Behind the Scenes Photographs of Famous Movies

Flavorwire put together a slideshow of 25 photographs that take you behind the scenes of famous movies, like Star Wars and ET, and they are pretty cool.  It's also a reminder of how much of movies are illusions.  I find behind-the-scenes stuff fascinating, and it doesn't ruin the movie at all for me.  However, other people have complained that knowing how it's done takes the magic out of the movie for them.  If you're one of the latter people, don't click on the link!

Actors Reading Yelp Reviews

Mashable had two videos of actors reading Yelp reviews, and it's hilarious.  The first is by Therese Plummer, who had guest starred on Law and Order: SVU and The Good Wife, and the second is by Chris Kipiniak, who also guest starred on Law and Order: SVU and The Good Wife.  According to his IMDB page, he also won $1,400 in Cash Cab with his sister, Anya.  Now that is cool.

Olympics Opening Ceremony

Last night was the opening ceremony of the 30th Olympics Games in London.

Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor did the opening voiceovers - their voices were very recognizable and the accents made it a little less cheesy.

I have a soft spot for London, having spent a semester there in college, so it's great to see it in the spotlight.  London gets a bad rap for its rain and bad food.  In reality the weather is part of its charm, and it makes the sun that much brighter when it comes out.  The food can also be really good if you know where to go.  Some of my favorite British dishes are typical pub food like bangers and mash and beef and ale pie, and also great Indian food.  The best umbrella I ever had was bought in London, and I was so crushed when I lost it two years later.  They really do know how to make their umbrellas there.

Danny Boyle, the Slumdog Millionaire director, is in charge of the Opening Ceremony tonight as the Artistic Director, and he said that he was not even going to try to outdo the sheer spectacle of Beijing's Opening Ceremony.  Instead, he was going for sentiment and national pride.  The Opening Ceremony was titled, "Isles of Wonder," referring to the four distinct areas of Great Britain - England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. .

Best moment:

Daniel Craig as James Bond fetching the Queen from Buckingham Palace to open the Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium, and then the two of them sky-diving off the helicopter.  The corgis were very cute.  The Queen looked like she was about to laugh when she was escorted by James Bond out of Buckingham Palace, which lends credence to the story that she is very funny and has quite a sharp sense of humor.

Other Highlights:

- Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie performing (she had also shown up on Sesame Street playing with Oscar the Grouch)
- The five golden Olympic rings being forged and then rising and shooting sparks down from the sky
- J.K. Rowling reading from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan
- Rowan Atkinson playing a bored musician in the London Symphony Orchestra
- Hundreds of Mary Poppinses "fighting" villains from children's literature, including Voldermort, Queen of Hearts, Cruella DeVille, and Captain Hook
- LED pixels attached to the seats that basically turned the seats into giant LED screens
- The exuberance of the Independent Athletes from the Netherlands Antilles, who was competing under the Olympic flag
- David Beckham driving a boat to bring the Olympic torch to the Olympic Stadium.  Too bad he was fully clothed.
- Lighting of the Olympic cauldron by young British athletes - they put the flames to copper leaves that had been carried in front of each delegation, and over 200 copper leaves were then ignited and rose together to form the Olympic cauldron

Not-So Highlights:

- Kenneth Branagh dressed like Abraham Lincoln citing lines from Shakespeare's The Tempest and then standing around among people dressed in Victorian garb doing some sort of weird mix of kung fu and dance
- Taking such a long time moving the sods and other pastoral set pieces to indicate the end of the agragrian era and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
- Dancing nurses and doctors?
- Creepy giant baby
- The boring story of Frankie and June
- Mr. Y called Kobe Bryant LeBron.  I just died.

Fashion:

My favorite outfits were from Cameroon and Mexico, who wore very colorful and bright outfits, and a guy in the Solomon Islands contingent had dyed his beard blue yellow green to match the flag colors, and also put the flag on the back of his head in color.

The ugliest outfits included Germany's pastel blue and pink jackets, Malaysia's yellow pants with black animal stripes, and Sweden's Where's Waldo outfits in the Swedish colors of blue, yellow, and white stripes. Canada's outfits are also surprisingly ugly - very 80s.   By far the ugliest was actually the host country's outfits, white with gold accents.  No wonder Stella McCartney immediately tweeted that she was not the designer behind these clothes.

There has been a lot of controversy over the Opening Ceremony outfits of the United States contingent, from  how they look to European to the fact that they were made in China.  The outfits actually don't look that bad on the athletes, especially the tall basketball players.

Overall the Opening Ceremony was just OK for me.  Many parts were pretty boring, with occasional burst of brilliance.  It's definitely not as good as Beijing's Opening Ceremony, which was amazing and spectacular. Thank God for the Queen and James Bond providing the best moment.

Remix of UP

Mr. Y told me about this great remix of the Pixar movie UP from Australian DJ Pogo, which sounds like a lounge track.

So You Think You Can Dance - Top 16

The top 16 put on a great show tonight on So You Think You Can Dance.  I really do think this group of 20 is one of the best this show has ever had.  Surprisingly, there is also not one dancer that I disliked immensely.  I did not like Amelia's shtick in the beginning, but so far she and Will have really clicked and I've enjoyed their dances.  The show is taking two weeks off because of the Olympics.

I immediately guessed the group routine was choreographed by Tyce, and I was right.  It was cheesy, staged-y, and showy - exactly Tyce's style.

Favorite routines

1) Witney and Chehon's contemporary from Stacey Tookey.  This was a gorgeous routine, set to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."  The story was about two people who loved each other but could not be together.  Chehon was so powerful and made all the lifts looked so easy, and Witney looked like a contemporary dancer.  Chehon referred to being able to relate to the story of impossible love and he looked so contemplative.  Now I really want to know what the story is.

2) Lindsay and Cole's jazz routine from Mandy Moore.  This was much better than last week's routine. Lindsay and Cole represented love and hate, and they really sold the routine.  Cole was intense as usual, and Lindsay actually brought the maturity needed for this routine.

3) Eliana and Cyrus's hip hop routine from NappyTabs.  This robot-and-ballerina routine clearly played to Cyrus's strength, and Eliana matched him step by step.  I do feel like Eliana hasn't been allowed to stretch to her full potential, yet, because she has Cyrus as her partner.  I like Cyrus, but he clearly has his limitations.  It reminds me of Jeanine and Phillip from Season 5 - Jeanine didn't truly soar until she made it to the top 10 and was able to dance with other partners.  If Eliana can survive to the top 10 here and get to dance with better dancers, she will be even more amazing.

Least favorite routines

1) Janelle and Dareian's cha-cha from Pasha (!).  This was terrible.  Pasha choreographed a good cha-cha, but Janelle and Dareian bombed in trying to dance it.  Dareian's ugly feet were really obvious when dancing ballroom, and Janelle looked confused instead of sexy.

2) Audrey and Matthew's salsa from Liz Lira.  Audrey and Matt tried, but this salsa was slow, plodding, and not sexy at all.  We know what it was supposed to look like from the rehearsal, and the dance was nothing like it.

Eliminations

I only picked one person correctly last week from among the girls - Lindsay.  The bottom three girls were Amber, Lindsay, and Eliana.  Amber and Eliana danced solos for the judges.  I was rooting for the judges to save Eliana and Lindsay, which they did.  I don't dislike Amber, but her attitude can be a turnoff and Lindsay and Eliana are much more interesting.

The bottom three boys were Dareian, George, and Brandon, so I got two out of three right.  I was really happy Cole was saved.  Dareian and Brandon danced solos.  I wanted Dareian to go, but the judges saved George and Dareian.  It's too bad that Brandon left - he was so entertaining and has shown that he can danced a lot of different styles.  I will miss him.

Predictions on who will be in trouble in three weeks

Girls: Janelle, Audrey, Tiffany (although I've been predicting Tiffany in the bottom 3 all three weeks, and I haven't been right so far)
Boys: Dareian, Matt, and George

Warehouse 13 - "A New Hope"

Warehouse 13 returned for its fourth season last night, and it was a great episode.  It was darker than a lot of their usual episodes, but there were still some of the show's trademark humor.

The episode picked up right where it left last season - the Warehouse in ruins around Artie, Myka, and Pete after Walter Sykes's bomb went off, and H.G. Wells saved them by trapping them in a bubble.  The team figured out that MacPherson's watch could lead them to a fail-safe that might prevent the bomb from going off, and set off in a race to get the artifact in France and at the Vatican.  The fail-safe turned out to be Magellan's astrolabe, which could be used to turn the time back 24 hours.

Brent Spiner guest-starred as Brother Adrian, a priest who headed a secretive and scary brotherhood prepared to kill to protect the astrolabe, and almost succeeded.  They managed to kill Pete, but Pete also stabbed Brother Adrian before he died.  Before dying himself, Brother Adrian warned Artie that he would be releasing evil if he used the artifact.  Artie used it anyway in order to save the Warehouse and the world, which had fallen into chaos due to the release of Pandora's box from the Warehouse, but it was clear that by doing so there were going to be consequences.

I like how the show doesn't take the easy way out of resetting the Warehouse and then just moving on.  One of the clearest themes in the show is that using artifacts always has its consequences, and sometimes those are far worse than one can imagine.  In this case it looks like the evil mentioned by Brother Adrian is related to Claudia and her determination to bring Steve Jinks back to life using the metronome.  I thought Claudia was behaving like a brat in this episode, but in the first timeline she was forced to recognize that other people have lost loved ones as well.  In the new timeline, she never had this conversation, and her determination to bring Steve back to life appears to be a very bad idea.

History Detectives - 100th Episode

History Detectives returned for its 10th season last week with its 100th episode.  It was a great episode - all centering on music. Plus they finally showed the research interns!

The first investigation was over a Fender Stratocaster guitar.  The owner's father was a pilot who flew music acts in the 1960s, including Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul, and Mary.  The pilot stated that Dylan left the guitar in the plane, and his efforts to return them were unsuccessful.  There was also a bunch of handwritten and typewritten lyrics in the guitar case.  Elyse Luray and Wes Cowan investigated the guitar, and was able to authenticate both the lyrics and the guitar as belonging to Bob Dylan.  In addition, they were able to determine that it was the same Stratocaster that Bob Dylan used during the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.  The crowd was expecting him to play acoustic folk songs, but he plugged in the guitar and went electric.  He got booed off the stage, although he returned later to play acoustic songs.  It was a momentous event in rock and roll history.

The second investigation was done by Tufuku Zuberi and it involved Beatles autographs.  Two brothers wanted to know if the autographs they got of Ringo Starr and John Lennon were real.  The Beatles first visited America in 1964, and were staying at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach.  The two brothers wrote to Charles, the Maitre d' at the Deauville that they had met the year before when they stayed at the hotel, and asked him to get them the Beatles' autographs.  They got a package with a room service menu signed by John Lennon and a photo of the Beatles signed by Ringo Starr, along with autographs of Bob Hope, Cynthia Lennon (John's wife at the time), and a couple of other stars at the time.  Tufuku was able to authenticate the four autographs, but discovered that the Beatles' autographs were fake.  It looked like Charles signed the room service menu and the photograph in order not to disappoint the two brothers.

Finally, Gwen Wright investigated a collage that might have been created by Frank Zappa.  Gwen found out that Frank Zappa did dabble in visual arts when he was young, and created this collage in homage of the Professional Drum Shop. He visited the Professional Drum Shop a lot when he was young.  This investigation was particularly interesting because Gwen got to meet Frank's brother, friend who created a lot of his advertisements, and his widow, Gail Zappa.  Gail Zappa was the one who made the connection between the collage and the Professional Drum Shop, because she recognized the picture of the late owner of the shop.

All three stories were very compelling.  History Detectives definitely saved the best for its 100th episode.

Jonathan Groff and Zachary Quinto

If this is true, what a hot couple:

Jonathan Groff and Zachary Quinto

I really like both of them.  I saw Jonathan on Broadway in Spring Awakening, and he was fantastic.  I also like his role on Glee with his BFF Lea Michele.  I still maintain that Jesse St. James is going to show up next year in NYC to try to win Rachel back.

I liked Zachary in Heroes - one of the few good things about that show.  He was even better as Spock in the Star Trek reboot.  He joined the Ryan Murphy family by guest-starring in American Horror Story last season, and he's coming back for season 2.

Best Reaction to Getting an Emmy Nomination

Best reaction so far on getting an Emmy nomination:

Tom Bergeron, who's nominated for Best Reality Show Host for Dancing with the Stars, tweeted:

”Emmy Prediction: Probst will still find a way to win this thing!”

2012 Emmy Nominations

The 2012 Emmy Nominations came out today, and some snap judgments:

1) Yay for Max Greenfield and Mayim Bialik getting nominations for New Girl and the Big Bang Theory! 

2) It's great that Peter Dinklage gets recognized, but he was the only actor recognized from Game of Thrones (who did get a Best Drama nod). 

3) No love for Glee other than Dot-Marie Jones.  I thought Lea Michele did awesome this year.

4) Best Reality Show Host - excited about Cat Deeley and Phil Keoghan, but Betty White?  I love Betty White, but is this a rule now that every award show must have Betty White in it?

5) Sherlock got recognized with a nod for Best Miniseries or Movie, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. 

6) No Katey Sagal for Sons of Anarchy, but Kathy Bates got nominated for Harry's Law? 

7) Jon Cryer got nominated for Two and a Half Men.  This slot should have gone to someone else more deserving, like Johnny Galecki or Joel McHale. 

8) Boo for the lack of noms for How I Met Your Mother.  I thought Jason Segel did great work this year.  Max Greenfield probably took Neil Patrick Harris's usual spot.

So You Think You Can Dance - First Elimination Show

Last night was the first time we really get to see the new format of So You Think You Can Dance since Fox canceled the results show, and it was jam-packed.  I'll talk about the eliminations later.

I thought the group number was great, although it was impossible to tell who was who, other than Cyrus.  Mr. Y and I are also convinced that the group number is pre-taped, because there was no way the dancers could have changed, taken off their makeup, and got their hair re-done in that short period of time.

I didn't think the routines last night were as good as the ones from last week, but there was still some standouts.

Favorite routines

1) Janaya and Brandon's Broadway routine from Sean Cheeseman.  This piece didn't really have a lot of dancing, but Janaya and Brandon really sold it.  Their acting was great, and their interactions were believable and playful.  I also like the music - I saw Linda Eder in concert once and she was amazing. 

2) Audrey and Matthew's contemporary routine from Sonya Tayeh.  Despite Matthew's distracting eyeliner, this piece was a strong one.  Audrey and Matthew are great partners, and they really threw themselves into the routine.  I wish Audrey was more aggressive, but if I didn't know the background of the story, I wouldn't have missed the aggressiveness.  So overall the routine still works well for me. 

3) Tiffany and George's foxtrot from Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin.  There were some issues with the hold and footwork, but overall the foxtrot was fluid and the two of them really connected as partners.  Who knew that Sinead O'Connor did a version of "I Want to Be Loved by You?" 

Least favorite routines

1) Cole and Lindsay's hip-hop(?) from Christopher Scott.  I hate to include this routine, because I really like Cole, but this routine did not work.  Lindsay did not have the sexiness to pull the vamp thing off, and Cole was just creepy when he stayed in character throughout the judges' comments.  Plus these two went first, so I'm afraid they may be in trouble next week.

2) Janelle and Dareian's hip-hop(?) from Christopher Scott.  I thought Christopher Scott really bombed this week with his two routines.  This one was kinda cute, but there was not enough dancing, and it was very cheesy. 

3) Amber and Nick's tango from Miriam Larici and Leonardo Barrionuevo.  The tango itself was fine, but Amber and Nick were pretty disconnected from each other.  Amber seems to really hate her partner, and Nick looked uncomfortable, even though it was his own style. 

Eliminations

I wasn't surprised that Janaya and Nick were in the bottom, but I was surprised about the other four.  I'm not a big fan of Alexa and Daniel, but I thought their jazz routine last week was pretty good, and they have gotten a lot of screen time.  Perhaps the judges' pimping of Alexa actually hurts her, plus her lack of personality.  Chehon and Witney were even bigger surprises for me - maybe going first last week really hurt them.  I think the judges made the right call.  Chehon and Witney were the best and most entertaining dancers out of the bottom six, and deserved a second chance.  Amber must be thrilled to be getting Brandon as a partner as opposed to staying with Nick.

Predictions on who will be in trouble next week

Boys: Cole, Dareian, and Brandon
Girls: Janelle, Tiffany, and Lindsay

Connie Schultz Provides a Teaching Moment

A conservative blogger, sensing a scandal after seeing a bunch of pictures of Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, getting cozy with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), sent the following e-mail to Schultz:

Email from conservative blogger, dated July 9, 2012:

Dear Ms. Shultz,

We are doing an expose on journalists in the elite media who socialize with elected officials they are assigned to cover. We have found numerous photos of you with Sen. Sherrod Brown. In one of them, you appear to be hugging him.
Care to comment?

Schultz's response:

Response, dated July 10, 2012:

Dear Mr. [Name Deleted]:

I am surprised you did not find a photo of me kissing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen. He's really cute.

He's also my husband.

You know that, right?

Connie Schultz.

As of yesterday, Connie Schultz is still waiting on a response from the blogger

July 17: Waiting, I'm waiting....

Schultz posted the whole exchange on Facebook, but declined to name the blogger because she believed it's just a young intern who can learn something from the mistake. 

Moral of the story?  DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Fendi Baguette

The famous rectangular Fendi Baguette is celebrating its 15-year anniversary, and it is re-issuing six of its most famous Baguette bags.  It's named after the crusty French bread because like the baguette, it's designed to be tucked under one arm. 

The Fendi Baguette is the first It-Bag I remember, and it was because of Sex and the City.  In an episode, a mugger took Carrie Bradshaw's purple sequined Baguette, and she uttered the memorable line, "It's not a bag!  It's a Baguette."  I was intrigued by the shape and decided to look it up, and I thought it was great that this simple shape can be a canvas for so many wild fabric and details.

Time did a profile on its 15 favorite Fendi Baguettes, and Pamella deVos, a fashion designer under the name of Pamella Roland, was featured in the New York Times for her collection of 75 Fendi Baguettes.

My personal favorite among the ones I saw?  This one. 

Yahoo! Hires Google's Marissa Mayer as CEO

Yahoo! just announced that it hired Marissa Mayer, one of Google's top executives, as its new CEO. 

This is an interesting move by Yahoo!, perhaps indicating that it's serious about going back to its technology roots instead of continuing its recent (and unsuccesful) attempt to become a media company.  Mayer was one of Google's most photogenic and public faces, and has an engineering background.  She made both Fortune's list of 50 of the Most Powerful Women in the World and Glamour Magazine's list of Women of the Year, and was profiled in an article in Vogue. 

I'm personally happy another woman has been tapped to such a high profile role.  There are very few women running major companies, especially tech ones, and Mayer is more than qualified for the job.  Good luck to her!

New York Times Weddings & Celebrations

I like to check out the New York Times wedding announcements.  Those who call it the sports page for women isn't that far off, although a lot of men also admit to reading it.  Occasionally I would see people I know, which is fun. 

I also like the side articles that show up on the Weddings & Celebrations section, like this one about two women whose photos were side by side on the Society Page of the New York Times back in 1982 because of their weddings.  Almost thirty years later, one of the women were cleaning and found the old page, and realized that the woman whose picture was next to hers is the mother of her daughter's boyfriend.  The daughter and the son did end up getting married, and yes, their wedding announcement also ended up in the Times. 

Firefly Reunion

I'm very excited about this news that the Science Channel is going to tape the Firefly reunion from Comic-Con this Friday, and air an one-hour reunion special titled "Browncoats Unite" on November 11th, along with an all-day Firefly marathon.  In addition, they will also be taping a special roundtable interview to add to the special.

Mr. Y and I love Firefly.  We were late adopters and watched the show on DVD.   It's too bad that the show only lasted one season, but what a great season it was.  It blended sci-fi, romance, comedy, and drama seamlessly, and was classic Joss Whedon.  I feel like if the show was on today, and was on cable instead of broadcast TV, it would do much better. 

So You Think You Can Dance - First Performance Show

Last night was the first performance show where viewers get to vote on So You Think You Can Dance.  Because Fox canceled the results show, the viewers are now voting for individuals instead of couples.  Everyone get to perform two routines, one this week and one next week, before finding out who's on the bottom three.  Nigel mentioned that next week, the judges will eliminate two boys and two girls. 

The night started with a great group routine.  The second the music and dancing started I knew it had to be a Christopher Scott routine.  His hallmarks were there - the instrumental score, the intricate group interactions, and the hand choreography.   I'm so happy that even though the results show doesn't exist anymore, they are not taking away the group numbers.  The group numbers are usually some of the best routines of the season.

All of the routines tonight were pretty amazing.  Everyone danced well, and the couples seem to click well for the most part.

Favorite routines:

1) Cole and Lindsay's Paso Doble from Jason Gilkinson.  This was easily the best dance of the night.  Cole was so dynamic and forceful, and the paso doble really suits his martial arts background.  This was also the first time my eyes were actually drawn to Lindsay - she really held her own (which she should since it was her own genre - how did it happen that all three ballroom dancers drew their own genre?), and her performance was actually vibrant and energetic instead of just being blah.

2) Amelia and Will's lyrical hip-hop from NappyTab.  (Congratulations to Nappy Tab for the impending birth of their baby!  How cute was pregnant Tabitha in that red dress?)  I haven't been a big fan of Amelia, but I have to admit she really knocked it out of the park tonight in this cat routine.  Her looks and dancing style really suited the piece, and she didn't try to put too much of her shtick into it, which was nice.  Will really used his height to his advantage here, and didn't get completely overshadowed by Amelia.  His personality is what's going to get people to vote for him. 

3) Audrey and Matt's contemporary piece from Travis Wall.  I'm already biased because I love the Righteous Brothers' rendition of Unchained Melody, but I think this routine was fantastic.  The dancers had great chemistry, the movements were intricate yet intimate, and they really used the stage well.  It's amazing how much Travis Wall has grown as a choreographer. 

Least favorite routines:

1) Eliana and Cyrus's Broadway routine from Tyce.  I love Eliana and Cyrus, but I thought this piece was not very good.  It's not just because I don't like Tyce, but because it was slow, boring, and you can see Eliana and Cyrus working so hard to infuse it with personality.  The piece is in trouble if the dancers had to work that hard to look like they're having fun.  I hope people will still put Eliana and Cyrus through. 

2) Janaya and Brandon's lyrical hip hop from NappyTab.  Brandon was a beast as usual, but Janaya disappeared in the routine.  She wasn't hitting the moves hard enough, and her acting wasn't up to par. 

3) Amber and Nick's Viennese Waltz from Jason Gilkinson.  This is the least successful pair of the night for me.  There was no chemistry at all from Amber and Nick.  For the most part the dancing was flowy and dreamy like a Viennese Waltz supposed to be, but Amber looks angry and Nick looks anxious. 

Predictions on who will be in trouble next week:

Boys: Brandon, Dareian, and Nick
Girls: Amber, Janaya, and Tiffany

Cookie Monster - "Share Me Maybe"

Sesame Street did a great parody of Carly Rae Jepsen's inescapable song "Call Me Maybe."

Watch Cookie Monster singing "Share Me Maybe" - totally awesome. 

Sample lyrics:

Me just met you
and this is crazy
But you got cookie
so share it maybe

Benedict Cumberbatch on the Simpsons

I haven't watched the Simpsons in a long time (used to love it), but now that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be in an episode, I'm DVR-ing this one!

Love the story about how he got to be on the show!

Adam Lambert as American Idol Judge?

There are rumors swirling around that Fox is in talks with Adam Lambert to be a judge on American Idol.  I think this would be a great move for the show, and for Adam.  Adam was a contestant, so he can bring a perspective that none of the judges have had so far, and he's not afraid to speak his mind.  He's also a rare combination of someone who can sing and who's a great showman.  I really hope this becomes reality. 

So You Think You Can Dance Top 20

So You Think You Can Dance announced their top 20 last week, and I'm happy with most of the choices.  This year there will be one male winner and one female winner.

My Top 3 Women:

1) Eliana Girard - great personality and amazing talent.  That ballet routine she did with Daniel Baker and Cheehon Wespi-Tschopp was fantastic, and she really held her own with the two pro ballet dancers.

2) Witney Carson - I couldn't take my eyes off her in the ballroom routine.  She just pops every time she's on stage.

3) Alexa Anderson - still a little boring and not quite up to Melanie's level, but she is undeniably dancing better than during Vegas week.

My Top 3 Men:

1) Cole Horibe - I find him the most interesting of the male dancers, especially after that insanely good routine with Cyrus "Glitch" Spencer and Brandon Mitchell.

2) Cheehon Wespi-Tschopp - so talented.  That final solo he had in Vegas was amazing.  He also comes across as being humble and appreciative.

3) George Lawrence II -  his dancing just seems so effortless, and his smile is contagious.  I hope his dad is more supportive of his dancing now.

Chief Justice John Roberts

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. We were on vacation and just got back.

Just read an interesting story on Chief Justice John Roberts and how he changed his mind about Obamacare. This story is fascinating because we don't usually get these many details on the inside negotiations in the Supreme Court.