In an exclusive interview with Television Week, Fox executive Mike Darnell says big changes are still to come in this season of "American Idol." I'll boil it down for you:
— Instead of living in separate apartments, the Top 12 will share a house. [Oh boy, is this "Real World" meets "American Idol"?]
— Kelly Clarkson is likely to make an appearance on the show within the next few weeks.
— "There's a big surprise coming when we get to the top 12," Darnell said. He said it would be controversial, but didn't offer any details.

• Idol blogger Richard Rushfield of the Los Angeles Times got stuck in an elevator with the family of Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta and lived to tell about it. Along the way, he paints a nice picture of how ingrained music is for David.

• We just can't get enough of "Bikini Girl" Katrina Darrell, can we? According to this article, Darrell was once a Hooters girl. Nice to see she's got a career to fall back on if singing doesn't work out. Oh wait, the article says she was fired. Oh well.

• Got a big event planned? Need somebody to belt out the National Anthem? Well, call on a former Idol contestant, of course! Archuleta did the honors at the Latino Inaugural Gala at Union Station in D.C. on Sunday night. And Jennifer Hudson is signed on for the Super Bowl. Also singing the N.A. on Sunday — quite impressively, in my opinion — was Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks: