aradia22

The subway seasonal clothing challenge was so stupid but it made me laugh. I was also encouraged to see that while some people have no idea what they're doing, there might be some actual models in the bunch. There were some good photos in the mix, mostly from the girls though maybe 3 or 4 of the guys had a good photo or two. Danny had some potential. Was he too short for them to keep him in the competition? I do not understand where Romeo's attitude is coming from unless there's a lot of stuff they didn't show us. Why go after Danny? So many cliches. Apparently most of the contestants have at least seen one season. Couldn't they have come up with some original thoughts? Yu Tsai is so mean. But also right. And possibly helpful? I like him so far. But I agree that he made too much of a thing of a "Matthew" thing. Hopefully he just took it the wrong way after a frustrating experience with the first few models. I do not remember Zaquan from episode 1. Raelia and Shei are standing out right now as strong models. Ben is OK. It was hard to judge them with them not showing most of the photos. How is Romeo going to book jobs with all those tattoos? If they want the tattoos it's great but otherwise you're going to have to cover them up for every job. The pairs thing was more idiotic than the subway challenge. I hope they don't do this the rest of the season. I wish Josh and Danny would have made it. At least over Adam and Romeo. They seemed to have more potential. I can't say I'm sad to see anyone else go because they got very little screentime so I don't know who they are. Is Adam really talking about getting a 1510 on his SAT's next week at 26 years old? Dude... I read the article about his alleged homophobia and I have to admit, it's turned me off but if they find a way to really sell the redemption arc I'm prepared to not write him off just yet. Tyra's outfit this week at judging... shiny satin track suit jacket with glitter sleeves. Giant H&M sun pattern spiky earrings. That hair. Girl, what is up with you? #My Purse is Sacred

I'm conflicted about sampling. On the one hand, a lot of songs I like are covers or use samples. On the other hand, sometimes I think I like a song (or at least think of it more favorably) because it sounds like another song. And it's usually with groups that don't have a ton of credibility to begin with. For example, there's the Rixton song that is all over the place and One Direction is guilty of this a lot. What Makes You Beautiful is Summer Nights from Grease. I can't remember if their other song uses a song from The Who in its entirety or if it just uses the same beginning.

I don't even feel like commenting this week except to say... Kini was robbed.

Stuck in the Middle With You sounds a lot like All I Wanna Do to me. Then again, I've never really liked Sheryl Crow to begin with. Some Nights sounds different enough from Cecilia that I wouldn't be surprised if it was influenced by it but it doesn't seem like a ripoff.

The Chuck Berry/Beach Boys one is called out in the movie Cadillac Records but it never gets resolved (in the movie).

Poor Cory. I wonder if he's been able to book a lot of gigs. It was weird that they brought him back. Like, look... this is where you could be next year... coming back on the show to announce a challenge? What? Nonsense. It's too early for me to have thoughts. I can't even remember one of their names. The girl with vitiligo is clearly the special one this season. There's always one. Just have the talk show again, Tyra. It's weird when she wants to criticize them but also be empowering and supportive. I hate that Kelly is back but for now, I'm happy to see Miss J again. Is this the official panel? I'm missing the person with some authority/the person who could stand up to Tyra. I know she always ends up firing that person but it's nice to have a Paulina, Twiggy, Janice, etc. I thought the one who is selling himself as a frat boy was really attractive before he started talking. I mean, he's still attractive but I feel like he's going to be annoying. Unless I missed someone, I didn't see anyone among the girls with really striking looks. Sure, maybe there are some models but not top models. Not supermodels. Hopefully they improve and this isn't another dud of a season.

They're talking about Ferguson on O'Reilly. The guy I hate whose name I haven't bothered trying to remember is filling in for O'Reilly. I feel like the strategy of continuing to not have anyone of color weigh in is a mistake. Bernie something or other just made a comment about how the different factions on this debate are like plantations. To paraphrase, one plantation has to feel one way and the other plantation has to feel the opposite way. Could you seriously not think of any word other than plantation? I can't sometimes. I can't.

I think the Brave/Roar thing doesn't bother me because I like them both and Brave really isn't one of her better songs.

Right but I'm not sure if any lay person is qualified to judge the similarity of two pieces of music. What's the difference between and and plagiarizing things note for note or altering the music slightly by transposing it up or changing the rhythm a little? I guess the burden of proof would be on the defendant and the person making the claim. Maybe they present the judge with the sheet music.

God damn it. They took away my DVR and all my movies are gone again. Night Nurse is on again September 5. I will make this happen.

I know jukebox musicals aren't to everyone's taste (I still have fond memories of Good Vibrations) but is anyone excited for On Your Feet, the Gloria Estefan musical? With Lin Manuel Miranda's Emmy win with Tom Kitt for "Bigger" he's only an Oscar away from an EGOT. Apparently, Sondheim wrote a new song for Into the Woods for Meryl Streep (no doubt taking into account her vocal abilities or lack thereof) but it was cut. Maybe it'll be on the DVD extras.

I concur. Which is probably why my reaction was "Oh, good, now I can see the seams on her dress."

I think this might be part of the problem for Monet. If I'm upset, I act upset. I might not always be pugnacious or sullen but you can definitely tell what I'm feeling. And if I'm not expressing about how upset I am, it's because I'm just being polite until I have the opportunity to cut and run because I've already checked out. Vaughn seems to jump between being affectionate/physically intimate and fighting with her and confronting her in a really blunt way that outside of this reality show would be incredibly rude.

There's something a little bit off about Jamie's accent. I wouldn't have guessed NY. I would have guessed Canada. No one on the show is particularly articulate which makes them seem a little more insincere to me. Vaughn picking Monet up from the... clinic(?) made me think of something. I wonder if any of them have changed their spouses to their "call in case of emergency" person. Why don't they have footage of this cigarette debacle? I think Jamie overreacted (she had a right to be upset but she was definitely putting the reality TV spin on it) but it would have been interesting to see Doug's actual reaction to being confronted. I've never bought Doug's good guy act. I don't think he's necessarily a horrible person but I think he's playing nice for the cameras. Also, I'm really not sympathetic to the "blue balls" or "tease" argument. ITA. I have yet to see the spiritual adviser contribute anything. Yes! That would be brilliant. Also, this makes Jamie the second wife to question her spouse's manhood and to say he's not ready to be a husband. Is this something their being fed or is this how they genuinely fight? I know they're married but they're fighting dirty for only a few weeks.

To console myself for missing Violet guess who bought a ticket to see Sutton Foster perform at Carnegie Hall. I was a little disappointed with the orchestra and acoustics last time but hopefully moving a level down will improve things.

I pretty much only listen to Spotify so I don't have this problem unless the shuffle keeps hitting the same songs. Also, I have a rather high tolerance for hearing the same song over and over. However, there was a time when I could not escape Selena Gomez's Come and Get It. And I didn't even dislike that song. As for Blurred Lines, I have actually walked out of places when it started playing. I still like the chorus/hook of Rude. I think it's attached to some commercial because I hear it more often than I should. Just listening to the hook I can pretend it's attached to a better song. I don't know if any of you are based in NY but here the safest radio station (other than Pandora) to play seems to be 106.7 lite fm. They play the same songs over and over again. This is incredibly irritating if you're out doing errands and you go to the grocery store, Staples, Duane Reade, pizza place, etc. to be confronted with the same songs.

I think my first glimpse of Lana Del Ray was in an issue of Vogue where she just had a small blurb. She was wearing a flower crown. I can't remember if that was before or after they played Video Games in an episode of Gossip Girl. Then I saw her on SNL, promptly rolled my eyes and lost any desire to listen to her music. Then her songs started to appear on my Pandora radio stations. I got Spotify listened to her albums and fell in love with her sound. Paradise and Born to Die are real albums. I enjoy almost every song. Ultraviolence doesn't work as well for me. There are some songs I like but too much of the album just doesn't make an impact. The lyrics aren't as strong and the music packs less of a punch.

I decided to make a thread to discuss songs that sound awfully similar, past/present charges of plagiarism, and grumpy comments about how all pop music today sounds the same anyway. I'll kick it off with something I'm curious about. For anyone who is a lawyer or involved in a legal profession, what kind of credentials do the judges need to decide plagiarism and copyright cases? Do they have to take music theory? If not, how are they expected to accurately judge the similarity of two pieces of music?

I have listened to her first album a lot. They refuse to release her second album on Spotify and I don't have iTunes anymore so I might just have to spring for it via some other medium because I'm super interested in what she's up to right now. If you aren't already a fan Mamma Knows Best, Domino, and Who You Are are my picks from the first album. Also, like Whitney she can pretty much sing anything but sometimes she just doesn't get good songs. I've been expecting her to hit big for a while now but I think before the VMA's most people would have considered her the weakest selling point of Bang Bang. Not me, but people.

Oh, I like her. I will just never see her in concert.

Oh, lord. Oh, Taylor, honey, no. http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/taylor-swifts-vmas-performance-with-her-vocals-isolate-1626334694 In case you were wondering what Taylor's singing would sound like with all the backup singers and other trappings taken away.

I think Seth was fine as a host. And by that I mean not great not terrible. Really not enough of anything to make an impression. Some of the segments like Billy on the Street were cute. None of the banter or skits that the presenters engaged in were truly painful. Basically, I've seen worse. Anne Hathaway/James Franco? I think Melissa McCarthy/Will Ferrell stand out as a bad presenting duo but I may be getting the people mixed up. I'd actually say Seth did better than Ellen at the Oscars because he wasn't trying that hard. I think the longest bit he had on stage was that thing with him and Amy riffing on McConnaughey's and Harrelson's names and that wasn't too bad. I personally didn't enjoy the Q&A but I think it just fell flat. It was otherwise relatively painless. So yeah, if you can't knock it out of the park at least be comfortably bland and keep things going at at a good pace. Of course, it may have helped that I was on here snarking with you guys. I find awards shows go faster that way. I also agree that Brooklyn Nine Nine deserved to be nominated. It's one of those shows where you forget how good it is until you start watching again and it's so funny. All the Downton Abbey hate makes me a little sad because I'm waiting for it to be over so I can binge watch it and admire all the costumes. Then again, soap opera has never been an evil phrase for me. As for the E! coverage, I just wish they were better at it after all this time. I really only care about the fashion since I know they're terrible interviewers. So trot them onto the platform, let them show off all their fashion, congratulate them on their work (what they're nominated for) or any developments (new movie, baby, marriage, new house, etc.) in their life that you know because you stalk them and then send them on their way. What annoys me is that they're terrible at interviewing and they make Sofia Vergara talk about the guy she's been dating for two months (I know his name I just don't want to try and spell it) and then try to talk to the guys about their work because their fashion is really boring because most of the guys show up in the same bland Armani tuxes. I only care about the fashion. Just keep it quick so you can get everyone in and out of the booth.

Best Dressed: 1. Sofia Vergara 2. Lizzy Caplan 3. Debra Messing 4. Camila Alves 5. Hayden Pannettiere 6. Juliana Margulies Most Improved: January Jones, Claire Danes, Melissa McCarthy Worst Dressed: 1. Lena Dunham 2. Sarah Paulson 3. Julia Roberts

Well, that was anticlimactic. Couldn't you bring out Fallon to sing or even Sandberg to rap?

Halle Berry looks gorgeous. Did Extant already premiere? I wasn't going to watch it anyway but I'm curious.