Oh, and I forgot to say that Kelly Clarkson’s song was very good. For a little* white girl, she’s got a lot of soul. Who knew? (I didn’t watch AI s.1)
And who else thought that **Annie Lennox ** was thisclose to having a wardrobe malfunction? And then AI could have given all the money they raised to the FCC so that they can continue to protect our eyes from Spontaneous Boob Poppage. BTW, I didn’t enjoy Lennox’s version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” very much. She has a beautiful voice when she sticks to the melody. Unfortunately, she never sticks to the melody.
I totally thought Annie’s nips were about to pop free when she was at the piano. Would have loved to watch the producers scramble for the up close head shot for the rest of the song.
But I have to admit I did get sucked in and donated. I’ve never called Idol to vote but despite all the celebrity self serving overtones last night, I thought the reality of the situation was heartbreaking. It made me want to buy a couple hundred dollars worth of children’s books and send them down to Appalachian Kentucky, and a few thousand malaria pills for Africa.
And the first thing I thought when Kelly Clarkson came on was ‘whoa- the muu-muu is a bad choice, toots.’
I love her too, but I gotta say: You didn’t miss much. You could hardly hear her for most of the song because her voice was so low. She reminded me of Burt Bacharach when she was sitting at the piano. Finally she got up and belted out the last bit of the song, but it was underwhelming.
My husband figured out that no one was going home about halfway through the show, so I didn’t sweat it too much about Jordin.
My teenage daughter asked if she could donate her savings. It’s a small amount, but it’s all she has, and it’s not like her to give, so that was special. Now I’ll be doing it too.
The Simpsons bit was great. Lisa nailed Paula perfectly. Did you notice how Marge tried doing the handsign, but couldn’t because of the four-fingerness? Funny.
The zombie duo of Elvis and Celine was too creepy. Let the dead stay dead. (Oh, Celine’s not dead yet? She sure looked it.)
When they announced that the results were shocking, I knew it was either Melinda or no one. And since they safed her first, I knew where it had to go.
I wonder how they will work the voting. Add up the votes from both weeks? I tuned in now and again, and at the very end was confused as to why someone wasn’t leaving. :smack:
I’m not sure what to think about the part where Simon was visiting the dying girl and was talking about how wretched the room was. I thought the mom was saying it was OK. And then he reiterates how awful it was–that may be true but you don’t need to insult people about their home. Say it elsewhere.
The Simpsons were funnier in that bit than they’ve been in a couple of seasons. That was the best part of the show.
I also agree that Kelly Clarkson did a great job. I had no idea she had that kind of vocal power and emotional delivery. Her performance made me want to actually listen to her CD.
In fact, just about all of the ‘pro’ performances were very good. I even liked Josh Groban, despite being fully aware that I’ve lost about 10% of my rock karma for doing so.
The contestants, on the other hand, sucked. Putting Kelly Clarkson on the show just highlighted that this current crop of Idols doesn’t really measure up. I’d say only Melinda and Jordin belong in the top tier of idol contestants. The rest of them are competent but only average.
He wasn’t shy, just amateurish. It seemed much more like he forgot to face front; that the video was for the audience, not for him.
Overall, I FFed through most of the glurge, only to be rewarded with a retarded, gimmicky anti-climax. Please. And poor Jordin! WTF?
In other news, remember I used to know Sanjaya’s mom? The Seattle airing of AI was interspersed with teasers for the local news: she’s been arrested on drug charges.
I knew I was right to be suspicious of that suitcase.
I thought the intent of the show was fine, even admirable. But there was a lot of dreck. The performances were strange. Jack Black? Sit down, jackass. Annie Lennox? You’re a great singer… why was that so horrible? Celine and Elvis? Awful on so many levels… who thought this was a good idea? I thought we’d see Orville Redenbacher, Audrey Hepburn, and Gene Kelly (or was it Astaire?) with the broom in the crowd.
Am I a loser, or were some of the faces in the celeb montage… not that famous? How did Rob Schneider and Chris Kattan get in there? More importantly, why wasn’t David Spade in there as well? (Actually, props to Schneider for cutting his hair in a 21st-century style.)
Glad Madonna’s faux accent went away for her stand up.
I thought a lot of the promised celebs didn’t make it out. What gives?
I did appreciate the Seacrest/Cowell Africa bits, but Simon… well, I guess a lot of us would have behaved like he did, but it seemed that he was annoyed at… the machine? Government? I just thought he might have kept his scorn to himself while in the presence of people dying and struggling to live in those circumstances.
I thought Underwood did a nice job. And Jeff Beck! Dude is 63, folks! My wife didn’t believe me when I told her that.
I did not like Jordin singing the start of “American Prayer.” Really bad.
Regarding Simon, I got the feeling that it was just something the likes of which he had never encountered before. He seemed shell-shocked to me. I don’t know what an African hut is like, but I do know what an Appalachian shack is like. Believe me, if you’ve only read about it, you’ve no idea.
Weird. I looked up the story and thought “Oh, that’s not so bad, it’s just pot” (I really don’t smoke it myself, but I couldn’t care much less if others do as long as they’re responsible). But turns out it’s 310 pot plants. I think I know how she got off welfare.
I loved how at the end of the song he kind of politely walked over to Kelli and extended his hand. She shook it and gave him the one-armed hug/handshake combo, I think. I just thought that it was kind of sweet that this guitar legend was sort of awkward about how and whether to thank her for singing.
I’ve seen tin shack villages in Africa. They’re as bad as can possibly imagine. There really is a punch-in-the-gut kind of shock when you first see African poverty in person. It’s nothing like seeing it on television. Shell shock is right. I’ve still never really gotten over it.
Yeah… I’ve loved her from Sweet Dreams on and I love Bridge Over Troubled Water and to quote one of Simon’s quips, “the two go together like chocolate ice cream and a pickle”.
Am I imagining things or was one of them Mickey Dolenz?
I actually had the opposite reaction. I thought he was by far the most moved. I loved his comment at the food bank the other night that “I want to hug you because I haven’t met nice people in LA before…”. He’s the one I think (and I’m basing this on no evidence) would not only be the most likely to donate a large amount from his own fortune to the cause but would do it without letting his publicist know.
I can’t judge most of the performances because I ended up fast forwarding a lot of the tape. Something about telethons really puts me off.
I did enjoy the bit with the Simpsons; I mostly liked the lip-synching thing. And I was glad to see Bono, finally, though they could have shown him for more than a damn minute if they'd spent less time on other business.
I have to say that the duet with Celine Dion and the Ghostly Image of Elvis gave me the heebie jeebies.