Overdue Idol Catch-up

1. The mens performance show
   

   If Randy thought this would be the mens' competition to lose, then he must have felt foolish. Of the 12 performances, I can count only 3 that were really great. A few were downright awful. When Bobby performed Copacabana I thought Jackie Gleason had come back from the dead to perform. I agreed with Simon for once: it did feel like a cabaret performance!

   Even worse was the performance by Bucky Carlisle. To my ear it sounded as if he was just growling.

2. This week's results
   

   I was 75% right from my opinions this week: both the girls eliminated I picked... Becky looked great, but her singing was mediocre (apparently she and her twin sister are in Maxim magazine. She didn't lose out) and... I think her name was Stella. She was just too timid on stage.

   I was only half right on the men. As I expected, Bobby was eliminated... but I expected Bucky to get the axe, only Patrick did instead.

   One thing really surprised me here: there were no histrionics among those cut. They all took it calmly. At least this time we didn't have a lifeless performance by a disappointed contestant. Mind you, that's always been something I don't like in theirshow format: "You just lost... so perform for us one more time!"

The first 12 Idols Sang

I was surprised by the judges on American Idol tonight: it took Simon more than 50 minutes to act nasty!

The ladies mostly either gave strong performances or at least earned another week. I really don't like the girl from New York (Brenna? I don't remember any of the names yet) but two of them stood out as the weakest: the third lady was very attractive to me but was an underwhelming singer, and the fifth one (she did a Josh Groban song) just came off sounding timid.

Tags: American Idol, Simon Cowell.

The Twins are out

Tonight was the final cuts for this year's American Idol... and neither Terell or Derell Britnam were chosen. The fact that one was already arrested and the other soon would as well (for forgery, in fact) definitely contributed... but just their full-of-themselves attitudes did it for me. Saying to the camera that they had conducted themselves as perfect gentlemen after one brother had acted like a prima donna, the other narced out his group... they came off as complete jerks.

One of the jazz crooners made the cut. I'll be rooting for him to make it to the final 10 (or 12. I don't remember if they said what it would be).

Today's American Idol show is done, and my first thought: as much as I like the Britnam twins voices, their drama queen petulance is really grating on my nerves.

The 'Brokenote Mountain' bit was a chuckler. The trio were all cut, but the way they sounded hurt my ears, so I won't lie and say it is a shame.

Tags: American Idol, Britnam twins, Brokenote Mountain.

I posted stuff for another blog here, so it's the least I can do to honor the ping here to make some new content here as well!

Year 5 has begun, meaning American Idol is back.

In very quick fashion, Simon Cowell has earned my ire: he always makes fun at the expense of the plus-size contestants.

I remember him in past years criticizing body image, but this is too much! Yes, some of these people want to lose their weight -- but it has nothing to do with their vocal talent (or lack thereof).

I'm taking the advice from George in the comments in my last post... I'm currently using Napster 2.0 to listen to the latest album by Polar Bear, Dim Lit.

The tunes are good, but I have one small criticism: the songs on the album don't seem to have a unifying theme to me. Maybe I'm missing it, but it just feels like a collection of disassociated tunes.

Tags: jazz, Polar Bear, Dim Lit, Napster 2.0