Some of my readers from way back in the day will remember my American Idol recap/snarks. I quit doing them because frankly, they bored me and others were doing them better anyway.
Mini-me and I discussed for the past two seasons doing a podcast about AI, but just never did. Partly because the show airs during the school week and she has homework to do and must get up in the morning for school and doing a live, or immediately after the show podcast would interfere with more important aspects of our lives. Plus LOST comes on right after and we are busy with other conspiracy theories, thank you very much.
All that said; we totally called it tonight and wished we had been recording live as proof. About 15 minutes into the show Mini-me calls for a *ll*.
(*ll* = pause, look on your dvd control!)
ll= "There is no way they are sending anyone home tonight. This is a totally feel good show and the 'big surprise' is that no one goes home." says Mini-me.
There were many *ll*'s tonight. I wish I'd had my laptop fired up to record them. Many of them were because of questions and commentary about AIDS, malaria, poverty, etc. in Africa and the U.S. In all honesty, the questions vs. commentary were pretty equally split between the girls and me.
i.e. Sarah (mini-me) just completed a report for language arts about Oprah. In light of that she asked me why Oprah spent 40 million dollars on ONE school when she could have built 40 SCHOOLS across Africa for a million dollars each. I didn't have an answer. I'm sure there is one. Anyone? Bueller? Oprah? Gail?
There was a point where the cameras, Simon and Twinkles were in an African home where I realized that I had to call for a *ll*. There were 12 orphans in this home and one mother. The walls were made of mud, the floor was dirt, there was one blanket for 13 people. These people have no idea who the fuck Simon Cowell or Ryan Seacrest is, what a blog is, have never seen nor heard of cable television, and wouldn't know the Ford Motor Co., Disney, or AT&T if it were written on the toilet tissue they have never used and yet, here are these rich white men with their retinue of camera people etc. once again. What do these people really think when these westerners show up to film them? Do they silently hope that another Angelina/Madonna is there to take one of them away to the good life? Do they know that they are being held up to show the world their plight and that a bunch of Americans will be guilted into giving up one soy latte a month to give them life? There is no right or wrong here. It just is what it is. I was moved personally but yet it felt quite hollow. I wished in some way that I could go and scoop those beautiful mothers and children up in my arms, bring them to my well-equipped hospital, make them a warm bed in my home and know in a concrete way that I'd made a difference. But I can't and even if I did, it would be only a small part and it wouldn't cure the bigger problem. Regardless of what I did or didn't do, what money I did or didn't send, there would still be this problem, I'm not naive enough to think it will ever be solved by rock stars and telethons.
The highlight of the show for me and I'm sure for many others was Bono coming to talk with the remaining Idols. If I had been one of the six, I'd have fallen down in a fit and started talking in tongues when he walked throught that door, but that is just me. When I regained my senses, I (as usual) listened to what
the Messiah Bono had to say. I again called a *ll* when he said that he's played in front of crowds of 7,000+.
*ll* = I know that spending an average of $100 for a concert ticket isn't unheard of for a big name. I would expect nothing less to see/hear U2. Do the math, 7,000x$100. If those people just gave what they are willing to spend to see Bono live, think of the lives saved.
I'm choosing as of right now to ignore the plight of the poor in the U.S. because it is just TOO much of a politically charged topic for me to get into at this time (almost 1am!) As many of my friends and family who read this blog know, my dh is a Alex P. Keaton, Republican through and through. I'm not. But I'm not a flaming, Hillary R. Clinton liberal either. I'll leave it right now to say that it is so much easier to have an opinion about peoples in a third world country far removed from our existance than it is to have one about people living in third world conditions around the corner from ourselves.
I'm glad that the producers of AI have taken the opportunity to use their pimp-powers for good. Yet I still have a cynical part of me that says that there is exploitation taking place anyway. It may be inevitable in our current society. C'est la vie.
**other topics that came to mind during the show that I may expound upon if inspired to do so (in other words, if you want my opinion, comment dammit!)
*the Celine Dion/ Elvis "duet"- Holy Jesus on a Pogo Stick, what the fuck was that?
*Why didn't they let Paula out of the country?
*Trying to explain the cultural differences between the Eastern Kentucky coal miners and "us" to my children. And comparing/contrasting that lifestyle to the auto/factory workers in Michigan that I grew up around.
*See, Simon has a heart, it is just hardened by a brain that is as cynical/practical/pragmatic as mine. His heart wanted to take those children/AIDS mothers back to LA with him but he knew it wouldn't solve the bigger problem. Because he sees the big picture, he is even more heart broken by the entire situation. Oh but to be naive and doe-eyed and think that singing some sappy songs and dialing the cell phone that mommy and daddy are paying for will just solve all the world's problems! *le sigh*
