Coming soon to TLC: Irish Dance Wars and/or Moms

Dance the night away, live your life and
stay young on the floor.

You read it here first; the next 'great' reality TV series from TLC or Lifetime will be a reality show about Irish step dance competitions. Possible titles: My Big Fat Irish Dance Off or Next Top Step Dancer or Step Up 4: Gettin' Jiggy With It (other suggestions go in the comments section).

In my last post I mentioned that I was recently in Kansas City, MO; coinciding with that fair city's Irish fest. Included in the lineup of events was a showing of a documentary called Jig, about girls and boys of all ages preparing to compete in the 40th Irish Dancing World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. [This reviewer says, two thumbs up!]

Wow, guys. The TV episodes would write themselves. Step dancing has all the right elements: crazy wigs & dresses, intense stage moms, barely suppressed rivalries, abrasive choreographers, and some really charming accents. On top of that, it looks like a highly difficult activity. Ratings gold.

Jig follows the stories of a variety of kids from a variety of backgrounds, but for my purposes I'll stick with the main rivalry: two ten-year-old girls, one from Northern Ireland and the other from New Jersey. Through their young eyes we learn several things:

1) A competition is properly called a feis (pronounced like "fresh" without the "r").
2) If you want to look your best, you've got to be tricked out in very expensive curly wigs and custom dresses.
3) If you're good you'll dance a first round in hard shoes, a second in soft, and a solo showcase piece again in hard shoes.
4) In the first two rounds you and another dancer compete at the same time on the same stage, each doing different dances. Remember this one for later.
5) Your family will spend all of its money (ALL of it) on your dancing expenses.
6) Irish, redheaded kids are sassy and fun. American kids act like the spoiled, entitled brats we are.

Lucky me, I was able to see a feis firsthand...

When You Care Enough to Tour the Very Best

This past Labor Day, I took a break from my laboring to visit Kansas City, MO and some Grade A friends and creative persons, Monica and Josh. Monica has been experiencing city dangers with me since we were roommates in Boston; her hyper-talented husband Josh currently illustrates for Hallmark. 

When Monica mentioned that Josh could give us a tour of said Gold Crown company, I was looking forward to it, but sort of imagined it'd be a tour along the lines of what I'd provide at my own office... Here's my cube. There's our overstuffed office fridge. Take a free candy from the communal bowl. Head to the elevators.

Oh MY was I wrong. In fact, Hallmark HQ is a designer's paradise. Come along with me on a tour of this magical place.

I'm going to rebuild Kansas City using only
my manly, manly arms.

11:00 A.M. Monica and I kicked off our own tour at the official Hallmark Visitors Center. Highlights included a collection of company Christmas trees, an automatic bow machine, and a free recordable storybook upon exit (just the beginning of my swag-fest). I think my favorite bit was the original Norman Rockwell portrait of Mr. Hall in 1951, rolling up his sleeves to help KC after a devastating flood. Umm, Mr. Hall was a fox! And I'm sure he'd hate that I sexualized Hallmark.

11:30 A.M. All that manliness makes a girl hungry. Thankfully, Josh collected us at this point and escorted us through a delightfully swank, late '60s-style lobby to an even more Mad Men-esque company dining room. Despite the vintage wood-paneling and chandelier fixtures, Hallmark's cafeteria serves up a thoroughly modern, healthy smorgasbord. Here you can make your sandwich next to famous Keepsake ornament designers. I'll admit that I am far from an ornament aficionado, but Josh assured me that there are cliques of people in this world that would have put a Spork in my back to be in that cafeteria line. I think I might be a little afraid to meet them.

Earthquake Playlist!

Never thought an earthquake would be one of the dangers, but hello! Got one in DC today and it made for an exciting afternoon, i.e., I spent my afternoon making a playlist for the quake. The New Yorker did this too, but theirs is, like everything they do, just high-brow enough to be inaccessible.

http://grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Earthquake+Playlist/58909243

"Shake Ya Ass" 
Mysitkal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7B5KwXHFtw

"Twist and Shout"
The Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9maAERDAs

“Shake it Like a Salt Shaker”
Ying Yang Twins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJEzl31zL-I

“Like a Rolling Stone”
Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk3mAX5xdxo

“You Shook Me All Night Long”
AC/DC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bomv-6CJSfM

The Once and Future Netflix Addiction

I don’t know how or why movies seem to be made in pairs. Antz and A Bug’s Life, Mission to Mars and Red Planet. Friends With Benefits and that other one with Natalie Portman. It happens with TV shows, too, though mostly ones about vampires.

Oh wow, hands to ourselves, please.

I have been a fan of the BBC’s Merlin ever since I started stealing it from YouTube two years ago. Then recently, I went to cancel Netflix, but ended up watching The Sorcerer’s Apprentice instead (shut up), and at the bottom of the screen, the Netflix Fairy recommended I watch Camelot by the Starz network. British accents? Premium subscription cable show? TV-MA? All the right moves, Camelot.  It’s actually a heinous show, yet somehow I watched every minute of it. Odd.

Happy Birthday, City Dangers!

Andrew and I started this blog a year plus one week ago and amazingly we've coughed up 30 posts. Granted, they aren't smoothly distributed through 12 months, but I'm impressed our pedestrian lifestyles are still producing enough nonsense for entries. We're only medium boring. Yea! [I'm dragging you down with me, bro!]

That's very generous of you, Amy, but really, I think I'm a little bit more than medium boring. My best idea for a blog post in the five months (which, mercifully, has gone unwritten) was to recount my first tick bite. Also, there was the time I cheated on City Dangers for a little while with a lazy blog photo blog, which I created because I thought I had some interesting camera phone pictures.  Let's reflect on that: "interesting camera phone pictures".