I’m just going to go ahead and embrace my American Idol fanaticism right from the beginning. No sense hiding it or putting off the inevitable. I understand completely if you think American Idol is the worst thing since whatever the last worst thing was, but I can’t keep myself from being completely hooked on this show by the time everyone gets to Hollywood.

Last night the top 12 guys performed, two of which will be voted off Thursday night. I feel quite strongly about two who shouldn’t even be there in the first place, and even though I never vote, I trust those that do will follow my heart on this one. Here’s my basic summary of last night:

Rudy: NO!
Brandon: okay
Sundance: NONONO!
Paul: okay
Chris R: okay
Nick: yes (I have a soft spot for nice guys)
Blake: yes!
Sanjaya: okay (I want to put him in my pocket)
Chris S: yes (love a funny guy who can sing)
Jared: okay
AJ: yes (finally in the top 24 on his fifth audition, gotta pull for him a little longer)
Phil: yes (I find something oddly attractive in this guy… maybe tall and skinny?)

These are definitely not based solely on vocal performance. I get easily sucked into the human interest stories of the contestants. For instance, I like Nick just because he seems nice and genuiniely eager to succeed in this. My favorite of the night was Blake because I like the Keane song he sang (”Somewhere only we know”), he’s a killer beat boxer which I’ve always thought is an admirable talent, and most importantly, he doesn’t seem like a dick.

My least favorite, the one who I’ve disliked since the beginning, is Sundance. There is always a few people who slip by and somehow snake their way into the final 24 and even the top 12. Sundance is one of those people. Time to go home big fella.