Idol Thoughts: Viewer Votes - Round 2

Another entertaining week of "American Idol", and another four contestants are about to get shown the door. And, of course, another post from me yammering on about it. Hey, I correctly called three out of the four eliminations last week, so maybe my opinion is worth reading, eh? It can't be worse than Simon Cowell's.

The guys put on another good show. The first one to really dazzle me was Luke Menard (Yes, anonymous reader/commenter from last week, I remember him this time!). Perhaps it was the song he sang -- I'm usually a sucker for a Queen cover -- or maybe it was the excellent way he pulled it off. David Hernandez was fantastic as usual ... that guy has way more raw soul in his voice than any of the other guys there, and I hope he's in it for many more rounds to come. I got to see the very talented Chikezie strut his stuff -- as you recall, I missed him last week, and from what I heard it's probably just as well that I did. He showed real promise with this week's performance.

For some reason, the judges thought far more of David Cook than I did. I don't know why, but I thought he was just plain okay. I had the same lukewarm reaction to Robbie Carrico. Jason Castro, again playing the guitar while singing, was good, but not quite as good as last week. And Danny Noriega ... I tell you, I'm torn about him. The girls love him (Am I the only one a bit curious about the irony in that?), and he's a genuinely lovable guy ... but after his tempo problems last week and his numerous flat notes this week, I have to admit that I'm not totally loving him as a singer; maybe "Idol" is just not the vehicle for him. Cruel as it may sound, I just hope he's voted out soon ... he does deserve better than to be remembered as this year's you-know-who.

Who I think ought to be eliminated: Jason Yeager (let's face it, he's pretty ordinary and kind-of gets lost in the crowd, and he gave a plain old okay performance this week) and Danny Noriega (believe me, I so hate to say it).

Who I think will be eliminated: David Cook and Jason Yeager.

Who I voted for: Do I even need to say it? Yes, yes, it was David Archuleta. If you missed it, watch his performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" (it gave me goosebumps), and you'll see why I'm totally nuts about this kid. If he doesn't walk away with the title this year, I'll be more than speechless, more than dumbfounded ... I think my whole central nervous system might actually implode.

There were a good few standout performances from the ladies as well. Carly Smithson, who I found rather ordinary last week (a far cry from the judges' raves about her), kicked things off with a much more memorable turn this week. I don't think she'll be going away anytime soon. Brooke White really came into her own with a Carly Simon number (while playing guitar) -- I agree with the judges that it was a perfect song choice. Asia'h Epperson had me very worried; she started out rather weakly, but by the end of her song she was soaring. I don't know that I'd give her the raves that the judges did, but she deserves to stick around, at least for awhile.

A bit disappointing, but still excellent, was Syesha Mercado, my favorite from last week ... now that I think about it, maybe disappointment was inevitable, considering how spectacular she was last time. Amanda Overmyer was better this week (singing "Carry On Wayward Son") than she was last week, but she still has yet to wow me in the performance stage ... kind-of funny, since I loved her so much before last week. Another case of the judges finding much more to like in a performance than I did (and again, for reasons I couldn't tell you) was Kristy Lee Cook ... maybe I'm just not crazy about the song?

Who I think ought to be eliminated: Kady Malloy and Alaina Whitaker (both so-so performances from okay singers ... again, a case of there being just nothing special about them).

Who I think will be eliminated: Kady Malloy and Alexandrea Lushington.

Who I voted for: Ramiele Malubay ... maybe the judges thought the song choice and the performance were lackluster, but I loved it! I'm just not the kind of person who bounces around in his chair to a song, but that's what I was doing while she belted out "Don't Leave Me This Way".

Okay ... on to the resuls show on Thursday, then next week's round!