I'm pitting the AI kids against those from FAME, because when I saw FAME's first episode I was just BLOWN AWAY. I like to watch performers who are a "triple threat." MEANING: jiggas can dance, sing, and probably act - which you'd evidently see through their stage projection. I'm all about the triple threats. Those kids who auditioned for FAME were amazing, for the most part. You had some poor singers, too, but the ones who made it can at least carry a tune and dance along with it. The difference between the FAME kids and those of AI are that they look superiorly better. I'm sorry - but let's run down a few of the American Idol "stars..." KELLY CLARKSON ~ she's definitely NOT a triple threat. Her ass can only sing, but that's about it. She does have some presence on the stage, but I would bet you that she can't dance worth crap. She's just a freakin' white girl with a nice voice. JUSTIN GUARINI ~ here's another one. Sure, he sings aight... although, I've heard better guys on this 2nd season. He thinks he has the style thing working for him, but he's another one who just can't dance. He's got some rhythm on him, I give him THAT much. But other than that, he is definitely NO triple threat. REUBEN STUDDARD ~ there's not even any need to explain. We all know his big-ass can't bump-the-rump like those FAME kids. CLAY AIKEN ~ I'm afraid to even know... I'm afraid to even begin to TRY to fathom this one. Clay Aiken is definitely NOT a triple threat.
The FAME kids, however, are a bunch of "performers." Now these are some REAL performers. I didn't get to see the last group go, but I heard that girl Jamison Tiangco (tell me that last name is NOT Chi-Lipino...?!) made the cut. GET IT, GURRRRRL! And the ones I saw last week weren't bad AT ALL. Let's just say that the FAMEers are def worthy of becoming total performers after all is said and done. Sure, the show doesn't have that annoying grittiness that is Simon Cowell. But they sure as hell have Debbie Allen. Now this woman has BEEN there. This woman is, herself, a TRIPLE-F*CKING-THREAT. This woman knows the business in and out, and she has done stage, television, radio, and the silver screen. She has SO MUCH over Simon Cowell that it is not even funny. If Simon, himself, could sing or dance then perhaps I'd give him a lil more respect. But he's flat out rude. Other than that, there's nothing you can actually say about him at all. Debbie Allen, on the other hand, is one of the most encouraging and inspirational people in the business... She makes you feel good about your talents, and that's SPECIAL.
SO yeah - in the fight for reality television's survival of the fittest PERFORMERS?! FAME wins hands-down.
Although today is the onset of the weekend, I must say that I had a GREAT Thursday, too. Yesterday was totally a "WEN DAY." I took the day off because I had an appointment with a neurologist. That went well... SO well in fact that I didn't know what to do with myself afterwards. Seriously. I ended up driving into Kingstown (near springfield) and met Marz at Safeway. Their Safeway is ALMOST a "fun" Safeway. A "fun" Safeway is the type of Safeway that's just way too cool: big, lots of twists and turns, a Starbucks, a dry cleaners, a bank, etc. Personally, my favorite "fun" Safeway is the one at Bowie Town Center. That Safeway takes the GRAND PRIZE. The one at Kingstown is pretty much similar, but BTC's edges it out by a nose. The one at Ft. Washington? HATED IT. ANYWAY. I met Marz at the Kingstown Safeway and thought I'd find my guacamole Doritos, but they did NOT have it. WTH?! Instead, they had those other guac chips, which claim to be the "original..." they're called Sabrosso or something. They work just as fine as the Doritos. It's just that the Doritos bag is so much cooler cause it's green... Did I tell you that the chips are green, too? DUH! Guacamole!! Oh yeah. So we had lunch at Safeway. OK, who the hell has lunch at Safeway? Well, at a FUN-Safeway (or a potentially "fun" Safeway like kingstown) you can actually have LUNCH there...at Starbucks. I bought an Oriental Chicken Salad and ate it at Starbucks. AHAHAHAHA... After that, I went to Arlington and worked out. It felt good since I haven't really "worked out" like I have been in the past. I even weighed myself. Can you believe that I've maintained my weight despite the fat-food and the non-exercise?
OK - speaking of "non-exercise," I'll get back to "WEN DAY" in a bit - PROMISE. The other day, Marz and I went to Target and bought ourselves those yoga balls. Oh, and then I found a videotape of The Firm 5-day Abs. It's the one with that dude, Tracy James, on it. I figured that I need to get it. For 7-bones, hey... I've got my abdominal work-outs mapped-out for me for the week. AHAHAHAH. So yeah, we bought the ball and Siena taught us how to do different exercises on it. Then me and Marz started being dumb and made-up "SEXercises" with the yoga ball. OK - don't ask. I can't believe I actually just said that right now. It was funny at the time... guess you had to be there. LOL. Oh yeah, BARBERSHOP is actually a pretty good movie.
Sorry about the randomness there. After the gym yesterday, I went to get gas... and as I was pumping that ish into my car, I thought to myself: "Today is MY day... I'm gonna do something besides go home and just watch soaps and DVDs..." I trucked it over the Arundel Mills. OK - I watched FINDING NEMO, talked myself out of buying several pairs of running shoes (i have a nike fetish...), and then went to H&M. I just picked-up two b-day gifts, and a shirt and pair of pants for me. AHAHAHAAH. After that, I went to Chick-Fil-A and then trucked it back home. Gina came by the house and we chain-smoked, then I called it a night. A very full, and not-wasted, day. Happy-happy joy-joy...!
YES, I just said that I watched FINDING NEMO, and YES I watched that ish BY MYSELF. It was rather empowering. I was almost embarrassed to tell anyone that I did that, but come to find out a bunch of my friends do it, too. Oh yeah, and Tyra Banks does it, too. That makes me feel even more better. (she even eats dinner out at restaurants by herself, which i find a little weird, but hey...) I can't believe I admitted to watching that Disney movie. I was intrigued. It was about the ocean. Anyone who knows me well KNOWS that I have the biggest OCEAN-phobia ever. I don't know the technical term for that, but yeah I'm pretty freaked out by the ocean. Sharks are my one true PHOBIA. Sharks and drowning. I can't stand being anywhere that you can't feel the bottom of the ground with your feet without being able to breathe. Did that make sense? If I was falling from the sky, that's fine. At least I can breathe, and I'll end up landing on land ANYWAY (unless i landed in water, which would suck). But being in the sea? It freaks me out. There are like animals in the sea that are FREAKY-ASS. Sharks are on the TOP of that list. That and those giant squid, whales, octopus... Whatever. So tell me why I literally jumped in my seat when they showed the shark?! YES, I freaked out like a little bitch. THAT'S how severe my fear of those damned things are...
So yeah. That was my Thursday in a nutshell. You should def watch FINDING NEMO. AHAHAHAHAH... It's also kind of depressing. It actually deals with death in a weird kind of way. Oh, and it makes you hate sea gulls. I hate sea gulls with a passion now.
It's FRIDAY! Got paid, paid some bills, gonna go out tonight... It's GRAVY.
Anyway - I could go on about what I thought of each candidate, esp. those in the Top 15. But I really don't feel like getting into it. It IS funny that of the four pageant "powerhouses," only USA and Venezuela made the cut to the 15. Puerto Rico and India weren't even close. USA didn't advance to the Top 10, which is fine. She makes a great Miss USA anyway. And the Top 5 were pretty much decent: Miss Venezuela, Miss South Africa, Miss Serbia & Montenegro, Miss Japan, and Miss Dominican Republic. Of these 5, I thought that Miss Serbia & Montenegro should not have been there. She could've easily been replaced by Miss Czech Republic or something. But anyway - with all the answers they gave during the question and answer portion, I would've given Miss Serbia & Montenegro the 4th Runner-up slot, and Miss Japan the 3rd Runner-up slot. But in actuality, it was switched (japan = 4th, and serbia/montenegro = 3rd). Miss South Africa was deserving of her 2nd Runner-up placing. Miss South Africas have been pretty consistent, usually making the Top 10/Top 5 of Miss Universe. But I don't think they've ever won the crown. They've come close MANY times, but have yet to win it. Cindy Nell was a pretty smart girl, but something about her mouth or teeth started to scare me as the night went on. Like I said, glad that Miss South Africa got 2nd Runner-up.
The Winner/1st Runner-up was definitely a toss-up between Misses Venezuela and Dominican Republic. They were both pretty in their own ways: Mariangel (venezuela) had this regal air about her; she was simply done - to show off more of her rather than the dress or the make-up & accessories. She was definitely queenly, and her answers seemed very "from the heart..." Amelia (dominican rep.) was beautiful, too, although she was little more gaudy when it came to make-up. If anything, it was her attitude that edged her over Mariangel. While Mariangel was a little more reserved and collected, Amelia was a little more loose - in that "Alicia Machado" way. It made her seem a lot more personable and out-going. Although I preferred Miss Venezuela at the end, I was content with Miss Dominican Republic's clean-sweep. Like I said, either one of those two would've been awesome as the winner or runner-up.
So there goes my two-cents on the recently concluded Miss Universe pageant in Panama. Next year, they'll be in Greece. Let's just hope that the Philippines chooses a more worthy candidate to represent the islands, and possibly bring home a 3rd Miss U crown. In the meantime, I think that we should concentrate on Mafae Yunon's stint at Miss World later on this year. If anything, I think that with the right training she'll crack into the semis there. Let's wait and see.
Marz drove us to Old Town, and we parked near Faces. From Faces we took the trail and walked; a walk to remember. (ahahaha) But seriously, that walk was weird. It started off scenic and nice along the banks of the nasty-ass Potomac River. But then it cut into a bike trail which went through bridges, forests, and fake-me-out swamp areas. I seriously felt like I was walking through a dense forest. (i am now feelin' around my head for ticks... eeew...) We were walking through the woods, and it felt like a snake would pop out, or something... an ALLIGATOR. I know that alligators are not exactly native to this area, but still. You never know. Watch some two-headed monster come out of the nasty-lookin' swamps or something. Well, we didn't see lions, tigers, or bears, but we did see a white-tailed rabbit, a bunch of ducks, and whole lotta insects. It was pretty trife, if you ask me. We almost hit Gravelly Point near the airport. OK, I lied. We were still hekka far from it. We didn't even reach the Potowmack Landing restaurant, but we were close. We turned around after 30 minutes, and we took about the same time to head back to the car. Then we hit Giant, and WHY did I buy TWINKIES?! I hadn't had a twinkie in like YEARS. And I realized why after I ate one. It was DISGUSTING. It's like synthesized yellow cake with a nasty-ass white, creme filling. How I ever ate those things as a kid is WAY beyond me. How I came to buy it last night is even MORE way beyond me.
After Giant we headed back to Sien's place. We ended-up watching A WALK TO REMEMBER. I know, how fitting, eh? I saw that ish in the theaters with my Godsis when it came out. But I completely forgot about it. OK, I must say a few things about the storyline... It's like it tried to be this story of high school life (sorta...), but it was TOTALLY a farce. I'm sorry, but who the hell is going to wear a French Connection shirt in Beufort, North Caro-f*cking-lina? One character was wearing a French Connection shirt, and I thought that this was UNbelievable. AND what kind of high school kids in Beufort, NC would actually be "cool?!" Like I know the character that Mandy Moore played was way geekin'. But those other kids? The ones who played the "in" crowd? I'm sorry... I refuse to believe that there are "cool" kids in Beufort, NC. It's the whole small-town thing. And it's NORTH CAROLINA. Come on now. Their best city (if you can call it that...) would be Charlotte, and that place sucks. I cannot go anywhere south of Washington, DC because those cities are just NOT even happenin'. Well, Miami is an exception, but the rest of those little cities? NO WAY. Beufort, NC? I'm over it. Those "cool" kids were annoyingly over-the-top. I mean they were trying SO heard to be 90210, but were FAR from it. I'm sorry, I was just highly annoyed by that not-so-true-to-real-life portrayal of high school life in Beaufort. Gross.
And I don't know how Mandy Moore could play that character... I mean, she played her well, but at the same time I'm really disturbed by the outfits they put her in. The whole ankle-length sundress with the I-wear-everyday cardigan look was pretty skank. It made me remember this one girl from elementary school. She was pretty much the same deal. And in middle and high school, nothing ever changed. I think I was mean to her in grade school. I remember throwing staples into her hair. OOPS! Then in middle/high school I just saw her rarely, and when I did see her she was off into her own world. She wasn't even the least bit cool as Mandy Moore. I mean Mandy Moore was at least 1/4th cool. But this girl that I went to school with was not even. Maybe in her own way. Now that I'm older, I think I can say that more freely and open-mindedly. AHAHAHAH...
See I'm totally babbling and veering off the subject. Yeah, I don't think that I'd be able to act like that. I mean, it takes guts to be able to play the true geek. It makes me wonder about the poor actor who played SCREECH on SAVED BY THE BELL. What a poor guy. He was totally scarred for life for playing that role. And even in the newer seasons he STILL played SCREECH @ Bayside High School. That's enopugh to completely ruin an actor's career.
Anyway, I'm sleepy.
OH! Happy Birthday to mah jigga, GODFREY REGALARIO!@! WoOhOo!
Well, that's how I feel right now. I feel like there are SOME people in my life who are just suffocating me, and all they do is point out things about me that are substantially NEGATIVE. Granted, I can owe up to about 90% of the things that this person is saying. I'm not perfect. No one in this earth is. But still. You try your best to be who you are, but then you have people who have these freakin' unbelievable expectations of you ---and all of a sudden you're just like, "EHHHHH?! CALGON! TAKE ME AWAY!!!@!" Have you ever been in such a predicament?
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I just need to vent. I just need a drink. I just need to not be in the company of such PEOPLE. How I can "avoid" them, though, is another story. I'll have to try and figure that one out. No worries. I'll keep you posted...
I thought that it was going to be HAAAARDDD to get up this morning at ass-crack o'clock. I'm doing the 10-hr day thing today, AND tomorrow, AND Wednesday, and AND Friday. On Thursday, I'm finally gonna take a shot with that neurologist. Let's see if he can help me out here. I've been dealing with these headaches for over a month already. Personally, I think it's just pent-up stress. I'm secretly stressin' out, but again - it's nothing that I can't handle. But yeah, I thought it was going to be hard to wake-up...but you know what? I got-up even before my alarm went off. I had this weird-ass dream. UNBELIEVABLE. It was so weird that I still remember it up until NOW. And it involved two people (plus myself), and it was just weird. SO weird. A little disturbing, yet comforting at the same time. VERY weird. I'ma have to talk to one of my friends who was IN the dream and let her know all about it. The other friend who was in it?! I haven't really been close to him lately, which is what made the whole dream even more weird. OK, thinking about it makes me feel a little weird, so I'm gonna stop now.I bought the soundtrack to DAREDEVIL. I know it's late. I should've went and picked it up after the movie came out. After I watched it back on opening night, I told myself: "get the soundtrack." But I didn't. I lagged, as usual. So after Mass yesterday, I skipped the gym and went to Best Buy instead. I ended-up comin' away with two DVDs and two CDs. *EH* The DD soundtrack was one of them. It's a pretty good CD. It's totally my "white-boy" CD, but hey --- we're all into that stuff every now and then, aren't we? Good CD. I recommend that you pick up a copy, IF you're into that stuff.
MANIC MONDAY... that's what today is. Actually, it's not SO bad. But it's very much routine, which makes it kinda "manic" for me. It's just boring, and I don't feel like doing anything. Now I'm feeling sleepy.
Saturday night was cool. I didn't end up going to Murali's since I had the family over. We were celebrating me and my cousin's b-days. Ning, Fronce, and Flo were the last to leave, but we totally were just catchin' up and talking about "stuff." They didn't go to Murali's either. Oh well - happy b-day to all those Murali-celebrants, esp. to Gabe Saclolo...my fellow May-birthday-er - AHAHAH. But yeah. What a day on Saturday. At lunch, I went to Aileen's baby's 1st b-day picnic at Bolling. Got to see some old heads up in that piece - like Ruth Buenaflor, Allan Calica, and others. And, of course, the DEJALANA AILEZA gurlz... Once the thunder roared, me and Gina left. Actually, the thunder crackled, and as soon as it did me, Gina, Ning, and Carrie shot right up from the picnic table and rolled-out. It was actually funny the way we did it. We ended up at Pentagon City, and we were searching for these shoes she saw in NYC. But, of course, we didn't find them...actually, I don't expect her to find them here right away. Then we stopped by Harris Teeter so that I could pick-up a few things. Then everyone came over and yada-yada. Sunday I got up, went to Mass, skipped the gym and went to Best Buy instead. Marz came over and we watched TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME, and we were just LAUGHING our asses off. Then I put in SWEETEST THING, and it was OVER. We were just CRACKIN' UP. After that, we went to Eden for some bubble tea. I'm all about the jackfruit bubble tea. *yum* After that, we went to Ruby Tuesdays in Ballston. Tell me why we got scurred because we were seated near the bar, and some dude came in and was talking to the bartender about his "anger management" and blah-blah-blah. Then all of a sudden, the angry guy left without paying for his coffee. I was straight-up playing scenarios in my head: he'd come back with a gun and just start shooting out of anger, or he'd go and shoot the bartender for "dissin'" him because of his "anger management" disclosure. I kept it to myself. But tell me why Gina and Marz were thinking the same thing, and we all started talking about it when we got outside the restaurant. I'm tellin' you, we can totally write a storyline for soap operas or prime-time dramas. Well, the fat-fest of the weekend is now over. NO MORE FOOD. I'm in need of going on anorexic-mode, so for now...it's ON. NO FOOD. NO FOOD. NO FOOD.