Caterwaulling vs the WGWG

Thank goodness THAT'S over. This has been one draggy-assed season if I ever saw one. I certainly hope next year shows some more promise. Either that or they just end this sucker. For the second week straight, I'm going to focus on the numbers and such and not bother talking about the performances. If you don't know who I'm rooting for by now.... I had a 3 mini-squwee night and panties were tossed. Just not those leather or sparkly ones. The plain old cotton ones.

If you 're looking for some fairly funny reviews please check out Top 2 Sing: Theme: "Who Cares? Just Vote for Phillip!" by Insane and Final 2 Perform by smarterthanpickler, both from the VFTW site. While you're at it, don't forget to read down through the comments if you have time. I so wish I had half brains these two have.

Some other reviews you may wanna check out:
'American Idol': Tonight's the Night by Kelly Marino at MTV News
American Idol Finale- S11 by Unknown author at www.picsofcelebrities.net (not really a review, but definitely an interesting read)
Singer vs Guitar Slinger on 'Idol' Finale by Ken Barnes via MSN TV


Like I said earlier, I'm not going to break down the songs. I will however throw a couple thoughts at you and let you decide where to go from there.

#1, in the past 10 seasons, of those that sang in the first spot of the night, only 4 won the show. All 4 of them were guys. More times than not, the one who sings in the pimp spot is your winner.

#2, conspiracy theorists believe that the show is cursed. It's called the Kristy Lee Cook curse, named after that blonde contestant in Season 7. For more about this theory, you can read this entry at MJ's Blog. It's the first one listed. If the curse is still in effect, we'll have another WGWG winner. Why? I know his name has none of the qualifications, but he's from LEEsburg, Georgia. If that's not enough there's a theory of double letters later in her entry. With  2 sets of LLs ( 4 of a kind, baby!) that should beat a set of SSes, don't ya think?

#3 speaking more of the conspiracy theorists, there's one that states that the contestant with the first initial latest in the alphabet wins. This has held true every single year, even including the year of the Davids as Cookie's last initial shows up later in the alphabet than Archie's. There are more on MJ's blog if you feel like going through them all.

Now let's take a moment and look at the previous years' Maps. Since the Winner/ Loser Maps are always an inversion of the other, I'm just going to deal with the Winner Maps.

In Season 6, they threw us a twist and did an Idol Gives Back or some sort and  decided to not eliminate a contestant that week. As such, the one with the worst performance that week ended up lingering. This eventually knocked the then front runner out of the competition in 3rd place and we ended up with a Jordin vs Blake final instead of the Blake vs Melinda one everyone expected. Jordin then went on to grab a 41 state win over Blake's mere 8 state win. Total landslide. 

Season 7 brought us the Battle of the Davids. Although TPTB tried to force the Liplicker down our throats, the  WGWG very quietly grabbed our attention from day one, kept it, and then proceeded to walk away with the contest. Cookie took a 40 state win and only lost 9 to Archie. Again, a total landslide.

Season 8 brought us the killer battle of Adam vs Kris. By the end of this season, many learned an appreciation for both in the Top 2. Adam had an awesome showing and received a 28 state win over Kris's 19. A 9 state difference. Everyone thought this was a total win for the man with the rocker wail. We were wrong.  This season saw WGWG #2 crowned as winner.

In Season 9, we had a Lee vs Crystal showdown. Crystal has a 22 state win with 18 in the loss column and  ended up with a 4 on the Maps. Lee  had a -4, yet he managed to win.

Season 10 saw Scotty vs Lauren. This was a tight race with Lauren  having a 19 state win and 17 state loss. This gave her a 2 total while Scotty ended up with a -2. Yet again, the one with the fewest states won.

This year's battle, Phillip vs Jessica. He had 21 state win and a 14 state loss giving him a 7 total. Since the  Maps invert on the final 2, we know that her totals came to a -7.

Since the Maps aren't particularly helpful, let's see what the Charts did. Thankfully, DI kept all the previous ones back as far as Season 4. I'd be really interested to see the results on the first 3 seasons but I suspect we'd find much the same as we see here.

Even with the 2 very tight races, the winner always seems to be in the top spot.

Looky looky at who's in the first list spot, our own WGWG #5!

A note found on the DI site. They're hedging their bets still. If they simply followed the trend from their own site, they'd call it.

Poll from MJ's site. That top one is "Who SHOULD Win American Idol 11?" As you can see they feel Jessica  is the more deserving. The poll "Who will win?" on Rickey's site reflects MJ's "Who SHOULD win?" poll for the most part.

This last week, the odds site I visit has changed their bets from listing them by contestant to a simple "Will Phillip Phillip Win?" bet. At last check on the 22nd, the odds were -416 yes and +349 no. This means I would have needed to drop $416 to break even if he wins. However, if I put $100 down and bet against him (voting no) and Jessica won... I'd come out $349 ahead.


One last thing... check this link out. It'll take you to a meter on the USA Today site. It was kinda rough the first few weeks, but from week 6 and going forward they were on the mark.

Top 3 aka Thank goodness this is nearly over

Last night I wasn't feeling it in the writing department and I'm still not really feeling it. So instead of analyzing and ripping them apart as I have been, I'm going to leave you a few links to check out. You remember last week's theme "Songs I Wish I Wrote"? Well very often I find myself wishing I had even a quarter of the collective brain power that I see over on VFTW because then these entries would be much funnier.

Kudos to these 3 authors in particular:

Insane, who wrote Top 3 sing - Theme: "The Same Theme As Every Other Top 3 Show"

smarterthanpickler, who wrote: Top 3 perform: Three Times the Grey!

Be sure to read down into the comments if you have a chance. Sometimes they can be down right cruel but often times you find yourself laughing as well.

MJ's Blog for this week's American Idol 11 Top 3- Power Rankings and Predictions!
As well as the additional digging for articles like American Idol 11- Top 3 - What Do the Critics Say


Thankfully, this Top 3 didn't have too many over done songs. However there were two that should be retired immediately:

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith. Sorry Jessica, but you're no David Cook (who did a wonderful job with it).... infact, you're not even an Allison Iraheta. Oh hell, you're not even an Aaron Kelly.

Imagine by John Lennon. No one has been able to do this one justice, honestly. I think Cookie might have been able to, but The Lip Licker, Gaspuletta beat him to the song. I will admit, until the 2 minute mark when Joshua assassinated the song with the screeching I was actually enjoying it.

Who goes home this week? Well I'll leave that up to you to decide. Here are a bunch of screen caps for you to peruse. You all know who my favorite is. If there's more than one J in the final 2, I'll be a very unhappy camper.

The Chart, which is of no help yet again. Last night PP was totally in the green and safe, until the west coast started voting.

Favorite artist poll from MJ's site

Who's going home poll from Rickey's. As you can see the results are about the same as over on MJ's site.  Obviously America's tired of having those two SUTA blasted every week.

Info from Wiki. This is a chart I made of who left this week in their respective years and which position they were in  on the night of competition. As you can see, the death spot has been just that....

States lost.  Jessica's the lime green, Joshua's in the yellow and PP is in the purple.

Same key for the Winner Map. The only one who didn't win their home state was Joshua. Maybe they were too  busy eating crawfish to vote?

State totals:

Joshua: 4 Win - 13 Loss = -9 State total

Jessica: 10 Win - 6 Loss = 4 State total

Phillip: 20 Win - 5 Loss = 15 State total

Caterwauling and Conspiracies

So last night we had the Top 4 having to perform one of the lamest themes I've seen in a long time... California Dreaming and "What I Wish I Wrote". Gotta love how Idol is trying to remain relevant. They need to be hoping that The Voice never decides to go directly opposite them.

The boys' duet was better than last weeks while the girls' one was one of the worst I've heard so far this year. Seriously, Hollie has no real lower register and something should have been done to help accommodate her as well as being beneficial to Little Miss SUTA. 

In preparation for tonight, my gal in Chicago and I upgraded our SUTA preventative Blast Shields. Not sure what the stats on hers was (I do know it is made of tungsten) but my diamond one has 255/255 attack/defense numbers (yeah, so? I'm a geeky gamer. Oh bite me!) and seemed to hold up fairly well. I just hope it lasts the rest of the season because this is getting expensive replacing the rear guard every week!

This week we had all on both Maps with multiple wins and losses. The Chart only had one in GREEN and yet again they aren't listing a B3. Might simply be because we're been in B2 territory though. We also need to remember that just because there's a GREEN listing, doesn't mean they're safe. My hope is that DI is wrong like they were last week.

Styx Pick this week is:

Phillip: Yep, he's back in my good graces this week.Definitely a decent week for him. Not sure if he's decided he wants to be in it to win it, or if he's simply feeling better this week than the previous ones. He reminds me a bit of Bo in a way, with the way he's been trying to fight to get through this show even though he's seriously ill (gotta love a guy with a good work ethic!). It takes alotta guts to be that sick and still attempt to make your commitments. His first choice this week was kinda safe and predictable but well done. No guitar and actually wore a small punch of color (WHOOT!! BLUE!). His second choice was one I didn't know right off and had to look it up. Thank goodness for the spoilers and having an idea as to which one he most likely would choose! The second selection was a very good choice but I have to question picking a song that is so subdued this late in the game. It would have been better if he'd had the pimp spot this week, for sure. To be honest, I doubt he'll see it at all the rest of his stay. He got a minor amount of SUTA from the judges after his second song. Yeah, I know, I was shocked too. The Chart placed him in 3rd with a 2-4 rating while the Maps show him with a 10 win, 3 loss total of 7 for the week. His odds slid quite a bit this week but saw a small gain coming into the show this week. I seriously think he's just sick and tired of being sick and tired ... and it's showing. A first place singing spot doesn't help him this week. Conspiracy theorists noticed something a couple days ago too that may just be working against him, although Nigel has tweeted (and I quote) "What disgusting lies!! Utter crap." (he actually had that in all caps). I'll post the link later in this entry because I don't wanna spoil the graphic I have. In any case, it won't be too much of a shock if Phillip gets tossed to the curb. Might actually be better for him considering how ill he is. 

The rest of the pack:

Hollie: First song was definitely NOT suited for her voice. They certainly should have bumped it up a couple keys (or an octave) for her, but ohhhh no. Made her sing it in the high tenor it was written (her lower register). Oh wait, that's right , she doesn't HAVE a lower register. This song was pure barfola. The duet with the SUTA princess wasn't much better. Then there was that "interpretation" of the Bonnie Raitt song. She obviously not only doesn't have a lower register but doesn't have a have a volume softer than a mezzo-forte  either. The beginning of that song needed to be much softer and not tromped all over like that. The bump and screech you heard during the judges' reviews? That was the three Stooges tossing her under the bus and said bus squealing in reverse to hit her again, repeatedly. Oh... and Jenn? "For me, for you" is the Dawg's line so would you please lay off the spiked Milk Bones. Kthx. Her odds sky-rocketed last week but had a slight dip by the time the show came around. The Maps showed her with a 12 win, 2 loss  for a total of 10 for the week. This, of course, seems to mean nothing this season as we saw her in the B2 last week even with the same amount of state win (really unheard of, trust me). She's on the Chart with a 2nd place listing and a 2-4 rating. Will it surprise me if she's in the bottom again? Not really, she's been vacationing there since Elise left.

Joshua: Meh and Meh. Although I will admit that his second choice was definitely a good pick for his voice.   I'm tired of him and am more than ready to see him sent packing. Surely, I'm not the only one sick of having him crammed down my throat, yes? Ugh and what was up with those "I'm not worthy" bows from J-Lo? Oh puh-LEEZ woman, get a grip. Naturally, with two songs meant a double blast of SUTA for him. Bah! His odds went way up this week, but peaked early and started a downward slide by the last half of the weekend. The Chart rated him with a 2-4 and listed him in LAST place. On the Maps, he saw a 5 win and 7 loss for a total of -2 this week. Will this make a difference? More than likely not because his figures have been shit for the last 2 weeks, but the judges just lurve him (and I'm pretty sure the producers have the hots for him too). 

Jessica: At this point, it's really a toss up as to which one of  these Js I want to go home first. I'm actually leaning towards keeping Joshua for another week just so we can get rid of little Miss Screechy Catinheat. Seriously, if I took a shot for every SUTA blast, "she's so young" yadda yadda comment this one receives, I'd be face down in the gutter within 10 seconds (or less, I'm a light-weight). Chicago's comment for Jess's first song: "oh yeah, this song is appropriate for a 16 year old" (*shot*). My response? "Well, at least she ain't dressed like some hootchie mama!" "This week" and "for a change" were totally implied, just so you know.

Example of HM apparel A

Example of HM apparel B

'Nuff said. As for her second song, she's NO JHud. Once a song's been DONE, it needs to be retired. Period. Oh hell, she's no Lakisha or even a Bianca Ryan for that matter (and the latter was only 11 at the time). Odd how JLo blasted the SUTA but failed to do the "I'm Not Worthy" bowing like she did with Joshua. Jessica's the only one in GREEN this week with a first place listing. However, we see what that got Skylar last week. Just sayin'. Her odds did the major increase and then falling by the end of the weekend also. The Maps have her with a 5 win, 4 loss for a 1 total for the week. In the pimp spot, I really don't forsee her leaving the competition yet, but as Season #4 showed us, the pimp spot doesn't always keep you safe (that's when Anthony Federov got booted, and James Durbin for that matter).

Now for some conspiracy theory before we wrap up. A very sharp eyed blogger noticed something odd regarding the Twitter page for American Idol.  There's the customary cast photo there, which is no real surprise, as they do it every year. However, there seems to be something odd in the way they're positioned in the photo. Please remember that this was up just after Erika cut and colored her hair but before the Top 10 performed. Notice anything strange? Yeah... they seem to be being eliminated in order from right to left. Some are saying that this tells us that the producers are wanting Phillip gone for sure and that they're setting it up for a Joshua/ Hollie finale. It also shows that Phillip is more than likely the one to get voted off tonight. Nigel professes that this conspiracy theory is not true. But you gotta find it odd.

hmmmm something's fishy

Another conspiracy tends to go towards the singing order being able to predict who will be leaving no matter HOW they perform. In the last 10 years, we've only seen the one (and a half, it'll get explained in a second) leave after singing in the pimp spot. Of the 10 that have been oustered at the Top 4, 70% of them sang either in 1st or 2nd for the night with the 2nd singing position being the most likely to be booted with the 1st singing spot just barely behind it. The only odd one of the 70% being last year's James Durbin who sang in both the 1st and the last spots for the night (which means that maybe I should call it 65% and not 70%). Daughtry, who sang in 2nd position and was considered the winner apparent for the whole season, got voted out on the Top 4 week. If this holds up, then either Phillip or Hollie will be leaving the show tonight.

So who leaves tonight? It could be anyone, really. No one should really surprise us at this point, especially when certain figures are so damned close.

B2 according to the:

Maps: Joshua and Jessica with Joshua gone
Chart: Phillip and Joshua with Joshua gone
Poll @ Rickey's: Hollie and Phillip with Hollie gone
Poll at MJ's: Phillip and Hollie with Hollie gone
Pinnacle ("Vegas"): Hollie and Joshua with Hollie gone

Remember that last week, Skylar's name was barely mentioned AND she was in the GREEN yet she got the heave-ho. All's fairly quiet on the Jessica front and she's in GREEN.  By all rights (singing position, awful performances, and the resulting panning by the judges) it should be Hollie getting the walking papers. Will Styxie get lucky this week? Will we lose a J instead? Please??????????

Rendered Squweeless

Wow. I'm really having a hard time getting this one started this week. Last night I was so uninspired to write that I threatened a strike. Maybe I should have stood by that decision. Just a few things I need to get off my chest before I get into why each one deserves to go home at this point.

#1 How unfair was it to place the girls trio in between 2 girls' performances? They didn't do it with the guys. What needed to happen was the line up for the second half should have been mixed up so that the guys gave a buffer. As it was, Hollie and Skylar both had to sing 2 songs right in a row. Unfair, yes. Admirable they were able to do a decent job anyhow, you betcha. Both girls deserve to stay just for that feat alone.

#2 Why does it seem like many of these kids are getting the pimp spot every other flippin week when the remaining WGWG has been stuck everywhere but that spot lately? You know, the last time PP got the pimp was in the Top 13... 9 WEEKS ago. It really looks like Idol's doing its damnedest to make sure we don't have WGWG #5.

#3 What the hell were y'all watching last night? I distinctly remember telling my gal in Chicago that if you weren't a J, you more than likely weren't safe. Has the SUTA distorted my judgement? Seems it may be the case considering what I've been seeing in the figures I've jotted down.

Only one kid ended up in GREEN this week but NONE have a B3 listing. Looks like DI is hedging their bets again.

Only one kid managed to stay off the "Loser" Map and it wasn't one of the pimped ones for a change.

Hey, did you notice that they've been doing something different this year in regards to the sheet music the band uses? At least on the piano they're using a Nook or Kindle!

This week's Styx Pick?
Again, nobody.

However, I can make a case for any one of them being sent to the curb tonight. Even my favorite.


Hollie: First song wasn't bad. We got a bit more personality than we had been getting. This song is getting to be one of those that is being over done. I'm really surprised they didn't compare her to Pia from last year. I mean, since Pia was supposedly God's gift to singers. Hated the second song. Don't particularly care for the song no matter who sings it. Maybe it's because the original artist is another that got rammed down the public's throat? We all know how I feel about that. Working against Hollie this week is the fact her odds are still in a downward slide and she sang first in a 2 hour show, plus she wasn't overly memorable. At least she wasn't in my opinion.  Seems that I was watching a whole 'nother show this week, however. The Chart rated her a 1-5 and listed her in second.  She had 10 wins and no losses in the Maps this week, even with the first singing spot. Since all things seem to show balance this week, the only flag I'm seeing is that Pia got the boot when she sang the same Tina Turner song.
Reason for ouster: dull and unmemorable

Phillip: This guy simply can't catch a break, I swear. It's been 9 WEEKS since he last was in the pimp spot as Idol seems to be going clear out of their way to make sure there isn't a WGWG for the 5th year in a row.   Wasn't really feeling the arrangement of that first song, although the studio version is kind of growing on me. Not my favorite for sure, but not exactly the worst he's done. Second song was actually a better choice for his voice but it felt phoned in. Again, the studio version's much better than we got on the stage this week. A real shame because I'm sure he could have had another "Still Raining" moment (still get the squwees listening to that one on YouTube).  I'm beginning to think he's just tiring out. Or maybe he's thinking "Oh shit!!... I could actually WIN this and get stuck with that contract from hell!" For some reason he seems to be back pedaling a bit. Not sure Ryan's in with the sabotage or not. Guarantee the girls that have been voting all along weren't too happy to find out just NOW that Mr Awwww Garsh has already given his heart to another lady. His odds have done a minor wiggle but seem to be trending upwards still. He's the only one still in the negative digits (in other words, I'd have to put down more than $100 to just break even). The Chart  rated him 2-5 and listed him in dead LAST. He won 8 states but lost 3 this week for a 5 on the Maps. At this time of season, a decent number of won states isn't a guarantee of safety. *IF* he makes it through one more week, he seriously needs to bring it next week.
Reason for ouster: didn't bring it this week and Idol so very obviously doesn't want him to win.

Skylar: Wasn't feeling either of her performances this week. Then again, I was a bit more tired and cranky than usual. I would have put her midpack this week but it seems the voters had other ideas.  Her odds are still on the rise thanks to the fact that she's so much more memorable than Hollie. The Chart rated her with a 1-4, in first and the only one in GREEN. No one has a B3 listing so DI is hedging their bets at this point. GREEN doesn't always mean safety as we've seen this year. She had an 8 state win and a 2 state loss giving her a 6 on the Maps this week. All signs point to her being safe this week, but then... this has been an odd season. It all depends on if America wants another country artist. We all know how Eric Church feels about this (even if he did back pedal and apologize, maybe it has something to do with the fact he's going to playing at the same country fair that Miranda's going to be at and will have to face her??) .
Reason for ouster: America doesn't want another Country Idol

Jessica: Can we send her home now? Please? Yeh yeh yeh. Whatev.  Although it's been done before, it's not been over done... yet. Somehow, it seemed more age appropriate when Syesha performed it. Shoot, it even felt more appropriate when Danny used it as his audition piece (memba him? Well look at what he does now ... ya know, he might have won if he'd performed dressed like that). We not only got massive doses of SUTA with Jessica, we got SCORCHED. With the second performance, my industrial strength blast shield failed and I was totally unprotected for the last song. I shall have to file a report to the BBB regarding this. Maybe I can file a claim and get hazard pay? Personally, that second song would have been better suited for PP's voice. *BAH*! The Chart rated her as a 1-5 with a 4th place listing. She won 3 states but lost 2 for a 1 on the Maps. Her odds have been dropping a bit. Maybe America is getting tired of Idol's manipulative ways and the SUTA blasts are now working the opposite way?
Reason for ouster: America's tired of having her crammed down their collective throats. It won't be because she's a talentless hack, because she's not.

Joshua: Damn. We were getting SUTA before he even performed. UGH. Would rather have Jessica another week than this one. He had the pimp spot... again.... this week (it's only been 2 WEEKS!!! grrrrrr).  You'd think his numbers would reflect this. They didn't though. Maybe America's gotten tired of him being crammed down their throats too? The first song was predictable and safe while the second was pure crap in my opinion. The Chart rated him as a 1-5 and listed him in 3rd. He won 4 states but lost just as many for a big ol ZERO on the Maps this week. Only thing good is the fact his odds went up a bit this week.
Reason for ouster: Same as above with the exception that the vocal acrobatics have gotten annoying.

Who's in the B3 and who goes home?
According to:

The Chart: Joshua, Jessica and Phillip with the WGWG being voted out.

The Maps: Joshua, Jessica and Phillip with Mr. Histrionics being the one tossed to the curb.

Rickey's poll: Phillip, Hollie and Skylar with PP gone. Although I find this odd because when compared to his "Who's your favorite?" Poll, Skylar and Joshua are the least favorites among his readers.

MJ's "Who's Your Favorite" Poll: The least favorites on her poll reflect  the results Rickey got. Skylar and Joshua are the least favorite of the 5.

At this is point of the show, there shouldn't be any surprise because all will be considered a "shock". I still want the same ones gone for the same reasons (they're annoying the bejeezus outta me).