“It’s not good to do nothing. You should always be busy.” And so Yama is. A Tibetan nomad, she’s spending yet another summer in Dzachukha, Sichuan Province, China. Here she and her husband, Locho, as well as her two sisters and their husbands, keep their herds of yaks and horses fed on fresh grass, until the season changes and they head to less forbidding land for winter. Yama doesn’t need to seek work, as she reveals throughout the remarkable documentary, Summer Pasture—made by Lynn True, Nelson Walker, and Tsering Perlo, and premiering on PBS’ Independent Lens on 10 May. The film provides views of their lives together and in separate interviews too, revealing differing perspectives on their pasts and future, and the lives of their young children. If the couple share difficult daily labors, their emotional lives are premised on ever tentative compromise or, sometimes, painful silence. Even as Locho looks forward to changes—in technologies and access to education—Yama is less convinced of their positive effects. “I think it will be the same as now,” she says as the camera watches her make her way across a snowy landscape, toting the yak dung that will serve as fuel. “Every day is the same. There’s no time to hold your hands in your lap.”

See PopMatters’ review.

A record number of people auditioned for American Idol’s fourth season, but eventually the judges and the voting public chose that one in 100,000 voice that would go on to be the show’s most successful contestant. So whatever happened to those who made it to the top that year? Let’s find out as we continue on to 2005‘s American Idols. 

5. Scott Savol

Savol drew comparisons to season two winner Ruben Studdard, but possibly became one of the show’s least-liked finalists after his prior arrest for domestic violence was revealed.

Savol appeared in the off-Broadway play Oz, The Musical with former contestants Vonzell Solomon, Mikalah Gordon, and Rickey Smith. He recently released an album, In Spite Of It All online.

Despite a record-breaking amount of phone-in votes, American Idol’s third season is most notable for who didn’t get enough votes. Let’s put it this way, one Idol contestant would go on to win an Oscar, sing the National Anthem at Superbowl XLIII, star in numerous commercials as a Weight Watchers success story, and deliver a show-stopping tribute to Whitney Houston at this year’s Grammy awards, but she only got to seventh place. Yes, one of the show’s biggest stars to date, Jennifer Hudson, didn’t even make it to the top five.

But whatever happened to those who did make it to the top that year? Let’s find out as we continue on to 2004‘s American Idols.

After debuting in the summer of 2002, and becoming a ratings hit, American Idol began searching for new hopefuls several weeks after crowning their first winner. In a couple of months, the show returned with more elaborate sets, a wider selection of songs, one less host (Brian Dunkleman supposedly left to pursue a comedy career), and a whole lot of hype.

Despite all these changes, there was only one thing all of those millions of viewers really cared about: the contestants. But what have all of those singers been up to lately? Let’s take a look.

“I’m sick and tired of worrying about gas prices every six months, I’m sick and tired of these failed wars in the Middle East,” says Gavin Newsom. “I’m sick and tired of breathing the air that we’re breathing.” One of the several celebrity talking heads in Revenge of the Electric Car, Chris Paine’s follow-up to Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006), the California Lieutenant Governor lays out the most obvious reasons electric cars are a good idea. Taking such rationale as pretty much self-evident (Danny DeVito on his now-extinct EV1: “I wasn’t gunking up the air, it was a fantastic ride”), the new documentary follows independent entrepreneurs like Gadget Abbott (who refits a gas-fueled Triumph Spitfire and a GT6 to take electricity) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (whom Jon Favreau describes as “The closest you’re going to get in real life to Tony Stark”), as well as mainstream bosses like GM’s Bob Lutz (who presses for the Chevy Volt) and Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn (the Leaf). They all want to make the world better and also make money. Narrator Tim Robbins introduces turns in the story with colorful, if simplifying, phrases (“Elon’s coup was just what Bob needed to drag GM back into the race”), and the film briefly recalls the 2008 auto hearings (with a shot of a corporate jet to emphasize the Big Three automakers’ tone-deafness) as well as the subsequent bailout. These efforts to bring back electric cars help to structure a seemingly linear adventure, as the documentary accepts and even celebrates the ways that money drives the process of revolution. Where the first film railed against conspiring corporations and government, this one insists they need to be part of the solution.

Revenge of the Electric Car premieres this week on Independent Lens.