I'll shut up about American Idol in a minute, I promise

Okay, I've been uploading mpeg performance clips, which are here (please right-click and "save as" when you get to the download page, as usual) and I'll boringly list the American Idol downloads folder contents below to aid the Googlers:

From February 28 (and March 7):

• Ayla Brown - I Want You to Need Me by Celine Dion; and Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
• Brenna Gethers - Last Dance by Donna Summer
• Heather Cox - Hero by Mariah Carey
• Katharine McPhee - All In Love Is Fair by Stevie Wonder; and Think by Aretha Franklin
• Kellie Pickler - Something To Talk About by Bonnie Raitt; and I'm the Only One by Melissa Etheridge
• Kinnik Sky - Here for the Party by Gretchen Wilson; and If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys
• Lisa Tucker - Who's Loving You by someone I don't know; and Here's Where I Stand by someone else I don't know
• Mandisa - Cry by Faith Hill; and I'm Every Woman by Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston
• Melissa McGhee - Why Haven't I Heard From You by Reba McEntire; and What About Love by Heart
• Paris Bennett - Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler; and Conga by Gloria Estefan

And from March 1 (and March 8):

• Ace Young - If You're Not the One by Daniel Bedingfield (who is crying because American Idol insists on getting his song title wrong during the show, during the elimination show, AND on the website); and Butterflies by Michael Jackson
• Bucky Covington - The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks; and Wave On Wave by Pat Green (which is actually one of my favorite songs - see yonder sidebar for confirmation)
• Chris Daughtry - Hemorrhage (In My Hands) by Fuel; and Broken by Seether and Amy Lee (for about six weeks after this song came out, I wondered why Amy Lee wanted to steal my pen away. I'm not very good at deciphering lyrics. Although I do have great pens.)
• David Radford - The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra
• Elliott Yamin - Moody's Mood For Love by James Moody, who is not good at writing song titles; and Heaven by Bryan Adams
• Gedeon McKinney - A Change is Gonna Come by Otis Redding; and When A Man Loves A Woman by Percy Sledge
• Kevin Covais - I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye; and Vincent (oh heck, VINCENT!!! Why would anyone willingly sing Vincent? If I recall correctly, it's "not a song, but a vague collection of loosely rhyming words set to amelodious music") by Don McLean. But at least they didn't ask him to sing it backwards, in German, whilst peddling a unicycle and balancing a fire baton on his nose. If that makes no sense to you, don't worry.
• Sway Penala - Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder
• Taylor Hicks - Easy by the Commodores; and Taking It To the Streets by Michael McDonald
• Will Makar - Lady by Kenny Rogers; and How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) by James Taylor

Now that I've helped direct the Googlers looking for American Idol mpegs, a comment or two.

Who taught Taylor Hicks how to dance? Frankenstein? My goodness, dude is seriously exhibiting wild flailing - I think he has hemiballism.

I particularly enjoyed that during Kevin's post-critique, stand-there-and-wiggle-numbers-on-fingers period, Ryan was having a conversation with the judges and then when he turned to say something to Kevin, he was completely in Kevin's face. Kevin jumped back a little and looked more horrified than usual. Heh. By the way, what is he still doing there? I think the hair cells in my ears must be bending in the wrong direction, because Pauler and Randy fawn all over him, yet I'm not hearing the talent.

Speaking of no talent - ACE. Man. Please, please put down the falsetto and back away slo-o-wly. It made my cats' ears rotate a full 180 degrees. Ugh.

I don't have anything to say about the girls except that if Mandisa can wear sleeveless, I can wear sleeveless. Also, she rocks. And also, Katharine is starting to get on my nerves but I can't figure out why. Oh, and Brenna Gethers is 10 times worse than Kimberly Caldwell ever was, with the "Look at me! I'm on television!" bit. Eeesh. I'm glad she's gone.

I think I'm done with American Idol for the week. On an unrelated note, I find myself wishing that I was little and cute. I find myself wishing that a lot. Not that I really care if everyone loves me, but people are much more eager to talk to you when you are little and cute, and I think that probably makes little and cute people feel good about themselves. That is all.

And in my next post, I'll tell you about that time I didn't get stuck in the mud.