American Idol Blogger All-Stars
I don't know. I think I may have f#cked up badly on that one. I was a mess. I talked a lot with my awkward hand movements, licked my lips, squinted -- gosh, it was embarrassing. Sorry Angels -- I tried my best! I've never done this before. I'll just credit it to life experience, and probably get public speaking lessons. Michael Slezak was a better speaker on camera and was in combat mode. And MJ cried defending David Cook. What? Why didn't I think of that? Where were my tears for David Archuleta? That emotional tug to sway the audience. Gosh, I hope the tears don't come next week... Meanwhile, I was my ranting and raving self waving my Mariah-hands. Sigh. I hope they edit it well. LOL
(Note: MJ was teary-eyed, she stopped herself from crying talking about David Cook.)
Overall though, it was a blast, and really one of the best experiences I've had directly related to my work in the blog. To be in the same room with all these people, talking about American Idol because we matter. Awesome. And Jim Cantiello is hot!
I don't know how long the shoot took but it was long. The setup of the mics, the many takes for Jim's intro. And then the round table itself discussing Idol in general. I had a few talking points -- well, I only had one actually: David Archuleta will win American Idol. But I was too nervous to prepare for the other questions properly. This showbiz-thing is nerve-wracking.
It was also nice to know how well-regarded Rickey.org is in the "American Idol Internet niche". On camera and off camera, they referred to stuff we did this year like the comics, the Red Light conspiracy theory, the Fanesha 300, the GoPhone movement, Dadchuleta-gate (Michael and MJ: "You think you had it rough, wait till you've read our mailboxes!"), etc. Yes, I still regard myself as just a lowly blogger hacking away at my computer at home into some unknown entity called the Internet. It's not easy to come to grips that we are now located somewhere near the epicenter of the American Idol Universe.
It's all a blur now, but I had a great time. Thank you Maura, MJ, Jim and Michael!
Jim said the video will be available on Monday or sooner. Will keep you guys posted.