It’s been a while since I’ve shown you a brand new cover for Graceling. Behold!
This is the Finnish cover. What do you think? I love it to pieces, and nothing you say will stop me from loving it to pieces, so do your worst. In particular, I love finally seeing a short-haired Katsa, and — the mountains and castles in the background — *flops* — ! Maria Lyytinen, who is the translator, tells me that the back cover shows a scene of mountains at sunset/sunrise. She also explained that the word “Syntymälahja” encapsulates the idea of a gift received at birth.
Reminder: I love Finland. Dear sister, secret codename: Apocalyptica the Flimflammer: I cannot wait to give you a copy of Syntymälahja!
In other news… who saw this week’s So You Think You Can Dance? How about that Bollywood number? I almost cried at the end when Mollee gives Nathan back his sword. My favorite was the Stacey Tookey “fear” dance with Kathryn and Legacy. I also enjoyed the Wade Robson Van Gogh thing. (And didn’t really understand why the judges thought it was controversial. Can anyone enlighten me? Did they mean it was tacky because of Van Gogh’s history of mental illness?) Cat’s “I’m crying but I’m going to smile anyway” expression is so endearing. The choreographed kisses between Jakob and Ashleigh were, IMO, Fox’s deliberate and stoopid attempt to create drama, since Ashleigh is married to Ryan, another contestant. Fox, stop being stoopid! Finally, could you BELIEVE it when Ellenore danced practically that entire Argentine tango with her heel stuck in the hem of her dress? Wowza. She deserved that standing O from the judges!
One more thing: thank you, choreographers, for fewer “woman=victim/loser/nutcase” dances so far this season. (It doesn’t usually bother me when I look at particular cases. Dancing mirrors life; bad crap happens in life; and a beautiful dance is a beautiful dance. The creepy addict dance last season, for example, was powerful and gorgeous. But… I’ve said before that when I look at SYTYCD as a whole, I feel like it’s uneven sometimes. And when every dance is danced by one man and one woman, and when most of the dances are about the way the man and the woman relate, there have to be just as many representations of other situations, too, including the opposing situation [in which the man plays the part of the victim/loser/nutcase], or the show starts to put out an icky message. Ya know? Hey everyone, man=strong and woman=weak. Which is a message that does NOT mirror real life — it distorts it. Anyway. *steps off soapbox* The dances this week made me happy. ^_^)
For a taste of Stacey Tookey’s choreography, check out the video she posted on her facebook of Karla and Jonathan’s beautiful dance last season. (The dance starts at 2:15.)
