Idol Finale

Well, as you've no doubt heard by now, Adam Lambert came in second tonight on American Idol. I'm a little disappointed that the chance to have an openly gay Idol winner slipped through our fingers (and the fact that some bigots, such as Bill O'Reilly, were stirring up homophobia in an effort to make sure Adam didn't win makes it worse), but I have to say that I honestly wasn't that upset at all to see Kris win. I'll probably even buy his CD.

If it had been Danny Gokey standing there with confetti falling all over him, I wouldn't have been able to stand it. But Kris is such a nice guy and a really good singer, and I honestly felt like just having him and Adam both make it to the finale was the real victory. In fact, Kris & Adam's duet tonight, Queen's We Are The Champions, really sort of summed it all up perfectly.

My first thought when Kris was announced as the winner was actually a positive one: Adam doesn't have to be tied to an Idol contract or that God awful single Kara wrote; he can truly be himself and make his own music. I can't wait to see what he does! I will be buying his album the day it comes out and will be at the first Adam Lambert concert that is within three states of me.

The finale itself was really excellent. Until the other day, when I saw some of the names of the musicians expected to appear on the show, I had no idea that the finale was such an all out event. I really enjoyed it a lot.

Seeing Adam perform with KISS was wild and so much fun. Kris's duet with Keith Urban was really enjoyable, and I completely loved Allison Iraheta's duet with Cyndi Lauper on Time after Time! I adore Cyndi and Alison was my second favorite singer of the season, so I was pretty much in heaven.

Having the whole Top 13 back was interesting and even though the group sings were never my favorite part of this season, I still liked seeing them all doing Pink's So What. I also really enjoyed all the guys doing If You Think I'm Sexy, though I wish they'd had more close ups during the number! Adam's face is always so expressive and I would have loved to see it during that song. I'm sure he had his sexiest snarl on.

I'm a total loser for even admitting this next part, but the final Ford commercial, which was an homage to the other 11 members of the Top 13 and all the commercials they'd done, set to Adam & Kris singing I Will Remember You, actually made me feel kind of emotional!

I think I had more fun watching the finale than I did during most of the rest of the season, not counting Adam's performances. It almost made me want to tune in next year all over again, though I don't think I could sit through an Idol episode without Adam.

What a strange ride this has been! After seven seasons of resolutely ignoring this show, I watched every episode from Hollywood Week on, and all because I happened to turn on the television during Adam's audition! Had I been a few minutes earlier or later, I could probably have gone to my grave one day still proudly proclaiming that I'd never seen an episode of the show.

And yet, having experienced it, I have to say I found it kind of endearing in its own way. I'm certainly grateful to the show for having given Adam Lambert the platform upon which he became a star. I've become a lifelong fan of his and I know countless others have as well.

As I watched Kris embracing his wife in the final moments of the season, I thought about how nice it would have been if it were Adam embracing a boyfriend on live television. Still, I think he's blown the door wide open for future LGBT contestants on Idol and perhaps changed even more than just this one show.

This was just the warm up. The best of Adam is yet to come.

Glee/Idol

I just finished watching the sneak preview of next season's best new show: Fox's Glee. Seeing all the promos during American Idol these past weeks had made me wild with anticipation, so much so that I wondered if the actual show itself would fail to live up to the hype.

As it turned out, the show was everything I'd hoped for and more. I loved it so much. Matthew Morrison was already someone I liked from his brief stint on As the World Turns, but now I kind of love him! He brought so much to the role of Will Schuester, the Spanish teacher taking over the worst Glee Club in America, and I'm not just talking about his yummy hairy chest! Though, to be honest, after waiting in vain to see a little skin during his daytime stint, it was nice to see it up front this time!

The rest of the cast is equally talented, especially the always incredible Jane Lynch as the diabolical cheerleading coach, and includes gay characters (albeit rather stereotypical ones thus far). The musical numbers were awesome, and it's no surprise to see that this is all the creation of Ryan Murphy, who once created another show set in high school, a short lived gem of a show called Popular. Oh, and some other show called Nip/Tuck.

We're in for quite a ride with this show, and I'm going to love every minute of it. I just wish I didn't have to wait until the fall season to see the next episode! It may help that I've already downloaded the cast version of Don't Stop Believin' from iTunes and will no doubt listen to it a million times before the next episode airs.

I actually enjoyed Glee much more then I did American Idol's last performance night of the season. Idol just seemed kind of anti-climatic tonight. First of all, they had Adam & Kris each choose a song they'd done earlier in the season to perform and even though they both chose my personal favorites from all their songs (Adam's Mad World and Kris's Ain't No Sunshine), it felt pretty repetitive. Adam did change up his performance, entering in a long coat and with billowing fog all over the stage, and I enjoyed that. Both guys sounded great, I guess just wanted something new song wise.

The next songs were chosen for them by the creator of the show: Adam did A Change is Gonna Come, which was the best performance of the night, and Kris did What's Going On. Two solid performances and I especially liked Adam's voice on his song and the emotional way he performed it. It felt very much like he could be singing about a time when a gay man could win the most watched television competition in America, in fact. Or about the many Civil Rights issues facing LGBT people at the moment, from same sex marriage to being allowed to serve openly in the military.

That middle portion of the show was definitely the highlight of the night. The last two performances were of the same song, something that Kara co-wrote, and I felt really sorry for both guys having to end their run on this show with that song. They did their best, but it just wasn't a good song. Simon rightly made fun of it, in fact, though not nearly as much as I would have liked him to! The rest of the judges ended up imploring the audience to vote on the whole season and not just that last performance, which really said all that needed to be said about the song.

It sounds like there will be a lot of interesting performances on the finale tomorrow night and I'm really looking forward to that. I'd like the show to end on a high note, and tonight definitely wasn't it.

If this truly is just a singing competition, there is no question who should win and there hasn't been since the start of the semi-finals. Adam Lambert has been consistently the best singer and performer on this show. Kris is cute, likable and talented, and may well win tomorrow night, but Adam will be the bigger star no matter what happens.

The Results Are In- And I Love Them!

There's nothing quite as silly as a grown man jumping up and down in his living room, shouting with joy over a television show. Yet, that's the scene that would have been on view to anyone peeking in my window a little awhile ago as I watched this week's American Idol results show.

The finale that I've spent the last week hoping fervently for is actually going to become a reality! Tonight, Danny Gokey was sent packing while Adam Lambert & Kris Allen became the Top 2. They definitely deserved the top spots based on last night's performances. Adam did a beautiful version U2's One (a judge's pick by Simon) and closed on a rock note, with Aerosmith's Cryin'. Kris did a decent version of One Republic's Apologize (a pick by Randy & Kara) and then absolutely killed with his version of Kanye West's Heartless.

Honestly, if Kris Allen is the winner next week, I'd be okay with that. As I've said before, I don't think Adam needs to win. He'll clearly have a career no matter what happens next week. Kris, whom I originally noted as having a decent voice and providing eye candy, has increasingly impressed me as the weeks have gone by. I clearly undervalued his talent at the start. What's more, he's also universally acknowledged as a nice guy and obviously has no issues about being close friends with a gay man, as evidenced by his & Adam's friendship. There's nothing not to love about this guy.

I'm still rooting, and voting, for Adam of course! We're so incredibly close to having the first openly gay American Idol winner, and Adam truly does deserve to win the show based on talent alone. If, however, he comes in second to Kris, I won't be devastated. It would have irritated me to no end to see him come in second to Danny Gokey, however, and I'm glad that's no longer even a possibility.

It's funny, I only started watching this show because of catching Adam's audition by chance. I told myself that I'd only watch for as long as he was on, not thinking for a moment that it would mean months of faithful viewing, and now he's made it all the way to the finale! What I'll do with myself in the post-Idol void remains a mystery to me. I've become quite accustomed to my weekly Lambert fix.

AfterElton's Hot 100

AfterElton's Hot 100 has finally been revealed! I've been anticipating this ever since I submitted my own choices for this year's list and now that I've seen the full list, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. A lot of my favorite guys made the list this year, far too many to mention all of them here, in fact. But I will call out a few that I was particularly happy about.

First of all, of course, is Adam Lambert. I think out of everyone I voted for, I was most interested to see if/where he'd place on the list. As it turned out, he did very well, coming in at number 16! An excellent showing for a guy who not very many people had even heard of just a few months ago. Cutie Kris Allen was the only other American Idol contestant to make the list, at number 98.

Another guy I was interested in was Van Hansis. Last year, he was number 7 on the list, but this year he fell to number 20! I blame the As the World Turns writers for this, mostly because I think they're responsible for all the world's ills. Still, no other American soap star made it any higher on the list. In fact, the only other American soap star on the list at all was Van's costar Jake Silbermann, who came in at number 22.

The German soaps stars, hottie Thore Scholermann and his adorable costar Jo Weil from Verboten Liebe, did better than their American counterparts, coming in at numbers 19 and 17 respectively.

Back in December, I made a list of my own, highlighting my picks for Top Five Out Hotties. I must have good taste, because all five made the AfterElton list: My pick for number five, Randy Harrison, came in at 33; My number four, Chad Allen, came in at 25; Luke MacFarlane, my number 3, came in at... number 3! Cheyenne Jackson, my number 2, was at 7; and my number one pick, Neil Patrick Harris, knocked Jake Gyllenhaal out of his two year reign at the top and came in at number one in this year's AfterElton Hot 100!

Check out the whole list, if for no other reason than to see 100 hot pictures of some very good looking men!

Obviously there are a lot of hot guys who were left off this year, but the most glaring absence for me is Ed Westwick from Gossip Girl. I truly think he's one of the hottest guys out there, especially with his British accent. His costar and roommate Chace Crawford made the list, but there apparently just wasn't enough love for Ed, even though he practically snogged a guy court side at a basketball game this year. What more does the man have to do?! Maybe a sex tape would help.

I'll be back later tonight for a look at today's Nuke scenes on As the World Turns.

Idol Follow Up

Well, last night's American Idol dashed my hopes for an Adam/Allison finale and my dream top three after Allison was sent home and Danny Gokey joined Adam and Kris in moving on to another week.

I think Allison Iraheta will go far in her career, though, because she's got such an amazing voice. Her farewell performance last night was really great, too, and just highlighted how wrong it was for her to be leaving the show in fourth place.

Kris Allen's reaction to being in the Top Three melted my heart completely. I already really liked the guy, but now I kind of love him! He clearly thought he was going home last night and his surprise and joy were so genuine. He truly seems like the real deal, a very nice, humble guy. Simon is all over him to stop being humble, in fact, but Cowell doesn't know what the heck he's talking about in this case! There are enough people out there with Danny Gokey like attitudes, which is why a guy like Kris seems like such a breath of fresh air.

I'm putting all my hopes in an Adam/Kris finale now! If Allison's fans just rally behind Adam and/or Kris, they might be able to edge Danny Gokey out of the competition in spite of his fan base.

As for Adam, I just read that he'll be on the cover of the upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly. Take a look:

I love the asterisk. Of course they have to say 'Might Be Gay' because the show hasn't let Adam actually confirm it. All of this makes it even more ridiculous that the show wouldn't just let him say the word gay. Clearly, they're the only ones who care!

Still, it might also make it that much easier for the next group of gay contestants to be out, since the show has to see now how open people actually are to having a gay Idol winner. Maybe next season, someones same sex partner or spouse will be identified as such in the audience after a performance, or in the biographical video packages they show before someone sings.

It took someone as fearless and confident as Adam to be on the show without even pretending to step towards the closet, and that has broken down a lot of barriers, even if a few, like the show allowing the actual use of the word gay, remain in place.

Topic Round Up

I had a busy day on Tuesday, so I'm going to do a post that's sort of a jumble to cover what would otherwise have been individual posts.

First off, I saw this anti-hate YouTube collab on Towleroad and am now completely obsessed with Lily Allen's song Fuck You. I've never really listened to Lily Allen before, but I think I'll be buying her CD soon. The collab is great, too, and one of the guys in it is Michael from the 5 Awesome Gays, which is my own personal favorite collab channel on YouTube. All five of the guys on that channel are so hilarious.

All right, Tuesday was a Nuke day on As The World Turns and it provided a few of really sweet scenes for the guys as a couple.

The guys started out relaxing on Holden & Lily's patio, with Luke telling Noah that the shoe was now on the other foot and that he'd be taking care of him. The dialogue was playful and slightly suggestive and the guys are always adorable when they're being a bit naughty (or as naughty as you can be as a gay character on daytime TV!). The conversation turned to them getting their own place soon and how much they're looking forward to that.

Holden, meanwhile, wanted to take the two of them to a Cubs game in Chicago if Noah felt up to it, and there was some painfully awkward dialogue about how Holden is friends with the ticket agent and can get tickets to any Chicago based sporting event.

As it turned out, the Cubs were playing the Mets in New York, but Holden suggested they just borrow Lucinda's private jet and go to the game in New York. The guys loved the idea and off they went.

Lily ran into Damian at the Foundation office and he mentioned that he had a meeting with a friend in New York who runs a well know and respected philanthropic foundation that might be interested in partnering with Luke's foundation. Lily agreed to go along for the meeting.

All of which, of course, just set it up so Holden could run into Damian & Lily in New York together, in a ridiculous scene where Holden & Lily were talking on the phone with each other while sitting back to back in a restaurant in a typically clueless manner.

After the game (which must have been pretty short, since they were able to fly to NYC on a whim, see the game, and still have it be the middle of the day when it was all over) Luke & Noah went off on their own to explore the city a bit and Noah was very enthusiastic about how much he loved the place and could see himself living there. In fact, he suggested that he & Luke get a place there together and finish school in New York.

Luke couldn't see himself living so far away from his family (though, clearly, it's only ten minutes away by Lucinda's magic jet), but said maybe they could do it in ten years or so. Noah was rather giddy at the fact that Luke sees them as still being together in ten years and they laughed about their role reversal, how Noah is now Mr. Spontaneous and Luke is Captain Cautious.

They went to join Holden for lunch and Luke was up in arms when he saw Damian & Lily there as well, but once they'd explained the exciting new partnership they'd arranged for the foundation he was all smiles and Noah basically said "You've got the best two dads in the world, Luke!"

Holden invited Damian to come back on Lucinda's jet with the rest of them, but he said he wouldn't intrude on them any further. After they left, he place a shady phone call to someone saying that his part in their business must not come to light.

Maybe he's working with Jean Passanante and Chris Goutman, plotting to bring an end to Luke & Noah once and for all by killing As the World Turns?

Meanwhile, Rafe was present on The Young and The Restless on Tuesday for the first time since coming out, but he only had a few scenes in his capacity as Adam's lawyer. A slow build is one thing, but we're barely seeing the guy! I hope that changes soon.

Okay, on to American Idol. This was Rock Week, a week seemingly made for Adam Lambert, and he did not disappoint! I've loved him every week, as you know, but he was really in his element this time doing Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. The guy is a rock star, there is just no question about it!

On Tuesday, the four remaining contestants each did their usual solo songs and then they were paired up for duets, which I thought was a good chance to see something a bit different.

Adam & Allison closed the show with their duet of Foghat's Slow Ride, which I completely loved! My hope all along has been for an Adam/Allison finale (with Kris coming in third) and this song just exemplified why I want that. They're the best two singers on the show and they sound incredible together.

I also just love the vibe they have going on with each other. Adam said after the end of the song that Allison was like his little sister, and that totally comes across. I also loved when Simon said that Adam may have just made it possible for Allison to move on to the Top Three and Adam mouthed "I hope so!"

I only wish Adam could also have done a duet with Kris, who was stuck with the egotistical black hole that is Danny Gokey. I'm sorry, I've tried not to be negative about any of the contestants, but Gokey drives me crazy with his smug smirk each week and his clear belief that he's God's gift to music.

The thing is, Gokey does have a great voice. He just isn't a performer, he's boring and basically does karaoke with a lot of pointing. Yet, the judges seem to love him most of the time. I honestly don't get why, when they're telling Allison again and again that she doesn't have enough personality, they're letting him slide. Maybe they're confusing self importance with personality?

Kris was paired up with Danny for the most awkward duet I've ever seen. In spite of Kris's efforts to sing with Danny, it was clear that Danny doesn't really share well. As a result, it came across as two guys who happened to be singing next to each other, more than anything else. Poor Kris looked seriously miserable by the end.

It wasn't as bad as Danny's solo, though. As I said, the guy has a good voice, but his painful performance of Aerosmith's Dream On, complete with a god awful scream at the end that Simon rightly said was like someone in a horror film, was the worst thing I've seen on this show since I started watching.

Many feel, though, that the show has been pushing for a Danny/Adam finale since the beginning, and instead of Simon telling Danny that he could be in trouble (as he's told other contestants who've done badly), Simon told him he'd probably move on to another week. That may be less Simon trying to sway things, though, than just his simple recognition that Danny seems to have a strong fan base who are going to put him through no matter what.

I voted like crazy for Adam after last week's inexplicable Bottom Two showing and the line was busy quite a bit, so that's probably a good sign. My hope is that Allison and Kris will both move on with him into the top three.

Adam Does it Again

I just finished watching tonight's American Idol. I was really kind of dreading disco night since I thought that everyone but Adam would really end up struggling and the potential was high for a lot of painful performances. As it turned out, I thought it was a lot better than last week's theme of songs from the movies. There were still a couple awful performances, but most of them surprised me.

I think everyone was expecting Adam to really go all out and go into full on disco mode. I secretly hoped that he'd do Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive or Alicia Bridge's I Love the Nightlife. I'd love to hear what he could do with either of those songs. Of course, Adam had already done disco a few weeks back with Play That Funky Music.

As soon as I saw him come out in a suit at the start of the show, I knew he'd be doing something slower paced and I couldn't wait to see what it would be. I should also add that the man looks incredible in a suit.

As it turned out, Adam did his own heart wrenching version of If I Can't Have You from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I don't think, for me, it quite reached Mad World status, but it came pretty damn close and was easily my second favorite Adam Lambert performance of the season.

It's funny, the weeks when he goes full on rock star on the stage, I think he's at his best, and then the weeks when he just very simply and beautifully sings a song like this, I think he's better than ever. I guess he's just amazing no matter what style he's performing in. The judges all seem to agree.

I also really liked what Kris Allen did tonight, turning She Works Hard for the Money into a singer songwriter ballad that fit his voice perfectly. I like that guy more and more each week, I think. I thought from the beginning that he was completely adorable and had a decent voice, but ever since he did Ain't No Sunshine a few weeks back, I've started to think that maybe he is someone whose album I'd buy.

Two people will be voted off tomorrow night, since the judges used their save last week. I don't think Adam is in the slightest danger of being one of the two, but I'm still voting like crazy just in case.

Idol Night

I hate how wrapped up I'm getting in American Idol because of my crush on Adam Lambert! I was on the edge of my seat for an entire hour tonight, right down the the final minutes of the show when it came down to Adam & Nick for the last spot.

Happily, Adam made it into the Top 12 and my ensuing cheers no doubt convinced my neighbors that I'd either just won the lottery or had completely lost my mind at last.

Of course, Adam winning a spot in the Top 12 does mean I will have to continue watching American Idol and my torture will continue for weeks or even months to come.

At least I'm not the only one who hates the show but thinks they're doing something right this season. Brian Juergens from AfterElton, a self confessed hater of the show, had this to say:

"This season the show has tucked a few bona fide wildcards and rule-breakers into the herd of heartstring-tugging walking stereotypes (Construction workers with soul! Single moms with a dream! All they're missing is a hooker with a heart of gold...): Glamtastic musical theater goth Adam Lambert and performance artist (of sorts) Norman (Nick?) Gentle.

I won't even get into the fact that both of these guys sent my gaydar into overdrive, because let's face it: even if either one of them IS gay, FOX would never let them say as much (our queries to the net have been met with deafening silence). No, the reason that these guys are a step in the right direction is because they're proudly different and not trying to sell America the same recycled Idol crap. ...

As for Lambert, the fact that the show is letting a Wicked chorus boy and lead singer of a gender-bending glam goth group strut his Maxwell Demon on stage is something in and of itself, as is Randy Jackson's insistence that this is what America is all about, and where it's headed. I think that's a cue that the younger generation is much more comfortable with fluid sexuality, men who aren't afraid to be effeminate, and general camp."

Maybe I picked the right time to start watching? It was catching Adam's audition by chance that hooked me, after all. I guess I just love gender bending glam chorus boys!

Anyway, Adam will have the next few weeks off from singing, as the final group of 12 perform next week and then the week after that is the Wild Card week which will finalize the Top 12.

As for the rest of the group so far, I was surprised but glad that cutie Kris got a spot (he's good eye candy, has a decent voice, and seems nice) and the other pick, Allison, was one of the women who impressed me last night. The first three, picked last week, all seem sort of bland and boring to me so far.

So, in closing, I'll quote a commenter from AfterElton: Vote Adam. Vote Often!