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.

didn't someone upthread say he pinged their skeevy meter?

I thought his way of hugging the mike was awkward and stilted and I felt some distance from him in the way he sang (with his eyes closed sometimes). So I can kind of see how that would seem kinda weird from a different perspective.

I still kind of liked him though. Much more than David A whose breathing problems are distracting as fuck.

It's like the difference between Annie Lennox and Miley Cyrus.

This makes sense to me.

But, does that mean the 'idols' should only be amateurs/amateurish?

I could agree with that...given my agita over the 'Dream Team' phenomenon with the Olympic basketball team. That felt like a betrayal of the Olympic ethic. And I could see requiring the idols to not be starlike going in. But given the comments at the auditions, that doesn't seem to be what they are looking for. Sort of schizoid, which is where my confusion lay. I think I get it now though.

okay, Sail, but they aren't exactly telling him why they think he's being pompous. at least not on camera. so how can he try to change that?

it implies that you believe you have a special status and are in a position to encourage people to do good

he's no different than any of the other celebrities that were on the show last night asking people to donate. as for thinking it was corageous, i'm not really willing to argue his intentions or if he thought it was corageous. i somehow thought he did, he just wanted people to know he thought it was something important to do.

anyway...thanks for being specific, bon. i disagree completely, but i do appreciate the actual reasons.

thanks to you to, Sail. i agree with quite a bit of your last post as well. David doesn't have the best voice, but he knows what his range is and he knows how to use it. that makes him more marketable in my book. whereas with someone like Carly Smithson or David Archuleta have good voices, but you don't know what to expect from them week after week. not to mention what an actual album would sound like.

as for MJ, i heard things a while back that made me change my mind about him. song stealing/royalty screwing of a previous band he had been involved with mostly.