02-29 And then there were 16...

Let’s say goodbye to
Alaina Whitaker

Jason Yeager

Robbie Carrico

Alexandrea Lushington.

For the second week in a row, nothing close to anything that would be considered shocking. Alaina, I had trouble remembering who she was (Kady and Alaine are interchangeable to me), Jason was awful two weeks in a row, Robbie was completely fake (he sings like a boy band member, was a boy band member, has a wig (yep, a wig) and was called on being fake week after week. Time to go. Alexandrea didn’t make any type of impression at all. Not exactly heartbreaking…(I thought it was funny Alaina was too broken up to sing until the other girls said they’d sing and then she grabbed the mike and was off! Don’t steal her 15 minutes ladies…)

I didn’t think this week was very interesting. Those who were solid stayed solid. David had a really good week but I don’t think it’s a lock of anything to be the frontrunner at this point. It’s like leading your division in May, it doesn’t matter much. All my favorites are still around and I’m almost 100% sure they will all be around in the Top 12. I laugh every time they say Best Top 24 ever, it has a chance to be a real good top 12, but as a Top 24 it was awful. 13-24 are going to turn out to be as weak a crop as they ever had.

1 More Week and then the pool starts!!! A few people have told me they have a few people they need to add, let me know who they are ASAP so they can be on the rules / Top 12 picking email next week.

JUAN

02-28 Theme announced for Top 12

I don't have this confirmed (it's more entertainment sites than news sites reporting) but it seems like the Top 12 Theme is, The Beatles! Wow...surprising. And something new!

02-27 Top 10 Women

Ok, the women! Let's go...

Carly - Pretty good, not excited by Heart. Simon gives her his endorsement, which is important. I don't think she's as good as he does, but we'll see. Good start to the show, ok for the girls is a level above ok for the guys.

Syesha - I like her but I don't think she's going to far. She's singing Mr. Jones. i think she is real good. However, it's not earth shattering, and I'm not sure it keeps her in. I hope so. Great vocal, not that exciting a performance. They (the judges) didn't feel it at all.

Brooke - She's singing You're so Vain. I hate it. I don't like this song, it's not particularly hard to sing the way she is singing, it's just so vanilla and painful. Just stop... Wow, Simon loved it. I like her, so i'll accept this but I'm not in agreement.

Ramiele - She has a real nice tone to her voice. It's not the voice you'd expect to come out of that body. Hey, i thought this was good. The freaking You're so Vain is good and the judges don't like her. Ugh... THey seem to like her just not tonight...FINE..... She's really young, she talks like we know what she is talking about, just rambling.

Kristie - She says america will be surprised to know she's a tomboy. Yes, possibly we'd be surprised if we didn't know you were a cagefighter already!! She's not bad, it's not the greatest song choice. She may just not be as good as I thought. I really think she's the best looking contestant they have ever had. Judges seem to agree, good not great. I don't like the excuse making.

Amanda - I predict she'll sing a rock song in the same tone as she has before. She reads, exciting. I like the song choice. I don't like her hair, makes her look fat. (If you are looking you know what I mean.) It's not a good vocal at all. This show's them is good, but nowhere close to very good. This basically continues that.

Watched the rest of the show but not as closely as I had the baby. Alaina and Kady are so vanilla that i don't really think I can tell them apart. Both were awful and Hopelessly Devoted is NOT what I think of as the 70's. Asiah at the end totally tried for too much. That song was too much for her voice.

The judges were kind of spot on tonight. Very shaky. The Top 24 theme shows are killing the contestants. I don't think their will be any surprises tommorrow, there are so many people who could go and not make a ripple, i'm confident none of the favorites have anything to worry about.

02-26 The Top 10 Men Perform

The Top 10 men...will they stink again? The world wants to know...

My thoughts...

Liked
Michael Johns - Liked it, to be honest I don't think he sang all that well BUT he's a good performer, he's comfortable up there, and you know he's going to give a good performance each week.

David Archuletta - Though a victim of hyperbole (that was not close to the best performance ever on the show, ridiculous comment) he was very very good. Do we have a frontrunner?

Didn't Like

Luke Menard-He's part of a group called Chapter 6 or something that sounds intensely boring...i really don't care, put him here without even listening to him. There is something about him I don't like.

Robbie Carrico-The tough boy band member. Picks a bad song, sings it ok, looks totally out of place doing rock music, eh, just really really eh.

David Cook - Wow, what a mediocre show... Thought it was quite so-so.

In Between

Jason Castro-Very interesting song choice, Bee Gees done as a country song. As Randy would say, I'm feeling this (Dog). I can see him being a favorite. Again, it's a good performance but not particularly great singing. He's a really good performer. Very professional.

Danny Noriega - Please be better this week. He was a punk rocker when he was young. What is he singing? It's way way too old fashioned. He sings good, it's just terribly boring and quiet. It doesn't suit him. He really reminds me of a 70's idol. God, he's can do better than this i'm sure...but the girls seem to love it. Much screaming... I still think he can go far.

David Hernandez - Didn't love him as much as the judges did. Didn't really like him much at all. Note: If we found out a contestant was a stripper, she'd be torn to shreds no? Called lots of things, bad innuendo all over, right? Why do i mention that here..hmm...

Im thinking Robbie, Jason (who i didn't even think of enough of to write about) or Luke will be the next to go.

02/25 - Two quick things that irritate me..

Two things REALLY bother me...

1) Vote for the Worst
The fact that this gets any credibility is amazing to me. I really don't understand how a website that so often picks a popular contestant, then decides they are a joke, and then takes credit when they stay. Right now they are supporting Danny. A few things...Danny sings WELL. This horrible performance this week was basically his first bad performance. Is the joke that he's so feminine? I don't get it. He sings well, he's popular, and he's clearly a favorite to go forward. So, VOTW supports him because he sucks? I don't think he sucks, and I don't think he's a joke, and when he goes forward it will have nothing to do with negative votes.

Remember people, there pick for worst way back was CARRIE UNDERWOOD. Yes, VOTW supported Carrie and took credit when she won. She was a clear, huge favorite, clearly did not suck (even if you don't like her she's not bad at all) but by their logic, VOTW kept her in the show.

A lot of us try to make money getting people to click on ads and such on the internet, and we all know, it doesn't work at a high percentage. Even when you have a product people want, it's a fight to get them to click on something. So, we are supposed to believe MILLIONS (cause that's what it would take to push the bar) of people call multiple times (have to get through) on something to be sarcastic?

It doesn't work.

2) Dial-Idol

Dial Idol, the predicting service which uses busy signals to predict which person will leave was so incredibly inaccurate last season, even by their own lax standards, that I don't want to hear anyone say it's good at predicting.

Last week, Dial Idol predicted that all the men could possibly be eliminated and all of the women except Ramiele could be eliminated. Since Ramiele was not eliminated (THE SHOCK) Dial Idol was 100% accurate.

This is akin to me showing my psychic ability by pointing out tommorrow will be raining, or sunny, or snowing, or cloudy, or some combination of the listed.

And even with this incredibly huge margin of error, last year Dial Idol had some weeks where they were 100% wrong, the entire bottom three was their safe three, etc.

They were fun once upon a time but a service that exists to predict results and can't isn't very useful.

JUAN

02/23 - Quick Update on Theme

Next week's theme is, THE 70's. What the heck? Should I assume top 16 will be the 80's?

JUAN

Idol Update 02/21 - First Cuts..

Let’s say goodbye to
AMY DAVIS



COTLON BERRY (YAH!!!)


GARRET HALEY


JOANNE BORGELLA

This should tell you what I think of the people gone, Colton I’m happy, Garret don’t care, Amy I don’t remember what she sang, and Joanne I don’t care. The top 24 really doesn’t eliminate anyone too important until you get to the last week prior to the top 24, so this is pretty much true to form.

As for the shows this week, it was a pretty lackluster week. I don’t think anyone hurt themselves too much because the general level was so average, that you could easily have a good week next week and move ahead of the pack. I think Brook, David A, Michael Johns and Ramiele all distinquished themselves and should easily cruise into the Top 12. Alaina too, mainly because of Simon’s endorsement which carries a ton of weight. Danny possibly for all the wrong reasons, he sucked, he had attitude, he was funny in the wrong way. Sigh…

I hate shows like this because there is such a malaise over them, the judges don’t care, the contestants are flat, everything is just flat. Combine that with the musical comeback of Paula Abdul and, well there is nothing left to say. Let’s hope for a better next week.

ITunes has the live performances on sale if anything moved your fancy. They MAY have the Studio versions up later, I see conflicting repots on that.

Update: I bought Ramiele's, I could not resist. (Thanks Cookie for the Itunes card!) It's good, it's basically the performance with the background noise weeded out.

JUAN

Idol Update 02/20 - Top 12 Females...

The Women, I hope they are better! I hope I have time to watch the whole show...

Kristie Lee Cook - She's sick! Whatever...she was pretty boring...i think she's safe no matter what, but this was not a good first performance. After the men, this isn't a good thing. Apparently everyone is sick...GREAT....

Joann - Not bad....MAYBE SHE'S SICK...i like how she said everyone expects her to be this super diva because she's a big woman...Simon is being harsh, he's always grouchy when there is a bunch of bad people in a row.

Alaine - Not bad at all. Vocals are really good, and she's got the crowd going and she doesn't seem afraid. BTW, David (the first David who was nervous) is bizarre, look at how he's staring and whoever is singing. Positively stalkerish....

Amanda - I don't like how she's singing. It's mumbling...i'm not getting why she arranged the song to totally overshadow her vocals. On the plus side its modern and interesting. Eh...very gimmicky...

Amy -ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Brooke - AGAIN with this song. It's ok, her vocals are really very so-so. Wow, for the second year in a row we have started off the Top 24 super super shaky.

No more time today...will pick up tommorrow...

Watched it real quick this morning and to be honest, it was about as underwhelming as the men, mainly because i think it came after the men so I just wanted the woman to be so good to make up for them. I though Ramele was very good, she sang really well and unlike some of the other people, she didn't try to blast through the song.

I still think we get better results from this year than last year. I think this week will serve as a wake me up and we'll get a lot better results next week. I'll remain optimistic..

JUAN

Idol Update 02/20 - Top 12 Males...

Top 12 Men...not as exciting as the women but hopefully a really good show...Do we always have pre Top 12 themes?

David Hernandez - He cracked from the nervousness AGAIN. That can't possibly be a good sign. Not much there... (Note:When i have almost nothing good or bad to type, not good.) Like how Simon ripped him to shreds then said "If i'm going to say something negative...haha...)

David Cook - Really nice. Took a super lame song (don't kill me, it is!) and turned it into a rock song. Simon totally is not digging anyone. He either has a favorite male or he likes the women more.

Jason Yeager - Sang well but WOW it was boring. WOW. Moon River? Sang like that....why??

Robbie Carrico - Britney's Ex, and ex boy band member. EH, fake rockers. He sang good but nothing special.

David Archuletta - Annoying personality. We could make a boy band this year with the male singers. He's good....surprisingly so. I liked how he told Ryan he's 17 when Ryan said their will be women who want to adopt him. He;s good, they don't have to make him some cutesy sideshow. He doesn't need it.

Danny Noriega - wow, i was wrong about him. Annoying and bad. And Ryan tried to out him on TV. Yuck...please do better next week.

Luke Menard - ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Colton Berry - Our next boy band member. (With Danny, David & (Leif?) Garrett) Not bad, didn't sing the song in an old style, which is a plus. Simon called it a complete waste of time...whoa

(Leif) Garret Haley - Cheese factor is high, it's hurting me here. (I need the girls to start NOW...) Simon says he needs fresh air...i really hate Garret's speaking voice...this was just awful.

Jason Castro - I hate him, can't tell you why. I just do. He's gone in the next two weeks so it's fine.

Michael Johns - SEE, this is Light my fire. The rocker female (her name escapes me) sang the song in her own tone and it sounded totally wrong. Yah, someone who looks like he actually WATCHED the show before and knew what to do...Let the praise begin....

I left someone out (by counting) yet i know i watched the whole show. Oh well, thats what i think of them.

Women tomorrow...

JUAN

Idol Update - 02/20 Yahoo ranks popularity...

Yahoo did a ranking based on search engine. Check it out here...

http://tv.yahoo.com/slideshow/225/photos/1

Unfortunately it agrees with some of my choices. I was hoping they'd fly under the radar. Oh well...

JUAN

Idol Update 02/17 - Thoughts on some of the Top 24

I thought I'd give my thoughts on the Top 24, my favorites, and some others I think are interesting in one way or another...

Danny Noriega - He screams pop idol. (Maybe because he looks like every popular japanese idol out there today..) And unlike most of the other very young male contestant idol has every had, he seems to be actually able to sing! He's really polished for a young 18 year old. There is a preponderance of young male singers this year, but I think Danny will stand out.



Carly Smithson - This is the girl all the conspriacy theorists are adopting as their own, because she was a former (very) failed attempt at creating a teen star by BMG records. There are a few people like that in this group, Cheyanne's ex BF (Jason Castro) as well as reality show rejects (Joanne Borgella) and former boy band member / Britney's ex BF Robbie Carrico. Things like idol unfortunately can be written about in the press without any research, without any uproar. Carly situation is not unique, and none of the idol stars who had similar backgrounds (some of who, like Kellie Pickler had minor radio hits prior to the show) didn't seem to have any advantage. Still, if she's any good, it won't be her singing that gets credit, it will be that she's "a pro". Silliness.


Ramiele Malubay - She's cute (bias time!), and she can really sing. Her audition wasn't indicative of her ability, she is really much better than that. (It would have been nice of them to show that during Hollywood week (cough-day) but everyone will see soon enough. Simon was really down on her initially and I kind of agree, she got let through 50% singing and 50% because Paula thought she was small and cute. But i listened to some of her material, and she's got a great voice. (BTW, she is a HUGE Regine fan, $1 (virtual dollar!) to anyone who knows who that is other than me.)

BTW, this is one good looking cast, isn't it? They have a commercial which shows the idols as if they are hollywood stars, and it's not really too much of a stretch. They already look the part.



Kristy Kee Cook - She's a really pretty blonde whose incredibly nice, rides horses, and does mixed martial arts fighting in her spare time. OH, and she can really sing. Looks CHECK, Interesting Backstory CHECK, Singing CHECK, Personality CHECK. When the top 12 rolls around, she will be in it CHECK.


Michael Johns - Not much to say except that he is probably the best singer I have heard on the show this year. The only person so far I've had people come to me and say "This guy will win". I definitely agree he is a contender, there's a lot of youth on the show this year that may cancel each other out, but Michael seems to be in his own category.


Asia'h Epperson - I thought she really stood out so far, which as good as the top 24 looks, few people have really done. Looks the part of the idol. The only thing that has be taken aback is that she audtioned the day after her dad died in a car accident. It's kind of strange, and maybe unfortunately for her, people seem to remember that.

The rest of the top 24 seems to have all the bases covered, and with skill! David Cook and Amanda Overmyer are the token rockers (I'm not sold yet, sorry), we have teen girls favorites galore (FOUR 18 and Under guys), and the usual Top 24 fodder (welcome to the top 24, goodbye from the top 24) such as Jason, Alexandrea, Amy, etc. They aren't a step above the other contestants, and they've had so little airtime, it will be really tough.

I see 7 (4 girls and 3 guys) people i think are mortal locks for the top 12. If you've read this far you probably got most of them.

-Most Likely to get Backlash from audience for looks and personality
GIRLS: Kristie Lee Cook
BOYS: David Archuletta
-Most Likely to make me annoyed because they are overated: Amanda Overmyer (rock singers get SO much credit it makes me nauseous sometimes)
-Most Likely to make people say WHO when he is elimated: Luke Menard
-Most Likely to be first person simon destroys: David Hernandez (Great Singer, but pressure doesn't seem to be his thing)

Enough for now, back next week. I love Top 24, 3 days, 7 hours, all actually SINGING and no filler, and some of the top 24 inevitably blow up. It's must see tv.

JUAN

Idol Update 02/14 - Top 24 Announced, Pool Rules Announced

WE HAVE OUR TOP 24!!! More after the pool rules…

POOL RULES
Please read the rules, we have changed a few things this year.

1) Pool cost is $10. ALL money goes toward the pot.
2) There will be a first, second and third prize. The amount (% of pot) will be set once we have a better idea how many participants we have.
3) We will pick the top five this year. (You will need to send me your picks for FIRST PLACE (WINNER), SECOND PLACE (First Runner Up), THIRD PLACE, FOURTH PLACE and FIFTH PLACE.) The top twelve will be mailed out March 6th.
4) Every week one of your picks remains (is not voted out) you receive points for that person depending on what place you put them in. First Place is 12, Second Place is 8, Third Place is 5, Fourth Place is 3, and Fifth Place is 2. For example, last year let’s say you picked BLAKE LEWIS to win idol. (He was the first runner up.) You would have received 12 points for him (you picked him first) for 11 weeks (he was 1 week short of the end), 108 points in total. This will be repeated for all five of your picks. Your points will be aggregated, and whoever has the most points wins. (Feel free to ask questions, I’ll send a more detailed example.)
5) All Picks and money will be due (to me) by 4:00 Tuesday March 11th.
6) The order of the eliminations is final. If two people get eliminated in the same show, they are tied, no matter what the order. (In case something happens strange…) The reason for elimination is irrelevant, if someone decided to quit the show, they are eliminated.
7) The more people we have the larger the pot is, the happier I am! Feel free to invite anyone to join the pool, in company or out.
Rules will be resent along with the Top 12 when they are available on the morning of March 6th.

TOP 24 THOUGHTS
I didn’t really enjoy Hollywood DAY (not week) as much as I have in prior years, although it seems to have done the job better. That is, it weeded out the weaker singers, not just those people who cracked under the pressure. I really liked the top 24. There is a good mix of good singers of a lot of different styles. The backgrounds are also widely different, they range from Cheyanne’s love interest on her MTV reality show, Former Boy Band (in Europe) member, Pinoy Rap Group member, Kick Boxing Cowgirl, it goes on and on and on. If there is one theme though it seems to be experience, we have people training their whole life to be idols, or who regularly perform locally, or who have tried their hands professionally at some point. I think the top 24 should be really really good, much better than prior years. I feel bad for some of the contestants, I think they haven’t been featured enough to make an impact. Anyone who got through and you said “who?” is in trouble. They need to have a GREAT first week, just to stick around, and hope they build momentum from there.

Should be a great season and I think the new pool rules are going to work out real well.

My next post will have my thoughts on some of the Top 24 (let my biases shine through....)

JUAN

Idol Update 02/06 - Hollywood Week Next Week!

HOLLYWOOD WEEK IS HERE
It’s my favorite week of the show, Hollywood week where we weed out all the wannabee’s and the mentally weak (and those who forget lyrics easily, party too much, or don’t get along with their fellow man/woman. There’s a couple of people I am intrigued by, simple because I liked them from the initial auditions, or thought they were just ok and then found out they had really big support already. (Internet support doesn’t necessarily translate to votes, but often it does, and some people have some huge support. David Cook (The Rocker who was channeling Chris Daughtry), Robbie Carrico (Guy with the log hair that looks like the “tough” guy from a boy band) from the guys, and Kristy Lee Cook (the pretty blonde who lived (literally) in a log cabin), Ramiele (short Filipino girl) and Alexandrea (16 year old but looked older, sang Over the Rainbow in audition). (David Cook on the left.)

There’s no one, even of my favorites that I’m 100% sure that they will be there even for the Top 24. That’s both good and bad, parody hasn’t worked out too well, generally Idol is better when one or two people jump to the lead. But we have much time for that still…. (Kristy Lee Cook on the right)

POOL UPDATE
The scoring system will change this year. We are picking One to Five (Winner and first four runner ups) and each week your picks are alive you will receive points.

First Place – 12, Second Place – 8, Third Place – 5, Fourth Place – 3, Fifth Place – 1

The differences are this will keep more people in the running for a longer time, reward those people who pick well even if their first place gets knocked out (although obviously picking the winner correct will yield a lot of points) and prevent anyone from being a week one elimination. Pool information (the email) will go out when the TOP 24 begins, and again once the picks need to be made (the week before it begins). As always, please feel free to invite anyone to the pool who wants in. I expect a good turnout again this year.

Ramiele - I really think people are going to be surprised. She has a better voice that she showed (check out the myspace for details...

http://www.myspace.com/ramiele

One More Thing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PMy_V-A_o

This is the YOU ARE MY BROTHER video. So funny...one of the best bad contestants they have ever had.

JUAN