Ethan
02-10-2012, 04:41 AM
http://i.imgur.com/SzBcC.png
~EPISODE 8: HOLLYWOOD ROUND 1~
"Can I sing a little bit more?"
Recapped by RTVG's most frenetic idol tard, Ethan!
TONIGHT, WE HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED IN HOLLYWOOD! Yes, after seven pitiful and draggy audition episodes, 309 contestants have arrived in Hollywood and are ready to show us the best Season 11 has to offer! Randy tells us this year they've raised the stakes (as he does every year), the set has been changed (it looks stanky) and Steven is ready to give the hopefuls his pep talk before the first day commences. It looks like we're in for a hell of a ride! Get ready for six episodes of DRAMA, BREAKOUT STARS AND FALLING GIRLS!!!
First up are two popular guys who both got Jennifer's hormones racing!
First up is cocky and confident Johnny Keyser, who sings a rendition of Amos Lee's "Dreamin" at great ease and sails through to the next round. His voice is so clear and crisp and resonates so well throughout that theatre. His attitude is starting to kind of put me off now though. Just because you're good looking and sound good doesn't mean you can keep giving us that bitch face of yours... Anyway, Johnny is an easy yes and put through to the next round! I can't wait to see what condescending remarks he makes to this group mates on group day! Drama!!! [ 8.5/10 ]
Next to Johnny in line is token Asian Heejun Han whose endearing personality made us all love him back in Pittsburgh. Heejun is a bag of nerves on the way to Hollywood and we see him reminding his mom not to pack too much because he reckons he won't make it far (awww). He is also especially intimidated by the "tall and pretty" contestants he's up against and wonders what they eat to look so good. You have got to love this guy or you're probably lying to yourself.
Heejun is a nice humble contrast to cocky Johnny Keyser and although he re-sings his audition song "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", the judges obviously aren't phased, nor are the audience who cheer him on throughout the song. Although I love me some Heejun, his voice is very shaky as he is evidently nervous but the richness and huskiness of his tone still doesn't fail to impress, making him another easy yes as we see him go through to the next round! [ 8/10 ]
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly95hdJBdb1qkiuhbo2_500.gif
Shake it out in celebration for another Heejun victory!
After the boys' turn, it's time for our first Hollywood fodder montage! First up is soulful Elise Testone who although has fodder written all over her, sounds promising and I sure hope we get to see something from her in full soon! [ 7.5/10 ]
Up next is Texas girl Baylie Brown who was as interesting as a piece of cardboard, followed by Pittsburgh sob story contestant Hallie Day who is also bland and forgettable. I'm not a fan of either girl at this stage but they both move on, along with Elise to group round! Yay for fodder chicas! [ 5/10 for both ]
After the break comes the turn of a new face we have yet to meet...
25 year old Jen Hirsh is worried that she will fidget on stage and make a fool of herself, but delivers a very captivating version of "Up To The Mountain", putting her straight through to the next round. Although she was a little bit shrieky here and there, her airy, sweet tone is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to see what she can bring in future rounds. Look out for this one! [ 8/10 ]
Also going through from Jen's line is St. Louis daddy's girl Lauren Gray who gets so into her scream fest delivery of Adele that she doesn't notice Randy waving at her frenetically to shut up. ROFL. [ 6/10 ]
After Lauren finally shuts up and gets her pass to group round, we are given our first sour taste of Hollywood with the coming of shrieky hot messes Heather Youmans, Sascha Julian and Candice Russell, as well as a brunette girl who sweetly and patiently pleads the judges to let her sing a bit more. After all her relentless nagging, Randy agrees for her to sing one more note, but instead she gives us a string of runs and giggles her way off stage. Classy exit.
Once our next commercial break is over, Steven goes out backstage in the wings to give the wannabes another pep talk, encouraging them to "scream" and cause drama... I finally see why the producers kept him this year.
The next contestant of the day is the country boy who sings soul rock and obvious candidate for winner of this season, Phillip Phillips who yell/groan/shouts/constipates his way through "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". I'm trying my best to warm up to this guy because I can tell he'll go far but right now it's not really working when all I hear is a mother ogre going through labour pains. [ 6/10 ]
Up after Phillip is Casey Abrams v2.0 Reed Grimm who sings "I got a Golden Ticket" from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This guy is extremely hard to take seriously but also extremely hard to dislike. Obviously he gets through to the next round and gains a lot of fans while doing so. [ 7/10 ]
Also in Phillip and Reed's line is second time auditioner and now America's most unlucky guy, Travis Orlando who is sadly once again rejected on the first round of Hollywood. I really didn't think Travis was bad at all and though his voice is rather generic, he definitely has improved and it was genuinely sad to see him leave, tears in his eyes. They could have at least brought him to group day to boost his confidence a bit!
And along with Travis, we say goodbye to some other "memorable" auditioners from this year, born-with-no-ears Ramiro Garcia, git-fiddle player who comes dressed up like a red neck douche, Wolf Hamlin and the girl who has a list of celebrities she can kiss without it being called cheating, Jen Schick! No real losses there.
An ad break and a Steven Tyler quote after, we meet our next "break out star" of the season! And lookie - he looks like a tubbier Danny Gokey!
Adam Brock is a new father whose sob story is that he will miss his daughter in Hollywood. Wow. Is that it? When the Idol producers count something as silly that as a sob story it must mean they're doing all they can in their power to pimp the contestant. Adam's less than current look doesn't look like something that would sell though so maybe his voice is what is so great about him?
Adam tells us that he's been said to have a large black woman trapped inside of him but when he sings "Walking In Memphis", all I hear is a gruffier Taylor Hicks mixed with some Lee DeWyze. The judges are impressed and put him through but that's a horrible combination of Idol's two worst fail whale winners so I hope this is the last time we see Adam. He's better than both of them but definitely not someone Idol would benefit from. [ 6.5/10 ]
Jim Carrey's daughter is up next! Yes she has a name and I can remember it but since the producers really only care about showing her because she has a famous daddy, I will just stick to the trend and call her simply by "Jim Carrey's Daughter". She sings really shakily today and I kind of feel bad for her when she gets rejected a pass to the next round, but I guess she can just go to Papa Carrey and ask for some cash to put out some independent album, right? There's lots of opportunities in Celebrityville~
Before our next segment we are shown some desperate pleas from contestants who just won't fathom the fact that they got rejected, including Galveston auditioner Linda Williams who should be happy in the first place she got as far as into the theatre after her horrible audition.
Our next three contestants are all familiar faces and are all put through to group round after decent performances!
First of the three is 15 year old Shannon Magrane who sings a nice rendition of Alicia Keys' "Fallin". However, Shannon's voice is kind of under developed for me and the strength and grit needed for this song definitely didn't come through. [ 7/10 ]
Up next is deluded "ladies man" David Leathers Jr. who needs to realize girls only like him in a "Awww! Look at that cute two month old baby!" kind of way. David sings some Celine Dion and sounds great but boys whose voices have yet to break really shouldn't be allowed on this show or else they'll suddenly morph into someone else during the live rounds when all that pressure makes puberty catch up onto them. [ 7.5/10 ]
The last of the three is Jessica Phillips, whose sob story is replayed again for us incase we have forgotten about her boyfriend (no pun intended). Luckily for Jessica, her boyfriend is in Hollywood with her and Jessica delivers a nice and solid performance on stage. I'm still not fully convinced by her, but her lower register sounded great. Her upper register is kind of breathy and messy though so she'll have to work on that. She reminds me a bit of India Arie at this point. [ 7.5/10 ]
Also through to the next round is NBA cheerleader hottie Brittany Kerr and theatrical GaGa fan Angie Zeiderman!
After our final commercial break of the night comes the turn of 6 final contestants, including two new faces, one of which goes to slam her face on the floor when she falls off the stage. Ouch...
Erika Van Pelt needs to quickly change her style. The horribly tacky country girl checkered shirts need to go and that horrible bob hairdo thing needs to get ripped off. Aside from that though, Erika is a great singer and has a very powerful voice. It's the right mix of husky and sweet and I'm definitely impressed. The judges are also impressed and put her through to the next stage. She will need a serious make over though if she wants to make that final thirteen. [ 8.5/10 ]
Creighton Fraker sings a really cool version of "Somebody To Love". His voice is one of those that you'll either love or hate and in my instance, I really like Creighton. I thought that his audition was a fluke and I would quickly lose more liking for him but he's proving this wrong already! The unique, raspiness of his voice reminds me of everything Paul McDonald from last season SHOULD have been. Creighton successfully makes it to round two of Hollywood and leaves me wondering if he could be this season's underdog. [ 8.5/10 ]
Up next is Aaron Marcellus who usually sounds decent but was nothing but a huge puke worthy bag of hot mess melisma tonight. The judges liked it though so he is through to the next round! I hope this guy tones it down a bit. His desperation after failing to make the live shows for two seasons already must be getting to his head. [ 3/10 ]
Savannah auditioner Lauren Mink sings a very pitchy version of "Alone" and changes key half way through. She manages to hold her own throughout the song but the judges aren't impressed with it and sends her home. Aww...
Our second to last singer for the night is tubby and tanned and never before seen this season, Jeremy Rosado who is a front desk clerk at an infectious disease doctor's office. He's already been nicknamed "Dirty" by the judges so he carries around hand sanitizer wherever he goes. Smart move because with all the sick contestants this year in Hollywood, anything to prevent those bugs getting in your system is a good thing!
Jeremy has a really nice, pure tone but starts way too high in this song. He starts straining and it doesn't sound too pretty. There's potential though... and potential to lose weight if he wants to make it far. The judges like him and puts him through to group round! [ 7.5/10 ]
And FINALLY, AT LONG LAST, AFTER A HUGE LONG ~SUSPENSEFUL~ WAIT, IT IS THE TIME FOR THE MOST SHOCKING MOMENT OF HOLLYWOOD WEEK... EVVVAARRR! The horror!
First off the producers need to realize "shocking" means when the audience doesn't see it coming. When you show this "shocking moment" EVERY 10 DAMN MINUTES in the episode, it is NOT a shocker. I feel so sorry for this girl because the whole of America and the world has seen her face plant onto the floor about a million times now. And there's one more time left to go for tonight! She deserves an automatic spot in the top five for all this horrible exploitation...
So anyway, if you didn't know already, 16 year old Symone Black fell off the stage. SHE FELL. OFF THE STAGE. YES. SHE FAINTED AND FELL OFF THE STAGE. Are you shocked? ZOMG ME NEITHER!!!!11!one!
Symone sounded really great singing "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" though and I honestly think she was one of the best singers we heard tonight. Her nice soulful, yet kind of relaxing and soft tone was great to end off the show with, but obviously the producers had to go further and milk that passing out scene to the limit before they let this girl go...
So what happened to Symone? We don't know yet! Do you know why? The producers still want to replay her falling off stage a million times in tomorrow night's episode and for all the ads that lead up to it as well. That means we are left with a cliffhanger as we see a bunch of medics rush up to Symone as the credits roll on our screen. Before we know it, round one is over and it is now time for group day!
~WHO TO LOOK OUT FOR~
Obviously our veteran stars Johnny Keyser, Heejun Han, Phillip Phillips and Reed Grimm are ones to look out for in the future (to be honest I don't think we have choice because these 4 will be in shoved in our faces all season long), but this episode has shown me some new potential competitors in soulful Erika Van Pelt, airy songstress Jen Hirsh and "dirty" Jeremy Rosado! I am also very excited to see more from Elise Testone and Creighton Fraker, who need to be taken out from their hiding place ASAP!
7MQ1xzlD-ZU
Incase you missed it...
Goodbye for now and I will see you tomorrow when Group Round begins!
:zsnap
~EPISODE 8: HOLLYWOOD ROUND 1~
"Can I sing a little bit more?"
Recapped by RTVG's most frenetic idol tard, Ethan!
TONIGHT, WE HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED IN HOLLYWOOD! Yes, after seven pitiful and draggy audition episodes, 309 contestants have arrived in Hollywood and are ready to show us the best Season 11 has to offer! Randy tells us this year they've raised the stakes (as he does every year), the set has been changed (it looks stanky) and Steven is ready to give the hopefuls his pep talk before the first day commences. It looks like we're in for a hell of a ride! Get ready for six episodes of DRAMA, BREAKOUT STARS AND FALLING GIRLS!!!
First up are two popular guys who both got Jennifer's hormones racing!
First up is cocky and confident Johnny Keyser, who sings a rendition of Amos Lee's "Dreamin" at great ease and sails through to the next round. His voice is so clear and crisp and resonates so well throughout that theatre. His attitude is starting to kind of put me off now though. Just because you're good looking and sound good doesn't mean you can keep giving us that bitch face of yours... Anyway, Johnny is an easy yes and put through to the next round! I can't wait to see what condescending remarks he makes to this group mates on group day! Drama!!! [ 8.5/10 ]
Next to Johnny in line is token Asian Heejun Han whose endearing personality made us all love him back in Pittsburgh. Heejun is a bag of nerves on the way to Hollywood and we see him reminding his mom not to pack too much because he reckons he won't make it far (awww). He is also especially intimidated by the "tall and pretty" contestants he's up against and wonders what they eat to look so good. You have got to love this guy or you're probably lying to yourself.
Heejun is a nice humble contrast to cocky Johnny Keyser and although he re-sings his audition song "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", the judges obviously aren't phased, nor are the audience who cheer him on throughout the song. Although I love me some Heejun, his voice is very shaky as he is evidently nervous but the richness and huskiness of his tone still doesn't fail to impress, making him another easy yes as we see him go through to the next round! [ 8/10 ]
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ly95hdJBdb1qkiuhbo2_500.gif
Shake it out in celebration for another Heejun victory!
After the boys' turn, it's time for our first Hollywood fodder montage! First up is soulful Elise Testone who although has fodder written all over her, sounds promising and I sure hope we get to see something from her in full soon! [ 7.5/10 ]
Up next is Texas girl Baylie Brown who was as interesting as a piece of cardboard, followed by Pittsburgh sob story contestant Hallie Day who is also bland and forgettable. I'm not a fan of either girl at this stage but they both move on, along with Elise to group round! Yay for fodder chicas! [ 5/10 for both ]
After the break comes the turn of a new face we have yet to meet...
25 year old Jen Hirsh is worried that she will fidget on stage and make a fool of herself, but delivers a very captivating version of "Up To The Mountain", putting her straight through to the next round. Although she was a little bit shrieky here and there, her airy, sweet tone is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to see what she can bring in future rounds. Look out for this one! [ 8/10 ]
Also going through from Jen's line is St. Louis daddy's girl Lauren Gray who gets so into her scream fest delivery of Adele that she doesn't notice Randy waving at her frenetically to shut up. ROFL. [ 6/10 ]
After Lauren finally shuts up and gets her pass to group round, we are given our first sour taste of Hollywood with the coming of shrieky hot messes Heather Youmans, Sascha Julian and Candice Russell, as well as a brunette girl who sweetly and patiently pleads the judges to let her sing a bit more. After all her relentless nagging, Randy agrees for her to sing one more note, but instead she gives us a string of runs and giggles her way off stage. Classy exit.
Once our next commercial break is over, Steven goes out backstage in the wings to give the wannabes another pep talk, encouraging them to "scream" and cause drama... I finally see why the producers kept him this year.
The next contestant of the day is the country boy who sings soul rock and obvious candidate for winner of this season, Phillip Phillips who yell/groan/shouts/constipates his way through "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". I'm trying my best to warm up to this guy because I can tell he'll go far but right now it's not really working when all I hear is a mother ogre going through labour pains. [ 6/10 ]
Up after Phillip is Casey Abrams v2.0 Reed Grimm who sings "I got a Golden Ticket" from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This guy is extremely hard to take seriously but also extremely hard to dislike. Obviously he gets through to the next round and gains a lot of fans while doing so. [ 7/10 ]
Also in Phillip and Reed's line is second time auditioner and now America's most unlucky guy, Travis Orlando who is sadly once again rejected on the first round of Hollywood. I really didn't think Travis was bad at all and though his voice is rather generic, he definitely has improved and it was genuinely sad to see him leave, tears in his eyes. They could have at least brought him to group day to boost his confidence a bit!
And along with Travis, we say goodbye to some other "memorable" auditioners from this year, born-with-no-ears Ramiro Garcia, git-fiddle player who comes dressed up like a red neck douche, Wolf Hamlin and the girl who has a list of celebrities she can kiss without it being called cheating, Jen Schick! No real losses there.
An ad break and a Steven Tyler quote after, we meet our next "break out star" of the season! And lookie - he looks like a tubbier Danny Gokey!
Adam Brock is a new father whose sob story is that he will miss his daughter in Hollywood. Wow. Is that it? When the Idol producers count something as silly that as a sob story it must mean they're doing all they can in their power to pimp the contestant. Adam's less than current look doesn't look like something that would sell though so maybe his voice is what is so great about him?
Adam tells us that he's been said to have a large black woman trapped inside of him but when he sings "Walking In Memphis", all I hear is a gruffier Taylor Hicks mixed with some Lee DeWyze. The judges are impressed and put him through but that's a horrible combination of Idol's two worst fail whale winners so I hope this is the last time we see Adam. He's better than both of them but definitely not someone Idol would benefit from. [ 6.5/10 ]
Jim Carrey's daughter is up next! Yes she has a name and I can remember it but since the producers really only care about showing her because she has a famous daddy, I will just stick to the trend and call her simply by "Jim Carrey's Daughter". She sings really shakily today and I kind of feel bad for her when she gets rejected a pass to the next round, but I guess she can just go to Papa Carrey and ask for some cash to put out some independent album, right? There's lots of opportunities in Celebrityville~
Before our next segment we are shown some desperate pleas from contestants who just won't fathom the fact that they got rejected, including Galveston auditioner Linda Williams who should be happy in the first place she got as far as into the theatre after her horrible audition.
Our next three contestants are all familiar faces and are all put through to group round after decent performances!
First of the three is 15 year old Shannon Magrane who sings a nice rendition of Alicia Keys' "Fallin". However, Shannon's voice is kind of under developed for me and the strength and grit needed for this song definitely didn't come through. [ 7/10 ]
Up next is deluded "ladies man" David Leathers Jr. who needs to realize girls only like him in a "Awww! Look at that cute two month old baby!" kind of way. David sings some Celine Dion and sounds great but boys whose voices have yet to break really shouldn't be allowed on this show or else they'll suddenly morph into someone else during the live rounds when all that pressure makes puberty catch up onto them. [ 7.5/10 ]
The last of the three is Jessica Phillips, whose sob story is replayed again for us incase we have forgotten about her boyfriend (no pun intended). Luckily for Jessica, her boyfriend is in Hollywood with her and Jessica delivers a nice and solid performance on stage. I'm still not fully convinced by her, but her lower register sounded great. Her upper register is kind of breathy and messy though so she'll have to work on that. She reminds me a bit of India Arie at this point. [ 7.5/10 ]
Also through to the next round is NBA cheerleader hottie Brittany Kerr and theatrical GaGa fan Angie Zeiderman!
After our final commercial break of the night comes the turn of 6 final contestants, including two new faces, one of which goes to slam her face on the floor when she falls off the stage. Ouch...
Erika Van Pelt needs to quickly change her style. The horribly tacky country girl checkered shirts need to go and that horrible bob hairdo thing needs to get ripped off. Aside from that though, Erika is a great singer and has a very powerful voice. It's the right mix of husky and sweet and I'm definitely impressed. The judges are also impressed and put her through to the next stage. She will need a serious make over though if she wants to make that final thirteen. [ 8.5/10 ]
Creighton Fraker sings a really cool version of "Somebody To Love". His voice is one of those that you'll either love or hate and in my instance, I really like Creighton. I thought that his audition was a fluke and I would quickly lose more liking for him but he's proving this wrong already! The unique, raspiness of his voice reminds me of everything Paul McDonald from last season SHOULD have been. Creighton successfully makes it to round two of Hollywood and leaves me wondering if he could be this season's underdog. [ 8.5/10 ]
Up next is Aaron Marcellus who usually sounds decent but was nothing but a huge puke worthy bag of hot mess melisma tonight. The judges liked it though so he is through to the next round! I hope this guy tones it down a bit. His desperation after failing to make the live shows for two seasons already must be getting to his head. [ 3/10 ]
Savannah auditioner Lauren Mink sings a very pitchy version of "Alone" and changes key half way through. She manages to hold her own throughout the song but the judges aren't impressed with it and sends her home. Aww...
Our second to last singer for the night is tubby and tanned and never before seen this season, Jeremy Rosado who is a front desk clerk at an infectious disease doctor's office. He's already been nicknamed "Dirty" by the judges so he carries around hand sanitizer wherever he goes. Smart move because with all the sick contestants this year in Hollywood, anything to prevent those bugs getting in your system is a good thing!
Jeremy has a really nice, pure tone but starts way too high in this song. He starts straining and it doesn't sound too pretty. There's potential though... and potential to lose weight if he wants to make it far. The judges like him and puts him through to group round! [ 7.5/10 ]
And FINALLY, AT LONG LAST, AFTER A HUGE LONG ~SUSPENSEFUL~ WAIT, IT IS THE TIME FOR THE MOST SHOCKING MOMENT OF HOLLYWOOD WEEK... EVVVAARRR! The horror!
First off the producers need to realize "shocking" means when the audience doesn't see it coming. When you show this "shocking moment" EVERY 10 DAMN MINUTES in the episode, it is NOT a shocker. I feel so sorry for this girl because the whole of America and the world has seen her face plant onto the floor about a million times now. And there's one more time left to go for tonight! She deserves an automatic spot in the top five for all this horrible exploitation...
So anyway, if you didn't know already, 16 year old Symone Black fell off the stage. SHE FELL. OFF THE STAGE. YES. SHE FAINTED AND FELL OFF THE STAGE. Are you shocked? ZOMG ME NEITHER!!!!11!one!
Symone sounded really great singing "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay" though and I honestly think she was one of the best singers we heard tonight. Her nice soulful, yet kind of relaxing and soft tone was great to end off the show with, but obviously the producers had to go further and milk that passing out scene to the limit before they let this girl go...
So what happened to Symone? We don't know yet! Do you know why? The producers still want to replay her falling off stage a million times in tomorrow night's episode and for all the ads that lead up to it as well. That means we are left with a cliffhanger as we see a bunch of medics rush up to Symone as the credits roll on our screen. Before we know it, round one is over and it is now time for group day!
~WHO TO LOOK OUT FOR~
Obviously our veteran stars Johnny Keyser, Heejun Han, Phillip Phillips and Reed Grimm are ones to look out for in the future (to be honest I don't think we have choice because these 4 will be in shoved in our faces all season long), but this episode has shown me some new potential competitors in soulful Erika Van Pelt, airy songstress Jen Hirsh and "dirty" Jeremy Rosado! I am also very excited to see more from Elise Testone and Creighton Fraker, who need to be taken out from their hiding place ASAP!
7MQ1xzlD-ZU
Incase you missed it...
Goodbye for now and I will see you tomorrow when Group Round begins!
:zsnap