AI: Top 5

Jason Castro:
Song 1: Pretty good.
Song 2: Boring yet again. Same old, same old.

David Cook:
Song 1: Very good.
Song 2: Personally, I liked the first one better, but this one was good, too.

Brooke:
Song 1: Horrific.
Song 2: Better than the first, for sure, but still just blah.

David A.:
Song 1: I totally called him singing “Sweet Caroline”, but I really liked it, especially all the runs.
Song 2: This song seemed a little big for him, but it was aight.

Syesha:
Song 1: Not loving the hair change. Cute dress, though. Meh to her first performance.
Song 2: Too screamy. Didn’t like it.

Judges comments on song one – Paula is sooo on crack. Critiquing a performance that hadn’t even occurred yet – cuckoo! (I’m sure she wrote down notes about both songs during their dress rehearsal. But still. She’s insane.) Simon was right on with all his comments. He said, “Jason = forgettable, David = above average, Brooke = NIGHTMARE, David A. = amateurish, Syesha = old fashioned. All pretty much true.

Predictions: Brooke needs to GO!


Wednesday Kick-Off:

YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brooke definitely was the one who deserved to go this week.

My New 'Do

What do you think?!

Haunted Toys

About 2 or 3 weeks ago Jer and I were woken up at around midnight to the sound of Baby Einstein music coming from Clayton's playmat downstairs in the family room. There are 4 different setting on the star thing that makes all the noise: off, on, motion, and short play. I used to just leave it on the motion setting 'cause Clay kicks the star when he's lying underneath it. Until that night when it went off several times for no reason while still on the motion setting. It made me worry that someone might be downstairs, but then I realized that would be really dumb for a burglar to set that star off 3 times by bumping it over and over. We still don't know why it went off by itself, Jer had to go down and turn it to "off". Thanks, sweetie!



So, last week Mom bought Clay a new toy - this learning-puppy-stuffed-animal-deal. He's really cute and sings lots of songs and has cute sayings for every part of him that you squeeze. Clay is very entertained by him. Anyways, last night we had some friends over, so I cleaned up the blanket on the family room floor where I let Clayton sit and play with all his toys. I just wrapped it all up and stuck it beside the couch. Well, at 2am this morning I woke up for what seemed like no reason - you know how you feel like you heard something, but can't tell anymore when you wake up? I thought maybe it was Clay rustling in his crib, but no longer heard anything. I was concentrating really hard and thought I heard something again. I quietly asked Jeremiah if he was awake and he answered, "Actually, I am." "Do you hear that?" I asked him. As we were both listening intently I distinctly heard "Patty cake, patty cake! You're my best friend!" We both went downstairs and dug that crazy dog out from underneath the other toys and blanket. We may never know why that puppy decided to go off in the middle of the night just like that Baby Einstein star. Scary, haunted toys...


Ooooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooooo.

Some Stuff We Did This Week

Monday night we went out to this new Chinese restaurant in town (all the ones that exist are sub-par, oh how we miss thee, Ho's Dynasty). It's called the Black Pearl Bistro and it was really nice inside and the food was quite good. It's right by Cristin and Mark's place in North Logan and may be our new go-to Chinese restaurant. Cristin of course christened their bathroom by barfing in it half way through our meal. The poor girl can't catch a break. Mom got a 'hot pot' which was a really hot bowl of Chinese stew. The portobellos in it were fantastic. Dad got some sushi and the menu said it would come in 8 pieces, but he only got 5. So, he asked the waiter about it and the kid went in the back and when he came out he told Dad that it was the same size, just cut into bigger pieces, but that the chef was making him another one with 8 pieces in it. Dad was like, "Uh, I was just wondering.. I don't need a whole other one!" Too late. So, we all split it. Yum! I had tempura shrimp that was crunchy and delicious.

Here's a picture of Clay sitting across from me in a high chair. The waitresses kept coming by all night to talk to him and tell him how cute he is. He loves that. I liked that you can see his reflection in the shiny, black table.

Saturday we met Karen, Rod, Kari and her kids, Janna, Steve, Tracey, Erin, Stacey, Jeff and Jacob in Perry at the Maddox restaurant. (All McKoy relatives.) Steve and Tracey were in town from VA to help Erin move and to see Jamie's cute baby Fallon.

Here's all the cousins between Bob and Steve that were in attendance:

It was really sunny.

AI Kick-Off Night

I can't believe Brooke was safe. She's terrible. I'm so over her. I guess she can also thank www.votefortheworst.com The caricature of her is hilarious on that site.

Did Paula actually say, "gi-normous"?

Hooray that cruddy Carly is finally gone! I never have to watch her funky faces while she sings again. Syesha definitely deserved to be the one to stay another week.

This is Outrageous!

This makes me so mad, I could just spit.

Here's the thing. I heard on Fox news TODAY that David Cook has an independently released CD from 2006 and that you can download it at Amazon MP3. Also, it has been #1 for awhile now, even beating Mariah's new CD (in MP3 downloads). So, immediately I surfed over to the Amazon site and looked it up. I really wanted to listen to it and get a feel for the type of music he'd make. The news anchor said the album title was Analog Heart, but I couldn't find that or anything by searching David's name. Then I found this chat on Amazon's site for the missing album. Which led me to several other links, here they are:
(I put them in order of importance/interest. The first one's the one where you can actually listen to his music.)

http://www.davidcooktheamericanidol.com/music/
Hear the CD.

http://mjsbigblog.com/david-cooks-analog-heart-pulled-from-amazon.htm
Informative article. Other Idolers have had CDs sell while on the show!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/entertainment/cant-keep-a-good-man-down-david-cook-on-american-idol-161444/;_ylt=AnulL_eI.CZvE4x2ku__VlV1bqU5
Some chick's Yahoo! blog.

http://www.last.fm/music/David+Cook
Info on what he's done.

http://www.rickey.org/?p=7716
Some guy's blog. Carly's and Kristy's previously released CDs are still available on Amazon... why?!


Cook was also in a band called Axium. He was the lead singer/guitarist. Those CDs are not available, but a few tracks are available for listening at that first link.

Apparently, the MP3s were pulled just days ago from Amazon.
Who else thinks this totally stinks?!

PS. I loved the music from Analog Heart. Everyone should go listen to it.


** To clarify, Cristin said she was confused as to what I am ticked off about, because we have been mad about this season being full of contestants that were previously signed to record labels ie; Carly, Kristy, and Michael. However, David Cook's CD was independently released, therefore he was never signed with a label as a solo artist, or with his band, Axium. The thing I am mad about is Amazon's pulling of his independent album, Analog Heart, for no apparent reason. Amazon and/or American idol is/are (a) big poo-head(s).


Update:

At this link there is a link to this article (by Roger Friedman at FoxNews.com) which is the supposed cause for the pulling of Analog Heart from Amazon. The guy that wrote it is a real moron and has none of his facts straight. This guy's response to the Fox article is hilarious, here's a bit of it:

Friedman is a little late to the “ringer” controversy. It raged months ago, when it was discovered that Carly Smithson, Kristy Lee Cook and Michael Johns had honest-to-goodness major record deals before they auditioned for Idol. David Cook is considered a non-ringer in the controversy. The fact that he released an independent CD two years ago that’s now available on rinky-dink Amazon mp3 downloads hardly elevates him to ringer status in my book. Nice, Friedman–making a mountain out of a molehill.

American Idol Top Six

I must say up front that I love Andrew Lloyd Webber's music, so I had really high hopes for this night. Oh, and on Ellen today, Randy Jackson said he thought the top two in the finale would be David A. and David Cook. Interesting.

Syesha: I wondered how she'd get down off that piano. I liked "One Rock 'N Roll Too Many". I think she sounded very good, but I do agree with Cristin's comment from last week - I wouldn't buy her CD in the end. She would be great on Broadway, though, and that's probably where she'll end up.
PS. Rickey Minor is really cool - especially in that hat.

Jason:
Initial reaction to him singing "Memories": Blech. Sing something up-beat!!
Reaction after him performing: Yep, didn't like it at all. Get off the stool.
PS. Paula needs to shut her yapper. She makes less and less sense as the years go by.

Brooke: Cute dress. I hated that she stopped the band and had them start over. She should have just kept going. That's the second time she's done that on Idol. The first time it was just her at the piano, though. I thought I might like "You Must Love Me" on her, but it was way, way, WAY over her head too big for her. I hated it.

David Archuleta: "Think of Me" seemed like a weird choice, but I ended up really liking the way he sang it. It definitely wasn't a Broadway-sounding song anymore - it could've been on soft rock radio like that.

Carly: I hate her colored tights. I didn't like this performance, not one little bit. She just yelled the whole time.

David Cook:
Initial thoughts: How is he going to change an Andrew Lloyd Webber song?? Cool necklace in the pre-performance video. (The little star.)
Post-performance reaction: This is definitely not his genre, but he worked it out. And hit that high note in the middle of the song spot-on. I will absolutely buy his CD when it comes out.

A lot of Phantom songs tonight. That's actually the show I know the least about. Oh well.
Top of the night: Syesha, David and David.
Bottom of the night: Brooke, Jason and Carly.

Prediction: Brooke will go home tomorrow night.

Hooray for Clapping!

Yay!!!

And some more pictures of Clay that I took last weekend (4/12 and 4/13):

Fell over onto his tummy!

Playing wth his toys. Thanks Lin, he loves those rings - tasty!

Aunt Jenny sure is fun!

Daddy fell asleep.

Here are some pictures from Sunday the 20th of Jenny holding Clayton and his two cousins, Haylie and Ty.

This one kills me, Clay and Haylie are staring at eachother over Ty's head.

Can you see that Clay's arm is around Ty? We didn't do that, he did that himself!

Cute kids!!!

Voice Male Concert

Yesterday was Clayton's first Voice Male concert. We got to sit in the very first row (the seats were assigned, I didn't knock any small children over this time, Lindsey) and Clay was even acknowledged by Voice Male part way through the concert. They called him the best looking guy in the first row and then Jer hoisted him into the air so everyone behind us could see him. He was really well behaved and paid attention most of the show - except for the hour he slept through. :-)

Here's a clip from "Walkin' On Sunshine".

Here's John L. speaking in Japanese.

Phil speaking in Mandarin Chinese.

And Mike B. speaking Pig Latin/German.

Pictures
"Lion Sleeps Tonight"



Jer, Clay, Me, Dad.



Clay trying to eat his rubber ducky.




This post is dedicated to Lindsey. ;-)

Cheerios and Mac & Cheese

We've started giving Clayton cheerios and it's so funny to watch him try to pick them up - he can't quite manage it yet!

Clay having some dinner. He has a new way of "telling" us that he wants more food.

Both videos were made 4/12/08.

American Idol: Seven Left

David A.: Sweet like always. Not loving him anymore, but he sounds really good. You know what I mean? 'Predictable' is I guess what I'm trying to say.

Carly: Meh. Some of it was pretty good. Some of it I didn't like. PS. Why was she wearing black tights with that dress instead of nude panty hose? Or even just bare legs would have looked 250% better than those weird tights did.

Syesha: I liked her a lot. I didn't know that song and I still really enjoyed it.

Brooke: Like Lindsey commented last week, she doesn't know what to do without an instrument, so she defaults to the piano or guitar when she knows she can't pull a song off. There was no way she could have taken on a Mariah song straight up. Ryan (my brother, not Seacrest) and I totally noticed that she got nervous and sped up towards the end. Not loving her, either. 'Predictable' is the buzz word here, again.

Kristy: Hate hate hate. Horrid. Yuck.

David Cook: Oh my heck. He is so fantastic. I loooooooved his version of Always Be My Baby. I love that song to death and I was kinda worried about his rock ballad take on it, but it totally worked and gave me chills and made me sigh in amazement at his wonderfulness. *Sigh*

Jason: I thought it was pretty chill. I didn't recognize the song, but I thought it was very cool.


My favorites this week, therefore, were David Cook and Syesha.

Who I put in the bottom 3: Brooke, Kristy, and Carly.


Of Note: On "Best Week Ever" (VH1) this week, they mention stupid Ryan Seacrest being a butthead to Michael Johns last week and what a horrible, horrible little man he must be.

Added: I have to say that personally, I think Carly and Kristy should be the next two to go because they BOTH already had record deals and .. hmmm... they both flopped! Big surprise.


Wednesday:

I really liked Jason's opening part from "One Sweet Day".

I almost cried at the end of Elliott's performance.. I didn't know his mom died! She was so sweet during season 5 watching him from the audience... so sad.

How gay was it that Ryan put David Cook in the one group and then switched him? I knew there was no way he was in the bottom 3 and that Kristy had to be.

Kristy: "Hey, I made it past the top ten." Yeah, write a nice thank you note to http://www.votefortheworst.com/, girlfriend. Coincidence that this was the exact week that Sanjaya left last year? I think not. Vote for the Worst can't get people into the top 6. So, goodbye and good riddance to Kristy.

PS. Help settle something, everyone please weigh in - when they send one of the bottom 3 back to the 'safe' zone, does that mean they have more votes than the other two? Or do they just randomly send one person back?

Willow Park Zoo Pics

Zoo Animals:

Clay Pics:


















The best one is the one where him and Jer are both leaning over the fence to look at the ducks. Like father, like son. :)