SYTYCD S9: Meet the Top 20

Wow. What a way to kick off the top twenty! There was so much dancing in this 200th episode of the show! Funnily enough, I was driving home tonight and thought to myself, "I hope they do it where they give the news to the people and then have them perform right after," and that's exactly what they did!

Joining Nigel and Mary on the "judging" panel tonight was Zooey Deschanel. I put judging in quotes because it was really just a love fest, which is what this episode is meant to be, since there is no voting yet. That comes in two weeks. But tonight was just about introducing us to the top 20, of which there were few surprises. All of my favorites made it through, so I'm happy.

The first group to perform in a Tyce Diorio contemporary piece included Alexa Anderson, she of the much screentime. Can you imagine if she had been cut after all that screentime? Ha! Joining her was George, who quite frankly seems like one of the best dancers in the top 20, Will, who we've seen absolutely nothing of until this point, but is a rather tall teddy bear with a seemingly adorable sense of humor, and Amber, who made it to Vegas twice before and almost didn't come back again. Can I be honest? They danced their routine perfectly well, but it was probably my least favorite of the night. It was just kind of boring to me. But then I've become kind of a snob after watching so many great routines on this show over the years.

Next up were the latin ballroom dancers in a Jason Gilkison routine. The judging panel tried to give us a fakeout and make us think that only one of the two girls were going to make it through, but I saw through their shenanigans. Both Witney and Lindsay made it through, and joining them was another unknown, Nick. No offense to Nick, but the girls kind of outshone him in that routine, which is what seems to happen quite often in ballroom anyway, I suppose. I will be perfectly honest and say that I prefer Witney over Lindsay for some reason I can't quite figure out.

The judges tried to fake us out again when they brought up the two male ballet dancers left in the competition, and this time they almost had me, because surely they wouldn't do the same thing right in a row like that? Pish posh! Both Chehon and Daniel are in, along with one of my favorite girls, Eliana. And their routine by Desmond Richardson and Dwight Roden was pretty awesome. There haven't been many ballet dancers on this show yet, and now we have three major contenders.

Usually Sonya Tayeh's routines are my favorite, but I have to say this one she did for the next group didn't quite do it for me. I'm wondering if it would have had all of the girls been able to participate. Because, YEP, we've had our first sit out of the season in Janelle, who was mysteriously "sick" or something, and could not perform. The two girls who were left to fend for themselves were Audrey and Tiffany, who I really could not tell apart at all in the routine. Was one better than the other? Who knows, they looked exactly the same.

After that it was time for some more contemporary dancers, this time doing a Stacey Tookey routine that was leaps and bounds better than the other contemporary routine, in my opinion. It was a two-guys two-girls routine with Matthew, Dareian, Janaya, and Amelia. I know this is of no importance, but wow is Amelia pale! Like, crazy pale. Like, maybe paler than me, which is an accomplishment. I don't have much to say about this routine, other than I thought it was beautiful. I don't know much about this Janaya girl, and she didn't necessarily stand out to me, so is she long for the competition? I can't say.

Finally, saving the best for last? I have to say that I think my new favorite choreographer might be Christopher Scott. He was tasked with coming up with something for a trio of diverse dancers, and he did it with aplomb. And just who was this diverse trio? A stepper we've not seen before, Brandon, the martial arts guy Cole, who is probably tired of just being called the martial arts guy, and, of course, OF COURSE, Cyrus. As if there was any doubt this dude was going to make the show. What he may lack in training, the dude makes up for in that undefinable other quality, that thing that makes someone a star. ANYWAY, the routine itself was a fun mash up, with maybe a slightly funky ending, but seriously, it had me smiling throughout the routine, and that's something.

And after all of that?! The show still wasn't done! Three more dances remained...

The Top 10 Girls (or, really, the top 9, since Janelle couldn't perform) did a Travis Wall routine that actually gave me some chills. Dude knows what he's doing. My favorite part, though, was probably in the rehearsal footage, when he said, "Don't stress out," and Witney immediately mouths, "I'm stressing out." Ha, gotta love it.

The Top 10 Guys had a Sonya Tayeh number that was much more back to form for her. I think maybe she excels best at the group numbers. It was very powerful, which was sort of the message. And honestly, I think I like the group of guys this year better than the girls. It'll be interesting to see what happens once voting comes into play.

And, finally! The top 20 perform together to a, wait for it... Mia Michaels routine! Mia! I, or should I say we, have missed you! I loved it.

Phew. That's all for me, folks. Are you happy with the top 20? Anyone you're upset didn't make it, or are you feeling like me in that you could've predicted about 80% of these people? Hit up the comments!

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SYTYCD S9: Vegas Week

Ah, Vegas Week. So much drama. So much dancing. So much stuff that I don't know how to do a very good recap of it all. After eight rounds, the many dancers that were sent through to Vegas were whittled down to 35. We find out next week which 20 people out of these 35 will be the top 20, and I'm going to make some predictions below. We'll see how accurate I am!

First and foremost, it's quite clear to me that a season frontrunner is going to be Cyrus Spencer, aka Glitch. That dude is sick. He could be this season's Twitch, quite frankly. He's not trained, but he has so much heart and personality that it doesn't matter as much. He'll grow week to week, and I can't wait to see it. I would probably fall off my chair if he didn't make it. There's really now way it's not happening, considering I pretty much recognized him in a clip from next week's show during their first performances. I mean, come on. And, not to toot my own horn, but... toot toot! I totally called that he would be the most likely to make it in Vegas week out of the Dragonhouse Crew, and yep. Yep yep. His other two cohorts didn't last, and we also said goodbye to the Exorcist dude pretty early on too. I'm not really surprised. Those guys were great at their own thing, but as is often the case, have trouble with others' choreography.

Moving on! Another person I think we are pretty guaranteed to see make the top 20 is Alexa Anderson. No way would they shove her growth arc down our throats so much if they weren't going to. That's just not what they do. Hopefully she's better than Ryan from last season, because we all remember how well that went.

I think we can also count on seeing ballet dancer Chehon Wespi-Tschopp of the amazing leaps and abs, and I also think it seems like we might be seeing the other male ballet dancer Daniel Baker make it too. I'm not 100% on that prediction, but they've done stranger things on the show (like put through 3 tappers one year).

They're sort of setting up a her or her showdown between the two blonde ballroom ladies, Witney Carson and Lindsay Arnold, but I could see both of them making it onto the show as a not so twisty twist. If I were to pick one of them, though, I'd have to give the edge to Witney. I just think she has slightly more spark than Lindsay.

The belly dancer Janelle Issis also seems fairly certain. Though we didn't see much of her, Eliana Girard was there in the crowd at the end, and I loved her, so I'm hoping she makes it. I'm thinking maybe Amelia Lowe gets cut at the last minute, but I could be wrong; I'm just not as enamored of her as everyone else seems to be, and I'm not sure why. Jasmine Mason was also under the radar, but I think she has a good chance as well.

How many did I just list off? I'm not sure. But there are a few of my favorites from the audition rounds that I can't recall one way or the other whether they were there in the final lines or not, like Cole Horibe and Dareian Kujawa. It's possible they're both still in the running but I'm not sure!

Not in the running? Adrian Lee, who seemed primed for an Alexa-style comeback, but I guess they can only do one of those a season.

Alright, I'm gonna shut up now, except to say this: I love when Debbie Allen calls a dancer "child." Love. It. So do you agree with my predictions? Any glaring omissions? Anyone you're upset didn't make it farther than they did? I know I saw some faces in there I hadn't seen before, so I'm sure there will be a couple kids who get the "who the heck are you" treatment come showtime.

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SYTYCD S9: Salt Lake City Auditions

Guess what! This is finally the last audition episode before Vegas week! Honestly I think Vegas week is maybe my favorite episode of each season, so I'm happy these auditions are finally over. But you know what made me crack up? During the preview for Vegas, the voiceover says something like, "only 20 will survive," and then the video cuts to someone messing up a trick and going unconscious. Dramatic much? Sheesh.

The final auditions took place in Salt Lake City, with guest judge Adam Shankman joining regulars Nigel and Mary. Before I get into the auditions in earnest, I want to touch on a couple things. First, tacky editing. Look, I know. You're trying to get ratings. But it bothers me when the judges and everyone else is really nice to heartfelt people in person, and then completely make fun of her with the editing. I'm talking about the girl inspired by the cosmos, obviously, Lynn Gravatt. I just didn't appreciate how they made fun of her when she was so earnest and sweet, and clearly was just inspired by dance.

On the other hand, they make a big deal about another dancer who we ultimately know isn't going to make it on the show, but because he has an inspiring story and appears to be an extremely kind and genuine person (which Lynn seemed to be too, he's just less weird about it), he gets standing ovations and all sorts of stuff. And I'm not knocking Leroy Martinez, don't get me wrong here. I just get a little aggravated by how they edit things on the show sometimes, you know? I can't be the only one.

ANYWAY. Sorry. Off the soapbox now, I promise.

I think my favorite audition of the night has to go to the krumping girl, Mariah Spears. Man she was ON it. I was seriously impressed, because you'd never just look at her and think oh yeah, she's a krumper. They sent her to choreography, and she nailed it. Go girl! I also really enjoyed Dareian Kujawa, who I merely wrote "beautiful, softness" by in my notes. Also surprisingly impressive, to me, was Witney Carson, the latin ballroom dancer who looks about 12 years old. But she was pretty damn good, garnering the first Mary woo hoo of the season. Finally, I thought Gene Lonardo, though his praying mantis audition was undeniably sort of strange, was actually also pretty dang good. They set it up like he was going to be terrible, but he wasn't!

Why didn't I mention Adrian Lee in my favorites? Because along with the judges, I have to agree, his audition choreography was less than stellar. However, that being said, I think his could be a compelling comeback story, and he's obviously got talent. Whether the other repeat offenders to Vegas week will have as much luck as him, I'm not sure, because I think he probably has the biggest chance of all of them. That we've seen so far, anyway. There could be others in there that they didn't show us yet.

There were a few other dancers that didn't impress me as much that were also put through to Vegas. Deanna Tomasetta, the Italian contemporary-ish dancer. Lindsay Arnold, another latin ballroom girl who I thought was fine but not as good as the other one. And... Rachel Applehans, who got these scribbles, "stripper audition? Tongue?! EW. Burlesque jazz, okay." As the judges put it, she had way more burlesque than jazz in her audition, but after going through choreography was sent through to Vegas.

Well, that's about it for the audition rounds! Do you have any favorites heading into Vegas week? Any predictions about who's going to make the top 20?

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Supernatural: Top 5 Season Seven Episodes

Looking at the list of previous rankings I've done, I've kind of run the gamut. But hey, if you have any ideas for new lists, please let me know!

Here we are at another summer hiatus season. Normally that means I do bunch of these ranking lists for Supernatural, but I must admit, I am running low on inspiration for new ones. As you can see in the

Anyhow, below I have my favorite episodes from this past season. You may possibly disagree with these choices (perhaps you were a fan of the time travel episode, but I thought it was more half-baked than badass), so feel free to let me know which were your favorites in the comments, and be sure to vote in the poll!

Per usual, the title before each picture montage is a link to a favorite clip from the episode in question.

5. Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie (7x14)

Sam fights clowns. There's a unicorn with a rainbow shooting out of its butt, and we see Dean truly laugh for the first time in a while. Also? Ball washer.

4. The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo (7x20)

Um, no, no that's not an afterthought "s" added in there at all. Whoops! Anyway, this episode featured the wonderful Felicia Day and an overall fun plot. Bonus points if you get all of the nerd references.

3. Death's Door (7x10)

This episode probably would have ranked higher had it actually had as much meaning as it was supposed to have had. Since Bobby came back as a ghost later on in the season, it kind of ruined the episode posthumously for me. Nonetheless, it's a poignant episode anyway.

2. Repo Man (7x15)

When first picking out my top episodes, I have to admit, this one did not rank as high. But then I was reminded of it, and slowly I recalled how actually really good it was. Hallucifer always makes an episode more fun, but it was also the other previously possessed dude who wanted to be possessed again that really made the episode.

1. Hello Cruel World (7x02)

I have to say, when this episode first aired, it made me super excited for season seven. It was all so very promising. Not that I didn't enjoy season seven, but honestly the show has lost some of its magic for me. Interesting that I have two Hallucifer-centric episodes as my top two. Or perhaps not, because he really does elevate the show anytime he's on. This was also the episode we were first really introduced to the Leviathan and how awful they were.


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SYTYCD S9: Atlanta Auditions

Another week, another two hour audition episode. I can usually go about 3/4 of the way through okay, but after that I'm ready for it to be done. And still no Vegas week in sight! I don't remember the auditions being this many weeks in the past, but maybe I just blocked those memories out. It's entirely possible.

In any event, tonight's episode featured the Atlanta auditions with guest judge Debbie Allen. You really should see some of my notes on these people. How I remember who is who is kind of ridiculous sometimes. Bacon girl, Dan Byrd lookalike, dumb chickens... I mean. Yeah. That's how I roll. But let's get on with it!

My favorite auditions, by far, were courtesy of the Dragon House Crew. Look, I get it, contemporary dancers are great and lovely and beautiful, but can I tell you something? I almost always love a great hip hop/pop locker more than I do a contemporary. There's just something way more exciting about it somehow, and also? It's not as common. The Dragon House Crew consisted of three equally outstanding performances by Boris Penton, Andre Rucker and Cyrus Spencer. I mean, major props to all three. Boris had a great unexpected piano music routine. Andre's was straight up weird, in a very cool way. And Cyrus was funny and robotic and charismatic. Now, whether these guys have what it takes to survive Vegas, I'm not sure. Just basing it on these performances alone, I'd say Cyrus has the best chance, but who really knows.

A few other hip hop dancers made waves as well, including the aforementioned Dan Byrd lookalike. Now, you're probably wondering two things: who is Dan Byrd, and who in the world looked like him? Dan Byrd's on Cougar Town. And the hip hop redneck kid Asher Walker (cool name, btw) truly looks just like him but with blonde hair. Seriously. Anyway! The kid was actually pretty good too, and was sent straight to Vegas. Tim Conkel was another hip hop style dancer, who I termed "manic pixie kid." For real, the kid was all over the place. Not to say he didn't have good tricks, but whether there's substance behind them remains to be seen. Finally, we have the duo of Damon Belmon and Deon Lewis, who apparently auditioned last year and had all this heat because they did an homage to Les Twins, and people thought they were ripping them off, yada yada. For this year's audition, they performed their own routine quite well, with a lot of humor, and were sent through to choreography, where only Damon made it through to Vegas. Again I'm not sure how he'll do in Vegas, but sometimes people surprise you, which is half the point of the show. Oh and I also should mention Jackson Alvarez, he of the spontaneous wobble lesson on stage, who had a cool hip hop contortionist style and made it past choreography to Vegas as well. I think he could do well, actually.

There were also, of course, a slew of lovely contemporary dancers featured as well, so many that they even had to basically fast forward through a few auditions with just some names and a couple seconds of footage. The ones who garnered more footage: Audrey Case (neck farter leg extensions), Danielle Dominguez (quirky Sonya bacon girl), Courtney Kirby (crying grandma with good transitions), and Brittany Ortner (kinda dumb chicken girl). Not trying to mean to that Brittany, but for real. She could not string a sentence together. I mean, they were all good. But the two contemporary dancers that I think outshined them were actually two guys: Joshua Alexander and George Lawrence II, who, strangely enough, both sported purple shirts. Why I notice that, who knows. I just like purple? Sure. But they were both really good. I'm not sure both of them can make it into the top 20, but their auditions were both great.

Oh, and yes, there was a belly dancer by the name of Janelle Issis, who they could not stop calling beautiful. Which, yes. She made it past choreography to get to Vegas as well.

Okay, that's about it for this week. Who were your standout performances?

Next week it's Salt Lake City!

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Honey Wheat Pound Cake

Sometimes I sit on my table and eat things while looking out the window. I mean, this is normal, right?

Oh look gold toenails! Sorry if you have some aversion to feet. That's my foot. Get over it. I was eating on the table and decided photographic proof was needed. I'm weird like that sometimes. It's a thing.

This pound cake? Less weird. Also slightly healthy? Anything that has wheat flour instead of all purpose flour has to be somewhat healthy, am I right?

You may have noticed an abundance of pound cake recipes on here recently. Or wait, I don't think I actually posted one of them that I made because the middle sunk and I just hate when that happens. But! I've been making them kind of regularly. Why, you may wonder? I wonder this too. Am I obsessed with pound cake? Not really. It usually occurs when I've run out of yogurt and need a breakfast food for the week. Ta-da! Pound cake to the rescue!

Honey Wheat Pound Cake

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9x5" bread pan - either spray with non-stick or butter and flour, depending on your preference. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside for a bit.

In your mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and honey until nice and creamy, about five minutes. Beat in each egg one at a time until incorporated, about one minute apiece. Beat in the vanilla.

Mix in on low speed half of the flour mixture, then pour in the buttermilk. Slowly add in the rest of the flour mixture until just incorporated, then fold the rest by hand. Spoon into your prepared bread pan.

Bake for 55-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit in the pan for another 20 minutes to cool, then put on a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Will last up to four days well-wrapped at room temperature.

In photos:

Flour mixture. Sorry it's a little dark. But you can see the wheat flour here.

Beat together your butter and your sugars (sugar and honey). It'll look like this.

Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Gettin' doughy!

Mix in half the flour mixture. Wheat!

Then add in the buttermilk and the rest of the flour. 

Spoon into your prepared pan. Or spatula it, as the case may be.

It comes out pretty dark looking, but the inside is moist.

See? Much lighter inside.

Good for breakfast! Or a snack. Or a healthy-ish dessert.