The judges strut their stuff onto the big stage and Ryan Seacrest walks down the stairs. Ryan intros the judges and then talks up the fabulous venue before intro-ing the Top 12 Idolers.

The theme tonight is the Rolling Stones, which should prove a challenge for some. I wonder if the Stones are going to show up to mentor the Idolers? No? ‘Kay.

Michael Lynche and “Miss You”: He shows better range than I thought he had, going down low for the soul and up high for the falsetto. Going first is tough, but he brought it and then some. But someone please tell that guy to stop dancing, because the knee-bends just aren’t cutting it.

How cool was it to see Ryan just get right into Simon’s face about his “advice” to Mike? Simon’s always been a jerk, but this season he’s so obviously just killing time until his new show starts next year, I was glad to see Ryan call him out on it.

Didi Benami and “Play With Fire”: I like the arrangement, and she sounded pretty good at first. But she had just a tad bit too much fake angst on her face and that momentary fingerwag was ridiculous. Her ending was weak as she kind of lost the thread.

Casey James and “It’s All Over Now”: He gave the song a country-blues twang, and it’s the best he’s sounded. He seemed to be having a great time on the song, and thank goodness he didn’t put his hair in a ponytail-with-tendrils.

Lacey Brown and “Ruby Tuesday”: This is a great song, but she put too much of a little girl voice on it. Too many notes sounded weak and nervous. And seriously, what was up with that mess of an outfit that looked like she had an old tablecloth wrapped around her?

Andrew Garcia and “Gimme Shelter”: This guy has never reached the level he did during the Hollywood auditions, which is disappointing. He sounded like he couldn’t even hold a note steady and at times went seriously off pitch. Maybe nerves got the best of him. There wasn’t much heart in this performance.

Katie Stevens and “Wild Horses”: She has a good strong voice, but it’s just not been inspiring. On this one, she started off kind of weak and the key sounded a little low for her, but she finished off well, and seemed to feel the song more toward the end.

Tim Urban and “Under My Thumb”: Perhaps not the best song choice to be sung in such a sweet, earnest way by such a babyface. Not for one minute did I believe this guy was going to keep anyone under his thumb. And the reggae? Ugh.

Siobhan Magnus and “Paint it Black”: Best of the night. She not only totally changed up her look this week, she rocked this song. It wasn’t a carbon copy of the original, but her take wasn’t so far off as to be unrecognizable. I liked her jumping an entire octave for the second half of the song, and proving that her hitting that note a few weeks ago was not a fluke. She’s a contender.

Lee Dewyze and “Beast of Burden”: He took it country and it was pretty good. He has a pleasing rasp in his voice (and he reminded me of Everclear’s Art Alexakis) that fit with the genre. It was a little repetitive, but a good performance for him.

Paige Miles and “Honky Tonk Woman”: Weird song choice for a young woman and she sounded really uncomfortable on the verses in her lower register. But she gave it a bluesy feel when she could take it up higher on the refrain. By the end, it had sort of morphed into a Vegasy feel. Just weird all the way around.

Aaron Kelly and “Angie”: He went with his strength, choosing a song that worked and one that he could go all “boy band” on. He brought some character to the middle of the song, he hit all the notes just right and he put some real feeling into the song.

Crystal Bowersox and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”: Ooooh, walkin’ and strummin’. For some reason, Bowersox has become Adam Lambert for me, with the constantly flipping the bangs back and the too-cool-for-school vibe. She sounds OK, but … I dunno. She’s predictable. Maybe it’s the white girl dreads (if your hair don’t naturally lock, don’t wear ‘em) or the fact that she all but said she’s really above “Idol.” But it was just all right for me.

Siobhan and Aaron won the night for me. What do you think?

The effect has been devastating, but a recent profile by Chris Jones on Ebert in Esquire was where I first saw and learned the true damage the disease has wrought on one of America’s most famous talkers.

I’ve always tried to keep up on his reviews because I enjoy his writing though I never particularly followed his TV show. When I learned he had started a blog, I began checking in on that regularly. The guy is a helluva writer and he appears to have a large following there, if the number of comments he gets is any indication.

Here’s a post he did after the Esquire piece was published. The post now has more than a thousand comments.

Read the Associated Press story here.

The American Library Association provides a list of all the Newbery winners from 1922 to the present and also a list of all the Caldecott Medal winners and honor books from the same time period.

I’m about three-quarters of the way through the 1,075-page novel, having absorbed most of it via audiobook to give my eyes a rest in the evening. It took about 200 pages to begin seeing the pattern of the various threads King weaves into the tapestry of exploitation of fear.

All the characters, as interpreted by King, are there:

Andy Sanders, the first selectman of Chester’s Mill, is George W. Bush thinly disguised — a good-hearted, if slightly befuddled figurehead cajoled, controlled and bullied into unspeakable acts by his second-in-command.

Big Jim Rennie, the second selectman of Chester’s Mill, is Dick Cheney, barely disguised at all. Big Jim is sanctimonious, hypocritcal and a world-class crook, with a grasping need for power and avarice. He even has a bum ticker, a la Cheney.

Police Chief Pete Randolph, a dunderhead way out of his league and also controlled by Big Jim Rennie/Cheney, is an amalgamation of several Bush administration officials, mostly Donald Rumsfeld. He steps into power when the fair-minded, well-liked police chief dies within minutes of the dome’s descent. At least in real life Colin Powell didn’t have to die for Randolph/Rumsfeld to gain his position.

The white hats include a Republican newspaper editor and an Iraq war hero whose distaste for the Army and the powers that be solidified during a stint that saw him participating in torture and other actions that turned his stomach.

The body count is large, but the political commentary trumps it. King was clearly deeply affected, if not sickened, by the actions of the Bush administration and its war on terror. His use of his indomitable bully pulpit — a huge readership and worldwide audience — is perhaps an attempt to work out his angst. Readers, particularly those who don’t lean to the left, may find the political commentary a little tough to swallow, but may also find themselves powerless to put down the book, because it is immensely entertaining.

Some have called this Stephen King’s “The Stand” for the 21st century. I don’t agree. “The Stand” was, at its heart, a battle between good and evil. “Under the Dome” is about fear — indidividual, group and societal — and how it can be used to control and manipulate even good people into doing terrible things.

King calls this novel “Under the Dome.” He might as well have named it “After the Towers Fell.”

Leno will be the Mom’s Weekend entertainment next spring, according to the Leo Udy at Beasley. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 4 at all Ticketswest outlets including ticketswest.com and by phone at
(800) 325-SEAT. All tickets will be $45 with a $5 discount for all WSU staff, faculty and students.

AMDA was founded in 1964 as a performing arts conservatory and students are selected to attend from auditions held in 35 cities throughout the United States, Canda, Mexico and England. Ricky Smith auditioned in March in Seattle.

Smith was a cast member of various Lewiston High School and Lewiston Civic Theatre productions and was a member of the LHS Golden Voices. He also studied dance since the age of 7.

Ricky Smith

In this week’s issue, Newsweek did a roundtable discussion with Sendak, the film’s director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Dave Eggers about the film.

Sendak is known as curmudgeonly so his reaction to Newsweek’s question about whether the film is too scary set off a humorous exchange.

Newsweek: What do you say to parents who think the “Wild Things” film may be too scary?
Sendak: I would tell them to go to hell. That’s a question I will not tolerate.

Newsweek: Because kids can handle it?
Sendak: If they can’t handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered.

Jonze: Dave, you want to field that one?

Eggers: The part about kids wetting their pants? Should kids wear diapers when they go to the movies? I think adults should wear diapers going to it, too. I think everyone should be prepared for any eventuality.

Sendak: I think you’re right. This concentration on kids being scared, as though we as adults can’t be scared. Of course we’re scared. I’m scared of watching a TV show about vampires. I can’t fall asleep. It never stops. We’re grown-ups; we know better, but we’re afraid.

I guess it was the picture of all moviegoers wearing diapers to “Where the Wild Things Are” that made me laugh hardest. This might be one I’ll wait to see on DVD.

See, I don’t have the patience for radio. Most of the playlists are programmed in some office a gazillion miles away and my tastes are a little too eclectic for what those programmers think everyone wants to hear. I mostly rely upon word-of-mouth and my own discovery to find new music.

It happened tonight while I was watching “So You Think You Can Dance.” A young woman from Lexington, Ky., performed a so-so number to a haunting, lyrical ballad. The performer’s voice was powerful and evocative and, though I heard only a snippet of the song, I quickly committed it to memory and went to my computer to find the artist.

The song, “Painted Red,” is performed by JJ Heller, an indie/Christian artist who is gaining a devoted following. From there, it was on to YouTube to sample some of her songs. And wow … she knocked me out. Now she’s on my must-buy list and, judging from the speed of her Web site, I’m guessing a lot of other people feel the same way. Within 30 minutes of the end of “So You Think You Can Dance,” her site seemed near to crashing. I suspect we’ll next hear her voice in the background of a Grey’s Anatomy episode and from there to the Billboard Top 10.

This is not a new phenomenon for “Dance,” which two years ago featured an Emmy-winning dance set to “Bleeding Love,” and Leona Lewis’ career took off.

That’s the way the music business works these days and artists who can catch the TV/YouTube/Video connection often see their careers soar.

Take a listen to JJ Heller and see what you think.

But what about going back and killing Hitler?

Quentin Tarantino doesn’t get any credit for historical accuracy in his newest film, Inglorious Basterds, but does get bonus points for meshing his violent, philosophic and sometimes manic formula with the tried and true formula of good guys killing Nazis.

American cinema has thrived for decades on World War II movies because, unlike some other wars, most everyone agrees it was justified. Secondly, Nazi treatment in occupied territories during that time, especially of Jews, is so well known and reviled that even otherwise pacifistic people relish plots where Nazis are blown from here to hell.

It’s the American way.

Tarantino did what- to my knowledge – no film maker has and tossed out historical accuracy and made a movie about a guerilla unit of soldiers violently ripping through Nazi-occupied France.

Led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), these Jewish-American soldiers, coupled with some German defectives, make the bloodiest statements about human nature in a reversal of power against the “master race.”

Inglorious Basterds has everything fans have come to expect of Tarantino – a director who begs the question of what came first, the cult film or the cult . A line of characters separated by only the slightest bit of circumstance eventually converge on the screen and create chaos simply because of their unawareness of each others’ intentions.

While not a diehard fan of Tarantino – there are films I don’t care for – I appreciate a director who shirks the rules and etiquette of cinematic adventures.

With any Tarantino film, it is futile to get too attached to any one character because they are all disposable, regardless of their role or the actor’s rank in the Hollywood hierarchy. This is evidenced in Pulp Fiction with John Travolta’s character, Vincent Vega.

The scenes in Inglorious Basterds are long and drawn out by complex dialogue that builds characters up only to generate greater effect when the scenes reach their climax and the blood and gore take over.

Inglorious Basterds takes more than two hours to tell a story that takes place in a matter of several days, but gritty cinematography, a talented but not well-known cast (aside from Pitt) and inviting plot sends you home wanting more.

A wooden carving depicting Seaman, the Newfoundland dog that belonged to Meriwether Lewis and accompanied Lewis and William Clark on their two-year trip to the Pacific Ocean and back, has been placed in the dugout canoe on the Capital Street side of the museum building at 0306 Third St., Lewiston.

Dick Riggs, president of the Nez Perce County Historical Society which operates the museum, stopped by the Tribune office the other day to show me a couple of photos and let me know Seaman is available for scratches behind the ears and will gladly hold still for photos with visitors.

The dog was purchased from chainsaw artists Dennis Sullivan and Frances Conklin, who own and operate Dog Bark Park in Cottonwood.

The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday but Seaman is available any time.

Seaman the Newfoundland awaits visitors in his dugout canoe. Photo by Barry Kough of the Tribune.