SYTYCD:4 - Week 1
I’m so glad this show is back. It’s up there with Survivor & The Amazing Race as the very best realitytv shows going. And yes, my goodness yes, it’s so far and away better than Idol that it,s not even funny. The format, the judges, the voting, the contestants, the host — all better!
This season is shaping up to another good one. I don’t really have any die-hard favorites (on the level of season 2’s Allison) yet, although I could easily see Will, Jessica, & maybe Chelsie H. emerge from the pack.
SYTYCD brings out a rather primal/visceral reaction from me, in terms of what I like in/from the dancers. I find that the less I intellectualize it & the more I just feel & enjoy it, the better it is. It’s almost the exact opposite of how I approach Idol, in terms of analysis and breaking it down. Combined with the overall superiority of the show (especially with the judges, who happen to be choreographers that have actual, you know, current credibility & chops in the profession, so they actually speak truth rather than risk spouting crap like the Idol judges do so regularly…)
A quick word here about the choreographers. I’m not sure I’d want to ever really see Mia Michaels do her work & practice her craft (after all, who really wants to see sausage get made?). But, my goodness does that woman get beautiful results! The routine that she created for Mark & Chelsie H. was amazing, as her routines usually are. I don’t pretend to understand the creative, artistic mind, but I do know enough to appreciate good art when I see it — and more often then not, Mia Michaels choreographed routines are good art.
So, that’s another reason SYTYCD is a superlative show - it produces good art & makes it accessible to many folks (like me) who wouldn’t normally consume it.
I like the girls attractive, but mere superficial looks aren’t enough. Thus, this year I’m leaning more towards Jessica the most, closely followed by Chelsie H., Courtney G., & Kherington. Susie may have learned a lesson, because she toned things down nicely in week 1, and was well served by putting on more clothes & less makeup - but I don’t think that it should keep her in for the long haul. Comfort & Chelsea T. are worthy finalists, if only because they have great character and obvious talent. Kourtni L. is on the border for me - I think she could emerge as a serious contender, but I could just as easily see her wash out pretty quickly. I think I’d prefer the former. Katee? In week 1 I thought she & Joshua gave the best, “most pleasant surprise” performance. But I don’t think I care if she stays much beyond this next week or two.
The guys must be graceful & powerful but still manly. If you’re too gay you can’t really butch it up & fake it — it shows through - you can be nice, pleasant, & engaging, but just not a great, manly dancer is all (witness Chris, Matt, & Thayne). But guys like Will, Joshua, & Twitch have got it in spades. That’s why they’re my favorite guys so far this season. Mark is right behind them, just because he’s such an engagingly quirky & unique dancer. Marquis & Gev? Meh. They do nothing for me, they’ve done nothing to really stand out that much so far, so I hope they don’t do anything to drag any of the girls down too far before they get eliminated.
Overall, I agreed with the week 1 eliminations (Jamie & Rayven), in that I didn’t disagree with them. Truth be told I might have sent Matt home instead of Jamie, but overall it was a machts nichts to me. I was more annoyed by America putting Will & Jessica into the bottom 3 instead of Gev & Courtney G. — that was inexplicable & uncalled for.
All in all, though, it’s enough that SYTYCD is back & we get to enjoy it for the rest of the summer.
Yay for us!
-ghp
Flowers are red
Flowers are Red (Harry Chapin)
The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin’ young man
I’m paintin’ flowers he said
She said… It’s not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There’s a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You’ve got to show concern for everyone else
For you’re not the only one
And she said…
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen
An affinity for Harry Chapin, particularly the Legends of the Lost and Found live double album, is one of the few musical tastes that bigsis and I have in common. I recall listening to that album over & over again on bigsis’s stereo, when it was stored at our parents’ house right after bigsis got married (and before she got settled enough to lay claim to it again). I thought that was the coolest stereo system ever. So, there was an upside to your stuff taking up all that space, sweetie! ;^)
Garfield - Garfield = Funny
If’n you have a somewhat, shall we say, off sense of humor (like me), then I think you’ll like this.
Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness in a quiet American suburb.
Yes, Garfield minus Garfield.
It took the surrealistic step of removing the title character himself, but this has once again made Garfield worth reading for me.
-ghp
A little tidbit for you Van Halen and/or AI fans
This is pretty interesting & funny stuff: The original DLR vocal track from Van Halen’s 1978 offering Running With The Devil, sans music. It just goes to prove that Diamond Dave was never a singer as much as he was a great rock front man…
Also pretty darned funny is this audio mashup (from the same site), taking that bare vocal track & interspersing it with audio of the AI judges, wherein Simon hammers DLR.
[HT: Dan at NR via Katie's Beer]
-ghp
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