I can't belive this is my first post about American Idol, considering I've been watching it religiously since year one. The funny thing is I still don't understand why I'm addicted to it. I mean I'm not even really into regular pop music, top 40 kind of stuff, yet each year I watch. I did end up really liking Kelly and now she's huge and I get tired of hearing her all the time (which is probably the 1 reason why I don't like top 40, they take a song you might like and then play it every five minutes until you want to shoot yourself everytime you hear it). Anyways as I was telling catscratchziggy, we were a split household this year so we didn't vote (bad us!). My husband likes Jordin and I like Blake. Personally I don't think it matters too much who wins. At least the top 3 (probably 4) are going to get signed by someone. Having the crown doesn't really even entitle you to be 1. Yeah it worked for Kelly and Carrie (and I guess Fantasia now that I think about it, but that year was crap and I don't care for her really), but Reuben who? Not to mention Daughtry who came in 3rd last year and is wiping the floor with everyone. Anyways, back to the point in question, I think I like Blake first and foremost because I pretty much like anyone who comes on idol and instead of singing the same old boring 12 songs everyone picks from, has the balls to do something different. And the best part of it was he didn't even have to go all out and be the token "rocker" like it usually takes to be considered different, he managed to do it while still staying within the boundaries of what would be considered marketable to a pop audience. I didn't always like the fact that he felt like he needed to beat-box EVERYTHING. Sometimes I wouldn't have minded if he just put a new spin or twist on something without having to listen to all that noise. "You Give Love a Bad Name" was a perfect example I hated that whole bit with the record player, I wish he would have reprised "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane instead, which IMHO was his best performance (with "All Mixed Up" by 311 coming in a close second), but I think he sold out to the judges there, because they didn't dig the Keane song too much (I think Paula hadn't even ever heard the original if I remember her comments), which is also why I think he ended up doing Maroon 5 for his second song (having been told about ten times by Randy the week before that that was the style he should go for). I think if I were allowed to pick for him I would have chosen "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. I think it would have sounded awesome if he beat-boxed the dance groove and he has the voice that I think he could hit the higher parts if he falsettoed a little bit. As far the final "fan written" song, I was most disappointed here, I realize it wasn't his "genre" but I find it hard to belive they make you sing it exactly as it was written. I kept wanting him to do something with it, but instead he just delivered it note for note like a robot, and I think that's ultimately what's going to lose him the crown tonight. It will be a bummer, but as I previously said it's not going to matter, he will have an album and as of now I am planning on buying it (we'll see when it actually comes out if I still like the idea of it by then). He'd prbably get signed regardless of talent just because he's easy on the eyes (though personally I liked him best with the black and red hair he had for Bon Jovi week better than the usualk blonde or white highlights), but the kid definately has something and if you don't belive me then you obviously haven't seen this YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV32sNC97qc

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Yep, I'm back from London. I'll write more on that later when I'm feeling creative. For now I just thought maybe someone else might get a giggle out of the name of this place:OverijsselIt's in the Netherlands, someone from there listens to my podcast. I dunno how it's pronounced but looking at it it should sound something like Ovary Jizzel which really sounds like some kind of pr0n thing....

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So I'm here just counting the hours. I am finally going to London which is pretty much someplace I have wanted to go since I was a little kid (circa 1980, so sevenish) and one of my favorite movies was "Oh Heavenly Dog" (wow this post is full of Chevy Chase references). For some reason I just downed a glass of chocolate milk and a gay pride parade cookie monster (basically a whoopie pie only they normally put blue jimmies all over the outside and give it m&m eyes to make it look like Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, only mine was like pink white and green jimmies so it was a little weird, maybe it was suppose to be Zoe or something), so I should be fun and exciting to sit next to on the plane ride (wheee sugar rush!)Hopefully I'll remember to take some fun photos to post (i'm really tempted to take one of those ones where you pretend you're leaning against Big Ben like Garfield does in A Tale of Two Kitties but I bet the locals look at you like you're a looney if you try and do that). And yes I watched that movie, my husband and I both like Garfield... and the first one was worth it just for the part where he dances to Hey Mama by the Black Eyed Peas, so I figured it'd be worth a shot, incidentally it's only good if you liked the first one if you didn't you'll hate this one more. P.S. Selina if you see this, check out the reply I left you on the previous message, maybe we can figure out some way to meeet/get together (I couldn't figure anything out, but you're probably more aware of how to travel around Europe etc. than I am).

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Current Chart Position: 242 Thoughts: Did you ever picture yourself to not be a certain type of person, not having really tried it, only to find out when you did try it you liked it. Well that's me with westerns. I didn't think I was a western person. No one would ever look at me or talk to me and think I was a western person, yet the more of them I see the more of them I realize I actually like. Or at least the ones that seem to be on this 250 list plus two others that I know of off the top of my head. I began this film not expecting to like it. In fact it started off a tiny bit slow and it took me the better part of two days just to get through the first 40 minutes just because I have a short attention span, and kept wandering off to pack (more on that later) or check my e-mail. I finally forced myself to actually sit down and pay attention to it, and I'm glad I did. Let me start by saying the stereotypes in this are a bit laughable. Maybe they weren't so much in 1962, but I definitely found John Wayne's character, as well as the bumbling town marshall, and town drunk/newspaper publisher character quite laughable at times, and let me not forget the minor group of random "mexicans" that suddenly show up towards the end, who couldn't have been portrayed any more poorly had they been in a Speedy Gonzales cartoon. Despite all this I really got into this movie for the meat of it's plot which largely focused on the main characters struggles to rid themselves of oppression from the local bully/bandit and bring truth and justice into their early frontier town. Most compelling and admirable of all was Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) {once you got used to him saying "pilgrim" every five minutes} and all he ended up sacrificing in the name of justice. He definitely ended up sacrificing his own happiness for the greater good, which if you read my video game guys post, you know is one of the traits which I find most admirable. I don't want to delve into it too deeply for fear of spoiling it, but it made me realize a little why people used to admire him so much. Ishtar's Rating System: Plot: As previously stated, I loved this story. I liked even more that they chose to do the major portion of the plot in flashback format. Four Stars Characters: As previously stated, you do end up liking these characters, though they start off being a little too over-the top. Two and 1/2 Stars Technical: I'm not too savvy on how this rates cinematography or lighting wise with other pictures of the time. It seemed to be relatively straight forward in it's delivery and I don't remember anything overly fancy going on other that the one scene where Ransom goes after Liberty and is told to "step into the light". Two and 1/2 Stars Overall: Three Stars I know you're saying three stars doesn't sound that great, but trust me I grade hard unless I really love something it almost always gets a two star rating, to get four stars (like the plot) is a very rare thing. Also I would say that I consider plot to be the most important rating of my three with the other two categories being an added bonus that if done right can further enhance the plot. in other words, if I give the plot a four, it's probably worth seeing regardless of how the overall looks (unless the characters and technical were so poor it ruined the plot, this would be indicated by a rating of one or zero stars).

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The same should be said about the film. it was free for me and I still want my 140 minutes back!! http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/05/09

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Um.. no I mean it's all legitimate. I earned it fair and square.! Never mind that body at the bottom of the Charles River. *AHEM*Anyways in an effort to actually make my journal interesting (because right now, let's face it; it's boring as shit) I have purchased a paid account. Now not only am I not limited to 6 pitiful icons, but perhaps the fact that I am actually paying money for this will make me write something witty or at least useful. I must admit that part of this is because Chris is taking right forever to get Ishtar's Atomic Supermarket back up and working (though when it is, it will RAWK big time because WordPress you are the syrup on my waffles baby!). It's Ok he just got married... again.. so I forgive him. As part of this process I am going to undo the friends only-ness of my journal and make some fine tuning (most of which involves losing the memes which are trite and filler and even though they are fun for a minute and a half, really no one seems to consistently read your journal when you have that shite). So yeah this is the first post of the hopefully new and improved journal. Take that you bitches (I only say it because I love you so).

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So somewhere in a post here (and possibly my profile, I don't remember) I am sure I have mentioned that I am trying to watch all the movies on the IMDB 250. This is a task to say the least, because no matter how hard I try, I just find some of these movies just plain boring. Also there is the fact that some movies I have seen, but I am making myself watch them again. This has worked out well on at least one occasion regarding a movie I thought I didn't like "Fight Club" and now it turns out I do like now that I saw it again. So now and then I think I'll be posting little blubs about the films I am watching.P.S. I am bored of my music again. I need something new that doesn't suck. Send me suggestions damn it!

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O.K. So I was just rewatching "Terminator" and I want someone else to explain this to me, because even now 23 years after this film, I am still very confused. So Kyle came back from the future to save Sarah Connor and ends up impregnating her so she can then later have John Connor. Is anyone else really confused by the quantum mechanics of all this? Referring to a different movie (where they at least attempted to explain the existence of time paradox) "Back to the Future". If you remember when Marty's mom originally started developing a crush of Marty instead of George (Marty's dad) Marty and his siblings begin to disappear from the family photo, essentially indicating that due to the paradox in the timeline they would cease to exist. (There are however a number of other time issues in this movie which despite thier trying to pay attention to it, still exist, but I'll save that discussion for another time). So by that rationale alone shouldn't John Connor's birth be completely messed up? Firstly theres just kind of an endless loop question I can't seem to comprehend. Sort of that whole chicken and egg theory. In order for John to exist Kyle has to travel back in time and impregnate Sarah, but in order for Kyle to come back to the past John has to exist in the first place to start the revolution against the machines that ultimately leads the machines to send a Terminator back to the past to try to kill Sarah in the first place. My head just starts spinning with the circular reasoning it takes to believe this is at all plausible! Not only that how can Kyle exist in both time periods? This is something I never understood about time travel in the first place (regardless of movies or books). Once you go back to a point before you were born shouldn't you unexist? I realize they offer a little in the way of explanation here by choosing to have Kyle die at the end., therefore he's only actually existing in two planes for a short period of time, but still how the frig do you get impregnated by a guy who's not even born yet? Oh and what's the deal with the photo? In the future Kyle pulls out a photo of Sarah. I think on the first couple of viewings I just assumed he was given it as sort of a reconaissance thing. You know so he knew who he was supposed to contact when he went back in time. But the more and more I think of it, does he actually have this photo because he remembers having been in love with her? Did he steal it from John? It's definately creepy at best when you think about it too much.