Yay

I actually voted for an American Idol contestant this week. It was Carly Smithson. I thought her version of "Here You Come Again" was one of the best performances I'd heard on the show, so I was predictably enraged by Simon's damning-with-faint-praise review.

She wasn't even in the bottom three. Ha! I did my job.

Carly sometimes doesn't come off cute or friendly on TV. She's a little too earnest and has a tendency to overshare at awkward moments. And she can be a little prickly, too. I think that's why I identify with her so strongly; I see myself in her. I joked with the s.o. that my vote was on behalf of all of the people like me and Carly out there--we need to hang together! We are lovely, kindhearted people who lack schnuggly wuggly squeezability. :-)

Speaking of schnuggly wuggly squeezability, David Archuleta and his entire family can take a long walk off a short pier. I was utterly repulsed when I saw him on one of the TV Guide channel's AI-related programs. They asked all the contestants what they did with their first paycheck. His answer? His family took his winnings from a kiddie pageant and gave it to his grandmother so she could make her rent. Of course that's a wonderful thing to do, but couldn't the family have helped grandma out without putting all that weight and responsibility directly on their kid's shoulders? (Maybe they could have used some of the money they spent hauling their son around to precocious-kid competitions!) With his psycho stage family, he's going to turn out to be Michael Jackson. Lindsay Lohan if he's lucky.

My feelings about the contestants overall haven't evolved much since the beginning. I do think that Jason Castro has failed to live up to his potential. Conversely, Michael Johns seems to learn and evolve each week--he just gets better and better. And David Cook exceeds all expectations. I wouldn't mind seeing him win the whole thing.