[notmytarga]

The finale was great. I'll watch allot of it again now that I found that it DID get recorded in HD as well. Did anyone mention Carlos Santana played??!!!

Adam with the remnants of Queen was cool - a potential Freddie Mercury like front-man. Maybe John Deacon will anoint Adam worthy of performing with him and May. The KISS medley really shows what Adam can do in the future - revive old rock bands!

As noted by others, Adam's use of his aggressive scream was starting to wear on me too. Few have mentioned how his staging was different from everyone else. Was he the only one allowed to play with the lights, smoke, screens?? But just as he used them to his advantage, for the most part he used them with little variety. Que the stage - Adam enters from the back, back-lit, with or without smoke. After the song's intro, high contrast spots and the video screens get fancy. This is how I remember most of his performances. The other contestants never seemed to take advantage of anything but the stage.

Kris showed he is a performer with deep talent by playing guitar and keyboard well - it adds a lot to his impact.

A few observations regarding voting indicate how predictably unpredictable it can be:
** A lot of people don't know you can vote more than once, even big fans. Arkansas apparently got the word out.
** During the early finals voters vote for who they do not want to leave NOT who is the best.
** Judges, primarily Simon, with their comments get people to vote, or not. When he says "you are sure to be around" watch out. When he says "you are in danger" it is protective.
** When a contestant is voted off the voters for that individual will vote for someone else. Danny's votes mostly went to Kris. Archileta's margin of vote-happy tweens couldn't even overcome this effect last year as mature people were not-voted off.
** My family only votes on the final night. The vote totals reflect this trend.