Flick

Ah, yes... The infamous "Country/Folk" OD. That theme was a trainwreck and there were some things put together that ranged from just not very good to being in very poor taste. What saved this from being the latter was that D/W dedicated themselves to learning about the culture and bringing in a Bollywood specialist to make sure they were doing it right. Unlike say the Australian Aboriginal inspired dance.

I'd tune in for the absolute drama and chaos that Manny Ramirez would bring. I have a serious love/hate relationship with the guy but I'd watch just to see if he takes off to pee in the middle of a dance.

From the paparazzi photos I've seen, she does. Which makes sense because they're her feet. Also, prosthetics aren't cheap.

Many of them literally refer to Sharna as "Our Lord and Savior Sharna" because she's gushed about Meryl and Charlie's partnership from day one, so she's probably okay. And yeah, she knows about that. Someone tweeted her a bunch of screenshots from tumblr the other day. Coincidentally it was the same day someone sent Mama White a bunch of Merlie/Marlie shipper vids. I think it was also the three month anniversary of their OGM, too.

US Weekly actually tweeted a few things that made it seem like it was a lot longer than what was aired. It was a modified version of Scheherazade with some of their Samson and Delilah lifts in it, so it's not like something all together foreign to her.

I think she absolutely does. It's a slightly different animal on ice because they do have to go even more exaggerated and hit then reset, but she absolutely does. I see people say this a lot and every time I think of Notre Dame de Paris from 2013 Worlds and just don't get it. The emoting she does on the show is completely different than anything she and Charlie would ever do on ice, but that's because it doesn't fit their style and because V/M has a corner on the romantic angst market.

And it sums up how I feel about Derek and thus about Amy. It's a statement that can easily be applied to whichever couple chaps your ass.

Then perhaps explode isn't the right word, but I'd like them to win for the sole purpose of the number of broken records on the topic. If I found Derek even remotely likable then I'd have the same feeling about Amy winning but I don't so I won't. And there's been quite a bit of bitching and moaning about Maks and Meryl, even here, so yeah, I'd say there'll be some reactions.

I loved Maks and Meryl's freestyle, but please tell me I wasn't the only one waiting for Jeremy Abbott to run out in the middle of it. That basically sums up all my thoughts from last night because at this point I'm pulling for a Maks and Meryl win more to watch people explode when it happens than because I actually want them to win. Though I do actually want them to win.

I've been involved in fandoms for long enough to tell you that just because you assume something is coming from somewhere doesn't mean it is. I've seen nastiness towards Amy coming from the fans of just about every couple that's been on the show and I've seen the same sort of thing towards Meryl from fans of just about everyone including Charlie. If you were actually giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, you wouldn't have tried to assign blame to any particular fandom and instead regarded them as an individual asshole which is what they are regardless of who they support.

There's definitely been a personal backlash in relation to Amy. I haven't loved her dances and I haven't warmed to her as a person, but I'm content to say that or she's been lackluster for me and leave it at that. But even here there's been comments about Amy as a person or her time on a show that have crossed a line. Just last week people referred to her disability as her "issues" in quotations as if being a double amputee was something she was exaggerating. On the People article about Mark's injury there were several comments calling her something along the lines of a no legged freak. Yes, in the corner of the Internet I tend to stay in most people's frustrations have been directed at her performances, but even there it hasn't been completely free of comments that at best are in questionable taste but more appropriately would be classified as cruel.

I think where Henry has been around through the process it might be easier to sub him in than someone who has presumably never met Candace. I also recall that the troupe/eliminated pros typically learn the choreography in case this situation comes up. I'm not sure if they've still been doing that but it seems logical. There was someone on another forum remarking that the troupe is officially useless based on the wording of the article stating another pro was rehearsing, but I believe that they likely refer to both the troupe and the teaching pros as pros because... Well, because they're pros regardless.

As much as I loved the pieces in The Wire, I think the one from Bustle was my favorite.

That's a pity. And I can't find a way to express that without sounding sarcastic but I'm sincere about that. I initially liked Mark, went through a long stage of being annoyed by him, and have come to enjoy him again this season because he's been really great with Candace. It's a potentially serious injury and I'd think that even if he did manage to perform, that lift would probably be a no go. Regardless of whether Candace is slated to be eliminated or not, I think I'd prefer to see someone step in for him. There are of course a number of pros who could step in physically, though I wonder how many of them would be able to provide the emotional support for Candace. It's one thing to develop that relationship over the course of the season, but to get tossed into that situation at the last minute when Candace is guaranteed to already be a wreck is going to take a pretty even keeled person. For instance, someone of Maks' temperament (much as I enjoy him) wouldn't be an advisable choice. I'm not suggesting he'd be an option, I know he's not, I'm just saying that as far as personalities go someone like him probably wouldn't be the best choice. Maybe someone like Henry? He struck me as very patient, very kind, and very present in what we saw of him and Diana.

Representation matters. It matters a lot. I guess my issue is that I feel like there's been a singular focus and that people deserve to be represented complexly because they are complex. For me, it's like in the drive for representation, focus was lost on the fact that Amy is more than simply her prosthetics. I'm not blaming Amy for the way the show has portrayed her because there's absolutely no way for her to avoid that edit, she can't just say she won't talk about her disability like Meryl does because no matter what she does it's right there in front of everyone. And I'm not comparing their disabilities in the slightest because as someone with similar depth perception issues and no night vision I know that that really doesn't compare to Amy's situation, so it's not about that. But because of the way the show has focused on that at nearly every opportunity, I've had very little reason or opportunity to connect with Amy. Aside from the moment I mentioned before, my reaction to Amy has basically been awe and respect but I've never wanted to root for her as a person. I haven't really wanted to root against her until last week and that's more in response to being 200% done with the OTT reactions and praise that Derek gets than anything Amy herself has done. There just generally hasn't seemed to be a spark there of any sort and whether it's due to compartmentalization or edits or if she just isn't an exuberant person, it doesn't really matter to me because what I know is that I'm not connecting and I don't really care why. On this show I need either a personality I can root for or the ability to suck me into a performance and Amy simply leaves me cold.