A preview of the week to come

I'm back. Fresh off a gold medal win at the Olympics, I'm back in Memphis and ready to take on the world. They take really good care of you while you're in the Olympic Village and it's good to see the US use their tax dollars for good things like massaging my legs before a race.....
So now that I'm back, I'm ready for a few big events this coming week.


1.LOST
It's safe to say that I'm ready for them to start answering some questions and from the sounds of it, this week is going to do just that. It appears that Jacob got Hugo and Jack away from the Temple because he knew something bad was coming that way. Lost is starting to take on forms of the book "The Stand" which was written by Steven King. I read that book a long time ago, but am seeing similarities to the current TV show. If you have read it, you know what I mean in saying this. The Stand was a great book that was about the end of the world and pitting good vs evil and how many 'soldiers' each faction could gather. This seems to be where Lost is going with the Jacob vs Locke angle. Should be interesting....


2. American Idol
If you read any of my posts from last week, I was not happy with the talent that was kicked off last week and with the overall talent that was on display. I've softened a little bit because I know that the people that were kicked off last week weren't good enough to win it or make it to the final 12, so I guess it doesn't matter what order the lesser talented people get kicked off. I'm really looking forward to seeing certain contestants this week and what they sing. Siobahn Magnus is one in particular that I think could really take off. Time will tell.


3.Kentucky Basketball
Fresh off the second loss of the season (and to a team I truly hate), the Cats look to rebound and close out the regular season with two wins at Georgia and home for senior day against Florida. It will be interesting to see how they respond to the loss as I am curious to see what the new addition of Lebron James to the squad will do to help them win the championship.
In all seriousness, Saturday is Senior Day at Rupp and one of the more special ones in some time. Even though Patrick Patterson is only a junior by class he is going to be honored as a senior and I can't think of a person that is more deserving of the honor. He will graduate in three years and has done all the right things during his time as a wildcat. I'll have more on him later in the week.

Until then...

AI Elimination Thoughts

Highly disappointed in America. Sending home Janell, Ashley, and Joe?!?!?! Whaaa? The only one that made remotely good sense was sending home Tyler. Maybe Ashely as well, but JOE? Are you kidding me? He's more talented that half that roster.

Frustrating watching some worthless singers staying....

American Idol Dudes Night Thoughts

After a really crummy night of estrogen, let's take a look at how the testosterone performed last night.

Todrick Hall: (Since You've Been Gone)
Dude, rocked the casbah. I think he is hit the right spot. Forget what the judges said because they're always telling people to take a risk and he did just that. Judges sucked with him.

Aaron Kelly: (Here Comes Goodbye)
Shaky start, but finished well. I think he's a little out of his element. Very shaky nerves. I think he's very intimidated by the judges and you can see it in his expressions.

Jermaine Sellers: (Get Here)
Is this guy a Diva or a Dude? Ugh...didn't like his performance at all. He butchered it

Tim Urban: (Apologize)
Tim...it's not too late to apologize - you shouldn't have sang that song. If you can't hit a note, don't hide it...don't sing the song. I'd hit the road and tell people that you're Keith's distant cousin. In a nutshell, horrible.

Joe Munoz: (You and I)
Great song selection! Perfectly tailored to his vocals. I told Mrs. McGoo right before he went on that he could be a darkhorse and I was right. This guy really hit the mark.

Tyler Grady: (American Woman)
If this was the video game Rock Band, I think he would score high. Unfortunately, it isn't a video game. The arrangement didn't help him much, but I thought it sounded crummy.

Lee Dewyze: (Chasing Cars)
Another great song selection. Sounded like he missed the mark on a couple of notes, but other than that, I liked his performance. He's got a great stage presence as well. Good raspy sound which is unique.

John Park: (God Bless the Child)
Ugh...worst performance of the night...shaky and couldn't understand what in the world he said at the beginning. John...God Bless the listeners of that horrendous rendition.

Michael Lynche: (This Love)
He sounded like he was singing with the Jackson 5 and not Maroon 5. Decent performance...sounded like something of Motown and a very safe performance. All in all not a bad way to start for him but felt like I've heard it before.

Alex Lambert: (Wonderful World)
Looked very uncomfortable on the mic and very nasely. I'm sure he's got more to show, but ugh...I just didn't like this performance. And trust me when I say this....CUT THE MULLET

Casey James: (Heaven)
Casey, I want to thank you for taking me back to the YMCA Summer Camp days when I had multiple girlfriends and sang that song to all of them. Good song. You're going to get a ton of votes for that song and will continue to get a ton of votes as long as you don't screw up terribly. Good song and good performance. He'll be around for a while.

Andrew Garcia: (Sugar We're Going Down)
Garcia, right now, imo is the best performer on the show. He's got all the tools to win the show. I thought he picked a safe way to sing and I would have liked to see him do something else.


All in all the guys were much better than the ladies. Still some bad performances, but I think the guys are very top heavy with Andrew, Casey, Todrick, Joe, and Lee. If any of those go home, I'll be greatly surprised.

Let me say this though...

I think this is the worst group of performers I've seen from American Idol since I started watching. I think the judges should be embarrassed with their picks. If some of the former contestants came back and were allowed to compete, I think a lot of them would blow this crew away.

American Idol Ladies Night Thoughts

In a word, Terrible.

I've left tonight wondering if the judges and people that help these singers select songs should be fired.

Paige Miles:
I thought Paige was not very good. Simon thinks she has the best voice, but I dunno. Band didn't do much for her either

Lacey Brown:
Eh...horrible. She was all over the place and you could feel her voice shake.

Michelle Delamor:
Why do these girls pick songs they struggle with? Eh..it was average

Janell Wheeler:
Decent. She picked an ok song and I like that it was one that raised the tempo, but still not great.

Lilly Scott:
She's got a quirkiness that makes her fun to listen to. I think she sings the same way most of the time and thus it might hurt her. Not bad last night.

Didi Benami:
She hit her notes really well. I just hate the slow boring songs. For the sake of it all, someone pick things up a bit and make something your own!!

Ashely Rodriguez:
Yawn. I could turn the sound down and look at her, but listening to her last night made her ugly for once.

Siobahn Magnus:
I agreed with Randy...she didn't use what she was given last night. Wicked Game? Come on...sing woman!

Haeley Vaughn:
Dear Lord...please don't let her come back. I feel like I'm watching the smiling cat from Alice in Wonderland sing. Problem is, that cat is more enteraining and wouldn't sound like it's on Star Search

Katie Stevens:
She's got a deep voice that could develop into something special. Not on this night though.

Crystal Bowersox:
Holy Crap! Her teeth got whiter very quickly...imagine that?!?!...Janis reincarnated actually put on the best performance of the night, which isn't saying much. I still think she's boring. When she loses, she could always be the cover girl for Crest Whitening Strips.

Katelyn Epperly:
Not bad. It wasn't great, but she was one of the better singers last night.


All in all I was not happy with the women. If they keep this up it might be an all male Top 12 if I was doing the show.

Dissecting American Idol Contestants - 3

My past two posts I've looked at 10 contestants that America has had a chance to see and hear. Here are a few more that we've seen and some predictions....

Haeley Vaughn:
Question, how many African-American singer songwriter types are out there? I can only think of one...Tracy Chapman. She's got a "fast car" and that's all I know. I think Haeley has an interesting voice and style, but I just don't see it getting her far. She's only 16 and I think the pressure is going to get to her.

How does she get in the Top 12:
Hopefully every song she is told to sing is written by: Sugarland, Jewel, Chapman, Sheryl Crow, and the Indigo Girls


Janell Wheeler:
Janelle had very good auditions until her final one, she struggled. That may have to do with her voice going out on her so it remains to be seen how she'll do. She definitely has the looks, charisma, and the chords to make it far. I am undecided on her...there's something about her that I like, but also something I'm a little timid about.

How does she get in the Top 12:
I think she's got to keep herself healthy...don't lose her voice again. I think she also needs to engage herself more with the audience.


Katelyn Epperly:
Katelyn could very well come out of this being:
a. America's Sweetheart
b. Winning it all
c. Crashing out early
d. a and c.
She's got a cuteness not seen in Idol in a long time. I didn't care for the 'family problems' story they told as I didn't see that as news worthy really.

How does she get in the Top 12:
She'll definitely have one vote each week if she dresses cute


Lilly Scott:
I somewhat compare her to Carly Smithson from two years ago. However, I think Carly is better (and got shafted from winning I might add) and she didn't win it. Soooo....hopefully she improves each round because she does have the goods to make it far.

How does she get in the Top 12:
I think she is a good bet to make it in. She's very dynamic with her voice and seems very well rounded with her pitch.


That's about it. The rest of the crew I don't know much about or heard enough to make a good guess on who I think will go far. Which is exactly why I am not predicting a winner until I've seen them all. No sense in picking against talent I've not seen.

www.mrmcgoo.blogspot.com

Dissecting American Idol Contestants - 2

So we took a look last time at 5 contestants that are poised to sink or swim in the contest. Today we'll look at a few more.


Todrick Hall:
Todrick made a splash early on with his impressive audition. Throughout Hollywood week, Todrick never seemed to fail to impress. His group showed strong in their audition and his charisma is shown through every time he performs. He seems to be very versatile and has hit the mark with everything he's been asked to do. Heck, even the judges didn't waste time in telling him he made it. That should tell you something.

How does he get to the Top 12:
Todrick needs to continue to impress. I really believe if he starts winning over America, he'll get votes even when he has a bad outing. 'If' he has a bad outing.

Joe Munoz:
Joe is someone who we didn't get to see much of. I personally only saw a few small clips of him performing and what I saw, he seemed to impress the judges. He has that cute "David Archuleta" persona and I think possibly will appeal to a younger crowd. He can sing...that much is obvious.

How does he get to the Top 12:
Don't screw up...otherwise, I think he is one and done.

Siobhan Magnus:
With a name like this, one would think that she's a contestant on American Gladiators, not American Idol. Either way, I think she could win both. This girl is one of my early season favorites...based off her talent. She's got that Punky Brewster look infused with some soulful depth and a cuteness that could very well win people over. Hopefully the creative team of AI doesn't take that and blow it up and throw it down your throat. We've seen that with some former contestants that Idol seems to see potential in and dresses them up in stuff that immediately makes you turn the TV off.

How does she get in the Top 12:
I think that as long as she isn't shoved down our throats with over-kill, she's in. Definitely needs to pick the right songs later on.


Ashley Rodriguez:
Ashely wasn't shown much on the early auditions, but what we did see I thought she was decent. Nothing too special, so it should be interesting to see what they show of her in the coming weeks. She certainly has the looks and maybe she has the cool story to go along with it. She's one of the few that I didn't get much of a feeling about that we did get a chance to see a small bit.

How does she get in the Top 12:
Good question...come back to me after I've seen her this week.

Crystal Bowersox:
Mrs. McGoo can tell you, I'm not her biggest fan. She's definitely got some pipes and is probably the closest thing to an Idol Janis Joplin, but I'm not sold. I think it has something to do with the fact that her teeth look like she's taken crystal meth for the past eight years, but I digress. She'll do well if the songs are tailored to singer songwriter and country, but outside of that, I just don't see her delivering great performances of everything.

How does she get in the Top 12:
American voters hold a special affinity for people with bad teeth.


That covers five more contestants....check back for more later.

American Idol Top 24

I realize this will be my first non-UK post in quite sometime, so for those of you that are looking for more UK stuff, sorry, you'll have to wait a bit.

Wednesday night finished up Hollywood week and we saw the top 24 selected for what should be a great season of American Idol. American Idol has a special place in our marriage because we use to watch it with our friends Don and Jana West when we were doing our pre-marriage counseling with them. We still like to get together with them and AI is usually the night we try and do so.

Even though I'm not great at singing and can't play a note on an instrument, I'm actually pretty good with spotting talent (a lot better than some might think) and love watching these next parts of the show. While I don't think the best talent wins it always, they usually do a good job of having the best one or two contestants near the finals. Case in point, I thought Danny and Adam were the best two last season, but somehow Chris managed to make it to the finals and win it. My personal choice would have been Danny because Adam was annoyingly creepy and Chris was too ordinary. However, the majority of people voting are girls and Chris had the good looks and college coffeehouse look going for him.

Mrs. McGoo has a little contest that she does when the contestants make it to the top 12. It is pretty fun to try and pick the winner of the show as well as select who goes out each episode.

Starting tomorrow (Thursday) Idol will post the bios and contestants of the ones we have gotten to know some on TV. I'll give a little incite into who I think could make it to far and who I don't think will do well. As much as I would love to post who, out of the top 24, will make it to the final 12, AI didn't show us every performance of the contestants. So for now, I'll just have to work with the ones we've seen.

Until then...

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www.itsnotmydiary.blogspot.com