Just one more reason I love SYTYCD

The show is amazing and the dancing is incredible. Don't think so?

Go to these clips and find out yourself.

Twitch and Katee doing "Mercy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yObGXQfDP-E

and

Joshua and Chelsea's tango
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7QiPeoUncE

This is a quick post but enjoy the dances!


Bonus: Mia Michael's girls dance last week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXiPJRXQD6g

So You Think You Can Dance

OMG!!!!

This week is going to be tough! There were some REALLY amazing routines tonight and I can't imagine who really is going to be going home. Mia Michaels! Dmitry!!! Salsa! Tice!!!!! I mean, they threw everything at them this week to make them shine or fail and they worked it out. Well, most of them did...let's look at them by couple:

Comfort and Mark (who had to be thinking in the back of his mind "Fuck...I mean, smile and act like this isn't the last week.") had hip-hop and foxtrot.
Hip-hop went really well, but you'd never know it judging by the way the judges delivered their remarks. The routine by the new hip-hop couple was fun and funky and they danced it really well. Mark has got a little flava in him! The judges were giving rave reviews in the most understated of manners. I mean, they didn't even get a Mary yell and she's been handing them out like gumdrops this season. They got annihilated for the foxtrot. And when Nigel started in on the choreography, you knew the bomb was dropping.

Anyway, expect them to be going home tomorrow to practice for the tour.

[side note: Toni Basil does go on, doesn't she? I mean, the guest jidges are a little long-winded this season.]

Will and Courtney
(little sigh for Will who is my pick to win this thing outright, if Katee doesn't)
They had slow hip-hop and samba. Okay...Will is pretty damn flawless in anything he does, but the samba didn't make him look natural. He actually looked a little awkward. The hip-hop routine was another amazing routine by our new hip hop couple. The samba was Jean Marc and P!nk, I mean his partner/wife. They got RAVE reviews from the judges and Toni Basil is still talking about it. really...right now, she's somewhere finishing up her review. I love Courtney and I wish she wasn't being outshined by some of the other girls, because she really is a great dancer.

Katee and Twitch
They got contemporary and Broadway which means they got to work with two of my favorite choreographers on the show, Mia Michaels and Tice D'Orio. (Let's take another moment of silence for the brilliance and hotness that is the two...) Mia gave them a contemporary number to "Mercy" by Duffy. It was the best number of the night. They worked that routine out!!!! They kissed. They fought. They swung on doorways. It was unreal! I will find it on YouTube tomorrow and post it if you missed it. It was that good. The Broadway number was done to "Sweet Georgia Brown" and I have a hard time reconciling a dance to something I associate with the Harlem Globetrotters. They did a fantastic job and the judges agreed. Katee is freakin' fantastic and really doesn't know just how good she is. Twitch is a surprise every week as to how talented he really is and then you remember...damn, he really can dance!

Chelsea and Joshua
They had a couple of impressive routines to tackle: the tango and disco...the dance killer. The tango was choreographed by Dmitry from season 2. No open shirt shots, but a hot routine. Nigel and Mary even spent time examining the junk in Joshua's trunk. The disco number, for me was a little tired and even though they did a billion tricks (lifts, flips, spins, oh my...) they seemed to be a little off. Still, the judges, having already decided who they wanted to go home this week, gave them raves on the technical skill involved in the routine.

This was a great show and the dancers are stepping it up to stay in the competition. Just be prepared to say goodbye to Comfort tomorrow.

Memphis and other 4letter words

Hi all!

The hubby and I just got back from an 8 hours drive from Memphis, TN to Dallas, TX. Memphis is pretty much suffering from hot as hell summer temperatures exacerbated by the humidity coming off the Mississippi river. So of course we leave the 100+ degree weather of Dallas for the balmy 90s of Memphis to visit hubby's aunt. The aunt is doing well for a woman on oxygen, managing her health one day/step at a time.

We had some time to kill in Memphis, so we did some sightseeing.

Okay people...repeat after me... Elvis is dead. He has left the building...for real. Go home. And by home I mean your home, not his. It looked like a line at Six Flags waiting to get into Graceland.

Hubby and I skipped that and ventured out to Mud Island, a strip of land great for golf, biking, hiking, etc. ...especially on a summer day. 3 hours and 10 miles later we'd riddin around Mud Island and basically become sweaty messes. Beale St. was fun but not nearly as entertaining as it would have been in the Fall or Spring when the weather makes it manageable.

Oh...and apparently the panhandlers there have my number. I got approached by just about everyone since my Southern sensibilities make it hard for me to ignore polite approaches, even if I know it is the prelude to begging.

The next day we visited Sun Records and stood in the recording room where Elvis, Chet baker, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash recorded. It was kinda cool to see the preserved history.

We then ventured out to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel, sight of the assassination of Martin luther King , Jr. I don't think I've ever been so moved by a museum. It truly is one of those places every child should visit, especially Black children who may feel like school is something to be taken for granted.

Memphis was fun. Just bring your GPS if you drive because I know we inadvertantly drove over the 2 bridges no less than 5 times because we got stuck in lanes that only led to the freaking bridge and once you are on, you go for MILES before you can turn around, and by miles I mean you enter a new state before you can come back.

Bye y'all!

Okay...what the hell is Jesse Jackson thinking?

I've been pretty much stewing on the comments Jesse Jackson made about Barack Obama this past week and wondering...

Really? Is that the legacy you want to leave the world? You couldn't get the presidency, so you say some stupid shit that has all the class and dignity of high school lunch table? I mean, isn't it bad enough that you and Al Sharpton are lumped together as the Dynamic Duo if Black American outrage EVERY time somebody has been "wronged" and is in need of a soundbite?

I mean, do you really want to be remembered more for this and illegitimate children than your presence in the fight for Civil Rights in America? Really?

Let's not even discuss the use of the "N" word while you spoke to the reporter. Classy. A word you fought to have erased from the language of Americans, a word that was beneath your legacy...until now. Fabulous. Watch it on YouTube over and over so you can see the moment you became not only a joke, but irrelevent.

Wipeout...my guilty pleasure

Okay, so Boo and I have a TV addiction. It brings us closer together and allows us to spend some quasi-quality time together (quasi meaning sometimes it's the History Channel and sometimes it Japanese gameshows). We record a bunch of shows to watch together and get to hang out while people do stupid things for money or we learn what Oprah's favorite things are (one day I'll be in that audience, dammit).

Anyway, our newest guilty pleasure is "Wipeout." It's like "American Gladiators" if done by Bart Simpson. You must watch this show. If you want a giggle for hours, this show will make you cringe, then guffaw all at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIDm66yS-Vw

Another Day in Retail Hell

Hi all. A little bit more about me. I work as a retail manager for a discount retailer of mainstream to high-end fashion. Sundays are generally a big ole biatch of a day to work in the store because 1) you are working by yourself and there is no break from the store to be had and 2) the store is generally overwhelmed with customers who sem to have forgotten all that they learned in church 5 minutes prior. On an average day the store is busy here and there, but it's summertime and from literally the time we open the doors to the time we give last call we are wall to wall screaming children and crappy customers [ed. note: the views expressed by the blogger are his and his alone and only refer to those customers he describes as crappy, pissy, bitchy, messy, or thieving].



Today was no different. My scheduling manager, we'll call Felicity because...I can't come up with anything clever at the moment, has the tendency to schedule the b a r e m i n i m u m of associates to work in the store on my days to work. I had just enough people at store opening that I could have bought breakfast from the dollar menu with a $5 and had change. Never enough. The associates trickled in slowly until I had 7 people to clean up after the hundreds of shoppers that were waiting to get in the door.



Sundays tend to bring out the fraudulent returner. "No ma'am we never sell Prada handbags at our store. Ever." "No ma'am...your receipt says you paid $150 for the suit...the regular retail on it is $49.99." "If you never wore the shirt, sir, how come there's a chili stain under the deodorant ring on the inside?"



Plus, our part of town brings in the "family shopper" (i.e. one person shopping and a 15 person entourage that destroys the store while they wait.) One half expects paparazzi at the door when they leave.



I'm sure future posts will discuss shopping etiquette with an emphasis on parents and children who shop. Right now, I'm thrilled to have the next 3 Sundays off. My Boo (who may get a clever nickname in the future) and I are planning a short vaycay to Memphis to visit some of his family and do some sightseeing. I look forward to it before I delve into Texas tax-free weekend and Back to School. Hope this finds you all doing well. Going to hit the sack and dream of a clean department and quiet children.

Is it wrong....

to think that this picture is fabulous?

First Blog

Hey y'all! Just a quick note to say that I'm doing this blog thing now and am looking at doing this on a daily-ish basis from now on. I'll be writing about the stuff that usually happens in the life of a happily married gay guy in Dallas who works retail and is a man on the verge. (smile) So keep checkin' back. I love music and movies and all things entertainment-wise, so I'll try to also hip you to some great stuff out there. Gotta go get some sleep...the crepes are giving me the itis.



L8r

Joe, Joji, J or whatever I'm being called for the day