Simon Cowell sneered and the huge audience at the “Britain’s Got Talent” show made the sort of faces associated with a bad smell. The object of their disaffection was contestant No. 432, a plain, middle-aged woman from Scotland with bushy eyebrows and a dress and hairdo that might have been stylish when Dwight Eisenhower was president.
The looks of disdain would shortly turn to tears of sheer elation, as Dawna Friesen said in a report filed for TODAY Wednesday. But first, there was the Cowell torture test for the woman to endure.
“What’s your name, darling?” Cowell said, his tone dripping with condescension.
The woman, who seemed somewhat unnerved by the bright lights and the big crowd in the concert hall where the show was recorded, said she was Susan Boyle. She said she was 47 years old, unemployed, and lived alone with her cat, Pebbles. She had never gone on a date and had never been kissed, she added in a thick brogue.
But Boyle showed a certain presence and a confidence that didn’t gibe with her appearance, which The Times of London would describe as “frumpy.”
Asked what she was doing on “Britain’s Got Talent,” she struck a saucy pose with her hand on her hip and replied, “I’ve always wanted to perform in front of a large audience. I’m going to make that audience rock.”
And what did she hope to get out of it, Cowell persisted.
“I’m trying to be a professional singer,” Boyle said. “I’ve not been getting the chance before. But here’s hoping it will change.”
That’s when the looks on the faces of the spectators really screwed up in disbelief.
And then the music for “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables” began, and Boyle began to sing. By the time Boyle hit her third note, Cowell’s eyebrows had shot up into the rafters in amazement. Within a dozen more, the audience rose as one in rapture at a voice that must have been forged in heaven.
The other two judges looked on with gaping jaws as Boyle turned the crowd’s cynicism into tear-soaked adoration.
When she had finished, the theater erupted into a tsunami of cheers and applause as Boyle started to walk off the stage. She was stopped by Cowell, who reminded her she needed to hear from the judges.
First was Piers Morgan, who told her, “That was the biggest surprise I’ve had in three years on the show.” His vote, he said, was “the biggest yes I have ever given anybody.”
Cowell completed the judging with the third resounding yes. “Susan Boyle, you can go back to the village with your head held high,” he said. “It’s three yeses.”
A huge smile erupted on Boyle’s face as she made a fist and danced in place in her white pumps.
Within days, the video of her performance would be a YouTube sensation. By Wednesday, more than 5 million people had watched her amazing performance, Cowell was already setting up a record deal for her on his own label and British bookmakers were installing her to become the show’s next Paul Potts.
Two years ago, Potts had shown up at “Britain’s Got Talent” as an unassuming mobile phone salesman from Wales. He, too, was greeted with looks of disbelief that evaporated when he cut loose with an operatic voice on loan from the gods. Potts became an international recording star and is releasing his second album.
Boyle, a volunteer church worker, still has a long way to go on the show, but she’s become an overnight media darling in Great Britain. Since her debut, viewers and readers have learned that she’s from the little village of Blackburn in western Scotland, where local kids sometimes called her names and laughed at her because of her appearance and the fact that she lives alone with a cat.
A local newspaper reported that Boyle is the youngest of nine children and attended Edinburgh Acting School nearly 20 years ago, but left to care for her ailing mother, who died two years ago.
Friesen reported that after her stunning debut, Boyle said, “It’s really surreal. Basically I wanted to fulfill a wish to my mother. I wanted to do something with my life. Not only that, I feel I have a bit more to offer.”
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Rape alleged in girl's slaying
SAN FRANCISCO - PROSECUTORS said on Monday they may include rape and molestation allegations in their murder charge against the woman suspected of killing an 8-year-old Northern California girl and putting her body in a suitcase.
Melissa Huckaby, a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher, was arrested Friday on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Sandra Cantu.
Formal charges have not yet been filed, but San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmelblau told The Associated Press that a murder charge against Huckaby could include the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and murder in the course of a kidnapping.
A conviction on any of the special circumstances would make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole, Mr Himmelblau said. The district attorney's office has not determined whether it will seek the death penalty, he said.
Sandra disappeared on March 27, and pictures of her were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles (100 km) east of San Francisco. Sandra's body was found April 6 by farmworkers, stuffed in a suitcase in an irrigation pond.
Police have not said how, where or why Sandra was killed. The girl was a playmate of Huckaby's 5-year-old daughter, Madison.
Mr Himmelblau wouldn't provide details on any evidence leading prosecutors to consider the sexual assault allegations.
'I was hoping that wasn't the case,' Sandra's aunt, Angie Chavez, said through tears. 'I'm in shock. The whole thing is unimaginable.' Huckaby is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in Stockton. A decision on which special circumstances to include in the charges has not been made, Mr Himmel"
Melissa Huckaby, a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher, was arrested Friday on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Sandra Cantu.
Formal charges have not yet been filed, but San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmelblau told The Associated Press that a murder charge against Huckaby could include the special circumstances of rape with a foreign object, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and murder in the course of a kidnapping.
A conviction on any of the special circumstances would make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole, Mr Himmelblau said. The district attorney's office has not determined whether it will seek the death penalty, he said.
Sandra disappeared on March 27, and pictures of her were posted all over Tracy, a city of 78,000 people about 60 miles (100 km) east of San Francisco. Sandra's body was found April 6 by farmworkers, stuffed in a suitcase in an irrigation pond.
Police have not said how, where or why Sandra was killed. The girl was a playmate of Huckaby's 5-year-old daughter, Madison.
Mr Himmelblau wouldn't provide details on any evidence leading prosecutors to consider the sexual assault allegations.
'I was hoping that wasn't the case,' Sandra's aunt, Angie Chavez, said through tears. 'I'm in shock. The whole thing is unimaginable.' Huckaby is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in Stockton. A decision on which special circumstances to include in the charges has not been made, Mr Himmel"
Workers '"sucking up" bad for business: experts
By Ellen Wulfhorst Ellen Wulfhorst – Tue Apr 14, 11:36 am ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – If there's a bit more false flattery and loud enthusiasm at the office than usual, don't be surprised.
Whether it's called buttering up the boss, brown-nosing, sucking up or managing up, experts say ingratiating behavior is bound to be on the rise in the workplace as workers fret about keeping their jobs in tough economic times.
But such behavior can be bad for business, they said.
"People who tend to 'manage up' anyway are managing up more. They really want to make sure people are noticing what they're doing," said Max Caldwell, an expert in workforce effectiveness at Towers Perrin management consultants.
"It's a mentality of 'I not only want to do a good job, but I want to be seen as doing a good job,'" he said.
That behavior increases when stakes are high, said Jennifer Chatman, professor of organizational behavior at the University of California at Berkeley.
"It's what we do when we feel ourselves vulnerable or susceptible to the decisions of others," she said. "I would have every expectation that if we went out and tried to collect data right now, that it was going on in a big way because people are feeling more vulnerable."
In such an environment, underlings may be more likely to lavish praise on bad decisions or poor judgment by a boss and avoid being candid or bearing bad news, she said.
"It can be bad for business, keeping the yea-sayers around," Chatman said.
But according to some researchers, sucking up works.
Challenging a chief executive less, complimenting the CEO more and doing the CEO a personal favor increased the likelihood of being appointed to a corporate board by 64 percent, a University of Texas study found.
COME IN FIVE MINUTES EARLIER
In a separate study that Chatman conducted, job-seekers using ingratiating behavior were 20 percent more likely to land a job.
It's human nature, she said. "People who bring positive information, that stroke the boss, that make the boss feel good about the decisions he or she has made, that build up the boss' confidence, those people are going to do better," she said.
It's nothing to be ashamed of, said Frances Cole Jones, a professional coach and author of "How to Wow." In tough times, she said, go to work early, stay late, attend meetings and volunteer for extra work.
"In times like these, the smart thing to do is to 'suck up' -- or, perhaps, 're-commit,'" she said. "These days employees need to be flexible, ambidextrous, creative and committed."
Stephen Viscusi, author of "Bulletproof Your Job," suggested a simple change in work habits. "If you come in five minutes earlier than the boss and stay five minutes later, the boss doesn't know how long you're there. He just knows that you're always working," he said.
Francie Dalton, who runs Dalton Alliances Inc. management consultants, said criticizing a colleague as a way to suck-up may signal envy.
"If you think somebody is sucking up, consider whether you might be jealous. Consider whether you're getting nervous because that person is outpacing, outshining and outdoing you," she said.
Others like author Bill Hanover rule out ingratiating behavior altogether.
"If you value self-respect, the respect of your peers and leaders, then sucking-up or faking your way to a promotion will leave you ashamed and wanting," writes Hanover, the author of "No Sucking Up."
"Don't do it. And like the old drunk driving ad campaign states, 'Friends don't let friends suck-up,'" he wrote
NEW YORK (Reuters) – If there's a bit more false flattery and loud enthusiasm at the office than usual, don't be surprised.
Whether it's called buttering up the boss, brown-nosing, sucking up or managing up, experts say ingratiating behavior is bound to be on the rise in the workplace as workers fret about keeping their jobs in tough economic times.
But such behavior can be bad for business, they said.
"People who tend to 'manage up' anyway are managing up more. They really want to make sure people are noticing what they're doing," said Max Caldwell, an expert in workforce effectiveness at Towers Perrin management consultants.
"It's a mentality of 'I not only want to do a good job, but I want to be seen as doing a good job,'" he said.
That behavior increases when stakes are high, said Jennifer Chatman, professor of organizational behavior at the University of California at Berkeley.
"It's what we do when we feel ourselves vulnerable or susceptible to the decisions of others," she said. "I would have every expectation that if we went out and tried to collect data right now, that it was going on in a big way because people are feeling more vulnerable."
In such an environment, underlings may be more likely to lavish praise on bad decisions or poor judgment by a boss and avoid being candid or bearing bad news, she said.
"It can be bad for business, keeping the yea-sayers around," Chatman said.
But according to some researchers, sucking up works.
Challenging a chief executive less, complimenting the CEO more and doing the CEO a personal favor increased the likelihood of being appointed to a corporate board by 64 percent, a University of Texas study found.
COME IN FIVE MINUTES EARLIER
In a separate study that Chatman conducted, job-seekers using ingratiating behavior were 20 percent more likely to land a job.
It's human nature, she said. "People who bring positive information, that stroke the boss, that make the boss feel good about the decisions he or she has made, that build up the boss' confidence, those people are going to do better," she said.
It's nothing to be ashamed of, said Frances Cole Jones, a professional coach and author of "How to Wow." In tough times, she said, go to work early, stay late, attend meetings and volunteer for extra work.
"In times like these, the smart thing to do is to 'suck up' -- or, perhaps, 're-commit,'" she said. "These days employees need to be flexible, ambidextrous, creative and committed."
Stephen Viscusi, author of "Bulletproof Your Job," suggested a simple change in work habits. "If you come in five minutes earlier than the boss and stay five minutes later, the boss doesn't know how long you're there. He just knows that you're always working," he said.
Francie Dalton, who runs Dalton Alliances Inc. management consultants, said criticizing a colleague as a way to suck-up may signal envy.
"If you think somebody is sucking up, consider whether you might be jealous. Consider whether you're getting nervous because that person is outpacing, outshining and outdoing you," she said.
Others like author Bill Hanover rule out ingratiating behavior altogether.
"If you value self-respect, the respect of your peers and leaders, then sucking-up or faking your way to a promotion will leave you ashamed and wanting," writes Hanover, the author of "No Sucking Up."
"Don't do it. And like the old drunk driving ad campaign states, 'Friends don't let friends suck-up,'" he wrote
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