-=brett=-

My thoughts… My experiences… My life.

Ellen on Idol :: Great Potential!!

Posted by bretthperkins on February 9, 2010

At long last, the day is upon us!!!  Ellen begins on American Idol tonight! :)

Of course, we all miss Paula, and we will all miss the constant and, at times, awkward interactions between her and Simon, but I do believe that it was time for a change.  Paula, while popular and fun, did not offer any insight to the contestants, and was never more than a playful side-kick for the much more serious judges Randy, Simon, and as of last season, Kara.  With that said, I do credit her with making the show successful, as I believe that it would have had a harder time without her.  We love you Paula!  No doubt!

Moving onto a bigger, brighter, and much more serious Idol, we have Ellen.  Of course, you may ask:  “What kind of insight can Ellen offer?  How can you claim that the show will be more serious when Ellen is a comedienne?  Ellen does not have any music background, so what will she be able to tell the contestants?”  To the person that may ask these questions, I say to you that your questions are valid, I share them, and here are my hopes for those questions:

What kind of insight can Ellen offer?

Well…  I think that she can offer a lot!  Let’s look at the judges:

  • Randy is a music producer, writer, and bass player, and he sufficiently represents the industry.
  • Kara is a singer/songwriter with a great deal of experience and represents music/talent.
  • Simon…  I am not sure what Simon does, honestly, but his opinions are important, if at times rude, and he is usually “spot-on” in his criticism.  The truth hurts, but he does it with charm and poise.

Now let’s look at Ellen.  Ellen is the embodiment of current.  She is in, she gets the public, she knows how to connect with the viewer, and more than anything, she represents US!  No, I do not mean the gay community…  I mean the consumer.  She represents what America will like and what America will buy.  That is very powerful insight, in my opinion, and something that I think the show has been lacking.  It is easy to say you sing well or you sing poorly…  it is not as easy, I think, to hear something and say, “That will sell!”  Of course, I am not advocating that we lose sight of talent for the sake of money, but let’s be real for a moment… whether you agree that it is right or wrong, the market, for now, is about what will sell first, with talent trailing behind.  (I for one would like talent to be more important, but that is not what is happening.)

How can you claim that the show will be more serious when Ellen is a comedienne?

Because Simon is mean.  Okay…  what was Paula’s job on the show?  Make people laugh after Simon burns them.  Well, maybe that was not her ‘job’ on paper, but that is what she did…  Time and time again.  Their little fights and her comments and mannerisms (clapping above her head) were necessary to release the tension.  I don’t know about the contestant, but I always felt nervous when Simon was mean, and I can only imagine that the contestant felt a million times worse.  This was the good thing with Paula.

The only problem was that people perceived her as ditsy and unimportant.  When she spouted off nonsense, we just said, “Oh Paula…” and moved on.  Sometimes, she really offered great insight and advice, only to be ignored as a result of perception.  This was unfortunate, and I believe this partly led to her departure.

But more serious with Ellen, you say?  Yes.  I say!  Ellen is more than capable of breaking the tension, and she is coming into this show not from the B-list, where Paula lived prior to Idol, but from the A-List.  She is well-known, current, intelligent, and respected.  Will she be a comic? Yes…  but people will ACTUALLY hear what she has to say…  and this is a GREAT thing, in my opinion.

Ellen does not have any music background, so what will she be able to tell the contestants?

As I mentioned in the first question’s answer, I believe that she will be able to offer some of what you or I may think or say to the contestant, and as we have seen so many times, the contestant will be able to hear from the consumer if their art will sell, or if they have work to do.  Very talented people, I believe, have not done well because they were allowed to succeed at Idol without the public’s opinion only to release their art and fail because it was not in the form the public would adopt.  This is a terrible disservice to very talented people.

So there you have it… This is what I think.  I, for one, think she has great potential, but only time will tell if Ellen will be the great success on Idol she deserves to be.

-=brett=-

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Life Is So Much More than Saturday Night

Posted by bretthperkins on February 8, 2010

What happened to your focus, your drive, and your ambition?

You have your sexy car, but babe, it’s missing its transmission.

How do you think you’re gonna get from where you are to there?

With something that lacks meaning:  two lungs that can’t breathe air.

It makes no sense, you’re so damn dense.  You fail to comprehend!

That all this shiny extra stuff is really just pretend.

And when you leave and see this world for what is really there,

I hope that you will have the strength to glance beyond the stare.

Coming back at you from the mirror as you look toward the wall

And smile at the shirt you bought, before you knew that all

Is nothing more than the shirts you buy, or dancing with that guy

Before you know it, time is gone, and you’ll have to say good bye,

And walk into your home, alone, and cry yourself to sleep.

Because you know that your whole life all you have been is cheap.

How do you think you’re gonna get from where you are to there?

Your life, your goals, they’re all gone now.  I know.  It isn’t fair.

Posted in Poetry/Lyrics | Leave a Comment »

FML :: To The Tenth Power

Posted by bretthperkins on February 6, 2010

I do not know where to begin with this one, so the beginning will do…  I had a FAIL of epic proportions today, largely my own fault, but the world was not helping either!

So, in my desire to contribute, I joined the Publicity Committee for Nashville in Harmony, and today was the first, and most important, meeting.  So I, of course planned to attend.  I read the email that the committee leader sent and made plans to head to the meeting place, Panera Bread.  The meeting was slated to begin at 3:30 PM on today (Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010) and I left Murfreesboro at about a quarter to 3:00 to make sure I will have time to get there.  I was headed to the Panera at Cool Springs.  So, about thirty minutes later, I got to Cool Springs, and thought that I was going to be on time.  Yeah… NO!  Not at all.  Driving in Cool Springs is a bit of a DiSASTeR!!  I spent most of the time waiting at a green light because the lights are timed all wrong…  There is too much traffic and not enough time to let the streets empty sufficiently, so people run the light and get stuck in the intersection…  And if that was not bad enough, the lights are SO close together, and it appeared as though NO ONE in Franklin decided to coordinate the lights so that when one lane turns into a road, the light ½ a block down stays, or turns, green.  No…  as soon as you turn, the next street’s light turns RED, thus trapping even MORE people in the intersection.  *GOSH!*  Anywho, when I was actually moving, I could not do anything because everyone, including me at this point, is so frustrated that they are willing to speed and cut people off just to get OFF of the road.  So I fought with that, too.  So, needless-to-say, I missed the entrance to the Panera.  So I thought that I would just hit the next road, turn around and head back.  NOPE!!!  Apparently, there was a hurricane coming because there was SO much congestion on the roads, I knew that it had to be because they ordered an evacuation of the area.  There can’t possibly be THAT many people out shopping…  we are in a recession.  So I could not turn around!  At this point I am 10 minutes late.  So, I drive ALL the way around the mall to another road, get turned around, and get back to the Panera.  I walk in about 20 minutes late…  and NO ONE IS THERE!!!  I was like… “Hmm, I guess everyone else had problems, too… I will just wait a minute.”  After another 5 minutes, I think that something is wrong, and then I recall that the email said that it was the Panera “IN” in the mall.  So I get all frustrated at myself and leave the Panera to go to the mall, only to find out that there is NO Panera Bread IN Cool Springs Mall…  So now I am REALLY confused.  I go back to Panera and wait another few minutes, this time, bringing my laptop in and re-reading the email.  I grab a coffee, because I believe that if you are going to use a place’s facilities (bathroom, sink, internet, etc) you should really be a paying customer, and I sit down.  I hop onto Gmail and check the email.  At this point I am both confused and angry, because now I was thinking that they either cancelled the meeting or moved it and neglected to tell me.  I get to the email and read, intently, to see if I missed anything or read something wrong…  and…  I did…

The next words out of my mouth, loudly, in public, were “Fuck My Life!!”  People looked up, laughed, and went about their business…  See…  when I re-read the email I discovered that the Panera IS in fact IN the mall…  Yeah…  It is in GREEN HILLS MALL!!!  I am at the WRONG freaking mall!!!  At this point it is 4:00…  and I am CRAZY late.  I pack up in a jiffy, hit the car and hit the road.

I did like 100 on the way to Green Hills, and once I got to I-65, it only took 14 minutes to get to Green Hills.  I am like…  whew, I will only be an hour late.  Well, no… not at all…  I get to the Mall at Green Hills only to find out that there are literally NO parking places in the ENTIRE mall parking lot!!!  I drove for another 10 minutes before I finally said to hell with this.  I pulled up to the valet and had them park for me.  By the way, if you EVER go to Green Hills Mall, don’t try to park.  Just valet.  It’s free.  :)

Anywho, I get to the meeting at a little after 5:00. (1.5 hours late) Thankfully, they were all still there.  I walked in, told a brief version of my story and we shared a hearty laugh.  I was CLEARLY distraught about the entire ordeal, and I was very much ready to explode, but it got better once I realized that it was not a big deal.  We discussed stuff, they caught me up, and all was well.  As it turns out, they were all varying intervals late, too, so it was all good, but I was still very happy that it was over.

Onto the meeting:  We decided that I am doing graphics and print publications! *woot*  that is what I wanted.  I will also be writing stuff for the website and talking to the webmaster about that tomorrow. :)

Conclusion:

“I am going OUT… because I deserve to go out.  And I’m going to get DRUNK… because I deserve to get drunk.  And get outta my way!!”  -Bill Cosby

-=brett=-

Posted in Commentary, Rant, Thought | 1 Comment »

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