Ode to David Cook, American Idol Cutie

Well, I can't help it. Lately I've tried to blog all reflective like and serious, and stay away from all the pop culture, but I guess the shallow side of me wins out. Especially with Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Greys, and Desperate Housewives all having had finales this week, I have some catching up to do. Starting with American Idol.

I was so glad to see David Cook win. Not that Archuleta wasn't talented. It's just that from the get go, David Cook has performed songs that could be on the radio tomorrow. And all of them sounded different. David Archuleta needs a little variety in his repertoire. Enough with the ballads.

The finale was great. Better than last year I thought.

Moments I loved:

• Jason Castro doing Hallelujah. He's so pretty.


• Anytime Michael Johns was onstage. Sigh.


• The guys singing Summer of 69.
  
• The girls singing She Works Hard for the Money. That's my theme song.


• The medley of George Michael songs.


• David Cook fronting for ZZ Top.


• Simon apologizing to David Cook. I felt like it was a long time coming. I was still miffed from way back when he called him out for being a word nerd. I happen to like word nerds.


• And of course, the Guitar Hero homage to Risky Business. But only the David Cook one.
  

Moments I could've done without or would've liked to change:

• Anytime Amanda was onstage. Did they have to tie her up and drag her there to get her to perform? I've never seen anyone look so miserable on stage.


• The Michael/Carly duet. While I liked the Michael portion (see above) I never cared for Carly.


• Where was Kristy Lee Cook's solo or duet? Why didn't she get one and some of the others did? (She, Chickeze, and Ramile were the only ones from the Top 10 who didn't get their own stage time...)


• The Jonas Brothers. Why were they there at all?? All the other acts had AI Contestants with them.


• The costume mistakes--putting pretty Jordin Sparks in that horrid gold dress, AND forgetting to put enough material on the bottom of whatever that was Carrie Underwood had on.

My other thoughts? First, the only thing I don't like about David Cook is the pair of weird boots he wears. They are black and the toe of them points upward like elf shoes. They make his feet look like planks. Lose the boots David, and you'll go far!

Was it just me, or did David Archuleta sound better on the One Republic song that the actual lead singer usually sounds? That style of music should be his niche, he just needs to learn to do some faster songs too. (and NOT in the style of Chris Brown as we saw him do a couple of weeks ago)

As usual, I hated the hokey American Idol winner song at the end.

I predict there will be a few from this season who go on to have reasonable success in the music industry. And some who will ride their wave of fame over to the TV Guide network along with their previous season counterparts.

The song of the day was hard to decide on. Obviously a David Cook song from this season. Billie Jean was good. Hello was good. So was You Don't Wanna Miss a Thing. I was really torn, but I decided my favorite was his rendition of Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby. So enjoy!

Too Much Pop Culture

Okay, here's a little bit on all the things I've been following this week:

1. Whew! I'm glad to see Apollo win Dancing with the Stars! I think he was the most deserving of the two. (I still wish Ian had made it to the finals...) I guess you have to be a professional athlete or an ex-boy bander to even be competitive on that show?

2. Jordin wins Idol! Okay, this was really not much of a surprise, considering the "winner's song" wasn't one that anyone in America wanted to hear Blake sing, let alone have to put on an album. She is much more the "Idol" type and now Blake will be free to do his own thing. I have no doubt though, that we'll be hearing from both of them on the radio very soon.

3. Floyd Landis trial wraps up...sort of. Closing arguments have been made. It could be 2 months before there is a verdict though. And even then, I suspect it will go on to another court. My opinion? As mentioned before, I believe in him more than I do the system. However, I think there's a good chance he'll be stripped of his Tour de France title, which will really be a shame. I just wish they'd get it all over with before this year's TDF--I don't want to hear the commentators talking about it during every stage.