Harmonies Of The Net

DWTS 2013 Finale

Oh…I’m soooo nervous. I want Kelly to win sooooo bad!

For those not watching, Kelly Pickler’s freestyle absolutely clinched it, as far as I’m concerned. I think Derek has been waiting his entire life for a partner like this to choreograph a routine like this. If you haven’t seen it, watch it right now. This is beyond professional quality, it’s magic.

Problem is, this four-way split of the vote is really going to work in favor Jacobi. There are those who will vote for the football player no matter what, but there are also those who consider it a matter of who has come the farthest. There’s no doubt he’s come a long way, but frankly there are some basics he just laughed off all season long. I know he’s pidgeon-toed, but he could have learned to point his toes and hold his core better. And all the women made huge breakthroughs as well, and their dancing is just in a whole other league. Aly’s Afro-jazz last week was a huge breakthrough in loosening up and projecting outward and her freestlyle this week was fabulous. I still think she’s not up to Kelly and Zendaya, both of whom could go professional tomorrow, but in any other season, she’d deserve to win. And last night, Kelly emoted like never before. It was the final piece to one of the most beautiful dancers they’ve ever had on the show. Zendaya has a natural talent and has made the transition from a hiphopper to an all around, all amazing dancer/performer. Not to mention, she’s 16!!!!

I HOPE that Kelly’s freestyle is enough to swing all the people on the fence, the way I was. If so, she might actually win tonight. After the show last night, I had no doubts. I even cast my rare votes. Even CJ voted! So if she wins, I’m sure she has us to thank.

Yippee! Kelly and Derek are the encore! That bodes well.

Phooey. Aly gone. That means We’re going to see Jacobi jumping over Karina’s head again. I’m so tired of that move. Oh, well. Good luck to him.

Oh, gawd! Psy again! YAY! He’s so wonderfully demented! He must be on tour in the US. This is the third show I’ve seen him on in a couple of weeks.

I love the finale for DWTS. Unlike AI, where we get shouted at by singers I’m indifferent to and endure usually awkward duets between finalists and their idols, we get lots and lots of great dancing—even when we are getting sung at.

Dorothy Hamill’s back, so her back must be better, and partway through her dance, Krist Yamaguchi, who inspired her to come on the show, joined her. It was very cool. It’s too bad DH had to bow out early. I do wonder if her back is healed. They never did say what it was.

Okay…he ended with the ball-buster jump, but it was kind of a natural end to his season and the rest was good. 10s across the board, no matter he’s first, no matter we know the other two routines will be far more difficult. But that’s not surprising: the finalists have to really screw up not to get perfect scores on the instant dance.

Yippee, Kelly and Derek: That was cute. I’m astounded at how much these two pack into a single routine. 30. No surprise.

I love watching Zendaya and Val together. She does the most amazing job of catching the flavor of every dance and still being Zendaya…twinkly bits! HA HA! Perfect, Len! She’s one who will take this experience and apply it straight to her career. My goodness her feet move fast…30. Told ya.

YES! Jacobi and Karina are third! No matter what, America got it right! OTOH…the clips of Jacobi being crazy…wish they’d shown that a long time ago. Fun guy. Sweet. But third is a good spot for him.

Ooooo…the tension!!!

YOSH YOSH YOSH!!!!! Kelly and Derek!!!!

I didn’t realize until now how much she looks like Dorothy Hamill! I think it’s a similarity of facial structure, but more that beautifully sweet expression.

Congrats to all the finalists. It really was the best finale ever.

Whew…late. Time for bed. I’m sure Wiishu will be dancing in his sleep after watching that!

Old images now accessible!

I just did some blog image housecleaning and got all the old images into NextGen galleries, so they’re available under the slideshow tab. I discovered that the default image handler for WordPress actually converts and saves every image you put into a post smaller than the original. I’m going over to a 600×600 format on everything, but some of the old stuff was all over the map and weeding out the chaff WP created is going to take some time. If images disappear in older posts, just look in the “slideshows” tab for the “old” folders for a given topic. i.e. Looking for old pond pics? Check in “Pond and Garden” then the gallery called “Old Pond and Garden.”

Freshwater Tank

We decided to go ahead and clean up the old marine tank and get it set up for freshwater. Like the marine tanks, freshwater has undergone enormous chemistry advances. They now have a great nutrient-and bacteria-rich “bedding” for plants, not to mention LED lights in the proper spectrum for plants, so you can set up very stable tanks just like the Marine. Only difference: you can use tap water! Anyway, we decided to fundamentally shift the room arrangement, move the TV to the long wall and put the old tank over in the corner between the TV and the fireplace. This makes the tanks “bookends” for the wall we face in the evening. Very nice.

Moving the TV was a challenge (HEAVY) but we got super glides under it without losing any fingers, worked it over…then I had to rewire all the AV stuff, but that’s par for the course. The tank moved easily, dry, and we just dumped the “dirt” in, poured water in, arranged a handful of rocks, shoved the plants in, and plugged in the light. I want to make a better sump with a topoff …space is limited underneath and so I need a custom size…but other than that, it was just wait for it to clear. The bikirs and catfish are certain they’ve died and gone to heaven and Seishi LOVES the HD TV! Anyway…not a lot of pics, cuz not a lot of excitement, but this’ll give you an idea. Once we rid the room of tank detritus, I’ll try and do a composite of the room to give you an idea how it ended up.

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Wiishu’s RadCon Weekend

Okay…only a couple of months late, but it was a full weekend! I expect this to keep you busy a while.

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We got the 55gallon tank cleaned and set up for freshwater. Still need to get the auto-topoff working, but the bikirs and pleco are ecstatic. The water’s still a bit milky, but I’ll get some pix posted soon.

I have only one question

HOW CAN THOSE JUDGES PUT JACOBY’S ARGENTINE TANGO ON THE SAME LEVEL AS KELLY’S!??!! ARE THEY BLIND?

Watch this. The beginning is all filler-stuff, but the dance is amazing! The opening silhouette sequence is completely unforgiving…and flawless. I’ve got to find the reprise version and post it. It was even BETTER.

Da Tank

Okay. Daylight shots. And one from today after we did a final slight rearrangement of corals

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Transfer complete!

Lots of photos for you. We got our cleaning crew in yesterday and today, the final batch of live rock came in and The Great Transfer began. Getting both the height and the airiness we wanted proved a bit of a challenge, but I think we’re both happy with the final arrangement. We had a bit of a scare when we finally caught the male watchman…the sand had gotten stirred up because we had to remove all the rock to catch him and he got a big dose of Bad Stuff. He just sat in the big tank for sometime…until…well…you’ll see:

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Dinos rule!

OK. I’m probably like the last person in the world that doesn’t know about Ugobi Pleo Dinos, but if there’s anyone as ignorant as I, have a gander at this… and the score of other UTube vids of these little robots.