LorieByrd.com

The Amazing Race 9

Tonight from 9:00 - 11:00 p.m. on CBS.  The promos promise more exotic locations and more extreme challenges.  That will be cool -- kinda like Season 1, but everyone watches for the personal relationship conflicts.  Okay, I will just say it like a normal person.  People watch it for the fights and the meltdowns. 

Update:  Eric is right in the comments section (and don't miss his TAR blogging tonight) that it isn't just about the fights.  But I do know many people who only watch NASCAR for the crashes, and many of them even admit it.  I loved the first Amazing Race the most for the really incredibly beautiful and interesting locations and scenery and the for the fun mix of personalities and for watching the people react and cope to unknown places and cultures. The drama isn't all negative.  There have been some lovely moments of tenderness and love between the racing partners.  I am looking forward to a great show tonight.

The best part of TAR blogging, in my opinion, is finding out what Eric has nicknamed the teams.  Team Showtunes was one of my favorites.

Update II:  My daughters caught some of TAR tonight.  The five year old's favorite part was when one sister asked the other if she farted in the cab.  That cracked her up.

The nine year old noticed the hippies right away and said they should be dubbed Team Hippie, (Do you know what you call a hippie's wife, by the way?  Mississippi.)

She also initially thought the "best friends" tag under one of the teams said "just friends" and being familiar as she is with TAR need to almost always include a gay couple, she said they wanted to make sure no one thought they were the gay couple.

American Idol Night

I am getting a bit concerned.  I think that Clay Aiken lost to Rueben Studdard in large part because of some phone problems the North Carolina carrier experienced.  With several North Carolinians in the competition this year, I fear that there may be similar problems.  I tried to vote for my favorite, Chris Daughtry, last week and never was able to get through.  Me and my daughters also love Kelly Pickler and I don't think my daughter ever got through to vote for her, either.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.  I predict that Kelly and Chris will make it to the final 12 for certain, and have a good shot at the top handful.

If you can't wait until 8 o'clock, just watch this a few dozen times.

Political Blogging

As always, my political blogging can be found at Polipundit.  My blogging has been really light lately, but I did write about the ports deal, Hillary on vouchers and Oprah on Katrina over the past few days.

For Those Who Haven't Seen It...

Here is a link to the dance everyone has been talking about -- Drew Lachey's freestyle offering on the television show, Dancing with the Stars last week.  It includes Lachey's  "controversial" reaction to one of the judges' "Brokeback Mountain" comment at the end, too. 

I watched the dance live and was blown away by it.  It was really amazing.  I remembered thinking the part of the dance where Lachey falls to the floor and his partner "rides" him across the stage was original and really cool, but after watching the video, I am just in awe.  The steps leading up to that portion of the dance are in nothing short of perfect timing and synchronization.  Watch it a couple of times.  It is really cool.

I have only started watching the program the past few weeks and have yet to see one of the shows all the way through.  I can see why the ratings are so good.  It really reminds me a lot of the American Idol show.  My kids enjoy watching it with me for the pretty costumes and neat dance moves, and the competition component adds to the fun.  That seems to be a winning ratings formula these days.

Update:  More here.

My Pick

I know it is early, but I can't imagine anyone topping Chris Daughtry -- talentwise, that is.  I can imagine someone else getting more votes, but it doesn't matter.  I am convinced that this guy is going to be a huge star, regardless of how far he goes on American Idol.  If you don't believe me, just watch the video performance, and the interview.

More on Daughtry here and here.

Update:  Lots of AI news here.

UPDATE II:   Don't miss Daughtry singing Fuel's Hemorrhage here.

H&R Block Gets Their Own Taxes Wrong

I am not surprised by this.  We had H&R Block do our taxes one year and I actually caught the mistake they made and had to take them back in.  It was a while back, but I think what they did was count a W-2 twice.  Thankfully, I looked at it before signing and mailing. (See, it was so long ago that it actually got mailed.)

American Idol - Results Night

The finalists sang The Eagles' "Take It Easy" to open the show and Chris Daughtry belted out his part of that song like nothing I have ever heard.  He is an incredibly powerful singer and something about his voice just wakes me up and gives me chill bumps.  He is my favorite by far right now.  Ace Young and Taylor Hicks also sang great on the Eagles tune.  I can't imagine any of them not making it into the final six guys.  Kelly Pickler, Lisa Tucker, Mandisa and Katherine have to be in the top female finishers. Tonight we will find out who isn't going to make it.

Update:  Video of the "Take It Easy" performance is here.

WOW!

For all my blog friends who make fun of me for watching American Idol, watch Chris Daughtry's performance from tonight and I promise I won't say I told you so when you tell me how incredible he is.  He is one of the Armerican Idol finalists from North Carolina and he is going to be a star.   He has been one of my favorites from the beginning and I think he is going to breeze to the final 12, and most likely end up in the final handful of contestants, if not the winner. 

Tonight Daughtry sang Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" and he sounded better (and looked much sexier) than Jon Bon Jovi ever dreamed.  If they post the video clip I will link to it later.  When my nine year old saw the performance, she said "blog like the wind, mama" so that is what I am doing.  Wow!

Update:  Here is a video interview.

Another WOW!  Ace sounded as good as he looked and that is saying A LOT.  He sang George Michael's song "Father Figure" and absolutely nailed it.  Did I mention that he looked really good, too?

Update II:  Wow, wow, wow.  I have liked Taylor Hicks from the beginning, as well, and now I am in love with him.  He picked one of my favorite songs, Elton John's "Levon" and it was great.  Simon even admitted that he had been wrong when he said Hicks would never make the finals.

I am calling it.  Chris Daughtry, Ace Young and Taylor Hicks are going to be in the top six guys, and probably in the top three guys.

Getting Good Teachers

Betsy Newmark should be in charge of finding a solution to North Carolina's shortage of good teachers.  She has better ideas than anyone else I've heard.

American Idol -- Girls' Night

First up tonight was Mandisa, the woman that Simon ridiculed for her weight.  She belted out an excellent version of a Heart rock song.  I think she will make it through to the final six girls. She deserves to, anyway.  She not only has a great voice and stage presence, but a killer personality.  She got great reviews from all three judges.