Even more random bits

OK, first I would like to announce my selection for American Idol:



This kid is only 16! He is amazing. He did a really nice rendition of "Think Twice" last week, but I thought his "Imagine" performance was better.

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Staying on the Idol theme, it occurred to me while watching this week that Danny Noriega has Victor/Victoria syndrome. Namely, he strikes me as a girl impersonating a boy impersonating a girl. Check it out for yourself!



His voice is usually not bad, but this wasn't his week. Also, I HATE that song!

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I realized the other day that I have a habit of putting the toilet lid down before I leave the bathroom. I think this goes back to when I had my cat Mr. Moo...I caught him drinking out of the toilet a couple times, so I started putting the lid down. Now, four years later, I still do it!

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Update on work sitch: They announced today that there were enough buyouts to avoid involuntary layoffs. But that still means I'm losing three employees. Indeed, this will be interesting as we move forward and I try to figure out how to cover the duties of these three positions. For some baffling reason, I feel a complete lack of enthusiasm. Hm. Curious.

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My new theory as to what LOST is all about now relates back to the graphic novel "The Watchmen." However, it's all swimming in my head and I need to sort it out and lay down what I think is going on. But basically, what I believe we're dealing with here is "saving the world," and yes, I think everyone was intentionally brought to the island. I have to admit that the LOST creators are quite genius. And I should thank them for the endless days I've spent chatting about LOST online with Lil D. It is the ultimate time suck. LOST is the new black!

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Speaking of things being the new black, I tried to find the Tina Fey Weekend Update bit about Hillary Clinton and how "bitch is the new black," but it's almost overwhelming to sort through all the returns on a Hillary search on YouTube. But I found the other one I was looking for, which I thought was pretty funny:



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Lastly, I finally finished reading the Judy Garland biography...which proved to be sad right up to the end. To think of all that talent ending in a locked bathroom, slumped over the toilet. But she herself said she would have done her life all over again with all the same mistakes. I don't think she hated living...there were just too many factors that made it hard for her to keep control her life. Namely:

-An overbearing stage mom who made it clear through her actions that her daughter was nothing but a meal ticket, a way of vicariously living out her showbiz dreams...including drugging her so she could always "keep her going." Unfortunately, that kicked off a lifelong addiction, and a precedent that any time she felt out of control, she need only pop a pill to fix it. Her mom was never seen to hug her or tell her she loved her...basically, mom was just a "manager."

-A string of men who took advantage of her. Egad, the woman did not have good taste in men. Almost all of them either turned out to be secretly gay/bisexual or gigantic embezzlers. My gosh, one of her husbands even slept with Liza's husband! In my opinion, Joe Mankiewicz could've been the one good guy for her...but his wife wouldn't let him go. Anyway, she almost never saw one physical penny of the millions she earned. She died broke, thanks to really bad mismanagement and the inability of one single person to do right by her and just be honest. I don't get that...I know it's tempting to take something for yourself, but that is just really not right to steal from someone who literally had to sing for her supper. How hard is it to just be honest?? Embezzlers are some of the most disgusting human beings, if you ask me.

-Bad home-life examples. Her dad was secretly in love with teenage boys, her mom cheated with her best friend's husband...Judy became quite the cheater herself as she grew up. There wasn't really any good foundation for her to go on. History repeats itself. I think being with lots of different men made her feel like she was in control, because she could always move on and just pick a new guy...but really, what she needed was positive attention, and she almost never truly got it from many of the men.

So, it's clear that she just never really felt like she was in control of anything. She felt like MGM owned her and told her who she could and couldn't be, and because of her home life, she always retaliated by going off the deep end. Her dad died when she was pretty young, so she mostly grew up with her mom who didn't act like she loved her...so Judy was always looking for love and attention wherever she could get it. And a lot of guys took advantage of that. It's sad, really, because if everyone had just treated her like a human being, instead of like property/income/status, we might have seen a very different ending to her life. I feel bad for her kids, who had to witness a lot of really un-kid-friendly things. Liza even had to carry around a stomach pump and save her mom's life a few times.

I'd like to read a Liza biography soon, to see what her perspective was like. I'd also like to know what has become of her son Joey Luft, who you almost never hear about.