No, no, no.

Kimberly was weakest, Clay was strongest. Ru and Josh were in the middle, and I still give the edge to Ru. Josh does that weird thing with his mouth that I hate.

I do agree with the complaint about the background singers, though.

Dean, don't give into the Vast Country Music Conspiracy!

You voted against Ruben?? You bastard!

Not.

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Sounds about right. Clay is prolly gonna win this thing, but Josh will be runner-up. Kimberly has no passion, and Ruben is too fat.

Kimberly hurt my ears last night. I voted for Clay because he gotten better each weak. The boy is gonna be HUGE.

Josh was better than usual, but still bored me. And Ruben hasn't shown me anything since the first few weeks.

Kimberly is going to be gone tonight.

Meanwhile, I was spending time reading with my seven year old and trying to answer his question about why sometimes black and white people are mean to each other. I guess I really missed something. Damn me!

I voted for Clay - but I think Kimberly gets the boot tonight. Josh sounded good, I think we are seeing the effects of his not having any professional vocal training. Some weeks he is on, some weeks not. I still say he will be the first of the bunch to sell a lot of records though. Far less talented folks have made a fortune in Nashville.

The worst performances last night were from Randy & Paula. They aren't judging at all any more, in fact I don't think either one of them used a single descriptive adjective all night. I don't always agree with Simon, but at least he usually has something true to say.

Beyond that I hate to say it but Kimberley's interpretations were both amateurish. True, the horrid off-key shrieking of the backup singers wasn't her fault, but there was just nothing there to make the performances worthwhile. The arrangements weren't even good. I have thought at times she was worthy of second place, but this was very disappointing and I think she should go home tonight.

I had a hard time listening critically to the first two performances (Josh and Clay), but I could still see that Josh's first performance was laughably sophomoric; I mean fraternity fund-raiser quality. I think he has about a half-octave range and the arrangement was chopped to pieces to reflect that. I didn't hear anything bad about his second performance, but then again I also didn't hear anything good about it.

As I said, I had a hard time listening critically to Clay's first performance, but in retrospect I think it was worthy of being released as a single. Really really good. And the worst you could say about his second performance was that it was fun and flawless; I have no idea where Simon came up with "Horrible". There isn't a lot of depth to the song (Grease), but it was entertaining and I thought calculated to expand the breadth of his talents.

Ruben's first performance wasn't good enough, but it had flashes of real brilliance - I think if he spent some more time developing his interpretation he could make it into a hit single, but it just wasn't ready. His second performance was so good it gave me goosebumps. You have to listen to him carefully because it is subtle, but there is real depth and emotion in his voice.

So I think Clay's first and Ruben's second were the only real professional grade performances of the night, both releasable commercial performances.

I tried to vote a half dozen times over the first hour but all I got were busy signals.

Thanks for the forum Dean!

You only vote for one person? Why? I'm not watching this year, but last year once things got down to the wire, I voted for everybody I wanted to proceed. I suppose if you're playing some game with yourself where you must limit your vote to one person, I should say more power to you. But there's nothing wrong with multiple votes.

PS The whole notion of voting based solely on the previous performance is just bizarre to me. Even a blind dog can find a butt to sniff from time to time, but I ain't sending him into a burning building after my daughter.

PPS if you haven't been sticking around for "24"...I pity ya. Last night's episode had me holding my breath - it created a truly palpable sense of dread and suspense - and the finale left me with the strongest adrenaline rush I've ever gotten out of a TV drama. A spy thriller of the highest order, and I don't use the word "thriller" lightly.

Just admit it: Simon is right 90% of the time. Paula and Randy aren't interested in being anything more than a cheerleading section when it gets to this point.

Clay's version of "Grease" was absolutely terrible! My wife and I just sat there laughing.

He squeezed his powerful voice into a gruff little squeak, he did those annoying cruise-ship-dinner-show things with his face, and he danced around like an effeminate high school talent show contestant. Sure, it would have been a light I-don't-take-myself-too-seriously performance in the context of a larger show, but as one of two songs toward the end of a nationally televised competition, it was simply... what's the word... horrible.

But he's certainly got a bright future singing Disney theme songs. Otherwise, I see this in his future.

I'm sorry. I should have given context for that picture.

I didn't vote for just one person. It's just unthinkable that I should have voted for Josh at all, considering how much time I've spent saying that he needs to be voted off.

But last night, he was excellent.

By the way, this year's competitors are all better than last year's. The top 2 from last year would have washed out early in this year's competition.

Is it a vote if you get a busy signal? Otherwise how and when did you manage to get through?

I have heard better stuff from Tamyra Gray on commercials for Boston Public than any of the performances from Justin or Kelly that I have had to sit through on AI2. If that is the best they can do with pro support I can only imagine how boring last season must have been.

I'm pretty sure if you get a busy signal it doesn't count.

We called our votes in about 45 minutes after the show ended. We had no trouble at all getting through.

Following up on Brian's point about 24 - I had never watched the show until a few weeks ago and I was instantly hooked. It really is the nost intense hour of programming on TV. Escapism done at its very very best.

Oops, my bad. Good that you vote for multi people. From what I've seen of Josh, I wouldn't have a problem voting for him. You're probably right about this year's crop vs. last year's. The polite fiction that RJ Helton and Jim Veraros or even Nikki Mckibbin (say her name backwards - it's fun! Nibbi Kmikkin! Nibbi Kmikkin!) deserved more than 3 minutes of air time was one of the most infuriating things about the show last year. I admit part of the power of the show was hoping hoping hoping to see them get KICKED OFF.

Yes! Go Josh! He's my honey. And I think he was good last night. Unfortunately, I don't think he's going to win, because overall, Ruben and Clay have been more consistent.

Okay, I both whole-heartedly agree with Owen and worry about how much time he's spent in analyzing this.

Owen, I think you're a brand new type of geek--an American Idol geek. I'm proud of you.

The weird part is I hate pop music.

I have to say that, while I have no interest whatsoever in American Idol, I was very impressed with last night's "24." The show's writers intentionally wrote Kim as a bimbo all season, just so her experience last night would have the maximum possible impact. Kim is going to be growing up in a hurry. For all the silly things that show has put its characters through this season, they did manage to pull a genuine "Oh my God" out of me last night.

Dean, I'm disappointed. Josh was much improved but not good. I'm afraid for Kimberley. I forget to vote because I get caught up in 24 right afterward. I'm trying to have faith that the remaining contestants (except Josh) are all good enough that they'll have favorable things come from this even if they don't win the show. Tamyra is easily the "winner" from last time around.

And 24, holy shit! That show has me in knots every week, but last night was particularly good.

That is fun. I'm not a big pop music fan, either. I like my music a little rough around the edges.

I actually set up a Shoutcast server from home last night after American Idol just to kind of wash away the guilt of having gotten sucked into the show. I linked it from my site and have been listening to it all day.

I feel better.