Final 10 - Bonus Picks

Time to get the bonus picks in. Remember - you have 15 total points you have to distribute to 3 contestants (each contestant must have at least one point). Picks must be in before the show tonight.
Some people said that some of the pictures from yesterday's post weren't showing up. I think I fixed it - so you should be able to scroll down and enjoy them in their full glory.

On to last night's performances ...

Ramiele - sounded like crap to me. I doubt she is going to go though. She has some sort of deal with the mafia.

Castro - Dear Team IdolSmith, I know how much you love Jason Castro. I believe he is a nice guy. You are right, he probably doesn't smoke pot. He is a nice Christian boy. However, I will still make fun of him for smoking pot - not so much because smoking pot is funny - but because people who smoke a lot of pot are funny. They have delayed reaction time. They don't seem to care about much. They always have this goofy smile on their face. Some of them have nappy hair. Not only does that describe Jason Castro - but it describes his performance last night.

Syesha - I was right about all of those weeks when Syesha couldn't really hit the notes. The last two weeks, however, she has done some very nice singin'. I think Simon hit the nail on the head, though, when he said that there were limits to her vocals. That dude is smart.

Chikezie - It took me a record 3.6 seconds to fall asleep to this one.

Brooke - Her voice sounded good on this song - but I don't think it was that great overall. I agree with the judges that the band sounded corny when they came in. However, there wasn't much to her piano part and it was getting old very quickly. I think it was right for the band to come in - just not in the way they did. If Blake Lewis was doing it, he would have had the band arrange some cool groove to the song to give it some dynamics. It sounds like they just took the first beat they could find on GarageBand and used it for Brooke. At least she didn't have as many awkward glances at the camera.

Michael Johns - I really like this guys voice. Sure the song medley seemed a little self-indulgent, but coming from Michael you knew that he just felt that he had to do something a bit more showy. If it was David Cook it would have been a different story. Mrs. Commissioner was very pleased.

Carly Smithson - I spent the whole performance trying to explain to Mrs. Commissioner what was wrong with it. She likes Carly and thinks that she wants to win more than anyone else. I think that might be true. I just keep saying that her voice is good, but she is completely unrelatable. I realized last night that much of it is just her facial expressions. She always looks like she is really into it, then she will open her eyes and she is looking up at the ceiling with a possessed look - much like Eddie Vedder's facial expression as he puts the "gun" to his head while singing "Jeremy" - spooky. I am surprised I haven't had any nightmares yet with Carly looking at me that way. It is sad that that has to be a factor - but it just does.

David Archuleta - What in the world was that song? Sure he can sing but I don't want to hear anyone sing songs like that. Simon was completely right about that being the kind of song you sing with animals running around you at a theme park. I am just glad Archie wasn't born the year of "We Are The World" or "Dear Mr. Jesus".

Kristy Lee Cook - One of the first CDs I ever purchased was Lee Greenwood's Greatest Hits. I was a loser in high school. Kristy might as well have been wearing my American flag jacket last night. It really was a great song choice for someone who wants to stay in the competition. Too bad she had to sell her soul to sing it.

David Cook - I have mixed feelings about this one. He really did a great job of singing. That note he held out might have been my favorite vocal moment so far this season. That is hard for me to say. However, the judges were talking about how original he is and it was driving me crazy. Ryan Seacrest even said in the introduction that it was Chris Cornell's version of that song. It sounded like Chris Cornell (just not quite as awesome). Sure David did a good job with it, but don't give him credit for the arrangement. He did the same thing with Elanor Rigby - ripping off someone else's version and not really giving them credit for it. If you want to talk about original - Blake Lewis is the guy. The idea that David doesn't have any problem taking credit for the originality of the performance kind of bothers me. But man he really is pretty good.

One last thing. WTF was Paula wearing? I am beginning to think that the judges are like the cast of Weekend at Bernie's. Randy and Simon are alive - just dragging around this lifeless corpse of Paula Abdul, pulling a string in her back and making her say nonsensical phrases like "That was ... you are ... well, you know how much greatness ... you should be proud." And if she says "brilliant" one more time I will have to get a new TV because my current one will have a steak knife sticking out of the middle of it.