America's Got Talent: The Finals performances...

[candyland]

...oh my sweet Prince Poppycock, what have you done? ;___;

Dad still thinks we should have given him all ten votes. Mom wanted to give all ten to Michael Grimm. So we wound up splitting the difference and doing five each.

Also, the YouTube comments are delightful, ranging from "I hope Piers dies slowly of throat cancer!" to "Piers' buzzing him was actually a premeditated 'dick move' because AGT doesn't want to be represented by someone so flamboyant and ambiguous. They want to be represented by unemployed chicken catchers and pretty little girls in flowered dresses."

I love YouTube. I really do.

Just please, don't let Jackie Evancho win. Her technique is terribly, she's going to destroy her voice if she doesn't get those low notes out of her throat and stop forcing her vibrato, she has yet to do anything except opera (no performance range whatsoever!), and thus far she has yet to do anything that Barbara Padilla didn't do better last season. AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHILD, PUT YOUR ARMS DOWN FOR ONCE.


Also, I am now officially back on Lexapro (HAPPY DRUGS HAPPY DRUGS LA LA LAAAAAA~), and I have the weekend of October 9-10 off to attend my aunt and uncle's fiftieth wedding anniversary party.

And considering how often I've gotten shafted on scheduling and how little I've complained and how little I generally ask for? I feel like I should NOT have had to feel like I was fighting that hard when I did need something. But fortunately, a couple of my coworkers are awesome ^o^

And finally, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is AMAZING and Yuri Lowenthal as Legal!Luke is divine and I literally had to close my DS and squeal when one of his puzzle-solvey animations included the dialogue, "Puzzling? I think not~" And it's also really awesome to see the two discussion threads on professorlayton so alive and buzzing over it.

PLAY ON!

Comments

[ytak.livejournal.com]

Stop making me want to go out and pick up a copy -right now-. Grrrrr.

[kaitodoushi.livejournal.com]

I know we've discussed this a lot, but Jackie Evancho winning would just be tragic. I... really fail to see why Piers seems to think she's the greatest thing ever. She has a ton of potential, but for a singer this is WAY too early and her performances are rather boring =/ There was one low note tonight that just sounded awful.

Honestly, it'd be nice if Michael Grimm did win since he did the best tonight and I'm pretty certain Fighting Gravity and Poppycock are getting Vegas shows regardless.

[mizunosakura.livejournal.com]

At the moment, my boyfriend and I have more or less agreed we want to see either Fighting Gravity or Prince Poppycock to win--all four are great, but Fighting Gravity is very unique and Prince Poppycock has shown he can do multiple things and is very creative while the other two are just...singing. And the only reason Jackie is getting so much attention is because she's a little girl--she's not the best opera singer ever, she's just...a little girl. And just because she can sing like that at that age doesn't mean she'll be like a goddess when she's older--it just can mean she's learned to sing it earlier. (And I've never heard of Ave Maria being a very hard Opera song until now, but maybe that's just me?). She's already been offered parts in various places too and she has plenty of time to go again (Hey! I can sing opera and I'm only 10! will get her tons of people alone) so I'd really rather not see her win... Besides, an Opera singer has already won before (which is why it was good that Prince Poppycock showed how he could do so much more and not JUST opera)

Michael Grimm isn't bad and I do enjoy his voice, but there's nothing more to him. He sings. Lots of people sing. There's nothing super OMGOMGOMG that I could see that would get him a successful Vegas act. Yes, he can be a successful singer, but people don't go to Vegas just for singing.

[fyliwionvilyaer.livejournal.com]

Honestly I was really penning for those two myself- but if basing it off last nights performance... fighting gravity didn't give as great a show as I felt they could. A: the door bit B: it was more of what they'd done. I agree that they've already got it made with a vegas show.

I think the thing wiht Michael Grimm is he's got both performance and voice- I mean he's by no means Stevie Ray Vaughn, but that's what I thought of when I heard him and he's damn good.

I agree on Ave Marie as a "hard" song though... i had two voice teachers almost have me sing it as my operatic piece... and trust me... they were picking EASIEST peices.

At least it looks like Poppycock may get his own rock opera regardless ^^;;

[mizunosakura.livejournal.com]

I think they did a really good job, but it's true that they did kind of mess up a bit. Though, I don't blame them or Poppycock for going back to what they originally kind of did because it shows that they can still do all ranges--even ones at the beginning and it's not just a one time king.

Yeah--I agree. It's just...not what I think of when I think of Vegas, if that makes sense.

I had an Opera class down from my Piano class (My piano teacher played there after our class) and one girl had some in asking for help and she told her "Ave Maria" was the easiest to start with--it's also one I've heard... a lot (Very common for a hard song then?) and one I've sung before without any training so it's just...I've heard and seen it so many times and have even tried it myself and never found it hard like some other songs. I'm not saying it's not hard in general--because Opera isn't easy--but I was saying it wasn't a "hard" Opera piece so I found her dialog saying how this song was hard compared to her other songs very odd.

True :P

[jeva-chan.livejournal.com]

I think "Ave Maria" is one of those songs that's not hard from a technical aspect, but from a musical one, it is rather challenging.

There's a band piece called "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral" and while it's not a hard piece at all from a technical aspect--long notes and simple, moving parts--it's rated 5 in level of difficulty due to its MUSICAL complication. Any idiot can play the piece, but to play the piece not only well, but beautifully and well-balanced and with spirit is something altogether different.

That's my opinion anyway. She did a lovely job with singing it, really. It was just kind of painful to watch a kid like her reach those low notes that have to be murder to her throat and voice one day down the line.

[mizunosakura.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Professor Layton definitely is made of win XXD The game makes me so happy <3

[fyliwionvilyaer.livejournal.com]

Yay I kinda wanted to keeel poppycock. That's not the stage to do serious... not with a little girl who does sing/look angelic (technique or not, and range or not... you just don't see little girls sing like that. Not that have that suspicious gold hair around them... do I want her to win... not really sure (has a bias opinon against small children in these things)) but I agree that poppycock screwed up, since much of what made him win again the others was his showmanship. Otherwise it's three very different voices against one another.

[jeva-chan.livejournal.com]

I personally commend Prince Poppycock for daring to go against the grain of even his own performances. The reason why Prince Poppycock caught the judges' eyes to begin with is because they were expecting one thing and got something else. He's a contrary dandy, that's his character when he's on stage. And he suits that role perfectly by totally pulling the rug out from under his audience by taking a more serious performance for the finale.

Piers, however, was just plain rude to buzz in the middle of his performance. It was a dick move, especially from someone who once said Prince Poppycock was his "becoming his little guilty pleasure" not two performances ago. Sharon was right to get onto his case about it and to point out that it was Prince Poppycock's show, America would be the decider. Not the judges any longer. They can give their opinions, but for crissake at least wait until his performance is over, even if you didn't particularly care for it! What an insult!

As for Michael Grimm, I adore his voice, I do. But I'm biased against covers and I don't think he'd last very long on a Las Vegas stage, to be honest. There's not really anything truly original or memorable about him except his voice is lovely. So I am reserved.

As for Jackie--your input on the matter is exactly what I was thinking! The whole being young and her voice changing and the sound of it possibly being ruined by how she's singing now. Not only that but the whole little girl aspect of things also makes me go, "This girl is not a Las Vegas show, what are you people doing." I really hope she doesn't win. She has so many other chances elsewhere.

And finally Fighting Gravity was actually a fun an entertaining performance! But Piers did have a point when he said they kind of ruined the magic of it at the end of that last performance with the light flashing behind them. It ruined this show for them, but it's something they have to really be careful of in the future and it's so easy to mess up in blacklight shows. So I'm a bit ambivalent about them, but it's really between them or Poppycock, I would think.

tl;dr Jeva has opinions.

[luminece.livejournal.com]

Dang it, girl, I'm still waiting for my copy to come in. (My spouse bundled it with our copy of FFXIII – yes, we're slow, I know).
I'm looking forward to it greatly.

[gomath02.livejournal.com]

Watched Jackie Evancho sing on Leno tonight... the arms... she looks like Ricky Bobby in his first TV interview...

'I don't know what to do with my hands...'
'Just keep them down at your sides...'
(hands creeping up slowly...)