I don't know about you, Gentle Nation, but I've been bedridden these many months in a dark funk. The disappearance of Normund from the public eye has been a blow to my fabulosity and I had trouble facing the world. Then this weekend I discovered that Nick has created a twitter account @nickmitchell4 and I began following, leery of the opportunist and wondering what shenanigans he was up to now.
Well, color me dumb-founded and a little bit chastened. Maybe it's a ruse, but Nick's been graciously responding to all of his tweets and is even sharing news about Normund (where are you Normund?). Of great interest is his promise that Normund's new band "GENTLE" will be releasing a new song, possibly TODAY!! I hope all this means that Nick has stopped being so dang jealous of Normund's success. I've always secretly hoped for them to reconcile their differences.
I am feeling encouraged that Nick has turned over a new leaf and vow from this day forth to try to show more charity and less churlishnes in regards to Normund's greatest rival, his greatest friend. Don't you believe that together, they can touch the sky? (I just gave myself chills...)
So follow Nick if you'd like to keep up with him and maybe get some Normund news.
I was thinking of Normund--when am I not?-- while I was eating some Campbell's soup, which naturally made me think of Glen Campbell. Besides concluding that the cowboy singer's oeuvre was as glutinous as the Cream of Chicken in my bowl, I was moved to pen an ode in tribute to Normund, based on one of Glen's timeless classics. Up until now, I had not realized that most of the lyrics make no sense at all! Well, it was the 70's; very little of the music was coherent and I won't even attempt to address the fashion. Nevertheless, Mr. Campbell has unwittingly provided a touching framework in which to plug our Normund nostalgia:
It's knowing that your voice is always singing
That J-Hud song from Dreamgirls
That makes me tend to leave my DVDs
Of Idol Season 8 stashed upon my shelf
And it's knowing you’re not shackled
By trendy clothes and hair
Or covers of Kanye tunes or some such
That keeps you in the backroads
By the rivers of my mem'ry
That keeps you ever, Gentle, on my mind....
Now that our long, national nightmare called Season 8 has finally come to end, a weary nation turns its thoughts, once again, to our beloved Normund. As we all know by now, Normund Gentle did not win the title Your American Idol. "Why?? Why???!!" cry legions of Gentle Folk. Had we known the outcome of our folly, would we have been so willing to embrace Kradam back in the day? Ladies and gentlemen, hindsight is 20 proof. Nevertheless, we can learn from it. As Top Idol shows us in her recent piece, shipping the right couple can make or break our future. Behold what could have been: Top Idol: Krorm or Norminson.
So The Fox Reality Channel has been re-running the Season of Shamefully Missed Opportunites. Last night they ran the heartbreaking, life-affirming journey of our Normund and his subsequent elimination thanks to the failbot known as Nick. I cried like a baby and almost died when I started hyperventilating and couldn't find my rescue inhaler. For reals. I cried tears for the utter injustice of it all and tears that your team of bloggers here at Normundy.com forgot to alert the world of Normund's all too brief resurrection on a channel few people remember that they get as part of expanded cable. (Check your local listings).
In retrospect it seems so obvious, the soft-spoken bridegroom with a heart o' gold and our passionate, unstoppable, iconic Normund would have made the most epic bromance evah! (Yes bromance, not romance - Normund is not gay! And as far as I can tell neither is Kris. Most of the time). Enough with the Kradam/Schmadam please - Krorm is where it's at.
So here's to the two winners, the guy who actually won and the guy who should've won. Mazeltov Krorm!
Tired of looking like everyone else? You too can have a really beautiful avatar, like mine! It's easy to personalize your Normundy profile. Just log in and under your username on the left over there, there's a link to Edit Profile. Click this and hit Settings, then you can add an avatar, add personal biographical information, etc. It's fun and it's SAFE.
Wow. It's been such a tough journey, full of ups and downs. But mostly really flat plateaus. I don't think any of us would have thought, going into Wednesday's Finale, that Normund had any kind of chance at victory. So when Ryan announced his nomination for Outstanding Male, I stopped trolling Kradam slash sites and actually watched the show briefly. I couldn't believe what was happening. I don't even remember having voted!!! And I'm about his number one fan. It must have been all the theater people - they were always in his corner all season long.
When Ryan announced the winner was Normund Gentle (or maybe the pretender Nick Mitchell), I think my first thought was "Why are they still spelling his name wrong. You'd think they'd have spelled the winner's name correctly. Don't they have to fill out forms and such?" But then I made a little high pitched sound out of my throat that sounded somewhat like a small pig squealing. And I danced and danced. I thought my poor broken heart had been mended after the unfair bus throwing of the earlier elimination rounds. Now I know, my heart was merely encased in an icy shell protecting the vulnerability and slight angina from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. And I smiled for the first time in a long, long time.
Normund - congratulations! We always knew you could do it buddy!
Our loyal reader contacted Eton-Hogg to share a tribute video he found on YouTube. Listen to the dulcet sounds of Normund singing his Motown Week song, and shed a tear with me.
The latest act of insatiable greed-lust by Fremantle Media is a line of trading cards featuring pictures of Idols past and present, as well as the ugly mugs of our judges. I'd stick those under my wobbly coffee table leg. The line of nearly 140 cards, due to debut next month, will include an image of Normund Gentle doppelganger Nick Mitchell, but the press information does not specifically mention whether Normund himself will be included in the rogues' gallery of Idol winners and also-rans. I wonder if they accidentally left out Taylor Hicks?
To see Paula's card, in which more airbrushing has taken place than on a restored '66 Corvette's chassis, click away:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090317/ap_on_en_tv/tv_american_idol_trading_cards
Just when you thought that the producers and judges couldn't be any more arbitrary and self-serving, they decide no - what we really need is to ratchet up the cruelty and callousness. Does it make you feel good to make 16 year olds cry, dream crushers?
Indeed, Nick. I know how you feel. I'm just glad that Normund, and yes even you, Nick, were spared this grotesque ritual of humiliation. You're too good for this BS.
After watching last night's so called "performances" by the remaining Idol's who remain after Normund's shock boot, it was all the more apparent that the show needs to bring back Normund. This season's crop is completely lacking in both star quality and political correctness. Had Normund been backstage to offer his sage advise, the following would not have happened last night:
I was watching the show tonight and didn't everyone seem so desperate? They know that Normund could sing circles around any one of them and they were relieved he wasn't there. I know that the Gentle Nation was in mourning this past week and I'm with you all in your grief because tonight Normund would have slayed any of the songs in the Michael Jackson catalog. (I'm secretly hopeful he'll record one and put it on YouTube and then send it to us so we can post it here. Wouldn't that just make you say "Hey. How YOU doin'"?)
But then I realized. Top 36, round 2, bottom 9 is the new First!
It's so obvious. Elegant really. Normund is love and also genius. His orchestrated exit from this clown college is so clear to me as an act of defiance. His song choice rings more ironic and "in your face" by the day. Normund knows that his success does not depend on winning this farce of a show. He has US and we'll support him through to the end.
Our blogging friends over at Predict Idol are running a contest regarding our sweetie! Check it out and win a $10 iTunes card, with which you could buy Normund's Top 36 performance ten times over!
Hurry over to Normund's myspace