or Europe, or South America. I feel trapped, and that this is very much a #firstworldproblem.

I think that's partially why I am more interested in moving to Schenectady instead of somewhere else in Albany. It's going to help, living in a place I'm not as familiar with, and at the same time it will remain basically the same.

PS: American Idol keeps cracking me up. Tim Urban, the first genuine VFTW candidate since Sanjaya! keeps squeaking through. He got Didi eliminated tonight, and I'm both horrified and amused by the whole thing. Additionally, to torment Laura, Lennon/McCartney songs are the theme for the next week. I look forward to the trainwreck.

uh oh spaghetti os

Tomorrow I get to go to my friend Genevieve's son's birthday party and my friend Jen's birthday party.

I bought a new outfit for it, and I did something I never thought I'd do -- I bought a pair of leggings. Wait, wait haters, they didn't have stirrups attached. And if I ever did buy a pair of those you'd be justified in shooting first and asking questions later. But the dress I bought is too short to wear with tights, but it's so cute: this one, in the blue colour. That's where the dress hits me, but I'm not comfortable wearing it that way, so leggings it is.

It could be worse, I could have bought these.

americAn idol post & lost recaps (lost is at the bottom so you don't get spoiled)

I am so tired but I want to pound out this recap before I go to bed. I'm not gonna cut the AI stuff and will cut the Lost part, because I'm lazy like that.

I liked the original theme they picked for this week: Teen Idols. Instead they gave us Miley Cyrus as a guest mentor and Billboard #1 Hits as a theme. THat's just mean. Plus she and Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, whoever the fuck they are are performing tomorrow night.

Lee DeWyze - The Letter (The Box Tops)
aka the song that every. male. contestant. ever. has to sing during Hollywood week
Lounge singer lite. Also I feel that this arrangement sucks. If he'd done a rock version of it it would have matched his vocals.

WHAT IS WITH THE SIMON/KARA TOUCHING

Paige Davis - Against All Odds Fffffffffffff Slezak keeps calling her Paige Miles Davis so I have no idea what her real last name is. ALso this is apparently Mariah Carey's version of Phil Collins' song. Apparently Paige got her voice back. The bad one, at any rate. Also, Miley drank some of Simon's "We Love Paige-aid." Simon seems to have quit cold turkey though.

Tim Urban - Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Queen.
OH DEAR GOD, I wrote when Ryan announced it. This is boring but it doesn't suck. Jonas Bro Lite jumped into the audience. I uh, don't hate it though. Ellen said what I was thinking - High School Musical 4.

Aaron Kelly - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, Aerosmith.
HEY
HEY AMERICAN IDOL
HEY
DO YOU REMEMBER WHO DID THIS SONG
AND DID IT WAY BETTER?
THAT'S RIGHT, MY AMERICAN IDOL, DAVID COOK.
(I feel like I didn't hate it. Also, Swaybots are go. Also also I feel like someone did a country version similar to this. Also also also I was thinking David Archuleta, which means that Seacrest has hacked onto mine and Simon's wavelenght.)

Crystal Bowersox - Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin
I feel this was a predictable choice, but she blew it out of the water as usual. Does Crystal really know who Miley Cyrus is? "Strong powerful women signed this guitar. Also, Miley Cyrus."

Mike Lynche - When a Man Loves a Woman, Michael Bolton.
I gotta admit, I'm on the Big Mike bandwagon. He's consistently good and while it's nothing I would rush out and buy in stores, I'm liking it. Randy, don't touch Ellen, you are not Simon and Kara.

Andrew Garcia - I heard it through the grapevine, Marvin Gaye
This was a hot mess. Simon had it right when he said we overestimated this dude. You know who would be awesome on Idol right now?



Yah that's right, Alex Lambert, my Mulleted Wonder.

Katie Stevens - Big Girls Don't Cry (Fergie)
For Katie Miley is an excellent choice of mentor. Just stay away from stripper poles though, Katie. Katie sounds like a country-ish Fergie and I don't hate it. Kara seems to be pulling a Paula, if I'm not mistaken. "Chalk and Cheese," Simon? Even me and my Simon-to-English dictionary can't figure this one out.

HEY
HEY SIMON AND KARA
STOP IT
IT'S NOT FUNNY

Casey James - Power of Love Huey Lewis and the News
The vibrato isn't as annoying and that makes me feel better. HOwever there is nothing interesting to this performance. He needs to put the guitar down. Also, Ellen, how can you forget Crystal? Simon, it's not just you, I'm back on Team Simon.

Did Benami - You're No Good, Linda Ronstadt
Not really liking this as much as I liked last week's. This is boring. Although I feel like she almost started crying at the judges.

Siobhan Magnus - Superstition, Stevie Wonder.
Wasn't there a movement to ban Stevie from Idol? Also is it wrong that I voted for her before I heard her song choice or her performance? (I watch on tape delay). Siobhan's hair is a bird, your argument is invalid. I feel that through the medium of hair she is expressing the loss of her fallen colleagues. first Katelyn, now Lacey. I fear if Big Mike gets kicked off if she'll go all Sinead O'Connor on us.

PS- It has come to my understanding that Siobhan is a HANSON stan. Those of you who know what I mean, how does this affect your perception of her?








OK can we just say how much i am in love with richard alpert right now, and also hurley a little bit too?

once we got over the hokey exposition to set up ricardo's background, there was nothing better than this episode. i kept getting a feeling in the pit of my stomach at every turn in the episode. first the man in black appeared and used the same lines to richard that dogen told sayid a couple of episodes prior.

the way they twisted and used poor richard as their pawn, it just kept shaking my perception of the show and what we know to be true/false. and the end revelation that the man in black will kill the candidates that ilana's there to protect, even though she doesn't know how and which one of the kwans she is supposed to cover.

i could watch this episode over and over again. this was one of those amazing, battlestar galactica-esque episodes that made that show so amazing to me to begin with. i also feel that it would make a good standalone to introduce someone to the show, as weird as that might seem.

so oh my god tell me your feelings on this episode and how awesome richard was. best episode of the season (thus far). LOVE IT.

another day, another writer's block post.

What's the first major news event that you remember hearing about as a child? Where did you learn about it? How did it impact your world view?

I like this question because it made me think a lot about memory and how it works. The minute I read the question my mind jumped to the Challenger Explosion in 1986. I was all set to answer it when I felt that wasn't quite right. For one thing, I was three when it happened. Now, my parents taped the footage from that day when we lived in Burlington VT. (Nikerym was almost a year old at this time.) (Yes, I lived in Vermont as a small child.) (Yes, I am aware that this may explain a few things about me.) Anyway, they taped it and bought the paper from the next day with the articles and preserved it.

A few years later, when we'd settled in Gouverneur NY, I remember finding the newspaper in the downstairs closet and carefully reading the articles and asking my parents about it. I think we watched the footage then (RIP, Peter Jennings -- they don't make newsmen like you any more, sir). Since my family's got a devoted interest in sci-fi and space things, it didn't surprise me.

When I was in the 4th grade, we were given an assignment to write a short little essay on something that someone in our family lived through -- a major event in history. Alas, I didn't really have anything like that, my mom tried to come up with some ideas for me from her side of the family but all we had was the parts for the radiator that my great-grandfather invented, and that my grandfather served during WWII, but none of that really fulfilled the assignment.

She suggested the Berlin Wall falling, but I wasn't really keen on that, and then she remembered the Challenger disaster. I want to say she said we watched it together when it happened but I really don't remember too well -- I was nine or so when this conversation took place. So I went in depth on the Challenger explosion in my paper.

As you can see, the Challenger sticks in my brain because of that, but I don't think it was the first thing I heard about as a child. I tried to think of other things but none of them made that big an impression on me.


Also, I got one of those formspring things. Feel free to question me there.

Alas, earwax.

Today's Livejournal Writer's Block Question:
If you could choose which fashions would go out of style permanently, what would you choose, and why?

Gee, I goddamned wonder. ;)

Actually, I had a discussion about this with one of my coworkers. I said that we don't need the 80s or the 90s to come back, we should go back to 1920. I said this before I saw the really nice Victorian-esque jewellry we got in and now I really want Edwardian fashions to come back instead. Or more Mad Men-esque outfits. While I don't watch the show, I am in love with the clothing. Also it doesn't hurt to have the gorgeous Christina Hendricks wearing the clothes.

this is a Non-American Idol Post.

We're not talking about how my heart is breaking for young Alex Lambert, the Mulleted Wonder, and how he should be on the Top 12 instead of most of the dudes and some of the ladies.

Tonight I'm gonna talk about how my weakness is mulleted singers who sound like British dudes I adore Coca-Cola. See, even though I'm not Catholic, I like to try to give up something for Lent, and I usually fail at it. Last year was an exception with the french fries, which I made it through and haven't eaten nearly as many of since. So I figured I'd try soda. Not caffeine, cause that's a baaaaaad idea, but soda. Simple, right?

One week in I totally wanted a Coke, so badly I went to CVS and walked up to the cooler and nearly took one out but I got an Arizona iced tea instead. Good job, me.

Got through the first couple weeks ok, but then every time I'd see someone drinking Coke I wanted one very badly. VERY badly. Then yesterday I spotted my nemesis. You see, for the Canadians & Australian in the house, our soft drinks are made with High Fructose Corn Syrup, as are most things here in the States. (Try not buying anything with HFCS, it's harder than you think.) It has a sticky sort of aftertaste when you drink it, although it's still palatable. Then I discovered when I moved to Albany the glory that is Kosher Coke. You see, according to some part of kosher dietary laws that I'm unfamiliar with, HFCS is not allowed during Passover. So in order to satiate the people who can't drink it during the duration, Coke makes Passover Coke. AKA Kosher Coke, AKA Mexican Cola AKA Awesome in a Bottle. It's noticeable by its distinct yellow cap. (Oddly enough, they also make a Diet Coke with the yellow cap but I don't understand that because diet colas are made with artificial sugar and not HFCS.)

So today I was in the grocery store and I got a bottle of spaghetti sauce, and I couldn't resist buying the Kosher Coke. And I chose to drown my sorrows for my mulleted AI boyfriend in Kosher Coke. Don't judge me.