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It’s taken iron determination, but I’ve done it: managed to get through another season without seeing a single complete episode of American Idol. I remember I saw about half an hour of an episode of the first season, and that was all I needed to convince me that I wanted nothing to do with the whole insane creepy enterprise. Since then it’s taken intrepid maneuvering to stay Idol free, given the relentless onslaught of William Hung, Sanjaya, et al. (I’m ashamed that I could even summon those names). So while I know that it my be frowny face time for many of you on my friends list, I also know that you can rest secure in the knowledge that the juggernaut cannot be stopped at this point and that we will be subjected to many more seasons of stellar fabrication before my personal revulsion becomes widespread enough to put an end to it. Till then I’ll cram my fingers in my eye-and-ear-holes and sit in the corner saying lalalalalalalalalala to myself.

In other news, I’ve done a little updating of my online bibliography page to reflect a couple of recent mentions in various reviews.

Last night was another interesting panel at TES, which brought in a crowd that is not often in attendance. It’s always helpful to see different faces, and as board member on duty, I unfortunately had to bring the discussion to a close way before we could have stopped. Here’s to hoping that we can have more of these kinds of talks especially since one unfortunate comment made it clear that people can sit in meetings for many years and still not hear what others are saying around them.

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Sometimes teachin’ is fun!

A great evening at TES: big turnout and people seemed to genuinely like the class.

And I had a very comfy foot rest for most of it.

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Got some free time tomorrow evening? Then come by TES for my class:

“The Artist’s Way to Designing Scenes”

Things start at 8pm. Admission info and address on the TES website, which you probably shouldn’t access from work.

And then next week I’ll be teaching on cigars and pipes at IMsL. And in May I’ll be teaching at GMSA, on photography.

It seems that if it has an acronym, I’ll teach at it.

What does that have to do with the milkshake photo? No idea.

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Got this dvd at the TES gift exchange and not only does it have completely acceptable holiday music (played on solo acoustic guitar), but it’s the first Yule log video I’ve ever seen with footage of someone adding wood to the fire. Usually the loop is so short you never see the fire being tended to ( the classic WPIX log is about six and a half minutes), but while I was watching, somebody just tossed a log on! I don’t know why I find that so satisfying.

here’s hoping that all the rest of your experiences make you feel as good.