Trav's Thoughts

Well gang, it's the penultimate performance show. We have new pairings, two more couple dance routines, and six solos to get through in an hour. Then America votes for the dancers they want to see in the performance finale next week.

Yikes!

We lost one of our favorites last week, and we're pretty worried about Twitch this week.

Tonight's judges are Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Adan Shankman.

And away we go...

Courtney and Mark dance Viennese Waltz by Jason Gilkinson. Woooooooo!! A little David Cook music! And this is an excellent pairing of dancers with style. I've been hard on Mark the last couple of weeks because I haven't connected with him and he's been taking places I thought should go to other dancers. But tonight I did connect with him, and with Courtney. That was a lovely waltz, elegant and classy and romantic. Say 9 for Courtney and 8 for Mark.

Chelsie shows off those fantastic legs in her solo. If was full of ballroom content, balanced near the end with a nice triple turn and split. She's not the strongest solo dancer, but she makes up for it by shining in the pairs dances.

Twitch gives us a ton of personality. That wasn't my favorite solo from him, but he's still my favorite dancer. I'll stick with him. But I think he's in trouble this week.

Katee and Joshua dance contemporary by Tyce Diorio. She is so amazing. This dance showed off his strength and her tremendous athleticism and fearlessness. The choreography suited them both and they brought the story to life. When we watch Joshua, we forget that his specialty is hip hop. He is versatile, and he excels at so many styles. Katee is just genius. That dance was a 10.

Chelsie and Twitch dance Mambo by Tony Meredith and Melanie. Chelsie was fantastic, as expected. This style fits right with her strongest talents. Unfortunately Twitch looks like a club dancer. He works the personality and did his best to hang in with her, and he certainly was there as a partner for Chelsie. It was really tough choreography. But that dance belonged to her. Say 10 for Chelsie and 7 for Twitch.

Katee...we love this girl! She dances with energy and joy and she makes us smile! I think the only time we've seen her make a mistake was in the Pas de Deux she danced with Will, when she wobbled just a bit on a turn.

Joshua reminds us of his hip hop skill. We didn't like his solo last week, but this week he hit it hard. We think he's the best guy on the floor this week.

Courtney and Mark dance jazz by Sonya. The choreography was perfect for Mark's quirky style. This pair really hit the jackpot this week, not only to dance with each other but also with the choreographers who made dances for them. They played the characters so well. Their musicality was outstanding. The interpretation of the theme was tremendous. Great chemistry between them. Excellent performance. That was a 10.

Katee and Joshua dance Paso Doble by Jason Gilikson. That had strength, power, and aggression. We're amazed again at how well Joshua picks up the ballroom styles. They had the character of the dance and it was outstanding. And Katee...again simply brilliant. Another 10.

Courtney shares her wonderful movement, technique, and joy in dance. That might have been her best solo so far.

Mark is just too weird for me as a solo dancer. But his unique style is connecting with voters.

Chelsie and Twitch dance hip hop by Tabitha & Napoleon. That was a really cool concept and it let Twitch get into his specialty. And Chelsie held her own. His personality is his strength. Say 9 for Chelsie and 10 for Twitch.

I thought at the beginning of the season that this could be the year a hip hop dancer could win. I thought that hip hop dancer was going to be Twitch. But now I don't know. Joshua has proven to be consistently more versatile.

But these are three strong ladies, and Katee or Courtney could easily win. I don't count out Chelsie either, although I give a slight edge to the other two gals.

And watch out for Mark...he's got the fanbase and he had a tremendous night, despite that odd solo.

I want to see Twitch dance more. I'm sticking with him.

Check out the results tonight...there's only three more shows to go!

Yikes! I nearly found myself postless for today. I guess that wouldn't have been so bad. But if I hadn't posted something today, then you'd have two days of reading about my tech ijititis. Nobody wants that.

It is so a word...ijititis. I say it is, so it is.

Lucky for me I have some stuff in the queue just for times like these. So let's have a music meme, courtesy of Mary the Teach at Work of the Poet. I got tagged for this in early July. Here's the rules:

List seven songs you are into right now.
Post these instructions.
Tag seven others.

I've been working to digitize all of my old cassette tapes. It's a pretty long process, but well worth it because I'm hearing so much great stuff that I haven't heard in ages. And lucky me! The music uploads as mp3 files so I can upload them to LifeLogger!

So here is my Seven Songs meme, and my very first LifeLogger tuneage post. Cross your fingers!

She's A Mystery To Me, Roy Orbison

Pieces Of April, Three Dog Night

Save Your Heart For Me, Gary Lewis & the Playboys

On The Dark Side, Eddie & the Cruisers (John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band)

The Doctor, Doobie Brothers

Don't You Care, The Buckinghams

If You Needed Somebody, Bad Company

Edit: I had to take the music out. It wouldn't play, and the codes kept freezing up my blogger. So I guess you get two tech ijit posts in a row.

**sigh**

Oh well. Take my word for it...the tunes are fantastic!

I owe Janna an apology. I forgot to give her credit for the Manic Monday Storm graphic from yesterday. So here it is...yesterday's MM graphic was brought to you by Janna of Jannagraphics and the Jannaverse.

I think I've said before that I'm pretty much a tech ijit.

For example...not long ago I was cruising the blogs and saw a reference to Blogger in Draft over at Mo's. So I clicked on the link and read a bit about some cool features. And I thought to myself...Self, wouldn't it be cool to have that expanded toolbar?
To which I replied to myself...yeah Stoopid, if only you weren't such a tech ijit you might be able to figure it out.

Yeah. The old Self can be a bit of a jerk.

Anyway, I was doing a bit of this and and a bit of that with some posts I have in the queue when what do you suppose I did? If you guessed that I accidentally hit the "compose" button at the top right corner of the text box, you'd be right. And you'd know that I found that extended toolbar.

I've always written my posts with the Edit Html button clicked. Don't ask me why.



So now I can see the actual pictures instead of just the html code when I upload them. And I don't have to keep clicking over to the preview screen to see if the picture sizes are right and if I've got everything in the right place.



We watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory last night...the Gene Wilder. I never saw the updated version with Johnny Depp. To me, Willy Wonka will always be Gene Wilder.

This is one of my favorite parts. The song is Pure Imagination, written specifically for the film by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.

"Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted...he lived happily ever after." Willy Wonka

Heath Ledger deserves every accolade for his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. For his performance alone, I'm glad I saw it today.

However, it didn't save the film for me. I place myself in the small minority of people who didn't care for it. It just missed for me on every level. I wasn't entertained. It didn't make me think. I didn't marvel at the special effects.

I didn't have a single emotional connection to any character. I didn't feel any drama. And the thing was too damn long at 152 minutes.

In fact, when it was over I turned to Pam and apologized for suggesting we see it. She didn't like it either.

Just two more weeks until we crown America's favorite dancer.

Here's Will showing a cheeky side to go with his amazing talent.


This dance is so physical, but it still has all the emotion of a Mia Michaels creation. This is Katee & Twitch.


I wanted to show you the hip hop from Courtney & Will, but so many of the video clips are being removed or disabled now. I couldn't find Courtney's solo from last night, or Katee's either.

**sigh**

The group number is a funky robotic hip hop routine by Chuck Maldonado.

Here's how we ranked the Top 8 after Wednesday's performances, with Pam's rankings in the paretheses.

1. Twitch (3)
2. Will (1)
3. Katee (2)
4. Courtney
5. Chelsie
6. Joshua
7. Mark
8. Comfort

We predicted that Comfort and Mark would be out. Now here we go with results. They review the dancers one at a time.

First up is Katee, and she is safe. Next is Will, who is in the bottom 2 guys. That sucks, but he's been flirting with the bottom all season. He's the best technical dancer on the floor, but I guess that isn't enough to connect with voters.

Comfort is up next and she is in the bottom 2 gals. Now Mark, who is safe. Huh? He's as surprised as I am. But I have to remind myself that the search is for America's favorite dancer and Mark is connecting with a fanbase that is voting for him, whereas Will is not.

Chelsie had a great night, and advances. Twitch is in the bottom 2 guys. NO! That means either Will or Twitch is going home. NO! Dammit. WTF???

If you can do the math, you know that Joshua is safe but Courtney is in the bottom 2 gals.

Before the solos, we're treated to a beautiful performance by two dancers from the Los Angeles ballet.

This is a tough elimination. The bottom 4 dancers get solos, which don't change the result but let us see them all one more time. In my opinion, three of the best dancers are in the bottom.

• Comfort is strong in her specialty, but she's not as versatile as the other three ladies.
• Will doesn't belong in the bottom 2. He should be the feature dancer in a company.
• Courtney dances with such energy and we love the way she moves.
• Twitch doesn't belong in the bottom 2 either. This guy is just too talented.

Well, Pam and I voted for the entire two hours on Wednesday - she for Will and I for Twitch. That's all we can do. Now one of our favorites is about to go home, and the other will move on and hopefully connect with enough voters next week to make it to the Top 4.

Before we get to the result, LL Cool J is in the house.

For the gals, Courtney advances to the Top 6 and Comfort's second run comes to an end. She replaced Jessica last week after an injury forced Jess to withdraw.

For the guys, Twitch makes it to the Top 6 and Will goes home. There's no win for us in this result. I guess we'll be happy for Twitch, and happy for Will because he's going to have a wonderful career.


This is the young man they sent home...the brilliant Will Wingfield. Pam and I think it's a mistake, but we also understand that there's just no predicting how the voters are going to choose. Will flirted with elimination several times over the weeks, indicating that he was not connecting with viewers.


We really wanted to see Will in the Top 4 with Twitch, Katee, and Courtney. But the Top 4 could include Joshua, Mark, and Chelsie.

Have a great weekend babies.

We're down to the Top 8 now and only two weeks from the finale. The dancers switched partners last week for the first time, and they'll switch again this week. Each pair will dance twice, and everyone gets a solo. And we vote for our favorite dancer.

Let me just set my rankings, from my most favorite on down. The number in parentheses is Pam's rank.

1. Twitch (4)
2. Will (1)
3. Katee (2)
4. Courtney (3)
5. Joshua
6. Chelsie
7. Comfort
8. Mark

Judges tonight are Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and Toni Basil...cool!

Courtney and Will dance Samba by Jean-Marc Genereaux. Will can dance anything. They had a little trouble with the technique in spots. But they really performed the spirit of the dance. They had the hip action going. It was sexy and fast and fun. They connected with each other, and that translated to the crowd. It's easy for a girl to get a bit lost in Will's shadow, but Courtney held her own. It helps that Will is a generous dancer. Say 8 for Courtney and 9 for Will.

Comfort shows off her hip hop skills. In the pre-solo interview, she reveals that she attended a performing arts school. That's what is helping her through some of the more technical styles.

Katee and Twitch dance contemporary by Mia Michaels. These two actually knew each other before the show. We think that familiarity helped them because this was a really physical performance. It was made to be rough and harsh and aggressive. That was stage art. Mia infused both of their styles into her choreography, and they both danced so relaxed. Say 10 for Katee and 9 for Twitch.

Will was inspired by the movie Dirty Dancing. HA! He attended Debbie Allen's Dance Academy, which is why Debbie is not able to judge this season while he's on the show. And he is brilliant in a little parody of James Brown. He just proved he's more than a dancer...he's a star, win or lose this show.

Comfort and Mark dance hip hop by Tabitha & Napoleon. This is the hard hip hop that usually turns me off. There were a couple of great tricks. They hit what they needed to hit. They turned on the crowd. These are two of our least favorite dancers in choreography that we didn't connect with, but the judges praised the dance and I suspect that fans of hip hop and of these two dancers will be pleased with what they did. Based on the judges' recaction, say 9 for Comfort and 8 for Mark.

Katee tells us that she started dancing at the age of 4, with tap class. We simply love her movement. She just throws herself into the music and interprets it so well.

Chelsie and Joshua dance Argentine Tango by Dimitri Chaplin from season 2. The choreography was wonderful and the characterization was excellent. They hit some good lines, but they were also a bit loose in hold. That took some of the drama out of their footwork. It was a good performance. He is a strong partner, she uses her legs to great effect, and together they had strong chemistry. Say 9 for Chelsie and 8 for Joshua.

Mark was inspired by Phantom of the Opera. He went to a performing arts school. He's just too quirky for us. We do like his energy though.

Courtney and Will dance hip hop by Tabitha & Napoleon. This is more the style of hip hop we enjoy. We like that every beat has a movement that furthers the story. They nailed the characters and captured the emotion. It was tight and extremely well performed. Say 9 for Courtney and 10 for Will.

Chelsie tells us that she started dancing in elementary school to overcome her shyness. She did a much better job this week of de-emphasizing her ballroom style in her solo. And happy 19th birthday young lady!

Katee and Twitch dance Broadway by Tyce Diorio. Whoa! Twitch danced about a 4 count with Katee draped over his shoulders. They are strong apart, and strong together. He is amazingly talented and she is just wonderful. Toni said Twitch dances from the inside out...she meant that he brings a street reality to his performance that trained dancers may not be able to find. And Katee has a way of interpreting the music and movement that I can't really explain. So I'll just say 10 for the pair of them.

Joshua took a permission slip for an dance auditon home in exchange for a piece of candy from his 3rd grade teacher. We didn't care for that solo. Dang.

Comfort and Mark dance Fox Trot by Jean-Marc Genereaux. Now we have to give Mark props for his partnering in this dance because he really pulled her through it. He was classic and elegant. He was also patient because a couple of times he had to wait for her to catch up to the choreography, which really threw him off. This was a bad style for them, and it's too bad that this was the second dance. Say 6 for Comfort and 7 for Mark.

Courtney started dancing at 3 years old, caught the bug, and can't give it up. And we are the better for it. We want Courtney and Katee to be in the final 4 so we can see them dance together.

Chelsie and Joshua dance disco by Doriana Sanchez. He lost his balance on a solo turn and covered it pretty well. Unfortunately the whole routine looked very awkward. This is the first time we really didn't believe Joshua was commited to the style of dance. It was very difficult choreography with a lot of tricks and lifts...and give Josh props on those lifts for his strength and give Chelsie props for being so fearless. But we think they didn't took full advantage of the possibilities in that routine. Say 9 for Chelsie and 8 for Joshua.

Twitch didn't start taking dance seriously until his senior year, when he tried out for his school dance team. He is so good, and his personality just makes us smile.

Let me summarize the pairs real quick:

• Katee & Twitch - We were so excited to hear about this partnership, and they did not disappoint. We thought they had two of the top three performances of the night. Both had outstanding solos.
• Courtney & Will - The first dance was solid. The second was one of the top three performances of the night. Both had outstanding solos.
• Chelsie & Joshua - We thought she had the stronger night because her ballroom background really came into play in both styles, and her solo showed more versatility. Joshua demonstrated his strength as a partner, but we thought his solo was lacking.
• Comfort & Mark - Unfortunately we didn't connect with them in the first dance because of the choreography. The second dance was subpar when compared to how well the other pairs danced. Comfort's solo was one dimensional, while Mark's was typically quirky.

So where do we stand at the end of the night? Pam is busy dialing for Will, and I'm dialing for Twitch. No changes there. Our overall rankings look like this:

1. Twitch (3)
2. Will (1)
3. Katee (2)
4. Courtney
5. Chelsie
6. Joshua
7. Mark
8. Comfort

Based on what we saw last night, we think Comfort and Mark are in the most danger.

Only one of the eight great dancers can win, and we're approaching the point where I don't want anyone to go home.

Let's just call it a tie right now, shall we? No? Can't do that?

OK. I'm sticking with Twitch. Pam's guy is Will.

Later babies!

These are some of the most entertaining Broadway dances from the four seasons of So You Think You Can Dance.

Just another one of the many reasons I enjoy dance and dance shows. I dare you to watch these and not smile, tap your foot, bob your head, or sofa dance in any way.

Season 1 winner Nick Lazzarini with runner up Melody Lacayanga.


Season 2 winner Benji Schwimmer with Donyelle Jones.


From season 2, more Benji with cousin and fellow finalist Heidi Groskreutz.


Season 3 Final Four - Sabra, Danny, Lacey, Neil.


Season 3 Top 12


Season 4 - Twitchington!


Season 4 Top 14


Stop me before I get carried away!

HA! Too late!

My Dodgers took two out of three from the Diamondbacks over the weekend to pull into a tie for first in the NL West. Both teams won last night, so they remain tied at 49-50, seven games ahead of Colorado.

Yeah. I know. One game under .500 with 63 games to play. There are six teams in the NL with better records than Arizona and LA.

But the Dodgers have a team earned run average of 3.66, which stacks up against the Cubs' league leading ERA of 3.64. So I like our chances, especially with 10 games head to head against the D'backs, and 15 of the last 19 against teams with losing records.

So everybody wins 54 and loses 54. It's what you do with the other 54 games that counts. And my boys only need to be one game better than second place.

Welcome to another Manic Monday with Morgen. Don't forget to cruise by MM HQ at It's A Blog Eat Blog World. Today's theme is Lick. MM graphic courtesy of Mr Tucker, and my rudmentary skills with my PhotoPlus software.

I have three Licks for you today.

In 1979, Mario Mendoza hit .198 for the season in 373 at bats with the Seattle Mariners, then in their third year of existence. George Brett is credited with the coining of the term The Mendoza Line, which essentially describes ball players who's batting averages dip below .200 and basically can't hit a lick.

Sports announcer Chris Berman of ESPN turned it into a catch phrase, and it has been a part of baseball jargon ever since.

In his nine year career with Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Texas, Mendoza had a career batting average of .215. He actually pitched two innings in 1977 with Pittsburgh, giving up 3 hits and 3 runs. He was a dependable infielder who played 2nd, 3rd, and short with a career fielding percentage of .960.

When I was collecting baseball cards, Mendoza's was so common that I must have 25 of them from 1976 through 1980.

The rock band KISS released the album Lick It Up on 18 Sept 1983. They were on MTV that day, without the legendary make-up for the first time since their early days. The line up included original members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, with Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr.

I've been a KISS fan ever since a junior high talent show. A whole new world of music had been opening up for me. Some guys I knew played around with a garage band. They weren't very good, but it was cool. They decided to do a lip sync in the talent show, and they chose KISS because of the make-up. They had a full drum kit, guitars, mic stands, and amps.

It took forever to set everything up and they new the school wouldn't allow that much time for a 4 minute lip sync performance. So they recruited five of us guys, and we practiced moving the equipment around until we could get it set up in under 3 minutes.

They got the sound system cranked up and it really looked and sounded like they were KISS wailing Rock And Roll All Nite. They ended up winning the talent show and the $50 grand prize. They split $40 for themselves and paid us $2 each for helping set up.

I added that $2 to my allowance savings and bought the Destroyer album.

Finally, has anyone ever figured out how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a Tootsie Pop?



I've been forgetting to add Mr Linky. I remembered this time, but when I went to get the MM linky, I had forgotten my log in. Sheesh!

The performance show Wednesday night was a bit uneven. We're looking for the pairs who make it through to the Top 8 to focus next week and bring the level up.

Disclaimer: Some of the videos are being disabled, most likely because the copyright monsters are running rampant again. So I say to you, I'm just posting the videos because I love dance! And I want to share that love! So move along because there's no profit motive to see in this space.

Now, on to the encores!

Katee & Will kicked off their tremendous night with a theatrical number choreographed by Tyce Diorio.


We really enjoyed Courtney & Joshua's Rumba. Courtney has moved into the #2 spot behind Katee as our second favorite gal. And Joshua has been one of our favorite guys from jump.


We lost Twitchington, but we gained this outstanding hip hop jam from Comfort & Twitch. It would have been our dance of the night...


...but then came this Pas de Deux from Katee & Will.


When it was good Wednesday, it was very very good.

We ranked the pairs last night so...

1. Katee & Will - two radically different dances, two brilliant performances
2. Comfort & Twitch - the first dance was forgettable, the second was outstanding
3. Courtney & Joshua - the first dance was good, the second excellent
4. Chelsie & Gev - the partnership is terrific and they had two solid dances
5. Kherington & Mark - off night, and it wasn't helped by a couple of sub par solos

And I ranked the individuals thus...

1. Twitch
2. Will
3. Katee
4. Courtney
5. Joshua
6. Chelsie
7. Kherington
8. Gev
9. Comfort
10. Mark

Pam switched up the top 4 like this - Will, Katee, Courtney, Twitch. The rest of her list matches mine.

So we have projected Kherington and Comfort as the bottom two gals, with Gev and Mark as the bottom two guys. We suspect that Comfort and Mark will be the ones to go.

We have a Bollywood group dance to begin the show.

Wooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Shane Sparks (for Transformers), Mandy Moore (for The Table), and Wade Robson (for Hummingbird) all received Emmy nominations for their work on the show last season. YAY!

Emmy winner Mia Michaels (for The Park Bench) has choreographed another brilliant piece, this time for the Top 5 gals. Wow. You can see the video here.

Oh man. We have to do bottom two for the gals after that beautiful dance. Chelsie is safe. Katee is safe. And Courtney is safe. That means Comfort and Kherington are in the bottom two. Well, we called it but this is just so tough. We really do like all of these dancers.

Now the Top 5 guys perform a dance made by a mystery choreographer. That was great! And that dance was made by Nigel Lythgoe! Excellent! See it here.

Drat. Two of those guys are in the bottom, and one of them has to go home. Joshua is safe. Will is safe. Twitch is safe. Which means Mark and Gev are in the bottom two.

Each of the bottom four gets a solo. They can't change the result, but the more dancing the better I say!

Comfort - She's really good at what she does, and with some training she can become more versatile. I have to think that this experience would make a dancer want to go to class and get better.

Mark - There's just something about his solo work that we're not connecting with. We enjoyed him with Chelsie as they improved each week. For us he was off this week. He is quirky and unique, but perhaps his style just isn't or us.

Kherington - She's a beautiful girl, but this week she just didn't show off what a beautiful dancer she is. This girl has the talent and the skill, but she missed this week. And perhaps we've forgotten how young she is...she's 18.

Gev - His musicality in that solo was tremendous. This is a talented kid, and he's going to benefit from his time on the show because he's incorporating the different styles into his dancing.

I could have filled up this post with video, but instead I just put in some links. If you're a fan of dance, I hope you have some time to check them out.

OK...here we go.

For the gals, Kherington is out and Comfort advances.



For the guys, Gev is out and Mark advances.



It keeps getting tougher from here. The Top 8 all need to bring it next week.

Have a fantastic weekend! Later babies!

Welcome to the Top 10!

This week, our dancers pick new partners. The new pairs will perform two dances together, as well as a solo.

You know what that means?

That's right, friends and neighbors...it's time to vote for your favorite dancer instead of your favorite pair. And only viewer votes count from now on...the judges can no longer save any dancers.

Let's begin with our rankings, from our favorite on down.

1. Twitch
2. Will
3. Kherington
4. Katee
5. Joshua
6. Courtney
7. Chelsie
8. Mark
9. Gev
10. Comfort

Now before we go too much farther, we've had an unfortunate injury, which is why Comfort is ranked in our Top 10 instead of Jessica. Jessica has been advised by doctors to withdraw from the competition due to broken ribs. She will be replaced by Comfort.

Our judges tonight are Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and guest judge Lil C.

We've got a lot to review, so let's get started with the first pairs round. The girls pick the partners.

Courtney and Joshua dance hip hop by Dave Scott. We liked it much better when they danced closer together. We enjoyed the characters in the story, but we do wish they hadn't been so spread out during the routine because it was hard to focus on both of them. They had good chemistry between them. We expected Joshua do dance well, so we ended up trying to watch more of Courtney. We thought she did ok, but certainly not to his level. Say 7 for Courtney and 9 for Joshua.

Chelsie dances a surprisingly boring solo. Lots of smiling but not much content.

Kherington and Mark dance two step by Ronnie and Brandi. This is a first on the show. Competitive two step is tough to do well. And they didn't do it well. It was awkward throughout. They didn't have any chemistry between them and it ended up looking like a new partnership. It looked too cheesy, and that's a shame because the choreography looked like it was really good. Say 7 for Kherington and 6 for Mark.

Gev dances a trick filled hip hop solo. We're enjoying him a lot more in other styles.

Comfort and Twitch dance smooth waltz by Hunter Johnson. Drat. I would have preferred a different style for this pair. Neither one of them can hide the flaws in technique. There's no way to make a smooth waltz exciting, so you have to dance the story and the characters and the romance. Let's be honest...it fell short. They weren't horrible, but the dance just didn't measure up. This was just the wrong style for them, but they have to figure out how to step up to the style and perform. Say 6 for Comfort and 7 for Twitch.

Courtney dances her solo with power, drama, and passion. That's dancing to get some votes...and we love her smile!

Katee and Will dance Broadway by Tyce Diorio. This should be a great partnership. Technically outstanding. Lots of fun. Great character. High energy. The choreography was tremendous and they translated it into an amazing performance. Will embraced the fun in the piece, and Katee is every bit as talented as he is. This pairing lived up to the hype. Say 10 for both of them.

Mark shows off his odd style. Not liking it so much.

Chelsie and Gev dance contemporary by Sonya. We definitely like Gev in this. You'd never know that he considers himself a hip hop dancer. The choreography was wonderful and the pair of them were quite engaging. They performed a routine that was a pleasure to watch, and that's what dance is about. Chelsie had a much better showing in this dance than she did in her solo, which isn't surprising since she's a ballroom dancer. Say 9 for Chelsie and 8 for Gev.

Comfort takes charge of her reprieve and attacks her hip hop solo. We still think she's a few notches below the other dancers, but this was a better solo effort than in the past.

You know, I raved a lot last week about this Top 10. I called them the most talented group across all the seasons. And there were some great moments in the first round of pairs dances. But there was a bit more clunkiness than I expected too.

I still think that talent will rise, so let's see how they do in round two.

First, Twitch is all over the stage with his dynamic talent and personality. He's a cut above.

Courtney and Joshua dance Rumba by Jean-Marc Genereaux. That was very well done. It was sexy and romantic, and they did very well with the technique. The dance also had an elegant quality. We loved Jean-Marc's choreography and the story he gave them to dance. Outstanding. Say 10 for both of them.

Katee dances her solo with such joy and energy, and she's technically brilliant. Her movement is so good, and she dances effortlessly.

Kherington and Mark dance jazz by Tyce Diorio. She was much more comfortable with this style and her personality showed up this time. We still didn't feel any connection between the two of them and there's something about Mark we just didn't like any time he danced this week. I guess technically they were ok. But this dance should have been a lot more exciting. Say 8 for Kherington and 6 for Mark.

Will...let's see. I'm looking for some more adjectives. How about marvelous? Yeah. Will is marvelous.

Comfort and Twitch dance hip hop by Dave Scott. There you go! That's what I want to see...two dancers right in their element, nailing a brilliantly choreographed routine by one of the best in the business. Lil C says it was where "internal artistry meets physical expression". Yup. And Comfort was up to the challenge of dancing with Twitch. I thought he was going to blow her off the stage...but they were right in line with each other. They were focused on the movement and they shared it. They meshed as a team. Say 10 for both of them.

Kherington needed a great solo after a couple of sub-par pairs routines, but she didn't get there.

Katee and Will dance a ballet style that I don't know how to spell by Desmond and Dwight. Desmond Richardson is one of the greatest contemporary ballet dancers in the world. It was amazing to have him make a dance for this program. Katee and Will were the only two dancers this season who could have pulled this off. Their movement, both individually and together, gave us chills. Pam was in tears by the time it was over. That was one of the most professional dances I've ever seen on this show. Simply stunning. Say 10 for the both of them, despite the bobble midway through.

Joshua throws down a strong hip hop solo, but we like him for how versatile he is.

Chelsie and Gev dance jive by Jean-Marc Genereaux. There were some outstanding technical elements in that jive that they did very well. They had some problems with transitions between moves. But that was some of the most difficult jive choreography I've ever seen. They did a very credible job with it, and we enjoyed watching it. It was fun. She carried the dance though. Say 9 for her and 7 for him.

We enjoyed Lil C as a judge last night. He gave some great notes to the dancers and we thought his comments were right in line with what we saw.

Here's how we ranked the pairs:

1. Katee & Will - two radically different dances, two brilliant performances
2. Comfort & Twitch - the first dance was forgettable, the second was outstanding
3. Courtney & Joshua - the first dance was good, the second excellent
4. Chelsie & Gev - the partnership is terrific and they had two solid dances
5. Kherington & Mark - off night, and it wasn't helped by a couple of sub par solos

We've split here in the Travis & Pam abode. I'm a Twitch man all the way. But Pam has gone over to Will. She says he's the best dancer on the stage. I can't disagree...he is. But Twitch is my favorite.

This is how I rank the dancers, from most favorite to least.

1. Twitch
2. Will
3. Katee
4. Courtney
5. Joshua
6. Chelsie
7. Kherington
8. Gev
9. Comfort
10. Mark

Yup, some changes in that list based on things we saw tonight. We got comfortable with the previous partnerships. Last night we saw some of the dancers shine in new pairings, and others really lose momentum when they couldn't connect with a new partner.

If you check out the results tonight, you'll see three group routines! Whoa!



It's Doodle Week in the bloggosphere. Now I'm not participating, but Morgen had some instructions on how to make a doodle, so I tried it last night. And what would I doodle?

I doodle about dancing of course!

I wear Wrangler jeans. I've worn Levi's and Lee and Arizona, but I always come back to Wranglers because they fit the best and last the longest. At least they have for me.

Now I got in the habit some years ago of ordering my Wranglers from Sheplers. I don't change size or style very often and they always have what I want in stock. Every 6-9 months I buy a couple pair, just to have some newer looking jeans.

Yup...I must have 20 to 30 pair of Wranglers around here. I guess that's what happens when you're fortunate enough to keep getting work at places that don't care if you wear jeans to work...as long as they look nice and don't have rips or tears in them.

Anyway, last week it was time to order another couple pair. The shipment showed up today. But when I opened it up, 3 pair fell out of the bag.

I only ordered 2 pair. The receipt showed that my credit card had been charged for 2 pair. Yet I received 3 pair.

What would you do?

I called them up and explained the error, told them I wanted to keep the extra pair, and would they go ahead and charge my credit card for them. See, I work in shipping & inventory management. Mistakes can happen with shipments, and they do all the time. And when a mistake happens, you let the shipper know about it.

They would have heard from me if they had only shipped 1 pair and charged me for 2. So they heard from me when I ordered 2 pair and they shipped 3.

What did they do?

The customer service gal told me...in just the sweetest accent you ever heard..."y'all go on keep that bonus pair now sugah". I asked her if she still had my credit card information on file, or did she need me to give it to her again. She said, "no sugah, we 'preciate honest folks, so you jus' keep that pair with our thanks".

I thanked her for her generosity.

Customer service hasn't died everywhere.

And she really did call me "sugah".

Edit: The copyright monsters are evidently snatching Twitch videos. Hopefully this one works.



If not, try following this link if you're interested in checking out Twitch's solo from last Thursday.

How talented is this young man?



So the first winner of So You Think You Can Dance was Nick Lazzarini, a trained contemporary jazz dancer. The winner of season 2 was Benji Scwimmer, a west coast swing champion. Sabra Johnson, another contemporary dancer, won season 3.

Can a hip hop dancer win this show?

There are three hip hop/break dancers in the Top 10...Twitch, Joshua, and Gev. I don't know about y'all, but my favorite dances from each of these guys are not the hip hop routines they've done.

So yeah, I think a hip hop dancer can win this show.

But whoever does ultimately win, fans of dance are in for a great ride to the finale next month.

Welcome to another Manic Monday with Morgen. Don't forget to cruise by MM HQ at It's A Blog Eat Blog World. Today's theme is Bug.

GAH! Bug!

I hate bugs.

So you won't find any creepy crawly things in this post.

Instead, I went for Buggy...with horses.

The horse-drawn carriage, or buggy, was the way people got around locally before the invention of the internal combustion engine.



The proliferation of motor vehicles gradually phased out the horse & buggy as the main mode of short distance transportation, although some cultures such as the Amish still rely heavily on them.



If it's got wheels on it, some folks will race it. From chariots to buggies, harness racing has been around for centuries.



Now what's more romantic than this?