Monthly Archives: June 2011
SYTYCD – Top 16
It’s too bad that we lost the only ballroom dancer, the best tap dancer, the best hip-hop dancer and one of the best female dancers last week, but really, there were no really good choices for who to send home, and there still aren’t. More great dances happened this week, with two excellent NappyTabs numbers and two really great ballroom numbers from Jean-Marc. Here are the best of the best: Read the rest of this entry
The Voice – Finals
The final performances for this show were a bit odd, because they involved an original song (but not necessarily written by the performer) and a duet with their coach. No individual cover songs. For the first time, the teams are competing against each other, not against their own teammates. I think it’s pretty obvious that the winner should be either Dia or Javier. I would give the edge to Javier on performance alone, but there’s something so lovable about Dia that I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins it.
Javier also benefitted from an unfair advantage: Adam Levine. It’s hard to imagine a more engaged and intelligent coach for preparing to sing a song on national TV or for singing a duet with. He absolutely killed it as a coach and producer and he’s a rock solid performer. Dia had great support from Blake, but he has much less creative ability to bring to the table and a much more pedestrian voice and performance level on stage. Here are their performances: Read the rest of this entry
Best Utah Mexican Food
OK, the water park thread degenerated into a discussion of Mexican restaurants. So as not to disrupt people lambasting or praising Cowabunga I thought I’d move this here.
My thoughts.
Recent Music Purchases II
Last August I wrote a post about some of the singles I had purchased online. In that comment thread there were some great song suggestions. For instance I first learned about Miike Snow from BTD Greg in that thread and I’m a big fan of that band now. So I figured I would go for a follow up post in hopes of getting some good suggestions again this Summer. I’ve titled this sequel post “Recent Music Purchases” because I am finding myself buying whole albums on iTunes and Amazon pretty regularly too and I didn’t want to miss highlights from those albums.
Anyhow, here are some highlights from the music I have purchased since last August.
Rogue Wave — Lake Michigan — A Pandora find that I think is really cool.
Sugar and Gold — Sometimes — One of those obscure Pandora finds that stays with you.
The Voice
Lest you think I am a reality TV junkie, let me assure you that I do not watch every talent show out there, but lately The Voice has got me watching because the performances have been, in my opinion, crazy good and light years better than that other singing competition, which I can’t even remember the name of now. I’m not sure what accounts for this, but some of the recent performances were so good that I can’t help posting them and getting your thoughts. For my money Dia Frampton and Javier Colon are the best but all of these perfomances were great. Read the rest of this entry
SYTYCD Season 8 Top 20
The new season of this dance show is going on and the top 20 have been selected. Last week they were supposed to eliminate two of the contestants and just couldn’t do it. I don’t blame them, they’re all very good. This is probably the best season ever in overall quality of dancers. The choreography is also better than ever. I don’t know how they’re going to be able to elimintate four people this week. Here is the best of the ten excellent dances:
Are you watching? Who are your early favorites?
Battle of the songs: “Burial” vs. “The Funeral”
I have been listening to my Pandora.com account tonight and two songs I love came on in succession: “Burial” by Miike Snow and “The Funeral” by Band of Horses. I figured I’d share them here with you. Go ahead and vote on the one you like best in the comments.
If you have another good funeral-related song you’d like share just add a link in the comments as well. I often love the songs KBers suggest.
Movie Review: SUPER 8
What can I say? It’s a terrific movie. JJ Abrams, clearly trying to channel some of the magic from vintage Amblin Entertainment films, has made a monster movie with the heart of a Spielberg narrative. The result isn’t perfect but it’s still a wonderful film. Read the rest of this entry
Hamboning will save your life someday!
Have you seen Regular Show yet? If not you are missing out. I rate it as one of the funniest shows on TV. Do yourself a favor and start recording it. New episodes air Monday nights on Cartoon Network.
Here is the pilot for your viewing pleasure. Trust me, this will be 11 minutes well spent. (Update: Unless you hate it I guess…)
Movie Review: X-MEN – FIRST CLASS
Let’s take care of our primary worries first: it’s not that bad. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS is decidedly superior to THE LAST STAND and WOLVERINE, and is probably also better than the original X-MEN, which was ponderous, over-serious and under-entertaining. But once again we’re stuck with origin stories and more origin stories, taking too much time showing us new mutants and explaining fancy new mutant powers rather than striking entirely into new stories and sticking with its strongest characters. Read the rest of this entry
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