Category Archives: Bristol Palin
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and his mighty mouth
Maksim Chmerkovskiy bills himself as the bad boy of the ballroom, but he knows what he’s talking about. Haven’t fans been a little uneasy since Bristol Palin? So he had something to say last night on “Dancing with the Stars,” when Len Goodman told his celebrity partner Hope Solo that she had just performed her worst dance of the season.
That rumba wasn’t great, it wasn’t sexy, but at least Solo looks happy. She has such an electric smile, but it’s her footwork that is hard to watch.
So what exactly did Chmerkovskiy say?
It began with Goodman commenting, “This is your worst dance of the whole season.” He continued, after admonishing Chmerkovskiy for encouraging the audience boos, by saying, “I’ve been in this business for nearly 50 years…”
Chmerkovskiy couldn’t resist adding, “Maybe it’s time to get out…”
At which time, Carrie Ann Inaba told Chmerkovskiy, “Don’t be disrespectful like that.”
Chmerkovskiy defended his comment by saying it hurts when the dancers and celebrities “hear you guys a little judgmental comment.” I think we can fault his English, but perhaps the comments of the judges go a bit far out of line.
Chmervkovskiy later said, “This is my show…I helped make it what it is” and he was tired of having the celebrities “judged on their so-called potential.”
We also had high hopes for Hope Solo and didn’t figure out that her biggest challenge was learning to walk in high heels and be girly.
Yet, don’t you think the judges are being a little bit too easy on someone like Chaz Bono? We found Bono a little whiny, particularly since he’s not the oldest contestant. He’s also not the first overweight contestant either.
See the clips from “Access Hollywood” with Billy Bush and Kit Hoover
“Cute little penguin,” is what judge Bruno Tonioli called Bono and I thought that was kind. Bono and Schwimmer feel that the judges have a personal dislike of him. Seriously? Tonioli might have been unnecessarily cruel to singer Michael Bolton (“It was a doggy mess of a jive. You did it all very, very, very badly”), but he’s been quite kind and even indulgent to Bono in my opinion.
I think Goodman could have been stricter with Bono. Bono doesn’t have much personality on stage.
Remember, Chmerkovskiy spoke out about that season when the dancers and the celebrities were being overworked. That was the season Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson won the mirrorball. Season 9 the contestants were asked to perform: cha cha cha, jive, rumba, tango, paso doble, samba, waltz, quickstep, foxtrot, Argentine tango, Viennese waltz, salsa, salsa/Viennese waltz relay, foxtrot/cha cha cha relay, two-step/Charleston/bolero/lambada, hustle group, mambo marathon, team paso doble/tango, megamix and freestyle. Compare that to season 5. Marie Osmond made it to the semi-finals, but consider there were only these dances: cha cha cha, foxtrot, quickstep, mambo, jive, tango, Viennese waltz, paso doble, rumba, samba, and freestyle. That’s 11 dances during season 5 compared to 20.
Season 11 had only 15 dances, including one team and a winner-take-all cha cha cha. That season was won by Jennifer Grey who sometimes got tens when there were obvious missteps, but the judging seemed to be more generous when it became clear that Bristol Palin was going to make it to the semi-finals.
Chmerkovskiy’s partner that season was Grammy Award-winning singer Brandy. Brandy was cut, but Palin moved to the finals. Luckily the energetic and ever entertaining Kyle Massey with Lacey Schwimmer finished second. Chmerkovskiy’s partner during season 5 was Mel B who finished second behind Helio Castroneves (with Julianne Hough).
There are personalities that make DWTS interesting and certainly Maksim Chmerkovskiy is one of them. He makes the show interesting–in terms of choreography and his clashes with his partners.
Without personalities like Chmerkovskiy, Julianne Hough, Derek Hough, Tony Dovolani and Cheryl Burke, I don’t think the show would have been successful.
And when things get a bit dull, it’s good to have pros who liven up the situation (or even a judge like Bruno Tonioli).
Are Olbermann and Cho latching on to Bristol Palin’s DWTS popularity?
Facebook has become a forum for one “Dancing with the Stars” alum, Bristol Palin. Bristol Palin doesn’t host or headline a show, but she’s not shy about using her FB page to defend herself and her mother, Sarah Palin, against higher profile celebrities like her “friend” Margaret Cho or a former sports journalist turned political commentator, Keith Olbermann.
Sure, we were horrified that Bristol Palin made the semi-finals of “Dancing with the Stars.” Palin is a celebrity only through her mother, really. Yet all that hard work was her own and when her mother Sarah Palin gushed, we wanted to see it as a mother happy for her daughter. Bristol Palin was popular and we don’t doubt it had something to do with her mother Sarah Palin.
Yet why would Keith Olbermann label Bristol Palin as the worst person in the world. There weren’t any bloody dictators, serial murderers, or people victimizing the elderly in the world competing for that title? The lady who as a prank put that kitty in the garbage bin would seem to be much worse than a girl who got pregnant and decided not to have an abortion and then go on to talk to teens about not making the same mistake.
That commercial with Palin and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino showed that neither had acting skills (yet). But why pick on Bristol Palin?
What about Margaret Cho? Does Cho really know what friendship means? We don’t think so and we don’t want to be friends with her unless Cho only spills secrets or supports rumors on her famous friends, particularly those who are more famous and more popular on the Internet than she is. The whole Cho “Pistol Whipped” blog entry seems like a pathetic attempt to get attention.
So much for “Dancing with the Stars” being a friendly dance show. Now the political implications go beyond the voting.
If Facebook was envisioned as a social networking site, Bristol Palin has transformed it into her forum. After all, she doesn’t have regular shows to use as forums like Olbermann and Cho. Is this the future of Facebook? And is latching on to the high search counts of another person, no matter how much a stretch or how rude and tenuous the connection is, the future of news and self-promotion?
Bristol Palin and Margaret Cho: Frenemies Forever?
Oh, Margaret Cho…just what does it take to be your friend? We don’t want to be your friend if this is how you treat them. Granted, you’re not our favorite comedienne and you are not our favorite dancer either. Neither was Bristol Palin, but again, we are taking Palin’s side.
Cho considers Bristol Palin a friend, or so she writes on her blog under the 29 November entry “Pistol Whipped” and yet she then dishes some dirt?
Why did Bristol do Dancing with the Stars? I heard from someone who really should know (really should seriously know the dirt really really) that the only reason Bristol was on the show was because Sarah Palin forced her to do it. Sarah supposedly blames Bristol harshly and openly (in the circles that I heard it from) for not winning the election, and so she told Bristol she “owed” it to her to do DWTS so that “America would fall in love with her again” and make it possible for Sarah Palin to run in 2012 with America behind her all the way. Instead of being supposedly “handicapped” by the presence of her teen mom daughter, now Bristol is going to be an “asset” – a celebrity beloved for her dancing. I am sure the show wasn’t in on this (but who knows anything really).
Seriously, Cho didn’t think to ask her friend, Bristol Palin, before she posted this? If this is how Cho treats her friends, how does she treat her enemies? And how should Cho expect her friends to treat her?
Bristol Palin took to her Facebook page again (4 December 2010) in an entry entitled “Cha cha cha to Cho Cho Cho: Here’s a Hint: Three Dog Night.”
I’m with Palin when she writes,
To my friend Margaret Cho, if you ever have a question, call me girlfriend. Don’t ever rely on “sources” who claim to know me or my family.
Cho has, to date, received 143 responses to this post. Compare that to the 12 she received for her previous post on the “Dancing with the Stars” finale. Or the 4 responses to the post before that. Cho has gotten some attention from this, some of it negative. Is Cho jealous? Some people think so. Did Cho know she’d get this kind of attention? I’m pretty sure she did.
Bristol Palin comes out of this looking better than Cho in our opinion. If Cho was a real friend, why would she want to spread or confirm rumors without even checking in with her friend? Cho seems like a pathetic attention seeker, trying to cash in on the fame of her so-called friend. As a friend, Cho seems more like an enemy in disguise.
Bristol Palin wrote:
And we need to talk. You say you ‘don’t agree with the family’s politics at all’ but I say, if you understood that commonsense conservative values supports the right of individuals like you, like all of us, to live our lives with less government interference and more independence, you would embrace us faster than KD Lang at an Indigo Girls concert.”
And how did Cho reply? Via Twitter:
Must write song “embrace me” with kd lang and indigo girls. Must!!!
And then four hours later, she added,
The only reason bristol is so freaked out and everyone is asking me to retract what I said is because they know its true.
How about, if you were really a friend you wouldn’t print dirt about your friend or their parental units. Do Cho’s friend regularly put out Cho’s dirty laundry for public consumption?
We don’t agree with Bristol Palin and Sarah Palin’s politics, but we also don’t agree with Cho’s tactics. We certainly don’t want to be a friend of Cho’s. Palin might be a better friend to have.
On “Dancing with the Stars” Cho seemed out of touch with the format of the program and the viewing audience. Here, she seems out of touch with netiquette and the terms of true friendship. While we didn’t vote for either Cho or Palin, in this war of words, we have to side with Bristol Palin again.
I guess when they say that everyone in the Burbank studios of “Dancing with the Stars” is so friendly, they mean that in a kiss-kiss fake friendly way.
Friends of Margaret Cho, watch out for friendly fire.
DWTS alum Bristol Palin turns FB, replies to Keith Olbermann
Facebook is supposed to be a social networking site, but if you’re being attacked by a public figure it can work as a public forum. “Dancing with the Stars” alum Bristol Palin did just that yesterday, Thursday, 2 December 2010.
Palin, who somehow, despite limited dancing skills, made the finals of this last season of “Dancing with the Stars” while partnered with Mark Ballas, was criticized by Olbermann for her work as a spokeswoman for abstinence.
Olbermann is an olderman (51) who hosts an hour-long nightly talk show, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC since 2003. Previously he had been a commentator on “SportsCenter” (1992-1997) and “Football Night in America” (2007-2010). On “Countdown” Olbermann gives commentary on political figures…and while Sarah Palin is a political figure, why is he picking on Bristol Palin? And why on Monday, when Bristol Palin has been the Candie’s Foundation spokewoman for months?
Bristol Palin might not have a talk show, but Palin does have the Internet.
Recently, a left wing commentator named Keith Olbermann attacked me for being a spokesperson for abstinence education and for being an Ambassador for the Candies Foundation, which promotes teen pregnancy awareness and prevention education. He went so far as to call me “the worst person” he knows, apparently, for my efforts to educate teenagers about the real world risks of premarital sex.
Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard. What Mr. Olbermann lacks in originality he makes up for with insincere incredulity. Mr. Olbermann fails to understand that in order to have credibility as a spokesperson, it sometimes takes a person who has made mistakes. Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy.
I have never claimed to be perfect. If that makes me the “worst person in the world” to Mr. Olbermann, then I must apologize for not being absolutely faultless like he undoubtedly must be.
To Mr. Olbermann let me say this: you can attack me all you want. But you will not stop me from getting my message out about teen pregnancy prevention. And one day, if you ever have a daughter, you may change your mind about me.
We already know that Olbermann is far from perfect. He was recently, 28 October 2010, suspended briefly for giving political donations to three candidates (Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway, Arizona reps Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords).
We didn’t love Bristol Palin’s dancing, but we do love that she turned to Facebook. Really, Olbermann…Bristol Palin is the worst person you could find? She isn’t even the worst dancer we’ve seen.
We didn’t vote for Palin on DWTS, but in this war of words, Olbermann versus Palin, she has our vote.
DWTS: Instant cha cha cha finale
For the instant cha cha cha, the scores were as follows:
- Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough: 28 (9, 9, 10)
- Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer: 28 (9, 9, 10)
- Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas: 27 (9, 9, 9)
DWTS Finals: Freestyle
Derek Hough and Jennifer Grey
- Week 10
- “Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)” by The Contours
- Score: 30
Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer
- Week 10
- “Tootsee Roll” by 69 Boyz
- Score: 29 (10, 9, 10)
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas
- Week 10
- “Cell Block Tango”
- Score: 25 (8, 9, 8)
DWTS Finals: Paso doble
Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough: 30 (Week 10),
- Week 6
- “So What” by Pink
- Score: 20 (6, 7, 7)
- Week 10
- “Habañera” by Charlotte Church
- Score: 30
Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer
- Week 7
- “Free Your Mind” by En Vogue
- Score: 34/40 (24 adjusted)
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas:
- Week 9
- “Gimme More” by Britney Spears
- Score: 27 (9, 9, 9)
DWTS Finals: Compare Foxtrot
Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer: 27 (Week 10), 20 (Week 5)
- Week 5
- “Charlie’s Angels Theme”
- Score: 20 (8, 5, 7)
- Week 10
- “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone
- Score: 27 (9, 9, 9)
Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough:
- Week 5
- “Love and Marriage” by Frank Sinatra
- Score: 25 (8, 8, 9)
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas:19 (6, 6, 7)
- Week 3
- “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars
- Score: 19 (6, 6, 7)
DWTS finals: Compare jive routines
- Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer: 29 (10, 9, 10) to “Good Golly Miss Molly” by Little Richard
- Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas: 18 (Week 5); 27 (Week 10)
- Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough: 24 (8,8,8) “Shake It”
Redemption dance: Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas to “Move” by Jennifer Hudson
Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer
- Week 8
- Jive
- “Good Golly Miss Molly” by Little Richard
- Score: 29 (10, 9, 10)
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas
- Week 5
- Jive
- “The Monkees” by The Monkees
- Score: 18
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas
- Week 10
- Jive
- “Move” by Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce and Anika Noni Rose.
- Score: 27 (9, 9, 9)
Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough
Week 2
Jive
“Shake It” by Metro Station
Score: 24
DWTS: Compare Bristol to Brandy
Brandy grew as a performer and we loved that she had a positive outlook.
Week 1: 23 (7,8,8) Viennese Waltz “Cry Me Out”—Pixie Lott
Week 7: 33 (9, 8, 8, 8) adjusted 24 Viennese waltz “Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne
Week 2: 21 (7,7,7) Jive “Magic”—B.o.B
Week 5: 18, Jive to “The Monkees” by The Monkees
Week 3: 24 (8,8,8) Samba “Put It in a Love Song”—Alicia Keys feat. Beyoncé
Week 8: 23 (7, 8, 8) Instant samba to “Mas Que Nada” by Sergio Mendes
Week 4: 22 (7,8,7) 26 (9,8,9) Rumba “This Woman’s Work”—Maxwell
Week 4: 18 (technical) 14 (performance) rumba to “Umbrella”
Week 5: 27 (9,9,9) Quickstep “I’ll Be There for You”—The Rembrandts (from Friends)
Week 2: 22 (7, 8, 7) Quickstep to “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Diana Ross & the Supremes
Week 6: 26 (8,9,9) Tango “Holding Out for a Hero”—Bonnie Tyler
Week 6: 23 (8, 7, 8) Tango to “According to You” by Orianthi.
Week 6: 10/10 Rock n’ Roll Marathon “La Grange”—ZZ Top
Week 7: 27 (9,9,9) “Bust a Move”—Young MC Team Apolo Anton Ohno
Week 7: 24 to “Workin’ Day and Night” by Michael Jackson for Team Kristi Yamaguchi
Week 7: 37 (9,9,10,9) Foxtrot “Fever”—Peggy Lee with guest judge Gilles Marini
Week 3: 19 (6, 6, 7) Foxtrot to “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.
Week 8: 29 (9,10,10) Waltz “Dark Waltz”—Hayley Westenra
Week 9: 26 (8, 9, 9) waltz to “Mary Goes to Jesus” from “Passion of Christ” soundtrack.
Week 8: 28 (9,9,10) Cha-Cha-Cha “Teenage Dream”—Katy Perry
Week 1: 18 Cha cha cha to “Mama Told Me (Not to Come” by Three Dog Night
Week 9: 27 (9,9,9) Paso Doble “Firework”—Katy Perry
Week 9: 27 (9, 9, 9) Paso doble
Week 9: 30 (10,10,10) Argentine Tango “Taquito Militar”—Conjunto Tipico del Tango
Week 8: 24 Argentine tango to “Buttons” by Pussycat Dolls.
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