I don’t generally bash people for their looks (maybe stuff like tattoos and facial piercings, but those are choices). My rip on the guy that started all this was because he was crying and begging, not because of his looks.
Heh. Heh heh heh. BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh, I’m sorry, guy who has had a tough go in life, but that is too damned funny.
It’s not just a singing contest, by the way. It’s as much about the contrived drama, back stories and personalities as it is about the singing. These kids aren’t selected purely by singing ability, they’re cast as types and back stories who can perform at a certain base level.
Posh made that pretty clear - just about every comment from her was about, “You have a good look. I like your look.”
I’ve never read the TWOP forums for AI, so I went over there and man, oh man. They’re not as vicious as VFTW, but the one who said that Crystal Bowersox had the “Elliott Yamin Memorial Teeth” had me rolling on the floor.
Let it be known that I will continue to crack wise in AI threads for as long as I stick with it. Last year I only made it about 3 weeks into the voting part because the contestants bored the living shit out of me.
I say what I think most of the time. I’d like to think I’m not needlessly cruel but since I am a bitch in real life, I’m sure I can sound bitchy in cyberland. It’s a shame we paid for yellowval with Pedo Umpaloompa. It would have been much more worth it for Little Ophan Tranny.
Hahahaha! That’s the single mom, no? Cuz I noticed those golden niblets from across the room. If she makes it past the first couple of weeks in the voting part, they’ll fix that right up for her.
Elliott Yamin, for anyone wondering.
And all of us who noticed AND said something about those awful teeth did some good. Elliot with before and after teeth.
I think Elliot had some kind of jaw misalignment too. He was one of my favorites that year. I still joked on his teeth, though.
Yeah, Elliott post-makeover was actually totally hot. He’s one of the few Idol runners-up whose life has gotten noticeably better thanks to being on the show, and I don’t think it could have happened to a nicer guy.
See? I’m not a total asshole.
Also, I learned from the TWOP forums that tubby begging fuggo was the Abducted Kid who sang “Tempted” in his audition. I knew I’d seen him in auditions, but I couldn’t remember who he was.
I think it’s less about him and more about his wife–he seemed totally willing and ready to bail and be back with his wife, but his wife was pushing him to stay. The question will be whether his wife retroactively and unfairly holds it against him
If he were fodder, it would be one thing. But a) Big Mike has talent, and b) I am not certain, but I think he may age out after this season, so there’s no “next year” for him.
That having been said, for the sake of his marriage, I hope he makes it to the voting rounds.
From TWOP -
I love it. For so many of these kids, once they’re in Hollywood, it’s like they have never heard of this strange thing called “American Idol” before, in spite of having lived all 16 of their years with no other goal than to win it.
I think Jacob is the best recapper on that site. I liked this from his cap of tuesday’s show:
That’s about the best description of group night, and the reason for its appeal, that I’ve seen.
I do agree with that. Big Mike’s wife was totally game. She even let cameras into the delivery room.
The reason VFTW sucks is that they actually take themselves seriously.
I think the level of snark in these threads is about right. I read another board with weekly AI threads where there is little snark and lots of focus on the singing ability and it’s less fun there.
I love following here as the show airs. I’m terrible at knowing the names of contestants until they get down to 12 or so and I’m probably guilty of low info posts. Sorry.
I sometimes cringe at the apparent cruelty of the producers of AI when they more or less make fun of weird, untalented and clueless contestants.
What is TWOP?
Thanks, added to favorites.
Agreed. I also like M. Giant.
Anyway… I wouldn’t go so far as to say that all the contestants are selfish dipwads looking for glory. There are several kinds of contestant on AI:
[ol]
[li]There are the ones with the over-inflated egos who think they are God’s gift to singing. They’re the ones who won’t shut up when told no, who beg for second chances, or who are otherwise astonished that the judges don’t recognize their brilliance. They don’t want to do the hard work, they just want to win a contest a live in a fairy tale. Because mommy said they deserve it.[/li]
[li]There are the reluctant singers who are there because their dominating parents pushed them there, or because a friend talked them into it, or because of peer pressure.[/li]
[li]There are the ones with absolutely miserable lives with no skills other than singing that might get them out of it, and they’re doing this out of desperation.[/li]
[li]There are the ones with big talent when it comes to singing, but are hopelessly incapable of doing anything with that talent. That’s why they haven’t made singing careers for themselves even though they have the talent. They make it to Hollywood week, and then usually crash and burn. Usually, it’s because they have poisonous personalities, or because they’re horribly insecure, or stupid, or otherwise flawed in ways that will ever keep them from having real success at pretty much anything.[/li]
[li]There are the professional singers - the ones who have actually tried to build careers and haven’t made it for various reasons, and give AI a shot out of desperation.[/li][/ol]
The last group makes up the bulk of the people who have ridden the American Idol train to success - or at least more success than they had before. Chris Daughtry, Carly Smithson, Brooke White, David Cook, Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta… All of them had recorded before they auditioned for American Idol.
The only people who are all jerks and dipwads are in group 1. There are definitely a lot of jerks in the other groups, but a lot of genuinely nice people, too.
Group 4 is the one that gets decimated during Hollywood Week - intentionally. The point is not to hear you sing - they’ve already heard that. The point is to find out if you can be managed, if you’re a prima-donna, if you’re too stupid or too evil or too obnoxious to make it in entertainment no matter how well you can sing. Hollywood week exposes a lot of that. They intentionally put pressure on them - it makes for good TV, but it also helps crack the nuts.
Most of this is a facade anyway. By the time Hollywood Week rolls around, you can bet that these people have been background-checked to death. The producers have listened to everything the professional singers have ever done, and have a very good idea of what they’re capable of. My guess is that of the top 24, the producers know who at least half to three-quarters of them will be before Hollywood week even starts. Everyone else is singing for the wildcard spots and they just don’t know it.
I don’t know that we can generically call contestants on AI assholes any more than contestants on Jeopardy. So they want money. Not a virtue (so drop the “dream” shit), but not a vice. Human.
For the record, the TWOP stuff quoted here is where snark is good. It’s cutting, but funny, and essentially fair. When calling people fuggos and pedos is none of that. It’s just grade school name calling.
It’s never the wrong forum for fighting ignorance.