Pickles Aplenty

This is rough: https://www.ibtimes.com/taylor-swift-speaks-out-after-scooter-braun-sold-her-master-recordings-300-million-3083500 Granted, I don't know jack-shit about the music industry and the business side of things, but if what Taylor says is true, it still sounds rough.

I'm 39, but Billie Eilish is slowly but surely growing on me. I've probably played you should see me in a crown 50 times, this year. But, this topic is for artists we hate, so I'll get to it: to me, the biggest offense as an artist is to be bland, not annoying. If you're annoying, at least you're something. If you're so inoffensive I want to check to see if you still have a pulse, that's a problem. For me, bands like Maroon 5, Coldplay, or Train fit that bill. Flames, on the side of my face.

I've been re-reading the Ramona series, by Beverly Cleary. It's the first time I've read these books since I was in grade school, but I'm surprised by how well they hold up. There are some dated references in there, but the emotions are timeless. B.C. really knew what it was like to be a kid, especially the youngest kid in the family, which is what I was. Highly recommend, even if you don't have kids to read them to (I don't).

I don't dislike anyone on the show. There are times when a character will do something awful and I hate that they did it, but I never hate the character. I went through cycles where some characters annoyed me more than others, and Don was at the top of that list. I thought Pete was a spoiled brat for most of the show's run, and only thought about himself and his own needs, but I agree with Sister Magpie that he had one of the most believable arcs on the show. There is no one thing that makes Pete realize he's been acting selfishly, and I think that's very true to life. Peggy never grated on my nerves the way she did for others. I think that's because I am also an introvert who just wants to concentrate on their work and do their best. Joan could have a Queen Bee attitude that turned me off, but I think the show did a good job of showing us why Joan could be like that. That's what she was taught, and that's how she learned to rise to the top in a male dominated world. I understood it. Betty did her share of awful things, but she was too repressed and damaged for me to hate her. She broke my heart, more than anything. Roger could be a shit, but he added a lot of color and humor to the show, and he was just too damn charming to hate. I even had moments where I kind of liked Harry, lol. So, whenever I do a rewatch, I experience moments of disappointment, exasperation, and annoyance with the characters, but there isn't anyone I loathe, through and through. To me, that's the beauty of this show, no one is good and no one is bad. They're all heartbreakingly human.

I've rewatched the show a number of times, and even though I don't really *like* Don, I can't hate him. He's too broken, to hate.

I tried watching this last night after hearing my friends rave about it, but I couldn't even finish the first episode. I don't expect a movie or a TV show to have every little thing be historically accurate, but when there are so many things thrown in there that make absolutely no sense, I can't just sit back and enjoy the ride. And yes, I know about the disclaimer at the start of the show, I still think it's bad. It is possible to be historically accurate enough, and entertaining, so I don't see why audiences have to choose between one, or the other. I should have realized years ago with The Tudors and Reign that this genre just isn't for me, but I guess I'm a slow learner. If I had any positives to say, I will say that the casting is fabulous. All of the actors did a very good job, and I enjoyed watching them, even if I didn't enjoy the story. Phoebe Fox in particular was outstanding. This is the first show I've seen her in, so I'll be keeping an eye out for her.

Hey, we all have our ugly moments. 😉

I never saw Joan that way. I always saw Joan as a person who was locked on survival mode, thanks to the way she grew up. That's not to say that I always agreed with her choices, but Joan was very much a person who picked herself up and dusted herself off, rather than wallowing in self-pity and victimhood. YMMV, of course.

I disagree with this. If Peggy were desperate to be married JUST to be married, the opportunity was right there, with Mark. You could even make the case for Pete, even though Pete was married to Trudy, at the time (see, "I could have shamed you into being with me"). Hell, she even could have made a second date with the truck driver in season one if her goal was just to get a ring on her finger. I don't think it was. Peggy wanted to be married, sure, but she also wanted love, and she wanted her partner to understand her. That's my take on it.

I don't remember a conversation about what Greg might have done in Vietnam ever coming up. When did that happen? Did I blink and miss it?

The only person I could see having a problem with Roger putting Kevin in his will is Margaret/Marigold. No amount of hippie commune living would erase her sense of entitlement. I can easily see Margaret coming back in a few years, expecting to have a relationship with Ellery and being all pissed that Kevin exists, and is in Roger's will. Seems right up her alley.

I think it worked to cast a frumpy-ish woman to play Joanna, though. The point is that Joanna is NOT a perfectly put together, big boobed 10 of a woman, which is what all the men in Stepford want. I still think Katharine Ross was a pretty woman, though, and not really "frumpy", but to each their own.

Yup. Connie expects Don to be available whenever he wants him to be, he dangles a promising account in front of Don like a carrot if only Don can pull it off, Don works his ass off to satisfy Connie, and Connie rejects Don's work as if it were nothing. To rub salt in the wound, he tells Don he expected the literal moon, not a figurative one. That is exactly how Don treated his wives.

The, "What do you want from me, love?" line was something they cited as Hilton doing to Don what Don did to his mistresses. I'm not sure most of Don's mistresses wanted love, but it was an interesting observation, nonetheless. Actually, now that I think of it, that's really more the way Don treated his wives, not his mistresses.

Yeah, which is why I was puzzled when I heard people say they wondered why Don never called Suzanne after his divorce with Betty. Suzanne mattered very little to Don, just like all his mistresses. She was just another distraction. I also read a comment on another forum where someone said Conrad Hilton treated Don the way Don treated his mistresses. It was very interesting.

I'm reading The Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin. I read Rosemary's Baby a few years ago, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get around to this one. It's a great piece of satire.

Jesus, look at her face. Aging has not been kind to Jenelle. I guess that's what years of hard drug use and Pizza Hut will do to a person.

The fans are "baffled"? It's DRUGS, guys. DRUGS. Also, Jenelle is looking more and more like Brandine Spuckler, by the day.

Kaiser is behind the other kids and needs to repeat kindergarten because his parents are two abusive shitbags who give him a home full of violence and turmoil. Very hard for kids to concentrate in school, under those circumstances. I speak from experience. Fuck these sorry ass excuses for "parents" six ways til Sunday.

Placenta shakes? Idiot.

Have we seen them, lately? They're probably dead, or they wandered off. Who could blame them?

Why is Jenelle dressed like Snooki?

LOL...Thundercunt is such a lost cause. She can't even get THIS right.

Everything Jenelle touches turns to mold.

This is what I'm thinking, that she and the Sasquatch are planning on starting their own grow operation. I can see them being arrogant enough and dumb enough to believe they can do whatever they want in their home state because Jenelle has a CA weed card and needs it for medicinal purposes (sure, Jan). They pursue whatever they feel like pursuing without doing any research, and grounding themselves in reality, and they always end up failing: homesteadin', Sasquatch's Forged In Fire knife business, Jenelle's brow kit, and probably others I'm forgetting. So, this isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. I hate them for being so incredibly stupid.