Thar She Is .... Miss America
Jan. 30th, 2007 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansLast night, I accidentally stumbled across the Miss America Pageant on CMT. As a youngin', I used to religiously watch the telecast held in Atlantic City in September. About four years ago, the pageant was dropped by major television and moved to January. It barely survived. (Of course, whether it should have survived is open to debate:) The 2007 was a vast improvement over recent years, though perhaps part of my opinion is colored by the string of sleazy incidents connected to the Miss USA Pageant in recent weeks. (Miss USA and underage drinking; Miss USA making out in public with Miss Teen USA; another Miss USA contestant being photographed topless; Miss New Jersey resigning due to pregnancy and Donald Trump making a spectacle of forgiving the current Miss USA, essentially making her beg to keep her title in a very public news conference. It was cruel!) Comparatively, this year's Miss America pageant felt refreshing.
The Miss America Pageant had a new location, Las Vegas ... a much better choice than burying it in Nashville for three years. It had an effective and charming host, Mario Lopez. The emphasis in the scoring was on scholarship, beauty and talent and the judging panel was tough and fair ... actually had expertise in something.(One of my pet peeves with Miss USA is the ridiculous line-up of football players, people from The Apprentice and third-rate celebrities who are trotted out for the final night of competition, posing as experts.) Miss America had five judges: Debbie Allen, Chris Matthews from "Hard Ball", former Miss America Susan Powell, Michael Feinstein and that photographer bloke from "America's Top Model". The questions were timely and required the contestants to be articulate and brainy. You had to earn that $50,000 winners' scholarship!
So, how did they do? The finalists were Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama, the usual hotbed states for Miss Americas and pageants in general. In talent, Miss Georgia tap-danced, Miss Texas sang Pop, Miss Mississippi played piano, Miss Oklahoma sang Broadway and Miss Alabama sang Opera. Miss Texas won the fan vote for talent. (It did make me miss the good ole days when contestants trotted out performances on the trampoline, fire batons and ventriloquism. Not a single fiddler in sight either:) For the final round, three contestants remained ... Miss Georgia of Asian-American descent; Miss Texas - African American; and blond Miss Oklahoma. Miss Oklahoma won and Miss Texas was first runner-up. (Texas hasn't won since back to back titles in 1972-1973.)
Ya'll can laugh all you want, but I enjoy watching the pageants. It certainly cheers me up to lie in bed and bitchily critique the performances after a dreary, rainy and cold January day. To be fair, I think they ought to televise the male equivalent and make sure there's a bathing suit competition. Last weeks' guilty pleasure was watching the National Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington. Has there ever been a more fey male skater than Johnny Weir? Rudy Galindo is absolutely butch in comparison:)
I deliberately chose a superficial topic for my post. It's part of reclaiming my life this year and not dwelling on the negative. Isn't it better to read about Miss America or figure-skating than to hear once more that I'm still looking for housing? Or that I had the worst blowup with my Dad in 8 months and my shoulder is injured because I had to restrain him? Or that a friend from "Phantom", a woman who is my age with 8 year old twin sons, has an inoperable brain tumor? I thought so ... Thar she is ... Miss America ....
The Miss America Pageant had a new location, Las Vegas ... a much better choice than burying it in Nashville for three years. It had an effective and charming host, Mario Lopez. The emphasis in the scoring was on scholarship, beauty and talent and the judging panel was tough and fair ... actually had expertise in something.(One of my pet peeves with Miss USA is the ridiculous line-up of football players, people from The Apprentice and third-rate celebrities who are trotted out for the final night of competition, posing as experts.) Miss America had five judges: Debbie Allen, Chris Matthews from "Hard Ball", former Miss America Susan Powell, Michael Feinstein and that photographer bloke from "America's Top Model". The questions were timely and required the contestants to be articulate and brainy. You had to earn that $50,000 winners' scholarship!
So, how did they do? The finalists were Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama, the usual hotbed states for Miss Americas and pageants in general. In talent, Miss Georgia tap-danced, Miss Texas sang Pop, Miss Mississippi played piano, Miss Oklahoma sang Broadway and Miss Alabama sang Opera. Miss Texas won the fan vote for talent. (It did make me miss the good ole days when contestants trotted out performances on the trampoline, fire batons and ventriloquism. Not a single fiddler in sight either:) For the final round, three contestants remained ... Miss Georgia of Asian-American descent; Miss Texas - African American; and blond Miss Oklahoma. Miss Oklahoma won and Miss Texas was first runner-up. (Texas hasn't won since back to back titles in 1972-1973.)
Ya'll can laugh all you want, but I enjoy watching the pageants. It certainly cheers me up to lie in bed and bitchily critique the performances after a dreary, rainy and cold January day. To be fair, I think they ought to televise the male equivalent and make sure there's a bathing suit competition. Last weeks' guilty pleasure was watching the National Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington. Has there ever been a more fey male skater than Johnny Weir? Rudy Galindo is absolutely butch in comparison:)
I deliberately chose a superficial topic for my post. It's part of reclaiming my life this year and not dwelling on the negative. Isn't it better to read about Miss America or figure-skating than to hear once more that I'm still looking for housing? Or that I had the worst blowup with my Dad in 8 months and my shoulder is injured because I had to restrain him? Or that a friend from "Phantom", a woman who is my age with 8 year old twin sons, has an inoperable brain tumor? I thought so ... Thar she is ... Miss America ....
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Date: 2007-01-30 03:55 pm (UTC)Nobody from the left coast that I ever knew would admit to being in a pageant. Not a West Coast thing, We had an Olympic Figure skater, several Olympic swimmers and track people in our graduating class (yipes 1972!)but never any beauty pageant people.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 04:30 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing on all accounts
Date: 2007-01-30 03:58 pm (UTC)I am the picture of pseudo domesticity. After getting the shelving unit up in the computer room, the desk literally screamed, "CLEAN ME UP!" I got the lower portion at least ordered and got the layers of dust, dog and daddy fur off the oak and can almost put my hands on things with ease now. No chance of death by paper avalanche today.
I was listening to Dear World and 1776 while I disposed, dusted and ordered. The one song from Dear World " I Don't Want to Know" resonates in a kind of reverse way with me. It really would be wonderful to be blissfully unaware or to choose the ideal versus the cold hard truths of reality. It might be an amusing song for my funeral.
Warm hugs for a winter day and pleasant thoughts for you this last week of January.
Have you heard Jerry Herman's Miss Spectacular. Literally a Vegas musical. I hope they will put it on for posterity's sake.
Re: Thanks for sharing on all accounts
Date: 2007-01-30 04:11 pm (UTC)I want your opinion and others on the recent "Sweeny Todd" I am a big fan of Angela Lansbury in the original "Sweeny Todd" and the song "Nothing's Going to Harm You". I heard Patti LuPone's version yesterday for the first time on Sirius. Can someone please explain to me why she received a Tony nomination for her performance? Was it merit or reputation? Her singing was nasally and off pitch and the accent unrecognizable as anything remotely British of any class. I had been a big fan of hers, but her most recent CD left me cold as well. I really do want to know your opinion.
Re: Thanks for sharing on all accounts
Date: 2007-01-31 06:21 am (UTC)I continue to be unimpressed by her talent in most things that better singers pull off and well. Yet Twiggy can sure sell a tune in the musical she did with Tommy Tune. The name is escaping me.
You are certainly right about her performance in Sweeney Todd, in general, and "Nothing's Going To Harm You" in particular. The accent is surreal and the patter in "Nothing's Going To Harm You" is gawd awful.
I have a box set of Sondheim musicals and a concert version of Sweeney Todd was done out west. I chose to not watch it and instead purchased the television version of Sweeney Todd with the original leads that became available recently.
She sure sells Evita and was great in the saucy role in Anything Goes, but her quirks are just too irritating.
Re: Thanks for sharing on all accounts
Date: 2007-01-31 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-31 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-31 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 07:23 pm (UTC)I'm glad to see you're making progress in reclaiming your life. I'm rooting for you!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-31 03:00 pm (UTC)Thanks for the support! Every bit helps! HUGS!
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Date: 2007-01-30 07:40 pm (UTC)Glad you enjoyed it.
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Date: 2007-01-31 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-01 12:55 am (UTC)Oh by the way, I know this isn't your "thing" have you seen the racy pics of "Harry Potter" star, Daniel Radcliff? It's creating quite a stir. Go to the following link: http://www.midco.net/news/read.php?id=14732475&ps=1016&lang=en&_LT=HOME_ETNWC01L1_UNEWS
Enjoy.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 08:32 pm (UTC)There are a couple of Texans in our chorus, so of course they were rooting for their homegirl. And a joke circulated: "Why doesn't Texas fall into the Gulf of Mexico? Because Oklahoma sucks!" Yes, we're bad. And then Miss O. won. You can bet we entertained ourselves in spite of the lack of a soundtrack... ;-)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-31 03:08 pm (UTC)