NYDiscovery

Adam Lambert Is Not Alone In Hitting Rock Bottom - American Idol Did Too

This is not yet another Elke fancies Adam Lambert blog post. That's old news by now and might have jumped the shark anyway. This is about how cruel reality TV can be and how hard it is to take at times - as a viewer!

Yesterday, on American Idol, us viewers witnessed some special cruelty. Granted, this is all about young, hopeful talents who showcase their persona and voices and who must be prepared to have to undergo often harsh or rightout silly criticism from the four American Idol judges. These judges have, in the past, crossed the line occasionally.

Simon Cowell for example was rather disrespectful to David Cook and apologized in the consecutive episode for his unqualified words. In the end, David Cook won anyway and all good! Really? The aftertaste remains...

This time around, it was not just one judge but the whole bunch together with the host of the show who behaved rather like a bunch of giddy preschoolers, so much so that it made me sick to my stomach still almost 24 hours later. If I, a simple viewer of that spectacle, feels that way how must the main recipient feel? 

I am referring to Adam Lambert, who had to remain in the middle while Ryan Seacrest was busy dividing the contestants in groups. After Seacrest has separated them in pairs on each side, he made Adam Lambert choose. Ever so self-confident, Adam Lambert chose the group of the presumably "safe group" and he was right in picking those who made it into the next round but he was wrong about his own position in it! Ryan Seacrest literally dragged him from the winning to the loosing group: "The Bottom 3". And while Adam Lambert probably still was thinking that this was a joke, the drama wasn't over. His room mate Kris, got sent over to the winning group and remaining were only Matt Giraurd and Adam Lambert, building "The Bottom 2".

While they were standing there, Taylor Hicks was singing, Jamie Foxx was performing, the judges were chatting and at one point Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson were hugging each other, because they were right in calling Adam Lambert's "Feeling Good" performance "theatrical" and he now was about to loose out on his winning streak.  All THEIR theater while Adam and Matt were standing there, awaiting their fate. It almost seemed as if they were punished for trying to reach for the stars.

This was quite painful to watch. No reprise please! What would American Idol's Season 8 without Adam Lambert's performances be? He's THE entertainer on the show right now and without him, it won't be worth watching anymore. I also think that this is my 2nd and last season of watching that show. Without Adam Lambert, the show won't be the same anymore. It'll be over for the show's host and the four judges, while Adam Lambert's stars are just beginning to shine...

-- By Elke

- Photos taken with my iPhone from my TV

Is social media worth the time?

Today is my first anniversary of being on Twitter (courtesy of whendidyoujointwitter) and that's a good opportunity to have a closer look at Twitter and the rest of the social web and if it's worth participating. And the answer is yes, for the following reasons:

• The argument against Twitter & Facebook I heard the most, is that it's not interesting what people have for breakfast or if their cat rolls over. Really? I am actually interested what happens in the live of my friends and seeing status updates makes it easier to feel connected. And even with people I don't really know: at it least it doesn't hurt. And, on a larger scale, I think there's no place to literally feel the pulse of humanity better than looking at a broad Twitter timeline.
• Social media is about communication, communication is about spreading knowledge and knowledge is the single greatest power in society. While there are cases where too much (half=)knowledge can negative effects(see #swineflu), in the end, only good can come out of spreading knowledge.
• Increasingly, I believe, there will be no way around having a strong web presence that makes you interesting for others. Why should a employer bother with interviews, if she can just lookup the information in the web? And no, trying to keep a low web profile or hide behind anonymity won't be an option for long: If you cannot make your self interesting in the web, companies and some individuals won't be less interested in you.

So this is not about some new hip toy for teenagers, this is how an increasing part of our communication will conducted and how future communities are structured. Ignoring this is a mistake.

Disco Night on American Idol: Neither "Hot Stuff" nor Reason to "Dim The Lights"

Ever since Simon Cowell  last week on American Idol said something to the "saved" contestant Matt Giraud along the lines like "I have good news for you, you're saved but this won't help you because the bad news is, next week will be disco night" I was all giddy. Not because I dislike Matt Giraud that much nor because I would love disco that much but because of its relevance to me.

Aside from The Beatles' Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da which is some sort of my earliest music memory - I must have been 5 back then - I actually grew up with disco music, and by that I mean my childhood and very early teenage years. There was a show in German TV hosted by a young guy called Ilja Richter which carried the title "DISCO" together with the year's date. It was aired from 19970 until 1979 and and it was all rather exciting. (That's what YouTube is about, you find such old childhood gems) I didn't quite understand the show back then and since I didn't speak any English, I didn't understand the songs either but I remember the show very vividly to this day.  

I am mentioning this all to set the mood, the mood I was in tonight.  Ready for some serious disco. Well, I should have known better after having watched at least one other American Idol season, season 7 that was. Of course the contestants would do anything but disco. But did they really?

LIL ROUNDS was reliable in that sense that she did an almost 1:1 version of the Chaka Khan classic "I'm Every Woman". The only problem? It was by far not as good as the original and rather a classic Karaoke rendition. I am sorry to say. I so wish there were stronger women this year!

The judges did a poor job in not bringing in better girls!

KRIS ALLEN was nice and predictable. He performed Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For Her Money" in a very stripped down, certainly Non-Disco arrangement. Nice and predictable. He's just so cute. And nice and predictable. Did I mention that already? Next contestant please!

Ah... "September". The song I learned to dance Cha Cha Cha on. DANNY GOKEY is trying his luck with an Earth, Wind & fire classic. Hey, dude, didn't quite work out. You weren't half as good as the original! And while the judges still all kinda liked you, I did not. Not in the slightest. Your vocals are okay, but the whole look and feel? Dreadful. Gimme Kris instead!

And then there was ALLISON IRAHETA doing "Hot Stuff", another Donna Summer classic. My friends from STATUES OF LIBERTY do a fantastic cover of this song and I wish Allison would have sung THEIR cover and then  she would have absolutely nailed it! Instead, she was just okay. Nothing to go home, but nothing to really shine and stand out either.

The movie Saturday Night Fever got released at a time when I was not quite in the age yet to see these sort of movies. (There used to be a strong rating system in Germany). So, I never went. I grew old, or simply put I grew a mature adult, before I finally watched it and absolutely fell in love with it. Actually, I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago in New York City. How appropriate! I love the soundtrack, and in a way, I love the movie. It's so iconic and it should have been Oscar nominated. John Travolta even. That all said: ADAM LAMBERT picked a song from Saturday Night Fever. Of course! The question only is, which song did he pick and how did he make it his own? He picked Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" in a Non-Disco, more Rock&Soul version. It was certainly very Adam Lambert. And it was sung beautifully. Was it my personal fav? No. Will it get him through another round? - That's a rhetorical question! At this point it always is and besides, there were two more contestants...

For one, there was MATT GIRAUD, the guy who earned the "Judges Save" who chose yet another Saturday Night Fever song: "Stayin' Alive'. My difficulty here is that I am not neutral with Matt. He's simply not my kinda guy, no matter what he does. There's no more "Idol's Save" left. End of story.

Finishing the night off was ANOOP DESAI with a lesser known Donna Summer number: "Dim All The Lights" and I finally started to like this guy! Quite charming, actually. He did a very likable performance which would get him through another round wasn't it for some other show stoppers.

Conclusion? Enjoyable evening but not really a disco night out. My prediction for tomorrow: Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai go home. And we prepare ourselves for an Adam, Allison and Kris finale, or don't we?!

-- Elke

Please Note: I've taken the two images with my iPhone from my TV (this is basically a first on nydiscovery.com!). This will inspire another blog post about images, fair use and copyright laws. Stay tuned...

Trying out the Sprint broadband data plan in NYC

Getting a quality Internet connection from anywhere out of thin air feels to good to be true and AT&T on the iPhone does little to rebut this feeling: it still gives me a much too rare jolt of joy when the browser loads a page smoothly.

But that's AT&T. Courtesy of a pretty good corporate rebate, I signed a 3G data plan with Sprint and it works great in both office locations in New Jersey and Downtown Manhattan and on the way between them. At the Manhattan location, by the way, the iPhone is pretty much useless with constantly going from "No Service" to 5 bars 3G, while Spring gives a constant "good" to "great" signal.

The downside with the Sprint plan, and the data plans of all other carriers (which mysteriously are identical in price and features), is a 5 GB cap. After that - as it is the habit of wireless providers - you don't just pay as you go, but you are severely punished with fantasy rates more than 5 times as high.

Now, the cap is an understandable measure to prevent people form abusing the precious airwaves and, for example, just let their laptop sitting on the desk, downloading an HD movie. But of you don't download music of movies, 5 GB is plenty. Or is it?

As a matter of fact I have no idea. Since the early days of the web, when I was already awestruck when seeing a single picture embedded in a text page, I haven't used a volume-limited Internet connection. So, in 2009, how much data is an average website, with pictures, Flash, embedded video etc.? And what are all those applications installed on my laptop doing? MobileMe, Evernote, Dropbox and OmniFocus, for example, are all kicking off their syncing whenever they please. When I started TweetDeck and Twhirl, both of them plus Adobe AIR offered to download updates. I declined, but still some 25 MB were somehow transferred.

On top of this, there's little to no control about what data is transferred. The connection tool gives some numbers, but doesn't add them up between connections. And on the Sprint website, there's an estimated number with the note "Actual Bill may vary". Good to know.

Maybe this is not an issue at all and in a couple of days I will know more. But limitations like this suck the fun out of a really great product, so I wish Spring would find a better way to manage their bandwidth.

Greatest Movie Songs Ever? We Might Hear Some Next Week on American Idol

In preparation for Tuesday's new American Idol theme, Ryan Seacrest asks on Twitter (@ryanseacrest) "What is the greatest movie song ever?" And I'd like to ask back: Can this question even be asked at all?

What's a "great" movie and what's a "great song"? A song, lots and lots of people love, topping the charts? A movie, that did well at the box office?

Definitely one of my favorite movies ever, "Titanic", most certainly does not deliver my personal favorite movie song ever. As a matter of fact, I don't quite like neither Celine Dion nor "My Heart Must Go On".

So what else would come to mind without doing a long research? Which are the songs that I can still remember and still love? Of movies I like? And I am going for original songs here not cool songs from even cooler bands re-used in a not so cool movie.

Here's what I spontaneously came up with:

• Saturday Night Fever: Saturday Night Fever
• Dirty Dancing: (I've had) The Time of My Life
• Breakfast Club: (Don't You) Forget About Me 
• Run, Lola Run: Wish (Komm zu Mir)
• Gangs of New York: The Hands that Built America
• Don Juan DeMarco: Have You Ever Loved a Women

I know, I will have left out a few which will come to mind over the next couple of days. I also remembered a lot of songs from movies which weren't original ones, like Love Actually's hilarious version "Christmas Is All Around" in Jerry Maguire the Tom Petty classic "Free Fallin'" - awesome scene! I fear though that they don't mean original but simply "movie" for being able to choose from a broader selection of great songs.

Nevermind. Quentin Tarantino will be the mentor for the music theme night and I am sure, the majority of contestants will be thrilled to work with him. I'd prefer Martin Scorsese, because I'd always prefer Martin Scorsese, that's a personal thing. Everybody their own Idol, no?

I can totally see Kris Allen singing Bryan Adam's "Have You Ever Loved A Woman", standing there, with his accustic guitar and being cute! Allison Iraheta could go with whatever James Bond tune, there were a couple of excellent ones throughout the years.

As for what Adam Lambert might be performing? Tough call! On quite a few occasions, he said that he's no longer interested in the Musical route, so he most likely won't chose anything in that direction. I could see him doing something big from the 70ies (Bond Classics would be fun too) but he might most likely do something more recent, maybe even a song sung by any of his female idols like Cher & Co. Whatever it is, it'll be fantastic. I have no doubt about that and am very much looking forward to seeing him taking the stage again, next Tuesday!

-- Elke

What I'm expecting from the next iPhone

Spring is a time of anticipation for the summer (and, boy, New York City keeps the suspense this year). And it's also the time of the buildup for the next iPhone. This year, Apple is not alone, though as Palm tries to spoil the party as good as it can. This is good for us: it already has prompted Apple to fill some of the glaring holes in the iPhone with it's next software release: cut & paste, landscape e-mail, MMS and such inexplicable omissions like logging into your YouTube account.

But what's going to happen on the hardware front? Here's my wish list:

• Better battery life. If Apple releases the 3G just with twice the battery I'd be happy. Battery life is the achilles heel of all mobile devices and the iPhone has become much more than a phone: games, the Kindle, Skype and all kinds of social networking clients can keep you busy for hours. And after this you need enough juice left to make some phone calls.
• More memory. I don't doubt that there will a 32 GB version, which is enough to retire my iPod classic for good, if it breaks.
• Better camera. As an engaged amateur I would take a better camera with me whenever I anticipate taking pictures, but it would be certainly useful, if the iPhone could produce decent pictures in more situations, such as low-light.
• Video. Not sure if this requires an hardware upgrade at all. Anyway, would be a nice to have.
• Faster hardware. No reason to complain about the existing hardware, but faster is always better.

And here's what I don't want to see (and which I believe Apple won't include):

• Any kind of sliding, swiveling, flipping keyboard. I don't want to have moving parts on the iPhone and the on-screen keyboard, at least for me, works perfectly for short e-mails, tweets and text messages.
• Video conferencing. What is that supposed to be good for? It probably won't really work on a cellular network and I cannot see a lot of situations, where it is appropriate to watch your counter-party on the screen, provided that she has the technology available to be seen at all.

Of course, as of now, nobody knows, but I'm looking forward to all those rumors that will float through the networks during the next weeks.

While Modern Technology Fails for American Idol Viewers, Front Runner Adam Lambert Succeeds Anyway

I hope you don't mind that I am writing yet another blurb about the most popular show on US Television: American Idol. We even have something in common the show and I: both we're celebrating our 8th anniversay! The show for being in it's 8th season, and I for having completed my 8th year in New York City. Still very happy, I may add.

So, yesterday, during the 8th installment of American Idol's Season 8, with only 8 contestants still standing, Adam Lambert was scheduled to take the stage at last, as - you might have guessed it - the 8th and final contestant. Since I want to mix things up, I decided to not use Twitter while watching the show, but let my DVR do the taping job and enjoy the show later, not too late though to still get my vote in on time.

Learning from experience, I added an additional 15 minutes to the recording time. Remember the outcry of America's American Idol watching nation last year, when Ryan Seacrest opened the envelope, speaking the words: "And the winner of American Idol Season Seven is DAVID" - and cut!

This was too comical and could not have been staged any better! Like thousands of other DVRs, mine stopped at "David" which was especially funny since both finalists were called "David".

Yesterday then, while watching the taped show, I saw that we were running out of time, Idol, my DVR and I. Only 6 minutes to go and Adam Lambert didn't even start his video banter yet, let alone delivering his performance or being praised by the judges (quoting the judges here: "you're in your own league" - so there's nothing but praise left, seriously).

Finally! Adam Lambert took the stage, and he possessed it. He chose a song from my all time favorite band ever: Tears for Fears. Hands down. I spent 1985 as well as 1996/1997 with listening 9 out of 10 times to "Songs from the Big Chair" (85) and "Elemental" (93) as well as "Roul And The Kings Of Spain" (95) - in my Walkman. (I know a thing or two about obsession, I guess. )

I was surprised, and delighted, to see Adam Lambert taking on Tears for Fears "Mad World", more precisely Michael Andrew's version from the Donnie Darko movie. I remember, having seen Tears for Fears in New York in their concert tour for "Everbody Loves a Happy Ending" in 2004, Roland Orzabal said that even he prefers that slow tempo version of their original song and that night, they've performed "Mad World" in that slow, heart breaking version.

And so it's no wonder, that Adam Lambert broke our hearts as well! He even somewhat melted Simon Cowell's, who as head judge and running out of time, took the remaining few seconds to simply give Adam Lambert a standing ovation. Still being quite a novice in watching American Idol, I am not sure if he's ever done it before but to my knowledge he hasn't. Then again, as much as a gesture that is, it's also somewhat cutting it short, and as Elissa Bass puts it in her review "disrespectful".

In the end, what matters is that Adam Lambert yet again succeeded expectations and surpassed the high bar he set for himself.

While I tend to prefer real musicians, people who compose and write their music themselves, I don't see anything wrong with performing, and making the best out of material somebody else is providing for you. I'd buy Adam Lambert's album, and I'd also pay for a movie ticket to see him on the big screen because that's where I think he could/should be heading as well.

-- Elke

And if I Can Make it Here: 8 Years Anniversary of Living in New York City

To the day, it’s exactly 8 years ago that Oliver and I hoped on a plane with stop in London to eventually arrive in New York City. From JFK airport we hailed a cab which took us to the Lower East Side's Orchard Street where we entered the sublet studio which we've never seen before. This was April 7th 2001. Digital photography was still in its very early stage and publishing photos on the Internet or sharing them via social networking sites was not yet possible and via email not common. Rarely people had digital cameras.

So we didn't know that the small studio would be really tiny and totally run down with a rusty shower, a tiny hotel mini-bar fridge, and a wodden plate over 2 - not functionining - stereo boxes. While this would matter today, it didn't back then! All was fresh and new and exciting.

Hey, we were in New York City, the greatest city on earth! And if you can make it here... but why make it anywhere else?

I fell in LOVE with the Lower East Side – and in love with this town and its people!

 If you read German, or if you’re  up for using a translation tool then check out the early version of our site. From 2001 we kept a diary.

You'll also find a special page about how we experienced September 11th 2001 - we just moved Downtown, in a very pretty building on September 2nd, with view of the World  Trade Center towers... 

We’re still around, so all good!

Later, we changed the format of our site a bit and were writing less diary than blog, still at a time where "blogs" were hardly existing! Remember, we've created the whole page long before there were typepad, wordpress, blogger, etc., etc. All hand coded HTML - I am glad though for no longer having to do this because I much rather focus on the things that I actually enjoy doing!

 Recently, we accquired the .com domain of nydiscovery and we're blogging in English since 2004 and are still trying a few different formats but are quite happy with the one we currently have. What do YOU think?

For more pictures, visit us on Flickr "nydiscovery". To remain updated subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter: @nydiscovery or @oliverbo or @elkenyc

As for New York City - my love for this town is still strong and I can’t see myself living anywhere else. I enjoy leaving the city every once in a while but coming back, is lifting my spirits and my heart.

 We’d love to hear from you – leave us a comment if you’re reading this. Thanks so much.

 -- Elke xoxo

 

Rediscovering Music (2): The Cure "Pornography" (1982)

Despite an exceptionally gray and rainy Monday, I was in a very good mood because, hey, who lets the weather determine their mood?

To put my happiness to the test, I am listening to one of the masterpieces of gloom, Cure's "Pornography". Yes, definitely still depressing. And even a bit monotonous. This record is iconic for the 80ies music I listened too (there's a huge difference between UK 80ies music and USA 80ies - it's HUGE and I was mostly listening to UK stuff) but I cannot relate to it anymore. Then again, I always had a hard time in fully relating to The Cure and all the melancholy that comes with it.

Feelings this album evokes:
Despair with only a little silver lining.

Recommended for:
Those who enjoy gray, rainy days or who like to enhance their dark mood.

My Favorite song on this album:
"The Hanging Garden" - still love the drive of the drums, really cool song!

My iTunes rating:
2 out of 5 stars.

My favorite album of The Cure:
Wild Mood Swings (1996)

Rediscovering Music (1): Placebo "Placebo" (1996)

While using the Genius functionality of iTunes and taking Depeche Mode's "I feel you" as starting point, "Pure Morning" got played along the way which made me want to listen to their debut album again.

Currently listening to Placebo's self titled album "Placebo" which they released in July 1996. That was long before the iTunes store or myspace or the likes and so I didn't know about the album back then.

As a matter of fact, the first time when I really listened to Placebo was in fall 1998, on our honeymoon, when Oliver bought Placebo's 2nd album (Without you I'm Nothing) at the Virgin Megastore on Times Square, which back then was brand new.

I remember that I listened to exactly that debut Album in fall 1999 on power play. It no longer has the same effect on me as it had back then.

I still like Brian Molko's somewhat unnerving, often raspy voice - (at first, yes I dare to compare the two, it reminded me of Adam Lambert's voice which however is different and from a much broader range) - and I like the drive of Placebo's sound. The album is definitely more "raw" and playful then everything else that followed later.

Situations I would play this album:
In the morning, to get energized or for working out. Maybe also for my subway commute.

Feelings this album evokes:
It makes you long for something, a lost love or simply "more".

Recommended for:
People who enjoy music that keeps them on the edge of their seat.

My Favorite songs on this album:
"Teenage Angst", "Nancy Boy" and "Bionic"

My iTunes rating:
3 out of 5 stars.

-- Elke