Shoe In...

Don't get me wrong... Paul Potts is an amazing singer, and represented the "everyman" in "Britain's Got Talent". He was a mobile phone salesman who got cut a break. But...... He was, pretty much, a guaranteed winner. His victory was a foregone conclusion. I don't say this as a slight against him, but he really didn't have any competition.

Let's look at the other contestants, shall we?

There were the "Kombat Breakdancers". While they were.... good.... for breakdancers....., they really didn't do anything special. They performed your basic breakdancing moves. I've seen better in the Underground, in London.

Then there were "Bar Wizards". They were "flair" artists. You know... the bottle flippin' bartenders. Think Tom Cruise in "Cocktail". They were good. Very good. Has nuttin' to do with tending bar, but it was what it was. However, the winner of this competition gets to perform before the queen. I don't think jiggin' up a couple of Purple Hooters and Redheaded Sluts is really the thing Queenie would be entertained by.

Next, little Connie Talbot. Darlin' little Connie. She was, again, what she was - a 5 year old with a nice voice. For a 5 year old.... Not really a country-wide talent show winner.

We also have Damon Scott and Bubbles. A guy with a cheap monkey puppet. You know the kind... the overpriced things they sell at theme parks where the legs Velcro about your waist, and the arms about your neck. The monkey "danced" and karaoked to Michael Jackson. Now, if the guy was a ventriloquist, and actually sang the song, I'd be impressed. But it was just some guy with his arm up a nylon sock's bottom, jerking about. Jim Henson brought a piece of felt to life and made me believe. Damon Scott was just plain unbelievable.

Bessie Curzons sang and danced her way into our hearts. Or did she? Precocious child, definitely. Knows how to work a crowd. Screamed "Jon Benet"..... Something terribly wrong about a 6 year old, in a top hat and tails, singing "Get me to the church on time". Just another cute child. Not a show winner.

And then there was Paul. While his story has touched many hearts, and rightly so, it was no contest. He stood head and shoulders over the competition. There was no other choice. I still cheer him and his victory, and am glad to see that he shall meet with some success, but, sadly, the choice was obvious.... Oh, well, way to go anyway, Paul!

BGT FINAL -Paul Potts high quality video/sound

Well, the finals were last night (Sunday). PP did an extended version of Nessun Dorma. And... he won. Well done, indeed.

Paul Potts Semi Final winning performance High Quality V/S

The adventure continues... Paul Potts in the semi-finals of "Britain's Got Talent". Nice to see an "everyman" making it.

Paul sings Nessun Dorma high quality video/sound

Wow. Just... simply... wow. This guy, Paul Potts, is a "nobody" (very unfortunate name), and totally floors the judges on Britain's Got Talent. Funny watching Simon Cowell, dreading the performance, with his jaw on the desk. Piers Morgan, who can be as big a prick as Simon, is floored, and I think Amanda Holden wet herself...

Empty bars, flagging vans, random vikings, familiar villains and coniving gypsies

Well, it is summer time... That means that the bar has been pretty slow of late. The first week of "Summer A" seemed promising, with huge crowds every night, and then... ffssssssst. Nada. It's been miserably slow. This kind of sucks, being that I am making much less than I used to, and need to bar income to make up for it... Well, there's always "Summer B" and "Summer C" to go. And fall is not too far off, which means football season, which will help. So... last week was pretty much a wash, and I was glad when it was over. Next stop, Sheepssesses house!

As I was pulling into her parking lot at o-dark-thirty, the power steering in my van went out. "Eh, I'll take care of it later." Well, it was 5:30 in the morning...

I ended up sleeping in, though Sheeps was woken up by a call from "Her Highness". She asked kindly if I wanted to get up, and I implored, "One more half hour, ma..." Being so terribly kind, she actually let me sleep another 2.5... Then, the day was mostly gone, and we hadn't eaten anything. We both got cleaned up and dressed, and headed out for a bite to eat.

Sheeps had a gift card to Logan's, so we went for steaks before catching a flick. They were, as usual, quite yummy. On the way out to the parking lot, I heard my SCA shouted loudly. "Runner Girl" and "Fire Guy" were having dinner there as well, and saw us walking in the parking lot... We went back inside and chatted for a while. Then we headed for the theater to catch "Shrek 3", and it turns out they were going as well. We didn't get to sit together, but were in the same theater. I enjoyed the movie, but don't think it was as good as the other two. There was one scene that just flat out reminded me of my household, and I guffawed, apparently alone. Oh, well.

After the show, I was going to take Sheeps out for Ice Cream, as she'd been a good little lamb, and our double date continued, as RG and FG had the same idea.

On the way home, we stopped at Wally World to get some things (namely power steering fluid). We found a bunch of movies on sale, and picked them up, including one we were specifically looking for, Ocean's 12, which we both passed 3 times without seeing... I already own 11, and we were prepping for 13....

The next morn, Sheeps had to go to work for a while, so I got up and pharted around. I went to fill the power steering fluid in the van, and discovered that it was just fine. The problem was a bunch of bare pulleys.... Seems like the serpentine belt broke. Craaaaap. Oh, well. We'll get one when she gets home. She did, and we ran out and got the belt. The problem is that my paws are huge... and the working space limited. I couldn't even reach all the pulleys. Luckily, Sheeps loves me a lot, and has much slimmer arms and smaller hands, and was able to get it (mostly) on, getting filthy in the process. I called an ex-squire (now a knight) and he came over with the proper tools to finish the job. Needed a wrench that we didn't have, nor did he, so back to Wally World. With the right tool, the job was finished in seconds.

After getting cleaned up, we popped in a tape that some friends had made for us. They've been TiVo'ing "The Riches" for us, and put the first 6 episodes on tape. It was..... ummmmm..... interesting. Not at all what I'd been expecting. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it was a lot more serious than I'd anticipated. Essentially, a family of modern gypsies go into hiding by taking over the identities of a rich family. Hilarity ensues. Okay, not so much. It is pretty serious, and covers some serious topics. Nonetheless, it is still pretty good.

Then it was up at 5am, and back home to G'Ville, and back to work. Yay.