MTV News producer Garth Bardsley sent us this sad little note from the field. Boy is not the most popular kid in the office these days...

I think MTV News is going to stop sending me on shoots.

The bad luck started in early February, when, on a few hours notice, we ended up chasing Chelsea Clinton up the California coastline for a story about her stumping for her mom on college campuses (a story that was eventually copied by every media outlet in the country, natch!). My LA colleagues Will Miller and Aaron Pinkston dropped me off at the airport in Santa Barbara (to head to Tuscon for a live shoot with Chelsea’s mom) and then booked it back to the LA office –- only to be stopped by the police. Always clever, Will and Aaron played the “We work for MTV News and are rushing tapes back to the office” card, and the cop actually bought it. “Tell MTV to play more music,” the cop told them. (Note to everyone: We know. Do you really think we’re involved in programming?)

My next trip for News was to Tennessee to spend the day with Josiah Leming, who had surprisingly been kicked off "American Idol" a few days earlier. This time it was production manager Luke Burke behind the wheel when the lights came blaring. And Luke wasn’t so lucky. After paying that hefty fine, he pretty much worked for free that weekend. Woo!

The next day, while sitting on the tarmac flying back to New York from Tennessee, another plane came by and clipped our wing! For serious. No one was injured, thankfully, except the ego of the offending pilot. I’m guessing he got quite a "vacation" after that.

Then, yesterday, it was Kim Stolz’s turn. Trying to get back to see some of the friends we made at Virginia Tech last year, we ended up being re-routed through Greensboro, North Carolina. Loving a good road trip, we hopped in the car to drive the two hours to Blacksburg. “Let me drive,” said Kim. Famous last words.

As “Blinded By the Light” blared on the speakers, cop lights showed up in our rearview mirror, and once again I got some face time with the police. (Notice that I’m never the one driving when this happens? Coincidence...?) Even Kim couldn’t talk her way out of this one, and now she’s out 175 bucks. See her looking adorably flustered in the photo above? Yeah, she was less adorable about 30 seconds before I snapped that.

Oh, the perils of working at MTV News. With me.

Editor's Note: It's crazy serious and difficult for the US Armed Forces in Iraq, but our soldiers still find time for a little fun and escape: just like many of you, they love their weekly dose of "American Idol." We made friends on the Internet with some members of the Army's 82nd Airborne division (Fort Bragg, what up!), who will be sending us their review of each "Idol" installment.

They get "Idol" a day later than we do, and their reports might not arrive until well after the show has aired (because, of course, things like communications blackouts do happen when you're in the military taking care of URGENT BUSINESS). But you don't mind because they are helping give you the freedom to watch "Idol" in the first place.

Our soldiers each week (L-R): PFC Joshua Miranda, 22 (Orlando, FL); PFC Nathan Puckett, 19 (Cynthiana, KY); SPC Cory Combs, 21 (Plymouth, MA); SSG Steve Cody, 27 (Los Angeles,CA)

Major label reject, Kristy Lee Cook, has been teetering on the brink of elimination all season long, though she hit a high note this week performing Lee Greenwood’s red-state-rousing “God Bless the USA.” Randy, Paula and Simon lauded the “smart” song choice, with Cowell calling it Cook’s “best performance by a mile.” But how did the patriotic anthem play with our judges in uniform? The song resonated with the troops but Kristy’s rendition did not. “We did not really buy it… We were more motivated by [Michael Johns’] “We Are the Champions,” 19-year-old Nathan wrote. “I think after hearing that song we were all ready to go fight.”And they came gunning for early “Idol” favorite David Archuleta, whose confusing song choice left the military men at a loss, though they had little trouble finding some strong words in their curt condemnation – “hate” being the one that stands out the most (we suspect they won't get caught up in David Archuleta PromGate 2008).

Find out what the guys thought of Jason Castro, Carly Smithson, Brook White, show-stopper David Cook and all your other favorites, after the jump.

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