Dear Salon,

A couple of thoughts:

1) I think having a "best-unsigned-bands" contest is a great idea!

2) Some of the hard-working artists who took the time to enter your contest are a little upset because they have no idea who entered, or what their fellow contestants sounded like. They are only taking the word of your expert music blogger panelists and your celebrity judges (which, frankly, have not to this point been agreed with) about the quality of the bands that have been included in the contest.

3) You have to admit that to an outsider, some things seem unnecessarialy "hinkey" about this contest. For example, one of the pre-contest "featured" bands (the Stairs) was related to one of the other finalists. That finalist (HTH) told their fellow finalist (The motown guy) about the contest. And, as another blogger writes, the first round "winners" were professional producers (the "motorcycle" band). Just thinking about the statistics involved when you are dealing with 10 out of a field of almost 500 bands makes me feel a little uneasy.

4) Most important, please remember that it's not just random people that filled out an online form that are providing your contest with material. The people who entered this contest spent a great deal of time (and often money) putting these songs together. They deserve your consideration and respect.

5) Finally, you should really post all of the songs that were originally submitted, once the contest has ended. Your subscribers may not agree with your panelists, but they will certainly get to hear hundreds of new songs, and in the end, isn't that the point? This has been brought up a couple of times already, but it has not been commented on by Salon. I know that it is technically possible to do this, so why not?

...was because Keisha Castle-Hughes is really pregnant, and is really 16 years old. I can't believe that nobody else has commented on this! I heard about this a few months ago, and then heard that she was starring in a story about the Nativity. After reading this, I thought that maybe some photos were taken in Mary-garb and it was all blown out of proportion, but then I found out that the little Whale Rider girl was really married and pregnant at 16.

Yeah. Lots of luck with that fundies.

I totally understand this situation, and this feeling of total panic when facing a fixer-upper that seems to need so much. What got my wife and I out of our funk when we were feeling that all was lost, was to do one small, single project.

My advice? Paint something.

The reason all of the DIY shows seem to focus on paint is that it is the easiest way to transform a room. It even smells like progress.

Pick a color, buy some paint, and get to it. In a day or two, you can sit back and feel the self-love. It might just turn your feelings about your house around.

Hillary may be wonderful, and may even turn out to be a better President than her husband, but I can't vote for her, simply because to do so means that for at least 24 years you would have to be either a Bush or a Clinton to lead the United States of America.

My wife and I have been subscribers for the past four years. We really enjoy Audiofile and have found it to be a great place to discover new music. Getting rid of it is a very bad idea. Salon's strong coverage of politics is fine, but we must echo the comments of many of our fellow Audiofile fans when we say that if it goes - we go too.