Ladies night

I didn't have the energy to watch last night (and I'd already read the Press' local story on our hometown performer -- and her atrocious dress -- plus, you can't watch Idol until you've finished watching Lost... there's a law), leaving me to announce and celebrate my 100th post (huzzah!) with an American Idol review. At the very least, it's the girls.

Gina Glocksen opened the show strong, already putting the guys behind. I'll continue to root for her, and even though I worry she doesn't have much of a chance in the big picture, she's up there with the best of them. Alaina Alexander was in trouble last week. She doesn't exactly seem to know what to do up there, but she worked the vocals 10 times better this time. Considering what the judges said, I may just be blinded by the cuteness. She's probably still in trouble.

Then Lakisha Jones came out, and it's been obvious since last week that there's no better voice on the show. She's a performer, too, and she's completely comfortable on stage. That being said, it wasn't as impressive as last week, and I worry that people will take her frontrunner status as reason to dislike her. I don't think she's the pop star type to win this sort of contest.

I love Melinda Dolittle, and though I'd like to see her blow the roof off each week, I'm happy she sort of made a little statement with a slower tune. She's the best of the night, up until now at least.

Small observation: I kinda feel like I'm missing out on some nuances of the performances by not knowing a lot of these songs.

The words "Antonella sings Celine" coming out of Seacrest's mug were almost enough to make me want to never ever watch television again, but I soldier on... and our little Shore native did good enough not to scare off the people who voted to keep her around last week. I want to criticize, but I honestly can't kill her -- she did alright. I agree with Paula that she made leaps and bounds over last week, but she's not up to snuff with the rest of the competition.

Jordin Sparks has the best pop star name ever -- and she's a sleeper pick, people, I'm telling you. Her performance wasn't anything world changing, but it put her on the map and if she steps up just the slightest bit more she could pull it off. Then there's Stephanie Edwards, who I was ready to call the winner after last week. She's got a voice on her, but she was far from as good as she has been. She got some great feedback from the judges, not that she had anything to worry about in the first place.

Leslie Hunt had some work to do after last week. She looked more comfortable on the stage, and I like the smoky lounge act (and adorable smile) she pulled out. The scatting worked and the bassy voice worked, too. I hope she doesn't get lost like Simon said, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Haley Scarnato picked a good time to come out with a rockin' tune. She's a strong performer, but the song sort of bored me. I think the judges were a bit hard on her, though. She deserves more kudos than Sabrina Sloan, who started her show-closing performance well but lost me pretty quickly. She's better than that.

Thumbs up: LaKisha, Melinda
OK: Haley, Leslie, Jordin, Stephanie, Gina, Antonella
Thumbs down: Sabrina, Alaina

Should be out: Antonella, Alaina
Will be out: Leslie, Haley

Overall, still better than the guys, who're going to be fumbling around looking for their dreams when the final 12 gets together.