Simmering Hope

What a night! I had a revelation when I realized why I was watching the show so relaxed. Because I did not have to worry about Danny Gokey being pimped out by everybody and even worse, about him winning.

Simon got dressed up. Well, sort of speaking. Considering that he was not wearing his regular t-shirt, everything else qualifies as ‘dressed up’ in my opinion.
Randy looked weird, Kara looked scared – probably in anticipation of the finalists singing her composition- and Paula was a dream in green. A little bit too much tan, but otherwise she was all right. That until she started babbling. But nothing new under the sun. I love Paula, as silly as she sounds sometimes. OK, most of the time.

A pleasant surprise: I saw Sir Anthony Hopkins in the audience. And Katie Holmes and Suri.
An unpleasant surprise: Ryan’s idiotic comment ‘The guy next door vs. The guyliner’. But why did I say ‘unpleasant’? it’s not like we are not used already with Ryan’s stupid remarks.

Now let’s review the songs. First song was picked by finalists. Second was handed down to them by Simon Fuller – the producer of the show, and the third one was Kara’s composition, the same for both of them. Probably to level the field somehow.

Adam
Because Kris won the coin flipping contest, he chose the second position. Note: I guess he was just a visionary for what is to come, right? Anyway, strategically speaking, in normal circumstances it’s better to be the second one in the competition hoping to leave the last impression that will be good enough to secure you the victory. But these are not normal circumstances, because you have Adam as opponent. A good, strong and very talented one.

Kris
He just rubs me the wrong way, regardless what he’s doing. His wife unit was as ugly as usual, even if she was dressed up. Some guys on various forums made the comment that she is already history.

That being said, here were the songs for Adam along with my rating:
1. Mad World- Very Good
2. A Change is Gonna Come- Brilliant
3. No Boundaries- Good (sucky song)

Songs for Kris along with my rating:
1. Ain’t No Sunshine- Brilliant
2. What’s Going On- Good
3. No Boundaries- Bad

Simon nailed it again while talking about Kara’s composition ‘No Boundaries’: “I’m not going to judge that song”. As in… it was bad. Seriously, it was. Kris could not reach the high notes even if he used a ladder. On top of that he seemed to have forgotten the lyrics at some point.
Kara tried to help… stick a knife into Kris’s back, by saying that he should not be judged for that particular performance, as in’ it sounded like crap, man!, but you tried your best honey’.

Who should win?
Adam- hands down.
He is a roundup artist, nice and humble, graciously giving thanks to the band that helped him during the competition, politely listening to judges’ comments without making that ‘yeah, yeah, shut up already’ face as I have seen more than I would have liked, even on Kris.
He is awesome and I would agree with Paula: he is iconic. He has an aura of good energy around him and he remained true to himself from the beginning to the end.

I am not going to watch the show tonight because I can’t stand Carrie Underwood. I never liked her, never will. She is above annoying. And honestly the outcome it does not really matter anymore. Adam has a wonderful career ahead regardless what the result will be tonight. And I don’t really care about Kris. He is going to fade into obscurity because he is not bringing anything special.

Let’s start with a recap of yesterday’s performances (Note: I am still upset over Allison’s elimination):

Danny
Song picked up by Paula: ‘Dance little sister’ by Terence Trent D’Arby
Second song was Danny’s choice: ‘You are so beautiful’ by Joe Cocker

I had to try to like him but I failed. I did not like any of the songs. Second one sounded better than the first one, but this is all I could say positive about Danny. I still find him annoying and still believe that he does not deserve to be in the top three. I will not buy his CD for sure.

Kris
Song picked up by Kara and Randy: ‘Apologize’ by One Republic
Kris’s choice for the second song: ‘Heartless’ by Kanye West

Now, this is what I call a nice surprise. I had mixed feelings about Kris and at times found him boring. True, not annoying as Danny is to me, but without much spark. Everything changed yesterday and I can see him now as the dark horse of the competition.
That being said, I must admit not being familiar with any of the songs. But I really liked the acoustic guitar version of ‘Heartless’.
Randy made an interesting comment saying that he liked Kris’s version more than the original version. So, I did my homework and looked for the original one. And the verdict is…. Kris was better indeed.
Judge for yourself.

Heartless by Kenye West

Heartless by Kris Allen

It was entertaining to watch Simon bashing Kara and Randy over their whining regarding Kris’s lack of imagination while interpreting the first song. As in being too close to the original. Simon said something along this line ‘You can’t blame him; you picked up the song without getting involved furthermore in the arrangement’. Should I say again that I really like Simon?

Adam
Song picked up by Simon: ‘One’ by U2
Adam’s choice: ‘Cryin” by Aerosmith

Simon gloated over his request addressed directly to Bono (U2) to give permission for the song to be sang in the competition. Naturally Bono accepted, especially because it was to be sang by Adam. As much as I like Simon, I disliked this particular comment. I wonder is U2 is in dire need of publicity?
Moving one to my comments: Adam was Adam. And that pretty much is a summary of what happened. ‘Cryin’ is my favorite Aerosmith’s song and I would rather prefer the original version.

I like Adam because he is true to himself and always polite and pretty humble. Huge difference between him and Danny, who should take some lessons in how to be a little bit more humble.

Predictions:
Tight competition between Kris and Danny to secure the second position. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Danny goes home. If not, I would not bother watching the final show because it would not matter. It was bad enough that his fan base won over Allison’s one, to watch him another week is something I can’t stand.
I hope as well that people won’t assume that Adam is safe and still vote for him, although I does not really matter. He has a brilliant career in front of him with or without winning this competition.

Update: Kris and Adam are in the final!!!

We are approaching the end of the current season, with most of our favorite shows on their season finale going to be seen next week.
How many of them are going to return in the Fall?
If you want to see which ones are safe and which ones have been cancelled, please check the list, courtesy of Vancouver Sun.
I am happy to see that my favorite shows are safe. Namely: NCIS, Fringe, The Mentalist, The Amazing Race and House.

SAFE
The Amazing Race
American Dad
American Idol
America’s Next Top Model
Being Erica
The Big Bang Theory
The Biggest Loser
Bones
The Border
Brothers & Sisters
Criminal Minds
CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York
Dancing with the Stars
Deal or No Deal
Desperate Housewives
Dragon’s Den
Family Guy
Flashpoint
Friday Night Lights
Fringe
Ghost Whisperer
Gossip Girl
Grey’s Anatomy
Heartland
Hell’s Kitchen
Heroes
House
How I Met Your Mother
Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU
Lie to Me
Little Mosque on the Prairie
Lost
The Mentalist
NCIS
90210
Numb3rs
The Office
One Tree Hill
Private Practice
Rick Mercer Report
The Simpsons
Smallville
Supernatural
Survivor
30 Rock
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Til Death
The Tudors
24
Ugly Betty

STILL NOT SURE
Castle
Chuck
Cold Case
Cupid
Gary Unmarried
In the Motherhood
Medium
The New Adventures of Old Christine
Parks and Recreation
Privileged
Rules of Engagement
Samantha Who
Scrubs
Southland
Surviving Suburbia
The Unusuals
The Unit

CANCELLED OR ABOUT TO BE
According to Jim
Boston Legal
Crusoe
Dirty Sexy Money
Do Not Disturb
Dollhouse
Eli Stone
Eleventh Hour
ER
Everybody Hates Chris
The Ex-List
Kath & Kim
King of the Hill
Kings
Knight Rider
Life
Life on Mars
Lipstick Jungle
My Name is Earl
My Own Worst Enemy
Prison Break
Pushing Daisies
Reaper
Sit Down, Shut Up
Sophie
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Wild Roses
Worst Week

Oh boy! What a night yesterday was.
Maybe I should start with a recap of performances.

Adam
Started the show being his usual bubbling personality. He sang Zeppelin. All right I would rather say. He is the most obvious winner of American Idol ever.
Allison
Being the rock week I had high expectations from her. I could have bet that she would sing Janice Joplin and so she did. But unfortunately it was not a stellar performance. I still keep my fingers crossed for her. I really want to see her in final two.
Kris
He is so freaking boring. He is kind of cute, but not excessively and I don’t believe he has a big fan base, mostly because he is a newly wed and parading his not pretty wife unit almost on every show. And his ‘Come Together’ choice was NOT a smart one.
Danny
Time to go home Danny! His performance was absolutely, by far, the most ridiculous one. He picked up ‘Dream On’ and struggled with the song from the beginning to the awful scream at the end.
What a joke!!!

Duets: Adam and Allison: brilliant. And as per Simon’s comment: it may have saved Allison for another week.
Kris and Danny: unpleasant (that to be polite)

Predictions:
Safe: Adam
On the go: the rest of them
Danny has a huge fan base (I wonder why?? I guess all the pimping from the judges paid off) and he may be saved, although he does not deserve it. Based on that I would say that Allison and Kris are the candidates for elimination, with Kris going home.
I would like so much to see Danny go home. He gets on my nerves.

Update: Allison went home.
I hoped she would have been saved for another week, but her young age and the fact that Danny has that huge, undeserved fan base sealed the deal. I am surprised that Kris is still in the competition.
Oh well, let’s hope for the best to win. Namely Adam.

A recap from yesterday:

- Kris: the dark horse of the group was pretty good. I am still not sure if he has the material to be The Idol.
- Allison: she is my favorite. I like her voice and I keep my fingers crossed that Simon was wrong on his ‘horrible feeling’ that she may be in trouble. I would say that her performance could have been better, but on the other hand, she landed on the bottom three when she did sing very well. So… let’s hope for the best.
- Danny: now, this guy is really getting on my nerves. I liked him in the beginning up to the moment the judges started pimping him out. Geez! that was annoying. OK, so the guy lost his wife, let’s get over our sympathy and admit that he is boring. Sure, his voice is all right for a while, but after that it’s just a raspy voice. And don’t get me started on his smirk. Get rid of that ridiculous smirk Danny!!!!
- Matt: he was all right yesterday; not over the moon for his performance, but still much better than other nights. In all honesty, he should be eliminated today. He does not have a voice to remember or to make you buy his CD.
- Adam: I am on the fence regarding Adam. Sometimes I like his creativity, other times he gets on my nerves with his falsetto. I would like to hear a song without the screeching and the tongue hanging out. Not a nice image. He has talent but sometimes his arrangements are more to shock than to please. That being said, he is talented and creative, hands down.

About judges:
More often than not I am looking forward to hearing Simon’s comments. And so are the contestants. He is witty and most of the time down to earth. But yesterday he was a little bit off, especially with regards to Allison.
Paula- I love her. She is such a nice person but because she does not feel comfortable saying anything bad about a performance, she is not taken seriously.
Randy and Kara- they are whatever. Kara seems to be biased. Maybe all of them are.

In conclusion: tonight we should say farewell to Matt if we are to be objective.
As well, for the weeks to come I would like to see the guys leaving in the following order:
- Kris
- Danny

Adam and Allison top two.

I will be surprised to see Allison winning. Based on the info leaked on the net a few days ago, Adam has already the biggest number of downloads.