Voting Poll and Other News

Good afternoon everyone.  I trust that everyone has recovered from last weeks results show and has come to grips with the fact that Tim, Alex and Haeley will be punishing us with their rather experimental vocal stylings for at least another night.  You may want to invest in a pair of ear plugs of at the very least, keep the remote handy for quick muting.

As the title of this post suggests, I have been trying to arrange it so that we can vote right on this blog for who we think is going home.  Many hours have been invested in finding a poll widget that is compatable with Blogger.  You might notice that a poll is currently up on the site but it is one that I am not happy with nor does it appear to provide the functionality that I desire (i.e. ability to track who voted for who and keep the results secret until after the results are all in).  The only poll that I found that offers the level of functionality that we need costs $200.  Sadly, I don't have a couple of Benjamin's lying around that I can invest in this blog.

Where does that leave us?  Well, it would appear that for at least another week you will need to e-mail me your votes.  I know, I know, it's so low tech!  I am in the process of researching other widgets that might allow for voting buttons or some other type of data gathering widget that does what we need it to do.  We can also try the poll that is up on the blog now but as I stated, it does not have the functionality that we really need.

In other news I have noticed that "ColdHeartedSnake" is now a follower of the site.  If this cleaver moniker belongs to one of you, please let me know because this blog is open to the entire blogisphere and it would be quite a feat if we had an outside follower already.  Unless of course it is actually Paula Abdul!  I also encourage everyone to signup to follow the blog as it will allow me to instantly notify you all when new posts are available for viewing. 

A new project called "Takin Over Hollywood" starring former Idol castoffs Kristen McNamara, Nick "Normund Gentle" Mitchell and Tatiana "Psycho Drama Queen" Del Toro.  I have embedded a clip for your viewing pleasure.  Not much is available regarding the project but there is an e-mail address at the end of the clip if you want to be adventerous and find out more.




Danny Gokey's CD "My Best Days" officially dropped today.  He's "Not My Bag...Baby" so I won't be checking it out but if anyone does, let us know your thoughts.

In other former contestant news, Anoop and Matt G. will be going head to head in a new Oreo Cakesters ad campaign.  There is also a contest associated with the campaign so if you want to enter, head over to http://www.nabiscoworld.com/oreo/cakesters/jingle.aspx

"We Are The Fallen" fronted by former contestant Carly Smithson will drop their debut album, Tear the World Down on May 11th.

Bucky Covington has a new single out as well,  It's called "A Father's Love."  Good for Bucky.....

Elliot Yamin was in Chile on Saturday when the 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit.  He was there to perform at a music festival.  He is okay but is running low on his Type 1 diabetic insulin. Hopefully he makes it out before he runs out of insulin. 

And finally, Carrie Underwood received 6 ACM nominations.  The reigning Perfomer of the Year will be trying to defend her title again this year.  Go Carrie!

Well, that's all for now.  Don't forget to watch tonight at 8pm on Fox.  It a 2 hour show so remember to set your DVR's to record a few minutes past 10pm. 

Update:

I forgot to mention that Chikezie Eze was arrested the other night and booked on felony identity theft.  He was busted while attempting to purchase cologne at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills.  That's just plain sad.

Didi Benami could also be in a bit of trouble.  Information posted on her MySpace page links her to Jason Reeves a friend and songwriting partner of Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.  Playing favorites are we Idol judges and producers?  Considering that they allowed "Big" Mike to continue on the show after violating the confiedntiality agreement but booting Chris Golightly for maybe/maybe not being under contract with the boy band Dream 5.

Simon Cowell is apparently engaged to Mezhgan Hussainy, a make-up artist on the show.  Who know if this is true or not but what I can tell you is that if the picture of the ring is not a fake then she will need an assistant to help her drag that rock around all day - it's huge, just like his ego and his 12,000 sq. ft. mansion!

And one final bit of news, Adam Lambert is scheduled to return to the Idol stage in the spring.  No specific date has been released as of yet.
~E