truthaboutluv

Sharleen's recap of the latest episode. http://www.alltheprettypandas.com/recaps/ Honestly, it's like she and I are sharing the same brain with what's happening on the show. I especially loved her summation of Josh and Andi's 1 on 1 time during the group date. Her opinion on that relationship was just spot on. It'll be very interesting to see if those two last if Andi picks him. And of course I was nodding along in her opinion about Nick. Of course admittedly she may be biased since she totally admits to her tiny crush on Nick but I still think she was right.

Yeah but didn't make it easy on himself for those first two sets. But once he pulled off the second set tiebreak, I had a feeling he'd win.

So apparently no one cares about Wimbledon thanks to the World Cup :) No major upsets so far. I guess Azarenka losing so early sort of counts but she's just coming back from injury and Stepanek definitely gave Djokovic a run for his money. Also Ferrer's loss sort of counts but Ferrer has always kind of sucked on grass. The big buzz though is the second round re-match between Rafa and Rosol. Not gonna lie, a little nervous for that one considering how vulnerable Rafa has been in those early rounds of Wimbledon. It's interesting but Mary Jo Fernandez pointed out that Rafa has always sort of struggled in the first rounds of Wimbledon. People don't remember that because he won the matches and went on to either make the finals or win. But in either 2007 or 2008, he was two points from defeat in the second round, a year later he had back to back five set matches in the second and third rounds. So he's always vulnerable in those rounds. But if he makes it pass them and into the second week, then he starts becoming really dangerous.

Honestly, I just chalk up the Elena fascination to her being a classic Mary Sue. And just like every other Mary Sue I don't get the fascination but it is pretty much a rule that everyone must fall in love with her. I didn't see the fascination with Joey Potter either and Pacey and Dawson were both madly in love with her, same with Bella Swan who was a whiny, annoying drip. I can't stand Elena but have accepted that as rules of Mary Sue's dictate, Stefan and Damon will never not be in love with her and think her some super special snowflake.

Brilliantly said. That's why I rolled my eyes so hard when the writers began their inevitable "redemption of Damon" with flashbacks showing how he didn't want to be a vampire without Katherine and Stefan was the one who suddenly went wild, having wild parties and murdering people all over the place when they first turned. Like we were supposed to buy that Damon only wanted Katherine and she was the only reason he did all those things a and not because he's actually a sociopathic psycho with no regard for others' life. And that fact simply remained after he became a vampire.

A little random but what was up with all those bright colors most of the guys were wearing at the start of the episode when they first got to Venice? Josh was wearing some fuchsia green shirt, Chris was in some fuchsia pink pants, someone else was wearing long pink pants, etc. Seriously I was almost distracted at beginning with all those bright colors glaring off the screen. eta: With regards to Cody and Andi's date, I actually suspect that Andi was going to give Cody the rose, not because she saw any potential between them but because he was such a nice guy and then she would send him home the next week, right before hometowns. But then Cody started laying it on so thick during the dinner, going on about wanting to have her meet his mom, how much potential he sees between them, etc. and you visibly see her getting more and more uncomfortable and it's why she decided it'd be more cruel to continue to string him along. And I feel like she sort of alluded to that when she was telling him how it would not be fair to bring him to next week and wait before hometowns. I definitely think her plan was to get rid of him then, at the rose ceremony.

That is so awful. Such a young guy too. Creepier, when I went to search for Colton's twitter account, I got linked to Caleb's and his last tweet was about working on the railway and how much he loved it.

I went to twitter to check out Colton's account but it's private so couldn't get any confirmation there. Wow, so horrible if true. I know people snarked a lot about them as a couple but Caleb came across as such a cool and laid-back person,

Curiosity got the better of me and I glanced at the tumblr tag and yikes, that was some crazy rationalizing. By the way, I think my favorite comments were that J-Lo is 44, which apparently means her child-bearing days are well behind her and Maks, who has made it clear how much he wants a family, children, etc. would not get involved with a 44-year old, 3 time divorcee with kids. Now I don't doubt that Maks has said and likely does eventually want a family, settle down, etc. but has he given any indication that's what he wants right now and that he is completely against casual dating/relationships? But really I think what made me laugh the most is because 44 or not, divorcee or not, J-Lo is still Jennifer freaking Lopez and these people are deluded if they think Lizzie and Maks would not enjoy the media attention that would come from him dating someone of her level of fame.

Wasn't there a picture of them about two weeks ago, leaving a restaurant or something? Maks supposedly tweeted it with a comment like "Reunited..."

Honestly I think what amuses me about Nick is how he comes across as just having zero fucks to give when it comes to the other guys. And I can see how that rubs people the wrong way but honestly, it just makes me like him more and find the guys annoying as they just blabber on and on about "oh Nick stole her away, Nick is so arrogant, he's always doing this stuff, Nick is so sneaky, etc. etc." Because I think I would be less bothered or more on their side if I saw any evidence of Nick obsessing about what the guys thought or obsessing about the others guys at all but I haven't. We've seen zero reaction from him about anyone else's dates with Andi, we haven't seen him give his opinion about them, whether he likes or dislikes them, etc. He just seems to be doing his own thing, which largely includes making a play for Andi. And I thought he seemed genuinely surprised when she picked him for the 1 on 1 date, which is another example of where I found the guys being whiners rather than "Nick is so awful..."

I think the problem is she can't seem to get out of "lawyer mode" and just let herself get caught up in her feelings and everything else. She is enjoying herself, there are some guys she's obviously very attracted to and she definitely seems to like the kissing but it's like her natural lawyer "interrogate and question everything" comes to play. And it's why she makes the smallest comment from Josh into a big thing because it's like she has to over-analyze and over-think it and even the same with Nick. Last week, even after Nick told her exactly what happened with Cody when she asked and she admitted his story lined up with Cody and he took responsibility, she was still going, "but is he downplaying it and am I being fooled..." And then last night too. During the day part of the day she admits that he brought up the last week issues, that he opened up about everything, apologized, admitted being wrong but then she still went, "I still need to dig deeper, see what's really going on tonight, etc." I mean I get being cautious, I get asking the right questions and all but it just feels like at times she's approaching the whole process like she's working a legal case and thinking about everything critically, analyzing this and that to come to the right conclusion rather than just letting her feelings take over.

Not a body language expert, but I'll say this, I can't really recall J-Lo ever being rumored to be with someone and it not being true, even after she denies it at first. When she was rumored to be with P. Diddy, it turned out to be true. When it was rumored that she had left him and was dating a back-up dancer, she went on Letterman and did the "don't believe everything you read" and a few weeks later the relationship was confirmed. Then when it was rumored her marriage to said back-up dancer was over and she was hooking up with Ben Affleck, that turned out to be true as well. I could go on. So just on the basis of that, and the fact that this story with Maks is not going away, I'd say it's likely something's going on. Meanwhile I caught Access Hollywood last night and they featured an interview with Maks at some JC Penney promotional thing (where does Lizzie come up with this stuff) where he at first did the coy thing about how maybe he's dating all three (he's including the gossip that started after he posted that picture of him and Kate Upton hanging out), then basically stated that he and Meryl are friends, that he loves her and that if anything happened between them later that wouldn't be anyone's business. He then pretty much made it sound like he was done with DWTS. What got an eyeroll out of me though was when in response to all the rumors about him and J-Lo, he stated that if he was someone watching and reading all this stuff, he'd be thinking "who is this guy and he must be awesome (it might have been awesome life)." I just had to laugh at Maks' usual delusion because judging by comments on People.com and other entertainment sites it's more "who is this guy and he sounds like a famewhore because wasn't he supposedly hooking up with his celebrity on DWTS?" Also, I had to laugh when the segment was over and Billy Bush, with complete mock disappointed face was all, "Maks fooled us with the Meryl stuff..." Billy was likely kidding around but all I could think was "if you only knew how sadly true that is for many Billy".

I don't know, Sharleen might beat you to him. She's been very pro-Nick in her recaps and they've started following each other on twitter. So far no overt interaction but Bachelor Nation is totally shipping it. Nah I get you. I find I often like many of the guys during The Bachelorette seasons and find most of them cool or at least nice enough so it sucks to see them get rejected even if the truth is most of them only think they have feelings for the Bachelorette because they're in the bubble. But with The Bachelor, the women are usually such crazy, weeping drama queens you just want to see them gone. As for Marcus, I've said Marcus gave me American Psycho vibes since day one and I still feel that way. I think it's the eerie quiet way he speaks and then never seems to blink.

YMMV but I'm just not buying the "Nick is so awful" stuff. OMG he dared to go after Andi after the drama with Eric, then he looked annoyed at what was a stupid mime date and then tonight he grabbed Andi first to talk to her when he had a rose. Oh the horror. For all the "Nick is so awful" comments all the guys make, I have yet to see Nick badmouthing the other guys, insulting them or instigating any drama with them first. When Andi asked him about the stuff that happened last week, I thought he was fairly honest. He admitted that yes he's talked about their connection with the other guys and made comments about not imagining anyone else having as close of a connection with her, which yes, he acknowledged, might have annoyed them. And then he admitted that yes, he wants to get along with them but at the same time she is what he believes is most important and isn't the whole point of this farce show about the fighting for the lead? It's also amusing to me how all in a tizzy the guys were getting when Nick pulled Andi away and at the same Andi's waxing on about how much of a man Nick is and basically getting all hot and bothered by his actions. Which is really interesting - they're all so busy worrying about some other guy, the woman they say they're interested in, they clearly don't really know at all. Andi likes aggressive men, she likes guys that grab her and make a move as she's stated in her talking head. So while they would like to sit around deciding about proper bromance etiquette, Andi's all swooning over Nick's actions. Like I've said before, I rarely am ever on the side of the other people in the house when the pile on starts against one contestant. I often find the other guys/women the really annoying ones. Because as is the case with Nick, the talk about how awful the contestant is far more repetitive and annoying than anything the contestant themselves are doing. eta: More importantly...um, eww Dylan. I can't even look at him the same. There is nothing grosser to me than people who don't wash their hands after using the restroom. Remind me never to shake Dylan's hands if I ever meet him. Also, I continue to be baffled by Andi and Josh's relationship. Clearly something happened during the group date that upset her and him and yet I find I have no idea what that was.

Honestly the Macys Stars of Dance is not the only thing that lost variety - was there any opening PRO number, other than the one with Mark singing his song, that was not done by Mandy Moore? Which makes even less sense to me as Mandy Moore is a contemporary/jazz choreographer. I wonder if that too is all part of the massive slash ABC made to the show's budget and all the changes that accompanied it - starting with the one night a week,getting rid of the old band, and originally getting rid of the Macys Stars of Dance, etc. Maybe having more outside PROS, choreographers would cost too much. But it is unfortunate because I too miss the many awesome PRO numbers we had in the past, seeing all those internationally ranked ballroom dancers who weren't part of the show but would be in a few showcase performances, etc.

Thrilled to hear that too because we all know my feelings on that storyline. I still would have preferred the show not go there seeing as Brandon has enough issues already but I would definitely take that over a horrible baby storyline that I was fearing. I think that's where the societal perceptions will come to play because I can definitely see Brandon not wanting to acknowledge that what happened to him was rape. There's the male ego factor, societal norms and attitudes that suggest the idea that men are the stronger sex and that a man cannot somehow be a victim of a woman, particularly a sexual victim.

Yeah that's what I thought because I remember they were married a few years before they had their first child. Thing is once they started, they've really gone for it.

Congrats to Rob and Amber. Man, he's just completely out-numbered in that house. Has it been 8 years because I feel like it may be less. The oldest is only 5 or 6 right? The good thing is though they didn't start having kids immediately and enjoyed a few years of it being just them before they started having kids. I remember Amber giving that explanation when people kept asking when they were going to have kids. She said they just wanted to enjoy being newly married before having children. With the way they've gone since they started, I see her point. Good for Tony as well.

It just goes to show again how so much of this is subjective, because while some say Stefan has been so judgmental of Damon, one of the things that I have been most critical of Stefan for, much as I love the character, is that I think he has been and continues to be one of the biggest enablers of Damon's behavior. As early as season one, even before Elena started making all her googly eyes at Damon and still pretended like she gave a shit about the crappy stuff he did, Stefan was the one constantly saying that despite everything Damon's done, all the horrible actions, there was still a good person underneath. Even this season, with Damon's attack on Jeremy. Yes right after he and Kathlena rescue Jeremy, he tells Damon not to bother coming back (which I didn't see that as being judgmental and more his being pissed off that Damon willingly put Jeremy's life in danger and was willing to hurt him just because Elena broke up with him) but switch to one episode later and Damon's missing a few days and the first words out of Stefan's mouth is, "I was probably too harsh when I told him not to come back," And not surprisingly Caroline is the one to say, "yeah no, you're not doing this and you're not going to feel guilty for being rightfully pissed off at Damon for his shitty actions ..." So this is why I don't really buy the "Stefan is always so judgy of Damon. Frankly I wish he was more judgmental so maybe he'd quit making multiple excuses for Damon's shitty actions and enabling his shitty behavior.

Personally my thing with the "Marquel for the next Bachelor" is that I would think viewers learned their lesson after the mess that was Juan Pablo. Now granted, my gut says from the little we did see that Marquel is likely nothing like Juan Pablo but still, we got Juan Pablo because a vocal bunch of viewers thought he was so hot even though he barely had any presence during Des' season and rooted hard for him to be the next Bachelor. And well we all saw how that turned out - entertaining though it was for the trainwreck elements. That said, I wonder if the show will ever go back to someone new. I mean I certainly get the recycling of contestants for leads because viewers already have some connection with them but at the same time it might be interesting learning about someone as they're getting to know the contestants and "trying to find love".

I agree with many who have said that the show's biggest problem was doing too much too soon. When you think of all that has happened on this show it is really hard to believe that the second season JUST started. That all this happened in one season. It actually reminds of The O.C. and how that show's quality quickly went down for that same thing - the writers did so much so fast that by Season 3 they'd practically burned through every possible storyline and then it just started getting really stupid. That said, one of the first mistakes the writers made imho was pushing the Brandon/Callie relationship SO hard and SO fast. I may be in a huge minority here in that I don't hate the Brandon/Callie situation per se. Like I've said before, I think it's probably a very real consequence of foster homes. I don't ship them but it doesn't outrage me and I guess it also helps that I don't ship Callie/Wyatt either. Honestly neither pairing bothers me and for the most part I find myself mostly indifferent. It's not like Vampire Diaries situation where I actively loathe Damon/Elena. But I think the writers messed up making the pairing so overt so quickly and in the process have absolutely ruined Brandon's character because of it and I think that's unfortunate. Because, again possibly unpopular opinion, but I loved Brandon away from the Callie mess. I loved his complicated relationship with Mike, I was fascinated about his real feelings about his mom, one, leaving his dad for a woman and then adopting all these kids and if he really was as fine and happily adjusted with it as he claimed to be. I liked the sub-plot with his piano teacher and the suggestion that he was keeping a lot of his feelings bottled up and rather than explore that, the writers completely did away with the piano teacher and that plot to service more of the melodrama they would heap on the character. But about the Callie romance situation, I've always said that shippers will ship, period. Brandon and Callie could have not shared one scene beyond their scenes in the pilot and I guarantee they would still have a sizable fanbase that shipped them. Not to mention I think the actors who play Callie and Brandon are decent enough to have pulled off the subtle romantic tension without it ever being overt. I just think it was a mistake on the part of the writers to have Brandon express his feelings that quickly, to have Talya be a psycho, jealous girlfriend (I really hated that because the feminist in me was bothered that of course the girlfriend had to become a psycho), then all the melodrama at the start of the second season, etc. I'm sure the writers could have been creative and found some other way to convince Callie she needed to leave the Fosters' home at the end of the first part of the season and so the stuff with her running away, the consequences, etc. could have all been the same. Because the problem with them going so far, so quickly with Brandon and Callie, is that aside from them just making Brandon into a mess, they're kind of stuck now. Sure they have her and Wyatt sort of being together (btw, I didn't watch the whole season premiere - did they give an explanation of Wyatt's living situation or is that still just randomly up in the air) but there is this unnatural weirdness with the characters that will always exist Imo. Yeah they can try and reset and make Brandon move on and have them seemingly act like "family" but I'm sorry I for one will never buy that Brandon and Callie now magically only see each other as brother and sister and they're just one big happy family. Basically once the writers crossed the line with them, there was no going back imo without it being completely unrealistic. The Callie/Brandon stuff aside, there was also just so much unnecessary drama and additions - Dani, Vico, Anna showing up again, Mariana's 2 minute boyfriend, etc. It's like the writers have just thrown everything and the kitchen sink and as others have noted, with all that drama, they're sacrificing the quiet, intimate moments that actually do make the show great. The show wasn't so highly praised for crap like Vico beating up Brandon, that horrible, horrible Dani/Brandon statutory rape scene, etc. No, it was for episodes like Stef's dad's death and Callie remembering her mother's death, Callie and Jude seeing their dad again and his signing his rights away, Stef's scenes with her dad before he passed, dealing with his continuing struggle over her sexuality, Jude and Lena talking about his sexuality, Brandon realizing how lonely Mike was, Marianna realizing how utterly useless her biological mother is, etc. These are the moments that make the show great. But these moments get lost amidst the over the top melodrama. Not to mention it's just crazy to go through all these story lines in ONE season. Like I am terrified to think about what they'll do if this show lasts 3-4 seasons.

Yeah I think this is just one of those agree to disagree things because something tells me had Nick confronted and asked Andrew about the situation, he would have been judged for stirring up drama and getting involved in something that he wasn't even there when it supposedly happened. JJ told him something that May or may not have been true and he simply told no one yet he still gets judged. It's not like he went around telling everyone else what JJ told him and calling Andrew a racist. Like I said, I disagree that he "backed JJ up." JJ brought up the story, he acknowledged being told about it and simply explained to Marquel why he didn't tell him.

YMMV but I didn't see the scene that way. JJ was going on again about how much he didn't like Andrew and then he turned to Nick and asked him if he remembered what he told him. At that point Nick looked like he'd actually forgotten about the conversation and then said, "oh right" and then turns to Marquel and said he didn't mention it to him because he didn't want to upset him and then he turned over to JJ and said he'd let him tell it because JJ is the one who supposedly heard the comment. And then when Marquel spoke about confronting Andrew, Nick just said that Andrew likely just ignore it or deny that he ever said anything. But I'm still not seeing what Nick did wrong here or how this was on him. Yes he didn't go to Andrew but he didn't tell Marquel either so again I just think it was situation that was very touchy that he just chose to not get personally involved with as he only had JJ's word that this happened.

I don't think that's really fair to Nick. Something like that is already a very sensitive issue and the fact of the matter is, everything he "knew" about the supposed incident was all hearsay, from JJ. He never heard Andrew make those remarks so why was it incumbent on him to confront him about it? JJ is the one who supposedly heard the comment and then made clear he wasn't even sure that was what he heard. So why didn't he verify exactly what he heard at that exact moment rather than bring it up weeks later to Marquel, while still admitting he wasn't even sure that was what he heard.