September 20, 2004

Righty-o.

Firstly, Andrew G rocks a white suit, though still needs a haircut. As does Daniel Belle. Marcia has gone completely useless; it's like you can tell she hates Chanel because that's the only performer she didn't completely worship onstage. Dicko has all of my love, but Mark Holden earned some what-the-fuh? respect for being consistently accurate and useful as a judge.

Oh, and he was quoting 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In' all night, which gets points from me, even if I was born in 1979.

Anyway, the contestants: Emelia - Sang well, looked good, is I think trying really hard to hide from all the negative attention and just knuckle down to the singing. I still like her voice, and she used it well.

Ricki-Lee - Worked it, and worked it well. The hair was ... odd. But she had a blast and took the audience with her, which earns her much respect. She's really surprising me at how strong a performer she's turned out to be, and I think it's because she is so comfortable onstage.

Anthony - Another steady improver, though I rather suspect he hasn't even seen The Blues Brothers, which is what his song choice immediately brought to my mind. I think he's internalised the plastic a little too much to be a compelling performer, but he's singing well, is trying to work the stubble (and if he's Italian, it probably comes fairly naturally) and has probably snuck into front-runner status.

Amali - She might not have even seen My Best Friend's Wedding, let alone anything else that prominently features this song, but she did well with it. I think Dicko's right - she's a limited singer who at least knows mostly what those limits are, and she has personality to burn. Even though she can look like a cross between Mischa Barton and a gelfling from Dark Crystal, she is also probably the most attractive of all the contestants, though look how much that helped Dan, another hot, but not all that talented, singer.

Daniel - Did I really good job, and restrained the tendency to go operatic which always seems like a threat with him. I'm glad he didn't get his hair straightened again, but then his current hair is such a boofhead look I almost wish he had. Not amazing, but his usual solid performance.

Marty - Oooh, crash and burn. Dicko hit it on the head - he sang Satisfaction like he was on Play School. It was a family-friendly rendition, which is the antithesis of the Stones, especially this song - and it's not even like I'm a huge fan. But the whole thing was quite muppetish and somewhat ridiculous. He's my pick to go this week.

Hayley - rocked the 60's look, and I thought her performance was nicely modulated and very sweet. Sure, it was quiet, but it was meant to be, and I think she tried to put in a few strong notes to get across her talent while still respecting the original material. I suspect she'll be back in the bottom three, but I don't want her to go. If nothing else, she'd have to do well on disco night.

Courtney - Yeah, I think he wants to lose the weight as well, and Dicko was again not criticising a performer's size, but instead how that size will be treated. Though when he said he'd try, I wish we'd gotten to see him actually say what he'd try and do. Oh, he performed as well? Actually, I really liked this performance, as he was having a lot of fun and the song did suit him down to the ground. I still await him doing a contemporary song, though.

Chanel - much like Hayley, she sang a quiet song but did it well. In fact, I loved it, because she put her all into emoting the song, and I thought it was just lovely. She'd better bloody stay in the competition.

Casey - Mark and Dicko had it right. When she started singing, I thought, "Here we go, this will be amazing." Instead, she essentially taxied down the runway without ever actually taking off; I kept waiting and waiting for her to let the song fully explode, and it just never quite made it. Still, she almost nailed it, and I really hope she, too, sticks around to get a chance to go further.

So I reckon the bottom three might be Marty, Amali and Hayley, with Marty going - but then, his performance to me was by far the worst, if not vocally, than stylistically.

And back to you, Jess, in the studio...

Fuck. You just kicked my arse at recapping. The blog is yours... :)

In an ideal world for me, Marty would be going tonight. However, after having my heart broken last week ("Bottom three, Marty!" Woo! "And now Marty, you're safe!" Buggersnuff!) I didn't want to jinx it!

I just need to say how cool Courtney is, even if it makes me sound like a 13 year old. His fat man dancing and gesturing was a classic. I almost wish he'd done the Blues Brothers song Belushi style, but Spinning Wheel was excellent. I think they could have addressed the weight issue off camera if their motive was truly sincere. Yep, Amali and Dan are/were truly below par "singers". Not to mention a few others. Thankfully there's only one winner. But what's the deal with Mark and Dicko telling every man and his dog they're gonna have hit records whether they win or lose?

btw: Marcia has always been useless as a judge. She doesn't know the meaning of the phrase 'constructive criticism'.

Yeah, I've been surprised each week with who has gone, even though both Angie and Dan sang badly the week they were turfed.

I'm just hoping neither Chanel or Hayley get thrown just because of quiet choices of songs.

The Courtney (and, I suppose, Casey) weight thing is something Dicko's pretty much contractually obliged to bring up on camera, and he asked Courtney's permission, which I thought was pretty damned cool. As it stands, I think even Courtney wants out of his fatman image, so it should be fine - and, hey, sympathy votes from all the fatties in the audience; I noticed the camera panning across quite a few of them while the conversation went on.

Re audience panning, I assumed the first shot of startled fatties was his family. (Did I just say that?) But that could well just be me being manipulated by some crafty editing.

I always thought in R.E.S.P.E.C.T (which I assume he was referencing), that it IS said 'sockittome' like it's one word, and it is considered a 'word'.

So he WAS saying three words. I was annoyed at Ricki-Lee saying it wasn't, and now I have to stick up for Mark here too.

I'm sure we'll never disagree again though.

Ahh but rewatching it tonight, Mark said "Sockittome" FOUR times, so even if we give him the benefit of the one word factor, it's still four. I think. This hurts my head.

On the upside, Mark's rant against Idol-related snobbery was pretty kick arse.

Let's never disagree again... again!

Sniff But...but...Mark is awesome!! Just stop these vicious lies and rumours about him not being able to count, because he CAN! I don't know why people pick on my hero so much.

(You MIGHT be right about the '4 times' thing though. But don't think I won't check my tape!)

Checked my tape. He said it four times. Ah, let's face it - he said 16 words.

my theory is he thought "sock it" was one word. as in 'sockit to me'. the fact that he said it four times was just for emphasis. it's showbiz people! :)

Mark was channeling (no, not Chanel-ing) Burt Bacharch.

Burt alone knows how to make it SOUND like four even when there's only three.

1----2-----3----4-------

ever---and ever---you'll

1-------2--------3-----

stay-in-my-heart---and

1--2----3--------4-----

I--will--love-you---for-

Emilia looked at sixes and sevens towards the end while Chanel never missed a beat.

Okay, I'll go now, and leave the punny bits to you professionals.