Frankly, none of the girls really got my attention last week. I’m hoping things will change this week. I’d like to see a strong competition this year.

Carly Smithson - Started and ended rough…and a very odd break in the middle of the arrangement. Middle was surprisingly powerful. Nowhere close to Ann Wilson as a singer, but not half bad. I’m not a big fan of what I’ve seen so far, but I’m keeping an open mind. (B)

Syesha Mercado - I don’t really care for the old Billy Paul song…the best part of the original was sort of a sensual, soul groove. Her treatment was pitchy and she never really found the groove…just nothing special at all. No dice. (C)
Read the rest of this post »

Ahhh…American Idol. I was not going to blog about it this year…but I just can’t be silent…especially when the judges are off-track here and there. I enjoy the potential of this show, if not its execution…it could be so much better, but in some cases, they’d have to make less money, and that’s obviously not going to happen. Regarding last week’s show, the right people were sent packing. Overall, the level of talent seems decent this year, but there’s only one guy that’s consistently impressed me to date. It’s too soon to judge the overall potential of most of them. I just haven’t seen enough yet.

Michael Johns: C’mon, people. This performance of the Fleetwood Mac classic “Go Your Own Way” was just god-awful. It’s not a great song, but did just butchered it. He was bad last week, and worse this week. He looks OK and people want to like him. But he’s been terrible both weeks. He was pitchy and strained the whole way through. And when the judges watch the tape back on this one, they’ll realize it. They couldn’t have been able to hear him well. They need to be more responsible in reviewing this guy. He’s fooling a lot of people because he’s fooling the judges. Or there’s a secret agenda here somewhere. (D)
Read the rest of this post »

I whine about Google AdSense a lot, because there are so many little areas in which it needs to be improved.

But, then again…Google has been my largest single employer for a few years. And who doesn’t love to criticize the boss??

And yes, believe me…it’s not like I haven’t sent them these suggestions directly…mostly long ago, and in some cases, several times. No action, no response other than “thanks for the input…we’ll pass it along to the team”.

Some of those areas include the following:
Read the rest of this post »