171
Hey there friends. I hope that you're all enjoying yourselves today.
I am awfully tired. After another busy day at work (and they're only getting busier,) my friend Meagan and I gave a speech about ESL to a group of teachers in our district. I think that the speech went well. We had a lot to say.
Tomorrow I will have three new non-English speakers starting at my school. I helped their mother sign-up for classes today. Since they are Russian-speakers, I was the designated translator for that. Thinking about what I am going to do with these kids from tomorrow is contributing to my stress that makes me tired.
The "light at the end of the tunnel" was the fact that I could watch a two-hour American Idol once I got home. Here is what we thought about the whole thing here at my house:
AMERICAN IDOL:
Tonight's episode was the country music theme episode. The funny thing about the country music shows are that they are the easiest to cheat on. What I mean by that is that the contestants have opportunities to sing pop or rock songs that were covered by country bands. This is probably a good thing because country isn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea anyway.
There were two things that struck me about tonights show: The first being that the hairdresser must have been on "down" mode tonight because everyone's hair that could be straight and down was straight and down today. The second thing that surprised me was that I often disagreed with Simons comments tonight. That is really weird because I almost always agree with what he says.
The contestants:
1) Diana DeGarmo- Poor Diana. She's on first tonight. First position is the "most likely to forget you after a two hour show" position.
I liked Diana's song alright. It wasnt exactly my cup of tea, but it was good enough for what it was supposed to be. Her face and personality light up the camera.
It would take a lot to make me dislike Diana. I'd bet that she drives the other contestants nuts however. She seems like the type to have show-business "running through her blood." I don't know whether that would sit so well with the other contestants.
2) George Huff- George sounded good. His voice was good too. I doubt that he'll ever put in a disappointing performance.
3) Fantasia Barrino- Fantasia looked really pretty in the dress tonight. That's a good look for her.
Her song was good. She is a versatile performer. I can't imagine her being eliminated for a long time.
Observation: Fantasia kind of reminds me of a hand puppet when she sings. Maybe it is because of the giant hinged-mouth.
4) John Stevens- This song was a good pick for him. I think that it turned out to be his best performance since the audition. I had to do a double-take when he missed the words in a part. It sounded unfamiliar, yet still part of the song. Nice cover John!
(Watching John, does it seem that he doesn't really like being in the competition?)
5) Camile Velasco- Camile looked less nervous this week than last week. She's so pretty and shy on stage that I think that a lot of people will vote for her because she's charming. I think that she has a similar appeal as Cher did when she was young.
What is interesting about Camile is that she is so outgoing on the pretaped bits, yet isn't nearly as comfortable on live television.
6) Jennifer Hudson- Jennifer looked terrific, and her song was super. This may have been the first time that I have been so impressed with one of her songs.
7) Jon Peter Lewis- Jon Peter has really good promo bits. It seems that the men in this competition (besides John S,) are much better at getting their personalities across than the women.
Jon Peter's song was bad. People will still vote for him.
-I really liked Simon Cowell's John Boy comment. It is pretty accurate.
8) Jasmine Trias- Jasmine is so pretty and charming, how could a person not like her?
Jasmine chose the song that eliminated Julia last season. It must be a hard song to sing because as did Julia, Jasmine didn't do such a great job with it.
9) Matthew Rogers- There have been a lot of performers starting their song while sitting on stage. Matthew continued the trend.
Matthew's song was forgettable.
-Randy REALLY has to cool it with the cliches. I am sure that his image consultants told him to find some new catchphrases, but his new ones are already dog-eared by the eighth or ninth week of the series. Please Randy!
10) LaToya London- LaToya looks like she could be MC Hammer's sister. There is a sort of family resemblance. They're from the same city. I wonder if they're related...
LaToya seems like she'd be a really good mom. I hope that fame doesn't spoil that.
LaToya is really growing on me. She is good every time she's on the show. I wonder whether America is really "falling in love" with LaToya though. It doesnt seem like she has what it takes for that to happen. I hope that I am wrong.
11) Amy Adams- Amy looked fantastic tonight. Nice shirt and hair.
My wife made an interesting observation. She said that Amy looks like Sherry Stringfield. I can see the resemblance.
Amy's song was great. She was the only one (besides Diana) whose song actually sounded like a country song. I think that it was the best of the evening.
Who we're voting for this time:
Jamie: Amy and Camile
Kazuko: Amy
Who we're picking to most likely be voted off on tomorrow's results' show:
Jamie: Matthew Rogers
Kazuko: Jasmine Trias