(S06E16) Ryan sums up the last two nights by saying "The girls ripped it up and the boys threw it down," and tells us that once again they received almost 32 million total votes.

Let's just skip all the other stuff and get to it. AJ TABALDO is going home! I'm shocked. I really didn't see that coming. I would place AJ above Phil, Brandon, Jared, and definitely Sanjaya. He gave a good performance Tuesday night and received praise from all of the judges. He has a great personality to match a great voice. Yet, AJ's journey ends tonight...and Sanjaya (adorable, yet flawed) lives to sing another song.

Oh yeah, ALAINA, NICK, and LESLIE are also going home, but I'm not surprised at all. I pretty much expected that. Did I mention that I'm still in shock over AJ getting the boot?

(S06E11) Tonight we moved past the horrible auditions and the Hollywood meltdowns into the part of the competition that many of Idol's critics call "Karaoke Time." I think it's a given that all of the semifinalists are talented singers, having beat out thousands of others, and holding their own during Hollywood Hell Week in order to get to the Top 24. But staying in the competition is going to be tough. They're going to have to go beyond lame or even "safe" Karaoke renditions. They really need to kick some butt big time and shine.