See you later!

Wrote about Amezcua and Feet for Us at Happy Tripper.

• Amezcua Wellness Center - Foot Reflexology and Silky Foot Peel
• Feet for Us

Next stop: Foot Loose and City Lifestyle.

And the winner is… DAVID COOK!

By 12 million votes!!!

Though last night was David Archuleta’s time to shine, it wasn’t enough to make him win.  David Cook just had more “hits” and good performances throughout the season.  In this case, he wasn’t just as good as his last performance.   The voters remembered all his great performances, which included Hello, Eleanor Rigby, Billie Jean, and of course, Always Be My Baby.

After the show, all online indicators pointed to a David Cook win.  iTunes sales, internet polls, it was overwhelming.   What I thought was an exciting finale (not knowing who the winner will be until the last second) became more predictable as the night went on.

David Cook is the first rocker to win American Idol.  Awesome!  I cannot wait for the CDs/albums to come out.  I will be watching out for David Cook’s, David Archuleta’s, and Jason Castro.  Michael Johns singing Father Figure tonight was sexy, so maybe I’ll watch out for his CD too.

So to American Idol 7, congratulations on a good year.  Hopefully next year you can mix it up a bit, ratings are probably going down because the format is practically the same yearly.  But heck, “low ratings” is still higher than most shows out there combined!  Hopefully next year too, no more Neil Diamond week, m’okay?  That was really lame.   And please, please, keep Idol Gives Back.

Congratulations to David Cook!

WHAT A NIGHT!

I was hoping for a David vs. David finale for the excitement and the showdown and boy did I get it.

A lot of people have been saying that David Cook will/should win American Idol. But after tonight, I believe David Archuleta has a chance. Yes David Cook won last week, but David Archuleta clearly won tonight. And sometimes, only the latest performances matter (remember Elliot Yamin?).

I’m actually not rooting for anyone to win, I truly believe they are both winners already - it looks like they both will have good careers ahead of them. I used to be a big David Archuleta fan, right after “Shop Around” (1st song, during the Top 24) and even more so after “Imagine”. However, he got boring after a while because he sang the “usual” David Archuleta songs - ballads, inspirational songs, and the like. David Cook on the other hand mixed it up and chose funky arrangements for his songs (some not original though, like Billie Jean) so he became “exciting”. However, towards the end, I also felt he sang the “usual” David Cook songs - pop-turned-rock. The “unexpected” became “expected”.

David Archuleta’s case: Loved by the tweens, teens, grandparents, and people in between. Seems that he can be easily “manipulated” by the AI machine. He has one of the best vocals in the season. Perfect example is tonight. He nailed all the songs, vocally. He’s so adorable and cute.

David Cook’s case: He has been consistent from the beginning (Top 24). Though not the best vocally, his “marketability” has been proven throughout the season through the iTunes sales. He even beat Madonna at some point! He is daring, and will definitely be good for AI as he is unlike any other past winner.

OK, on to the performances!

David Archuleta won the coin toss and opted to go second.

David Cook sang the following songs: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Dream Big, and The World I Know.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - I was waiting for a U2 song all season and I finally got it tonight! And David Cook performed it well! However, I found it “typical” of David to sing it a bit slow, then rock it out in the end. His trip to the audience area wasn’t as smooth as I would have wanted it to be - I mean, it just looked a bit forced. But still, it was a great performance.

Dream Big - It wasn’t a performance for the finals, in my opinion. Can’t fault David 100% for the song choice because they had limited choices and almost all were crap (at least that’s what I read).

The World I Know - Good song (thanks for introducing me to the song, David) and good performance, but it wasn’t enough, at least for me. I’ve read a lot of articles and blogs talking about David Cook’s cockiness, but I’ve never noticed it until tonight. That answer about “progression” and not seeing the reason why he has to repeat a performance - that was kinda cocky. I totally understand where he’s coming from, but he could have explained it another way. I totally agree with Simon, he should have sang Hello or Billie Jean (Always Be My Baby is OVERPLAYED haha!). Let’s say he really wanted to sing a new song - he could have chosen something else. The World I Know is definitely not the type of song you’d want to sing as your LAST song.

David Archuleta sang the following: Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, In This Moment, and his hit, Imagine.

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Good performance, and I kinda understand why the song was chosen but - THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER GOOD SONGS OUT THERE! Oh well, can’t fault David for this, it wasn’t his choice. But he did his best and it came out good. I don’t agree with the judges though that this is his best performance for the season.

In This Moment - Another crappy song but he did what he could. And it was definitely a better “winning” song than Dream Big. I swear, can’t they just scrap the songwriter’s competition already?

Imagine - As written in another blog, there’s no way you can sing pure beauty twice. It just wasn’t as beautiful as the first time. However, it was still a perfect performance. Perfect song to end the night.

David Archuleta looked petrified and really nervous during the critiques of the judges, but he was flawless with his singing (okay, maybe not flawless for the first song). Between the two Davids, it looked like the little David went there to win, singing his heart out with every line. I didn’t feel that with the older David.

So will David Archuleta’s performances tonight be enough to make him the next American Idol? Or will David Cook’s boldness make him the first rocker to ever win American Idol? Tomorrow, we’ll find out.

What do YOU think about tonight’s performances?

Look at this cutiepie!

After a few days of searching the net for Giro d’Italia videos or streaming feeds, I found THIS!  Absolutely amazing!  The site lists down ALL the options for the viewers.  The best feed is Pop TV, where you can mix and match the video and audio.  Right now we are watching the RAI.it video, but listening to the Eurosport audio.  COOLNESS!!!

Right now Andreas Kloden is doing well, coming in first in the second time check and overtaking the guy just ahead of him.  Levi Leipheimer, on the other hand, had to dodge a motorcycle and is now laboring his way up the final climb.  Alberto Contador is not having a great day, very understandable as he is riding with a fractured shoulder.  After the news of Contador’s injury, all eyes actually turned to Kloden and he is rising up to the challenge.

Here’s hoping that the Astana boys will do well.  GO ASTANA!

We attended our first pet meet today at Eastwood. We were invited by Mark and Joey, the owners of Graham’s dad, Titan. It was actually cool! I was worried it was going to rain hard but we were blessed because the weather was actually good - just cool winds and no rain. It was an intimate gathering where vets discussed common questions on vaccines and nutrition. Two of Graham’s brothers were there! Graham was so scared at first because aside from his siblings, he has never met any other dogs nor other animals (except for the birds that visit him from time to time). But he got comfortable after a while and started mingling with his brothers.

Nice thing about pet meets is that you get to meet regular pets and pet owners. Shows are interesting, yes, but for me (and this is just my opinion), it seems that when you see one you’ve seen them all. With the pet meet, we now understand Graham’s needs better. And, we got a lot of freebies from Royal Canin and Pet One. Coolness!

More photos here.

You know how you can feel right at home with certain people, and it doesn’t even matter how often you see each other? Yeah. Last week, I met up with the girls for dinner. Fun, fun times.

I took part in the Rickey.org live chat to check out the results and I CAN’T BELIEVE I had doubts as to who will go home tonight. I guess you can never be too sure until the names are announced, but I really couldn’t imagine a finals night other than David vs. David!

And yes, it will be David vs. David in the finals!

And David Cook, no matter how good he is, was in the bottom 2! David Archuleta’s name was called first! I don’t think it will be the same case during the finals, ’cause I’m sure David Cook will BRING IT ON! It will be very, very exciting!

YAY!!!

And the next American Idol is…. DAVID!!!

I’m actually a bit disappointed. Not 1 standout performance. No “Imagine”, no “Always Be My Baby”. Nothing new. Almost all the performances - even those that showcased great vocals - were predictable.

David Archuleta sang “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel, “With You” by Chris Brown, and “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg. His best performance was his first one, “And So It Goes”. His vocals tonight were very, very good, but to me it came across as the usual David Archuleta song. Nothing new to wow me. But don’t get me wrong, it was a really good performance. “With You” was a bit awkward, but I totally understand David’s choice. It’s current, he’s young, and both judges’ songs were s-l-o-w. Still, we get good vocals from David. “Longer” again showcases his spot-on vocals but for me, it’s a snoozefest. What, they can’t choose a better song than that?! Come on! Thank you Simon for giving credit where credit is due - he did sing it well. The song was just really crappy. If I only base it on the songs and performances, I would be worried. But I truly believe David has done enough to merit a spot in the finals, against the other David. I cannot imagine Syesha getting more votes than little David.

Syesha Mercado’s songs were “If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys, “Fever” and “Hit Me Up”. I think Syesha’s going home tomorrow. “If I Ain’t Got You” was okay for me, it was the usual “I am Syesha, I can belt it out” song - nothing special. I don’t understand why she chose “Fever” - it just showed everyone how better she will be in broadway than in mainstream music (which is what American Idol is all about?). It was a good performance, but really way off the mark, I think. “Hit Me Up” was pitchy, and I really don’t think it’s a song for the Top 3. Makes me think American Idol did it on purpose to get rid of Syesha and ensure a David vs. David finale.

David Cook’s songs were “First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, “Dare You to Move” by Switchfoot, and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. I applaud Simon for his song choice - it’s a song that’s not expected from David, one that will challenge him. Though he sang it well, it was not at the level of “Billie Jean” and “Always Be My Baby”, that’s for sure. “Dare You to Move” is forgettable. “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” is the perfect song choice for David, but there were some pitchy moments, I think. It was good though, but still nothing spectacular.

The performances, ranked from fave to least fave:

1. And So It Goes by David Archuleta
2. First Time I Ever Saw Your Face by David Cook
3. I Dont Want To Miss a Thing by David Cook
4. Longer by David Archuleta
5. If I Ain’t Got You by Syesha Mercado
6. Dare You To Move by David Cook
7. With You by David Archuleta
8. Fever by Syesha Mercado
9. Hit Me Up by Syesha Mercado

It’s looking like a David vs. David finale. Hard to believe there will be a shock elimination tomorrow. And it looks like David Cook will win this thing.