It's the most wonderful time of the year!

So today I went through the past eight blog entries and wrote down all the people Bren and I both liked and I have to say, I don't remember half of them. And half of them will probably be cut in Hollywood and then we'll have a bunch of people in the top 24 that we've never seen. Awesome. Let's get to it!

I. Love. Hollywood. Week. Also we're getting our first taste of Ellen as a judge, so hopefully that goes well. 181 people made it out of 100,000+ that tried out. Aww, everyone loves Ellen. Hi, Ellen! I've heard that things aren't so happy in paradise between her and Simon, which makes me kind of sad.

First round of Hollywood Week is sudden death--you're either in or out, and can sing acapella or with your instrument. Oh god, Skiiboski is up in the first group, and Katie Stevens, who was on THE LIST as someone that we liked. She does "For Once in My Life", and I think she sounds pretty good, and the judges do too. I'm so over Skiiboski already. Aww, man, he's singing my jam. "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." See, I don't think he has a terrible voice, he just annoys the ever loving shit out of me. In this group, Katie makes it and Skiiboski gets cut! YES! Good beginning so far.

After the break, montage of Simon going off on everyone, which is what I'm going to miss so bad about this show. Also montage of Ellen being funny but also trying to give critiques. What are those cups the judges have now??? No more Coke cups? TOO MANY CHANGES!

Up in the next group, Vanessa the hick and Andrew Garcia. I remember liking Andrew but he's going to sing "Straight Up" with the guitar, so I don't know how that's going to go. Honestly, this rendition sounds like something Kris would have totally done. I really love it, and Andrew.

They show Vanessa next and we get a huge video montage of her journey. I wonder if they would waste all this time and footage if she doesn't get through. Oooh, her audition is really bad. Yikes. Hey, there's Tasha the minister! I liked her too. OK, in this line, Andrew makes it and Vanessa gets cut. I'm not sure what happened to Tasha.

Sad Rascal Flatts song accompanying a bunch of crying rejects, the only one of which I recognize is Vanessa. My heart breaks for her a little, but she was never making the top 12, peeps.

After the commercials, we see Cornelius someone and Megan Wright blowing it, and also Amedeo aka "the Italian Guy" to me because I never knew his name. We also see Janell Wheeler, who I don't remember. I like her voice though. She does "American Boy" on the guitar. I like Janell, you go girl.

Montage of people screwing up with their instruments, the judges mocking them, blah blah blah. Hey it's Haeley Vaughn! I love this girl. I don't love the extra E in her name though. I don't know the song she's singing, and she hits a couple clinkers, but I still hope she makes it. Then there's Mary the "rocker" who tries to sound exactly like Pink on a Pink song, so, meh. The Marys of this contest have been done, I think. Haeley and Mary both make it through.

Up next we have Ellen effing around with a whole line of contestants, having them step forward and then back and then forward again. That was kind of hilarious. Ashley Rodriguez makes it, she was on THE LIST, haha. I don't know any of the other peeps there though, sorry everyone.

Day 2 of Hollywood week...we're going much too fast here, people! Black and white montage of the judges critiquing some sucky people. We get our first Simon inspirational speech where he reminds everyone not to forget the words, so that means we're about to see some asses forget the words, right?

Jay Stone...is this the fake Blake? He sucks. Lily Scott...don't remember her. She has stupid earrings on. She has that jazzy voice that's becoming popular now...she sounds exactly like Corinne Bailey Rae, actually, which is a good and bad thing. Don't want to sound like someone else, ya'll. She and some guy in her line named Sam make it through to the next round.

Hey, big Mike! OMG, his wife's water broke while he's in Hollywood. That SUCKS. You can tell he wants to be there with her. He sings "Waitin' on the World to Change" accompanying himself on the guitar. I love Big Mike so bad, guys. He makes it through to GROUP DAY.

Commercials are over. We see Justin Williams, the cancer survivor with the gorgeous blue eyes and Tim someone, who we've never seen. He sang a Matt Nathanson song in his audition though, I love Matt Nathanson. And now he's singing "Come Back to Me" in Hollywood. It's not really that good. Sorry Tim. I love Cookster though, nice song choice, LOL. I kind of hate Justin's audition too. I think I'm supposed to like these guys, but I really don't care for either of them. They weren't on THE LIST. Tim moves on, but Justin gets cut.

Other people that we've never seen get cut. Seriously, I don't know any of these fools. Oh Maddy Curtis was on our list, hi Maddy!! Her audition in Hollywood is kind of shaky. Maybe it's because I don't know the song, but I think she sounds weird. That makes me sad. Next is Casey, the denim on denim guy who took off his shirt for Kara. People are all into his HWood audition, and I kinda am too. Keep your shirt on today though, Casey, that's skanky. Out of this group, Casey made it through, but Maddy got cut. Aww, sadface.

Break's over, more people getting cut, last line of the day is up. Didi is in this group, and was also on our list. Oh lord, she's singing a Kara song. Didi, blah, no. Is it just me, though, or can you totally hear this girl on the radio? I LOVE Didi. Maybe this was a good choice of song, even though the lyrics totally sound like the coronation songs the Idol winners have to sing.

I don't remember Crystal from Chicago. Footage of her in a tattoo parlor...okay? She auditions with "Natural Woman" and gets the whole crowd going with her, which is kind of fun. Crystal's pretty good, though I liked Didi's audition better. Both she and Crystal are through, so it's all good.

95 out of 181 are moving on, so they cut more than half. Wow. I don't remember it being that way the first two days, but good. Weed these peeps out. YES, tomorrow is GROUP NIGHT. Since I blogged that last year, I'm giving Brenna the pleasure this year. We're almost to the finals, everyone!