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OK - Americal Idol has it down to the final 24.
Who's your pick?

I'm still catching up on the DVR, but by the time I come back to check this thread I should have an idea.

There are two Mormons that I know of (like me!) competing this year - David Archuelleta (sp?) and Brooke White, the cute blonde who's never watched an R-rated movie. Go team!

Linda

There are two Mormons that I know of (like me!) competing this year - David Archuelleta (sp?) and Brooke (can't remember her last name yet), the cute blonde who's never watched an R-rated movie. Go team!

Linda[/quote]

Boy is she gonna get a surprise on her wedding night. LOL

Pretty sure she's already married.

Linda

I could not resist the funny it is my weird sense of humour.
I cannot comment on AI as I never watch it now. I only get into trouble anyway for speaking my mind about the exploitation.

Big Jim! haha! You make me laugh! You always do! That is too funny! I like your picture. hehehe!! (We have the same sense of humor... ha! If you only knew the real me. I must keep that under my hat!)

I kind of like the rocker guy. I am not sure of his name but I really like his voice! I think he will be in the top few for sure! And I like the blond Carly Simon type girl that plays the piano, wears striped red and white shirts alot and gets teary all the time. Those are my two top pics right now. I think they will make the top five. But it is still early on. Time will tell. I just liked them for no particular reason.

Tammy

P.S. I am a little sad the boy who lives in his car didn't make it any further but he copped and attitude at the end and shot himself in the foot. He seems immature. He couldn't even work with the band and backup vocalists on a song to perform with. That's not cool in the biz and I think that pretty much did him in. Too bad!



www.tammyedwards.com
www.myspace.com/tammyedwards2

Tammy you always bring a smile to my face. If only I was twenty years younger and had a haircut LOL

Jim you could be a standby substitute for the Geico commercials! Forgive me I don't remember their names yet but I liked the very young (16) boy w/the non-stop smile who seemed humble yet talented, and the girl who never saw R rated movies also. I'll have to be more diligent and write down their names next time.

Sorry Guys and Gals:

I'm still on strike against A.I. (I swore last year that I would not watch again until they change their rules and stop letting contestants "buy" votes by letting their friends call in.)

If they'd just stop the cynical behavior and let a panel of judges (other than the three morons) decide it would be a meaningful show.

"To each his own," said the old lady... as she kissed the cow!

Dave

Are people really still watching that thing?

I like Brooke White a lot, and I also like Michael Johns (the guy from Australia). Also David Cook - the rocker. Sort of a Chris Daughtry type. The one I'm really watching, though, is Amanda ~ the nurse with the multi-colored hair. The Janis Joplin-type singer. I just think she is great.

It's the most watched show by a significant margin.. so I'd say Yeah.. people are still watching it Truman.

Simon has clearly cut back on the nasty attacks on people. It's made the show better and decreased the burn out factor a lot this time around.

I did notice that they only chose "beautiful" people this year. There's never been a year with so many model-esque contestants. And they keep saying the best talent ever this year.. but there's at least a few that were very weak in the clips they showed. That's the tough part of picking anyone early because the editing is so limited and selective. There's about 1/3 of the final 24 that have never sung on camera once.. so who knows at this point. We'll get our first real look at them next week. The blonde girl that everyone loves so much really isn't a strong singer based on the clips they have shown. She has a "nice" voice.. but it has very little power or range behind it so far. I see a dozen better singing female singer songwriters every time I hit the road. But perhaps she's better than the clips they've shown and it would be nice to have an actual singer-songwriter type on the show for a change. They've clearly made her a favorite because they've obsessed with showing her in every possible episode. There's at least 3 rocker guys and 1 of them can't sing at ALL. He was totally flat each time they showed him in Hollywood. Again, he's gotten the most face time but the other 2 rocker leaning guys blow him off the stage. But when you make someone THAT familiar before the show even starts, it's hard to get that front runner status out of the mind of the masses. It's possible they (and others) sing much better in reality than the shows limited editing let us see. It won't take long after the first 2 rounds of actual competition to determine who the real front runners are. Let's hope they're also the better singers.

Brian

In case anyone wants to get the names, here's the link:

http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season7/

My faves so far:

Amanda Overmyer (could compete with Pink)
David Archuleta (I can see the teen girls going ga-ga for him - and he can sing WAY better than Sanjaya)
Michael Johns - did a memorable Bohemian Rhapsody
Ramiele Malubay - I just thought she had a big voice.

I do have to admit the voting process is totally screwed up. I am personally guilty of voting up to 25 times in one night for the same contestant last year...the miracles of toll-free numbers and "re-dial".

They should limit the vote to a maximum of 2 calls from one sourced number (2 people in one household).

Larry,

You actually voted 25 times for someone? What made you care so much? I enjoy the show, but can't even fathom doing that.

Brian

Lynn, I just had to chuckle, those two are the two Mormons I pointed out at the top.
David Archueleta
Brooke White

Jim, no worries, I know you can't resist a good one.

I admit I was disappointed they didn't show a clip of each of the final 24 at least once - it's not like it's that hard to do. There were some faces we never saw at all, and a lot of edit time on stories of folks who were sent home.

I agree on the Josiah fellow - don't send the band out - and DON'T fail to be able to work with the band & backup singers - yeowch. Bad call on his part. It shows an inability to work with others, which is just bad business.

I wanted the curly-haired Kyle with the tie to make it, but I don't think he'd have made the top 12. I'm really glad the gal with the hoarse voice made it through though - she showed the ability to perform under adversity (and do it well) which gets high marks in my book.

There's a strong sense they're just working this 'reality show' up for whatever high drama they can squeeze out of it, rather than focusing on who has the best potential and talent. Gotta agree with you, Brian, on the "pretty people" business.
Then again... "Video killed the radio star..." and radio hasn't been the same since, has it? ~sigh~ Maybe the judges should listen to the auditions blind... Nah... the whole package and image are important these days, whether it 'should' be or not.

Simon keeps calling it a "competition" - and it is - but seriously folks: at the heart of it it's just television. If it was a true, competition-only, evaluated by talent alone talent contest, they'd have a larger panel of judges and "America" wouldn't be the only vote keeping them on or off the show. And it wouldn't have all the little life vignettes trying to sway public opinion one way or the other.

But then it wouldn't be TV.


Linda

Brian,

It was actually in season 5 (2 years ago), I voted for Katherine McPhee a lot. I had heard that many of the contestants would have their fans do the same thing - which is why it's difficult to get through the first hour after the show. I was trying to even out the stakes.

I had heard that because fans vote multiple times until they close the voting, that the people voted off only lose by a very small percentage most of the time. It's simply how many calls can be accepted during that post-show 2-hour voting period. Sometimes only a few hundred votes will make a difference between the contestant going home or not.

Besides, I guess I had a bit of a crush....

Well, it is fun to talk about and make predictions...I like the ones who are humble. I think they bias us by showing more of one contestant than another...but in a couple weeks we'll have a better idea.

Right now, I like the Australian guy, Michael Johns, (thanks for posting that Larry!) And David Hernandez. For girls, Brooke White and the nurse, but we haven't heard a lot of the others, so...I guess time will tell!

On another Idol subject, I just read that several of the contestants this year are not "undiscovered", but have had record deals and/or other opportunities at stardom in the past, but for various reasons didn't do well. Several are actually pros, not "new talent".

They include the following:

Carly Smithson (Irish singer with earlier Visa issue) - MCA deal in 2001. The video she made at the time is still on Youtube as of yesterday (it may disappear - the song is pretty unmemorable).

Michael Johns - (Aussie who sang Bohemian Rhapsody) - Signed to Maverick Records in a band called Film.

Kristy Lee Cook - was signed to Arista, Nashville. Supposedly has the same manager as Leann Rimes, Marty Rendleman.

Robbie Carrico - Wire Records, 1999: Boyz and Girlz United - opened for Britney Spears. Currently, he sings with the band called Missing Pickett.

David Archuleta - Won Ed McMahan's Star Search at age 12.

Kady Malloy - Has a record produced by Nick Trevisick (Mandy Moore).

I don't know if it's really BAD that these people are competing against some true "newbies". I just hope that the AI producers don't try to fool the audience into believing that all these people are brand-new and have only sung at Karaoke bars. This isn't the Olympics (non-pro's only) and I'm just happy to get good talent however it comes about.

Isn't ratings week coming up? It would NOT surprise me at all if AI tries to generate some additional interest with "controversy" to boost the ratings even further since it will determine how much they can charge for commercial air time over the whole season.

+++++++++++++++++
I just pulled this from the American Idol FAQ, which seems to make it all OK:

"Q: I've noticed that several contestants have professional music experience, including TV appearances and on Broadway, I thought you were only looking for amateur performers?"

A:"In order to be eligible, the contestants are not permitted to have any CURRENT recording or talent management agreements."

After going to the site and checking out the photos so I could get the names right and review the auditions in my mind I have come up with my top 10 list. It could change a little bit. But this is gut instinct and first impression by talent and commercial appeal.

My top ten! The first 4 in the order I think they will place. The last 6 in no particular order. ( This is an very early bet! It could change after watching them under pressure. )

TOP 10!!
Winner -CARLY
second-MICHAEL
third BROOKE
Fourth AMANDA

(I think those 4 will make the top 5)

Rest of top ten
Luke
David A.
David C.
Syesha
Danny
Asiah

I think David A. Could make the top 5 but he is so young. I am not sure if that will work against him. Isn't he like 16 or 18? It's ok but I tend to think girls get picked more often in the top 5. Even if a guy does win Idol the girl Idols have sold more records and are more popular. Sorry guys! It's kind of that way. Girls like to pick girls because they want to be in their shoes and like to follow girls and sing their songs, and guys pick girls because let's face it. They might be HOT! haha! I knew Carrie Underwood would be the hottest best selling artist to come from American Idol. She is simply drop dead gorgeous. (heck my husband would leave me for her. lol just kidding! Even though she is his fantasy gal, I kid him about it. ha! He's not leaving!) Anyhow, Carrie is AMAZINGLY talented vocally. There is no way she would lose. I am just watching the trend here. Some of the guys that won have really not gone on to the top with their recordings and CD sales. But Kelly and Carrie have. That is why my bets are with another girl to win. Just for these very reasons. Attraction sells. Girls like girls and boys like girls. Okay.. I will shut up now. ha!

I could be wrong. But I thought it would be interesting to see how many I guessed in the top 10 this early on. You can check my post on down the line and see if I was fairly accurate.
This is fun!

Tammy

www.tammyedwards.com
www.myspace.com/tammyedwards2

haven't watched it, once!

but i'm sure someone will win, either way.

and if the super bowl is on Fox next year, they might even sing the national anthem.

Post deleted by TAMERA64

I agree, tonight's show was pretty bad if this is supposed to represent the cream of the vocal crop.

I'm blogging my reaction to each American Idol show over at http://myvote-americanidol.blogspot.com ... hope you might pop by and add your thoughts

Out of 12, there were only three that I thought did well:

1. David Archuleta
2. Jason Castro
3. Michael Johns

Jason surprised me because he hasn't had much camera time until now, so I didn't know what to expect. Michael was not at his best, but still decent.

The worst:

1. Chikezie (cheezy performance)
2. Danny Noriega (cocky and performance was "gawky"
3. Luke Menard - very pitchy performance

I didn't think Garrett did that well, but I don't think he was the worst.

I agree with your top 3. The rest were equally as non-inspiring as each other.

Post deleted by TAMERA64

The last guy who sang last night (light my fire) will be one of the last standing. The other kid who will be in the top 5 is the 17-year-old who has been singing since he was 5. He is very easy to watch because you don't have to worry about him screwing up- he never does. There is one more wildcard kid who is really green (he had only sung 5 times in public before). He did Loving Spoonful's "Daydream" playing the guitar. Randy, correctly I think, said he would be better off without the band. He is better than he thinks he is, so that is refreshing. He could go all the way if he is a quick study. He looks a little like a young John Travolta.

Samuel,

I think you picked the three I listed above. The last guy to perform was Michael Johns. The 17-year-old is David Archuleta. The young guy singing "Daydream" with the guitar was Jason Castro.

Well, I like those guys you just mentioned, but I also like David Hernandez. He went first. I thought the beginning of his song was really cool...but then the rest was just alright. Have to keep an eye on him though....

The girls tonight...I thought Ramiele Malubay did best and I don't even remember her. The youngest girl, Alaina Whitaker, did well I thought also. These are two girls I have not seen or heard before.

I agree. Ramiele Malubay was the star tonight and will definitely be in the top 5. I also liked Alaina Whitaker, Alexandrea Lushington and Asia'h Epperson.

The one they keep pushing is Carly Smithson, and I thought she was way too "Cabaret" tonight. I thought "The Shadow of Your Smile" was older than the 60's, but apparently, it was released in 1965 according to Wikepedia. Carly can sing, though.

I want to hear someone sing newer songs, I'm bored already

My daughter confessed to watching Jason sing "Daydream" over and over and over today... fascinated by the SONG and his performance. I had to chuckle. But yes - he's very good. Top 3 boys seem to be a hands-down consensus: Michael, David, & Jason. Can we just send the rest home now?

The girls are more of a toss-up for me - they seem more equally talented, but I don't know. I'm not sold on any of them yet. I was impressed with Syesha's Tobacco Road even though I hate the song - in fact several of the songs the producers cleared ought to just die a quiet death, IMO - but I appreciate someone who can take (as Simon said) a terrible song and make you enjoy it anyway. I'm not sold on Carly, although she CAN sing... I'm just not sure I like her. I do like Amanda the Rocker Nurse, but I didn't like her song choice tonight.

Anyway... it'll be interesting to see who goes. Amy needs to go. (Sorry Amy) Her performance was just flat all over. We couldn't even watch it through - had to fast-forward, because it was so off-tune. A note here or there I can deal with.

I'd hate to be one of those judges. Not a fun job.
Simon's most often right though. I tend to agree with him more than anyone.

I miss Melinda Doolittle. We definitely don't have her caliber here this year.

Linda

I agree, I wasn't much impressed with the girls either. Even the best - the last two - didn't really reach out and grab me. I've posted my list on my blog... we'll see how the votes go. Hope the 'singers' can pull it together for next week.

http://myvote-americanidol.blogspot.com/

I haven't read any of the above comments because I haven't seen the women perform yet and don't want to be biased. But here's my thoughts on the mens performances in week 1:

The best 6:

Jason Castro (He's got the least singing ability of the top 6, but the most natural artistic talent and charisma in his presentation)

Danny Noriega (He actually creeps me out with his over the top persona.. but he can sing amazingly well and from what I've seen (even with his slightly weaker performance tonight) he may be the best singer of all the males).

David Archuleta: It's clear the judges favor him over all others. His charisma is a 10 out of 10, but I think his voice is more limited than the judges are suggesting. He's been so built up (and has a long TV resume to match) that it's a bit unfair to the others. He seems a little too Disney-fied and staged for me, but he's easily in the top competitors.
David Hernandez: He has the least chance of making the top 6 of these guys, but his voice is very strong. He's pretty boring so I wouldn't be surprised if he was voted out week 1, or if he made it into the top half of the finals. He needs a personality fast.

Michael Johns: This JPF Music Award winner is the most seasoned (and oldest) performer of the bunch. I've liked his voice since I first heard it back in 2000. He's got some unfortunate baggage with his former band Film but I've only heard one side of that story.

Robbie Carrico: He's a Disney-fied rocker, but I think he's better than the third rocker David Cook (at least from footage I have seen so far). He's also got looks and Charisma and it will be interesting to see if he can shake the pretty boy face and history opening for Britney Spears in a Boy/Girl band and be accepted as a rocker.

The worst 3:

Garrett Haley: I liked the only other clip I saw of him during auditions, but he was the worst of the night by a large margin. His Leif Garrett look might help him hang on longer than his first performance would deserve.

Luke Menard: I was hoping he'd be good since he's from Indiana (oddly enough 2 of the female finalists are also from Indiana), but his performance had no power and was so timid he was nearly invisible while singing. I doubt he'll get another shot, but if he does, he better blow people away.

Colton Berry: He shouldn't have made the Top 12 guys.. and he proved it with his peformance. It started off okay.. but then went south fast. I would have much rather seen the singer-songwriter kid with the fake british singing accent make it.. at least he was interesting.

The other Also Rans:

Jason Yeager: Moon River.. it was just cheesy... and his weird little blonde patch of hair is really annoying.

Chikezie: He has some potential but his first performance was also cheesy and dated. He needs to find his own thing.

David Cook: I think he's the weakest of the 3 rockers vocal wise. He sang flat in Hollywood week and was shouting tonight. In previous years he could of held down the rocker spot no problem, but I don't see where there's room for him with the Aussie and Disney.. er.. Carrico guys standing in the way. Unless his soul patch wins the day somehow. He should be around a while though, so perhaps one of the other two will slip up or he'll turn it up to 11.

One thing is for sure.. the most deserving 12 rarely actually make the final 12. Every year someone gets hosed by the voters and someone else less deserving slips in. I am looking forward to watching the female artists in the morning when Linda get's home and we watch it on the DVR and reading everyone else's thoughts.

Brian

Okay.. I just watched the girls perform. Ack. Based solely on the performance of this one show:

The 6 best:

Alaina Whitaker: Great charisma and very likable. Nice voice especially in the second half of her song. The fact that she's the youngest contestant is amazing. She won't win in the end, but she's the best of the blondes.

Alexandrea Lushington: She didn't sing great, but I actually liked her cool performance style and the arrangement she picked for the Blood Sweat and Tears song which she made sound like a current hit. Hopefully her singing can also match her on stage charisma or she'll fall back in the pack.

Amanda Overmyer: Clearly the most natural performer of the show this season. She doesn't contrive her performance.. it's all instinct and gut reaction.. she just does it.. she's not thinking about it. Her Janis Joplin style might wear thin, but she may be around a while before it does.

Ramiele Mulabay: She didn't have a blow out performance, but she has some serious vocal talent and a nice personality. I think she'll be around a while.

Syesha Mercado: We say her be amazing and be horrible in Hollywood. Tonight she was somewhere in between, but she has the look and feel of a superstar and when she's on vocally, she's good enough to win it all. She had the power vocal that every expected to hear from Carly Smithson.

Asia'h Epperson: I was a little disappointed in her peformance, but she's smart enough in a dumb class so to speak.

The 3 worst:

Amy Davis: the overall worst of guys/gals and one of the worst performances in AI top 24 history.

Joanne Borgella: great in early auditions.. horrible tonight. Perhaps it was being sick, but she didn't claim to be after the song nor did anyone mention it (as they did with others). She simply tanked badly.

Kady Malloy: the most unlikable contestant I can remember seeing on the show in it's history. Her smirk and scour after the performance drove home the fact that she's nothing but a manipulated and overwrought staged performer who has no soul of any kind. I hope she's gone week 1. (By the way, she actually has a good voice.. but who cares when you're that nasty and bitter).

The Also Rans:

Brooke White: massive face time, likable but boring as hell with no real vocal range and a cheesy earth mother vibe that wears thin.. I see better female singer songwriters every time we do a JPF show in any city

Carly Smithson: massive face time, massive hype, connection to Randy?, totally didn't live up to any of it.. and the glowing support given by Randy and Paula reeked of insider manipulation and the most blatant undeserved bias I've ever seen on AI

Kristy Lee Cook: Totally forgettable. Yawn.

The girls were very disappointing. There's only a few with superstar potential and I thought they were weaker as a group than the guys and I was thinking the guys weren't that impressive either.

Between the inconsistent performances, the skeletons in several of their closets and unfair and bogus hyping of undeserving contestants by the judges, it's hard to predict what will happen with the voting. There's a ton of manipulation going on and it's sad to see. Anyone who watched and thought Carly Smithson was the best performance of the entire top 24 either has no clue about music OR they have a specific business agenda to push a contestant through for their own insider reasons. Very sad. Carly is a great singer and could be a star.. BUT.. she wasn't either of those things on the show.

My initial top 8 (based on talent, not who I think will get it due to other reasons)

Amanda Overmyer
David Archuleta
Jason Castro
Michael Johns
Syesha Mercado
Ramiele Malubay
Robbie Carrico
Alaina Whitaker

Sadly.. Carly Smithson and Brooke White may trump some of these based solely on show hype. Carly can do better. Brooke is pretty much what we saw.

I think after next week we'll have a really good idea of actual long term front runners when we get past the supposed "flu" epidemic. I would expect to see big improvements from Carly and Joanne next time around.

Now I am going to go back and read everyone elses thoughts. = )

Brian

Okay... so we have this afternoon before the first cut.. though it's a bit of a crapshoot after week one, who does your gut tell you should be voted off this week? Remember, it's not usually the actual worst performers that get the ax.. but more often the most forgettable or unlikable, but here we can say who deserves it most rather than who the fickle fans will pick.

Most deserving to get the boot:

Luke Menard
Garrett Haley
Amy Davis
Kady Malloy

Anyone else?

Brian

Note to Linda: I change the title of this post so that we can make this the official discussion for AI this season. Hope you don't mind!

Brian

Not at all, Brian, I'm flattered!
I always enjoy your take on this show.

I didn't realize Michael Johns was a JPF award winner - very cool! He impressed me with his Bohemian Rhapsody last week - not easy to win me over on that one, either.

Is anyone else in the 24 in JPF that we know of?

Linda

Luke Menard
Garrett Haley
Amy Davis
Kady Malloy
--------------------------------------------
I think Joanne or Kristy Lee may go, not Kady----oh and I liked Carly's performance more than you did. I thought she sang the song with alot of emotion and power....

And I agree with Linda, Doolittle is VERY missing this year---Anyone heard anything about her?

I agree that Kady WON'T go.. I just think she deserves to. = )

I checked out the AOL polling which was almost always right last year (perhaps they got 1 or 2 wrong all season) and Brooke and Carly are in the top 6 so the early support they've gotten from judges obviously has already had a big impact. Carly had the second most votes and the biggest vote getter was Ramiele.

I figure Joanne is more likely to actually go based on the performance and the fact that Kady is going to make it because little girls must have been impressed with her Britney impersonation. Ack.

And my apologies to Ande who seems miffed that I changed the title of this post and has added "Original Official" to the other. I actually thought this post WAS that post as well and didn't even realize there were two big posts going. If I could merge them I would. I just didn't want to have a half dozen AI posts spring up and folks were making predictions on this one so it seemed to make sense we'd keep all the predictions together.

I supposed we could recopy all the predictions over to that one, but either way, having 1 post going forward makes more sense.

Brian

Brian

We need to pick 1 AI post and make it official. Let's quickly resolve it and lock the other two down.

Brian

Hey Tammy,

I was surprised to see that Amanda didn't even make the AOL top 6 in women. I am puzzled by why she's getting so little voting support there, which is often pretty accurate to the overall voting trends.

Brian

Post deleted by TAMERA64

The only real surprise tonight was when they almost immediately sent home the first guy! It was so quick...they usually drag it out. I guess they're trying to change things up. Keep us watching beyond the 30 seconds where they announce who's going home.

Yeah, there were at least 4 or 5 girls crying. Ramiele was sobbing away and got a fair amount of camera time on that. I don't know if that's good. It might evoke sympathy, but it's certainly not professional. The girls haven't had THAT much time for bonding anyways. Maybe it was just nerves (relief)?

I thought Colton did a decent job on Tuesday, so I was a bit surprised he went this soon, but the other 3 were bound to go pretty quickly. Unless Chikezie modernizes his style, he may not last long either.

Maybe Amanda needs to be a little friendlier to the audience in order to get more votes? I don't know if she'll last unless she warms up a bit and develops a "relationship" with the audience. She can wail, but can she get votes?

Interesting that there were supposedly 30 million viewers but only 28 million votes.

Was Paula's vocal on "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" grossly overtuned or what? It was probably triple-tracked and definitely had that "Cher" synthetic-tuning effect. I thought the melody and the groove on the tune were both really boring and repetitious. I couldn't really tell where the verse ended and the chorus began - if there WAS a chorus.

"Interesting that there were supposedly 30 million viewers but only 28 million votes."

Well I would say that is a pretty good return even assuming that some idiots voted multiple times. Frankly I am surprised at the gullible folk who waste money on such a thing.

They're toll-free calls. They don't cost anything to the caller. You can also send a text-message as a vote, which MAY cost the cell phone user - depending on the cellular plan. Some people have a flat fee for all text messaging - especially if you have teenagers.

Last year, AI had more votes than viewers generally. If I recall, they had 30-40 million viewers, but over 50 million votes on more than one occasion.

I was right in my standings with the girls - my #11 & #12 got sent home. The guys were harder to pick since most of them were pretty equal. I thought a couple of the guys didn't perform as well as Garret, but he got sent home.

I thought the singing of those going home kinda proved they should be voted off - hardly anyone was on pitch. It was difficult to listen to. And I totally understand that it's emotional, but it's your one chance to prove again that you have what it takes.

As to Paula's song - I thought she looked great, but I was waiting for some power vocals or some contrast or something that wasn't so bubblegummy.

H

I am very surprised. In the UK they are premium rate calls. Each vote costs about $2 (£1). There was also a huge public outcry when it was discovered that most of these type of phone in comps and vote lines were scams. Even the BBC abused the premium rate phone-in calls. People were entering a competition for something that had already been decided and the votes were not even counted. So you can see why I am so vehemently against such things.

So 30 million people watched and ONLY 28 million voted" That seems rather astonishing because I would think most people would be like me- watching- but not interested in voting. I'll bet most people watching don't vote and that those who do vote, vote 25 times.

There is something interesting that goes on with the "masses". a scientific study discovered that if thousands of people guessed how may jelly beans were in a jar, hardly anyone got it right but the researchers discovered that the statistical average of all the guesses was nearly perfectly correct.

I've never voted I never will

Other interesting scientific studies have proved that if people are told that something is good often enough they actually start to believe it even when it is crap. Also there is the TV mentality that no matter how bad a thing is folk will still watch it, probably because they are too lazy or stupid to turn it off or switch chanels