What Goes On?

The title of this entry comes from a now cancelled show called October Road. October Road was the story of a young writer who comes back to his home town after the release of his first novel, which is based on his home town. Some people are offended, some flattered. But, none of that really matters. The real story was about the writer's high school sweetheart and her now 10 year old son. It had been 10 years since the writer had been home, and well, he was a bit suspicious. This was the overarching mystery in the show. Who is the baby daddy? Apparently, mommy got around a bit after the writer left and there were a lot of possibilities. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled before the babydaddy was revealed. This mystery bothers me to this day. I will never know the answer. It sucks.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing, really. Except, now that my must watch TV has ended for the year, I've come to realize how much my shows control my life. It's sad, really. I know. October Road has also aided in me not watching any new programming for fear that it will be cancelled. Why get attached to a TV show that will end without warning, leaving you hanging? I saw the just released fall TV schedule announcement put out by the major networks. I saw all of the new shows that aren't coming back for a second season. I saw all of the "Save Chuck!" campaigns. Why don't networks let shows season a bit? Why do shows like Arrested Development get tossed aside, but Still Standing still lives on? Although, an argument can be made that Arrested Development lasted for just the right amount of time. Three seasons of awesomeness. It never had a chance to be bad.

I think that's why reality TV is so popular. You can go through a season feeling pretty secure it won't be cancelled midway and you know at the end that at least that one "storyline" will be complete. They won't get one episode from the end and never tell you who was crowned the ultimate Survivor.

Speaking of reality TV, America has crowned their new Idol and it is:

Yes, Kris Allen beat out Adam Lambert in what Ryan Seacrest called the battle of the guy next door vs. guyliner. Because there is no way Adam Lambert could ever live next door to you. The producers were really stretching on that one.

But I am happy with the result. Lambert just didn't do it for me. He kind of skeeved me out - and not because of his possible sexual orientation, but I just hated his facial expressions when he sang. Maybe that's superficial, but oh well. I'm going to see The National next month after falling in love with their music last year and I have never seen them before. Not just live, but ever. No pictures. Nothing. I am terrified that their appearance will completely shatter my illusions and ruin the music.

When I was 14, I fell in love with the song "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. I was 14 in 1993, so Kansas was long off the radar. I loved the guy's voice and he sounded really hot. When I would listen to the song, I would picture this tall, lanky fellow with long dirty blonde locks and tight jeans. When my friend's mother showed me their album cover, my vision shattered. He was as far from my vision as he could be. Now, the song is okay. But, something is missing.

I don't expect The National to look like blonde gods - I'm not even into that anymore. I don't know if I ever was, really - but I just worry that they will have some weird performance ticks that will destroy them for me.

So, back to the subject, Adam's facial ticks when he sings really ruined him for me. But, his voice never did it for me either. The "screaming" got old quick, and when he would sing a song simply, he did it in this falsetto that just came off whiny.

Yes, I know that Kris Allen had some interesting facial ticks, but I just liked him. He seemed earnest and when he sang, it came from the heart. Adam was always performing. I don't believe we ever saw the real Adam.

What we did see on the finale was another amazing performance by last year's winner, David Cook. He sang "Permanent" and dedicated it to his brother, Adam Cook, who died from brain cancer just a couple of weeks ago. He then released the performance on iTunes with all proceeds going to the ABCsquared charity which raises money to help find a cure for brain cancer. I highly recommend everyone pick up this song. It's a great song and it's for a good cause.

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It's been so long since my last post, I feel like there should be so much more to talk about, but I don't really do much.

We are just coming off of Memorial weekend. It was a lovely weekend.

Two weeks ago, we picked up Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox. We played that this weekend. Quick review: The graphics are amazing, but I'm not loving it like I did Resident Evil 4. The location never seems to change. You just keep doing the same thing over and over. Occasionally they throw you on a boat or jeep, but it's really just the same. And when did this game stop being scary? The zombies aren't really zombies anymore. They are more like the rage filled zombies from 28 Days Later. There are so many of them all the time, that the effect wears off and the fear is gone.

Saturday we had a haircutting bbq at our house. Some of my lady friends came over and we sat outside while my hairdresser friend gave us all haircuts. My husband served as chef and made a delicious meal and I give him a big round of applause for putting up with the hen party after non of the other menfolk decided to come by.

We also biked to the Turf Club on Saturday night to check out the new It band for the Mpls area: Lookbook. I gotta say, they stink. We first saw them at Art-a-Whirl. They played outside of the 331 Club during the day and I wasn't impressed then. They are a duo - guy and a girl - who play sort of new wave/electro/pop. The guy has a machine and he stands there and presses buttons to make the music and she stands there and sings. Occasionally he will play guitar, but that is it for live instruments on stage. That alone bothered me. I have no problem with electronic music, but then you have to put on one of heck of show - and they don't deliver.

We tried to convince ourselves that it must be the venue, so we went to check them out at the Turf Club where they would be on a proper stage with lighting. They were the last band and they followed to great bands: Kill to Kill and We Are Hex. Both bands fronted by quirky women channeling their goddess, Karen O. Full of energy, high entertainment and live instruments everywhere - even though We Are Hex had a lot of electronic influence and sound effects. Lookbook got onstage with their sound machine and just stood there. It was so boring. A huge letdown. We left.

The rest of the weekend was fairly mellow. Drinks with the neighbors, naps....oh, and I wrote a new song!

I had a couple of hours to myself this weekend, and I spent it with my guitar and Garageband. I dug up some old lyrics of mine and put it all together. It came together really easy. It needs some cleaning up and some additions here and there, but I'm excited about it. It's called "Been In a State". It had been a while since I composed. I missed it. I really need to get my music room in the basement so I can do this more often. Of course, if I ever did, I would never see anyone ever again because I would spend all of my time down there.

I'm going to leave it at that for today. It's almost lunch. I'll be back with more hopefully tomorrow.