Sticky Toffee Rock Star

Uh-oh, I was bad, right? I didn't post last night about the ultra-important Rock Star Supernova show. But I got all confused, because not only did a friend come over, but I ran into a new ice cream flavor, and as we all know, this blog is not only about a crappy reality TV show, it's also about ice cream. So I just didn't know what to do.


But seriously---well, that was seriously. But in addition, it's getting hard to not just make this all a personal choice in the competition. So I'll just have to make it personal choice.

I don't like Storm. I think she had the weakest performance, but it was still good. Overly theatrical, but what else is new with her? I also think she was lying when she pretended to be unfamiliar with the song. And if she lasts, I don't want to hear again about how difficult it is to sing a pop rock song. It's not. If it is, you're not cut out to be a singer. But I don't think there's much to worry about. In spite of the fact that she gave the world a nice upskirt flash in that red dress, I don't think she's going to be a final choice.

I don't like Lukas. He's very good, but he's irritating. I wouldn't want to see his face over and over everywhere, on red carpets and in magazines and such. Although I can imagine seeing him like that quite easily, and I would say he's one of the top three likelies. Even though he said "broken glass" instead of "broke our mirrors" in a song everyone knows the lyrics to.

I don't think Dilana has broad enough talent. She's really good, but she's not dynamic enough to lead the band, and with that weird breakdown about ragging on the other people---who cares? She should have had that attitude. She didn't really show a lot of backbone and sass there, and I think she should have. Her in-studio reaction was completely in control, but back at the ranch, she was nutty. Didn't fit for me.

Ryan also doesn't fit. He has talent, but it is a little uncontrolled, and he also appears to only just be growing into his confidence and willingness to embrace his latent quirky side, and that is late blooming, to say the least. Especially if the band is going to be performing this year! I don't know if he has the right voice for their sound, either. But they seem to like him.

Toby is perfect, attitude-wise. A perfect fit. But even though he's good, I think he's probably the second or third-least talented (he's mingling with Storm and Ryan for those spots at this point). He's definitely entertaining and fun, and there are certainly times when he really hits it right. They might pick him, and I do feel like he'll be a finalist, but I don't know if he's the best choice.

He may be, though, because the only other choice is Magni. Magni is my top choice, but it's true that he seems to have a family and loyalty to them, and I don't know if that would make for a bad fit with the rest of the members of the band. It would be unfortunate if that were the case.

On to tonight's elimination show, then.

They are definitely using studio mixing on the "live" Supernova tracks, as I suspected last week. Lukas did a good job, but I still find him annoying.

I am glad to see the rest of the world agrees with me on Magni.

Ryan Star sounds like Adam Duritz sometimes. And he has that same kind of "I'm rather lame, but look, I have angst, and it's not at all kitschy" thing. It makes him look pathetic sometimes. So does the repetition of stuff, like the climbing. In my opinion, he can go.

Storm is appropriately fake about being pleased, and makes her usual pseudosexual remark. And oh my god, she pulls the annoying "Helter Skelter is the first punk rock song" thing. Oh, how incredibly insightful. Nobody else has ever said that, Storm. All you other people out there saying it, you're still just as original, don't worry. We're all impressed.
And after all these weeks, she's still Storm, doing the same damn thing, Vegas sex-flirt karaoke.

I think it's pretty dangerous that Dilana thinks the only reason she ended up in the bottom three was her freakout. That wouldn't have made the ultimate difference for me if I thought she was really the right one to lead the band. And I'm sure although it influenced some people, those who thought she was right for the band still think so. I just think that at this point, you have to get real, and though at one point in the competition I'd have voted for Dilana just so she wouldn't be eliminated, there's no room for that anymore. You have to vote for the one or two people you really, really want to see make it. And she's definitely not one of them for me. Her performance tonight was pretty insane. Intense, artsy, but not anything like this band is supposed to be. Think she might be a little out in left field for such a mainstream band.

Ahhh. . . I am watching all of this on delay, with my DVR. So the loser has already been picked. But who do I think it should be? Well, in spite of the strangeness, I don't think it should be Dilana. She has more potential to make it than Storm. And as much as I dislike Storm's antics and definitely feel she's not the right material, I don't want to have everything come to an end with the show, and getting rid of her would feel like that. I'd like to see how Ryan develops, but the thing is, there's only two more weeks. I don't know if he's going to develop any more. I almost forgot about him when I was thinking about last night's show. So I guess Ryan would be my pick to leave. But hey, maybe it's Storm's turn.

Looks like the band agreed with me about Ryan. There we go. Now on to the ice cream!

This time it's Sticky Toffee Pudding. Another Haagen-Dazs flavor, of course! But this is a limited edition flavor, dreamed up by a contestant in a nationwide search for a new taste. The contest aired on the Food Network in July, and I saw it and was eager to try the winner. It sounded good enough for me to pick up two pints without even getting a taste first. And good enough for me to get a spoon and try it before I even put away the rest of my groceries. And good enough so that 24 hours later, half the pint is gone. It is sublime. It's like a full dessert in an ice cream. It reminds me a bit of some apple pie ice cream I tried once, which is strange, because the fruit in it is date---not really much like apples at all. But the taste is very autumnal: vanilla ice cream base, with chunks of the spongy British pudding (a spicy brown sugar cake, and that's where the dates are incorporated) and swirls of caramelly toffee. It's sweet, but not overly so, and there are hints of cinnamon, but not too much at all, even for me, who's not much of a cinnamon fan. I wish I'd bought three pints. And I hope to heaven that the "limited edition" run turns into such a success that Haagen-Dazs has to make it a permanent flavor.

First time with the elimination addendum!

It never seemed very important to comment on the eliminations much before, but here I immediately saw that I made an error with Toby Rand. He may not always have a sound I like, but his voice goes very well with the band. As soon as they showed him singing in the studio, I was surprised and impressed.

The live performance from him with the band tonight was great also, but it was almost . . . well, it seemed prerecorded to me! The backing vocals, the absence of audience sound, hardly any close shots of him singing---it all added up to a little weirdness. I think they wanted the song to sound as good as possible, so they didn't take any chances. Which means I don't know if it was really Toby all the way, or Toby with some mixing. But he still meshed effortlessly with the band and the music, so he leaps to a frontrunning position in my book.

Not to say he's the only one up there, by any means. I can't believe that Magni was in the bottom three, but I think he proved himself unworthy of such disrespect with his performance of "Fire" tonight.

The show isn't over yet where I live. Patrice is currently embarrassing herself with a crappy rendition of "Middle of the Road." She's still my pick to go, go, go. Although I suppose if Storm made it to the bottom, finally, they might want to take this opportunity to admit that she's wrong for the band. However, I find that doubtful, and I find it doubtful that the legions of people out there who are voting for Storm have let up this week. I bet that the band wants to play with her before they kick her. So I'm crossing my fingers. Down with Patrice!

Meanwhile, I think it's pretty hilarious that they are selling tickets to the Supernova show before they even pick the singer!

Okay, so Toby's the last bottom. I really think that people are voting on Storm's poses more than they are her. . . well, I can't say "performances," because maybe they are falling for her weird acting. But they couldn't possibly be judging her on the proper criteria to select the lead singer for this band.

By the way, Toby's "Plush" wasn't that great, but it was much better than whoever that was who did it on the show before. His voice really doesn't go with certain songs. Maybe I should rethink my rethink.

At least now I know for sure that Patrice will be going home. Phew. If they pull a shocker on me here and keep her, I don't know if I can watch anymore.

Week 17 or 83 or something. Supplies running low. . .

I really can't explain the feeling of dread I have at the prospect of listening to Patrice Pike's original song as the show begins. And then I have to think: Am I being too hard on her? What if she comes out with something amazing now?
And then she starts singing.

I wish someone would tell me what the hell is wrong with her! WHY does she sing with that accent and mushing "sshh" and freaky "awah" sound? Is she imitating something I'm not aware of? Does she think this is how all people pronounce things when they sing? Is she mental? It's almost impossible to understand most of the verses, since it's impossible to understand the words from her mouth. The chorus was a little trite. The melody was okay, I guess. It sort of reminded me of mid-early Duran Duran with a little Police, Matthew Sweet, and XTC thrown in. That's being extremely generous. All I can compare it to is successful artists' work, since that is all I know. I don't know the lame people who sound bad, because they generally don't make records. Well, they don't make records that I listen to. The song was all right. It didn't sound all that rockery, though. It sounded pretty poppy to me.

Jesus, is Nirvana still this popular? I think they've played a Nirvana song at least every week on the show. I'm glad that Magni didn't try to outright imitate Kurt Cobain's voice---or wait---did he? I don't know. I wish he'd sang a different song. It's kind of hard to imagine "Smells Like Teen Spirit" sounding fresh, so even though he did a great job, it was still not super-impressive. He's a favorite of mine at this point, though. It was just the song. Wow, is it possible that this song is still feeling overplayed to me, 15 years later? 15 years later! Oh my god. Am I really that old?

As much as I was feeling sick in anticipation of Patrice, I'm feeling nervous in anticipation of Ryan Star. Because I get the sense that he's nervous also. I don't think he actually wanted to do the original song this week. I think who'sherface had it right last week when she described the fear in him. It was pretty plain, if you looked in his eyes at the house discussion table. And I have sympathy for him. But his song surprised me! I liked it. He looked comfortable, especially once he got going. I didn't really catch a lot of the lyrical meaning in there, but it sounded good. It sounded marketable. And he came off very rock star. His eyes still look extremely serious and worried, but maybe that's not a true indication of what's going on there inside him.

Here we go with Storm again. Here. we. go. Ch-rist! Storm is a fake, melodramatic pain in the ass. I'm sick of seeing her pouting and pretending on the house footage. Acting like the song she takes is the big hardship, when really I suspect that it's the song she wants. Whatever. She sang "Cryin'" pretty well, but she went back a little into her old performance habits. It was fine, but I still don't see her with the band.

Dilana did pretty well with "Every Breath You Take." She has an amazing voice, especially when she doesn't do as much of that buzzing, narrow, low sound. And she only did that for about two lines of this song. I feel like she smeared a couple of the words ("every claim you stake" sounded a little weird, like "straim" rather than claim), but I guess they don't really have a problem with that.

There was a lot of extra breathing there in "Layla" with Toby Rand. I guess it's for drama. He did a really cool twist on the song, though. I wish his voice was a little deeper and more intense, but he still uses it well. He certainly riled up the crowd, also. I don't think he'll be in the bottom three after taking off his shirt like that, so it was a smart move.
Why does Tommy always say "'allo mate!" to him? Every week. That's getting pretty tired.

Lukas Rossi started out really well, but then he immediately went into that tight vibrato-growl voice. Why does he do that? I think it sounds gross. It sounds like he's singing with his tongue arched out. I wish he could maintain some sort of balance where he actually uses his voice and only occasionally goes into the growl thing. If he must do it at all, that is. He seems to like it, so I guess he won't stop.

Who will be in the real bottom three? Well, I think Patrice definitely has to go. I understand why they got rid of Zayra last week instead, but now it's really high time. And she'll definitely be in the bottom three. I think Storm will be there also, but I don't know how intense a fan base she has out there voting for her---people who aren't necessarily basing things on the show, just people who like her for her usual stuff with her band. It might be tough to have her land in the bottom three if there are a lot of people out there supporting her no matter what.
I think the third should be Toby, because even though he did a good job this week, I don't think he's massive enough in all ways to make it as the singer for this band. But like I said, his shirt might save him, and Lukas or Magni might end up in the low end.

I don't care, as long as they get rid of Patrice, and they must.

Help! Help! I'm in a nutshell!

In a nutshell:

Zayra's original song was good, but she sounded like some Shakira-esque elaborate Latin singer, and how are we supposed to know her lyrics if she sings in Spanish?

Magni wasn't that impressive with "Starman,"although the ending was better than than the start.

Patrice Pike continues to make me ill, even though "Message in a Bottle" is such an incredible song that she almost hid her disgusting vocal mannerisms. Almost, but not quite. She also didn't quite stay on key. So with any luck they'll finally get rid of her.

Lukas Rossi finally delivered a nearly flawless mix of his growling and actual impressive vocals with Seal's "Hero." It was a little bit of a surprise that he was so comfortable doing it.

I think Storm Large's song was way too Broadway and silly. It wasn't rocking at all, just more of what she usually does, which doesn't fit with the (proposed) feel of the band.

Toby Rand got to perform with Gilby Clarke, and he got to sing Solsbury Hill! Unfortunately, his voice sounded thin and unimpressive. It sounded like he just got up there to sing a karaoke song that he wasn't quite into; like he just sort of pulled it out of his pocket and halfassed it. Maybe he's one of the few people who don't know the song? He screwed up some words and went off-key. I don't know what the hell he was doing, but it didn't help him to have Gilby up there. He practically ignored him. And the drumming was superfluous and stupid.

I'm getting bored with Ryan Star again. The intense eyes look doesn't cut it for me. He keeps going for the ballads, and not really rocking, just singing with some pseudo-anger. He does have a good voice, but I feel like he's trying to effect a sound like Chris Martin, and it doesn't work well for me.

I don't understand the point of assigning the contestants songs like "Cat's in the Cradle". It's so straightforward that there isn't a lot to do with it. Well, that's not true, I guess, but they didn't do much here. So Dilana sang it and marched around. Eh. She has a good voice, but it was blah.

You got peanut butter in my chocolate!

And you better leave it there.

Okay, apparently this blog is about Rock Star: Supernova and ice cream, so we'll just have to go with that. In an episode quite similar to the Mayan Chocolate cornershop escapade, I picked up a pint of Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream, and I have to say, it's got to be the most heavenly concoction ever. Now, as a kid, I was never a big fan of chocolate and peanut butter. Never really liked Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or anything, although I did like Reese's Pieces. Not many other people did, though. Do they still make them? I guess so. They just don't sell them anywhere. I also liked Mr. Goodbar, although since that's chocolate and peanuts, I don't know if it really counts.
But on occasion as an adult, I would crave the chocolate-peanut butter combo. Reese's Cups aren't really quite the real thing, and Reese's Pieces certainly aren't even close (no chocolate is a big reason). But last spring my mother sent me a jar of smooth peanut butter, which is not my peanut butter of choice when making a sandwich, and one night when left alone with some Hershey's Extra Special dark chocolate and the jar of sweet, smooth peanut butter, I decided to get my chocolate in my peanut butter and my peanut butter in my chocolate. And it was good. It was good that way for most of the jar and a couple more Hershey bars.

But this ice cream is so much better! The chocolate ice cream base is deliciously Dutch-y, cocoa-y creamy chocolate that tastes like it surpasses the regular Haagen-Dazs chocolate. And then the swirl spikes through, with almost crystalline peanut butter patches that flake and buckle but then melt saltily in your mouth, occasionally lingering in a nice peanutty flavor nugget you can keep there on your tongue as you start off the next chocolate bite. Don't misunderstand: there are no peanuts in here. And it would be a sacrilege if there were. The pairing of smooth textures here, the creamy smoothness of the chocolate ice cream and the rougher smoothness of the peanut butter, is a great bit of artistry in mouth feel.
I don't know how new this flavor is, but it should definitely become one of Haagen-Dazs's top sellers. It is the best non-traditional mass-market ice cream flavor I've tried since Dulce de Leche. I say: get some. Now. Get lots.

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, whoops, I was busy ordering food and I missed Dilana. I'm sure she was great. I still don't understand why anyone likes Jill Gioia. I understand why they got rid of Dana last week, because like I said at the start, they were never going to have her as the lead singer of their band. But I still wish I didn't have to see stinky Jill. Bleh. She seems to have gotten the "stop dressing like a slut" memo, but now she's trying so hard she's losing any sort of control with her voice, and she's just going all over the place.

Ryan Star got lucky last week with REM's "Losing my Religion," but what was he doing in that wigged hoodie this week? What is he, Chris Gaines? In spite of the wardrobe, I liked the modern take on "Paint It Black," and I liked his intensity. It's clear yo me that as the competition progresses, he's gaining confidence, and that's really helping him. It's transforming him!

Oy, "We Are the Champions"? Why not "Killer Queen"? Anyway. I don't think Storm's voice was working it as well as it should have with this song. And then she just sort of crooned and crawled around. Meh. It didn't really stand up that well. And the look in her eyes, her feeling, is still totally fake to me. I don't really know what the motivation for faking is, but I just don't see sincerity in her soul.

Another song where Zayra's accent is showcased more than her singing talent. "All the Young Dudes" is a fairly complicated song to sing live, though, because so much of its appeal is in the backing chorus. It was kind of messy, but I guess she did a decent job.

How is "Interstate Love Song" a soul song? I don't know. But apparently it's back to soul for Josh Logan because he's singing it. Whatever. To me it was another imitation, this time of Scott Weiland. Not quite as successful an imitation as he's done in the past either, because a lot of Scott Weiland's early appeal was in his looks and his intensity, and smirky head wiggling doesn't come close. Josh Logan doesn't have any sex appeal at all! I really don't get it. I think maybe that's why he's trying to squint and smirk all the time, but that's not sexy, Mr. Logan. At least not the way you do it.

Gosh, after seeing so much of this show, I would really like to see an old-fashioned rock star with unmistakable fire and sex appeal. I think there's a huge lack of that these days. It's almost as though rockers don't think sex appeal is cool anymore, so they leave it to all the booty-girls and dance boys.

Magni did the best job I've seen tonight. Natural confidence, power in his voice, totally in tune and perfectly done. "The Dolphin's Cry" was a great choice for him. I think Live's songs are good ways for people with talent to show it, because they can really put passion into a voice that is strong and amazing but not necessarily always using a massive range or an impossible-to-get-near distinctive tone. He's just normal, but he has presence. He seems natural with all of it. I'm starting to like him as a final contender.

What the hell is wrong with Patrice Pike? She grins like a fucking fool every single time she performs. She sings like someone hammered two jawbreakers in her mouth, and for some reason she says "sh" instead of "s" all the time. Where is she from anyway? She doesn't have that freaky accent when she speaks. Why does she have it when she sings? "A shupashtawwww!!" Blech. I hope that she feels some "Instant Karma" and finally gets kicked off.

"Creep" is one of those songs that's a difficult one to pull off, not because it is the most ambitious of Radiohead songs (it's not, by far), but because it's rather plain and Thom Yorke pulls it off so perfectly. But Lukas Rossi did a pretty damn good job doing it tonight also! For one of the first times, he really showed a voice, not just a growl. And thank god, because the growl was really tiresome. He's taken the top spot, just barely, from Magni.

Well, hm, "Burning Down the House." Good choice. I thought Toby Rand did a good job with it. The megaphone was a little weird, definitely not the freshest idea, but the siren at the end did work well with the song. Decent job.

I'm glad that Jill, Zayra, and Patrice were on the bottom at the end of the show. They and Josh Logan are the worst, and they should go. I find Zayra the most entertaining of that group, though, so I'd like to see her stick around the longest, so we at least have some bizarre, semi-comic relief.

Maybe it's because I missed the opening of the show, but weren't they supposed to sing songs they wrote to a Supernova track? That's kind of what I was expecting, and instead it's more karoake. I mean, uh, covers. So when do we get to hear some original stuff?

Soon I'm going to have to stop watching. . .

because I just can't take it anymore. Maybe if I skip a few weeks or something. They've just got to trim the damn fat already! Get it down to people who are actually possible contenders. Eleven people still! When is it going to end?

I think Patrice Pike made a mistake by choosing to sing "Higher Ground." I also just don't like her. Don't like her voice, don't like her mouth when she sings like she's blowing bubbles in her cheeks, don't like her nonexistent moves, don't like the stupid faces she makes. Her performance tonight was totally uninspired and deflated. Talk about lackluster! And she looked crazy. It would have been better just to have Tommy Lee get up there by himself and jam. She was just an embarrassing distraction. The one good thing is that maybe she'll get kicked off now. If the at-home voting audience feels the way I feel. Obviously the judges are more lenient. Maybe they want to get rid of someone else.

Maybe they want to get rid of Josh Logan. Who did another imitation performance. But maybe he's not going anywhere yet. He did a good job imitating "Santa Ria," though, and his voice sounded nice and relaxed. He did a cute little breakdown there, too. It was a smooth little summery performance. Perfect for that bar down at the boardwalk. I don't know about a big-time arena rock band, though.

Dilana's got a really cool voice, but sometimes I can't tell where the reality of it begins and ends. She's got that gravel voice going on, and sometimes it sounds more forced into that state than other times. I'd like it if she broke out of the gravel more often, also. Riding the audience member's shoulders was a nice touch! She's clearly comfortable being a rock star. "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" is a simple song, but she did it up well. As it should be done.

Jeez, another Nirvana song? Yes, yes, "Pennyroyal Tea" is cool. But is this the fourth or the fifth Nirvana song? Toby Rand's performance was more interesting than usual, though. Not saying that much, since I think he's pretty boring, but it was a bit Police-influenced and varied a lot from Kurt Cobain's sound. I like the original version of the song, of course, but since you can't actually be another singer, I don't think you should try to sound like one, and in that respect, he did a decent job.

With her outfits, especially the cape with leopard-spotted leotard tonight, Zayra Alvarez may think she's a superhero, not a rock star. And maybe she is. I think she did a goddamned amazing job transforming "Jenny (867-5309)" into something totally new. Wow! That song is pretty tired, and she made it sound exciting. Her voice slipped around a little, as usual, but if she could hold tight on it, it works. I'd have guessed that song would be the very bottom of the pile, but the fact that she was able to change it up so incredibly earns her extra points! She's my cool pick of the week. Maybe she doesn't seem perfect for the band all the time, but she can clearly be a chameleon. I think it's rad.

It's a problem when people to sing songs that they don't really have the range for, and Magni had that problem tonight. "Clocks" is hard, because who can measure up to Coldplay? At first, it sounded like he had control of it, doing a little Bono-esque take on things. But when the keening came, he tried to do it the way it's done in the song, and he faltered. That led into a weak pre-ending. He also doesn't have the lower register to get to the "where I wanted to go," so that fell out for me. Still, he looked like he was delivering, really trying. And he's so likable. It's sweet (and a good sign for him) that they're bringing his family to him!

Ugh. Jill Gioia is just disgusting. Screaming "What's uuuup!!!!" at the beginning of "Don't You (Forget About Me)"? Gross. Get lost, you bimbo. And did she screw up the lyrics or were they just shortening the song? Here's the long and short of it: she has a good voice, she does. But the rest of her sucks. She doesn't know what the hell she's doing. She has no style or soul. It's cheap and nonsensical. It's trashy and dumb. She has no instinct and no taste. So she's my choice to get the hell out this week. It's just over with her. She's as boring and passé as acid-washed denim.

I really liked what Ryan Star showed this week. He was soulful, unique, and showed his vocal talent and piano talent on "Losing My Religion." Okay, maybe he's not so intensely skilled on the piano, but he was intense, and it was amazing.

Lukas Rossi has to break out of the little punky-goth hard-rock niche he's got himself in. I thought this was his worst performance. I was a little confused. He stepped on a lot of his lyrics, he paced---I don't know what the hell was going on. Not good.

Storm Large still seemed fake to me this week singing "Changes." Ironically enough. Ha ha. She did a good job with a little hard-to-handle vocals (if you're singing live), and yes, it was nice that she wasn't acting like a deranged freak in a Ratt video, but I still don't see her as the singer of Supernova. And I don't see enough truth and soul in there to interest me personally.

"Baba O'Riley" shouldn't be a tough song to feel, to identify with, for anyone who's gone through a teeny bit of being a young person and can understand metaphor. But Dana Andrews looked like she was acting. Her voice was good, but her faces didn't seem to be taking into account what she was singing. She also looks like she's getting a little desperate, which adds a nice desperate quality to her voice, but looks a little desperate also. I don't know. Maybe that works as being kind of natural onstage. Not trying to have everything be perfect. She wasn't the worst, anyway. Remember who that was? Remember who's got to go?

Jill Gioia.