New Guilty Pleasure: American Idol

I haven't watched American Idol since the season with Ruben and Clay. And yet for some mysterious reason I'm completely hooked this season. This concept of performing with instruments? Yeah, that totally didn't exist last time I watched. These were my two favorite performances from last night's episode. I'd buy both of their albums tomorrow if I could.





Also, we (we including the mom and the Jon) decided last night that Ellen is an awesome judge. I'm not anti-Paula or anything, but Ellen's addition definitely sparked my interest in this season.

Omg, now I want a British one...

I know I'm turning into a youtube blog, but whatever...the kids need to stop being cute. Blame them.

Classically-trained thespian and Royal Shakespeare Company alum Brian Cox guides 2-year-old Theo through the first sentence of Hamlet’s “to be, or not to be” soliloquy:

I'll Take One of These, Please

So he plays a bit fast and loose with the lyrics, just check out that killer ukelele playing! And the emotion!

Bonus Saturday Video

Pomplamoose covers 'Beat It'

Rest in Peace

And that my friends is when April lost it. Because he was a Daddy. A Daddy. And I'm a daughter. So my heart broke for this girl. And then Janet reminded me of my own Aunts and I lost it again.

Family. It means everything, for real.

My favorite moment of the memorial:



We Had Him
by Maya Angelou

Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing, now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips like a puff of summer wind.

Without notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace. Sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon.

In the instant that Michael is gone, we know nothing. No clocks can tell time. No oceans can rush our tides with the abrupt absence of our treasure.

Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.

Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.

He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.

Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.

He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.

We had him, beautiful, delighting our eyes.

His hat, aslant over his brow, and took a pose on his toes for all of us.

And we laughed and stomped our feet for him.

We were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing. He gave us all he had been given.

Today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana's Black Star Square.

In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England

We are missing Michael.

But we do know we had him, and we are the world.

Mr. Cosby

My Dad bought his first VCR in 1985 so that he could film movies that came on television for his unborn child. One of those films was "The Wizard of Oz" which eventually became the movie I loved the most as a kid. He also taped this Bill Cosby special, and something about watching it reminds me of being a kid.

However, it's only as I became an adult that it became REALLY funny to me.



*My Mom has long threatened me with a *mother's curse*.

This one is great too:



*we vacationed at a complex with a 'Jeffrey' once, his named was Aiden.

('Vacation' story to come later, I promise it's funny...I just have to write it first.)

More Taylor

I swear I'm not becoming a Taylor Swift blog. It just seems that way.

Anyways, me and my people watched this George Strait Artist of the Decade thing on CBS tonight. A bunch of singers covered their favorite George song. Taylor did 'Run' and we instantly decided it was one of the only songs of the evening that we didn't wish George was actually performing instead. (2nd place going to Jamie Foxx of all people!)



Jon says she is one of his 'favorites', which is totally teen boy code for she's hot. And if you tell him I told you all this I'll call you liars. But I doubt he'll deny any of it. Her poster is hanging on his wall.

*****
Final Plant count for those in the know:

54 tomatoes
18 peppers
14 squash/zucchini
10 cucumbers
5 melons
2 eggplant
47 silver queen corn
15 okra
an onion bed
basil, parsley, chives, cilantro

And we reused the trays that all of the plants came in to start seeds of sunflowers, gourds, and pumpkins. We'll also start fall crops in more trays at some point.

Video of the Night

Taylor Swift, John Mayer, White Horse, Staple Center, LA, 5/22/2009.



and a million more clips from that concert, HERE.

I wanted to post them all. She makes me smile. So does John Mayer's guitar. And I don't mean that as a euphemism. Promise. ;)

Clip of the Day

Barack Obama is Cliff Huxtable.

Indecision	An Indecision Exclusive!
Barack Obama Is Cliff Huxtable
indecisionforever.com
Funny Political Video Political Games Joe Biden Jokes

Common Cement

Ellen Degeneres delivers the commencement address at Tulane University.

Election '08 Through Jon's Eyes (or camera lens)

Every once in a while something comes along that is so embarrassing, your immediate thought is, "hey, I must post this on the internet."

Right? I'm not the only one who thinks this?

So a few weeks ago I put a camera into the hands of my brother. A nice camera. With lots of nifty features. And he's loved it. I've barely seen him anywhere without it. I've also, apparently, barely noticed that he's been shooting video clips with that camera when nobody notices.

I eventually caught onto his game and began to grow increasingly alarmed with every moment of my life turning into Candid Camera.

Which is how I found this gem when clearing off his SD card. And since Flickr now hosts short video clips, I figured it was the perfect way to test it out.

I apologize in advance for the yelling. I know it's hard to imagine me this way. ;)

And I'll preface this by allowing you this image: imagine Jon is Barack Obama and I'm Hillary Clinton. I think that's the effect he was going for.

Satan's Chihuahua

I posted the last Overheard based on a conversation Jon and I had in our driveway this afternoon. Apparently I'm so evil I'd make Satan cry. It's a fact Jon reiterates in this lovely video.


Untitled from apsies on Vimeo.

Why a video? Oh, I don't know, maybe because the camera I bought Jon (so I could use whenever I wanted) finally arrived today. I love it. I love Fuji. It's just like my camera, only smaller, with less zoom and a few less features. Yet, it still manages to Bokeh pretty damn well.