WelcomeStranger
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Posts posted by WelcomeStranger
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On 1/12/2018 at 0:55 PM, MorganSte said:
I am loving this show. The whole photo shoot fantasy was like something I saw on MTV when we all wanted our MTV.
80s videos had the most bad-ass fantasy sequences.
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Totally, Carter's transition was too quick. The show could have given that plotline a more gradual arc. Carter became so HAUNTED, so fast, it brought a really dark aura to an otherwise lightweight comedy. And suddenly by Season 1, Episode 4, he's got a perfectly comfortable, goofy grin like everyone else.
Also, can two puffs on a vape pen really be that psychedelic? I guess if you're hallucinating half the time anyway, it doesn't take much to push you over the edge.
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So what does it say about me when I hadn't been on Netflix for months, then I suddenly log on and binge-watch 13 episodes of this in 24 hours? This show is silly. It's corny. It's adorable. The animation setpieces are little bits of genius. My special favorite was the Tuvan throat-singing one that marked Carter's first high.
I, too have a hard time working up a crap to give about Travis and What-Not Girl. But everyone else is great in their own way, even Dank & Dabby. Even Tai Kwon Douglas.
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On 9/1/2017 at 4:25 PM, luvthepros said:
[Lex] blew me away. Then.....jump to the end at 14:17. Lex flies on that stage and does BBoy moves then throws in a bit of ballet. Just WOW! This guy is an awesome dancer!!!
That was killer. I know this sounds cheesy and I've probably simply bought into Nigel's relentless self-hype for the past 10 years--but I'm still convinced that "tenth dimension" proficient fusion dancers like Lex would not have existed without the advent and influence of SYTYCD.
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On 6/18/2016 at 8:31 PM, Mya Stone said:
I just...that last look, the smile, the chuckle. Way to tear my heart out and stomp on it, show. I understand that's how they want us to remember Poussey, but I'll be damned if I'm not in tears just thinking about it.
We can assume that Poussey's last night before her arrest was also the most magical night of her life. The funky avant garde club the drag queen hookers took her to, then the "Improv Everywhere" dudes dressed like monks on sparkly bicycles tooling her away. She didn't stop smiling the whole time, surely marveling at how the world is full of magical, quirky surprises.
And then at the end, Poussey didn't just smile, she turned straight to the camera and busted that Fourth Wall to bits. I guess only a dead character can get away with that: grinning right at us the audience as if to say, "What a long, strange trip it's been. Thanks for joining me on this ride."
Sweet.
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On 6/21/2016 at 0:29 AM, MaryTylerMoore said:
When Tamir Rice was shot by the police officer in Cleveland the cops never administered CPR and let him lay there and bleed to death. When the cop shot Ramarly Graham in the stairwell he called his union rep instead of an ambulance. I was surprised to see people here complain about CPR not being administered after the events we've seen in real life.
I saw these echoes, too, and have no doubt it was intentional on the part of the show. When Poussey was on the ground with the life being crushed out of her, I saw her desperately mouth, "Help me..." It brought to mind the incident with Eric Garner, the 40-something man who found himself forced to the ground by police after breaking up a fight. His last words caught on camera were "I can't breathe." He later died in custody.
Taystee's reaction was dramatic and heart-rending, but the scene that really tore me up was later,
Spoilerwhen Norma was holding a disconsolate Brooke Soso like a child, singing to comfort her in Norma's rarely heard clarion voice.
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Speaking of Broadway, does anyone know if any former contestants were in the corps of tonight's live production of "Grease"? I thought I recognized a face or two, but picking individual dancers out of a crowd has never been a talent of mine. Since this was a Fox production, I'd be surprised if there weren't any SYTYCD alums.
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Part of what was pushing me away from the show was that the contestants were making me feel old (I'm 35), so maybe just calling them kids instead of pretending they're adults would eliminate that.
Oh, you are a young sprite still! This show STARTED (Season 1) when I was 35. That didn't stop SYTYCD from being a thing of magic and joy for me to watch--perhaps because I went into it having already accepted that youth wasn't forever, which freed me up to just enjoy all the talented contestants year after year, without letting my own thoughts of "being so old" intrude.
My only concern with letting in younger kids is a serious loss of some of that professional maturity we get with dancers in their 20s. What age range do the Powers That Be consider "junior"? Casual TV audiences might be amazed by a parade of 12-year-olds throwing spectacular turns and tricks, but dance fans will miss the nuance and finish of the older dancers. I for one always kind of thought that even 18 was a little young, especially for the guys.
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Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry merry king of the bush is he
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh kookaburra
Gay your life will be.
When I was a camp counselor, the little kids would sing this as a round. I think "jungle" was substituted for "bush" to make it more understandable to American ears, but other than that, all the 5-year-olds knew it was about a laughing bird. :)
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Kelly's lawsuit against Abby has been settled.
From the article:
"Apparently Kelly agreed to drop her lawsuits and claims in return for the show repairing floors in her family home that had been damaged during the filming. The cost of those repairs is said to be about $17,500.
In return for the floor repairs and dropping the suits, Dance Moms gets to continue to use the family’s images in reruns of the show. In addition, Kelly and Abby have to publicly play relatively nice with one another, a task that will surely be a challenge for both sides."
Well her child is scarred for life, but at least her hardwood doesn't have to be. Haaahaha.
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Another term for the hamburger hands that I'm now remembering was Brian Friedman's criticism during S1 of SYTYCD of the contestant Melissa, he called her Lindsay Lobster Claws, after she fixed her hands and did a beautiful Waltz? I think? He called her Betty Ballroom.
It was a quickstep, believe it or not, with Artem!
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I had to stop this episode after the first scene because I was laughing so hard at O'Neill's red velvet rant. FINALLY, someone expresses how I've felt all along! And also, O'Neill and Bell are my favorite couple on this show.
I know, right? I've been calling bullshit on red velvet for years. But the part where O'Neill proclaims that cream cheese icing should stay on carrot cake as God intended...that sealed the hilarity for me. I had to replay that scene like 3 times.
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Car crash girl was better than Mary Kate so Nigel wanting to pass on her came across as clearly superficial. I did keep wondering if she had a leg length discrepancy while I watched her, though.
"Car crash girl." Hahahaha...
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I fear that same thing on the street side too. The cool thing about Cyrus, Fikshun and Blueprint is that they generally inhabited a space no other dancer did in the top 20 of their respective seasons.
But this season if we end up w/ roughly 5-6 predominantly popper animators, plus one or two krump animators....that only leaves room for one true breaker and one waacker (like Jessica from tonight's auditions) and maybe a street salsa dancer tbd later....the monotony of styles could really be a problem...
Yeah, all those guys that dislocate their shoulders and bend their skinny arms around behind them like a pretzel are interchangeable to me. It's the counterpart to the flail-forward and hair-flip on the girls' jazz/contemporary side. Strong ballet or contemporary male dancer will always win my heart, but this season I'm calling it now: it's going to be YaYa's season to lose.
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Her "Let's Move" campaign. All-Stars Travis, TWitch, Robert, Kathryn, Jasmine, Marco, etc. were invited to dance on the White House Lawn for this past Easter Egg Roll. But frankly she should have gotten involved with SYTYCD years ago. Prez. Obama himself said Michele and the girls were fans as early as 2009. Her involvement now feels like too little too late, like an afterthought.
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Haven't seen this posted yet, but I found a little 30-second video snippet that's a montage of Season 12 auditions. I'm missing spoilers though. Usually by now we know pretty much who made it through Vegas (or wherever) Week.
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In Defense of Cathy a lot of studios bring in choreographers to choreograph. And I think there's enough crazy stage parents who would love to have the exposure. Even if it means being on Cathy team
Yeah, but not such a lot of other studios bring in choreographers and dancers to pose as students. I wonder if Candy Apples even has any real students left, or did they all escape in humiliation.
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Not sure why the show felt an exit storyline was needed for Lucas. He could have just stopped showing up with barely a mention, like Zach. But wow, Lucas sure did let it out how he felt about the show. Glad though that he refused his mother's request to tell Cathy off in person. I suspect his rebellious teen years aren't going be too pleasant for mom -- can't say I feel bad for her at all.
I just assumed Lucas's mom being all nicey-nicey to the ALDC was a producer set-up to bring Lucas over to Abby. But someone more in the dance world loop would know better if Lucas has suddenly started showing up w/ the ALDC at subsequent competitions.
Many thanks to tessa for posting the "real version" of Dancing in the Rain. Those costumes are SO much more simple and appropriate to the mood of the dance. It was refreshing to see Abby Lee dancers not wearing some fancy, sparkly, distracting piece on their heads.
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Could someone do the math on what percentage of Abby's dances begin and/or end on the floor? I'm too busy.
Seriously. Do. Something. Different.
Yes. In that mermaid position, with one arm swept oh-so-lightly across the chest. Pleasant the first 2984759 times--not so much after that.
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Gorgeous performance.
I wonder if it's the same choreographer?
Thank you, NextIteration, for finding Franchesca Bass online. Far fewer of the SYTYCD S11 audtions lasted very long on YouTube this year, compared to other seasons.. I felt like the SNL choreography conveyed a different struggle than the cage match video did--beyond the whole weirdness of a well-known adult male actor vs. a child. On SNL the dance didn't feel as animalistic or otherworldly, or something. Not to say I didn't like it.
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Oh, no no.
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To me the flesh-colored leotards in both Sia videos make her look a little like a doll, or an alien, or an embryo or something else abstract, and I can see why it was chosen, if the intent was to have Maddie be kind of abstract, avatar-like stand-in for Sia's childhood (or something).
I'm attempting to use the spoiler tag just in case there are West Coasters who haven't seen SNL yet.....
BBDi you may be dead on about what Sia is going for, based on the choice of the dancer who partnered Maddie on the SNL stage tonight. I'm 99% certain the adult was the girl who auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance this past season--the one who was born with the alopecia areata who had lovely technique and whom Nigel said moved like an alien. What a sad spoiler this is, since I cannot find that dancer's audition online and hence can't even remember her name!
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No doubt it isn't true for everyone. Both Maddie and Mackenzie are naturally small late bloomers. Kalani's maturation happened quite fast, in between her last appearance on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition and her first appearance on Dance Moms (a few months later?).
I don't know how many hours a week Kalani puts in at her real studio, but we've all heard the rumors of Maddie dancing 7 or 8 hours a day--basically the schedule of an elite-level gymnast. I highly doubt that much training in any physical activity does a growing body any good.
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Chloe hasn't been my favorite dancer on Dance Moms for a few seasons, because her dancing had become labored and she looked so unhappy. It was clear her passion was gone and she wasn't putting in the work anymore. Not that I blamed her, but ugh--it didn't make for very good TV.
But here Chloe is back, launching this YouTube "project." What's best is that it actually centers on DANCE, not auto-tuned singing or other such ephemeral pop silliness. Her dancing looks light and free--and refreshing after years of Abby's (and Gianna's) tiresome formulaic choreography. Yay for her! :o)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ONEVfRzB9U&feature=youtu.be&a=&app=desktop
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The Guest Book - General Discussion
in The Guest Book
· Edited by WelcomeStranger
A little more detail added
I find this to be such a clever show!
Nearly all the episodes are charming, but my favorite two this season were:
1) The one wherein the little boy left to fend for himself wanders outside during Beacheroo fest and gets a whole new perspective on his young life, and...
2) The one with the MDMA party when the guest's grandfather, with his slow sepia-toned memories of America, shows up unannounced and decides to stay for the party even though his grandson admitted it was going to be a drug party. The grandfather reveals that he's lonely and dying, and "I'd like to try some of those drugs." I was afraid it was going to end badly with the old man having a heart attack or stroke while on ecstasy, but instead he just sat there and quietly stated: "So, this is the euphoria I've heard about. Yeah. I like this euphoria."
I have virtually no interest in the drama of the locals in either season, except for the two bros in the VW bus and their sweet buddy comedy. :)