Ok, since I had so much fun blogging the finale to the first season of Jersey Shore, I figured that I might as well do it again. I mean, who knew they were going to have a season two?

Going into season 2, I had three wishes.

1. Sammi Sweetheart would get eaten by a shark.

2. The Situation and Pauly D would stop bringing home grenades.

3. Sammi Sweetheart would get eaten by a shark.

Let’s see if those wishes come true.

By the way, even though this show is called “Jersey Shore”, they are in Miami.

By, by the way, even though the show was a big success, MTV wouldn’t even put money into creating a new opening credits. It’s the same one as season one with the same photos of how they looked. And Angelina is still in the opening credits!

Ronnie said that it was too cold and snowy in Jersey, so they were going to take their talents to South Beach. Ok, he didn’t really say it exactly that way. But Pauly D did say that the weather was terrible because, “Girls don’t creep in this weather.” Now I remember why I loved this show so much.
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Day 2 – 7/24: Part 3

(If you want to read it in order, start from the bottom.)

We have hit the home stretch. If I can just mince my words a bit and stop being so long-winded, this will be my final update on Comic Con weekend.

When we last left your heroes, they had just entered Hall H to watch Kevin Smith talk. Well, all of us except for Mike Lopez, who decided to leave the line at the last minute. He gambled and he lost. But we’ll get to him later.

Edson and I are pretty big Kevin Smith fans. We both listen to Smodcast, which is Smith’s podcast that he does with his buddy Scott Mosier. Ed has become one of the bigger Smodcast fans of all time, listening to episodes more than once and some probably more than twice.

Blake is also a big fan, but more so of Smith’s films. The rest of the crew knew his work, but weren’t huge fans. I was worried that both HJ and Tawni would be offended by Smith’s blue humor. I was wrong. I think they liked it best out of all of us. He’s really good live and a gem of a story teller.

A goofball dude proposed to his nerdy girlfriend at the beginning and during the Q & A there were some of the worst questions ever asked by humans in the world, but Kev gets his audience and rolls with the punches while making fun of them without them knowing. He told some new stories such as how he got Michael Parks from From Dusk Till Dawn to be in his new movie Red State. This story involved the police coming to his house and investigating a possible hostage situation.
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After baseball season ended, JJ was selected to be a part of the 9-year old American League All-Star team. I started to think back at how many baseball photos and how much video footage that I had of him from when he was younger and decided to put together a video. I imagine if I really wanted to go back and check out all the old video footage, I can probably unearth some older stuff with him and his glove or bat. But for now, this is what I put together and I will just keep adding onto it as the years go by.

(Ever since I heard that my dad’s best friend Mick was sick and probably not going to overcome his illness, I thought about the song I embedded above. It’s a song by the group Hootie & The Blowfish. Their big run was already over by the time this song came out so I doubt many have heard it. If you want, click on play above and listen to it while you read this.)

Sometimes you meet people who you don’t spend a whole helluva lot of time with, yet you’ll remember them forever. My dad’s friend Mick was like that for me. I can remember small pockets of my life when he was around. It was like he would pop in every five years and when I’d see him, it was like he was never away. And it was probably time for him to pop in again, except, on July 2, 2010, he passed away.

I know that my dad and Mick had a close friendship when Mick was around, but a more casual one when he wasn’t. After talking to my dad today, he just expected Mick to pop in, much like I did.

From what I was able to gather, Mick wasn’t taking care of his health and was diagnosed with diabetes. He didn’t seem to take it all that seriously until he had to and it might’ve been too late. His brother Frank said that in his opinion, Mick never got over the loss of his wife several years ago and was depressed and lonely.

And I’ve learned that written words are not the same
As when you take the time to say it
And let the clouds release the rain

It seems that in his last years he lost touch with a lot of people on and off. It wasn’t just my dad. He recently wrote my dad a letter and sent it to him. The letter tried to relay some of the things he was dealing with. But he didn’t leave a return address or phone number. Maybe it was just his way of saying goodbye.
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- Britney Spears began her first headlining tour in North America.

- Stone Cold Steve Austin started his fourth WWE title reign by defeating the Undertaker.

- Napster was four weeks old.

- The Apple iBook had been released just seven days prior.

- And, the most important one to me, Brian Gonzales was born.

He came into this world smiling, and hasn’t really stopped.

Happy 11th Birthday to the Bri-guy. I’m not quite sure who I’d be without him. I’m just happy that I get to be his dad.

I put this video together for him last year. The music was his choice.

We done did it again and next year will be the fifth one. We’re going to have to do something big next year.

But for now, you can watch this year’s video.

If I was live at American Idol last week, I would’ve made a sign that said, “If Casey Wins, We Riot”. And I would’ve been kicked out of the building, but that’s not the point. The point is, Casey making it to the final nearly became a reality and it would’ve been the biggest American Idol blunder since Chris Daughtry was kicked out with three weeks to go.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to riot.

People have faint memories of earlier in the season and maybe Crystal peaked too early, but I’m amazed at all the Lee DeWyze love. This is the same dude who slept-walked throughout the first half of the season. This is the same Lee DeWyze who still has issues answering questions without stuttering, looking down and perspiring heavily. I think he’s done really well in the last two weeks, but has he jumped ahead of Crystal in my book? No. I’ll take consistently good week after week, mature, polished, and someone with a bit of a rebellious streak in her over someone who has no idea how he got here.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. Crystal Bowersox
2. Lee DeWyze

The Departed

1. Young Lacey Brown
2. Young Paige Miles
3. Young Didi Benami
4. Young Andrew Garcia
5. Young Katie Stevens
6. Young Tim Urban
7. Young Creepy Girl
8. Young Aaron Kelly
9. Young Michael Lynche
10. Young Casey James

Don’t forget that Lionel Richie will give me his thoughts tonight, like always on the final Tuesday night show.

Ryno says it’s Simon’s last week of shows. I’m already sad.

Lee looks scared out of his mind already. He may hyperventilate. Bowersox looks focused and excited.

There are three stages tonight.
1. Their favorite song they performed this season.
2. A track chosen by executive producer Simon Fuller.
3. Their first single if they win.

Stage 1

Crystal won the coin toss and she makes Lee go first. He’s singing The Boxer. This is the song he performed on the week that I missed the show. I can see why he picked it as it is a great way to start the show. But, his performance is pretty sleepy here. He needs to drink some coffee or something. Randall says it was a great way to start off the night, but he wants Lee to pick it up. Ellen says she couldn’t be prouder than if she birthed him herself. Kara says he has to punch harder. Simon says he expects more passion and excitement. Lionel says that it could’ve been outrageous, should’ve been outrageous, but was just outrageously decent.

Crystal is performing Me And Bobby McGee. The woman understands what night this is and gives an energetic, and slightly wild performance near the end. Good stuff. Randall thought it was dope. Ellen says it was stunning. Kara says she has fire in her belly tonight. Simon says she’s back on her best. Lionel says he knew Bobby McGee and she wasn’t as outrageous as Crystal was tonight.

Stage 2
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I could go on and on about how Casey James doesn’t deserve to be in the final three and how it should be Michael Lynche hanging out with Lee and Crystal, but that’s yesterday’s news.

Instead, I thought about how “long in the tooth” this show feels. I watched another “long in the tooth” show finale the other day. I have been hit or miss with Survivor for the entire existence of the show. If I can get into the characters early on, I’m in. If I can’t, I’m out.

There are two things that have helped this show of late. The first is high definition. Much like sports, this show is must-see in HD. The second thing is that they throw some familiar faces on the show from time to time. This past season was the villains and the heroes. Everyone on it was on the show at one point before, thus it was very easy to get into the characters. You felt like you knew them.

That’s part of the issue with this American Idol. The characters have very little personality and no one has the kind of story that you simply want to root for. The creepy girl was eliminated so now you know no one is going to be bitten on the neck and have their blood sucked dry.

The familiar characters are Ryan and the judges. Last year, Kara was added. This year, Paula was left out and Ellen was added to the mix. We’re not too sure about this foursome of judges. And next year, Simon’s gone. So not only will we have 12 new folks, we’ll have a new judging crew.

Basically, I’m saying that next year, we’re in trouble unless they do American Idol All-Stars! Bring back anyone who wasn’t able to make the top three of their season (or aren’t huge recording stars like Daughtry) and have them all make it to Hollywood and go from there. Then we lessen the Simon blow. They’ve already had tryouts for next season you say? Well, they weren’t forward thinking enough.

The Hot List (based on last last week’s performances)

1. Crystal Bowersox – Why does Simon think she’s not the front runner?
2. Lee DeWyze – The general Lee
4. Casey James – Poof pow, be gone

The Departed

1. Young Lacey Brown
2. Young Paige Miles
3. Young Didi Benami
4. Young Andrew Garcia
5. Young Katie Stevens
6. Young Tim Urban
7. Young Creepy Girl
8. Young Aaron Kelly
9. Young Michael Lynche

Casey James is up first and is singing Ok, It’s Alright With Me by Eric Hutchinson. This is a very likable song. He seems to be struggling with singing it though. I’m not sure it was that huge, winning, bottom two kind of song though. Randall says it was safe and easy. Ellen says she wishes he would’ve brought it. Kara says the song wasn’t well known enough. Simon says the song choice is a salad rather than the main course. He also called it a dud song choice.
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JJ calls his shot.

Here’s a video I put together about my trip with Brian and his class to Hume Lake: