#also nico skips age 13 so i guess that makes sense now

[purpleshadow-star]

So I'm trying to make a timeline for the pjo universe, and I just realized that Rick skipped a whole year. Like, in universe, he skipped a whole year. Percy went from being old for his grade to being young (he should have turned 18 before his senior year, but now he's turning 18 right before his freshman year of college). So Percy and Annabeth essentially skipped a year of school, because he turned 15 in the battle of the labyrinth and was going into his freshman year of high school by the end of the book, and then a year and a half later, during Trials of Apollo, he's all of a sudden in his senior year. Botl was right before his freshman year, tlo was right before his sophomore year, then he got taken by Hera a few months later, then hoo (minus the lost hero) was the next summer (which would be right after his sophomore year), but then about five months later, January of the next year (when toa starts), he's a senior in high school instead of a junior. Someone please get Rick Riordan a calendar...

[mashitandsmashit]

America’s Got Talent: Champions 2 - Preliminaries 1

Hellooooooo, Tumblr!

So first of all, I would like to explain why I haven't moved this blog to WordPress as promised. Right now I'm not in the best position with money, which is something I will have to invest in order to open a blog there. It's not too much, but for now, I'll need to be in a more sustainable situation to start making such payments...But this site seems to still be up for the time being, and I have taken the liberty of archiving everything FrankDoc and I posted since Season 11. (Don't worry Frank, I won't post any of your stuff without your permission...It's just in case is all...)

So with that out of the way, let's talk about Champions, shall we?

To start, it seems like Julianne Hough and Gabrielle Union were too boring even for AGT! (Or some kind of behind-the-scenes drama with Simon, whatever...) So after just one season of them making so little impact on the show, they're out! Now Heidi Klum's back, and Alesha Dixon from “Britain's Got Talent” is taking the other vacant seat...Already, things seem quite a bit more lively now! And yes, I know this is just Champions, so we'll see if they keep this line-up for the main series...

So looking at this season's acts, I will admit, it's not nearly as exciting as last year's, though I suppose that's because there appears to be less American acts this time...And most of the American acts they DID bring back weren't exactly on my wishlist...

Kodi Lee is not part of this line-up, which is good, because we all know he would have won again, and every season's winner would just be whoever won the last season of AGT...The only AGT winner they're bringing back this season is Michael Grimm, who most people probably weren't dying to see again...But I for one am glad he's back!

And just to clear this up...I went ahead and read all of the spoilers for this season off of the Wiki forum, so I BELIEVE I already know how things are gonna go down...(I say “believe”, because spoilers I read for last season lied to me about who would win, as well as which acts made Fourth and Fifth, so I'm gonna follow them with caution...) Let's just say, there are gonna be some shocking advances this season, most of them in a good way...I think...We'll just see how everybody does...

Speaking of which...Let's start the countdown for Week 1!

10: Dan Naturman. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda forgot who this guy was in the five years since he competed...I guess his name sounds familiar enough, but otherwise, he kinda just blurs together with all of the other hack comedians we saw during the Howard Stern era of the show...(I guess that's what happens when the two most influential judges on the show are a Shock Jock and the guy from “Little Monsters”; We get unfunny comedians up the wazoo making actual progress in this talent competition...) Honestly, some of these jokes might have actually landed if this guy had better delivery. All that was missing was if he ended every joke by shrugging and going, “Eh? Eh?” I'd say the best part was Heidi basically roasting Howie over the low bar he sets for comedians! I guess I AM happy that she's back!

9: Jack Vidgen. It's good to see that he's overcoming the puberty curse that befalls a lot of boy singers, but that performance still doesn't even come CLOSE to what I saw from his fourteen-year-old self in those brief clips! I guess he's capable enough, but the vocals weren't all consistent, and in the end, it was just kinda dull and forgettable...

8: Paddy & Nico. This was precious! Not the first time I saw an old lady getting spun around by a man half her age, but this was arguably superior! Not enough to get my vote (not that it matters), but I'm still happy to have seen this! ...Not so happy to see a few too many shots up her skirt though...

7: Eddie Williams. If I didn't read his description on the Wiki already, this would have been a VERY amusing twist once he started singing! Now if he would sing WHILE lifting a bus, then I would vote for him in a heartbeat!

6: Mike Yung. Still one of the best singers I've seen on this show, even if the song choice wasn't the best display of his talents...

5: Hans. He's back, dahlings! And apparently Simon has suddenly lost his sense of humor with him...I guess he just BARELY made it through thanks to some troll votes (including Howie, who probably wanted him to make the Semi-Finals back in Season 13 THAT BADLY!) I will admit, this performance was a bit sloppy compared to his previous ones, and maybe THAT'S why Simon suddenly hates him now, but I'm still happy to see this guy get voted through! Let's just see how crazy and naughty it gets NEXT time...(Also, on a side note, I wonder if the judges will start picking the last act to advance out of three instead of two in the main show as well now...)

4: Junior Creative. The only shame of Hans going through is that this group had to be dropped in the process...That said, I have seen quite a few acts like this...Don't get me wrong, they keep raising the bar, and this was no exception! But knowing that this isn't the first of its kind, and surely won't be the last, it's no huge loss...Besides, there's another act in this genre performing on a later week that will HOPEFULLY live up to said bar!

3: Duo Transcend. I won't lie, I'm very happy to hear of the successful eye surgery! It always pains me to hear about people gradually losing their senses knowing that they'll have to spend the rest of their lives without it...But that still doesn't mean he isn't willing to perform without seeing! (Get it? 'Cause...the blindfolds? ...Yeah...) These were some of their best tricks, though I don't always notice because I might tune out here and there...I don't know what it is; This just isn't the most interesting act for me...But I'm still glad they advanced!

2: Dania Diaz. Not entirely original...This was pretty much a combination of things I've seen from Mat Franco, Shin Lim and MAYBE Jon Dorenbos in the past...But it was still the best magic trick I've seen in a while, especially after Eric Chien and Dom Chambers failed to live up to the hype! This lady is definitely talented enough to hold her own in this male-dominated art!

1: Angelina Jordan. Wow! Heidi actually gave the GB to a legitimately promising singer for once! We've heard “Bohemian Rhapsody” quite a few times on this show, but never performed Norah Jones style! The only pity of this selection is that due to her skipping the Semi-Finals, that means we only get to see her one more time in this game...This new format is a definite improvement over last season, but it can still use some tweaks...

This show...was okay...I guess the results were satisfying enough, though aside from Angelina and MAYBE Dania, nobody was super-exciting...Still not bad so far...

I'll talk about next week's acts once the list comes in...

Edit: It appears that next week’s acts should be quite interesting (if a bit of a sausage fest...) I’ll go ahead and rank them based on how much I’m looking forward to them...

10: Collabro

9: Oz Pearlman

8: Luke Islam

7: Spencer Horsman

6: Ben Blaque

5: Marcelito Pomoy

4: Marc Spelmann and X

3: Ryan Niemiller

2: Puddles Pity Party

1: Boogie Storm