Hi - I can't see a thread for posting blog entries yet this year so I thought I'd start one. (If there is one and I've just missed it, please direct me to it!)

Feel free to add links your own blog to the thread, or just add your favourites,

For starters, here's Frankie's annual 'Strictly Winning Formula' post. http://frankieandcloverstrictly.blogspot.co.uk/

Happy Strictly Season, one and all!

C
F&C Strictly Blog.

thanks for posting

Here's my take on how last night went:

http://auburnenigma.blogspot.co.uk/2...-1-part-1.html

I agree with you about Judy's song, awful!

Latest blog post from F&C http://frankieandcloverstrictly.blogspot.co.uk/

Keep posting your fave blogs in here

C X

Id recommend people read Monkseals recaps if you dont already, absolutely brilliant and hilarious

I did a Strictly blog 2 years ago under a pseudonym, but work commitments stopped me before the semifinal.

It's fun to write, but takes up an awful lot of time - and disappointing to get a handful of readers when some silly posts got 10,000 views.

Therefore I applaud anybody who has started up a blog this year, and yes, I'll read it every week and thank you for your trouble. I don't have to agree with it. Everybody is entitled to his/her/its views.

Great comments, an informative and entertaining read, and I have a sneaking suspicion that you actually know a bit about dancing and dance moves!

Found the other blog unreadable (out of synch with logic, reality etc), so will stick with coming back to yours each week.

Monkseal's blog seems very popular on here and I think this is where I probably came across it because it was frequently linked to on here and I used to find some of it interesting - I liked for instance the tributes he did for Erin and Katya, some bits of the recaps can be quite funny but other times I find the 'humour' very forced/long winded or unpleasant - there's also a great deal of sneering in his blog towards DS fms - it carries onto to his twitter feed which is linked into his blog - for some reason he and some of this followers give off this attitude that they think their more superior and intelligent than others by ridiculing and twisting some of the views on here - I'm sure he and his like minded followers find themselves very 'entertaining' but well it's not very entertaining to read especially if you're on the receiving end of it and the sneering says more about him and some his followers than it does about people who post their opinions here. I also don't understand why some people act as if it's blasphemy to disagree with anything he says - he's just a blogger - that doesn't make his views more valid than anyone elses.

The blog I find myself reading the most is Heidi Stephen's live blog in the Guardian - I don't always agree with her but even so it's mostly a nice quick, witty and light hearted read - it doesn't take itself too serioulsy and the comments section below can be very entertaining too whenever I get a chance to read that - I've never posted comments there before because I can't post and watch the show at the same time but most of the posters on that blog seem to be ok and have interesting things to say and the most important thing is there doesn't seem to be this unpleasant sneering that Monkseal's blog can often have.

My take. http://andrewsstrictlyblog.wordpress...1-friday-blog/

I have to agree with Topaz about Monkseal. He was highly refreshing the first year, and the humour was pointed, but you could just about take it. In parallel the columns in a couple of tabloids were on the seamy side of libel, slander and extraordinary bitchiness.

But some seasons later, Monkseal's style palls, and seemingly cannot rise above the level of the tabloid columnists. Its like going for a refreshing swim in a pool full of week-old warm lager. So easy to go for the quick laugh. Contestants have no right of reply.

The best blog ever was that of JohnFromWales with his omniscient hamster Hammy.
Ah, those were the days!

Why thank you The only reason I know any technical stuff is from watching the show since the beginning I was a Freestyle dancer when I was younger so I have a bit of an idea what to look for on the performance side, and if something looks messy etc.

Part 2 will be up this morning and I'll post the link here when it's done.

Being too inexpert and too lazy to write a blog, I'm really glad that others do and enjoy the different perspectives you get from them all.

Thank you and keep 'em coming

The thing I enjoy about Monkseal is that I can't always guess his opinion on a dance or an issue, and here on DS it's the same. I don't automatically know what his thoughts will be on stuff that crops up along the way. There's a glinty-looking veneer but a good heart, I think, and a great store of knowledge about the show. Yeah of course there are returning tropes on the blog and characterisations you recognise from the year before but you can just swoosh through that if not to your taste and read the new meaning. I would never not read it.

I agree totally with everything else in the post but this isn't at all true - I've spoken to a good number of contestants from the shows written about over the years at their instigation (not so much Strictly because the contestants are celebrities and have better stuff to do with their time than trifle with low-tier bloggers) and I'd say the interactions have been about 90% positive and 10% negative. Where they were negative I considered what I wrote and in some cases changed or deleted because I acknowledged that I'd gone too far. Not so much that American Idol contestant who called me a faggot after my saying nothing more than he was least favourite contestant on the show, but the rest, sure, I know I've crossed the line and try not to again.

Got to respect you

My thoughts on the offerings from Saturday are now up:

http://auburnenigma.blogspot.co.uk/2...-1-part-2.html

Monkseal's full recap of Saturday's show is also up on his blog.

I'm not sure I'd feel like writing a blog if I were to be personally attacked. .

I enjoy them all, including Monkseal's and F&C's, but I would also like to see more techy ones from ballroom experts.

I enjoy all the blogs - we have a blog on the frocks each week (from and ex comp) called strictly frocks which i love reading for all the comments on the ins and outs of the dresses
l
Spin turn not a blog - but a dance teacher judge I know does a piece for his local paper each week will stick link here when out - but he does a fairly techy review

I remember Aida's blog (that was a classic!).

miss aida so much

That would be great .

What was the blog with the sparkle-o-meter or glitter-o-meter?
I rather liked that one too last year

Et voila