I don't get the David Cook ... dislike either, honestly. I may just be seeing him as shy and a little cool instead of smug or arrogant, but regardless, he's the only left I could see myself listening to after this is over.

::pets tiggy::

honestly, Sail? i probably would have responded the same way David did. deflect with humour. how was he supposed to answer the question? "why, no Ryan. i don't believe i am pompous." well...that would have stopped the naysayers!

Amy, you are me. i see him as shy and humble and glad to be there.

"why, no Ryan. i don't believe i am pompous." well...that would have stopped the naysayers!

"I'm sorry Simon sees me as pompous, I'm not trying to be. I think, as has been pointed out, I could improve by....etc."

Being a smartass in response to a smartass doesn't make him look any more than a smartass. A smug smartass.

no one's able to actually tell how they think he's being smug/pretentious/assworthy

Well, I hope Cook actually does more than just, you know, writing on himself and saying he feels passionately about cancer, African orphans and poverty. I don't think writing "free trade" on one's hand is particularly admirable, but at least it's specific. Writing "give back" on one's hand is obnoxious for several reasons-- it implies that you believe you have a special status and are in a position to encourage people to do good, and yet, he used his podium to write the least specific expression of charity one could think of, and treated it like it was a big, courageous thing. Fair trade actually implies something of controversy. "Give back" is pabulum. It's like being impressed with yourself for boycotting diamonds. It's not like that's hard.

Anyway, since tiggy asked why people hate David Cook, I'm trying to be specific.

I think I might not be understanding the show in general.

The one guy who acts like the rock stars we spend loads of money on is unpopular. The guy who seems like he'd crack under the pressure of stardom after roughly the first thirty minutes...the other David...is the favorite.

I haven't watched the show before, so I may be missing the point.

I do have to say that the pompous comment, I think, came because the kid stood over the judges as he was belting it. Space invasion!

I should say, I truly didn't mean to poke a controversy. I thought there might be some background info I wasn't privy to.

The one really good thing about watching the bits that I have seen so far is that I have been sent scurrying to youtube to find things I was never aware of before. That version of Billy Jean, and Over the Rainbow, and Our Lady Peace. Stuff I'm really enjoying that I'd never have seen otherwise.

One of the things I see with David Cook is that he's playing Idol like it's Big Brother or Survivor. The guy really doesn't have that great a voice, it's not the most musical. He does know how to perform and to put on a show. So he chooses arrangements of songs that aren't as well known so he can have an excuse to: 1) not have to use much of a range, 2) make it so unrecognizable you can't even tell what he's singing until he's halfway through it, 3) try to convince everyone this makes him "arty." He's not trying to win by being the best singer, he's trying to make himself look like a star before he is one. It's one thing to look like a star, another thing to actually be one. It's like the difference between Annie Lennox and Miley Cyrus.

THE sexiest man in the competition is gone. That's fucked up. Yeah, MJ has a skeevy side, but his "bohemian rhapsody" was just awesome. Good bye. Hope your career models Daughtry's.

What was skeevy about MJ, out of curiosity?

I wouldn't call it skeevy, but the tie/cravat thing? Had to go. Sorry MJ went with it.