Carly is gone. She shouldn’t have left. This is the first time this year where I can say that someone who had the talent to win was kicked off too early (I’m talking to you Michael Johns). At times, I really thought she had a chance to win. At other times, not so much. And that’s probably why she’s out. She was inconsistent when you expected her not to be.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. David Cook – The two Davids are neck and neck.
1. David Archuleta – But I like the first David better so he’s on top.
3. Syesha Mercado – Slowly but surely, she snuck up on people.
4. Jason Castro’s Dread Locks – Unfortunately, his fan base is keeping him around.
5. Brooke White – Curly or straight tonight?

The Departed

1. Young David Hernandez
2. Young Amanda Overmyer
3. Young Chikezie
4. Young Ramiele Malubay
5. Old Michael Johns
6. Young Kristy Lee Cook
7. Young And Tattooed Carly Smithson

Tonight is Neil Diamond night. I guess American Idol is really going after that grandmotherly demographic. But I say that we make the most of it. The contestants are singing twice tonight, so this show is going to be quick without a lot of jibber jabber. Maybe that’s a good thing.

Joining me tonight as guest judge is Jessica. We haven’t really been on the same page as far as who we’ve liked week to week, so this should be interesting. Jessica also does a great impersonation of the American Idol come back from commercial music. Listen below.

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We’re just under one month away from the race. Are both guys ready? You decide.

Usually, Big Brother is on during the summer, but this year, it showed up in the late winter. Why? Well, remember that thing called the writer’s strike? CBS decided that they could get some easy ratings by supplying us with an early Big Brother. And supposedly, we’ll get a second one later in the summer.

Season 9 was really hard to get into. It started where every member was coupled based on an assessment. According to this assessment, each couple (yes, there was one gay couple, but the second half left the show for personal reasons) was placed together because they were supposedly each other’s soul mates. But there was one real couple in the house and one ex-couple. The ex-couple was of course put together, but the real couple was split up. Also, they had to be head of household and be evicted as a pair. For some reason, they went away from this early on and made it a singles game again. I didn’t understand why they did this, other than to maybe stretch out the game. But early on, this season was an utter failure.

It started to get pretty good around late March. The main problem was the show was littered with unlikable people. The homeless ten speed biker James was likable until the house ganged up on him and he went crazy and vindictive and had a complete breakdown on national television. His “soul mate” Chelsea was likable (plus she was cute and had big knockers) as well until she went crazy and vindictive. Later, Adam, a big goof who calls himself “Big Baller” was all of a sudden someone you could root for. But then, he made some strong decisions, didn’t stand by them, and became more of a follower than a leader. And I’m sure the “Big Baller” moniker was given to him as a joke because he might’ve been big, but he was anything but a baller. Amanda even passed out from low blood sugar and she might’ve been less liked after she woke up. The only thing going for her was a J-Lo’esque backside. There was even a former model in the house. Too bad she was 45, whiny, and mean. She also posed for some porn magazines allegedly back in the day. Sharon was easy to root for, but she’d already been eliminated once and got a free pass to go back in to the game.

Chelsea And Amanda

Ryan (half of the true couple in the house) and Adam are the survivors and you couldn’t ask for less of a climactic final.

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As of tomorrow, I will be finishing up my second week with my new company. That means that for the last two weeks, I’ve been away from Epinions, which had been my home for 6 1/2 years of my near 9 year career. It was a necessary step in the evolution of my career, and one could even argue that it was a belated move. However, I wasn’t going to leave Epinions unless I had the perfect opportunity. There wasn’t any real reason to do so, but when that opportunity came, it wasn’t that hard for me to make the decision.

I’ve been the Community Liaison at Epinions for the last five years. The Epinions community can be rabid, tough, unfair, and nearly impossible to make happy. But on the flip side, they were loving, friendly, passionate, loyal, and everything that you can say is good about community. Basically, it was what strong communities are. And believe me when I say that I enjoyed every bit of it. I have made life lasting friends and simply enjoyed what I did for a living. You really can’t ask for more.

My boy Mike and I in Vegas

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I was trying to remember who was kicked out last week and I couldn’t until I looked it up. It was Kristy Lee Cook! She’s about as memorable as Wonder Bread.

Tonight, we get the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I imagine this one will be the hardest show to watch because of the idea that these wannabe pop singers are going to try and sing theatrical songs. It’s not like many people sing music from Phantom Of The Opera at the karaoke bar. But first, the hot list based on last week’s results.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. David Cook – I didn’t buy last week’s performance at all, so I have him now tied for first.
1. David Archuleta – He’s signing consistently well every week.
3. Carly Smithson – She’s the third horse in a two horse race.
4. Jason Castro’s Dread Locks – What in the blue hell is he going to sing tonight?
5. Syesha Mercado – I have a feeling she’s going to try to hit some crazy notes tonight.
6. Brooke White – Curly or straight tonight?

The Departed

1. Young David Hernandez
2. Young Amanda Overmyer
3. Young Chikezie
4. Young Ramiele Malubay
5. Old Michael Johns
6. Young Kristy Lee Cook

Tonight, I am joined by my brother from another mother, Mike Heyliger (aka Speeddemon531), writer and editor of Music Help Web and Becky, who I met through Epinions and who is a rock star in the karaoke bars.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter Jennie Garth was scheduled to be a part of a new CBS comedy, My Best Friend’s Girl, but recently dropped out.

This leads to speculation that she might join the new Beverly Hills, 90210 spin-off that is all the buzz. Well ok, it’s just the buzz for me. According to the article, writer Rob Thomas originally wanted Garth to reprise her role as Kelly Taylor, joining the cast as a fashion design teacher.

Wait, wasn’t Donna Martin the fashion design expert? Didn’t Kelly get into social work? Well, Kelly did help Donna with her clothing store at the end of the run. Oh well.

Here’s to hoping that this time, she’ll pick Brandon.

I don’t get it. When Michael Johns was eliminated last week, there were very angry fans. Was it because they thought Ryno tricked Johns into thinking that they weren’t going to do another elimination based on not eliminating anyone after last year’s Idol Gives Back week? I didn’t think that at all, but maybe it’s because I was paying attention. They didn’t do last year’s Idol Gives Back within the same week like they did this year, so there was no need to skip an elimination. As it is, Michael Johns wasn’t going to win this show. I think he could have a decent career overseas, but I wonder how well he can do in the states.

The Hot List (based on last week’s performances)

1. David Cook – He took a little bit of a hit, but he’s still number 1.
2. David Archuleta – Though I’m getting just a little bored with his choices, I can’t deny that he’s been really good of late.
3. Carly Smithson – She needs to sing it and bring it this week.
4. Jason Castro’s Dread Locks – I can’t imagine Mariah Carey night is going to be his cup of tea.
5. Brooke White – Curly or straight tonight?
6. Syesha Mercado – If she doesn’t over sing, this could be her night.
7. Kristy Lee Cook – Let’s pray for her.

The Departed

1. Young David Hernandez
2. Young Amanda Overmyer
3. Young Chikezie
4. Young Ramiele Malubay
5. Old Michael Johns

Tonight, it’s Mariah Carey Night. This scares me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a guy do a karaoke version of Mariah Carey, let alone heard a guy cover her music. Thankfully, I have the terrible twosome of Hea Jin and Eddy Zucko to entertain me. They are going to be the guest judges tonight. I think Young Randall might find his way in here as well.

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This was posted originally on Epinions.com.

After Danity Kane went number one, Diddy came back for seconds. Danity Kane, the group that was the result of the third version of MTV’s Making The Band (O-Town and Da Band anyone?), became the new ladies of Bad Boy, (Total anyone?) and became the blue print in how to market a new group. Why not just pump them into a few million homes every week for a couple months through the art of television production? Isn’t that what American Idol is anyway? And you have to give it up to Diddy because it worked. Second time proved to be a charm.

During the fourth season of the show, Diddy was looking for his new 112. He wanted to put the male R&B groups back on the map. After scouring the best guy singers around the country, he decided on Robert Curry, Willie Taylor, Brian Andrews, Michael McCluney, and Qwanell Mosley. During the second part of the fourth season, he decided that he was going to put Danity Kane, Day26, and solo artist Donny Klang into the same house, competing for beats. It was two for the price of one. Familiar viewers would get to see Danity Kane create their second album, Day26 hustle to get their rookie album done, and Donny Klang get the leftovers. It also created the new “That’s hot”, after Diddy chewed out the fellas for fighting over who was going to be the lead singer and told them, “No Bit**as*ness!”

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GG and Eddy Zucko sign the contract for their race. A small Japanese woman has to intervene before someone’s cowboy hat gets knocked off and she says something about Donkey Kong.

After Barry Zito got raked again, he was quoted in one of the local papers asking fans to be patient because the team is not healthy and not playing at full strength. I laughed because Giants fans have absolutely no reason to be patient.

We were told that when Barry Bonds left the team, his albatross of a salary would be used to bring in players to keep the team competitive, but at the same time, the team would turn to its youngsters and see what they have in the farm system. Well, they have absolutely failed on both accounts.

Signing Barry Zito to a contract that was probably double what any other team would’ve signed him to was only problem number one. The second part of that problem was giving him so much money that they used to much of what opened up from Bonds leaving. They signed Aaron Rowand to roam centerfield, which on a good team is a good move, but he’s no where near the impact kind of player needed on a team that can’t hit. They let go of the only player who could actually hit the ball out of the ballpark (Pedro Feliz) and have players like Rich Aurilia and Dave Roberts who would have trouble starting on the worst teams in baseball. Yet Aurilia and Roberts are starting on this team. I guess that means the Giants are one of the worst. Basically, you have two players in Zito and Rowand who were the guys picked to replace Bonds. Fail.

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