Posts By Liz Black

March 4th, 2009 | 8:17 am by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: 5 Moments We Loved, March 3

It’s always hard to pick just five top moments to talk about because for all the moments that stand out, there’s plenty of decent talent that gets overshadowed by the drama. So, just to quickly give equal time to all parties involved before moving on to the good stuff, we’d like to mention the people we won’t be mentioning below: Von Smith, Arianna Afsar and Felicia Barton. There. Even playing field.

5. Tears and Near Tears

Is it us or were there more tears than usual on the show last night? As soon as she finished her performance, Pleather-pants-wearing Taylor Vaifanua burst into tears (of joy, she said) and damply made her way through the judges’ table. Then the judges reamed out Alex Wagner-Trugman for roughhousing with a microphone stand and he was borderline misting up (more about him in a moment). Jorge Nunez, after a major bonding session about music, pride and accents was moved to tears because he had come so far. Choked up, he told the judges he couldn’t think in English and then Ryan told America to dial uno-uno if we wanted to vote for Jorge. This group of performers was definitely a strong crew (way better than last week) and the emotions were running as high as the talent.

March 3rd, 2009 | 12:45 pm by Liz Black

Flashback Lunch: Jennifer Hudson’s Style Evolution

Jennifer Hudson‘s early exit from the American Idol finals in 2004 (she finished seventh) has had no bearing on her success since the show. She’s proven to be one of the most successful alums the show has produced since it began in 2002 (and the only one to win an Academy Award, for her work in Dreamgirls). Thanks to her versatility and style, Hudson snagged roles in two movies last year: Sex and the City and The Secret Lives of Bees. Starring opposite fashion icons like Sarah Jessica Parker and Beyonce, Hudson’s A-list status has been cemented. Now it’s time to look back at her style evolution — from reality TV contestant to becoming the first African-American singer to ever grace the cover of Vogue. Pics below …

February 27th, 2009 | 11:24 am by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: Results Feb. 26

During last night’s results show, three lucky (some would say very lucky) singers made it to the finals. Some of our predictions from yesterday came true and some did not. It seems that America loves an underdog (a Michael Sarver, if you will) and last night’s Michael Sarver was, inexplicably, Kris Allen. We did not see that coming. The one obvious choice, Allison Iraheta, made it through with no complaints from us, but of the two men who made it through in this competition, one could be an extra on Gossip Girl and the other could be an extra in The Unofficial and Unnecessary Story of Pete Wentz, and neither will beat Danny Gokey. We also learned we’re pretty crappy at making predictions.

February 26th, 2009 | 7:50 am by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: 5 Moments We Loved, Feb. 25

“It’s too late for advice now,” Simon Cowell ominously responded when Ryan Seacrest asked if any of the judges had a nugget of wisdom for this round of contestants. This week’s performances included a couple of seasoned performers, two single mothers, two high school students, a Norman Gentle, and a guy who has Kate from Jon and Kate Plus 8′s hair, only his is black. (But seriously Adam Lambert, the good news is that dogs across the neighborhood finally got a version of “Satisfaction” that they could hear properly, so thank you, feel free to retire now.)

5. Norman Gentle Rides Again

Much as we want Norman Gentle to stick around, we don’t think he’ll be here forever. As Ryan said after Norman groped the American Idol signage, “That’s the first time a contestant has gone to second base with our logo.” We loved his performance because he basically used the song “And I Am Telling You” to tell us he was not going. We love that as soon as he sang the words “I’m not going,” he knocked on plastic too. Plastic is just as good as wood in Norman’s world. He’s quirky and weird and yes, we agree with Paula that this isn’t the right stage for him, but we’d love to get a few more performances out of the guy to see how far he can get. Also, he called Simon “Sassy-pants.”

February 19th, 2009 | 12:10 pm by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: Results

Despite the fact that these hour-long results shows could easily be done away with, at least they get crap done. We lost nine contestants last night, which is pretty significant, but when we weren’t excitedly watching the reveal of who got to stay and who had to go, we had to watch filler like the Carly Smithson and Michael Johns‘ duet or the group song. Why, group song, why??? In the end we saw nine dreams shattered, but the dreams on one man, one woman and one wild card were kept alive.

After Ryan re-intros the judges who heartlessly re-point out the shortcomings of those who laid an egg the night before, the entire gang lays an egg with their pointless group song, “I’m Yours”. It serves no purpose except maybe to showcase the voice of someone who’s going home and make you feel bad that you didn’t vote for them. Given that Jackie Tohn feels the need to stare deep into the eyes of the camera to try and make eye contact with the viewer, we’re not feeling so bad about not voting for her, actually.

February 18th, 2009 | 12:43 pm by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: First Round Of Semifinals

It was a night that seemed to go on for hours, didn’t it? Last night’s Idol was the first round of semifinals where we got to watch twelve contestants vie for three final spots and it was a learning experience for everyone. First, let’s hope Kara learned to move about three inches away from the microphone, amIright? Girlfriend had a few too many close encounters with that thing. We the viewing audience learned Barney Stinson and Sam Malone love to be a part of a live studio audience. Steven Fowler learned that “Rock With You” is off limits to anyone by Michael Jackson during his sequined jumpsuit phase, and finally Tatiana seemed to learn her lesson that crazy is okay as long as it’s in small doses.

February 17th, 2009 | 4:25 pm by Liz Black

Top 15 Kelly Clarkson Hairstyles

When Steve Carell yells your name during The 40-Year-Old Virgin while getting his chest waxed, you know you’re big time. As the first winner of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson has transcended her title as winner of a reality show and become a total star. Beyond her singing career, the girl has had endorsement deals with Candies, NASCAR, ProActiv and even Vitamin Water. Fashion-wise, she’s no Aretha (whose hat has it’s own Facebook fan page), but the girl has definitely evolved since her Idol makeover. While her sense remains pretty consistent (girlfriend loves her crop tops), her style evolution can best be tracked through her hairstyles. Let’s take a ride on the Clarkson fashion roller coaster and check out the ups and downs of Miss Independence.

February 12th, 2009 | 10:21 am by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: The Judges’ Mansion!

Paula, Randy, Kara and Simon sit in their red velvet thrones high atop the Hollywood Hills, ready to lord over the 54 remaining contestants. This was, according to Ryan, the toughest week of the contestants’ lives. We bet the contestants with sad back stories, rare diseases and young children would beg to differ, but he’s made his point, and to top it off, eighteen people are going home, including one of our most favorites.

1. It’s a Sing-Off

Seriously, the judges might as well have been yelling “Dance, monkeys!” at the contestants, the way they made them perform on a whim. By making certain contestants engage in a sing-off it was almost cruel the way they compared and contrasted some of them. For instance, when Simon debated between pink-blonde Kristin McNamara and tall blonde Jenn Korbee by asking “Do we want the attractive one or the one who can sing?” So okay, McNamara tends to look like a squeamish Muppet slinking in and out of the judges’ room full of nerves, but she didn’t deserve that.? In the end, McNamara is the one who will advance and, no doubt, get one hell of a makeover.

February 11th, 2009 | 7:10 am by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: 5 Moments We Loved

72 contestants divided between four horribly-carpeted hotel holding rooms awaited their fate on American Idol last night. It was such an uneventful episode that even Simon Cowell decided to bail early to “catch a flight to London” — as if the guy doesn’t have his own jet that he can schedule whenever he wants. We blame it on the loss of Bikini Girl. Still, it’s fun to watch people get better and, in some cases, worse, and then watch the contestants writhe around in confusion when they get placed in the same group as Crazytownie Tatiana Del Toro or Bi-Polarville resident Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle.

1. Tatiana Is Like Dish Detergent

The look on the faces of everyone in Group 4 when they realized that Tatiana Del Toro had been taken out of Group 2 and placed in their room was priceless. Toxic Tatiana was a harbinger of doom all the way to the end for this group, like a drop of Dawn dish detergent that causes everything else in the room to scatter. Too bad both groups Tatiana was in advanced to the final round so that was just a clever bit of drama the producers threw in there for us.

February 5th, 2009 | 11:52 am by Liz Black

American Idol Recap: Hollywood Week – Group Day

In a scene straight out of every high school nightmare I ever had, the contestants must choose their own groups, inevitably leaving people out. This leads to certain people awkwardly scavenging for a group so that it doesn’t look like like nobody likes them. Anyone? Please? Let me join your group?

While some of the self-assembled groups instantly work, others don’t fare as well, i.e. every group that Tatiana Del Toro – the one whose terrible laugh is worse than her terrible cry – tried to join. Just watching these contestants scramble around singing, crying, and wearing forehead-headbands (I’m looking at you, Nathaniel) reminds me of the time I was on the subway and the entire car filled up with high school drama students from New Jersey who had just seen The Lion King on Broadway. Everything was very huggy and showtuney on that ride home.

As much as Bikini Girl deserves to be in all five of the evening’s highlight’s, alas she only appears in two. Onward…

1. Ryan Pinkston Gets the Stink-eye From Paula