American Idol Top 11 - Round 2

Currently Listening To: FictionJunction - Hoshikuzu

Hmmm where do I start? Well this week's theme is Elton John, and I personally I love this theme! One can never go -that- wrong with Elton John.

So how did the contestants fare this time? Honestly I thought all of them were pretty good this week. Except for a few...namely;

Naima. Oh dear lord please tell me she did not just reggae-fy Elton John. C'mon my good woman, it's Elton John! His songs are not suitable for strange arrangements. On top of that, her outfit was totally OMG. If I'm not wrong, the colorful stripes on her dress are the colors of the South African flag right? She has turned into Karen - constantly focusing on her African heritage instead of giving good performances. Vocally it wasn't -that- awful, however the arrangement killed it for me.

The other marginally bad performance, for me, was Stefano's. It wasn't exactly a trainwreck, but it was definitely not memorable and not impressive. Vocally there were no notable flaws, unfortunately the performance had nothing. I have a feeling he's in serious danger again this week...

...which leads us to Jacob's oversinging. Again. Dude has never been in the bottom three before but with the backlash he has been getting from reviewers lately, I think he should be worried. He's such a great singer...sadly he has to ruin everything by being overdramatic. Somebody really needs to pull a Simon and just flat out call him out on that.

I guess Paul wasn't any better than Jacob either? Another one guilty of being overindulgent. James suffers from the same problem as well. Both of them were okay in terms of vocals and performance (James was very dramatic with the special effects though. Piano on fire WTF). I think Paul and James should really try to shake things up a bit. And by shaking things up I don't mean setting the stage on fire or wearing ridiculous outfits (Paul's Elton John tribute outfit was just...ridiculous). I mean they should choose a song that no one will expect them to choose, and then do something totally different with it. Otherwise known as, take a leaf out of Adam Lambert's book and shock the audience!

I suppose that applies to Pia and Scotty too? Try something other than ballads/country music? Scotty gave a solid performance, but honestly I thought it was very boring. I was like, okay please end the song now so I can listen to the next person. And he was the first to perform! Way to start the show Scotty.

Thia sang surprisingly well this week. The song suited her voice, and she actually sang in tune this time, with less pitch problems. If her fanbase picks it up this week, she should be bottom-three-free.

Casey stopped growling this week and it paid off! His voice isn't very strong, but that was a solid performance of 'Your Song'. At least he connected emotionally with the song? He is one lucky dude...for getting that second chance last week. Hopefully this performance pays off and he won't get the boot again...

I don't understand the praise for Lauren this time. Yeah I know it was a good vocal, but errrr exactly what was so great about it? I couldn't sense the 'connection' the judges and some other reviewers were talking about. Some parts, she sounded quite flat to me so...yeah. I no understand hype? D= BTW she seriously looks like she should be in the Miss Teen USA competition instead of American Idol...she's starting to resemble Barbie now! *shudders*

And now we're down to the two best performances this week!

Haley was trending on Twitter today, for a very short period of time, so I knew that she was either fantastic or terrible. When I finally saw her performance, I was impressed because - it was really really good! I got the shivers when they showed the clip of her singing in the studio. Believe it or not, but I'm kinda favouring her right now. At least she's courageous enough to try new things every week. I loved the song (Bennie and the Jets), and I loved her voice! She worked the stage, sang beautifully and to quote Steven Tyler, sang SEXY. Kudos to Haley for slamming it this week! Say goodbye to the bottom three honey.



Although I kinda preferred Haley's performance, I just can't fault Pia's outstanding vocals. It. Was. Perfect. As usual! I'd prefer her to try something new but hey, if that ballad sounds good go ahead and sing it girl. Pia's in it to win it! (Why am I quoting RANDY now???)

Thank you Elton for the awesome week!

R.I.P. Diana Wynne Jones

Currently Listening To: Keane - A Bad Dream

The saddest thing happened today. Diana Wynne Jones passed away after battling lung cancer for the past two years. I can't even begin to describe my feelings right now...she has been my favourite author ever since I discovered her about ten years ago. I had always wished that'd she'd trend on Twitter one day but...not for this.

There is not a single book of hers that I do not love. I swear to you that woman was just magic. Heads and shoulders above every other author I've read so far and believe me, I've read a lot. She opened up a whole new world for me, a world of pure magic and fantasy, a world I wished I lived in instead of this miserable place we call home.

I was looking forward to her new book too and now...I'm just really sad =(
As a tribute to Diana, by hook or by crook I will complete my collection of her books, including A Sudden Wild Magic although I don't know where I'll find that. I
will also be re-reading all her books this week.

Sigh I've been looking all over Penang for Aunt Maria and The Ogre Downstairs but I can't seem to find them anymore so if anyone sees any of those books around please let me know! (Even tried hunting at the Popular Warehouse sale at Midlands Park yesterday but no luck...)

List of DWJ books I still don't have (Just to remind myself what else is left)

• The Ogre Downstairs
  
• Aunt Maria
  
• The Dalemark Quartet Vol. 1 (Cart and Cwidder & Drowned Ammet)
  
• The Game
  
• A Sudden, Wild Magic

Rest in peace Diana, you are dearly missed by all your family, friends and fans. There is no one else like you, and there will never be another author like you.

http://brynnemckay.com/2011/03/26/diana-wynne-jones/
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/03/26/diana-wynne-jones/
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/03/being-alive.html
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/03/remembering-diana-wynne-jones
http://robinmckinleysblog.com/2011/03/26/diana-wynne-jones/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/27/diana-wynne-jones-obituary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/mar/29/diana-wynne-jones-chrestomanci
http://rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com/216212.html
http://teabagcentral.blogspot.com/2011/03/exciting-and-exacting-wisdom-in-tribute.html
http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/2011/03/loss-of-diana-wynne-jones.html
http://bellaonbooks.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/diana-wynne-jones/
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Letter-Blocks-The-BN-Parents-and/Diana-Wynne-Jones-1934-2011/ba-p/924028?cm_mmc=Twitter-_-BNBookClubs-_-letter_blocks-_-diana_wynne_jones_RIP
http://girlsjustreading.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-memoriam-diana-wynne-jones.html
http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-am-mournful.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8421501/Diana-Wynne-Jones-More-charm-and-wit-than-Harry-Potter.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8414691/Diana-Wynne-Jones-a-wizard-writer-whose-young-life-was-far-from-magical.html

And Here We Go Again... + Results

Currently Listening To: American Idol performances

I'm watching Idol right now. Typing as I'm listening. Motown night again. It's much better than last week but there are still some screw ups. Also, they need to get rid of the background singers. They're drowning the contestants out.

Initial thoughts:

Stefano - #%^@ what the hell is he thinking? He freaking sang Hello, the song David Cook made famous back in '08. Bad decision Stefano, VERY big fall from last week mate.

Scotty - No shit, this is the direct opposite of Adam's Ring of Fire performance. Turning motown into country is just stupid, enough said. It's interesting, but at the same time it sounds really silly. Taking chances? Sure, but it still sounded totally off. And Ryan's really freaking me out - 'Is the voice inside of your head that deep as well?' SERIOUSLY WTF.

Thia - Slight improvement from last week, but still very far off the mark. Everyone else is way ahead of her in terms of stage presence and all that jazz so...I'm really wondering how long she'll last.

Haley - Interesting performance this week. Surprisingly good vocals, excellent song choice (I loved it anyway). However, in terms of outfits, she is seriously morphing into Haley Scarnato aka skimpy-outfits. Not sure if that tactic will work for this Haley though?

Casey - It was okay performance, nothing to shout about. Better than last week definitely. He really needs to step it up though, otherwise he'll be going the Danny Gokey/Andrew Garcia route..

Paul - Oooh an even more interesting version of Tracks of my Tears. Of course, Adam did it SOOOOO much better, but I guess Paul wasn't that bad either? Motown meets alternative rock woot.

Pia - She's really good but at the same time she's also very boring. She needs to stop singing ballads! Great vocals as usual, but something about her is off this week. And like Lauren, she's kind of pageant queen-ish. Not necessarily a good thing...

Lauren - Hmmm she sounded really good this week but er, she doesn't have much of a stage presence either eh? I noticed that she didn't really know what to do on the stage either; randomly place hand on hips, walk around a bit, cock head a little - honestly I think both she and Thia are too immature for the show. Unlike Allison Iraheta, David Archuleta or even Aaron Kelly, they don't seem to realize that they're live on stage, in a show that is shown all over the world...

Jacob - Finally, another performance that he did not oversing. Okay maybe he did oversing a bit towards the end but overall it was a solid performance. And what was with that random hugging?? What is wrong with Ryan this week??? Jacob looked confused when those girls just went up on stage and hugged him.

Naima - Excellent performance from Naima this week! The dancing was a bit over-the-top but at least that was interesting. Vocals - spot on, song choice - awesome, and great timing too or else she would have been eliminated.

And the number one position this week goes to...drumroll please...

James Durbin rocked it this week, I thought. Still not a big fan of him but he sang well. He still can't stop screaming though, the entire song was like way too high for him.

And that's it for this week. I wonder who will be going home tomorrow...

P.S: My mum liked James, surprisingly.

~*~

EDIT (Results):

I didn't watch the episode yet but holy shit Casey Abrams was almost eliminated from American Idol!

Oh yes, almost eliminated! The judges saved his sorry ass.
To be honest, I wasn't that shocked about this 'shocking elimination', and anyway he's still in the competition now so...no fuss right? Unfortunately the judges won't be able to save anyone else if there are any other unexpected eliminations (*cough*LaurenPiaJames*cough*).

Bad Song Choice Night Returns (+ Results)

Currently Listening To: Keane - Let It Slide

Before I continue, I just have to say this:-

None of the song choices made on American Idol tonight was good. Seriously. Not. One. Single. Song.

And because of that, I'm having a really hard time trying to find something nice to say about the contestants so let's just..get on with the seriously horrible performances, starting with

Karen Rodriguez. Girl gots to go. STAT. Horrible song choice (one of those super boring ballads played on a loop on Lite.fm), terrible execution...and she's younger than me?? She looks so OLD. She is definitely the contestant I dislike the most in three seasons. THREE SEASONS and last year really sucked. Honestly, I'm done with her, and I hope America is too.

Thia Megia fared no better than Karen this time around. She gave a completely uninspiring performance of 'Colors of the Wind' and as I've mentioned before, GIRL CANNOT HIT THE HIGH NOTES. As if that's not bad enough, she is bland, boring and totally flat in her delivery so if she's not gone within the next few weeks, I'd be surprised.

Naima Adepapo was slightly better that Karen and Thia, but still bad overall. Who'd have guessed that she'd just crash and fall like that? Two weeks in a row. At least last week was entertaining. No excuses for this week - she made a bad song choice, couldn't sing in tune and wasn't memorable. She's in serious danger, IMHO.

(Note that the bottom three are all FEMALES! I thought this was suppose to be a girl's year? Femme fatales crashing and burning badly.)

Haley Reinhart took a step backwards this week. She has been improving lately, but this time was a no go for her. Vocally, a very weak performance and well, song choice sucks obviously.

As for Casey Abrams...well I thought the song choice was not too bad, but the actual performance was absolutely uninspiring. He sang 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' but it sounded more like the Smell of Dispirit. Compared to the others though, he was still okay.

Jacob Lusk was just as bad as Casey. I think he's the first male contestant who sang Heart's Alone and um, I thought that was a really bad choice because so many other previous contestants sang the song much better than him. Once again, Jacob's guilty of oversinging, and that about sums up his whole performance.

Paul McDonald was sick, but er didn't really hear that in his performance. He sounded the same to me. Song choice was decent (for tonight), and he was generally okay I guess? No progress.

Personally, I felt that James Durbin went down quite a few notches this week. Mostly because I'm starting to feel a little bored with him? He is the only 'rocker dude' left though, so I shouldn't be expecting much variety. At least the song he sang was okay, vocally it wasn't so great but overall it was good enough to put him head and shoulders above the other 7 aforementioned contestants.

Lauren Alaina is really immature, isn't she? I take back what I said a few weeks ago about her being older. She actually has the maturity of a ten-year-old and Ryan Seacrest is doing everything possible to encourage that. On the bright side, at least she sings well? That is about the only good thing I can think of to say about her. I'm sorry judges, I don't think she should be excused just because she's what, 16?

And as expected, Scotty McCreery went country again. At least he pulled it off well? One of the better song selections of the night, although I don't know the song.

Pia Toscano sounded awesome as usual, but I really hated the song she sang. Seriously, aren't there any better songs to sing? From 1988? Or is that year such a bad year? (Gosh we're the same age...I'm embarrassed). She needs to be more creative. It takes more than just good vocals to get through American Idol ya know. Work it girl, show some versatility.

So Pia was okay and all, but the best of the night was definitely:

Stefano Langone! Let's give him a big round of applause, for being the one shining star tonight (despite the questionable song choice. Or should I say, in spite of the song choice?). Brilliant vocals. Absolutely perfect. Now he kinda reminds me of David Archuleta hmmm.

Anyway, a very disappointing week. Jennifer Lopez is as awesome as ever though. The only judge giving constructive criticism. I say, give her a round of applause too for being so gorgeous and awesome!


~*~

EDIT (RESULTS): Karen's gone. FINALLY!

Ooooh, Lee performed? Gotta watch that then. I thought they'd forgotten about him heh.

American Idol Top 13 (EDIT: Results)

Currently Listening To: Nicole Atkins - Cool Enough

The performances of the 13 American Idol finalists was shown tonight, and honestly I think it is one of the strongest Top 13/12 ever. Compared to last year, everyone in this season sound like professionals. Seriously.

Anyway, to me the bottom of the pack this week would be:

Ashton Jones - Oh dear. Wannabe diva. I didn't think she was that bad, but when you're in American Idol and you don't stand out...I think you're screwed. By standing out, I mean being memorable or at least having a mediocre performance. Unfortunately for Ashton, she was forgettable. And apparently without a fanbase.

Naima Adepapo - She sang Umbrella for heaven's sake! Bad song choice. Danced more than she sang. To top it off...she's a wild card contestant so that means she does not have much of a fanbase either. I think it's sad, cause I actually like her.

Karen Rodriquez - Vocally it wasn't that awful, but it sure wasn't good either. And something about her seems so...fake. Everything she sings is just flat, kinda like Taylor Swift with a better voice.

The rest of them were pretty good in my opinion, seriously no comparison with any of the contestants of Season 9. Unbelievable!

Paul McDonald - I'll be honest here, I didn't 'get' his performance. Sure it wasn't bad, but it was boring. Lacked integrity and passion, I feel.

Thia Megia - I won't deny that she has a voice, but seriously this girl is just as flat and emotionless as Karen. The only thing better about her is her voice, and her looks. Overall, a decent performance and thus she'll be safe.

Haley Reinhart - That was a pretty good performance for Haley. The yodelling(??) was weird but vocally I thought she was spot on. Boring song choice though.

Lauren Alaina - She and Thia needs to learn a lesson or two from each other. Thia should infuse some of Lauren's confidence in her performances, while Lauren should learn humility. I mean seriously, it's just a slight critique and there she was making faces at the judges! Really shows her age. Time for Little Lauren to grow up a little. As for her performance, it wasn't that bad but it was boring. Great voice, bad attitude, so sorry I do not like her at all.

Casey Abrams - Thought his performance was just so-so yesterday. I mean, I do like the guy and all but he has no...oomph factor. It's like, Kris Allen or Taylor Hicks. Consistently decent performances but no strength somehow.

Stefano Langone - Awwww isn't he cute? He sounded okay, the song choice was okay and had an interesting arrangement but he lacks oomph too. I would, however, sign him if I were music producer or something. He has the perfect voice for Bruno Mars-ish songs, and that seems to be the in-thing now so, yeah.

Jacob Lusk - He sang I Believe I Can Fly, believe it or not! And he sang it quite well too. Usually that song is like the death kiss. A bit over the top at times but generally pretty good performance.

Scotty McCreery - I still find his deep voice disturbing, but that was an excellent song choice. Should be signed up by a country music record label asap! The perfect male counterpart for Taylor Swift...and definitely better than her. Baby lock them doors...


The Top 2 for the night:

James Durbin and Pia Toscano! Congratulations for being consistently good, and for delivering stand out and vocally impeccable perfomances. Okay, maybe not impeccable but close enough! And to think, I didn't like any of them a few weeks ago. So I'm still not a big fan, but at least I'm really warming up to them now. James' song choice was excellent, a Paul McCartney song I've never heard before but it suits him really well. And Pia's voice is just amazing! Definitely the best female of the bunch.


~*~

Soooo...I'm still pretty impressed. Jennifer Lopez, I think she's an awesome judge. She actually gives constructive criticism! I remember liking her when she was a guest judge a few seasons ago, so yeah she is the perfect replacement. Steven, on the other hand, is so Paula. Half drunk and too nice for his own good. And as for Randy? Well, Randy's just Randy. Curious to see who'll go home tomorrow.

EDIT: Results

So I was right about Ashthon, no fanbase whatsoever. I was very sad to see her go though, she has the potential. May she do well in the future.

Also, please pray for Japan everyone. It was hit by a really bad earthquake and that resulted in a terrible tsunami. The damage looks terrible and I was shaking when I saw the news. This goes out to all the countries that might be affected by the tsunami too.

Lucky Thirteen

Currently Listening To: Bruno Mars - Marry You

I haven't blogged this much since...a long, long time ago? But American Idol kinda deserves to be blogged - don't ask me why, I just have this urge to blog about it (every single year since 2009! Amazing).

So anyway, the judges decided on a Top 13 instead of 12 because of the overwhelming talent this year and you know what, that was actually a good decision.

And the lucky thirteen are:

(Thanks to America)
Lauren Alaina
Pia Toscano
Thia Megia
Haley Reinhart (the horror!)
Karen Rodriguez (the most undeserving person in my opinion. Poor Lauren T. and Kendra!)

Paul McDonald
Casey Abrams
James Durbin
Jacob Lusk
Scotty McCreery (Baby lock them doors and turn the lights down low...)

(Thanks to the kind judges)
Stefano Langone (he's cute in the...muppets kind of way)
Ashthon Jones
Naima Adepapo

I say, America got the guys right but the inclusion of Haley and Karen is mind-boggling. Haley should be following the footsteps of the other infamous Haley (Scarnato from Season 6) and Karen, well, she's just on the wrong stage. Beauty pageants that way honey, not here!

Even though I still don't have a clear favourite for now, I am quite excited about the Top 13. Here's hoping they'll swim and not sink next week.

P.S: Adam's returning to the Idol stage on the 10th of March to promote Aftermath! AWESOME! Now if only James would sing with him...that would be really interesting.

American Idol - Top 12 Girls

Currently Listening To: Florence and the Machine - Howl

It's official, the girls are much better than the guys this year.
Sadly I'm still not inspired to support anyone in particular, male or female.
This season is so much better than the last, and it's only the Top 24! Promising.

Anyway, moving on - lemme start with the ugly cos that's the easiest...

The Ugly:
Tatynisa was a trainwreck, singing Rihanna's Only Girl. For American Idol? Seriously?!! Insane decision and it shows. The worse performance for both nights.

Rachel was a trainwreck too. I don't know what to say about that one other than it really sucked.

Really disliked Julie's performance too. I can't remember anything about it, again other than the fact that it sucked.

The Mediocre: Haley, Karen, Ashton and Naima were okay. Nothing bad about their performances, but they weren't fantastic or interesting either.

As for the Good...in no particular order:
Boring Kendra turned out to be quite good. Decent song, decent performance AND she's pretty. Might get into the Top 10 if she's lucky enough.

I still think Lauren Turner's the better Lauren, even though she isn't very...attractive. Let's hope her voice is good enough for the Americans, otherwise she won't be making it through to the next round. Great voice, solid performance.

Lauren Alaina on the other hand...well, she is good but something about her just seems off. Is she really 15?? She seems so much older. Sorta like a more precocious and annoying version of Allison Iraheta. And you know what, Allison is so much better!

Another surprising one was Pia. She was soooooo under the radar but when she hit the big stage, she totally nailed it. Much better than some of the other over-hyped contestants (Seriously? The ones listed in bad and mediocre should be eliminated based just on their performances tonight).

Thia Megia was also okay, but I noticed that she couldn't really hit any of the high notes. Powerful voice, most certainly. However, I thinks she's a bit like the Scotty McCreery of the girls - not much of a range.

~.~

I guess 14 contestants will be eliminated tomorrow, and then a wild card round to round up the Top 12. Good luck to everyone, they will definitely need that.

American Idol - Top 12 Guys

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - Feeling Good

Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Wasn't bad as far as first nights go (last year was terrible), but some people I looked forward to kinda sucked and those I didn't really care about did pretty well.

The Good:

Believe it or not, James Durbin. He most certainly is aiming for the Adam Lambert target audience, what with the song choice and the whole rock vibe. See what happens when you sing instead of scream James?

Old man Scotty McCreery, the more I listen to him the older he gets (in my eyes anyway). But yeah that was a good performance despite my lack of interest in country music.

I had faith in Jacob Lusk and he did not fail to impress for sure! The dude who loves to oversing gave a fantastic, controlled and spectacular performance of A House is not a Home. Very old school, jazzy and bluesy. Bravo dude, bravo.

Casey Abrams needed a shave, but he sure sang his heart out! Can't believe he's only 20? He looks about...40. Nice voice, interesting song choices, and also the pimp spot. What's not to love? The judges are in love with him. Let's hope America is too...

The Mediocre:
I couldn't figure out where to put Paul McDonald, so this section is specially for him. Very very mediocre, but he did have the right kind of voice for that song.

The Bad: Tim Helperin (Boring), Jovany (good voice, dull song), Clint (an idiot for doing Superstition), and Stefano (good voice, but Just The Way You Are? Come on man).

...

and The Ugly: Jordan, Brett, and ROBBIE WHY ROBBIE!! They were just all levels of suck.

Oh and Imma be calling Robbie Bambi from now on. If he makes it through. How many people are getting cut again? 7 girls and 7 guys? Then a wild card round? Hmmm.

Can't wait to see the girls later tonight.