On "Three", Girls: "Lisa No En Casa!"

I'm so glad that we've gotten to the "sprint" edition of cutdown night. Without commercials, I think the show lasted about 8.5 minutes. In the spirit of tonight's blindingly fast show, I'm going to keep things relatively brief.

Is it just me, or did the inclusion of Shakira & Wyclef on tonight's show seem more than slightly RANDOM? I mean, sure, they've recorded music in the 21st Century, but did you EVER expect to see Wyclef Jean on American Idol?!? I'll bet that Lauryn Hill was spittin' bullets! Random or not, theirs certainly was a jaunty little ditty, hmm? Did Shakira sing? I was mesmerized by her hippy-hippy shake. Wyclef was coooool as the other side of the pillow, as he tends to be.

So, while I'm glad that Ryan has been easy on the contestants in the suspense department in the past couple of weeks, I really hope he amps it up a little next time. I know that they don't want to sit there and sweat, but watching them do it is one of the best things about cutdown night. Sure, it sucks. But it's fun in an eeee-vil sort of way.

"Mandisa, Chris, Kellie, Taylor and Paris: You may all be excused and grab a bite to eat while I make the top row test the powers of their respective anti-perspirants." I need more than that. I want someone like Chris or Kellie to think ... just for a second ... that they're in danger.

So, the Bottom Three.

Lisa. No surprise there. Ace. Not really a surprise either.and then there was ... Katharine. What the ...?!?

Not only was Kit Kat in the Bottom Three, she got fewer votes than Ace! Now THAT is the shocker that we were looking for tonight. While it's surprising, it just shows y'all that you've gotta vote for your peeps. Normally, I'd have thought that Katharine's appearance in the Bottom Three was the product of voters assuming she'd be safe. After reading the posts this morning, however, I'm pretty sure she just didn't get votes because people didn't like her performance.

So, VOTE people! I know, I know ... I didn't vote much last night either. OK, fine ... at ALL! But it was in protest of the bad perfomances and song choices last night. Get it together you ... you ... Top 9, you!

Tonight, we bid adieu to Lisa Tucker. She seemed to have accepted her fate (long before the actual news was divulged) and I think that this was the right outcome tonight. I think that in a couple of years, she'll be a force to be reckoned with. She carried herself with grace, charm and dignity that defies her years. She's a good kid.

In the meantime, grab yer boots, y'all! Cause we're goin' COUNTRY next week! YEEEEE-HAW! You know ... just in case you haven't had enough Country music on the show yet this season.