JocelynCavanaugh

Okay this is random, but I just learned the other day that a heifer is a female cow who hasn't given birth yet. So technically Nicole is just a plain old cow.

I'm so disappointed in Kourtney. She used to be the one who didn't go for all the outrageous tweaks and modifications, just breast implants she admitted to. There was no need for her to mess up her perfectly nice face like that. Kourtney and Kendall were the two I thought had a little more sense and didn't need to make themselves unrecognizable, but I guess I was wrong.

No doubt these two are generally unsympathetic and bad poster kids for the issue! I think they’re lazy and entitled, too. I’ve just been thinking a lot lately about some of the narratives that have started to develop around concepts of suffering and privilege and some of the exaggeration that escalates conversations and I wanted to throw out a different POV. No disagreement on Jeremy and Audrey in general, though!

Eh, I'm no fan of these two, but having to rip out your brand new kitchen and start all over is a pretty big deal. No one claimed they'd be scarred for life, as far as I could tell. I've been noticing this a lot lately in our culture: people say something is bad or complain about it, then others counter with hyperbole, like "it's not the end of the world"/"no one died"/"you'll live", when the original complainer never set the bar that dramatically high in the first place. They were just saying that something happened and it sucked, because it did. That's fair game. Sometimes people need to put things in perspective, sure, but at the same time, it's not like we're only allowed to be bothered or upset by the top 1% of worst things that could happen to us. It's related to that whole "first world problems" nonsense, which assumes that people who have clean running water and stable(ish) governments are not allowed to acknowledge their problems. Then we see people like Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain succumbing to suicide, and people say "How could they do that? They had everything! It makes no sense!" I'm definitely not equating a home renovation disaster with suicidal depression, just pointing out that not allowing for a true spectrum of negative experiences, even for affluent white people (sorry we exist!), leads to major cognitive dissonance.

If normal, intelligent people such as yourselves can’t comprehend his writing, he’s not a good writer! Some people really seem to enjoy the opaque verbosity of writing “philosophy”; it makes them feel smart. I think it just makes them look pretentious.

I really hope she’s in a better place mentally than when we last saw her. Some of the quotes at that link make me nervous. I’m definitely not opposed to GCS as a general rule, but I worry (as a stranger on the internet) that Jazz isn’t the best candidate, at least for now. Based on what Greg said last season, I wonder if this means Jazz is delaying college. She seems like someone who could really excel in higher learning and maybe figure out who she wants to be, beyond the Trans-Kid Ambassador. There’s more to her than gender, just like anybody else.

Usually me but sometimes Dylan. ?

I'm going with the last one. He seems kind of emotionally stunted/poorly regulated, but also probably hung up on the relationship in some way, if not on Jenelle specifically. My totally not-clinical or evidence-supported assessment is that he's the type to get in a really emotional mood (perhaps while on a substance but not necessarily) and act on the nostalgia rather than just keeping it to himself until it passes like a more mature adult would do.

LOL @ “upmost” but Nathan’s text doesn’t seem worth freaking out over. David is going to give himself a heart attack turning every single interaction in life into a confrontation.

Let’s play a game: I’ll describe the scenes and you guys guess which episode of TM2 I’m talking about: Chelsea calls her dad, crying about Adam. Kailyn aggressively stonewalls everyone and ruins the fun to prove a point. Leah makes the complete opposite of good parenting choices at every turn, setting her daughters up for a dysfunctional life. Jenelle fights with an ex and makes co-parenting as difficult as possible. Briana doesn’t exist and is irrelevant. LOL trick question it’s ALL of the episodes for the past eight years!!!

His major work is a book called Orientalism. The Wiki writeup has a good summary: Basically, that the Western (American/European) understanding of Asian or Middle Eastern cultures was mediated through Western interpretation rather than direct representation, and with an inherent assumption that Westerners knew better, made better choices, were guided by more rational reasoning, etc., and basically those from the "Orient" were kind of naive and helpless, but so cute and exotic.

Since this was clearly directed at me, I have traveled and spent time in developing countries, yes. Some of their food and customs were off-putting but I didn't go around gagging and criticizing them out loud. The Americans on this show (self-selected for obtuseness by virtue of it being a cable reality show) are held to a very high standard of cultural awareness and they almost always fall short, while the people from other countries are granted an extremely wide berth for the same behavior. Either it's okay to be disrespectful and ignorant, or it's not. I'm going with not. If you knew Kentucky well, you would understand that they have grocery stores and gardens. This is getting suuuuuper close to Edward Said territory and I'm a little uncomfortable. People can be capable of empathy yet also understand that good manners don't cost a baht. In my very personal opinion, I find it condescending and othering to hold poor people from other cultures to a lower standard of decency as though they're only capable of grousing and groveling. Others are of course welcome to differing opinions. The way some people describe it, America is a greasy Potemkin village of broken dreams and shattered expectations, and the Mouskewitzes have all arrived to discover there are in fact cats in America and the streets aren't paved with cheese, while these other countries are where the magical, noble poor live with their dignity and their vegetables "veggies," yet somehow it's anathema to suggest that some of these K1 recipients might actually be happier back home, since America is so disgusting and awful anyway? I just can't reconcile these positions without some assumption of exoticism or othering that I'm not willing to adopt.

Tyler needs a LiveJournal. Also this photo reminds me of that National Geographic guy who photographs dogs dramatically.

Maci: Is Not Actually That Bad and I Like Her *ducks and runs*

I can see how you read that into it, but it didn't come across that way to me.

Like I said, though, she can google it the way she apparently googled herself a husband. She Skypes her mom so we know she has internet access on her phone. It's annoying to hear that kind of ignorance; it implies that anyone in a rural area with a low income is ignorant and can't help it, and we know that's not true. People were saying how Nicole should have done some basic research before going to Morocco, and I agree. It's not hard to get a clue these days, and if you intend to marry someone from another culture, how could you not at least try?

Thai food is whatever. Some of it is actually pretty heavy and makes me feel gross after I eat it. It has its ups and downs just like any cuisine, including American. I don't know where people get these ideas that America has no "culture" or its food is all greasy and "flavorless," or that we have to denigrate our own culture to others for some reason. It allows people like Annie to feel justified in criticizing things they haven't even bothered to explore. It is at least 50% Annie's fault that she has lived in a country for over a year and is still so ignorant about the variety of food available. I have trouble imagining that David does all the grocery shopping himself and leaves her in the car. Most of us can't afford Michelin starred restaurants, here or abroad, yet we manage to be aware of the world beyond our local Denny's. I just get so tired of all the people on this show who make it their life's goal to come to this country by any means, including screwing our least attractive citizens, and then they bitch and moan about every-damn-thing once they get here. If Thailand or Bucamaranga or whatever is better, go back! If you don't want to go back, maybe spend some time reflecting on why! Nicole was rightfully excoriated for flipping her shit about tagine and public modesty in Morocco. Americans aren't the only "ugly" foreigners. When in Rome, MFs.

I do like that Gary mentioned reading to your children at home. That is the #1 thing any parent, from any socioeconomic/racial/cultural background can do to give their kid the best possible start in literacy and academics. Some kids are naturally voracious readers (sounds like @DangerousMinds and I were in that category!), but those who aren't will still benefit a TON from having literacy encouraged at home, starting when they're tiny. When I grade college freshman writing, it's so clear to me who is a reader and who just types like they talk and calls it a day.

While I don't wish actual infertility on Paola, I definitely hope she's never able to conceive with Russ, so it will be easier for him to run far away from her and never look back. She's horrible. Annie hates American food because it's "all hamburgers and fries" or whatever. Could we please be more ignorant and miserable? How about this: I hate Thai food because it is literally only Pad Thai and nothing else and therefore I hate it.* They may not have much money for eating out, but I know that girl can use the internet to find an American husband so she can use it to figure out American cuisine, too. I still have no use for Anfisa. So she's honest, whoop-de-doo. That's a bare minimum human decency thing. She's also rude, belligerent, and greedy. I'll never respect a gold digger just because she admits she's a gold digger, and I won't feel bad for her if she digs in an empty mine. She's young, attractive-adjacent, and speaks at least two major languages -- she could get all kinds of real jobs that pay her for "honest" work. If she'd rather take the risk of betting her economic future on a guy who claims to be rich, oh well. I'll conserve my sympathy for the young women back in Russia who live in terrible conditions with no access to education or a better future. *I don't actually think this.

It’s possible that, as a lifelong Cowboys fan and someone who works with low-income college students not too far from these kiddos, I’m a little biased, but... favorite Celebrity Undercover Boss episode ever!!! PRIME TIME! Ugh I was frigging CRYING at a REALITY SHOW but that sweet Michael fellow got me good. I want to have him over for dinner!! And Deion too I mean why not. Get Michael Irvin and Emmit Smith (my football bae) over here while we’re at it. Maybe Crabtree is in town and we can make it a party, bring that whole choir. Y’all I don’t think Jewel’s fake Jersey accent can top this. PS the spliced-in footage of Deep Ellum in the first driving scene was cracking me up. There is nowhere in Dallas that anybody who played in a Super Bowl AND a World Series would live, that would put Deep Ellum on the way to Cedar Hill. But hey, first reality show ever to film in Dallas without shoehorning in footage of Midland oil pumpjacks and the Fort Worth Stockyards so I’ll let that slide.

That picture on the left should’ve stayed in the outtakes. She looks totally zoned out. I’m pretty jealous of her eye color though. Mine are blue but not BLUE like Nova’s!

I've heard of the cabbage thing before. It frankly seems a lot less silly than thinking essential oils are medicine. But I seriously thought my DVR recorded the previous episode by mistake. It was so much of the same tedious nonsense, especially with the twins and their wives. Zach and Tori benefit a lot from being the foil to Jeremy and Audrey, who are insufferable, but they're really not that great. Neither is particularly smart, funny, or interesting, and Tori's attachment to Jackson is nice for them but super boring/borderline annoying to me. Tori: Jackson is such a good baby. I can take him anywhere. He's always cool and never a problem. Also Tori: <takes Jackson to a nice restaurant, where he fusses and moans the entire time, until Zach points out that they should probably leave> Also I agree that Amy is more than capable of taking care of Jackson for a few hours. Their expressing any doubt about that was just so rude, not to mention idiotic. We may have concerns about how the Roloff kids turned out in terms of being lazy, entitled, or obnoxious, but Amy (and I guess Matt?) did manage to keep them clean, healthy, and properly fed up to adulthood. And it wasn't Amy who trebucheted her kid... Audrey's "struggles with motherhood" are so incredibly boring. For one thing, they seem to be pretty standard challenges -- aren't most new parents constantly tired? Isn't breastfeeding difficult more often than not? I'd much rather see more of their hipster home renovation, or what hipster food they hipsterly cook, or whatever else producers could cobble together from their unemployed, uninspired hipster lives, than Audrey's princess-and-the-pea experiences with having a normal, healthy baby.

"Our frizzed curls" -- haha quit trying to drag Jeremy down with you, Pippi Dumbstocking.

How did Tyler just now discover spoken word performance, AKA hipster rap? He would’ve loved coffee shops in the late 90s. Maybe it’s just now the late 90s in Wherever, Michigan. That would explain a lot about Catelynn’s wardrobe. ”Gotta” doesn’t mean “got a”; it means “have got to,” or “need to.” “You ain’t gotta clue about me” means “you do not have to a clue about me.” The Black-Eyed Peas also made this mistake with “I’ve Gotta Feeling,” which formally means “I have got to feeling.” The “language evolves!!! Anything anyone says is correct no matter what!!” crowd can spare me the lecture on this. “Gotta” is already an evolution but it has a distinct meaning which Tyler and Will.i.am aren’t quite grasping. Sorry, team. Y’all know I have a thing about usage.

I sat through a million of the same two commercials on the TLCgo app to get two screen shots, so I felt this compelling performance deserved to be documented.