All I have to say is I am liking the boys MUCH more than the girls this year.  The breadth of talent and individuality is wonderful.  It is too bad the top 12 can't be decided irrespective of gender.  With that caveat - here are my rankings.

• 1) Jason Castro - I originally had him ranked #2 when I did my rankings last night, but after waking up this morning unable to get his rendition of Hallelujah out of my head, I decided to move him up. Although he does not have the powerhouse vocals of some of his competitors, his voice is truly unique and I agree with Paula (scary) that his phrasing is really interesting.
• 2) David Cook - my almost #1. His take on a truly boring Lionel Richie song was amazing. I am getting a little sick of his guitar, but I thought he took risks with the arrangement and it paid off. He is starting to grow on me a little bit.....reminiscent of Daughtry in season 5 (I admit, I was not a Daughtry believer until about the 3 week of the top 12). I really wish he would do something with those droopy locks, and his theatrics are sometimes a little over the top (did anyone else notice he let his lip run over the microphone on the last note.....CHEESY!).
• 3) David Archuleta - I liked the piano accompaniment.....but the song was a little boring. His little speech at the end about suffering people was a few weeks too early....Idol gives back is still weeks away. I fear he has peaked too early, and he is getting a little depressing in his song selection. But - the kid has got pipes. (I have to mention my annoyance at thinking that this kid was not even born in the 80's......)
• 4) David Hernandez - he is definitely getting better each week. And now we have the answer to the reason why he always busts a move during the down times.....did anyone else notice him grooving to Wham!!? That's all I have to say about that....
• 5) Michael Johns - he is not living up to the hype. Great song choice for his voice....but I kept picturing Judd Nelson putting in the diamond earring he got from Molly Ringwald.....and it distracted me from the performance. Which, after seeing the recap at the end, was probably a good thing. I don't like how this guy constantly messes around with the mic stand. (He does win honors for best embarrassing moment - getting beat up while wearing a kangaroo costume is much more interesting than "I forgot the words")
• 6) Danny Noriega - if America agrees with my rankings, this she-male will be a member of the top 12. His Tainted Love remix was actually quite interesting. Hmmm.....it's weird, I don't hate this kid like I thought I was going to. And to his benefit, the sass works for him and doesn't come across condescending like some of the other contestants. See....
• 7) Chickeize - he lost it for me when he picked a song that required gender corrections......I mentioned last week how much that bugs me. And his sass back to Simon when asked if it was a Whitney song......he did not need to recite every version of the song ever sang.....this guy has no star power......BUH BYE.
• 8) Luke Menard - he is the only truly obvious choice for ouster this week. He has no stage presence and no personality. Way to mangle a fun WHAM song - Chris Griffin sang it better on family guy.

See ya Luke and Chickeize.......