Welcome To Hollywood!

Hey Idolites!

Well, we've been through the first round of auditions, which were stellar as usual. The first two Hollywood shows have brought some interesting cuts and the painfully uncomfortable group song auditions. I thought it would be a good time to check in and start getting you all prepared for the upcoming pool. Most of you know the drill, but I wanted to recap some time lines and the basics of how this pool works.

The pool doesn't start until the Top 12 are determined. Here is what the Idol schedule looks like from here:

• Top 36 Semi-Finalists Revealed Wednesday, February 11.
• Voting Begins Tuesday, February 17.
• Top 12 Singers Revealed After Judges' Wild Card Round Thursday, March 5.
• Top 12 Finalists Perform for First Time Tuesday, March 10.

That means I will be sending out the pools on Thursday, March 5th after the show. You will then have until 5:00pm PST, Tuesday, March 10th to get your completed pools back to me.

So that means now is the time to really start paying attention.

THE POOL

• Each entry is $10. More than one entry is acceptable (and expected).
• Fees are due in to me by May 1st, 2009. They can be sent to: 1423 SW 151st St., Burien, WA 98166. Make checks payable to Aaron A. Soenke Ruona.
• The object is to predict where each member of the Top 12 will finish.
• Points are awarded based on how close you are with each pick in the Top 12 (scoring below)
• Entry with most total points wins.
• Payouts: They will be determined by the total number of entries. Last season we paid out the Top 12 out of 77 entries.

SCORING

• 10 points for each contestant you guess EXACTLY right in their finish.
• 7 points if you are off by one place (either way). 6 points if you are off by two places. 5 points if you are off by three places. 4 points if you are off by four places. 3 points if you are off by five places. 2 points if you are off by 6 places. 1 point if you are off by seven places. 0 points if you are off by eight or more places.
• 20 points if you correctly pick the American Idol.

Those are the boring nuts and bolts of the operation. If you haven't yet seen the standings spreadsheet...beware! It's quite large and highly geeky (you may actually need to wear a pocket protector to understand it...you'll also need a new prescription on your glasses by the end of the season).

RANDOM IDOL THOUGHTS

• I think there are a ton of really good guys this season. All my favorite girls seem to be getting chopped.
• All the hype around 'Bikini Girl' (who was on Extra tonight kissing Mario Lopez), led me to set up two new polls. Please vote in the right sidebar.
• Did anyone else think Jennifer Hudson did an amazing rendition of The National Anthem before the Super Bowl? (I can't believe I forgot to add her to the poll, as she'd be in my top 3...she's dissed yet again by all things Idol...et tu Aaron? Et tu?) Man, I had goosebumps.
• I really thought David Osmond had a good chance. If he made the Top 12, I think he would have been a force in the competition. The Osmond name and all of Utah working the phones...look what it did for Archuleta.
• In our first poll, it was quite clear that you feel pretty good about new judge Kara. As long as she doesn't decide she needs to sing again to prove her point all should be good. Although based on what I've seen so far, I'm guessing she'll be tougher on the attractive female contestants. That's right, I said it...meeeoooooowww!!

PARTING SHOT

Not sure I need to say more than Sanjaya Malakar has a new CD and book............

OK, now that you are off the floor from laughing....when I first saw this (Thank you Lynn Sherk!!), I was speechless. Even cheesier than I could have dreamed up. If you click here: http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Music-My-Head-Exclusive/dp/B001OVSV78/ref=sr_f3_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1233904126&sr=103-1 you can download one of the songs for free. So, of course I did and it's priceless. Very post 1980's Michael Jackson-like lyrics ("You don't know me...you haters!").

The other interesting twist is the artwork. When I first saw it and purchased the song, the artwork looked like it does above. Well, when you check it out now, you'll notice that they have changed his picture entirely. No more hand running through his hair or squinting eyes. Kinda took the 'specialness' away just a little bit. Well, at least I have the old one on my iPod forever.

Check back for new polls and posts. If you know someone that would be interested in joining the pool, have them e-mail me directly so I can add them to the e-mail list.

Until next time...Pool Boy out!