The winner's on the left

​Well, American Idol fans, it's down to the wire. Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze had their final competitive performances, and the most boring season of Idol ever is almost over. What wasn't boring: Randy's outlandish outfit. What was up with that red jacket?

Anyway, DeWyze is up first with "The Boxer." We get lots of tongue shots during this song, in which the music drowns out Lee's voice. Not that that's a bad thing--there's nothing challenging about the vocals. DeWyze just sings, "La, la, la" a lot, as if he's softly singing a lullaby to a sleeping baby. In his get-to-know-you segment, we learn he liked to play shortstop in baseball. Maybe he should have stuck with that. And, speaking of the contestant packages, it's a shame they aren't longer--this season, the show is so jam-packed with commercials, we barely got to know the contestants at all.

Bowersox, in a super-unflattering outfit that makes her look twice as big, got her hippie side from her dad, who is just as granola-y as she is. And wow--she looks pretty much the same a a kid as she does now, and that's not saying much. But her performance of "Me and Bobby McGee" is 100 times better than DeWyze's song, although it gets really screechy at the end. Judge Randy Jackson offers a great gem and says the song was slow in the beginning--um, great observation? It's still semi-fun to watch, and already it's evident that Bowersox is deserving of winning.

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This season of American Idol is almost over (thank gosh), and it's finally down to the Final Three--the clear frontrunner Crystal Bowersox, the frat-ish wannabe rocker Lee DeWyze and the lovable underdog Casey James.

This time around, the contestants get to choose their own songs to perform in the first round, and the judges get to choose the second batch of tunes. This makes for a surprisingly boring show (what, no Justin Bieber?!), so hopefully the finale will actually be OK to watch.

James kicks things off with a song no one's heard before, "OK, It's Alright with Me." It's a horrible song choice because, while he sounds fine, there is nothing about it to make him sound like a star or an artist with originality. It's probably in the same vein as the kind of music he'll be making once the show is over, but it'll be a B-side you'll skip over on the CD.

Bowersox sings the equally generic "Come to My Window." Once again, like James, while she's always been consistent in her performances, her vocal performance is open mike-worthy, not sold-out theater-worthy. And, perhaps one of the most disappointing things of all--Bowersox can't really play harmonica that well! As an obvious hippie, it seemed like she'd have that on lock-down. Not so.

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American Idol is really cracking me up lately.

From the contestants' cheesy head turn in the intro to the usage of Jamie Foxx, the king of Auto-Tune, as mentor, it's clear this show is not about finding the best singer in America. It's more about making even the most non-savvy music lovers happy, it's about product placement, and it's about promoting the careers of the host and judges.

Oh, well. I'm still watching.

This week, the contestants sang songs from movies, and Lee DeWyze chose a great song, "Kiss from a Rose." Foxx gets up in DeWyze's face real up-close-like during rehearsal to get him to connect with the audience members, and even though the performance had a lot of out-of-key notes by DeWyze, it was a great choice for him, and it was probably the first performance where I really enjoyed listening to him. But, sigh, he's still not so smart in his banter.

On to Michael Lynche, who got to dance and box with Foxx. He sings a song from Free Willy, which is awesome, even more so since Michael Jackson originally did it. We get to hear judge Kara Dioguardi, dressed in a really weird suit, try to explain the movie to judge Simon Cowell, which is hysterical, only adding to the funny factor since Lynche brought out a choir on-stage with him. It was just too much, and while he sounded good, it was still too corny to take seriously. Prediction: Bottom Two.

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Last night on American Idol, it was Frank Sinatra night, and you know what that means--break out the suits and black dress! This was the classiest night of the season so far, as the contestants took on the legend.

Harry Connick, Jr., the guest mentor of the night, was called a "superstar" by Ryan Seacrest. Hahahahahahaha. Anyway, while he may be talented at arranging music and playing piano, he's not exactly the sharpest in the shed. "As long as they sing these melodies and they sing the words, they'll be fine," Connick, Jr. said. Genius.

Aaron Kelly did a bang-up job of "Fly Me to the Moon". Not only was his voice crystal clear and spot-on, his hair also looked super-cute combed to the side. Say what you will about this youngster, but he really does take this competition seriously, and his perfectionism is admirable.

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Crystal Bowersox called Shania Twain "glowing" tonight on American Idol, and it's true--Twain emits an ethereal vibe whenever she's around and seemed to work some magic on the contestants as they all took on her songs.

Overall, the cast did a great job, proving they're a solid top six who deserve to be there--even though it's super-sad Tim Urban is gone. This season is still boring as ever, but at least it's evident the contestants do know how to sing.

Lee DeWyze kicked things off with a rocker version of "You're Still the One". It was a really great song for him because he sounded smooth and controlled, but he still sounds like the next 3 Doors Down singer, and that's not really pleasant. He'll probably be in the Bottom Three this week based on forgetableness alone. Prediction: Bottom Three.

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​When you have only 1 minute to sing to people, it's sort of hard to inspire them.

That was the problem the contestants had last night on American Idol, when the seven contestants and four judges were forced to cram their singing and commentary into a measly hour, making for a hectic pace that made the show feel rushed and hurried.

Alicia Keys was the mentor, but the snippets of her talking to the contestants left the audience wondering just what advice she was giving, and it was unclear whether any of it helped. She seems like a nice person, but a guest mentor probably wasn't necessary on a show that was only an hour.

Casey James didn't sound much different with "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" than he has most of the season, playing guitar and sounding just like he would as if he was in a bar. It was good, but didn't stand out from any of his other performances.

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No one can compete with the force that is Bowersox

​In what was either a Freudian slip or a bid to stir up controversy, Ryan Seacrest commented to Adam Lambert on American Idol Tuesday night, "My tongue is not nearly as talented as yours."

Sadly, that was one of the most exciting parts of this season of American Idol.

Even though the theme was Elvis, the show proved to be just as boring as ever, even with Glambert as guest mentor. It's sad that Adam is more exciting than 8 out of 9 of the contestants now (Crystal Bowersox excepted), but that is how it's going. Except for Tim Urban, who continues to surprise week after week--will he or won't he get eliminated? My hope is that Urban wins it.

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This teddy bear was the star of the night

​Tuesday night was Beatles night on American Idol, and with no guest mentor, viewers were lucky enough to see clips of the contestants talking about each other, and real personalities were shown for the first time ever this season.

And, everyone's also lucky that the majority of the performances were enjoyable, because, seriously, how can you not enjoy a performance of any oh-so-great Beatles song, right?

Aaron "Yoda" Kelly (the others think he's super-talented) was up first, singing "The Long and Winding Road." He's never even heard of the Beatles, so he picks a song that enables him to try to convince the judges that it relates because American Idol has been a long and winding journey. He obviously has no idea what he's talking about, but he's so cute and nervous that you have to forgive him.
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Jeez, it was bright last night on American Idol.

So bright, that R&B superstar Usher had to wear sunglasses indoors (or else, he was blinded by the size of his ego.)

Nonetheless, Usher was miles ahead in his skills as a mentor compared to Miley Cyrus last week. Maybe he can be a mentor for Simon Cowell's show X Factor. You know, the one he secretly pimped throughout the night as he made fun of other talent competitions, such as Star Search and Dancing with the Stars.

Tonight was an epic night, because like Sanjaya before him, Tim Urban got Cowell to admit that what the judges say doesn't really matter, when Urban has websites such as www.votefortheworst.com building him up and teenage girls texting like crazy. Cowell seems to majorly be over this season, and over this show, and if he comes to back Urban eventually, that would at least make this oh-so-karaoke season a little more fun to watch. Still, there's some Urban hate out there. Prediction: Bottom Three.
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​OK, so, right away, it's hard for me to take this show seriously any more because Miley Cyrus is the guest mentor. Really?! I think the majority of the contestants could probably giver her a few pointers themselves, and none of her advice helped the contestants. Sigh.

She tells Lee DeWyze to sing some surprising notes. He does, but that only makes him look like he can't sing. Thanks, Miley.

Miley completely screws Paige Miles up by telling her she sounds good when she sings softly and when she belts it out--nothing in the middle. This makes for a seizure-inducing performance. Way to go. Prediction: Bottom Three.

Miley gives Tim Urban two thumbs up and tells him he has a lot of confidence. So much so, that he decides to slide around the stage and act like a pimp. It makes his singing suffer immensely. Prediction: Bottom Three.

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