The obligatory Cookie post-performance entry. <3333 (I LOVE DAVID.)
written: 11:04 p.m. on Wednesday, Apr. 30, 2008

So Neil Diamond night, two performances from five contestants in one hour. Idol is on crack, I swear. The entire thing was pretty much a train wreck, and David was second so after he performed his second song, I was pretty much indifferent to everything else that happened.

First, I'll just like to say that I hated David's hair this week. What was UP with the longish straightened lock of hair at the side? Sorry David, major fug.

I was also not digging the blazer. When he first came out I was like, WHAT ARE YOU WEARING, COOK? ARE YOU FOR REAL? I mean, I am stoked that he's not colour blind and that he actually wore red, gasp shock surprise it's not black/grey/white/grey-green! But the blazer?! Apart from the AC stitched onto the breast pocket, the entire thing was a major, steaming pile of fug. Sorry David, blazer = fail.

And um, what was he thinking when he paired his hot Les Paul with the blazer? That really didn't work for me. At all. It worked for the second song when he busted out the acoustic guitar (I almost died) but blazer + electric guitar + Rocker David = super odd combination.

And I hated his hair.

But he still looked hot, awful hair and fugly blazer notwithstanding. There's just no way he can be ugly to me anymore. NO. WAY.

Okay, on to the actual singing.

First performance was I'm Alive. I wasn't jumping up and down any more than usual, was stoked to see his Les Paul, but it was way too short. He didn't have enough time to build the song and let it rip, rocker-style. Instead it was like, touch and go, rocker scream here, strum guitar, finish.

I'm quite sad actually; I was really really looking forward to the Les Paul and it was so under-utilised. David sounded great, as usual; it was definitely a return to David's roots...well, musical theatre is arguably his roots considering he grew up on it, but what I mean is, it's a return to David's rocker box which he managed to put back together well enough (after he's broken it into bits and pieces over the past six weeks, my super genius rocker boy <3) to sound good on the song.

But it wasn't great, and definitely wasn't my favourite performance.

I'm Alive: (Um, good to know /snark)

His second song, however?

About ten seconds into it I was already squealing.

When it ended I was lying sideways on my sofa, clutching the cushion, and declaring that I was having a heart attack.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. His voice is so beautiful, once again he completely connected with the song and I completely felt what he was singing, when he sang "All I really need is you" I totally DIED DIED DIED. I LOVED IT, COMPLETELY LOVED IT, ABSOLUTE BEST OF THE NIGHT!

I don't know what he did with the arrangement. I've never heard the original, but apparently he tinkered with the arrangement as usual, and it felt like a complete song. Unlike the first performance that felt like a preview of a full song, the second one was complete, it had a great build up, and the pay off was fantastic. And his voice? Absolutely gorgeous, my heart melted all over the place, I wanted to reach into my TV screen and hug the life out of him. He was great great great and I LOVED IT.

I wasn't super excited about this week as I was about Andrew Lloyd Webber week and to some extent, Mariah week, because, like, who's Neil Diamond? I don't care? And it's always a bit sian to listen to songs that you don't know at all, and ever since Innocent I've known all the songs that David sang. I knew Innocent, I knew Always Be My Baby, I knew Music of the Night. I also knew Happy Together (from top 24! Amazing vocal, I swear; he was already my favourite then, despite the fug hair and the fug outfit and his overall fugness haahahaha) and yeah, that's about it. And I got so used to knowing David's song choices that this week was a bit of a downer in terms of the mentor and his songbook.

And so the fact that I love the song even though I've never heard of it before in my life and thereby losing out on the element of familiarity which can be quite significant in a listener's enjoyment of the song only goes to show how amazing David did on that song. Have I mentioned beautiful vocals? Because my heart really melted ALL. OVER. THE PLACE.

Shit, I can't stop gushing. It was really amazing and I hope that's his studio recording 'cause I'm not super into the first song, and it's really super bloody fantastic!!!!!!!!!

Neil Diamond was totally spazzing over David too. The only other contestant he was genuinely positive about was Syesha Mercado, which, ew, but at least she wasn't as boring as bloody Castro, wasn't as awkward as ArchuBot, and wasn't as nightmarish (thanks, Simon) as Brooke White on her first song.

Since I'm already talking about the others:

1. Castro sucks. Please get that stoner off my TV. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. Somehow, I have a feeling that, thanks to Paula's drunken ramblings, his fans have power voted their asses off for him and he's going to be safe again even though he was easily the worst of the night. Guess what Paula did? After the contestants did their first songs, Seacrest asked the judges to give a quick summary of their comments (they reserved comments for after the second song 'cause the producers are so brilliant that they really thought they could fit 2 songs from 5 contestants into 60 minutes. Did I mention Idol is on crack?). Paula was all, "For the first song Jason..." blah blah blah.

Then she went on to say, "But for your second song..." Like...what? He hasn't even sung the second song yet and you're critiquing his second song? Randy and Simon were like, "He's only sung his first song." Paula, sounding extremely drunk, went, "What? I thought he sang twice!"

Two theories:
A. The judges watch the dress rehearsals, and maybe she confused the dress rehearsals with the actual performance. Because she's drunk.
B. The judges' comments are actually scripted by the producers, and now Idol wants Castro off its franchise (because he sucks) so they gave Paula those lines to "deliver".

Of course the entire world and their mothers is jumping on Theory B, which means they probably all voted their hearts out for the stoner who can't freaking sing, which means I'm gonna be pissed for another week. FANTASTIC, RIGHT? Thanks Paula; this is ALL YOUR FAULT. Stupid drunken bitch.

2. ArchuBot did not sing a ballad Oh My God. But he still sucked. His voice gave out on a high note for his second song - America, which I will bitch about in a while - and I couldn't help but snicker. Oh, I'm so mean. He's so annoying; every time I insult him I feel like I'm kicking a damn puppy and I feel so bad, but argh, he's my brother's age for crying out loud, STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE TEN. Okay, it's not on purpose and it's not his fault that he's like, ten, but STILL. He pisses me off - majorly.

And ArchuBot singing America = Kristy Lee Cook singing God Bless the USA = Major steaming pile of HATE. I don't even know what else to say anymore.

Oh, and he really cannot do up tempo numbers. I'd rather sit through the tedious boredom of listening to him warble and lick his lips through inspirational I Care About The World ballads than to sit through the tedious and uncomfortable awkwardness of watching him attempt to bob along to his up tempo numbers. The kid has absolutely no sense of rhythm and not a single bone in his body that knows how to move appropriately and non-awkwardly to a fast song. Please, Archuleta, do your inspirational schtick and leave the up tempo stuff to the pros, like, oh, you know, the other David in the competition who's gonna PWN your ass in the finale, namely, Cook.

3. Brooke White is actually more diabolical than Mercado. How did I get from wanting Mercado to leave my TV after Top 24 night to wanting her to stay over both Brooke and Castro? I'd say over ArchuBot too, but I'm not sure I can tolerate her put-on crap for that long, and I still like ArchuBot over her. But it's really choosing the less painful form of torture, and for me, it's ArchuBot, by a razor thin margin.

Anyway, Brooke. First song? Complete mess. After the first three notes I wanted to die. Cheesy as hell, unbelievably awkward, and um, is the inability to dance a Mormon thing or is it just Brooke and ArchuBot? Brooke can't dance either. At all. And her first song was horrible.

Second song, though, was good and I liked it. The song was crazy with the insane ups and downs in the melody and she pulled it off quite convincingly. So yeah, I didn't completely hate Brooke tonight. Cookie still pwned her ass, but she was wayyyyy better than Castro and ArchuBot for me.

4. Syesha can stay for two more weeks. Really, she can. Last week I was all ready for her to leave, but this week? Castro should be the one leaving. Syesha's first song was utterly boring and I didn't give a shit and went to get my mom's cupcake halfway through, but the second one, a fast actress-y number, was decent and quite enjoyable before she started screaming at me. Basically, she sings better than Brooke and Jason, and just for that, she can finish in third place, thanks.

Tonight just made me wish Carly were still around. It's really quite hard to sit through the whole one hour when you only care about one contestant. After he's done singing, you're just sitting around, waiting for the judges' comments because that's the most entertaining part of the show since you don't care about their performances either way. If Carly were still around, at least I'd have another set of performances to look forward to, and Carly is way better than Castro Brooke and Syesha combined. What a travesty that the three are still around and she's not.

Stupid Idol.

And Paula? If your comment to Cookie about "looking at the next American Idol" adversely affects his chance at winning, I'm going to send you so many hate mails that you wouldn't know what has hit you. I can't help but fear the backlash. I mean, I think anyone with ears and eyes and a brain can tell that Cookie is the best out of everyone left, and oh my god I just completely insulted him by comparing him to those amateurs, but apparently there exist people in this world born without all of those things, and they're those rabidly supporting ArchuBot even though he's, well, a bot, and those people are so crazy that I heard they were coming up with plans to hold PEP RALLIES to get people to vote for the Bot. Like, seriously, take a chill pill. It's just American Idol, not the presidential elections.

But that's the reality, and they're not going to like the fact that the Other (and tons Better) David is pulling far ahead as front runner, so no over-the-top praising please. I fear the backlash.

In fact? I fear for Cookie, period. I found out this morning that whoever goes second on Top 5 night has gone home for every season of Idol. Cookie went second. I freaked out. So from 9 to 11 in the morning, I sat in front of my laptop and drove myself nuts voting for him using Gizmo.

It was HORRIBLE. The stupid thing just rang and rang and then hung up by itself. I think I got through less than a hundred times. I really hate voting; it's the most mind-numbingly boring activity in the world. I was so afraid of losing precious minutes that I didn't even take a break from it to fetch my breakfast from the dining table...until I remembered that I wanted to swim at 11 and that I needed to eat, or else swimming would be painful.

You know, if the voting public actually had taste, I wouldn't be so worried. I mean, it's really obvious that the most talented one this season is David Cook. He's shown versatility and range that the other contestants can only dream of having. He's done the rocker thing (Happy Together, All Right Now, Eleanor Rigby, Day Tripper), he's done the soft and sentimental (Little Sparrow), he's done musical theatre (Music of the Night), he's done tortured emo (Billie Jean), he's done pop rock (Always Be My Baby) and even though it wasn't as solid as the others, he's also done alternative rock (Innocent). He's pretty much done it all, while the others either stay in their boxes, or look utterly ridiculous when they venture out (Brooke White, Jason Castro, David Archuleta). Some don't even know what their box is supposed to be (Syesha Mercado).

Simon was absolutely right on Top 12 week when he told David, "If this show remains a talent competition rather than a popularity competition, you could actually win this entire thing."

I really do believe that it'll eventually come down to who's more popular. I know Castro is insanely popular which is why he's still around even though he's arguably the least talented. ArchuBot is also insanely popular, but at least he has the vocal talent to back it up (I may not like him, but I do think that he sings very well. Just not my cup of tea - at all). Cookie didn't start off popular; he was my favourite, so obviously he was the guy that no one gave a shit about - until the Hello Revolution, after which he got his groove on and knew exactly what to do to advance in the competition. He's had only one universally-hated performance, and that's Innocent. One bum note out of eleven - if that's not talent, I don't know what is.

When this season first started and I picked Cookie as my favourite because his voice is unstoppable, I didn't think at all that he'd make it very far. I absolutely loved his voice, but he didn't have the buzz that surrounded people like Michael Johns, Carly Smithson, and David Archuleta, and by extension, wasn't as popular as they were. Before everyone else caught up with my amazing foresight and taste, I didn't think at all that I'd be anxiously awaiting his place at the finale; I thought he'd disappear after the first few rounds.

Then Hello happened, the whole world went nuts over him, and he consistently gave solid performances after solid performances, and pulled brilliance like Billie Jean, Little Sparrow and Always Be My Baby out of nowhere and won more people over. Then Music of the Night happened, and people not enamoured with him went, Oh my god, David Cook can REALLY FREAKING SING!

Well, duh, that's kind of why I like him, but yeah. Now he's easily as popular as Castro and ArchuBot, and he's definitely more talented than the two of them combined.

But is he more popular than them? I really don't know. And that's exactly what I'm super afraid of. The fact that ArchuBot screwed up his lyrics on Beatles Night #2 and basically did like shit wasn't even enough to land him in Bottom 3 that week. Of course, David didn't do that well on Innocent and also didn't land in the Bottom 3, but I still have a sneaking feeling that, when it comes to Three-Becomes-Two, Cookie is going to land in the bottom 2, while ArchuBot will be the first to be declared safe.

When (if?) that happens, my heart will break.

I hope I'm not jumping the gun though. DialIdol predicted David to be safe, though he's #2 after Syesha can you believe it (actually, I can - she had the pimp spot, and Simon said she'll be in trouble, so her 10 fans probably voted like mad for her). But DialIdol also predicted Carly's exit the week Kristy left, as well as David hitting Bottom 3 the week he did Innocent. Clearly, DialIdol isn't a very reliable source, but I still check every week anyway to make myself feel better.

Ugh, I'm so checking the results first thing tomorrow. I've been spoiling myself every week this season because the anxiety is way too much to take. On Wednesdays I need to know if David is universally loved again, and on Thursdays I need to know if he hit bottom 3 or not. So far he's never hit bottom 3 and I really hope that continues on to the finale...but I worry about his popularity. He didn't have ArchuBot's head start, and he doesn't attract ArchuBot's demographic. I mean, he has fans from like everywhere and of all ages and sexual preferences, but ArchuBot has the tweens and aunties market cornered. And the tweens are pretty much the people that power vote every week for two hours straight no matter how badly he did.

I realise that sounds like me, but in my defence, David has a grand total of ONE not-so-great week, and it was only not-so-great because it was in relation to his own performances. He can't help it if he simply oozes brilliance and delivers awesomeness every week, and just happened to come up with something average-to-good on that week. Also, I hadn't discovered Gizmo that week so I didn't vote.

(Then again, it was precisely because I was FREAKING OUT on Innocent week that I found Gizmo and vowed to start voting from then hahaha.)

Besides, I'm convinced that Cookie is incapable of being Teh Suck. He can be good-not-great, above-average, but there's no way in hell he can ever be flat-out bad. So there.

Right, I'm going to stop trying to justify myself and set myself apart from ArchuBot's tweens. In fact? I hereby proudly admit and declare that I'm Cookie's tween. Hell yeah, I am. I'm a 12-year-old fangirl for him, he reduces my spelling and grammar abilities to nothingness, HE MAKES MY HEART STOP. And I want to do him. I didn't say anything.

OMG, I just saw pictures from the show and I half take back what I said about his hair and the blazer.

I think I just died.

David Cook killed me.

He kills me all the time.

On second glance, no, the jacket is still fug:

What the hell, David? This ranks up there with your ugly Innocent white military jacket as Worst Outfits Ever. I can't help but wonder how he'll look with just the red shirt underneath the jacket. I bet it'd be all kinds of hot. He looks perfect in just a nice t-shirt and jeans and I really don't understand why he has to wear a stupid jacket ALL THE TIME. Show me your hunky biceps, David! Don't hide your assets underneath so many layers of cloth!

Hmm, that kind of came out a bit wrong. Minds out of the gutter, please. Because my own finds itself right smack in the gutter whenever I look at a picture of David that, um, nevermind. Forget it.

Yup, I didn't say anything.

I think David looks a tad girly in the second picture but oh, that smile.

I'm finally sleepy. I was high on caffeine before but now I just want to sleep.

Before that, Stereophonics totally rule the world, and Pass the Buck is currently stuck in my head. <3

Edit:

Okay, so I just found more Cookie pictures, and oh gad this guy is smothering hot, even with crappy hair and jacket on.

That's his Les Paul. It's a Gibson Les Paul. Les Paul is a jazz/rock (?) guitarist who kind of invented the Les Paul; hence Les Paul.

I still think Cookie looks hotter with the Les Paul than with the acoustic guitar. I LOVE HIM.

**

Edit #2:

Okay it's 1.06 a.m. and I'm still awake 'cause I can't stop reading the Idol Top 5 TWoP thread. It's bloody hilarious. Everyone is talking about Paula's flub and I'm sitting here laughing my ass off, so unable to tear myself away from the sheer entertainment that is the thread that I actually haven't re-watched Cookie's performances. Amazing, right?

Someone said this and I almost died laughing: "Syesha's first two songs were kind of meh to me, but her third song was so beautiful that it made me cry."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA THIS THREAD IS GOING TO KILL ME.

**

Edit #3:

1.37 a.m. and I just watched Cookie's performances again and I kind of like I'm Alive better now. After the initial confusion of "huh ended liao?" wears off and I'm no longer anticipating more, it's actually quite good, definitely better than the amount of credit I gave it. Cookie's rocker voice is in full bloom and it's HOT HOT HOT. The song's a bit bleah (actually, all the songs were quite bleah) but Cookie's full of 'tude and I like it better now than I did previously.

Sigh. I love him. And I really want to sleep but I can't sleep because I drank coffee earlier in the afternoon. Argh! I need to get my caffeine immunity back. I used to laugh at people who can't sleep at night after ONE cup of coffee in the day, but I've totally become one of them now. Dammit.

Will try to sleep at 2. Hopefully it'll work.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010