Today in music history: 1983

Today, we look back to 1983, and find:




"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by the Eurythmics

What a great song.  The beat is great, the chorus is great, the sing-along factor is off the charts due to the small amount of words.  Great song all around.

What do you think of this one?

Previously in 1983:

Beat It

Come On, Eileen 

Every Breath You Take

Flashdance...What a Feeling

Let's Dance 


And now, for something completely different!  I was a little bored, and a love this song, so here's a bit of me singing it, cause I'm sure people are very interested in that!

Who may save the world

Want to help finish the story?  Go here to donate!

There was a girl...

In a galaxy far away...

A long time ago...

Speech! Speech! Speech!

Fall Scheduling!

Well, the Fall TV season is about to start, so I thought I’d let you in on my plans for the blog in terms of TV reviews!

I enjoy quite a lot of shows, I have found, and want to share my thoughts on all of them.  Here is the listing of all the shows I plan on reviewing this year.

Sunday Nights

Amazing Race

Once

Revenge

Monday Nights

How I Met Your Mother

2 Broke Girls

Tuesday Nights

Raising Hope

Ben & Kate

Happy Endings

The Mindy Project

Parenthood

Wednesday Nights

The Middle

Suburgatory

Thursday Nights

30 Rock

Up All Night

The Office

Parks and Rec

Friday Nights

Community

Saturday Nights

SNL

Holy crap, that’s a lot of shows,  a person might say.  However, my plan for the comedies is going to be similar to what I did last season, which is a mini-blurb for each one, and not a full write-up.  I do have a life, after all.

Hey!  Hey You!

Do you have a favorite show that I’m not recapping?  Would you like to contribute to this fabulous blog, with it’s tens of viewers?  FANTASTIC!  Have I got a deal for you!

For the fabulous sum of zero dollars, you too can write up reviews of your favorite shows, and I will post them here.*

If you already have a blog, and want to cross-promote, I am totally open for that as well!

Just drop me a line at melmn2002 (at) gmail (dot) com, and you too could be internet famous with an audience that consists mostly of my family!

*Quality writing required, to be determined in my sole discretion. 

AGT: 8/29 Semi Final Results

Oh, my goodness.  I am seething right now, and it’s not even because I failed miserably at both the shoulds and the wills.  I’ll get to the reason why in just a bit.

First off, we have a bit of a procedure change for these semi-final rounds:  the top four acts will be spotlighted, but only three will actually go on.  The top two vote getters, and then a judges pick.

Let’s get right down to it.

First off, we had Turf, Joe Castillo, and The Scott Brothers. It was fairly obvious who was going through in this group.  Turf and the Scott Brothers did not do what they needed to, and Joe Castillo and his stupid knowing grin can suck it.

Kitter says: Don't be a douche!

Ok then.

Next, we had Andrew DeLeon, William Close, and Academy of Villains. Again, the choice was obvious, if William Close didn’t make it through, there would have been riots on the streets, booing in the audience, and a shoe or four through my TV.  But luckily, we didn’t have to resort to that, and William Close is in the top four.

Next, we had a grouping that was actually tricky to decide.  Donovan and Rebecca, Todd Oliver, and Edon were next.  Edon had the sad face of ‘I know I already lost, please don’t drag this out any further,’ but the other two were much more anxious.  I was pulling for Todd Oliver, and he pulled through!  I was so glad he was in the top four, but I really worried about his chances with the other groups.

Lastly, we had Dittelman, Bria Kelly, and Tom Cotter.  Again, this was a two way race, and Bria Kelly in her ugly dress knew it.  I was pulling for Dittelman, just because I enjoy the illusions more than the rapid fire double meanings.  But Tom Cotter beat my man out, and we have our top four.

All four acts then made their way to the stage, and Nick did his usual drama wait, in order to tell us that William Close was in the top two.  They didn’t mention if he was in first or not, but I’m assuming he was.  We then went on to the remaining guys, and *dramatic pause* Tom Cotter was also in the final!  That left Todd Oliver and Joe Castillo. 

Nick asked the guys why they should move on:

Todd: “People seem to like us, and we have nowhere to go but up!”

Joe: “I’m a major douche face, and everyone should bask in the glow of my amazing uniqueness that totally wasn’t stolen from a woman in Ukraine or anything!  Also: why would you see a [funny]ventriloquist over someone that plays in dirt creates beautiful[lly pretentious] pieces of art, amirite?”

Yes, my enjoyment of his act HAS been diminished by his entitled, pretentious douchyness, why do you ask?

The judges vote, and Howard sets the voice of reason:  “Todd’s act can grow, and go places we haven’t seen, Joe’s act has probably hit a plateau.”

I was then in for the biggest shock of my life, as Sharon didn’t vote for the animal act!  WHAAT???

It was down to Howie, and both judges tried to influence him, and somehow, Sharon won out, and Howie put through doucheface, probably to spite me.

Anyway, my should and wills are both sitting at 1/3, so go me!

Next week, a much weaker field, and three singers.  I’m hoping for the shut out again, so we can have a singer free finale. 

Who’s with me?!

Today in music history: 1989

Today, we look back to 1989, and find:




"Cold Hearted" by Paula Abdul

And we have another boring song.  What is up with all the boring in the number ones? 

Paula Abdul was doing her best crazy eyes for the video, but it still didn't make it very interesting.

What did you think of it?

Previously in 1989:

Baby Don't Forget My Number

Good Thing

If You Don't Know Me By Now

I'll Be Loving You (Forever)

I'll Be There For You

Like a Prayer

Rock On 

Satisfied

Toy Soldiers

Wind Beneath My Wings

AGT: 8/28 Semi-finals Part 1

And we’re back with another night full of talent.  Unfortunately for us, only three acts are moving on, instead of the expected four or five, but it’ll make the final be epic, I think.  This does, though, make the decisions very difficult tonight. 

But now, on with the show!

We started out with Andrew DeLeon. He went with the classic Ava Maria, and did not do a very good job.  He has no stage presence, the background music washed him out, and worst of all, he was terribly screechy.  And that’s not even mentioning his crazy outfit, with the feathers and odd shoulder pads. He of course brought out the sob story, but it’s getting old.  If I had my way, he’d be out tonight.

Todd Oliver came next, and he did a great job.  He kept the jokes mostly topical again, but he did flag a bit in the last third of the act.  I like that he mixes it up every time, this time he was on a faux talk show, and the setting worked really well for the quick fire question/answer session that went on.

We then saw Donovan and Rebecca, who I love.  They have such awesome strength and control, it’s amazing.  They went back to basics to start, with basic strength moves, and then moved to a hanging bar for more holds.    Unfortunately for them, their act seemed really sparse, with not a lot going on.  I think the 90 second limit hinders their performance especially, because the bigger moves take time to develop.  What they did was great, but there just wasn’t enough time to showcase the needed material to move on.

Effin singers, man.  Edon came next, and attempted to suck people in with an ‘oh, look how proud of me my dad is now,’ as if he wasn’t before, and Edon didn’t know about it.  Whatever.  So he sings One Direction’s hit, with a ballady arrangement, and manages to get completely washed out by the backing vocals.  Luckily for him, the original is of such a low quality that reaching and exceeding that bar was very easy.  Too bad for him, though, that shining a piece of crap still leaves you with crap, so his performance was bland, dull, and not nearly enough to move him on.

The Scott Brothers tried their hand, and did their thing.  We’ve seen this thing, though, three times already, it’s kind of getting old.  They went for the robot-like outfits, and that had been done a million times before as well, so all in all, not a good showing for them.  It’s really too bad, because this is another act that I really enjoy, and they didn’t step up like they should have, and needed to, to move on to the finals.

Next, we had my favorite magician, Dittelman, as the cool kids call him, Eric if you’re nasty.  He did a mind manipulation trick with the audience that is not terribly impressive.  When you think of geometric shapes, really only three come to mind immediately, and he eliminated one from contention right away, so clearly the two remaining would be the ones nestled together, or flipped around.  Anyway, his art trick was cool if you weren’t paying attention, but if you caught how it was done, not so much.  It didn’t help that Dittelman gave it away, either.

Effin dancers, man.  Turf was next, and just about everything I said about Edon could be applied to Turf.  He was boring, dull, and the stage washed him out.   In addition, his act is really too small for this stage, and his act is getting repetitive as well.  Hopefully, this is the last we’ll see of him.

Bria Kelly was next, and she sang Pink’s Perfect competently.  However, that was about the end of her competency.  She didn’t move around the stage nearly as well as she did in her quarterfinal, and the song itself didn’t show off her vocal abilities beyond being able to sing the same note over and over again.  Sharon was totally wrong in this, it was a terrible song choice, so unless she gets the country contingent, she’s gone.

After her, we had Joe Castillo, who tried to convince us he was going to tell an epic story with his act tonight.  ‘Just wait!” he said, “It’s going to be an epic story that anyone can understand .”  Or something like that, I suppose.  In any case, he was bragging about his story telling skills.  Then, we got to the act itself.  I hate to break it to Joe, but an eagle, hands, and a little girl being hugged by not!Jesus does not a story make.  He keeps on using that word, epic.  I do not think it means what he thinks it means.  

Then, we had an actual epic act, William Close and the Earth Harp.  I still love this act, and their performance was great.  They brought in new instruments, dancers, and William’s not!pregnant fiancé.  The female singer they had was not strong, and the male singer was practically chomping on the stage, but overall, the act was incredibly effective, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Tom Cotter came next, and in an attempt to shake things up a bit, had Howie chose his monologue topic.  He clearly had a plan set for each one, as when Howard called him to give a joke from one of the topics, he had one ready, and even warned them it would be long.  The jokes themselves were great, he went back to the wordplay he used in his audition(I studied abroad…named Tina, etc)  and he had the crowd eating out of his hands.  It’s really too bad the competition is so strong, and so few acts are going through, because he certainly is a contender.

Lastly, Academy of Villains came back.  They, of course, went for a cutesy story in their package, about the main guy and his girlfriend, but it wasn’t really that affecting, so they then went the injury route instead, and had one of the girls break(!) her kneecap.  “We had to switch all of our choreography around” nameless, faceless person whined, but they made it out, and started their dance in more different crazy costumes.  They did a similar thing as last week with interesting POV shots and using themselves and props to makes different things.  But even though the music and the actual dance moves were different, it really felt like the same thing as two weeks ago, so not strong enough to move on.

And that was the show!  So any good acts to choose from, I am sure I am going to do poorly on my guesses.

Shoulds                                                 Wills

William Close                                     William Close

Todd Oliver                                         Andrew DeLeon

Eric Dittelman                                    Donovan & Rebecca

Today in music history: 1990

Today, we look back to 1990, and find:




"If Wishes Came True" by Sweet Sensation

AKA, the most boring song in the history of the planet.

Wow, who did that group sleep with to get a number one hit?  That song was boring, the video was boring, and there was no reason at all for that song to exist.

What did you think of it?

Previously in 1990:

Hold On

It Must Have Been Love

Nothing Compares 2U

She Ain't Worth It

Step by Step

Vision of Love

Vogue

Bunheads: The Nutcracker in Paradise(S1E10)

So here’s the review, only a week late!

We open to Fanny and Michelle discussing the dance Michelle choreographed for the Nutcracker, as they go into the dance studio to see it.  Michelle has found a ‘temp’ to fill in, and surprise!  It’s Sasha.  The evil rat mouse dance is made to look like some sort of boardroom, with Kent from SYTYCD(!) as the main mouse.  Fanny loves the dance, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

We cut to Fanny and Michelle having a nice conversation about the fundraiser Michelle is throwing later in the episode, and then Fanny drops a juicy tidbit:  she found a cabin for her and Michael in Montana, if Michelle wouldn’t mind taking over for a while.  Michelle gladly accepts, and then: SHE comes.

The ringer.  This girl can do ballet in her sleep, and is basically a robot.  Fanny forgot to cancel her after Sasha came back, and basically freaks out.  This girl is terrifying, and no one even knows her name.

We pan to the other girls, and they are busy passive-agressiveing the ringer. “Guess I should take up typing,” from Melanie, I think.

They walk into the room, and Michelle walks into the second coming of the cold war, as all of our main girls are in a fight, which Sasha eloquently disseminates to Michelle.  The whole Charlie/Carl debacle ends with an: ‘And I wish we were all lesbians.’   Michelle manages to be a grown-up for once, and gets the girls talking again.  She then sends Sasha down to ask Fanny about the ringer, and she goes in the most amusing way possible:  arms flung back, chest out, in the epitome of dancer-walk.

So anyway, dancer girl is creepy some more, and Fanny chucks the mean task of getting rid of the ringer to the one person who could handle it: Sasha. 

As Fanny hightails it out of the room, the ringer turns Sasha into her own personal barre, and you can just see Sasha shrinking bit by bit as the conversation goes on, until the ringer has practically made Sasha want to hand Clara to her.

We then cut to: fundraiser, where everyone is dressed in costumes, though it’s a bit weird, because they seem to come from about four different shows, very strange.  Boo is all depressed in her period attire, and Michelle tries to cheer her up, and convinces her to seeks reconciliation with Carl, who hates her due to the Charlie thing last week.  So Boo does the obvious thing, which is go to the microphone, and tell everyone in the room how stupid she was, and that she still really likes Carl.  It was very nearly a crash and burn, but got pulled back at the last minute.  Carl takes her apology, and they dance around to a cover of Rainbow Connection, and it’s super cute, of course.

We then find Fanny crabby, as she found out that Michael’s Montana dream was a solo thing, as he bought a piece of land there.  And then, everything goes to hell in a hand basket.  Melanie gets grossed out by Charlie’s gross friend, and as she’s leaving, spooks Ginny, who goes in for a kiss with Charlie, but manages to split his lip instead.  Michelle then tries to ‘help’ Fanny and Michael, by telling Michael Fanny’s plans.  Sasha runs into random worker, and that was it for her.  THEN, Michelle runs into Godot, and he starts kissing her.  She does not protest, as the whole of the bar watches on.

Fast cut to PISSED OFF Fanny.  The only two minority characters in the whole show are performing a dance, which Fanny declares the most boring dance EVA. We then move to Ginny discussing Charlie things with a girl we later learn is only twelve.  Fanny is now not impressed with another dance, and Ginny is discussing actually inappropriate things with the twelve year old as Charlie pulls up with another girl in his car.  So, no more need for Ginny to plan prom contingencies revolving around when/how/if she should say no to consummating the relationship, especially with that poor twelve year old.

And suddenly: performance.  Fanny is in some sort of suit, and Michelle has a massive bag of doom, since obviously nothing good is going to come of ‘pretty mace.’  Ginny and Melanie are mad at each other again, because apparently Charlie sucking giant monkey balls is Michelle’s fault, somehow? 

The ringer is creepy some more, and then we learn Melanie almost certainly dated her own cousin once.

And then: performance!  Fanny goes out, and give Sasha/Clara the nutcracker, and the dancing is really good…so of course, they go backstage, where Michelle manages to mace the entire troop with her mace, and there is much bumbling, falling, and mass chaos.  Boo and Carl are cute again, some more, and Michelle tries to fix it by indiscriminately spraying water everywhere.  And the ringer is creepy again, as usual.

We then move to the hospital, where everyone is miserable, as is to be expected.  Ginny and Melanie make up over a shared hatred of Charlie.  Sasha and Tyler Roman talk again, and it’s super boring.  So we cut to Michelle and Fanny discussing the maceing, and Fanny is uber pissed.  She revealed Michael left, and Michelle spills that she told Michael about Fanny’s plan, and that when things hit the fan for the second time in the episode.  Fanny basically says things have been wrong since Hubble died, and we cut to…

Michelle doing her audition dance again.  Sutton Foster’s broadway training really comes out, and the piece is fan-freaking-tastic.  She asks how she did, did they like it?, and out steps…

Hubble, who was thoroughly impressed.  Michelle isn’t surprised by him being there, and they talk about how Michelle was there to rock the boat, and they walk to the table in Fanny’s living room, filled with broken frogs, except four, and then our four main girls are dancing behind them in silhouette, with Michelle wondering if she would have stayed as quietly, but louder and louder, parents are yelling. 

Michelle wakes up and realizes what she has to do.  She purposefully walks out the door, to the hallway, where most of the girls are sitting, and the parents are yelling in the background.  Michelle continues out the hospital door, as the girls make a last ditch effort, standing on chairs and calling out ‘Oh Captain my Captain.’  Michelle has to remind them that the teacher leaves in the end anyway, as she tearfully walks out the door.

 

And that’s it for the summer season!  Bunheads has been picked up for at least eight more episodes, so I’ll have more from the girls in January!