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America’s Got Talent 5: First Semifinal Group

You are able to choose up to FIVE acts

August 25, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent Semi Final Review

I was going to do a review of the acts from tonight’s semi final episode, but then I saw that Jason had already done so in the comments of another post. So, I’ll just share his comments for all to see and to comment on. Thanks Jason!

Tonight was interesting…started strong, got weak in the middle, then finished amazingly. My thoughts:

Anna & Patryk – It was a very good routine. Their movements are so precise, and it was a great song choice and theme. They should be in the finals.

Christina & Ali – It’s a great story, but I don’t think the singing is good enough. I like them when they sing alone, but not together. It’s probably over for them.

Antonio Restivo – A really nice trick, but I wasn’t really amazed during it. I still really like about him, and I think he could be in the finals.

Future Funk – The cuteness is wearing off, and they tried too much to make a story out of it. The older kid had a nice break dance, but the rest was only ok. They’re probably not going to advance.

Taylor Matthews – I don’t know what to make of him. He’s good, but not the best singer. He should lose the backup singers, his voice gets lost in them. Maybe he could make it to the finals.

Connor Doran – Another nice story, but the act didn’t take it up a notch. He definitely should have stuck to the quieter, more reflective music. I like him, but he’s probably done.

Dan Sperry – Are you serious with that trick? I had a flashback to season 2 with the magician Kevin James. I know that there’s some imagination to magic, but we generally know it’s fake and don’t need an obvious way to see that. At least throw up some fake blood or something to make it more believable. I cannot see him advancing at all.

Kristina Young – What was she thinking? If she had livened the song up and went to a pop version after stepping down from the piano, she might have had a shot. However, she didn’t, and completely blew it.

ArcAttack – I was skeptical that they could make the act better, but they did. I still see them as a long shot to win with some of the other acts still active, but they could be in the finals.

Michael Grimm – I don’t think he’s the best singer, but there’s still something I like about him. He’s probably in the finals.

AscenDance – The same as Connor, they should have stayed with the slower, peaceful music. It was nice, but I don’t think it was enough.

Prince Poppycock – Do I need to say anything? I guess I should. I couldn’t stop laughing during this act. Perfect song choice, perfect concept, it was a perfect act. It is going to be tough to top that in the finals. He’s the only slam dunk to make it through of the night.

I think Prince Poppycock, Anna & Patryk, ArcAttack, and Michael Grimm advance by America’s vote. Antonio Restivo and Taylor Matthews finish 5 and 6, and the judges take Antonio to the finals.

John’s Thoughts: I still love Christina and Ali. I can vote for story if I like:-) I think Taylor Matthews also has more of a chance than people are giving him. I also think that Michael Grimm is a sure thing to get through along with Poppycock. Does anyone else want to hear from the other female climber on Acendance? She’s incredibly attractive. Just saying.

August 24, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent 5: Sixteen Act Breakdown

As we wait for the YouTube Auditions to commence on August 10th… let us take a look at the breakdown of the acts that have made it through to the next round… first the categorical breakdown:

CATEGORICAL BREAKDOWN

Singers
Alice Tan Ridley: Singer
Cristina & Ali: Singing Sisters
Prince Poppycock: Opera Singer
Debra Romer: Singer/Musician
Michael Grimm: Singer/Musician
Nathaniel Kenyon: Singer/Musician
Taylor Matthews: Singer/Musician

Now anyone that did any kind of singing get’s clumped into the singing group without question, which would make it a rather large group. However, when you break it down even further you’d notice that about half are solo singer/musicians meaning that they accompany themselves on a musical instrument while singing. Thus of the last three there is one pure singer, a singing duo and a performance/opera singer. When one breaks it down like that it doesn’t seem so bad…

It’s easy to argue that the number of singers still in the competition makes up about half of the total number of acts and as thus more of a singing competition than a talent competition. However, as easy as it is to say why don’t the singers move to American Idol, here’s my argument. The Idol series (Pop Idol, American Idol, etc) focuses on several things when choosing their contestants: physical look, vocal ability, entertainment value and the age-range. The Idol series focuses primarily on the “pop” genre or something pop-XXXX genre. Yes they have gotten better in including soul, rock and country… but the majority of the singers in the competition are primarily pop. Add to that the look and entertainment value and true talent tends to go out the window (which is why the puretvnet.com group doesn’t cover American Idol… we like talent shows 😀 ).

All kidding aside every one of these acts have the talent to do decently in the music business no matter where they end up. The real question is that after acts like Bianca Ryan, Terry Fator (though technically he is a singing ventriloquist), Eli Mattson, Neal E Boyd, and Kevin Skinner… do we really need another singer to take it all? Or is it time for another different kind of act to step forward?

Dance
Future Funk: Hip-Hop Dance Duo
Haspop: Popping Dancer
Studio One Young Beast Society: Dance Troupe

One common thread I noticed with the above acts… hip hop… It seems like Hip Hop dancing is the “in” thing now, it is what is hip or going on. The other thing I noticed is that the majority of the dancers are outside of the 18 – 30 age range of So You Think You Can Dance contestants for the most part.

Dance has been gaining traction thanks to the likes of Dancing with the Stars (ballroom dancing), So You Think You Can Dance (all styles), America’s Best Dance Crew (mostly hip hop and breaking)… but the fact that only generally hip hop dancers have made it this far and that most of the popular media deals with hip hop tells a bit of something about the genre in general.

Are any of the above strong enough to have a Las Vegas major production catered around them for well over an hour? I’m not entirely certain I could handle watching one type of dancing for that long… but that’s just me.

Magician/Illusionist
Antonio Restivo: Fire Artist/Illusionist
Murray: Magician/Illusionist

For many decades, magicians and illusionists have been a mainstay in Las Vegas. From the likes of Siegfried & Roy to Penn & Teller to Criss Angel when a magician has a show in Vegas they’ve hit the big time. Do either of the above have what it takes to not only provide magic and illusions that stretch beyond the parameters of those that came before them but to entertain the crowd as well?

Performance
ArcAttack: Technological Performance Group
AscenDance: Rock Climbing Acrobats/Dancers
Fighting Gravity: Blacklight Performers
Jeremy VanSchoonhoven: Extreme Cyclist

These particular acts are so unique, so different, and very dangerous in their own ways that I ended up clumping them into their own group.

Ever since the advent of Cirque du Soliel, the world of entertainment has been spun, stretch and re-imaged for a bigger and brighter world. Could any of the above acts sustain a show and stretch the boundaries of entertainment any further?

Keep in mind although these acts could be in existence in other countries outside of the United States (or on smaller scales IN the United States) it is through the show that what they do is coming to the forefront. Thus allowing similar acts to show and shine and recreate entertainment as we know it. All it takes is a single group to break down the wall for every else to rebuild it.

Categorical Conclusion
Singers make up a vast piece of the pie, but then again in American culture it is the singers that bring in the most revenue in the entertainment industry from record deals, to music downloads, to concert tours and television shows. So are we really all that surprised to see so many singers in the competition?

On the other hand, the other half of the pie is comprised of a variety of other acts that are jockeying for their piece of the entertainment industry pie. Is this the season for a non-singer to win the competition? Is America really ready for something other than singers?

VEGAS BREAKDOWN

Now, did anyone else find it interesting that there was a group of acts that were given a free ride into Hollywood? How did those acts do?

Straight to Hollywood
ArcAttack: Technological Performance Group
Fighting Gravity: Blacklight Performers
Future Funk: Hip-Hop Dance Duo
Haspop: Popping Dancer

Of the ten acts that made it straight to Hollywood, only four were chosen to go on to the next round. But what was the breakdown of the acts before and after America voted?

Seven of the ten acts were dance acts in some capacity from the one man show of Haspop to the cheerleading squad of SF Cheer. We also had a gymnast/acrobat, and two performance acts that simply did not fit anywhere else.

One thing of note is that no singers had a free pass to Hollywood. Another thing of note is that a fair number of dances acts made it through to Hollywood while others still had to audition in Vegas.

There were three non-dance acts of which two of the more unique ones made it through to the next round.

Standbys
Christina & Ali: Singing Sisters (?)
Nathaniel Kenyon: Singer/Musician
Jeremy VanSchoonhoven: Extreme Cyclist

Everyone saw the Standby acts performed. I think it is safe to say that for an act who was original standby to be continuing in the competition is saying a lot in their determination and focus on the goal at hand (whatever that may be). No matter how far in the competition a Standby act will go it is a safe bet to say that I tip my hat off to these acts for proving to the judges and America why they belonged…

August 10, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent 5: Fourth Quarterfinal Group Music

Da Maniacs
– Blues Brothers: Soul Man Soul
– MC Hammer: U Can’t Touch This U

NU Covenant
– One Republic: Apologize Apologize

Anna & Patryk
– Christina Aguilera: Candyman Candyman

Lindsey Stirling
– Taio Cruz: Break Your Heart Break
– Kesha: TiK ToK Tik

Taylor Matthews
– The Script: The Man Who Can’t Be Moved The

ArcAttack
– Ozzy Osbourne: Iron Man Iron

Prince Poppycock
– Ruggero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci: Vesti la giubba I

Strikers All Stars
– Bell Biv DeVoe: Poison Poison

August 4, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent 5: “Final” Group of Twelve

Here is the final group of twelve. The reason that final is in quotes is because there is the issue of the YouTube auditions and the winner of the YouTube auditions would be announced on August 10th which begs the question… are they going to go straight to the next round? Or is there going to be some kind of wild card show? All speculation aside…. Who of the final group of twelve would you want to move on to the next round?

August 3, 2010 I Written By

Possible America’s Got Talent Popularity Meter

Let’s be real and say it like it is. America’s Got Talent is really a popularity contest. At least once you get to Hollywood. It’s all about getting America to vote for you. So, the question is which people in the America’s Got Talent top 48 are the most popular acts and will command the most votes once we see the performances in Hollywood?

As I was watching some of the videos on NBC.com, I found a link to the “Most Viewed” videos on NBC.com. Sure, some of the videos have been up longer. Not to mention, some of the acts don’t really have videos. No doubt it’s an imperfect method to evaluate their popularity, but it’s still pretty interesting to consider. Here’s the list of acts from the Most Viewed videos from NBC.com:
Fighting Gravity
Future Funk
Michael Grimm
Alice Tan Ridley (Precious’ Mom)
Christina and Ali (Cystic Fibrosis)
Maricar (Painter)
ArcAttack
Carlos Aponte (too bad he’s already gone)

Very interesting list if I do say so myself.

July 13, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent 5: Las Vegas Eliminations

So here it is! The first day of Las Vegas week.

In prior seasons of America’s Got Talent, there were acts that were eliminated right away. What that did however (in my humble opinion) was put the judges into a corner where of the remaining acts there might not be those that shined while in Vegas when they did in the individual cities while those that were eliminated early didn’t get a chance to show any kind of growth.

So what the show changed up is the following. There are three groups of acts and only 48 spots open. The groups are:
Group A: These are acts that the judges believed have the best chance of making it through to Hollywood… so they were guaranteed a chance to audition for the judges again in Vegas. AKA the Judges favorites

Group B: These acts were not as good as Group A, so once Group A has gone through, if there are still spots remaining, these acts would get their chance to audition… If and only If.

Group C: Everyone loved these acts so much that they were going to go straight to Hollywood without ever having to audition.

Since Group C consisted of ten acts, of the 48 spots there are only 38 remaining…

So below are the the acts that have a free pass to Hollywood aka Group C (the links included are previous posts where you could find information about them):

Chicago Auditions:
Belly Dancing Duo
Polina Volchek
Strikers All Stars

Los Angeles Auditions:
– Cheer San Francisco
– Haspop
– Future Funk

Dallas Auditions:
Arc Attack
Da Maniacs

New York Auditions:
Fighting Gravity
South Philly Vikings

So there you have it… the ten acts with a free pass to Hollywood. What are your opinions? What do you think? Stay tuned for tomorrow where I will list the acts from Group B that were chosen to go to Hollywood after they impressed the judges in Las Vegas.

July 6, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent 5: Dallas Auditions

NOTE: I’ll update this page as soon as more information comes in

Second audition episode of the week! Wahoo! 😀 This time in Dallas, Texas… home of the Cowboys, AT&T, Texas Instruments, and of course… their cheerleaders.

Just like for the Los Angeles auditions there is going to be a list of all the acts that made it through Vegas with basic website links so you would have more information about them. Then later when time allows there will be individual posts created for each act that moves on to Hollywood!

As always if anyone out there have any info to the following acts please either leave a comment or contact us.

Read more for spoilers!

Read more..

June 2, 2010 I Written By