by on April 14, 2009

American Idol Season 8 Top 7 Predictions

A few hours ago I predicted what would go down during tonight’s show. I’m quite happy I was so on for as many points as I was. Let’s run down my list and see how accurate I was:

  • Lil Rounds: She won’t sing what they demand to hear week after week. She will look like she’s just trying to hold it together during the judging.
    • Check!
  • Kris needs to stay on the stage, even if he’s going to be playing an instrument.
    • Check!
  • Adam is going to be Adam and do something amazing.
    • Wicked, bad, dope version of “Born to Be Wild!”
  • Danny is going to blow it outta da box.
    • Wasn’t a great song choice, but he made it work for him and who he is.
  • Allison will be edgy and make another big impression to illicit another “you can sing the phonebook” comment from the judges.
    • The comment didn’t come, but a better one along the lines of “you could win this whole thing” got tossed her way.
  • Simon needs to keep his hands off of Paula or get a room.
    • Check the video. He couldn’t stop touching her before the first song or two was even wrapped up.

Making the top of my “off” list for Wednesday’s show is none other than Lil Rounds, who has lost all hope of being a force. Frankly, it’s a 3-person race with Anoop coming in at 4th, so I don’t much care who goes in what order among Lil, Kris, and Matt. Really. Don’t. Care. Adam is a force to be reckoned with, the likes of which has NEVER been seen on Idol yet. Allison is going to give him a run for the money, as will Danny; that whole battle will be played out in popularity more than talent, I believe. Anoop is a great singer with a certain niche, and I think he could do well as a crooner and do better than Taylor Hicks, too.

Filed Under: American Idol Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
by on April 14, 2009

What to Look for on AI Tonight

It’s getting to the exciting part of the year when most of the dead weight is gone and it actually stings to lose a contestant. I also like the 2-song nights to give us more of a look at their song choices. So far some people have yet to figure out what to sing, what to wear, and where to stand. I’m going to play this like a football pre-game show:

  • Lil will be completely identity-less again. She won’t sing what they demand to hear week after week. She will look like she’s just trying to hold it together during the judging.
  • Kris needs to stay on the stage, even if he’s going to be playing an instrument, but he also needs to make it more about the song than the band and the music.
  • Adam is going to be Adam and do something amazing. You know Quentin Tarantino will bring out the best in him.
  • Danny is going to blow it outta da box.
  • Allison will be edgy and make another big impression to illicit another “you can sing the phonebook” comment from the judges.
  • Simon needs to keep his hands off of Paula or get a room.
Filed Under: American Idol Tagged With: , ,
by on April 12, 2009

Mashed Potato Success

istock_000002938934xsmallWe had the whole local family over for Easter today and watched the Masters. Games didn’t work because everyone was too tired to actually move to go play them, which I was fine with since I was the one napping on the carpet like a dog on a lazy day. What I’m most excited about was my successful first batch of mashed potatoes. I have it from a reliable source that it was the first time a certain someone ever took seconds of mashed potatoes, so they must’ve been as good as I thought they were. I thought they were tasty, run of the mill. I’ll let you decide because I’m going to tell you how I made them.

Jesse’s Supremo Mashed Potatoes

4lbs of potatoes
1tbs garlic powder
1tbs onion powder
1/2tbs salt
1/2 tbs Italian seasoning
1/2 tbs basil
butter and milk to consistency (1/3 – 1/2 cup milk and a couple of pats of butter)

Peel the potatoes and cut into 1″ cubes into a large pot and boil until soft when poking with a fork (15-25 min). Use a good old potato masher to mush it up and leave some chunks if that’s how you like them. Whipping later won’t really rid it of all chunks if you leave them there at this point. Add the seasoning, butter, and the minimum amount of milk and whip with a mixer on low until you have a good whipped consistency, then crank it up to medium. Mix for a minute or so and add season more to taste if necessary. Serves at least 8-10. Add cheddar cheese to the top and bake leftovers in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts for twice-baked potatoes.

Trust me–it almost doesn’t need gravy (can’t NOT do holiday gravy, man!), though I love my salt and pepper and added as I usually do at the table.

Filed Under: Current Events, Personal, Relationships Tagged With: , , , ,
by on April 10, 2009

The 7 Gmail Labs Apps I Use

I’ve been using several Labs apps for quite a while, but there are some more additions that are worth noting, so I decided to do a run-down of the ones I use. There are quite a few more out there that I don’t use that are particularly handy to people, depending on the content of the mail you receive, but just not for me.

  1. Signature tweaks by Keith C and Dave C
    Places your signature before the quoted text in a reply, and removes the “–” line that appears before signatures.
  2. Right-side chat by Emily C
    Move the chat box to the right side of the inbox.
  3. Right-side labels by Emily C
    Move the labels box to the right side of the inbox.
  4. Forgotten Attachment Detector by Jonathan K
    Prevents you from accidentally sending messages without the relevant attachments. Prompts you if you mention attaching a file, but forgot to do so.
  5. Mark as Read Button by Mark K
    Tired of spending all that effort to click on the more actions menu every time you want to mark messages as read without reading them? Now just enable this lab and that is just a button click away!
  6. Title Tweaks by Fedor K
    Changes order of elements in the browser title bar from “Gmail – Inbox (20) – YourEmail@gmail.com” to “Inbox (20) – YourEmail@gmail.com – Gmail”. This way you are able (most of the time) to see if a new mail has arrived even if Gmail window is minimized.
  7. Inserting images by Kent T
    Allows you to insert images into a message body. You can upload and insert image files in your computer, or insert images by URLs.
Filed Under: Personal, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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