Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating today, June 23rd, including:

1946 – Ted Shackelford, actor
1948 – Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice
1955 – Glenn Danzig, musician
1956 – Randy Jackson, American Idol judge
1957 – Frances McDormand, actress
1964 – Joss Whedon, screenwriter
1972 – Selma Blair, actress
1975 – KT Tunstall, musician
1977 – Jason Mraz. musician
1984 – Duffy, musician

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Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson sat behind the judges table of the season 10 premiere of American Idol on FOX last night and gave us a slightly different Idol. Most things haven’t changed, Ryan Seacrest is still there, the contestants were all over the map from really good to God awful and of course, the golden tickets to Hollywood were the goal.

One thing sorely missing was Simon Cowell’s sharp criticism. Cowell could be downright mean, but some of those contestants needed a wakeup call. Is it better to have someone let down sweetly who still thinks they have a shot or to hear Cowell bark “That was absolutely dreadful!”?

Tyler tried to give the bad news with the softest ego blow possible saying “Oh, baby. You’re just not ready.” I missed Simon. I don’t want the rejected to end up in the corner in a fetal position crying their eyes out but a good dose of reality is called for on some of the more deluded candidates.

If you watched, you must have noticed Lopez struggling with telling a contestant no, you’re not going to Hollywood. And I did feel for her – she doesn’t want to deny anyone a shot at their dreams. At one point she said out loud “Why did I sign up for this?”

Someone should tell her to toughen up quick because it’s only going to get worse.

To catch some of the auditions click the links below:

Rachel Zevita

Tiffany Rios

Ashley Sullivan

Robbie Rosen

Travis Orlando

Tell us what you thought of the new judges.

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American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and judge Randy Jackson share an intimate lunch moment at the show auditions in New York. For a moment I was a little scared since it looks like Randy is ready to eat Ryan alive, while he is appreciating the experience.

If you had any doubt Ryan is totally gay,  he kissed a guy and he definitely liked it! Eww!!

Photo Source: Best Week Ever

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Kara DioGuardi, the freshly-appointed fourth � American Idol� judge, joined Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson in a public show of solidarity Tuesday afternoon as they entered a Chelsea Piers building on Manhattan�s west side for a round of season eight auditions.

�Kara has a good reputation of A, having hits; and B, having an opinion. And that�s a good combination,� Cowell said, adding, matter-of-factly: �And she�s cute.�

�I know Kara, and she speaks her mind � so she will be speaking her mind,� Abdul said of DioGuardi�s judging technique.

�That�s a nice way of saying she�s bitchy,� Cowell sniped, eliciting a �Whooooooooah!� from Jackson.

�Then what are you if I�m bitchy?� DioGuardi said.

�Sincere,� Cowell responded.

�I�m sincere too,� she said.

Cowell said they hadn�t fully decided how ties will be broken in the audition process. In past seasons, two out of three judges had to agree to advance aspiring pop stars to the Hollywood round.

Cowell says that he will be sitting in between the two girls… and that Paula will have to quit talking as much so they can hear all four opinions in the tight-crunched show. Nice.

Source: msn

Photo: Jason Decrow / AP

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