American Idol Rat Pack Week Recap

Rat Pack Week equals best theme of American Idol to date! On a scale of 1-10 no one rates below a 6 tonight. We're getting down to the wire. Once American Idol ends my Tuesday and Wednesday nights will be so dull.
Bottom three is going to be hard to compile this week as all of the performances were amazing... excepgt Adam's but he'll never be in the bottom 3 because he has too big of a fan base.
1. Danny
Song: Come Rain Or Come Shine
Rating 8
Flawless.
2. Matt
Song: My Funny Valentine
A little bit of Broadway in Rat Pack night as this song is from the musical Babes in Arms. He did really good with it too. He was truly
in his element.
Rating 8.5
3. Allison
Song: Someone To Watch Over Me
My favorite performance out of all the ones she has done.
Rating 7
4, Kris
Song The Way You Look Tonight
This song proved he is very versatile.
Rating 7.5
5 Adam
Song Feeling Good
Never heard of this song before in my life. Thought he would of picked something like New York New York. He did good.. a little bit easier on the ears because there is less screaming.
Rating 6


My prediction is that the final 3 will be Allison Danny and Matt Allison to win. Let's see how accurate this ends up being. I tend to be horrible at predicting things.

New York New York

American Idol Update: Anoop and Lil were elimnated. Thank god! Now the compettiors worth watching are leftTop 5AdamAllisonDannyMattKrisThis week's theme Rat Pack... Frank Sinatra songs YAY!So this weekend Matt and I went to New York for our one year anniversary ... which technically isn't till June 15th but we figured we would celebrate early just in case by some miracle we were both to get jobs by them. We left NH at 6:30 am on Friday caught a connectiong bus at South Station @ 8:30 and arrived in New York by 1:00. After checking into our hotel room we went out to lunch and then did some souvenier shopping and went to the Metropolition Meusuem of Art. Now usually I am not a big fan of art muesums but I wasn't quite so bored by this one. There were a lot of interesting exhibits. We were there from 2:30-4:30 then hopped on the train to Greenwhich Village and walked around the NYU campus. I was kind of a ditz and forgot to take the phone #s of my friends from the Barn Playhouse who go there so I could have met up with them for dinner...oh well next time. We went out to dinner at this nice Italian resturant in Greenwhich Village. I can't remember the name of it. One step up from the disgusting hamburger I had for lunch for some reason nothing beats a cheerburger from Wendy's. After that we went back to our hotel room relaxed and watched the Red Sox on Tv. Saturday morning we got up @ around 8:30 had breakfast @ the hotel then did some souvenier shopping and just walked around the city. We arrived at the theatre to get our tickets for HAIR at about 1:15. The show was phenominial. I do not think I have had so much fun at a Broadway show in a while. I hope it gets nominated for a Tony awards... now I am not sure if Drama Desk Awards are the same thing but HAIR is nominated for 8 of those.. complete list can be found @ the below linkhttp://www.playbill.com/news/article/128654.html After the show we met up with my friend Jay and he gave us a backstage tour.. brief as it was it was amazing! Pictures of it from it are already up on facebook. We then went out for dinner @ this awesome resturant on Broadway called Ellen's Starlight Diner. It was a 50's style diner and the cool thing about they had a singing wait staff. IT was cool I'll definitley go back there again next time I go back to New York. ... which won't be for awhile. Yesterday we were up early for a quick breakfast in the room then we checked out of our hotel and met up with my friend Colleen from the Barn Playhouse for lunch!! So good to see her and catch up!! Then we made the long trek home and were slightly delayed because of traffic in Conneticut. Got home around 8:30 last night.. and now it's back to realoity and job searching.I have a meeting with my job coach at 2 and then an interview @ Rite Aide in Milford at 3:15. At this point I am pretty desperate for a job so I am really hoping I get this one. I just want all this stress to be over. I have been losing sleep because of the stress and anxiety I have been under.

American Idol Disco Week Summary

American Idol SummaryTheme: Disco Week 5 (still not totally sure what week of the compettion we're in but we are getting closer and closer to the end.)
Bottom 2:
Anoop Song: Dance The Night Away Donna Summer
Rating 4
Remarks: Totally and completley bored with him. He needs to go
Lil Song I'm Every Woman Chaka Khan
Rating 6.Comment: While this was slightly better then last week's performance I still think everything of hers is starting to sound the same. Like Anoop she is gettiing quite boring. She never listens to what the judges say when they tell her to improve and that's why everything sounds the same
Middle
Adam If I Can't Have You
Rating 5
Remarks: Adam is too good to even be considered to be in the bottom 3.. no matter how much I predict him to be there he will never end up there
Matt
Song Stayin Alive The BeegeesRating 8
Remarks: This performance proved that the judges used the save wisely and that's all I have to say. Totally agree with Kara's comment which was SOLID
Top 3
Allison
Song: Hot Stuff Donna Summer
Rating 8
Remarks: Interesting twist on one of my favorite disco songs. She knows how to take a song and make it her own.
Danny Song: September Earth Wind And FireRating 9
Remarks: He gives solid performances each week. This was his best one yet in my opinon.
Kris
Song: She Works Hard For The Money Donna Summer
Rating 8
Remarks: He's getting better and better every week.

grrr

UGGH! The job search is getting even more discouraging and frusturating. Everywhere I turn there seems to be a road block.. too many people applying for same job,college kids coming back looking for summer work, people with more experience getting the jobs and what have you. I am ready to surrender for the time being and wait until the summer is over to look for a job.. at least I might have a possibilty of getting the hostess job at Fridays by then.

On the plus side Friday Matt and I go to New York for our one year anniversary...so excited!!! I am looking most foward to getting the backstage tour at HAIR..THANK YOU JAY and meeting up with Colleen Fee for dinner after the show. Escaping for awhile will help me get my mind of job searching and all its disappointments at least temporairly.

Writer's block still nags at me too. I haven't written any poems since December. My muse has left me totally and completely. Not to metion I haven't had much free time lately to work on the sequel to the last story I wrote for Short Story Workshop Class.

Upcoming Events
NYC all signs point to my theatre related blog http://theatrereviewer826.blogspot.com for a full review of HAIR AND pictures from the Backstage tour
NEC Spring Weekend
NEC Graduation

American Idol Results show recap

Pros and Cons of Last nights American Idol Results show
Pros
Ford commercial
Jennifer Hudson performed
2 out of three people I predicted would be in the top 3 were there.
Matt was saved, i thought they really should have used the save on Alexis Grace a few weeks back to spare people the torture of enduring Megan Joy Corkery's vocals but I am glad Matt is around for an extra week.
Group song was better than it has been in previous weeks and looked less like it was lip-synced.
Cons
Miley Cyrus performed and she sucks live
Lil should have gone home and she didn't.
Next week is double elimination meaning that Matt could go home if he doesn't give a stellar performance. I am really hoping that Anoop and Lil go though. I am so sick of them.


Next week's theme Disco
Songs I'd like to hear the contestants sing
Adam- Stayin Alive The Beegees
Allison Dancing Queen ABBA
Danny Boogie Shoes KC and The Sunshine Band
Kris Jive Talkin' The Beegees
Matt Ain't No Stoppin Us Now McFadden and Whitehead
Lil I Feel Love Donna Summer
No clue what song would be best fit for Anoop. He's more of a ballad type of person and Disco is a really upbeat kind of theme. We'll have to see what happens.

Group Song for Results Show: Celebration Kool and The Gang

It's about that time to reflect

Quote of the Day:  "Do not go where  the path may lead, go instead   where there is no path and leave a trail."   Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today's theme is graduation.. senioritis everything of that sort... I have a lot of people  I know who are graduating from high school and college in a couple weeks ( or  a month and a half approximately if you go to SHS) so  I figured I would post a  words to wise kind of entry. It will be split into two parts... advice for high school seniors and advice to college seniors.

Part 1: High School  Seniors

It's been a long time since I was a senior in high school  (going on 5  years) at around this time   senior projects  were wrapping up... college apps had been sent in and most of my friends had found out where they were to  be going to school in September. Current seniors at Souhegan have the same kinds of things to deal with  even though  I think senior project presentations are now at end of April or beginning of May instead of earlier in April...  things have changed so much at Souhegan since I left that  I'm not sure how that schedule works now.  I'm sure the stress of the application process is well over and done with and that most of you know where you're going next yet.  The advice that would fit  your situations right now is live your final days of high school to the fullest because you will miss them  (and your friends) when they're gone.  When the end of the summer and  your departure to your  departure for college (where ever your travels may  lead you  close to home or far away) Embrace each day with passion and don't be afraid to try new things. When I was thinking of what clubs to join in college I kept my passions in check but wasn't afraid of trying something new and that's how  I met a ton of the friends  that I have now.  

Part 2:  College Seniors

This part of the entry  is more relevant to people  I am more closer to in age.  I am in awe that it was only a year ago when   I was in all of your shoes... stressed to the max about graduating on time and even more stressed about what  I would be doing post grad. It was only in the last couple of  weeks of school  when I realized how much  I was going to miss NEC (not so much Henniker because not a whole lot happens there but more so my friends,fellow thespians and professors)  and how much I still miss it and miss all my friends.  Transition from the college life to the real world is a daunting task but take it in stride and you'll do a ok.   The economic down turn has had the biggest effect on me because I have struggled with finding a job since I've graduated and  sometimes even pondered  why  I majored in  what I chose to major in (wishing  I had majored in education instead of communications)  but  I take that in stride too.  The right job will come along eventually  for me    I am sure as I'm sure it will come along for all of you once you start the ever so daunting search.  Live the final moments of your senior year to  the fullest and enjoy them.

Congratulations to everyone in the class  of 2009. Best of luck in whatever future endeavors you lead yourselves on. 

With all these thoughts of graduating  and  where people will be afterwards and even what some people  I graduated with last year are doing now   I can't  help but have a flash back to   August 12th  2007.  It was  the last  brunch at the Barn Playhouse at Wally and Bud's house where  I joined in a conversation that Nic,  Will and Paul where having  with Bud about where they see themselves in the future. I  didn't throw in my own two cents because I didn't want to interrupt anyone else's train of thought.    Besides the late night talks I used to have with Will about various things after Annie Get Your Gun rehearsals or even backstage when there wasn't much else to do  this conversation  really stood out to me because it got me to think about where  I was going with my life.. and where   I would predict most of my friends from the Barn Playhouse would be after we left NLBP. Broadway bound? Well maybe not yet but everyone has to start somewhere and from the chatting i've done with various people in my intern company  quite a few of them have been in either touring shows or off Broadway shows so that doesn't  shock me based on the diverse range of talent that everyone had.  Highly admirable. :D Love everyone in NLBP 07!!  Anyway enough about that.    I still think about the conversation a lot today because I guess the daunting question  I consistently find myself facing is  where do  I see myself in 5,10,15 years?    Communications  is clearly the broadest major one can choose but with the way a lot of newspapers seem to be going out of business  I don't know if i'll be able to make much of a career of being  a theatre reviewer  that's why  I've done some constant rethinking of my career path and  am gonna take some classes in the fall  in either Early Childhood Education, Speech Pathology  or Medical Coding.   It's a daunting and confusing task to try to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life..and quite challenging. It makes my head hurt. 

American Idol Recap- Songs From The Cinema

What week of American Idol is this? 5? 6? I don't remember.
This week's theme was songs from the cinema
Top 3 Allison Matt Kris
Bottom 3 Adam (though he definitely won't get into the bottom 3) Anoop Lil (she's borderline this week)
Middle Ground Danny
Scale Rating 1-10 1 horrible and hurts my ears 10 Awesome
Allison
Song: Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith from the movie Armageddon
Rating 9
Clearly her best performance yet. If she is in the bottom 3 again this week I will be shocked. She is definitley going to make it all the way to the end.
Anoop
Song Everything I Do I Do For You Bryan Adams (missed the movie it was from)
Rating 4.5
This performance was alright.. better then some of his performances in past weeks. His time is running very short,
Adam
Song Born To Be Wild missed the artist name from the movie Ez Rider
Rating 3.5
The best performance he has done so far was Tracks of My Tears during Motown Week. The past two performances he has done have gotten low ratings from me but based on his strong fan base there is no way he'll even get close to the bottom 3. He's invincible. 3.5
Matt
Song Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman by Bryan Adams from the movie Don Juan Demarco
Rating 8
He continues to improve as an artist. I like what I hear from him more and more every week. He did a really good job with the song.
Danny
Song Endless Love Lionel Ritchie missed the movie it was from
Rating 6.5
Lots of good emotion in this song but I tend toward liking his more upbeat performances then the balllads.
Kris
Song Falling Slowly missed the artist and movie it was from
Rating 8
Totally agree with Kara's critique BEST MOMENT!!
Lil
Song The Rose I think it is from Beaches with Bette Midler in it but I am not sure
Rating 7
One of her better performance out all the ones she done over the past few weeks. Loved her song choice but quite frankly I am getting bored with her and hope she goes home this wee