Turning 30

Turning 30 yesterday, means I'm now offically getting old.

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...

I was reading the Washington Post today at lunch and came across the following blurb on a blog on the website:

..But the Sanjaya Malakar Era needs to come to an end. Tonight. This has become an urgent national priority. His performance last night should have ended with an arrest. Animals have perished with more harmonious death rattles. Chickens who have been captured and beheaded on stumps have showed better dance moves.

Thanks to the producers and Ryan who keep focusing on this cute girl insanity, I have a feeling he'll be around for yet another week.

American Idol Final 16 - The Girls

So after a crappy night by the guys, the girls came back and for the most part, all gave good performances. Then again, after Tuesday's show, it was virtually impossible to get any worse than what the guys did.

Jordin Sparks - sang 'Heartbreaker'. Was a pretty good performance, though she seemed to run out of breath towards the end. I don't know if it was the best song choice for her, but she didn't jeopardize her chances.

Sabrina Sloan - I thought she did a good job at covering En Vogue's 'Don't Let Go'. It was good though, and not great. When they said that she was the next to perform, I couldn't remember which one she was until they showed her. She should make it through, but unless she starts giving some great memorable performances, she'll have a tough time topping some of the other girls. She should stick around for awhile though, since 6 guys will be making it into the finals. I'm sure she's better than 3 of the guys.

Antonella Barba - Did a decent job, and wasn't the trainwreck of a performance that I was hoping for. She sang 'Put Your Records On', which is a song I like quite a bit. She finally found her niche, but its a few weeks too late. Had she sung this when the semi-finals started, and built off that experience, she could have gotten better as the weeks went on, but she waited until this week to sing something in her range. Compared with the other girls, she don't belong on the same stage. I think the 3 judges finally came to grips with the fact that they screwed up by bringing her to this stage, none of them had much good to say about what was her best performance. I think Simon is trying to pursuade the public to get rid of her, by basically saying she didn't have a good singing voice. Something tells me she'll be back next week though.

Haley Scarnato - most bland performance of the night. I don't think much of Faith Hill though, so anyone singing anything by her, automatically loses my interest. I don't think she'll be back, and Simon said it best, when he told her that he didn't "even know her name". She's been mediocre the whole time.

Stefanie Edwards - a performance I didn't get. Sara and I were both waiting for it to be over, it seemed like a lot of screaming and vocal runs (which I can't stand). All the judges liked it though, and said she should make the final 12.

LaKisha Jones - Another solid performance, and probably her 2nd best of the 3 weeks. After she was done, I assumed that she probably delivered the best performance of the night., since she sang Whitney flawlessly, which doesn't happen much on this show. Unless something dramatic happens between now and the finals, I think she'll be in the final 2.

Gina Glocksen - She finally came out and gave the rocking performance that the judges have been waiting for. I liked it because its completely different from the rest of the girls that are left, and since she's different, she really stands out. I hope she sticks around to provide some variety to the finals. I think she should make it to the final 5 or 6...as long as she sticks with the type of stuff she sang last night.

Melinda Doolittle - Best performance of the night, and in my opinion, the 2nd best performance of the season (right after LaKisha's performance in the 1st week). When I first heard the song, I thought maybe it might be a bit old fashioned, but she rocked it out, and brough the Yo (as Randy likes to say). She seemed like she was almost possessed or something. She's definitely safe, and I think will be facing LaKisha in the final episode.

Not a bad night. If we were judging on singing performance alone, then Antonella and Haley should be going home tonight for the girls, but I have a feeling that Antonella will be staying.

According to the reliable website dialidol.com, Stephanie and Haley will be going home for the girls, and Phil and Sundance will be going home for the guys. I guess time will tell.

American Idol Final 16 - The Guys

So after a pretty good week last week, the guys followed up with a major let-down. They crapped the bed, so to speak. I really think they should change the rules of the show. They should simply take the best 24 out of Hollywood week, and not divide it up into 12 guys and 12 girls, and every week in the semifinals, get rid of 4 every week, and not keep an even ratio of guys to girls. If it is deemed that of the final 24, 22 of the best contestants are girls, I'm fine with that. I would rather watch that, than have to sit through weeks of watching guys like this:




Anyways, on to last nights show:

Blake Lewis - As I've said before, one of my favorite contestants. Gave an ok performance overall. I think if you're trying to be something of a more modern performer, you should pick songs that are relevant now. Both the song "All Mixed Up", and the band 311 haven't been relevant since..oh..1997ish. At least it was up-beat, and he did get to use a bit of the beatbox stuff again.

Sanjaya - I'm not going to waste my time with him. He sucks. He's gotta go, but I'm sure he'll stay because there's probably a lot of people out there who think he's cute, feel sorry for him because he's so young, and that he had to watch his sister get kicked out during Hollywood week. Plus I'm a bit bitter because he completely slaughtered a song from one of my favorite musicians. Please for the love of god, don't make us put up with him anymore.

Sundance Head- Another one who I don't think deserves to be here. He sucked during Hollywood week, yet somehow made it through based on his inital audition way back when. I think the 3 judges are sorry they put him through. Absolutely killed a great song. He doesn't really scream "grunge" to me. If he's gonna sing, he should stick to songs that have a more soulful sound to them. Him singing Pearl Jam would be like Taylor Hicks trying to sing Nirvana Also I'd like him gone because I don't want to have to seem him cry all night everytime there's an elimination show.

Chris Richardson - I think his was the best performance last night. I think by nailing a country song like he did, proved that he's probably the most versatile out of everyone there. He even sang with a bit of a twang. Seeing as he can change things up, and not pigeonhole himself into a specific category, I think he could sneak in and be the one guy who stays the longest.

Jarred Cotter - He did ok. I don't think Stevie Wonder is his genre. A few times when he started hitting the high notes, he was very close to losing it, but he kept it under control. I don't think he did much to stand out from the rest of the people though.

Brandon Rogers - Boring. I hate songs that just repeat the same words over and over. Ok, you want to celebrate...I get the idea. Something about him annoys me. I think he could be one of the ones going home.

Phil Stacey - Another one that I think should go home, but he'll get some sympathy votes since he's in the military, and he missed the birth of his kid because he was at the audition. His song started out horrible, but got better. I think he really needs to grow some hair, he looks a bit unhealthy (if you know what I mean). Also I think if you painted his head green, he would look a lot like this guy:




Here's Phil for comparison's sake:



Chris Sligh - I really like him a lot as well, I just wish he would sing some songs that are a bit more mainstream. I mean, last night he sang a song by the band DC Talk. I haven't heard of them since I was a junior in high school at the prison camp private school. I was a bit bored not knowing the song. Overall, I'd say it was the 2nd best performance of the night though.

So the girls go tonight...I hope they give a better show tonight. At least we can be assured that watching Antonella will be like watching a train-wreck. I wonder which song that is out of her league she'll be attempting tonight....

American Idol - The Top 20

So yes, I'm an American Idol junkie, I'm not afraid to admit it. I was originally addicted during the Clay vs. Rueben season. For some reason, I didn't watch the next season when Fantasia won it (and after watching her "peformance" last week, I see I didn't miss much...how did she win? She wouldn't even deserve to be in the Top 24 this year...), but I got addicted again the season after that.

After watching the guys and girls performances from the first week, I thought it was going to be a pretty crappy season. All but 2 or 3 of the guys sucked, and most of the girls were pretty good. Luckily this week the guys stepped it up, and were a bit more memorable, and the girls weren't too shabby again either.

Here's my predictions:
First off, can we just give the Grand Prize to Lakisha?


Other than Melinda, there is no one else who can even come close to Lakisha's talent. Granted she started off a little shaky last night, but she ended up delivering, and considering her peformance the first week blew everyone out of the water (and that includes any performance that Paula ever gave, when she actually performed way back in the day..which is when I was in like 7th grade). While I think Melinda is a great singer as well, there's something about her that bugs me. I don't know if its the fact she's missing a neck or what, and I have a feeling that her musical tastes are a bit too old fashioned for this show.

The 2 females that need to go this week are:
1.) Mr. Ed Antonella Barba
- she's been consistantly horrible, and didn't even deserve to make it this far. When you suck the week before, I don't think that the best thing to do is to come back and try singing a Celine Dion song. Plus it sounds like she's already got a promising career in posing modeling.

2.) Leslie Hunt - uhh you might want to learn how to scat, before trying it on national TV in front of tens of millions of people.


The 2 men that need to go:
1.) Sanjay Malahnotgonnaworkhereanymore (sorry, I felt the need for an Office Space joke here). Unless he plans on singing Stevie Wonder songs every week (which he actually sounds good doing), he don't have a chance musically. What the heck was that song this week!? He looked like a cheap Michael Jackson wannabe, and I think he tried to sound like MJ as well since he was almost whispering most of the time.


2.) Nick Pedro - Was bored with his song 'Fever', plus I think that's a song that is only fitting for a female to sing. Also don't like his cheap imitation ripoff of "Vote For Pedro". He's not cool enough to pull off a reference like that to one of my all-time favorite movies.


My two favorite guys are Blake Lewis, as I mentioned in a post during audition week, and Chris Singh. Vocally, I think Chris has the edge, but Blake has more personality, and some mad beat-box skills.