Talent Mania

It’s been a stressful day of trying to update this site.  Not that I did any of the work, but it was a stressful day of pacing the floor and bitching about how between our two computers we don’t have one that works properly, while my wife updated the site.  We still aren’t finished.  The idea is to get all of my poetry and other writing uploaded, complete with a paypal button so people who are totally inspired by the brilliance of my writing can have the pleasure of possessing it on paper, and support a struggling artist at the same time.

Free Voices

So, now, we are relaxing and watching Talent Mania.  I love amateur talent shows.  I rather wish they didn’t all follow the same format but I don’t blame the TV executives.  When you’ve got a format that works, you’ve got a format that works.  I don’t usually get so carried away that I phone in a vote.  Just once, on Česko Hleda Superstar, because there was a contestant who I actually knew a little bit, but he got eliminated pretty early, so that wasn´t very satisfying.

We do, however, vote at home.  That is half the enjoyment of these programs, to pick your favorites and see if they win.  I do the same with beauty pageants, but almost never pick the actual winners there.  I picked about 66% of the winners tonight, and I have a couple of observations.

First, it is a combined Czech and Slovak production.  It´s hard to figure out why these two countries split apart in the first place.  The languages are mutually comprehensible.  Everybody seems to get along.  Perhaps it was so they could compete against each other in World Hockey Championships and thus be the automatic winner   (that actually happened in 2000).

The best musicians in this part of the world are, without a doubt, gypsies.  However, one group called Free Voices (I think they were gypsies- gypsy style music, anyway)  started off with a brilliant multipart vocal thing, then thought it would be a good idea to throw a medley of popular hits into the middle of their routine.  For me, it totally destroyed the moment.  The voting audience, apparently, did not agree with me.

In every case, groups won out over individuals.  In some cases it was justified, in some not.  I suspect that groups just have a larger pool of friends who are willing to use their mobile phones to vote multiple times.

The guy who won was a guy who played on crystal glasses, which is always a very cool routine.  I wasn’t surprised or disappointed at all.