"Randy, Paula and Simon" has a certain rhythm to it, don't you think?  Well, that trio of American Idol judges is about to get a fourth, at least according to news reports.

Songwriter Kara DioGuardi will join RP&S this season, cementing a spot in what has been a revolving chair of guest judges in past cycles of Idol.

By now, the third paragraph, if you're counting, you may be wondering the same thing I was about two minutes ago. 

Kara Who?

Well, according to the World's Most Prolific and Accurate News Source (read: Wikipedia) DioGuardi is from New England (it doesn't specify which state).  She's apparently written songs that were recorded by Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Jewel, Christina Aguilera and -- now we know she's really made it -- Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers.

The good news: Thank God.  I've blogged before about the vicious cycle of American Idol's predictability -- everything from the audition circuit to Simon's scathing sidenotes -- and how it was making me looney tunes -- and making me tune out.  New blood is a good thing.

The bad news: I don't know that even she can save this viewer's sanity, because I'm supremely soured on the show.  Who knows? Maybe millions of others will disagree.

Now, a few questions:

1. How will "the judging that matters" work during preliminary rounds?  As in, who and how many of the four judges will it take to decide who makes it to Hollywood?

2. In the news reports, a producer says Kara will bring "more girl power" to the panel.  The real question is, will she be more sober than Paula?

3. If pitted against one another in a tug-of-war match for Kara's love, who would win: Ryan or Simon?

Please comment!

As promised in this week's installment of Tete-a-tete, here are the YouTube videos that have served to bring my family to a higher plane of love and mutual understanding, or something similar.

Disclaimer: I am not liable if The Gummy Bear Song gets stuck in your head. It's a total earworm. Please proceed with caution. 

Behold the power of bacon.

It comes in lollipop form.

It comes chicken-fried.

And it can wake you up in the morning. 

There is no better food.

Fo' sizzle. 

Some randomness, you just can't make up. Randomness like the unexplained insertion of a spaghetti-eating cat into a morning-show interview about binge drinking.

Joel McHale nailed it. "It was, for lack of a better word: art."

Check it out:

It's almost time for school to start again, which means there will be naive young things posing for their yearbook photos, unaware that if fame ever grips them, that picture will haunt them for the rest of their natural lives.

If you're not famous, but you regret your yearbook picture all the same, play around with a new one here.  

It's a good time-killer, and sorta creepy to see what you'd look like if you were born a decade or two earlier.

While doing research for today's Daily TWiP, I stumbled across a rather awesome blog by the name of Claudia's Room. The blog's author has decided to go back through and reread all of her old Baby-sitter's Club books and write about how she views them now versus how she viewed them when she first read them as a kid.

If you remember reading these books growing up, chances are you will find this blog addicting. There's some colorful language and full-on ranting against some aspects of the characterization and plots, but it's apparent that underneath, the blog's author really does cherish the books and is having a bang-up time smashing a few mailboxes along Memory Lane.

A few gems:

- "Mrs. Arnold calls for an emergency sitter cause she lost one of her contacts and has to get it replaced. Doesn't she have glasses?"

- "Stacey calls Claudia 'pigheaded and selfish.' Cough. POT. Cough. KETTLE. Cough. BLACK. Cough. Got that frog out of my throat."

- "Ever notice that none of the BSC 'rents ever say, 'No, you can't have fifty million children over here. I will not be responsible for that many kids in my yard.'"

- "Claudia 'was wearing denim overall shorts, a short black T-shirt, red-and-white pin-striped stockings that came over the top of her knees, red thick-soled patent leather shoes, and a black felt derby.' I can't believe I'm going to say this, but this outfit almost works. Of course I could just be distracted by the shoes, cause WANT!!!!"

The detailed descriptions of Claudia and Stacey's fashionably unique outfits were always a high point of the books for me. Those two were seriously too cool for school, at least by my nine-year-old standards.

Looking back, I can't believe these characters were supposed to be 11 and 12 years old, 13 at the most. I never had as much drama as they did when I was in junior high school. I wasn't even allowed to babysit until I was in high school. Even now, they still seem like they're more mature than I am.

Have you ever been faced with a questionable cake?

I don't mean one that tastes as if the baker might be moonlighting as a brick mason.  I mean one that makes you go, "Um. Well. That's different."

And when I say "different," I mean it in the same way your cousin Charlie who ate paste and wore his red cowboy boots everywhere was "different."

Still not following? 

Okay, so I’m late.  We’re already three episodes into the fifth season of Project Runway, and I’m just now getting my stuff together.  Onward and forward.

Quick synopsis of season challenges so far:

It's been awhile since popular musicians last harnessed the transformative power of the cheesy ballad for a good cause. Although this was made as a parody when aid songs were still in vogue, it's only a matter of time before aging rockstars unite on their own behalf. Man, "Axl" plays a mean sandwich.

How can you sleep at night knowing that, somewhere, an aging rockstar might be driving a Volvo station wagon? Please. Dig deep. Our operators are standing by. But don't call after ten, because they'll be asleep.

Did you know that New England is home to the Museum of Bad Art? Nestled just outside the men's room in the basement of the Dedham (Mass.) Community Theatre, this gallery space is the only museum in the world dedicated to the preservation of truly awful art.

Not "whimsically eccentric art." Not "art-that's-so-bad-it's-good." Really, sincerely, terribly, horribly bad art. I've only seen those pieces of the collection that are available in their online gallery, but seriously. The mind boggles.

From the unfortunate portrait of someone's grandma that started it all to what appears to be a cow committing suicide, the MoBA is definitely a visual feast for bad art aficionados.

Concerned that your bad art appreciation skills aren't up to snuff? Head out to the Needham (Mass.) Public Library on Highland Avenue at 7 p.m. on July 28th for a lecture by Louise Reilly Sacco, permanent acting interim executive director of the Museum of Bad Art.

Sacco will discuss how to identify and locate bad art and give tips on bad art interpretation. Feel free to bring the bad art you've hidden away in your attic or basement - Sacco will tell you whether it's a museum quality monsterpiece or just simply bad. You'll also have an opportunity to purchase copies of the MoBA's first publication, "The Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks."

For more information, call the Needham Public Library at 781-455-7559.

When celebrities spend a little too much time in the limelight, they inexplicably develop a raging desire to design their own clothing line.

Go ahead, celebrities. Flex your creative muscles. I have only one request: Please refrain from describing your collection as appealing, affordable, or appropriate for the rest of us workaday stiffs. Because really, they're not, and Mom always said you shouldn't say things that aren't true.

Check out samples from the self-designed collections of Heidi Montag and Lauren Conrad of "The Hills" fame and see for yourself. The sad thing is, both of these young ladies have attended fashion school and worked in the industry.

Those of you who read The Telegraph's breaking news blog are already aware, but for those of you who don't, today is Corey Feldman's 37th birthday. To celebrate, I have collected a few clips from some of his more enjoyable movies. I would be hard pressed to think of another actor who has made more films that are dear to my heart.

And the sappy nostalgia ends here. The clips, however, continue on.

MGM Home Entertainment is releasing the Alfred Hitchcock Premier Collection on Oct. 14th, just in time to give your favorite suspenseful movie fan the absolute willies for Christmas. The multiple-DVD set is priced at $119.98 and comes with oodles of extras, including a 32-page booklet packed with production notes, trivia, and more.

The Premier Collection includes restored and remastered versions of "Rebecca," "The Lodger," "The Paradine Case," "Spellbound," "Notorious," "Young and Innocent," "Sabotage," and "Lifeboat."

One of the coolest parts of this collection is that the extras include radio play versions of "Notorious," "Spellbound," "The Paradine Case," "The Lodger," and "Rebecca," which take the Hitchcock experience to a whole new level. Sometimes the scariest things are the things you don't see.

Yikes. Even reading the synopses of the movies is kind of chilling. I think I might swing by the store on the way home and pick up some brighter lightbulbs.

Well, here's one way to make sure everyone hears about the issues you have with your spouse: record your rants and put them up on YouTube.

Broadway producer Philip Smith is suing his estranged wife Tricia Walsh Smith for divorce after the video clips she posted on YouTube in which she expounds at length on their failed marriage got over 4 million views. Smith claims this constitutes spousal abuse.

In the event the 76 year-old producer decides to marry again after this fiasco, he may want to choose a wife closer to his own age - there's a 27 year age difference between him and Walsh Smith. If he marries someone upwards of age 70, chances are they won't know how to use YouTube and he can avoid being embarrassed if things don't work out again.

So, what happens when you freeze various items at -13 degrees Celsius? (That's 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which doesn't sound quite as impressive, but hey, it's pretty cold.)

First, amazement and disbelief at the frozen items ensues, accompanied by the attempted tasting of food items to make sure they aren't plastic.

Also, whoever is silly enough to volunteer to retrieve the items from the freezer will repeatedly have the door shut on him. Or perhaps Kame was anticipating this, which would explain the long sleeves and boots, but not the mini ponytail.

A word to the wise: Never leave your laundry unattended. If it goes missing, it might just show up when you least expect it.