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Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 5
It turns out that being a hot tamale on the big screen and in the poker world doesn't necessarily translate to sexiness on the dance floor, and this week's Latin dances were all about the sexiness.
Shannon Elizabeth delivered what Len Goodman called a "competent" performance, but she didn't look comfortable with the dance at all.
In contrast to her graceful Viennese waltz from last week that put her in the top three for scores, she looked awkward with the samba and returned to the problem of not really having complete control of her limbs.
What was most notably lacking from her performance was the hip action. The samba is all about the rolling hips, and Elizabeth admittedly doesn't have much for hips and couldn't find a way to make them roll and swivel, at least not that anyone could notice.
Her saving grace is that even when the dance is getting the best of her, Elizabeth still gives it her all. Even Carrie Ann Inaba commented that she goes for it 100% whether she looks awkward or not. So she needs to keep up that attitude but work on some of her "shapes" for the dances.
Her resulting score from the judges was a 23, putting her just above Priscilla Presley and Marlee Matlin and tied with Cristian de la Funte for fifth place.
It was enough to keep her out of the bottom two once the viewer votes were tallied as well. Tuesday night's elimination came down to Presley and de la Fuente, but Presley didn't get enough support to move on for another week on Dancing with the Stars.
Here's how Presley and the others made out during Monday's performance night:
Priscilla Presley
After a rule violation last week, Presley needed to find a way to bring her scores back up again. At least with the rumba there was no danger of accidently doing a lift, but the slow Latin dance did nothing but leave Presley's dancing flaws wide open for even the layperson viewer to see. Len Goodman called the performance a disappointment, and it certainly wasn't a wow of a performance this week.
Score: 21
Marlee Matlin
For the first time in the competition it was obvious Matlin couldn't hear the music. She may have a good sense of rhythm, but the samba has much more complicated movements to go with that rhythm, and Matlin had a couple stumbles and a few times where her timing was off the music. Each judge brought up how amazing it she does so well despite her deafness, but that probably wasn't much consolation for Matlin.
Score: 22
Cristian de la Funte
Even though de la Funte continues to improve this week, the judges still had criticism for his rumba. It was one of the better performances of the rumba for the evening, and de la Funte has gone from mechanically performing the steps to a dance to really getting into the flow and movement. However, Carrie Ann Inaba thought he lacked chemistry with his partner this week and Len labeled the dance as merely "competent."
Score: 23
Marissa Jaret Winoker
Winoker may have been the biggest surprise of the evening. Compared to the other female celebrities in the competition, she's probably the contestant you'd least expect to pull off a sexy Latin dance like the samba. However, this was the first time Winoker looked like she actually felt confident and sexy on the dance floor, and it showed in her dance. Inaba called it her best routine yet, and she was right.
Score: 24
Mario
Mario managed to put himself back in the good graces of the judges this week with his samba. He still needs to brush up his footwork some, but Goodman called it his best performance so far. This week Mario looked more controlled and polished on the dance floor in contrast to what Goodman called his "wildness" in weeks past. It also helps that the samba seems made for Mario, giving him a chance to be smoldering and sexy and to take advantage of the hip movements and freedom of the dance.
Score: 27
Jason Taylor
It's becoming less and less of a surprise each week that Taylor has moves on the dance floor to match what he can do on the football field. His was probably the sexiest rumba of the night, and the nitpicky judges couldn't even fault him for poor footwork and heel leads. Bruno Tonioli said the football player had the look of a "love god" during the rumba, while Goodman complimented him on his naturalness. Yet his scores dipped a little from the 29 he earned last week.
Score: 27
Kristi Yamaguchi
Once again, Yamaguchi really had nothing to worry about going into Tuesday's elimination night. Her rumba had much more expression than her previous dances, though it didn't quite have the heat and passion you'd expect for a rumba. Inaba told her she made the right choice sacrificing a tiny bit on technique to achieve more emotionally with the dance, and Len gave her a "fab-u-lous."
Score: 29
The remaining seven celebrities will be back on the dance floor Monday on Dancing with the Stars and the next elimination will take place on Tuesday. Come back Wednesday, April 23, to see if Shannon Elizabeth continues in the competition or if she'll be sent back to the poker tables.
Related Articles:
- Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 4
- Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 3
- Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 2
- Shannon Elizabeth Report: Week 1
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UIGEA hearing opens criticism floodgates
The hearing was unique in that voices of parties with a direct interest in online gambling were joined by a chorus of protests from those who would become UIGEA's collateral damage.
Representatives from various industries who would be affected by the proposed regulations told Congress that implementation of UIGEA is impractical and intrusive, both for everyday citizens and for the institutions with whom they conduct business.
Wayne Abernathy, American Bankers Association vice president for financial institutions policy and regulatory affairs, summed up the situation when he described the government's proposed UIGEA regulations as "an unprecedented delegation of governmental responsibility with no prospect of practical success in exchange for the burden it imposes."
In a press release following the hearing, Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative spokesman Jeffrey Sandman noted that "U.S. banks and credit card companies, along with every other type of U.S. company involved in payment systems, would be forced spend substantial resources to force compliance with a ban on Internet gambling that can be easily circumvented by anyone in the U.S. that wants to continue to gamble online."
A more philosophical underpinning to UIGEA protest was added by Edward Leyden of iMEGA, the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association, in the opening of his testimony. He described the Internet as "an indispensable engine for economic prosperity and social justice," and proposed that "the inalienable rights that each of us holds under the Constitution to freedom of privacy, speech, expression, and conduct are not lessened in any way when we are using the Internet."
In a recent interview with PokerListings.com, Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas was enthusiastic about what the hearing had accomplished.
"It continued to expose the folly of UIGEA and why it's a completely unworkable statute," said Pappas. "This is not coming from the gaming community. This is the banks, the regulated community, saying 'We don't want to be the policemen for the federal government, nor do we believe the payment system is adequately set up for us to do that."
Stopping the burden in its tracks
More than a few of those who gave testimony during last week's congressional hearing suggested that rather than try to prohibit online gambling, a better solution to handling its potential problems would be to license and regulate the industry through a bill such as the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (IGREA) sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
That sort of legislation, says Pappas, is at the very least 12 to 18 months away from becoming a reality.
"In full candor, I think it's going to be very difficult to pass a bill. We're going to try at every level to do something, but given presidential politics and congressional politics, it's going to be very difficult to move something through," said the PPA director. "Understand this is an election year not only for the presidency but for every member of Congress. Whether it's Internet gaming, immigration reform, or health care, I think we'll see very few bills of substance make their way through Congress this year."
Until then, the best poker players can hope for is to prevent UIGEA's regulations from becoming the law of the land. To that effect, Frank and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) introduced legislation to halt that burden until a more fitting solution can be found. Frank introduced the bipartisan bill, H.R. 5767, on April 10 on behalf of himself and his Republican co-sponsor.
By Congressional standards, the bill is short and sweet: in less than 130 words it renders the UIGEA toothless. Perhaps more importantly, it sets the stage for true public debate over the best way to handle online gaming in America - debate that was missing in 2006 when UIGEA was initially passed.
Changing the debate
While stopping UIGEA is an important step toward legal, regulated online poker in America, it's only the first of many that need to be taken. Concerned citizens who enjoy the game online can influence the debate by making their views known to their representatives in the government. Pappas noted that letter-writing campaigns such as those conducted by the PPA's members have been particularly effective in motivating members of Congress to overturn UIGEA.
"I had a meeting with Rep. Rob Andrews (D-New Jersey), and he said, 'I hear from people on three issues more than any other. I hear from them about immigration, I hear from them about the war in Iraq, and I hear from them about online poker.'"
Such communications between representatives and constituents are, in effect, the anti-UIGEA: conducted out in the open, rather than in the back rooms of Congress, and encouraging debate rather than stifling it.
"We've had three congressional hearings in less than a year. These things don't just happen out of nowhere because one day a member of Congress wakes up and decides it's a good idea to hold a congressional hearing," said Pappas. "It's because he's hearing from his constituents."
In addition to encouraging its members to continue communications with their representatives, PPA also plans to register more voters for this November's elections. With a focus on swing states and key congressional districts, the organization hopes to mobilize as many as 100,000 new voters to make Washington aware that poker players are a "vocal political force."
Whatever the final outcome for online gambling in the US, Pappas thinks that the tone of the debate has definitely shifted.
"People are beginning to recognize that whether I like gambling or don't like gambling, UIGEA is not the right approach," he said. "The right approach is to license and regulate it. I think that is a message that is beginning to resonate on both sides of the aisle."
"That'll be our winning message," he concludes. "It's not a message that you need to be for poker or against poker, it's a message that you need to be for good government."
Related Articles:
- Hearing Discusses UIGEA Problems
- House Subcommittee to Hold UIGEA Hearing
- Stakeholders Sound Off on UIGEA Regulations
- EU Investigates U.S. Online Gambling Restrictions
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