LJ Idol Presents:

Yes, it really has been that long since I've posted an actual Green Room.

How have you been?

I've been OK. Still kind of shell-shocked and in a "blah"... but I do have FEST (the 3 day punk show/with a pre-show we're going to this year) coming up this week so I'm hoping that is enough to break me out of it.

Maybe eliminating some damn hippies will help too. We've got that coming up TONIGHT  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1169596.html

 I owe you an update, and a Green Room. So let's combine them. :) 

Business first - there were eliminations: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1168566.html  and a new prompt https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1168718.html

There are now 14 contestants left standing, within arm's reach of the Top 10.  So start looking around the room because 4 of you aren't going to fall short of that goal! So you had better be knocking our socks off every week!!! Not sure what no longer having socks has to do with you surviving longer. But apparently it must be related. 

Nor am I sure where these socks end up going.  When you knock them off do they just fly randomly through the air? Are they just knocked to the side? What if you are wearing shoes? If someone is barefoot is it because someone has already knocked their socks off???

***

Anyway - Milton update. I'm sure everyone has seen the news of the hurricane's devastation throughout Florida. 

It ended up making landfall south of us, which put us on the northern eye wall. Normally that's a good place to be, but of course Milton had to be different and that was where the worst winds were. 

We lost power for 3 days but the only damage to our property was the fence was destroyed. (The neighbor managed to prop it up so his dog could still go in his backyard,. But the first time they dog jumps on the fence or a strong wind and it's coming down again...) We found our mailbox in another neighbor's yard... only located one screw. So those are two things that need to be replaced. 

The large trees in the front and the back of the house got a severe trimming of branches, including several that were lodged near the boarded windows. If we hadn't put the plywood up, we would have had house guests. 

Our street had some flooding, on the other side... including coming into some of their homes. Fortunately, for us, our side of the street is on a tiny incline. But enough to keep us dry. (for now it's not going to be too much longer before we will be in the flood zone as well) 

There are more houses on our block with a tree on them (or a shed or fence) than there are not.  One of our neighbors actually has a tree poking into her house. 

Everyone currently has power - except the guy down at the end of the street, the original owner opted to be on a well system instead of the city water and he is on a different grid. So no power and no water for him.  (He's been filling 5 gallon jugs from our outside spigot) 

Neighbors came together to help with clean up and there are work crews from all over the country who have shown help to assist with the recovery (the crew who came by to pick up the debris on Sunday was from New Orleans) .

It could have been much, MUCH worse. But I won't lie, there were definitely moments when it was absolutely terrifying. 

We made it through though and are trying to get back to normal. And of course my job is a central part of the region's recovery. So at least I'm *involved* on some level. The federal and state government are finally working together - which they weren't after Helene (our Governor wouldn't speak to Biden) So that's a plus! It's nice when public servants actually do their jobs.  :) 

I saw the comments in the thread about how small the group is getting. It's definitely true.

I can confirm that, yes, your memories are correct. There were quite a few full seasons with more than 200 people and a few that topped 300. That was the direction Idol was going before Livejournal started imploding and we rode that all the way down to the bottom of the hill.


The only times we've been under 100 have been pre-Season 4 and for the mini seasons (and even some of those have been over)

So yes, looking at the numbering of people left in this mini season and weighing how this will go down with the 3 strikes twist in play is definitely enough to make anyone stop for a moment and realize how this really IS a small group, and just how real it could be for any one of you to make it to the end.

With that said, this is a results post, so I need to post those.
The two writers who are adding a strike are
erulissedances and unfortunately someone for whom this is the final strike - hangedkay, who has been eliminated.
It's not a surprise, and I hope you are recovering from COVID - and that we will soon be enjoying more of your work. 

What WAS a surprise was how close this week ended up being. It came down to 1 vote that had the potential to take out a lot more writers this week.  Which is a reminder that it could happen at any point.... 

 Just a reminder that the deadline to this week's prompt is tonight https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1121351.html


I know it's easier when you get constant reminders about the deadline in regular Green Rooms. I wish I was in a place where I could do that. On hte other hand, it's also good to keep these things on your internal radar. I'm not looking over your shoulder with writing outside of Idol either, reminding you to do it.  But maybe I can be that voice in your head now and then to remind you to sit down and write. 

***
I didn't work much yesterday, which was a change. On the other hand, I did spend the day at the Celebration of Life for my old boss. It was nice seeing some faces I hadn'r seen in years. Of the people still working for the new company who knew her, only two of us showed up. 

Her daughter was barely able to read the prepared statement she had written out... and couldn't even get to the podium, she read it from her chair as she was breaking down. I can't imagine what she must be going through at the moment, and how complex the emptions. It's bad enough to lose a parent... losing both of them? When your father killed your mother??? That's going to mess her up for life. 

***
Cynthia wasn't feeling well last weekend and took a COVID test, it came back negative. It got worse - she took another one and it came back positive. Fortunately she's fullly vaccinated - I can't imagine how much worse it would be if she wasn't... she's been out for the count this entire week. Her sense of smell and most of her taste has been gone for a couple days. I've been living in the guest room (which is where my office area is.) and we both mask up when I have to pass through common areas when she's around... it's been tough. 

Our company policy is that if *I* tested positive, I could keep working from home for 5 days. Otherwise I have to come in.... and I haven't tested positive and I have absolutely no symptoms. So I've gone in... and of course get further and further behind on work. Which is what I told them was going to happen. 

***
I have been watching some TV though - so that's been a nice treat. I caught up on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and just started The Bear. Both are excellent. 

What have YOU been up to? Watching anything good? Reading anything good? DOING anything good?

Good evening.

The head-to-head battle to the literary death matches have taken place and the smoke has cleared. All that remains is naming who is joining the Jury, and who is going forth to take a shot at winning the crown.

Regardless of the outcome, we knew we would be losing some talented people. So it's not much of a surprise that seeing the names here is going to sting. But that's where we are, and where we will be for the rest of this mini season as it plays out. Every week is going to take us one step closer to the end, and one heartbreak after another.

From the main competition - leaving us is

codenamewanderlust 

and from the Second Chance, it is

blue_velvet 

Thank you so much to both of you for coming out this mini season. I've really been enjoying your writing, and I know a lot of others feel the same way. You certainly gave them a difficult choice.

***

This means that babydramatic_1950  is claiming the final spot and joining the main competition.  Congratulations!

There are two polls happening right now - The main competition - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1033913.html and the Second Chance - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1033408.html


***

I was thinking about a couple things last night. Just a couple, I try not to let my brain loose "thinking about things" too often. It just encourages it to get into trouble.

One of those was the origin of the "bye" in Idol. I'm sure I've told this story. But I don't think it's been in awhile. At least a season or two. Which means most of you have heard it, but most of you have also forgotten it because it's not important in your life and/or trauma.

It actually ties into why I vote for everyone. Because in the first two seasons, neither of those concepts existed.

There were no byes and I cast my vote for the entries I liked.

People weren't immediately eliminated, because there wasn't any set number of polls you could miss. In fact, if you got an entry in, you were guaranteed to survive. The poll was only for those who had *missed* getting something in. It was essentially a "Does this person deserve another shot?" and people would eliminate the one(s) that they thought didn't. There weren't many of those - it was usually in the first few weeks of the season and eventually you weeded out the people who weren't submitting things and started the real game between those who were. But it was frustrating. To players. To readers. To me.

But there wasn't a "fix" I could think of in Reality TV, which, after all, was the inspiration behind LJ Idol. People didn't just suddenly get a break in the middle of a season. It took me part of Season 2 to figure out, that there *was* a precedent in my other favorite sport - football! Teams got bye weeks, where they would rest and prepare for the remainder of their season. Not every team had the same bye week, so they were staggered. It wasn't a perfect analogy, but it at least had the terminology and general idea of what I needed. So I planned it's release for Season 3!

The other thing that I had planned for that season was taking away my own individual vote.

It was something that I had gone back and forth with. After all- as the creator, shouldn't I get some sort of say in how the game turned out, at least as much as a random person off the street?

On the other hand, as the game was growing beyond my personal friends (which is was for Season 1 and then Season 2 was my friends plus some of their friends) I felt like there was a danger of my vote carrying *too* much influence. That my liking or not liking something might be seen as an endorsement rather than my personal taste.

So I took away my vote - and solved something that had been bugging me for awhile of seeing people without votes. I would just vote for everyone. That way every contestant would click on the link and see that at least one person was supporting them.

(Keep in mind that this was back when my assistant was putting together the polls. I wouldn't start doing that myself until partway through Season 4. So my vote wasn't always the first one)

Which brings me to that second thought. I started thinking of "What would MY criteria be for someone to get my vote." I was specifically thinking of Second Chance, where I was voting something into the game.

I think it would be different in different scenarios. As a reader/viewer - I'd want the best going against the best. Head to head showdown setting up massive confrontations. As a contestant? I don't know. I've never been in that situation, but the strategist in me thinks that I might be tempted to vote in the ones that I *didn't* think could beat me. (If they could or not, that's anyone's guess. I think that strategy might end up backfiring though if that person you think could be beaten ends up pulling out the stops and amazing everybody with their entries)

But since I'll never be in that situation where that has to be tested, how about YOU? When you consider your Second Chance vote (or any other vote, but this one seems more topical) do you consider just this one piece from them , the rest of their work in Second Chance (what you know they are capable of)? Do you factor in "Who has the best chance to go far/win?" and vote with that in mind to get the best "long term" match ups? A little bit of everything?

A few words from clauderainsrm:

I told the Second Chancers to bring it - and they brought it. Maybe the main competitor heard that challenge and decided that they were about to get some competition… or maybe they’ve just been this good all along! Only someone who has been reading the whole season knows! (Hint: They really all that good. This mini season is about to get crazy!) Aren’t you glad you tuned this week though - to see what “MacGuffin” ended up stirring up in the creative undercurrents?

Sadly, we have gained one more Jury member this week, with the bye-out of

jenwithapen 

Hopefully she will be back on her feet and ready to rage against the cruel hands of fate soon enough. But for now, adieu! (and other foreign words)

Now for the rest of you - Congratulations. You have made the Top 20!

Enjoy it. Give yourself a pat on the back.

It won’t be a long pat though, since Second Chance will be joining you after this round and we will find out who the *final* Top 20 of this mini season are going to be!!

Before they show up though, we will be losing 2 more.

The poll closes Saturday Jan 19th at 8pm EST. If that day and time sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the exact same time the Second Chance poll closes! It should make for an interesting couple of days.

Good luck to everyone!



 

The Final Second Chance deadline is TONIGHT at 7pm EST! So far there are only 2 people with entries in. Will who gets in this week become easier than anyone ever imagined? Or will there be a fight to the finish??? https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1031859.html

Will the Instagram Egg join the main competition?

Will Gillette decide this really is the best a man can get after all, and just give up?

The main competition has until *tomorrow night* to get entries in https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1032678.html so hopefully we will start seeing more action over there soon as well.

There are times when I'm sitting back in delight, wondering what the reaction is going to be to a new topic. 

There are other times when I'm more concerned about how a pre-planned topic is going to go over with the group. 

This time?  This time I'm intrigued.  But my intrigue isn't the point of this thread. 

The point is telling you that your topic is 

MacGuffin 


This should be interesting. 

The deadline to link your entries back to this thread is Wednesday Jan 16th at 8pm EST. 

Have fun!