DWTS - Season 10 Finale

Aaaah. Nicole & Derek! All is well with the world.

This is the first season (I can remember) that the final 3 all deserved to be there. Nicole rocked all the way. Evan slipped a bit, and Erin rose steadily. I admit, I didn't see her in the final 3 at first, but I'm glad she was.

I thought it was very cool that they all chose the Argentine Tango for their final dance. Wonderful to see this dance done well, and in 3 completely different routines.

But WTF was up with some of the fluff that filled the 2 hours?

Why oh why was Kate Goslin given such an important spot??? She danced as horribly as ever, in fact, worse, but they made a big production out of her spot. She got special interview time, in which she plugged her reality shows, of course. Ridiculous and ugly waste of time!

Buzz Aldren's spot was pretty cool with the "beam me down, Scotty" thing, but his attempt at a Paso Doble was out of this world sad.

Pam Anderson didn't get enough air time. If Kate got to do her thing (whatever that is), why couldn't Pam do hers. I'm sure it would've been something to see.

And a really big WTF for the Jake/Vienna thing! I don't understand why this particular spouse-to-be (maybe) who wasn't a contestant rated dance floor time.

The other real contestants only got a minute of exposure for their encore dances.

What I'd like to have seen more of instead of that drek was more of the audience celebrities. Many were there from previous seasons but there wasn't enough air time left to more than flash past their faces, and then not even all of them rated face time I'm sure. If it wasn't for Nicole's mention of Gladys Knight at the end, we might not even have known who that was.

I enjoyed the college dance team contest, but I would've preferred the junior ballroom contest as in past seasons.

For the most part, a pretty good season, and I'm so glad America has finally recognized that this is a dance contest, and good dancers should win.

Next week, my favorite dance show - So You Think You Can Dance. Can't wait! America's Got Talent also begins. Not my favorite, but I watch for the circus.

Random musings

DWTS - week whatever it is:

Coming down to the finale with 4 standing.

Nicole and Derek danced an outstanding Paso Doble! I mean show-stopping, perfect score, encore, outstanding! As you know (if you've been reading along) this is one of my favorite dances and I love to see it done well. It was done so well!

The other 3 stars...soso. Judges thought so, too. Go, Team Nicole!

My very favorite dance show is coming back soon. So You Think You Can Dance. Yay! The teasers say we'll see our favorite past finalists paired with contestants. That will be very cool!

So what else is on my mind?

The subject of regional stereotypes came up. In particular, the south. Being northern-bred and raised, I was among the masses who bashed the south a little. But only a little. I worked with many southerners who migrated north for jobs and I was used to the drawl and other quirks. I was even married to a southerner for a while. Yeah that didn't last too long. In that case, north and south didn't mix.

Having traveled around the south some, I've noticed differences in southern accents, tastes, and culture. Some of the differences might be due to the how the ethnic population is concentrated.

For instance, in South Carolina, barbeque (shredded pork on a bun with red sauce) seems to be a staple of the state's diet. There's a BBQ joint on nearly every corner. There's also a larger population of African-Americans than in the other southern states I've frequented.

In the north, the BBQ sandwich isn't that common even though blacks make up a good portion of the people. BBQ refers to cooking outside or sauce, not a sandwich.

In Tennessee, African-Americans aren't common, but Latinos are. So we have more Mexican restaurants and very few BBQ joints.

The thing in Tennessee that makes me feel a bit out of place more than anything is religion. At least in my county. There's a church or a sign for a church on every corner. This has to be one of the churchiest states in the country! I overhear church talk...meetings, groups, god bless, etc, everywhere I go. Even my bank manager writes a sermon in the little newsletter that goes out with bank statements. Church seems to be the main industry. Maybe this is why the state is so poor. My earlier blog about the lack of economic contribution from the church could explain this. Religion also plays a big part in the politics of the state. Yet again, church and state are not separate.

Of course, this means Sundays are pretty dead around here. Oh sure the big chains are open, and weekend flea markets are big business. But I can't even get local news on tv on Sunday. One Sunday in one of my first years here, I headed for the big flea market and a little shopping in town. The entire world was dead! Closed. Nada. No traffic. Not even Walmart or McDonalds could be found open. WTF! Then I remembered it was Easter Sunday. Really??? I had never seen that before. Christmas maybe, but not Easter.

What else? How about music?

I'm a rock & roller. At least I can find decent rock stations here. It would probably kill me if the only music was country and gospel. One of my guilty pleasures for short attention span tv is music videos. If I can't find anything to watch but want to watch something, I'll tune into MTV, etc. VH1 Classics is my favorite for classic rock videos, but I like current pop videos on MTV, Fuse, etc, as well. Love the graphic artwork. One of the unlikely (for a rocker) musicians I like to watch is Lady Gaga. She's a freak show and I can't stop looking! Brittany Spears is another wreck I'll slow down for. Anything unusual, especially if it involves dance, gets my attention.

BTW, I can remember when MTV was all there was, and videos was all it did. 24/7 music videos. I even remember the first video, "Video Killed The Radio Star". Sure is a shame that much of the day is taken up with stupid reality shows. I do enjoy the occasional musician biographies and chronicles, but when I tune in, music is what I want to see and hear.

One last musing brought to mind by that last paragraph.

Reality shows. What a waste! People watch them, so the stations keep producing them, and since there's no stars or script or anything, the producers make them for next to nothing. I find it so appalling that viewers support this shit. People desperate to be famous or infamous will do anything to appear on these shows. Apparently an awful lot of small-minded people get off on these public displays of human desperation. Those of us who have a brain are hard put to find quality prime time tv. Thank the techno gods for DVR and DVDs.

All for now.

DWTS 5th week

Actually, I can't remember what week it is. There are now 5 left standing.

Alas, Pam was booted. Too bad. I was really impressed. She was gracious, cute, and subdued. It wasn't all about her figure, and the costumes even played that down (as best they could). She was amazing when portraying characters. She channeled Marilyn Monroe and Dolly Parton perfectly. I was a bit disappointed by her Argentine Tango (as a brunette, no less). She could've killed with that dance but it came off too soft.

I meant to blog when Kate was gone but didn't get a round tuit. So a belated YAY! Jake was also gone last week. Poor little bachelor cried and his tv fiancee looked crushed.

My picks are still Nicole and Evan, and I think they'll be the last two standing. I hope Derek comes up with a kickass free-style to clinch the deal for Nicole. Evan is really good, but his skating style shows too much for most of the dances.

I would have preferred Niecy left before Pam. She's not a terrible dancer, but Pam was better.

Surprisingly, Chad (football guy) has grown into a decent dancer. I don't think he'll win (god I hope not!), but he's not that hard to watch now.

Erin hasn't improved much. She was good, but she's still just good.

I see either Niecy or Erin leaving next week.

What else I'm watching:

"Flash Forward" I love love love this show! I stack a few episodes up on the DVR and watch several in one sitting. I want more more more!

"Merlin" I thought it was cancelled after its run last year, but they've picked it up again. SyFy ran the 1st season back to back so I DVR'd it to watch again.

"The Vampire Diaries" I have mixed feeling about this show. Elena is annoying. Stephan is not good-looking. But I've fallen in love with Damian. He's such a bad boy with a spot of good in his undead heart. I could watch his facial expressions all day!

"V" Not my fav but I'm watching to see where it goes. I never saw the original series so I don't know the story other than what I've seen so far.

"Smallville" This season is a little hard to watch. There's the season's bad guy Zod played by an actor (don't know his name) I've seen in the same type of roles elsewhere. His spitting sneer is getting a little old. I'm fascinated by Chloe's dark side, and her affair with Green Arrow is an unexpected pleasure. The Lois angle? Meh. Lois is annoying but I guess that was the character from the beginning in all the Superman mythologies. BTW, when is Clark going to learn to fly?

"The Soup" Why is this show only a half hour??? Joel McHale is so cute and funny, and I'm sure he could fill an hour. I also watch "The Dish" which is similar but I wish they'd keep her comments shorter. An awful lot of time is wasted on those stupid skits and ramble-ons she does after each clip. You could fit a couple more clips in that time.

"Glee" How can you not love the song & dance routines?

"Grey's Anatomy", "Private Practice", "Supernatural" (currently catching up the previous seasons)", "Happy Town".

Returning soon:

"Warehouse 13" I thought it was cancelled but it's coming back. Cool!

"Leverage" Another show I really liked. It's just plain fun!

All for now.

DWTS - 2nd week

Oh boy, here we go. This is going to be another crappy season. We'll be suffering through some seriously bad dancing. What the hell is wrong with America?!

Nicole the Pussycat Doll is my pick. She can dance! She's not a diva! Derek is her partner! No-brainer! Of course, we know voters are idiots so that won't matter.

Erin the broadcaster is right behind her for the best female. I can't believe Bruno hasn't mentioned her legs. They go on and on, and he's mad for long legs. I don't really expect her to be around for long. She's not famous enough.

Evan the skater is so far the best male. He just needs to get control of his talent and skills.

No other male is impressing me at this point.

Shannen the actress was kicked off. Too bad. She had potential. She definitely wasn't the worst dancer.

Pamela the sex kitten was in the bottom two. WTF??? I guess this proves most of the voters are women. They would hate her. Ok, she's over the top but she doesn't apologize for herself, her choices, or her actions. Girl just wants to have fun and she does. In my humble opinion, that's class. Oh and BTW, she's a pretty good dancer. Hey, Pam, dial down the sex a bit. Give women a reason to like you.

Niecy the comedian. Not funny. She's not a terrible dancer, but not great either. I'm already tired of her weak attempts at comedy relief.

So we have to suffer through more dancing from the worst dancers.

Kate the mom. That's her only claim to fame. She has a pile of kids, put them on TV, and her marital breakup was big news. How stupid. She is a really really bad dancer, and a whiney bitch with no personality. To make her patient partner Tony want to quit proves how insufferable she will be. I did not want to see any more from her. But there she is thanks to all the bleeding-heart housewives out there with texting phones in their hands.

Buzz the astronaut. Ok, I get that he's a hero, but he's too old for this. It's so painful to watch. I give him credit for having personality. Something the other mediocre dancers lack. *Off-topic: Did his wife use the same plastic surgeon as Joan Rivers? They have the same "Joker" face. Creepy.

Chad the football guy. Ugh. Does he ever smile? He's still there only because he's a black sports star. They always hang around too long.

Yeah, it's looking like a pisspoor season for those of us who tune in to see good dancing.

One more note. I was glad to see the end of Samantha Harris as co-host, but Brook Burke is no better. I guess it was the writers' fault after all. Same dull interviewing style. Drew Lachey's short stint as co-host was so much better. He could ad-lib. Oh wait, maybe that's it. He was competition for Tom's ad-libbing.

DWTS

Hey there. Long time no write. Haven't had a rant or anything in a while but now I do.

Dancing With The Stars. Ok, by now you know I love dancing shows. This used to be one of my favs but it is getting rather old. Samo samo ya know. I fear its day has come. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel for sure.

The new dancing cast was announced. Oh yeah real exciting. Well, there are a few interesting possiblities.

Nicole Scherzinger - The Pussycat Dolls front woman. I see her going all the way, she already can dance sexy and she has a personality.

Evan Lysacek - Olympic figure skater. Skaters have proven to have the natural talent and grace to pick up the ballroom dances.

Pamela Anderson - well you know who she is. She'll probably hang around for a while due to her fan base, but I just can't see her as a ballroom dancer. Pole dancer maybe. She and Nicole should draw in the male viewers.

Niecy Nash - Reno 911. I'm not a fan of this show, not my taste in humor, but she might have what it takes.

So what's left?

Kate Gosselin. Oh pulease! Why is this person even famous? It will kill me if her sympathizers keep her around. But that's the way it goes with this show. A better dancer will be voted off.

Shannen Doherty. She's admitted to live stage fright and I'm sure it will show.

Jake Pavelka. A Bachelor. So? I think those "matchmaker" shows are the most stupid waste of air time ever devoted to people desperate to be on tv. And no, I don't watch them. Although...there was that one Bachelor reject who came very close to winning by virtue of her talent for [gasp] dancing.

Buzz Aldrin. The token old person. No one will ever live up to George Hamilton in that catagory.

Some female sportscaster. Pretty, maybe she'll be able to dance, but will anyone care.

Some soap star. They've proven to have a little talent. Except for Susan Lucci.

Some football star. Pffft.

I am so glad to see the end of Samantha Harris as co-host. I love DVR, I could FFWD past her insipid backstage interviews.

BTW, I should mention I don't vote on any of these shows. I just sit back and rag at the stupidity of the ones that do. Hey it costs to vote. Valuable minutes on the cell bill or valuable time on slow dialup.

In other TV talk.

Some of the shows I got into are finally picking up again. After I've completely forgotten what was going on way back before the Xmas season. Sure would be nice if they'd rerun the earlier episodes so we can catch up again by the time the new shows air.

So what, you might wonder, was I watching?

Flash Forward. This is one I'll probably add to my DVD library. Fascinating storyline and characters. Can't wait to see where it goes.

V. Yeah, I'm hooked but it's not library-worthy.

Smallville. Actually on hiatus for I don't know how long. I love how they are bringing the Superman mythology together. My favorite episodes are the ones that tease at the Justice League to come. I also love Clark's dark look in the long leather duster. To this day, I can't get over his resemblance to Christopher Reeves, the most iconic Superman.

Some were cancelled and I'll miss them.

Dollhouse. An awful lot of questions weren't answered.

Warehouse 13. Now this show had a lot of stories to tell!

Sanctuary. I have mixed feeling about this one. It started out really cool with interesting "abnormals" but then sort of fizzled by focusing on the caretakers too much. Some of the more interesting characters were killed off. Come on, give us more of the mythology the show was based on.

All for now.

SYTYCD

The winner is Russell! Yay! I felt so on because it came down to my picks. I was surprised Catherine left in 3rd place, but it was so tight for the final 3. Jacob was 2nd. He was sooo goood! I would have been as pleased if he won. But it was Russell, another street dancer like Joshua two seasons ago.

So now that's over, what do I watch? It's the Xmas season, there's nothing much to watch anyways.

The Best Dance Show

So You Think You Can Dance. I love love love this show! It's honest, refreshing, and it's not about a fan base, it's about who is the best dancer. As it should be.

The judges don't score, but their opinion counts for a lot when it gets to the viewers' votes. There are guest choreographers, and some of them were dancers in previous seasons. Occasionally different judges.

I like the judges for the most part, but Mary Murphy gets on my nerves big time. Her horrible screechy voice is bad enough when she talks in a normal tone. Thank god I DVR so I can zip past her banshee wails. She's gotten real old real fast.

So what's going on this season. I haven't really picked favs yet. I can't remember all the names. I know who I don't care for. "Legacy". This guy is really winning over the judges, and I have to admit he's a pretty good dancer most of the time. But he's a crybaby! I hate that. So I'm against him. I'm not too crazy about his name either. The last one-name guy was Stitch, but he was good! Really good and really likeable. His name suited him. I don't get where this guy Legacy gets his name. Uh oh, am I the bad guy bashing a dancer for something other than his dancing? Maybe. I just don't care for him. So there.

Ryan (half of the husband/wife ballroom pair) is pretty good but he's too pretty for me. His wife is just as good looking and it almost looks like a genetic experiment when they are seen together. Like they both said, "I found someone who looks just like me". Weird. But both are pretty good dancers in the styles they've been given.

I love some of the new dance styles they're bringing. Last season they introduced Bollywood, and there's already been a great Bollywood routine this season. Last night, there was the Lindy Hop and that's so cool. I'm not real crazy about Contempory or Jazz, but sometimes they are interesting routines. Broadway and Disco are usually fun to watch. I like Hip Hop type routines if they are set to hard hitting music. Set to softer music, they just don't wow. Of course, any Ballroom is good to see.

All for now.

I'm a dancing fool.

Well, more accurately a dance-watching fool. I'm hooked on the dancing shows. Didn't get into the singing shows like American Idol. America's Got Talent is the most annoying talent show I've ever seen. I'll rant about that in another blog. Right now I want to talk dancin.

The first show that caught me was Dancing With the Stars. Oh yeah! Glitz, glamor, fun, celebrities, and pretty darn good dancers. And some really bad dancers for laughs. I was hooked big time.

Then I became really annoyed. The fans have way too much clout. Bad dancers were saved while good dancers hit the road. I heard through the web grapevine there was a site or something that encouraged voters to back the underdogs. And we had to suffer through more bad dancing while the better dancers were cut.

Lowlight 1: Master P or whatever that rapper was called. He was saved time and again and he wasn't even trying to dance. He looked like he hated it but was just honoring his regretted commitment. He was a big galoot gulumping around the stage with his little pro partner making the best of it. It was the worst thing! The judges tried to get him off with low scores, and the rapper fanbase kept saving him. Finally the lowest judge scores ever got him off.

Lowlight 2: Cloris Leachman. Oh criminy! What the hell was that! Why was she still there for so long? She didn't dance. She hobbled. She tried to steal the show with her unfunny antics and wasted everyone's time. Because she's an 82 year old woman, everyone tried to be nice and go along with her bullshit. Good dancers left, and we suffered.

Lowlight 3: Sabrina (can't remember her last name). This girl could dance! Right out of the gate, she was winning judges' hearts. And boom...week 3 and she was voted off! What!!! Everyone was stunned! I can't even remember who else was in that season, but I do know no one could hold a candle to her dancing talent. She would have been a contender for the Mirrored Ball. She never got the chance. And we had to watch less talent.

Lowlight 4: Emmet Smith (last name?) The football player. He won. On his fanbase, not his dancing ability. The runner up was better. Sure he was likeable. I liked him. But he was a big football guy. He was not that light or agile on his feet.

This last season was such a disappointment, I wonder if the show is in its death throes. No big stars that we could really get behind. Ok there's Donny Osmond and a few other names we knew, but it's looking like the show is scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

I do like some of the new things they've added to the show, like the dance-offs and team dances. I enjoy Kenny Mains and Jerry Rice on that recap thing they do. That's pretty funny.

Since it's fresh in my mind (I should of been blogging these things all along, eh?) I'll rant about the finals.

Donny Osmond won. Whoohoo. Not. He had the entire state of Utah behind him. Jeez, his family alone would cover a majority vote! I saw it coming and hated it. Mya so had it! She was the best dancer from the getgo, and having Dmitri for a partner was a plus. Kelly Osbourn made it to the finals over a better dancer. She annoyed me with her little girl voice and demeaner. I want to watch great dancing! Not fans' choice that has nothing to do with dancing.

Ok ok, Donny can dance but he wasn't the best dancer, and this is a dancing show, dammit!

I do admit Mya and Dmitri blew it with their lackluster Freestyle. They could have rocked our world. I don't understand why Dmitri backed off more challenging choreography. He's usually a risk-taker. In the rehearsal footage, Mya wanted to be more daring but he won out for some reason. Too bad. I think that lost it for them.

So now we have to listen to them go on and on about Donny's win. blah blah.

Oh and my favorite ballroom dances? Pasa Doble, Quickstep, Jive, Samba, Tango. I love to see them done really well and with good music.

In the next installment, I'll talk about the best dance show.

Daily Gripe - amateur web designers

Why is it that anyone who owns Dreamweaver or some such software assumes they are a professional web designer? They begin advertising their services, sometimes for outrageous prices. In some cases, these (often young) amateurs actually do have some talent, but more often than not, their own websites are very childish and sometimes downright disasters.

Case #1: A young person who cannot even spell advertised that he would build sites for a fee. A sample of his writing skill: "i built websites." He claimed he had built many sites. When asked to provide links to sites he had done, he said he had done one for his mom who bought it from him. His mom? Nice, Mom. I appreciate your boosting your child's confidence, but to encourage him to go into business because he created one website?

So I tried to visit his site. I could not get in there. Something on the home page was hanging up my browser. BTW, I have IE, the most commonly used browser, which can handle anything reasonable. I couldn't get past this logjam. He explained it was a media player and his mom wanted it there. Ok. So I asked for an internal link so I could get in. He provided a page with the extension ".php". Now this is a format for things like forms, guestbooks, etc. Not appropriate for a static webpage. Again, I was unable to view the page. Another person tried as well, and found the same problems. She was able to get farther than me, and discovered very oversized photos.

I have to rant about spelling. This young person cannot spell, or doesn't try. I shudder to see what the site looks like if I ever get in there. There's nothing that peeves me more than poor spelling and grammer on a website. I can forgive an occasional misspell, but across the board is unacceptable. Hey, I'm not a perfect speller either, but I keep a dictionary handy. Capital letters where required, commas, periods, and paragraphs are simple things that make it readable.

I believe texting will be the demise of proper writing. Young people are so busy texting, they are forgetting how to form a sentence with fully spelled words and punctuation.

The next major fault of amateurs is images. As mentioned, this site's photos were way too big. For someone with a slow connection like me, that's a sin. A web designer needs to have the software and knowhow to properly optimize images. Even in this day of high speed connections, there are still many out here on dialup, and any webmaster worth his salt will build for everyone, not just their own computer.

So how do you tell a young person he doesn't have the talent or skills to charge for his work?

Case #2: A little over a year ago, I took over the maintenance of a club website. It was designed by a someone who charged professional fees for their services. This wasn't a pro, it was just a person who had web publishing software. I don't own any special software. I read and write pure HTML. In order to work with this site, I had to go through the entire thing and rewrite it. I had to weed out unneccessary and redundant code so I could see where the hell I was. I bet I cut the file size by half! This webmaster did have a good eye for design, but didn't have a clue as to how a webpage works. I preserved the original look of the site with a few tweaks. It's clean, loads fast, and easy for me to maintain. BTW, I'm not charging for this service. It's my contribution to the club.

Just because you own the software and built yourself a site, it doesn't make you a professional. Professionals earned (usually) the right to call themselves pros by taking classes, and proving they have the skills. Even though I have most of the skills, I'm self-taught and don't consider myself a pro by any stretch. Why do these people think they are when they don't even have the skills? All they have is some software. And they can't spell!!!

The Ultimate Scam

scam: To defraud; swindle to obtain property or services unjustly. A fraudulent or deceptive act or operation.

Our great country was founded on one of the greatest scams of all. The Constitution guarantees certain unalienable rights and freedoms, but something actually took them away. Organized Religion. Religion is one of the richest businesses in the world, supposedly separate from government, and yet it enjoys tax exempt status, and has input in every government decision.

For whatever reason, man has always had a need to believe in something greater than himself. In the beginning, myth explained things that early man couldn't explain. Along the way, certain myths became doctrine perpetuated by powerful men. Doctrine became law. Freedoms were taken away, and despicable acts were employed to enforce the law, and ensure the powerful retained their power.

And then came the Bible. A collection of stories and myths that became belief and law. So strongly did the powerful enforce this belief, it now commands most of the world. No one knows who wrote the Bible (although they say they do), but how can they know unless they have a time machine? Aesop's Fables or Grimm's Fairy Tales could just as easily have been the basis for a religious text, having been written by numerous people of which we know little about. So who's to say the Bible wasn't just a collection of bedtime stories? Well, the all-powerful Church said this is Truth. Gullible and frightened people went along with it, and the Church became richer and more powerful.

Don't get me wrong. I think the Bible is a very good book of rules to live by. Do not kill, do not steal, etc. And maybe a fractured history, although riddled with myth. But hey, so is the Illiad. There's some evidence that the New Testament was written in response to the political times (the oppressive Roman empire) and has no relevance in modern times. If this is true, and it makes perfect sense, religion was based on politics.

We are currently in one of the worst economic situations in history, and taxpayers are paying the price for the fixes. However, one of the richest sources of tax revenue isn't required to help. Organized religion. The Church is tax exempt under the cover of charity work, but seems to have more money than even big business.

Businesses can write off their charity contributions, and gain some tax relief that way. Organized religion is big business. Why is it not required to operate in the same manner? Churches have employees to pay just like a business. They own land and buildings (expensive land and buildings!) just like a business. People pay to use their facilities and services which generates income just like a business. Business has political ties, and although religion is not supposed to interfere with government, it's a well-known fact that it does. Organized religion manages to use its wealth to sneak around the restrictions to get its agendas accepted. Religious agenda becomes the law of the land, and they don't have to pay.

Religious freedom? It doesn't exist. We are supposed be allowed to practice our faith as we please, and that includes not having faith. Organized religion has dictated what we can and cannot do, even if we don't believe in it. Non-believers are supporting the Church through taxes and government decisions. Perhaps more than the members of the Church.

So why are we, the people, allowing this to happen? Because most of us don't have the money or power to do anything about it. Our country is in big trouble as the very things it was founded on are being eroded away in favor of those in power. Yes, religion is the Ultimate Scam.