LJ Idol Presents:

I'm back! Rested and married... well, not all that rested. But I am back! And married.

To celebrate, I will be eliminating people tonight!http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/979718.html

Make sure it's not you, or one of your favorites! Get the word out! Share the Idol love!

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How have YOU been? Did anyone do anything special for Valentines Day?

Good morning and, in the words of Elvis Costello: "Welcome to the Working Week".

It may kill me Elvis. It just might.

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There is a poll happening: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/953518.html It's the first one where there will actually be folks going home, so make sure to get over there to read, comment and vote for your favorites - and spread the word, because if you know of something cool and you don't tell anyone about it, then you're risking it going away (in this specific case, they could be eliminated)

With that in mind - Who isn't getting the love they "deserve"?

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It's cyber Monday - so I'm sharing our Amazon link again: http://astore.amazon.com/li0cd-20

Get some cool stuff for your family, friends, or even yourself!

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What was your favorite thing about this past weekend/extended weekend for those in the US? Least favorite?

There is voting happening - http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/876790.html although not the voting that was originally planned.

For those keeping track at home - (if my scrolling over technique worked) There were 15 entries in the Friends (the entire Team Ocelot took a bye!) and 28 entries in the Rivals!

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In yesterday's Green Room I was reminded of something - Idol is a really diverse group. Always has been. I hope it always will be.

I think there have been, and continue to be, dangers of too many people who share the same opinions on things - but hopefully human nature will prevail and we will never go too far down that route.

What I like is taking all of these people with different lives and throwing them in the same room together and see what happens!

There have been times when it's been explosive! There have been times when there was just a spark or two and everyone came to understand each other over time. Each has it's uses.

Heck, there have been times when those forces have been directed against me - sometimes I've responded well and other times "not so well". Because at the end of the day, we're still people and are going to have our good days and bad ones.

That's not just for the people responding either - some days those sharing their ideas aren't at their best at getting across what they actually mean and end up coming across like the jerks! It happens. I've seen it. I know you have as well.

There's a lesson in there somewhere about common humanity bringing us together to discuss how to treat subgroups and individuals. If you locate it, please bring it to the lost and found!

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I keep having these random memory glitches where I have come across something and say "That should be in the Green Room", but when the time comes I keep putting it off until I forget the context.

In this particular case, there was an article that I saw someone share that keeps pinging in my head - (paraphrasing) it said that white cis-males needed to stop writing and/or trying to get published so that non-white cis-male voices could be heard.

I've started to type my own feelings about it, but as a white cis-male, I may be a little biased. ;)

In thinking about it though, I did think it was funny that I had set aside my own writing to concentrate on creating a community that encouraged the writing of so many diverse voices. It wasn't intentional, to gather diverse groups here, but I'm really glad that it happened.

There is only 1 more day to get a LJ IDOL shirt! http://teespring.com/LJIdol

(the alternate one will be available for a couple more days after that, but despite people asking for them, no one has actually ordered one, so I think everyone who wanted a shirt got the original)

So if you *are* interested, now would be the time to get one!

If you're not - keep on scrolling!

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We are coming to the end of 2014. It was an *extremely* "mixed" year for me - and the lows were pretty damn low.

I hope that 2015 proves to be better.

How about you? As you assemble your "Best of 2014" lists - what stands out for you?

The hamster wheel is coming to a stop today and the fun is about to begin!

TODAY is the deadline for your entries to be in: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/800348.html

Which means, after having an extended deadline, due to tragic circumstances, most people will hurry up and put something together today. ;)

We've also had a "Love Thread/Q&A" thing going on, divided over the course of the last few days: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/802311.html http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/802740.html
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/802866.html
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/803106.html

So make sure to get over there and say something nice.

Looking at the numbers, and knowing about sacrifices I've already been told about as well as those forces that no one can quite predict, we will be hitting Top 50 this week, which is the last time byes can be used, as well as the final chance for the Power of Veto to come into play!

If you survive this week though, the ride is only going to get more interesting from here! :)

I'm back!

You can come out of your self-imposed exile, hiding from the terror of kithan. Now it's OK to come out and bask in the warmth and happiness that is me!

Or is that flee from the terror? It's one of those things!

Thanks to kithan for only banning half of you. That was very generous of her.

The deadline IS TONIGHT, so all of you people dragging your feet to the point that if I hadn't extended the deadline, you would be in trouble, you had better get into gear! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/759800.html

(Granted, I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of those missing *would* have posted by the deadline, if I hadn't extended it. But some of those people are known for getting in just under the gun anyway, so I'm betting that they are just taking a little more time with their entries with that extra time.)

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Vacation was great. Or rather, it was like three or four different vacations - since we went from the capitol of Ohio and city life to theme park life of Cedar Point, followed by a day trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to the middle of nowhere (where I am from) where we ended up behind/passing horses and buggies on the road.

How was YOUR week?

It's the last day of the poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/750123.html so make sure to get over there and give some love! Even if no one is going home http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/750618.html that's no reason not to support your fellow writers!

Especially since there are going to be some "special goodies" thrown into the mix. What will they be? I guess that depends on how you think my brain is working right now. Will it be something nice? Something not so nice? Something that will climb into your window at night, while you are sleeping, and stare at you in your bed?

You won't know until tonight!!

(Possibly when your eyes flutter open when you hear a noise)

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How was your weekend?

It's the last day of the poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/736346.html

That's one of those things that isn't open to interpretation.

Heck, it's one of the few things in Idol that doesn't end up as a Rorschach test. There is a poll, and it ends at a certain time.

Everything else - from how you look at those results, to the topics and how you interpret them/react to other people's interpretations, that's something where every person is going to come at them from a slightly different angle and see things in their own way, based on their own life experiences.

Which is one of the things that I've always found so much fun about Idol. I set the basic framework, and each season the contestants themselves fill in all of the blanks.

You see it in how people react to the topics ("Worse topic ever!" "This is great, I have so many ideas!") to how they react to Idol itself. ("wretched hive of scum and villainy" to "this is home", sometimes from the same people. :P)

Seeing the same thing interpreted in a number of ways, it definitely keeps me on my toes!

Idol is, ultimately, what you decide that is going to be each season. You, the contestants and those out there in Readerland, decide how the season is going to go with each vote.

Which is what makes this so interesting for me. So, thanks!

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I just came across this, and thought it was interesting information. I don't tend to do the whole "trigger warning" thing, but it is about racism and there is use of the N-word. There is also ice cream. No trigger warnings for ice cream.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/05/11/310708342/recall-that-ice-cream-truck-song-we-have-unpleasant-news-for-you

I usually don't do this - but considering that I'm as busy as a Paula Deen apologist trying to deflect the blame to rappers and Obama - I figured "why not make things a little more interesting?"

Yes, that's right. Looking at the number of votes, and the amount of outstanding ballots, I'm prepared to declare some people "safe" from elimination this week. I couldn't have even done this yesterday, but a bit of a gap opened up, that I feel is going to hold, and even if it doesn't, there isn't enough votes out there to all fall in such a way as to eliminate these people.

So, the folks who will be able to rest the remainder of the day knowing that they aren't going home - and who will have to deal with the stares and the mutterings of the rest of you, are

cheshire23, halfshellvenus, malruniel11, meepalicious, mythingperson, poppetawoppet, porn_this_way, the_lettersea, whipchick, xo_kizzy_xo

In other words, 1/5 of the remaining field. There are a few people knocking on that door. Maybe it's you.

Any surprises of names that AREN'T on that list, yet? If so, now is the time to mention how awesome they are, because they are not out of the woods yet! There is still time though! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/667269.html So make sure your voice is heard!