Tuesday, March 29, 2011

DWTS - Jive to the Beat

Week two started out a little more like I thought the season would. The excitement of night one was long gone and most of the pack landed in the middle. However, there were a few couples that came back strong. Let's take a look.


Sugar Ray & Anna - Sugar Ray looked more relax even though I was first out the gate. He came out with an entertaining jive that was full of energy but still need technique. In my opinion I still think he will be around awhile but he has to work on combining his enjoyment with his feet.




Kendra & Louis - The playboy bunny showed signs of some gracefulness but truthfully her blinding forced smile distracted me through most of the dance. You could see that this the quickstep wasn't anywhere near her comfort zone but she but forth quite a bit of effort. I think if she can come out of her shell than she might just make a run for the mirror ball.




Chelsea & Mark - I guess since Derek isn't here this season his BFF Mark decided he would be the one to piss off the judges. They completely ripped his jive as not being the time or the place as Carrie Ann said but in my opinion it might have been the wave of the future. Look the music choice sucked for them but they made it work. It was slightly outside the box of a "traditional" jive but still think they will be around for quite a while.




Chris & Cheryl - After admitting that his is rather scared of Cheryl Burke, Chris turned in a wonderfully exciting quickstep. He looked more natural on the dance floor and as if he was really, truly enjoying himself. I'm thinking he might be the dark horse of this competition if he keeps a healthy dose of Cheryl fear.




Petra & Dmitry - My height issues aside, Petra's jive was a little jerky and surprisingly stiff. Sure she ripped off half her clothing and showed that she still has her runway figure but there was disjointedness about the performance. Still in true DWTS judge format they appeared to love it. There was some criticism however which made me smile just a little; height issues aside.




Kristie & Maksim - I am trying my best not to go all team Kristie but how can you help it when she is turning in really good performances. Sure she had a little oops, actually maybe two but if the judges didn't see it then I'm not going to point it out, but you could see the work. For week two her quickstep was lighter than I would have imagined and faster than she probably wanted. Overall in my opinion another solid effort.




Mike & Lacey - Mike, Mike, Mike. Look I give credit where credit is due and Mike put in the effort this week and turned in a middle of the pack jive. It was way better than I ever thought it would be after week 1 and in my opinion I think it should have earned him at least one more week. Will he get to stay is the question but still not that bad.




Romeo & Chelsie - While I might be a little bias since they danced to one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite musicals (You're the One that I Want, Grease) I absolutely loved it. Sure Romeo was quite a bit more bouncy than most doing a quickstep but it almost looked effortless as he moved around the dance floor with Chelsie. Len actually said it was the best dance of the night. That might be first time a rapper on the show as ever heard those words from Len. Way to go.




Wendy & Tony - Okay if you have already had a song on previously in another season and the routine for it was absolutely phenomenal; why would you bring it back? Yet that is exactly what happened here. A song from Basement Jaxx that helped win Shawn Johnson the mirror ball during her freestyle was played to Wendy's very, very boring and lack luster quickstep. It was almost painful to watch her move so sluggishly to such a great song. It made me long for Shawn and I had to YouTube the original performance after the show just to feel better.




Ralph & Karina - I have to say that I am really taken by the Karate Kid. Although his jive wasn't as amazing as the foxtrot last week he still brought in a really wonderful dance. Plus the personality that he brings to life on the floor is great to see. I am looking for him to be in the final three and if he is not I will be extremely disappointed.




Hines & Kym - While Len may say the dance of the night went to Romeo I think it went hands down to Hines and Kym's quickstep. He was light on his feet. He kept his bum in check and they glided around as if they had always moved that fast. His charisma shined from the moment he steeped out and continued through the entire performance. My vote for encore dance goes to him without question and I hope that I get to see it again tonight.




After the second night of competition I think the real loser of the night was the overall music selection. I can already tell that is going to be one of my biggest pet peeves of the season. Music not withstanding my choice for the first to leave the ballroom would have to be Wendy and Tony. I love Tony and you can tell that Wendy really wants to do well but after turning in two painful to watch performances I really don't think I could handle a third.

Sorry honey but you just ain't doing so good.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Welcome Back Dancing With the Stars

I will freely admit that when I first saw the new cast for this season of Dancing with the Stars I was less than excited. Sure there were a few that sparked an interest. Like would the Playmate fall out of her top? Would Kristie implode during the show? That was provided she could move at all. Could the lil' rapper really do better than his infamously low scoring dad? Still with all those questions the names left me feeling less than interested.

That was when I decided that I would give it one maybe two weeks and I was sure that I would ready to move on by then. So last night seven rolled around and sadly I was still making my dinner but finished just as the line up was standing all glittery and spray tanned on stage ready to dance their hearts out for mirror ball glory. The Disney star, the football hero, the boxer and the talk show host all gave me pause but again interest was barely there.

The music started, the couples moved, the judges paddled, and two wonderful hours later I was hooked. People I didn't expect to capture my attention held me captivated, folks I thought would suck wowed me and end the end I had taken to my Facebook to alert the world that Dancing with the Stars was back.


Here is a our first breakdown of the season:

Chelsea & Mark - Mark fresh of his surprising rise with Bristol Palin has comeback with a lovely little partner in Disney darling Chelsea. She is cute, petite and unlike Bristol has personality on the floor. I'm not sure if Mark always ask to go first but for the third season in a row he started us off with a interesting Foxtrot. It was good and showed that Chelsea had potential but it wasn't a jaw dropping routine. Overall, my opinion week 1 is that they will do pretty well but I'm not sure I see them taking it all the way to the finals.

Wendy & Tony - Oh Wendy, how you doin? Not so great. Wendy's ChaCha was painful to watch. I don't know if she was nervous, not feeling the music or just to much woman for Tony to handle. Either way it was awful. For someone that is such a huge personality it was confusing for myself and the judges that looked stunned that she didn't pull it off. My opinion for Wendy is about as bad as her dancing. Two maybe four weeks if she doesn't learn how to pull that personality out and move those hips.

Hines & Kym - I will be honest; I'm still mad at Kym for stealing the trophy from Mya a few seasons ago but that aside I see good things for her this year. First off she is paired with a football player with personality. That always bodes well for "Dancing". In the likes of Emmett and Warren, Hines came on strong. The packet they showed before they started dancing was hilarious. Then they took to the floor. He wasn't the best of the night and there is much room for improvement but his personality more than made up for his lack of talent. Week 1 opinion is promising. I think his personality will hold him until he can learn the talent to stay.

Petra & Dmitry - I learned something watch Petra dance last night. I think I'm a heightest. For some reason as graceful as she was last night she just seemed too tall for the Foxtrot. That said, and my issues aside, she was good. However, she admitted thanks to her personal experience in the 2004 Tsunami her flexibility is awful and she experiences lost of pain. Still with all that my opinion is that she will make it far in this competition. After all Jennifer Gray won last year with a pin in her neck.

Romeo & Chelsie - Romeo, Romeo how you have grown up Romeo. True to form Carrie Ann seemed to be a little smitten with our lil' Romeo as she proclaimed how much sex appeal he had. However, sexiness aside he could have come out and pushed Chelsie around to the beat of the music and everyone would be glad because it would have been better than his father. Thankfully he did a little better than that. Like most rappers/rnb performers he showed musicality and hope. The question now in my opinion is if he can calm down enough actually learn the technique.

Sugar Ray & Anna - The first thing that surprised me about Sugar Ray was that he was paired with Anna and not Cheryl. She always seems to get the sporty black men but Anna lucked out this season with the legend. The jury is still out as to whether that is a blessing or a curse. Last night I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was his nervous that kept all his personality shine. The opinion for Sugar is that if he can get the nervous under control then he might end up kinda sweet.

Kendra & Louis - Go Kendra, go Kendra. Yes she sung her own theme song while showing Louis that she could shake that thing. Truthfully, she was one of the ones I was looking forward to seeing. I didn't expect much from her. Kinda a cross between Pamela Anderson and her former playmate Holly. Still she came out, calmed her booty shaking down and did an entertaining ChaCha. It was a little wild but so is she and it was week one. Will a little polish and some technique my opinion is that she might be around for the long hall.

Ralph & Karina - It was good to see Karina back and looking lovely as always and to be paired with the karate kid well that might be every girl from the 80's dream. The 49 year old actor (still shocking me) came out and delivered one of the best dances of the night. His Foxtrot was fun and flirty and full of content. The judges loved him and so did the audience. He had personality, style and my opinion is provided he can keep up the potential we could be looking at a finalist.

Chris & Cheryl - Just as I'm not sure if it was a blessing or curse that Cheryl didn't get Sugar Ray, I am also not sure if her actual partner, Chris, is the same. It was apparent that he was trying his best and I hate to talk bad about someone that tried but I'm going to have to. Chris was heavy-footed and painful. He wasn't the worst dance of the night but he was really close. In my opinion I see Cheryl carrying him to about the middle of the pack but that's it.

Mike & Lacey - I love my Lacey and when she first came on this season I was like what is going on with her hair. Her roots looked as if she had a dark bowl hanging out on her head. Yet as she started dancing with Mike I finally understood. It was so that her hair could distract you from the pain that was going on with her partner. Mike, Len said it best. Get better next week or that might be it. For this opinion I am going to follow my mom's advice. If you can't say anything nice then just shut up.

Kristie & Maksim - Some might say that they saved the best for last or at least the most controversial. Surprisingly, both might be right. Kristie's ChaCha was wonderful. She moved better than I think anyone would have guessed and really put it all out there. With a little help and continued pushing from Maks my opinion is that she could really, really do good here. In my opinion she deserves a "cheers" for her performance and I can't wait to see what she does next week. Let's see if she can do ballroom before I give her a complete thumbs up.

So that was it for week 1. I am not making predictions for who will go home this week considering that they have another Monday night before the first elimination of the season. Check back next Tuesday to get my thoughts of next week.

Until then, what was you impressions of last nights episode. Leave your opinions below.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Strictly My Opinion Vlog - Episode 1