Friday, December 20, 2013

The 100 Hottest Hot Chicks of 2013




Chloe Bennet is hot
1. Chloe Bennet

2. Selena Gomez

3. Ashley Benson

4. Jaimie Alexander

5. Margot Robbie

6. Alison Brie

7. Kaley Cuoco

8. Emily Ratajkowski

9. Alexandra Daddario

10. Kate Upton

Selena Gomnez is hot
11. Kate Mara

12. Carrie Underwood

13. Ashley Greene

14. Sarah Hyland

15. Jennifer Lawrence

16. Emma Stone

17. Emma Watson

18. Lily Cole

19. Kat Denning

Ashley Benson is hot
20. Mary Elizabeth Winstead

21. Andrea Boehlke

22. Megan Boone

23. Lizzy Caplan

24. Cecily Strong

25. Bella Heathcote

26. Julie Gonzalo

27. Shay Mitchell

28. Abigail Spencer

29. Vanessa Hudgens

Jaimie_Alexander is hot
30. Alice Eve

31. Amber Heard

32. Amanda Setton

33. Dreama Walker

34. Emilia Clarke

35. Kate Bock

36. Molly Quinn

37. Aubrey Plaza

38. Holliday Grainger

39. Janel Parrish

Margot Robbie is hot
40. Analeigh Tipton

41. Nicole Gale Anderson

42. Maggie Grace

43. Maggie Lawson

44. Jenna-Louise Colman

45. Emily Didonato

46. Alexandra Chando

47. Meagan Good

48. Monica Potter

49. Fiona Gubelmann

Alison Brie is hot
50. Natalie Portman

51. Gemma Arterton

52. Génesis Rodríguez

53. Seychelle Gabriel

54. Leven Rambin

55. Lucy Hale

56. Kerry Washington

57. Hayden Panettiere

58. Jane Levy

59. Merritt Patterson

Kaley Cuoco is hot
60. Teresa Palmer

61. Addison Timlin

62. Briga Heelan

63. Jessica Gomes

64. Jamie Chung

65. Tatiana Maslany

66. Christine Teigen

67. Cintia Dicker

68. Rose McIver

69. Brie Larson

Emily Ratajkowski is hot
70. Carly Craig

71. Alyssa Miller

72. Nina Agdal

73. Rachel Nichols

74. Claire Coffee

75. Emily Kinney

76. Elizabeth Debicki

77. Elizabeth Henstridge

78. Jessy Schram

79. Amanda Seyfried

Alexandra Daddario is hot
80. Michelle Trachtenberg

81. Mila Kunis

82. Rachel Boston

83. Emma Roberts

84. Kate Bosworth

85. Jordana Brewster

86. Rachel Bilson

87. Genevieve Morton

88. Erika Christensen

89. Rachel McAdams

Kate Upton is hot
90. Rachael Leigh Cook

91. Caroline Glaser

92. Britt Robertson

93. Ella Rae Peck

94. Eliza Coupe

95. Katherine Webb

96. Toks Olagundoye

97. Stana Katic

98. Emma Rigby

99. Emmy Rossum

100. Jayma Mays

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Lyrics Quiz: Best of 2013



I quietly ended my monthly lyrics quiz earlier this year for last of interest from me and people wanting to participate. I thought I would resurrect it here again at year’s end to highlight some of my favorite lyrics from the past twelve months. You are welcome to guess which songs they belong to in the comment section, both title and artist, and I will give you credit if correct.

1. If you’re still breathing then you’re the lucky one because most of us are breathing through corrupted lungs.
2. I’m kind of over being told to throw my hands up in the air. So there.
3. May you only need the light when you’re burning low. Only miss the sun when it starts to snow. (Let Her Go - All the Little Lights - Passenger; guessed by Kevin)
4. Life’s a game made for everyone and love is the prize. (Wake Me Up - Avicii; guessed by Kevin)
5. The art of MC’ing mixed with da Vinci and MC Ren and I don’t mean Stimpy’s friend. Been public enemy since you thought PE was gym. (Berzerk - Eminem; guessed by Kevin)
6. Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay, brother’s hooked on Mary Jane, daddy’s hooked on Mary two doors down. (Merry Go 'Round - Kacey Musgraves; guessed by pcacala)
7. Irish and Proud, baby, naturally, but you got the luck of a Kennedy. So grab the wheel and keep holding it tight.
8. And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love. Grey clouds roll over the hills bringing darkness from above. But if you close your eyes, does it feel like nothing changed at all?
9. We’ve come too far to give up who we are. So let’s raise the bar and our cups to the stars.
10. Put your record on, let the band play the song all about all about love and believing. Good for you.
11. I’m gonna paint you by numbers and colour you in. If things go right we can frame it and put you on a wall.
12. You’re like a mirror reflecting me. Takes one to know one so take it from me. You’ve been lonely, you’ve been lonely too long. We’ve been lonely, we’ve been lonely too long.
13. I’m in misery where you can seem as old as your omens.
14. I’ve got my ticket for the long way ‘round, two bottles of whiskey for the way. I I sure would like some sweet company.
15. You’re like 22 girls in one and none of them know what they’re running from. Was it just too far to fall?
16. What would Jeromey Romey Romey Rome think?
17. I told you on the day we wed I was gonna love you ‘til I was dead. Made you wait ‘til our wedding night. That’s the first and the last time I’ll wear white.
18. I don’t mind sentimental girls at time. Miss don’t walk away.
19. Come find me know, we’ll hide out. We’ll speak in our secret tongues. Will you come back to my corner? Spent too long alone tonight. Would you come and brighten my corner?
20. It’s a fake, it’s a con. The nature of the road you’re on. Let me see your skeleton well before your life is done.
21. It’s not just all physical. I’m the type who will get oh so critical. So let’s make things physical. I won’t treat you like you’re oh so typical.
22. All I am is a man. I want the world in my hands. I hate the beach but I stand in California with my toes in the sand. (Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood; guessed by pcacala)
23. Tonight’s it’s me and you alone. Won’t make a call, won’t even write a song.
24. And the memories we makde will never be lost, no. And the look on your face we both knew the cost. But the wind, yes the wind keeps howling.
25. What rhymes with hug me?

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 12/18/13


Tomorrow I start my Best of 2013 lists, but before then, I thought I would have a rare mid week 57 Channels post because of all the television on Sunday that deserves some analysis. As for the best of list, you can contribute by filling out the 9th Green's Readers Favorite Songs of 2013 Poll at the bottom of this page (or just click the link).

Quote of the Week: If you had just discovered after 30 years that I was a martian, the least I could do was explain to you life on mars. (Margaret Scully, Masters of Sex)

Song of the Week: Days Are Gone – Haim (Revenge)

Big News of the Week: Hall and Oats Finally in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The inductees for next year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced yesterday and to little surprise, Nirvana were a first ballot inductee (though I would have held off the twenty-fifth anniversary of Nevermind). After Rush was inducted this year, another long overlooked rock act with a feverish fan base Nirvana are also in. Peter Gabriel also got in for the second time, he originally was inducted as part of Genesis and this time will be as a solo artist. And things will get mellow with the inclusion of Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt. But for my money, the show will be headlined by Hall & Oates the greatest duo in the history of music. I am guessing the reason it took a decade and a half to be nominated (they were inducted after their first nomination) was because of those extremely cheesy eighties music video.

Once Upon a Time: After a really bad first half of the season, this show really needed a reboot, and surprisingly they actually did it, Storybrooke no longer exists, everyone is back in fairytale land where they left off with no recollection of what happened. While Emma and Henry live as is she never gave him up. Okay, this storyline reeks of the flash forwards on the final season of Lost, but as least we know now it will not all turn out to be purgatory (at least hopefully not). But why does Bae go back to fairytale land? He was in the real world when the curse went into effect. And if everything goes back to the way it was pre-curse, does this mean everyone who died will be resurrected. I am guessing that would be the best way to bring Rumplestiltkin back. Of course if that is the case then Peter Pan, the Huntsman, et al will also be resurrected.

With Neverland behind us (hopefully), we did get a glimpse of what is ahead. And no I do not really care how Captain Hook got his memory back. Nope, the real news is we got a glimpse on the next Big Bad: The Wicked Witch of the West. Get ready for some embarrassingly bad CGI flying monkeys.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: The only thing I hoped for with the finale was that Brody died a horrible death and the writer finally followed through. If only two seasons too late. I was also kind of hoping Carrie would have a miscarriage but unfortunately that did not happen. But hopefully for next season grandpa and auntie take care of the Brody spawn because raising a kid in Istanbul sounds like a horrible idea. And I am guessing that Saul will be part of Carrie’s team in Istanbul. Though how Carrie got a promotion is pretty befuddling after everything she has done over the past season and a half.

Revenge: The series started off with Daniel (presumably at the time) getting shot, so I guess it is almost apropos that he ended up being on the other end of the gun for the teaser to this season. Though it is hard to believe even a drunk Daniel would shoot Emily. Unfortunately the teaser for the second half of the teaser has Emily with amnesia, one of my three least favorite plots on television. Hopefully we learn by the first episode she is faking because I really hate amnesia plotlines.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Revenge on iTunes.

Masters of Sex: Greatest colligate presentation ever. But shockingly the rainmaker got fired for it. So will another college take a chance on him or will he have to go back to running studies at whorehouses? I will be spending the next nine month trying to not go to Wikipedia to avoid spoilers. I did make it through three seasons of Deadwood without checking out history reports on the subject.

How I Met Your Mother: The Mother is so inconsequential that I completely forgot that she ran into Lily until she brought it up. The writers really should have came up with a good storyline for the Mother before actually folding her into the show because of right now, I am not sure if she even make the top 5 of the Ted Mosbey Girlfriend Power Rankings.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com. You can also download How I Met Your Mother on iTunes.

The Sing-Off: Last week’s promo had me a little worried for the safety of Vocal rush and they did inexplicably end up in the Ultimate Sing-Off (even though Voice Play definitely should have been in the bottom two). But thankfully they did make it out unscaved and got two performances from the group. Though I do hope it is the last time we see the group in the bottom because they are significantly better than everyone else this season except Home Free and maybe Ten (that really should be the final three). Since only half of the groups performed, my Power Ranking has unchanged from Sunday with the exception of Element getting the ax.

1. Vocal Rush
2. Home Free
3. Ten
4. acoUstiKats
5. The Filharmonic
6. VoicePlay


Free Download of the Week: Something About December – Christina Perri (iTunes)

Video of the Week: We are a year away from Interstellar from hitting theaters, but you can have your first look now. Well, it mostly looks like stock footage except for a quick glimpse of Matthew McConaughey driving on a country road (which says nothing since the movie supposedly is about space). But that is enough for me consider the movie comes from Christopher Nolan, the guy behind Memento, Inception, oh, yeah, and the Batman trilogy.


Next Week Pick of the Week: What else is there aside from ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas?



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The 25 Contestants Who Most Deserve a Second Chance on The Voice


Tonight is the season finale and unlike last season where I checked out early but still tuned back in for the finale, there is really no reason to watch tonight. The finalists are all lackluster and even the musical guest are just as uninteresting (when will programmers learn Lady Gaga makes more people turn off the television than actually tune in to see her). And it is clear as why the last two seasons were not as good as the first three: a lack of talent. Those first three seasons saw a slew of semi-professionals (and a few actual professional) but the last two seasons have been for the mostly armatures. I do not know if they are just unable to recruit the semi-professionals (although I sure there are still some Warped Tour veterans and Alicia Keys backup singers out there even though there were none of them for the very first time this season) or if they are making a conscience effort to pluck someone straight from their bedroom (which is a horrible idea; let American Idol be the amateur hour). If there is a lack of talent out there, the solution is simple, start bringing back contestants from previous seasons that should have gone further than they did. Mark Burnett loves All-Star seasons; six of the last eight Survivor seasons featured returning players. Unfortunately the Blind Auditions for season six have already filmed, but here are twenty-five contestants that deserve a second shot at being The Voice sometime in the near future.

1. Holly Henry (Team Blake, Season 5): I thought Cee-Lo picking Erin Martin over The Shields Brothers was an untouchable dumbest move in The Voice history, but Blake, who was the smartest coach on the show, managed to take that title this past season. How she did not make the Live show was befuddling enough but to lose to some dude singing Genie in a Bottle who would go on to ruin Blurred Lines worse than Miley Cyrus and her foam finger was just a crime against humanity. Adding insult to injury, Adam mentioned he did not Steal her because she did not live up to early performance who then picked James Wolpert, someone who also did not live up to his Blind Audition, over Juhi who was significantly better that round. Holly was Blake’s best chance of winning this season and not surprisingly because of his blunder he is without a finalist for the first time ever this season. And I was not the only one who thought this because not surprisingly the ratings tanked the episode after Holly was eliminated with the most lost viewers for performance episodes in the history of the show (not counting season 2 when it had numerous big drops after starting right after the Super Bowl.)

2. Caroline Glaser (Team Blake and Adam, Season 4): You will not see too many people who made the live shows on the list because if you are rejected by the voters, that is that, but there were a few extraneous situations. Caroline gave my favorite Blind Audition that season and at the time it seemed like she wisely picked Blake as her coach considering how well he did other young female singer-songwriters like Dia Frampton and Cassadee Pope. But unbeknownst to Caroline and the viewing public at the time, Blake for the first season decided to pit all his country singers against non-country singers in the Battle Round with all the country singers moving on. Caroline went up against Danielle Bradbery and I would have given the match to Caroline (and I am not the only one, Caroline’s version of Put Your Records On outperformed Danielle’s. But Caroline did get Adam and Usher to fight to Steal her and despite Adam had the much stronger team, Caroline did manage to make it to the Live Show. And when she got there, Adam stuck her with The A-Team (a subdued, somewhat obscure song about a heroine addicted hooker; not something that would be endearing to potential voters) yet still was the fifth or sixth best selling song of the round. The only problem was two of the singers that outsold her were on Team Adam. Except it was Amber Carrington, who was the best selling of the bunch, and Judith Hill, who barely cracked the top 100 on iTunes were America’s Saves and Caroline, who was probably sold the second most songs on iTunes through the first four rounds (and the only person that week who had all four of their songs on iTunes Overall Chart), was stuck in the bottom two with the only person who outsold her up to that point that season, Sarah Simmons. Adam saves Sarah, Caroline goes home, and yet ten contestants she out sold that week advanced. And let us not forget the “voting irregularities” that happened that week. On a none-country season, Caroline could have been a real contender.

3. Jesse Campbell (Team Christina, Season 2): Another singer who made the Live Shows except Jesse went home not because the voters did not save him. Season two saw the advent of the Instant Elimination where during the second week of the Live Shows, after every performed, each coach would eliminate one of their contestants before they have the chance of being saved by the voting public. Blake went diplomatic, sending Jordis Unga home because she did not relieve the fans votes the week before. Cee-Lo and Adam cut their weakest performers James Massone and Pip respectively. Christina had a couple option, she could have, like Blake, sent home Ashley De La Rosa who she had to save the week before. I was hoping she would send Chris Mann packing because he was utterly boring. She could have even cut Lindsey Pavao loose after giving an uninspiring performance of a Katy Perry song. Nope, Christina cut her frontrunner leading to GIF-able reactions from her fellow coaches. This started off a chain reaction that put Chris Mann into the finals and was the weakest finalist in the show’s history until Michelle Chamuel unseated him. And the conspiracy theorist in my would hypothesize that all the RnB singers voted for Jermaine Paul out of spite of Jesse’s premature ousting leading to a lackluster winner. And I am pretty sure Jermaine and Chris making the finals despite being crushed by RaeLynn and Pavao every week had something to do with the addition of the iTunes bonus starting the very next season.

4. The Shields Brothers! (Team Cee-Lo, Season 2): I feel bad for the Shields Brothers, they seemed to revel in being on the losing end of the worst decision ever in the history of The Voice, but now have to settle for number two. But where Holly could have went on to win, the Brothers Shield probably go out the very next round. But still, they did not deserve to lose to Erin Martin. No one deserves to lose to Erin Martin. A dying cat should not have lost to Erin Martin. But The Shields Brothers can rest in the solace of still being the most entertaining contestants in the history of The Voice.

5. Rebecca Loebe (Team Adam, Season 1): Adam has stated in interviews that he sabotaged his own team the first season to make sure Javier Colon had an easy path to the finals. With that knowledge, it is hard to not think of Rebecca. She gave the most interesting Blind Audition of the first season with a haunting rendition of Come as You Are. She seemed poised to win her Battle Round, but Adam chose the unmemorable accountant looking dude (I cannot even remember his name and do not even care enough to look it up but think may have changed his name to James Wolpert and tried out again this season).

Caroline Glaser
6. Ducky (Team No One, Season 2): One thing the show is missing is a legitimate rock judge. Adam is supposed to be the toke rock judge, but he rarely turns around for any rockers; really none of them do except occasionally Cee-Lo and Shakira will take a flyer and promptly dump them a round or two later. Ducky broke out a cool song by The Black Keys and yet not one pressed button. Making this worse, starting in season three, the show started bringing back people who were rejected the season before, but instead of bringing back Ducky for season three, they brought back the still pitchy Daniel Rosa and extremely bland Dez Duron.

7. Jamie Lono (Team Cee-Lo, Season 2): Sometimes it seems like makes his decisions by just flipping a coin. The pairing of Jamar Rogers and Jamie Lono maybe the dumbest pairing in Voice history. I do understand pairing two strong contestants together to keep your team diverse, but Jamie and Jamar shared nothing in common except their boy parts. Making things worse is that Cee-Lo Live Show team featured Erin Martin, Tony Vincent, James Massone, and Chessa, who made it two rounds before being eliminated. With no team quotas, they may have been the first four out that season. Jamie was way better than those four. And since there was no Steal back in season two, Jamie went home way sooner than he should have.

8. Nelly's Echo (Team Christina, Season 3): Christina’s team the third season was laughably bad, they just were all boring pop singer. The two exceptions were De'Borah and Nelly’s Echo. Of course she paired them together. And though De’Borah deserved the win, Nelly’s Echo deserved a Steal. Though I am not sure there were any left because if my memory serves me correctly Carson did not give his obligatory, “Let me remind you coaches, Nelly’s Echo is available for a Steal.” I do have a suggestion how to get around the lack of Steals for latest Battles below.

9. Jane Smith (Team No One, Season 4): Despite the plain name, Jane was anything but, she gave a fun performance of a Florence + The Machine song. Usually Florence should be a stay away for karaoke performance, but Jane did a great job. I fully expected to see her back for season five because Cee-Lo would have been a much better fit than any of the coaches from season four. Except instead they only brought back the unmemorable Matt Cermanski and James Irwin. Really, aside from Daniel Rosa, the only people that have gotten a second chance were cute boys.

10. Charlotte Sometimes (Team Blake, Season 2): Another iTunes head scratcher, for the first Live Show of the season, Charlotte was just spots behind RaeLynn on the charts, yet when America’s Saves were announced, RaeLynn was joined by Jermaine Paul and Erin Willett who barely even made the charts that week. Then for some reason Blake decided to save Jordis Unga over the much more interesting Ms. Sometimes.

11. Juhi (Team Cee-Lo and Adam, Season 5): Juhi was one of the rare singers on the show who improved in each of her first three performances. Her version of Heard it through the Grapevine was sassy, fun, thoroughly entertaining, she was the first stolen artist to ever perform a song specifically aimed at their former coach (and Cee-Lo seemed to eat it up). She ended up losing to James Wolpert who could not hit the most important notes during his cringeworthy rendition of More than a Feeling.

12. Emily Earle (Team Cee-Lo, Season 3): Emily was montaged during her Blind Audition and when that happens I assume it is for one of two reasons: 1) the performance just was not good, or 2) they are about to lose to someone they should not lose to. I am inclined to believe Emily got the montage treatment for reason two. She was at a disadvantage forced to sing a cheesy pop song but she bought in one hundred percent and wiped the floor with MacKenzie Bourg who squeaked through the whole performance. Adam and Blake thought Emily was better, Christina just talked about how MacKenzie looked, yet Cee-Lo in another stupid decision picked MacKenzie. Maybe he thought the teen girls would vote for MacKenzie, but as soon as the public got to vote for him, he was gone.

13. Lelia Broussard (Team Blake, Season 3): Lelia does not have the kind of voice you would expect to find in a singing competition which is exactly why the show needs her voice. Unfortunately she got montaged and was put up against stiff competition in the Battle Round and disappointingly did not get stolen despite deserving to get stolen over everyone else that did that season not named Amanda Brown.

14. Nicole Nelson (Team Adam, Season 3): As I stated earlier, Adam has admitted to sabotaging his own team and that may be the only reason Nicole, who was one of his best singers that season, got sent home prematurely by a fodder contestant who got montaged twice. Had there been steals in the Knockout Round that season Nicole would have undoubtedly been snatched up. (Well she should have but the coaches have made some head scratchingly bad steals before).

15. Elenowen (Team Blake, Season 1): This duo shocked everyone because, well, they were a duo. But the problem with duos is they make the Battle Rounds awkward (or even more awkward then they already are) which may be why only two have ever won their. I thought Elenowen deserved to win theirs.

16. Caitlin Michele (Team Adam and Cee-Lo, Season 3): You have to wonder if things would have been different had Caitlin just went with Blake in the Blind Audition. Instead she went with Adam who cut her loose in the Battle Round. Blake tried to Steal her, but she instead went with Cee-Lo who then dumped her in the Knockout Round (for the uninspiring Diego Val). And there was no Steal in the Knockout Round that season for Blake to finally pick her up; though she may have chosen Christina instead).

17. Kameron Corvet (Team No One, Season 3): Here is a guy who did a cool version of Seal’s Crazy but for reason he did not get anyone to turn around. And he definitely deserved a second chance more than Garrett Gardner, who was the only season three reject asked back.

18. Suzanna Choffel (Team Blake, Season 3): For the first three seasons I agreed with Blake almost one hundred percent of the time (the last two, not so much). And though you cannot fault Blake for choosing Cassadee over Suzanna since she went on to win the whole season, but these two should not even been put together. Suzanna could have easily went further than some of the people who made Blake’s Live Show that season including Michaela Paige, Julio Cesar Castillo and Liz Davis who were all eliminated in short order. What is worse there was no Steals in the Knockout Round this season so reprieve for Suzanna.

19. Julia Eason (Team Christina, Season 1): Christina’s team during the first season is quite easily the weakest team in the show’s history in part because she took the girl from Jersey Girl over Julia, who gave a bluesy twist on Mercy during her Blind Audition. Of course Christina picked the poppier Rachel who then performed Ke$ha (seriously, Ke$sha was sung for a singing competition) and was off the show right after that. Julia would have been better diversity for Christina’s team and the show that season.

20. Whitney Myer: (Team Adam, Season 2): Another early front-runner that just got railroaded by Adam in the first two season, losing a Battle Round to someone who made a quick exit but should have gotten a Steal if there was one in the second season.

21. Alexis Marceaux (Team Cee-Lo, Season 3): A lot has been made about Blake’s all country season, especially by me, but in season three, Cee-Lo pitted all his females against dudes in season three and picked guys every time. Stole two females, they sent five guys to the Live Rounds. Alexis was paired in the Battle Round with Daniel Rosa who was all over the place. Blake and Christina picked Alexis, but Cee-Lo went against the grain yet again and went with Daniel.

22. Ryan Innes (Team Usher, Season 4): Most everyone on this list were screwed by the coaches, Ryan’s wound was self-inflected. After one of the best Blind Auditions and best Battle Round performance, for his Knockout Round, Innes sounded drunk and his soulful voice turned into shouting which resulted in one of the most cringeworthy performances of the season. Usher then dumped who I thought at the time was Usher’s best chance of winning that season for Cáthia who made a quick exit at the Live Shows. Mark Burnett has done few seasons of Redemption Island on Survivor and if there is anyone one on The Voice that needs redemption, it is Ryan.

23. Malford Milligan (Team No One, Season 5): The only reject this past season that is worthy of a second chance, unfortunately he probably is not young enough to get one.

24. Savannah Berry (Team Blake, Season 4): Another self infected wound. When I thought Blake would still go with only one country singer in the Live Shows that he had done with the previous three seasons, I gave Savannah the slight end over Danielle Bradberry for that token spot because her Blind Audition was much stronger. Then she chose to sing Justin Bieber. Never chose to sing Justin Bieber if you are given the choice in a singing competition. Ever. lBake instead picked some dude who gave a lackluster performance over her and Danielle went on to win season four. Again, never pick a Justin Bieber song. Ever.

25. Mary Miranda (Team Shakira, Season 4): I never at any point thought Mary would actually win The Voice, but no one that season, or maybe any season, had more star power and Mary had it in a Selena Gomez clone kind of way. She seemed poised to be Shakira’s pet project that season, picking her other the other Latina on the team Cathia in the Battle Round even though I thought Cathia was slghtly better. Then in the Knockout Round she got paired with Kris Thomas, another stand out on the team. Even Blake mentioned his surprised that Shakira put who he thought were her favorites against each other. The pre-package explained why: Shakira hated her song selection of Every Breath You Take. While not as good as Kris, Mary was significantly better than Garrett Gardner and Karina Iglesias who made quick exits when they went to the Live Show, a place where neither had any business being. If you have learned one thing from the last two singers on this list: the coaches on the show want you to stick with the genre you auditioned with.


For the other stats junkies out there here is how they all break down by Team and season.

Blake – 7
Adam – 6
Cee-Lo - 6
No On - 4
Christina – 3
Shakira – 1
Usher – 1

Season 1 - 3
Season 2 - 6
Season 3 - 8
Season 4 - 5
Season 5 - 3


I also have one for tweak to suggest. I was a big proponent of The Steal since a lot of talent was let go in the Battle Rounds during the second season. And though the Steal has saved a few worthy singers, Amanda Brown, Caroline Glaser, Cole Vosbury, but most seem to be wasted (Nic Hawk, MarissaAnn, Chevonne, Anthony Paul, Lina Gaudenzi, Collin McLoughlin, Alessandra Guercio, C. Perkins, Amber Nicole, and Karina Iglesias all should have gone to singers much more deserving). There is always coaches saying I wished I had a Save for so and so, but I am out. The fairest way is to gather all the losing contestants after each round and have each coach fight for two. But that may not be as good of television as pushing a button in the moment. So here is a suggestion to keep the Steal as it is and make it even more unpredictable and a bit fairer: give coaches unlimited Steals. Of course the catch is they will only take two from the Battle Round and one from the Knockout Round. So if they have more than two (or one) Steals at the end of the round, they will have pick who they want to take. Everyone (should) win, the singers going late in the rounds are not penalized, the coaches can take the strongest singers to the next round and not be stuck with a Steal they regret, and the audience wins because they will get to see the coaches fight over contestants because as constituted, as the Steals dwindle, the less likely coaches are going to fight over contestants. And of course with only one Battle left, everyone knows a Steal is coming next ruining the suspense. The show can even bring back the Last Chance Performance from the second season.

Or go completely radical and get rid of the Steal completely. But then when the Live Show starts, open up the show with five chairs as Carson tells to the coaches, “As you may have noticed there is a fifth chair on the stage. It is there because a lot of people on the internet thought you made some horrible decisions in letting go some of their favorite. So did Miranda Lambert* who has agreed to come on the show and coach some of the singers you rejected who are now officially back in the competition.”

*I picked Miranda because she was the first person who came to mind. Who would have not liked to see Miranda last season come on the show and beat her husband with Holly Henry on her team? If Miranda is unavailable, I would also suggest John Mayer, Alicia Keys, or Norah Jones (really if the show wants to completely reboot its judging crew, which it probably should do because the original four are getting stale and Usher and Shakira did not really do a very good job last season, this would be a great foursome). I would suggest bringing back contestants should be based on iTunes sales (maybe even start selling losers songs on iTunes from the Battle and Knockout Round or even the Blind Auditions of those who did not turn a chair), and maybe give Miranda or whoever one coach’s decision save. Just do not let Twitter decide who gets to be brought back. Just do not let Twitter decide anything ever again.

Monday, December 16, 2013

I Want My Music Television: 12/16/13




There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Beautiful War - Kings of Leon


I got excited when I saw one site said the new Kings of Leon video features a Friday Night Lights star. Is it Coach Taylor? Riggins? Smash? QB1 or 2? Maybe even Landry? Nope, it turn out to be the guy from the Friday Night Lights movie. Booo. Can we just call the guy the dude from the Tron reboot instead?


Holding on for Life – Broken Bells


Broken Bells recently released a short film for the upcoming album After the Disco (see part 1 and part 2) which recently got pared down for the music video of the first single. Both star Kate Mara who was the subject of a couple internet discussions of the Mara family Power Rankings. How that was even a debate I do not even know? Picking Kate over Rooney would be like picking Tito over Michael.


Over It – The Chrystal Method featuring Dia Frampton


My first thought when I heard Avicii’s Wake Me Up was I really would rather hear an “acoustic” version of the song. Same with the new Chrystal Method song. But where the originally Wake Me Up was still listenenable, the computer burps just run Over It. But it is nice seeing Dia Frampton smack a dude with cake.


Follow Your Arrow - Kacey Musgraves


I swear the new Kacey Musgraves music video is just a cuter, more colorful version of The Killer’s All These Things That I've Done.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

57 Channels and Only This Is On: 12/15/13



Once Upon a Time: And now Greek Mythology is on the table for the show (how long until Norse mythology is tied in and Thor shows up). It was recently announced that the chick from Lost will be joining the cast as the next Big Bad, I originally thought that she may be the human form of Ursula, who was last seen as extremely bad CGI), but maybe she will be a God. As for Peter Pan unleashing another curse I do not care (but I will put ten cents on Tinkerbell earning her wings by stopping it with pixiedust; speaking of fairies, when did having your shadow ripped from you kill you). Nor do I care that The Darlings saying they are going back home even though home is nineteenth century England.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.

Homeland: I did not think for a second that Brody had converted back to Al Qaida. It has come pretty obvious that the writers will never have Brody or Carrie turn on each other and have shown that have done the dumbest things for each other. And now Brody is in a heavily guarded compound with no way to escape (and very reminiscent to the way he assassinated the Vice President last season; why don powerful men keep inviting him into a room alone), but I am sure Carrie will still find a way to get him out even though the show would be much better without him.

Masters of Sex: Bill seeing Virginia throughout the episode seemed a little sitcom-y for me even though that last scene with them was very powerful. But it did seem apropos that Bill was obsessed with measuring phalluses considering the former and current lovers of Virginia engaged in a phallus measuring contest all episode.

The Sing-Off: Thank goodness the show is back and not a moment too soon after a lackluster season of The Voice. It has been over a month since The Voice has had a performance as good as Bottom of The River (if the girl who sang lead does not show up on The Voice next year, Mark Burnett has failed as a producer), What Makes You Beautiful or even Cruise. Unfortunately one of the groups that sang one of those songs was already sent home. It is a little weird how they split the third and four episodes especially considering what I considered the two weakest of final eight are both in the same episode. Then the two teams I thought had the best chance to advance far in the competition on Thursday both ended up in the bottom two, sadly with Street Corner Renaissance, who I had already penciled into the finals, going home. So now I am a little worried for Vocal Rush, who gave by far the best performance this season (and followed that up with my middle school jam by C+C Music Factory) even though there are two fodder teams on their episode. It also does not help that the promo makes it looks they struggle with their eighties tune.

If the two best groups from the first round do not make it to the live show I assume we have Mark Burnett to blame because the guy seems to like to have fodder in his sing shows. The other thing we have Mark Burnett to thank for is the new Ultimate Sing-Off where the two bottom teams have their own “Battle Round” with only one advancing, no Steals are in play. These were entertaining, but I am disappointed that they seem to have replaced the Swan Song. I do not see why they could not have done both (aside of course for licensing fees reasons). But anyway. Here is my Power Ranking for those still left in the competition.

1. Vocal Rush
2. Home Free
3. Ten
4. acoUstiKats
5. The Filharmonic
6. Element
7. VoicePlay


You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: I think I predicted this earlier, but it became pretty obvious that Sky’s mother is really Mae. But much like The Blacklist, the question is how long they will drag this out. At least in the winter finale, Lizzie came to the realization that it may be the case. How long until Sky figures this out. Mae is old enough, she is a SHIELD agent, Sky looks half Asian, how is May not her first guess. Really the only question now is, could Coulson be the father?
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.

Sons of Anarchy: Well that was an unexpected finale. After Jax killed Clay I theorized the only thing the show had left to do was for Tara to kill Jemma. Oops. Got that one backward. Now, I guess all there is left is for Jax to kill his other parent.
You can download Sons of Anarchy on iTunes.

Survivor: Blood vs. Water: Holy Ciera! She actually won an immunity challenge. Maybe she actually is good at puzzles; it is just that her mother is just that much better. But it looks like we are going to be in for a boring finale as the final three will be Tyson beating Gervase and Monica unless Ciera miraculously manages to win another immunity challenge or two. Though it would be obvious Hayden will be voted right back out if he comes back from Redemption Island, I do wonder if Monica will be more prone to flipping if it is Laura or even Tina. Monica probably still loses, but would have much better chance with a all girl final.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download Survivor: Blood vs. Water on iTunes.

Nashville: Last week I did not even mention the promo monkeys teasing someone dieing this week because it seemed so obvious that it would be Lamar, it did not seemed worth even predicting. Oops again. But I did mention last week that if Will did not come out of the closet they might as well write him off the show and promote Layla to cast regular. So it was either Will or Peggy who may have seen her last day. But like I have said before, I do not believe anyone is dead until I see a body (and even then I am sometimes hesitant) and unlike Peggy who’s lifeless body we saw, we did not see Will’s body. So as of now I am guessing Will stepped off the tracks at the last moment.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download Nashville on iTunes.

The Big Bang Theory: C’mon, if you are going to do a It’s a Wonderful Life episode, do a It’s a Wonderful Life episode, not five different segments with five different narrators. I would have liked to see an entire episode of Penny trying to hook up with Sheldon.
You can stream recent episodes on cbs.com. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

The Michael J. Fox Show: I do not why, but I laughed hysterically through the commercial break at the King of Pain joke.
You can stream recent episodes on Hulu. You can also download The Michael J. Fox Show on iTunes.