Live Week 2: Down to the Top Ten

“Why can’t you be nicer to me?”

                --The White Stripes

I assume we all have some kind of an internet presence.  I’ve been a member of an obscure sports simulation community for going on 15 years now and though I just lurked for awhile have managed to rack up over 12,000 posts during my time there, though the majority of those are from playing werewolf games.  I get tired of some of the personalities there, and sometimes I won’t show up for a few weeks at a time but it is a community to me.  People have died that I do not know if I’d met them on the street and I get sad because they were one of us and despite what it might say about our detached society today I consider many of those people friends due to our interactions over the years.  If I were to die I’ve told Deb I would like her to let that group know and I have no idea why that is important to me.

I put a lot of stock into what other people thought in the beginning of the internet years.  I got outraged with everyone else on Daily Kos during the early Bush years.  I played and ran dozens of four month Diplomacy games on AOL in the dial-up 90’s.  When we watched American Idol I discovered these huge 15 page show reviews on Television Without Pity that were catty and fun and that I got into.  I remember showing Deb one of them and her comment was “they seem kind of mean” and I didn’t understand that at all.  I’ve gone through an AV Club phase when the AV Club had a good writing staff and commented there for a few months.  I’ve followed the Gawker sites pretty frequently over the past year or so because snark can be fun, though again, it is very staff dependent and they’ve lost a lot of people as well, but it is hard to resist clicking on something like today’s Japanese Late-Night Show Makes Guys Sing Karaoke While Getting Handjobs.  I will watch the clip of that tonight because c’mon.

Once again I realize that Deb had it right all those years ago because I get tired of all these sites, and the more you hang with internet people the more you realize how sheltered and reactionary and insulated and disturbed and just plain mean they can be.  I don’t read comments like I used to or wade into political or societal discussions at all because just like the real world there are dark fetid caves and piranha filled waters and daily outrage feeding on daily outrage and frankly, it’s just gotten sort of exhausting.  So when I make fun of Brian Johnson or Meghan Linsey or whoever in these recaps I feel bad if I hear that they have internet haters and it hurts them or their confidence, because we are a people that wants anyone who dares to poke their head above the herd to realize that we are more than ready to pull them right back down.  We should be nicer to them, and although I probably won’t be I’m sorry that they are affected by the shitty things they read because after all, haters gonna hate.

Let’s rank the top 10, shall we?  Here is how I had them after the performances this week:

I did notice that Sawyer Fredericks does look just over the camera though what really struck me was how much he resembles Amanda Knox.  Was not happy with the song choice because as I’ve mentioned before when you do a song like Imagine you can’t really improve on the original so what is the point?  (There were lots of quibbles with song choices for both Deb and I this week).  Anyway, he turned the tables on that high note with that brilliant pause and it changed the entire song. 

Debbie’s affections wander.  She told Reba she loves her, and was sort of delighted that Reba pronounced guitar Git-Tar.  I told her that I saw Reba in concert with Kenny Rogers back in like 1981.  It’s not often I can surprise Deb.

Is Kimberly Nichole really from Seattle?  How did I not know this?  I swear I thought she was from Houston or something.  Anyway, Kimberly Nichole continues to be dynamite.

India Carney is still fantastic, though I was preoccupied with something during her performance so didn’t pay full attention.  Take Me to Church is a damn good song.  I liked her new look as well.

That was my favorite performance yet from Rob Taylor, I think it was because the falsetto was reined back so much. 

I don’t like Meghan Linsey.  She creeps me out.  But she did great.  My rankings on her will probably be lower than they should but eh, who cares?

Koryn Hawthorne seems older to me than the other high schoolish age kids and I’m not sure why.  She has been someone who I haven’t really noticed much so far this year but I really liked both her promo and that performance of Stronger.  She is getting better as the show goes along.

Did you notice that the promo for Mia Z. really played up the fact that HEY! She is a 16 year old girl so let’s not speak to the fact that she sings sexy as hell!  And then she goes all sexy Jagger with Miss You, and it was awesome except for that super high note that the judges all fawned over – I’m sure it is very hard to hit but was my least favorite part of that song.  I will miss her.  There’s more than a touch of Amy Winehouse in the way she sings and I hope I hear more from her which is not how I usually feel about The Voice contestants. I miss Amy Winehouse.

I love the song America and picked it for one of our Music Clubs that I forget the theme of.  When I closed my eyes I enjoyed Joshua Davis’ version of it.  When I opened my eyes I did not because he was very lounge-y and goofy looking.

It is a sign of progress that Deb did not actually flinch when Hannah was on screen.  We got a glimpse for where a little bit of Hannah comes from, and I laughed at the line “Mom, don’t be creepy!”  I like yet feel bad for Hannah.

Adam is horrible at song choice, always choosing a song that is going to be hard to perform and then expecting his singers to just step up.  I was super curious about Deanna Johnson this week and looked forward to her turn.  She seems small-town genuine but it was fascinating about how much she did not want to sing that song, and for good reason as it turned out because that was not a good performance.  I couldn't tell if it was the song itself or the Christian genre that she was wary of.

It was better than Cory Kent White though.  Deb:  “This is the country music I hate.”  I could not agree more.  I don’t think he sang it well either.  Clearly that is not gonna matter though.

Brian Johnson is a good singer.  But Brian Johnson’s ceiling is easy listening and I can’t see him ever becoming a compelling performer.  I wish him the best though as he is my last team member to shuffle off this year and Champion Bull becomes the second team out.  I should have known because I thought that was a stupid team name from the start.  Wait till next year!

Our top three are taking shape.  It looks like Hummingbird Lightfoot, Barry and the Ladies and Debbie Eaglesong are going to be fighting it out for the trophy with Sizzle & Fizzle down to one, but I do want to note that none other than Fluffy Koalababy has the potential to challenge with both Koryn and Hannah still in; and don't forget that KaraokeSongBookWorms still have India!  Do you want to know the rest?

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