Comments on: American Idol: minerva taking wing at dusk

By: Grant

Grant — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 15:48:03 +0000

Auto, thanks, we are not choosing but guessing how other choosers will chose. Hmmm, why is this? Do we look down on the exercise as something designed for other people? We only participate, we claim, because this is a social phenomenon. We only care about it because other people do? Really? This is weird. This migh explain watching it once or twice. But do watch it often enough even to guess how others would guess…hmm, this is weird. Thanks, Grant

By: Auto

Auto — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 15:37:23 +0000

everyone i know who watches it watches as though he’s a judge in keynes’s beauty pageant, trying to guess who the average judge thinks will win.

By: Grant

Grant — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:40:00 +0000

Tom, well said, you should be writing this thing, Thanks, Grant

CP, it will take a a miracle for Bucky, who is the next to go. Thanks, Grant

Patricia, great point, one I missed completely, and shame on me. So it’s official, you and Tom should be writing this thing. Best, Grant

Jane, this is a very interesting point, and it never occurred to me, ok, so its official…

Tom, wouldn’t it be interesting to know how and why Covais was abandoned by his peeps. Best, Grant

By: Tom Guarriello

Tom Guarriello — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 11:25:41 +0000

D’oh…Kevin, not Bucky…

I’m sure songs from the 50s, or last week’s Stevie Wonder numbers, still require royalty payments.

By: jane

jane — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 10:57:18 +0000

If I’m not mistaken, AI uses the old songs because they can be used for free. There are legal strings attached to using new songs.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:49:14 +0000

Its 21st century Solid Gold, with a smidge of the Gong Show and more sex appeal. American Idol is prepackaged nostalgia; the songs, clothing, etc. is all carefully chosen to look like its accidental. AI has more in common with The Long Tail than you might think. How many people buy the Eagles’ single on iTunes after they see it on AI? Or a Stevie Wonder tune? Or Motown? Back catalogs are profitable and fit into the Long Tail. AI is the lowest common denominator of mediocrity, but somehow Fox has hit a nostalgia, curiousity, and watercooler conversation nerve all at once. Geniuses.

By: Christian Prophet

Christian Prophet — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:01:40 +0000

Over on the Christian Prophecy blog the Holy Spirit’s message is that anyone can win (I guess everyone DOES win if viewed correctly). I guess the final message for all of us is we really don’t know what is going on, but miracles are possible.

By: Tom Guarriello

Tom Guarriello — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 14:22:22 +0000

AI is one of the last bastions of “watercooler culture,” those events that we all participate in and talked about together the next morning. And we know it. I don’t just anyone if they watched the latest video on YouTube, or read a funny post on GoFugYourself or OverheardInNewYork, but I DO feel like I’m on pretty solid ground asking if it’s gonna be Bucky or Lisa going tonight (it’s Bucky, by the way.) And I think it’s the show’s retrocity (sorry) that makes it so…no incomprehensible rap lyrics, no ultra-gamey interface, no red/blue animosity, not even any po-mo leadership/religion lessons played out on the surface of New Caprica. Just dumbed down rock, soul and country; 21st century citizens singing in three 20th century dialects. Very comforting.

Now, the startling development would be Mandisa winning with all that junk inside her trunk! That would be cause for pause!