Top 24 Announced; Picks Due Tuesday

So! We've got a Top 24! Picks are due Tuesday by 7pm Eastern time. I'm going to try to get a few posts up here profiling the contestants to better help you decide, but my sister's in from out of town this weekend so I can't promise anything. (If you're having trouble remembering who these people are, I'd suggest the Idol website and/or YouTube.)

For now, here are the names of the Top 24:

Boys: Michael Lynche, Casey James, Aaron Kelly, Todrick Hall, Lee Dewyze, Tyler Grady, Joe Munoz, Alex Lambert, John Park, Jermaine Sellers, Andrew Garcia, Tim Urban.

Girls: Didi Benami, Katelyn Epperly, Janell Wheeler, Lilly Scott, Lacey Brown, Ashley Rodriguez, Haeley Vaughn, Katie Stevens, Siobahn Magnus, Michelle Delmar, Paige Miles, Crystal Bowersox.

Go forth and pick with confidence! (And paypal your $10 to my gmail address whenever you can.)

Here, once again, are the rules of the game:

Once the Top 24 Are Selected...

YOU SELECT three A.I. contestants who you think will go the farthest in the competition.

YOU ALSO SELECT two real-world musical artists whose songs you think will be covered in abundance during the course of the season.

YOU SIT BACK and watch the points accumulate for your chosen ones.


YOU GET POINTS WHEN YOUR CONTESTANT
...doesn’t get eliminated in a given week (+5)

...is the first to sing on the performance show (+1)

...is the last to sing on the performance show (+2)

...is chosen for the "Judges' Save" (+3)

...is put in the George Huff/Bo Bice/Taylor Hicks “King Solomon” position (+3)*

* To explain: this happens only once a year, and it’s usually when there are seven performers left. Seacrest puts three in one group, three in another, and asks the seventh person to choose which group he thinks didn’t finish at the bottom of the voting. That seventh person has to play King Solomon and basically choose who he thinks is awesome and who he thinks sucks. Anyway, it’s a way to pimp the King Solomon, so you should get points for it, I feel.

YOU LOSE POINTS WHEN YOUR CONTESTANT
...finishes in the bottom two but isn’t eliminated (-3)

...finishes in the bottom three but isn’t eliminated (-2)

YOU GET POINTS WHEN YOUR MUSICAL ARTIST

...has a song of theirs covered on the show (+2 per song)

...shows up as a special guest, performer, or judge (+2)

...has a theme week devoted to the contestants singing their songs (a +5 ceiling rather than points for each song individually)
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