Breaking Habits

Finally, this madness is about to end. Tomorrow the final movie installment of the Twilight Saga premieres in North America with Breaking Dawn Part 2. Finally, the buzz and hysteria over a series of novels that are nothing more than drug store romance with vampires and werewolves will be over. Finally, the story of a bland, cardboard female character that somehow becomes the center of  so much drama and angst will end. Finally, I don't have to hear another thing about Kristen Stewart's and Rob Pattison's fakemance.

Several years ago, (it feels like forever) I took the first book in my hands to read because my then pre-teen god daughter would talk about nothing else. Being an English teacher, and a dedicated god mother, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I struggled through these novels, drowning in gaping plot holes, unappealing characters and painful dialogue to find out what the heck everyone was getting so worked up over. Obviously being a masochist, I then dutifully suffered through the movies whose special effects and soundtrack could not compensate for the excruciating acting and direction. I came to a conclusion.

It's a young girl thing that stays with some women a life time. It's the need for fantasy. It's a notion that has been around for hundreds of years in fiction, then later, on the silver screen and finally on television and in comics. The notion of a perfect man who will sweep every tender heart off her feet no matter who she is, what she does, how she looks, and where she comes from. It's a destructive notion that, left unchecked, can be one of the major reasons why real men don't get a fair shake, and real women feel unsatisfied for most of their lives. It's a female version of porn.

While some men hide their proclivity for steaming, naughty sex under beds and in closets, women take theirs with them on the subway and to the coffee shop. Used in moderation, it can be an, ummm, handy form of entertainment. Used excessively, it could be the reason women and men have unreal, and untenable expectations about sexual, emotional and committed relationships. These characters never go to the bathroom, or have a bad day, or pick their noses. The men in romance novels and the women in centerfolds bask in their two-dimensional perfection, while the audience feels unsatisfied when they're torn away from that world into the three dimensional one.

What's worse is that it's become so subliminal that we don't even know those expectations have become embedded in our psyches. With the divorce rate skyrocketing, the media splashed with celebrity break-ups, and shows like TMZ salivating at the latest scandal, what is going on with "romantic" relationships? Do they even exist? Sure they can, but real romance only has the trappings and the soundtrack that we choose. Real romance is effort. It's not produced by multi-billion dollar movie, music and publishing companies. It's what we make it. Finding romance beyond the "who does the dishes", the bad day at the job, or the crazy commute home is not as easy as picking up a book or grabbing the remote. It's milking energy to build and keep the mystique of romance after the children's meltdown and before our own.

Maybe it's time that adults take responsibility for their relationships and actually invest the time in them that we do in fantasizing about them. Maybe it's time, as adults, we start building healthy perceptions and expectations about intimate relationships in young men and women, so that they don't enter in them, handicapped by Bellas and Edwards. Maybe it's time to consciously help our young break this really nasty habit. Too many sweets result in cavities and obesity. Too much brain candy will dissolve not only our grey matter but wreck our emotional well-being.

Judges Misbehaving

So the first X-Factor live performances aired, finally with the 16 paired down to 12. Before I get into the judges' decisions, there's a bigger issue at hand: the way Simon and L.A. used each other's acts to prove who has a bigger... knowledge of music.

After Simon trashed Jason Brock's first performance, L.A. decided to retaliate by annihilating 1432's performance. Simon was typically harsh on Jason but not undeservedly; Jason's rendition of Jennifer Lopez' "Dance Again" was painful to watch. Simon could have left it at that; but, being Simon, he went into humiliating detail from the song selection to what Jason was wearing. I have to give Jason props for enduring that brutality.

L.A. taking it personally no doubt, decided to return the favor by aiming a mirrored critique at 1432 who performed after Jason. My jaw dropped and their faces fell but they handled it well. It infuriated me to watch this childish and destructive behavior. These two need to seriously get a room. I'm not shocked however, because L.A. has been displaying a very unflattering diva attitude this season beginning with his tantrum at hearing he had the Over 25's.

Moving on to the judges' selections:

Demi Lovato eventually cut Willie Jones whose performances lacked the element of surprise he had when he first appeared on the show. The newly blonde, but still contrived CeCe Frey simply outsung him. Personally, I would have cut Paige Thomas whose Rhianna-like performance was elaborate but whose voice did not live up to the production. Of the three remaining, Jennel Garcia is clearly the best singer and the most believable performer. CeCe however, did an outstanding job with Irene Cara's "Out Here On My Own" from Fame (which L.A. didn't know... how could he know so little?)

Britney Spears had the most difficult choice to make as all four of her teens are outstanding singers; but choosing Arin Ray and Diamond White for the sing-off was puzzling. Beatrice Miller, though very talented, did not deliver the same performance caliber as these two; and Carly Rose Sonenclar, though easily the best singer in the whole competition, had to overcome a very awkward production that Britney put her in. Carly Rose is not, thankfully, the sex-pot Britney was. She doesn't need all these gimmicks or school uniforms to sell her talent. If Britney keeps this up, she might very well hurt Carly Rose's chances in this competition.

Be that as it may, I would have cut Beatrice over Diamond or Arin who not only can belt out a song but have stage presence by the bushels. Watch Diamond as she sings Elton John's "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.

And Arin's rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Look To You"

I don't get it.

Simon Cowell's decision was a lot easier it seems. Lyric 145 and Emblem 3 both knocked the audience on its rear ends with their performances. Both these acts are good to go. No matter what happens in this competition, it will not be the last we hear from these two groups. Between Sister C and 1432 (whose name mercifully will be changing), the choice was easy. I'm convinced Simon would have saved Sister C but the crowd chanting 1432 changed his mind. With their performance of Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper", he would have been a fool not to.

L.A. Reid saved Vino Alan and Tate Stevens whose song choices and performances would have put them on the chopping block if this were a voting week, leaving David Correy and Jason Brock to sing for their lives. Jason edged David out which was surprising because David's singing is more compelling that Jason's to my ears. Then again, I'm not a producer. :)  Unfortunately, it makes no difference because, unless something changes, this team is doomed to be voted out the soonest.

Update: It seems that they figured out how they effed up and brought Diamond back. That's right! I called it!