Coronation for a stuffed animal (plus a bit more)

Hey there blogosphere. I'm back from recent travels and ready to catch up on a few things. What did I miss? Oh, let's see (SPOILERS AHOY)...

Jim didn't propose to Pam, but Andy did to Angela, who is shagging Dwight. Micheal found true love with the crazy chick from Ben Affleck's movie, but found out Jan is having a baby that isn't his. Jack learned Clarie is his sister, the freighter is gonna blow, Sun is now (or will be) Alexis Carrington, Hurley's odometer hates him, Ben always has a plan, Batmanuel has a band of merry men, Faraday knows something about The Orchid, Kate's baby timeline isn't very convincing and Oceanic Air thinks the only bad PR is no PR. 13 has Huntington's, House loves Wilson, Wilson loves Amber (and those two deserve Emmys), Amber is dead and Chase and Cameron collected easy paychecks this year. Stella may be the mother, Robin thinks Springsteen is the American Bryan Adams and Barney may love Robin. Penny and Leonard went on a date, and Schroedinger's Cat really describes relationships. Earl found karma again, got another divorce and you can still live in a sideways trailer. I was wrong about the Gormogon killer, because it turned out to be Zack (?!), Bones thought Booth was dead but he wasn't, Booth likes to drink beer out of a helmet in the bathtub reading comic books (who doesn't? I mean really) and the whole episode was crammed full and pretty disappointing. Athena's kid draws some creepy pictures and got Natalie Six pumped full of lead for it, Roslin gave Tory a verbal airlocking, Felix sings better without a leg, Tigh's eventually gonna have some 'splainin' to to do, the hybrid has a plan of her own and Micheal Angeli wrote a fantastic episode that didn't bludgeon you over the head with the dramatic beats and deeper meaning (for once).

And that was just since I've been home.

I caught up on Idol, too. While David Cook has been my favorite (except for Carly, of course) this year, I think tonight was the victory for the squinty, stuffed Koala bear. Personally, I liked Cook's performances better, but there's no doubt the tweens will text away for Archie. His Elton John tune in Round 1 was really, really good and many voters will probably cast sympathy votes because they think his dad will beat him like a rented mule if he doesn't win (which oddly made me think of this classic magazine cover). Cook had an impossible task to live up to with Bono, though I like the underrated Collective Soul and for the first time I can remember, actually enjoyed a "winning" song I'd never heard before (I rewound Cook's Round 2 performance and might pick that up on iTunes). I could go on and on, but here's a summary from Alan Sepinwall that sums up my feelings quite well (including Randy's cliche-ridden uselessness).

Whew. That's a lot to handle for one night.