erikdepressant

I instantly disliked the Audi "Swim" commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeCW-M4hDYo Challenging convention to pursue excellence is not the same thing as just arbitrarily breaking rules. Also, having a car as a status symbol just means that you're striving to be at the top of the conformists. I hate how the suburban mom just adores how her son is too special a snowflake to follow the rules. The loveable rascal! I know the imagined consequences for breaking the pool rules are jokingly exaggerated, but what irritates me the most about this commercial is that the kid assumed there would be consequences, but just did what he wanted because it's fun.

This was a bittersweet episode. I was sad to see Kortni go. When she had burned wings with white tips, she cracked me up with the line, "My chicken's gonna have a fresh manicure goin' on." But I was thrilled to see Jerry Lewis Wannabe go. If they can just get rid of Leo and Sarah now, the show would be tolerable. I'm sick of seeing Leo drop his mouth open in faux astonishment whenever he sees his reflection in the camera lens. When Sarah said, "I need to act like an adult," I thought, "No, you just need to stop your acting." I like how often Norman says "I like eating those" whenever Anne/Tyler introduce new dishes.

I too must chime in on my hatred of Kit Kat commercials. They actually drove me to this forum in the first place. Kit Kat commercials are Number One on my list of TV content to mute with extreme prejudice*. I don't see how a melody of repulsive sound effects can get stuck in your head, so they defeat the purpose of the original jingle. Does the next generation of future diabetics even know the jingle once had lyrics? When I hate a commercial, I boycott the advertised product; I haven't eaten a Kit Kat in like a decade. I long for the good old days, when candy bar commercials just showed bundles of sugar flying in and out of whirlpools of liquid chocolate. BRB, kids on my lawn... *FWIW, the rest of my mandatory-mute TV content: #4: Any time on a competition show where the contestants tell their lies and sob stories about why they need/deserve to win (major side-eye at you, Food Network). #3: Peyton Manning's Nationwide jingle commercial. #2: That segment on Jeopardy! where Alex Trebek gets to know the contestants. Alex is annoying. The contestants' insipid personal anecdotes are annoying. But holyfuck, when Alex offers witty banter or charming commentary on the anecdotes... he kills puppies and phytoplankton. Just wish them good luck and go back to overpronouncing foreign words from your podium!

Aunt Kiki, I was sorry to read that, and I hope you find something that works for you. I couldn't find the site I was looking at last night, runforcover, but the CDC site shows that post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome has "no evidence that these symptoms are due to ongoing infection." I wasn't doing thesis-level research, but I don't recall coming across "losing the voice for two years" or "picking out ugly fur rugs" as symptoms.

Yolanda's Bravo blog went up yesterday. She's had a Lyme relapse. I wish I hadn't visited some medical websites about Lyme. Now I'm paranoid I'll get it. Apparently, even if you have no trace of the infection itself, you can suffer autoimmune & severe neurological problems for years afterward. I kinda gave this the side-eye though: "A lot of great medicines and ancient therapies are blocked by the FDA, so that's why I choose to travel and recognize the value of diverse points of view in medicine."

One of the best posts ever, ryebread. Sorry for not remembering the details... Years ago, I think it was the RHoOC, the parents were lecturing their daughter on her bad behavior, and she kept checking her phone. I think they had hired a "youthologist" to understand her or some such nonsense. I would have snatched that phone and smashed it in front of her. I notice that on RHoA, they are constantly checking their phones -- I think it's hoping their agents have found them gigs. Google glass can hire Brandi as a spokesperson; she'll be able to have uninterrupted access to twitter and the goings-on of LeAnn & Eddie.

I'm very, very late to this party. Just for the sake of posterity, I'm linking this article with a video of Taylor's tantrum on Couples Therapy. Add "entitled" to her list of faults. http://www.realitytea.com/2014/01/11/video-couples-therapy-meltdown-taylor-armstrong-complains-about-edit/

Back when I was in college, the school used profits from the required food plan to offset other expenses, which is something I consider unethical. I truly hope that's changed since then ("then" = we huddled in the campus cave and enjoyed the berries and mammoth meat brought by the hunter-gatherers. The rich kids got their food cooked over fire).

It gets them primed for the endorphin rush they'll experience later in life when they cheerfully announce the Sam in their pants.

I wasn't going to weigh in on that, but it keeps coming up. I didn't interpret it to mean Kyle wanted her daughter to fail or drop out, either. To me, it seemed like, "We do want you to go to college, but if it's not right for you, we understand." I think college can actually get in the way of some people's pursuit of their dreams. There are plenty of shows out there with stories like, "My parents never forgave me for dropping out of medical school to open my own bakery," or "After being a lawyer for 10 years, I just had to quit because my passion was photography." I think people should pursue the highest level of education they want. If their skills or goals take them away from college, more power to them. On the flip side, imagine if Kim had told Big Kathy, "I don't want to act anymore. I want to get an education and teach anthropology." Without knowing the context of the "you can come home" conversation, I just assumed Kyle was saying, "We want you to be happy."

There goes some spit coffee, copacabana. I think "fopperies and fineries" should be the new subtitle for LisaV's thread. Also, you added: Brandi's pocket of blindness and stupidity is called "Earth."

I think this had more to do with the law of diminishing returns. Not only were we subjected to it over multiple episodes, but we also got it in the next-times and comings-up. If the editors had just shown Kyle or Yolanda losing it only one time, I think the fan response would have been much more favorable. Mauricio's teary eyes had a million times more impact than the hours of Kyle's blubbering. I will admit, however, that it was a perfect setup for Kyle's pregnancy joke, which was the one and only time she made me laugh.

Exhibit A: Sheree. Now that the product has expired, SheStruggle by Sheree will never succeed as a clothing line. The Kardashian brand is now down at Kmart, which is also past its shelf life.

When you're famous for being famous, you yourself are the product. It's a hustle to keep getting one more appearance, endorsement, or check before you become irrelevant. NeNe's milked it for almost all she possibly can. Other housewives across the franchises have launched books, drinks, stores, beauty brands, etc.

I was wondering about that too... They said something else I couldn't make out (and when I saw the pic, I must have thought VVP's son was her date). Was Yolanda instrumental in getting Eileen on the program? Are the two families close?

I'm going to hell for this... I imagined part of that conversation went, "There are so many calories in alcohol!"

That was barf-worthy. Really. I remember when every company and country music star jumped on the patriotic bandwagon after the 9/11 attacks. If this ad campaign had come out a decade ago, they would have reminded women who felt confident and stopped wearing makeup that they were letting the terrorists win.

He didn't seem like one to me personally either, sugarbaker design. I was referring to his role on the program. He had the dissenting/discouraging viewpoint. I don't think they featured even one heterosexual who said "SSA is the same as being gay, and that's that." And yeah, it is pretty funny that he was the only person who had some sense.

The way I viewed that was: the rep was meeting Bravo, not the family. I don't know if producers have to get permission to film on a college campus or not. Either way, the college had to have known a TV show was going to be shooting a segment about a family sending a kid there. I can't imagine any business or institution not taking advantage of the publicity and rolling out a red carpet.

Except he was cast as a villain... the lone self-accepting gay was also the bigot who believed guys suffering from SSA were gay. And you know it won't become a series, because it's not set in Alaska.

I'd say she was either a paid actress or a church member who got pressured into appearing in the informercial.

I loved when VVP got the guys to clap at Eileen's cooking, and she was all, "Oh thank you, thank you. Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing." Those shots of her doing her lip warmups were NOT flattering. I had no desire to watch LeAnn and Eddie until now... I'm dying to know what their take on Brandi is, actually.

Bilgistic, thanks for that article. I also read the link about McDonald's "brand refresh." And I laughed at: "McDonald's biggest problem isn't their messaging, but their food."

"The audience has spoken, and the sixth person voted off of RHoA is NeNe. Please burn your wig and leave." Or, to make it even punnier: "...please burn your wig and weave."

I totally agree, AntiBeeSpray. They also destroy farmers' lives and have too much influence in government. I just meant that the particular commercials were annoying for reasons other than the fact that Monsanto was putting advertisements on TV. Add this from heebiejeebie: People still buy stock in these companies. These PR ads are trying to sway future investors.