Amarsir

It felt a little disjointed to me. The Fight Milk story just wanted to fit in UFC references and the main story didn't have enough flow to it. All the turns were just too quick and seemed more for plot convenience than organic. I did love the idea though. Frank confusing Boca Raton with Boko Haram (and then not caring) is great.

So I just caught up on these, and Kaitlin Olson can definitely carry a show. I was worried a Dee character would only work as support, but she's solid. The show also isn't afraid to push lines even while being broadcast friendly, as the "accidental" phone call demonstrated. What I'm not sure is working is 2 out of the 3 kids. Sofia Black-D'Elia (Sabrina's actress) is obviously not 17, which the show is not helping by how often they seem to write her as a peer to Mickey. Fighting or as co-conspirators, neither way is it selling that she is a teen. This episode made it seem much better since fighting with her brother brought her down to that level, but it's hard to maintain. She is doing a good job as an actress though. Chip's character is going to need some other quirks. I get that he's enamored by the family money and wants to be "the man", but it's not going to be enough. Apparently he gets an A plot in episode 8 so maybe that will help. (I also felt the acting slipped a bit in spots, but it's hard to play over-the-top pompous without the acting showing.) Overall not bad and I'll probably try to catch more but it's not appointment TV yet.

Well, the story is that they're nominated by friends and relatives. The FN website even has a separate submission form to submit a Worst Cooks on someone else's behalf. Of course the "home video" does belie that a bit.

That reminds me ... did we even see the executives go judge the "events"? We saw the advisers go, but I didn't actually notice anyone from the I-forget-your-name-good-job-on-the-ad Snack Company. And yeah, the task was so dumb it's really my pet peeve. Ask the teams to design a brochure that will never be used, fine. It's a project. This was handing out free samples on the boardwalk, with pizzazz. I'm probably not your typical person to ask, but ... I'm going to Austria in May so I started learning German in November. Even though I know they learn English in school I feel it's my obligation to be passable to lightly conversant.

It also ruins the concept that had been tradition on this show. It started with "Let's see how you do without a mentor to ask questions." Not unreasonable in the guise of teaching. Then it was "let's get prior contestants" or someone else who knows just slightly more than them. OK, walking a line between helpless and guided. But kids parroting what the mentors are telling them to say? Are they there for reference or not? Are the kids graded on a curve because they're good for their age, or graded as experts because that's their role and they have the backing of Rachel & Anne? And most importantly, what are the Worst Cooks contestants supposed to gain from this experience other than the moral that reality shows are not good for your self-esteem?

Exactly. Again, I compare it to whispering. If people have a private conversation in low voice, that's fine. If 3 of us are in conversation, and then I whisper something to the 3rd person that excludes you, it's obviously rude. My only caveat to this is that I'm not sure to what extent this was a conversation vs an interrogation. In a business negotiation if I was to talk to my partner to the exclusion of people on the other side of the table, that's not unreasonable. So I think there might be a tiny bit of leeway if it's something that's understandably private. However, "this woman looking at us talks too much" certainly doesn't qualify as a trade secret.

Watching again, I'd have to say "yes and no" to it being a lie. When the Squad Commander told Heidecker (the rancher) "the food will be destroyed; the villagers won't eat it" she was telling the truth. The villagers did tell her they wouldn't eat the food that was left so it would have to be destroyed. We can say this is a lie they told themselves (or that had been passed on) but strictly speaking no one said it was contaminated. Only "the villagers won't eat it." Which makes it that much more powerful, bringing to mind history like segregated water fountains. Obviously "unclean" was always implied there, but details like disease went to the wayside and were supplanted with a simple "they used this so I won't." That's really the most the villagers said about it. The reason this all stuck with me is that everything the Commander said works perfectly in both realities. "They carry a sickness in their blood." "If they are allowed to breed it will get passed down to future generations." "You can't still see them as human. Understandable sentiment but it's misguided." If we took it as anything more than face value that's the power of context.

This was the first episode where I thought we really got to see some personality from Arnold. I don't need bodybuilding stories every time, and it is rude to talk in German (although no moreso than leaning over to an advisor and whispering, which I could see many people doing in that situation). But overall it felt like he was being the boss and shaping the show, not just going through the motions.

In addition to the compliments on the acting, I want to add how nice it was that so many of the roles were for female characters. Another writer/director could have easily made the hardened cop, the tech-savvy rookie, the shock-seeking first victim, the prankster third victim - they all could have been men and probably fit the cliches better. It probably doesn't speak well of me that I even noticed. But they were not token and not forced - just interesting characters in the hands of skilled actresses.

I figure she knows that he's better than the average here and thus sees his performance as coasting. Although he's also lower energy and I know that can come off to some people as not caring.

True. The skill these cooks need to know is the difference between ordering a steak and ordering a fillet at the butcher. But that's how it always is during seafood week. I didn't see the previews, but presumably next week or the one after has them making their own pasta. It's part of the "My Fair Lady" story that the final winner can present as a chef. (And then prior winners came back to compete on Chopped, proving quite effectively that they can NOT.)

Can anyone explain why his squad lead said the village's food (that the roaches had raided) would be destroyed? That didn't make sense unless they had some communicable disease but none of the rest of the story - real or MASS-fed - meshed with it that I could tell. Maybe I missed something earlier but when I heard her tell the rancher that it tuck with me for the rest of the episode.

Arlene was slightly selective in her memory. Kevin has given to charity, even in the guise of a Dragon, and she knows that. What he opposes is the idea of presenting as an investment and getting sympathy as a charity. That said, of course he's cartoonish. And rather than breaking from that character to enter politics, he's using it. It is absolutely a coattails strategy and I don't think it will work. But then I didn't predict the US result either.

Thomas Acquinas said "early 30s" based on his conclusion that it's "perfect adulthood". I don't know how much work he put into supporting that number and I don't think any specific age is official doctrine now.

The interesting thing about the question "Is that me in the box?" is that whatever you think is right. If you do think it's the same you: "Organic you" believes it's not dying. "Digital you" retains the memories and believes you didn't die. There's a continuity of personhood and as long as you hold that belief, even if "digital you" acted subtly different than "organic you" the intrinsic quality of self is still there. (Just changed, as external influences can change us now.) If you don't think it's the same you: "Organic you" accepts death, and that collection of thoughts winds up in a "digital you" that believes itself a copy. There isn't a continuity because the break was accepted on both sides. And even "digital you" acts exactly the same way "organic you" did, as long as it believes it isn't the same person that alone is enough to mean that it isn't. In this way it's very nice fulfillment of cogito ergo sum. Where it becomes complicated is if you're unsure or change your mind. (Possibly because you were transfered without knowing.) That wasn't an issue for this episode but certainly could be for another author (or in reality).

I fully expect that what someone brings in as PM and what they bring in as a supporter are two different numbers. She said she could bring in $100-200k for her own charity. A lot of those lined-up donors aren't going to give away the same amount to a completely different one. To come up with $50k under those circumstances is fine. This is different from Ricky falling short of expectations on his own charity. Yeah, the Penn Jillette / Trace Adkins final. It was definitely in stores because they made "which flavor sells better" part of the competition. (And then disregarded the results because Trump gonna Trump.) And then they also came back a year later without much fanfare, which implies they actually liked the flavors. But it didn't become permanent so who knows.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/dance+to+tune I'm with you in that I didn't take him to be a pedo even after the the other guy assumed he was. I figured the bleakness came from how minor his offense was. (Especially considering the angle of a laptop camera wouldn't even capture much, let alone what he was looking at.) But then when his Mom called, yeah maybe.

Yeah, giving benefit of the doubt I think maybe Chael was on to what could have been a concern but didn't express it well at all. He said something like "We're not selling bikes to Drag Queens" and that comes off like he's against them. But if the word "just" was implied, maybe he had a point. There's a difference between "being inclusive" and "being exclusive to a different group". Or maybe not "not happy".

How's her new show? I haven't decided yet if I should make an attempt to watch.

It's been a while since we had a behind-the-dragons feature. I really liked it, and my only criticism is that we could have used a little more detail on some of the setbacks. (E.g. Manjit's initial failure in the wine industry.)

I loved the shots at traditional sitcoms. I don't think there were any direct shots at current offerings, but "now I know where to laugh" was a pretty great commentary. Uncle Jack manages to top himself in every appearance. A hard drive he accidentally left under the floorboards indeed.

I was wondering if they'd go that way, except it would have been a counter-culture ending where the protagonist gets a good result. Black Mirror doesn't do that. The closest it gets is "give them what they want and it backfires", as in Fifteen Million Merits. The flaw you bring up though, which is where I think this world (and Meow-Meow Beanz) falls short, is the idea that there's just one circle. There would be people who hate the phoniness and embrace those being real or crude. Certainly the populace in this episode is incompatible with the one in The Waldo Moment. Relative quality of the episodes aside, the majority can't go both ways. That said, perhaps we could imagine there was a war of sorts that happened and this was the crowd that won. Which is why nobody's higher than 4.8 - a few will say "screw it" but they've been marginalized.. We've certainly seen the negative consequences too. For example, if a show does something the wrong people don't like, they use social media to mobilize against any sponsor in a 5 mile radius. So you can't just be nice to everyone; if someone's out of favor you have to dislike them as well. What's really maddening is sites unlike PTV that have downvotes as well, in which they are done anonymously. That's something even this episode didn't get into. But imagine sharing an opinion, fact, link, or image and the only responses you get is that a bunch people didn't like it: you don't know who, and nobody said why. At least here Lacie got to storm back to the guy at the charging station and demand an answer.

I suspect the women would have lost even if Brooke's husband hadn't been a douche, because then all 4 images would be saying "bike for women" which wasn't their concept. But that would have been a nice image. In fact, instead of Vince holding the dog I would have liked him "riding bitch" to a woman his age to really sell the "all demographics" thing. My only problem with their set, including the drag queen shot, is that it looked like models using the bike as a prop rather than potential customers. I actually don't think Jon was holding back. I think he didn't want to debase himself begging for money from friends. It seems like a recurring theme for Celebrity Apprentice that many of the comics they recruit don't seem that motivated: Tom Green, Andrew Dice Clay, Adam Corolla, Gilbert Gottfried ... to my memory none of them seemed to care. Joan Rivers and Arsenio Hall are the notable exceptions and as a result did very well. So I wonder if the producers really want a comic for talking heads and recruit a little harder among people who aren't that interested. (Just a theory.)

Blocking was definitely a creative (and socially plausible) concept, but crossed the line when it was bi-directional. If you don't want to look at someone then fine; it's immature but won't break down society. However, if blocking someone affects their vision as well the problems are obvious and I think society would reject this long before the "blocked by everyone" step. The life of a "cookie" on the other hand is not really new ground because giving emotions to AI has been speculated before and is always a bad idea bordering on torture. That doesn't mean there's nothing new to explore, but the result here was that I was horrified without any new quandaries to think about. Black Mirror's appeal tends to be delivering those together. (Although it did make me wonder if a copy of myself would even be the ideal assistant, morality aside. Yes it knows my preferences now, but I can't predict what I want a week from now let alone a few years. If it has to grow and take specific override instructions anyway then how much have I gained by torturing a copy of myself?) I'm replying from several time cycles into the future, but yes they did say that: "When she died, the block died." That's why he was able to see her picture on TV from the news report about the crash.

After too many seasons of this show I've decided the "choose your own combinations" episodes in the middle are my favorites. It's beyond just the basics in a way that's actually useful (unlike cooking octopus or making their own pasta) and lends itself to mistakes that still seem sane. This one didn't disappoint. I actually enjoyed it even to the point of laughing at some of the cliched "dumb" comments. (In my defense, I'm sick these past few days.) Yeah, while repeating pico de gallo was indeed chastise-worthy, his second dish wasn't a copout. I was convinced that if he got the boot it was because he doesn't play well with others and they needed a reason. But with Jetta gone maybe this was meant to be the shakeup that grooms him as the winner. I'll be curious to watch if he's still a know-it-all in future episodes or if we stop seeing that so much.