funky little white girl

That's more or less how SYTYCD judges have been describing Heidi the last few weeks, as she continues to surprise and impress with her "nasty" and "sick" moves. I gotta agree, but I liked her before she got funky, and was utterly shocked that she was in the bottom three couples this week. I thought the routine she and Ryan danced was the best (I love Shane Sparks' choreography). She is a little bit like a chihuahua on speed in her solo, I'll give the judges that (in their words, it was more like "going overboard," but you get my meaning), but still one of my favorite dancers. I'm consistently liking the Donyelle-Benji duo a whole lot too, although this past week's routine wasn't their best, in my opinion. Allison's great, as well, but I just don't think Ivan is versatile enough. Natalie and Musa are super hot, but good chemistry will only get you so far. I find that the judges contradict themselves, amazed that someone like Musa - with no professional training - can pull off a ballroom performance, while splitting hairs over other dancers' lack of technique, even if the overall performance was entertaining.

Almost competing for my reality t.v. attention span this week was the premier of "Big Brother 7: All-Stars" on Thursday night. When I saw that Danielle - who should've won season three - would be in the house again, I felt fairly committed to watching. But about a half-hour into the show I decided to take my nail polish off instead. BB has managed to take one of the most annoying aspects of recurring reality television shows - each generation of contestants having watched more of the show - and make it the central focus of an entire season. On "America's Next Top Model" this usually just translates into a little less airtime for Miss J's runway training - most of the girls on the show at this point have been practicing their runway walk since season one. But BB requires very little actual skill of any kind to play - just a lot of human drama and back-stabbing - and all the show's contestants, more than in previous seasons, think they've got the best strategy, particularly since they know, for example, Danielle's strengths and weaknesses as a player. And that's just boring. Needless to say, I won't be watching this season. When Danielle was nominated for eviction I was tempted - just to see if she stays in or gets voted off first - but I feel strongly that I must resist that temptation. It's just not worth another season of Howie, Janelle, and Jase.