Next Great American Band Results – Tres Bien Eliminated

November 30, 2007 08:53:55 by Joe Reality

On the fifth Next Great American Band results show, one band was eliminated and the top five bands performed a Rod Stewart song.  Dot Dot Dot performed the Rod Stewart song “Young Turks.”  John Rzeznik said “This was your best performance since you’ve been here.”  Shelia E. said “I think you guys need to concentrate on the tempos.”  Dicko said “It was a good call to arms, great energy, but it didn’t really tell the story.”

Topics: The Next Great American Band | 2 Comments »

The Top Five Bands Perform On The Next Great American Band

November 30, 2007 01:56:32 by Joe Reality

Last week, Cliff Wagner And The Old No. 7 were eliminated from The Next Great American Band.  Now, there are only six bands left in the competition.

Topics: The Next Great American Band | No Comments »

James Makes Grave Mistake And Meets ‘Survivor: China’ Demise

November 29, 2007 08:41:29 by Ryan Haidet

Written by Ryan Haidet.

It was a night of temptation on “Survivor: China.” Would the remaining players be able to resist “biting the apple?”

More on that later because the episode began when the teased twist finally arrived. Just after voting out Frosti, host Jeff Probst announced that there was some unfinished business left for them to attend to at Tribal Council. After the jury was asked to leave, the camera couldn’t have captured any better the looks of concern from the seven remaining contestants. They all looked scared as many of them (along with viewers) were likely expecting another vote. But instead of another elimination, a reward challenge was set to begin.

Playing for a trip by plane to theShaolin Temple – a 1,500-year-old place where kung fu started. Along with spending the night there, the winner would feast and be shown a kung-fu demonstration. It was a game of questions and the first to five correct answers would get the reward. Once again, the self-proclaimed loser, Peih-Gee, won and was given the chance to take two people. It was no big surprise that she took both Erik and Denise.

After the three left for their reward on the morning of day 28, the four remaining at camp (Todd, Amanda, Courtney, James) were excited to have the place to themselves. They agreed that they should be in the final four together as it seemed so right. But Amanda didn’t feel confident in that at all. She was ready to make a change in the game.

While the others were at camp talking the three others boarded the plane and shared snacks, drinks and fellowship as they traveled to their reward. When they arrived, they were all in awe of the temple – especially Denise. “I could not thank Peih-Gee enough for picking me for this reward,” Denise said. “To take that experience back home for the rest of my life, there’s no words to really describe that.” A group of martial artists gave an amazing demonstration of their craft. Seemingly quiet Denise was put on the spot and asked to demonstrate the kung fu she is capable of doing. It showed a new side of the lunch lady.

Served some Chinese food and actually eating at a table, the three couldn’t have looked happier and it was actually pleasant to watch them all hang out on what Peih-Gee called “an amazing award.” The night just kept getting better for them as they were then taken to their room, which featured pillows and mats – far more comfortable than the shelter back at the Hae Da Fung camp.

Day 29 brought pouring rain to the members back at camp as the reward winners returned. In an attempt to keep Zhan Hu alive in the game, Erik approached James and asked him to join in an alliance with Peih-Gee and himself. James refused to flip and told Erik that it would be foolish for him to bail on his five and go with the two. Why would he want to “bite the apple” when the temptation would ruin his chance at moving on the in game?

On day 30 Amanda and Courtney took a walk to treemail and the strategy started. Amanda pitched to Courtney that now would be the appropriate time to blindside James. In doing so, both idols would be out of the game. “James keeps telling everyone, ‘Stay away from the apple, don’t eat the apple, this is our final four, that’s it,’” she said. “I’m not only ready to bite the apple, I’m ready to make the whole frickin’ pie. All we have to do is make sure he doesn’t win immunity today.”

At the immunity challenge, each player threw three ninja stars at targets scoring differently depending on where they hit. The contestants with the highest scores after their first three shots would move on to the final round. Here’s how it broke down:

-Peih-Gee: 0

-Todd: 3

-Erik: 6

-Courtney: 6

-James: 6

-Amanda: 6

-Denise: 2

Instead of three players, it came down to four in the final round featuring all those who scored six. Each player was given one throw each and the target was moved ten feet further back. After everybody got their turn, Erik became the newest owner of the individual immunity necklace after he won the final round, scoring three points.

Back at camp Amanda and Todd talked about blindsiding James. All the other Fei Long members agreed, but the only issue is if he would use one of the idols. So, Todd said they had to convince him they were voting out Peih-Gee.

After talking with Amanda, Peih-Gee, who was assuming she was going home, told Erik she thought James was being targeted. In response to that she said that she was going to vote for Todd because if James plays the idol, Todd would be gone. Either way, she would be safe. Tension continued to build as Tribal Council loomed and James said he would have the idols there in his possession just in case.

At Tribal Council, James made it known that the remaining two Zhan Hu members needed to be voted out. Peih-Gee was upset. “Calling us losers isn’t going to make us too happy,” she said. “You guys have to realize, these are going to be people that eventually, you’re gonna want voting for you in the end, right?”

Trust became the main topic at Tribal as everybody seemed to be on edge with this vote. The votes were cast and the tension was amazing. If James played the idol, the strategist, Todd, would be eliminated. If not, James would be gone. Would he play it? James, sensing his security, made the grave mistake in not playing either idol. It came down to one vote Todd, one vote Peih-Gee and the rest going to James as he became the fourth member of the jury. J

ust moments after his “Survivor” life was snuffed, James Clement, a gravedigger from Louisiana said, “I have the two idols, I guess I should’ve played them. I’m kind of disappointed in myself. I kind of caught a feeling, but I still didn’t do it. Dealing with those people and trying to hold those fruit loops together this whole damn time, it was killing me. You can’t be angry with anybody, it’s a game. I mean, they played their best hand, they did what they were supposed to do. I rolled the dice too many times and I just got caught.”

With nine days left and the finale looming, only six remain vying for the $1 million prize. Will Peih-Gee and Erik be able to keep Zhan Hu in the game or will the four Fei Long members stick together and take them out next? Tune in next Thursday to CBS to find out.

Topics: Reality TV, Survivor | 4 Comments »

Kid Nation: I Just Like The Recess Part

November 29, 2007 01:41:45 by Joe Reality

By DA Southern

In the aftermath of last week’s episode, we once again revisited the surprising council vote as we saw every district elect new leaders in Michael, Blaine, DK and Greg. The subsequent upheaval had several very vocal kids stand up during the town council and complain about the new leadership and particularly called out Greg for his inability to lead by failing to listen to the kids. After Greg said that he would listen to the kids, the Gold star ceremony was held with Laurel winning the gold star and it looked as though the kid Nation may have settled down.

Until the start of this week’s episode, anyway. Immediately we see Taylor with a brown chicken and not wanting any harm to come to the chickens who lay eggs. However, Greg and the rest of the town council boys had decided that it was time for a feast and they decided to kill ten chickens for a feast for the Kids. Taylor was incensed that the chickens were going to be killed because they lay eggs. Gregg immediately retorted that all chickens lay eggs. A melee ensued over which chickens would be killed for dinner. Welcome to this week’s episode of Kid Nation.

Taylor and the girls who were protesting were approached by a level headed Sophia who mediated which chickens Taylor wanted spared, which satisfied Taylor and her posse. Gregg immediately took the chickens and started to get them ready for the dinner by dispensing with their heads. Taylor, still not happy, led a march with two other girls for saving the chickens. Did she eat? We may never know for sure.

As Taylor was on her rampage, we saw 9 year old Alex, Anjay and Jared discussing the philosophical nature of the universe, but enough about 9 year old Alex. The council boys headed to the journal room for the first time and consulted the Yoda of Bonanza City, the Holy Journal. It seems that education -or a lack of it- was an issue for Bonanza City and the council members found History study books about Bonanza City that each district was to study, probably for the showdown. Each council member had to try and convince his district members to study and Blaine was sure that his district, especially Taylor, would not even attempt to study.

The council announced that the kids would have to study and Taylor, as usual, was being quite belligerent about studying while one of the other girls announced that studying would probably have something to do with the upcoming showdown which sent Taylor’s face down.

Alex, the 9-year-old genius was trying to get his district to learn the history and was going way to fast for most of them. Over in the green district, Sophia had the district act out scenes to better learn the history. In the yellow district, anarchy ensued as Taylor and Leila left to go to pet the chickens. Blaine rounded up the posse, know as the town council, and they approached Taylor and told her that since she was making no attempt to study, that she would not partake in the reward should the town win it at the showdown.

Jonathan met the kids to explain the show down and told the kids that it was about history that they were supposed to have studied earlier. Jonathan was alerted that Taylor was the only one who had not studied and would not share any reward, should they win.

Jonathan then told the kids that they would be quizzed on the history they were to have learned. The kids were to use sling shots to pop balloons with the answers of the questions and that the first district that popped three right answers, they would become the Upper class. For the entire town to win reward, the left over ammo would have to fill a jar, so the districts would have to aim carefully.

Jonathan began to question the kids and off they went with the shooting of the sling shots. Green popped their way to the lead and blue quickly popped back into the lead with two quick winning answers. Yellow scrounged their way into the game while the pitiful red district could not even hit the balloons. Green made short of every other district as they became the Upper Class and green quickly secured the Merchant Class. Red managed to tie with yellow and yellow broke the tie to become the Cooks, leaving red to be the lowly Laborers. The districts poured their left over ammo into the jar and red was able to have enough for the kids to win reward.

Jonathan announced that the first choice was a library, which many of the kids, led by Sophia greatly cheered. The second choice revealed by Jonathan was a free arcade, which sent most of the kids screaming for joy. The council retreated to discuss the decision and seemed split as to which of the prizes to choose. DK explained that they only had eight days left, so fun was in store. Greg announced that the council had chosen the arcade, which sent the kids screaming for joy, but that Taylor could not play since her work ethic was so poor.

The arcade was set up and the council announced that everyone would need to work before enjoying the arcade. The upper class immediately went to the arcade since they were immune from working, which had Mike and Jared very unhappy. We see Sophia, who proclaimed herself a 30-year-old in a fourteen year old body, pulling a wagon to collect books to open up a library in Bonanza City, proclaiming that the arcade was not for her. Mike and Jared had finally had enough as we heard Jared say, “Screw the job” as he and Mike went to the arcade. By this time, most of the time was at the arcade, leaving the Taylor virtually alone. Zach encouraged Taylor and asked her to help with the dishes, which had Taylor shouting a resounding “NO”.

Zach goes about his business and we see Taylor giving a look at the piles and piles of dishes and announces that she was going to clean the dishes as clean as they had ever been. Taylor began her longest stint as a worker since arriving at Bonanza City, which garnered the notice of Zach, who looked on with pride, and Greg, who looked shocked to she her working, in spite of hearing “This arcade is so awesome” filtering from the arcade. Hunter, who we had seen saying that he decided not to do the arcade, but instead make his Dad proud by working hard, decided to help Taylor.

The Bonanza City patriarchs, Blaine and Greg, announced that Taylor had passed the test and would be allowed in to the arcade to play and then Greg carried her to the arcade.

Day 34 had Sophia waking up and seeing the town deserted; noticing everybody was up all nigh gambling and playing in the arcade all night like drunken sailors. Sophia said that the arcade was like a drug and DK was regretting the decision of the arcade because the town was not getting any work done. Sophia was even “cooking breakfast for 37 kids” as she said, because everybody was in the arcade. Finally Sophia confronted Blaine about his not making breakfast which had Blaine telling her that he couldn’t go because he had money on the game.

At the town hall meeting, Jonathan asked who liked having the arcade in town, which had most raising their hands. When he asked who didn’t like it, Sophia led the charge by saying that it had become disruptive. DK announced that the arcade would be padlocked until work was accomplished and the council decided to give Sophia the title of Sheriff to keep the arcade policed.

At the gold star ceremony, Hunter was awarded the star and he announced that his father had been out of work and he knew that he could use it. When Hunter called home, his parents were shocked at the value of the star and hunter was given a congratulatory hug by the other kids at the end of the episode.

While the credits rolled, we saw Taylor and Leila with a chicken and a funny comment from Leila saying that either the chicken smelled or it was Taylor’s breath while we learned that next week Sophia will be in charge as the council is away.

Topics: Kid Nation | 4 Comments »

Project Runway: Tiki Barber‘s Desire to Cover His Gluteus Maximus

November 29, 2007 12:45:26 by Joe Reality

By DA Southern

The Project started by a quick look at last week’s design for Sarah Jessica Parker‘s BITTEN Clothing Line that the designers did with a whopping fifteen dollars. Victorya was the winning designer and would have her piece sold by Bitten and that designer Marion was “Ouwt”.

We opened with the designers prepping for the next challenge with HIV designer, Jack talking about his HIV experience and the oh-so-smug Christian taken off of his pedestal a bit since being on the chopping block last week, although he was still more confident than many of the other designers seemed to be.

The designers left for the meet-and-greet with Heidi and she looked fabulous,as usual, as she told them that for a first for Project Runway, that they would not need any models for this challenge, which sent waves of shock through the souls of the designers. OK, a bit dramatic, but this IS Project Runway, ya know.

Heidi sent the designers on a field trip to 30 Rock…Rockefeller Plaza to meet Tim and special guest and found no other than former NY Giants running-back, and now commentator for the Today Show, Tiki Barber, standing with Tim. Tim welcomed them and announced that Tiki would give them their challenge. Tiki announced that they would be designing an outfit for him that he would actually wear on the Today Show.

If there was ever a deer-in-the-headlight-look it was this moment as most of the designers have never even thought about designing for men, which most of them admitted in their personal camera moments.

Tiki explained that, since he was an athlete, he had severe measurements, one being a larger-than-most gluteus maximus that needed to be covered. Tiki went on to explain that he was not afraid of color and that he loved pattern and depth in his clothes. The designers smiled and headed back to Parsons to sketch and get ready for the buying trip, which Tim had told the they were going to be allotted $150.00 each. Tim concluded by telling the designers that this was a classic “Make It Work” moment and that they needed to get to it.

You could see most of the designers just looking at their sketch pads not really knowing where to begin. Kit seemed confident because she was a stylish and had worked with men’s designs in her career. Tim took the designers shopping and you could tell that most did not have a clue how to buy for men’s fashion, as it would clearly be the case later in the show.

Back at Parsons, Tim announced that they had until midnight and all day tomorrow to put together the design. The designers sprung into action and most seem to flail around because most had never patterned men‘s suit coats. Christian once again announced his expertise as a sewer and his confidence was again bolstered to his pre-almost-being-cut moment. Carmen was really struggling and Jack pitched in to give her a hand. Jack got very creative by actually taking his own shorts off and tearing them apart to make a pattern that he did share with Sweet P and Carmen to help them out. Jack said that he checked the rules and there was nothing in the rules that he could not do it. When he heard other designers talking, he just said that “Some people just like to bitch!” Tim finally came in and told them that time was up and that they still had tomorrow.

Day 2 found the designers already looking tired before the day started. They trekked to Parsons where Tim told them they had 15 hours, which in designer years is no time at all. Kit was concerned about the time constraints and Christian once again told everyone how fast a sewer he was. Chris announced that he had actually sewn his own pants when he was five, pushing his mother away to do so.

With around ten hours to go, Tim announced that the models would be in for a fitting and most of the designers did not give it a thought until the hunky boys walked in, sending all of the designers into a frenzy, except Kevin, the only straight designer in the bunch. Steven said he finally understood the feeling when guys saw a bunch of girls in their underwear. Our esoteric designer, Elisa, refused to look at her model as she only choose to touch her boyfriend.

Tim was in to assess the designers progress and had a special guest, Tiki Barber’s wife, Ginny. With about 7 hours left for the day and he seemed genuinely concerned that the designers were not progressing as he and Ginny looked at the progress. He especially seemed concerned with Carmen and Ricki’s design. Ricki was so upset, that he put the zipper in the pants upside down which sent a flurry of bleeped sounds emanating from him towards Carmen…at least I think the beeps were from him.

The Day of the Runway Show had most of the designers scrambling for the last minute fixes to try to salvage their designs. Jack decided to forget a third piece, opting for quality rather than quantity. Carmen and Sweet P were virtually being scolded by Tim Gunn that they were to be at the runway as time for the show approached.

The show started with Heidi announcing Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and Tiki Barber as judges and the show began. The designers order was;

Jillian, who was satisfied overall,
Carmen, who was ashamed of her design,
Christian, who thought his design was the most interesting
Kit, confident in her finish work,
Rami, saw his design as less formal,
Sweet P, who thought it was the worst thing she had ever designed,
Steve, who saw his as more conservative,
Victorya, who was unhappy with hers,
Kevin, happy with it as cool mensware,
Chris, who was satisfied that it was the look he wanted,
Jack, who thought it looked “store bought”,
Ricky, who thought his design a disaster,
and finally, Elisa, who thought it looked clean and finished looking.

Heidi announced the scoring and said that Jillian, Christian, Rami, Steven, Victorya, Chris and Elisa were safe, leaving Carmen, Kit, Sweet P, Kevin, Jack and Ricky. After the model came out and the judges picked the highs and lows of the outfits, Heidi sent them into the waiting area.

After the hour of deliberation that is condensed into about forty-five seconds, the judges were high on Jack and Kit and sad about Carmen, Sweet P and Ricki’s design. Heidi called them out and announced that Jack was the winner and finally announced that Carmen was “Ouwt”.

I though that as awful as Carmen‘s design was executed, it was really funny to see her say that she was going out with her integrity in tact, but they always say that now don’t they.

Topics: Project Runway |