LJ Idol Presents:

I was up all night wondering "could I hit them with ANOTHER twist? Could I? Should I?" But then I went into the Green Room and saw that tryslora said that she LOVED twists, so I decided to go for it!*g*

You have a second topic to work on.

That topic, true to form of picking a holiday and following through with it is Mother.

You have one/had one/are one/ are going to be one/never want to be one/know someone who has one/know a song with that name/know a band with the word in it/know one bad mutha. . . so I'm sure you have a thought or three on the subject.


The deadline for this topic is Tuesday May 15th at 1pm EST.

The results of BOTH elimination polls will be added together, and the *3* with the lowest COMBINED TOTALS will be eliminated!

Good luck!

Things are definitely stepping up in pace voting wise... with each week being a tougher and tougher fight just to stay alive! Last week, we ended up with a 5 way run-off - the bottom two of which were:

nonabloch and swirvel42.

I had hoped to see both of them around for awhile longer - but unfortunately when you get to this point in the game, it's always someone you really like that will be going.

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For the rest of you though, you have been waiting all weekend, wondering why I had given you some time off... and more importantly, what I was going to unleash on you *THIS* week.

The topio this week is the hopeless vague, but filled with all kinds of fun possibilities:

IN SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES

The deadline to link your entries back here is Thursday May 3rd at 5pm EST (gmt -4)

So have fun and good luck!!

This week - the one on one grudge match of doom is between

evansmj and oceansedge!

Your topic is...

*drum roll please*

"Eureka! The best idea I have had."

Heh. Yes. Same topic as last week. Why? Because you probably didn't expect it!!*g*

Your deadline to link back here is Wednesday April 18th at 1pm EST (gmt -4)

Good luck.

Yes, there is another surprise. I can hear the muttering under your breath already!

This one though involves an idea proposed by your very own fellow contestant zebrapix, taken and warped in my very own style!*g*

So let's deal with the surprise first - it is called "SUDDEN DEATH" and involves one contestant challenging another contestant to a "write off". The two participants will have their own topic, and their own poll with just the two of them.

This may or may not be every week. Honestly? I haven't decided yet, and even if I had, I wouldn't tell you!*g*

What I WILL tell you though is that the person who will get to pick their opponent is going to be the person who came closest to be eliminated. Which, this week, was techempage.

So, techempage, please post here ASAP and choose who you want to face in a one on one writing show down!!! One of you WILL be eliminated next week!

(EDIT TO ADD: The two contestants with nullifier powers CAN use them to nullify a challenge. In which case the challenged party would automatically be the person with the next fewest votes.)
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As for the rest of you, you're waiting for the topic for everyone else.

I was thinking about all of the various religious holidays over this week/couple of weeks and there is one general theme that keeps coming up. That of rebirth/transformation.

Slave to free, sinner to saved, flesh to spirit, the celebration of birth and fertility. . . it's about major and fundamental change. (yes, yes, there's a lot more, but go with me here!*g*)

So it's appropriate that we should have so many changes here in the game as well. So many awakenings, and fundamental changes in how you are seeing your part in this adventure.

Your topic this week is "My Transformation".

Everyone has one. Some are big and earth shattering. Others are small but poignant. There are quite a few of you who are going though your own life transformations as we speak.

As always, have fun with the topic and make it your own.

The deadline to link your entry back to this post is Wednesday April 11th at 3 pm EST (GMT -4)

Another week, another squeaker! I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot of one vote differences in these eliminations!

Unfortunately this week we are saying goodbye to msmamalove.

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I've been on bed rest for the last couple of days, but I've managed to get to a computer to make sure that I was here for this! Thanks to onyxblue1 for once again keeping everything running in my absence. She did a wonderful job as always.

You guys DID dodge a bullet though, since I was going to have a surprise in the voting this round. Oh well - the surprise is now THIS WEEK instead!*g*

I thought about several topics for this week, heck I even thought of doing an open topic just to keep you guys on your toes. But not yet. Soon, but not yet.

I decided to go with two topics. You pick whichever one you want to write - then write it - and link it back here. (You know the drill.)

The topics are pretty straight forward, but have some wiggle room, so as always, have fun.

The topics are:

- The greatest joy I've ever experienced

- I can't believe I actually did that!

The deadline for entries to be linked back here is Friday March 30 at 1 pm EST (GMT -4)

Good luck.

Well that was a pleasant surprise wasn't it? Having enough people turn in their entries that we actually had a regular elimination!

Hopefully this will be the norm!

I was thinking until that last moment that there was going to have to be a tie-breaker! But by ONE VOTE we are saying goodbye to jennifer_dunne this week. Once again, not someone I would have thought would be going this early. But as the saying goes, that's why you play the game! Clearly each and every vote is going to count, I'm expecting to continue to have some close ones as the weeks go on.

It's usually ends with a surprise!

I asked two of your fellow competitors to come up with topics for this week and here they are:

aeritone: "I believe in . . ."
strangestgirl "What's your favorite "guilty" pleasure and why?"

Choose one to write and link your entry back here by Friday March 16th at 1 pm EST (gmt -5)
Good luck, and have fun!

A special thanks to Bonnie and Helen for helping me on this one!!

The internet - land of communication and lack of communication for that matter.

It has also developed it's own language, with it's fans and detractors.

Which leads us to the
new topic:

omg y do u tipe so funy???? lol netsp34k n lj: A Cross-Cultural Study of Internet-based Linguistics and Their Implications On This Social Networking Website"

As usual, take the topic and make it your own - more important than that - have fun!!

The deadline for you to link your entries back here is Friday March 2nd 3pm EST. (GMT -5)

Good luck!!!

In the most controversial week of LJ Idol thus far in Season 3, we have our first double elimination.

The theme was mistakes, and one happened. Was it ultimately the people who missed or made the choice to miss the deadline? Was it the voters?

That history will decide.

For the moment I can tell you that the two leaving us this week are genesisdesire who showed a lot of spirit but who missed the deadline one too many times and theevilbunny an early favorite that no one thought we would be saying goodbye to until at least the top 10. (or at least no one that I talked to, or who happens to be living inside my head.) *G*

I waited for the email from welfy to see if she had decided to use her immunity to save either one of them, but when it did not come before the vote became final, it was clear that she had decided to not use it for their benefit.

Farewell to you both! You will be missed in the competition!

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The competition though, continues as we move on to the new topic!

We're still waiting on the results of the Topsy Turvey but that's no reason not to give you the jump start you need to avoid needing to use that power!!

This week's topic is no surprise to anyone with a calendar:

The topic is The One I Love.

Maybe you want to write a love not to your SO, or your friend, or your pet, or yourself... I don't know, I just work here! You no doubt know who or what it is that you love!! *G*

Now go and write about it!!!

Your deadline is Friday Feb 16th at 1 pm EST Remember to link your entries back to this post.

This week is another double elimination and of course anyone missing a second week in a row will be removed automatically as a "quit".

Have fun, and good luck.

regressami is the latest to be eliminated from the competition.

Given the circumstances for both of the individuals who missed the deadline, it was a tough call for people to have to make. Hopefully everyone from now on will make the deadline and we won't have to have "special votes" and get down to the matter at hand!

While we are waiting for the outcome of the special vote for immunity,(I'll be posting that result, along with the Green Room, later) I figured that I might as well get you folk started on THIS WEEK'S TOPIC!

Considering last week's topic, I figured we'd completely shift gears on you and have some fun!!!*G*

Topic: "My Biggest Mistake and What I Hope that I Have Learned From it"

Deadline is Friday Feb 9th at noon EST (GMT -5). As usual, link your entry back here!

Welcome to LJ IDOL and thank you for making this the biggest, and we hope, best season yet!!

Considering the down to the wire match-ups of last season, including the victory of tru2myart by ONE vote, it's going to be tough to top that, but from this group I can already tell that there are going to be some serious memories made this season as well!

It's a nice mix of fan favorites returning for another shot and new friends you just haven't met yet!!!

Some basic reminders before we get started:

- Every week I will post a topic. Sometimes it will be specific, sometimes general, and sometimes I will even just tell you to write about whatever you feel like writing about! Some of these will be mind-numbingly simplistic and some will make you rack your brain trying to figure out how to handle the subject matter. The key though is to make the topic your own. This is LJ Idol for a reason. It's partly about the writing, and it's partly about the people behind the writing and how they present themselves. That seems like a no brainer, but you would be surprised how many people never get that.

- When I post a topic I will then tell you when the deadline is - you will then rush to your private cave, satellite hideout, secret lair or wherever it is that you happen to do your journal entries. You will then write the entry in your own journal, posting it as a public entry. You don't HAVE to make it public, but if you don't, then no one outside your friends list will ever read it, and won't know if they should be voting to keep you around!!

- You will then post a link to your entry back to the TOPIC post. In this case, this post!! You will do it before the deadline.

Again, really simple - really straight-forward, and you would be amazed at the confusion it can cause.*G*

- All deadlines will be listed as US Eastern Standard Time. Why? Because *I* am in US Eastern Standard Time and it's easier to watch the clock tick down and know who did and did not make deadline that way.

- Early rounds are going to take longer to get the voting polls up, just because there are so many contestants and so many entries. Give onyxblue1 a break, she'll get them up as quickly as she can.

- There ARE going to be automatic eliminations when people miss the deadline, if there are more people missing than are scheduled to be eliminated, we will have a run off to see who will be eliminated.

- This is a marathon, not a sprint. It will be long, it will be frustrating at times, hopefully it will also be fun!!

Anyone still wishing to join this season needs to go sign up:
and then post their entry back here before the deadline. Anyone missing that - sorry, you have to wait and see if there will be a Season 4!

Hmmm, I think that's everything, so here we go...

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THIS IS LJ IDOL!!!!! - and I am Gary, your host!

Sit down, grab a seat and then prepare to have it blown out from underneath you, because we have got a GREAT season ahead!!!

It is time to kick off the season with our FIRST TOPIC

Much like previous seasons, this topic is...

Whatever you want to write about/Introduction

There's a good reason for this. For MANY OF YOU, this is going to be the first time people are going to be seeing your journal, you writing, and most importantly, meeting YOU!

With such a huge crowd in this competition this season, standing out from the crowd is going to be more important than ever!!

The Deadline to link your entry back here is: Friday Jan 26th at noon EST

Good luck to all you!!!

LJ IDOL SEASON 3 STARTS NOW!!!!