The whole point is to do the song "as your own," not necessarily in the original style, nor in the style of someone who covered it. The choice isn't "perform this like you are Michael Jackson, or perform it like this other guy who covered it." An original artist would take it and somehow make it original to them, to their best ability. I don't want to hear someone doing a pale copy of Billie Jean just because the song was from 1983. Ans his only other choice wasn't to do the Cornell version of it. He could have done - less sucessfully, I imagine -a "David Cook" version.

I'd plow her and her little chicken legs.

I choose helicopter blade. It's more exciting than she is. That probably goes for the hotel fire, too.

Yeah, she's supposed to be 24 or 25 years old, but she looks 35. Everything she sings sounds the same. That's apparently her style, but there's no energy. The one time I actually saw her move was during that Beatles train wreck a couple of weeks ago. If I want to watch an old woman sit still and sing something slowly, I'll invite Rue McClanahan over to my house again. At least she can tell me funny Estelle Getty stories, and she'll watch R-rated movies with me.

I can understand getting sick of Brooke. She has a niche, and it's not for everyone, particularly AI viewers and Kathy Griffin fans. That's why I've been saying that she has no chance of winning, and that she should probably leave the competition fairly soon.

So many words, so little understanding.

:( :( :(

Also, post more Brooke White pictures plz.

Oh and your execution method was a fine choice. I agree with helicopter blade being pretty rad*

*yep. rad.

I guess my point is that Chris Cornell didn't do the song in 1983. While I understand that the song is from 1983, that version wasn't. The show allows him to do that, and that's fine. It irked me, though. Admittedly, I probably wouldn't complain if I actually liked that newer version.

To me, at least if I apply some kind of warped Pumpy logic to it, if you're supposed to do a song from 1983, you should do something that at least resembles the version that was done in 1983.

Really, I get it. I just don't like it.

But wouldn't that just require them to sing the song as-is, and doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole competition? It's not about who can do the best imitation. I understand where you're coming from, but that would change the nature of the competition.

I don't know. All the contestants are singing other people's songs. They don't necessarily have to be imitations. I guess my issue is almost turning to semantics. It's like "Here's David Cook imitating a 2006 cover of a 1983 song!" If he's going to imitate a song anyway, why not imitate a 1983 version of something?

Ultimately, though, I just didn't like the song.

HE'S NOT AN EFFEMINATE BLACK MAN

THEN SING SOMETHING ELSE

HE LIKES SINGING BLACK PEOPLE SONGS

I'M GOING TO DO A RAP VERSION OF "HUNGRY EYES"

Make sure it's a 1988 rap version.

Brooke White's mom was the hottest person on AI last night

I thought Carly's mom looked better than Carly does...

Brooke's mom is cute for an old chick. Carly's mom is a straight-up MILF.

Even though I have been reading along, that (Cook's Billie Jean) was the first AI clip I have seen all season. Got to say that was really good.

from Jim's review


except they don't allow real lighters anymore, just these stupid little flashlight things that looks like a lighter.

Reminds me of the old days when someone, in every concert, would bring out a flamethrower.

I wish I could take all of the words Paula uses and wants to say and rescramble them into fluid, complete sentences for her to say live.

-This is just from the Youtube vid posted on Page 18, but EVERY review EVERY week is the same butchered mess of English! To channel my inner black woman, lord have mercy.

Paula: I'm blown away. I can't sit down because I've got to tell you.......... how smart you are. How brave you are, and how willing you are, to stretch the boundaries. And you do it, right to the edge without going over. I think you're brilliant, and I think you can... beat this.

Ok typing that out that didn't seem too bad. Maybe I should type it like how I feel she sends it:

Paula: Im blone away! I cant sit down bcuz I got 2 tell u how smart u r! How brave u r, & how willing u r 2 stretch the boundardies! & u do it rite to the edge w/o going over! I think u r brillant & I think u can beat this!

Ramiele obviously has the power of her people behind her. To not even be bottom 3 after that mess, in a week that was above average, is troubling (to the people who should stick around longer than her).

Meh. It all works out in the wash. It's like Sanjaya last year. Some people just get some vote-happy niche...but niches get overwhelmed eventually when you're dealing with a shrinking group and increasing voting population.

Concur though that Ramiele was the easy choice for dumping, just like last week and, well, the week before really - but that's equating the show with a singing or talent contest as opposed to a popularity contest.

Yeah, but there's no buzz about her at ALL. The best thing anyone's been able to say about her is that she's cute or, if you have a thing for Asian chicks, "hot." And performance-wise, best comment she usually gets is "forgettable." That's why it's somewhat surprising. Sanjaya makes sense because of all the attention he got. But you're right, eventually she'll be gone - just not as early as she should.

Ramiele is "bonable"

Like I said, never underestimate the Filipino voting bloc. My countrymen are going to keep on voting for her regardless of her performance.

Top-5, and maybe even Top-3, that's when the Filipino voting power fades due to it being a sheer numbers game by then.

Looking at the finish in Season 3, I guess I forgot how far Jasmine Trias went - top 3. Wow! That was the year Jennifer Hudson went out at top 7. Maybe Ramiele is good for top 5/6 after all - you may be right. Still, I have to think she needs to wow somebody at some point to get that far. But maybe not.

I just keep thinking of her as Davidson or W. Kentucky. Not sure how she keeps hanging around with the big boys, but it's always fun to watch her try.

Season 3 was an odd year and, in my opinion, the least talented cast.

If I recall correctly, they had a lot of very odd themes that season. Actually, looking it up, they had a three week streak of Barry Manilow, Gloria Estefan, and "Big Band." Those are three pretty specialized types of sounds that don't translate well to all artists and, I would guess, screwed over some of the contestants, as they were generally boring themes and didn't match some of the singers very well. For example, Jennifer Hudson went out after singing a Barry Manilow song that I have never heard of before ("Weekend in New England").

Looking at the wikipedia page, that was a wierd run for her (Jennifer Hudson). She was in the bottom 2 for 2 out of 3 weeks, then got the highest vote total for a week (didn't know they released that), then after that was in the top 3 for votes, and then was eliminated.

They've given out varying info about votes over the years - never specific order or anything, but they have given us top 2 or 3 and bottom 2 or 3, at times. This is part of the reason I half-jokingly believe in a TPTB conspiracy to sway voting patterns. I don't think they mess with anything to affects the outcome (i.e., claiming one person was voted out when someone else actually got the least amount of votes), but I don't put it past them to mix up the bottom 3 for their own purposes.

Like last week when Carly was in the bottom 3, one of the blogs that watches this kind of stuff closely made the point that at no time did Ryan link the voting with who made the bottom 3. I believe Amanda got booted, but I'm willing to doubt whether Carly was one of the 3 lowest vote-getters. And of course the outcome this week was obvious - even with lukewarm judges' receptions, she was not in the bottom 3.

I'm not trying to argue here, but I've seen this idea come up in the past, and I still don't get it. If they're not talking about number of votes, what could they possibly mean by "bottom three"? If they are manipulating things and playing word games, so be it. Clearly, they want us to infer that the "bottom three" got the least amount of votes. I'm just trying to figure out how they can say "bottom three" and mean something besides that. A little help here?

Well as long as they don't say something like "these three got the lowest votes", they can mean anything. Bottom 3 according to the Producer? Probably... even if the implication is lowest 3 votes.

Exactly.

Here's some awesome news. Finally, a musical guest I won't skip past.


The Clark Brothers are the musical guests for next week’s Top 9 Results Show. They were the winners of the Next Great American Band. If you guys haven’t heard them yet, you are in for a treat. These boys are fierce. The brothers album, Walk This Way, drops in June.

I was really hoping we could be rid of Castro.

who

Clark W. Grizwald.

Are they related to the Naked Brothers Band?

Do not mock the Clark Brothers. Run a youtube search on "Clark Brothers" and "Gimme Shelter"

if they're not naked, why bother

I posted one of their videos in this thread after Archuleta sang Imagine to demonstrate what I thought to be a true heartfelt performance, in comparison to his kind of performance.

The more Archuletta kept saying he loves that song the more it made me LOL.

Each time he talks the more I keep thinking he's a really weird dude.

Don't bother with the Naked Brothers Band, they're not really naked either.

No kidding. I'm not exaggerating when I say that song is one of the most vile things I've ever heard. The lyrics, the bizarre ballady/up-tempo mix, the synth-driven (especially the original, now that I've heard it) 80s throwaway music...it sounds like a spoof song written by the South Park guys (like the Montage song), except it's completely serious. I think his love of that song says more about why I can't like him than I could possibly express in words.

Yeah, at least the Clark Brothers aren't misleading.

The really are covered in Clark bars?

Apparently there are stories going around that his dad has been a real piece of work during rehearsals, and (assuming that is true) it seems to me that Archuleta has a bad case of Stage Parent. Over-sheltered, over-protected, and over-pressured is no way to go through life, son.

This is from last week on TMZ:

Jeff Archuleta -- Stage Dad From Hell
Posted Mar 19th 2008 4:00PM by TMZ Staff
David Archuleta's dad, Jeff, is a piece of work.

Sources close to "Star Search" tell TMZ that when David was a contestant back in the day, Jeff's behavior was so bad, he was eventually barred from the lot! The guards actually had a picture of Jeff's mug hanging in the guard shack in case he tried sneaking in.

We're also told the father of the year harassed Tiffany Evans, his "Star Search" rival, lurking outside her practices, even trying to coerce her into drinking milk before a show to ruin her voice. She didn't listen (obviously) and went on to win.

Sources also tell us Daddy Dearest sometimes screamed at his son and has even withheld water during rehearsals, even bringing his son to tears.

As far as "Idol" goes, we hear papa's wrath is still in full blossom. That might explain why Jeff, who normally sits in the audience, was replaced by other family members last week.

dola...

David Archuleta reminds me of every home schooled kid I grew up with: nice enough, genuinely friendly, seems like a genuinely good kid, but completely socially inept and enormously dorky.

This isn't a bad thing, mind you. Dorky tends to be a side-effect of being allowed to immerse oneself deeply into a topic of interest. For Archuleta, that topic is musical performance. But mind-bogglingly dorky nonetheless.

His dad needs to take his fucking hat off when he is indoors.

You're worried about his hat?

You wear a merkin to work and you're stressed about his hat?