I'm tired and cranky, I've been up all night working on my script, and I've had too little sleep.
1) Panni, you were the one who said granny has not had made any effort of a relationship with your daughter for ten years. Isn't that about half your daughter's life? It seems to be if she still expects a birthday call from you to cheer her up, then there's a whole guilt/power game being played there I don't want to even get into. It has nothing to do with being noble, good, proper, or karma. Why feel obligated to "cheer" up a woman whose only real connection to you at this point is through your daughter whom she's apparently ignored for half the girl's life? I don't get either the expectations or obligations of that from either side.
2)RLP, I jotted most of my AI observations down last night. Big Band arrangements (and they were great arrangements) aren't the same as Big Band songs. Songs written long after the Big Band era and dressed up in Big Band trappngs don't cut it for me. You might as well have called it standard/movie/show tune night as well as Big Band night. There were plenty of songs (some movie and shows tunes, yes, but a whole lot that weren't) that were actually popularized and became standards through their Big Band recordings. Why couldn't we've have heard a few of those? I made my list last night.
Choices were obvious, predictable, and stylings were derivative. Even those competent were really out of their depth. Give me Helen O' Connell, Frances Gifford, Ray Eberle, Vaughn Monroe, or Skinnay Ennis anyday.
Simon hardly damned Clay Aiken to anything by stating his voice was Broadway (it would be better served by Broadway than most of the mediocre crap he's forced to sing these days). It's quite apparent that, despite coming in second to Reuben, his popularity and the depth of his talent has served him better than Reuben and that his star has risen probably higher than any of the other contestants from any year. He's the only one who I can actually see still possibly being around five years from now. It will be because of the Broadway qualities and range of his voice.
Simon is the most honest judge there. I don't always agree with him, but about ninety percent of the time, he's right on the money for me. If anything, he's gotten a little softer this year. He actually said last night that he liked this kind of music (I'm still not sure it's the kind of music "pop" idols sing though, which is usually his point...Britney Spears hasn't released her standards album yet...thank God!).
Grrrr, snarl, woof! Damn them all, Damn them all to Hell. I'm ready to bitch-slap any and all!