American Idol: The Top 8 Guys

So the guys go for a spot in the Top 12. And away they went. . .

The Best: "BIG MIKE", HANDS DOWN! That performance was the best of the night and so far. I mean good f@*king grief. He did Maxwell's "This Woman's Work" and blew everyone away and made Kara cry. He is a def shoe in for the Top 12!

The Worst: I think everyone did great but I will go with who will be eliminated. Todrick Hall really improved. He did Queen's "Somebody to Love" and did something great with it, for once. However, it may have been too late.

Also, Andrew Garcia could've been better.

I think elimination could go to anyone but Michael Lynche. We shall see tomorrow. J out.

American Idol: The Top 8 Girls

So this was it for the girls. They performed to make into the Top 12, which is where you get to stay in that nice mansion and make commercials. I saw most of it and here is my critique.

The Best: Crystal Bowersox blew my socks off with her rendition of Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason." It was absolutely riveting and she should be a shoe in for the Top 12.

The Worst: Paige Miles, who preceded Crystal Bowersox, did Charlie Chaplin's "Smile." To me it was a boring affair. I felt like I was on a cruise listening to some lounge singer, who wasn't that good. I could hardly get the feel of the music and at points she was off key. I could see the end of the road for her however, the first three performances weren't anything to fall over for either. So we'll see when Thursday comes round. Guys are up tonite. J out.

Oscar Night is On Its Way! (My Picks Are In)

10 Best Picture Nominees, Two Eccentric Host, and a Great Movie Year. These are hopefully the ingredients for a good presentation this year. In its 82nd year we're still in bewilderment of the Academy's thought process, I think. In any case I will be offering up my picks for the 5 major awards, the supporting awards, and animated feature.

The Supporting's

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique. Without a doubt Mo'Nique should walk away with that award. Her performance in "Precious" was absolutely chilling and such a departure for her unlike the other nominees. I look forward to a riveting acceptance speech.

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Waltz. He was absolutely the best person to play a Nazi and was great in "Inglorious Bastards". If he doesn't walk away with it, it will be sad.

Best Animated Feature

Up. "Up" is more than certain to walk with this award. Pixar and Disney are the unstoppable powerhouse when it comes to Academy Awards. Although, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" is also a pretty good contender. But when you deal with P & D it's over.

The Majors

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges. His role as an alcoholic country western singer was riveting and seemed to be the role (so far) for him. He should get it done.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock. It has been 28 years since Meryl Streep has won an Oscar, but she's been nominated 16 times since then. She has become the Susan Luchi of the Academy Awards. And she may stay that way. Winning an acting honor for a comedy film is hard. So I say Sandra. I wish Gabourey Sidibe was in contention but this was a bad year for her. She is though having the best time to be nominated.

Best Adapted/Original Screenplay: (Adapted) An Education. I would love to see Precious win, but I will go with the subtly strong "An Education". (Original) The Hurt Locker. It is a tough race between "The Hurt Locker" and "Inglorious Bastards". Quentin Tarantino would love to have an Oscar but Mark Boal's story touches more to the heart and tug strings of the Academy.

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow. It (hopefully) will be a historic night for the Academy and Kathryn Bigelow will take away the first Best Director award for a female. I think she deserves it although James Cameron will give her a run for her money.

Best Picture: Avatar. I may be wrong on this, but I think this mammoth film will win Best Picture. It is a close race with "The Hurt Locker" in the fray. I think "Locker"'s chances have been severely hurt (no pun intended) by their producer who e-mailed Academy members and told them to rate his movie higher than "Avatar" and to rank "Avatar" at the bottom. Campaigning a film during the voting process is already a no-no, but putting down the other is a definite uh-uh. The producer is already banned from the ceremony and his short-sighted dumbness may cost a good film the award.

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We'll see what happens at these ceremonies. I can't wait for Joan Rivers and the Fashion Police on Monday. Until then. J out.

How Did the Girls Do? Who is Out?

It seems I am never destined to see the girls perform. Another outage prevented me from seeing most of the 2 hour show. And to think that had they performed when they were supposed to I would have seen them.

In any case. They weren't that bad from what I saw, but I do agree with who was voted off.

And with that ungentle segway, lets move to the cast-offs.

The Guys: No surprise when they let Jermaine Sellers go. Sad part was that he sounded better when he sang goodbye than the original performance. Oh well. The other sad part is that his campaign to "Rock the Onsie" will never catch on like "Pants on the Ground".

Then we said bye-bye to John Park. He was just the good one with a weak week. He'll at least get some girls when he gets back to Northwestern.

The Girls: Then the girls let em go. Haeley Vaughn and Michelle Delmor sang their swan songs and it was a teary affair for the girls. I was sad to see Haeley go but in a competition like this the young-ins have a hard time.

As for Michelle, if her swan song was a repeat of what she did Wednesday than she deserved to go.
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So now there was 16. After next week we will have out Top 12 and that is where the real competition begins. J out.

No AI Post Tonight

Sorry, too much to do tonight. My critique will come tomorrow. J out.

American Idol: The Top 10 Gir. . .Guys

Well, it was an interesting night on American Idol. The girls, who were scheduled to perform, didn't because of a sick girl who was hospitalized. I hope she's alright. That meant tonight that the Guys performed.

Instead of grading each of them I will give the best and worst of the show. I won't give out individual grades until we reach the Top 12.

The Best: I'd have to give it to both "Big Mike" and Tim Urban. Who would think that Tim Urban would fix up his act!? It was such an improvement from last week, I'm proud of him.

The Worst: Between Todrick Hall and Jermaine Sellers, one or both of them will be leaving Thursday. If neither of them don't I will eat a piece of paper. Todrick can't get that I want to be "the original one" out of him. Once he picked a very familiar song that I didn't recognize until he started to sing. At least I got this one earlier on.

Then there was Jermaine Sellers. I like that he started out slow and got into the upbeat part. But maybe he got into it a little much, again. He didn't go as far off as last week. But for him unfortunately, soul means suck. He just can't do it.
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Once again, I'd be surprised if he or Todrick are back next week, but America is fickle.

Up tomorrow, THE GIRLS. If everything goes as scheduled.

J out.

Jay Leno Returns to "Tonight" in 16 Minutes!

In a matter of minutes Jay Leno will return to "The Tonight Show". After a 9 month unplanned hiatus that ended with a disaster show and big flap that made not only NBC but him looking like jerks, he will come back with guests Jamie Foxx and Lindsey Vonn. As well as Jaywalk All-Stars with the cast of Jersey Shore.

Soon after this premier Kevin Eubanks will be departing to try something new and tour. Whether the band will go with him is yet to be seen. He will be missed and I hope he reconsiders.

Once again, I wouldn't blame Jay Leno for this flap. You know I think he does have some control but not to the extent that he can push someone off the network. Leave him alone.