Exercise Day 6 & PlaySCOOP Limit Stud

I was about to drive past the gym straight home but against the odds, I actually logged 35 minutes on the treadmill at the gym (making day 3 at the gym - 47 to go for gym reimbursement).

Then, I had a (lentils, onion, garlic, red pepper, tomato and spinach) soup prepared by my Mummy - it was delicious! I need to learn how to make this:



Afterwards, because there weren't any No-Limit Holdem PlaySCOOP tournaments available tonight, I partook in PlaySCOOP Event #12 Limit Stud for the Low buy-in of 20K, joining 45 minutes late. I have never played Stud poker before and so I figured this would be an interesting experience, and also why I did not buy-in to the 2 Million High game, and also why I pitifully blinded my way out to a loss.

American Idol is down to the Top 4, having them perform 3 songs each in one show (and multiple Lady Gag-a songs) - which is totally stupid. As Dani Voz from The Voice before her, Jessica Meuse performed the kiss of death in a televised singing competition: a weaker than Pink version of a Pink song. I'm forecasting Jessica's almost certain elimination. 

Jena Irene's final song of the night, also playing piano, was a "spell-binding"* version of Elvis's "Can't Help Falling In Love." I didn't watch the entire show tonight but this performance was definitely worth catching. I expect it to go viral. 
*(adjective used by judge Keith Urban, baby)
 

American Idol Stereotypes the Top 6 - April 23, 2014

I'm not even sure why I caught the beginning of tonight's live show, which opened with a very contrived "Meet The Idols Live - Top 6" video, riddled with prop guitars, and totally not photogenic camera angles all up in contestants' faces. The worst of it were the cliched labels tacked on to each of the finalists:

1) Caleb Johnson - who regularly channels Jack Black from School of Rock, i.e. THE HARD ROCKER

2) Sam Woolf - the HEARTTHROB (this kid looks like he's 15 years old and is more prepubescent than throbby)

3) Jessica Meuse - the REBEL (likely inspired by the pink highlights in her hair and nose ring because her performances are rather tame. If this woman is a rebel, then I am a NY Jets football star and defender of the universe)

4) C.J. Harris - the ROOTS ROCKER (yes, C.J. is African-American, hence the reference to the TV miniseries/Alex Haley novel)
 

5) Alex Preston - the TROUBADOUR (do the AI producers/bad label-makers even know the meaning of this word? Dude, I had to look it up. By the way, he's from New Hampshire, not medieval France, and I'd rather misidentify him as indie pop than folksy)

6) Jena Irene - the WILDCARD (again, I'm not exactly sure what specifically makes her a wildcard in this competition other than the wacky outfits the AI stylists keep inflicting upon her) 

 

What was the thinking exactly behind assigning these individuals such limiting, and even inaccurate, classifications? Does a troubadour have as much of a shot at the grand prize as a hard rocker or a heartthrob? The whole premise of the show rests on Americans' votes to determine the champion, but it seems AI producers deem the viewing public capable of assessing only prepackaged, one-dimensional, pigeonholed, cartoon characters (my own overuse of labels!)... in a singing competition. In a weird way, maybe this does an idol make?

Eff American Idol

How effing cruel is it to narrow down contestants to 15 finalists only to have 10 perform on the live show? The remaining five were waiting around the entire two hours, ready to sing for no reason, only to have America (or whoever is still watching in America) witness the pain oozing from freshly crushed hopes as these poor souls were awkwardly herded before the judges who offered trite messages of certain future success at the close of the show.
Tonight was Male Performers night - so I imagine this happened last night for the Females also. Why are the contestants separated by gender anyway? Are we in effing grade school? Why should their genders factor in at all in a singing competition?