Come in for the anger. STAY FOR EVEN MORE ANGER. >:(

Okay, so as many of you know, the Emmy Nominations came out today.

I haven't seen them yet. With the exception of one category: Outstanding Choreography. The nominees are as follows:

So You Think You Can Dance:
Mia Michaels: Gravity, Koop Island Blues, & One.
Stacey Tookey: Fear

...and that's it from SYTYCD. Insert my inexpressable RAGE AT THIS NONSENSE. I don't even know where to begin!

Okay. I know exactly where to begin: Koop Island Blues, otherwise known as the 'Butt Routine'. It is EXACTLY what it sounds like. A man is obsessed with a woman's ass. I don't see how that's dancing. Judge for yourself by watching the link above.

Not for nothing, I loved that routine like no other. Seeing it live? A blast. But I just DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY IT WAS NOMINATED FOR A FREAKING EMMY. I am irked and frustrated. As you can see.

The second issue I have with this? One. I couldn't even remember what it was until I saw it come up on my 'Suggested Videos' to watch on Youtube. And I was like, "Oh yeah. That." Other than the freaky mirror concept, I don't understand what was so freaking amazing about it that it deserves an Emmy Nomination. Once again, you can judge for yourself.

Third issue? Stacey Tookey's one routine. I don't even remember it. I don't know who danced it, I don't know what season it's from...I don't know WHAT THE FUCK it is. I don't even like Stacey Tookey's contemporary routines!

...Okay, that's something of a lie. I like Stacey Tookey and her routines (can't think of one at the moment. I'm thinking maybe she choreographed Hallelujah? I'll get back to you on that). Not more than Mia. Not more than Sonya Tayeh (who really ISN'T a contemporary choreographer, but she's done contemporary choreography and therefore it counts). Not more than Tyce DiOrio, affectionately referred to in my mind as 'Tasty Oreo'.

Which brings me to my next point. Sonya, NappyTabs (Tabitha and Napolean D'uomo) and Tyce. Were not nominated for an Emmy. Neither was Travis Wall but I'm less upset about it because I would've been more shocked if he had been nominated. He's still a baby. He has time to get a shiny golden statue.

But yeah. You have this piece by Sonya, who was nominated once before for a similar piece. Now, I'm not really a dancing expert, but I think this piece of dancing is just...brilliant. There may be the issue of, 'Oh, well it's really similar to that other piece she did'. Fine, I guess I can accept that. Still don't like it though. I really thought she was gonna get another Emmy nomination for 'Tore My Heart'. Whatever.

Moving on to Tyce DiOrio who choreographed a BEAUTIFUL piece about breast cancer. Now, there's the issue of 'well, maybe the Academy didn't like the idea of a theme'. The man choreographed a routine and won an Emmy for his routine that was about the Garden of the Eden. It does not get more symbolic than that. Academy, I spit at your hypocrisy. I spit at it.

Now, for Tabitha and Napolean, there's only one routine I would've even considered worthy of the golden statuette, and that's the one they co-choreographed with Dmitry Chaplin. The one with the water and the tables and...yeah. Whatever. I've lost my steam on this rant.

Picked it up again for a moment.

Why are all of these contemporary routines? I liked last year's pick better. Last year from the SYTYCD crock pot you had contemporary (Silence), jazz (The Garden), argentine tango, and hip hop. This year? You just have contemporary.

Why are none of the Bollywood routines ever nomianted? Why wasn't the Russian Trepak nominated? Why isn't MORE hiphop nominated? Like...can we get a little variety up in this joint? Please?

Now, you might've noticed that I never picked on Gravity. Why is that? It is the only piece in there that I consider worthy of an Emmy nomination. Addiction is powerful shit, guys. And that dance...I get goosebumps whenever I watch it. It is that good.

By the way, I don't really recall, but are the dancing numbers at the Academy Awards really that good? They're always nominated for Emmy's and I'm just like, "...I don't see it." Whatever.

Let me end this post on what is a positive note for me. Chelsie Hightower, former SYTYCD alumni and the person I aspire to be, is nominated for an Emmy for her work on Dancing With the Stars. She was in the argentine tango and the hip hop routine. So, that says something about her as a dancer.

Next rant? The next of the Emmy nominations. Stay tuned!

Fox's New Reality Show? So You Think You Can Kick Dancing On Its Ass.

Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance has been...stellar. Even if you don't understand or appreciate dancing, I think this season is well worth watching. And perhaps it's because it got off with an extremely rough start with extremely suck-ish auditions, and got progressively better once they got to the top 11.

Which, should really be Top 10, but they had to include one of my favorite dancers of all time: Billy Bell. I love this boy. But more on him later.

Now, for those of you who don't know the faith of SYTYCDism (pronounced sigh-di-sy-sum ((pronunciation orginiated by Noelle Marsh of Season 6, term is actually a website for all things related to SYTYCD))), Season 7 is different compared to the other six seasons.

For one thing, there's a Top 10 (11 in this case) instead of a Top 20. Instead of dancing with each other, they dance with 'all stars' from previous seasons, although next week they have to perform a solo, a routine with an all star, and a routine with another contestant, so SYTYCD is sort of returning to its roots.

I like these changes, somewhat. I like having a Top 10/11 because I don't spend weeks on weeks on weeks screaming at my television about how much I hate certain partners and how they suck. Case in point? Ashleigh and Ryan DiLello from Season 6. A married couple who, although they were not together, BOTH SUCKED and SOMEHOW BOTH ENDED UP IN THE FINALE. Actually, Ashleigh only made it that far because she was partnered with Jakob Karr (♥♥♥♥♥) for most of the time, and she was injured the week before the finale and floated into the finale ON HER HUSBAND'S TEARS, and Ryan took his shirt off every week. Estrogen Bridge Bait indeed.

But this time was also used to get to know dancers and pick favorites, especially for those of us who don't watch the Vegas episode. A few favorites of mine are Jakob Karr, Chelsie Hightower, Mollee Gray and Billy Bell.

This journey also makes routines like this, this, and this more memorable because it's not just about the dance. It's about what these dancers go through together, and it shows in their dancing. Well, maybe not so much in the last one, but, y'know, that's one of my faves. But, there's no journey with these dancers. I miss the dancers falling on their asses together, laughing about it,crying together during emotional/frustrating routines, and just wondering to yourself, "Can they do it?"

Sometimes they could, and sometimes they couldn't.

I don't know people's names in this season yet. Wait. I know Melinda, Cristina and Lexie were eliminated. Let me see if I can remember the names of the eight dancers that are still there. Okay. There's Lauren, Ashley, Billy, Alex, Jose, Robert, Kent and Adecheke! I got it. Whoot.

OH YEAH. Another thing that kind of irks me. With the top 20, you had a girl and a guy eliminated each week, so that the partners would be kept fair. Since the all-star addition, they've basically been eliminating all the girls because the guys are absolutely spectacular this season.

Watch the following routines as an example:

Billy Bell and Kathryn McCormack contemporary
Alex Wong and Twitch Boss Hip Hop
Alex Wong and Allison and Allison Holker Contemporary


Okay, so that's not ALL the guys, and I mentioned Alex Wong twice...but that's the caliber of dancers we're dealing with.

By the way, I stinkin' love Billy Bell. He's adorable as can be, and whenever I watch him dance, he makes me tear up because it is just that beautiful. I know he probably won't win, but I hope he does.

I wish Billy hadn't gotten mono. He would've kept Ryan out of the finale. Jakob Karr vs. Billy Bell would've been awesome on SO MANY LEVELS.

An example of Jakob Karr's awesome dancing? Here.

I'm gonna go fantasize now. Toodles.