Strictly week whatever.

[whatho]

I think words like tra-ves-ty and trauma are a little bit overused on Strictly Come Dancing. I did like the judges' having a stab at understanding that the public have different voting criteria and was amused at the extent to which they had to grit their teeth. I very much understand that people whose lives revolve around dancing find nothing more entertaining than flawless dancing and nothing less so than a misplaced heel lead; I think they rather struggle to comprehend the notion that people less involved in that world are capable of enjoying a performance in spite of and maybe even because of its deviation from the ace. I'm massively hypocritical about the whole judges-public thing, certainly - if they'd called the public whopping great ids for getting rid of Don several weeks ago I'd have been very much cheering them on. But they didn't do that so much because Don wasn't a flawless or a natural dancer ... he was just, you know, LOVELY, and they don't much seem to understand lovely.

As it goes I felt sorry for Heather there, especially as she's been in the dance off so many times. I'd rather those being sacrificed for ... well ... John, to be honest ... appeared significantly more random. John's not actually my ideal trade-off for Heather though. I, er ... wouldn't much have noticed Rachel's absence. Or Lisa's. Why are people voting for Lisa? John Sergeant's on borrowed time anyway and I don't think anyone much could feel massively aggrieved at his leaving from this stage onwards. But I wouldn't really call his staying a travesty. It's not entirely like burning down an orphanage.

And whatever happened to the Len who, four years ago, said that a final without Julian Clary would be lacking a certain something?

Comments

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

I don't think people need to vote for Lisa. She's do close to the top of the leaderboard nowadays I think it would take a lot to get her into the bottom two. Although then again, she was in the middle of the leaderboard of in week 1, and she still got through safe.

I don't know what's up with the judges. I like that Craig looked a little abashed tonight over giving John a 1. But they seem to be forgetting things they've already said. I know I'm like Mark's only fan, but I was watching his first waltz the other day on Youtube, and Arlene said he "moved beautifully around the floor", and if he could get his performance aspect working, he would be a dancer. And then later on they're all just saying "You're no good at dance, can't be helped". And sometimes it feels like they're being overly mean or critical to make their little phrases and metaphors work. I get that they're entitled to their professional opinion and everything, and they did make a decent point about wanting good dancers in the final so it's a proper competition, which is fair enough. But it's not all about them. Hmph.

I can't really say anything about John, because I'm quite pleased that Jodie was saved. I was supporting Rachel, like Christine, because she'd a tough few weeks and then came out and did a dance that was really great, and I wouldn't have wanted her to get sent off after doing that. But I still feel bad about Heather. At least she doesn't have to keep facing the judges though. Unlike John.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

/vent

[whatho.livejournal.com]

There are some dancers who are obviously very good dancers but somehow I when I get to the end of their performance I can't remember a thing I've just seen, and Lisa's definitely one of them. Rachel is a little bit as well, to be honest ... but then Tom, who I didn't know of before this series, I'm finding very exciting to watch: I thought there was something very engaging about his Viennese Waltz a few weeks ago and he got extra points last night for tap-dancing. I think more people should tap-dance in Strictly. And I was pre-programmed to support Cherie because she's the Duchess in Hornblower but I really enjoy watching her being very good at dancing as well. And then I love watching John stamping ineptly about the place, being well-taught, smiling a lot and saying droll things in the green room. I have very mixed criteria.

Mostly I thought the judges were very unhelpful last night, as well as pretty inconsistent - they said nothing constructive to John at all, nothing he could actually work on, I suppose because they were assuming he wouldn't be there next week. You'd think after all these years of underdog-voting they'd have got used to the way things work. Probably they say most of what they say because they like the alliteration.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

I think Heather SUFFERED A LOT for the sake of alliteration. I find I can never concentrate on what Tom's doing with his arms and feet because I'm too busy seeing what expresion he's got on his face this time. I do very much like Austin though. I did agree with the judges a lot about Rachel last week, but I think she came out and did really well last night. I still think our no-voting-out system would be best. We should write a letter.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tom's face is very weird. I like his speed and what he does with his feet, but his face is undeniably quite distracting. And the judges are making me think of the Araucaria crossword the Lancaster people and I tried to do where he was writing his clues in rhyming couplets, and you wondered if certain words were really significant or if they were just there because they rhymed with 'cabbage'. Or whatever. Mostly I think that's the only way to make sense of the things said to Heather and co.

We very much need to RUN THE BBC.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I loled at THOSE WORDS. I don't normally actually vote, except in the sense that I send Good Thoughts and probably those are counted somehow but I was So Very Ticked off at Len and someone else being a bit too rude to John Sergeant and then getting rather seriously precious about their Saturday Night Light Entertainment Show that I did proper voting for him. TWICE.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

YAY. I think that's a good reason to vote for John Sergeant. TWICE. It's not as though John Sergeant barged his way in there and insisted on RUINING their contest. The BBC presumably did sort of invite him and it's not his fault if people love him a bit. And if the good dancers are so profoundly desperate to be fairly judged on their dancing ability alone, they want to enter a proper dance competition rather than a Saturday evening entertainment show.

And I really wish people would stop talking about the trauma of being in the dance-off. I get that it's a weird hothouse atmosphere and I can see why the contestants' nerves are a bit close to the surface, but really. They've not been trapped down a mineshaft for a week quite so much as they've been ASKED TO DO ANOTHER DANCE.

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

And I really wish people would stop talking about the trauma of being in the dance-off. I get that it's a weird hothouse atmosphere and I can see why the contestants' nerves are a bit close to the surface, but really. They've not been trapped down a mineshaft for a week quite so much as they've been ASKED TO DO ANOTHER DANCE.

At least they haven't (well, I trust they haven't) said that it's "literally a trauma". My particular irritation is with people using literally to strengthen their argument without any idea of the meaning. "I'm literally going to die if I do another dance." Um, no, you're not. Well, I hope not, and if you know in advance you're going to -- dont do it!

[whatho.livejournal.com]

I love people misusing 'literally'. Well, I sort of love it. I don't think anyone's said it's literally a trauma though. I did hear one of the judges talking this morning about the public's having to be responsible when voting. That was fairly priceless.