Amarsir

I swear I've seen blocks like those Pinblocks before - just (maybe) not colored in enough variety to do portraits. So either he's been around long enough that I've actually seen his product, or someone else has tried something similar. I guess it doesn't matter, although a design patent may not help him if one of Kevin's prospects decides to make their own version a half-centimeter taller. What's interesting is what Mark pointed out about the phrasing of Kevin's second offer. It was stated that Vlad gets final say on any prospective licensing deal and if he says no he owes Kevin nothing. That's different from a 30% deal where Kevin gets to say "this one's good enough", we're in. And considering the guy was reluctant to do a license deal anyway, Mark might be right that it benefits him to defer the decision until the partner is actually specified. -- To be honest, kind of tuned out the Breastfeeding Mom, other than that I told myself "I bet everyone on Previously just hates her." Thanks for not letting me down, folks. :)

It wasn't a counter to him though. My impression was that he was only saying that to add drama for the show's benefit. But I could be wrong.

I do see the point you're making. It's not that older people can't cook. It's that a 65yo who never learned is more likely to have an actual reason for it than a 25yo who never learned. However, I have to agree with the others that this is a minor issue compared to the show's use of caricatures.

There has been a lot of press about many different advisors being on the show, so there's a fair chance Tyra will be rotated out. But simply given her fame I imagine the producers consider themselves lucky to get her.

I agree. This was immediately a contender for my favorite episode of Sunny, and arguably in the top for anything. I think if they'd done the body switching without singing then there would have been too many awkward moments. (Awkward in terms of flow, not just uncomfortable comedy which the show has always done well.) But putting stuff into songs let them make repetition and exposition into highlights. Of course for those who don't like musical bits that probably didn't help the drag, but for me I loved both aspects.

I spent the first 10 minutes trying to figure out who Carrie Keagan looked like. And then I realized she looked like Carrie Keagan, who I knew but hadn't seen in almost a decade. So then I was rooting for her because Carrie is very good natured and funny in a dirty joke kind of way. So naturally... That said, I respect Arnold's reason for "terminating" her. If you're going to calculate the safest answer, don't let anyone know that's what you were doing. I like that better than the shall-not-be-named prior guy whose approach was often "Your team's idea wasn't good enough, so I'll fire the guy with the best idea you did have." Always a pet peeve. That's a good comparison. I hope he relaxes enough to be the real Arnold and stops being the character. We know who he is without stolen lines from his movies. He can make Jon Lovitz call him governor, but you can't get real respect using someone else's words.

Assuming you mean who I think, I did have to laugh when she called herself a "Jaguar" and Anne said "I think you're more of a Volkswagon, Jetta." It's a joke so good I'd think it was scripted if everything else wasn't such a mess.

I think the official story from FN is that contestants are encouraged to do odd combinations in the first episode to "prove they have the creativity to be chefs" or some such. Because forced as this is, it makes for better clips than 16 versions of over/under cooked and over/under seasoned. Personally I preferred the level of All-Star Academy which had genuine home cooks. But I'm guessing that didn't do as well in the ratings and that they didn't properly connect that failure to the presence of Robert Irvine. He was my favorite for deadpanning that he had no idea Rachel and Anne had cookbooks.

Setting aside other issues, not least of which is "what the hell did they do to John's character?"... Am I to understand that the elite team of super-spies each had a thumb drive of compromising information ... which they would then carry on missions? That's why AJ hid it in the bust, because he was about to be captured, right? Did the 2 dead teammates also hid this information in random objects from that room?

"Everything I do is decadent." Erin, you were literally kicked out of Food Network Star for presenting something as indulgent when it wasn't. Here Lorriane criticized the pear sandwich thing as not being "decadent" enough. I didn't agree, but hey: if Food Network is stubborn enough to have you back again, this might be a blind spot worth locking down. --- This was my first time seeing Maeve since I didn't watch her season. And I found her charmingly quirky, but then that might be the reflected personality of the girl paired with her. It wouldn't help you if you can't get The Cooking Channel but I wish he and Nikki Dinki would make more episodes of Junk Food Flip. I find them both likable and it's a fun enough concept for a show.

If Food Network Star comes back I fully expect he'll be a contestant. (And that's a big if, considering that the budget for last season was $10.75 and the winner has gotten less airtime than the two baking non-winners.)

That's what he gets from just working the show muscles and no endurance or cardio. Google says Irvine is only 5'10", making him shorter than Bobby Flay for whatever that's worth. I completely agree about the deconstruction. If it's not cooked in one dish it's not a casserole. Stranger than that: some of the contestants were playing for charity and some were playing for themselves. there's nothing wrong with that per se, but you do you think the woman who wanted the money for a "family nest egg" felt competing against a guy supporting a foundation for disadvantaged kids? I did look into what Irvine's charity does and I'm still not sure. I think they give grants for any worthy reason to anyone connected with military past or present. I have no idea how efficient they are and I'm not going to badmouth a charity, but it does feel like a bit like it's intentionally vague so Irvine can do whatever publicity-worthy thing he wants with the foundation.

Did they, though? I don't think Lori agreed to a salary on her offer (which was the accepted one). And Kevin gave a flat "no" to it. Robert was supportive... but you know, earlier last week I caught a repeat of the show with You Smell soap. Also an attractive blonde, and also he offered a salary against two competing offers. And then he completely lost interest after the show. I can't say for sure that would have happened here, but the similarity is striking.

After the newspaper bouquets on Shark Tank I can see the appeal of a rock set. Joe would have helped, but I also think she just needs a little traditional marketing instead of relying on Gwyneth Paltrow. Everyone around me is into Amazon Echo. (Or to a lesser extent, Google Now.) $28 for a smart switch and you can say "Alexa, turn on the tree" and not reach under OR search for a remote. Treemote is unfortunately just at the end of its life cycle.

The sharks are getting more intricate with their offers. Which isn't a bad thing, though it gets a little overloaded when every discusison has to be broken down into royalty, debt, and equity components. And I'm not sure all the entrepreneurs are completely sure what it means, which at best bodes poorly for due diligence. To wit, I understand that the gloves market can be expensive and risky to play in. But a line of credit, secured against inventory, matched by someone else's cash, in return for 25%? From Barbara? A couple of times in the past I've floated the question "How much equity would you have to give a shark for $0, just to get them on your team?" Apparently this answers it at 25% because I'm not sure they'll ever draw any of that $300k let alone all of it.

Yeah, that seemed to dead end more than most. Going from Trump = nostalgia to Trump = reactionary rage makes a lot more sense but it meant dropping what started the season as the biggest setup. Such is the problem when trying to satirize in real time. Speaking of which I enjoyed Gerald's vs the troll debating satire. Matt and Trey had more than a little self-critique in that I think. Really I don't need Gerald to get his comeuppance because South Park has never really been about justice, but Cartman will need resolution. We never really understood what made him turn into a feminist (or whatever he was). I think the show would like to retcon him into doing it for Heidi (because fear of losing her is what made him start scheming again) but it isn't true. He started the season that way.

The problem with the first challenge is that the inspiration sweaters are ugly as in tacky. But simply calling them "ugly" allowed interpreting ugly as unappealing. And this enabled Matt's cookies to win when they had more of a dirty look than others. True to "ugly" but very different from tacky sweaters. A narrower definition would have yielded a different result. But then a loose interpretation of "impostor cupcakes" worked for Cheryl a few weeks ago so I guess it goes around. I don't want to undermine what Matt did on the second challenge though. Yes, molds help. It's an "advantage". They're meant to. But he layered and tempered properly which many would not do, and his interior sandwich cookies were pretty creative.

Well I also thought Matt was dead and buried last week, but he did have a week go right. I can't say I'm rooting for him but it's nice to the skill coming out.

In Edmonton Alberta you can take your pup to a dog restaurant. (They appeared on Dragons Den a few years ago.) The cowboy shirts? Branding. He has a not-particularly interesting story about buying one in an airport on the way to a convention, getting a reaction, and returning to the airport to buy up a bunch more.

No, I was wishing Barbara was there because she would have had relevant experience in the industry. (Probably bad.)

Well that's embarrassing. Clearly someone here isn't up on the new trend. Diaper pants combine the devil-may-care attitude of short-shorts with the ready-for-anything assurance of Depends, while their bulk is a nostalgic throwback to the droopiness of late-90s fashion. You'd better get yourself a pair fast, because when the rest of us are wearing Diaps™ and you're not, well we know who'll be looking silly now don't we? :)

OK I have, but for disclosure I have within reach of me right now the same caffeine + l-Theanine stack they sell (not from them). Also Acetyl-L Carnitine, some actual nootropics in the form of Piracetam, ephedrine sulphate, melatonin, irvingia gabonensis, and several strains of kratom (which the FDA is currently considering for schedule 1 for no good reason). Not all for the same purpose or to be used simultaneously. And to be honest most of it falls short of the life-changing promises, which is why it's sitting here unused. Also I've never used that term because I don't care to sound like a douche. (Well, no more than I already do.) However, I'm aware the the category of supplements is under-researched because our regulatory system leaves little incentive to do an intensive study on something that can't be patented. So a couple bucks to try my own personal experiment isn't unreasonable. But the upshot of that is that nothing these guys could promise could possibly be unique. Which is why they were selling hype. And when you get down to it, those in the know say 6 of their 8 chemicals do nothing (since for example most of us already have enough B-12 in our diets.) So all you're buying is l-theanine + caffeine pills, which you can easily get for 10-15 cents each instead of the $0.50 they're charging. Which reminds me, anyone hear anything from Cerebral Success, the company Barbara invested in years ago? Because they were the same hype (including some of the same chemicals) and I sure think that experience would have weighed in on her reaction here.

There's bad valuations and then there's "zero return". She clearly doesn't understand what a royalty is and instead of owning up to that she acted like her offer was crafted to by a team of experts to generate herself an advantageous deal. I think in another context they might have tried to teach her, but given the challenges of that business with the best flavor being a "loss leader" they didn't want someone whose business math is that bad.

I don't know if it's on the list, but that 240 Sweets fight at the end was just such a moment of "Yeah, we manipulated you and you caught us."

Heh. Also yes, where was all the business? The only real idea Marcus had was offering a discount for pre-orders (slash premium for rushes), which I came up with myself long before he started that conversation. And the third category is non-custom items I think? Which Anna seemed to disagree with and we don't even know why because the show took the personal route on that instead.