Last night I was hanging with @seangunn, an esteemed member and somewhat founder of the FDL. We were discussing strategy and the like… and during our conversation he suggested that I look into a trophy for the winner.

I have a feeling this had been on his mind for days, because twice he pointed at a cleared off section of his mantle and at said, “I mean, they could display it for years to come.”

So today I went online and started peeking around. I guess I never realized:

1. how inexpensive they are,
2. how customizable they are,
3. how potentially awesome they can be.

So, the decision wasn’t a difficult one.

A new prize has been added to the FDL, everyone. An award you’ll be able to display on your mantle for years to come.

And I’ve been looking for just the right one. Do I go traditional? Do I go radical? Do I go impressionistic? These are just some of the questions I’ll be asking myself over the coming weeks as I continue my research.

One thing I know, the trophy will be engraved with the winner’s name on it. I’ll have to backtrack a bit and get one for our last FDL winner Marivic Tagala (@sorano916), as well. I need to stay consistent, after all. Her award will probably be your first glimpse of the one you’ll be competing for this season.

It’s also possible I’ll be making one. My friend @mrsjennyryan owns a little alt craft shop in Silver Lake called Home Ec. She noticed on my twitter stream that I was in the market for a trophy and she’s offered to help me custom build one. Oh man, that could be some serious badassity if done right.

Anyway, stay tuned. I’ll have more very soon. And for all you non-FDLers, this is just one more reason to begin training for 2010.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Happy Halloween.

I debated calling them “Retro Exclusivz!!!”, cause the “z” always give a name that “supah sly” style. Although, my buddy Lee thinks you can achieve almost the same slammin effect by putting “etc.” after the name.

“Exclusives Etc.!!!” Ya heard?!

Anyway, this is a section specifically for members of the FDL. That is, the So You Think You Can Dance Fantasy Dance Lark… often referred to as just “The Lark”.

If this is the only post you’re seeing in this section, here are some questions to help you troubleshoot why:

1. Are you a member of FDL?
2. Have you registered for an account here yet?
3. Have you let me know that you’ve registered for an account here and want into the “Exclusives Etc.!!!”?
4. Have you waited a least a day since notifying me?
5. Have you actually logged in to your account?
6. Are you awake and certain this isn’t a dream?
7. Are you certain you’re not in an asylum right now looking at a broken TV, typing on a lunch tray, drooling and talking to yourself?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, then unfortunately this may continue to be the only post you see here. If you’re unsure of the correct answer to any of these questions, either send me a tweet… or ask a nurse.

I know some of you non-FDLers are like, “What????!!! We wanna read those suckers too.” But I just really wanted to give members of the FDL something exclusive. A sort of “thank you” to all of them for playing.

I assure you though, my larger SYTYCD posts will continue to be public. And I plan to have other types of private “Exclusivz” and “Etc.’s” for registered members of the blog.

Here’s the first “competition” episode for those who missed it.

If this video is broken, you can find another one to watch here.

I’m also trying to come up with the cleanest way to group all these posts in a place that makes them easy to find. For now I’ve created the /category/fdl-private, as well as started tagging them FDL-Private.

First of all… clam shells. The Flintstones used clam shells as currency. Not pebbles. Clam shells. Pebbles was the name of their daugh- *deep breath*

The end of that episode really bummed me out, you know that? Really. Bummed me the hell out.

I mean, I get it. Craziness. Craziness happened to the opening of this season– Look, it happened here at the FDL too, I know how it is! And I understand, from the producers standpoint there needed to be a quick, clean strategy for getting things back to normal again… but come on. Just give it to us straight, man. This wasn’t a real show, was it? Hmmm? Was it now?

Brandon wasn’t a competitor. He was another Melanie. He was a one-time replacement, and that’s why he went home. Like Melanie went home. And that’s why he’s gonna be “allowed” to audition again. Because he wasn’t actually a competitor. He never had a chance.

*sigh* I guess, I’m sort of mad at myself here. I should have totally expected this from the show and accounted for it in my picks. I totally blew it.

But you know what made it feel so weird? To me at least. And a bit like adding insult to injury?… was having Russell down there too. Sure, Russell’s Fox Trot wasn’t technically great. He had that very “steppy” area of the piece… but it was nowhere near as painful to watch as that labored pretzel thing in Keven and Karen’s Cha Cha…

I thought there were several male doozers, actually.

But even if it was the night’s weakest piece of technical dancing, it was a great moment of dance. A guy who you’d never expect to dance that well in a style so foreign to him… holding his own the way he did? With a brand new partner? A world champion? What?! That’s never been “dance for your life” material on this show. Those are the kind of stories this show is built on… they fuel its pop appeal… its ratings!

And whether great “moments” should be rewarded over great “dance” is irrelevant here… Nigel has said it before, “this is a competition for America’s favorite dancer”, and that says to me he understands the value of a contestant like Russell.

So why make him dance for his life? Well it seems fairly obvious to me. Tell me if I’m crazy to think this. The judges put Russell in the bottom, not because they thought he deserved it… a guy who continues to defy their expectation, and who appears to have a huge growth potential… no, they put him there because they needed him there for one reason and one reason only…

so that we could see his solo.

So that we could judge it next to Brandon’s and say… “yup… Brandon needs to go,” and then the judges could say back to us, “yes, glad we all agree on that. Brandon, you’ll be leaving us tonight.” Nigel couldn’t have gotten that phrase out faster, huh?

*Hmmpf*

Let’s imagine for a moment what it might have looked like, sounded like, if oh… I don’t know… Peter had been in the bottom. He was, after all, the other half of the dance that landed Ariana there. And I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see her dropping the ball that much more than he was. The piece, in general, wasn’t very strong.

So imagine him tapping for his life. With that strange floor mic that drowns out the music, a couple of toe hops (what are those called, again?), a split. How then might we have felt hearing…

- “Brandon, you will be leaving us tonight.”
- “Oh REEEEAAAALLLY???!!!”
- “BUUUUUUTTTTT… we’re gonna talk to Fox and see if MAYBE…. they’ll let you audition again next year.”
- “Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” *tears* *crowd* *applause*

Okay, this is a bit of an angry post, I admit. But again, I’m mostly just mad at myself…

…for believing in you Nigel.

Oh well, this Cave Man Dance should cheer me up.

The videos were found at machronicles.com, where you can see the rest of the dances from the evening. Check them out, and then tell me I’m a total conspiracy theorist.