Green Room - Week 24 - Day 4

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

If you tripped right now, you might accidentally fall into the Top 25.

Let's take a moment to consider that. Because I'm not entirely sure the full impact has hit everyone quite yet.

Counting Second Chance, we have had 261 contestants this season. Everyone left is within a breath of reaching the Top 25. That's pretty darn good.

Give yourself a moment to pat yourself on the back.

Now that your hands are preoccupied I can strike!!! Oh wait, sorry. . . kind of a bit of impulse there. ;)

What I mean, of course, is "job well done".

Of interest, to me, is that there do still seem to be divisions in the ranks among vets and newbies, or to be more accurate, people who became friends in previous seasons vs people who are playing for the first time. Maybe it's not "divisions" so much as they are "priorities". It makes sense, people who grow closer tend to admire each other's work and share similar tastes in what they like and don't like as much. From my perch, I've seen it before, but it hasn't felt quite like this.

Then again, this is also the highest number of veterans we've ever had left at this stage of the competition. So that is bound to shift that perception in new and interesting ways.

It's worth noting - because I mentioned it just the other day and someone said they had never heard this stat: Thus far, every single Idol season has been won by a newbie. No veteran has ever won. No man had ever won. No non-American has ever won! Will this be the season where one or more of those is broken? Only time, and the voters, will tell.

Comments

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Woooo Hooooo First! Take that, comedychick!!!

Sheeeesh. We're spittin' distance from the Top-25... that's awesome and wow. Congratulations to everybody that's come this far. There's some really great folks that have played the game this season so that's no small feat. Great job, everybody.

I'm off to work but I'll be back later to touch on the vets v. newbies debate... Hope everybody has a great Hump Day!!!

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

It's so exciting!

On an unrelated note, it's about 50 degrees out today and I'm heading off to work. Brrr!

On another unrelated note, hubby and I will be driving up to Niagara Falls this Sunday (well, it'll take all day to get there - about 9 hours) to spend our 18th anniversary up yonder. I've been to the falls before (I went to college up in Buffalo) but he never has. Exciting!

Also - Happy Star Wars day! May the Fourth be with you!

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

Do you have stats on how many vets started compared to newbies? (And then compared to past seasons?) I know right now we have nearly 2/3rds vets left, but I'm rather enjoying the newbies we have left, too. I don't feel like I'm prioritising my vet friends in the polls. I just vote for my favourite pieces each week. Oh, I might also add that I even made sure to include newbies in all of my rec lists (http://comedychick.livejournal.com/tag/recommendations).

I really hope this is the season the stereotype is broke, just for the sake of breaking the stereotype. I don't care which one(s) are broken ;) Having said that, I think we've got some good stereotype profile possible winners left in our midst, so I do think it's still anyone's game!

[alephz.livejournal.com]

USA USA USA?

In all seriousness, though, I gotta get back to work. School stuff, projects and Portal 2 are conspiring to kick me out of this competition.

It's rough, man.

ROUGH.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Lesse...

:checks the Kizzy Idol Paperwork:

It's true about the no-vet-ever-winning AND the no-male-ever-winning and no-non-US-citizen-ever-winning. That's come into discussion before. I also didn't realize until you said it, Gary, that yeah, there are a lot of us vets still in the game. Hmmm...

I really wish we could recruit more guys, though. I've found "male" (for lack of a better term) writing to be a much-needed contrast. I don't think it's because of the number of potential male contestants out there as it is that Idol has always been overwhelmingly female. But then again LJ is overwhelmingly female, so...

[momebie.livejournal.com]

So what you're saying is, these girly bits might finally come in handy for something? RAD.

uhhhh, Gary?

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

Was your first sentance a warning that you **do** plan to trip people as they are entering the green room?

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

*ducks halfway in the door and waves*

Kick ass, y'all!

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

Having Gary mention the Top 25 is close scares me... Makes me this something evil will happen in voting to being us down to that number :P

I vote and even rec who I like, and most of my rec's are non-flisters, containing a mix of vets and newbies.

I think it's still anyone's game right now. Everyone that's left has a good chance to make it to the top and I really won't be surprised at anyone winning (besides myself that is.)

I think a guy has a very good chance of winning this season. All the men that are left are very strong and I could see any one of them winning easily. Obviously I'm rooting for my boy to be the first, and I'm not going to lie...I think he stands a very good chance, as does the others.

Top Ten

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Well since we're talking about it, anyone fancy putting forward their top 10 predictions? Ideal or actual.

I'm going to risk putting the curse on it (everyone I said would win last season dropped out but I think we're past that point now) and say that I think team_jessie is going to win, although I'd love to see joeymichaels take the crown, since I wanted him to win last season. I'd love to see java in the top ten as well - I think he went out prematurely last season. I reckon the_vernacular is going to be up there and nishi_kaze is going to give jessie a run for her money. I think serpentpixie might be a dark horse too.

Not quite ten, but then there are very few people left in who I don't think can go all the way. So beyond that it's anyone's game to take as far as I'm concerned.

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

Woah, spacey... this whole room is dark except for the computer screen and for a minute I felt like I was floating in outer space >.>

[amenquohi.livejournal.com]

I just spent the first two hours of my morning stuck in traffic. It's got to go up from here.

[team-jessie.livejournal.com]

These are all very interesting stats. As a female, newbie American they're reassuring in a way and intimidating in another way.

[beautyofgrey.livejournal.com]

Wait... wow...are we really at that point? *rubs eyes*

[rattsu.livejournal.com]

I was within 3 (!) votes of becoming the first non-american winner... *flails* sooo close...

[nyxocity.livejournal.com]

I'd been assuming that vets have a lot of fans built up from previous seasons, and figured they probably had a leg up. After all, known authors tend to have more readers than unknowns, right? I didn't know until yesterday that no vet has ever won. I find that to be very strange.

For the sake of statistics, I fit the stereotype, but I don't think I'm in any danger of winning. Most weeks, I'm amazed I'm still here.

It really does seem like almost anyone's game right now. There are a few people I definitely see making the top 10 unless there's a twist of some kind, but I don't want to say who because of the risk of seeming to slight someone by NOT mentioning them. Me? Over think things? Nah.

Being a newb, I'm not sure I can contribute anything to the vets vs. newbs discussion. I haven't felt slighted by vets in terms of interaction, in any case, but then, I'm assuming Gary's talking about voting trends, which we don't get to see. Personally, I vote for what I like. There's so much talent here that some weeks it's really, REALLY tough not to vote for everyone.

Anyway, TEAL DEER. Happity Hump Day, all! :)

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

It's worth noting - because I mentioned it just the other day and someone said they had never heard this stat: Thus far, every single Idol season has been won by a newbie. No veteran has ever won. No man had ever won. No non-American has ever won!

Intriguing!

[snarkerdoodle.livejournal.com]

Not at all surprised that no guy has won, since there are relatively few of them in the contest any given year when compared to the number of women.

Am a little bit surprised, though, that no veteran has ever won -- that just seems... odd. You'd think at 6 completed years into this, that someone who'd been around a while would take home the trophy. Just another thing to show nothing in Idol follows what 'should' happen, I guess, lol.

That we're already talking Top 25 makes me realize just how close we are to the end of this season -- didn't really perceive that until just now. Should be interesting! :D

Kitty Michaels' Top Ten That Aren't Kitty Michaels

[kittymichaels.livejournal.com]

As everyone knows, I won this season (and last season) months ago. Let's say we lived in some bizarre, hellish alternate universe with no me, who would deserve to be the top ten?

Well, I would, of course, still win it, even in a universe where I didn't exist, so let's just list the second through tenth runners up.

2. hug_machine didn't compete this season, but she will always come in second because she made this</>. Also, she wears a cat hat that says "Cat."

3. tigrkittn has two different cat related words in her name and spells them in LOLCat Pidgin. Her icon is an angry kitty.

4. walkertxkitty has my name in her name. She confuses me sometimes by having something that looks like a dog in her icon, but she posts pictures of kitties in her journal.

5. wyliekat might have spelled "cat" incorrectly, but I am all about teh phonics. Also, she spelled "Wile E." wrong. None the less, a cat that possesses the mental acumen of Wile E. Coyote is to be admired.

6. med_kitty is a cat that is also involved in the medical profession. Cat medicine largely involves licking, mostly of the ears and backside. We largely prefer our own medicine to human vet medicine. I am an amateur nurse, by the way.

7. stormkitty is a cat who is not afraid of storms. I, myself, hide under the bed during the storms and am a little miffed that she would rub in my face her fearlessness in the face of storms. This is why I didn't rank her higher. Not because of alphabetical order or anything.

8. oldscratchx reminds me of all the scratches I've left everywhere - on the bed, on the couch and on the fat man. Some of them are over a decade old. Good times, good times.

9. lynxypoo is apparently some kind of cat, or so the Fat Man assures me. I have clicked on a lynx or two in my time - especially so I could go to websites that feature pictures of cats in heat - but I have never met a lynx.

10. myrna_bird wasn't a cat, but I couldn't stop looking at her name and chattering. If it wasn't for this damned screen window...

Honorary Mention: creature_girl08 is some sort of creature, so the odds are good she's actually a cat. But she might be a dog, or maybe even an elephant, and I'm not fans of either of those. If there was some confirmation on her relative feline-ness, I would have an easier time ranking her.

Honorary Mention #2: supremegoddess1's name may refer to the Egyptian cat goddess, Bast. If that is what her name refers to, then she deserves a place on the Top ten list. Maybe I'll add some extra numbers between 1 and 10, like "claw" and 'whisker," so I could fit a few more people in my top ten. I can do that in my universe. (http://kittymichaels.livejournal.com/52522.html)

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

I have a theory on why newbies win:

1) their friends haven't been tired out with this whole new fangled idea of a writing contest. For vets, our non-lji friends may be tired of clicking over to the poll.

2) they have more material which we haven't read about yet.

Just an idea!

[shadowwolf13]

So apparently I can't leave comments from my phone. Lovely. That was figured out after I typed all the html out twice.

Anyhow - Home Game entry!

Batty over Dragons

[serpentpixie.livejournal.com]

Is there anyone online right now? I kind of need someone to check the photos in my entry here (http://serpentpixie.livejournal.com/170869.html), don't hurt people's eyes... I'm tired, so everything hurts my eyes right now ^^

[basric.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the last should be given numbers not names to try to make them anonymous. I saw comments where people were apologizing for changing their votes not because of the writing, but because their friend was losing. There is just something wrong about that. That's like voting because someone is black or Asian like you or drives the same truck. Has nothing whatsoever to do with the contest. Just human nature I suppose.

Taking out the spoon to stir the pot.

[similiesslip.livejournal.com]

So, basically, if you don't win your very first season, you may never win?

Rather discouraging...