AMERICAN IDOL 5 Results

No surprise that Brooke finally goes home. I wish Castro were next, followed by Archulta, but I suspect that Syesha will be next.

AMERICAN IDOL 5

Perhaps the most interesting thing on the show tonight was Paula, who thought she heard Jason Castro sing two songs when he had only sung one, and who called Syesha "Brooke." (I'll cut some slack on the first mistake, they do a run-through before the airing, which the judges listen to, and she was probably remembering that.)

As for the contestants:

Jason Castro was terrible. I'd expect him to be in the bottom two except his history has been great due to teen chicks. It's nice to see that DialIdol has him listed last for one. However, one can never underestimate the text messaging of obsessive teens.

David Cook was great on his first song,and fooled the judges on the 2nd song; he's still the man to beat.

I like Brooke, but she was also very weak. She is always nervous, and she picked too low of a key for the Monkees song. I would expect her to be in the bottom 2.

David Archuleta continues his progression towards king of the Disney Cruise line. He gets worse each week, but he'll be fine, again thanks to teeny-boppers.

Syesha was great on the 1st song, good on the 2nd, and in theory should not have to worry, except that she's the only black person left, and a woman, which would normally put her near the bottom. DialIdol has her at first, but again, the text votes should drop her down.

Dodgers Win in 13

It was a long night at Dodger Stadium. Kuroda pitched well, but the game was very slow, with the 7th inning stretch at almost the 3 hour mark. It took 13 innings for the Dodgers to win. The Dodgers had sent Blake DeWitt back to the minors, so when Nomar pulled an abdominal muscle, the DOdgers were forced to move Russell Martin to 3rd. If Nomar goes to the DL, DeWitt will be back tomorrow. If not, and Nomar is day-to-day, it's a big question mark at 3rd.

Russell Martin finished the game with a Sac Fly; he had 4 hits in the game, plus 2 walks, getting on base in all 6 plate appearances. He had 2 RBIs and a run scored.

Hopefully the Dodgers will be well-rested tomorrow to start another game in the evening.

AMERICAN IDOL 6 RESULTS

Juan Castro should have gone home, but he wasn't even in the bottom two, thanks to his hair and 13 year-old girls.

Carly's days were numbered anyway, she would have been gone in another week or two anyway. So it's not a huge loss.

AMERICAN IDOL 6

Andrew Lloyd Webber week... another reason NOT to watch A.I., but I'm stuck with it.

David Cook was a little weaker than the judges said, but he'll be fine.

Syesha was not as good as the judges made her seem, but she was still one of the best of the night.

Jason Castro was so awful he should be the one going home, but I think he's safe.

Brooke was nowhere near as bad as the judges made her seem for her false start.

Carly was not perfect but gave an excellent performance. Webber saved her ass by making her change songs.

David Archuleta was as vanilla as usual, but he's safe.

Castro should go, but it may be Brooke because of her false start and weak critique from the judges.

MR. WARMTH: DON RICKLES

Last week we were invited to an Emmy event where Don Rickles was interviewed at length by Jimmy Kimmel. Also present was director John Landis, who showed clips from the documentary he made for HBO about Rickles.

Rickles is amazing. He's 82 years old and sharp as a tack. He's constantly "on," and always entertaining. He's very old school, but so politically incorrect that he's still cutting-edge. Virtually every major living comedian is interviewed in the doc and worships him. And with good reason, he's very, very funny. The doc is definitely worth seeing, but even more interesting is seeing him perform in person.

ROLE MODEL: GENE WILDER

TCM had an excellent one-hour interview with actor Gene Wilder this week. Tivo had recorded it as a suggestion and I almost deleted it after reading a mediocre review in Variety, but I'm very glad I didn't. Alec Baldwin hosts an excellent discussion. Wilder is clearly a very intelligent man and committed actor. Actors in particular should see it.

Very highly recommended.

Sampling Rates

I've frequently mentioned in classes the lack of double-blind testing on sampling rates, which has led many people to assume "the higher the number, the better it must sound."

Paul Lehrman has written an excellent article on sampling rates, including the results of the first extensive study I've seen. It can be read at Mix Magazine's web site.

Dodgers Rout Pirates for 2nd Night in a Row

The Dodgers got 15 hits in their second straight rout of the Pirates. Furcal is having a banner year so far, with 4 hits tonight, pushing his BA over 400.

Nomar returned to the lineup with a hit and 2 walks. Blake DeWitt remains on the roster for the time being, pinch-running for Nomar and scoring a run.

Brad Penny had another excellent outing, and the bullpen was also strong.

The crowd was large and loud, with blanket giveaway night always a favorite.

AMERICAN IDOL 7 RESULTS

VoteForTheWorst.com has once again proved its irrelevance; Kristy Lee Cook finally went home. It was her time weeks ago, and I'm glad to see it.

AMERICAN IDOL 7

Kristy Lee Cook should have been eliminated weeks ago; her singing is weak and, frankly, annoying.

Carly Smithson gave a very weak performance. She embellished a melody that didn't need it, and did so by forcing her register. She was flat and grating throughout. She could be in trouble.

David Archuleta continues his drive to be America's best Disney Cruise singer.

Brook White gave her weakest performance yet; she should have used the band to back her on the bridge, and was extremely nervous and shaky. However, I think she will survive.

Jason Castro was good, but the congas did not belong in the song.

Syesha Mercado gave an absolutely amazing performance, one of the best this season.

David Cook is the man to beat.

NAB

Not really a lot new at NAB that I had not seen already. The new Digidesign Icon looks really hip. they've integrated three PT systems into one controller surface, so you can control any system from any part of the surface. The controller is expensive, $100k for just the controller and not including the PT HD hardware, but it's definitely a huge step forward in controller surfaces.

Dodgers Lose Again to Padres

Brad Penny looked weak all night long, and the Dodgers offense could not get the deal sealed once again, leaving 16 on base. Anfrew Jones went a whopping 0 for 4, dropping is BA to a scant .114.

The Dodgers have major problems in every area. Torre has his work cut out for him.

AMERICAN IDOL 8 RESULTS

Quite a shocker this week that one of the better singers, Michael Johns, was voted off. The worst singer by far, Kristy Lee Cook, was not even among the bottom three. Unfortunately, Michael, at age 29, is an old man compared to the obsessive adolescent voters who are text messaging in their votes, so it really shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

Congratulations to ME!

At 7:22 PM last night, an American Idol fan from Wichita, Kansas became the 10,000th visitor to my blog. His visit may have lasted less than a second, but it still counts!

I started this blog a year and a half ago as a way to communicate with students. It didn't work; instead I get baseball fans. Oh, well, it still works out to about 20 visits a day, and even excluding immediate family, that means I'm popular. Not enough to sell ads, but popular enough that I continue to write baseball updates.

AMERICAN IDOL 8

Tonight's "inspirational" show was perhaps the worst ever, and put me to sleep literally, so I can't really make many comments.

Carly seems to be at the bottom, particularly based on the judge's comments. I really dislike Christy Lee Cook, though.

Rockies Beat Glavine

It was 34 degrees at Coors Field in the 2nd inning, but Tom Glavine managed to pitch an amazing game nonetheless, shutting out the Rockies for 6.1 innings and allowing only 3 hits.

Aaron Cook allowed one run in the top of the 1st inning, then pitched a phenomenal game after that, going 7 strong innings with only 1 run and 2 hits allowed.

In the bottom of the 8th, Atlanta pitcher Peter Moylan allowed a 2-run homer from Matt Holliday, which was enough to lose the game.

Game time was a scant 2:05. This was the shortest game I've ever seen. Previously I saw Greg Maddux pitch a 2:15 game for the Dodgers against the Padres, and Pedro Martinez pitch a 2:15 game at Angel Stadium.

This was my first trip to Coors Field, which was quite nice. Although it's a new park, it emulates the old ones, with a "manual" type scoreboard in right field, similar to the one on the Green Monster at Fenway.

It was a great introduction to Denver.

Wordless Wonders

With the success of THERE WILL BE BLOOD and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, CNN's Showbiz blog has an excellent article about scenes which do not use dialogue. It's interesting that so many readers immediately respond with their favorite scenes, yet writers continually use the crutch of wall-to-wall dialogue to explain everything. Cinema is so much more powerful when showing, rather than telling, but insecure filmmakers are afraid audiences will run for the door the minute people stop talking.

AMERICAN IDOL 9 RESULTS

It should have been Kristy Lee Cook, but it was Ramiele Malubay going home tonight. No question she was in the bottom half, but I liked her. Hopefully it will be Kristy next week.

AMERICAN IDOL 9

We're at the point in American Idol where all of the contestants are pretty good... except one. Kristy Lee Cook should go home. Alas, DialIdol has Ramiele "Lullaby" Malubay at the bottom, which is to bad. She's a good singer and very marketable.