Looking ahead to the World Cup QFs: Thoughts on the Round of 16

The romance of footballing upsets is very fine and well, but I, for one, am glad that the traditional powerhouses were largely represented in the 2nd round matches. I don't care what they say - I would MUCH rather watch Holland vs Portugal and Spain vs France than Turkey vs Japan and Mexico vs USA (both these matches being part of WC2002 2nd round line-up). When the strong teams are in the 2nd round, you get the possibility of quarterfinals matches pitting former champions against one another - to wit, Argentina vs Germany and Brazil vs France.

It's not that I don't want less-fancied teams to do well - I was rooting for Ghana and really wanted South Korea to make it through the group stages. It's not even that I don't believe the powerhouse teams to be over-rated and sagging under the weight of their own unwarranted self-expectations - they ARE.

It's not even about the teams themselves. It's about their nations and their supporters. Even in a world that is generally passionate about soccer, these supporters stand out. There is something more than passion that defines them; there is a fierce pride and the sense of standing on at least having once stood on the path to glory. Maybe I am a sap, but I find that rather stirring.

So much for that. Back to the events in Germany in the last week.

The goals dried up somewhat but I did not find the football any less enjoyable. There were really only two truly boring games in the 2nd round; Switzerland's interminable draw against Ukraine and sad to say, England's lacklustre win over Ecuador. Italy vs Australia was actually rather entertaining, despite the defensiveness of one and the lack of finishing of the other. Argentina vs Mexico was an absorbing match, although it might have disappointed those who expected to see more of the Argentina who turned up against Serbia and Montenegro. Portugal vs Holland was strange, somewhat ill-tempered and littered by yellow and red cards but there was no shortage of good attacking football. Ghana vs Brazil was an open and attractive match, let down only by some questionable refereeing and Ghana's misfiring shots in front of goal. Germany vs Sweden started at a rip-roaring pace and although it settled to a placid inevitability later, there was not a dull moment in the 1st half. Spain vs France was an excellent match in terms of the skills and tactics on display.

In all, a good round of matches, leading to what could potentially be a great round of Quarterfinals showdowns.

I am not sticking my neck out to predict the results. Only one small prognostication: I have a feeling England can go far in this tournament. They are in the QF without having played even one half of good football, and they are facing a Portugal team depleted by suspensions. Something (call it what you will: luck or fortune or fate or destiny) is on their side.

SI Wild Card Results Show: The Pleasures of non-viewing

I listened again, without the visuals. This is probably the best way to get through SI without having to cringe or roll my eyes. Of course, it means I miss out on making fun of Florence's hair and Dick's attire. But I think I am rather glad not to have to seen the interviews with the parents (listening was plenty fine enough, thank you) and especially glad to have missed the visuals of Jay Lim's emotional response (not knocking him for crying, which is perfectly a perfectly understandable and acceptable response, but I wish Idol would just stop making people sing when they are barely able to speak).

On the heels of the best competition show, we had the most satisfactory results show so far. I guess it was not much of a surprise that Mathilda, Jay, Gayle and Norman would be the 4 getting into the Final 12. However, there was some uncertainty as to who among them would get the popular votes, and this kept things interesting.

I am pleased as punch that the best 2 SINGERS, Mathilda and Jay, were the people's choice. I hope this bodes well for their chances to go further in the competition than some of the cute young things that they are keeping company with.

My early favourites are Jay, Mathilda and Hady. I hope I haven't jinxed them!

SI Wild Card Show: Audio review

I listened, rather than watched the SI Wild Card episode. Audio was courtesy of TV Mobile's 89.3 FM audio chanel, on my Creative Zen Micro's FM receiver. I have to say the sound quality and fidelity were far superior to what I head off my TV (although, to be fair, I usually record SI and the bad sound might have more to do with my oft-recorded VHS tapes).

SI is a MUCH better show without the visuals. The garish circus-like quality of the show is completely undetectable when I cannot see the glo-pen signs, Gurmit's smirk and Dan's mugging are both thankfully unseen and best of all, I could just listen to the contestants and not be distracted by their (usually bad) styling and awkward stage presence.

Thoughts on last night's hopefuls:

Geraldine: L.O.V.E.
Ooh, I love this song. Ugh, she butchered it. This was seriously bad singing. Flatter than a runway.

Siew Woon: Fever
Not a bad voice, but she has no idea how to use it properly. This sounded okay, but lacked the smoky quality that makes the song work. On the basis of this, I think this is a competent singer with promise and much room for improvement.

Primero: I Live my Life for You
Geraldine actually has competition for worst performance of the night. Vocally, this was a complete mess and the song is hardly the most testing number in the pop repertoire.

Mathilda: Run to You
She blows every other female singer in this competition completely out of the water. Her technique is by far the most assured and I really like the tonal quality of her head voice. It takes guts to take on Whitney Houston, and she pulled it off with panache, without ever sounding like a sub-par copy.

Norman: These are the Days
He has a pleasant, if undistinct voice. To his credit, this was a very steady vocal performance, without any clear vocal flaws, apart from a tendency towards mush-mouthiness. I did not care for the song, which tends towards tedium when performed by singers with less charisma than Jamie Cullum.

Gayle: Beautiful Disaster
The girl sure likes to choose difficult songs! I thought she sounded a million times better than during the piano show. She has a sweet tonal quality and with more training, could be a very decent singer. She has to watch the tendency to indulge in melisma and a slight whininess on several notes.

Jay: Solitaire
Well, coming from this Clay Aiken fan, this was a very good vocal performance. This song scores high on difficulty and Jay is one of the very few contestants this year with a prayer of pulling it off. I like the fact that he is technically a secure singer and I very much like the bell-like clarity of his upper register.

All in, the strongest competitive show by a mile since we got into the voting rounds.

SI Speculation: Drumming up the Drama

Controversy has hit Singapore Idol. I suppose it was only a matter of time. Last year, we had Top 12 contestant pulling out before the finals started (gosh, what was her name again? I just remember her as the rather pretty girl who sang Alicia Key's I ain't got you during the piano show).

This year, we have a contestant, Meryl Joan Lee, pulling out of the wild card round to focus on her studies. Well, all this pulling out business is rather old hat by now. Not really worth the column inches, IMO. Besides, she was not even a Top 12 finalist, just an over-rated and over-praised wild-card returnee.

(On that subject, what were the judges smoking last week? Meryl's singing was off-key and screechy, and the melisma was out of control. I felt it was the 2nd weakest performance of the night. And yet, the judges were falling over themselves to let her know how great she was. At least Florence acknowledged during the Results Show that Meryl had pitch problems. I guess they do sound different in the studio compared to what we hear on the TV telecast. Still, I cannot believe that such off-tune singing was not more apparent to the judges.)

The REAL controversy is Computer Glitch-gate. Matilda de Silva, initially declared one of the Top 12 finalists, has now been relegated to a place in the Wild Card show. Nurul Maideen, originally not among the top 2 vote-getters that night, is now a confirmed finalist.

All this was announced through a Mediacorp representative. With all the emphasis on transparency and accountability, it's a good thing that the mistake has been acknowledged and made a matter of public record. It could have been just as easy for the SI producers to quietly put Nurul through as one of the Judges' choices on the WC show, and nobody would have known any better.

It is also just as well that this glitch happened at this stage of the competition, and not during the Top 12 finals, or worst of all, during the top 2 voting! One shudders to think about the fan fall-out in those cases! The fact that there is a Wild Card fall-back was a lucky break for the producers, who have emerged from this relatively unscathed. They must really have good spin-doctors because I expected more outrage from viewers, and perhaps even suspicion over the vote-tallying process. Fans of earlier eliminated contestants could have been clamouring for proof that their favourites were not similarly victims of such computer glitches. People who spent their hard-earned 60 cents per vote could be demanding for their money back. So much potential for true drama, and not very much came out of it. Sigh.

I have a far-fetched theory that this computer glitch is manufactured drama. The season has been a little too smooth-sailing so far, with all the expected favourites going through, and the judges pretty much being spot-on with their predictions. No equivalent of a Jerry Ong scenario, or a shock non-progression of talents like Beverly. The closest thing we had to an upset was Emilee Kang supposedly taking the spot that was expected to go to Meryl Joan Lee. Of course, those of us who watched a different show from the judges could hear that Emilee outsang Meryl by a country mile, so it was not such a big shock at all.

In the place of real shocks, an incident like this computer glitch gives the chin-waggers something to gossip about. The BUZZ, after all, is the most important thing about a show like SI. It could not have happened at a more opportune time, with SI battling the World Cup for its share of the public's interest.

Of course, I don't really think the producers deliberately manipulated Glitchgate. It's not worth the reputational risk. But, insofar as there is a best time for a glitch to happen, this happened at the best possible time.

World Cup: Thoughts on the Group stage

Far fewer surprises this year compared to the string of upsets we saw in Korea/Japan 2002. All the seeded teams survived the initial round of matches. Perhaps the biggest upsets have been the failure of the Czech Republic, Poland and Croatia to qualify; but these are minor upsets at best. Certainly, there was nothing here than approached the shock of France, Portugal and Italy booking early flights home in 2002.

I personally prefer it when the traditional "powerhouse" teams make it through to the knock-out stages. The David felling Goliath stories are fantastic and add the touch of whimsy and romance that any World Cup needs. I did think this got out of control in Korea/Japan, where we ended up with Turkey and South Korea as semi-finalists. Realistically, it is usually the big names that make it to the final anyway, and as a viewer, I want to see Argentina and Germany duke it out in a match-up that either may win rather than South Korea (2002 vintage) playing well but losing gamely to a good but not great Germany (also 2002 vintage) that still had the nous and experience to come out on top in big matches.

The fairy-tale romance of the group stages was supplied by two vastly contrasting teams; the skillful, enterprising Ghanaian Black Stars and the battling, enthusiastic Australian Socceroos. After this tournament, the Ghana players will probably be in the position of the Senegalese four years ago - highly sought after and fielding offers from a host of European clubs. Of course, Michael Essien has already trailed a path in this respect. The great Senegal experiment at Anfield (speaking from a totally biased Liverpool supporter point of view) was a mixed success, and I do think the Ghanaians might make a better fist of it. As for the Socceroos, I have been chuckling for two weeks about this team, where an oft-injured Liverpool player is the big star, and its other luminaries ply their trade in Everton, Blackburn and Middlesborough. I fully acknowledge the childishness of this sort of sniggering, but I rather think the Australians themselves might rather enjoy being the dogged journeymen sticking it to the Lamborghini-driving millionaires.

Most enjoyable matches to me were Croatia vs Australia and Argentina vs Serbia and Montenegro. In a tournament of largely enjoyable matches, the Croatia vs Australia match had added drama, unpredictability and the hilarity of Graham Poll issuing three yellow cards to one player. Argentina vs Serbia& Montenegro was one of those beautiful one-sided matches that happen when a team just "clicks" and reaches sublime heights. It brought to mind Holland beating South Korea in the 1998 World Cup finals, when the Dutch machine just purred with movement. Argentina was in a similar zone in this match. I do not think we will see anything like this again in this World Cup, but we will always have THAT 24-passes goal.

Teams that impressed: Argentina, Spain, Germany, Brazil (in fits and starts), Switzerland.

Teams that were sorely disappointing but probably deserved to qualify for the next round: France, England.

Teams that showed enough to give their fans cause for cautious optimism: Italy, Portugal.

Teams that deserved better luck (and perhaps easier qualifying groups): Ivory Coast, South Korea, Czech Republic.

A few words on England (since anyone who calls him/herself a fan of any EPL club must have some interest in the English national team): The saga of Rooney's metatarsus occupied far too many column inches than I had time for. The English have this strange ability to become fixated on one small bone in the foot of one player, rather disconcerting for a great civilisation that has given us Shakespeare and Colonial Imperialism. It's great that Ronney is back for England, who looked a sorry lot without him and a very-slightly-less-sorry lot with him. The team has been completely devoid of imagination and I think Sven's a bit of an idiot, but they have not lost yet, so who am I to say anything?

How it looks like it's shaking out:

The likely money is on: Germany vs Brazil in the finals, again. Or, if sheer talent can overcome home-ground advantage, Argentina vs Brazil.

Going out on a limb for a long-odds previous-winners finals: England vs Italy or Italy vs France.

The very long-odds non-previous-winner finals: Switzerland vs Spain or Ukraine vs Portugal.

Predictions to be updated as the round of 16 plays out.

SI Bitching Part 2: Judge and be judged

One of the most enjoyable aspects of watching American Idol is unravelling the contestant "pimping". This is that wonderful practice of propping up chosen contestants and subliminally telling audiences to vote for them. It is an intricate endeavour, calling into action the talents of lighting directors, stylists, make-up artists, musical arrangers, band musicians, even the lawyers who get copyright clearance for selected songs to be sung on the show. Of course, the ones with the most influence are the judges. With a few well-chosen comments, they can sway opinions and therefore, outcomes.

I never saw much "pimping" in the first season of Singapore Idol, although Ken Lim came close with his early championing of Sly. On the whole, I thought every contestant got equal treatment from the backstage staff and the judges' critiques did not show undue favouritism.

This season, however, the pimping has started early and is getting out of hand. A handful of contestants got disproportionate amount of face-time in the first two episodes. As if that was not enough of an upper hand to have, they received undue praise from the judges for the piano show performances.

Three cases in point: Jonathan Leong, Rahimah Rahim and Gayle Nerva. Jonathan and Gayle got special video clips in the first episode, while Rahimah had extended airtime with the whole "2nd song" drama and her show of tears on the theatre audition episodes. They predictably got through to the top 28. No surprises there.

Then they sang. And the judges promptly lost their critical listening skills. What was that about?

True, these three did not stink up the joint, but these were not GOOD performances. Jonathan lacked control and was vocally sloppy. Rahimah was one-note and clearly did not understand what she was singing (not could we understand her because of her atrocious diction). Gayle was flat on her low notes, screechy and stretched to a string on her top notes.

Listening to the judges, you would have thought they hit some of the heights reached by Taufik, Olinda, Jeassea and Beverly last year. Not even close.

Sure, they stood out amidst the sea of s**t surrounding them, but how hard is it to stand out from s**t? A little constructive criticism would not have gone astray.

Of course, that would have meant exposing the generally poor talent in this year's crop of hopefuls. That's a big no-no. If we have learnt anything from American Idol, it is that the judges are contractually bound to proclaim that "this year is the BEST group of singers we have ever had".

SI Bitching Part 1: These kids are singers???

Before this blog becomes the World Cup blog in the next four weeks (I am so excited just counting down to the kick-off tomorrow night!), it will be a temporary Singapore Idol rant blog.

Based on the first 2 piano shows, I am just aghast at the talent and skill level on display. If these people are the top 28, I shudder to think about others in the Top 100 that got eliminated at the Theatre Audition stage. They must have been horrendously bad to the point of tone deafness.

I know that Singapore is a small country and the talent pool is smaller etc, hence we cannot expect to find talent comparable to what we see on AI. I don't think the AI contestants are all that great, honestly, but the SI contestants make Taylor Hicks sound like frigging Placido Domingo. Never mind not being able to find as many talented people, the overall standard is so embarassingly poor, they have not managed to find even ONE indisputably decent singer. The best that we have seen so far would probably not even get to go to Hollywood if they auditioned for AI. The piano shows have seemed more like extended bad auditions than actual performance episodes.

Sure, most of them have something going for them in their quest for idoldom; in most cases, extremely telegenic smiles, and in other cases, "interesting" self-identities. But not a single one has shown that he or she is just plain and simply A GOOD SINGER. Imagine that, a good singer on Singapore Idol. Maybe they missed Simon Cowell's memo that this is, on occasion, a SINGING competition.

Is karaoke the only training these people have received? Have none of these kids ever taken a singing lesson? I don't mean studying with Lee Wei Song or enrolling in an expensive music school, but just simple stuff that a school choir teacher could teach. Like how to support a note on a breath and how to sing from the diaphraghm. Like learning the meaning of the lyrics and bringing that out in a performance.

What happened to the talent in Singapore? I assume that they just did not audition for Singapore Idol, or we could not have ended up with a top 28 that contained these 14 not-so-inspiring performers. I mean, I have heard better performances in hotel lounges and in bars. Heck, I think you could probably hear better singers at a college jam and hop.

I think the judges are grasping at straws and all except Ken have resorted to praising people that would have been canned last season. Even Ken has basically nattered on about "potential", which is probably code for "you look the part and as for the singing, we'll fix it in the studio."

Singapore Idol 2: PYTs, Ingenues and the rocker chick

It was ladies night at Singapore Idol and one could be forgiven for thinking it was a beauty pageant. Obviously, after last season's experiment with cutie-pies (Leandra and Daphne) and non-conventional types (Olinda and Maia), the producers have decided to return to a more familiar formula: doe-eyed pretty young things and cute girls with sex-symbol potential. That's the way to draw in the teenaged boys and NSmen votes.

And then there was Rahimah Rahim, but more on her later.

Geraldine: I will survive
Energetic and vivacious personality, which could get grating if we had to watch her for a full season. I did not appreciate the “Where are my fans? Cheer for me!” bit. Coming from a 16 year old, I did not find it arrogant, just misguided. She can perform up a storm in that she isn’t afraid to look like a fool on stage. While her voice was far too thin for the song and vocal dynamics completely non-existent, she ended up being one of the better performers on the night (Ken was right about this – she did not do too great herself, just that most of the rest were worse). She could have a career as a teeny-bopper idol, singing bubble-gum pop songs where the singing itself doesn’t matter as much as looking cute

Melissa: I can’t live
Oooh, one of those girls that always look just slightly older than their actual age. That's not going to help her in this business. Florence's critique was a nice way of saying "You look old". She did that annoying thing that AI contestants do all the time; pitching the song way too low for her range, just so that she can belt out the octave-change part of the chorus. The beginning was a mess and the end was just okay. Pity, because her voice does have a very pleasant tone to it.

Milly: Colours of the wind
When two of the judges start of their critique by praising the way you look, you know the singing must have been bad. If this had been the audition rounds, she would have gotten her marching orders halfway through her second line. This was a complete train wreck, off-pitch in so many places, strange phrasing and badly enunciated. Was it nerves or complete lack of any training? She did look very sweet and that might get her some votes.

Siew Woon: Are you happy now?
I thought her singing voice was among the strongest and her vocal technique among the most assured of the night's contestants. The song, though, was just a big NO in my books (I cannot stand Michelle Branch) and made for a performance that lacked zing. I suspect this girl has a fun personality and she was trying to bring that across, but there was a breakdown in communication somewhere. Besides, this is NOT a song to have fun with. It’s a mean, (w)angst-ridden number. Is anyone paying attention to the lyrics?

Rahimah: Don’t speak
I am not wild about the hair or styling or the rock pretensions, but the girl undeniably has talent. It's very raw talent, but perhaps that lack of polish is part of her distinctive edge. I personally thought she butchered the song, with her affected vocal growling and her horrendous enunciation. She's that sort of interesting contestant - while I hated her performance and she probably will never be my cup of tea, I can acknowledge her potential and hope that she makes it far in the competition. I will probably hate every performance she puts on because her mush-mouth drives me wild (and judging from the painstaking way she spoke during the pre-performance video, even elocution lessons might not help), but I would like her to stick around just to add some variety.

Jasmine: Love will find a way
Just as Jonathan Leong is Sly with a system upgrade, Jasmine is Daphne with an Operating System update. Daphne is the sort of cute that inspires cheek-pinching, Jasmine is the sort of cute that invade the dreams of teenaged boys. Her singing was no great shakes and she was noticeably flat in more than one spot, but the performance was engaging and likeable. I don’t really see star quality but that could be moulded. If she get through to the finals, I would like to hear how her voice holds up to different genres.

Gayle: If I ain’t got you
She reminds me of Candyce Toh from Project Superstar, with the same slightly sulky demeanor (it’s just the shape of the mouth, not a comment on personality) and the same tendency to look as if she is going to have an emotional meltdown on national TV. She was so obviously thrown by her missed entrance into the song, and I thought she struggled from thereon end. She has a good voice and shows hints of having some chops, but her confidence was visibly shaken and her technique abandoned her on this rather demanding number. She was painfully flat during much of the chorus, which she wailed rather than belted. I also got the impression that she knew she was blowing chunks, which properly bodes better for her than her performance or the judges’ overly uncritical comments.

One thought - what is with all the teenagers in this group? And why do they all look like anime characters, with their large eyes, rosy cheeks and perky noses? Are they trying to find the next Mandy Moore / Britney Spears? Quite a few of last year's memorably talented ladies (Olinda, Jeassea, Beverly, Shirin, Nana - all of whom blow tonight's group to Uranus and back) would not have made the cut if they had used this screening criterion.

Vegetarian Liver

Yesterday, I had Chinese vegetarian food for lunch. And I ordered vegetarian liver, cooked in the classic Chinese style with ginger and spring onions.

Upon my first bite, I thought "What the heck are you doing???". I know that there are people that actually like the taste of liver (not pate, actual pig's liver), but I am not one of them.
Here's my deal with liver. When I had problems with anaemia, eating it became de rigeur. It was good for me and so I ate it in great quantities. The only point of eating it was to get the iron boost. I don't hate it exactly, but if it was not for the iron boost, it is not something that I would go out of my way to eat.

Here's the deal with vegetarian liver. There is no iron be had. It's made of soy and while soy is wonderfully rich in protein and vitamins, it's not a source of iron. And here's the thing with the particular dish of vegetarian liver I had: the cook had gone to GREAT means to approximate the texture AND taste of real liver. This was basically soy with a bitter after-taste.

So, there I was, eating something that tasted like liver and not getting the benefit of an iron boost. What the heck was I thinking??

And, why is there such a thing as vegetarian liver in the first place? Are there vegetarians that actually crave the taste of liver? If ever I became a vegetarian, I would miss lots of things - chicken, fish, prawns, pork and beef. The last thing on earth I can ever imagine missing is liver.

Singapore Idol 2: The Battle of the Bengs Begins

I called it before Florence Lian did. To be fair, I think that the forums might have called it before I did; but I did not check until days after I thought of it, so I will still lay claim to the TM, thank you very much.

Immediately after the SI2 "theatre auditions" show on Sunday, I said to myself, "Jonathan Leong is like Sylvester Sim with a system upgrade. Taller, nicer looking, smarter-seeming, better-sounding."

Then Florence says it on national TV, although she left out the bit about Jonathan being taller, nicer-looking and smarter-seeming. She did not actually said he was better-sounding, but I think that was what she meant.

And so, with one innocuous judge's remark, the battle lines have been drawn. This will turn out to be the Clay-Ruben match-up of Singapore Idol. This will be bigger and tighter-fought than Taufik-Sly; anyway, that turned out to be a landslide for Taufik (hello, double the votes AND double the album sales) so it was never that much of a battle in the first place.

This one will be a BIGGIE. Never mind that the two duking it out are not even in competition with each other for the SI title. The fan-girls are armed with their poster-making supplies and scream-ready vocal chords. Jon vs Sly! It's ON! Who has the "magic"? Who has the craziest fans? Will Jon get Ken to bust out the "X factor" comment earlier than he did with Sly last year? Will Jon have a crazier fan than the unemployed Sly fan-girl who proudly showed off her astronomical phone bills to the entire nation? Will Sly have to fashion a new trademark "scrunch and point" gesture to revitalise his fan-base?

I am not on the Jonathon band-wagon, but he has Sly beaten to smithereens in my books. He's not a fantastic singer by any means but his voice has a very pleasing bass tone which I think will record quite well and is better suited to rock pretensions than Sly's voice. The boy should get himself some proper vocal training, though. He may actually be thicker than the bricks at the American Embassy (and I would not assume that he isn't just because he is a NUS poli. sci. undergraduate), but the important thing is that he looks smart. In case anyone hasn't noticed, this is a marked departure from Sly's "blur sotong" countenance. And just from the way he told his fans last night, "Your votes will not be wasted", he sounded like Martin Tyler next to Sly's Andy Gray. I even think the whole "laid-back attitude" thing he has going is probably genuine.

Of course, early season favourites don't usually go on the win the whole she-bang. I think the judge's open championing of his chances might harm him in the longer run. Last season, the judges were all over Jeassea and Beverly and look where that got them. But then again, Ken's love affair with Sly also started rather early during the Wild Card show, and Sly was a judges' favourite in the initial rounds before he lost his sense of pitch and they lost patience. He still managed to end up as runner-up and gave his fans plenty of fodder to liken him to Clay Aiken and imagine him blazing a path of Idol-whooping glory in his album sales (as a Clay fan, this was just unspeakably galling to me). Who knows, Jonathan might get that far, or even further. Judging by the high-pitched screaming last night, I would not bet against it.

Oh, there were other contestants in the first group of 7 boys. Jeez, talk about making life easy for the voters. Was there any doubt at all that the two most impressive performers were Jonathan and Paul? Not that they blew the joint away or anything, but the rest were just so mediocre. I think I saw better performances in my secondary school year-end concerts. I hope the other groups are more competitive than this, or we could have contestants in the top 12 that are actually worse than good old Jerry from S1. Whoa, scary thought!