"Did I get a magazine, Daddy?"

Rachel used to receive two magazines which were gifts from her Aunts Jane and Joanna. One was Wild Animal Baby and one was Your Big Backyard. Both are neat magazines for kids. Wild Animal Baby is for up to four years old and Big Backyard is for the 3-7 set. Last year we didn't renew either magazine. I can't remember why exactly. At least twice a week, Rachel asks me if she got a magazine in the mail. She apparently loved getting the magazines. This was not totally clear until after we failed to renew the subscriptions. Today she said "I'm just never going to get a magazine ever again."

So I think we should get her a magazine. We could go with Your Big Backyard, but I thought I'd ask if anyone out there knows other good kid magazines. Suggestions, anyone?

Miscellaneous

Okay, this is one of the funniest things I've read in a long, long time. And it makes fun of Billy Joel! Whodathunk I like it?

Hat tip to greenman.

---

They found an extinct woodpecker! Yay! This is my favorite quote from the article:

"This is huge. Just huge. It is kind of like finding Elvis."

---

Bush is going to interrupt our television viewing tonight. Specifically Survivor. Sure, the whole season has been spoiled, but I still would rather not have the show interrupted. Couldn't he wait til 10 pm and pre-empt the news or something?

---

The Bulls are winning in the playoffs and Michael Jordan is nowhere in sight. I feel all goosebumpy. As a fair weather fan, I probably ought to start paying attention.

---

Cornocopia has a new look and greenman is promising one. Blog spring cleaning? Who's the next one to mix things up?

You got a source?

There's an opinion piece in the PC about giving bloggers reporter rights to protect a source. My feeling is that they can't open the door wide on this one. There needs be some sort of criteria a blog must meet before it gains those rights. It needs to be a "news blog" not just some guy ranting about his awful his ex-girlfriend was. I probably have more thoughts about this, but I need to do some more research. Check back later.

Time for lunch...

So Rachel wants lunch. She says to me, "How long are you going to be on the 'puter, Daddy? I'm staaarving."

I tell her not much longer.

Then I hear a deep voice saying, "Rachel! Feed me food. I'm hungry."

Rachel says very seriously, "Daddy, my tummy really wants some food."

You have GOT to be kidding me

Constantine was voted out of American Idol last night. Amazing. America sure messed that up.



Every season one of the most talented performers gets eliminated early. Tamyra in season one. Trenyce in season two. Jennifer and LaToya in season three. And in the past there's always been one person who got a lot further than their talent warranted. Nikki McKibben. Josh Gracin. Jasmine Trias.

Here's what's unique about this season. Of the remaining contestants, at least three of them aren't even close to being as good a performer as Constantine is. Only one other person still in the competition deserves to win (and that's Bo, my 4 year old's favorite). Never have seen this many unworthy people get this far. Anthony Federov, Scott Savol and Carrie Underwood - not one of them deserves to be in this competition at this point. Anthony is often out of tune and his stage presence is unimpressive. Scott Savol doesn't sing songs, he destroys them. Talk about having zero idea of what it means to be on stage or connect with an audience. He's the worst of the remaining group. And Carrie Underwood has to be the most boring contestant to ever get this far. There are only two worthy contestants still in this competition - Vonzell Solomon and Bo Bice. And only Bo deserves to win.

Last night, Sharon predicted a final three of Bo Bice, Carrie Underwood, and Scott Savol. If Scott really makes it that far, it will be the greatest fubar in the show's history. And if that wife beater wins, American Idol is over. There is no point if they can't actually crown the best contestant.

And in better news, I heard Constantine's band has been signed to a record deal. When is that coming out?

Wake up, Iowa!

Kris from Random Mentality and State 29 have a lot to say at Iowa Pork Forest about the Des Moines Register's editorial in favor of the proposed Fake Rain Forest in Coralville. There is nothing more to say - they covered it perfectly. I just can't understand the excitement about this project. What a complete waste. I can only assume that the supporters of this monstrosity are so bedazzled by the crazy concept that they are willing to overlook the fact that there is zero chance of it being successful. Sometimes if an idea sounds stupid, it's just that: stupid.

I wish some journalist would take Kris' challenge and really investigate this sucker.

Dreamwell work

There is just so much going on with Dreamwell these days that I am having trouble keeping up. Over the weekend, we moved the rest of the stuff from the shed to the new space, which I've taken to calling the Dreamwell Theatre Space. My plan this week is to get in there on Tuesday and Thursday while Rachel is at preschool and organize everything. Or at least lots of it. I'm doing a lot with the publicity for the grand opening and have to get to Copyworks sometime soon to have the postcards and comp tickets printed. There are a number of things stuck in a holding pattern as I wait for people to get back to me. There's just so much to do! Fortunately, I have lots of good people working on various tasks and I'm sure it'll all come together in the end. But it's going to be a crazy four weeks, I think.

I've been messing with the Dreamwell logo a little bit, too. Here's the latest for when don't need the word "theatre" included.

Walking for Will

This Saturday the University of Iowa Collegiate Council team is taking part in the March of Dimes walk in Iowa City's City Park in honor of Will Kenyon, who died Saturday, January 22, 2005, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics from complications of premature birth. He was almost three months old. I just donated a little bit to their efforts and if you'd like to follow suit, go here.



Will's life touched me and many others who had never met him. I wish there was more we could do but at least by raising money for the March of Dimes perhaps we can help the next little kid who is born earlier than expected have a better chance of growing up.

Who Would Win?

For this week's edition of Who Would Win? we have two icons of the screen and two historical kings...



Ian McKellan as Richard III

vs.



Patrick Stewart as Henry I

Who wins?

Brief AI update

For Rachel (the older blonder one) who asked...

It'll be brief because frankly I was not impressed. Not a memorable night.

Constantine started things off with Nights of Broadway. A good performance, but apparently a little Freddie Mercury slipped into his soul from last week - thay eyeliner was way over the top!

Carrie sang Macarthur Park and butchered it. And she still has no personality. Ryan asked her what the song was about and she sounded like an idiot prattling on about how it made no sense. I think this will be her wake up call week. Bottom three for the judges' darling.

Scott sang Everlasting Love and did a good job vocally. I am back to listening to him with eyes closed. In contrast to Carrie, he sounded very real in his post song interview with Ryan and managed to work his mother into it. That'll help him get some votes.

Anthony sang Don't Take Away The Music. He did a great job with an easy song. He mentioned that he's starting to feel more comfortable and it shows. It also looks like he's putting on weight. His face is fat.

Vonzell pulls off I'm Every Woman. She has such a great personality and just shines when compared to those who have zero charisma, like Scott and Carrie. She's not the best singer, but she's very good and more than makes up for it with great performances every week.

Anwar sang September and did a fine job. He actually had more life in him this week as he took the 70s dance music theme to heart. Still, compared to some of the others, he's at the bottom of the pack.

Bo was the standout of the evening. He sang Vehicle and he really showed once again that he's the most professional performer of the group.

My prediction for the bottom three: Anwar, Carrie, and Anthony

I think Anwar will go home.

Brief Rachel story

Over the weekend, my traveled to Navy Pier in Chicago with my parents. Sharon auditioned for Jepoardy, but didn't make it. Afterward, we went shopping and ended up at one of Rachel's favorite places - Build a Bear Workshop. She has a koala named Fluffy that she built on her birthday last year. As we entered the store, two chipper sales people greeted us. One of them started talking to Rachel, who was wearing her "I'm a big sister" t-shirt.

"You're a big sister! That's great! Do you have a little brother or a little sister?"

Rachel looks at her and says quickly, "We're just looking."

Apparently, she's picked up on how I handle sales people...

Tests for a Tuesday

I got this from Kris. Upper Midwestern? Do they think I sound like a Minnesotan?

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Sharon, Dreamwell Goddess

My picture of the week is from Dreamwell's production of Desdemona, a Play about a Handkerchief. Sharon played Bianca, a "lady of the evening" who educates Desdemona. It was a great show with excellent performances by all three women. I think a lot of our friends these days don't often remember that Sharon is a great actress and crucial to Dreamwell's success. Or they've jumped aboard the Dreamwell ship sometime in the past four years and weren't around for her contributions. The focus always seems to be on me and what I'm doing with the theatre, and people forget about Sharon and all she's done. Sharon has served as Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer of Dreamwell's theater board. At one point, the board consisted of only Sharon and me. She was known in board meetings for being a voice of common sense, something every theater needs. Sharon directed our very first play - Of Mice and Men. She acted in Love Letters, Barefoot in the Park, Intellectual Orgasms, and the aforementioned Desdemona as well as shows at the Iowa City Community Theatre. She is still my main sounding board and I run every idea I have by her.

Once Sami get a little bigger, Sharon is going to audition for shows again. I look forward to seeing her return to the stage. Maybe we'll even have the chance to act together again someday. I suppose that'll have to wait until the kids are much older.

Dreamwell's new home

Well, the press release went out today so there's no reason to keep it under wraps any longer.... Dreamwell has a new home!



We are currently moving into the Old Capitol Town Center. We're upstairs, just a few doors down from the Gazette, and across the way from Le Nails. There's not too much to see yet as we're in the process of transforming a retail space into a theater, but needless to say, we're all extremely excited. We plan to celebrate our new space by bringing back one of our most successful shows - The Book of Liz by David and Amy Sedaris - for one weekend only. Come join us May 20 or 21! You'll not only see a first rate comedy, but you can also help us celebrate our new home after the show.

I was there today moving props and set pieces into the space with Sharon and the kids. Rachel was busily digging through the prop bin.

"Look Daddy, you can do a show about carrots!" she squealed holding up a bunch of fake carrots. I have no idea what show those were from, but I bet Lu would remember.

Sharon mentioned that our kids are going to grow up in a theater. They'll probably both have complete theater vocabularies by the time they're ten. I'll tell them to grab the hammer that's downstage and they'll know just where to go. In our house, it probably won't be "Don't pick on your sister!" but rather "Don't upstage your sister!"

And they'll probably both end up lawyers or doctors or something silly like that.

*sigh*

Wolphin???

Is anyone else shocked by this? I had no idea dolphins and whales could get it on. Can any other animals cross breed like that? Donkey and horses, right? Anything else? Are there turtlemanders out there? How about an octoshark?



This is just freaky to me.

Thank you for checking out the Oasis

I hit the 10,000 visits milestone today. Thanks to everyone for reading as well as commenting. I've had a blast the last 10 months. This blog has become a pretty important part of my life as it's been a way to practice my writing skills (which had been deterioriating from lack of use), to keep family and friends updated on my life, and to formulate my thoughts about a wide array of subjects. When I was 18 or so, I decided my life would be about asking questions even if I don't always figure out the answers. I still think that's true to a large extent although caring for my family has moved ahead of asking questions these days. This blog at times provides an outlet for my questioning nature. Hopefully, it's also at least mildly entertaining from time to time. I do try.

Thanks again!

Random Thoughts

Bo Bice's real name is Harold. Hard to rock out when your name is Harold, I guess.

---

What's the difference between 4 wheel drive and all wheel drive? If they throw an extra wheel on an all wheel drive car, does it drive better, whereas with an 4 wheel drive car, there's no hope of that fifth wheel doing anything?

---

I am not an inherently patient man, but I've learned patience because of three people - Jim Pacejka and my two daughters. It's easy to understand how kids teach us patience. My friend Jim taught me patience by just being himself. I've always been a let's-get-moving kind of person. Jim is a what's-the-hurry person. It drove me crazy when we were kids and I had to wait an interminable amount of time while he slowly tied his shoes. However, as I grew older, I learned patience. We all move at different speeds and figuring out that faster ain't always better took me a long time. Like 15 years at least.

Still, today I am feeling very impatient. And I wish the person I am waiting for would hurry up and tie her shoes.

---

The moms at preschool are all friendly to me, but man do I wish there was another dad who regularly dropped off his kid. It's not easy being the minority.

---

I finally hung the Picasso Don Quixote print a friend gave to me. It's right by the computer and I look at it often. It's easily one of the best gifts I've been given.

---

Sami is 15 months old today. Time doesn't just fly, it takes the Concorde.

---

What did I do right in my life that I ended up with two amazingly smart and beautiful children? I am really not worthy.

Don't it feel good!?

I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
I'm walking on sunshine, woooah
and don't it feel good!!

Hey, alright now
and don't it feel good!!
hey yeah, oh yeah
and don't it feel good!!

Walking on sunshine
Walking on sunshine....

Constantine and those other people who sang

Did you see Constantine perform Bohemian Rhapsody last night? Did you? Amazing. He should win the competition if there is any justice. He gets better every week. Of course, the lighting they had for him was perfect. I don't know that I'd buy his CD, but I'd go to a Constantine concert if it were convenient. He's a great performer.



Rachel still loves Bo despite a pretty enh version of Freebird. I admit he sounded like Lynrd Skynrd but I expect something more than a copy of the original. Make it unique.

Surprisingly, Scott and Anthony were pretty good, especially Anthony. Scott did make a stupid comment to the judges that will hopefully came back to haunt him in the voting. It was something about how he's on the stage and there are millions at home who didn't have the guts to do this.

Vonzell and Anwar both sang well. Carrie tried a Pat Benetar song and failed miserably. I am sorry, but she's really not that good even when she is singing country. I would love to see her in the bottom three this week. Nadia will definitely be in the bottom three and is the one most likely to go home. She sang a song no one recognized and it was a boring song to boot. Big mistake.

Who would win?

In the battle of two television sci fi icons...who would win?



vs.



What if the battle was between their action figures?



vs.

Picture of the week

See that pack of cigs over there? I used to smoke them. Seriously. I don't know what I was thinking. I chose menthol because, well, that's what my friend was smoking and besides it had a mint flavor. I could convince myself it didn't taste that bad. I was 18 by the way and had just ended a relationship with my first, ahem, love. Well, it was more complicated than that, but sufice it to say I was in a self destructive frame of mind. I smoked for a summer and rarely bought a pack. I bummed them off co-workers who were so amazed I was smoking, they didn't mind giving up the cancer sticks. Plus cigarettes weren't so expensive back then.

Newports have a girly cigarette reputation, but I didn't care. It was the only kind of cigarette I could stomach and the fact that I had a burning weed in my mouth was "manly" enough for me.

After that summer, I stopped smoking except for an ocassional cigarette here and there. I was never addicted to them. Either I never smoked them enough (and yes, I did inhale) or I am immune to a nicotine addiction. I used to have a tradition where I'd smoke one cigarette during the run of a show. I stopped that when Rachel was born. It just seems irresponsible to me to do something that was so bad for my health when I have two kids depending on me. I'm irresponsible enough in other ways.

Nowadays I find secondhand smoke difficult to deal with. Of course, I never liked it, but when I used to smoke, it obviously didn't bother me as much. I would like to see all restaurants smoke free in Iowa City and Coralville in the next ten years. I think there's a good chance it'll happen. I hope it does.

Rachel

Sharon suggested a blog topic to me and I think I'll run with it. What special about each of our kids? I'll start with Rachel as she has the more developed personality having had 4 years and 4 months to work on it.

Two things come to mind when I think of Rachel. The first is her desire to perform and create. She loves to create stories and give the characters different voices. Anything can become a part of the story, even a pair of pants or a building The other day while I am backing the van out of the garage, she calls out in her deep voice, "Goodbye, Rachel!" and then replies, "Goodbye, garage!" The garage then said, "Rachel, when you get back, will you play checkers with me?" Assuming an exasperated voice, she says, "All right, garage, I'll play checkers with you." She then shakes her head and shrugs as if to say, "What can you do?" The garage quickly replied, "Great, Rachel! Come home soon!" This whole thing cracked her up big time. She's her own best audience.

The other personality trait that comes to mind when I think of Rachel is one that often infuriates me. She is stubborn. I mean, absolutely 100% will not change her mind once she's decided something. Now here's the thing. I actually think this can be a good thing as she gets older. There are times that perseverance is extremely important. Rachel has an iron will for a four year old. This will serve her well when she gets older. My job (and Sharon's) is to teach her in which situations that iron will is needed and in which it is not. And that's where it gets infuriating from time to time.

There are many other wonderful things about Rachel. Just tonight out of the blue, she comes to me and says, "Daddy, I love you. You're the best daddy ever." She's an extremely sweet child. She's also very smart and so far appears pretty athletic, which neither Sharon nor I expected her to be. But when I think of what makes Rachel Rachel, I think of that iron will and that creative performer that she lets loose every day.

Whatever you call it

Nicholas Johnson has an excellent piece in the Press Citizen today about the proposed Iowa Rain Forest. The thrust of Johnson's point is that no one really knows anything about this project and there's no specific plan or budget for it. Until we have some a clear, specific purpose for this project, it should not happen. Johnson says it best with this:

Nine years and there's still no public declaration of specific program focus, detailed construction and staffing plans or budgets for construction, trees, animals and other features, pre-opening promotional expenses and ongoing operations.

Or perhaps it's best summed up with this quote from Johnson:

Either build or get off the lot.

Friday TV roundup

Let's see...

In reality TV news, Nikko was the surprise boot from American Idol. I can't believe Scott Savol is still there. He was in the bottom three, but managed to survive somehow. What's worse is that his fans will probably freak out that he almost went home and then vote in record numbers next week to keep him safe. *sigh* I am really coming close to despising Ohio over this.

The background spoiler for Amazing Race holds steady with the elimination of the brothers. I'll miss 'em. They were a good team and pretty funny, too. My favorite comment last episode was one of them noting (heavily paraphrased), "We're not here to see if our relationship will make it. We're brothers and we'll still be brothers after the race. We're kind of stuck."

Onto TV in general. Is it just me or this one of the best seasons of television ever? Three shows keep me rivted to the TV each week - Lost, 24, and Battlestar Galactica. I can't decide which is my favorite. I've already devoted a whole post to Battlestar. 24 is consistently a standing-and-pacing-in-front-of-the-television-during-commercials show. And I was on my feet as Jack tried to convince the pilot not to shoot down Air Force One. The images of the president embracing his son on the plane as the pilot zeroes in had me screaming at the TV. I am still hoping somehow the President and his son survive.

And then Wednesday's episode of Lost was one of the most perfectly acted, directed, and written episodes ever. We've seen the one character dies as a baby is born a million times on network TV. It's cliche. But somehow they managed to reinvigorate the cliche to where I was shouting for Jack to figure out a way to save Boone all the time knowing the young guy was doomed. So many good moments... Kate pushes her utter panic and fear away to help Claire give birth. Jin calms Charlie during the birth scenes. Sun confronts Jack about cutting off Boone's leg. (Poor Jack - he so can't handle failure even when it's not his fault.) And the flashback scenes, which revealed Jack got married at some point, once again expand a character and help us understand who he is.

I can't believe how much good TV is on right now, both scripted and not scripted.

Idols Butcher Musicals

How could they mess this up sooooo badly? Stupid question, really. Listening to the interviews before they sang, it became clear that, with the exception of Constantine, none of these morons had ever actually seen a musical or knew anything about genre. They consistently picked the worst songs from various shows. And when they did pick a great song, they butchered it. I'm looking at you, Scott Criminal.

All right, let's go through it, step by painful step. There were a couple of bright spots. And when I say a couple, I mean, literally two.

The evening got off to a rough start with Ryan Seacrest's ridiculous shirt. The black and white random pattern gave me a headache. But what really drove me nuts was Scott Savol ruining my favorite song from my favorite musical. He sang Impossible Dream from Man of la Mancha and from the first note, I knew he had earned my Least Favorite Contestant Ever award. Mikayla, give him the ribbon. You don't seem nearly as annoying next to that atrocity. He couldn't hit the notes; he sounded like he didn't even recognize what the notes were supposed to be, and he had no passion, none. I was in physical pain listening to him slowly but surely pound my favorite song into oblivion. I hated it. Ohio, you are the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You have a responsibility NOT to let this loser continue in this competition. Stop voting for him!



Carrie was so boring, I couldn't keep my eyes open. And she chose one of the worst songs from The King and I - Hello Young Lovers. There are many more interesting songs from that musical. And there are many more interesting musicals!

I have tried to be a fan of Anthony, but I am sorry. I am off the Tony Train now. That was horrendous. Climb Every Mountain!?! What was he thinking? Plus, he messed up the lyric in the first line. He sang "Climb every mountain, ford every tree..." Ford a tree, Anthony? How exactly does one do that? The only reason I don't want to see Anthony to go home this week is because I'd rather see Scott Criminal crash and burn.

Nikko Smith sang One Hand, One Heart from West Side Story. Please. There are a million better songs from that musical too. I suppose Nikko isn't bad, but I can't stand his high pitched voice. He sings every song the same way. He bores me.

Anwar did a decent job with his song, but I can't stand the song: If Ever I Would Leave You from Camelot. Camelot is one of the worst popular musicals every made. The songs are boring, the story is trite and there's really nothing redeeming about it. Pick a song from a good musical. How about Rent? Or Wicked? Or Hair? Or Grease? Or Tommy? Or Fiddler? Or Les Mis, Jesus Christ Superstar, or even Miss Saigon! Not freakin' Camelot.

Bo chose Corner of the Sky from Pippen, which was a good choice finally. Still it was a blow down the house performance. Why he didn't pick a song from Tommy or Rent, I will never understand.



Nadia Turner ended the evening with As Long As He Needs Me from Oliver. Again, pick a better song from Oliver. Still, Nadia was okay. Not memorable, but okay.

I skipped two performances because I wanted to end on a positive note. Constantine and Vonzell were both quite good. Constantine sang My Funny Valentine from Babes in Arms. He did an amazing job with the song, hit the notes, pulled you into the performance, and sold the song. That is something other competitors fail to do week after week, especially Carrie. She couldn't give a song away let alone sell one. Constantine probably won't win this competition, but he'll have a career after this, no doubt about it. As an actor and singer, he'll have a wealth of opportunities in all different areas. I hope he chooses well.



And finally, Vonzell. Each week she gets better and better. She is growing while many of the other performances are stuck at the same level. For some, like Bo, that level is so high, it doesn't matter yet. However, if Vonzell continues rising each week, she could end up winning this thing. She sang People from Funny Girl and damn that girl was right on top of that song. She has the presence and the pipes.



Bottom three should be: Anthony, Scott, and either Carrie or Nikko. It probably will be Nadia, Anwar, and Anthony with blondie finally getting booted. My personal wish is for Scott to disappear from stage forever. But those damn Ohioans are messing that up.

My favorites:
Nadia, because I know she still has it in her.
Vonzell, because she gets better every week.
Bo, because he's the most professional singer out there.
Constantine, because he's the smartest guy out there and proves it every week by picking just the right song.

Another one of those test thingees

I found this at a friend's LiveJournal.

Your brain:
50% interpersonal
15% visual
30% verbal
5% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 100% smart! The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on interpersonal You scored higher than 6% on visual You scored higher than 73% on verbal You scored higher than 1% on mathematical

The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne.

If you're not watching Battlestar Galactica...

...you're missing one of the best shows on television.

The season finale was blow you away amazing. Spoilers ahead. Stop reading if you don't want to know.

What makes Battlestar Galactica so great?

1) Starbuck. Tough pilot who's carrying around a lot of guilt because she gave the okay for her lover to fly even though he wasn't ready. He died. She's also the best pilot in the fleet, a hero, and has a strong spiritual side. In short, she's an extremely interesting, well developed character.


Apollo and Starbuck

2) Every other character in the show. They're all well developed. Apollo is torn between loyalty to his father and his strong belief in democratic ideals. The President, who was the Secretary of Education before the Cylons killed every other member of the government, is dying of cancer and struggling to keep Adama's military in line as well as dealing with the religious visions she can't explain. Boomer is a Clyon but was programmed to think she is a human. Even the minor characters like the President's aide and the communications officer on the bridge. I don't remember their names, but I understand their personalities and can predict how they'll act in different situations.

3) The Cylons. They made the Cylons a fascinating race. They are machines created by humans who rebelled against their masters and are now trying to annihilate their oppressors. Plus, they've evolved to the point where they can appear human. And we're getting hints that they've reached the point where some can experience feelings, even love, based on the story of Helo and Boomer 2 who are stranded on the surface of Caprica. I would not at all be surprised to eventually see "good" Cylons who end up working together with the humans.

4) The writing. It's believable. Oftentimes with science fiction shows, you have people spouting overly dramatic or otherwise ridiculous dialogue. Not the case with Battlestar at all.

5) The religious themes. What's most interesting to me is that the Cylons (the evil machines trying to exterminate the humans) are the ones who follow a monotheistic religion not unlike Christianity and the other major religions of the world. The humans follow a polytheistic religion that is based on the ancient Greek pantheon, i.e. Apollo, Athena, etc. Watching Baltar, who in this version inadvertantly betrayed the human race, slowly succumb to the religious fervor of the Cylons has been fascinating. On the human side of things, you have militaristic unbeliever Adama vs. the President, who has having relgious visions.

6) The politics. Keeping with the world headlines, we have a terrorist (or freedom fighter depending on your point of view), smartly played by Richard Hatch of the original series, who has much support and is eyeing the presidency. The situation reminds me a lot of the IRA/Sinn Féin mess is Ireland. This storyline should really start moving in season two.

7) The cliffhanger. Friday night we saw Boomer, the unwilling Cylon, pull out a gun and shoot Adama three times at point blank range. Didn't see it coming but it makes perfect sense. Boomer's been fighting her Cylon side all season and now we see she lost the battle. Will Adama die? In most shows, I'd say no way would they kill off their lead character and the biggest name of the cast (Edward James Olmos). But with Battlestar Galactica... who knows?

8) The details. The show looks real. The military ships are dark. The civilian ships are lighter. The reason we have people called Apollo and Starbuck is because those are pilot callsigns, not their real names, which are Lee Adama and Kara Thrace, respectively. Overall, the show is beautifully shot, with lots of location shooting. It's just a well put together show from top to bottom.

If you haven't seen an episode yet, that's okay. The series premier is going to be on Friday night at 9 pm CST. Watch the whole first season in order. You won't regret it. The next season starts in July, I believe.

Reality TV blog

Here's a pretty good reality TV blog. I found them by looking at referrers to my blog. They linked to my Amazing Race spoiler post.

Sing, don't hit

UPDATE: USA Today reports that Scott told the producers about the incident ahead of time and will not be removed from the show. Damn.

Well, it looks like another American Idol contestant is in serious trouble not because he can't sing, but because his past has come back to haunt him.



Scott Savol was arrested in 2001 for hitting his girlfriend. She is also the mother of his child. Savol accepted a disorderly conduct misdemeanor plea and was fined $500, placed on a year's probation, ordered to take anger management classes, and given a 20-day suspended prison sentence. I don't know if this will eliminate him from the competition as it did Corey Clark , but I think it'll kill his chances of getting the votes he needs to stick around. If it does eliminate him, I hope they bring Jessica Sierra back. I was so disappointed when she was eliminated last week. And the sooner Scott's gone, the better as far as I am concerned. Even if he is reformed, I can't stand watching him sing. Last week, Paula attempted to compliment him by saying, "I had my closed, I was swaying to the music..." Of course you had your eyes closed, Paula. Looking at zero charisma Scott on stage is painful.

This information comes from the smoking gun website. As does the following:

"Savol's rap sheet also includes a "no contest" plea to a 1995 misdemeanor trespass charge. He was arrested for entering Shaker Heights High School after being "warned both verbally and by letter" to stay out of the building."

So what's the story behind this? If the school sent him a letter telling him to stay out, there must be more to this story. What else did this guy do?