Olbermann: Bush, Cheney should Resign

Keith Olberman's Special Comment on the Libby Commutation. Bush and Cheney should resign.



I think Olbermann makes a great many statements here which for anyone who hasn't been specifically watching his show for the past year, or hasn't been following left-leaning blogs would seem on the surface quite outrageous.

President Bush lied us into a War? Oh, but didn't the Democrats who voted for it have the exact same intelligence he did?

No, they didn't.

I'm not sure that what he has said, like many of his previous Special Comments will be able to reach into the hearts of those who have allied themselves with this President and his party above the desperate needs of the American people who were devastated by Katrina, who have been devastated by the loss of loved ones (and/or thier limbs) in Iraq, and the loss of heathcare for 50 Million Americans.

The 23 Percenters will stand with Bush and Cheney until the bitter end, and buoyed the support of this ever increasingly slim yet increasingly rabid minority of boot lickers - Bush remains serene as he drives our ship of state directly into rocks of Dictatorship.

Bush and Cheney will not resign, they will only be stopped when Congress finally Nuts-Up and does their duty to Impeach and Remove them both.

Exactly when that will happen, if it ever does, remains to be seen.

Lewis Black - Rupert Murdock

Lewis Black on Rupert Murdock

Bill Maher - New Rules

Bill Maher - New Rules

24 and Fox vs Sleeper Cell and Fact

This past Tuesday Keith Olbermann asked the question...

Is "24" propaganda? Is it fear-mongering? Or is it a program-length commercial for one political party?

The simple answer to that is "Does a Duck go 'Quack'?"

But in all seriousness, I don't think Olbermann's question goes far enough - a better question would be "Is Everything on Fox TV propaganda, fear-mongering and an commercial for the GOP?"

And specifically on "24" how does it compare with other terrorism shows such as Showtime's "Sleeper Cell"?

Olbermann presented his question to documentarian Robert Greenwald, Director and Producer of OutFoxed: Rupert Murdock's War on Journalism

"Outfoxed" examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.

The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

In his documentary Greenwald describes an internal cultural within Fox News that has a quite overt "Cultural War" perspective. On air hosts who manage to slide anti-Liberal anti-Democrat jibes into their commentary receive an "atta-boy" of accolades and shoulder pats - those who break ranks and dare to criticize the Bush Administration on anything other than not being Right-Wing Enough are discouraged and sometimes punished.

Outfoxed even gained access to internal memos by high-level Fox News exec John Moody who apparently would issue a "Message of the Day" down through-out the entire company in order to "set the stage" on how the news would be presented.

The following is a sample of reporting instructions issued by Moody to the FOX News staff.

Moody on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal:

[T]he pictures from Abu Graeb [sic] prison are disturbing. They have rightly provoked outrage. Today we have a picture -- aired on Al Arabiya -- of an American hostage being held with a scarf over his eyes, clearly against his will. Who's outraged on his behalf? It is important that we keep the Abu Graeb [sic] situation in perspective (5/5/04).

Moody on the war in Iraq:

As is often the case, the real news is [sic] Iraq is being obscured by temporary tragedy. The creation of a defense ministry, which will be run by Iraqis, is a major step forward in the country's redevelopment. Let's look at that, as well as the deaths of a US soldier in a roadside bombing (3/25/04).

Into Fallujah: It's called Operation Vigilant Resolve and it began Monday morning (NY time) with the US and Iraqi military surrounding Fallujah. We will cover this hour by hour today, explaining repeatedly why it is happening. It won't be long before some people start to decry the use of "excessive force". We won't be among that group (4/4/04).

A more recent example of this type of dictate from on high of Fox Execs was the revelation that following the November 7th victory by Democrats in the House and Senate - Fox News decided they needed to finds some Happy Insurgents.

The elections and Rumsfelds resignation are a major event, but not the end of the world. The War on Terror goes on without interruption. Jennifer Griffin sent in info on Hamas calls for attacks on American interests. And lets be on the lookout for any statements from Iraqi insurgents, who must be thrilled at the prospect of a Dem controlled congress

What we have to realize is that every report - every second - on Fox News is presented in a way that supports the Right-Wing Agenda. From their incessent hyping of White Chicks in Peril ™ to O'Reilly's "We're looking out for the folks" spiel. It's all Naked Right-Wing Propaganda.

And so in major portions is Fox TV.

Before getting into this it has to be pointed out that a great many things going into the creation of each individual show as well as an entire network of shows - many shows can exist on a Network which are independant of the overall editorial view of it's owners simply because of their potential profitabiilty. How true that is of Fox TV remains an open question.

Although the network originally began with a leftward progressiveness that defied the dullness of the big three networks by putting shows that the others had specifically rejected or would never air such as "the Simpsons", "In Living Colour", "The X-Files" and the incredibly quirky "Get A Life" (featuring Chris Elliot). They eventually began a rightward shift which is best displayed by thier transition from consciencious urban shows like "ROC", "South Central" and "Frank's Place" to "Married with Children" (whose supervising producer Ralph Farquar was black man that had essentially taken the tragic black family from his show "South Central" and made their life a comedy by placing them in white skin and moving them from L.A. to the Chicago suburbs). That show which debut in 1987 and lasted for 11 seasons began Fox's eventually devolution into full-on Trash TV, pandering to the fears of middle America while exploiting thier own narcissist self-congratulation at being trashy. That trashy rightward slide was further edged along by the longest running Reality Show in History - "COPS" (which debuted in 1989 and continues today).

Just how many drunken street-walkers can you watch begin slammed into the concrete face-first does it take before you become completely desensitized to the violence of it?

Going even further than "Married", "COPS" showed poor people - both black and white - at their absolute worst moments in life while showing police , on whom the show depends for it's survival, in the very best possible light. As such the show has practically realized the neo-fascist wet-dreams of 50's and 60' s LAPD police chief Bill Parker, who during his tenure managed two full and distinct police divisions to surveil and blackmail hollywood, as well as directly manipulate the media's presentation of his department. For example in exchange for providing producer Jack Webb with "technical advisors" Parker's department demanded and received script approval over his bevy of freshly scrubbed police shows such as "Dragnet", "Adam-12" and "Emergency". Through Webb's shows, Parker was able to completely white-wash the brutal reality of the L.A.P.D., who while these shows were on their air frequently beat and shot unarmed black citizens sparking the Watts Riots which ultimately ended Parker's career.

Meanwhile back on current day FOX you can see the same sadistic voyerism of "COPS" in "American Idol" where half the draw is watching talentless freaks and geeks embarriss themselves - and the other half is continuing to believe in pipe-dream that there but for the grace of Simon Cowell could go you or I into the stratosphere of Super-stardom.

Add to all the above "America's Greatest Police Chases", "America's Most Wanted", the Jackass and Youtube precusor "America's Funniest Home Videos" (aka Take it in the Nuts) and of course trash-news shows such as "Inside Edition" (a direct pre-cursor to Fox News which not so coincidentally featured Bill O'Reilly as an anchor) and Fox's new fascist/trashy direction was set.

Which finally brings us to "24" which has become one of Fox's biggest hits. The show was originally fairly unique, begining as it did before 9-11, the original villians were highly mysterious. Who could possibly hate American Counterrorism agent Jack Bauer enough to kidnap his family in order manipulate him into killing then Presidential hopeful Senator Palmer?

The answer at the time was Dennis Hopper, playing a Bosnian terrorist who wished revenge on Jack for being involved in a raid that killed members of his family during the Croat-Serb War and on Senator Palmer for having approved the raid.

Using fast paced action and incessant cliff-hangerism of the old time Penelope in Peril film strip series - "24" managed to hide such a card-board flimsy premise behind chase scenes, shoot-outs and constant (often insane) plot twists.

Reality Check

The facts and reality of our involvment in ending the Bosnia War completely belay the "24" rationale. U.S. forces were only 1/3 of those sent to Bosnia-Herzgovenia to end the ethnic-cleansing and religious strife which had overtaken the area after the withdrawal of Soviet control of the former Yugoslavia. We the U.S in fact - along with equal parts European and Russian troops - were the heroes in that scenario after President Clinton used Diplomacy and persuasian - and only violence as a last resort - to negotiate and implement the Dayton Peace Accords.

Not one single American Soldier was killed in this conflict.

Murderous criminals such as Slobadon Milosovec (whom Hopper's character was clearly emulating) were held accountable by International Courts and eventually died in prison.

Yet even in this early version of the show some right-wing thinking was already evident when Jack Bauer literally stumbles upon the Super-Secret Military Prison Facility which had been holding Hopper on U.S. Soil. (A sequence which in all likelyhood, considering how many neo-cons claim this as their "favorite show" may been may have been at least in part an inspiration for Bush administration own implementation of Secret Prisons).

Personally I felt the show completely jumped-the-shark of credibility half-way through Season One when Jack's wife spontaneous contracted amnesia after seeing the car containing their daughter fall over a cliff and disappear.

Since those early days where Jack has been driven by the constantly tickling clock to commit acts of extreme violence, including - but not limited to - multiple acts of murder, torture, armed robbery and kidnapping or numerous occasions.

Jack Bauer can be nearly always expected to resort to the most brutal and direct means when neccesary, all those pesky rules (i.e laws) are often tossed out of the window as soon as Jack-the-man arrives on the scene. This is considered such a crucial element to that show that the current fan poll question on the 24 Home Page is...

"What other terrorist body part do you think Jack could easily bite off?"

(Click image to view closeup of poll)

At the end of last season he staged a hijacking of Marine One in collusion with the First Lady in order to kidnap then-President Logan and trick him into admitting his complicity in the murder of his predecessor President Palmer in order to cover up his aidding and abetting terrorists gaining access to toxic nerve gas. This was done in order to support Logan's wish to concoct a false "WMD" charge against oil rich states as a pre-cursor to invasion. (Hmm - kinda familiar - but ultimately Re-f-inging-diculous!)

Even in this scenario the batty plans of this President are succesfully thwarted - which further suggests that no President could ever get away with such a thing, right?

Besides the fact that torture doesn't work the final nail in the "24"'s wingnut coffin is the news that the shows co-creator Joel Surnow has teamed with FOX News to develop a right-wing version of the Daily Show.

"The way I look at it, almost every comedy show or satire show I see uses the same talking points against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney," "24″ co-creator Joel Surnow said. "The other side hasn’t been skewered in a fair and balanced way." November 20, 2006

Although there have been several attempts in recent years by various progressive film makers to present a more "balanced" view of anti-terrorism and America middle-east involvement the results have been decidedly mixed. George Clooney's Syriana, which showed the plight of a loyal but disavowed ex-CIA assasin in the midst of international forces was largely a muddle.

Stephen Speilberg's "Munich", which attempted to chronical Israeli intelligences attempts to assisinate those responsible for the murder of their athletes at the 1972 Olympics was just as problematic as it attempted to moralize the actions of the Mosaad agents far too quickly and neatly.

Showtime's Sleeper Cell however, is an entirely different animal. Starring Michael Ealy as an African-American muslim FBI agent Darwin al-Hakim (a Sunni) who voluanteers to spend 18 months in prison in order to infiltrate an al-Qaeda cell in Los Angeles. Much of the show frequently discusses and highlights the very real debate within Islam as to the application of violence, and splits between those who advocate peaceful resolution of disputes and those who do not. It has become one of the most faithful representations of the muslim faith on tv including fairly heady debates between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims.

In the first episode Darwin directly faces anti-muslim prejudice in the wake of 9-11 by coming to the rescue of a pair of Indian Sikh's, who are mistaken by a set of street thugs for Arabs due to their head-wraps.

Also in that same episode , which aired before the reality of the Bush's domestic eavesdropping program was revealed, the Cell's leader Fariq al-Farik (played brilliantly Oded Fehr) learns that one member has phoned home to Egypt to brag about their upcoming attack and immediately has that member executed (via stoning) for violating protocol just in case the NSA might have been listening (which on the show they weren't because without a warrant that's illegal - but as we know in reality they have been, warrant or not).

This is not to say that Darwin doesn't cross some fuzzy Jack Beaur-ish lines, he intervenes in the middle of the stoning to shoot the intended victim in the head and end his pain quickly. This move nearly ends his investigation once it's discovered - and at the end when the cell is ultimately brought down his actions are cited as potential compromising any possible criminal case - therefore the one surviving terrorist who is apprehended (Farik) is relegated to military custody where he is interrogated by the CIA and Military Intelligence who beat him and attempt various psychological tricks to gain his cooperation - none of which are successful. Eventually as a wanted Saudi he is extradited and then severely tortured including shoving a peice white-hot steel into his urethra while the CIA looks on - and he still doesn't talk.

Reality Check

The FBI highest ranking Arab-American agent, Bassam Yousef, has recently sued for discrimination after being taken off undercover work and placed on desk duty.

WASHINGTON - Bassem Youssef is the FBI's highest-ranking Arab-American agent. He's fluent in Arabic, ran the FBI's offices in Saudi Arabia and is a terrorism expert. In fact, Youssef's undercover work helping to infiltrate the terror organization of the so-called "blind sheik," Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, earned him the intelligence community's most-prestigious award, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.

But now, for the first time, Youssef is speaking out against the agency he loves.

"I don't believe that the FBI's doing everything it can to combat terrorism," the 18-year FBI veteran tells NBC News.

Though he's one of only six FBI agents with advanced Arabic skills, Youssef believes that, since 9/11, the FBI has blocked him from playing a significant role in the war on terror. He claims discrimination, and sued the FBI in 2003.

"To be totally set aside, blackballed since 9/11, makes absolutely no sense," he says.

Youssef's experience is not all isolated according to the Washington Post.

Five years after Arab terrorists attacked the United States, only 33 FBI agents have even a limited proficiency in Arabic, and none of them work in the sections of the bureau that coordinate investigations of international terrorism, according to new FBI statistics.

Counting agents who know only a handful of Arabic words -- including those who scored zero on a standard proficiency test -- just 1 percent of the FBI's 12,000 agents have any familiarity with the language, the statistics show.

The numbers reflect the FBI's continued struggle to attract employees who speak Arabic, Urdu, Farsi and other languages of the Middle East and South Asia, even as the bureau leads a fight against terrorist groups primarily centered in those parts of the world. The same challenge is facing the CIA and other agencies as the government competes with the private sector for a limited number of applicants with foreign-language proficiency, according to U.S. officials and experts.

In the original mini-series sequel Sleeper Cell:American Terror Darwin is actually faced with bigotry himself by other members of the bureau and even his Case Agent who suspects his loyalties simply because he's a muslim (echoing Youssef), while battling this he has to delicately balance the needs of maintaining his cover and appearing o help the terror plot proceed so that he can work his way further into the network. Information is compartmentalized under "Operational Security", even Cell leaders don't know the ultimate target or exact method to be used in the attack until neccesary, therefore capturing minor members and trying to "beat the truth out of them" is literally pointless. They don't know anything - yet. (Which according to the 9-11 Commission Report is exactly how the trade center and pentagon attack cells operated).

Update:In one direct contrast to 24's phony Bosnia bad guys, Sleeper Cell featured one Bosnia cell member who eventually went home ten years after his original indoctrination into the Mujahadeen during the violent ethnic-cleanings of the Bosnia War to find that his homeland has now become a realitive "paradise of peace" (Thank's the President Clinton as I mention above). As a result he begins to renounce his membership in al-Qaeda, until he's spotted and kidnapped by other members of the brotherhood intent on dragging him back into the fold.

Sleeper Cell isn't perfect, and being on Showtime it can be extremely violent and filled with sexual content (including a n explicit gay relationship with one Iraqi cell member) - but with the help of Islamic Technical Advisor Omar Haroon and Military advisors Mir Bahmanyar and James Dever it's tried hard to put realism on the screen, not neccesarily pander to any particular ideological viewpoint.

Update: Some have argued that 24 is "just a TV Show" and that is demonstrably true, however the scenarios shown on this show have had an impact on the national discourse involving issues of national security.

Cal Thomas

If the Army nabs a person it suspects of knowing the location of a nuclear bomb about to wipe out an American city, would the interrogators and their military and civilian superiors refuse to use torture to squeeze the information out of the captive?

That was precisely the scenario on "24." Agent Jack Bauer rightly chose the greater good -- saving millions of lives -- over the niceties imposed by those whose manual seems inspired by "The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette."

Melanie Morgan.

SUSSMAN: And of course, right off the bat, they talk about the very issues that we've already discussed, with the exception of one -- my advocating the use of torture on the battlefield, which was -- actually, it was a bit. Lee, this particular bit that's gotten me in all sorts of hot water in the blogosphere was actually a scripted bit entitled "Jack Bauer in Baghdad."

ALL: [laughs]

SUSSMAN: OK, it was Jack Bauer --

MORGAN: In reference to 24.

SUSSMAN: -- from the TV show 24, on the field of battle. A bunch of his buddies, a bunch of his fellow soldiers had just been taken hostage by a group of insurgents. He was able to hold one of the insurgents back, and now he realizes time is limited: "All right, where are my buddies? Where did your guys take them? I want to know now." And he starts out by threatening the guy: "If you don't talk, I'm going to cut off the tip of your little finger. And if you still don't talk, I'm going after your private parts." So he begins with the tip of the finger, and guess what? The guy talks. The guy talks.

RODGERS: The ticking-clock thing.

Whereas 24 jingoistly exploits our fears of international terrorism, Sleeper Cell gives a inside view of how terror cells operate and how the internal struggles of bigotry within our nation mirror the struggles within Islam.

No TV Show is a perfect representation of Reality, not even so-called "Reality" shows due to the natural skewing tendencies of the editing process. Also most television shows and movies are a largely collarborative effort, with the final result being a combination of many different voices and viewpoints. But when you are clearly dealing with an Network with a clear idelogical agenda as FOX does, it's wise to understand what that agenda is and how it might be affecting the final work, shifting it from potentially enlightening education to merely diverting entertainment and finally naked propaganda.

Exactly how the FX Network which has shows such as "Rescue Me", "Nip/Tuck", "30 Days", the decidedly post-Parker corrupt Cop show "The Shield" and briefly the one Iraq War show ever on the air "Over There", has so far escaped the overall Murdock/FOX ideological bent remains a mystery to me - it could just be dumb luck or maybe the fact that those shows are all good and most neo-con tripe isn't - but clearly nothing in Hollywood is absolute.

Vyan

One Thing I Hate about Olbermann

w.youtoube.comDon't get me wrong, I love the man and his show. He is the one broadcaster who has been telling truth to power for well over a year now. He first came onto my own radar last october after he literally danced a jig after reporting that Bill O'Reilly had announced he would retire in two years.

Since then he's been a godsend. Reporting the abuses of this Presidency an agressive manner with his infrequent but incredibly powerful Special Comments.

His ratings are up. O'Reilly and Faux News ratings are down.

These are all good thing in my mind. But there are some things about Olbermann and his show that really, truly annoy me.

I don't mind the sillyness of "Oddball." It's dumb bit it's cool. Sometimes I feel his "Worst Person in the World" segment resorts to cheap shots, but that's not the big problem either.

I really hate his "Keeping Tabs" segment.

It used to be that he pretended to dislike it as well. He used to say "And now another story my producers and Making me Cover", but no longer. Now you tell that he simply loves to slow roast celebrities on a spit.

And there's a hypocracy here that can't be ignored. Not long after railing about the Unconstitutional and illegal actions of the President, warrantless wire-taps, torture and coereced false confessions, blocking habeas relief -- he then turns around and jumps on the Bash OJ Wagon.

Shock and Awe "What do you mean Vyan - OJ is a vicious Killer." - I can hear you say.

Yeah yeah yeah I know, but the point is this - the verdict he received a decade ago in the Criminal Case was the correct one and it's high time people got the hell over it.

Let's recall that LAPD entered his home without a warrant and illegally collected evidence (Just like the NSA is doing with our phone calls). The Chain of Custody of the blood evidence was questionable. While on the stand Dr. Henry Lee pointed out that the LA Lab had a massive cross contamination problem. Dr. Cotton, head of one of the DNA Labs, admitted on the stand that no lab had a method of detecting false positive matches caused by exactly the kind of contamination that Dr. Lee described. That's absolutely reasonable doubt about the blood evidence right there. Then you have another LAPD detective - one who had access to all the evidence and had been the one to jump the fence at OJ's house commit perjury on the stand.

I would expect that most of us know that illegally gathered and coerced evidence is never justified. It's why we and Olbermann argue vehemently against Gitmo, the Secret Prisons outside the perview of the Red Cross and warrantless wiretaps outside of FISA. The fact that most of this evidence could never be used in a normal court of law is a major factor why the President has insisted on Military Commisions which allowed for coerced, self-incriminating and classifed evidence. Evidence which may in fact have only been classified to protect the fact that it was gathered illegally.

Yet, when the subject of OJ comes up - all the tenets and platitudes about a "Fair Trial" and the Rule of Law seem to go out the window. It's suddenly becomes "Fry the Bastard" or "He Got Off by Playing the Race Card", which is often followed by "The Jurors were just too dumb to understand DNA." all of which - besides being a potentially racist argument itself - misses the point. LAPD and the District Attorney Gil Garcetti fucked that case up, just as they fucked up the McMartin Molestation case. OJ's contineud freedom is the price we all pay for their mistakes.

Look, I get that most people figure OJ's guilt is a given. But the issue here is actually bigger than OJ himself. Most of the conduct that his defense team alleged where things that had been occuring to many defendants in LA for decades, particularly Geronimo Pratt who spent 27 years imprisoned for a murder that took place while he was 400 miles away in Oakland - according to FBI wiretaps that were suppressed.

Tampering with evidence and framing suspects is exactly the type of conduct that was revealed by former Officer Rafeal Perez in the Rampart Scandal, after he was caught stealing drugs from evidence and giving them to his girlfriend to sell.

Jonny Cochran was not making this shit up, he was Geronimo Pratt's attorney. He'd seen it up close.

LAPD was the police agency that invented S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) which is essentially the use of paramilitary weapons (assault weapons and armored personel carriers) on civilians. It's exactly the same thing as the FBI's HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) use - y'know the people who used tanks at Waco?

Those were LAPD tactics adapted to a Federal Level.

LAPD have been, at their core, a Proto-Fascist Organization. That doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of fine, brave and honest Officers working there - it simply means those officers have an uphill battle in front of them for the forseeable future.

The Rampart allegations are why the FBI and Civil Rights Division of the DOJ have had them under a Consent Decree to curtail these types of activities for the past few years. Yet we still have situations where LAPD officers shot and killed an unarmed 11-year-old boy, just last year.

So please - don't try to pretend that LAPD has credibility. They don't. They aren't Adam-12. They aren't Dragnet. (Both of those shows were originally part of LAPD's own propoganda campaigns run out of their two entertainment divisions by Chief Parker). They have long way to go to dig themselves out of the decades deep hole they've dug themselves into. I'm not even sure they ever will, not with many of us who've witnessed their tactics first hand.

If OJ did indeed get away it, as most people believe, it's because of them. Period. He won his case the same way that Lt. Cmd Swift won the Hamdan case - using the facts and law.

But here we have our Civil Liberties Champion Olbermann getting all haughty about OJ daring to actually use his first amendment rights, just like everyone else in the world gets to do? Et Tu Keith?

Then there's the big woody Keith sports when ever he gets to dump on easy targets like K-Fed. Hello - is there anyone who isn't so insanely jealous or so without compassion that the don't see how sad it is to discover you're getting a voice via a TEXT MESSAGE? Even for Lousiana trailer trash like Britney - that's just low class. Yet even Keith plays the story like she's the hero somehow?

Keith seems to automatically assume Kevin can't have any talent, he gives him plenty of air-time yet they hasn't even bothered to play even a single second of the audio from one of his records or concerts.

Being from LA myself and a musician I've known a lot of other musicians, particularly from the 80's - like members of bands such as Dokken, Warrant, LA Guns, Foreigner, Dio and Alice Cooper who everyone assumed was completely washed-up but in fact did a lot of their best work after the spotlight was no longer shining on them. Poison toured all through the late 90's and outdrew Korn! Even Vanilla Ice has put out some nice records since "Ice Ice Baby" - but if you simply listen to the critics, you'd never know it.

Their ears and closed and so are their minds - so I don't trust their opinion of K-Fed's music for a second. That includes Keith and his giggling pal Micheal Mustow.

And lastly there's his favorite whipping boy - Tom Cruise. Which has become a nightly bashing was I think comes dangerously close to religious intolerance.

Most of this started with Tom's interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show about Brooke Shields use of anti-depressants.

Somewhere in the mix, people forgot that Tom is absolutely right about the over-prescription of drugs like Ritalin to our children, and that it's now being used recreationally by young adults.

Methylphenidate (Ritalin is the brand name of the drug's inventor, Novartis), has been abused by teenagers and college students since the early 1990s, and it is now on the rise among a new group of people. Doctors say it is hard to quantify just how much recreational use is taking place, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it is growing as former college students continue to use the drug after leaving school. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the number of emergency room overdose cases involving methylphenidate has increased nationally in each of the last 5 years. While the agency says that Ritalin was usually not the primary substance abused, it nevertheless was taken recreationally.

It may be fair not to agree with Tom's skeptism of psychiatry as a profession, but he's right about the use of electric shock treatment against unwilling patients. But he never said that "All medicines are bad" as Olbermann has claimed when the issue of Katie Holmes receving pain relief medication during child-birth was discussed.

There was point in time that Countdown actually denied that Suri Cruise even existed.

STEWART: As promised, Paul F. Tompkins, comedian and contributor to VH1‘s “Best Week Ever,” joins me to talk about the Hollywood baby shrouded in mystery.

Paul, simple question: Do you know if anyone has seen this child of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes?

PAUL F. TOMPKINS, COMEDIAN: Well, Alison, there‘s no actual confirmation of anyone seeing the baby. I mean, a lot of people talk a big game and those people have been debunked as the spinners of urban legends. A lot of people say they sort of see Suri out of the corner of their eye, but when they turn to look she‘s gone. And of course.

STEWART: The tooth fairy was like that when I was a kid.

TOMPKINS: Absolutely. But you did get that money didn‘t you?

STEWART: Yeah, I did. I got my quarter.

Call me a stick-in-the-mud if you like, and I'm sure some people will, but they're talking about a baby here - and I don't see how any of that is funny. Make fun of Tom or Katie all you like, but exactly when did a toddler become fair game? When did we lose all sense of propriety and proportion?

What all of this displays to me is a blatant bias.

I understand that our society overhypes celebrities and it can be fun to take them down a peg or two, I understand that sometimes their just begging for it - but I also think that Keith's "Keeping Tabs" goes more than a step or two too far. Celebs are people too. They can be hurt, they can be cut and they do bleed.

All it took was one careless critic to comment to Karen Carpenter that she looked "fat" - to help send her into a anorexic spiral that eventually ended her life.

We have no idea how many of these types of commetns are damaging and how much of it simply slides off of them. Some of them have tough-skin and know how to take it - some don't.

Part of the reason many Celebs seem so abnormal, is because of the abnormal treatment they receive from nearly everyone around them, especially the media. It's not normal to have photographers following you to the grocery store. It's not normal to have to 24-hour bodyguards. It's can be a slow torture to live like that and yes, some of them act out occasionally. I think A) They aren't really that interesing as people anyway and B) We should all cut them a little slack from time to time.

All of the Grocery Store Magazines and even Keith are doing is exploiting these people for ratings and sales.

It's cheap, it's unneccesary - but profitable.

What Keith does here isn't journalism and the kind of vicious glee he often displays in attacking these people - especially when Michael (God, what a DICK!) Mustow is on the show - IMO damages the earnest seriousness that his criticism of the President.

I'm grown-up enough to know this isn't going to change, but I'm still going to hate it, even though I love just about everything else about Countdown.

"Keeping Tabs" Sucks.

There, I've said it - it's off my chest. Agree? Disagree? Fine, I said what I needed to.

Vyan

Rock Star : Finale

Last Show of the Season and it's been a long strange trip - to where we are now. Only Four Rockers left after some truly amazing performances from many of the now departed such as Ryan, Storm, Zayra.

Now the Tommy-hawk falls on either Toby, Lukas, Dilana or Magni. Or not.

Bwak bwak gaves us the bottom two stats, and everyone except Dilana had been in the danger-zone at some point during the night.

Magni is the first rocker to perform for his survival for the last time, where he went up and performed "Fire" - the same elimination song he's used on Week 8. It was practically a mirror image of that previous performance - and you STILL couldn't hear his guitar. Lame move by the producers there. It felt good, but also like he was just repeating himself, and going through the motions. Will it be strong enough to overcome Magni's "Nice guy" deficit?

Toby is the second member of the bottom two and performs White Wedding. It's good, but nothing fantastic above what we've come to expect from Toby. Yet again I'm reminded how nice he sounds in his lower register, something he rarely used all season. He excels up in the stratosphere, which is where he drop-kicks the song on the second verse. Good job, but again - like Magni's performance - nothing we haven't seen before. Good enough?

Yes. The Tommy-hawk, now apparently permanently shifted to Jason -and coming completely out of left field as he's praising Magni - lands and takes him off the show and out of the running right at the finish line. Ouch.

I gotta say Magni took it very well, almost as though he suspected. Maybe he did, I don't know.

Each of the final three rockers then did a song, which I think is a bit cruel - sort of like being asked to dance at your own execution. Toby performed "Somebody Told me", again. Dilana did "Zombie" which goes all the way back to Week 3, so that was refreshing. And Lukas reprised "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve which he first performed on Week 3 also. Everybody performed great, but nothing stood out -- I hardly remember these performances, largely because of the memory of their previous versions. It was just a blur.

Then came the final moment of truth.

All three rockers stood up and gave their final pitch as to why they should become the lead singer of Supernova. Dilana - "I'm the one". Lukas - slyly picking up on what they had told Magni on the previous performance show - "I'm ready to Lead You". Toby - "I'm the tallest". (No, I'm kidding he said more than that - but that was his best line.)

The axe fell on Toby, knocking him out of the competition. He also took it great, even if this was like getting one toe over the finish line and having it cut-off.

Final Decision: And it's between the Drama Queen and the Drama Punk.

My original comments from Week one on each.

Dilana is Scary.

The ringer in my opinion is Lukas the Orgy-wannabe. He's definately got a look. He's energenic on stage if somewhat limited. I couldn't really hear his vocals, as with a lot of the singers he was swallowed by the band, and in his case the guitar was crushing him. But he's got something. I don't know if it contagious or whether their's a vaccine for it, but he's got it. He's this years J.D. hands down.

So was I right all along? Well, we had to wait until yet another commercial break as the SN boys continued in extended deliberation - although most of know that they usually take about 25 mins in real life and simply cut around it in post.

After some more commercials for the cars that they'd given out to Toby and Ryan, we finally had the answer. Jason made the statment - "Lukas, you're our guy".

They then proceeded to give Dilana the standard second place consolation package, Gilby offered to co-write and produce her album (which I'm not entirely sure is going to be a real boost to be honest - what's Gilby every written and produced?), they offered her a chance to tour opening for Supernova with the House Band, and Dave said he play some guitar for her record (as he'd said I believe for Deanna last year). Buck-up little soldier, you didn't win but you got this big box of goodies -- don't embarriss us on national tv, ok?

She didn't, Dilana took it like - a woman.

The ride was finally over and Lukas was the last midget (sorry - Little Person) standing. They then went on to perform the Supernova song - finally with the REAL band intact - that Toby had done back on Week 8, "Be Yourself" - which is highly ironic with Lukas singing it. Both in the sense that unlike J.D., he stayed the same person he was from the beginning on stage - except that he learned to be more gracious and charitable off-stage along the way.

I will still state for the record that I've never bought into the "bitch-edit" myth with J.D. They can't make you say something you didn't say, or do something you didn't do -- all they can do is not show what other people did (like the various comments Dilana made to the press, even though she wasn't the only one - she did say them.). He won last year becuase he Dr. Bruno Kirby'd he way through the competition, completely contorting himself into just what INXS told him to become - like a clay puppet. He Survivor'd his way through that show. IMO he's a total complete TOOL. I do think he needed to win more than anyone else, so peace be with him an JinxsD but I'll never spend a single solitary dime on him or them ever - I refuse to endorse the behavior he exibited last year because I've been in too many bands already with people who had the same no-holds-barred stab-any-back personality, and after JD - I'm sure there are many more of them out their using him as an example/excuse for their B.S. Never again. If you like JD, and I know plenty of people do, fine - I don't.

Fortunately Lukas, isn't like that. Although he was confrontational with Dana - he wasn't doing it as a strategy - it was just him, and he learned better long before Dilana figured it out the hard way. Good on him. Even though he was nowhere near my favorite, he's a cute little munchkin, even he has been stealing Orgy make-up tips. Good luck and long live Supernova.

I might even go to a show and post a review of that someday... who knows?

Vyan

Rock Star: Week 10 Reality

After letting off some steam with a food fight and collective jump in the pool (Naked in Storm's case - sorry no pics), Songwriting Colaboration Day with Gilby arrived, and each of the hamsters have been given a brand new Supernova track to put their own melodies and lyrics to - then work on with Gilby.

The results were somewhat expected and surprising at the same time. The new track is probably one of the coolest and most modern tracks we've heard from Supernova yet. They just might not be stuck somewhere in the late 70's after all.

First up was Storm whom Gilby said lots of respectful things about "She a total professional... she knows how to blend having fun and getting the job done" - but he didn't say much of anything about the song she wrote. It was a lot like going out on a date with someone and then saying "They have a nice personality". Kiss of death time. It's clear they like Storm as a musician and a person, but they are feeling that kind of magnetism it takes to make a permanent relationship work. They're had previous been hints that Gilby didn't feel Storm would be "the One", and this was more along that line. Still, the Suave Porn guys don't always agree on everything so we'll just have to wait.

Gilby's reaction to Magni's song wasn't very encouraging either. Being ESL does make things a challenge for him, but the chemistry just wasn't there. Again, no spark. No fire. No passion. "He's got a nice personality...."

Lukas has been given credit for being the best songwriter, or at least the one with the best feel for Supernova's direction based on the previous song clinic. He also wrote the chorus hook that was used in the team-writing clinic - this time he came in with a verse and a chorus, but that's all and Gilby found it "irritating". He'd just written enough to "get by" and probably figures this is "his competition to lose". Gilby liked what he wrote, and commented that Lukas didn't do the obvious thing with his melodies - but also that his song needed the most work.

Before watching this episode I went back through the video archives to get a better feel for how these people actually write, instead of just the snippets that the producers give us which can greatly skew the reality of the situation, and the fact is the best sounding songs from the last songwriting clinic were by Jill and Josh - both of whom were cut that week.

That song didn't have a lot of harmonic motion and tended to just vamp on a single chord (with one quick change just before the chorus). The reason even the final SN version which was performed by Dilana sounds dull is because the song doesn't go anywhere musically. But both Josh and Jill created movement by singing innovative verse melodies that went against the grain and held back the tension until allowing it to expode in the chorus. In the reality ep that week Tommy made a comment that Jill was "over the top" but the fact is she only hit one full power note during the bridge, the rest of the song was very well balanced. In my own view Josh's voice actually sounded the best on that Supernova track, he'd calmed down all the excess R&Bism and gruffed his voice out to sound a lot like Layne Stayley. It was really cool, and with that sound they would have gone done the path of Velvet Revolver, which isn't a bad place to be. Unfortunately he's gone now.

Patrice's lyrics and melody were also pretty damn good - she sounded a lot like Chrissy Hind on the Supernova track.

Lukas's chorus melody on that song was real simple, but so much so that it was actually dull - it only had three notes, repeated in different order - and then on the chorus his melody and rythm matched the guitar line exactly. Of course it only took him 15 minutes, he had only put words to what Gilby had already written. He was only doing the minimum then, and only the minimum now. It's a bad habit.

The one person that really seemed to get Gilby excited with not just his lyrics but also his melodies was Toby. He seem to be doing things from a fresh perspective and giving Gilby ideas he hadn't thought of - which he really liked. Rather than having to baby-sit and rescue Toby's song, he was largely able to sit back and just enjoy it. It's always nice when someone else has done all the work for you.

And then we had the crash and burner of the day - Dilana. Who'd decided to write a song to bitch out the online fans for voting her into the bottom three. Imaginative? Classy? Not hardly. That was a punk-ass shallow move, and more likely as anything to get her sent back to the B3 again. Gilby thought it was cliched, and that's probably putting it mildly. It's hackneyed. Dilana simply isn't a songwriter, in her confessional she admitted she didn't know that writting would be such a big part of this deal. (Obviously she didn't watch last season, all of these song-writing clinics they're going through this team are being repeated from then.) Gilby, "If you're not bringing anything, what do I need you for?"

Ouch.

Oh, how the mighty Dilana has fallen.

After this came song selection and immediately Dilana and Lukas began to look horns over "Behind Blue Eyes" by the Who. Dilana wanted it because the lyrics spoke to her and how she feels at this point - (no longer the "Psycho Killer, eh?") - which again is obvious and basically cliched. Why don't you flog yourself with a riding crop on stage while you're at it? Sheesh. Self-absorbed much? Eventually Magni jumped in to break things up and trick Lukas into doing Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" by appealing to his ego -- "You're the only one who can do it dude..." I'm not sure if that was a good thing for Dilana or simply doing what he could to dodge the bullet from the obvious bare-trap song - like "I Will Survive" was for Storm.

The week is also the first "set" week where the performers will do a two-song set - including one cover and one original. Storm is obviously going to be doing one her strongest songs - "Lady Like" which from what I can tell is going to give the network censors hot flashes with a chorus that asks 'What the Fuck is Lady Like?" In a lot of ways Storm has been surpressing her most balls-out tendencies by taking the bare-trap songs time and time again. Yeah, ok she can sing anything -but has she really shown Supernova who she really is - and what she's capable of? I've found that I like her performances better the second time I watch or listen -- but has Supernova already written her off, or while they find something entirely new - while Toby has clearly jumped out far ahead as the front-runner not only with the fans but quite possibly with Supernova themselves.

Dilana in yet another possible bone-headed move fought had for "Behind Blue Eyes", but she's never really heard the song -- not even the Limp Bizkit version - so Miss-can't-write-a-song has decided to modify the arrangement. Oh Lordy - Train wreck on deck.

Tuesday's performance show should be extremely interesting even without Zayra and Ryan's theatrics.

My guess at point for the final three - Storm, Lukas and Toby with Toby probably winning.

Vyan

Rock Star : Week 9 Elimination

Another elimination show, another fallen soldier. Still this show was just chock full of surprises, twists and turns.

The new Supernovacaine song "Shine On" was debuted, with the Lukatic himself on lead vocals - and it wasn't bad. Lukas's voice sounds pretty good with them, and it helps quite a bit that you can't understand his words considering how creamy and cheesy they were. (Unfortunately I sometimes watch the show with closed caption on - oh yeah - pure velveeta) Lukas has a massave advantage and disadvantage at the same time, his voice is such a huge affectation that he's immediaetly recognizable. That's good, because it will make any band he's in identifiable - just like David Draiman and Disturbed. You know it's them as soon as you hear him clear his throat. The value of that on the radio can not be underestimated. The disadvantage ... is the limitations and reedy sound of Lukas's voice. Man -- he's going to tear that shit up pretty soon if he doesn't get a permanent vocal coach. With Supernova he could afford one, and he needs it - badly.

The encore song went to Toby and "Rebel Yell", which mostly tells me that he's either a bigger front runner than had I had previously suspected, or he's on his way out the door. Only Magni and Ryan had received two encore nods so far. (Yes, Dilana and Lukas have only had one each.) I have to say that both Dilana and Ryan's performances from last night were more impressive. Storm's too, but I wouldn't want to put her through that again. Still Toby managed to step it up yet another notch by going all the way to back of the studio to rock the people in the cheap seats. (I didn't know they HAD people in cheap seats at the back... now I do). He's a total showman.

Then came elimination time, and after the first three rockers stood (Storm, Ryan and Toby) - the names of those who had been just kept coming until only one soldier was left not standing - Magni. (WHAT!?) Yeah, I thought it was weird too. For the first time both Dilana and Lukas had to stand - but Magni, whose already done two B3 performances didn't. Talk about being saved. The only other people with any B3 performances still on the show were Ryan and Toby (one each) - and as I said both of them also have two encores. So what gives?

All I can say is the public is fucking fickle.

Tommy: "They're having one hell of a party in Iceland right now!" - No Shit!

Anyway, the first performance went to Ryan who did a great job on Baba O'Reilly. His vocal tone actually sounds a lot like Roger Daultry's so it was kinda cool and extremely different from Dana's version earlier in the season. Knowing Ryan of course, he had to take it up yet another notch, and not having any pianos to molest and hump he proceeded to climb Rafeal's speaker stacks.

Now if you haven't handled guitar amps and stacked them - you probably don't know how delicately balanced they are - but that shit was fucking dangerous. As a singer I've done the speaking climbing thing, but I climbed the mains (like Sebastian Bach did on Vh-1's Supergroup - and he almost busted his ass) - I wouldn't think of climbing someone Marshall's unless there were braced or I had a death wish. I was a gymnast in school - I know how to easily handle a fall from 10-12 feet in the air. No problem. Falling doesn't bug me, what bugs me is that because the amps are stacked - you can't predict which way they might fall. They could go both directions at once - one forward and one backward - in which case your going to land on one of them and all bets are off the table.

There's such a thin line between incredibly brave and licking the tailpipe stupid - Ryan damn near crossed it with that move.

Storm was next, and boy was she excited. "Anytime I get to Rock with the House Band!!" and proceeded to kick the crap out of "Helter Skelter." I gotta say she took that performance too the next level and then some, touring the entire room in the process and laying back into the crowd at the end. She could've done this song weeks ago if she'd fought for it. This is what happens when you don't battle for the song you really want - you get stuck with dross and bullcrap like "I Will Survive" and have to suffer from having taking a lousy song. She's been letting herself get punked through this entire show -- yes, sure she can sing anything. But that's been putting her 10 and 15 feet behind the starting line while everyone else is right on it. The amazing thing is that she's been catching up to them all this time. If she'd begun in the same place from the start, and gone for the better songs all alone - she'd be miles and miles ahead.

Last up, surprise after surprise, was Dilana. Well technically I shouldn't be surprised - I predicted this. The Resurrection of the Di-lan-a apparently didn't take. Her behavior really has cut into her fanbase severely. She's no longer the favored child. The Bus has arrived and Dilana is under it. Still she still has lots of credit with Stupernova, because her performance of the Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" was a complete and total train wreck. It was embarrising to watch and displayed her greatest weakness - cluelessness. It's like watching the guy come out of the bathroom with a long trail of toiletpaper sticking out of his pants - and he's completely oblivious. That's Dilana. She has no idea. She didn't know how cheesy her lyrics were for the first songwriting clinic - she didn't know that dancing girls on stage with her would look ridiculous, and she didn't know that she is NOT David Byrne. She was the Psycho Killer - the Psycho Killer of that song.

Oh poor Di-lan-a...Di-lan-a....

Your time is coming soon, but unfortunately it wasn't tonight. Since both Storm and Dilana had never been in the B3 before, but Ryan had - it made sense to let Ryan go. But it was still a major shock, he's done so damn well in this competition and shown so many sides. Just about every performance was unique, memorable and special. The energy he brought to the stage affected everyones performance - I honestly think he made all the rest of them a little bit better, especially Toby. They owe him a debt.

DARK HORSE DOWN!

It was a bummer to see him go, just as it was for Patrice to leave last week - but it has to happen. They ultimately have to get down to just one. Exactly who that's going to be I haven't a clue - I'm still holding out hope that Storm pulls it off, but I'd be fine with Toby or Lukas. Magni could do it, but probably won't. The only one I'm rooting against at this point - is Dilana. She'd be a disaster for this band, they'd just totally crash and burn in 80's hell. I've been to 80's hell - it's not a nice place. Being there, or just being in a band that was accused of being "too 80's" made me not a nice person. It pissed me off. I don't wish that on anyone, and with Dilana that's exactly where they're headed. Heaven help them all if that happens.

Vyan

Rock Star : Week 9 Performance

Well, that was something.

I don't think I've ever seen a more energetic job of reputation resurrection in my entire life. My hat's off to the Mark Burnette Editing team who managed to defribulate Dilana back into this show. As I predicted, they did show the entire incident of her near final flip-out at the mansion including the champion wine-glass toss which ricocheted back and hit Magni, then showed her remorseful "I'm sorry, Magni" even if it was done via subtitles. His lack of any bandage and saying "It was just a flesh wound" pretty much sealed the deal, and magically turned Dilana into the sympathetic character of this little psycho-drama.

Well done, I say - well done.

Problem solved, nobody mind that big lump under the carpet - nothing to see here -move along now, move along.

And so we shall, to the actual performances.

First up was Lukas with "Lithium." Meh. Evs.

Ok, then there was Magni - sans bandage - on "I Alone". This song is just deep in his comfort zone, but I actually wasn't much impressed with his performance. Probably because he sounded so good and had such resonance on his acoustic version of the other Live song "Dolphin's Cry" , since then I've found his full band performances lacking. I can't put my finger on it. He sang it great, commanded the stage well, but didn't impress me because that's already what I expect from him. He went up to the SN pod which was cool, except that Jill and Dilana and Patrice have all previously done that also. It's getting tougher to push back the envelope.

And then Ryan comes on and rips the envelope open with his teeth. Ok, like Wow. This guy is a showman. With some people climbing up on the piano could seem corny. Billy Joel does it. Jerry Lee Lewis has been kicking back the piano bench for decades -but somehow he made this work and seem fresh. I do agree with Jason, once he's away from his instrument - either piano or guitar - he "loses the plot". Actually he loses the beat and stumbles around without ever doing anything in time to the music. But this time I really didn't mind that much. The one cool and subtle thing he did was loop the microphone around his neck just before he did the Starsky & Hutch slide back over the piano. That was thinking ahead, because he knew he didn't have time to put it back in the mic stand - he was going to have both hands busy playing and he had to keep it with him to sing the last section of the song. Bonus points for that one dude. Nice job.

Ok I thought Storm doing "Bring me to Life" was going to be a big problem. I was right, it's out of her normal range but she pulled it off. Except for one note at the very begining ("How can you see through open doors") which was tragically flat, she pretty much nailed it. My only technical complainst would be that it was obvious she was struggling, she seemed breathy, her tone was compromised and she was a bit behind the beat on everything - but it really didn't matter. It was a fight, but she got there - and then went far past it with the falsetto high note at the very end. Kudos.

I would however say that battling with the song caused her to fall back on a set of stock stage moves, like the little spread-eagle hop shes been doing since the first note of Pinball Wizard on Day one, kneeling and laying back at the end of the runway, stalking the stage with her twisted walk. Stuff like that. This might be why Dave said that Toby, who was singing backup, may have upstaged her a bit, and he might have - what he had to do vocally was pretty easy by comparison so he could be more dynamic on stage. But still - Storm is Storm and nobody totally takes the stage away from her. My big problem was that some of the backing harmony vocals were off, and it made the Storms vocals and performance seem weaker than they actually were. At first I thought it was Toby, but on rewatching he wasn't singing at that point. It was someone else in the House Band whose singing was off, which is a real surprise.

I wouldn't be surprised if she goes to the bottom three this time, but she'll also probably do some serious defribulation of her own once she gets the chance. She might even do an original, if she's allowed to.

Toby doing "Rebel Yel"l was much better than I expected. In an opposite move to Storm's, he showed a low range I didn't know that he had. I forget which song it was on, but when I'd heard him sing low previously he seemed really shaky - this time is was strong and clear, plus unlike Lukas version - you could understand what he was saying. And then he goes and brings up girls from the audience to dance with him - way cooler than Dilana and the stripper chicks because a) It was spontaneous b) They were honestly fans, and didn't have to go through the casting couch to get there and c) it was cool. As I've said, this contest hasn't been about singing for quite some time, it's about showmanship and so far Ryan and Toby have been stepping it up big time.

Last up was Di-lan-a... Di-lan-a...

Ok, first of all - I hate when people who can't really play guitar - pick up a guitar and pretend to play it. Now, I'm not saying she literally wasn't playing -- she was -- I'm saying her playing sucked. At the beginning of "Mother Mother" she sings the main verse line gently while strumming the guitar once on the downbeat of each measure while sliding her left hand chromatically down the neck from an A-sus to Gb-Sus chord. On measure five she was supposed to go back to the A-sus and she totally blew it. I'm not sure if she didn't get her hand in position correctly, or simply missed the strings while stumming - but it was not good at all. Then with the next chord she hesitated and was way behind the beat - so that sounded fucked up too.

Look, if you're going to strap on a guitar and play it - then fucking play it. It's not a necklace. It's not part of your wardrobe. If you can't hit a A-sus chord properly... let someone who can do it. Jesus.

Imagine if Ryan went over to the piano and fucked up the chords twice in a row. Would anyone think he should be allowed near the thing again until he got his shit together?

I don't think so.

Anyway, she sang the song fine - but oldly not as well as she did during the footage from the reality episode. She's capable of some real tenderness in her voice and that was totally lost once she kicked things into high gear. Fortunately for her, her gears go to Seven. I thought her performance was really good, I personally like Jill's better but since Jill's gone that's a moot point. She did good, and for once didn't repeat herself.

At the end of the show we had Storm - I think Toby - and Lukas in the bottom three for voting. But let's stop kidding ourselves, at this point half and then more than half of the contestants are going into the bottom three. Only Dilana hasn't even had to stand up yet, but her time is coming soon. The voting really doesn't matter anymore for anyone except Magni who would be hitting his third strike if he goes back again today. For everyone else, it's really just a matter of how Supernova feels, not us.

Vyan

Rock Star : Week 9 Reality

Well, Dilana's gone Meshuggah.

The pressure of the elimination show was too much for her and she had a little flip out moment. Nearly breaking down at the lunch table with the other rockers, going out alone by the pool the stomping off in frustration and tossing a glass - which happened to ricochet and cut Magni's head.

Talk about Drama Queen.

I for one don't believe this was done for the benefit of the camera's, and explains why there has been discussion that the hamsters received a visit from one of the executive producers before Dilana bolted. It was a little uncomfortable to watch, but it was real, and I don't really blame Dilana for how she felt or for expressing her feelings. My only problem with it is that it was totally and competely selfish.

Baring editing manipulations, there wasn't one second that she really seemed to be concerned about the impact of her words and actions on anyone else. She was clearly only worried that she might have blown her chance with Supernova, period. Sure, both Ryan and Lukas said it really didn't bother them -- but I notice that it was both Ryan and Lukas who were talking about her "Not being able to handle the pressure of being on the road" if she couldn't handle things on the show.

Let's put things in perspective. She was embarrised on National Television in front of MILLIONS of people. Messing up at a single show is no comparison. The pressure of a full-on tour is actually nothing like being trapped in that house for 3 months with Cameras on you 24/7, broadcasting your every bad hair day and temper tantrum. The real question is whether she's really learned something with this experience or not, and at the moment I'm doubtful. She was completely oblivious to what happened to Magni and although they may not have shown it - seemed completely uncaring afterwards. Again, selfish and petulant. That's not good.

Now, some might argue that being selfish and petulant is sometimes a major part of being a front person. Axl Rose is selfish and petulant. Trashing hotel rooms - or anything and anyone in your way - when the pressure gets to you is a Rock Tradition. (See - Tommy Lee and the Paparazzi or Sebastian Bach and the thrown bottle, and the "Aids Kills Fags Dead" T-shirt). Rockers will fuck up.

This probably isn't a fatal blow for her, unless she let's it become one.

The week's extra curricular activity was a photo shoot. Storm -whose done modelling work before - took to it like a natural. Toby adapted quickly. Magni had issues with it, and just couldn't seem to get it together. And Lukas... frankly I can't believe Lukas has never done a photo shoot, even the smallest seedy bar band needs to put together a band photo and bio to get gigs. I don't buy that "never done this" stuff for a second. Sure, doing it with an actual professional photographer is a bit different, a bit staged and sometimes silly - but it's part of the business. I've done band photos and personal head shots for acting, modelling (a long time ago - don't ask - EVER!) and I know it can be uncomfortable but you simply have to BRING IT, just like being on stage.

This being fan song selection week, there wasn't any drama involving the song scramble - except for the fact the fans asked Storm to sing "Bring me to Life" and that tune is a Mother-FUCKER! People may not realize it, but it's harder than Aerosmith. Both Z and Jill had previously done and both of them had fucked it up, although Jill - who was probably the best overall singer in this competition - was much better she still had some major problems with it). Can Storm pull it off? Will Dilana have another melt down? What color will Lukas eye shadow be next time?

Stay tuned Tuesday Night Rock Fans - Same SuavePorn Time - Same SuavePorn Channel.

Vyan

Update: It occurs to me what we may have just seen just might lead to Dilana receiving the Ty Taylor Treatment, and my opinion on this has modified.

Look at the facts : She was a front runner essentially from the very first show as was he and both have become overconfident from that point on. She has since shown a tendency for the cornball during the original song clinics (ie. "Stop/Go"). Neither saw the problems coming and after riding high for quite a while, both hit a brick wall - in Ty's case it was "Everlong", with Dilana it's been her flapping lips - and both proceeded to have a meltdown. Ty crumbled under pressure that was somewhat of his own making (even though the fact is he was 100% correct when it comes to race and rock) and Dilana has turned to a jelly puddle for similar reasons. Even though it may in fact be true that what both of them said is essentially correct - Magni really does love his family and you really can't find more than a handful of success black artists in rock - simply saying these things out loud may have sealed their fate.

There are some things that may be absolutely true, but how and when you say them can be far more important than the technical truth.

It all depends on how Mark Burnett handles the situation on Tuesday. Last year the Reality Episodes where fairly high profile while being broadcast on VH1, but this year it's possible for events on the Webisodes to slip under the radar for most of the audience - unless they replay the events during either the performance or elimination episodes. If they completely gloss over the glass throwing tantrum, Dilana might pull out of this ok - she might not win, but she won't get immediately flushed as Ty was.

On the other hand if they don't skip from Dilana leaving the dining room on the edge of tears to her pulling herself together for the Insight photoshoot, it could go rather badly. She would not only loose the support of the band - she'd be sure to lose the fans just as Ty did when he supposedly played the "race card."

From that point on, she'll be in the bottom three no matter what kind of performance she does. After two, maybe three times - she'll be gone and that will be that.

Either way, Dilana's chances with the band are probably in the toilet.

The only other possibility is that if there's a scene we don't yet know about where she and Magni resolve the issue and come out in the pod in solidarity. Without blame. Without recriminations. Without too obvious a bandage on his head.

Also, Something I've hardly seen anyone mention is the spanking that Phil received after blabbing to the press that he wasn't that much into Supernova's song. Tommy told him...

To say that stuff prematurely in the press - and this is a lesson for all you guys (pointing at the pod) - are you guys listening? What you say, people read, and people take to the heart. Just a warning, be very very careful of what you say.

That was during Week 4, over a month ago and since it wasn't broadcast on the air it made Phil's elimination seem quite strange. The point is they were all warned five weeks ago and Dilana still did what she did with the press. I doubt the band is really as ready to let this blood wash under the bridge as they appear to be. She's basically toast, but if she loses the fans - she's microwaved toast.

Rock Star: Week 8 Elimination

Well this show wasn't much of a surprise on stage, but things in the Rocker pod certainly grew interesting.

Ryan and Dilana pretty much had it out - and I have to say that Ryan won easily. While he may have seemed a bit like a weasle when it came to calling out Dana in previous weeks, even calling Patrice a "Bitch" at one point - he was dead-on when it came to Dilana and her back-stabbing bullshit. She's clearly grown a huge ego in the last few weeks, we could tell when she tried to button-hole Tommy in Vegas "Just cut the other 7 and give me the job". And some of the shit she said to Ryan was just ridiculous - "You would have been nothing without the House Band last night" - because he had practically cracked the whip on those boys during rehearsals to get the song exactly where he wanted it. They were crying "Uncle", and then she gives *them* all the credit? What the fuck kinda shit is that?

To his credit, Ryan was gracious. But what he said was absolutely true, that Dilana may have been nice when she was in front of the SN boys -she certainly hadn't been in the house. And her mock reaction shots of feigned surprise and annoyance at what he was saying were just priceless - especially when the subject came up a second time in reference to all the crap she dished during the press clinics.

Turnabout is fairplay Dilana, and this time it was gorgeous behold. Gotta say I loved Magni's SNAP - "You're just doing the same thing, over and over again - we're evolving". BULLSEYE! Lukas in response to the comments made to Jamie of Star 98.7 was also incredibly gracious, he's certainly learned to "rise above it".

Not that any of us in blogistopia have to - what's up the with Demented Princess Leia hair buns anyway, Dilana? Jesus, Fashion Tragedy Much?

Clearly Dilana has her fans and they're going to support her no matter what. We've long passed the point where individual performances really matter at all - if someone has gained a huge fan base, they are protected no matter what stupid asshole behavior they manifest - if they haven't they're basically screwed, and don't let them show a kink in their armor and they're done! Buh Bye.

For tonight's special Supernova debut song - Toby got the nod. The song was better than last weeks, and Toby did a good job - but the song actually showed some of the weeknesses in his voice and tone. It's just grating, plus he doesn't have much control in the lower ranges. Weak and pitchy down there. His stage presence pretty much made up for that, and his again displayed something that Ryan doesn't seem to have - coordination. Just about every move was in time to the song, not that he was literally dancing like Dilana was last week (doing the MJ kick and all) but he ROCKED. It was cool, but I still like Patrice and Ryan's original songs better than what I've heard of Supernova's material. Which is a bad sign for them, but a great thing for Patrice and Ryan.

This time we had four rockers in danger - Patrice, Toby, Magni and Storm. Now look, there was nothing wrong with either Magni or Storms performance yesterday -but somebody has to be in the bottom and someone doesn't. In this case Dilana, Ryan and Lukas weren't - so it's safe to say that they are the front runners. According to the Wikipedia Supernova page - Ryan also also tied with Magni with the most number of encores so far (two). Of the top three only Ryan has actually been in the bottom 3 (Week 6), while Storm, Lukas and Dilana have never performed an elimination song - yet.

Magni was up first and performed "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix - which is a favorite of mine. He did a good job, he's a much better vocalists than Jimi was - so that partwasn't a challenge. The challenge is performing while wearing a guitar at the level that Jimi used to - and Magni wasn't quite up to that. He just happened to have picked the one Hendrix song that has the shortest and simplist guitar solo -- and he actually played it in tandem with Rafeal. (HELL, Yes) I'd been waiting for all these pretenders to actually play something beside strumming pussified barre chords for this entire show and finally - finally - somebody got up there and actually played some real guitar.

Too bad no one could hear him.

Magni's guitar simply wasn't in the mix. In fact, I'd bet that none of the rockers guitars have actually been in the mix during the entire show so far. I certainly haven't actually heard them, and since they've only been playing chords that are simple and identical to what the other two guitarists are doing - you can't really tell. It's an old trick I've seen used before -- put the guy whose skills you don't entirely trust in the monitors so he can hear them and think he's rocking out, but not in the house mix. Works almost every time. Damnit, if I were Magni and I was going to do a song like this one, I'd either let Rafael do all of leads or else tell him to sit the fuck down - I'll do it - all of it. That was some bullshit right there. If the man can play - let him play - if he can't don't jerk his chain. Either way - he killed it as usual and went immediately back to the pod.

Patrice was next, and did her usual thing - which is to over enunciate every damn syllable. I don't know what her problem is, it's just like Zarya's accent - only this isn't her Texas drawl coming out in the song. I didn't happen last week when she did her original, but when she does cover song - BAM - there it is again. Annoying as hell. Plus it pretty much ruined a great Pretenders song - "Middle of the Road". She didn't even catch the "purrrr meow.." part just before the harmonica solo. Feh.

Lastly was Toby - Storm again got a pass, and boy did she look disappointed and annoyed - Toby got up and performed Plush. Again, great stage presence - even letting Magni sing a chorus with him - but a reedy voice that simply doesn't have anywhere near the richness of Scott Weiland. And that's a bad comparison since the direction that Supernova really needs to go - is that of Velvet Revolver. Old school with some modern hip twists. I'm not sure they realize that yet, but either way - Toby aint their guy.

In the end the hamster released from the cage was Patrice after four appearances in the bottom 3 - no big surprise. She's done extremely well to have survived so far and was clearly the weakest of the remaining performeers but somebody has to go and now was her turn.

After this, it's going to get nasty.

Vyan

Rock Star : Week 7 Elimination

Finally and at last, the night I've been looking forward to has arrived.

But before I get to that, let's go in order. Tonight the band revealed a new aspect to the show - each week one of the hamsters will be performing a new Supernova song with the band, and first up was Dilana.

I have to admit to reading some spoilers before watching the show, something I normally never do - but did. I was therefore warned about this song, but when I finally saw it my feelings were mixed. It didn't bowl me over, it didn't suck. Not completely. It's got potential, but it needs to be reworked - first of all it basically stays on the same chord and riff all the way through. It doesn't have any harmonic motion. It doesn't have any chord charges or real transitions from section to section -- it just starts and keeps going. A vocalist who has a lot of dynamics and the ability to create different moods and colors in their voice could make it something special, Dilana didn't. I think Magni, Storm and probably Lukas could salvage this song. Possibly even Ryan, but nothing and noone - could salvage the bondage - er - dancing girls.

That was some ridiculous shit.

Look, I know that Motley Crue had their "Girls, Girls, Girls" phase for a awhile. Ok, their entire career. And I know that both they and GnR used backup singers eventually. Lord knows Vince and Axl needed 'em. But the Crue went so far as to have pre-recorded backing vocals.

That crap is for white-trash debutant BS like Britney Spears and neo-homo rough trade like NSuck, not Rock n Roll.

This does not bode well for the future. The question is, will any one of the hamsters have the strength of personality and conviction to tell Stupornova - "Fuck, NO" - when they come up with these cheesy suggestions? (And trust me, I've been in this exact same position - working with some fantastic musicians, but constantly having to scrape velveeta off of everything we did. It's exhuasting.) My feeling is the answer is "No". If so, the result may turn out a lot like Van Halen III where Eddie Van ran everything and poor Gary Cherone (who I actually know indirectly through his family and younger brother Markus) was just onboard to do and sing what he was told. He didn't have the clout to fight back or simply walk away like David Lee and Sammy did when things were starting to get too stupid. Neither do these guys.

Somebody has to have the strength to tell Tommy Lee - ixnay on the cheap ippers-Stay!

Dilana was hotter than all of them anyway. Made them look bad.

Enough about that, on to the elimination.

As Brooke called out the names of those who were included in the bottom three at some point during the night, the list continued to grow. Sure, there were the usual suspects, Zayra, Toby and Patrice. But this time we had a couple surprises - Storm and Magni.

Dave addressed Storm over her interpretation of "I Will Survive" - saying that unlike the version by the band Cake, it lacked "irony." Ok, let me tell you something about Cake - because I had to listen to people rave about that crapass band for years when I lived in Sacramento - and about ironic music. John McCrea of Cake can't fucking sing - ok? He has to make everything seem ironic, because you can't take anything he tries to sing seriously. Ever. Second, a man singing that song is a joke by definition. That is a song about female empowerment, it's about not letting someone belittle you - it's about overcoming emotional abuse. Men don't get that. (Yes, I am a man - but I'm married to a woman whose first husband was an abusive, drugged-out rapist pedophile PRICK! I get it because I've seen and had to deal with the emotional devastation that shithead wrought)

Storm was Dead-ON with her performance of that song. It's about POWER, recognizing that you have it and taking it back. Fuck Irony. Fuck Cake.

Oh, and Fuck Dave.

Storm's response was great too - "I gave it 1000% percent. It may not be my favorite song, but it's somebodies favorite song." Heck, the way she shouted 'YEAH!" when they announced she had been among the bottom three was perfect. Not the whiny "Again?" of Zayra or the "Of course" from Jill - it was "Hell Yeah - Bring it ON - Bitch!"

That alone is why Storm deserves to win - but probably won't.

Let me put it this way, I prefer Storm version of "I Will Survive" to the Cheese and Ham fest they put Dilana through a couple minutes earlier.

Ultimately the first singer to face elimination was Zayra, who again took a chance by doing an obscure song by Blue October. One that actually rocked and was very modern, very different. Her outfit worked - this time. She sounded good - mostly. It was cool - it ROCKED - and was actually tasteful for a change.

Second up Patrice, who re-did "Celebrity Skin" the song that Lukas had fubar-ed with his back to the audience while messing up the lyrics. Patrice not only faced the audience, she ran out into them, around behind them and up onto the Supernova dias. Total showmanship. I still have issues with her over-ennuciation of things. She's like the female Scott Stapp. But it was a great performance, and made Lukey look Stupey.

Last up, was - Magni? What the fuck? Even the CheesyNova boys were floored. But hey man, the public is fickle. Feces happens, then you flush. Magni didn't whine or whimper -he just went up and kicked "Creep" directly in the balls. Now like I said, I read some spoilers - and there was a debate going back and forth about whether Magni's version was better than Lukas.

It's no contest - Magni killed him.

I read a lot of people talk about Lukas being more "emotional". This bullshit is the sad sad legacy of Kurt Cobain. Kurt had an incredibly painful stomach condition, so his looking and sounding "pained" really wasn't always a matter of his being "in the moment" and unleashing the inner angst of the song - he was in fucking pain. Also, Kurt had a tendency to try and sing things that were out of his range, like those Meat Puppets songs from his Unplugged performance. He wasn't really into it, he simply couldn't hit the notes. There's a difference.

Lukas barely got through Creep, he had to cut off some of the notes near the end because he ran out of air. He was better on the encore, but the struggle was obvious. Sometimes it's more interesting to watch people struggle - I get that. Nascar is more interesting if you think there might be a crash. Not knowing what's going to happen creates tension and anticipation. Sure, makes sense. But you have to recognize superior talent and ability when you see and hear it -- and here's something that non-singers won't get -- by laying down as he sang the high notes.... Magni did a windmilling slam-dunk in Lukas's Face.

Laying on your back you have no support. When most people breath and talk, they rely on the weigh of their ribcage to press down on their lungs and push out the air. Technically that's wrong for singing because it creates too weak a flow of air, singers have to also push upward with their diaphram muscle just above their stomach. People who sing without their diaphram can't hold their notes -- they go wobbly, they run out of air and get cut off. (Which is what happened to Lukas when he did this song - and he was standing!) When you lay down you lose the effect of gravity pushing down - you have to do everything with your diaphram muscle alone. Magni not only did it, he did it easily -- he didn't cut off the first part of the major scream the way Lukas did. He wasn't shaky or dodgy on the head-voice section.

Winner - Magni by a TKO.

Now people may disagree about whether they "felt" something from one performance or the other - that's fine. That's a matter of the listener, watchers own inferrences - not the performers actual performance. One is a matter of opinion, the other is a matter of physics.

When Elimination time came - it was obvious. Hell, it's been obvious for weeks now but finally - finally - DING DONG THE Z IS DEAD.

Yes, she's been unpredictable. Sexy. Weird. Fucking strange. But there was no possible way she was ever going to front Supernova. They were simply prolonging the inevitable. Now it's over. I know she gained a ton of fans, and if anyone is likely to salvage a decent solo career out of this - Z probably will.

Heck, if the VelveetaBoys keep going the way they are going --- she'll probably do better than them in the long run.

Vyan