While they were on Dancing With the Stars, Brandy and Bristol worked together on their facial expressions.
Controlling the facial muscles is a useful ability and something that can be learned. Gary Faigin's The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression and Edward Dwight Easty's On Method Acting are two interesting, relevant books.
This isn't something for the squeamish, easily outraged, or fans of Sarah Palin: New York magazine's Daily Intel column ran "Metal Concept Band Gwar Provides New Imagery for the Words Nailin’ Palin." Gwar is a bi-partisan band -- something I learned at NOISECREEP -- but there are more subtle -- figurative rather than literal -- ways to eviscerate a politician.
Jeb Bush is siding with his mom, former First Lady Barbara Bush. Barbara Bush let slip on Larry King's show that she thinks that Sarah should "stay in Alaska." Sarah retaliated by blaming the Bushes for wrecking the economy. Imagine that! Now, Bush and Reagan fans have it in for Sarah, because by blaming the Bushes she implicitly blamed Reagan.
Finally, Ted Casablanca writes in his column, The Awful Truth:
"Celebrities like to say they'll move to France if a conservative is elected, but with her lack of global policy experience, you'd have to move to Mars to get far enough away to be safe from the havoc she and whoever she appointed as Secretary of State would wreak."
—A very well connected D.C. insider told us about the capital's future if indeed Sarah Palin was ever elected President.
Looks like we aren't the only ones feeling a little iffy about this missy big-hair trying to get her foot in that oval office!
Tickets to Mars!
Update: Failed Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell has a book deal!
After all the nonsense about Sarah Palin's "franchise" and "media blitz," which were going to magically propel her into the White House, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter writes:
After setting a TLC ratings record last week, Sarah Palin's reality show plummeted for its second episode.
Sarah Palin's Alaska fell 40% on Sunday night to 3 million viewers.
Not many were in the key adult demo either. Only 885,000 viewers were ages 18-49, dropping 44% from last week.
In fact, the median age of the show is 57 -- that's 15 years older than TLC's average. ...
Those ratings and demographics don't indicate that there is a lot of enthusiasm out there for Sarah Palin.
Don't be surprised if Sarah Palin's book, America by Heart, is a flop in comparison with Going Rogue.
By the way, TLC's record of about 5 million viewers for the first episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska was nothing in comparison with, oh, say, Dancing With the Stars. It has beaten the first episode of Sarah's show by a 4-to-1 margin, with about 20 million viewers.
When will Bristol be old enough to run? 2024? 2028?
Note: Hibberd's article mentions that the collapse in ratings of Palin's show may be due to competition with Sunday Night Football; however, Palin's show had to compete with Sunday Night Football in its first episode and it had two million more viewers! That spin apparently came from TLC executives, who, of course, are desperately grasping at straws in order to explain the ratings collapse. There is another reason for the ratings collapse.
Has Sarah Palin quit narrating the audio book of America by Heart? Chris Michael, comedian and artist, says so.
The Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes writes The TV Column. This morning she wrote about the controversy over Bristol Palin's longevity on Dancing With the Stars, and she has a lot of comments from the show's executive producer, Conrad Green.
The NY Daily News has talked with a dietician about Bristol's weight gain on DWTS. Update: Gryphen has weighed in on this story with his experience as a personal trainer.
Life & Style Weekly quotes named sources on Willow Palin's 1:00 AM drug buy and underage drinking. Gryphen added his insight into the Palin family's problems here. Perez Hilton has posted a story, too.
I thought The Proposal, a 2009 movie with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, might afford people looking for Alaskan scenery an alternative to Sarah Palin's Alaska. Although most of the movie is set in and around Sitka, it was actually filmed in the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts, mostly in Rockport. There is some beautiful scenery in the movie, however. It is a romantic comedy and held my attention; it wasn't boring. The contrast between the New York office and the outdoors, wherever it was, was especially interesting.
Update: I must have lucked-out or become wise before I'm old. I waited until 7:45 PST -- oops! 6:45 PST; I've retreated to an undisclosed location for the holidays and should reset my watch -- before tuning in to DWTS. Bristol started in a cage, and it was Mark Ballas who ended up in the cage! Freestyle. They received scores of 8, 9 and 8 for a total of 25; 52 out of 60 for the night. Apparently, they're going to dance again, tomorrow night? I don't regularly watch DWTS, so I am unfamiliar with the rules.
I must say that Bristol's size can depend on lighting and camera angle. Before she danced she expressed her feelings about the "haters"; obviously, Mama has schooled her on the sympathy vote. The camera panned to Sarah Palin -- in the audience, again. Jennifer and Derek are up next. Derek is very good; Jennifer not so good in comparison with Derek. The judges are more enthusiastic about their dance -- scores after the break -- it's 10, 10 and 10!
Yes, more dancing tomorrow. The leaderboard: Jennifer/Derek, 60/60; Kyle/Lacy (?), 56/60; Bristol/Mark, 52/60. Can "the people" save Bristol? Whatever the outcome, there is sure to be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Apparently they danced twice tonight, and in my "wisdom" I missed the first dance.
OMG! Skating With the Stars is on next! When will we see Sleeping With the Stars?
Update November 23: The Hollywood Gossip has a summary of what happened last night.
Here is last night's first dance:
Carrie Ann Inabe had a little criticism of the way Bristol pointed her toes, but then said she was more "vibrant." You have to watch the video and see her say that to understand what she means. The judges were all enthusiastic about the dance. Bristol and Mark got three nines.
I am not sure why the video embeds at 240p. After it starts, it can be changed to 480p for a clearer video (there is a widget to the left of the YouTube logo, on the control panel).
People magazine has a story with backstage comments from Carrie Ann Inabe and some of the other participants, here.
PopEater's Rob Shuter writes that Sarah Palin is lobbying the show's producers to have failed senate candidate Christine O'Donnell appear as a contestant on DWTS! "Christine is not a bad idea at all," one ABC executive tells me. "After Kate Gosselin and Cloris Leachman, O'Donnell would fit right in. She certainly would be so controversial that the amount of press attention and buzz the show would get would be huge. Plus, you know they would make her dance in a witch's hat with a broomstick." That's the way it is. Isn't life wonderful?
The Washington Post's TV Column, written by Lisa de Moraes, explains Bristol Palin's success on Dancing With the Stars. The show is very popular now, and about four times as many people watched DWTS than watched Sarah Palin's Alaska.
Monsters and Critics called last night's first dance a "raunchy Pasodoble," and noted that afterward Judge Carrie Ann Inabe hugged Bristol and told her she had "nailed it." Ms Inabe's explanation for Bristol's success, before last night's episode, can be viewed at People.
That's raunchy?
In a remark that may explain the outcome of the recent midterm election, The TV Column states:
What if Bristol wins? This question was just a laugh line until last week when she made it to the semi-finals. If the very thought seems an outrage, Green [DWTS' Executive Producer] offers an outlet: "It's a very simple solution: Mobilize to vote for someone else." Green said he's been astonished when he's encountered people angry about seeing so much of the Palins on this edition of the show, "and I ask who they voted for and they say, 'No one'."
Anyway, The TV Column reminds us, "Tuesday night, viewers will find out if Bristol is going to make it to next week's final round; the winner of the coveted yet hideous Mirror Ball Trophy will be announced next Tuesday."
Update: November 16, 2010: CBS News reports that Bristol is going to the finals on DWTS,
Update: November 17, 2010: The Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes has new comments, here. Her post includes news of the man who shot his TV after learning that Bristol had made it to the finals!
Sarah Palin has "written" another book, America By Heart. The book won't be released until November 23rd, but it has already accumulated almost 5000 "reviews" on Amazon, where it is already being discounted by 50%.
Caffeinated Thoughts -- an excellent name for a pro-Palin blog -- has the rules for Sarah Palin's book signing in Des Moines, Iowa on November 27th:
She will be only signing America By Heart, not [sic] other memorabilia will be allowed.
Books must be purchased at the West Des Moines Borders and you must provide proof of purchase.
There will be a limited number of wristbands (he [a Borders assistant manager] didn’t say when they’ll start giving those out). Only one wristband per person, and only two books per person. During the Going Rogue tour they typically gave out anywhere between 500-1000 wristbands.
No cameras, phones with a camera, recording devices, video cameras, etc. will be allowed. Please leave those in your car or at the security check point.
A wristband will guarantee your place in line, but it will not guarantee that you will get to meet Governor Palin (circumstances may not permit everyone in line to be able to get through).
Amazon tracks its customers: 55% buy Palin's new book, 37% buy George Bush's Decision Points, 4% buy Glenn Beck's Broke, and 2% buy Palin's Going Rogue. Amazon considers "customers" to be those by whom a book was purchased after viewing its page for Palin's new book. That 37% are buying Bush's book may lend some credence to the idea that many of Palin's fans are the Bush regime's dead-enders.
Is it . . . a plot? As Jimmy Kimmel put it: "Is there a tea party conspiracy?"
Or is it a collusion of like-minded people across this land, hurling buttered monkey wrenches into the works and sitting back for a laugh?
To the last question, we answer: Of course! D'oh. How else could Bristol Palin still be on Dancing With the Stars? ...
And ends:
There's a long history of the least talented being favored on these reality-contest shows. Anyone remember Sanjaya Malakar, the ponyhawked, talently challenged random who got to 7th place in Season 6 of American Idol? The judges hated him; the people voted, and he stayed. In Season 8 of DWTS, Lil' Kim (a pro, OK?) got booted, and rodeo who? Ty Murray stayed because his unknown fan base clogged the phone lines. ...
... Have fun, that's what we at "SideShow" say. It's the massed cussedness of tens of millions of TV-addicted young folks who like to stir it up. It's like spooning sugar in your enemy's gas tank. Or calling in a fake bomb threat to your high school. It's merry destruction, having a good old time with a dumb old show.
Bristol has reached DWTS' semi-finals, and Kelly Osbourne thinks she could win!
During troubling times great leaders stand up and explain things to the people in an address to the nation. Carrie Ann Inaba, a Dancing With the Stars judge, told People Magazine, "She might be in our finals. Wow." There is video of what Inaba told People, here, and, although she delivered her remarks while seated, her explanation of Bristol's success is worth considering.
WILMINGTON — Before she was a Tea Party cause célèbre, liberal laughingstock and perhaps the embodiment of a can-you-top-this-for-bizarre political season, Christine O’Donnell grew up in a “Brady Bunch” household of six kids (three Democrats, three Republicans), two parents (one of each) and an appreciation for the dramatic, the eccentric and the media spotlight. From: Chrissy the Pooh's father played Bozo the Clown
"West Wing" creater Aaron Sorkin reportedly said, "Sarah Palin is an idiot. A remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent, mean woman."
He did! Elliot Spitzer got a job! Jack Nicholson for President!
Update: Gryphen has news about Jay Leno going to Alaska. Wouldn't it be something if he does a show with Sarah Palin, then, while she's sitting there, announces a surprise, special guest named Levi Johnston?
Last Saturday, I opened a new front in the war on Sarah Palin by questioning her ability to dance.
This picture purports to show her dancing at her inaugural ball in 2007; however, we still aren't certain she can dance.
The picture is but one moment out of the many moments that comprise Sarah Palin's life. Unless we see additional photo evidence, we cannot be sure that she was actually in motion -- dancing -- when the picture was taken. And we would like a lot of other information about any pictures that may appear: camera make, focal length of the lens, distance from camera to subject, camera angle, lighting ... the list goes on.
Of course, Sarah must have been irked by our doubts. Now she may be scheming to prove she can dance by showing us video. How? By dancing on Dancing With the Stars!
Sources tell me that Sarah Palin had such a fantastic not-booed-at time on 'Dancing With The Stars' Monday night that she's itchin' to return to the ballroom herself next season.
"Sarah was overwhelmed with what a great time she had at the show," an insider who was at the show tells me. "In fact she enjoyed herself so much that she mentioned to producers who greeted her that she would be open to competing herself next season."
But until we see it, we'll remain doubtful that she can dance.
Afterword
Fight fire with fire: one conspiracy theory with another?
It happened serendipitously. I doubted Sarah could dance out of mean-girl orneriness. After I hit 'Publish Post,' I remembered that there was a picture of her dancing at the inauguration, so I posted it in the comments, along with a babygate-style argument.
"Babygate" is a dead issue. Its loss may disappoint, even anger, some, especially Sarah Palin. It was her oxygen: whether she talked about it or her enemies did, it rallied her fans.
LOS ANGELES — Sarah Palin may be outspoken, but she kept her opinions to herself on "Dancing With the Stars."
The former vice-presidential candidate was in the ABC ballroom Monday to cheer on her daughter, whom she called "Bristol the pistol."
Palin had only good things to say about her daughter's competitors and the show's three judges when interviewed briefly by show host Tom Bergeron.
Palin praised the "courage, joy and exuberance" of the dancers and kept mum about the judges, saying, "It's like a hockey game. You're not going to chew out the refs before your team is up."[emphasis added]
Leave it to Mama Sarah Palin to cheer on her favorite daughter Bristol, or as she likes to call her... Bristol the Pistol. Look for this on T-shirts in the very near future.. natch.
- Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said, "Bristol, you remind me of one of my favorite dancers - Kelly Osbourne." ...
- Jennifer Grey's energetic jive only earned a 24 from judges, despite Carrie Ann saying, "You were amazing from start to finish!" and Len declaring, "It was full-on fabulous." The audience booed when the 8, 8 and 8 score paddles went up. She deserved higher. [emphasis added]
The leaderboard:
Jennifer Grey 24 Audrina Patridge 23 Kyle Massey, Bristol Palin 22 Rick Fox, Brandy and Kurt Warner 21 Florence Henderson 19 Margaret Cho, The Situation 18 Michael Bolton 12
Think Michael Bolton's going home? On Tuesday's results show, look for Seal and Janelle Monae to perform.
Update: Washington Post's The TV Column has a story about the booing. Were they booing the judges or Sarah Palin?
Update: CBS has a story quoting one of the judges:
The judges said Bristol needed to engage the audience more in her performance. "It's not quite there," judge Len Goodman told Bristol. "It was neat and precise, it's just needs a bit more flair....You've got to take chances if you are going to win 'Dancing With the Stars.'"
Bristol Palin, meanwhile, kept her nerves in check even though mama bear was in the audience and continued to represent. Her quickstep wasn't as polished as Audrina's, but she's just as enjoyable to watch—if not more so.
Update: The Daily Mail has a story with a lot of pictures, and offers some evidence that Sarah Palin can't dance:
It [Bristol's appearance] was introduced with a clip showing her visiting the family's home in Wasilla with partner Mark Ballas.
Bristol is asked how she likes Los Angeles compared to home.
'It's like a night and day, the difference,' she said. 'I like it, but I like Alaska better.'
After standing by a stunning lake, Ballas is greeted with a bear hug from Sarah as they walk into the family home's enormous living area.
With husband Todd and a baby visible in the background, the politician screams out to Ballas: 'I'm so star struck! How are you? It's nice to meet you, thanks for taking care of my girl.
'We had so much fun watching you, we were just whooping and hollering!'
To laughter from the audience, she then attempts to copy her daughter's shimmy of the arms and shoulders from last week's performance, saying: 'I thought, "how did she do that?"'
Update: LA Times' Show Trackerasks whether Sarah was booed.
Prior to the 19-year-old taking the stage, ABC aired footage of Bristol's highly publicized trip with her partner to Alaska last week. In the clip, the 19-year-old explained that she took Ballas home with her to thank him for being such a great teacher - and to introduce him to her mom, his biggest fan.
"I'm star struck," Sarah Palin said as she welcomed the dance pro into her home. "Thanks for taking care of our girl."
She told Ballas that her family had been "whooping and hollering" during the show's premiere as he and Bristol danced to "Momma Told Me Not to Come."
She later tried to get him to spill the beans on their dancing techniques.
"How does she do that…" the politico said as she lifted her arms up and down and made a pigeon sound.
Asked if she was embarrassed to watch her daughter strip off her clothes on camera, the 46-year-old responded that, on the contrary, she was "proud" of Bristol for being able to cut a rug in front of 20 million people.
Her daughter then hit the dance floor to perform a quickstep to Diana Ross' "Can't Hurry love." Bristol wore a more reserved costume this week - a lavender dress with silk gloves up to her elbows - as she and her partner shared numerous Eskimo kisses, no doubt a nod to the teen mom's hometown.
Her mother watched with glee, swaying to the music and clapping.
Bristol and Ballas scored a respectable 22 out of 30 (up from 18 last week) and the judges agreed that the ex-governor's daughter was disarmingly relaxed and unaffected.
After hearing her scores, Bristol told host Brooke Burke that she was "so glad" her mom could be there and Ballas added that he was "proud" of his partner before hugging and kissing her.
"Dancing with the Stars'" results night airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC.
The video:
Sometimes there's a party, and you might just as well go and have a good time.
There are so many ways to dance. Matthew Gilbert of boston.com wrote, today:
Bristol Palin’s dance — and PG striptease— this week was her first on “Dancing With the Stars.’’ Palin, who described herself as “a pubic advocate for teen pregnancy prevention,’’ was clearly happy to be doing some shaking and shimmying (with dance partner Mark Ballas). She began in a conservative, Sarah Palin-esque dress complete with a flag pin, then tore it off to reveal a fringed red mini-dress. ...
...[Bristol's] [r]ebellion ignored: From Alaska, Mama Palin tweeted, “Over-the-moon excited and happy for Bristol! Cheering her on @ DWTS party in the Palin living room,’’ ...
Bristol is going to speak at an anti-abortion fundraiser in Visalia, California. A lot of clucking hens cannot comprehend why Bristol should be chosen to speak, but April Kesterson, executive director of Tulare-Kings Right to Life, which is the Visalia event's sponsor, said, "She had the baby. That's our primary concern. Everything else is secondary."
In the same article, Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said, "There's no doubt that her [Bristol's] celebrity helps to promote abstinence. She is the most famous unwed teen mother in the world today."
Bristol is returning to DWTS! The Hoff is off! Will Sarah Palin make an appearance? Can she dance?
The NY Daily News has an article, with video and pictures of Tripp, here.
CBS has a story about ABC's show! here. They say, from Access Hollywood, that Sarah Palin will be in the audience.
Update: Bristol and her partner dancing on DWTS can be seen on YouTube. ABC will probably have better video available, later, after it's aired in the west.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stripping off an office power suit, the daughter of conservative politician Sarah Palin performed a short parody of her mother in launching her bid to win television's "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday. ...
... Her sparkling grey office suit imitated the style worn by her mother, but it was soon stripped off to reveal a short, red dress with tassels.
Sarah Palin did not attend the taping on a Los Angeles soundstage. Instead, she hosted a viewing party at her home in Alaska, and declared on Twitter that she was "over-the-moon excited and happy" for her daughter. ...
The odds seem to favor one of two former governors — Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin — being the next Republican nominee for president, according to the Irish bookmaking agency Paddy Power.
But either would lose to President Obama, the odds-on favorite at 8-1 to win a second term in the White House, according to the betting so far at Paddy Power, which has, at various times, been spot-on and awful as a predictor of American presidential elections. ...
When Bristol Palin premieres on "Dancing With the Stars" next Monday, she'll be fighting the odds, costume criticism and rumors of troubled practice sessions.
Sports bookies (really? really!) have put Bristol above "Brady Bunch" mom Florence Henderson, who's picked to finish last. But that's not saying much. The teen mom, who was thrust into the spotlight two years ago when her own mom (you know, Sarah Palin) became John McCain's running mate, is predicted to finish 11th out of the 12 celebrity contestants by two different bookmakers. Her odds of winning: 20-1. ("Dirty Dancing" star Jennifer Grey is the early fave.)
Instead of refuting any of the points Gross made, Palin mounted an ugly ad hominem attack on the author. That attack confirmed one of the major points of Gross' article: Sarah Palin has a terrible temper. Was her response the sort of response we would expect from a President? No. It was the response of a mean-girl.
The author has said he made a mistake when he misidentified Trig Palin, but he has not said that he is mistaken about the substantive issues he raised. He won't do that unless Sarah Palin engages the article on the issues and can point out an error of fact associated with them.
If you missed it, here's Bristol with Jay Leno, last night:
Sarah Palin is part of the team! She is the new makeup artist for Glenn Beck's show! The article doesn't mention it, but she has also lent the use of her TeeVee studiobackdrop to Joe "Constitutional Scholar" Miller.
Sarah Palin is going to Iowa to be the headliner at a Republican fundraiser. In the state that will be the first to hold a contest in the 2012 presidential campaign, even if it has to do it in 2011.
Her staff says this means nothing whatsoever, but let us acknowledge that Palin is on a roll. She's got her own TV show, not counting Fox News. And she Twitters! Or somebody does it for her. Hard to tell which. Her twit on the president's Iraq speech was: "may make u want to dig out ur old Orwell books so rewritten history can be deciphered."
On the one hand, the sentence construction does have that Sarah ring to it. On the other, how many of you think that Palin has old Orwell books hanging around the house? May I see a show of hands? ...
... A new Vanity Fair profile by Michael Joseph Gross suggests that Palin does still cut costs by being an extremely bad tipper. The piece also resurrects the charge that she does not actually hunt, and claims that Todd had to scour the neighborhood to find some moose to put in that chili when a TV crew came to call.
This is not the first time Palin's hunting creds have been questioned. I think it is time for her to take a pool of reporters out into the woods, bring down a moose and dress it on the spot. Maybe she could compete with other allegedly outdoorsy politicians, like Joe Miller. Maybe they could call it "Shooting With the Stars."
In "AP Interview: Author leaving home next to Palins," we learn that Joe McGinniss is leaving the the house he rented next-door to Sarah Palin. He has finished his research and will begin writing his book, The Lies of Sarah Palin.
Will the fence come down? McGinniss said of Sarah Palin's concern that he was there to spy on the Palins:
Anybody wanting to spy on the Palins, McGinniss said, would be better off in a boat.
"That's the funny thing," he said. "They live in a place where anybody who wants to look onto their property, all they have to do is get a boat and park 10 yards off shore and they can sit there all day and look at the Palin's yard, if that's what they want to do. But I don't know who would want to do that."
The NY Times' William Yardley has taken an interest in Joe "Constitutional Scholar" Miller, the Republican candidate for Alaska Senator. His latest article, "Alaska Winner, Lover of Privacy, Loses His Own," is here.
Finally, Robert Reich has written "How to End the Great Recession," which has some background information about what has been happening to the middle class during the last thirty years.
Bristol Palin might be stepping out of her comfort zone this season on Dancing With the Stars, but she won’t be stepping into any of the show’s skimpy costumes.
“I think I will be the most dressed [contestant and have] the most modest outfits for sure because that’s who I am,” she told PEOPLE Monday night in Los Angeles at the announcement of the show’s new cast. ...
... “I have no experience in dance,” [Bristol] says. “But I come from an athletic background, so I’m thankful for that. [I played] basketball, volleyball, soccer, everything.” As for temporarily relocating from Alaska to Los Angeles for the show, Bristol is still adjusting. “I feel like I’m melting,” she says. “It’s so hot here and there’s so much traffic.” –Melody Chiu
The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog has posted a video, writing:
The web site Funny or Die has made excellent comedic use of footage of Sarah Palin playing the flute to create a segment of “Betwixt the Music” that focuses on an imagined collaboration between Alaskan singer/songwriter Jewel and the state’s former governor. As told by the “Behind the Music” narrator, the pair met at a venue in Wasilla called The Crab and Coffee and were soon jamming at “The Dojo,” Palin’s storage shed/rehearsal studio decorated with posters of Bob Marley and Ronald Reagan.
... In her new book "Dirty Sexy Politics," Meghan McCain says Palin brought "stress, drama, complications, panic and loads of uncertainty" to the campaign.
"She was not just an overnight success or even a political Cinderella story," McCain writes in an excerpt obtained by ABC News. "She was a sudden, freakishly huge, full-fledged phenomenon. It seemed too much. And it seemed too easy."
Speaking out about the former Alaska Gov. for the first time, McCain admits she once wondered if her father's loss "was Sarah Palin's fault." ...
While they were on Dancing With the Stars, Brandy and Bristol worked together on their facial expressions.
Posts
