LJ Idol Presents:

I just posted the polls -  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1213323.html    but I wanted to say a few things, and what is a Wheelhouse (or Green Room for that matter) without it being a place where I can just say things... and hopefully you will say things too, and there will be actual comments and conversations!!) 

These polls are going to take us down to the Top 5. Which, if anyone remembers back when we started, which was literally a different life ago, is when the Wheel stops spinning. 

That means that last twist was the final one.  :(  There are SO MANY fun twists still on that board! Ones that would not fit in a regular Idol season.  (Including Gary's Choice.  Where I literally would be a one person Gatekeeper.  Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to that one.  But you can't tell me that it wouldn't have people on edge knowing it was coming!!!  :D) 

 But all things come to an end, and it appears we have reached that point.   I mentioned in the poll post that we were headed to the Finale, and that's what will be coming over the next couple of weeks.  So if you still have any gas in your tank, now is the time to rev those engines, or whatever analogy works in this scenario!

I'm going to use the Wheel to determine the prompt, but that's more likely than not going to be it. Unless of course the Wheel somehow compels me to show up in the Finale itself. Which, I haven't asked it how it feels about that... but that might be a question that needs to be asked.  :) 

I ALMOST asked it if it changed its mind about the Top 5. But that seemed like leading the witness.  :D 

****

How am I?  Depends on the day. But since you are hypothetically asking today, I'm OK.  Feeling stressed with the holidays and totally unprepared for the trip I'm taking this weekend.  (Going to the Holiday Hangout music festival in Little Rock.  This is the last of the big events that I decided to stay living here to make sure I would be able to attend.  The good? I'm attending.  The bad? I'll be broke when I'm there.  :D But at least I'll be there and can figure something out. That's more than I've been able to do any other year when I've wanted to go.  I'll finally be able to cross that off my bucket list (as well as one of my favorite bands is playing, who I've never seen before. So that's TWO items I can cross off my bucket list!) 

I've basically been living life to distract myself and that has to shift in the next few months to moving out mode.  Which I'm not looking forward to, but that's why I've been trying to have fun now, before I can't do anything crazy for quite some time!!

(The plus side of that is that I said that I can't do stuff like this for "quite some time", which implies that I'm thinking of "quite some time" in the future.  Which is a HUGE step forward from where I was even a couple months ago.  So yeah, trying to figure out money to do this stuff, but clearly it's helped a LOT with my mental state.) 

***
Speaking of money - I've been considering making Idol merch available for the 20th anniversary . Maybe another shirt. I don't know how many people remember when I did that years ago.  Note: I didn't actually buy one myself. Because I needed that money!  :D  So if you were one of the people who bought one, you own a piece of Idol history that I don't!!  

Not sure what kinds of things people might be interested in. Or if anyone would be interested in anything at all.  Maybe it's best to not do anything like that... unless you really want an Idol coffee mug.  :D  

That was just feeling like the right time for it - if it's going to happen at all.  Although honestly, I had a passing thought today that maybe someone wanted Wheel of Chaos merch. Somehow I doubt that though.  :D  Unless of course it's your own Wheel to make your life decisions for you!


***

I was asked if people still needed to send in their selection for who will receive antidote now that the Killers are gone. I think the only response I can officially give to that is "If you really want to you can send in votes for antidote for as long as you want to!"  :D 


***
How are YOU doing? 

 I won't lie, we came REALLY close to something funny happening.  :D  But instead, we got the result I kind of figured would be the case... 

*shrug*  You all need a better sense of humor!  ;)  (Seriously though, I get it.  Not everyone is looking for sheer chaos.  But for the record that "funny" result was you collectively almost accused the same person you ended up giving the antidote to. :D)  

So let's find out who that is... who gets the antidote? 

That would be inkstainedfingertips - go ahead and take this vial and drink up!

You notice the difference right away. Sure, it has that familiar lemon aftertaste, but there is also something more to it.  There is HOPE.  You didn't even realize just how sluggish you'd been getting. But now that you have the antidote in your system, your color is coming back!

Congratulations Idolers! You have saved his life!!!


***

Now for the part where it was actually a close vote - the identity of the Killer... 

You've searched high and low through the castle and whittled down suspects one by one... before zeroing in on the accusing the very first person to ever be killed!!  She was resurrected from the ashes and given a new lease on life - and a new purpose. 

You hereby officially accuse roina_arwen of Dark and Foul Deeds!!!

Her screams echo through the castle. She grasps onto her medallion for protection/redemption, but it remains dark having been used to save her once before. 
This time there is no safety and no mercy.  The last of the Killers falls down, and does not get back up again. 

Congratulations Idolers! You have officially vanquished the Killers!!!



Or have you.... *dramatic music* 



wait, yes, yes you have.  ;) 

There are two new prompts therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1212053.html

and the twist that spawned them. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1211769.html

Please make sure to send your accusation and selection for who is to receive the antidote.  We are down to 8 and that - and any further twist ends at 5.  So, in theory, we are quickly approaching end game. I say "in theory" because there are so many other twists still on the Wheel. But only the Wheel knows if it's actually almost done with you or going to completely reset the entire mini-season and start all over again.  (Yes, that IS on the Wheel.  :D)  

***

For anyone wondering what " kako no ashioto"  is:  ""Kako no ashioto" (過去の足音) in Japanese translates to "footsteps of the past" or "footsteps in the past". 

• Kako (過去) - Meaning "the past" or "bygone days".
• No (の) - A possessive particle (similar to 'of' in English) that connects the two nouns.
• Ashioto (足音) - Meaning "footsteps" (the sound of steps). 

 It's time for the Wheel to come back into play!!

What will it give us!! 

Speak to us Oh Mighty Wheel and tell us your wisdom!!

*spins* 

There IS a Twist this week!!!

OK Wheel, which twist shall it be? 

Oh.  This is interesting.  

"Previous highest score contestant picks next prompt " 

I'm assuming this is from the first set of polls.  *checks with Wheel* 

That is correct.  

So that means we will wait until (looks at polls from last week)   inkstainedfingertips  emails me the Week 16 prompt!!!  :) 

 

 Edited to add/correction:  After reading the comments, I went back and realized I had made a mistake. Not the Wheel. Me.  Bye Votes are clearly listed as "Does Not Count", so they should NOT have been counted.  Which means the person with the most votes is 

flipflop_diva

 How am I resolving this?  I posted that inkstainedfingertips could send me a prompt. So I'm not taking it away.  But flioflop_diva ALSO needs to send me a prompt!  :)

 

A few words from clauderainsrm:

The “UFO Battle in the Skies” you’ve been waiting for is happening RIGHT HERE!!!


Sure, the prediction got the “skies” part wrong - and both of these writers are very much identified objects. But it’s still a battle!!!

https://www.newsweek.com/futurist-aliens-prediction-december-3-war-1994853

Two very different writers, who have taken very different approaches to this Open Topic prompt. It will be interesting to see who people decide to send forward into the Top 5.

So read, comment and vote for your favorite(s) to advance! The one with the fewest votes will be eliminated.

The poll will close Thursday, December 5th at 9pm ET.

Good luck to you both!

A few words from clauderainsrm:

Trying to figure out which of these writers is going to win the mini season might seem like a fool’s errand. But if it is, then we all are fools. Because that is exactly what we are doing here!!

You will be the ones deciding who will be in the Top 5.

Read, comment and vote for your favorite(s)! We will be losing the writer with the fewest votes. (Yes, I said “writer”, singular) Happy American Thanksgiving.

The poll closes Sunday December 1st at 8pm ET.

Good luck to everyone!

I should just go ahead and call this "Thanksgiving Week weekend".  :D 

Anyone have any plans? Getting together with any family? Friends?  Enemies?  A little of all of the above?

I will be here, in my lair, plotting your eventual destruction. So, you know, pretty much a regular day.  :)

***
There are 6 contestants left in the competition. 1 of them is going to win this mini season. So if you haven't already called your shot and put your money on your favorite, now would be a good time to do it.  I've been hearing quite a bit of chatter out of Vegas on the relative odds of each of them winning. 

There is one person left who came right out of the gates swinging with consistently higher numbers.  Pretty sure that is the one someone in a comment (not here, but on an Idol related post) recently declared as "the obvious winner"... which, is definitely possible. However, it's only happened once where someone came out as a the early favorite in Week 1 and ended up winning the whole thing. So the odds are against them being able to carry it out.  Also, the numbers "at the top" have been a lot more competitive these days. So really who knows if they can pull it off. 

There is one person left that I don't know.  I was just thinking about it and they did ask "What am I getting myself into" during the sign up, which made me think they were a newbie. Granted, if there weren't a newbie and were a veteran using a new account without telling me, then that would be a far bigger issue. So let's assume they are a newbie. Which means I don't know what they might have up their sleeves for this last stretch. 

There is one person that I know way too much about.  :)  So I won't say any more about her, so I can enjoy the rest of my day!  ;) 


There is a delightful surprise. Someone who has managed to get better every week, and hang in longer than I would have expected when I set out on this mini season. Which is part of the fun. Who will step up and exceed all expectations? Who will take that step from being really good to being great?  I think there's a really good shot of that happening here. 

Speaking of, there is another person who was In this role a couple seasons back and has never looked back or been underappreciated since then. Hopefully the person just before this follows in those footsteps. But for this individual, there really is only one step left on the rung, actually winning. Could this be the time? 

There is one person who should never, ever, ever, ever be underestimated and I'm pretty sure people are. Yeah, there are only 6 people left, but leaving her on the board at this point seems a recipe to hand her a win under most circumstances. With how unpredictable this mini season has been though, I guess you could say that about pretty much anyone.  Maybe it's a "if everyone is a threat, then no one is a threat" sort of thing.  :D 

***
Not sure if any of that is going to help the odds makers in Vegas. 

Who do YOU think is going to take it all???

When I saw that swirlsofpurple was sacrificing, I understood, even though I was sad about it.

But at least it meant that there was one less strike that was going to happen.

Of course, with this group, it's never safe to assume anything. Because that unlikely scenario ended up occurring and there was a tie for that final spot. Which means two people are receiving a strike.

And of course, it's the third strike for both of them.one of them and the first for the other.

>So the scenario I envisioned where only one person would receive a strike and everyone would move forward ends up with two leaving.

What a fantastic duo though. I've absolutely loved getting the chance to read their work this mini season, and I really hope that they will both continue in the Green Rooms (when I post them) and in the Home Game. (not to mention that they will come back when things settle down a little bit in my life and a new regular season can happen)

Until then though, it's goodbye to erulissedances  and strike one for mollywheezy 
Sorry for the confusion and thanks to those damn kids with their pesky spreadsheets! 

 I've been watching "The Deuce" on HBO Max. I missed it the first time around, so now I'm binging it. Or at least watching an episode whenever I can. 

I decided to start it after watching "We Own This City" - which is from the creators of the "The Wire" and suddenly had a lightbulb go off on the idea "Hey, I really like these two shows from these people, I should check out some of their other shows!!" 

So far so good. (just started season 2) 

It's funny, because of course if I like a book I will search out more books from that author. But for some reason I don't often do that with writer/creators of television (or even movies). Just every once in awhile I'll find something that start following it. 

Who are some of YOUR favorite TV writers and/or howrunners to follow? 

***

Don't forget there is a new prompt: herealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1125569.html

and yes, this IS a second Green Room, despite the fact that you didn't really do much with the first one. :)  I'm going to chalk it up to the sheer surprise of it, and I was boring you with work talk. 

 What time is it? 

It's time to call out "Soup's On!!!"  

Why? Because that's the prompt. 

The deadline to link your entry back to this thread is Wed August 24th at 8pm ET. 

Have fun!