10 minutes of wonderful, 50 minutes of crap and commercials

Yeah, that's pretty much how I would wrap up the Top 9 show of American Idol. Actually, it's less than that if you just count the kids performances which are running about 2 minutes or less right now. Since that's the case maybe I should rename the entry 4.5 minutes of wonderful and 55.5 minutes of crapola. Whatcha think?

I officially HATE the beginning of the show now. The first week, I could see having a special entrance for the judges and Ryan. I could even see if they did it for the finale. However, the judges & host entrance has begun to irritate me almost as much as having to listen to Ms McTwitchAlot every week (and that's ALOT). Sorry, some of these kids are making me bitchy and cranky now and I'm ready for a good part of them to just go home. Why do I do this to myself? I complain and whine every week... promise myself I'm never going to do this again. Yet I just know that I'll sit here the next 7 weeks and torment myself anyhow (thank goodness for the friend in Chicago who helps keep me entertained when the performances make me wanna rip my hair out!).

Anoop (Caught Up by Usher): I liked his energy this week although I feel he could have done much more with it. If you're going to go out and try and flirt with someone, don't make it a judge. They aren't the ones that are going to be dialing the night away voting for you. If you're going to do it...find a lovely lady in the audience to flirt with (or a guy, if you swing that way... both if you're really the freaky sort). Alot more contact with the audience would have improved the performance, if not the singing. I'm with the judges on this one. I think it was definitely a wrong song choice. I realize that he's trying to style himself as an R&B artist, but sometimes ya gotta simply take note that maybe the style really ISN'T you. Not to say it was a lamentable mess, but even my cat reacted to it and as you can see, she wasn't impressed in the slightest. Anoop was rated a 3-9/B3/7th listing on the Chart and a -4 on the Maps (2 wins and 6 losses), and things don't look good for him this week. Shoot, they looked so bad I even had a B3 next to his name before he was done singing. I have a hunch his ONLY saving grace will be if Megan's in the B2 with him.

Speaking of Megan (Turn Your Lights Down Low by Bob Marley and Lauren Hill), good LORD woman could you pick a worse song? It felt like it was going to go on forever! As for kitty, she broke out in convulsions the minute Megan opened her yap. Ok props for ATTEMPTING to stand still. Even Paula pointed out she needed to use a stool and stand still. I had to laugh at Megan saying she could do that when we all know bloody well she would never manage it. My only hope at this point is that the singing placement and the judges will finally get rid of her. She rated a 5-9/dead LAST PLACE on the Chart and a-2 on the Maps (1 win from some damn tone-deaf state and 3 losses). My best hope right now is that Dial Idol's chart had it 100% accurate the last 3 weeks and the person in the last position on the Chart actually went home. Do you think I'll be that lucky this week?

Danny (What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts): Personally, I think this one was a really good choice for his voice. His performances are rather enjoyable, but by no means am I climbing on the Gokey bandwagon. Why? Because I find him rather annoying when he's NOT singing. A true star, to me, needs to be enjoyable both while performing AND personable in an interview situation (like Kelly is...what a joy that girl is during an interview!). He has the former, just not the latter. With a 1-5/ 1st place listing on the Chart and a 6 on the Maps (6 wins and no losses), he's in no danger of leaving this week.

Allison (Don't Speak by No Doubt): When I found out she was doing this song, I was all..."this could be really great"... either No Doubt or P!nk would be awesome for her. This is one of my favorite songs of the group! Then she sang. She fucked up a line in the verse (yea I so went there, sorry) and then she sounded OFF during parts of the refrain. Not good. At 16, I have to question if she even has the personal experience to understand what that song was even about. I doubt it. We won't EVEN go into the wardrobe from hell that did nothing but make her look like a Panzer. You know it's bad when the outfit sidetracks the judges right off a performance review. She was rated a 4-9/B3/8th listing on the Chart and a 4 on the Maps (6 wins and 2 losses).

hmm the Maps and Chart dont seem to be corresponding tonight... I see ones farther along that did better than her on the Chart, yet worse in the Maps. Odd.

Scott (Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel): Ok, everyone take a shot because I'm gonna say it again... I have a soft spot for him. This was one of his better performances (although he sounded like he had a slight case of the nerves) BUT it was still mediocre compared to the rest of the pack. Enough to get by, but not enough to really stand out. This was a good choice of song for him, though, and he played it smart by stripping it down. This way you wouldn't hear that he actually tends to lag behind a bit. His performances are nice, like a lazy walk in a park, but not fantastic. He'll be lucky to make it to Top 5, but I suspect we'll lose him in the next two weeks or so. I'm hoping the judges did enough to save him for one more week. I know... everyone take a shot again because I said that last week too. *laughs* Chart-rated a 1-9 (now that's a first)/B3/5th listing with a goose-egg on the Maps (2 wins and 2 losses), there is a distinct possibility he'll end up in the B3 again this week.

Matt (You Found Me by The Fray): Nice move to place himself in the middle of the audience. It was different. It was a nice performance, I'm almost convinced, but not quite. Is it me or did the audience around him not look overly happy he was there? You know if Adam, Danny or Kris were out there, there would have been screams and hollaring and alotta energy rolling off them... even with the type of song it was. Pretty bad when the judges hint that even SCOTT did better than you. Randy had a good pick, Apologize would have been an AWESOME choice for his voice. Even Paula trashed the hell out of him. Is it possible they're trying some reverse psychology on the audience? He was rated 2-9/B3/6th on the Chart and a 1 on the Maps (2 wins and 1 loss). It's very highly likely he'll end up in the B3 again this week. Will he go home, more than likely not. If he ends up as the last one on the stage during results, it's likely we may see the judges use the save.

Lil (Surrender by Celine Dion): After careful consideration, and she picks a Celine Dion song? Ugh. Ok, ok...she sang it well (not great, she's gotta work on breath support during the verses). It was just a bad song choice. She should have picked some Mary J Blige, Lauren Hill or even some Macy Gray if it was on the list. Those would have all worked wonderfully with her voice. Shoot... pull out some Tina Turner or Aretha Franklin if it's there... ya got the chops for it, so bring it! I can't tell you how disappointed I am in her as she was one of my early favorites. I'm beginning to think that Rickey of http://www.rickey.org/ is right about her. That she really isn't as good as she thinks she is and that the judges need to stop feeding into her delusion. I'd love to be proved wrong about her though. She rated a 1-8/B3 green/4th listing on the Chart with a -5 on the Maps (1 win and 6 losses). My mind wants to stick her as in danger and in the B3 thanks to the Maps, however my gut's gonna go with the Chart (which has been 100% accurate 3 weeks running) and call her as safe.

This entry interrupted briefly for a rant:

WTH? Yeah, I checked it 3 times to make sure my eyes weren't messing with me. She actually rated HIGHER than Allison on the Chart but lost all those states! Something's seriously wrong there folks.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled entry.

Adam (Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry): Oh HELL YEAH! I climbed aboard the Glambert fantrain tonight. Sorry ya'll. I've picked my two favs and he's one of them simply for that awesome showmanship. When he takes the stage you KNOW you're gonna get a HELLUVA show! And to give the band props for his performance, AWESOME. This is EXACTLY what I was talking about with Danny. Adam is the complete opposite. When he takes the stage, he's the cock of the walk...but so very humble in and personable during the interviews. All cleaned up nice and pretty but with just enough dirrty to make a gal give off a fan-girly squeal even KNOWING there's a question of sexuality there.

*pauses briefly to throw a pair of panties at the video playin on the next window over*
*fans self*

Where was I? Ummmm...oh Yeah! he rated a 1-7/B3 green/ 3rd listing on the Chart and got a score of 7 on the Maps (8 wins and 1 loss). He wasn't as popular this week as he was last week (how sucky was that...that they made them record with the standard Motown backing for ITunes and he couldnt do that awesome stripped out version???) but still did more than enough to get through this week. Of all of them, only he and maybe 1-2 others can afford a bad week at this point and not have to really worry. *IF* (and that's a HUGE if) he ends up in the B3, it'll simply be for the drama and to shake his fan base up.

Kris (Aint No Sunshine by Bill Withers): OMG that was a friggin HAWT performance. Hmm maybe I was much too hasty getting on the Glambert train...Ok ok...I'm on the Kris train but I damn well have a sidecar for my dear Adam because I just LOVE his performances. Anyhow, this was a very awesome performance. Kris improves by leaps and bounds every.damn.week. He was, hands down, THE BEST performer of the night and is NOT going anywhere this week. If he sings like this the rest of the way through, it's possible that he may just end up being the winner for the season. He rated a 1-6/2nd listing on the Chart and a 14 on the Maps (all wins baby!). How Danny managed to get first listing with only 6 states to his Map, is pretty much beyond me. The Chart should have listed them as Kris then Adam then Danny. *sigh* In anycase, Jason Mraz Kris aint going anywhere this week.

This week's stand outs: Kris and Adam and to a lesser extent Danny. I feel Danny is slipping ever so slightly though. All it's going to take is a bad week at a most unfortunate time and he'll end up gone unless the save's there still.

Piss poor this week: Megan (as always)

My B3 picks:
Megan (can she PLEASE go HOME this week???)
Anoop (this is no time for bad song choices)
Allison (you cant be screwin up the lyric at this point babe!)

Others that could possibly make it to the B3:
Scott (his performances are still mediocre at best...nice but not WOW. With a zero on the Maps, it's highly likely)
Lil (a small fanbase and poor songs choices is what will do her in)
Matt (is it possible that America really does NOT love him as much as the judges do? Even though, you have to admit, the judges trounced him but good so maybe EVERYONE'S tired of him. Of these three, he's the most likely candidate to replace one of the others in the B3 walk of shame.)