American Idol Albums: Best of the alumni.

Disclaimer: no, I haven't heard every single album put out by a former AI contestant, for clear reasons.*

American Idol flipped the script on the hegemonic music industry by allowing potential superstars to bypass the well-established (unethical, sexist, pay-for-play) gauntlet while simultaneously cultivating a huge fanbase; naturally, this means that many voices over its lifespan strained to make sure we all knew the contestants were nothing but hacks, that 'literally' none of them could hold a tune in a bucket, that the show had never produced a viable music industry artist. You, dear reader, being of sound mind and good judgement, are at least dimly aware that can't really be true.

But discussions of the way people lost their mind over Idol are for other blog posts. I simply state this in order to segue to a list of the albums put out post-Idol that give the lie to the rabid naysayers.

A basic Google search will show that there have been more successful Idol albums, and contestants, than the establishment would want you to remember. For example, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson have all won Grammys (and all have won multiple save for Tasia) and the list of those who have been nominated is quite long. There are even more who have gone platinum - the industry standard of success, at least unless an Idol contestant achieves it - including the aforementioned plus Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, and Taylor Hicks. Hell, Daughtry's debut album sold 4 million copies. Carrie's Some Hearts sold 7 million. At this point, if you're naysaying, you're just a jerk.

Even so, you can factor in the rabidity of fan bases (especially when albums were forced out the same year to capitalize on a winner or contestant's popularity) or the naturally welcoming arms of genres like country. When it comes to overall quality - and not record sales or even runner-up status - which contestants can go to their grave saying that they put out music that they are damn proud of, no matter what? (IMO, of course) Herewith, that list.

Black Mirror: USS Callister.

I should have started blogging about various Black Mirror episodes back when I first started watching, so that's what I get for being lazy. I will start with the season four premiere, and then at some point this year go back and muse over the likes of "Fifteen Million Merits," "White Christmas," "Men Against Fire," etc. As always, there are spoilers.

Season four starts with "USS Callister," about a tech genius, Robert Daly, who created the code for a massive online multiplayer game platform called Infinity. The episode begins with Robert as captain of the Callister, guiding his small crew through an easy engagement with a known villain; we then see that it is his own personal version of the game, which he gets to go home and 'play' every evening. Aww, sweet.

In real life Robert is quite socially awkward, with none of the bravado he can display on the Callister (nor anyone fawning over his more mild accomplishments, as the ship's crew does). It's easy to see that he can be the confident hero in the game that he cannot be in life, something that we are perhaps too familiar with in this contemporary world. However, the true Black Mirror hitch comes to the fore soon enough: Captain Daly's crew are digital copies of people he knows from work at Infinity. Digital copies who are aware of their existence and retain memories of their life outside of the game.

Overall the episode is already one of my favorites, not just because of but due in part to its homage to the original Star Trek series, and it hits just the right notes without being hammy or heavy-handed. There's a Khan-like enemy, southern California-cum-alien planet locales, and a climax that includes every element necessary to be the average climax (trickery, a race against the clock, a closing wormhole, a dangerous shortcut). The switch to the new, J.J. Abrams style at the end, with the giant lens flares, high-key palette and swooping camera movements was absolutely spot-on.

By virtue of the, for all intents and purposes, sentience of the digital copies, "USS Callister" also features one of my favorite plot conventions, which is showing how characters behave in two vastly different situations (much like the before-and-after lives of Walking Dead characters). Most of the ship's crew come off as upbeat, carefree, shallow people at their jobs at Infinity, but placed inside of the game (due to crossing Robert in some truly minor way), the shallow become deep; the carefree, sacrificial; the meek, brave. They become versions of themselves they would otherwise never know, face fears they would never contemplate, the irony being that back in the real world, they are none the wiser.

The episode also deals with one of my favorite quandries, the 'dying to escape' option. It is an echo of the general idea that life is a prison we can only escape through death; for the digital copies, the Callister is that very real prison, and with Captain Daly ruling as an 'asshole god' their only hope to be free is to ultimately delete themselves. They know this is an action, like death, they cannot undo; furthermore, even if there were an afterlife, it does not exist in the realm of artificial intelligence. There is no hope, and yet the crew chooses to abide by the old Klingon maxim: "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

But there is yet much more to this episode, much to ponder, so it's time to go down the rabbit hole.