american idol 8: top 13 sings michael jackson

it's michael jackson week tonight in american idol and expectations are high tonight. the night started with a great entrance by the judges and the host. the stage looks great and it is really huge. hope the performances tonight matches the hype and the looks of the venue.

so here are my rankings of tonight's performances, from the weakest to the strongest:

13. jorge nunez - i agree with the judges, it is simply the wrong choice of song. it was bland and was really forgettable. i think he can go home tomorrow.

12. anoop desai - i really like anoop and i believe he got talent but he simply under performed tonight. he was gasping for air at some parts and some parts are even inaudible. hope is fan base is enough to keep him in the contest.

11. jasmine murray - she suddenly becomes more serious and her perky and vibrant personality does not translate in her performance. i was expecting her to sing something upbeat but she choose a serious song. it was not bad but it was a bit boring.

10. megan corkrey - another finalist that i like but she definitely got the wrong song. but i still liked the tone of her voice. she is definitely unique and i hope america votes for her

9. scott macintyre - his performance was good, not great. it was awkward at some parts but was somewhat forgettable if you don't know that he is blind.

8. allison iraheta - her voice is powerful, she got talent... definitely. but her performance was too shouty for me. she needs to get some control but she was still awesome. i did not like her outfit and her hair is terrible.

7. matt giraud - matt is a good singer and a great piano player. very good song choice but he tends to concentrate more on the piano than the singing. i can't understand some parts of the song but he still did great.

6. kris allen - nice to see him in his guitar again. he does not have the greatest voice in the contest but his stage presence, charms and confidence can get him through some more rounds. but i think his man in the mirror was better. the fact that kara pointed out that he helped other contestants is definitely a plus for him.

5. alexis grace - wonder how a great voice can come out of such a small frame. she is one of the top girls in the contest. but paula was right, she has the tendency to oversing at points. she also hesitated at the last part and her voice kinda twitched. hope she will not be affected by the phone number glitch.

4. michael sarver - i was impressed on how he played with the song and how he sang it. it was not the best for the night but his passion was there and we can relate to him. i really liked his performance, way better than his semifinals performance.

3. lil rounds - a great way to start the show. the voice is awesome, i liked the way she worked the stage and she did not oversing. she looked great but i don't like the outfit. she has the same type of dress as paula, but i liked her make up, just enough.

2. danny gokey - a true performer, i like his voice and the way he worked the stage. i did not think that the dancing was ad, i agree with randy, it was so spontaneous. i agree with paula, you can definitely identify his voice since it is very distinct.

1. adam lambert - he was the best for the night, even if it was abit shouty, it was believable, relatable and enjoyable. he has the voice, the charisma and the fan base. i think the photos circulating in the internet will not affect his votes.

i really think adam, danny and lil did a great job tonight, with michael, alexis and kris not far behind. my bottom group would be jasmine, megan, anoop and jorge based on the performace alone. but i think the ones that will be in the bottom will be jorge, anoop, jasmine and matt. my forecast is that anoop and jorge going home tomorrow.

american idol 8: dialidol predictions for the top 13

after the performance of the top 13 idols and the 2 hour voting period, the dialidol predictions are already up on their website. only 4 contenders are deemed safe, they are danny gokey, adam lambert, lil rounds and alexis grace. the rest of the finalists are still unsure of their fate.

the 5 idols on the rear end are jorge nunez, allison iraheta, jasmine murray, kris allen and matt giraud. anyone of thiese five can go home. plus the fact that there is a twist that would be revealed tomorrow. if the twist is that the judges would decide who will go home, i think kris allen is in danger of elimination.

source: http://www.dialidol.com/asp/predictions/Predictions.asp

american idol 8: carrie underwood's "home sweet home" is the new exit song

american idol season 8 has a new exit song. it is "home sweet home" which is sang by season 4 winner carrie underwood. here is the lyrics of the song:

Home Sweet Home

You Know I'm A Dreamer
But My Heart's Of Gold
I Had To Run Away High
So I Wouldn't Come Home Low

Just When Things Went Right
It Doesn't Mean They Were
Always Wrong
Just Take This Song And You'll
Never FeelLeft All Alone

Take Me To Your Heart
Feel Me In Your Bones
Just One More Night
And I'm Comin' Off This
Long & Winding Road

I'm On My Way
Well, I'm On My Way
Home Sweet Home
Tonight Tonight
I'm On My Way
I'm On My Way
Home Sweet Home

You Know That I Seem
To Make Romantic Dreams
Up In Lights, Fallin' Off
The Silver Screen

My Hearts Like An Open Book
For The Whole World To Read
Sometimes Nothing-
Keeps Me Together
At The Seams

I'm On My Way
Well, I'm On My Way
Home Sweet Home
Tonight Tonight
I'm On My Way
Just Set Me Free
Home Sweet Home

this song will be released as a digital single, portions of the proceeds will go to the humane society of the united states, which is america's largest animal protection organization. you can hear the complete song by going to the following link:

http://slimtainment.com/idolblog/?p=2692

the song will premiere in tonight's episode of american idol, where the top 13 will perform michael jackson songs. previous exit songs from idol includes "bad day" by daniel powter, "home" by daughtry and "celebrate me home" by season 2 winner ruben studdard.

sources:

> http://www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com/news/carrie-records-contestant-farewell-song-for-american-idol
> http://slimtainment.com/idolblog/?p=2692

amazing race 14: amanda & kris eliminated

dating couple amanda & kris bacame the fourth team to be eliminated in the 14th season of amazing race asia. this came after some unfortunate events that happened in the leg.

at the start of the leg, teams were instructed to fly from romania to siberia. 3 teams got a headstart since they caught an earlier flight, which were christie & jodi, kisha & jen and mark & michael. but when they arrived at krasnoyarsk hydroelectric dam, it will only open at 8:30am. fortunately, it was not enough for the other teams to catch up.

they were next instructed to go to saint innokenty church where they encountered a detour. the detour is a choice between stack or construct. in stack, teams need to stack wood similar and in front of an existing stack of wood. in construct, teams need to assemble a local style window panel and install it in a marked house. most of the teams chose stack but bvecame frustrated when the stack fell. three teams switched tasks, which are mel & mike, mark & michael and amanda & kris.

after the u turn, teams encounters a detour, with a twist. in previous seasons, when a team uses the u turn, they must also post their pictures on the bottom part of the board. in this blind u turn, they will not post their own pictures, leaving everyone wondering who used the u turn.

the first three teams (christie & jodi, kisha & jen and tammy & victor) opted not to use the blind u turn. upon arrival at the blind u turn post, margie & luke thought that they are in danger since the last 5 teams are fighting for their lives. so they decided to use it and u turn amanda & kris.

the three teams that switched to construct finished far behind the ones that finished stack. they almost finished at the same time. so when amanda & kris finished their task and saw they were u turn-ed, they reacted quite nicely, as if they expected it. they also needed to finish the stack task.

the other teams meanwhile proceeded to bobrovy log park, where they encountered a roadblock. one team member needs to ride bobsled course and finish in 4 minutes or less. along the course, they need to look for letters. after the ride, they would write the letters and if they completed the 7 leters, they need to form a name of a famous russian author, who is chekov.

after the roadblock, they were instructed to go to krasnoyarsk theater of musical comedy, which is the 4th pit stop of the race. the rankings for this leg is as follows:

1. christie & jodi

2. kisha & jen

3. tammy & victor

4. margie & luke

5. jaime & cara

6. mel & mike

7. mark & michael

8. amanda & kris

as the winners of the leg, christie & jodi each won a motorcycle. amanda & mike were then eliminated.

pinoy dream academy season 2: who is david idol?

i was watching singing bee last night and i stumbled upon this guy named as "david idol" in one of the competing groups. apparently, he has come up with a new album with tagalized english songs. he was the one who sang the tagalized version of david cook's "always be my baby". he looks very familiar to me then i realized that he is one of the semi-finalists of pinoy dream academy season 2.

yes, david idol is lamberto"lambert" reyes. he was dubbed as the singing engineer from bulacan. he was part of the top 30 finalists but failed to qualify in the top 16. he was beaten by jet for the last spot for the finals. since then, he has composed and arranged songs for christian bautista (take a ride, hope) and sitti (ngayong pasko).

he has released an album entitled tagalized hits. it has ten tracks, all are tagalized english songs. the ten tracks (with the english version in parenthesis) are:

1. ikaw lang ang iibigin (always be my baby)

2. wala nang hahanapin pa (i don't wanna miss a thing)

3. hello (hello)

4. happy 2gether (happy together)

5. billie gin (billie jean)

6. kailangang magtiwala (livin' on a prayer)

7. gutom (hubgry like a wolf)

8. ang hinahanap ko (i still haven't found what i'm lookin for)

9. lahat ay sayo (everything i do)

10. elinor rigby (eleanor rigby)

it's nice to see that even if he did not qualify for the finals and got limited exposure in the show, he still got a record deal and has been active in the music industry after the show.

source: http://thedashingdebonair.multiply.com/journal

american idol8: we have a top 13!

a twist was revealed on the wildcard night of american idol 8. instead of the usual top 12, we will have 13 people in the finals this season. four more hopefuls advanced after the wildcard round. of the 8 contestants that were brought back to the competition, the following four singers advanced:

1. megan corkrey
2. jasmine murray
3. matt giraud
4. anoop desai

they join earlier qualifiers danny gokey, alexis grace and michael sarver from group 1; adam lambert, kris allen and allison iraheta from group 2 and lil rounds, scott macintyre and jorge nunez from group 3. it's also good to note that the guys outnumbered the girls this season, 8 - 5.

american idol 8: 3 more advances to the finals, wildcard contestants revealed

after the last group of 12 performed last night, another 3 finalists advances to the finals of the eight season of american idol. as i have written in my blog post, i liked the performances of lil rounds, jorge nunez, kristen macnamara, junot joyner and felicia barton. but i predicted that lil, felicia and scott macintyre will advance.

so, the three that goes to the finals are:

1. lil rounds
2. scott macintyre
3. jorge nunez

i missed one this time, the only one i got wrong. they will join alexis grace, michael sarver, danny gokey (group 1 finalists), adam lambert, allison iraheta and kris allen (from group 2).

tomorrow, eight semifinalists will be brought back to join the wildcard phase. as announced in the show, the wildcard contenders are:

1. von smith (group 3)
2. jasmine murray (group 2)
3. ricky braddy (group 2)
4. megan corkrey (group 2)
5. tatiana del toro (group 1)
6. matt giraud (group 1)
7. jesse langseth (group 1)
8. anoop desai (group 1)

i was disappointed at some of the choices. i think jasmine, ricky, von and matt does not deserve to be there. kristen macnamara, felicia barton, junot joyner and nick mitchell needs to be there. but its final. based on this line up, i think the three that would advance would be megan corkrey, anoop desai and jesse langseth.

american idol 8: group 3 performs, the best group among the 3

the third group of 12 semifinalists performed on the american idol stage. this group includes early favorites scott macintyre and lil rounds; group day stand outs nathaniel marshall and kristen mcnamara, teeners taylor vaifanua and ariana afsar and returning contestant felicia barton.

here are my rankings on how they performed:

12. taylor vaifanua - taylor sang a song she already sang in holywood week, and tonight was worse. she sounded nervous and seems to be holding back. and her crying was not helping her either

11. arianna afsar - i liked arianna since the start of the show but her performance tonight was weird. i thought she was not connected with the song but she tried hard. hope she can get to the wildcard round

10. alex wagner trugman - like arianna, i also like alex since the start. his performance tonight was okay but not great. his song at the sing off during the top 36 announcement was better. i think he will go through to the next round.

9. kendall beard - she looks great and sang well tonight. but iit was too forgettable.

8. nathaniel marshall - wrong sng choice. he was shouting at most parts and seems over acting at some point. he was a bit annoying towards the end, but he has the voice

7. von smith - it was an okay performance and he took a risk at that high notes and he hit it. but performing first made me forget him, there are definitely some who can sing better than him
6. scott macintyre - he is definitely a favorite in this competition with his disability and his story and all that. his performance was good but i was not crazy about it. he was off at timing at some parts and some parts even sounded weird.

5. felicia barton - i thought she had no chance of advancing in the contest but this girl proved me wrong. she definitely prepared for this and she sounded great. she even worked the stage well. definitely a good performance.

4. junot joyner - he picked the right song and he proved he had the technique. he sounded really good and the control is definitely there. but i am not liking the all black outfit.

3. kristen mcnamara - despite the outfit that the judges hate, she did well and i really liked her performance. she has a great range and it showed. she is very likeable and has the charisma. she might not be the best singer but her "likeability" factor might pull her through to the finals.

2. jorge nunez - he definitely can sing and he sings from the heart. he sounded great, picked the right song and nailed it. but his facial expression sometimes becomes annoying, especially when his eyes gets big.

1. lil rounds - i would borrow the words of simon to make this short, she is brilliant.

so i think lil, jorge and either kristen or junot deserves to go to the next round because they really performed well tonight. but let us not discount the facts that scott has the sympathy votes, some might also vote for felicia since she really did well tonight and the early favorites might have a good fan base that could vote for them. dialidol.com prediction shows lil, scott and junoit going to the next round.

again, i think lil, jorge and either kristen or junot deserves to go to the next round. on the other hand, the ones who america will pick might be lil, scott and either felicia or kristen. but my guts is saying that it would be lil rounds, scott macintyre and felicia barton who will advance to the finals.

i have been 6 for 6 so far... hope my streak continues...

american idol 7: david cook & david archuleta coming to manila

the two davids are coming to manila!

american idol season 7 winner david cook and runner up david archuleta are rumored to have a concert here in manila. the concert will be produced by fearless production, which is owned by actor jomari yllan and the singson brothers. they also produced the reunion concert of pops & martin at the big dome.

tentative schedule is on may 16 and tentatively at the sm mall of asia open grounds but venue is still to be finalized. the producers will be going to the US to personall talk with the two american idol alumni and their respective managers once jomari's schedule frees up due to the shooting of his new tv show.

we will post any updates on this item once available.

sources:

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=443269&publicationSubCategoryId=70

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=444960&publicationSubCategoryId=96

amazing race 14: brad & victoria is eliminated

maried couple brad & victoria became the third eliminated pair in the 14th season of the amazing race. the pair suffered after losing a lot of time after they took a flight from munich to amsterdam and missed their connecting flight to romania. they were so far back from the other teams and they never recovered.

in this episode, i really enjoyed the roadblock. one of the team members needs to perform a gymnastics routine (balance beam, parallel bars and floor exercise) before they received their next clue. it's nice to see all of them enjoy and still be competitive. i also liked the fact that they included the bran castle as the third pit stop, which inspired the legendary tale of dracula and has been an identifier for romania for so long.

final rankings for this leg is as follows:

1. mel & mike (won a trip for 2 to costa rica)

2. amanda & kris

3. kisha & jen

4. margie & luke

5. mark & michael

6. christie & jodi

7. jaime & cara

8. tammy & victor

9. brad & victoria

amanda & kris could have gotten first place since they finished the detour first. kris lost their pouch that contains their money and passports and had to find it before leaving. he left it in the cart that they used. mel & mike has already overtaken the lead when they found it. tammy & victor also had a hard time in this leg. they dropped from 1st place to 8th place. they made too many wrong decisions in this leg and tammy got upset that victor is not listening to her.

brad & victoria lasted 3 legs in this race. they are competitive adn proved that age is not a factor in this race. surprisingly, it was victoria who did all the roadblocks for the team. they became the 2nd married ciouple eliminated after steve & linda were eliminated last week.

american idol 8: adam lambert's pics kissing other guys posted in the internet

another american idol finalist becomes controversial as pictures of him kissing other men are posted in the internet. adam lambert, who just qualified last week as one of the 3 who advanced for group 2, gets a taste of celebrity life as his private pics before idol came out of the website http://www.votefortheworst.com/.

here is the article from the website:

Adam Lambert Likes to Take Pictures of Himself Making Out With Some Dude

While we didn't want to hurt his chances in the competition by scaring the fundie frauen away from him, Adam Lambert apparently has tons of photos of himself making out with some dude online that were posted on our message board. So for the idiots who somehow think this guy is not gay, Adam Lambert is gay. Total future VFTW pick because he's going to completely scare off the tween girl and bored housewife vote eventually (which really is a smart career move when you see how they ruin careers like Clay Aiken's).

Adam is an attention whore, and we love it! He's probably lurking here right now. We like his style. Click read more for more pictures.

a sample pic is also attached in this blog post. for the other pics, here is the link for your reference: http://www.votefortheworst.com/20090301/adam_lambert_likes_take_pictures_himself_making_out_some_dude

project runway philippines 2: final call for designers on march 5

project runway philippines season 2 has announced its last call for all the designers who wants to join the reality show. after successful auditions in luzon, visyas and mindanao, the last stop of the auditions will be on march 5, 2009 (10am to 6pm) at the studio, upper basement, solar century tower, 100 tordesillas cor. dela costa sts., salcedo village, makati city.

all applicants are required to bring the following:

1. 3 personally designed outfits

2. resume

3. portfolio (hard or soft copy)

4. a 3 minute video telling why you deserve to be a part of the show.

source: http://www.etc.com.ph/prpnews.php