sharifa70

I agree. Through their entire performance I gave him points for picking someone with a different dance style, and while I agree with people who hated Kaylee's costume, I didn't think their performance was that bad. To be fair, I hate the flaily, rolling-on-the-ground-and-reaching-into-the-air contemporary pieces. At least I still remember this one a day later. I'm was thrilled to see Wade! This show and I have missed him - I hope we'll get more!

I was also spoiled about Nadiya's win (thanks to her appearance on The Graham Norton show), but I still found myself rooting for all three finalists, cried when she won, and did the same thing when I re-watched the entire season with my dad (his first run-through) a couple of weeks later. I'm happy for Candace. I would also have been happy for Andrew or Jane, but Candace really did a beautiful job today and earned that trophy. It is so refreshing to watch a competitive cooking show with contestants who are kind to each other, and supportive, and who don't need to build themselves up by tearing other people down. I am going to miss that.

I love watching Simon watch magic tricks.

Meh. I knew as soon as the girl started crying (I was fast-forwarding through the sob story) that she'd get the buzzer. I completely agree that stories and bios could just as easily be posted online to free up more time for actual auditions, even if we get some gong show ones in the mix. I agreed with Simon's assessment that Five Alive seemed dated and unoriginal, but I'd still take them over that pumpkin head guy.

Didn't the name "Cobbled loaf" also have something to do with her grandmother or mother in law? I thought she said her name was Cobble.

Oh lord, me too. I never watch this show live and it usually takes me about 20 minutes to get through an episode unless I want to hear the judges. I can't name a single act from this week that was memorable for the right reasons.

Is it just me, or have the sob stories been super-sized this year? It seems like the judges have been spouting endless versions of "you're a beautiful/special/amazing unicorn who is the sun's reason for rising" to just about everyone who gets through, when I feel like most of the acts have been good-ish, but not something I need to see again. I respect people's struggles, but I feel like the judges actually diminish those struggles when they fall all over themselves with excessive praise. Re the couple who did the "death-defying" balancing act with the pole: she was wearing a harness the whole time with a visible wire. I don't like danger acts because I'm not interested in seeing people get hurt, but because I could see her very-sensible safety device, I was not in suspense at all and couldn't understand the judges' freak-outs. Was that *not* a safety harness? I saw that, too! I laughed too hard, especially because I actually recognized a few of them. That guy who fanned himself cracked me up at the time it originally aired, but I cannot for the life of me remember the act he was (allegedly) reacting to. I also wondered about that. I hope that's just what we were led to believe, because otherwise this just became a whole 'nother type of show.

Dorothy's clothes always terrified me, especially after I heard she was 5'9" - my height - I thought that look was my destiny. I've lived in mortal dread of hip-length sweaters and drapey pants for 25 years.

I thought the opera girl was over-hyped. She has potential, sure, but she is definitely in need of coaching: her breathing was off and she didn't have enough support to sustain long notes - she cut some of them off too soon. Just her posture when she was speaking told me she hasn't had the formal training she's going to need if she ever hopes to make a living out of singing. She needs to back off and start a little smaller, build up that potentially wonderful voice, then tackle those big arias.

I think Jax has a decent voice but she still doesn't have a sense of who she is as an artist. Some of her performances ("Poker Face" and that song from "The Wedding Singer" come to mind immediately) feel more like she's imitating Joey than putting her own mark on things. She has potential but I think she still has some growing up to do. And yes, lose that stupid X from her face. Does anyone remember that leopard-spot girl from "X Factor US"? That's all I think about when I see Jax. I really like Nick's voice. I agree with Harry that "Teenage Dream" was not a good song choice and that he needed something with grittier lyrics. My take on the antics that ensued afterward: Harry was being goaded into singing the same song. I realize he'd essentially said he wouldn't be caught dead so they were making fun of him, but he was also being urged to sing the song right after a contestant had done it. So he could have played it straight, leaving *his* rendition in our minds, or he could clown, leaving Nick's rendition intact. I think in this case the clowning was pretty much the classy way out. I also agreed with their criticism of Joey's performance. Full disclosure: she's one of my favorites. I liked that she didn't change the song, but I also felt like she was holding back. Throughout her performance I felt my whole body tense up in sympathy, and I kept waiting for her to really sink into the song, which never happened. I don't think she got slammed by the judges - I think they were right to point out the she didn't just kill it. This was the first time I didn't like a Quentin performance. I blame song choice tonight - fingers crossed for next week. I loved Clark's performance. I want him to lose so he can come to the Blues Festival in Portland. This was the best Tyanna has sounded in a long time. I really liked that. Rayvon/Qaasim: I'm sorry to see Qaasim go because I appreciated his performances, but it was time. he just isn't as strong as the others vocally. I keep forgetting Rayvon is on the show, even though when he sings I think "wow, nice voice" every time. He really needs to figure out how to bring some passion into his performances. Finally: I'm house-sitting with no dvr or cable. This was the first time in years that I have suffered through two full hours of this show. I was ready to throw a shoe at the tv when the second celebrity performance happened, but then there was a third! If they have that much time, they need to have the contestants singing twice. Or cut it to an hour. This show dragged so incredibly much. After 57 performances and 9,000 commercial breaks, I realized only three actual contestants had gone and there was still an hour and a half to go. Idol needs to figure out their huge pacing problem before I owe the homeowners a new tv.