I "get" Simon

I hear him, and all I keep thinking is that he reminds me of piping (or pipe band) judges. Easily unimpressed, and generally negative. I'm starting to think this is a British thing. You know, honesty. Why do Americans always feel entitled to have sunshine blown up their collective asses?!? Why tell you that you're great when you stink?

But you know something? It means when he says you were alright, you appreciate it. When he says you did well (or even superbly), it makes people's day. Compare that to the unending stream of "you're all wonderful!" coming from Paula... people expect her to be nice, so her compliments mean nothing. When people know you're not going to blow sunshine, they know that they've done well when you say so. Granted, he's grown more venomous with his criticisms, but that's just him playing a role. He has some of the most thoughtful things to say when he is impressed, and so people really take that to heart.

In not totally unrelated news, a black woman is going to win this year. Unless someone gets immeasurably better over the next few weeks, it's not even close. I got chills during the last performance last night. When she hit the last note, it was amazing.

And Simon made sure she knew it.