needschocolate

One thing that gets me when I watch Tiny House Hunters/Hunting is when the buyers make such a big deal over furniture. "Wow, this is a comfortable chair" or "This bed feels good" or "The house didn't have much storage but the furniture was just my style" I know that most of these homes are sold furnished, but you don't base your home buying on something that will need to be replaced down the road. I find it funny when they talk about the amount of storage when it is one drawer or a couple of 12 inch wide shelves. Yes, storage is hard to get in a tiny house and you should be thankful for all the storage you have, no matter how tiny. However, they make it sound like it is incredible to have a drawer in a nightstand. I saw one episode of Hunters recently (I think the one with the family of five where the wife wanted a small house because she didn't want to clean a big one) where they gushed over the storage above the fridge and the cabinet looked to be about 8 inches high. It would be more storage friendly if they took out the cabinet and just put stuff on top of the fridge.

Still catching up on this show...To me, one of the best things about this episode is that the parent-child story (mom needs spinal surgery, boy is babysat by the doc in charge of the ER) was not the big tear-jerker story, it was the closest thing to a comic relief story (boy int he ER portion). And, while I don't really expect anyone to read this and answer, since I am so behind in my viewing, I like to follow the adage "It never hurts to ask" (unless you are asking someone to hurt you - "hey, punch my arm, I can take it!") --- Do we know who is going to raise Carla's baby if she dies?

He has probably already discussed this with both of his fans - "Hey, Mom and Dad, can you stalk the Amazing Race Producers and get me on the next All-Star season?"

You got your wish (a little bit of it anyway) - at least 2 more people are now hooked. My husband and I have recently started watching during the winter break for our regular shows, and we will continue to watch once the networks go back to broadcasting new episodes again. The one thing that is bugging me a bit is that every episode has a heart-tugging story about a parent and child - The father dealing with the gay son committing suicide, the rebar guy who says he can't die because he needs to make up with his daughter who finally contacts him at the end of the episode, the guy who gets drunk because his daughter died on her wedding day, the step father who needs to survive because of his special needs step daughter, the kidnapped woman who set a fire so that her son would go to the emergency room. One story started off as between two brothers, but eventually it was more about the mother grieving for her son who died and forgiving the other drunk driver son. Another story could have been entirely about a husband and wife, but they were Neal's parents, so the parent-child relationship was front and center. I realize that two of the doctors have lost children and that experience shaped a lot of the characters' actions and reactions, but not every episode has to have a gut wrenching story about a parent and child. They have had other stories besides the parent - child ones, so it is not like they are incapable of doing it. I have five more episodes until I am caught up and hope that one of them has no parent child relationships - only co-workers or best friends or romantic partners or singletons (like the pacemaker kid this time).

Steve's talking heads slanted towards "I gave up performing for baking." However, just like his "I made some of the La's bigger because some people sing louder," I think it was a story he made up to fit the situation. Better to say that he gave up dancing for baking than to say that his dancing career was lackluster or that he was too old to dance (although a "My knees gave out so I had to switch careers" would be a FN worthy story). As far as sob stories go, Steve's wasn't very convincing.

I am stunned! Absolutely stunned, I tell you! We don't hear about Maeve's kidney trouble and terminal diagnosis until the very last episode? On a Food Network show? You know, the network where everything ever cooked/baked has to have a story, an inspiration...the network where every contestant has a father that doesn't love them or a struggling single mother or a canary with a rash ... the network where everyone's sob story needs to be repeated before and after every commercial break. Haley is a country girl where they use canning jars for canning! Steve gave up his career on the stage to bake! Adelberto left Cuba to come to this great nation! Melody has sons! And Maeve has the most heart wrenching story of them all - she was supposed to die! 5 doctors told her it was terminal! But, not only is she still alive, she has found true love with a wonderful man! And we don't hear about it until the last episode? Maeve must have not told anyone, because hers is the kind of story that they would have dragged out over and over again. And maybe it is that constant reminding that made Maeve decide not to share the info - until perhaps, she realized that dancing boy and Cuban escapee had sentimentality on their side and she was going to have to tell them. Going into the finale, I was rooting for Adelberto and thought he may have it in the bag, but after seeing their cakes and hearing the judges opinions, it seems like they made the right decision. Maeve seemed to hover at the top of the pack and thought outside the box. HEr stuff usually looked good. I am not disappointed her win. I am also not disappointed that we didn't have to hear about her kidneys every episode. I wish I could say the same for the other "sob stories." What sort of reply were they hoping for? "Actually, Bobby, I don't want to win - It would be too much pressure. If I ever overbake something at home, I would never hear the end of it. Plus, I would be destined to bring dessert to every potluck a go to for the rest of my life and I have a broccoli salad recipe that is delicious." They want to win because it feels good to win and they will get $50,000. Yeah, I know, they ask because they want to throw those sob stories out there one more time before the final sob story presentation at the judging. That doesn't stop it from being a ridiculous question to ask.

One possibility - More idols/necklaces get them to final four. Those four are Tasha, Keith, Jeremy, and Kelley. Keith wins the final immunity and, pulling a Woo, decides he wants to sit with people who deserve the million, so he wants Tasha out. Jeremy talks to Tasha about voting out Kelley, but since he was surprised that Kimmi tried to get him out, he is wary about Tasha's loyalty. Kelley talks to Tasha about voting out Jeremy, but since T & J have had a pretty tight alliance (for this season anyway), she doesn't think Tasha will vote with her. Since Jeremy and Kelley aren't certain which way Tasha will go, and they can't convince Keith to change his mind (he's sticking with the plan), they go with the sure thing and vote out Tasha.

I think Spencer was so certain that his efforts to become a real boy had paid off and he would get a bunch of votes at the final. But he wasn't as "human" as he thought he was being. Spencer's only hope for winning (assuming the same final 5) would have been to be sitting with Tasha and Keith. Although, I don't know about Keith. I wish they would have asked the jury how they would have voted if Keith had made it to the final. He seemed well liked (in that we didn't hear any talking heads complaining about him) and did well at challenges, especially considering he was older than everyone else. Then again, those "Who would you vote for if it would have been..." polls need to be take with a huge grain of salt. Supposedly, Kimmi would have won if she made it to the end, but maybe people were just saying that because they liked Kimmi on a personal level and didn't want her to feel bad knowing they think she played a lousy game. Or perhaps they said they would vote for Kimmi because of something that happened between filming the final tribal and the reunion - some new information they didn't have at the time.

Were there women in the audience when the guys watched Star Wars? I can get why the women on the show aren't Star Wars fans. Much of the Amy character is about her not having friends and being rather sheltered or out of touch. If she was a Star Wars fan she would have made friends with other Star Wars fans. Penny is supposed to be the cool/popular one, and in the tv universe, liking sci fi is makes you a nerd and nerds are not cool. Plus the Bernie and Penny characters provide the put-down humor, they make fun of the other characters for liking Star Wars.

"I used to make these cookies for my father whenever he had a hangover. Somehow the tomato juice helped" "These cookies remind me of all the times my mother went into one of her 'episodes.' The vodka has no taste, but you have to be sure not to over bake them or the alcohol will burn off." "These cookies are just bursting with chocolate, macadamia nuts, and raisins! They are so delicious and a family favorite. I remember feeding them to the yappy dog next door. Never heard from him again!" For the candy filled cake challenge - "My inspiration is all the cakes I used to make for strippers to pop out of." "Gingerbread men will always have a special place in my heart. My single mother was in the army and we moved around a lot. I had no friends, so I baked myself a large gingerbread man to play with. I told him all my secrets, we would play games together, go to movies, and he helped me with my homework - until that day that we were tossing a football around...." (sniffling)

So many ways this episode could have gone wrong and it didn't. I am very happily surprised. That reminds me of what I think was the weakest moment of the episode - Penny says that she spoke to Sheldon and she thinks he understood after he stopped giggling. I would think Sheldon would get very clinical about the discussion, not giggley. I think it would be more realistic if Penny said, "I told him what women like and don't like and I think, after he gave me the history of the word 'foreplay' and he drew a few diagrams, he understands what he should do."

Where the final 5 from only two seasons? I Spencer and Tasha started off on the same tribe the first time around. I think Jeremy, Kelley and Keith all played in the same season, but I don't remember how the tribes worked out. I do remember Jeremy and Keith "bonding" on exile island.

I also prefer players that have to fight for it more, because they are more interesting to watch, but I don't think that necessarily makes them a better player. One could argue that a really great player never lets themselves become the underdog. A really great player finds a way to prevent situations where they would have to scrape and scramble. Was Jeremy this really great player? I don't know. From what we have seen, he deflected attention from himself, making sure there was always someone around and he subtly convinced people not to vote off those who were shielding him. But I don't know how difficult this was with this group. Plus, there is a lot we don't see. I never watch the extra scenes, so I am only seeing about 40 minutes of film taken over three days, with multiple people and conversations - and that 40 minutes includes TC and challenges and footage of rats and snakes and creatures I have never seen before. There is no one way to succeed in Survivor. Jeremy's game/strategy worked this time, but it probably would have failed in other seasons. There is a huge element of luck - mostly in the luck of who you end up with. If you start off on a tribe where the strongest physical player gets sick and leaves early and your tribe keeps losing challenges, you will go into the merge with low numbers and you will likely have to scrape and scramble. If you end up on a tribe with an Abi or a Sugar or a Kass, each with a different way to create chaos, you might not have the control you need to play the game you intend to, you may have to think on your feet more. You might be a strategic genius, but could end up playing with someone who is as much of a strategic genius, but their strategy conflict with yours. To me, the really great players are the ones who can adjust their strategy to fit the situation they are in. You have to be able to make the most of the hand you are dealt. I will never think of Russell as a great player, because he used basically the same strategy every time (and it never worked for him).

I would enjoy the show, then there would be a Haley and Andy scene and my enjoyment would deflate. Then their scene would be over, and I would start enjoying it again, but they they would be back, and down it went. They should have found a way to have Beth be the Jack Nickleson character from the Shining - she would be all disheveled and crazy looking and say "Heeeere's Beth" Not sure how they would have done this (I have only seen the Shining once, many years ago, but the references they had in the show were memorable enough)

I am confused...When Kimmi told Spencer that she would use him as an example of bullying to her children, I thought she meant the Spencer's tirade to Jeremy at the Final 4 TC. But, it seems, most posters think Kimmi was saying Spencer bullied her at the final 5 TC. I don't understand what Spencer did at the final 5 TC that Kimmi would consider him to be bullying her.

At first I thought Jeremy's answer to the "How have you changed for your second chance?" question silly - all he said was I am doing it for my family, but I am pretty sure he wanted to win for his family the first time too. Then it eventually dawned on me that what he changed was that the first time, he wore his emotions on his sleeve, but the second time he didn't. He kept his emotions so close that he didn't even tell anyone that Val was expecting and that it would be a boy. I don't know how much this meant to any of the jury - they may have given him a sympathy vote, or they may have seen it a "Wow, Jeremy, I can't believe you were able to contain yourself. You made more of your second chance than I thought," or, maybe, he was a sure thing before he ever gave that answer. I think Spencer believes he changed, but the only change, IMO, is that he has realized that he is supposed to treat the other players as people, not chess pieces, but he doesn't really know what that means or how to do it. When he dealt with other people, he came off as insincere to me - "Look how much I have grown - I am pretended to care about you!" I liked the 'most votes tie breaker" - it adds another level of strategy. Jeremy getting all ten votes doesn't mean that the jury thought that Jeremy was so much better than Spencer or Tasha, it could mean that each of them thought that Jeremy was a little bit better than the other two. The Jury doesn't sit around and apportion 10 votes ("Well Jeremy was the best, we will give him 5 votes, but Spencer did a few good things, let's give him 3, and Tasha made the best rice, so we will give her the other 2 votes), each jury member votes for themselves. As others have commented, that it is a matter or permanence - if you are in an alliance, you vote with your alliance until you decide to flip. A voting block is just agreeing to vote with some players for that vote only. The members of a voting block may change every vote, thememebers of an alliance don't. I just wanted to add, that if you vote against your alliance, you are no longer part of that alliance. You can't vote against your voting block, because you aren't "with" a voting block, there is nothing to be against. If you vote differently from a voting block it is because you are in a different voting block. However, if you really do have an idol, it is generally better to keep it a secret so that everyone votes and you play it and make votes not count. If people know you have one, then they either target someone else, or split the votes so you will go home if you don't play it. So, if you announce having an idol, then you may cause suspicion that it isn't real, because you wouldn't announce it if it were real.

Plus, didn't it cost them about a half million in the signing bonuses they gave out? (not sure how many associates there were, I think 6-7, and they each got $80k)

If not scripted then at least re-enacted. The tray with the apples was hanging almost half way off the table, with the 5-6 apples on the end that was over the edge. And Vin 2.0 is just standing next to him saying, "So, you're going to use the sugar apples to hold the tasting element" even though they likely discussed it when they were planning, and I think he may have even mentioned it when he was talking before the apples broke. Plus, from what I have seen from Vin 2.0, he wouldn't just walk over and stand there talking, he would have yelled from the other side of the room.

I wanted one of them to say, "My inspiration for this is the candied apple you told me to base my dessert off of."

Well, at least this week the COTW wasn't won by some bit of evidence being discovered at the last minute - a piece of evidence that should have been found much earlier, a piece of evidence that proofs there was no case in the first place. good, well thought out theory. Unfortunately, I think you put a lot more thought into this than the writers of the show did. If he works 40 hours a week, then $50k for two months is less than $150 an hour. Although, I thought he mentioned sometime later that is it $200 an hour. I didn't get Alicia's comment that when he comes back she will have to pay him more. LAL is paying him significantly more now, and Alicia isn't matching it.

Not surprised at the final three, although I thought Melody had a shot (until last week when she went home). You can always tell an FN competition because everyone and everything has to have an inspiration or a story. I wish the producers would realize that we don't need to hear a story every single time. A really good story every now and then is fine, but making the contestants come up with a story for everything just makes the stories sound ridiculous. I think Haley said something like "My grandmother liked to bake so I am going to think of my grandmother while I bake this"

Oh, I can just hear it now -- Logan: Chris!!! Why did you get out of the fire truck! You should have stayed in the fire truck! There would have been a fire somewhere! They would have left sometime! You should have stayed on the fire truck! We were on the fire truck and you f***ing get out! You should have stayed on the fire truck! Chris: I think we are going to lose... Logan: That is because you got of the fire truck!! You should have stayed on the fire truck!! Why did you .....(keep repeating until event he pigeons are covering their ears trying to hide). The way I understand it - Justin offered $100 and the cabbie asked if that was the tip or the total, including the fare. Then Justin complains that he isn't paying a $100 tip on a $50 fare then complains that he isn't going to pay a tip, and then complained that he wants to be reimbursed the bridge toll (which he somehow paid $8 for a $5 bridge toll). What else could he do - well, he could have tried to be civil, instead of immediately going into attack mode.

I also remember him being referred to as "Arm Candy" back in early season one. I thought that some in the press/news (maybe tabloid "news") called him Arm Candy and Elizabeth and the staff joked about it. A very quick search turned up a list on CBS.com of "15 Things We Know About Henry McCord" Number 3 on the list is I found no date on the article. None of the 15 items refer to anything specific in the second season, although some refer specifically to the first season ("Henry plays Chess"). My personal favorite is number 13 - "Henry thinks power is sexy" which sounds to me like a cheesy line from a dating site video for a guy who wonders why he can't get a date. So, I am sorry to report that "Arm Candy" isn't meta. I guess we have no proof that the people connected to Madam Secretary pay attention to those of us here (if they did, maybe she would stop wearing snug jackets with 3/4 length sleeves over a blouse with full length sleeves).

This episode felt like the early part of the first season, when I thought the show was ridiculous and was considering dropping it from the scheduled recordings. There was absolutely no reason to give up Dimitri. The Russian president had already told the press that Ukraine hacked AF1, she already publicly accused the US of cutting the power. She had nothing to bargain with. If she hadn't already told all the secrets she knows, she could have said "I won't tell about this, if you don't tell about my husband, but you'll have to tell me who the mole is if you want me to sign this agreement." So now the bargain becomes "Don't tell about my murderous ways and I will sign your papers." And that is what POTUS and Bess were going for, but then all Maria has to say is "I have to tell my people something if I sign it" and then they give up Dimitri. First, they didn't need to offer anything. Second, if they really felt they had to give her something, I am sure there are other things they could have given up - a prisoner somewhere, maybe? But why keep her secret anyway? Tell the world and let her be thrown out of office. Then you don't have a crazy Russian president and you work to get someone a little more rational elected.

Yeah, I didn't really mean that I want the show to be cancelled and a bunch of people to be out of work. Failed attempt at humor. I just want Charlie back on this show. I should check out the show he is on, I might like it as much as Black-ish.