Catching up with "American Idol."

Enough talk about blogging! Time for a new topic: "American Idol." I didn't write anything about last night's show partly because I was very tired, partly because I had to go out and experience life in the real world, and partly because the show was a bit of a boring blur as hordes of young people who had previously been carefully selected were suddenly sorted into four rooms so that half of them could be told summarily it's all over for you now. Annoyingly and typically, for the ones who were told they would be staying, Randy and Paula hammed it up big time acting like they were about to say no and then suddenly saying yes, because it really is so fun to tease anxiety-ridden youngsters.

But now I'm reasonably well rested, and I have nowhere to go, so let's take a look at tonight's show.

Today, they must whittle the group down to "twelve boys and twelve girls." They make a big deal out of the ride up a stainless steel elevator which opens into a huge gold-painted room and a long walk over to a chair in front of the judges. The contestant just sits in the chair and is told the judge's decision. No performance! The contestants seem sad that people in front of them have been rejected, even though, logically, the more rejections ahead of them, the better their chances of being in the final twenty-four. The camera keeps focusing on contestants who are freaking out. The whole set up is designed to torture the contestants needlessly. A lot of false drama is created, because we know certain people are going to go through by the way the show has been edited so far to focus on them, and this was almost certainly done to prepare us for the later rounds of competition. My favorites Mario Vazquez and Anwar Robinson make it. Glad Scott Savol, the Sling-Blade-y guy, made it. I'm more interested in the guys, but there are plenty of good female singers too.

Really cool montage of losers in the end.

Well, next week should be interesting. It seems to me that they made a much bigger effort than in past years to get all nice-looking people (with the sole exception of Scott Savol, for some reason).