Parents Television Council Says American Idol Finale Crossed the Line

Posted by on May 25, 2009

american-idol-season-8

Parents’ Television Council is angry about the American Idol Season 8 Finale results show, aired on May 20, saying American Idol crossed the line of decency and cautioned FOX that the popular “family-friendly”, “family-hour”, prime-time show may alienate viewers. Parents Television Council (PTC) is a self-proclaimed, non-partisan Watch Dog group, founded by Brett Bozell in 1995 as an “education organization advocating responsible entertainment, to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and in other media”.

PTC President, Tim Winter, says the “finale of American Idol demonstrated all the aspects that make television great — a months-long competition coming down to two finalists with a Cinderella story ending. Unfortunately, it also demonstrated what’s wrong with television when Fox decided that gratuitous shock value in front of a huge family audience is a good thing, rather than a bad thing. If Fox isn’t careful, they will alienate the family audience foundation upon which the success of Idol has been built.”

PTC voted American Idol on Fox the worst TV show of the week, followed by Family Guy in the number 2 spot. Vote For The Worst, probably the bane of American Idol’s existence, flippantly reported: “PTC is angry that Kara DioGaurdi took her dress off, Bikini Girl made an appearance, and the Black Eyed Peas performed a song with swear words in it.” VFTW concludes that PTC’s concerns about Katrina Darrell’s return as the Bikini Girl showing off her “new enhancements”, and the Black Eyed Peas performance of “Boom Boom Pow” with sexual lyrics and profanity means “they’re just homely old shrews who need to get a life”.
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American Idol Season 9 Auditions at Dallas Cowboys Stadium 2010

Posted by on May 22, 2009

American Idol season 9 auditions and tryouts are coming to the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium for American Idol 2010 hopefuls and wannabes. Whoohoo! American Idol announced the confirmed cites, venues and locations of where auditions will be held, after Wednesday’s American Idol 2009 Finale show where Kris Allen was crowned the winner of American Idol.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has a strong American Idol connection to Dallas-area season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson who was raised in Burleson, and season 7 finalist Jason Castro who was raised in Rowlett TX, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that auditions for American Idol Season 9 are coming to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

DFW area Idol auditions were previously held at Texas Stadium in Irving, TX. Arlington City Council member Robert Riviera spoke with FOX4’s reporter Brandon Todd outside the Cowboys Stadium Wednesday night, immediately following Kris Allen’s not-so-surprising win over Adam Lambert, before confirmation came in that American Idol auditions for season 9 will be at Cowboys Stadium.

Rivieria said, “This is something that would be very exciting for not only Arlington but for the greater North Texas area. It’s something we would warmly embrace and we would welcome visitors to our city to stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants and shop in our retail centers.”

Yeah, I bet.

Arlington’s part of building the HUGE, $1.1 billion Dallas Cowboys new stadium is a whopping $325 million, so having Idol auditions held locally may help put a dent in the costs.

American Idol audition hopefuls would do well to learn how to audition for American Idol in order to not find themselves on the list of Idol ‘freaks’ and wannabes that couldn’t sing to save their lives. Who tells these people they can sing anyway? Audition performances end up on video sites like YouTube, where people around the world can laugh and poke fun at the worst singers and performers ever seen on American Idol. Pssst, they’re not laughing WITH you, they’re laughing AT you.

One of my favorite parts of Idol are the American Idol Spoilers, where lists of songs to be performed are leaked and plastered across the net even before American Idol goes live on Fox.

I, for one, am very anxious for the American Idol Season 9 auditions coming to Dallas sometime over the summer. I’ll be watching closely for updates on the dates, times, rules and additional information for the upcoming auditions for Idol hopefuls that I know.

This summer is going to be a lot of fun for me since I bought American Idol tickets for the Idols LIVE summer concert tour at the American Airlines Center in July, and of course watching the Idol audition videos online.

Are you going to see the Top 10 during the American Idol LIVE summer concert tour? Are you going to audition for American Idol at the Cowboys Stadium? I wish you all the luck in the world!

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Study Ball: Study Ball and Chain Makes Kids Study and Do Homework

Posted by on May 21, 2009

Heard about the new Study Ball? The Study Ball and Chain contraption is an electronic device intended to make your kids study and do their homework. I heard about this study ball prison-style thingy on the radio this morning and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Seriously? Parents really need the Study Ball to get kids to study and do homework?

The Study Ball’s red digital display counts down the “study time left”, then the electronic ball beeps and unlocks when study time is up to release your child from “jail”. The Study Ball weighs 21 lbs, making it difficult for kids to stop studying and doing their homework, so they can of course go play video games and watch television.

The Study Ball cannot be locked for more than 4 hours at a time, and comes with a safety key to allow unlocking the device when desired. The Study Ball and Chain is sold online at Curiosite (www.curiosite.com) and costs about $115.00.

The website says: “Quite often, students who are having problems concentrating tend to get up every ten minutes to watch TV, talk on the phone, take something out of the fridge, and a long list of other distractions.

“Were they to dedicate all this wasted time to studying, they would optimise their performance and have more free time available.

“Study Ball helps you study more and more efficiently.”

Study Ball Designer Emilio Alarcon came up with the idea after a friend likened revision to being in jail.

He said: “Studying can be fun and enriching if you do it once in a while, but no one likes to study for days on end, especially not with an exam date looming overhead.

“The project was born of a conversation I had with a friend who was studying for a civil service exam.

“He said ‘I haven’t left the house in a week, this is like being in jail’.”

Wow. I bet kids won’t be adding this to their BillMyParents want list anytime soon. The old-fashioned “ball and chain” goes techie! What do you think about the Study Ball? Would you buy it?

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BillMyParents: Socialwise BMP BillMyParents Online Payment For Teens and Tweens Shopping

Posted by on May 18, 2009

BillMyParents (BMP) has announced its “cute” new launch by Socialwise for teens and tweens to get parents to pay for their ever-increasing want list. With this new BillMyParents online payment system, teens and tweens can shop at online stores to their hearts content and spend their parents money, without parents actually giving teens their credit card.

BillMyParents, powered by Amazon.com, is of course a simple and easy process. What is BillMyParents? Teens and tweens browse and shop at online stores for things they want to purchase err, things teens want parents to purchase FOR them and when it’s time to “check out”, that’s where BillMyParents online payment system kicks into gear.

Parents receive an email or mobile text notification from BillMyParents (www.billmyparents.com or www.BMPshopping.com) that there’s something your teen/tween wants you to buy for them, then you as the parent decide whether to approve or deny the purchase. If the parent decides to allow the online transaction, the parent then puts in their credit card information to complete the purchase. The parents credit card information is not accessible to the teens/tweens.

Teens and tweens can purchase anything from Amazon.com via Socialwise’s online shopping site, and the company has partnered with online gaming websites to help teens and tweens indulge even more in their video game addiction obsession, as well as virtual worlds and social networks Habbo, Artix Entertainment, Outspark and Rock You!, among others.

Making a living by selling products or services is one thing, but targeted marketing towards children so investors can make a windfall from sales off of tweens and teens entitled wants and whims is just gross.

“Currently the video game companies need to try to target a small group in their advertising approach. Generally they cannot advertise to parents, since parents really don’t always know which games their kids like. So what they stick with is marketing to late teens to early thirties to capture the market that will respond to the ad and have money to buy the product. This is their main market. Of course younger groups will see an advertisement and bug their parents till their parents buy it for them, but this is only a bonus.

You must note, some of these games, and gaming systems will sell out in hours or days. We are talking MILLIONS of copies at $30-$60 each (not including gaming systems and controllers which can easily hit $400 or more). So what if a gaming company could advertise directly to the 10-18 yr. old group? Basically BMP solves this problem for every company in this situation. They can market right to the younger kids and advertise “Buy this now with BMP”. With the excitement about this market, IDAE has secured lots of discounted ads. This is a nice first step.”

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How to Divorce Your Parents, Minors Emancipation, Can You Divorce Your Parents?

Posted by on May 18, 2009

Can you divorce your parents? How do you divorce your parents if you are an adult child dealing with controlling parents or in-laws, or a teenager seeking legal minor emancipation or “divorce” from your parents? Are you dealing with a toxic, abusive and/or controlling parent and want to know how to “divorce” your parents?

I’ve received several “divorce your parents” email questions in recent weeks, from adult children dealing with over-involved, controlling parents who don’t know how to parent adult children, and from teens who think that getting pregnant on purpose or getting married too young is the way to qualify for emancipation from parents in order to get out from underneath their parents thumb. I’ll first respond to the adult children, then the teens.

If you are an adult child who has been researching “parents controlling adult children” or “controlling parents”, you likely came across my articles about parents helping vs. enabling adult children and didn’t think those apply to your specific situation (or they do apply, but that’s not what you want to hear and you don’t want to admit it).

How To Divorce Your Parents

Based on some of the emails I’ve received, I’d venture to say that there is a strong possibility that you may have a sense of entitlement that makes you want to “have your cake and eat it too”, but you can’t have it both ways.

If you really are dealing with “controlling parents” or in-laws that don’t understand what parenting adult children means or the need for respectful boundaries, these articles will help explain that “divorcing” controlling, toxic parents as grown, adult children may be the only viable option left to protect your physical, emotional, mental health and well-being.

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Swine Flu School Closings: Fort Worth ISD, Lewisville, Ponder, Plano, Frisco, Dallas, Carrollton, Denton

Posted by on May 2, 2009 · 13 Comments

I’ve been paying close attention to the Swine Flu school closings in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, especially since I live in Plano TX myself. Swine Flu (H1N1) concerns has lead Fort Worth ISD to close all schools in the district, with Lewisville ISD and Ponder ISD following suit.

The Swine Flu debate rages on, in regards to whether or not school districts and officials are overreacting to the Swine Flu/H1N1 outbreak, especially since Dallas ISD has yet to close all schools at least temporarily, and hearing the word “pandemic” from health officials is quite unsettling for everyone.

Tawnell Hobbs, a Dallas ISD reporter, recently asked if school districts are overreacting to the “swine flu thing” on her blog:

“We’re trying to understand why school districts have reacted differently to this swine flu thing. Here’s what some districts are doing:

*Dallas is closing Daniel Webster Elementary after one student tested positive for the virus.

*Fort Worth ISD decided to close all of its campuses after one student tested positive for swine flu. Three students in the district also are listed as “probable” for having the virus.

*Cleburne ISD decided to close all of its campuses because four students could possibly have the virus.

*Lewisville ISD shut down a campus because three students possibly have it.”

The discussion in the comments section on Tawnell’s post from readers pretty much sums up what I’ve thought about the school closings in Fort Worth, Ponder, Lewisville as well as other cities and suburbs.

Ever heard the phrase, “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”? Schools that make the decision to close due to concerns about Swine Flu are said to be overreacting and in sheer panic mode, and schools in districts like Dallas that haven’t (yet) decided to close cause people to ask, “Why hasn’t Dallas ISD closed because of Swine Flu”? Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
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