idle lessons

So you can compare my excitement over tonight's clip show to Ryan Seacrest's enthusiasm upon being forced to make a "tone deaf" pun out of another city's name. Not psyched. Still, the blogosphere is waiting, so here we go.
Tonight's theme is the "Best of the Rest," and it's driven by a theme of lessons learned from AI. Lesson No. 1: Give us an "OC" rerun instead of an hour-long filler montage. Just kidding.
Really, lesson No. 1 is "The Look," which as we learned last night hardly refers to awkward facial expressions mid-song. No, it's about fashion, as illustrated by contestant Christa, who came in with a bunch of variations of fishnets. But some really stellar red shoes.
She got a big thumbs-down from the judges, minus Paula...who said yes. Chalk it up to shared fashion sense.
"The Look" also gave us Tami, a punk-ish crooner whose version of "Whipping Post" earned her a "1,000 percent yes" from Simon. The link to The Look? 1,000 percent invisible.
Lesson No. 2? Seek inspiration. Even if it's inspiration to redeem your race. That was Paul Kim's position, as he nailed a Shai classic in hopes of proving that not all Asians are like William Hung. It worked, and I can't wait until he makes me feel less guilty about listening to "She Bangs" on repeat.
I lost Lesson No. 3...but I think it was something about auditioning over and over. Which brings us to Gina, who appeared on season five and apparently has a huge crush on Simon. She's back to Hollywood, and I can't wait for the flattery to commence again.
One word of wisdom, Gina...don't try to change his wardrobe.