I also liked that they didn't have the poor girls trying to navigate a strange city to find their go-tos. I always feel bad for the girl (and there's always at least one) who either gets lost or has a driver that abandons her or some such.

The maple syrup ... kind of dumb, but they did turn in some good photos. And I'm sorry to see the Scottish girl go - I enjoyed her accent too. With Louise gone, it seems the Americans are the ones behaving badly.

Okay, so I just caught up on the Voice last night. I'm always behind because the SO claims he doesn't watch, but he always sits for the whole two hours with me. So I try to do it when he's in the mood for it.

Anyway. The coaches and judges really are fabulous. They give specific, realistic critique. The things they point out are accurate and if the singers take them to heart will serve them well the rest of their careers.

Like, did you hear the difference between Robin Thicke's "e" vs. Orlando's "e"? Open, clear, delightful to listen to, and therefore powerful. Robin really knows what he's doing. And the range was a serious issue. Even after changing the entire song, they had to modulate keys to accommodate both singers' ranges, which made for a weird duet.

So based on wardrobe, all the pairing took place on one day, all the breakdowns on another, all the coaching. From Blake's comment today, "Well, at least we have several days to work on it." it seems like the whole thing took place over, what, a week?

Because Adam made a "Go buy it on itunes" comment at the song choice announcement this ep, but a few contestants over the course of the battle rounds still showed up at the breakdown without ever having heard their song, why? I thought maybe there was a rule against going out and looking for it, or that their media was limited. But if you could go hear it, why not listen to it about a thousand times before you even get to the breakdown?

By the way, that pianist is a badass. I liked that it was him who made the final song choice on the one.

I thought this episode's battles were weaker in general. Symptom of it being the last pairings for each judge?

I am so glad Moses won over the country duo. I thought their attitude was stank, and they had no idea what was going on in the stage performance stuff, which is weird. As a duo, you'd think they'd have experience interacting with another person on stage, but they barely connected with each other, let alone with their opponent. I dunno if it was racism or just general awkwardness, but they were painful to watch. And Moses was as much if not more out of his genre as they were, so they needed to quit their bitching. Especially the stankface loser's shot refusing to talk to the camera. It's part of it, sweetie. If you're not willing to show a little emotion on the stage, you might be needing to show a little emotion in front of the loser camera.

I may have been biased because his name was Moses, like my late student. But I thought he rocked it out. He won't last in the next set of rounds, but still.

Agree about the last round being tough. Was sad to see the matchup because I like them both. And my friend worked with the eventual winner, so I can't be sad about that. But I really liked Justin. Agree about the beard! Any other matchup he probably would have taken it. And this matchup brought out the best in him, but someone had to lose. I'm sorry it was him, but I would have been sorry if it had been Tony, too.

Whoo. Too long! So how do the live rounds work? Individual competitions but within each team?

I had a hilarious conversation about beardy v. baldy the other day....

That woman in the duo was a hot mess. I couldn't figure out if she thinks being a wedding band is a great way to make a living, or she knew she fucked it up, or what. It was definitely his idea to be on the show. And Moses was great!

So how do the live rounds work? Individual competitions but within each team?

I believe so -- so you get down to one from each team at the end. Which I think is lame! Is there no way to reward a coach for having picked a better team overall?

Is there no way to reward a coach for having picked a better team overall?

Yeah, that was one thing I really liked about X-Factor.

I have stumbled on a rerun of Project Runway where they all had to design an outfit based on a dog. I had forgotten how hilarious and yet insane it is.

Based on a dog? as in FOR a dog? or inspired by a dog? (crumpled velvet for a Shar-Pei, dotted Swiss for a Dalmation, etc.)

They each picked a dog, and then they had to design a dress for that dog's owner, as well as something for the dog.

Except for the insane guy who loftily proclaimed that his imaginary woman did not dress her dog.

What season was that? I vaguely remember that challenge.

Jeffrey, Laura, Vincent, Angela, Uli...

That season?! It must have been fairly early on.

I could rewatch all of S2 right now.