Wow - I suck at this (part II)

So, it's been a freakishly long time, once again, since I wrote on this blog. 

It's not like nothing has happened or anything in the past few months since Idol ended. I have been busy! I took a few summer classes to prep for grad school this fall (journalism - woot!) and I've been writing for a newspaper called The Post. Because we can't post our material written for that paper on our own blogs, you'll just have to go check it out for  yourself... 

http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/

I have been to the movies a few times this summer... haven't been wowed by anything in awhile, though. I am looking forward to seeing Funny People this weekend - big fan of Apatow and company... glad they included Aussie Eric Bana in the mix :) He was a stand-up comedian before he scared the crap out of everyone with his brilliant performance in Chopper.

I am also very much looking forward to Julie & Julia... Amy Adams and Meryl Streep covet two slots on my "Favorite actresses" list, and it'll be great to see them in another movie together... though they never actually share the screen this time around. Their dynamic was great in Doubt, but this time around, they each have their own half of the film to carry. I'm obsessed with cooking shows, so a movie about cooking will probably send me over the edge :) 

What else, what else?

Comic-Con went down last weekend. Even though I never actually attended a Comic-Con, I love watching clips online and reading EW's coverage of the event. I am so excited for a lot of the projects they covered this year!!! (I'm such a dork)

So, the Big Lots store in our area has had DVDs on sale for $3, so naturally I bought about 20 or so... they are stacked in a high pile next to the crates that house the other hundred+ movies/TV on DVD that I already had, not including the hundreds of DVDs/TV on DVD that I have in a binder... which is sitting in its own crate across the room from where I'm sitting right now. I couldn't help it!

So far I've only been watching the extra material on the movies I have already seen before. I watched bits and pieces from Superman Returns, Liberty Heights, How to Lose a Lover and Good Night and Good Luck. (BTW - George Clooney and Grant Heslov's commentary was AWESOME!!!! Made me appreciate the movie even more!!) I bought some movies I hadn't seen before, but haven't had the time to watch them yet. I got a boxed set of most of Stanley Kubrick's movies... I'm not a fan of his thus far, but I will give his stuff another chance. I'm also looking forward to watching the original King Kong. I was not a fan of Peter Jackson's version, or the one w/Jeff Bridges (swoon), so hopefully the original lives up to all the hype!

Even though Idol is over (and this is a movie blog), I probably will be writing about Season 8 one more time next month, as I will be seeing the Top 10 in concert on August 25th. Even though it's been a couple months, Idol has still been in the news b/c of all the contract drama w/the judges and Seacrest. I just saw a headline a couple minutes ago that says Kara will be back to judge this season... that pisses me off. They best keep Paula around, then, if we're going to be stuck with Kara. Paula is a more important part of the show - she has been there since the beginning. Kara has judged one season, and while I was on her side at first, she quickly lost my favor as the season progressed.

Don't take away Paula... sure she doesn't make sense half the time, but she's a necessity for the viewers and contestants. If I sang crappy, I would want her to be there to say something positive about my outfit and gently let me down. I hope the Idol executives man up and give Paula the money she deserves and keep her on the show.

Anyway, enough about the judges... bring on the Top 10! Less than a month until I'm at the concert. I will let you all know how that goes down... maybe post a couple pictures? I will be screaming like an idiot, I can picture it already!

I hope you are having a fabulous summer and that you are enjoying the few good movies that have been popping up here and there... (Side note - I can't wait for (500) Days of Summer to finally open somewhere near me! )

Happy movie watching!!

AI - Who should win??

This will be a short post, as I need to head to work very soon, but I just want to comment that last night's Idol Top 2 show was BORING like WHOA.

Adam and Kris both gave solid performances on songs they already gave solid performances on this season, no surprise there. In round 2, they were given socially conscious songs from AI producer - and both did fine.

And then came round 3... where both Adam and Kris sang the same Piece of CRAP song co-written by Kara DioGuardi... holy hell, I didn't think it was possible to fit that many cliches into one song, but brava Miss Crazy Judge, you mananged to do it AND think that your song was good. (Here's a small hint - it was not a good song... maybe even the worst Winner's song EVER on Idol... yep, even worse than "This is My Now").

I was hoping for so much more in a Top 2 show, but hopefully tonight's results show will kick butt. I will be honest - I voted for Kris. I didn't get through as many times as I hoped, but I did vote for him and sincerely want him to win. It's not that I think Adam doesn't deserve to win, because he does, I just think Kris would benefit more from winning. Adam is going to be fine and will be a performer until they have to pry that black nailpolish and eye-liner off of his cute self.

It was a great Idol season... and I look forward to seeing the Top 10 on tour this summer :)

Happy Idoling :)

American Idol Top 3 - 3 contestants, but only 2 songs apiece...

I know this is a movie blog, but truth be told, folks, I haven't seen very many good movies lately. The last movie I saw in theaters was Wolverine and that was a big ol' POS. I have liked all of the prior X-Men films, but this one reeked of horrendousness. There was a lack of plot, and what plot we were given had ginormous holes in it. I wanted more of the Hobbit, but alas. And now they've green lighted (green lit?) a movie about Ryan Reynold's character? WTF? I shan't be seeing that... I am officially giving up on the X-Men franchise (sorry, Magneto, I won't be seeing your opus either).

I'm hoping to see Star Trek sometime in the next week to re-boot my interest in movies that are currently in theaters. But until then, there is AMERICAN IDOL!!!

So, remember last season when the Top 3 sang 3 songs apiece - I miss that. Hell, the Top 5 last year sang 2 songs apiece... seems like the economy has effected our music on television. Downsizing sadness!

On last night's show, the judges picked a song for each contestant, and then he got to pick a song of his own. Danny Gokey went first and sang the tune that Paula selected for him - "Dance Little Sister" by Terrence Trent D'Arby . This was the only song of the whole evening that I didn't know prior to being performed and because Danny pretty much Gokey-shouted the whole thing, I didn't really catch many of the lyrics (sorry Danny!). I am a big Danny Gokey fan, but I was not a huge fan of this performance, and I agreed with Simon - I would not have had that saxophone guy there at all! He was so big and his sax was so small (and it didn't sound very good to boot) that it was distracting from Danny's performance.

The rocket science team of Randy and Kara picked One Republic's "Apologize" for Kris... which was sang by David Archuleta and One Republic at last year's finale. Kris sat behind the piano and did a competent copy performance of the original. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't the kind of "moment" he needed right then. It was nice to see him behind a piano - he's certainly shown that he is, in fact, a musician and not just a singer. Again, I agreed with Simon when he called Kara's complaint about Kris's lack of original arrangement a "cop out". Yes, in weeks past, Kris has made some really great original arrangements of his songs and he didn't with that song last night, but it's not fair of Kara to judge his performance on his lack of originality. She helped pick the song, so she had no right to quash his performance because of his lack of originality of the song. He sang fine - it's a singing competition. Kara needs to shut her mouth and not come back to Idol next season. There already isn't enough time devoted to the contestants singing and she's the fourth judge - during auditions she brought something to the table but the past couple months her comments haven't really been super constructive for anyone. I wish we could vote her off the show.

Anyways, back to the contestants, because that's who the show is for. Adam sang Simon's choice, U2's "One". I am not a fan of U2 (yep, I just wrote that) and I thought Adam's performance was a bit self-indulgent (as most of his performances are), but he still did a solid job. Adam hasn't butchered any songs this season, and although he's been pitchy at times, his performances still out-rank everyone else's because of his stage presence and his ridiculous range. He is being pimped by everyone to win this season, so right now everyone else is just singing for second place. Adam even got his own cover of Entertainment Weekly... two weeks prior to the finale of AI. He hasn't even won yet and he's already a cover boy! That's gotta make everyone else feel a little salty, right?

I like when the contestants get to pick their own songs because they can sing any genre and pick whatever song they want (so long as it gets cleared - I know the legal side of it). Danny Gokey chose to sing Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and really made it work. For one, he didn't shout the entire song and instead gave a soft and very, very controlled vocal which was really tender and beautiful. He even looked like he was crying a bit towards the end of his own song. Either he or Kris is going home on tonight's results show and Gokey left his heart and song out there on the stage. He was worthy of being in the Top 3 and would make a good contender in the Top 2 as well. Gokey proved to be one of the most likable contestants on Idol and I thought he did a great job with this performance.

Kris surprised me with his acoustic take on Kanye West's "Heartless". Props to you, Kris Allen, your guitar-only rendition of "Heartless" completely kicked the crap out of Kanye's version (both the radio version and Kanye's weird performance of it on the show a few weeks ago). I totally dug it - so chill, on pitch, just brilliant. I bet Kara ji**ed in her pants during Kris's epic solo because of how "original" it was. Kris deserves to be in the Top 2 as well... hell, I think he actually deserves to win this season. I like Adam, but Kris came out of Idol obscurity to make it this far, I think he can go all the way. He wasn't shown really in any of the audition footage, then somehow made it into the Top 13 with an only okay performance of "Man in the Mirror", but has proved himself worthy of the title of American Idol. And I also like that he has been so humble the whole season... last week when it was announced first that he was saved, he genuinely looked shocked. Yeah Kris Allen. Whether you win or lose, you are an American Idol because you seem like you actually enjoy the music and are not in it for the fame and fortune.

Adam closed the night with Aerosmith's "Cryin'" and this was not his best performance, but I blame whoever that off-pitch backup singer was... Holy hell, was that irritating every time she completely landed on the wrong note... and then it seemed like her mic was up too high because he voice over-powered Adam's at times. (Blasphemous!) Adam worked the mic/stage like this was the grand finale to the Adam Show... and in a way it was. Everyone has been saying for weeks that he's going to win. That was nice of him to say that he felt lucky to be in competition with Danny and Kris, but on the inside, he is probably jumping for joy that he's been getting non-stop praise and attention. Who wouldn't? He's loved by millions and millions of people for his crazy awesome range, his bigger than life personality, and his commanding stage presence. I thought it was wise that Simon took everyone in the audience down a peg during the Adam love-fest and reminded people to actually vote for him.

Wouldn't that be a pisser/the biggest Idol shock EVER if Adam was not in the Top 2 this year? Danny's the only one who's never been in the Bottom 2 this season... I'm just throwing that out there. I think the Top 2 should be Kris and Adam, but an Adam/Danny or Danny/Kris finale would be fine by me too. Right now they are all winners regardless of who actually takes the title. It's not like if you win you will be more successful than other contestants. Just compare Daughtry and Taylor Hicks's record sales... I have both of their albums, so I contributed evenly to that comparison, but Hicks finished first and got dropped by his label, while Daughtry had one of the biggest selling records of 2007 and has a highly anticipated album coming out this summer. Winning isn't everything when it comes to Idol. So, yeah, Adam is projected to win this season, but how long is he going to last? Longevity is key. Good luck to Danny, Kris and Adam - it's going to be an interesting results show tonight, for sure.

American Idol Top 4 - Rock, Tight Pants, Screams...

A moment of silence for last week's voting off of my favorite contestant this season, Matt Giraud. 

*sigh*

But this week the theme was "Rock" for our Top 4 contestants... a very, very broad genre which resulted in an interesting, and at times horrifying, performance show.

Adam Lambert kicked off the show with his rendition of Led Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love". Now, I am not familiar with Led Zepplin music, so I had nothing to compare this version to, but I like Adam's performance. I liked that he had his "rock outfit" on - complete with loads of guyliner. He had his stank face on, really getting into it and interacting with the guitar player. I must admit, the man is comfortable on the stage and that ease only enhances his performance each week. I think this was the Adam I was hoping to see all season. Another solid vocal. Of course.

Allison followed up with her own strong performance of Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby", but there was no way she was going to get better judge's remarks than Adam. That's just not humanly possible at this point in the competition. Allison gave it her all, though I would have liked to her her version of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love". For only being 17, Allison is a strong competitor and a brave young woman for getting on that stage each week and proving that she does deserve to be there among her older male peers. Props to Allison for saying that she didn't want to sing "Piece of My Heart" because it's been done so many times on the show... the voice of reason!!!!

The next song was a duet of "Renegade" from Kris Allen and Danny Gokey. Not one of my favorite Styx songs, but I was so excited to see/hear duets from the Idols last night!!! I thought Kris and Danny complemented each other very well during the harmonies, but when they sang their little solos here and there, they felt lacking. If they would have selected a song that fit them better they would have been amazing. Too bad they got upstaged later by the Rock God/dess combination of Adam and Allison.

Kris and Danny's solo performances followed their duet and both guys sang songs that were sung last season of Idol. (Come on, guys, pick new material!)

Despite the judge's harsh comments about Kris, I actually really dug his take on the Beatles "Come Together". Carly Smithson sang a rockin' version last season but I enjoyed Kris's "man-with-guitar-who-also-sings-out-of-the-side-of-his-mouth" performance. Kris is not a rock guy the way Adam is a rock guy, so it was nice to see him not try to make himself into the type of artist he could never be. Kris stuck with what he knew, and I liked it. I still think he's the only one of the four left right now who is contemporary and unique enough to be on the radio right now. 

And then there was Danny Gokey... oh Lord, Danny Gokey. So, remember last season when Michael Johns sang "Dream On" from Aerosmith and then got the boot from the show? I have a feeling this year will be a repeat of that. Danny, like Kris, is not a rock singer. Gokey, unlike Kris, decided to take on one of the most well known rock songs from one of the biggest rock groups ever. And boy, did that risk not help his cause... You know how at the end of that song, there is that big, long scream? Well, Danny's entire performance was off pitch and then when he attempted to hit that final note, the strobe lights started flashing and the camera was at such an angle on Gokey that it looked like he was possessed, or being riddled with bullets (which is how my ears felt). And it pains me to write that, as I love Danny Gokey, but DAMN SON, that was one of the worst song choices ever made on American Idol.

To close the show, Adam and Allison did their duet of "Slow Ride" and rocked the stage, of course. There's no way to ignore the wardrobe changes - Adam was wearing the tightest pants I've seen seen on a man since high school (I believe we referred to those as "nut crunchers"). Vocally, though, Adam and Allison are a perfect match for each other and for once Randy/Kara/Paula were right - they should do duets on each other's albums because everything about their performance just worked. Unlike Danny and Kris's performance, where they just kind of stood next to each other and held their mic stands like they were trying to be badasses (which Danny Gokey should never, ever do again), Adam and Allison interacted with each other and played off of each other. 

Simon was probably right - Allison's duet with Adam might save her from being voted off this week. That leaves Danny or Kris to get kicked off tonight. As much as I hate to say it, but I think Danny should go home. His performance was just not good (though in his defense, he is not a rock person... but maybe he could have tried to make a rock song his own?) and I think Kris really didn't deserve the harsh comments he got last night.

Regardless who goes home, the Top 3 will be solid because everyone left in the competition is awesome and could easily have won prior seasons.

Happy Idoling!!!!

American Idol Top 5 - Anything but Standard

So this week's American Idol theme was songs from the Rat Pack era. I was looking on the Idol forum this past week to see what other fans thought of the theme and one person asked "What the hell is Rat Pack?"

Ignorant youth.

I am sometimes ashamed of my demographic... though I am only 25, I sure as hell know who the Rat Pack were and the music that spawned from their peer group. I have a Frank Sinatra CD in my car at all times - music from that era is AMAZING. Solid songs that punch you in the gut with emotion... how I love me some standards!

I was beyond happy when I heard the theme was Rat Pack and was keeping my fingers crossed that Matt Giraud would hit a homerun with a genre that seemed to be right up his alley.

Even though I was disappointed that all the contestants only sang one song apiece, it was a great night for Idol. Even mentor Jamie Foxx (who I'm not a huge fan of) contributed some thoughtful and helpful advice to our Top 5. 

Kris Allen started the night off right with his own little take on "The Way You Look Tonight". That's a great song on its own, and Kris's arrangement was all right. He started it off nice and slow - good diction. He picked up the tempo near the end which got mixed reviews in our household (I dug it, my sister did not). I really think Kris has a shot at the Top 3... he could even win the whole thing. No one this season is really out for blood when it comes to winning... none of the winners have ever had huge egos anyway... To me, those who set out saying "I am the best, I am winning this and I will mow you down in my path" never win this competition. This is why I think everybody that's left has s decent shot at continuing on in hopes of becoming American Idol.

Another contestant who lacks major ego is Allison Iraheta. She sang a very Allison rendition of "Someone to Watch Over Me". I liked how Jamie Foxx recognized that she's too young to really be in love in the way the song suggests, but instead to make the love in the song more relatable for everyone in the audience. Allison always gives a solid/on pitch vocal, but unlike Kris, her diction is usually horrible. Some vocal coach needs to help her with her pronunciation - she butchers the beginnings and endings of words. I love her voice, but it's a good thing I usually know all the words to the song she's singing, or I would be confused.

Matt Giraud tackled "My Funny Valentine" - a song Melinda Doolittle KILLED two seasons ago. Matt's version was good (a couple pitch issues here and there), and though I really liked it, I feel I would have loved it if we were treated to a longer version of the song... a minute and a half does not do most of these songs justice. I'm glad Simon gave Matt a positive critique - Matt did connect with the song, his runs/phrasing was good and you could tell he really connected with the style of this genre. I feel like he still deserves to be in the competition and called non-stop for the full two hours. He's a relevant artist and I really would like to see him hang around for another week or so at least.

I was worried for Danny Gokey this week... but he brought it home with his version of "Come Ran or Come Shine". His performance started off a bit bland, but he took it to white people church in the latter half of the song and really got into it. He took a lesson from the David Archuletta school of microphone holding and was really shaking the heck out of his mic as he scrunched his face up and gave a truly soulful spin on the end of his number. I like Danny Gokey a lot - his voice is great and he just seems like a genuinely nice guy. I hope he makes it another week.

My pick to go home this week is Adam Lambert (even though more than likely he will not be heading home). I'm soooooo over Adam. I know I've gushed about him in a couple previous posts, but I will no longer gush for his predictable/theatrical/faux-personality performances. The boy can sing, there is no denying that, but I want my next American Idol to be genuine and musically relevant and sing the kind of music that plays on weekly Top 40 countdowns on the radio. Don't get me wrong, I looooooove theatrical singing - showtunes are great and I listen to Broadway music almost every day, but it doesn't play well on the radio. Showtunes are great if you've seen a performance because then you can imagine the live performance every time you hear the song from then on out... That's how Adam's music is. He's a performer - his songs are meant to be seen while they are being heard. But I also still feel like he is hiding who he is from the whole of America (well, at least the viewers who have yet to see any of his stuff that's posted on youtube). Tonight he sang "It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day" (not sure if that's the title, but that's how the chorus starts) and since it was his non-ballad week, he did the version of the song that they did on this season of Eli Stone instead of the traditional standard version of it. And he hit some crazy high notes and held one of them for a crazy long time. At this point in the competition, that's a YAWN INDUCING performance from Adam. And yet the judges keep praising him... Kara WhatsHerName looked like she "Ji**ed in Her Pants" after his performance.

The judges are a whole other story... Randy is a broken record ("Yo, dawg, you can SING!"), Kara is as crazy as Paula with her crazy critiques and Paula's critiques sound sooooo over rehearsed. The only judge worth listening to is Simon. Please Simon, don't leave the Idol... you are the only saving grace when it comes to the judging panel. If/when Simon leaves Idol, Idol will be done for. Mark my words. 

So, I'm hoping Adam gets the boot tonight to make way for Matt, Kris and Danny/Allison. I have a feeling, though, that Danny, Allison and Matt will be the Bottom 3.

Hopefully next week, each contestant will get to perform 2 songs... after all, this is a singing competition :)

P.S. Yes, I am looking forward to seeing Taylor Hicks perform tomorrow night on the Results show... Soul Patrol! (Totally saw him in concert 2 years ago...)

AI Top 7 (again) - The Donna Summer Story

I was actually looking forward to disco week because I like/know a bunch of disco songs and I was hoping for a Lil trainwreck. 

Idol didn't run over this week thanks to lack of a mentor and pre-packaged segments. I didn't mind that they didn't have any Idol Spirit-Guides this week, but I love the pre-packaged segments because it's the only time we, the audience, get to see the personalities of the Idols when they aren't singing/doing those Ford video shoots. So, props to Idol for staying within their hour limit this week, but bring back the pre-packaged segments!

Lil started off the show this week with a less than inspired rendition of "I'm Every Woman", a song that has been done on Idol before by other (better) female contestants. This performance was not an original spin on this iconic disco track and featured Lil strutting around stage in a black jumpsuit singing her little heart out. It wasn't a horrible vocal performance, but it wasn't interesting either. For once Kara was right - Lil has been "every woman" on that stage but herself. And once again, Lil tried to defend herself by saying she had fun... yeah, that's nice, but this is a singing competition... you need to sing well and entertain your audience too. I have fun when I sing that song when I play American Idol on my Wii... does that mean I deserve to be on the show too? Nope. Please, America, let this be Lil's last week.

Kris Allen chose "She Works Hard for Her Money" (Donna Summer Track #1 of the evening) and worked it out! He took another very popular song, but mixed it up, Kris-style. He had his little guitar and Jason Mrazed the song, though out of the side of his mouth. Great arrangement. Kris has the ability to do what Lil cannot - he takes very, very popular songs, but sings them in a style all his own instead of karaoking a carbon copy of the original. (Take notes, Lil) Kris has grown on me these past few weeks and I hope he's around for a few more.

Danny Gokey brought us the Elements - Earth, Wind & Fire - with his *almost* White-People-Church rendition of "September". Not one of my favorite songs, but he worked it out, Gokey-style. There was some awkward dancing, some interactions with the back-up singers, and a whole bunch of Gokey-shouting of the lyrics. I don't even know how to best describe his "singing" voice... don't get me wrong, I love the tone of Gokey's voice when he performs, but doesn't it always sound like his voice is escaping through his throat by clawing/frantically scrapping its way through his vocal chords? I like Danny... I don't think he is going to win, but I like him enough to hope he's around for another week :)

Allison Iraheta brought us Donna Summer Track #2 with "Hot Stuff". Every time I hear this song, I am reminded of the movie "The Full Monty"... admit it, you do too. I actually agreed with Randy and thought the arrangement was self-indulgent, but I still dug it. Props to Allison for singing a version of the song that fits her vocal stylings instead of sticking with the up-tempo original (again, Lil take note!). Allison is another contestant who I like a lot, and she stands out as someone who had a clear idea of who she was before the competition and seems to have carried that with her throughout the run of the show. She's never compromised her image or genre of choice to try and placate anybody.

Adam Lambert continued his every other week routine of Crazy song/reserved performance by bringing us a stripped down version of "If I Can't Have You". It was good, but I was secretly hoping that he was going to rip off his suit half way through the song and be in a bedazzled shirt and bell bottoms and disco it up for the back half of the song. Alas, that did not happen. I still love Adam Lambert, but I'm not buying into it as much as I once did. He's an actor, folks, so of course he's going to be able to look all pained and sad when he's singing "If I can't have you, I don't want nobody baby". I took acting classes for three years, I'm sure I could make myself cry/have that "I love you and need you so much, I feel like I'm going to throw up" look on my face while singing that song too. I just wish he would be himself during a performance, instead of some sort of character that he thinks the public wants to see. I've seen some of his other performances on youtube... and I thought he was great. Idol is a singing competition... I just think Adam is keeping it too PC and not really showing us who he is.

When Ryan announced that Matt Giraud was going to be singing "Staying Alive", I cringed. When Matt actually started to sing "Staying Alive," I was pleasantly surprised. For most of the song, he was on pitch and looking like he was having a good time... looking very, very Justin Timberlake in his little hat and tie/coat combo. Matt put his own soulful vibe into a Bee Gees classic and I actually dug it... but then he hit a couple crunchy notes when he went up into his falsetto right at the end. He seems to do this with every song, and that's sort of disappointing. I love Matt Giraud (like, enough to call 1-866-IDOLS-06 last night for an hour and a half and vote for him), but I wish he didn't use his falsetto in every single performance. The judges used their save on Matt last week and I think his performance was good enough to warrant him at least one more week in the competition. But, if he is around for another week, he's going to need to pick the perfect song and nail it 100% if he wants to stick around any longer. There are a lot of talented people this season and I think Matt is one of the more marketable contestants... he just needs to make good song choices and not botch his high notes.

The show ended with Anoop Desai (sporting a horrible trash-stache) singing Donna Summer song #3, "Dim the Lights". This was the only song I was not familiar with from the whole show, and I was not impressed. From just his outfit alone, I knew Anoop was going to sing a ballad (btw - I am a fan of pink, but I thought Anoop would have been better served if he chose either the sweater/tie combo OR the suit... the combination of the two was fashion overkill). I like Anoop. I like Ballads. I'm getting a little tired of Anoop Ballads, though :( I understand that ballads are his niche, but he's been playing it super safe the past few weeks and I am ready for Anoop to go home. Nothing personal, but there are some really great singers this season, and pretty soon, really great singers are going to be sent home to make way for an Adam Lambert and _________________ finale.

So, I am predicting/hoping that Lil and Anoop are this week's Idol casualties. It's getting down to crunch time, and there is no way either of these two singers are going to win the competition, so it's better to let them down gently now than string them along for another couple weeks. Plus, I don't want Lil to make it to when each contestant sings two songs... that's twice as many harsh comments from the judges that she doesn't want to hear, trust me.

I wonder what next week's theme will be? Hopefully something way awesome like last year's Neil Diamond week :) 

Thank you, American Idol judges, for not ruining Season 8 for me

Tonight marks the second time I've screamed at my television so loudly that I've gone hoarse (the 1st time was when Sean Penn won the Oscar over Mickey Rourke, therefore causing me to tie instead of win this year's Academy Awards predictions). But more on that in a bit...

Let's rewind to last night's American Idol Top 7 performance show, shall we?

The theme was movie night... and I do love the cinema :)

Allison started the night off okay with an all right rendition of "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" from Armageddon. This song has been done a few times before on Idol and Allison put her little stamp on it. It wasn't one of her best performances, but it certainly wasn't one of her worst.

Anoop decided to stick with his monster ballads and serenaded us with "Everything I Do (I Do It For You) from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (oh Kevin Costner...). But I digress. He gave a solid performance and even had a dramatic pause near the end. Good, not great, but good.

Adam gave a rousing performance of "Born to Be Wild" from Easy Rider. Not one of my favorite songs, but he rocked the beJesus out of it, as per usual. I like how he does a wild rock song one week, then slows it down with a ballad or simple song the next week, then turns it back up to 11 the following week. The boy is a performance genius. I loved the strobe lights, his dancing, his interaction with the band... everything. I've said it before and I'll say it again, J'adore Adam Lambert. Snaps to you, sir. Snaps to you.

Matt Giraud (swoon) sang "Have You Every Really Loved a Woman?" from Don Juan DeMarco (um, hello? Johnny Depp circa 1995... also swoon). Matt hit some crunchy notes, and I mean *crunchy*. Cringe-worthy crunchy notes. But his entire performance wasn't bad, just a couple bum notes here and there. I instantly worried that he would be in the Bottom 3, so I did my part and called... lots of times. (BTW - loved his outfit)

Danny Gokey sang "Endless Love" from Endless Love. I was not a fan of his arrangement, even though I got what he was trying to do. I wish he didn't shout-sing so much... tone it down a bit, Ghokey, and keep those glasses on! I love his voice, but it's a bit harsh sounding for some of the quieter moments in songs. At least he didn't sing "Against All Odds". :)

Kris had the bravest song choice of the night, singing "Falling Slowly" from the brilliant Irish film, Once. Such an amazing song, but I was a bit worried for him as probably a lot of people weren't familiar with his selection. I wish he would have played his guitar, or at least had his duet partner within frame (or split screened) as he sang... it is a duet, and not being able to see the background vocalist was a bit eerie for me. He was also a bit pitchy.

And then there was Lil... singing "The Rose" from The Rose. In her pre-packaged segment, she was singing a very gospelled-up 2nd half of the song and there was hope that she was going to take that song and us on a gospel journey. Well, we were promised a trip to Church and never even made it out of the driveway. Lil is boring and has been giving us boring performances ever since she's been in the Top 13. That girl needs to figure out who she is as an artist and then let the rest of us in on it. I'm sick of her karaoke performances every week. I wanted her to get voted off so bad this week...

Which brings us to tonight's Results Show.

Musical guest Jennifer Hudson sang really well (of course), but please don't ever let Miley Cyrus sing on American Idol ever again. They shouldn't have people sing on the show who would never make it through to the Top 10 if they were normal people and auditioned... Enough with Miley already, geez Louise. 

Throughout the show, we learned the bottom 3 were Anoop, Lil and Matt. Anoop didn't deserve to be there, but all of the people who were safe really have a better chance at winning the whole thing, so by default, he was in the Bottom 3. At least he can have peace of mind that he wasn't in the Bottom 2 this week... that fell to Lil and Matt, and rightly so.

Before it was announced who the person with the least votes was, Ryan asked Simon if the Judge's Save would be put in play tonight and Simon said that he was thinking about it for one of them, but it might surprise that person. I was very much hoping he was talking about Matt Giraud, but we wouldn't find that out until after the commercial break (cue Idol music).

And there they were, Lil and Matt. You could tell that Matt thought he was the one with the least amount of votes and was not surprised with Ryan revealed that Lil was safe (ugh).

So, it Idol's biggest act of humiliation this season, Matt Giruad had to re-sing "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" in front of the judges (sans piano) and try to convince them that he deserves their one judge's save.

And sing Matt did. I thought he did a better performance tonight than last night. He still his some super crunchy notes, but for the most part, he held his own. As he finished his song, the Idol crowd and my sister and I (who were watching from our living room) were all shouting "Save Him! Save Him!" When it came time for the judges to say whether they would save Matt or not, Simon commented that Matt did better last night... but that it was good news.

And *that's* when I started screaming at my television like an idiot. The judges used their one save for my favorite contestant this season, Matt Giraud.  :)  Smiles galore, folks.

This means that two contestants are going home next week. I'm hoping those contestants are Lil and Anoop (sorry Anoop). The theme for the next show is Disco... if Matt picks the right song, he could set himself back on track to making it to the Top 4, easily. I'm just really glad they decided to give him another chance... first with the Wild Card slot, then with the Judge's Save... come on Giraud, work it out!

So, I am a happy Idol watcher, knowing I have at least another week of iTunes downloads from Giraud... 

Do you think he still deserves to be there?