therealljidol | Eliminations

clauderainsrm.livejournal.com posting in

So here we are at the end of another round of voting.

I think the lack of Monday really ended up showing the overall vote totals. But that's why things are switched around. People who hang out on LJ during the weekend aren't the same as the ones who pop back in on Monday morning.

Before I make the official announcement it is with great pleasure that I eliminate

jfargo!! The first time was sad - but this time the little **_(*_^& DESERVES IT!!!! (for those who don't know, it's his birthday - so I said I'd eliminate him, even if he wasn't still in the running!*g* Birthday curse!!!! Hope you've been having a great birthday.)

With that over with, now comes the sad part. I keep saying that certain votes are "especially sad" and I don't want it to lose the impact. But I think everyone *would* agree with me that this vote is "especially sad".

It involves 4 very talented individuals, all of whom have personalities that would glow in the dark!*G* (for different reasons of course!*g*)

All of them have had a part in making this season so wonderful - and I certainly hope that we will continue seeing them (and getting to read more of their stuff) in the weeks to come.

I'm going to go back and say a few words like I did last week. But for now I'll just put the names and just say "Thank you so much" to each of them.

Leaving us this week (and crossing over to be members of the jury)

emo_snal - Take THAT you bastard! It's about time someone booted your skinny bee-loving butt to the curb!!!
*smiles*
OK. For those of you who *don't* know, he said that I *wouldn't* say something like that in a "goodbye" post. So of course that meant that I *had to do it*!!
I think he said it best when he pointed out that there was a point that he wanted to get to, and after that it was all gravy. I don't recall the actual number (I'm thinking it was 40-50, something like that) but obviously he went far beyond that point. Why? Because when you take away all the buzzing around here and there you get a guy who can flat out write. He knows he can write. You know he can write.
Ultimately he has an audience of one*, and as long as he gets that fellow's vote, I think he's going to be quite happy with that. (*That person being a hermit living in an undisclosed location somewhere in the middle of the woods in WV)

Definitely one of the "more interesting characters" to emerge from this season! There was a point early on that I figured he would either burn out and try to kill everyone, or that we would be seeing him in the top 25 or so. Goodbye bee boy!!

gratefuladdict - There are some things that I can't mention in her farewell post. Mostly because she said that I should try not to mention them. But I think everyone knows what they are, and how she fundamentally changed a lot of people's opinions of her in the process. So maybe I don't need to directly point them out anyway.*g* (sure, it's a fine line - but there it is).

The last couple weeks I've been worried that she might not get an entry up at all. But she has pushed through and still managed to make it work.

In a lot of ways it's hard for me personally to separate the person and her work. They are both absolutely remarkable, with a raw edge underneath the surface that I think tends to be overlooked.

I'm not going to say "OMG I was so surprised this week!" because I wasn't. I think under other circumstances though she could have been right in there fighting to the end with a crowd of people cheering her on.

mandolinorange - I was just reading your "farewell post" and thinking about you over the course of the season - and a couple things stuck out to me.
You absolutely nailed the "not always consistent" angle. There were weeks when I would go "OK, that was good" and there would be weeks where you would knock me down and steal my lunch money. As you said, it was more difficult for people to get a good feel for you.
That being said. SHT said something that caught my attention as well. "with just a bit more attention, I think you could have been top 5."
I'm not going to go into the numbers of where you "should" have been, or shouldn't have been. That takes away from other people and I'm not going to do that. However, I will say that you came onto my radar pretty early on as a contender and one of "the newbies to watch" and the one area that I can comment on is that I think you should have been on *more* people's radars, and rec lists,and poster boards and bus stops and. . . wait, I completely lost where I was going with that!*g* *follows back through* Oh, yes, I think you deserve every single amount of praise you get and should have been receiving more.
You're among my favorite new writers to emerge this season and I can say without a doubt among my favorite people play in this or any season.

oberonia - One of the two "coming back from Season 3 players" and I think it's fair to say that one with the biggest buzz coming into this season as "the one to beat". Which struck me as funny because she also came in with "a concept" of writing every entry as a piece of fiction from various characters she developed over time. I'm going to come right out and say it - I thought she was slitting her throat. I know her. I like her. I adore her writing. But I didn't see it working.
The chances that I would be saying goodbye to her as one of those "surprise boots" early in the season I thought was much greater than getting to write this now on the doorstep of the top 20.
A little disclaimer here -

oberonia is one of the few contestants I've actually met in person and she's as wonderful in RL as she is online.
That said, I'm going against the trend here and saying that I didn't think it was among her stronger entries. I *liked it*. But, I dunno, when I read it I thought she would be in trouble this week, which isn't a feeling that I usually come away with when it comes to her.
She is truly talented and truly going to be missed.