TOP 8 BOYS

No, no exclamation marks in my title because there was really nothing to exclaim about! Talk about a let-down...

The theme for the night was "Ugh and ugh again."

BLAKE - Good job. It was a unique song, at least to me. He seems to show so many sides of himself. His music is not really the type I listen to (although this song did take me back to my teenage Reggae years!!! :) ), but he is really good and different from the others, which I like!

SANJAYA - I, for one, love his hair no matter how he does it! Well it was the usual with him: He's adorable, and he has no business here (though after most of the other performances, maybe they are all in the same league...). Another "blah" performance, though he did *try* to throw a powerful part in there. It's rough to listen to the judges critique him.

SUNDANCE - Ugh. What's he trying to do, be a hard rocker? It just wasn't for me. Wow, I'm surprised to hear that the judges really liked it, at least until Simon... ;)

CHRIS R. - Ugh again. He sounded shaky and off to me. What? The judges all seem to think it was so good! What is going on?

***Half way through and not the greatest night so far...

***Ryan is snappy: "Let the old man judge, let the young man interview." I love it!

JARED - He seemed the most "into" his performance so far. He's not really my favorite, but he did well *comparatively* tonight.

***Yes Simon, the *WOW* factor has been missing tonight.

BRANDON - Oooooh, a classical piano player, that's awesome! All right Brandon, DO IT! He seemed to have so much promise but HAS NOT DELIVERED through this whole "small stage" portion of the show. Let's see if THIS will be it...Well, very good! It wasn't *the* performance I'm waiting for, but it was *comparatively* a very good job.

PHIL - Ugh again. Is it just me? They all sound off and blah. He tried to pull it off at the end, but ugh ugh ugh. I still like him though.

***"If you make it, will you squint next week?" RYAN wins the prize for the most entertaining tonight!!! At least someone was!!!

CHRIS S. - Finally, a TRULY good performance! Great job! Finally finally finally in the 11th hour. And coming after all those other "so-so's", it's even more impressive. Well the judges didn't like it! So they praise the bad ones and put down the one who actually did a good job! I don't agree with them on this one.

BLAH BLAH BLAH, a most unimpressive night.

TOP - RYAN and CHRIS S., though I guess Ryan doesn't count :) , so I'll say CHRIS S. and BLAKE.

BOTTOM - Gee, where do I start? Sanjaya, Chris R., Sundance, Phil??? Let's go with who should leave before the TOP 12 (and final 6 guys): SANJAYA and JARED, because I think Brandon may have pulled it off just enough to make it through.

Will people vote on favorites or performances tonight? I'd be very surprised if Sanjaya doesn't make it.