Top 13 Performances

Lil Rounds

I would have to agree with Simon that the outfit doesn’t fit her.  The pants looked odd on her on that stage.  I expected a little more from Lil in her performance to be honest.  It was good and a good start to the show but it wasn’t great and it didn’t blow me away.  Still, that’s being a bit picky and there’s no doubt she is one of the early favorites to win this year.

Scott MacIntyre

I think Scott did well.  It was a lesser known song but I disagree with Simon on this one.  Scott has a real connection with the audience and we know his story, we know his passion for music, and we know why he sang a song with a positive message.  It wasn’t a performance that knocked me off my feet but it was solid and he will be safe this week.

Danny Gokey

I was worried at the beginning.  I kept thinking to myself, “why is he singing this song so slowly?”  Then BAM!  Nice touch Danny.  Great song selection.  The crowd gets involved and that’s what they love to do.  It appears that Danny knows exactly what he is doing and that may get him to the finals if he keeps it up.

Michael Sarver

I’ll be honest.  I have not been impressed with this guy up to this point.  I told my wife before watching the show that Michael has a chance to go home.  Of course she quickly reminded me that he hadn’t even performed yet, but I didn’t care.  Well, now I do.  I’ve changed my mind and it’s clear that Michael indeed belongs in this group.  The performance in itself wasn’t great.  In fact, it was a little boring but there is no doubt he has a much better voice than I originally gave him credit for.  I still don’t believe he has even a sliver of chance to win but I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes through a few more weeks.

Jasmine Murray

The girl is beautiful.  Nobody questions that.  The girl has a decent voice.  The girl can’t perform.  She’s been boring and she picked a song that she couldn’t handle.  I don’t understand why contestants keep making the same mistakes.  You don’t touch Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston as a female contestant unless you have to because it’s the chose theme.  She’s young so hopefully she learned from it but it should have been an easy lesson to have already learned if she was paying attention to the brief history of the show.  Stupid.  Possible elimination fodder.

Kris Allen

Allison Iraheta

Anoop Desai

Jorge Nunez

Megan Joy

Adam Lambert

Matt Giraud

Alexis Grace

Top 13 Rankings according to ThinkBox:

1. Adam Lambert
2. Danny Gokey
3. Lil Rounds
4. Scott MacIntyre
5. Allison Iraheta
6. Michael Sarver
7. Matt Giraud
8. Alexis Grace
9. Megan Joy
10. Kris Allen
11. Jasmine Murray
12. Jorge Nunez
13. Anoop Desai

Top 13 Predictions:

As stated earlier two are going to be cut this round.  I believe Anoop, Kris, Jasmine, Jorge, and to a lesser extent Megan all have a fairly decent chance of going home immediately.  I’m going with Jasmine and Anoop as the two getting cut this round.  I’d rather see Kris and Jasmine go but Beat It is just untouchable and Jasmine has yet to live up to her potential.

*Editor’s note: This is probably going to be a work in progress all day and will probably not get finished until after the results are announced so I went ahead and published the post unfinished.  I just wanted my predictions to be available before the show to maintain whatever integrity I have earned.

This is the only negative to this new format.  We finally had strong performances from most of the contestants, yet only three are guaranteed to advance to the Top 12.  However, I would not be surprised if the remaining 3 contestants let in from the Wild Card round all came from Group 3.  It was that strong.  And now Kris officially looks like an idiot for stating that Group 2 was the best group of them all.  Kris, from where we are sitting, Group 2 was the worst.

For this first part, this series is simply going to supply my personal notes on the performances and at the end, I’ll tell you who will advance in my opinion.  Once we get to the Top 12, I’ll get more detailed.

Group 3: Performances

1. Von Smith - best of the lead-off singers by far… still not sure if he’ll be memorable enough to advance, but the dude can sing
2. Taylor Vaifanua - The girl can sing, no doubt about that… but it was a boring performance.  She will be lost in the crowd and will not move on.
3. Alex Wagner-Trugman- loveable nerd… needed to stop screaming and start singing the song.  America can’t help but to like the guy, just not enough to help him advance.
4. Arianna Afsar- sweet girl, but boring…  she will be as lost as Taylor is as nothing stood out from the performance except for the fact that my wife recognized the song from the Momma Mia soundtrack.
5. Ju’Not Joyner - sang very well and not a bad change to a great song by the Plain White T’s…  it was a little slow for my taste but Ju’Not has a shot of getting to the Top 12.
6. Kristen McNamara - hated the song (that’s a personal preference, but I still hated it)…  the girl can blow but I’m not sold that she did enough to get a guaranteed spot in the Top 12.  She will have to prove it in the Wild Card round.
7. Nathaniel Marshall - disgusting… idiotic… hated it.  It was pretty funny when Simon said, “I think you would” when Nathaniel finished singing “Anything for Love” by Meatloaf (not sure if that is the real name of the song but you know what I mean).  This drama queen needs to lose the head bands not that it matters because he’s out.
8. Felicia Barton - good rendition of Alicia Keys.  Nothing special or out of the ordinary.  If she was in group 1 or 2, she would probably have been a lock for Top 12 but in this talented bunch it will be hard for her to get enough votes.
9. Scott MacIntyre - a few notes were off, but you can’t help to pull for a blind guy that makes fun of Seacrest with his high-five request.  That was classic and he gets my vote.  Loved it.
10. Kendall Beard - definitely a country girl and will probably garner a lot of votes for it.  It was all right I guess.  I’m not a country fan to say the least, but she can sing.  Possible Wild Card round contender.
11. Jorge Nuñez - The Puerto Rican came with it.  Something needs to happen to his large eyebrows, but the guy can bring the talent with a little Latin flavor.
12. Lil Rounds - Strongest performer of the night.  She appears polished and ready to go.  She did sound alot like Mary J Blige and we have one of those already so we’ll see if she can add some individuality.  But she easily makes it to the next round.

Group 3: Prediction

• Top Girl: Lil Rounds
• Top Guy: This was so tough but I think there is a heart for Scott MacIntyre and it’ll be hard to root against him
• Last in: This is basically a crapshoot as it could be anyone practically from this group - but I’ll take a chance on the Puerto Rican - Jorge Nunez

The third pick was very difficult for me.  I narrowed it down to Mishavonna Henson and Kris Allen.  Ultimately, I performed the proverbial coin flip and went with Mishavonna to even out the sexes with three contestants a piece.  I guessed wrong.  What are you gonna do?  Just be wrong I guess.

Group 2 Results:

Allison Iraheta

She was pretty easy to pick out among the girls.  She performed with confidence and charisma.  She performed a fun song and she performed it well.  Group 2 wasn’t all that impressive as a whole, but Allison was the clear cut leader of the girls.

Adam Lambert

Adam was another easy selection for me.  It’s obvious that Adam knows how to be an entertainer.  The song was fun and his performance was right on for his personality.  The vocals weren’t all that great but then again, I don’t think that song was really intended for someone with great range.  Adam brought energy to an otherwise boring night of performances.  This was an easy pick.

Kris Allen

Kris actually did pretty well on a Michael Jackson song that you are not supposed to touch.  I was torn between him and a female contestant and ultimately went against Kris.  America and Kris proved me wrong so time will tell if he can keep it up.  We’ll have to see if he can come at us with more than little bouncing dance move as well.

I applaud this new strategy.  I for one got immensely tired of the same boring bad acts from some of the contestants last year that obviously had no shot of winning.  This season, those acts should be eliminated practically immediately.   The top vote receiving guy, top vote receiving girl, and the next in line will see their way to the Top 12.  This leaves very little room for a “bad night”.  So you better bring it, or you’ll be nothing but Static ThinkBox blog fodder.

For this first part, this series is simply going to supply my personal notes on the performances and at the end, I’ll tell you who will advance in my opinion.  Once we get to the Top 12, I’ll get more detailed.

Group 2: Performances

1. Jasmine Murray - beautiful girl…  sang the song too low…  it’s time to consider modeling
2. Matt Giraud - what the ?!?!?  I don’t know what that was.
3. Jeanine Vailes - Did somebody call for a butcher?  Because she just killed her dream.
4. Nick Mitchell - aka Norman Gentle - the act is officially getting old and it was not as enjoyable as some of the judges said it was.  The sad thing is that Nick just gave the best performance on this young night between all the contestants so far.
5. Allison Iraheta - Great start…  She lost it for me a few times during some of the louder moments.
6. Kris Allen- good vocals…  descent performance…  still, nothing special.
7. Megan Joy Corkrey - Great song choice for her voice.  Not a great performance, however…  plus, she displayed some stupid jerky dance moves.
8. Matt Breitzke - boring…  next.
9. Jesse Langseth - forgettable…  sang song well…  she just didn’t do anything special to stand out
10. Kai Kalama - repeat #9…  oh wait, that wasn’t a she?
11. Mishavonna Henson - Best vocals of all the girls this night.  My wife made a statement that no one is displaying any energy.  I agree.
12. Adam Lambert - Most energetic and fun song and performance of the night.  I wish it was much sooner.  Didn’t sing that great, but Adam stood out and that should get him the top guy vote.

Group 2: Prediction

• Top Girl: This is tough - I’m going to go with Allison Iraheta
• Top Guy:This is a no-brainer as nobody seemed to want to be there - Adam Lambert
• Last in: This is tough…  but only because everyone for the most part was mediocre or subpar but I’ll take a chance on Mishavonna Henson

And BAM!  Just like that, we have our first three spots in the Top 12 filled.  If you read my last post, then you know that I predicted Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey, and Anoop Desai would fill those spots.  Well, I got two out of three.  There were no real stand-outs other than Alexis and Danny so the third spot was a crap shoot and I went for a guy with the best name of them all.  What are you gonna do?

Anoop!  Anoop!  Anoop, you killed my fire!  Anoop Desai and Michael Sarver went head to head when Ryan Seacrest brought them to the stage at the same time.  My heart was pounding as I just knew Anoop had beaten out Michael.  Then my heart sank as America told me I was wrong.  Michael’s version of Gavin McGraw was terrible (relatively speaking of course - I can admit that he did better than I would have done).  But Anoop Dogg still has a shot in the Top 12 via the Wild Card round.

Group I: Results

Alexis Grace

Out of all the girls that performed last night, Alexis was easily head and shoulders above the others.  Stevie and Casey showed us they were not ready for prime time and apparently spent too much time planning out their fake choreography than they did practicing on the song itself.  Alexis appeared natural, sang with confidence, and she seemed like she connected with the song.  Alexis became my first correct pick of the night.

Michael Sarver

The more I think about Michael’s performance, the more I’m baffled that he made it through.  I’ll give him credit for picking a song that is actually current.  And there’s no question that he seems like a stand up guy so obviously American Idol voters responded to that.  Of course, then there’s the Simon factor when he made a bit of a plea for America to give Michael another chance.  In Simon we trust, I guess.  Or maybe I’m just bitter that my main man Anoop a loop didn’t make it.  (Man, the things you can do with that name are endless.)

Danny Gokey

Whether it was intentional or not, the show saved the best for last - regardless of what Simon thought.  Danny personified the song he sang - Hero by Mariah Carey.  He just keeps on keeping on as he continues to find strength in living without his wife.  How can you not root for a guy like that?  If he keeps performing like this, Danny will go pretty far.  I’ve got him pegged for the Final two at this point, but I realize it is way too early for that.

I applaud this new strategy.  I for one got immensely tired of the same boring bad acts from some of the contestants last year that obviously had no shot of winning.  This season, those acts should be eliminated practically immediately.  Nice!  The top vote receiving guy, top vote receiving girl, and the next in line will see their way to the Top 12.  This leaves very little room for a “bad night”.  So you better bring it, or you’ll be nothing but Static ThinkBox blog fodder.

For this first part, this series is simply going to supply my personal notes on the performances and at the end, I’ll tell you who will advance in my opinion.  Once we get to the Top 12, I’ll get more detailed.

Group 1: Performances

1. Jackie Tohn - horrible outfit, good performer, bad performance…  no chance to advance
2. Ricky Braddy - solid vocals, forgettable song and performance… to be truthful, I had totally forgot he sang until the recap at the end
3. Alexis Grace - A few moments bothered me, but I’m being pretty picky.  This “dirtied up” girl rocked it out.  Very soulful.
4. Brent Keith - I’m biased and I pretty much have a real disdain for country music so I was not a big fan.  In trying to be objective, he may have done the song justice but I was bored out of my mind.
5. Stevie Wright - Say it isn’t so Stevie!  I “wonder” how such a cute girl could sing and dance so awkwardly.  Ouch!  That was painful.
6. Anoop Desai- Anoop Dog is one of my favorite likeable personalities.  He has no shot at winning but he sings very well.  Anoop! Anoop! Anoop is on fire!!!  I still get surprised every time I hear him sing.  It’ll be tough for people to bypass his “look”, which is completely unfair; but unfortunately, life is still not fair.  He does have a long shot to make it to the top 12.
7. Casey Carlson - Whoa!  Is this Stevie again?  No, much worse.  That was extra painful.  but hey, you’ve still got modeling as an option.
8. Michael Sarver- Nice guy.  Bad performance.  Bleh…
9. Ann Marie Boskovich - boring; some off-key notes; thanks for playing.  Game over.
10. Stephen Fowler - At least you remembered the lyrics, but I’m afraid you forgot one of the most important lessons taught in past American Idol seasons: song selection.  It can make or break you.  Stephen was broken.
11. Tatiana Del Toro - The absolute most annoying contestant this season.  She disappointed me for the most part by doing pretty well for the most part.  I was able to rejoice with some off note keys.  Should be last song we hear from her unless all the other girls bomb and she makes it to the Wild Card round.  Dang it.
12. Danny Gokey - My personal favorite and front runner so far.  Great singer and a strong heart-felt story follows him that helps us pull for his continued success.  Appears genuine.  Danny should go far.

Group 1: Prediction

• Top Girl: This is easy - Alexis Grace by a mile.
• Top Guy:This is a no-brainer as well - Danny Gokey who is my overall favorite at this point.
• Last in: This is tough…  but I have got to give a nod to my main man - Anoop Desai.  You can do so much with that name and it sticks with you.  I say Anoop and you know exactly who I’m talking about.  I say Brent and you say, “who?”

Thinkbox Salary Cap Challenge:

League: West Texas Football Fans
Password: gotech

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

These rules are even simpler.  You simply pick one NFL team to win their game each week.  If that team wins, then you “survive” another week and move on to the next.  If that team loses, they you are eliminated from the contest and must wait until we have a winner and the contest will be restarted.  Last year, we played three times in one season.  The only catch is that you cannot choose the same team again in the same contest.

Anyway, good luck to any who accept this challenge, because frankly - you’re going to need it

• ThinkBox P.I. Investigates
• Assignment: Four Year Old T-ball League
• Case ID: Umpire Conspiracy
• Case Closed

ThinkBox P.I. is back on the case again as I return to blogging. This time to investigate allegations of foul play by my son’s t-ball umpire. Apparently, there is some rule that states after hitting the ball off the tee the player must drop the bat in the circle that surrounds the home plate area. Yeah, it sounds fishy to me too. Well, last game, one of the players on the Lubbock Orioles hit the ball with such blazing speed that it went through the legs of several of the opposing four year olds and trickled into the outfield. Okay, maybe it’s not that hard to hit a ball past a four year old, but still.. stick with me here. It was a surefire homerun in T-ball standards but as the player was rounding second and heading to third (all the while passing a slower teammate) confusion broke loose as the base runners were sent back to their bases (bases were loaded) and the batter was sent to the dugout as an out.

What’s going on out here!

The homeplate umpire had called the batter out for throwing his bat and it landing outside of the designated circle. Immediately conspiracy theorist united in protest and mothers and fathers put on their confused angry faces. It was pandemonium I tell you. Chaos to the tenth degree. Well, that may have been a slight exaggeration. Everyone pretty much stayed glued to their foldable chairs. But that’s a boring story.  Creative liberty is underused sometimes.

Anyway, after that spectacle I decided to go under cover at the next game. Let’s watch closely to see if some unfair prejudice exists for our little T-ball team of four year olds. Seems like another case of the man holding the little people down… uh, literally. So to the embarrassment of my wife - not sure what all that was about - I arrived at the T-ball game in my disguise and proceeded to watch the game.

Innings went by and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The Orioles batted and played defense and everything was smooth. I decided to take a closer look.

Ah hah! There goes another out call due to a “thrown” bat. It’s time to go into stealth mode for proper surveillance. The player did throw the bat though so I couldn’t bust the umpire at that point. I decided to hide for a bit.

Everything appeared to be on the up and up. I’m being to think that there is no conspiracy to speak of. I knew that surely I wasn’t spotted, although a wandering player did happen to pass by me but I’m not sure if he saw me.

Well, maybe we did throw the bat and it landed out of the circle. My disguise and hiding spot were impeccable so any thoughts of a conspiracy turned out to be more delusional than anything else. However, I did have to cut my investigation a tad short. I heard rumors that women were trying to contact Chris Hansen of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator”. I couldn’t have my cover blown by some other investigator so I put my candy that I was offering the children back in my pocket and headed out.

The good news is that if anything does happen to me. My son is ready and willing to take my place. He is getting prepared to take over the family business. He already has the perfect mustache gene. Yes, my son… the ’stache is strong in you my young padawan.

Click the graphic below if you are considering purchasing Revelation or if you already have it and you just want to see an opinion on the release.

Music Review: Third Day - Revelation

My official return to blogging is coming soon. ThinkBox P.I. makes a return visit very soon with a post of a recent visit to his son’s T-ball game. Stay tuned!

David Cook came out strong and set the bar at his usual level, but somehow someway Archuleta seemed to rise above the bar in each of the three performances. David Cook made a huge mental error by not singing “Hello” or “Billie Jean” as Simon suggested and Archuleta sang his previous version of “Imagine” and brought the house down. I don’t think Archuleta ran away with the night, but he did win each “round” of songs. I guess in that sense he ran away with it, but I just don’t think that the difference was as great as the judges seem to make it out to be.

American Idol Winner Prediction

Chances are that very little actually changed among the fan base of these two contestants last night. I would have to agree with the judges that Archuleta did outperform Cook last night but I will still contend to my previous prediction that David Cook will outsell all hopeful musicians from American Idol 2008 Season 7. He is more marketable to the general public and has a unique sound and voice whereas I still have no idea what kind of music that Archuleta would sell. I know Archuleta will get exactly zero dollars from my wallet, but Cook will most likely be the first American Idol contestant CD that I will purchase. Nonetheless, the winner will be…

David Archuleta

The teenage “phenom” will be this year’s American Idol winner and will join Taylor Hicks in a few years as a winner without a contract being renewed.