3 More are Voted Thru + 8 Crazy Wild Cards

Randy, Kara, Simon, Paula, Ryan

I totally missed it, but yesterday was referred to as Square Root Day – 3/3/09. According to my geek resource, there are only a few Square Root Days in a decade. Wow. I bet Alex and Anoop knew all about this tidbit of mathematical calendar trivia.

Ryan looks like a pall bearer or a hit man; either way it’s appropriate attire for the destruction of dreams. Paula looks especially pretty tonight and seems somewhat articulate. (Does Opposite Day immediately follow Square Root Day?)

It’s results night again which translates to cryin’ time for nine of the twelve singers who performed last night. We see the obligatory montage of the journey of these kids thus far, with a reminder of tears, jumping jacks, and friendships challenged by sing-offs during top 36 night. The best part of this footage is the David Cook song playing behind it.

So far this season we have had current hit songs performed during Group Song time. Tonight’s number is “Hot N Cold,” a bubblegum ditty by pop-tart Katy Perry. She’s one of those I-can’t-really-sing-but-see-how-good-I-look-in-lingerie performers from the school of Britney that I have no respect for. My Kid and I are both surprised at how well the Group 3 singers sound together, even on this ridiculous song. We laugh when they edit the *beyotch* line from the first verse yet they keep in the PMS part.

We had all been wondering how Scott would do with the choreography and luckily all of the guys remain seated; they just sway in their seats a bit. The singing is spot on, much better than the other two groups. I have to chuckle after the “1 2 3 4” is added because My Kid says, “That’s not in the song! Katy Perry can’t count!” (Honestly, I do not know where she get her snarkiness from.)

Recap time from last night… Extra strength manly hair gel was all that Von needed to get by. Hey there, Ju’Not, we love your low-key voice, your soul and your little boy. There was no one (no one) as smoking as Felicia who had a second chance to prove. Alex was a hamster beating a tiger with the mic stand and calling it the blues. The winner did not take all of Arianna to the stage of Mama Mia. Kristen gave us one good reason to vote for her sultry voice and bright orange dress. If Taylor ain’t got shiny pants then she’s got nothing at all and can’t be ten feet tall. This one was for Kendall’s “girls” and oh yeah, for all the females out there, too. Nathaniel would do anything as Olivia Newton-John and Boy George’s love child. Jorge did not let the sun go down on his Puerto Rican accent. Scott could feel the mandolin rain, standing ovations, and high fives. And we don’t want to ever EVER be without Lil Rounds, baybee.

Ryan chats up the contestants for a while… Nate just wants a chance to dial down the drama and prove himself. (Yeah. Good luck with that, dude.) Jorge has his emotions and nerves under control, although it’s “freezing” in California. (English/Spanish, who cares? This guy is adorable in any language.) Felicia feels confident that last night she brought it all to the stage. (We never got a chance to know her though, so no high hopes here.) Ju’Not had an asthma attack at rehearsal but he is better now. (This explains his “shot in butt” comment last night.)

Tonight is full of surprises – right away Ryan announces that Lil Rounds has made it into the top 12. (I sure am glad I only made a bet with myself last night about making her go last.) It doesn’t matter because she is just as fabulous as ever as she gets to channel Mary J. Blige again. We have great expectations for this tornado-surviving young wife and mother of three.

Next Ryan asks these to stand: teenagers Arianna, Taylor, and Alex. None of them seem shocked at the news that they’re going home. My Kid is crushed that her favorite dorky guy is out of the contest. When I tell her that she should write Alex and ask him to prom, she frogs me.

Country Kendall and blind Scott are the next two to stand. Grateful Scott MacIntyre is the one going to the silver stool. This comes as no surprise. Like Randy and his orange glasses, I look forward to when the contestants can play instruments; Scott is more in his element when he’s at the piano. He sounds better on the Bruce Hornsby song tonight than last night. Scott’s been performing for almost his entire life so he is no newbie to the stage.

Next to stand are de-head-banded Nathaniel and sexy (so says My Hubby) Kristen. Neither is going to the top 12. Von “Peter Brady” and lovely Felicia do not make it either. Darn, I like Felicia a lot; she has a very defeated look on her face as she sits down.

The final two standing are Ju’Not and Jorge, who are called to center stage. A funny moment happens when Jorge makes imaginary fists at Ryan – it’s one of those moments you have to see for yourself to enjoy, so it will be on youtube for sure.

When Jorge Nunez finds out he is the one going through, Ryan encourages him to comment however he feels comfortable. He thanks the voters in Spanish but does not get to sing his song again, not yet anyway.

We have 15 minutes left to go so something else must be going on…I am so confused. Oh yeah, forgot… tonight is the announcement of which contestants will be performing in the Wild Card show tomorrow night. Eight singers will be selected from the remaining 27. (This puts the rumors of Jamar’s return to the AI stage to rest.)

The judges, mainly Simon, are excited about the Wild Card show and the format of the selection process this year. He reminds us that Clay Aiken and Jennifer Hudson were previous Wild Card picks and they have gone on to have successful post-Idol careers.

Each judge will have a turn to announce a Wild Card contestant. Randy’s first singer is Von Smith. My Hubby is glad about this but I’m not so crazy about him. Hopefully he will heretofore avoid hats and yelling. Time will tell.

Kara likes Jasmine Murray because she’s commercial with a capital “C” but we like her for a different reason – the little gal is talented. Kara advises her to “kill us” but not in a James Patterson or J.D. Robb way.

It is no surprise that Paula’s choice is Ricky Braddy. Chatter on the ‘net has had her touting him as her favorite. Also, there were rumors that the producers were miffed that his status was leaked early on in the competition. Perchance that is why zero footage of him was shown the first few weeks?

When Simon calls Megan’s name, she runs down the stairs so fast that she and her ugly tattoo are both blurs. (Silly Simon says that she’s from group one but that is incorrect – she was a group two performer.) Megan is a good singer but between the hyper-ness and weird affectations, she has a long way to go to be a real contender. She’s very photogenic though, and for The Powers That Be that makes better reality TV.

We are back to Randy who insists that this was not his idea alone – oh my God. No. Nooooooooo. Tatiana is back. She’s a Wild Card pick. Give. Me. A. Break. Why judges? Were the producers holding machine guns to your heads? Have the Latin Mafioso taken your families hostage? What gives American Idol? Tatiana makes the moron who called 911 because of McDonalds lack of chicken nuggets seem like a rocket scientist. And the idiot bus driver who beat up McGruff is a freaking genius next to this Del Toro chick.

Moving on. Kara picks Matt Giraud and I don’t really care anymore about anything at this point. He massacred Coldplay so badly a couple of weeks ago that it should have been the end for him, but they don’t care. They want to see him play piano again. Which is fine. Whatever.

I cheer up for just a second when Paula says that Jesse Langseth is also one of the Wild Cards who will be performing tomorrow night. Then I quickly realize that a) Jesse and Megan kinda cancel each other out and b) Jesse has one of those grating bring-the-straight-jacket personalities, too.

It’s anti-climatical at this point to learn from Simon that Anoop is the last of the eight contestants chosen. My Kid and I are excited about him getting another chance because he seems like a really cool guy. Oh, and he has a great voice. Obviously not a priority this season though, ya think?

There are 19 deservedly PEE OHED singers still sitting on the couch. Almost any of them would be a better choice for Wild Card than Tati-hahahahahahaha-na. I sincerely wish that the producers would let this girl go back to the mental health facility from which she escaped to get the help she so obviously needs.

ALL of the girls should be stomping their feet and cussing right now. Especially Felicia Barton who blew us away last night with her vocal (and sanity!)

Sweet Jorge finally gets to sing a few notes of the Elton John song before the Lie to Me show starts. (Very appropriate show to follow American Idol because The Idiots In Charge are all lying liars who lie. This is a talent competition?? HA!)

Oh well… there’s our eight Wild Card contestants, like it or not. Finding out tonight and performing tomorrow night does not leave a lot of time for them to practice, but hopefully they’ve all had something in mind.

DANG IT BOBBY! I did not get the contestants I wanted so maybe I’ll call 911. Or find McGruff, slap the crap out of him just for kicks, and call it “being funny.” Not much different than season 8 of Idol so far.

Quotes of the Evening:

Alex: “I would rather lose being myself than win being anybody else.”

Ryan: “Darth Vader, who is next?”
Simon: “Can you stop being a smartass for tonight?”

Well, My Kid and Hubby and I are still beyond flabbergasted. Which was the intention all along, to generate buzz. Ratings are down after all. WONDER WHY??

Hey Jasmine, when you finish “killing” the judges, can you come do us in, too?