(BiM)–The Chronicles

I’ll admit it. I’m an American Idol fan, but I’m not a very hard core fan. I saw this year’s premiere episode and it was okay. There were some pretty good and really bad auditions but nothing horrifically funny or spellbinding. The good audition were good but they didn’t blow me away. Furthermore, most of the bad auditions were just really weird that episode.

One thing I did notice was one audition that actually wasn’t that bad. It was by a girl name Alexis or something. The judges basically said that she was okay, but not good enough for American Idol. She left the audition room and proceeded to curse her head off. I can’t blame her too much, swearing is a natural, albeit crude, way of dealing with rejection. At least she didn’t try to serenade Paula or get on her knees.

It was after the episode that it realized something. The people that take rejection the most violent way are the people that are just okay. The people that are horrible beyond compare normally cry or plead with the judge. They ask the judge if they can sing again, or find some way to prove their worthiness. The people that the judges write off as just okay, normally explode and curse the judge out. I’m not sure why this is, but it’s just something I have noticed.

Have you ever been with your friends and spent long periods of time trying to find something to do? If you have you’ve been to “Party Purgatory.” Party Purgatory is that weird state of mind you and your friends have before you decide to do something. Normally this period last a few minutes but Party Purgatory can last for hours.

It’s not a great situation. You find yourself saying things like “so what do you want to do?” and a friend will say “I don’t know.” Then you’ll proposal and say “let’s do _X_” and another friend will say “no I hate that/dislike that/find that boring/we’ve already done that.” Multiple proposals are made. Multiple proposals fail. After a while, if you’d made too many unsuccessful proposals, one friend might decide to call someone else for inspiration. Most of the time these calls are unsuccessful; sometimes a caller will get the answering machine or worse yet, the caller will discover that callee is doing nothing as well. All the while you are sitting somewhere boring with nothing to do and nothing to look forward to.

This state can last for hours. The proposals get lamer and lamer as the minutes go by. The calls get more and more desperate. Your face gets stuffed with more and more junk food (and in some cases alcohol/MJ). Your ass grows more and more tire. Your legs fall asleep. It can debilitating.

There is hope. Party Purgatory does not have to be Party Hell or Party Limbo. That’s why it is called Party Purgatory and not Party Limbo– this situation are escapable.

The first step to Party Heaven is simple: get your ass up and stand on your feet.

Next you must leave the area. Change venue. Go explore. You need to find the fun, because the fun will not find you.

Then you must never return to the place you once sat. (We’re talking about a teenager’s forever). Don’t stand up move around and then return to the same place you experienced Party Purgatory. This is a trap. If you get up and come back to the same place you will never be able to escape Party Purgatory.

If you still have nothing to do after you’ve done step 1, 2 and 3, you haven’t ventured far enough. The farther you venture the more likely you’ll find something to do. Even if you and friend wonder the city with no place to go, it will be better than sitting and rotting in Party Purgatory.

I don’t claim to know any thing about the inner workings of the music industry. I don’t know what it takes to become a star and I don’t know what it takes to make a star become a star. One thing I do know is that much of the work that goes in making the next singing sensation isn’t done by the singer in question. Singers need mangers and support so that their voices are literally heard. If they don’t have support their careers will suffer.

This brings me to American Idol. It’s been 6 years and there have been 6 idols. However when I look at the list of idols, I only see 2 maybe 3 stars. This makes me wonder if the American Idol Agency is the best agency. The fact that I have no clue what happened to 3 of the 6 American Idol’s bothers me.

I just don’t hear about the American Idol’s after they leave the show. They disappear. Some don’t resurface. I don’t hear about their concerts (well I do, normally it’s about how sweaty they were on stage. Another sign of bad management), their CD’s (well I did hear that they all have CD’s), their TV debuts (if they had any), or their lives. I’m not the biggest Idol fan so maybe I’m out of the loop. Still I’m do read the occasional pop magazine every month and I do read and listen to the news. I listen to the radio, and sadly I’m don’t hear the most of the Idols.

If anything I hear the people that didn’t become American Idol. At my school, there was more hype over William Hung’s CD than all the other Idol’s album’s combined. The fact that I know more about Jennifer Hudson than Fantasia, Tailor Hicks, Ruben, and Carrie Underwood is kind of sad. I have to ask myself why are the American Idol hidden?

Well, there is one thing I do know. The Idols are not invisible because they have a lack of talent. They are a good “product.” They’ve proven to me through dozens of episodes that they can be stars. All of the Idols can sing and preform under pressure. Heck, they probably can sing better than most artists toping the pop charts. Simon and Randy make sure of that. So it is clear that a lack of talent is not the issue here.

Because talent is not the limiting factor I have come to one conclusion: these stars are not being promoted; they lack support. Their mangers are not pushing the Idol’s in front of our faces, therefore we don’t know about them.

That’s something that I think the American Idol show tries to hide from their contestants. American Idol will get you fame, but it will not get you to super star doom. It will let you do what you love but it will not get your music out to everyone.

Over the years this is what I have noticed. It’s a little depressing, but I can’t complain too much. I guess that what the Idol’s get for short cutting the industry.

It appears that the economy is slowing down. We probably won’t go into a depression (when the economy stops) but a recession is on the way.

The housing industry is slowly down and the the real estate bubble is going to pop (if it’s not popped already). Credit cards are rinking havoc. Stocks have been on the down turn. Plus getting a house and job have been more difficult this passed year. Businesses are cutting down marketing and advertising budgets. Consumers were frugal this last Christmas. Moreover, the dollar is weakening and energy costs are raising. All these factors lead me to believe that a recession is imminent.

2007 was a very different story from 2008. 11 months ago the stocks were doing just fine and the economy was booming. Now all of that is over.

To many this is bad news, but it does not have to be. One thing about money is that you can always make is grow in some way. The secret is to know how. To know how you have to have good idea what is going to happen in the future.

Because were in recession, we’ll be experiencing a buyer’s market. These will be cheaper and the seller will have to cater to the buyer wants. take advantage of this.

Also because thing are cheap, avoid liquidating your assets. This will only compound you’re losses.

There are many ways to come out of a recession on top. Look up advice and don’t fall for traps too good to be true. Keep your head and you might end up with some more money in the end.

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For those of you that are interested in college and other education option beyond high school, this is the site you should check out.