I'll confess.

I'm watching American Idol.

*sob*

I am ashamed.

I blame my wife. She wanted to watch it, so I agreed to watch with her.

It has drawn me into its wicked web.

So here are my observations so far.

I love Simon Cowell. I want to be Simon Cowell. I want to be able to sit behind a table and tell most of these people how bloody awful they really are.

Pauly Abdul was drunk Thursday night. Or stoned. One or the other. That's the only possible explanation for her behavior.

It is my firm opinion that Brenna, who was eliminated Thursday night (THANK YOU, AMERICA!!), was a "plant." I believe that her whole existence in AI for this season was scripted. I challenge the folks at American Idol to prove otherwise. Either way, I hated her. Everyone I know hated her. But it made "good tv" didn't it? Whatever.

I was also very glad to see "Sway" eliminated. Never should have made it that far. David shouldn't have made it that far, either, but I was sad for him.

Who do I think will win? That opinion is changing weekly, as I continue to be surprised by some contestants' efforts.

This past week, I was very pleasantly surprised by Melissa McGee. She nailed a Reba song. Nailed it. I voted for her for the first time. Looked really hot in those jeans, too. *slap* Sorry.

I have thought for several weeks that Ace would win the whole shebang. Gosh, he's pretty. But he disappointed this week. Didn't shine.

Chris rocked. Chris took the show this week. His performance of Fuel's "Hemmorhage" was outrageous. He nailed it, hard. Pretty much embarassed the entire slate of guys, who all chose boring (can I say that word louder...BORING), slow ballads, all R&B except for one country. Oh, except for Kevin, who sang "Heard It Through the Grapevine," and sounded a lot like Josh Grobin trying to sing "Heard It Through the Grapevine." I know Kevin's cute, with his geekiness and all, but he needs to stick with a more traditional genre of song. He has a pretty good voice. Anyway, Chris will go far in the competition.

Early on, I thought Paris Bennett was going to run away with it. She also has disappointed in recent weeks, due to really bad song choices. Last week, when she sang "Midnight Train to Georgia," she looked like a chicken on the stage. Seriously, she was bobbing up and down like a freakin' bird! she, in my opinion, is trying to be too diverse.

Lisa Tucker is adorable. She has pipes, man, real pipes. But her song choice was not good this week, either. The judges keep repeating this over and over, like a mantra to the contestants. "Song choice, song choice, song choice!" But the contestants refust to listen. Except for Chris. His song choice, "Hemmorhage," was perfect for his voice. I remember asking if he was, perhaps, the real lead singer for Fuel. Anyway, I do like Lisa. I think she could win. She just has to be wiser with song selection.

Mandisa...I love that lady! I wasn't sure at first, but she is great. I don't think she will win, but she will be right up there.

Here are my predictions for elimination next week. We must lose two more guys and two more girls. It starts to get really tough now.

Guys will lose Kevin (awww) and probably Bucky. Or Will (I would hate to see the Texas boy leave, plus he reminds us of John Mayer for some reason). This will totally depend on their performances this week. Taylor will last a little while longer. Gideon could last...I'm still not sure if I like him, but he had a strong performance this week.

Girls...will probably lose Kinnik (a black Angelina Jolie?? C'mon...look at that mouth...it's HUGE!!). It wil be very close, and probably sad, whoever goes. For the second, kind of a tossup between Melissa and Kellie Pickler. I will really be sad when Kellie gets eliminated, but she isn't going to win. She is flat out adorable (and when her hair flipped in front of her face at the modulation point in "Something To Talk About," this week, she was HOT, dang it!!), but she won't win.

So...Kevin, Bucky, or Will. Maybe Gideon. Two of those out next week.

Kinnik, Melissa, or Kellie....out next week.

Do I dare predict an overall winner? Not yet, but I will narrow it down. Final two girls will be Katharine McPhee and Mandisa. Final two guys will be Ace and Chris.

TTFN, boys and girls...

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010