10/21 'When Australia assholed Ben last week'

Finally, Australian Idol got good. Mind you, this is very relative since the show still basically sucks, but for once I was actually glad to sit through a whole episode (90 minutes so six people can sing for 3 minutes each?? What the crap?). It was judge's choice night, where Mark, Dicko, Marcia, and Kyle respectively get to choose songs for the artists. They made some awesome choices-- No Woman, No Cry, It's Not Unusual, Fragile, etc.-- but it got downright bad ass later when the Salma Hayek looking chick played and a sang a slow piano version of that insipid Umbrella song (ella, ella, ay, ay, ay) and for the very first time I didn't want to puncture my own eardrums when I heard it. But that's not the best part.

There's this kid, right, and he's sixteen-- fucked up hair, thin lips, girl jeans, aw-shucks personae and everything. But homeboy sings better than any kid ever has the right to sing. There's something damn near magical about him that none of the other contestants have. Last week, he chose and arranged a cello/solo guitar version of Phil Collins' Another Day In Paradise that was astounding. Then last night Mark chose Music Of The Night for him, and he nailed it in a beautiful baritone. Then he sat down at the piano and played a version of Death Cab For Cutie's Transatlaticism. I almost shit the bed. This kid is good. He can do anything, and he'll get a record deal no matter when/how he leaves the show.

Oh yeah, I got serious about the assignment stuff too and knocked out and tarted up the last 40% of my excerpt, and edited down the rest over 6 hours. All that's left is to get Jane's feedback on Wednesday, mostly incorporate it, and print out all three sections and read them straight through to see how I feel. If they pass, I just need to go through my proposal twice more and my experimental assignments once, and I am done like dinner with this semester.

W00t! (Ella! Ella!)

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