Marginalizing Beauty And Talent

In case some of y'all haven't seen any of this season's American Idol. Check out this young lass:

I mean, not only can she sing....she's exploding with personality and is one fine-looking broad! Watching her I'm reminded that I'm still one raging heterosexual...

Relax, she's of age, 21 or so, and I look 25 or 26 (despite my 37th birthday later this week).

It's hard to believe that this same girl auditioned the year before but didn't even make it to Hollywood. Heck she's as polished and poised as that invert Adam Lambert was as an amateur.

And like Lambert, she too was ousted by inferior competition, landing in third place.

Why did she lose?

Because of schools of course.

Too many kids - and that's who's voting here - grow up hating the beautiful, the competent, and the self-confident with whom they have to suffer *forced association*. Regular folk may secretly aspire to be them....but explicitly voting for them is another matter.

Comments Up-Cracking Me

I just had a funny comment posted to one of my older entries.

Someone asserted that there was *no homosexual subplot* on American Idol.

OKAY!

Messy Democracy

So they voted the talented Lilly Scott off American Idol this week...

You just knew that was going to happen - that in aggressively eliminating two out of eight females, votes would cannibalize each other and someone undeserving would suffer unfortunate luck.

But this is certainly American Idol's fault alone. There was no reason for them to stick hard to the *6 boys and 6 girls* formula when it was abundantly clear from the get-go that the boys, EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, stink.

After all these years, however, the show is still rocking. Heck, it seems like every other Top-40 song on the radio these days is sung by an AI veteran.

Silent Beauty

That's songwriter and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.

Never before in my 35 year life have I seen a woman whose *coefficient of attractiveness* drops so severely when she merely opens her trap.

On mute, she's a near goddess....but with sound, she comes off as, well, a well-cast participant of Jersey Shore.

I mean it, she's a real potty-mouthed, trampy sort of b1tch!

Even though I'm more into *personality* than most, I submit that it's stupendous for a ANY WOMAN's coefficient to drop so much - in the eyes of infinitely superficial men that is.

The Extro-Inverted....Marginalizing Themselves

American Idol finalist Adam Lambert, is fresh off an *obscene* performance that got his next televised gig cancelled. From the NYPost:

"We had this great dance number totally staged. It's a sexy song about seduction and power and I was just doing the lyrics justice," he told Rolling Stone. "My intention was not to try and create a controversy. But if a controversy ensues, then so be it."

After the performance, a pleased Lambert hit the Twittersphere to say, "All hail freedom of expression and artistic integrity."

It's all just the latest in Lambert's attempts at titillating audiences by pushing boundaries, something that the singer has been keen to do since coming out as gay after "American Idol" ended in the spring.

Lambert has yet to comment about the way his performance was edited, but he did tell the Los Angeles Times -- before the West Coast broadcast aired -- "If it's going to be edited, then, in a way, that's discrimination. I don't mean to get political, but Madonna, Britney [Spears] and Christina [Aguilera] weren't edited."

He went on to add, "It's a shame. Female entertainers have been risqué for years.

"Honestly, there's a huge double standard....It's 2009, it's time to take more risks. It's about entertainment. People want to be surprised. It's too bad that people are so scared."

Now you can read about and actually watch the performance on that link above (West Coast Tom!).

Obviously this Lambert guy is a little too much for mainstream, heterophile America. He started his public opinion descent on American Idol, going from merely a little flamboyant to in-your-face, loud, and unapologetic - and it cost him the contest to a much inferior Chris Allen.

It's hard to imagine any big sponsors ever getting *behind* Lambert given his persona now. It's one thing for a pop singer to be a full-blown deviant in the privacy of their own home, e.g. Michael Jackson,....

I don't really have anything else to say in this post - which was really just a ruse to introduce my neologism - *extro-inverted*.

Or should we call Adam *extra-extro-inverted*?

[There's always a notable Moron in these stories, check out his proud mother.]

UPDATE - Another cancellation for this knucklehead.

Us Sports Recorders Were Prepared

With my wife behind me watching her own *delayed* American Idol finale, I remembered the incredible ending of last year's competition. Bear in mind that it was DAVID Cook versus DAVID Archuleta:



My DVR had cut off at the same exact juncture.

Though, not being a Moron, I had recorded the subsequent show as well.

That was pretty amazing though, where it cut off: "American Idol 2008 is.....David---"

I imagine at the time, there was a whole lot of cursing out there in Comcast Country by clowns who've never recorded a ball game that's overrun its time slot.

Spousal Obscurantism, the DVR, and American Idol

My wife is in the process of watching this season's American Idol. Even though the show concluded 1.5 months ago, Mrs. C-Nut still hasn't a clue who won.

Just yesterday she made it far enough through our DVR recordings to discover that I had been messing with her.

For some time now I've been telling her that Danny Gokey won. [That's the dude whom my wife referred to, mnemonically, as *wife killer*....when in fact the poor guy lost his wife to cancer!]

Since, on her timeline, he just got voted out of the top three, the wife is now on to my shenanigans. Sometime later this week she'll find out if the ambigendrous Adam Lambert could hold off the far less talented Kris Allen.

It's utterly amazing that she still doesn't know who won, right?

Well, the only information she gets is from yours truly - a responsibility that I'd never abuse! She works hard all week; comes home to tend to the kids for a couple hours; and goes to bed where for a few minutes each night I apprise her of what she needs to know. That's all she has time for - even on the train her head is contantly buried in a Blackberry or spreadsheet. Occasionally she sees a news blurb in her work elevator but that's the extent of my information competition.

ob·scur·ant·ism (ŏb-skyŏŏr'ən-tĭz'əm, əb-, ŏb'skyŏŏ-rān'-)
n.
1) The principles or practice of obscurants.

2) A policy of withholding information from the public.

3) a. A style in art and literature characterized by deliberate vagueness or obliqueness. b. An example or instance of this style.

That's according to dictionary.com. Though I like the definition I memorized way back:

Obscurantism - A bigoted opposition to enlightenment.

And if you want a more scholarly example than the one I provided above - think of the Catholic Church and its former insistence on Latin-based bibles and services. Cynics allege that this was an *obscurantist* scheme to keep the masses dependent on the clergy; lest they interpret Scripture for themselves....

Shocking!

The following is on Drudge right now:



Anyone watching the show won't be surprised in the least. There's no way Paula's queer behavior over the years could ever be fully explained by mere *airheadedness*.

Here's the story.

Next up, the New York Times will admit it's been addicted to deliberate distortion.....but for decades.

More Over-The-Pond Talent

Click here to see another popular performance from this season's Britain's Got Talent.

I found it a trifle corny but millions of others have busted a gut watching it.

My favorite part was the kid's retort at the beginning to judge Piers Morgan - "I'm not obliged to answer that."

Quite snappy for a 12 year old!

Who Is Susan Boyle?

I had seen the name a couple of times with my *peripheral vision* on news sites and whatnot. And then today my golf buddy mentioned her. So I just had to google her and find out.

Watch the clip here. (Sorry, YouTube is not allowing embedding with this gal.)

Simon's comment (at 5:30 or so) was uproarious - as usual.

It looks like Susan Boyle had a predecessor. Check out 2007 contestant Paul Potts here. That clip has received a mere 45 million stinkin' hits so far!

Simon Cowell - A Modern Day Samuel Johnson?

So Simon's too busy to dine with the head of the Communist party?

And the other day, he ripped Hell's Kitchen's Gordon Ramsay during an American Idol broadcast.

Ryan Seacrest asked the chef (in the audience) what he thought about one of the performances. Ramsay started talking but no one could hear what he said because he hadn't a microphone. With nose pointed skyward and in that arrogant British accent Cowell quipped, "See, he doesn't know what he's talking about."

What made it so hilarious was who Ramsay is. He's a lunatic know-it-all belligerent in his own right. But Simon dismissed him like a booger on his thumb-tip.

You gotta hand it to Simon Cowell. He gets paid a jillion dollars to make snide remarks on a karaoke show. Who amongst us would relish that job?

Furthermore, and no small boost to his ego, he can instantaneously slay all opponents with his Captious and caustic wit. The best his critics can do is rip his gaudy threads.

[Note that Morons necessarily descend to this tack with me as well. See - $90 Jeans and Morphing Into My Father.]

Apparently, Simon is turning into a bubblehead celebrity as it's quite hard to wipe that smile off his face these days.

But his hectoring wit conjures up memories of another bombastic Brit - Samuel Johnson.

Johnson was so intellectually and conversationally domineering that his table-mates were scared to death to espouse their usual loud-mouthed opinions. When Johnson was dining, only the brave and foolish engaged his towering personality; the rest wisely concentrated on mastication.

Of course, I have the same exact dinner-time effect. There's a whole lot more emphasis on the food at extended family get-togethers when C-Nut's there - especially from the 'old coot' Massachusetts contingent.

Required reading for all aspiring invectivists - Samuel Johnson, Jonathan Swift, and Pietro Aretino.

Americal Idol End-Around

Who wants the shackle of that exclusive contract from Americal Idol anyway?

I've watched it 3 times and can't discern any lip-synching. Am I mistaken?

Someone has already bought the domain rinontherox.com and put it up for sale!

That's such a good idea. Right now I am going to go reserve WestCoastTom.com in hopes of selling it to him after he becomes a star.

Why I Watch American Idol

The best line is around a 1:25 into this clip - so at least watch through that.



Based on his dental profile, I think Alaa Youakeem should have auditioned with this song.

Now THAT would have been hilarious.

Two Small Items

I've been busy with the financial markets and sick kids these days.

Here is a worthwhile little clip to watch if you're the type interested in sage quotes.

And here is a disgusting, intellectually bankrupt little article on ethnic patterns of conspicuous consumption. I'd elaborate if there were more than 24 hours in a day.

For now I am going to decompress in front of American Idol. The early part of the season is my favorite as it's rife with ridicule and Morons.