It Finally Happened Last Night

A few months ago I posted a blog about the show, "Don't Forget the Lyrics", and how they did the million dollar song. When you got all the other songs and went for the million dollar one they wouldn't tell you anything about the song, nothing about how many words you would have to know, and once you said you would try it there was no going back, you had to sing it. If you didn't know all the lyrics you would lose your money from $500,000 down to $25,000. So, of course no one was going to even try. Well, last night someone DID try. But things had changed. NOW they told you that the song was a number one hit, AND you would only lose down to $100,000 instead of $25,000. So, that helped a little. Anyway, last night Kimberly Locke, an ex-American Idol contestant, was on for charity and got all the way up, winning the $500,000. So after hearing the apparently new rules for the million dollar song, she decided to go for it. The song was "You're Sixteen" by Ringo Starr. What a dud. She tried not to let her face show anything, but you could tell she had no idea, AND she had to come up with 15 words. When the song started she didn't even know how it went, and Wayne Brady had to sing along with her a little bit. Suffice it to say, her charity only got the $100,000. BUT, at least I got to see how they did the million dollar song, finally!

Brooke The Mouth

I am getting really tired of Brooke White's mouth on American Idol. Can't she just shut up?? Every time she has finished her song and is standing there while the judges critique her she has to mouth back stuff, constantly. And she is very obnoxious about it. She doesn't seem to be at all grateful that she is even there. I hope she is gone next week. Even last night while she and Kristy Lee were standing there in the bottom two, and Simon was voicing his thoughts about Kristy Lee, Brooke stood there like a stupid mother hen with her arm draped all over her friend and shouted to Simon, "Hey!", like she was telling him not to talk like that to her chick or something. I just don't like her at all.

On a side note - I am so excited about something. I made fudge the other day the way I saw someone make it on the food channel, and it worked! I added my margarine, evap milk, and sugar, and when it started to boil I turned it down a notch, put the lid on the pot, and forgot about it for ten minutes. I was scared that it would stick or something, but it turned out great! No more having to stand there and stir constantly for all that time.

And, we talked to Josh last night. He won a music composition contest - first prize. Congratulations!

Better Than The Best

I just saw an article about people's favorite books. Of course the Bible was #1, so then they were talking about the #2. It had the usual - "Lord of the Rings" for men and "Gone With the Wind" for women, and then regionally they mentioned "The Stand" and "Angels and Demons". Now this is what I thought was interesting. I always thought that "Angels and Demons" was better than "The Da Vinci Code", but the DVC was #1 on the charts forever - maybe a couple of years, I don't know. It seems like when it came out it was always #1 week after week after week, and I NEVER remember A&D even being in the Top Ten.

As for my personal favorites - I would say both of those books by Dan Brown (I never could get into his other ones), all of the Chronicles of Narnia, LOTR, GWTW (the book is SO MUCH BETTER than the movie, which is really good), all the Calder series by Janet Daily, most of John Grisham (except for his latest ones - he has really gone to pot) especially "The Partner" and "Bleachers", which reminds me, "Beach Music" and "Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy, Stephen King's earlier books (including "The Stand"), and my all time favorite - "Wild Bells to the Wild Sky" by Laurie McBain.

I'm looking forward to Dan Brown's new book, but from what I've read it is not going to be very kind to our church. At least it will be fiction, and maybe people can remember that - just like the DVC and the catholics.

Nooooo . . .

I really wanted Memphis to win last night. The only thing I like about Kansas is their coach, who looks like July Johnson, and I always felt sorry for him.

And one other thing. Toward the end of the game last night, as they were going into overtime or maybe already in overtime, I can't remember, but one of the announcers said, and I paraphrase, "Kansas knows how to play in overtime. They won in triple overtime in a tournament championship," then he says "in 1957". What?? Who was there who remembers that? Except maybe the announcer.

How Cool Is This Show?

My new favorite TV show is New Amsterdam. If you haven't seen it you should. You can probably start from the beginning and watch episodes on the computer. It would be well worth your time. The premise is this guy (John Amsterdam) who was living in the 1600's. He saved the life of an Indian woman, and she placed a spell/curse on him that he would live until he found his soul mate. So he is living in New York (which used to be called New Amsterdam) and is working as a detective. On each episode there will be a flashback of things he did maybe a couple hundred years ago. He has been married many times and has had a bunch of children. It is just a really interesting show with great writing.

Go UNC!

I hope Carolina DESTROYS Kansas.

Go Wildcats!

Can you believe Davidson?? I'm really enjoying watching them right now. They are a fun team. There is so much hype about Stephen Curry, and he deserves it all. He scored 33 points last night against Wisconsin. I read that in the second half he outscored the whole team by himself something like 22-20. He scored 40 points in the first NCAA tournament game against Gonzaga, and then 30 points against Georgetown last week. But it's not just him - the whole Davidson team is really good and well coached. It's just fun to watch this run.

Having said that, they play Kansas tomorrow. But still, making it to the Elite 8! Who'd have thought.

Twice in My Lifetime

About 20 years ago our family was traveling to Shelby to visit some good friends, and on the way - right in the middle of nowhere - we saw a blimp. It was the Metlife blimp and had Snoopy on it. It looked huge and weird up in the sky, and it seemed to be moving very slowly, although it didn't take too long to go on out of sight. I thought it was amazing.

And then yesterday as Bennie and I were coming back from Apex we saw another blimp! This was the Direct TV blimp on its way to Raleigh for the basketball tournament. Bennie had made the comment that we have now seen two blimps.

Speaking of the tournament, did anyone see Davidson play yesterday? Stephen Curry, who is Dell's son, scored 40 POINTS! He was awesome. I filled out four different brackets, and I had Davidson on three of them. UNC was boring. But I hope they come away with it.

And on the NIT side, VT played a good game last week. I hope they go all the way. I think they play again Monday.

And on Sunday, on the women's side, Temple will be playing at 9:30. They have a girl who played for East Surry the last four years - Marli Bennett. So, we actually have a local playing in the NCAA, even if it is on the women's side.

VT Fan

As of yesterday I am trying to become a Virginia Tech fan, so I will be ready to watch Victor next year. So Yesterday I watched them play Miami. This is what I don't understand - they start five freshmen. So is Victor going to have to wait three more years before he can start??? I like the coach, though. The announcers liked him too, which helped me to like him, I guess. He seems like a good guy, and he was named Coach of the Year for the ACC this year. He looks kind of like an older Chris Daughtry. The only problem I see with VT is their school colors. Ugly. BTW as far as colors go I think Starmount has the prettiest - Navy blue and orange.

Pisgah

That word just conjures up all kinds of bad memories for me. In November, 1975, Mom and I took a trip to Pisgah, NC (west of Asheville)for a football game. My brother, Jimmy, was the star quarterback at Starmount High School, and this was, I think, the first time Starmount had ever been in a state playoff game. Back then only one team from the conference would go (and that was usually Elkin). So, we made the trip and had booked a room for the night because it was so far away. But what we didn't count on was the weather. It was cold. It was freezing. I have never before NOR SINCE been that cold in my life. The wind was blowing really hard the whole time, and the temperature was 0. I don't know how those boys played. Starmount came out in their usual football uniforms with a lot of skin showing - bare arms and legs. And then here came Pisgah, covered from head to foot. That was the first time I'd ever seen a football team wearing gloves. So, suffice it to say, we lost. Pretty bad too. It was a heartbreaker - going all that way. The only good thing to come out of that game was a scout from Western Carolina who was watching the game and liked the Starmount quarterback, so Jimmy got a full scholarship to WCU.

Okay, now to last night. As you might know I've been following the Starmount basketball team this year (pretty much for the last four years), because I love to watch Victor play. He is THE MAN. This is his senior year. About three or four weeks ago they recognized him at halftime of the last regular season game as being the highest scorer ever at Starmount. That night he had accumulated over 1800 points over the four years. So, to say he has been as asset to the school is an understatement. Also he is, as everybody says, a "fine young man". Nice, humble, quiet - but he can be a monster under the basket.

So, Starmount won the regular season this year. They started off pretty slow, losing about 6 non-conference games, and a lot of people just gave up on them. BUT, once they started conference play they only lost one game - to North Surry. And then in the conference tournament they beat everybody. So, they were #1 seed in their section going into the state playoffs. They then proceeded to flat out beat North Lincoln, Bessemer City, and last Friday night a very good Salisbury team. And then last night was the Regional semifinals. There were four schools from the west and four from the east. We were to play Pisgah in the first game, then Shelby and East Lincoln played the second game - winners playing this Saturday, and then the state championship next Saturday against the east team. Now last year we won the semifinal game at this point and then beat Shelby at the Regional final in double overtime to go to Chapel Hill, only losing to the east team - Cummings.

But, last night was a different story. Pisgah - how I hate that name! They came in and ran all over us last night. They were hitting everything they put up, and only missed ONE foul shot all night. The final score was 69-60. It was really sad. It's like the "Victor Era" is over.

However, on a final bright note - we can all continue to watch Victor play next year at VIRGINIA TECH!!

They're All Three Snakes

There is a story about an old man who was walking up a pretty steep hill one day. About halfway up he came across a snake, who asked the old man to carry him the rest of the way up as he was too tired to make it on his own. The old man reached down, picked up the snake, and carefully put it in his pocket. He then proceeded up the hill. When he got to the top he took out the snake and put it on the ground, at which point the snake suddenly bit the old man. As the old man lay dying, he asked the snake, "Why did you bite me after I helped you to the top?" The snake replied, "You knew what I was when you picked me up."

This is how I feel about our three top contenders for President - Hillary, Obama, and McCain. And there's just nothing we can do about it.

Exciting Night

Ever since NE beat the Panthers a few years ago in the Super Bowl, I have not been a fan of them, SO of course I was going for the Giants last night, which made it a great game to watch. I'm glad that Eli has come out of his brother's shadow finally. The BIG PLAY of the game that they keep showing over and over, where Eli had to scramble big time to get away from all these huge defensive linemen and then threw a beautiful pass to the Tyree guy, who in turn made a fantastic catch - that was one of those plays where I had to call Bennie in to watch. Actually I called him in a couple times, but that was the best. It was just a good game overall.

And speaking of brothers, this morning on Fox News they had a short segment showing Peyton and Eli coming together for the first time after the game, where they were just talking about the game, as brothers, not for the cameras (although they HAD to have noticed all the cameras). Peyton was talking about different plays they had run including that catch, and you could hear Eli saying, "Yeah, he's (Tyree) a gamer, I told you he was a gamer." You could just tell they were close brothers.

And now for the commercials. I liked several. I liked the Justin Timberlake one, except for the mailbox scene. What was it, three times he had to bounce off that? I thought that was a little much. And I liked the Prison Break commercial. I thought that was a real preview for the show. I told Bennie it reminded me of being in Washington a few years ago. We rode the subway to the Smithsonian, and we came up the escalator right in the middle of a big field. And I liked the horse/Rambo commercial. I DIDN'T like the Doritos/mouse commercial. Or the ugly girl one. And I thought Tom Petty was a little old last night.

But all in all it was a good show. Just one last comment. This morning on the Today Show Meredith Viera was talking to Tiki Barber (who BTW I bet is SORRY he retired last year), and at the end of his little segment she asked if Giselle (TB's girlfriend) left with Eli after the game. Poor Tiki didn't really know how to respond to that.

Okay, NOW I'm Mad

I haven't really been affected so far by this stupid writer's strike, until now. Today was the last new Y&R for a while. Next week starts reruns. Why are they striking anyway? Not enough money? How much is enough? Millions of dollars instead of hundreds of thousands maybe? What greed. What are they making now while they're out of work? I remember when the air traffic controllers went on strike years ago, and President Reagan didn't bail them out like they thought he would. Instead they all lost their jobs, and new people were hired in their place. So why doesn't that happen now? I'm sure they can find new writers. Anyway.

Better Than Radio

I am really getting sucked in here. I have an Itunes account, thanks to Christmas presents from family members, and so far I have bought songs that I've heard on TV. I actually love this. These TV shows - the ones that I watch anyway - have great music playing in the background. I discovered "Hallelujah" by watching the O.C. a few years ago. "Hey There Delilah" was on some show last year. Recently I was watching Criminal Minds and heard "Decoration Day" by Drive-By Truckers, which was on my blog a few weeks ago. Then last night while watching October Road I heard another song I had to buy - "Mystified" by Rocco Deluca and something. These last two songs I had never heard before on the radio, and never heard of the bands either. I was trying to tell Justin about Drive-By Truckers, but, since they are from ATHENS he knew a little more about them than me. And Supernatural has great music, however it is stuff I grew up with, so I know it. Anyway, I'm enjoying this trend of mixing good music with good TV shows. And it is so easy to find out what the songs are, and then, of course, to buy them on Itunes!

Cormac McCarthy

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the movie "No Country for Old Men". This is from a book by Cormac McCarthy, who I guess is pretty far down my list of favorite writers. So a few days ago I watched another movie, "All the Pretty Horses". I remembered when this came out several years ago that I wanted to see it but never did. It has Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz, and the trailer at the time looked like it would be a good love story. So, last week I noticed it was coming on TV and recorded it. When I got some time to watch it I was pretty excited and got settled down to see a good romance, with apparently some cowboys thrown in. And then, as the credits were rolling at the beginning of the movie, I saw where it was also based on a book by Cormac McCarthy. That is when I started feeling some dread coming on. And sure enough, it was another movie that I would not recommend to anyone. What is wrong with people when they feel like they have to have these bad endings to their stories? All I ask for in a movie or book is a happy ending and one that wraps everything up nicely. I'm done with Mr. McCarthy. He's up there with Erich Segal as far as I'm concerned.

Debbie Does . . . Dobson?

This is the story. Bennie got me a Foodsaver for Christmas. I've been wanting one for a long time, but they are kind of expensive. So I was delighted with it. I read the little booklets that came with it and tried to learn about it before trying to use it. Then last Sunday I was finally ready to try it out. One last thing. There was an instructional DVD that came with it, so I was going to watch it too. Bennie was watching something on TV so I went to the computer and put in the DVD to watch in here. Instead of Foodsaver stuff, "Debbie Does Dallas" stuff came up. Suffice it to say I was surprised. However when we tried the DVD in the TV it was the Foodsaver stuff. So Monday I called Foodsaver. The "supervisor" I talked to said that it had happened to someone else too, and they were investigating it. She got my name and number and said they would call back. Oh, and she apologized profusely. I emailed Quentin to see if maybe I could sue, but he pretty much shot me down about that. Anyway, I am using and enjoying my Foodsaver (just maybe not as much as Debbie did).

Cool Song

DECORATION DAY
It’s Decoration Day.
And I’ve a mind to roll a stone on his grave.
But what would he say.
“Keeping me down, boy, won’t keep me away”.

It’s Decoration Day.
And I knew the Hill Boys would put us away,
but my Daddy wasn’t afraid.
He said “We’ll fight till the last Lawson’s last living day”

I never knew how it all got started
a problem with Holland before we were born
and I don’t know the name of that boy we tied down
and beat till he just couldn’t walk anymore.
But I know the caliber in Daddy’s chest
and I know what Holland Hill drives.
The state let him go, but I guess it was best
cause nobody needs all us Lawsons alive.

Daddy said one of the boys had come by
the Lumber Man’s favorite son.
He said, “Beat him real good but don’t dare let him die
and if you see Holland Hill run.
Now I said, “they ain’t give us trouble no more
that we ain’t brought down on ourselves”
But a chain on my back and my ear to the floor
and I’ll send all the Hill Boys to hell.

It’s Decoration Day
and I’ve got a family in Mobile Bay
and they’ve never seen my Daddy’s grave.
But that don’t bother me, it ain’t marked anyway.
Cause I got dead brothers in Lauderdale south
and I got dead brothers in east Tennessee.
My Daddy got shot right in front of his house
he had noone to fall on but me.

It’s Decoration Day
and I’ve got a mind to go spit on his grave.
If I was a Hill, I’d have put him away
and I’d fight till the last Lawson’s last living day.
I’d fight till the last Lawson’s last living day.
I’d fight till the last Lawson’s last living day.

A Movie Review

Quentin and I went to the movies last week to see No Country for Old Men. This was highly recommended by Chris (my middle son, who I used to call Justin). Anyway I can't really make up my mind whether I liked it or not. It was the BEST acting but the WORST story. I even had to look away from the screen a time or two because of the violence - which was the reason it was rated R I'm sure, as there was no nudity and very little bad language. I usually don't watch R rated movies because of the explicit sexual content, but this had none, so I guess I thought it was okay. Tommy Lee Jones was at his usual best as the sheriff. He was kind of the narrator as well. Even then he was good, when you couldn't watch him but just heard him. He is a great storyteller. Of course the writing was good too. And Josh Brolin was great too. I honestly didn't know who he was until the end when the credits rolled. I knew I recognized him, but he was such a totally different character than what I had seen him play (Mr. Sterling - the TV show about the senator). And then there was the DARK SIDE. I hated, absolutely hated the bad guy. I guess he was a good actor, but he was scary and really gave me the creeps. And I hated his hair. And what was he using? I don't want to give anything away, but I'll just tell you that he killed people with air. So, do I recommend this movie? I can't honestly say. Maybe some of you will comment with some better insight. But I did have fun spending some time with Quentin.

My Favorite Books

Coming this summer!

http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/trailer/me60638658/

Disappointed

Remember those old horror movies where it took forever to see the monster, and then sometimes they never even showed it at all, and you were left feeling disappointed. That is the way I felt after watching "Don't Forget the Lyrics" this week. If you haven't seen this, they have different contestants sing parts of songs, and if they get it right they will advance up the list winning more and more money each time. There are I think 8 categories they have to pass through to get to the big ONE MILLION DOLLAR song. This is hard because they have to get the lyrics absolutely correct. So far no one has won the million dollars. AND no one has even gotten close, until this week. So I've been wondering about the million dollar song and how they would do this, what the song would be, how many words they would have to sing, etc. So this week the woman got all the way to the top, winning $500,000, and the next step was the million dollar one. AND THEN, before they showed the song, Wayne Brady, the host of the show, explained that she would not know the artist, the category, how many words, anything at all about the song, except that it was a #1 hit, and there would be no helps (she has three to start with but has to use them all before the last song), AND if she chose to go with it (before seeing what it was) and lost, she would be all the way down to $25,000 to take home. So, of course she says she will take the $500,000 and go home - who wouldn't, right? So now we'll NEVER get to see the million dollar song, because who would be that dumb to give up a sure $500,000 for a maybe and not very likely million?