Phew. Just got back from the very entertaining Campus MovieFest, hosted by Carson Daly, who was very cordial. The concept started by Emory students six years ago: one week, free Apple movie-making equipment, 700 college teams from seven universities in Georgia. They hold the event now in several cities. We watched the 16 best from the state and some were really great. Check some out here. And now onto… “Idol”!

Naturally, this week wasn’t quite as good as last week but the front runners didn’t damage their chances to move forward this week.

Who should go home? Alaina and Antonella. Who will go home? Alaina and Haley, for obvious reasons. We know Antonella’s publicity and possibly, votefortheworst, will keep her around. Dialidol.com has Leslie and Alaina at the bottom in the early voting, with Lakisha and Melinda at the top.

As for who were the best, I liked a few but really only loved Melinda’s performance tonight. Stephanie is a true contender and I placed her second even though I didn’t enjoy the song. And I probably enjoyed Leslie’s performance more than most.

CREDIT: American Idol

1- Melinda Doolittle (Jazz standard “My Funny Valentine”) dedicates the songs to her stylist and vocal coach. That’s unusual! Ah… it’s one of Constantine’s songs. But she does it minus the cheese factor. She’s got such a warmth abou ther and her vocals show texture and nuance. Bravo! Randy: “We have a competiton going on. Melinda Doolittle came out here to win it! You are the one to beat!” Paula: “That was just astounding. You phrased that so beautifully. So differently. I applaud you.” Simon: “That was incredible. Best vocal we had in this competition. We’ve had precocious little monsters with enormous egos. You have this fantastic talent. What I like, you don’t know how good you are. I don’t think you’ll change. It’s part of your appeal.” Sorry Lakisha, but Melinda is the one to beat right now!

1. Stephanie Edwards (Destiny’s Child’s “Dangerously In Love”) - I’m not a big fan of this rather shapeless song but she does an excellent job. She’s a less edgy, slightly less interesting version of Fantasia but more intriguing than LaToya London. Randy: “You proved you deserve to be up there. That was so much better than last week. But check this out. A little Beyonce lite to me. Don’t worry about copying her.” Paula: “You are fantastic, brilliant.” Simon: “I have to agree with Paula. You’re not just taking part in this competition. You’re putting your mark down. A terrific performance.”

3- Lakisha Jones (Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia”) tackles a song Paris hit out of the park last year. Lakisah does it much sleeker, much more refined. But after last week, it’s an inevitable let down and lacks the joyous feel Paris imbued a year ago. Randy: “You flipped it up from last week. That was hot.” Paula: “I loved it. And I love you.” SImon: “Interesting dance at the end. You are a phenomenally good singer. But it wasn’t as good as last week because I don’t think you came out with that ‘I’m going to prove a point’ attitude you had last week. I think at this stage, you can afford to believe you are a big star and you have to start acting like a big star. I don’t like the outfit. I found it distracting.”

4- Sabrina Sloan (Whitney Houston’s “He Fills Me Up”) I wasn’t as impressed with her last week as others were. I like her more this time and doing a Whitney song after Haley’s pale version helps her. Her final note is a big shaky. Randy: “You had moments where you lost touch with the pitch a little bit but very nice one overall. Big song. You have a big ol’ voice.” Paula: “I just love you. You are fantastic. You are a big contender.” Simon: “Very good. Don’t confuse power with shouting. You were right on the limit. I wouldn’t have chosen that song. I preferred you last week.”

5- Leslie Hunt (Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good”) She has a sweet spirit. She picked a trite, oversung song last week. This time, she selects a much better tune for herself. She opens strong. It’s sexy. It’s slinky and fits her voice perfectly. Her scatting wasn’t so hot, however, and it didn’t quite end on such a high note. Randy: “It’s good to see you back to your jazzy scatty sort of thing. But what am I going to say? It was a little on the pitchy side for me. I liked the a capella beginning. It was just awright.” Paula: “You’re being you. You’re back in your element.” Simon: “At the end, you sounded like Paula talking. The problem is Leslie, you’ve been whacked by three big big voices before you. You are getting lost in the competition.”

6- Jordin Sparks (Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection”) She picks a very very difficult song. She’s good but not as good as Christina. This was a step down for her from a week ago. I like her doing upbeat stuff better. She cries after dedicating the song to her brother. Randy: “You can really really sing this song. Had some pitchy moments but I’m telling you 17 years old where you are today, it’s unbelievable. It wasn’t the best you’ve done but still very good.” Paula: “There’s something about you that’s infectious. You’re just a good good human being.” Simon: “I agree with Randy. It wasn’t your best but compared to a lot of other people, it was excellent. The dedication is getting to you. 17 years old. Massive potential. Great personality.”

7- Gina Glocksen (Heart’s “Alone”) gives props to her boyfriend Joe. He convinced her to try out again and now she’s in the final 20. She opts for the same song that solidified Carrie’s front-runner status two years ago. This song is more to her rocker style than last week’s “All By Myself.” I’m not a big fan but she did awright, as Randy might say. Randy: “This song was a good song choice for you. That’s where you belong. It started a little pitchy but by middle of the song, you got it together.” Paula: “Carrie sang it. And we were really surprised then. But man, excellent job. Real good.” Simon: “Good choice of song. I thought your vocals felt forced by the end. I’m confused by who you are. You were a little more edgy than this. I’m confused who you are. She’s not dressed edgy.” Paula notes: “Don’t take fashion advice from Simon.”

8- Haley Scarnato (Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night”) Talk about picking a song that is way too big for her. She had energy but lacked the pipes to make any of us drop to our knees. She has a pop voice, not an R&B voice and this is R&B pure and simple. Randy: “Everybody had a good time. The thing is there’s more background parts than lead vocal parts. It wasn’t great for me. Vocally, it wasn’t on point.” Paula: “Leaps and bounds better than last week.” Simon: “I think it was A for effort. It was a little manic verging on insane at some point. But if you’re going to take on a Whitney song, you’re doing it at your peril. Vocally, you came out badly. You are one of two or three very vulnerable girls tonight.” Correct.

9- Alaina Alexander (Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready To Make Nice”) dedicates the song to her mom. She should have gone home last week after an ill-concieved take on the Pretenders. I notice she has poor breath control. She takes these big breaths that are very distracting. I feel like she’s play acting. There’s no genuine emotion. Randy: “It started off good… when you went up to the chorus, the tuning and pitch went away. It was a mess. It was all over the place.” Paula: “It’s a hard song to sing. The pitch was a little bit off. It’s not as bad as this guy’s saying.” Simon: “Let me put this into plain English. It’s like Randy taking part in a 100-meter sprint. You ran out of steam three quarters of the way.” Her chances of survival? Very very slim. And being up so early places her in a very very poor position.

10- Antonella Barba (Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me”) Ryan doesn’t bring up the photos. She dedicated her song to her brother, not any of her buddies who posted those lovely pictures. Smart move! Not so smart move: picking a lame Celine song. She did a better job than last week but she’s still in the minor leagues compared to several of her competitors. She can’t change that. Randy: “On the positive side, you’re a drop-dead beautiful girl. But that was completely the wrong song. Way too big for you. Pitch was all over the place. I wish I could sing like Celine, too. But it didn’t work.” Paula: “You made leaps and bounds from last week.” Simon: “The problem was most of the vocals weren’t good enough there. I thought you were worse than last week.” Will all the controversy keep her in another week? Probably. “Simon was wrong about Jennifer Hudson,” Antonella sniped. Ouch. That doesn’t bring in votes! “We put her through. The American audience voted her out. I didn’t kick Jennifer Hudson out. If the audience disagrees with me, you’ll be back next week.” Bingo! Even if those photos weren’t around, I’m liking Antonella less and less by the second.

Side note: I’m watching “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” and the adult contestant actually called a library a “liberry.” Geez!