Urk, no time!

[kate]

Things I want to talk about but only have time for summaries:

1. The Voice: Pretty much the only person I didn't pick was Casey (I wanted Jeff) and now she's gone, so I'm looking forward to the next ep immensely!

2. SYTYCD: Just downloaded the results show, just got done watching the dancing. I didn't like Melanie and Marko's dance (some of the choreography was too slow) but they were my favorites. I didn't like Ryan's sexy dance - her big grin was the exact opposite of sexy and I kept getting pulled out of it. Also I absolutely LOATHE the song Addicted to Love. Sasha and Alexander's hiphop was amazing (apparently NappyTabs work best with a military backdrop theme?). Sasha and Melanie are my two faves in this whole competition. I also like Jess and Ashley (I LOVE ASHLEY'S LISP!). I did like the Stacey Tookey routine with the chairs and the Viennese waltz (even though Jordan drives me NUTS), so I'm interested to see who got voted in the bottom three and who they're sending home.

3. I has fresh brownies.

4. It's late. I should be in bed.

5. HOLY CRAP GUYS. Out of the blue, the orchestra manager quit. She was a sweet old lady that adored me! And then she up and left! With almost no warning! That was hard, but you know, it happens.

6. The NEW orchestra manager - she's got a doctorate in CLARINET PERFORMANCE and an emphasis in arts management, and she's worked as an arts manager with the National Symphony Orchestra. To which part of me goes: *gulp* and part of me goes: WTF are you doing in a part time job with this shitty little orchestra? I dunno, I dunno. I hope it works out for the best because I cannot stand one more political bullshit thing with this orchestra, I swear.

Comments

[evilawyer]

I cannot stand one more political bullshit thing with this orchestra, I swear.

Why, oh why, must the political bullshit permeate everything?

[nagasvoice]

Possibly because some people love to see other people run about screaming and tearing their hair out as a result of their amazing litle superpowers of Confuse and BullSh@@?
Or possibly it's all just ignorance compounded with incompetence and bad timing? I dunno, that's what I see at work, anyway. It's often impossible to tell the difference, from the results, so for my bunch, I'll go with Occam's Razor on this one, and call all it stupidity in motion.

[kate]

I just find it to be human nature. People like feeling like they have power, and the way they get it is by making other people feel small. That doesn't normally work with me, but there's only so much bullshit I can ignore/avoid and the orchestra isn't *that* great an experience, so if it becomes overbearing, then the orchestra is right out.

[kate]

I think it's the only way some people can get drama in their life. I don't need it, so I either ignore or put up with it, but in this case, there's a joy/bullshit balance that's always one click short of overbalancing to the bullshit side. It's a hobby, not worth it if it isn't more fun that work.

[jumpuphigh]

I just watched the SYTYCD results show so holler once you've done so. I'd love to talk about it.

[kate]

Oooh, I watched it! What did you think?

[jumpuphigh]

I agree with elmyraemilie below. The judges are just orgasming over Ryan and I just cringe at the constant fake smile. I wish they had kept Iveta. She wasn't my favorite but her dance for your life was really incredible. I think it was the best one that I remember ever seeing from a ballroom dancer.

I can see their argument for keeping Ricky but I wanted to see more of Nick.

I cannot wait until Alex and Jess are gone. Alex started pinging my creep buttons last week plus I don't find him to be that great of a dancer. Jess is just so superficial of a dancer.

I'm actually really excited about a lot of the women. Sasha and Melanie both ring my bells and each dance makes me love Clarice a little bit more. I wish that there wasn't this gender segregation. I also wish these amazing women weren't consistently being called "girls".

[haruka]

I agree about Ryan and Iveta. The smile that Ryan had going on during her 'sexy' dance number just didn't fit, and I can't help but think part of Iveta's rejection was her age (the judges take into account the number of votes each person got from the call-ins, too.) I'll miss her.

I love Melanie, I wouldn't mind seeing her win it all.

[kate]

Do they take into account the voting? I had no idea. I wish they didn't though; either make it America's decision or don't - they already got to pick the bottom three, now it's time to put your judge hat on and be critical of their dancing. I thought Ryan's dances were both crap; that sexy dance was anything but sexy, the grin was so weird and out of place. Grinning isn't sexy (at least, I've not seen one that is - and you don't see grins in porn anywhere). Grinning is goofy, and that's what it looked like.

I didn't care for Iveta that much, but man, she danced for her life the same way Ricky did, and deserved to stay. Though of course, that would've meant her and Ricky were a couple. I don't know what they would've done with them. I have to say, I was surprised Iveta even got in (because of her age). I thought they were going to be impervious to the fact that it was her last chance.

I love Melanie too, she and Sasha are right at the top for me. I'd love to see the pair of them in the top four, maybe with Marko and Tadd.

[haruka]

It was definitely said at one time that they take the voting numbers into account, BUT in all fairness, I can't remember if they said that on the US version, or the Canadian one.

[kate]

I totally agree! I don't like Iveta, but she really did dance for her life - I thought she deserved to stay. I don't know what the hell they see in Ryan at all.

I thought they made the right choice with the boys, but it was much tougher - I liked both Wadi and Nick, and I would've like to keep the field to fewer contemporary dancers.

I love Sasha and Melanie to death too (and Ashley - her little lisp!), and while I think Nigel's right about the women being beasts this year, there are a couple that rub me the wrong way (Clarice is one of them (even though I think her performances have been really good), Jordan another). The guys as a field, they are less standout to me, though I have a lot of love for Marko and Robert charms me, weirdly (I keep waiting to find him annoying, but it hasn't happened yet). I also really enjoy Jess - he has bad feet (eep, that contemporary!) but I love his broadway performances. I don't mind that he's more of a performer than a dancer - Benji was like that in season two, and I loved him too (even though I wish Travis had won).

I am on the fence about the gender segregation (and I actually had to go pull the word 'girls' out of that comment up there twice, because in my mind, they're girls and boys, not men and women because they're so young (except Iveta - I can't call her anything but a woman), but I know that the show calls them girls and guys, which is stupid). Parts of me wish that we could just get rid of the two weakest dancers from the bottom six, be they both men or women, but then we end up with last season - systematically voting off the women one by one until only one is left. There's a bias against women in general, and it's disheartening to see so obviously as we did last season (though I was thrilled to see Lauren win it all, even as much as I loved Kent - she deserved it, for sure).

[kate]

Also - I didn't address the Alex comment (I was thinking about so many other things) and I had to go look him up because I couldn't remember who he was (hahahaha, not memorable - that won't get you far on this show). I don't remember him being creepy - what did he do? Also, considering I think Sasha's a huge favorite and he seems to be able to keep up with her, I think he's here until the top ten, sadly.

[jumpuphigh]

He was less creepy this week but the way he looked at and touched Sasha during their non-performing times just pinged my creep-o-meter. Now, I can't see past that. I agree that he'll probably be kept around because of who he's paired with and that isn't fair to other guys. If they are going to pair them up and vote for them as pairs, then they should mix it up each week so that the weak dancers aren't being propped up by the super-strong.

[elmyraemilie]

Re: SYTYCD: I have no idea what Nigel people see in Ryan. That grin is so distracting, and she just seems so...fakey, put-on, brown-nosey. That, and I don't feel any emotion from her when she dances. All the heart-clutching gestures in the world doesn't equal even one of the looks between Sasha and Alexander in that NappyTabs piece.

/vent

So far, Sasha is my favorite among the girls, and Marko among the guys. Wait 'til you see the results show!

[kate]

Yeah, I dunno. I liked Ryan well enough in the first couple of eps but her dancing leaves me utterly cold. I couldn't believe she was in the bottom three! I was so pleased! I think she'll be going home soon, which makes me happy. I didn't actually like any of the bottom three girls; I would rather have sent them all home and kept Wadi, personally. I think they made the right decision about Ricky though, his solo truly was amazing. What did you think?

Also - I totally agree about Sasha, she's been a fave of mine since the beginning (and her sister too!). I have also loved Melanie, though - there's something about her that makes me ridiculously happy, and her and Marko together remind me of Benji and Donyelle from season two. They're going to be stars, I think.