Green Room - Week 18 - Day 5

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Time is running short, and I can already hear the vans arriving to get into this place to scrub it down during the off season.

I hope they brought a lot of cleaning solution. Some of these stains aren’t going to come out easily.

There is still a poll though -
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/697433.html

and then one more that will determine who the winner will be!!

So, let’s start the final countdown celebration right now: What was your favorite parts of the Exhibits (A and B)?

Comments

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

I missed a fair bit of A. But I loved the intersections in B. I think there should have been more of them. I would have liked to have seen intersections every other week :D

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Hahahahahahaha!

Wait. Are you serious?

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

I loved Exhibit A. I loved the non-twistiness of it. I loved the non-dramanes of it. I loved the intimacy of the smaller group. Exhibit A was teh awesome.

I can't think of specific things. There were posts I enjoyed reading. There were posts I was glad I wrote.

I certainly enjoyed getting to know some people better.

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Sure! You don't think that would have been cool?

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Nope. There was a week or two in there when I was very close to dropping if we kept having intersections. Happily we had a break about that time.

Writing is NOT a team sport.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Another vote for the vibe of Exhibit A, although the competitive side of me winced every so often because there wasn't any twisty-turns.

I don't know exactly when things went pear-shaped in B, but they did.

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

I also didn't mind the intersections. It's fun to colaberate but not every week. :P The few we had were plenty enough.

I didn't really pay attention to exhibit A so I would have to say exhibit B. I don't really have a favorite part though, haha. I enjoyed just being a part of it.

I just don't get where all the drama came in for this exhibit. I must have been asleep.

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I love where intersections take me. Out of my comfort zone, to be sure, but into such amazing places I'd never venture on my own.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

You know, if there had been a schedule ahead of time that said "ok, these weeks will be intersections, and you'll have this long to get them in" - yeah, I think that would have been cool. Every other week? Got it. No problem. I know what to expect.

But because it was so random, it kind of felt like The Intersection Monster could leap out of the bushes at any moment, and then there'd be the stress of finding a partner and coordinating and coming up with an idea that worked in tandem instead of just solo, in addition to the normal everyday stress of "here's a prompt (or here are many prompts to choose from, or whathaveyou) and you must write something for it within this small set of time".

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

If there was a schedule ahead of time for *anything*, it wouldn't be Idol!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Well, if there was a schedule that anyone *but me* could see...

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

I loved all of the experimentation that went on in the exhibits - people played a lot, with form, with voice, with characters, and with each other, and I think that's fabulous. There's more, but I haven't had any caffeine yet, and I should remedy that...

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

*nods* Oh, I know. I'm not saying I ever expected such a thing, I'm just saying that a large part of what made the intersections tough for me personally was never knowing when they'd strike. Especially because I was playing as two people for a while - that was a lot of stuff to juggle. Though I brought it on myself (and I don't regret it at all!) it was, uh, kind of super extra challenging with all the intersections.

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

The Intersections were stressful, but exciting. The Twists were interesting, but dared me to do better. The feedback has been great.

I wasn't around for Exhibit A, but I appreciated meeting new people in Exhibit B. I appreciated the daring of entries (that people took risks), and the shorter time frame (so it wasn't a 500-day engagement), and how one wouldn't be as "lost in a crowd" as one might be in a 300-person Season. I've enjoyed myself immensely, even when completely frazzled.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I kind of feel like things went pear-shaped when folks started talking about how pear-shaped they were. But maybe I was just oblivious to bad stuff or people being mean to one another or whatever. I don't know.

(And this isn't me saying "don't talk about problems and they won't exist". Honest. Because that's really not how I work. This is me saying "all the talking about problems, especially in vague or cryptic terms, began to feel like a problem in and of itself to me, above and beyond any problems I noticed".)

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Barring a schedule (hahahaha, like we'd ever get to see into the Mind of Gary), the best course of action for intersections would be to ask some of your current contestants ahead of time - ie: "In case of an intersection, if we're both still in it, would you be my partner?" and then everyone keep a list.

It's sort of like the old fashioned dance card. :)

Waltz - KathrynRose
Polka - PornThisWay
ChaCha - AlyceWilson

etc.

[porn-this-way.livejournal.com]

Quick phone comment - stuck at staff development and taking advantage of brief lunch break to sneak in here.

Also, trigger warning, I'm about to earn another bitch award, if there are any left that I haven't already won.

I thought Exhibit A was, by Idol standards, pretty damn boring. Okay, it still beat the shit out of just about everything else out there, and I did have fun, but it just didn't feel like Idol. I've liked Exhibit B so much better I can't even express it in words. The massive amount of intersections have been kind of a headache sometimes, sure, but this felt like mini-Idol as opposed to Diet Idol with reduced calories, sodium, and everything else that makes things tasty and scrumptious.

Also, I'm just gonna put this out here: I've seen people talking about phantom "bad things" in Exhibit B way more than I've actually seen or heard about any actual bad things! Okay, the poll buggery was obviously a train straight out of WTFville (both the termination-causing buggery a few weeks ago and the Facebook dog pile last week) but other than that, I haven't seen anything other than faint echos of the usual suspects - pimping debates, a pseudo-flounce or two, a few heated GR discussions, a couple of posts contemplating the nature of Idol... just nothing out of the ordinary in that regard. So, out of the two seasons, I really don't get why Exhibit A was supposedly the shiny magical wonder kid and exhibit B was the red-headed step child.

I loved the twists this round (even the ones I hated, I loved that they were there, even if I hated them specifically) and I definitely loved the user-submitted topics. Loved the length of Exhibit B too. It was long enough to get people emotionally invested and to get the endurance element to factor in, but not so long it was just dizzying.

A'ight, my time's up. Flame away. :p

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

I love intersections, but every other week would be too much. Maybe every third week...

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

This is basically what I ended up doing, but it was still pretty tense. For one thing, I always double checked with my partners to make sure they were still feeling it, and hadn't changed their minds, forgotten, or double-booked the flight. Even with pre-arranging the dance card, there was a huge element of uncertainty as to whether we'd be happy with a particular set of prompts, how well we'd work together, and the ever-present time issue.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

My opinion? Things go pear-shaped and cryptic when people-in-general don't want to come right out and say stuff that may cause a buttload of hurt and drama. It's always been there, but IMO it was particularly prominent in both s7 and s8.

In earlier seasons there were people who wouldn't mince words in public and/or who had no qualms about specifically writing about them in a meta post. Except for PTW and a couple of others here and there, that's no longer the case, which only adds to the whole pear-shaped/cryptic thing.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Oh, totally. Time is always an issue, especially if folks are in different time zones. And of course, sometimes a person forgets ("But you promised MEEEE four weeks ago!") because Life Happens.

I'd love to work with you on an Intersection at some point, if we ever get the chance!

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

Yeah, time zones and travel woes were the bane of my intersections this time around.

I would really enjoy working with you! I think we could do something fun and silly together. :) If I do season 9, we should totally dance.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

I loved the topics in both Exhibits. Ex A was sort of sedate, but I enjoyed it. Ex B was much more exciting, and I lasted longer, so that was fun too! I liked the twists in Ex B, especially the ones that I wasn't involved in directly (ie: the head-to-head vote off that went awry).

I can't cite specifics, my brain doesn't work that way, and I've been involved with Idol so long (since season 4 as a contestant, season 3 as a community member/supporter) that it all sort of melts together like Neopolitan ice cream that has sat out too long! :)

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Cool beans! I'm in for season 9 (gotta reach my O-ficial 100 Weeks). Where are you located? I'm in the Eastern US timezone.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

*nods* I understand not wanting to cause drama or hurt feelings. That's never what I'm after: I very much like to get along with people, and it bothers me deeply to think I hurt someone. Which is part of why all the cryptic stuff bugs me. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets insecure and says "is it me? Did I do something? What did I do?"

I'd always rather speak to someone directly and personally about a problem or hurt feelings (and either resolve things or not - usually I have good luck resolving problems by being direct, though) and then not say anything at all in public rather than reference things sideways.

Though I made it to the top 10 in s8, I was pretty clueless about any drama there, too. I tend to be a little oblivious about subtleties. So this is me saying "hey, if I did something shitty, please let me know. We'll talk about it." Clues and hints will always pass me by.