Id'old' Blue Eyes

If the rumors of Simon leaving Idol after this season are true, it will be a very sad day. Listening to the judges is already unbearable, but at least I know there is some enjoyment when Mr. Cowell comments. Can you imagine listening to only Randy, Kara and Paula next year? Wow that would be rough.

Quote of the night- "He's got a little Sylar in him," Pops after watching Ms. Lambert's performance.

Last night was songs from the Rat Pack Era. Which means any song that Old Blue Eyes, Sammy D or Deano ever recorded.

Five--
Allison Iraheta- (Someone to Watch Over Me/Frank Sinatra) This girl needs to work on her diction, because I can't understand a single word she sings. That being said, she deserves to be in the top five, but not any further. This was good, but not great at all. All of the critics love her and I don't know why. Thankfully America doesn't seem to and hopefully she heads home tonight.

Four--
Kris Allen- (The Way You Look Tonight/Frank Sinatra) Again this was good, but nothing special. The beginning was great but I thought it got away from him a little through the second half. He tried to do too much with it and didn't pull it off. Also the falsetto in the middle didn't work for me at all, it was not nearly powerful enough. This was just so much worse than the original that it's hard to say it was a great performance.

Three--
Danny Gokey- (Come Rain or Come Shine/Frank Sinatra) Gokes started a little too slow again. The last third of this was so good that I feel bad not putting him second. His bluesy tone knocked the end of this song out of the park.

Two--
Matt Giraud- (My Funny Valentine/Frank Sinatra) Unlike Danny, Matt's performance held my attention from the first note to the last. I just listened to Sammy's version of this a couple of days ago and Matt's was wayy better. He kept his runs to a minimum in this one and when he brought them out they added a lot to the song. Also his falsetto was on point.

One--
Adam Lambert- (Feeling Good/Sammy Davis Jr.) Every night he does what he does with the utmost professionalism and makes every song his own. I will admit this wasn't one of my favorites of Ms. Lambert's, but it was still miles better than anyone else in the competition. Also his opening to the song was unbelievable.

Disco Idol

Get her off the stage, she's wrecking the show

Lil Rounds- (Chaka Kahn/I'm Every Woman) I don't even have anything to say anymore. If she makes it to the top five it will be embarrassing for everyone involved.

Some ups, some downs...some ups

Matt Giraud- (Bee Gees/Stayin' Alive) I think with this song all of Matt's runs and riffs got a little out of control and hurt his performance. Also his falsetto at the beginning was so weak it might have thrown the whole thing off.

Allison Iraheta- (Donna Summer/Hot Stuff) She finally made serious changes to a song, and it kinda worked for me. Slowing down this song actually made me enjoy it. Except for the part near the end when the backup singers were doing most of the joint, I thought it was good.

Danny Gokey- (Earth, Wind and Fire/September) For the second week in a row Gokes has taken one from the Rickey Smith catalog. Unlike last week's, I enjoyed this one much more than when Rickey did it. There was nothing special about this, but solid overall.

Anoop Desai- (Donna Summer/Dim All the Lights) I don't know the song so I'm going to say that Kutner either chose the perfect song or made some great changes to it. The song worked so well that I have him as my number three this week even though he had a couple vocal hiccups. He again took an old song and made it feel contemporary.

Making a serious push for the finals

Kris Allen- (Donna Summer/She Works Hard For the Money) Wow, the kid is making great moves. With only the bongos and bass behind him, his guitar playing could shine through and it added a lot to his performance. The arrangement changes to the song were fantastic. Kris is giving it his best effort to put his own twist on everything he does. And we all know you can go far in this game doing it that way.

Holding everyone off at more than an arm's length

Adam Lambert- (Yvonne Elliman/If I Can't Have You) I knew it. He is seriously going every other week from upbeat joint to slow-it-down ballad. In a week of disco that I thought maybe he'd have to stray from that, he completely reworked this song. I loved that he made a point before he went on stage to say that he was gonna connect with the song. The judges and audience both love that, and Ms. Lambert can act like he is connecting even if he isn't because as we know he has been on Broadway. Oh and as always his vocals were the best of the night.

Idol at the Movies

I think anyone of these top seven (except for maybe Lil) could have/would have won season three. Tonight everyone was very good (except for Lil).

Yo producers, if you run out of time and have to cut the judges in half for comments, please get rid of Kara. Why did you bring her on? Four is way too many.

So tonight is songs from the movies. Let's see the run down of the top seven.

Go Home

Lil Rounds- (The Rose, The Rose/Bette Midler) So as this started I thought to myself, wow this is finally not boring. But by the end I realized that I had spaced out through half of it, so I guess it was once again a snooze alert. Add to this the fact that she was whining and complaining about the judges and I say she needs to go.

Not Impressed

Kris Allen- (Once, Falling Slowly/Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) I guess it does pay to do songs that the audience knows, because the two that I like the leasts are the two I had never heard of. Kris started a little slow, but just before the halfway mark he really brought me in and I started to enjoy his performance.

Allison Iraheta- (Armageddon, I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing/Aerosmith) Everyone and their brother has done this song so you have knock it out of the park. I don't think she did that. It was good, but not great. She started out pretty different from the original which gets you hooked for the rest of it. This makes it okay that the second half was basically a second rate version.

Top Four Dudes

Matt Giraud- (Don Juan DeMarco, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman/Bryan Adams) Bryan Adams really does nothing with his songs. Both Matt and (will get to later) Kutner made fantastic changes to his songs just by show better vocal talent. Giraud had the vocal riffs going but there were a couple moments where he kinda messed up and it sounded a little off. That's why he's not in my top three tonight.

Danny Gokey- (Endless Love, Endless Love/Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) By far his best of the season. I loved that it was just him and the harp up there. I totally disagree with Simon, he did change the song. The original has way more going on musically, Gokes stripped it down so he could show off the vocal talent that I can now see that he has. Unlike past weeks, he showed some major range in this performance. Sure it doesn't compare to Rickey Smith's version in season two, but what does?

Anoop Desai- (Robin Hood, I Do It For You/Bryan Adams) As I said before, Bryan Adams is easy to outperform and Anoop killed this one. Way better than the original. Dr. Kutner has been resurrected and this was finally two great weeks in a row for Noop Dog Millionaire. He made such great changes in the melody of the song. Awesome.

Adam Lambert- (Easy Rider, Born To Be Wild/Steppenwolf) Unlike Larry Avitamiboblay, the judges, America, Barstool Sports, JJ, and yes I love Ms. Lambert. This was unbelievable! Like he did with Play that Funky Music, Adam took a song that I really dislike and turned it into a masterpiece. It's kind of ridiculous how he has been like clockwork so far, in that he goes with an upbeat joint followed by a slow-down ballad every other week. If he doesn't come out with something slow next week, I'll be shocked.

Years of Idol

Tonight was songs from the year you were born, all '80s with one from '92.

Didn't Enjoy

Scott MacIntyre- (Survivor/The Search Is Over) The dude that looks like Matthew Berry awkwardly posing for this picture just sound so bad to me all the time. Scotty Don't was doing absolutely nothing with the guitar up there and looked even more uncomfortable than usual up there. Please stop voting for him.

Lil Rounds- (Tina Turner/What's Love Got To Do With It) Well Lil's mom let us know that the name is just Lil and it's not short for Lillian or Little. That was much more interesting than the performance, which was again a big time snooze alert.

Kris Allen- (Don Henley/All She Wants To Do Is Dance) What with the new fad of performing within the crowd this season? It's pretty dumb. It also doesn't help that both times it's been done the performer took a step backward. This was boring for me and the changes he made from the original worsened it.

Somewhat Enjoyed

Danny Gokey- (Mickey Gilley/Stand By Me) It was nice to see Danny calm things down in the beginning of the song, but it's when he pumps it up in the second half that I really enjoyed it. He called it the Mickey Gilley version of 1980, but it was nothing like that. It was also nothing like the Quiet Pool #430 Ben E. King version, but he did pretty good overall.

Allison Iraheta- (Bonnie Rait/I Can't Make You Love Me) This is the Allison we've been missing for the past couple of weeks. I might have even liked this performance better than the original. She showed very good vocals and made the song her own without changing the arrangement.

Anoop Desai- (Cindy Lauper/True Colors) Wait I thought Dr. Kutner died the other night...how is he singing now? Noop Dog Millionaire came back to where he should be with a slower joint and showed great control throughout. I liked starting with just the guitar in the background and then picking it up. He doesn't do too much with the song but I really liked him again.

Really Enjoyed

Matt Giraud- (Stevie Wonder/Part Time Lover) This dude's voice talent is amazing. The range he has, and the way he can move around it so cleanly is unbelievable. Because he can do so many different things, he made some vocal changes to this classic Stevie song and I still loved it. If anyone else tries this song, they bomb.

Adam Lambert- (Tears For Fears/Mad World) I can't remember the last time (if ever) that Simon has given a standing ovation, but he did tonight. Ms. Lambert brings it every night and he killed it again. Great part in his opening video when he says, "I just loved playing dress up, not soccer." The difference between this and Anoop's is that when Adam starts it out soft, it still is really good and I hang on every note.

Idol From iTunes

So this week for Idol it was choose any song as long as it is highly downloaded on iTunes.

I'd like to let all three of you know that Paula is currently my second favorite judge as Randy has again fallen off the deep end this season.

Quote of the night, "Why don't they just have Adam, Kris and Gokey take turns singing throughout the night?"--Pops.

Just Bad

Megan Joy Corkrey- (Turn Your Lights Down Low/Bob Marley) I've finally turned the corner on Miss Tattoo. In the early stages I found her voice different and enjoyable, if not a little off. Now it is really annoying and seems off tune because of it. Bobby M was rolling over in his grave listening to this.

Lil Rounds- (I Surrender/Celine Dion) What a snooze alert. She belts it out but I find myself completely bored every time she takes the stage. Figure it out Little.

Anoop Desai- (Caught Up/Usher) Although NoopDog Millionaire's vocals were fine and dandy, the performance was similar to the garbage he did early in the competition. Don't ever listen to Randy's suggestions. Dr. Kutner barely hung around when he did upbeat joints and killed it with slow, powerful, classic songs. Big mistake.

Just Deese

Scott MacIntyre- (Just the Way You Are/Billy Joel) Not as good as Billy J and nowhere near as sweet as John Stevens' season three performance, but definitely Scotty Don't's best performance thus far. His voice still sounded weird and flat at the beginning but he kinda worked through it by the end and might have saved himself another week.

Allison Iraheta- (Don't Speak/No Doubt) Great song...Way worse than the original. Her voice seems too raw and unpolished to take on this song. The thing is, I love the song so I was still drawn to it and liked it more than many others tonight.

Matt Giraud- (You Found Me/The Fray) He definitely has the second best vocal skills and I loved the little riff into the falsetto near the end, but this was not one of his best performances. I think it is song choice and if I were Kara I'd say "Why not do 'How to Save a Life' because I know everything." But last week he killed it and was in the bottom three so who knows?

Just Good

Danny Gokey- (What Hurts the Most/Rascal Flatts) Definitely a step up from last week. It was nice to see Gokes slow it down and show us his voice and his soul. It was a very good, if safe, performance.

Just Great

Kris Allen- (Ain't No Sunshine/Bill Withers) It looks like someone is finally stepping into the ring and making creative and fantastic changes to the arrangement and presentation to songs, like Adam has been doing since day one. Kris has done solo, he's done guitar and tonight he did piano. He's clearly a great musician, he's a very good singer, and now seems to be turning into a fantastic performer.

Adam Lambert- (Play That Funky Music/Wild Cherry) I will preface my comments about Ms. Lambert's performance with the fact that I can't stand this song and have never liked it. That being said, I loved this performance by Adam. If you can get someone to really enjoy listening to a song they can't stand, you are something else. The dude's combination of vocal skills, performance, creative choices and his chameleon-like ability to morph himself to fit the genre he's singing may make him the best Idol contestant yet.

Motown Idol

Get Them Outta Here

Scott MacIntyre- (You Can't Hurry Love) Why didn't he sing Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles? Scotty went with the Supremes and sounded just as nasaly as ever. Vanessa Olivarez was eliminated on this song so let's hope Blindy is too.

Michael Sarver- (Ain't Too Proud To Beg) It was weird seeing someone sing this song and not start it by stealing the microphone from somebody. God this was karaoke. Where's Leon when you need him? Next.

Wow, who cares?

Lil Rounds- (Heat Wave) This week it was upbeat AND a powerful vocal and it still bored me to death. Is it the song choices or just her (lack of) personality?

Megan Joy Corkrey- (For Once In My Life) Her dress matched her colorful tattoo! Okay so I can see that her voice really doesn't work for some people, but for some strange reason I enjoy it. That being said, this was less than stellar.

Decent, but worse than usual

Allison Iraheta- (Papa Was a Rolling Stone) "That was Dennis's voice on Cloud Nine!" Although the judges praised her up the wazoo, this didn't really work for me. Maybe Kara thinks that if the producers put someone in the last spot, it is automatically going to be unbelievable. Unlike her previous performances, this was a little too sound alike because Dennis had the raspy, rocker thing down.

Danny Gokey- (Get Ready) It is tough to do The Temps not only because they were unbelievable, but because they had Eddie on falsetto, Mel on the bass and Otis, Paul and David with the normal voices. Both Allison and Danny tried to emulate this entire group. It didn't work in either case. The only thing I loved about Danny's work was when he jumped in on the dance move with the back up singers.

Not just good, but Great

Anoop Desai- (Ooh Baby Baby) Smokey explained that this song came about at the end of a Miracles concert when he just started singing 'Ooh Baby Baby' out of nowhere and they then turned it into a song. This was the second straight week of impressive work by Kutner. I never knew he had this falsetto in his back pocket.

Kris Allen- (How Sweet It Is) This was very refreshing for me. It was a combo of the JT and Marvin versions with his own Jason Mrazy vibe to it. His vocals didn't knock me out of the park, but he has a unique sound and the performance was a great choice to do with his guitar.

Matt Giraud- (Let's Get It On) His vocals seem to get better and better every week. His range and riffs are fantastic. He started on the piano and stood up as the pace of the song picked up. Loved the transition, only wish he had stayed on the piano a little long as his take on the song via the keys was fantastic.

Why don't we just give him the trophy?

Adam Lambert- (Track of My Tears) If it gets a Standing O from Smokey, it gets a Standing O from me. (And some of you may know my ethics involved in standing ovations) This is what Adam did this week...he took all of the criticism from the judges, media and me that said he went a little crazy last week and thought about it. He then got rid of his black nail polish, cut his hair and threw some product in there, put on a suit, and then picked a classic song, put his own spin on it and knocked it out of the f'in park. Everyone else, good luck trying to beat him.

Grand Ole Idol

First things first, Simon's word of the season is indulgent. The problem is he doesn't use it correctly. Three or four times this year he has called someone's performance indulgent and this makes no sense. Their performance was giving gratification? To who? the audience? They should thank him for such a nice compliment. I guess they don't understand English over there in England, because what he means to say is that the performance was self-indulgent, as in it is gratifying to the person singing. And that it is all about them. Now continue making a fool of yourself Simon.

On to Grand Ole Opry week of Idol...

God Awful

Michael Sarver- (Aint Goin' Down til the Sun Comes Up) I never thought someone would equal Josh Gracin's terrible performance during country week of season two, but the big guy pulled it off. He chose the same God awful song as Gracin and did just as terrible. At least he didn't lose his breath half way through because he ran up and down the stands.

Scott MacIntyre- (Wild Angels) This blind guy's voice just sounds weird. It's not pleasant. His falsetto is really bad, but he picked a likable song so he has that going for him.

Blahh

Lil Rounds- (Independence Day) I've never been so bored during a performance by someone with such a powerful voice. Question. Is Lil short for Lilian, or is it short for Little like she's a hip hop artist? Simon and I both thought it was L'il but some are claiming it's an actual name like Lilian...interesting.

Alexis Grace- (Jolene) Somebody did this last year during Dolly Parton week. Although she outperformed whoever that was, it was still very bland for me. This song just isn't good.

Megan Joy Corkrey- (Walkin' After Midnight) What happened to how she was singing it during the video? She sounded awesome in that warm-up. During her performance it was much more nasally, due to her sickness I'm assuming. In general I like her sound, but nothing especially.

Kris Allen- (To Make You Feel My Love) Enjoyed this smooth ballad, but didn't bring anything great to the table. I preferred him last week.

Crazy

Adam Lambert- (Ring of Fire) In the past he's gone crazy and it worked, this week the nutbar went out of control and it didn't work. Maybe he's getting a little too big for himself now. As awful as this was I still kind of enjoyed it. If anything for the entertainment value of him being a psycho.

Good, Not Great

Anoop Desai- (Always On My Mind) This is the Dr. Kutner I thought we were getting during Hollywood Week. Instead of imitating a song that he likes, he took a different song and made it sound like him. Slumdog really saved himself this week and might be back in the mix.

Allison Iraheta- (Blame It On Your Heart) Solid performance. She seems to take any song and turn it into something different solely because of her rocker chick voice.

The Best

Matt Giraud- (So Small) This seemed spectacular because of the rest of the performances tonight. He, unlike Scott, gets something extra from his piano playing. When they zoom in on the keys you can see how ridiculous he is. His singing was real solid and again he killed it with the falsetto.

Danny Gokey- (Jesus Take the Wheel) Both dudes that killed it picked Carrie Underwood songs...hmmm. Again this felt unbelievable because of the other jokers couldn't pull off country. He just comes to play each week, without the freakishness you will get from Lambert.

Idol Does MJ

First week of the finals featured music by the former king of pop and present king of freaky, Michael Jackson.

Vanessa Olivarez Division (Really Bad)

Anoop Desai- (Beat It) At least he finally picked a song that had lyrics and wasn't sung completely by the background vocalists. He didn't come anywhere close to doing this well. It was too soft, not nearly gritty enough for 'Beat It.' I would liked to have seen someone rock it out and do the Fall Out Boy version, but Anoop wasn't going to be that person. I believe he should be going home this week.

Kris Allen- (Remember the Time) The guitar seemed completely unnecessary right from the beginning. It was like he was waiting for the finals to use his guitar and forced it into a song that wasn't right for a guitar. He missed a couple notes and was yelling at times. The terrible judges said it was great to see him with a guitar but Simon agreed with the kid and said the guitar didn't fit the song. Exactly.

Jorge Nunez- (Never Can Say Goodbye) This Jackson Five song was obviously done at a really high tone by Michael as a kid. And Jorge not being able to go high was a downfall. He hit some strong notes at the end but the first half was way too boring for me. Also his accent made it sound weird to me.

Ricky Smith Division (Fine, but not going to gain votes)

Alexis Grace- (Dirty Diana) While not terrible (she actually can sing well), she is starting to feel a little pretentious to me. She just tried too hard and was oversinging a bit. It felt a lot like her semifinal performance that most people liked obviously, but I didn't.

Michael Sarver- (You Are Not Alone) MJ did this one as an adult, but did it completely in falsetto. I loved this song back in middle school so I really feel Sarver didn't do it justice. He showed he has strong vocals, it just didn't fit with this song. I might have liked the performance if I didn't know the song.

Lil Rounds- (The Way You Make Me Feel) Although the three stooges loved this performance, as they would have no matter what she did, it was pretty bland for me. It picked up towards the end with some changes into the false, but all in all nothing to email home about.

Scott MacIntyre- (Keep the Faith) I liked him a lot better than in the semi-final. Maybe the judges actually knew what they were talking about, because he actually did seem much more comfortable behind the piano. I didn't really know the song which can help you if you're not that great because no one can do it like Michael. The only thing is that his piano playing didn't really add anything to the performance.

Jasmine Murray- (I'll Be There) I feel the best of this group. She pulled out some runs that I hadn't heard in this song and showed some powerful vocals throughout. I only wish she had thrown in some ad libs like "look over shoulders honey."

Trenyce Division (Hangin' around near the top)

Megan Joy Corkrey- (Rockin' Robin) It might have been a little strange but I really enjoyed it. Unlike Jorge and Sarver, her lower voice fit this song. Maybe it's different when a chick sings in place of the high voiced Michael. Megan Joy has a very Sara Bareilles sound to her voice and it fit well to the 'Rockin Robin.' She goes in between her regular and falsetto at time very well. Although it's not really a powerful sound, it was better than Lil or Alexis trying to be powerful and failing.

Allison Iraheta- (Give In To Me) I thought I might have known the song, but it didn't sound like it because she was giving it such a different feel. She has such a rock star voice. With all of her raspyness I think it sounded great. The downfall for me is that she sounds the same throughout, no big runs or changes.

Matt Giraud- (Human Nature) This guy is the only one who tried to go at the falsetto and take it down. He went into it for about half the song and killed it. The first part of the song, in his lower register, were good and raspy. Unlike Scott, his piano skills added something to the performance. You can tell he really gets into it while tickling the ivories.

Ruben Studdard Division (Contenders)

Danny Gokey- (PYT) All in all a great performance. A very strong vocal performance, with quick changes from raspy lower register to falsetto. He seemed to really get the audience, and me, into the song. It was a fast song and that doesn't usually give the contestant a chance to show off his chops, but Gokey proved he's got what it takes to get to the finals.

Adam Lambert- (Black or White) Problem with Danny is that he's not Adam. Still the favorite to win this thing. In both performances he has gone all out, changed the song up, performed the heck out of it, and showed amazing vocal talents. His stage presence is unbelievable. Adam is extremely weird, but completely fantastic.

Judging Idol

Thoughts

Before I get to all of my complaining about this show, let me preface it with the fact that I enjoy shows that I get angry with. A prime example was how much I hated Mary from Las Vegas. Vegas was definitely one of my favorite character driven shows and hating everything that Mary did made it fun to scream and yell when she did something else that I couldn't stand. That's the way I've been feeling yet again with Idol this season.

Kara DioGuardi is one of the worst additions to a television program in history. I never thought that I wouldn't be able to stand someone more than Paula, but Kara makes Paula refreshing. Kara is the absolute WORST. She blabs and blabs like she thinks she knows what she's talking about. At least Paula knows she's an idiot. Kara is kind of closer to Randy in that sense, she takes the worst parts of Randy and Paula and has created one uber-terrible judge.

I definitely enjoyed the less airtime for auditions this year. I am not one of those people that enjoy watching millions of terrible auditions. It gets old real fast. I feel the change in format for the semi-finals is a good change of pace, it kind of dragged the past couple of years. As a bonus we don't end up with an equal number of guys and girls. Because if you know anything about me, you know that I think guys are better at most things, including Idol.

Quick Summaries

Group 1: Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey (right) and Michael Sarver made it through. Wow early terribleness from America. Sarver, really? Gokey was the best in the group but I agreed with Simon that it was nothing special. Alexis was barely the best girl, none of them were very good in this group.

Group 2: Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta got through from this group. I enjoyed all three of these. Lambert showed a lot of talent in his first performance, but was kinda of crazy at times.

Group 3: Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre and Jorge Nunez won this round. Very good group in which I disagreed wholeheartedly with the choices by America. God did the judges praise Lil Rounds (being in the last spot, the producers obviously want her to win). I wasn't impressed. She showed talent but there was nothing special. Blind Scott was not good and Jorge was good but uncomfortable to watch afterward with all his Spanish thinking. I guess in the end I would've gone with Rounds, Ju'not Joyner and Von Smith (but Von greatly disappointed in the wild-card so good job America).

Wildcard Round

Jessica Langseth: wow was this performance bad.

Megan Joy Corkrey (right): also bad but not quite on Jessica's level. Talked through the entire song. Obviously the judges praised her because they need to increase their number of females in the finals.

Matt Giraud: I liked this performance of Who's Loving You. The judges have said it a million times but this was a much better song choice for him and he definitely did enough to make the finals.

Von Smith: Like I said before, he blew it. On Tuesday he was great, switching back and forth from his falsetto do his normal voice but tonight he almost tried to do the whole thing in a high pitch and it didn't work for me or anyone.

Jasmine Murray: She comes out with a powerful Christina Agulaira song and did very well. Randy and Kara are completely idiotic again. Randy says song was too big for her. No, her thing is big songs, she has a big voice just not great control. That's why the Sara Bareilles song last time didn't work. Kara goes "I didn't know you had this big voice." How dumb are you Kara? You all criticized her in week 1 for picking a song that didn't show off her big voice. That's all you knew about her. Wow.

Ricky Braddy: A decent job, but he's just too forgettable.

Tatiana Del Toro: She sings the exact same song she did in group 1. Are you joking? Repeating songs is one thing but in back to back weeks during your first two times in front of America? Soo dumb and the judges criticized her for it. It was a decent performance though.

Anoop Desai: This guy is just being so dumb. He has a big fan base, a big voice and a big personality and he is killing himself with these song choices. He has done two songs in the first two performances that feature a chorus sung completely by backup singers. He adlibs throughout the performance and doesn't get a chance to actually sing. It kills me because he could be real good, I feel.

So they end up taking four from the wildcard instead of three. Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray, Megan Joy Corkrey and Anoop Desai. I agree with everything except there was no need for Corkrey.

Finals predictions

13. Michael Sarver
12. Megan Joy Corkrey
11. Kris Allen
10. Jasmine Murray
9. Matt Giraud
8. Jorge Nunez
7. Alexis Grace
6. Anooop Desai
5. Scott MacIntyre
4. Allison Iraheta
3. Lil Rounds
2. Danny Gokey
1. Adam Lambert (right)

What's New at Disney

There have been many updates and changes at Walt Disney World since my last visit in April of 2007, but by the time the Park Guys make their way back to Orlando in July of 2009 there will be four major additions to Walt's World that excite me.


14 out of the 18 times I've visited Disney, we've stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. It really can't be touched in terms of atmosphere, and if I were only allowed to be one place the rest of my life it would be CBR. There had been talk about making a change the next time the Park Guys went down to Florida, but now that is out of the question. For the past six months the Caribbean has been doing a complete renovation of their pool area. It was already a fantastic pool with a great hot tub and unbelievable at. The new pictures of the finally finished pool look even better. The pool itself is much bigger, the deck is much bigger with many more loungers (although Big Tom and Karebear will still head down early to save chairs with towels and shoes), and there is a beuatiful walk in area. This upgrade should put the Caribbean's pool into second place, behind Yacht & Beach Club, in flat pool rankings. If you take into account that Y&B Pool closes at 10 and they actual stick to those rules, then it's obviously a landslide. Because the great thing about CBR nightlife is that the pool doesn't technically close until midnight, but it never closes.


It was either JJ or T-time that said MGM (or now Hollywood Studios) is the worst of the four parks at WDW now that Millionaire-Play It! has left the building. Although I never agreed, because Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster will always keep it above water, two major additions hopefully will change their minds. Toy Story Midway Mania opened at the Studios on May 31st. It is a ride on the same level as Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, in that you load a two person cart and shoot at targets throughout your dark ride. What I'm assuming will make a step up is that you wear 3-D glasses, you actually shoot things out of your gun (not just a laser) and supposedly the levels change depending on how good you are. I've always been a huge fan of Buzz Lightyear, even though I always get beat by JJ. It doesn't hurt him that he went to college in Orlando and found out where all of the high point targets are.


The next major addition to Hollywood Studios, coming in early 2009, is the American Idol Experience. Now although I don't see this as being up to par with Millionaire, it definitely has potential. I'm a big Idol fan in general and this show/attraction could be a great place to cause a raucus. So apparently Disney guests appear on each show during the day, but you have to pass two auditions before getting to go on stage before the live audience. The guests perform and the audience votes on who was the best, and then the winner from each show face off in the finale each night. The winner of the finale show each day gets a ticket to an audition for the real American Idol show with judges that may or may not be Simon, Paula and Randy. Speaking of these judges, this attraction could be made or broken by the judges that have at each show. P.S. this attraction being invented shot David Gearey to the top of the list for next year's trip.


So on all three of the Park Guys' trips we've engaged in two 'class it up' restaurant dinners. The first two years we went to Margaritaville and ESPN Club and the third year we got tired of ESPN Club so it was Margarita-
ville and Rain Forest Cafe. There is a new restaurant being built as we speak in Downtown Disney that will definitely replace Rain Forest Cafe and it is called T-Rex Cafe. It is a prehistoric family adventure. I'm not saying it's going to be amazing, but I'm gonna vote to give it a shot come July 2009.

American Idol

With this long drought of normal prime-time television, I have survived on multiple episode weeks of the most popular reality show of all time.

With American Idol I dragged through the audition episodes, and per the usual, they were sub-par. I realize there are many people out there that find joy in watching terrible people attempt to sing while Simon tells them what they already know. I, on the other hand, merely sit through this to get to the fun of Hollywood week, semi-finals and finals. Once we've gotten to the actual performances, this season has gotten back on an upward swing. I feel Idol has gone down hill ever since its peak in Season 2. The talent in this year's season has the depth to be compared to season 2, but has nowhere near the big guns (Ruben, Clay, Kimberly Locke, Trenyce). I feel like America is doing a great job with eliminations. With the exception of letting Amanda Overmeyer stay way too long, I haven't had any problems with who has gone home.

Of the remaining nine contestants, here is my order of who I would vote to win this year's competition (this is not only on talent, but who I like).

9. Carly Smithson- Her ginormous tattoo on her arm is hideous and I can't stand how she thinks she's so good.

8. Kristy Lee Cook (right)- The only thing she has sang that has been good was the three times she sang Amazing Grace. She definitely is on of the cutest contestants ever on Idol, but she shouldn't make it much further.

7. Ramielle Maluby- Although she has great behind the scenes interviews, comedy will only get my vote for so long. She doesn't choose the right songs to showcase her booming voice.

6. Jason Castro- Now even though he is my favorite contestant on the show, I have to leave him here because of his lack of effort on the show so far. I love this attitude in general but when you get this far, you have to spend a lot more time picking perfect songs and recently he has not done this.

5. Syesha Marcado- Her singing voice is very good and this has been shown over the past two weeks. I realize she actually won't make it this far because she has been in the bottom three repeatedly and will probably go home soon.

4. Brooke White- I think her style of singing is very original for Idol and it will get her far in the industry. She is not as powerful as others but playing the piano really helps her.

3. David Archuletta- Although he has been known as the front runner for quite some time now, I think his act is gonna run old in a little while. He can get a bit showtuney at times, and the novelty of him being young will run out soon.

2. Michael Johns- The judges haven't loved him, but I sure have. His two Beatles performances flew under the radar but were fantastic. He has a great voice and could be a fantastic front man and shows it on that stage week after week.

1. David Cook- Creativity helps you in this show. He has been the most creative and has a great rock voice. I'm not saying he's incredibly original like the judges do, because most of his song choices are versions someone else has already done (Chris Cornell's 'Billy Jean'). He is the best performer and should win this year's American Idol until someone else proves to me otherwise.