i know i rambled on about strictly yesterday but i haven’t had my fill of dance blogging yet (if you have, i apologise…)

on saturday i watched (recorded; cos of all the ads) dancing with the stars aka. US strictly, which i’m only an occasional watcher of because in the past i’ve found it a very pale imitation of SCD (fewer judges, fewer contestants and often the celebs get much nicer remarks than they would over here). but this was the semi-final, and it was FABULOUS!

there’s never been a semi that good in the british version, ever. mel b’s viennese waltz (WATCH IT!) was the best ballroom dance i’ve ever seen (made both me and my mum cry*), and of the two shows, second only to jill halfpenny’s jive. who’d have thought a viennese waltz could ever be interesting, let alone feisty and sexy and fun?! her paso was again incredible, although i could have done without the erm, whip. and her outfit was godawful. i loved helio’s performances, especially the foxtrot (but more than that his partner, whateverhernameis, is breathtaking. no wonder she won last year, she doesn’t really need a partner).

i also loved jennie’s amazing cha-cha, which was just brilliant. but marie… i’m not so bothered about. her quickstep was good, but there was a massive gap between her and her partner, which = bad and her mambo was entertaining but a bit messy. (the words lucy ricardo sprung to mind). but there must be a huge wellspring of osbornemond support (who knew?) ‘cos she stayed in and jennie was out. FIX!

anyway, i’m crossing my fingers for the yorkshirewoman to win: come on mel b! please, no-one with inside knowledge give away the result, i want to wait until after my florida trip to find out who’s won. (which might be hard/impossible considering i’ll be in the US from wednesday night, but hopefully i can have something of a news blackout, or something). and when i get back, i’ll have about four hours of dancing to catch up with - i can’t wait.

*though to be fair, when it comes to dancing that isn’t hard.

i can’t believe we’re over halfway through the current series of strictly come dancing and i haven’t blogged abut it yet. it’s not because i had my fill of it last year when i blogged about it week in week out for tv scoop (because that was f-u-n) it’s just that i’ve been busy. i understand you might not care whether or not i impart my observations on the current series, but i do - it’s tradition!

so brace yourselves for my opinions of the competition as it now stands…

first of all, i LOVE alesha. love, love, love! she has the right attitude (work hard but have a sense of humour) a great personality, she’s doing brilliantly and she and matthew have a great relationship. (he seems really sweet, doesn’t he?) her dances always make me smile, and her waltz, cha cha and jive were inspired.

i did like kelly a lot, too. she’s very talented, but must surely have danced a bit before, right? she seems nice enough, but maybe a little too ambitious, and brendan is always cocky as heck. their performance this week was good, but not up to SCD standards and they haven’t set the dance floor on fire yet. so they’re not my favourites but good telly all the same.

my new second favourite is matt. i find his faux-’umble act a bit trying at times, but when he dances, he’s grrrreat. and flavia is wonderful in every way: great teacher, great choreographer, she has an otherworldly quality but with great control and she’s such a fabulous dancer. she’s really special and they have brilliant chemistry. i hope they make the final!

unlike john barnes, who i couldn’t care less about (in dancing terms; i’ve got nothing against him otherwise). i think he’s WAY overrated. he did a couple of not-bad latin dances but that’s about it and this week he wasn’t up to much at ALL. plus, i don’t rate nicoles’s ballroom choreography much, although she’s a great little jiver.  if he left, i just wouldn’t be bovvered. » more…

you may have noticed that i’ve added a li’l icon to my sidebar to show my support of the hollywood writers’ strike. this isn’t something that people over here are too riled about - yet - perhaps because it won’t affect our favourite US-made TV shows for a few months. but when i was in the US it was BIG news, and i wholeheartedly support the campaign, and really really hope it can be resolved at the next round of negotiations next week.

in the meantime, i want to encourage everyone to do a couple of things to support the striking writers:

1. sign the petition

2. send a box of pencils to a media mogul

i’ve just done both (the internet makes collective bargaining so easy!)

just in case this whole thing has bypassed you completely, here’s an excellent video showing what the strike is all about. » more…

a poster on a forum i frequent has just said she finds the word ‘chore’ so dull (almost onomatopoeic - it sounds as boring as the thing it represents) that she recommends replacing it with a word like, say, lovelymcspongecake.

fabulous!

just off to do a few lovelymcspongecakes, see you later…

hello!

i have absolutely nothing, not one thing to blog about. i do have a v v rough draft of my noo yawk trip on my alphasmart (portable word processor-y thing), but it needs transferring to the PC and sprucing up nice and i’m tired. actually, i’m completely exhausted and feel very low.

people keep accusing me of having tremendous fun because last week i got back from noo yawk and next week i’m heading to florida.

i know, that sounds like a really hard life, but i didn’t feel well at all throughout my holiday. and florida is a workshop, and i’m muy anxiouso about it as i know it will be emotionally gruelling, plus lots of solo travel which is not fun, especially as i have no one with me to read signs so will be popping my glasses on and off like a mad glasses-popperer. and i’m so exhausted and swollen-ankly that i’m not sure how i’ll cope with it. i’m not sure why my mood has plummeted about 199 storeys, but it has so forgive me if i’m a little moaning lump of misery but i’m actually not having fun yet. but at least i’m blogging! (sorry).

i’ll eat and sleep and see if that helps.

in the meantime, i’m in woman’s weekly again tomorrow, being much more helpful/cheerful…

yes, i’m BAAAAAAACK! from fabulous new york, new york (they wouldn’t let me stay on free of charge, boo…)

i went, i saw, i shopped. boy, did i shop. now my feet and back hurt, i’m beyond knackered and i’m all swollen (why?) especially my stay-puft style ankles. perfect excuse to order some dvds and go back to bed, wouldn’t you say?

i will be updating all about the trip when i’m compus mentus-ish again. (i took copious notes! okay, i took notes.) for now, i’ll leave you with this shopping-related teaser…

is twelve books too many? 

new york, new york!

 (see you when if i come back!)

always topical, i finally got around to watching britney’s much derided mtv awards comeback performance and…

it wasn’t that bad.

i mean it wasn’t good, she seemed very half-hearted and dazed. and she can do much, much better.

but it wasn’t apocalyptically bad. y’know?

unexpectedly - nobody tells me anything! - my opinion piece about the university application form is on guardian unlimited today (YAY!) [can you print it out at work, please mum?]:

Very bad form

While universities claim to encourage applicants from different backgrounds, the Ucas form fails to allow for diversity, writes Diane Shipley

Ten years ago, I started university for the first time, but soon became too ill to continue. I always wanted to reapply, and now feel well enough to do so - if the Ucas form doesn’t finish me off first, that is.

I know the application form is daunting for everyone, but when you’re no longer 18, have spent several years out of education, have long-term health problems and find that almost every question on the form doesn’t apply to you, it’s even trickier…  read more.

i’m also answering a tech question in my guise as “diane shipley, technology expert” in this week’s woman’s weekly, and every two weeks from now on. this is my third time in the mag, and i’ll scan them all in soon. (for people like helen TM who are too cool to buy it…)

hmm. the title of this blog post would be much more relevant if i had another publication to add, but i don’t. (i am on sabbatical, you know.)