In case you have no idea what American Idol is because all you do is read The Economist and watch PBS — allow me to bring you into modern pop culture: Seventy thousand kids auditioned for a musical talent contest. The winner, the next American Idol, would be America’s next pop sensation. After several eliminations, the field was reduced to thirty-two finalists. Obviously, to get that far among such a huge talent American idol pool means that the top thirty-two were special. They all had amazing voices, natural skill, and huge amounts of talent. They were all darn good.

But as we saw them compete, it was clear that some of them just didn’t have ” it.” Sure they were good, and a few of them were very good. All of those top thirty-two were outstanding. But most of them still left us wanting more. Why?

So I set out to find the missing piece of the puzzle. I studied them each week… I thought about their performances, and I talked about them with my family. (After all, nobody’s gonna admit they watch the show to people who aren’t family.) I read commentary. I checked the website. And one fact became obvious: I need a hobby.