American Idol Gives Back-

I didn't say more about this last night for several reasons- personal and otherwise. But, it has come to my attention that I gave this amazing two hours of television short shrift.

Let's start by saying how fun it was to see entertainers from so many different venues take part in this effort. It was also amazing to see the personal investment of the Idol cast (Judges and Seacrest). It was an emotional rollercoaster between the powerful segments about where the money will go and the humorous and entertaining pieces provided by so many entertainers.

I appreciated seeing a different side of Simon Cowell- the segment from Africa and how moved he was by that experience brought tears to my eyes.

I thought the (shock) ending was overblown and unnecessary. I hope this event becomes a regular staple of the show into the future.

My computer is giving me grief so I must limit my words on this for now.

Peace!

Did Blake luck out or what?

American Idol- Give Back

that last hour. In a night of supposedly inspirational songs the performances were not particularly stellar. The least inspiring was Blake singing Lennon's "Imagine." I believe this could be his last performance.

American Idol Results Show---

Lakisha and Blake in the bottom three for the first time for both of them. Sanjaya rounds out that number. Blake going home would be a complete shock- and really the first shock of the season. Lakisha would be an unfortunate choice but not completely without merit, given last night's performance.

Unfortunately, given the 1 hour length of this show it will be a while before I can finish this post.

Martina was okay- but again I am no fan of country music.

And so... with minutes left... Blake is safe and Sanjaya is going home.

That is the right choice but it takes the fun out of the show.

American Idol---

Country is not my favorite Genre. But the divide was clear tonight between good and bad.

Sanjaya clearly does not belong in this competition any longer. Phil found his genre but maybe too late to make a difference for Him. Jordin was clearly the strongest tonight.

The bottom three tonight should be Sanjaya, Chris and Lakisha, but like I said Sanjaya no longer belongs in this competition.

democratic frontrunner?

Check here to see why this could end being a very exciting time for the Democratic Party. The three-way tie being reported is not because of the apathy that has existed in past races. the depth of the field is producing some strong choices and people seem less content to let anything be a foregone conclusion.

When you consider that the Obama, Clinton, Edwards trio have been steeling the media attention I am thrilled that Richardson remains a contender as well. I have my favorites but at this point could support any of these four.

On American Idol-

there is a way to determine which contextants have the highest negatives. Contrary to what you miaght think, Sanjaya does not top the list.

This site asks- "who should go home next?" The results show Phil to be first at 43%, Sanjaya at 31%, Lakisha (that is a surprise) at 19% and Chris at 4.9%- and that is before anyone has sung a single note.

Results show-

Phil, Haley and Chris in the bottom three. Not the first time for any of them. Chris is safe and either Phil or Haley will go home. Based solely on last night- these are probably the right two for this position. I think Haley had the better performance last night.

It always amazes me that they can stretch out 5 minutes worth of information into a 60 minute show.

And... Haley is going home. I will miss those legs.

Wow !! The bottom three are no surprise really...

based on the site that has you vote for who should go.

What is a surprise is that Sanjaya (rhymes with papaya) is now resting comfortably at 23% with Phil at 39% and Haley at 30%. less than 10% represent votes for all the others combined.

On the site that has viewers rank the remaining contestants Phil, Haley and Jordin do not appear in any of the rankings. I really think Phil will go tonight but would not be surprised if Chris goes. His performance was really disappointing at this stage in the competition.

American Idol- That was really weird--

bazaaro world weird.

Based purely on the judge's comments tonight we can expect Phil and Haley to be in the bottom three again. What is surprising though is that the judges comments would place Melinda and Lakisha in the danger zone for the first time.

I hated Chris tonight and was shocked that the judges all were very positive toward him. I thought Jordin was pretty weak as well- she couldn't decide whether to sing 'gonna getcha' or 'gonna get you' and I found it very distracting. She also botched the lyrics but it seems people don't care about that anymore.

I thought Melinda pulled off a sultry approach to 'sway' and found her enjoyable. I also thought that Haley was better than the judges gave her credit.

If Phil, Jordin and Chris ended up in the bottom three it would not surprise me in the least but the fact is anything could happen tomorrow.

Sanjaya will likely be around for another week. Randy complimented him as a smart competitor, Paula said his vocal was very good and Simon said it wasn't horrible.

I use a scoring system based on the comments of the judges- the lower the score the better the performer- based on the judges Chris and Blake scored 3, Sanjaya and Jordin scored 4, Melinda and Lakisha scored 5 and Phil and Haley scored 6.

That would create a scenario where Phil and Haley will be joined in the bottom three by Melinda or Lakisha.

I would choose Phil, Haley and Chris. Chris chose an iconic song that has been butchered in too many bars by too many people. It could cost him.

Phil, Haley and Gina in Bottom three- no big surprises yet.

When I saw both Chris and Blake with Sanjaya I knew they would be around for another week. My guess at this point hasn't changed. I think Phil is done.

Phil is safe. Haley and Gina are the bottom two. Gina goes home. For the first time people can talk about their disappointment in this decision. She was not strong enough to win but any of the three that I have already mentioned could have gone before her.

The reality is that the song was different from her usual choices and she may have lost her fan base. It is also possible that her fans made the mistake of thinking she was safe and either didn't vote or took the chance to vote for someone they thought was in danger (Phil?).

What God does Sanjaya pray to?

Idol by the numbers--

The people at this site have been tracking "Who would you send home?" since the idols were reduced to 24. Except for Sanjaya (which rhymes with papaya) anyone who scores more than about 6% on this scale is in real trouble.

So this week, the folks who vote in this poll would choose the same three as me for the bottom three: Sanjaya at 52%, Phil at 22% and Haley at 16%. People's perception of Sanjaya is either improving or people are seeing his advancement as inevitable. Either way, he has achieved his best (lowest) score to date.

This voting block would send Phil home, and they are usually right. If there is a surprise tonight it will be that Sanjaya's 15 minutes are up or that Chris's performance- which was not as good in my mind as it was for the judges- is not enough to keep people interested- or that Blake's performance wasn't strong enough to overcome going first.

More bad news for Phil can be found at this site . This site asks people to rank the nine remaining contestants in order from nine to one. They then calculate the top three picks for each placement. Phil does not appear in any ranking. I would interpret that to mean that people do not feel strongly about him one way or the other. That's bad in a voting competition- "Phil who?" Jordin has this same problem but has, at the same time, developed a small base and gotten positives from the judges.

If any of the bottom three go home this week, they deserve it. I want to see Sanjaya survive (for my own reasons) for one more week. Besides, it is a bit fun to watch a train wreck from week to week and he is the only one left.

American Idol- Tony Bennett Night

Okay, this night was not so hot. It seems the judges were hard pressed to say anything negative at all. They have all reserved themselves to tolerating Sanjaya and making comments about his courage and his hair and such- Simon said. "incredible" but he was hardly saying anything positive.

The bottom three from the judges comments would be Phil, Haley and Sanjaya. The judges all likied Chris but I think he is in trouble. I also think Blake's mediocre performance, along with going first make him vulnerable.

For my own reasons, I want to see sanjaya survive one more week. I would send Haley packing at this point but I think America sends Phil Home.