There's a little bit of everything in this week's Multi-link Monday. We've got a "Star Wars" quiz to a goofy magazine from the 1950s to a fun random band-name generator. On the not-so-light side, we've got breathtaking photos of Russian cakes, and a serious resource for those of us still worried about the pet-food recall. Remember, your nominations for future Multi-link Monday sites are welcome. Just post them in the comments. And if yours hasn't been posted yet, I'm likely still working through the submissions.

• Every now and again I can't resist throwing in a link to an online quiz: Which "Star Wars" personality are you? I'm...Queen Amidala? "You are well-educated, strong-willed and have an interest in serving the public. No, you're not one of those scumbag politicians, you're really interested in the well-being of the people who follow you. Oh yeah – your outfits and makeup are always fabulous." Hmm, at least I'm not one of her many stand-ins. (Thanks to my co-worker Mike for the link!)

• Flip through a 1951 copy of Household Magazine, complete with snarky commentary on how things have changed. Scary girdles, full-page ads for Crisco, Jane Russell bowling and more. I still love the 1950s style homes, though I know that in a world of McMansions, many consider them to be too small and dumpy.  (Found via Plep.)

• Here's a useful site to help you keep track of the many pet foods that have been recalled so far. This cartoon  about the pet-food recalls is hitting a little close to home in my three-pet household.

• Stunning Russian cakes that look more like sculptures. Dentures, an eye chart, a Pizza Hut and more. (Via Boing Boing.)

• Reader-submitted link, from Heidi: "Who hasn't tried to dream up the greatest band name? Now you can randomly generate one." I tried it a bunch of times, and my favorites were Homeless Lobster Jugglers, Anaconda Alliance, and Treacherous Motel. Scarily, I can envision all of those on album covers. Anaconda Alliance and Treacherous Motel might have to be death-metal bands.

It was way back in January that we first started discussing updating MSNBC.com's comic-strip offerings. The much-beloved "Fox Trot" had moved to Sundays only, and "Boondocks" has been on hiatus for months, with no word as to when creator Aaron McGruder might bring the strip back.

I offered up the list of comics we could use to replace the old strips, and we received more than 400 comments discussing and debating the potential newcomers. We know we can't make everyone happy -- though we have dozens of comics to choose from, some of you clamored for different strips.  (We answered some of your questions about that here.) Many readers were upset that fans of "Dog Eat Doug" staged an online campaign to dominate the voting in our online poll, feeling that this was unfair.

But the online poll didn't determine the final choices, and neither did the posted Weblog comments. Yes, we took your feedback into consideration, but we also know that online polls can be manipulated in numerous ways. We'd be stupid to trust them too implicitly. We let your feedback be a guide, but editorial opinions also played a role.

Still, in the end, the two comic strips we chose to add to our online lineup are "Lio" and, yes, "Dog Eat Doug."

"Lio" reminds me a little bit of the legendary "Calvin and Hobbes," and there's something creative and fascinating about how the strip has no dialogue, yet artist Mark Tatulli manages to make Lio come to life. In the sample strips our supplier offered, Lio beats Death at the board game Life, and helps a rabbit escape a trap by trapping the rabbit's pursuer. You gotta love a kid like that.

"Dog Eat Doug" didn't get all those readers to flood our poll by accident. This cute strip features two hard-to-resist stars -- Sophie the dog and Doug the baby. Whether you have dogs, kids, or neither, you may find you can relate to these cute rivals-turned-pals.

I wish we could add more strips, because among my top choices would be "Get Fuzzy" and "Red and Rover" (love the recurring Marcia Brady jokes!). But thankfully, both of those strips are easy to find online elsewhere. 

And as we have discussed here before, the classic strip "For Better or For Worse" is heading to a kind of hybrid format in the near future. "FBOFW" will combine old strips with new bits, such as having a character appear and muse upon old times, thus leading into a vintage storyline. So we may have another empty comics space to fill sometime soon. For now, check out our new new additions to the comics family, and we hope you get a laugh or two. These days, we all need all the laughter we can get.

"American Idol" pulled a fast one last night. After host Ryan Seacrest repeatedly promised a shocking finale, the show decided "shocking" could mean "we changed the rules."

On "Idol's" big charity show, it was decided that it wouldn't be charitable to send anyone home. But you could almost see the minds of the producers whirring. They've been in trouble with their audience before, and they surely knew that after millions of viewers paid to support their favorite, those viewers might be demanding their money back if the votes were just thrown out. So they decided to hang onto all the votes and offer up a double elimination next week.

That didn't mean the debate was over, of course. Some viewers felt the show was unnecessarily cruel to teenage Jordin Sparks,* whose name was the last one called, and who may have felt she was going home. (Other viewers felt that none of the Idols looked surprised by the non-elimination, and wondered if the singers weren't warned in advance.)

Others felt that they wouldn't have watched the entire two-hour show* if they'd known that no real news was going to come out of it -- support for Idol's chosen causes notwithstanding. And still others can't stop talking about the creepy CGI event that led to a long-dead Elvis singing a duet of sorts with Celine Dion. Personally, I loved "The Simpsons" dissing a cartoon version of Simon Cowell -- who hasn't wanted to see the caustic judge on the vocal hot seat?

What were your thoughts on the show? Were you inspired to give money to the charities? And was Elvis' resurrection creepy or cool?

*Starred links via the great TV Tattle, which has collected a nice selection of "Idol" commentary.

Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View," but those who can't stand her shouldn't celebrate too much. On today's gabfest, she announced "I love you guys, I'm not going away," promising that while she wouldn't be on the show every day, she'd be making regular visits. "They're not kicking me out, don't worry!" she said.

I don't think anyone was worried about Rosie. If she's proven one thing on her tenure on "The View," it was that no one could boss Rosie around, no one could make her do anything she didn't want to do. She wanted a one-year contract, reportedly, ABC wanted three, and Rosie's not going to budge on what she wanted.

I'm not a regular watcher of "The View," due to a chronic allergy to happy talk in the morning. Rosie almost alleviated my allergy, injecting a delightful bit of venom into the girl-power gab.

Sure, much of the attention was given to the fact that her politics were almost mirror opposites of those of perky Elisabeth Hasselbeck, which did make for some humorous confrontations. (Rosie almost had a heart attack this morning when Hasselbeck misspoke and said she thought Dick Cheney would be a good candidate for president -- Hasselbeck meant to say John McCain.) But politics aside, Rosie at least kept things lively, even if her feuds, especially with Donald Trump, were childish and annoying.

A new online commentary in Newsweek claims that O'Donnell's real persona, as reflected in her Weblog, is more sensitive and easily hurt than the brash image she put forth on "The View." I can buy some of that -- who hasn't known someone whose public image differed greatly than their real life? -- but if you're going to trumpet your opinions as loudly and sarcastically as Rosie often did, you'd better have the toughest skin you can.

Sometimes Rosie said what viewers were thinking, sometimes she said what only Rosie was thinking. But she never was afraid to have an opinion, never afraid to throw it out there and defend it once she'd said it. "The View" would do well to pick up another host who has that same attitude, whatever their political opinions and lifestyle. It would be easy to find someone who can fly under the radar and utter opinions that no one disagrees with, but what fun is that?

No Multi-link Monday on April 23, as I'm out of the office. But feel free to post nominations for sites you'd like me to mention. I'll look at them when I get back.

"American Idol" fans, consider yourself warned. If you haven't yet watched the April 18 episode of "American Idol," otherwise known as 58 minutes of filler and one bit of news, stop reading now. Trust me. On the other hand, if you've watched the show, keep on going, we have a lot to talk about.

So raise your hand if you were ready for tonight's "Idol" elimination. Not so fast, Smarty Pants. Even those of us who, every week, wished for this one didn't really believe it would happen tonight. Country week didn't treat many of the "Idols" well, but it especially played havoc on Chris "I Meant to Sing Through My Nose" Richardson and LaKisha "But I've Always Done Well Before" Jones. Both of them looked as if they were in trouble, and even though Phil Stacey took to the country genre pretty well, it was possible his popularity clock had run out, too.

But they all stayed, and sent home was the one "Idol" whose first name alone garners more than NINE MILLION Google hits. Goodbye-a, Sanjaya. Hair today, gone tomorrow, Mr. Faux-hawk. Shush, all you conspiracy theorists, claiming that people in India could magically vote, or that call centers were somehow running the show. Vote for the Worst will have to move on to someone else -- may we recommend Phil Stacey? And Howard Stern will have to content himself with the fact that his longtime nemesis, Don Imus, remains unemployed.

What a long, strange trip it's been. There have been other singers on "American Idol" who have stayed much longer than they should have (we list five of them here). Scott Savol beat out Constantine Maroulis, even though it's Constantine who's now hooked himself a role on "The Bold and the Beautiful." Young redhead John Stevens beat out future Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, for Pete's sake.

But none of those other singers earned the media coverage that Sanjaya did. His coverage possibly peaked last week and early this week, as every media outlet in the nation -- and beyond -- was writing about him. He was reportedly booed at a Dodgers game. He was named "Today's Girl" by Maxim Magazine. Former First Lady and current presidential candidate Hilary Clinton even commented on him.

Sanjaya mania easily beat out the equally unexplained William Hung fever that resulted in that "singer" releasing numerous CDs, a DVD, and starring in a movie. Who knows what kind of gravy train awaits the young teenager now that he's no longer tied to "Idol"? I live in Seattle, and I know if I can't get a phone connection in the next few days, I'm blaming fellow Seattle resident Sanjaya -- surely every agent, manager and producer in the world will be clogging the Seattle phone circuits trying to reach him.

We might soon look back on this period, the Sanjaya Era, with the same confusion that modern folks look back on the time when phone booth-stuffing was considered a cool college pastime, or when the Dutch went nuts for tulips in the 1600s. What were they thinking, we'll ask, shaking our heads.

I can't answer that question, never have been able to, but you've got to give the kid this. At 17, he's been through the media firestorm and now is walking out the other end, seemingly pretty much good-natured and with his sanity intact. He won't be the "American Idol," but I can assure you that even the winner, whoever that turns out to be (Melinda), won't have to deal with close to the amount of concentrated attention that Sanjaya did. He's gone, and to many people's ears, that's a good thing, but in the words of his final song, he sure gave us something to talk about while he was around.

Instead of a long rant on one issue, how about a bunch of short takes on a grab-bag of TV issues?

• Is "Dancing With the Stars" keeping Heather Mills around unfairly simply because her artificial leg makes for a good story? At least one TV critic thinks so, and it's not a bad theory. (Via TV Tattle.)

• Michael Ausiello of TV Guide says "Lost" has planned a May killing spree, and that as many as five characters could bite the dust. There's not a "Lost" fan out there who isn't secretly rooting for their least favorites (mine are Charlie and Kate) to be among them, and hoping their faves survive (writers: do not kill Locke or Sayid, if you know what's good for you).

•"Survivor" is voting its next season off the island, and on to mainland China. Now that might be a twist interesting enough to make me actually watch the show again.

• Speaking of "Survivor," that show's creator, Mark Burnett, is launching a new reality show, "Pirate Master," which is set to debut in May. I only hope there's plank-walking aplenty.

• Thursday is supposed to be Must See TV night, but I'm ready to hand that title over to Sunday. Between "The Sopranos," "The Simpsons," Showtime's new "The Tudors" and the ever-improving "Brothers and Sisters," you need a couple of TiVos to even try to keep up with the action. And I'm not even counting "Desperate Housewives," though I have to watch that for work. (I may be the only viewer out there to say this, but if they got rid of Susan entirely, I would like that show a lot better.)

• It's not time for our commercial contest yet, but one of my nominees for most annoying new ads is the annoying dork who stands up in the bathtub with a sponge on his head and tells his wife to guess who he is. He's Sponge Bob No Pants, get it? Oh, for stupid.

Last week was a crazy week in the entertainment world, with the loss of Kurt Vonnegut, the firing of Don Imus, and the identification of Larry Birkhead as Anna Nicole Smith's baby daddy. We'll miss you, Mr. Vonnegut. The other stories can go away now. Let's move on to our five time-sucking links to start the week off right.

• No one likes those motivational posters, right? (Except maybe Michael Scott of "The Office.") But we love Demotivators, motivational posters for cats (here's another one), and "Star Trek" versions. And here's a page that has one for almost any topic, including crunk, blogging and MENSA. If you're a creative type, you can even create your own.

• 25 great "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strips. They were all great, really, but these are the cream of the crop. I almost forgot about the ones where Calvin envisions himself and Susie Derkins as "Rex Morgan" style drawings.And the whole series about Calvin finding an injured raccoon put a lump in my throat. (Via Ultimate Insult.)

• Easter's over, but did you know each state decorates an egg and sends it to the White House? You can look up your state's egg, plus see all the others, online. Some of them are really impressive (California, Maine, New York, Nevada). Some are rather lame (South Carolina, Mississippi, Delaware, Maryland). And some make you scratch your head and say "huh?" (Louisiana, North Dakota, Tennessee, and most of all, Wyoming.)

• Animal Makers rents all kinds of animal props from TV and movies, including the "Lost" polar bear and Salem, the black cat from "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." (Via Boing Boing.)

• Reader-submitted link, from Vicki:"Here's an interesting site for your Multi-link Monday: The Brick Testament.com. It's the Old and New Testaments rendered in Legos. The 'Reverend' seems to favor the R-rated versions of the Books, and it's doubtful he's an official member of clergy."

The most shocking thing about losing Kurt Vonnegut was realizing he was already 84. Something about that shock of curly hair, the mischievious face, and above all, the accessibility of his writing made him seem forever thirtysomething. We thought we'd have him around forever, that he'd somehow managed to pull a Billy Pilgrim and come unstuck in time.

I remember discovering Vonnegut novels in my Catholic high-school library and sitting on the floor of the fiction room to read them. You weren't supposed to sit in the fiction room -- who knows why? -- but if you slumped below the windows, no one would see you, and you could read as long as you liked.  Vonnegut's novels were lively and smart, and even if you weren't reading them in a place you weren't supposed to be, it felt like you were getting away with something just by knowing about them.

But my best Vonnegut story is this. In college, a good friend was as addicted to Vonnegut as some people are to chocolate or exercise. He put himself through school working at a grocery store, and even when working the cash register or bagging purchases, he'd always have a novel, usually the masterpiece "Slaughterhouse-Five," tucked in his pocket.

It may have been so he could read in those precious minutes in the break room, surrounded by fruit crates and vending machines, but it also seemed as if he was a Vonnegut salesman in the same way some people sell Avon or Amway. Talk to him for just a few minutes and you'd know he adored Vonnegut's books, and it'd be tough to get away from him without feeling that you had to do the same. I wonder sometimes how many polite, but ultimately disinterested customers came in to buy apples or Comet and left with a little lecture on the wonders of "Slaughterhouse-Five."

This same friend dressed up at Billy Pilgrim for a Halloween party one year, complete with a Tralfamadorian made from a toilet plunger. (Tralfamadorians were the aliens who abduct and educate Billy in the book.) The Tralfamadorian was really impressive for a homemade costume prop, but I was still surprised to learn that the friend had later sent the Tralfamadorian to Vonnegut himself.

You might think that someone as famous as Vonnegut would have a bodyguard screening his mail, blowing up awkwardly shaped packages from unknown fans. But apparently not, because later on, when an interview with Vonnegut was published in a magazine or newspaper, a photo of him in his home accompanied the article. And in the background of the photo? My friend's Tralfamadorian, in a place of honor.

This led, somehow, to the two, great fan and great author, striking up a regular writing correspondence. It seems so unreal, somehow, that a man that famous would regularly write to an unknown. You wouldn't expect Brad Pitt to do this kind of thing. But words were Vonnegut's life, and so perhaps he saw in my friend's letters a kindred spirit. I don't know what the letters said -- it didn't seem right to ask -- but the very idea that they carried on a correspondence seemed absolutely perfect to those of us who remember those grocery-store days.

In "Slaughterhouse-Five," Vonnegut drew a headstone that was marked "Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt." He knew better than many of us that life was never like that, and that if it was, we would all be lost. Fellow author Gore Vidal said of Vonnegut "He was sort of like nobody else," noting that other World War II-influenced writers chose the straight, realistic path, whereas Vonnegut reached for the imaginative stars. "Kurt was never dull," Vidal said. Never dull, and if my friend's experience is any example, never the kind of author who forgot his readers.

VONNEGUT LINKS:
• Sullivan: Vonnegut made this ridiculous life bearable
• The New York Times' collected reviews of some of Vonnegut's books
• The Vonnegut Web: Amazing collection of everything related to the author
• Vonnegut had nothing to do with the famed "Sunscreen" graduation-address column, but he did deliver others, which you can read here

People on their vacations in the Bahamas actually tore themselves away from the beach to mill around a courthouse today and wait for news in the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case. They'd have been better off soaking up the sun. The results were what pretty much everyone expected: Larry Birkhead is baby Dannielynn's father, and give him credit, he at least seems legitimately thrilled about the news.

A cynic could say "sure he's thrilled, he just won the lottery." Well, that's only if baby Dannielynn is ever proven the heiress to any of J. Howard Marshall's millions. Her mother was never able to claim that money while she was alive, so maybe baby Dannie shouldn't count on it, either. Birkhead seemed to care about making a life with the baby -- even though it's unclear if he attempted to be a part of her life before Smith died.

The crowd was undeniably on Birkhead's side. Those who had watched the courtroom testimony earlier thought he came across as honest, and most found him more likable than Anna Nicole's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern.

And as a somewhat new addition to this soap opera, Birkhead didn't have the nagging baggage of Stern or Smith's much-reviled mother, Virgie Arthur. People will wonder forever why Stern couldn't stop Smith from abusing prescription medication, or at least get her help.

And Virgie Arthur just needs to step out of everything. She wasn't in much contact with her daughter while she was alive, and it seems highly hypocritical to see her now, cooing about how she wants to be the baby's grandmother. Her lawyer has indicated she may even fight for custody, which is just ridiculous. Let the baby live with her father. In fact, Dannielynn's adorable face is about the only bright thing in this whole mess. She knows nothing of money, or custody suits, or Playboy Playmates, or prescription drugs. Some day she won't be able to escape this whole mess that surrounded her babyhood, but for now, she's a precious innocent -- the only one in this whole case.

In Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," an infamous and interminable legal case drags on and on. It'll make someone incredibly rich, if it only ever ends. But in the end, court costs eat up all of the enormous estate. Sound familiar? Dickens wrote his book 150 years ago, but apparently we've learned nothing from his cautionary tale.

Time again for Multi-link Monday, our quintet of time-wasting week-starter links. And a note: Since "American Idol" started, I've been posting quite a lot about that show, and some readers are taking it personally. Unfortunately for those who can't stand "Idol," that show is a phenomenon, and writing a TV blog without addressing the 30-million-viewer juggernaut is just not going to happen. And when Multi-link Monday or another topic pulls in a few thousand readers and "Idol" posts get a hundred thousand or more, you can imagine what that tells us. We'll still strive for some variety, but if you simply can't stand to read about "Idol," all I can offer is that you might want to look away until late May. It's not going to be the topic of every post, but it may seem that way sometimes.

• I've linked to other collections of bad album covers before, but in case you just can't get enough, here's the motherlode. Some of them will turn your stomach, so don't surf this at lunch. My favorite, however, is "Ken: By Request Only." Ken is not going to just give concerts willy-nilly! You have to request one! Otherwise, he's busy grooming that 'stache.

• When I'm racking my brains to think of a movie title, I usually scour the Internet Movie Database or try and Google for clues. But here's another option: Find That Film has a very simple format where you can post a description of the movie and hope someone identifies it for you. I love their page of the Top Ten movies that are searched for, including the uber-creepy "Bad Ronald." I think I saw most of these on TV on boring Saturdays when I was a kid.   (Via Metafilter.)

•  Remember Colorforms, where you could stick reusable images on a storyboard to tell a tale of your own imagination? This is kind of an old-fashioned version of online Colorforms, where you use images to tell a story via a historic tapestry. Neat idea, but I could never get their gallery of already made tapestries to load.

• Children of the 1980s, remember when we feathered our hair to within an inch of its life? Yep, someone had a camera, and those images have been preserved forevermore.

• Reader-submitted link, thanks to Natalie, and of special interest to those who follow our TV commercial contest each summer: "Check out Caveman's Crib, it is hilarious and so much fun. Be sure to click on everything more than once and to search around for hidden funnies. Enjoy!"

On Wednesday's "South Park," which somehow managed to roll up the trappings of Easter with a mystery out of "The DaVinci Code," Marshmallow Peeps made an important appearance. While trying to keep ninjas (!) from killing Stan, the Leigh Teabing character from "DaVinci" puts a box of Peeps in the microwave. They expand, and expand, and finally EXPLODE, sending marshmallowy goo out all the windows and doors of his mansion. Just like real life!

Anyway, Will over at Clicked reminded me that I usually post a batch of Marshmallow Peep links as Easter approaches, and so here goes. (See, people? Not EVERY post is about "American Idol," just ALMOST every post.)

• Online Peep games: Play Peep Invaders or Peepstroids.

• Easter meets Passover: Marshmallow Peeps suffer from the 10 plagues in Egypt.

• Wham-o now offers a Make Your Own Peep machine. MSNBCer Gary Krakow tried it out in 2005, and Matt of the wonderful X-Entertainment demonstrates it here. I think I'll stick to buying premade Peeps, especially after seeing Matt's results.

• Peeps meet Tolkien: "Lord of the Peeps."

• We're pretty accustomed to office pranks around here, but this is the best: Someone covered a co-worker's office in Peeps. The page notes that, even six months later, people were coming by and eating the old Peeps off the ceiling.

• Get your microwave ready for Peep Jousting.

• Here's an oldie but a goodie: Peep Research. I have trouble looking at these photos because I feel so sorry for the l'il guys. The Peeps' bretheren, the Marshmallow Bunnies, are not left out -- this site features them being cruelly tortured.

• A photo tour: 50 Peeps visit the home of the Peep factory. Also: A neon Peep.

• Peeps are an educated lot. Here they take a tour of a college library.

• And finally, a review of a snack I have yet to find: A hollow chocolate Easter egg with a Peep center.

Happy Peeping, all!

The singers on "American Idol" obviously want to hear good comments from every judge. But there's no question whose opinion means the most to them: Simon Cowell's. He may not be universally liked, but he's like the tough teacher feared by all the students. His respect is hard to earn, and it's worth all the more because of it. Paula will always find something nice to say, and Randy will usually join her, but hear a good word from Simon and the "Idols" know in their hearts that they've done well.

So what does it mean for two singers that Simon Cowell has simply refused to comment on their performances any more?

Simon pretty much gave up on Sanjaya Malakar last week, when the teen wore a fake Mohawk while singing No Doubt's "Bathwater." After half-heartedly attempting to address the hair, Simon said "I don't think it matters any more what we say, I genuinely don't. You are in your own universe and if people like you, good luck."

It seemed like this was just a one-off comment from Simon. But then this week, Sanjaya ditched the faux-hawk for slicked back hair and a white suit to sing old-time ballad "Cheek to Cheek." From his first note, he seemed off-key, but he gamely played his performance for all he was worth, even slow-dancing with Paula Abdul at the judges' table.

After he sang, it seemed that none of the judges wanted to discuss his singing. Randy Jackson said "I can't even comment on the vocals," refusing to explain why, and went on to praise Sanjaya for turning into a performer. Paula Abdul at least attempted to address the song, saying "the vocals were a little off at the beginning," but she, too, seemed at a loss for words and quickly retreated to thanking Sanjaya for dancing with her.

All eyes, now, were on Simon, and he seemed completely at a loss for words. "Let's try a different tactic this week: INCREDIBLE!" he said. He left it up to the viewers to determine whether he meant "incredibly bad," "incredible that you're still in this contest," or "I'm trying to make it sound like I'm praising you in hopes that reverse psychology will work its magic, here."

But now the other judges had decided that they'd found a new way to comment without really saying anything at all. Haley Scarnato, who's also struggled in the competition, was up next with a chanteusey performance of "Ain't Misbehaving" while wearing a tight, short green dress. Her performance, too, was weak vocally, but the judges still weren't willing to be honest. Randy Jackson did something he almost never does, which is immediately tried to pass the buck to Paula. Paula fell back on her "I'm the judge who always has something nice to say" schtick and praised Haley's dress.

At this point, Simon looked exasperated, though he really shouldn't have. At first he tried to scold the other judges, saying "That's rude, you should say what you think of the performance." But he started it, after all, by refusing to offer constructive criticism on Sanjaya's performance, and now he was reaping what he had sowed. He praised Haley's legs, as if he was trying to demonstrate how silly it was of Paula to praise her dress, but he just came off looking like a dirty old man. Finally he muttered something about Haley's performance being "pageanty."

The judges can refuse to comment on the singing if they want, despite Simon continually beating the drum about how "Idol" is a "singing competition." But as they sit there and mutter no-comments or compliment the Idols on their looks, they should remember one thing.

Sanjaya, Haley, all of them, were put through to the final 24 by Simon, Paula, and Randy's judgement alone. The viewers, whose opinions Simon has so roundly criticized these days, had nothing to do with it. The choice of the semifinalists was all on the judges' shoulders, and they need to face up to that now and take responsibility. Even if, as Simon's worst nightmare would seem to be, Sanjaya wins. Just remember: Simon put him there.

April 5 Update: The Associated Press has written a story on the Indian call-center rumor, agreeing that it's a ridiculous conspiracy theory.

Americans love a good conspiracy theory, apparently. And in the case of Sanjaya Malakar on "American Idol," there are as many conspiracy theories as there are viewers. Some blame teenyboppers who are in love with Sanjaya's flowing locks, some blame Vote for the Worst and Howard Stern, some blame the fact that Sanjaya once lived in Hawaii (which gets its own time slot for voting).

Some, of course, cite the fact that Sanjaya is half Indian-American (no one mentions the fact that he's also half Italian-American). And that theory has spawned a related theory: That citizens of India working in call centers for American companies there are flooding the phone lines while they're at work with votes for Sanjaya, out of some kind of national pride.

Sheldon Liber of AOL's Blogging Stocks was one of the early proponents of the "it's all the fault of Indian call centers" theory. On March 9, he wrote "Now I have no idea if this theory has any relevance, or if I'm the only one in the country who agrees with the judges that this kid should have been long gone, but I do know that large numbers of viewers are voting to keep him on the show and the call centers in India have the ability to make cheap calls to the United States like no other constituency."

As you can see from the comments that follow his post, many people criticized him and called his theory racist. Many pointed out that India has its own version of "Idol," and that Indian citizens are more interested in the World Cricket Cup than in an American version of a talent show. Said one commentor: "[If you knew] the call centre employee demographic in India, [you would know that] they are not the one that watch these shows."

AP

Sanjaya Malakar

But the comments that made the most sense to me were those that wisely pointed out it's unlikely an employer would stand for this kind of repeat calling on company time, and that it would not go unnoticed.

One person posted: "[It's] very clear that no one here has an idea of how a call center works. Most of the so called Indian call centers are US corporations with a call center based in India. Every outgoing call is not only logged but also monitored as even if it's cheap it still costs to make an overseas call and the corporations everywhere want to save money every possible way."

And another echoed those sentiments saying "Seriously, if you operate a call center and hundreds of calls go to a 1-800 number every week, what would you do? It's a matter of paying for bandwidth, worker productivity etc."

"American Idol" doesn't really address this issue in the show's FAQ, although they do address power-dialing machinery, saying, vaguely, "Production will have in place weekly monitoring procedures designed to prevent individuals from unfairly influencing the outcome of the voting by generating significant blocks of votes using technical enhancements. The producers reserve the right to remove any identified 'power dialing' votes."

Liber later backed down a bit on his call-center theory. He later posted "it has become clear to me that numerous factors are in play and the theory is a stretch for plausibility" and "upon further thought I believe that this is far fetched."

But unless Fox comes out and makes some kind of statement (unlikely, because what would they say?), this rumor will likely be around as long as Sanjaya remains on the show.

MORE ON SANJAYA:
• Hair slide show: Sanjaya's follicle fashion
• Will Sanjaya save or destroy 'Idol'? | Vote
• Seattle choir friends watch Sanjaya on the show 
• Howard Stern tries to take credit; Fox says he's nuts

Did you have a nice April Fool's Day? Does anyone even play pranks anymore? Or do we all just play around on the Web all day? Here's our latest collection of five fun Monday links, and remember, you can nominate a link -- just post it in the comments.

• This link is both fascinating and gruesome. This guy bought a McDonald's burger in 1989, stuffed it in his jacket pocket (?), and forgot about it for a year. When he took that jacket out again and found it, he was shocked by how little the year-old burger had disintegrated. Thus began the Burger Museum: He buys a McD burger every year, dates them and saves them. They do crumble and age, but not nearly as much as a homemade burger would. Flipping through the photos is kinda horrifying, but I can't look away.

• Have you see JibJab's latest video, "What We Call the News"? It's no "This Land," or "Good to Be In D.C.," but it's still pretty funny -- especially the bit with Britney's, uh, puddy tat.

• Joe Mathlete Explains Today's "Marmaduke" always makes me laugh. Warning: Some of the entries are R-rated, but if you don't mind an occasional dirty joke or swear word, the site can be a hoot. Here's one of my recent favorites. I also like this one.

• This is a Wikipedia entry, so take the items with a grain of salt, but I found this "Infamous Moments in 'Saturday Night Live' history entry fascinating. Who knew so many one-time hosts or musical acts were banned from coming back? (Via Freakgirl.)

• "Don't make me get my flying monkeys!"