Really, can there be any shockers when there's only 3 people left? I'd like to say I predicted this, but I can't find any links to back it up. Melinda is eliminated this week, putting Blake and Jordin in the finals. I'm not really all that surprised. Melinda is a classic case of peaking early and becoming such a favorite that people just get bored with her consistency. Look at Blake over the last few weeks, and all the crazy risks he's been taking to bring the beatboxing back into his performances. Does that make him a better singer than Melinda? No, not even close. But it makes people interested in him. He got their attention. The same with Jordin. Every season there is a 17yr old with a stellar voice. None of them make it this far. She was positioned by the producers as the threat to Melinda, and that worked for her.

I expect Jordin to win the whole thing. I'm not really into it this year, there's no Taylor or Daughtry that is singing the kind of music I'd actually listen to.

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What to serve the Dalai Lama? Veal, apparently.

I wish this story had gone into more detail about how and why the Dalai Lama is cool with being a meat eater. I'm not saying that I'm a vegetarian by any stretch, but neither am I the spiritual and political leader of Buddhism, where most hardcore practitioners believe in the sanctity of all life, not just human life. A comment from him on why he's ok with it would have been fascinating.

The story is amusing in many ways, though, as the restaurant owner and workers talk about how the preparations and protocol for the visit were worse than Al Gore. "Do not turn your back on him, do not touch him, and do not speak to him unless he speaks to you," the chef was told. So when he bumped into the Lama coming up the stairs, what was he to do? "I did this little kind of moonwalk backward all the way up, and smiled," said the chef.

I love that the holy man has a great sense of humor. When asked to sign his book, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are" he apparently giggled and said, "There's no 'self' in Buddhism, and this is my book!" I'm sure he gets lots of mileage out of that joke :).

He's also a big eater, they say, polishing off every plate that was put in front of him. His vows do not permit him to eat after 1pm (didn't know that) so I could see where he'd have to pack on the calories for the rest of the day. I'm still curious about the veal thing, though. I suppose it's one thing to just say that as a humble monk he'll eat whatever is put in front of him out of graciousness to his hosts, but if he's got people preparing the way for him before he ever arrives, surely they could have said "No meat" and chose not to.