Midnight Train to Doolittle-ville

I must agree with Diva 2 -- a surprisingly dull night by the Idol girls, with the mistakes and pitch problems outnumbering the vneck sweaters in Simon's closet by a mile. Indeed, the only thing not surprising about tonight is that -- once again -- Lakisha and Melinda came ready to play. They are secure in their song choices and original in their arrangements and a pure joy to watch.

For Diva 1, Gina Glocksen and Jordin were close seconds. I don't think Gina gets near enough credit for having an interesting voice and making fairly good song choices. And I love that Jordin is not nearly as annoying as Paris was last year, one almost forgets she's 17.

Sabrina would have made it in, but was Diva 1 the ONLY one who thought she was exceedingly pitchy? And that her top didn't fit properly in the chest area? Stephanie was almost there too, except for me it was too much like watching a young Mary J. Blige wear Joan Collins nightgown and karoake to a Beyonce tune. And I must be telling the truth, because its hard for Diva 1 to admit she was nearly very good when all the world knows that Diva 1 abhors the Beyonce.

As for the rest, Antonella must join Sanjaya in the "say buh-bye" circle. Tragic outfit, tragic song -- the poor girl who was sobbing in the elevator after discovering Barbarella made it through to the 24 over her must be sitting at home tearing her hair out. She is our Kellie Pickler of '07.

Same goes for Farrah Fawcett -- aka the disaster, I mean, dixie chick. Abysmal. Does anyone else wish she'd sing Styx's Come Fly Away in tribute to her hair??

And Leslie Hunt -- well she should hunt a little more in the closet for something that resembles a straight jacket so we don't have to watch her flail around.

I do feel for Haylie 'The Bodyguard' Scarnato. It must be so hard to break out of the wedding singer mode. I actually thought the singing wasn't so bad, but the performance was distracting. (Ironically, for me, since its late, The Bodyguard is on TBS!)

All in all, sign me...
Disappointed Diva 1


Technorati Tags: american-idol, american idol, american idol, idol, 17 Divas,
melinda doolittle, lakisha, antonella barba, leslie hunt

American Idol Girls Take 2

The woman continue their dominance over the guys on american idol. Stephanie, Lakisha, Belinda, Sabrina and Jordin are tops in my book. What I dont like is this stupid dedication week theme. It's nice b/c you get to know a bit about them but playing such emotional footage right before they sing is just unfair. competition or not. I think the "home footage" should be saved for seperate segments and not a prelude to a performance.

Was I the only one screaming "NO WAY" when Ryan Seacrest announced that Antonella would be doing Celine? OMG, I howled. As Diva 2 said in prior post - have these 6th season contestants LEARNED NOTHING? from watching 5 years of this? Antonella was walking on thin ice coming into tonite's show, and that just sunk her to the bottom of the river! Not to mention, what's her name (don't know them all yet) doing the Dixie Chicks Grammy winning song, "not ready to make nice". Unless you can sing like Lakisha you should not be choosing grammy winning songs!

Next on my poo-poo list is wedding singer, Haley Scarnoto. The crimped hair was cheezy, the song choice was lame and the armpit shots were far too many! If she or Antonella are not gone next week I will be shocked. Even dog walker, Leslie, was better I thought.

ok, nuf said. Diva4 out the door

Technorati Tags: american-idol, american idol, antonella barba, leslie hunt

A night of yawns and chills (the icky chills, not the good Idol chills)

Long time no blog! But, what can I say, American Idol just brings out my urges to wax poetic and/or rant uncontrollably! Yes, divas, it is the swollen-with-child Diva!

What is up this season? These contestants have had five seasons to study and learn what works and what doesn't. And yet...here we are, watching the biggest yawn-fest yet. At the very least, does no one remember the sad fate of poor Bobby Bennett, who sang Copa for his dead grandma last season?? Learn from the mistakes of past Idols, oh young ones, (yes, Sanjaya, I'm talking to YOU), if your dead grandparent would love it, America probably won't.

Ok, ok, maybe I'm being harsh, I did get a few moments of joy last week watching the girls. But the boys??? Even this week, there's no other way to say it- they sucked. They were WORLDS better than last week, but overall, they still sucked.

My take on the evening:

I was most impressed with curly-haired Chris and the return of Sundance! Was I the only one so shallow as to be shocked beyond belief by Chris's hottie of a wife??? His performance wasn't one of those great "Idol Moments"- but after last week, it was enough.
And Sundance! I'm glad he was given a second and third chance to prove himself, because there's something special about this guy. Which is a helluva lot more than I can say about most of the other contestants. He also gets credit for not falling into the trap of picking a bad song to go along with the dedication theme.
Who else? Who else? This is how snooze-worthy these guys are, I have to struggle to recall who even sang! Beat Box Boy was solid again. I look forward to seeing what he's capable of. I don't really like beat boxing, but, I'll give him credit, his performances have been very good.
Also not a fan of A.J., but major props to him for really giving it his all last night and doing a great job. The judges gave him a raw deal, though. He totally kicked ass last night, and they didn't give him enough credit for it.


The yawns: I'm in total agreement with the judges and my earlier Diva on Nick. His voice has an incredible tone, but I'm tired of waiting for him to get himself together. He tried this last year, studied how to get back on, and for what?? Did he even THINK about what to do once he made the top 24?? Great song choice last night, but it fell flat, he lacked all passion- which is all that song is about. And when Simon is commenting on a man's clothes AND everyone agrees, you've got problems.
Jared. DH thinks he will stick around due to the Ace Young Factor (ie, he's hot), but I'm not so sure. Should I be worried that my husband has a stronger opinion than I do on which guys are hot??
More yawns for the boy bander with the Geek song. I was pretty in sync with the judges last night, but I didn't get the raves on this one.
And I can't believe it, but I have to admit, my early fave, Brandon, was a bit snooze-inducing last night, too. I hope he stays another week and finds himself. But I did enjoy Simon mocking him, he deserved it. Oh, and see the aforementioned dead-grandparent rule.

The chills: Phil "I'm liking you less and less" Stacy- 5 seconds in, I turned to DH and yawned, saying "karaoke- good karaoke, but still just karaoke." Not 2 minutes later, Simon said the same thing- great minds think alike. Nice voice, but boring, and I'm finding him oddly creepy.
And, of course, the biggest creep factor of all Idol time goes to Sanjaya. What the hell was that?? This took bad song choice to another level. Again, I was psychotically linked to a judge on this one- I told DH this performance was like some freaky high school talent show audition. But Simon was even more right, it was like some horrible embarrassing child-on-display thing. Just awful and scary. Is he, um, "special"??? Or do he and his sister share a brain, and it was her turn last night? Is she trying to sabotage him for making it this far??

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tonight. But overall, I'm really shocked by the not-specialness of so many of the contestants. The girls had some stand-outs last week, but let's not forget we also had Amy, Haley, Nicole and Leslie all try to put us to sleep. Antonella sucked so much, but at least she was MEMORABLE!!

Ok, I'm going to go have some Indian food and hope it puts me in a more hopeful Idol mood!

Swollen Diva- OUT!

Technorati Tags: american idol, idol, 17 Divas,
simon, sanjaya, sundance, idol guys, american-idol

Idol Men Round 2

alright, so the guys were a bit better than when they performed for the first time, ironically enough, on National Pancake day - flat all around!

for me, my four fave guys are cotter, richardson, stacey and beat-boxer. sundance is good too, but for me,dawg, he started singing this week and I got up to stir my boiling pasta. Chris Richardson just plain entertains me. If I can only get past the motion sickness I feel everytime he sings I think it'll be ok. he's just too cute. it's like if he was on a the late show they'd show what a baby would look like if JT and Eminem were to reproduce -- i think , ya got yourself a Chris Richardson.

Sanjaya - I think the entire DIVA camp is at the same fireside on this one - HOW did he make the top 4 guys last week? WHAT was that performance he gave this week? Are we CERTAIN his sister WASN't the better singer? AND, was he CHANNELing his sister in that song this week? IF he Doesn't get cut all Divas might stage a protest!

On an aside, I keep having flashes of Jared Cotter and Phil STacey in a men's swimsuit calendar. A premonition? perhaps.

DIVA 4 out. oh, but before I do, what's with the potential scandal shots of Antonella?

Technorati Tags: american idol, idol, reality tv,
simon, sanjaya, idol season 6, idol guys, american idol, american-idol

(Sun) Dancin' with the Geek in the Pink

Oh my! Diva 1, home from another long day at the office, was pleased to find that a few of the boys tonight threw down strong tracks to try and make you forget that it was all about the women last week.

Chris Richardson did his Big Mama proud, and our Beat Boxin' Boy Bander proved that -- regardless of the rest of the noise that comes out of his mouth, the boy can sing. And Sundance Head closed it out with a great vocal of a fun song that sounded original and proved he can sing without turning red (come on, I KNOW you all expected him to sing Elton John's Levi after he cried over the kid so Mustang Sally was a fresh choice!).

Diva 1 has to agree that the judges, for the most part, got it right with respect to the other hopefuls: (1) Phil 'Navy' Stacey: great voice, but he needs to learn how to bring it right out of the box, and pick slightly better songs. And wear the hat. (2) Jared Cotter: again, great voice, and better song choice, but I'll take Simon one further -- it was like watching Gopher sing in the Love Boat Lounge. And seemed to be one step away from moving into non-PG territory. Sharp suit though! (3) Nick 'Vote for' Pedro: Diva 1 LOVED the song choice, and loved the sultry vocals. But I'm not sure he broke a sweat, let alone was impassioned and aflame with Fever. He needs to crack open the cookie to find the fortune beneath.

As for the rest: (1) Chris 'Funny Guy' Sligh: better song choice, but I didn't think the vocal was that stunning. (2) Brandon Whats'-his-name. That song was SO forgettable, I seriously can't remember his name. Frustrating, b/c Diva 1 senses there might be some talent underneath. Its a toss-up whether he or AJ secures one of the ousted spots.

Last, and definitely the very least, Sanjaya. Weird weird weird. I'm not sure he was even singing. I'm not sure he's not actually the sister. I still can't believe he was one of the top 4 vote getters. He must go, and he must go now! If he doesn't, Diva 1 may be hanging up her DVR... At least on Tuesdays...


Technorati Tags: american idol, idol, tv,
simon, simon cowell, idol season 6, idol guys, american-idol, american idol

To The Pain ...

Who doesn't remember the infamous battle cry of Wesley, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, in The Princess Bride? To the pain means to completely disfigure your enemy BUT FOR their perfect ears so they can hear the hideous cries that surround them. And this is precisely how I feel after watching tonight's mind-numbing 2 hour debut of the gentleman idols.

I may be getting older (and wiser, and more beautiful) but I can't remember a more boring evening of song. It was like a VH1 80s retrospective, only without the funny celebrity cameos and bubble quotes that make those shows watchable. While Idol usually benefits from older contestants, who make seasoned song choices that suit their voices and temperaments, I am now in favor of invoking "theme week" that much earlier. Michael Jackson? Luther Vandross? Stevie Wonder? There were so many BAD song choices that the women could all sing nursery rhymes and still look more "hip" and "with it" than the boys did. (Bonus points to whomever noted the fact that the Dawg's mis-reference to Edwin McCain ended up being, in fact, the last song of the night.)

Diva 1's rundown for "best" of the pack? Beatboxing boy-bander Blake Lewis. Great song AND he can sing. Although I recommend he lose the Anthony Michael Hall wardrobe. Second place tie to Nick ("Vote for") Pedro and Phil Stacey. Love the tone of Nick's voice and at least his song choice played to it. I snoozed through the first 30 seconds of Phil and the 10 pans to his wife, but was wowed when he started belting. But he needs to keep the hat to balance the eyebrows. Rounding out the top for Diva 1? AJ Tabaldo, Sundance, and seconds 50-110 of Jared Cotter.

Who's going? I think Sanjaya and Rudy are out this week.

As for the rest, is Diva 1 the only one who thinks Paul Kim looks like he's 35 and that JT-2 looks EXACTLY like his dad???

Until tomorrow, sign me Diva 1 (aka Simon Jr.)


Technorati Tags: american idol, idol, tv,
simon, simon cowell, idol guys night, phil stacey, blake lewis, american-idol

Other Door, The American Idol Mantra

okay, so American Idols new season has kicked off to a painful few weeks of wrong notes, wrong keys, wrong pitch and just plain wrong EVERYTHING!

This seasons Idol is even featuring a wrong door!

Last nights' show featured a 5 minute montage of contestants trying to escape the audition room through the wrong door. and what we mean by wrong - is - it simply doesnt open, it's locked and you have to push the door next to the wrong door to get out.

The fact that this mishap happened so often they made a montage from it leads me, and anyone with a brain, to ask a basic question...for a show that employs college grads (i'm thinkin), and likely has plenty of low-life interns around (i can say that cause i used to be a tv intern) didn't anyone think to make a sign to eliminate this repeated scenario a couple gazillion times? All that would be required is paper, pen, tape to put a sign on the wrong door so people would use the right door.

Honestly i would have handed a promotion for the genius who could have spared me the montage and the wasted energy of Simon, Paula and Randy constantly having to recite, "other door."

Hey, maybe "other door" will win this season of idol....it's gotta have a better voice than the bulk of what we've heard so far!

D4

Technorati Tags: american-idol, american idol, idol, other door,
simon randy and paula, tv, fox