Silk Willow Talk

Where’s that drool bucket when you need it? The metamorphosis of Clay is just reaching its peak. I can’t believe the scrawny guy from American Idol Season 2 is now this pop deity.

Last week, its second week on the charts, Clay’s “A Thousand Different Ways” found its way to #8 with 74,000 units sold — a slide from second place with 211,000 sold on the first week. Justin Timberlake’s “FutureSex/LoveSounds” moved down to #5 from #1 after 3 weeks.

C’mon Clay fans… where’s the love? Well, to answer my own question — it’s reportedly a downward trend for physical album sales. Sales by this medium are being cannibalized by digital music sales, such that general CD sales are down 5 percent from last year. To see how it all stacks up, here’s how Clay’s first week of album sales have done historically:

To place those numbers into perspective though, A Thousand Different Ways made the Digital Sales chart at #3 and the Internet Album chart at #1. I know not what the real numbers are for these charts though. Still, that’s something to sing about.

It all doesn’t change the fact that Clay’s pop star is shining quite brightly. The Magical Mystery Tour look totally becomes him, so much so that the folks who used to tease me about liking Clay for his nerdiness are now curiously asking how he got to look so attractive. The guy grew up and gained some weight, that’s what. And to be real, it helps to have deep pockets; pockets whose depth and thickness I’m contributing to, quite happily.

To see how your other favorite idols are faring, check out this chart watch!

 
 
Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol, Claymania, Claymates, ClayNation, Measure of a Man, Bubel Aiken Foundation, Simon Cowell, Justin Timberlake, clack, music, music charts, television, celebrities

 

 
So Do You Think They Can Dance?

Dancing With The Stars was a tearful night of the Waltz interspersed with some heavy footed Paso Doble.

Why is it that when bonafide B-rated celebrities decide to make television by joining a talent contest, it never quite gets as exciting as when real average hard-working joes like you and me are given the opportunity to show off what God has given us?

Answer: these B-stars aren’t RAW. Hollywood doesn’t have the same rawness, freshness and awkwardness that you see when you simply pluck someone off the street (or audition line) and make him sing or dance. And that’s what’s missing here. That’s what was missing in Celebrity Duets and Skating with Celebrities.

Nevertheless, I fought my drowsiness with heavy yawning and Tivo’s handy fast forward. With memories of Tom Jones brought back by the dreadful Las Vegas theme song intro, I cringed through the show asking “Who ARE these people?” I vaguely remember Joey Lawrence as Joey Russo from Blossom when I was a tween in the last century. Vivica Fox is some movie actress who appears in movies I don’t watch. Guess that’s because I’m more a Tivohead than a Netflixer. I don’t do sports tv, so the football player is just yet another clumsy figure who moves like Frankenstein on the floor. The only recognizable people to me were the king of tabloid talk shows, Jerry Springer (shown weeping over his waltz with his soon-to-be married daughter — oh the irony!) and eye-candy deeply bedimpled Mario Lopez. So without those two I would be hanging out on Bravo rewatching Project Runway.

This week, they sashayed to two emotional dances:

The Sentimental and Romantic Waltz characterized by

• soft, flowing movements
• effortless rise and fall (make like a carousel)
• serene facial expressions (toss in a few tears)

The Angry Paso Doble, where role-playing is key, requires

• flamenco feet (stomp away)
• marching movements
• defined hand movements
• flavor of the Bullfight

The only attention-worthy performance was the hot Latin guy Mario channeling last year’s winner Drew Lachey; the rest of the time I was lulled into a stupor with the “If I Were A Painting…” and “You Light Up My Life” routines.

Just give me So You Think You Can Dance? instead.

Watch Dancing With The Stars on ABC, Tuesdays/Wednesdays @ 8/7c. 
 
Technorati Tags: reality tv, reality show, Dancing With The Stars, celebrities, celebrity, Mario Lopez, Hollywood, television, ABC, TV, Tivo, entertainment, Drew Lachey, dance, dancing, Jerry Springer, Emmitt Smith

My sympathies to Anna Nicole Smith and her family.

Many moons ago, I remember how one of my earliest Tivoed shows happened to be The Anna Nicole Show. I don’t know why I got so hooked into it. I can probably thank my radar for seeking out train wrecks like a missile to heat source. What can I say, but I have a morbid curiosity for tramps on television. I heard about the Playboy bunny who married the old geezer who just croaked, bequeathing said bunny mega bucks. I heard about how the bunny was fighting her stepson who was several years her senior, for said mega bucks. And I thought, what an awful opportunist! What trash! Then I tuned into her show.

What I saw changed my mind about Anna Nicole. I met her entourage, through Tivo, and had an appointment with them every week. There was Howard Stern, the lawyer friend; Kim, the butch assistant; her poodle, Sugar Pie whom she couldn’t live without and was annoying as heck; and her son Daniel whom she doted on constantly. I thought she was whiny, childish, silly and more than a tad bit spoiled. But she appeared real and genuine to me — she didn’t put on airs and didn’t seem fake; she was authentically juvenile, and above all, was a caring person to her cobbled family.

What I saw was the portrait of the ugly American who scarfed down fast food and milk shakes and went tipsy from over-eating; who, after 9-11, wondered why people in far flung places, in far flung food joints, would decide to blow themselves up for a cause. Yet how could you not be endeared by her: she who cooed to her husband who sat in a vat on top of her television, who got ripped off by an ultra “looxiourious” wannabe diva of a designer named Bobby Trendy and got raked through the coals by the other Howard Stern of triple-X radio. Her denseness knew no bounds and sometimes, it did get on my nerves.

In recent times, she has dropped 70 pounds thanks to Trimspa and laxatives. She just lost her son to a cocktail of prescribed medications. She reportedly “married” her lawyer friend, and just gave birth to a baby daughter. On top of it all, her erstwhile photographer boyfriend is now suing her over a paternity test. Wherever she is, she continues to vamp it up. Shamelessly.

I miss The Anna Nicole Show. I will now have to get my hit from watching that Hilton girl on The Simple Life.

And Daniel Smith, may you rest in peace.

 
 
Technorati Tags:Anna Nicole Smith, Anna Nicole, Daniel Smith, Anna Nicole Show, Bobby Trendy, Larry Birkhead, celebrity gossip, celebrities, television, entertainment, tv, Howard Stern

 
< Thank you to the Daily Blabber. >

I am no longer a People Magazine subscriber since I started downsizing my subscriptions and periodicals. But the October 2, 2006 issue of People with Anna Nicole Smith and her son Daniel on the cover, contains this humongous spread and article on Clay Aiken, so I had to snatch it up from our local grocery stand with utmost immediacy.

That was a nice cap to the Clay buzz that went on for the last couple of weeks, and am just glad Clay’s doing so well. His album, A Thousand Different Ways, is #2 — it actually sold 211,000 — second to Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds on the first week of release. For a cover album, I think it’s a superb effort.

What is also superb is how Clay is handling his interviews with the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, Larry King and Diane Sawyer. As interviews go, they always ask the same questions, so this helps to allow for crafted, well rehearsed responses once you hit the tube. But leave it to Clay to inject his trademark gregariousness into every appearance, making it always fresh. So no matter how squirmy those questions can make him feel, Clay is always ready with a hearty chuckle to bring his points home, which are:

• yes he’s on Paxil and it helps prevent his panic attacks no thanks to the castigating bullies of the world who have been harrassing him all these years
• no he’s not answering the gay rumors because it’s none of anyone’s business and whatever he says won’t change anyone’s impressions anyway
• he wants to have kids one day in the biggest way, so I’m putting myself on the line here by saying, see he’s not gay; he wants to be a father so badly he can’t be gay, right?

Out of all the interviews and appearances I’ve seen of Clay the last couple of weeks, my favorite has been the one he made on Jimmy Kimmel. What I find so intriguing is how much the relationship between Clay and Kimmel has evolved over the last three years. As it goes, when Clay first got out of American Idol, Jimmy Kimmel was a late night host who catered to a predominantly male audience. And to cater to them, Kimmel would continually bash Clay, using him as the butt of the rudest late night “humor” you could imagine. What followed was nothing short of amazing as Clay’s fans bandied together to protest Kimmel’s actions. I remember participating in many a spamming session designed to bring down Kimmel’s star. Sure, I was impassioned then, but that was three years ago and was going through some “first-time parent jitters”. I’m not as melodramatic now. But nevertheless, something happened — perhaps Jimmy Kimmel heard our grievances, perhaps Kimmel really got taken by Clay (yeah we always thought he had Clay envy…), perhaps he wanted to open his show to female viewers — and now Clay and Kimmel are best buddies.

If Clay fans can forgive and embrace Jimmy while they line up for Clack, I’m more confident that there’s hope for world peace. But one thing’s for sure, you need to count Simon Cowell out of it…. that jackass.

 
 
Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol, Claymania, Claymates, ClayNation, Measure of a Man, Bubel Aiken Foundation, Jimmy Kimmel, Diane Sawyer, Larry King, Jay Leno, People Magazine, People, Simon Cowell, Justin Timberlake, clack
 
< Thank you to www.claymaniacs.com and clayizzaqt! >

So the race for ratings has prompted yet another show to drum up more interesting contestants for their competition. This time, The Amazing Race has a new class in attendance, representing the world more than it does the United States. In the past, the Amazing Race had representation from various demographics — a couple here and there — but would mostly maintain a homogenous feel to their head count. This time, it’s as diverse as they probably will ever get.

Check this out:

I added some team nicknames floating around the internet that I thought were “cute”.

Team #1: A married couple of East Indian origin, living in Florida. Eliminated (Team Karma)
Team #2: Brothers of East Asian descent, from San Francisco, CA.
Team #3: A white gay couple from New York City.
Team #4: A pair of lovely cheerleaders who are friends from South Carolina. Eliminated
Team #5: A pair of lovelier blonde beauty queens who competed in the Miss America
pageant – one is Miss California, the other is Miss New York. (Team Barbie)
Team #6: African-American best friends who are single mothers from Alabama.
Team #7: A coal miner and his wife from Kentucky. They come across as “country”.
(Team Hillbilly)
Team #8: African-American best friends who are Moslems from Ohio. Eliminated
Team #9: A very athletic pair of friends, one of whom is a prosthetist, while the other is
his erstwhile client (yes she has an artificial leg) from California.
Team #10: The token bickering dating couple, residing in Los Angeles, CA.
Team #11: Male models who are best friends and former drug addicts who live in
Los Angeles, CA. (Team Himbo)
Team #12: A man and his gay daughter from Rhode Island.

Is this a gimmick? Well even if it is, it’s working as far as I’m concerned. I find the mix more than welcome, after 10 seasons. These were overhead or seen in the last episode, while the group was in Mongolia, from which I got more than a few chuckles:

• Beauty queens are seen galloping on mountain horses to a challenge’s end. Their composure is atrociously marred by one of them falling off the horse, with her foot caught on a stirrup, and being dragged through mud and slush.
• Host Phil Keoghan talks about how a nomad was going to help the contestants with a challenge, and once they complete the challenge, this nomad would present them with their next clue. Somehow, I thought it was funny how the audience was being treated to a sight of a grinning nomad.
• This came from the utterly nice redneck pair (okay, the pair from what I am assuming is rural Kentucky) with utmost sincerity, referring to the Asian contestants from San Francisco, CA: I’ve never seen an Asian person in my life!
• From the rednecks again: I’ve never been around gays before, and I like ‘em!

But the most stunning thing I heard so far this season was when someone asked whether the African-American Moslems prayed to Buddha….

Ooooh Yeah, it’s building up to be one colorful season.
Watch The Amazing Race on CBS, Sundays @ 8 PM ET/PT.

 
 
Technorati Tags: Amazing Race, Amazing Race 10, CBS, Phil Keoghan, TV, reality tv, reality show, television

 
They’ve tried everything in the past — divide contestants by age and by sex. Survivor: Cook Islands, the 13th season for this popular reality show series, is finally going further in the way of political incorrectness. And I am enjoying every minute of it.

They are now dividing the contestants into four groups of five contestants each, with each group representing a particular race. We thus have the Caucasian (Raro), African-American (Hiki), Hispanic (Aitu) and Asian-American (Puka) tribes. Apparently there are many who are up in arms about this — just check out what MSNBC is saying. Some rags and other news outlets are calling it a “controversial” move by Mark Burnett, the show’s producer.

All I can say is… WHO GIVES A #$(*%? I certainly don’t care a whit about race and how it’ll play into the strategy of winning this particular competition. Be that as it may, I don’t read much into ethnic stereotyping, but maybe it’s because I don’t have a chip on my shoulder, as those who may be overly sensitive to Polish or such jokes happen to be.

Of course, there are always limits to how racial differences are represented — if done in a truly negative light, or in bad taste, I would certainly cry foul. But so far, I am only quite mildly amused by the goings on in the Cook Islands these days and am still waiting for somebody’s boot to drop with flying sparks and all that. I’m still waiting for the real drama to start. Though I did have one of the season’s funny moments hit me when Virgilio “Billy” Garcia from the Aitu (Hispanic) tribe claimed he had fallen in love at first sight with a sorority girl from the Raro (Caucasian) tribe. He said it with a straight face during tribal council while on the verge of being kicked off, and with absolutely no warning and definitely no confirmed reciprocity from the female in question, other than a sympathetic verbal pat in the back she gave him at one point during an immunity challenge. All I could think was…DUDE….in your dreams! Hello! Is there anyone home?

So to all the TNPTBs (Television Network Powers That Be) out there, keep on plugging along with the ethnic theme… I’m all for it! After all, that’s not what’s offensive — it’s stuff like this that is. Okay, your mileage may vary.
 
 

Technorati Tags: Survivor, Cook Islands, Puka, Aitu, Raro, Hiki, Jeff Probst, reality tv, television, CBS, CBS Survivor, Survivor Cook Islands, Survivor News, Survivor 13, Survivor 13 Cook Islands

<Thank you www.defamer.com>