Am. Idol 2008 recap

David Cook won. Slightly surprising considering the judges had all but crowned Archuleta the night before. During the contest night, Cook sang "I Still Haven't Found (What I'm Looking For)" by U2, chosen by Clive Davis (who will own the winner). He was great. I love U2 and Cook changed it just enough to make it his own, but stayed true to the original. He then had to sing a song from some songwriting contest (who wrote the song? - who knows - for a songwriting contest, you'd think they would tell the audience who wrote the song). Finally, he chose to sing, "The World I Know" by Collective Soul. Another song I love and again Cook did it justice. Archuleta sang three ballads including his version of "Imagine." I love this song and hate the fact that Archie sang it and everyone loved it. Ug.

I'm glad Cook won and hope his career takes off after his stupid obligatory Idol tour.

I know a lot of people think Am. Idol is lame and the singers suck (Burger?), but I have become fans of a few of the contestants of this show, and am glad to have been exposed to them through this show: Daughtry, Bo Bice and Kelly Clarkson. In fact, I am listening to Bice right now and really like the album. I have owned this CD (yes, I still buy CDs) for a couple years now and just noticed that Chad Kroeger (Nickelback) wrote one of the songs. Kroeger is awesome as a singer and songwriter and has worked with some of the best (Santana). Bice also performed on one of the Idol shows this year with a new song, which I am looking forward to being released.

Now, let's go Sox and Celtics!!

It's good to be green (or Red)

The Red Sox have installed solar panels on the top of Fenway to help heat their hot water. In this day and age where energy efficiency is so important, it is very impressive that a professional baseball organization would take the time or money to invest in such a project when they could just jack up ticket prices to help pay the bills. Check it out. Another reason I'm proud to be a Sox fan.

Another reason why baseball is awesome

Last night, Jon Lester no-hit the K.C. Royals. This is a major feat in baseball (see comment on previous post). Let alone for someone who less than 2 years ago was diagnosed with cancer. Lester has been a Red Sox hero since he won game 4 in the World Series last year. Last night's game was a true no-hitter - he pitched all 9 innings, and despite the two walks he gave up and the throwing error to 1st base, no runs scored (yes, you can have a no-hitter where the other team scores runs). I didn't get to see the whole game, only from about the 6th inning on, but even in the 6th I could tell that Lester was ON. It was fun to watch, beautiful in fact. To see a pitcher and catcher so in tune and the batter baffled by what is being thrown is truly amazing. The game was a real team effort too, Ellsbury had a fantastic catch and the whole team was rallied behind Lester to help him complete this achievement. Whenever I see a no-hitter, I always think of the movie For Love of the Game, specifically the part when Kevin Costner looks up at the scoreboard with some confusion and asks his catcher, "Ain't nobody been on base?" I'm sure that every pitcher at some point during their no-hitter has this realization and I can't imagine the feeling. Fear, joy, trepidation, doubt, adrenaline all must come into play. Lester handled all of those feelings with grace last night, and it was a joy to watch. Congrats to Lester and Varitek (who had the only HR of the night despite a 7-0 score), and the rest of the team. You gave us all something to be inspired by.

Why baseball is awesome

I just read this article about why baseball is the best sport. I agree with most of it, especially the last sentence - a lot of people think baseball players are wussy - but you try hitting a ball with a 2.8 inch diameter that's going 95 mph.

Am. Idol final 3

So the two Davids and Seyesha are the final three contestants on American Idol this year. They are all good singers, although after watching last night's performances, I have to agree with the comment made on my last Am. Idol post that I will shoot my TV (or something to that effect) if David A. wins. He totally killed (not in a good way) "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel. David Cook was not in top shape last night though. The Switchfoot song he sang, was flat and not very exciting and he did not come close to doing Steven Tyler justice on "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing." Seyesha did a fine job on all her songs, but no one hit anything out of the park. I think, in part, it was because of the format. They all sang three songs, one picked by one of the judges, one they picked themselves and one picked by the producers. It was pretty obvious that the producers either a) know nothing about pop music and who actually watches this shoe or b) want one of the contestants to fail miserably, but all of the producers songs choices were so terrible, it was hard to figure out which one. I can't for the life of me predict the winner.

Go Green!

So the Celtics are in the playoffs. In fact, they were the best team in the NBA this year with an .805 winning percentage. This compared to just last year's record when they were the worst team in the NBA bar none. So cool, they're in the playoffs now, but it seems they have forgotten how to win on the road. For a team that was ridiculously dominant all season, it is weird to watch them totally lose it when they are the visiting team. Now, I know the playoffs are very different from the regular season, nerves and all that, but this team is so talented that it is totally perplexing to watch them fall off the wagon when away. I will admit that I did not watch a regular season game, but I have watched some of the playoffs, and even for me (a non-basketball player, watcher, etc.) it is obvious that the home game is completely different from the away game. It's like they think they suck or something. Whatever it is, I hope they figure it out, because this team, and Boston, deserve an NBA championship.

American Idol '08

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know I am a fan of the show American Idol. This year has been quite disappointing as shown by the lack of posts about it. None of the contestants stand out or have had that "knock your socks off" performance. I really don't care about any of them and am not sure if any of them will survive the record business. Terrible singers lasted a long time on the show this year for inexplicable reasons. They are down to the final 3, and luckily the show will be over soon. I know I can just stop watching it, but it's totally addictive and now I need to know which one of the saps left will win.

497

Manny is on his way to 500 home runs. However, since he hit 496 on April 19, his bat has been pretty silent. Ironically, 497 happened when they were away, in Detroit. (Yeah, I know they went to Tampa for three days, but they have been home for all other games). Now they are away from that stupid 486 banner that's up on the Green Monster. You would think by now, Fenway would smarten up to jinxes like that! Go Manny!

How to get ride of a canker sore

I'm sure you all have your own remedy for getting rid of canker sores, stop stressing out, rinse with salt water, orajel until your entire mouth is numb. I found a new one today which kind of combines the last two: These salt and vinegar chips will dry up that yucky canker sore AND make you mouth numb! And they taste good! Man, I had a boring day.