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Do You Think Nicki Minaj Would Make a Good Judge on American Idol?

I’m a fan of American Idol. There, I said it. And I’m also a fan of those Real Housewives’ shows, but that’s another topic for another plight, maybe. Okay, back to American Idol. Over the past few days there has been a lot of hubbub in Idol-land as stories are coming out that Nicki Minaj, she of “Super Bass” and “Starships” fame, and she whom those little girls, Sophia Grace and Rosie on “Ellen,” like to sing her songs (though they sing the cleaned up version, not with the lines like “Higher than a m&$#er f&#$er” from “Starships”), well, Nicki is rumored to be one of the people to replace Jennifer Lopez or Steven Tyler as a judge on Idol, and for that matter, supposedly Randy Jackson is history as well, so maybe she’s replacing him. In any case, the latest wrinkles seem to be that now Mariah Carey, who is actually confirmed to be a new judge, is upset because she wanted to be the only girl judge. And to confound things even more, the latest rumor is that Kanye West is in the running as a judge, but I’m not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

Back to Ms. Minaj. Sure, she’s opinionated, and I suppose she could tell contestants they suck, but for me all of the names they keep throwing about as judges just don’t thrill me. I know Mariah can act goofy at times, so she could bring back the nuttiness lost when Paula Abdul left, but Mariah also seems to come off as too whispery to make an impact, and for me I think the Nicki Minaj act will get old after about three episodes. There was something about that first batch of judges that worked, with Simon Cowell being the serious one, Paula being the batty one, and Randy calling everyone “Dog,” and it hasn’t been the same since the trio broke up, but I guess you have to start the retooling somewhere (I see the interim crew of Randy, Jennifer, and Steven as the “We really don’t know what to do yet” crew). I don’t think Nicki will make a good judge on American Idol. There, I’ve said it, but I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be there for the season when it kicks off in 2013.

And that takes me to this daily plight: Do you think Nicki Minaj would make a good judge on American Idol?

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do You Know What Time You Were Born?

Here it is, my first daily plight. Okay. It’s not really my first daily plight, I used to do this feature years ago in the early days of Entertainment Ave!, but then it slowly slid into a “weekly plight,” and then into a “when I get around to it” plight, and then it was replaced by, oh, well, it just stopped, which begs the question, “Why is it back?” I’m not totally sure, especially since, if it goes as planned, it means coming up with 365 plights during the next year, but as I was able to come up with a word of the day for a year, to the sometimes confusion of my Facebook friends, I decided “What the hell? Give it a shot!”

The format is simple – I’ll post some kind of question every day and you can vote if you want to, read what inspired my plight if you want to, comment if you want to, or just ignore it, but I hope you come back for a new plight the next day because, well, it’s a daily plight! Simple enough, right?

Now as I’m still testing this thing, seeing if the plight form works correctly, and also if I like the formatting of it all, and rather than just blow things out of the box with something like “Will Tom Morello influence your vote for President?”, I thought I would keep the topic a little lighter until I’ve got things set, and what better way than with a plight based on one I posted back in April of 2000, when I was asked a simple question that I thought I knew the answer to – What time were you born? I thought I knew, figured it would be on my birth certificate, but much to my surprise the time wasn’t on it, just the date. As I pondered how to find out the answer, another question popped into my head – At what point during birth determines what time you are born?

Birth is a complicated enough thing, not that I’ve experienced it first-hand, other than my own which I don’t really remember, but I wondered when it is official in terms of what time you are born. Is it when the entire body is out, or maybe when the head comes out? And what about if you are a c-section baby, what time are you born then? I suppose the way I would determine it would be to say it is when your umbilical cord is cut, but what do I know, I’m not a doctor, and if I were a doctor, do I get to make up my own rule or is there some guideline in the doctor’s rulebook that says something like “When the baby pops out all of the way and isn’t touching mom anymore, or when you get the baby out of the womb by c-section, that is the time the baby is born.” Even if it is the umbilical cord thing, what’s to say that, in order to be the first baby born in the New Year, couldn’t the woman say something like “Hey Doc, can you wait thirty seconds to cut that cord – I want to be on the news!” Sure, I could search the internet, but what fun would that be, and that still won’t solve my underlying dilemma – I’m not sure what time I was born, other than between the hours of 4 and 5 in the morning, or so said my mom. And that’s what leads me to my re-inaugural daily plight: Do you know what time you were born?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Ted

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:46 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Ted Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, voice of Seth MacFarlane, Joel McHale
MPAA Rated:	R
Released By:	Universal Pictures
Release Date:	June 29, 2012
Kiddie Movie:	Only if you want them asking for a vulgar teddy bear for Christmas.
Date Movie:	It’s good for the adult boys and girls.
Gratuitous Sex:	Somehow Ted gets it on with the ladies, and there is a boob shot.
Gratuitous Violence:	Ted runs into some problems with a crazed fan.
Action:	Nah.
Laughs:	From start to finish!
Memorable Scene:	The fight scene with Ted and John.
Memorable Quote:	Too many to list.
Directed By:	Seth MacFarlane

I know, just the other day you were asking yourself, “Self, whatever happened to Sam Jones?” Actually, you were probably doing some work around the house and heard something about Sam Jones in the background and asked yourself, “Self, who in the hell is Sam Jones?” Well, for the uninformed, Sam Jones is Flash Gordon. Yes, that Flash Gordon from the 1980’s classic, well, “Flash Gordon,” and low and behold he has been resurrected in the funny-as-hell movie about a teddy bear, “Ted.”

Let’s get to the story…

John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) was the kid growing up who didn’t have any friends. There wasn’t really anything wrong with him, he just wasn’t friends with anyone. For Christmas he is given a giant teddy bear, names him Ted, and wishes one night that Ted will be his best friend forever. Yup, John goes to sleep, wakes up, and there he is, a living, breathing, talking Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane). One would normally think you would hide a talking teddy bear from the outside world, but for this movie Ted becomes famous, even appearing on Johnny Carson, but like most young celebrities, after a while no one cares about Ted except for John.

The years go by, John gets a girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis), and Ted is his best friend all along, even still living with John as John and Lori’s relationship grows. The thing is, Ted really hasn’t had the best of role models growing up, preferring to get stoned and sleep with hookers, and John is kind of on the same path, except for the “sleeping with hookers” part, much to the dismay of Lori.

As Lori and John have been together for a few years, Lori is getting fidgety, getting that itch to get married, while fending off the advances of her boss, Rex (Joel McHale), and also wants John to grow up. She knows that for any of this to happen, Ted needs to move out, and, oh hell, why am I giving away the entire movie? Okay, one more things to give away first before summing it all up, pay attention to the creepy Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) and his son.

Here’s the thing… “Ted” the movie is very funny, in a truly adult humor kind of way. Ted is a vulgar teddy bear who likes getting laid and somehow gets promoted at the grocery store by saying horrible things about the boss’ wife, while John is stuck in a world where Sam Jones is his idol (see, I bring it all back to Sam Jones), and we find out that Flash Gordon is now a partier who likes cocaine, liquor, and floozies, and yet both John and Ted must grow up, just a little, to get to the next stages of their respective lives. The humor is what you might expect from a vulgar teddy bear, and it’s not just for the boys, the girls in the theater seemed to have a good time, too, but I will say this, many of the jokes might go over your head just a bit if you weren’t a child of the 80’s and 90’s, or don’t know who Tom Skerritt is.

I loved “Ted,” both the movie and the teddy bear. You would think the joke of a talking teddy bear would get old after a while, but the truth is, there is a personality to Ted that keeps things moving, and the bizarre side story with Donny and his son wraps things up nicely. Mark Wahlberg does his best as the likeable slacker, Mila Kunis is her adorable self, and Joel McHale is great as the creepy boss. It’s good for the men and women, but leave the kids at home with the sitter, unless you want your son or daughter to wish for a slightly different kind of teddy bear.

4 ½ stars out of 5! I laughed my ass off and always appreciate a movie that doesn’t totally dumb things down for some great doses of the funny!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Machine Gun Preacher

Below is an excerpt from The Dude on the Right’s full review of “Machine Gun Preacher.” Yup, there’s a lot of violence and badness happening in the Sudan, and Sam Childers is trying to do something about it…

…There isn’t a lot very pretty about this movie, only that no matter where they are, no matter the atrocities around them, sometimes the joy of children can bring light to the darkest days. It gives a brutal look, and I mean brutal, at the atrocities occurring in the Sudan, as well as intertwines a movie about a man, Sam, who is torn between his life in the safety of the United States with his wife and daughter or trying to help the innocents of a nation…

“The Avengers” is a Movie, “Angry Birds” is Real, “The Voice” is Ending, and Do You Really Have to Tease “Celebrity Apprentice?”

By: The Dude on the Right

Download and Listen

During this episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, the crappy weather must be getting to Stu Gotz as he drops the S-bomb a few times and tries to spread a rumor about the Agent Phil character in “The Avengers,” but Stu didn’t live a real-life version of Angry Birds like I did so I don’t know what he has to be crabby about! We both saw “The Avengers,” and I work to dispel Stu’s rumor while we both seemed to have liked the movie, although Stu does say the Little Gotz’s got a little antsy during the film. “Avenger” talk did lead to the “Super Hero Augmented Reality” app and Stu’s almost getting pissed off enough with Android to jump to the iPhone dark side. I thought he would have hated it because it makes you go to Wal-Mart.

I’m worried “The Amazing Spider-Man” movie is going to suck, we are both looking forward to “Prometheus,” Stu wonders if any of “The Voice” contestants can have a real career, I’m hoping for an Arsenio v Aubrey “Celebrity Apprentice” finale, and Stu introduced me to the term “cracker-crust” pizza.

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Fraternity Reminiscing, Facebook Timelining, Movie Opening, Bulls Falling, and Spring TVing.

By: The Dude on the Right

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Did you know that there is a clip of a version of the Theta Xi “Rounders Song” on the Internet? Stu Gotz didn’t either, but during this “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast I prove to him that it’s true.

Our Fraternity anniversary gave us a chance to reminisce a tad of the college days, mostly about Work Week and how it took over 20 years but I was finally a part of a strip-and-wax crew, but sadly this one didn’t include a lot of beer. Stu didn’t mention doing any manual labor over the weekend, but did get a chance to take the Gotz clan to see “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” and lets you know if you should take your clan to see it, also, whereas I’m finishing up my Spring TV viewing, somehow still liking “Celebrity Apprentice” but might be totally over “American Idol” now.

We talk a bit about Derek Rose and the Chicago Bulls, I seem more excited about “The Avengers” opening this weekend than Stu does, and Stu isn’t Timelined yet, and I might be the only person that likes the Timeline on Facebook.

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

A Movie About a Horse, Mini TV Seasons, Movie Talk, and Eating Kangaroo and Bear.

By: The Dude on the Right

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I didn’t need to see a man about a horse, but during this episode of the “Weekend Wrap-Up” podcast, I let Stu Gotz know if “War Horse” is any good. Stu, meanwhile, gives his take on “The Sitter” and is happy he didn’t pay the big bucks to see “Tower Heist” but was happy to throw a dollar or two away on it.

The Chicago Cubs aren’t very good, Stu is upset that all of the shows he likes on cable TV have mini-seasons, Penn Jillette is off “Celebrity Apprentice”, Stu ate kangaroo and bear, and it doesn’t matter what else opens the weekend of May 5th because “The Avengers” is all that matters. All of that and more during this podcast!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up! A Movie About a Horse, Mini TV Seasons, Movie Talk, and Eating Kangaroo and Bear.

War Horse

Below is an excerpt from The Dude on the Right’s full review of “War Horse.” It was almost a wash-out, especially for his wife, but things turned out alright, even a little weepy…

…I was a little worried when my wife and I started watching “War Horse” because, after about the first five minutes, as they were setting up the relationship between Joey (the horse) and Albert (Jeremy Irvine), my wife turns to me and says sarcastically, “Oh, this is riveting.” I could tell she was bored, and there was over two hours of the movie left to go. Thankfully things got much better….

Celebrating Emancipation Day, Would You Buy a Zoo?, Golf-Triggered Memories, and America’s Got Talent is Almost Back.

By: The Dude on the Right

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As millions of people were doing yesterday, I was celebrating Emancipation Day. Okay, I wasn’t really celebrating, I just couldn’t quite get to the podcast, but for those of you wondering why April 17th is Tax Day this year, instead of at least on the 16th, all is revealed in this podcast episode. Also revealed in the podcast – if “We Bought a Zoo” is any good. It’s a movie now out on Blu-ray about a dude (Matt Damon) who buys a zoo. Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that, and it also has Scarlett Johansson as a zookeeper/potential love interest, but it does have real animals for your kids to watch instead of a movie with cartoon animals that can talk.

Watching golf makes me remember my college days, I had vegetarian food for Easter, Apache Helicopters are invading Chicago, and don’t look now but it’s less than a month to the return of “America’s Got Talent” with new judge, Howard Stern. You may love him or you may hate him, but you’ll probably at least watch out of curiosity. All of that and some movie news in this week’s podcast!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

The Sitter

Below is an excerpt from The Dude on the Right’s full review of “The Sitter.” It was raunchy enough, but he really wanted it to be funnier…

…it was mostly fun, it was a romp of kids through the main streets of the city, it was way, way, way over the top at times, but for the love of God, put the kids and teens to bed before you even think of watching this in front of them….