Much Music VJ Search ... was quite interesting at times. My top unanswered question: the rejected talent videos that they played and replayed and replayed ad nauseum were funnier than most of the finalists'. What happened there?

They were spot on with the first round of eliminations. Gone were Nina, the "I'm better than all of you" overachiever who didn't care much about music and was mainly there to add another line to her resume. And T-Roy, who was likeable, but his goofiness seemed forced and was trying a bit too hard to rip off Bradford How (but he shouldn't feel bad about it, because 90% of the people who try for this job are trying the same thing). And of course, Vanessa, who had zero personality in front of the camera and somehow pulled off the amazing feat of looking 100X hotter sitting on the toilet in her submission video than she did dolled up and made up in the Much environment.

I didn't mind Chad, but thinking about him now, I can't remember a single individual thing he did or said, and without looking at his picture on the Much website, I can't remember what he looks like at all. I guess that's not the reactions you want from a TV personality.

I think they dropped the ball with JC. Much has this fascination with white bread (no pun intended) semi-hipster college-age types. I was never a big fan of Master T or Sook-Yin Lee, but both had a look and a manner of speaking that you can't find in an ordinary university dorm without searching really hard for the freaks and geeks at the end of the hall blasting the music 180 degrees out of sync with their floormates tastes. JC has great street cred without appearing thuggish, looks nothing like the other finalists or anyone else working for Much at the moment, and is extremely well spoken (and has a post-secondary education). The best TV moment thus far in 2004 was JC smugly giving the camera the finger at the beginning of Sunday's finals. There were rumblings during the recaps/comments clips about JC being off in his own world and distancing himself from the other finalists, but I couldn't find fault with his on-camera work.

This left Devon, Dale, and Nahri. Between the guys, Dale was far more relaxed in front of the camera, and had a wittier way with his words, but that's likely to be expected considering the ten year age gap between them. Maybe I'm partial to Dale because he's in my age demographic, but it's not my age demographic that Much is after, it's Devon's, and that's what made the difference in the end, I'm sure of it. If indeed this was the case, then it needs to be said that Rick Campanelli is looking waaaay older than the other VJ's these days, which is a bit sad for me to say about a guy who's about my age, but then again, Rick looks his age and I don't (and neither does Dale).

However, Nahri was the best of the three finalists, I don't think it was even close. She was the first one to catch my eye at the start of Saturday, and you can't chalk that one up to an Asian fetish on my part because I generally don't go for Asian women. The trouble is, her strengths are her amiability, bubbly good looks, and enthusiasm, and these are the same strength as two other female VJ's already working for Much (Hannah, Amanda), and this considerable personality overlap was likely her downfall.

If I learned anything else this weekend, it was the reconfirmation that Amanda Walsh has an open invitation to drop by my apartment for some TLC. Amanda, if you happen to read this, just stop by. There's no need to call ahead. Just come over. And don't look at my picture on the research web page. I'm much better looking in person.