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I was glad Kristi Yamaguchi won the disco ball last night, making her the first female contestant since season one's Kelly Monaco to win. She was easily the most consistent contestant and unlike most past female competitors, she knew how to be a crowd-pleaser. Let it now be said that ice skaters have an advantage on this show ;).
Is it just me or has this year's AI, despite having a multitalented bunch of contestants, been a bit duller than in the past? At least the two most deserving contestants made it to the finals. This could've been the toughest matchup since Reuben and Clay from Season Two, but even though David Archuleta didn't exactly pull anything like Clay's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at least he performed like he wanted to win. David Cook did all right but didn't really put it away. Your job in the finale is to convince the folks that you deserve to win. I agree with Simon, he should've performed his version of "Billie Jean" or something. Cook seems to be a favorite of young adults but the most avid voters are the middle schoolers and the grannies. Archuleta has had those voters in his pocket all along. Despite the October Surprise of his Stage Dad getting banned from the backstage, nobody is blaming the kid. Look for Archuleta to be the second 17-year-old from the West to win it.
Update: I guess I called that one wrong! Cook had a bigger fanbase than I thought. Oh well, he'll sell a lot of records.
Is it just me or has this year's AI, despite having a multitalented bunch of contestants, been a bit duller than in the past? At least the two most deserving contestants made it to the finals. This could've been the toughest matchup since Reuben and Clay from Season Two, but even though David Archuleta didn't exactly pull anything like Clay's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at least he performed like he wanted to win. David Cook did all right but didn't really put it away. Your job in the finale is to convince the folks that you deserve to win. I agree with Simon, he should've performed his version of "Billie Jean" or something. Cook seems to be a favorite of young adults but the most avid voters are the middle schoolers and the grannies. Archuleta has had those voters in his pocket all along. Despite the October Surprise of his Stage Dad getting banned from the backstage, nobody is blaming the kid. Look for Archuleta to be the second 17-year-old from the West to win it.
Update: I guess I called that one wrong! Cook had a bigger fanbase than I thought. Oh well, he'll sell a lot of records.
OT: Will Sanjaya Kill American Idol?
Mar. 29th, 2007 05:28 pmLike the rest of America, I am watching with horror as AI contestant Sanjaya Malakar plows forward like Napoleon's armies across Europe, seemingly invincible. Every so often on AI, there's someone who's maybe not the worst singer in the world but noticeably the runt of the litter. Yet he or she inexplicably sticks around week after week. Scott Saval, John Stevens, and Kevin "Chicken Little" Corvais come to mind. But Sanjaya takes bad to a whole new level. He KNOWS he's safe no matter how much he sucks compared to everyone else, so he can phone in a bloody awful performance like he did this past week and show up looking like a fool. (I heard Gwen Stefani was none too pleased Sanjaya took a chainsaw to "Bathwater.") He can dress up like a furry and perform purely through flatulence at this point. Meanwhile, I'm sure the show's producers are terrified of this guy winning. Not just because they'd have to market William Hung the Second to a credulous public but also because the show's genuine fans are frustrated. Allegedly, Simon has even come out and said he will quit if Sanjaya wins. Sanjaya is Freddy Krueger...no matter what you do, he just keeps coming back.
A lot has been made of votefortheworst.com, Howard Stern, and other shock jocks encouraging AI's haters to keep voting for Sanjaya. While I think these people ought to just ignore the show if they don't like it instead of trying to ruin it, Sanjaya's "base" is more than a bunch of pranksters. Much more. You have the crazy cat ladies who are voting for him just because he seems like a nice young man. And you have the Club Libby Lu girls (i.e. tweens) who think he's just soooo cuuuute. NEVER underestimate the tweens. They will cheerfully vote 500 times on their cell phones for the Tiger Beat hero who captures their hearts.
Regardless of the reasons, I think AI ought to consider for one thing, choosing contestants more carefully than they did this year. I also think they ought to consider a "Dancing With The Stars" type system where the judges vote with the viewers. It could account for 15% of the contestants' votes, but unlike "Dancing With The Stars," the viewers and contestants won't know the judges' scores until the elimination phase. It could help offset votefortheworst.com or any other effort to mess up the show.
In any case, I still doubt Sanjaya will win but he'll stick around until someone really good (like oh, Jordin or Blake) is eliminated while he's kept on.
Or perhaps someone ought to give Tonya Harding a call.
A lot has been made of votefortheworst.com, Howard Stern, and other shock jocks encouraging AI's haters to keep voting for Sanjaya. While I think these people ought to just ignore the show if they don't like it instead of trying to ruin it, Sanjaya's "base" is more than a bunch of pranksters. Much more. You have the crazy cat ladies who are voting for him just because he seems like a nice young man. And you have the Club Libby Lu girls (i.e. tweens) who think he's just soooo cuuuute. NEVER underestimate the tweens. They will cheerfully vote 500 times on their cell phones for the Tiger Beat hero who captures their hearts.
Regardless of the reasons, I think AI ought to consider for one thing, choosing contestants more carefully than they did this year. I also think they ought to consider a "Dancing With The Stars" type system where the judges vote with the viewers. It could account for 15% of the contestants' votes, but unlike "Dancing With The Stars," the viewers and contestants won't know the judges' scores until the elimination phase. It could help offset votefortheworst.com or any other effort to mess up the show.
In any case, I still doubt Sanjaya will win but he'll stick around until someone really good (like oh, Jordin or Blake) is eliminated while he's kept on.
Or perhaps someone ought to give Tonya Harding a call.
So, which one of you bought the $650 Darth Vader helmet or the $2500 Code 3 Collectibles Millennium Falcon signed by Harrison Ford? Just about everything on the Home Shopping Network show this evening was expensive, but perhaps due to the FlexPay offers, a lot of the VERY pricey stuff sold out. Must be nice.
TFN got to the bottom of the post yesterday about the request for a credit card number from someone on my f-list. It was LEGIT. Lucas Online personally contacted![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
celosia2 and cleared up the matter. Still, the original missive and request for a credit card number was hardly professional. Where did they get customer service training? Nigeria? It's always better, legit request or not, to be safe than sorry. If something fishy comes up like that, contact the club yourself before giving anyone your credit card number.
Re tonight's American Idol: what did I tell ya?
TFN got to the bottom of the post yesterday about the request for a credit card number from someone on my f-list. It was LEGIT. Lucas Online personally contacted
celosia2 and cleared up the matter. Still, the original missive and request for a credit card number was hardly professional. Where did they get customer service training? Nigeria? It's always better, legit request or not, to be safe than sorry. If something fishy comes up like that, contact the club yourself before giving anyone your credit card number.Re tonight's American Idol: what did I tell ya?
OT: AI (Diana Ross week)
Mar. 13th, 2007 09:55 pmBest performance: I'd say it was a draw between Melinda and LaKisha.
Worst performance: A draw between the always bad Sanjaya (good Lord, what was up with that perm???) and the surprisingly bad Chris Sligh. The difference is Sanjaya was at least laughably bad (the "yaaaaaah" at the end especially), while Chris just left you puzzled.
Who should go: Sanjaya, for his long streak of stinking up the stage.
Who will go: The most likely to go is, IMO, Brandon. He wasn't horrible, but he forgot the lyrics in a way EVERYONE would notice and I don't see him with any kind of following. At this stage, AI is like Project Runway...it's better to be bloody awful than to be boring and forgettable. Chris Sligh will probably get another chance based on his charm.
Worst performance: A draw between the always bad Sanjaya (good Lord, what was up with that perm???) and the surprisingly bad Chris Sligh. The difference is Sanjaya was at least laughably bad (the "yaaaaaah" at the end especially), while Chris just left you puzzled.
Who should go: Sanjaya, for his long streak of stinking up the stage.
Who will go: The most likely to go is, IMO, Brandon. He wasn't horrible, but he forgot the lyrics in a way EVERYONE would notice and I don't see him with any kind of following. At this stage, AI is like Project Runway...it's better to be bloody awful than to be boring and forgettable. Chris Sligh will probably get another chance based on his charm.
