John T. Schramm

Novel Wordage Since Last Entry: 975

New Novel Word Count: 28,197

Reading now: RULES OF PREY - John Sandford
Listening to: Pink Floyd - The Final Cut (1981)

Virused (Trojaned, Hijacked)...

I managed to pick up some nasty little piece of software that has altered my home page and won't let me change it. I haven't gotten rid of it yet, even after running many different tools designed to eradicate such things. What's frightening is how many things these programs found that I didn't know about. The Internet has become a very scray place. Privacy? I'm not sure that exists anymore.

Progress!

I wrote some words last night, but most of them were for a new novel that I've been kicking around in my head for years. It's more of a thriller/suspense novel rather than a mystery. It features Seth Cleveland, San Francisco Homicide Inspector. He appears in my first novel.

RockStar: SuperNova

Some really good performances last night. And some not so good. I was able to pick the bottom three again, based on my opinion and what the band had to say. Here are my impressions, in descending order, and how mine compared with the band's (my grade / band's grade).

STORM LARGE (Surrender/Cheap Trick): Great song. Great singer. In addition to being tall and gorgeous, She has a tremedously powerful voice and good stage presence. I did not agree with Dave saying it sounded Broadway. I thought she kicked ass.(A++ / A)

TOBY RAND (Somebody Told Me/Killers): Another great song performed very well. Clearly the crowd favorite and a front runner. (A+ / A+)

DANA ANDREWS (Born To Be Wild): Perhaps too pretty, but a great voice and attitude. I'm anxious to see her get "dirty" as Tommy suggested. (A+ / B+)

PATRICE PIKE (Heart Shaped Box/Nirvana) I don't know the song, but I like the way she plays guitar. She's sexy and performs well. The crowd and the band love her. (A- / A)

LUKAS ROSSI (Don't Panic/Coldplay): Crowd favorite, and perhaps the obvious choice to win for his look, his stage presence, and vocal style. Not my favorite, but he is good. (A- / A-)

DILANA (Ring Of Fire/Johnny Cash): Another excellent performance. She's scary, she's hot, she can perform. She gets another A, for awesome and amazing. Probably the favorite of all the women, but I like Storm, Patrice and Dana better. (A / A+)

RYAN STARR (Jumpin' Jack Flash): Definite improvement over last week. Tommy said he needs to show some boat. (A / A-)

JOSH LOGAN (Arms Wide Open/Creed): I agree with the band, that he's a great singer but needs to work on his stage presence, and rock it up a bit. or a lot. (B+ / A)

MAGNI (My Generation/Who): Much better than last week. This performance will take him out of the bottom three this week.(B+ / B-)

JENNY GALT (Tainted Love): I cannot STAND this song, but she did it well showing some bravado. very hot, sexy. Maybe too sexy? (B / B+)

PHIL RITCHIE (If You Could Only See/Tonic): He could be in the bottom three again this week. I agree with the band - he needs more crush. Second time the band has said this. If he doesn't step it up, he'll be gone.(B- / C+)

CHRIS PIERSON (Take Me Out/Franz Ferdinand): Either Chris or Phil (above) will be in the bottom three. I like that Chris asked for details in what he needs to work on and that he's here to learn.(B+ / C+)

JILL GIOIA (Violet/Hole?):She was trying to hard, and failed, to be wild and crazy like Dilana. She wasn't bad, but it didn't work for her. I also didn't like that she copied Courtney Love, yet denied knowing what Courtney did, even when she was called on it by Dave. I don't think Jill will last long, and she will be bottom three. (C- / C-)

ZAYRA ALVAREZ (You Really Got Me/Kinks): Um ... well ... it was sexy what with all the moaning and all, and she definitely has the Latin spicy thing going. I dunno. I didn't care for it, and she's not right for SuperNova. I agree with the band, she has no idea what they're looking for. Saying she was in diapers when the band members's records came out showed attitude, but also a lack of respect. Bottom three! (C- / D-)

At the end of the show, the bottom three were: ZAYRA, JILL, and CHRIS, so I was right. But the bottom three can change. Tune in tonight!