Idol Top 9' perform Rock Hall of Fame hits

9:22 p.m. – Paul closes out the show with Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."




Jimmy tells him he needs to sing it crazy. I'm not sure how crazy he got, but it was rockabilly fine with him on that guitar. I felt like I was for real at a concert.

Wait, did Paul just bring it? I'm going to have to rewind the DVR and peep that again.

Steven Tyler says he "rocked the house" and J-Lo thinks he was "right in his lane." He even gets Seacrest dancing a little bit as he leads into the numbers to call.

Nicely done.

9:11 p.m. – Todd Rundgren is so rock 'n' roll that he doesn't even have to take his shades off inside.

Do you, Mr. Rundgren?

Next up we have Stefano singing Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves a Woman." He's got a nice falsetto.

And he can hold some notes! Well alright Stefano. You came to play baby!

Nice to see him connecting a bit with the emotion of the song. Randy wanted him to let the song "marinate."

Whatever dawg.

9:00 p.m. – Come on Christian Slater, you know you brought your daughter to "Idol" as an excuse. You are a fan.

I'm glad someone apparently told Pia she needs to show some personality. She can blow, but I'm getting sleepy.

She goes with Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High." That song is all about the attitude and Pia tries to turn it on, bless her heart.

My friend points out that J-Lo has more energy watching the performance than Pia brings to the song. Still, her pipes are amazing. Steven Tyler calls her a "murderer" cause she "killed it."

Jennifer keeps it real by telling her she really needs to study the art of performing. I agree.

8:52 p.m. – No country Scotty this week?

Surely you jest!

The teen tackles "That's Alright Mama" by Elvis Presley and it was alright. I felt like I was at a honky tonk.

Nice touch to have a bunch of girls rush the stage at the end. Scotty quipped, "I don't mind."

I bet he didn't! Jennifer sees what I see with the little bit of hip-hop swagger Scotty shows on stage.

Watch out for that youngster. He could. Go. All. The. Way!

8:40 p.m. – We must be running fast because Ryan takes a few minutes to ask the judges how they think the show is going.

They are digging it.

James sings George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and it was so soft. Totally unexpected on a night like tonight and I love that!

He's all emotional and looks like he is about to break down. Way to go James!

8:32 p.m. – We may have a new category of music thanks to Lauren.

Will says she has a "Countroul" flavor which is country blended with soul. She shows a little bit of that on Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman" and she is reminding me more and more of Kelly Clarkson every week. She was soft, yet strong and held her own.

Love her. And Steven and Jennifer do, too. Randy wasn't wowed, but he thought she did well with such a difficult song.

And there's Christian Slater doing the fist pump in the audience.

8:25 p.m. – Poor Casey is nervous in front of Will.

I feel ya on that Boo. It ain't easy to sing in front of a Black Eyed Pea.

Here we go with the song swap again. Instead of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by The Police, Casey goes with "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. He rocks the upright bass and I feel like we have the old Casey back.

He seems much more comfortable than he was the past two weeks. J-Lo said she would pay top dollar to be in the front row for him.

8:15 p.m. – I will admit that I have yet to board the Haley train.

Will.I.Am thinks she sounds like a straight up artist on Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" and she does the gravely voice thing to death. I'm sorry, I just don't get what is so amazing about her.

What am I missing? She brought energy, I'll give her that, but I was not blown away by the performance. The judges loved it, though.

8:05 p.m. – I am disappointed that Jacob decides not to sing Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."

This week's coach Will.I.Am and Jimmy both feel like he is incredible on it. But Jacob feels like it's just not him and instead goes with Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror."

Let's start with what I loved: He was joined on stage by Siedah Garrett, who wrote that song, and that chick can blow. Awesome songwriter and singer.

Jacob wasn't at all shabby either with the vocals. But MJ is so sacred to me that it's hard for me to really embrace covers of his song. Plus, Jacob stated in the video that if he's in the bottom three this week it's because America wasn't ready to look in the mirror.

That might annoy some folks, Mantasia. Viewers like a humble contestant.

8:02 p.m. – I sense that Steven Tyler is going to have a blast tonight.

He takes us through the history of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, singing snatches of songs by James Brown and Paul McCartney. I was a tad bit freaked out, though, when he kissed the statue of his face and said "That's the prettiest bust I've kissed all day."

Wow.

Cleveland is getting some serious love this week, first with Charlie Sheen's tour and now "Idol."

8:00 p.m. – Love the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame so tonight's Top 9 are going to have to amp it up to impress it. Can't wait to see what everyone sings.

Let's go!

Cover story: Extreme TV pushes the limits By Lisa Respers France, CNN April 6, 2011 -- Updated 2008 GMT (0408 HKT)

(CNN) -- Americans love extremes.








From super-sized meals to makeover shows that transform houses and humans into almost unrecognizable improvements of the original, we are a nation that loves just about anything cranked higher.
So it stands to reason that audiences would embrace television shows that feature ordinary people exploring the extremes of their everyday lives.
Such is the premise of a new television show launching Wednesday on the TLC network titled "Extreme Couponing," which takes the rather mundane chore of coupon clipping to a whole new level thanks to a group of devotees who have turned it into an art form.
These are shoppers who are able to bag thousands of dollars worth of groceries a year for only a few bucks. (On one of the first episodes, one participant pays less than $50 for a grocery bill of more than a $1,000.) They spend countless hours gathering, clipping and cataloging coupons, and shopping.
In many cases, items are even free -- thanks to the creative use of coupons and rebates -- and the series displays how the participants sometimes draw a crowd at the market, anxious to see how low their grocery bill will go.
But along with such savvy shopping comes the stockpiling. One woman buys dozens of containers of mustard to maximize her savings, while another has to have special shelves built in her home to store her bounty.
"I think part of it is that there's always a fascination with the extreme," said Mary Elizabeth Williams, a writer for Salon.com. "There's always something that draws us to the freakish, and that's why we had sideshows. There is something about people who are freaks or who have freakish behavior that is compelling because we don't live in that world."
There are plenty of shows that feed the need to get a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people who live extraordinarily.
A&E features people grappling with morbid obesity on its reality series "Heavy" and those trapped by their compulsion to be surrounded by things with its hit show "Hoarders." Animal Planet put a spin on the latter concept, to appeal to its niche audience, with its series "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."
But no network has so thoroughly mined the world of the unusual as TLC, which over the years has found ratings success with shows about mega-families (such as "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and "19 Kids and Counting); little people (including "Little People, Big World" and "The Little Couple"); and the tiny tots who vigorously compete in beauty pageants on "Toddlers & Tiaras."
TLC's latest offerings include "Freaky Eaters," about people with bizarre eating disorders and food addiction, and "My Strange Addiction," which features those who battled obsessive behaviors like eating cleanser and sleeping with a blow-dryer.
"We've really tapped into a fascination that America has about obsession or any type of extreme situation," said Amy Winter, general manager for TLC. "I think the reason why is that we have a way of presenting those stories in a very humane way. People connect."
Williams said the popularity of such shows is evidence that run-of-the-mill-reality-show drama is no longer enough for audiences. Viewers now want "something that is going to excite all of the neural passageways," she said.
"I've come to believe that reality television is like a drug, and we have built up a tolerance for the regular run of reality TV," she said. "I am old enough to remember when 'The Real World' started and they were a group of people who sometimes didn't get along, but no one was eating the couch."
"Sure, [the cast of 'The Real World] fought, but audiences get bored with that, and then it becomes, 'I want someone who is going to throw a drink in someone's face or tip over a table.' But now, even that is passé," Williams said. "Now, we have to find the most insane, outrageous thing [to watch], because we are numb to everything else."
Jennifer L. Pozner, author of "Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth about Guilty Pleasure TV," said she views TLC as having the same programming strategy, versus A&E, as Fox has had with ABC in that the former often takes concepts from the latter, but pushes the envelope.
"ABC would do 'Wife Swap,' which would be exploitive enough, but then Fox would do 'Trading Spouses,' which was even more so," Pozner said. "ABC would come out with 'The Bachelor.' and then Fox came out with 'Joe Millionaire.' Fox seems to always bite at the heels of ABC, but to rip off their premises with a wink and a nudge and make it even more bottom feeder."
So after A&E found success with "Hoarders," Pozner said, TLC debuted "Hoarding: Buried Alive." And while Pozner said she believes A&E plays to "voyeurism and the entertainment value of human tragedy," she also thinks the network balances that with mental health information.
"With TLC, they always seem to go much more for the splashy," Pozner said. 'With TLC, you almost expect with the narration, the tone of the narration, the clips and how they frame it that there is this carnival barker feel like, 'Look at these crazy people!' "
TLC executive Winter said she's often found that those who are critical of her network's programming haven't really taken the time to watch. She said TLC works to find people with compelling stories, and she takes exception to the subjects being referred to as freaks.


"I get disheartened when I hear that," said Winter, who also said TLC works with production companies to find participants and sometimes builds stories around individuals they find. "Once you sample one of our programs, it's very hard to dismiss [those featured] as freaks because they are simply people who are going through some things."
Tiffany Ivanovsky is a Texas housewife and mother of seven (she calls them her "litter") who appears on "Extreme Couponing." She said she always thought her practice of couponing was simply a way to save money in a troubled economy as she estimates that in two years, her family has saved $40,000.
"I love leaving the grocery store having paid just a fraction of what I should have paid," Ivanovsky said. "It was really just fun and a hobby, and I didn't realize there was anything extreme about it."
For all of those who view her couponing and stockpiling as weird, she said the loudest voices are often the same people who are drawn to watch.
"My husband and I originally decided to do the show because we wanted to help people and teach them," Ivanovsky said. "We knew that some element of the negative might come along with that, but we thought the positive would outweigh it."
Jill Cataldo said she was involved in an early version of "Extreme Couponing" before it was sold to TLC and is disappointed with how the series has evolved.
Cataldo teaches workshops and writes a nationally syndicated column about couponing and said some of the show's participants are using unethical means to obtain savings.
She said she also believes the series highlights extremists whose behavior is not the norm.
"On the whole, I think it makes coupon shoppers look a little crazy, and we are not," Cataldo said. "Most of us are just trying to feed our families on a budget."

Reality Stars on TLC's 'Extreme Couponing' Save $40,000 on Grocery Bill Stars of Reality Series Demonstrate How to Cut Costs Using Coupons

In the two-episode premiere of TLC's "Extreme Couponing," families reveal their money-saving tactics and coupon prowess by taking coupon-clipping to the maximum.

"Why pay for something tomorrow when it's free today?" Nathan Engels, who operates the website WeUseCoupons.com, said in an interview with ABCNews.com.







The coupon clippers on the new episodes of the TLC series aren't lifelong coupon savers, but at the cash register, they often cut more than 90 percent from their grocery bills.

The strategy of free frequently forces extreme couponers to stockpile enough food and supplies to feed an army for years -- but it works. Tiffany Ivanovsky, a preschool director who appears on the first episode, said she has accumulated two years' worth of supplies for her family of nine, and it has saved her around $40,000.

"We use coupons because we don't want our kids to have to pay for college and take out student loans," said Ivanovsky.

Engels said his obsession with coupons began more than three years ago while merging finances with his then-new wife.

"We combined our finances and realized we were deeply in debt, so we started cutting up our credit cards," said Engels. While trimming their debt, the couple began looking at other ways to save, which included the grocery store, their second largest household expense after the monthly mortgage payment.

The basic goal of stockpiling is to remove items from your grocery list and shrink your weekly shopping list. Then, meals and other needs are planned around the stockpile items.

Since welcoming a daughter 14 months ago, Engels has not made a single stop at the store to buy a pack of diapers, thanks to his stockpile.

"I don't ever want to be out of something because that means I'm forced to buy it at the store's price," said Engels. Thanks to stockpiling, Engels said, "Our daughter hasn't affected us [financially] in any way except those darn hospital bills."

Don't Pay Retail
"My 11th commandment is, 'Thou shall not pay retail.' It's not necessary with the use of coupons," said J'amie Kirlew, who keeps coupons valued at $40,000 bound and sorted in her home.

For the savings-obsessed, supermarket inserts are the most valuable assets of the shopping experience. Kirlew, nicknamed "the diva" for her coupon use, calls her stacks of coupons her "100 Holy Bibles."

Glenn Beck Leaving FOX; La Russa-Pujols Story Finally Near Death by Dan Moore • Apr 6, 2011 11:21 PM CDT

The news that Glenn Beck is leaving FOX for—for other projects at FOX, I guess—is one of those things I simply will not make a comment on in either direction, as someone who does not want to incite political violence on a sports website. But I can say this: The less Beck is in the public eye, the less I have to hear about Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa's stint at Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally last summer. This—this is unalloyed good news.









Like Luke Scott's recent birther-flavored comments and, further back, Carlos Delgado's anti-war stance and the subsequent media hubbub, what bothered me most about the Beck/La Russa connection wasn't that baseball players have opinions, it's that baseball fans do. Sports communities like this one are themselves a social world, with positions and arguments and heated debates, but at their best there's always the underlying truism that, say, the people at Game Time are Blues hockey fans, and the people at Viva El Birdos, no matter what else they do in life, fans of Cardinals baseball.

When politics intrudes on an otherwise-innocuous discussion that social contract is broken. We're not just sports fans anymore, we're Democrats and Republicans and religious and atheist and one divisive thing against another, and that's just not something the infrastructure of sports-related smalltalk is built to handle, as anybody with a large extended family can confirm.

So best of luck, Glenn Beck, but whatever it is you're doing with the rest of your life, please keep baseball out of it. Sports websites are like dinner tables; arguing is fine, but civility can be strained permanently when it stops being about the food.

Sony sites offline after Anonymous attack threats

Several Sony Web sites were offline today only days after the Anonymous hacker group threatened to target the company over its lawsuit against PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz.
The main Sony site, as well as the Sony Style.com site and the PlayStation U.S. site, which has information on the PlayStation 3, were down as of midday.







"We are currently investigating, including the possibility of targeted behavior of an outside party," Sony said in a statement. "If this is indeed caused by such an act, we want to once again thank our customers who have borne the brunt of the attack through interrupted service. Our engineers are working to restore and maintain the services, and we appreciate our customers' continued support."
The Anonymous Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was buzzing with activity as Anonymous members set targets on the Sony Web sites, taking one of them down within 30 minutes and targeting the sites one after the other in an organized fashion, according to an observer of the chat activity.
The loosely organized group of hackers had warned Sony in an open letter that it would be targeted with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack because it had "abused the judicial system in an attempt to censor information about how your products work," among other criticisms. In a DDoS attack, a target Web site is bombarded with so many different computers trying to access it at once that the site in effect is shut down for everyone temporarily.
In an attempt to stop people from running custom packages on the PlayStation 3, Sony has filed a restraining order against Hotz, known as "Geohot," and a hacker who goes by the handle "Graf_Chokolo." A judge granted the order against Hotz early this year. Sony claims that jailbreaking the console violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud Abuse Act, which Hotz denies.
Sony also has been granted access to Hotz' social media accounts and to the IP addresses of visitors to his personal Web site, as well as to his PayPal account to gather information on funders.
Anonymous, which targeted the site of BMI last month, gained notoriety for organizing attacks on the Web sites of PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and other companies in December in support of whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks. The FBI has issued search warrants in that case, and British police have arrested five people in connection to those attacks.