Kristen Merlin Exits The Voice

Tonight, the seemingly inevitable finally came to pass and Kristen Merlin was disappointingly eliminated from The Voice. She had a great run despite The Voice's best efforts to do her dirty. I hope to see her make it even bigger in the future.

@KristenMerlin You're the only reason I kept watching. Goodbye #NBCTheVoice
— What The Eff? (@effwalkingdead) May 14, 2014

Both Jake Worthington and Christina Grimmie survived eliminations to join Josh Kaufman in the final three. Shows what I know.

Here's an interesting article discussing whether The Voice's Instant Save gimmick hurt Kristen Merlin's chances of making it to the Top 3.

I did not exercise today because I felt under the weather (not that I need any excuses not to exercise). 

I enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by my lovely Mummy. Baked salmon steak, mashed plantains and beans, plain yogurt and spicy Indian pickle... all up in my face. YUM.

Exercise Day 9 & DAP Movie #7: Madagascar 3 - Europe's Most Wanted

Done & Done.

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #7
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
2012
Rating: PG
Budget: 145 million
Box Office: 746 million plus (even more than the sequel!)

IMDb Logline: "Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent - Madagascar style."

Lazy Review: Madagascar 3 was cute but 2 remains my favorite. 3 was less grounded as far as storyline which actually fit its circus theme. Running away with the circus also lent itself to really cool animated scenes. 

After the movie: I missed most of The Voice and am now in progress watching Christina Grimmie's major misstep singing Fun's "Some Nights." Too bad. 

Not exactly 10 minutes later: I'm not really loving Jake Worthington's rendition of Bryan Adam's "Heaven" either. Usher gave some helpful background on vocal issues that Jake has been suffering. This helps me to better appreciate, not hate. 

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)
 

PlaySCOOP Event 6

PokerStars play money tournament + rebuys + turbo + add-on = donkfest! Also known as the perfect equation for the complete opposite of a premiere tournament.

Fail for good poker. Genius for Pokerstars play money sales.

In the 5K Low buy-in game of Event 6, I placed 61/696 for a prize of 43,900. This was all thanks to luck, which ran out when I moved 8-6 short-stacked and desperate into pocket Aces. My prize was chump change compared to the cost of the 500K buy-in and two-time double-re-buy into the High Game of Event 6 for a grand total of 2.5M. Even though the structure of the tournament was worthless against such a high-buy in, I fell victim to my temptation to place in this one also. So far, I have placed in 4 of 6 PlaySCOOP tournaments I have played.

@PokerStars Why no tweets about PlaySCOOP? Also rebuy+play money+turbo effing sucks you evil geniuses. http://t.co/aY3ljE9Vbr
— What The Eff? (@effwalkingdead) May 6, 2014

In other non-news, Adam Levine looks terrible as a blonde. 

Speaking of blondies, in lieu of exercising, I consumed multiple servings of this "sweet cream ice cream with blonde brownies & a salted caramel core."

Stupid Voice Show

Why does The Voice ruin the actual live performances by immediately beforehand previewing key moments of the exact same performances from the rehearsals? The lead-in footage rendered performances (like show closer Sisaundra Lewis's "Oh Sherrie") into encores.

Kristen Merlin boldly sang Passenger's "Let Her Go" without changing the lyrics. 
 
This was followed by a back-handed compliment by Blake Shelton- some garbage about how he thought while she always looked comfortable on stage, she was finally starting to sound comfortable. I'd argue it's challenging to sound comfortable when you can't be heard at all.

I actually like Blake as a judge (much like I think the Voice can be an entertaining singing show even as I criticize it vehemently). However, Blake's commentary on Kristen has been questionable to me on more than one occasion - which is especially a shame considering country singer Kristen came into the competition hoping for Blake as a coach. 
When he didn't turn his chair for her blind audition, Blake commented "You're a great singer for sure... and I'll tell you why I didn't hit my button... You have a very fast vibrato... and when Shakira hit her button, I thought if there's anyone who can help with tips on control... oh my gosh, of course that's who she needs to be with. Man, if I was you, I think I'd be picking Shakira!" BULLSHIT.

Back to tonight's show, I was moved by Bria Kelly, more by her reaction to the judges' feedback than by her uneven performance of Avril Lavigne's "I'm with You." 
 
She put up a brave front as she wiped away escaping tears. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there, especially on a nationally televised platform, and it's even more impressive considering she's only 16. 

I didn't see the entire show but did also catch Audra McLaughlin's beautiful rendition of Reba McEntire's "You Lie." It was the perfect song to showcase her talent. She will definitely make it well past this next round of eliminations. 


Christina Grimmie also made a powerful impression with her signature take on Drake's "Hold On."

Direct Line to Ellen DeGeneres?

Still fired up by The Voice's unfair treatment of Kristen Merlin, now a top 10 finalist (no thanks to The Voice), I tweeted this politically incorrect message to Ellen earlier this week:

@TheEllenShow Hey Ellen, defend your peeps! http://t.co/GZsqduej1o #nbcthevoice #KristenMerlin #TheVoiceTop12
— What The Eff? (@effwalkingdead) April 22, 2014

Not unlike this blog, I have zero* human followers on Twitter by the way. Well, check out footage from today's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show!


Whatever you want to call it (coincidence, influence, crass, megalomania, psychic), this is effing cool!

*UPDATE - I just noted that I do have one real live Twitter follower! Thank you @jillsomers! 

@effwalkingdead @TheEllenShow #merlinnation are her "peeps"! We got this! Join us! @KristenMerlin
— Jill Somers (@JillSomers) April 22, 2014

The Voice Effs Over Kristen Merlin... Again (Sabotage?)

I first noticed Kristen Merlin during the "blind" auditions of the Voice. I don't even follow country music (or the Voice) but I thought she nailed it. I put "blind" in quotes because my skeptical nature does not allow me to entertain that Blake Shelton was oblivious to Kristen's appearance when he chose not to swivel his chair.

Kristen already had an uphill battle in this competition, the winner of which is ultimately determined by viewer votes. No matter how talented she is, I can't see a butch lesbian winning a popularity contest in America. Well, The Voice producers seem committed to giving gravity an assist by greasing the hill and dropping anvils on our girl.

After the blind auditions, contestants are further weeded out in not one, but two, Battle Rounds, and not once, but twice, Kristen's battles were not featured on television along with her other competitors. Instead, "blink and you won't hear them" recaps established that Kristen had made it to the Playoffs round, in which the coaches made their final team cuts before the live show featuring the 12 finalists. No other finalist's Battle Rounds were recapped twice (or at all, save one other finalist, Christina Grimmie). In a show, where fan following and viewer votes determine the winner, I can't imagine that the show's producers don't realize the deficit this wreaks on a competitor. Now, to dig that hole twice as deep for the same (and only) person is either inexcusably careless or effing calculated. So fine, life, and apparently The Voice, isn't fair.

However, tonight, I witnessed an event that I don't believe has ever happened to a finalist on any (including the live airings) of the now absurd number of singing competitions on television. Tonight, in the first live show of the competition, Kristen Merlin's microphone went dead in the middle of her performance, rendering the climax of her song inaudible to anyone. 

Here's video - her performance was stunning despite her being silenced for the 21 seconds (1:24 to 1:45) immediately preceding the last word of the song.


For those who would argue that those last 20 seconds or so are neglible, I draw your attention to the final seconds of these performances:
1) 2:48 t0 3:12 in this clip of Whitney Houston's performance of the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl:


2) 1:40 to 2:02 of Paul Potts' star-making performance on Britain's Got Talent:


3) Would it not diminish her Grammy-winning performance if 20 seconds were botched off of any part of Jennifer Hudson's climax here in Dreamgirls?


The judges attempted to smooth over the debacle with trite remarks, such as commenting that Kristen handled the situation so gracefully that it seemed like nothing had happened. However, shit did happen! This "mishap" eviscerates the purported integrity of this sham of a competition! Now, The Voice is proceeding along through the rest of the live show like nothing went awry, as if they didn't just majorly screw over a finalist in a voting-based round determining eliminations.

A solitary mic-failing incident would be bad enough, but a series of unfortunate "coincidences" reeks to me and you know that saying (that I just improvised) - if it looks and smells like horse shit, then you don't need to effing eat it to know what The Voice is serving, with an anvil on top.

@NBCTheVoice Wow, it's effing shady how you screwed over @KristenMerlin AGAIN! http://t.co/GZsqduej1o #VoiceTop12 #shady #Homophobia
— What The Eff? (@effwalkingdead) April 22, 2014

SUPPORTING FACTS?
http://jezebel.com/producers-may-be-manipulating-who-wins-on-the-voice-1548169134

The Voice (Season 6) - Blind Audition Rounds

How the eff did Blake Shelton not turn around?




I don't think it's really fair to pit duos against individual competitors, but these guys were effing cute.



Also, on occasion, Adam Levine is hard of hearing.