At last! The real fun begins . . . right now!

The Top 24! I don't know if I'm more excited about knowing who they are or simply knowing that we're DONE with STUPID auditions. I think it's the latter. So, people I'm sad didn't make it:

Bernard Williams. Darn it. What the heck?! Everyone looked shocked over that.

Matt Buckstein (the cowboy). Dang it, I like him and I like his voice. He should try again. Look at that one guy who got in after FIVE tries!

Tami Gosnell (female rocker girl reminds me of Bo Bice)

Marisa something (the one who almost threw up in the elevator)--she has a BEAUTIFUL voice and it really makes you wonder what the judges are thinking.

Not too sad about that cocky guy at the end (Thomas), mostly because he's arrogant. But I do love his smokey tone. Oh well.

There were some VERY good singers who didn't make it through and it's true (and not just cliche) that they shouldn't give up or let a show like American Idol (as much as I LOVE this show) affect their view of themselves. AI is unfortunately often more style over substance. That part I don't like. And they're often wrong, so you do hope those booted keep on keepin' on. I seem to remember thinking that about the guy who was wondering how he was going to tell him mom.

VERY interesting top 24!

I'm not used to watching many of them sing. Some of them sounded off to me in those clips. Some of them seem to have voices that don't match their look (though again could be because we're not used to them given that they haven't had much air time what with all the Big Bird and orgasmic cowgirl auditions). And I'm having a difficult time looking at some of them when they sing, too -- odd facial expressions and stuff. But, I AM EXCITED! Excited Stacy is here. I hate auditions (have I mentioned that in any of my previous posts?) and I *love* the competition. Let it begin!

Early favorites of mine (and these are very subject to change as we get to know them all):

Sanjaya Malakar. He's cute, sweet, not very powerful, but so so likeable. He KISSED his sister and that scores big points in my book.

Melinda Doolitte. She's unaffected and I think that's part of what Simon likes about her and I think it's cute how much he builds her up.

Brandon Rogers sure is comfortable with the camera already. I guess it's all that back up singing. I like his voice.

Gina Glocksen. Fun, likeable, smokey nice voice.

Phil Stacy. Cute, nice voice.

Chris Sligh. C'mon, who doesn't like him? He's great. Love his voice.

Jordin Sparks. That would so be me in the elevator bursting at the seams and yelling excitedly and hardly STANDING that very, very long elevator ride one floor down. She's cute. I like her and her voice a lot.

A.J. Tabaldo. I think it's great that the guy hasn't given up. FIVE times he's tried out for American Idol. FIVE times. I admire that kind of persistence and tenacity.

Nick Pedro. That's my hometown boy, so I'm totally rooting for him. I like his voice, he's cute, and he's SO Boston.

Lakisha Jones. Class act. I have liked her from the get go. She's this year's Mandisa, only more in tune. I REALLY like her and obviously Simon does, too. He called her "sweetheart" like 6 times. She and Melinda are clearly favorites of his.

Some of the others who didn't get a lot of camera time sure sounded good on those clips and of course I'm open to really liking them, too. I'm excited to hear everyone every week.

Some other notes:

It was like dirty old man torture for Simon to have those 2 beautiful girls sitting on the final 2 chairs. He stuck that dirty old man pencil in his mouth and turned away. It was just too much.

I wonder if they feel stupid letting Robyn Troup go (they booted her in Hollywood) after seeing her (very good) grammy moment with Justin Timberlake. Duh.

I like Paul Kim's barefoot gimmick, but not if he just made it up. If he just made it up, it's lame. I'm a little curious to see how far his underwear carries him, too.

Let the games begin. WOOHOO!!