In addition to being a band director, do you also teach choir?

No.

ETA: our choir director is hot, though.

haha Cook did really well with that. About 2 cringe-worthy pitch problems, but he knocked it out of the park.

Incidentally, I abstained on Syesha intentionally. She sang in a style that I just don't really enjoy and I think is pretty tough for me to critique. Purely objectively, I think she did fine, though the run at the end was a bit rough in the middle. Subjectively, though, I didn't enjoy it at all and was kind of lost musically most of the time.

Well this is a disaster. What a terrible song choice. Am I the only one that doesn't know this song again?

eta: dammit people learn your effin lyrics

I thought they all did well with their first song. Cook did exactly what I thought he would do and was the best of the first 3.

That Chris Brown song just did not fit DavidA at all, and he struggled. Just didn't look comfortable at all.

David A shouldn't have done that.

Syesha should call Carrot Top to get some props.

Now that was a performance I can behind by Syesha. Very nice.

eta after judge: wow, I didn't agree with them on that. I thought she did a nice contemporary take on the song.

I doubt the voters see it that way but I'm in the camp that believes the public votes are used as advisement.

Does Archuleta need to have the same face for every song? He is singing this song looking like he is trying to drop a duece.

Round 1: Cook, Archuleta, Syesha
Round 2: Syesha, Cook, Archuleta
Round 3: Archuleta, Cook, Syesha

Simon said Cook wins the night, and I agree, but not by much, as you see above. It wasn't by virtue of that Aerosmith disaster. His pitch was horrible, the worst I've heard him in awhile (pitch has always been his achilles heel, but he has controlled it pretty well in the last, say, 6-7 weeks). Cook's performance of the Roberta Flack tune was what won it tonight. Archuleta was very average (to bad!) all night, but that was enough, I think, to sneak past Syesha's really bizarre night, and abyssmal last song (worst of the night from anyone).

Should be Syesha going home on merit this time. In reality, who knows. It certainly doesn't always go by merit.

Archuleta's song was good, Cook's song was good......what in the hell was that crap they gave Syesha? She sang whatever was there to sing ok, but really, against the songs the 2 David's got to sing? Really?

I didn't expect Syesha to make it to the final two, but did they have to give her a song that basically guarantees she won't make it? I've seen Happy Feet with my kids more than once and don't remember that song at all. I could pick 5 contemporary female R&B artists for her to sing, and they choose Gia Farrell? Who?

Just disappointing. If she makes it to the top 2 after that, I'll be totally shocked.

yeaaaaahh, im gonna go ahead and have to disagree with you on that one

Totally agree. Clear as day who the producers of the show want to make the final two. It's really somewhat shameful to look at it to be honest. They could have chosen a song that many more people would know and that would not have been seen as some little kiddie song. I actually think she was better than David A tonight who I thought had his worst night all season overall. However, she doesn't have a chance against the other two.

MJ4H you are so out of the loop with contemporary hits :)

Best performance of the night goes to Cook's rendition of "Miss a Thing"

Archuleta has just proven to the world that he can only do shmaltzy ballads and is unable to do anything contemporary.

AND he did it by his own decision. Not very wise.

where is the vomit smiley

Good God. Just watched the tivo'd show, and I think Simon called a Bryan Adams song "One of the greatest songs of all time." I am now flabbergasted.

*shakes head*

I'm only about halfway through the show, but I think Archuleta did fine with the Chris Brown song. He actually looked like a kid, not a trained puppy doing an act for old people.

You mean Aerosmith. Written by Diane Warren, who just happens to be in the audience.

I think between the one-two punch of that Chris Brown song followed by Dan Folgelberg, David A. has cemented his place as the next Michael Bolton. He has been compared to Clay Aiken some, and I've got another reason to compare them - it's going to take one hell of a post-AI/pre-CD release makeover to turn this kid into what they thought they were getting when they hand-picked him to be a finalist for this show last summer.

Aside from the fact that he couldn't breathe or stay in tune at all, I completely agree

I stand corrected. Terrible song, less embarrassing artist. As for DA, it was impressive to see someone take a Dan Fogelberg song and make it even less ballsy.

At least he was smiling. He actually looked like he was having fun for a change. We already know the kid can sing. I'd rather see him enjoying the experience at this point instead of making grandmothers across America touch themselves.

I was underwhelmed with Cook tonight. Pitch problems all over the place, nothing that really rocked, and I was very disappointed the Collective Soul choice was either wrong or he changed it.

As usual, Syesha was better than the judges gave her credit for, and she's the easy choice to go home. Randy is so far up the producers' asses, it's not even funny. He automatically gives her bad/non-enthusiastic reviews, then goes apeshit after every Archie performance.

At this point, I don't care who wins. And ironically, I'll be traveling during the final episode, so I'm already looking forward to next summer's auditions.

Tay Zonday is probably enjoying himself when he sings, but that doesn't translate to listening pleasure.

OK, grandma.

Are you speaking to me or MJ4H?

The judges were all on Paula Pills tonight.

Just watched the recording. Strange night.

Only one thing stood out.... Syesha looked HOT and LOVED her second song.

How long can they get away with this? Archuleta has been decidedly mediocre for several weeks now, and they rave for every one of his performances. At one point my wife and I were screaming "Are you even listening?" to the TV.

From the Frontier:

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=256

Overall: A predictable night where each contestant was firmly planted exactly where he or she belongs this season. We heard what they will record as professionals. And what they won’t.

Interestingly, Paula herself was not. She was very critical last night.

except for the fact that he missed the next to last note (which he held for 5 seconds) by about 2 miles....it actually started to hurt my ears he was so far off

thats the thing about david archuletta...he is the only one that hits his notes in stream...the others miss by a little (or in some cases alot), and then tune themselves while they are holding the note.....last night was the first time i really noticed david cook doing it, but syesha has been doing it the entire competition.

Until tonight, because after tonight, it won't matter anymore.

Interesting DI results...predictable, yet I don't think Seacrest will tout the "closest race ever" in the matchup of Davids.

That's always been Syesha's problem. She's much better now than she was a few years back on The One (NBC's attempt at an AI show), but I remembered her enough to recall her massive pitch problems then. She's reigned it in a bit, but she can almost never get through a performance without some pitch problems.

I was speaking to you, grandma. Sorry, I was a bit ambiguous there, grandma.

:D

That was more of a tweak aimed at MJ4H than anything. I just couldn't resist, especially since before you even posted that I was thinking of taking his "David Archuleta is pleasing to listen to" comment and posting a picture of someone's grandma under it.

Best column, yet.

I agree with the critiques, as well.

Well, damn.

HA!

One of my friends does a recap of each AI show as part of his blog, and had this line:

It's that Aerosmith song from Armageddon that Bryan Adams must have passed on.

So, I think you have a legit excuse for confusing the two.

No surprise tonight.

Fantasia is one hideous creature, did anyone see the look on Simon's face right after she performed? It was priceless.

Indeed. That was almost the highlight of the season for me...

Chris Tucker in drag...NOW WITH RED HAIR!

You know what's funny? We watched the first 45 seconds of her song (would have been less, but I was so dumbfounded by what I saw I couldn't tear myself away) that I saw Simon's look even through the fast-forward past the rest of her performance. We went back and watched that part in real time to confirm what it looked like in FF.

I obviously haven't followed her since she left AI, but every time she has come back has been an absolute disaster. I remember when she came back to do her first single and almost went hoarse she was screaming so much. And last night...I'm not sure what the hell that was. I couldn't understand of word of it, and I'm not sure she was even singing. That was horrid. I wonder how many sales she's lost by appearing on AI?

lol, my wife and I did the same thing.

I can't get over what a beast she is.

I was actually frightened watching her.

My first comment upon seeing Fantasia was "It's RuPaul!" Then my mind made the connection to Chris Tucker in "The Fifth Element." Fantasia's entire, uh, "performance" was utterly disturbing. Simon's face definitely said it all.

gosh, where did they all park?

The only other memorable moment last night - besides Ryan reading the Chaka Khan thing and getting flustered because he knew immediately that was wrong and lost his train of thought - was when the 112 year old mayor of Sarasota did a handstand, and I cracked, "That's the closest her boobs have been to her shoulders since 1974."

That, in a nutshell, is why I enjoy watching reality TV.

Judging from the size of it, probably in Fantasia's ass.

racist

what an idiot

I did a google/image search hoping to find a good side-by-side comparison pic of her and Chris Tucker, and I didn't find one right away, but I did come across a very disturbing pic for what looked like a phone ad or something where she has her back turned to the camera and is looking back over her shoulder with a phone in her hand, and she's wearing these extremely short and stretchy athletic shorts, which are creeping up the Grand Canyon crevice that is her ass...ho-lee crap.

I can't post it here, but I assume that if Sir Mix-A-Lot saw that pic, he'd immediately break out into a rap version of "I Would Do Anything For Butts (But I Won't Do That)."

AW SHIT I WAS STUPID AND LOOKED FOR THE PICTURE

I HAVE CHOSEN POORLY

in other news, Archuleta's mom (stepmom?) is, by far, his best attribute.

need pic of her in the fantasia shorts thx

btw speaking of which, how is mrs draft dodger doing

you may want to sit down for this. she's been hitting the gym and has lost a lot of weight. she looks really fine these days and has been wearing a lot of low-cut stuff to show off her new figure.

pics or ban

oh my fuck

Heh. I said almost the same thing to Mrs. E.

It's been long enough, and there are plenty of reality shows in the can (take that whichever way you like), that I think a Mystery Science Theater 3000-type show devoted to watching and cracking on reality shows is warranted. This has to happen one day.

My friend's blog entry about Fantasia:

Chris Tucker is here to sing, and has dyed his hair some sort of bronze/red. Where do I start with this? The rap/scat vocals? The Donald Duck on crack rant? The epileptic dance moves? The "what the HELL was that?" look on Simon's face? Look, for all of the hype, the crappy Lifetime movie, and the back story, this fact remains: the only reason that Fantasia is not the worst winner of AI so far is because Taylor Hicks exists. Randy and Simon exchange glances like "YOU did this". Paula is sleeping.

I would take Taylor Hicks over Fantasia, and I mean that in more ways than one.

I usually just fast forward to the end of the results show. You all have made it quite clear that I should make an exception and watch the entire results show this time.

No, not the entire thing. 40 minutes of it is the "homecoming" and "journey" pre-recorded segments for the 3 contestants. Fantasia performed in the first 10-15 minutes, I think. You only need about 30-45 seconds to get the general idea.

From one of the blogs:


ETA: I’m hearing that David Archuleta has won the coin toss filmed post-show tonight. The winner gets to chose whether to perform first or second in next week’s finale. He’s chosen to perform second–he’s got the pimp spot. Archie will have the last performance of finale night.

I just hope that instead of some gag-inducing, contest-winning "song," they force both finalists to sing "Welcome to the Boomtown"

I loved Simon's face during Fantasia's performance. I could almost hear him saying, "What the hell was that?" I think I can safely say that the Idol stage has never seen a performance like that before, and I hope it never sees another one like it.

That few seconds where it cut to the shot of Simon with his mouth hanging open I thought my tv turned into a mirror. We were making the exact same face.

I like Fantasia's music, for the most part.

That said, last night's performance was not good. Very energetic, but the song and hair were horrible. It was a bad choice for American Idol. I'm surprised they let her sing that song.

Seems like she's taking the entertainer route instead of the singer route with her career.

HALLELUJAH!


From an article about Fox's 2008-09 schedule:

"Fox executives said they were disappointed with the ratings declines for "American Idol" this season, and will cut back the Wednesday results show to 30 minutes."

Smart move. Maybe they will wise up and make the top 5 an hour and a half as well. :)

I don't know, it worked out great for us last night. We watched Criminal Minds, then, just as they started rolling credits, we switched over to Fox.

There were the Davids and Syesha standing, holding hands, and the first thing out of Seacrest's mouth was the announcement of Archie 2008 as the first finalist.

Sounds like I didn't miss much with Fantasia.

Idol Wednesday is a lot better if you wait until 9:57 to tune in.

You sir, could not be more wrong.

If you don't currently watch this show, you're missing out big-time.

Actually The Soup is watchable for the first time since Greg Kinnear hosted Talk Soup. I wouldn't call it missing out big time, but it is certainly not like jabbing a hot poker into your eye to watch like it used to be.

+100. My wife actually saw me doing that, and had laughed at my reaction, which broke the spell and I started laughing too. Then we saw Simon and both about lost it. I was afraid we were going to wake the kids up laughing so hard.

Echo the Greg Kinnear comment, he was entertaining. I think the past couple of seasons have really been good though.

I liked John Henson also as the host.

+1

The Soup? I assume that's the former Talk Soup? I haven't watched that show since the early 90s. That's like suggesting I should check out Real World.

Now they just need to cut it down to 5 minutes and everything will be peachy.

Yeah let's hope that the final song is actually written for a guy this time. There's nothing more embarrasing than watching a finalist sing the "single" that was obviously chosen for the other person.

We'll see who the producers want to win based on whether this single is a schmaltzy ballad or a rock song.

No we won't. It will be a schmaltzy ballad. It has been every year.

Yeah, a couple weeks ago, I linked to an EW review of all 20 songs. None were considered good, and only a couple really were given any chance of being decent choices.

Blake definantly got screwed last season

Simon was on the Tonight Show last night and said Fantasia’s performance last Wednesday was like one of those joke first-round auditions. Ha!

All of this spoiler info courtesy of MJ's Big Blog:

Here's something I've often wondered.

How much do the performances tonight really matter? Don't you guys feel like maybe 5-10% of the votes are actually "up for grabs"? That if no one botches it it really goes to whomever has built the biggest audience?

Probably X% of votes are relatively new people tuning in for the finale, or part-timers who don't usually vote but might in this instance, or maybe long-timers who are only voting because it's the finale. And then you have to figure a number of Syesha voters will still vote, too. But I have no clue what percentage of the overall number "new" or "3rd place finishers" votes will be.

What we do know is that the total number of votes for the finales is usually huge (at least reported that way). The last two weeks - if we believe them - they've gone over 50 million votes, when before the votes were typically in the low 30 million range. What we don't know is how many people that is - it could be the same nutjobs furiously dialing/texting for 2 hours, or it could be a legit large percentage of new voters.

In short...who knows!

So it's no different than a presidential election? :)

I bet Obama is a better singer than Clinton or McCain. Although he might sing too many Archuletish Disney songs of hope.

Dammit, you stole my post. Joel is freakin' awesome...

I almost made that comparison actually.

I'm here to fill in your blanks. :)

Keep Luke Menard in your prayers. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease this week..

Every time Archuletta gets praise he looks like somebody just told him he won a billion dollars and gets to have sex with a different hot girl every day for the rest of his life.

It's the same exact look that Doolittle had last season. At some point, learn to accept a compliment, people.

I thought Archuleta sounded very nervous and out-of-control during his first performance. I also thought he didn't have the power required for the big part of the song. He seemed to be pressing very hard trying to be as big as he needed to be. I made all of these comments to my wife as soon as he finished. Her jaw dropped and said it was amazing and I have crap in my ears (or words to that effect). I said well let's hear if the judges agree with me or you.

Well, I lost that battle, but I stand by my opinion. I don't really expect Archie to get a fair shake around here or especially on OOTP boards, but what did you guys think?

As for Cook's first, god I hate U2 and that song is one of the worst. So boring. Cook did nothing with it but set it out there and let it flop around like a dying fish. Whatever.

Nice, Cook. 3rd song easily his best of the night. Nice nice.

Ya.. I don't necessarily agree with Simon to pull out Billie Jean or Hello again. You set a bar so, why try to replicate.