Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Summertime

For once the summer came like honey flowing in a honeycomb, sweet and slow,
the strawberries with the golden freckles on their skin were more than ripe and ready to be picked.
Sun tanned children with sun dyed hair sold lemonade (the kind that tickled your lips), for shiny coins but always worn one dollar bills.
Birds and butterflies were blissful to live days with long light, the sun beamed longer, and the moon had four to eight off almost every afternoon for around three months.
Flowers sparkled and glistened following summer rain, but seemed content when rays beat upon them.
Solely September and an impending autumn would change the magical reality that is summertime.

Monday, January 21, 2008

More American Idol Update!

I was doing research on what the former Idol Contestants are doing now, and let's just say some seasons and people are more successful than others.

Josh Gracin has 18 shows booked between January and September, and there are more dates to be added. For those of you who live in the Northeast and enjoy country music as I do, here are some dates---

August 15, 08 Mohegan Sun in Connecticut
August 16, 08 Washington County Fair in Wyoming, Rhode Island

Fantasia Barrino has three Grammy nominations, including, Best Female R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best Contemporary R&B Album.

Jennifer Hudson is getting more and more movie deals all the time. She is signed up to be in "Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys" in 2008. She will play the role of Rosaleen in 2009's "The Secret Life of Bees". She may also play the role of Aretha Franklin and Missy Elliott in biopics about both women.

Constantine Maroulis is touring small clubs across the country though February.

Anwar Robinson is touring with the cast of RENT.

Elliott Yamin will continue touring throughout the U.S. through February, and will do charity work in Africa in March.

Daughtry is enjoying not only Grammy nominations but touring with Bon Jovi through March. Ace Young is enjoying a Grammy nod with Chris Daughtry for co-writing "It's Not Over", which is in the category of Best Rock Song. He goes by the name of Brett Young.

Kellie Pickler is opening on tour with Rascal Flatts through March.

Bucky Covington will tour from February through June, and for many of the months is opening for Dierks Bentley.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Why is my job like the "Dilbert" comics?

Over the summer I started to notice something pretty scary; my life at work is like a "Dilbert" comic. It all started when I was reading the Boston Sunday Globe; I used to read "Garfield" but it's not in the Globe anymore so I started reading "Dilbert". Funny thing is that when I was done reading it, I was like "Oh my Lord, that is what happened at work yesterday, or last week, or whenever".

So, the premise of this particular comic that I read is that Dilbert's boss tells Dilbert that their C.E.O.'s son is joining the department as an intern.
Dilbert's boss, of course, assigns Dilbert to be the "new intern's" mentor.
Dilbert's boss think the reason that the C.E.O.'s son is joining the department so that he can be a spy, so he tells Dilbert not to let the C.E.O.'s son learn anything about them because then he will report it to his dad.
Dilbert's boss gives Dilbert a list of compliments to give to the C.E.O.'s son and forces Dilbert to assign him a simplistic project.
Dilbert's boss finishes the conversation by saying, "If he asks more than three questions, kill him".
The C.E.O.'s son arrives and walks up to Dilbert and asks, "Where's my desk?", and Dilbert is standing there and thinking to himself........ "That's one" (meaning that's question number one).

I can tell you that I have definitely been in this position at work more than once. It's either a regional manager's child helping out for the holidays while he/ she is on break from college, or sometimes it's the daughter/ son or daughters/ sons of more than one senior manager helping out for inventory or go to work with your parents day. The funny thing about all of it is that usually the child exhibits the same work ethic as mom or dad, which is sometimes impressive
and at other times abysmally pathetic.

On the positive side, for example, we had one child of a regional manager who was almost anti-company and yet very intelligent. He/ she was hardworking, and basically worked for the holidays because it was what the parent wanted. This boss's child kept to his/herself, and there was nothing arrogant or unbecoming about the individual.

On the flip side, we had two children of managers helping out recently and they definitely did more harm than good; they were given no direction and I basically had to go behind them and correct error after error so they wouldn't get in trouble. I shouldn't have cared, but something told me that if I did not do it, I would have had to anyway eventually.

The two little monsters were messing up everything as they went along, and being very sloppy and lax about the whole job. I mean it seemed like they did not take any of it seriously at all; it was as if they knew they were protected by mom or dad so why should they care? ( as a side note: The children know they can get away with bad behavior, and you have to believe that mom and/ or dad must allow them to act that way at home. So they bring them to their workplace and that is like their outlet or place to act out, most likely because they don't receive enough attention at home). You know that if anyone would have said anything they would have either been reprimanded or faced consequences later (possibly in the form of sabotage; I put nothing past the management that I ashamedly and admittedly work for).

It is also true that sometimes I feel like there are plants or spys in every department, somebody who is set there to watch everyone else and listen to what they say. I think sometimes management puts their children in departments where they want to know what is going on, their ears and eyes on the inside, so to speak. Truly I feel that management thinks that they are scaring people into doing what they want by doing things like that. Some people are scared into it, but I made my way past feeling that way a long time ago. I feel it is more important to stay true to who I am and not compromise my beliefs because I am scared into doing so.

The funny thing is, going back to the Dilbert comic, that the management's children where I work ask way more than three questions.

American Idol Update for Season 6

Well, Season 7 is underway, but at the same time, we cannot forget about past contestants who continue to be successful.

Season 6 contestant, Phil Stacey announced on January 18, 08 that he will be releasing his debut album on April 15, 08. I have not heard anything about what the title will be; however, the first single will be "If You Didn't Love Me" (the song should enjoy some airplay on country radio). The song was co-written by Wendell Mobley, Jason Sellers, and Gary LeVox from Rascal Flatts. Following the American Idol tour over the summer Phil and his wife and two daughters moved to Nashville so he could pursue a career in country music full time.

Season 6 Winner Jordin Sparks has a new single out that is sure to climb the charts, her duet with Chris Brown, "No Air" is a great ballad that is already garnering airplay. Miss Sparks will also sing the national anthem at Superbowl 43 on February 3.

Friday, January 18, 2008

The Golden Globes or Lack Thereof

I missed the Red Carpet, the stars, the silly moments, the heartfelt ones. With no Golden Globe Awards Show, it was difficult for me to be interested. Typically, I am online writing away, making my predictions and hoping that they are better than the year before.

Truthfully though, if this year's award show was televised, I don't think I would have been very pleased. I did not feel that most of the people who won were the best in their category.

There were a couple of winners that were just plain shocking--- like Julie Christie for "Away From Her". The Globes robbed Angelina Jolie who was unrecognizable for her role as Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart". I still expect her to come away with an Oscar nomination and possibly a win if the right people come to their senses at the right time. Keira Knightley was captivating in "Atonement", and certainly was the odds on favorite in the category.

John Hamm was a surprise for "Mad Men", never in a million years did I expect that. I thought Hugh Laurie would walk away with the Award again, no questions asked, he is brilliant in "House" as the odd doctor that everything thinks is grouchy. "Mad Men" also shocked by winning for best Drama Series beating out "Grey's Anatomy" which was hoping for a repeat and had a good chance of making it happen.

Samantha Morton winning was "Longford" was the last person in her category that I thought would win. I was hoping for Rachel Griffiths who is great in "Brothers & Sisters", or Jaime Pressly who makes me laugh in "My Name is Earl", or Katherine Heigl who between "Grey's Anatomy", "Knocked Up", and "27 Dresses" has been the year's "It Girl".

There were, though, a few shining moments, like Johnny Depp winning for "Sweeney Todd", seven times must have been a charm because this was his seventh nomination. He had previously been nominated for "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Benny & Joon" (1993), "Ed Wood" (1994), "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" (2004), "Finding Neverland" (2005), "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2006), and finally "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Brother of Fleet Street" (2007).

Tina Fey won for "30 Rock" and she deserved it. Let's face it, the woman wears all hats, she writes "30 Rock", created it, acts on it, and even recruited "Saturday Night Live" alums like Tracey Morgan and Rachel Dratch for the show.

Jeremy Piven won again for "Entourage" for his role as Arie Gold, and truthfully I am a big fan of Piven's but no one in the category was more on point this year in their role.

"Atonement" won for best picture, so not only was it the most romantic and touching movie of the year but it was also considered the best. Look for "Atonement" to clean up at the British Film Critic Awards and to also make a big push during Oscar time. Rewarding "Atonement" with this award was basically awarding the cast--- Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan.

I also enjoyed David Duchovny winning for "Californication" he is absolutely hilarious in his role as Hank Moody. He is a struggling writer who is trying to pull his life together. He is trying to raise his pre teen daughter, and he is still in love with his ex girlfriend who happens to be engaged to another man.

I hope that next year we have an award show, and I hope that the Hollywood Foreign Press thinks long and hard before nominating some of the people they nominated, but I am not against everyone that won. Hmmm............ I am not sure what that makes me, happy, sad, or bittersweet.

Monday, January 7, 2008

American Idol Update

According to mtv.com, former American Idol contestant Jessica Sierra is being sentenced to one year in rehab stemming from her arrest on December 1, 2007 at a bar in Florida. The sentence also includes two years of probation. She was warned by the judge that if she does not follow the rules at the rehab center she will be brought back to Florida where she will spend one year in prison.