Unfinished Dad

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 6

Dear Joe-

Thanks for waiting til morning to send your thoughts, fortunately I watched both episodes last night. I was so excited that we got to see all those routines from last season again, but was it just me or were they not quite as amazing the second time around? Don't get me wrong they were still great, but I guess when they aren't in competition it's hard to be as wowed (is that a word?) by them. 

I can't believe Evan is in the finale!! Ade deserved the spot so much more, but you're right the show kind of screwed him over by not highlighting him early on. He was definitely a more adaptable dancer than Evan and was way more impressive to watch as the season went on, but I guess that's how the show works. I guess we'll just have to see what the finale dances look like. I hope they can do something amazing enough with the girls to overshadow Evan's lame-ness a little bit.

You're right about the dances not being all that great this week. I really liked Brandon and Kayla's contemporary and Ade and Jeanine's moving out hip-hop routine was pretty cool too. Do you think they keep saying that this is the best top 20 they ever had to keep us from thinking that this season really hasn't been as exciting as past seasons?

Anyway, to answer your questions. No I don't think Will had those tattoos last year and I don't think Chelsea got fat I think we're just used to looking at Kayla's near-anorexic body that we forget what normal sized people look like. Plus I think she got a new haircut that made her face look a little chubby.

Ok that's it for now. Talk to you later and don't worry I'll actually be watching the live versions of next week's shows!

Emily

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 6

Dear Emily,

The rumor here at Unfinished Dad is that you have a life outside of SYTYCD watching.  I was both happy and sad that you were not able to see this week's episodes live.  And in your honor I chose not to email you until this morning, allowing you the chance to catch up.  If you haven't seen the results show yet (you missed Kaytee, Twitch, Will, Joshua, Jessica, Chelsea and Mark by the way) stop reading now, get our your remote, and rock that DVR!

There is only one place to start this week.  Evan, a dancer that I picked out of the masses last season, is just not holding up his end anymore.  He is not bad per se, but he certainly is not Brandon or Ade.  He needed to go home this week so that we could have a powerful male half of the finale.  Now we know for sure there will be no over the top guy on guy routine next week, a la Twitch and Joshua.

As for Melissa, well, she just didn't have the personality of a Jeanine or the (cringe) lines of Kayla.  Plus, she was dealt Evan as a partner, blahfest.  I think one of my co-watchers summed her up pretty well last night when she said, "That girl is too old to be a 'naughty ballerina.'"

Oh, I started this as if Evan and Melissa went home and not Ade and Melissa.  Poor Ade.  He was a great dancer who got a late start in the image game.  Brandon and Evan were household names way before the top 20 were even picked.  Weak job by the judges/producers and yet another example of their biased and seemingly unscrupulous ways.  So Ade went home because nobody said he was "annoying as shit" and because he didn't bring a brother along to get cut just before the top 20.

Was there a dance Wednesday night that we have to talk about?  Not really, all the non-Evan pieces were strong and Brandon and Kayla's contemporary piece was the best, but overall it was kind of blah.  Sonya's group dances were the standout and I think the judges knew it.

The best part of the week was seeing season four's best dancers (minus Courtney Galliano) come back for a few dances last night.  Especially Kaytee and Twitch's door routine—that kiss still shocks me, it was Kaytee's coming out moment.  I have a couple of quick ones for you.  Did Will have those Tattoos last year?  Did Chelsea get fat?

Okay, good place to stop,

Joe

Living With Pearl Jam, Louie's Take

Jopie Joe,

Family, friends, and loved ones are critical to our souls, but extraneous outlets in the forms of hobbies, whether sports, outdoor activities, books, whatever, are critical to one's happiness.  Find something you love and pour your heart into it, it's a simple as that.

Pearl Jam has been one of our outlets to happiness for almost 20 years now, and I can distinctly remember old conversations between us wondering how long the band would be great, and even after their second album Vs, wondering if they would be eventual members of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, which at the time, seemed more important than it ended up in actuality.

We'll indeed get to why we love their music, and debate the merits of one album vs another, but I am not sure I could put into words how much the band, as strange as it sounds, means to me.  They've accomplished what few bands have ever done - connected to their fan base in a way that makes us feel we know them personally.  Amazing when you think about it.

When I put my mind to the "why question", it wanders off into tangents - and maybe it's best to just put it down and hope for the best.

My memory is shot, and not shot in a way that most people in their 30's undoubtedly deal with.  I have such little recollection of my younger days it is frankly worrisome at times.  Things that I historically thought were the most important in my life, take High School Tennis as an example, are completely evacuated from my memory banks.  I have literally spent hours trying to recall matches I took part in and the only one I can honestly remember is a loss to Sussex Vo-Tech that shook our beloved  Coach Gersie to the core of his foundation.  My doubles partner, not you at the time, was even accused of cheating once, but I have no details to share - it's gone.

Similarly, my life has gone through changes with my infatuation with professional sports.  I used to have room for baseball, the NBA, NFL, heck even some Hockey.  I planned my weeks around Charles Barkley on TNT and NFL primetime.  Now add Tennis, the Olympics, colleges sports and more and you can see how I fit the mold of the stereotypical sports lover.

Years later, only baseball has stuck, and likely because I am obsessed with it (I have access databases, 100's of self written articles, 6 fantasy teams, one simulation league, etc).  But for how long?  I am deeply saddened that as I grow older I literally feel a time, far off in the future but steadily growing closer each day, where baseball will take a final back seat.

Make no mistake, this progression is routine for many, especially those with families.  For me though, it illustrates why Pearl Jam is special.  Despite the dozens of major changes in my life, despite the sad times and the good, Pearl Jam is a constant, always matching my mood when I need them, and always providing a bridge between the ever changing lives of brothers.

Enough of the sap talk and lack of brevity, next time, I promise to keep to your purpose!.

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 8

My friend Joe,

Amazingly, in your long winded dissection of last night’s show, you only posed three substantive questions.  So this should be a short post.  You first asked me if I thought that Randi and Kupono were really that bad.  Um, yes.  Randi was hopeless for a good portion of her time on the show.  One of the judges nailed it early on when he said that she looked “heavy.”  While in the real world she must look great, in the SYTCYD world she looked mushy and hard to lift.  What was that line from Bring It On when one of the girls asked about the point of going on a diet?  “Because! In cheerleading we throw people into the air. And fat people don't go as high.”  As for Kupono, he was great at adopting the character he was given, but his dancing was a bit sad.  He was just a poor man’s Mark from season 4.

Okay, I really loved the Zombie routine.  It was one of my all time favorites, from the costumes, to the music, to the characters.  Best of all were the little nuances thrown in, like Kayla smearing the black makeup and Jason’s funny little dance over her dead body.  Shane was a little light on the hip hop, but he perfected the “Thriller” feel of it.  And Jason just nailed the character.  His facial expressions were priceless.  Also they get bonus points for selling the neck lift at the end.  I know her weight was supported on his elbows, but that was cool.

So was it Robsonesque?  I say yes.  Wade has some more original moves overall, but the key point is that you talk about the routine the next day and say, “Wow, that was cool.”  For the most part I don’t remember individual steps, but I can’t get some of Jason’s out of my head.  The other way to make something Robsonesque is with great costuming, and the production crew did this one perfectly.  I’d love to know who had the idea for Kayla to spread her makeup.  I doubt it was Shane.  While we are on the subject of great individual moves, would you have had the guts to try and throw yourself off the stage like Melissa and trust that Ade would catch you?  That was crazy.

That makes for a good segue Joe.  Melissa and Ade’s contemporary piece by Tyce was almost as good as Kayla and Jason’s big number.  They were beautiful together.  Your question though, was whether or not I thought it would be as powerful without the background first.  On one hand I say no.  I may have appreciated the routine as a whole, but without knowing that she was dying, I don’t think I would have been as emotional as I was.  I was no Mia, but seeing Melissa’s tears and her faux bald head was a pretty powerful thing.  Now on the other hand, maybe it was just the dancing that moved everyone.  Do you remember Mia’s dead father routine by Neil and Lacey.  That was the worst piece of crap they ever sold us, and we knew beforehand that it was about her recently deceased father.  I guess you have to figure out how much of a cynic you are and then decide this one.

Okay buddy, that’s enough for one episode.  I’ll talk to you after the results tonight.

Joe

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 8

Dearest Em,

We are woefully late with this post.  I don't think that you will have time to respond until after tonight's superfantastic 100th episode.  Therefore, I will pose some questions to the void, then reach up and grab them and answer them myself.  We spoke briefly about the show this morning and you sounded waist deep in your swim lesson empire.  Consequently, you sounded tired and disappointed with last night's show.

I think you have to look at the night as if it were two different episodes.  The first four dances were all pretty basic and the last four were all good to great.  I think the producers got it right to back-load the show like that.  Incidentally, you know if you are the couple slated to go last (Kayla and Jason) you are in great shape.  The producers also must have spoke to Ellen about her stale jokes and overall monotony, because the second hour found her more subdued and the show moved all the more quickly for it.

Let's talk couples, yes?  The final eight somehow seems much more talented than the final ten.  Were Randi and Kupono that bad?  You don't get the sense anymore that a couple won't be able to handle a dance, whereas before this episode there was always something cringe worthy, i.e., Randi's Paso Doble.

The strongest couple of the night was Kayla and Jason.  They were poised in their waltz and killed it in their Shane Sparks zombie routine.  Kayla really needed last night, as she peaked too early this year, and Jason kind of surprised me by keeping up with her.  Did you love the zombie routine?  Was it Robsonesque for you?

My number two couple is Melissa and Ade by a nose—and the strength of their Tyce breast cancer number—just beating out Brandon and Jeanine.  Melissa and Ade really benefited from their previous pairing and while I didn't love their cha cha, their contemporary piece blew the place apart.  Did you see how many people were crying?  I was wondering though, do you think this routine would have been that emotional if you didn't know it was about breast cancer?  Unfortunately, while this was one of the highlights of the night it was also a low light, in that we had to watch Mia attempt to cry for five minutes while the other judges spoke.  By the time they got to her she was so over it I saw a production assistant sitting under the desk with a big juicy onion to keep up the waterworks.  She is vomitous.

That makes Brandon and Jeanine number three.  Their waltz was okay and their pop-jazz was great individually.  My problem with the latter was that they only touched each other once or twice throughout the whole routine.  It was like watching two solos.  I wonder if their was some deeper meaning to this that I didn't get.  The bottom line though, is that Brandon is the best male dancer on the show.  And somehow the Phillip-less Jeanine is a bit of a powerhouse.  It wouldn't surprise me in the least if she won the whole damn thing.

So our worst couple of the night is therefore Evan and Jeanette.  Ah, Evan, you Gene Kelly-like old timey dancer you.  You are the last person in the competition who is in over their head.  Emily, Evan's biggest problem is that he doesn't do the whole Kupono-I'm-crying-because-I'm-an-addiction-thing.  If Evan would just let go and not be embarrassed to sell it, he would be fine.  Let's face it, this is about our "favorite" dancer, not the "best" dancer.  The judges care more about your presentation than your skills.  I mean, Phillip was truly the worst contestant to go far that we have ever seen and he didn't care.  If Evan survives, and he won't, then he needs to lose the pretense and go for it.  He should hang out with Mia all week and take crying lessons.

So this is what I anticipate for tonight.  We are going to get a barrage of clips of dances you and I loved, like Wade's vagabond routine, Sabra and Neil's table routine, and Kaytee and Twitch's door routine.  Then we will see Evan and, I hate to say it, Jeanette go home.  Melissa squeaks by because of all the teary eyed lovers of her Tyce routine.  Thoughts?

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 10 Results

Dear Em,

This is a tired response to your post from last night.  Annie was in rare form today, so no blogging and no house cleaning.  You should see this place, it looks a little like a chicken coop.  Tonight, order was restored in the SYTYCD world.  It was time for both Kupono and Randi to go home.  In fact I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.  The story of the night was Ade in the bottom two and Evan's resultant safety.  You know I have been an Evan fan since last season's tryouts, but at this point he is outclassed by the other guys.  Speaking of seeing someone from last season, did you notice that for the fall preview they prominently showed the cute girl with the pixie hairdo.  I had her in the top 20 this year.  I guess they wanted to space out the talent between the summer and fall season.  I'm not sure how you feel, but I don't like this.  Why have a second season this year if it is only going to give us crappy dancers like Tony and Paris?  Do you even remember who those two are?  Point made.

Good night, and if they have three seasons next year then you and I are in,

Joe

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 10

Hey Joe-

Ok so the top ten has arrived! This week we have new partners and all the dancers are doing solos, which is pretty cool. Anyway I thought the show was pretty good overall aside from a couple of flops. The top 5 girls started the show with a bollywood dance which was really awesome (and a little freaky with the masks on the backs of their heads). The guys ended the show with a group african dance that was also really cool but I thought it was really kind of racist and inappropriate for them to point out how its clearly not Evan's style..umm just because 2 of the other guys are black and the other 2 aren't white doesn't mean they're naturally good at African dance, I'm pretty sure it wasn't any of their styles. 

So my top couple was Janine and Jason with the contemporary dance. It was probably one of the best routines of the season (except for few brandon/janette routines). And next would probably be Ade and Janette's hip hop. And I do think Ade is probably the best guy overall. 

The worst routine of the night was Randi and Kupono. Absolutely awful, they both looked stiff and awkward and like they had no idea what they were doing. Next after them for the bottom 2 would be Evan and Kayla, they tried, but its hard to be graceful when the girl is a foot taller than the guy. Oh well.

I think Kupono and Randi are out this week. At least based on performance this week that's who should go. Talk to you tomorrow!

-Emily

SYTYCD, Top 12 Result

Dear Emily World,

What can you say, you know I hate results shows.  But I love songs by Kelly...what was her name? The whole concept of an hour based around recaps, bad music, and silly "dance-for-your-life" solos offends me.  These episodes only exist to show us more commercials.  Tivo is the only reason a show like tonight is bearable.  However, I watched this one live, so I shopped for a car while doing so.

Here is tonight's recap: Jason's solo was the worst I've ever seen, Caitlin mailed it in and looked angry and defeated while doing so, and Phillip was eloquent, humble, and inspiring upon his overdue exit.

See you next week,

Joe

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 12

Em,

Okay, it sounds like you had a bit more fun watching than we did here.  K fell asleep about halfway through, so my enthusiasm for a few of the routines was tempered slightly.  You are spot on about the highlights, though I'm not sure the Russian folk dance was the worst dance ever.  Did you forget about Wade's foxes from a few years ago?

America needs to see the clip below before we continue.  It's a clip that was sent to me by an anonymous source.  For those of you that don't know my co-blogger, Emily is the one in sweats.  As for the other, um, dancer, that's none other than Dani, my sister in law.

Before I get to the dancers that I loved (I don't have the time or energy to trash Caitlin anymore), I'd like to look at this episode at a high level.  I think it was the best of the season, with tons of energy, and very little "judging" from the judges.  Unlike you, I liked seeing 12 dances tonight, for the aforementioned lack of chatter from Nigel, Mary and especially Tyce, but also for the chance to see Melissade and Branette twice.  Yeah, I said that.

The highlight of the night was, of course, Cat.  The standing O for her vintage look was as long here as it was in the audience.  The lowlight of the night was Kupono's crying about having to play the "drug" in his first dance with Kayla.  Really, Kupono?  Do I need to do some research to see if your story was true?

The dancers.  I have a question for you.  Are Brandon and Janette the best couple ever?  If not, would you tell me who is?  They crushed their two routines, though I favored their Tango strangely.  Which leads me to a major plus from last night.  At this point, having Wade on an episode brings it to another place.  I know you love him too, but he takes what Mia, and Mandy, and Tabitha and Napolean try and do as far as "acting" to the next level.  I think that the producers must have to pay him a lot of money for the times he does show up.

Melissa and Ade are, at this point, not only sleepers for the title, but a close 3rd and 4th to Brandon and Janette.  They were great last night.  Is Melissa married?  Will she be after this partnership?  They even waltzed well, a rarity.

We should discuss Kayla here, but I'm sick of the judges loving her.  Instead, let's discuss Janine.  How good do you think she is?  Without the dead weight of Phillip, I think she would be a powerhouse.  Sort of like a season five version of Courtney Galliano, no?

Well, that was more than I intended.

Talk to you tonight,

Joe

So You Think You Can Dance, Top 12

Dearest Joe-

You missed out on a fun night of SYTYCD viewing in the Gallo living room. Dani and I took the liberty of performing some of our moves for the family...and we were pretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

I think that moving to two dances a couple when we still have 6 couples left was a bit much...that was far too many routines for me to remember. Overall, most of the dances were pretty good but there were a few awful ones. My top 3 dances would probably be Melissa and Ade's disco, Brandon and Janette's wade robeson dance, and Kayla and Kupono's addiction themed Mia dance (in no particular order) and Brandon and Janette's tango as a close runner-up . 

We've seen some bad things on SYTYCD, but the Russian folk dance was probably the worst dance I've ever seen. Even the judges agreed that the style was a flop and it really wasn't Janine and Philip's fault. But regardless of who's fault it was, the dance was awful and was only useful in providing inspiration for me and Dani's living room performances. Following that in the bottom three dances was probably Randi and Evan's hip hop or samba (they had a rough night) and Kayla and Kupono's broadway routine. There may have been some other bad ones, but those are the ones coming to mind right now.

Anyway, it was a pretty good show, a little long, but good. And I think that we've learned that Brandon and Janette are the best couple right now. I'm sad to see all the couples get split up next week! Talk to you later!

Your SYTYCD superstar,

Emily