aradia22

The biker racers are growing on me. I don't think conserving their energy makes the other teams lame but it's nice to see someone take advantage of a long wait to do something fun. Wait, Tim is also a flight attendant? Where did they recruit for this season? The driving seemed to shake up the rankings a lot. I enjoyed the sassy ponies. I would have liked to see more of the adventures of Amy and Maya and Cupcake. Glad they didn't get discouraged and were able to figure out the task. I was ready to get all upset that they'd given them a physical challenge that left them greatly disadvantaged. Not amused by the firefighters interacting with the Vikings. Team Nashville needs to stop bickering. The sheep task greatly amused me. They need to get out of English speaking countries where everyone gives them good directions. I love that the sheep just decided to listen to Amy or Maya telling them to get in the pen in an "orderly fashion." Maybe they're just animal whisperers. I feel kind of bad that the firefighters went on a wild goose chase but I'd rather have Tim and Te Jay around.

I started watching Double Harness (1933) today. The leading lady is a little bland so far but the script seems good. I'm not sure when I'll have time to get around to the rest of it.

RESULTS: and are out. It seemed a waste of time to create a separate thread.

Oh, btw. If you don't read the Guardian's liveblogs, you really should. http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/live/2014/oct/11/the-x-factor-2014-first-live-show-as-it-happens You want to read it now, don't you? You should!

Paul Akister: Paul, are the lights blinding you? Stop making weird faces! It was pleasant. I'd listen to it on the radio. But there was nothing impressive or special about it. This is like a 'I know you already love me' performance. Not a 'I'm fighting to keep my place' performance. I like performers who wow me every time. There are already plenty of mediocre people to listen to on the radio. Lola Saunders: Glad she's back. That dress they put her in is terrible. Does she not have those low notes in her range? It's like the sound dropped out. I have heard so many goddamned covers of this song. This was fine. Not great. Again, FIGHT to stay. When she unleashes she still doesn't have those rounded, full power notes. But it's not those rock/pop straight tones either. It's this weird in between thing that's a bit of a letdown. But yeah, she still deserves to stay. She can get better. Overload Generation: Wait, what? Where'd they come from? Oh, good. Let your voice crack on the first phrase. That inspires confidence. They're so awkward on stage. Do something! Other than look like you're loitering outside a convenience store! The second one to sing with the hipster glasses wasn't bad. They seem to have no direction with the way they're just hanging around and the way they're dressed. When they sing in unison is it autotuned? Pre-recorded? The third one to sing solo, the one on the end, was actually quite good. This group REALLY needs direction. You can't just let that other one sing because he looks like Zayn. You can get away with a song like this if you have a bit of a rock sound and can come across like bad boys (but still not aggressive enough for the tweens to find you too dangerous and intimidating). Instead, it just didn't work at all. They don't have enough sound and power and the staging combined with their natural stage presence just makes them seem awkward and posturing. Jay James: Well, he's less irritating. He still needs to work on holding notes. And I don't love his sound. But at least he's tolerable now. He's not great but I have to give it to Simon and production. They did as much as they could to make him a credible contestant. Stephanie Nala: Her quavery falsetto quavers so much that she's not totally landing the notes. However, they did do a nice job with the staging and they were smart to give her a song she could handle. She's still not a great singer, but a little more work and she could totally fit the mold of the baby-voiced R&B acts of the late 90's/early 2000's. Jack Walton: Of course they brought back the irritating one. What the hell, man? Does this sound good to you? The beginning was awful but it got a little better as it went along. Have your vocal affectations but hit the notes. Don't go flat. Don't sound like you're dying. Don't strangle all the notes with bad vowels. He ended up being fine. Chloe Jasmine: Oh, good. Because I really needed to hear another cover of Toxic. It's a little much. Like, she's putting too many affectations into the same song. But I didn't hate it. If she can tone it down a little, I think I could put up with her for a few more weeks. She's totally not going to win though. Stereo Kicks: Two Katy Perry songs in one show? I like Katy Perry but come on, guys. For a while I was all excited because I thought they cut it down to four guys. And then the rest of them came in. Damn. They need to stop letting the one with the stretched lobe piercings sing so much. Does he remind them of Aston from JLS? Because he's not Aston. He keeps cracking. Aside from that, they were good. Of course they are. They got some of the best guys and there are EIGHT of them! Ah! I'm not going to let this go. Admittedly, the one with the puffed up hair is good. But I'd like to hear more from red sweater as well. This is the problem when there are eight of them. It's going to be really hard to give them equal mic time and if they never get solos they might as well be background singers. Also, what is with the name? My immediate thought was Stereo Hearts. Stevi Ritchie: Yay, Stevi's back! For the "fun" act, he's not an atrocious singer. Yeah, he's very cruise ship and goofy, like a comedian who also sings, but his vocals are tolerable and his performances make me smile. Lauren Platt: Very solid vocal. I liked that they went a bit more cute and poppy but still gave her a Pharrell song. It played to her strengths without exposing the weaknesses of her voice by giving her a big adult female vocalist to measure up to. I was hoping that they'd bring in dancers at some point because the song kept building but never seemed to hit that high point without it. Blonde Electra: I can tell what they're going for with the vocals and the outfits. I just don't think they pull it off. As with Jay, they did a nice job of trying to make them a credible act. I just don't think they're that talented as singers and I don't know who their fan base would be. Ben Haenow: Poor Hey now. A tee shirt and a plaid shirt? Bridge Over Troubled Water? What the hell? This is lives. Give him something to work with. It was good but a little underwhelming. He's got to bring it a little more with vocals (just a little clean up) and with his performance and staging next week if they want to keep him around. It's not like he's Rebecca Ferguson where we're just happy he doesn't faint. Jake Quickenden: It needs a little clean up but otherwise, it was very pleasant. He's not a great singer but he has a nice tone that makes him easy to listen to. At least compared to Jay and Jack. He's cute and perfectly, pleasantly mediocre. I won't mind if he sticks around for a while but he'll have to improve to make it closer to the finals. But I kind of think he could do it. Fleur East: Well, at least they're getting it out of the way early. I don't know if she'll find her fan base because it's hard for the Overs but I like her. I do. I think she could give Chloe and Stephanie a run for their money. I think she can do both of their acts better than they can. And she's very comfortable on stage. Maybe don't go so dark and heavy on the eye makeup next time though. I don't know where she'll go from here because I don't know if she's got the voice to impress but to me, she's already a pop star. Only the Young: I love Louis. They're called Only the Young and he made them sing Jailhouse Rock/Twist and Shout. I can't. Never leave me, Louis. Never leave me. They actually sounded good. I was worried about their sound being too small but they sounded nice and polished and the first guy impressed the hell out of me. They're still a bit too bright and shiny and is that one girl always going to wear a hat? But yeah, they were good. I think they missed their decade but they can always have a kids' show. I think the girls need to bring it a little more. Especially the blond one. Andrea Faustini: There was nothing for him to fight against. The song gave him instrumentation to support him but nothing to overwhelm his vocals. It was good but I'm just a bit meh on him. My Rankings (I rank based on vocals and performance): 1. Lauren Platt (Good vocals plus nice staging. They clearly like her.) 2. Jake Quickenden (Nice vocals with some nice improvement. A bit meh on the box but he had good stage presence.) 3. Fleur East (Good vocal with great stage presence. She owned that stage.) 4. Only the Young (Great performance and stage presence. Very solid vocals.) 5. Andrea Faustini (Good vocals and command of the stage. I'm just not that into it.) 6. Chloe Jasmine (They did a very nice job with the setup and song choice and Chloe did a good job on the vocals. She just needs to pull it back with the affectations and not put them all in the same song. Also, they can't do this same thing every week or it'll get old.) 7. Stereo Kicks (Mini Aston brought them down for me. And they still haven't figured out how to balance all the guys. The talent of the pompadour one brought them up but they're going to need to work on them as a GROUP or they'll just be mediocre. Also, I need more harmonies.) 8. Ben Haenow (I think this was a fine performance from Ben but if he's just going to rely on his voice he needs to clean up the vocals a little and pick stronger songs. This is lives.) 9. Lola Saunders (I think Lola can be better. The performance was meh and the vocals were just OK which doesn't cut it when other people are more polished.) 10. Stephanie Nala (Strong for Stephanie. I think it worked to define her brand and she did a good job with the performance. But she doesn't hold a candle to Fleur. If she can improve her vocals and find a fan base I think she'll stick around for a while.) 11. Blonde Electra (I have to give it to them. The vocals weren't amazing but they were OK. They didn't go flat or shriek or anything like that. And their stage presence was good without any awkwardness.) 12. Stevi Ritchie (Stevi's vocals were fine other than him getting tired and a little out of breath and shouting a bit at the end. It was fun and had life so I'm ranking it higher than the others.) 13. Jack Walton (Better than Judges' Houses but still not a great vocal. He handled himself fairly well on stage but you don't get that many points for hanging out with a guitar.) 14. Paul Akister (Poor Paul. He doesn't have the big, rounded sound I wanted and he just came across as underwhelming. Fine but meh. And he's in that tough first spot.) 15. Jay James (Better but still not great.) 16. Overload Generation (Meh on the vocals and super awkward in their performance.)

It's. Time. To. Face. The. Music. Are? You? Ready? For? The? Live? Shows? AND! OVERLY! DRAMATIC! INTROS!?!

That Nylon brief was ridiculous. It was totally the kind of vague things advertisers and brands shoot for. Be young and fresh and hip and blah, blah, blah what are you talking about? Also, who knows what Nylon is as a brand? Clearly none of the contestants did. There's something weird about how they announced their common ancestries with that Oprah "you get a car!" tone. And in the future we're going to mesh with AI? What? I don't know how exact the DNA tests were. Large swaths of the genetic code are similar and you can sort of find markers that correlate to one group without clear results. No blackface this time but yay, let's whip out the war bonnet again. Did they put a fake tiger pelt on Denzel? What is HAPPENING? That said, the shoot was boring. I wanted this to be hilarious. It was not. Do they no longer have the budget for hilarious? I like that Miss J is happy to fight with Kelly. There were some good shots this week but it might have just been the set up. The hamsters should be better at this point. Maybe we'll get there once we reach the top 5. Seeing the rundown of all his photos hammered in Tyra's point about Matt. He really hasn't had a great shot since the water. YUP. Again, not like he said the worst thing ever, even if we're narrowing the pool to things said during a reality TV competition but I do not understand how what we said was a viable defense.

I don't know if I have GetTV. I have TWC but when I go to the channel listed on the GetTV website for NYC, it's MTV2. So I decided to finally, finally watch Night Nurse. Thoughts... What? There's a Chinese family who just happen to be there speaking in Chinese and not being caricatures? I am fascinated by hospitals in old movies. Did you seriously just need a high school education to be a nurse in the 30's? I'm not sure I sympathize much with the plight of this girl who really wants to be a nurse despite only having 3 years of high school education. Then again, maybe she doesn't need it. Imagine a doctor walking in now and just being like, hire this girl. Weird subplots with them coming home late and the skeleton in the bed and the bootlegger. Were operating rooms really like that? Nick's patterned robe and polka dots pajamas... just, wow. OMG, the closeups on "I'm Nick. The chaffeur." and her gasp. Is punching people Nick's solution to everything? Is she going out with the bootlegger? How does she afford all these furs on a nurse's salary? Ooo, Dr. Ranger is so villainous. I love how fierce Barbara Stanwyck is in this half of the movie. I think she fell a little flat when she was just being the ingenue who really wanted to be a nurse and was in training. The part with her shouting at the mother and taking charge is fantastic. A milk bath? Is it wrong that I find Clark Gable super attractive in that chaffeur's uniform? I don't think it's a great movie in terms of structure, plot, or script but I think it's worth it for the performances and to add to your list of Pre-Code movies. It's primarily worth it as a Stanwyck movie.

I don't pay much attention to the theatres I'm in as much as the shows so I don't remember if I've been in the same theatre in a different seat before. I think odd seats can be memorable. For Good Vibrations I sat in one of those box seats on the side for the first time and I could see the performers running back and forth and doing quick changes in the wings so that was fun. There was also a lifeguard tower as part of the show so I was super close to the performer sitting in it. For Mamma Mia I was off to the side but in the front row right next to the speaker. I still loved the show but it was deafening. I'm kind of glad it was ABBA because I think it had more of a concert vibe than a musical, whereas if I'd been sitting next to giant speakers for Sondheim... eh. I think I sat in the third row for South Pacific at Lincoln Center and that was brilliant. I sat super close to the stage for one 92Y concert. That was a lot of fun, mainly because of Jonathan Groff. I sat very close but off to the side for Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park. It was slightly irritating to not have the actors play to you for the majority of the time but it was great to be so close and again, like with Good Vibrations you get a better view of some of the things happening off to the side. I sat in the balcony but in one of the first few rows for About Midnight. That's what I was referring to when I talked about being on top of the performers. It was still a good show but it was an odd angle. I think I was also in the balcony when I saw Wicked (way back when Shoshanna was in the show) but I don't think I had the same issue with the vantage point. Of course, I was probably super excited to be seeing Wicked so I don't know if much would have bothered me. I've sat in the nosebleed seats at Carnegie (concert) and for the ballet. For the ballet, I was slightly left of center but I was happy with a good pair of binoculars. I think I was also in the balcony for Hairspray. For Carnegie I think the acoustics were just really poor up there and there was a railing blocking the view. I think I was in the rear mezzanine for Hair and The Apple Tree. It was a little far back for Hair but still great for Apple Tree. I think I was front mezzanine for A Little Night Music and those were great seats. I think it kind of depends on the theatre and the show which is something you won't really know before you go. My brain is so calibrated to TV and movies that unless it's a big spectacle show, I want to be able to see their faces. If they're good actors, I want to be able to watch their performances. My issue with sitting super close in the orchestra is that if they don't use the whole stage and mainly perform at the edge is that then I feel too close and I dislike having to lean my head back to see their faces. Especially when they're tall. For some shows my ideal is in the middle of the orchestra and for some it's front mezzanine. I'm often looking for the cheapest seats though so as long as I've got a good view and the performers play to my general some of the time, I'm OK with sitting farther back and off center. I guess I try and opt for seats that are closer to the center because there's more of a chance that they'll play to you but it depends on how the theatre is built. Sometimes rear mezzanine seats are great and sometimes they are so far back.

Question: Out of curiosity, where is it your preference to sit in a theatre (you know, barring price restrictions and whatnot)? Are you an orchestra person? Balcony? Those box seats on the side? If you have to choose between sitting closer to the center but farther back or in a closer row but off to the side what do you go with? Are there theatre configurations that you absolutely hate (e.g. a steep incline in the balcony so you feel like you're on top of the performers)?

More casting news. I can't imagine anyone's that excited about this. I saw the musical once as a child and remember almost nothing but it's basically the Peter Pan show, isn't it? There's not much the bit parts will really be able to do to affect the whole. http://www.broadway.com/buzz/177773/theyre-flying-ryan-steele-bryce-ryness-jason-gotay-more-broadway-faves-join-peter-pan-live/

Yay! Thanks, PBS. Also, this was a great response from Brandon Victor Dixon. Did I mention I saw him at that preview for Rocky? ;) http://www.broadway.com/buzz/177833/brandon-victor-dixon-on-coming-home-to-the-scottsboro-boys-in-london-his-side-gig-as-a-bway-producer/

Are they going to end every episode with a sad indie girl cover? Last week was Creep. This week was Be My Baby.

Is the secondary character casting pool super small? I figured out that the second female detective is Peri from Devious Maids and now I can't take her seriously. Because it's Peri. And Maggie Q started off talking to Christina from the cancelled US version of Rake. Which I watched every episode of. At least it had Greg Kinnear. And oh, God, the writing on this show. I can't with this show. I'm out.

Apollo is definitely also a healer god. It's not what he's primarily known for but it's part of his bio. Then again, that's the difficulty with Greek mythology. Our modern concept folds in all the beliefs of smaller sects and some gods get attributes from primordial deities, etc. etc. When you're telling a story, or designing a makeup, you basically just pick and choose what you want to include and ignore.

So I still need to watch this seriously but I caught bits and pieces while it was on. I think they cast a pretty good Flash. It feels a LOT like Smallville from the meteor freaks to the super speed. Danielle Panabaker is still a big old meh. She's clearly the love interest. She couldn't be more the love interest. There was a lot of stuff to take in during the pilot what with the massive time jump and the dad in prison and the tie in with Arrow and all the emotional weight they put on Jesse L. Martin. I don't think it all worked but it held together fairly well and it's got me interested for the future. Most of all, I just like that this show doesn't feel heavy. It's not just that it's not dark and gritty. The show actually has a bit of momentum. I think it helps greatly to have a young protagonist. Yeah, blah blah another origin story but there's something to be said for the Smallvilles and Spidermans. We'll see how they handle special effects in the future. I think they're doing fairly well so far but I think the danger is in doing too much that they can't pull off.

What the heck was going on in the foundation challenge this week? Really? Stella and George were the top looks? It was clearly between Drew, Dina, and Cig. George's attempt at lichen did not even come close. I love Greek mythology so I was interested to see how they'd take it. They guys were clearly the better picks. It's way easier to do Zeus and Poseidon and Hades than find a way to interpret Aphrodite and Athena beyond beauty makeup. I was impressed that Dina pulled in her birth from the sea (though of course I don't know what kind of information they were given). I was wondering how Sasha was going to interpret wisdom and I worried about getting another owl (girl loves to repeat herself). I was thinking some kind of writing on the arms or something or something with the eyes to create more of psychic/seer character. Medusa is clearly the head you have to use for Athena. I wouldn't be surprised if that was where they got the idea for the challenge. I was a little bugged by Apollo because it seems fishy for the god of medicine to be going around spreading plague. "Do I look like Zeus?" "You look like hippie Jesus. Go back to Woodstock." I feel like we've seen the forms on that Apollo character so many times before but it was better executed than a lot of those other makeups. Zeus looked kind of small. I wish George had thought to bulk him up a bit. Sasha's was rough. Poor thing. I think I like her better than a lot of people but she had a really bad week. I think she's talented but not consistent. I think she needs more time to find her vision. She struggles a lot with her concepts. Then again, I still don't know how you put wisdom and war in a makeup without just making a warrior. I think you have to go owl or olive and interpret things a little more abstractly like Dina. For God's sake, why not just pick Demeter and do a beauty makeup like Dina? Yes! Dina finally gave us a gorgeous beauty makeup. I adore this look. And the angler fish? She somehow became my favorite artist in the competition. I do not like the Hades or the severed head at all. It looks like it's sculpted out of wax. Sculpted poorly. I thought Stella's was fine. I'm not thrilled with the look but it was well executed in comparison to George and Sasha. Yay! More beauty makeups next week!

I'm surprised that the Goblin Nerd character was only safe. I would have placed it in top looks over the Minotaur Nerd which looked odd to me. There was something off about it that didn't fully translate as bull. I really liked the Emo Faun. Everyone else... yeah. They deserved to be where they were. Sasha did the same tree bark thing but her piece didn't look bad. The Emo Minotaur could have been a little better but it was fine compared to the bottom 2 which looked super rough, especially with the paint where they could have saved them a little. I thought George should have gone home.

You're so right, elle. I don't know why I always forget about Hayworth. I was so charmed by her the first time I watched Cover Girl but I haven't seen any of her other movies. It's partially that I don't think I'm ready for Orson Welles in the same way I'm not ready for Hitchcock or Westerns and partially that TCM has not been showing enough of her movies lately. I guess I have the fanciful idea that someone could have seen one of these colors and fallen in love with it and later learned about the actress it likely corresponded to, been inspired to look up her movies, fallen in love with them, and then found their way here to us. :) That and more selfishly, I'd probably be more inspired to shell out $30+ if I could get a perfect Joan Crawford red lipstick, or (insert name of actress and shade of lipstick here). It's weird to trade on someone's name and then not even do a good job of capturing their persona. Then again, fashion is sometimes frivolous. Given her filmography, I'd guess that most people who go on and on about the Veronica Lake hair swoop haven't seen a Veronica Lake movie.

I got bored to I decided to go look up the decoy collections and finalist collections from Fashion Week. I seriously don't get Emily. She's made some things that were alright for the show but her collection was both unflattering and not terribly practical or wearable. Who is that for? It wasn't like giant spikes uncomfortable but more like... hmn, that's unfortunate. It looks like you put together an outfit from Goodwill like in one of those horrible ANTM challenges where the hamsters have five minutes to dress themselves. I think Fade's collection was trying to be a little too clever without actually making a statement but his "No Thanks" shirt made me laugh. Kini's collection feels minimal and not very much like him at all. A lot of the pieces give me a very... French vibe. I get all those brands mixed up. Maje, Sandro, etc. I thought Alexander might have gotten fan favorite support from his collection. Nope. It's just as bland and poorly made. Amanda's clothes are kind of not awful. Not great. But not bad. Basically, any piece where the print is doing most of the work actually comes off OK. There are also really questionable bulbous dresses because you know, it's still Amanda. Char made quite a few interesting fabric choices. Even if the fabric's doing most of the work, it's better than a lot of what she's shown this season. I can't even tell if that's a compliment or not. Korina's collection really looks like a finalist's collection. You can see the work and also the money in either the faux or real leather. It looks like she ran with her American Girl outfit. It's very polished with a lot of primary colors, black and white but it's not just a riff on the 60's. There are some presentable un-Sandhya-like pieces in her collection. Black, white, fringe. Yup, that's Sean. He bores me but he's definitely got a finalist collection. Based on the collections, I'd guess that Amanda is a finalist. I'm worried about Kini. I think he either didn't make it or he fell apart when he had all the time to make his collection. Amazingly, they might have carried Char through. Sean definitely looks like he has a finalist collection and I'm super suspicious about this week's episode because Korina's collection looks like a finalist collection as well.

I think a big flaw with movie musicals today is that we don't have enough of them. That is, there aren't enough of them to give actors an incentive to put in the time to learn to sing and dance and perform in a musical. And most movie musicals insist on casting straight (that is, dramatic and not musical theatre) actors instead of the talent who could knock it out of the park but doesn't bring starpower and probably wouldn't stick around to be packaged as the next big Hollywood it person. It's not that all of the movie musicals actors in the past were perfect but they could usually at least bring one skill to the table. I'm thinking about Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire who... let's be honest, were not the best singers. I just find it deflating to watch some musicals now where I'm expected to ooo and ahh because so and so is managing to sing in key. Sort of. It's like when you listen to professional performers and then try and go back and watch a reality singing competition. It's too difficult for me to buy into the delusion sometimes.

So this is an odd but hopefully fun topic. The NARS Audacious Lipstick Collection was released recently and a good number of the lipsticks were apparently named for iconic actresses. I can't find a key anywhere so I might be wrong about some of these but here are my guesses. Greta- Greta Garbo (Wild Azalea) Vivien- Vivien Leigh (Red plum) Audrey- Audrey Hepburn (Red currant) Jane- Jane Russell (Terracotta rose) or so I'd like to think but there are a lot of Jane's out there. Jane Fonda. Brigitte- Brigitte Bardot (Nude rose) Catherine- Catherine Deneuve (Sunny guava) perhaps? Julie- Julie Christie? Julie Andrews? (Nude pink) Natalie- Natalie Wood? Natalie Portman? (Flamingo) Grace- Grace Kelly (Bright pink coral) Lana- Lana Turner (Vivid orange red) Rita- Rita Moreno? (Scarlet) Marlene- Marlene Dietrich (Red brick) Olivia- Olivia de Havilland (Garnet) Do non-TCM fans know who she is?) Sandra- (Rosewood) This is very dark red. I can't believe it'd be Sandra Dee or Sandra Day O'Connor. It must be Bullock or Bernhard. Deborah- Deborah Kerr? (Chestnut) It can't be. This is basically brown. Bette- Bette Davis (Bordeaux) I don't know. It's pretty vampy. Ingrid- Ingrid Bergman (Merlot) Dark purple. I guess she was in some noirs but really? Also no Joan Crawford? No Lauren Bacall? Now is it just me or do a lot of these colors not make sense at all? I feel a little possessive of these actresses whether I've seen one movie or ten and it kind of bugs me when their names and brands are co-opted to sell something, especially when it's done badly. Now, it's not as bad as when they resurrect them from the grave for creepy commercials but it still makes me a little uncomfortable. Especially since they had style worth celebrating properly.

And our results are in! Boys: Paul Akister, Andrea Faustini, Jake Quickenden Girls: Chloe Jasmine, Stephanie Nala, Lauren Platt Over 25s: Fleur East, Ben Haenow, Jay James Groups: Blonde Electra, New Boy Band, Only the Young Each category also gets a wildcard picked by another judge. I have no problems with Mel's choices for the Boys. I'm happy she took Paul and Jake through and I wasn't that attached to the others. I don't care which of the boys will be coming back as a wild card. It'll probably be Jack because I like him the least. Cheryl once again made stupid choices with the girls. I know I said it was about how you sell the acts but this is a weak team at the moment. Chloe is basically a slightly more talented Katie Waissel and any Broadway girl could do a better cabaret act. Her voice isn't that remarkable. You could make Stephanie into a credible pop act but I think it's going to put a real strain on her already weak vocals when you try and add dancing and running around. Lauren would be alright on a stronger team but as I said, I think she's too young. Maybe she'll get lucky and one of the other judges will give her back Lola. Or at least Emily. Simon made smart choices with the Over 25's. I'm glad he's taking Fleur and Ben through. Helen and Lizzy would have been cannon fodder and he resisted bringing Stevi through as a fun act. Jay's voice annoys the crap out of me but with his backstory I can see how you sell him. My guess is that he'll get Stevi or Helen back as a wildcard. Unless the other judges are playing super competitively and give him back Lizzy just to see her get eliminated super quickly. I'm not horrified with Louis' choices. The new boy band should unquestionably get through. There are way too many of them and they don't work as a unit but there's too much talent there to not take them through. Only the Young underwhelm me but of the groups who came to the competition, they work the best as a unit. I've got no attachment to any of the other groups, so sure, let him have Blonde Electra as his novelty act. He needs one. It keeps him happy. My guess is that he'll get the girls back as a wild card unless the others are being super competitive and give him someone weak like Concept or The Brooks.

Lauren Platt: It was pretty. Her voice is just going to annoy me guys. Girls voices don't change as much as guys voices during/after puberty but her voice so clearly needs to develop. If her voice was just kind of thin and pretty it would be fine. But I can hear it struggling between that full sound she can't quite get to and the childlike place she is now. She's good but if I'm being honest, she's not ready. Kerrianne Covell: You need control with this song. You can't just wail it out. It was good but I also kind of felt like my ears were being assaulted. Chloe Jasmine: OK, she's no Judy Garland but this is the most I've ever liked one of her performances. It felt less like an affectation this time. I still think she has things to work on but I'm starting to see more potential in her. Stephanie Nala: Quavery baby voice. Breathy. A little bit flat. Am I saying you can't be a pop star with a vocal like that? Don't be ridiculous. Should you win a singing competition? Eh? Probably not. Emily Middlemas: Emily is kind of like baby Helen Fulthorpe. Her face and hands and performance are all like 'look how awesome I am' but nothing's coming out of her mouth. I still like her though. Way more than Helen. Lola Saunders: Very solid. No question her vocal was the best of the girls. It still wasn't perfect but in comparison, she had the best technical performance. The girls aren't a super competitive category but it's hard to decide who you want to go with. I think everyone did as well as they could have with their voices except for maybe Kerrianne. The one who 100% deserves it on talent is Lola. With the others it's really about how you want to compete. What angle do you have to sell this act to the voters? Girls: 1. Lola 2. Lauren 3. Emily 4. Kerrianne

This is far too logical. One of the things that's so horrible about the way they operate is they are horribly inconsistent but ask you to ignore the inconsistencies. One week we hate Obama for X. Next week we hate him for Y. Doesn't X contradict Y? "No, it doesn't!" they shout. And if you're watching Fox News almost constantly, not once a week say but every morning and every night then the brainwashing blurs out the inconsistencies. You'd never look to the pro-Obama left wing liberal-biased media for the truth, would you? Of course not! There's an idea that it's only uneducated white people who are comfortable turning on all the ideologies they fear which fits in with an easy understanding of post Civil War America but that helps obscure the truth of the matter. Wealthy people watch Fox News. Women watch Fox News. Minorities watch Fox News. Young people watch Fox News. And they hear the toxic garbage they spew and just brush it off. Because even if they take a step back and hear the hate, they've been taught to ignore and say, oh, but I'm not like that woman/fill in relevant group here. Newsflash, if they can say it about them, they can say it about you. Now, I'm sane. I don't think the anchors believe everything that comes out of their mouths simply because no one could hold on to that much toxic energy and live as long as some of them have.