Supposedly ABC picked the wrong Olympic figure skater for Dancing With the Stars. I was cruising the interwebs and found a fun article about the top 10 athletes who should be on DWTS. I didn’t know probably half of them, but the video they put up for sixth-place Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir was completely amazing. I mean, so much so, I’m looking at it and wondering why Johnny didn’t simply become a dancer. He would have been a fantastic one.
I guess you can’t do triple toe loops and double axels on a dance floor (but you sure can do other things). Maybe it’s just the costumes he gets to wear…
Watch this video of Johnny skating to Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” at a skating benefit last year. You’ll see what I mean.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a figure skater shake his hips so much or so well, and that includes former Mirror Ball winner Apolo Anton! Let’s hope that Evan Lysacek has as much potential. It will make for a fantastic season 10 of Dancing With the Stars!
You can read the Top 10 Athletes article here if you’re curious.
I read a couple of reviews of the Oscars performance last night, and I don’t agree with all of them. There are a bit of naysayers about the hosting, the dancing, the choice to honor John Hughes (as opposed to other Honorary awards recipients), having “NPH” sing for the opening, etc. etc.
I thought it was a good show. For gawd’s sake, people, it’s nearly four hours of awards and presentations! How is Mr. Adam Shankman (director of the Oscars show) going to please everybody,all the time? He’s not, so there.
I thought two hosts, especially such as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin was a super idea. Hey guys, I loved Chris Rock even more and I’m sure they paid Shankman NOT to hire him again. His first choice was actually Sacha Baron Cohen–a revelation even beyond Chris Rock. But they pulled back on the idea, thinking that it would just be too much for most of the people in the room (much less the rest of the US, who are quite more conservative than us here in Hollywood) to handle. Darn.
But Steve and Alec did a great job. Steve’s quip about both himself and “Gabby” Sidibe’s first starring movie roles were as a “poor black child” made me roll. Too young to know what he’s talking about? Check out Steve Martin in The Jerk,it’s a comedy classic. This was still when Steve was a “wild and crazy guy.”
Now, I do get the protests about honoring John Hughes instead of one or more of the Honorary Awards recipients (lovely Lauren Bacall, bigger than life Roger Corman and outstanding cinematographer Gordon Willis). But, as a child of the 80′s, it was really great to look back at all his films and really know that he knew who I was as a teenager. He knew and was able to display it, with charm, humor, grace and humility, for those of us suffering from teenage-itis to share. He was a great filmmaker and I’m so sad that he had to depart too soon.
And then there’s Adam’s choice to have the John M. Chu’s Legion of Extraordinary Dancers perform to each of the movie score nominees. Popping and locking to the theme from a war movie??–was the protest I heard.
Look. I get it that it was a bit different than your usual fare. But doncha get it? Music–any and all music–inspires movement. And that can be any movement of any kind. So yes, music from a movie about the war in the middle east can inspire LXD to move. And that they did amazingly well. And actually, the piece to “The Hurt Locker” score was my favorite of all of them (and the stunts done for the “Avatar” score were crazy good). Face it, naysayers. Popping, locking, b-boying, breakdancing, hip-hop, krumping, freestyle. It’s all here to stay and they are ALL legitimate art forms.
How could I forget to write about this? The highlight of the evening of the Grammy Awards presentation last Sunday was absolutely Pink. The fantastic blend of her music with the beautiful fabric acrobatics was absolutely stunning. Just really a moment of aesthetic stimulation in a sea of shake-em-up-and-stick-it-in-their-face performances. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed most of the night, but Pink’s piece was a welcome break from the relentless pace of the night. Check it out here:
Even the moment with the water was breathtaking. And “Glitter in the Air” is really a pretty song. Made me want to go listen to her latest album, which I haven’t wanted to do in a while. Here’s lyrics from the song:
Have you ever fed a lover with just your hands?
Close your eyes and trust it, just trust it.
Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air?
Have you ever looked fear in the face
And said I just don’t care?
Wow. So…so…gorgeous, lush…oh.
She didn’t win any Grammy’s that night, but what an award-winning performance. Really a class act. Thanks Pink!
