Danielle Blog

more ill

I now officially have secondary bacterial infections as a complication of having had a primary H1N1 infection. Well, the H1N1 part is presumed. But the bacterial is definite.

I don’t want to go into the whole big story – since I already sent it to some of you who I know still read my blog – at least occasionally.

Suffice to say, I’m on antibiotics. I’m home from work. We happen to have Thursday and Friday off. Which is really great!

The sucky thing is that I was supposed to go to the So You Think You Can Dance show last night. I had a 2nd row ticket on Flr2 – which I assume means the 2nd section back. So, not as good as years past where I was on the Floor in the first section in row 5 or so, and then row 11-14…. but still a good seat. There wasn’t time to try to give it away. I find most people don’t like to go by themselves anyway. Such a shame.

I felt this terrible pang watching the Vegas Week show on TV last night when they would play the “song” after a commercial break.
Crappy, crappy timing. Stupid infections.

In general: I cough, it hurts. I swallow, it hurts. I sleep, which makes me cough and makes my sinuses plug up – it hurts. I eat, it hurts.
Do you see a pattern.
I shouldn’t whine. I could be in the hospital if I were like some poor people. But it just sucks being sick – as you know.

Okay, back to my toast. I’m trying to do at least a couple of the items in the BRATT diet – which to my knowledge is bananas, rice, apples, tea, and toast. I had an apple last night. It is nice that it is apple season here.

You also know I’ve got the tea thing all covered – there is no way I’m skipping that one!

So You Think You Can Dance 2008 tour

I saw the 2008 tour of So You Think You Can Dance on Sunday.  It was incredible.  It is so amazing to see them on stage and realize that it is really them – the dancers from the TV show that I admired for a season.

One announcement right at the beginning was disturbing.  Katee announced that she was injured and wouldn’t be dancing.  The entire audience groaned in disappointment, of course, since she was the best female dancer of season 4.   I think we all quickly realized that the door routine and the Iraq/No Air routine wouldn’t be the same without her.  However, I was pleasantly surprised, because they had Kherington sub in for Katee on the door routine, and she was great at it.  AND the No Air routine was the one right before the finale, since it was such a key routine during the season, and Katee actually came out and danced for that one.  I was really glad that she was well enough to dance that number, because it was fantastic to see her and Joshua dancing together again.

As for the rest of the show, it started off with some great hip-hop including the escaped convicts routine with Kherington and Twitch.  Later in the night, we saw the hip-hop routine with Twitch and Comfort that premiered on the night she took Jessica’s place after Jessica was injured.  It was probably the routine of the night that most got the crowd going, because they got the crowd clapping and swaying their arms.  We also saw the detention routine with Comfort and Mark which was also very high energy.

Some of the highlights of the show were the briefcase routine with Chelsie and Mark.  The weirdo Garden routine with Mark and Courtney was very emotional.  The bed routine with Kherington and Twitch was dramatic.  The waltz with Kherington and Twitch was so graceful.  The Adam and Eve routine by Jessica and Will was just incredible and sexy.  And Will’s body!  Wow. The jive with Chelsie and someone else was terrific.  She is just amazing when it comes to most of the dances.  She really puts a lot of energy into  her kicks and  leg movements.  And of course, the swiveling of her hips.

The solos could’ve been longer.  I think the introduction of each person was longer than the actual dancing.  Some of them looked like they were putting more energy into their solos than others.  The group dances were just okay.  I actually liked the group dances from last year better.  Although the Bollywood one was pretty good.  And the other one that was good was the black and white routine where the guys have these big poles that they thump on the ground.  Mark is the center of attention for that one, and he plays it so well.

They do these little introductions of the dances or patter throughout the show.  Twitch and Courtney were the best at these.  Katee should stick to just dancing. 

And my seats were perfect this year.  I was in the 11th row, so I was able to see from the floor up this time instead of mid-calf up when I was in the 4th row last year.  Of course, I couldn’t take any photos.  Not only was I too far back and looking between people seated in front of me, but my camera wasn’t allowed.  They didn’t allow any cameras with detachable lenses (like mine) or lenses that were more than 2 inches long (like mine). However, it was good to just watch the show and not be looking at it from the perspective of “would this make a good photo”.

All in all, it was a really terrific, enjoyable event.  I’m so glad that I went!

American Idol Finale

So, I went to music practice last night for church and it ran long. This meant that when I got home, I watched American Idol on TiVo (which, unfortunately means, not in High Def). I was glad to forward through Donna Summers and through the ads. I was really impressed with how all of the American Idol contestants did on the new songs. I am also surprised that with the choreography, they all manage to step in the right direction together without staring at each other.

And here is the problem with TiVo and Fox.

Ryan Seacrest says (something like) “And the winner of season 7 is David……. Cook!”
And RIGHT AFTER he says Cook, like his mouth is still forming the K, the TiVo cuts off the show.

I was shocked, happy, and frustrated. I really had wanted David Cook to win and had tried to vote for him, but the phone lines were always busy when I tried. I figured that with the tweeny-bopper vote, he didn’t stand a chance. But maybe that knowledge rallied people to get to their phones and vote.

Anyway, the story ends happily, because someone on YouTube posted the announcement and the final song here. So, if you didn’t see it, and have 6 minutes to spare, you can watch it on YouTube. American Idol also posted the song, but not the announcement and reaction (which is what I wanted to see).

This is a guy who went to the try-outs as moral support for his brother and got encouraged to try-out himself. He DIDN’T EVEN INTEND to try-out! Just amazing.

Here is a video of him singing U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. It is only 2 minutes, I think the video includes the judges’ comments.

And here is a video of him singing Billie Jean. It is 2 minutes, and listening to the comments is also really interesting on this one (which brings it up to 3 minutes).

And the best part is that I will totally buy his albums. I love the rocker-gravelly sound of his voice. While I like purity too, I like the style of his music much better than David Archuleta and Syesha. The only other AI contestant I could see getting behind is Carly Smithson (who reminds me of Cher) and Michael Johns. Brooke White is kind of a maybe in my book, because I love that Carly Simon, James Taylor vibe she has going for her.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, if you watched it. I know I did.

AND NOW, we get to see So You Think You Can Dance!

Dance War

I have watched 2 episodes of Dance Wars: Carrie Ann vs Bruno. They were promoting this show during Dancing with the Stars, since these 2 are judges for that show. It is proving to have a lot of good musical numbers so far. The contestants sing and dance to various pop (ish) songs. Some of them have really outstanding voices or are really good dancers. It is hard to find people with top skills at both, but they have some good ones.

The one complaint I have, though, is how the show is miked. When the crowd (mostly girls) start screaming during the songs (for the guys, usually), you can’t hear the singing and music anymore. It is really a problem that they need to work out. In addition, it was hard to hear some of the questions and comments with all of the yelling. I know this “creates excitement”, but it also creates annoyance.

So, with that caveat in mind, you might flip it on next monday and see the opening numbers. They will probably be good, if this week’s show is any indication.

AND tonight is the start of American Idol. This is the part of the show that can be sooo painful to watch and hear. However, it is worth going through the bad ones to hear the good ones.