AuntiePam

The defendants in today's loose dogs case looked like Joanne Woodward and Tom Petty. So plaintiff's mother's dog was loose long enough to impregnate defendant's dog. Was that plaintiff's wife or his mother? The little girl was cute as a button, and the "Awwww" when she saw the photo of the puppies made everyone laugh, even Byrd.

Interesting point, but what did JJ say? That the name on the birth certificate is presumed to be the father? Unusual that someone would ask to be tested, and potentially be made financially responsible. Based on appearance alone, however, I'd much rather have the defendant in my kid's life than that slobby fiance. You could tell by the way he slouched that he has attitude. JJ had me all confused, asking about this and that date that plaintiff and defendant were together. Why not just ask when the baby was born and then ask if they'd been together 9-10 months prior to that? I was totally confused about when the baby was born, when her husband died, when she was with defendant, and when she started hooking up with that hulk.

Woman needed a squirt of water in her face, shut her right the f*** up. If they can be tazed to get 'em under control, why not a spray of water to shut 'em up?

Did anyone else catch the Leslie Howard documentary? If it comes on again, don't miss it. I had no idea he was such a ladies' man, or that he was so popular before GWTW. And I didn't know that he died fairly young, when his plane was shot down by Germans in WWII. The doc was a nice balance of family and film, personal and professional film, photos, interviews. Enjoyed The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman and a bunch of well-known characters in small parts. Stacy Keach stood out as Bad Bob, as did Tony Perkins as a traveling preacher. After reading the Wiki on Roy Bean, it looks like there's enough material for a mini-series. Rewatched David Lean's Great Expectations, an all-time favorite. My only complaint is that the stunningly beautiful Jean Simmons couldn't have played the adult Estella. Valerie Hobson is pretty enough, but she's not the beauty that Estella was supposed to be. The photography is gorgeous and the story moved along at a nice clip. One other complaint (and maybe I should read the book) is that the film has attorney Jagger spilling the beans on Estella's parentage, causing Estella's fiance to leave her. Why would Jagger do that?

I questioned the end-stage emphysema disability. If she was that sick, shouldn't she have been using supplemental oxygen? Didn't like the defendant who did all of the talking. He was quite rehearsed, and probably hoped to impress Judy with correct grammar, an occasional big word. The other defendant had godawful vocal fry. If anyone in Boise's government was watching, I hope they look a bit closer at the housing that they're subsidizing.

Can someone help me out with the Carnage episode in Mobile? DeMarcus was killed when Carey Weets (Wee Wee) drove by and shot up his house. (DeMarcus wasn't the target.) Wee Wee was then killed in retaliation by DeMarcus's brothers, LaCedrick and Raheem. This all had something to do with a dice game where someone was cheated out of five dollars. So who was Courtney and what did he have to do with anything? I was more than a bit confused when this one was finished.

She gave plaintiff around $3500 for the electric charges. I can't see PG&E losing all that money, and maybe they didn't. Here, if utilities are owed, a new account won't be set up until the old account is paid. So either the new owner/tenant pays, or a lien is placed on the property. When there's a lien, the account is cleared if/when the property is sold. If there's no sale, then the amount owing can be assessed to the property taxes. If the owner still doesn't pay, the property can be sold at sheriff's sale and the lien will be paid from the proceeds of the sale.

The battery commercial with the woman sinking into the couch and the guy covering himself in toothpaste -- what's the point? They're not offering two different kinds of battery -- one for long-life and one for energy. And what does sinking into a couch and slathering toothpaste represent anyway?

I got a kick out of the segment on old video games this week. He has some talented animators on his staff -- or maybe animation has gotten easier. As an old fart who hasn't kept up with tech stuff, I'm amazed at what they're doing with photos and video on the late night shows. I figured all the good animators were working for TV, movies, commercials. Guess not.

Yes! I was amazed. JJ must have been getting ready to go on a long vacation or something, and was feeling quite mellow. But she had no time at all for brother, did she? At one point, plaintiff said "Long story short . . . " and my husband and I both said "Too late!"

Plaintiff had the $1500 security deposit too. So $3500 for sheetrock and trash removal -- that's not too bad. But I do wonder if there were more damages. Am I the only one who thought the defendant in the brother/foster-sister 2003 Mercedes "loan" case was kinda hot? He had great cheekbones. Reminded me of the actor who played Hanzee in Fargo, season two.

@Rinaldo, I liked it too, The Card. The only Bennett I have read is The Old Wives' Tale and I was pleasantly surprised by the humor in this movie. I didn't recognize Petula Clark as Nellie -- I thought the movie was older than 1952, it felt more like something from the 30's, so I was looking for a child. I'm also surprised that Denry, while ambitious, wasn't greedy and grasping. And surprised that the Countess appreciated him -- I half expected them to end up together. And Alec Guinness -- sometimes he reminded me of Charlie Chaplin, or Stan Laurel -- his walk, and his grin, and his eyes. Thanks for recommending it, because I wouldn't have recorded it otherwise.

Thanks for the tip on The Card. I adore Glynis Johns and I've read some Robert Bennett, so am looking forward to it. Today I rewatched Kiss of Death. Victor Mature has always creeped me out -- something to do with sex and sensuality and I don't want to explore it too deeply. But he's always sorta scared me. Him and Rod Steiger. I'm okay with Steiger now, but it's still hard for me to watch Victor Mature. But I did anyway, because this is such a good film. Everything is just perfect. No scene is too long or too short. Everything makes sense. I would have been fine with a less happy ending though.

Two loud pops could be a gas furnace or water heater blowing up. Such a shame that it took so long to put water on that fire. It seems that unless you live within shouting distance of a fire station, and there's a fire hydrant in front of your house, your house is going to be destroyed. I also wondered why they couldn't have moved that car. A couple weeks ago there was another fire -- not sure if it was on LivePD or LiveRescue -- but in that fire, it took forever to get water on the fire, because there were bars on the basement windows. They said they had to remove the bars first, because they didn't want anyone going into the house and being trapped. But I wondered why they didn't put water on the fire anyway -- the pressure of the fire hose would break the window glass, wouldn't it? That house was almost a total loss, because they spent so much time cutting the bars off the basement windows. Made no sense to me.

The Geico commercial where he's taking cookies to his new neighbors. Who rang the doorbell? The ad would be better if the guy who ate the cookies/biscuits had asked that question after they closed the door.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street, 1934, Norma Shearer as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Fredric March as Robert Browning, and Charles Laughton as EBB's domineering father. I recorded this for Fredric March -- he's a favorite -- and for Laughton, who's rapidly becoming a favorite. A side attraction was Una O'Connor, again playing a servant in a wealthy family. Was she wearing roller skates under that huge dress? She positively glided across the floor in every scene -- it was really fun to watch. I fast-forwarded quite a bit. Norma Shearer's constant eyes-heavenward facial expression got old quickly. It's common in movies from that era, I understand, and it's often appropriate, but I thought it was a bit much here. Probably another reason I FF'd was because it's so difficult to connect with Victorian women who were so under the patriarchal thumb. Just leave, I wanted to say. My gosh, the woman's earning her own money from her writings -- go, and take your sisters with you. It was hard to sympathize, but that's on me. I'm interested to know if there's any basis in the writer's explanation for Mr. Barrett's refusal to let any of his children marry. This film seems to allege that he fears his own lustful nature so much that he's transferred his fear to his children. He doesn't want any of them tarnished by sexual desire. In the scene where he tries to explain this to Elizabeth, he almost grabs her breast. This made him the most interesting character in the movie and perversely, more sympathetic than Elizabeth, in my view anyway. Loved the dog. Virginia Woolf wrote a bio of him. I might check it out.

I like that when JJ told plaintiff air-bnb lady to stop interrupting, she really stopped. The camera would pan to her and she'd be standing there, tight-lipped -- good job. But didn't she also allege some damage? After JJ learned of the unlawful detainer settlement, she refused to hear anything about damage to the property. I felt sorry for her. She under-charges for the rental (defendant even said she was surprised at how nice it was) and then loses rental income for three months. LOL'd at defendants claiming that water in the toilet bowl was boiling. For pete's sake, people. I doubt it even got warm. Toilet bowls are always cold. That's why dogs love 'em.

Did it sound like JJ was having trouble with her teeth today? As she was leaving the bench -- I think it was in the 10-tenant roommate case -- it almost looked like a bridge was coming loose or something, and it affected her enunciation.

Of course it's not JJ's fault, but she can tone it down a bit, the pointing and laughing at harmless idiots. Sometimes JJ comes off like these slackers are the next Unabomber. She needs to remember that they are her bread and butter. And I don't think that occasionally moving home with mom is worthy of such contempt.

Witness for the Prosecution. I'd seen it before but only vaguely remembered how it ended. Charles Laughton was really good in this, which I hadn't noticed on first viewing because I was so focused on the plot. 1957, adapted/directed by Billy Wilder from an Agatha Christie story, previously a stage play. Something else I noticed whenever I paused the action was the setup -- every shot was suitable for framing -- that's something I almost never notice or appreciate, the spatial relationships between the set and the actors.

"Um is not an answer!" -- that's getting SO old. Get some new shtick, Judge. If we know what you're going to say before you say it, maybe it's time for retirement.

I turned her off today, when she couldn't contain herself -- laughing at the 33-year-old who had only been able to live on his own for a few years. Yeah, Judy, we're all losers. Nobody ever has to move home after a divorce, job loss, health emergency, etc. And we all have excellent jobs, wait -- not jobs, careers, and savings for retirement. And cars that are paid for, and credit card bills that are paid in full every month. No offense intended to everyone who has managed that level of success, but the fact is that 50% of the country can't come up with $400 cash in an emergency. Doesn't she watch her own show? People are paying hundreds of dollars rent for rooms with strangers! What is wrong with someone living with family? What a bitch.

I went looking for some more information on the season five episode The Good Book. It's the one where the victim was found in her burned-out car, death due to stabbing. Her ex had been stalking her. He was eventually convicted, but we never know what actually happened. The ex had been driving around in the victim's car with two homeless crackheads. One of the crackheads said that the ex planned to burn the car for the insurance money. That made no sense, because the car didn't belong to the ex, so he wouldn't have collected anything. We never know where the victim was when the ex was driving around in her car with the crackheads. Was her body in the trunk? Did he drop the crackheads off and go back and kill the victim and then burn the car? The ex was convicted largely because of the victim's Bible. One of the crackheads took it from the car because the ex had said he was going to burn the car, and the crackhead didn't think it was right to burn a Bible. Him having the Bible helped to prove that he was in the victim's car with the ex, so it helped convict the ex. But we still don't know the timing, when and where the victim was killed, etc. But while I was searching for more information on this case, I found an article from a Miami newspaper, talking about the sloppy work done by some of the detectives on the show -- Miami in particular -- resulting in at least 13 of the show's convictions being overturned and people being released from prison. Lawsuits are pending.

I think the half-head wig was on purpose. She thought that it looked good. But defendant's wig/fall wasn't much better. She kept stroking it like it was a kitten. Or a furry snake.

True, but even if it was self-defense, shouldn't there be a trial? The DA has that much authority? Or is this a case where nobody wants a trial, since it will blacken the guy's reputation, make Hollywood and LA look bad? The man's wife is probably fine with letting it go.