Curious as to who else was born on my birthday, I did a little searching on the web. Apparently, this guy named Jim Bakkum was, nine years after I was. Through a little more surfing, I discovered that he was the "Idol" from the Dutch version of American Idol. From there, I discovered a whole trove of Idol sites. Now, I don't exactly remember why I started watching it, but I spent the past few hours surfing around A la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star--the French version. I've never watched a single episode of either season of American Idol or American Juniors. Maybe it's what how those kooky French people dress. Maybe it was listening to them attempt--sometimes with excruciating result--singing English songs. Or maybe it's just what those odd French do: the nouvelle star, in one of his performances gyrated while he sang a Shakira song. Yeah. If that's what it takes to be the star, I don't know that it's something I'd aspire to. But it sure as heck was entertaining. Maybe I'll check out the German one next...