Welcome to Something for Nothing

For some reason I always seem to miss Last Comic Standing at its regular time. Thankfully Last Comic Standing full episodes are streamed online. Here are 2 of those episodes for your viewing pleasure.

June 12th - Episode 4 - Last Comic Standing
“This week’s comics turn up the heat in Minnesota and Nashville in their bid to become The Last Comic Standing.”

June 19th - Episode 5 - Last Comic Standing
“The search for the funniest comedian continues during a special audition held in Miami for international comics.”

On the second week of America’s Best Dance Crew, each crew was given a different video with a dance sequence in it, which they had to perform while keeping their own style as a crew. Here’s a list of music that each crew danced to. As always here’s a link to all the music from ABDC.

A.S.I.I.D. danced to the song “Like A Boy” by Ciara

Boogie Bots danced to the song “Bump Bump Bump” by B2K ft. P. Diddy

Fanny Pak danced to the song “Wind It Up” by Gwen Stefani

Phresh Select danced to the song “Gimme That” by Chris Brown

Sassx7 danced to the song “I’m A Slave 4 U” by Britney Spears

SoReal Cru danced to the song “Love In This Club” by Usher

Super CR3W danced to the song “Run It” by Chris Brown

Supreme Soul danced to the song “Touch” by Omarion

Xtreme Dance Force danced to the song “Let Me Love You” by Mario

Enjoy all of the music from the “CREW’S CHOICE CHALLENGE” that aired on June 19, 2008 (yes, I’m a little late, but better late than never). Here you’ll be able to find all the music from America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC).

SoReal Cru danced to the song “Entourage” by Omarion

Supreme Soul danced to the song “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” by Busta Rhymes

Xtreme Dance Force danced to the song “Shawty Get Loose” by Lil Mama

A.S.I.I.D. danced to the song “Whatever U Like” by Nicole Scherzinger

Boogie Bots danced to the song “More Bounce To The Ounce” by Zapp & Roger

Super CR3W danced to the song “Get Up” by James Brown

Phresh Select danced to the song “Motownphilly” by Boyz II Men

Sass x7 danced to the song “Damaged” by Danity Kane

Fanny Pak danced to the song “Speakerphone” by Kylie Minogue

Distorted X danced to the song “Oops (Oh My)” by Tweet ft. Missy Elliot

I am disappointed that the producers of Next Design Star are going in the direction of so many other reality type programs. The only drama I care about is in the designs themselves, not personality clashes. If I could send a message to the participants of this show it would be: Remember that unlike most reality show participants looking for fifteen minutes of fame, you are professionals. No matter what happens on this show, you have to return to the professional world of design when it’s over. All the instigating, crying and fighting may decide winners and losers well beyond this show.

Now on to the show. Challenge two had eight designers divided up into four teams. Each team had an identical room that was quite large. Of the four rooms I found Matt and Michael’s black living room the best from a visual stand point. With more creative lighting and accessories to brighten the room it could be fabulous.

My least favorite room was Tracee and Jennifer’s eclectic room. That room was wrong on so many levels. Seriously, I think anyone watching this show could have created something more interesting than that.

About the eliminations…Right before we left the judges for a commercial break, judge Cynthia said “She has no design style as far as I am concerned”. It sounded like the others agreed. I don’t know which ’she’ they were referring to but she’s still on the show. D. Paul was sent home which has me confused. His only mistake was underestimating the amount of time he had, which is something that can be easily fixed for future challenges. Definitely easier than developing a design style overnight! Anyone else surprised by this elimination?

Rocky

This season is going to be hard to predict. Last night everyone stepped it up, creating a very exciting night.
The challenge: Take a hot music video and immulate the dance moves while adding their own signature flavor. Everyone was fun and entertaining, in fact, I can’t really list my favorites of the night. Super Cr3w and SoReal are still my show favorties so far. Fanny Pak really impressed me. Their creativity is really starting to shine, hopefully others will see it too.

Surprise of the night…Boogie Bots in the bottom two. SAY WHAT!?! Chicago’s Xtreme Dance Force got more votes than the Boogie Bots! Someone’s been fibbing to me because everyone I talked to after last weeks show had them in the 5th or 6th place. Ok, who didn’t vote? Remember Shane’s warning last week: Pay attention to who you’re voting for America.

Whew! Boogie Bots are safe for one more week.

This week we say goodbye to Sassx7.

I can’t wait till next week to see what happens next.

Shane mentioned that he’d like to see more robotics in Boogie Bots routines. Here’s a fun instructional video on learning the robot dance.

Disclaimer: No chickens were harmed in the writing of this blog.

The second season of MTV’s  America’s Best Dance crew premiered Thursday, June 19th and it looks like this is going to be a great season.  The only problem I see is that the time between season 1 and 2 has been too short. There hasn’t been enough time for the love fans have for last years crews to fade so it’s easy to make comparisons. Unfortunantly, we’re going lose some very talented crews this season before the audience gets a chance to know them.

Here’s a look at the top 10 crews. This also features some clips from last years winners, Jabbawockeez.

My picks for the night:

West Coasts Super Cr3w - They had a Ninja theme going that was exciting from the very beginning.
Houston’s SoReal - They exploded to a whole new level.
Washington D.C.’s Boogie Bots - A smooth blend of Kaba Modern & JabbaWockeeZ.
Philadelphia’s Phresh Select - These guys turned up the volume.
San Francisco’s Supreme Soul - Promises to bring the heat this season.

Bottom two up for elimination:
Los Angeles-based Fanny Pak
Distorted X from Texas

The judges have spoken, Distorted X is the first crew to go home.

You can see full episodes and loads of backstage goodies at http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/dance_crew/series.jhtml

Rocky

Great elimination show. Sad to see anyone go, but we still have all the music for SYTYCD. I think we’re pretty close to reaching the point that anyone who gets sent home will be a great dancer.

Below you’ll find all the music from the sytycd top 16 elimination show. Just click on the iTunes link to be able to download the song.

Group dance to the song “The Dance” sung by Charlotte Martin (Choreographer: Mia Michaels )

The Best Dance Crew danced to “Chemical Calisthenics” by Blackalicious feat. Cut Chemist

Musical guest: “One Step at a Time”—Jordin Sparks

Chelsea Traille danced a solo to the song “A Song For You” sung by Donny Hathaway

Thayne Jasperson danced a solo to the song “Always” sung by Bon Jovi

Comfort Fedoke danced a solo to the song “Just Fine” sung by Mary J. Blige

Chris Jarosz danced a solo to the song “After Tonight” sung by Justin Nozuka

Kourtni Lind danced a solo to the song “Fire Door (Live)” sung by Ani DiFranco

Matt Dorame danced a solo to the song “I’m Yours” sung by Jason Mraz

Elimination songs:
Chelsea Traille: “When You’re Gone”—Avril Lavigne

Chris Jarosz: “All We Are”—OneRepublic

I loved this little video clip of a sytycd voting party for Thayne Jasperson. The best part is that it shows that people from Utah can’t dance. There are certainly the exceptions like some of the things we’ve seen on the show, but generally I can tell you that people from Utah can’t dance.

Josh and Katee are definitely my favorite total couple. They both have the best personality of any other couple. Josh is just a fun loving laid back guy and Katee is shy, reserved and totally intriguing. I think I just really like people that are humble. Which is why it is ironic that I love this samba by Josh and Katee.

This was definitely the worst dance of the night. Not because Chelsea or Thayne didn’t do well. Mostly because quickstep is a hard dance to knock out of the park on So You Think You Can Dance. It’s a challenging dance that can be wonderful, but to me is just not able to connect the same way other dances do.