The Voice (3)

18 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 18th,2011 | Music, Television |  Comments Off on The Voice (3)

Watching The Voice is very different from watching American Idol for us in one very important aspect- we appear to be hearing the same performance as the judges/coaches.

 On Idol, there are performances we think are awful and that the judges love or vice versa. There are occasionally performances so far to one side of the spectrum or the other that we agree with the judges, but in general, if we enjoyed it, the judges will hate it.

 On The Voice, even on the close calls, we are managing to pick the same person to go through as the coaches.

Just watched: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

17 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 17th,2011 | Movies |  Comments Off on Just watched: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

We watched Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief the other night. I happen to love both Sean Bean and Kevin McKidd, so it was great to see them as Zeus and Poseidon. It was a fun teenaged action adventure movie that we both enjoyed very much.

However, it did get my husband started on a rant about the tropes used in young adult literature. I didn’t have the same problem as I felt the story was meant as an introduction to Greek mythology, not something aimed at those of us who have been studying it for 20 years.

Sunday Nights

16 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 16th,2011 | Television |  Comments Off on Sunday Nights

We are watching both Game of Thrones on HBO and The Killing on AMC on Sunday nights right now. It makes for a rather intense and depressing 2 hours of television. While they are very different shows, both are incredibly well acted, and I am invested in knowing what happens next. (I can’t say I’m enjoying them, as the stories are a little too dark for that word.)

However, it really does mean I need to find something fun and distracting to do before bed on Sunday nights, in order to avoid thinking of depressing subjects as I fall asleep.

The Voice (2)

15 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 15th,2011 | Music, Television |  Comments Off on The Voice (2)

I know you’re expecting a roller derby post. I’m sorry. I missed the bout. I was in a plane flying across the country.

Watching the first of the battle rounds on The Voice, we had to wonder, shouldn’t they have built a save in there? What happens if you accidentally put up two amazing singers the first night? Possibly your strongest two singers, and you have to get rid of one of them? We wondered this especially about Adam Levine’s two. Is that part of the gamesmanship, of having the coaches compete against each other? That sucks for the singers.

I’ll still be here after the rapture

14 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 14th,2011 | Pets, Religion |  1 Comment »

There is a belief among some that one week from today, the rapture will occur. This might cause a dilemma if you are a devout Christian and animal lover who worries that your pets might not have a soul (and therefore won’t be taken with you).

Never fear, atheists are willing to come to the rescue. There are at least two different services who, for a fee, are willing to promise you that one of their network of non-Christian volunteers will come and get your pet, promising that it will be taken care of for the rest of its life.

Living the High Life on Less

13 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 13th,2011 | Finances, Home Ownership |  Comments Off on Living the High Life on Less

This thread comes from an article about how to live a six-figure lifestyle on $30k/year. One thing this article does not address is cost of living. Nor, on his biggest purchase, does he offer definitions.

And it really is the housing purchase he talks about that gets to me. There are houses available in my neighborhood for $85k, when most of the houses average over $200k. But they are manufactured homes, or in such bad shape that you can’t move in right away, or they are tiny. That’s what I really want to know- how big is his “big home”?

MythBusters (ep 165)

12 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 12th,2011 | Mythbusters, Science, Television |  Comments Off on MythBusters (ep 165)

I love it when they do a whole bunch of mini-myths, like the sound effect section with Adam and Jamie. It’s funny that they have to bring in an “expert” when it comes to the punches, as their expertise is with movie special effects. I guess special effects and sound effects guys don’t talk a lot.

Physics thought experiments are also fun.Newtonwas a genius, and you really wouldn’t believe how well his laws hold up to just about everything. However, I don’t think it ever occurred to him to take jet engines and flame resistant material into account.

Not the Message You Meant to Give

11 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 11th,2011 | Advertising |  Comments Off on Not the Message You Meant to Give

Have you seen the 5 Hour Energy commercials? The ones that talk about how coffee gives you a caffeine crash, which is bad, so you should drink 5 Hour Energy instead?

The ones that talk about how it takes too long to make or buy your coffee in the morning, so you should instead drink 5 hour energy instead?

I find the commercials annoying since people who can’t function without their coffee have the coffee maker set to automatically brew it.

But forgetting that, I was very amused by the 5 Hour Energy car parked outside my Starbucks this weekend.

Love is the legacy that matters most

10 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 10th,2011 | Relationships |  Comments Off on Love is the legacy that matters most

I was blessed to have my Nana for 35 years. She was an amazing woman who grew up during the depression, married a GI at the start of WWII, and saw her husband off to as many wars as they had children, the last one of which she also sent her oldest son to. She raised her children all over the world, but retired to the community where she grew up. She lived the last 30 years of her life surrounded by family and lifelong friends.

Yesterday her physical presence left us, but her love will remain with us forever.

American Idol: Calling out the judges

09 May

Erin Shanendoah |  May 9th,2011 | Music, Television |  Comments Off on American Idol: Calling out the judges

Its not that I miss Simon, per se; he was often needlessly mean in the hopes of getting a good quip in, but this year’s Idol judges are failing. They’re failing the audience, and more importantly, they are failing the contestants. Without honest criticism to know what they’re doing wrong, the performers aren’t improving, at least not along the lines of how they have in the past. Hearing how fabulous they are every week does not tell them they need to put their energy to improve.

Thank goodness for Jimmy, but that’s not his job. Get with the program judges.

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