[Finding Bigfoot - General Discussion]

 

Followed by Matt's debunking of the next "sighting" because, apparently, the guy's description wasn't bat-shit crazy enough.

Oh, God I've missed you guys!  So happy we could find each other again!

[The Escape Artist - General Discussion]

I didn't understand the court proceedings at the first trail. Some kind of a mistrial due to a prejudiced jury, I presume. But why would the defendant be let off entirely instead of re-tried?

 

And seriously, after the Peeping Tom incident, why would his wife blithely go back to the cottage with just their son. Security system or not, you wouldn't catch me doing that.

[Harry Potter]

I think I got into the series when the 3rd book was first being published and I got hooked. By the time the last 2 or 3 books came out, I was one of the millions who had Amazon deliver the book ASAP that day. I remember I got spoiled by accidently opening one of the books and seeing a title chapter that gave away someone's death (I think it was Hedwig). After that I carefully put a rubber band around the book to only reveal one chapter at a time. I've never done that with any other book.

 

Even though these were children's books, they were so intelligently written and had so many levels that any adult could enjoy them as well.  I was always amazed that some people would forbid their children from reading them or want them banned. I remember talking to a friend and I mentioned the HP novels and she said she had never read them. I told her how good they were, and she got very uneasy and said "But they're about witchcraft." "No", I replied, "they're about magic. Big difference." She really acted like they were dangerous books to read. It revealed a very different side of her to me.

 

I saw the movies, and they were OK, but sacrificed so much detail from the book for the sake of over-the-top CGI graphics. I always felt that the movies should have had a narrator to explain what the hell was going on at times. For example, the entire first movie we never learn the name of Harry's owl. But at least I could insert the details from my own knowledge of the novels. I have always wondered how someone who had not read the books could enjoy the movies.

[Last Tango In Halifax - General Discussion]

I find that this is a show that needs to be re-watched. First, for me as an American, the accents and colloquialisms are sometimes hard to interpret. This is a good show to have the closed captioning on even if you're not hard of hearing. Second, there's just so much going on. There are a lot of characters that are introduced in the first episode but the relationships are complex and only truly understood over the course of several episodes. I watched each episode several times as it was airing and then I bought the first season on DVD because I thought the show was such a treasure. Of course, Derek Jacoby brings class to anything he's involved with.

 

ETA: I googled it and I see that the Season 2 6 part series is set to air on PBS starring June 29th. Great news, I can't wait.

[Book Recommendations]

Since I just came from the Divergent thread trashing that trilogy, I thought I'd throw in one here that I really like, the Hard Magic trilogy (Hard Magic/Spellbound/Warbound) by Larry Correia. These books get categorized as Fantasy because they have 'magic' in the title, but I believe they are good, hard, science fiction at it's best. In an alternate 1930's era Earth, a small percentage of the population have specific 'magic' powers, such as control over gravity or electricity or the ability to read minds or teleport. Historical figures such as Albert Einstein and Teddy Roosevelt still exist and historical events such as WWI still happened, but everything is slightly twisted. When the reason for the magic powers is finally presented, it makes perfect sense. Correia has created a tight, complete world with it's own logic and no loose ends. It's a thing of wonder.

 

This is not a YA paranormal romance or dystopian future trilogy. Each of the books ends with a fairly long but exciting battle sequence, so be warned. Also, I listened to these on audiobook rather than read them, and the performance of the narrator is outstanding, and may add something to why I like the books so much.

[Divergent]

I liked Divergent a lot, probably because it takes place in my hometown of Chicago. I found the premise interesting (until it was explained in book 3 and turned out to be boring and of no import in the end). I could visualize the El trains traveling through the Loop, the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier and even the zipline from the top of the Hancock building down to Lake Shore Drive. I worked near the Merchandise Mart. I never could figure out where Dauntless HQ was supposed to be, however.

 

That being said, it was easy to see a number of amateur (fan-fic type) mistakes:

1. Four and Tris are only 2 years apart but she doesn't recognize him. None of the factions are large, and in a faction that values conformity above all else I don't buy that Tobias was home-schooled.
2. Four has only been in Dauntless himself for 2 years but is already an instructor and something of a legend.
3. Assuming the Choosing ceremony is only once a year, Dauntless only expects 20 initiates and only accepts half of those. This leads to 2 easy conclusions that anyone could see: Dauntless should be the smallest faction - by far - and Dauntless wannabes are going to form the large majority of the Factionless.
4. The way that Roth was killing off Tris' fellow Dauntless with reckless abandon there shouldn't have been any left by the end. It's one thing to kill off a few nameless 'redshirts', but Roth killed off many, many of the main and featured characters who she had spent a lot of time creating backstories for. I was sad time and time again when yet another character I liked bit the dust, long before Tris died. (And woe to any boy who liked Christina!)
5. Dauntless training is only 30 days and they're fully weapons qualified. And Tris doesn't even get to enjoy being a Dauntless for 24 hours before the Faction War begins.
6. The huge cliff-hanger of Book 2 comes to absolutely nothing in Book 3.

 

I could go on but I'll stop there, except for one of my biggest gripes: In Chicago, it's Madison Street, not Madison Avenue. When they were chasing around the downtown area in Insurgent, I was pulled out of the story every time they went along Madison Avenue. As a Chicago native, Roth should know this.

 

I do most of my reading by listening to Audiobooks. The Divergent series has a good narrator, and I listened to the first 2 books many times. The 3rd book I listened to once and returned to Audible. I haven't seen the movie (I understand they fixed a few of my issues such as Four being only 18), I'll probably wait until it's free on cable.

[Audiobooks]

A rabid reader all of my life, I now 'read' almost exclusively through audiobooks. A good matching of the right book with the right narrator is something to savor. A few months ago I wrote up a list for a friend I'm trying to convince to try audiobooks. It's an eclectic collection of fiction (in no particular order), some are part of a series, some aren't, some are recent and a few are 20 years old. What they have in common is I've enjoyed them all.

 

1. Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan
2. 14 - Peter Clines
3. Hard Magic - Larry Correia
4. My Life as a White Trash Zombie - Diana Rowland
5. Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen
6. Cinder - Marissa Meyer
7. A Dog’s Purpose  - W Bruce Cameron
8. The Likeness - Tara French
9. Inferno - Dan Brown
10. Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin
11. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
12. To The Nines - Janet Evanovich
13. The Dark Horse - Craig Johnson
14. Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs - Molly Harper
15. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
16. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice - Laurie R King
17. First Grave on the Right - Darynda Jones
18. Grave Sight - Charlaine Harris
19. Polar Star - Martin Cruz Smith
20. Blind Descent - Nevada Barr

[Last Tango In Halifax - General Discussion]

I have to set the scene. Alan and Celia agree to meet (this is their very first meeting) at a pub for lunch, When Alan leaves, he discovers that his car has been stolen, and sees the thief driving away with it. He and Celia take off in her car to chase the thief, but wreck her car in the process. Now carless, they go back to the pub and call their respective daughters to pick them up. Each daughter comes racing into town worried about her parent. There is little to no parking in front of the pub and Celia's daughter is waiting for a car to pull out with her turn signal on when another car comes whizzing past and pulls into the spot in front of her. She is forced to find another place to park much further away. When she finally gets to the pub, she apologizes to the pair and tells them she would have been there much earlier except for the nitwit (she uses a much more colorful term I can't remember) who pulled into her parking place. She then turns around to be introduced to Alan's daughter, who's just coming back from the ladies room, and is the parking place stealer.

 

ETA: I know the timing is frequently off with British shows airing here much later than in the UK, but I think there has only been 1 season of 6 episodes that has aired in the US.

[Tim Gunn: Your Fabulous Gay Uncle]

I think part of the problem was that Under the Gunn was almost a complete clusterfuck. It's only saving grace was that the right designer won, and that was primarily due to Heidi Klum's influence at the finale judging. Other than that, it seemed like it was changing the rules and procedures from episode to episode, e.g. sometimes the judges decided who went home, sometimes they threw it back to the mentor of the losing team to pick the departee. They really tried to amp up the drama and under those circumstances, Tim was just a terrible host/judge/mentor to the mentors. The 3 different hats he was wearing didn't help, either.

 

I just saw him tonight on Hollywood Game Night. It was funny, everyone was in casual clothes (the dressiest woman was wearing a full-skirted summery dress), and there's Tim in a blue worsted wool suit with a huge windowpane check (I really wish he'd get rid of that suit) AND a matching vest. He must have been sweating his ass off, no wonder he didn't look like he was having any fun. I know he likes his suits, but he could have gone a lot more casual and looked better.

 

All that being said, in a Dinner With Andre scenario, Tim would definitely be on my list as a potential dinner companion.

[Dual Survival - General Discussion]

They didn't film this show for a year while they were trying to find a replacement for Dave. From things that Cody has written, they wanted a military type who would balance Cody's more naturalistic style. If Joe was the winner, I must wonder what the also-rans were like.

[Dual Survival - General Discussion]

What I like about Matt is he keeps saying things like 'These trees are sexy' or 'We're like in the womb of nature here' to which Joe can only pause and reply 'I have no response for that'. Heh. No shit. With him, I might just keep watching the show in spite of Joe and no Cody.

 

The original info I read about Cody's replacement was that he was one of the 4 guys on Dude You're Screwed, and all of those were military. Instead we got a guy who looks like a fill-in for George Carlin's hippy-dippy weatherman. I'm cool with that. Now they just need to get rid of Joe and bring Cody back, and he and Matt can see who can get fires going the quickest.

[Tim Gunn: Your Fabulous Gay Uncle]

I'm off the Tim love-train after Under the Gunn. That showed a very ugly side of him.

[Ghost Hunters - General Discussion]

I still miss Grant, but I think the show made some significant improvements after he left. One of them was having Jason give a voice-over background of the night's location that was coherent and to-the-point. That being said, I try to watch the show, I really do, but it's really 'same old, same old' every ep. Few if any visual captures and the odd EVP which I hardly ever can understand. It's undoubtedly a true picture of the 'profession' as hours and hours go by where nothing ever happens, but it's not interesting to me as a viewer. And do Tango and Steve investigate together any more at all? (If they are, that should show you how much attention I pay!) That combo is just comedy gold.

 

And yet, if they played the St. Augustine lighthouse episode every damn week, I would watch it.

 

Please, however, don't compare the show to Ghost Adventures. I can't last 60 seconds watching that show, much less hang on for 60 minutes!

[Finding Bigfoot - General Discussion]

Anyone else watch the 2 hour special about the 1959 incident in Russia's Ural Mountains that led off the Finding Bigfoot season premier? Unbelievably creepy, especially with all the pictures of mutilated corpses. One of the problems I had with it was that I eventually realized it was blending real stuff with re-created stuff and I frequently couldn't tell one from the other. So not a documentary but a docu-drama. I hate those.

[Finding Bigfoot - General Discussion]

I originally was going to name this thread Three True Believers..... and Ranae, but I wanted to get the name Bobo in the title. Oh, Bobes! How is it that squatches like to eat everything that YOU like to eat? Coincidence?

[S25: Route Spoilers (No Elimination Info)]

I wanted to add my appreciation for this thread. It's exactly what I've wanted to see for years. Elimination info (especially the complete boot list) really does 'spoil' the show for me. But just the locations and the tasks piques my interest instead and makes me anxious for the show's return.

 

ETA: Maybe the Frisian Islands next?

[S24.E05: Can't Make Fish Bite]

I love it when two teams are way behind and I'd be perfectly happy with losing either of them.

 

That's what I felt during the mixing challenge in the last leg: 'Hey, I dislike both of these teams and at least one of them is going home! It's a win-win for me.' Stupid NEL.