One More DWTS Note

Finally Dancing with the Stars has an entertaining female co-host! I have always enjoyed Tom, but none of the female co-hosts in my opinion could match him when it came to humor and personality. Thank goodness for Erin Andrews! This is the first season that I have actually enjoyed the post-perfomance chats. She is witty, charming, very comfortable with live television, and since she is a former contestant, she knows what both the professional dancers and the celebrities are going through. I hope the viewers enjoy her as much as I do, and that she is invited back next season. Good call, Dancing with the Stars! I am on Team Erin! And Team Tom too of course!

Librarianintx

Survivor - the Final Episode

Darn! Spencer didn't make it. I have very mixed emotions about the episode, and the reunion.

Did Tony deserve to win? I think he did. He definitely outplayed, outwitted, and outlasted his competitors. But its hard for me to support players who play the game as shady as Tony did. I do understand that Survivor is a game, and I realize that you have to lie and cheat at least a little in order to win. But it really bothers me when players swear on the lives of their loved ones, or on the graves of their deceased loved ones. Tony did all of that.

But once Spencer was eliminated, no one else was worthy of the title. I like Woo, and in my opinion, he was not a goat. He helped around camp. He worked hard to win challenges, although I think the only individual immunity he won was the final one. According to both him and Tony, Woo orchestrated Trish's exit, so he did have at least some game. And I appreciate his fighting spirit. He wanted to go to the end with the best that was left in the game, and that definitely wasn't Kass. But I figured he could have beaten her, and I was right.

What a class act Spencer is. A student of the game, a super fan to the core, his impassioned speech to the jury to vote for Tony was amazing. I wish Jeff would have polled them at the reunion to ask who, if anyone, changed their vote based on Spencer's plea. Maybe some of them wouldn't admit to it. But there sure was a lot of venom directed at Tony during that final tribal council, and yet Woo only got one vote for the win.

I am very disappointed that there was no fan favorite vote this season. Why? I think Spencer had an excellent shot at winning it. If he didn't win it, Trish might have. But I think it would have been Spencer.

Even thought it wasn't my favorite season, and I wasn't the biggest fan of Blood v Water either, I'll be watching in the fall. Bring it, Survivor!

Librarianintx

Dancing with the Stars - the Final Episode

America got it right! Meryl and Maks won the Mirrorball trophy. I'm so happy for Maks especially. He got the prize he's been working toward for more than a decade. And evidently, he got the girl too. They're very cute together. :-)

I liked parts of the two hour finale. I really liked Amber Riley's big production number. That was the highlight for me. I liked Arianna Grande too. But I didn't like the fact that so many of the performances were re-dos from the season. I like to see new stuff on the finale. And some of the contestants didn't get to perform. Granted, they were the ones that were eliminated early, like Diana Nyad and Billy Dee Williams. But sometimes the contestants that leave early come back in the finale with routines that are surprisingly entertaining. So that was a bit of a letdown.

But as always, it was a fun season. Thank you Dancing with the Stars! And congratulations Meryl and Maks!

Librarianintx

Suvivor Finale

I haven't been glued to my seat during Survivor this season...until last week. I think this is one of those seasons where two people really deserve to win, for different reasons.

Tony has dominated in the strategy department. He has been the leader of the majority alliance, and his alliance has stuck with him, surprisingly, considering that he has flipped on at least two occasions. Still, he has always returned to his core alliance of Kass, Trish, and Woo. For awhile it looked like Tony was going to follow in Cochran's footsteps and take two women to the finale who did not deserve to win. But then Trish was voted out. Still, there is no doubt that Tony will make it to the final three. He has the hidden immunity idol with the special powers. He's a lock. Right?

But Spencer also deserves to win in my opinion. He has had to scrap and scrape the entire game. He found a hidden immunity idol. He has won challenges, which Tony has not managed to do. Spencer has not been a mastermind. But he has survived against some very tough odds. I don't think anyone would have put their money on Spencer. Especially in the beginning, when the brain tribe was such a disaster.

Even though I haven't been super interested this season until now, I still love the show. But Jeff...mmmm. I'll stop there.

Librarianintx

Dancing with the Stars finale

In every season there is someone who doesn't belong in the top four. That's just the nature of reality shows. This season, I think it's Candace. However, I do think she has dancing ability. Her downfall is her nerves. She forgets moves and often looks quite scared during her performances.

In my opinion, Danica or Charlie belong in the top four more than Candace. But as I always say, reality shows are often more about popularity than talent. When you let the public vote, they are going to vote for who they like, not necessarily for who is the best. "The best" is obviously a very subjective term.

This season has a strong top four. James is quite good, especially with the latin dances. I expect his freestyle to have a lot of tricks. He is a strong partner. If no other week proved that Amy belongs in the finale, last week sure did. That quickstep was mind-blowing, and the jazz routine was great too. Her natural ability and Derek's amazing choreography have been a winning combination all season. Does she deserve to win the mirror ball? I would not be disappointed if she did. Of course I'm thrilled that a differently-abled dancer has made it this far in the competition. But we do have to remember that there are things she has not been able to do. Still, she has fulfilled the requirements of every dance she was given.

I do think Meryl is the strongest dancer this season, and she should win. And yes, it is time for Maks to win one as well. He deserves a mirror ball just for putting up with Julianne Hough and that Dance Mom judge. I'll stop there.

I haven't been voting, because I would be okay with Amy, James, or Meryl winning. I would have been okay with Danica and Charlie winning as well. But I think Meryl should win.

Librarianintx

N.H. Police Commissioner calls Obama the "N" word

http://news.yahoo.com/towns-white-police-official-calls-obama-n-word-204931723.html

I'm not going to copy and paste the article. Here's what happened. A resident overheard the police commissioner call President Obama the "N" word while he was at a restaurant. The town is small and predominately white. Residents are calling for his resignation, but he refuses to either resign or even apologize for his comments. The town manager says the Board of Selectmen do not have the authority to remove an elected official from office.

Here is the quote that spurred me to write this, uttered by a resident of the town:
"All this man did was express his displeasure with the man who's in office," Bader said."

Expressed his displeasure? By calling him a derogatory racial term? No. If you are displeased with someone, maybe you call him a jerk. You say you don't like how he's doing his job. You do not refer to someone's race, gender, sexual orientation, nation of origin, disability, and then claim that you're saying it because you're unhappy with the way someone is doing his job...or driving his car...or the condition of his house. When you bring things like race or sexual orientation into a conversation, it is discrimination. Pure and simple.

I had a discussion with a family member fairly recently about celebrity chef Paula Deen and her use of the "N" word. Paula claims that she uttered the word once, in reference to a man who held her at gunpoint during a bank robbery. My relative said, "If that had happened to me, I probably would have used that word too." I was speaking to a woman in her 70's, who had never appeared to be racist...until Obama was elected.

But I don't think I would do that. I just don't think I would. I would call him lots of names (not to his face of course), but not a derogatory term referring to his skin color. Because there are bank robbers of many different colors and nationalities. There are male and female bank robbers. I wouldn't dislike him because he was black. I would dislike him because he held a gun to me. Because he was a threat to my health, safety, and security.

Lots of people didn't like President George W. Bush when he was in office. Lots! And a lot of people didn't (and still don't) treat him with the respect that he deserves as a former president of the United States. I am guilty of that. But the level of disrespect and discrimination directed at President Obama has far exceeded that of President Bush, or any former president, in my opinion. The things people say out loud, the emails that have been sent, even the political cartoons have been outrageous. Some newspaper published a picture of President and Mrs. Obama with their faces altered to look baboons! Who would think it is okay to do that? The same people who refuse to apologize when they refer to the President as the "N" word. Because so many people believe that free speech should include the right to hate speech.

librarianintx

I love technology!

I am typing this post using my Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone and my new wireless small keyboard. Now when I'm away from home, or just don't want to sit at my desktop computer, I can blog, send e-mails, etc, without having to use my phone keyboard. I do a fair amount of texting, but I am not proficient with an onscreen keyboard.

I love technology! Okay, I don't always love it. Sometimes it drives me crazy. But when I get something that makes my life easier, especially something that will help me be more creative and expressive, then I am super excited! Thank you to everyone who made this possible for me. You know who you are. Hopefully you'll see more blogs, goodreads reviews, and other writing because of this new technology.

Librarianintx