I have enjoyed Amy Schumer’s stand up, though it is not my normal sense of humor. I do not watch her show because I’m not a fan of the type of humor she uses in it. That is not to say it has not had some very funny sketches- the Aaron Sorkin send up was hilarious. And I am thrilled to see her success. Because she is not letting anyone put her in their role. She is doing what she wants.
I especially love her recent speech at the Ms Gala, and her message “You will not determine my story”
Amy Schumer
04
May
The Voice s4 – Teams Adam & Usher Sing Live
07
May
It was the first night of live performances, and teams Adam and Usher performed. For the most part, I was underwhelmed.
In Team Usher’s live performance, the men shined and the women did not, but when it came time for their individual performances, Cathia had the third best performance of the night, and Michelle’s version of True Colors was the second best. (I did want to gag the back-up singers, though.)
The women of Team Adam were also mostly mediocre, with the exception of Judith, who closed out the show and, as expected, gave the strongest performance of the night.
MythBusters (s10, ep1)
02
May
It is the 10th anniversary season of Mythbusters, and they opened it the right way, with a revisit to the very first myth and very first Mythbusters episode- the jato rocket car. This is not the first time they have revisted this myth, but it will likely be the last time.
We had two spectacular rocket blasts and two spectacularly twisted hunks of metal at the end. After proving the myth could not have happened the way it was stated, they tried to replicate the results. The actual results were two destroyed Impalas and five very giddy Mythbusters. Happy Anniversary!
The Voice s4 – Knockout Rounds Teams Blake & Usher
01
May
Tonight there were actually a few really clear winners, something we had not had last night. And in fact, I actually agreed with every decision made, which is really rare.
Blake once again kept no one he stole, but did keep a duo, something we have not seen in the live rounds before.
I did notice that one performer whose battle round we did not see still made it through the knockouts. He (and anyone else they montaged the blind audition or battle round for) has had one less performance to build up an audience. That’s hard to make up.
The Voice s4 – Knockout Rounds Teams Adam & Shakira
30
Apr
The knockout rounds are quick- only two nights to cut the number of singers in half. Only four from each team will go to the live rounds.
Night one was Teams Adam and Shakira. The talent level was high. And while there are some choices I would have made differently from the coaches, I often had the same assessment of the singers as they did. They (being the experts and all) were just looking for different things from the singers than I was.
I did like all risks taken by the singers and am looking forward to the live rounds.
Your Money Monday: Is Owning Cheaper?
29
Apr
When dealing with money, people often think it’s about the numbers, that you can do the math an instantly and empirically know if you have gained money or lost money. But that’s not quite true. Everything, even numbers, are subject to our perception of them.
Much like the arguments that “it’s cheaper to buy than to rent” right now, but only if you have a 10-20% down payment saved up (which is usually a pretty hefty chunk of money), we are facing the question of whether it is actually cheaper to buy and sell at a loss than to rent.
Movie Review: The Hunger Games
26
Apr
Finally saw The Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence has gotten so much hype since that movie, I was not certain if I would like her in it, but I thought it was very well done. I thought they did a great job making you uncertain if the feelings between Katniss and Peeta were real or part of the show they were putting on.
I do think I may need to read the books, though, to understand the world better. I found it hard to believe that the districts were still paying tribute after all these years. Why hadn’t they already rebelled?
NASA Has Been Cool My Entire Life
25
Apr
A lot of attention gets paid to what NASA is doing now, both in the news and here on this blog. And rightly so. The Mars Rover missions are amazing and deserve the attention. But what we forget sometimes is exactly how long NASA has been doing amazing things, and the timelines for those missions.
The Voyager missions were launched in 1977. That is over 35 years ago, and they are still going strong. In fact, Voyager 1 is now the farthest man-made object from the Earth, over 18 billion kilometers away and still moving, and we can ride along.
The Voice s4 – Battle Rounds Night 4
24
Apr
Last night of battles, only one steal on the table. We know it has to be used because otherwise the teams won’t be even. Usher has to use his last steal. When will he use it? Naturally, the producers leave that for the final battle of the night.
I was once again happy with all of the choices, including Shakira’s in that final battle. Mary really does have an amazing sweetness to her voice.
However, I was once again disappointed with the producers for not showing us all the battle rounds. Do these artists not make it past the knockouts?
The Voice s4 – Battle Rounds Night 3
23
Apr
Monday night’s battle rounds weren’t really surprising. There were a couple of times when I thought a steal might happen when it didn’t, but no one went home who I really thought needed to stay. They had hyped Usher’s steal so much with promo bits of “can he do that”, that I actually thought Adam might try and use a steal on his own person, but obviously that did not happen.
After being rejected a second time, Usher finally used his first steal, and heading into the final night of battles, he is the only one with a steal left.