Here we go with a good old link-blogging post for the first time in too long.
I know it’s been making the rounds at warp speed the past few days, but Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy in Audi’s “The Challenge” has at least one moment too priceless not to keep sharing. It’s a commercial, obviously — so if you have a hard policy against watching such things, here’s your warning. [2:56]
I wasn’t a hardcore Whitney Houston fan but certainly appreciated her vocal talent. And I’ll be eternally grateful for the memory of a cousin’s daughter, first member of the next generation in our family, dancing excitedly before she could even talk anytime her mom put on “I’m Every Woman”.
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Still of Pentatonix from The Sing-Off 3.11 © 2011 NBCUniversal. Photo: Lewis Jacobs.
Well, America got it right in voting Pentatonix winners of this year’s edition of
NBC’s The Sing-Off. I was a bit bummed that just about everybody turned in sub-standard performances on Monday night’s live finale, when presumably viewership would get a bump from Dancing with the Stars’ absence; maybe it was the lack of pressure, since voting was already closed, but more likely the crazy rehearsal schedule and holiday weekend are to blame. Friends who finally tuned in after hearing me rhapsodize about Pentatonix, Afro-Blue, and Urban Method have my apologies.
I complained in a post last month about the judges’ surprising (to me) preference for certain groups over others — on the whole, traditional large university-based ensembles beating out more inventive, idiosyncratic but clearly cooler combos. Not that a cappella is all about being “cool”, nor that I have an inherent dislike of the collegiate model; quite the opposite, in fact.
Still from The Sing-Off 3.02 group open © 2011 NBCUniversal. Photo: Lewis Jacobs.
I’ve had to restrain myself from blogging on NBC’s The Sing-Off each week. As I proved last year, I’m capable of going on at ridiculous length about the show, given my love for a cappella music and creative arrangements of pop songs in general. Until now I’d been successful, but my resolve finally broke last night after the latest in a string of confounding eliminations.
The Sing-Off upped its roster this year to an impressive sixteen groups, starting with two brackets of eight groups each. My early favorites in the first bracket were Afro-Blue, Delilah, and Urban Method, although Delilah soon proved uneven; second-bracket standouts were The Collective, Pentatonix, Sonos, and North Shore. It’s curious to me that of these groups all but North Shore, a traditional male doo-wop quintet, and Delilah, an all-women’s outfit based on the collegiate a cappella model, are smaller
and more experimental.
Was your life was lacking Glee tonight due to baseball playoffs? Maybe this will get
you going again. Sesame Street has given us some great goofs on popular songs and TV series, from a Billy Idol lookalike Muppet singing “Rebel L” to the detectives of ABCD Blue. Now give it up for... G. [3:48]
I got a grin out of Rachel’s lines in the crowd noise that opens the skit, the bearded piano player who pops up out of nowhere, and more, but the grandest giggle goes to the amazing likeness of “Mr. Goo”.
Related: Harmony and Irony • Muppet Monday • Brittality
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