Actually, I think the real question is, how good were the some of the ones that got bumped in favour of Good Girls, and how little taste did the people "helping him" choose the songs have to overlook them?

Am going to guess it was the same ones who dressed him. You know, the evil and/or blind elves.

Shoebox, as you were. Am v. interested to hear the rest of this story.

-Mikey. Loud cheers. Ah, so that's why the fifty zillion prepubescent suburban fangirls sitting around me. Silly moi. He gets a huge intro from the MC, all about how this 'wonderful young man' has overcome his myriad troubles ('you remember, the Toronto Sun did a feature' - way to be tactful, there, MC) to get to the finals of CI, and just generally grace us with his presence.
"Y'know, man's got a point," I am thinking. "Maybe I should give Mikey another chance..."
Then Mikey steps out. He looks exactly like he did on TV, contacts and tracksuit and all. And then the thanking begins...and all my noble resolutions go straight out the gate. I mean, I'm sorry, but smarminess just oozes off this man.
He sings Hello. He can undoubtedly do that very well. By the end he has collected a sizeable huddle of camcorder-toting fangirls at his feet.
Then he announces he's 'into audience participation'..oh, lord, how do I describe this?
He's asking where all his 'ladies in red' are, and introducing his 'lovely assistant' - I swear, that's exactly what he says - a slender blonde woman in a scarlet jumpsuit. (Said woman is later introduced as the head of concert sponsor DareArts, so I'm really hoping the getup was just a massive coincidence.) This woman is holding - again, not making this up - a huge bouquet of red carnations, complete with babies'-breath...
You can guess the scene that follows: He heads off into the audience to dispose of the flowers, whilst smarming his way through Lady in Red. To his credit, a few go to toddlers...but many more go to the Camcorder Posse. Who promptly burst into tears. Meantime I am literally sitting there with my scarf over my head, counting how many choruses 'til it's over. Quite a few, as it turned out. Then he thanks everyone some more...

...Shut up, Mikey.

--Tyler - who also has no CD to flog - is, like Richie, taking this all very seriously; I suppose having chirrun of your own makes the concept of their finding peace a bit more immediate.
So he makes a sober little speech about what an honour it is to be associated etc., says 'This is my song for the children', then launches into You'll Never Walk Alone. Then he sings Don't Let the Sun... after suggesting that the chorus 'might also remind us of the children'.
Now, Tyler is about the very last man on this planet who could get away with this kind of routine without my horking up my popcorn. Transparent sincerity radiates from him like smarm with Mikey...well, that, and the 'incredibly gorgeous' thing. (He's a big man - about six-two - to begin with, and his present company is exaggerating this to almost cartoonish effect.) And a sort of quiet, blue-collar sweetness. It's now very easy for me to understand how this guy convinced himself he was doing a truly kick-ass Elvis impression Motown night.
Another thing that didn't come across so well on TV is the sheer power of the man's voice. He's rattling the rooftops - of a domed stadium - and in complete control of every note besides (he finishes off DLTSGDOM with a particularly breathtaking flurry). Another time and place he could probably be trained into a passable operatic baritone. As it is, his gospel roots are clearly evident.

--MC announces Gary...'Beeeeaaaaalllls!!' Yes, we get it, he's the runner-up, thanks.

Empty stage.

Five, ten seconds go by. I am running through the usual mental list of accidents and delays - and stifling a particularly entertaining idea involving the von Trapps and some Nazis - but what it turns out to be, basically, is a moment of silence in mourning for Gary Beals: Sweet, Humble Kid.
Then the spotlite goes up...and Gary Beals: The Blessing struts out. (At least, about as well as a slight five-four/five guy can strut.) And he is smiling. Yea, verily, Mr.Beals has come down from on high to give us less spiritually-attuned mortals a rare taste of his Presence.
OK, I'm exaggerating - but not by much. Anyhow, as noted he does an utterly lovely job of I Believe I Can Fly, so beautiful in fact that he's a good third of the way in before the R.Kelly subtext kicks in. This is where being in a sea of prepubescent females is really unhelpful; I'm looking around, hoping to find somebody to catch eyes and snicker with, and nada. Same worshipful attention that Mikey gets. Anyhow, Gary's CD is out in April - 'So pick it up!'

Note to Shack or whever it is moderates here: I have read the FAQ. This is the last time I do this, I swear. I am pleading special circs here because a)it deals with a really, really, nice moment and b)I am not Dickens and so feel a little silly, announcing installments. :")

Finale: All six reunite for Put a Little Love in Your Heart, entering the stage two by two and crossing in the centre. This is v. nice but unremarkable, except that Tyler and Karen-Lee, the last pair out, suddenly break into wryly affectionate grins as they meet and grab hands as they cross.

Autograph session. Slash-eeeeeee!-hilight-of-my-entire-life. I sprint upstairs, fork over $5 for a poster to be signed...what? It was for a good cause. Shut up. Besides, I do my best not to look like a total raving fangirl by folding it in four, white side up. Then reflect that it might be a bit rude, asking people to sign the reverse of their faces, so fold it back.

Anyhow, long story short, I hand Tyler my folded poster. He automatically bends to sign. I extend a hand.
"Ah...Tyler?" Because I'm only eloquent when I'm at a keyboard. He glances up. Because I also lack basic social skills, I am forced to employ the traditional Dweeb Method for initiating handshakes, ie. staring hard at the other person's hand. Eventually he gets it. His hand is entirely engulfing mine. Carpenter's hands, indeed.
"I...ah...wanted to introduce myself as one of your online fans."
While I'm continuing the internal debate I've been having all day, regarding whether a grown woman can introduce herself to a grown man as 'Shoebox' without sounding like a complete moron...his eyes are lighting up.
"Oh...your name wouldn't start with a Shoe, would it?"
Now, I had earlier posted to his 'scary forum' that I'd be attending, and I know he reads posts. But still. This is such the eeee-worthy moment.
He finishes signing. Hands me back the poster, grins, winks and gives me the thumbs-up. All at once. More corny cuteness. The man really is un-freaking-believably appealing, y'know?

I'm pretty sure I also got Richie's autograph, because I remember telling him how much I missed him when he left CI and getting a lovely smile in return. But the rest of the evening's kinda a blur...

Thanks for the recap, shoebox. I agree with your assessment of Karen Lee. She seeems...nice and all. And her voice is...pretty. So why is she so...meh?

I am kind of sorry that Tyler doesn;t have a CD. Because I kind of think I would buy it :-)

I don't even like Tyler all that much and I'm totally EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!ing for you right now. So cute!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy New Years All!!!

Update coming soon...must nap before finale.

I just want to say that Zack's endorsement of Ryan is the kiss of death. As he even said, he has no idea who'd get voted off. . . he was wrong so many times.


Definitely "Eee" worthy.

And merc. . . you posted on the Australian forum. What no tidbits here?

And then tobey goes postal. Jesus wept.

BillMy steak knife targets are Will, Simon for picking on Zack (and usually I love Simon) the blind/evil dresser elves and whomever beats Kurt and Peter. You can have the rest for Guy. My little New Year's present to you.

About world idol. . . Argh! Kiss of death is right about Zack. Advance spoilers has Ryan in 7th place! Heinz finished above him.

Okay, if the above is true, and I've heard it is true, then that's crap. All I wanted was for him to finish in the top half, but if he didn't, then I wish he hadn't had to waste his holiday doing this crap at all.

ETA: From a reliable source... I'm now hearing the rumours about seventh are not true, and that Ry was actually fourth. Gah, I should've trusted my journalistic instinct in the first place, which told me to not believe any advance spoilers until I'd heard them confirmed from at least three reliable sources. Not gonna believe anything, and am going to try and go spoiler-free until the show airs. Good luck to me!

From someone who shall not be named.....at WI, in the press pen right now...this is all I know. Apparently it's really freakin' loud in there.


1 - Kurt
2 - Kelly
3 - Peter
5 - Will
7 - Ryan

Just saw the show. Ryan is 6th.

"You, America..."

Fuck off Ant and Dec, and take your FOX feed with you. I actually want Ben back.

(Oh, and "the praise was universal for Kelly?" I guess Zach has officially left the universe then.)

Our boy finished middle of the pack - literally. I guess that's the Canadian way. (He was seventh the last time they posted totals for everyone but the last two countries flipped him above Guy.) I was somewhat disappointed (Heinz and Will came 4th and 5th!) but not as much as when I realised that Diana tied with Alexander for 9th.

I thought Ant and Dec were actually really cute ("And now the UK results...Oh, that's us, right")...right up untill they started the tongue-bath on Kelly. I mean, one second it's "Everybody has a chance..." then (literally) ten seconds later "Oh, we know Kelly's got it," or something.

And yes, of course the praise for Kelly was universal. Zack was obviously motivated only by sheer spite over Simon's critique of Ryan. [/deep, deep sarcasm]

Other thoughts:

--For some reason, the World Idol logo is still really, really bugging me. I mean, how hard could it be to come up with something that doesn't look like it was put together by art students fooling around with PowerPoint?

--Yay!! Hobb...um, Kurt. I wonder how it feels to find out that the world simoultaneously thinks you're a) a great singer and b)a cute little troll?

--The next best fun was watching Kelly lose. Actually, watching her expression go from 'polite, gracious winner' to "Hmmmm..." to "You mean I didn't..." to "Wahhhhh!" may turn out to be the highlight of my entire year.

--Peter, love, I still like you a lot, and you surely deserved to place that high...but everytime you flashed that peace sign, you lost another wee bit of credibility. That, and the soul patch needed trimming last Monday.

--Mom, who hasn't read a single word of a single Ryan interview since he won CI: "He really doesn't even want to be here, does he?"

--Sister, meanwhile, on Guy: "Ugly, yeah...but what are you talking about, he has a fantastic voice!" OK, Sis has perfect pitch and I'm tin-eared, so I guess it's me that's strange. But we do agree that Fro Boy's habit of wrinkling up his little button nose when he smiles is making our collective teeth hurt.

--OK, everybody surprised that Heinz the Pinup made it into the top five raise your hands. Let's face it, the day after the performance aired he was probably taking calls to become a backup Backstreet Boy.

--Will is much easier to tolerate when he's not singing.

--Forget winning the American war on drugs, maybe the DEA should be dispatched on a mission of mercy to the Pan-Arabic states. On the other hand, the look of somebody-lurves-me! relief on Alexander's face is kinda touching.

--American Idol commercial. Er...OK. Is it just me, or is anyone else getting a creepy, vaguely Weakest Link-crossed-with-Gong Show vibe from this whole AI production at this point?

--I like Diana. For no very good reason other than she strikes me as a very likeable person.

--The hosts from each country come off great, cool and funny (love the Norwegian judges' singing - I'm beginning to think we should be really proud that Ryan got high votes in this country). Sis, incidentally, thinks the blond Aussie is gorgeous.

...And then there's Benedict, the Eager Beaver. Aggghh. Zack, you do still have that bobblehead doll ready to go for this season, right? Please?

Ryan's reaction to the results from the Toronto Star



Pretty much what you would expect him to say.

The full order of finish was:

1. Kurt Nilsen (Norway)
2. Kelly Clarkson (USA)
3. Peter Evrard (Belgium)
4. Heinz Winkler (RSA)
5. Will Young (UK)
6. Ryan Malcolm (Canada)
7. Guy Sebastian (Australia)
8. Alex (Poland)
9. Jamai (Netherlands)
10. Alexander (Germany)
11. Diana (Jordan)

I'm happy Kurt won. Yay for the underdog.


Okay me, but only because I see him as eye candy and that's it.

I think it's funny he got the forth place vote in Canada. It's seems to be the good looking guy with the "meh" voice position here.

I can't believe I'm saying this but, me too! Not because I miss Ben (because I don't!), I just really didn't enjoy watching the Kelly-centric version of the show.

She just could not believe she was not winning this thing. Right at the end, I thought I saw a tear. But she looked so good tonight... I just could not enjoy her defeat as much as you did.

For those of you who must know the order of finish in every country go here

Boy Kelly looked good tonight...

She did look v. pretty, agreed, and I really do like her voice OK. If she could've made like Ryan and Will and adopted a vaguely amused, 'don't care' attitude, I wouldn't have said a word. But as it was she had quite clearly bought into her own press releases ...that, and the Fox tongue-bath, just shoved me over the top.

That was just... anticlimactic. Of course, I was spoiled, but even if I hadn't been, the whole ending was just flat. It was like no one had thought of what to do after they announced the winner.

What would have helped? Hmmm. Maybe if we got to have the judges panel offer their comments on the Special Musical Guests.

"Horrible. Simply horrible. You had best find yourself a rich football player husband, miss, because that is the only way you'll ever be famous."

"Do you actually want to be here sir? Would you like to borrow my cell phone to deliver your next performance? Oh yes, and Jamai from Holland says he wants his damn glasses back."

(I would pay to hear Kuba's comments on those two numbers.)

It's the whole Fox tongue-bath which got me a little irritated by the whole "Kelly" focus, but not necessarily Kelly. They sort of set her up, didn't they in the broadcast to be the Goliath to Kurt's "David."

Victoria Beckham -- that was so awful. Nice lip synching there too -- noticed at one point the mic is down, but the voice was still there. She's a Spice Girl, she should have specialized in that already.

I turned around to actually watch the last minute of this and I thought I was seeing Billy perform with Bono's voice. Kurt has flailing arms, and I love me some flailing arms. My Norweigen heritage is having a belated new years drink in celebration.

Freakin' Americans! GAH! What the hell were my countrymen thinking??? 7th for Ryan?!?!?! Heinz 2nd?! Damn teeny-boppers. Yeah Heinz is hot - but he sang that song like it was a muzak. It's a rock song! Heinz, see Billy Klippert about how to sing that song, mmkay? (BTW - Billy singing Levon would have soooo won this competition.)

I hope BMG doesn't use these per-country results as the be-all, end-all or Ryan will doing international promotion in the Pan Arab region instead of the U.S., and I think he could do so well here.

Oh - and did the stress of World Idol cause Ryan's hair to fall out at an even more rapid rate? Yikes!

He'd have to split his time with Norway, though - and there was one other country that had him high; South Africa, perhaps? That'd be quite the tour! I don't think they'll use the numbers quite that literally, though. Otherwise, they'd have to put more money into marketing Kurt than Kelly. And that? Is not going to happen. (Though I'm hoping this gets his CD available in Canada because I'm not willing to pay $20 shipping to get it from some European website.)

I was surprised to see them play Zach's comments in Ryan's section of the mini-review. I'm not sure if it was just to put a good spin on him or what (though I still maintain "I will buy your CD" is the most positive comment a judge can make) but almost everyone else got non-home-judge remarks (though I'll take a positive home-judge comment over the summary poor Alexander got).

Enjoy the hair while it's there. It's not long for this world, is it?

No it is not. I guess stress really does cause your hair to fall out in clumps, eh?

Meantime...Shack's recap is up, and it's pretty well dead-on IMHO. He is kinda dismissive of Ryan, but agrees completely with 'Zak' re: Kelly, and calls Simon on the 'donkeys' crack: "One of the great things about this country is that you don't have to be born here to become an Ugly American! Way to go!"

ETA my favourite bit:

[Heinz] is one of those pretty boys who realizes how pretty everybody thinks he is, so he doesn't even bother to be interesting because he doesn't think he needs to be, and so he suddenly becomes less pretty the more and more you realize that he offers absolutely nothing more than you can get from just looking at a picture of him. Anyway, despite the fact that his singing was merely okay, and he has absolutely no charisma, he beat out a better singer because he's just so very pretty.

Dead right.

Poor, poor Ry... I felt so bad for him. His facial expressions were pretty tragic throughout the whole thing. He had the look of a kid who is getting his butt kicked in a popularity contest, but who's trying to make it look as though he doesn't care. His "fuck that" attitude was way too much of a front and as such it was paper thin.

If he had a press conference after the show, it would be interesting to see what the heck he had to say/what he looked like. Because his comments in the press are laden with the bullshit of the defeated.

Mr. Lawyergirl, however, was bang-on right when he said that Kurt reminded him of Billy... Although I love me some W8RBoi, I can't help but feel that Billy would have done better on the world stage. In fact, I get a slight bit of an "EEEEEE" brewing in me when I think of him performing "Levon" on that show. *Sigh*

And because it hasn't been said in a few weeks: FUCK. *sniff* I still miss Billy.

Me too.

Me three. Levon woulda blown them all - even the Hobbit - out of the water.

Me four. Levon kicks eleven types of ass.

I am not ashamed to admit that I was hopping up and down on my couch everytime Kurt took a country. I did! Seeing him win was the only good thing that happened all day and I fully immersed myself in squealing fangirl joy.

Cute widdle HobbitBoi. Someone tell me how to get his CD. Before some North American record company gets their hands on him and fixes his teeth, buys him a stairmaster and pays his family off to disappear.

Me five. Billy's Levon is amazing (I still listen to it all the time) and introducing the flailing arm of death to the world? priceless.

Me six.

Although I have the feeling that good performance or not, Billy would have been torn apart by the judges possibly for his appearance (he always looked a little upset when Zack would pick on his shirts), looked hurt, and then it would have been like blood in the water, and then my foot would have gone through the television set.

Me seven! (Heh. The next person gets the "I eight the sandbox" spot)

My Billy love knows no bounds! I have no doubt he would have kicked ass on WI. On a scarier note, imagine if :::shudder::: Gary had won and we had him representing us? Oy.

I hate to interrupt the Billy lovefest, as I also lurve Billy, but in Idol Boi's defence, I have to say that all this "Billy would've kicked ass at WI!" is at least 50% wishful thinking. First of all, Levon was definitely his rock star moment, but if he had sung anything other than that song, he could easily have been dismissed as pretty meh or a rocker wannabe, which is how a lot of the anti-Kurt contingent on various boards are dismissing Kurt. Second of all, he's definitely more of the Peter Evrard type - he probably would've been pretty bored/pissed off about the whole WI thing, and it may well have affected his performance.

Now I will slink back into my little Ryan Was the Best, and That Includes Billy! cave and let everyone else disagree with me.

Me eight! (the sandbox - hee!)

Please don't bring up the name of He Who Came in Second! Just the thought of him doing this show....shudder.

Applause for Ryan nonetheless! (clapclapclap) WI was so very lame - not what I was hoping the show to be about at all! Oh well. Congrats to Kurt!

I didn't mean by my post that Billy is better than Ry - he was my personal fave, but I know that YMMV. The point that I was making (granted, it was soked in a bullshit "Why can't the World by my way, whhyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" tone), is that given the placements in WI, Billy seems likely to have had a better shot at placing higher, simply because his style is oddly similar to that of Kurt's. Mind you, that could merely have led to vote splitting and Kelly Clarkson eventually winning the damned thing...

Anyhoo, I just think that Billy would have been able to kick some major butt at this competition. But that doesn't in any way diminish Ry's greatness, so don't worry dramagrrl!!! Come out of your cave and play with us again!!!

I'm hooooooooome!

Had a great time, lots of stuff to tell you about. Instead of posting it here, I will make a page about it on my website and post the link. Right now? I am off to smell better and go play some DDR.

I'd sell my Canadian citizenship.

Shoebox, you rock for that long write up you did on that concert for charity a few days back. Just thought I'd say that. As for Billy and world idol, part of me believes he would've performed well (better than Ryan? maybe) but another part of me thinks he'll get votes only from those deciding between Kurt and Peter. He doesn't quite have Kurt's range in voice or Peter's metal edge, he's sort of in between.

Ah, yes, make that two. Still angry about Beals even BEING in the top two. I wanted a Billy/Ryan finale so bad - not just for the HoYay, but because IMHO Billy can entirely outsing Gary, and I tend to like his style better than Ryan's. Oh well. I agree with the opinion that Billy's style is in-between Kurt's and Peter's style. But, I think Billy is much nicer on the eyes!!
ETA ARGHH! Even thinking about Beals has me upset.

Awww...my great pleasure.

Welcome back merc. Don't take too long with that report.

I also want to thank happyblue for those links to CI performances. I find myself really liking Ryan Malcolm's rendition of Moving Out. I keep watching it over and over. I wish we could've traded Ryan for nasty Elfin Clay. I'm gonna save up my cash, then order his CD. Damn foreign shipping costs!

Movin' Out is my Favorite. Ryan. Performance. Ever. I still can't believe the judges (and a lot of viewers, I guess) were so meh on it. Maybe they just didn't like the song to begin with? Because seriously, he not only delivers the words (even the "ack-ack-ack" part, which would make a less confident performer look stupid) with real energy, and every note is bang-on, he looks like he's having a ball up there (bulging veins notwithstanding). He even looks good for a change -- I love his shirt.

But best of all, there's this one moment after the first chorus where he turns to look at the camera and gives this absolutely adorkable grimace/grin. Cracks me up every time. Where Clay would be using that opportunity to make shameless eyelove* to you, the home viewer, Ryan looks like, "Oh gosh, there's a camera there. I'm never gonna get used to those things. Oh, well -- hi guys!"

If I could overcome the suspicion that he says "hackey-sack" (hee!) instead of "Hackensack" in the first verse, I'd say the whole performance is just about perfect.

Welcome to the Dork Side, Jer.

--
*Yes, I know the real term. I'd even agree it's more accurate. I just can't bring myself to use it. My momma done brung me up right, and what about the chirrun?

It was also one of my favourites, and when I realized so many viewers were meh about it, I thought it came off better live or something - being at the taping that night, it was really obvious that Ry was on absolute fire and just banged down both his performances with a "Dammit, I am the Idol already!" confidence that radiated to the balconies. I totally loved that adorkable face he made in the middle of it, and the shirt was SO. CUTE. He looked so boyish. Boyish!Ry... EEEEEEEEEEE.

Damn. I am such a fangirl.

Can I join in on the Movin' Out love-fest? I loved everything about that performance too. I thought he definitely gave Billy Joel a run for his money.

Every time I see him make that goofy face I squeal and giggle like a little fan-girly. And I agree about how cute he looked. There's a picture on the CTV website that is my favorite. Ryan. Idol. picture. ever. of him getting judges' comments after that performance.

Synaesthete, you're not the only one who hears "hackey-sack" instead of "Hackensack".

Add me to the Movin' Out love train. I have that song on my MP3 player currently. I actually did think he said Hackysack. I am a dum.

Could be. He also says "...you can't drive.." instead of "he" and "fender' instead of "fenders".



The judges weren't so much meh about the performance (IIRC Jake actually liked it a lot) as the song choice. Given the vast catalogue of Billy Joel songs that were undoubtedly available to Ryan...Movin' Out is the Joel equivalent of a novelty tune, basically.

That said, it's also one of my very favourite songs to sing along to, and I bought totally into his performance, 'ac-ac-ac's and all. Ryan's vocal style is a good fit for Joel's because it's less about vocal tricks and more about attitude.

...My only real complaint is he skipped the "You should never argue with a crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind/You oughta know by now..." part. :")