aradia22

Was that one of the ones where they were running around dressing themselves? I think there are plenty of challenges where you just have to charm the judge.

They clearly didn't get the sob stories they wanted out of this episode. Watching Zanna try to prod them was mildly amusing. But in general this week was incredibly boring. None of the fashion really interested me. Even looks that were fine like Dimitri's dress felt pedestrian. Mostly I was just bored. I don't think Kate was the worst but they were never going to let her win and I guess now is as good of a time as any to kick her out. The Sonjay love is crazy to me. I think the only thing that really entertained me was Michelle criticizing someone else's color choices. Did she not see her dress last week? And the first week? Justin's finger painting was just embarrassing though his red dress wasn't bad. I kind of liked Jay's dress even if it wasn't that exciting. Helen picked a great red. I liked the back of Benjamin's dress. These "All Stars" should really be better.

If there's any justice, we'll shed Lauren or Stevi tomorrow and certainly before the finals. I still think Only the Young deserved to get to the finals and maybe win. They were generally good singers (other than the brunette). They were clean and consistent which is more than can be said for... well, everyone else. Fleur should make it to the finals but I'm almost OK with it if she doesn't win because I think she'll have a stronger career if she's runner up. She better get a recording contract though. I used to sort of like Ben but it bothers me that he hasn't improved and if anything his vowels are worse. He's relatively talented but he's sloppy. And he doesn't seem to be working on his performance or stage presence. If he's not singing a rock song I'm generally not into it. He really needs to stop singing love songs. I don't like Andrea but he's almost guaranteed a spot in the finals unless he does something crazy or has a scandalous secret that gets revealed. I wouldn't discount Stereo Kicks' chances of knocking either Fleur or Ben out of the finals. I don't have a good grasp of what's going on with the groups. Even though I really like Little Mix now I never saw them winning in their season.

Poor Shei. Based on her portfolio at the end, I don't think she ever had a great grasp of how to work her angles to show off her face best. However, I also can't shake the feeling that throughout the competition, and this week especially, Tyra hid her best photos so she could craft a narrative around her favorites. Whew, the boys actually ended up looking OK with their stupid wigs but there was no saving Shei and Lennox. I think they sell better wigs at the dollar store. There's no doubt that Keith is a handsome guy. But this is the first week in a while that I've found him really attractive. Even though the wig wasn't great I think it helped him look a lot younger. Adam did great this week. They're really working the redemption angle. I thought Will's body looked good but aside from crazy limbs there wasn't much else I liked about the shot.

I hope previously lets us comment here as it happens. I try not to abuse my twitter so I still have followers.

Lauren Platt: How Will I Know. A little off. She's not straight-toning it. It's more like she's moaning on pitch. I'm talking about notes like "to" in the line "looks into my eyes" and "lose" in the line "Oh, I lose control." Her low notes were kind of pretty though. The problem is her upper register is thin and she's a little all over the place and she doesn't have great control. But she can't really access her lower register the way she'll be able to in a few years because her voice hasn't finished developing. Was that Lauren trying to dance? Why can't she bend at the waist? The big note was better this week. Much less tortured though she did slide off pitch a few times. I'm going to call it a good week. She was almost believable as a young person. Ben Haenow: I Will Always Love You. I don't mind gravel and grit. But I hate it with Ben's closed off vowels. It's so unpleasant to hear. The long notes don't do him any favors. The pitch is very shaky. A guy like Ben needs to write his own songs which other people will make youtube covers of. Or sing in a rock band. Also he's still so goddamn smarmy. Ben will not always love you. Even as he's giving you this speech, Ben is thinking about what he's going to have for dinner. Ben will turn the football match back on as soon as you walk out of the flat. Ben is already sleeping with his neighbor. And your best friend. Andrea Faustini: I Have Nothing. Andrea also doesn't believe an word he's singing. That's why his eyes are going all over the place and he closes them so you will not see the false emotion. He was a bit off in the beginning and this felt like a particularly boring week for him. Even when he hit the high point of the song, I was bored. Only the Young: Something About the Way You Look Tonight. This feels off brand. I think it was a mistake to give them a song like this that they had to force to fit to their style. Also, what is wrong with the brunette? You have the shortest solos. Pull it together. This hampered them. They were still solid but it wasn't as fun this week. The forced levity with the silly string was just awkward. Bad song choice. Fleur East: I'm Every Woman. There were small things that could have been cleaned up but for a live performance, it was pretty great. Fleur has the magic the others don't have. She's going to get eliminated soon and I'm going to be so upset. I thought the thing with all the women and Fleur's sisters was cute. They suck at choreographing things anyway so this felt much more natural. Stevi Ritchie: I'm Still Standing. Why the hell did this have an Egyptian theme? Karaoke but good for Stevi. Stopping him from running around helped out the vocals. Still not great. Stereo Kicks: Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me. Barclay Beales started off strong. Well not strong really. OK and kind of shaky on "darkness." He has a nice tone but he doesn't have a strong voice. Reece Bibby was technically sound but unremarkable. James Graham is still the best. Jake Sims managed to not be off key and got in a nice growl. Tom Mann's voice was unpleasantly high and child-like like a cartoon character. For Stereo Kicks it was good if very 90's. Rankings 1. Fleur East 2. Only the Young 3. Stereo Kicks 4. Lauren Platt 5. Andrea Faustini 6. Ben Haenow 7. Stevi Ritchie This week is double elimination. Someone already went home. It was . I'm super upset about this, guys. If goes tomorrow I don't think I can handle it.

There's no way this will end badly -said no one. We can decide in a few months if this was better or worse than the Lifetime Whitney biopic.

That's a good point. Since they had help, they could have made anything you could make within a few hours with three people working together and what they came up with wasn't that inspiring.

My recap is up on trashtalktv. Tieler is not a name. But I guess you can't expect anything else from a woman named Tahmi. Christopher and Michael are two of my favorites. Somehow even with Michael, Christopher, and Christian Threads is never that exciting but I'm getting used to it. I wish they'd try harder with casting. Maybe if this gets a second season the talent level will be higher. I can't imagine a lot of kids knew about the auditions.

Yes, so breathtaking that you put on a live theatrical production... you know, the way they do in theatres across the world every day?

Oh lord. I can't with that. I'm not a big hate-watcher. I generally watch everything hoping it'll be good because I don't want to waste my time on things that are terrible. Even when I assume something will be objectively bad like all the Lifetime movies I find myself watching, I'm hoping it'll be entertaining and campy and fun. But even though I want to be supportive and encouraging if you've done a bad job, you should expect to get called on it. It's not my responsibility to protect your feelings. It's your job to perform to a certain standard. Literally. That is your job. If she does a good job I'll give her her due. If her singing or performance isn't up to par, I'll call her on it. It's as simple as that.

I'll just be here in the corner then not thinking he was attractive in Deception. I'll grant you that Paul Henreid was bland and Claude Rains was more dynamic. But I didn't find him physically attractive and he seemed to be the embodiment of a little man.

They renewed Scorpion and Stalker. I'll never understand them either.

I'm not a big ALW fan aside from Evita and to a lesser extent Phantom but Donna Murphy in Sunset Boulevard? Intrigued... http://www.broadway.com/buzz/178487/as-if-we-never-said-goodbye-is-sunset-boulevard-returning-to-broadway-starring-donna-murphy/ This is not Gigi. It's an Audrey Hepburn Halloween costume. http://www.broadway.com/buzz/178484/oo-la-la-get-a-first-glimpse-of-vanessa-hudgens-in-broadway-bound-musical-gigi/ Is it just me or are we getting more superhero stuff lately? http://www.broadway.com/buzz/178438/matt-doyle-nick-cordero-more-tapped-for-world-premiere-of-brooklynite-off-broadway/ I'm with the first commenter. I'm not even sure why these needed to be voted on. http://www.broadway.com/buzz/178397/tony-awards-administration-committee-rules-on-its-only-a-play-holler-on-the-town-more/ A 51 member ensemble? Crazy! So excited for The King and I, you guys. Out of curiosity, if you have any option available, when do you like to go see a show in its run. Right at the beginning? In the middle when they're comfortable? A year or two in when they're super comfortable? When they're about to close? http://www.broadway.com/buzz/178435/ruthie-ann-miles-more-set-for-the-king-and-i-starring-kelli-ohara-ken-watanabe-on-broadway/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nqYMuiGS14 It looks kind of cheap. It seems like they spent their money getting a lot of stuff and not necessarily on high quality stuff. That is, there's a big cast and lots of props and set pieces and costumes but it's looking a little cheap. Not feeling the Tiger Lily. Christopher Walken looks like he couldn't care less. Wendy is rather old. Alison's voice is a little quiet in the trailer. Not unpleasant but not up to Broadway standards. If they don't really get the set up down I think there's a chance the music might drown her out.

I'm in an interesting place right now after pilot season. I'm still in the process of figuring out which shows I want to commit to. And a lot of the ones I went with got cancelled while the ones I decided to pass on got renewed or got a full season pick up. For instance, I love Selfie and it would totally be one of those shows I'd watch a season or two past when I should stop and of course it got cancelled. How to Get Away with Murder is interesting and it's my first Shonda Rhimes show but I don't really find it that dramatic or compelling. I don't care about any of the characters and I care very little about the mystery but it's an easy show to watch, especially since I've cut out pretty much all of the procedurals I used to watch (Law and Order, Bones, Castle, etc.). I'm partially watching to see if I'll get more invested and partially watching on a more meta level thinking about what Shonda Rhimes is trying to accomplish with this show. I find A to Z and Manhattan Love Story more tolerable than other people, I guess but I'm not brokenhearted that we're losing them. A to Z wants to have heart but it's struggling to find its footing. MLS might be the worst of the overbearing voiceover shows but I find it watchable in the way The Carrie Diaries was watchable. Marry Me is a little better than A to Z but not by much. I still prefer Selfie. I think it has the coldness of A to Z where I see the gears turning and I'm super aware I'm watching actors and not characters like they're trying to compete to see how fast they can get out the dialogue and how many jokes (most which don't land) they can get out in the span of an episode. Cristela is kind of amusing. I think I'll save episodes to watch as filler when I'm bored. It's fairly predictable but I'm hoping it'll get into Mindy Project territory. The pilot of Red Band Society was painful for me. I keep trying to make myself watch episode 2 but it hasn't happened so far. I decided to try out Bad Judge, Stalker, Scorpion, and The Mysteries of Laura and dropped them all. Three of those got picked up. The world is a weird place.

I also had time to watch Three on a Match (1932). I was really excited for this movie but if I didn't know anything about it I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. Weird montages and newspaper clippings are not how you keep an audience engaged. I thought the child actors weren't bad though. Did people really think of a radio are a "wireless telephone"? I did end up enjoying the movie in spite of all the transition sequences as the performances were super solid across the board. Lyle Talbot was a little over the top at the end in the desperate man act and of course there was a bit of camp with Ann Dvorak but all in all, very solid acting. Even the over the top moments, felt in line with the parts as written and not like bad acting. It was nice to see Bette Davis in this role. I feel like in the movies I've seen she's often... hard.. in a way. Here she was smart but didn't have that toughness that for me makes her a little distant. I disliked Lyle Talbot from the start because the last time I saw him he was the rapey guy in She Had to Say Yes. Young Humphrey Bogart was an interesting surprise. He really shone in a small part. I was into it. Played by someone else, I don't think it would have worked as well. I did kind of feel like the overall plot was a bit of a letdown. One of these days I'd like to see a movie that has some solution for a woman in Vivian's position that doesn't involve one of the standard options and feels like a genuine, satisfying solution. They could have taken time away from the transitions to flesh out Joan Blondell's and Bette Davis' characters more. It was called Three on a Match but it was really about Dvorak and aside from tying the title in to a saying I'm not sure why they were so set on pretending it was about the three women. Because it wasn't.

I finally got around to watching the rest of Double Harness (1933). Ann Harding fell rather flat for me but overall the movie was just tonally off. I was expecting romantic comedy. Instead I got a comedy that wasn't that funny and more of a witty drama. But it failed even as that. And it didn't work as a drama. I think they were going for romantic comedy/witty drama but they didn't commit and so everything just felt muted. The script wasn't bad. It was smart. But it was a short film and they didn't do a great job of developing the characters and the actors didn't make up the difference. It wasn't bad but it's not a must watch.

Oh, God. I totally forgot about that. I don't think she was that great but it's hard to tell with a show that campy. From the small bits we see in the trailer, it does seem like she's trying. I can get past an actor or actress not looking exactly like the person (though of course it's better when the casting people put in a little bit of effort) if they really make an attempt to mimic the person with accents and mannerisms and speech patterns and gait, etc.

What I meant was that it didn't make sense in the context of the movie. They didn't really talk about it being a hit or getting good reviews. After the buildup with her wanting to be an actress they could have had her working with an acting coach or being on set or even being backstage (since they loved putting her in the makeup chair... low budget I would imagine) being nervous or wondering if the cast/creatives would respect her. They could have had a short scene with her and fake Jet Li. Something to justify it. There was just so much of the movie that wasn't tied to a story at all. It felt like watching a wikipedia page brought to life with no perspective or judgments or context.

I wouldn't say they were dialing back the creep factor exactly. I have no problem with the "but I love him, daddy!" stuff because that dialogue would fit with what a 15-year-old who thought she was in love with someone would say. However, I think the problem comes in with the way the script doesn't have a point of view. It's not that they were romanticizing their relationship. It's that they took no angle. There was no perspective, good or bad. You don't need to be heavy handed but you have to take a stand one way or the other to tell a story. Why was any of that in the movie? It had no relevance to the story other than showing that she got cast in a movie when she pursued an acting career. They could have expressed it with a few lines of dialogue. If they weren't going to explore it there was no point wasting what time they did on it.

I would rank this above Saved by the Bell and Brittany Murphy. It was closer to Lizzie Borden and Flowers in the Attic. Boring but relatively competent. I give them credit for trying for Selena and getting decent actors for the most part but there was just no story. You have to start with the script. Decide what story you want to tell.

Let's review. Mel B has Andrea. He could take it but I personally would never listen to his album and to me, he feels like more of a Britain's Got Talent act. Cheryl is left with Lauren who seems to be getting worse over time. She employs the same move Jay does as described by Kaoteek except she's in tune in the beginning and starts to careen around wildly when it comes to the shouty bit at the end. Louis has Only the Young and Stereo Kicks. I personally love Only the Young and I think they could take it. I would be perfectly happy if they won. Stereo Kicks are a pretty mediocre boy band and without James they're horrid but they might have been in the competition long enough to build up their fan base. Simon still has Fleur, Ben, and Stevi. Let's be honest, it's not going to be Stevi. Ben could make it farther but I just find him unlikable in his performances. He needs to work on not seeming so smarmy. Fleur is his best shot but she's not a Leona or Rebecca or Alexandra and I'm worried about her chances of getting to the end.

Sometimes the X Factor voters get it right. were in the sing off. Amazing. I actually thought the former turned in a relatively (compared to the others) decent performance last night but that doesn't mean I'm crying for . The judges went to deadlock. went home. I. Am. Shocked. I didn't want or expect to win but still, I didn't expect an elimination this soon given the apparent popularity of this act.

I taped it to watch today. It's similar to the other Lifetime biopics. Very choppy. No strong narrative. No real judgment or point of view resulting in a collection of random vignettes. I will say the acting is better than most of the schlock Lifetime turns out. Was this filmed in Canada? At least two of the actors are on Degrassi right now. The music isn't bad. The in-film music I mean. I'm not an Aaliyah fan so I don't have anything to compare it to. Putting aside the respectable music biopics like Coal Miner's Daughter and the like, my favorites are the Jackson 5 one and the Celine Dion one. I feel like this movie was kind of trying for Selena but Selena at least pretended to have more of a story. The R. Kelly stuff felt like it could have anchored the narrative but it did not. Again, vignettes. Also, bless that poor actor. They put him in the worst wig cap I have ever seen. That makeup person should never work again. That was embarrassing. Also, he looked nothing like R. Kelly. First they tried to hide it with the hoodie and the sunglasses and the facial hair and hats and even that wasn't working. Then they took the props away and it got worse. Speaking of the look-alikes, I thought the actress playing Aaliyah was alright but she looks a lot more like someone else. I can't place it. The Timbaland and Gladys Knight weren't awful knowing that they didn't go on an exhaustive search and they were never going to find carbon copies. I don't know what they were thinking with Missy Elliot. I don't know why Lifetime movies are so scared of plot and structure. Some of the lip-synching in this movie was awful. Journey to the Past sounded rough. Idiot that I am I'm still excited for Whitney Houston. Am I going to watch The Red Tent? Hell, yes. I'm still on the fence about an En Vogue Christmas. I hate myself sometimes.