Idol Chatter

Top 12, Rolling Stones, starting the show very late so I'm just itching to fast forward through as much as possible. Let's go:

• Michael Lynche, singing "Miss You": Shirt open, muscular, short-sleeves, falsetto. Next week he'll have grown a mole on his face so that his transformation into an Aaron Neville impersonator will be complete. I don't like when these kids do falsetto. I mean, this was fine, but they never quite get it right. Kara compared him to Mick Jagger. Right... He's safe, obviously. It's March Metaphor Madness time! Big Mike is Kentucky. A little raw and not worthy of comparison to past teams, but he's probably the second favorite.
• Didi Benami, singing "Play with Fire": I'm going to be the sultry one! Look at how sexy I am! I think it's cute that she wants to be taken as a serious artist, even though her voice was a little pitchy and she screwed up the ending. Somehow she's suckered people into thinking she's great. Duke, anyone?
• Casey James, singing "It's All Over Now": He really can play the guitar. Where it comes off as a prop for other people, it actually improves him from having a more-average-than-anyone-would-care-to-admit voice to being a good performer. Hard not to like. Not great but women love his looks and I like his guitar-playing. He rises above what he is at the core to be a dark horse favorite. Notre Dame.
• Lacey Brown, singing "Ruby Tuesday": Wow. Wow, wow, wow. This was awful. Just awful. Physically painful because it was so off-key. Not only shouldn't she last past this week, I still can't figure out how she got into the finals. She's the Minnesota Golden Gophers. And she sang "Ruby Tuesday" like I imagine a gopher might. Or maybe she's one of those small schools that only shoots from outside and can't find the key at all. A basketball pun!
• Andrew Garcia, singing "Gimme Shelter": Well, the best thing you can say is that at least he tried it without the guitar. Remember back when he was the favorite? How far has he fallen?! This was f***ing horrible. He actually made Lacey look good. He earned his way in with his early season performance but now I can't figure out why he's here and what he has to offer. Hook em', Texas Longhorns!
• Katie Stevens, singing "Wild Horses": This might be my favorite Stones song. Yet another pitchy opening tonight. What was up with the lighting that made her glow at the beginning? She kind of took it a country route, which works on this song. My wife wonders if they just aren't used to so big a stage and that's why it's a little rougher tonight than you'd expect. I can see that, even though it's not like they've been great all year. She's a nice performer but I can't imagine she's going to seriously challenge for the title. Temple.
• Ryan says, "Tim Urbans fans -- you'll get your fix!" I am so excited.
• Tim Urban, singing "Under My Thumb": Bad arrangement and a bad performer singing it! What a great combination! I really, really don't like him and I really, really didn't like how he took this song. I hated this arrangement so much that I played the original over YouTube. Can you believe that this paled in comparison? I'm so not a fan of this guy. He's totally uncool, he obviously has no rhythm, and I'm inclined to find him boring. BYU.
• Why is Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince in a commercial for Kaplan University?!? I actually stopped the DVR for the commercial when I saw him. What the hell happened to his career?!?
• Siobhan Magnus, singing "Paint It Black": She has some big old glasses, doesn't she? Where did that come from? That was, hands-down, by far, going away, the BEST performance of the year. Here's a link to the video. I mean, wow. Speechless. Amazing. Do we have a new favorite? I don't even know what to say or who to compare her to. That was incredible in so many ways. Who's the real dark horse in the tournament? Richmond? Baylor? Xavier?
• Lee DeWyze, singing "Beast of Burden": Sorry, dude. It was fine, but anything is going to come off rough after the last performance. I mean, seriously, Siobhan was freaking amazing. My favorite performance since whatever David Cook's last great one was. Oh, Lee? He's fine. I like him better than I thought I did. Texas A&M.
• Paige Miles, singing "Honky Tonk Women": I'm not a huge fan, but she was sick tonight. She soldiered through it and actually did okay. Maybe she's better than I thought? I'm impressed. I guess the injury thing has to mean she's Purdue.
• Aaron Kelly, singing "Angie": There's no way a 16-year-old should be singing this song. No way he'd ever be able to have a connection to such a heartfelt love song. Guess what? He didn't. He sounded okay, but it fell way flat. He didn't play to whatever strength he may have and came out looking the worse for it. Georgia Tech.
• Crystal Bowersox, singing "You Can't Always Get What You Want": You know where this is going. She's just the best this year. Great voice, strong stage presence, good guitar player, makes great song choices like she did tonight. Just good. Rock, chalk, Jayhawk.

Have to admit that I enjoyed it much more tonight than I thought I would. It helps that Crystal went last to give us a happy feeling as it ended. Love her. I suppose Andrew or Lacey should be going home. Andrew's probably long reached his peak, so I think I'd prefer it be him.

Lost Comments/Questions:

• Much like the past few episodes, it was a very strong character-driven story. Still some set-up, but there was some nice stuff in there.
• I assumed that Widmore, as the bad guy, was working with the Man In Black, as the bad guy. Doesn't seem to be the case. Confusing.
• Miles has really become a strong character on the show. He forms half of two of the best duos (Miles-Sawyer and Miles-Hurley) and brings out the best in his respective partners.
• There's been some thought that those with Locke (Locke, Kate, Sayid) are having a rough time of it in the Sideways world, while those with Jacob (Jack, Hurley, Ben) have found redemption. Sawyer's story tonight seemed to be in the middle, which I suppose describes his place on the island. I found it interesting that he seemed to come to grips with his personal tragedy (by telling Miles) at the same time that he, on the island, showed himself to not be tied to Locke.
• The plot of this season is starting to remind me a great deal of The Stand. Think about it (assuming you've read the book or seen the miniseries). Two groups of survivors. One is being drawn around a charismatic but mysterious figure who has had the ability to change shapes at one point and will promise them anything to get them to follow him towards dark ends. The other group is less organized and drawn around a kind figure who has died but appears to the group members in dreams. The main hero (Stu in The Stand/Jack in Lost) is, for a time, wandering on his own and stuck with the comic relief of the group (Tom Cullen/Hurley).
• I'm betting some answers will be forthcoming next week in the Richard flashback, as weird as it is being hyped up to be. It was the first long-awaited Ben flashback in the third season that gave us a bunch of answers about the history of the Dharma Initiative. I'm betting that, if nothing else, we'll get some good Widmore back story next week.