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There’s a very thick cloud cover out here this morning.  It’s not raining much but the unrelenting clouds are so thick there is very little daylight.  And my broadband connection is not working either (so I am on the laptop).  Seldom do we have days this dark around here.  They have an eerie quality.

A familiar environment has a different cast.  And it’s quiet too except for the sound of rain hitting the pavement and cars running through small pools of water that have converged everywhere.   There are sodden leaves on the ground.  Trees have thrown up their limbs in despair.

And when the internet stops coming to my house I start assuming it’s not working anywhere.  Throw in a couple of Tivo’d Frontline broadcasts from last evening about the sorry state of the world and I start imagining there has been a major disaster somewhere that has destroyed it.

Maybe today is the day.  Maybe the aliens have landed.

Do you ever have apocaplyptic dreams?

They have huge ships.  One will come over the horizon and be overhead while the back end is still not in sight.   In my dreams we are always running around in little rebel bands trying to shoot them.  But I suppose it’s possible they are already here.  Maybe they have integrated into the population.  Or maybe they live at the bottom of the ocean.

Maybe Santa Clause started out as an alien.  His sleigh was actually a space ship.  He and his brothers and sisters lived underneath the North Pole at the bottom of the ocean.  But he got tired of waiting for the signal to invade.  Eventually his group leader said it would be alright if he went out once a year and visited with the inhabitants of the planet.

But he would have to leave presents in order to distract the humans while he made his getaway and he would be required to wear a red suit  in honor of his ancestors.

Who were from Mars of course.

Maybe.  Who knows?   I’m just adding another layer of  weirdness to a story that is already pretty weird.     There’s  a guy up there at the North Pole who makes toys all year long with his wife and a bunch of elves.   The he loads them on a sleigh that is pulled by flying reindeer.   And he’s a fat, jolly old guy but his preferred method of entering  the home is to jump down the chimney.

It’s all pretty strange.  But then life is strange.   Hopefully the rain will turn to snow at some point and things will start looking a lot nicer outside.  Right now it looks like we are caught in a time warp on Halloween night.

And that’s not the place we want to be.

filter and sat bump , originally uploaded by Davidlind.

Here’s a photo that was overlooked in the rush of vacations and post vacation readjustment.

I used a new tool on it that eliminates some of the noise that seems to always find its way into digital photographs.

It’s also one of my favorite themes. Dolphins!

I am not sure I like the way the filter has messed with the water around the dolphin.  I’m going to have to look at this awhile.

After watching David’s videos without all the AI distractions I believe he can easily come out with an album that will have at least three or four major hits on it and go right to number one on the charts and stay there awhile.

Watch Eleanor Rigby around 2:23 and witness him blast off. He leaves the American Idol stage and the AI program at this moment. It’s a music video. It’s another world. And he can’t contain himself after it is over. “Rock Out when you hit the chorus” Randy says. “Brilliant” Simon says. “You could win this entire show.”

Here are some of his performances on YouTube. Please let me know when they stop working. it won’t be long most probably.

You know what? Rather than just putting up David Cook video’s and coming back a few days later to find they have turned into somebody’s Little League game here is the link to David Cook videos.

I can’t keep up with this stuff.

Here is a nice article about David. He’s a pretty cool guy and smart too.

The boxing analogy was working pretty well as American Idol had it’s biggest night of the year. This is what it’s all about and why we have been patiently listening to “pitchy” notes and half baked versions of songs we have always loved. And things were going well until the introductions when David Cook announced that it wasn’t a competition for him. He was going to have “fun”.

If losing is fun I guess he must have had a great time last night. In any case he started with I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Lookin For. And it was a solid if predictable performance. His second song was something written for the program called Dream Big. And I am sure the writers and their families were excited about his performance of it.

And his final performance was The World I Know. This was his choice and his voice was in great shape but he should have sung Billy jean again. Perhaps he would not have had enough “fun” performing the same song twice.

If he was competing he would have done it. He would have stirred the soul of the audience by singing it even better than he sang it the first time. Perhaps that would have solved the problem of singing the same song twice.

Because there is always room for improvement on this show. But he didn’t and so he lost his best chance to win the competition. And I’m not sure he even had much fun because he cried after finishing his last performance. Why did he cry? Possibly because he threw the fight. It must hurt terribly to not show everybody what you can really do.

Archy on the other hand came out to win. He wants to win. You can tell. He sang Don’t Let The sun Go Down On Me for his first number. And the nerves were evident but then he picked it up a notch and really got into it. He goes somewhere when he sings. We just hope he will keep his eyes open so that he doesn’t fall off the stage.

For his second song he did something called In This Moment. Once again we had a song created for the event and he pretty much did the same thing that he did for the first number. Except the nerves were gone. Same genre, same emotions. And the same little girls screaming at him from the front of the stage.

And for his third song David once again sang Imagine. And while he was singing I was imagining him challenging himself in the way David Cook did earlier. David C noted that he had never performed his third song before.

But Archie did a nice job. He is totally committed to that song and he can claim the prize for being the very best vocalist of the evening. It was absolutely beautiful.

But I was vaguely disappointed by the whole thing. I would have liked either of them to sing something like Billy Jean. I would have liked to see a star born right there on the stage. And I don’t think it’s ever going to happen on this show. Because a real genius is not going to give it up. He or she might tease us a little bit during the season with flashes of brilliance but then will clam up during the finale and avoid the trap.

Archy wins tonight. He will be happy. David Cook will be happy to go off and explore on his own. But he still has to deal with the tour and singing the same songs every night. Bummer. He better have his pirate joke working really well.

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David Cook

Brilliant

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Billy Jean

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Update: So David Cook is the new American Idol! And the show tonight was inspirational in a way that last night’s show was not. I am happy that America got it right in spite of the fact that Mr. Cook played a little hide and seek last night. He certainly had Simon fooled. Apologies all around!

David did show flashes of genius during the season. And maybe he DID want to win. He certainly seemed very happy after he found out about it. Maybe he simply didn’t want to see Archie disappointed. This is one very intelligent, talented and caring person.

And maybe American Idol has learned a little bit about letting these young people go out and explore their talents in ways that make sense to them. The well documented dust up between the first winner, Kelly Clarkson, and Clive Davis may have led to some discussions in that regard. And allowing Fantasia to do her thing last week certainly gives credence to this notion.

All I know for sure is that I am very happy David C won. Archie is a nice kid and he has a bright future but he is not ready for New York, New York. He needs to finish high school in a way that Jordin Sparks did not. And speaking of Ms. Sparks it certainly was wonderful to see her back after the doctor imposed hiatus. She looks and sounds great. And so does Carrie Underwood.

The show has been over for about ninety minutes and here is what it says in Wikipedia about all of this.

The program seeks to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of this competition are determined by public voting by phone. The format features three judges who give critiques of the contestants’ performances in order to facilitate the voting: record producer Randy Jackson; pop singer and choreographer Paula Abdul; and music executive Simon Cowell. The show is hosted by former children’s game show emcee and television personality Ryan Seacrest; comedian Brian Dunkleman cohosted with Seacrest in season one. The American Idol band is led by Rickey Minor. The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the US and Thursday and Friday nights in the UK (two days after the US airing). In its seven seasons, its winners have been Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks and David Cook. Hicks was the oldest winner at 29, Sparks the youngest at just 17.

Congratulations David Cook. It didn’t take someone long to add your name. And congratulations American Idol on a great show. You are showcasing our young people and their talent in a very positive way.

And the final shot of the show could not have been any better if it was scripted. David Cook’s brother looking into the camera a proud and happy guy forgetting for a moment his fight with cancer.

“That’s my brother!”

Perfect.

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