RavishingRickRudo

I think the benefit to everyone sucking tonight is that most will write tonight off as being Diana Ross songs dragging them down.

I am all about the cleavage Edwards is showin. Edwards' cleavage vs. Lakisha/Melinda... man, it's a toughie. Richardson and Blake need to, you know, stop creepin me out.

Jesus, Blake is going to JD as well as JT this competition. Insane stuff. He's doin what he has to do to win, and I respect that, though I giggle every time he does a Timberism. Simon and Randy are ridiculous. They simply don't like the idea of changing the arrangement, so Blake will never win. It's weird cause Simon is all about "making the song your own, and having fun", but only on certain terms. Blake may be winning me over through hard work alone. Say what you will, but the kid clearly works hard. I am going to assume he is savvy enough to be aware of his ripping of JT and is going with what's popular rather than a genuine identity crisis. I think AI to him is less about winning the competition and more about showing labels the kind of producer he is.

Lakishas personality will be the end of her. But AI would do well with a Lakisha vs. Melinda spin on this season, so they need to put Lakisha in positions to where whatever personality she has comes through.

YES PHIL! Finally. You look fucking crazy, but dammit you didn't kill the audience like just about everyone else tonight.

Ok, as bad as the singers are, SIMON is knocking it out of the park. "They don't know anything" (CLAP CLAP CLAP) Alright Phil, YOU MY BOY! OUT SUCK THESE FUCKERS! Show em how to blow it.

Man, the way these idols are kicking these songs, I can't help but wonder "Diana Ross sucks" ... ok, that's not wondering... wondering would be like "Did Diana Ross suck this much". Did she just mumble? Ok, the fix is in, they all feel bad for Brandon and are sucking to keep him in the competition. Ok, someone died in this venue.

HAIR IDOL. "You're the sweetest soul, and your smile, it warms people's hearts" I just don't think Sanjaya has the lungs for it. He whispers songs and it falls off at the end. Before I thought it was just an unwillingness to go for the big notes, but now I don't think he can physically go at that pace with hitting the notes he needs to hit. He'd collapse. "She's going to freak when she hears that". Simon is in fine form tonight.

Oh man, IIRC this is one of Simons favourite songs. Sanjaya is more than likely going to butcher it. And then Simon is going to butcher him. If the stage and venue doesn't eat him alive, the judges will.

And the black shirt Gina was wearing with Ross was awesome.

Also? Covering one artists' catalogue sucks. I don't care which artist it is, it's bogus. God the energy of this show is just at a big time low.

Man, it's like Chris said "I feel really bad for Brandon, I am going to do something ridiculous too" Yeah, I am going to have to readjust my top contenders, cause the guys are making a go at the bottom 3.

Wow, they are already into Paulas joyful tears, sobbing over the success of the obvious winners. Simon laughing at Paulas tears is great. Fucking Melinda crying at the huge applause saying "she has never heard anything like that".

Yeah, those "barbs" could not have been any more scripted. "Hey Simon, that's a really tight shirt" "That's what your boyfriend said" "I never knew you considered yourself my boyfriend" "That doesn't make any sense, why would I say "That's what *I* said"? "I banged Eva Longorias" "By "Banged" you mean, "cut her bangs", right" "Oh you, kisses!"

Simon just went to town. ...and in that town he buried Brandon Rogers deep underground without any hope of breathing air ever again. Of course, Brandon didn't help things either by forgetting the words and channeling Elvis(?)... oh and picking a song that Phil Collins covered.

WHOA WHOA WHOA.

Agreed. Since it is under the guise of a "singing" competition, the deck is stacked towards voices that, well, are not "mainstream". As much as a Melinda Doolittles voice is nice and all, unless there was some radical reinvention, I wouldn't even think about buying an album from her. Carrie Underwoods best performances, imo, were with songs that weren't in her perceived niche. OTOH, when Mandisa did Shania, it was terrible. You get to see singers take risks and you get to reevaluate your thoughts on them when they are put in a different light. Motown night is such a safe thing to do, since Motown songs are ridiculously catchy and favour the type of singer the judges put through. This is also why I like the hot 100 night. Mainly because mainstream music relies more on production than vocal quality, so there is a certain amount of invention that comes along with adapting a song to a voice.. My god, if you look at the top ten on the billboard charts, its ridiculous. When the fallout boy dude is the purest voice out there, you really have to question how on-point this "singing" competition is. Not that the alternative is better, or exists, it's just necessity is the mother of invention and when you have a really good voice producers don't feel the need to enhance it. Thing is, I think the current scene is all about that enhancement. And you don't get a whole lot of that on idol.

I imagine if there is a tie, it would be solved either by "whomever requested it first, gets it" aka, the time honoured tradition of "Dibs", or the producers make the call. You can pretty much cut that list in half... then in half again... and then in half again.... and get a list of songs that has been used on idol for the past 5 seasons and will probably be used this year as well. It's pretty much rinse and repeat for Motown night. It will be interesting to see which songs Richardson and Lewis pick, and Brandon to a lesser extent. It's pretty much feast or famine on these nights, and we know Melinda and Lakisha are going to be way ahead of the pack, easy, and there are few question marks surrounding how any of the ladies will before this night, but I dunno how the weaker of the male singers are going to approach it. Ok, Brandon is easy to figure because he's one of the more boringly consistent guys on the show, but the question is exactly how well he will do. Richardson and Lewis, especially Lewis, could really sink in the face of the women knocking the songs off like nothin. This really should be, in my view, Sanjaya and Phils night to shine as I think they have the vocal chops to pull of motown well (this is actually a fucking gift from the producers to Sanjaya, since he does Stevie so well... leave it up to Sanjaya to pick something like ABC... Phil being Phil will probably pick Stop! In the name of love.) I am semi-looking forward to see how Melinda and Sligh approach it. Melinda especially since she probably has half these songs on lockdown (but of course will claim that it was so hard to pick a song because she didnt feel confident she could do it justice, you know, cause she's a background singer) and Sligh because I have him as my #2 but always under the pretense that he could fuck it up at any moment, so it will be fun to see his song choices for upcoming weeks.

Arona defeating Silva in non-title fashion, and Silva squeaking out the rematch that could have been debated either way. Had the first match been for the title, there would have surely been a rubber match.

Time, my friend, heals all wounds... no matter how deep. The Rubber Guard has my heart in Retard Control, what can I say.

Would that be so wrong? Diego vs. Santiago was on TFN today. It was good. Diego worked. Wait for it. Wait. Wait for it. Briefly. Diego was actually pretty good off his back, which was odd cause I am accustomed to Diego being more on top given his recent fights. So I don't think this fight will be Koscheck using his wrestling to keep Diego down for the decision. I'm calling it. Diego via Gogoplata.

From Meltzer, but cleaned up and I added some more cuz Meltzer sucks. Tons of UFC on TV this week. Spike has a two hour special tomorrow night from 8-10 p.m. which includes Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie Chuck Liddell vs. Renato Babalu Sobral GSP vs. Hughes BJ Penn vs. Caol Uno BJ Penn vs. Din Thomas Jens Pulver vs. John Lewis Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski (UFC 51) Melvin Guillard vs. Gabe Ruediger LUIGI FIORVANTI vs. DAVE MENNE The UFC Fight from 8/17 featuring the Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan bout which won Match of the Year in 2006, airs from 3-5 p.m. on Saturday. Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Jonathan Goulet Middleweight bout: Dean Lister vs. Yuki Sasaki Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jorge Santiago Welterweight bout: Diego Sánchez vs. Karo Parisyan From 5-7 p.m. on Saturday will be a replay of the Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock match, which is the most watched match in UFC history. Light Heavyweight bout: Matt Hamill vs. Seth Petruzelli Middleweight bout: Ed Herman vs. Jason MacDonald Middleweight bout: Kendall Grove vs. Chris Price Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock From 8-10 p.m. on Saturday is a replay of the UFC Tribute to the Troops show with Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Riggs. Welterweight bout: Shonie Carter vs. Marcus Davis Welterweight bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Drew Fickett Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Jeff Joslin Welterweight bout: Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Riggs And the highlight reel spot of the year in the finish of Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon airs from 10 p.m. to midnight on Saturday. Lightweight bout: Hermes Franca vs. Spencer Fisher Heavyweight bout: Heath Herring vs. Jake O'Brien Light Heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon

This is a great card, maybe one of my favourites in a while. Which means it has the potential to suck, as is the case in a sport where it seems to be the worse the card is, the better it turns out, and vice versa. I am really excited for Okami/Swick and Belcher/Grove in particular. Belchers fight against Santiago was awesome, and Belcher is definitely a prospect with a great gas tank from what I've seen and he's very aggressive, and Kendall is game to bring it as well, which means these guys could have the FOTN in a night where there are a few candidates for a FOTN. Okami/Swick is a number one contenders bout, as far as I'm concerned, assuming Silva vs. Marquardt is on. Okami looked great against Kalib Starnes, and Swick has been on a roll. It will be interesting to see Swick against a GnP guy like Okami, though Okami had a real hard time taking down Silva when they fought and Swick has a similar circling style. Seeing these two guys fight will make me wish Tanner hadn't gone nuts, as I think Tanner vs. either would be a great one. Sanchez vs. Koscheck is one of the biggest, ballsiest fights the UFC has had in a while. Their first fight was one of TUFs best, out of all the seasons, and they are so much better now. This one will probably go the distance, like Diegos fights vs. Diaz and Karo, and like those fights, this will probably be fast paced, back and forth, and be a FOTYC. Odds are, winner gets St. Pierre or Hughes. GSP vs. Serra is. Well. I imagine it will be an entertaining fight. The Undercard is pretty bad, though, filled with TUF rejects and is pretty inconsequential, especially compared to the main card. But, then again, odds are it will be pretty darn fun to watch. All this coupled with the first UFC show in Texas and knowing that the crowd will be nuts, it should be an awesome show to watch.

Main Card Welterweight Title Fight: Georges St. Pierre (13-1-0) vs. Matt Serra (15-4-0) Lightweight Fight: Roger Huerta (18-1-1) vs. Leonard Garcia (13-1-0) Welterweight Fight: Diego Sanchez (19-0-0) vs. Josh Koscheck (10-1-0) Middleweight Fight: Yushin Okami (20-3-0) vs. Mike Swick (10-1-0) Middleweight Fight: Alan Belcher (9-2-0) vs. Kendall Grove (9-3-0) Undercard Heavyweight Fight: Brad Imes (6-2-0) vs. Heath Herring (26-12-1) Middleweight Fight: Thales Leites (9-1-0) vs. Pete Sell (7-3-0) Welterweight Fight: Marcus Davis (15-4-0) vs. Pete Spratt (16-7-0) Welterweight Fight Josh Haynes (9-6-0) vs. Luke Cummo (7-4-0) http://69.ufc.com/

I think it's more along the lines of "If Arona wins, it's a win to build for a match vs. Hendo, if Soko wins, though he shouldn't, Soko has another win over a top 10er." Since, I imagine, Nog vs. Soko was to build Nog for a Silva fight, I can see PRIDE not seeing that as an omen and going full ahead with Arona in Nogs place and Hendo in Silvas. Arona vs. Hendo as Hendos first defense is a great fight, though not a drawing one (Dan Henderson or Arona as a draw is something that my mind just can't process). Their first fight was tremendous, Arona deserves a shot after the Silva fiasco (though not as much as Shogun), and Soko to them is probably still more a fluke than anything. Arona beating Soko, who is a teammate of Hendo, is another benefit to the match. And even if Soko beats Arona, you run Hendo vs. Shogun and then Shogun vs. Soko. Maybe even Soko vs. Silva. The only negative is if Hendo keeps the title and Soko is the top contender, since odds are they won't fight each other (and if they do, that'd rock) This isn't the worst decision ever. Though I think Shogun vs. Hendo is a bigger fight, with Silva vs. Arona as an undercard #1 contender fight. PRIDE runs so few shows a year that they can't afford to build guys up as they "should" with Soko. Ideally, they'd have him fight 4 or 5 fights to build him as a contender. In PRIDE's world, that probably would take 2 years, and they might not be around at that time.