Three's a Crowd

Was it just me, or was last night's show just prolonging the inevitable? Casey, dear, it's time to go.

Crystal and Lee tied in the first round (and not in a very impressive way, but better than Casey). I thought that round 2 was going to Crystal, since her performance was verging on "a moment," but then Lee snatched it away from her with a true moment of his own.

Boy, has Lee come a long way. He definitely has earned his spot in the finale, and Crystal was getting the other spot all along. So, let's get on with the Lee vs. Crystal showdown. Finally!

This One's a Game Changer

It appears that Mary Murphy has been run over by her Hot Tamale Train.

When the new season of SYTYCD premieres on 5/27 (don’t miss it!), Mia Michaels will be taking over Mary’s chair and Mary has been relegated to the role of guest judge/choreographer.

It looks like we’re going to have to change the rules of our little viewing game. Drink when Mia says “stupid”?

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b180285_sytycd_mia_michaels_gets_mary_murphys.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_kristin

Movie Magic?

Disclaimer: I was really tired when I watched Idol this week, and that may have unduly influenced my opinions. That, or the show just wasn’t very good. I’ll let you decide.

Here are my 2 cents:

• Lee – Kiss from a Rose – Weak & cheesy arrangement, but I’ve never really loved this song anyway. I still like Lee, and this was a good choice for his voice. I agree with Simon, though – nothing special.
• Michael – Will You Be There – It’s always a bold move to bust out the gospel choir. At least his voice is powerful enough to lead it. But I didn’t really care – how was that relevant?
• Casey – Mrs. Robinson – I liked the grungy feel to this – kind of a Pearl Jam vibe. I thought it was a good variation to such a well-known song, and I’m not sure why the judges didn’t like it.
• Crystal – I’m All Right – Bizarro song choice. But I still like her and she’s still the best singer.
• Crystal & Lee duet – Falling Slowly – Didn’t Kris Allen sing this last year? We’re getting pretty repetitive with the song choices, Idol. Perhaps they should not allow them to sing songs that others have done before. That would make it more interesting. The duet was fun, though. I liked Lee better than Crystal in this – it was nice to get a chance to compare them head to head.
• Mike & Casey duet – Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman – Cool guitar work. OK performance.

Tonight’s elimination will be tough. There were no show-stoppers, and nobody really blew it either. It should totally be Lee & Crystal in the final, so that leaves Michael and Casey in the bottom 2. I think Michael will go home tonight.

My Way, or the Highway

I need to keep it short this week, but this should be sufficient to sum up last night’s not-spectacular performances—which mostly just reminded me that it’s too bad that Frank Sinatra isn’t around anymore.

Favorites:

• Lee – That’s Life – Who would have thought a few weeks ago that he’d be the one with the most stage presence? Awesome job, Lee! I love that he’s so humble.
• Michael – The Way You Look Tonight – I expected him to rock this week, and he delivered. Right up his alley. Bravo.
• Crystal – Summer Wind – Great dress. Lovely performance, as usual.

Bottom 2 (assuming it will only be 2 from now on):

• Aaron – Fly Me to the Moon – OK, I’m not a fan, but that worked all right for him. He’s looking better, too. But he’s so cheesy.
• Casey – Blue Skies – He looked like he was having fun, which made it better to watch. Too bad his voice was a tad lacking.

Looks like it’s Casey’s turn to go this week. Top 5 was pretty good for him.

Man, I Feel Like an Idol

Here's a quick & dirty review of Shania Twain night on Idol last night:

Not the Bottom 3:

• Lee – “Still the One” – Great choice! It was oh-so-Lee. My favorite of the week.
• Casey – “Don’t” – Nice, but not a winning performance. Should be more than enough to keep him around, though.
• Crystal – “No One Needs to” – Not my favorite performance of hers. But she’s still my favorite. I agree with Simon’s description of it as “limp.”

Bottom 3:

• Aaron – “You Got A Way” – Once again, he seems too young for this song to me. Kinda boring despite the good voice. Guess he’s just not for me.
• Michael – “It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing” – Sounded good, but I didn’t care.
• Siobhan – “Any Man of Mine” – Whoa – low energy in the beginning. She warmed up eventually, but didn’t quite pull off the right attitude, which left it feeling kind of karaoke to me. Not sure why the judges loved it so much.

Going home:

All in all, Shania’s songbook didn’t really seem like enough for the makings of a great show. But the contestants managed to not screw it up, so it’s anybody’s guess as to who’s going home tonight. Because of that, I feel like they’re going to be judged this week on their overall performance throughout the season. And that means that I’m afraid it’s going to be Michael. At least we should get to hear “In the Ghetto” again as his sendoff song. One can only hope…

DWTS - BACK TO BACK!

Actually - this week of DWTS was Movie Night, but these are back to back posts because naturally - I'm behind.

This week contestants had to bring to the dance floor their interpretations of different dances set to movie music.

At the risk of depriving you of my insightful analysis, I thought I would do a word (or two or however many I feel like) association for this week's post:

Niecy Nash: Jive to "La Bamba" from La Bamba
Association: Fire Dancers from Labyrinth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU_6l1kwu7Y

Chad Ochocinco: Quick Step to "Bear Necessities" from Jungle Book
Association: The wonderful thing about tiggers is tiggers are wonderful things

Erin Andrews: Jive - Uma Thurman and John Travolta's dance from Pulp Fiction
Association: Wig stores on Telegraph Ave.

Jake Pavelka: Cha-Cha "Old Time Rock and Roll" from Risky Business
I can't do a word association here because I have to tell you about something that ACTUALLY happened: Jake started this dance with his pants off (expected because of the scene he was recreating in risky business) and then put his pants on in the middle of the dance. Seriously? I mean, I guess it was more reasonable than him doing the dance pantsless, but SO AWKWARD.

Pamela Anderson: Quickstep to "9 to 5"
Association: Best Little Whorehouse in Texas - oh, that's just a different Dolly movie - I wonder what it means that some of these associations are so literal?

Kate Gosselin: Foxtrot to Breakfast Club
Association: Bruno is mean! And somehow Dolly has taken over my mind because Kate's hairstyle tonight was a literal interpretation of Dolly in Steel Mags

Nicole Scherzinger: Tango to Pretty Woman
Association: Dance - good. Interpretation of Pretty Woman - horrifying.
Incidentally, their dance received RAVE reviews from the judges (29/30).

Evan Lysacek: Rhumba to "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from Armageddon
Association: Attractively boring or Boringly attractive, I'm not sure

My Top Three Dances of the Night:
Nicole and Deric's Tango - I can't say I am rooting for them, but if you've got it - you've got it.
Evan and Anna's Rhumba - He looked like Mikael Barishnakov - it was bomb!
Erin and Maks' Jive - Wig store or no - it was sharp and fast paced.

Worst Dancer Still on the Show: Kate - hands down. Despite the fact that I just said "hands down," I have to say that Niecy is a close second. These two are the only ones who haven't gotten appreciably better since the beginning of the season.

Actual bottom two: Pam and Damien and Kate and Tony
Eliminated: Kate and rightfully so. This probably means that DWTS won't get quite so much coverage in US Weekly, which is sad for me, but this is absolutely the right outcome. I will say that I am always impressed with the amount of raw emotion that Kate displays (they even skipped the farewell montage to "just talk" to her) she strikes me as really genuine (if self-absorbed). Of course, I'll have to check out Twist of Kate where Kate G. will be back in her comfort zone (aka not dancing).

That's all for now! Of course, the minute I'm caught up I'm behind because Week 6 aired tonight, c'est la vie!

DWTS - DOUBLE SCORE SHOWDOWN!

The only thing I could think to do to heal my aching heart after my beloved Phillies lost in San Francisco tonight was to catch up with the folks on DWTS.

Week four of competition was the DOUBLE SCORE SHOWDOWN. Show producers probably wanted this to sound more dramatic than it actually was - the dancers were given a technique and a performance scores for their dance. This week's dances were the rhumba and the tango. Rhumba is my least favorite dance, and I'm not a huge fan of tango either - so this week's show didn't foreshadow a high entertainment quotient for me...

Instead of going through contestant by contestant, here are some high school yearbook style superlatives:

Most Improved: This one has to go to Kate G. - don't get me wrong she is still terrible, but there was marked improvement in her tango (she had an awesome spin move at the end which was up for "best move of the night" (HULU Season 10: Ep 4 18:00)). I give her no points for improvement in crying every single episode.

Steamiest: HANDS DOWN - Pam Anderson - shocked? I didn't think so. Honestly though, this was a badass rhumba and she did a split move at the end (ibid 33:35) which challenged the notion that this can be a family program.

Most Impressively Working Through an Injury: Here Evan Lysacek (with two broken toes) takes the crown from Erin Andrews (with a rib contusion and possibly some muscle spasms).

Best Hip Action: If you've ever seen a rhumba you know that this is the ultimate criterion. I would say Chad Ochocinco (who had astounding hip action throughout) takes this one over Niecy Nash (who did great "open outs" - whatever that means it was the time during her performance that she actually looked like a ballroom dancer and not Clean House's host at a wedding where couples dance one at a time).

Most Tragic: Well Buzz is off the show so now I'll have to find a new person to pick on and I am said to say it is Soap Opera Aiden - that guy is devilishly handsome and has a sexy accent, but he is BAD BAD BAD at dancing. Even Edita's hotness could not distract me from the horror that he is on the dance floor.

Most Boring: This has to go to Nicole Scherzinger - I mean, she is built like Barbie and she dances for her career so it is not surprising that she was the early front runner. I think she should watch out though, because she doesn't seem to be improving much and I am totally bored watching her on this show. She'll have a couple weeks to pull it together though, because there is still a lot of dead weight in this cast.

Hands Down Best Move of the Night: I literally could not believe what I was witnessing when Bachelor Jake and his partner spun around up and down the steps - flawlessly! It was amazing, so amazing that I noted the time (HULU: Season 10: Ep 4 9:42 - since I went back for this time I also noted a couple others above).

As for the results:
Bottom Two: Niecy and Louie and Aiden and Edita
Eliminated: Aiden and Edita - I called this one - I would say he, Niecy, and Kate are the worst dancers, but Niecy and Kate are much more famous.