It's the Muppet Babies version of Star Trek, as we go back to the very beginning to see how Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise gang came together. Except that it's not quite the Enterprise gang we already knew, because Abrams cleverly re-boots the franchise by making this a time-travel story, thus creating an alternate history in which events are free to develop differently than they did in the original version.
The personalities are essentially the same, though, which poses a particularly nasty challenge for the actors -- how to evoke the original cast without falling into slavish imitation or caricature -- and most of the cast succeed very well. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock come off best (thank goodness, since they have the largest roles). Pine gets the cocky arrogance of Kirk just right, and Quinto's Spock is perfect as a young man who hasn't quite yet found the balance between his human and Vulcan sides.
As McCoy, Karl Urban gives the most cartoonish imitation of his predecessor, and Anton Yelchin's Chekov is embarassing, though in fairness, the script doesn't give him much more to do than a few "victor/wictor" accent jokes, so he's playing them for all they're worth (which isn't much).
Our villain this time is Eric Bana, as a pissed-off Romulan named Nero, who's traveled back in time to wreak vengeance on the men who destroyed his planet. Bana's trying to make Nero a larger-than-life figure, striving for the same sort of operatic tragic figure that Ricardo Montalban created in The Wrath of Khan, and he never quite gets there; all of his flailing about and yelling ultimately just seems a little silly.
But a Star Trek movie is never really about the bad guy, anyway; it's about the relationships among those core characters, and Abrams gets those relationships just right; Pine and Quinto have moments when you forget that you're not watching Shatner and Nimoy. The tone of the movie also captures the original series perfectly, with a precisely calibrated blend of earnestness, camaraderie, humor that walks the is-it-or-isn't-it line of deliberate campiness, and hope that humanity might actually find itself in this wonderful world someday.
The special effects are very well done, though Abrams is overly fond on phony light flares on the lens. Michael Giacchino's score is marvelous; I was reminded at various points of Holst, or of a more brutal and percussive Hovhaness. (And Alexander Courage's original theme music is brought in at exactly the right moment.)
Does the story hold up? Well, not really; time travel stories rarely do if you examine them too closely. But things move along quickly enough that you don't have time to worry about the paradoxes and loopholes until after the movie's over, and the main goal -- giving the series a fresh start and freeing it from the fanboy tyranny of Official Star Trek Canon -- is accomplished with great efficiency. A fine new start for the series.
May 18, 2009
May 12, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Judges' choice
The annual choice night -- judges pick a song, contestants pick a song -- gets shrunk from three songs to two this year, as Idol continues to be unable to properly manage time. Sadly missing from the usual lineup: Clive Davis, whose picks are usually the most astute of the evening.
The rundown:
Danny, "Dance Little Sister" -- Danny's screaming at us, and even though he's managing to stay on pitch, it's not a pleasant thing to hear. It's a harsh, aggressive, almost threatening performance; I begin to fear that if Little Sister doesn't dance well enough, Danny's going to send her to the salt mines. And quite apart from the screaming, it's just not a very interesting performance.
Kris, "Apologize" -- Very well done, with the falsetto accents being used (for once) quite effectively. It's a slightly bigger sound than we usually get from Kris, and it's good to see that he's capable of more power; the sound isn't forced or pushed, and (unlike Danny) there's no apparent effort behind it.
Adam, "One" -- The first voice and chorus are rather pleasant, but then it's back to the shriek shriek scream scream scream of which Adam is so fond. There's barely a word in the second half of the song that can be understood, except maybe by dogs, and I feel as if someone's ramming an iron spike into my brain.
For Round 1: Kris, Danny, Adam.
Danny, "You Are So Beautiful" -- A few moments in the middle border on the overly shouty, but far less so than Danny's norm, and the opening is absolutely beautiful. The song suits his voice and style perfectly, and the arrangement is effective. Probably his best performance of the season. (And let's face it, the subliminal reminder of the dead wife is good for a few votes, too.)
Kris, "Heartless" -- I don't know the Kanye West song at all, but I'm willing to bet that it's not an acoustic guitar number. Enunciation continues to be a problem for Kris, but that's the only serious problem here. The arrangement is lovely, and the performance is spot-on technically. It's a fine performance.
Adam, "Crying" -- I have the same reaction I had to his Led Zeppelin song last week: He really doesn't look comfortable as a hard rocker. As for the performance, shriek scream yawn can we please for the love of god send him home already?
For Round 2: Danny, Kris, Adam.
For the night: Kris (narrowly, on the basis of consistency), Danny, Adam.
For the season: Kris, Danny, Adam.
Deserving to go home. Adam. Seriously, America, the emperor has no clothes. Realistically, though, either Danny or Kris will be leaving; I think it's too close to call.
The rundown:
Danny, "Dance Little Sister" -- Danny's screaming at us, and even though he's managing to stay on pitch, it's not a pleasant thing to hear. It's a harsh, aggressive, almost threatening performance; I begin to fear that if Little Sister doesn't dance well enough, Danny's going to send her to the salt mines. And quite apart from the screaming, it's just not a very interesting performance.
Kris, "Apologize" -- Very well done, with the falsetto accents being used (for once) quite effectively. It's a slightly bigger sound than we usually get from Kris, and it's good to see that he's capable of more power; the sound isn't forced or pushed, and (unlike Danny) there's no apparent effort behind it.
Adam, "One" -- The first voice and chorus are rather pleasant, but then it's back to the shriek shriek scream scream scream of which Adam is so fond. There's barely a word in the second half of the song that can be understood, except maybe by dogs, and I feel as if someone's ramming an iron spike into my brain.
For Round 1: Kris, Danny, Adam.
Danny, "You Are So Beautiful" -- A few moments in the middle border on the overly shouty, but far less so than Danny's norm, and the opening is absolutely beautiful. The song suits his voice and style perfectly, and the arrangement is effective. Probably his best performance of the season. (And let's face it, the subliminal reminder of the dead wife is good for a few votes, too.)
Kris, "Heartless" -- I don't know the Kanye West song at all, but I'm willing to bet that it's not an acoustic guitar number. Enunciation continues to be a problem for Kris, but that's the only serious problem here. The arrangement is lovely, and the performance is spot-on technically. It's a fine performance.
Adam, "Crying" -- I have the same reaction I had to his Led Zeppelin song last week: He really doesn't look comfortable as a hard rocker. As for the performance, shriek scream yawn can we please for the love of god send him home already?
For Round 2: Danny, Kris, Adam.
For the night: Kris (narrowly, on the basis of consistency), Danny, Adam.
For the season: Kris, Danny, Adam.
Deserving to go home. Adam. Seriously, America, the emperor has no clothes. Realistically, though, either Danny or Kris will be leaving; I think it's too close to call.
May 07, 2009
BOOKS: Old City Hall, Robert Rotenberg (2009)
Entertaining legal thriller with a fine mix of sharply drawn characters.
Mr. Singh enjoys his short morning chats with Kevin Brace, one of the customers to whom he delivers the newspaper every morning, so it comes as a particular shock when Brace opens the door one morning with bloody hands and confesses to killing his wife, whose body Singh finds in the Braces' bathtub. Those words -- "I killed her" -- will be the last words Brace speaks to anyone; he refuses to talk to the police, and insists on communicating even with his lawyer only in writing.
Not talking is out of character for Brace, who is Toronto's most popular talk-radio host, but the police and Crown Attorney's office aren't terribly bothered. With a dead body, a weapon, and a confession on hand, this should be an easy case. But then, there are those mysterious fingerprints that shouldn't be at the scene; Brace's silence poses unexpected obstacles; and the judge assigned to the case is just unpredictable enough to make everyone nervous.
The story is full of nifty twists, and Rotenberg gives us a terrific bunch of characters; I particularly liked Nancy Parish, Brace's attorney, who can't figure out what her client is up to, and Detective Ari Greene, whose scenes with his grumpy retired father provide much of the novel's comic relief. Because the story's set in Canada, the courtroom sequences happen slightly differently than they might in an American city, but never so much so that the U.S. reader will feel ambushed by something he didn't see coming.
This is a very good first novel, and several of these characters could easily continue on as series protagonists, if Rotenberg so chooses.
Mr. Singh enjoys his short morning chats with Kevin Brace, one of the customers to whom he delivers the newspaper every morning, so it comes as a particular shock when Brace opens the door one morning with bloody hands and confesses to killing his wife, whose body Singh finds in the Braces' bathtub. Those words -- "I killed her" -- will be the last words Brace speaks to anyone; he refuses to talk to the police, and insists on communicating even with his lawyer only in writing.
Not talking is out of character for Brace, who is Toronto's most popular talk-radio host, but the police and Crown Attorney's office aren't terribly bothered. With a dead body, a weapon, and a confession on hand, this should be an easy case. But then, there are those mysterious fingerprints that shouldn't be at the scene; Brace's silence poses unexpected obstacles; and the judge assigned to the case is just unpredictable enough to make everyone nervous.
The story is full of nifty twists, and Rotenberg gives us a terrific bunch of characters; I particularly liked Nancy Parish, Brace's attorney, who can't figure out what her client is up to, and Detective Ari Greene, whose scenes with his grumpy retired father provide much of the novel's comic relief. Because the story's set in Canada, the courtroom sequences happen slightly differently than they might in an American city, but never so much so that the U.S. reader will feel ambushed by something he didn't see coming.
This is a very good first novel, and several of these characters could easily continue on as series protagonists, if Rotenberg so chooses.
May 05, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Rock night
I will happily admit that rock music is not my favorite genre, so the rundown may sound grumpier than usual. (If I think everyone stinks, I can blame it on their lack of dress rehearsal.) Slash takes on the role of mentor, and for the first time in Idol competition, we get duets from the wannabes.
The rundown:
Adam, "Whole Lotta Love" -- At least tonight his high-pitched shrieking is stylistically appropriate. Sadly, that doesn't make it any less painful, especially when the words are as incomprehensible as they often are here. And for the first time, even Adam's stage presence fails him; he looks uncomfortable tonight, like a little boy playing dress-up in a rocker's clothes.
Allison, "Cry Baby" -- Maybe it's just the song or the style, but this is the least subtle, least interesting performance we've gotten from Allison; she's bludgeoning us with volume. There aren't any serious technical problems -- the pitch is fine, the phrasing makes sense -- but it never crosses the line from competent to interesting.
Kris & Danny, "Renegade" -- It's not really a duet so much as two soloists sharing a stage; they don't even look at each other for most of the song. Kris comes off better as a rock singer than I'd expected him to, and Danny's R&B sound is less suited to the style than I'd have guessed. But their voices blend very well, and they've made enough attempt at ensemble that they're even breathing together in the same odd place ("...long [breathe] arm of the law...").
Kris, "Come Together" -- This song ought to feel a little bit sleazy, and while Kris certainly goes farther in that direction than I thought he could, it is sort of like watching the Hardy Boys make a porn flick. It's not a disastrously awful performance -- I liked the middle section, where he drops into his lower register -- but it's a very bad song choice. Then again, in all fairness, this was never going to be his best night, and I don't know what would have been a better choice.
Danny, "Dream On" -- Excuse me while I lift my jaw from the floor. The opening verse wasn't half bad, but the louder and higher-pitched it got, the worse it became. Danny's pitch went completely to hell and back -- I don't think a single instance of the words "dream on" was in tune, and that made up about half of the song -- and those last few seconds of rocker screaming were horrific. By far the worst performance of the night, maybe the worst of the season (and I haven't forgotten Megan's "Rockin' Robin").
Allison & Adam, "Slow Ride" -- Individually, they're both better than they were in their solo numbers. He looks more comfortable, and (much to my surprise) manages to scale his performance down to a more natural level, allowing the two to blend nicely. She's singing instead of shouting, and unlike the Kris/Danny pairing, these two actually seem to be aware of one another's presence. The song is duller than dirt, but the performance is the best one we've heard tonight.
For the night: Allison, Adam, Kris, Danny.
For the season: Allison, Kris, Danny, Adam.
Deserving the trip home: I continue to dream of the Adam-goes-home miracle, but I certainly don't expect it. Overall, Danny is the most deserving of the exit, but I wouldn't feel safe if I were Kris.
The rundown:
Adam, "Whole Lotta Love" -- At least tonight his high-pitched shrieking is stylistically appropriate. Sadly, that doesn't make it any less painful, especially when the words are as incomprehensible as they often are here. And for the first time, even Adam's stage presence fails him; he looks uncomfortable tonight, like a little boy playing dress-up in a rocker's clothes.
Allison, "Cry Baby" -- Maybe it's just the song or the style, but this is the least subtle, least interesting performance we've gotten from Allison; she's bludgeoning us with volume. There aren't any serious technical problems -- the pitch is fine, the phrasing makes sense -- but it never crosses the line from competent to interesting.
Kris & Danny, "Renegade" -- It's not really a duet so much as two soloists sharing a stage; they don't even look at each other for most of the song. Kris comes off better as a rock singer than I'd expected him to, and Danny's R&B sound is less suited to the style than I'd have guessed. But their voices blend very well, and they've made enough attempt at ensemble that they're even breathing together in the same odd place ("...long [breathe] arm of the law...").
Kris, "Come Together" -- This song ought to feel a little bit sleazy, and while Kris certainly goes farther in that direction than I thought he could, it is sort of like watching the Hardy Boys make a porn flick. It's not a disastrously awful performance -- I liked the middle section, where he drops into his lower register -- but it's a very bad song choice. Then again, in all fairness, this was never going to be his best night, and I don't know what would have been a better choice.
Danny, "Dream On" -- Excuse me while I lift my jaw from the floor. The opening verse wasn't half bad, but the louder and higher-pitched it got, the worse it became. Danny's pitch went completely to hell and back -- I don't think a single instance of the words "dream on" was in tune, and that made up about half of the song -- and those last few seconds of rocker screaming were horrific. By far the worst performance of the night, maybe the worst of the season (and I haven't forgotten Megan's "Rockin' Robin").
Allison & Adam, "Slow Ride" -- Individually, they're both better than they were in their solo numbers. He looks more comfortable, and (much to my surprise) manages to scale his performance down to a more natural level, allowing the two to blend nicely. She's singing instead of shouting, and unlike the Kris/Danny pairing, these two actually seem to be aware of one another's presence. The song is duller than dirt, but the performance is the best one we've heard tonight.
For the night: Allison, Adam, Kris, Danny.
For the season: Allison, Kris, Danny, Adam.
Deserving the trip home: I continue to dream of the Adam-goes-home miracle, but I certainly don't expect it. Overall, Danny is the most deserving of the exit, but I wouldn't feel safe if I were Kris.
April 28, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Rat Pack night
The Rat Pack serve as this year's excuse for a night of standards, and Jamie Foxx is brought out to serve as the most unexpected mentor in Idol history. This is normally the week when we begin to get two songs from each contestant, but in an unspoken acknowledgement of the show's inability to manage time this season, we're still getting only one song each.
The rundown:
Kris, "The Way You Look Tonight" -- Kris has a natural, intimate quality that suits him well tonight, and the performance isn't bad overall, though his phrasing is occasionally strange (why would you breathe after the word "just" in "just thinking of you" instead of before?) and his enunciation is still sloppy. The up-tempo section in the middle is a mistake, though, especially the painful falsetto note that leads into it.
Allison, "Someone to Watch Over Me" -- I had been worried about Allison tonight, but she made a good song choice and pulled it off very nicely. Like much of her material, it's not really a 17-year-old's song -- it's about the fear that one is running out of time to find love, after all -- but Allison's preternatural maturity allows her to get away with it. No serious technical flaws, and while it's not a brilliant piece of interpretive singing, it'll do.
Matt, "My Funny Valentine" -- Foxx tries desperately to get Matt to sing full voice instead of falsetto, and he's right; those are Matt's best moments in the song. But his pitch is off throughout (he frequently hits a pitch badly and finds his way to it by the end), he's throwing in too many pointless ruffles and flourishes, and the moments when he does go to falsetto are terribly unattractive, especially at the very end of the song. (Simon's praise of this is one of his rare moments of lunacy.)
Danny, "Come Rain or Come Shine" -- Remember how all of Taylor Hicks' bluesy riffs started off seeming so fresh and original, and by the end of the season were revealed to be a very limited batch of cheesy affectations? Meet Taylor II. It's not a horrible performance, it's just never an interesting one, and the further into the song we get, the sillier and more overblown it gets.
Adam, "Feeling Good" -- An unusual song choice, not only because it has nothing to do with the Rat Pack, but because it is perhaps the most cursed song in Idol lore, having led to the elimination of two contestants in one night (Leslie and A.J., semifinals, two years ago). As for Adam's take on the song, it's his best performance yet, if only because he's actually singing much of it instead of screaming the entire thing at us. The big note at the end is held way too long, to the point where it starts to feel like Sideshow Bob and the rakes, and there's a terrible unplanned raspy moment when he drops out of it. Still, it's the first performance Adam's given that I genuinely enjoyed.
For the night: Adam (!), Allison, Kris, Danny, Matt.
For the season: Allison, Kris, Danny, Matt, Adam.
Deserving to be sent home: Adam earns himself a reprieve this week, so let's send Matt packing.
The rundown:
Kris, "The Way You Look Tonight" -- Kris has a natural, intimate quality that suits him well tonight, and the performance isn't bad overall, though his phrasing is occasionally strange (why would you breathe after the word "just" in "just thinking of you" instead of before?) and his enunciation is still sloppy. The up-tempo section in the middle is a mistake, though, especially the painful falsetto note that leads into it.
Allison, "Someone to Watch Over Me" -- I had been worried about Allison tonight, but she made a good song choice and pulled it off very nicely. Like much of her material, it's not really a 17-year-old's song -- it's about the fear that one is running out of time to find love, after all -- but Allison's preternatural maturity allows her to get away with it. No serious technical flaws, and while it's not a brilliant piece of interpretive singing, it'll do.
Matt, "My Funny Valentine" -- Foxx tries desperately to get Matt to sing full voice instead of falsetto, and he's right; those are Matt's best moments in the song. But his pitch is off throughout (he frequently hits a pitch badly and finds his way to it by the end), he's throwing in too many pointless ruffles and flourishes, and the moments when he does go to falsetto are terribly unattractive, especially at the very end of the song. (Simon's praise of this is one of his rare moments of lunacy.)
Danny, "Come Rain or Come Shine" -- Remember how all of Taylor Hicks' bluesy riffs started off seeming so fresh and original, and by the end of the season were revealed to be a very limited batch of cheesy affectations? Meet Taylor II. It's not a horrible performance, it's just never an interesting one, and the further into the song we get, the sillier and more overblown it gets.
Adam, "Feeling Good" -- An unusual song choice, not only because it has nothing to do with the Rat Pack, but because it is perhaps the most cursed song in Idol lore, having led to the elimination of two contestants in one night (Leslie and A.J., semifinals, two years ago). As for Adam's take on the song, it's his best performance yet, if only because he's actually singing much of it instead of screaming the entire thing at us. The big note at the end is held way too long, to the point where it starts to feel like Sideshow Bob and the rakes, and there's a terrible unplanned raspy moment when he drops out of it. Still, it's the first performance Adam's given that I genuinely enjoyed.
For the night: Adam (!), Allison, Kris, Danny, Matt.
For the season: Allison, Kris, Danny, Matt, Adam.
Deserving to be sent home: Adam earns himself a reprieve this week, so let's send Matt packing.
April 21, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Disco night
After last week's surprising waste of the Judges' Save on Matt, the top seven return for a night of disco songs. Everyone's a little desperate, knowing that two will be sent home this week, and we wind up with a night of unexpected arrangements and performances that are, even when they don't quite work, more interesting than we might have predicted.
The rundown:
Lil, "I'm Every Woman" -- Remember Lakisha from two seasons back? Fabulous voice, but no emotional connection to the songs or to the audience? That's who Lil reminds me of as she delivers the least interesting of the many Idol versions of this song. And I've always thought this was a bad Idol song; there's not much melody, and the backup singers do too much of the work.
Kris, "She Works Hard for the Money" -- Very nicely done, though Kris's enunciation is particularly sloppy tonight. The arrangement is clever and effective, and Kris manages to give the song his own style without making it unrecognizable or destroying it entirely.
Danny, "September" -- It almost hurts to watch him lumbering across the stage. On the other hand, it doesn't sound too bad; it's less forced than usual, and I'm surprised at how well he's hitting the high notes. It's not a great performance, and it has the tentative feel of something he's not quite sure he's got memorized yet, but it'll keep him around for another week.
Allison, "Hot Stuff" -- Oh, dear. Nothing about that worked. The arrangement, the outfit, the staging, the song choice -- all of it just wrong. It's the first time that she's come across as a kid singing material that's too old for her. Given the surprising frequency with which she's wound up in the bottom three, I fear that she's in big trouble after that performance.
Adam, "If I Can't Have You" -- His pitch is unusually shaky tonight, and in spots his enunciation is so nonexistent that I'd swear he was mocking us ("If I caaaaaaaaayuuuuuuuhh"). There are moments, though, when he drops into his lowest register, that I hear for the first time a voice that I'd be curious to hear more of; those few notes are far more attractive than the high-pitched shrieking that he so enjoys.
Matt, "Stayin' Alive" -- Big kudos just for getting out all the syllables in comprehensible fashion. The performance was better than I'd have expected, not that I'm going to remember it in the morning. And someone needs to club him upside the head with a great big No More Falsetto Stick; the last five seconds were painful.
Anoop, "Dim All the Lights" -- When the repeated line in the song is "gonna dance the night away," it would be nice if the arrangement felt like something you could, I dunno, dance to; this felt more like something that would be playing quietly in the background of a birthing class. It was pretty and well sung, I suppose, but the performance and the song were so utterly at odds that it landed with a thud.
For the night: Kris, Danny, Matt, Adam, Lil, Anoop, Allison.
For the season: Kris, Anoop, Danny, Alllison, Lil, Matt, Adam.
Should go home: Since it's a given that Adam isn't going anywhere, I'll have to say Lil and Matt. But with two going home, I expect a surprise, and I fear for Allison.
The rundown:
Lil, "I'm Every Woman" -- Remember Lakisha from two seasons back? Fabulous voice, but no emotional connection to the songs or to the audience? That's who Lil reminds me of as she delivers the least interesting of the many Idol versions of this song. And I've always thought this was a bad Idol song; there's not much melody, and the backup singers do too much of the work.
Kris, "She Works Hard for the Money" -- Very nicely done, though Kris's enunciation is particularly sloppy tonight. The arrangement is clever and effective, and Kris manages to give the song his own style without making it unrecognizable or destroying it entirely.
Danny, "September" -- It almost hurts to watch him lumbering across the stage. On the other hand, it doesn't sound too bad; it's less forced than usual, and I'm surprised at how well he's hitting the high notes. It's not a great performance, and it has the tentative feel of something he's not quite sure he's got memorized yet, but it'll keep him around for another week.
Allison, "Hot Stuff" -- Oh, dear. Nothing about that worked. The arrangement, the outfit, the staging, the song choice -- all of it just wrong. It's the first time that she's come across as a kid singing material that's too old for her. Given the surprising frequency with which she's wound up in the bottom three, I fear that she's in big trouble after that performance.
Adam, "If I Can't Have You" -- His pitch is unusually shaky tonight, and in spots his enunciation is so nonexistent that I'd swear he was mocking us ("If I caaaaaaaaayuuuuuuuhh"). There are moments, though, when he drops into his lowest register, that I hear for the first time a voice that I'd be curious to hear more of; those few notes are far more attractive than the high-pitched shrieking that he so enjoys.
Matt, "Stayin' Alive" -- Big kudos just for getting out all the syllables in comprehensible fashion. The performance was better than I'd have expected, not that I'm going to remember it in the morning. And someone needs to club him upside the head with a great big No More Falsetto Stick; the last five seconds were painful.
Anoop, "Dim All the Lights" -- When the repeated line in the song is "gonna dance the night away," it would be nice if the arrangement felt like something you could, I dunno, dance to; this felt more like something that would be playing quietly in the background of a birthing class. It was pretty and well sung, I suppose, but the performance and the song were so utterly at odds that it landed with a thud.
For the night: Kris, Danny, Matt, Adam, Lil, Anoop, Allison.
For the season: Kris, Anoop, Danny, Alllison, Lil, Matt, Adam.
Should go home: Since it's a given that Adam isn't going anywhere, I'll have to say Lil and Matt. But with two going home, I expect a surprise, and I fear for Allison.
April 20, 2009
BOOKS: A Reliable Wife, Robert Goolrick (2009)
It's a cold Wisconsin day in October 1907, and Ralph Truitt waits for the train that will bring Catherine Land, the woman who has answered his newspaper advertisement searching for "a reliable wife." It's clear almost immediately that both Ralph and Catherine are strong-willed people, and that each has an agenda that goes beyond a simple arranged marriage. But affairs of the heart never go quite as one plans them, even when one doesn't actually plan to involve the heart at all.
Goolrick's novel is a wildly overheated tale of passion, lust, vengeance, conniving, and longing. The story is almost too loopy to be believed, built as it is on a series of wild coincidences, and Goolrick's prose leans to the absurdly melodramatic. (Remembering a perfect childhood day, Catherine thinks, "The sun set every day. It could not be that it would set in splendor only once in her lifetime.") But the three principal characters -- Ralph and Catherine are eventually joined in Wisconsin by the piano-playing cad from St. Louis, Tony Moretti -- are so vividly drawn, and their emotional lives so real despite Goolrick's excesses, that A Reliable Wife kept me turning the pages. It can be an infuriating novel, and there will be moments when you want to toss it across the room, but there's something weirdly compelling in its delirium, and I'm glad to have read it.
Goolrick's novel is a wildly overheated tale of passion, lust, vengeance, conniving, and longing. The story is almost too loopy to be believed, built as it is on a series of wild coincidences, and Goolrick's prose leans to the absurdly melodramatic. (Remembering a perfect childhood day, Catherine thinks, "The sun set every day. It could not be that it would set in splendor only once in her lifetime.") But the three principal characters -- Ralph and Catherine are eventually joined in Wisconsin by the piano-playing cad from St. Louis, Tony Moretti -- are so vividly drawn, and their emotional lives so real despite Goolrick's excesses, that A Reliable Wife kept me turning the pages. It can be an infuriating novel, and there will be moments when you want to toss it across the room, but there's something weirdly compelling in its delirium, and I'm glad to have read it.
April 14, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: songs from movies
Quentin Tarantino is our mentor tonight, and the results are a wildly mixed bag, with performances tending to the extremes.
The rundown:
Allison, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" -- Not her best performance, though I'm still impressed with how smoothly she gets from her lower register (heck, she's a female Idol contestant; I'm impressed that she has a lower register) to her upper. There's nothing terribly wrong here; there's just nothing terribly interesting, either (to be sure, that's partly the fault of the song). It's a forgettable piece of work.
Anoop, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" -- Well, damn if Tarantino hasn't managed to push Anoop at least part of the way from Cute Little Boy to Romantic Lead. If he could sing like this every week, he'd be a threat to win this thing. It's a passionate, intense performance; the only thing I'd change is the cheesy pointing to the audience on the final "you."
Adam, "Born to Be Wild" -- Even I must grant that Adam is a showman, and if all I had to do was watch this performance, I'd be dazzled by it. Unfortunately, I also have to listen to it, which means being assaulted by that ugly high-pitched shriek. And the gasping for breath is getting worse every week; the first verse is particularly bad.
Matt, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" -- PItch is iffy throughout, with one especially nasty falsetto note in the bridge. Ultimately, Matt falls to the same pitfall that took down Allison -- there's nothing of interest in the song, and all the effort in the world can't make it seem that there is.
Danny, "Endless Love" -- The harp makes for an effective arrangement, and it's a fine performance. The belting doesn't come across quite so much as shouting as it often can with Danny, and whether it's because of Tarantino's advice or not, he does seem to be more emotionally connected with the material and the audience. (Losing the glasses? Big mistake; it's the one thing we remember about him.)
Kris, "Falling Slowly" -- Oh, that hurt to watch -- the most plodding, uninvolved, lifeless performance of this song I can imagine. The beginning was pitched too low for Kris, and even when he got into a more comfortable register, there was never any energy or spark to it. It was just a limp series of notes.
Lil, "The Rose" -- Lovely voice, and not the slightest idea what she ought to do with it. None of those runs and riffs and melodic alterations worked at all; they were just plugged in because they might sound impressive. It was a taste-free performance.
For the night: Anoop, Danny, Allison, Adam, Matt, Lil, Kris.
For the season: Anoop, Allison, Danny, Kris, Lil, Matt, Adam.
Should go home: Should be Adam, but won't be; either Lil or Matt would be the next best choice.
The rundown:
Allison, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" -- Not her best performance, though I'm still impressed with how smoothly she gets from her lower register (heck, she's a female Idol contestant; I'm impressed that she has a lower register) to her upper. There's nothing terribly wrong here; there's just nothing terribly interesting, either (to be sure, that's partly the fault of the song). It's a forgettable piece of work.
Anoop, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" -- Well, damn if Tarantino hasn't managed to push Anoop at least part of the way from Cute Little Boy to Romantic Lead. If he could sing like this every week, he'd be a threat to win this thing. It's a passionate, intense performance; the only thing I'd change is the cheesy pointing to the audience on the final "you."
Adam, "Born to Be Wild" -- Even I must grant that Adam is a showman, and if all I had to do was watch this performance, I'd be dazzled by it. Unfortunately, I also have to listen to it, which means being assaulted by that ugly high-pitched shriek. And the gasping for breath is getting worse every week; the first verse is particularly bad.
Matt, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" -- PItch is iffy throughout, with one especially nasty falsetto note in the bridge. Ultimately, Matt falls to the same pitfall that took down Allison -- there's nothing of interest in the song, and all the effort in the world can't make it seem that there is.
Danny, "Endless Love" -- The harp makes for an effective arrangement, and it's a fine performance. The belting doesn't come across quite so much as shouting as it often can with Danny, and whether it's because of Tarantino's advice or not, he does seem to be more emotionally connected with the material and the audience. (Losing the glasses? Big mistake; it's the one thing we remember about him.)
Kris, "Falling Slowly" -- Oh, that hurt to watch -- the most plodding, uninvolved, lifeless performance of this song I can imagine. The beginning was pitched too low for Kris, and even when he got into a more comfortable register, there was never any energy or spark to it. It was just a limp series of notes.
Lil, "The Rose" -- Lovely voice, and not the slightest idea what she ought to do with it. None of those runs and riffs and melodic alterations worked at all; they were just plugged in because they might sound impressive. It was a taste-free performance.
For the night: Anoop, Danny, Allison, Adam, Matt, Lil, Kris.
For the season: Anoop, Allison, Danny, Kris, Lil, Matt, Adam.
Should go home: Should be Adam, but won't be; either Lil or Matt would be the next best choice.
April 07, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: songs from birth years
It's an early 80s festival tonight (except for Allison, the baby of the group), as the wannabes offer songs from the year they were born. It is a painfully mediocre night of bizarre arrangements and uninteresting performances.
Danny, "Stand By Me" -- That slow opening verse is horrible, and completely disconnected from the up-tempo stuff that follows. And beyond the awful arrangement (which is most certainly not "the Mickey Gilley version," Gilley having been part of the early 80s "urban cowboy" movement), Danny's not in good voice tonight; he sounds pinched and strained. It's one of Danny's worst performances.
(And on that whole Mickey Gilley thing, I don't care if there was a cover version, this is not a song from 1980, and Danny ought not have been allowed to cheat the theme so blatantly.)
Kris, "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" -- Another very odd arrangement, all jazzy drums and brass that don't suit the song at all. Given that, I suppose there's nothing horribly wrong with the performance -- no glaring sour notes or anything -- but I didn't find it very interesting or effective.
Lil, "What's Love Got to Do With It" -- The verse and the bridge are quite nice, understated and relatively subtle. But then we plow into those choruses, and it's all Great Big Sledgehammer Notes (a couple of which are badly out of tune). Lil desperately needs to find a way to turn on the power without turning off the humanity.
Anoop, "True Colors" -- Finally, an arrangement that works reasonably well. But poor Anoop is so busy making soulful goo-goo eyes at us that he's forgetting to sing; his pitch is wobbly, his enunciation is sloppy, and oy, that awful falsetto note at the end! (What is it with the male contestants wanting to show off their weak falsetto registers this year?)
Scott, "The Search Is Over" -- It was bad enough when Scott was doing polite, tepid performances of polite, tepid music, but this? It's not as if Survivor is Led Zeppelin or anything, but the song does demand some edge; we just got more polite and tepid. And his pitch is terrible throughout; I winced when he went into the final chorus, where those high notes were disastrous. Please send him home, America.
Allison, "I Can't Make You Love Me" -- Talk about dumb luck, that the perfect Allison song just happens to come from her birth year. I'm particularly impressed by how smoothly she transitions from her lower register to her upper, and that she doesn't overuse the upper register; other singers we've heard would have insisted on belting an entire chorus.
Matt, "Part Time Lover" -- Well, that was a mess. The goopy slow intro, the odd little interjections of falsetto, the jazz riffs at the end, the unpleasantly nasal tone of Matt's voice throughout -- nothing about that worked. About all I can say for it is that it was minimally better than Scott.
Adam, "Mad World" -- He's gasping frantically for breath between phrases, and his strangled chipmunk upper register is painfully unattractive. And the attack on that final note is wildly out of tune, though he does eventually wrangle the note into place. Even without the technical problems, it's not a very memorable song or performance.
For the night: Allison, Lil, Kris, Anoop, Danny, Adam, Matt, Scott.
For the season: Allison, Kris, Anoop, Danny, Lil, Matt, Adam, Scott.
Deserving the trip home: Scott.
Danny, "Stand By Me" -- That slow opening verse is horrible, and completely disconnected from the up-tempo stuff that follows. And beyond the awful arrangement (which is most certainly not "the Mickey Gilley version," Gilley having been part of the early 80s "urban cowboy" movement), Danny's not in good voice tonight; he sounds pinched and strained. It's one of Danny's worst performances.
(And on that whole Mickey Gilley thing, I don't care if there was a cover version, this is not a song from 1980, and Danny ought not have been allowed to cheat the theme so blatantly.)
Kris, "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" -- Another very odd arrangement, all jazzy drums and brass that don't suit the song at all. Given that, I suppose there's nothing horribly wrong with the performance -- no glaring sour notes or anything -- but I didn't find it very interesting or effective.
Lil, "What's Love Got to Do With It" -- The verse and the bridge are quite nice, understated and relatively subtle. But then we plow into those choruses, and it's all Great Big Sledgehammer Notes (a couple of which are badly out of tune). Lil desperately needs to find a way to turn on the power without turning off the humanity.
Anoop, "True Colors" -- Finally, an arrangement that works reasonably well. But poor Anoop is so busy making soulful goo-goo eyes at us that he's forgetting to sing; his pitch is wobbly, his enunciation is sloppy, and oy, that awful falsetto note at the end! (What is it with the male contestants wanting to show off their weak falsetto registers this year?)
Scott, "The Search Is Over" -- It was bad enough when Scott was doing polite, tepid performances of polite, tepid music, but this? It's not as if Survivor is Led Zeppelin or anything, but the song does demand some edge; we just got more polite and tepid. And his pitch is terrible throughout; I winced when he went into the final chorus, where those high notes were disastrous. Please send him home, America.
Allison, "I Can't Make You Love Me" -- Talk about dumb luck, that the perfect Allison song just happens to come from her birth year. I'm particularly impressed by how smoothly she transitions from her lower register to her upper, and that she doesn't overuse the upper register; other singers we've heard would have insisted on belting an entire chorus.
Matt, "Part Time Lover" -- Well, that was a mess. The goopy slow intro, the odd little interjections of falsetto, the jazz riffs at the end, the unpleasantly nasal tone of Matt's voice throughout -- nothing about that worked. About all I can say for it is that it was minimally better than Scott.
Adam, "Mad World" -- He's gasping frantically for breath between phrases, and his strangled chipmunk upper register is painfully unattractive. And the attack on that final note is wildly out of tune, though he does eventually wrangle the note into place. Even without the technical problems, it's not a very memorable song or performance.
For the night: Allison, Lil, Kris, Anoop, Danny, Adam, Matt, Scott.
For the season: Allison, Kris, Anoop, Danny, Lil, Matt, Adam, Scott.
Deserving the trip home: Scott.
April 05, 2009
MOVIES: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
I am a sucker for movies about double-crosses, con games, and back-stabbing who-do-you-trust mind games, so Duplicity was right up my alley. It's certainly not the best movie of its type, but it's a breezy bit of entertainment.
Clive Owen and Julia Roberts star as Ray and Claire, former government spies (she's ex-CIA; he's ex-MI6) who decide to team up and pull a con of their own in order to make enough money to retire together; their primary obstacle is that despite their love, neither of them can quite get past their professional paranoia to completely trust the other.
The nature of the con is the weakest part of the movie; Ray and Claire get themselves hired by the corporate security departments of competing conglomerates, figuring that they can somehow steal the hot new product which the companies are fighting to bring to market. The scam never really does make sense, and the moment at the end when it's revealed that Character X has really been pulling the strings all along is particularly implausible here. (That's always the hardest part of the story to get past the audience, because the pieces never quite fall into place as neatly as they would have had to.)
The movie's other significant problem is that Julia Roberts is slightly miscast. The thing that makes her such a huge movie star is her rare combination of glamour and accessibility; despite the looks and the charisma, we somehow feel that we know her. We trust Julia Roberts, which makes her not quite the right choice for a movie where no one trusts anyone. It's not a movie-killing flaw, because what Duplicity is mostly about is the fun of watching two glamorous movie stars toss off snappy banter against a series of fabulous international backdrops, and on that level, Roberts is more than adequate. But if you imagine the role played by someone whose sexuality has an edge of danger, a hint of menace (which Owen does bring to his role) -- say, Catherine Zeta-Jones -- you get an idea of how the movie could have been just that much sharper and crisper.
Still, the movie's strengths outweigh its small flaws. Gilroy's writing is clever; there's a nice bit where the same passage of dialogue recurs at least four or five times, and we figure out more about what's really happening each time we hear it. The supporting cast is very good; RIck Worthy and Kathleen Chalfant make strong impressions as members of Owen's corporate security team, Carrie Preston gives a charming, amusing performance as a corporate travel agent who gets caught up in Owen's scheming, and there's typically solid work from Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson as the dueling corporate bosses. The international locations look marvelous (Robert Elswit is the cinematographer), and James Newton Howard contributes a score with a lively retro feel.
Granted, I'm predisposed to like this kind of story, and those who aren't fans of such things may enjoy the movie less than I did, but I thought it was a smooth-moving, slick diversion.
Clive Owen and Julia Roberts star as Ray and Claire, former government spies (she's ex-CIA; he's ex-MI6) who decide to team up and pull a con of their own in order to make enough money to retire together; their primary obstacle is that despite their love, neither of them can quite get past their professional paranoia to completely trust the other.
The nature of the con is the weakest part of the movie; Ray and Claire get themselves hired by the corporate security departments of competing conglomerates, figuring that they can somehow steal the hot new product which the companies are fighting to bring to market. The scam never really does make sense, and the moment at the end when it's revealed that Character X has really been pulling the strings all along is particularly implausible here. (That's always the hardest part of the story to get past the audience, because the pieces never quite fall into place as neatly as they would have had to.)
The movie's other significant problem is that Julia Roberts is slightly miscast. The thing that makes her such a huge movie star is her rare combination of glamour and accessibility; despite the looks and the charisma, we somehow feel that we know her. We trust Julia Roberts, which makes her not quite the right choice for a movie where no one trusts anyone. It's not a movie-killing flaw, because what Duplicity is mostly about is the fun of watching two glamorous movie stars toss off snappy banter against a series of fabulous international backdrops, and on that level, Roberts is more than adequate. But if you imagine the role played by someone whose sexuality has an edge of danger, a hint of menace (which Owen does bring to his role) -- say, Catherine Zeta-Jones -- you get an idea of how the movie could have been just that much sharper and crisper.
Still, the movie's strengths outweigh its small flaws. Gilroy's writing is clever; there's a nice bit where the same passage of dialogue recurs at least four or five times, and we figure out more about what's really happening each time we hear it. The supporting cast is very good; RIck Worthy and Kathleen Chalfant make strong impressions as members of Owen's corporate security team, Carrie Preston gives a charming, amusing performance as a corporate travel agent who gets caught up in Owen's scheming, and there's typically solid work from Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson as the dueling corporate bosses. The international locations look marvelous (Robert Elswit is the cinematographer), and James Newton Howard contributes a score with a lively retro feel.
Granted, I'm predisposed to like this kind of story, and those who aren't fans of such things may enjoy the movie less than I did, but I thought it was a smooth-moving, slick diversion.
March 31, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: top iTunes downloads
Theme? We don't need no stinkin' theme; it's iTunes downloads night, which means an odd hodgepodge of songs from the wannabes.
The rundown:
Anoop, "Caught Up" -- There something strange going on in the sound mix, because Anoop's enunciation has never been this incomprehensible, and tonight every word is vanishing. The performance certainly has energy, and I don't hear any glaring wrong notes or technical flaws, but he can't do much to make a dull song interesting.
Megan, "Turn Your Lights Down" -- Her phrasing actually sort of makes sense here, and there are some surprisingly pleasant moments. But as always, she's pushing too hard, trying to get a bigger sound than her voice can really produce, and all she's getting for her effort is a wide, wobbly vibrato. If she'd relax and accept the limitations of her voice, she'd sound a lot better.
Danny, "What Hurts the Most" -- Very nicely done. Smart song choice that plays well to his style and vocal strengths. It's a relatively restrained performance for Danny, with no obvious technical problems, and while I'm not getting goosebumps or anything, it's a solid piece of work.
Allison, "Don't Speak" -- Yeah, there are a few minor pitch problems in the chorus, but there's passion and commitment to her performances that almost no one else is giving us this year. She's got the confidence of a singer twice her age, and she's the one I look forward to hearing each week. (Whoever put her in that dress, though, should be shot.)
Scott, "Just the Way You Are" -- The tempo is ever so slightly too slow, giving the whole thing the feel of an uphill hike through molasses. Aside from that, it is exactly the performance you'd expect when you hear the words "Scott" and "Billy Joel" -- serviceable, polite, and boring.
Matt, "You Found Me" -- Trying to be a rocker gives his voice an unpleasant harshness, and the beginning is too low for him; he's having trouble keeping the bottom notes in tune. Not his best effort, and I fear he's likely to wind up at the bottom of the pack again.
Lil, "I Surrender" -- Now that's more like it. Yes, it's still that giant voice, but there's subtlety and restraint in the mix, too, in a way that reminds me vaguely of Shirley Bassey. What's still lacking, I think, is a strong emotional connection to the material; there is something a touch robotic about the performance. (The bit with the kids after the performance is a shameless bit of "please keep her" on the part of the producers.)
Adam, "Play That Funky Music" -- I can't stand his voice, especially in the upper register with which he's so pleased; it's a harsh shriek that grates on my ears. As for this week's persona, Adam 5.0 is no more real or sincere than Adams 1.0 through 4.0 were; he continues to be a hammy actor playing the roles of various bad pop singers. I know we're stuck with him for weeks, and I dread every minute.
Kris, "Ain't No Sunshine" -- Oh, hell, yeah. I had a big dumb goofy smile on my face all the way through that. (Well, I could have done without the gratuitous falsetto note at the very end.) Fabulous performance, by far the best of the night.
For the night: Kris, Danny, Allison, Lil, Anoop, Matt, Megan, Scott, Adam.
For the season: Kris, Danny, Allison, Anoop, Lil, Matt, Adam, Megan, Scott.
Deserving to go home: Since Adam clearly won't be leaving, I'll settle for either Scott or Megan.
The rundown:
Anoop, "Caught Up" -- There something strange going on in the sound mix, because Anoop's enunciation has never been this incomprehensible, and tonight every word is vanishing. The performance certainly has energy, and I don't hear any glaring wrong notes or technical flaws, but he can't do much to make a dull song interesting.
Megan, "Turn Your Lights Down" -- Her phrasing actually sort of makes sense here, and there are some surprisingly pleasant moments. But as always, she's pushing too hard, trying to get a bigger sound than her voice can really produce, and all she's getting for her effort is a wide, wobbly vibrato. If she'd relax and accept the limitations of her voice, she'd sound a lot better.
Danny, "What Hurts the Most" -- Very nicely done. Smart song choice that plays well to his style and vocal strengths. It's a relatively restrained performance for Danny, with no obvious technical problems, and while I'm not getting goosebumps or anything, it's a solid piece of work.
Allison, "Don't Speak" -- Yeah, there are a few minor pitch problems in the chorus, but there's passion and commitment to her performances that almost no one else is giving us this year. She's got the confidence of a singer twice her age, and she's the one I look forward to hearing each week. (Whoever put her in that dress, though, should be shot.)
Scott, "Just the Way You Are" -- The tempo is ever so slightly too slow, giving the whole thing the feel of an uphill hike through molasses. Aside from that, it is exactly the performance you'd expect when you hear the words "Scott" and "Billy Joel" -- serviceable, polite, and boring.
Matt, "You Found Me" -- Trying to be a rocker gives his voice an unpleasant harshness, and the beginning is too low for him; he's having trouble keeping the bottom notes in tune. Not his best effort, and I fear he's likely to wind up at the bottom of the pack again.
Lil, "I Surrender" -- Now that's more like it. Yes, it's still that giant voice, but there's subtlety and restraint in the mix, too, in a way that reminds me vaguely of Shirley Bassey. What's still lacking, I think, is a strong emotional connection to the material; there is something a touch robotic about the performance. (The bit with the kids after the performance is a shameless bit of "please keep her" on the part of the producers.)
Adam, "Play That Funky Music" -- I can't stand his voice, especially in the upper register with which he's so pleased; it's a harsh shriek that grates on my ears. As for this week's persona, Adam 5.0 is no more real or sincere than Adams 1.0 through 4.0 were; he continues to be a hammy actor playing the roles of various bad pop singers. I know we're stuck with him for weeks, and I dread every minute.
Kris, "Ain't No Sunshine" -- Oh, hell, yeah. I had a big dumb goofy smile on my face all the way through that. (Well, I could have done without the gratuitous falsetto note at the very end.) Fabulous performance, by far the best of the night.
For the night: Kris, Danny, Allison, Lil, Anoop, Matt, Megan, Scott, Adam.
For the season: Kris, Danny, Allison, Anoop, Lil, Matt, Adam, Megan, Scott.
Deserving to go home: Since Adam clearly won't be leaving, I'll settle for either Scott or Megan.
March 26, 2009
BOOKS: The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness (2008)
Oddly enough, more post-apocalyptic young adult fiction, and an interesting back-to-back read with the Collins.
As this one begins, Todd is just days away from his 13th birthday, on which he will, by Prentisstown tradition, become a man. He will be the youngest, and the last, man in Prentisstown, as all of the women were killed shortly after his birth.
Prentisstown has not had a happy history; it is, as Todd has been taught, the last surviving human colony on New World, and the handful of men who survived the war with the planet's alien inhabitants lead a difficult existence. That existence is made even harder by the Noise, one of the side effects of the alien bioweapons. The Noise makes the thoughts of all men in Prentisstown audible to one another; privacy is a thing of the past. (Even some of the larger animals can now speak, and generate Noise of their own.)
But the history of Prentisstown is not exactly as Todd has learned it, as he discovers when he finds a mysterious silent spot in the Noise outside town, and his foster fathers immediately pack him up and tell him to leave town, running as fast as he can. It is, of course, awfully hard to run away from people who can hear your every thought.
Ness isn't always successful at laying out the true history of New World and Prentisstown; it's hard to create a world plagued by the Noise and simultaneously allow the entire town to somehow have kept these secrets from Todd for all of these years. But the chase is an exciting one, and in the town's preacher, Aaron, Ness gives us a top-notch villain.
Like Collins' Hunger Games, this is Book One of a larger whole; unlike Collins, Ness ends his Book One mid-stream, with none of his major plotlines resolved in any significant way. I always find that annoying; I want there to be some sense of completion or resolution when I get to the end of a book.
As this one begins, Todd is just days away from his 13th birthday, on which he will, by Prentisstown tradition, become a man. He will be the youngest, and the last, man in Prentisstown, as all of the women were killed shortly after his birth.
Prentisstown has not had a happy history; it is, as Todd has been taught, the last surviving human colony on New World, and the handful of men who survived the war with the planet's alien inhabitants lead a difficult existence. That existence is made even harder by the Noise, one of the side effects of the alien bioweapons. The Noise makes the thoughts of all men in Prentisstown audible to one another; privacy is a thing of the past. (Even some of the larger animals can now speak, and generate Noise of their own.)
But the history of Prentisstown is not exactly as Todd has learned it, as he discovers when he finds a mysterious silent spot in the Noise outside town, and his foster fathers immediately pack him up and tell him to leave town, running as fast as he can. It is, of course, awfully hard to run away from people who can hear your every thought.
Ness isn't always successful at laying out the true history of New World and Prentisstown; it's hard to create a world plagued by the Noise and simultaneously allow the entire town to somehow have kept these secrets from Todd for all of these years. But the chase is an exciting one, and in the town's preacher, Aaron, Ness gives us a top-notch villain.
Like Collins' Hunger Games, this is Book One of a larger whole; unlike Collins, Ness ends his Book One mid-stream, with none of his major plotlines resolved in any significant way. I always find that annoying; I want there to be some sense of completion or resolution when I get to the end of a book.
March 25, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Motown night
Guided by Smokey Robinson, who may be the most uncritical mentor in Idol history, the wannabes offer a mostly listless evening of Motown greats, picking up only at the very end with a couple of fine turns from Danny and Allison.
The rundown:
Matt, "Let's Get It On" -- This song needs to ooze testosterone, and Matt's just not up to it; he's a nice boy playing at being a sexy man. (The prim sweater and tie don't help.) And on Matt's performances in general: His falsetto is not as interesting or impressive as he thinks it is.
Kris, "How Sweet It Is" -- I still want his enunciation to be cleaner, but I like the laid-back vibe, and with the exception of that awful last note, I love that he doesn't oversing or push too hard. Not an earthshattering performance, but very pleasant.
Scott, "You Can't Hurry Love" -- Even after he picks up the tempo, Scott's performance is unrelentingly polite and tepid and dull; the occasional outburst from the horn section and the hard-working backup singers are the only things that give it any life at all.
Megan, "For Once in My Life" -- Her pitch is still a mess, and she has the oddest, choppiest sense of phrasing. But I disagree with the judges and think this was a good choice for her -- the song's always been halfway to cabaret anyway -- and while I can't say I liked it, I hated it less than anything else she's done.
Anoop, "Ooo Baby Baby" -- The melody on those short verses is deceptively angular, and Anoop's not entirely sure of it; the falsetto stuff in the choruses is pretty, but in a bland way that I'm not going to remember when the show's over.
Michael, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" -- Utterly lacking in desperation, and without that, he might as well be singing "Frere Jacques." And he needs to wipe that damn smile off his face; it is not the appropriate facial expression for every song.
Lil, "Heatwave" -- When you have a big voice, one of the challenges you face is that of moderation. Lil fails that challenge here, bludgeoning us through the entire performance. It's not so much a song as it is an assault. (And while it has nothing to do with her singing, I must sadly note that not every woman can pull off a shimmy dress.)
Adam, "Tracks of My Tears" -- When ninety percent of the song is in falsetto (and a pinched, harsh falsetto at that), then you've pitched the song too high. It's the prettiest singing he's done, by a long shot, but Adam still feels more like a bad cabaret act than like a pop singer. The judges' praise is excessive to the point of absurdity.
Danny, "Get Ready" -- Finally, some oomph, some passion, some energy comes through. He still looks a bit awkward on stage, especially when dancing with the backup singers, but the singing is fine, and more interesting than anything else we've heard tonight.
Allison, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" -- I think Allison has a stronger sense of who she is as a singer than any of the other contestants; she's making smart song choices each week. Her enunciation is a bit sloppy tonight, but notice how (in contrast to Lil, for instance) the big note at the end is big without being oppressively so, or feeling forced. Good, solid performance.
For the night: Danny, Allison, Kris, Anoop, Lil, Matt, Adam, Megan, Michael, Scott.
For the season: Anoop, Danny, Allison, Kris, Lil, Matt, Michael, Adam, Megan, Scott.
Deserving to go home: Scott or Megan.
The rundown:
Matt, "Let's Get It On" -- This song needs to ooze testosterone, and Matt's just not up to it; he's a nice boy playing at being a sexy man. (The prim sweater and tie don't help.) And on Matt's performances in general: His falsetto is not as interesting or impressive as he thinks it is.
Kris, "How Sweet It Is" -- I still want his enunciation to be cleaner, but I like the laid-back vibe, and with the exception of that awful last note, I love that he doesn't oversing or push too hard. Not an earthshattering performance, but very pleasant.
Scott, "You Can't Hurry Love" -- Even after he picks up the tempo, Scott's performance is unrelentingly polite and tepid and dull; the occasional outburst from the horn section and the hard-working backup singers are the only things that give it any life at all.
Megan, "For Once in My Life" -- Her pitch is still a mess, and she has the oddest, choppiest sense of phrasing. But I disagree with the judges and think this was a good choice for her -- the song's always been halfway to cabaret anyway -- and while I can't say I liked it, I hated it less than anything else she's done.
Anoop, "Ooo Baby Baby" -- The melody on those short verses is deceptively angular, and Anoop's not entirely sure of it; the falsetto stuff in the choruses is pretty, but in a bland way that I'm not going to remember when the show's over.
Michael, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" -- Utterly lacking in desperation, and without that, he might as well be singing "Frere Jacques." And he needs to wipe that damn smile off his face; it is not the appropriate facial expression for every song.
Lil, "Heatwave" -- When you have a big voice, one of the challenges you face is that of moderation. Lil fails that challenge here, bludgeoning us through the entire performance. It's not so much a song as it is an assault. (And while it has nothing to do with her singing, I must sadly note that not every woman can pull off a shimmy dress.)
Adam, "Tracks of My Tears" -- When ninety percent of the song is in falsetto (and a pinched, harsh falsetto at that), then you've pitched the song too high. It's the prettiest singing he's done, by a long shot, but Adam still feels more like a bad cabaret act than like a pop singer. The judges' praise is excessive to the point of absurdity.
Danny, "Get Ready" -- Finally, some oomph, some passion, some energy comes through. He still looks a bit awkward on stage, especially when dancing with the backup singers, but the singing is fine, and more interesting than anything else we've heard tonight.
Allison, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" -- I think Allison has a stronger sense of who she is as a singer than any of the other contestants; she's making smart song choices each week. Her enunciation is a bit sloppy tonight, but notice how (in contrast to Lil, for instance) the big note at the end is big without being oppressively so, or feeling forced. Good, solid performance.
For the night: Danny, Allison, Kris, Anoop, Lil, Matt, Adam, Megan, Michael, Scott.
For the season: Anoop, Danny, Allison, Kris, Lil, Matt, Michael, Adam, Megan, Scott.
Deserving to go home: Scott or Megan.
BOOKS: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (2008)
Post-apocalyptic young adult fiction.
In what appears to be a sadly degraded eastern United States, the capitol city of Panem holds a tight grip on the residents of the twelve districts. One of the principal tools is the Hunger Games, a bread-and-circuses event in which each district is forced to send two "tributes" -- one boy and girl in their teens -- to participate in a days-long fight to the death. The winning tribute and his or her district will be showered with extra food and glory for the next year.
No one from District 12 -- one of the poorer districts, corresponding roughly to present-day Appalachia -- has won the Games in years, and 16-year-old Katniss doesn't think much of her chances. But she's got experience living off the wild, and stronger survival skills than even she realizes.
I liked the first half of the novel the best; Collins does a very nice job of setting up the world in which the Hunger Games take place, and of depicting the elaborate preparation that the tributes go through before the Games begin. The story flattened out a bit for me once the Games actually began, and especially once Collins threw in a deus ex machina rule change that drastically changes the story from one of survival skills to one of emotional conniving. (Her brief attempt to undo her own deus for a cheap emotional thrill is an even worse mistake.)
Still, Katniss is a well-developed character, and the story is entertaining. The Hunger Games is Book One of a larger story, but Collins doesn't leave us completely dangling at book's end; there are plot lines and character developments waiting to be developed and resolved in the next volume, but the principal storyline of this volume does come to a satisfying end.
In what appears to be a sadly degraded eastern United States, the capitol city of Panem holds a tight grip on the residents of the twelve districts. One of the principal tools is the Hunger Games, a bread-and-circuses event in which each district is forced to send two "tributes" -- one boy and girl in their teens -- to participate in a days-long fight to the death. The winning tribute and his or her district will be showered with extra food and glory for the next year.
No one from District 12 -- one of the poorer districts, corresponding roughly to present-day Appalachia -- has won the Games in years, and 16-year-old Katniss doesn't think much of her chances. But she's got experience living off the wild, and stronger survival skills than even she realizes.
I liked the first half of the novel the best; Collins does a very nice job of setting up the world in which the Hunger Games take place, and of depicting the elaborate preparation that the tributes go through before the Games begin. The story flattened out a bit for me once the Games actually began, and especially once Collins threw in a deus ex machina rule change that drastically changes the story from one of survival skills to one of emotional conniving. (Her brief attempt to undo her own deus for a cheap emotional thrill is an even worse mistake.)
Still, Katniss is a well-developed character, and the story is entertaining. The Hunger Games is Book One of a larger story, but Collins doesn't leave us completely dangling at book's end; there are plot lines and character developments waiting to be developed and resolved in the next volume, but the principal storyline of this volume does come to a satisfying end.
March 24, 2009
BOOKS: Spider Season, John Morgan Wilson (2008)
The eighth volume in the Benjamin Justice mystery series, and not a place for beginners to dive in, though probably essential reading for fans of the series.
If you think of a book series as one long book, and each volume as a new chapter in that mega-book, then Spider Season is that chapter that consists of nothing but exposition. There are lots of new characters introduced and new plotlines set up, all of which will surely play out in interesting ways in future volumes, but none of which amount to much in this volume. It's a meandering, digressive installment in which not a lot happens.
As Spider Season opens, Justice has just published a memoir detailing the scandal which forced him to leave journalism in disgrace (he faked parts of a story that won him the Pulitzer), and the memoir seems to be bringing all of the crazies from his past out of the woodwork. There's a former journalistic rival who's determined to find something in the memoir that she can use to destroy him for good; an old college acquiantance who's convinced that his relationship with Justice was far more meaningful than it actually was; the return of a beau who never quite became a romantic interest, but would very much like to; and a mysterious young man who begins stalking Justice (and if you can't figure out his relationship in about ten seconds, well, you don't read enough mystery novels).
There is a death, and it's one that will greatly sadden long-time readers of the series, but even that is handled in about as unexciting a way as could be imagined. Spider Season is a frustrating book. All of these characters and dangling plot threads will surely give Wilson lots to work with in the next two or three installments in the series; I just couldn't help wishing he'd found something to do with all that material in this book.
If you think of a book series as one long book, and each volume as a new chapter in that mega-book, then Spider Season is that chapter that consists of nothing but exposition. There are lots of new characters introduced and new plotlines set up, all of which will surely play out in interesting ways in future volumes, but none of which amount to much in this volume. It's a meandering, digressive installment in which not a lot happens.
As Spider Season opens, Justice has just published a memoir detailing the scandal which forced him to leave journalism in disgrace (he faked parts of a story that won him the Pulitzer), and the memoir seems to be bringing all of the crazies from his past out of the woodwork. There's a former journalistic rival who's determined to find something in the memoir that she can use to destroy him for good; an old college acquiantance who's convinced that his relationship with Justice was far more meaningful than it actually was; the return of a beau who never quite became a romantic interest, but would very much like to; and a mysterious young man who begins stalking Justice (and if you can't figure out his relationship in about ten seconds, well, you don't read enough mystery novels).
There is a death, and it's one that will greatly sadden long-time readers of the series, but even that is handled in about as unexciting a way as could be imagined. Spider Season is a frustrating book. All of these characters and dangling plot threads will surely give Wilson lots to work with in the next two or three installments in the series; I just couldn't help wishing he'd found something to do with all that material in this book.
March 17, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Grand Ole Opry night
Country night can be an unpredictable evening on Idol, when underdogs rise and favorites fail in spectacular fashion. This year, though, the favorites generally shine.
Michael, "Ain't Goin' Down 'Til the Sun Comes Up" -- To his credit, Michael doesn't seem to have flubbed any of the pattery lyrics; unfortunately, only about half of them were comprehensible. He seems comfortable with country, though, and aside from the mumbling, this was a competent performance. Likely to leave him safely in the middle of the pack.
Allison, "Blame It On Your Heart" -- Very nice. Smart to choose a song that can take some rock edge and some punching up, and she's solidly connected to the song and to the audience. She's a lot of fun to watch, and I'm starting to think she's going to go very deep in this competition.
Kris, "To Make You Feel My Love" -- A small technical quibble: When he drops suddenly from high notes to low ("...made your mind up yet..."), all the power disappears from his voice. But that is a quibble, and this is quite pretty. There's not quite the emotional power behind it that a great singer would give, but it's a solid job.
Lil, "Independence Day" -- Well, she's not a natural country singer, and there is a tentative "just sing the notes" quality to it, especially in the verse. But every word can be understood -- crucial in a story song like this -- and damn, when that voice sails into the money notes in the chorus, you get carried away on those pipes.
Adam, "Ring of Fire" -- It's one of the great Idol debates: Are theme nights about asking the singers to demonstrate range, or are they about how cleverly the singers can shoehorn song X into their own style? I lean toward the former, so I hated this passionately. There was something oddly hypnotic about it, I suppose, but it had nothing to do with the Grand Ole Opry.
Scott, "Wild Angels" -- Exactly what I've come to expect from a Scott performance -- perfectly pleasant (except for the falsetto notes, which are out of tune), perfectly inoffensive, and perfectly dull. Surely he can't coast on the blind thing for too many more weeks.
Alexis, "Jolene" -- Pitch problems throughout, and where was that "soft side" Alexis wanted to show us? This was hard and brittle, and she was pushing so hard that I found it intensely grating. Not a pleasant performance at all.
Danny, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" -- The song is sentimental maudlin religious malarkey; songs like this are why some people hate country music. Can't fault the performance, though, which is powerful and controlled. It's the best of the night so far.
Anoop, "Always On My Mind" -- My first goosebump moment of the season. Absolutely lovely, with the sort of emotional intensity that we haven't seen much of tonight. I would buy that record.
Megan, "Walkin' After Midnight" -- It's the best I've liked her so far, but her syllables are oddly detached from one another -- there's not much flow or grace to her musical lines -- and her vowel sounds are somehow hyper-enunciated in a way that I find distracting.
Matt, "So Small" -- I liked the quiet understatement of the first half much more than the overblown melodrama of the second half, and I do wish that Idol men didn't feel compelled to end every song with a dramatic falsetto note. Pleasant enough, but not especially memorable.
For the night: Anoop, Danny, Allison, Kris, Lil, Matt, Michael, Scott, Megan, Adam, Alexis.
For the season: Anoop, Allison, Lil, Danny, Kris, Matt, Michael, Alexis, Scott, Adam, Megan.
Deserving to go home: Alexis or Megan.
Michael, "Ain't Goin' Down 'Til the Sun Comes Up" -- To his credit, Michael doesn't seem to have flubbed any of the pattery lyrics; unfortunately, only about half of them were comprehensible. He seems comfortable with country, though, and aside from the mumbling, this was a competent performance. Likely to leave him safely in the middle of the pack.
Allison, "Blame It On Your Heart" -- Very nice. Smart to choose a song that can take some rock edge and some punching up, and she's solidly connected to the song and to the audience. She's a lot of fun to watch, and I'm starting to think she's going to go very deep in this competition.
Kris, "To Make You Feel My Love" -- A small technical quibble: When he drops suddenly from high notes to low ("...made your mind up yet..."), all the power disappears from his voice. But that is a quibble, and this is quite pretty. There's not quite the emotional power behind it that a great singer would give, but it's a solid job.
Lil, "Independence Day" -- Well, she's not a natural country singer, and there is a tentative "just sing the notes" quality to it, especially in the verse. But every word can be understood -- crucial in a story song like this -- and damn, when that voice sails into the money notes in the chorus, you get carried away on those pipes.
Adam, "Ring of Fire" -- It's one of the great Idol debates: Are theme nights about asking the singers to demonstrate range, or are they about how cleverly the singers can shoehorn song X into their own style? I lean toward the former, so I hated this passionately. There was something oddly hypnotic about it, I suppose, but it had nothing to do with the Grand Ole Opry.
Scott, "Wild Angels" -- Exactly what I've come to expect from a Scott performance -- perfectly pleasant (except for the falsetto notes, which are out of tune), perfectly inoffensive, and perfectly dull. Surely he can't coast on the blind thing for too many more weeks.
Alexis, "Jolene" -- Pitch problems throughout, and where was that "soft side" Alexis wanted to show us? This was hard and brittle, and she was pushing so hard that I found it intensely grating. Not a pleasant performance at all.
Danny, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" -- The song is sentimental maudlin religious malarkey; songs like this are why some people hate country music. Can't fault the performance, though, which is powerful and controlled. It's the best of the night so far.
Anoop, "Always On My Mind" -- My first goosebump moment of the season. Absolutely lovely, with the sort of emotional intensity that we haven't seen much of tonight. I would buy that record.
Megan, "Walkin' After Midnight" -- It's the best I've liked her so far, but her syllables are oddly detached from one another -- there's not much flow or grace to her musical lines -- and her vowel sounds are somehow hyper-enunciated in a way that I find distracting.
Matt, "So Small" -- I liked the quiet understatement of the first half much more than the overblown melodrama of the second half, and I do wish that Idol men didn't feel compelled to end every song with a dramatic falsetto note. Pleasant enough, but not especially memorable.
For the night: Anoop, Danny, Allison, Kris, Lil, Matt, Michael, Scott, Megan, Adam, Alexis.
For the season: Anoop, Allison, Lil, Danny, Kris, Matt, Michael, Alexis, Scott, Adam, Megan.
Deserving to go home: Alexis or Megan.
March 11, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Michael Jackson night
It's Michael Jackson night, and for the most part, we get reasonably good performances. There aren't any revelatory moments, perhaps, but it's an entertaining night.
Lil, "The Way You Make Me Feel" -- She's got great pipes, but this song doesn't need to be shouted all the way through. A little understatement, a little slinkiness, maybe a little seduction would be nice. Good start to the night, though.
Scott, "Keep the Faith" -- His falsetto notes are consistently out of tune, and his singing style is too tidy and polite for even so mild a piece of R&B as this. I've only heard him twice, but he's already locking down a spot in my brain as Mr. Nice -- nice guy, nice voice, nice performance. And nice isn't going to win this thing.
Danny, "P.Y.T." -- Forced, over the top, and working far too hard for far too little reward. Unpleasantly frantic. There's a good voice there, but this didn't show it off well at all. (The judges, on the other hand, are wildly generous with their praise.)
Michael, "You Are Not Alone" -- His vowels occasionally get a little pinched and nasal, but there's nothing terribly wrong with the performance. There's nothing terribly exciting about it, either, and I fear that Michael's lack of star quality and charisma will doom him rather quickly.
Jasmine, "I'll Be There" -- I have much the same complaint I had with Lil: Just because you can belt every note doesn't mean you should belt every note. That aside, though, it's a pretty performance, and she's got a sweet, appealing presence on stage.
Kris, "Remember the Time" -- The song is duller than dishwater, and Kris can't bring much to it; his dismal enunciation doesn't help. But there's energy to it, and he's not pushing too hard; it's an easy, comfortable sound. I'd be worrying, though, that it's not going to be memorable enough to get votes.
Allison, "Give In to Me" -- Claiming her niche as the blues-rock chick right off the bat with a solid performance. She's very confident on stage, and (unlike, for instance, Jasmine) she projects a maturity beyond her years. One of the strongest so far.
Anoop, "Beat It" -- A few minor pitch problems, but he certainly knows how to work a stage, and it's not a bad performance. Doesn't have the tense, paranoid quality or the aggression of the original -- a touch bland emotionally -- but it'll certainly get him through to next week.
Jorge, "Never Can Say Goodbye" -- Bland and instantly forgettable. I wonder (as does Kara) whether learning a new song each week in his second language will keep him from solidly connecting to the material. (He was much better in earlier rounds, when he could choose songs that he already knew well.)
Megan, "Rockin' Robin" -- There are one or two brief moments near the end when Megan's voice lightens up a bit and you realize what a charming job she might have done with this song. But instead she bellows and blusters through it as if it were a condemned building and she were a wrecking ball. A disaster.
Adam, "Black or White" -- Way too over the top and theatrical for me. He's not a rock star; he's an actor playing the role of a rock star (and playing it far too broadly).
Matt, "Human Nature" -- One of the few singers tonight who doesn't feel the need to overpower the song; it's a laid-back relaxed performance that is mostly effective, though the falsetto riffs in the middle did go on a bit too long.
Alexis, "Dirty Diana" -- I'm not fond of her voice, but it was certainly a passionate and committed performance with no glaring flaws. In the top half for the night, and she shouldn't have any trouble surviving to next week.
For the night: Lil, Allison, Matt, Anoop, Alexis, Jasmine, Michael, Kris, Jorge, Danny, Scott, Adam, Megan.
Should go home: Megan and Adam, but the judges' love will keep Adam around for a long time.
Lil, "The Way You Make Me Feel" -- She's got great pipes, but this song doesn't need to be shouted all the way through. A little understatement, a little slinkiness, maybe a little seduction would be nice. Good start to the night, though.
Scott, "Keep the Faith" -- His falsetto notes are consistently out of tune, and his singing style is too tidy and polite for even so mild a piece of R&B as this. I've only heard him twice, but he's already locking down a spot in my brain as Mr. Nice -- nice guy, nice voice, nice performance. And nice isn't going to win this thing.
Danny, "P.Y.T." -- Forced, over the top, and working far too hard for far too little reward. Unpleasantly frantic. There's a good voice there, but this didn't show it off well at all. (The judges, on the other hand, are wildly generous with their praise.)
Michael, "You Are Not Alone" -- His vowels occasionally get a little pinched and nasal, but there's nothing terribly wrong with the performance. There's nothing terribly exciting about it, either, and I fear that Michael's lack of star quality and charisma will doom him rather quickly.
Jasmine, "I'll Be There" -- I have much the same complaint I had with Lil: Just because you can belt every note doesn't mean you should belt every note. That aside, though, it's a pretty performance, and she's got a sweet, appealing presence on stage.
Kris, "Remember the Time" -- The song is duller than dishwater, and Kris can't bring much to it; his dismal enunciation doesn't help. But there's energy to it, and he's not pushing too hard; it's an easy, comfortable sound. I'd be worrying, though, that it's not going to be memorable enough to get votes.
Allison, "Give In to Me" -- Claiming her niche as the blues-rock chick right off the bat with a solid performance. She's very confident on stage, and (unlike, for instance, Jasmine) she projects a maturity beyond her years. One of the strongest so far.
Anoop, "Beat It" -- A few minor pitch problems, but he certainly knows how to work a stage, and it's not a bad performance. Doesn't have the tense, paranoid quality or the aggression of the original -- a touch bland emotionally -- but it'll certainly get him through to next week.
Jorge, "Never Can Say Goodbye" -- Bland and instantly forgettable. I wonder (as does Kara) whether learning a new song each week in his second language will keep him from solidly connecting to the material. (He was much better in earlier rounds, when he could choose songs that he already knew well.)
Megan, "Rockin' Robin" -- There are one or two brief moments near the end when Megan's voice lightens up a bit and you realize what a charming job she might have done with this song. But instead she bellows and blusters through it as if it were a condemned building and she were a wrecking ball. A disaster.
Adam, "Black or White" -- Way too over the top and theatrical for me. He's not a rock star; he's an actor playing the role of a rock star (and playing it far too broadly).
Matt, "Human Nature" -- One of the few singers tonight who doesn't feel the need to overpower the song; it's a laid-back relaxed performance that is mostly effective, though the falsetto riffs in the middle did go on a bit too long.
Alexis, "Dirty Diana" -- I'm not fond of her voice, but it was certainly a passionate and committed performance with no glaring flaws. In the top half for the night, and she shouldn't have any trouble surviving to next week.
For the night: Lil, Allison, Matt, Anoop, Alexis, Jasmine, Michael, Kris, Jorge, Danny, Scott, Adam, Megan.
Should go home: Megan and Adam, but the judges' love will keep Adam around for a long time.
March 05, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: Wild Card night
Wild Card Night, and the pattern of the semi-finals holds: The men are a lot better overall than the women, and most of the singers don't rise to the occasion.
Jesse, "Tell Me Something Good" -- well, that was unattractive. Mushmouthed enunciation, harsh and grating vocals, and a bad drag queen's notion of sultry -- there really isn't much good to be said.
Matt, "Who's Loving You" -- a vast improvement over his semi-final performance; the bluesy thing really does work for him. I still find his voice a bit on the thin and whiny side, but that might just be me.
Megan, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" -- pitched too low, and the bottom notes disappear entirely; the high note at the end is badly off pitch. Also not a good sign that I spent the entire performance thinking how much better Katharine McPhee did it during her season on the show.
Von, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" -- when he can cut loose and belt, he sounds terrific, but the quieter moments at the beginning are all air, with no power behind them at all. He also seems somewhat stiff and over-rehearsed. Still, an improvement over his first performance.
Jasmine, "Reflection" -- lord, listen to how hard that girl is working. Everything is pushed so hard that it becomes oppressive; the quiet moments at the end, on the other hand, are very pretty. Overall, it's better than the other women so far, and it might be enough to get her through.
Ricky, "Superstition" -- he has a bad habit of letting notes die out without giving them their final consonants ("very superstitiou..."), but that's the biggest flaw. Good, solid performance, which isn't a surprise, given that he probably should have gotten through the first time around anyway.
Tatiana, "Saving All My Love for You" -- goodness, we just might have to put the Queen of Drama into the finals. A few pitch problems here and there, but she's got nice power, better low notes than the other women, and the performance is relatively restrained and tasteful.
Anoop, "My Prerogative" -- Fabulous. Well-sung, lots of fun, and he knows how to work a stage. Best of the night by a long shot.
(Hitting pause on the DVR to make my picks before the judges make theirs)
Deserving of the three spots: Anoop, Ricky, and Jasmine; but I think it's unlikely that the judges will pick more than one guy, given the already existing gender imbalance, so put Tatiana in for Ricky.
Jesse, "Tell Me Something Good" -- well, that was unattractive. Mushmouthed enunciation, harsh and grating vocals, and a bad drag queen's notion of sultry -- there really isn't much good to be said.
Matt, "Who's Loving You" -- a vast improvement over his semi-final performance; the bluesy thing really does work for him. I still find his voice a bit on the thin and whiny side, but that might just be me.
Megan, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" -- pitched too low, and the bottom notes disappear entirely; the high note at the end is badly off pitch. Also not a good sign that I spent the entire performance thinking how much better Katharine McPhee did it during her season on the show.
Von, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" -- when he can cut loose and belt, he sounds terrific, but the quieter moments at the beginning are all air, with no power behind them at all. He also seems somewhat stiff and over-rehearsed. Still, an improvement over his first performance.
Jasmine, "Reflection" -- lord, listen to how hard that girl is working. Everything is pushed so hard that it becomes oppressive; the quiet moments at the end, on the other hand, are very pretty. Overall, it's better than the other women so far, and it might be enough to get her through.
Ricky, "Superstition" -- he has a bad habit of letting notes die out without giving them their final consonants ("very superstitiou..."), but that's the biggest flaw. Good, solid performance, which isn't a surprise, given that he probably should have gotten through the first time around anyway.
Tatiana, "Saving All My Love for You" -- goodness, we just might have to put the Queen of Drama into the finals. A few pitch problems here and there, but she's got nice power, better low notes than the other women, and the performance is relatively restrained and tasteful.
Anoop, "My Prerogative" -- Fabulous. Well-sung, lots of fun, and he knows how to work a stage. Best of the night by a long shot.
(Hitting pause on the DVR to make my picks before the judges make theirs)
Deserving of the three spots: Anoop, Ricky, and Jasmine; but I think it's unlikely that the judges will pick more than one guy, given the already existing gender imbalance, so put Tatiana in for Ricky.
March 03, 2009
MUSIC: American Idol 09: semi-finals, week 3
The semi-finals come to a close, and the night stands in for the three weeks as a whole; there aren't many disgraceful or embarassing performances, but there are also relatively few moments of genuine excitment. It's been a sluggish three weeks that don't leave me heading into the season with great anticipation.
Von, "You're All I Need to Get By" -- very pleasant -- a touch shouty, perhaps -- though the judges are more dazzled than I am. I'd never realized before just how much the original depends on arrangement and production.
Taylor, "If I Ain't Got You" -- the opening is pitched far too low for her; between that and her obvious nerves, she's having to gasp for breath far too often. Her voice is pretty enough, but there's nothing distinctive or interesting about it.
Alex, "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" -- oh, dear. When he just sings, he's adequate, a competent semifinal-level singer. But then he puts on that growl, which doesn't feel natural at all, and he becomes a silly little boy playing at being a grown man. (You see the same thing, I think, in his oh-so-theatrical treatment of the mike stand.) It's a mess.
Arianna, "The Winner Takes It All" -- an odd song choice for a 17-year-old to begin with, and she's treating it with such melodic and rhythmic flexibility that it almost feels less like interpretation and more like she doesn't know how the song goes. An ambitious failure.
Ju'Not, "Hey There Delilah" -- quite nice. I like the mellow quality of his voice, and there are just enough hints of real power lurking there that I don't fear he'll be nothing but mellow (as was, for instance, Jason Castro). I wonder, though, whether a performance this low-key will get the votes.
Kristen, "Give Me One Reason" -- not the flashiest song choice (though those high notes at the end are a nice touch, and well done), but it's a fun performance. More than anyone else so far, she seems to be enjoying herself, and it comes across. A fine job. (The judges, I think, are a bit harsh.)
Nathaniel, "I Would Do Anything for Love" -- pitch problems throughout, with the opening being particularly iffy. The song needs a bigger voice than he can give it, and let's face it, it calls for a certain machismo that Nathaniel simply doesn't have. He's not going to get to the finals with that.
Felicia, "No One" -- there's a heaviness to her voice that I don't like, and not much personality or emotion comes though. Dull and forgettable. (The judges are wildly generous.)
Scott, "Mandolin Rain" -- A nice voice, and one wth a distinctive enough sound that he stands out from tonight's pack a bit. The performance isn't really exciting, but it's very good, which may be enough on a bland night.
Kendall, "This One's for the Girls" -- lots of pitch problems, and those high notes in head voice don't work at all. Charming personality, and very likable on stage, but not a contender for the finals.
Jorge, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" -- now that I liked. Terrific control, range, and power. It's the first time this season I've had the sense of someone who might deliver an exciting performance during the year.
Lil, "Be Without You" -- the song leaves me a bit cold, but I like her voice, and she's got tons of personality. By far the best of the women tonight, and she should easily get through to the finals.
Deserving the three spots in the Top 12: Jorge, Ju'Not, Lil.
Deserving a second chance on Wild Card Night: Scott, Kristen
Von, "You're All I Need to Get By" -- very pleasant -- a touch shouty, perhaps -- though the judges are more dazzled than I am. I'd never realized before just how much the original depends on arrangement and production.
Taylor, "If I Ain't Got You" -- the opening is pitched far too low for her; between that and her obvious nerves, she's having to gasp for breath far too often. Her voice is pretty enough, but there's nothing distinctive or interesting about it.
Alex, "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" -- oh, dear. When he just sings, he's adequate, a competent semifinal-level singer. But then he puts on that growl, which doesn't feel natural at all, and he becomes a silly little boy playing at being a grown man. (You see the same thing, I think, in his oh-so-theatrical treatment of the mike stand.) It's a mess.
Arianna, "The Winner Takes It All" -- an odd song choice for a 17-year-old to begin with, and she's treating it with such melodic and rhythmic flexibility that it almost feels less like interpretation and more like she doesn't know how the song goes. An ambitious failure.
Ju'Not, "Hey There Delilah" -- quite nice. I like the mellow quality of his voice, and there are just enough hints of real power lurking there that I don't fear he'll be nothing but mellow (as was, for instance, Jason Castro). I wonder, though, whether a performance this low-key will get the votes.
Kristen, "Give Me One Reason" -- not the flashiest song choice (though those high notes at the end are a nice touch, and well done), but it's a fun performance. More than anyone else so far, she seems to be enjoying herself, and it comes across. A fine job. (The judges, I think, are a bit harsh.)
Nathaniel, "I Would Do Anything for Love" -- pitch problems throughout, with the opening being particularly iffy. The song needs a bigger voice than he can give it, and let's face it, it calls for a certain machismo that Nathaniel simply doesn't have. He's not going to get to the finals with that.
Felicia, "No One" -- there's a heaviness to her voice that I don't like, and not much personality or emotion comes though. Dull and forgettable. (The judges are wildly generous.)
Scott, "Mandolin Rain" -- A nice voice, and one wth a distinctive enough sound that he stands out from tonight's pack a bit. The performance isn't really exciting, but it's very good, which may be enough on a bland night.
Kendall, "This One's for the Girls" -- lots of pitch problems, and those high notes in head voice don't work at all. Charming personality, and very likable on stage, but not a contender for the finals.
Jorge, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" -- now that I liked. Terrific control, range, and power. It's the first time this season I've had the sense of someone who might deliver an exciting performance during the year.
Lil, "Be Without You" -- the song leaves me a bit cold, but I like her voice, and she's got tons of personality. By far the best of the women tonight, and she should easily get through to the finals.
Deserving the three spots in the Top 12: Jorge, Ju'Not, Lil.
Deserving a second chance on Wild Card Night: Scott, Kristen
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