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Date Posted: 08:18:23 12/17/19 Tue
>>HELLO from Connecticut!
>>
>>Well, night 1 is over, and congratulations to the very
>>talented Victoria Hill. Also, congratulations to Jade
>>Glab and Mallory Rivard for their impressive
>>interviews. I’m not sure where to begin, so I will
>>answer the question that most everyone is wanting to
>>know: what is the vibe? The vibe is bad. Just plain
>>bad. Last year in AC, there was tension and
>>uncertainty of whether the pageant would remain there.
>> Things had just started to deteriorate, and there was
>>a lot of tension as to whether or not certain state
>>boards would get the axe, there were many people
>>against the changes, etc. This year, the vibe is
>>just, I hate to say this, dead, amateur, and
>>disorganized. Now, to be fair, this is my first time
>>out of Atlantic City. I was not to Las Vegas. But,
>>at least you had the preliminaries there in a nice
>>theater. And also to be fair, the Mohegan Sun is very
>>nice. It is the first time I was there, and it is
>>very nice. But the room itself-it’s almost like a
>>generic room where you would meet for a business
>>convention. I was waiting for someone to come out and
>>sell Amway (ha!) or come up with their PowerPoint
>>presentation. That’s the kind of room that it is.
>>It is very nice, but it isn’t even a theater. In
>>AC, you could put banners over the balconies, large
>>signs, etc. You can hold up a sign if you care to
>>carry it, and there are some people with your standard
>>fare cheering, etc. But the whole preliminary vibe is
>>gone. It is very sparsely attended, including former
>>Miss Americas. The usual state delegations, you can
>>kind of tell who is there for who, who is family, etc.
>> But there are not large crowds at all, for anyone.
>>And it’s not enjoyable. It’s tense, there’s a
>>sense of quietness about everyone. I don’t think
>>anyone is truly “excited”. I am not excited, I am
>>more deflated after seeing what has become of our
>>beloved PAGEANT. It’s random. The good news is
>>that if you don’t want or have loads of money for an
>>evening gown, congratulations! You don’t have to
>>have one. Some of the contestants opted not to even
>>wear an evening gown. Even the MAOT pageant has this.
>> And what I feared would come true is exactly what
>>happened-everyone pretty much sounded the same. If
>>you heard the online videos, it wasn’t that much
>>different from what you heard this evening. I want to
>>be Miss America because I want to make a difference/I
>>overcame difficulty/I now have a voice. Etc. I
>>don’t know what else to say. For once, I am at a
>>loss for words, and any of you who read this board
>>know that is usually not a problem for me 😉 There
>>seems to be much more of a focus on a “job”.
>>It’s not even fun. There’s NO glamour whatsoever.
>> And even so, when I say disorganized, it was.
>>Despite the same line being told over again and again
>>and again and again, it just seems like there is no
>>clear idea of what the “job” is about. The
>>contestants really don’t have the chance to sell
>>themselves but in very short, canned answers. You are
>>making 51 unique individuals try and prove that they
>>are “the best for the job” when it’s really not
>>clear what the job really is. These 51 individuals
>>have different educational backgrounds, social
>>interests, and personal backgrounds. If you
>>“interview” for a “job”, you are usually
>>someone in this day and age with an education and
>>background in a specific area. It doesn’t even make
>>any sense what they are trying to do.
>>
>>Okay, I will turn to the better part of the night.
>>The talent was GOOD. If we had 3 nights of
>>competition and you had some of tonight’s
>>contestants going in different groups, there would be
>>some amazing winners. I could have seen this going 6
>>different ways. The best of the night was AL, MO, CA,
>>GA, HI and UT. I wouldn’t have been surprised at
>>any of them. Also good were Kansas, Tennessee,
>>Vermont, and North Carolina. I hate to say this, but
>>what people were saying about South Carolina is true.
>>She just doesn’t have good talent. Although, based
>>on what we see tomorrow night, I just want to remind
>>everyone that last year MA did not have a good talent
>>and was in the top 5.
>>
>>Good segue to what happened next. Truthfully, I did
>>not have NJ as my winner tonight. But then again,
>>this was by far THE WORST of the competition. Between
>>the canned speeches, it was hard to figure out who
>>really stood out. I didn’t have her standing out.
>>And I am just being honest-I don’t know which part
>>of tonight’s canned answers were judged, if they
>>both were, just one, etc. I didn’t get the program
>>book yet (not even sure I am going to, really). I
>>thought some of the better ones of the night were
>>Virginia, Mississippi was generic and pageanty but
>>decent, Texas did speak confidently, and Minnesota
>>sounded confident. Florida is VERY pageanty. Don’t
>>get me wrong-I am very happy for Jade. She is a nice
>>young woman and I thought the minute she was crowned
>>is that she had national potential. She is confident
>>without being over the top. And I would say the same
>>thing with Michigan. The thing is-the judges
>>interviewed 26 contestants and Michigan came out the
>>winner. And who the hell can say whether or not
>>anyone who wins is going to be in the top 15? Last
>>year, VA did not make it but the others did. I would
>>say that we have to take Michigan as a serious
>>contender. But with only 3 judges, how are they
>>REALLY going to determine who is scoring consistently
>>and not? You have three opinions. I have seen
>>judging disasters with a full panel. This I just
>>don’t know what to say about any of it because
>>there’s just repeating lines over and over again for
>>15 or 20 seconds and talent. And with only three
>>judges, who knows what we will get? I was surprised
>>at the results of the speaking portions, although
>>moreso with onstage than with private interviews. I
>>did think that Mallory did a good enough job in her
>>personal video. I thought that she personalized her
>>story, spoke with a natural confidence. Did I think
>>she would be first in this group? Likely not, but
>>it’s a whole new competition when it’s a whole new
>>competition.
>>
>>That’s sort of my short synopsis for now. I am
>>tired, confused, and as I said, a bit deflated. I am
>>going to post a full talent review sometime by
>>mid-afternoon and then try and decipher what happened
>>with the onstage questions parts of things. But I will
>>give you the information as best as I can. Also, if
>>you have any contestants in particular who you are
>>cheering for and would like me to pay attention to
>>them, please list them and I will pay close attention
>>to them tomorrow and let you know how their
>>competition was.
>>
>>Now I am off to get a good night’s rest. Long day,
>>folks!
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