ai top 36 ... live blog ...

Hello, and welcome everyone.

For the 3rd group of 12, hey, I'm home to watch it live!

As always, the ground rules.

1. I'll be logged into Yahoo! IM as teamtito15. Feel free to comment along there or in the comments section.

2. I have not seen any of these folks perform yet, although I am aware a local kid is going tonight, from Gladstone I believe.

3. I had a really, really bad day at work today, and tomorrow looks every bit as bad. So if I'm a little bit p*ssed off tonight, you know why.

Until the top of the hour, get settled in with your favorite 32oz beverage and let the anticipation begin!

Its day 6 without vodka, and I'm almost in crisis mode. I honestly don't know how I'm making it to noon on Opening Day. I just pray Rochelle doesn't show up before then, if she's got the vodka shots ready at 10am, I'm in deep, deep trouble.

I think its noon on Good Friday. Right? Or is it 3pm? Or the whole day? See, this is what happens when you go to mass once a year, you lose focus.

And we're underway ... or not, another commercial.

Hang on, I'm getting the laptop plug out of the bedroom. Back in a minute.

And my boss has logged into my work IM. My long day just got longer.

The overly dramatic Ryan Seacrest.

By the way, good luck meeting the 'rents tonight Kellie. Hope it goes well.

Our 6 already through look kind of freaky.

Our judges looking dapper.

I'd definitely tune in for a "Simon Cowell Week".

Whoa, the votes determine wildcard positioning too? What the hell?

Local kid is up first.

Von Smith, from Greenwood, Missouri. I like the skull cap. His song choice is ... "You're All I Need To Get By". Marvin Gaye, I like it. Let's Get it On!

The pink shoes are distracting, but the performance is decent. The chorus is rock solid. He knows he's nailing it, I love that look in a performer's face, when they know they're on fire. Especially if its on one of the two stages at everyone's favorite shack on the outskirts of Lawrence.

He is doing very, very well. But the pink shoes, dude. Seriously.

Good job. He's definitely in wildcard contention at worst.

Very good job! Hang on.

(steve standing and applauding!)

Job well done.

RJ loves it. "This is the way to kick off a show". Pauler clapping like a seal. New judge says he "really knows what he's doing up there". (cue "outback steakhouse" joke here). Pauler, "its really hard being first, this is going to be a memorable first". Whoa horsie. Simon, "you remind me of Clay Aiken". Yeah, I can see it. Good job. Solid start to the program for once.

And we're back. Sorry, Von Smith was 1 866 IDOLS 01. Vote!

Here's Taylor Vaifanua, the pride of Hurricane, Utah. You can't make sh*t like this up.

Her choice is ... "If I Ain't Got You" by someone.

This is ... boring.

I'm heading to the fridge for another glass of something. Odds are it will be alcoholic in nature. Really, this performance? If I could loop it on my IPod, I might not have problems sleeping through the night like I do. Yawn.

Oh lay off the "show some personality" already new judge. Some of us are withdrawn by our nature. But yeah, this was beyond boring.

RJ agrees with me, its "boring"! Welcome to the party pal!

Oh Jesus, we're going 2 hours again tonight?!?! This is so much easier losing 45 minutes to the TiVo.

Alex someone or other up next. I know I'm going out on a limb here, but she could kick my ass. She's a big girl. As in, 6 feet? 6 feet 2 inches? She's tall. Taller than me that's for sure.

Dusty checks in. "What channel is the Duke game on". HELL-TV? I kid, I kid. I have no idea. Our channels above 200 aren't working again tonight. Our box blows chunks. Thank you Time Warner, for p*ss poor customer service, p*ss poor reception, and p*ss poor HD TiVo boxes. But hey, we don't pay for HD (all 2 channels we get). So that's a positive.

Remind me again why I left DirecTV. Oh that's right, deadbeat ex-roommate didn't pay $0.00 towards HIS bill for 11 months and I finally got sick of paying for it on my Discover card. But hey, he got the last laugh: he's now screwed over not one, not two, but three ex-roommates by owing them money! Hooray! (I'm with Dusty on this one: I want to see this trainwreck of a human being who not only let him move in, but is engaged to him. This should be something.)

And we're back. Not a moment too soon, I might have punched a hole in the wall in frustration.

WHOA, my bad. Alex was NOT the girl I saw in the final moment before commercial.

I like this kid. Alex, meet Steve. And he drops the Quagmire "alright!"

"I made a 3 of something! Life goes on!"

Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues". I LOVE this song. Can't wait to see this.

I am LOVING this kid. Good vocal. Having fun.

"I've been in a wheelchair for 45 minutes ..."

I am actually liking this. Different, but interesting. He's yelling it too much though.

"Rollin like thunder, under the covers ..." Must be nice.

I liked this, in a Vegas lounge act kind of way. Definitely personality 12, vocals 5. But fun.

If Adam Lambert got through, this guy should pass with flying colors.

Alex' dad looks like Orville Reddinbacker. (Sorry if I misspelled his name too. I suck at spelling names).

"It was a little bit softer in rehearsal". Come on, I'm not passing that one up.

BuKCs up 2, 2 minutes to go, 1st quarter. HU-YUGE game tonight at the Bradley Center against New Jersey.

I guess I'm alone in life, but the ass doesn't turn me on. Sorry, Old Navy. The eyes first, then the smile, then the (is it there or not) nose stud, then the body. Then again, I live literally a block from Raytown, the "asses" you witness in Raytown might influence that opinion.

Good God, this is tanking fast, even by my standards. But eyes, the eyes win me over. Then the face, and everything else.

Arianna Ansar, from San Diego, about to do our first ever ABBA song on Idol. Please be "Dancing Queen". This chick could knock it out of the park based on the recap.

"Winner Takes it All". Good choice. She can rock this.

She's an octave too low.

This is NO BUENO. She's trying too hard. And now she's fading ... from forgetting the words? This is going nowhere fast.

This is, uuh, not good. Until right now. She's closing ok. But too little, too late. That was NOT good.

What's wrong with "dark and depressing"? Oh wait, my shrink says that's bad. OK then.

Pauler finds some light ... ok, not really. "I appreciate that you took the liberties to change and risk ..." And she can't pronounce ABBA. "Cracked? Jesus Christ, unbelievable."

Some black guy doing Plain White T's next. Actually "Delilah" has struck me as a song Ne-Yo could rock the joint with. Let's see what happens ... (chuck woolery voice) in 2&2 ...

And Duke just tracked in all over the main room. Dammit, why can't you just whiz on the deck when its cold and miserable like this?

Ju'Not Joyner up next. He looks like Chikezie. And he's performing Ne-Yo at Hollywood Week! Nice!

Rock it dude.

Has a Luther Vandross sound to him. I like this slowed down.

So far, I'd download this on ITunes. The first "Idol" performance so far I can say that about. I am DIGGING this.

Wow.

This is DAMNED good!

(steve voraciously applauding!!!)

Randy and I agree! New judge as well! It yes, it felt "fluid". It just ... it rocked. It just effing rocked.

Simon with a good point, he could have stripped it down a little bit more, but man, what a GREAT performance. This one's going on the Rivermaster's Float Trip 09 request list from Steve. (Just so long as someone (Foster? D? Rivermaster?) has some green stuff to enjoy during it.

The Mezzaluna shrimp the Olive Garden ad just had ... unreal. Absolutely unreal. Totally worth the $13.

Wow, Dukie's paws are muddy. Glad he's in the other room tonight.

(peter griffin seeing ernie the chicken for round 3 voice) OH CRAP! How in the hell is this freak still around? The girl goes first. Kristin McNamara. And she's NOT the freak. OH CRAP!

Seriously, we need Peter v the Chicken round 4 by May.

"Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman. This is awful early.

She is not "giving me one reason" to remain focused.

I'll be the first. "The journey ends here ..." Good God, this is awful. This is "Duke with 3am gas" bad. Scratch that, this is Duke at 6am gas bad ...

Wow, she looks like Farrah Fawcett her one season on "Charlie's Angels". Hooray Hulu influencing my opinion.

Nathaniel Marshall. Gag me with a vibrator. That can't be as painful as this is going to be.

"I Would Do Anything for Love" by Meatloaf. Oh Christ.

Goodbye. Good riddance. Even God is covering his ears. Sorry. His.

"some nights it don't come at all ..." Yeah. Night (steve counting ...) yeah. Its been a while.

This is worse than anything the Red Balloon has put out. This is ... awful.

How did this guy get this far? Christ, I could have done better.

Simon drops the gay joke. And round two with "the minority".

This was beyond awful.

And finally, we're done. I just warmed up dinner AND refilled the wine glass during that fellation of whoever this guy is.

In a related development, I'm ready for Saturday. Should be fun. Extremely glad that Katie set aside my awkward shyness and was like "sweet! a night out with people that actually know steve! this is good right? right? yes, right!" I kid. But definitely looking forward to Saturday.

Felicia Barton up next, a stay at home mom. Great, my taxpayer dollars paying for yet another contestant. She's doing "Noone" by Alicia Keys. GOOD LUCK! Because this song effing rules.

Solid start. This is pretty good actually.

Until the chorus. Oversinging it and it shows.

Ending is awful. Tough. She started well, but fell apart. Goodbye top 12.

Pauler loved this?!?! What the hell?!?! Simon thought it was copycat. Uuh, yeah. I won't go with that. RJ: "amazing voice". Let it go, stop propping the chick up. New judge "noticed her". Somewhere, Corey Clark is rolling over ...

Scott McIntyre, a 23 year old from Phoenix. Let's see what he has to offer. Survey says ... anyone who covers Daughtry has some balls in this competition. Doing "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby. I LOVE this song. Let's go!

I do NOT love this performance. Goodbye. Its over.

This guy is overplaying the song. Its not THIS downbeat.

I can only think of four words. Cracked. Jesus Christ, Unbelievable.

That was TURRIBLE!

If he "moves mountains" when he takes the stage, what do I do when I drink? Move stomachs? Stop fellating this guy, that was TURRIBLE!

nice to see "anonymous ... b.s." check in tonight. We gotta figure out a way for a dual live blog. Brent and I aren't disagreeing on much.

Hello, country girl! After the break. (dammit).

Helluva game between KSU and OSU according to Brent and Drew.

To answer the last commercial: hell yes I belong at the K! Tell me anyone who's been giving up his Sunday's to tailgate out there longer than me that doesn't have a last name of "Glass"! Hell yes I belong! Go Royals Go!

Good God still 29 minutes to go.

Kendall someone, holy Lord she's hot. Holy effing Lord she is hot.

With the Texan / southern accent to boot. Something by Martina McBride tonight, this has potential.

Go Kendall Go!

She's Kristy Lee Cook with talent!

Until the chorus.

Good God this is fading fast. And I'm only 2 glasses in, granted big glasses, but still, nowhere near where I'd be after I usually experience a day like today.

This is beyond TURRIBLE!

Goodbye. Good night. And good luck. Holy Christ, even Priest was howling at the TV ...

Yeah she looks awesome ... but she ain't working at the "outback".

Simon making perfect sense.

Randy loves country music?!?! Since when?!?! That's as outrageous as me stating that you CAN spell "crap" without "rap".

Jorge Nunez apparently closes us up. He does not look, uuh, innocent, in that shot.

Dual blog! 71-69 OSU over KSU, 1:18 to go.

Go Pokes Go!

Anderson for 3 ... SWISH! 74-69 !!! Punch the ticket with an OSU win at OU Saturday! Great win if this holds (and it should!)

Poor KSU. To come so close and fail ... well, is to realize you're not KU. But its ok champ, you still have your student initiated gardens and other assorted quack agriculatural ideas you can fall back on.

YES! All new "Family Guy" Sunday!

And we're back on "Idol". Jorge brings us ... an accent. And "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". Yikes.

On Puerto Rico: "We may be small but we're not short on talent". Really, you can't make this up.

This is poor to begin with.

This is approaching piss poor territory.

Chorus is better but leaves a lot to be desired. He's trying too hard.

Yikes. Goodbye, good night, and good luck, its over champ.

New judge is ridiculous. Pauler is in tears. (guy in tower drowning on "titanic" voice) bleedin christ!

Sorry, my bad. We have one performance to go. In a related development, I need to go to the fridge.

Good God, I managed to hit the bathroom, the fridge, and turn on the space heater and electric blanket in this commercial. End it already.

Another KC audition! Good luck chica.

She has 3 kids? (steve refraining ...)

She's doing Mary J Blige.

Nice outfit. She looks good. Sounds good so far too.

Seems like a good time to put the dogs to bed ... this is ok. Not great but not awful.

Simon, "brilliant". OK. Randy agrees. New judge, "you're a powerhouse". OK. I guess I'm tone deaf. Pauler, "you are first class".

And with that we're pretty much done. Should be an intriguing results show. (And with that, I'm out. I need to get back to "work", sadly ...)