Tag Archives: American Idol

Happy 18th Birthday To The Phil Factor

Posted on April 8, 2023 | 16 comments

*Actual picture of me

Am I the only one on the internet who celebrates their blog’s birthday? I hope not. I may not post as often as I did in the past, but I’m still proud that The Phil Factor is one of the longest continuous running blogs in the history of the world.

My blog is legally old enough to join the military, commit felonies, drink legally in Canada and buy weed in the States, so who knows what I might blog about in the next year.

As I do on my blogs birthday every year, I’m going to post the first blog post I ever wrote in April of 2005. Here it is:

What Up Dawg?

Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through.

Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

That was it. And I’m still proud of it. Especially that last line.

That’s how I introduced myself to the blogging world and I was rewarded with ZERO comments or likes. Also, I’d like to give a shout out to my longtime blogging friend Jennifer of Not Quite Perfect  ,and several other blogs, who has been blogging longer than me and is still at it. Visit her site and give her a like or comment.

I do have a couple blog posts planned, so like Spring, maybe my writing drive is being reborn.  Lastly, I want to say a sincere thank you to each and everyone of you that has visited, liked and commented on my blog for the last 18 years. You have made my life immeasurably better. Have a great weekend!

~Phil

16 Comments

Posted in Humor, pop culture, Uncategorized

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What Up Dawg?

Posted on March 11, 2018 | 16 comments

To commemorate tonights return of American Idol, I’m re-posting the content of the first ever #ThePhilFactor post from April 3, 2005 because it was about American Idol. The following paragraph is how I introduced The Phil Factor to the world. (If you want to read the actual original, click HERE.)

(04/03/2005) Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through. Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

That was it. I’m not sure if back in 2005 anyone even saw it. Anyway, welcome back American Idol. The Phil Factor is still here to mock you! ~Phil

16 Comments

Posted in Humor, Music, pop culture

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Throwback Thursday! The Phil Factor Turns 10!

Posted on April 2, 2015 | 28 comments

images (29)

Tomorrow is the day. Exactly ten years ago tomorrow I published the first Phil Factor post. I didn’t really know what I was doing or why. I had made a few jokes at work and a friend said, “That’s funny. You should blog about that.”  Here is the text of the first post I ever wrote under the title The Phil Factor.

americanidol

(April 3, 2005) What Up Dawg? Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through. Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

That was it. Nothing too pithy. If you’d like to see it on Blogger where it started, here is the link to the blog. If you scroll down and look in the left sidebar you’ll be able to see that the Blog Archives really do go all the way back to April 2005. Some of the original posts have been deleted because they were included in Fifty Shades of Phil, which is a collection of the best 50 posts of the first eight years of The Phil Factor. If you find the post from June 29, 2005 and several July 2005 posts you’ll read the genesis of my two fiction novels as well. To celebrate, I’ll give away a Kindle or Nook copy of any one of my books to the first ten people who leave their e-mail and their choice of book in the comments. Thanks for continuing to read me.

Have a great Thursday! ~Phil 

28 Comments

Posted in Humor, Throwback Thursdays

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Throwback Thursday! April 3, 2005: The First Phil Factor Ever

Posted on April 3, 2014 | 16 comments

Happy Nine Year Blogiversary to me! That’s right, The Phil Factor turns 9 today. They grow up so quickly don’t they? Does nine years make The Phil Factor the oldest living blog in captivity? Nope. That honor may go to my friend LL Cool Joe who has been writing since 2003.

I know you’re saying to yourself, “But Phil,” which is a strange thing to say to yourself, “if your blog is 9 years old why don’t you have thousands of followers?” Good question. In its 9 years The Phil Factor has been hosted on three different blog services and for a brief time on the website of Perky Jerky, which is jerky infused with an energy drink. They sent me a box of their products and it was delicious. A couple of the years in the middle the posts were few and far between as I wrote for other websites and had some real life going on. The Phil Factor may have been on life support but it never died. Ok, enough self-indulgent blathering. Beneath the picture is the first Phil Factor ever. Embarrassingly it’s about American Idol which, believe it or not, was very popular nine years ago. If you don’t believe that I started blogging 9 years ago just click on the hyperlinked title below to see the first post in it’s natural habitat.

americanidol

(4/3/2005) What Up Dawg? Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through. Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

Well, that’s it. I chose to introduce myself to the world by commenting on American Idol. Looking at my stats on my old blog, that post got two views. Chances are they were both me. Have a great Thursday and thanks for reading ~Phil

16 Comments

Posted in pop culture, Throwback Thursdays

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What Up Dawg?

Posted on April 3, 2005 | 4 comments

Is it just me or is everyone sick of Randy Jackson’s act on American Idol? How many times can we hear, “What up dawg?” Or his other favorite, “It was a little pitchy in spots,” or “It was just ahh ight for me.” The dude is like one of those action figures where you squeeze him and he has three pre-programmed phrases he rotates through. Nearly as bad is Paula Abdul. Has anyone else noticed that this season she seems drunk every week? She loves everyone this season and seems to find an excuse to physically grab Simon Cowell every week. Considering her recent charge of leaving the scene of an accident after she clipped another car on the freeway, how ironic is it that her big 1988 hit song, Straight Up, included the line “caught in a hit and run”?

4 Comments

Posted in Humor

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