Click here for my most recent article. Day two of the audition round kicked off from Saint Louis Missouri. Tonight's show had a few good/ intriguing auditions, as well as some poor ones. Saint Louis Highlights: 1) Egomaniacs: Two contestants entered the room sporting tremendous egos. Former television news-talent/ cruise singer Joseph Schoen stopped by with his posse of supporters. He had the superstar ego coupled with an average singing voice. His performance (of "My...
Click here for my latest article. So here's the start of the fourth season of American Idol. I am excited that it is finally getting started! Welcome back to those of you who read my Idol reports last year. (Welcome back Simon if you've got me bookmarked. ) Tonight marks the beginning of the audition round. There will certainly be some fantastic, some average, and some disturbing performances, and I will do my best to comment, critique, or crack wise about them. As I watched the ...
We use Dish Network for satellite TV at my house. I am reasonably satisfied with the service. I see commercials on TV where they're offering four free receivers and a free Tivo-like device for new customers. I only have one receiver and no Tivo. I want what's on the ad! We use T-Mobile for cellular service. My wife and I have camera phones. We're satisfied with the service, but our phones are a bit antiquated. I want a camera phone with a flash.&...
We're halfway through the 2005 New Year's Grand Sumo Tournament. As has become the usual: Yokozuna Asashoryu leads the field with eight wins against no losses. Behind him is a small pack tied at two losses apiece. Among the rikishi in the group with two losses is a young (19 year-old) Mongolian rikishi named Hakuho. With less than a year in the top division, Hakuho finds himself ranked Komusubi (Junior Champion -Sumo's fourth-highest rank.) It is very uncommon for ...
Recently in Japan, the public television network aired a miniseries from Korea titled, "Winter Sonata." It is sort of a love story/ life chronicle of a pair that met early in life and were then seperated. It was really well-received in Japan. Rarely does a day pass on Japanese television where this show is somehow referenced. The characters from the drama can be seen in commercials. There are soundtracks, songs, and DVDs for sale related to the series. ...
Every once-in-a-while, I look at the BBC website to check on an American release for the "Men Behaving Badly Series." I have been looking for a couple of years now, and it hasn't been released yet. Just this afternoon I received an e-mail message from "Shop BBC America.com." (I wonder when I signed up for their mailing list... Oh well. I like what they're selling.) The message advertised a January 25th release date for the first two seasons of that show. I am...
Here in Central Minnesota, we have thusfar had a pretty wimpy winter. Not too much in the way of cold or snow. This afternoon we received enough snow to cover up everything (and shovel.) Now the news says that the cold is coming. Below-zero (Fahrenheit) high temperatures for the weekend. BRRRRR! It is really cute to watch baby Kenny enjoy the snow. He really likes crunching around in the snow, and he doesn't want any "help" getting around. Slips and s...
I haven't downloaded many songs since I have owned a computer. (When I say "not many" I mean: two.) I understand that there are a lot of people out there who use the internet to download lots of music for themselves. There are a few songs that I would like to add to my collection, so I visited the "Realtime" site, and that "Napster" place that received all of that publicity a few years ago. I understand that there are ways that one can get songs at those places for abou...
The other day while I was at the grocery store, I picked up a copy of the latest Star magazine. The cover advertised "The 50 Most Annoying People of 2004." On bottom left corner of the magazine, William Hung was pictured as one of this year's entrants. Congratulations William Hung! The fourth season of American Idol is starting in just ten days. In "preparation" for that, my wife and I spent a few hours yesterday watching tapes from last year's Idol . I...
So last night my wife and I were in the mood for pie. (I especially wanted some apple pie!) We drove to Maple Grove to visit the "Bakers Square" restaurant for dinner and pie. Now we don't go out very often on Friday or Saturday nights, so we weren't prepared for the crowd that was waiting to get a seat at Bakers Square. (I remember trying to get into a Joe's Crab Shack a few years ago. The wait was around two hours. No wonder why we only go out to eat on week...
This evening my wife and I were at our local drug store. As we were walking through the greeting card section, I noticed an interesting card in the "Birthday: Son-in-law" section. The front of the card says something like: "For your birthday I thought you might like to see a picture of this hunk bare-naked..." Seeing this gave me the giggles for a little while.
This evening my wife and I were at our local drug store. As we were walking through the greeting card section, I noticed an interesting card in the "Birthday: Son-in-law" section. The front of the card says something like: "For your birthday I thought you might like to see a picture of this hunk bare-naked..." Seeing this gave me the giggles for a little while.
In my life I have studied a few languages. My wife and I use Japanese at home sometimes, and I use Russian daily at work. (I am an elementary school ESL teacher.) My exposure to Spanish comes from a year in Junior High School, and then some TV shows like "Sabado Gigante" and some lucha libre shows. Like most Americans I have a very rudimentary grasp of Spanish. I know some vocabulary words, I am familiar with which articles may go with certain words, and I can kind...
Click here for my latest article. Today as I was at a coffee shop, I noticed the front page of the USA Today. The front page advertised an article on the upcoming fourth season of American Idol. The front page teaser mentioned that there will be a few changes to this year's Idol . My favorite change that was mentioned was that the age limit would be raised. I am all for that! Maybe we'll get more George Huffs and fewer John Stevenses this year.&nbs...
Today was my wife's and my fourth wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to a restaurant called "Sakura" in Saint Paul. They served yummy Japanese food. (Probably the most authentic Japanese food in the Twin Cities. "Sakura" and "Origami" are the only two realistic Japanese places that we've found so far.) Kazuko enjoyed her food: I had a yummy lunch: Kenny really liked eating the egg (tamago) sushi. He ate all of the rice imme...