So You Think You Can Dance Top 16 Performance

Audience voting begins this week. Don’t love that but oh well. Having a couple what are you wearing moments. Ashleigh and Jakob I mean you. I also don’t like Cat’s hairstyle at all. Or her shirt.

In the crowd is a row of season 5 dancers. More Dizzy Feet talk, it will have dancers from DWTS, SYTYCD, and ABDC and dancers from Step Up. Mary will be doing the Samba. And American Ballet Theater. Dizzyfeetfoundation.org

What should America know about you?

Kevin and Karen first. Karen auditioned with her husband but he was let go in Vegas and they decided to divorce shortly afterwards. Kevin has performed abroad and takes inspiration from all over. They get the Hustle with Maria Torres. The girl asks the boy to dance in the routine. Another outfit I really don’t like. Well, either of them. That flip was slow, on purpose? The dance seems slower than the music. It’s really irritating. Adam says they made it work for them. (He nearly dropped her on her face after the dance.) This was the first time Kevin’s been visible. Incredible partnership. Karen performed with beautiful restraint. Quiet fire. Mary says Sadie Hawkins hustle. Karen is the hustle queen. Kevin had good performance, he has some body position work, staying on the train. Karen is still first class. Nigel is delighted with what Kevin is doing. All the lines. Careful about the facial expression during the death drops (spinning her on the floor with one arm). The routine was suited for Karen. She adds personality to the choreography.

Ashleigh and Jakob get a Mandy Moore jazz routine. Ashleigh is a nerd. She studied politics and interned in Washington. Jakob is close friends with Jeanine and the two are very competitive. They are crazy together. They will be using a cane as a prop. Ha to the song “Relax.” It seemed like things could have been a bit smoother but it was pretty cool looking even so. Props for working with props from Cat. Adam says Ashleigh belongs on the show, she is so good. The partners are beginning to experience things simultaneously. They have a malfunction midway that Nigel didn’t even notice. (I was iffy about if it was a mistake or not.) Adam says elegant, mature, studied, fiery. Jakob is given a new way to jump every week he is flexible. Mandy is definitely up there on my favorite choreographer list. Mary says phenomenal. Terrific. Ashleigh has stepped up to the plate every week, chameleon. Improving every week. Jakob is strong, passionate. Brilliant. Nigel says this is up to the standard of the table routine. The dancers worked as a unit. Ashleigh improves every week. Ashleigh represents ballroom brilliantly. Jakob reminds him of Joel Grey from Cabaret. They changed to suit their characters. Ashleigh less eye makeup please.

Pauline and Peter. Peter volunteers at a dance place for special needs people. Pauline eats a lot. They get a quickstep with new choreographers JT and Thomas. Navy guy entranced by Hula girl. Quickstep is one of the most dreaded dances. Well, I think it went pretty well considering. I like that it had a fun, playful story. Adam says welcome to the new choreographers and thanks for the adorable routine. Smart thing done here: by giving it a story it may have blown past the technical missteps. Peter on fire, Pauline adorable. Charisma. Congrats on performance. Mary for technical. She says she always expects a train wreck with the quickstep but they pulled it off. Performance was amazing. Joy brought was great. The leg action was heavy and clunky. Pauline was a vision. Close holds positioning was off. Nigel says not technically perfect but he didn’t care. It was fabulous as a performance. The winners are always great with personality. He doesn’t think they are going anywhere. It’s the first time he’s seen a quickstep with a story. Good job new choreographers. It makes it more accessible.

Katherine and Legacy. Katherine went on mission trips to Costa Rico. Legacy loves soccer and had scholarships for it. Andy Blankenhauer Broadway routine. Girl battling guy for attention. It was pretty cute. I don’t know the broadway routines never quite translate. Adam says great, adorable routine. Broadway is all about character. He wasn’t sure what Katherine’s character was. She was cute but she should’ve been more of a maneater. No problem but watch character. Legacy, yet another step in his growth. He totally got through it. Look back at history, watch their hands, need more softness. Mary agrees, it was missing a bit of chemistry. Katherine got a little lost but maybe because Legacy is growing so much that everyone’s paying more attention to him. She thinks he’ll get into the top ten. Nigel was disappointed with Katherine but he doesn’t know why. She seemed slightly juvenile. While in previous weeks she was more mature. Legacy has “gone in one end and out the other like a little sausage machine.” He’s growing into the other styles and an inspiration for choreographers. Full marks.

Channing and Victor get a Stacy Tookey contemporary. Excellent! Victor used to be a hardcore gothic rocker. Channing used to race lawnmowers and won a trip to Disneyworld. The piece looks at a toxic long term relationship leaving the couple exhausted. They’re a new couple so hopefully they get the chemistry. They are both contemporary dancers. It started a little slow but from the point where Channing does the spin, it gets really good. Adam says this new partnership will reinvigorate them. The similar styles brings out sensitivity and softness in Channing. Beautiful piece Stacy. The quality of movement and emotional rise and fall, and how they worked off of each other was key. Good job. Mary agrees. Beautiful together. Tremendous, light, phenomenal. It didn’t touch her soul but so nice to see. Channing is beautiful, strong. Nice to see. Victor, in your element. Enjoyable. Nigel says two contemporary dancers doing contemporary, they had to be good. They danced very well but didn’t take him away emotionally. They had a tough emotional job. Need to be more brilliant. I don’t think people will be doing much comparing from week to week just yet, it’s a lot of dances to remember in a week.

Ellenore and Ryan get hip hop with Lil C. Ellenore is six different ethnicities. Ryan is an extreme sports junky. Not so surprising. He wants to be a superhero in an action movie. Routine focuses on timing, swagger, and synergy. Ryan looks pretty awkward in practice. He can’t get the flavor. I think Ryan hit the moves but not the attitude. Ellenore hit the attitude but seemed to tire a bit at times. Adam says ballroom to hip hop is hard to mesh. But he thinks Ryan is the most transformed dancer of the night. Big step. A guy of his size has a tough time doing that did good, not great but good considering. Mary thinks it’s a crime that Ellenore is covered up. It was good not great. Impressive but it got sluggish halfway through and it wasn’t quite synchronized. Agreed. Respectable but not scream worthy for both. Nigel said the only swag was in the money bags. Not good at all. The style didn’t suite them. All hip hop all the time. Their personalities don’t suit the style. Ellenore is too sweet. The position wasn’t there. Missing for him from the style, can’t just dance it have to feel it. He thinks they got the worst draw.

Molly and Nathan have a salsa with Gustavo Vargas. Molly is deaf in her left ear since she was a baby. A hearing aid threw off her dance balance. Nathan likes to jet ski. Nathan needs to be suave and Molly needs to be sexy (she assures us she will with a giggle). Good outfit choice. The cameraman is doing an awful job. It looked a little too thoughtful and hesitant. Adam says get ready to boo. Another bad luck of the draw, not easy on them. Exposed their weaknesses, bummed because they’ve been so fantastic until now. Usage of the floor and spins were off. Positioning was off. Mary agrees it wasn’t sexified, it was French fried. She does like french fries though, they’re still the dream team. The feel was off, if that were right then the rest would have been better. Nathan wasn’t suave and Molly looked uncomfortable in her heals. Nigel says it is a sobering night for many. Weaknesses exposed the music wasn’t being felt. Their chemistry was missing for them. Learning experience. I like them, I hope they stay.

Lastly, Russel and Noelle. Noelle has a huge family and her brother had a stroke that left on hand paralyzed. He inspires her. Russel is an artist. They will work with new choreographer Sean C… for Afro Jazz. It’s the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog. The frog is her spirit guide. Sean thinks it is a perfect match. It’s pretty cool. They were off a couple of moments but the whole style is pretty cool to watch. Adam welcomes Sean, nice entrance. Very smart. Joy and character. Noelle is who he thinks of for African Princess. Never stopped, totally committed to the characters. All the spirit. Mary says that was crazy. Crazy good. Noelle was so in there. She was so dynamic. She got more than expected from each. Fierce. (You can see Jeanine cheering in the background and Melissa clapping.) Can you hear it? Here it comes. Russel is the first king on the hot tamale train of the night. Nigel has never seen this style before but he hopes for more. Great fun to watch. Russel is a star this season. Thrilled that Noelle performed this routine.

Gossip Girl: They Shoot Humphreys Don’t They?

It’s that time of year again: cotillion. Jenny is snobby about finding the perfect date. She wants Graham Collins, the hottest guy on the Upper East Side. If they don’t get her him, she will steal one of her girls’ crew escorts. Everyone is staring at Jenny, five prep schools?

Blaire has a surprise for Chuck! But Nate is moving in so the plans will not be happening. Lost weekend for the boys. Isn’t Blaire supposed to be a mentor at cotillion? But she can’t risk running into Serena! Shouldn’t they just make up? She loves cotillion. Dinner is at the Van Der Woodsons. He convinces her to give Serena the chance to apologize. It’s the charitable thing to do after all. Didn’t she already try to make up and Blaire turned her down?

Serena talks to Tripp about getting a job and he gives it to her. (Her responsibilities with Casey would translate well.) They reminisce about old times but she has to go host the dinner. She thanks him, their talk on election night meant a lot for both. Were they even hiring?

Olivia asked if you could get brain damage from learning too much. Rumors about a fourth movie for Olivia which she says is not happening. She’s have hundreds of phone calls about it. Or six missed calls…

Lily reveals that the other girls have been taking ballroom for years so Jenny has some catching up to do. She’s clearly freaked. Some girl says hi and Jenny ignores her. Eric is girl, Kira’s her escort. Kira says she can get Jenny her escort but he tells her to stay out of it. (He could do it himself…) She texts him anyway.

Olivia is upset because the movie is happening. They want to take her to do the things all college students must do.

Jenny tries to learn the dance from another room. Eric sees her. Jenny is afraid to make a fool of herself in front of everyone. It’s not enough to be queen of Constance, you have to be the queen of the Upper East Side. Eric gives her some tips and helps her out. She wishes he could be her escort but Eric suggests Jonathan. He is a Whitney after all. Graham texts Jenny saying he will be her escort but Eric sees it first and texts him back as her saying she has a date already.

Blaire shows up for the dinner and expects Serena to apologize but instead she just directs her to the list. Jenny is Serena’s Deb. Blaire tries to steal her away. Blaire points out that she needs a better escort. Serena offers Jenny to have Blaire as her escort.

Eric convinces Jonathan to be Jenny’s escort. Jenny is on the tipping point, she’s not Darth Vader yet and they can stop her from going over to the dark side.

Serena goes to Tripp’s because her night opened up. She brings him some food. She’d take real politics over cotillion any night. She’s the new media relations rep, how can she help with his speech. They have a clearly flirty moment but are interrupted before anything inappropriate can happen.

Kira approaches Jenny. She’s so impressed that Blaire is her mentor. Jenny finds out that Eric intercepted. She then tells Blaire she doesn’t need her as a mentor. Eric and Blaire want to get back at her.

Blaire finds Chuck and Nate together. They can tell that Blaire is about to explode despite her outer calm. Sum up of the fight in Chuck’s words: they each love the other more than the other loves them.

Tripp tries to avoid talking to Serena at all and she asks if she did something wrong. He says “this was a huge mistake.” He tells her he finds her “smart and charming” but he didn’t realize how much having her around would affect him. She gets a text sent by Chuck in Blaire’s name saying she doesn’t want to fight anymore. Serena runs out.

Blaire wants to make Kira queen. They must take down the queen. Blaire transfers her anger towards Serena to Kira and Jenny’s situation. Blaire helps her get ready. (Cue girls acting girlie and getting dressed.) Jenny gets ready to say goodbye to Jenny from Brooklyn.

College party for Dan, Olivia, and the third wheel (Vanessa). Olivia gets a text and has to leave. Some guys are upset with an for keeping Olivia from the movie. Olivia has to take the movie. She’s miserable.

Kira isn’t all that pretty but she’s dressed up. Eric and Blaire coordinated it so Graham will be taking Kira to cotillion.

Cotillion time. Jenny looks like her top is about to fall off. Nate is looking for Blaire he has a message from Chuck to go upstairs. Blaire asks how he got Graham to ditch Jenny. “What happens at Camp doesn’t stay at Camp.”

Olivia says she can’t let down the cast and crew. But her friends at college have given her the ultimate experience.

Blaire shows up to find Serena. They figure out what happened, Chuck set them up but when they try to go down the elevator stops. Chuck trapped them.

Everyone’s being called up on stage. Also, her name is Jennifer Tallulah Humphrey. Kira is called to be with Graham and Jenny leaves to lots of whispering. Eric tells her to let it go but Jenny is determined. She calls someone asking if they’re still at the party. Nate?

Serena and Blaire talk. Serena tells her about finding her dad. She was too ashamed to say anything. Everyone else’s dad loves them. Blaire comforts her. Serena can’t let it go. She can’t seem to get anything right anymore. Blaire tells Serena she can’t see or speak to trip without coming to her first. (Nice to finally hear actual thoughts from Serena.)

The last thing on their college to do list is have a threesome. Olivia’s only done it once, in a movie. Well, there are three of them. It’s the last thing on the list. There’s so much awkward about this. Olivia is determined to do it. Remember when Vanessa and Dan used to like each other?

Jenny is represented to everyone. Escorted by Nate. Nate is epic. And a college guy. Is he in college? Everyone applauds. More cotillion dancing. Blaire and Serena approach. The other queens pay their respects. Serena goes to tender her resignation.

Eric is upset and Jonathan approached. He’s upset that Eric sunk to Jenny’s level. Scheming with Blaire! So he breaks up with him. Jonathan liked Eric because of who he was, different, but not anymore.

Jenny tells Eric she had no choice. She invites him to join her friends and he turned her down. Jenny warns Kira about being above the radar.a doesn’t want to go back to social oblivion. Eric plans to take Jenny down for good.

Blaire intends to spend the evening with Serena but remember that Serena went to Tripp’s office…She tells him she quits but he says she deserves the opportunity and he trusts her. He will never cross the line. They’re adults. She agrees, friendly and professional. Blaire shows up just as he is a little inappropriate. Serena says she’s ok and will call her tomorrow. She’s angry and leaves.

Rufus tells Lily he doesn’t understand how cotillion works. He hasn’t seen Jenny so happy since she was eight. (That’s sad since this isn’t something that even really makes her happy.) Lily has something to do before going upstairs when she finds a letter from Serena’s dad to Serena.

The threesome happens and while they sleep Olivia gets a text saying the movie isn’t happening. Awkward…

In and of itself, this episode was on the slower side, but it does set up some good plotlines for upcoming episodes. I’m disappointed that Serena and Blaire made up so quickly but otherwise, I’m liking the direction things are going. Eric is scheming, Jenny has a rival, Serena’s story with Tripp is slightly lame (didn’t we already have the scandalous relationship with Nate?) but the dad thing looks like it might be interesting…

Cake Boss: Battleship, Ballet, and Burning!

Buddy shows up at US Air Force. They’re having a formal dinner on the Battleship New Jersey and wants him to make a cake for the event. (Side note, the soldiers look so old.) This particular base is made up of men and women who have to take over hostile airstrips and make it functional in within 24 hours. Buddy also gets to take a ride in a humvee and partake in a training exercise. Wasting bullets in the US army. Joey, a veteran, particularly enjoyed being there. Buddy plans a runway with all that’s needed to turn it into an airport with a plane taking off. There will be tents, humvees, a forklift.

Buddy meets with Deborah to make a cake for the fifteenth anniversary of Dance Now, where choreographers and dancers premiere their work. They wear all manner of costume. Buddy wants a dancer on top and to use fabric. Buddy does a disturbing ballet imitation.

They are working on the cake when an alarm goes off. Buddy runs downstairs to find smoking. The pound cake is burning because Joey got called away. Buddy is pissed but finally he says just make another batch. Not so exciting as the title makes it sound.

At the top of the cake will be a dancer with a billowing skirt and the cake will be covered with flowy fabric. The dancer will be made of modeling chocolate.

Meanwhile, they start the cake out of a frame a cereal treats. The shape is the hardest place. He checks on the other pieces of the cake, including figurines which are too big for the cake…They argue over who said to do it. Buddy tells them to stop arguing and bickering and gives them a pep talk. Throw down hard! Dig down deep! We will prevail!

They cover the plane and then add windows and other little details. In walks Buddy’s relative, Grace (Joey’s wife) wearing Joey’s Desert Storm jacket. They begin putting the cake together downstairs. It’s 4×8 feet.

Meanwhile, they take pictures of the dancers to add to the cake. Plus they make it turn. Cue the dance theater. The performances look kind of weird but it might look different on a real stage in real costumes. Everyone applauds, as usual. The dance inspired the cake, the cake inspired random dancing! (iCarly anyone?).

Buddy is worried about finishing the airplane cake. The more they add, the better it looks. It’s pretty cool. Though the people are necklace which is funny looking. But otherwise, it’s huge. Now the real challenge, moving it and delivering it. The cake was so big they have barely enough room to get it out the back door. They manage to get it into the truck and drive over to the USS New Jersey. 3 football fields long. Using a cart they take the cake up and everyone’s cheering. The warmest reception they’ve ever gotten. Buddy makes sure to give his team credit.

Joey gets a special shout out and he makes a little speech saying the entire air force is a family effort too. He says he will always feel a part of the air force. They get Buddy an army shirt with his name and a rank (three star general at leave?).

Three Rivers

For anyone liking to watch gymnastics on TV, check out this week’s Three Rivers. Can’t help but notice that her uniform is the same as that of Haley Graham in Stick It (in a different color of course). Of course there’s a big spill that, like with Payson, is not directly related to the actual gymnastics but maybe be at least partially related to the drugs the gymnasts was taking.

What this show is still lacking is heart. The back story for the characters is Miranda’s dad basically ran the hospital and the chief of staff was secretly in love with him. Other than that, we basically know who is nice and who isn’t and that is about all.

I would like to say that this (and Trauma) are shows that prey on people’s fears and stereotypes. Like this week both a gymnastics and a carnival accident. Another commonality between Trauma and this show is that I keep having a hard time telling them apart. I’ll be watching Trauma and thinking “so which one will be getting a transplant?” or watching Three Rivers and thinking “where are the helicopters?” Certainly not the point you want to be at after almost two months (or even after just the first week).

It’s weird to see Katherine Moenning in such a non sex-oriented role. She’s still likable even if not the ruined commitment-phobic character so many have come to know her as in the L Word.

I also hate the color thing they do when they go to commercials and it’s supposed to be dramatic. It’s just…over the top. And who is that blond girl that Andy keeps flirting with? Because so far she has the best back story of them all and I don’t remember seeing her until now. Maybe for like a second but I certainly didn’t realize she was actually a doctor.

I know how much I’m complaining about the show. And yet I keep on watching. Almost like I keep hoping that something more/better will happen. It looks like both shows will be canceled before we ever get a chance to see.

Legend of the Seeker

Season two has arrived! This series, directed by the directors of Xena and Hercules, is a fantasy series that I really enjoy. In fact, it inspired me to read the entire 12 book series. Which got admittedly preachy as it progressed, but still was quite good otherwise. Some people were upset about the lack of goofball type humor in the series that Xena and Hercules employed but I rather like this slightly more serious version of fantasy.

Anyway, the season premiere: It was mostly awesome with couple of moments of COME ON mixed in.

I guess I’ll start with the irritations. Now, I understand the different between book and film. I very clearly understand that books have the liberty to share far more information and events than a movie can. After all, movies are limited by time while books can be as long as the author writes it to be. TV of course is a whole different story. On the one hand it has more time, on the other, they must make everything visual and so not everything can be as it was in the book. (Or they can do something lame and uncreative like voice over, but as I said, it’s lame.) The only time I complain about changes between book and screen is when the change is for no reason. (Or at least, for reasons I don’t like.) In this episode, that primary change was have Cara be gay. It’s not that I have anything against gay people, but there’s another Mord Sith in the series that was gay while Cara has an entirely different story which I do not want to ruin for anyone who decides to read the books. And why make her gay? All for the onscreen, two second kiss. Not even two second at that. It just seems like a gratuitous moment where someone said “let’s get hot girls to kiss!!!”

My other complaint about the show was that it actually decided to portray the underworld and not altogether well. For starters, it didn’t actually look to bad, largely because you couldn’t really see much other than the fact that Lord Rahl was naked. And also, it did not make the Keeper look very scary.

Now onto the good. The Skreeling, for one. So creepy looking! And the way they killed it, while certainly not the most unique idea, was still done with good effects.

Aside from the gay thing, I really like the way they brought Cara into the story. It was even more exciting than the way it was done in the books. In particular, I think they got a great actress to play her. Sufficient stare that could stop most in their tracks. I kind of felt bad for her when the others turned, but that’s probably just because of what I know of her from the books.

Other details about the Mord Sith: Charisma Carpenter plays one of them. Hooray Buffy/Angel alums. Well done with every bit of their storyline really. The taking of the little girls, threatening Rachel while she tries to comfort the others.

I’m also not upset about the way they changed it so that Richard and Kahlan still can’t be together. I would like to see it happen at some point, but I don’t mind it being drawn out for longer. They were maybe a little too lovey-dovey in the book (for lack of a better word).

I forget what the deal with the three signs and Richard are, but I was surprised by Shota’s arrival and am excited to see how it all pans out.

I think that the battle with the Keeper requires a more careful handling than that of Darken Rahl (since special effects can just as easily make things cheesy as excellent, particularly without a huge budget).

So far we haven’t seen any sign of the Mud People (sadly) or the Sisters of the Light (a little less sadly), but any number of things are in store for the coming season. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

(Totally unrelated to the actual episode comments: Not a fan of Richard’s new look and also, anyone else think that the Confessor’s dress is not only unflattering but completely impractical?)