Creepy Person #60- John Waters

I had a friend suggest him for the list so I looked him up on Google images.  Oh, yeah.  That guy is creepy.  He is a director, so I looked up his work.  It’s pretty a pretty creepy list of films and actors also.

Creepy Person #59- Vincent Price

Honestly, he probably deserved to be higher on the list.  Here we have a guy who basically devoted his whole life to being creepy, but with time, and a more sophisticated audience, his brand of creepiness comes off a little hokey in today’s world.  If there were a lifetime achievement award for creepy, he would have received it.

Creepy Person #58- Verne Troyer (or any little person)

Willow may be the only little person character ever seen in film that was not portrayed as evil.  Most little people in film are evil sidekicks.  I remember Dr. Shrinker when I was a kid.  Perhaps the most famous little person in film or television history, Billy Barty played the part of the evil sidekick Hugo in this Kroft sitcom.  Verne Troyer is just the 21^st century incarnation of this type of actor.  He may be small, but he is big on creepy.

Creepy Person #57- Bert

When I was making this list, Bert came to mind.  He always seemed weird and angry against Ernie’s more playful personality.  It was those angry eyebrows.  I had a friend call me out on this one.  He thought that Bert should not be on the list, so I Googled Bert and guess what I found?  There is a whole web-culture out there of people who agree that Bert is evil.  There is even a Snopes article that documents the fact that Bert has appeared on signs at pro-Al-Quaida rallies with Osama Bin Laden. 

Creepy Person #56- Bill Clinton

Oh, yeah.  He’s creepy.  He has plowed a furrow through the women that surround him from one side of the country to the other.  He ranks with Warren G Harding and JFK in rumored affairs, and it can probably be taken as fact that he has out-paced both of them due to the fact that the other two died young.  From accusations of affairs in the governor’s mansion in Arkansas to cigars and stained dresses in the White House, this guy is definitely creepy.  Being married to Hillary does not help.

Creepy Person #55- Hillary Clinton

She stayed with him after that mess.  She comes across to me as one of the most disingenuous people in politics, and she may actually be the next President of the US.  I’m creeped out by that.  Have you seen those ankles?

Creepy Person #54- Roddy McDowell

As a one of the great character actors, this guy was in everything, but he was still creepy.  He was the Crispin Glover of his era, and probably deserves more credit for his creepiness than I am giving him here.  He is probably most memorable as Cornelius in the Planet of the Apes.

Creepy Person #53- Linda Blair

A few people made the list for a single acting roll.  Linda Blair is one of them.  Her character in The Exorcist is still one of the creepiest rolls ever.

Creepy Person #52- Chris Cooper

As my grandfather used to say, “He is an odd duck.”  He is a good character actor, and plays the creepy villain well, but watch him in an interview sometime.  He is truly a strange person.

Creepy Person #51- Ray Liotta

If creepy eyes came with lasers, this guy would be able to stare a hole through anything.  He plays a good and creepy villain, but those eyes truly make his evil rolls more believable.

Once again, the group song was a train wreck, but that has just been the norm this season.  Can’t they pick a song a little more relevant than, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now?”  At least the Ford commercial this week was a song that was recorded in the past 20 years.

When Fantasia came out, my first thought was, “What the hell is that?”  That was easily the most awful, irritating, and scary performance in the history of Idol.  To say it was a mess would be unfair to messes.  I would rather have a weekly song from Kenny Rogers than have to ever hear or see that again.  Simon, who usually is gracious to guests no matter how bad they are, appropriately looked completely dumbfounded.  It was one of the most classic looks in the history of Idol.  Apparently Fantasia has no idea who the people who voted for her are.  It’s easy to tell them, though.  They are the one’s who just left the building.

The contestant montages were well done, but did they have to have so many?  There is less justification for the full hour show each week.

No one was surprised at the outcome, but most Idol fans were relieved to see that we will get to see the Davids in the final.  Sayesha took it well.  It was nice that she did not break down.  

Once again this year as we get down to the top 3, they are performing three songs: one picked by the judges, one picked by the contestants and one picked by the producers.  I remember last year thinking that the producers in general picked a bad group of songs.  I remember thinking that they picked a particularly bad song for Melinda, and we all know how that turned out for her.  Since Idol is always looking to interject the audience into the show, would it not be better to somehow let the fans or a fan choose one round of the music for the contestants?  It could even be decided in the form of a poll chosen from a list of songs submitted by the producers.

David Archuleta:

Judge’s Pick- “And So it Goes”- The a capella portion of the song was genius.  He had good tone and inflection all the way through.  The only criticism I had was that it was a little safe, but that was not his fault.  He did not pick the song.  It was very good.

Randy loved it.

Simon thought it was very good but predictable.

Contestant’s Pick- “With You”- I hate it when he sings the happy, upbeat bubble gum song.  This was one of those.  It was not a standard (always pick something very well known), and though he sang it well, there was simply nothing special about it.  This is top 3.  I expect more.

Randy correctly questioned the song choice.

Simon thought that it did not fit him.

Producer’s Pick- “Longer”- Once again his inflection was perfect.  This was a great version of this song. 

Randy did not like the choice of song, but thought it was hot.

Simon hated the song choice, but also thought he sang it well.

Syesha Mercado:

Judge’s Pick- “If I Ain’t Got You”- She looked nice again.  The verses were a little monotonous, but since she did not pick the song, I can’t really criticize her for that.  For the first time in weeks, she sang a pop song (other than a show tune) that looked as if she connected with it.  It was a very good performance, and it was nice to see her just sing the song very well while avoiding the “super note” that she tends to hold too long at the end of her songs.

Randy liked it a lot.

Simon thought she sang it well, but criticized Randy for picking a song that she had to sing in a straight up fashion.

Contestant’s Pick- “Fever”- I honestly expected much more from this performance than I got.  I felt the disconnect that I often feel with her performances, and I was surprised because I thought this overly dramatic song would be right in her wheelhouse.  The end, however, was very nice.

Randy said she sang it very well.

Paula, oddly, did not like it.

Simon called it a ‘quite lame cabaret performance.”

Producer’s Pick- “Hit Me Up”- She looked much more believable on this song, and she sang it very well.  All three of her songs ended well this week.

Randy thought it was just alright.

Paula took out the knife and stabbed her right in the back.  I honestly don’t think Paula is smart enough to play this role, even if she is right.

Simon correctly said that it was much better than the second song, but it was a little forgettable.

David Cook:

Judge’s Pick- “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”- When I heard Simon’s choice, I paused the show.  First I thought, “What a strange choice?  Simon really messed him over.”  But as I thought further, I saw the genius of the choice.  David has a really nice voice, and a standard like this could be the blank canvas for him to work with.  Doing well on a song like this could really set him apart from the rest of the competitors in a way the songs chosen by the other judges could never do.  The beginning was just awesome.  I have stated a few times that some of his songs were radio quality.  This one was just awesome.  It was the best performance of the season by any contestant, and the end was incredible.

Randy was an ass and took an opportunity to get back at Simon rather than praise an amazing performance as it should have been.  Kudos go to Paula (yeah, I said it) for calling Randy out for making the show too much about himself.

Simon thought it was one of his best performances to date.

Contestant’s Pick- “Dare You to Move”- I did not know this song.  It was kind of boring and a little rough at the beginning, but once he hit the chorus, it got much better.  He was good as the rocker once again.

Randy liked the choice, but it was a little pitchy.

Simon thought it was not the best choice, and was a little predictable.

Producer’s Pick- “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”- I thought this was a good choice for him.  It seemed a little week until he got to the bridge.  Overall, it was good.

Randy loved the song choice, but it was just OK.

Simon though he won the night.

I have definitely come too far at this point to turn back as far as my weight is concerned, but the heady and unrealistic goals (maybe more accurately said as dreams) that I had of the weight continuing to fall off rapidly are not meeting the harsh reality that it just does not work that way.

I want to preface this by saying that I am very pleased with my accomplishments so far, and in no way feel let down.  I have consistently met and exceeded my goals throughout this program.

I have lost an incredible 94 pounds in the last 17 weeks.  Tomorrow will mark the four month point since I began the diet.  That means I have averaged losing 23.5 lbs a month for four months.  It’s great, but it is no number for me to set my goals by.

The harsh reality is that with all weight loss programs there is a certain degree of diminishing returns as you go along.  Broken down into four week increments, I lost 33, 22, 16 and 20 lbs respectively over the first 16 weeks of the diet.  The last four weeks, I did a little better than the four weeks before it, but overall, there has been a significant decline in the amount of weight that I have lost.  This week’s three pound loss after a week of working out fairly hard, underscores the point, that I cannot keep using the amount of weight I lose to set benchmarks for the coming weeks.

I have increased both the time and the impact of my workouts, but I am getting to the point where they are what they will be.  I cannot work in any more time, and they are getting pretty strenuous.

What I am going to do now is to change my focus a little from how much I have lost, to how much I have left to lose.  Losing 94 lbs is great, but looking at what’s left, I only have 45 lbs to lose in order to reach my reevaluation goal of 220 lbs.  I will now concentrate on chipping away that 45 lb pound number until it gets to zero.  If it takes three more months to get there, so be it.  I am not going to let my attitude change.

Creepy Person #70- Kat Von D

Here is a woman who does not need all of the tattoos to bring attention to herself.  It is obvious that under all of that body art there is a beautiful woman, but at this point it would take years of surgery and tens of thousands of dollars to find her.  I know tattoos are very popular right now, but I am personally repulsed by them.  Fashions may come and go, but not a tattoo.  Most of these people would do better dealing with the issues that are driving them to do this to their bodies rather than getting them in the first place.  In extreme cases, such as hers it is all just too much, and creepy.

Creepy Person #69- Seth Green

The unkempt appearance that leaves him looking like the antagonist in a hillbilly horror movie would be enough to put him on the list, but he and the next Seth on the list (see the entry below) are writers of the animated show Family Guy.  It’s hilarious.  But the guys pole vault over lines that others fear to even get close to.  They are extremely creative, but their creativity often seems to be directed toward a place that is the literary equivalent of the place Oppenheimer’s creativity took him.

Creepy Person #68- Seth MacFarlane

Everything but the unkempt part in #69 applies here.  Not to get too preachy in a light hearted article, but the in the book of Romans it refers to “inventors of evil,” and these guys would be the poster boys for this.  They would make the list if only for inventing that creepy old guy who lives down the street from the Griffins.  The show is very funny, but even Family Guy needs to have boundaries.

Creepy Person #67- Jot

This one may be a little obscure for some (see this for more info on Jot http://www.tvparty.com/lostrel.html ).  Jot was one of the quasi-religious cartoons that turned up from time to time in the 1970s.  He was basically a white dot with feet (which is creepy enough), and the parents in this show were like those on the peanuts, except that you could understand them.  They seemed to be sort of omnipresent.  As with another of these types of characters, Davey, from Davey and Goliath, Jot was a horrible child.  He would always to bad things, and never would make it right until his conscious got to him or he got caught.  Then it was always, “I’m sorry I stabbed little Timmy.”  “That’s OK Jot, I still love you.”  How about encouraging kids to make good decisions in the first place?  All of this forgiveness stuff gets kind of overrated if you are never motivated to be any better.  The animation in this one is creepy too.

Creepy Person #66- Anna Nicole Smith

I thought it might be too soon after her passing to put this one on the list, but the creepiness she visited on this world during her lifetime would have made it egregious not to have included her.  First there was the whole married to an ancient billionaire thing.  That alone is creepy.  Then she went through the period where she was gross and overweight, but it seemed neither she nor the media realized this as they continually showed her scantily clad body at every opportunity.  Since her passing, a video of her ‘entertaining’ some children at birthday party has come out.  Her face is made up in such a way that it would haunt the dreams of even the Joker, and she looks out of it!  It is hard not to feel pity for what became of her life, but she was undeniably creepy.

Creepy Person #65- Barney Frank

Thanks, Massachusetts.  Here we have a guy who is another nightmare for conservatives.  He sounds like the Mad Hatter and lived with a male escort who actually ran a male escort service from the house where they both lived while he was (and still is) in office.

Creepy Person #64- Elivra

Yeah, she was a hot girl who made some money dressing up like a sexy Bride of Frankenstein for Saturday morning movies.  That was a little weird, but have you seen her lately?  Up until the last couple of years she was still putting on that getup and appearing in public, and it was not pretty.  Apparently, someone finally had the talk about aging gracefully with her, and she has decided to retire, but not before taking applications for an Elvira to replace her, as if the world could not do without her.

Creepy Person #63- Robert Tilton

I guess I’ll pile all of these bastards under the same heading, so I don’t have a list completely populated by televangelists.  Bilking old ladies out of their life savings in order to fund his lavish lifestyle is pretty creepy.  Having people put their faith in you (to the point of stopping taking their medicine) and later dying of treatable illnesses, being exposed as a charlatan on network television, and closing up shop in Dallas only to reopen shortly thereafter in Florida.  And, doing all of this while dragging the name of the Holy God that you serve through the mud with you.  Creepy.  I am sure the karma cloud that surrounds this guy is enough to block out the sun.

Creepy Person #62- Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber

Have you seen this guy?  He is the Phantom of the Opera.  Cree-py.

Creepy Person # 61- Richard Simmons

He has lost a little relevance in the past few years, but the age and those horrible shorts only add to the creepiness.  I wonder who gets more creeped-out at one of his weight-loss sessions, the girls or the guys when he touches them.  If this were and list of irritating people, he would definitely score higher.

People tend to use children for all sorts of things.  Many mothers and fathers refuse to discipline their children because they think their children will not love them, and they draw their personal sense of self-worth from the affections provided by their children.  This is usually a recipe for disaster when raising a child.  However, attempting to show love to a child (even if is it misguided) is better that abusing or neglecting a child any day.

I was reading an article about a man, a sex offender, who has been banned from attending his son’s graduation by a law that requires him to receive a special dispensation from the school’s superintendent in order to come onto school grounds.  In this particular case the superintendent has refused to allow any sex offenders on the school’s grounds even to attend the graduation of their kids.  Sound harsh?

It doesn’t sound nearly as harsh as the forcible rape of a fifteen year old girl which is what the man was convicted of.  Some might say that the school’s superintendent is being too harsh in dealing with the man (there are actually five parents who are not able to attend the ceremony for this reason).  However, I say that she is perfectly within her rights, and furthermore, she is taking a responsible position both in regards to the safety of her students and the the school district’s legal exposure.

The sex offender is livid at the schools response.  The offender, a Mr. James Jones, said, “I’ve already been punished for this. This isn’t about me anymore. Now they’re punishing my kids, and that’s taking it a little too far.”  I would argue that he is incorrect in this statement.  This felon has been, and is still, being duly punished for his crime just as the poor girl that he raped still has to live with the memory of what he did to her every day.  If his children are being ‘punished’ or affected in any way by this, he is the one who is responsible for it, not the state or the school district.  The fact that he is not allowed to attend the graduation is a direct consequence of his own actions that would not be occurring if he had not committed the crime in the first place.  Perhaps, if he had thought a little about the future consequences to his child (let alone the consequences to his victim), he might not have committed such a horrific crime in the first place.

He claims that he will attend anyway, and county police claim that they will attend also.  They have stated that he is subject to arrest and up to four years in prison if he attends the ceremony.

He says, “I’m always preaching education to my children. How does that make me look if I’m not there at graduation?”  And, this is where I get to my main point.  Here we have a father who claims to promote education to his children, but what is he really teaching them?  He has a perfect opportunity to teach his children a very valuable lesson about making bad decisions and the consequences thereof.  He could impress up his child the fact that ‘because daddy made a bad decision, he will not be able to come to the graduation, but that does not mean he does not love him.  He loves him all the more and will do his best to make it up to him.’

Instead of taking this golden opportunity to teach his child a life lesson, Mr Jones has chosen to splash his name in the paper, to bring up old wounds and stigmas that undoubtedly will effect his child and community, and to threaten to and possibly actually to break to the law resulting in his incarceration and separation from his children for up to four years.  What a misguided set of values he has.

In the end the point is, that he is not really worried about his child.  He is worried about himself.  He is mad  that the consequences of his earlier actions are still having a negative effect on him, and he is throwing a little fit, at the expense of his family and his community over it.  Nice example dad.

I recently read a post on one of my friend’s blogs about him slicing off the end of his finger with a razor.  Being a little sarcastic, and hearing my mother’s voice inside my head, I thought, “I’ve had worse places than that on my eye.”  This brought a host of my mom’s sayings back to me, and with Mother’s Day just around the corner, I thought I would put My Top 100 Creepy People list on hold and talk about mom.

First, I want to say that I love my mother, and she has been the greatest influence on my life.  She taught me morals and the importance of being polite with people.  She led me toward Christianity, and basically taught me to be a good person.  She is an even better grandmother to my daughter and mother-in-law to my wife.

However, I have another good friend that I’ve dropped some of my mother’s ‘pearls of wisdom’ on over the years.  At one point, he told me that he was surprised that I turned as well as I have after hearing these words of encouragement all of my life.

There were no good manuals on raising a child when I was born, and I don’t think my mom was a big reader at that time anyway.  All she had to draw upon was tradition and the things she had heard her mother say to her.  My grandmother lived through the Great Depression and was a share-cropper at times.  It was a hard life and combined with the American tradition of ‘rugged individualism,’ the people of this generation did not have the time, patience or ethic for worrying about every scraped knee.

I decided to gather these sayings together to make sure they are remembered by someone other than my daughter (because I will not be saying them to her), and as a sort of cathartic experience for myself, not that I really need it.

“I’ve had worse places than that on my eye.”-  This little gem would be delivered anytime there was an obvious wound to my body.  Imagine a six year old little boy falling down and skinning his knee all up.  Today, a good parent might rush to his side, pick him up, hug him and kiss his ‘booboo.’  Not during mom’s day.  No, she would take one look at it and scoreboard me by saying, “I’ve had worse places than that on my eye.”  Now, I could never compete with my mother in these types of competitions.  She had grown up in a place called ‘the bottoms,’ and had literally at one time lived in the back of a broken-down school bus for a few years.  She may have indeed been the Kareem Abdul Jabar of suffering as a child, but I didn’t see the need for her to point out the skins on her wall every time I was in pain.

“I’m going to give you something to cry about”- This ‘life affirming’ threat could be delivered in a time of mild pain or severe annoyance for myself.  The prerequisite for this statement would be for me to be crying.  I don’t remember her every actually delivering on the threat, however.  Perhaps hearing this statement from my mother, who I thought I could bring the problem to, was enough to sufficiently jar my other concerns loose or perhaps my sadness was transformed into fear.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you./Don’t you give me that look!” or “Answer me when I am talking to you!”- When you are a kid that is in trouble with mom, it’s like walking through a minefield.  Often there is no right look or correct answer that is going to help.  Mom’s will ask rhetorical questions like “Do you know how much I have to do around here?”, and heaven help the ignorant child who makes the mistake of actually trying to answer her.

“I’m not always going to be around to do these things for you.”- Mom was trying to reinforce the need for me to learn to do things for myself, but children as a rule are filled with a certain amount of ‘separation anxiety.’  I heard this as a threat or warning of the possibility of mom not being there anymore, and that was truly frightening.

“It’s no use crying over spilt milk.”- Anyone who has a child knows that kids cry a lot.  I know now that mom was trying to toughen me up, and teach me that some things just are not that important, but as a kid, sometimes I wished she had a little more empathy for the way I felt.  (Waaaah!)

“A little soap & water never killed anybody.”- While this may have been true, the pain and unpleasantness brought about buy the rubbing of my face that usually accompanied this statement could have been used effectively by the Inquisition.  And, I was just lucky if there was sink around or mom would use her spit to clean me up.  Ewe!

“Close the door behind you — were you born in a barn?”- Maybe.  How was I to know.  Mom lived in a bus for a while, maybe I was born in a barn.

“Because I said so.”- If your mom were on Jeopardy, the question would be, “What is an acceptable answer to any question that is asked?”

“Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back”- Every kid needs a little encouragement, and sometimes you may even fish for a little praise from your parents,…not at my house.  This phrase would be delivered to those who were foolish enough to cast their lines out for such encouragement.

“If it were a snake, it would have bitten you.”- I was never sure if this line was issued to make me feel stupid and unobservant, or just to give me a nice, unnatural fear of serpents.  My guess is that it was both.

“If you fall off that thing and break a leg, don’t come running to me/You made your bed, now lie in it.”  Nice.  Never mind the logistics involved in this.  I mean, if I did break my leg, I would probably not be in much of a position to do a lot of running, but that aside, statements like these are what the Depression era mentality of rugged individualism is all about.  These wonderful words of encouragement imply that you are on you own, and mom is not going to help you.

“Don’t let the door hit you in the rear/I’ll help you pack/Is that a threat or a promise?”- These statements are always preceded by the threat from the child to run away.  Usually that threat is prompted by some deep seated feeling that the child has been treated unfairly.  For mom, the best way to deal with those feelings was to heap on a nice big scoop of ‘I just don’t care about the way you are feeling.’

“Well, people in Hades want ice water, but do you see me with a pitcher?”  Wow!  If mom is willing to sit by and watch a person burn for all eternity without even offering to help, I probably am not going to be getting that grilled cheese that I would like right now.

“Life isn’t fair/The Fair only comes around once a year.”  It is important to teach our children that there are certain inequities that we just have to live with.  However, it is important to note that we do not want to leave the impression that we just don’t care about fairness and justice.

“Someday your face will freeze like that!”- I’m sure mom delivered this line as I was looking at her in a disrespectful manner after getting in trouble for something, but it would have been nice if I had not felt that she was actually hoping my face would freeze that way as a type of further punishment.

“What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?”  This sometimes came across as an offer.

“You can get glad in the same pants you got sad/mad in.”- This is one of my all-time favorites.  Imagine a heartbroken child tearfully coming to his mother looking for little consolation.  Thanks, Mom!  I feel much better now!  That heartfelt empathy really hit the spot!

“If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”- This is a classic.  It implies that there is a simplistic solution to any problem a kid will face.  It’s all about attitude, and mom’s attitude was, “don’t bother me with those trivial problems.”

Happy mother’s day.

I love you mom!

As a whole it seems like the group songs this year have been the weakest in the history of the show, and tonight’s song did nothing to help that perception.  I felt like an actual year passed by during their rendition of “Reeling in the Years.”  Since, I assume the Idol tour consists of a lot of this type of thing, I don’t know how well these weekly performances are drumming up business.

The crazy amounts of cross promotion on the show are now going too far.  Thanks for the five minute Beatle’s Love commercial.  How about instead of treating your audience like a bunch of idiots by dragging the contestants around to promote a different product under the guise of an actual segment each week, you allow them more song development and rehearsal time?  Perhaps if this happened, the quality of the music and the performances would get better.

In unrelated news, The Partnership for a Drug Free America has announced that they are replacing the image of a frying egg in their “this is your brain on drugs” commercials with Jason Castro shouting, “Bob Marley!”.  And, Syesha announced before the show that she will be petitioning the U.S. Congress for equal representation on MLK day due to the efforts and struggles she has experienced on the show this season.  Through this she hopes that all of America will be more able to identify with her plight.

It came as no surprise to anyone when Jason was shown the door.  I think he actually has less of a chance of becoming a successful recording artist than Brooke.  She may not have the backbone, but Jason has other problems.  His style is not mainstream, and he doesn’t have the talent, drive or discipline to make it in that industry.  He might make it as a restaurant singer if he is disciplined enough or cares enough to show up to work, and if they offer him free food, he will be able to cure the munchies.

The theme was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of the lamest halls of fame there is.  And, the safest bet in Vegas would have been that they judges would be back to their usual format of judging after each song, and this, of course, and was thankfully the case.

David Cook

“Hungry Like the Wolf”- I will say first that I am not a big Duran Duran fan, and he sang a pretty straight up cover version of the song.  It did not have a lot of the Emo qualities of the music he has been singing, but he had a little bit of a growl in his voice for the whole song which actually added a little to a song with ‘wolf’ in the chorus.  It was a good, upbeat song to start the show with, but for me, it was just alright, especially compared to what he has done in past weeks.

Randy agreed with me saying it was just OK.

Simon said it was good enough, but a little copycat.

“Baba O’Reilly”- I did not know the song, so I did not have a very good frame of reference.  It was alright, but I am sure it was not his best.  He should sail on through, but all of the ‘x’ factors are working against him, from going first, to not singing standards, to not doing his best stuff.

Randy thought it was great.

Simon said, “Welcome back.”

Syesha Mercado

“Proud Mary”- She looked nice tonight, but she talked about her ‘fans’ which was a little weird.  The stage performance seemed really detached and forced.  The vocal was spot on, but it was back to seeming fake.  I think the judges have created a monster.  By praising her for her ‘Broadway’ like performances, they have unintentionally allowed her to become too performance oriented.

Randy thought she was in the zone again.

Simon thought it was a bad ‘shrieky’ version of a Tina Turner song.

“A Change is Gonna Come”- She held her notes too long.  This song embodied everything I do not like about some of her performances.  It was not her style at all, and she sang the song as if she did not know what it was about.  Once again she got to the end, and it seemed like the only thing she was worried about was the big, ‘runny’ note at the end.  Other than that, it was an extremely boring song and performance.

Randy thought it was not a good arrangement, that she pushed for things the song did not need, and that it felt disconnected.

Paula was a sycophantic idiot on this song.

Simon, for some reason, agreed with Paula.

Jason Castro-

“I Shot the Sherriff”- I thought this song was OK also.  The problem with Jason is that his songs are usually good enough to keep him in the competition over someone that does not do as well every week.  However, he is never the best or the ‘stand out’ from week to week, and eventually, as there are fewer and better people left in the competition, he will not be able to outshine the rest of the contestants.

Randy thought it was a really Karaoke version of a Bob Marley song.

Simon hated it.

“Mr. Tambourine Man”- The first thing I thought when he announced the song was that this would be another song that would sound like all the rest of the stuff he has hung this season.  He forgot the lyrics in a big and terrible way.  At least he did not start over, but this should be his ticket home.  The last note was bad also.

Randy thought he was not in the zone.

Simon correctly said that he should pack his suitcase.

David Archuleta-

“Stand By Me”- The first thing I thought was that he should do well on this, because it is a really safe song.  He changed it up just enough to keep it from being boring, and it was pretty good.

Randy liked it a lot.

Simon thought it was a good song choice and the best performance so far.

“Love Me Tender”- When I heard that he was singing this, I thought he was walking into a minefield.  Elvis is one of the most iconic and affected singers ever, and this is one of his most iconic and affected songs.  You could never sing it as good as he did.  If you change it you mess with a classic, and if you sing it the same, you will sound goofy trying to get the same affectation in your voice.  This being said, I really liked what he did with it.  It was a very ‘Archuleta’ performance.  The only real criticism I had was that it was a little boring.

Randy loved it.

Simon thought he ‘crushed the competition tonight.’  I thought this was a little much.

I have eaten a lot of fish and chicken on this diet.  I like them both, so that is OK with me.  However, I really like beef also, especially steak.  I have been getting my beef through soup and an occasional taco salad, both of which are great ways to get the great flavor of beef into your meal, but to also stretch it so that you are not ruining you diet.

This week, however, when my wife and I went to Cosco, we bought something besides the usual fish and chicken.  We bought a whole beef tenderloin.  They are expensive (I saw them anywhere from $50.00 to $75.00), but if you cut them into 6-8 oz portions, they go along way.  I got 15 fillets and a pound of stew meat off one tenderloin.  When you break it down, I only paid about $3.70 per fillet (not counting the stew meat.  That’s not bad at all.  It is important to note that if you do this you will have to trim a good bit of fat and silver-skin off the tenderloin.

The tenderloin can be used just like the chicken or fish in a meal (though it does have more calories).  For 6 oz. fillet, you only take in around 400 calories.

So, last night I got out one of the fillets, coated it with fresh cacked pepper and Kosher salt, and grilled it up.  I also grilled some mushrooms (almost no calories in these if you avoid butter and oil) and caramelized a little onion.  On the side I had a can on green beans seasoned with a few Bacos.  The steak cut like butter, and I have to say it was easily the best meal I’ve had since I began the diet, and probably for a good while before that.  This is not to say that I have not eaten well.  This meal was just especially good, and I will probably work it in about once a week from now on.

Week 16 Update:  This week I lost four pounds for a toal of 91 lbs. lost so far.  I am at 268, and am only nine pounds away from losing 100 lbs.  I am 65% of the way to my reevaluation goal at this time.