@pingo, you're right, the article I quoted was incorrect.

   "Next weeks presidential elections will bring a change to the shows schedule. The stars will perform on Monday, but there will be no results show and elimination on Election Day."

I think Mark will do his own choreography with Shawn,  all the pros have their own unique style.

I have a feeling Derek won't be back this season.  I noticed some weight loss (pain tends to kill the appetite!) 

Maks looks preoccupied and is obviously at risk for a serious back injury.

Agree, Robin. Maks doesn't look comfortable at all this season. I am sure, he is concerned about dropping Kristie. I don't like Kristie, but I will still compliment her for trying all those moves with the body she has. If she falls, she will fall hard.

In response to SlimPickensIII's comment:

Well, actually if my assignment was to demonstrate an ability to correctly type a 6 letter word, I failed

"Testing" has 7 letters

Robin:

The Houston blogger sounds gay. Only a gay man would get that worked up about Chubrina Bryan being voted off the show

I'm surprised she was sent home too just like everybody else was, but I aint upset about it

Thank God it wasnt Karina, or else I'd have had to console William for a week

Btw, if YDH doesnt return like your instincts are telling you, I take back my prediction about YSJ. I dont think she will win with BHB (Big Head Ballas) as her partner. I know she won it with him the first time, but it wont happen again

My gaydar isn't that great,  Ache it's amazing how much you see when you look at things...even "testing"  I didn't think to count the letters.   You're quick, wish I was that sharp :)

Next week will be odd with the fusion dances on Monday, and Tuesday we'll have the election results, that should be entertaining!

I agree, Shawn won't do as well with Mark,  Derek can work magic.

On a different note, I'm reading Cindi Lauper's memoir,  I'm only on page 80, so far it's not bad, I can't read fiction, I'd fall asleep in 10 minutes.  

Mine isnt either, but if the Houston blogger isnt gay, he is the only straight dude in America bummed about Chubrina Bryan

Poor guy was really pissed last night. I hope he's over it and feeling better now:) 

I don't know if this explanation of the scoring system I found on the EW site is true, but it sounds about right and explains alot about the inexplicable results that often arise:

 

Okay, here goes. And this is why the judges scores barely matter. A dancer's individual scores are changed into a percentage based on the total # of points the judges give. Because there were 3 sets of scores this time, the total for all 8 couples was 672.5. Sabrina's portion of 88.5 translates to 13.16%. While Kelly being the lowest at 78.5 translates to 11.67%. So what appears as a 10 point difference on the leader board is really only about a 1.5 difference. Then the viewers votes are added to that number. If Sabrina received only 8% of the total votes and Kelly received 10%, that small difference would be enough to send Sabrina home. It's why we have to endure people like Bristol, Kate Gosselin, and all the other train wrecks from seasons past lasting too long. For all the airtime spent on judging and scores and all that, they really have very little power.

That's how they do it, huh? Interesting. I'm going to pay attention to the total score and each star's percentage of it from now on

Whoever wrote that piece though is wrong about the judge's having little power. The scores they hand out every week influence how each dance is perceived and directly affects how America votes. I dont think there's any question about that

The 1.5% edge Chubrina had over Kelly seems puny, but it represents tens of thousands of extra votes (maybe more) that Kelly had to pull in in order for her to overcome that defecit. Whatever the number is, it was not an insignificant amount

Chubrina lost because she entered a popularity contest without having any name recognition or built-in fan base. Even the gay blogger from Houston knew she had little shot at winning. That she was voted out early again should surprise no one
 

I agree, the Judges scores definitely alot more than that EW post would suggest.  But it still doesn't seem like a 50-50 split in the weighting.   We haven't even mentioned it, but don't viewers get something like a maximum of 8 votes per phone?  And some fanactics have more than 1 phone.  I'm a little fuzzy in the math department, but it does seem skewed a bit towards the audience.   The end results we get seem to bear that out.   But I'm okay with all that, it should be tilted towards the viewers.

Do the Judges really influence the general public?  I always come up with my own score, and then I predict what each Judge is going to do. All before they announce their scores or even do their critiques.  I'm almost always dead-on.  Never off by more than 1 point.  I suspect anyone who's been watching a while does the the same thing with the same accurate results.   I  also suspect the Judges influence is a negative one rather than positive,  eg  Poor Bristol, the Meanies are picking on her, let's vote for her! 

I wasn't surprised to learn that Sabrina was leaving early after hearing that she had already been eliminated earlier during her first run.   I never heard of her,  and Louis doesn't seem to have much of a fan base either.  I like him, but I hear he was a jerk in the early seasons, which is part of the reason.   I never heard of 7 of the 12 contestants before this show came on.   And at least one of those I had heard of, I had an extremely negative impression of (that would be, of course,  the Bottle Blonde, Tattoo Skank)

Okay, I'm all over the map.  If there's a point to my babble I'm not seeing it either.  It's not easy carrying the Male perspective as Slacker Jack takes the season off.  See if I leap to his defense again.  Cough.

 

 

 

I think viewers are allowed to vote as many times each week as there are dancers left on the show. Last week it was 8x. Next week it will be 7x...and so on

A motivated, well organized fan base can trump dismal judges scores by flooding the phone lines, voting for their favorite multiple times on multiple devices. In that way, the system is rigged a bit toward the viewers, I guess...to the advantage of the popular "stars" and to the detriment of omeone like Chubrina Bryan, a talented dancer with great scores, but marginal popular support

A little unfair, but I can live with it. America generally gets it right in the end

I still say the judges are highly influential and do impact voting patterns

I try to predict the judges scores too, but I am only good at it after they make their remarks. I dont appreciate the technical aspect of the dances enough to know whether they are being performed well or not. And I am often influenced by the audience reaction

PS A little song for a Friday evening:



Lazy motivation
Excuses/Alibis
That's what you get with
Slacker Jack!

Hi Ache,   This article says Kirstie will be on 20/20 for an interview with Barbara, but I don't know if they mean tonight or next Friday....

   http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/11/john-travolta-kirstie-alley-love-life

I think it's tonight, Robin

She's a Scientologist too, huh? I didnt know that

She looks pretty decent for 61, I gotta say...even when she's in her sweaty, brown leotard

Many years ago a friend (she was one of them) took me to the Scientology headquarters in town, they had tin cans with strings attached that they used... to do some kind of communication exercise?    I bolted out of there fast! 

I'm going back to my book now, I'm at the part when Cyndi Lauper becomes famous after starving for years  "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

excerpt from Wikipedia: 

Alley was raised Methodist but is now a member of the Church of Scientology. At the time she became a Scientologist, Alley admitted to having had a cocaine addiction and went through Narconon, a Scientology-affiliated drug treatment program,^[12] to end her dependency.^[13] She has continued her Scientology training and, as of 2007, had attained the level of OT VII (Operating Thetan level 7).^[14]

In May 2000, she purchased, for $1.5 million, the former home of fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley, a 5,200 sq ft (480 m²) waterfront mansion in Clearwater, Florida, the spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology. In 2007, Alley gave $5 million to the Church of Scientology

Let me know when you get to the chapter on professional wrestling. She became involved in it pre-Wrestlemania, just as its popularity was exploding. Pro wrestling was regional back then and still had a seedy reputation. Today it's reach is international and is onsidered wholesome, family entertainment. Her involvement helped push it in that direction

The great Captain Lou Albano, of course, appeared on her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun video

You know Captain Lou, right, Robin?

                                           

I only became aware of Captain Lou when he did the videos with Cyndi.

   Professional wrestling really helped Cyndi get noticed, that's when her career took off, it was her manager's idea to team up with wrestling for the exposure  as they were having difficulty promoting "Girls"

Turned out to be a very wise decision. 

I'm going to watch some of her videos on Youtube, I think it's so cute she puts her mom and all her friends and relatives in them!   She even has someone walking her dog (a stray she took in) at the beginning of "Girls"

I was working a lot when these things came out, didn't pay much attention to MTV or wrestling (except for what went on in the workplace!) 

My favorite Cyndi song is "Time After Time"  I'm hearing it in my head right now.

PS: The Kirstie interview got bumped for more Hurricane Sandy coverage.

My favorite was "She Bop", which I listened to today on youtube after not having heard it in a million years. Still sounds great to me

She's gonna be 60 on her next birthday believe it or not. Her official OBN card will be delivered shortly

PS You removed it, but I assume that was you to the left in that picture, right?:)

Yes, I didn't want to give OBN/MGAA too much information (I'm afraid of them!)

That's why I removed the picture.    

You should be. Theyre a scary bunch over there

And very clannish too:)

Ache, I thought we made friends???  At least I tried to.
The OBs are definitely NOT a scary bunch.
I do get a kick out of you calling us OBs. That is so cute. We are as you say OBs - and that gives us a lot more leeway on the boards. You know, as always - experience counts.
Believe it or not. I do like your friend, Robin too. It is just, that she come on so strongly for us OBs to appreciate her. You are welcome to have an opinion, but don't push it on us old ladies.
The OBs are here to stay.

 

In response to AcheNot's comment:

The 20/20 Kirstie interview wth Barbara  will air this  Friday 11/9...  10pm

DWTS 2 hour show tonight.

Some of them have ties to the NJ and NY area hit hard by Sandy and are helping, we'll probably hear about that tonight too.

http://www.puredwts.com/2012/11/03/dwts-kirstie-alley-on-a-convoy-mission-to-help-hurricane-victims-interviews-and-more/

Off topic: Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

In response to pingo's comment:

pingo, I know you arent scary. I was just kidding

And I know youre here to stay too. Good. I'm glad. There's room for everyone here including OBN/MGAA

I'd never want to chase any one off the board. I know you think that's what my intention was when you and I first met up here, but I promise you it was not

The ladies seem to have a group attitude toward Robin though. If one of them takes issue with her, then the rest of you do as well. It's happened repeatedly

Even tt trumpet, who used to be so fairminded and moderate and reasonable, has become one of the worst offenders of late

Question: Has she gone batty on us all of a sudden or something? Seems like it. All that soap opera watching she does. Looks like she's finally flipped her lid

It would explain a lot

I've taken on Phyllis's personna.  She was always my favorite, you know.  Now I just have to find a Jack Abbott -