C for 'cuckoo'

Really, you can't make up some of this stuff going on as the Bush administration runs out the clock:

Dana 'I'm a man' Milbank in the Post, The Cheese Stands Alone: Vice President Cheney's recent declaration that he is not part of the executive branch has prompted hard questions, and nobody in the White House has a good answer for why Cheney -- who hovered near Bush's desk while the president spoke -- had turned himself into a fourth branch of government. ...

Already under fire for his secretive ways, Cheney refused to comply with an order governing the care of classified documents; his office concluded that the order did not apply because he was not "an entity within the executive branch."

That's quite opposite the argument Cheney made in 2001, when he said that a congressional probe into the workings of his energy task force "would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch." Cheney has, in effect, declared himself to be neither fish nor fowl but an exotic, extraconstitutional beast who answers to no one. ...

It's not entirely surprising that Cheney would attempt to flee the executive branch, given Bush's sub-30-percent standing in polls. But Democrats in Congress were not welcoming their new transfer. "The vice president's theory seems to be one almost laughable on its face, that he's not part of the executive branch," Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said in a conference call with reporters from his car. "I think if you ask James Madison or Benjamin Franklin or any of the writers of the Constitution, they'd almost laugh if they heard that."

Madison and Franklin did not return phone calls yesterday.

Maybe Schumer was just jealous. After all, Cheney enjoys perks not available to his colleagues in the legislative branch: the mansion off Massachusetts Avenue, Air Force Two, a West Wing office and a huge staff in the, uh, Executive Office Building next to the White House.

Over on the House side of the Capitol, the chairman of the Democratic caucus, Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), was equally unforgiving. He wants Congress to cut funding for the executive branch to reflect the fact that the Office of the Vice President is no longer part of that branch.

Cruelly, Emanuel said he would also oppose any attempt by Cheney to play in the congressional baseball game, held last night. "He would remake the rules to his liking," the congressman explained.

Photo of Vice President Cheney from whitehouse.gov (not house.gov or senate.gov)

Dancing with a dragon

The Times' second day of articles on Rupert Murdoch takes a look at how he's operating in China. Paragraphs 11 and 12 of Dealings in China: It’s Business, and It’s Personal are particularly interesting, if slightly off-topic:

News Corporation officials in Beijing and Hong Kong declined to comment for this article. After The New York Times began a two-part series on Monday about how Mr. Murdoch operates his company, the News Corporation issued a statement:

“News Corp. has consistently cooperated with The New York Times in its coverage of the company. However, the agenda for this unprecedented series is so blatantly designed to further the Times’s commercial self interests — by undermining a direct competitor poised to become an even more formidable competitor — that it would be reckless of us to participate in their malicious assault. Ironically, The Times, by using its news pages to advance its own corporate business agenda, is doing the precise thing they accuse us of doing without any evidence.”

What about paragraph 13? Well, it's the Times, so:

China has never been a make-or-break proposition for the News Corporation, since its operations here represent a small part of the company, which is valued at $68 billion. But Mr. Murdoch pushed for nearly 15 years to create a satellite television network that would cover every major market in the world, including China.

Heh, heh. Now that's power--or arrogance. Very Chinese, in a way.

The balance of the piece is interesting; obviously, to the extent Murdoch's (third) wife is Chinese, he's got more than a business interest in the country. I've never really liked him, but have generally thought of him as one of the few media executives who actually knows what he's doing. He's like Ted Turner, but on a much larger (and less soft) scale.

Some tidbits from Joseph Kahn's slightly disjointed piece:

Mr. Murdoch’s initial foray into China was disastrous. Shortly after he purchased the satellite broadcaster Star TV in Hong Kong for nearly $1 billion in 1993, he made a speech in London that enraged the Chinese leadership.

He said that modern communications technology had “proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere.” Star could beam programming to every corner of China, and Murdoch had paid a big premium for the broadcaster for that reason.

Prime Minister Li Peng promptly outlawed private ownership of satellite dishes, which had once proliferated on rooftops. Star TV faced a threat to its viability.

Chinese leaders rebuffed his attempts to apologize in person — a ban that lasted nearly four years. But he sought to placate them. ...

Mr. Zhu noted that Mr. Murdoch had become an American citizen to comply with television ownership rules in the United States. He joked that if he wanted to broadcast more in China, he should consider becoming Chinese, a person who attended the meeting recalled. ...

The Murdochs often echoed the Chinese government line. In a 1999 interview with Vanity Fair, Mr. Murdoch spoke disparagingly of the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese condemn as a separatist. “I have heard cynics who say he is a very political old monk shuffling around in Gucci shoes,” he said.

James Murdoch, who ran Star TV from 2000 to 2003, said in a speech in Los Angeles in 2001 that Western reporters in China supported “destabilizing forces” that are “very, very dangerous for the Chinese government.” He lashed out at the Falun Gong spiritual sect, which had just endured brutal repression in China, calling it “dangerous and apocalyptic.” ...

Wendi Murdoch has stepped up her role in China. She plotted a strategy for the News Corporation’s social networking site, MySpace, to enter the Chinese market, people involved with the company said. The News Corporation decided to license the MySpace name to a local consortium of investors organized by Ms. Murdoch.

As a local venture, MySpace China, which began operations in the spring, abides by domestic censorship laws and the “self discipline” regime that governs proprietors of Chinese Web sites. Every page on the site has a link allowing users or monitors to “report inappropriate information” to the authorities. Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have made similar accommodations for their Web sites in China.

The Murdochs will soon be able to call Beijing home. Workers have nearly finished renovating their traditional courtyard-style house in Beijing’s exclusive Beichizi district, a block from the Forbidden City. Beneath the steep-pitched roofs and wooden eaves of freshly coated vermillion and gold, the courtyard has an underground swimming pool and billiard room, according to people who have seen the design.

Plainclothes security officers linger on the street outside. One neighbor is the retired prime minister, Mr. Zhu, who invited Mr. Murdoch to become Chinese.

My guess is at some point Murdoch will indeed take up Chinese citizenship; he's nothing if not opportunistic, and heck--as an Australian, China's practically family.

Reuters photo of Rupert and Wendi Murdoch by Chris Pizzello in the Times.

Poles of insanity

There's a hilarious article in the British press about the twin leaders of Poland, entitled Tweedlenice and Tweedlenasty play a game of Poles apart.

Aside from the unprecedented, in my memory, spectacle of twins running a major nation, it seems there's all sorts of wacky things about them:

Half a century after the European Union was created to forgive and forget the Last Great Misunderstanding, the identical twins who are Poland’s president and prime minister let off a massive stink bomb at last week’s summit by mentioning the war. To cries of horror – and some quiet chortles – Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski invoked Nazi atrocities in order to cut Germany down to size.

So Jaroslaw, the prime minister and elder twin by 45 minutes, had no hesitation in invoking the “incomprehensible crimes” against Poland as a means of raising the stakes in its battle with Germany over voting rights. This had become an obstacle to agreeing a revamped EU treaty. “If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would today be looking at the demographics of a country of 66m,” he said on Polish radio in an implicit reference to his country’s 6m war dead.

His point was that whereas the EU voting system currently gives Poland disproportionate clout, proposed changes based on population size would give most benefit to Germany’s 82m people while Poland with 38m people could be steamrollered – despite being the largest of the 10 countries that joined the enlarged club in 2004.

The 58-year-old Kaczynski twins had kept the summit guessing about which would turn up – some thought this a bit academic since they are nearly identical, though Jaroslaw plays the Mr Nasty to Lech’s Mr Nice. “Both are small, not very bright, mean-minded and resemble provincial solicitors – which Lech used to be,” said a journalist who has met them. ...

Lech is married to Maria, a tireless charity worker who sometimes acts as his special envoy. Jaroslaw, who has never married and lives with his formidable mother Jadwiga and her cats, is said to have a “dark side”, although the rumour is based on little more than his unaccountable absences. Recently he revealed he had no bank account and deposited his money with his mother. “I don’t want a situation in which someone pays some money into my account without my knowledge,” he said mysteriously. ...

The twins briefly stole the limelight at the age of 12 as stars of the 1962 film The Two Who Stole the Moon, playing a couple of greedy, cruel youths who dream up a plan to steal the moon and sell it.

You can't make this stuff up; it seems ever since Bush vs. Gore, the political world's turned unabashedly Shakespearean.

Uncredited photo of Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski from Der Spiegel.

Tail wagging the dog

For some reason, I've never liked John Edwards. It's weird--on paper, I agree with many of his positions, and I think he's a decent person; but there's something about him that's always rubbed me the wrong way.

I could expound, but now there's a YouTube video that captures exactly what I mean.

The video is hilarious, and devestating; the synching of music to action is perfect, and you couldn't ask for a more perfect ending.

I really don't see how Edwards can overcome this--he's clearly deadly earnest in it. If he manages to stick around, at some point one of his opponents can just run this as a commercial in swing states.

It'll play particulary well down South.

Flocked together

If Let's be friends and it's "Touching photos of unusual animal friendships" doesn't bring a smile to your face... you may not be human?

Six dwarves, two nobles

Watching the (eight!) Democratic candidates debate tonight I was struck by what a smug group it was.

Most of them spoke almost-dismissively of President Bush and his policies; there was a sense that if not them personally, someone else on the stage had the obvious fix for Iraq, health care, immigration--just put a Democrat in office, give him/her 67 votes in the Senate, and our problems would be solved.

It all seemed very un-Democratic, this attitude that the winner of the primary was a shoo-in to be the leader of the free world, and rightfully so.

I mean, sure the Bush administration has been a nearly unparalleled disaster (worse since Hoover? Hayes?) But that doesn't mean some ex-Senator from Alaska, or a Midwest representative, should have any sense of entitlement to the office.

Heck, Bush ran and won two national campaigns; with the exception of Sen. Clinton, who remarkably was one of the more down-to-earth members of this group, none of the candidates have anything near that accomplishment.

Besides which, I don't see how it helps Democrats to simplify the problems we face; people associate decisive, straight-forward policies with Republicans (the daddy party). We depend on Democrats to deal with tricky, complicated situations (the mommy party). The post 9/11-world has become more complicated; Pres. Bush hasn't dealt well with it not because he's evil or stupid, but because he's ill-equipped; that doesn't mean the solutions are easy.

That's why it was interesting when Senator Biden lashed out halfway through at how the other candidates were oversimplifying the situation in Iraq, reducing it to pull out, everything will be fine.

It was a good role for him to play, given his stature in the Senate. Biden probably did the most to join what has been a three-person race, coming across as experienced and adult, nearly gruff. And given that he's barely a blip in the polls, he was treated by the other candidates almost as the expert arbiter on Iraq.

By contrast, I had an almost-visceral dislike to Sen. Edwards. Sure, he needed to try and break up the Clinton-Obama logjam at the top; but go after them on legitimate big differences, rather than saying he'd have handled himself differently during the latest vote on Iraq reauthorization.

It didn't help matters that Obama pointed out John, you're 4 1/2 years late on that. Which led to Edwards later going through more contortions, contrasting himself with Clinton by saying he at least has admitted he was wrong for originally voting to go into Iraq but sequeing into praise for Obama for being right, first.

The other oddity of the evening was how much time was spent talking about Bill Clinton, either in comparison or contrast to his policies or, more overtly, in response to moderator Wolf Blitzer's question of what role they'd give the former president in their administration.

I mean, that's like asking Paris Hilton what she'd let Audrey Hepburn do for her.

But this group showed no self-awareness, with most saying they'd send Pres. Clinton around the world as some sortof goodwill ambassador. Only Senator Obama displayed any sense of reality, remarking "obviously Senator Clinton may have something to say about how I use Bill Clinton."

She laughed and appopriately blew off the question, although in the process referencing her "husband" for like the tenth time.

Clinton had an interesting night; Edwards really went after her, and a number of candidates also took cheap and historically incorrect shots at Pres. Clinton's policies (on Bosnia and gays in the military in particular).

She resisted the impulse to slap them down, turned on the charm and in general acted like she was leading the Democrats in a campaign against President Bush.

I was struck at how good she is at sounding presidential and how she managed not to be just one of eight. Her worst moments were when she fake-laughed off attacks on her or her husband.

She's got the classic powerful woman problem of trying to be strong without people invoking the b-word; given her front-runner status, her camp's obviously decided to let her take the shots under the assumption it's only a story if she reacts. I'd advise her to be herself; the American people don't vote for people who come across as inauthentic.

Senator Obama also did well; he started out a bit rough, stumbling over answers and very obviously thinking as he went. I was surprised, based on his rep; but after a while it made him seem more like a normal person and less like the slick politicians a lot of the others came across as.

Hopefully we'll get more of the tough truths than easy glibness as the race unspools.

Reuters photo of Sens. Clinton and Obama by Brian Snyder

The future arrives

As Ryan notes at the start, we're down to two contestants from 100,000 who tried out. Jordin I'm happy with--but Blake?!

Oh well; for some reason tonight doesn't feel like a big show, maybe just because I think Jordin's gonna win in a walk. But we'll see, Blake could get lucky and have the perfect songs.

Poor Paula's got a broken nose, which Simon helpfully points out; Paula gets him back by running her hands down his open shirt. They look back at Blake and Jordin in Seattle at the audition round; interesting that they both came out of there. So much for Southern domination.

Paula was a big fan of Blake from the get-go, Simon not so much. All the judges really like Jordin; I, of course, was also an inaugural member of her bandwagon... we should get special t-shirts.

They televise the coin toss to see who gets to sing first, as if it's the Super Bowl; Blake wins, then dumbly asks Jordin is she has a preference, she doesn't care, he even more dumbly decides to go first.

Blake redoes You Give Love a Bad Name, looks slick in a sport coat; it's fun to listen to again, but in combination with some bad camera movements it's got to be one of the most disjointed things I've seen on the show, not sure I'd have started with this. The crowd's into it though, big ovation eh, it was good, if you like that kind of thing. Randy gives him 10s for the beat boxing, but to heavy boos says the singing was just alright; Paula loves it, much better than at CBS (which Ryan later clarifies as a reference to the other studio where they film Idol); Simon says you're not the best singer, but you're the best performer, singing was flat but energy was amazing so it may not matter. Shot of Phil in his uniform in the crowd.

Jordin does Fire, which I don't think we've heard before. Ugh, very odd choice--in unflattering outfit, and the song is simply disjointed. The chorus part is pretty good; but really, whole thing is a bit average to me, nothing so notable. Gets better as it goes on, although she seems a bit out of breath. Wow, really starts to build toward the end; she just wails out--but song's not to my taste, so I don't know. Not as much applause but a chant breaks out for Jordin; Randy says your voice was stellar, brilliant, even if it wasn't super-entertaining; Paula likes it too; Simon says great young choice, but vocals were shrieky, round 1 goes to Blake. Randy says Blake wins performance, Jordin vocals; Paula says an amazing tie.

Back, clip of Blake talking about learning how to beat box in high school. Intersting choice by Jordin to go with new song first; Blake does now, Maroon Five's Am I Right in a blah sweater. He's very good, tone is perfect, a few problems vocally but I like the song and the cool, unspooling way he delivers it. Some more vocal or timing problems, hmmm; pretty pitchy at parts but it actually doesn't really detract from the song. Chris Richardson should've sung it. Applause not as nuts this time; Randy says great song, nice natural and pure vocal; Paula says great and relaxed; Simon says good, safe but not as good as first time, bad choice because the song doesn't make that much of an impact. He's right, it's nice but no wow factor.

Jordin chats about how she's always been singing, doing Martina McBride's A Broken Wing, which is from the only week I didn't watch. Wow, she's good--so slow and intense and heartfelt; normal blouse with a bird or something on it. A bit too quiet maybe through the first part, like she's swallowing her words, but you can feel the big swell coming--and out it comes. The second part really gets big; she's good, but didn't hit it out of the park in my opinion, even with the big finish. At her best you get chills listening to her, given that the last song is by an amateur I don't think we're gonna get that tonight. Randy says he's loved her since day 1, calls the song flawless, better than the original, wow; Paula says great vocal voice tonight; Simon says now that, was good. Many of her best moments on the show really are in between, when she's clowning on stage next to Ryan; she has an unbelievable amount of charisma and stage presence, she'll be great no matter what she pursues.

The winners of the songwriter competition are introduced, both from Seattle, This Is My Now. Blake looks funny lounging up against the giant screen to start, it's very mannered and hokey. Wow, the chorus is actually pretty good--totally generic, but has that pop hook songs on the radio all share. Blake's voice is just okay, it really drags him down for this one, no chance for him to throw in any flash. He actually sounds flat for a lot of it, it's not bad but not astonishing. Curious what Jordin makes of this; song drags a bit toward the end. Randy says this isn't your type of song, it was alright, don't feel that bad about it; Paula is like great job; Simon says all a little odd, asks Blake how he feels, says you looked a bit frustrated. Blake never really answers; Simon says we have to judge you based on the first two performances. Very odd strategic decision by Idol to have our final impression be a song both performers are hostage to.

Ryan's up in the balcony when we get back with random people to do a commercial essentially; wow, Jordin looks great in a black dress, the song is like totally different in her hands--it's slowed way down, and is compelling as heck. Man, I was wrong, here's the goose bumps moment--she is really good, gives the song a freshness and just sings it so well and truly. My gosh, this is something I'd buy. Big finish too, she totally blows Blake away; she's like in tears as it finishes, she really sells the song, I guess it totally fits her story. Wow, wow, wow; big-time applause from the audience, the judges are just sitting there. Randy straight-out says you were the best singer tonight, this is what it's all about. Paula says you're great; Simon says last week I didn't think you were good enought to make the finals--I was wrong; you just wiped the floor with Blake on that song. Yeah, it's true; big-time chants for Jordin.

Ah, what a great show sometimes; in my mind Jordin's just redeemed much of what's been a mediocore year. I'd vote for her--but the line's always busy.

They waste some time after the recap, Randy says Jordin wins, Paula says they all end up winners, Simon liked Blake's first song but Jordin overall.

Then, in a startling move, they have Chris Daughtry perform live as they 'recap' the season behind him. This show is dumber than dirt sometimes--why in the world would they bring back a great but losing talent from last year as your final image, when tonight's supposed to be about Jordin and Blake?!

I mean, Jordin and Blake aren't even on stage for the last three minutes; the last image you see of them is a shot from last week--behind Chris!

At least Jordin knocked it out of the park; if she hadn't you'd have millions of people wishing they could vote for Chris.

Jordin Sparks 3
Jordin Sparks 2
Blake Lewis 2
Blake Lewis 1
Jordin Sparks 1
Blake Lewis 3

Unmatched pair

So tonight we find out American Idol's finalists--and frankly, I'm not super-excited. Although I guess if it indeed turns out to be Melinda vs. Jordin, I'll be pretty jazzed.

It starts with an intro from Homer Simpson, who's not as good a host as Ryan. The mere mention of Elliott Yamin gets squeals; now that was a great year. They recap last night; I'm guessing they'll award Jordin one of the spots first if Blake's the other finalists. But if Melinda's in, they'll show her first, then have us sweat out Jordin vs. Blake.

They show Jordin going home, embarassed by all the attention but hamming it up; she gets a great reception at her high school and is in tears; there's a funny scene with her screaming with middle school kids, and another teary scene with her best friend; then a parade with like 10,000 in Glendale, more tears, cheers, it's pretty crazy. She finishes singing her I Who Have Nothing rendition, and sobbing emotionally--she really comes across well, would make a great Idol.

I'm assuming she's a finalist, they got her up there first, with Ryan reading back everyone's comments. And... ha, they fake her out, we'll find out later. They wouldn't screw her over twice unless she made it.

Next up is Blake; he's definitely a bit too much; lots of screaming girls, weird faces from him right into the camera, there's an emotional scene with his dad crying; the dad's a good guy, and Blake is too. Wow, he gets to sing the anthem before a Mariners game at the end. His dad's up on stage with him, gets kicked off by Ryan. They do the comments too for Blake... and nuttin, again.

Next, Elliott; who does look quite different with the Bob Dylan hair; same sweet voice though. The background singers are kindof annoying as he sings; just reminds you how thin Blake's voice is. Afterwards Randy tells him it was hot, Paula says she's proud of him, Simon says it was great.

The Ford commercial is a bunch of pretend-young versions of the Idols singing in their bedroom before the real ones jump into a car; it's okay. Now it's Melinda's turn to go home; it's more of an adult visit, less squealing. Big crowd in front of her old music school, which renames a street after her; they show her parents, hadn't seen them before. Then off to her church, where it's bedlam; lots of hugs, some tears. They do judges comments; hmm, wonder if they'll do something tricky and proclaim her a finalist. And... nope.

Quick mention of the band show as we go to break, full commercial as we get 'back'. Hmm, they're really gonna compress the results; Maroon 5 does something, it's like a grown-up version of what Blake tries to do every week.

Back, everyone's standing up there; Jordin steps forward first--so of course she's in the finals. 60 million votes cast; and she's in. Yaaaaay. She's really come a long way; totally developed her potential.

So let's see if I'm right; Blake is babbling about something. Melinda is asked to step forward; and sure enough, it's Blake who makes it through. Oh well; lots of jeering in the audience.

I guess I'm glad in a way because I think Blake's weaker competition for Jordin. But really, it should've been the two women fighting it out. Randy loves her, Paula too; and Simon says congrats to Blake and Jordin, commisserations to Melinda.

And she sings us out. Here's what I said about Jordin at the audition stage, and the top 10 women stage:

Ooh, Jordin Sparks--she has it, from the second you see her you know. Not a great body shape, but--she can sing. Not great, a bit sharp for me, but a big voice and good poise, does a hard Celine Dion song, while she's singing Simon says to Randy she's the best we've seen here. Randy says he's blown away; her dad is an ex-Giants player I've never heard of. A bit too much says Simon, even comments on her weird smile--which I liked, it was young and nervous and natural. Paula and Randy predict she'll do well. I could see her as top 12, has that kind of brightness and energy that gets the judges a bit giddy and slappy afterwards.

Ah, my fave, Jordin Sparks; another brother dedication, the photos are hilarious, she breaks down talking about it. What a great person; in bluish promish dress, looks elegant. Oh gosh, she can sing--so smooth, and performance is great, doing Reflection from Mulan. It just soars out effortlessly, it's almost unfair. A tiny bit rushed, maybe; but I really enjoy listening to her. She's sobbing at the end; Randy says a few pitch problems, but overall unbelievable story. Paula says there's something about you that's infectious, you're just a good human being who'll be around for a long time. Simon says it wasn't your best, but excellent compared to everyone else--massive potential at 17. Wow, even her dad is tearing--and he's an ex-NFL player!

And here's Blake:

Some kid with a Ryan-like hairstyle, Blake Lewis. Seems like an earnest nice guy; says he's a beat box champ. Not horrible, but not my cup of tea. I don't think he can carry a tune--good energy, but off. Simon, however, says you're good, maybe not as good as you think. Paula says you're good; Randy likes him too, but wrong song. They send him through, I don't think he'll do anything. His dad, a blue collar type of guy, is very proud afterwards, almost crying--his son says his dad is his inspiration, the hardest-working man in Seattle. Hmmm... nice kid.

Blake Lewis, who actually dresses his age, like some skateboarding guy. Gosh, this night is dragging... nothing so amazing yet. Good kid, sincere dedication to his folks. Nice song choice, Virtual Insanity, he's a bit breathless, but it all feels real. Does some beat boxing halfway through, interesting dance moves. Very comfortable with the crowd. Randy likes it, Paula too; Simon doesn't--first part was copycat, off the video; second part was good, third part wasn't good, no originality, very disappointed. There's a big fuss over whether it was original or not, it's just ridiculous.

Looking for two

It's the crucial cut to two, and the Idol contestants go home. Jordin gets a huge welcome at home, then sings Wishing on a Star by Rolls Rocye as selected by Simon. Nice white/dark dress; it's a fun, playful song. Not crazy about the melody; but it does suit her, energetic but with some moments for her to really sing. It's an okay performance, Simon didn't punch her ticket for the finals the way he did with McPhee last year--but she may not need it, either. Randy says great vocal, Paula likes it, Simon says you sang it brilliantly but the weird jazz version not great. Jordin says she'd never heard the song, a bit surprised but it's a great song so thank you; Simon very cooly and Britishly replies, pleasure.

Blake at home, Paula chooses Roxanne. Hmm, good choice; just hope he doesn't do anything too weird. In vest; yeah, a very good choice--totally shows off his interesting voice, the Sting reminders help him too. He's sometimes hard to understand, but sings it straight, no weird beatboxing stuff. Kindof a weird accent at times. Not amazing, but good; Randy says great performance, good vocal, A; Paula is beaming, fantastic; Simon says not earth-shattering, not as good as Sting, not great.

Melinda in Nashville, no big crowd but the governor; I Believe in You and Me is Randy's choice. Hmm; nice, melodic song; wow, from the get-go a great choice, Melinda is spackled dress, just croons it out--controlled, breathy, it's very compelling. She's especially good on the chorus; it's the perfect choice and she knocks it out of the park, very believable; this year's Somewhere Over the Rainbow moment. Big standing O from the audience, Randy says you rose to the occasion, Paula says one of your best, Simon says difficult song, your best performance recently, and you win round one. Thanks to Simon, I'd say. Simon asks Ryan if he's drunk, it's totally random.

Jordin back, in cool blue top and jeans. Says Mmbop by Hanson is her favorite song in that it always puts a smile on her face, audience cracks up, says hey, I'm 17. Doing Work Hard for the Money, producers' pick. No on-camera appearence by Clive this year. She looks great; but I don't like the song that much; she sings it well and it's a great performance as always, just not that great. Nice ending though, redeems it all a little. Randy says everything you do is hot; Paula says fantastic, Simon says it was very good, arrangement a bit old-fashioned but very good as he's cracking up at Paula.

Blake in weird white jacket, is totally smug, says he'd have Jim Carey play him in his biopic. Room Five, This Love--hmmm, could be a good pick; not that crazy about the song, but Blake is pretty decent--just hard for me to care much; he throws in his beatboxing; eh, it winds up just being okay. Randy says you should make records like that; Paula says you're totally in your element, Simon says it was better than the first one, you sounded very comfortable.

Melinda in a fun purple/yellow dress, says her mommy's her girl and has always been her idol; doing Nutbush City Limits. Wow, just powers it out; she's on a different level tonight. Seems re-energized somehow, maybe it's just good song choices. She's won round two as well; it's quite an impressive performance, fun to listen to--even does some things with the mike stand. Randy is like wow, Paula says we love you, Simon is like great side of you, brilliant performance. Simon says the round overall was a tie, but doesn't say with whom.

It's being set up as Melinda's in the finals, and either Jordin or Blake with her. Odd edit, seems like something cut out between Simon/Paula; she chose I Who Have Nothing; I like the song, think it's good for her; she's in pink dress, very dramatic, slow and powerful. She totally acts it out too; too bad Simon didn't choose something along this line for her. She's very convincing, hmm, face looks a bit like Oprah; it's just a stellar Idol performance, great pick by Jordin. Randy says another great performance, Paula says you sounded great--both seem a bit subdued; Simon says sang very well, but hated the oldness of the song, old-fashioned, wish it'd been something else. Hmm, he's totally setting up a Melinda-Blake final.

Blake doing When I Get You Alone; video of him on stage with Sir-Mix-A-Lot; hmm, kindof unfair, it's a great little clip to set him up. The song choice isn't very good; totally unmelodic and boring; it's kindof ridiculous actually, shows how boring he can be without his gimmick--throws a bit of it in at the end, it's all just very blah. Randy says it was allright; Paula says all 3 songs show who you are; Simon should rip him--oddly, says he really liked that, makes a speech about how he likes how he doesn't play it safe, looks like he's having fun.

Melinda's got a crowd back home, singing I'm a Woman, in bizarre all-tan outfit. Not sure about this, it's such a cliche; she's good working with the backup singers, she's really busting out but this is just an okay--and short--song for her. Randy says good range, likes it; Paula says you're stepping out, Simon says you deserve a place in the finals.

Really, it ought to be Melinda and Jordin. Will be interesting to see whether Blake can knock Jordin out based on balance. Randy says it should be two girls in the final based on singing, Paula says all 3 deserve, Simon says he wants to see Melinda in the finals.

Jordin Sparks, 3
Melinda Doolittle, 1
Melinda Doolittle, 2
Jordin Sparks, 2
Blake Lewis, 1
Melinda Doolittle, 3
Jordin Sparks, 1
Blake Lewis, 2
Blake Lewis, 3

Words from the Arab street

The BBC, as usual the most reliable conduit of non-Western views:

Arab youth revel in pop revolution: Rotana's marketing manager, Hady Hajjar, describes the company's vision from the top of a tower that looks across downtown Beirut - much of which is currently occupied by supporters of Hezbollah, who present a sharp contrast to the music videos' parade of flirtatious, scantily-clad singers.

"Let's not judge on terrorists, let's not judge on wars. Let's judge on cultural thinking. Let's judge on accomplishments," he says. ...

Rotana makes much of its money through the constant stream of mobile phone messages from its young viewers that runs along the bottom of the screen.

Habib Battah says the messages are much more than simply a way to make money.

"There's a real frustration in the Middle East among young people, and this is a way for them to kind of escape their family structure - of dating, of arranged marriages etc - and actually meet people in different countries - young people - and connect with them.

"And there is a big desire, a big thirst for that forum. And so right now that's what's happening with music in the Middle East - it's being used as a way to connect young people." ...

Looking at the apparent freedom and openness of the women in the latest videos, some in the West see them as a sign that the old Middle East of authoritarian leaders and ideological intransigence is changing.

But Mr Battah feels that this is going too far.

"There is a misconception in the West that reality TV and pop music means that the Middle East is becoming more democratic. But, you know, voting for a superstar is not the same as voting for an election."

Cut to three

Barry Gibb somehow is performing on the same bill as Pink; and the judges switching seats is the highlight of the opening. Simon pretends to be Paula with some seal-like clapping, Paula pretends to be Simon with some chest puffing.

They go to the farmer's market, of course everyone who enthuses about Barry Gibb is old. It's all totally pointless, and just padding. As Ryan says, you can tell we have an hour to fill tonight. Ouch.

Back with a commercial for Idol on tour, per usual Sanjaya's the focus. Pink performs, interesting striped black and pinkish dress. She's okay; funny that Idol's essentially renting out its stage to anyone with something to promote. Switching between AI and the Golden State-Utah game; wonder what Charles Barkley's watching in the studio.

Ford commercial is good, You Really Got Me, with vintage Beatle-esque filming. Jordin looks good as a school girl; not so much Blake. The medley has audio problems at the start; jeez, you'd think they'd have that figured out by now. Jordin is just dominant, both stature-wise and vocally; she's amazingly stylish. The songs aren't any good, though, so it's all kindof a waste of time. Wait, they're singing Islands in the Stream--that's a Gibb song?! Why didn't someone sing it last night!

Back chatting with the contestants, nothing so illuminating except LaKisha admits to rehearsing in case she's gotta go home. Extended round of interviews; with a shot of Simon's toothy girlfriend. Jeez, more commercials--Idols went to see a preview of the Fantastic Four, with Icemanish 'Silver Surfer'. Interesting, director is Tim Story, who's black. Preview looks mildly interesting, if totally derivative of X-Men. With Jessica Alba and the rest of the cast in the audience afterwards as the commercial continues.

Hmm, a deeper look at the contestants. Wow, all only children except for Jordin, who we know has a brother. As she says she looked the same as a kid, very cute. The photos are actually all great, this is interesting. They should've done something like this way earlier; there's a great photo of Jordin as a toddler with her dad's name on the back of her little jersey.

Big group hug as we come back, they refuse to break into a line, it's hilarious. Jordin is safe, group hug and some talk before she sits. The rest of the results but first AI is apparently looking for the best undiscovered band in America. Well, a very logical and good idea; the individual thing is running out of steam.

Barry Gibb performs To Love Somebody, which is a great song; he's pretty good actually, the nasal thing works for this one, and it seems pretty heartfelt. He gets a big hand; he performs much better than he advises.

Back and Melinda, of course is safe. Randy doesn't know who's going home, Simon offers to guess, says LaKisha; funny, Melinda and Jordin look like sisters in one shot. More than 45 million votes according to Ryan, and it is indeed LaKisha going home.

Tape reminds me of how great she was that first week doing Jennifer Hudson; she's really a good person, I'm sad to see her go home even though it was definitely her turn. She's in tears watching it all; what a pure person. She really brings it on Stayin' Alive, more so than last night. I'd love to have seen Jordin sing the song, but she's not bad, some attitude which was totally missing last night.

3 'girls' and a guy

Ah, American Idol--the only place where a 17-year-old and a 29-year-old can both be lumped together as 'girls'. It's too bad there's not a black male around for Ryan to call 'boy'.

Barry Gibb continues the parade of washed-up Brits; it really makes absolutely no sense, like is the target audience really Bee Gees fans? Not to mention for the second week in a row the women are forced to sing bad white guy music. Gibb keeps calling them 'ladies.'

Melinda Doolittle up first, all in black--doing Love You Inside Out. It's okay--never really goes anywhere, just mellow the whole time. Even her fake energy can't enliven the song; it's just blah, not really her fault. Randy says he's looking to see who's in it to win, it was solid; Paula says vocals good as always, but no wow factor; Simon says I expect incredible tonight, that was a backing vocal performance. Ugh, two songs from everyone tonight--my gosh, this is gonna be torture.

Crazy Blake Lewis doing a funny version of a disco move going into the break; he's doing You Should Be Dancing. All falsetto, this should be hilarious. Gibb just mades dumb comments in the same Sean Conneryish voice they use on Saturday Night Live. My gosh--out in black, looks very non-masculine and weird. It's pretty entertaining, if not enjoyable. With all sorts of crazy beat boxish I guess stuff in there halfway through; so much for the it's a vocal competition line. Eh, it's allright, but this isn't what I tune in for. Randy says the beat box stuff didn't work, made it all very corny like a weird discotheque in some foreign country; Paula says your pitch was off, but liked the beat box stuff even if it wasn't the best night overall; Simon says unique but absolutely terrible. Ryan and the music cut Simon off, which is annoying.

LaKisha Jones doing Stayin' Alive; Gibb has nothing substantive to add, LaKisha is looking large and I guess in charge in some crazy print top; looks too intense for the song, which really should be approached with a sense of camp. Seems a bit breathless too; it's just not that great, almost like she's desperate. Randy says good thing you guys have two songs, no need to change it too much with all the start/stopping; Paula says the tempo was taken down too much, no energy; Simon says no kiss tonight, baby, back to the shouting verging on scary in parts.

Jordin Sparks next; I think she'll do best tonight, she's the only one young and fun enough to sing this kind of fluff. Really, it's like Idol is sabotaging their own contestants. She's in a fun paisley dress; says in response to a viewer question she's doing a lot more than she thought she could, three hours of school on top of everything else. Wow, perfect song choice--To Love Somebody, Gibb says it's fantastic, hasn't heard a greater version than Jordin. And from the get-go she's in a totally different league tonight; slow and soulful, sells it well, so authentic, voice cracks just right. Total control, plus above all just nice to listen to--and the chorus, she's got this look in her eyes that makes it seem like she's going through heartbreak. Voice swells big; she looks good too. I hate to say it, but she's reminding me of Katherine McPhee at her best. Randy says the best vocal so far, nice throwback, controlled vibe on it, so far you're winnning; Paula says the best vocal flat out so far; Simon says best song choice, best performance, we're back in a competition.

Melinda again, in a new outfit--grayish dress, says Michael Jackson's Bad was probably her first (tape) purchase. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart; Gibb wonder why she cut some words, she says she doesn't wanna sing about being a loser on American Idol. Better song choice, I think--but I still am instantly not caring. Really, the material is weak; are they saving the likes of Michael Jackson for the finals?! I just don't get it. I guess next week is when the judges pick the songs for them, it can't come soon enough. Randy says much better, great vocal and ending; Paula agrees but surprise us, don't stick so close to technique; Simon says second half of the song puts you into the semis. Well, that plus LaKisha has less support.

Blake is back, doing This Is Where I Came In, which Gibb says is kindof a shock, pretty obscure. Doesn't seem melodic to me; in sweater vest. It's just an odd song; kindof has a nice beat to it, does seem very contemporary, if you're into that stuff. But no fun to listen to; it's kindof like we're listening to some cult performance which deep insiders appreciate. Randy says you don't need to beat box all the time, just okay, it gets old; Paula says nothing old about Blake, dubs him the contemporary rebel; Simon says totally tuneless, not a good night.

LaKisha Jones back, as Ryan wastes time with Judge Judy in the audience, Ryan pretends she's been dating Simon for three months. Run to Me, which she practices out of tune; ugh, it seems tuneless. In bright green and black dress; she's not totally in key; I'm still not sure why they didn't all just sing the Bee Gees' top hits, these other songs are really weak. She's okay, I lost interest pretty quickly. Randy says much better than the first choice, despite the hoarseness at the end; Paula says not bad; a rushed Simon says not great, you and Blake are vulnerable tonight.

Jordin wraps up one of the most boring Idol shows of all time, doing Woman in Love. Oooh, another good choice--Babs sang it, looking forward to this. Gibb says she's gonna be one of our greatest female recording artists--wow! In turquoise gown; totally selling it, slow and controlled as ever, she's just swelling with confidence and has taken over. If she doesn't win this thing, it'll be a great upset. The song's not as great as the first one; different piece, not as much can be done with it. A bit off-key even; it's definitely missing some urgency, a bit shrieky--stellar ending though. Randy says not your best, pitchy, a tough song; Paula says you're beautiful, not the best, you know my dear; Simon says loved the song but old-fashioned and very pageantry, you're 17.

Yeah, so why's she singing the Bee Gees?

Jordin Sparks, 1
Blake Lewis, 1
Jordin Sparks, 2
Melinda Doolittle, 2
LaKisha Jones, 1
Melinda Doolittle, 1
LaKisha Jones, 2
Blake Lewis, 2

A jazzy dame

Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer turned into an unexpected treat. I didn't know anything about O'Day going in--but I always try to watch music documentaries at Tribeca, they're usually very good.

This one started out pretty unevenly--the filmmakers choose a very disruptive editing style, with lots of random graphics and distracting transitions. Maybe they feared otherwise it'd be just another Ken Burns talking head documentary--there are worse things than that style, and one of them is going MTV on a subject that requires gazing.

Plus some of the interviews were shot in an amateurish fashion, with bad lighting and awful backgrounds. There's one extended interview with O'Day, intercut throughout, that seems like she shot it herself in one of those 4-photos-for-a-buck booth. She's constantly out-of-frame or too close to the camera--if it weren't for a bad zoom at one point of the interview I'd have believed that she did just film herself.

But try forget all that, and just listen to her O'Day's voice. Oh, my, gosh. I had no idea. I've never seen facial expressions like O'Day; never seen songs performed like she does, with arm movements and shoulders and body positioning--not over-the-top, just totally apt. Her voice isn't unbelievable, but it suited the songs she chose and her persona so well.

All I really knew about her was that line from Let Me Off Uptown, where (a famous black trumpeter, Roy Eldridge it turns out) wails "A-nniiii-ta, oh A-nniiii-ta... say, I feel somethin'". There's a clip of it, via YouTube.

It turns out the back story is Anita doing that duet with Roy was a pretty risky thing in 1941; I hadn't realized she was white, and obviously all the back-and-forth of the song between Anita and Roy would've riled up people back in the day.

O'Day was just like that--she did her thing, and let the chips fall where they may. There's a lot in the documentary about her drug problems; initially, she was jailed for marijuana--which she says just made her say if people think I'm like that, then I'll become like that (to the point of clubs advertising her as the 'Jezebel of Song').

Then later in life O'Day was on heroin for like 15 years, in a very serious way--to the point that she really should've died, except for luck and some of her many devoted friends (including Carroll O'Connor) helping her quit.

Aside from the drugs and a lot of sleeping around, she also spent a lot of years in Japan when jazz in the 60s fell out of favor in the States; and also seemed to love horse racing, and talking people's ear off.

But in the end, the documentary's memorable because of her music, more so than her story. As one of the many interesting jazz commentators said, she did "wonderful things with time"--and that's it, she had a great sense of when to speed, when to slow, when to play with a phrase, when to let it out rat-a-tat-tat, when to scat, when to go silent.

The filmmakers said afterwards her personality--which totally comes across in the film--was uninhibited; she spoke her mind and let it all out. There's a hilarious interview with a younger Bryant Gumbel, who's actually being a good journalist in repeatedly asking in different ways why she did drugs; she keeps putting him off, until saying in a tart tone: "That's just the way it went down... Bryant."

There's also interesting interviews with Dick Cavett, and Harry Reasoner. In one of them, displaying her wonderful cadence, the interviewer asks, "How could you ever get involved with all that junk?"

Her pitch-perfect 'response' which isn't done justice by type: "How could ya."

If she were a different type of person you could say she was vulgar, even low-class based on some of her life experiences; but in the package she was it wasn't true at all, the opposite actually.

As one of the commentators says, "there was a lot going on under the surface that catches you unaware because it's mysterious, restrained--it's kind of secret."

O'Day died about a month after the filmmakers showed her one of the final cuts; we're lucky some of her performances were caught on film in her lifetime. My favorite:

-Sweet Georgia Brown, in Newport Jazz Fest 1958 (from the very idiosyncratic documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day)


The drawn-out junglish opening and snycopated timing works perfectly for the song; it's funny watching the (very white) audience in the first part, before the camerman focuses more on her. (The second song, Tea for Two, has a shot of the famed 'ice cream lady.')

And oh that outfit, in combination with that saucy voice punching it out; she's totally in her element. This is one of the greatest performances I've ever seen on film; it's so interesting.

And she alludes in the film to being high at the time.

Uncredited Anita O'Day photo at Newport from Time magazine in various places online. She tells the story in the film of how she pulled together the outfit at the last second.

Running for the future

Somehow I always wind up randomly seeing interesting films at the Tribeca Film Festival, even though I think the greater festival is a commercialized scam with a lot of trendy but hollow offerings.

The Third Monday in October was a great documentary about elections for student council president at four middle schools. It was slightly reminiscent of Spellbound in that took an offbeat look at some at-times vulnerable, often funny, diverse adolescents.

Its 'cast' of eleven was:

-Mick (serious and idealistic Filipino-American) vs. Jenny (sortof flighty and hard-to-read Chinese-American) at a slightly scruffy San Francisco school;

-William (short, nervous Caucasian) vs. Sam Arabian (uber-motivated, comfortable in his own skin sortof-Caucasian) vs. Beau (tall, hiding-behind-a-smirk Caucasian) vs. Katie (pretty, coltish Caucasian) at a very-suburban Marin County school;

-Sam (free spirited liberal Caucasian) vs. Dustin (surprisingly thoughtful Caucasian originally from France) at a progressive religious Austin school;

-Kayla (ambitious cheerleader African American with a driven mom) vs. Noelle (surprisingly competitive cheerleader African American) vs. Teekia (cheerleader captain African American) at a dirty-on-the-outside-spiffy-on-the-inside Atlanta school.

It's a lot of kids; hence the filmmakers resort to the shorthand of Asian Americans/suburbanites/granola private school/African Americans. It'd have been nice to have some real diversity inside the schools (no Hispanics?!) but it's not an issue after a while.

Cause the kids are great. They all come through in their various personalities and wonderful inconsistencies; Beau, for example, seems like kind of a spoiled jerk, the kind of kid who's a bit too comfortable pushing it with teachers--but one of the most poignant moments of the film reveals how much he cares about this race he passes off as a lark.

Dustin gets off one of the greatest lines, musing that elections really should be the leaders "representing each others' stories". Who knows where he picked that up--like all young kids he's a random sponge; indeed, one of the themes of the film seems to be how unpredictably but profoundly kids are influenced by the people and the world around them.

The African American girls aren't really differentiated as well as the other groups; all we really know is their once-tight friendship suffers as a result of the campaign, as they each discover how badly they want to win. There are some funny scenes of Kayla's mom, who's apparently a Democratic junkie, quizzing her about politics, with Kayla blurting out 'Shirley Chisholm' at one point before her mom can even laughingly ask the question.

The advisors and teachers don't come across that well for the most part--in three of the four cases they seem to have agendas, with some particularly head-shaking scenes involving the San Fran advisor (who seems to have good intentions and God knows she's got enough structural problems to deal with) but who has a bit of a condescending attitude and really seems to miss the whole point of democracy.

She actually tells Jenny after her speech she's upset and disappointed because she mentions school problems she promises to fix--put a positive spin on things for the younger kids what she, no kidding, tells the distraught girl.

And the San Marin teachers and principal just seem like self-absorbed, unpredictably insecure adults, who actually may be doing serious damage to their you'd-think-blessed students with their whole half friends/half dictators approach to education.

As for the parents--they're almost entirely absent from the San Fran part (the young but idealistic and trustworthy director said afterwards like many immigrant parents they work long hours to give their kids their dream of a better life), and a bit claustrophic for the Marin County kids. For the most part they come across as well-meaning, but a bit clueless, and definitely not great at communicating with their kids, or getting what drives them.

Which is this interesting mix of idealism, ambition and, once they get into things, genuine desire to do something, however fumbling. The filmmakers juxtapose a bit of the Bush-Kerry 2004 campaign with clips of the kids making posters, practicing their speeches and talking politics (in normal kid-like ways). It leaves you wishing someone--maybe a major donor?!--would force professional politicans to watch the film, and write an essay about what they learned.

My favorite kids, not all of whom win their election, are Sam from Marin County--because he and his peeps make like 900 stickers and he's savvy enough to come up with a catchy slogan (Student Action Man, complete with dressing in a Superman outfit); Sam from Austin, because he's the kind of nerdy verbal kid with a different passion every year who sometimes grows up to change things; and Kayla, because she's so unexpected and gets upset about things that matter.

Most of all, I--like the director--like Mick. Ah, what a great kid; the classic good immigrant striver, without a lot of the advantages of the suburban kids, but clearly more intelligent and thoughtful.

And with an appropriate perspective on life. Like he gets a bit bummed out when someone rips parts of one of his precious two posters, but when asked who he thinks did he, he thinks for a moment before shaking it off with, "someone who doesn't like paper."

Uncredite image of Sam Arabian via Tribeca Film Festival website.

Whacking two

Idol's chopping two, and the blue seats are looking pretty bare already. Ryan promises a full hour, laughingly claiming no filler. The judges are still happy--I guess they've figured out we aren't that entertained when they come across as bickering, bitter people.

Having written that, Paula tells Simon she's not his puppet as he messes with her back; then Ryan takes a slam at Simon's girlfriend, he wants him to apologize but then they just blow it off; he does say he'd give top marks to Blake.

They recap last night, then waste more time at the farmer's market in L, highlighted by Ryan prancing around. Come back and talk to the finalists, it's kindof a waste of time except when LaKisha says Simon's a good kisser. For some reason Simon laughs uproariously when Ryan says Simon's got a girlfriend and it's very serious.

Ruben Studdard gets tepid applause as he shows up to encourage more Idol Cares donations, dressed in a ridiculous striped polo.

Back and more self-congratulations over Idol Gives Back, with a tedious recap of clips. Then a performance from some idiot high-pitched kid; I mean, it's just random, no rhyme or reason. Then Fantasia flashes the donation number again, drawing a link between the recipients and herself, which is cool.

Back with a truly weird Ford commercial, they're all freaks in some show, to Paint it Black. Very odd; Blake, of course, is the ringleader. More Idols commercializing, then Ryan has Phil, Melinda, and LaKisha go to the middle. I'm predicting one out of each group of three is getting the axe. 135 million votes in two weeks, Ryan says.

Melinda, of course, is safe; I'm beginning to think she's kindof not very bright, hence the deer in headlights persona. Phil is already consoling LaKisha like she's gone; and wow, in a surprise LaKisha's safe, Phil is gone. Wow; but cool, he totally didn't deserve to stay over LaKisha. Nice guy; he may have peaked too late. This is what I wrote about him the first time we saw him:

Back with a guy whose wife gave birth this morning. I like him; has a good look, cracks up the audience while talking to Ryan. Says the baby's more important to him, he's bummed about missing out. Doing My Girl, dedicated to all three of his girls. Philip Stacy. I like his voice--high, but controlled; pleasant to listen to. Randy likes him; Paula wanted to hear something else--so he does, and sings it well too. Simon doesn't think so, Randy and Paula do. there's some bickering; but he goes on to Hollywood. He runs off to go home.

I'm developing a theory that with all the votes the last week from people who usually don't people were judged more on pure vocals, less on those 'intangibles' that are always biased against black contestants. So Chris should be headed home next, leaving Blake as the only whitey, which may be great for him. Phil sings, and he's good, very comfortable interacting with the judges, his friends, his wife, and then the other contestants in a big group hug.

Back, Ryan right away tells Jordin she's safe; cool. Leaving Chris and Blake, who look quite alike. They're gonna come back after a break, and after Bon Jovi.

They sing (You Want to Make) A Memory, which I don't think I've heard before. It's good; could totally have seen Chris cheesing this up last night. It's such an iconic sound, so 80s along with the Cosby Show, the 49ers, and Ronald Reagan/Mikhail Gorbachev. Ryan gives him a chance to run a commercial for their upcoming tour, then they go to break with Taylor Hicks.

Blake and Chris, who say they're best friends, and are messing around as they wait. And it's--Chris finally going home. Whoo-hoo. About 5 weeks too late. This is what I said about him the first time around:

Christopher Richardson, who we know from the tease is interesting. I like him, he has a humble, nice vibe. Wow, and he can sing--powerful, nice tone. Pleasant to listen to, good pacing, very sincere. I could see him doing very well. Carol is totally in synch with the judges, they all like him; Randy makes comparison to Justin T-lake, Paula says you're very special. Simon says you could surprise us in the next round, could do better. On he goes; sortof your average white guy in some way, Paula thinks girls will love him (3 of them hug him outside).

Sings us off as Ryan says Barry Gibbs next week.

Zebras aren't color blind

One of the reasons why I like sports is that in many ways it serves as a simple model of society. There are clear knowns, and fixed variables; instead of billions of actors there are a few hundred or a few thousand; and via things like box scores and game stories, a high percentage of what happens in this microcasm is documented.

Plus, because of the racial makeup of the major American sports leagues, there are much greater opportunities for racial interaction than tends to hold true in the 'real' world.

I've written a few times about the subconscious bias almost all of us hold when it comes to race; little surprise then that NBA referees are no different.

Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls, Alan Schwartz in the Times: An academic study of the National Basketball Association, whose playoffs continue tonight, suggests that a racial bias found in other parts of American society has existed on the basketball court as well.

A forthcoming paper by a University of Pennsylvania professor and a Cornell University graduate student says that, during the 13 seasons from 1991 through 2004, white referees called fouls at a greater rate against black players than against white players.

Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor of business and public policy at the Wharton School, and Joseph Price, a Cornell graduate student in economics, found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game.” ...

The three experts who examined the Wolfers-Price paper and the N.B.A.’s materials were Ian Ayres of Yale Law School, the author of “Pervasive Prejudice?” and an expert in testing for how subtle racial bias, also known as implicit association, appears in interactions ranging from the setting of bail amounts to the tipping of taxi drivers; David Berri of California State University-Bakersfield, the author of “The Wages of Wins,” which analyzes sports issues using statistics; and Larry Katz of Harvard University, the senior editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

“I would be more surprised if it didn’t exist,” Mr. Ayres said of an implicit association bias in the N.B.A. “There’s a growing consensus that a large proportion of racialized decisions is not driven by any conscious race discrimination, but that it is often just driven by unconscious, or subconscious, attitudes. When you force people to make snap decisions, they often can’t keep themselves from subconsciously treating blacks different than whites, men different from women.”

Mr. Berri added: “It’s not about basketball — it’s about what happens in the world. This is just the nature of decision-making, and when you have an evaluation team that’s so different from those being evaluated. Given that your league is mostly African-American, maybe you should have more African-American referees — for the same reason that you don’t want mostly white police forces in primarily black neighborhoods.”

To investigate whether such bias has existed in sports, Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price examined data from publicly available box scores. They accounted for factors like the players’ positions, playing time and all-star status; each group’s time on the court (black players played 83 percent of minutes, while 68 percent of officials were white); calls at home games and on the road; and other relevant data.

But they said they continued to find the same phenomenon: that players who were similar in all ways except skin color drew foul calls at a rate difference of up to 4 ½ percent depending on the racial composition of an N.B.A. game’s three-person referee crew. ...

Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price claim that these changes are enough to affect game outcomes. Their results suggested that for each additional black starter a team had, relative to its opponent, a team’s chance of winning would decline from a theoretical 50 percent to 49 percent and so on, a concept mirrored by the game evidence: the team with the greater share of playing time by black players during those 13 years won 48.6 percent of games — a difference of about two victories in an 82-game season.

“Basically, it suggests that if you spray-painted one of your starters white, you’d win a few more games,” Mr. Wolfers said.

I'm curious to see what kind of discussion this paper stirs up; as I've said before, it's okay to have a society where almost everyone is racist to some degree, as long as people are aware of their tendencies and take some sort of preventive action.

The problem comes when people stick their heads in the sand and ridicule things like this study, countering with platitudes like can't we all just get along (yes, but not if it's always the same people who benefit).

The kicker to all this, of course, being this:

Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price are scheduled to present their paper at the annual meetings of the Society of Labor Economists on Friday and the American Law and Economics Association on Sunday. They will then submit it to the National Bureau of Economic Research and for formal peer review before consideration by an economic journal.

Both men cautioned that the racial discrimination they claim to have found should be interpreted in the context of bias found in other parts of American society.

“There’s bias on the basketball court,” Mr. Wolfers said, “but less than when you’re trying to hail a cab at midnight.”

Idol rocks out

It's Bon Jovi night on American Idol, which should be interesting since nobody in the group really has any edge to them (except Simon and Ryan). Shot of Antonella and Gina in the audience, two people who would've been great this week.

Then Ryan tells us they raised almost $70 million last week. Wow. 3,000 concerts in over 50 countries lead the list of superlatives about Jon Bon Jovi et al. He says he's looking for a sincerity and delivery from them. Hmm, wonder how come they're not doing Motown week here.

Phil Stacey doing Blaze of Glory, from rehearsals I think he's gonna do well--got the look, and the voice. JBJ says he knocked it out of the ballpark, obviously knows the song. Dramatically walks out of the audience, in gray leather and jeans; he's very good actually--good mix of fierceness and confidence. Totally believable; in total command, plays with the audience and the judges. Shades of Chris Daughtry, but with a thinner voice. Some Navy buddies in the audience; hmmm, he may have pushed himself into the top three. Randy drops in he actually recorded that song with JBJ; 2nd best performance ever on this show; Paula says the best opening all season long; Simon says it was okay, to lots of boos; no authenticity, like a bad actor playing a rock singer. And adds he doesn't think he's gonna last till next week--hmmm, very odd, does he see Phil as a threat he wants to squash?

Jordin Sparks, doing Living on a Prayer. She's gonna rock; this is a good week for them all, upbeat songs to belt out. Tells JBJ her mom's gonna freak out, and that she's listened to them growing up. JBJ says a tough song choice, they had to put in some work; is blown away by her. Hmm, very rocky start--all thin, doesn't flow; all in black with big hair. No edge, maybe it's just so different from JBJ's voice. Also a bit safe, no real crazy feel to it--audience isn't into it at all. Hmmm, not good; first time I've felt like Jordin wasn't awesome. Good thing with the 2-week thing she's got a big cushion from last week. Randy says tough for you, right; definitely not the rock girl, she agrees that the verses were a bit rough; Paula says it's hard but you went for it even though it was a bit out of your range; Simon says--as she says give it to me--the look was horrible, and the singing was verging on shrieking, totally lost control. But agreed with Paula big disadvantage doing guy's rock songs.

LaKisha Jones, another person who may struggle. In odd black outfit with a red sash emphasizing her waist; says she's never listened to his music. This Ain't a Love Song--wow, seems like she's found a good song for her, soulful. JBJ says he'd bet money she's not going home this week singing this song. Wow, she's good--just slow and controlled, it's like the old LaKisha is back. Just the right amount of attitude, belts it out, totally believable and nice to listen to. Why didn't Jordin find this one?! She gets a roar halfway through; this is great, actually. Stops near the end to let the crowd's shrieks builds; nails it. Wow, the best I've seen from her this year, one of the best performances of anyone. Randy says you're back, a little rough/pitchy at first but sold everyone by the end; Paula says good job; Simon says I could kiss you after that, Ryan brings her over and he does, right on the lips; you're so good he says, you rose to the challenge, absolutely nailed it.

Blake Lewis next; he's done something crazy to his hair, it's all brown and looks horrid. He's gonna have trouble, with that pretty boy aura of his. You Give Love a Bad Name; he's got some sort of plan for it, JBJ says it's an adventurous rendition. Blake says he's taking a risk; JBJ is a bit nervous, 16 measure of not singing on a show that's suppose to highlight singers worries him.... Whoah, does sound effects of a record dropping to start; throwing in all sorts of things; I guess if he's going to go out, it'll be his way. Pretty entertaining actually. Total beat box halfway through, the whole nine yards, a back and forth with the drummer; the lighting is even a part of it. I gotta tell you, it's one of the most interesting things I've seen on this show; can't take your eyes off it. The audience is just going nuts, the most original version of a song ever on AI says Randy; Paula says it was amazing; Simon says half will love it, the other half will love it, absolutely the right thing, very brave taking a massive risk and this'll keep you around.

Chris Richardson next, before the break it was like he was trying to rock out like Blake. Uh, good luck. In black with jeans; poor answer to a viewer question, says just have fun a billion times. Wanted Dead or Alive--sounds absolutely horrid in rehearsals, JBJ says he may have been nervous, didn't know all the words; JBJ seems quite intelligent based on his comments. Hmm, Chris isn't bad--tone of his voice fits the song, there's an edge of desperation to it; good song choice. Looks totally insane, but sounds good. Voice is too thin to be great on this song, but really, he's not bad--not totally believable but not his usual wretched performance either. Flags toward the end, really runs out of steam plus the lyrics are just so repetitive that he peters out. Randy says not bad, Paula says it's turning out to be a great night, Simon says you did as much as you could do with that song, not your style, may not be good enough to stay another week.

Melinda Doolittle who tells JBJ she doesn't know how to rock; doing Have a Nice Day. Okay.... He likes her soul, tells her to just be like in church; she's like okay, I like church. She's funny; out in brown and jeans; wow, is actually a bit believable, better than Jordin did. Some grit in her voice; and her usual total confidence. Some attitude too; it's not great, but still very good. A bit shrieky and nasally for my taste. Randy says not your best, but very good, liked the Tina Turner in there; Paula says great workout; Simon echoes the young Tina Turner, you were vocally in a different league than anyone else.

Oh my gosh--they close with President Bush and Laura saying thank you on tape--he pronounces Africa oddly, but it's quite an appropriate message, Laura even makes a joke about his dancing. Wow; what can't Idol do?!

It's sad, but we're almost at the end of this season before we have a show that I think had almost all good performances. One thing though, I'm now cool with Melinda winning; she won me over tonight. I'm also fine if Blake makes the top three, along with either LaKisha or Jordin.

Blake Lewis
LaKisha Jones
Phil Stacey
Melinda Doolittle
Chris Richardson
Jordin Sparks

Holy overload

They start in the control room, as Ryan kicks off Idol Gives Back. Oh, jeez. Every time you vote, NewsCorps will donate .10, up to $5 million. Bono is showing up tomorrow; as for tonight, it's Jordin and her five boring sidekicks.

For the third time they run footage of Simon and Ryan in Africa. Some of the clips have been shown before; I guess it's a good thing they're exposing America's largest tv audience to this. Still, the show itself, the raison d'etre, is only gonna pale even more by comparison.

At one point Simon proclaims the conditions intolerable; unbelievable; just round. Oddly enough, the song underneath it all is Cry on Demand, with the refrain I didn't mean to cause any trouble.

Chris Richardson is doing Change the World; he sings it exactly the same way and just as poorly as he's done every other song. Sitting, in a sportcoat and open tie--just horrid. He's got confidence; apparently doesn't know or care that he's flat, finishes on a screech. Randy likes it, first time in a long time it was great; Paula calls it fantastic, likes his journey; Simon says it feels like the competition starts tonight, good vocal, really well. Gosh, the phone lines are gonna be open for four hours, with two numbers for each contestant.

Melinda Doolittle up next, first Ryan is emphatic that we can help change the world; more padding, and some clips of poor places in the U.S. Louisiana with Randy, rural Kentucky, Navajo nation in Arizona, Atlanta....

Doolittle doing There Will Come a Day; in black dress. She's as usual quite good; maybe because I like the song I don't feel as eh as usual listening to her. Big voice comes out, as do her determined gestures. She looks nervous afterwards soaking up the adoration; Randy says it's great as always, Paula says there's no one like you you're magical; Simon is cracking up, says he loved it cause it wasn't a copycat performance, very believable with an incredible second half, a vocal master class.

Blake Lewis is preceded by Ryan thanking corporate sponsors; you know, this show has pretty much lost whatever YouTubish appeal it had once upon a time. It's slick and the definition of corporate--one of the other networks could dent its ratings by putting up something raw and authentic against it. I mean, Blake's doing Imagine for gosh sake; it's like Madison Avenue's idea of counterculture. He's good, though; in funky sportcoat, oddly leaning back in a chair with an arm leaning on the pianoa, a total pose. Good vocal tone, if over sung a bit; I wonder what happened to the slightly weird Blake, who did his own thing--this is pretty standard stuff, no beatbox or anything thrown in. He's lucky he's got a nice voice. Randy is like great choice, kindof blah performance--Blake is staring daggers at him; Paula says nice sensitive, emotional performance; Simon says iconic song is hard to choose, but didn't go anywhere; although important part is you sang it with sincerity.

LaKisha Jones next, but first more clips from Africa. If they really wanna make a difference, they should also suggest websites for people to visit, thing for them to read, run phone numbers of politicians, etc. I mean, why not really make a difference, instead of merely coming across as making a difference. LaKisha, oddly, chooses Fantasia's I Believe--I mean, we've already seen the original sing, what is she trying to gain? In black dress; very dramatic, but song just isn't very good. Her voice is big, but almost hard to listen to for me, such little variation. Randy says not your best, but liked it, hard to follow Fantasia; Paula says you're a powerhouse, spends most of her time praising Fantasia; Simon says Paula was trying to say she preferred Fantasia's version better, doesn't like the shouting. Oh-oh, she's pretty much gone.

Phil Stacey in tux-like outfit, singing The Change. He's a very sincere singer; I think the bug eyes and bald head help with that--he looks like a giant baby, all innocence and no guile. Vocally it's just okay; the song isn't a very good one (it'd be almost impossible to write something about the Oklahoma City bombing that can stand on its own I think); but I don't dislike it or him. Randy is happy that you're back with another strong performance; Paula says you've found your comfort, this was your best; Simon says I really like you, glad you're back with confidence--but maybe stay with the country feel of your voice, you could do very well because people like you.

Jordin Sparks, looking elegant in a brown dress with her big smile. A ConAgra-sponsored film about a food bank; Simon says he had no idea place like this exists in America. Uh, okay.... He really likes everyone, starts hugging people. Simon says 9 million kids don't have enough food every year in America, which seems low to me. Jordin doing You'll Never Walk Alone, so much going on in our country and around the world. Wow, what a great slow, breathy beginning; she totally gets your attention. Very deliberate performance; she's trying something new vocally here, it's pretty captivating. She's the only person who consistently gets the audience applauding during her performance; there's something immensely powerful about listening to her sing, she's by far my favorite of the night. Randy says that's one of the best vocals by any contestant ever on this show in six seasons; Paula says an amazing, haunting song, you're glorious; Simon says you were fantastic, you'd have a hit record with that.

Yup, she's the only reason I'm still watching. Melinda needs to pick up her game. Wow, and a quick peek at DialIdol shows she's out in front on a night with really heavey call volume.

Jordin Sparks
Melinda Doolittle
Blake Lewis
Phil Stacey
Chris Richardson
LaKisha Jones

This is (still) Germany

BBC, German army in 'racist video' row:

A video aired on German TV has shown an army recruit on firing practice being ordered to pretend he was in New York's Bronx facing hostile African Americans.
In the grainy 90-second video, the instructor tells the soldier to swear as he fires his gun.

US civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, said it was outrageous to depict blacks as "target practice".

New York officials say they are saddened and frustrated that the Bronx district is depicted so negatively. ...

During the filmed training session, an instructor tells the soldier: "You're in the Bronx, a black van pulls up in front of you and three African-Americans get out and start really insulting your mother... act!".

The soldier then fires his gun several times and shouts obscenities in English, as the instructor encourages him to curse even louder.

The clip was filmed in a forest in July 2006, near the barracks of the northern German town of Rendsburg .

The German army said it has been aware of the video since January and was investigating it.

It is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the German military.

A group of 18 army instructors are on trial in the country accused of abusing and humiliating recruits during training in 2004.

Last year, German newspapers published images of German soldiers serving in Afghanistan posing with skulls.

Universal classic

The Times is doing a series looking at "China's embrace of Western classical music"--soon to be followed by a series on America's love affair with Eastern cars?--that is riddled with the expected exotic Orient tone.

The latest piece, Pilgrim With an Oboe, Citizen of the World, by Daniel Wakin, includes this funny-if-it-weren't-sad section:

Despite his extraordinary ability and success, Mr. Wang, like many Asian-born musicians, has had to confront preconceptions about his ability to connect with Western classical music. At the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Richard Woodhams of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a German conductor said he would be happy to show Mr. Wang how to play Brahms, since it was not in his culture, he recounted.

“You don’t have to be German to play Brahms,” Mr. Wang said. “I was very hurt. People think that way? It never occurred to me.”

Mr. Woodhams counseled him to work extra hard because some critics would blame stylistic failings on his nationality, Mr. Wang said. “I had to go the extra mile,” he added. “It may seem like I won a lot of auditions. But I worked harder.”

Sometimes, Mr. Wang said, he gets naïve questions like, “Did you listen to classical music when you were growing up?”

“There are things called CD players,” he said with some sarcasm. He pointed out that he probably grew up listening to far more classical music than most American youngsters. “The thing I don’t understand is why it should make a difference,” he said. “I am a Chinese guy when I look in the mirror, but I’m a world citizen of music.”

Times photo of Liang Wang by Todd Heisler.