jlh | Ace and Mandisa! Clio and Ace's brother! (Reply)

Sometimes I despair for the media industry. They're so desperate; they've put a lot of eggs in the wrong basket and wall street keeps pounding them for having such an up and down industry. But entertainment isn't widgets; no one really knows what is going to work. In the meantime, they'll just sue us all for using their products, which will piss us off and make us want to steal even more. It's a time of very high uncertainty, and I think they all know that when it sorts out almost none of them will be there anymore. It would be nice to think that what will be decimated is the larger corporate structures and leave us with something more streamlined that puts more money in the pockets of talent, but I'm not prepared to be that optimistic. Just another reason to be glad I've moved from the trenches to the sidelines.

The Project Runway reunion show was killer, but I don't have much to say about it other than that it revived that vague Tim/Emmett thing that was in the back of my mind. And as

ely709 texted, Santino is the devil. They're stretching the finale over two weeks; poll next week after we know that last twist.

Meanwhile, because I was only vaguely interested in the ladies' free skate, I caught up on American Idol on the TIVO.

Simon is right—Americans have become better critics; I completely agreed with who was voted off.
1. As Simon told Stevie, she chose the absolutely wrong song. I don't even know what she was thinking; this is a pop music competition.
2. As for Becky's "Because the Night" I was mostly just glad Lowell wasn't around to hear it; it completely lacked energy and it's a great song so you know it was her.
3. Patrick learned that Melissa Etheridge songs are surprisingly tough to sing—if you don't have her power, it's just not going to come off, and I found that he made the song seriously boring instead of vaguely desperate. (Also anyone who thinks George Michael is "old school" needs to get kicked to the curb.) Even his pictures on the idol website are boring.
4. Bobby I'll sort of miss, but yeah, Copacabana not so much.
Ryan continues to find it difficult to hide his gay, or at least his boycrush on Ace. Nice to know the bizarre groove he and Simon have is going to continue this year.
I'm unabashedly on the Ace train. For various reasons I don't really like talking openly about boys that might be hot and all that but I'm going to be open about this one. And did you see his brother in the audience? Even hotter, my friends. Darker hair, more striking eyes, working the stubble, just a bundle of oh my yes.
I'm also on the Mandisa train because she rocked that shit out and because she's not afraid to move and she dresses excellently and is so wonderfully positive and lovely and I hope she wins.
Why were they singing a bad Eagles song on the results show? How crappy was that?
My own good, okay, and I-just-don't-care. Clearly I am biased against girls who want to be Faith Hill but those country ballads are really boring.
- Good: Chris ("Wanted Dead or Alive"), Elliott ("If You Really Love Me"), Katherine ("Since I Fell for You"), Lisa ("I Am Changing"), Mandisa ("Never"), Paris ("Midnight Train to Georgia")
- Perhaps not good, but appealing: Bucky ("Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd), Brenna ("You Are the Sunshine of My Life"), Taylor ("Levon"), Will ("I Want You Back")
- Perfectly fine but I can't bring myself to care: Ayla ("Reflections", Xtina's Mulan song), David ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love"), Gedeon ("Shout"), Heather ("When You Tell Me That You Love Me"), Sway ("Reasons"), Kellie ("How Far"), Kevin ("One Last Cry"), Kinnick ("Get Here"), Melissa ("When the Lights Go Down")

Thoughts? Polls will start when we get to the final 12.

Well, maybe one AI poll now, very non-spoilery. I feel I should have an American Idol icon, I think, if I'm going to be posting about it; Sifl and Olly are great but they don't scream American Idol. I don't want to use a current contestant because I want to be able to use it no matter who ultimately wins; I don't like any of the other previous winners enough to icon them; icons of Paula or Randy just don't appeal to me.
[Poll #679260]