Why TV shows like American Idol sucks
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Want to become famous? Do not mess your career up with shows like American Idol.There are some really talented people testing their luck in TV shows like American Idol, they think that if they win, they would be rich and famous. True, to some extent. In this entry, I will discuss why those TV shows suck.
First of all, how big is the chance that you enter the show? Less than 1% I'm sure, let's say 1% even though it is actually much less than that, 1% is enough to prove my point.
Secondly, how many will win? One, one person wins. If there were only 10 contestants in the show, then only 0.1% would win.
Let's put the percentages aside. Who actually buys albums from those artists? I try to stay as far away from them as possible, I do not even download them for free. The only potential consumer is the teenage girl.
If you have been on the show (winning included), you could never be famous again. Once you get eliminated from the show, your career as an artist is over. Who would want to buy an album from a loser like that? Even if you win, you would still be a b-artist, forever. If you win, you get a contract and an album, wow. Would your album feature big artists like Mariah Carey or 50 Cent or even have some good producers? No. Your album would be junk. How many winners of those shows stay famous for more than 2 years? None?
In Sweden, groups/artists like Excellence and Supernatral were made in the TV show Popstars. Still popular? Most people have already forgotten all about them. I do not even know who won Fame Factory. For the Swedish version of Idol, it is too early to say if the winner will succeed. So far he only has some temporary fame within this country.
People on the show are heavily screwed by the producers, how cheap isn't it to make a show like that? They earn lots of cash when people vote, they get money for every CD that you sell.
What do you get if you win (much less than 0.1%)? Temporary fame.
What do you get if you do not win? Nothing except humiliation, bad self-confidence and your entire show-biz career ruined. So go do it!
Think twice, do not let others exploit your talent in that way.
posted by Err0r @ 7:39 PM,
Time, time
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
I remember not so long ago I could do whatever I wanted to, I always had the time.
Now I actually have to make time to do something. I got to make time to do homework, to go to the gym, to play games, to write blogs, etc. Everytime I make time, I have to sacrfice something else.
This is getting lame. I am busy to the point when I only blog 1-2 times a week. If this continues, things will not look pretty.
Longing for a break.
posted by Err0r @ 10:12 PM,
The Sony Ericsson w850
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Remember the k700 and the k750? Well, the w850 is coming. Here are some pictures.
Nice phone, I just don't like the colors (whats up with all the orange? :S )
This is what the iPod phone could have been
w850 vs s700
Sorry no time for a proper post, the mind is not erroneous right now.
posted by Err0r @ 7:35 PM,
It worked...
Friday, September 23, 2005
2 months ago, when I wanted to try Linux, I found Ubuntu. It is a Linux distribution and many people said that it was the easiest to use, so I decided to try it.On their site you could order Ubuntu on CDs for free. I never thought it could be true, I mean they do not earn money. What they have made is free software.
Today I was suprised to find 10 Ubuntu CDs in the mailbox. That's just nice!
I haven't had time to try it just yet.
I can't believe they actually came, forgot all about it.
posted by Err0r @ 8:36 PM,
I'm an idiot.
Monday, September 19, 2005
I'm an idiot. For as long as I can remember, every Friday I bring a bag full of homework weighing a lot. I take the homework that I plan to do home, over the weekend.Every (every) Monday I feel damn guilty, because I didn't do the homework I brought with me home the Friday before. On Mondays, I always go back to school with the bag the way it was on Friday. Sometimes, I do a half-assed attempt to finish some work, but the result is just... bad...
I am soo lazy.
Still, a little self criticism is good. Self-praise is bad, according to the Sunscreen song, which I follow religiously.
Btw, I found a song on DotA, it's funny. If you play DotA you should listen to it.
posted by Err0r @ 8:41 PM,
Don't be hating gossip
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Haven't posted for a while. My broadband connection has been down for 3 days. Some say that it's Katrina that has come to Sweden (those 3 days were damn cold as well). Here is something I wrote in Word while my internet was down.
Don't hate gossip. If you do, you are nothing but a stupid, self-centered loser with no personality, lots to hide and/or a crippled thinker.
Now is about the time where you go: What the fudge (can I use explicit language?) is this for crappy entry I'm reading? Wait, don't leave yet.
Give me a chance, and maybe you will get a better understanding.
You see, the only way you can hate gossip is if you hate news, TV, radio, movies, magazines, books, most music, and blogs. I assume that since you are reading a blog, you do not hate it. Since you don't hate blogs, I can safely assume that you like gossip.
This society we live in is based on gossip, or information as we also like to call it. Why do we watch news? To see and hear what happened to others. Why do we listen to radio? To hear what happened to others. Why do we watch movies? Too see and experience what others go through. I can go on but I think I have made the point, its all GOSSIP.
It doesn't have to be non-fictional (news, documentaries) to be gossip; real life mouth-to-mouth gossip can also be fictional (movies, fairytales) or highly-exaggerated.
If you did something stupid/dumb and everyone around you knows about it, it is your fault. You were the one who did the stupid/dumb thing. A little gossip won't hurt you. Every time a politician does something wrong they get bashed to death, I don't hear them complaining.
If you did something wrong stand up for it, don't try to push your mistakes onto someone else.
The human race is the gossip race. We are feeded/spammed with professional gossip daily but still some choose to complain about some simple mouth-to-mouth gossip. Grow up.
And... Iroc.
posted by Err0r @ 9:03 PM,
Oversensitivity
Monday, September 12, 2005
- I want that black shirt over there.
- Did you say black? What a racist you are!
Oversensitivity has become an issue. A lot of anger is pointed at the wrong people, the people in the middle, the normal and average.
Everything can be seen as a line, where two extreme groups occupy the two ends of it. The racists and the anti-racists. The feminists and the anti-feminists.
Much of the time regular people get caught in the line of fire.
The anti-racists always have to make stupid comments when you talk about color. This world is colorful, not just black and white. Oops! I said the word black...
Feminists... most annoying of all. When a man does something bad, it's something all men do. When a woman does anything bad, it's just a personal thing. Men should shut up and not comment on women and women should be free to say what they like. Don't feminists want an equal society? Have they gone completely insane?
Am I the only one thinking clearly?
posted by Err0r @ 8:39 PM,
Distractions
Sunday, September 11, 2005
I can never concentrate; there is always some kind of distraction hindering me.
Today I was typing some stuff on the laptop in a dark room. The only source of light was the laptop screen. There was this bug climbing up and down on the screen (bugs like light right?). At first I ignored it, but then I started thinking about it. I started watching it's moves. It was always climbing upwards and occasionally falling down.
After studying the bug for 2min (forgetting about the work I was doing) I realized that it reacted to what was happening on the screen. When I moved the pointer on it, it got so afraid that it fell down and started climbing from the bottom again. It worked for 6-7 times. Then it got immune to it, it learnt that the pointer couldn't hurt it. So I am trying to scare it with swift-random-crazy moves with the pointer, but it still didn't fall.
I thought of the perfect plan. I went to a website with a lot of text and scrolled downwards. The bug got really confused and fell; I did it 3-4 times. The bug got owned.
Then suddenly, a thought stroke me: What the hell was I doing? I was supposed to do some work.
I write blogs to practice my writing; maybe I should start meditating to practice my concentration?
posted by Err0r @ 8:55 PM,
My excuse
Friday, September 09, 2005
Sorry for not writing in the blog. Here is my excuse, or maybe story?
So on Wednesday I got the new 8/1mbit internet, an upgrade from the last 512/128kbit one. I got excited. In the middle of the all the exite, I broke my wireless router (during reset I pulled the plug out).
Yesterday I called tech support, they told me to send it in. It's gonna take at least a month to get it fixed...
Today I borrowed by friends wireless router. Really nice of him.
So now I'm BACK!
posted by Err0r @ 9:51 PM,
Freedom of speech
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Freedom of speech has always confused me. No matter how hard I try and want to believe it isn't, I always end up convincing myself that freedom of speech is nothing but a part of a scheme to silence people.People go round and thinking about the fact that they can say whatever they want, they have the freedom. Their happy, society stays stable.
Of course I do not randomly choke up statements like that, I tried to believe that freedom of speech really was freedom of speech, but some things that have happened is making it hard. I tried to be silent, to shut up, but I have failed.
Farenheight 911. No one wanted to release it. Disney canceled the contract. Michael Moore was stuck with a documentary he spent lots of time making. In the end Miramax agreed to release it, if he cut out large portions of it. So that's what he did.
I saw Farenheight 911, there was nothing shocking, average-documentary, not too convincing. -- then I saw the bonus material. It was an infinite times better than the movie itself. It showed what really happened. If that had been shown in the movie, then Bush would not be sitting in the White House today. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the movie and the only way you can see it is to buy the DVD. How much audience was lost?
Then, several days ago Kanye West said this during the Katarina benefit concert:
I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food. ... They've given them permission to go down and shoot us. ... George Bush doesn't care about black people ... We already realized a lot of the people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way, and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us.
It was censored. I am not saying that I fully agree and or support his views, I am just saying that it was censored, to clear up eventual confusion.
Two cases (that I know of) where some anti-Bush/government ideas were censored. Not directly by the government, but by the media. The media has many reasons to do this, but all reasons have something to do with politics. The media can go against it, and lose money (which they of course wouldn't).
Of course there are countries far worse than the US, like China, Cuba and North Korea for instance. The difference is that those countries are 'bad, evil', they oppress freedom. They are totalitarian.
The United States is the home of freedom, of 'good', defenders of freedom and peace. Go defend your freedom of speech. When a person can not express what he feels about the rulers, then something is needed to be done.
I have lost faith in the freedom of speech. I wish that it was not just a scheme, but truths always hurt.
posted by Err0r @ 9:06 PM,
Hurricane Katrina
Monday, September 05, 2005
Hurricane Katrina. It seems that every blogger has written something about this. At first I did not want to join the majority, the generic, but after seeing the aftermath it is hard not to.
Sad.
So much death.. first the catastrophe in Asia and now this.
Instead of spending so much money developing military, can't people stop for a bit and think. If they did, then maybe someday countries would spend more money on research that save lives instead of take lives.
I have noticed that it is only during catastrophes like this, that people can really unite with each other and forget about issues like race, gender, sex, politics, etc. It is good that something so sad can do something positive too.
Rest in peace to all the ones lost. For everyone else; be happy you are alive and cherish this life of yours.
I do not know enough to comment further.
posted by Err0r @ 6:38 PM,
Blogging is hard
Sunday, September 04, 2005
I've run an anime site getting over 900 visits a day.
I've run a warez site getting over 5000 visits a day.
Now I am running this blog, getting around 15 visits a day.
Blogging is really hard. So many people blog, how do you get known and recognized, and even respected?
It doesn't matter much to me, but thinking about it, it's just weird (the visits). I will continue because I do this mostly for me, myself.
Over this half-year of blogging I have found it easier to write and gather my thoughts.
I feel all you bloggers out there, don't quit just because no one reads your blog. It is hard, no matter how easy it looks.
posted by Err0r @ 7:42 PM,
Broken pictures
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Last year when high-school started, everyone painted a picture of themselves. Some conciously, some not. Some exaggerated, elaborated, and hid parts of themselves in their paintings.Slowly, some of those paintings are falling apart. Some can't live up to what they have painted, some can. Those who can't are slowly falling apart.
Is it worth painting a false picture of yourself when you have a risk that the painting would fall apart and you would never fully recover. What do you do when your picture has fallen apart, with pieces shattered on the floor and you can't ever fix it again?
Until recently, I did not even know people would do such things. At least not to this degree. Naive and maybe absent I was.
Soo many questions, but only the future can give me the answers.
posted by Err0r @ 4:20 PM,
Politics confuses me
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Today when I went to the CNN site I found this news in the Asia section. It's not the article itself that is important, but the fact that the author has given the title the impression of Taiwan being a part of China.Usually, journalists write of Taiwan as a country and not a state/province of China, so this article (well, the title at least) made me stop and think.
In the article the author gives no further views(or clues?) on whether Taiwan belongs to China or not. Maybe it's just the title?
This whole issue is confusing me, what do western media want to say, where is their standpoint? Is Taiwan a country? Some news/travel articles are written as if Hong-Kong was an independent country.
Traditionally, China claims Taiwan to be a province and Taiwan claims itself to be an independent country. The USA has always been poking here and there, changing sides all the time, getting advantages from both sides. The stories from all sides are basically the same but with slight differences at crucial points to change the entire moral of the story, thus making their respective arguments.
I am originally mainland Chinese but I don't really care. My personal standpoint? It would be good for China to reunify Taiwan but starting a war for Taiwan is not really worth it. With the advanced weapons of today, the ones suffering the most (if a war would eventually break loose) would be the civilians .. and if a war would break loose, it would basically mean the end of the World©.
Perhaps this CNN article title is the first sign of journalists changing attitude towards the China-Taiwan issue?
Ahh, confusing stuff, eh? Don't think this will be fixed for another 20-30 years.
posted by Err0r @ 8:41 PM,
Pain in the ass
School has started, most days from 8:30AM to 4:30PM. Plus the two hours it takes to get there and back I'm gone for 10 hours a day. No lunch break anymore, eat lunch and continue lessons. Kinda tireing.Apart from the bad scheldue we have something has been bothering me more and more is the chair we use in most classes.
Just look at it, blue hard-plastic chair. I'm sure it didn't cost more than 6-7$. Not only is it ugly, it also is a pain in the ass, literally.
Imagine sitting on a hard-plastic, badly shaped chair for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
After about 30-40 minutes your ass starts to itch. After ignoring it for 10 minutes you can't endure anymore. You start thinking of how to cure the itch, and that's all you think about for the rest of the lesson. It cuts productivity in half.
The school administration is having a crisis meeting fixing our scheldues these coming days, which gives me a chance to take a break from the pain in the ass.
posted by Err0r @ 11:49 AM,