Posted on 03/15/2005 5:53:32 AM PST by silent_jonny
LOL--good eye! And now that you mention it, she did look like JonBenet. Disturbing.
just a few weeks ago, the judges all thought Carrie was a shoo-in to win it, now they are not so high on her. Paula gave me the impression they were prepared to be tougher on Carrie next week.
This might be all part of the "no-one-is-safe" drama of AI, not that Carrie deserved praise for "McArthur Park"--she didn't. I don't know if that was her worst song, but it was very bad.
I never knew Paula was in a plane crash.
That's news to me, too.
Google turned up a 2003 MSNBC interview, where Paula talks about the crash and all the resulting pain. Paula Abdul's Second Act
From the interview:
Ann Curry: “What kind of pain were you in?”
Abdul: “It’s something that is so aggressive that it takes your breath away and makes your teeth start chattering because it’s so uncomfortable. They gave me pills that would put a 300 pound man out. And there were no answers. Sometimes medicine doesn’t work.”
For years she suffered, undergoing 10 spinal surgeries, having three metal plates put in her neck, and losing an inch in height. Her final surgery was scheduled just two months before she was to start an exciting new job. She began praying out loud.
Abdul: “Please let this work because I’m going to take the job called ‘American Idol.’ And I deserve to do this job. I have to do this job because there’s nobody else who can do it but me. And well it’s either going to work or it’s not.”
Today Paula says she feels reborn. She is completely pain free and is even dancing again. But she’s learned the hard way, a lesson about the value of not pushing so hard, that you forget to take care of yourself.
Abdul: “I’m not willing to go back and be unhealthy no matter what that means. I can’t.”
Now that I know this, I won't be laughing at her as much, but still, there's something very odd about her recent behavior. And apparently we're not the only ones that noticed.
Thank you so much for posting those Robert Henri excerpts--I have to read that book. Those few paragraphs were very moving.
I'm stil a Carrie Fan. Simon says it's a "singing competition and she clearly has the best voice in the lot.
Vonzell is pretty good, but I'm not sure Idol want to pick another black female after Fantasia last year. But I predict she'll pick up Anwars votes and that could put her into the final 3.
Bo is far better (and less oily) than Lt. Dan.
If I were a Vegas odds maker, I'd put money on him as much as I'd like to see Carrie win it.
Think about it.
Kelly - white chick
Ruben - sandwich...err...black guy
Fantasia - black chick
This year.....Bo...white guy...(or God help us...Lt. Dan)
It plays into the pattern.
(Great links, Ken, thanks!)
I can't believe they gave him a star either!
Well, they'll have to stop dressing Carrie like Glinda the Good Witch and teach her some other moves besides the Granny Two-Step Shuffle if she expects to be the American Idol.
The girl is as stiff as Al Gore on the campaign trail.
And her hand and arm movements are like Young Frankenstein's monster. Next week, she should do "Puttin' On The Ritz."
Thanks for the ping to the other AI thread. I'll keep my comments on here, though.
Paula definitely seemed to be drunk or on something this morning during that Good Day L.A. appearance. I feel sorry for everything she went through due to that crash. And she may truly not have an addictive personality, as she says. But I also don't think there's any question something weird is going on with her. If it really isn't due to, ummm, medicinal reasons, then she needs to have herself checked out by a neurologist. Small strokes and other neurological problems can also cause someone to appear drunk.
I read all the comments on the other thread. Pretty much reflects what the kids over on the AI boards say. I think it's hilarious that a website is dedicated to voting for the "worst" singer. However, they first have to agree on who the "worst" singer is, and we can see from the wide range of opinions that it's tough to do.
I still think the backstage make-over artists, coaches and such manipulate the candidates more than we realize. I mean somebody had to do Carrie's hair that way. Somebody let Nadia walk out there with her hair in that horrible Mohawk and sing that awful song -- she was gone the next week. In the meantime, Vonzell, who was totally forgettable early in the competition, is looking very glamorous and is getting better songs to sing.
No one can tell me that the contestants -- especially the younger ones -- totally blow off the recommendations of the backstage coaches and stylists. I think they're more easily manipulated than we may realize.
I saw a TV commercial today for that CD. They opened the commercial with "Produced by Simon Cowell" or something similar.
They sounded pretty good to me too.
Homer: Woo hoo! A four-day weekend.
Now THAT is an optimist! LOL
I watched one of her videos the other night and it looked like a trashy Madonna video. You could have put Madonna's face on Paula and never known the difference.
It looked like an orgy. It was the "Cold Hearted" video.
Quite a difference between that one and "Opposites Attract" (the one with the cartoon cat)
Those are really great passages. Beautiful.
I TIVO'd it. I'll watch it in a bit and post after I see it.
No she wasn't.
If Scott doesn't go ballistic when he gets voted off, I wonder if his many detractors will admit that they were wrong about him?
Probably not, but it will say more about them than him.
Glad you like them.
He taught at the Art Students League in New York,
where Norman Rockwell studied.
I just ordered 3 more copies from Amazon...
It's chalk full of juicy snippets from his teachings...
He's not artsy fartsy, just practical and inspiring.
Yes, it will be VERY interesting. I'll bet he will be very gracious.
And you are probably right, not one ounce of credit will be given him by the detractors.
It will probably go along the lines of "The other contestants should watch their backs, Scott will come get them in the middle of the night" or "Uh, oh, I feel sorry for the cab driver that has to take him to the airport". You know, stuff like that.
Some people could take a lesson from our President on respecting each person as a child of God. He has got to be one of the most loving and accepting men I have ever seen.
I don't expect Scott to win, but I will be a bit sad to see him and Anthony go.
I am coming in late to the party (in more ways than one, since I only started watching Idol three weeks ago), but I agree with most of your assessments. Yes, Anthony should do well on the cruise line circuit ... or he would also be a boy band natural. But he doesn't have the talent or charisma to be a real solo star.
I wish Carrie were a couple of years older with a little more live performance under her belt. She is clearly a very nice young lady who has spent her time perfecting her voice rather than her performance -- and I think that lack of performance skill will keep her from the #1 spot. She always looks just a teensy bit worried when she sings.
Bo is very likeable, and has a great command of the stage, but that Freebird thing was ridiculous! If he can keep picking good songs, he just might make it, but he is hampered by a lack of vocal power in his lower range.
Vonzell probably has the best package altogether. She has an outstanding voice, she is cute and charismatic, and can actually move well. Unfortunately, her songs have been forgettable. She needs to pick some songs that scream "HEY! Notice me!!" She has some real vocal depth, but for some reason she seems shy about using it.
However, my pick to win is also Constantine. His upper voice is a little weak, but he is a savvy singer in that he apparently is aware of that and picks songs whose punch is in the middle range, where he has very nice power and clarity. He is loose and relaxed on stage (possibly too relaxed -- the "tongue thing" was interesting!) and quite charming. Apparently he is the pick of the 13-year-old girl contingent, judging from the squeals from the audience the other night! I laughed a lot at the Lt. Dan reference -- there IS a resemblance! But I fail to see the "slimy" and even "Satanic" references that others have made on this thread. He actually seems like a sweet fellow to me, and quite talented -- though I admit he could use a good haircut!
As for Slingblade (LOVE the name!), the less said the better. I think he might edge out Anthony but my guess is that's as far as he can go. Thank goodness.
I don't think the plane crash was an actual crash like we usually think about. I know it was an emergency landing, but I don't remember much else. I guess it must have been a really bad hard landing. But I could be wrong, and maybe it was worse.
Still plenty bad enough to hurt her though. With her history of bulemia, her bones were probably a bit fragile.
I wonder if the 10 neck surgeries messed up some nerves that control muscles in her neck that affects her speech. Maybe that's why she slurrs her words?
Wolfstar, you said you didn't know much about Paula. Some of this you might know, but just in case here's a little about her. (I was a Paula Abdul fan..go figure)
Anyway, she was the one who turned the Laker's cheerleaders into the sexy dancers that were such a big deal. She was only 19 when she was one of the cheerleaders and was the head choreographer.
She was a world class choreographer and was considered one of the absolute best in the world.
She's won a ton of awards, like a couple of Emmy Awards. a Grammy Award, People's Choice, MTV etc. She's got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Her videos won lots of awards also, but her singing really was a bit weak. She could be very sweet or very racy in the videos. Some of it was almost scandalous.
Probably much sexier than some of the guys here imagine. I was shocked from time to time with how racy she could get.
She's done lots of movie choreography, as well as choreography for people like Janet Jackson, some acting, song writing, etc.
Here are a couple of links to her credits. She's done quite a bit.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000716/
http://www.paulaabdul.com/pages/Discography
And if you haven't seen any of her videos, here's a link to those. To get an idea of her dancing talent, "The Way That You Love Me" is probably the best one. (There are two versions of that one. Go to the first one.)
http://www.paula-online.com/frames.htm
Anyway, that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about her, but I was bored!
I'll post some pictures for the guys to enjoy in a minute.
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