May 2006 Archives

With Father's Day coming up, I could've saved this until then, but it's in my head right now. The words to this song make me cry everytime I hear it, which is kind of pathetic when you think about it.

Anyway, I'm sure all of the dads of daughters who occasionally read this site (Randy, Dad, Jamie) have heard this song before, but just in case you haven't:

"Father and Daughter," by Paul Simon

Michael, this could soon apply to you. You never know. And while we're on songs about kids, Michael, this is another one that, for some reason, got me emotional when Alecia was pregnant:

"Danny's Song," by Loggins and Messina

And hell, why not this one, too:

"We're Having a Baby," by Desi Arnaz

Sorry, I've got nothing for the moms today. I meant to upload "Mother and Child Reunion," but couldn't find it on my harddrive...

"Mommeeeeee! Please I watch more Maddie and Roast Beef?"

Huh?

Then I realize she had been watching Maggie and the Ferocious Beast.

Our household was divided about who deserves to be named "American Idol" after last night's performances. Maddie busted a move during Katharine's first performance, but seemed distracted for the rest of the evening. When it came time to announce our favorites, however, she shouted "Katharine! Katharine McPhee!" Alecia and I were amazed that she knew the name, but even more amazed that she chose Katharine to root for.

The rest of us chose Taylor, of course. Josie danced through both of Taylor's first two performances, pulling out some new moves we hadn't seen before. It was clear who she was rooting for. Alecia and I were anti-Katharine anyway, and last night's performances didn't do a thing to change our minds. Her first song, "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" wasn't as interesting the second time around, with her standing instead of sitting. We did have to agree that her second attempt at "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was actually better than the first time she sang it, and may have been the best vocal performance of the season. But we never had any doubt that she could sing--we just don't like her. Luckily, she stunk up the joint on the last song, justifying our dislike. Yes, it was an awful, awful song. But she also sounded pitchy and mumbly while singing it.

I think I figured something out about Katharine, by the way. In two of the last three weeks, she messed up the words of one of her songs. And last night, she sounded unsure and off kilter on her last song. I think she carefully choreographs and rehearses each song to such an extent that it's difficult for her to learn multiple songs and still keep everything in her head. When you're carefully planning each step, each gesture, that's a lot to call back up under pressure. So one of her songs has suffered for it each week. I think it's why she chose the boring '40s-era song for her final song last week--it was probably something she'd done for auditions or in a show before, so she didn't have to learn anything new. And not coincidentally, it was the first time in three weeks that she didn't mess up one of her songs.

Taylor doesn't seem to have the same problem, nor did Elliott. But they both move naturally (sometimes awkwardly), as the music compels them, and they both sing with their hearts, not with their heads. Neither of them really has choreography or scripted moments (like when Katharine was singing her final song last night, and suddenly pointed skyward as if she remembered that she was supposed to do it on that specific line). When you're just running around like a crazy person, or bouncing up and down, you don't need to think about your movements, so you can concentrate on the lyrics. But if you've planned every single movement of your hands and feet, it's hard to get all of that down in a week of preparation and still learn the song. That probably won't hurt Katharine in the long run, of course. She'll have plenty of time to learn her concert moves and songs. But it showed up again last night and may cost her the competition.

Anyway, both singers were solid last night, but I agree with Simon that Taylor should be the winner. His final song was a better song to begin with (I'm glad they gave them each unique songs to fit their styles, though Katharine sort of got screwed there), but Taylor also put a lot more of himself into it than Katharine did. So if it was tied before then (which I agree that it might've been), hopefully, that final rendition put him over the top. When it came time to vote, we voted by text messaging, and stayed true to our family allegiances: three votes for Taylor, one for Katharine.

For Josie and Maddie, who knows how they made their decisions. But for Alecia and I, I think we chose who we'd most like to see be named winner. Not necessarily who will sell the most records or have the most mainstream success, but who was the nicest person and most deserving of nice things happening to them. Katharine has always had an arrogance and flippance to her that makes her unrelatable. She just seems like someone who has natural gifts and has never had to sacrifice for anything. She's genuinely shocked whenever someone says anything negative about her, and is full of excuses. Taylor, on the other hand, has always seemed humble and appreciative of where he's at. We'd rather hear a grateful and ecstatic Taylor doing the winner interviews the next day, I guess.

How about you?

Maddie's first recital was yesterday, and it went as well as could be expected. We knew she wouldn't follow along with the group, but we weren't sure what she'd do. In the end, she fixated on the construction paper placeholders they'd laid down to show the girls where to stand. When they practiced, they didn't have those. I almost wish they didn't have them this time, either, so we could've seen how she would've "freestyled."

Anyway, we had a fun morning, followed by a nice lunch at Moe's, then some much-needed naps for the girls. Both were really tired from our Six Flags trip the night before (which explains the bags under Maddie's eyes).

My only regret about the experience yesterday was that we didn't get more still pictures, or make Maddie pose with her costume on and with her ribbon. We were just so into the moment that we weren't thinking like parents. Plus, it was hectic at the gym where they performed. Kids and parents everywhere in a classic "hurry up and wait" environment. Every kid had at least one meltdown, and most parents were bribing and placating their kids with candy, which had unpredictable results. So we never had the chance to slow down and take some posed pictures. We really only have the video. As silly as it sounds, when she has her hair up for her next class in a few weeks, we may throw her into her costume to get some pics.

Anyway, what you'll see below is Maddie waiting around for her dance, dancing, then accepting her ribbon (and snack) and sitting back down. The book she's reading at the beginning is one our friend Carolyn loaned to her to get her through her only meltdown of the morning. And the lady in the black and white checkered shirt was a volunteer that sort of adopted Maddie for the morning and took great care of her. We owe her a lot--she even kept Maddie with her when her own daughter was on stage. (Parents weren't allowed to hang with their own kids during the program.)

Sorry about the video quality, by the way. I may try to re-cut it a little to see if I can get a better version up. It's right at the size limit for YouTube, so I think they put some extra compression on it to make it fit. So it's way worse than the original looks. And with the yucky quality, you can't really see Maddie's expressions (or lip-read what she's saying to everyone, which is the funniest part to me).

As slammed as I was today, I didn't have time to write a full recap of last night's episode. That's okay, really, since it wasn't all that exciting.

Tonight's elimination will be between Elliott and Katharine, and I'd bet money on Elliott going home. Katharine still has the female-voting population tied up, and although he's improved over the season and is super likeable, Elliott still doesn't have the fanatical support Taylor does.

I thought Katharine sucked again last night. Her "I Believe I Can Fly" was overcooked. She sang it like she felt she had to make a Mariah-esque run on every note. It was hideous. Her performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was a little better, but not much. She still overdid it. I usually find that song beautiful if done right, but I found her boring, no matter how much she played with the song. Heck, I couldn't even tell what she was singing in the beginning, but that doesn't make her performance good, just...different. Katharine's last performance of the night was like something a beauty pageant contestant would sing for the talent competition. But at that point, she was just out there to show off the dress. She didn't have to have a wonderful night (which she didn't), she just had to be average as long as Elliott didn't hit one out of the park.

Speaking of my man Elliott, was anyone else surprised at how good "Open Arms" sounded? I expected a crash and burn when I found out what song he had to sing (could Clive Davis recommend something from this century, please?), but that was the best song of the night, from where I was sitting. Sadly, his Paula-picked song was just average, and made Elliott sound old. And his final song was as forgettable as Katharine's (and he had no dress to show off). Even after so many weeks of this stuff, it seems like the contestants forget that they're supposed to pick songs the FANS would like, and can sing along with. That was one of the reasons Chris fell out--he kept singing songs that may have showed his style, but that nobody could sing along with. It means that everyone has to sit back and just listen to you, rather than interact with your performance. And letting them sit in silence means giving them the chance to be supercritical of every note.

Finally, Taylor was Taylor last night. And at this point, that's all he had to be. His song choice was okay. Nothing too daring. Strangely, I didn't like hearing so much "Taylor" in some of the songs. For example, I like the original "Try a Little Tenderness" (and even the version sung in the movie The Commitments) way better than Taylor's last night. And I'm not talking about the singing, I just mean the arrangement. All of his songs last night were good choices for him, but they screwed with the arrangements a little too much to get me into it. Anyway, he was still solid. And I think, at this point, he's got such a lead over the other two that he's coasting into the finals. That's not to say that he'll win the final competition. Every final episode gets more votes cast than during any other show of the season, so despite there only being two contestants, there's enough of an increase in viewers and in participation to really up the numbers. All of these new votes mean that anything can happen. But in my opinion, I think Taylor's safe. Elliott's votes are more likely to go to him than Katharine, and his fans are fanatical enough to stay on the phones all night and pay a fortune in text messages to push him through.

It's still a shame that Katharine will make the final two. The girl who has it easy, attends a school for performing arts, has a mom who's a vocal coach, has obviously been trained from birth, but yet has an awful personality and an obvious arrogance...and she takes out a true dirt and oil rocker and a guy who came up from nothing. She's like the bad guys in a sports movie that you love to hate. And if she loses to Taylor or Elliott, it will be as satisfying to me as the final shot in Hoosiers.

By the way, does anyone else here hate how Katharine always looks shocked and offended when the judges criticize her? She's the only one to complain about the judges all season, and it just proves that while we may not think she's perfect, she sure thinks she is.

We took Josie for a skin test on Monday to see just to what exactly she's allergic. Luckily the test didn't involve needles, just a few scratches on the skin. Here's what her allergies include:

-Dogs and cats (ha!)
-Dust Mites (okay, that's expected)
-Soy (Same allergy as Bill)
-Peanuts (Bill's allergic to tree nuts, so it's expected too)
-Milk (Wha???? Huh?)

Yeah, the kid's allergic to milk and we had no idea all this time. We're not sure if any of these cause only skin reactions or actual anaphylactic reactions (trouble breathing) so we're advised to keep all of these foods out of her diet, and take precautions with dust and the animals. Josie LOVES the dogs, so that's a hard one but we were told to just make sure to wash her hands --and the dogs-- often. She's never really tried peanuts so far, so we really have no idea about her reaction to them. Since it's the most common and dangerous food allergy, we're advised to stay away from them completely.

It sucks for Josie since the kid LOVES pretty much all dairy. Cheese, yogurt, milk. We're now on rice milk instead (no soy milk). She seems okay so far. Her skin has been great the past few days, despite being off the steroid medication she was on to clear it up. I have noticed a huge difference now that she's not drinking milk.

Poor kid. I hate to say it {knock on wood} but I hope everything else seem to work out for her. She's had a tough start so far. Luckily, it doesn't affect her much, since she's still the happiest baby/little girl she's always been (despite learning how to throw a mean temper tantrum).

I won't go into the boring details, but Alecia and I have switched our phone service yet again.

Now, if you dial the number that was our home phone number, it will take you to Alecia's brand new cellphone. She will have that with her at all times.

I, on the other hand, have a new cell phone of my own. I won't list the number here--too many opportunities for abuse--but if you want the number, you can either call Alecia on the number you already have, or you can leave a comment below and I'll email my cell number to you.

We had been using Vonage for our home phone service, while still paying for a separate cell line. Now, we're just going with a two cellphone plan and shared family minutes.

The upside is that each one of us is now reachable at all hours, no matter where we are. The downside is that you now have to choose one of us to call when trying to call "the family" or the kids. (It's usually a safe bet to call Alecia during daylight hours and me at night if you want to talk to the kids.)

If there are any questions, let me know. Thanks!

If you haven't noticed any of the new pics appearing in our flickr link to the left, I just wanted to leave a note to tell you that we finally got our camera fixed, and we have some new pictures up.

Yes, it's time to once again prove that an expensive camera does not guarantee good photos if the user is inept. :) Though, in my defense, the camera really doesn't focus right since being broken.

Anyway, I pulled a few of my favorites just to share the love with those of you too busy/lazy to visit our flicker account.

Last night and today were too busy, so I didn't have time to write a long wrap up. But here are my thoughts before tonight's elimination show.

Chris was really solid on the first one, but that's all he is for me, lately--solid. I know he'll have a successful career after this show, and he may still be a frontrunner to win, but he's become sort of boring for me. Those emotional performances of current hits have been eclipsed by obscure hard rock songs and boring performances of standards. He's just no fun anymore.

Taylor had a strong night, but he should've. Elvis is sort of his style. I love that he picked "In the Ghetto," as it's one of my favorite Elvis songs. But since nobody can do it as well as the king, it was just okay for me. But I think he's still the leader in fan loyalty no matter what he sings. He has yet to be in the bottom of voting in any episode.

Elliott rocked last night! Great song choice, wonderful performances. Just great, overall. He can do that memphis gospel stuff just like Harry Connick can, so he was smart picking that more obscure song. I think he was the best, overall, last night. But he's still sort of the goofy one without a serious following. If they do bottom two tonight, he could be in it despite how good he was.

Katharine was awful last night. She forgot the words to her song for the SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK. And she was just average on the one she knew. She's setting this pattern of being perhaps the most talented and best-trained vocalist in the entire competition, but being lazy about learning the lyrics and being boring when she sings. I didn't like either of her songs last night, and she should be voted out tonight. But being the only girl left, she sort of has a lock on any female-voting demographic. Also, I think the producers would want to keep the hot chick for another week, so if this game is at all unfair, it will show up now.

I have no prediction tonight. I believe Katharine deserves to go home right now, but who knows how the voting will go. It's like I told Alecia after Kellie left: at this point, everyone left is talented enough to have a strong solo career, so it won't surprise me to see ANYONE go home from here on out. (Okay, maybe I'd be surprised to see Taylor go home due to his fanatics, but it could happen!)

The bicycle on my wish list this year:

Okay, that title has nothing to do with this post, but I ran out of "idle" puns long ago.

Tonight was an interesting night of singing. Being able to do two songs made it hard to pick who was truly the worst singer. But I guess that doesn't matter since you're supposed to vote for the best, not the worst.

Anyway, I decided to rank them by performance first, then by overall night:

1. Elliot, "Home" - I've never heard this song before, but he made me want to buy the single. It sounded like it was written for him, and I loved the little unique touches of emotion he put in while singing it. Definitely the best song of the night for me.
2. Chris, "Renegade" -I love this song, and can't help but sing along whenever I hear it. And Chris was faithful enough to the original to keep me singing, but unique enough to make it his own.
3. Katharine, "Black Horse in a Cherry Tree" - Another song I've never heard--with perhaps the weirdest lyrics and title--but I loved it. And as corny as Katharine's choreography was, I enjoyed that, too. Heck, it's the first song by her I've genuinely liked in weeks.
4. Taylor, "Something" - I think choosing a Beatles song was a cop-out. He could've shown how his voice can adapt to contemporary music, but he chickened out. Other than that, I really liked the performance.
5. Elliot, "On Broadway" - This song is overused on this show, but it is a great one. Elliott put his own spin on it and was excellent, but I think I've just heard it done too much.
6. Taylor, "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)" - It was a little karaoke for me. Plus, the whole "white boy does soul" joke with Taylor singing this was a little heavy-handed.
7. Paris, "Be Without You" - This was Paris's best song of the night, and wasn't too bad even when compared to the other singers. I think I'm just sort of sick of her sound at this point. And her dancing is horrendous.
8. Chris, "I Dare You" - I didn't hear his voice breaking the first time I watched this, but I played it back after the judges' comments, and it was more obvious. My biggest problem with this one is that it was a weak song. It wasn't the performance, it was just the fact that his screaming style is a lot less compelling for me when it's on a song I don't know.
9. Katharine, "Against All Odds" - She totally messed up the words, seemed nervous, and all I could think was that Scott Savol did a better version of this song last season. Remember that one? Where he beat his chest and turned the song into a challenge to all his haters? Ah, good times.
10. Paris, "Kiss" - I was in high school when Paris was born? Great. Anyway, there's no way to do this song live without sounding like you're at a karaoke bar. It's just impossible. Bad song choice, and it could be all she wrote for Gay Paree.

So, with those reviews in mind, I tried to think of how I'd rate the overall quality of tonight's combined performances, from best to worst. Here's how I would have scored it, giving my vote to Elliott once again. He was just the most consistent over his two songs.

1. Elliott


2. Taylor


3. Chris


4. Katharine


5. Paris

I think Paris goes tomorrow night. Maybe in the bottom two with Elliott or Katharine. At this point, it's anyone's time to go, and I think Chris and Taylor are back on solid ground and have their fans behind them again. And I would bet that the rednecks that were voting for Kellie are probably behind one of those southern boys now.

One final note: I'm glad that Ryan asked what those instruments were in Katharine's last song, even if I feel sort of stupid for not being able to guess that they were called "box drums." I was at a convention recently where I got to see an artist named Natalie Grant perform a few songs with a gutarist and a guy sitting on a box as her back up band. I fell in love with that freaking box. Doesn't it look like an instrument that anyone could play? I mean, how much talent can it take? I play a real mean "steering wheel drum," so I'm pretty sure I could handle it.

Congrats to Alecia, who participated in her first-ever 5K run this past Saturday!

Alecia ran in the Jonquil Festival 5K here in Smyrna at 8am Saturday morning, then stayed on her feet all day as we went to a birthday party at Little Gym and to the Jonquil Festival. Needless to say, she's a little sore right now.

She was originally going to do a 5K walk with one of her fellow moms. But her friend bailed on her, and I wasn't able to join her due to a lack of babysitting for the kids. So Alecia dragged her own butt out of bed and took on the challenge all by herself. Of course, once she started the race, she couldn't endure being passed by old women and middle schoolers, so her "walk" quickly turned into a run. And she's the one who calls me overcompetitive. :)

She finished the race with a good time, and was able to cross one more thing off of her "43 things to do before I die" list. Way to go, Alecia! We're all proud of you!

Next up: The Hawaii Hilltop Marathon! ;)