SYTYCD season 6 | top 16 (and some thoughts)

So. Clearly I've been a little busy since it took me several days to find time to watch the last two episodes of So You Think You Can Dance from this week. And while I'm used to watching in the summer when there are less new shows on and less craziness going on in life, I have to say that I'm still feeling iffy about this season. So much so that I kind of don't really feel like writing even a half-assed recap, as I've done the last two weeks.

I mentioned last week that I am disenchanted by the number of props being used, the new set that seems to inhibit interesting camera work, and the distracting backgrounds flashing on the screen behind each dance (not to mention the overwhelmingly icky lighting). All of that, combined with lackluster choreography so far (with the exception of a few great Stacey Tookey numbers, a Wade Robson number, and a few other gems), just has me feeling very "meh" about this season. And it pains me to say that, as this show has been a favorite of mine for the last five seasons. I don't really know if it also has to do with the dancers — I think I've been so distracted by the other things I DON'T like about this season that I've had a hard time even focusing on the dancers.

What do you think? Are you losing interest in SYTYCD this season?

happy anniversary, Sesame Street!

Wow — forty years. My earliest memories of television are of watching Sesame Street in our family room. Aside from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, it was really the only other show I think I watched when I was a wee one (before I discovered the likes of the Mickey Mouse Club and Kids Incorporated... but that's a post for another day).

In addition to daily visits to Sesame Street, I also grew up listening to the Beatles, thanks to my mom's undying love for Paul McCartney since the age of 13 (her infatuation still continues today), so I'm sure it comes as no surprise that one of my absolute favorite Sesame Street sketches is of the Beetles performing "Letter B." In honor of the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, I thought I'd share the video with you. It really doesn't get any cuter than this.



Another favorite is the cartoon where the little kid is walking to the corner store to pick up "a quart of milk, a loaf of bread, and a stick of buttah" for his mother. I can't find a video anywhere... but I'm sure some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about :-)

What is your favorite Sesame Street memory? Head over to their website to vote on your favorite Sesame video of the 80s!

SYTYCD season 6 | top 18

Sorry for the delay with this... been a busy few days!

Thoughts:

• Noelle's voice is a little grating. And her dancing did not do much for me.
• I was surprised by how much I liked the Viennese Waltz that Ashleigh and Jakob performed. Definitely a highlight, and I'm disliking her less than I have so far this season. Jakob is phenomenal.
  
• I cannot stop looking at Bianca's unpointed feet. Yuck.
  
• Is it me or does the camera work suck this season?
  
• I liked the Bollywood number, but I could do without all the props this week. They just become distracting when each couple only gets a short amount of time to dance.
• Even though their samba was a little off, I really like Channing.
• I found NappyTab's choreography for Karen and Kevin almost offensive. Really, how many booty rolls can there be? This is a DANCE competition. Not a booty-off.
• Thank you, Stacy Tookey. That amazing contemporary number that Kathryn and Legacy performed is the kind of choreography I've been looking for this season! I think they're a favorite couple of mine.
  
• Mary should not wear that dress ever again.
• Absolutely loved Wade's number, but what else is new... he's a genius. I found the artwork background very distracting, though. Too many changes this season with the set and they have not proven to be postive ones.
• Ellenore danced like a pro with her dress stuck to her shoe trhough most of her tango with Ryan! They have a very professional look about them when they dance.
• The show most definitely improved overall towards the end.
  

Tonight's dances and my grades:

1. Noelle + Russell | Hip Hop | "Move Shake Drop Remix" | C
2. Ashleigh + Jakob | Viennese Waltz | "At Last" | A-
3. Bianca + Victor | Broadway | "Maybe God Is Trying to Tell You Something" | B-
4. Mollee + Nathan | Bollywood | "Azeem O Shaan Shadenshah" | B+
5. Channing + Phillip | Samba | "Maracatu Funk " | B-
6. Karen + Kevin | Hip Hop | "Ice Cream Paint Job" | B-
7. Kathryn + Legacy | Contemporary | "2 Steps Away" | A
8. Pauline + Peter | Jazz | "Little Green Bag" | A
9. Ellenore + Ryan | Argentine Tango | "Violentango" | A

SPOILER ALERT | Bottom 4 and Going Home
Bottom 4: Noelle, Bianca, Victor, Phillip
Going Home: Bianca and Phillip
I think it was Bianca's time to go... her technique is just not strong enough to last in this competition. I'm surprised that Phillip is going home, although I don't think Victor should have gone; the guys are all really strong this year but I think Kevin could have been a contender for the bottom 4. I can't believe that Phillip's father died a week and a half before he got voted off... I had no idea.

forgotten tune: "More Than Words"

Nineteen years later, and this song is still a guilty pleasure.

Extreme - More Than Words
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

how right you are, fortune cookie.

the Drapers

We're big fans of Mad Men on AMC, so we decided to be Don and Betty Draper for Halloween this year. We were both able to pull our costumes together mostly with things we already owned, so that always makes it more fun for me than getting something store-bought that comes in one package. Oh, and I look pretty funny in a blonde wig with my super dark eyebrows (which I attempted to make more blonde-ish with yellow makeup, but succeeded instead at making them sort of green), but I don't mind adding a silly factor.

Nick bought the Fedora at Target; I bought the wig and white gloves at Halloween Adventure; we already owned everything else. I wore two skirts underneath my dress to give it a fuller 60s look without spending money on a petticoat.

What did you dress up as for Halloween? Do you go the store-bought-in-one-fell-swoop or pulled-together-on-your-own route?

happy halloween!

On October 31, 2003, I went to a Halloween party dressed as Violet Beauregard from "Willy Wonka." At that party, I noticed a cute guy (wearing a mullet wig) playing beer pong (klassy). We later struck up a conversation while waiting in line for the bathroom... and now, he's my husband.

in 2004, on our one year anniversary, as Daphne and Fred

Now that we're all hitched and stuff, we no longer consider Halloween our official anniversary... but I will always remember it as our meetiversary.

We'll be celebrating the spooktastic holiday in costume with friends (costume photos to come!). I look forward to someday having a house that we can decorate from top to bottom and throwing a fabulous Halloween party. Here is some of my favorite Halloween inspiration that I've been bookmarking from around the web this week.

unique pumpkins via Hasel/Allison at Elizabeth Ann Designs Living

adorable owl costume via Martha Stewart

painted pumpkins via ritzy bee blog

eerie eyeball recipes via simply stated

spiderweb coasters via 12fifteen

Duncan the disgruntled banana via Oh! Apostrophe

Halloween invitation via Brooklyn Limestone

Happy Halloween!

on the turntable: Pomplamoose

Have you heard of Pomplamoose? In short (via their Facebook page):

Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn started making music together in the summer of '08, and decided to form a band. Pomplamoose thus represents the collaborative efforts of the two aforementioned musicians. It also means grapefruit in French.

Check out their MySpace page to hear their music or YouTube to see their awesome homemade videos. This one is my favorite:



{Thanks, Jillian!}

first anniversary {paper}

It's been over a month since our first wedding anniversary, and I have yet to share with you the gift that I made for Nick! My apologies... I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath ;-)

I decided that I wanted to create something truly handmade for our anniversary, and I wanted it to stay within the realm of the traditional first anniversary paper gift. (By the way — who made those things up???) I decided to Gocco a print with all hand-drawn elements, with the focus being a quote from the song we danced to at our wedding, "Love is All About We," as well as our names and wedding date. (Listen to the song "We" here.)

I started with a light sketch that would fit within the size specifications of how large my Gocco can print with one screen (around 4.25" x 6.25") (image 1 above). Once I had the basic layout sketched, I began drawing my letters with more pressure (image 2 above). I am left-handed and things often smear when I work with pencil, so I often work right-to-left to make things a bit less messy (image 3 above). I think my final result looked cute! (image 4 above)

I also wrote a bunch of random words that relate to us and drew a few cute little doodles to be used later...

I scanned my main image and brought it into Photoshop to erase any speckles and bump up my contrast. After I printed my image out in black and white, I burnt a Gocco screen with my image and used my ink blocking material to keep my ink contained to the right areas (image 1 above). Then I inked my screen with white ink (image 2 above). Next, it was time to print!

I used chip board as my canvas, as it's a current obsession of mine. I really like the organic look of the white ink on the chip board (and since it's very neutral, hopefully it will always coordinate with our decor!).

Voila! I only needed one print for the final project, but since I had already used up a screen and spent time inking it, I made a bunch of extra prints. Who knows what I'll use them for, but I like having some extras regardless.

Remember those random words and doodles you saw above? I scanned them in as well and created a full-screen pattern with them.

I used a large sheet of chip board and repeated the pattern with my Gocco. It wasn't perfect and there were some bald spots, but for once I wasn't going for perfection.

After everything was printed and dried, it came time to frame it up.

I had purchased a black frame at Home Goods (image 1 above) that had a double-mat and a space in the center for a 5" x 7" photo (image 2 above). The mats were glued together, so I gently pulled them apart (image 3 above). They didn't pull apart perfectly, but that's okay, because the area that got messed up would be covered up later. I took the larger mat that had been on top and placed it on top of my large piece of chip board with the repeat pattern; I traced around the inside and outside of the mat, and then used an X-acto blade to cut away the excess chip board (image 4 above).

I lined up my patterned mat, the white mat, and my main image so everything was centered, and used Scotch tape on the back to hold everything in place (image 1 above). When I turned everything over, it was perfectly lined up and ready to be framed (image 2 above).

The final product:

Nick really loves it and I was happy to have come up with a unique idea that didn't cost a lot of money. Since I spend so much of my time sitting at a computer, it was nice to do something more hand-drawn, and it was a great excuse to break out my Gocco.

SYTYCD season 6 | top 20

Thoughts:

• Wow, Billy Bell AND Noelle are out? Well, Noelle may be back next week if her injury heals, but that knee brace sure doesn't look very promising. I like her, though — hope she gets another chance.
  
• I like Channing's stage presence. Although it was far from perfect, I think she stole the jive number... Phillip who?
• Jakob. Whoa. Where did he come from, and why didn't I notice him before???
• Ashleigh's hands were icky. Like, Michelle Kwan icky. (I was always distracted by her bad hands when she skated.)
• Oh, Peter. Your accent makes me ashamed of being a Philadelphian. And your dance with Ariana didn't do a lot for me.
• I really like Russell and I hope he can make it past losing his partner in the first week. I think he's charming.
  
• SO excited Travis is back choreographing! Love him! Beautiful piece, just wish Bianca had better technique. Point your damn toes, girl! (I wrote that before Adam said it, thankyouverymuch.)
• I love that there is a "Glee" song on the show. Did not really like the dance to "Push It," though. What is Mary screaming about??
  
• Ellenore rocks. Aside from the fact that I don't really like Ryan's personality, I could find nothing wrong with their dance. Amazing.
• I don't remember Brandon at all from Vegas. I think he and Pauline have cute chemistry.
• I like Kathryn, despite her annoying crying in the final round of Vegas. She surprised me with hip hop like Jeanine did last season. I see her going far.
• I was rooting for Mollee over the last few weeks, but I think her youth and inexperience showed in the disco. It seemed sloppy in many parts, although it is SUCH a fast dance and difficult for the first top 20 show, so the judges seemed to overlook the sloppiness.
  

Tonight's dances and my grades:

1. Channing + Phillip | Jive | "Rockin' Robin" | B-
2. Ashleigh + Jakob | Broadway | "Hit Me With a Hot Note" | B+
3. Ariana + Peter | Hip Hop | "Black & Gold" | C+
4. Noelle (sub: Melanie) + Russell | Fox Trot | "Vagabond Shoes" | B+
   
5. Bianca + Victor | Contemporary | "Wasted Time" | B-
6. Karen + Kevin | Cha Cha | "Push It" | C+
7. Ellenore + Ryan | Contemporary Jazz | "Arcadia" | A
8. Pauline + Brandon | Smooth Waltz | "You Light Up My Life" | B-
9. Kathryn + Legacy | Hip Hop | "On & On" | A-
10. Mollee + Nathan | Disco | "Turn The Beat Around" | B

SPOILER ALERT | Bottom 4 and Going Home
(So, this is how they're gonna do it with the World Series coming up... nuts!)
Bottom 4: Ariana, Pauline, Brandon, Russell (wha????)
Going Home: Ariana and Brandon (thank goodness it's not Russell... phew!)

so you think you can dance, season 6!

I love the fact that I no longer have to wait until summertime for my favorite show in the history of ever... yup, So You Think You Can Dance is back for season six, its first fall season!

I'm really liking that they're changing things up a bit and making the first top 20 show a showcase of all the dancers, sans competition. The real competition will begin tomorrow night (Tuesday)... although I don't know how the first two weeks are going to go with the World Series being shown on Fox. Anyone have the scoop?

Overall I am not sure how I feel about this group; hopefully I'll warm up to them soon. Nathan, Russell and Mollee are standouts for me at the moment, but I'm still a little bummed that my favorite, Paula, didn't accept her spot in the top 20. I hope her movie career makes it worth it, because she was simply spectacular and I think could have easily won this season based on how amazing she was in Vegas.

What did you think of tonight's top 20 showcase? Any favorite routines or dancers thus far?

UPDATE: top 20 dancer Billy Bell has bowed out of the competition due to an undisclosed illness. Read more here.

PS - Since things tend to be a bit crazy for me this time of year, I won't be doing full SYTYCD performance recap posts each week, like I did last season; however, I will still post a few thoughts after each show with the hopes of inspiring some friendly discussion in the comments!

perhaps I'm just immature...

... but this pumpkin that we saw on display at Linvilla Orchards today totally cracked me up.

Do you find this hilarious, like me? Or just plain gross? (Sorry if it grosses you out... but if so, maybe you oughtta lighten up, no? ;-)