Recaps, commentary, highlights of your pop culture favourites and mine! Email me: timmybopper@yahoo.com

 
Back to Montreal so busy packing and stuff. But don't think I've forgotten about Britney and Madonna's kiss, 50 and Vivica (WTF?), Jenny finally getting the boot on Can. Idol, Rob finally getting the boot (again) on For Love or Money, another great ep of The OC (and no Chrishelme, Luke is such a jerk!) and how pissed I am that I can't watch Jessica Simpson/Nick Lachey's "Newleyweds" and that I missed the premiere of Temptation Island 3!... stay tuned...
posted by Tim at 12:26 AM

 
WHAT?!!! What the hell happened tonight?! How did Toya get kicked out tonight?! Why the heck are Billy and Jenny and Ryan and Gary still here while Toya, clearly the best singer of the bunch, is sent home?! I cannot believe this! Canada got it so wrong!! I don't know if I'll EVER get over this dispicable travesty!!!... So anyway, American Juniors was SO good tonight! I know Danielle White has sang "Never Had a Dream Come True" like ten thousand times already, but she gets me everytime! And Gladys Knight totally moved the audience (and myself) when she sang that song to the kids. I really appreciate the humbleness and honesty of these kids and of the show in general (Ryan not included). It's nice to see this genuine spirit for music in this glamed-up superstar industry.
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New favourite must-see show: The O.C. - think 90210 except with better story-telling and more emotional depth. The final scene tonight when Ryan's mother left him was absolutely heart-breaking... like I seriously sat there and let out very audible "oh's" and "uhh's". Make sure you catch the rerun Monday on FOX. Give this show a chance. It deserves the audience.
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Shania Twain makes me proud to be Canadian. =)
posted by Tim at 10:11 PM

 
Please say you voted for Audrey? Granted, last night's performance of "Dreamlover" wasn't THE best we've heard from her, but she still deserves to move on. I can't believe I'm saying this... but Jenny Gear wasn't bad either... (shudder) Eww, I think her eye-twitching has cast some sort of mindlessness spell on me... Billy and/or Ryan have to go this week. (Sorry Em, I know how much you LOVE the bus-boy, I mean, Ryan). Billy should be a... a... well, you know, some kind of job person that involves yelling a lot. And Ryan is much better suited (pun intended) to being a waiter. As for Toya - our resident Trenyce - she beamed when Zack called her a "diva." I can hear the "I don't drink tap water" demands coming soon...

Now on to more important things... Erin finally gave stupid Eric the boot on For Love or Money! (Oops, I almost wrote "For Love OF Money," which come to think of it, wouldn't have been that far-off). But creepy Rob is back... did you see him walking into the fireside chat room? "Oh, Rob! I didn't even hear you coming," says Erin. "(creepy smile)" says Rob. I like Wade. He's such a dumb (but caring and sweet, mind you) farmhand that he'll totally fall for Erin instead of picking the $$$. Go Wade!

Finally, Paradise Hotel (which again, I have to watch simultaneously with For Love or Money) was much of the same shananigans. (Did I just say shananigans? It's the Jenny eye-twitch curse I tell you). Charla did seem more "real" tonight then on previous episodes, and by real I am referring to her personality...


posted by Tim at 10:24 PM

 
Anatomy of a Reality TV-watching Night:

7:50 - Sorry Gerry (who's just called long-distance from Ottawa)... uh huh, whatever, right... listen, I have to go! It's an emergency! Canadian Idol starts in less than 10 minutes!

8:05 - Canadian Idol's Motown night - the Temptations hit the stage... the who? These guys aren't dead yet? Geez...

8:10 - Jenny Gear (shudder)... She's not dead yet? Geez... Can she not just sing normally? Like close up that honking mouth and stop twitching those eyes Jose Canseco! I swear this girl's got down syndrome or something cuz this is just not right... Shut up Jenny! Shut up!

8:20 - Bonjour Audrey! (drool)... She's singing "Mercy Me" which sounds a lot like "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye... perhaps it is but Audrey's lack of English has completely changed the words? Doesn't matter, she can sing whatever she wants cuz she's Audrey! (drool)

8:40 - Diva in training Toya hits the stage. Wow, she hit those Mariah notes... not bad. But I liked it better when Ryan Starr sang this song in American Idol 1. She was WAY better to look at than Toya (I'm gonna be a "BIG" star) Alexis. Meanwhile, a very Beyonce streak emerges when Toya starts talking about her family... hmm, it'll be interesting to see if she starts hogging the spotlight and pushing the other contestants aside during the group sing-along... "Toya, I dare Canada not to know what that was!" shouts Zack... um... I don't know what that was Zack... Anyone?

8:55 - Something is being said about Ben Mulroney's underwear? He acts embarrassed but I bet he wrote that line himself to boost his "heart-throb" status...

9:00 - A "bleh" Canadian Idol over... and For Love or Money 2 begins... Tonight's the night Rob (who Erin chose $ over in the first series) returns! Oooo...

9:01 - Shoot.. Paradise Hotel is on at the same time! And what's this? Charla's finally getting some tonight? What to watch? What to watch?!

Follow carefully people, it gets channel-switchy over here...
9:05 - Amy is such a bitch. Stop yelling at Keith like that. This is so childish... Yeah well I'm better! No I am! No you're not! Uh huh! Nuh-uh! I'm not gonna be your best friend anymore! Fine! Fine! (Wow.. great television people. I'm telling you.)

9:25 - Eric (For Love or $) is so creepy... he's like just standing there making shifty eyes at the other guys... and look at him tapping his fingers together like he's hatching some sort of scheme... Don't pick him Erin! (And where's the much-hyped "Return of Rob?" The show's halfway done!)

9:50 - She picked Eric. Maybe she sees something in him that we don't? Like a clueless asshole dim-wit who'd pick her over the money? No, we see that. (And where's the much-hyped "Return of Rob?" The show's ten minutes from done!)

9:55 - Whoa. Major cheating going on in Paradise... oh and Charla didn't get any... again... Okay, what is Dave suddenly so mad about? What did Alex say to him to make him so pissed? Stupid (beep) FOX with the stupid (beep) censors! (Beep!)

9:59 - The Return of Rob... will be next week... great...

10:00 - Who Wants to marry my dad?! OMG, I love this show! Like I seriously love this family... okay, well maybe just Heidi... any chance they'll have Who Wants to marry my daughter?

10:05 - I hate Christy. She's so fake! And you just can practically see her face-lift falling off... and her boobs falling out...

10:25 - Ooo... both Christy and Christena pass the lie-detector tests! Whatever, the NBC editing team just made it seem like that so we wouldn't know who has the "edge"

10:50 - WTF?!! (beeeeeeeeeeep!!!!) Why did they pick Christy! Shut up with all these nice things you're saying about her! She doesn't deserve to win!

10:51 - wait... ooo diss! Christy you sucka!!! (Recap: Heidi's like "We think you're such a great person and would make a great mother and wife... which is why we're so sorry to tell you we didn't pick you to marry our dad..") Yes! Yes! Shoot, I seriously need to get a life...

10:52 - Christena looks like a perfect wife for this family. And a good mother. And a good choice for the Darva Conger award for shortest reality TV marriage. But I don't care. She deserves to win the compet-, er.. marry the dad...

10:55 - Everyone's crying. Even the sons. I'm crying... I'm such a loser.... Heidi is crying... I cry because I'll never see her again once this show is over...

11:00 - The reality-tv night is over. The "Who wants to marry daddy?" show is over. Heidi is out of my Monday night life forever... Life? What life? I am such a loser.

11:01 - Elimadate anyone?
posted by Tim at 9:59 AM

 
I surf the web. A lot. Other than watching TV, it's what I do to fill time. Usually my internet time consists of checking email, reading up on the latest pop culture gossip, reading commentary on TV shows I've missed, sports scores and recently (because of my job), politics. But now I'm getting bored. I need new sites to check out.

www.ew.com can't be accessed now unless you have a passcode... and you can't get the passcode unless you buy the latest issue of EW (Entertainment Weekly). www.rollingstone.com and www.dotmusic.com have stopped reviewing popular acts in favour of obscure indie bands that I know nothing about. www.televisionwithoutpity.com is one of my fav recap sites, but now that it's summer, they barely recap anything. And they've stopped recaping Trading Spaces altogether, which is a shame, because I actually read those posts!

As for blogspots... people don't nearly update as often as they should! And by people, I mean the friends who have invited me to read their blog sites, the people whose blogs are linked to my friends' sites, and the complete strangers whose blogspots I have somehow managed to stumble upon and secretly invade...

So basically... I need to find some new websites to spark my interest and fancy. if any of you know any good sites I should check out, lemme know. I'm that bored.
posted by Tim at 4:07 PM

 
I don't know where everyone is getting their "Mariah is so done" news from, because last night's concert was by far, one of the most AMAZING concerts I have ever been too. Granted, the fourth row centre seats offered a perfect view and okay, the Canadian Idol contestants were just metres away from us, but more on that later... Free from the wild antics and dark staging of Christina's show and less hip-hop wannabe than Justin's, Mariah simply let her voice take control of the audience. She might be a little more "girly" than before and maybe her songs aren't as popular as say Britney's, but Mariah can still outsing anyone! Her voice not only has power, but also emotion and warmth so you believe what she's saying, as opposed to Christina, who had a great vocal range, but little connection with her songs. Mariah sang all her hits (including Emily's fav "My all," my fav, "Hero" and the crowd fav, "I'll be there" with Trey Lorenz) and handled some new ones with surprising results. Her Eminem diss track, "Clown," featured a clown in a blond wig wearing a Detroit Pistons jersey, while a reversed letter "E" illuminated the screen. Clever clever... Another song, "Subtle Invitation," saw Mariah descend from the ceiling on a white linen swing, which matched her barely there, white strapless mini-skirt. Which brings me to another point - Mariah looked GREAT! She is not super skinny, but rather has a fit, curvy body that looked perfect in each of her ensembles, which ranged from pink barbie shorts, to a silver prom-style dress to an ostrich dress complete with feathers. (Don't ask)

The coolest part of the night? Mariah introduced her band by singing (rather than speaking) their names and singing a little something about each of them - all improvised to a jazzy piano backing. When it came time for the keyboard player, he played a scale that went higher and higher up in octaves until he hit piercing notes... and then Mariah matched the notes he played until SHE hit those piercing notes! It was like an "I dare you to hit this note" sorta thing... (Hard to explain, but awesome to watch/hear). I once heard that Mariah is listed in Guiness as hitting the highest note ever recorded. I believe it! Amen!

The thing about Mariah is that she's just a fun, caring, embraceable performer. With a little wink here or a slight giggle there, you could tell she wasn't really a "bitchy diva," but was rather just playing the part. She's not caught up in herself and realizes exactly who she is and what she's doing. "It's all jokes," she said at one point and so you knew that when she called for tea or asked for help with the mic, she was just exaggerating the antics for the crowd. The other thing is that Mariah is not a good dancer! You could tell she felt uncomfortable during "Honey," and "Fantasy," but her effort to do those routines really came across as being heartfelt and for the fans. We would've been happy watching her on the couch singing "Through the Rain," but she pushed herself to do the dancing as if to bring an added element and flavour to her show. And you know she loved the fans, walking through the crowd not once, but twice - during show opener, "Heartbreaker" and then at the end during "Hero."

Now about those Canadian Idols... my friend Emily and I walked over to meet/get a pic with either Mikey or Audrey. Emily was too nervous to tap Mikey on the back to say hi while I choked and barely made out an "Aud-" before she gave me a "were you trying to say something?" look and turned away. Emily is, however, quite proud that she got to touch.. I mean, shake Ryan Malcolm's (the singing waiter) hand. Yes... she's actually proud of that!

All in all.. an awesome night... Say what you want about Mariah, but she's no slacker, that's for sure. And with a voice like hers, it makes going to a concert all about the music - and all about the fans - again.

posted by Tim at 3:17 PM

 
"Idol" chatter

Danielle White sang so well tonight on American Juniors. She HAS to make the group. I thought that there would have to be a second guy to join Chauncy in the group but neither AJ nor Morgan were great. Danielle was awesome.

I swear I'm not a perv. But Katlelyn Tarver is really good looking... not like I looked up her pics and bio on the American Juniors website... again, not psycho... really.

Toya Alexis was in the bottom 4 tonight on Canadian Idol? I can't believe it. Canada better stop joking around and kick Jenny Gear out before her "true" ogre self is revealed (Think Princess Fiona in Shrek...)

Is it just me, or does Tyler Hamilton look like Zack (Call me mini Simon) Warner?
posted by Tim at 9:49 PM

 
Shut up. Please.

I don't want to hear about how great Audrey was and how she's "totally gonna win!" nor do I wish to hear about "Candida's controversy," or how Mikey's performance was "so good!" I did not watch Canadian Idol last night. And I did not tape it either. And it does not look like CTV is re-running it on Saturday night. I don't know what I was thinking.

So please. Spare me the details. And spare me the pain of hearing that I missed an awesome show. (*Mutters* Stupid traffic jam coming back from Buffalo...)
posted by Tim at 2:08 PM