Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Sarah in the kitchen [photo: Justin Goode]Season 10 "American Idol" alum and cool food blogger Sarah Sellers has been posting her viewing-party snack recipes in Reality Rocks for two "Idol" seasons now, and she's back this year to get your mouth watering every night of Season 12.

This week, the theme for the returning top four "Idol" finalists was "Then & Now," so Sarah "decided to take a classic (old) recipe and put a modern (new) twist on it," she explains. Enjoy!

photo: Nicki Minaj's TwitterAs "American Idol's" ratings continue to freefall (Wednesday night, it hit a new series low), and controversial judge Nicki Minaj continues to bear most of the public blame, Nicki sadly isn't doing much to help "Idol's" tarnished tabloid image. On Thursday morning, Her Minajesty took to her very unfiltered Twitter page, and she often does, to reignite her feud with co-star Mariah Carey.

It wasn't pretty. Or professional.

Which of these girls seems the most "current"?Over the past few weeks of this "girls' season" of "American Idol," I've noticed an uncomfortable trend: The judges have repeatedly praised Angie Miller and Amber Holcomb--i.e., the two thinner contestants who tend to wear tiny shorts--as "marketable" and "current," even when these girls performed Julie London, Celine Dion, or "MacArthur Friggin' Park." Conversely, the judges have blasted the two fuller-figured (though still quite attractive) contestants, Candice Glover and Kree Harrison, for being too "old-fashioned."

Last night, "The Voice" Season 4 Knockout Rounds continued and concluded, and today, it's a hard-Knockout life for us. My "The Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I are feeling quite disgruntled, since on Tuesday even more of our early favorites (Luke Edgemon, Grace Askew, Jess Kellner, Savannah Berry) went home. Yes, the Knockout Rounds are always tough, but this week's "Voice" episodes have really knocked the wind out of our proverbial sails.

Sarah Sellers [photo: Justin Goode]Season 10 "American Idol" alum and cool food blogger Sarah Sellers has been posting her viewing-party snack recipes in Reality Rocks for two "Idol" seasons now, and she's back this year to get your mouth watering every night of Season 12.

Tonight, the theme for the returning top four "Idol" finalists is "Then & Now," so Sarah "decided to take a classic (old) recipe and put a modern (new) twist on it," she explains. Enjoy!

Wannabe hipsters, indie purists, and dyed-in-the-leather rockers scoff at hokey talent competitions like "American Idol" and "The X Factor," but there are a couple new programs in production that just might make the skinny-jeans set tune in...or try out.

photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty ImagesIt was 35 years ago today, Cheap Trick taught all the other bands to play...or something like that.

It was in 1978 that Rockford, Illinois's finest made rock 'n' roll history with Cheap Trick at Budokan, arguably (or inarguably, in this writer's not-so-humble opinion) the greatest live album of all time. The disc was initially intended to be a Japanese-only release, but once Yanks heard the import, they were understandably blown away by the ball-busting, heart-racing, riot-inciting Cheap Trick live experience.

And thus, the album became an overnight phenomenon in the U.S. as well. And thus, the standard by which all other live albums must be measured was established.

Luke Edgemon gets knocked outThis Tuesday, "The Voice's" controversial Knockout Rounds continued, as did my ongoing frustration with the coaches' puzzling decisions. After Adam Levine and Shakira let go of some truly promising contestants on Monday night, I was hoping Tuesday's Blake Shelton and Usher would make wiser choices…but seriously, some of their choices were even worse.

All around me, my Season 4 favorites were being cast aside like Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green's old wigs. Savannah Berry! Jess Kellner! Luke Edgemon! Grace Askew! All gone, gone, gone--as the winner of a certain other singing competition might say. It was enough to make me curl up in a fetal position in one of those big, comfy red chairs and despondently suck my thumb, wishing all this "Voice" insanity and inanity would just go away--or at least wishing that these Knockout Rounds had Steals. Or Saves. Or Wild Cards. Or something!