After a night in a rather uncomfortable bed here at the San Francisco Hostel at Fisherman’s Wharf, I was up at 8:00 and explored the hostel a little. The view from here is fantastic. Breaky was being served but it’s crowded in there so I waited a bit and plopped down in the library to get on line for a bit. Had breaky and headed out at 11:00 for a walk. Went down to the waterfront and headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Awesome hike, not too many people out, not too hot, not too far; there and back in four hours. My feet are screaming Read Full Article & Comments…
I left the Portland Hostel at 8:00am for San Francisco. The drive south of Portland was much as I remember it, fairly boring. Southern Oregon gets pretty hilly. Coming down from the hills and into California it flattens out a bit and I could see bits of Mount Shasta through the clouds in the distance. As I got closer, the clouds started to clear but the top remained obstructed. Still, it is pretty impressive. I5 runs right by it and I drove for over an hour and it was still… just right… there.
Great day for a road trip. I left on a sunny 60 degree spring day, the farmers were out plowing the fields and the trees, they be a bloomin. I left about 12:30 headed south for Portland, my first stop on the way to San Francisco. I started catching up on some podcasts I’ve been buffering up for the trip; today was mostly NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and TWIT (This Week In Tech) TV.
I have concert tickets to see Tim O’Brien in Berkely at the Salvage & Freight Coffee Shop on Thursday night. I was planning on taking my friend Donna who lives in East Bay. I met Donna and her son Ian at the Castle Stahleck Hostel in Bacharach Germany last year and I was looking forward to seeing her again. Sadly though, her sister just passed, so her concerns are elsewhere right now. My thoughts and prayers are with her.
It seems to have started with Improv Everywhere – slo-mo shopping in a Home Depot and their antics in New York’s Grand central Station. Now at the Liverpool Street Station in London, a T-Mobile add and in Antwerp’s Central Station (Centraal Station Antwerpen), a promotion for Belgium’s version of In Search of Maria. Yeah, it only happens in musicals, no one ever just breaks out in song and dance… or do they?
Imagine just going about your daily commute, minding your own business…
Yes, Susan Boyle of Britain’s Got Talent fame had an amazing performance, she’s an overnight sensation, everyone loves her… I’m seeing many articles rambling on about how rudely she was treated prior to her audition, about not judging a book by its cover, about prejudice and hatred, ad nauseum. C’mon people, give it a rest. I too loved this woman’s performance, her victory, and I wish the best for her. From what I’ve read about her history, hey it’s her turn and I hope she enjoys it.
But regarding all the deeper meaning many are writing about, eh it’s a bunch of hooey. I too would be appalled if people were this rude and dismissive to someone like Susan, say… if they met on the street or elsewhere causally or professionally. That would be unacceptable. However, this is Television. It’s all part of the show.
Not all of the auditions make it into the show. The judges and audience sit through hours and hours of auditions, it can be grueling I’m sure. Only the best and best of the worst make it on. I watched the whole show and after the seemingly endless parade of loser acts that the judges and the audience must endure, their reactions to just another apparent unlikely candidate such as Susan, who by the way acted very oddly, is to say the least, understandable. Their upturned eyebrows and rolled eyes too are part of the show. That’s why people watch; we humans love a good train wreck.
Everyone has seen these shows like Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, Idol, and others and the contestants know very well the ridicule they are subjecting themselves to. Many of them know they have no talent and just want to get on TV and make a fool of themselves.
Susan was genuinely quirky and the remarkable thing, her victory in all this, is that she overcame all that and her nervousness; she dove in leaving herself wide open for abuse, she belted it out not missing a beat, and she blind sided them. THAT’s why we love her. That’s why we teared up when we saw it; because as ashamed as we might be to admit it, we all rolled our eyes a little too at the beginning.
The simple, and perhaps sad truth is, if the judges and audience had not behaved the way they had before the performance, the outcome would not have been nearly as sweet. I just hope she’s not a one hit wonder and cane come through on her next performance, for her sake.
I did just heard that a recording she did for a charity album 10 years ago just surfaced. I’m not sure if this rendition of Cry Me a River is real, but have a listen and judge for yourself. If it is real, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.
Following is the Britain’s Got Talent performance that started all this:
Susan Boyle, a 47 year old bushy eyebrowed unemployed single Scots woman who auditions on the UK’s talent show Britain’s Got Talent, thinks she can sing. Thought to be some sort of pitiful joke by the audience and by the judges, she knocks their socks off with the voice of an angel. Dang, this literally brought tears to my eyes, you have to watch this.
After apprehensive looks from the judges and rolled eyes from audience members, this woman, who says she’s never been on a date or been kissed, delivered a complete blind side; the judges were stunned, stopped dead in their tracks they were, before she had gotten the first stanza of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables out of her mouth. The audience was on their feet and Read Full Article & Comments…
After a night in a rather uncomfortable bed here at the San Francisco Hostel at Fisherman’s Wharf, I was up at 8:00 and explored the hostel a little. The view from here is fantastic. Breaky was being served but it’s crowded in there so I waited a bit and plopped down in the library to get on line for a bit. Had breaky and headed out at 11:00 for a walk. Went down to the waterfront and headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Awesome hike, not too many people out, not too hot, not too far; there and back in four hours. My feet are screaming Read Full Article & Comments…
I left the 
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Susan Boyle, a 47 year old bushy eyebrowed unemployed single Scots woman who auditions on the UK’s talent show Britain’s Got Talent, thinks she can sing. Thought to be some sort of pitiful joke by the audience and by the judges, she knocks their socks off with the voice of an angel. Dang, this literally brought tears to my eyes, you have to watch this.
After apprehensive looks from the judges and rolled eyes from audience members, this woman, who says she’s never been on a date or been kissed, delivered a complete blind side; the judges were stunned, stopped dead in their tracks they were, before she had gotten the first stanza of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables out of her mouth. The audience was on their feet and 
