My wife and I enjoy watching Dancing with the Stars along with 20 million other viewers. The professional dancers are amazing people, stunning and athletic. The "Stars" come from a broad spectrum of celebrity; movies, music, television and sports are typically represented. Each season one or two celebrities showcase their natural talent and jump out as the early favorites. A few weeks later another star inevitably pops up to challenge or even beat the favorites. It's fun to see a stomping-slug, which most of us can identify with, become a hoofin'-hotshot.
Two celebrity favorites, Aaron Carter and Natalie Coughlin, were eliminated early because the decision of who stays and who goes is a combination of the judges' scores and the viewer's votes. Talent, hard work and continued progress lost to popularity and a motivated constituency, to politics. That's probably some of the show's appeal, it's part dance, part celebrity, and part reality.
Donnie Osmond and Kelly Osborne are the latest fan favorites. Donnie is a super showman and everyone loves the guy, it's Donnie. His dancing has improved almost every week but, at 50+, he's not the smoothest cat prowling the alley and his paw-prints are on as many of his partner's costumes as they are on the dance stage. Kelly has transformed herself from a whiny, frumpy, below-average dancer into a sometimes beautiful performer who has acquired some serious skills and surprising maturity. It's been an amazing metamorphosis for Ozzie's little girl but it doesn't change the fact that she'll never be anywhere near as graceful or talented as Joanna Krupa, who was eliminated last week.
Joanna is listed as a Actor and Model. If you know her then you know she's mostly a bikini model, although this month she'll be in Playboy sans bikini. Judge Bruno Tonioli's comments on Joanna's talents are shared by many viewers, "You are a love goddess. A High Definition feast for the eyes." On another occasion he gushed, "It was like watching a butterfly quietly gliding over a pine meadow. Gleaming, beautiful, weightless." She has been second in the judge's scoring all season (Kelly is last) and on more than one instance the judges said to Joanna, "you belong in the finals." Got that audience? This girl is not just a beauty, she can dance. Yet, she was eliminated last week while Donnie and Kelly continue clogging. You're probably wondering, what does clogging have to do with blogging?
Just this, the best and most talented don't always win. There are unique circumstances, chance meetings, good and bad luck, if you will, that play into the final outcome of, well, everything. As I peruse the bloggesphere and my social networks, especially LinkedIn, I see a lot of bloggers bemoaning their lack of readership. Stop whining, it serves no purpose. Joanna knew she was much better than Donnie and Kelly will ever be, you could see it on her face, but she was gracious and accepting in the face of injustice. To those who wrote the show to express your outrage, you need to relax and stop acting like, I almost hate to say it, one of Joanna's boobs.

My advise to those who are suffering under the weight of low-readership is to keep writing. Stop the self-pity and don't try to force the action. Advertising, while it can give you a short-term boost in readership, is not as effective in gaining a loyal audience as having strong opinions delivered through quality writing that is enjoyable to read. Persistence is a virtue. I think I read that somewhere? There are no guarantees in dancing, blogging or life (duh!) so keep doing your best and accept the fact that maybe the masses will love you and maybe they won't. Maybe the stars will align and maybe they won't. That's not important. What is important is that you do your best everyday and not act like one of Joanna's boobs.
Steve
Two celebrity favorites, Aaron Carter and Natalie Coughlin, were eliminated early because the decision of who stays and who goes is a combination of the judges' scores and the viewer's votes. Talent, hard work and continued progress lost to popularity and a motivated constituency, to politics. That's probably some of the show's appeal, it's part dance, part celebrity, and part reality.
Donnie Osmond and Kelly Osborne are the latest fan favorites. Donnie is a super showman and everyone loves the guy, it's Donnie. His dancing has improved almost every week but, at 50+, he's not the smoothest cat prowling the alley and his paw-prints are on as many of his partner's costumes as they are on the dance stage. Kelly has transformed herself from a whiny, frumpy, below-average dancer into a sometimes beautiful performer who has acquired some serious skills and surprising maturity. It's been an amazing metamorphosis for Ozzie's little girl but it doesn't change the fact that she'll never be anywhere near as graceful or talented as Joanna Krupa, who was eliminated last week.
Joanna is listed as a Actor and Model. If you know her then you know she's mostly a bikini model, although this month she'll be in Playboy sans bikini. Judge Bruno Tonioli's comments on Joanna's talents are shared by many viewers, "You are a love goddess. A High Definition feast for the eyes." On another occasion he gushed, "It was like watching a butterfly quietly gliding over a pine meadow. Gleaming, beautiful, weightless." She has been second in the judge's scoring all season (Kelly is last) and on more than one instance the judges said to Joanna, "you belong in the finals." Got that audience? This girl is not just a beauty, she can dance. Yet, she was eliminated last week while Donnie and Kelly continue clogging. You're probably wondering, what does clogging have to do with blogging?
Just this, the best and most talented don't always win. There are unique circumstances, chance meetings, good and bad luck, if you will, that play into the final outcome of, well, everything. As I peruse the bloggesphere and my social networks, especially LinkedIn, I see a lot of bloggers bemoaning their lack of readership. Stop whining, it serves no purpose. Joanna knew she was much better than Donnie and Kelly will ever be, you could see it on her face, but she was gracious and accepting in the face of injustice. To those who wrote the show to express your outrage, you need to relax and stop acting like, I almost hate to say it, one of Joanna's boobs.

My advise to those who are suffering under the weight of low-readership is to keep writing. Stop the self-pity and don't try to force the action. Advertising, while it can give you a short-term boost in readership, is not as effective in gaining a loyal audience as having strong opinions delivered through quality writing that is enjoyable to read. Persistence is a virtue. I think I read that somewhere? There are no guarantees in dancing, blogging or life (duh!) so keep doing your best and accept the fact that maybe the masses will love you and maybe they won't. Maybe the stars will align and maybe they won't. That's not important. What is important is that you do your best everyday and not act like one of Joanna's boobs.
Steve


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