THE FULL MONTY CHRONICLES

This was pretty much a free for all week. We might actually get to hear some really great songs because these are the artist that the contestants adore. Deandre Brackensick - Sometimes I Cry: You are probably the most frustrating contestant for me. I hear this gorgeous voice but you choose to stay up in the stratosphere of your voice. IT IS OKAY TO USE YOUR NATURAL VOICE!!!! Seriously beautiful instrument but you ARE NOT using it properly. I feel like you are used to the same tricks. I would love to hear one song without falsetto. I DARE YA! I won't happen. Joshua Ledet - Without You: By far your WORST performance. The song didn't fit you. You just ran and riffed all over the end. It felt contrived. Like you were trying too hard to be emotional but it just didn't happen. Not the right song choice for you. I have performed this song and it is not easy. I don't know why you would do it on a main stage like this. WHERE IS THE OLD JOSHUA???? Skylar Laine - Gunpowder And Lea...

I love the Billy Joel collection. Songs are great and heartfelt. What a talented musician!!! Hollie Cavanagh - Honesty: This was cringe inducing. Normally, I am a huge fan but this was nowhere near pitch perfect. You were either under or over the pitch a lot. This was by far your worst performance. You have potential to be great but you have to ground yourself. Deandre Brackensick - Only The Good Die Young: This was okay. I can see where it could have been better. It lacked consistent energy and drive. You could definitely be in danger especially since you went 1st. Just wasn't a memorable performance. Heejun Han - My Life: Mockery or not, it was still your best vocal LOL. Yea it was self indulgent and a bit all over the place. You definitely pissed Steven Tyler off LOL. But it was entertaining and that is really what it boils down to. Joshua Ledet - She's Got A Way: There were some nice tones going on here but there were also moments of uncomfortableness. There was a nice arc ...

The live performances tell a lot about the singers capability. Studios should be considerably better but if a singer doesn't sound good with technical help then....I don't know what to say. There were a couple of versions still left a lot to be desired. Here is how they rank in my books: Heejun Han: Still had the "out of breath" feel to it. I am still of fan of your tone but I think that you still need a lot of technique help. I need to feel that you feel the song. I just feel like this was the wrong song for you. Deandre Brackensick: It was a good vocal but nothing special to it. Just blah! Erika Van Pelt: I hate hate this arrangement. Why did they do this to you and to the song? Your tone is so recordable and enjoyable to listen to. I still love your vocals but finding it hard to get past the arrangement. Not your fault at all. Phillip Phillips: Pretty good. Sounded just like the live. No problems here. Shannon Magrane: This was so much better than the live version....

Well let me start off by saying how much I DISLIKE this theme and they manage to put it in there every season. Something just seems pointless about this theme for me. But then again, the contestants really seem to have fun with it. I created a separate post to discuss the scandal so I won't go into it here. Here is how I rate the contestants tonight: Heejun Han - Right Here Waiting: A breathy out of control mess! Seriously, I think that you have not delivered one solid performance yet. It is time to do so sir!! This is the Top 11/12 and I need to see why the judges let you get this far and why America is keeping you this show. What you have shown us so far does not validate anything. I understand the tone of your voice is great but you don't have any breathing, phrasing, or control technique. Get it together or go home! Shannon Magrane - One Sweet Day: I think it comes down to the fact that she is too amateurish for this stage of the competition. She is trying to tackle songs t...

Well for some reason, I knew scandal was right around the corner for American Idol. Lets just break this down: So Jermaine Jones is invited back to see if he can get the public vote. He does and makes it into the Top 13. The Top 13 perform and Jermaine survives another week into the Top 12. Before the Top 12 can utter a note, TMZ reports a story about Jermaine falsifying about an estranged father wanting to come back into his life after he has reached quasi-fame with American Idol. So now Jermaine Jones is disqualified because after doing the research on "the father" story, his criminal past reared its ugly head. So here is what I have to say about it: American Idol *This is just a ploy for bigger ratings on Wednesday *I can not imagine that you would let someone with a violent criminal past get this far into the competition without any prior knowledge *Putting this on national tv will only heighten the situation *I wonder what the parents of the 15 and 16 year old competitor...

Well I am so happy that they go in the studio and record the entire song. One because it allows us to hear how they sound with studio work. Two it allows us to hear them do a whole song! Here is my ranking of the studios: Colton Dixon: I love this song but it has to have feeling behind it. Your studio had a whiny quality to it. This was very boring and sleepy for me. Heejun Han: Better than the live but still very boring with no character. Shannon Magrane: Better than the live performance but still didn't feel grounded. I think that you have a lot of room for improvement. It felt a little too rehearsed for me. Jeremy Rosado: Better than the live but still very blah. When it was over, I just didn't care. Elise Testone: This should have been done on the big stage. You sounded confident even though I did not like the auto tune. This is a difficult song and you managed to give it your own spin. Phillip Phillips: I liked this better than the stage version. Still not my favorite voca...

They are tackling two iconic singers tonight. A catalog that has so many amazing songs. They are going in order of lowest to highest: Shannon Magrane - I Have Nothing: Girl, you should have nothing? I felt like the song was a conglomerate of incomplete phrases. Seriously, pitch all over the place. Disconnected. Just a mess. You looked so uncomfortable on the stage and the song just swallowed you whole. Heejun Han - All In Love Is Fair: Hmmm I love the tone and texture of your voice but you don't know what to do with it yet. It was definitely flat during a lot of the song. Like cringe worthy flatness. There was a very exposed note that was super out of place. Definitely not your best. At all. Phillip Phillips - Superstition: Uh....no. He screamed that entire song. Yes he has character and stage presence but I guess now we might as well throw Roseanne Barr up there to sing every week. I am not a fan. Yes while he has some great showmanship, he is vocally outdone by at least 8 other c...

So we finally are here. The Top 13 will perform the collection of Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder. Like the theme but I don't think that it is fair to make the guys sing Stevie and the girls sing Whitney. Me personally, I would rather choose a Whitney song over a Stevie song. Okay enough with my blabber. Here is how I feel about our Top 13: 13: Jeremy Rosado: Nice kid but I just don't see "star" when I see him. I think that the competition could swallow him. His wildcard selection was way better than his previous performance but was that a fluke?? Can he deliver the goods week after week? He may come out the gates blazing. 12: Jermaine Jones: I was listening to his performance from last week and realized how low it actually was. He has a great voice. Don't know if it is suited for American Idol. I mean I would love to see him on the opera stage but the AI stage is not a place for his voice. He may very well surprise me and let loose a little. I am actually hopin...

Well here we are again with the ladies this time around. I am so curious to see how tomorrow plays out. You will always have your surprises and upsets. I tend to like the female voice better but the females have not won American Idol since season 6. 5 YEARS!!!! It is craziness to think that Jordin Sparks was the last female winner. Here's how the girls stacked up: Haley Johnsen - Sweet Dreams: GIRL.....seriously??? This was a complete mess in every aspect. HMMMM NOOOOOO!!! A MESSSSSS!!!!! Baylie Brown - Amazed: This is one of my karaoke standout songs. She is stunningly beautiful but not so talented. Vocals were all over the place and flat. It seemed very disconnected. Not an impressive showing at all. Brielle Von Hugel - Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay: Who picked this song for you? Seriously, not a great song choice. I would have loved to see you do more with it. Good voice but it didn't do anything for me. There were moments of incompleteness. I liked the 2nd verse much bette...

I was not going to do it but here I am again blogging about this show. I am just waiting for the upset of the season to keep me from caring lol. Well I am going to give it a try. I haven't watched much about this season yet but I have heard some interesting things. So most of these guys I am hearing for the first time. I hate this format so much. They get one chance and then half of them are cut. Here is my synopsis of the guys: Eben Franckewitz - Set Fire To The Rain: Awww. I just wanted to rescue you from the big scary stage. You seemed so uncomfortable and just plain scared. Your voice is so pure and just didn't have the angst to match that of Adele's. No vocal power yet but it is okay. Jeremy Rosado - Gravity: Disconnected and disjointed are the two words that come to mind when I think of this performance. He is so not ready for this. I love love this song but not for you. I don't know what you were going for here. Your moneymaker note was all over the place and tar...

THE SUMMER MOVIE OF 2011!!!! If you see any movie this summer, make sure that Transformers is the one that see. SO AMAZING!!!! Yes it was about 3 hours but who cares when it keeps you entertained??? I can wait for this trilogy!!!! First of all, Transformers are so much win just because. I mean an alien race that mimics the physical attributes of vehicles and machines but that will kick ass!!!!! Secondly, the action in this film tops some of those with real actors. Shia LaBeouf returns as our human hero. He does a great job with continuing the character throughout the series. In this film, he becomes sort of an action hero. Just to think, he became known from a disney channel series. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was phenominal as the female lead. As a newcomer, she really had great presence on film. Her acting was amongst the best in the movie. I hate to say this but I didn't miss Megan Fox at all. Patrick Dempsey was okay in this movie. I have seen better from him. I just didn...

I know that I am one of the few but I had never heard of Mr. Popper's Penguins before the film. So I went into this very blindly. This is not my normal type of movie to see in theaters. I really only went because my niece earned straight A's in school and Uncle Monty had to reward. I found myself falling asleep quite a bit in this movie, which is not a very good sign. So in turn, I missed a lot of the plot. Like, I didn't understand how more than one penguin was shipped. But that is my fault for not being awake during the movie. The film had a nice warm feeling to it. I just couldn't get into it. Even Jim Carrey didn't bring enough to revive the film for me. For me the shining light was the subtle comedy by Ophelia Lovibond as Pippi. I love her alliteration and her overall presence in the movie. I just wanted more scenes with her in it. Overall, I give it 2/5 stars . I would wait for it to come on ABC family.

So I am a huge comic book fan, as some of you may know. I was kind of skeptical about this movie. Basically, I was pushing for a John Stewart version featuring Will Smith or Brian White. I would enjoyed that more mainly because The Justice League from the Cartoon Network was one of the most brilliant series along with The X-Men Animated Series. Anyway, I can't change the mind of Hollywood and I can't hate a film because it didn't tap into my childhood. Plot/Storyline: I thought that the story was very well put together. I found myself rooting for Hal Jordan. I loved how they put the whole family/back story in it to make the character more realistic. The 3D aspect could have used some work but that was minor issue. I really had no major issues with the film. The Green Lantern Corp planet was AWESOME!!! The graphics kicked some major butt IMO. The fact that there were 2 villains was pretty genius. One was from the Green Lantern realm and the other was human. Very good way to ...

I have been such a slacker in this area. I have seen so many movies in the past month. I might have an onslaught of reviews coming. Bear with me.

MY FIRST MOVIE REVIEW!!!! YAY!!! So I decided that I shouldn't limit my writing to American Idol. I need to expand to something that will always be a constant. MOVIES!!!! I probably go to movies more than most people. In the past month, I have seen at least 7 movies at the theater. The people at AMC "forced" me to buy one of their reward cards because of the amount of time that I spend there. Lame. Anyway, I enjoy movies just about as much as I enjoy music. What better way to start this new venture than with the most anticipated movie of the year, IMO, X-Men: First Class. Plot/Storyline: I thought that plot was pretty good. The continuity and actual adaptation from the comics left a lot to be desired. I understand that this is a "reboot" but if you are doing that at least "reboot" it into the proper direction. The First Class should have been Angel (the male billionaire one), Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Iceman, and Beast. Very disappointed that they decided ...

First, let me apologize for the lack of post last week. Blogger was doing something and I ended up losing my post. I didn't have the time nor the energy to write again. I will just say that I said that James would be going home. Now that we have the Top 3, each one of them should give stellar performance each time. Lauren Alaina - If I Die Young: I first heard this song about a week ago because one of my friends suggested that I sing this. I think that the lyrics are so sad. Lauren's performance was great during the first half but then she missed the ALL IMPORTANT modulation!!! From there, it took a turn for the worst. J Lo is right, her tone is amazing but that doesn't compensate for performance immaturity. Scotty McCreery - Amazed: For me, it was just okay. Nothing great. Nothing bad. Just okay. Honestly, this guy could get voted off and he would be fine. I will say that I have not seen ENOUGH growth in him. Scotty McCreery - Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not: I must have been...

I thought that the theme for tonight was great. I wish that they had let the parents choose their second songs. That would have been an awesome concept too. I think that everyone showed up tonight. There were no games to be played. ANYBODY CAN GO HOME!!!! 10. Jacob Lusk - No Air: What a massive mess!!!!! I mean performance and vocals. One of the worst performances to ever touch the Idol stage. First of all, who decided to auto tune the background singers???? HORRIBLE. Secondly, can someone tell Jacob that gyrating and crotch grabbing does not fit well with the song. Thirdly, singing duets as a solo never really work. Especially between a male and a female. I love that song and you made it very CRINGE WORTHY. 9. James Durbin -Without You: Hmm...Wasn't a good vocal for me. Not much to your performance. Yes it was an emotional song to you but I think that you let the song lead and take control of you. Should have been the other way around. The build up was very understated and the hig...

I love that they went with this theme. Carole King has such a fantastic library of music. Hopefully the contestants do it justice. Crazy to believe that we are in the Top 6 already. 9. Lauren Alaina/Scotty McCreery: Up On The Roof: Not a big fan of the song and I didn't feel anything from this performance. The harmonies were cringeworthy and the chemistry was not there. Duets are supposed to be shared between two singers that show some type of emotion or connection to each other. I didn't see it here. 8. Casey Abrams - Hi De Ho: Still not impressed by your vocals. I don't believe that you sing. You just growl, grunt, and moan well. Seriously. You make a great blues guy but even then you still have to possess some type of tone quality. With you there is no tone quality. You are like that jokester in chorus class. You have all of the performance quality but the teacher would never put you in the advanced ensemble 7. Jacob Lusk - Oh No Not My Baby: This was tricky for me. Whil...

21st Century Theme always worries me. This should be the opportunity that the contestants show us how relevant they will be. Most of the time that leads to some misguided and ill informed performances. Some of these contestants think that know what they are but they have no clue. This is make it or break it time as we get down to the top 7. 7. Scotty McCreery - Swingin': Okay now you are getting so predictable that it is no longer cute. I know that your lane is country but you should have a picked a more contemporary song. This song was dated and made you seem so old fashioned. Probably your worst performance to date and please please hold the microphone correctly. 6. Jacob Lusk - Dance With My Father: Well I am a little partial to this song. Luther is my musical hero. And this is one of my favorite songs. I liked the beginning and middle. Actually a lot but I despised the ending. It took away from the emotion and tenderness of the song. It made it very harsh and showy. I hated all...

Watching this week didn't even feel right. It was missing Pia. Am I being a little over dramatic? Probably. But it looks like it is a guys race. 5 girls have gone home in 4 weeks. Craziness!!!! Anyway, on to tonight's show. I really wasn't that interested. The theme is not one of my favorites but I was very pleased with some of the music choices. 8. Paul McDonald - Old Time Rock And Roll: On paper, this is probably one of the most genius ideas ever. However, it was executed horribly. I mean in and out of singing and shouting so many times. The chorus was a hot mess. The verses were so non musical. Almost like you were speaking instead of singing. It felt like that for the entire song. To me, this did absolutely nothing for you at all. 7. Haley Reinhart - Call Me: Your worst performance yet. I hated it for you. Not the right song for you at all. I was hoping for something a little slow to showcase your vocals. Maybe "Kissing You" from Romeo and Juliet. Oh I just go...