Aidan Ryan

Are your heads swimming with all of the prospects who’ve been introduced? Or maybe you’re questioning your own sanity after witnessing the heights of delusion displayed by some of the more insane contestants.

(click for insanity nostalgia)

Next week the mental illness factor will be turned way down, leaving room for the skills of the remaining Idols to shine. You’ll want to get to know them a lot better in preparation for picking the five idols who will earn you the most points down the stretch.

Now for the results of the Jacksonville, Salt Lake City, and San Juan/New York audition shows:

** The first question asked whether the first audition shown would be successful. Prior to this week I think every first audition has been of the “disaster” variety. Not so in week 3, where we met Joshua Ulloa in Jacksonville and David Osmond (barf) in Salt Lake City.

No one guessed all three nights correctly, but Sara R, Kristen, Tony, Becky, and Sarah F all predicted the first outcome of two nights this week, for 4 points apiece. Andrea, Jenny, and Julio/Maria all get 2 points for guessing one night’s first result correctly.

** You were also asked to predict the number of auditions we would see each night resulting in someone going to Hollywood, dawg. The actual numbers were 6 from Randy Jacksonville, 7 from Salt Lake City, and 9 from SJ/NY.

You guys are getting good at this, eight people were only one off on Tuesdays show. Not close enough though, because Jim stole the 3 point award by guessing exactly 6. Congratulations also to Jenny (Wednesday) and Becky (Thursday) for guessing the exact number of successful auditions.

Overall, the following points are awarded for the second week 3 question:
Alex: 2
Kristen: 4
Tony: 4
Andrea: 2
Jim: 6
Jenny: 7
Becky: 7
Sarah: 4
Laila: 4
Julio/Maria: 2

We have two weeks of Hollywood auditions coming up. There will be no challenges next week, your only job is to study up on the contestants in preparation for making some guesses about the overall Hollywood outcome the week after.

Good luck!

Hey Idolders,

There will be three audition shows this week to close out the autistic schadenfreude portion of the Idol season. Next week we’ll begin the Hollywood rounds when it will be time to start judging the contestants’ fitness to join your team

To make it easier on you (and me) we’ll be using the same questions for all three shows this week:

* 50/50: Will the first contestant shown go to Hollywood? (Guess once for each of this week’s 3 shows. 2 points each.)

* How many contestants will be SHOWN being sent to Hollywood? (This is the opposite of last Wednesday’s second question. Guess once for each of this week’s 3 shows. 3 points closest, etc.)

Good luck!

Were you a “Fanjaya” of Sanjaya? Then you have reason to celebrate! Dude has a book out, called “Dancing to the Music in My Head” (excerpt here.)  I’m happy to announce that a copy will be awarded to the first place winner of our competition. j/k I think.

Now for the results of the fourth audition show.

* The 50/50 question asked whether Kara would comment on a contestant’s “chops.” I noticed her dropping this buzzword a lot last week, but unfortunately for those who guessed “True,” I caught NO mention on Wednesday.

2 points to Jim, Becky, Sarah F, and Andrea for correct answers on the 50/50.

* The second question asked you to predict how many contestants would be shown getting the boot. Five unlucky signees of TV release forms had their disgrace laughed at by millions of Americans Wednesday night.

Julio/Maria and Tony’s guesses were precisely correct for 3 points.

Both Alex and Kristen were off by one for 2 points.

Jim, Laila, and Becky tied for third closest for 1 point.

Latest standings on the right —>

Stay tuned for next week’s questions. Three audition shows next week! It will never be enough.

We got some awesomely great and awesomely awful performances in San Francisco. “Make Sweet Love” will go into the pantheon of outrageous self-written songs, alongside “You Are My Brother” (see here.)

Now for the results!

The 50/50 question asked whether Simon would say “dreadful,” which my careful listening did not detect.  Correct answers (for 2 points) were given by Jim, Becky, Tony, Kristen, and Andrea.

The second question asked you to predict three singers and/or songwriters whose songs would be featured. Here’s how the scores panned out:

 Alex - 4 points for Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder

 Jim - 4 points for Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston

 Becky - 2 points for Stevie Wonder

 Jenny - 4 points for Carole King and Whitney Houston

 Tony - 4 points for Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston

 Andrea - 2 points for Whitney Houston

Please let me know if I should have awarded you points for one of your guesses, I did my best to research the original artist and composer of the songs performed to give as much credit as possible.

Current standings are updated on the right-hand column of this blog.

Stay tuned for results of last night’s auditions in Louisville.

First an update on last Wednesday’s bonus question — for 4 points, leapfrogging into the lead, Jim was the first to come up with the correct answer of 147 total contestants sent to Hollywood this year. This fact may come in handy for future challenges, especially when combined with the fact that 27 golden tickets were given out in each of the first two auditions.

—- STANDINGS —-
Jim (9)Sara R (6)Kristen (5)Sarah F (4)Jenny (4)Laila (3)Becky (3)Alex (1)
—- JAN 20 - SAN FRANCISCO QUESTIONS —-
50/50: TRUE or FALSE? Simon will say “Dreadful.” (2 points)
Predict three artists (singers and/or songwriters) whose songs will be performed in auditions. Songs shown in montages as well as detailed auditions count. (2 points for each artist correctly guessed)
—- JAN 21 - LOUISVILLE QUESTIONS —-
50/50: TRUE or FALSE? Kara will comment on a contestant’s “chops.” (2 points)
Predict the number of “no” auditions shown. Montages do not count, only detailed auditions. (3 pts closest, 2 pts next, 1 pt third…)
—- REPLY WITH YOUR GUESSES BEFORE EACH SHOW AIRS! GOOD LUCK! —-

Hey everybody. I hope you enjoyed the Kansas City auditions as much as I did. Too bad we didn’t get to hear the often-used Sam Cooke tune this week, but it was a fun show IRREGARDLESS.

—- KANSAS CITY RESULTS —-* The 50/50 challenge, would Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” be used in an audition? It was not. Winners of 2 points on this question were Laila, Sara R, Jenny, Kristen, and Jim .
Fun trivia, here’s a video of Season 7’s Sayesha Mercado performing “A Change is Gonna Come.” Hopefully the brief glimpse of Rascal Flatts in the audience doesn’t nauseate you too much to enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6pT5-Mfxw8
* You were also asked to predict the number of Stevie Wonder songs shown in auditions. I counted two, the montage of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” as well as the last audition, “All I Do.” A three-way tie for best guess earns Kristen, Becky, and Jim 3 points apiece. Jenny and Sara R were both off by 1, earning 2 points. Sarah F had the third best guess for 1 point.
An interesting response came in from Kristen, who correctly answered the third, invisible question: “How many girls will try to make out with Ryan after auditions?” Zero, correct. Sorry no points, but duly noted.

—- CURRENT STANDINGS —-Sara R (6)Jim (5)Kristen (5)Sarah F (4)Jenny (4)Laila (3)Becky (3)Alex (1)
—- ¡ BONUS ! —-An important fact was dropped at the end of the show: the total number of contestants sent to Hollywood this year from the 8 audition cities combined. First person to email with the correct number wins 4 points!

And we’re off. I hope this first challenge got you in the Idol spirit.

Twenty-seven tickets to Hollywood were given out in Phoenix. The points for this first round (and thus the initial standings) came out as follows:
Sarah F earns 3 points with the closest guess
Sara R guessed second closest for 2 points
We have a tie for third closest between Alex J and Laila S for 1 point apiece.

The questions for the Kansas City auditions:
* TRUE or FALSE? A contestant will be shown auditioning with Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” (2 points)
* Predict the number of different Stevie Wonder songs shown in auditions. If more than one contestant uses the same song it only counts as one. (3 points for closest, 2 for second, 1 for third)

What’s up Idol fans, I hope you’re sufficiently psyched for this year’s contest.  American Idol Season 8 will bring the same amateur singing spectacle you’ve grown to love, with a few tweaks. A new judge (Kara DioGuardi) will be introduced, and the catalog of songs is being restricted to the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10. Some healthy competition of our own will make it even more funner.
A few updates as we begin,
1) There are sites on the intertubes that attempt to predict the outcome of each elimination show through various methods. Please don’t get sneaky peeky and take the fun out of our contest.

2) If you know anyone else who’d like to join the league, please invite them in.  People can join a couple audition shows late without getting too behind in points.
3) Your first chance to earn points is tonight, by predicting the number of idols sent to Hollywood from tonight’s auditions. I got a good question about this challenge, Alex asked if we’re predicting only the number of successful auditions actually shown, or the total number of golden tickets given out tonight (think montage of screaming and hyperventilating.)  We’re looking for the second number here, folks, the total number of golden tickets awarded tonight. They usually announce the number somewhere toward the end of the show.  Closest guess (over or under) will get 3 points, second closest 2, and third closest 1. Ties all get the points.
 4) For tomorrow night’s show, two chances to earn points:    First, a 50/50 chance to get on the board! Predict whether a contestant in the Wednesday, January 14th show will audition with Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”     Second, predict the number of different Stevie Wonder songs used in auditions. If more than one contestant uses the same song it only counts as one.    The original rules, this update, and future standings will be posted at http://ajryan.blogspot.com

 ** If you haven’t guessed yet, or if you want to revise your answer for tonight’s show, please reply to this email before 8pm. **

I will be running an American Idol fantasy league this season. It’s going to be freaking awesome.

RULES:

1. There will be a preseason where you can earn points by making guesses about the audition shows.
   
   
2. Main contest begins after all active contestants have been heard in a studio-audience show.
   
   
3. Choose five idols for your team. You receive 1 point per week for each team member that does not get eliminated.
   
   
4. Each week, before the elimination show begins airing, predict the idols who will be eliminated. 1 point per correct guess. You get as many guesses as there are eliminations. For example, when two guys and two girls will be eliminated, guess two guys and two girls.
   
   
5. PLAYOFFS: When there are five idols remaining, you get a pool of 2 points per idol of your original team who is still in the game. Assign your pool of points between your remaining idols. For the final five idols, points are won by multiplying by the points you assigned each idol as follows:
     Idol wins First place: 5 times points assigned
     Idol wins Second place: 4 times points assigned
     Idol wins Third place: 3 times points assigned
     Idol wins Fourth place: 2 times points assigned
     Idol wins Fifth place: points assigned
   Take the 2008 Season for example. Say that when there are five idols left, you still have Sayesha, David A, and David C in the game. That means you have a pool of 6 points to assign. You know Sayesha is an akward faker who can never win, so you decide to assign 3 points to each David. David A won second place earning you 12 points, and David C won first place earning you 15 points, this would add 27 points to your season total.
   
   
6. You can’t win if you have no idols left at the start of the playoffs, no matter what your final point total is.
   
   
7. There will be bonus opportunities each week, for example, predicting what artists’ songs will be sung, number of times Simon says “dreadful,” etc.
   

The contest will be run by email, and results will be posted here.

No cost to enter, prizes will be awarded to the top three winners.

If you want to play, please email Aidan with your guess to the first preseason question:

** PRESEASON QUESTION 1 **

Predict the number of contestants sent to Hollywood from the first audition show, airing Tuesday January 13th.