Digest Of Week Ending 2-29-08

Sunday, 2/24, Academy Awards. Like a lot of other people, my anticipation for seeing it this year was at a meh level. I watched it but didn't pay too much attention to it. I didn't even realize that they had given out the award for best actor and actress until I heard the Best Picture announcement (always the last award). I would like to have seen the song "So Close" from the movieEnchanted win the Oscar for Best Song. I had not seen the movie and had never heard the song before, but I loved it after hearing it for the first time on the telecast. You have to love Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. The soundtrack CD for Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorites. And who doesn't love Menken's "A Whole New World" (with Tim Rice). I hope the Academy doesn't think that Menken's music is old fashioned. It's classic.

Monday, 2/25. A Raisin in the Sun. It was too jarring to see Phylicia Rashad play a domestic. The performance just didn't seem believable. It was as if Lena were secretly a corporate attorney pretending to be poor. Sean Combs is scary in widescreen high-def. He's not an attractive man. His face is oddly shaped and there is a void where his chin should be. Also, it would be better if her were subtitled since he doesn't always speak clearly. His performance was especially weak compared to the professional actors. It was like the rest of the cast was performing with him being a stand-in, reading the lines in place of whoever the real actor was suppose to be. Overall, this production was quite bad in comparison with the 1961 movie. The producers must have said, "We have Phylicia, Sean and John Stamos, who cares about direction?" It's sad to think that many people who have not seen the original will never know how good a play this really is.

Tuesday, 2/26. Big Brother. This season is basically unwatchable so I just fast forward through it. With the couples, it's not BB, it's just a new show based on it. Josh is okay, although pudgy. I'd say my favorite is Alex Coladonato. He just needs a nose job.

American Idol. Luke Menard should not sing Queen songs. He is totally missing the richness of Freddie Mercury's vocals singing "Killer Queen". Speaking of queens, I like Danny Noriega. He's sassy. David Hernandez is cute and I see in the news that he apparently worked at a gay bar. Hearing David Archuleta sing you have to wonder what the point of continuing the contest is. He's got it in the bag.

Wednesday, 2/27. Project Runway. It was sad to see Chris go. I will miss his laugh. I thought his creativity should have won out over Rami.

Big Brother. This was the second bad result of the night. Alex was the person I liked on the show.

The Gauntlet III. Ryan Kehoe was again made safe by the Veterans team. All is well.

Thursday, 2/28. American Idol. I was fine with seeing Jason Yeager leaving. He's like a very average suburban guy who thinks that he can just poof his hair up and dye a front shock of it blond and suddenly be a rock star, something that he clearly is not nor will ever be.

Friday, 2/29. Bill O'Reilly. A few minutes of substitute host Laura Ingraham is all that I could take. She seems to me to be a cold-hearted, frigid bitch that gives an even worse name to bleach blond bimbos.