multipurposegoddess

 In the last 3 weeks i have watched every episode (and episode commentary where available) to date of Community. It is a little alarming how much I like this show.

Naturally, I have poked around the internet a little bit to see what other people are saying about it, so I've seen a few "Why didn't I start watching this earlier?" comments from others who didn't jump i with the pilot. I'm not going to say that. I did watch the pilot and I was absolutely right to decide not to watch season one as it aired, not because there was anything wrong with it but because there's no way I would have enjoyed and appreciated it at the time. As I have done this epic catching up, I kept an episode guide with air dates to hand because that's how I roll and there were so many times when I could remember what was going on with me when a particular episode and be able to pinpoint exactly what horribleness that episode would have triggered if I'd watched it when it aired. But I can watch them all now. So that's, like, progress? It's something.

And I am grateful for that because, y'all, seriously, I love this show. A lot. NBC has got to bring it back soon.

As you may have picked up by a careful reading of the subtle clues in this journal, I have been having a tough time making decisions for the last, oh, two years. Or so. And a big part of that has been that every decision boils down to choosing what kind of person I want to be.And I mostly don't know, still, I have no guiding principle to go by, really, so every stupid choice is monumental. And, on top of being narratively innovative and dense with humor and frequently just awesome, Community addresses those kinds of questions of identity in a thoughtful and sympathetic way.  I really appreciate that.

I was watching more or less live on Thursday while DH was out at a meeting, and he came home while it was still on so I paused it to chat with him a little and he asked me what was going on.

( I suppose this counts as spoilers for 4/9 ) 

I got a High Definition DVR/Cable Box from Comcast today.

The opening graphics of the Newshour with Jim Lehrer is so beautiful I might cry. Animal Planet/Discover/National Geographic is going to kill me, I can tell.

I might need a HD Homerun for easy transfer to iPods and those occasions when I need to record four things at once (Thursday nights, I'm looking at you)

I am incredibly close to being done with the old house. I have one cooler-load of beverage to rescue from the fridge, two rugs to haul over, and then it's just however much cleaning I feel like doing and piling the trash up on the street. If DH takes tomorrow off (as he said he might), we should finish tomorrow. So ready to be done.

Then I can start unpacking in earnest. More work, but at least it's for my own benefit.

Bye-bye, Shandi. I can't say I'll miss her. She was okay, but not immensely fun to watch.

Check it out, I'm getting the performance watched BEFORE the Results Show. Nifty.

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What do we have this week? Paso Doble and, surely they will tell me before too long. Ah, the waltz, of course. Excellent. I understand the waltz, and I enjoy the Paso Doble.

19 hours a week dancing. Man, that would be fantastic. Tiring, but fantastic.

Leila's Paso Doble:  She should rock this. She's got the precision and the attitude. The Marseillaise? Really? Huh. And, that was disappointing. She did that thing where she looks like she's thinking about what steps to do, not dancing. Too bad.

Apolo's Waltz: This could be good. He's got that skating smoothness, but he's been better at the latin than the smooth, so, we'll see. Rise and fall! Excellent. Lovely, really. I'm impressed. Huh, didn't catch the technical stuff Len mentions. But he gives them an 8, so not such a big deal.

Leeza's Paso Doble: Oh, man, these "here's the things we did that weren't practicing to get better" montages are tiresome. Really. Love her costume, not feeling the dance. Tentative, which this particular dance really should not be.

Ian's Waltz: After watching every season of this show, I've come to love Cheryl's choreography, so I'm looking forward to this. Rise and fall. Nice frame and posture. Looks good. As usual, I'm with Len.

John's Paso Doble:  Nice job with the cape. He's so close to really doing this well, but not quite there, and a miss is as good as a mile. He's clearly trying to do what's been described as proper technique, but he just doesn't have it.

Clyde's Waltz: This could suit him really well. And his feet are good, som erise and fall, but his upper body is just not right. Part of that is because his partner is so tiny, but he just doesn't have good lines.

Billy Ray's Paso Doble: Wow, shamelessly manipulative training montage. I guess that's the idea, but good lord, that's extreme! OK, actual dancing.Oh, he looks so lost. A little bit of nice footwork in there. Not as bad as it might have been, is all I can really say. Boy, howdy, what dreadful music - who listens to that and thinks "Paso Doble"?.

Heather's Waltz: She's been doing well with the latin dances, there should be less prosthetic leg complications for the waltz, I would think, though every step does count in a way they don't necessarily with the jive, so problems might get magnified. We'll see. For once, I really love her dress. It's a big improvement over her Foxtrot, that's for sure. She got some rise and fall in there, not always right on the rhythm, but her lines are much much better. She looks tense, but the "story" of the dance seems to call for that, so I'll let it go.

Joey's Paso Doble: I hope he's lost the name on the costume thing for good. This should be the best Paso Doble tonight, since Leila's was so disappointing and the rest of the good dancers did the waltz. Could be big for him.  Oh, good music. Excellent opening. Oh yes. He's got that stampy thing! I love that when it's done right, and it is here. Oh and the tilty frame thing, very nice. All that work on his posture clearly paid off. Well done, Joey Fatone! I don't like the pink slash in his shirt, but it's not terribly distracting, just odd. The sleeves look good, just not the back

I didn't realize that there are only 3 women left. I hope one of the men leave this week, but I don't know who should go. Maybe Clyde, he hasn't changed any from week to week. Billy Ray is still the worst dancer, but he's also come the farthest. John was pretty crappy this week, but he's been better up til now. It'll probably be Leeza since she got so few votes last week, and I mostly mind that because in that case all of the exiters will have been women. That would suck, but not be as unfair as Vivica Fox getting booted last year.
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In short, I don't know what to hope for. Good thing I don't vote, right?

I might as well just post my opinions as I watch, because I know I will have strong ones. I generally do agree with the judges, but I need to spout off, anyway.

I watch the little clips of the practicing, the dancing (of course), the judges comments and the scores, and skip as much of the rest as I can. I occasionally try to watch live and it's so much harder to get through, so that's why this is going up on Wednesday. It means I can't vote, but I never do. Doesn't stop me from complaining when the masses get it wrong, of course.