'American Idol' Stevie Wonder Night Quick Thoughts

I loved seeing Stevie Wonder on last night's show. Unlike the American Idol contestants, I grew up with his music and still have all of his older works in vinyl. Do the contestants even know what vinyl would mean in relationship to the music industry?

Here are my quick thoughts and miscellaneous ramblings which went through my mind while watching last night's show:

1. Although I think Chris Daughtry's fantastic and I'm liking him more each performance, I can't believe he didn't know "Higher Ground" was a Stevie Wonder hit. I would always think Stevie Wonder before the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I guess it's my age talking. This was the performance of the night both vocally and on the entertainment level.
2. Taylor Hicks. My man Hicks. What a neat guy! If not for Chris, I'd name this one the performance of the night. My issues with the song was that while he looked great, that suit didn't match the atmosphere for the song. The song is gritty; the suit was um, provided by fashion consultants. He also has a bit of a misconception about the song. It's not about ANY city. It's about New York City. Excellent performance, though. I love watching him. No need to dye that hair.
3. Mandisa, Paris and Lisa -- all good. I didn't expect any less of them. We'll see these three well towards the final arena.
4. Kevin Covais cracks me up, but he's not going to win. He was cute and the performance was good in a high school talent show kind of way. That said, I enjoy watching him. He just ain't gonna make the grade.
5. Elliott's voice is gorgeous. If he had Ace's looks, he'd win the show hands down. Alas, in the kid oriented American Idol, the fact that there are cuter guys like Ace will play a hand. I think he'll do well outside of American Idol and should secure a record contract. That voice is golden.
6. Kellie Pickler - she makes me laugh when she talks. Can anybody be that ditzy and naive in this day and age or is it all an act? Of course, making me laugh at what she says doesn't mean diddly in making me like what she sings. And, this is a singing contest.
7. Melissa McGhee - I like her okay, but I think she can pack her bags and head on home after tonight's vote results.
8. Katharine McPhee is someone to watch. Until Simon mentioned it, I wasn't thinking Kelly Clarkson, but I can see it. Strong vocalist and nice performance.
9. Ace. What can I say about Ace? I think his looks are working for him as much as, if not more than, his voice. He's not my favorite (that goes to Taylor Hicks), but I can tell the votes will keep on coming in for him.

What did you think of last night's show?

And, Now a Word From Our Sponsor: The SPRINT Commercials

I know I'm no marketing genius. Not only do I not play one on TV, I've never been in the marketing business. However, I am a consumer and I'm an observer. I know what catches my attention and what just bores me. In my last "Word from Our Sponsor" entry, I talked about the GEICO gecko which I think is the best television commercial campaign on the tube these days. Even before the gecko takeover, GEICO has been eyecatching and creative in its commercials. Part of the latest success is tying in the gecko with GEICO. Now, perhaps a lot of folks can't help but to think GEICO when they see a small lizard. That's success in company recognition due to advertising.

Another ad campaign I think is in the same sort of campy zany vein as the gecko -- the SPRINT commercials. I'm not sure why they've backed off the Sprint Dude in the Trench Coat. I always found those ads humorous, clever and I didn't even have to see the Sprint Dude to connect him with their product. I know his voice and recognize it immediately. They should bring him back. I think he's recognizable as the spokesman (so to speak) for the product and the ads are catchy. The company claims he's on hiatus, but I think the Sprint/Nextel merger offed him. Bring him BACK!

Looking at two of their latest commercials, one just bugs me (not a good thing for Sprint) and one I'm lovin' -- I pause to pay attention each time it airs. The one that I find "eh" to "annoying" if I see it too much is the ventriloquist commercial. It was okay the first time I saw it, but I'm over and done with it. It's most certainly not the best I expect of the creative marketing folks at Sprint. It connects with the product okay, but just doesn't snag me in at all.

The one I'm lovin' and pause to watch? Well, the one where the two men are in the locker room each bragging about the features on the phone. One claims it's also a theft deterrent in addition to phone, videos, etc. To prove it, he tells the other to try to steal his wallet. Then he throws the phone at him, thunking him in the head. Heh. Each time I see that commercial and its ending listing the features ending in *theft deterrent, I have to smile. The only way they could improve that one is to have the trench-coated Sprint Dude appear.

As for the merge with Sprint and Nextel, you don't want to know what I think of those darn walkie-talkie things while I'm commuting on the train to work. If I could ban a product, I would. Are people reliving their childhood adventures with those or what?

Sprint ads - love 'em or hate 'em or just don't care? What say you? Should the Sprint Dude return?

'The Amazing Race 9' Episode 3 ...er... 3A ... er ... To Be Continued ARGH

Forgive me for I must rant. If you're squeamish or just plain sensitive, you may want to skip down past the next paragraph. This isn't going to be pretty.

I hate continuing sagas. When I see the words "To be continued..." I freak out. I don't watch soap operas or even continuing dramas such as 24 partly because I hate the feeling that if I miss an episode, I'm lost. As a matter of fact, Lost is one of the only continuing stories I watch and that's because I'm masochistic, I guess! (With all the repeats on that one, I must be masochistic.) Yes, I know the whole existence of the reality show genre is a continuing story and yes, I've learned to live with that idea. But I want my Amazing Race to end each week at the end of a leg. I don't care if it's a non-Philimination leg or not. I want a finishing order. I want someone winning the leg; I want results! Concrete results! Is it too much for a show fan to want? Am I micro-managing my television watching? Am I alone in wanting some sort of conclusion to the show each week? ARGH!
/rant

Now that I've got that out of my system, I'll talk about last night's episode - or partial episode or whatever...

The show opened at the Brazilian coffee plantation which was the site of the last Pit Stop. As always, the departure times went according to arrival times. BJ and Tyler were the first team to leave at 4:48 AM while Dani/Danielle were the last to leave at 7:07 AM. Quite a time span, eh? Well, it didn't really mean too much in the long run as the clue directed teams 3 miles away to take a nifty zippy zipline trip which didn't open until 7 AM. So, most of the teams just gathered awaiting the opening and even the last teams weren't so far behind. That is, unless they got lost like Lake and Michelle. (Heh.) BJ and Tyler were a hoot during the wait. They pounced upon or jumped out in front of arriving teams and had a good time of it all. I think these two are adding a lot of outright fun to the show. While they're serious and good competitors, they're thriving on the fun and adventure aspects and creating an atmosphere we don't always see with the teams -- laughter and good times. Kudos to 'em!

I would like to ride a zipline; they look like a heck of a lot of fun. But all in all, I don't think they're much of a challenge. You're harnessed in and just glide down. The first few ones were neat to watch, now they're just sort of a required once each season TAR redundancy. So, let's move along. The clue at the bottom of the zipline directed teams to the airport where they would head to Moscow, Russia. Yep, Moscow, Russia as opposed to Moscow, Idaho. I'm glad the clue specified the country, aren't you? All teams ended up on the same flight, so the scramble would be on upon landing.

Lake whined and fussed that he didn't want to go to Russia because it would be so cold. I hoped they'd dunk him in frigid waters. And, so they did! Once teams arrived in Moscow, they were directed to go to Chaika Bassein where Olympic swimmers train. Oh, no! It's a Roadblock! That, of course, is a task only one member of a team can perform. In this Roadblock, one member from each team had to "take the plunge" from a 10 meter high diving platform into a pool, swim the length of the pool and then dive down to retrieve the next clue. Most of the teams did okay with it. Yolanda balked a bit as she can't swim, but did fine in the end.

Who was annoying and set the team way back? Wanda! I was waiting for Desiree to slap her to get her out of her hysterical hissy fit. Sheesh! What is with that woman? Now, I like Desiree, but she is not her mother's mother! Sigh... instead of slapping her, Desiree teared up saying how proud she is of her Mom. Gag me. They took so long on the Roadblock that Dani/Danielle managed to make it back to retrieve their left behind belongings and go again.

That brings another thing to mind - the teams, not just BJ and Tyler, seem to have a lot more camaraderie a'goin' on this season. I know the Horned Toads (Jeremy and Eric) have a thing for the Double D's (Dani/Danielle), but to keep waiting for them? Not a real bright policy to get ahead in the race, guys. At least they let the girls go back for their stuff alone and didn't blow their lead time. All of the teams seem to be actually more friendly than past seasons. I'm trying to decide if that's a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. I don't like to watch teams fight all the time, but a bit of a spat amongst teams (not amongst team members themselves) is often the spirit of the race. If everyone likes one another it's nice, but will it dampen the competitive spirit? I guess we'll see.

From the dip in the pool, teams faced a Detour - Scrub or Scour. Yes, they sound a lot alike, but they're not. In Scrub, teams had to locate a trolley depot where they would clean a trolley car inside and out, inspected and approved before they could move on. In Scour, there was no cleaning at all. They had to scour Russian nesting dolls for a clue to the next stop. This was a classic TAR bit - the nesting dolls were in a theater with dancers and musicians creating madness as teams frantically, yet methodically, sought the elusive clues. As Ray said, "That music is playing with my head!" It's sort of like a maddening acid-induced Russian dream or something. I loved it!

For some reason, the first teams taking on the Detour had problems finding the trolley depot and ended up going for Scour. The later arriving teams seemed to find Scour okay, perhaps with some lost time. Don't ask me why. I don't know.

Jeremy and Eric were the first to get the clue to move onto the Red Square where they would meet Phil. Thinking back, it didn't say Pit Stop. And, it sure wasn't. At the Red Square, Phil handed them a clue and said, "This leg's not over." ARGH! (Go reread my first paragraph!)

I'm liking these teams. At this point, the only team that bothers me is Lake and Michelle. It frightens me that he's overbearing and a dentist. I'd like him to go away. I'm not all that thrilled with Fran's defeatist attitude. I expected more from her, didn't you? She's reminding me a bit too much of Gretchen. I think the other teams are fun to watch - even Mojo is growing on me. Perhaps they can put Lake, Wanda and Fran in seclusion and then the teams would be perfect.

And, now... this report is TO BE CONTINUED.
(Argh!)

'LOST' Repeats Again

Hopefully it will be a new episode next week. We're certainly overdue for fresh Lost. I'm going to show my age a bit here -- did you know that years ago TV series ran from September to May with all new episodes? Shocking, ain't it?

A new commenter, Lindy, (welcome!) stopped by my last Lost review asking if I knew where she might find recaps of all the episodes so far. I thought that was worth an entry to point any seeking the same to the official ABC TV Lost site. They've got a bit of everything there and it can take a few hours to explore around the island... er, site. The recaps can be found at Lost Episodes

Maybe we can all study up and use our collective Lost thinking power to get us a new episode next week!

'Amazing Race' East Coast Update...

To be continued...

Yep, they did it again. Jeremy and Eric were the first to reach Phil in Red Square only to be handed a clue and to be told it wasn't over.

I'll be doing the recap/review in the morning.