Monday, March 31, 2008

Baseball Season!

The baseball season starts today and, hopefully, the Angels start their march to proving my pre-season predictions wrong:

AL EAST
1. Boston Red Sox- Ortiz and Manny are tough to get around.
2. New York Yankees (Wild Card) - Outside of Jason Giambi, the entire starting lineup could hit over .300.
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

AL CENTRAL
1. Cleveland Indians - Best Bullpen in the majors
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Minnesota Twins

AL WEST
1. Seattle Mariners - Erik Bedard was a huge acquisition.
2. ANAHEIM Angels - I think the stacked Outfield/DH provides a little too much drama: Gary Matthews is a bit of a diva, it might be a problem. The hitting might have more power than a year ago, but the pitching is going to suffer with the loss of Escobar (forever perhaps) and Lackey (for another month and 1/2 at least). It'll be too big a hole to climb out of.
3. Oakland A's
4. Texas Rangers

NL EAST
1. New York Mets - Johan will be just fine in the NL. And if Pedro and Orlando Hernandez get/stay healthy, this is a scary playoff team.
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins

NL CENTRAL
1. Chicago Cubs - I present closer Kerry Wood. This team has very strong pitching and top-to-bottom, a lineup that can compete with any team in the NL.
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL WEST
1. Arizona Diamondbacks - Brandon Webb and Danny Haren might be the best 1-2 punch in baseball. Big question is whether Randy Johnson is servicable, or if he hurts his team.
2. Colorado Rockies (Wild Card) - Last year was not a fluke. Former Irvine resident Garrett Atkins (Uni HS) and Matt Holiday lead the charge
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. San Diego Padres
5. San Francisco Aints

AL DIVISION SERIES
Cleveland over New York
Boston over Seattle

ALCS
Cleveland over Boston

NL DIVISION SERIES
Chicago over Colorado
New York over Arizona

NLCS
Chicago over New York

WORLD SERIES
Cleveland over Chicago - Either way a LOOOOONG streak is broken.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Top Ten: Prediction

Bottom Three: Syesha, Chikezie, Ramiele

Going Home: Chikezie

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Touring Ten: 50/50

Wow, look! I'm able to blog AI on the night of the show, thanks to our new computer!!! Anyway, the top-ten week (songs from the year they were born) was pretty hit and miss. Lots of HITS and a few big MISSES. Here are my updated rankings:

1. David Cook - I read before the show that he was doing Billie Jean, and doing the Chris Cornell version of it. The 12-16 year old girls that were over watching the show tonight didn't like the version. I think the version itself is pretty good, although the original is one of the better Michael Jackson songs. It was, however, the PERFECT song for David Cook. I still want this guy to win, but I'm pretty comfortable with a few others winning as well, like...
...2. Brooke White - I completely agreed with Randy and Simon, who said that she should have stayed with just the voice and piano through all of the stalker anthem "Every Breath You Take." She was amazing!
3. Syesha Mercado - Although the performance was pretty bland, and not my taste, this girl can BLOW. She's got a killer voice, and this type of pop ballad is right in her wheel house. I don't think it was as good as her original audition, but really good nonetheless.
4. Michael Johns - I'm sure this is a one-week high, coming off this performance, but for once I have an opinion on this guy. His We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions performance was PERFECT for him. Simply amazing. I really have gotten to like him as we've seen more of the packaged clips week-to-week.
5. Carly - She's got the pipes, but does she have the personality to cruise towards the end? I don't think last week will be the last time we see her in the bottom three. She isn't connecting with the audience, me included.
6. Chikeze - Even after a blah performance, I'm moving him up a notch, simply because I like him. He's fun and he does have a pretty sweet voice.
7. David Archuleta - Nothing against him, it's just not my bag. Yes, he can sing a take out menu and sound amazing, but i'm growing more indifferent about him as we go along.
8. Jason Castro - Still like him, too. Maybe this is one of the strongest groups of finalists as they have been touting all along, even though I thought it was just hyperbole.
9. Kristy Lee Cook - What the heck? Okay, I may be WAY unpatriotic, but this song is just pure cheese. It might have been great and impacting and meaning full in 198whatever when it was written, but there are much better patriotic country songs out there from the last few years that make it pale in comparison.
10. Ramiele Malubay - zzzzzzz

Predictions Tommorow!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Whoops!

Score a negative 1 for Vote for the Worst as Amanda Overmyer went home. I went 2-for-3 on my bottom three prediction, so that ain't bad.

I'm now 1-for-2 on elimination predictions.

Eleventh Not-Quite-Heaven

Week two of the Lennon/McCartney song book was a little rough. At least, worse than last week. Some of my faves had a tough go of it, but fortunately, some of the bottom tier did bad enough to keep themselves at the bottom. Thus, here are my rankings, followed by my predictions for tonight:

1. David Cook - Proved once again that he is the one guy out of this group that I might pay to listen to or see. It'll be interesting to see how he rocks out the non-rock themed weeks.
2. Brooke White - Okay, I'll admit that last night was rough, but after Let it Be last week, she had nowhere to go but down. The one thing that bugged me was SHE WOULDN'T SHUT UP! She interupted EVERY judge at least twice and I'm suprised that Simon didn't call her on it, because he hates that. Hopefully she didn't lose to much favor with America, because i want her around a long time.
3. Syesha - What a voice. She needs to stick to songs that show off the pipes and not the peppy dance and glitter performances.
4. Carly Smithson - This girl ROCKS. She's real, she's got an amazing voice, and she would have a great chance to win this whole thing....
5. David Archuleta - ...if it weren't for this guy. He was the top vote getter again (according to DialIdol) and that isn't going to change. The girlies love him. Same reason Castro will stick around awhile.
6. Amanda - Her performance was a mess, but she did what she does best. She's going to really start to lose out on the "rock vote" to David Cook, and not even Vote for the Worst will be able to save her.
7. Jacuzzi - This guy is so much fun to watch. A friend at work just compared his goofiness to Taylor Hicks. Only difference: This guy has a stronger voice!
8. Jason Castro - He's the male Brooke White. When you take the instruments out of his hands, he doesn't no what to do with himself. I'm not saying that's a bad thing (I would much rather see an actual musician win this thing). I just want to see him strap on the six-string and leave it there.
9. Michael Johns - I really liked his performance and he's slowly moving out of "no opinion" zone and into "mildly enjoyable".
10. Ramiele - Time to go. Seriously.
11. Kristy Lee Cook - Didn't do enough to save herself. She's got a pretty good country voice and i thought did a great job last night. But a lot of America will avoid her because she should have gone home a week ago.

Predictions for the Bottom Three: Kristy Lee Cook, Ramiele Malubay, Amanda Overmyer
Going Home: Kristy Lee Cook

Monday, March 17, 2008

The Askew's Back On-Line

Team Askew got a new computer this weekend, and the family blog is finally updated again!

CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Prediction

The bottom three will be: Syesha, David Hernandez, Ramiele Malubay.

Going Home: David Hernandez

UPDATE: 1-for-1 baby, Gay Male Strippers apparently don't sit well with most of America. And I'll take 2-for-3 of my bottom three. I just thought that Kristy Lee Cook's fan base (she's got a bunch of fansites out there) would carry her. Nothing could carry her after that dismal performance.

Top 12 Perform

Here are the latest rankings now that (sniff) Asia'h went home, and the 12 have performed. They've changed a lot since last week.

1. David Cook - This is the guy that I want to see win. It's all about actual musical talent this year, and he's got it.
2. Brooke White - My wife must be rubbing off on me. I really dig this girl, and loved the version of Let it Be last night.
3. David Archuleta - This guy WILL win American Idol. He's just not quite there for me. He's too.....silly.
4. Syesha - She rocks, but she's not going to be around very long. And she was bland last night.
5. Amanda Overmyer - I'm trying not to like her, I really am. Problem is, I love Janis, so her voice doesn't bug me at all. I thought last night was a complete success.
6. Carly Hennessy - She was a superstar last night. I think she'll be around for a long time.
7. Jacuzzi - I thought I would end up moving him up after his crazy good performance, but there are just too many great performers above him.
8. Jason Castro - I really like him. Or Her. I can't figure it out. He's got a chick's eyes and it's hard to watch him perform. But he's good.
9. Michael Johns - How far into this competition are we, and I still have NO opinion about this guy. He was good last night and picked a perfect song. that much I remember.
10. Ramiele Malubay - Ugh. She was just bad last night. She won't be around long.
11. Kristy Lee Cook - The only thing saving her from #12 is that she's from Oregon. I thought the concept of doing a country version was a good one, but to go hyper-kinetic bluegrass was wrong. There were opportunities, even in a bluegrass style, to slow that song down a bit for the chorus or bridge, make it sound okay, but nope. It was a mess.
12. David Hernandez - He creeps me out, and he was horrid last night.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Semi-Finals End, Top-12 Ranks

Well, I went 1-for-4 on my predictions last week after a perfect first week of the semifinals. I now present to you, my top-12 rankings, accounting for my predicted bootees for tonight: Luke Minardo, Gay Stripper (er...David Hernandez), Kady Malloy and Syesha Mercado (which sucks because I love her).

1. David Archuleta
2. Asia'h Epperson
2.5 (Insert Syesha here, if she survives tonight)
3. David Cook
4. Amanda Overmyer
5. Brooke White
6. Carly Hennessy
7. Jacuzzi
8. Jason Castro
9. Ramiele Malubay
10. Michael Johns
11. Kristy Lee Cook
99. Miss America - Danny Noriega