NextIteration

@gimipizzauoldtroll - one of my daughter's peers, that trained and danced more than any of the girls in her peer cohort at the one highly competitive studio that my daughter was at for some time has sustained many, and alarming injuries that required scary surgeries. She's still dancing and doing very well, was in the Dance Spirit cover finals, won NYCDA National Outstanding Sr, etc, but I still think that she's at risk for getting another injury that will just put a finale to her dance career. I think it has much to do with over-training from the age of about 6. She's very bright so I know that that she will always have a future regardless and we'll always hope the best for her. That's what makes me worry about Maddie and Mac, I hope that whatever home school program they are in, provides academic challenge so that they have an out if they get injured. I know quite a few of the kids that the lass did summer intensives with home schooled so that they had the flexibility required for the prominent ballet school in my area for training, rehearsals and performances. I would have never made that choice personally, academics always came first in our family. Even as a dance major in college, she's also pre-med.

This is absolutely not a hard and fast rule. My daughter danced 20 hours a week pretty much year round with summer intensives from the age of 9 and grew breasts, curved out and got her period when she was 11. She was done growing by the age or 13 at 5"5'. Take a look at Kalani.

@gimipizzauoldtroll thank you for so beautifully articulating what I failed to! That's my problem with it in a nutshell.

I love Joy, so I'm okay with a bit of backsliding. I much prefer Joy over the current iteration of Whoopi, so it's all good. I think things with Sherri and Jenny are probably too raw to see them anytime soon and I sincerely doubt that RO who is supposed to have some sort of pull in the background now would allow Bitsy's return. I think we're okay there, for now.

@shok I understand your concern, I really do, because it's mine as well. But at some point, you have to give credit where it's due, and you also have to be hopeful that a different shade of Republican will once again become prominent. You have to recognize the potential in someone that will probably compromise for the greater good so that our country can once again get back to it's normal slow pace of progression or progressiveness. The Congress is completely deadlocked and not much is happening because of recalcitrant Republicans who were ideology driven which then was exacerbated by the rise of the lunatic fringe in the Tea Party. When Dick Lugar gets primaried, there is a terrible problem. Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch used to find ways to work together and move forward all the time; now? Orrin Hatch sounds every bit as awful as the Tea Party faithful... because he has to in order to stay in office. Refusing to acknowledge that there are two parties, and two ideologies and that our system is built to compromise to move forward accomplishes nothing. Again, see the deadlock in DC which just gets worse and not better as the country becomes more polarized. I know that there has been a lot of right pulling tension that's occurred since the 70s and that it would be great to snap that back, but I am a realist. We have to work with what we have. I've said it so many times, I am a broken record, but Republicans, like Nicolle, Steve Schmidt, Mike Smerconish (Colin Powell) are not the bad guys, that's where we want all Republicans to be. But they are Republicans, so they will support Republican candidates even with their flaws. I personally, am as deeply disappointed in Obama as I was Clinton, and should she be elected eventually trust that I will be with Hillary - but it doesn't matter, we all make the choice of one against another and hope for the best - it's just that some people are Republicans and some people are Democrats. Better that they are the type that can work together and not just stare across the room and accomplish nothing. eta: I've watched Nicolle for years, I have never seen her articulate support of voter suppression nor bans on female reproductive rights. I have seen her spew GOP talking points mindlessly like she has a morning mind meld with the daily Ailes fax, but only as a general cheerleader and not in a destructive way like someone like Bitsy does. I was shocked when I came here after years away from TWOP to see all the hate for her. This in not Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin we are talking about - women who are actually dangerous in their beliefs. It is all a matter of which lens you view things through or what perspective you look at things with. If she were in Congress, I sincerely believe that she wouldn't be like Marsha Blackburn, introducing bans on abortion over 20 weeks for all - it's pretty clear that she isn't that person, for me anyways. I also don't hear her representing herself as a "conservative" (as Fiorina did last night on Maher) ever, which seems to be some new freaking test for all Republicans in order to sit at the table. Finally, what scares me more about her support of McCain is that he's a war monger, but you know what? If we end up voting for Hillary, there is little difference on that particular subject.

52. I think the 24 hour news cycle is probably most of it. But still, disaster porn is distasteful.

Aw that's sweet. Yes, that is sad about Cha Cha. I actually don't have a problem with the preemption, this terror plot in France is a big deal. It's like our 9/11 to them. What's weird is growing up - there was terror all over the western world, hijackings and bombings and such. It actually seems as though we're led to feel like there is so much more terror now, I think it feels that way because there was a good 15-20 years where there really wasn't much terrorism at all except in the places expected like Ireland, Israel and perhaps Spain with the Basques. That's my take on media driven disaster porn these days anyways.

Can we just have Morning Ayman and call it a day? I love this guy. And he stood Joe down yesterday, calmly and intelligently. I agree EmeraldGirl, breaking news is the only thing that Mika really excels at.

I watched the WWHL with my uber lefty feminist, all women's college attending daughter who is home on break. She, loved her and became mildly obsessed about her asking all kinds of questions about her googling all the way. She didn't know her Palin story but quickly found all kinds of her quotes, Game Change stuff and looked at her wiki and was immediately impressed with her education pedigree. Laughs, she even tweeted about her. I found that reaffirming about my opinion of Nicolle, like I hadn't fallen into a rabbit hole since I actually enjoy her. The lass also thoroughly enjoyed The View yesterday and remarked what a "breath of fresh air" it was from all former co-host configurations of mostly stupid silly women. She's 20 so she was mostly talking about Sherri, Jenny and Bitsy. The lass also remarked about how incredibly quick, smart and perfect Nicolle's answer was about comparisons to Bitsy. We had a fun couple hours dissecting The View, mom and kid time watching the two shows.

That's the heart of the matter for me, that video wasn't about dancing at all, and there wasn't much in it. So why use Maddie? Except for the fact that Sia has chosen her as her stand in - and in this situation, it's inappropriate, for me anyways.

I love Laverne and she could become a semi-permanent host for me. I'll head off to the corner now. I cannot stand Kirstie Alley, not even for a heartbeat. Scientologists are to be scorned in my world.

I agree Cosmo, I can only fault her top. I know there is a lot hate for Nicolle, but I like her. She's smart, she's cute and she's moderate. Broken record time, but she's the type of Republican that I hope brings the unreasonable back from the brink.

Here's the thing. Sure Maddie is a decent dancer, but there are so many girls her age that are just as good or far better dancers than she is. The only reason she's being propelled into "stardom" is this show. Abby and Melissa have been successful in that way. Outside of ballet, there aren't a lot of opportunities to become a headlining dancer in any way - but there are avenues to commercial success, which is why Abby is so obsessed with LA. The thing is, she's not making sure these girls get hip hop and jazz-funk training and that's what drives a lot of the commercial LA dance scene. Not sappy assed lyricals.

Twilight Zone is right! This show puts the sprinkles on top of the fact that reality tv is not real. Biggest ongoing disappointment is Holly. For me? She's the worst hypocrite of them all and on some level she has to know better; it's pretty clear that most of these women never needed the money from this show with the exception of Abby herself. At least we've always known that Melissa and Jill are straight up fame whores. Holly mystifies me, from her performance in this episode to her acceptance of Abby's use of Nia in "ethnic" solos. She makes it very hard to believe that she has a PhD in education or cares much about the well being of children in general. Kalani sure filled out in the last year! I don't understand her participation either except for her mother's fame whoring. She's a talented and established dancer for her age in the dance world, but she was probably my favorite participant in AUC from both seasons so I'm always happy to see her dance.

I don't see anything perverted in it at all - just disturbing. I don't have a problem with the costuming either. Diane Mars - that's the thing, a lot of Sia's videos are depressing, sad, or thought provoking. All that said, unlike Chandelier this time I really feel like it's inappropriate because of Maddie's age. eta: holy wow, that video went from 500k last night when I looked to 3.5m this morning. Sia made a statement about the triggering effects of the video. Maddie will join Sia on Saturday Night Live this week as well.

bah ha ha 8 o'clock est hour "Let's get you up to date" on the Paris situation, as they repeat the 6 o'clock hour. That's just messed up - they can't sit their asses down for an extra hour this morning?

@pookymama but then she wouldn't be on national TV! Winning Outstanding Dancer @ NYCDA has far more value in my opinion, but what do I know?

I'm not sure what I think about it. Clearly it's a struggle of some sort. And it's representing a dysfunctional adult/child relationship. I don't think I'd have ever let my 12 yr old do something like that back in the day. I'm torn.

I was surprised that they didn't mention Paris as well, but maybe they were just trying to keep it light - there was no further information at that point in time. The presumption is that the terrorists were Al Qaeda or ISIL related, happy that the suspects have now been identified, there will be more information tomorrow. I was surprised that Rosie was that descriptive about Stephen Collins, but it seems it was just as I assumed ... it made her so upset she had to leave the set and eventually RosieP probably did go check on her. The show wasn't as good as the previous two, but still, an improvement over most Whoopi moderated episodes. Cognitive dissonance, I think learning to recognize it in yourself and thinking through issues where this occurs for you - and learning acceptance of it, is very freeing, it releases a lot of internal tension. You have to have an open mind though.

Bite it Bitsy is spiteful. and I think it's perfect. Elisabeth Hasselbeck refused to acknowledge what Rosie was saying in 2007 and then smirked her way on for years before she landed on Fox and Friends. Rosie never called American Troops terrorists, she merely asked the people tto put themselves in the shoes of the Iraqis and ask that they try to understand what their feelings might have been about us, you know, Shock and Awing their secular country. Bitsy? Was incapable of looking at things from more that one point of view, and that is what drove Ro nuts and skyrocketed Bitsy to her eventual seat at FuxSnooze.

Aw, thank you so very much @imgagain. It has to do with a few similar life experiences and being exactly one week younger than she is, battling weight issues, PTSD from childhood abuse, and lots of other stuff.. But she, more than any other public person, seems to have risen so far above so much of the same garbage that I experienced and soared. That makes me so happy. :) She provides motivation.

Can you help me understand why you think they are just pandering? I'd love Cho as a rotating co-host, she was so sweet, and so informative and essentially wonderful yesterday - but I'm not sure a full table of comediennes fits the shows *vision*.

Rosie's Tribute to the the year gone and the new year coming. :) I feel so much affinity with this woman and what she values, I want her somewhere in the public, she makes me feel taller. Bless you Rosie! ♥

I suspected as much even though I don't keep attuned to Ro's blog as much as I should. Cutie Patootie!

I thought that Rosie looked spanked into a very flattering dress for her coloration. I was happy to see the black tights and shoes to extend her line and the ruching was very flattering for her. I will never understand the no stockings thing, even in the dead of winter - it goes along with the sleeveless dresses (a la Fox News Bimbos generally and Kathy Griffin :P and Mika on Morning Joe) when did it become so fashionable to dress in clothing that obviously does not suit the season? The temps are below zero in much of the nation and it just strikes me as silly. She looked awesome, and for her to go out there in a dress like that for Maggie? Was a wonderful tribute, imho. She looked great, and I thought her fake modeling was hilarious. A dress two sizes larger would have hung on her and looked ridiculous, the style of the dress was to hug everything closely.