Idol-izing

So, I admit it: I'm pretty much obsessed with watching American Idol. I'm not so much into the stories outside of the singing competition, and I don't text message or call to vote, but I'm already getting nervous that when Sox season starts, I'm going to have to figure out a way to see all of the shows.

Anyway, I was watching tonight when a contestant decided to sing the Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready to Make Nice," as a dedication to her mother. In case you don't know or can't tell from the title of the song, it's not a happy song at all - it's this bitter ballad about how Natalie Maines isn't ready to forgive the people who made her life a living hell after she spoke her opinion at a 2003 concert. First of all, what's ironic is that I was listening to the Natalie Maines' version today, and, just to show you how obsessed I am with this stupid show, I was actually thinking (I swear!), "This is a great song, but will someone ever really sing it because it's such a narrow focus?" I mean, I couldn't imagine anyone playing this song as part of a party play list or singing it in American Idol. I actually thought that. And then, not only did someone sing it, but she dedicated it to her MOTHER. She put this whole montage-y thing together about how much she loved her mom, and then she sang "Not Ready to Make Nice" as a dedication to her. I'd hate to see what she got her for mother's day.

The whole debacle reminded me of a huge pet peeve: bad wedding song choices. People are complete morons, and when it comes to wedding songs, unfortunately, people just continue to display idiocy. Do people not listen to the lyrics of the songs they choose? For example, "I Will Always Love You." That song's title may imply that the song is about always loving someone and having a great relationship until eternity. Well, it's not. It's about a bittersweet memory (umm, actual lyrics) of a love that's no more. Not a great sentiment at a WEDDING. Or, how about another popular pick, "My Heart Will Go On"? I mean, the title seems to imply something not so wonderful, and yet, people pick it. The whole song is about lost love and how someone has to continue to live... without their love. This brings me to the most outrageous pick of all: U2's "With or Without You," which should have the parentheses (I Can't Live) before the "With or Without You" to avoid any confusion for betrothed couples because it's ridiculous that someone would choose "I can't live... WITH or without you" as the anthem for their marriage.

The other thing that got to me while watching Idol was Paula Abdul. I don't even care that much about her slurring speech and ridiculous analogies. I cannot deal with her incessant praise of every single singer. I mean, is there anybody who DOESN'T get a Paula Abdul standing ovation? How can she seriously think that anybody values anything she tells them if all she says is the same "you are amazing and unique and I love you" crap to every person up there? Someone should get her a list of words that can also mean "excellent" or "fantastic." "I just... I just love you," she says to whatever person's in front of her. "You're going to be... such a star," or some crap like that. What's sad is that many of them seem to actually LIKE Paula and take her comments seriously, while giving Simon crap even though he's usually right.

And that brings me to my final annoyance: people who boo Simon. Look, sure he can be mean, and once in a while, he oversteps the line and comments on appearance or something. (Actually, last week I almost hit the roof when Ryan Seacrest - total loser - said that he felt short and small in comparison to one of the girls. Sensitive, asshole.) But the point is, not everyone is a great singer. People who get to be on American Idol's final competition - meaning the top 12 down - often get chances to be in ridiculous things, like Broadway shows, movies, TV specials, reality TV crap, not to mention possible recording contract deals. Sooo, I don't think it's such a problem to have high standards and tell people like it is. And when these nobodies have the audacity to be like, "Simon, you suck," I really get annoyed because they're on the show he helped create that they're hoping will make them rich and famous.

You'd think that with all these issues I have with the show I would hate to watch it, but it's the opposite. I'm also interested to see whether the American public vote on who they think is hot or who they think is good, because in this competition, they're not one and the same.

Quick Thoughts...

Quick thoughts I've been having over the past week or so:

First of all, when all of the sidewalk is frozen over, is it too much to ask for stores to shovel outside the front door or put down some salt? Is it really asking too much not to want to break my neck when I go get my morning coffee and it's almost pitch black out? I don't think so. I really don't. Instead of all those stupid ads that say all the specials they're offering, maybe stores should just offer the basics, like a non-black ice covered walkway. I'd much rather see an ad campaign focused on things like that than people hitting their alarm clocks and running late but having their days saved by Dunkin Donuts. Let me tell you, right now, nobody's running on Dunkin. Everyone's walking very gingerly so they don't kill themselves.

In other news, everyone knows I love People magazine, but even I had to stop and question them a few days ago. I was reading the webpage and one of the stories is "Astronaut now called a Homewrecker." This made me laugh because they are talking about the woman who drove across the country to confront the woman she thought was hooking up with her guy. She's currently facing kidnapping and attempted murder charges, which is why I thought this headline was so ridiculous. It's really two-fold: first of all, compared to "kidnapper" and "attempted murderer," isn't "homewrecker" seeming rather harmless to you? And also, isn't kidnapping and trying to murder a mother in and of itself homewrecking? Just wondering. These are things I think about.

Also, I thought I was going blind recently. My left eye would get blurry and it was getting worse, so I was getting worried about it. I was going to make an appointment, but I kept putting it off because I was scared of getting the news that I was going blind. I went through different possibilties, like something might be wrong with my contact. But the thing was, I was also nervous that I might have some awful disease in my eye that was causing me to go blind, so I didn't want to change up my contacts if I was going to go to the doctor in a little bit anyways, because then I'd waste a contact that was now contaminated. It was really a conundrum made worse by my avoidance and general craziness. Finally, today, I'd had enough, so I took out my contact and even though I'm generally decently blind without my contacts in, I could tell almost immediately it wasn't that same blurry/haziness that was when I had the contact in. So then I went to put in a new contact, and I realized... I had put a second right contact lens into my left eye instead of a left lens a few weeks ago. All this time, I'd been walking around with two right lenses. I felt like a complete moron, but honestly, I was pretty relieved too. And now I'm also not taking clear vision for granted. It makes such a difference. I bet my dad is freaking out if he's reading this, thinking about how his daughter has most of her life together but then she does stuff like this that makes him wonder what's wrong with me. Well, Dad, I wonder the same thing sometimes.