Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Another group of four American Idol contestants were sent home Thursday, all of which I'd predicted would get their walking papers.

Host Ryan Seacrest returned to the traditional way of notifying them, going down the row one by one and telling them they were safe. Then he brought Jason Yeager and Danny Noriega to center stage to sweat it out before announcing Jason would be leaving.

Asked for his comments on the cut, judge Simon Cowell said that Jason just didn't stand out. I'd add that everything about him feels outdated, which doesn't help when you're looking for the next pop star.

Then it was time for the girls to worry.

After pronouncing several of them safe, Ryan called out Amanda Overmyer and Alexandrea Lushington. Frankly, Amanda's performance had been worse, but since she stands out (the "biker nurse"), American sent Alexandrea packing. Since next week decides the final 12, Amanda's probably run out of her grace period. If she doesn't improve, she could be riding that Harley home.

The next women Ryan singled out were two of the interchangeable blondes, Alaina Whitaker and Kady Malloy. Of these, Kady had arguably the worse performance, but viewers might have been swayed by the fact that the judges seem to believe she has a lot more potential. Or perhaps they were turned off by the strange revelations in Alaina's backstage interview, about her food compulsions (keeping all her food separate on her plate; even using different forks to eat different things). Interestingly, her swan-song performance of "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was much more passionate than she had been the night before, perhaps because she knew she had nothing left to lose.

Finally, Ryan brought Luke Menard and Robbie Carrico to center stage, where Robbie got his pink slip, having lost the competition for the rocker slot to David Cook. Which just goes to show that, if you're going to rock out, you've got to bring it.

More on American Idol:

Musings on American Idol Season 7

And now, let the pimping begin: a friend and fellow Otakon staffer has started up his own animation shop, Anigrafx. Check out the site, which has some interesting demos, including one produced for Otakon 2001.

Now, since it's Friday, for today's found item. This one appears to be an essay which a student discarded after a false start.

Perhaps wasting time while thinking about what to say, the student signed the upper right-hand corner, then drew a squiggly line around the name. Next, the title of the essay, "Jimmy Carter" in large, important letters, underlined with a squiggle. Underneath that, the subtitle, "Noble Peace Prize," also surrounded with a squiggly line.

And then, the meat of the essay: "Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in many ways."

Well, that says it all, really. No wonder the student stopped there.

Copyright 2008 by Alyce Wilson

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