First there was Tim Russert.  Then George Carlin.  Both deaths tragic losses for the American People.

But then there was this.  He went to the Big Grand Prize Game in the Sky.

And this.  The Big Bible Tent Revival in the Sky?

Since the bad things always come in threes (and they always do), does this mean we had 3 and now we have 3 more, staring with Senator Helms?  ….who’s next?

My first episode of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) was last night. It was quite impressive, other than a shrieking judge. I’d take ‘luuded Paula Abdul over Mary Murphy every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Murphy is like the real life version of when the curtains fly apart and Mrs. Black starts screaming about mudbloods.

The show kicks off with each dancer getting a small solo. After recapping 2 seasons of American Idol, I can categorically say that AI’s Top 24 is NOWHERE near as talented as the Top 20 on SYTYCD. Holy. Shit. The dancers move in ways in which normal human beings should not be moving. At least not on channels children can watch. But let’s get to the competition, shall we?

Rayven, a ballet dancer, and Jamie, a West Coast Swinger (not that kind of swinger) are doing a Hip-Hop dance. Except I am dismayed to discover this is Bubble Gum Hip Hop. It’s cutsy-pie. It’s like something out of my junior high variety show as performed by people who studied at Julliard instead of Dixie’s School of Dance & Tumbling. Do not want. B- for Rayven and Jamie.

The couple to get saddled with the waltz the first week is Susie, a salsa dancer, and Marquis, a contemporary dancer. It’s a bit unfair that every other couple gets an up-tempo dance and they get the waltz. Audiences tend to forget slow and boring. It’s a lovely dance, though Marquis does struggle on a difficult lift. Thank god Susie is a tiny lil’ thing. If Marquis were doing that with, say, me… it’d be a lot like the crocodile/hippo scene in Fantasia. Anyway, the dance is beautiful but boring. B for Susie and Marquis.

Kourtni and Matt are both contemporary dancers and both are GIANTS. Not really, but for dancers they are very tall. She is 5′9 and he is 6′3. That is going to make them look a little out of control if the dance isn’t absolutely flawless. They do a jazz routine to “Tainted Love” while dressed like they’re going to break out the whips & chains later. I like Kourtni, but I don’t like Matt. He’s very technically sharp but lacks some panache. A- for her, B- for him, B for the routine as a whole.

The first really frenetic number of the night sees Chelsea T and Thayne (both contemporary dancers) doing the cha-cha. Chelsea appears to be wearing nothing but fringe. I’m disappointed they didn’t pull “Broadway” as their category; they could’ve done “Chelsea With the Fringe on Top.” However, Chelsea is on fire during this dance. Thayne is just along for the ride. She has an expressive face and she sure can make that fringe fly. B+ for the cha-cha.

Chelsie H and Mark (ballroom and contemporary, respectively) are up doing a contemporary dance that the choreographer describes as “Tim Burton’s wedding.” I am immediately intrigued. Mark has on formal wear sans jacket, Chelsie has on a poofy white dress. Her hair is messed up and her make-up is smeared. About 5 seconds in, they mime dragging their faces apart with their hands a la Adam and Barbara in Beetlejuice. Awesome. This dance is off-key, weird and amazing. Mark sits down, rolls Chelsia down his legs and then somersaults over her. This is incredible. I hope this choreographer does a dance every week. A for Chelsie and Mark.

Kherington (contemporary) and Twitch (break dancing) get saddled with Broadway. Yikes. I am frightened for them, visions of lederhosen and “The Lonely Goat-Herder” dancing in my head. However, the song is “Too Darn Hot” from “Kiss Me, Kate” and I am pleasantly surprised to see how good the dance is. Kherington has great personality and facial expressions, Twitch is surprisingly versatile. They have incredible chemistry as dancers. Two A grades in a row. That’s unusual.

Comfort, a hip-hop dancer, and Chris, contemporary, luck out and get jive for this week. Audiences love fast swing-dancing jitterbug numbers. However, Comfort does not look terribly comfortable doing jive. We find out after the performance that she dislocated her shoulder in rehearsal. That might explain it. It’s not bad at all, but it’s a bit of a let down following the previous two performances. B for the jive turkeys.

Our second hip-hop of the night is up and it better not be patty cake hip-hop like earlier. Katee (contemporary) and Joshua (a popper) perform to Jordin Sparks (love her) and Chris Brown’s “No Air.” The “plot” of the dance is that Joshua is being shipped off to war. It’s beautiful. There is actual emoting. Joshua does a VERY tough move where he falls face-first and then Katee pops him back up by his extended back leg, like a lever. At the end, he spins out of his camo-green over-shirt as she spins into it. Very cool. Another A on the night. What has gotten into me? It’s like someone sprinkled goddamn pixie dust on my cornflakes. But some of these dances have been incredible.

Jessica and Will, both contemporary dancers, get the tango. It’s sensual, it’s provocative, the costumes are sexy… and Jessica won’t stop smiling her damn fool head off. What the fuck? I understand that your mother has been smearing Vaseline on your teeth and shoving you on stage since before you could read, but this is the tango! It’s a serious dance that demands smoldering looks, not shit-eating grins. I swear to God, if they asked this girl to describe her perfect date, she’d say, “I would have to say April 25th. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket.” I give it a B-. The chemistry wasn’t there and that 1000-watt smile was distracting as hell.

Last couple of the night, Courtney (contemporary) and Gev (break dancer) get disco. Ouch. Gev is a wee little man from Kazakhstan. Seriously, he’s like 4′8”. If he has to do any kind of lifts with his partner, even tiny Courtney, he’s going to end up just a Gev-shaped smear on the floor. He kind of reminds me of Fez. That aside, the dance is just alright. Technically it isn’t nearly as impressive as some of the other ones and the fun factor isn’t really there either. B- for disco.

Who should go home? Well, that shrieking Mary Murphy should. But the Bottom 3 should be Rayven/Jamie of the Bubble Gum Hip Hop, Jessica/Will of the No Sex Tango and Courtney/Gev of the No Flash No Substance Disco.

Tune in tomorrow for the results!

“The Office” has made its first hire for the highly-anticipated spinoff of the hit show. “Human Giant” co-creator and star Aziz Ansari has signed on as an actor, with executive producer Greg Daniels saying “We loved his work in ‘Human Giant,’ … and we have a good character for him.”

“Laverne & Shirley” was on the air for 7 years and garnered several Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. “Joanie Loves Chachi” was on the air for 2 years and won a TV Land Award. Let’s hope the brilliant team behind “The Office” can bring us more of a “Laverne & Shirley” and less of a “Joanie Loves Penis Chachi.”

Andrea’s Top 5 Suggested “The Office” Spinoffs:

5. The Meeting. Meredith hits a hobo while driving under the influence and must start attending company-mandated AA meetings, where she meets a whole host of wacky characters. Hijinks ensue.

4. Snow on the Hudson. Stanley’s daughter runs off to New York City and shacks up with coke-addict Ryan. A bit darker than we’re used to seeing.

3. Pussy Tales. Taking a page from “Meerkat Manor,” we follow the lives of Angela’s cats while she’s at work. Narrated by James Earl Jones.

2. You Can’t Beet That! A Walton-like family moves in next door to the Schrute beet farm. Our hero Mose Schrute makes friends with the precocious 10 year-old girl, played by Elle Fanning. The pilot episode features Mose playing too rough with her pet bunny.

1. Creed. We follow Creed Bratton around in his outside-the-office life. What? Have you read his blog? That would be AWESOME.

Earlier this week actress Katherine Heigl revealed she withdrew her name from Emmy contention for Best Supporting Actress (which she won last year) because she “did not feel that [she] was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, [she] withdrew [her] name from contention.”

“Oh, boo hoo. I’m a statuesque blonde on a Top 10 television program! I won an Emmy and starred in Judd Apatow’s biggest hit! I’m gorgeous and sexy, my wallet’s too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight!” She’s criticizing the writers of a hit show and because of her “integrity” has withdrawn her name from Emmy contention? My heart bleeds for her.

On the other hand…

“Grey’s Anatomy” sucks now. I was there with it through seasons 1 and 2. Meredith and McDreamy were a compelling couple, Christina and Burke had an interesting dynamic, Izzy kicked butt and Bailey was my new favorite TV character. Addison’s introduction just made the show better. It was almost impossible not to root for Awesome Addison over Mopey Meredith.

The constant bed-hopping got a little tired, but I stayed. I even stuck with the show through the Denny storyline, which I didn’t love. But then. THEN… Izzy slept with George. It was the sex that broke the camel’s back. One bed-hop too many. It came out of nowhere and involved two actors who had great chemistry as friends but zero chemistry as lovers. I haven’t watched an episode since.

I’ve heard that it hasn’t gotten a whole lot better. I abandoned the show a year ago, so I wouldn’t know. But maybe this aesthetically-gifted celebrity who honestly should have nothing to complain about… is actually making a really good point.

Get your copies of the Deadly Hallows ready, kiddos.  The discussion of the book starts tomorrow over at DeadOn.  The chapters for tomorrow are 1 through 5.  WOO HOO!

I have been fixated with this song for the last few months. I can’t stop listening to it. I find it so beautiful and I can’t quite figure out why.

I’m home and jobless and finally getting around to finishing our Harry Potter book club from last summer.  So jump in for the end of the Half-Blood Prince and then grab your copy of Deathly Hallows.  I haven’t even opened my copy since I finished reading it the night it came out, so it should be a pretty fun reread.  We’re over at Dead On!

The 2008 Visa Championships start this Thursday, June 5th and West Des Moines Sweetheart Shawn Johnson is the front-runner. This 16 year-old sophomore at West Des Moines Valley High School is also the favorite for the Olympic Trials in Philadelphia June 19th-22nd and the games themselves in August. What else could possibly make this girl special?

Back in April, Shawn was contacted by a young girl asking for an interview for her school project just as she was leaving for an international competition. Shawn was so bothered by leaving the girl hanging that as soon as she got home she wrote back to the girl, then called the girl’s teacher to insist that if the problem was late it was her fault, not the student’s.

In August, Shawn will attempt to be only the fifth woman ever to go into the Olympics as reigning World Champion and win gold in the Women’s All-Around. Her biggest competition will probably come from her U.S. teammate Nastia Liukin, who was the U.S. in 2005 and 2006 before Johnson won in 2007 in her first year competing at the senior level. Women’s gymnastics has the potential to capture the nation’s attention in a way not seen since Kerri Strug’s one-footed vault landing and the women’s team gold medal in 1996 and 4′8 Shawn Johnson will be there to lead the charge.

The Chinese government has issued a 57-page document detailing how foreigners should behave IF they are allowed into China for the 2008 Summer Games. The document is titled “A Guide to Chinese Law for Foreigners Coming to, Leaving or Staying in China During the Olympics,” is currently only available in Chinese ( … ) and “covers everything from a ban on sleeping outdoors to the need for government permission to stage a protest.” This is all contingent on the idea, of course, that spectators can get visas allowing them into China. The document also points out that having tickets to an event does not guarantee being granted a visa.

So, Olympic Spectator Hopefuls…all you have to do is procure tickets to an Olympic event, hope you are granted admittance to the country, pay for airfare halfway around the world with current gas prices being what they are, and then make sure you can adhere to all the rules that are clearly outlined in a document currently only available in Chinese.

Here’s something to make you feel old:  Zac Hanson, the youngest member of the group that brought us “Mmm Bop,” is a father.  His wife Kate gave birth to John Ira Shepherd Hanson on Tuesday.