Update: What do you think of the Wizbang rankings? I would change around the top six a bit, but not that far from what he’s done. And dig the David “The Stripper” Hernandez picture at the end of that post. The Ranty One talks Idol, too. And we were kindly linked by Deb, who has links to other reviews.

I loved the Winter Olympics when I was a kid. All of the skiing events, luge, all the skating events--it was all terrifically exciting to watch. I don’t watch as much anymore mostly because I don’t enjoy coverage of sports that jumps around so much that you rarely get into the rhythm of enjoying one sport.

One of my favorites was the ski jump, which looked a little like touching heaven and a little like attempted suicide. Exciting. Via Instapundit, we see something that looks a lot like good, old fashioned sexism in refusing to allow women to compete in an existing event. I remember asking, when I couldn’t even have been 10 years old, why there weren’t any women in the event. My mom, who always watched the games with me, didn’t have an answer.

If you’re so inclined, you can sign the petition here. Sadly, the people hosting the site then asked me to sign one calling for the banning of drilling in ANWR. There wasn’t one calling for immediate drilling, which seemed a tad unfair.

None of which changes the fact that I fully expect American Idol contestants to absolutely butcher the Beatles songs tonight. It’ll be a bloodbath.

Here’s a hint: respect the songs, folks. Screwing with them will only make you look foolish.

First up, Syesha Mercado, continues to be beautiful. Which is nice for me. “Got to Get You Into My Life” isn’t one of my favorites, precisely, but it’s a fun song. Unfortunately, Syesha starts by looking terrifically confused. It was better as it went along, although she really tried to over-sing some of the bits, which might work for some, but doesn’t work for everyone.

Randy thought it started rough, too, but thought it ended up reasonably well. No great praise, there. Paula agreed about the beginning, but was much happier with the thing as a whole. She even talked about the singing for once, which was nice. Simon thought the performance was better than Randy did--and better than last week--but thought she looked a little nervous on stage. True.

The rest of the commentary will be in the extended entry.

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