Tidbits 1/9

• Newsweek on TV based competition shows - "When Ruben Studdard trounced Clay Aiken in the season two finale, the FCC was flooded with complaints from viewers alleging the show was rigged."
• IGN -
  

  Creating an album is a compilation of all the games. If you're good dope at all of the games you'll have an album out on the streets that will earn revenue for weeks while you continue to do gigs. I'm not sure what qualifies as a hit record though. I did almost perfect on all four of the games and on one review it said my album was a hit and on another it said to only buy it if you're a fan. How disappointing. Now I know how musical geniuses like Britney Spears and Clay Aiken feel when someone writes a bad review about their music. You can also go on tours where the games are random and earn you a lot of bank.

• Middleton Journal - American Idol returns!

  Season 2: 2003
  
  We learn an Alabama area code
  
  "Velvet Teddy Bear" Ruben Studdard pushed aside runner-up Clay Aiken in the biggest cliffhanger season yet. Each week the votes were close. This was the year the voting system was questioned because of overloaded phone lines. Methods were scrutinized and some wondered if that caused Aiken's loss as champion. Still, Studdard's win saw him moving on to produce an album called "Soulful," which had pre-order sales so high it debuted as No. 2 on Billbard's Hot 100 list.
  
  Studdard often wore a jersey with the numbers 205, representing a main area code of Central Alabama. He wasn't the only memorable performer that season: we also met Kimberly Locke, Joshua Gracin and Trenyce. And who could forget Corey Clark, who was disqualified and went on to say Paula Abdul wanted him?

• Clay - The Man should cure you of "Seasonal Affective Disorder" with their top notch posts
  
• Chexxxy's Pearls - Clay holds Golfing For Inclusion for TBAF in Florida -

  The first annual "Golfing for Inclusion" tournament and dinner was held at the Mirasol Country Club in Palm Beach,FL on January 7th 2008. There was plenty of food, drink,and golf lessons for beginners during the day and of course plenty of golfers teeing off and enjoying the perfect weather in good company.
  

• Idol Thoughts - best American Idol auditions -

  3. Clay Aiken
  Paula was "away" during Clay's Idol debut, and what she missed is the stuff of legends -- a ridiculously strong voice coming from a dweeby white kid. It threw the judges for a loop --Randy didn't know what to make of it, and even Simon had to acknowledge the power of this kid's voice. Amazing.

• The ConCLAYve responds to Clay being labeled as having the worst hair style of 2007 -

  Now, let's do Clay. Yeah, yeah, get in line. Get your brushes out of the gutter, I meant let's review Clay's hair. Sure, he's had a couple of not so good hair days most noted by the “Look ma, I tried to tame that cowlick by simply forcing it in the other direction” hair.
  
  And then there was the winning entry in the “cut your cousin's hair using a bowl” contest. Yes, I know this was for a gag but it sort of looked like that when he sat on a horse visiting Jimmy Kimmel.
  
  But most of the year was pretty good.