Haines His Way

...Because if you were, you forgot for a moment who the president is.

But now that you remember, you can calm down and vote for the Dems. Twice (once for me).

Painful AMERICAN IDOL auditions tonight. Even several being sent to Hollywood for the next elimination round were not very good.

I laughed at the awfulness of some of them, but most of them I just felt embarrassed and mortified for. How can they possibly think they have talent? That they could actually compete in a competition with people who do know what notes are, what pitch is, and what rhythm is.

Many of us who are performers here have attended musical auditions when it was clear there were people getting up who had never auditioned before. That's what so many of these folks tonight reminded me of.

Yes, I read that about the CBS SCROOGE remake in VARIETY this morning, and I meant to comment on it. I'm glad you did, DR Panni.


In the case of MGM and TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY and ROYAL WEDDING, they may have lost their exclusive ownership rights to the films, but they retain the master elements which is why the laserdisc of TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY is simply beautiful and the public domain version look like two strip Technicolor at best or are missing musical numbers. Warners will still be the only studio who will be able to turn out really spectacular looking DVDs of these filsm, if and when they ever decide to do them.

No, but it still pains me to hear it said out loud and watch all those people on the right side of the aisle (sorry, DRs SWW and DB) jump up and applaud everything the President said.

That's all right Jay, we felt the same way back when the automatic applause and aerobics was from the alternative side of the aisle.  (Hey, get that alliteration!)

I have just finished watching our President's State of the Union address, Dear Readers, and the only logical conclusion I can arrive at is that I must move to Canada without delay.

I believe that we actually interupted our state of the union drinking game to throw things at the screen at certain points.

I personally offer to marry anyone who wants to come to Canada!

Precisely the reason I didn't watch. I can read what he had to say in tomorrow's newspaper without all the well trained minions and their support.

Let's just say, that as a supporter of same-sex marriages... I have never been so shocked in my life by what he said. It was disgusting.

Panni that is a sad story & slightly eerie story.

I'm glad you & Jay kept me laughing in-between the story.

Good night all.   Sleep well.

Put me near a circular stairway, especially a grand one, especially in a public space, and you can watch me make the descent of all descents.  

Give many US students a blank map of the world and ask them to find the United States. Not only will they not be able to do it, many will have the world map upside down. As a teacher for 30 years in the public school system, I speak the truth.

That's why I had maps on every wall of my classroom, and whenever we read any story or book that contained one or more settings, the first assignment was to find where the story was happening  on one of the maps in my classroom.

Give many US students a blank map of the world and ask them to find the United States. Not only will they not be able to do it, many will have the world map upside down. As a teacher for 30 years in the public school system, I speak the truth.

That's why I had maps on every wall of my classroom, and whenever we read any story or book that contained one or more settings, the first assignment was to find where the story was happening  on one of the maps in my classroom.

Which is one of the reasons why your students will be grateful to you well into their lives.

And then there's kids like me, who've had obsessive history teachers their whole lives. With the blank map in front of me for memory purposes, I can name all of the countries in South America, and then Asia, going clockwise. And most of their capitals. Capitols? Capitals?

See, I don't need a history lesson; I need English.

I can also name every state in the USA in alphabetical order in under 1 minute. That, of course, is contributed to the famous "Fifty Nifty USA" song. Betcha Laura II knows it.

Yes, despite the efforts of Alex Trebek on "Jeopardy," the particulars about Canada remain a mystery to most U.S. citizens (and illegal visitors, too).  I have heard that 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the Canada-U.S. border.

North!  Jay, Canada is up north!  

American Idol:  Sheesh!  I don't know what to say.  When I was in college and majoring in theater, auditioning for everything was a requirement.  And when it came time to audition for a musical, you HAD to prepare a song and you did the best you could.  Nobody laughed.  I was petrified, my right arm went numb, and I'm pretty sure I "talked" most of "What Kind of Fool Am I?"  I had never sung in front of people -- and I'm guessing a lot of the "American Idol" contestants haven't either.  

But...and this is a BIG but... what must they hear when they hear good music?  And how is it they think their singing is comparable or better?  Can they not hear themselves???

Even so, it's a gut-wrenching experience.  I'm supposing that if you don't know you're horrible or horrendous -- or worse, that if you believe you're good -- the comments from Randy and Simon and Paula had to cut some of them to the core.

I only watched the Atlanta auditions, but Simon never said anything that I didn't agree with.  

The guy who asked for a public apology probably remains delusional.  The guy who said he was "defined" by the stomach thing he can do -- great abdominal definition is his "talent," apparently -- was really sad, I thought.

Judging from what they should us of the Houston audition show, I'd say it's a whole lot of horrible.

Methinks, Tomovoz, that many schoolchildren in the USA (assuming they can read maps at all) are looking at maps that show Australia as one big thing.  Usually yellow, if I recall from my own days of yore.  The USA, on the other hand, has lots of different colors, instead of one big consistant one.  Therefor, the USA has states, while Australia must not!  (Also puzzling is why Canada's provences are often shown on our maps, while Mexico's aren't.  That's why Americans think all Mexican food tastes the same, like that coming from Taco Bell, with no regional differences.)

Der Brucer has bought a globe for his grandsons, which we haven't given to them yet.  For a very nice change of pace, Australia is a verdent green, and the USA is very rose from coast to coast.  (Maybe all our food will taste like Taco Bell soon!)

bk - Did all this happen while I was away for all of two days? Have to admit I haven't had the time to read all the posts during my absence. When I left TCB was quite happy. He and I had a late night conversation, as a matter of fact. What could anyone have said to such a nice man?