The Australian Open is underway with Rafa playing his first round match last night... well, last night for us. The time difference is a little baffling. As I write this at 7:50am on Monday, in Melbourne time it is 11:50pm heading towards Tuesday. Rafa must've played at like 4am EST. I can't throw off my sleep schedule that much to watch live. I'm hoping that ESPN2 will show some of his match later this afternoon. It's always more relaxing to watch Rafa play when you already know that he's won.
Anyway, from what I can tell in the press Rafa started off a little sluggish, but found his form after the first set to collect a routine win against Australia’s Peter Luczak 7-6(0) 6-1 6-4. It's not always easy for the top players to go against Aussies in the early rounds because the crowd gives the Aussies so much support and guys like Rafa are still finding their rhythm.
“Playing the first round of one Grand Slam, you know, you know always the first round is a little bit more nervous and you have to start. First rounds are always difficult to play very well,” Rafa said. “Winning in three sets is good news, so very happy to be in second round,”
Next up, Rafa will face either Lukas Lacko from Slovakia or Leonardo Mayer from Argentina in Round 2. Obviously, Rafa is the heavy favorite. We can't take anything for granted though! Vamos Rafa!
Also of note, before the day before the tournament started, Rafa took part in a benefit exhibition for Haiti relief called Hit For Haiti. The event was organized by Roger Federer and featured many other top players in the men's and women's fields including Novak Jokovic, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters.
The event was staged as a sort of mixed-doubles match featuring player substitutions. The players wore microphones on court, adding fun commentary to their play. In the end, Federer's Red Team beat Rafa's Blue Team (booo!) 7-6 in the one-set match.
The event raised more than $185,000, an amount that organizers expected would increase throughout the Aussie Open. Some tour players made separate contributions, including 2008 Aussie Open winner Maria Sharapova ($10,000), John Isner ($5,000) - after he won the Auckland tournament - and Marcos Baghadits ($5,000) - after he won in Sydney.
I don't know what's going on in the above picture, but I feel like there's a good story here. Overall, this seemed like a very fun event that both players and spectators really enjoyed.
I applaud everyone involved for taking time out of their prep schedules for the Open to help with such a worthy cause. Especially Federer, who was really the creative force behind the whole thing. Bravo!
Okay, so getting to the 39 steps proved a challenge, but it was nothing in comparison to finding the Pantheon. The night before as I was making my way to Trevi Fountain, I saw all these signs for the Pantheon and figured I’d swing by to look at it (even though it was too late to go in) on my way to my destination. No matter how many signs I followed, I couldn’t figure out where this thing was. I also wasn’t 100% sure what it looked like. Was it really tall? Would it blend in with the many other ancient churches lining the back alleys of Rome’s streets? I was not sure. Bottom line: I never saw it that first night. Yet here I was, having just crossed the 39 Steps off my list of things to see and was feeling confident that I could find anything – Anything! – that I wanted to see in the city. I checked my map in my Frommer’s Guide for the bajillionth time that day and found what I thought was the most direct route to where the Pantheon (allegedly) stood. There are actually a couple of direct roads in Rome (Via del Corso, Via Nazionale and Via Cavour stick out in my mind) but there’s also just a lot of small alleyways that connect everything and it becomes like a maze. You could be right around the corner from what you are looking for, but if you turn left instead of right you might go on a loop that takes you in a loop that will take 20 minutes before you get back to where you wanted to be. I guess it’s a bit like the financial district in NYC.
From the Steps, I made my way back to Via Del Corso, took that straight shot street south but then had to veer off eastward into the maze of backstreets for the pantheon. There was an extra place I needed to find right around the corner from the Pantheon: Giolotti. Giolotti is this giant Gelati store that has hundreds of flavors of Gelati on-hand. It’s what all Gelati stands wish they could be. I actually came across Giolotti before the Pantheon which was exciting because a) I knew that I was close to the Pantheon and b) Giollotti to me looks like the candy store in the beginning of Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory where they sing "Candy Man." Oh, what delicious fun! I had just had a gelati at The Steps, so I thought I’d hold off on getting another one and find the Pantheon first.
I took a couple more wrong turns after following a few signs with arrows that in fact did NOT lead to the Pantheon (so frustrating!) but eventually I made my way into a piazza that gave way to the sight of the Pantheon. The Pantheon is beautiful, dark and awesome. It’s not the tallest building but it’s hard not to see it for the first time and be like “damn.” Some things just stand the test of time and the Pantheon is at the top of the list for surviving for millennium in style. I particularly loved the giant Egyptian granite columns outside. They were just so striking.
There was a big crowd outside the gates to the Pantheon and I made my way through the people to find out that there was actually a church service going on (because it’s still a functioning religious site) and we’d have about 40 minutes before tourists were allowed back in. I knew what that meant: Time for my trip to Giolotti! I cautiously made my way back through the streets trying to remember exactly how I’d gotten from one place to another. Fortunately, it was not too difficult in reverse. Once inside Giolitti, I was not sure what flavor combination I should go for. I wound up with a delicious chocolate, watermelon (which chocolate chips for seeds!) and frutti de bosco which in Roma was a kind of purple grape flavor. SO SO GOOD! Armed with my massive gelati I made my way back to the Pantheon. It was actually very crowded in Giolotti’s so it took up most of the wait time. When I got back to the Pantheon gates the crowd had swelled even more. People were getting restless. Can’t those freaks inside finish praying to themselves silently as they exit the building? Do they really have to finish the whole service just sitting there? Finally the worshippers exit, the gates open and the crowd rushes in. Now, this place shouldn’t be any different from the other churches of Rome, where there are signs asking you not to take pictures and people oblige, but that was not happening in the Pantheon. Camera flashes start going off left and right. People are trying to get pictures of the dome (which is even wider than the dome at St, Peter’s Basilica) and the whole place is just filled with noise and people falling all over each other trying to see what’s around them. Thankfully after that initial push in, the place calms down a bit and people filter throughout the space. I just loved being in that building. Some buildings speak to certain people and for me I just adored the Pantheon and the Colosseo. Those were my favorite buildings in Rome (with a shout out to the beauty of St. Peter’s Basilica as well.) There’s not a whole lot to DO inside the Pantheon though so after about a half hour of breathing the place in, it was off to my next adventure.
I wandered back to Via Del Corso and did a little window shopping. I had visions of me buying myself a new spring coat in Italy, but when I saw the prices with the exchange rate of the dollar I gave that dream up really quickly. There’s not much else of note about my time shopping other than to say that I did manage one whole conversation about the price of something with a sales clerk in my limited Italian. Also, they have many of the same retail stores we have on Via Del Corso, but at prices you wouldn’t believe. A jacket at Diesel for $450 American dollars! A pull-over sweater at H&M for $140 American dollars! No wonder we have so much European tourism in NYC. It’s already more than a 1.5 exchange rate and then the prices are still half as high here than they are there! It’s a sweet deal.
I made my way to the end of Via Del Corso which opens up to the giant monument Vittoriano. I make a note to myself that I want to climb to the top of it tomorrow for a great view of the city (it’s too late to do it now, because the sun has already started to set) I walked around to Via dei Formi Imperiali to make my way back to my hotel, when I came across a gay pride march. Now, I had seen signs about the March for the past two days and I knew it was happening today (which coincidentally was the same weekend as the Equality March in DC). I had wanted to go to the March in DC so I felt happy that I at least got to share in the experience of it’s Italian cousin. It had started in the Plaza Repubblica, which I assumed was where I happened to find myself, but upon further examination of my map later on, I realized that they had started in a completely different area of Rome and had marched their way down to Vittoriano. I sat on these giants steps as people flooded into the piazza. It was a very pleasant laid back sort of atmosphere which fit with the rest of my experience in the city. People congregated, there was a short speech which I couldn’t understand besides the word "equality" and the waving of the rainbow flag. Then everyone cheered and started wandering off to get cappucino. This also fit with the rest of my experience in the city. It was nice to see so many young people out and proud and letting their voices be heard. It has to be a weird dynamic with Vatican City being like a 15 minute walk east of where they were. Not that we’ve had an easier time trying to get marriage equality recognized in the States, without a religious base of operations right on top of us, but it has to be a strange dynamic under which they live.
So after that, I went back to my hotel to rest my feet for a bit before heading out to dinner. I unloaded my bag, which was still packed with my sweater and jacket and everything I’d picked up along the way from when I’d started my day back at the Colosseo. Doesn’t that seem FOREVER AGO? It did at the time as well. It was still a little early for dinner so I watched some International news. I didn’t write it down in my notes, but I believe they were discussing Obama having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Also I saw a travel segment about visiting Germany at a time other than Oktoberfest and what it had to offer.
Dinnertime! I was very tired after my full day of walking and didn’t want to go too far from the hotel. The only problem with that was since I was so close to the Colosseo there was a lot of tourist trap restaurants around my area. I walked for a bit and settled on one that seemed minimally tourist trappy. When I sat down to eat, my main goal was to have some kind of leafy vegetable, because all I’d had for two days was pizza, pastry, gelati, water, wine and the chewy granola bars I had been carry around in my backpack. A vegetable was required. I wound up getting a nice salad (which on the menu translated to daily vegetables) and a pasta with ham in a cream sauce. The dish has a name you’d know, but I can’t think of it now. I got to sit outside at this restaurant and people watch which is all I really wanted to do. But then these two guys sat at the table next to me and we struck up a conversation.
The younger guy’s name was Dano. He was from Slovakia and seemed to be mid-20's. He was apparently staying with the older man who lived in Rome and who never formally introduced himself. For the entirety of the conversation at dinner I couldn’t figure out what the relationship was between these two people. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. There seemed to be a solid 30 years between them in age. I don’t think their relationship was sexual. I guess it could've been. Dano seemed very interested in every female that walked by our outdoor seating area though. Maybe the older guy was Dano’s relative? It was possible. The reason I don’t know (and outright asking seemed a bit rude) was because Older Guy was not really interested in talking. Dano was VERY interested in talking and so when Older Guy wasn’t responding, Dano turned his attention to me.
Dano was very nice. He had just arrived in Rome earlier today, he was staying with Older Guy (for reasons undisclosed) and was enjoying the city. I told him I was from New York. He asked me if people were happy there. This struck me as odd, because the dude who asked me for directions earlier in the day asked me the same thing in almost the exact same wording. I think I told him people were okay but that the economy was still bad. He had never been to New York but was very interested in visiting someday. He had travelled through a lot of Europe. We then got into a big discussion about renting apartments in NYC. I don’t know why we stayed on the topic for so long, but it really was like half of our dinner conversation.
I probably would’ve hung out a bit more with Dano because he seemed like a nice guy and he had a good grasp of English, but Older Guy really creeped me out. He seemed uncomfortable the whole time. So after I finished the last of my wine with dinner, we said good night and parted ways. I went back to my hotel and got my bookbag in order for the next day. It was a little before midnight, and I knew that the hotel bar stopped serving at that time, so I went down to see if I could get one last cheap glass of wine, and see what the scene there was like. Unfortunately, the bar was kind of a bust. It was a very nice room, but it was empty. I was hoping for people, but there was no one worth talking to. I tried to get a glass of the house red, but the bartender lady said they had no more and she gave me a glass of a more expensive wine that did not taste good, and this was one of the few instances on my trip where I though “enh, this didn’t work out so well.” but I checked my email on the computer there and sipped my drink for a long time and read some of the book I brought with me. Then it was back upstairs to bed! Today had been a long successful journey across the city several times order. On the list for tomorrow was a stroll through the parks at Villa Borghese, a trip up Vittoriano and much more Gelati!
Up Next in Part 6 – Owen Meets Nilor -his BBF (bicycle best friend), and explores the natural beauty Rome has to offer. Also, more gelati!!
Even though we are only six days into the New Year, Rafa has already managed to win a tournament in the new ATP season. I know, right? Who even knew they started playing again? Can't they even take a break through the New Year? Well, the important thing is that Rafa is back to his winning ways and feeling 100%. The tournament in Abu Dhabi might have just been an exhibition, but winning is better than losing, and beating Robin Soderling (a player who gave Rafa so much trouble last year) 7-6(2) 6-4 in the Final is great news for Nadal.
After the match Rafa said, “It is very important for me to begin the season winning. It’s been a real a difficult battle to win a tournament in the last six months and it’s never easy to compete against the best in the world all the time, but I will be giving it my all this year. For the moment though, it’s very important to start off the year with a title,”
He has already moved on to Doha for his second tournament, getting through the first round just fine. Vamos Rafa! We're gonna repeat winning that Aussie Open title later this month!
Greetings All! Another SYTYCD season has come to a conclusion - this one a bit hastier than most. I talked last week about how odd this season has been, and the (too soon) Finale this week continued in that head-scratching tradition. The final performance show featured NINE dances (the top 3 guys each partnering with the top 3 girls equals nine routines!) but for the first time in forever it's NOT two hours long. They've shoved it all into one hour. Why? Because Gordon Ramsey is teaching us how to cook dinner LIVE AT 9PM. I don't eat dinner at 9pm, nor do I have a tv in my kitchen so this whole project to me seems a little ill-conceived.
Seriously, what is Fox thinking? Because the show was only an hour long we get no rehearsal footage, no solos, no same-sex dances and no interviews between Cat and the finalists about their journeys this season. I call bullshit. Give the Finale the attention it deserves, Network!
The only thing that redeemed this travesty of TV scheduling was that finally all the dances were kinda awesome. All season the routines were a little wonky, and then last night it seemed the gloves came off (along with most of the costumes. It was as if the costume department saw the order for 18 costumes for just six dancers this week and said "screw that, all the guys can go shirtless!") and the choreographers and dancers all really threw down. A brief recap of all the routines:
Kathryn and Ryan - Samba, choreo. by Jason Gilkison. If this show was So You Think You're A Chiseled Bad Ass MoFo, Ryan would certainly win. He's shirtless and shaking everything is mama gave him HARD in this routine. Dude is solid muscle, which helps if you have to flip a girl up over your head and catch her on your back as Ryan does in this routine. Kathryn is looking great too and moves well. Although the judges heap praise on her, I actually thought she looked a little off-balance at the beginning. I give the effort a solid B+.
Ellenore and Jakob - Broadway, choreo. by Tyce Diorio. The music is "I Gotcha" from Fosse and the costume and style reflect what you'd think of Fosse. Tyce's Broadway routines can be very hit or miss from me but this one hits. Ellenore and Jakob rule as partners. This one is fun and sexy and sharp. This one gets an A.
Ashleigh and Russell - lyrical jazz, choreo. by Sonya. I totally dug this routine. Ashleigh is Russell's guardian angel and i think the movement is just beautiful. The judges really focus the attention on Russell, who indeed is great, but I thought Ashleigh was very very strong as well. I'm glad these two got to dance together after last week's injury. I give this an A+.
Ellenore and Ryan - jazz, choreo. by Gary Stuart. I didn't really go for this routine on first viewing, but going back to it again today, I really liked it. It was intentionally robotic, which Nigel didn't care for, but Mary Murphy and I appreciated for its weirdness. It didn't really feel like Jazz though. This routine probably didn't inspire a lot of votes, but still I would give it an A- for execution and commitment.
Ashleigh and Jakob - foxtrot, choreo. by Jean-Marc. Ashleigh and Jakob make a great dance couple and they once again look great doing this. Foxtrot isn't the awesomest of dance styles to pull from the house, but I thought Ashleigh and Jacob did a solid job and always dance beautifully together. Their partnership was a real highlight from top 20 down to top 10. Grade: A-.
Ellenore and Russell - Paso Doble, choreo. by Jason Gilkison. This was good, but I've seen better Paso Doble's on this show. Possibly on this season? Russell is not really the driving force he needs to be, which Ellenore compensates for by being a fiery wraith of a dance partner in an awesome dress that works for the occasion. It would've almost been boring without her added spark and she really saves the dance for me. Solid B+ effort, but not as good as some of the other numbers already tonight.
Kathryn and Jakob - Contempo, choreo. by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. For this one we're dancing to a Michael Buble cover of "At This Moment." I don't get the appeal of Buble, just like I don't get the appeal of Hannah Montana, but I know people like his style The dance itself is totally awesome. It gets the encore presentation of the week. Adam calls it a total game changer, which means after witnessing this dance, Joe Lieberman has embraced Health Care Reform, Bin Laden turned himself into the authorities, The NY Senate reconvened to vote in favor of Gay Marriage and Michele Bachman freely admitted herself to a mental institution. If not, at least their dance was the best of the night for a well-earned A+.
Ryan and Ashleigh - Contempo, choreo. by Travis Wall. The marrieds dance together and I don't want to hear massive backlash from the public because someone voted hard enough to keep them in and it was probably YOU. The dance between them is a beautifully tender experience as you can tell they are genuinely happy to have made it as far as they possibly could, while probably internally conceding that neither of them could actually win the title. Ryan's not as good as Ashleigh in the routine, and Nigel's right that she has better dance chemistry with Jakob, but it's still fun to watch. For that I say, A-.
Russell and Kathryn - Hip Hop, choreo. by Tabitha and Napolean. This is totally in Russell's wheel house and he does not disappoint. Kathryn throws down really well too. It's acrobatic and hard hitting and all the little things work. She's up on his shoulders. She's throwing him around. It's really good. Since it's the last competitive performance of the season, it's nice to end on a Grade A performance like this one.
So overall there was a very very solid show crammed into this hour. We didn't have time to really breathe (or blink even) for the entire hour. but the performance level was high and I expected to see a few of this week's performances get encores in the finale. This week's dances didn't do anything to sway my opinion of how the final six would shake out. 6. Ryan 5. Ellenore 4. Russell 3. Ashleigh 2. Kathryn 1. Jakob. feel like if Katherine had a separate Final Four week, she'd have been able to rally the underdog vote and win it all. Even with Nigel telling her on Tuesday how she'd been his favorite for weeks, I didn't think it'd be enough.
This brings us to the LIVE* Finale (* -33% taped footage.)! We're gonna see several favorite dances from throughout the season, several pointless musical filler performances, an extend commercial for Avatar during the show and a music video for margarine during the commercials. Also the contestants will be getting whittled down from 6 to 1. So exciting! The first group number is a new Top 20 dance which is only top 19, i think so that the one alternate kid who replaced Billy (Elliot/Jamie) Bell could participate next season instead. It was a really cool number the non-finalists all danced around awesomely and then revealed the top 6 against a giant red backdop as if they were glam-rock X-Men. (For The Record if they were X-Men: Ryan is Colossus, Ashleigh is Jean Grey, Ellenore is Jubilee, Russell is Bishop, Jakob is Iceman and Kathryn is Kitty Pryde. Legacy would've been Wolverine... sigh.) After we get done with that they recap eveything from last night I aleady recapped and then get to the favorite dances. Lemme just tell you all the routines that got Encores:
Meet the Top 20: Hip Hop with Legacy, Kevin and Russell Top 10 Wk: Jakob and Ellenore, Sonya Tayeh's "Tore My Heart" Contempo Meet the Top 20: Tappa Tappa Tappa with Philip, Bianca and Peter Finale: An Original Jive Choreographed and Performed by Ashleigh and Ryan Finale: Kathryn and Jakob, Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden's "At This Moment" Contempo Top 18 Wk: Nathan and Mollee, Nakul Dev Mahajan's "Bollywood Prince" Top 8 Wk: Legacy and Ellenore, Travis Wall's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" Contempo Top 16 Wk: Russell and Noelle, Sean Cheesman's Frog Prince African Jazz Meet the Top 20: Contempo with Arianna, Channing, Jakob, and Nathan. Finale: Russell and Kathryn, Tabitha & Napolean's Hip Hop Meet The Top 20: Top 20 Wade and Amanda Robson "Bar Scene" Number
If we take a quick look at these selections, do we notice a trend? 4 of 11 Dances from before the Official Start of Competition and 3 of 11 Dances from the night before. One of the remaining dances was new, leaving only 3 dances to represent the rest of the ENTIRE COMPETITION. That's not good. That means there were several weeks where apparently nothing memorable happened. In my opinion, the Tappa Tappa number and the original jive shouldn't have been included in the finale. The Tappa was not that good the first time around, and was worse last night. And there was no need for a ballroom number between the Marrieds. They got their moment together the night before. Instead, they should've given the nods to Kathryn and Ryan's Cha Cha from Top 8 and anything from Ashleigh and Jakob's time together (I personally enjoyed the Cane Dance from Top 16, but they were all really good.)
We also got some "special" performances throughout the night: *Leona Lewis sang horribly in front of a jumobo screen commercial for Avatar. *The Groovaloo's hip hop danced. *Adam Lambert sang "Whataya Want From Me" wearing a grey suit with some weird extra black material on his right shoulder. I hope that it wasn't an upcoming Project Runway challenge to design an outfit for Lambert to wear on the SYTYCD Finale, because if that was the winning design, the upcoming season of P.Runway is in serious trouble. *Mary J. Blige sang "I am." in front of other images of herself on the big screen. *Jennifer Lopez came in on a giant high heel shoe, telephoned Santa and then sang and danced to "Louboutins," nearly exhausting herself.
All of these performances could've been skipped and nobody would've cared. The Groovaloo's and MJB were pleasant, but unnecessary. J-Lo was fun and bizarro in her now-usual way. Lambert didn't kiss anyone. Leona Lewis was just TERRIBLE. It saddens me to say that, because I usually like her vocals, but they were WAY off during the show. Pitchy doesn't begin to cover it. And the giant Avatar commercial in the background was tacky - even by Fox standards. It's annoying to think we might've gotten more dances if these "special" performances weren't there.
So now to the real business of who won. Well JUUUUST as we approached the first elimination, the whole effing system broke down. And I don't mean my DVR for once. I mean the show itself. Let me set the scene: Cat's in the process of calling everyone out on stage when her mic cuts. She makes her way to center stage, and she's just standing there all alone. The theme music plays. Someone (turns out it's Nigel) is yelling offscreen. Then three of the six dancers come on looking flustered, and some techie finally comes out with a hand mic for Cat. TRAINWRECK. Still, Cat walks away from it unscathed and is ready to move forward. On with the show! Just one little problem: half the finalists are still missing! But wait, here they come! Sort of... Ellenore and Ryan take the stage and they're helping Russell, who appears to be injured and in tears. What the hell happened backstage? "I messed my leg up," he says to Cat as a matter of not really explaining. But he's crying so what do you do? Cat reasonably asks if he's seen the doctor and Russell says that he has. But it looks like he totally can't walk on his own. Thank goodness Colossus is there to haul him around the stage. Surely none of the other finalists would be strong enough.
Realizing there's nothing else to be done but get on with it, Cat announces who las landed in sixth place...
And it's Ryan. No surprise there, but it's a bit awkward because Ryan is the only thing propping up Russell right now. Cat keeps everybody where they are and positions herself next to Ryan and they do their best to stay focused on his goodbye and not on Russell's injury. They do a tight shot of their heads so we at home can pretend that Russell is crying merely inches away from Ryan and Cat. She throws it to Ryan's video journey, where we learn that Ryan's been very muscular and just a wee bit weepy throughout his time on the show. He wasn't always the best soloist but he was great at partnering and did some good routines. When the clip show is done, it looks like Russell's been taken offstage, with the other dancers who are still in the competition. Cat handled the whole thing like a total pro and it's shit like this which would've sent lesser reality hosts totally off the deep end, Deely didn't panic and ske kept the show rolling. This is why she needs a Reality Host nomnation and win from the Emmys. She makes the whole show so much better than it would otherwise be. So for your consideration, Cat Deely, Ladies & Gentlemen!
We now resume our regularly scheduled elimination of the contestants...
in fifth place was Ashleigh. Damn, my whole ranking is now thrown off. I thought she'd be higher on the list, but she wasn't gonna win, so I guess it doesn't totally matter. She and her husband got the unique experience of taking the season-long journey together. She had a great partnership with Jakob. She made it to the final without even dancing in Top 8! So you can imagine that she feels very thankful for making it to the end.
In fourth place is our lovely Ellenore. Cat called her "one of the most original, wonderful characters we've ever had on the show." It's totally true. She danced two of the best routines of the season and she was a delight the whole way through. She never really got a ton of voter love, but she always impressed with me with her commitment and technique. Rock on, lady.
In third place came Kathryn. I was a little surprised that she wasn't top 2. As I said before, if she had another week, she probably could've made up the difference in the vote. She had many great performances throughout the season with Legacy and she was also great with Nathan, Ryan, Russell and Jakob. She was the dark horse, and while she didn't make it to the top of the rankings, she was certainly a great dancer and competitor.
It came down to Jakob and Russell. They ae very different dancers and it's neat that they were both at the top at the end, but...
Jakob took second place. I was a little sad for him. I thought he was the best dancer this season. He was really incredible. I'm sure he has a great dance future ahead of him. At least they did a clip package for both he and Russell before they announced the results. Usually whoever comes in second gets totally screwed out of any acknowledgement on this show. This change felt like an improvement. Jacob jete'd his heart out all season and was just as worthy of the title. I hope he stays in the SYTYCD Family in future seasons.
RUSSELL WINS! I thought he had it in him. I honestly forgot to really consider him as Kathryn came on so strong and Jakob was so continually impressive. Russell's krump is AMAZING though and his solos always showed how talented he was in his own dance genre while the routines showed how versatile he was. Dude just has a loveable personality to boot. Good on you, Russell, for taking the title. I only wish the network hadn't mismanaged your season so badly. You and your fellow dancers deserved better. But enjoy the spoils of winning and I will look for you and Kathryn in the Adam Shankman-produced Oscars this year!
So that's it for this season! I know this recap was VERY long, but if you've been reading them all along, I hope you enjoyed it. I really think this wasn't a bad season, it was just treated badly.The problems I had with this season had nothing to do with the dancers who I thought were a really dynamic top 20. I had a big problem with the set and lighting design detracting from the actual dance, but I felt like the camera work started to adjust to it in recent weeks. I had a problem with some of the routines, but I think giving the choreographers some time off to pursue other projects in between seasons will be good. I had a HUGE problem with how Fox scheduled the show, but hopefully they will just keep it to a summer schedule and it can be a big fish in a small pond, instead of getting roughed up by Baseball in October. I love that Travis and Sonya came into their own this season, but I want Mia Michaels back among their ranks. Cat continues to only get better and better at hosting this show, even as the situations around her get crazier and crazier. Give that woman a raise. And a well earned vacation. And an Emmy.
See you in 2010, SYTYCD! Hopefully with Billy (Elliot/Jamie) Bell and Natalie. Remember Natalie? She auditioned for Seasons 4 and 5 and was cut FOR NO GOOD REASON! Please bring her back! PLEASE!
If I gathered all my means (all my means) In a pile beside me (in a pile), It wouldn't help to fill my dreams (fill my dreams) - Many votes for Ashleigh. Money cannot buy me--- Buy for me the votes for Ashleigh. I'm not the kind of guy who falls in love with Ashleigh.
I have to say, 2 minutes into Tuesday's night's performance episode, I was ready to declare this season a huge disappointment. I don't think it's been the complete failure that was the long-delayed LA-based edition of Project Runway, but I think it's clear that having back to back seasons of SYTYCD was ill-advised. There have been too many problems. It hasn't been a smooth ride at all. Tuesday's big issue was that Ashleigh was injured and not able to dance. She wasn't outright eliminated by her dislocated shoulder, but the chances of her surviving on just the voting public's love of her past performances seemed ridiculously slim. Add her injury to Noelle's previous injury, and Billy (Elliot/Jamie) Bell's illness, plus Mia's departure from the show and we've been dealing with a lot of losses. Combine those losses with the fact that we're skipping a whole week of eliminations because we've run out of Fall Season to work with (while earlier we slogged through 3 whole weeks unneccessarily focused just on the Vegas rounds), the fact we couldn't vote for the first two rounds of Top 20 performances because of post-season baseball and the fact that the choreographers just seem burnt out on all the routines they've been cranking out since last June and it seems like the best thing this show could do is go to bed for a LOOONG winter's nap. We really don't need two seasons a year. One summer season is enough to make me happy.
Getting back to this week, I had come to really enjoy Ashleigh and I was sad for her. I originally thought she was one of the weakest girls in the competition, who got in mostly so the show could have it's first married couple as contestants. Since the start of Top 20, she's really grown on me. I think she's been a part of some of the best routines of the season and her partnership with Jakob has been great. It sucked that she was not going to be dancing with Russell, and that instead, Russell had to dance with some random choreographers' assistants. He did the best he could, but you could really feel Ashleigh's absence in his Hip Hop and Bollywood numbers. They would've KILLED both routines. I know it! Ryan took the opportunity during his own solo performance to beg for votes on his wife's behalf. I actually voted for Ashleigh several times Tuesday night, but I considered her a total goner.
As for the rest of the night, Mollee got partnered with Jakob and they danced a Viennese Waltz, which I thought was good and then a Broadway routine that I thought was weak for Mollee. The Judges heaped tons of praise on Mollee anyway, but it didn't work for me. They danced to this weird mega-mix of Easy Street from Annie and i just didn't think she hit any of it sharp enough. Jakob of course was fantastic. As for the others: Legacy/Ellenore did a really exciting Contempo routine from Travis, Kathryn/Ryan had a Disco routine that I thought was a bit stiff, but then the followed it up with a fantastic Cha Cha that gets this week's encore presentation.
Kathryn is really working off of the Jeanine playbook to secure her victory. But last year, J had an additional week to underdog her way past Brandon. I don't know is she has quite enough Show-mentum at this point to really climb past Jakob and take the title.
This week, I'm not giving Russell the Numfar Dance of Shame Award because it wasn't fair that he didn't have his proper partner in either routine. Therefore I must single out Legacy/Ellenore's NappyTabs Hip Hop number which was just weird. it was not their usual bag. No real stories or relationships. It was just weird. I couldn't connect with it. Sorry, kids. I usually love you both, but this one went nowhere.
So going into Wednesday, I was not pleased with where things had gone and was ready to say good-bye to Ashleigh under the lamest of circumstances. BUT THEN! Something crazy happened which made me love the season again. Ashleigh was SAFE! She wasn't even bottom two! And Ryan made it too! The marrieds can dance in the finale! This is pleasing to me. Mollee wound up getting the axe for the girls, and while I do think had all things been even, it would've been her week to go, it has to really suck to know that you were less popular in your routines this week than the girl who didn't even dance at all! I mean, DAMN. Mollee was a cool young dancer. I didn't see all the "GROWTH!!" the judges kept seeing in her with each passing minute of the show, but she was good and you could tell it meant a lot to her.
I was very upset at the elimination of Legacy. He had some hit or miss routines this week and last, but I thought his solos were outstanding and I really thought he'd make it to top 6. Plus his parents looked so sad! If there had been a three-way struggle for top male dancer next week between Legacy, Jakob and Russell that would've been cool. But he went almost as far as he could possibly go and I have a feeling he'll be well-showcased in the Finale and on the tour, so I'll try not to be too sad about his early dismissal.
I have no idea who will take home the title next week. It's much harder to predict with six contestants left instead of four. I mean Ashleigh made top 4 without even dancing, so I really think it could just come down to who has the most exciting routines next week. But if I had to take a stab at how the final elimination will go, I'd say:
6. Ryan 5. Ellenore 4. Russell 3. Ashleigh 2. Kathryn and AMERICA'S FAVOURITE DANCER IS: 1. Jakob
But really, I could see any of them sneaking in to win it all (except maybe Ryan. I'm pretty sure he won't win.) I'll see you all and Adam Lambert next week for the grand finale!
As I mentioned last week, the ATP Tour Finals were held in London and Rafa didn't do so well. I figured he'd be on his way back to Mallorca to eat cookies for Christmas, but I forgot that before he could go on vacation he still had to play the Davis Cup Final, since Spain has been kicking ass all season and Rafa loves to play for his country.
And wouldn't you know it, Spain won! Rafa got two great wins in what turned out to be a total rout of Czech Republic: 5-0. Rafa started things off right by beating Tomas Berdych 7-5 6-0 6-2 to give Spain a 1-0 lead. Then David Ferrer had a crazy comeback to beat Radek Stepanek in five sets, 1-6 2-6 6-4 6-4 8-6, to take the second rubber (as the Davis Cup matches are called). Following that, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco beat Tomas Berdych and Radek in straight sets, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, 6-2 to seal the victory for Spain. Rafa returned Sunday for a 6-3 6-4 win over Jan Hajek, and Ferrer did clean up with a 6-4 6-2 win against Lukas Dlouhy. "The Spanish Armada," as the team has been nicknamed, played extremely well this weekend, They successfully defended their title from 2008, making it the first successful title defense at David Cup in ten years.
This is a much better coda to Rafa's tennis year than going 0-3 in London. Knowing how much Davis Cup and his Armada teammates mean to him, I'm glad that Rafa was able to return to top form and help bring it home for Spain.
NOW he gets to rest and recuperate (and train) for when the tour starts again... in about 5 weeks? Shortest off-season ever. See you there, Rafa!
This show is a race and Jakob can win it, 'cause he's learnin' the rules of the game. If he can stay on the ball, take it minute by minute, he just might make the hall of fame. What can I say? He's doin' it the best he can!
Hopefully someone out there enjoys a good sitcom TV theme song reference as much as I do.
Top 10 week was a very good - if not slightly odd - SYTYCD viewing experience. Because Obama gave an important speech on Afghanistan, my DVR said the show started at 8:30pm and was going to last until 11pm. It wasn't really accurate, it ostarted 8:45 and only went until 10:45-ish. Still, it just seemed really LONG - 10 routines and 10 solos in total is a lot of dancing to watch. Almost all of the routines were very very good, and one of them was the best of the season by far. Overall, I was very happy with the quality of dance as we were heading into America's First Vote That Meant Something.
The weirdest things about Tuesday's Performance Night Show was that there were no intros to any of the numbers. Cat was just like "give it up for Noelle and Ryan doing a Tabitha and Napolean hip hop routine!" and bam! Noelle is walking out on stage and they are just dancing. It was disconcerting, but I kinda liked not being told what to expect - just as a change of pace. I think with less dancers next week, they will go probably go back to the dance intros. Sometimes for the non-literal dances, it's easier to connect if someone explains the concept and dance style ahead of time.
The new couples were Ryan/Noelle, Legacy/Ashleigh, Nathan/Kathryn, Jakob/Ellenore and Russell/Mollee. They were all interesting pairings. We didn't get to see any "pulling names out of a hat footage, but I guess we can assume that happened and that the Producers didn't just decide the couples this week. But really, who knows? I wouldn't be that surprised or upset to learn that there's some backstage producer manipulation on this show. Nothing so serious as vote tampering, but this week's couples didn't feel so random, you know?
To briefly recap, Ryan/Noelle were not quite hitting it with the NappyTabs hip hop, but had a strong 2nd routine with a smooth waltz. Legacy/Ashleigh had a difficult contemporary number followed by a bizarre hip hop which I'll go into in further detail momentarily. Nathan/Kathryn had a solid Broadway number followed by an awkard rumba, Jakob/Ellenore had a fantastic quick step follwed by a Sonya jazz routine that was the high point of the season. And finally, Russell and Molly had a very good lyric jazz routine followed by a strong jive (choreo'ed by Anya and Pasha! Still my favorite contestants after all these seasons!). So there was a lot of really good, and only a very little bad which made the elimination very tricky to call. My gut said Noelle and Nathan and I was right, but it was hard because they are all very good, so it could've been just as easily anyone else.
But before i get to that. The encore presentation. This routine is just killer. Jakob and Ellenore compliment each other so well and they are both really into Sonya's style. I've watched this routine probably 10 times now and there is just so much detail, you can see something new everytime. FINALLY a dance on the new stage really REALLY connects. I was so excited for them! I think this routine, followed up by an incredible solo, really marked Jakob as a heavy favorite to win the whole competition. It's still very early though! Anything can happen when America is voting!
Along with several great routines, there were also a bunch of really great solos. If you can find Russell's and Legacy's solos frim Top 10 week on youtube, you should check them out immediately. . They show off some amazing moves. I couldn't find high quality clips to link to for the blogpost though.
As much as it pains me, I have to give the Numfar Dance of Shame Award to Legacy and Ashleigh this week. It's totally not their fault. Dave Scott choreographed it, and he did them no favors. It was some vampire story, but Legacy was wearing this vampire cape that even Count Chokula would think was too tacky cartoonish, that it couldn't be taken seriously. The routine had Legacy doing no real tricks and Ashleigh's hip hop skills that we've seen put to good use in other numbers was really ignored. So we weren't left with much. The judges blasted the choreographer for the lack of difficulty at this stage of the game, and they NEVER speak out against the choreographers, so you know something was up. Anyhow, this was really the one bad number of the night. It was too bad it had to be performed by two of my favorite dancers.
But fear not! Legacy and Ashleigh were both safe from elimination! The bottom 2 boys and the bottom 2 girls were Nathan vs. Ryan and Kathryn vs. Noelle. I think America got this one right on both counts and Noelle and Nathan were sent home. It was a tough call because all four of them really are strong competitors. I just think that ultimately Nathan is the least mature dancer of the top 10 (though he's got bucketloads of talent) and that Noelle connected the least with her dances this week (though I think she has some of the best female solos in the history of the show). Top 8 is gonna be an even tougher cut than top 10! I mean, if I had to venture a guess, I'd say Ryan and Mollee get cut next week, but you can never tell who will benefit from the luck of the draw regarding partnership, dance genre and choreographer. All that factors into who gets the most votes week to week.
The quality of the dancing has really picked up there past two weeks and I hope it continues straight through to the Finale. I want more stand out pieces like Sonya's "Tore My Heart" this week. Also, I have to give a shout out to the League of Extraordinary Dancers who put on a phenominal routine during the results show tonight. There was some flip sequences in there that had to be seen to be believed. I really enjoyed it.
Best of luck to you, Nathan and Noelle. Enjoy the tour! You did great! See the rest of you here next week for the Elite 8!
The Australian Open is underway with Rafa playing his first round match last night... well, last night for us. The time difference is a little baffling. As I write this at 7:50am on Monday, in Melbourne time it is 11:50pm heading towards Tuesday. Rafa must've played at like 4am EST. I can't throw off my sleep schedule that much to watch live. I'm hoping that ESPN2 will show some of his match later this afternoon. It's always more relaxing to watch Rafa play when you already know that he's won.
Anyway, from what I can tell in the press Rafa started off a little sluggish, but found his form after the first set to collect a routine win against Australia’s Peter Luczak 7-6(0) 6-1 6-4. It's not always easy for the top players to go against Aussies in the early rounds because the crowd gives the Aussies so much support and guys like Rafa are still finding their rhythm.
“Playing the first round of one Grand Slam, you know, you know always the first round is a little bit more nervous and you have to start. First rounds are always difficult to play very well,” Rafa said. “Winning in three sets is good news, so very happy to be in second round,”
Next up, Rafa will face either Lukas Lacko from Slovakia or Leonardo Mayer from Argentina in Round 2. Obviously, Rafa is the heavy favorite. We can't take anything for granted though! Vamos Rafa!
Also of note, before the day before the tournament started, Rafa took part in a benefit exhibition for Haiti relief called Hit For Haiti. The event was organized by Roger Federer and featured many other top players in the men's and women's fields including Novak Jokovic, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters.
The event was staged as a sort of mixed-doubles match featuring player substitutions. The players wore microphones on court, adding fun commentary to their play. In the end, Federer's Red Team beat Rafa's Blue Team (booo!) 7-6 in the one-set match.
The event raised more than $185,000, an amount that organizers expected would increase throughout the Aussie Open. Some tour players made separate contributions, including 2008 Aussie Open winner Maria Sharapova ($10,000), John Isner ($5,000) - after he won the Auckland tournament - and Marcos Baghadits ($5,000) - after he won in Sydney.
I don't know what's going on in the above picture, but I feel like there's a good story here. Overall, this seemed like a very fun event that both players and spectators really enjoyed.
I applaud everyone involved for taking time out of their prep schedules for the Open to help with such a worthy cause. Especially Federer, who was really the creative force behind the whole thing. Bravo!
