American Idol Preliminaries: Handicapping The Top 36

This year I plan to be a bit more in-depth about my picks and how I'm doing. I had a decent track record blogging the top 12 last season, hitting 6 of the 11 eliminations spot on and being fairly good at nabbing 2/3 of the bottom 3. As part of that, I've handicapped the field in my traditional grading style. Here's the breakdown...

A - True blue frontrunners, my picks to be singing in May
B - Possible Final 4 candidates, but likely just short
C - Definite Top 12 possibilities
D - Probably not going anywhere the next three weeks in the semifinals
FAIL - Go home. Now.

And now my handicapping from best to worst...

FAIL
36. Tatiana Nicol Del Toro - Most. Annoying. Contestant. Ever.
35. Nathaniel Marshall - my least favorite legitimate contestant. Stop crying and whining. Ugh.
34. Alex Wagner-Trugman - geeks have no place here, sorry mate.
33. Kris Allen - wins award for most forgettable white boy of season 8.
32. Jorge Nunez - American Idol may want Puerto Rico flavor, I do not.
31. Ricky Braddy - dude this guy is fail.
30. Ju'Not Joyner - blech. Chikeze failed, so will his copy.

D
29. Von Smith - This guy is too smug for America.
28. Felicia Barton - who cares.
27. Jesse Langseth - anyone else remember much from her? Me either.
26. Mishavonna Henson - Katharine McPhee wannabe, no thanks.
25. Jeanine Vailes - never even seen her...wow dumped on her producers.
24. Taylor Vaifuana - who?
23. Brent Keith - who?
22. Stevie Wright - great singer, not the right look.
21. Allison Irahata - who?
20. Matt Giraud - who?
19. Anoop Desai - lots think he'll go far, not me.

C
18. Casey Carlson - Only escapes a D on looks, which counts for top 12 potential in AI.
17. Matt Breitzke - doesn't have the chops that Sarver does, but blue collar all the way dude.
16. Jackie Tohn - She could go a lot farther than this, but she's a 50/50 shot
15. Ann Marie Boskovich - she'll get the tween-tard boy vote if nothing else.
14. Meghan Corkrey - Another solid Brooke White type
13. Michael Sarver - The oil rig dude has quite the chance if he makes it through his group
12. Kai Kalama - The dude with the fro, always brings home some votes
11. Arianna Afsar - Good stuff here, borderline top 12 though
10. Kristen McNamara - looks like a psycho but sings like an angel, it evens out
9. Nick Mitchell AKA Norman Gentle - As long as he's silly, he'll keep going. He's got talent too!

B
8. Alexis Grace - The pink-haired superstar showed up in force in Hollywood week 2
7. Kendall Beard - Perhaps another KKK, but she looks good so far
6. Lil Rounds - Meh, she'll go far because they hyped her, much like Gaspy
5. Stephen Fowler - you gotta be some kind of talented to not perform your last song and make it

A
4. Scott MacIntrye - blind guy FTW
3. Jasmine Murray - hottest chic voice in the competition, better than Syesha
2. Danny Gokey - music teach with sob story, but still my favorite so far
1. Adam Lambert - this cat looks like a winner to me, there's just that killer instinct there

Now all of this is subject to change, as this is just a snapshot of where they stand now in my mind. Lots of time to impress me between now and mid-May, as I wouldn't have pegged David Cook as my choice back at this time last year. Of course I knew a lot less about Idol then. Let's see if I can get all C's and above in the Top 12 (doubtful). No FAILS please.