That's because Imagine was probably written by Yoko Ono, not John.

I will be SO PISSED if that Castro kid gets kicked off. This show is really shameful; they don't even try being clever about their blatant manipulation of the tween/fan-girl population who actually vote. Maybe we can pay Disney should put some subliminal messages in "Hannah Montana". Vote for Pedro!

I don't think the pimping has been any worse (could it have really gotten worse?) but the sabotaging has become much more blatant, at least in my opinion. It used to be it was every now and then the judges would trash someone for something totally unrelated to the song or performance. Now it seems like if you are not one of the chosen few and you happen to put on a passable performance they make something up to trash you about.

What am I paying you for; to sit around? Hop to it!

Chan -

An enormous amount of cultural baggage hangs on the word "minstrelsy," steeped as it is in the negative caricature of the African American. What you are suggesting by using it in relation to Randy's performance is that he is not only caricaturing himself (possibly a worthy argument), but that he is caricaturing all black people.

Regardless of how tired and hackneyed you consider his commentary, or even how common his lexicon may be to a certain race or class of people, the term paints with such a broad and loaded brush that it immediately lands in the category of a racial epithet. I don't think it's an exaggeration to suggest that using it in this context (indeed, in any other context but historical reportage) is second only to using the N word. That's how it resonated with me, anyway, and I'm a middle-class white boy from New Jersey.

Professor Chan... I like your bad moods. Your opening spiel was so entertaining I had to call my husband into the room to read it out loud. We were both in tears over the "fecal finger painting" line... too true, too true... and since I only feel like writing one comment today, let me add that I agree 100% with the selection of Amanda Overmyer as a true Worster. I am watching the results show right now with fingers crossed.