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.

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.)