needschocolate

I suppose it depends on what sort of outfit Heidi is wearing - maybe she would have to copy the outfit of a lady wearing a mumu in the audience instead. My guess is that he is hoping to get a solo act in Vegas and earn more money while getting to stay in one place.

I haven't seen the whole episode yet but saw enough to have a few comments.... I was surprised that Howie was the voice of reason on that one. I think it is cruel to get someone's (like the oldster acts) hopes up just to turn them down later, but the judges that send them through probably think they are being very kind to the elderly. Sometimes trying to be kind is the less kind thing to do. For example, I have a friend who had a dog who was quite the "chowhound" - that dog loved to eat, lived for his next meal, started drooling excessively if someone mentioned "dinner." When my friend would feed him, she would put some kibble in his bowl, then open a can of dog food and put a couple of scoops in the bowl, then mix it all together, and final give it to the dog, who sat there drooling and waiting impatiently. Then the dog inhaled the bowl of food in under 30 seconds, never even bothering to chew. She said she fed him this way because she felt sorry for him if all he had was kibble and thought the bit of canned food made his meal taste better. She was trying to do the kindest thing for the dog. Her heart was in the right place, but I thought it was cruel, making that poor dog wait and watch for his meal. He didn't care about the taste, he didn't even chew it, he had no idea how it tasted. Whenever I would dog sit for her, I would do what I felt was the kindest way I could feed him - I put kibble in his bowl and gave it to him. I think there may be something wrong with my speakers or the acoustics in my living room, because all three of these acts sounded off to me - good in a sing-at-a-party-for-free way or good in a go-see-your-kid-perform way, but not good enough in a pay-to-see-them way. Just imagine what a seamstress act would be like on this show...She comes out wearing a slip and starts off by unwrapping yards of fabric from the bolt, running across the stage with it like a giant ribbon dance. Then, with a dramatic uplift in the music, she whips out a pair of scissors and starts cutting frantically. She juggles all of the pieces as she leaps over to her sewing machine. The music picks up in pace (Flight of the Bumble Bee or Minute Waltz?) as she sews - the audience getting a birds-eye view from the camera positioned directly above her. We can see that her spool of thread is almost empty. Cut to Heidi with her hand-goggles, then to the audience where people are on their feet, obviously concerned that she will run out of thread before she is done sewing, then to Mel B. who has looked away and can't watch because she is worried that the seamstress will get her fingers too close to the needle. Just as the last bit of thread flies off the spool, the seamstress, in one swift motion, yanks the material out of the machine and puts it on. As the audience roars with applause, the seamstress stands on the stage, panting heavily, wearing an exact replica on the outfit Heidi is wearing. I was surprised too. When she first came out and said she was 12 and was going to sing, I thought "Show's over already? That was fast" The first two episodes ended (or came close to ending) with a 12 year old girl singer who got the golden buzzer. It was a nice that they mixed it up this week. Still, it looks like a singer gets the golden buzzer this week too. I thought they would golden buzz the russian pole trio or maybe the tightrope people with the comment "I am buzzing you because I know you are good enough to make it the to live rounds, and didn't want risk you dying before you get there"

Damiano's accent seems to be rather inconsistent. Sometimes I have no trouble understanding him, other times, I have no clue what he is saying. I get that a person's accent can get stronger when they are stressed out or excited, but his seems to become more stereotypical. At times he sounds like someone doing a horrible Italian accent in a 1950's sitcom - "When-uh we-uh were-uh growing up-puh in-uh Tuscanny-uh, we-uh ate-uh spagetti every-uh night-uh." She knew it in her talking head that was shown before her presentation. Of course, that doesn't mean she actually knew it before her presentation. We actually rewound because we thought we missed the segment with the Honeymoon Suite Team getting a phone call. The whole thing was filmed/shown weird - show two teams getting phone calls and then those two teams get judges, then show the third team getting a phone call (from someone else) and then show them getting judged. They should have showed JTF call Team A, then Team A is judged, then Internet "sensation" call Team B, and then Team B's judging, then JTF call Team C, then The Team C judging. There is no reason to show the phone calls and judging in the order they happened, especially given how they don't show everything in sequence normally - talking heads shown in the middle of segments when they were filmed hours, sometimes days, later, and the references to "next week" or "last week" when the shows are really filmed a day or two apart. Years ago, I was talking to teacher at a junior high school and a student walked by wearing baggy pants really low. The teacher told the student to pull up his pants or risk being sent to the office for a change of clothes (it was against the school's dress code). I told the teacher that, if they really wanted the boys to stop wearing the sagging pants, all they had to do was have the male teachers wear their pants really low for a few days.

I think this highlights the difference between an audience that has been drinking (probably has a 2 drink minimum), has come there to hear comedy, and has been laughing all evening, and an audience hasn't done any of those things.

I agree, and if you told me last year that I would think Heidi was a good judge, I would have thought you got the names mixed up. I certainly didn't think Heidi was a good judge last year - she seemed to vote No because she personally wasn't into that sort of act even though they did a good job of it and the audience was wowed (I can't remember any specific examples, but she would say sometime like - "I have no idea how you did that magic trick, it is mind boggling, but I don't like to watch gross things so I am giving you a No"). But now Heidi seems to be the only one willing to vote No to the acts that could never headline a show. Simon seems to be very objective and rational in his voting and isn't the "I don't mean to be cruel but you are the worst act I have ever seen and you are ugly too" judge I thought he would be. Meanwhile, Howie seems to have short term memory issues because every act seem to be the best one he has ever seen and Mel B keeps finding reasons why she can't watch an act but she is still such a fan of them. Wow! I was sure that you must have confused the singers, so I watched it on Youtube so that I could put your mind at ease and explain your mistake and - Wow! You are totally correct (btw, I am not wowed that you are correct, you are probably correct most of the time, I am floored that there was more than one take). I only had to watch the 10-15 seconds after the second soloist starts singing to catch the ring "moving" multiple times - Second soloist starts singing, ring on index finger, cut to Heidi, second soloist has ring on ring finger, cut to Simon, second soloist has ring on index finger, a few more cuts and the ring stays on his index finger, then, in the long shots, it is back on his ring finger. I suppose it is possible the they only had two tries and he moved the ring between them, but two tries is twice as many as I thought they got. The only way I am okay with an act getting a second try is if there was some production fail or accidental interference (mic stops working, something crashes backstage, someone in the audience shouts something offensive, etc), but then they should be showing us the second try, not splicing the tries together. Wow.

Oh, the odd things that bug me sometimes...I DVR the show and skip all the commercials, but I watch the back stories and listen to the judges comments, so I am not totally hung up on watching this show as fast as I can. However, having to watch each judge and say yes bugs me - such a repetitious waste of time. It is okay if the judge has made a negative comment and there is a chance that judge will vote no. Most of the time, we have heard each judge gush over the act "I have never seen anything like this!" "It was amazing!" "This is the best this kind of act all season!" blah blah blah - it is obvious that they will all say yes, but we still have to hear them ask each one how they are voting and then most of the judges will also make a comment with their vote. Just have them each hold up a green card for yes, if it is important that they vote is official. I thought this was a good episode. Felt bad for the comedian that bombed. I really liked the deaf comedian - liked how he highlighted how people start wondering as soon as they hear "partner" - most of us do it, even though, for most of us, someone else's sexual orientation shouldn't matter at all (the exception is if you are looking for romance). I didn't think she was golden ticket worthy, but I liked Grace, thought the song was catchy, and her voice doesn't bug me, although she seemed to have a British accent occasionally. I hope she is really successful really soon, because I don't think her vocal chords are going to survive until she is an adult. I am kinda intrigued to find out if every episode will end with a girl singer getting a golden ticket.

You have given me an idea for the product I would pitch to the sharks...It is a way to stop people from biting their nails. Basically, it would just be watch batteries and a tube of the stuff they use to glue on fake nails. Nailbiters would glue the batteries to their nails and every time they put their nails to their mouth to bite them, they would get a shock. I would decorate the batteries so that they would be fashionable. Of course, I would never get a deal because I wouldn't be able to quit my job and put 110% of my time into my venture and I would need to much help from the sharks and I wouldn't want to give up more than 4% of my company, which I would be asking for $2 million for. Besides, I can't think of a clever name.

Diane slapped Alicia because the writers/producers decided long, long ago that they wanted to the series to end with Alicia getting slapped, and it probably didn't seem right to have it be a man, so it had to be either Lucca or Diane. As for the reasoning as it pertains to the plot, the infidelity issue was the only one they offered, as far as I could tell. Diane and Alicia were going to start a firm together and seemed to be getting along better than in prior years when no one slapped anyone else. I think we are supposed to come to our own conclusions as to whether Jason is gone for good, or just didn't happen to be there when Alicia thought he was but he is waiting in his boxers in her apartment when she gets home from the face-slapping. I think those in charge thought that viewers were more interested in the Jason-Alicia relationship than most actually were.

Alison does manage to mention her son a lot, but, personally, I am tired of hearing from her about anything and everything. I know that the producers interview everyone and they decide which talking heads we see, but I find her annoying and I wish they would stop focusing on her so much.

Acts like the bereavement couple always make me a little sad, because I think the audience is laughing at them, not with them. I can believe that the couple thinks that the audience is laughing and smiling becasue she is so cute and her comments are adorable and clever, but I feel that the audience is laughing for much more superficial reasons. If she was thin or younger, they would been have been X'ed off the show. But, because she is a chubby woman in her 60's her dancing around in a short dress, they are hilarious.

Way behind on this show. The first few episodes didn't thrill us, so we collected them on the DVR until we ran out of other shows to watch. Started catching up, but it still doesn't thrill me. The kidnappers were trying to get money to save their mother. They have kidnapped before - miles apart - and always killed their victims. Were all the past kidnappings done to get money for medical treatments for their dying mother? If they were, then in it rather odd that 3 sons who love their ailing mother so much that they will kill to help her, yet they drag the sick woman over a thousand miles. I get that they are nomads, but, if you want you mom to get better, then stay in one place and get a job (or commit your heinous crimes). Of the episodes I have seen and remembered, 2 involved locals "following traditions" of early tribes/cultures, 2 involved removing body parts, and 2 involved committing murder in an effort to save a dying parent (this only covers 5 episodes because the one set in India was a guy who removed body parts to save his father).

I thought the jokes were good, but she laughs at the jokes too much. It seems like a comedy act, not a news report. Yes, it a comedy act, but it is a comedy act that is supposed to look and sound like a news report/commentary.

It is kind of like siblings, it is okay for me to say my sister is a slut, but you better not call my sister a slut (for the record, my sister is not a slut, well, technically, I don't have a sister, but if I did, I am confident she wouldn't be a slut)

I think a big step to improving the reunions would be to stop doing them in front of a live audience. I can see how they want the enthusiasm and reactions of the audience, but if they didn't have an audience, Jeff couldn't ask prepubescent girls about their Survivor crushes, or ask little boys if they want to be on the show, or waste time talking to celebrities and "celebrities," or corner a player's mother make us listen to her response, which often has nothing to do with the question he asked, and all the other things that I find to be time-wasters. After the winner is announced, they could introduce everyone by showing what they looked like right before being voted off, then show us what they look like now. Then have a 10 minute segment where they highlight each player with a montage like they used to have at the Walk of the Fallen while the audio is the player tells a little about their Survivor experience and tells us what they are doing now (this woudl amount to about 30 seconds per player). Then Jeff, or preferably someone who is not Jeff, asks questions that were posed online by viewers and/or were voted by viewers as the things they really want to know about. The producers could throw in a few questions about the finale, since there wouldn't be time for viewers to pose questions about those.

I gave up hoping the reunion would actually be a reunion a long time ago. Now I just tune in to see what everyone looks like after they are hydrated, fed, and sprayed with a make-up gun

I have no opinion on the hair gell guy's deal, because I am not quite sure what he ended up selling a piece of. I think the hair products he came in trying to get a deal on was a stupid product to invest in, but I guess his other "product" - whatever it was - has more potential. If you want/need to send a handwritten note and you don't want to go to the store to buy a card, then just keep a box of blank notecards in and some stamps in a drawer and use them. You will probably spend less time writing the address then you would choosing which Felt card to send. I did like the way you could incorporate photos into the Felt card. You can probably do that with a number of other sites, but probably would have to buy a minimum of 20-25 cards - and the Felt card woull probably arrive sooner, than waiting for some company to deliver the cards then writing it yourself (hmm, maybe I need to get a shock watch for my overuse of the word "probably") PMS Bites - I maybe alone in this, but I thought the name was rather clever in that it had a double meaning - Bties because they are a bite of food, but also the slang "Bites" ans in "PMS sucks!" If this is truly something that would benefit people other than PMSing females, then why not tweak the recipe slightly and churn out a second product - "Life Bites" that could be marketed to everyone (or make lollipops - Life Sucks). That way she has her niche market and can also sell to the general population. Of course, the number of people that would spend $7 for 3 little bonbons is very small. I found her presentation kind of funny too - the way she spoke in monotone with little expression. Barbara says - You don't seem passionate, and she replies, in monotone, with little expression, "I am very passionate." Sure didn't look it. Perhaps she was just nervous, but her "Style" wasn't helping her any (especially if she actually followed hair gel guy in his presentations). I can see why the shock watch would be better than a rubber band in some situations. Someone else (someone you trust completely), could control the shock - for example, if you want to stop saying "like" or "um" "or "so" multiple times when you speak, you aren't going to be able to shock yourself, because you probably don't notice how often your say it. But you don't have to spend $200 on it. They sell collars for dogs that will shock, but some also make a noise or just vibrate a little - so it doesn't have to be painful, it could just be annoying. Just make the collar small enough to fit on your wrist or your ankle (so it isn't as visible).

Well, they were able to not have Kalinda come up even thought rarely had more than 2 in Chicago at the same time. (I remember only 5 investigators in the history of the show - the blond who worked for Agos Florrick, the guy who kept hauling his kids around with him, the guy Kalinda ran out of town, Kalinda, and Jason). They can just have Alicia quit the firm to run for President or Senator or Prime Minister of Canada or whatever Eli decides.

I find this comment to be so wonderful that I am definitely stealing it. One of my pet peeves is when people say "I could care less" when they really mean "I couldn't care less" - this was a nice twist.

It would have made more sense, and been funnier too, IMO, if Mitch and Lily showed up at the airport (or showed up to go to the ariport - I forget where Cam found out they were coming with him) wearing overalls and straw hats while Cam is in his regular clothes and he could make a comment on how people don't dress that way.

I appreciated that the quality of the film looked like a show made int he 1970's - that sort of grainy, definitely not high def, look. Last week, I thought the pregnancy reveal episode was the last one of the season - it seemed like a season-ender kind of episode. I was surprised that there was one more episode to go. However, after watching the GT episode, it all makes sense - Thelma/Bow being pregnant and how to afford their growing family tied their lives and the dream together. Therefore, the GT take-off had to be after the pregnancy reveal. I can be very nitpicky, but this didn't bother me because it was all Dre's dream and my dreams rarely get all the details straight (typical of me re-telling a dream - "We were in our living room and heard a noise in the kitchen and walked in to find a german shepherd standing on the island, so it must have been my mom's kitchen because we don't have an island, but I am pretty sure it was our living room because the walls were blue, well, anyway, the german shepherd..." - which also explains why no one ever wants to hear me tell them about a dream I had). The parts were mixed up age wise, but I thought the personalilties were a pretty good fit. If Zoe was Thelma, then Bow either becomes Willona and Dre has no part to play, or Dre and Bow play James and Florida and then Pops has no part (and Ruby is Willona?). I think Ruby, Pops, Junior, Dre, Bow, and Charlie all played the characters that suited their personalities best. Zoe was Willona by default. However, I think personality-wise, cute little Jack should have played cute little Penny, and Diane was a closer to match to Michael, but I certainly can understand not switching up the sexes of the characters. I think your view agrees with the vast majority of viewers - I have not heard or read a single comment saying that Bow being pregnant is a good idea. Most are just trying to stay optimistic that this show can make it work out fine.

I might be misunderstanding you, but Cydney wasn't a Brain, she was on Brawn. I can understand not giving the million to someone who was your ally and voted you out, but if they voted for you at the same time you voted for them, then you are just bitter. I guess one could say that Michelle did a better job of playing in a manner that would less bother a bitter jury. Sure, she voted against many (most? all?) of the jury members, but they didn't hold it against her because they knew she wasn't in charge and was just going along to save herself. A jury that rewards strategy would see her as riding coattails, even if whose coattails she rode changed. This highlights one of the reasons why I have never missed an episode and look forward to each season - the game is never the same. There is no one strategy that always works. Yeah, it seems wise to be in an alliance, but it really depends on who you are allied with - they could flip on you, or be medivac'ed, or hey could get voted out. Or you could be on a tribe that sucks at challenges and end ont he wrong side of the numbers and getting pagonged. And then, if you manage to make it to the end, it depends on the attitudes of the jury and what they chose to reward. You need to adapt your strategy to the ones you are playing with.

I don't understand (the bolded). The anti-trans laws ok this circumstance? I think I'm being very dense this morning. The recent laws state that you must use the bathroom for the gender you were born into. So men can go into the women's room dressed as men as long as they lie and say, "I was born female, but I had gender re-assignment surgery, so I have to use the women's room" or "I was born female, but I dress like a man, so I have to use the women's bathroom." They say that the law is to stop men from using the women's room, but their law doesn't actually prevent it at all - unless you assume that pedophiles would never lie. At least under the old rules, men wanted to do horrible things in the ladies room would have had to at least go through the trouble of having to dress like a woman. I find the scare tactics so ridiculous - "Ooooh ...men will go into the women's room and do horrible things!!!" Is there a lot of sexual abuse going on in public women's restrooms? Seems to me that using place that generally has only one doorway and is a place where someone could walk in at any moment, is not the best place to commit a sex crime. And talking about how they wouldn't want to be in a women's room and have a man walk or be in a men's room and have a woman walk in is stupid, too. I believe that before the laws, people used the bathroom that matched the way they were dressed, so people in the bathroom might be suspicious sometimes, but it wasn't obvious (and like Trevor said, no one pays that much attention). Now, with the laws, A man who identifies with being female, may dress up as female, but will have to use the men's room - so now, with the law, men could be standing there at the urinal and someone in a dress may walk in. The reality is that these laws aren't to protect anyone, they are just attempts to force people to not be transexual - "If we make it difficult for them, then they will stop existing."

If there is one thing that is consistent on this show it is that if you spend your talking heads bragging about how great you are, you won't win any challenges. Bolded top section - Not that this makes more sense, but she said that being a nonconformist was her "religion" in high school. I think she had an idea of what she wanted to paint and then tried to make it tie out with her story. Instead of thinking, "Well, my tradition is to be a nonconformist, so I will paint that on my model" she probably thought "I want a picture of a Hot Topic girl from the 1980's so I will just claim that nonconformity is my religion." even if it made sense as a story, it doesn't make sense in the challenge, which was to update a tarot card, not make the tarot card be about your life - but then I get the feeling that Allison perceives most everything as revolving around her. Bolded middle section - If he watched the prior seasons, he should have also known that "He who brags in his talking heads doesn't win challenges." Bolded bottom section - That was very rude - "How was his worse than yours?" Sometimes the words just come out wring, but she didn't try to clarify it in the least - she must have meant it the way she said it. But she could have phrased it differently, like saying, "Wow, I didn't think Otto's was the worst." At least that way it leaves room for Luis to think that she thought Hans's was worst. It would be better to have kept her opinions to herself though.

I thought this piece was very well done - except when he compared one guy's neck to a scrotum. Yeah, the jokes were funny and the guy is a fool, but when you make fun of someone's looks, you cheapen your argument. I didn't like him making fun of Cruz's melting face either - yeah, the guy looks odd, but there were a lot of other things to make fun of him for. However, I don't mind it at all when they make fun of Trump's hair, cirtrus-y skin tone, and tiny hands, because Trump was the one who decided to bring lookis into the discussion, with his multitude of comments on the looks of his opponents and even non-opponents. The other thing I disagreed with in Trevor's Trans segment was that being gay is now accepted everywhere - unfortunately, I think there are a lot of gay people who would disagree with that. A guy says that Obama's Trans Bathroom's in School Law means that men can just go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes if they say they feel like they are female, and this is something he thinks we should be very afraid of. Meanwhile, the various Anti-Trans Bathroom Laws all mean that men can go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes and say that they were born female and are just dressing male or had gender re-assignment. The only difference is that they had to have a really close shave first.

Glad Penny is gone, but I wish she took Matthew with her. There could really be people looking for her --- banks, collection services, billing departments, etc. Maybe she has outstanding traffic tickets. Maybe he is imagining people sitting at home with nothing to do on a Saturday night, they catch a bit of his show and suddenly say "Hey! I have ghergerkins, anchovies, and a couple of slices of wheat bread in my kitchen - I'm gonna call up a few friends and have a party!"