Miscellaneous rambling, and bragging about my kids.

Scratch one charismatic old guy from the roster. Unlike John O'Hurley, George Hamilton and Jerry Springer, Vincent Pastore has decided that the rigorous training needed for the dancing program is too much for him, and he's bailing out.

Master P, you listening?

Word from producer Nigel Lythgoe is that Antonella Barba will not be kicked off the show for her dirty pictures. If you listen carefully you can hear Frenchie Davis swearing.

The decision is an interesting one. You have to figure that either they're thinking she's a bad enough singer that she'll be gone this week anyway, or else they're thinking that now she'll survive much longer than she should have since people will be voting for her in the hopes of more pictures coming out. Nigel even mentioned that AI is just as much a popularity contest as a singing contest. So did he tip his hand there? He expects her to last a few weeks now?

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Technorati: American Idol

Was I hearing things Monday night, or did Robin actually tell Lilly not to "go all Prisoner's Dilemma on me" when she was about to confess something about Marshall's car? The line was delivered so quickly and quietly, with no reaction at all, that I'm left wondering if I just misheard it and the geeky part of my brain filled in the rest.

Prisoner's Dilemma, for those who've never heard of it, is something of a logic game where you have to figure out the optimal strategy for winning over time. The general idea is that two prisoners have been sentenced, and are offered a deal – if one of them betrays the other, then he goes free and the other one gets 10 years. If they both betray each other, they both get 2 years. But if they both stay silent, they both get 6 months. So it's a cooperation game. If they both go for the benefit that is best for them (potential freedom by turning the other guy in), then they both lose and end up with 2 years. But if they both stay silent, knowing that they could be on the hook for up to 10 years, they could end up winning and getting out with just 6 months.

Since the game is about betraying and not just about confessing, I'm not really sure that Robin's prisoner's dilemma reference was accurate. Anybody? Did I just imagine it?

Update: It was still on my Tivo, and yes that's absolutely what she said: "Don't you go all prisoner's dilemma on me." So hey, if one of the writers of this episode is out there trolling the blogs, I just want to say "Noticed it. Nice."

Have I mentioned lately that my wife likes things grilled? She's all about the year round grilling. Which is fine by me, really, when weather permits. So when she said that we were grilling for dinner tonight it didn't dawn on me until too late that over the last week we've gotten a good foot of snow. I call her on the phone to tell her this while I'm driving home, and she goes over to the porch to survey the situation. "Looks fine," she says.

Looks fine, I come to learn, means that the grill is surrounded by a foot-high snowdrift on all sides. The side facing the house, where I would normally stand, is completely ice due to the gutter dripping down on it. This is going to be fun.

This is a precarious spot. I am standing on an icy hill, sloping down toward an open flame that will soon heat in excess of 500 degrees. This is not terribly smart. So I have perched myself with one foot braced back against the house, and one foot planted up against a wheel of the grill to avoid this happening. It is not a comfortable position, and certainly not the sort of summertime "hang out on the porch with a beer until the chicken's done" kind of time. I carefully step out, position myself so I don't do a faceplant into the flames, check the chicken, and then retrace my steps backwards to the house.

Elizabeth, my 2yr old, has locked me out of the house.

It's a sliding door, you see, which I have closed completely so that the kids who like to stand in the door and watch Daddy will not freeze. It does not take Elizabeth long to experiment with the little foot switch she sees Daddy step on, which locks the door. And, of course, she's incapable of pressing the unlock mechanism. Meanwhile Kerry is upstairs with the baby, I've got a plate in one hand covered in raw chicken bits and another hand with my grill tongs. I try to explain to Katherine, my 4 year old, how to unlock the door but she's not good in tense situations. Finally she just goes to get Kerry, who thankfully does not choose this opportunity to be funny, and lets me back in the house. 🙂

I love apollo anton Ohno!!! i'm so excited i can't wait to watch him Dance!

The biggest surprise of the night ends up being what Fantasia looks like these days.

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Update: Looking for the lyrics to This Is My Now? That's the original they sang for the final number this year, the one that won the songwriting contest.

How cool is it that they're using a Chris Daughtry song as the exit song this year? It's called "Home", although I'm sure people are going to come looking for it as "Be careful what you wish for" or "I'm going home". (The show picks it up in the middle, right at "I'm going home to the place where I belong…")

I actually have this CD, it's very good. I'm happier with it than I was with Bo Bice's effort.

UPDATE 5/8/2007: People are debating the lyrics in the comments, so I dug up the liner notes that come with the CD. There are as official as you're gonna get! Apparently the lyric sheet does not include every single "So" and "Well" and "Yeah", so I'm leaving those in. And vettegirl was right, it is "remains true".

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from,
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love remain true and I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from,
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Awww, that's a shame. I liked Doug. Well, I like his podcast. I think the show made him look like a cocky idiot. But if they're getting rid of the weepy one, whatever her name was, I suppose that's a good thing.

Sorry to tell you… but DOUG will not be coming back as judge.
Peter Jones will be the only judge returning… with three new judges.
There will be a new host and a whole new production staff… to ensure a POWERFUL…. season TWO. Auditions are presently starting and the show will air in JULY! Here is praying from another entertaining show!
GOOD LUCK AI!

Well, that was certainly night and day from the men, wasn't it?

Before I get into the details, can I just take a moment to say how annoying Ryan has gotten, and how painfully forced the whole "let's pretend to make Ryan and Simon fight" nonsense is?  I mean, geez, they even went back to Chris Sligh's comments yesterday — on video! — just to force some interaction.  Just painful.  It's interesting that Simon said he likes it when contestants fight back with him, like Chris did, because it shows spirit.  Actually, at least in Chris's case, what it shows is that he's got a bunch of canned responses all cocked and ready to go, and he looks for ways to use them because he thinks he's funny that way.  A truly funny personality can think on his feet.  Look at his video again and tell me that the Il Divo and Teletubbies comment was off the cuff.  No way.  I think that before he ever got up to sing, he said "Watch this, I'm going to slam Simon on the Teletubbies thing."  And then he went about forcing it into the conversation for no reason. I'm liking him less and less.

Anyway, on with the ladies.  It would be an understatement to say that American Idol this year is going to be all about the ladies.  I'll even go so far as saying that it's going to be all about the black ladies?  Can I say that?  I can't really say African American if I don't know each individual race, can I?  How does one go about making that observation without sounding racist?

Oh, and ladies, here's a tip.  When Paula says you're beautiful?  It means she hated your song and is struggling for something nice to say about it.  When Simon says "On the positive side, you're attractive" it means he thinks you'll get votes based on that alone.

Let's make this easy by just sorting by who is going to make it to the finals, since there are some obvious favorites.

Stephanie starts it out on a note that reminds me of an American Idol original, Latoya London.   Everybody seems to love it just because it was better than all the men put together, even though it had issues.

Sabrina takes it back up a notch not just by singing well but by showing that she did her homework by watching past seasons and choosing not to sing a ballad during these early stages.  Good move.

Melinda is the former backup singer who is now enjoying her time at the front of the stage.  And she sings really, really well.  She's got a great personality as well, and really knows how to work her backstory ("You'd think that the 6 feet between the background microphones and the lead microphone wouldn't be that big a distance…")  I still don't think she looks like an American Idol, though.  I hate to say that, but it's true.

Gina's got a good shot at making the final 6 girls, but I really wish she'd fix her hair.  The black with red highlights thing doesn't work for me.

Lakisha.  Oh, Lakisha.  She brings down the house singing that Dreamgirls song made famous by Jennifer Hudson, and you almost have to wonder if the producers told her to sing it just so they could make the comparisons.  Here's my problem with dear Lakisha.  She looks horrible.  I feel awful saying that, but it's honest. Her teeth need work.  She needs to drop like 50 pounds.  I'm not saying a "big" girl can't go far in the competition, look at how far Mandisa got before she started blessing us all in the name of Jesus and telling us she doesn't like gay people.  Lakisha looks unhealthy, like she does not take care of herself.  If the producers want to groom her like the next Jennifer Hudson, they'd better get started on the image people quickly.

Jordin is likely to claim the last spot in the top 6 as the "bouncing 17yr old with a big voice".  She's nice, she's energetic and polite, and she has the potential to sing well.  But, like all of the young contestants, she'll eventually fall behind the professionals and end up in the "Better luck in a few years" camp.

Ok, that's the 6 I expect to sail through to the finals.  And now the rest.

Amy is one of the dull and forgettable ones.  I don't see her lasting.

Leslie.  When I first saw Leslie in the final 12 "dancing" vignette at the end of Hollywood week, I thought, "she's goofy."  Simon says it better, by calling her "ungainly".

Antonella demonstrates that she's out of her league, and could easily be the first to go.  I'm somewhat surprised that she's even still there, given that popularity of her topless pictures.  They could easily have booted her and given her spot to a runner-up. 

Nicole?  Who?  She's another one that I can't see making it to the final 12.

Haley.  I think that it was during Haley's performance that I turned to Kerry and said, "Let's see if one of the judges mentions Broadway."  Sure enough, right out of Randy's mouth, "It felt Broadway to me."  Thank you.  I sort of liked it, but after looking at the top 6 up there I can't see it being good enough.

Alaina gets a "rely on your looks" from Simon.  She might survive the first week, but not much longer.  Voice isn't nearly strong enough.

Who will win it?  Right now, if we assume that singing ability still counts the most, I think it's between Melinda and Lakisha.  Which I think is interesting because I've also commented that I don't think either one of them looks the part.  I like Melinda's story better — Fantasia already played the single mamma card.  I don't want to be subjected to that again.  And images can change over the weeks.  Look at Clay Aiken, after all.