THINGS TO DO TODAY:

• Get up
• Survive
• Go to bed

Corey J. Rose

Almost the end of Idol for this season! The remaining four contestants sang two songs each tonight. It's too late now for me to post a review, so I hope to do that tomorrow night, perhaps during the hour long drag it out forever results show. Barry Gibb was the mentor this week, so it was definitely interesting!

Until tomorrow!

Idol Gives Back Part 2

Wow, what a show!! There's no way I can properly put into words the emotions I felt tonight as I watched all the clips of Ryan, Simon, Paula and Randy visiting poor neighborhoods here in the U.S. and the abject poverty in Africa. You hear about it, and you see images, but until you see them putting a woman in a truck to get her to a hospital for medical treatment, only to have her die 2 days later...or the mother trying to get her son to a treatment facility for malaria, only to have him die in her arms on the way there.

Just during the 2 hour show, over 30 million dollars was raised by people calling in or donating through the website, www.americanidol.com.

As for the Idol contestants...all were safe tonight. With the show trying to raise money to help so many people, they didn't want to vote anyone off. So the votes from last night will be combined with next week's votes, and the bottom TWO will leave next week. Will be interesting to see what next week's theme is...


4/26 12:00pm UPDATE: I read this morning that Jon Bon Jovi will be on next week's show, so the theme is mostly likely Rock. I almost hate to say this, but can you imagine what Sanjaya would have done to his hair for THIS theme?

Idol Gives Back

Tonight's theme was inspiring or uplifting songs. Chris Richardson was up first, singing Change the World, originally done by Eric Clapton. Not my favorite performance by him. He had to do his little head shake thingy, and with his "pop" sound, I wasn't too impressed. It wasn't his worst performance to date, but I think he will be inthe bottom three. Not sure what style he has going on either. A dress shirt with a tie sorta loose, shirt is untucked, a jacket over it all, cargo style pants and sneakers. Is that what passes for pop stars these days? You'd think he would use a little more style considering the serious subject of this week's shows.

Next was Melinda Dolittle singing Faith Hill's There Will Come A Day. All I can say about Melinda is AWESOME. Her version was just as good as Faith's, and that's saying a lot, because Faith is one singer that is usually up there with Celine, Whitney, Chaka, etc as a "do not sing their songs cause you can't compare." I can't wait for this song to be available to download! Loved the poster in the audience that said Melinda Dolittle does MORE, lmao.

Blake Lewis performed John Lennon's hit Imagine. This was not as good as I "imagined" it would be. It's not vocally challenging, in my opinion, and I think Blake could have done more with it. But then, when they try to do "more" with a song, to make it their own, I usually don't like it. He hit all the notes he needed to hit, didn't forget the lyrics, but it just didn't WOW me. Blake might be in trouble this week.

Next up is LaKisha Jones singing Fantasia's version of I Believe. I always preferred Diana Degarmo's version better, but let's see how LaKisha does. Well, no "yeah yeah's" like Fantasia put in, lol. Not too hot on her performance tonight. She's hitting the notes, and she's belting it, but there's something about her singing that has me not liking her so much the last couple weeks. I don't know if it's because she's oversinging songs, or just her song selection is sitting well with me. She was in the bottom three last week, and I think she'll be there again this week.

Phil Stacey is going back to his roots again tonight, singing The Change by Garth Brooks. He has a really good tone to his voice that suits him for country music. However, I have a hard time getting past that big bald head and his ears, lmao. As far as the song goes, it was one of his better performances. I'm not sure if it was good enough to get him the votes to stay out of the bottom three or not. Maybe he should have gone on Nashville Star?

Jordin Sparks closes out the show singing You'll Never Walk Alone. This song has been recorded by several artists, was written by Rogers & Hammerstein for the musical Carousel. I can honestly say I didn't really listen to it. I heard it, but I didn't listen. I don't even know what the judges said. All three judges loved it, so I'm sure Jordin is safe. And based on her vocal ability, I'm sure it was every bit as good as the judges thought, and it will be one of the songs I download.

Tomorrow night is the superstar performances for Idol Gives Back. Should be a great night with a lot of entertainment.

I have just four words to sum up tonight's American Idol results show:

IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME!

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out...but she can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.

Ok, can't say I'm that upset about Haley finally being gone from Idol. HOWEVER, it is WAY PAST TIME for Sanjaya to be GONE!!!!

Oh, and I read in next week's TV Guide that Simon was joking when he said he would quit if Sanjaya wins.

TV Guide also says that Martina McBride takes the stage next Wednesday during the results show. But another page says Fergie from Black Eyed Peas will be performing on Wednesday 18 April. So will there be TWO performances, like there was this week, with Akon and J. Lo? And which one will mentor the remaining 7 contestants on Tuesday? Hmmmmmmmm

OMG, I woke up to the wind HOWLING, looked out the window and the rain we were supposed to get was SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Runs shrieking back to bed and stays there 'til it melts)

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive, lol

Idol was a joke this week. Sanjaya and his pony-mohawk? It was probably the smartest thing he could have done to keep his ass around for another week. It distracted everyone from hearing how bad he really was, and once again they voted enough times to keep him there. He wasn't even in the BOTTOM THREE!!!

Work is slow, it's an effort somedays to make the trip to work, knowing all I'll be doing that day is filing. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that things will pick up as we head into summer, but I'm not holding my breath.

I stopped at Target tonight to buy some birthday presents I needed to buy for this weekend, some toiletries and such that I needed, and of course...cd's! I was all caught up on EVERYTHING, all cd's, all music, everything to Kerry, until tonight! I bought the Elliott Yamin cd, even though it wasn't on sale anymore, it was 13.99, better than the Taylor Hicks cd, which I still haven't bought cause it's now up to 15.99 or something. I bought The Evolution of Robin Thicke, all because Kerry told me it would be good, lol. He's the son of Alan Thicke, a Canadian who was married to Gloria Loring (ex-Liz Chandler, Days of our Lives), and a sitcom star here in the U.S. back in the 80's. I bought the new Good Charlotte cd, alternative rock that I know Kerry doesn't want, lol.I bought the new Tim McGraw cd, of course!!!!! We have his whole library, all cd's, even greatest hits. And, I bought the new Jack Ingram cd that has Lips of an Angel on it. So now I have 4 cd's to send to Kerry, in between her sending me tons of music from all the cd's she's been buying, lol. Busy, busy, busy!!!!!

The weather was SO nice on Monday, why did it have to leave so soon? Now it's back in the 40's and feeling like typical March weather, lol. I just about froze my ass off Tuesday afternoon, when I didn't take a jacket to work with me and the temperature dropped in the afternoon. 50F and short sleeves don't go together too well, lol.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

We have a missing blogger. Lainie was supposed to be around on Tuesday night to watch American Idol, but never showed. Then I thought for SURE she's show up tonight to watch the results show. Did she get snowed out of her house? I hope she's ok! Lainie...where are you???

Hungry Squirrel:

Kerry commented about the birds and bunnies coming out for Spring, and that got me thinking about the pictures I took of a hungry squirrel a few weeks ago before our last big snowfall. This was the best picture I took of it, just sitting there at the top of the tree eating leftover berries that the birds hadn't finished. The poor thing probably didn't store enough food. I wonder if that was because we had the big snowfall on December 1, then bitter cold temperatures (for December?) Whatever the reason, this little guy didn't plan well at all, lol. What the picture doesn't show, simply because it was overcast that day, was the fact that this is a red squirrel. I know what some of you are thinking. What's so unusual about a red squirrel? Well...most of the squirrels I see by me are the grey squirrels, so to see one lone red squirrel was unusual and a treat for me. Oh, and his name is Charlie too, LMAO.

Ok, I know Spring is really here for two reasons:

A red-winged blackbird I saw on my balcony over the weekend.

And an American Robin I saw this morning in the tree outside my window chirping. Both are migratory birds that start showing up when the weather warms up. Now I KNOW Spring is here! Wooooooooo Hooooooooooooooo

Tonight's American Idol, watched by myself, Kerry, and Lainie. Following are my thoughts as each performer sings.

First, Diana Ross is there to mentor, help, guide them for this week. Does this mean they will sing Diana Ross songs tonight? We'll see...

Brandon starts off first, singing Can't Hurry Love. Not bad! I liked that little dance he did in the middle, lol. Randy wasn't impressed, for sure. None of the judges were impressed. Will be interesting to see how the rest of the contestants do.

Oh goody! Melinda Doolittle is next! I love her voice, and her attitude, everything. Diana Ross gets goosebumps when Melinda sings! Singing Home (from the Wiz), this should be good! OMG, she's AWESOME! I pick Melinda to win it all this year. She's so amazed at herself, she's crying. And Paula was crying, and Simon was wowed, if that's possible, lol.

Chris Sligh doing Endless Love? This should be interesting. I like his voice, one of the better guys. Tonight's performance was interesting. He's got good vocals, but not sure about the melody. He tried to do it to Speed of Sound by Coldplay, which just came out weird. Not my favorite performance by Chris, but I think he has the vocals to stick around.

Gina Glocksen, singing Love Child. You must pronunciate every word! Randy isn't that impressed, thought it was pitchy and boring. Guess she didn't enunciate, Paula said she was shouting in parts, well she was told to project by Diana, lol.

Sanjaya is next, singing Ain't Not Mountain High Enough. This should be interesting, since he can't dance. Ok, that wasn't very good. Better than he's done in the past, but still not at the same level as the other 11 performers. Randy hated it! Simon's positive comment was Sanjaya was brave. He really really really should be gone this week.

Haley Scarnato is next, singing Missing You. I didn't know that song was about Marvin Gaye! Wow, Simon was the only one who liked her? She apparently forgot some of the lyrics, but I didn't notice it. Guess I should listen to the words closer? lmao. She was crying, all because she actually got a semi good comment from Simon? She's way too emotional.

Phil Stacey, chooses a song Diana did with Marvin Gaye, Make You Love Me. Don't think I know this song. This isn't half bad! He's showing some power with these vocals. I still don't like his bald head though, lol. Paula thinks it should have been more uptempo, but Simon disagrees, what's new?

Lakisha Jones is next up. A Billie Holiday song, God Bless The Child. She's always great! One of my favorites, toss up between her and Melinda. Randy loved it, of course! Paula loved it, of course! Simon? Loved it! Oh yeah! And no comment about her outfit this week!

Blake Lewis, after the break! You Keep Me Hangin' On...let's see how it sounds. Not too bad! Not the best vocals tonight, but he did a good job, and he's one of the better overall performers. His arrangment was better than Chris Sligh's. Again, not the best vocals, but a good performance.

Stephanie Edwards singing Love Hangover. Diana Ross thinks she has star quality. I love the vocals, she's really good! The judges didn't like her, didn't like the arrangement, blah blah blah. She's still one of the better singers in this competition.

Chris Richardson is next, without a commercial break? Wow! Singing The Buzz, there he goes to the little stage behind the judges, so he can "work the audience" lmao. Not too hot on his vocals, this isn't one of his better songs, in my opinion. Simon thought it was dreadful! I can see why Simon said that. I don't think it was that bad, but not one of his better performances.

Jordin Sparks closes tonight's show. If We Hold On Together? Don't think I know that song. She's doing a great job so far. She could be a sleeper on this show. Usually one every year, Taylor last year, could be Jordin this year. I think she did a fantastic job on this song!

Going to be very hard separating the women, so many of them are great this year! Blowing away the men this year. Can't wait to see what happens when the votes are tallied tomorrow night!

Thanks Kerry for the glitter Chicago script!!!!!!!

HOW THINGS WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF MEN GOT PREGNANT:

1. Maternity leave would last two years - with full pay.

2. There'd be a cure for stretch marks.

3. Natural childbirth would become obsolete.

4. Morning sickness would rank as the nation's number one health problem.

Thought for the day:

Keep smiling! The luscious plum forgot to - and became a wrinkled prune.

Idol Update!

Here's the singers I liked this week on American Idol:

Men - Chris R., Blake, Chris S, Phil, and even Sundance was much better than last week. I'm wondering about AJ's sexuality after his performance, lol.

Women - Gina, Jordin, Lakisha, Melinda, Stephanie, and Sabrina. I don't think any of these have changed from last week, lol.

I still think, overall, the women are stronger than the men. Will be interesting once we get to the top 12 or so...

Today's Forecast:

Partly rational with brief periods of coherent thought giving way to complete apathy by tonight.

Sherrie Weaver

I just finished watching Idol, and I must say...the women did a HELL of a lot better than the men last night. I can't remember more than one or two of the men that impressed me, but tonight...I counted FIVE or SIX women who all kicked some ass before taking names. Gotta support the hometown girl, Gina Glocksen. But she probably was the poorest performer of the ones I liked. Jordin, Lakisha, Melinda, Sabrina and Stephanie all brought the house down. The other women were all very forgettable. Of the men from last night, I liked the two Chris's and Blake. Will be interesting to see what the results are tomorrow night.

My bathroom is almost done. The tile was grouted today, so that's done. I figured out I did NOT get a new toilet. The idiots put my old toilet back down, so now I have to clean it! Grrrrrrrr. And the bottom shelf thingy under the cabinet below my sink still hasn't been replaced. I called the leasing office this evening when I got home, and left them a message about it. Guess they were all busy doing other things, and couldn't answer the phone. I asked them to call me about replacing it, maybe I'll get a call tomorrow. Oh, and I have new vertical blinds in my living room too. We have a sales meeting tomorrow, lunch is provided. Fortunately, it's for the salesmen, so us inside people only have to be there for about 30 minutes, lol. And it's so friggin' HOT at work, I'm considering wearing a tank top and shorts to work. This afternoon I was so hot, I thought I was going to pass out.

Well, guess I'll go read some more...