LJ Idol Presents:

There was a tie and four contestants were thrust into a Sudden Death Write Off, one more entry, one more round to break out of the pack.

It came one vote away from being a three way tie. Three votes from being a four way tie again.

If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about how close things are this mini season, I'm not even sure I can articulate it more clearly.

But those votes DID show up, so two of them are moving forward, and unfortunately we are saying goodbye to two beloved veterans. One is the youngest contestant. The other isn't the oldest, but if it was that would at least be amusing. So let's pretend she is! :)

I'm really hoping that we will see more from both of them in the Home Game, and continuing to hang out and root for their favorites!

Goodbye to kizzy and yamyam_kat .   Thank you for coming out this mini season. I wish we got to hang out longer. 

 I knew this was going to happen sooner or later but didn't think it would be "sooner"... and it came within a hair of being MUCH more severe. 

We have a tie.  kizzy   tamara_in_jakarta ,thephantomq , yamyam_kat 


So it's a 4 way tie and 2 of these contestants will be eliminated.  It came within a single vote of being a 15 way tie!!!

Due to circumstances beyond my control (Debby) I will not be able to do the standard "24 hours to write a new entry" standard run off. So instead I'm going to generous and give you 48 hours to write a new entry.   :) 

The 4 of you will write an OPEN TOPIC entry.  Which means it can be anything you want. It's your neck on the line, so bring your A-game!!

You will link your entry back to the thread I will be making below by Monday August 5th at 8pm ET.  Then a new poll will go up for the new entries. 


In the meantime a new regular prompt will go up as well for everyone not in the run-off. So keep an eye out for that one as well since the survivors are going to need to write something for that!

A few words from clauderainsrm:

I am definitely in that uncanny valley, where the closer I get to being human, the more uncomfortable it makes people. But I never get it quite right, which makes the sensation even worse for people observing me.

But I do need to do something “human” - saying goodbye to the 3 contestants who are “byeing out” this week. The good news is that we at least got to read 1 entry from each of them. The bad part of that is that we all saw the potential of a lot more great entries in the future.

Thank you for coming out for this mini season and I hope you will “home game” (which is where you write the entry, but you are not included in the poll, and you post it in the most recent Green Room instead of the official thread) so that we will get to read more from you!

Goodbye to author_by_night , adore  and sohardtohold 

Now I can go back to being a monster. There are a lot of great entries this week. Which is just going to make it more difficult to be losing the 2 contestants with the fewest votes!

So make sure to read, comment and vote for your favorites - and spread the word for others to do the same! Their life in this competition is entirely in your hands!

The poll will close Saturday August 3rd at 8pm ET.
Good luck to everyone!

 

Ryan Reynolds and the Deadpool producer talked about how they convinced Madonna to let them use "Like a Prayer".   www.youtube.com/watch
 

What song would YOU go the extra mile to make sure you had in the movie about your life? 

and who would star in it? 

***
Remember to post your entries for this week here:  https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1149132.html

 Happy Friday to all those who celebrate! 

***

What's the best thing you've been watching on TV (or online, or however you consume visual media) lately? 

What's the best new music (song/album) you've heard? 

therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1107400.html

 After finishing both "The Girl Next Door" And "American Predator" in the last 48 hours, I'm looking to start something a little more lighthearted.  :) 

So what are some of the funniest books you've read lately? (Bonus points for audiobooks) 

***

The new Prompt is up:  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1107400.html

Which does make this the 1 month mark. So roughly halfway through this experiment. 

How have you been enjoying it? 

 The deadline has past for last week's entries. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1105950.html  

What were some of your favorites? 

***

We've been dealing with a COVID case in the household. Celena was sent home from college to recover.  She's been here for a few days and getting better, Fortunately, she's been vaccinated (and young) so it wasn't that bad. 

***

I've been reading a LOT lately - which has been great.  I just finished what was *the* most disturbing book I've ever read... "The Girl Next Door", which, given that it's horror and I found it on a list of "the most terrifying books ever" probably shouldn't have surprised me much.  :) 

The worst part of it though is that it's based on a true story. (Basically a fictionalized narrator's POV of a real life event with the names changed)  The things that people are willing to do to each other is far more terrifying than any alien spider monster that lives in the sewer. 

We also finally started the Squid Games. 

So basically I'm feeling pretty darn good about humanity right now.  :D 

***
What have YOU been up to? 

(the new prompt will be posted in a few hours) 

Tomorrow, people across the United States are going to the polls for "the midterm elections".

Many have already done due to "early voting", "absentee voting" and of course "drone voting", where they just send their drones into the voting booth.

I have no idea when, or even if Canadians and other "countries" vote. I assume that they do not. Because America is where freedom lives, so I doubt it found it's way to remote places, like, I dunno, Greece. Americans have little to learn from the rest of the world. After all - what can a country like Italy tell us about running a Republic? Not much, I'd imagine!

Whatever else is going on, and wherever you are though - get out and vote. Make your voice be heard! Even if you're just spouting gibberish, as long as it makes sense to you - it deserves to be heard!

Most people will tell you how you need to vote. They will talk about a blue wave, or a red wave... or waving at people as you go into vote. But the only real important wave is the one I'm going to tell you about - the Gary wave! Go to the polls and vote for me, to become your new supreme dictator for life!

It's the only way to bring everyone together, by making them all suffer under my regime!

You might think "But Gary, I don't want to suffer" but you're here, so everyone knows you are lying!

***

The vote tomorrow might not go your way - chances are good that some of it will, and some of it won't.

The same is true of the vote that is closing tonight! https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1007980.html That could go the way you want it to - or it could go the way someone else does!

It's a matter of taste, and who actually gets out to the polls! I've seen people complain (in past seasons) about "how did Person A survive but Person B did not!!!" and when I looked, I saw that they hadn't actually voted for Person B. Sometimes they had only voted for themselves! (Which, I do get, it's a competition. But if you are only voting for yourself, then you either aren't actually reading any of the other entries here and experiencing how good they are OR your ego is telling you that you are the ONLY one who "deserves" to be here, and I've never seen that end well for anyone. Note: this rant brought to you by an email from Season 5 that I happened to run across this morning while searching for something else, that got me all riled up again. Not by anything happening at the moment. But I think the words, and underlying sentiment still apply. Support your work and the work you enjoy. But also be willing to check your own ego and realize your tastes aren't the only ones out there.

"Your tastes aren't the only ones out there" is something that I, personally, deal at Idol head on, and in RL pretty much every day. I just remind myself that everyone else is wrong, and once I gain supreme power I will forcibly make them change, or face my wrath! It helps me get through the day!

Happy Fountain Pen Day to you! Apparently there are a lot of sales today! Somehow I don't think this event is quite as popular as Free Comic Book Day, but I could be wrong.


***

What's going on with you this weekend? We are going to a wedding tomorrow. Not sure what else is on the agenda.

Of course I'll be busy reading what I have left to check out from the current poll: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1007980.html

There's a lot of really cool stuff in there, I hope you take the time to check it all out - and tell some friends to do that same! This thing of ours only works with word of mouth! So keep us going and spread the word!