Maximona

Wow! I didn't find it boring at all. In fact, I thought it was pretty great. But then, I'm a big fan of French New Wave movies.

Is it, though? See, I kind of see saying, "I don't see color" as more of an attempt to say, "I don't want to contribute to the obstacles and challenges that people of color face every day." A clumsy attempt, sure. An attempt that could be much, much better worded. But not badly intended. Not something I personally would ever say. But as I am not a POC, I'm not going to police Crystal's reactions to that one. That said, I do think the issue is particularly loaded for Sutton because she is so obviously Southern, and there is a strong if unspoken belief outside the South that all Southerners are racist, whether they know it or not. Edited to add: Just saw that many, many posters posted more-or-less the same thoughts while I was dillydallying about posting. 😀. Apologies for the redundancy!

My favorite part of this episode? Watching Kyle's heavily-Botoxed forehead attempt to wrinkle during her coeur-à-coeur limo conversation with Dorit. Second most favorite part: Sutton's sly aside, Who are you really asking about? and then the quick cut to Erica. I think the producers have made a mistake by mixing Housewives who have brain cells (Crystal, Sutton, Garcelle) with Housewives who do not have brain cells (Kyle, Dorit, Rinna et al). This only leads to attempts to enforce sensible boundaries—as when Crystal attempts to refuse to discuss the the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad thing that Sutton said—or expositions on the etymological significance of words like "dark".

Sadly, I feel like the editors (once again) are just toying with me, and all the juicy intrigue promised in the Episode 4 preview will turn out to be nada... I will also say that no amount of money or Instagram whoredom action would make me consent to cry on camera so that some therapist could ostensibly counsel me after PK's armed-burglars-for-hire got a little overly invested in the insurance fraud scheme. This is probably why Andy Cohen is ignoring the audition tape I sent in for The Real Housewives of Poughkeepsie.

But the house in the novel isn't a "time portal" in the sense that trope is commonly used (which is the sense that the show is using it.) It's a place where everything has already happened. Like I said, very difficult to articulate if you haven't read the novel. Harper in the show has a very distinct personality and is essentially using the House to commit the murders. Harper in the book has practically no personality and no volition. Nothing is actually driving the murders; they happen because they have always happened. It's a subtle distinction but immensely disturbing in a way that the show just isn't.

Kinda hard to describe the House in the novel except to note that it's a kind of time loop (emphasis on loop.) Harper does the things he does because in the House, he's already done them. It's a kind of time-as-Möbius-strip deal, horror overlaying science fiction.

Loved the novel, The Shining Girls. And the show—Shining Girls—isn't bad. But The Shining Girls was a novel about a haunted house. A haunted house possessed by a most malevolent and unique black magick. And the show is about Elisabeth Moss fluttering her eyelashes and scrinching up her face a lot. Shining Girls doesn’t reference the house much at all, at least in the first four episodes (which is as far as I've watched) so I’d have to say it’s a bad adaptation because serial killers are a dime a dozen in TV-land but truly malevolent haunted houses are something rare and wonderful. The showrunner apparently wanted to make a show about the way that severe post-traumatic stress disorder can turn you into an unreliable narrator. Lauren Beukes (the novelist) was after something much more subtle and profound. Beukes wasn’t particularly interested in the serial killer—who in the novel is a rather personality-less drifter caught up in the predestine malevolence of the House. Beukes was interested in his victims, young women who shined with potential (hence the novel’s title.) Each victim in The Shining Girls has a storyline. In contrast, the victims in Shining Girls are hastily shuffled through in a sped-up sequence of lifeless human bodies—presumably to give the viewer more time to look for nonexistent nuances in Elisabeth Moss’s overactive eyelashes. I’ll keep watching Shining Girls: It’s a serviceable serial killer drama. But it’s not The Shining Girls—which really made me wonder: Why would you pay to option a novel for television and then not use the best parts of the novel?

No amount of education would help Kyle. She's not very bright. Also, I am seeing loads of new, tiny crinkles along her upper lip. Is that something that happened the last time she shrank her nose?

Such a relief to know that in a world where tanking equities and rising inflation are shoving us ever closer to Weimar Republic: Part II that what I really should be worried about is whether Sutton dissed Harry Hamlin on Watch What Happens.

I’ve been hate-watching This Is Us for the past couple of years, but I must say, the producers and writers have managed to pull it together for the ending. I do like the idea that Death is a train ride, and that all the other passengers on that train are the other people whose penumbras have brushed yours over the course of your lifetime. Lovely metaphor…

Yeah, really! 😀 And I am so-o-oooo glad she did because I, personally, do not care if Dorrito's burglars-for-hire made a bigger mess out of the glass window than was stipulated in the contract PK drew up. I am much more interested in Sutton's Adventures in Solo Proprietorship. Who knew that ICE went after French designers? Sutton does ask the $64,000 question: How come Erica didn't do the Bette-Davis-in-Whatever-Happened-to-Baby-Jane number on Maurizio & PK? Why does she save all her vitriol for the ladies? Can it be that she dislikes other women? (That question is rhetorical; no one has to answer it.) Without makeup, Kyle looks really, really old. And kinda ugly.

I seem to recall that Randall was affected by debilitating anxiety attacks the first couple of seasons, no? It was a definite plot point.

There are many variations. My own (completely unsubstantiated) theory is that people regress to their childhood personalities. Thus Rebecca has become a good little girl again. If I'm ever magically transported to a universe where this show's characters exist as real live humans, remind me not to vote for Randall Pearson for Senator. The idea that an elected political official would not spend five days a week in D.C. is appalling to me—however virtuous the underlying motivation.

Kinda have to disagree with you there. Delayed diagnosis isn't evidence of medical malpractice per se, true, but a presumptively accurate blood test early in the game would enhance the process of differential diagnosis considerably. Plus, you know, in the time of the Internet, the entire relationship between MDs and patients is evolving (even if the AMA is such a powerful trade organization that it will take decades for laws to reflect that.) If—as seems likely in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic—increasing numbers of physician/patient encounters are taking place remotely—why should physicians remain the agents of services you are purchasing from them? Why not let patients decide what medical services they want? Of course, most patients are more comfortable letting physicians make such decisions for them because illness is infantilizing that way—when you're sick, you want someone to take over and make you well. But it wasn't handed down on stone tablets that it has to be that way. 😀

Certainly seemed to me as though that in-house lawyer—what was her name? Linda?—knew exactly what was going on. But was not about to make moral judgments about it because that wasn't what she was getting paid to do.

ER nurse here. When I first heard of Theranos’s “technology” 10 or 15 years ago, I was utterly mystified as to how it was supposed to work. Because when you draw blood with a pinprick, red blood cells lyse! Which means they release potassium. Wouldn’t those elevated potassium levels throw off most diagnostic assays? Oh well, I thought at the time. Smarter people than you have found the workaround. Except, as it turns out, they hadn’t. They weren’t smarter than me. Just better scammers. 😀

Assuming the show goes on for another season—which we know it will—the point is to marry Marian off to Larry so she can have a torrid affair with Raikes. I haven't been a big fan of this show throughout most of the season, but I quite liked this finale. The gowns! The jewels! The chandeliers! The place settings! Plus I loved the dialogue between Bertha and Lina: You'll find I can be a very good friend to you. Bertha who's quite ordinary with her hair up looks utterly enticing and beguiling with her hair down. Fun factoid: Lina Astor was the author Edith Wharton's aunt-by-marriage. I am thinking it would be great fun if Julian Fellowes introduced Wharton—then Edith Jones—as a secondary character. Second fun factoid: From time to time, the names of Ogden and Ruth Mills were mentioned. Here's a photo of their country "cottage," five miles away from where I live in the Hudson Valley:

She's not stunning. She's skinny. And she's got that I'm the baby-momma of someone famous fairydust. Bi-i-i-i-i-g difference.

How about spam covered with caviar? 😀

PS: I cannot imagine anything more nausiating than caviar at breakfast.

Well. Versace and Gucci. 😀 As an ER nurse, I have dealt with alcohol poisoning many, many times. It's a medical emergency; people die from it. If Julia drinks like that when she's not trying desperately to create a storyline for herself on a D-list show, she has a serious problem.

The only way this show gets saved at this point is if Beth starts bonking Luca Kovac behind Randall's back. I can't remember all the weird flashbacks, but don't Randall and Beth end up divorcing? Let this be the pretext, writers! Kinda like a ballet version of The Night Porter!!!!! That would give me a reason to keep watching!!! PLUS—Madison is a very irritating character. And how is it that after—what? Twenty years of not speaking?—that Kate has Sophie's phone # still?

Dr. Hochstein has that I-Can't-Trade-Up-Soon-Enuff! gleam in his eyes. Adrianna is so creepy, she actually makes Larsa look sympathetic. Although good for Larsa for putting the quash on the Ye penis descriptors. Also liked how Russell wiped his lips after Guernsey (or whatever the hell her name is) kissed him. Marisol's unfortunate resemblance to her mother grows more pronounced with every year that passes.

What was that thing Adriana was wearing to dinner? And why did Larsa's launch have to be in Montauk-not-really-in-the-Hamptons when all the guests appeared to have traveled there from Miami?

Oh, the fix is in for Chasity. Maybe she'd like to be a Supreme Court justice, too! 😀 Of the runway looks, Coral's was actually the one I liked best. Yes, macrame is a schtick. No, I would never wear it. No, I don't know anyone who would ever wear it. But, yes—there certainly are people who would wear it, and I've never seen anything like it on the red carpet—though, admittedly, I don't keep close track of what people wear on red carpets—so you know: unique! Shantall's was honestly a mess. Any woman with a normal-sized ass would have a hard time with that jacket—'cause the jacket would hit them on the ass every time they moved, and every fiber of their being would be longing to ask, Does this jacket make my ass look fat?, even though that question is now so politically un-correct that the Thought Police would instantly materialize and drag them away in chains. Chasity's dress looked like something you might wear to Elton John's funeral. And the only part of Kristina's look that I liked was the bag. Purses designed to look like paper bags is a brilliant fashion concept! She could make a fortune on that one! Unfortunately, the outfit itself looked like a picnic tablecloth. Bring on the tasty condiments!, thought I.