mountaineer musings

waahaaa! spidade, you were right!!

ok, so they changed the age limit on American Idol to 28!!
which makes me eligible!!

sooooooo.... should i do it?
peeps who have heard me sing, should i give it a shot??

come on, Kenneth whose name isn't really Kenneth, pipe in, i need to know! Perbo?? Shelbo?? Boy?????
Boy, it would be awful to compete against you and i'd totally get my butt kicked by those fabulous pipes, but i'd still adore you and promise not to hold a grudge!!

ok, must calm down now. very excited.

oh, i also need to know, would you musees still love me if i ended up on AI?

just some notes from the finale

Simon -- leaping lizards, this man looked H.O.T. tonight. rraaaarrr. and i LOVE it when he smiles. woo, i have such a crush on him!!

Ryan -- still a cutie, and looks great tonight.
Randy subdued, yay!
Clay, oh how i adore him.
Paula looks pretty, as always.
Kimberly Caldwell, easy on the eyeliner, you look like a lady of the night!

i wish Kelly would do something different with her hair. and she needs to put some clothes on!! and that's the only song on her CD that i really can't bear to listen to, but i like this arrangement of it. they should have done that on the record.

grrrr -- matt rodgers. booooo.
blah -- leah labelle and jasmine.
yay, Jennifer and Latoya and Amy!
all my fellas are back, too! george and jon sounded good tonight.

say, if Ruben would have sung like that at the end of last season instead of getting lazy, i would have bought his CD. instead, i bought Clay's, because he cares about the fans.

Diana's last song -- 1 bad note, a lot of strain, still good. just not my American Idol.
Fantasia's last song -- outstanding.
the duet -- i love that song. love diana's dress, though it's a bit immodest in the shoulder area... cute duet.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! America, we got one right. hip hip hooray for 'Tasia!!
and i'm crying. hooray for tears.

and then there were two

ok, i love both of these ladies, so it's not such a no-brainer this week. having said that, unless Fantasia sounds like Jasmine tonight, i'll have a hard time not voting for her. i don't think either of them won't get a contract, so no worries there. since i don't have that as a factor, i'm voting for 'Tasia, baby!!

Diana Degarmo - song #1: she looks great, and the entire song was great until the very end; the last note was awful. clarification for people who don't listen -- Simon wasn't insulting Diana, he was insulting the song, saying that only a 50-year old could get away with it. song #2: Enough is Enough -- at first, i was thinking they sing 2 songs, and i was wondering why she chose that song for her show-stopper. but after i realized it was 3, it was suddenly better! she does great with those songs, the fast-pumping dance songs, and she was great with this one. song #3: oh, yes, this is her show-stopper, and when she did it before, it was her best performance yet. tonight she did have one off-key note that came out of nowhere, but she still kicked it back into high gear. Simon was right, yet again, and it was better the first time. she's still awesome.

1866-IDOLS-01, 03, 05. if you can't get through on one and you want to vote for her, try the other numbers.

Fantasia Barrino - she looks great, sounds wonderful. first song was really understated, and i -- WHAT??? -- i agree with Randy?? the arrangement wasn't so good, and the band was too boring. and what Simon meant by the song being a complete mess (if i'm speaking for Simon) was that it was disjointed and didn't work. song #2: reprise of Summertime from Porgy & Bess. the first time she sang this song, i was in awe of her. i have to say, i think i liked it better the first time, but the fact that she reminds me about her doing this song just might clinch the vote for me; it was still absolutely amazing, so since i liked it better before, it must have brought me to tears or something. song #3: right now, this vote is Fantasia's to lose, so we'll see (hear)... ok, she's nailing this song, fabulous, wonderful -- eek, bad note there near the end. i don't know if it's her sudden change in tone, her facial expressions, what. but she consistently gives me chills. bravo bravo bravo. sorry, but she kicked Diana's butt on this song. and i'm getting all teary! i love Simon, have i mentioned that?

1866-IDOLS-02,04,06. keep trying, as will i!!

just a side-wonder... why in the world must i look at Matt Rogers again?? boo.
oh, and i love Ryan. but not nearly as much as i love that stud-muffin Simon.

well, that's more like it

this is the top 2 that i was hoping for. yay!!!!

ok, you lazy AI watchers

if you don't want your ears to hurt next week, pick up the phones and vote tonight. vote as many times as you can.

1866-IDOLS-02 for Fantasia, who wins hands down.
1866-IDOLS-03 for Diana, who is off tonight, but what?? you want Jasmine back?? are you deaf?? [UPDATE: Diana's last song was the best of the night, she was amazing. She deserves to be in the final, and you all know it.]

vote for BOTH of these so that we're not tortured next week. PLEASE PLEASE. vote for FANTASIA AND DIANA.

btw, simon is great. every time he speaks tonight, i agree with him. i loved when he told Fantasia it was the worst thing he'd ever heard so she could get some sympathy votes. and did you see him wink at her after her 1st song?? how adorable was that??

in other news, who is that? Clive Griffin? [UPDATE: Clive Davis] i dunno, but he's a fine guest judge, as he actually criticizes.
and Paula -- still nothing useful to say.
Randy's vocabulary includes the words "yeah", "da bomb", "props" and "aight".

no one's raining on her parade...

... but i might have a stinkin' breakdown!!

you have GOT to be kidding me. this is the biggest AI travesty since Matt Rogers made it to the top 12, since Jennifer Hudson went home early, since EVERY SINGLE WEEK THAT JASMINE CONTINUES IN THE COMPETITION.

this time is not my fault, i really did try to vote last night more than once and couldn't get through, even close to midnight.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

i'm not so much crying that Latoya got sent home, because i was thinking Diana/Fantasia in the top 2, but seriously. there is NO reason for her to leave this week, when "pitchy" Jasmine is still around. ugh.

don't get me wrong, she (Jasmine) is very sweet, i'm sure she's a nice person, but she doesn't have 3/4 of Latoya's talent, and i'm SO TIRED of ugly cutoff parachute pants!!! i don't know, maybe i'm just prejudiced against Old Navy poster girl clothes. bah.

why why why AI?

why, AI, must you torture me?
Barry Manilow
Gloria Estefan
Big Band
DISCO
what's next, the -- eek -- 80s?

YOU
ARE
KILLING
ME

bring back Quentin, please.

what a classy kid

i just watched the results show for AI, and wow am i impressed. jon stevens is going home tonight, and he's just so classy about it. he's been so mature and poised every week. simon was dead-on accurate last night when he said that jon takes criticism better than any of them, just like a man, and when he learned he was going home, he took that with such class, too. and the other contestants seemed genuinely sad to see him go, especially diana, how cute!

anyway, good luck to the sweet, classy MAN jon stevens.

AI, don't make me boycott you

ok, i respect Gloria Estefan, i think she's a sweet person and very talented, but wow, i am beaten down by her music. so not only do i have to endure Jasmine in the unbelievable absence of Jennifer Hudson (wah!! why didn't i vote??), but i have to follow up listening to Barry Manilow's worst tunes (Mandy notwithstanding) by listening to Gloria Estefan's stuff. it's not her fault that i don't like her music, it was excruciatingly overplayed in the 80s & 90s. i do think it's cool that the Miami Sound Machine showed up, but i'm already annoyed by Gloria being a guest judge. "i'm going to leave the judging up to the judges, they do a great job" or something like that. um, Gloria, do you even WATCH the show?? Simon is the only judge worth his salt, even though he had an off week last week.

Fantasia 01 - oh no!! i agree with Randy Jackson, i can't believe it!! but all is not lost, i also agree with Simon, so he's back!! the dancing was great, i loved the outfit and her spunk. but i hate that song (not her fault, though she did pick it), and she really was unexciting, vocally. VOTE FOR HER ANYWAY, WE KNOW WHO NEEDS TO GO HOME!! PLEASE VOTE!! I PROMISE I WILL TOO!!

MAN-I-LOWthe tonight's theme

i like Barry Manilow just fine, but did they have to pick all of the most boring Manilow songs in the history of the world? please take it up a notch... 1-866-IDOLSXX

01 Diana - she kind of bored me tonight. you know why? she's finally listening to Simon and dressing older. she LOOKED OLD, SIMON! what have you done to her? and how did you think that was her best performance yet? it was BORING.

02 George - i want the old George back. the George that came out to sing every night... don't break my heart and pull a Ruben & get lazy or i'll be ranting next week. i still love you, George, but you need to crank it back up.

03 Jennifer - started out a little bland, but moved straight in to awesome. you rock, girl!

[number withheld] Jasmine - it was boring. what's the matter with Simon tonight? is he starstruck by Barry? she does NOTHING for me.

05 Latoya - what power she has in that tiny frame! i was hoping for her to wail I Write the Songs, but she was wonderful.

06 Jon - Randy still a fraud, Paula still has no opinions. Simon?? what is wrong? this was his best of the competition. whatever Barry taught him worked.

07 Fantasia - she's got it all tonight (again). charisma, connection, VOICE, presence, spirit, style, grace, fantasm!!