However, the judge’s – who seemed all too keen to be nice guys to almost everyone else – were (to my mind) unduly harsh on poor old Lochie who really had improved on last week’s performance.

Regardless of Lochie’s improved singing, the judge’s gave him even lower marks and comments than they did the first week and the viewer votes – based on his first performance – were not enough to carry him through.

So sadly we all have to say goodbye to seeing Paulini on our screens again.

Hayden and Mel made it to the show but Kelly was unable to join them. Kel did manage to prepare a banner and met them outside after the show. Mel, Hayden and Kel’s banner all made a special appearance on the broadcast (see below).

You can read about our gang’s brief ITT adventures for 2007 in the forum where you will also find screen caps and links to videos of Paulini and Lochie provided by the ever-industrious Vindiezel. I also heard a rumour that our roving reporter Hayden may also be preparing an article for the site telling us all about their meeting with Paulini on the opening night of the ITT show. Looking forward to that!!!

Here’s vindiezel’s capture of our Hayden and Mel’s moment on national tv! Yay! We know famous people – and famous banners

I particularly like the woman’s expression to in the left side of the picture. She thinks you two are lovely

Oh and thanks for the plug for this site Kel. You can’t see it in this pic but I did notice you put our url at the bottom of the poster.

(All screen caps courtesy of Vindiezel and probably copyright of Channel 7)

In case you haven’t heard, It Takes Two will be back on our TV screens next month, with a whole new bunch of celebrities taking on the singing challenge.

The best news is, our very own Paulini is returning for the second series as well as many of the other professionals from last season. This means we get to see her on our screens every Sunday night again!

The only professionals not returning for another go are Glenn Shorrock, Karen Knowles and Guy Sebastian, who will be replaced by Kate Ceberano, David Campbell and Anthony Callea.

Possible male partners for Paulini include Lochie Daddo, Home and Away’s Bobby Morley, comedian Russel Gilbert and Ernie Dingo, while rumoured female celebrities include Big Brother housemate Krystal Forscutt, Mimi Macpherson, Joelene Anderson from All Saints, Breakfast radio host Jo Stanley and RockWiz host Julia Zemiro.

Rehearsals for the new series have already begun, so keep an eye out for a premiere date. A few of us will hopefully get along to a few episodes as well, so watch out for some goss and information once the series begins.

Paulini – Superwoman

They say singers are born, not made. And that’s true… if you think singing is about hitting a note and staying in tune. But that’s just the mechanics: great singing, soul singing, is about instinct, feel and emotional truths. Ultimately, though, it’s about connections – between a voice, a song and a listener. And that’s what makes SUPERWOMAN, Paulini’s long awaited follow up to 2004’s Platinum selling, ARIA No. 1 album, One Determined Heart, so astonishing. Paulini doesn’t so much sing the album’s 12 songs as connect with them completely, drenching them in soul and draping them in multi-textured, honey-soaked tones. For the listener it’s an aural indulgence, a sensory head-trip that recalls the sweet release and cathartic joy of the legendary soul queens. Yet where One Determined Heart was a collection of well chosen covers that paid homage to the artists who inspired her, SUPERWOMAN is a collection of truly international, original, R&B, pop-soul songs indelibly stamped with the voice and presence of a singer poised to become Australia’s own First Lady of Soul and R&B.

Paulini’s instinctive ability to explore the natural range of a song can be traced to her early years living with her family in Fiji. Born into a large, Christian family of six, Paulini was raised in an environment where singing seemed like the most natural thing in the world. “Everyone sat around and sang”, recalls Paulini. “And any chance I had to sing, I was there. I think that’s where I got my confidence as a singer”. But the influence doesn’t end there. SUPERWOMAN’s lush, multi-layered harmonies are all sung and arranged by Paulini – yet Paulini has never been formally taught how to sing harmonies, let alone attend a vocal lesson. “That’s cause there’s a style of singing in my dad’s village called Polutu”, says Paulini, “where you can take any harmony anywhere… even an octave higher. There’s every kind of harmony! So I just learnt how to harmonise in my head”.

Like many teenagers growing up in the 90s, Paulini was a huge fan of pop divas like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, and their influence still informs her vocals. “When I was 12, 13, I absolutely loved them – and I still do… even if that duet was a bit over the top!” But it is Aretha Franklin and Beyonce Knowles who have had the greatest impact on Paulini’s vocal approach to SUPERWOMAN. “I just love the way they’re on the edge and they’re not safe with the way they sing their songs. You know, whatever comes out, comes out. It doesn’t necessarily make sense with the music, but it works. They nail everything with feel”.

Paulini’s faith adds another dimension to SUPERWOMAN, infusing the songs with a raw, gospel-tinged edge that bolsters the album’s emotional integrity. “These are not Christian songs”, says Paulini. “But when you’re in church you sing with everything you have from the depth of your experience. And that’s what I wanted to bring to this album… singing from the heart. Soul singing.”

SUPERWOMAN is a deliberate, creative leap of faith for Paulini. It transforms her from a singer best known for singing covers – albeit her own interpretations thereof – to an artist bringing her own vocal style to original songs she either chose or co-wrote. “I’m sure people thought that I could only sing safe kind of songs. But I wanted to make a record that showed different sides of me. A lot of people have this image of me as very… kind of simple, I guess… a girl next door. But this album is not about a girl. It’s about (as the title track so perfectly demonstrates) a woman who’s just trying to do the best she can”.

SUPERWOMAN explores a world of relationships and everyday life experiences from the female perspective. And though its ultimately optimistic and resilient in tone, there’s a melancholy that’s pervasive: “Life’s about the simple things” but “the world ain’t what it seems to be” (“I Believe”); “I’ve had a real rough day / Wanna get away / Run a million miles / From reality” (“Rough Day”); “I’m not your superwoman” (“Superwoman”); “Who will I run to / … Now you’re not here in my life” (“Who Will I Run To?”); “Just leave me alone” (“Married Man”).

“The great thing about singing and music”, says Paulini, “is that you express what you’re feeling from inside and maybe that’s why some of the songs or my vocals seem a bit dark”.

Recorded in Los Angeles, Spain, London and Australia, SUPERWOMAN is an album with a truly international feel, due in large part to an incredible vocal performance that positions Paulini right alongside the artists she cites as her inspiration. Running the old skool / nu-skool R&B, pop-soul spectrum, with flashes of disco and a handful of soulful power ballads, SUPERWOMAN is brimming with melodies and bursting with potential radio singles: any one of “Rough Day”, “Married Man”, “I Believe”, “The Poet”, “So Over You”, “Superwoman” and “Call Me” could be radio staples over the next 12 months.

For Paulini, SUPERWOMAN is an album which has seen her rise and meet her expectations. “I absolutely treasure this album”, she says. “I’ve had more control, some of my own songs are on it, and I’ve sung it exactly the way I wanted to sing it. I hope that people will be happy with it. I’ve tried my best. But for me, the most important thing is that people know that I can sing and I’m not faking everything. It’s real and it’s genuine”.

Written, produced and recorded in Los Angeles with sold gold hitmaker Matthew Gerard (Kelly Clarkson, Delta Goodrem, Jesse McCartney, Shannon Noll), 'Rough Day' is a carefree and contagious party starter, a soulful slice of escapist, R&B tinged pop that's guaranteed to keep the blues at bay and the party at play.

"I've had a real rough day/Wanna get away Gone have some fun/Are you feelin' me?"

Yeah we're feeling you alright!

What is truly extraordinary – and we really mean extraordinary – about 'Rough Day' is the sheer class of Paulini's vocal performance. Her multi-textured, honeyed tones effortlessly caress the lyrics, transporting the listener "a million miles from reality."

Paulini makes it all sound so easy, but the reality is she's in rarefied territory here. There's nothing forced, there's no sleight of hand. There's just the natural flow of a singer in supreme command of her voice and her song. And for Paulini, that's all that matters.

"For me, the most important thing is that people know that I can sing and I'm not faking anything," says Paulini. "It's real and it's genuine."

Yeah, We're feeling you.

'Rough Day' features an absolutely stellar and very groovy retro styled video, directed by twin directors Jonathan and Josh Baker (Guy Sebastian's 'Oh Oh', Koolism's 'Adrenalin'), that ups the party factor of the song another level.

JBHifi  {moscomment}

[paulini in bold]

Hello! How are you going?

Well, thanks and how are you?

Good thanks.

Out of the whole experience, what have [you] been finding the most enjoyable?
What I enjoyed most is to get up there every week and perform songs live and to get the chance to make the song your own, and to work with someone who hasn't really had the experience you've had in singing. I guess it makes the[m] understand music better … and to teach them with what you have. That was the most amazing thing for me because I was also learning myself. I hadn't really had any experience with teaching someone and for me to teach Simon all these types of things, to have that experience… to do it every Sunday was a challenge also.

It seems like you have such a natural talent yourself, was it hard to communicate the naturalness?
Yeah, sometimes … when we did genres, like rock, I thought I'd never do, I kind of gave that a go and really enjoyed it. Like I said, I'm learning too, and I think the show has given me the satisfaction of doing something I never thought I'd do before. It's a whole different experience.

Did you breathe a sigh of relief when it was over?
Oh, well, it would've been good to stay a bit longer! (laughs) I think we know the contestants really well now and have started really good relationships, between each other. It would've been great to stay but I guess someone had to go. I guess the others are going to have a great time and whoever wins it, congratulations, because its such a great show. It's great entertainment.

It seems like there is quite a community spirit between you all…
Absolutely! It's great! Gosh, you wouldn't think you would go through an experience like this with them, you going on stage every weekend and for them to put themselves on the line, learn new things and putting themselves in a situation that they've never been through is hard. It's a huge challenge and a great experience too for all of us.

Just quickly as I know you have to go, what songs are guaranteed to get you on the dancefloor at a party?
Oh… let me think… for me, it has to be Michael Jackson. His songs, maybe… any of Michael Jackson would get me on the dance floor (laughs). I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan.

Complete with his moves as well? (laughs)

Absolutely! I'm not sure I could do those moves, I wish I could but I'll leave those moves to Simon. (laughs) He's more of a dancer. (laughs)

ITT Website
{moscomment}

Sadly, Simon and Paulini departed from It Takes Two tonight despite a nice performance of Reminiscing (Little River Band) and with the help of some fairly harsh judge's scores. Bye guys! It's been great watching you every week, but we knew it had to end soon. You did a fabulous job – both of you!

The good news is vindiezel has already uploaded their performance to youtube. See Vindiezel's upload of Paulini and Simon singing Reminiscing  HERE 

Vindiezel has also uploaded a HUGE bundle of screen caps from the performance (and they look fantastic!) … as well as a few grabs of Hayden and  Kel holding up the banner. The bundle of screen caps is now available in the download section (see your User menu). Thanks again vin! You're a champion! 

And the other good news is that we got to see Paulini perform a stunning duet with the fabulous Wendy Matthews of Enough is Enough. What a super combination of voices! Two of my favourite performers together on stage and did they blow the roof off! Karen has posted a direct link to the video of Paulini and Wendy nailing Enough is Enough (No More Tears) last Sunday night  HERE    and if you just want to listen to an audio of it, Andrew has uploaded an mp3 HERE

Kel has also posted a link in the forum to the gorgeous interview our gang did with Paulini after the show last Sunday night.

It was a bit big so she split it in two and both halves are now available for you to see. So pop into the forum and check it out in the About Paulini/Media and Music Releases section!! You need to be logged in to see the post. 

Thanks to all of you for voting for Simon throughout the competition and for the support you've given to his charity HeartKids!{moscomment}

{mosimage} 

The pics of little Josh are gorgeous and here's the result of Kel's latest efforts with material, paper and glue:

 {mosimage}

Watch out for it tonight in case they flash it on to the screen after Simon and Paulini's performance.

Good on ya kel!!

Text SIMON to 194 777 or ring 1902 555 012

{moscomment}

{mosimage}

Text SIMON to 194 777 or ring 1902 555 012

It will be a challenging performance, mainly because LRB songs have difficult and fiddly arrangements to them but also because LRB didn't exactly pen the grooviest of seventies hits.

As you wait in anticipation to see what these two manage to do with an LRB track, don't forget to vote to keep Simon and Paulini on the show and support the Heart Kids!

And exciting news from Hayden, he spoke to Paulini on Thursday who said she has two tickets for him to Sunday's show. She did have four but two of them have gone to execs from Sony/BMG who are going to be in the audience Sunday night.

Who does Paulini remind you of in that pic?{moscomment}

 In our desperation, on Saturday evening I called Shayne's number directly (the guy who runs the ticketing)  and asked if he had any cancellations. He said no but he took my number and said he’d get back to me if there were. On Sunday morning I hadn’t had a call back, so I called Shayne again with my sad story about being a representative of the Paulini fan club and us all wanting to be there to support her incase she was voted out, seeing as they scored badly the week before. So after his meeting finished, he rang me back and offered six tickets to that night’s show. The rest, as they say, is history!

[Watch the video of this performance as shown on Sunrise - complete with Sunrise crew comments - HERE and read on for Hayden's full report.]

For about an hour I tried to fill up those tickets. I took all six offered to me because I was SURE that everyone would jump at the chance to go to see another Paulini performance, and that even if I couldn’t fill up all the tickets, at least my sisters would be able to. How wrong I was…

At least I was able to contact Kelly at work (though she made me ring up what seemed like half of Melbourne so that she could get her lift to the studio organised) and Talia who jumped at the chance. Unfortunately Oscar was ill and Luke decided he’d better go to church, and wouldn’t believe that God would forgive him for missing a week. In desperation, I left a PM on the Idolforums for our last hope, Di. Thank GOD she saw it and rang me, and told me that she and her sister (who had to travel 2 hours from Taralgon to get to Melbourne btw) would be more than happy to come. [Ed: just a thought, maybe next time post a message in the Idol forum and Paulini forum] Unfortunately, after the John, Ashley, Camilla scandal, my sisters decided they’d rather watch Big Brother, but at least five out of six isn’t bad. Plus, Di, living relatively close to me, offered to give me a lift to the studio, which meant I didn’t have to take the train YAY!Deb, Di and I reached the studio over an hour early, so we decided to go the nearby restaurant for dinner and drinks. It was there that I received an embarrassing phone call. Shayne rang me and asked if I could get more people to fill up more tickets. I had to tell him I couldn’t and that I only had five people for the six tickets I already had. Ah well. [Ed: well you can't expect much at such extreme short notice!]

{mosimage}After dinner came the long wait for Talia and Kelly to show up. Talia arrived about 5:30 and Kelly only JUST made it in before we were led into the studio itself. Much to our delight we found we were in block A, where we were two weeks ago. Unfortunately Paulini waited behind block F again, but we could see her through the set itself and were trying frantically to get her attention. Finally she looked our way, and with the biggest look of surprise I’ve ever seen on her, she started waving frantically and miming that she received my text message, though none of us could figure out the rest of what she was trying to say. Luckily during the ad break before she and Simon went on to perform, Paulini waited right next to our block and talked to us. She told me that she received my text but couldn’t get any tickets for us this week, but she can for next week, and we’re all like .

We were absolutely blown away by their performance of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumping Jack Flash” and when they finished Di, Deb, Kelly and I held up the banner from two weeks ago, while Talia held up the Heartkids banner from last week. If you look at the video, I’m jumping up and down. Partially because I was ecstatic that they did so well, and partially because I couldn’t see over the top of the banner LMAO!The show went on, and before we knew it, it was time for the elimination. We started cacking ourselves (metaphorically of course), and Kelly looked like she was about to cry from the suspense. Luckily Grant (or was it Teresa?) put us out of our misery quickly, with Simon and Paulini being the second duo told they were going through to the next round. We all screamed our heads off, as did all the Guy fans.

The show ended, and I wanted to know if there was going to be an after-party, and if Paulini could get us into it. So I tried to duck down the stairs to the private area to find out – and was aaaaalmost home free, but a security guard sprung me and made me go back. No matter.We left and waited at the celebrity exit, only this week I asked the guy at the desk if we could wait on the couches so we didn’t have to wait in the cold, and he had no objections, so we were having a good old’ chin wag inside while the Guy fans, who had followed us, were stuck outside (ner ner!)

Within the half hour, Shayne appeared. He talked to us for a couple of minutes and asked if I wanted to become a permanent stand-by to get cancellation tickets. Of course I said I'd love to!.

{mosimage}Then Guy walked through the door into the foyer. When he saw us he said “Oh no, of all the days. The one day I can’t hang around…” which I thought was pretty presumptuous, especially since we were waiting for Paulini, NOT him. However, when asked he agreed to have a quick photo with Di, but Kelly couldn’t get the camera working. Guy had obviously been in this situation before, because he snatched the camera out of Kelly’s hands, and within two seconds had taken the photo of him and Di. Then he ran out the glass doors and was ambushed by the Guy fans that were waiting for him.

Shayne kicked us out of the foyer, but at the same time Paulini and Wes walked across the footbridge, saw us and started waving to us. When they reached the foyer, Wes came out to greet us while Paulini talked to Shayne about getting us tickets for the next show. Wes apologized to us, explaining that it was his fault that Paulini couldn’t get us tickets, because the week before he had Paulini get tickets for his entire family, but he was the only one able to come… which explains all the empty seats around him.

At that moment, Paulini came outside, wearing sporty clothes that made her look like she was about to go for a run, gave everyone a hug and said to me that she received my text message; and asked me to ring her on Thursday.

Di and Deb told Paulini they saw and loved the Young Divas video clip, but also said it could have been done a lot better. Paulini said “Yeah, we only did it in an afternoon.” Meanwhile, Kelly and I are laughing to ourselves, and one of us says “The dancing was funny,” and Paulini’s like “Oh I KNOW! Wasn’t it retarded?!” and does a parody version of the dancing that gets us all laughing hysterically. Then she told us that the new single would be a song called “Right About Now” (if memory serves) but she couldn’t remember who sang it originally. She joked that they were recording it in two days time but still didn’t know how it went LMAO Yeah sure!

It was about that time that Guy finally was able to get away from his swarm of middle-aged fan-women, so they then bombarded Paulini. We all stood back so she could talk to them and to pass the time I took photos of Kelly with Wes and Talia with Wes. I heard one of the Guy fans thank Paulini for having Heartkids as her charity because her child was a heartkid, and later I told Paulini that Heartkids would have made a lot of money out of us that week! (to which Paulini was all like “Oh Thank You!”)

{mosimage}When Paulini was able to get back to us, she signed our memorabilia. It’s getting more and more difficult to find CDs for her to sign… this week I had brought my Australian Idol cast album, and my Starstruck CD that I won in an auction on the Sony forum. When she saw it she exclaimed, “Oh my GOD, you’ve got Starstruck?” and I replied, “You think that’s bad, Kelly’s got the video!” to which she’s like, “Really?! No way! How do I look in it? Do I look really sh*t?” and we’re all like for a moment but then start laughing again. It’s amazing how we get along like a house on fire despite only having met four times for about 15 minute intervals. I think I’ve run out of CDs now, I’ll have to take my Australian Idol Greatest Moments DVD and Australian Idol Live concert programme next week if I want something signed.

I asked Paulini what she thought of my Fijian clothes and she said, "I was going to say… Does that say Fiji?" and I told her that my Grandma brought them back from Fiji that week, to which Paulini says, "They really suit you, plus you've got the whole islander attitude down pat." LMAO! Is that good?

We had photos with the Divine Miss P again. She is such a professional – she was making funny faces while speaking to us, but each time just before the photo was taken she had that gorgeous smile back on her face. I was half hoping she’d slip up so we could have a funny face on film, but no such luck unfortunately.

Before we left I remembered the list of questions we had planned to ask her (which we had forgotten about the two previous weeks.) Luckily we had already asked most of them so the list was relatively short, but thanks to Kelly I can give a Divine Miss P exclusive (I just hope I haven’t forgotten anything – if I have can you please add it Kelly?)…

Kelly: Did you know that people are buying Superwoman overseas?Paulini: You’re kidding!

Kelly: No, it’s actually available through an online outlet in the UK.

Paulini: Wow, that’s weird… and scary.

Kelly: Is there going to be a Young Divas album?

Paulini: Yes, I think there will be. But I think Superwoman will be released first and I think it will only be made up of songs from our respective albums.

Kelly: Are you going to be doing any solo gigs soon, like instores?

{mosimage}Paulini: Not that I know of, but I would love to do some instores for my album once it's released.

Kelly: This is going to sound really weird, but could you please beatbox for us?

Paulini: (laughs) You heard me on Video Hits? Haha. Actually, Wes is the better beatboxer. (Then she did funny version of beatboxing. I wish we had filmed it.)

Kelly was too nervous to ask the final question, so I obliged…
Hayden: We were wondering if it would be possible for you to please get us backstage at the Young Divas concerts?

Paulini: YES! I would LOVE to have you guys backstage, that’d be so cool!

That about covers the entire night. We said goodbye and floated away on our clouds. Now I’m waiting anxiously for Thursday so I can talk to the Divine Miss P again. Until then though:

THANK YOU PAULINI FOR ANOTHER AMAZING NIGHT. I’LL TALK TO YOU ON THURSDAY AND WE’LL ALL SEE YOU AGAIN ON SUNDAY (I hope)!  {moscomment}

Paulini and Simon were fantastic Sunday night with their stunning performance of Jumpin Jack Flash! Especially Paulini!! That girl can ROCK! Some have commented that she had shades of Tina Turner in that performance. And Simon was great – clearly he's much better being all manly and strutting his stuff than when he tries to do the sensitive new age guy thing!!

The judge's all gave them high scores so they were equal second with 3 other couples. And the best news is that they weren't voted out. Although sadly, we did lose Michael Bevan and Jade. Paulini looked stunning in a gold dress, prompting our favourite judge Amanda to have a dig at Dicko and comment on how hot Paulini looked in her gold dress – which she did.

There are some great pics of Paulini, Wes and the gang from tonight  taken after the show.  I'm sure there'll be a report coming soon and I'll put the pics up with the article when it gets here. Sadly, Vindiezel missed the beginning of tonight's show so he didn't manage to record Paulini and Simon's performance. We had become so spoilt by Vin's reliable upload of vids each week that this comes as a bit of a shock. And it also means poor Vindiezel missed seeing this fantastic duet!!! If anyone has a recording of their performance tonight (whether video or audio) please contact me!

UPDATE: Apparently this performance was re-played on Sunrise Monday morning (Yay!) and Vindiezel recorded it (Yay again for vin). 

 ———————-/ ————————-/ ———————– /

[Original article]

For this Sunday's ITT Super Band theme Paulini and Simon are set to rock the audience again with their version of The Stones Jumpin Jack Flash!

Vindiezel has uploaded a sneak preview of some behind the scenes footage of some of the performers at THIS LINK including  a brief grab of our faves rehearsing for Sunday's show. The preview was shown on this morning's Sunrise who also gave a nice plug for Simon and Paulini and how to vote for them. Yay! They also thought this would be a good song choice for Simon – "He's a rocker!" and I have to agree. 

{mosimage}They are looking good, but this is a hard song – especially with Paulini in that extreme high register!!! Oooh it'll be interesting!

Text SIMON to 194 777 or ring 1902 555 012

This is getting to be a weekly outing. I don't think I'll ever recover fully from the Curuenavirus… nor do I think my cloud will ever run out of fuel. Oh well. 

The afternoon starts out pretty familiar; Kelly and I taking the train to Flinders Street while making our list of things to ask Paulini (that we always forget to look at when we actually meet up with her); catching up with Oscar on the way to the studio; twiddling our thumbs until Talia gets there. The first thing that is different though, is that for once we're not the only Paulini fans lining up. There's Judge Di (from the Idol forums), a Guy/Paulini/Drag Queen fan whom I've come to blows with in the past (and not in the fun way), who has brought her sister and a couple of Guy fans along. We have a good ol' chin wag until the doors open. They line up while Kelly, Oscar and I get to the end of the line waiting for Talia. 

The next thing that's different, while we're lining up, Kelly is staring and drooling at a guy ahead of us who is walking with crutches. She says to me "That's Paulini's boyfriend, you'd better watch yourself," to which I'm like, "It looks nothing like him." That just proves what a dill I am, but then again, hardly anyone looks like themselves in photos. Since I took some initiative and printed out Talia's email, we were able to wait in the foyer until Talia showed up anyway, and much to our delight, we found we were once again in section F, where we were the first time we went. Finally Talia gets here and after a brief debacle with the seating, we set ourselves up in the back so we could wave the new banners Kelly made for us to hold – one saying "GO PAULINI AND SIMON, YOU MAKE US WANNA ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT AND PARTY EVERY DAY" and the other saying "SUPPORT HEARTKIDS BY CALLING (insert phone numbers here)".

{mosimage}As luck would have it, Paulini had to wait behind us AGAIN before going on stage, this week looking extremely pretty in pink while showing off cleavage (insert drooling emoticon here lol) and when she realised we were once again above her, in a way that only the Divine Miss P can, she once again gave us a gigantic wave and gorgeous smile. The smile wouldn't leave her face when we showed her the banners, and when asked by me, she told us what she was singing (Throw Your Arms Around Me). In the meantime, Kelly was keeping an eye out for the guy we now know was Wes, who was seated in the V.I.P. section. The show starts, we're having a great time. Kelly dares me to wave to Paulini in the green room, which I do. She sees and waves back, so all four of us wave back. 

Paulini comes out to perform, we're having an even greater time. For me, that is, uuuuuuntil Simon opens his mouth. I'm put off by his pitchiness, but Paulini, being the amazing professional and trooper that she is, blew us all away with her amazing vocals (that managed to stay in tune and make Simon sing better). Though we knew they wouldn't score very well, we were shocked at how hard the judges were on them, especially Ross Wilson, who only gave them a 4 and whom I would have punched out if I had had the chance.

If previous weeks were anything to go by, I knew that the judges would disappear very quickly. Luckily block F is situated above the judges, so as soon as the show ended, before the stage hands could direct us out, I quickly ducked down the stairs and cornered Marina Pryor, whom I wanted an autograph from, at the judging table. Ross Wilson was lucky to have already done his disappearing act LOL! Marina was lovely though, and gladly autographed my book AND my Big Girls Blouse DVD (she was in 2 skits). She laughed when I showed it to her and said "My God! You've got THIS!" LMAO! When I went back upstairs, Talia says "Where did you disappear to?" I told them, and they were all shocked and amazed at what I had been able to get away with; but seriously, what are they (the stage hands) going to do?

{mosimage}We met back up with Di (who was on a high) and her sister Deb (who had gone hypo) in the foyer. They're both very anxious to go back again if they can get the tickets. When kicked out of the foyer, the six of us, as well as some Guy fans who were disappointed because Guy disappeared as soon as the show ended,  headed to the celebrity's exit on Wells Street where we met up with Paulini last week. The time seemed to pass quicker this time around, just because we were all talking so much. Also, Jade McCrae came out first with her boyfriend, and she was more than happy to give us autographs and take photos. It was really funny though, it took a while to get one of the digital cameras working properly, but when a photo was taken with my el cheapo disposable camera there were no problems at all. She was like "Good ol' faithful," LMAO!

 As it was starting to get late, Oscar, Di and Deb left, but in a couple of minutes Paulini and Wes walked over the footbridge. After saying "I told you so," to me, Kelly runs to the corner and yells at the top of her lungs "COME BACK, PAULINI'S HERE!" Meanwhile, I waved to Paulini, she notices me and waves back, and within the minute she and Wes were downstairs, and Kell, Oscar, Di and Deb hurried back. Paulini comes out and gives us each a hug and says "I can't believe they didn't let you into the party. You'll definitely be allowed in next week!" Kelly and I exchanged glances – neither of us had thought to go to the party. Ah well, live and learn. What Paulini doesn't know (or won't now until she reads this) won't hurt her LOL. Kelly says "I love your boots!" Nommie adds "I love your hair!" so I put in with "And I love your coat!" This gets Paulini laughing hysterically. She also says "I'm really sorry I haven't been online, I've been so busy, and I lost the sheet of paper," and I get a huge laugh out of her when I show her the pages Kell printed out and say "That's why we brought the website to you!" She makes us laugh when she says "I've got to get a laptop, but I'm such a bimbo when it comes to computers." LMAO!

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 Next I nearly fall over backwards when Paulini says to me "Now, can you please key your number into my phone? Your phone number was on that piece of paper as well…" and just as astounded as last week, I key it in, and without thinking I asked her to ring it just to make sure I got it right. She happily obliges, and when my phone stars ringing, staring back at me is HER phone number. Gobsmacked I tell Kelly what had happened and she's like "shhhh". Talia and Kelly stop drooling long enough to get a photo with Wes, meanwhile Oscar has taken Paulini aside, told her about how he creates music and would like her to listen to it. She asks him to get her a copy when it's finished and gives him an address to send it to!! Di and Deb are astounded at how approachable and chatty Paulini is.

{mosimage}Finally Paulini gets around to signing all our memorabilia. Talia has Paulini sign her book, Kelly gets autographs for Luke (who was with us in spirit), Di and Deb (who were too starstruck to move). She also has Paulini sign the banners and her photos from last week, and she's like "Wow, these photos are great! I've got to get a copy of them," which was my cue to show her my review from the previous week, which had all the photos in it. I also show her the homepage, Paulini has  a laugh about the Katranal Fartz woman and she really gets a kick out of the "Stylists Suck" T-shirt. She says "I need to get one of those," and is astounded when I say "Then you'll be happy to know Jacki put a link to the site where you can buy one on the homepage. She goes "Wow, you guys have thought of everything. So which one of you is the president of this site?" We say the president lives in Tassie, we're just her right hand men and women who get the information LOL. But that reminded us of the surprise we were planning for Jacki and we asked Paulini if she'd mind talking to her on the phone? She's like "No worries! What's her phone number?" and calls Jacki on her own phone! I'll let Jacki put in the content of the phone call though because we only heard Paulini's half of the conversation. But once the call was over Paulini said Jacki sounded lovely.

We congratulated Paulini on her UMA nomination and getting to number 15 on the Brazin Charts. I also get my Amazing Grace, We Can Try and Rough Day Cds signed, and she thanks me for buying all her CDs. Oscar takes this opportunity to ask Paulini if she knows when Superwoman will be released ….but she doesn't. I ask her if she had found out what the new YD single will be. She gives the same sort of "can't really tell you" response as she did when she was asked at Beaky who her partner would be on It Takes Two, but eventually says no.   Di finally chimes in and says "Speaking of Young Divas, I'll be going to 2 of the Melbourne shows," and Paulini is like "Well, in that case, if there's an afterparty we'll have to get you guys in," to which we're all like YAY!

{mosimage}This is around about the time that Simon comes out, and he thanks us again for the banners. He didn't stay long though. Paulini and Wes were getting ready to leave too, but I asked "Before you go Paulini, could we please get a photo each? I've got to have something to put in this week's review," and she laughs while saying "Of course!" and jokingly adds "You don't even have to ask!" So we get our photos taken, including a great looking one of Paulini and me in a gigantic bear hug. Then we all said our goodbyes and Paulini gives each of us a hug (and gives ME a kiss on the cheek – I'll never wash it again LMAO!) She says while we're starting to walk off "Now I'll definitely try to come onto the site this week, and I'll give you a call too Hayden [she knows my name!] But you've got my number just incase," and she flips her hair and says "Call me…" LMAO!! So anyway, it was another eventful night of going Paulinuts. Since I'm still on a high and so much happened I've probably forgotten something, so I'm sorry, and you're more than welcome to add to this review. 

On behalf of everyone who went THANK YOU PAULINI FOR THE WONDERFUL NIGHT AND WE'LL BE VOTING UNTIL WE GET DIGITITIS AND NUMB THUMB TO KEEP YOU IN THE COMPETITION!{moscomment}