Happy New Year!

I didn't post about the final of Strictly. Because, well. Tom? Really? Whatever. The Christmas special was not overly spectacular either. It was lovely to see Alesha and Matthew again and I was very impressed by Jill and Darren.

I suspect next year we'll see a few (or alot) more new professionals as the BBC tries to update the show. Camilla is apparently not coming back anyway, which is a shame. I don't know whether to be excited or worried about next years show. A bit of both I think.


The Christmas telly was all a bit dull and boring. A few highlights: Gavin and Stacy, which my mum loves, and was very funny; the new Jonathan Creek which was very good, though seemed to have alot more actually murder and gore than I every remember. And... that was about it. A really really bad year for Christmas telly overall.


Anyway! It is a new year, and there is new telly to watch. Today I watched the second episode of Demons. I didn't realise it was the second episode until about half way through so I was very confused. Confused and bored. The main characters were incredibly dull, only Simeon and Terry the Driving instructor were watchable. The story was quite good, but it all got a bit confusing and dragged out and then was over with about three strikes of a flaming sword. Which made me wonder why the last guy couldn't manage that. So I probably won't watch that again.

Also: ITV player seems to be an exact copy of the BBC iPlayer. Right down to the logo. How odd.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.)

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.