Results. Somewhat incoherently.

What? WHAT? WHAT? I hate the dancing I hate the dancing I hate the dancing. I've been saying this for weeks. Tonight was much more justified though.

I know that letting people vote when it wouldn't make any difference to result is going to cause a scandal, but for christs sake DO MATHS QUICKER. We worked out what was going to happen before the main show ended; the BBC should have done so to.

I can't believe they let them all through. I can't believe it, when Tom was so much worse in both dances. It wasn't like all three were really close and Tom had had one really good dance, he was far below the standard of Lisa and Rachel, he deserved to be in the dance off. And perhaps he would have done really well and got through anyway.

Of course, they did spend the whole show telling us that it was much more difficult for the men, and that no one remembers that. Well, why would we, it's not as if we are told that over and over and over again by anyone, is it? So the real reason why Tom's marks were so much lower than the others is because he's a man. He should get extra points just to make things fair.

They changed the rules for Baby Spice back in series 4, because the judges loved her and the public refused to vote for her. Urgh.

The BBC needs to make more contingency plans if they are going to continue make tv that is live and involves audience participation. Because that's the sort of tv that goes wrong alot and needs quick and efficent sorting out.

I remember a time when tv wasn't always rubbish. I'm sure it's not just the hazy glowing memory of my childhood, honest.

Strictly Come Dancing: Semi-final

Lisa and Brendan.
Lisa's quickstep dress was very pretty, I liked the black underneath, instead of the mad bright clashing colours we've been getting this year. Her quickstep seemed quite good, though I didn't see most of it.

Her Argentine Tango was good, I agreed that she needed to be a bit more precise and sharp and stuff with all her flicks. It was weird to see the judges treating Brendan almost like a celeb because the dance was new to him too.

Following last week I am back on the 'hating Brendan' train. It's a bit of a relief. (Although we spent some time reminiscing about when Camilla and Brendan stopped being awkward around each other and started being sweet and adorable.)

Rachel and Vincent
Rachel's American smooth was lovely, very soft and flowing, etc. It got a bit dull at times, which does lead me to disagree with Len that there was no foxtrot in it.

There was a lot of pressure on them for the Argentine Tango, but luckily it was as brilliant as it looked in rehersals. Fantastic leg flicks and twisty bits, lots of emotion and passion. Yay Rachel. Rachel to win.

Tom and Camilla
OH GOD TOM. His jive was okay, I really liked the routine, but thought Tom didn't dance it very well a bit too wild and imprecise. I felt bad for Camilla when they went on about her choreography.

Then Tom "acted" his way through the Argentine Tango instead of doing any steps. Interestingly, if memory serves me correctly was the same critism they made of Gethin last year. Either Camilla is trying to choreography her own A.Ts, or whoever choreographs them for her needs firing. But oh God the "acting." I am looking at my watch. I have a serious face on. STOP IT.

Luckily Tom will defiantely be in the dance off therefore, unless the other person messes up completely, will go home. (Yay maths!) It's sad for Camilla, but she deserves to get to the final with someone lovely.

Erin was in the audience. With the common people. What was that all about? This means she is not going to be dancing in the LIVE results show. It seems that she and Austin aren't even going to be in the Christmas special.

The LIVE results show will be on soon. See how much more interested I am in Strictly when there is a LIVE results show coming up? LIVE RESULTS SHOW.

Pre-Strictly Post

We are having the results show LIVE. As in TONIGHT. Caps lock does not fully express my joy. Actually it's good I'm excited about it, because I'm not very excited about any of the dancers. Hmm.

I've been watching Series 3 at my computer while I finish making Christmas presents. (My desk is currently a mess of wool, beads, thread, needles and bits of wire.) Darren wasn't joking this week when he said you used to have to really work for tens. Also, Len does have a 5! And a 6. Or he did once, anyway.

Also, I love Colin&Erin.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week 12 and Results

I'm devestated to see Austin and Erin leave on Sunday. Poor Erin yesterday, who'd ever think she'd actually cry on TV? Weird and sad. :( Part of me is worried that she's not planning on coming back next year and in fact is going to get married and have children instead. Of course there is speculation that the producers are so pleased with the new pros, that some of the older pros might not be asked back next year.

So we are left with Rachel - good but bland, Tom - managing to be both dull and annoing, and Lisa, who is alright, but is partnered with Brendan who showed us this weekend that the whole reformed act was just an act. And to think he fooled me into thinking he had turned into a decent guy. On balance I think I'd like Rachel to win. She seems the best and I like Vincent.

But overall, I've found this series has been very disappointing. Lots of very uninteresting celebrities, for some reason. I think they've stretched it out too long as well. Sigh. I'm already speculating which celebs we could have next year.

Strictly Week 11, plus other telly.

Sorry for the lack of posts. We are currently in the middle of a major roof-and-windows replacement which has become a bit of a nightmare. I still have internet, but it's all a bit disheartening. I've been sleeping on the sofa bed downstairs for a week, and it looks like it'll be another week before I can get back into my bedroom.

The other problem is that the current contestents on Strictly seem all a bit... bland. Thank god for Austin and Erin's paso, which had some energy to it! Everyone else is good, but a bit dull; Arlene really shouldn't have tried to compared Rachel to Alesha, because, basically, hell no. Alesha was exciting and energetic, she had such presence on the dance floor, and no one this series is living up to that consistantly. There have been a couple of dances that did, but largely I think there is a lack of engery and excitment. I did enjoy Lisa and Brendan's dances, Brendan has had a fairly massive change of attitude this year and I'm starting to (gulp) almost like him. Almost.

Anyway.

Last night I watched new comedy show "Beehive." Which was possibly the weirdest tv show in a long time. I enjoyed it, for the most part (minus the vomiting section,) but it wasn't exactly laugh out loud stuff. I liked the parts were they were being themselves, rather than dressed up. The first sex in the city sketch was good, the second one had vomiting, and I think anymore are going to get less funny over time. I laughed at the spiderman bit. So, enjoyable if not exactly funny, and I will probably try and remember to watch again.

I've also been rewatching series 1 and 2 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and being amused-slash-horrified that a)Star Trek manages to illustrate moral ambiguity with more subtley than any current TV shows I watch. (Seriously Star Trek. WTF?) and b) that a generation are growing up thinking that NewWho is how you write scifi. In twenty years time we are either going to have awful scifi shows written by children who watching Doctor Who and write like that, or we are going to have good scifi shows written by children who watching NewWho and went I can write better than that.

Fingers crossed.

(This is probably the one and only mention NewWho will get on this blog.)

Strictly Come Dancing: Week 10

Real Life kept me away from this blog, during the week of excitment and adventure. Or something. I was very sad to see Cherie go last week, though it was a fair decision, and it was a shame John Sergent decided to leave, but I'm not sad to see the back of the endless debates, arguements etc etc.

Moving on.

This week felt quite exciting, more so than last week, which felt a bit of a let down dancewise. Jodie managed a latin dance! I'm very impressed. I enjoyed it alot, though I agree with Craig that it needed a few more basic steps.

I didn't like Christine's chacha at all, it felt awkward, and she lost her footing constantly. Her overperformance in her top half only emphasised the footwork she was lacking. I agreed with Arlene - the performance was there, the steps were not.

Lisa's dance was apparently unmemorable. What did she do? Oh, a quickstep. It was not too bad, it didn't quite have the lovely gliding that other quicksteps we've seen have had. It also felt a bit too slow, mostly at the begining.

Tom and Camilla danced a decent tango, nothing too special, but he did seem to be really taking charge, even though he was leading poor Camilla about by the arm!

Rachel's foxtrot was lovely, possibly not 40/40 lovely though. I prefered her rumba last week, which was smashing. But she did manage to impress me with a Foxtrot, that famously boring dance, so well done her.

Austin and Erin's chacha was brilliant, really entertaining. I actually sucumbed to voting for them, because they are in a dangerous position and I think they deserve to stay.

(Randomly, I ended up speaking to Austin's aunt in the Post Office queue this week. It was a fascinating, though somewhat bizarre, twenty minutes.)

I'd quite like Lisa or Christine to go, but I've no idea which way the public will vote. I think Austin might end up in the dance off.

The judges bickering. Oh god, I hate Len. I HATE LEN. He thinks his opinion is the best and we should just ignore those two over there. Good on Craig for intertupting him for once I say, and absolutely spot on with Len offering useless advice. URGH. He'll come on ITT next week and be all 'oh, we have four judges for four different opinions and of course we'll disagree sometimes,' ignoring the fact that he is just rude and disrespectful of those different opinions and and and URGH.

Also, Bruce gets worse and worse.

A Collection of Sequels

I haven't read much recently. It's a bit of a pain, as my to-read pile has become a bookshelf full. Unfortuantely I got a bit stuck in my last book, which was the sequel to Rendevouz with Rama, cleverly entitled Rama II.

Sadly, I was not as captured by it as I was by the first book. It didn't help that large sections of the first part were written in a 'future history' style which is either brilliant or awful, in my opinion. I loved Last and First Men, (Olaf Stapledon,) which an entire book of future history. This time I haven't been enjoying it. It probably hasn't helped that it is following a time in our future history where, following a global boom, the global financial system crashes and collapses, leading to nearly a centuries worth of famine, death, disease, etc etc before mankind gets things sorted. It's a bit close to home. (Though at least they had colonised other planets by this time.)

Anyway, I have three more lots of sequels to read now. First I have the the third in the Heechee series by Fredrik Pohl. The first book, Gateway is one of my favourite books, and I was thrilled to discover there was a series. I enjoyed the second book, so I have high hopes for Heechee Rendezvous. (I'm doing alot of rendezvouing of late, it seems.)

Then, I have the third in Scott Orson Card's Ender series, Xenocide. Again, I loved Ender's Game, and I enjoyed the sequel, so I am looking forward to this one.

Then, I bought an entire series of books, in a bit of a mad moment. But I have a young adult book by John Marsden that I have owned since I was about 14, called Tomorrow When the War Began. It's about a group of teenagers who go camping in the wildness for a week and come home to find their country has been invaded. It ends with quite the cliffhanger and I have been waiting ten years to find out what happens. I think they were only published in Australia and America, and by the time I got to amazon they were all out of print. But they have been reprinted and now I have them all.

If I could only stumble across the third book of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series my life would be complete...

Strictly Come Dancing Week 8 and Results

I'm late with this. It's been that sort of week.


I have a great respect for Austin for keeping his Mum's anniversary private, rather than, as usually happens, letting the entire public know in the week leading up to it. Not that I suspect people of deliberately trying to get sympathy votes, but, you know. It was a nice change. I didn't think his rumba was that bad, overall, although definately worse than his usual dancing.

I think it is probably time John left the competition. After six years the judges have yet to understand that the more they berate and ridicule a contestent the more the public will vote for them. (Something Brown could remember for the next election?) Mostly, you need to make their dance as unforgettable as possible. If I were a judge I'd have said something fairly bland, like "nice storytelling, weak on technique," in a faintly bored, next-dance-please voice.

I was shocked that Jodie wasn't in the bottom two - awful, awful samba. I liked Tom's dance, especially his leaping around, although I don't understand the general fuss about him. I mean, I don't normally understand when the female population of Great Britian goes a bit mental for one of the male contestants, but it is doubly so for Tom. (Although, did you hear Kate Garraway and her comment to Jason Donovan, "he's not meant to turn you on, he's meant to turn us on." Oh, fuck off with your hetronormative, ignorant attitude.)

Cherie was beautiful, and danced beautifully too. I was even won over by Lisa's dance, and even if she turned out to be a giddy slash fangirl. (Seriously, if she was on the internet, she'd be one of those people who typed all in lowercase and txt language and used six million exclamation points at the end of every sentence.)

I thought Heather's tango was her best dance, ditto for Christine and Matthew's brilliant jive. I though Rachel's dance was okay, but I find her performance completely boring. Apparently the rest of the UK agrees with me.


It Takes Two needs to stop with the insane VTs. Today we had the composite dancer, and the crazy marriage thing (I worried about Nicole, though probably she doesn't care) and yesterday instead of amusing training clips at the end, we got some poorly made song vid. Less of that!

Book: The Other Side of the Sky, Arthur C Clarke

This is a collection of short stories, and some of them are very short. Unusually I loved every one of them. Completely unique, suprising ideas. Lots of twists at the end. And humor! I'd forgotten how much I loved sci-fi humor. Many years ago a bought a big collection of humourous sci-fi stories, poems and cartoons entitled Laughing Space in some charity shop somewhere, and it's one of favourite books to dip in and out of. Much of Clarke's stories have a humours slant, usually because humans are small, silly insignificant creatures and the universe is big and unpredicatable and awesome.

It's also many me think about my nano novel, which is scifi. Clarke can do alot of worldbuilding in a short story, and I need to think about how I'm going to do that in my novel. My worldbuilding has been very thin on the ground, despite me spending a long time ironing out the details of my settings.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week 7 and Results

Austin and Erin
Really? That hair? Okay, Erin. Anyway, a lovely, bright quickstep, glide-y but not skippy, perfect amount of rise and fall, lovely quick feet. Stunning ending. Very glad for Austin to get the first 10 - well deserved I think.

Heather and Brian
Heather needs to straighten her legs, and be alot sharper with her movements. It looked alot better in training, I think. I suspect she'll be leaving soon.

Also, Heather is in serious trouble with me for ressurecting Bruce's 'you're my favourite' catch phrase. I know he's used it a couple of times this series, but no body has played into until now. If we have to put up with the new, 'doddery I am not,' we shouldn't have to relive the past nightmares.

Jodie and Ian
I think Jodie's improving immensely, which is annoying because I don't like her. It's nice for Ian though. It was a very graceful waltz, though I agree with Craig that it was all a little too much. Particuarly the end, which was like a flashback to the cringe-worthy rumba they did. And what was with the dress? It has to be the most unflattering dress I've ever seen on anyone. The waist was too high, the neckline was too low, the squishy diamonds along her stomach made her stomach look all... odd shaped. So weird. And why where the floaty bits shiny?

Andrew and Ola
A poor choice of costume for Andrew, very unflattering shirt. Funny shoulder shimmies, looking very odd throughout. Even his 'best move' the rave step, as Craig said, looked awkward.

Lisa and Brendan
Hurrah! A nice colour dress and a nice style. However,why the costume department thought the lining should be orange is beyond me. Orange! Is that a traditional tango colour? How odd. The dance itself was actually quite good, and I always like traditional music for tangos.

Cherie and James
Oh Cherie. So many mistakes in a complicated routine. Unfortunately everytime she made a mistake she tensed up more, and as soon as you tense up, all the complicated arm tangle-y movement become impossible. I was worried for her this week, (no telling if the public have been voting for her or not) but luckily she's bak to dance again.

That said, I wish that Len would shut up about the whole 'dances suiting some people' thing. Yes, it's true, but on the other hand contestants in with a serious chance need to be at least competant at most of the dances. I can understand one dance not going well (Colin and his Jive, for example,) amongst a run of excellent dances, but when Len sas it to someone over and over, and the dances the are good at are still not outstanding, it gets a bit much.

Moving on.

John and Kristina
Bless Kristina. She is working so hard at choreographing. John's foxtro actually didn't look too bad, though I believe Len when he said it was all wrong! I'd love to see Kristina with someone with potential, I think she's shown she can choreograph well. John... well, it's nice he was saved again, but it's starting to get a bit much. I think once Heather'sgone,John will have to go. After that he'll be knocking out celebs with the potential of making the final/semis and that's annoying.

Tom and Camilla
I didn't like his face. It didn't help that mum christened him 'Desperate Dan' immediately. He was over acting it a bit, but the actual dance was good. I don't know why Len has sudden gotten in a tiff about capes - they've been using them for years and it's been generaly accepted that using the cape is a mark of a more difficult routine. Even Len has said that! Hmm.

Christine and Matthew
I spent most of the dance saying 'point your toes!' and 'extend!' and I was glad the judges picked up on that. It could have been really good, but waist down it felt all a little half-hearted. Perhaps watching the old films that looked so effortless fooled her into thinking it was effortless? Hmm. Lovely dress though.

Rachel and Vincent
It didn't wow me at all. The kicks/flicks/jumps were good, but everytime they went through each others legs or did turning, it lost energy and momentum. Which was sad.


Pro dances
... weird, weird Tina Turner dance. I don't really have any comments. The Anton-Flavia-Vincent-Erin dance was great. Stunning and entertaing. Lovely Anton and Vincent's little dance (that's the second time they've danced together now!) and Erin lifting Vincent. Now, if the girls could just dance together...maybe not Erin and Flavia. Erin and Camilla? Karen? Arlene? Claudia? A few thoughts.


Results
I predicted Heather and either Andrew or Cherie. So glad to see Cherie safe! It was a close call between Heather and Andrew, but I did think that Heather improved alot in the dance off. It was a good time for Andrew to go - for all my moaning, I have to say he was a good contestant. He worked hard and improved as much as he could. He was accepted critism and never took public support for granted. His thank you speech was lovely.

Can they stop lifting people up now please? It was sweet with Don and irritating with Mark and now it's just become habit, like in the final when, after the audience have given one standing ovation, every dance after that gets one, regardless of how good it actually was.

It Takes Two: Friday

I take back everything I said about suspecting Erin and Austin didn't get on. Awww. They're lovely. She babysat for him. How... odd, yet lovely.

Andrew and Ola say their samba will be 'entertaining.' That sounds familliar. I think that's how Erin and Peter described their samba, and we know what happened there.

I'm not going see the Saturday show till Sunday, so I'll post after I've seen both shows. Also, I'm starting nanowrimo tomorrow. Yes I'm insane. I've made a blog here, where you can read snippets, rejoicing and moaning. Probably mostly the latter. Posts will either be plentiful, as in oh god, I can't write anything, distract me! or missing, in which case it is all going well! (Or I have smashed my computer in frustration.)

It Takes Two: Thursday

I really love Cherie and James. I hope they get through this week okay. I didn't like James alot in the previous series, but I've been won over.

Yesterday they said that the Quicksep was 'Erin's dance' which was lovely because I think she's said it's her favourite. Their training looks really good, I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Rachel and Vincent's jive looks like it will be great too, and I've got my fingers crossed for Heather's chacha.

Star Trek: Voyager (1x01)

Quick quiz! You have crashed on a planet, with one other starfleet officer. You come face to face with three aliens. You warn them that you will shoot if they don't back off, but they shoot at the other officer, injuring him. Do you:

a) shoot the aliens
b) warn them again that you will shoot them if they don't back off
c) turn around to check on the injured officer, thus turning your back on the still-armed aliens who have proven themselves to be hostile?

What the hell Janeway? NO REALLY. Less rubbish, more awesome please.

In her defense it turned out to be a near-death experience type hallucination with an alien who was trying to convince her concisceness to enter his "matrix" so he could feed off it. Or something. Probably it wasn't an entirely accurate portryal of how she would actually act.

Yes, I accidently caught an episode of Star Trek Voyager on Virgin1 last night. So today I decided to watching the pilot again. It's been a long time.

And I really enjoyed it! Chakotay isn't unbearably annoying yet, nor is Neelix. In fact, I rather liked the Neelix/Tuvok interaction at this point.

"Perhaps you'd like a bath?"
"A what?"

Though the way Neelix talks to Kes is still insanely patronising and unbearable. Kes isn't exactly a shining beacon of characteristation though.

The Harry/Tom relationship is good here too - Tom just manages to be both sympathetic and arrogant without going too far in either direction. B'Elanna's at her most angry-with-the-whole-universe, and it's nice to see her calm down as the series progresses.

Janeway is suitable awesome. "It's not crunch time yet Mr. Kim. I'll tell you when."

"Captain, There's something out there."
"I need a better description than that Mr Kim!

She's completely in charge, no questions asked. I love the scenes between her and Tuvok, they have a lovely friendship.

(There are plot holes you could drive a starship through, of course. Did they really only have two medical staff aboard? Who looked after the crew when they were off-duty? I suppose they only thought they would be gone a couple of weeks, but still, they were heading into a potentially dangerous situation that might require a medical team.)

It Takes Two: Tuesday

Jo Caufield used to be the warm-up when we went to recordings of Have I Got News For You. She was ridiculously unfunny then and doesn't appear to have gotten any better. She likes Lisa and Len. That figures.

I really like seeing Anton talk about the choreography, even if he did talk about Andrew and Ola all over Austin and Erin.

Wednesday tomorrow. We can start looking forward to next week instead of seeing endless repeats of last week, hurrah!

It Takes Two: Monday

Arlene 'gets on with Len.' Uh-huh, once more with feeling, Arlene.

Also, hurrah for Craig saying that Len gets a bit 'carried away' when he disagrees with the other judges. So true, although I do believe Craig when he says it doesn't last.

From the Hard Drive

Our freeview box has a harddrive, and it is incredibly easy to set it to record things. I set it to record alot of things, most of which I will eventually delete three months later because I am clearly never going to watch it.

Anyway, this weekend I saw two things that my housemate had recorded. First we saw Samantha Who? For those who don't watch as much E4 as I do (oh endless Friends repeats, how easily sucked in I am,) and therefore haven't seen the ads, this is a comedy show about a woman who has just come out of a coma and has amnesia. (I initally thought she would have short term memory loss, but no, just ordinary amnesia.) I didn't expect too much, but I was completely suprised; lots of laugh out loud moments, very few cringe-worthy moments. I really enjoyed it and will defiantely try to catch it again.

Then we saw Beautiful People. Again, I've seen this advertised lots and quite fancied seeing it, but sort of forgot about it. It was very good, again, very funny and interesting. Often comedies make camp characters very one-dimensional, just for the laughs, but this is a much than just that. I really liked the two main character and his simillarly-camp best friend; I liked that his parents didn't want to force him to be something he wasn't, but at the same time they didn't want him to suffer.

So two shows to watch, if I remember.

SCD Week 6 Results

The most boring results show ever, or the most boring results show ever?

Kristina and Brian did a mambo. I don't think they had much time to rehearse it. Also, the problem with having pros who aren't professional partners is that it is harder for them to pull off a dance without much practise.

Then the Jersey Boys sang and a few people did a ... dance of some description, near them. That was dull.

Then Enrique Iglesias sang a mopey song and some pros did mopey-type rumbas near him.

SO DULL.

Eventually, ten million years later, we got to the results. I'm so glad Heather got through. Then Mark was in the bottom two and there was MUCH REJOICING. Andrew was in the bottom two, which was fair, people forget about you when you get better, but are still low down the table. I didn't think Andrew was as good the second time, but Mark was even worse, if that's possible. So he went.

(And then he stripped. Eurgh. Whatever.)

We have already gotten to the point where people are going to be doing different dances. I can't help but think there is a better way to organise it. I always thought it was a bit of mess because the pros knew what dances they would be doing each week way in advance. But apparently that is not so. Hmm. Probably there isn't a better way of organising it. But I shall be judgey anyway.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week 6

Well, while the dresses improved alot, there were some peculliar song choices this week, largely in the Paso Dobles. More on that as we go along.

Lisa and Brendon
It was an okay dance, but it didn't feel dramatic. I don't think the song helped - it sounded dramatic, but it wasn't very 'hard', if you know what I mean. I don't know if her dancing just made it feel that way. Either way, there was definately something missing.

Also, I don't like those dresses that are cut away in semi-circles around people's waists. They just are not flattering people! Actually, Lisa sort of carries hers off, but she's the first person whose managed them.

Andrew and Ola
Suprisingly, all it takes is a rubber band or two to increase your dancing skills.
(Quick someone tell Mark.) Actually this was quite a touching dance, and I was impressed by the improvement Andrew made this week. (Though yes, it wasn't perfect, I agree with whatn Craig said.) I was even saddened by his stumble. For the first time I actually don't mind if he stays in. Though, the public has a habit of keeping people in until they manage a good dance and then they'll go home. So, possibly he is in the danger zone.

Christine and Matthew
... oh. Well. She was all floppy and half-hearted with her arms. The first time she put her arm above her head I cringed, and it didn't get any better. She seemed to be sort fo skipping to keep up with Matthew at times. I loved the song choice though, when they played it behind their training, I half-heartedly hoped they might be dancing to that. And then they did! Not sure it worked for a Paso though, perhaps with more talented dancer it could have been good.

Bizare her dress was, I actually kind of liked it.

Austin and Erin
Wow. I was completely mesmerised by this dance. I totally believed the relationship between them, that I hadn't really bought into before now.

Cherie and James
What an awful shame she went wrong at the top, it clearly put her off throughout the rest, so the performance wasn't as good as it could have been, she seemed very distracted. But lovely lines and shapes ands tuff.

I'm not sure about the neckline of her dress, but I liked it alot otherwise.

Heather and Brian
Another suprise improvement! It seemed alot faster than the other V. Waltzes. For a change I didn't agree with Craig at all. (But oh god, please let us hear what he is saying! Less bickering!) Weird colour of dress, but I liked that it spun like a proper waltz dress.

Arlene cracked me up. Se-ven! Poor Bruno didn't know what was going on.

Mark and Hayley
Last week, acting lessons, this week, boxing! What next? However, like last week, it didn't help much, did it? He looked very awkward and uncomfortable.

Tom and Camilla
It was a bit ... odd. It was very fast, but a tad mechanical. I don't know. Something weird happened to his fleckle. I didn't like it much. Plus Camilla has feathers. I don't know why people would put feathers on dresses.

What a bizare collection of scores though.

John and Kristina
Actually, not as bad as I thought. He kept the serious face on, though I agree it was more grumpy than dramatic. But he's so endering! Propbably he should go home before it gets irritating.

Sergant Sergent. *giggles*

(Also, Charlie K! OMG!)

Rachel and Vincent
Lovely choreography from Vincent, I don't know what Len was watching.

Jodie and Ian
And finally... I think she hunched over a bit too much. At time it seemed to work, and then at other times it looked like she was struggling to keep up. I agree with Bruno, that it seemed a little wild. I quite liked it though. Weird song choice, but it sort of worked.


(Also, I laughed out loud at Austin and Erin being silly behind Tess at the end.)


Predictions:
I think Heather and Andrew, having improved, are in danger of being forgotten by the public. I suspect John and Mark will both be saved again, but maybe people are fed up with Mark? Oh can only hope.

SCD: It Takes Two (Thursday)

A flashback to series 3, as we watch Darren Gough's Paso Doble and Len reminds us what MANLY-MALE-BLOKE he was. *incoherent rage*

It's like when they pretend that men can't do the rumba. Um, hi there Colin, were you on our show? Apparently not. Wait for it, it'll happen.


In happier news Erin turned up! Whenever they show clips of Austin, Erin is oddly absent. Part of me thinks that they don't get on and so whenever they are not dancing they are on opposite sides of the room, not talking. This is probably not true.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week 5 and Results

... but first an ITT sidenote:

Len has denied rumors that he isn't coming back next year. Hmmph. So much for my cunning plan. No mention of what Brucie might be doing though, so fingers crossed.

Marian Keyes is quite annoying, but I liked Lilia alot more for running out and hugging her and then suggesting they get married. Oh, so easily swayed by the gay. Isn't that annoying?

I liked that Erin was mostly amused that she Anton, Ian and Camilla were going to be doing "fluff" behind Darcy Bussell. "Attempting to do ballet" near Darcy Bussell. I'm quite amused too. Alos, I do want to see Darcy and Katherine Jenkins DVD now. It sounds great, and also they wore shirts.


Onwards!

Strictly Come Dancing: Week 5 and Results

Rachel & Vincent
I forgotten to mention them in last weeks post, but this week I was impressed by their samba. Fun and bouncy,and I completely agreed with the judges scores. Also, Rachel had the best dress.

Lisa & Brendon
I didn't like this much at all. They spent a suspicious amount of time in hold, or close to hold, and it didn't feel particularly smooth, especially compared to later dances. It was perfectly fine, but I didn't get the judges raving about it at all. They didn't deserve to be top, showing the clips next to Tom and Cherie really proved that to me.

Heather & Brian
Oh dear. She looked terrified and panicked and oh. In training she always looks like it's coming together, but I think nerves get the better of her every time. I thought she'd be in the bottom two, partly because she was dreadful and also she was in that lower-middle danger zone.

Cherie & James
Oh, that was lovely. Elegant and simple, but very lovely. I am warming to James more and more. I didn't agree with Craig,though I could see wht he meant. Hmm. The final lift was incredible, I don't know how they made it look so elegant. I think the marks they got were right (even allowing for Craig's 7!) but Lisa was overmnarked, so they were the wrong way around on the board.

Mark & Hayley
Distractng outfit? Oh dear. Never a good start. He's learnt how to smile, (thank you John Barrowman) but it hasn't help his dancing. Apparently he wasn't just holding back - he really has no talent. Next week it'll be Props. Hats, chairs and things. Themed dances. I'm afraid. He should have been in the bottom two.

Dom & Lilia
A bit dull, but perfectly fine. Much like Lisa and Brendan's dance, actually. He was very very tense, I wondered if having a lift earlier in the dance might have calmedhis nerves,as he seemed so worried about them in the training clips. Throughly middle of the board standard. I didn't expect them to be in the bottom two, but, well. *is annoyed with British public again*

Erin & Austin
I'm always amazed at how comfortable Austin looks on the dancefloor. His smile never seems forced, like alot of the celebrities and he always seems to be havng a good time, rather that trying to 'perform' to the audience. Even though this is not his best dances, and I don't think it was even the most exciting or entertaining samba, I really like him and Erin.

What was up with Erin's costume though? The skirt I could let go, given that it's a samba, but the weird shoulder-scarf thing? It's an odd look.

Andrew & Ola
I don't even remember this. Was it dull? Was he awful? I suspect so.

Christine & Matthew
I think I might have liked this one more than Austin's. It was great fun.

Jodie & Ian
Oh. Well. What a suprise! Lovely, elegant, smooth, ... etc. Throughly deserved the praise from the judges, but I'm not sure it's going to last. If she has the V. Waltz she'll probably get by, but the paso ... don't know.

John & Kristina
Oh, bless his soul. Excellent choice of song, slightly gimicky choreography, very little in the wayof dance steps, and yet I loved it and I loved John and I loved Kristina. (Though his comment that 'the public wll save us' was a little smug-sounding.) I loved that Kristina was more excited that John when they went through. I think he's a bit baffled by the whole thing, to be honest.

Tom & Camilla
Did you know that he is getting married on Sunday? And that this is his stag night? DID YOU? He's getting MARRIED. Any minute now. MARRIED.

That said, I loved his dance. It felt very much like an old American movie.

I also love that Camilla will smile widely on though any lift, no matter how close it is to going completely wrong. (Trouser-dress! Wear proper trousers or just don't bother, I say. My mum claims it is very 30s, and so very appropriate and blahblahblah.)

Results!

I'm shocked that Dom and Lilia went, though between them and Heather it was pretty even. I would have chosen Heather to go myself. I've really warmed up to Lilia over the past few weeks, it turns out.



Now, I am about to brave the cold dark world to try a dance class. I haven't been for over a year and this is someplace new... we'll see how it goes.

Briefly...

I am away this weekend, so a proper Strictly post will pop up in a day or so. For now I have only this to say: the only two black contestants were in the bottom two. My faith in the British public has ... stayed pretty much at the same level. Le sigh.


Anyway. People I Know In Real Life (I know! Flesh-and-blood people!) claimed that Bruce Forsyth is planning to leave at the end of this series. I'd heard rumors, but apparently this was much more substantial than that. Alas, my google alerts today claim that it is not to be HOWEVER apparently Len is maybe leaving! The jet lag is apparently too much for him, and the US version pays better. Is it too early to start campaigning for Karen hardy to replace him? Or maybe Mary Murphy from SYTYCD? (Although I think Mary&Bruno being in the same place might cause some sort of space-time explosion due to a build up incomprehensible enthusiasm.)

Book: Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C Clarke.

Today I have read two books. TWO! I have gone through several weeks lately of not reading at all, except for comfort re-reading, so two books in a day seems a bit excessive. I read one book, and then I was planning to go to the cinema, but there was nothing on I wanted to see. So I read another book.

Anyway, the first book. This is not a review, I'm not good at those. This is just a list of things I love.

Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C Clarke.

This book was published in 1974, and the back of it informs me that it cost 50p. Also, it was not for sale in Canada, and the Australia price of 1.50 was recommended but not obligatory. I love getting bookmooch books.

Arthur C Clarke is one of the giants in sci-fi writing, and I haven't read nearly as enough of his books as I would like. In fact, I've just mooched the sequel to this book and a couple of others by him.

Rendezvous with Rama is about set in 2131, when we have colonised other planets/moons in the solar system, but not gotten much further than that. We are also a bit obsessed with charting the paths of asteriods after one destroyed most of Italy a while back. The scientists discover a new, large asteriod, so large it is assigned a name instead of a number: Rama. (They've run out of Greek and Roman gods, so started using Hindu mythology.) Except upon closer inspection, it's discovered to be a long metal hollow cylinder, heading towards the sun. The nearest spacecraft is sent to investigate it before it swings around the sun and head back off into deep space.


I love this book. I love that the main drive of the plot doesn't come from the characters endangering themselves and other by making stupid or self-centred decsions, until you want to scream that they should never have let anyone that stupid and blind into space, goddamnit. This is a book all about the mysteries of Rama and the alien races who built it. Each chapter seems to slowly reveal more and more without there being many answers. There are a few, but no one seems to agree on anything. The crew exploring just happened to be the nearest ship, so none of them are terribly training for this, but they are doing the best they can, because they know it is important.

I love that the captain is obsessed with James Cook, and how it constantly affects his decisions - he's very aware that history will remember him, but he's willing to take risks to explore. I love that he trusts his crew to get on with things - like I said, there are no loose cannons on his ship.

I love how thought out and real the universe it's set in feels; the colonies and the United Planets and the irritating politicians and scientists. The delay in communications. The failing attempts to lower the population of earth, that is mostly a half-hearted joke to people.

I love the hints at what the aliens and alien culture we get, just enough to start forming ideas, but nothing very solid of concrete (much like in one of my other favourite books, Gateway.)

And I love the ending. (Highlight to read spoilers.) I love that everyone was so worried Rama would bring alien invaders or attack us or generally be bad, and Rama just wanted to refuel, and then moved on and didn't even realised we existed.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel(s?)

So You Think You Can Dance!

Last night in an attempt to dispel the post-Strictly despair and disappointment, we watched the first episode of So You Think You Can Dance!: Canada. Apparently they have only just started the first season, even though America's just finished it's fourth and I'm sure Australia have had at least one season, probably more. I mean, come on Canada! Jump on the bandwagon already!

Anyway, I don't have too many comments about it right now, but I thought I would make a post about the American one. Which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Not because it's full of awful auditions and crying and cheesiness, although it is, and I love that; not because it's full of spectacular dancing and pretty costumes, although, again, it is and I love that too; mostly I love it because it is about the most professionally made audition show I have ever, ever, seen. This is no American Idol for Dancers. This is a serious show, for dancers who want to be professional.

From here on, there is a list.

1. I Love Nigel Lythgoe
Nigel Lythgoe is the exective producer. You may know him from such shows as American Idol. He's also worked as a professional dancer and chreographer. And he's made a show, and mostly gone "I don't want awful back-stabbiness and celebritism, I want good dancers and good entertainment." He's not afraid to tell dancers he will overrule all the other judges if he thinks someone will screw up a live show. Or to tell them that they are not the best dancer, but they are "casting a show" and "looking for personailities." He frequently reminds us that this is NOT about the best dancer, but America's favourite dancer, because the public are voting for them.

He has his bad points; he's obsessed with male dancers being MANLY and MASCULINE, and often that crowds how he sees male dancers that might be technically brilliant, but a bit more effeminate. I suspect he has left over issues from his own dancing days. He's also quite frankly weird about fat* people; he is very supportive good dancers who are fat, until the minute they come across something they can't do so well and then it's all about their weight and how they've been hiding it up to now, but now they are looking like a lump. If he gets auditions from fat people that don't get through, even if they are not too bad, just not good enough, he's so patronising about them keeping up dancing "for their health." Even though some of these dancers are about 8 million times more flexible and fit than the average person.

(*I'm using fat to encompass anyone who is larger than the "ideal" dancer. I'm not using overweight, because I don't think they are overweight.)


2. I love Mary Murphy.
Nigel and Mary are the two permanent judges through the live shows, and through most of the audition rounds. (Before season 2, it was just Nigel and Mary rotated like the other judges/chreographers.) Mary Murphy is ridiculously American. Ridiculously. She screams and talks about people being "on the hot tamalaie train!" and has the kind of American accent I didn't think actually existed in the world. BUT. She is a ballroom dancer, and is very very technical. If she likes your dance it's all screaming and grinning and screaming, but if she doesn't... oh boy. Duck and cover. She will pick your dance apart. Especially ballroom dances. She's like a combination of Bruno and Craig with Len's technical knowledge. Sometimes she does those crazy fake outs, ("I don't want to spoil the fun... so I won't! It was great!" "I hate to agree with my fellow judge here.... but I do!) but sometimes it's not a fakeout, because sometimes she just hates it.

Also, sometimes she cries and hugs people, and can't speak because the dance was completely perfect and emotional.

3. I love all the judges.
So, with Nigel and Mary in the auditions and the live shows, there is a rotating thrid judge. They are one of the staple group of choreographers the show has, and the great thing is that it is as likely to be a woman as it is a man. So sometimes there are TWO women and only ONE man. And when they have six judges, when they pick the top 20 who go on to the live shows, they had three of each. And and and... it's just nice to see.

Also, the judges are so completely respectful of each other. No shouting and arguing and backstabbing and talking over each other... just people, giving opinions and being able to disagree with each other, while still respecting the other judges opinions and expertise. It's so refreshing to see.

4. I love Mia Michaels
Mia Michaels is one of the rotating judges, and also one of the frequent choreographers. In fact, seeing Mia on the judging panel usually brings a sigh of disappointment from us, because she is a stunning choreographer. She choreographs contempory routines, and when we see the training footage, there is alot fo emphasis on "getting in touch with their emotions," "feeling the music" "letting it just happen" and sometimes crying and things. I know, I know, it sounds all too American for words. And yet, it works. Mostly because mia is also a demanding choreographer: she wants the movement to be just like this and forces the dancers to twist their bodies into new and unexpected positions. Nearly all the dancers come out of Mia's training with a new attitude, and praising her. For many of them it's a turning point on the show, after which they become much more engaged and connected with all of their dances. It bizarre. She just breaks them and then makes them into better dancers.

5. I love Shane Sparks.
Shane Sparks is another rotating judge/choreographer, who sadly was missing from the latest season. Woe. He is a hiphop dancer, and is brilliant. During the audition rounds he'll come and sit all slumped in his chair with his hat pulled down low. If a dancer is good he'll so say, if they are not, he'll just chuckle and usually not comment further. But sometimes someone comes on who is awesome, usually in hiphop. And the other judges won't have got it, they'll think it's good but they won't have got it like Shane Sparks. At this point, Shane will stand up, and cheer and scream like Mary Murphy and usually he'll be crying, just telling these incredible street dancers, how incredible they are, and he totally sees where they are coming from and they are on the same page and it's awesome and he loves dance, just loves it, it moves him completely and it's incredible to watch.

6. I love the backstage parts
Or lack there of. We'll see their training footage, which will sometimes include some silliness, but usually it's all hard work and learning. In the recaps we'll see a snippet or two of them backstage, smiling at the camera or dancing to the theme music with everyone, but that's about it. There's no all living in the same house, backstabbing, getting drunk, bitching and fighting and bed hopping... no. On the show everyone is incredible professional... by the final, when they all learn four or five dances in a week, they just say that they are too exhausted and busy to even think about winning, let alone fight or argue or get competitive. I think it's because at the end of the day, this isn't some 'find a celebrity' competition. These people want to be professional dancers - heck, most of them are professional dancers, in that they dance for a living, though that living is usually pretty badly paid. And no matter which way it goes, they will most likely have to work with the other contestants, and choreographers and judges at some point and pissing them off it not really a good plan.

7. I love Cat Deeley
Oh Cat. She awful dresses to rival Tess'. But in the auditions she wears jeans and coats and has friendly chats in line, and sometimes tries to dance with people in the queue and is just awful but happy. She very friendly. I like her alot. Even with her ugly dresses.

8. I love seeing different dance styles.
Contempory, Ballroom, Latin, various versions of Salsa/mambo/etc, Lyrical, Jazz, Broadway, Hiphop, Krumping... this season they did Bollywood and that Russian dance where they crouch. It's exciting to see them all, and all the different styles of them all, depending on the choreographer. I might make a seperate post maybe with YouTube links to my favourite dances, if people are interested.



SYTYCD!: Canada
I like it so far. Mary Murphy turned up to judge, and next week one of the male judges is on it whose name I cna't remember. Dan something? Also, while the American version always had a refreshingly low number of truely crap auditions, Canada, in the first show, had few-to-none, if memory serves. The preview for next week showed lots though, so perhaps there just aren't any deluded dancers in Toronto?

SCD: Results

Where are all the Eastenders fans? Has there been a boycott of Strictly I wasn't aware of? Has Eastenders turned rubbish and lost all its viewers? and speaking of fanbases, who on earth is voting for Jodie Kidd? I know she's dancing wiht Ian, who is always a fave, but that hasn't stopped Anton and Darren from going out.

You've got to feel for Jessie. She did everything she could. She danced with Darren, she's from Eastenders, she cried on live tv (though not in an obvious begging for votes way.) Where did it go wrong?

The dance off was a bit horrendous to watch. The actual dancing was, well, much the same. Heather seemed a bit more lively. But when they had to come down and get advice from Len, Darren looked like he might collapse, Jessie looked like she might cry again, Brian was sad but was SMILING ON through the pain. It was a bit awful.

I'm very excited about next week, but I won't be seeing it until the Sunday as I am away.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week Four

I'm still sad we have to wait till tomorrow. Every week it's a new wave of disappointment. I'm sat there, in this brightly sparking world of glitter and dancing and then suddenly... it's over. I'm left with left over chinese food and an empty bottle of wine (or two.) In previous years there would have been exciting predictions, lively discussions, mad and slightly drunken voting! Eager countdowns and double-checking the times for the results show! Sometimes we would even race out to the local pub for dinner between the two shows. Would it be too busy? Would we get served in time? Would there be time for starters? Dessert? Another drink?

But now everything is flat and lifeless and grey. Wave of disappointment. etc. etc.

Anyway. I'm thinking sparkle, for the recap.

Christine and Matthew
Not as good as I was hoping. Not awful, but clearly not great. Slightly weird choreography, all stopping and starting... What happened this week? Hardly anyone managed to stand out.

Jodie and Ian
Oh, ick, ick, look at that free arm! Either dangling uselessly or Very Carefully placed EXACTLY where she had been told to put it, with her hand all floppy at the end. She looked stiff and uncomfortable. I'm not sure what the judges said, because at this point takeaway was delivered.

Heather and Brian
I thought their training looked dodgy during the week, as did everyone else on ITT. Like them, I assumed that by Saturday she would be sorted. I was wrong. It was heavy and clumsy and not very skimming. I think I spotted her going wrong early on, getting out of time with Brian and from that point onwards she had a grimmace plastered on her face.

Cherie and James
OH. Oh, that is a good dress. Okay, it's not a great dress, but Cheries looked quite good in it. Shallowness aside... she and James have great chemistry, and she was all flowy and sexy and not self-conscious about it. It wasn't ranchy, it was just tender and intimate. I liked it alot.

Jessie and Darren
Oh dear. :( It wasn't car-wreck-awful, I thought it was about the same level as Heather and James... but what do I know.

Lisa and Brendan
It's quite sad that my dislike of Brendan colours my opinion of his partners. It wasn't true last year, when I started off quite liking Kelly, until the American Smooth Disaster and then it all went a bit down hill for me. I liked Claire King before that. This year Lisa hasn't won me over and unfortunately that means I have absolutely no desire to see her and Brendan stay in. Unfortunately they danced quite well. Grr.

Mens' Group Dance
Last year, around Halloween, we learnt a dance called the 'Salsa Wheel' in my Salsa class. Suprisingly, it looked alot like this dance, except instead of a choreographed routine, there's some guy shouting out words that tell you what to do. (Not in English, I might add, which makes for quite alot of confusion.) Anyway, we even did some of the same steps! I fondly remembered 'the Flower,' which reminded us so much of the hokey-cokey, we started singing it. You can probably work out which move that was.

The guys looked about as messy as we were and we had about fifty couples in two circles, AND had a guy shouting instructions at us over the music. (In... I want to say Spanish, but I think that's wrong.) I'm quite judgey at their inability to form a vaguely neat circle. Also, they had to do one of those drops with soemone who wasn't their partner! Scary stuff.

Other comments
-Only Rachel seemed to manage a decent dress this week. I liked Cheri's, but it was a bit bold. I didn't like the sketch of Christine's yesterday, and I hated even more in person. Why do people think silver is flattering? And bright pink underneath? Ola looked awful, Camilla looked awful... It was a MESS. They tried so hard with the (usually ugly) Foxtrot dressed, and now this.

-Speaking of which, Tess has a belt. It was only thin, but I predict a downward slide. Suprisingly the dress was not bad, and she seems to be one of the few people who can carry off orange.

-If Bruce introduces a couple and then, by the end of his "joke" I've forgotten who the couple are, he is TAKING TOO LONG. Just so that's clear.

-Did Arlene and Len manage to have an almost civil disagreement on a dance? Did Len not dismiss Arlene's opnions entirely out of hand? I am in shock! Also, has Len decided that constructive critism is the way to go now? *falls down*

-I'm not sure Jessie will get saved again. I have vague hope that maybe no one is voting for Brendan and Lisa, the way no one voted for Emma Bunton, and they will drop into the bottom two. Probably Jodie will be in the bottom two, along with either Jessie or Heather. Or maybe not.




(I wish the BBC site had a scoreboard up somewhere. I shouldn't have to rely on wikipedia to remember who was at the bottom of the leaderboard! That said the wikipedia page has some interesting tables, including average scores, and they seem to know what dances the girls are doing next week, even though the girls weren't supposed to know yet!)

It Takes Two : Tuesday

An approximation of an earlier conversation.
Fellow-Strictly-Watcher : I really like Hayley
Me : Oh, I don't! She and Mark are so dull!
FSW : I'm suprised you don't like Hayley. She's so pretty!
M : Perhaps I am not as shallow as everyone thinks! ... also she's blonde.


Last week I was wondering why no one had informed poor-new-girl-Hayley of the Acting Coach Technique for improving performance. Apparently she already knew though. I couldn't work out if they had had an acting coach in, were going to get one in, or if Hayley had gone one step further and enrolled Mark onto some sort of month-long course.

Seriously, when I become a strictly pro dancer, (that BBC call is going to come any day now, I'm sure!) there are three things that I would do in the first week.

1. Acting lesson(s)
2. Ballet lessons
3. Make them watch past highly scoring dances on the show and good examples of the dances for the pro world, so they knew what on earth the dance was supposed to look like. (For example, how much headbanging a traditional tango has in it, to pull an example out of this air...)



I'm very glad to see Erin on the show. Previous years' ITT have often been missing Erin, presumably a combination of her having the highest number of hours training and having celebs that live far away. (Willie - Scotland, Peter - Manchester, Colin - Cardiff) This year she doesn't seem to be high up the training hours table - I suppose Austin's injuries make it tricky - and I wonder if she finally got a Londoner. Long may it continue, I say.



It was nice to Anton again, though I find Flavia most of what Flavia says to be a)agreeing with whoever else just spoke, b)something we were all very clear about anyway, or c)not at all interesting. Am I just biased? I was sad that it wasn't an Anton&Karen panel, I like Karen much more and she has very clear and often controversial/differing opinions about thing. Fingers crossed she turns up on Craig's mid-week report.


(Does anyone know why blogger refuses to allow me to remain signed in, no matter how many times I click the 'remember me' button? I don't think it's a cookies issue, plenty of other sites remember me.)

Strictly Come Dancing: Week Three and Results

I have returned! I am also offically another year older.

Comments will be short. My memory is poor.

Austin and Erin
Apparently he wasn't all that bothered by his bad back. If that's him dancing with a bad back, I hope it heals quickly - he'll be professional by Christmas. Awesome.

Tom and Camilla
Very fun, nearly as good as Austin, but not quite. I can't decide if I love or hate the Austin/Tom rivally stuff; at the moment it's quite fun and sweet, but I imagine it will soon get irritating.

John and Kristina
He didn't really get the seriousness of the tango, but I agree with Bruno, that he sold the dance anyway. I'm glad the public voted for him: I'm predicting he'll make it to the quarter-finals, then go home as the public starts to swing more for good dancers rather than adorableness and entertainment.

Gary and Karen
Oh, so glad he went home. He was marginally better - his steps were smaller! I felt awful for them when he went completely wrong in the dance off, and I'm sad he didn't get a chance to do ballroom, but I think it's good that his not hanging on in for weeks ala-Kate Garraway. He was saved by the public in the first week, which was nice, but I'm glad he's gone. Hopefully Karen will turn up to give Opinions, which I always enjoy. :)

Mark and Hayley
How does he manage to be so dull? I'm sure it was technically alright but oh god, the bordem. I don't care about this couple. I'm glad they were in the bottom two, though I think they were the right couple to save, because it means people aren't voting for them and they might go home soon.

Andrew and Ola
Headbanging.

Headbanging.

I can't get past that. I'm all for experimentation and interesting music and stuff, but mostly that only works if you can dance. Otherwise it's just.... well. Andrew and Ola. Why weren't they in the bottom two? Who the hell is voting for them? I think they should go home next week.

Don and Lilia
I wasn't entirely convinced by his Tango-face, but the dance was quite good. I didn't like Lilia's dress. *is petty*


The girls' group dance was brilliant. It really showed that the level of ability with the girls is much higher than the boys. It's a shame that we have to get rid of another girl next week instead of, for example, Andrew and Ola.

I loved Anton and Erin's dance in the final, though Fellow-Strictly-Watcher, upon my return exclaimed 'why didn't they do a quickstep, the girls are doing a quickstep next week, Anton and Erin could have done us a beautiful quickstep and they didn't.' Which is a fair point: I love love love Anton and Erin's quickstep, and it was the dance that inspired me to start dancing myself, back in season 4.

The rumba was good, but no Ian and Camilla? THe new (younger!) dancers are very bendy.

Flavia and Vincent did a lovely dance, that occasionally slipped into contempory type dancing, what will all that rolling about on the floor. I also am a bit cynical, and can't help but feel it's a way of getting past the ugliness of the Matt-Flavia-Vincent nightmare of last year, the way they made Vincent and Flavia do a beautiful dance in the middle of it.

SCD: It Takes Two

Some random comments from Monday and Tuesday.

- I'm not a fan of this new magic button they BBC have found for their recaps. You know, the one that makes people go reallyfast and then s l o w r i g h t d o w n. . . .

It's a bit odd. As is the glowing rays of light eminating from variouos people they've decided to go with.

- I hadn't quite twigged until Saturday that we were having another two weeks of separate boys/girls competition. It doesn't seem very fair as there are a number of boys who are considerably worse than any of the girls, the bottom group of which are all at much the same level.


... that's about it. I'm away from tomorrow until next Monday. I maybe will have internet access to post about Strictly, but I might not. I do get to watch the dancing with my mum and my gran though, which will be fun.

SCD Week Two : Results

- Well. WELL. The Anton fanbase has done rather poorly, haven't they? I can't believe they kept him and Kate in for all those weeks last year and then failed to keep him in when he had someone half decent. Anton was so sad. Although he has been annoying me recently, what with his constant TV appearances and his whole confident gentlemanly act has tipped over into smugness, a bit, which I didn't like. But he was so sad!

- We nearly had a Lisa-Jodie dance off which was all I wanted. Jodie did really well in the dance off. We might have gotten rid of Brendan. Bother.

- The new professionals dance was very very weird. I didn't really like it. Hayley really bores me. Brian is okay. I like Ch/Kristina.

I have no more comments that aren't just repeats of everything I said before, re: Bruce. Oh, but I liked Tess' dress.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week Two

Sorry I'm a bit later with this, we had a friend up for the weekend. Luckily they were also a Strictly fan so we settled in happily on Saturday night, with Strictly and Chinese takeaway, as is rapidly becoming a habit.

Jessie and Darrren
Well, she was much better than I thought it would be - she didn't deserve the bottom, at least not alone.

Matthew and Christine
I love Matthew. He is so sweet, and he loved Alesha and he bought Carol flowers and he was just lovely. I don't actually remember much of this dance, except that it looked quite flowing and stuff, and that Matthew sang along to the song and I couldn't concentrate on anything else except the adorableness of that.

Lisa and Brendan
Oh God, I can't believe they keep Brendan. I can't believe he's just allowed to be awful and make people cry and be all over them *shudders* and still be in the show. I hate that they are pretending he has changed this year, which they do every year and then he will get to about week five, and his partner won't be able to do something and he'll be awful, and they come on ITT and be all, 'oh no, it's fine, hoho' and AHHHH.

Anyway. Lisa didn't look brilliant, she looked quite uncomfortable in the dance. She's in the dangerzone, points wise, so perhaps she will go home.

Jodie and Ian
She's taller than him in heels. That's not good. But she was remarkably graceful. I think latin might break her, which is sad, because I love Ian. They need to stop finding him taller and taller people now.

Heather and Brian
Brian proved he could choregraph - I really liked his routine. Heather was quite good when she relaxed, but did vary between that and looking utterly terrified. Hopefully now she's been through it once, she can start going for it. She did a half-flare (I recognised a step!) which earnt some points from me, because I always get confused on those.

Gillian and Anton
Well, she was okay. Perhaps my theory that Anton has forgotten how to teach is wrong. Maybe. She wasn't very flowing and graceful, and she did cling to Anton a bit, but she managed to keep up with him, and seemed to remember the routine.

Rachel and Vincent
She was quite good, complicated hand moves and things but... it seems really mean to compare salsas and foxtrots. Foxtrots are impossibly technical and awful. And I hate to sound like Len (Oh so much!) but for women, once you've learnt the salsa rhythm, the basic steps and how to let the man lead -which is quite tricky, I admit; it's knowing when she keep your arms tense, and how and when to relax them so the man can lead you through stuff- BUT once you've over come those hurdles, all that twisty arm stuff requires very little concentration. You can just sort of go with it and let the man lead you around, if your basic footwork is good. Compared with Heather and Brian, who did alot of work seperately, it's not so impressive.

Cheri and James
Cheri was magnificant. Beautiful. The bright green was a bit... well. But she was graceful and elegant and all of that stuff that is good in a foxtrot.

To be honest, it was all bit meh, really. My comments on each dance are quite short. I would probably ranked them as follows:

Quite Good: Cheri, Christine
Goodish: Rachel, Heather
Sort-of-okay: Lisa, Jessie, Gillian, Jodie

I want Lisa to go home. Or maybe Jodie. Mostly Lisa. It will probably be Jessie, although presumably the Eastenders and the Darren fans will unite to keep them out of the bottom two, given that they are in bottom place. But who knows?

The Boys' Dance

Oh, they can choreograph a meregue! Remember last years weirdness? This was a thousand times better.

-Bless John Sergant! He did quite well, I thought, they we did start looking at Don&Lilia a bit too early, presumably his solo bit went a bit wrong?
-Gary Rhodes looked marginally better. He just looks so uncontrolled... if he made his steps slightly smaller it would look a thousand times better.
-I really don't think Andrew Castle can dance. He looks incredibly stiff and awkward.
-I love Erin, even in her silly cheerleader outfit with her funny hair. It looks like Austin might just manage latin, though possibly not as good as his ballroom. We'll see.

Some Random Comments

SHUT UP LEN. Stop talking over the other judges to object to their opinions. THEIR OPINION COUNTS AS MUCH AS YOURS. Stop courting public favour. Blahblahblah.

SHUT UP BRUCE. Really, he needs someone else to write his jokes. Or he just needs to stop talking to us inbetween bits. And stop telling us which bits where funny WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING? Don't beg for laughs, it is just annoying. (Also, the comment about Nancy's was inappropriate and awful.)

Tess's dress was sort of normal! Huh. Also, the foxtrot dresses were not as ugly as I expected! Admittedly Cheri was dressed in bright glowing green and Gillian had some weird enormous flower on the front of her dress, but Christine looked brilliant and I don't remember what Jodie wore, so it can't have been too awful. How are we supposed to recognise foxtrots if the dresses are normal?! The world is mad.

Jill Halfpenny was in the audience! I'm so glad she's going to dance. :)

The nice chinese place are still doing thick noodles not thin ones. I AM SO SAD.

TV: ER

ER bosses hope for Clooney return. His spokespeople are denying it though.

Frankly, I'm amazed that ER is still going. I watched religously from season 5 to 8, then went back and watched the earlier seasons as they were repeated. I lost track of it after seaosn 8, catching bits and pieces... until recently I noticed they were showing the latest seaosn on E4. Season 13. Thirteen! Or was it fourteen? A silly number, anyway. I went a bit mad and bought all of it on DVD and watched it all in an embarrasing short amount of time.

But I love ER. I love it in many different ways. I love the characters and stories of seasons 1-4, the quiet moments playing in wheelchairs interupted by awful tragedies, the complicated politics of medicine and the nurses and the paramedics and the desk clerks and the silly decorations and the patients who came back episode after episode, season after season. I like the characters and much of the plotlines of seasons 5-8, the increasingly audience grabbing stories, Kerry being gay, Abby being great, Carter growing up. I love the madness of seasons 8 onwards, in all it's drama, soap-opera-esque style. I even love the endless characters I don't understand who come and go like... things that come and go quickly. I love that Neela was just depressed from about the minute she arrived until... well, as far as I have seen. (I think I have missed a season out.) She wants to be a doctor. No she doesn't. She wants to do something else. She ends up being going back to being a doctor because she can't do anything else. She's in the wrong speciality. She's tired and alone and tired and alone.

I got a bit obsessed with Neela.

I don't know how the returning characters will work. By my estimation (and my ER watching has been spot and out of order for the last few seasons) only Abby and the nurses will recognise Carter. Oh, probably Pratt. Is he a person? Dr. Greene is dead. And also boring. Why do we have to have a flashback? A flashback that won't be filled with the characters I loved. If Doug Ross returns... only the nurses will know him. Will he bring Carol and/or the twins with him? It could be fun.

Despite the fact that it has become a sort of parody of itself, it's sad to think of it ending. But also a bit exciting. How will they end it? I hope close down the ER, after the eight million storylines they did about it over the years. I'd like that.

I'm creating an ER label in case I feel the need to comment on the last series. You never know.

SCD : It Takes Two (Monday&Tuesday)

Monday

- New hair. New ceiling. Longer credits. It Takes Two is back!

- The new ceiling makes me want to duck.

- Aleeeeeeeshaaaaa! And Matthew! Adorableness.

- Blah Len, blah. I think Craig can give ones out IF HE WANTS TO. If you can't give them out, why do they exist? Pah. PAH.

- What was Claudia wearing? She looked very very thin. It was all a bit odd.

- They proved Erin was the best teacher with numberical proof. PROOF.

- No clips? Whatwhatwhat? Clips are the only time we get to see Erin!


Tuesday

- Much better clothing today Claudia.

- The new ceiling still makes me want to duck everytime we see it.

- John Sergant is the most adorable thing that ever lived.

- Training clips! Oh, why aren't people allowed to dance in jeans and t-shirts. It is clearly the best thing ever.

- Erin! Laughing and smiling and dancing.

- The comedians were good and made me laugh lots, though I can't remember entirely at what. "Len - 6, which means 2." Yes, so true! I love it when Claudia's guests recognise the travesty of Len's scoring system. Remember John Barrowman? He turned out to be great last year.

- Clips! Oh, Erin! Playing? In training? What happened?! Awwwww.


In conclusion: Love Erin. Love Claudia. Hate Len. Good.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week One Results

I hate that we have to wait a whole day to get the results now. HATE. Also, I hate that we have to see the two worst dances again. Why did the BBC think this was a good plan? I moaned about this last year. I promise not to moan about it (too much) this year. But oh my god. So many things I would fix about the results show if I had the power. So many things I would fix about the whole show, come to think of it. Starting with Bruce and ending with the judges.

But anyway.

ALESHA. MATTHEW. Dixon&Cutler return for another round in the ring, and we get to see their training. Oh, the happy memories. FellowStrictlyWatcher and I had a bit of a reminisce. Remember her laugh? Remember how she wouldn't stop talking? Remember when she wore a stunning dress and he couldn't concentrate on the dance at all? Oh, they are super.

The professionals danced: you could tell it was a Foxtrot from the ugly dresses. There seemed to be a medieval princess theme. Certainly an Anton/Erin creation; their dances rarely have couple doing solos, and are much more about people dancing in unison or in... I want to say rounds. Like singing. Also, Erin danced with Matthew. (Aww.) And Karen seems to have abandoned Brendan in favour of Matthew, which is completely understandable.

Then the group dance. So much incompetence, so little floor space. Watching the professionals attempting to steer their celebrity into the right place was just hysterical; Austin was boogieing away, John was laughing, all the lifts seemed to go wrong. On the plus side, Jessica Wallace looked alot more confident than she did last night. Yay?

Claudia had a chat with Tess and OH! HER HAIR. She looks like a grown up! It's a bit odd, but quite, quite pretty. I did always think that Claudia would turn into one of those beautiful older women, and it seems like I was right. It's going to take some getting used to, and I'm glad to see she is still as silly as ever. "Not just saying castle, that would be weird."

Bruce talked for ages and ages and ages with Bette Midler, for no apparent reason. Did they have some extra time to fill or did he just get distracted? It was all a bit much, wasn't it? Then she sang, very nicely, but really, the wing gesture was the highlight. The wind beneath my wings. Get it? WINGS. Then Ola and Jordan came out and danced a rumba. It's always a rumba. Usually Ola&James or Darren&Lilia, and occasionally Ian&Camilla. It's just sad how little ballroom they have in this section, by which I mean how little Anton&Erin we have.

Results

... and finally to the point of the show. I'm glad Gary and Karen were saved, because going out in the first week two years in a row is a bit much. And John didn't end up in the bottom two! Mostly, the bottom two were the ones I'd have picked.

The dance off:

Phil and Flavia: he did smile for a minute at the begining, but then he went completely wrong, so he was back to the slight grimace of concentration. Overall it was about the same as the first time.

Don and Lilia: the section in front of the judges was better, but he completely messed up a section later on... he did smile alot more than Phil and he seemed more relaxed than the first time.

I would have saved Don and Lilia, I think overall. I don't normally agree with Len, but this early on in the competition, I think enjoyment and entertainment are bigger factors than ability, if only because the level of ability is so low. I can't imagine Don and Lilia lasting much longer though.


Next week the girls are doing a foxtrot and a salsa. Week two used to be rumba and quickstep, didn't it? How odd. Oh well prepare for the typical ugly foxtrot dresses. At least they gave us some warning. Plus, we get a whole week of Claudia before then.

Other Saturday Night Viewing

Fellow-Strictly-Watcher, who I may shorten to FSW from now on, claimed to have heard of a show where celebrities have to stand by a swimming pool while a wall comes towards them with a person-shaped cut out in it and they had to make the shape of the person. Had I heard about it? she asked. No, I said. I think you were dreaming.

Half an hour before Strictly started, she called me downstairs. It turned out she wasn't dreaming. It's called Hole in the Wall, and is summarised by the BBC thusly:

Dale Winton hosts a series in which two teams of celebrities, captained by dancing star Anton Du Beke and cricket legend Darren Gough, must try to force themselves through various crazy-shaped holes in giant moving walls.

Clad head-to-toe in tight silver lycra, there's everything to play for, as failure results in a head-first plunge into a swimming pool. The wall shapes get harder and travel faster as the celebrities get wetter.

Yes, it is as insane as it sounds. Insanely brilliant. We could only imagine that someone pitched it as a joke, not expecting it to be made into an actual show.

The shapes seem nearly impossible. The lycra is unflatteringly brilliant. Or brilliantly unflattering. Sometimes they have to work together, which they pretty much always failed at. They had guest "stars," who were a troupe of can-can/burlesque style dancers. The four of them plus Andi Peters had to go through a wall together, the shape of which was cancan dancer, with a leg up. In other words, they had to form a line of cancan dancers. Apparently a line is a difficult concept. They all went in the water.

Anton seems to be continuing his campaign to be on TV everyday, in any capacity. Darren Gough wasn't annoying but I still don't like him.

Next week will apparently have Vanessa Feltz and Vic Reeves. It seems like good pre-Strictly tv, the sort of thing to put on while you get tea ready (or make the phone call to the takeaway), nip to the corner shop for chocolate and/or wine, and speculate on what Tess will be wearing.

Strictly Come Dancing: Week One

How exciting is it to see the dancing back?

The correct answer is very very extremely massively exciting!

Nearly as exciting as seeing Claudia on the TV every single night for the next three months. Oh BBC, you are good to us sometimes. For a quarter of the year at least. Well done.

Moving on though, the Week One's movers, shakers, and other natural disasters...


Tom and Camilla

For the first couple on, they actually did a respectable job - he was smiling, trying to move his hips, trying, and largely successing, at being entertaining. I always think Camilla's choreography is very good; just the right mix of simplicity for her partner and flair for the audience. I hope he stays around for a while, he definately could do well, and Camilla deserves it.

Phil and Flavia

Oh dear. OH DEAR. I'm going to comment in general about costumes later, but I can't really let this one pass without saying something. My fellow strictly-watcher said it looks like she'd been hunting, and strung her catch up on her arm. Except that her catch was something yellow and fluffy. It was a bad choice.

(I know catch mostly relates to fishing, but I can't think what the hunting equivalant might be.)

The dance was okay, Phil was concentrating so very hard and Flavia looked tense... several times I spotted her leading him, him waiting for her to take a step so he knew which way to go. It was all a bit awkward, not very flowing, not much rise and fall.

Don and Lilia

Warning: I don't much like Lilia. This mostly relates to my dislike of Darren real-sportsman-been-on-a-journey-such-a-blokey-bloke Gough, but she does grate on my nerves as well.

He was awful. AWFUL. I don't think Lilia's choreography helped; most of the first part seemed to be counter-rhythm steps, instead of letting him do some basic chachacha before, after or inbetween, which is not the easiest thing to do it you're uncomfortable with the rhythm and timing. The whole section in front of the judges which cringe-worthy and he looked so uncomfortable. Once they moved on it got better, and he did some basic steps quite well. But generally it was all a bit uncomfortable.

Did everyone take a drink at Craig's "natural rhythm" comment? Yes? Good. Movinig on.

Austin and Erin

Warning 2: I love Erin. Love her more than anything. I love that she is strict and harsh and makes them work, I love that she giggles sometimes, I love that she danced with Julian and made him love her. I love her. Except for her hair. I might have to make a post about the travesty of dark-haired older women being told that dying their hair blonde makes them look ten years younger, and not being told that while they might look younger, it also makes them look awful.

Except that's pretty much my entire post.

But the dancing! It was rather lovely. I wonder if they felt sorry for Erin after the past couple of years and gave her someone who might be good, because he is a bit shorter than the partners she normally gets. But it was smooth and flowing, plenty of rise and fall, he looked like he was, for the most part, quite relaxed and enjoying it. Erin always teaches really well (remember Willie Thorn's waltz, Peter Schm...thingy's ballroom and pretty much every dance Julian ever did) and her ballroom is especially good.

And I love her.

Mark and Hayley

A couple of hours after the show, I made a list with some inital reactions to all the dances from memory (rather than using the BBC site to refresh my memory as I am now.) I got to seven couples and then went completely blank. In fact, the only way I remember who I had missed who by remembering that in fact there had been two new female professionals, and that I had missed one. My fellow-strictly-watcher remembered who the celebrity was.

That pretty much sums up my reaction to this dance. I agreed with Craig it was dull. In fact, I realised when it finished that I had spent half the time looking at my chinese food, rather than watching the tv. (The lovely chinese takeaway has started bringing us thick noodles than are slightly chewy instead of the beautiful delicate thin noodles we used to get. It's all very sad.)

Gary and Karen

I love Karen. I love that she is wacky and crazy and uses props and is insane. I love that she gets emotional, that she isn't afraid to say what she thinks about the other dances, without resorting to insulting the people who danced them. I love that she's completely blase about Brendan and his awfulness.

Gary Rhodes, Mr. Perfectionist, should get on well with her. For all her wackiness she works her celebrities hard. So it's quite something for her to say that he's actually holding them back. And the dancing didn't seem to benefit at all. Karen did her usual crazy energetic performance and Gary failed to keep up. He waved his hands madly over her. He looked odd and uncomfortable. All very poor, and definately deserved to be at the bottom of the table. That said, I hope she doesn't go home in the first week again, just because that's a bit sad for Karen. I can't seem them lasting long though.

John and Kristina

I love John Sergent, ever since I saw him HIGNFY/read his biography (I can't remember which came first.) He's adorable and funny and sweet. I have lived in fear for the past month that he was going to be awful and embarrasing and that he would go out first. He's paired with one of the new dancers as well, so he doesn't even have that fanbase to fall back on.

But I needn't have worried. While not the best dance (that belongs to Austin&Erin) it was a wonderful performance. I agree with the judges; quiet, understated and just lovely to watch. The dance itself looked flowing and smooth and all of those things a waltz should be. I really really really hope he gets votes; his mid-table which is pretty dangerous, he deserves to stick around for a bit. I can see his tango being quite good, I think he'd manage a sedate jive... after than it might start to fall apart. But he's lovely.

Ola and Andrew

I'm breaking form and putting Ola's name first. And commenting about her costume, because Oh. My. GOD. It was a catsuit. It was shiny. It has sparkles. It was some sort of animal print, lowcut front and back... the horrors go on. Ola has lovely curves and we couldn't see them at all. More importantly I don't think anyone could see Andrew - which was a good thing because the dance largely involved his standing still and making some poses that best showed off Ola's shiny-sparkily-animalprint-catsuit. Oh dear. I can't really comment much because I have no idea of his dancing skills and can't imagine him doing any other dance.

Costumes

Well, Tess looks ten times better. No belt, no fringe, simple neckline, nice colour. No slit up the leg, so she couldn't lift it for her and Bruce's standard pose, but never mind.

Let's review the rest shall we?

Camilla: weird skirt, weird top, weird bra. And then they put them together, with an odd colour combo. Why a silver bra and gold skirt? Only Wardrobe can answer.

Flavia: Dead fluffy birds. Okay.

Lilia: Orange-yellowy-gold and pink do not go together.

Erin: Looked lovely, thus lending a good arguement for my belief that she brings her own ballroom dresses with her. Sadly, her lovely dark blue dresses aren't going to look nearly as lovely now that her hair is all pale and stuff. (One day I'll get over that. Just not soon.)

Hayley: I had to look to see what she wore. Not overly offensive. Bright green with feathers at bottom? Okay. Whatever.

Karen: Oh, Karen. What was that? Mostly it was the giant silver shoulder... thing that distracted me. It was awful.

Kristina: Aww, and lovely plain white dress. Hurrah!

Ola: I belive I've made my opinion clear here, and I refuse to think about it ever again.

Basically, it seems the price of Tess getting good outfits is that most of the rest of the women are going to suffer. There was nothing stand out amongst the men, that I can recall. No bright pink or sprkily red. Or perhaps I am just immune after all these years? Either that, of the combination of Ola and Flavia made everything else seem fine.

And then...

The Girls

Oh the girls. Firstly: what was that dance? "A chachacha based type dance?" What? I assume this is because, with the extra two weeks, their usual group dances (mambo and swing) are now going to be individual dances, so they had to invent something quick. But it didn't look like a cohesive dance, the costumes were random and din't match, which added to the lack of cohesiveness... basically it didn't look like a group dance. It looked like a school disco.

The dancing was simillarly bad. All the girls looked uncomfortable and nervous, and didn't perform at all. The ones that did smile looked more like they were grimacing. Anton seems to have got an... interesting partner, again: I'm more and more convinced that he can't teach latin to save his life. Basically I have no faith in any them. Only Heather Small seemed to have any ability, and she is paired with a new dancer, so is not allowed to win.

Cherie Lunghi, however, was beautiful. Did I mention I have a bit of a thing for older, dark-haired women? (The only thing better than that is older, dark-haired women in space.) She had weird sleeves though.

Hmm. Next week might be fun.


Who knew I had this much opinion inside me? I haven't even started on the judges and Bruce. I might leave that til after the results show. Because, rest assured, I have opinions there too.

What is this blog about?

TV. TV. Some more TV. Probably some films. Books, occasionally.

I created this initally to blog about Strictly Come Dancing. Occasionally I will have some thoughts about other TV. I am a big sci-fi, and generally am hugely disappointed by current tv. I love Babylon 5, The X-Files, Star Trek of various incarnations, Farscape,

I also have found myself become a bit obsessed with other reality tv, such as Project Runway/Catwalk, Masterchef, Come Dine With Me. Actually, my love of cookery programs goes back a while. I also kept up with the past seasons of the America's So You Think You Can Dance, which I might talk about sometimes.

I love reading but am much less likely to have solid opinions about books.


A bit about me?

I'm gay, so quite a bit of this blog will be about how beautiful women on TV are sometimes. There may also be some enthusing about how Arelene and Erin (and other seeminly random couples) have True-Completely-Made-Up-Gay-Love for each other. Obviously these opinions are my own and bear no reflection of, well, reality, least of all the sexuality/activities of the people involved. It is done with complete affection and a great deal of respect for all involved. (And a fair amount of wishful thinking!) Until TV gets over the insistance of male/female dance couples and lets some male/male and female/female dancing happen, expect it to continue.

I've made it sound like being gay is my defining feature. Which it's not. But it does greatly influence how I view TV.

Other things about me: I have had some ballroom and latin lessons, so I am occasionally able to judge the dancing with authority, especially in the early weeks. This doesn't mean I'm right, merely that I recognised that step, omg! I can totally have an opinion! etc.

I can't think of anything else that mmight be important. Work, family etc won't really be mentioned here. Because it's dull.