I Like Crap

[BAMF]

Jeff, there are people that are trying to get the worst contestant to win on purpose. Just to see if they can. I really don't give a shit because I don't have to listen to any of their music if I don't want to. I don't like that show. They're all quite mediocre, in my opinion, and the creators of the show make them into something they are not.

P.S. Although Sanjaya is not a terrific singer, he's not funny looking. He's a cutie pie.

Eh, can you expand your ideas? American Idol may be a waste of time to watch but I think its quite an interesting topic to discuss. Many characteristics of people in general can be determined just from this show

Jonathan posted a link in this thread: votefortheworst.com. I didn't study it thoroughly when it was up, but I believe it was a site trying to persuade people to vote for the worst contestant.

Kori; The mohawk haircut that Sanjay was funny looking.

Maybe to you.

He's a cutie pie if you like Keating types. I don't see how you can say that the people on that show are "rather mediocre". I can see what you mean with some but definitely not all. I'd really like to hear you defend that blanket statement about them being mediocre.

No, he's just a cutie pie. Does everything have to be either Keating or Roark? He's physically attractive to me. I don't know the guy, so I can't really say that I dig his personality, but his physical appearance does it for me.

I retract my statement about them all being mediocre. For the most part though, it all sounds the same to me. It's just my personal opinion that most of them are mediocre. My personal taste. I don't dig it.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Kori

[Danneskjold]

Sanjaya is a girly man was more the point I was trying to get across.

If you think he's attractive then you might be a lesbian.

I understand not liking the style of music etc. Personally I didn't really expect it to be your style. You listen to Manson, Eminem, and I'm sure a wide variety of other types, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just not the style the American Idol people are going for.

Edited April 22, 2007 by Jeff Kremer

[BAMF]

Sanjaya is a girly man was more the point I was trying to get across.

If you think he's attractive then you might be a lesbian.

I understand not liking the style of music etc. Personally I didn't really expect it to be your style. You listen to Manson, Eminem, and I'm sure a wide variety of other types, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just not the style the American Idol people are going for.

I understand that people who watch American Idol are going for pop music. I actually do like a lot of pop music, just not generic, manufactured pop music.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Jeff,

Lesbian? You were joking, right?

Even if so, that's pretty near the other side of the edge.

Please clarify.

Michael

[Rodney]

I wasn't going to contribute here, since none of what I like is crap. But the subject of modern singing style as shown on American Idol has come up, and I can't resist juxtaposing these two clips of a great song that I love:

FOR THIS ONE, THE SONG ONLY STARTS 30 SECONDS INTO THE CLIP; WAIT FOR IT

SAME SONG, SAME SINGER ON AMERICAN IDOL

Assuming listeners who like the song, I'd be interested to hear which version they like better, which is more authentic, and which is truer to the spirit of the song.

Edited April 23, 2007 by ashleyparkerangel

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I turned the TV on this afternoon (which I rarely do) and the channel was on a show called Cristina.

Please remember that I have been gone from the USA for decades, so there are many TV shows I do not know.

Cristina is a small claims judge who was trying cases. I watched fascinated about some woman who was stalking a guy and even loaned him money in order to keep him interested in her, and was now suing him to get her money back. But the case turned around in another direction as it went along. Then during the commercials, I went on an orgy of channel surfing and came across Judge Alex, Judge Mathias, Divorce Court, and to put the icing on the cake, Jerry Springer.

I have to be honest. I was spellbound and had to force myself to stop watching in order to get some work done (even more was scheduled to come on). This is pure gossip entertainment with nothing else added—no redeeming features or value at all outside of gossip.

What a trip! This is pure crap and I like it.

Dayaamm!

Michael

[BAMF]

LOL, Michael. So you've discovered the world of crap that is television? I used to be more entertained by those shows you mentioned, but now the only thing I can do to describe my feelings for them is, "Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhh!" Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! I wonder why those peeps have to get naked to fight. Strange!

On second thought, some of those judges are pretty B-A. They don't take any shit.

[Jonathan]

Assuming listeners who like the song, I'd be interested to hear which version they like better, which is more authentic, and which is truer to the spirit of the song.

I like the original better.

Speaking of To Sir, With Love, my wife and I watched Freedom Writers (starring Hilary Swank) last night, which has similarities to To Sir. It's very uplifting and I think many OLers will like it.

J

[Kat]

Assuming listeners who like the song, I'd be interested to hear which version they like better, which is more authentic, and which is truer to the spirit of the song.

I like the original better.

Speaking of To Sir, With Love, my wife and I watched Freedom Writers (starring Hilary Swank) last night, which has similarities to To Sir. It's very uplifting and I think many OLers will like it.

J

I like the original one better too. I'm a sucker for the 60s stuff.

Kat

[Dodger]

Just thought I'd point out that what is 'crap' is merely a perceptual issue--it is relative to the person who defines it.

[Chris Grieb]

To Sir with Love is the movie where Sidney Portier proves black men can't dance. I must say I too enjoy it.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Kori,

Obviously I knew who Jerry Springer was. We have a Brazilian version called Ratinho, but the atmosphere is more circus-like. I had only seen glimpses of Springer until now.

I was fascinated by the primeval emotions bubbling over in me watching the fat ladies screaming and pulling at each other's hair while a spaced out dude was mocking one of them. Another fat lady was smirking. The bodyguards discretely hovered nearby to make sure nobody got hurt. Jerry Springer stood to the side stoically observing everything while some young ladies in the audience boogied down with gusto in the background.

Wow! What a rush!

I wonder if this is how a cannibal in the Congo feels when his tribe is boiling a missionary for supper.

Michael

[BAMF]

Michael, LOL, I'm sure that is what the cannibals feel like (and I'll bet they shout "Jerry! Jerry!" regardless of whether there is anyone even named Jerry there). Again, I was once amused by that show, now just disgusted. But hey, that's what the change channel button is for, no? You gotta check out Judge Judy, my friend. She is the toughest of the tough.

P.S. I'd love to see the Brazilian version, but I'm pretty sure I never will. On occasion, I watch the spanish channel...boy, their soap operas contain some of the worst acting I've ever seen. Even worse than Jenna Jameson or Ron Jeremy! Now that's bad! But really...it's delightful!

Edited April 24, 2007 by Kori

[mikelee999]

I wasn't going to contribute here, since none of what I like is crap. But the subject of modern singing style as shown on American Idol has come up, and I can't resist juxtaposing these two clips of a great song that I love:

FOR THIS ONE, THE SONG ONLY STARTS 30 SECONDS INTO THE CLIP; WAIT FOR IT

SAME SONG, SAME SINGER ON AMERICAN IDOL

Assuming listeners who like the song, I'd be interested to hear which version they like better, which is more authentic, and which is truer to the spirit of the song.

Mikey loves Lulu. And when she appeared on AI, she was one of the best coaches they've had. And she's one hot GILF.

And I completely take your point that the original studio version of the song is way better. But I don't think you can blame this on modern singing. Great stars have been butchering their own hits in Vegas for 50 years. Whatever she did on AI, it wasn't modern singing, and it wasn't typical AI material.

Everyone likes to say, at least, that AI is mediocre. That's crap. Frequently, there are amazing performances on that show. Last season, when Rod Stewart was the coach and they were doing standards, about 1/3 of the performances were absolutely world-class on hard material. On any given night on American Idol (once you're past the snicker phase of the show), you are going to hear at least a couple of vocals that knock your socks off. Those kids often outshine the pop stars who coach them.

Last season, when that McPhee girl got down on her knees and did that KT Tunstall song, I suspended my hatred of her for a moment of pure lust, and she sang real good too. Chris Daughtry doesn't do my kind of music, but he's a much better singer than Eddie Vedder. This season, that Doolittle girl makes me happy every time she opens her mouth (she's my pick to win--my cynic wife says No). The beat box guy from Seattle is really really good too.

AI would be a joke if their alumni weren't selling lots of records, but they are, and rightly so. I've only watched the last 2 seasons, but I really like AI. They are discovering stars who can sing at a high success percentage.

And Simon Cowell is my hero.

Mike Lee

That wasn't horrible

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Kori,

Here are some videos of Ratinho. Even though they are in Portuguese, you might get an idea of how this was done down there. The sound is not good.

Interviewing a woman before bringing others out.

Here you can see the two little rat puppets Ratinho used and the way he worked the crowd. The lady is complaining about a woman who seduced her husband and stole him, cussing them both with foul language.

Typical free-for-all

Here Ratinho even got hit.

A typical scene on the show was when he would pay the costs of a DNA test to see if the father of a child was the same as the man that was being alleged by a woman (and she was usually seeking child support). In this video, they poked fun at a situation (probably a complicated one) with actors, making a huge mess of it and cutting to shots of the real couple disputing the issue. You can see that the real couple started getting irritated because the satire started hitting home. I included this because you can get a notion of the circus atmosphere that was often present on the show. Unfortunately, this clip does not show what the DNA result was.

On searching for these videos, I came across the news that the Ratinho show was taken off the air in 2006. Apparently it had been gradually losing audience and in 2005, the owner of SBT (the TV station) fired most everyone from Ratinho's show and tried to make it more serious to improve the ratings. It never recovered. One of the standard clownish people was a man who always pretended he was a woman (Marquito). Here he is singing (lip synch) on his last appearance on the show. The refrain is "Abandonada por você" which means "Abandoned by you."

These videos are poor quality, but the TV reception, sound, etc. in Brazil is one of the world's best. (To get an idea, TV Globo is the world's 4th largest TV broadcaster. That includes being ranked against the USA.) They are probably from home VHS recordings of the programs from several years ago.

As you can see, Ratinho is perfect for a thread on crap.

Michael

[BAMF]

Michael,

My god...and I thought I'd never see Ratinho. I could only just stare in wonderment. I'm not sure whether it's worse than Jerry Springer though because I can't understand all of what's being said. Now I'm craving the spanish channel or something. Thanks for the clips, dude!

Chris Daughtry doesn't do my kind of music, but he's a much better singer than Eddie Vedder. This season, that Doolittle girl makes me happy every time she opens her mouth (she's my pick to win--my cynic wife says No). The beat box guy from Seattle is really really good too.

And Simon Cowell is my hero.

Of course he's a better singer than Eddie Vedder! Shit, just about everyone is a better singer than Vedder. Vedder is not meant to be a 'good' singer.

I do like that Doolittle girl, what I've seen of her. I hope she makes it very far. From what I remember, she was the only one who gave a performance that caught my attention for more than 30 seconds.

Simon Cowell is my hero too, dude. He's the only one that gives any good criticism. Randy does sometimes, and then there's Paula, who just tells everyone that they're a "star." Psssht! Star, my ass.

To add to the crap part of this thread...I used to think that Avril Lavigne was crap, yet I listened to her stuff all the time. Now I'm totally unashamed that I listen to her. I actually like her very much (yeah, even 'Girlfriend') and many of her songs have such optimism that it lifts my spirits. Next to Victor, she's Canada's finest.

Edited April 25, 2007 by Kori

[Chris Grieb]

Judge Judy was a real judge in New York City. She was on 60 Minutes which led to a tv show.

The people who go on know what they are getting into. Some people have no self esteem.

[Danneskjold]

Judge Judy is truly crap. Has anyone ever seen her find in favor of the defense?

[BAMF]

Jeff, what does that have to do with anything? Everytime I've seen her, she's been very fair and handed down the correct punishment to the right person.

[Steve Gagne]

When I was growing up, all the Elvis Presley films were high art to my hillbilly family (including me—I loved them, although I can't stand them now).

I also had a thing for Tiny Tim singing Tiptoe Through The Tulips to a ukulele accompaniment. Here's a Youtube performance with Rowan and Martin: Tiny Tim.

I just saw it again looking it up for this post, and it still cracks me up.

Long live crap.

Michael

Back in the day, I had a buddy whose dad was a high muck-a-muck in the Music Business (my buddy later became the sidekick/stooge for Soupy Sales).

He and some other buddies of mine were trying to get some garage bands moving, and he used to sequester me (and them) in his room to listen to show tunes, Stan Freburg, and other abominations )(especially the ones he wrote himself, like "My Monster" -- you all know this one -- "My Monster's a nice monster, the best monster I've ever seen; My Monster's the best monster, he's 10 feet tall handsome and green...." well you get the idea; or maybe you don't, to which your crying out, "PRAISE GOD!!!"). (But then I date myself.) One day I got even.

I bought Tiny Tim's album (vinyl only in those days), and played it for my buddy, and wouldn't let him leave until he acknowledged the nuance, grace, and artistry of every single track on that camp album. Only took twice thru.

Never had a problem with my buddy after that. (And actually, Tiny Tim's choice of old songs really wasn't half bad.)

Man that whole-tone scale cadence/fade on the last cut ("This is All I Ask", originally recorded by Sinatra, and later by Harry Nilsson; written by Gordon Jenkins) was AMAZING!!!!

As I approach the prime of my life, I find I have the time of my life

Learning to enjoy at my leisure all the simple pleasures

And so I happily concede

That this is all I ask, this is all I need

Beautiful girls, walk a little slower when you walk by me

Lingering sunsets, stay a little longer with the lonely sea

Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me

Take me to that strange, enchanted land grown-ups seldom understand

Wandering rainbows, leave a bit of color for my heart to own

Stars in the sky, make my wish come true before the night has flown

And let the music play as long as there's a song to sing

Then I will stay younger

Oh, I will stay younger

Yes, I will stay younger than Spring

Edited April 27, 2007 by Steve Gagne