AI2: The Men Return

The male contestants on this year’s American Idol came back in full force last night, with stellar performances from Blake, Sundance, Chris Sligh and Nicholas (who I don’t particularly like).
Based on last night’s performances, I think those four are safe.
I’m not a Phil fan; mainly his shiny bald head freaks me out (a little stubble or a hat would help). But last night Phil was boring. I can’t remember what song he did, which as Simon is always quick to point out is a bad thing.
So I think Phil is going to go. I think Brandon is in danger of leaving too. I like “Time after Time,” but his interpretation was blah at best. Plus, I kept laughing because I was thinking about Randy from My Name Is Earl, who always listens to “Time After Time” when he breaks up with a girl (if you watch the show, you know how hilarious that was).
Chris Richardson and Jarod failed to wow me as well. But it was good to see Sundance come back. He did that massive goatee proud!
Of all of the men, I think Blake has the best chance of taking it (though after last week, I think the women have a better shot this year). Speaking of the women, they’ll take the stage tonight. People, stop voting for Antonella. She should have gone home last week, she (by the actions of previous years) should have been sent home when those “art” photos showed up on the internet, and no matter what, she should be sent home this week.

Photo courtesy of American Idol.

This last weekend...

I will never watch TV weather reports ever again. I had some major plans this weekend. I was supposed to be traveling all over the state. But then everyone got paranoid about the massive storm that was descending on Wisconsin, so all of my plans got cancelled.
So on Saturday, when it got sunny outside, I was mad.
I watched the weather reports. I saw it was going to snow. 22 inches of snow one station reported. The perfect storm, another station referred to the weather as.
Friday night, 3 inches of snow. HOLY CRAP, CALL THE ARMY! There’s snow on the ground! I don’t know what to do! Oh dear.
So, later on my sunny Saturday I went to the grocery store, to pick up some eggs. With the second wave of this storm of the century getting ready to hit around 6 p.m. (according to TV) people were whipped up in a shopping frenzy. Toaster waffles are particularly popular in a panic situation I noted. I got eggs, but it took a while. Apparently dairy foods are popular in a storm as well. And damn the aisle right of ways. Just go wherever you’d like to. That’s fine with me. I didn’t need toes.
9 p.m., no snow. Later, some flurries. This wasn't the murder death kill storm 2007 I was promised.
So Sunday I woke up. About four inches of snow on the ground. I was livid.
TV weather ruined my weekend. Sure they backpedaled, saying some atmospheric mumbo jumbo caused the weather to change ... blah blah blah. But they were wrong, really wrong, and everyone suffered.
Here’s the facts. It snows in Wisconsin. Anything under a foot is nothing. Two feet in one night, that’s a big deal. Two feet over a weekend ... not a big deal.
We don’t need some guy breaking in on our TV shows to tell us snow is falling out of the sky. Cats. When it rains cats then yes, break in to Law and Order, otherwise it’s just a waste of time.TV weather guys...you stink. I know predicting the future is hard, but maybe you should put a limit on embellishing it. That doesn’t help.

American Idol- Someone has to go home

And I think I know who it is. Antonella Barba stunk up the joint last night, as I predicted. In my mind, she's definitely going home.

I'm torn on which guy is going home. I think they should all be fired, Trump Style, but that's not going to happen.

The girls definitely rocked out the guys. Tuesday night was one of the weakest American Idol's I've ever seen. Chris (Sligh) was all right and Blake shook it up a little, but the rest of the guys stunk. Gina, Lakisha, Melinda, Sabrina and Nicole brought it, though Nicole did bring the wrong song.

This year's American Idol will more than likely be female. You go girls.

File sharing wins again!

Here’s the score: File sharing 2, RIAA 0
In a study published in the Journal of Political Economy, authors Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf say file sharing has had almost no effect on CD sales, despite RIAA and IFPI claims that it has.
This is, of course, no surprise to all of us who have been following the file-sharing saga since the turn of the century when Napster became the online public enemy No. 1.
There is no doubt that music sales have gone down. But file sharing isn’t the cause, and it never has been. The truth is, most people who share music weren’t in the market to buy the music in the first place.
File sharing is no different than making a friend a mixed tape—or as I like to refer to it, early file sharing. You made your friends a tape of music so they could hear what kind of music you liked. If they liked it, they headed down to Musicland and bought it for themselves. If they didn’t, you never mentioned it again.
That’s all file sharing is.
Early studies of file sharers showed that almost 90 percent of people who downloaded music through services like Napster ultimately deleted the songs. Most people listened to the song they downloaded to find out if they liked it. If they did, they bought it. If the didn’t—bye, bye, bye.
This most recent study showed that illegal downloads have, “an effect on sales that is statistically indistinguishable from zero,” which is a lot different than the RIAA’s stance that music downloads are killing the industry.
The study did offer up a real reason for the decline— stores have been reducing their stock. That makes sense; especially since record store chains have been dying faster than flies on the windscreen. The study also pointed out that shoppers might have turned their focus to buying DVDs instead of CDs, which also seens rational since many movies can be purchased for half of what the average CD costs.
But I think the study is glossing over the obvious. People aren’t buying music anymore because it sucks.
Music used to unify. If you were angry, you bought Ministry. If you were sad, you bought The Cure. If you wanted to dance you bought Cathy Dennis. And if you wanted to rock you bought Def Leppard (or Guns N Roses, but mostly Def Leppard).
Music has gone beyond commercial. To quote one of the biggest forces in pop music, American Idol, music is “useless, and I’m bored.”
The listeners haven’t changed. We still want good music, and we’re willing to pay for it. All the music industry has to do is get it out there on the market. But as long as they continue to force Fergalicious down our throats, it’s just not gonna happen.
But the RIAA has been intent on making file sharers criminals, saying they have robbed the industry of millions. That's a lie. This is the second study that has shown the music industry is inflating its numbers.
A November 2006 report by the Australian Institute of Criminology commissioned by the Australian Attorney General’s office concluded that industry statistics concerning financial loss due to piracy are “unverified and epistemologically unreliable” and that statistics used by the copyright holders are “absurd.” With evidence starting to pile up, I it may be time for someone to take a good, hard look at the industry and investigate the RIAA. The organization's bully tactics are beginning to look downright criminal.

Bald Britney

I've been holding off on blogging about this for some time. Britney Spears shaved her head bald while at a Los Angeles tattoo parlor last week.
I, like just about everyone in the world, went, "Huh, would you look at that. She's a (expletive) nut."
I hate to be the sane one in the group, but I think it's about time somebody gets Britney some help. We've put her under the microscope since she was a teenager, analyzing her relationships, her outfits, her post adolescent partying, her parenting skills and the ultimate breakup of her marriage.
We have all gotten caught up in the frenzy, but now it seems like everything has gone too far.
Spears hasn’t worked in years. No music, no videos, no movies, no commercials, nothing, yet she is still a primary focus of the media? Why?
Why should we even care?
I don’t care if Britney Spears is getting divorced. I don’t care if Britney Spears is partying with famous stars. I don’t care if Britney Spears goes out, gets a tattoo and shaves her head (in fact, if I had to have an opinion about it, I don’t think she looks too bad bald).
But this last act is one of two things: Either Spears is desperately trying to keep herself in the public eye, or she is sending out some desperate signals that she needs some help.
Either way, we need to let go of Britney Spears and move on.

So, who’s next?

Godfather of Green Bay hits stores today!

The Godfather of Green Bay, a Wisconsin-made comedy starring Pete Schwaba, Lauren Holly and Mark Borchardt, hits stores on DVD today.
The movie was filmed entirely around Marinette, Wis. and Menominee, Mich. a few years ago. It's about a comedian who falls in love with mobster's girlfriend. Definitely check it out.
You can find out more at the film's Web site, HERE.

The Real Simpsons

This is awesome. Check it out!

Mad Mad Media Minute - American Style

Just in case you've wanted to see it, but you don't have the right browser, here's the Mad Mad Media Minute. This week, American Idol's final 24. What do I think? Click play and find out!

It’s official! The world loves Terra Naomi!

Terra Naomi has been signed!!!! Terra recently confirmed on her blog, http://terranaomi.blogs.com/, that she has been signed by Island Records.
This is a sign people! This is a sign that real music is coming back! Can you feel it? Can you?
I am so excited. According to Terra’s blog, the new disc will be released in the Spring.

The second it’s available in the U.S., I will be at the store buying it.

Yes, I said buying it!
Terra, congrats! If any musician out there deserves to be a huge success, it’s you!

P.S. We had Terra on the Mad Mad Media Podcast back in December. Check it out HERE!

Link to hot new bands

Good Weather for Airstrikes has released its artists to watch in 2007 list. The site gave high marks to up-and-comers Lilly Allen, Cold War Kids, Klaxons and Maximo Park. Check it out by clicking HERE.

Top five worst romantic comedies

Ah, Valentine’s Day! It’s a wonderful day when love fills the air and romantic comedies fly off of the shelves at the video store. While some are great, light-hearted affairs (like While You Were Sleeping and Love Actually) many romantic comedies are to be avoided. Here’s a short list of those that should be left on the shelves.

Serendipity (2001) starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Formula: Boy meets girl, boy has great day with girl, boy and girl go separate ways, fall in love with other people, become involved in binding relationships, remember how much the liked each other from their chance meeting, find each other and live happily ever after while everyone else is pissed of and confused. Yes! That’s love! To quote the comic book guy, worst movie ever!

Excess Baggage (1997) starring Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Toro. Formula: Girl pretends to kidnap herself by tying herself up and locking herself in the trunk of her car. Car gets stolen by boy. Boy and girl argue and fight. Eventually, boy and girl fall in love to the tune of Dave Matthew’s Crash. This definitely gets the WTF award for romantic comedies. This was the beginning of the end of Alicia Silverstone.

Forces of Nature (1999) starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck. Formula: Boy gets on plane to go to his wedding. Plane has accident. Boy meets girl who is more exciting than girl waiting for him at home. Comedy doesn’t ensue. Wow, what a snoozer. This crapfest beat out two other films in this category with the same lead actors: Hope Floats (1998) starring Bullock and Gigli (2003) starring Affleck.

Three to Tango: (1999) starring Matthew Perry and Neve Campbell. Formula: Boy and partner want a job. Boy and partner pretend to be gay to get job. Boy meets girl, who happens to be girlfriend of new boss. Boy’s boss asks boy to follow girl and make sure ... blah blah blah. Boy and girl somehow get together. Janet here at the office says this is the worst movie ever! I agree that it’s a stinker.

10 Things I Hate About You: (1998) starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. Formula: Girls with different personality types meet boys who are their exact polar opposites, yet somehow manage to fall in love at the end. I fell for this one because it was a reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. It’s also where I learned the true meaning of the word reinterpretation—it’s crap.

Happy Valentine’s Day! And if you’re going to enjoy a movie, avoid these films like the plague!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's celebrate with a little itchy and scratchy!!!

So, who else has a stupid cold?

I am sick of being sick. I have had a cold for about a week. It went away for a couple of days and came back like a bat out of hell. Now, I've got that oh-so-wonderful head-in-the-clouds feeling that makes every minute task seem like I'm doing my taxes using French instructions.
This stinks!
What's really great is that I got this cold after launching the Mad Mad Media Minute. So, those people just discovering it might be getting the impression that I'm a pretty boring, monotone person...because I have the voice of someone who has been drinking DayQuil. Non-drowsy formula my...
Speaking of which, check out the latest installment of The Minute by clicking HERE.

Last week - What a Week! What's next?

Sweeps, you gotta love them. Not only do all of your favorite shows come back with all new and exciting episodes, but the news gets really interesting. All of the stories are about things that can harm you, dirty restaurants, children saving lives and newly developed fears involving social situations or life on the net.
But this month, the news is actually interesting. Take last week, not only did we have a female astronaut who allegedly drove 900 miles wearing a diaper to kidnap and kill a woman who the astronaut saw as a potential threat to a relationship she was having with another astronaut, a story that you just can’t beat, but Anna Nicole Smith died suddenly.
What?
The astronaut story alone is enough to make the average news bureau chief squeal with delight, but to major personal interest stories in one week involving sex, or murder, or strange death or an intriguing mystery? How do you top that?
You just can’t.
Trust me, when a huge celebrity dies, entire newsrooms stop in their tracks. You can just imagine the bureau chiefs reacting to the Anna Nicole story.

“John, what story were you working on? Oh yeah, that fire that burned down that historic building. Well come back, we need you because (celebrity with an interesting local twist) has died and we need you to track down classmates and family members. NOW!”

Now, I could sit here and ponder the significance of Anna Nicole's celebrity status, as hundreds of journalists have over the weekend, but she was famous ... that’s that.
And, since the autopsy was inconclusive on the cause of Smith’s death, and several people have stepped up to say they’re Smith’s baby’s daddy, this story will linger on and on and on.
What I would like to know is: What’s Next? We have two-and-a-half weeks of national news to fill, what do we got?
What celeb is going to get busted this week? Brandy... not big enough. Seven from Blossom? Who? Let’s go classic. What’s Woody Allen doing? Are any celebs going to die? Will upstate New York get more snow? How much can it handle? What’s NASA going to do to keep its astronauts from going wild? Will there be an Astronauts Gone Wild video? Will O.J. be connected to the project? How about the snow? Does O.J. have anything to do with that?

Last week will be hard to top, but it will happen.
So, tune in tonight and every night this week for your favorite reality show, The News. Especially during sweeps months - February, May and November ... that’s when the good stuff hits the airwaves!

Anna Nicole Smith is dead

Just when you think the story is strange enough, this happens. Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate who sued the family of her deceased elderly husband for a piece of his fortune and later became a reality TV star, collapsed and died today while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

Last September, her 20-year-old son Daniel was found dead in the Bahamas while visiting Smith in the hospital after she gave birth to her daughter.

Smith was "around 39."

UPDATE

As of 4:50 p.m., no cause of death has been listed. An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted tomorrow.

Smith was the star of The Anna Nicole Show and made appearances in a number of movies, including Naked Gun 33 1/3 with O.J. Simpson.

Much of Smith's fame came from her very public court battles with the children of her deceased husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. Marshall was 89 at the time of their marriage and he died shortly after they were married leaving a $400 million estate.

Smith faded into obscurity for a while before returning with her reality show on E! Network. After the show ended, Smith became a spokeswoman for the weightloss drug, Trimspa.

Indy 4 a go ... maybe

No time for love Dr. Jones.
According to IMDb, Paramount plans to release the next Indiana Jones sequel on Thursday, May 22, 2008.
Of course, according to the same site, the movie has several actors rumored to be attached, and sourced BoxOfficeMojo.com as it's source on the news. BoxOfficeMojo sourced no one.
So since we might as well be guessing here, here's the plot for the new sequel.
Dr. Jones finds himself in some trouble with Nazis after he is caught stealing an ancient artifact. As he escapes back to America on the Hindenburg with his father, some disposable and unlikeable characters, a spunky heiress and a comical pilot, Nazis release poisonous snakes on the blimp.
Jones battles the snakes, screaming "That's it, I've had it with the mothersomething snakes on this mothersomething blimp," all while trying to keep the artifact out of the hands of the Nazis and aliens.
I call it: Indiana Jones and the Snakes on the Mothersomething Blimp
Of course, during the battles with the snakes, the artifact is lost in Atlantic Ocean, paving the way for a Indiana Jones Part 5: Indiana Jones and the Pirates of the Atlantic Ocean.
I smell box office gold!

Blog...the word that must die!

There have been a lot of annoying words and phrases born out of the dot.com craze, including the dot.com craze, googling, websurfing, Internet guru, cookies, cache files and 2.0, but none are more annoying than the word blog.
Now, I realize that the first official blogger for The Sheboygan Press probably shouldn’t blog on his blog on the annoying qualities of the word blog, but the blogosphere has birthed this brilliantly bad blog word and bloggit, I’ve blogged about blog about blog.
I’ve read that 2007 is the year of the blog, and there will be billions of bloggers all over the world, blogging on their blogs. Proof of this was last weeks Fox 6 Blogapalooza, where the television station invited bloggers to blog in a communal blog setting at a Milwaukee coffee shop.
Never in my life had I heard the word blog said so many times as I did in the stations two-minute segment on their blog fest.
Blog!
Blog is a bad word. It sounds like, blah or bog, and I’m sick of it.
It’s like the Smurfs. Everything was Smurfy.
Remember.
“Hey Papa Smurf. Brainy Smurf just Smurfed a Smurf down by the Smurf. Isn’t that Smurfy?”
What the hell does that mean. But you can do it with blogs too.
“Hey Papa Blog. Brainy Blog just Blogged a Blog down by the Blog. Isn’t that Blogy?”
Blog blog blog blog blog blog blog! Blog blog blog. Blog!
Bloggers. We must put an end to the word blog, before we all blog ourselves to death. Any suggestions?

Mad Mad Media is on the air

With very little fanfare, the Mad Mad Media Minute launched today on The Sheboygan Press Web site. It’s a little over a minute, so sorry about the false advertising.

Mentioned are: Courtney Love’s announcement that she was approached by American Idol to replace Paula Abdul.

Jennifer Hudson singing at the Academy Awards.


Little Big Town performing at the The Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 8. LINK to Weill Center.

This weekend’s shows at the Paradigm Coffee House in Sheboygan. Link to Paradigm HERE.



If you have anything you'ld like included in the Mad Mad Media Minute, email me at elarose@sheboygan-press.com I can’t guarantee it will make it on (I only have a minute) but you’ll have a shot.

Hope you enjoy. Here’s a direct link to the show! LINK

Mad Mad Media TV launches Friday

It was only a matter of time I guess.
The Mad Mad Media Minute, a regular entertainment video segment, will launch tomorrow morning on www.sheboygan-press.com
Following the launch, it will air twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays on the Sheboygan Press’ video Web page.
The first one took forever. Hey, who knew how hard it was to speak for one minute without screwing up (too much)?
The first video is pretty low tech, because we’re behind on building a studio, but it was pretty cool.
Check it out tomorrow morning!

American Idol: Two very different days

Tuesday’s American Idol, blah, Wednesday’s American Idol, awesome. I don’t know his name, but the 64-year-old contestant who tried to get on the show for his recently deceased wife was one of the best moments the show has ever had.
His performance was solid, and full of heart. You kids could learn a thing or two from this guy.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a clip for that. But I could find a clip of this crazy nut from Birmingham. Whoa.
To be honest, AI isn’t hitting its mark as often as it should. The rejects are...just bad. The girl last night who went out and got her mother to plead her case was an extremely low moment for the show (though Simon actually livened it up after they left by saying something to the effect of ‘I liked the mom, she was hot.’).
I am enjoying this controversy about Paula Abdul and her wild behavior. I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary (especially after seeing an episode of Next Top Model with Janice Dickinson—who beats Paula hands down). But watching Fox 6’s in depth story on the possibility of Paula being replaces by Courtney Love was amusing.
So, enjoy this clip. It’s pretty bad.