Will this finally be the week Stefano gets whacked?

Maybe the judges will take it upon themselves to finally do some judging and pass out a few harsh reviews to the singers who deserve them. I appreciate that Idol is trying to be nicer because, in truth, there was a time when they had gotten really mean. Remember the "other door" thing that went on a few years ago? Simon, for all of the truth that he spoke, sometimes was mean just for the sake of being mean, and he was often out of line.

Still, he and (occasionally) Randy spoke the truth first. Steven and J-Lo speak the truth that they see as performers, and to their great credit, they often give very constructive feedback (especially J-lo). On the other hand, there comes a time when they need to say, "That just wasn't very good."

I'd rather they did that every now and then than for them to stare at Seacrest in disbelief when a good singer (Pia) gets whacked when others are left to continue one at their expense, then berate "America" for not voting off the "right" person. Last week (and really over the last few years), I posted that the judges should be empowered to do some actual judging, and not just be spectators. While that takes some influence away from "America" (that is if, "America" means tweenage girls with unlimited text messaging plans), it also means maybe the weakest singers will actually get kicked off.

I just read that Idol is considering ways to tweak the voting, but we'll see if anything actually happens. I don't think the judges should be giving numerical scores, but I think they need to have some actual role in determining who stays and who goes like on SYTYCD, at least until the top 6, when the voting should be turned over to "America".

But first, we get to hear from this year's eliminated singers, which is actually kind of nice. Of course, it also reeks of superflous (is there any other kind?) filler. And look, Mark Ballas is in the audience to cheer on his honey, Pia. I wonder whose idea the cross promotion was.

While we're discussing DWTS, I wonder if our friend Jennifer is enjoying all of the shirtless Maks sightings. I know Mrs. High Lord is. I'm just happy the Future Mrs. High Lord 2.0 Kym Johnson is still around.

I am less happy that Kendra hasn't been kicked off, but that's also the judges's fault for giving her the same score as Petra.

Tonight's theme is "songs of the 21^st Century", which are supposedly songs that are less than 11 years old.

Leading off is Scotty who's singing "Swinging", which he claims is by Leann Rimes, but was actually first released by John Anderson in 1983. It's nothing to write home about, and in actuality, I hate this song, both the original and this rendition. The opening piece where the other singers impersonated his singing style was very, very funny. Both Jimmy and J-Lo give him some good advice to venture out of his comfort zone. The vocals are consistent and not out of tune, but it was a very safe selection, but even going first won't put him in danger tomorrow night when he gets Georged.

Randy uses the phrase "in it to win it", so everyone drink!

Next up is T/AG, who make some odd facial expressions during his random sit-down interview, which is probably due to his Tourette's. Hey, where is will.i.am? James goes Goth on us, or maybe Depeche Mode, circa 1986. I don't know this song, but if you're into this type of industrial, it's actually not bad. I don't get the marching band drummers, though. And the screeching needs to go. I'm sure the judges will slurp him and he, too, is in no danger of being eliminated, despite the early spot in the order.

Can Randy get through a show without dropping at least three names?

My RK is two bars away from level 47 and I cheated to finish his level 45 class quests. Instead of taking him into CD and Urugarth or grinding skirms to buy the four class quest items from a vendor or paying some ungodly amount of gold to purchase them at auction, me and three friends took four toons into CD/Uru and killed everything that moved to get all of the class quest items we needed for our lowbies. Yeah, I know it's a cheap way to get them, but it was really fast, and really easy, just like Amy Baxter from 10^th grade biology class.

The video pieces where the singers make fun of one another are pretty good. Why haven't hey done this before?

Taking up the threespot is Haley. Generally, you can't go wrong with a red dress (see Six, Cylon Number). I apologise for missing part of the performance because the twin blonde back up singers are hawt has hell. Like Paul, there's something about her voice that annoys me, but I can see why people like her. I didn't think it was a good technical vocal, but the performance was very solid. I liked her tonight better than anyone else who has gone so far.

Another candidate to be Georged is GDM who's wearing a shiney metallic suit. Didn't they go out of style about eight years ago. I guess thats in the 21^st Century. He doesn't get a marching band or hawt blonde backup singers, but he gets a string section. And he forgets/leaves out some of the words. Then he takes out his ear piece. Other than the flubbed lyrics, the vocal is very good. As a pure singer, Jacob is probably the best of the remaining singers, but I said the same thing about Anwar and look what happened to him.

Has anyone tried out the new MMO Rift? If so, let me know how you like it? I only have time for 1 MMO at a time, and the only one I will probably leave LOTRO for is the new Star Wars game.

Taking full advantage of the save is Casey whose backup singers are much less attractive than Haley's. I'm not a fan of this song, but Casey performs it well. My only issue with the performance is that he's smiling too much for an angry song. He borrows some growling from his (maybe?) girlfriend Haley. I liked it until "the false" made a (superflous) appearance. He gets extra points for stealing a kiss from J-Lo.

I love it when Steven makes the Fox censor work. Plus, Seacrest in the Casey beard is hi-frickin'-larious.

Following Casey is Weak Link who apparently likes girls. I wouldn't have guessed that. Why is he still around? I guess because he's cute, and tweenage girls like that. Now if we can only get him to keep his eyes open for a whole performance. He gets Haley's hawt blonde backup singers. Has Steven hit on them yet? I like that he ventured out of the AFE mold and got away from the power ballad. He does a lot of yelling and groaning, but it as a good change of pace for him.

Tonight's Pimp Spot singer is Lauren, who would probably be voting for Stefano if she hadn't made it to Hollywood. I want the girl from Rock Mafia to be my producer. Like Scotty, she stays country, which is a good thing for her. Haley's backup singers are earning their keep this week. I didn't think her performance was worthy of the placement, but she did a good job. She's got a big voice, but the song got away from her a couple of times.

I just saw that Jimmie Johnson is guess starring on Breaking In tonight. Mrs. High Lord likes it, which means we're counting the days until it gets canceled.

The Good

The Bad
Haley, "Rolling in the Deep"
Lauren, "Born to Fly"
Casey, "Harder to Breathe"
James, "Uprising"
Stefano, "Closer"
Scotty, "Swinging"

The Ugly
Jacob, "Dance With My Father" (see Rule 1A to the right)

Who should be in the bottom 3: Jacob, Scotty, Stefano
Who will be in the bottom 3: Haley, Jacob, Stefano

Who should go home: Stefano
Who will go home: Stefano

Now that we're down to seven, and the field is generally strong, I think the person who will finally get kicked off will be Stefano because he should have gone home a couple of weeks ago. Haley may also be in danger because she doesn't have a Y chromosome and went early in the order. Casey, James and Scotty are shoo-ins right now, while Lauren got to sing last.

I'm going to go make level 47 on my RK now.

High Lord. Amazeling. Out.