Mariah Carey becomes an "American Idol" judge.

Which means Randy Jackson is staying (since he is her manager).

Carey was a guest mentor on "American Idol" in 2008, and she did an excellent job. I see I wrote: "Kudos to Mariah for doing the show the Barry Manilow way." The link goes to a post of mine that criticizes Dolly Parton for not guest-mentoring the Barry Manilow way. Here's the really old post, from 2006, praising Barry Manilow:

I just want to say how much I like Barry Manilow. Not his music, which isn't to my taste, but him as a person. Unlike Stevie Wonder and various other guests, he did not do the show to get the kids to sing his songs, and he took his role as a music teacher seriously. He really analyzed each performance and came up with concrete help and never seemed to be at all about self-promotion. I know you could say that this nice-guy thing is just his gimmick, but if it is, it works well, and maybe more people ought to try it.

I don't know who the third judge is going to be in the new "American Idol," but I'd be perfectly happy to have Barry Manilow.

"I don't think I've ever called anybody a genius, except sarcastically."

I just said, to Meade, after he misread the title of the last post as something I'd written, when it was a quote from a Wall Street Journal editorial. (Not that the Wall Street Journal was calling anybody a genius. It was characterizing what other people were saying about John Roberts, and, in my view overstating it.)

I decided to check my impulsive assertion. Have I ever called anybody a "genius" (without sarcasm)?

On February 15, 2008, I called Jane Fonda "some kind of media genius... a media genius — a media whore." And I called Eve Ensler "genius" for thinking up a play — "The Vagina Monogues" — that's so completely easy to produce and perform — "3 women sit on stools and get to read their lines off index cards."

On June 28, 2001, Howard Kurtz had called Mitt Romney a "boring genius," and I restated that as "a genius at being boring."

On March 14, 2012, I called Rush Limbaugh a "media genius," but not "enough of a genius" to have deliberately set off the Sandra Fluke flap for publicity purposes.

On December 30, 2011, I said "The guy's a genius!" about James Franco, but that was complete sarcasm.

October 14, 2011, I say this about Steve Jobs: "Here we are, mourning our loss of a genius, and the genius (apparently) fell for the monumental stupidity of 'alternative' medicine." I'm only referring to his reputation as a genius, and I'm calling him stupid.

June 14, 2011: I say "The idiot is a genius!" about Sarah Palin.

January 24, 2008: I refer to Dolly Parton as a "pop culture genius."

I see I need to amend my original quote: I don't think I've ever called anybody a genius, except sarcastically or in the specific category of genius: media genius.

ADDED: Contemplate the possibility that John Roberts is a genius — a media genius.

Wikipedia Sentence of the Day.

"The line 'And so on, and so on, and scooby doobie doo' would in 1969 at least partly inspire the naming of the title character in the popular Saturday morning cartoon series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!."

Classic Wikipedia, in style and substance.

I was reading about the great Sly and the Family Stone song "Everyday People" — which, by the way, Dolly Parton covered — only because Meade happened to say "Sometimes I'm right and sometimes I'm wrong" after the internet resolved a dispute in my favor. The dispute was over the phrase "raising the bar." What bar?

What bar we were talking about raising is another matter? Any bars you think should be raised?

Here's the post where I collect my favorite quotes from the past year.

This is an annual feature of the Althouse blog. I go though the whole year of posts and pick out the quotes that I like best.

"I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't want to see us fall backwards, you know?" Hillary Clinton, tearing up for the ladies in New Hampshire.

"It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights. Yes we can...." Barack Obama.

"We know how to talk about eatin' fried squirrel." Mike Huckabee.

"A cartoon character is how I see myself and it's worked for me for 40 years. I would rather be a cartoon than a genius!" Dolly Parton.

"Because I'm an ordinary person, I thought that they meant, 'What's your biggest weakness?' If I had gone last I would have known what the game was. And then I could have said, 'Well, ya know, I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don't want to be helped. It's terrible.'" Barack Obama.

"In addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it." Toni Morrison raved about Barack Obama.

"Doesn't it seem like she's being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" David Shuster, talking inanely about Chelsea Clinton.

"Listen, I'll never forget you. You were the only guys who would listen to me for a couple of months. Do you think I'd ever forget you?" John McCain, on the phone with the bloggers.

"I am not saying goodbye to you. I only wish to fight as a soldier of ideas." Fidel Castro stepping down as president of Cuba.

"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother." Barack Obama gives a speech about Jeremiah Wright.

"I don't get too high when I'm high, and I don't get too low when I'm low." Barack Obama, explaining that he has "the right temperament for the presidency."

"Oh, damn. Where did you come from? I’m white. I’m entitled. There’s a black man stealing my show." The Rev. Michael Pfleger channels Hillary's inner voice.

"Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not." Bill Clinton channels the media's inner voice.

"Maintain." Bloomberg flips out.

"I've been to 57 states." Best Obama gaffe.

"Ladies, doesn't it all sound too familiar? Once again, a woman is told to put her dreams aside to benefit a man, to benefit a party of men. Obama, a freshman senator who has paid no dues, is treated like anointed royalty; while a hard-working woman who has battled her entire life to break the glass ceiling is treated like a leftover meal, and thrown down the garbage disposal. You know how this feels. You've been in Hillary's shoes. You've seen the pretty boys that come in the office, almost no experience. They glad-hand the boss; they take credit for your work, talk a good game with real specifics, and then what happens? They get promoted while you, the hardworking backbone of the office, are told to go fetch the coffee or set up meetings for these dweebs that couldn't carry your bra if they had to." Rush Limbaugh channels the feminists.

"We now know who the Democratic nominee will be." Tim Russert, speaking prematurely, on May 26. 18 days later, he died, prematurely.

"My name is such a vanilla, white-girl American name." Ashley Holmes, self-renamed Ashley Hussein.

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." Barack Obama at his most megalomaniacal.

And this is the moment when I hit the wall. This gets us through the first half of the year. You'll have to wait for Part 2.