LJ Idol Presents:

When we kicked this mini-season off, I originally said that it would be about 2 months. Once we got a lot more people than I was expecting (in a little over 24 hours!) I pushed it up to around 3 months.

Week 1 kicked off January 21st. So, we are about a week or so over that mark. I think, all in all, that the pace was pretty good, under the circumstances!

In that length of time, I think that we managed to pack in quite a bit of writing!

Including the FINALE: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/646884.html Which is coming to a head TONIGHT!

Who will win? Who will place? Who will show? Who will go “wee wee wee, all the way home?”


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Two of those who are eligible have opted to not take anything from the Community Chest, so that someone else can! The next two people who are eligible to select are:

kittenboo and myrna_bird

Congratulations! Take a look over at http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/633787.html and let me know your Top 10 choices!

What is it that makes a place “great”? What transforms words on a screen into real interaction and a group of people into a community?

The answer, of course, is ME!

I’m sure you wanted to hear something else, but screw that you bunch of whining hippies. Gather up your discussions of aversive racism and its effects on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (and the second discussion about how sexist it is to assign the male gender to the inhabitants of the moon.. and just how geocentric it is that we discuss “the moon” as revolving around us, instead of naming it for its own inherent merits rather than just its relationship to us! And the… ) you get the point. Gather that stuff up and get down to the funky sounds of our FINAL FOUR battling it out for your amusement!
http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/646884.html

And since it’s all about me, and I told you to do it, now you will!
See how that all works out in a very convenient manner?

And btw – I don’t tend to do this, but I’m feeling generous – we have a new member in the community, who posted in yesterday’s Green Room. But it was at the end of the day, so I doubt a lot of people saw it. Go haze her! Um… I mean “welcome”… http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/646150.html?thread=65947142#t65947142

In honor of ANZAC Day, I will be landing all of you off at the wrong location and let you fight it out for several months before deciding to pull back. Then I will have Mel Gibson be in a movie about you.

Speaking of long, fruitless mistakes where you take heavy losses – today is the deadline for not only the new entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/645813.html but also for you to send me your votes! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/644678.html A bit of a lead has opened up, but it’s still close enough that a couple votes could make the difference in who wins the “advantage” and momentum going into this finale!

This time next week, Exhibit A will be a thing of the past! Maybe one day someone will declare a holiday to honor it!

I'll confess, around Week 7 or so, I called an audible.

Exhibit A was originally going to be a Final 3, but from what I was seeing out of this group, that didn't quite feel right. So, I changed it to being a Final 2 for a really brief moment, before realizing that no, it needed to be a Final 4. I even toyed with the idea of going further than I had ever done before and saying "Final 5", but really that's taking it way too far! :)

Looking at the Final Four, I'm really glad that I made that choice. Granted, it doesn't "count" (in terms of normal Idol legacy), but it definitely counts as it's own, very special thing. But it's the very first time that we have ended up with an equal number of males and females in the finals!

All of them are someone who have been discussed, in a previous season, as having a great chance of getting to the finals, and winning it all. One of them is about to get that chance!

Another audible that I called, and I'll admit that this was touch-and-go right up until the end - is the final topic. The rest of the season has all been selections picked from submissions from contestants, and I almost went with one of them. I love the idea of asking the "why should you win?" and then turning around and also asking, "Why should your opponent(s) win". It's been with Idol since Season 1, and really caps off the season on what I think it is the right note: Having confidence in yourself, while showing your appreciation for the people around you, and cheering them on. It's something that I feel strongly about, but I worried that, with only a couple months under your belt, that having that "moment" might not work, and that people wouldn't end up getting what I wanted them to get out of it.

But, as we got closer, and I saw the connections that had formed over the last couple of months, I decided that the finalists *deserved* this topic. It's a special moment, and I hope that they can all appreciate it, and each other. I think they can, and will.

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If you've read to this point, I have another special thing for you! I want you to read the Week 13 entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/644678.html and then email me a list at clauderainsrm@gmail.com , in order 1-4 (1 being your favorite piece)

The contestant with the best score is going to have a "possible advantage" going into the finale. The deadline to get your votes to me is Thursday, April 25th at 7 pm EDT It's open to anyone, but you need to let me know your "user ID" in order to vote! Thanks in advance.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this mini-season is going to shake out!

The deadline is looming: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/644678.html and it is quickly running out of thread!

Make sure to read the entries as they are coming in, so you can get to the commenting early!

How was your weekend? Who was your weekend? Why was your weekend?

Good morning, Idolers.

I read a comment this morning about how “one religion is prone to acts of terrorism” and I couldn’t agree more!

It is way past due that we, as a global society, take a good hard look at how to deal with the Irish Catholics!

That Thatcher is so weak on terrorism that she just sits back and allows her cities to be bombed on a regular basis!

We need to remove all the foreigners from the country, and the Irish Catholics, and then we will be safe! Right? Who’s with me???

Well, OK, technically, I’m going to remove you as well and then build a wall around my apartment/country to keep you from sneaking over to steal my jobs. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t also be with me on this one!

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In other news – we had results last night, and sent two people home: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/644486.html

And a new topic, for the SEMI-FINALS: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/644678.html

The easy thing to say would be “It was a bad week for poetry”, or maybe even label it as “fiction’s revenge”, and believe me, I was kind of tempted to do just that. Heck, you could even say that it was a bad week for breakdowns and tales of self-discovery.

Instead though I think that the people leaving us this week are unique enough that I need to get serious for a moment. Only a moment though, I’ll start kicking people soon enough! ;)

For all that their entries had in common this week, and for all that they showed of the commonality between these two women, they are very different in a few key ways:

eeyore_grrl is a newbie, who did something that most people said couldn’t be done. She wrote poetry, week after week. Every season (or mini season in this case) someone comes out and tells everyone what they can’t do if they want to survive. Most of the times, they are right. But the exceptions, oh those exceptions make me smile! People who just say “OK” and keep doing what they are doing, because it’s what they are good at it, and want to live or die on their own terms.

She definitely did just that in Exhibit A. I’m really happy that she decided to try her hand at this, and am glad that she is now a part of the Idol family! I hope we will be seeing a lot more of her in the very near future!

She was, without a doubt, impressive. Even in a mini-season, getting to the stage just before the semi-finals, is incredible. I hope she is extremely proud of herself, because she should be.

The other one... wow she’s definitely not a newbie. In fact, she’s been around Idol for a very long time. That said, this is the first time that I’ve ever had to eliminate her. Not because she’s ever quit, but because she wasn’t allowed to play.

That’s right, she was one of the previous winners who decided to come out and have some fun this season!

Every season gets a little more competitive in terms of raw talent and I’m constantly saying things like “Wow, this is the best Top 50 I’ve ever seen!” Some people “get it”, that with smaller numbers in the earlier seasons, not everyone in the Top 50 was as good. But with more people, you are going to get better writers in that mix. Some people don’t get it, and think that “Oh, earlier seasons must not have been that good!” I hope that with two earlier season winners coming back this time (the other having dropped out) that we can dispel that myth once and for all.

It’s especially weird to be eliminating her this particular week, considering that her entry was a period of time that I was very much around for, and so saw all of that first-hand.

Considering that she came within a couple votes of making it to her second semi-finals, I think it’s fair to say that she did very well for herself, and made Season Two proud. I was starting to wonder if we had our own Sandra Diaz-Twine! :)

Leaving us this week is tru2myart! (aka audreybuttercup )

Thank you to you both for coming out and playing! It means alot to see people who discovered Idol seasons, years, apart, coming together for something like this.

Oh, and before I forget - you can now send me your list of your Top 5 choices of things you would like from the Community Chest: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/633787.html

Also, I’m still waiting to hear from applespicy and fourzoas, so if you want to claim something, let me know!

You’ve been rather quiet lately – what’s on your mind?

What has been going on in your life? (Because you all share one collective life as far as I’m concerned. You all look alike to me!)

We are in the period that is always slow on LJ, even during the “good ole days” there was always a huge drop off. I’ll admit, that makes me nervous for Exhibit B. But hopefully we can remain a pocket of excellence in a desert that is Livejournal. Which is not as good as the “dessert” that is Livejournal.

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The poll closes tomorrow – your last chance to decide who will make it into the semi-finals for the mini-season! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/643566.html Yeah, I just revealed that. What can I say? I’m feeling generous.

A few words from clauderainsrm:

Please take the time to tell the people you love just how much they mean to you.

On days like these - no, nevermind that, it’s not just “days like these”, it’s every single day.

Just f’ing tell them.

What happened today in Boston was completely senseless and our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the city, and the families around the world. Because the Boston Marathon truly is a worldwide event, people come from all over the place to take part. So it’s not just a Boston thing, or a US thing, it’s a People thing.

We are all in this humanity thing together, it’s about time that we started acting like it.

In that spirit, here’s the poll - so we can judge each some folks and eventually eliminate them, thus crushing their hopes and dreams!

What? You expected a better segue?

We are currently at our Top 6, and after this, we will have our Top 4! Which, for those of you who have a difficult time at math, means we are losing two.

It’s going to be a difficult decision, but take the time to read everything, comment, and vote for your favorites - and tell a friend or three to do the same. Especially those first two, because who doesn’t love feedback?

The poll closes Thursday, April 18th at 9pm EDT

Good luck to everyone!

[Poll #1908641]

I dropped some knowledge in yesterday's Green Room. Now I can't find it. I think that someone must have kicked it after I dropped it, and now it could be anywhere!

If you see any knowledge around, be sure to let me know! There might be a reward!

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I also let people know that an extra incentive has been added to the Community Chest. So if anyone wants to change their Top 5, let me know! The current list is here: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/633787.html

I still need to hear from lilycobalt, applespicy and fourzoas with their selections!

There is also a new topic: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/642519.html

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So, what is going on with you this weekend? Anything interesting?