AMERICAN IDOL-Top 36

Last year I started the blog at the Top 12. I have been getting some nudging to start a tad earlier (ahem-Katie, Renay, Mom). So here we go America. The first twelve in the top 36 competed tonight. Now of course we have had some changes this year-the addition of a fourth judge. I'm saying it-don't like it. Didn't like it when I first heard the grumblings last year, don't like it now. Here is my problem. Kara is like Paula without the happy pills slipped into the Coke. She doesn't really have a role or a purpose. Randy is the "dawg" the one that calls the women dudes and tells the guys they "can blow" (I mean really) and wears watches that are as big as the clocks Flava Flav used to don around his neck, Paula is Paula and Simon is our voice-Simon says what we are thinking. So really I don't understand where Kara is supposed to fit into this whole shebang. Not to mention that after seven seasons without her there has never been a nosedive in the ratings. I mean how would America handle a resurgence of Dunkelman?

One thing I am trying to decode this season is what Randy really means. See when Randy says, "Interesting song choice," he really means-"Mother of everything holy and good what in the hell were you thinking picking that one?" Each week I will try to find a new "Randy-ism."

Here is a quick rundown of who we saw tonight:

Jackie-WTF on the outfit. I mean really-the Lance Armstrong spandex, the polka dot tube top, the awful bubble gum machine guitar charm. And I now cannot get "A Little Less Conversation" out of my head.

Ricky-How bad did you feel for this guy? It's bad enough you have to have your parents sitting in the awful red shrine to Coca Cola, but then to wear those ridiculous Braddy Bunch tee-shirts? Hope they are not putting in any more orders on those shirts because the only order they should be putting in right now is to Jet Blue to go home. Nice voice but truly not star material.

Alexis-I think she will go through. Love he little pink wings, her adorable little girl and her voice. She reminds me looks wise of Nikki McKibbin from Season 1. And was it just me or did her dad look like a bloated version of Meatloaf? (Great now I have that bad Meatloaf song in my head, "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." Which by the way is one of the most demeaning songs ever written-"I want you, I need you but their ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you." Did someone ever hand Meatloaf a mirror? Does he believe he is such a prize that women would give it all to him even without the love? He may want and need but there probably ain't no way he is ever going to get anything anyway. Dude you ain't Derek Jeter here. Pompous, pompous Meatloaf). Moving on....

Brent-Nice looking country guy-I totally could have done without the laser light show in the background. It reminded me of the background in my 8th grade portraits except instead of orange, the lasers were pink and blue. But I mean after all it was 1991 for Heaven's sake and a tad more forgivable. This guy also depressed me because he is married to a bizarro looking Erica Hahn (think Grey's) with a bad perm. So depressing since I still have not found a boyfriend. (I did however score a GREAT new job this week...money before men....)

Stevie-Listening to Stevie sing I thought to myself-I am confident that I sing better in my car when I pretend to be the next American Idol. Stevie-Bah Bye.

Anoop-Ok so channeling one of my favorite movies, Old School, I have decided that my nickname for him is "Anoop....Anoop-a-loop." I mean come on when he first walked into auditions you totally thought he was going to bust out singing like Apu from The Simpsons. And then he sang and you were like dumbfounded. If he returns though, an eyebrow wax may be needed but he is darn good! I mean he sang Bobby Brown. They hate when you sing Whitney, but by all means bust out with her husband's joints.

Casey-Every little note she sang was tragic. (And BTW-I totally thought of that joke while she was singing and Randy ripped it from me)! Poor Sting is at home still horrified over that performance and wondering if he was drunk when he signed over the rights to the song to Idol. She is so cute too-needs a little more weight on her though. She has like a Preston sized noggin on that little petite body. And one thing I just cannot deal with is the fake hugging from all the other contestants after she was ripped a new one. Let's be real people. It's like if there was a winning lottery ticket and you could either win the office pool or win on your own you know you don't want to share with the office. I understand once you are in the Top 12 or 10 and you become good friends and roomies and all, but now-please you barely know each other's names. This is also a good time to remind everyone how useless Kara is. Now we have to sit through three people sugar coating things to get to Simon who bluntly tells you that you suck.

Michael-I like this dude. He works on an oil rig and I am obsessed with the price of oil barrels daily. I thought his Gavin DeGraw song choice was horrible partly because I utterly hate that song to the point pencils in my eyes seem like a better way to spend three minutes and partly because I like him singing more blues-y also. I love the new word the judges have too-"likeability." Kind of like Budweiser's Drinkability but a little more wholesome.

AnnMarie-Not too good, but man does she have awesome Pantene hair or what?

Stephen-Ok I have an issue with Stephen. My issue is this-it was specifically stated in Hollywood week that if you did not remember the lyrics you are out. Gone. Done. Finished. You won' even cut it on Wayne Brady's show. Not only does Stephen forget the lyrics, he walks off the stage and does not even perform! I also love how all the contestants were singing along with the music-just in case he forgot the words he could look up to his fellow mates. He was awful.

Tatiana-I don't even have words. What I think happened is she watched herself on television and wanted to die. See this is why cameras are not in college bars. Because if the drunk chick after doing the walk of shame was forced to watch herself on camera she would probably never go out again and hang out in those weird coffee shops with the emo guitar player in the patched corduroy jacket instead of slutting-it-up doing dollar lemon shots the next Thursday night. She looked like she just did not want to ever step foot on the Idol stage again.

Last but not least my FAVORITE-Danny. I may love him more than I loved Michael Johns. I feel like he has this competition locked. He is so sincere and so nice and I love his best friend with the face jewelry too. Go Danny!

All right folks my picks are Danny, Alexis and Anoop. Michael may be the competition for Anoop. We shall see!