Apparently it’s Taylor Swift week here at SWTCTW. My sister — who certainly takes the cake for being the most diehard T. Swift fan in the family — just passed along this video, with this added commentary: “SHE CAN DO EVERYTHING. I love her love her, and ‘On a Boat’ is my new favorite song, could it get any better?”
No, dear sister, it probably couldn’t:
I’ve gotta say, my respect for the venerable T. Swift went up quite a bit after I saw this, much like my respect for Justin Timberlake (and T-Pain, now that you mention it) skyrocked after their SNL appearances. Who doesn’t love famous people who are willing to mock themselves?
Say what you will about Taylor Swift (and I’ll say this: I unabashedly love her), but this arrangement is absolutely gorgeous. You have to watch until the end, where the composer talks about his daughter and how he arranged the piece for her. Even Kathleen teared up:
Yes I’ve posted videos like this before. Yes, I’m obsessed with random dance routines in awkward public places, what of it? It’s hilarious! And that old man is really breaking it down. Does anybody want to start the DC Hammer Pants Dance brigade?
I’m pretty late to joining the Kings of Leon bandwagon, but I’m totally in the front seat now. They are AMAZING. I recently read the Rolling Stone cover article about them (excerpts here), and I think they have a such an intriguing story. All related, came from a weird intensely religious background, got into music pretty late in the game, get drunk and get rowdy on a regular basis and aren’t afraid to admit it, etc. etc. Plus there’s a lot of beardage going on, and Caleb’s voice is freaking phenomenal.
One of the girls I stayed with this weekend, Ashley, has been a major Kings of Leon fan since the beginning, so we spent a solid chunk of time this weekend dancing around, drinking Coronas, and blasting their music. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to spend most of my summer continuing that trend.
This time, Chris is late! HA! But anyway, I love his diagnosis…it’s hilarious!
I’m not a doctor, but I’m going to stand by my diagnosis. Anyone that saw Wednesday night’s episode knows what I’m talking about here – and I, for one, am concerned. Reality TV judges are at risk. Specifically, the female judge sitting in the middle seat of any given seems to be vulnerable to Paula Abdul Syndrome or, as we in the medical blogging community call it, PAS.
The symptoms of PAS are clear: slurred speech; wild hand gestures; crying; etc… symptoms often prompt weird looks or agitated comments from judges sitting nearby on the panel.
[Please entertain a small digression. This is a plea to all judges sitting near a PAS victim. They can’t help it. And it should help you to know that even though we aren’t there with you, it is just as painful for all of us to watch at home. Try to show some compassion, and know that you’re not alone. /digression]
The cause of PAS is still unknown, but medical experts (I) have begun to narrow down the suspected causes. To do this, they (I) had to rely on photographic and video evidence, as an in-person study of someone infected with PAS may be unsafe – and the experts (I) don’t want to be responsible for causing a pandemic.
So far, PAS seems to have attacked only women, although its too early to say for sure. The location of the infected judge’s seat seems to play a role as well. There just seems to be something about that middle seat. (An odd cause, you say? Maybe, but have you ever sat in the middle seat for a long flight? That’s what I thought – and I hope you will think twice before questioning the medical experts (me) again…) This brings us to the cups. Enough said there, I think. The wild hand gestures are an unresolved question for the experts studying PAS. So far its unclear whether or not they contribute to the cause of PAS, or if they are a symptom. These certainly are scary times.
Mary’s struggle with PAS was borderline distracting; but here are some of the best numbers from the night…
Okay, okay. So this was supposed to be posted last week. EPIC FAIL on my part. Chris met his deadline, I didn’t do my end of the deal (I was in a wedding…excuses, excuses.). So let’s just consider it a refresher for last week in preparation for tonight!
I have decided that I have one year to get my dance moves up to par. I will be starring in Season 6. [Edit: Season 6 auditions have already started.] This week the Top 20 were named. I’m not saying that I anticipate making it that far when I make my SYTYCD debut. But I figure with a year of hard work I could score a ticket to Vegas. That’s good enough for me.
Wednesday night we were treated to two full hours of dancing mayhem – a sort of preview for the rest of the season. I’m crazy about Mia Michaels – and we got to see one of her routines. And in Thursday night’s episode saw the fangs come out. She had clearly been drinking out of Tyce’s “bitchy queen” water bottle. Her choreography, though, was – of course – great. I guess being a bitchy queen is one of the perks of being really super awesome at your job.
I really like this character Tony. His audition was pretty clever. Mia’s routine gave him such a difficult time that they made him try it again later in the day. This clip serves both the purpose of introducing you to Tony and showing off Mia’s stuff – cause I love her (even though I’m scared of her). A super efficient choice of YouTube clip, I know. You’re welcome.
My buddy Natalie was sent home – I think unfairly. And yes, I will be writing a letter (and you should too). We met her last season when it the top 20 came down to a head to head between her and her less cool roommate. Her roommate made it and she was sent home. Here’s here audition video from this season:
So we have our Top 20 for the summer. Now the fun begins with the good dancing and all that jazz. Congratulations SWTCTW, I hereby declare that summer has arrived!
Yeah yeah yeah, this was SO last week. (Maybe you haven’t seen it?) But here it is anyway! It still makes me laugh, even though the second half is not nearly as funny as the first half. Enjoy!
So even though most of us (or maybe just people like me who don’t know much about ’80s hair bands) only know Bret Michaels from his addictingly bad reality show on VH1, apparently he really was, at some point, famous for being in a band. For reasons I haven’t quite figured out, he and his band, Poison, performed at the Tony’s last night, and at the end of the show, Mr. Michaels got clotheslined by his set. See for yourself:
My first I’m-clearly-going-to-hell asshole reaction was to laugh. A lot. Because who doesn’t love seeing people (especially people who are men who wear eyeliner and have ridiculous blonde hair and star in reality shows about falling in love in two weeks) fall? But apparently he might be hurt? Let’s hope he’s not, for the obvious reasons, but also because then we can laugh at this clip with less guilt.
Kathleen must be given credit for finding this wonderful link to 25 of Nickelodeon’s Best Original Songs, but she didn’t post about it yet, so I win! Mwhaha.
I thoroughly enjoyed purusing these videos yesterday, because watching Nickelodeon took up about 50% of my childhood. The other 50% was spent eating some form of fast food almost every night. (My mom used to work late as a nurse and was horrified to discover, a decade later, that chicken fingers and french fries made up a substantial protion of her daughters’ diets. Thanks, Daddy!)
My sister and I love to try to remember all of the Nickelodeon shows that we were obsessed with, and this Top 25 Songs list helps with that. I mean, Doug is a given. But shows like My Brother and Me? Totally forgot about it! Clarissa Explains It All? Amazing. (Don’t pretend you didn’t have the biggest crush ever on Sam. It made me wish I lived on the second floor just so that my best guy friend could have a ladder and sneak into my room whenever he wanted.) And I’m not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed that I still know all the words to the Salute Your Shorts theme songs. I could have used a few references to Wild ‘n’ Crazy Kids or Guts, but I’ll take what I can get with this brilliant piece of You Tube-y nostaglia.
These days, I feel pretty bad for the kids who weren’t allowed to watch as much teevee as I was. What happens if “Nickelodeon Shows” is a Kings category? What if people start talking about how weird it was that Alex Mack turned into silver goo, and you don’t get the reference? How humiliating. (If you are one of those kids, please do yourself a favor and memorize the songs from the Top 25 list. Then you can probably fake your way through most of the references.)
So, to get all big picture for a second…it’s sort of strange to think that I spent so much time watching the teevee and eating horrific fast food, and ended up turning out okay. Of course, I played outside a ton, and I’m sure my mom snuck some vegetables in my diet when my dad wasn’t looking, but if a kid exposed to all that trash and poison managed to get through college and has turned out reasonably healthy and normal, do parents these days really need to be obsessing over Baby Einstein and organic milk and French lessons? I wrote a few speeches on this in college, and now I’m sort of obsessed with this topic. There’s certainly a lot to think about, there. (If you want to read a legitimate article about this, not just the ramblings of an unmarried, childless 20-something, check out this NY Times Magazine article.)
But since I’m (erm, hopefully!) many years away from worrying about this stuff fer real, let’s all just join together and appreciate the awesomeness that was Nickelodeon in the ’90s:
And speaking of le television, if you need a new show to get addicted to this summer, and you’re four years behind the times like I am, please start watching Weeds. You won’t regret it.
KILLER UPDATE: From a Gchat conversation with my friend Rachel, because I know you love getting inside looks at my deep, deep Gchat convos. (Background: Rachel and her friend Meghan are frm South Orange, NJ):
Rachel: here’s a tidbit u will enjoy
they filmed pete and pete in south orange me: no way! Rachel: and used meghan’s house for hair and makeup etc me: NO FUCKING WAY! Rachel: not the whole thing of the show just parts me: THAT IS THE COOLEST THING IVE HEARD ALL DAY
It doesn’t take much to get me riled up on a Monday morning, I guess.
Today is a sacred holiday. It’s National Neil Diamond day. Let’s take a minute to appreciate how glorious this man is and the impact he has made on our lives.
What a fox. RAWR!
Ba ba ba! So good! So good!
Check out the outfits in this one. Neil Diamond is all that is man.
six words to change the world. 