Dancin'

I am sorry, but So You Think You Can Dance completely kicks Idol's ass.

The final four are actually REALLY talented and fun to watch.

AND the best dancer won. No disrespecting to the other three, but Joshua was the guy to beat...and no one could.

Luciano Watch Out...

In contrast, here is a phenomenally inspirational video. I love this guy!

And he is on to the finals. Go Paul!

Now, okay, he is not quite the "shower singer" bumpkin and has performed opera on stage, but, dude, he does sell car phones for a living!

And quite frankly, anyone who can make Amanda Holden weep twice is mensch in my book.

Idol Time 2

Daughtry Rules! Sorry...lost it for a second.

I am not a big Kelly Clarkson fan, nor am I too enamored of Carrie Underwood. Idol has has some great singing talents...they just have not won. Which leads to comment two.

Looks. The fact is that the hot girls (and to a certain extent, guys) will survive over the great singers. The "Mandissas" of this year are LaKisha and Melinda: each has a great voice but they are too *ahem* big to make it. Antonella is the Kelli Pickler of Season 6: she can't sing very well, but she is very cute. (Actually, I thought Kelli was not cute at all, but Antonella is.)

So the voting seems to first get rid of mediocre looks, then mediocre talent and then talent without the look.

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To answer Thew's question: incest is statutorily defined. The state statute will say "incest is when A has a certain type of sex with B, C, or D" and B, C, and D will be very specific (sometimes grossly so). It is not usually up for interpretation. As you can see in the MA statute, if you are prohibited from marrying someone and that someone is consanguine to you (descendant), then it is incest.

Idol Time

The truth is I am not an Idol fan. But it is a show that the whole family can watch. So, we have begun TiVo'ing and watching it with the kids in the early evenings.

But I can't sit idoly by (sorry for the pun) and not make a couple of comments.

Song Choice. Okay, there is a pretty hard and fast rule that, if you are a girl, DO NOT pick a song from Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston or Celine Dion. (Some add Mariah Carey to the mix, but I don't for reason's mentioned below.) These are three women who you simply can not imitate. They are also big enough that their signature songs are pretty well tailored for them.

So stop it! Mariah Carey is a different matter. I don't place her in the same league as BWC and if you really have chops, you can pull off a Mariah song. But any pitchiness will kill you.

Guys do not have the same problem, BUT they do have a totally verboten song: Unchained Melody. Everyone hears the Righteous Brothers in their head and there is no way you can do what Bobby Hatfield did on this song; and many (Willie Nelson, Barry Manilow, Elvis) have tried. The only half-way good rendition was done by a woman: LeeAnn Rimes.

More later...