kat, do you not like Ricky on his own terms, or is the spillover from Ryan tainting him for you?

He seems young, but kinda pretty and very bendy to me. (Do I know dance? Not so much, really.)

I like Ricky well enough. I'm finding that for some dances, I dislike the choreography and can't differentiate between disliking that and disliking the dancing.

I like Ricky too. I think he needs to dance with a stronger dancer who is not Ryan to bring out the best in him.

I like Ricky. I think he has a lot of facility. And yes, he's very bendy! Was it him that Cheno was praising about the turn out? I think it was because for real. The turn out on that kid is insane! That's why he can do all those "Look how far I can stick my leg in the air - straight up without even bending at the waist." But I find him to be a very immature dancer, him and Ryan both. A strong, mature dancer who is grounded in his/her work would pop even with a weaker partner. Look at Sasha and Alex. I do think dancing with a better dancer would bring out more in Ricky than what he has currently shown, but he looks like a kid out there dancing, not like a grown ass man. And that's not at all about the macho/masculine dancing baloney that Nigel is always selling. That's just about owning his space. He can jump with great amplitude and he can turn and he has a great center. He makes pretty lines with his body, but it's just physical. And now I feel all crunchy mama like Mia at her worst, but there's nothing authentic about his dancing. Dancing robots I think I said last night and that's kind of what he and Ryan both are for me. He doesn't have that spark that makes a dancer special. From a technical standpoint, I'd say Ricky is a much better dancer than both Marko and Tadd. Probably Alex, too. (Mitchell is ridiculous from a technical standpoint so I'm not sure who is better) But Marko and Tadd have a light on inside of them when they dance. If they place a hand in a certain location, there's a reason why it's there beyond just "The choreographer told me to put it there." And I never get that from Ricky. But he's young and that can come with time and experience. So yeah, I guess I don't dislike Ricky. He's lovely to watch, but he's not interesting for me as a dancer. At least, not yet. I'd rather spend time with Marko or Tadd or even Jess and Chris who are flawed dancers but there is a spark there.

The Voice:

What the hell was that mess that Beverley was singing (and with who)?

Yeah, that was terrible. Luckily I could FF through. It was the guy from One Republic, right?

Even though I can barely sit through this show since they drag it out so much, I am going to sorely miss the regular presence of Blake Shelton in my [tv] life.

It was only worth watching the next day when I could get through two hours in one, for sure. And BLAKE.

And SYTYCD:

'Umm, saying someone is the Chris Brown of the show is not a compliment. Maybe he said Chris Rock and I just missed it. I mean, it could be.

He said Chris Rock, which was also weird, but at least not as offensive....

Nigel talked to him about it the very first week when he was still busting it out during the judges critiques. So one point for Nigel for doing us all a solid there.

Yeah, and thank goodness for that. I was glad to see Robert get a different character, too.

Thank goodness, Jesse. Not that Chris Rock makes any more sense. Is he a snappy dancer and I just don't know? That's just such an odd thing to say. Chris Brown, for all that he's an unsavory character, is at least a good dancer.

He said something about bringing the personality.

Oh, and a comment that kind of crosses over the two shows: I think it's cool that three (at least?) of the top 8 on The Voice are out gay people.

Yeah, that was terrible. Luckily I could FF through. It was the guy from One Republic, right?

Wasn't it the dude from Train? with the Terrible soy latte song. [link]

That's the point where I changed the channel and never went back.

Opening number = terrible.