Wednesday, March 21, 2007
PETA - Animal KillersHere’s a site that keeps a running death toll of animals PETA has killed every year. And they call themselves animal lovers. (But not in that way?)
Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels
There’s some real howlers here.
10 Magnificent Trees
There’s some really cool ones here, including several from my neck of the woods (pardon the pun), which is the Redwood Empire in Northern California.
Hyper Comics
A new website called Hypercomics promises to be a Web 2.0 site for comics creators.
Planetwide Media, a leading provider of interactive entertainment and online software applications announced today the official beta launch of http://www.Hypercomics.com, the next generation online social network for Online Comics and Storybooks. Membership to Hypercomics.com is free and allows anyone – from a fan to a professional comic book creator – the ability to create, upload their own personal comic creations and search officially licensed and approved content from various genres such as comic books, animations, manga and anime. Users can create and publish personalized digital comic books, storybooks, game comics or photo comics to share with friends, family and fans.
More than just an online social network, Hypercomics.com serves as a key resource for fans and content creators by providing an online destination to publish, search, create, showcase, review, rate and discuss new comic book and storybook creations. Hypercomics.com provides complete online social networking functionality including commentary, ratings, blogs, forums and groups. Hypercomics.com will allow comic creators to share their work, discuss others’ work, enter contests and read interviews with Comic Book Industry professionals. Exclusively and for a limited time, the first 5,000 members to sign up for a Free Account during the Beta Launch of the Hypercomics.com and post one or more user generated creations (UGC) will receive a free digital download of Comic Book Creator™ software. A trial version of Comic Book Creator™ will let a new member design, create and post UGC’s online to Hypercomics.com and will let “you” become the comic book creator. You will be able to share UGC’s with your friends.
“Building a social network and community at Hypercomics.com is an outgrowth of our self-publishing digital comic book creation software ‘Comic Book Creator™’, which puts user generated creations in the hands of everyone,” said Kevin Donovan, President of Planetwide Media. “Hypercomics.com was created with the intent to connect entertainment brands directly to their fan bases who have been craving more and more interactivity with their favorite characters.”
American Idol: 3/20/2007
Last night illustrated perfectly why American Idol is such a successful show. It was great entertainment, if you love music.
This week was British Invasion week. The singers had to pick a song from the British Invasion of the 1960. And the mentors were two stars of that era. Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits and Lulu, singer/actress famous for “To Sir With Love”, who also sang the theme to “The Man With The Golden Gun”. Noone coached the male singers and Lulu coached the women. And I have to confess, I really love the music of that period. I was a little kid at the time, but I remember these songs and they had a big effect on me. It was wonderful to hear some of them again, handled well.
First up was Haley Scarnato, showing off her legs to great effect. She sang the tune “Tell Him” in a very flirty way that will probably guarantee she sticks around another week. (though Dial Idol has her dead last for some reason.) I think she did a great job of being personable, which goes a long way on this show. And her singing was not bad, either. After the break they cut to a little girl in the audience who was crying. Apparently, she was glad to be there and was overwhelmed. We will soon discover what that was all about.
Chris Richardson was next. His choice was a Gerry and the Pacemakers song “Don’t Let The Sun Catch you Crying”. Note to little girl, listen to Chris. Well, maybe not. he was accompanied by an acoustic guitarist on the stage. And once again he did a very good job. Singing it with a soulful, contemporary feel. And this time he avoided the jerky moves I find annoying in his performances. He really showed off his voice in that song. It was excellent.
Stephanie Edwards san “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield. She did a fine job. But I think she did it too literally. I liked it, but Simon and Randy thought it was too safe a performance. The audience seemed to really like it.
Blake Lewis chose one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite 60s bands: the Zombies. “Time of the Season”. He did an updated beat box version, using beat box to replace the intro cords of the song. It worked very well. Plus he’s a terrific singer and has real smooth moves. The audience was on their feet after his performance, screaming and yelling. The judges loved it also.
Lakisha Jones did one of my favorite James Bond themes, “Diamonds are Forever”. I was really excited to hear she was doing it, even though that’s really a 70s song. Diamonds came out in 1970. Lakisha did a very nice job, but not as good as Shirley Bassy, who phrased it better (and added a slight growl in her enunciation). The audience was screaming and cheering. The judges were kind of bored, however. Simon thought it was too old for her. I don’t know. I think Simon uses that statement when he doesn’t get something. Whatever.
Phil Stacy came out singing one of my favorite songs, “Tobacco Road” by the Nashville Teens. It was one of the nights most rocking performances. And Dial Idol has him at #2 this week. So I guess the viewing audience loved it. Simon didn’t care much for it. He thought Phil was in trouble. We’ll see.
Jordin Sparks did “I Who Have Nothing”. And it was one of the best performances in a night of amazing performances. The audience was blown away. Simon said it was gloomy. Well, it’s a sad song, but a powerful one. I have to say, Jordin looked really beautiful with straight hair. She’s a beautiful girl anyway, but she looked very elegant last night.The audience was on their feet again after it was over. Randy thought it was the best performance of the night up to that point.
Sanjaya Malakar did “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks. I think it was his best performance to day and so did the Judges. I still think he looks like a little kid up on the stage (and as Michael Jackson imitator, to boot). The song has very repetitive lyrics, even though I like it, it was wearing on me the way he performed it. But his target audience seemed to love it. That crying little girl was weeping controllably and the camera kept cutting to her. I kept thinking “leave her alone.” But this is the face of the voters keeping Sanjaya in the competition. He is so outclassed on this season, but like other teen singers of years past, he will probably ride it out for a few more weeks. He gave the little girl a big hug afterward which will probably score him more points with his fans.
Gina Glockson sang “Paint It Black”. I think she did a good job, but I’ve decided she her singing is limited. She had me going there in the beginning. It’s another song I love. But then she did this really low spoken bridge in the song, and the spell was broken. I think she’s in danger of leaving this week.
Chris Sligh picked another Zombies song. “She’s Not There” and he told us the British Invasion songs are some of his favorite. Right on, dude. I think he did a very solid job of it. His voice was never better. The audience and the judges mostly liked it. They weren’t blown away. But I think it was very well done. Chris gave a shout out to the Fro Patrol, which are his fans.
Finally, once again Melinda Doolittle got the “pimp spot” and she chose a song from Oliver. “As Long As He Needs Me”, a powerful torch song from one of my favorite musicals. Once again, Melinda showed how she was way ahead of the pack. She is so professional and polished, she’s like a star who’s been doing it for over a decade. What I love about her is she reminds me of the kind of classic singer we don’t see anymore. I just rewatched it while I am typing this and it sent chills through me. She freakin’ good. Of course, the judges we’re once again, amazed.
Anyway, there goes another episode of Idol and it was a great change from last week’s rather prosaic experience. I’m really curious who’s going tonight. Everyone was pretty good.
UPDATE: The two people I thought would be safe were in the bottom 2. Stehanie and Chris. Unbelievable. Who went? Stephanie Edwards, who is beautiful and extremely talented. I think it’s really unfair, but Idol can be that way. Especially this season.
Jules
