AI: Only Two "Sure Things"....Maybe

Quickly, before I go to bed, here's how I would rank the five finalists tonight...

1. David Cook - He didn't blow me away, but he's just solid. Clearly he is ready for the big time. No visible nerves, he just commands the stage. It's like he's been performing for a long time...oh yeah, he has. Really, there isn't any serious competition left. He is the "American Idol", even if he doesn't win. (Contradiction?)

2. David Archuleta - I wasn't crazy about "Sweet Caroline". He tried to change it up a little, but it didn't really give the song its own identity. He needs to keep listening to Andrew Lloyd Weber's suggestion of keeping his eyes open. "America" was very good. He nailed it vocally, and actually showed some energy on stage, which might be a first.

3. Brooke White - Her first song was awful! She looked like she was leading a class of first-graders in a sing along. Just the way she was holding the guitar and had this bright-eyed smile. Ick. Luckily for her (and bad for Jason and Syesha) she really redeemed herself with her second song. Although her voice screeched a bit, she seemed to sing with conviction, not her nervous warble like last week's abomination. Voters tend to have a short memory, so my guess (but not necessarily my hope) is that she'll be safe for one more week.

4. Syesha - All she has done for weeks has given strong performances and all she gets from the judges (specifically Simon) is faint praise. They keep saying she's an actress as if it's an awful thing. How much of Celine's stage personality is truly genuine? Artists have to keep a certain persona to keep fans engaged. Still, she hasn't had a really "WOW" performance. Last week's Broadway one might have been, but she got hurt by going first and pretty much being forgotten. I really don't think she should go...yet. But I certainly won't be surprised.

5. Jason Castro - I think I've been very clear that this guy is not a singer and never will be. He is boring, has no stage personality, and is just an overall doofus. His first song wasn't good, but he was saved by the fact that it's a pretty fun song and might just hold up on his own. His second song was terrible. He had no energy. It looked like he totally phoned it in. Aww, poor baby, a tickle in your throat? No excuse! He should have just stopped, coughed, and started over. That's what Brooke would have done. (just kidding)

I guess I'm at a point now where I'm just waiting for a David-David finale. Yeah, I hate Jason, dislike Brooke, and tolerate Syesha, but none of them deserve to be in the finale. So I'm not going to be worked up until (and I really hope this doesn't happen) either David gets voted off.

What do you think?

Rock On!

So last night I played "Rock Band" for the first time on an Xbox360. I've only played the drums at Best Buy before. This game is so cool. It comes out on Wii in June or July. The game is for four players: vocals, drums, guitar, and bass. I played with Andrew Photopulos and his cousins Greg and Tim. I mostly did vocals, which were very fun, but I could hold my own on bass and guitar because it plays the exact same way as Guitar Hero. I was not as good at drums. I can't do that damn bass drum pedal. What really made my day was it had the song "Creep" by Radiohead, which is one of my favorite songs (and bands).

I will definitely be buying it for Wii when it comes out. Now all I have to work on is getting three friends to play with me.

Did he clinch it?

I'm going to be honest, I didn't think David Cook's performance last night was all that great. His vocals were very wobbly. Even his big note at the end slowly turned flat. However, everybody else in America seems to think it was his victory song. So I've given it a few more listens this morning, and while I now think it was very good (and in fact probably the best of the night), I would still take any of his performances of Elanor Rigby, Hello, or Little Sparrow over last night's. All that said, I'll still buy the song on iTunes when it becomes available.

Best of Last Night's Idol