artquest

And while you're re-reading your blogs, dude, you might want to check out your 6/28/07 post about being in NYC with Jesse and the rehearsal orchestra listening to the songs for the DCAT. That implies to me that you spent just a little bit more time on rehearsing than the single day in your living room that you referred to in your banter last night.

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

The People magazine thing CMSU. Probably very surreal for him too. (But then, I think him singing to Flat!Clay! was probably OTT surreal for him...and I mean that as no offense artquest...)

PS: Remind me to never, ever, ride with KAndre. Not that it wouldn't be fun, no siree Bob, but I'm looking forward to grandchildren some day and would like to live that long. Waves. Loved your recap.

PPS: Mr. Artquest was thrilled to meet some of the FCA posse. He would wave back too, if I let him near the boards.

Just dropping by to say thanks for all the Pala love. It's appreciated. And how did I miss Muski last night? Hey, chickie, will you be in Indio? I can't seem to find the right words to thank you for sharing your joy in your daughter's accomplishments. You're a terrific mom.

It was great to see Couch Tomato again and to finally get to meet Ansa and thank her personally for all the help she gave me during the Summer of Great Pins.

Finally, because I'm sure you've all missed my poddish comments while I've been on the road:

MANDATE? Yes!

STAYING WITH RCA? Sticks fingers in ears and goes yah, yah, yah, I can't hear you.

Heh.

The soundcheck video gave me a glimpse into an alternative reality, with Mr. Aiken standing off to the side of the stage in the school auditorium, mouthing along the words of the song he spent weeks teaching the kids in his class. After their big number, he has to peel the kids (and a stray mom or four) off of his ankles because they all love him so much. Later on the moms have to try to explain to little Billy and Suzy why the video tape they took only shows the kids for a few seconds, while the rest of the time it is focused on Mr. A.

So why am I up at 5:37 AM? 'Coss it's CLAY DAY! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

OK, it's not going to be hot in San Diego. Daytime high 76, low 68. It may be even cooler on the water, where the concert will be. Pala will be 82, low of 61. It'll be close to 80 in Hollywood on Saturday, but still in the low 60s at night.

If people want hot, though, Indio and Fantasy Springs will make them happy. Daytime temps should be well over 100 with lows in the 70s. Inside the casino and show room, it'll be really, really cold.

Probably no bugs, though!

Cheekbones! Sigh.

Oh, man, there's that pod people thing again.

Let me propose an expanded definition: Anyone with a closed mind, whether that person thinks everything is going great with Clay or everything is the result of a conspiracy between RCA and assorted villains, is a pod person. Of course this flies in the face of my endless post on the previous page that talks about how people of all kinds really deal with evidence, but if we want to be simpler, this definition works for me. The truth is that closed minds are almost always in the eye of the beholder.

I would be fine with that - just need to add "beating you over the head repeatedly with said view". And a lack of appreciation of tiaras.

Oh, man, there's that pod people thing again.

Let me propose an expanded definition: Anyone with a closed mind, whether that person thinks everything is going great with Clay or everything is the result of a conspiracy between RCA and assorted villains, is a pod person. Of course this flies in the face of my endless post on the previous page that talks about how people of all kinds really deal with evidence, but if we want to be simpler, this definition works for me. The truth is that closed minds are almost always in the eye of the beholder.

But more seriously, you've just reminded me how much I want to go back to school and get my Masters but every time I think about sitting in class after work I get a headache. Hee. I used to use all my little hobbies in my papers for undergrad..wonder how many times and ways I could have fit Clay into any topic or subject. Do you get many pop culture references in your classes?

All my students know about Clay! In my Abnomal Psych class, he's the example of panic attacks and how they're tied to hypermobility of the joints. In Statistics, I use American Idol and especially Dial Idol to talk about probability. I also have them rate Clay songs to provide data for some elementary analysis. In the senior seminar class I use the trash entertainment blogs and how rumors start to demonstrate principles of cognitive psychology. Everywhere you go, there's Clay!

jmh123, you speak wisdom in your entire post. Let me dwell on just one of your points: most of the time we don't like ambiguity. I mean we REALLY don't like ambiguity. The discomfort from that makes us do all kinds of odd manipulations so that we can appear consistent to ourselves and others.

Classic example:

Knock, knock. Door opens:

"M'am, would you put this honkin' big ugly sign for I.M.Politician in your front yard?"

"No, you young whippersnapper. Get outta my face."

"OK, would you put this tiny, tasteful sign in your yard?"

The lady at the door sees herself as a kind person. She realizes she's just been unkind to the stranger, which is out of sync with her self image. So given the option of removing the ambiguity and reasserting herself as a kind person, she says:

"Well, yes. You can put that tiny sign in my yard. That's OK."

And the young whippersnapper gets exactly what he wanted in the first place.

It's called the "Door in the Face" technique. Useful when planning budgets that someone else has to approve . . .

wonders briefly if she can convince artquest to write her thesis for her...perhaps extra-special minionhood?...

ETA: My example is a way better example of cognitive dissonance than ambiguity. A topic for another time.

But my worst ngihtmare sports moment that gets repeating over and over --well I have two... one is Kirk Gibson of the Dogers hitting that homerun off Eckersley then limping and fistpumping his way around the bases to win the game...UGH I think I have seen that clip a million times...

Hee. Is being a Dodger fan worse than being a pod person? On second thought, don't answer that.

But, just like some fans latched onto the word "mandate" even though he only used it once, they see and hear what they want to see and hear.

It all comes down to how we process information. When people get ambiguous evidence, we believe that the evidence supports our theories or we simply disregard it. We have the latitude to do that because the evidence is, well, ambiguous. That's the " see and hear what we want to see and hear" part.

There are lots of examples in the endless discussion of Clive Davis and what really went on in the creation of Clay's sophomore CD. My favorite examples come from the world of parapsychology. The true believers see floating white particles as "spheres" caused by paranormal energies. The skeptics see dust motes.

When people get unambiguous evidence, we deal with it differently. If the evidence supports our beliefs, then we say, "Well, yes, of course." When the evidence challenges our beliefs, we don't usually disregard it, plus we can't fit it into our belief system because it's unambiguous, after all. Instead, we challenge it. We nitpick the details or the methodology (in science) or the reasoning or even the reporting skills or credibility of the source. My favorite example of this comes from a textbook in social cognition where the author, after explaining ambiguous and unambiguous evidence in Chapters 1 and 2, spends all of Chapter 10 nitpicking the evidence supporting psychic phenomena. He's a perfect example of his own thesis.

With a little effort, one can look past one's own preconceptions and evaluate the evidence by the uses other people make of it.. If you find that both sides of an argument are using the same evidence as support, it's probably ambiguous. If one side accepts the evidence and the other nitpicks, then the evidence is likely to be unambiguous. Ultimately, this is why science works the way it does, trying to get past the logjam that can be caused by ambiguity. We don't need to do that on the message boards, we only need to cheerfully and enthusiastically continue our debates. And by the way, did you see those smokin' hot jeans from last night?

But rest assured, the poddies will find something to angst about and ways to spin it. Yadda Yadda Yadda.........*g*

I enjoyed treenut's comments (which I agree with) and LMF's response. It's always nice to have a diversity of opinions.

I dunno, reading the review I got the impression it just wasn't his cup of tea...but it was good for what it was. Strikes me as fair enough.

What's a spacious manner?

Holy Sh*t! Will you look at those eyelashes! Pretty man.

Muski, check your PMs.

During the JNaT, Jesse was much more reserved. Now he's an integral part of the show, which makes it that much more fun to watch.

Spot finally uploaded The Way You Make Me Feel from Tulsa. I've been waiting for this because it was so hysterical to watch on stage. It's at least as funny on video. And the vox. Oh, my goodness, the man was in great voice.

Ok. I dunno about anyone else but I think it could get interesting over at he CB shortly. Well, maybe not interesting, but I'm certainly gonna grab some popcorn, put ma feet up (on my own armrest) and watch fer a spell. Well uhm, most likely I'll just go to bed and check back in the morning. Anyway someone just started a thread titled Jessie? and they are discussing how cute he is, how they can't help watching him up there and what is known about him.

What?

I wonder if Clay will do his own cellcert with his new iPhone. . .

Safe travels to everyone.

I can't wait for the tour to start! I've got a new external hard drive. I've got my video camera in the shop getting the zoom fixed (you can never get too close to Clay Aiken), and I'm shopping for shoes tomorrow. Wheeeeeeee.

Set lists? I don't have much of an opinion as I expect I'll love about everything he'll do. That said, I expect something spiritual or religious in tone. I expect some tunes from ATDW, MOAM, and some new stuff - maybe something he and Jaymes are experimenting with for the new CD. My guess for the bit that he and Jesse have worked out will be an American Idol medley. He'll do Invisible, and I expect, crave, and dream that he will sing Lover All Alone. But it's Clay, so I'm easy.

The small iPod screen is so bright and has such a high resolution that I was able to watch 7 hours of Heroes episodes while on a 15 hour plane flight. It eats batteries, though. This little goodie was a godsend.

The Last Unicorn CD arrived yesterday. DD had had a rough evening, so she was doubly delighted to find such a wonderful present waiting for her! However, I haven't been able to remember or track down who found the Amazon.com listing. Whoever you are, MWAH!

Stand Tall -- Burton Cummings

Good Shepherd -- Jefferson Airplane

Cowgirl In The Sand -- Neil Young (4-Way Street)

Cortez The Killer -- Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Live Rust)

You Get What You Give -- New Radicals

I Am a Pilgrim -- The Byrds

Celeste - Donovan

Season of the Witch -- SuperSession (Stills, Kooper, Bloomfield)

TB Sheets -- Van Morrison

It Makes No Difference -- The Band (I loved Ricky Danko!)