The Eclectic Review

1. Sophie Dossi: Golden Buzzer 

2. Kadie Lynn: beautiful country voice, unreal for a youngster like herself.

3. Julia Scotti: hilariously irreverent and objectively funny. I love someone who knows how to laugh about death.

4. Deadly Games: not my favourite, but well done for a danger act.

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5. Moya Angela: As everything in this section, her performance was good but nothing special. 

6. Skylar Katz: charismatic 12-year-old rapper. I don’t know much about the genre, but her stage presence speaks for itself. 

7. Stephen Brundege: 

Kadan Rockett: One cool trick that lasted most of the act, and a nice surprise ending. Cute kid, nice act, nothing spectacular in my opinion, but definitely good enough to go through.

Vello Vaher: I really enjoyed this humorous contortionist, but I didn’t expect him to have broad enough appeal to go through.

Kody the Twirler: awesome baton twirling with a danger element, compared to some of the acts that are, I’m not sure why he’s not in the live rounds.

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Youngsterz (Dance Crew): see ‘Small dancer named Parker.’

Small dancer named Parker: just too much talent for him to go through without something to really set him apart. 

The ballet dancer: good, but not spectacular.

One Voice: good, but nothing special for an a capella group.

Adam Grabowski: loved him the first time, but this time, it just didn’t hit home. I understood where he was going, but the delivery needed to be more explicit and lead the audience to the punch line.

Acrobats: a flop, really. They took the judges’ comments too literally and their act dive-bombed.

RL Bell: like Simon said, too much sugar. His voice is fine, but his act is gimmicky. If you’re not attracted to him, you don’t get it.

Cecile and Marty (music and magic): how did they get this far? Howard Stern would have said no, but Simon didn’t. Why does he suddenly seem scared of being mean? 

The other rapper: strange with mediocre rapping, better than I could do, but that’s not saying much.

Rating: 7 out of 11 potatoes.

In the pilot of the comic-based superhero TV series Arrow, Oliver Queen comes back from the dead when he is rescued from a deserted island after a yacht crash five years before that killed everyone else on board. The first episode of the series is a conversation between the awkwardness of returning after presumed dead and the pursual of his own mysterious personal vendetta to “make right [his father’s] wrongs.”

The first episode represented a good attempt at moving away from the clichés of most superhero video media, but the attempt did not translate into success and the show became more of an absurdly long superhero movie.  

Pros: A step away from the cliché, Tommy/other comic relief, more diversity of relationships (outside of just a girlfriend/love interest)

Cons: relationships seem stilted/forced and make little sense, too much happening in first episode, movie-length fight scenes

Best Quotes: 1. Oliver [to Walter]: I didn’t realize you wanted to sleep with my mother

2. Oliver: What’s Twilight?

Tommy: So better off not knowing.

In Depth: Overall, I would label the superhero drama “good.” However, I think there was a missed opportunity to use the relatively new TV medium to experiment with a fresh retelling of a classic comic book, e.g. by making it feel more comic-book like, but the producers really missed the boat (ha ha ha).

Oliver’s struggle with survivor’s guilt and readjustment feels authentic enough, but in the first ten minutes I’m burdened with excessive emotions that I have no introduction to and therefore no investment in. 

I talked above about diversified relationships, and I feel the first episode of the Arrow shows remarkable breadth outside the protagonist’s customary love interest or girlfriend, featuring relationships with a kid sister and a maid who raised the spoiled Oliver. On this note, the relationship between Oliver and his sister is sweet and a welcome relief from romance, but it rings false. There is initially no apparent awkwardness in reunitinig after five years, in fact, most of Thea’s teenage years. His sister grew up without him and their relationship looks picture-perfect and staged. Then, in a stiff attempt to develop an interesting personal conflict, we’re introduced to the “I thought my brother and father died so now I’m buying drugs at your welcome-back party” Thea. Personally, I’m not convinced. 

Beyond that there were a few more trifiling inconsitencies:

1.  How did Laurel find out that Oliver and her sister were doing it?

2. “I missed tequila” Olly doesn’t fit with his ‘new self’ and isn’t well explained until later. Baisically there’s two Olivers: same irresponsible Olly and stuck on an island for five years modern Robin Hood, but those two personalities are not reconciled or brought to conflict, and the result is an inconsistent characterization of Oliver Queen.

1. The Passing Zone: a hilarious juggling and comedy act. This night’s performance involved knife-throwing, a human pendulum, juggling, and Howie in a dunk-tank. One of my personal favourites.

2. Linkin’ Bridge: a talented doo wop group, multiple great lead vocalists, and ridiculously smooth blending in the background.

3. Duo Guerrero: I’m very surprised this act did not make the cut. It involved a few extremely dangerous blindfolded tricks on the tightrope. I’ve seen nothing like it before. Astounding and unique: they deserve to go through.

4. Lori Mae Hernandez: hysterical thirteen-year-old comedian. I thought her first performance was slightly funnier, but I loved her both times.

5. Balance Act: Again, I’m surprised the judges took a pass. This 17-year-old boy stacked the tubes of his balance board seven or eight high, something I have never seen before, even on this show. 

6. Jon Dorenbos: Golden Buzzer, great close up magic and good presentation.

7. Edgar (Singing Group): cute family and talented musicians. The harmony was exceptional.

Hara: I was disappointed that this illusionist did not make my top seven, so I’m glad the judges decided to bring him to the live rounds. His escape act, albeit amazing, was a let-down from his amazing graphics-integrated first performance.

Acrobats: As everything else below this point and above the first line, this act was talent but nothing special to distinguish them from similar acts. 

Freeman dancer

Ronnee (Singer)

The two married singers

Brynnen Brown (Singer)

Julian Davis and the Hayburners

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The other comedian

Dance crew

Puppeteer

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Jump rope crew: made at least three mistakes, had potential, but did not perform.

John Call: not sure how real-life-but-not-as-cool Tarzan got past the first auditions and got away with throwing a human at the judges, but that happened.

Human Hammerhead: exactly what it sounds like.