A very huggy top 24 on American Idol

I promise this won't turn into the Asian American Idol blog (okay, maybe that's more of a strong reassurance than a promise), but it can't be ignored: Thia Megia was voted into the top thirteen on Idol! Things are a little different this year, so let's just recap how this worked: we had the top twelve girls and the top twelve guys; America voted for their top five faves in each group, and the judges chose three extra "wild cards." Thia was one of the five out of twelve girls who got the most votes, which speaks incredibly well of her fan base and is therefore very promising! I actually found her performance of "Out Here On My Own" (from Fame) a bit on the sleepy side, especially for her first time for a voting audience, but clearly it went over well with America. Woo! Congratulations, Thia!

This girl is fifteen. Believe it.

Not such good news for Clint Jun Gamboa, who seemed crushed that his performance of "Superstition" didn't get him voted into the top five guys. Clint then seemed genuinely shocked when the judges didn't name him as one of the three wild cards, and it was truly heartbreaking to see him and the other guys walk off stage for the last time. Sorry Clint! We'll all visit your karaoke bar sometime.

Was it the glasses?

Over on RuPaul's Drag Race, the ladies have at last moved away from the racial issues that had been coming up over the last couple challenges, and they now have plenty of time to focus their energy on one thing: Grade A Bitchitude. Raja, Manila, and their friends Delta and Carmen have formed a clique reminiscent of Mean Girls or Heathers -- in fact, all four of them refer to one another as Heather, much to the chagrin and confusion of the other contestants. The claws really came out when Manila and Raja both had words with Shangela, who found herself driven to tears by her competitors' harsh words. Girl, this may be a case of dishing it out and not being able to take it, but I know I wouldn't want to find myself on the wrong side of those Heathers, either. Eek!

As for the actual competition? Raja brought in another win with her graffiti-themed chocolate cake and her sinfully (but calorie-free) chocolate brown, French-inspired dress. As if there were any doubt that this fashionista would do anything but dominate the couture challenge. Keep rockin', Raj, but don't turn that shade on me!

I thought that bossy Jay would be gone for sure after he made it through last week's Top Shot elimination by the skin of his teeth, but this episode was all about archery, Jay's particular area of expertise. Though his teammates called him out for offering unsolicited advice during past challenges, they sought his advice with somewhat abashed attitudes. Jay proved helpful in training those less familiar with archery and performed admirably during the challenge, easily besting everyone else during the practice and then getting the most difficult shot of the challenge in one try. That wasn't enough to save his team from defeat, but Jay was completely safe from elimination ... this time. Has he redeemed himself enough to earn respect from his team?

Dale is no longer on Top Chef, but I wanted to mention my disappointment in seeing this episode all about family roots without Dale's Filipino background. It would have been awesome to learn a bit about Dale's ancestors, and obviously getting some adobo on in the Top Chef kitchen would have been amazing. Sigh! What could have been!

Kind of a random moment on this week's Saturday Night Live with the skit "Our Time With Taboo and apl.de.ap." This was a talk show hosted by the lesser-known members of the Black Eyed Peas, played respectively by Andy Samberg and Keenan Thompson. There was some mention of apl.de.ap.'s background and Taboo's general appearance:

apl.de.ap.: Well I'm a black Filipino, also called a Filiblino.
Taboo: And I am from the Matrix.
 
Also note that, despite the rumors, Taboo is "not a Japanese ghost." What really got me was when apl.de.ap. mentioned, "Taboo was on the cover of this month's Vaguely Asian Magazine," and then we saw a shot of said (um, fake) cover with the headlines "Taboo's Take on Things," "Björk is Beautiful," "Lou Diamond Phillips Profiled," and "Asian Domains Clean Design." Between this and last week's episode of Glee, is "vaguely Asian" trending on Twitter yet? No? Okay, give it some time.

Finally, I forgot to mention last week that comedian Kumail Nanjiani was on Conan in a set you can see right here. You can get more info on him here. Note to Freddy Krueger: Racism is not okay.

No, Kumail is not Kumar