Dancing With the Stars - Season 9 Premiere - part 1

It's BACK! Tonight, the Men will dance!

Corny opening number “The Boys Are Back in Town” the male pro dancers (who will dance with their partners tomorrow night) did a routine. Maks looks great, Jonathan looks adorable as always.

The proper intro/descent from the big staircases took place, all of the couples made their entrance. Just judging how some of them came down the stairs, it’s going to be an interesting season. Chuck Lidell, Tom Delay and Macy Gray are going to be train wrecks. Kathy Ireland looks clunky but pretty.

Tonight the men will dance twice, the first dance with their partner, the second dance as a relay with three other couples. Each will do a ballroom dance and a Latin dance. The relay dance will not be individually scored by each judge, but they will be ranked, with an added score (1st = 10, 2nd = 8, 3rd = 6, 4th = 4); that score will be added to their individual score. Total score for the night is listed next to my critique for the first dance, notes on the second (relay) dance at the end.

Aaron Carter/Karina Smirnoff – Cha-Cha-Cha – Posture isn’t great, kind of wormy movements, footwork is sort of flat. Len sees potential and called him stiff. Bruno sees potential but says too much energy. Carrie Ann said “excellent” but feet were funky. 22/30 + 10 = 32 for the night.

Chuck Lidell/Anna Trebunskaya – Fox Trot – Stiff, probably nerves, but not horrible…oh wait, yeah, he is. When he’s holding her and letting her lead, he’s OK. When they’re apart, it’s messy. Bruno called it rough. Carrie Ann said “not graceful but smooth and charming.” Len said “better than I thought it would be, would like to see him work on grace.” 16/30 + 6 = 22 for the night.

Mark Decascos/Lacey Schwimmer – Cha-Cha-Cha – Of course a Kung Fu theme. Nice hip moves, good arms. Sexy. Maybe a tad stiff. Carrie Ann is concerned about the arms. Len called them out on the Kung Fu and said he doesn’t want to see it in other dances, said feet were “dodgy.” Bruno said timing was off and saw need for improvement in footwork. 21/30 + 8 = 29 for the night.

Ashley Hamilton/Edyta Silwinska – Fox Trot – not very exciting. He’s tall, probably makes him look even more stiff. Len saw correct footwork, but said it was rough. Bruno said lack of showmanship and rough. Carrie Ann said that he failed to “define himself.” 15/30 + 4 = 19 for the night.

Donny Osmond/Kym Johnson – Fox Trot – I’ll start by saying that he doesn’t have a single line in his forehead! Okay, the showman is showing his stuff. This one will be scored high. He’s good. Bruno faulted posture. Carrie Ann agreed. Len called it too theatrical. 20/30 + 10 = 30 for the night.

Louie Vito/Chelsie Hightower – Fox Trot – Okay, he’s a total stoner. He’ll be fun to watch. He’s kind of cute. He looks like a little boy trying to emulate big boy moves. Kind of stiff but not horrible. Oh he just stumbled a bit. Safe and nice. Carrie Ann enjoyed it, critiqued the feet a bit. Len said technique was good and enjoyed it. Bruno said it lacked fluidity, sees potential. 19/30 + 8 = 27 for the night.

Michael Irvin/Anna Demadova – Cha-Cha-Cha – Really trying to work the hips, but he’s not. Wow is he stiff. He doesn’t seem to have much sense of rhythm. Okay, loosening up a bit towards the end. Bleh. Len wasn’t fond of it, said it needed more content. Bruno said it was poor (footwork, timing, content). Carrie Ann agrees with Len, said there was lack of content and blamed the pro. 13/30 + 6 = 19 for the night.

Tom Delay/Cheryl Burke – Cha-Cha-Cha – He nauseates me with his comments as he’s rehearsing. Something about looking like a sissy. Eww..watching him shake his diapered butt is gross. Cheryl choreographed a safe dance for him. He’s got the steps but no flourish. Eww…more butt shaking. Bruno called him crazier than Sarah Palin. Said the dancing wasn’t too bad. Carrie Ann called it surreal and said he has a natural grace. Len said part magic, part tragic. 16/30 + 4 = 20 for the night.

Salsa Relay – Chuck, Ashley, Donny and Louie. - Ashley’s arms are like rubber bands, but his body is stiff. Chuck is a bit intense but better than his ballroom dance. Donny has the moves. Louie came out doing flips and has the body movements. 4th is Ashley, 3rd is Chuck, 2nd is Louie, 1st is Donny. Points added above.

Viennese Waltz Relay – Aaron, Mark, Michael and Tom. - Aaron has very big moves but looks good. Mark is looking very precise and refined. Tom looks like a dirty old crook. Michael looks lost but has a huge smile. 4th is Tom, 3rd is Michael, 2nd is Mark, 1st is Aaron. Points added above.

Dancing With the Stars - Season 9 Starts Monday 9/21!

While this season's episode of DWTS isn't as exciting to me as the previous season (see my seemingly endless posts about Belinda Carlisle's inclusion in season 8, even after she was voted off), I'm still excited that the show is returning for another season with the largest cast ever.

Above is the score sheet that I assembled for work. A handful of coworkers and I make our guesses on who will land where in the elimination process. Since we're often wrong, we allow ourselves to guess again after the half-way point (hence the "Rank 2" box). No wagers are placed, we do this for fun and it makes for some lively discussions at lunch after elimination day.

The way I understand this season's first week, the men will dance first on Monday night, the women will dance on Tuesday night. Both nights will have 2 hour time blocks. Another hour of DWTS will air on Wednesday, unknown to me at this time is whether it will be an elimination show or just a recap.

As I have done in the past, I will recap. You've been warned. :)

Stay tuned...

Mom's Words, Not Mine

Here's another Mom story. This one dates backa few years.

Mom's crafty. Since retirement, she took up knitting, quilting, decoupage and construction. Well, construction is a bit of an exaggeration, but she decided to build a doll house. There was no logical reason for her to build a doll house but she didn't let that stop her. She came home one day with a kit so big, I had to bring it in the house. Then came the tools. A sander, a router, a saw, hammer and screw drivers, and some tools I've never seen.

Even though she had a kit, she still needed more stuff. She quickly became a regular at Home Depot. Every couple of weeks she would go get more stuff.

One Sunday she came home from the Home Depot and was flustered. She loaded her purchases in the car, started it and rolled down the windows. She looked and then slowly began to back out of her parking spot. She stopped suddenly because someone appeared behind the car, almost out of nowhere. She waited until the woman passed, and once she did, she rather crabbily said to my mom "Didn't you see me???" My mom replied "See you? I was aiming for you!" The woman looked horrified. My mom said she then flipped the woman off, hit the gas pedal and drove away.

Yes, that's my mom.

My Dear Friend Steve

It's been a while since I've introduced you to one of my friends. This is Steve, and he's the only friend that I can say that I slept with before we became friends. And I do mean that we slept together.

We met a bunch of years ago, went home together, got naked, rolled around for a while and then passed out. Over the years, we would run into one another, chat and laugh about our non-romp. And then we would laugh some more. The key to our friendship is the fact that we always find something to laugh about.

Steve has a unique living arrangement. His partner lives in Miami, Steve has a good job here in Chicago. He spends 2 weeks out of each month here, then spends 2 weeks in Florida. Whenever he's back in Chicago, we hang out a lot. We've started having Martini Thursday. Sometimes we have Martini Friday and Martini Monday, too. Don't get me wrong, we're not lushes, we're just supporting the local economy.

Today, Steve started a a blog. It's called "Things I Know." I encourage you to have a look, enjoy his humor and wit, and leave a comment every so often. But don't ask him to sleep with you, unless you don't mind snoring. LOL

Just curious...

I came home from work, went into the bathroom, sat down, did my business then when I was finished, the used bathroom tissue was perfectly clean. Is it wrong that such an event made me happy?

I know, I haven't blogged much lately and I come back with this. Maybe I should have waited until I had a better topic to discuss. :)

Mom's words, not mine

There's someone who Tweets "Shit my dad says," and the comments are hilarious. It made me think that my mom says some pretty funny stuff. Her comments are a bit more verbose than Twitter's 140 allowed characters so instead, I'll share her comments with you, here. Keep in mind that mom will be 78 in December. She's able to get around, and she drives. She goes to the grocery store on Saturday mornings, often she comes back with stories.

One Saturday, she arrived home and as she often is, she was perplexed with her shopping experience. Our closest grocery store is Jewel. It's a regional chain, our store is one of their smaller stores. As you can imagine, Saturdays are busy days in the store. Apparently at the point she arrived, so did a van carrying handicapped adults, most of whom were in scooters. The scene, as she described it is as follows:

"I'm just trying to get my shopping done, I wanted to get in, get my groceries and come home. The aisles are small, and I kept running into these people on those damn scooters. I know I'm slow but COME ON, why do they have to be here when the entire neighborhood is shopping? I got to the end of one aisle and there's one of them, he's a big one, and he's slumped over in his scooter. I thought maybe he was dead. I said "excuse me," then said it again but he didn't move. I needed to get past him. The sticker on the back of his scooter read "I MATTER." I finally pushed through with my cart and said "I MATTER TOO, NOW GET OUT OF MY GOD DAMNED WAY!" I was so mad."

I would like to say that I was stunned, but this is typical. I just said "mom, you did NOT say that to him!" She paused and finally said "well, no...BUT I WANTED TO!"

I think she would have, had she waited much longer.

Miss Baltimore Crabs

(article courtesy of TheaterMania.com)

Belinda Carlisle to Star in West End Hairspray

Pop singer Belinda Carlisle will take on the role of Velma Von Tussle in the award-winning West End production of the musical Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre, beginning on October 26.

As of that date, the cast will include Phill Jupitus (Edna), Chloe Hart (Tracy), Sharon D. Clarke (Motormouth Maybelle), Verity Rushworth (Penny), Liam Tamme (Link), Adrian Hansel (Seaweed), Tony Timberlake (Wilbur), Nicola Brazil (Amber), Gavin Alex (Corny), and Raquel Jones (Little Inez).

Based on the hit film by John Waters, Hairspray has music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Whitman, and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. The production is directed by Jack O'Brien.

I really want to go to London now. My luck, I'd get there and she would have an understudy for the day. LOL