America's Got Talent, Season 7

[Mytical]

I don't know what to think about the third night of auditions..other wise know as the 'stand by's'. Most of the decisions I agree with, but not all. Since I don't know the name of the guy I do not agree with that made it, will leave it at that.

Stepz leaving and Turf staying was not really a big surprise..but didn't really enjoy Turf this time around. Guess it was an off day, but I still think he has a lot of talent.

[Kheldarson]

Personally, while I knew one of the two had to go between Stepz and Turf, I'd rather both have stayed and Big Barry go home. What the hell?? He's not even singing >.<

Besides that, I like who they kept and while there were some who went home who I'd've liked to see again, I can understand why they went.

But still. Why is Big Barry still here?

[Mytical]

Think that is the one that I didn't agree with either.

[Jester]

Okay, I did not agree with all of the judges' decisions. But this is subjective, I get that.

And I was ready to go off on how letting the Glee-type act through was such an act of injustice. Snoozerama, man.

But then, something bizarre happened. These judges, these alleged experts in the field of talent, let Big Barry through.

WHY?

I mean, the guy is likeable as all hell, and I would love to hang out with him. And I think his personality is awesome. And if his talent matched his personality, he would be completely unstoppable. But there's one major problem.

It doesn't.

While I love his cracks ("this stage makes me feel very small"), the dude not only can't sing, he can't sing in spades. They sent home far more talented singers than him, and they let this joker through? Flo-Jo's kid should be pummeling the judges with some high hurdles. The Goth Opera Guy should be applying toxic mascara to them. Tim Poe should be using a baseball bat to beat his own skull in, because, well, he's Tim freakin' Poe, and we all know how that went down. (Notice how little air time they gave that fuckhead?)

But Big Barry? REALLY? I just knew the guy was going to be cut this week, and I was happy, as the thought of listening to him "sing" again has me reaching for some forks that have been left in an oven until they are as hot as the sun so that I can gouge my eyeballs out with them until I reach my brain cavity and melt everything up there that has anything to do with music.

The TV Theme show singer, he's got me. Something about him and his act makes me like him a lot.

Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking he reminds them of Isaac the bartender from The Love Boat....older, fatter, and with weirder hair, but still Isaac. I'm sorry, but that's just who I see there!

...overall a lot of the dance acts have seemed a bit flat to me.

I just started watching AGT last season, but compared to the dance acts from last season, the dance acts this season are not only flat, but boring, uninspired, and uncreative.

I still have yet to see anyone as amazing as the Goth crew from last year with the stupid name (forgot what it was, it was so lame)...that row move is still one of the most impressive things I've ever seen from a dance crew.

This year...meh. The dance crews are snoozers. Every single one of them.

Okay, maybe not the dragon dancers, but aren't they in the danger category, not the dance crew category? Either way, while I like them, and their act is more dangerous, I don't think they are as talented or as good as some of the final dance crews from last season.

[Kheldarson]

The Springfield High Dance Team? Course it's a lame name; it's a school dance group. But they were awesomesauce.

Is it just me, or does this season seem really weak in terms of talent for some reason overall?

Also, I think Howie and Sharon were going to strangle Howard if he called himself "America's Judge" one more time.

[Mytical]

*SPOILERS AHEAD*




















Now that the warning is out of the way...Ok..

Edon made it through? Really?? Bleh. I hated to see 787 go, but hey they blew it not once but twice. At least 'Lil Starr' didn't make it through. All the rest..really don't care about one bit. *shrugs* Honestly this year, as mentioned, seems a bit..flat.

[Jetfire]

I think the biggest disappointment for me was that Distinguished Men of Brass didn't make it. The deaf guy they have running AGT's Audio did them in I think, combined with the blind guy running the cameras.

I did really like the Scott brothers and am glad they made it. And CYMK knocked it out of the park with their Jagger-Paint it Black show. As Howard said, those two were easy to see as going on.

Of the art acts, we'll see how the rest do, but if they can do as well as CYMK is doing, they'll be the ones to beat for sure.

[Jester]

I want to hate CMYK, but they kill it every time. They do what the judges tell every act to do....bring it bigger, raise the bar, up the ante. I honestly can't wait to see what they have up their paint-splattered sleeves next.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I honestly am not all that impressed by the rock band; I think there were better acts that should be in instead of them. And Lady Gaga? Really? Haven't we heard enough of her?

[Jester]

Okay, watched tonight's show. It started off slow, but there were some definite highlights....and lowlights as well.

Last night, a bunch of baseball players did everything they could to hit it out of the park. Tom Cotter did just that tonight. Hilarious! I will be shocked if he doesn't move forward. Shocked, and deeply disappointed in America and their tastes. Although, considering some of the talentless dreck America's "taste" has made into stars, maybe it shouldn't be too shocking to me if Tom doesn't advance.

Donovan & Rebecca killed it. Beauty, talent, grace, timing, athleticism, strength, balance, and sweetness. This act was awesome.

Turf is Turf. This is a very high compliment indeed. For Turf rocks.

The above three I think should definitely be moved forward. Beyond that, I am not so sure.

Ben Blaque's act was pretty impressive, and Devon is simply delicious to look at it. But I have two questions. First, will America be impressed by a guy shooting arrows? Secondly, again and again I wonder, why the hell is HE wearing the flack jacket?

Tim Hockenberry did a great job, despite what Howard said. But will it be enough.

Danielle Stalling also was admirable, but I don't know that it was enough with what else we say.

Now I think Hawley Magic will go through. The act tonight was very, very good. And of course, being the CS.com resident magician, I always feel I have to comment on the magic acts. Being a closeup magician, I usually don't get stage acts. I like them, I just don't always understand how things are done. Tonight, I had a good idea how an important part of their act was done. But I don't know that America will see what I think I saw. (And if you saw it, keep it to yourself....don't spoil it for everyone else.) I think the judges were right, though, that while the illusions are good, the presentation is badly dated.

And a couple more I have to comment on.

I had such high hopes for the Aurora Light Painters, and they had serious potential. Their act tonight, though, was dreadful, and worse, boring. If you are trying to do something unique, novel, original, and that no one else is doing, the worst thing you can do is be boring. And they were very, very boring. Lame, even. Good night, ALP. This is the end for you.

And then there's Big Barry. I absolutely cringed to know he'd be performing. But I'll let you in on a little secret: he made me laugh out loud. The guy has absolutely no singing talent to speak of, but man, what a show he put on! Adding all the glitz and glamour he did, with the band and the supermodels, was simply genius. As a singer, he's dirt. As a presenter, he's brilliant. That being said, if America puts him through, I will puke. If they don't, and Howie puts him through as a wild card at the expense of a worthier act, I will impersonate a chauffeur, steal Justin Bieber's limo, drive straight to Mandel's house, and force him to listen to Bieber for 695 hours straight.

[Mytical]

Everybody knows I am a big Turf Fan..so no surprise I think he should make it. Tom Cotter and and Hawley Magic are two more I think should make it through. As for the fourth spot As long as it is not Big Barry..I have no clue who it should be. Some very impressive acts.

Now..as to the Big Barry fiasco..I like Howie...I do..but somebody had to have hit him with a frying pan several time to cause some mental issues. I mean personally Sharon is my favorite judge, then Howie, then Howard. What Howie was thinking with Big Barry..I will never understand. That does not excuse what happened between him and Howard..who were worse then two children..LOTS worse..however. It does not add 'drama', it was just sad.

[Jester]

Howard brought up Those Little People (or whatever they called themselves) from last season, who Piers hated and Howie championed, as a parallel to Big Barry. I disagree with Howard on this. While Piers DID hate that act, and Howie DID enjoy driving Piers nuts with them, they at least had some talent and were entertaining. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that. But Big Barry....I'd love to hang out with the guy, but I just don't ever want to hear him sing. On the stage, in person, at karaoke, ANYWHERE.

[Jetfire]

Agreed with most of you.

Tom Cotter knocked it out of the park; he should be a shoo in hopefully. I was snickering and laughing at most of the jokes.

Donovan and Rebecca were also incredible. Many of the moves they did had me going "Holy crap!"; especially the foot hold at the end and hanging by her knees off his arm. I agree part of the strength of their act is Rebecca lifting Donovan at certain points, but the rest of the act was incredible too.

The magician act, the trick itself was a bit dated, but it was still good enough to continue (especially with the competition), but it does seem a bit dated overall. Hopefully they can either modernize their look more; or go whole hog into the classic look.

While I've loved all of the Art acts this year, the Light Painters were one of the weakest if not the weakest of the 4 big ones (Light Painters, Sand Artist, Light Dancers, CYMK). Still, I seem to be in a minority, but I 'got' what they were doing; a play on the Monsters Inc. Story, but the implementation was a bit weak admittedly. They may have been better off doing a light freeze of her hugging someone in a monster costume or something like that.

Both dance groups were pretty blah to me. I love what the Lions dancers are doing, but I was bored watching them in the end; there wasn't anything new. As for the Lisa Clark Dancers; I liked the music and the playful dancing they were doing; but they did that for about a minute too long. If they had transitioned to another music style/dance style at the halfway point, they probably would have been a shoo in for me. As is though, I got bored watching them.

Turf, he's got a great stage presence; but I guess I'm not 'getting' him. I didn't really see much different from his other acts, other than he was interacting with the audience a bit more. I guess there's only so many times you can watch a guy dislocate his shoulder; and I've reached my limit.

The singers, including the rock band were meh to me. But I've never been a fan of singers on these shows anyways, so I don't bother judging who would be good to go forward or not unless they manage to blow me away. None of them did that tonight. As for Big Barry, I just fast forwarded through most of his act. While somewhat entertaining I guess, he's gone on one stage too long. There are a LOT more worthy acts that could have taken his slot.

Finally, Ben Blaque did a good show, especially with the 4 crossbow part. It's hard to tell how much is an act and how much is real (most of it is an act but eihter his partner is a great actress or some of the last part wasn't an act). Personally, I think if he does go forward (either in a wild card or to the final round), for the final part he should go on about how dangerous it is, to the point he DOES put her in a Flak jacket. I also think that if he could reliably have one of the balloons do a slow deflate, it would be great. It certainly added an extra bit of "Aww he failed... NO WAIT!" to the act.

[Mytical]

Well, I am ok with who went through here. Not sure I mentioned it though, but when I watched the main part (not the result show), but I was laughing. I would say something/make an observation about an act and moments later one of the judges would say basically the same thing. Though me and Sharon seemed to be more on the same page then the other two. It was .. eerie.

Now I would have liked Hawley Magic to make it over the guy that made it with Turf, but meh.

[Treasure]

Ok, i have to totally geek out on this - but Cast in Bronze
is one of my favorite performances at TRF and Scarbrough Faire.... and HE MADE THE FINALS!

*ahem*
I don't have cable, I can't watch TV, and don't think about watching it online.... I didn't even know CiB was ON agt this year!

SO super excited!!

He doesn't have to win... b/c then he won't be at TRF... i'm just sayin'.... but I am glad that so much of america will get this chance to see/hear what he does... it is amazing!